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Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction created for entertainment and reading purposes. The characters, events, places, and situations depicted are fictional unless otherwise stated, and any resemblance to actual people, living or deceased, or real events or places is purely coincidental. The story may contain fictional situations, themes, or material that may not be suitable for every reader. Some images accompanying this story may be generated using Google Gemini and may be fictional, stylized, or interpretive and may not accurately represent real people, places, objects, or events.

There was a quiet village far from the city named Kamala. In that village, there was a person named Lakah who always thought his time was being wasted there, since he had knowledge of crop cultivation and many other fields. But he never saw anyone as being below him. Rather, he was a helpful person to others. Since his parents died when he was young, the villagers had taken care of him for a long time, providing him with food and care. He had a house where he lived alone, though.

As time passed, he started to realize that he needed to earn money and start living on his own rather than living at the villagers’ expense. So, he decided to work whenever there was an opportunity, doing things like bookkeeping, working in the fields, guarding fields, cleaning, and many other jobs. Through these jobs, he gained knowledge of different fields.

One day, as he was guarding a rice field and scaring birds away, it quickly became noon, so he had the lunch he had brought with him. After lunch, he thought he would take a nap for a while. He climbed to the part of the tree where the guarding spot was—a place with enough room for a person to sit and lie down while watching over the field.

As he reached the area, he lay on the floor and looked upwards, where a bunch of leaves created enough shade to protect him from the direct sunlight. But as the leaves swayed from side to side with the breeze, he started to see sunlight peeking through them.

As he was enjoying this, all of a sudden, something came to his mind.

He quickly got up, sat on the spot, and shouted across the field, “I will go to the city!”

Soon, his shift ended in the evening. Like everyone else, he stood in line to collect his money. After collecting his payment, Lakah told his employer, Dhara, that he would not be coming to work from tomorrow because he was going to the city.

“Have you ever seen the city?” Dhara asked.

“No,” said Lakah.

“Then how are you planning to go?” Dhara asked.

“I will see the way,” Lakah said.

With an absurd look on his face, Dhara replied, “Anyway, good luck with that.”

With this, Lakah said goodbye and went on his way.

That evening, he spent some time in his home and later left the house to meet the elder to ask for directions. On his way to the elder’s house, he met villagers who asked him how he would go to the city, why he was going, and other random questions. With some quirky answers, he escaped those questions and eventually reached the elder’s house.

The elder was sitting on a chair while having a cup of tea and listening to the radio. On the radio, there was a show talking about a huge tree that was so large it covered more than a few kilometers.

“Chheeee, what rubbish! What is he saying? A huge tree covering a few kilometers? They should have come here. They would have seen the tree that covers half the forest, covering over 20 kilometers!” the elder spoke to himself.

The sound of the gate started to echo. The elder looked toward the entrance and saw Lakah entering the house.

With excitement, the elder said, “Oh, Lakah! How are you? How come you are here today? It’s been weeks since I saw you.”

With his arms crossed and his body slightly lowered, Lakah replied, “I am fine, Elder. I needed to go to the city for further opportunities, but I don’t know the way. Do you know the way, Elder?”

“Of course, of course, I know the way. I travel by that road once or twice a year. I can show you or tell you the way, but I need to know the exact reason why you need to go to the city when you have a whole lot of villagers here who can help you,” the elder asked.

Again in the same position, Lakah slightly moved his head upwards and looked at the elder with a glimmer in his eyes.

“I want to improve my knowledge further, Elder. Here, I have very limited resources to gain more knowledge,” Lakah replied.

The elder paused for a moment to think. After giving it some thought, he finally spoke.

“It is true that this village has limited resources to offer if you want to gain further knowledge. And since you don’t have any land to cultivate, you would still be working under the villagers. So, it would be best for you to move to the city, gain knowledge, and earn money. But it is also true that the forest is scary enough to travel through alone and has many dangers to face. Are you willing to do that, Lakah?” asked the elder.

“Yes, Elder. I am ready to do that, as I am very well aware of the dangers of the forest,” Lakah replied.

With a proud face, the elder said, “Yes, that is what I thought. You never back down from your decisions. That’s what I like about your character, Lakah. Let me tell you the way.”

