Reigen the Outcast

They began walking from the harbor to the city. The city had a weird architectural design to it. The buildings looked like giant trees with houses in them. People using animals as transports. The animals themselves looked like crossbreeds of different earth animals. Lizards that had horselike legs, Birds that had bull-like horns, fishes that had elephant-like structures. Ryu was quite amazed to see all of it. The people seeing Gerold began to call out to him with greetings.

"Good morning Gerald. Nice day for fishing ain't it?"

"Oy Gerald let's go for another duel. If you lose you will have to marry me!"

"Gerald nice to see you're in good shape "

Gerald waved his hands towards them and answered their questions. It could already be said that Gerald was a really popular individual of that land. Akame giggled,

"Still Mr popular huh?"

Gerald turned back towards Akame and said,

"Ah, it's nothing."

Ryu on the other hand remained silent. They were being stared at aggressively. The stare felt a little uncomfortable to Ryu. He opened his book trying to forget what was happening around him. Akame on the other hand was becoming the center of attention as many Urgonians began to surround him. Some even pushing Ryu away in the hurdle. Ryu sighed and murmured to himself,

"I hope you're doing better than me Ken."

A pitch-black place. Ken slowly gained his consciousness. He opened his eyes to see that he was in some sort of treehouse. There were weird herbal ingredients on a shelf. The room had little to nothing only a treasure chest to the side. The smell of charcoal could be felt. He shook his head to release the dizziness. He got up when he suddenly saw a weird monster-looking thing in a hood doing something on the shelf. He got terrified for a second and yelled,

"What! Where am I?"

As much as Ken was terrified, hearing Ken yell the monster became more terrified and jumped off the window. Ken now got even more puzzled. He got out of his bed and slowly walked towards the window. The hooded creature was shaking behind a tree. Ken after seeing it shake in fear gained confidence and decided to approach it. He shouted,

"Hey, you!"

The hooded creature looked around to see if he was referring to someone else or not. After seeing that there was no one around him he understood it was directed to him. Ken again shouted to reassure the creature,

"Yes, you! I am talking to you! You don't have to hide. I won't do anything."

Saying that ken jumped from the tree to the ground. He slowly approached the creature and asked,

"It's ok. I won't do anything. Thanks for taking care of me by the way."

Seeing Ken's calm approach the creature stopped shaking. Ken using this chance asked,

"What's your name?"

The creature replied in a deep voice,

"Reigen"

The voice was too deep. Ken felt a shiver down his spine. He still mustered the courage and asked,

"Can you come out? I promise I won't hurt you."

"If...if I come out will you run away from me?"

"Why would I do that?" Ken asked being puzzled.

"People get scared to see my face."

"It's ok. I have seen worse in anime. I think I can handle it."

Reigen slowly stepped forward. Ken saw that his body wasn't buff and had long hands. A torn hooded cloak covering his face. The face could not be seen only 2 big green eyes. Ken wasn't afraid. Rather he was curious. He requested him,

"I can't see your face. Will you take that hood off?"

"I'm sorry but I can't. It's the only thing the keeps me intact in this body?"

"Keeps you intact? What do you mean?"

"It's hard to explain but I am is what you call a Hollow."

"A hollow?"

"Yes I am not alive nor am I dead."

Ken slowly walked closed to him. He sat beside and responded with curiosity.

"This is the first time I heard about it."

"You're not scared of me?"

"Why would I be? You seem like a nice guy to talk to ." Ken smiled.

"I...I see"

That smile felt reassuring to Reigen. It felt a little nostalgic as well. It had been a long time since someone sat and listened to him with interest.

"I...I see"

"By the way where the hell am I?" Ken looked at his surroundings.

"Oh, this is the forest of death. It's in the middle of the border of two countries."

The trees were huge and had branches that would rival the empire state building. The sky could hardly be seen due to the thickness of the leaves. the light fell from small holes which gave the forest a charming look. Ken looked at the forest amazed and asked,

"How is such a beautiful forest called the forest of death?"

"Umm you see there is a temple in the middle of the forest."

He pointed towards the south

" which is said to be the temple of the Devil Kraito."

"Devil Kraito?"

"Yes. In our culture, he is regarded as the devil who ruled this planet long before we Urgonians ever existed. During his rule, the whole planet was glowing magma ocean. But our savior Tamrus who descended from the heavens fought the devil and defeated him. By using his power he cooled the planet and helped life grow."

"Wow, that's quite amazing."

Ken started to look around the place. He saw animals that began to blow his mind away.

"Is that a winged alligator!"

He yelled at the beast as it was drinking water from the forest river. Hearing Ken's voice the alligator got startled and flew away.

"That is called Allifly. It's a native herbivorous species."

Ken then looked at the side and yelled again,

"What is that?"

The animal had tiger-like skin with a fish-like face and horse legs. Reigen responded,

"That's a Desigoth. It's quite actually a rare animal to see. Legend says those who spot this animal drinking are destined for greatness."

"What kind of legend is that?"

"Well, you see during the creation of this planet the first animal to ever to cope with after the great battle was a Desigoth. It was also the first living creature that needed water for a living but since there was barely any water at that time it drank really low. It is said it only drinks a liter of water in a year."

"You sure know your stuff."

"What can I say living all alone I memorized a lot of stuff. After all, this stuff is all I got going for me"

The depression could be felt from Reigen's voice. They both remained silent for a few moments. Taking in the fresh air surrounding the Reigen felt happy as this was the first time in a long when he had talked with anyone. Ken was taking in the fresh air when suddenly he sensed something and got up. The leaves slowly blew as everything went quiet.

"What's the matter?" Reigen asked

Ken began to look around and asked,

"Is there anyone else in this forest beside you?"