The Twins' Secret

004. Shadows

Fate had decided to be kind as we entered a lush, vivid-looking forest that had huge quantities of shade and coolness, thank goodness. The air had been so dry that all of us had started to feel slightly light-headed, but had gone to all lengths as soon as we had spotted the forest. Our next destination in our search was a rather secretive village that was known to be located within this forest.

We walked leisurely, the aching in our feet and overall fatigue seemingly forgotten.
It seemed more like a rainforest than anything. Tropic flowers bloomed of all sorts, and the sound of wildlife buzzed throughout the dense trees. Even so, it was peaceful, though there was something that seemed strangely out of place---and that was the fact that after walking through the forest for quite some time, there were no human sounds. No chatter. No signs of any sort of human life, as though the entire place were perfectly preserved.

Especially because the trees literally bursted with life---there were so many fresh fruits, and other herbal delicacies about that you would expect people to be gathering food. Had something gone wrong within this forest? We continued to walk, but with increased caution and suspicion.

And before we knew it, we stood in front of a cliff, or more precisely, a valley. It bended into a crevice, leading to large plains though the whole thing was entirely round. But something like that was impossible! For there to be a valley inside of a forest? Perhaps a ravine, or a sharp turn of a hill---but an entire valley? Something was definitely odd.

"I'll go."

I decided, gulping as I inched towards the edge of the cliff. The others watched in anticipation as I walked carefully backwards before I sprinted forwards, hoping to gather some momentum as I slid down the steeps walls.

But something strange occurred, and I recoiled from the edge with a yelp and landed flat on my back. I groaned, as I stood back to me feet, and clearly the others were as perplexed as I was.

"What just happened?" Akari asked, absolutely bewildered.

"I don't know." I grumbled, scrunching my nose in frustration. That hurt. It was almost like there was some sort of wall blocking me. Something unseen to the human eye. Something… invisible? But how was that even possible?

I gasped slightly as I realized how great the potential for this to be the work of a key piece was, and grinned happily.

 
“Hello? Is there anyone around here?” I shouted as loudly as I could. The others looked at me as though I were a complete maniac.

"Asagi… just what are you doing exactly?" Akari asked, perplexed by my actions.

“I think there's an invisible wall here.” I responded, still smirking as I walked back towards the edge, proving my point as I held my hand flat against the wall. I propped myself up against it, and the three of them gawked at me standing upright diagonally with no difficulty.

"Really? That's amazing!" Akari gasped, rushing up next to me as she patted against the wall. "There really is one… though you had gone crazy for a second there."

“I thought that was just her being normal.” Kiro coughed mockingly, sneering. I made a fist and he turned around, looking up into the sky as though playing innocent.