Pandemonia Chronicles: DAWN

CHAPTER TEN: RAGE!

After a spot of breakfast—-which consisted largely of grapples and some fish Rebel hunted down—-the motley crew of four elementals, one demon and a human teenager broke camp to finish the final leg of their journey.

By noon they reached the sea of trees which lay at the base of Mt.Duergar and entered the Grove of Insula—which was full of large, old trees that Gestalt swore almost seemed to have faces of their own.

"Wood child, turn away," echoed a mysterious voice in the wind. "The grove is no longer safe, for men of the axe have come to harvest our bodies for unknown intent."

Gestalt realized the trees were talking and figured they must be the Yggdrasil.

Melia kept her gaze to the ground, and would not look up at them. Instead, she continued to quietly guide her companions to the loggers' camp.

Gestalt wondered why she would not speak to them, but then thought it might be because it was too painful for her to even try. He felt overwhelming sadness emanating from her once again— the same as he had felt from her before back at the Water Queen's throne room.

"You there, you're a wizard, are you not?" spoke one of the large, heavily branched trees to Gestalt.

"I detect great magical energy in you," said the tree. "Yes—you are a wizard! Do us a favor—take the dryad there with you and flee from this place at once! Consider it a last request from an old tree. Even if she is to perish soon with this forest, it is better for her to not see what is just up ahead."

"Sorry, I can't do that," replied Gestalt, feeling a little odd for talking to a tree. "We've sort of come here to save this place, I think. By the way, do you know where the human camp is?"

The trees conversed among themselves as they each passed Gestalt's question to one another and the whole forest became alive with, "Where are the humans at?".

Within a few moments, Gestalt heard a different statement recited by each and every tree, and this new phrase was the answer to his question.

"The axe men are to the east not far from here, 'you who has sympathy for trees'."

"Gestalt, what are you doing?" Zaria looked at Gestalt strangely, as if he were mad for talking to a tree.

"What does it look like?" replied Gestalt. "I'm talking to the trees. They know where the loggers are."

Melia stopped in her tracks, turned completely around, and then raised her head to look at Gestalt with sheer bewilderment.

Naturally, Gestalt was quite confused about why such a fuss was being made about him speaking to a talking tree. And honestly, what is more peculiar? A human talking to a tree, or a tree that can talk to a human?

"The only creatures which are supposed to hear the Yggdrasil trees speak are dryads," said Melia.

"For a human to have that ability, even if they are a wizard— well, it's just unheard of. Aside from myself, you're the only one here that can hear them speaking."

'It's probably a result of sharing a body with me,' said Anu. 'I've always been able to hear those stupid trees.'

A little while later, having followed the reliable directions of the trees, the party came to a clearing that was undoubtedly created by human hands, for freshly chopped stumps of Yggdrasil trees decorated the landscape. Sawdust caked the ground and for miles onward no tree had been spared from the axe—even if it had been just a sapling.

Gestalt also noticed several large mechanical devices stationed in the area. He wasn't quite sure what the loud machines were for but they seemed to be pumping something out of the ground because a long metal arm was constantly pulling a chain.