Much time passed. Life has been good and peaceful.
Birch found a corner of the world where everything was calm and found peace. Quiet, solitude, sunshine - it gave her the chance to begin her recovery. This isn't the first time we've found such a retreat from the horrors of the world, but this time it feels more important than ever.
The wind blew around us, my soft stems bending gently under the pressure of the wind. My sparse petals fluttered in the wind like Birch's curls flowing around me.
My tired roots are firmly planted in the soil of the beautiful meadow beside the orchard where we rest, drawing deep the nutrients that nourish the world. Behind us, some distance away, is a cliff with the ocean below.
I look up to the sun and let it meet me in our love.
Hello sunshine.
-[sunflower]-
you bathe in the sun
+1 exp
Experience value: 259/1250
How long have we been traveling together?
-I think this is my whole life. Since I was born. In this sense, the sun and Birch are equally connected to me.
Not only do they accompany me all my days, but both of them are also responsible for my existence. Birch is the sun, and the sun is Birch. They were both equally warm.
Some time had passed since we had lost our track as we left the mountain, and since the hordes of monsters had passed us by in search of what they were seeking in the west.
I can only assume they are looking for paradise too.
-Poor fool.
Little do they know we've found the next best thing here.
Birch worked, tending the soil and land. She built a shelter in the grass. She plans to stay here for a while. I believe she no longer wants to walk forever. Maybe she saw that the goblins hadn't learned this lesson.
life is Beautiful.
The sun is very bright.
The air is warm.
The breeze is gentle.
I bathed and enjoyed all the gifts of life.
In fact, heaven is already here. it's here. Just where one might find themselves. Heaven is not a place. Heaven is a feeling.
But it is only available to those who are willing to see life for what it is.
Birch cried as she worked and dealt with her many, many troubles. Her tears watered the earth, and I believe the grass is also grateful for this moisture.
very good.
I feel like my leaves are drooping more.
Birch went to pick fruit.
There was a buzz in the air. Several strong and beautiful bees flew towards me.
ah.
They hummed and danced in the air, landing on my face and stems.
Fortunately Birch isn't here now.
-I don't want her to see this.
After all, I am the most adventurous sunflower.
This will be our secret, bees.
Ha ha.
itch.
Another week has passed. Burch is getting stronger every day as she works on herself and her home. It didn't look very sturdy or well made, but she seemed proud of it, so, I was proud of it, too.
When she's not working, she sits next to me and we look at the sun and she talks about her life.
Birch had never said so much before.
Now, however, she talked and talked. And I, as a good friend, listened, and then she went back to work, having released what she had to release. Like trapped water bursting from a dam, a simple conversation can release countless stresses.
Level!
Congratulations Burch! Your current level is {9}!
-[Bu
ch] -
Health-Poi
ts: 36/36↗ Soul-Poi
ts: 30/30↗
Level: 9↗ Experience: 0/1250
Class: Druid Subclass: None
Race: Human Opel: 000
-[statistics]-
STR: 09 Agility: 14
Wisconsin: 09↗↗ INT: 09↗↗
Lu: 10 Value List: 09
new
-[Root Braid]{Active} -
Cost: {6} Souls
Allows you to weave the roots of trees and plants together to create strong points of support on objects and people.
Tree roots connect the world together, and beneath every forest and meadow, there are many more roots beneath the soil than people think. Druids are well aware of this and know how to use these to their advantage.
She will soon surpass me in power, simply by the virtue and grace she has grown as a human being.
Birch dug around my roots and lovingly tended my soil.
She collected a few of my seeds that had fallen loosely to the ground, crawled around in the dirt, and planted them with wide gaps between me and each other.
(Birch) uses: (grow)
Soul:19/30
Her hands radiated light onto the mound where she had planted my seed.
Small buds sprouted from the soil.
I looked at them curiously.
They are strange little things, but beautiful, with bright, emerald colors. They were all turning, moving their long, worm-like bodies, bending toward the sunlight.
Um.
Does this mean I am now a mother and father?
--curious.
This development is food for thought given the true nature of my existence. Life is so complicated.
Another week has passed. Birch reached my power level.
Level!
Congratulations Burch! You are now level {10}!
