Chapter 13: Eyes of Emerald
The world around Arata shimmered and rippled, the very space through which he moved appearing to slow down, the air suddenly seeming more viscous. He gripped Leyla's hand, leading her through the planaric ripple. The once tawny atmosphere of the evening in Greenguard was blacked out, covered up and replaced with a blanket of night, dotted with stars. The crescent moon shown brighter than before, mercurial light spilling down through cracks in the trees. Oh, the trees....
Trees taller than any of those in Greenguard stood around them. The wood far darker and richer, the leaves far greener. The leaves ran the deepest emerald color, sparkling with little glints of light as the light of Luna struck them. They were quite literally emeralds, transparent and prismatic. Arata bent down to pick one of the fallen leaves. It felt smooth and wet, like a normal leaf, but its color and reflective properties suggested otherwise.
A chilly, but at the same time, soothing, breeze picked up and swept through the forest, surreal in its presence. Deep green grass swayed with the wind, little jade fingers reaching up to tickle Arata's and Leyla's legs. A whirl of gem-like leaves was put on for display as the soft wind lifted them off of the ground, spinning in the air like glistening dancers.
"I can hear them...so many," Leyla whispered, moving on ahead of Arata.
Arata looked back at the ripple, shrinking, and already too small to go back out of. He shrugged, moving off after Leyla. "Them?"
"The trees." She smiled, and that smile grew broader and broader with each step deeper into the forest. "They're very talkative, but there are so many, it's hard to listen to any one voice." She did a little twirl, in heaven among these plants, skipping on over to the nearest of the sentinal-like trees. She placed a hand on it. Then, she smiled and laughed, seeming to have shared a joke with the tree, in a language that only they knew.
Arata sighed, leaning on one of the trees, content to let Leyla wander about for a little while longer. Suddenly, a noise caused him to jump, looking around. But, there were no animals. Another noise. A voice? "What was that?" This time, Arata recieved a jab in the back, and he moved away from the tree that he rested on, looking around for the source of the noise and poke.
"I said, 'get off of me'." Arata jumped again. That voice, it came from the tree he had been resting against! "Wh-wh-wh-what...h-how are you...?" His words were stammered out in a burst of confusion. Leyla rushed over.
"What's wrong Arata?"
"Th-that thing talked!" He said pointing at the tree.
"I am not a thing. I am a tree, as you can plainly see," the tree corrected indignantly.
Leyla's emerald eyes grew wide. "You can hear the trees too Arata?" She looked back and forth from her friend to the tree.
"Actually, we may speak to anyone girl. We are special in that we speak the language of humans." It said very matter-of-factly. The plant's voice was deep, the edges of its vocalizations coarse.
"Amazing! How do you do such a thing?" Leyla said, clearly fascinated.
Arata simply stood back, watching in quiet confusion as Leyla openly conversed with the plant, not quite so interested in the workings of a tree. "It's just a tree Leyla..." Arata said, a little agitated.
"It's more than a tree Arata! Trees are living beings, just like us!" She admonished him, glaring with orbs of glittering emerald.
The tree scolded Arata as well. "We are not mere plants boy. We are Ents!" Suddenly, much to both Leyla's and Arata's surprise, a face began to form on the tree's trunk. Ridges of bark rose and split from the main body, forming the wooden manifestation of eyes, a mouth, and even a nose and eyebrows. Deep green moss clung to the trunk, giving the tree the appearance of having facial hair. "Guardians of the forest. Powerful beings who guard the lady Mori and all of Emerald Glade!"
Arata nodded, holding out his hands, trying cool the temper of the lecturing tree. "Alright, I'm sorry." He sighed. "Let's go Leyla."
The girl nodded and walked away with Arata, the tree calling after them. "Remember! Just because you have been given permission to tread here, does not mean you can do as you please! You are on sacred ground. Do not abuse this privilege!" And with a loud splitting sound, the tree's face slammed back into the bark, leaving it without a trace.
-
"So..all of the trees here are Ents?" Arata looked around the forest, expecting another set of faces to pop out from the woods, assigning to each tree an imaginary facial expression to reveal their disapproval of Arata.
"I would imagine so..." Leyla replied curtly, walking a little bit ahead of Arata.
Arata furrowed his brow, quickening his pace to keep up with Leyla. "Look Leyla, I didn't mean-"
"It's fine."
"But I-"
"I said it's fine." She looked at him, trying not to appear mad, though traces of a scowl remained.
