Blooming Sage

Summary
A young red panda named Sage is an outcast in his village. He wants to escape from his hometown, but he soon realizes the dangers of the nearby woods. In a strange area of Jamaa filled with dangerous beasts, nightmares, and phantom spawners, Sage will force himself to trust nobody. However, his thoughts on trust may change when he meets a Jammer who is also lost in the forest.

Prologue
The town of Moss was perhaps one of the most mysterious, yet most popular villages in the whole of known Jamaa. There were three types of things that attracted hundreds upon thousands of tourists to it every year on the fifteenth of November. One of those three specific things were its history, which you will learn about later. The second thing that made the town famous was its oddly spectacular spices and chocolates. The chocolates in the town of Moss are so delectable that when consumed, can easily get one addicted. The village is also known for the thick layers of moss that seem to cover nearly all of the village's meadows, which explains the name "Moss".

Despite how fantastic it sounds already, that is not the entire history of the town of Moss.

The town of Moss borders the south-eastern region of The Lost Temple of Zios, making it lie on the coast of Crystal Reef. To some, the town could appear as a forest in the middle of Jamaa rather than a place lying upon a sandy coast smelling of kelp.

The main reasons animals ranging from the largest elephant to the smallest rabbit are attracted to the town are not only there for its amazing food, but because something mysterious happens every fifteenth of November. Nearly no animal has been able to describe their experiences, but some of the few wolves, cheetahs, or foxes who have, have claimed that it is a celebration of the Alphas for unknown reasons. This is false.

The cornstalks from the nearby farms that are harvested in the fall are rich and delicious when made into proper meals. Despite the fact that moss grows everywhere across the plains of the town, the crops and houses appear to avoid the thought to be unavoidable moss. You could perhaps describe it as either magical or work done by Cosmo, the koala Alpha. You would be partially right if you chose to say it was magic. The town's plants had been covered in moss for at least three decades. The time that event occurred was the sunrise of the fifteenth of November. The animals woke up that fateful day shocked to see that their grass had been replaced by moss, ivy and other plant pests that tend to usually appear on houses. Yet the plants were nearly everywhere except for the buildings. The town's gardeners were the animals that suffered the most panic for a few hours. It was a short time of panic though. The gardeners could not sleep for most of the night. This resulted in them checking on their gardens with very little hope on the next day. They soon realized that their plants had mysteriously not been consumed by the floral pests.

It was quite a mysterious day indeed. Somehow crops and houses had survived the moss' attack. Another strange occurrence was that only one child was born on that exact day. It was very peculiar since the town was very populous at the time. It was estimated it held about four hundred thousand Jammers.

The child was a small male red panda, who was called "Sage".

Sage's fur was light brown with darker brown ear tips, muzzle, white eyespots, and a white chest. Four dark magenta stripes covered the lower corners of his face. Two of the four stripes were browner than the others. What stood out about his appearance was a phenomenal difference between him and the other natives of Jamaa.

The major difference was that the color of his eyes was a magenta to a violet gradient. Animal eyes that are more than just one pure color had never been recorded in Jamaa's history. The animals gasped at the sight of Sage whenever he went outside, fearing that he was some kind of other creature who was simply disguised as a red panda. Especially since he was the only child born on that day; the day the town appeared to be ruined. Even Sage's own mother, Spinel, seemed to occasionally ignore him and give him strange glances. Spinel, however, was not abusive to him as the other animals were. She made sure Sage got three meals per day and she made sure to keep him clean.

One of Spinel's most important promises from her to her son was what no Jammer would have ever believed at the time. Even if they saw physical proof any rumor was true, they'd have to rub their eyes multiple times.

"As unusual as my son might be sometimes, I would never do anything to harm him," Is what she promised.

The promise was passed on throughout the village, gossiped about, and eventually spread to other lands such as Jamaa Township. In no time at all, several journalists published articles about Spinel. The majority of these newspaper sections including her were written not even hours after the speech. Quite a good portion of the articles stated that she was lying, and the journalists who wrote them were attempting to find every single sign of a suspicious detail to prove it. A quote from one of the articles stated: "This young red panda really does have features that only his mother could love, but does his mother really love him at all?".

Sage was still feared and ridiculed by almost the entire town.

Almost.

Chapter One: Sage and the Village
Sage scampered through a forest. The forest was not quite far away from his town, yet it seemed the journey from there to his mother's house was days away. He carried a skinny twig in his mouth which acted as a stress reliever. He'd always chew on the bark whenever he felt anxious, and he was just doing so at that moment.

The branch was very fragile, so Sage always chewed on it gently in hopes of not breaking it. At this moment though, he felt as if the twig was going to split in two from his bite force.

Something appeared to be greatly bothering the young red panda.

Yes. Obviously, something wasn't right.

Sage was only a child and was a good sprinter for his age, but he could not be swift for long periods of time. The damp smell indicated that it had rained very recently. The wet moss under his paws made an annoying 'slosh' noise whenever he stepped on it. He occasionally tripped over a few tree roots while running, but managed to hold himself up. There were quiet, yet unnerving sounds of paw-steps echoing behind him. He kept chewing on the twig that was about to break. He didn't care if it did. He wanted to get away from whatever was following him. Eventually, the paw-steps stopped. Sage was relieved, but he needed a few minutes to calm down from the shock.

Sage was almost out of breath when he thought for sure he had outrun the threat. He curled up next to a gargantuan maple tree and stopped for shade and air.

When he had recovered enough breath, he would be able to search for a water source around the forest. Even though he hated all of the people in his town, (except for Spinel), he was starting to miss it. He would frequently run off to explore the woods that were close by, and all of the forests he traveled to were filled with danger. Maybe these dangers he encountered were his punishments for wandering off and being disobedient.

After what felt like months, the red panda finally had enough strength to exit the forest and make the expedition back to the newly named town of "Moss".

Sage always thought that was a horrible name. Why would one rename this town after the gross disaster that happened years back? The boy gagged at just the thought of the yucky green flowerless plant. It was a good thing the moss never covered up the buildings, or else he would be constantly throwing up. Then he'd really have to run from home forever.

(WIP!)