Visterra #1: Lumeria and the Six Prophetics

Chapter 5: The Call of the Forest

Jehan Wadia was a little lad in a mansion of the rich.

If not for his friends, he would always stay in the confines of his room and reading books about nature. Not that he was forced to, but he loved to. He was always curious about how to control nature in order to benefit humanity. His dream, when asked, was to be an environmentalist – though what it entailed he did not know. He just knew he wanted to be one.

He was brought up to respect nature and to preserve it as much as he could. His parents were environmental enthusiasts, besides their own careers—Mr Wadia owned a school of which Mrs Wadia was the director. Both took the opportunity twice a year to interact with their students and conduct workshops about saving nature and humanity.

This was Jehan's background.

He met his four friends when they were teamed up at one of these workshops for a couple of group activities. He still remembered the sullen look on Jessica Jones' face, the scared face of little Jane Jones, and the shiny look in the lanky Ekaant's eyes, as if he was thinking up some mischief to play during the event of that workshop. While the ever-rosy Josephine looked bored and distracted, Siddharth appeared to be curious.

It was some wonder that such a team as this managed to win both the prizes in the group activities.

And now, two years later, these kids were his best friends. The only friends he ever managed to make. Sometimes, he wondered if they remained friends with him just because they pitied him. He was a sickly child with large glasses on his nose. And he was friendless.

'Then again,' he thought now, 'Josephine isn't the kind to make friends out of pity. Same with Jessica. What did she see in me?'

The truth was neither of them knew why and how they were brought together and why they still remained friends. The question never came up because nobody thought of it.

Just as he stretched on the bed in his room, there was a knock on the door. He looked up.

"Master Wadia," his maid's voice came through, "your mother is requesting your presence in the drawing room. Please go down as soon as you can."

"Will do, Rohini, thanks!"

As the maid's footsteps receded, he sat up. "I wonder who it could be?" he muttered to himself. "Only one way to find out..."

He wore his coat, adjusted his tie in the mirror, and walked out of the room and down the stairs to the drawing room, where his mother sat on a sofa beside the telephone. "I'm here, Mum."

She turned around and smiled. "Ah, my smart little boy. Well, I received a call from Mrs Jones and she requested that you go to their house at once. Can you go? Will you eat something before you leave?"

"No, Mum, that's fine. I'll eat once it's over at Jane's house." He nodded once, before leaving the house.

His mother stared after him, until she could see his figure no longer. 'I'm quite sure it's something to do with that half-goddess.'

Jehan exited his mansion and started down the road towards the intersection.

He moved towards the lower part of the town that was built for the middle-class families and entered a street that led straight towards Jessica's home. The house was situated at the end of the road, adjacent to the playground and the forest thereafter.

As he approached the gate of his destination, he paused and pricked his ears. 'Is that... That sounds familiar...'

He stared in the direction of the forest. It was like it was calling for him... asking him to come in... requesting... begging...

He lifted one foot and set it forward – towards the gate. He tore his gaze away from the forest, lifted the metal hurdle from the top of the gate to the Jones' home, and walked in. He did not think about anything other than Jane and her sweet smile, until the door opened to his knock, he went in, and the door was shut.

It was then that Jehan heaved a sigh of relief, sliding down to the floor, much to Jessica and Jane's shock.

"Quick, Jane, fetch some drinking water for the boy!" ordered the older sister.

Jane did so at once.

The thirsty boy was very grateful for the water and it disappeared in seconds. He gave it to Jane with the smile of a drunken man. "Thank you, Jane. You saved my life to-day."

Josephine and Siddharth exchanges glances, as Ekaant, Jessica, and Jane stared at him in confusion.

"Jehan," asked Siddharth quietly, "what happened?"

Jehan cleared his throat multiple times before proceeding to make an attempt to use his words and his vocabulary: "I... uh... for... the... the forest!"

Josephine frowned, trying to understand. "The forest? Did you go there?"

He shook his head lightly. "No... but... it... was... calling... to me..."

"The forest was calling to you?" asked Ekaant.

"Yes... Oh god, oh god... My heart... I thought it would – uh – burst out of my seams...!"

Siddharth put an arm around his shoulder. "But nothing happened. You didn't lose your head and go there. You are good. You did well."

Jehan stared out the living room window in the direction of the forest, a shudder running through his spine. 'Did I really... do well? Did I really... avoid the call of the forest?' 

Jane put a hand from his other side. "It's all right – it's just a bunch of trees and a hallucination. Just think of it that way." She gulped. "We – we do."

He nodded. "Sure. What was so important that you had to call me out here immediately?"

"Oh that..." Jane's voice trailed away.

"That'd be for me," a new voice spoke up from the direction of the kitchen.