Chapter 2

The encounter

A woman wandered around, carrying an empty bowl, looking around the area. She felt lost. This was her second visit to Serendipity Haven. The first time she had the chance to enter this sacred place was during the Festival of Healing Light.

The Festival of Healing Light is a magical celebration that healers celebrate annually. All tribes, including the Moonshadow Sentinels, Flamebringer Alchemists, Stormcaller Elementals, Starweaver Enchanters, and Earthbound Gaia Guardians, come together to honor their healing abilities and pay tribute to the healing energies that flow through them.

During the Festival of Healing Light, healers gather at a sacred location under the light of a full moon to perform rituals, ceremonies, and meditations to amplify their healing powers. They exchange knowledge, share healing techniques, and offer blessings to those in need of healing.

Participants adorn themselves with symbols of healing, such as amulets, crystals, and herbs, and partake in feasts featuring nourishing foods and herbal teas known for their healing properties.

The festival also includes healing competitions, where healers showcase their skills in various challenges and games focused on healing and restoration. Prizes are awarded to those who demonstrate exceptional healing abilities and show great compassion towards others.

Overall, the Festival of Healing Light serves as a time for magical healers to come together in unity, gratitude, and celebration of their profound connection to the healing energies of the world.

While the Serendipity Haven is the place where the leader of the Celestine Healers stays. High Celestial Healer Seraphina is the wise and compassionate leader of the Celestine Healers, known for her extraordinary healing abilities. Under her leadership, the Celestine Healers shine as beacons of light and hope in times of darkness and despair.

She really greatly admires High Celestial Healer Seraphina, especially for allowing her and her father to stay in the "Sanctuary of the Radiant Dawn," where Celestine Healers live, even though, she and her father are non-magical users. According to her father, there was a widespread epidemic when she was born which led to the death of her mother, prompting her father to leave the place of non-magical users. In short, a Celestine Healer helped her father when a large wolf attacked them in the forbidden forest. The forbidden forest is a part of "Sanctuary of the Radiant Dawn," where no one is allowed to enter, unless you are the leader of the Celestine Healers or the sentinels patrolling the Forbidden Forest to ensure the safety of all people.

That place is the only place she was forbidden to go to because it is said to be very dangerous. His father strictly commanded her not to attempt to enter there because that forest is cursed. According to her father, the atmosphere in that place is indeed strange. She peeked in there a few times and only saw the forest guards entering there every day.

"Where's the exit? Why does the design of Serendipity Haven have to be so complicated?"

She scratched her head as she walked through a hallway. She smiled when she saw a large door that she thought would lead her out of that place.

"Why is it that when you need to ask someone, there's no one around?"

She muttered to herself. Then she slowly pushed the door, but nothing happened. It didn't budge. She pushed it again, hoping it would move.

"Ugh!" She sighed in frustration.

She stared at the door. the design was different compared to the other doors she had seen in Serendipity Haven. She scratched her head.

"Maybe this isn't it. But why does this door have the same design as the main door of Serendipity Haven?"

She went to Serendipity Haven to deliver food cooked by her father to Serene Luminary Dayang, the third-strongest member of the Celestine Healers. Her father had long admired her, but because he was worried about her feelings, he had never mustered the courage to confess his love. It was only recently that she learned about her father's feelings for Serene Luminary Dayang when she accidentally overheard a conversation between him and a close friend of hers named Aurelius, the captain of the Celestine Healers' sentinels. That's why she supported her father in seeking the sweet "yes" from the third-strongest member of the celestine healer.

She studied the door again. After two minutes, she lowered the bowl she was carrying and continued her examination. Her curiosity about this door grew, and she noticed the pattern of the door leading to one side. On the left side of the upper door, she saw a hole. She took the pendant hanging around her neck and looked at it. The pendant was from the third-strongest member, and according to her, she was prone to danger because of her persistence, which is why she needed the pendant to protect her. She took off the pendant and tried to insert it into the hole. She realized that the sentinels and those with high ranks in Serendipity Haven also had pendants like hers to open the main door of Serendipity Haven.

"Why did I only think of it now? Tsk. Yumi is foolish," she said to herself.

She inserted the pendant there, then the door opened. It slowly opened, despite appearing very heavy, and made no sound as it did so. As the door finally opened, she saw guards pass by. Not even one of them glanced at her, and they continued talking among themselves. She shrugged, picked up the bowl, and walked out the door. When she had stepped out, the door closed on its own. She tried to open it again the same way as before, but nothing happened. It seemed she had no choice but to go through the forest and walk out of it. She was familiar with the forests of the "Sanctuary of the Radiant Dawn" because of her frequent gathering of medicinal plants.

