The entire destination to the main grove had been painfully slow for Samuel, he was exhausted and not really in a good headspace. But Sonya and Erica kept close to him the entire walk, keeping a close eye on him just in case and also to let him know they were there.
All he could do was focus forward and get answers later even though a small part of him hoped to see Ulma waiting for them at the main grove, as anticipated she was not there and he had to split up from the others and walk with Alsian instead.
After about half the walk Alsian easily noticed how quiet Sam was, "Something wrong kiddo?" He asked after a while. It wasn't his strongest suit but it didn't mean he was terrible at it.
Samuel hesitated for a bit but eventually told him what had happened and Alsian raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Sorry to hear that kid, I guess you have already told her everything about you even though I warned you not to tell others. Then again, if you can trust your teammates it's a bit different I guess." Alsian replied.
"It might seem like the end of the world now, but trust me when I say! Focus on your path forward, but don't forget to take some stops in between to let all the emotions out. Losing people is never going to be easy, but you can't let it ever stop you permanently!" Alsian sighed, he was well aware that whatever he said wouldn't ease the short term pain. All he could do was give the kid something else to focus on.
The time had passed so well that by the end of their conversation they had arrived in the middle of their grove. Alsian quickly walked forward and put most of his weapons leaning on a log before turning around to Samuel when someone tapped his mind.
Callidus the hunter came out of his hairpin. Visible only to Alsian, It shocked Samuel when Alsian suddenly took a stance like he prepared for battle. "There is something wrong in the air, no animals no wildlife!" Callidus said to Alsian and thats when Alsian felt that there was something sinister in the air, but the grove tree was still standing there alive and well.
"Callidus, Simul, and Arche, be prepared to help me." Alsian said out loud and thats when Samuel really felt like something was about to happen so he drew his blade as well and started looking around.
Suddenly dozen upon dozen of vines sprouted from the ground surrounding Alsian in a labyrinth of vines that tried to grapple him. He dodged all of them but had a hard time finding a way out. "Whats the meaning of this! You know who we are! The druids are our friends!" Samuel could hear Alsian shout from inside all the vines, he had managed to back off. It seemed like the vines were not interested in him. But suddenly he heard heavy footsteps and his heart almost stopped when a large hulking tree like creature stepped out of the woods.
"Alsian look out!" Samuel yelled to Alsian which made him turn around to see what the kid was warning him about. He saw the hulking tree like figure, a grove tree that sprouted legs, an Entine. It was approaching him, but Alsian was old enough to realize its range of attack. "NO KID! It's not after me, dodge it!" Alsian instantly yelled from inside the vines.
Samuel had not read enough books yet to know enough about it, the moment Alsian yelled he prepared to jump back, but it was already too late. The moment he turned his head back, he spat out blood and felt a burning pain. He looked down and saw a large vine the size of his arm that had pierced through his chest. Right about where his heart should be.
Wide eyed, he dropped his weapon and felt his strength slowly leaving him and he dropped to his knees. Meanwhile the vines stopped surrounding Alsian, "We have no quarrel with you! We merely removed a toxin from the forest. You are free to go." The echoing whispers resounded around Alsian as the vines finally cleared and he saw Samuel slowly dropping and laying on his side, impaled by a large tree vine from the Entine.
Samuel felt his life starting to fade as it spilled out into the grove. For a few moments he swore he could see unicorns as his life started flashing before his eyes.
Meanwhile: Triss and Ulma with the blessing and speed of the unicorns rushed through the forest, being carried on the back of these nature unicorns. Ulma got more and more terrified by the minute, while Triss looked pissed off. Thankfully the unicorns were extremely fast, almost as if nature itself was making way for them.
They reached the other grove in a mere four minutes, and thats when Ulma's heart dropped and her entire body started quivering. Samuel lay there impaled by a large wooden vine, she completely ignored everything else going on and she and Triss rushed to him. Ulma skid over the ground on her knees looking over him and turned around to Triss. "Tell me what to do!" She yelled at Triss who had stopped short.
Triss saw that life had already left the young mans eyes. "There is nothing we can do." She shook her head and Ulma started whimpering and tears streaked down her face. As she tried grabbing Samuels face with her hands, she tried waking him up, she pulled out the vine that impaled him and started casting every healing spell she knew.
Triss stood in silence, knowing there was nothing she could do at that point, there was no superior cleric they would reach in time with a wound like that. She was prepared to support Ulma when she finally came to terms with it.
Ulma finally let go of Samuel and lay him back down gently and gave his forehead a kiss. She slowly stood up and faced in the direction of the two trees that had betrayed her, if she had not let the one tree go then Samuel wouldn't have died, she had killed him and before that she had betrayed his trust. She needed something to kill... the two trees fit the bill.
