Guardian of Elements

Chapter 16 - Tree of Spirits

The Guardian of Souls was elusive. Every time Kate thought she knew where he was, she couldn't find him there. She had to stop and search for him again by using the ground. That, combined with running, resulted in another exhaustion. After another hour or two of constant pursuit, she had to stop and rest.

Kate knew she hadn't had a single day off since the beginning of her journey. Even though her mind was eager to explore, her body was worn out. She lay down and she was slowly falling asleep when she saw an orange doe materialize by a tree. She quickly closed her eyes and pretended she was sleeping. The doe slowly came to her, curious and not afraid. She sniffed Kate's ear and pressed against her head as if she wanted to wake her up, but she didn't feel anything, because the doe wasn't solid. However, a thought appeared in her mind, the doe's thought: follow.

Kate decided to drop the play and stood up. The doe stepped back and looked at her with interest. Then, she turned around, clearly wanting Kate to go with her.

Even though Kate was very tired, she went off with the ghostly doe. She remembered what the Guardian of Souls said about her before, back on the human's clearing. She was murdered by the man, along with her child. Where was it, was it a spirit too? Even if the doe understood her, she couldn't make any noise.

Kate's tired mind kept floating away, her body walking mechanically. She almost walked through the doe when she suddenly stopped.

Kate found herself in front of a gigantic tree, its top reaching so high it wasn't visible in the waning night. Its treetop could be maybe twenty meters wide, the trunk reaching nearly a third of that size. But there was more to what was making it different. The tree was being circled by many animal wisps. Some of them were coming down from the treetop, shapeshifting into animals on the ground and walking away. Others were ascending around it, disappearing into its branches. Kate counted about twenty wisps circling it, giving it a mesmerizing play of lights and shadows. The tree itself was giving out a faint blue-white glow from its core, which was actually the glow of many spirits in the treetop. The doe next to Kate jumped gracefully and ascended into the green leaves, disappearing from Kate's sight.

Kate was amazed. Long gone was her fatigue. She could feel the presence of many souls, and the tree itself was almost as if it had its own. She felt as if one enormous creature was standing in front of her, watching her from every angle. That was scaring her a bit, yet she felt so humble. A tree housing so many dead was beyond her imagination.

"You!"

Kate was startled by the sudden shout. She turned away from the tree and saw the orange cheetah, with a fan of wisps ascending from behind him towards the tree.

The Guardian of Souls was standing in front of her firmly, and he didn't look happy. Kate was trying to calm down and don't look childish.

"Um, hello, I'm..."

"Don't," he interrupted her. "I know you. Better than you know yourself. What are you doing here?" Hostility was coming from his voice. Kate was surprised by it, but she didn't let it get her off balance.

"I went on a journey to find the other Guardians, because..."

He interrupted her again.

"No, I mean what are you doing here," he nodded towards the tree. "The Tree of Spirits is a sacred place. No one living has ever set foot here, except me and the other Guardians. You are forbidden to be here."

"But I am a Guardian too! Besides, it wasn't me, that doe led me here just moments ago!"

"The doe? The doe... Yeah, she had a good heart in life, caring about her fawn with all her love." The Guardian's voice was a bit softer. His orange gem flashed faintly as he looked up to the tree. The doe appeared on a branch, and they looked at each other in a wordless dialogue. Then, the Guardian's gaze returned to Kate.

"You are forbidden to be here. Leave," he said in the harsh voice again. With that, he walked past her and entered a big hole under the Tree.

Kate didn't know what to do. The Sun was rising on the horizon, and its light was slowly enveloping the Tree, making its glow less and less visible. Spirits were coming from the woods to return into it for the day. As last signs of the night vanished, the Tree was looking completely normal, with no trace of its inhabitants. The only strange things about it were its size and the fact that its leaves were green, unlike the rest of the autumn forest.

Kate knew she shouldn't disobey the Guardian's order, but she didn't want to give up either. She had to speak with him at least, learn his story. Why was he so hostile? She decided to follow him. She found the hole and entered the underground.

Instantly, she felt that something was wrong. Uneasiness and fear crept into her mind. Although the passage was wide, she somehow felt claustrophobic. Some evil presence was lurking near.

She used her ability to see ahead. A wide dirt cave was not going very deep, but there was a great chamber at its end. She was still learning to get a hang of her earth-feel skill, but she was certain there was no one inside. And yet she felt another being, similar to the Tree above. However, this one was different. More... bad.

On one hand, she wanted to leave, to return to the Sun-filled forest above, but on the other, she knew that she had to find the Guardian. She continued deeper.

As she was approaching the end of the corridor, she noticed a fiery light at the end. Could it be another human-made fire? She doubted that the Guardian of Souls would allow any humans to be under the sacred Tree. Even though her ears couldn't pick any sound, she could swear she was hearing screams. When she finally reached the opening, she became speechless.

A gigantic pillar of orange-red plasmatic light was burning in the middle of an incredibly tall chamber. Dirt walls were reflecting the orange light, giving the cavern a lava-like look. Small and thin bridges of earth were leading across the bottomless pit below, filled with another orange light. And there was more: around that pillar, many black wisps were floating.

That's how hell probably looks like, thought Kate, as she was walking slowly on a narrow edge by the wall, high above the pit, near the ceiling. She didn't know how close she was to the truth.

One black wisp separated from the central pillar and flew straight towards Kate. In front of her, it formed into a human man, with evil look in his empty eyes.

Kate took a step back, but the narrow path wasn't allowing her to turn around. The dark specter in front of her was closing in, clearly angry and mad. Kate instinctively pulled an earth barrier from the wall next to her, but the ghostly man went straight through it, like a shadow. She remembered how it ended up the last time she used her powers underground. So, instead of fighting the non-solid opponent, she widened the path under her a bit, so she could turn around.

When the man saw it, he threw himself into the air, flew over her and stood in front of her again. Kate backed a bit again, but then she remembered the stampede back in the forest, and how one animal came straight through her. She mustered her courage and ran forward. As she passed through the man, she wasn't harmed, but she felt the man's emotions. Or rather, only one: hatred. So strong that it overpowered her mind. She took a jump to the platform from which she came and collapsed.

Fear... Hate... Fury...

Her mind couldn't think clearly, overflowing with negative emotions. She could faintly see that the man came to her, with wicked smile on his face. He was looking at her with no pity, like she was not even worthy of his time. He raised his arm in a meaningless attempt to finish her off.

Light coming from behind her suddenly obscured Kate's vision. The black wraith had no longer that arrogant posture. The same expression as the other man in the forest had the last night crawled into his face. Like him, the ghost stood there for several seconds, frozen by fear. Then, some invisible force pulled him backwards into the plasmatic pillar. The last thing Kate could see was an explosion of black particles as the ghost hit it, and then she passed out.