Watching Any I can notice her slight trembling, her lips pursed, her eyes shining, and her tight grip has almost torn the sheet of paper in my hands to shreds.
Any, gentle looking and melancholic face tries to smile in my direction, her gaze fills me with strange feelings, it is obvious that she does not want me to leave this world, but her current position makes her very mature.
I smile at Any, she lowers her head.
"Everyone I love eventually walks away, I..." Any moves closer to me as she murmurs "I want you back, Lord Ferr," Any finally says before hugging me tightly.
When did this girl get so attached to me?
I really don't know, so I simply hug Any as my consciousness begins to fade.
"When you return, the contract is clear, Lord Ferr, when you return you will marry me, Do you understand?", Any whispers near my right ear.
Wait, What?
I try to say some words but I can't, I feel like I'm only a second away from sleeping deeply.
...
My eyes open suddenly, I'm in my room, I look at my body, my hand, and then I look at the terrarium on a small table in the center of my room.
"I'm back", I whisper to myself, then I look at the terrarium, the plants inside, the mist inside and the earth inside, there is no trace of what I saw before, there is no subway village or little people, the terrarium is in the same state in which Alberth gave it to me.
"Ferr, are you coming to dinner?", a voice calls me from behind the door of my room, then I can only say yes, before leaving my room.
The terrarium is something magical, I don't know what it takes or how long it must be before I can go in again, but hopefully it won't be long.
As I walk down the stairs I unconsciously touch my chest and notice something strange, quickly checking through my clothes I pull something out, Cemar's diary has returned to this world with me.
Some time later...
I have read Cemar's diary a couple of times, the book is... incredible to say the least, it contains some theories about what her world is, and without knowing the truth of her world, in her youth, Cemar guessed that her world could be some kind of place encapsulated in something strange.
Then, the creator of everything came to her world, Cemar was thrilled, she fell in love with the creator of her world at first sight and did everything she could to become his wife.
In the end she succeeded, the creator of her world "the terrarium", had a daughter with her, that daughter is Any, then, that creator came back every five years, in the end, he said he could not come back anymore, he said his end would come soon.
Then, Cemar decided that she would leave the terrarium with him, in the diary it was written that they would meet and become a single existence only in the place where the terrarium " her world" was created.
Then, on the last page of Cemar's diary it was written that the terrarium will have a new owner, but that he will not the creator, but everyone would think that he is the creator, that everyone must think that the new owner is the creator of that terrarium, she wrote something like, "Necessary to maintain the mental health of the inhabitants of Tazy".
Some things that I couldn't make sense of before have been clarified thanks to Cemar's diary, however, more questions haunt my mind.
I don't know if Alberth was the creator of the terrarium, but if that were the case, it would make sense, but to die that way, Why?
I still don't understand it, and while I'm in the school on the second floor I observe through the window the forest in the distance, that virgin forest covered by a light mist makes my mind start to wonder several things.
Maybe I should go to the forest one of these days.
After school I decided to go back to Alberth's parents' house to ask some questions, however, when I arrived to where a big elegant house used to be I only found an empty place, totally flat and with some grass growing in a space where a house should be.
It was as if everything disappeared from one day to the next, there were no traces of debris, or some footprints, nothing, asking some people who were passing by told me that in that place there was never a house.
I didn't want to believe it at first, I investigated and asked the village chief, however, they all said the same thing, there was never a house in that place, there was never someone named Alberth, even my mother didn't remember the first incident at school.
My mom said I always had that terrarium, one day I found it lying in a corner at school and brought it home.
It's been a few days since I didn't find any clue about Alberth, then, only the forest is left to find answers to my questions, going to the forest may be the only way to find any clue about Alberth.
This day there are no classes so I got up the courage, I bought some things like a small gun, water, food, and a medieval gambeson-like equipment to protect myself.
The easiest thing to get was the gun, some people don't care who they sell it to as long as they can sell, and the most complicated thing was the gambeson, a kind of medieval armor quite good.
Armed with this I left my house in the direction of the forest.
There is not much surveillance, entering the forest was not complicated, in fact, at this moment I am walking and going through the forest vegetation.
I must say, it is a bit strange, once you enter the forest a strange sensation invades your body, something tells you that you are in a dangerous place and the mind goes into a state of alert.
Looking left and right again I can only see an abundant vegetation, there are some animals like thatchers or small insects near me, but those are no danger.
Walking further towards the center of the forest I begin to notice something strange, as I walk a slight sound of old wood is heard, and the ground seems to vibrate slightly.
Without hesitation I raise my pistol, adopt a firing position and concentrate.
I take steps forward with some fear, always pointing the pistol in front, however, after a few minutes nothing happens, everything is as quiet as usual.
Suddenly a light rain begins to fall, the black clouds have accumulated slightly covering the sun, and as I continue to be alert, the sound of a crow is heard not far away.
Looking up slightly I can see a raven flying in my direction, the raven's wings are huge, majestic, its black feathers shining for some reason while its golden beak makes my mind reel.
I am completely blown away by the raven's beauty, its wings move gracefully in the air, the body descending little by little.
To say that I am unable to move would be a lie, however, the raven's charm makes me simply stare at him.
A moment later the raven lands on the tip of my gun, with my hands outstretched I watch the raven shake his head and look at me with his glowing red eyes.
The raven's head movement is contagious, unexpectedly I find myself moving my head just like the raven.
Slowly, watching the raven, my mind goes blank.
"Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat you must, to get out of the forest if you will, then, human, eat until you can no more," the raven opens its golden beak and a high-pitched, evil voice comes out of it.
The raven shakes its head a few more times before flying away from me again.
As I watch the raven fly off to an uncertain place my mind begins to regain clarity, I squint my eyes, my mind works quickly trying to comprehend what happened.
*Noise*
Again the strange noise is heard not too far away, I quickly get into a guard position again and observe my surroundings cautiously.
"What was that?" I mutter inside my mind while observing not far away a tree with a burned trunk.
Should I ea?t, but What should I eat?, I squint my eyes and as I look at the tree with the burnt trunk, this tree moves its branches slightly.
"The sound is coming from there," I whisper to myself as I crouch down and then pull the trigger of my pistol several times in the direction of the tree.
Three shots exactly pierce the burnt trunk of the tree, however, that's all that happened.
I squint my eyes and a moment later the tree with the burned trunk starts moving again.
Cautiously I take several steps forward, always pointing my gun straight ahead, my eyes focused on the tree.
Before I can get any closer, however, something blunt hits the side of my head.
"Play?", the high-pitched voice of a girl is heard not far away, the blow to my head causes me to grunt and wince due to the pain, but, I don't have much time to think, some sort of rope quickly wraps around my neck.
"Why don't you try to get to know me?, I have good feelings," the rope around my neck exerts pressure making me open my eyes.
Looking ahead I realize, it wasn't a rope, one of the branches of the tree with the burnt trunk has stretched out and wrapped around my neck.
My right hand drops the gun due to the pain, the tree exerts a lot of pressure and soon I find myself looking at the sky, completely without hope.