Chapter 39: Rānūþiz, The Giver of Life.
The doll stood motionless.
Its lion helmet stared into the bushes, golden eyes burning with quiet intensity. Kaede's hand was on her sword, ready but not drawn. My fingers were wrapped around the G-Pen.
Then the bushes rustled.
A magnificent creature stepped into the clearing. Its coat resembled aged bark woven with emerald moss, the texture of something ancient and patient. Fresh leaves sprouted from its antlers, and tiny birds perched on its branches without fear, their small bodies unafraid of the creature's presence.
Its emerald eyes quietly observed us.
I barely breathed. "I've... never seen anything like it."
Kaede lowered her sword. "It's called a Rānūþiz." A small smile crossed her face. "In the old forest tongue, its name means Branch-Antler Deer."
"Many scholars simply call it... the Giver of Life."
She explained it softly, as if telling a story. One of the oldest creatures in Oikoumen's forests. Few adventurers ever encountered one. Fewer still witnessed what it created.
The Rānūþiz turned and walked deeper into the forest. Its hooves made no sound. Its birds chirped softly, a quiet song that seemed to belong to the forest itself.
The doll tilted its lion helm. Its golden eyes followed the creature.
Without warning, it flicked its tail and ran into the forest.
The doll followed.
"Wait!"
I reached out instinctively, but the doll was already gone, moving through the undergrowth with a speed I had not known it possessed.
Kaede chuckled beside me. "I don't think it's trying to attack. It's curious."
I stared at the space where the doll had been. Curious. The doll was curious. I had not thought of it that way before.
My eyes closed.
Echoes Vibration hummed beneath my awareness. The earth carried the deer's path, the light steps, the unhurried pace, the particular quality of something that belonged here. And behind it, the doll's heavier stride, its ink-clad feet leaving faint marks on the ground.
I opened my eyes. "I know where they're going. This way."
Kaede followed without asking how I knew.
***
We found the doll standing silently in a clearing. It had stopped chasing. The Rānūþiz stood peacefully beneath a shaft of sunlight, its emerald eyes calm, its birds still perched among its leaves.
The deer shook its head. Slowly. Deliberately.
One enormous antler separated from its crown.
It did not crash to the ground. It landed gently, as if the forest itself had reached up to catch it.
The deer looked back once. Then it disappeared into the trees.
The doll did not follow.
I stood beside it, breathing hard from the chase. The antler lay on the forest floor, gleaming softly in the light.
The doll did not reach for it. Did not move.
It simply watched the place where the deer had been.
Kaede approached the antler slowly, with careful respect. She knelt beside it but did not touch it.
"Don't touch it yet," she said quietly. "That's good material for brewing, but it needs time to settle."
I looked at the antler. The warmth was fading now, but the wood was still alive, still pulsing with the deer's passing. I understood what the doll had done. It had not been chasing the deer. It had been following it.
As though it understood why it had come.
I knelt beside the fallen antler.
It pulsed with a quiet, living heat, as if the antler had not yet accepted that it was no longer part of the deer.
Tiny roots emerged from its base. They pushed into the earth, curling into the soil with the patient determination of something that had been waiting for this moment.
The antlers began changing.
Fresh bark formed, smooth and pale. Green shoots burst forth from the tips, unfurling into leaves that caught the light. The antler, once a part of a living creature… was becoming something new.
I stared.
"...It's creating life."
Kaede stood beside me, her voice quiet with reverence. "The forests of this kingdom owe much to the Rānūþiz. Every tree it sheds becomes a new beginning."
I watched the transformation continue. The young tree was growing, its branches reaching upward as if it had always known where to go.
Kaede pointed toward another fully grown tree nearby. Golden fruits hung from its branches, glowing faintly in the afternoon light. She walked over and picked one carefully, cradling it in her palm.
She held it out to me.
I reached out.
The bark was still warm.
Sap flowed beneath my fingertips.
It wasn't an illusion.
It wasn't magic fading away.
The fruit was unlike anything I had ever seen. Its skin was the deep crimson of a dragon fruit, scaled and textured, catching the light in a way that made it seem almost alive.
I held it for a moment, feeling its weight. Then I opened it.
The flesh inside was soft gold, the color of a perfectly ripe mango, glowing faintly from within.
The light was not bright, just present, a quiet warmth that seemed to come from the fruit itself. The scent rose gently, sweet and earthy, carrying the memory of the forest.
It was beautiful. Stranger than the forests I had walked through. Stranger than the magic I had learned. Stranger than anything I had held in the Fairy Realm.
I looked at Kaede. "What is this?"
She smiled. "A Pākranaz. The forest's nourishing gift. The Rānūþiz sheds its antlers, and from them grow trees that bear these fruits. They have been doing this longer than any of us have been alive."
I did not know what it tasted like. I did not know what it would become. But I knew that the deer had left it for us and that it would not be wasted.
Kaede explained. "It's used for potion brewing, mana restoration, magical catalysts, and alchemical reagents. Highly prized throughout the kingdom. Guilds frequently post gathering requests during harvest season."
I gently turned the fruit in my hand.
"So this tree exists because of the Rānūþiz,” I said quietly.
Kaede nodded. "Exactly."
I looked at the young tree, still growing. At the golden fruit in my hand. At the doll, standing silently beside me, its golden eyes fixed on the new life that had sprung from the deer's gift.
I had not known forests could be this old. This was intentional. This was alive.
The Rānūþiz had shed its antlers. The antler had become a tree. The tree would bear fruit. The fruit would be gathered and used in healing, in magic, and in alchemy.
I was beginning to understand. The forest was not just a place. It was a process. A cycle of giving and becoming, older than memory.
And I was part of it now.
Kaede pointed to another fruit on a nearby branch. Bite marks scored its surface, small and precise, as if something had been sampling the harvest. "Not everyone shares," she said.
I tilted my head. "Who else?"
"Goblins." She smiled. "They depend on Pākranaz during the harvest season. Entire goblin tribes gather around these groves. Many Cu-rank adventurers mistakenly believe goblins guard treasure." She chuckled. "In reality, they're protecting their food. Sometimes I think they believe we're the thieves."
I looked at the bite marks. The small teeth that had left them. The careful, measured way the fruit had been tasted and left for later. I thought of the goblins as Kaede described them, not monsters, not enemies, just people trying to eat.
"I suppose," I said slowly, "from their point of view, we are."
Kaede's approving glance told me I had understood something important.
Kaede removed a request from her satchel and held it out.
Cu Quest
Harvest a basket of Pākranaz from the Rānūþiz Grove.
Reward: Standard rate.
"A simple gathering quest," she said. A pause. "If the goblins allow it."
I took the paper and read it. The words were ordinary. The implications were not.
The doll became alert again.
Its lion helm turned slowly. The golden eyes focused on the nearby bushes. Soft rustling echoed through the grove. A tiny green hand reached toward a low-hanging fruit. Another followed. Then another.
Small whispers filled the air.
Several goblins emerged from the undergrowth. Each clutched a woven basket already half-filled with Pākranaz. They were not charging. Not roaring. They were harvesting.
One goblin noticed me. Its ears twitched. It hurriedly hugged its basket to its chest, as if afraid someone might take it from them.
The doll was already standing between us. Its lion helmet was silent. Its golden eyes watched both sides.
I said quietly, "...They're just gathering food."
Kaede nodded. "Yes. But they won't give it up easily."
The forest fell quiet. The goblins watched us. The doll watched everyone. No one moved.
I did not know what we were going to do. But I knew we were not going to take their food. There would be another way. There had to be.
The goblins have appeared...
Now what?
Find out in the next chapter, same time, same place.
