Hello again. Today we reached the center of the forest.

Or so I assume. Its a huge clearing. Nothing grows or moves inside of the perfect sphere of cracked red earth. Birds fly around it. No branches break its plane. Entering it is eerie. For the instant you do all sound vanishes. The rustling of leaves. The creak of swaying branches. The background murmuring of life going through life just ceases. Like it was cut by a knife.

Or had a brick fall on its head. Sudden and abrupt silence with a hint of menace to it.

Is that a good metaphor? 'Like a brick to the head' I guess it works right? Meh, I'll come back to that later.

There was no physical sensation. No tingle, nor heaviness to the air as I expected there to be. It just becomes still, and silent. Also like a brick. Presumably after it hits you in the head.

There is a statue in the center of this sphere. Shaped like a hooded person. No idea if its a boy-person or a girl-person thanks to its enveloping robes. It looks like fire. The person that is, and the robes. They are made from the same material. Constantly shifting shades of red, yellow, blue, and white run through it in rythmnic pulses. Kind of like a heartbeat The lone movement inside the circle.

It sits, bent over a shallow pit in the ground. Its face is lowered seeming to peer inside the pit at the exact center of the otherworldy clearing. It is super creepy, but also very beautiful. Since it doesn't seem inclined to come over here and murder us all I guess we have to make the first move.

We huddle up.

"Ok, so its a mystery statue in the middle of a freaky zone of silence" I whisper to my companions. "What do we do here? I think we poke it with a stick, and get ready to run. Thoughts?" I was hoping for a better idea. Poke and run was fun with the smokey bears. Somehow I was doubting this would go as well.

Lena shot her hand up "I think we should look inside the little hole. I bet there is something really important to the stiff lady inside it. Maybe if we know what is important to her we can talk and be friends?" She finished with a head tilt as her words kind of trailed off at the end there. I think she was just curious to see what was in the hole.

Onica raised her hand, mimicking Lena I think. Since I had never seen her do that before. "Where is Julius?" she asked with a slight tremor to her voice. With heavy hearts we all turned to look at the mystery statue. Yup, there was Julius. Sitting in its lap and gazing into the hole. Fearless rabbit that he is. 

Intrigued and comforted by the statues lack of violence I wandererd over to it and looked over its shoulder into the hole. A single black twig. Adorned with a solitary red leaf is tucked inside the hole. It rest in the center. A foot or clear spac between it and the walls of the hole. The leaf expands and contracts akin to slow deep breathes. It felt like it was asleep.

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In a bid not to wake it, something my instincts scream at me not to do, I quietly scoop up Julius and tiptoe away from the hole.

And then Fen sneezed.

Why would a hat even need to sneeze! Seriously! I think he resents being ignored so much lately. He has been acting out all day. Sending little bursts of lightning at critters we were trying to avoid. Tripping us at the worst moments with little blasts of wind to the knees or ankles. Which sent us crashing into trees or bee hives. Nothing really dangerous, but I think I need to have a talk with him later.

A shudder ran through the earth. Shifting the cracks in the red soil. The trees at the outskirts of the clearing seemed to grow a tad. Branches curling into claws and barbs. Menacing and cruel grins seemed to flit across their bark.  The hole shifted and a small hill formed. Lifting the black twig into sight. A sensation of being looked at ran across my skin.

Then a mind wind, for lack of a better descriptor, blew across the area and a sleepy mutter seemed to resonate from the earth itself.

*thirsty, hungry, feed?* there were no words. Just a vague feeling of hunger, and an image of the pine me and julius had altered yesterday. Impressions of desperate thirst and looming doom rose up in my mind. Of ages passed without so much as a sip or nibble. Of the End coming ever closer. Of desperation, and of hope.

Julius hopped from my arms as I stood frozen no more then three feet from this strange entity. He flopped his ears questioningy at me and the tip of his left ear lit up with a dark red ember. The Twig shivered and leaned closer to the fire.

*feed?* it implored silently. Again a desperate and ancient thirst swelled in my mind. The twig swayed slightly and the solitary leaf seemed to blush. I swear, that plant tried to act cute. Weird stuff.

Weird, but interesting!

I formed a bright flicker of fire on my fingertips and looked at Julius. He nodded solemnly and together we fed the twig our flames.

The leaf shuddered, flickering feebly through a series of colors before it fell from the twig to the earth. When it lay on the ground it slowly faded inwads. Until it ceased to exist at all. Then the twig collapsed into dust.

That... was not at all what I was expecting.

I had been imagining a great tree bursting from the dry soil and towering overhead, or for some terrible monster plant to try to eat us. Its hard to be disappointed that something didn't try to eat you. But I still managed somehow. The statue dimmed and faded into a simple brown wood. 

We bowed our head and wished the poor little sprout a safe travel Home. We left offerings of a glowfruit, and the lake dragons head I had been saving for soup. Out of respect for its life and remembrance of its hunger. Then I molded the Ivers Dream back into a big red dog and we padded off into the woods. Everything was still firey. So hopefully we hadn't accidentally destroyed this beautiful and rare place.

Some hours passed as we just enjoyed riding through the Everflame forest. Eventually we reached one of the cliff borders, and the big red dog turned into a mass of feelers and claws as we scrabble our way up the sheer cliff. Once we are on top we just sit and watch the sun set behind the mountains, and the glow from below take over the night.

We were all quiet and subdued tonight. Everyone had felt that small plants plea. The weight of eons behind its desperate thirst. The feeling of a soul so long tortured it had become used to it. It weighs on me. Makes me glad for what I have. I have taken a lot for granted in my life. The ability to move, to seek new lands. To put worries on the roads behind me. If I had been stuck in just one place for all of my life. How sane would I have been?  

I guess tomorrow we are going to be heading towards those towers huh? Hopefully we can find some adventure between here and there. Something to remind us that while the world has plenty of darkness and pain to go around. It has just as much light and joy to share.

Goodnight.