She kill's people!!!!" Ériu exclaimed.
"We are all grim reapers just like the Valkyrie. Whenever someone is going to die. We do our job. Either before, during, or after."
"So she is why we are in this mess!" Ériu said loudly. "She took Sirius and his family away too!"
Time slowed down suddenly for Ériu and she felt the dread that she felt the moment that Sirius had died.
Boding fear overwhelmed her.
She stopped walking and was overcome with power so much that she couldn't say another word.
Klaus and the other two broke the silence and laughed. "That is how she says not to question her when she does her job."
The feeling went away and the small girl skipped away ahead of them innocently.
"Each one of us has done our job for centuries since nearly the beginning of time. We know what we are doing." Nicholas said. "Don't worry about it. No one is ever judged unfairly.
"Even sometimes those we lost here in Nefilheim appear later in our world. That is the biggest secret of all, because we don't know how it happens. I imagine that those people are out there somewhere, maybe energy or life force. And if fate will draw them back to us, then we will see them again."
The group finally reached the territory line where Hvergilmir, the town of Ériu ended and Sldir began. It had been a few days' journey.
"This is the end of my territory." Ériu said as the road ended. Beyond this, the forest was unkept and unpaved. The trees were very close together.
"I don't think Ériu is going to fit in there. " Nicholas said.
She agreed with him on that. She was also not quite as tall as the trees so she couldn't just walk above them. They easily reached 80 feet and she was just 20.
She decided to try something.
She concentrated and began changing her form. The forest floor gently became more eerie as she became a blanket of mist. The mist swirled around the trees and the air took on a slight damp feeling as well. However, she drew this water from the grass, so it became dry and crisp.
"Woah!" Nicolas exclaimed. "Did you guys know she could do that?!"
Klaus ran his fingers through the mist and it wet his hand a bit. "This is amazing." He said with a hint of wonder in his voice.
The 4 angels began to journey into the misty forest as the night life began to come out. It was always dark here, but nighttime was darker than daytime dispite the light not coming from the sun. Small creatures still lived in the forest, even though it was someone else's territory. They were more like small animals. The larger beasts more than likely allowed them to live here because they fed off of them and things like that. The angels eyes glowed golden in the dark, much like Sirius, except his were red.
At night the forest was full of life.
They entered a clearing eventually and Afton suggested that they make camp. Ériu resumed her form and Klaus went to gather some firewood.
After the girls had set up the tent, and Nicholas gathered enough wood off of the ground to make the fire, he started to try to light it.
"Where is Klaus?" He asked after a while when he had gotten the sticks ablaze, " I'm not going to have enough wood if he doesn't hurry back with more. My fire won't last long."
"He shouldn't be too far." Afton said.
Without saying anything, Astrid went to the forest.
Ériu noticed this and turned to the other two, "where is she going?" She asked.
Nicholas waved his hand, "she is probably going hunting or something."
"Shouldn't someone go with her in case she runs into problems?"
"You can go," Afton said, "I don't worry about her, she's tougher than any of us here."
Ériu had nothing better to do and she really didn't like the idea of such a young girl who reminded her of Sroka wandering about the forest alone, so she decide to follow her. Becoming mists again, she ventured into the trees.
Astrid silently hopped from one tree to another, searching for some dinner. They came across a few birds, and she slashed with her hand at the air and the bird closest to them stopped mid flight, fell down to the ground and lay still. She picked it up and put it in a bag on her back and then hopped to another tree and waited until she saw another one. She did the same thing.
"How are you doing that?" The mist asked her.
Astrid didn't respond, but picked up the second bird and parted its feathers to show claw marks on its belly. She put it into her bag. So somehow, she could kill it without touching it. Ériu made a mental note not to get this girl on her bad side.
She started heading back to camp at that point when a branch she was climbing on snapped and she nearly fell to the ground. When this happened, the sounds of chirping insects stopped.
It became very eerie and out of nowhere, a root shot out of the ground and wrapped its self around Astrid's foot. It yanked her off of the branch she was clinging to, and with a great force, she fell to the ground, pulled by the root into the forest. Ériu shot after her. She made an image of herself out of the watery mist, she was smaller, closer to the size of a normal person and a bit transparent too like a ghost. She swirled her arms in concentration.
Some of the mist formed water and she sliced through the root that was wrapped around Astrid's ankle, cutting it.
Astrid looked relieved. She had a couple of bruises now and her hair had dirt and sticks in it from being dragged. She got up and another root shot at her. Ériu sliced it as well.
The creature wherever it was, retaliated angrily and sent 10 vines at once to retrieve Astrid. It shot a few roots at Ériu as well, but they phased right through her.
Astrid dodged the roots, jumping out of the way as one shot for her, attempting to wrap around her foot again. She slashed at it with her hand, her nails had become sharp, and the root shred into a few pieces.
Another root came at her and she dodged that as well. She was running around, dodging and jumping, roots attacking her from all sides.
A root managed to swipe past her, tripping her and knocking her off of her feet. As she stumbled and fell to the ground, she scraped up her palms and face. She turned towards the direction it had come from and spat out some dirt before attempting to get back up.
That didn't work.
She tugged at her hands and realized that the other root had been a distraction and another one had shot up from the ground below her and taken a grasp of her wrists. Roots shot up from below her overwhelming her. She frantically pulled at her hands, but couldn't break free. The plant creature had realized that her hands were her weapon and had taken ahold of them firmly.
Roots began weaving a nest around her, attempting to surround her and she kicked at it with her feet.
Ériu came and sliced at the roots as well with her water but they had become tough like bark and her water couldn't slice through it. She solidified her hands so she could tug at it and it broke, freeing Astrid's hands.
By now though Astrid's body was entangled as well and the roots had wrapped around her body like a snake.
The roots were now encasing her and thickening. Astrid's eyes were wide as she clawed at the bark without affecting it at all. Ériu tugged at it and sliced at it too, but even with all of her strength, it wouldn't come free. Bark crawled up her body and her face was all that remained free at this point. Astrid's hands once again were bound. She began to look like a tree.
Ériu looked around and noticed all of the trees and a wave of dread passed over her. "These trees are all people! She exclaimed. "We have to get help!"