Oakaigus #1: Red Bloom (5 page)

“I’m good,” Jogen said.

CHAPTER 10

Cruising through the sky, Bobo ascended
at a slow, steady pace above the crashing tides of the ocean.

In the carrier, Jogen sat quietly,
staring blankly out the window at the passing clouds.

Mr. Singu, with his eyes closed and head
leaning back, started blinking. He stretched up his arms and turned to Jogen.

“…Something on your mind?” Mr. Singu
asked.

“Not much,” Jogen said, “I just…I don’t
know…”

“What’s wrong?”

Jogen exhaled softly. “…I was thinking,
what if I end up alone?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if we don’t make it back in time?
Lilah might die…all ‘cause of me.”

Mr. Singu felt a knot hit him in the pit
of his stomach. “You can’t think like that, Jo. Somethings in life are just out
of our control.”

“I guess…”

“Look, I wasn’t there when she got
attacked, but I’m here to see what you’re doing now. Now I’ve heard about how
rhokuji attack, and honestly, I don’t think there was much you could’ve done
without getting hurt. It must’ve been traumatizing seeing that for the first
time…”

Jogen turned his head back towards the
window, silent.

“You know what else,” Mr. Singu resumed,
“you didn’t even have to come. I told you it would be dangerous, but you came
anyway! That’s means something.”

“I guess, but—“

“No. It
know
it mean something.
You’re risking your life for somebody. I don’t see many people doing that,
especially at your age. People are cold…but you’re different. You’re
trying
.

Jogen turned his head back and stared
Mr. Singu in the eyes.

“And you know,” Mr. Singu said, “I don’t
know if this means anything to you, but…if, somehow, we really don’t make it, I
just want you to know that I’m here for you, Jo.’ I’ve always been.”

Jogen felt a tear well up in his eye as
a lump grew in his throat.

“But,” Mr. Singu said, “if we
do
make it, we’ll go find your mother too! I promise.”

Jogen gulped away the lump in his throat
and wiped the tear from his eye.

“Thanks, Mr. Singu.”

“Anytime, kid.”

The two of them sat for a while, staring
silently at the moving clouds.

“…Hey, Mr. Singu?”

“Hm?”

“What was my dad like? Every time I
asked mom, she always just changed the subject.”

“Oh,
Seo
? Well, actually, I never
really got to know him myself. I was always close with your mother, but him, he
always kind of stayed to himself. Makes me wonder where he went off to…”

“Oh, okay. Well, what’s your dad like,
then?”

“Oh,
him
. Hehe…well, he’s
interesting. One moment, he’s so overbearing and goes on about how much he
expects ‘this and that’ from me, but other times, he turns into this soft
storyteller. He always loves reminiscing.”

“About what?”

“Mmm…oh! This is probably one of his
favorite stories. The funny thing is, if you met him, you’d see he’s not the
type to just believe anything, but this story leaves him baffled every time he
thinks about it.”

“What?”

“You ever heard about the ‘Guest of
Felorra?’”

“No.”

“Alright. Supposedly, this is a true
story. My father said it all happened when he was 10. He’s 94 now. He grew up
in a small village on one of the Felorra Islands. The village was pretty
peaceful, but there weren’t any doctors around, so people died from sickness
alot. It was a really poor place, he said. Bare bones and the rawest conditions.
But one day, a traveler came; the first one they had in
years
.”

“Who?”

“A girl. He said she looked somewhere
around maybe 12 or 13. When she came, a few of the elders asked her did she
need any help. The girl said she was starving, so they fed her some of their
only portions. The girl thanked them, but the girl also noticed a son of one of
the villagers was terribly sick. The boy seemed to be near death, until the
girl touched the mineral on his head. After that, the boy was healed.”

“How?!”

“My father said he doesn’t know. He
thought if he followed her sometime, he’d see her trick. But no matter what, he
couldn’t find anything. The other villagers told him they saw her perform
wonders they’ve never seen.”

“Like what?”

“Some said she could just touch wood and
it would catch on fire. Some said she could command other animals simply by
looking at them, and some said she could even summon thunderstorms just by meditating
in the river.”

