Lying down on a large branch in a great tree, I took a bite of fruit. The satisfying crunch brought a light mixture of sweet and sour flavors to my mouth. This fruit, known as an apua, was said to be a key ingredient in a miraculous medicine that could reverse aging. It boasted an impressive price tag, but in this forest you could eat as many as you could stomach.
“Spirits of the wind,” I murmured, tossing the leftover core. A moment later, a sudden whirlwind crushed it into paste. As the fruit’s flesh became nourishment for me, so did its core become nourishment for the earth. And with a bit of luck, spitting its seeds back to the ground would result in a new tree.
As I yawned, a bird fluttered down from the sky to land on my chest, happily chirping away. I stretched a finger out toward it, and it snuggled up to my hand like a spoiled pet. It knew full well that I would never hurt it. It knew I was a member of a people that lived in harmony with the forest: an elf.
To be specific, I was a high elf, a type more in tune with the spirits. But as far as the forest-dwelling peoples went, there wasn’t much of a difference between us. Both elves and high elves rarely changed. They were largely immutable.
“Yeah. Honestly, I’m tired of this,” I muttered to myself as I lazed away alone in the woods.
If I ever grew hungry, there was always fruit around. I could refine my skill with a bow, though there was no need to hunt. And I could speak with the spirits to peek into the underlying truths of the world. For those desiring slow, peaceful days, the lifestyle of an elf was more than they could ever wish for...but after 120 years of it, I had had my fill. Technically speaking, I was probably closer to 150 years old, but I wasn’t really self-aware until about 30 years old, so I could only start counting from then.
Of course, other elves and high elves had no complaints about their way of life. They were fully satisfied to live alongside their beloved forest. After all, they had never experienced anything different. The idea that another way of life was possible hadn’t even crossed their minds. However, though I was born in the Forest Depths and had never once left its bounds, from the moment I was self-aware, I had known of another life.
Yes, I had been reincarnated. I still had my memories of my previous life in a different world. There, I was human and elves existed only in fantasy. My world, Earth, had been plagued with brutal and gruesome wars, but it had also been overflowing with entertainment, art, and culture. Knowing of a world of conflict, one that demanded each individual carve their own way, I fully appreciated the magnificence of the gentle, peaceful lives these elves led. But at the same time, coming from a world of such rich culture, I could only bear the lack of stimulation in elven society for so long. First and foremost...
“I wish I could eat meat...”
I was sick of living off of fruit. In response to my muttered complaint, the bird sitting on my chest took off in a panicked flight.
Huh, what a smart bird.
But I had never had any intention of catching it and eating it. If I lit a fire in the Forest Depths, I’d be drowning in complaints in no time. If I wanted to eat meat, I’d have to cook it, meaning I’d have to leave the forest. To put it another way, if I left the forest behind I’d be able to cook and eat meat, and then I’d be able to travel around and live a much more stimulating life.
“All right, I am done living as an elf. I simply am not...nah, I’m just not really cut out for it.”
I had made an honest effort to assimilate into high elf society, living exactly as they did for over a hundred years, but I was at my limit. High elves were ageless and could live for over a millennium. When their bodies finally did perish, their souls would live on as spirits in nature, drifting about the natural world until the end of time. The thought of living like this for another 850 years, or even until the end of the world itself, wasn’t all that appealing.
If I was going to live that long, wouldn’t it be better to see the world, to experience all the foods and sights it had to offer? Once I’d had my fill of the world, maybe then I’d be interested in becoming a spirit or whatever.
I headed to a river running through the forest, then picked up some rocks and began striking them against each other, breaking chunks off until I had formed a stone knife. There were no processed metals in the forest. While there were certainly ores in the earth, it was generally understood that processed metals were a source of fear for the trees. It was no wonder the elves held animosity toward the dwarves, a race that excelled at the art of blacksmithing. I could understand the trees fearing tools like axes that were capable of cutting them down, but it didn’t seem to make much sense when it came to things like spoons, forks, and other cutlery.
If one needed a blade in the forest, their only options were to carve one out of stone or fashion one from the teeth or bones of a large animal. However, even without being crafted into tools, the bones and teeth of large animals were prized valuables in elven society, so only the older elves were permitted to own them. Otherwise, the younger elves ran the risk of being consumed with avarice and bringing unnecessary death to the animals of the forest.
Yes, a greedy young elf like me would never be permitted to own such a thing, but at this point I didn’t care much anymore. Once I left the forest behind, I would be leaving those customs behind me as well.
Looking at my reflection in the water, I used my new stone knife to slice away my hair. Long hair was a symbol of the noble high elves, so cutting it short was forbidden. But honestly, I had always felt like it was in the way. Of course, if I messed up with this improvised knife and cut it too short, there would be no going back. So for the time being, I left it at shoulder length.
If someone saw me like this, the high elf elders would lecture me for three days straight. And it would be decades before the scolding stopped. Naturally I had no desire to deal with that, so I decided to leave the forest behind immediately.
All I had done was cut my hair, but already I was starting to feel like my heart had become lighter as well.
There was no one I felt the need to say goodbye to before I left. Though I technically had parents, high elf children were raised by the entire settlement. Our connection by blood didn’t make me feel any closer to them than to anyone else in the village. It wasn’t like I had no friends in the forest, but I didn’t expect any of them to understand my desire to leave.
Oh well. There’s nothing I can do about that.
This didn’t have to be goodbye forever. If fate allowed it, we’d be able to meet again. They probably wouldn’t even notice my absence for at least a month.
With that excuse, I began marching to the edge of the forest, my only possessions being my bow and arrows, a bag of woven ivy filled with apuas, and this stone knife.