Alsian had been watching, hoping that they would find a way to heal Samuel, completely unfocused on the trees. But when he finally realized it was over he sighed and looked down, he blamed himself, so he dragged his broadsword and prepared to kill when the ground started rumbling.
Ulma started hovering, the earth quaked, clouds gathered in a storm and lightning started crashing down.
Ulma's eyes lit up in white green fury of nature, tattoos started shaping on her bare arms and legs. Finally reaching her face and huge dragon like antlers grew out of her hair. "Die!" Was all she said and held a hand toward the Entine and a flash of bright white lightning and green fire consumed the Entine that screamed in pain until nothing was left.
"But my queen! We did it for you!" The grove tree suddenly whispered through the glade. "No! You did it for yourselves!" The thundering voice of nature from the queen boomed and made the tree whimper, if a tree could ever be described as whimpering.
Triss tried walking closer to the Queen but the immense wind kept her at bay and Alsian was dumbstruck as he witnessed the scene. Suddenly a chilling scream echoed throughout the glade originating from Samuel's body. Everyone turned around to look and saw that Samuel suddenly got up on his knees while facing the sky.
Black tar like substance gathered at the hole in his chest until it was fully mended, then the black tar became flesh and blood and skin. Samuel started screaming in pain and only stopped once it was over, the second it was over he fell forward catching himself with his arms and started puking out the black substance.
Everything clicked at once for Alsian, "You fucking idiot trees. Thats no curse of death, THAT'S HIS BLOODLINE ABILITY!" Alsian roared in rage. "You know of us children of mana because we are more connected to magic than you trees, only because his bloodline ability is forged out of death doesn't mean hes a curse that will bring doom to any forest!" Alsian kept screaming at the tree that seemed to whimper as it realized it's mistake.
Ulma's rage quickly subsided and she sank back to the ground, her tattoos and antlers quickly fading just as quick as her rage. Triss looked on in wonder as Samuel slowly stretched himself up on his knees again. There was no more black like substance, instead it was replaced with a yellow green hum as it completed the healing.
"A complete cycle!" Triss gasped, realizing it wasn't a simple ressurection. It completely healed him and all his injuries in one go. "It wouldn't be death without life. It's not death magic only, its the full circle. It's life and death intertwined as one." She blurted out loud.
Alsian quickly realized that this was Samuel's bloodline ability when it was still dormant, before he had awoke his own bloodline ability he had always been able to bond well with certain artifacts and almost hear their voices from far away. Alsian grinned widely and wondered what the kid would be able to do when his bloodline ability would awaken.
Samuel finally opened his eyes, realizing he was sitting in a small circle of flowers that had not been there before he looked at his hands and then at the hole left in his clothes. Even if the academy robes had started to repair itself, the scar in his chest from the sword remained, but nothing more than that. He had thought there would be a scar from the large vine, so he assumed he was dreaming until he saw the bloodied vine lie next to him on the ground.
Ulma slowly walked toward him and fell on her knees with tears streaming down her face and Triss stood there in awe while Alsian just stood there with a proud grin and relief all over his face.
The large tree opened up its core and revealed another Entine that stepped out of it, it slowly started walking away and tried to full sprint out of there, but in a flash Alsian stood in its way. "Now where do you think you're going?" He said in a hostile voice.
"No human is a match for me!" The Entine shrieked and charged at him. One second later all of its limbs had been cut off, almost as if time had stopped and Alsian was suddenly behind him. "Not quite human remember!" Alsian shouted and took his greatsword that was coated in fire! "Arche, Full power! Let's burn the whole fucking tree!" Alsian's greatsword flamed up in a cyclone of blazing fire and with one last swing he set the whole remainder of the tree and the Entine on fire.
Samuel sat down, feeling exhausted and still trying to process what had just happened. He realized thats how he must have survived the sword through his heart when he was younger, his ability had saved him. He saw the last embers of the Entine and the tree slowly burning to a crisp.
Triss saved the rest of the glade by making sure the fire would not spread and Alsian sheated his sword and walked to Samuel, where Ulma still sat at a distance sobbing to herself with no one to comfort her. Alsian pulled Samuel up and half carried him by putting an arm over his shoulder for him to lean on, he then took Samuel all the way back to their house by opening a few shortcut portals that skipped most of the walking.
Ulma was left behind sobbing and wailing until Triss finally came and embraced her, pushing the young queens head into her chest. She allowed her to cry her heart out for as long as she needed, until she finally passed out of exhaustion. Triss did like Alsian and brought her all the way back and put her to bed. When she was done, Alsian was waiting for her downstairs in the house, they exchanged a silent nod and both headed towards the headmasters office.
They passed by the rest of the group that just came back as they were outside the headmasters office.