Currently, we were all flying through the forest together. After flying through the sea of trees for a while, we seemed to pass some sort of invisible membrane. We passed it without any difficulty and there was no change in scenery. However, I knew the membrane was there from my [Mana Control] skill that allowed me to identify it after coming in contact with it but I couldn’t see the edges of this membrane. It seemed as if it spanned a considerable part of the forest we were in.
Mother was hurrying to get us somewhere and ignored all our questions she simply told us to follow her and stay very close. Me and my siblings were flying with confusion and worry plastered all over our faces. I really wanted to know what she meant by us evolving or the serious look of worry she had on her face.
After flying for about thirty more minutes at full speed a gigantic tree was seen in the distance. And let me say it was like a giant among ants when comparing it to the other trees with a thickness that spanned tens of the smaller trees. Even though, those same smaller trees were at least 20 meters in height and were 1.5 meters wide.
The upper part of the tree looked like that of a weeping willow tree with similar looking branches and leaves however the lower part was abnormally huge. The branches were also very thick and strong, to the point that I could put roads up there. I could hear the loud rustling of its leaves by the wind even though we were still a good distance away from its shade.
For a moment, I thought this was an elven settlement with elves living in that tree. But, as we got close, I could see that the tree was unblemished. As for the area covered by its shade, huts and different kinds of buildings were built there.
The area covered by the tree’s shade had all of its smaller trees removed which showed a distinct border between the rest of the forest and the shade.
“Come, children”
Mother descended close to the shade at a particular tree. As we neared the ground, I saw a woman standing there in blue and silver armor with a sword at her waist she had silver wolf ears and a silver tail with blue eyes and pearly white skin and hair.
I couldn’t understand why we were here, how mother found this person and who this person is. With my confusion building up, I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Mother, what is happening?”
I flew in front of her and asked in a loud voice. She stood there, stunned for a second at my attitude. But seeing the confusion and panic I was in she said in a hurry.
“Don’t worry, children. Come and you will understand everything. This person is a friend”
She answered me and flew to the woman without another word. We helplessly flew after her with nothing but trust in our hearts for her since we were practically blind in this situation.
“Edith, when are they coming?” Mother addressed the silver-wolf-woman without opening her mouth. This was a way of using [Sound Movement]. She also spoke in different language that me and my siblings seemed to understand innately.
“In a week, Lady Ava” the woman addressed mother with her voice full of respect.
Did she just call her Ava? Who is coming? What is happening?
We were all merrily playing around this morning and now we are in this strange place with this strange woman, hearing these strange things. My panic was rising again and I was about to scream my thoughts before hothead beat me to it.
“Mother, what are you talking about? Who is this woman? And where are we?” He screamed with confusion just like the rest of us.
“Listen, children. There are people coming to destroy this place and hurt you and everyone here. I promise you, you’ll understand everything soon. Just please follow me” Mother told us calmly, knowing that we were in panic. She was in hurry to get us somewhere that seemed to hold the answers we were seeking.
“Let’s just shut up and follow her” said Cheerhead all of a sudden, with a seriousness unlike his usual demeanor. He wanted to just get to the point and understand everything just like the rest of us but he understood that the quicker we followed her, the quicker we would get our answers.
Noticing that we all stopped talking, Mother ordered Edith the wolf-woman to hide us within her clothes while urging us to do as she said. At this point we just went with the flow and did as she said.
All of us, including mother, hid within her clothes and she proceeded to walk toward the giant tree. Although, the awkward position I was in would have usually made me very embarrassed, the only thing that was on my mind was to make sense of what’s happening.
If there were people coming to destroy this place as mother said, then why would she bring us here?
Come to think of it, That Edith called mother, Lady Ava which meant that she knew who she was. She was almost like a guard or a servant of sorts. Which meant that mother used to live here but then why would she give birth to us in that forest instead of here?
Were the people coming to hurt us after something specific, after all, Edith said they were coming in a week, yet mother hurried with us here. And what does this all have to do with our evolution?
There were too many questions that I felt like my tiny brain will explode. Lost in my own thoughts, I failed to notice that we were already under the tree’s shade with the different buildings passing by us.
Throwing my thoughts aside for a moment, I focused my attention to the noise in the streets. There was the sound of children playing and adults walking and trading with one another. I tried to take a quick peak by getting my head out of the lower side of Edith’s breast plate where I was currently positioned.
Although, once Edith noticed she stuffed me back inside. I was out for enough time to realize that this was a demi-human village with many different kinds of demi-humans which explained why I saw some very strange looking houses.
As we got closer to the tree, Edith made 90 degree turn out of the blue and stopped at a door of a white rectangular mansion where mother flew from Edith and was about to get inside before we all asked her almost in unison.
“Mother, where are you going?” we asked out of worry and fear.