The elder continued, “Let’s say you go by foot. Then you have to leave the village early in the morning, and by evening, you will be at the doors of the city. As for the cart, it will be half a day’s journey from here. When you leave the village, you will see only one road, and that road leads straight to the city. That’s the way you need to go. No matter what, you are not to leave the road. Even if you go a few meters here and there, never go too far from where you can’t see the road. The moment you lose sight of the road, you will be doomed to fail the journey and get lost in the woods. But knowing you, I am sure you will make the best decision in those moments.”

With full hope in his eyes, Lakah said, “Thank you, Elder. Is there anything I could help you with for this information?”

“Don’t bother about it. After all the things you have done for the village, I would be happy to share this information with you.”

Turning toward Lakah, the elder placed a hand on his shoulder and suddenly made a frightening face. “Never let the road disappear from your sight. Go now. Go and seek the knowledge. I will be rooting for you,” the elder spoke to Lakah.

Lakah happily left the elder’s house. Just a few inches away from them, behind the wall, Verra and Venky had been listening to the conversation between the elder and Lakah. They had now learned about the road to the city, and, to their surprise, they were also planning to leave the village without telling anyone.

Verra, who was in front of Venky, turned toward him with an excited look on his face and said, “This is the best chance to get out of the village. We will follow Lakah. If time permits, we will loot Lakah and take his belongings. What do you say?”

“What is there to say? This is the best chance. Let’s get out of this filthy place,” Venky told Verra.

With that, they both decided to follow Lakah to the city and possibly loot him along the way.

That night, Lakah, Verra, and Venky packed their bags to go to the city.

The next morning, most of the villagers gathered at the front gate of the village to stop him from going or to see him for the last time before he left for the city. The elder was also there.

As Lakah approached the gate, he saw the huge crowd gathered there. With his emotional attachment to the villagers, his tears couldn’t stop flowing. But with all his strength, he said goodbye to his villagers and exited the village. As the crowd dispersed, everyone went back to their work.

Sneaking through the crowd, Venky and Verra also exited the village.

A few meters away, the elder, who was behind the wall, was noting the names of the people who left the village in his personal book. The book was already half-filled. Under the scratched names, which started with Ra*** and Kam***, he wrote:

Verra, Venky, and Lakah.

As Lakah left the village, moving along the road as the elder had instructed, he was excited to see the dense forest covering the sky, with rays of sunlight peeking through the gaps between the leaves and branches. The only thing making him move forward toward the city was the road.

“Ohhh, the elder said the right thing. Looking at this forest, even if I go away from the road, I will be lost in the woods,” Lakah thought to himself.

He was a quarter of the way along the road when, without looking to either side, he continued moving steadily. There was a sharp turn to the left. As he took the turn, he suddenly stood completely still, with sweat running down his cheeks.

What he saw was a lion sitting in the middle of the road, looking straight ahead.

Looking at the sight, he looked around to see how he could escape the lion. As he was looking around, he saw a grass bush on the left side of the road.

He remembered the elder’s advice: Never let the road out of your sight.

The bush on the side gave him a good position to keep the road in sight while also keeping the lion within his view. So, he decided to hide in the bush until the lion went away from the road. He quietly went and hid in the bush.

The same thing happened to the other two, who had been following Lakah. They stumbled upon the lion sitting in the middle of the road, and after seeing it, they stopped.

“What is this, Verra? There is a lion! How will we cross it? And how the heck did Lakah cross the lion?” Venky asked Verra, looking cautious.

“Huhhh…” Verra sighed. “That Lakah, he definitely gave something to the lion and crossed it,” Verra replied.

“How are you sure? He may have hidden from the lion. So, if he crossed it, then what should we give the lion so it will let us cross the road?” Venky asked Verra.

“Huhhh… Give me a few minutes. I will come up with a way,” he told Venky and started strolling from side to side to find a solution.

Finally, he snapped his fingers.

“Do you remember the elder told Lakah never to leave the road out of his sight? Knowing how he is, he will never let the words he heard go away. He definitely came up with something and crossed the lion,” Verra said.

“You may be right. Knowing Lakah, he definitely followed the elder’s words. So then, what should we do to escape the lion?” Venky asked.

Verra sighed again and started thinking about what he could do. He looked around to see what he could find. While looking at his surroundings, he saw a rabbit getting inside the bush where Lakah was hiding.