One Forever

C

"Ma-Ma-Ma." A cute voice ranged in an area without trees. A small wooden house with an open gable roof was in the center of that treeless area.

A woman who was in an ivory-colored kirtle with long sleeves was holding her baby in front of her face. The baby boy was in an ivory-colored tunic with halved sleeves that covered his toes too.

They were Tasha and Light. At that time, Light already had eight teeth on his lower jaw and also eight teeth on his upper jaw.

Tasha was making funny and strange faces to make the baby happy. But all that baby was doing was nothing but trying to catch her face with his tiny hands.

Even the forest was silent in front of the precious moment between a mother and her baby.

Even though it was raining there but the sound of rain wasn't loud enough to press down the babbling sounds of the cutest baby in the forest.

Little Light wanted to say 'mama' but he was still unable to speak clearly.

One thing must be noted, Light had a very fast physical growth rate for some unknown reason. Tasha would not be surprised if he started spelling words from next month.

Tasha was holding Light in her arms while standing at the threshold of their forest house. She kissed his soft cheek which still had the smell of milk.

It was normal for a baby at Light's age to stink of milk.

"Pitter-patter"

The sound of pitter-patter on the rooftop could be heard easily from every corner of the house. It was the third day of sudden downpour in the Farmer district.

The Sky would start pouring raindrops after some hours of rest, it was its current routine for those days.

"Rumble!"

"Rumble!"

Thunders roared in the distance like the sky was breaking apart by a monster. Tasha couldn't see those thunders because of the tall trees of the forest.

Tasha glanced in direction of the village and said to Light, "Looks like your father is not coming back before evening. Let's go inside. Otherwise, you will catch a cold."

Light was covered with a warm quilt and a trapper hat which was made of wool, he was still a baby. His resistance to hot and cold couldn't be greater than his foster parents.

Tasha glanced in direction of the village one last time before going inside the house.

But the moment she was prepared to cross the threshold, Light cried 'ma' continuously while pointing his hand towards the sky.

Tasha followed his gesture and found a black bird in the sky. It was not visible clearly, but Tasha could tell that it had long wings and a small body. And it was black. However, she could not tell if it was a crow or something else.

Tasha covered Light's sight and said in a gentle voice, "Don't cry. It is just a bird."

After that she took him inside the house, she was afraid that Light would get scared more if she stayed there any longer. But she could not shake off this feeling of phobia.

She thought in her mind, 'Large wings, small body, black feather, and it can even fly in this heavy rain. What kind of bird is capable of flying in this downpour?

'Wait. I saw some ferocious birds when I was in the South walls' army. Could it be one of them? No, I am thinking too much. Those monsters don't go much further after crossing the walls. Forget it, if it was really a monster, it would have already attacked us.'

Light had calmed down a little by then. What he saw outside was more than a strange bird. But he wouldn't be able to remember it since he was just a baby.

But one thing was sure, this incident would have a great meaning in the future.

Outside the house was Gurja Forest which was ten times bigger than Gurja Village. Gurja Village was a part of the Farmer district while the Farmer district itself was a part of the South state. And South state was a huge part of the Cloud Kingdom which had four other states, East, North, West, and Central.

They had these names because the ancestors of the Cloud Kingdom named them according to their characteristics.

South state was obviously on the south side of the kingdom and every state and district was surrounded by tall walls.

But why would any kingdom spend money on creating walls? Either it was rich or it was afraid of danger beyond the walls.

In the south direction of Farmer district was the great plain of South state. Approximately four hundred miles away from the walls of Farmer district were walls too, but they were much taller and thicker than district walls. They were called Southern Walls or ancient walls.

The Southern Walls could be considered the border of Cloud Kingdom because people wouldn't dare to go far from these walls.

After those walls, a river could be seen which had also surrounded the kingdom like ancient walls. It was called Flame River. People believed that it was created by Flame God who made it to save the people inside of walls. But of course, it was filled with water, not flame.

And two hundred miles from Flame River was the forbidden land, Cloud Mountains. These mountains had also surrounded kingdoms like the Flame River and ancient walls. Thus, they created Cloud Mountain Range.

Most of the mountains in this forbidden land were so tall that their peaks couldn't be seen. They were covered with clouds because they had extended beyond the floating height of clouds. So people also called them Heavenly Mountains. Because it was estimated that heaven was above the clouds, hidden with some magic.

In the history of Cloud Kingdom, only one man had ever come back from this forbidden land. Later, that man established this great kingdom under his name, Cloud Kingdom. According to legend, he gained inhumane strength from Cloud Mountains. That's why he was able to unify this land into a single kingdom that was still ruling peacefully.

But people of Cloud Kingdom thought that beyond Cloud Mountains were endless darkness like space or an empty night-like place. So no one could survive there.

Furthermore, Cloud Mountains were filled with ferocious monsters. They never missed their prey, so nobody knew about them properly.

Every person who dared to go there got eaten by those monsters. That's why people stopped thinking about exploring the forbidden land.

However, people were wrong. Beyond those giant mountains was water, ocean. So geographically, Cloud Kingdom was established on a very big island.

But the people of Cloud Kingdom were not aware of this fact. They could never expect this possibility since they didn't have any knowledge about the world beyond Cloud Mountains.

And their ignorance was going to destroy the Cloud Kingdom soon. Because some strangers had arrived at the shore of this land by riding on some strange things which looked like giant versions of boats. They could float on the water despite their large bodies.

About a thousand humans were staying at the shore by building tents. All of them were fully armed with different kinds of weapons, exquisite patterns were carved on them. It was like a war could break out anytime.

Some distance away from the shore were Cloud Mountains. A young man in winter clothes was standing on a peak of a mountain which was 2 km tall from ocean water level. He might be young from his looks but he had a healthy body. He was standing there without any fear.

He had been looking in direction of South state for a long time as if he was waiting for something. Suddenly, cold breezes increased. Snow started flying in the air like a hurricane was coming.

The young man narrowed his eyes and saw something in the sky which was coming toward him. He smiled with excitement, "Finally. We have found the path. Now no one can stop us."

"You hear me monster? No one can stop us," he shouted with his full strength. His shout was like thunder which even shook off the snow from the mountains.

"Roar!"

Another roar echoed in the Cloud Mountains which was even more thunderous than the young man's. It produced snowstorms in every direction.

In the opposite direction from the Southern Walls were the Northern Walls. And beyond those walls was Flame River too. And beyond the river were Cloud Mountains of the north. North was much colder than in other places.

In a cave on a northern mountain, a man in black clothes was sitting on an ancient throne like a lifeless being. His face couldn't be seen because of the darkness. But there were gems on his throne, revealing his figure with their dim light power.

His head was in the direction of a red gem that had penetrated the ceiling of the cave. Although his face couldn't be seen. His mouth was still a little visible. His skin was white but his lips were bloody red.

Suddenly, he spoke in a cynical tone, "They can figure out the way so quickly. Haha... well, it is fated to happen.

"If you think that you can escape from troubles, just because you have hidden in a dark cage, then you are very wrong. No one can escape from their fates. You have to face it someday. If you are not ready, then accept your doom."

He sighed indifferently and said cynically, "Forget it. It is not my problem anymore. I wonder if I will be able to find my successor in the upcoming chaotic times."

After that he became silent again like a statue, he didn't move his body at all. Even his breathing couldn't be heard in this cave.

He was clearly not a human.