“Children, follow Edith to the cave in the tree and you will understand everything” she stopped and said with a smile “Trust me”.
We could do nothing but do as she said. Edith turned around and walked to the base of the tree while mother left for that mansion.
“What’s your relation to mother?” I asked Edith since I wanted to shed some light on this strange situation. I used the same method Mother used to communicate, since I strangely knew the language.
“I am one of Lady Ava’s guards” she said while walking straight, unblinking. Her voice resembled that of a genuine soldier.
“What’s her relation to this place then?” Cheerhead was the one to ask, seeming to want the same thing as me.
“Your mother is the first resident of Leden and the one who convinced the spirits of gathering all of us here” Edith answered our questions without shedding some light on the rest of the details, as if she was expecting us to understand on our own.
“Leden?” asked Coolhead.
“Leden is this tree we are living under, it was made by our savior the Sage”
Every answer Edith gave brought more questions than answers to us. But, before we could ask anymore questions, Edith ordered us to stop talking since we were about to reach the entrance of the cave and she didn’t want anyone to hear us talking. She and mother didn’t want anyone to know of our existence for some reason.
At the entrance, Guards were stationed to not let random people pass. It seemed the cave was very important to the residents of this village. However, Edith just kept walking as if it was nothing but before she could enter the guards who were holding spears in their hands crossed them in front of the cave’s entrance.
“Passage orb” the guard on the left said while looking at Edith from the corner of his eyes without turning his head, seeming to look down on her. One could see that from both of the guards helmets came two feline ears.
Without blinking, Edith brought a small transparent orb from the belt on her waist and handed it to the guard. Once the guard gripped it yellow smoke filled the inside of the orb and made a pattern. After that he handed it back to Edith and allowed her to proceed.
I wanted to ask her about what that was about but kept it to myself because there were more guards stationed at every corner. I and the others could tell from the greetings she shared with everyone she passed. Some of them replied cheerfully while some others just grunted in reply, there was nobody that acted in between. Everyone was either happy to see her or just hated her sight.
A moment later, after going through the criss-crossing corridors, we came across a black stone door with different engravings resembling different kinds of birds while in the middle of the stone doors was written {Majestic Bird Spirit, Gale} and just like the name the letters it was used to write the name gave off the feeling of majesty, in fact, the whole room and door gave off that feeling. As if it was in the air. I seemed to understand the letters which at first glance looked like gibberish. I added that to the list of things I don’t know yet and ignored it.
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Edith greeted the guards there and they greeted back respectfully, they seemed like the side which was happy to see her.
“Forgive us, Officer Edith. But we must follow the routine inspection” The guard was very respectful when he addressed her, completely different from the guards at the entrance.
“It’s fine” Edith gave a stark reply.
Even though they said routine inspection, all they did was ask her to state her business. Where was the inspection in that, I wondered.
“Lady Ava is doing a check on the tombs” said Edith, unblinking.
Without adding any further questions, the guards let her through. Once inside she lightly closed the doors. The room was easily the size of a football field with an elevated area in the middle and large tomb on top of it.
“Which one is the female with high wind affinity?” Edith whispered.
“I-I am” said worryhead, shyly. All this time, she stayed quiet throughout the whole journey. From what I saw of her, she was the most confused out of all of us, yet, she also was the one who had the most trust in mother, so, didn’t say anything to her and followed her loyally.
Edith brought her out of her armor and held her close to the tomb.
“What are you doing to her?” we asked. I could see, that despite her loyalty and trust towards mother, she was visibly shaking from fear of the unknown.
“You’ll see” was all Edith said. She brought the little worryhead on top of the tomb and placed her in the middle of it.
“Don’t worry” Edith lightly tapped worryhead on the head as she gently smiled a very calm and angelic smile. Even she couldn’t resist worryhead’s cute demeanor.
Although, still visibly shaking, Worryhead instinctively smiled back which helped calm her down a little.
Almost immediately, after Edith stepped back, transparent white orbs soundlessly floated out of the tomb and into worryhead’s body. We all looked on in fear of this strange phenomenon.
Hothead suddenly flew from Edith’s armor to worryhead to shield her from what was happening. However, Edith caught him and told us to watch in silence.
Worryhead, who was the one in the middle of this strange phenomenon, looked at Edith in fear while shaking. Edith simply nodded while smiling gently to reassure her a little.
Worryhead then closed her eyes tightly, awaiting what’s coming. The white shining orbs continued to fly towards her in silence until they reached her body and continued on inside of her.
Once inside, Worryhead’s shaking stopped and she fell down, unconscious. To that, I feared for the worse and flew towards her. Edith didn’t stop me this time.
“What have you done to her?” I asked lowly, in anger.
“Nothing, the spirit of the bird Gale, is now inside of her. It will show her the truth that all of you wish to know” she calmly told me.
