I was speechless as I stared at my father's mangled corpse.
Rolim's corpse, I corrected myself. Whatever that man was, he was definitely not my father.
I couldn't even bring myself to feel an ounce of compassion towards the man. He had been a thorn in my side since the very first day I was born, and I was glad to be rid of him.
However, this power that I possessed terrified me.
'I had no clue I was capable of such destruction.' I thought to myself, looking at the carnage my single attack had caused.
I floated towards the spot where Rolim's body lay, remarking that he had almost knocked over two trees from my blast.
There was no wonder that the church was hunting down veilborn, such a power was far too remarkable to leave unchecked.
When I looked around, I also realized that I had no idea where I was.
"We had been walking for nearly ten minutes before I got here, but I don't know from which direction." I sighed, wondering how I was going to make my way home.
If I started going off in a random direction, there was a large chance I would end up heading even deeper into the wilderness.
Suddenly, an idea came to my mind.
I activated my powers, soaring straight into the air.
I flew towards the treetops, narrowly dodging a stray branch as I passed through the treeline.
Looking around, I strained my eyes to see if I could find any trace of the manor. I had to have been more than thirty meters in the air at this point, but I failed to spot anything familiar.
The night was so dark that my eyes struggled to focus, and all I could see was a seemingly endless sea of trees. I was starting to grow worried, for I knew I wouldn't survive long in the wilderness as a literal baby.
I eventually floated back towards the ground to see if I could find any trace of a path my kidnappers had taken.
Unfortunately, this proved fruitless as well. I had no wilderness tracking experience and had no idea what I should even be looking for, so I quickly gave up.
Sighing, I floated towards the scene where the heated battle had taken place earlier.
I spotted the corpse of the brother with the high-pitched voice. I grimaced as I remembered how he had been speared through the heart by a wooden tendril.
Truthfully, it was quite disturbing to see the man's corpse bleeding into the soil of the forest. However, for some reason I wasn't too shaken up by everything I had witnessed.
'Perhaps my experiences in my past life are to blame for this, or maybe I've already changed that much since then.' I pondered, not wanting to dwell on it too much.
My train of thought was derailed as I noticed something shiny next to the man's corpse.
I drifted closer to his body and realized that I was looking at the sword he had wielded. It was on fire earlier, but I figured that it was likely due to some strange magic he was using.
The sword looked to be of European design, but was quite basic in its appearance. It had a leather hilt and an iron hand guard, and the sword itself was easily five times my body length.
Activating my powers, I watched as the sword wobbled slowly into the air before steadying itself.
It took a little more concentration to make something so long and heavy float, but I was able to balance it after only a few short moments.
The sword then began to zip through the air as I directed it in a series of zig-zagging patterns.
I then abruptly yelped and ducked down in the air as the sword slashed directly above my head.
It was easy to forget that this thing was a deadly weapon!
'My powers make it easy to make this weapon fly, but my lack of control could easily lead to my own downfall.' I thought, resolving myself to use more caution in the future.
I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that floating my body and an object at the same time was relatively easy. This required a bit of multitasking, but it wasn't something that took too much conscious effort.
The long iron sword floated behind me as I drifted towards the corpse of the man who had been carrying me.
This man had some magical power that turned him into some sort of mud-creature. I didn't know what the benefits to such a transformation were, but they clearly didn't help him much against Rolim.
Since he had nothing interesting on his body, I quickly put him out of my mind as I floated past him.
I was now looking past the destroyed tree that Rolim had smashed through.
His corpse lay only a few meters behind, but the state that it was in was grisly to see.
Floating closer, I didn't see anything that particularly stood out to me. However, upon a closer inspection I did notice a small envelope next to his body.
The envelope was bloodied but still sealed closed.
'It must've fallen from his body after he had impacted with the tree.' I figured, trying to bring the envelope towards me for a closer inspection.
Suddenly, I felt a strong pang in my brain as my vision swam. Unable to hold the sword upright any longer it fell down, stabbing into the dirt below.
I groaned as I stabilized myself in the air. Luckily, I was still able to keep myself floating, so I was able to avoid taking a painful tumble. It seemed that holding more than one object in the air at the same time was my limit, at least while I was also levitating myself.
If I was going to take the mysterious letter and the sword back home it was going to take some creativity.
An idea suddenly came to my mind, and I gingerly floated the envelope towards my position.
It took a lot of concentration, but I eventually managed to slide the envelope into my cloth tunic where it fit snugly. I was only wearing a tiny shirt and a diaper, so I had no pockets to work with. This was the best I could do to keep it safe at the moment.
I wanted to open the envelope to see its contents, but I didn't know if I could manage something so delicate with my powers yet. I didn't want to rip the letter up in my attempts to open it.
With the envelope stored away securely, I picked the sword back up out of the dirt. It floated towards my side with a mere thought, hovering behind me as I thought out my next move.
There was a slight headache creeping up on me, but I put it out of my mind as I wondered how I should get home.
In the worst case scenario, I would just have to wait until the day time when there was more light. With this in mind, I scanned the area for anywhere I could settle for the night.
I knew that I couldn't stay near these bodies, as they would inevitably attract predators that would probably love to snack on a stray baby.
My attention was quickly drawn back to Rolim's corpse though, as I noticed something that made my heart skip a beat.
I saw that several vines were creeping up on his corpse, slowly entangling it in their grasp.
Rolim's body began to abruptly turn pale as his blood was seemingly sucked from it, causing it to rapidly deflate and deteriorate before my very eyes. In less than a minute I watched as his entire corpse had turned into a paper-like husk, only recognizable by the clothes he once wore.
I gulped as I floated higher in the air, unsure of what danger was now lurking in these woods.
Looking back to the other corpses of the two brothers I saw something similar happening, and soon all three bodies had been absorbed by the ominous vines.
"W-who's there?!" I shouted, but it came out more like, "Hoo Bair?!"
Nothing answered me, however, and I continued to grow increasingly more terrified as I stared into the dark forest.
Just as I was about to book it out of there, I saw a bright green light erupt below me.
Dozens of vines and wooden tendrils began to sprout from the dirt and surround this green light, and I watched with wide eyes as they formed into the figure of a person!
After a few more seconds this figure began to gain definition, and it soon took the form of what appeared to be a woman.
The woman's body seemed to have a greenish tint to it, and their arms and legs were made of some leaf-like substance.
Their hair was made up entirely of green vines, and their eyes gleamed like a vibrant emerald in the darkness of the night.
What was even more attention grabbing was that they were completely naked!
Large, supple breasts sat above a well toned body. Nothing was left to the imagination.
They looked otherworldly, and their beauty was breathtaking.
'Why hello there you little thing.' the woman said, flashing me a brilliant smile.
Their words seemed to penetrate directly into my mind, it was as if their voice was one of my own thoughts.
I was caught off guard by their sudden greeting, and frankly their entire appearance.
"Um, hello." I replied, dumbfounded.
The beautiful leaf-woman looked up at me, for I was now floating several meters in the air at this point.
"No need to be so afraid, I should actually be thanking you." she said with a laugh.
I grinned awkwardly and scratched my head with a tiny hand.
"Oh, you're welcome I guess." I said, not knowing what else to say.
The words I was saying would likely sound like gibberish to anyone else, but she seemed to know exactly what I was saying.
The woman chuckled, "I haven't had a meal this filling in a century, do you have any idea how hard it is to find vitae in these woods?"
I actually didn't, and I was growing curious about what this strange being truly was.
"Who are you?" I asked
"My name is Picea, I suppose you elves would call me a dryad." she answered.