The Pendulum Swings

The Forest Guardian's Failure

Chapter Five: The Forest Guardian's Failure

        "That's an odd name, even in my mind, Mister Meta. Where do you hail from? Farther up north?" Celia released Meta's hand, and began to turn toward the door as he contemplated the possible answers to her question. Truth be told, not even he knew where he was currently, let alone where he had come from.

         "Yes, that is correct." He said, opting for the simplest solution, following Celia as she waved for him to follow into the main space of the cabin.

        "Interesting. Not many settlers from there travel this far. They normally stay in the colder regions because others avoid it." She Moved toward the table in the center, as roughly hewn as the other furniture in the cabin, but equally as sturdy. She pulled one chair out from the nearest side, and moved around to take her own seat across from it, leaving Meta to awkwardly seat himself in the altogether too short piece of furniture, firelight spilling from the hearth to his right like liquid to light the room, casting dancing shadows about constantly. "You didn't perchance encounter any dragons on your way here, did you? Rumour had it they were looking to expand southward, and any warning would be helpful."

        "I am afraid I did not." Meta spoke flatly, simply answering with the facts he knew fit the questions asked, remaining quiet after finishing, still staring unwavering into Celia's gaze. "That is... good to hear." Celia looked around the room, wishing the awkwardness away. "Is there nothing you wish to say? I have never met one so quiet as you, Meta, it's... disturbing, to say the least."

        "I apologize, it has been dictated to me that I not speak unless spoken to. However, there is truly nothing I wish to say at this ti..." Meta stopped in the middle of his thought, an amber glow covering his sight as his eyes began to glow slightly, catching Celia's attention with their azure glow. "There are three entities approaching this homestead on foot from six, nine, and three. Are you expecting visitors?" Meta watched as Celia rose from her chair, moving to the window while trying to decipher what Meta had said, at least in part.

         "I do not see anyone, Meta." Celia began to back away from the latticed thin sheets of glass and turned to Meta, cocking her head slightly in confusion. Meta simply rose, his eyes igniting as he reached the door to the front of the cabin, and opened it slowly, a single red outline visible to him where someone was concealed behind a tree, where the small grove that the cabin stood in ended, and the forest began once again. "Show yourself." He stated simply, loudly enough that the one in his view would surely be able to hear. He waited for a few moments, readying himself for various possibilities, until he decided enough time had passed. "If you do not comply, I will be forced to unveil you myself." He waited once again, Celia shaking her head in a puzzled manner behind him. "Very well, you have chosen." Meta pushed forward on the floor and disappeared into nothingness as Celia turned away. 

        "Meta, I think perhaps you need some rest... Meta?" Celia looked around, moving back to the open door where Meta had stood only moments ago, just in time to see a dark mass flying toward the cabin, landing in a heap near the door she stood in, groaning in what she assumed was pain. "Meta?" She asked the open air, slightly frightened as a pair of blue beacons lit in the treeline, seemingly in time with her inquiry. She looked to the person on the ground, unconscious, but alive, his face obscured by crudely woven cloth, something alike covering the rest of him. Meta exited the treeline and moved toward her, his gaze focused on a second outline behind the cabin. He disappeared once again with a push off of the ground, forward, Celia once again looking up to nothingness in confusion.

         "Meta, what... is this?" Her words were answered by a flash of harsh red light behind her home, and a yell from what she could only assume to be a second one of these people Meta had already knocked unconscious. A second scream could be heard, a muffled one that left Celia wincing, but not for long, as Meta turned the corner of her cabin, his eyes' light fading with each step as he drug two limp shapes behind him, one in each hand, leaving a path in the grass as it clawed at the two. "Meta, I expect an explanation for this." Celia said as he neared, her eyes becoming hard, the gears of her mind turning through different possibilities of what he could be.