“What about the rest of us?” asked Cheerhead.
“Your Mother designated a spirit for each one of you. The bird spirit Gale was for her and the rest you’ll find for yourselves”
So that was what she meant by our evolution, I thought. These spirits must have something to do with it. But when has mother said anything, I wondered.
Once we were done talking, Edith took worryhead into her breast plate again and took us out of the tomb. We went through the different paths in the corridor again until we reached another black door. This one had what seemed to be mermaids and sirens carrying musical instruments, for engravings. The guards were the same as the last tomb and we went through the same procedure. On the door was written {Bewitching mermaid, Pitch}
“Which one of you is the other girl?”
“I am” Said Coolhead, as she flew to the tomb herself this time. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that curiosity was killing her.
The orbs flew towards her exactly as they did to worryhead. However, these orbs were completely transparent except for their edges which were refracting the light off them a little. Once the orbs entered her, she fell slowly, unconscious.
Edith put her aside worryhead and moved on.
The process repeated itself at Hothead who entered {Wrathful lizard spirit, Lavis}’s tomb.
And Cheerhead who entered {Mysterious Fox Spirit, Grav}’s tomb.
When I realized it was finally my turn, I couldn’t help the feeling of excitement that sneaked into my heart. As we walked the long and different corridors, I also realized how big this place was and the amount of tombs in here was unimaginable, all under the roots of the giant tree, Leden.
Finally, I could see we were nearing the door for my spirit the name on the door was {Virtuous Ape Spirit, Irven}. I feel a little underwhelmed. Not that I have a problem with apes but I wanted something… more.
Though, the more I thought about this spirit, the more it made sense. After all apes are the closest you can get to a human and I was a human in my past life. From the pattern I’ve seen with my siblings, it’s safe to assume that mother choose a spirit pertaining to some part of personality or talent that we possess. Coolhead being talented in [Sound Magic] getting a mermaid spirit that is said to bewitch listeners and Worryhead being talented in [Wind Magic] getting a flying bird spirit, are examples.
Does that mean that mother knows I was a human or did she just choose the spirit based on my personality and talents like the others?
I brought my attention back to the tomb. Edith was dealing with the guards again. Although, those weren’t the nice type which made her take a while.
As we went inside, I wondered what would happen to us while we were unconscious, therefore, I asked Edith. She said she would take us somewhere safe outside the village until we regained our consciousness and wait for mother’s orders.
Without waiting any further I went to the tomb and waited for the orbs to enter my body. The orbs from this tomb were dark brown in color. Once they entered me, I felt my consciousness shift out of my body to a dark space filled with nothingness.
Looking around I saw an ape demi-human, his body wasn’t emitting light however I could see him clearly. In fact, he was the only thing I could see even without light. He sported brown colored mutton chops that gave him a unique fierce look with his chocolate brown skin and dry, untamed hair. More than anything, his muscular body might be the most important factor.
As I approached he turned his head to look at me.
“Ah… The Sage’s descendant is here”
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So, I'm about to give you my mandatory explanation for the long wait.
Short story: I've got no excuse, I'll try to release at least 1 chapter per week from now on.
Long story(Rant):
Spoiler :
I honestly started this story at a very bad time and I thought I would stop until it's a good time but the way things are going in my life I doubt I will ever reach a good time, So I will continue this as a hobby for now. Also, I said I was going to take a "1 to 2 day" break THREE MONTHS AGO to establish a proper bestiary and I still haven't touched the damn thing and probably never will since I'll just make up monsters on the go. BTW, I f'ing hate naming stuff. Also when I read the comments on the previous chapter I realized how awesome those ideas were compared to mine but when I tried to implement them in my head I always drew a blank which sort of made me depressed and when I wrote the first six chapters, I've to admit that I didn't like my writing style because there are too many repeating words and I can't see that as bad thing when I read this story because I'm always imagining the scenes instead of reading them then imagining them so the words are just there to recall what I already imagined which doesn't help me evaluate my own work.
I'm not going to lie, I wanted this fic to be in the top someday and that's the motivation I had when I started writing it but the way things are going, this will never happen which just gave me reason to stop writing this novel even though this is the second one that I've submitted to this site. So now I'm here telling you guys that I'm busy as fuck and procrastinating by writing this novel. I don't care if its quality is bad anymore as long as people read it and give me advice so that i can improve after that when I finish this novel I'll definitely get back to my old one because the other one has many of my own thoughts in it, complicated ones, that i don't think i can convey to a reader as I am now so to anyone reading this far please judge rate and review my novel to your hearts content you are the reason I will keep going. I will try to get out a chapter per week at the LEAST!! Also, I've too many f'ing descriptions in this novel that I don't know how to convey without boring everyone including me while reading it... YET!