“Whoa...”

“Now, besides all that, he said there
was
one
thing that she did, that to this day, he
still
can’t
believe, even after seeing it himself.”

“What?”

“
Raise the dead
.”

Jogen’s brow wrinkled sharply. “What?!”

“That’s right. He said he saw her go to
the only place where they buried their dead. All of the bodies that didn’t
really decompose yet were the ones she chose. She touched the mineral in their
heads too, and he saw them open their eyes.”

“Wow.”

“After this, the village took her in.
The girl soon brought up ideas to help build the land because she said she
wanted others to experience the hospitality she received. She helped them build
hotels and food markets. In a year, the land started to prosper when more
people found them. That’s how, he said, Felorra became the resort it is today.”

“That’s something.”

“Yeah. Once the land’s prosperity grew,
the girl soon decided it was time for her to continue her journey. The
villagers begged her to stay, but she insisted it was time to leave.”

“Where’d she go?”

“Nobody knows. The strange thing was, my
father said she never told anybody her name, except the village leader. Only
thing was, the leader swore to keep it a secret.”

“That was the last time he saw her?”

“That’s what he said. He mentioned the
very, last thing she ever told them before she left was that she’ll ‘
be back
someday
,’ but she never did.”

“She sounds amazing.”

“If she even
existed
, that is. I
know it all sounds crazy, but I know my father. He isn’t the type to just make
stuff up. He
hates
liars. On the other hand, there’s really no proof this
‘girl’ built anything. No founder’s credits, no
nothing
. Kinda’ fishy
how
nobody
knew her name. But see, some people think her ‘return’ is
really just a ploy to attract more tourists anyway since all the original
villagers own all the businesses, including my father. So, I don’t know…”

“I see. Yeah, that does sound kinda’
weird...”

“You’re telling me. Well, anyway, we
should be landing soon. I’m gonna’ nap for a lil’ while. Let me know when we
get there.”

Mr. Singu leaned his head back into the
cushion and closed his eyes.

CHAPTER 11

A little under an hour later, the man in
blue could see pieces of land through the bodies of clouds. He reached to his
side and pulled down a rope. The sound of a bell rung through the carrier,
waking Mr. Singu up.

“H-Huh,” Mr. Singu snorted, “oh…we’re
here?”

“Looks like it,” Jogen replied.

Bobo let gravity’s pull guide him down
to the land. As his descent sped up, he could soon see the runway clearly.

Bobo hardened the muscles in his legs.
Now landing, Bobo touched down, slightly shaking the earth beneath him. He
proceeded to run to the open, terminal gate in front of him.

Bobo entered the terminal’s dock as the
gate closed behind him. Bobo then bent down by the edge of the platform and
aligned the carrier next to it.

Jogen and Mr. Singu stepped out with
their bags in hand and onto the platform. They made their way into the main
hall of the station near the front. As they walked, they only passed by a total
of eleven people.

“Not much going on here,” Mr. Singu
said.

“What now?” Jogen asked.

“Dr. Yanie gave me a map with Prai’s
whereabouts. Supposedly, he’s staying with a friend.”

Mr. Singu dug into his pocket and pulled
out a folded map. “See, here: he’s in the Sciennga Township at 376 Tybus Road.
She told us to walk the coastlines since the wildlife doesn’t bother people
there.”

“Is it far?”

“Looks like a fairly short walk,
actually. 15 minutes tops.”

“Okay, good.”

Jogen and Mr. Singu exited the station
through a long hallway. Once they stepped outside onto the black, stone
walkway, the thick smell of soil and rain filled their noses.

“Ugh,” Jogen said as he shook his shirt,
“why is it so humid?!”

“Perfect place for fungus to grow.”

They adjusted their bags over their
shoulders and treaded along the stone path surrounded by moving water.

As they walked, Jogen squinted his eyes
at the sight of the tides crashing up against the shining, pink sand crystals
on the coast. “This place looks
amazing
,” he said.

As they took their first steps onto the
coast, Jogen gazed up at a colossal, black tree that reached beyond the clouds.
“Whoah,” he said with his mouth open, “I can’t even see the top!”

