Leaving the house, the four girls hadn't any idea on where to start their investigation, either for Aster or this new danger to the forest; in which was recently agitating.
But then quickly coming up with something, Autumn had an idea, "Witches are closely connected with nature, but has anyone ever spoken to nature, I mean actually spoke?" She openly said behind them.
And turning to her, "I don't think that's how it works?" Alison questioned, but Nurma had a different mindset than them, "Actually, I might..."
Walking up to the nearest tree, Nurma put her hand on the tree's bark and closed her eyes, "Though you cannot have a genuine conversation with her, she speaks back," talking in her native tongue, she said that. Not minding that they couldn't understand her, but one of them could, and it wasn't them who she needed to hear her, but "her".
And after a minute of questions, she turned around to them and said, "The forest isn't angry?" she said and the others raised a brow, "You can speak with nature?"
Alison asked, surprising them, but she shook her head and looked back to the trees, "I can only listen to them," and that brought many questions to them, but they didn't know if they should ask, or if she would actually tell them the truth.
So stepping up, Athena asked her, "Can you go more into detail with that? What do you mean, they're not angry??" she didn't get this at all, and it only brought more questions?
And looking back at them, Nurma said, "The forest got excited, the forest is excited, the forest raised its guard, it's trying to protect rather than vent its wrath," she said back, still like gibberish to them and almost speaking in riddles with a smile.
Looking at them gently, "The forest, found a child"
But as she said that with a benevolent smile, her smile then became a frown as she said, "At least, it's new kid, a spawn from the mother, their family, now protecting," understanding that and bringing new questions to the table, the others couldn't fit the pieces together, until Autumn went and said out.
"Another guardian spirit's been born? That's the only logical conclusion," she said confusing the others who looked at her as if she was spouting a bunch of bullcrap.
And turning to Nurma, "Do you know where they are, the moment we confirm this, we can report back, and even get resources to find Aster, it'd make everything much easier," but then Nurma shrugged, "It's east," she said turning to the others.
And Autumn said, "Okay, let's go check them out!"
But not liking this idea, "Can I... Just stay here" Alison requested, "Me too, I don't like the spirits around here," and Athena seconded her, but Autumn shook her head.
"No can do, I need more than one witness, you know how stingy the council can be, shit, we can't even go to the grand coven ourselves without their permission" and sighing the both of them looked to Nurma, "Can you come with us, please..." Alison grudgingly asked of her.
And shrugging her shoulders, "Sure ..," she simply replied back.
. . . . .
Leaving their home they traveled towards the new spirit dragging their feet, they were being pulled along by Autumn until they heard crunching and growling. . .
Hearing a Trentas, a humanoid Treant who usually has a spear, and guards the forest from outsiders. They began to become serious as they focused on avoiding it... But then they remembered they didn't even have to do that.
Grabbing Nurma, the three witches snuck behind a tree and shifted into a group of black-birds, lifting Nurma up as she couldn't transmute forms like them, they carried her in a flock and flew into the sky way above the trees.
And as they did, a thousand eyes landed on them, but there wasn't enough manifested pressure to materialize them out of the sky from their forms.
And feeling targeted with hostility, they knew they had no other choice but to land and go back to walking on foot, because everything skyborne was now a target...
So getting as far east as possible until wooden arrows were shot at them from the forest, and spears came right at them, coated with the magic to destroy their morphed forms, they made their way back to the earth.
And landing in an empty area set the two unwilling-to-come witches off as they weren't even able to fly now. But with Nurma nauseous from being in the sky, and now Autumn worried sick about her, they had no other choice but to suck it up and stay grounded. Carrying nurma as they were forced to travel unseen, yet only to spend a good chunk of their trip running away from everything in there.
And then they made it to their destination, the grounds of a chilly mountain, this infuriated the girls as it was way too much walking, they'd rather have spent their time using magic than wasting the last six hours of their lives.
Sadly not learning magic couldn't solve everything, they stormed up the mountain, but as they made it three-quarters of the way up, they were met with some unsettling creatures blocking their path to their final and last destination.
. . . . .
Surrounding the top of the mountain the Trentas were guarding the peaks. And as they approached, looking down, they stared dead at the girls, startling the witches.
But as one of them raised their spear butt' slightly off the ground, it slammed it down striking fear into them, but not as much as it did when next it made a little opening in between it and another guard for them, all while staring with hostility towards them.
And not getting why the Trentas weren't attacking them, Athena grabbed the other two girls' hands; taking this as an advantage blessed onto them by the forest itself, and not wanting to die, she walked past them, going more up the mountainside.