Arata sighed. He hadn't meant to make her mad... "I'm sorry..." He said, keeping his head down.
-
They continued to walk in silence, feet barely making a sound across the soft grass that lay beneath them. Arata looked up at the moon. It was nearly full now...Wait, nearly full? Hadn't it been a crescent when they first entered? "Does that mean we're getting closer?" He mumbled to himself.
Arata looked over at Leyla from the corner of his eye. He footsteps were becoming slower and slower. They had walked a long distance all day, and what Arata felt must have been all night. She must have been exhausted. As luck would have it, the two of them managed to stumble into a large open clearing, a soft wind blowing across. The trees ringed the clearing in a perfect circle. Though the branches reached far, more space was allowed in the center of the glade for moonlight to shine through. "Hm. The Glade of Emerald Glade," Arata mused. He looked at Leyla, who smiled tiredly. "We can set up camp here if you want."
"I'm fine," she replied.
"You need rest. Come on." The two of them moved to the center setting up two bedrolls. Arata thought about gathering wood from the trees, but realized that the Ents probably wouldn't appreciate stealing their bark and setting fire to it. So, Arata withdrew a few sticks from his bag for firewood, setting the bonfire site up above the ground a bit, with stones underneath so he wouldn't kill the grass. Flint. He struck the flint, sparks flying from the stone and catching on the elevated wood. The warm flames created a glowing orange radius, making everything outside their little circle seem darker.
Leyla sat on the side opposite of Arata, but moved over next to him after a few minutes, apparently tired of pretending to still be mad. "This place is beautiful isn't it?"
Arata nodded, looking up at the moon once again. "Yeah, it is...."
The pair once again descended into silence, staring into the writhing flames for entertainment, waiting for the occasional pop of wood splitting, or of coal jumping. Suddenly, Leyla perked up. "What is it?" Arata asked.
"Shhh!" She hushed him. She listened again. "Do you hear that?"
Arata shook his head, unable to hear much over the crackle of the fire. He strained his ears. Then, he picked up a note. Then another. More notes flooded in a rhythmic pattern. "A harp?"
"Put out the fire!" Leyla hissed, and Arata quickly doused it. As the popping died away, more of the harp music could be heard, floating through the Glade elegantly. The initial fear of being spotted died away as the enigmatic, yet benign music drifted about gently. As it came further into the Glade, the trees seemed to hum along with it, the sound echoing, though it was impossible to tell which direction it came from.
Leyla stood up, swaying gently on her feet, then moving around slowly, appearing to be dancing. She spun silently, smiling dreamily with her eyes closed. "It's beautiful....I could stay here forever.." She cracked an eye open at Arata, seeming to invite him to join in.
Arata blinked, hesitant at first. Then, he pushed himself from the ground, slowly walking towards the dancing girl. Why was his heart beginning to pound?
He moved in front of Leyla, and the girl slowed to take his hands, placing one at her waist and gripping the other in her hand. She then put a hand on Arata's shoulder, and began to dance once more. Arata swallowed, letting her lead. He had never danced before, let alone with a girl. After a moment of reluctancy, Arata found it easy to follow the pattern. Why were his cheeks growing warm? His heart continued to race as Leyla hummed along with the harp, with the trees, with the forest as a whole.
He looked around. Anywhere but Leyla. He looked at the trees, the emerald leaves hanging from their boughs. The moon had broken through, silvery light bathing the central spot that they were in. It bounced off of the leaves, even more spectacularly than before. Rays and dots of silvery-green moved around with the swaying leaves, like one thousand dreamy fireflies. But, no matter where he looked, he was forced to look back down at Leyla; Eyes closed, still humming sweetly along, practically glowing in the moonlight.
Arata looked down at Leyla. "Hey..Leyla.."
She opened her eyes halfway, still dazzlingly green, smiling up at him, though still appearing as if she were in a dream. "Hm?"
"Um, you know what happened earlier..." His face grew hot once more, red spreading on his cheeks. "I just wanted to say-"
"Shut up." Came Leyla's unexpected response. Arata felt even more embarassed.
"But-"
"I said, shut up." She put her arms around his neck, and kissed him.
The presence of Leyla's lips on his own was so unexpected that he almost withdrew from it. His eyes widened, face burning, his pulse roaring in his ears. She pulled back, and then kissed him again, wrapping tighter around his neck, moving closer. Arata closed his eyes, his arms eventually deciding to drop around her waist as he kissed back. And that is how they remained...
