Thenea was holding Viv's hand as they walked further into the woods. She was able to ask for his name as they walked in peace before their mission. She was so excited to work as she usually is alone doing the job. And even though she has Ember guards watching her every move on the mission, she can't work with them. This time, it's different.
"This will be fun!" she happily swayed from side to side thinking how well it would go now that she's with someone, "I finally get to do a quest with a fellow ruby!"
Thenea's eyes sparkled, feeling her whole body giddy as her imagination runs wild, "let's find the forest spirit and solve the root of this all!"
Viv at the back, still getting dragged, tilted his head, "slay monsters."
He was not tasked to find and confront the guardian, but he is assigned to slay those pesky wild animals to guard someone. That someone was Thenea. It was Lord Ember who commissioned it.
"Hmmm?" Thenea halted and turned to face him, "not to meet the guardian?"
He shook his head.
Thenea frowned, "well, you're here for the forbidden forest too?"
Viv nodded.
"So," she thinks hard, trying to puzzle pieces of their mission, "you're here to slay monsters while I talk to the spirit--"
She had her fingers on her chin, squinting her eyes as she tried to reach the answer she's looking for, "ah!"
Viv took a stance when the girl in front of him yelled, 'enemy?'
"You guard me while I talk to the guardian!"
He blinked his eyes. His thoughts are running wild, Oz had never included this kind of situation when went over the possibilities and what he could do about it. Now, he is just letting a stranger, a smiling one, drag him towards his mission.
But she's a ruby like him. Is it safe?
It also slipped his mind, he had forgotten the sole purpose of his mission, to guard someone. He was top excited with the part he gets to slay wild animals that he forgot he is not the main reason.
Thenea held both of his hands; flashing a pure and sweet smile. It caught him off guard. His face heated up, eyes wide open, and he froze.
"Let's work together, okay?"
Viv found himself nodding to what she's saying.
"Alright," she immediately became serious and looked around, "once we're inside the forbidden area of the forest, stay alert."
Thenea started walking and he followed, listening intently on what she's saying.
"I have a trap spell, once you're inside, you cannot go out unless I let you," Viv let out a soft shaky breath; he can't seem to understand what she's trying to say, "Slay the monsters going inside the barrier. It will also serve as protection for me and the guardian."
Viv started processing her words, "hmm, hmm."
"The moment we find the spirit, I will activate it," she moved her head to the side, "did you get it?"
"Hmm," he answered.
She sighed, "My orb will trap the monsters you're talking about inside it, so you will have to stay inside either to slay them."
Thenea frowned seeing how Viv remained blank but he noticed her disappointed and so he forced himself to walk properly and agreed to what she planned out, "ung!"
Thenea giggled, "alright, let's go!"
'Trap?'
As the two kept walking towards the forbidden area, the surroundings visibly started to change. From healthy green trees and bushes, as they walk further, everything seems to fade to yellow and red. It's like the area is going through autumn changes.
But the appearance isn't just what is changing, from their eyes, it seems to have a cool temperature as it emits cool atmosphere, but to their surprise, the place is starting to feel hot.
Thenea took a glance at Viv who's walking far behind her, worried about the sudden change of the surroundings. But what she saw was him forming something with his hands.
"Ball?" she blurted out.
Viv heard her and looked at her, still trying to form different sizes of ball with his hands, "orb."
Thenea blinked her eyes, she could see question marks in her mind. Orb? He's making an orb with his hands.
"Pfft," tears started to form in her eyes, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Viv's mouth gaped from the sight and let out a soft airy sound, "hooo."
"Not that small, silly," she tried to keep it together and went over to him, "mine can grow up to 200 meter radius."
"Oh," he looked at his hand, "okay."
Thenea stifled her laughs and tiptoed to ruffle Viv's hair, "let's go, let's go."
His eyes awkwardly started moving as he did not know how to react to this girl he just met.
After carefully making their way towards the forbidden area of the forest, they are finally at the spot where the forest guardian was last spotted. The area is near the entrance of the forbidden place in just 10 feet.
The heat is unbearable but thanks to Viv's resilience and Thenea's staff who absorb a portion of the heat, they were able to find the spirit: a small, human figure sitting on top of a rough tree stump. It is clear the tree wasn't chopped off with a tool and by a professional, it seems like it was forcibly cut off.
The tiny, beautiful creature wears light green skin, her hair is a stunning gold with a crown that seems to be made out of small branches. Her eyes are a pretty light pink while her dress seems to be made out of white stargazer lily. She is barefoot but just like her crown, a small branch circled her ankle to her shin, she looks majestic. It is surreal.
Thenea slowly made her way towards the small one who seemed to be struggling.
"Hey," she greeted, making her voice sound as soft as possible. She might be short but to a tiny spirit like this one--not even longer than five inches--she's a giant.
The spirit whipped her head towards them, her eyes widened as she trembled.
The Ember child tilted her head in confusion, 'she looks so scared.'
Slash.
Thenea gasped and turned around, behind them, a pack of wolves with red glowing eyes.
"Wolves," she uttered.
