The Endless Forest

Felix took a step back in shock. This was not how it was all supposed to go…

His eyes flicked over to Watcher, who had slumped to his knees. The kobold was muttering something.

“Should we stop them?!” Eri asked in near panic.

“I–” He stopped, something was nudging him from his soul.

Felix…

Fea, what is happening?!

A hand brushed across his face.

Startled by the sensation, he shook his head. What–

His body tensed, his thoughts froze. A pulse from deep within reverberated and echoed throughout his body. With it, Fea’s calming voice spoke to him.

Calm yourself…

As the words registered within his mind, another pulse was sent out. This time, a wave of serenity followed. It was like he was back in her room, resting his head upon her lap…

His body relaxed while his mind thawed. Time seemed to almost slow for him, as he began to unwind from the stress. He did not want it to end…

In his blissful state, the realization became clear. He would have another part to play soon. So very, very soon…

“Eri, when I tell you, activate the runes.” His voice was smooth and calm.

“What?”

“Trust me, I will handle what will happen next.” He had no way to truly express what he meant. It was a feeling, a sensation. He was being guided.

Just like Watcher…

“What do you mean–”

Felix stopped her. “Please, trust me?” He didn’t wait for a response and instead brought all his focus on the den. The sound of the world fading from him, even from his bond…

Silence engulfed him.

Fea…

Felix…

“Guide me–”

A scream bellowed from the den. It was time.

Without a moment of hesitation, he dove in. He came upon a disturbing scene. Yedril was laying on the floor, convulsing. His sister was next to him trying to shake him awake.

“Lorem, grab her and pull her out.”

The large elf opened his mouth but stopped, he saw the seriousness within Felix’s expression. He acted.

Lorem rushed over and grabbed hold of Solanna, and quickly pulled her away. All the while, his captive fought, kicking and screaming. Still, the elf had no trouble.

Felix looked over to a shivering Noria who remained. “Go, Noria. I will handle this.”

She broke from her stupor and gave him a shaky nod. A second later, he was alone with Yedril.

“Activate them!” he called out, already kneeling down. Mana began flooding the room as he inspected the sickly elf.

Even without his mana sight, it was obvious what happened. Yedril was completely drained of mana. Worse still, his heart rate was slowing and his breathing ragged. The young elf was dying.

Felix took a deep breath, latching onto the support Fea offered. The room suddenly exploded with energy, nearly throwing him into the wall nearby.

As the wave ended, the air grew heavy and intense. It felt alive, causing his skin to bristle.

Essence…

That thought was not his, but it did not matter. He already knew, even as he activated his mana sight.

Instantly, he became blinded by pure white, what he could only assume to be the color of essence. He waited a moment for his vision to adjust before bringing his attention back to Yedril. The elf’s body was black as the void. It reminded him a lot of Zira’s own special magic…

A speck of white caught his attention. It was barely visible, sitting near where Yedril’s heart should be. Its light sputtered, threatening to fade out.

His soul.

If it were not for Fea, he might have lost it. If he was alone, truly alone, he would have believed Yedril was already dead.

But Felix wasn’t. He knew what to do, he needed to gather and feed the mana essence to the elf. His only concern was, could he do it?

You can… Fea whispered into his mind.

With a nod, he lifted a hand. With his mana manipulation, he gathered as much essence as he could and trapped it within a ball.

He stared at it with his mana sight, watching it swirl uncontrollably. He tried to squeeze it, it was far too large for what he needed it to be.

It condensed for a moment then stopped. The same problem as before reared its ugly head, it would not go any further.

That wasn’t all, either. His own mana was reacting strangely to it, becoming more and more unstable as he tried to contain it all.

Why?

His serenity threatened to crack with his frustration.

Fea’s hand appeared in his vision, clasping around his outstretched one. Calm yourself, you already know why.

Giving into her advice, he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. What was he doing wrong?

Sweat was forming on his brow, the strain of both holding the essence and trying to puzzle out a solution was starting to get to him. Even with Fea’s attempts to calm him.

Meanwhile, Yedril had stopped convulsing and was now lying still. His soul, fading with every passing moment…

Felix was running out of time.

He closed his eyes, taking a breath to help keep himself calm. The memory of him casting Fea’s spell came to him. Watching it replay, he looked for anything that he missed–

He saw it. He saw what he had done…

His eyes flew open and he stared into the ball of pure essence. All this time I have been forcing it to do what I want. Not once had I tried anything different…

Bringing it closer to him, Felix hugged the ball to his chest. Please, help Yedril. Give him your strength.