-
The coming of twilight allowed Arata to awake, opening his eyes groggily to the Glade before him. It was evening...the sun was going down again. He widened his eyes. How long were they asleep? He would have jumped up immediately had it not been for a weight in front of him and beneath his arm. Leyla lay in front of him, his arm around her waist, eyes closed in contented sleep. He smiled softly, shaking her gently to wake her up. "Hey, Leyla...we have to get going."
The girl grumbled quietly, then slowly opened her eyes. She smiled, getting to her feet as Arata did. "Okay.."
The two walked on quietly, now entirely focused on completing their mission. Leyla gripped Arata's hand gently, their fingers entwined. Night fell once more, and the two could faintly hear another round of harp music starting up. "Who is playing that?" Arata wondered.
Arata's question was answered as the pair entered another clearing. Surprisingly, this area had only a few trees marking the area, the made of moss-covered and root-covered rock. Four gigantic trees grew out of the rock wall, leaning forward as if peering at the center. Taking up a good deal of the middle was a shallow pond, though nothing swam in it, its waters crystal clear. In the center was the tallest tree Arata had ever seen, hanging from its boughs a gigantic, golden glowing fruit. In front of this colossal tree was a large rock, and sitting upon this rock was the musical culprit.
A young girl, maybe a few years young than Leyla, sat on the huge stone, legs crossed. She was dressed in a robe of a soft purple, with a tunic of similar color beneath it, only with green and golden strips and trimming decorating it. An emerald held the young girl's robe together, which was covered in leaves and stray vines. He hair was a strange pale green color, and fell down past her shoulders, tied together almost at the very end with a lavender tie with a clip of the same shade in her hair by her left ear. Her eyes were a strange mix of gold and green. And in her small hands was an elegant harp, the main part of the instrument also purple with golden ivy patterns across it, golden strings attached. Out of the tops of the instrument sprouted leaves.
The girl continued to play, seemingly unaware of Arata's or Leyla's presence. Leyla stepped forward, coughing. "Excuse me."
The girl played for a few moments more, then stopped, looking at Leyla a rather disinterested expression. "Yes?" Her voice was light and soft, but it held a heavy, enigmatic air to it, powerful in its nature.
"Are you....Mori?"
The girl set the harp down on the rock behind her, stepping down from her pedestal and landing on top of the water. Her feet never submerged, standing as easily on top of the water as if it were land. She smiled. "You are Leyla...a daughter of the Forest...Welcome. I am Mori, Goddess of Nature."
Arata moved forward as Leyla did, joining her at her side. "We were sent here. We need your advice," he said, looking down at the girl.
"I know." She smiled, skipping backwards onto the rock. "But then again, I know everything..." She giggled. "You seek advice on how to defeat Geddon, correct?"
They nodded.
"I am sorry, but it is not possible."
"What?!" They shouted, simultaneously.
"Even if you hoped to survive Geddon's onslaught, you cannot kill that which is already dead. The undead are a different story, simply reanimated corpses. Geddon however, is the source of death itself. You can only kill that which is living..."
"Then we'll have to find some other weakness!" Leyla said. "Please, you have to help us."
Mori sighed, drumming her fingers across the rock upon which she sat. "You do have one chance...Geddon is nearing his release, but..." She held out her hand, producing a large, emerald key. "...if you use this, you may have a chance of re-establishing the seal. But, it will be difficult..." She handed Leyla the key, smiling.
"Thank you.....How do we reach Geddon?"
Mori nodded. "Seek the keeper of the Hourglasses, the guardian of the Lost. I wish you good luck."
The two thanked her and turned away. "Wait..." The girl halted them. "You.." She pointed at Arata, who turned around.
"Yes?" He arched his brow, perplexed.
"I have a warning for you." She walked up closer to him, looking up at him with her peculiar eyes, her next words most ominous. "Beware the man who calls you son, for he shall betray you..."
Arata gulped. The man who called him son..? His father would betray him? How? His father was a thousand miles away, on the cold tundra. And no...he would never do that..But, who was he to question a Goddess?
Suddenly, a fierce wind howled, tearing through the Forest with unmatched speed. Clicking and chattering, as well as growls and scrabbles could be heard, echoing throughout the forest. Mori materialized in front of Arata and Leyla, narrowing her eyes. "We have some unwelcome visitors..."
