THE GUARDIAN

Day Three. Still...

A monochromatic dull canvas of black and grey as far as my eyes could see - that’s where we headed.

Heavy, dark clouds loomed overhead. A thin fog enveloped the scenery. The smell of decay and sulfur lingered in the atmosphere. Patches of scorched land and dark pools decorated the landscape. Crownless trees and stumps were randomly arranged wide apart from each other.

The only positive sight in the whole scenery was the scattered gleam of pale blue lights falling slowly from the sky. There were also occasional glows from the bases of the trees and the stumps.

Neal Gordon stopped and picked some soot from the ground. He covered his face and arms with it. Then, he pulled my left hand and placed some dirt on my palm.

“What’s this for?” I asked.

“Camouflage,” he replied.

I complied. The thought of the giant serpent finding us was great enough motivation for me to obey.

We walked for hours in silence. No cheering hums from neither of us… as if the dreariness around had snatched away my joys. How I wished for an owl in sight. It would have been a wonderful piece to break the monotony of gloom in the place, I imagined. 

We were at the forest of the dead trees when a bulk of light from above crashed in a large tar pool. It was around 30 yards away from us.

“Hey! What was that?” I excitedly ask while pointing at it. Before he could give a reply, I dashed past him like a curious happy child. I ran towards the fallen light. He went running after me and protested, “Don’t….”

He was not able to finish what he was to say. I was already at the bank of the wide pond of tar. Only a few soft rays emitted from the fallen light since it was almost entirely engulfed by the thick black liquid.

It landed a bit farther from the bank so I used the staff to reach and to drag it towards me. Suddenly, something snatched the stick which almost tipped me down to the pond. Luckily, Gordon grabbed me just in time.

His powerful arm wrapped around my cutesy paunch and pulled me back. He was so strong that I propelled few steps backwards and landed on my butt. The staff almost fell from my hands but I managed to tug it back.

I was wordless not by his strength as we both fell to the ground, but by the “being” that emerged from the pond.

“M-my God… it’s a little boy…” I stammered in astonishment.

The boy was in capsized position… both his hands tightly held the end of the staff… and despite the grime in his body I could see that he was glowing too!

However, before I could utter another word, a massive stump, the size of a ten-seat dining table rose up and uprooted itself. Its roots swiftly walked like tentacles through the blackened pond towards the boy.

A tongue-like vine lashed out from its mid-section node. Its tip immediately knotted at the boy’s feet and flipped him over. Then, its node opened like a giant mouth ready to swallow whole its prey.

I swiftly jumped on my feet and leaped for the boy’s hands. The stump and I were in tug of war. Gordon staggered up and pulled me in the shoulder and ordered harshly, “Let go! Let go of the boy!”

“Nooo!” I screamed uncompromisingly at him. Without warning, another tongue-like vine from the same node whipped out and coiled around my torso. The boy and I were lifted and dangled up in air. A corrosive white sap oozed from the monster’s mouth, like a predator drooling for a tasty meal.

Neal Gordon pulled out his axe, raised it and fiercely hacked the killer stump on its mouth. It cracked! The vines retracted in pain. The boy and I fell to the ground.

I hurriedly pulled ourselves away from the bank and picked the staff up. I prepared… my stance in battle position… the boy was hiding behind me.

Gordon was a seasoned warrior. His axe was deeply latched in the stump’s body and when he pulled it back, the monster was heaved along with it… out from the water.

The dreadful creature snarled. It ferociously fought back by whiplashing its tongues wildly. It hit Gordon and knocked him to the ground. One of the vines looped around his neck.

I quickly ran to his aide and repeatedly slashed the gripping vine using the obsidian spearhead. Promptly, Gordon regained his balance and in a flash, drove another mighty chop. The stump’s body splits in half. Then, it remained still.

The small trails of white sap that dripped along Gordon’s arms were burning his flesh, but he did not mind. He loosened his grip on the axe’s handle. He was breathing heavily as he wiped off the acidic fluid. His face was angrier, so I hugged him tight for I did not know what to say.

He looked at me, and a reassuring smile lined across his face.