Still gazing upwards, Jogen took a few,
slow steps forward, when a sudden
crack
sounded off under his feet.

“WHOAH,” he shouted as he jumped. He
looked down and saw the gigantic, red leaf that he stepped through. “This is a
leaf
?!
This is
crazy
!”

“It must be from this tree,” Mr. Singu
said. Mr. Singu inspected the leaf as he traced its stiff, fuzzy spine with his
fingers. “I think I know what this is,” he said, “if I’m right, this is a
choccoro
leaf
!”

“What’s so special about it?”

“Hold on.” Mr. Singu reached into his
bag and pulled out the Explorer’s Guide. He turned to the “Flora” section under
the Kengongbo chapter.

“…I knew it! It’s a leaf that top cooks
use to make their dishes
unbeatable
! It even helps eliminates tumors!
I’ve
got
to get a sample!”

Mr. Singu started rummaging through his
bags.

“Ohhh,” Jogen said, “so how does it
mak—“

Suddenly, a giant, brown beast with
sharp scales leaped from the thornbushes with a screeching roar.

Mr. Singu felt a pump of adrenaline
shoot through his veins as he switched up to grab for the sawblade in his bag. He
rushed to unwrap the blade and slashed at the beast.

As the beast drew near, Mr. Singu’s
blade made contact.

“
Got it
,” he thought in a split
second.

However, the blade broke the instant it
collided with the beast’s scales.

The beast shoved its razor-sharp claws
through Ms. Singu’s chest, crushing through his ribcage and slashing his heart.

“SINGU!!!” Jogen shouted at the top of
his lungs.

Jogen felt his heart plummet in the
depths of his chest. He froze at the sight of the beast shredding Mr. Singu’s
throat wide open, forcing streams of blood to spurt from Mr. Singu’s neck.

Mr. Singu choked on his own blood as his
body fought for air. Jolts of throbbing pain electrified his nerves as his skin
was torn to pieces.

The beast clawed opened Mr. Singu’s
stomach and slurped his intestines through its teeth.

With every fiber of his being, Mr. Singu
struggled to raise his arm as his vision faded away while staring at Jogen.
“J--…Jo…”

The beast opened its bloodied mouth and
chomped down on Mr. Singu’s entire skull. With a loud, wet crack, the beast
tore Mr. Singu’s head from his spine and crunched deeply into his cranium.

Every bite into his skull made Jogen
cringe and flinch.

“N-No…” Jogen said as his jaw trembled.

In a second’s time, another beast lunged
out towards Jogen.

Jogen snapped his head around the moment
he heard rustling.

Jogen’s reflexes made him jump to the
side, but the beast’s fangs caught Jogen’s entire right arm.

“GAHHHH!!!” Jogen screamed as the beast
crunched his shoulder out of its socket.

The beast sucked traces of Jogen’s blood
through his gashes, and finally ripped Jogen’s right arm off into its mouth.

Every nerve in Jogen’s body rattled into
a burning frenzy.

Suddenly, the beast stopped after it
swallowed Jogen’s arm. It stared directly at Jogen with its red eyes and
lowered its head.

Jogen looked at the beast’s rugged
forehead, and noticed the small, clear mineral in its forehead started to
vibrate.

Shortly after, a ringing sound faintly
grew in Jogen’s head.

“
What’s that sound
,” he thought.

The sound grew louder.

Jogen suddenly felt a migraine pierce
through his brain as the ringing grew loud.

In an instant, Jogen’s body locked up.

“
Why can’t I move
,” he thought in
his head.

From Jogen’s mind’s eye, time started to
slow down.

His body froze.

Blood rushed from his wound.

“
Is this…is this it? Am I really
gonna’ die?
”

Slowly, Jogen’s vision blurred as more
blood ran from his shoulder. He saw silhouettes of the beasts as fleeting
blurs, in and out of blackness, slowly approaching him.

“I’m sorry…Li.”

As Jogen’s body lost all strength, his
vision went completely black.

With his last bit of consciousness, he
heard a heavy thump.