The possessed boar's mouth was overflowing with saliva. The dripping saliva was accompanied by the snot that was coming off of its nose. Rather than being round and fatty, the muscles in its body were bulging and the veins that were beneath the skin was popping out, making him look like a macho boar.
The vertical eye kept rolling in search for the source of noise that it heard a few hours ago. Nature played tricks on the possessed boar by provoking it with howling winds and fluttering leaves, causing it to carelessly attack at the helpless trees that were just standing still, thinking that those sounds were an enemy's attack.
Its ferocious attitude matched its stupidity. It wasn't the beast that was stupid, it was actually the ones that were controlling it, the shadows.
The place where the possessed boar came from was complete dead silence, no howling winds nor fluttering of leaves made a sound there, and that was why they hastily attacked the trees. The noise that is only offered on that place was the growling and low panting of those who inhabit in it.
After tiring itself out, loud gasping and snorting sounds could be heard. Its vertical eye rested it's gaze on its front, revealing a lady that was walking confidently with a smile on her face.
The lady approached the possessed boar and her shadows slowly merged and separated on the boar as if they only just passed through to check on it.
The boar bowed its head in respect for the powerful shadows that the lady was controlling. She followed the trails of fallen trees which led her back to the place where the boar heard the cracking sound.
Her dark brown eyes swept the area, searching where the sound came from. With the help of the shadows, she could clearly see in the darkness and after turning her head right-side, she saw an empty log that was lying on the ground. It was approximately 18-meters away from her.
After leaving the spot she was standing, she knelt beside the log and looked inside.
There was a stone.
She inspected the irregular-shaped hole that the stone made and faced at the direction where it came from. She stood up and her legs alternately lunged forward and after some few strides, she arrived on an old-looking tree that looks no different among other trees.
She cocked her head downwards and she laid her eyes on the ground.
Boot footprints, two pairs of boot footprints. Her dark brown eyes followed the trail of footprints that were leading to the deeper part of the forest.
"Two boys and one sycophant," The sphere-like shadows whirled around her body and after a few seconds, the whirling shadows disappeared, but what replaced the shadows was a full-bodied armor. The darkness of the forest made the color of the dark green armor almost black. A longsword, that was attached on her hips, swayed a little bit on every step she made.
She knew that she was already closing at them and her strides became quicker and quicker, following the trail that they left behind.
.....
Lev and Kaz walked for two hours before they reached the heart of the forest. They avoided the spiritless beasts that they encountered. The beasts they encountered were mostly sleeping or just simply walking around in the darkness. They couldn't see more than 3 meters because it was pitch black, but luckily for them, Glib had the eyes of a cat and he instructed them where the beast was and where they should go.
"Stop."
Glib stood on Kaz's head and he focused his blue eyes on the direction in front of them. He could sense the sinister feeling that the shadows were transmitting toward each other.
What are those? Glib asked himself when he saw the huge lumps on the ground. What he saw next was that the trees around it were covered with black ooze as though it was like a black oil that covered the tree bark.
"No way..." Glib silently whispered when he realized what those huge lumps were.
"What is it?" Kaz tried to stare at the dark but his eyes failed to make out something.
Glib looked closer and made sure if those lumps were really what he thought they were. The lumps slowly twitched and moved before stopping again.
Beyond the lumps, Glib saw a huge, old tree with thousands of branches towering above. It was different among other trees in the forest because its bark was unaffected by the black ooze and it looked majestic.
Glib's face showed a mixture of emotions. "There's a huge tree."
"Do you think that's the seed?" Lev doubtfully asked.
"That's got to be it," Glib nodded. His eyes started to become wet and his face started to show signs of being happy.
"Great! What are we waiting for?" Lev was relieved that they discovered the seed that Glib was searching for.
"But it's like 200-meters away and there are hundreds of spiritless beasts sleeping on the ground. Thousands of shadows are feeding on them."
Glib hopped down and climbed back up at Lev's shoulder. He wiped his eyes using the rem of his robe and looked at Kaz.
This was where Kaz's plan came to action. He reached his right hand to his left forearm and started to loosen the strap of the wristwatch.
Glib reached out into his pocket and pulled out the light runestone with a circle symbol embedded in it. Kaz took the stone and started to work on his plan. He strapped the watch on the stone and made sure that it wasn't loose.
"I hope this will work," Kaz wasn't one-hundred percent sure if his plan would succeed just like what he imagined on his brain, but this was their best bet.
He aimed it on their left side, above where the thick branches covered the sky and threw it. The watch was tightly attached on the stone, tight enough for it not to let go while spinning in the air.
Glib was carefully eyeing the stone, and when the stone's height was high enough and started to lose momentum, he whispered:
"Darkness that covers the light,
Stone that ensconces power,
Radiate and enhance nature.
Lux!"
The stone showed signs of cracking and its shell started to tear down, revealing a bright light that illuminated everything. The watch that was attached to it started to overheat and buzz.
After emitting a bright light, the watch exploded and bolts of lightning started to come out of the explosion, striking the trees, ground, and even some few, unlucky beasts, and it produced fire.
Lev and Kaz were both amazed by the mystical power that the stone produced, leaving them awestruck.
The spiritless beasts that were deep in slumber woke up from the explosion and from the deafening strikes of lightning. The shadows panicked and started to control the beasts. They rushed directly to the fire to extinguish it with their hooves and paws. It wasn't only a boar that inhabited the forest, there were wolves, foxes, mooses, bears, and even birds. But every animal can't be considered an animal anymore because some parts of their bodies were disfigured and stuck on their forehead was a vertical, lidless eye.
Amidst the chaos, the spiritless beasts didn't notice the 2 boys that were running towards the center part of the forest. They jumped across the roots that were stuck upright on the ground, and the cat-like creature above Lev's head instructed them where to go.
My plan actually worked! Kaz laughed while he was running and listening to Glib. What more, his plan turned out to be better than he expected!
They could already feel the excitement when Glib informed them that they were already close to the tree. Their fear was replaced with excitement and their eyes were filled with determination.
The air became clear and Lev could finally see the same tree that Glib saw. They were already 50 meters away from it and they could see the large branches that extended outwards.
"We're near!"