She walked straight and then stopped to scratch her cheek.

"I've never been here. It seems like a different way out," she said. It was bushier there compared to other parts of the "Sanctuary of the Radiant Dawn."

"They probably don't use this route," she thought, but continued walking.

"It's been over an hour of walking. I think I'm lost."

A little fear began to rise in her heart. Her father wasn't home yet because he had gone to town to buy supplies for making medicine with some guards and laboratory assistants. Her father was skilled in physical fighting, swordsmanship, and archery, and according to him, he was also a guard back then and because of that he accompanying them as additional protection for the townsfolk going shopping.

She sat on a large rock. From where she sat, she heard a loud growl, a growl she thought came from a huge animal. It was getting closer, and her heart began to beat rapidly with fear. She slowly stood up and looked for a large tree to climb. She swallowed hard as she looked for a big tree that could serve as her refuge. Before she could find one, a loud growl came from whatever large animal it was. Slowly turning around, she let out a loud scream and quickly ran away from the huge creature that seemed very hungry and salivating.

She ran away quickly, but for an unknown reason, even though she ran at top speed, her pursuer, a massive bear, was relentless, closing in on her with every stride. The girl, gasping for breath, knew she couldn't outrun the bear alone. Her voice, raw with fear, echoed through the trees,

"Help!"

The girl, fueled by adrenaline, darted through the forest, weaving between towering trees and tangled undergrowth. She had to find a way to escape the bear's pursuit. She tried to create a distress signal by banging on a tree with a rock, hoping someone would hear her cry for help. She listened intently, straining to hear any sign of another human, any sound that could bring her salvation. But the silence of the forest seemed to mock her efforts, amplifying her fear and desperation. The bear was closing in. She shouted as she continued to run. Right turn, left turn, narrow paths were going up.

While running, she remembered stories of bears being afraid of confined spaces, believing this might be a safe haven. A few moments of running, the girl saw it - a massive tree, its branches reaching towards the sky. Hope surged through her as she spotted a small opening at its base, that she thought she could fit into. Before reaching the large tree, her knees gave in to fatigue. Looking back, she was about to be caught by the huge bear. Using the remaining strength she had, she tried to stand up and run towards the tree, quickly squeezing into the hole that would serve as her refuge. Sitting there facing the hole, she squeezed herself in tightly. She groaned as the huge bear attacked the hole she had entered. It managed to get both arms inside and tried to reach for her. The huge bear managed to scratch her, causing her to scream, and because of the loud noise she made, the huge bear's growl became even louder, almost attacking the entire tree without being able to reach her. It seemed like it wanted to knock down or split the massive tree just to get her.

Out of fear, tears began to fall on her cheeks. She thought, is this her last moment? There were still many things she had not experienced, only to die there.

"Father... Help me,"

she whimpered weakly while clinging to her knees.

"Help,"

She cried with a sob as the huge bear tried to push one paw in again.

"Hel - "

Before she could finish what, she was saying, the huge bear paw suddenly fell.

The surroundings fell silent. She stared at the huge bear paw, waiting for them to move again. But after a few seconds or even a minute, it didn't move. The woman, driven by a mix of curiosity and apprehension, tentatively reached out to touch the massive paw.

As her fingers brushed against the rough fur, the paw jerked back, as if pulled by an unseen force. Startled, the woman pulled back her hand, fear coursing through her veins, and let out a loud scream. The girl's mind raced, imagining a predator, even stronger than the grizzly, responsible for the bear's sudden immobility.

The girl's fear subsides as she hears the comforting words coming from deep baritone voice outside.

"You are safe now."

She stopped screaming. A wry smile appeared on her face.

"I think, I'm safe n - " Out of fear and exhaustion, the girl fainted.

The man who had rescued the girl from outside the hole paused. After a few moments of silence, he peered into the hole and found the unconscious and sweaty girl inside. Carefully, he pulled her out and made the decision to carry her away from the lifeless bear. With the unconscious young lady in his arms, the unknown man walked away towards where the huge bear lifeless body lay. As he moved, the surroundings were engulfed in smoke, and any sign of the man and the woman he was carrying vanished as if they had never been there.