As she was stunned to see a lot of wolves in front of her, the spirit let out a small muffled cry. This made Thenea snap back to reality and summoned her orb to cover both her and the spirit, once it's all complete, she reversed it, trapping Viv and some wolves inside.
"Now, Viv!"
Viv's dull and drowsy eyes sharpened. He started to alert himself even more, remembering his training with Oz. He hopped as high as he could and scanned the area, counting the number of wolves that were ready to attack them at any second.
He swiftly took all ten knives on his belt sheath and threw it, aiming at nearby angry wolves, growling. While he kept himself busy with the big dogs, Thenea kneeled in front of the spirit, releasing a relaxing magic to assure the creature of her genuineness.
"Hi," she smiled softly.
Now that she's up close with the spirit, she can see how her right leg was buried deep into a small crack of the stump. Not just that, it seems like she's been stuck there for a long time, her legs have splinters and scrapes. They don't look fresh either.
Thenea breathed deeply and summoned a soft aura around her, "my name's Thenea."
The spirit cower, if only there's a place she can hide from the stranger, she'll find ways to hide. And if only her powers are the same as before, she will fight for her and her forest. But unfortunately, there's nothing she can do. It's draining her power, it ruined her forest.
How will she defend everything from these strangers who suddenly appeared before her with an obvious intent to find her?
"What are you?" the little one's voice cracked.
"I'm an adventurer," when the spirit heard the word adventurer, she relaxed a bit, but still, a small sense of fear still apparent in her eyes, "I was sent by the guild."
The spirit lowered her head and hugged herself, rubbing her arms in the process. Thenea has a guess she knows what is happening and that the guild will somehow come after her.
"Was it to confirm my negligence as a guardian?" She observed beyond the adventurer's back, the wolves are attacking the boy she came with. She thought these children they tasked with such a dangerous quest wouldn't make it out alive.
'Cowards.'
It has always been like this. The spirits have always done their best maintaining and protecting their designated area.
There are four of them: The spirit of earth, Pygmy, to watch over the north. Spirit of air, Sylvestris, to watch over the west. Spirit of water, Nymph, to watch over the east. And last but the most aggressive of them all, spirit of fire, Vulcanos, to watch over the south.
It has been countless millennia since Pygmy appeared in the world to take over a dying spirit. They live for a maximum of a hundred thousand years, and now, Pygmy has lived for twenty four thousand years. She had witnessed different things on earth but the worst of all was the arrival of Azazel.
She tried so hard to keep the kingdom alive as he sucked every life force he could take off of the land and use it against the people. This causes her lifespan to decrease by twenty millennia. And now, she can feel her power and life force being slowly drained from her, just like before.
The cause of this strange phenomena is still unknown, she came to the forbidden area to investigate years ago but this is what happened to her, trapped in the tree stump for over a year.
"What happened?" Thenea asked while looking at her leg.
Pygmy shook her head gently, tears started to form in her eyes but she quickly wiped it away, "I have no idea."
"Can you not tell me?"
She looked up to study the face of her interrogator, although she planned on not admitting anything to anyone working for the guild due to past experiences, one look at Thenea's eyes, her anger towards the adventurers vanished.
"Well," she bit her trembling lower lip, "that."
Pygmy pointed at the entrance of the forbidden area that's covered in big vines and thorny bushes.
"This happened because of that," her brows drew closer together as she recalled what happened, "I was investigating the cause of this land's phenomenon and it led me here. All of a sudden," she squeaked.
"All of a sudden, I was pulled by an unknown force and got sucked down in this ugly stump."
Thenea tried to read her mana with her light magic, but to her surprise, for a spirit, she has little to none.
She gasped and fell on her butt, "what the heck is happening here?"
"What are you trying to say?"
Pygmy became frantic at the sight of the pure Thenea showing fear in front of her.
"Did you read something?"
Thenea shook her head as she stared into nowhere, "you're mana is almost out."
"What," she said quietly, not believing the words coming out from her mouth.
"You're lying!" she screamed.
"Urk!"
A sound of despair behind them resonated in their ears. They both had their attention on Viv, he was trying to block a wolf from attacking him. Both of his arms covering his face from its paw and overly long and sharp claws. Two of the wolves found their fangs on his legs.
"ARGH!"
Despite the dangerous situation, Viv never asked for help nor told her to quickly end it.
Thenea panicked and faced Pygmy, "tell me what you know."
"But—"
"NOW!"
"I can't," she argued.
She can't.
She will not.
Never.
"Please, don't be stubborn," Thenea begged, "my friend is at stake here!"
"Huh?"
"My friend is fighting there to guard us!" tears fell from her eyes, "if you can't give us the reason why you neglect the forest. If you can't tell us what you know, he—"
All of a sudden, something moved towards them.
"Huh?" Thenea's mouth were wide open, her eyes glued behind the little spirit.
Viv was able to break free from Thenea's barrier undetected and moved behind Pygmy, blood trickling down his thighs.
"How?" the mage asked herself in surprise.
He raised his arms, his knives glistening. The look on his face was frightening, it craved for blood.
Pygmy shivered in his presence.
"VIV!!!"