I pulled out the Water Shard, hoping for it to give me some emotional support, something to calm the storm in my stomach. It was no use; I hacked up another pile of mess. Flint patted my back. Luna lay to my side, eyes dilated. She never spoke a word after Hunter killed those people.

That man’s progenitor, he almost succeeded in killing me. I remember that day clearly, that day in which I nearly died.

I looked up. Hunter’s eyes gleamed with what could only possibly be fury.

“What?” Flint’s voice was laced with disbelief. “None of them could have possibly pierced your skin with weapons like swords and arrows.”

You are correct, though I am vulnerable to other methods of killing. A few hundred rotations ago, I was drowsing underneath a tree, with plenty of trees and bushes nearby. I was in a deep slumber before I began to wake up due to a lack of breath.

When I opened my eyes, I could see the dimmest of light, through a web of plants woven on top of my head. I struggled to get free, my strength diminished by not being able to breathe, as well as having just woken up. I realized this as a plot to kill me by draining me of my air.

I tried to claw the plants but realized my arms had been constricted by them as well. It was by some miracle that I managed to pull my head out of the mass, inhale deeply, and shred them to pieces, not without some effort. The man, whose face I still remember, looked on, surprised, but made no move to escape.

Despite his advanced age, the man carried himself with an undeniable aura of power and authority. His face was weathered and lined, etched with the wisdom of many decades lived, yet his eyes still burned with a keen, penetrating intelligence. His hair, white from age, was trimmed short.

I strode up to the man, and he stared at me with wide eyes. Unlike other people I have encountered, he did not try to flee, beg for life, or talk some other nonsense. This commanded respect from even me.“Kill me then. My plan failed, so kill me!” He spoke.

I told him that he had great mastery over his art of arbor control, and he acknowledged so. He talked to me a lot, telling me about his life, and I listened. He claimed to be the former leader of the arbor tribe, stepping down to let a promising man to take his place. He instead began training his control over plants and nature, to a degree such that even I can be trapped, to a certain extent, and it showed.

I asked him about his intent, about why he decided to try to kill me. His words surprised me. From what he said, the arbor tribe viewed me as a threat. I protected wildlife and their homes, but even the tribe associated with nature the most feared me. A feeling of betrayal and rage welled up within me, and that was enough to make me end his life there.

My nausea stopped long enough for me to listen to this story.

“Well, I guess that explains why you killed them so violently, then.” Hunter grunted.

Unfortunately, with my strength, the fastest way to kill them was to just pound them into the ground.

I choked out a laugh. “Sorry, that sounded ridiculous.” Flint smiled as well. I glanced down at Luna, ignoring the puddles of sick. She looked up at me.

“I feel weird.” Luna closed her eyes. I picked her up and drenched her in water. She opened her eyes again, wormed out of my arms, and shook herself.

“Why?” She demanded, growling.

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“To get you to stop feeling weird.”

Luna’s gaze softened. “I guess it worked then. Let's get to the cave then. I guess you should tell Flint that Riley is kind of traumatized in a similar way.” I relayed the message to Flint. He patted Riley on the head, and Riley leaned into the touch. Hunter led us to the cave it told us about. For once, we were all so physically and mentally tired that we didn’t even set up our tents before collapsing into a slumber.

Next morning, Hunter shook us awake violently.

“AHH!” I screamed as I tumbled around in the cave, my pain only increasing when I rolled onto a rock. Flint was in a similar state.

Get up. We don’t have all day to fool around.

“Ugh, my aching back,” Flint groaned, slowly sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “What's the big rush, Hunter? The sun's barely up.”

I winced as I reached for my back, feeling the places where the rock stabbed me. “Yeah, can't we at least have a minute to fully wake up first?”

Hunter stood over us, his brow furrowed.

We need to get moving.

Exchanging a weary glance, Flint and I began the process of packing up our meager camp. As I struggled to stand up, I couldn't help but ask, “What's got you so worked up this morning? Did you see something out there?”

Hunter's expression darkened.

There are tracks nearby, and they are not friendly. We need to put some distance between us and humans there. I have already lured two groups of humans away. More may come soon.

That got my full attention. I quickened my pace, ignoring the aching of my sore muscles. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get a move on!”

Flint quickly joined me, his movements equally hurried. “Hunter's right, we've got to get going. The sooner we put some distance between us and whoever's out there, the better.”

Hoisting my pack onto my aching shoulders, I cast a wary glance into the surrounding woods. The rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs put my nerves on edge.

I bit back the fatigue that threatened to slow me down, quickening my pace to catch up with Flint. Luna padded by me.

“Take the Water Shard out. It might help.”

I took the Shard out from my backpack and admired it. The shard glimmered with a mesmerizing light. Its surface is smooth and flawless, refracting the surrounding light into a kaleidoscope of shimmering blue. The body of the shard tapers down to a rounded tip, resembling an arrowhead.

As the fingers wrapped around the shard and I tugged on the power I felt within it, a surge of vitality coursed through my body. It wasn’t much, but the gnawing edges of drowsiness faded.

I looked up. Flint was looking down, a similar object in his hands. The Earth Shard. His pace slowed down slightly. Minute expressions flickered across his face - a slight tightening of the jaw, a momentary crease between his eyebrows, a twitch of his lips.

I patted him on the shoulder, and he stiffened. “What are you thinking about?”

“Oh, uh, nothing really," he stammered. "Just thinking.”

“About what?”

“It’s.. just that I don’t know how my family is. I’m worried that they might think I’m dead, or think that I’ve abandoned Fire! None of them know why I’m gone! Since I’m their leader-in-training, it would affect Fire as a whole!” His expression turned anxious.

“It’s okay, don’t think about it too much. You can’t change anything. Look, there’s a shiny tree!” I ran ahead towards a tree with a glowing, iridescent trunk.

As I got close to the tree and reached out towards it, Hunter spoke.

I would suggest not touching it. It may be harmful, despite the alluring colors.

I withdrew my extended hand. “What’s with the unusual trunk?”

There are numerous examples of unusual objects. This is one, as well as the animals. I know not of the reasons for such occurrences.

“Flint, can you check the map? I haven’t seen it in a long time.”

Flint reached into his bag and took out the map, and I came closer to look at it. The arrowhead that marked our location only moved the tiniest of distances in the past few days, indicating the tremendous amount of distance we need to cover.

The map didn’t contain any warnings that looked like a rainbow tree, so we poked every one of them to check. We found a lot of interesting things, such as birds that could burrow into rocks and trees with intelligence, but not anything about a tree with a glowing trunk. Eventually, Hunter told us to stop.

That is enough on one tree. We should be progressing before the arbor tribe finds us.

Flint nodded. “You're right, we can't afford to linger here any longer. Nature will be scouring the forest for any signs of us.”

He carefully rolled up the map, his fingers tracing the worn edges. “The map says we still have a lot of the forest to go through. Hunter, please warn us before you decide to kill any more people in front of us.”

Yes.

With that, we started to make our way through the forest, but not before Flint decided to cause some trouble, of course.