Chapter 6

 As the three head deeper into the forest, the trail led to a large area, and the once-dense trees became spacious. It was like walking into a different room, the trees that surrounded us were covered in flowers and small particles of light floated in the air. It was a beautiful sight, I looked around in awe, then directed my attention to the other two. "Daiki!!~", Brier called out, I looked around slightly confused. Suddenly, the trees started moving as a strong wind came by, and then a giant shadow emerged behind the trees, walking towards us. Once the giant brushed away the tree branches and peaked through the light, it took a large step into the light. This was a completely different entity than Cephas and Brier. This one was standing over 8 feet tall, had wood-like bark for skin, tree vines and leaves for hair, its eyes were dark with brown irises, tree branches for horns coming out of its head and shoulders, some branches had yellow flowers around them, leaves with eyes on its face, wooden claws for hands, sharp wooden teeth that seem to be fused into a permanent smile, with clothes made of more leaves, moss, and vines, almost like a robe. I fumbled backward at its incredible height, slightly startled.

 "Hey Daiki, how have you been?", Cephas said while smiling and with Brier running up to Daiki, hugging his leg. Daiki pats Brier's head and picks her up in his arms, he looks at Cephas and shrugs his shoulders as if his day was ok. Daiki looked at me with curiosity and put his other hand to his chest while taking a slow bow. "He says Hello, and he's sorry for scaring you.", Cephas said while directing his attention to me. "Oh um..- It's ok, I have just never met anything like you..", I said while still being a little nervous. I look at Cephas and ask, "Is he able to talk?", "No, his mouth was permanently fused so he can't ever speak.", Cephas said while looking at Daiki holding Brier as she played with his hair. "Well.. They seem to be pretty close?", I said while looking at Brier play and laugh. "Yeah, Daiki has been with Brier for almost her entire life, he's like a father figure to her, and Daiki takes great pride in that.", Cephas says while smiling at Daiki as he squinted his eyes happily at Brier. "Umm Daiki was it?", Aden asks while slowly approaching the giant being. Daiki nods and puts down Brier, getting on his knees to be more eye level with Aden. "My name is Aden, Cephas said you could tell me what happened to humans, is that true?", Aden asked while making eye contact with Daiki. Daiki nodded, he slowly stood up and lifted his hands in the air, this motion made the tree leaves lift in the air to reveal that the trees were bookshelves, containing several varieties of books. Aden looks around in amazement as the trees do Daiki's bidding. Daiki turns his head to one particular tree and pulls out a large black book from it. He kneels towards Aden once more and hands him the heavy book, he taps on the cover of the book. "He said this book holds the answer.", Cephas says as he walks closer to Aden. I looked down at the book and walked over to a nearby table, placing the book down, and opening to the first page.