Finally reaching the top area, yards past the Trentas, the four of them saw as the top of the mountain was carved out into a flatland, with a slight hand of snow n' leaves.
And as they stepped onto the leveled ground, a scene unfolded before them like a sultry dance in the moonlight. Eight pairs of eyes lifted to behold the captivating sway of a dancer, their long sleeves gliding through the air with a graceful allure that ensnared their senses. Each movement held them spellbound, tracing the path of every elegant gesture with rapt attention.
Yet, as their gaze roamed further, they beheld the figure's attire - a white robe adorned with intricate blue patterns that teased the edges of their vision. And then, as if drawn by an irresistible force, their eyes fixated on a hand emerging from the flowing fabric, its caramel skin bathed in an ethereal mist, and the fingertips dipped in darkness.
In that moment, a collective realization dawned upon them, a silent understanding passing between the four. With synchronized resolve, they broke free from the trance, reclaiming their senses amidst the tantalizing allure of the mysterious dancer.
And looking up at their face, with horns curling out his head, a smile bright on his face as rows of pearly teeth flashed: even exposing slight canine daggers. And two eyes blackened and with red irises, shining like stars out in the night, yet showing such beauty that it attracted all and even the suns. And then ruffled hair, mixed black yet so dark that even ink could be made from it, while brown as wood mixed trying to create a new sapling in his hair, he danced beautifully and as his hair had reached his neck, not even it had touched his neck as he never stopped moving.
Spinning around, he turned their direction, yet not even seeing them as he was lost in his own world as the sky favored him, and shined bright on him with bright lights.
They then watched as he opened his mouth in the next moment, darkness spread from his body, all but the spider markings covering began to shift and turn and swirl all around his caramel hue, even the darkness hazily spread across his fingertips sharpening into obsidian like claws, and darkness colored his light pink tongue.
He was absorbing the negative energies around the mountain and forest.
Yet as it seemed like he was getting corrupted by the negative energies filling him, his eyes said otherwise, as to everyone, he had the happiest look all over his face.
And looking around the area.
Full of candles, spread around the edges, circling the whole mountain peak, eight large pillars unnoticed by them finally became more apparent as he was inside of this pentagon, and next to the ones in front of the girls. There were five adults with black and green hair, and they all empowered nature as vines grew from the roots of their hair, as well as around their bodies, adding layers to their noble clothing.
And then standing in front of the five was a kid looking just like them, but he looked similar to Aster too, as he had mixed hair and red eyes, yet the difference was also as big, as he had wooden horns shaped like Aster's, but there were still vines in his hair, and his aura gave off a pure attribute for wood.
And standing in front of the five was a child similar to the group, but when the girls looked at Aster, he bared similar resemblance to him as well, mixed hair an red eyes, the difference was there, mainly by the wooden horns shaped like Aster's and the viney hair, but the main difference was his pure attribute for the wood element.
The kid mimicked Aster and tried dancing along the side in pure innocence.
With a look of admiration, he wanted to play alongside him too.
And seeing that, Aster made his way over in simple but smooth movements, only extending his hand out to the child, showing him the ropes as they moved, and greatly influencing him more as they danced under the suns' bright light.
Enlightening the surrounding nature in bliss as he couldn't contain his Incubus Aura with his magic anymore, the forest held tight, and none of the six were affected by it.
An this brought even more joy as he danced till the sun fell from the sky in the west, and the beasts began howling at the moon, heated by his growin' prowess down the mountain. With almost infinite stamina Aster later grabbed all hands of the five there with them, and getting them to dance, the forest enlightened them with filling music.
With blood, sweat, and tears going into this, those girls had watched as the boys casually went upon what had seemed almost like a ritual to them, all along the day.
And as Nurma casually sat next to a pillar watching and enjoying this, the others hid behind them at the peaks of the mountain, stalking as they were merely baffled, and kind of angry as he'd disappear to just dance, and for who? Random Spirits?
"He's never danced for us, humph!" Alison pouted at it.
But chuckling, Autumn thought it was kinda cute.
And Athena just watched, wondering what it meant.
And as midnight came and the candles turned to wax, Aster, covered in sweat finally put his feet together and clapped, smiling brightly as he turned to the men there.
Brushing his hair to the side and saying, "I'm glad that I could be of entertainment, new guardian," he said, kneeling before the kid and rubbing their head, ruffling up their hair, the kid smiled and giggled at all the attention he was getting.
"Thank you big brother!" the kid shouted, terribly surprising the hidden girls, mainly because they could all hear him loud and clear and didn't miss a thing... Spitfully.
