Mutated Past

As Mar Hast simply stood before me, having killed the two human spies, I decided to learn something from him as well.

I could quite easily guess that he was much stronger than Hahu the skeleton.

"Mar Hast, who is the strongest in this forest?"

Mar Hast, whose mouth was covered by the blurry helmet replied, "You, your Majesty."

Having guessed this answer I asked again, "Other than me?"

"The Shadow of Sun, perhaps. He is an Arcane like you. Then the Wizard Kavest. Monster Vayanka. And monster Bivishi. Vayanka and Bivishi are two sisters. All of them have sworn allegiance to you. There are other strong creatures here as well, your Majesty. Among the spirits in the forest, I would consider myself among the strongest ones."

Impressed at his response, I slightly smiled. It's quite fun to be a King, it felt. I decided to be more kingly and ordered my knight, "Go check if all the spirits are coming or not. Everyone should be present."

"Your wish is my will." Knight Mar Hast bowed slightly and stood up straight to take leave.

Then I began to think what I should do when they are here. I should give a speech? I don't have a damn idea about the forest's systems, policies, history or culture or anything though.

Just give them false hope? Yeah, perfect!

But about what? 'I will keep being a guardian of you all.' something like that? Hmm... It should work? I don't know. I am just a small apple, I have never given speech before. Wait, what if I just copied a quote from old man's stories? Although I don't remember it perfectly, I don't need to...

With that decided, I went back to sitting on those strange vines. Indeed something was missing. And I then realized what it was.

A throne. A King. Deserves. A throne.

Ah, I remembered something. My old man's corpse which was behind me, in front of my 'egg', or whatever. Shouldn't I bury him? I believe he told me humans are buried under the ground once they are dead. However certain rituals has to be maintained too, or he might become a spirit...

Oh right, he should, in fact, become a spirit! Hmm... There's a very low chance of that happening.

Maybe I should just bury him afterall...

No I want to see him alive.

This is stupid.

I will just leave him how he is.

Keep lying there on the ground, my friend.

I will see if there is a way to make sure that a person becomes a spirit.

After that, time passed slowly. I only sat there to prepare my 'speech' for my subjects. I must say I was a very patient apple. Having spent so many years in my 'egg', although I had my conscious, I knew how to deal with bore.

Like Mar Hast the knight, I expected some other spirits to visit me, but that did not happen. Perhaps all of them were planing to come together.

Within a few hours, I felt a strange sensation. This sensation, I knew what the old man called it. It's called 'Aura'. I could feel an intense internal pressue, from an external existence. I could even guess where the pressure was coming from. It was right outside of my lair.

I jumped down from the vines and thought if I should make these spirits my labours and turn this stupid vines-covered dirty lair into a palace. To be frank, I thought there was enough space.

As I walked to the entrance to my lair, my suspicion came to be true.

My subjects were here. Not a single spirit, not two or tens. There was at least a hundred different spirits along with a few giant like spirits, and other extremely human-like beings. All of them stood unitedly.

Seeing me, Mar Hast, who was standing in front of them all, raised his right hand.

Instantly, all of them began to bow down on their knees to pay me respect.

This was where the pressure was coming from. Old man said, those who are able to release such aura, are all extremely strong beings. But that was not a concern for me yet, because they deem me to be their King.

I am still not satisfied with the answer Hahu the skeleton gave me. Why do they need me to be the King? If my internal powers are so large, why doesn't anybody consume me and get the power themselves? I will ask them after this convention.

Standing in front of the entrance to my lair, which is simply the lower part of the corpse of my Mother Tree, I gazed at the faces of my subjects.

Among the many types of spirits, there were some slime-like beings, some giants, some skeletons where I found Hahu also bowing, some beast-like spirits and more. At the very front there was Mar Hast the knight and another giant spirit. At the two rear ends of the large gathering, there were two extremely human-like creatures. One wore a large white robe, and the other dark purple. And both of them had a large triangular top had of he respect colors. I suspected that they are the monsters Vayanka and Bivishi that Mar Hast mentioned.

I was interested in seeing the Arcane 'The Shadow of Sun'. Because he was apparently the only other arcane like me in this forest of Astagha.

As I was about to greet them, Mar Hast uttered, "Your Majesty, all those who have sworn allegiance to you are here."

'All those?' I was surprised. I thought everybody owed me allegiance. Right...

"Good." I lauded my Knight. "All of you should stand up."

To be fair, they looked weird in the kneeling position. I was feeling sympathy for a slime in the middle of the gathering who was trying to kneel in an awkward way.

With just a command, all of them stood up, as though they were expecting me to say more things. Well, I was prepared.

"I have been told that I am the King of this forest, Astagha." I started.

A beast whose face was like a rabbit but the body had no skin but raw meat replied to this statement, "That is the truth, your Majesty."

"Why do you swear allegiance go me?"

"You are the Arcane of the Holy Apple. You are the strongest among us. And your predecessors continued to be the guardian of this forest for eons. We will not be ungrateful to you." replied another similar beast.

I think beasts talk more than other spirits.

But there were flaws in his answer. According to old man, the spirits gathered in the forest because they were attracted by me. They had left the forest when when I was not there.

So only because I have returned, would they come here to show their gratefulness? That's convenient, I think. Also, my predecessors... Interesting, I will ask about that as well.

"What did my predecessors give you?"

"Safety and grace! Under the reign of your mother, it was paradise for us, your Majesty." replied the same beast.

"Why do you think I will be like my mother? And what happened to my mother?" I threw another question at them. This was one of my most important questions as of the moment.

Also by that point, I had made it obvious that I was quite heedless of the situation I was in. I hoped that would not be too much of a problem.

But this time, those beasts did not answer.

From the rear end of the gathering, the white-robed witch replied, "For the first question, your Majesty, you are no greedy like humans. You are the Arcane of the Holy Apple, reincartion of the allies of us monsters, and spirits and all those who belong to the realm of supernatural."

'So, I am sort of unable to side with the humans because I am categorically your guardian?' I thought.

Then from another end of the gathering, replied the purple-robed witch, "For the second question, your Majesty, once there was a human like no other.

We remember, your mother herself praised the conviction of that human. He was here to take the Arcane of the Holy Apple for himself, only showing the greed of these humans. So there was a war that spanned the whole forest. In that war, both of them died, the human, and your mother. However, the Arcanes can not be destroyed. You survived in your mother's corpse and reborn. Your memory might not be there anymore, but some of us suspect that you are your mother herself."

Ah... That's not confusing at all. So I am my mother who survived in myself for years before I am reborn again. Wait, mother... I am a female?

Why are they calling me King then? Aren't kings male?

My head hurts.