The sun was sinking in the sky. The colors it revealed were some that I have only been seen in Eden. They sky had a swinging cloud of light that flowed like a river over the stars. It was full of blues and purples.

“You won’t see that ever again unless you travel to the north. A sky like this reminds me of my travels with Drakon.” Snell let a wistful look overcome him. “Those days might have been hard but I’d go back in a heartbeat.”

“See that green up ahead Zen? Isn’t it beautiful?” Elena was pointing in front of us. It looked almost as an emerald was coming out of the ground.

“Let me guess that’s where we’re heading?” I looked closer at the area. “If I didn’t know any better I would say that is emerald. But that’s not possible.”

“Zen that’s the emerald forest. In a sense it’s alive. It’s a forest yes, but all the trees and vegetation in there are actual emeralds.” Zoran clasped her hands behind here back. “This is a forest that you will never forget.”

“I don’t think I will ever forget any of this. Will we make it there tonight?” I could feel my nerves setting in. This was the tomb of the enchantress. Would I learn what actually happened to her? Would it be like meeting William back in stone root? So many questions started to flood my head.

We traveled for a while longer. The closer we got to the emerald forest the more the vegetation was turning into actual emeralds. The green of the plants became a striking cut. The thorn bushes gained a painful kind of beauty. The trees started to marble with emerald. What could have caused such a change?

Snell stopped us all suddenly. Zoran clasped his shoulder. Lucy paced a little distance back toward the direction we had come.

“Zen. I need to tell you now.” Snell rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Only one of us is allowed with you in the emerald forest. Eden has already chosen who.”

“What do you mean Snell? Why can’t everyone come?” I learned against the closest tree. “Are we even in the forest yet?”

“You feel the air here Zen? It’s changing.” Zoran waved her hand almost as if she could grasp the air in front of her.

“What do you mean feel the air here? It’s no different than it was back when we entered Eden.” I felt as if they were going to set out alone and just leave me behind. Did I even deserve to be a part of their group?

“Zen you know that everyone in this group right here plus Heather are all your family now. We won’t leave you without a good reason. For now trust me.” Snell let his head drop some. “I know you have been questioning yourself recently. We’re are not going to leave here without you Zen.”

“Zen shadow wants to go into the forest.” Elena glanced at me. “I can almost feel his anticipation.”

“So Eden did choose Elena to be the guardian. What did they call the protector of the moon child again Snell?” Lucy paced back to us.

“Drakon called them the unchosen.” Snell rubbed the bridge of his nose again. “He really didn’t tell us much at all. How did he know what a moon child really was? Even better yet how did he know Zen would be a moon child?”

“Snell this is a conversation for when we meet Drakon again.” Lucy grabbed Snell’s shoulder. “Drakon was a mystery to his own self. You know Drakon didn’t even say where he came from. All he would say is he’s from the dark realm. Now I truly think he might mean more than his memories. You know how much he searched for them.”

“You two need to focus. We need to figure out what we will do while Zen visits the enchantress. When know her soul sleeps in that forest.” Zoran looked at me. Her eye roamed my face. “I believe in you Zen. You have had a long journey up until this point. Your hidden blade will be named soon. Zen you have a long path, but we will help you through it.”

“Zen Eden chooses who goes into the emerald forest by presenting them with a familiar at the gate. Once they enter with a moon child their familiar shows up.” Snell stared at Elena. “She was chosen to be your unchosen Zen. Tamers says just like the moon chooses so does the sun. Elena is your sun guardian. The tales have presided here for long before we tamers set foot in Eden. She is the light unchosen by the moon. The sun has chosen by the powers set in the sky.”

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“Then why is she the unchosen? Wouldn’t it make better sense for a moon child to be unchosen while a child of the sun is a chosen?” My head was spinning. I didn’t know how I would ever be able to understand it all. “Why does this all have to be so complicated?”

“We don’t know Zen. None of us are the creators of any of this. Just remember Zen. Your decisions decide your future. But your fate is set into stone. You can always change the future, and by that same choice, an ant can change the world.” Snell paused. “Yes an ant. Or even a butterflies wings. But that will not change our destiny. We can’t change what is planned for us. But we can change what path destiny will guide us along.”

