The trees shake as the sounds of birds flying off can be heard while the voice thunders in the clearing.
The ground trembled again, this time, with the movement of heavy footsteps, each one closer than the last.
A hulking mass of bark and green emerges from the shadows of the trees.
Its features were formed and curved by wood. Moss and leaves grow scattered across its body, with two twisted branches for horns. The creature towers as tall as the century-old trees it stood next to, looking quite menacing. Its bright glowing green eyes scan the surroundings, before landing on us.
It opens its mouth in a roar, shaking the leaves off the trees, "You dare TRESPASS on the sacred grounds of this forest??! AND attempt to disrupt the resting place of those of the illuminated?!! TREACHERY!" The snarl that seemed to be etched on its face deepened as its eyes burned with anger and rage.
I was so stunned I just stood there in place, mouth hanging open as I gaped up at the giant as the figure opened its palm, reaching forward with its colossal limb of an arm.
In the next instant, I was face to face with the creature, close enough I can almost feel its breath on my face. Its rough fingers start to squeeze slowly around my body, threatening to fracture every bone it can.
"Ngh..!" I struggle in its grip, wincing in pain as my ribs and limbs protest when its hold tightens ever so slightly. I hear the president's voice start to call, shouting to get the creature's attention.
"F..forest guardian! Please, if you let us explain-"
"QUIET MORTAL! It's about time your kind has to learn their place. No one will escape the wrath of perturbing the flower while walking on archaic soil without my acknowledgment!" Its hand tightens around my body.
"Ugh..." My vision starts to go in and out, almost blacking out from the pain. I focus my gaze on the creature's eyes, staring into their furious green glow. Broken bits of letters suddenly appear hazily in my mind, slowly spelling out a name.
Just on the verge of fainting, I open my mouth, my voice barely a whisper.
"H...ha...Hylaeus."
The giant's eyes widen in surprise, his grip immediately slacking.
I start to slip from his hand, my body relieved of the pressure, but my senses still numb. I fell, struggling to stay conscious as my brain scrambles to act on it. I catch sight of Minuet running forward, trying to catch me in time.
The trees stop blurring with motion as I felt my body falling onto the creature's outstretched palm- which did not proceed to squash me flat. He sets me down on the grass carefully, where Minuet was already searching for any serious injuries as I was laid down
Her face one of worry, she hovers both of her hands over me, where a blue glow starts to envelop as she mutters under her breath. My skin tingles with a strange warm kind of feeling, instantly making the pain ebb away as my vision finally starts to get back into full color, and the sunlight stops dancing in circles.
"This name...that shouldn't be possible." The giant looks down at me, the rage in his eyes melting into what almost seemed like, very humane. "After all these centuries, how can I forget?"
Minuet reluctantly speaks up, her tone careful, "Forest guardian...can you tell us...forget what?"
He looks to her, quiet, before falling down into a sitting position, shaking the whole forest with him. He sighs, suddenly looking very solemn.
"I was created, to protect this forest. But I had forgotten what was most important. The war left me as a shell of my old self, forgetting what I was made for. To protect, but also to nourish." His voice rumbles, a kind of sorrow tinged in it. "My anger made me violent, I was unable to call back what I had once cared for most." He shakes his head, "But I am Hylaeus, the guardian made to protect this forest, and the beings that dwell in its trees. I will remember."
I sit up, then realizing I was resting in the president's lap, I embarrassedly brush that thought away, focusing on the guardian.
"What is this place? Why do you have to guard it? ..Does the lily somehow have some significant importance?" Minuet asked, interested in every word the guardian had to say.
He laughs slowly, his demeanor one of a gentle giant, much unlike the enraged one that almost crushed me to death.
"Yes, little mortal. This is the place where souls are guided to the afterlife. Putting their souls to rest after a walk down an illuminated path to where they need to be."
" The red spider lilies... they are a flower of final goodbyes, I think I have read that they lead the restless souls to where need to go?" She said.
"That is correct," Hylaeus said, "Though it is not I that help guide the dead, it is I that helps watch over the rite of passage. Nonetheless, you two are one of the first to visit the place only the dead have. I will let you leave, alive. But this is a place the living world cannot publicly know, that is the natural order. If it is broken, havoc is sure to ensue. So I must take your memories of this encounter, to ensure the protection of order."
"But what will stop us from finding this place again?" I ask, "The entrance is so near to civilization-"
"The Luminous Forest holds many secrets, one of them is that this is not actually in the forest itself, think of it as a dimension you can only enter when the time is right, when the borderlines of the mortal world and the overworld are blurred as the moons are the most aligned, because this place you are in right now, is in neither of those worlds, it IS the border." The giant stands, shaking the earth once more as his feet carry his weight as he stood. "I have already said too much, no matter, you won't remember."
"Wait!" Minuet stands abruptly, "I request one last thing before you do so mighty guardian."
"I will hear out your request, but once I talk to this one first," He gestures to me.
Puzzled, I open my mouth to speak, "What-"
Hylaeus holds out his hand, cutting me off as he taps my forehead with an finger lightly.
Both the woods and everything but Halaeus and I seep away to grassland, and in front of me appears a still young tree that stood planted in the ground, its leaves a ghostly white, and bore flowers that bloomed the color of blood.
A feeling of dread settles in my stomach as I looked at its branches, something about it inspiring trepidation.
"You are no mere mortal," Halaeus rumbled, "I sense unnatural power flowing in your veins. Even with your demon blood." He gazes at me with his bright glowing eyes, bearing the color of life. "I must thank you, for helping me remember. You have my debt. All I can say now is- your fate is hazy that even fate itself can't make a prediction. I hope one day you can find what you seek."
The wind blows, rustling the leaves of the tree, and ruffling my hair as the scene starts to wash away to white.
Halaeus's voice rings in my ears one last time.
"Even if you forget...remember."
- then I blanked out.