Essence

Chapter Twelve

       As the sun rises and her sister returns to the moon, Mother Earth emerges from her resting place within The Great Oak. The morning air is crisp and clean. Birds chirp softly from the branches above her. Mother settles down on her usual branch and wonders what the day will bring. Crack! Her peaceful morning is ruined by the sound of a branch snapping from the north. She swings her head around to see what is near. A blur of black and white lunges towards her. Mother throws up a wall of thorns and waits to hear a cry of pain. When none is heard she lowers her wall to see Frost and Shadow collapsed at where her all had begun. Draped over Shadows back lays a wheezing Raven. Klaus stands protectively behind them, bringing up the rear. Mother rushes towards her child and searches him for injury. Several broken ribs, ruptured organs, and a punctured lung greet her scan. Her vines wrap around Ravens body and she creates a bed of flowers and has her vines gently set him on top of them.

       Mother Earth quickly gets to work on healing Raven's wounds. The damage is great and his chances of surviving are dwindling. Crack! A branch breaks and falls to the ground from the upper part of the tree. Mothers eyes whip upward and she sees a flash of blue before Nixie lands in front of her with an exhausted Selene draped over her back. Mother quickly makes another bed of flowers and has Nixie lay Selene on it. Then gets back to work on healing Raven.
Mother Earth finishes healing what she can, which is pretty much everything physical. All that can determine whether he lives or not is his own will to survive. A crack comes from the tree next to the Great Oak. Mother looks up and sees something she really didn't want to see at that moment. A Great Demon sits in the upper branches of the tree. The tree starts to rot due to the poison seeping from the demon.
     The demon is as large as Nixie but no where near as beautiful. It looks like a vulture a creature that feeds on the carcasses of other creatures, but instead of the head of a vulture it wears the skull of its last victim. The claws on the tip of the wings drip both blood and poison. It's beady black eyes gaze down at them in hunger. Hunger for both the flesh on their bones and the power that runs through their veins. It's spreads its massive wings and dive straight towards them.
   "You dare to think that you can get passed me. Your kind injured my precious children and you shall pay the price for their foolishness." Mother Earth is angry and she just found an outlet for her anger.
     "You can't kill Mother Earth. You're a creator not a destroyer." The demon rasps out arrogantly.
     "You're right I am a creator, however my pacifistic views only apply to mine and my sisters children, but they don't apply to YOUR KIND!" Mother Earth yells as she send up thorny vines to wrap around the evil creature. The vines come speeding back to the ground and smashes the demon to the surface creating a crater.
   "Look I'm still being a creator, your body smashing into the ground created a nice crater that I will later make into a pond." She says smugly. Mother Earth strides gracefully towards the demon in the ground. Unexpectedly the demon opens its wings and uses them to force her to the ground. The demon is now standing above Mother Earth glaring down at her.

     "Poor, poor Mother Earth. So weak and defenseless." The demon taunts her. Mother Earth's temper flares and she throws her hands towards the demon and light bursts forth, sending the demon flying. Her anger grows and she wraps her thorny vines around the disgusting demons neck. She holds the creature a hundred feet off the ground. The thorns cut into its long neck, causing a tar-like black substance to seep down its neck. He cackles evilly and looks down at her with its beady black eyes.

     "Awwwww, is the itty bitty Earth Goddess mad." The demon taunted even more. Mother Earth's fuse finally broke and so did the demons neck. Well more like she severed its neck from its body. The body hit the ground first and the sound of breaking bones was heard throughout the small clearing. The head follows and makes a disgusting noise when it comes into contact with the cold, hard ground.

     "Awwwww, is the itty bitty demon dead." She taunts the dead body of the demon. She sets her thorny vines to the task of dismembering the demons bloody corpse. She walks over to what is left of the elvish skull and gently picks it up. She walks it over to a boulder a few feet away and sets it down gently. She summons her sacred bow and walks away before turning around and launch an arrow straight at it. The arrow hits dead center in the middle of the forehead, shattering the skull. The trapped soul of the dead elf shoots out of the wreckage and  into the moon.

    "Rest in peace, my precious child." Mother Earth whispers. From the makeshift bed of flowers Raven stirs. Mother Earth deciding that she needs to be able to give some good news on this horrible day strides towards Selene's unconscious form. She quickly scans her for any physical or mental injury and what she finds breaks her heart.

    "My poor children, you should not have to bear this pain." Mother whispers mournfully as she gazes at her unconscious children's forms. Raven's eyes flutter open and Mother Earth strides back towards him, as the bearer of bad news.