We stood in since for a little while. I could tell everyone was waiting for my response. I just wasn’t ready to respond. I didn’t want to think. I just wanted to hide. I know hiding won’t change anything, but to just have a free space to think. A jog just to escape for a little would be a welcome relief.

“I guess right now the choice is to meet the enchantress. It sounds like only Elena and I can go into that forest. I don’t know where we will meet her, but we will.” I looked at everyone in turn. “How will you know when I’ve awakened from the tomb?”

“We will meet right here Zen. We will show up at dawn and dusk every day. If something happens I’m sure Eden will grant us reprieve to find you.” Snell let out a long breath. “We all have certain training we can do in this forest for us to better help the group. Zen you are our center and we want you to know that we care.”

“Just suck it up already Snell. I know your worried about Zen. So Zen. What Snell here is trying to say is that yeah. We are here for you.” Lucy seemed to be trying to say the same thing as Snell but they both seemed to be having a hard time. Zoran just shook her head.

“Men and emotions. They never seem to mix. They are trying to say that we love you Zen.” Zoran hugged me and then Elena in return. “Zen you are one of us and we all love you. Don’t let these two meat heads try to confuse you. Stay safe in there the both of you. May the wind guide you safely.

“I love all of you guys too. Please don’t make this feel any more like a goodbye. It should be more like a see you soon.” I hugged both Snell and Lucy at the same time. “I will be back before anyone notices I’m even gone. I just want you all to stay safe.”

With my parting words I watched as Snell whiped away a single tear. Lucy tried to clear his throat. Before either of them could recover Elena hugged them both. Elena and I turned and started walking into the forest.

We walked in silence for a long time. We were focused on making it deeper into the forest before either of us might change our minds and head back. I didn’t want to admit it but I was glad I had Elena with me.

“Zen why do you think everything might be so crazy?” I heard Elena stop behind me. I turned around.

“I don’t know Elena. But I’m glad you’re here with me.” I looked at her. “I believe that while everything happens for a reason that at the same time nothing has a reason for happening.”

“What’s that supposed to mean Zen?”

I let the question hang in the air for a moment.

“Well take my mother for example. Her reason for not loving me is cause of my dad. So she has her own reason. But at the same time if I was born to someone else it could have been different. So the chance of anything happening has no reason at all. It’s all chance.”

“But Zen. That almost makes no sense. Like I can understand but what does it truly mean?”

“It means that while we make our own decisions that things will happen that we can’t explain why they happened. It means that we have to worry more about those that we love and ourselves first. We all have a reason for why we do what we do, but at the same time there is no reason for why things happen how they happen.”

We continued to walk again. Elena was more silent than she had been. I could feel the power of her thinking. I almost wanted to know what she was thinking. It was at that exact moment I saw shadow slither around her finger like a ring. A glow enveloped her as the first star at night was enveloped by the sea of space in the sky. It was existentially beautiful. It hit me that it was completely dark now. It was almost as if Elena produced a light that I hadn’t seemed to notice before.

“Did you know that you glow?” I was almost stunned.

“Yeah Zen. I’ve always had this glow but most people don’t see me and notice. I’ve tried hard to hide it. I just. I don’t know. I feel safe with you knowing.” She pointed to a huge tree. “Shadows says that’s where we are heading.”

“What do you mean shadow says?”

“Well I noticed that since we entered the forest I can hear shadow in my head.”

“That’s amazing! I wonder if it’s the same for Snell and Baby? Or even Lucy and Hansi?”

Elena guided me over to the emerald tree. It seemed to be the biggest tree in the whole forest. Elena laid out our sleeping bags by the trunk. I placed my hand on the trunk of the tree and tried to talk to it. I didn’t feel any response

“We might as well get some sleep Zen. We can find out how to get into the tomb tomorrow.” Elena crawled into her sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep in the blink of an eye.

I crawled into my own sleeping bag. It took forever but I finally fell asleep. I felt a familiar dark envelop me. It was the same feeling as I had had in Stoneroot so long ago. At the same time I also felt myself falling. I lost all sense of who I was. Or rather I wasn’t sure exactly who I might be.