The forbidden Forest

“I brought this flat because it was near nature. I loved it here but now, they are planning to cut off these trees and make more buildings. How can the government allow it?” said Mia looking out from the balcony with her frowned face. Her hand was busy combing her wet hair.

“We can’t help it. The government has already approved it. The construction already began”, said her husband resting on the Sofa and his lay eyes fixed to the TV screen on which a Tennis player, holding his racket was jumping to and fro as if waiting for a pass from the other side of the net.

“I know that. We even did the petition but guess these builders are too powerful. I can’t believe this. Just yesterday, I spent the evening watching the peacocks dance, and now I know they will all be gone. What are they going to do with the animals? Will they kill them? Shift them?”, Mia turned to him.

“How would I know Mia? Let it be. There is nothing we can do”, he said, changing the channel to the news bulletin.

“You seem to not care at all but I do and you know what, before this horrible thing happens, I want to pay one last visit to the forest. At least I can say goodbye”, said Mia, dreamingly.

“No one will allow it, the chopping has already started”, said Mike.

“Not in our area yet, they are starting from the outer circle. We will be the last to get the beating so I have time to enjoy the jungle before it is completely destroyed”, she insisted.

“Don’t be crazy Mia, there are animals in the forest. It is not safe”, said Mike, still changing channels and lying on the sofa, looking relaxed as if nothing really mattered to him and was only adding to the conversations to keep Mia engaged.

He knew if he would not, Mia would feel ignored and that was not good. Mia was easy to get pissed off and when she did, her wrath could destroy the whole house. Last time, Mike did not care to participate in her conversation, Mia had thrown a costly vase that he had received as a gift from his Ex-girlfriend, out of the window.

“You do not seem to care much but I am going”, She left the living room and went straight to her bedroom, and walked to her wardrobe.

“Oh Come on Mia, it’s not safe and I can’t go right now. You know that internet guy is going to come for the repair”, He said loud enough for her to hear from the other room.

By the time, Mia was already decided and had selected a green wrap dress that she loved to wear.

Mike knew no matter what he said, when Mia made up her mind, she would not listen and he could not stop her but he continued to play the formalities, “Are you sure Mia that it is a wise thing to do, especially, at this time when they have started cutting the trees and the animals could be scared, furious and running around.”

But Mia was adamant and got dressed. She pulled up her handbag that was hanging on the door and walked up to him, “I am going. Will come back by night”.

“Why is it so important for you?” he looked up and asked.

“It is, you won’t understand. I have to give it a last try to save” said Mia, taking a sigh

“Save? Are you crazy? How the hell would you do that?” Now, he was frowning too. Mia was acting crazy he thought. She was not calm like other women he knew but this was her extreme side.

“I don’t know but I will try,” she said and left without a word, leaving the door behind that shut itself with a bang.

“Oooh! She is angry. Someone is going to die today”, he said to himself with a twisted smile on his face.

The jungle was beautiful. They were not allowed to enter the jungle and the residential area was protected by a huge wall that kept animals from entering the city area. However, there was one place Mia knew, with a huge tree just shouldering the wall, acting as a support for her to jump over to the other side. No one knew but this was not something she was doing for the first time. She had visited the forest often and this was her sneak path.

She put her foot on the lowest branch of the tree and held its upper end with her hand, pulling her body up with a force and she landed on the branch. She then flipped sides and pushed herself upward on the tree till she reached the peak of the wall. She looked to the other side, slowly landing on the wall, and stood there standing. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked at the forest that looked so calm as if it was unaware of the doom it was going to face. She kept staring at the forest, looked down from the height. She took another sigh and pushed her one leg out holding it in the air. She kept looking down with her unsure eyes as if still thinking if she was taking the right move.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sound. Something was moving between the trees making leaves chirp crazily. She looked up to the woods curiously and saw a figure coming out of it. It was a grayish-brown wolf with bloody red eyes that moved slowly, leaving the trees and was nearing the wall, leaving the tracks of his big claws behind. Till it reached the wall, its lips were sealed tight but then he opened them exposing his sharp ivory teeth. His tongue moved fiercely and from it dripped down saliva.

Mia stood on the wall unmoved as if frozen.

“I am sorry”, she said with her nervous eyes pleading the ferocious animal, “We have no choice but to raise him,” She said in her husky voice.

The animal closed its mouth and its eyes were calmed, going from red to bright amber. It looked for a while and bent over its knees. His fur slowly started to blur and his body moved and stretched, changing shape from that of a four-legged animal to a two-legged one. His hair began to disappear and his face changed with jawbones getting tighter. He rose up between the gush of the wind that was making the soil particles float around him till it took a completely new shape of a human.

“Are you sure Mia?,” He said in his baritone voice, “This would not be very pleasant for humans”.

“I do not care. Are they good to us? Our lives are bound to it. If humans destroyed it, we would be doomed too”, said Mia. Her eyebrows waggled as she continued, “They deserve it”.

The wolf-turned man stretched his hand out to her and she immediately grabbed it. She jumped down from the wall and landing beside him safely, gave him a good look and a smile, “Let’s go”.

The next moment, they were walking through the woods heading straight to the middle of the forest, to the oldest tree existing in the vicinity. The tree with a huge foundation was standing tall proudly in the middle of the forest with its thick pined lush green leaves covering a huge area. The tree was too thick to cut and branched out to distances. It was also the tallest tree in the forest, and that made it look like a green mountain in between the forest from far.

“I don’t think they will ever be able to cut this. Also, it’s a heritage even as per government regulations.”

