Boonie Bears: Another World Fantasy

Naya dreamed of him again.

In her dream, she was filled with sorrow and unease, knowing who she would face next. This was beyond her control. Above her, stars twinkled, the sky dazzlingly bright. It was as if the sky were manipulated, blindingly bright, even several times brighter than the sky in the fantasy forest.

This starry sky often appeared in her mind. Suddenly, a man appeared in the dew-covered grass, chanting softly.

He looks so much like Sharp.

“This story should have started with you and me. A long journey filled with certain emotions,” he said.

A ray of morning sun shone on the man's soft facial features, and a gentle breeze carrying the scent of herbs stirred his neck-length black hair. He was breathtakingly beautiful.

"It's been so many years, Naya. You've grown so much, and become such a beautiful young lady!"

“Nathaniel…”

She moved her lips and walked towards him through the grass.

Her vision suddenly blurred, and only then did she realize that tears were welling up in her eyes.

Why do you keep appearing in my dreams...? Why can't I forget you?

“That boy, he looks a lot like me, doesn’t he?” Nathaniel said with a smile. “You’re projecting your feelings for me onto him to find solace, am I right?”

“I have never cared about you even a little bit, not before, and not now…” Naya replied mercilessly.

The starry sky began to move, a dizzying, spinning motion. Like egg yolk and egg white being mixed together.

Where exactly is this place?

The long-haired man's figure receded into the distance; he was about to leave. Naya seemed to be separated from him by an insurmountable barrier; neither could touch the other.

That ray of morning sun... no, it wasn't sunlight, but a fallen star.

"Have you learned how to kill too?"

"I had no choice..."

The familiar voices grew clearer and clearer, turning from continuous whispers into mournful cries.

The grass withered, the flowers fell. The starry sky turned into a dark cloud covered in dust, and suddenly, the world turned gray. Only Naya remained.

"No...don't do this."

An overwhelming sense of loneliness washed over her, and fear engulfed everything around her like a tidal wave.

“Time is not a problem for me, Naya. Perhaps waiting is necessary.” The long-haired man appeared behind Naya without her noticing. “How could I bear to let someone else take my fiancée away?”

He opened his arms and hugged her from behind.

"I will take you home..."

"Let me go—" she struggled, trying to break free from Nathaniel's embrace.

Then the dream ended. This was followed by the sound of the clothes covering me falling off.

Sometime later, she fell asleep by Sharp's hospital bed, her sweat soaking a small patch of the sheet.

Naya released the metal armrest in front of the bed, deforming the pillar she had squeezed, her fingers leaving deep marks on the metal. To this day, she doesn't even know if her subconscious was staging this conversation that never happened.

Nathaniel... is dead. More than a decade ago, he died in that earth-shattering war.

But his spirit still relentlessly haunts him.

She just wanted things to be simpler, so that they wouldn't threaten the "little world" she had worked so hard to build. But the situation here was far more complicated than Naya had imagined. For Sharp, for the people of this town, she needed to do much more.

In the corner, Zhao Lin hugged herself, huddled on a chair made of two chairs pushed together, shivering from time to time. Naya covered her footsteps and carefully draped her coat over Zhao Lin's shoulders.

“The golden antlers will bring you good luck, Sharp.” Naya stroked his hand, a barely perceptible emotion flickering in her eyes. “I might have to leave for a few days to look for some answers…”

After a brief farewell to Sharp, Naya took the conch shell from her waist and placed it in Sharp's hand. This conch shell had been with her for almost twenty-two years.

Please forgive my willfulness.

Outside the hospital, the last cloud appeared on the horizon. Naya changed back into her signature deer-tribe attire and looked up at the rising sun. She felt a deeper tranquility in the quiet atmosphere.

Thus, the girl embarked once again on a journey to find herself.

......

Fudewang Antique Shop occupies an absolutely inconspicuous storefront. People pass by, but few stop to take a look.

Sunlight illuminated the shop's stained-glass windows, casting a glow upon the rooms inside. Incense burned, creating a tranquil atmosphere.

The businessman, nicknamed "Big Tongue" by his neighbors and also the shop owner, stood in the front yard, thoughtfully scanning the surroundings while listening to the radio, his folding fan swaying rhythmically. Any one of these shocking reports was incredibly intimidating.

"—Overnight, a fierce battle erupted among Shenzhen's businesses for the top spot, with the Sunset Group and other mega-corporations attempting to control the city's lifeline—"

"—Scientists have confirmed that in certain extremely secluded, pristine high-latitude regions, it is still possible that descendants of the Deer People still exist, and even a small portion of them have already integrated into modern society—"

"Does V Group's patented product, Purple Star, really have a cancer-treating effect? ​​Targeted trials show that excessive intake of Purple Star can lead to dependence..."

