Many times have passed. Life has always been good and peaceful.

Birch found a corner of the world where everything was calm and found peace. Quiet, lonely, sunny – this gave her the opportunity to begin her recovery. It's not the first time we've found such a retreat from the horrors of the world, but this time it feels more important than ever.

The wind was blowing around us, and my soft stems bent gently under the pressure of the wind. My sparse petals fluttered in the wind, like Birch's curls fluttering beside me.

My tired roots are firmly rooted in the soil of the beautiful meadows beside the orchard where we rest, and I draw deep into the nutrients that nourish the world. Behind us, some distance, is a cliff with the ocean below it.

I look up at the sun and let it meet me in our love.

Hello, Sunshine.

-[Sunflower]-

You are bathed in the sun

+ 1 exp

Experience Points: 259/1250

How long have we been traveling together?

- I think it's my whole life. Since I was born. In this sense, the sun and Birch have the same connection with me.

Not only did they accompany me all my days, but both of them were also responsible for my presence. Birch is the sun, and the sun is Birch. They were both equally warm.

Some time has passed since we have lost our tracks, since we have left the mountain, ever since the Yokai tribe passed by us in search of what they were looking for in the west.

I can only assume that they are also looking for paradise.

- Poor fool.

They don't know that we've found the next best one here.

Birch worked, tending to the soil and the land. She set up a shelter in the grass. She plans to stay here for a while. I'm sure she doesn't want to walk forever anymore. Maybe she saw that the goblins hadn't learned this lesson.

Life is good.

The sun is bright.

The air is warm.

The breeze is warm.

I bathed and enjoyed all the gifts of life.

In fact, heaven is already here. Over here. Right where people might find themselves. Heaven is not a place. Heaven is a feeling.

However, it can only be obtained by those who are willing to see life as it is.

Birch cried as she worked, dealing with her many, many troubles. Her tears watered the land, and I believe the grass was grateful for the moisture.

Very good.

I feel like my leaves are drooping even more.

Birch went fruit picking.

The air was filled with a buzzing sound. A few strong and beautiful bees flew towards me.

Yes.

They hummed and danced in the air and landed on my face and stem.

Thankfully, Birch isn't here now.

- I don't want her to see this

After all, I am the most adventurous sunflower.

This will be our secret, bees.

Ha ha.

Itchy.

Another week passed. Birch is getting stronger day by day as she works on her own and in her home. It doesn't look too sturdy and doesn't do much workmanship, but she seems to be proud of it, so, I'm proud of it too.

When she's not working, she sits next to me and we look at the sun and she talks about her life.

Birch had never said so much before.

Now, however, she says and says and says. And I, as a good friend, listened, and then, she went back to work, after releasing what she was supposed to release. Like trapped water rushing out of a dam, a simple conversation can unleash a myriad of pressures.

Level up!

Congratulations Birch! Your current level is {9}!

- [Bu

ch] -

Health-Poi

ts: 36/36↗ Soul-Poi

ts: 30/30↗

Level: 9↗ Experience: 0/1250

Class: Druid Subclass: Not one

Race: Human Opel: 000

-[Statistics]-

STR: 09 Agility: 14

Wisconsin: '09 ↗↗ INT: '09 ↗↗

Lu: 10 Value List: 09

new

-[Root Weave]{Active} -

Cost: {6} soul

Allows you to weave the roots of trees and plants together in order to create strong points of support on objects and people.

Tree roots connect the world, and underneath every forest and meadow, there are many more roots under the soil than one might think. The druids were well aware of this and knew how to take advantage of them.

She will soon surpass me in power, by virtue and grace that she has grown up with alone.

Birch digs around my roots, lovingly tending to my soil.

She collected a few of my seeds, which fell loosely on the ground, and she crawled around on the dirt, planting them in the large spacing between me and each other.

(Birch) Usage: (Growth)

Soul: 19/30

Her hands shone brightly on the mound where she had planted my seed.

Small buds grew out of the dirt.

I looked at them curiously.

They are some strange little things, but they are beautiful, bright and emerald green. They all turned, moving their worm-length bodies, bending towards the sunlight.

Well.

Does that mean I'm now a mother and father?

- Curious.

Considering the true nature of my existence, this development is worth pondering. Life is so complicated.

Another week passed. Birch reached my level of strength.

Level up!

Congratulations Birch! You're level {10} now!

