The forest was not quiet even if it was.
The shadows that had attacked Aaron moments ago were gone. They just disappeared into the ground like water sinking into earth.. The air still felt like someone was watching him. The tree trunks were leaning in a little, their bark making creaking sounds.
Aaron was standing still. His chest was going up and down in a rhythm. The black stuff on his sleeve was already dry and flaky. A broken tree branch was hanging at his side.
The woman with the mask was facing him. It was pretty dark.
For a few seconds they did not say anything.
Though she didn't take off her mask he knew her face was calm. Her eyes were not soft. They were not mean either. They just seemed far away like she had accepted something a long time ago.
"My name is Tsukiyara, " she said.
The name sounded nice in the air.
"I am one of the Apostles of the Moon, " she added.
Aaron looked at her closely. "Apostle, " he repeated.
Tsukiyara smiled a little. "Never seen one before huh?"
Something deep in the forest moved. It was big and slow. It was not being friendly. It was just awareness.
Tsukiyara kept talking. "Sang Mara is really old. It is older than the cities that are buried under this land. It is older than the metal and the glass. It is older than the roads."
Aaron looked around. He saw the remains of what used to be homes. Only the tops of the roofs were visible because of all the roots and vines.
"After the Great Awakening " she said, "the things that kept the parts of the earth from coming up got weaker. Sang Mara took back what was always part of it."
Her fingers touched a tree trunk. The bark seemed to be pulsing a little.
"This was always a forest, " she said.
Aaron frowned. "It was a place where people lived."
Tsukiyara tilted her head. "That was for a little while. That is nothing."
She did not say it in a way. She just said it like it was a fact.
Aaron looked around again. The trees did not look random. They were arranged in a way that was almost perfect, but not quite.
"So these creatures, " Aaron said, "are they like servants?"
Tsukiyara said, "They are like children. They are parts of something. They watch the borders."
Aaron remembered how they moved. They were quite twisted.
"They attack anything that comes in, " he said.
Tsukiyara corrected him. "They attack anything that does not belong."
They were quiet for a moment.
Then Aaron said, "So Sang Mara is on the side of darkness."
Tsukiyara laughed.
It was not loud. It was not mean. It was a little laugh.
"Darkness?" she said. "Light?"
She shook her head.
"There is no darkness. There is no light."
The forest creaked like it was agreeing.
"There is only what is True, " she said.
Aaron did not say anything away.
Tsukiyara looked at him closely. "Darkness is just as real as light. Death is just as real as birth. Hunger is just as real as kindness."
She walked around him slowly.
"Every living thing has its place. Every god, every spirit, every thing. Humans just took space without asking."
She pointed to the buildings that were swallowed up.
"Is it wrong for the forest to take it back?"
Aaron thought about the people who ran away. He thought about the fear in their eyes.
"A lot of people have died, " he said.
Tsukiyara said, "Some had. Like the forest did when it was cut down."
The way she said it made it hard to argue.
The world changed after the Awakening. Cities fell. Gods showed up. Some people got powers. It was not balanced. It was just being fixed, maybe.
Tsukiyara stopped in front of him.
"Important question, which god do you belong to?" she asked.
She did not sound mean or pushy. She just sounded curious.
Aaron hesitated.
His power showed up suddenly. It was not controlled. It did not feel like a gift. It felt like something was torn open.
"I do not know, " he said. "Something happened when the world changed.. I do not know its name. I do not hear it. I do not feel it guiding me."
Tsukiyara looked at him closely.
"Do you feel like you belong to something?" she asked.
Aaron thought about it.
No.
He did not feel claimed. He did not feel guided. He did not feel watched.
He just felt alone.
Tsukiyara's face did not change. Her voice was a little softer, excited.
"Then maybe your god is dead."
The words felt heavy.
If a god could die what happened to the people who were chosen by it?
Tsukiyara kept talking. "When a god falls its parts scatter. Sometimes they stick to humans. Sometimes they go back into the world."
She looked at his chest like she could see something under his skin.
"If your god is gone then you are not tied to it."
Aaron's eyes narrowed. "Tied?"
"To serve. To be limited. To stay in a place that's not yours."
A breeze came through the leaves smelling like earth.
Tsukiyara walked closer. She was not threatening, just direct.
"You could be more than that."
The words hung in the air.
"Without a god?" he asked.
"Yes." Her eyes did not waver. "It is rare. It is hard. It is dangerous.. But it is not impossible."
Something deep in the forest moved again like a heartbeat.
Aaron felt it this time. It was not threatening. It was there.
"Being divine without being given it " Tsukiyara said softly. "You would make your place."
The idea felt away. It felt unreal.
He was just trying to survive.
Tsukiyara walked deeper into the jungle.
"I have a place to stay, " she said. "You can stay for a while."
Aaron raised an eyebrow. " Like that?"
"You came in and survived. Sang Mara will not eat you immediately."
That should better be the truth.
"The forest is curious about you. Moreover, I am an Apostle of a god. It shouldn't kill someone I vouched for." she added.
That part was comforting.
She kept walking without waiting for his answer.
After a few seconds Aaron followed her.
The deeper they went the thicker the jungle became. The trees blocked light. Roots made bridges across old streets. Strange plants glowed in shades of blue and green pulsing as they walked by.
The forest did not feel strangely dangerous anymore.
It felt like it was watching them.
Aaron looked at his wrist. His watch was quite dim.
"Do you live here?" he asked.
"Maybe."
"Alone?"
"I am not alone."
He did not ask more.
They walked for minutes without talking. Sometimes Aaron saw things moving between the trees. Shadows, eyes. Then they were gone.
It felt like they were being escorted.
Finally the trees opened up into a clearing.
In the middle was a house made from branches and old metal. A lantern was glowing near the door. The ground around the house was clean. No vines, no pulsing roots.
"This is where I stay, " Tsukiyara said.
Aaron looked around carefully. The trees around the house were tall and thick like a wall.
"Sang Mara lets you stay here?" he asked.
Tsukiyara nodded. "This is still part of its body."
The way she said it made the forest feel like a living thing under their feet.
Tsukiyara walked towards the house and stopped.
"You can rest here, " she said. "Remember something,"
She turned to him again.
"A friend today won't be a friend tomorrow. An enemy yesterday won't be the same today."