The forest is connected by forces even more unseen and latent than the roots of the trees in Iryalen. Invisible but felt, the threads of life connect everything in the forest. When a wandering, lost fawn or a loved one dies, its body rots and returns to the soil, and from this point on, the story of these beautiful beings changes; they take form as memories of the forest.
Sha has dedicated his life to reading these memories and turning them into stories. He lets them live as poems, songs, and sculptures.
He is obsessed with memories, he reads the flowing water in the river and listens to the humming of the trees. He collects these memories, hoards them, even. The greatest irony is that he never gets to have memories of his own. Despite being attuned to the memories of the forest, he never gets to remember his own past, it has escaped him for good, it seems.
Of course, he loves these memories that he has collected, but deep inside, he would trade away everything to get back a little piece of himself that's lost. Anger was what he felt for not being able to have stories truly of his own to tell. He doesn't even get a name, and only gets to name himself after his favorite sound in the forest. But does it truly matter? As he collects more and more memories, he finds himself growing more and more envious of these beautiful memories.
On the rare occasions when there's an outsider passing by his makeshift 'memory museum', they would be greeted by Sha, trying to make a deal to trade pieces of their 'memories' away.
The traveller has just arrived in a small town. As they look around, their gaze is met with run down houses and shops. They duck into one of the shacks, illuminated by a series of candles suspended in the air. At the back of the small room, an old hag raises her head, “What brings you to this dingy town?" She begins, then pauses to study their face—”Ah, it’s you. I’ve been expecting you. Sit,” she gestures at a chair, “Where do you come from? What do you hope to make of yourself?”
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"I come from nowhere, and I carry only the echoes of lives that do not belong to me," Sha responds, his voice mimicking the soft, sighing sound of wind through the Iryalen trees.
"I was merely following where memories had led me, as always..."
Noticing the frown forming on the old hag's face, Sha is amused by the confusion and decides to clarify.
"Ahaha, I am a collector of precious memories you see...I made a deal with an interesting human today who promised to trade me an important piece of his 'memory' if I were to help him in his investigations."
"I do not know what I hope to make of myself, but I know what I want to take back... the pieces of my own story that have escaped me for good."
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