He stopped his attempt at forcing it into compliance, feeling it start to rupture. Now, he would work with it, only gently guiding it. The ball dissipated, but the mana essence remained in place.

It was chaotic, shapeless, and probing. Yet, with his new approach, he used his mana manipulation to subtly move it and shape it into something useful. It still held its chaotic nature, but it was now malleable.

However, before he could congratulate himself, his eyes turned once more to Yedril’s unmoving body. His soul blinked out one final time, shattering. Like tiny embers those too began to dim…

NO!

Felix set to work and plunged the mana and his hand down onto Yedril’s chest, directly on the last few sparkles of light.

PLEASE, DON’T BE TOO LATE!

The essence responded, quickly seeping through Yedril’s body. Meanwhile, the little embers were dying out in droves.

Soon, only a scant few remained…

COME ON! Felix wasted no time and with his second hand, began gathering more and guiding it towards Yedril as well.

Finally, with enough mana essence flooding Yedril’s body, it found where his soul once was. There was no barrier to stop it…

A single spark, a single speck of sparkling dust remained…

He’s–

Felix couldn’t finish the thought. The essence found and latched onto the cooling ember. It poured into that tiny speck.

The last remnant of Yedril’s soul suddenly expanded and sucked in more. It pulled at the cold, shattered pieces, setting them–

In an instant, he was blinded as Yedril’s body became white, whiter than the essence in the air.

A choking gasp sounded from the elf…

***

A few minutes later, Felix reemerged from the den. In his arms, he carried Yedril’s limp form.

The others were outside, waiting and fearing the worst. None said a word as he walked directly towards Solanna. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face was puffy, she was still crying…

He stopped in front of her.

“Yedril–” Felix’s voice cracked.

“Yedril is alive…”

Eri found herself pacing, back and forth, in front of Kyrith. Night was fast approaching, and no one wanted to leave the sanctity of the hatchery. Especially after everything that had happened…

Nearby, and laying on a mat was Watcher. He had collapsed at some point, and no one had noticed until after. Eri felt terrible for that alone.

Somewhere on the other side of the hatchery, Lorem and Noria were sitting and leaning against each other. The experience had left Noria beyond shaken and now Lorem was comforting her.

Letting out a sigh, Eri glanced over to Felix. He was leaning against Zira and pretending to be resting. However, she could easily see he was trembling. It left nothing to be said about how close of a call it had been…

Finally, there was Solanna and Yedril. Solanna was sitting with Yedril’s head in her lap. She gently stroked his hair while he rested in a bundle of blankets and pillows. They had decided it would be best to keep him here.

Moving him didn’t make sense. The den was filled with essence. If something happened, Yedril would need to be moved back into it…

Eri… Kyrith whined to her. Come rest, please?

She shook her head. I can’t… I feel like I have to stay moving or else– She cut the thought off. Already she was feeling useless. If she stopped, she feared she would break down.

The dragon said nothing more, but she could feel the gaze of worried eyes.

I love you, Kyrith. I promise to spend tonight here, with you. That seemed to have the effect she was hoping for as he suddenly let happiness flood through their bond.

She smiled for just a moment before her gaze drifted back to Yedril and Solanna. I suppose I should at least see how she is doing.

Letting out a tired sigh, Eri made her way over and kneeled down next to the other elven woman. “How are you doing?” She asked.

“He’s…fine.” Solanna responded, not once taking her eyes off her brother.

Eri could only wince. Felix had warned them just how close Yedril had been from death. If he was a moment late– No, I don’t want to think of that. She forced the thought away.

“That’s good, but not what I asked. I said, how are you doing?”

Solanna blinked, dried tear streaks were visible running down her face. “I…don’t know. I always knew something like this was going to happen… I thought I was prepared.”

Reaching her arm around Solanna, Eri pulled her into a side hug. “It will never be easy.”

“Have… Have you ever lost someone? Because as I watched, I couldn’t think of him not being around. I thought for sure he was dead… My heart couldn’t take it. I just wanted to see him smiling one more time.”

Eri waited for Solanna to finish before she responded. “Perhaps, you should get some rest?” she said carefully, ignoring the original question. “I–”

The other elf shook her head. “No, I… I want to be awake for when he wakes.”

Oh Solanna… “Yedril probably won’t wake tonight. Besides, I never said you couldn’t sleep here next to him.”

