Elements of Emotion

Chapter 6: Forest of Shadows

Caelian trudged along behind Evelyn, sighing as Evelyn switched to yet another topic. She had been cheerfully babbling the whole time they had been traveling together. It had begun to grate on his nerves before he figured out how to tune her out as she talked about things he didn't care about. How many siblings she had, or why lilies were her favorite flower, were inconsequential to him. The only thing he was thinking about was how he could get back into the Eternal Forest.

But then at the same time, he wondered: Why? Why bother with it? They clearly didn't want him to try and help. He should just leave them to their demise. But even so, he was forcing himself forward to try and get back to the Eternal Forest, not because he wanted to, but because he knew, under normal circumstances, that he'd do anything to go back and try to help Gaia. But at the moment it was hard to make himself do anything. It all seemed pointless. He didn't care about any of it. His heart was fighting against his brain, and his brain was barely pulling ahead.

"Ie... Birdie!"

Caelian flinched, closing his eyes as Evelyn nearly shouted directly into his face, breaking him out of his thoughts. He peeked one of his eyes open to see Evelyn looking at him with a concerned expression.

"Look," she said, motioning towards the ground.

When Caelian followed her gaze, he felt his blood run cold. Lying on the ground was a nature sprite.

He knew that some nature spirits lived out in the human world, but it wasn't something he was expecting to see. It's small green body nearly blended perfectly into the grass, with it's purple lily tail looking like a typical wildflower. If it weren't for the puddle of bright blue blood it was lying in, it would have been easy to miss.

Caelian carefully knelt down beside the sprite, taking it into his hands. Multiple lacerations covered its body. It hadn't evaporated into mana yet, so it must have died recently. But what happened to it?

"Is it...?" Evelyn murmured. She watched as Caelian gently set it back into the grass, his hands now stained blue.

"It's dead," Caelian said.

"But why?" Evelyn asked as he stood up.

"I don't know," Caelian said. Someone had to have done this. But why? Why harm a forest spirit? What kind of monster would-

Caelian paused. He recalled the hooded figure. He felt a fire ignite in his stomach as he clenched his fists. Would she have done something like this?

Caelian looked around at his surroundings. He hadn't noticed it before, but he could sense an energy in the forest that wasn't there before. It had felt lifeless and stagnant. Now there was a hint of mana on the wind, but something felt off about it.

Caelian began to follow the sensation, pushing through the underbrush as he searched for the source of the strange mana. Evelyn followed closely behind him.

"What does Birdie think happened to it?" Evelyn asked.

"If I knew, don't you think I'd tell you?" Caelian snapped.

"Maybe?" Evelyn said.

Caelian let out a frustrated sigh. He continued through the forest, following the trail as best as he could. It wasn't long until he found something that made him stop dead in his tracks. It was another nature spirit, also lying in a puddle of blue blood. He knelt down to examine it. It had the same lacerations throughout its body.

"Another one?" Evelyn said with a frown.

Caelian didn't reply as he stood up and walked at a more brisk pace. It wasn't long until he came across another dead nature sprite. Then another, and another. He had broken out into a run as the trail of death continued, with the distance between each sprite getting smaller and smaller.