- [Bu

ch] -

Health-Poi

ts: 38/38↗ Soul-Poi

ts: 32/32↗

Level: 10↗ Experience: 0/1500

Class: Druid Subclass: Not one

Race: Human Opel: 000

-[Statistics]-

STR: 09 Agility: 14

Wisconsin: 11↗↗ INT: 11 ↗↗

Lu: 10 Value List: 09

new

-[Cold Resistance]{Passive}-

You are resistant to drastic changes in temperature and weather.

+8 for all Resistances

Druids have lived outdoors all their lives, and they are sensitive to various elements of the natural world.

My best friend built a sturdy shelter that was stacked with cut down trees.

It's a house; It's small, but it's strong. I sat outside, and every day she told me about her past and future. With each passing day, her voice grew stronger and clearer, and her desires and her eyes became brighter.

The dead wood in her home is held together by the roots and vines of plants she has cultivated with her magic.

My leaves are black. My stems have softened. I'm old.

It looks like my journey is coming to an end.

- What a wonderful journey it has been.

I've seen big rocks and walked under big trees. I was bathed in a downpour, I was bathed in the magnificent light of a hundred sunsets, more beautiful each time. I've had kidnappers, I've had wards, I've had best friends. The things I've seen, done, and experienced are both terrible and wonderful—things that no one else has ever heard of.

All this, and I'm still just a sunflower.

I looked at Birch, I watched her work in the fields, she worked on herself. She had finally found something like calm. The climax of our adventure gave her a sense of simplicity, humility, and nothing could be greater and more exciting. It's a mixture of many goodies that come together as a whole.

Calm down.

Self-acceptance.

Self-love.

I wondered, what did she go through during our journey that I would never know? What things will she continue to experience that I will never know?

This is life's greatest sorrow, if anything.

For a living being, there is so much to know.

We can only hope that the things we spend our time doing, the goals we spend time pursuing, are real things that fill us with feelings of warmth and love, and that the things we run away from do not push us to the edge of darkness, but, on the contrary, they push us to a place where we can be who we truly desire, who we truly desire; Heaven, if there is such a thing.

Maybe that's not true?

Maybe it's just a metaphor?

After all, it's the perfect fit.

Birch sat next to me as we gazed into the sunset, about to end the best day of my life.

- The trick to being able to say this is to make every day the best day of your life.

One might ask, what's the point of this whole thing?

If not for "heaven", if not for youkai, if not for something else, then what is the point of this strange adventure?

Find.

Look towards the sun.

Look at the face of your loved one.

- I turned to Birch, she turned to me.

That's the crux of the matter. No more, no less.

You need to understand something, Birch.

But I know you've got it, since the day we walked through the Crystal Cave, before we even reached the city, you've got it. From that day on, when you first see your reflection on the smooth surface of the reflective yellow stone, see that it is lonely – everything is itself.

I'm a sunflower.

You're Birch.

The difference is that I, the entity I am, does not exist.

I'm not really.

I am a metaphorical sunflower, in the literal sense of the word.

I exist only in Birch's mind, and I was born out of the soil of a terrible event, a memory, a trauma, despair, in order to provide a brighter, more hopeful environment for her spirit. I am a coping mechanism.

-Even the body itself craves some hope, and the mind craves some hope, and in this case, if you are in such a hopeless, dark and terrible place, the two of them will together create something real enough.

But Birch had gotten rid of her pain and fear, she had become a thing, not a sunflower, not a mushroom, not a bug, not a butterfly, not a snake, not a bird, not even a monster.

She's just a woman, just a person. Good. Overall. Hold your horses. Beauty is important from every point of view.

That's it.

That's all. Nothing less.

Isn't that the most wonderful thing to do?

Yes.

I crave more.

I want to see, to feel, to learn more.

But it's time for us to say goodbye.

I'm an old sunflower.

Birch held up her trembling hand and pressed it against my withered petals, which had reached the end of their natural life.

I'm glad I'll be alive for a while, Birch.

I'm glad we became friends.

I'm glad I learned the joy of life, even if it's only for a short time.

Even if I am not real, even if no one can see me except in your and your own imagination, even if I am a part of you, like your bones, skin, and eyes, know that I love you as much as I love the sun.

Birch used her druid abilities to identify plants in me. A window appears.

-[Sunflower]-

This is an imaginary sunflower.

This is not true.

"Thank you," Birch said.

No thanks, Birch. It's funny. Let's come back sometime.

Good bye.

I no longer existed, left my best friend Birch, and grew up on my own. But I know she can do it without me now.

I'm a sunflower.