-[Bu
ch] -
Health-Poi
ts: 38/38↗ Soul-Poi
ts: 32/32↗
Level: 10↗ Experience: 0/1500
Class: Druid Subclass: None
Race: Human Opel: 000
-[statistics]-
STR: 09 Agility: 14
Wisconsin: 11↗↗ INT: 11 ↗↗
Lu: 10 Value List: 09
new
-[Cold Resistance]{Passive}-
You are resistant to drastic changes in temperature and weather.
+8 to all resistances
Druids spend their entire lives outdoors and are sensitive to the elements of nature.
My best friend built a sturdy shelter out of cut trees stacked on top of one another.
This is a house; small but strong. I sat outside and every day she told me about her past and future. Every day her voice grew stronger and clearer, her desire and her eyes brighter.
The dead wood in her home is held together by the roots and vines of plants she cultivates with magic.
My leaves turned black. My stems are getting soft. I'm old.
It looks like my journey is coming to an end.
-What a journey it has been.
I have seen big rocks and walked under big trees. I bathe in the pouring rain, I bathe in the majestic light of a hundred sunsets, each one more beautiful than the last. I've had kidnappers, I've had wards, I've had best friends. I've seen, done, and experienced things both horrific and wonderful—no one else has ever heard of.
All this and I'm still just a sunflower.
I watched Birch, watching her work in the fields, working on herself. She finally found something resembling peace. The climax of our adventure gave her a simple, humble feeling, and there is nothing greater or more exciting than this feeling. It's a mixture of many good things that come together as a whole.
calm.
Self-acceptance.
Self-love.
I wonder, what has she experienced during our journey that I will never know about? What will she continue to experience that I will never know about?
This is the greatest tragedy in life, if there is one.
There is too much to know for a living being.
We can only hope that the things we spend our time doing, the goals we spend our time pursuing, are real things that fill us with feelings of warmth and love, and that the things we avoid push us not to the edge of darkness, but on the contrary , they push us to a place where we can be who we truly desire and be; heaven, if there is such a thing.
Maybe this isn't true?
Maybe this is just a metaphor?
After all, this is the perfect fit.
Birch sat next to me and we stared into the sunset, coming to the end of the best day of my life.
——The trick to being able to say this is to make every day the best day of your life.
One might ask, what is the point of this whole thing?
If it's not for "heaven", if it's not for the monsters, if it's not for anything else, then what's the point of this strange adventure?
Find.
Look toward the sun.
Look into the face of the person you love.
-I turned to Birch and she turned to me.
This is the crux of the matter. no more, no less.
You gotta understand something, Birch.
But I know you've figured it out, ever since the day we walked through the Crystal Cave, before we even got to the city. From that day, when you first saw your reflection on the smooth surface of the reflective yellow stone, seeing it was alone - all to itself.
I am a sunflower.
You are Birch.
The difference is that I, my entity, do not exist.
I'm not real.
I am a metaphorical sunflower, in a literal sense.
I existed only in Birch's mind, born from the soil of a terrible event, a memory, a trauma, despair, to provide a brighter, more hopeful environment for her spirit. I'm a coping mechanism.
- Even the body itself longs for some hope, the mind longs for some hope, and in this case, if you're in such a hopeless, dark, and scary place, the two of them together will create something real enough.
But Birch has escaped her pain and fear, she has transformed into something that is not a sunflower, not a mushroom, not a bug, not a butterfly, not a snake, not a bird, not even a monster.
She's just a woman, just a human being. good. overall. keep Calm. Beauty is important from every angle.
that's it.
That's all. Nothing less.
Isn't that the most wonderful thing?
ah.
I crave more.
I am eager to see, feel, and understand more and more things.
But it's time to say goodbye.
I am an old sunflower.
Birch raised her trembling hands and laid them on my withered petals, which had reached the end of their natural lifespan.
I'm glad I have some time left to live, Birch.
I'm glad we became friends.
I'm glad I learned the joy of life, even if it was just for a short time.
Even if I'm not real, even if no one can see me but you and your own imagination, even if I'm a part of you like your bones and skin and eyes, know that I love you just like I am Like the sun.
Birch used her druidic powers to identify plants on me. A window appears.
-[sunflower]-
This is an imaginary sunflower.
This is not true.
"Thank you," Burch said.
You're welcome, Birch. It's interesting. Let's come back some time.
goodbye.
I ceased to exist, growing up alone without my best friend Birch. But I know she can do it without me now.
I am a sunflower.
