Magic, Strength And Speed

Chapter 12- Bad or Good?

Ember's Pov

It took a while, but we found it.

Home Base.

After getting through a series of tunnels, deep in the cave was a place covered with grass, trees, vines, flowers, a absurd amount of different kinds of plants, a WHOLE lot of tree sap, and finally, the tree sap covered people themselves.

Now, we of course do care about these poor helpless people that we would save, but, as soon as we spotted Bliss we scampered over to her as fast as we could. We searched her up and down only to be relieved of the one thing we worried about most.

Her stab wound, which was healed.

So naturally, with nothing holding us back, we began to frantically dig into the Amber. The hands were saved first, the little pale fingers began to twitch which I assumed was a good sign and was right. Soon the arms, legs and basically the whole body followed, as we freed the 'Dirt Witch' [In Vixen's words] from her tree sap doom.

"BLISS!" I waved my hands in front of her confused blue eyes. "Wha-?" She rubbed said eyes as if she had just gotten woken up. "Oh... Hey thanks!" She gave a weak smile once she looked around to process everything. "Uh... What happened?"

"Well the Tree Monster found you an-"

"I don't think it's called a 'Tree Monster' but go on"

"-D started to like, wrap you in tree sap to preserve your body?"

"It's not tree sap. It's tree resin... And yes that is what essentially happened. Oh and sorry about the whole 'Stabbing myself to lead it to me and then lead you to it's cave' thing. I uh, kinda acted rashly there."

Vixen's green eyes flashed at her with anger, hurt and betrayal and slapped her in the face.

"Owww! That hurt!"

"Don't You EVER pull something like that again. Seriously? STABBING YOURSELF WAS THE WAY TO GO?"

"Uhhh.... Yes?"

"UGH! DANG IT BLISS!"

The argument would have gone on for a long time and been unbearable for me and anyone else who had to listen to it, {A/N: Is the fourth wall still there? Yes? Okay good} but lucky for me, the Tree Monster decided to reveal itself, lumbering over to us confused. My hand curled around a throwing dagger instinctively and out of corner of my eye, Vixen did the same with her sword.

Bliss noticed however and ran in front of the thingy, arms out. "WAIT! IT'S THE GOOD ONE!" She wailed, her arms waving wildly. Vixen and I looked at each other and back at Bliss wondering the same question. "How do you know?" We spoke in unison.

"First off, it's not trying to kill us right now, second, it gave that man back and third, it heals people! Look at me!" She gestured to where her injury once was.

"It is true. I purposely left the man there to be found. In fact, all the other people I 'Took' are now healed as well. I have been meaning to return them to their own homes for quite some time now, but alas, I have been unable to."

At this point, even Bliss looked shocked at the monster talking. 

"Hey! Bliss! Is that tree thing SUPPOSED to be able to talk? IN PERFECT GRAMMAR? BETTER THAN MOST HUMANS?" Bliss blinked. "Uhhhh.... No. That I wasn't expecting." The Tree Monster's mouth seemed to curve into a pleasant smile. "Better than most humans you say? I am quite flattered that you say so! I have been practicing for many years now. Centuries even! My kind tends to live much longer than the average human. Also, if you don't mind, I do have a name and I would prefer if you used it."

I nodded slightly unsure of what to say. "Okay... Sure. What's your name?" The Tree brightened up at her words. "My name is Aase. What is yours?" Bliss finally spoke up. "I'm Bliss, and this is Vixen," She pointed to Vixen who found it appropriate to wave, getting a slight chuckle and a wave back from Aase. "And this one is Ember."

"Hi."

Was pretty much the only thing I could say at that moment. "Ember? A puzzled look appeared on Aase's wooden face as she looked me up and down. "You don't look like a flame at all. Are you a fire mage? Or were you born out of fire?" I quickly dismissed her thoughts. "No, no. It's just... My name. It always has been you know? I guess it's just the way things have always been? I don't know." I threw my hands up in defeat.

"Oh, it's quite alright. I'm not sure why my name is the way it is either. But, I suppose I need to get back on topic."

"What topic?"

"Well, people are too fond of large moving plants. Believe me, I have plenty of experience in it. What I need is someone to help me return these people. Preferably without myself or someone else dying. As it happens, there are three humans right here and seem to want to help people as it is. Would you mind helping me carry about hmm. One, two, .... Ten people out into the town?"

"Sure?"

"Oh! Wonderful! Come, come! Let us get started!"

We managed to free, guide and in some cases, haul ten people back to the town. The townspeople, were not only surprised to see Aase, but also that she was helping several of the missing people walk. Fortunately, convincing everyone that she was friendly and just a bit shy was very easy once they saw her helping out in the hospital and not to mention, her general personality.

They even agreed to hire her at said hospital and build her a house, but that took a bit of talking, shouting, and even screaming over a series of hours.

It was a long day.

Finally, after all that, we all returned and settled down. The sun was down and as I enjoined the sight of the millions of stars in the sky, something occurred to me.

"Bliss?"
"Yeah"

"How did you know they were good. From the start, you know, when you stabbed yourself?"

Vixen perked up, wanting to know the same thing. Bliss just laughed. "Well it was the man who was found that gave it away."
"The fact that he was found?"
"No, not that. That could have been either. It was his skin. It was pure white. Pale even"

I looked at Vixen wondering if she knew only to see her doing the same with me.

"So? Did he come from a tan family or something?"

Bliss gave me a strange look. "You weren't paying attention to what the doctor said were you?" I gave my head a shake. "The man had leprosy."

"Okay?"

"Leprosy was an ancient disease that killed many." Her deep blue eyes locked with mine. "Leprosy is widely know for making whoever gets it to have spots all over their body and for their skin to become almost scaly. However, he was fine." She sent a smirk at me.

"It pays to listen, and do research you know"

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Just so you know, One, A/N means Author's Note and Two, Leprosy is a real disease. Hope you liked the story! :D

~PurpleCatGhost