She seemed to consider Eri’s words. “Maybe in a little bit…”

Eri opened her mouth but a knock from the hatchery’s entrance stopped her. Looking up, she found Ithea waiting outside. Curious, she stood up.

“I’ll be back in a few moments,” she said and briskly walked over to Ithea.

“Good evening,” the dragon woman said as she came to a stop. Eri almost wanted to snap at that, it certainly hadn’t been a good day so far…

“Yes?” she asked instead.

Ithea must have read her expression and quickly cleared her throat. “I mean… I was, uh, wanting to see how Yedril was faring?” She sounded stiff, not at all how she would normally act.

Not Zira? She’s hardly shown any interest in the other elves– Wait a second… “How do you know something happened?”

The dragon woman let her icy smile show for a brief moment before dropping it. “I can taste mana,” she said, as if that explained it.

Seeing that Ithea wasn’t going to elaborate, Eri gestured over to Yedril with her head. “Well, he is over there. But please, be respectful. Solanna hasn’t taken this well.”

“I promise.”

“Then follow me.” With that Eri led Ithea back to Solanna.

“Hey, Solanna? Ithea is here–”

Ithea immediately dropped to a knee and peered down over Yedril. “Hmm, interesting… Very interesting,” she muttered, letting some of her normal personality out.

“What are you doing?!” Solanna shouted, completely startled.

“Hmm? Oh, right…” She cleared her throat. “I merely wanted to see how he was doing… I’m glad I made the decision to check in.”

She suddenly pulled out a vial. “Here, give this to him when he wakes. It will help him.”

Eri furrowed her brows as she stared out the offered vail. In it, was a dark brown liquid. “What is it?”

“A potion–”

“We can’t give him anything magical!” Eri nearly shouted, cutting Ithea off. She was already regretting her decision to let the dragon woman in.

“Relax, it's non-magical. A simple herbal brew that will sooth his mind when he wakes up.”

“Non-magical…? Wait, what do you mean it will ‘sooth his mind?’ What’s wrong with him?” Eri asked cautiously. Had we missed something?

Ithea gestured to Yedril. “He’s gone through a traumatic event. When he wakes, he may still feel like he’s going through it. This potion will help calm him.” She handed the potion over to Eri. “Trust me, I’ve seen something like this before.”

“You have?” Solanna asked, beating Eri to the question.

Ithea nodded and smiled, it was almost somber. “Plenty of times, unfortunately… Thankfully, it appears that Felix did an adequate job. Yedril will probably wake in the morning, if I had to guess.”

“I…see, thank you,” Eri muttered, unsure what to make of this situation. Still, she pocketed the vial. Where did she even get it?

“Anyway, I won’t stay for long…” The dragon woman stood up and looked over to Zira. “I know how much I am unliked.”

“Thank you,” Solanna said as Ithea began moving towards her daughter. Ithea merely waved it away…

Shaking herself out of her confusion, Eri quickly got up and followed after. They came to halt before the glaring eyes that belonged to Zira. She didn’t look happy to see her mother.

“Zira,” Ithea said.

“Ithea.” Zira narrowed her eyes and curled her tail around Felix, causing him to stir.

“How are you doing?” Ithea asked, her tone neutral.

Her daughter stared at her for several moments before finally responding. “Fine…but what do you want?”

Throwing up her hands defensively, Ithea answered. “I merely came to see how my– How you were doing…” There was a sudden and noticeable change in her demeanor as she dropped her hands.

“Listen, Zira… I know I haven’t been a good person, let alone a good mother–”

Zira snorted.

“–But I am trying to change that. I know I have a lot to do to improve, and plenty of things to fix…” She glanced over to Felix. “But I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Someday, I want to be able to call you my daughter. And…perhaps, you can call me mother?”

She must have really put a lot of thought into this, Eri thought to herself. It was clear to her that Ithea was taking this seriously. But will Zira or Felix?

As if on cue, Felix slowly got to his feet.

“Ithea,” he said, stepping over Zira’s tail. “I know you hate me, and I know you have your reasons.” He started a slow and unsteady walk up to them. “But whoever I was…then? I am not that person.”

Felix stopped in front of Ithea and held out a hand. “Can you forgive me– The current me for what my past self did?”

Eri watched with bated breath for how Ithea would respond.

Meanwhile, Zira’s mother stared down at Felix’s hand. There was a long pause while emotions played across her face.

Suddenly, she came to a decision and looked directly into Felix’s eyes. Her hand grasped his.

“Yes.”