Bloodline

The real journey - part 5

'What was he thinking letting her go like that...she nearly killed us!' Zircon thought as he watched the sun rise through the hills of swaying grass. Having been awake for quite some time now, Zircon rises from the grass in the camp and walks to the firepit, throwing a bit of brush before getting a small tin from his pack. Damian walks out from his tent with a yawn, and looks at Zircon, sitting next to the pit where Zircon then lights a small fire from the brush and adds few things into the tin.

"You know, I could never understand you and your abilities to make stuff on the fly, how do you learn everything so quick?" Zircon looks at Damian for a second, then returns to the tin. "It takes practice and effort, if a blacksmith were to make a sword, but didn't put in the effort to making the damn thing, it would break, either in the forge or in the battlefield." Zircon says as he then pours the contents of the tin over a strainer into a small cup, drinking from it before getting up. "As for learning things quickly, let's use a bow for example. You need to learn how to hold the bow, hold the arrow, how to properly take stance, how to properly control yourself and your aim, all to properly hit a target. It isn't easy the first time you fire it, but with time and effort, you'll hit the target and get better, if only you continue practicing." Damian scratches his head as Zircon sips from his cup, him turning back to look at Damian again, "Its also like how I made my coffee today."

After a bit of time, everyone else wakes up as Zircon helps Damian pack his tent, and start packing theirs too. The party finally starts moving through the fields as large, tightly packed trees come into view. "You weren't kidding when you said dense forests Osred." Maralyne says as she stares up at the closest tree, the trunk stretching almost as high as the clouds with branches of immeasurable length. "Many were sent to map these forests, but a strange aura of magic always leads the adventurers back outside the way they came. Some say though that a chosen few can move through these forests, as their magic helps sustain the forest much like how water helps other plants grow." Osred claims as they steer their horses closer to the forest. "So magic is what we need to enter?" Damian asks as he gets off his horse, grabbing its reins to lead it. Lutol grabs his big axe off his horse, staring intently at the trees while Osred examines the trees more closely.

"My guess is that people like Tesath would be able to pass by freely, feeding the forest their power as the forest guides them wherever they need to go." Tesath goes up to one of the trees as Lutol wildly swings at the trees in the background, each time his axe almost seems to bounce back like rubber. "Does that mean if I go in, I would be at the other side but if you were to come with me, you would end up back here?" Tesath asks as she gets off her horse, holding her spear closely. "Well brute force isn't getting Lutol any closer, but it was a fair attempt." Zircon says as Lutol looks to him, "No duh, but I have seen now that if we try to hurt the trees, they almost instantly repair themselves." He swings again, and leaves a small cut, everyone watching as it seemingly fixes itself with vines, them eventually becoming a part of the trunk as they almost dissapear, leaving only a small mark of where the axe hit.

"I think I have an idea, but it's mainly going to rely a lot on Tesath." Damian says, turning to the others. "If it relies on the person having magic to allow passage, then what if Tesath uses her powers on us like she does in battle, we would be using her power then and probably count as being "of magic." Zircon thinks for a moment, and shrugs, "Its the best thought we've had so far, and it's most likely the only option we have other than somehow goin around the forest." "I doubt that would happen, seeing as how this forest practically bends reality to make you think your going the other way when it makes you go right to the beginning." Maralyne remarks, Zircon thinking more as Tesath raises her spear. "Only one way we'll find out if this is true, but if it doesn't work, I'm sure we'll find some other way, the direct path is not always the right one." Tesath says as a bright, almost heavenly glow shoots from the tip of the spear, and everyone looks to the forest as they almost glow as well. "Let's get going, theres a dark army preparing once again to invade our lands, so we must do anything to stop them, no matter how little or how big they are!" Damian says as he turns to his friends and leads them into the forest, a shadowy figure watching from a branch high above...