“Yes, they cannot but they can definitely destroy everything else unless it protects us all. And what if they found a way around this tree? What if they entered it? So many lives are at stake. It is the protector and the protector must wake up”, She said boldly.

“Do you realize what this will do? This forest will be forbidden forever” He said.

“Not for us”, she walked close to the tree and held out her hand with her palm facing up, “let’s do this”.

The wolfman made a fist and then suddenly opened it with a jerk, throwing his fingers out. The fingers that came up were now stretching to increase in size and the claws started to slowly appear from inside, growing in length, and in sharpness. He then turned to the woman and sliced a cut on her hand with his claw.

“fes matos tribium arbor vocatio…” She started saying the Latin words and they were followed by the howl of the wind that moved in tandem with her spell. She closed her eyes and her fist, pressing it hard so more blood would ooze out and she dropped it on the foot of the tree. As her blood touched the roots bulging out from the bottom, it started to spread as if the roots acted like pipes that were made to absorb the blood. It slowly started to spread out in other roots and the growl of the wind became louder.

The blood reached the stem of the tree making it look dark red in shade and as it reached the branches, they turned red too. When the blood reached the leaves, they stayed green but glowed in pink light, and soon the entire tree was awakened with its leaves shining. From the tree spread out a light that made the jungle shine bright like in sunlight even when it was quarter to 8 and dark outside. Not just the shine was bright but also the growl was now fierce.

And then she screamed on the top of her voice, “S UUUU R GII T”. Thunder was heard with a flash of lightning dropping from the sky down to the tree straight. A bolt like that would burn anything on the earth but not the savior of nature. The tree only shined brighter with it. The lightning was helping it hide its natural sheen from the humans.

Mia smiled and looked at the man who had helped her resurrect Deku.

“We are done here. Our protector is back” her smile grew wild, “I need to leave before Mike gets suspicious” she said.

The man nodded and walked out of the forest with her. He helped her climb the wall again and in no time, she was back at her home. When she entered the house, her frown was gone. She looked calm.

“Where were you? Did you see there was big lightning, so loud? Really scary. Where were you? Are you ok?” said Mike while still holding the door for her.

“I am great!” said Mia with a bright smile on her face.

“You look happy. This face of yours usually appears when you have won a deal. Did you do something to protect the forest? How could you possibly do anything to protect it?” He said with a peering face.

“Nature will protect itself and the ones who deserve to live”, She said, her face was radiating true happiness.

“ooh, you sound, creepy, eerie, mysterious. I hate it when you sound like that”, His forehead gnarled as he expresses his suspicion.

But Mia looked unperturbed and happy. She went straight to the balcony and slid open its door. She settles herself on the desk chair and as she did, the chair was pushed into a light swing. As it moved back and forth, Mia kept smiling and looking at the forest. Her day was successful. She had done what she had wanted to do for a long time.

The next morning was different both for Mike and Mia. Mia happily cooked his favorite dishes that Mike was supposed to enjoy but somehow, he was unable to because he grew more suspicious of his wife who was acting differently from her normal self. Of course, he did not know that the ritual that had performed last night had not just awakened the great Deku but with the protector of nature awakened, her powers were also revived.

While earlier, she had to follow the rules of the ground and only do the basic magic with the help of herbs and artifacts that held magic in them, the bright shine of the tree gave her more power to absorb, and now, she would not need the raw chants and would be able to do magic without any support. Till yesterday, she was a powerless witch in hiding, and today, she was the most powerful witch to ever walk this earth because the God of nature had bestowed great power on her.

A day passed in happiness and she hummed beautiful sounds all day. The next day was the day to enjoy for her and her allies, including the animals living in the jungle but humans who tried to take away their land were the ones to face the wrath of nature like never before.

It was 12 noon on a Sunday when Mike switched on the TV in the hope of hearing some good news about the new law that was going to be passed in support of stock traders. If the bill was passed, it would be the greatest news for his business. But when he switched on the TV, the breaking news was not about the government bill but about the latest deaths in the jungle.

Six workers had entered the jungle to cut the trees like usual but today, nature had retracted. Something stranger happened and they all died. From the look of the scene, it appeared as if a cyclone had arrived throwing away the branches from the trees that headed straight to the workers, hitting them so hard that they could not take a breath any longer. Some faces were smashed, some skulls were broken and some bled so bad that their remains were unrecognizable.

Mike looked at his wife, expecting a sorrowful face but she did not seem disturbed by the news but instead looked calm just like Mike used to be when she discussed saving trees.

“Poor fellas, hope they have learned the lesson and would not touch the forest again,” She said and smiled, sipping up the coffee she was holding in her hand.

Mike was unable to believe her reaction. His eyes widened and his brows were drawn closer. He wanted to ask her why she behaved strangely but he kept his lips sealed as his heartbeat was rising. He looked at the TV again and could not bear the sight of brutal murders. Nature could not do that? Who did that? He wondered. He looked here and there as if searching for the answers around and switched off the TV. He looked at Mia who was still sipping her coffee calmly. Unable to understand what got into his wife, he slowly pulled himself out of the couch and left the living room.

“Humans are supposed to protect nature, not destroy it. And those who destroy it must be punished”, She said, smiled, picked up the remote from the desk, and switched on the TV. The news flashed, “6 DIED IN THE FORREST SUSPICIOUSLY, KILLER UNIDENTIFIED”. It continued with the descriptions of the mysterious deaths and the plight of those who died and ended with an announcement, “Government has declared it as a Forbidden Forest and sealed it shut for the public”.