Toad pt.2 - The Forest
14 Centuries Prior
"God if you're there, please give me a sign that I'm not laying in a hospital bed and that this isn't a really fucked up comatose dream I'm having." Our protagonist asked as he rested by a pond in the latest in a very long series of clearings that had nothing particularly remarkable to show; aside from the one three clearings back where there was a very strange old man peddling what looked like wiener schnitzel out of a box. Where the old man had gotten the supplies to make wiener schnitzel and how they came out of the wooden crate steaming hot were questions concerning enough to make our protagonist flee the clearing without partaking. A decision his growling stomach now regretted. "Or if you won't give me a sign that I'm not dead. Could you at least magic in some food so I don't starve to death within my afterlife?" It was at this point that another person wandered into the clearing.
"Oh hello, Nice to run into a possibly friendly face." Said the fellow who'd wandered into the clearing. His name was Tod. "Or at least a face that hasn't tried to cook me into wiener schnitzel or something like that."
"Oh you met the old man as well?"
"What old man?" Said Tod, with a genuine look of confusion.
"Never mind. Have you got any food? I don't have any supplies and I've been wandering for days at this point."
"Oh sure! 'Always come prepared!' my Ma always said, 'Yah never know when you might end up settling down and starting a cult.' Not sure what she meant by that but I always come prepared to feed an army!" He said this while happily sifting through his pack to produce some edible if not palatable bread product and something akin to a cheese. Todd handed half to our protagonist and took the other half in his hand as he sat next to him on the grass. "I'm glad I ran into someone though. I've been having a hard time out here on my own. Seeking what I'm seeking."
"What are you seeking, if you don't mind my asking." Said our protagonist has he shoveled bread and cheese-ish product into his mouth.
"I'm trying to find something worth living for. I've visited almost every shrine and temple in this forest. Tried every trade and philosophy that New Log City has to offer. And at the end of the day I just don't know what I want." And in a rare moment of careful consideration our protagonist offered this poor young lad some advice.
"That is rough. I've always figured that you don't find a reason to live or a meaning to living. You have to live anyway. That's like the base state of things. It's up to you to fill that living with meaning if you want. Sometimes it works out, a lot of the time it doesn't. But it doesn't have to be some big grand dream for it to be meaningful. Life is worth living no matter what meaning you give it. Hell you could pray to that frog over there and call him your 'holy lordship'", The frog in question blinked slowly one eye at a time before missing a fly it was trying to catch with it's tongue and instead snagging a low hanging tree branch," That life would be just as valid as any. If it makes you happy just go for it."
Todd sat there for a long while staring, in awe, at the frog across the pond who was now attempting in vain to extricate it's tongue from the afore mentioned branch. He sat there so long, in fact, that our protagonist was dusting himself off to leave before he spoke again.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm not sure. I'm tired of being alone in these woods, I've been trying to get to New Log City but I think the forest has decided to take me there via the scenic route. But good luck and thanks for the meal you might have just saved my life." And with that our protagonist started down the next path on to his next destination.
Todd, however, sat and pondered for a long long while. And after some time he began to pray.