The man with the lisp stroked his mustache, put down his abacus, and looked up. It was still a dozen minutes before the market opened in the morning, so the street was practically deserted.

Except for a young girl with unusual attire.

She looked unwell. Half her face was covered by a thin veil, revealing only a pair of clear eyes. The man with the lisp could tell that the visitor wasn't a local, but he also noticed that she seemed to be struggling with something.

Was he another tourist obsessed with deer culture? He immediately recognized the style and category of the clothing. Indeed, there are people who specialize in making and preserving their clothing, and some have even displayed deer costumes at international exhibitions, generating considerable buzz... At the same time, this has led to a proliferation of counterfeit deer artifacts on the market.

"Miss, it'll be fifteen minutes before we open...why don't you wait a bit?" he casually dismissed.

"I see you have many treasures. Where did they come from?" Naya cautiously began the conversation.

"Well, most of them were picked up from small vendors and aren't very valuable... If you want to see them, I'd be happy to let you in for a look."

"Maybe I can try to help you distinguish between the real and the fake," she said with a smile.

"Oh?"

The man with the lisp clearly didn't believe she could do that. Because even a seasoned veteran like him couldn't tell the difference.

"Please come in," he said politely.

The mahogany shelves on both sides were filled with all sorts of trinkets. The sharp-eyed Naya immediately spotted several artifacts whose craftsmanship was completely at odds with the genuine articles. One of them, a ridiculously large conch shell, was even specifically labeled as a tool used by the Deer Clan to communicate.

"This conch shell, you probably just picked it up from the riverbank," Naya said, holding it in her hand and suppressing a laugh.

"No, it was brought from the beach after all." Seeing that he had been seen through at a glance, the man with the lisp couldn't argue and scratched his head, admitting that it was a fake.

“And this leather belt, how could it be so heavy?” she said, pointing to the one she was wearing around her waist for comparison. “They often need to use tall trees for quick movement, so they try to minimize their weight. This belt is made of an excessively thick material.”

"Young lady, you're quite knowledgeable. Are you an expert in this field?" His attitude had changed. To be honest, the girl with the lisp probably never imagined that the girl in front of her was a genuine member of the Deer Clan, nor that her purpose in coming here was simply to have a heart-to-heart talk with someone.

"How about trying to enter the antique appraisal market? With your eye for quality... you could make a fortune, young lady."

"Perhaps that's true." Naya sat on the bench with a wry smile, her eyes fixed on the totem hanging on the wall.

At this point, he sensed that this lovely girl seemed to be facing some unspeakable difficulty. She appeared to be anxious.

“I’ve met many people like you, I mean... they like to dress up as characters they don’t understand, but I see something different in you.”

Naya suspected that this unassuming boss had never encountered someone as strange as her before.

She decided to take the risk. Then, she slowly lifted her veil, revealing without reservation the deer markings on her face that were enough to prove her identity.

Big Tongue's eyes widened in surprise. An expression of unease began to appear on his face. Naya felt his pulse quicken uncontrollably.

“I am actually a member of the Deer Clan,” she said. “Today is my seventh day here.”

The boss's reaction was much calmer than she had expected; he didn't shout or call the police. He seemed to understand how difficult Naya's situation was, but it involved too many stakes, and one wrong step could lead to drastically different fates for the two peoples.

"Do you want me to give you some advice?" the lisp asked.

“No, I’m just confused about my current situation—I always thought I was the only survivor among my people, until some of them found me.” She didn’t intend to tell him about the Deer Clan’s past history, so she tried to be vague.

"Isn't this a good thing?"

Naya shook her head. "They will only bring war."

Although more than a decade has passed, the tragic scene of the civil war waged by Moose, the leader of the Knights Templar, and Anar le Fay, the High Priest, remains vivid in her mind. This happened when Naya was seven years old. Afterwards, she and the Golden Antlers were taken to the Enchanted Forest by their grandfather and isolated from the world ever since.

The tide of memories always surges up when she is at her most vulnerable.

“Those I care about, those who have helped me, have all been implicated. I’m afraid that if it’s any later, even you will pay the price because of me.” Fearing that she had said too much, Naya stood up and slowly left the bench.

"I will never let any innocent person get hurt again." These words seemed to be spoken to herself. Naya put her veil back on and prepared to step across the threshold.

"I'm sorry, I said a lot of weird things to you."

The man with the lisp shook his head in denial, and snapped his folding fan shut.

“Perhaps you don’t have to blame yourself so much… You owe nothing to the people here, or to people all over the world.” He offered the best advice. “The kind of life you want to live is entirely up to you.”

“Welcome to a whole new world, young lady,” he said earnestly.

Naya smiled calmly.