But then again, they didn't care what the kid was saying, more like him rather, their newest coven member, Aster. And not his voice, but the very words coming out of his mouth, saying all this with a real voice, or to be frank, he spoke their tongue,
An as the others started approaching him, "Yes, thank you, little brother," speaking to Aster, they kept talking, "You were very kind to us. Even so, to entertain us for a week on our newest kin's birth, we won't forget this" he said truly glad.
Another one spoke, "Yes, Behazmeth, your kindness will not be taken for granted," and hearing them, he flinched, and nervously chuckled, "How'd you figure out I'm a..."
But chuckling himself, he said back, "You can't hide your presence from Ashmedia's oldest babysitter, it's been thousands of years, and yet I don't forget a scent"
Looking away from the spirit, "Yeah..." but then the spirit came over to him closer and squatted down to his level, and said, "As long as you're in this forest, they won't find you, son of Ashmedia, so have no more worries, alright child"
Sighing, Aster looked up, and with a grin said, "Who said I want to hide from a bunch of cowards~" a sense of evil intent wavered off of him startling the other four...
"Cocky huh, that won't-" the other spirit was then cut off. And as Aster then stood up, he laughed, "Kidding, the last thing I need is those old geezers trying to kill me, I'd rather keep on living a little while longer than just up and die now~"
Laughing a lot, he then turned around and put his hands behind his head, turning his head slightly and saying to them, "So don't worry, after all, I don't like politics, hah~"
Smiling, "Looks like the Behazmeth's known humor just passes down," the spirit said before turning to the other spirits, and then after whispering, turned back to Aster as he whistled and walked back to him, "Is there anything you want? You haven't gained anything from this. This week"
But hearing him, "No need, I'm just greeting the kid, okay"
Laughing, "Very well, we'll visit you again when you can think of something you want, in the meantime, bye Ast"
The spirit said before disappearing with the other four spirits, yet leaving the kid behind as he stared at Aster, and then yelled out, "I love you big bro! I'll find you! Kay!"
Chuckling, "Love you too kid, stay safe with them, and I'll always protect you when you need it too, so call for me sometimes," smiling brightly, "I will big brother, hehehe"
Vanishing, Aster whistled as he walked to the center of the peak, and sitting in the center of the Pentagon, he let out a long sigh as he sat there and spoke to himself.
Saying, "That was fun, But what should I do next to pass the time, I still have to wait for my mana core to cool~"
He said, as expanding his rank too fast could have been too dangerous, so he waited a week to continue with his cultivation of Magic, and then this came up, so he did it.
But now he's bored, and knowing he could go back to training, he didn't want to rush it, he was growing really fast without training as an incubus, but rather as a sorcerer, and he was getting really bored doing that because he has a-
He had this craving the more he didn't do it, and he didn't know exactly why, but he felt like he was missing something, and then he remembered their words...
"I've been gone for a week..." and realizing that, he just looked down at his legs as he had them crossed, and he chuckled, "I hope they're not missing me too much?..."
But then shaking his head, "Nah, I'm not that special, but I should go back to them soon, I still hav'ta help Athena with the herbal garden, Autumn with gathering food, and Alison with coven planning, and then I need to visit Nurm, I hope she's doing well? Shoot I hope she's doing fine right now~"
"I am~" and darting his head, he saw Nurma sitting there just watching him with a smile, and he jerked back, not expecting this, "Nurma? How'd you get up here?!" He was shocked, and then the others stumbled out as well.
And seeing them, he nervously laughed and scooted away.
"Soooooo.... Yeahhh... I can explainnn..." he pleaded.
"What's there to explain... ASTER" Athena said back to him menacingly, and sweat fell down his face as she, along with the others approached him, "I... I really can!"
He tried convincing her, but she cracked her knuckles along with the other three with her, including Nurma.
And seeing them, he bit his thumbnail and shifted his body to his knees, sitting on them but ready to jump up and run too.
And as the three of them released magical auras out of pure instinct to merely let loose a little of their powers to punish him for worrying the hell out of them. Rather it was sending the wrong message to the wrong species, an then his eyes shimmered.
And as his eyes glowed and brows lifted as if he was shocked by this. That nervous smile he had turned crescent real quick, and biting hit nail suddenly turned lewd.
Unable to hold, in an instant a shockwave of monstrous demonic aura began pouring out of him, startling them as it felt like he was ready to fight to the death, but little did they know that as it spread around the area, that manifestation of his prowess was littered with lust and what they felt was just an abundance of negative energy.
And after a split second, the danger vanished.
And he planted his hands on the ground and pushed up.
"And they call me stupid~" he giggled looking at them.
Now being caught off guard by what he said after a display of his powers.
"Now who wants to play with me first~"
"Because... I'm famished~"