Legend Reborn

Chapter 15: Gifts of the Forest

Gilbert and I land at the bottom of the crater and look around. Everything is silent. We quickly join the rest of our group at the top of the pit.

"What the heck just happened?" Lovino asks us.

"I have no idea," I reply. "One minute they were after us, and the next they're gone."

"Did we scare them off?" Kiku questions as he slings his bow over his shoulder.

"I don't think so," Ludwig answers. "They had the advantage of numbers. The four of us wouldn't have scared away that many of them."

"Especially since their master was here." The others look at me with wide eyes. "The guy Gil and I saw was Kirkland, the shadow the Great Mother fought in the legend."

"Seriously?" Gilbert asks me. The others look around the area nervously.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Feli asks me in concern.

"No. I'm fine. Gil?"

"Never better!" he says with a grin. "Kesesese! We sure showed them! Even though it was the shadow guy, we still kicked butt! I used my awesome new power!"

Ludwig gives his brother a questioning look. "New power? You mean from the Temple?"

"Yep! It was awesome!"

"I've been meaning to ask about that," I interrupt. "Now that we have these powers, I can sense this energy. When I heal people, it uses the energy. Do you know what I'm talking about, Gil?"

"Eh, now that you mention it, I did feel something like that," the white haired Bear says. "It's kind of like when you summon your spirit animal. You feel it coming from the inside and it flows out. Like this!" He makes some weird hand gestures. "I don't know how else to describe it."

"Well, you did a pretty crappy job if you ask me," Lovino mutters.

Gilbert tenses but doesn't say anything back. "Hey, where's Prussia?"

Just then the white bear comes flying out of the woods and tackles his partner. The two of them go rolling down the crater. We're too surprised to react at first, but pretty soon we're laughing. Even Ludwig and Lovino are chuckling. All thoughts of Kirkland are forgotten.

"Nice one, idiot!" Lovino yells down to Gil.

Gilbert and the large bear are wrestling at the bottom of the crater as Gilbert shouts insults at his partner. This goes on until they're both too tired to fight each other.

"Alright...time to go back...talk to ya later, pal," the albino pants as the white bear fades away. Gilbert climbs back up to the rest of us and starts walking into the forest. "Let's get back. I'm sure it's time for dinner soon, and I have some questions for our friend Kor."

We walk through the woods back to Sylvumbra. I listen to Feli tell me all about basket weaving as we walk at the back of the group. It's mostly him telling me about all the cute girls he met, and not so much about actually making any baskets. I get the feeling he didn't actually make any.

"Lovi was being a crab though," Feli tells me as we exit the forest. "He just kept weaving baskets and ignored all of the pretty girls that tried to talk to him."

I giggle at the mental image that makes. I can just imagine the moody Wolf telling some girls to get lost as he tries to weave a basket.

"Hey! What are you saying about me back there!" the elder twin shouts to us.

"Nothing!" I shout back. I stifle my laughter as he turns around.

We walk past a lot of buildings, but there doesn't seem to be anybody inside of them. The town is eerily quiet, and it gives me a bad feeling. We end up at the large meeting hall, but it's empty too.

"Where is everyone?" Ludwig murmurs.

We head back outside, and find ourselves surrounded by the people of the village. I recognize many of the ones in the front as the sick people I had been treating earlier. They smile happily at me, and I can see that their shadow burns are gone. Kor steps forward with a big smile on his face.

"Champions of the Protector, you have done what we could not. You have destroyed the shadow monster that has plagued our forest and sucked its life energy. For that, we will forever be in your debt."

"First things first! What's going on here?" Gilbert demands. "We show up to some town that I didn't even know existed, and then you have some weird monsters running around here. What is this place?"

A sad look comes over the village leader's face. "We haven't been completely honest with you. It is true that we've lived here for centuries, but this village has only existed for a few weeks. We created it with our magic in hopes that someone would stop to help us, and here you are." He takes another few steps forward. "The people of this village are actually spirits and minor gods and goddesses of this forest."

He waves his hand, and everyone's appearance changes. People with vine and leaves in their hair now have vines and leaves for hair. Everyone's skin is now different shades of green, and their eyes vary from green to yellow to pink. They all wear leaves, bark, and flowers instead of clothes. Children that had insect wings have shrunken in size and look like cute little fairies. Some of the elders even have bark and mushrooms growing right from their skin.

Kor's appearance has changed the most. His skin is now completely olive green, and his eyes glow yellow like a cat's. They even have slits instead of pupils like a cat's. His wild hair has become grass and twigs, and it's no more tame than it was before. Moss and bark grow over his body like clothes, and dirt smudges his skin where it's exposed. He smiles impishly at us.

"My real name is Korinth-Natali. I am the minor god in charge of this forest." He bows deeply and we salute him in return. "When the shadows started to suck the life out of the forest, we didn't know what to do. We aren't strong deities, and some aren't deities at all. Those shadow victims you saw were infected because the life was being drained from the places they are guardians of."

Several of the little fairies flitter to me and each give me a small peck on the cheek. The spot where their lips touched my skin tingles slightly.

"You have defeated the shadows and restored peace to our forest," Kor tells us. He approaches me and places something in my hand. "This is to show our gratitude for the service you have done us. If you ever need assistance, play three notes on these pipes and help will find you. However, they will only summon help once, so choose carefully when you use them."

I look down at the set of carved wooden pipes just as Kor takes a step back. I look back up in time to see the buildings of the village begin to disappear. The forest spirits turn and flock to the forest, leaving us alone with their leader.

"Farewell, champions of the Protector. May you find strength for your journey."

Kor smirks one more time and lopes away into the forest as nimble as a deer.