Chapter 3 Travelling

The rain kept falling for a few days, even though it was inconvenient going out; but the air of the place, so fresh with earthy smell, the grass was lush green; full of vitality on the roadside, the bumpy dirt road was shining; and the birds were singing, having a party in the jungle. On the morning of departure, the sun finally came in its wake seemed an effort on the part of Nature to match the state of the dad’s heart.

Baby was jumping up and down passionately non-stop; Joy was worried that he would be tired during their way. Joy was all set to go; her carry-on package was a small blue waterproof backpack which she bought it two years ago for the Himalaya Mountains climbing.

"Be careful, you go there first, Baby will guide you. I will go later after I take care of some stuff here."Christ hugged his daughter.

"Don’t worry, Dad, Please take care of yourself, I will see you in the Habitat then." Joy replied.

She walked quickly through the courtyard following by Baby. Although she was still young, it was not her first time to travel far away alone. All those years, her father had been deliberately cultivating self-dependent of her, and solo travel was the quickest and easiest way to grow your independence. It was not until a distance far from home that she quietly turned around and saw her father was still standing at the gate. He looked so thin that the wind could blow him away. She breathed a sigh of relief and continued to walk forward to reach the gate of the village.

"Qingfeng Village" was particularly conspicuous under the reflection of the sun. Joy could not look up because of the glaring Sunshine. There were two main wooden pillars which were retained due to the renovation of the gate last year. It was said that these two sturdy fir pillars were found in the efforts of the whole village at the beginning of the establishment of the village, which were blessing for safety and happiness of people who lived in the village. And the rest of the gate was replaced with concrete pillars.

Baby was leading the way in front of her, he suddenly stopped at one of the wooden pillars, looked around carefully to check out if there were other creatures here. When he found that there were no others nearby, he jumped onto one of the wooden pillars, and pressed it with his fore-paw. Joy looked at him in a trance, when she came back; she discovered that Baby was vanished. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. There was a black hole appearing inside the pillar, growing bigger and bigger every second.

"What are you doing? Come here." Baby poked his head out from the hole and shouted at her.

She was sucked into the dark hole at the moment she touched Baby’s paw. She felt sick and dizzy and then passed out.

"Joy. Wake up. Wake up." Baby was petting her hand.

She woke up with a headache to find herself lying on a piece of grass, that sweet, rich fragrant smell of the forest enveloped her. Thousands of woods built an area of outstanding natural beauty; the floor was carpeted with wild flowers, the space was filled with the sound of running water and singing birds. This kind of forest existed nowhere else in the world. Joy struggled to sit up.

"You are noisy, where are we?"

"Welcome to the Forest for Exotic Animals."

"The forest? I thought we were going to the Habitat."

As she was standing, she was suffering altitude sickness with chest tightness and suffocation. Before her leaving, she was warned by her father to eat pills days in advance in case of a plateau effect. What a pity! If she followed her father’s instructions to take precaution, she would not need to be gasping for her breath right now.

"Do you know why you need a guide? Because you humans cannot arrive at the Habitat directly, you need to go through the forest. And only we can find the way to the Forest." He said proudly.

"Good for you, thank you very much."She finally catches her breath up.

"Are you feeling better now? Hurry up; we need to find the guidance." Baby was flying with a pair of transparent wings.

"Wow, you have wings, it’s amazing." She tidied up her backpack on her shoulder.

"Of course I have wings; first thing first, you can practice your power now, let’s see it. It will help us to find the guidance." Baby was comfortably stirring its wings and standing on a tree.

Joy was about to give it a try when a flash-like arrow was floating in the air pointing to the south, She followed it to a thick pine tree, there were many small words densely engraved in the trunk, flashing.

"The Forest is especially built for the Exotic Animals, and it is also an independent space in earth. Human electronic devices cannot be used here. All creatures in the forest will not take the initiative to attack human beings under the age of eighteen, but if you are deliberately trying to provoke them, they will attack your guides. The creatures that have been practicing over a hundred years may smarter than human beings. Please do not use your power unless there is an emergency, the creatures can find you easily if you use your power. In case of any danger, please ask for help, any Shamans in the Habitat will help you if receiving the signal, but there is only one opportunity for each one of you."

Joy was reading them aloud, and Baby was listening quietly sitting beside her. She suddenly turned to Baby.

"Baby, how long have you practiced?"

"Not long, then I came to your house to get you. I have no idea that I need to wait for six years."

"My bad, so why do you have wings?"

"I do not know, cats here were born with wings."

"Did other animals have wings too?"

"Only us, all the other animals was the same as the ones you watched in the TV, they cannot grow wings even if they practice million years."

"Why are cats so special?"

"How should I know? Do you know that curiosity kills the cat? "

Joy stopped asking, she was worried that Baby would lose control any minute. Then Joy heard a sound brought by the wind. It seemed to come from ancient times, but it was also loud and clear:

"Welcome to the Forest. I'm Master Lin and I will be your Growth teacher for the following year. Before you guys arrive at the habitat, you need to find five kinds of Grains in the forest; by the way, there is no time limit. As for the location of the grains, each one of you has a chance to get a hint. I believe you have seen the guidance of the forest, please let me remind you that don't use your power in any circumstance. All creatures, even a piece of grasses, woods, birds or fishes… is equal as human beings. Please treat them well. I wish you all good luck and sincerely hope that every student can arrive at the Habitat as soon as possible. "

Joy turned around to look at Baby, who is still impatiently urging her; he didn't appear to hear the voice.

"Baby, did you hear it? The voice was transmitted by the wind." Joy was curious.

"It's the mission announcement. Only you guys can hear it. What is the task this time?" He bowed his head and smelled a sun-like flower at his feet.

"We need find five kinds of Grains, er, unlimited time. Do you have any ideas where they are?" Joy looked at Baby.

Baby’s look was serious which showed that he had no clue at all. He waved his little head.

"I have no idea. I am tired, why don’t we have a good sleep now? Maybe I will think of something afterwards." He lied on a pile of fallen leaves. Joy shook her head and also lied down on another pile of leaves next to him.

It was said that there were fierce beasts from ancient times who would like to trick teenagers deep into the forest. The beasts would deliberately try to separate you from your guide in a notoriously fickle way, once you lost your way; it would be easy for them to lure you unconsciously into their territory. It was giving her the goose bumps just thinking of them.

 "Baby, is it true there are beasts in the forest who like to trick teenagers?"

"Don’t worry; I will know if they come near us."Baby crawled gently in her arms.