In a forest of darkness, in the centre, there lied a tent that glowed with hope. One day, Vira was limping through the forest, trying to escape the fate that awaited her at home. She escapes her cruel reality as she enters the forest, not aware of the tent she will soon stumble upon.
Vira felt the sudden urge to move towards the centre of the forest; she didn’t know it was a tree near the tent calling for her. As she neared the tent, she felt her sorrow disappear. Soon, the tent came into her view. She saw a light illuminating from the tent, and cautiously brought her hand forward to lift the tent flaps.
Inside the tent, there was a sleeping bag, a med-kit, some food, and surprisingly, a blue jay lay sleeping on the floor. Vira crouched beside the blue jay, cupped her hands, and picked him up. He awoke at the touch of her hands, and tried to fly away, but he soon realised that she meant no harm to him. She placed the blue jay on her shoulder, careful not to hurt him. “The pattern on your wings look similar to those of a constellation, I think you should be called Astra.” Vira told her new friend bird. Astra replied with a cheerful chirp.
After Vira finished a mostly one-sided conversation with Astra, she noticed that the tent was brightly lit, but there was no source of light to be seen; Vira thought it best to search for the light source as it could be useful during her journey through the forest, although she didn’t intend to leave soon. Vira started her search for any object that could be emitting such bright light that caused the tent to glow from outside, making sure that Astra was comfortable every now and then.
However many places Vira looked, she found nothing that was emitting any light. Vira considered to look at many places, however she found nothing that was emitting any light. She decided to rest on the floor of the tent, it was a good idea as she had hurt her ankle badly and was barely able to walk. While resting on the floor, she started to ponder over the question: how does the tent glow so brightly without a single source of light inside?
There were endless possibilities (she discovered) but she believed the tent had some magic of its own. She knew a bit of magic herself, and decided to try and expand the reach of the tent’s light. She closed her eyes, rubbed her palms together, opened her mouth, and started the chant. She finished her chant and wasn’t sure whether or not it worked, so she opened the tent flaps once again, but the view was different; there were beautiful trees surrounding the tent, with faces upon each of them. She had noticed trees earlier, but now, in the amplified bright light, she could see them even more clearly.
She noticed how the tent’s light burnt down all the darkness in the forest, creating a hopeful environment for all that the light touched, and she decided to continue making the light brighter, to get rid of all darkness in the forest. She believed that the light brought hope into all the souls in the forest, and wanted to spread that hope throughout the entirety of the forest. So she dedicated her life to this project, never returning home; she became one with the forest.
