Shadow Slayers

Enoch smiled at the fire mage, somewhat relieved to see she hadn't been jaded by the terrible events from the past battle. Still kind as ever. "I am too," he replied gently, looking around the hall as they reached an area where different rooms branched off. I am too.

The guild had saved his life no matter which way he looked at it. And watching the members grow with each other and become closer gave him hope and a genuine sort of happiness he hadn't experienced in a very long time.

"Hey! Daryn! Which way didn't you go yet?" he asked as they reached a crossroads.

"Ah, just this way!" Daryn called out behind her. Mimisko and Enoch had fallen behind a few paces and exchanged words she didn't care to listen to. They passed an open door where she'd gotten her robe, pointed to it and said "Boring,". She kept walking and turned another corner, passing two other rooms she'd already checked where she hadn't found anything of interest and did the same thing to both doors as she had the first. Finally, Daryn and the others passed a large door housing a courtyard with a familiar suit of armor standing in the sunlight.

"Ha-hey, would ya look at that! It's winter and this place is in full bloom!" Daryn shouted in amazement. She approached both the tree and the armor which stood stock still in front of it. The tree was obviously the main attraction with it's oddly shining leaves. Daryn had never seen anything like it before, and couldn't help but smile.

"You really found a masterpiece out here, Alroth!" She patted the armor's back with force, not realizing there was no one inside to react. "I wonder what's how it's even this green in here? It's amazing!"

Zerah heard the small child speaking from behind the locked, wooden door. Zerah sat there for a moment, trying to find the words to say, his eye still red from crying. He nuzzled his head back into his armor-clad knees and took a deep breath.

"No...I don't mean to be bad...I just am...." Zerah spoke softly. "I've always been bad..I always hurt people...."

Zerah looked up at the stone ceiling. He used his arm to wipe away his tears, and turned his head towards the door, speaking up a bit.

"Don't be like me, Oxy... You have a chance to do great things in this world. Don't let that go to waste." Zerah stated, sorrow completely engulfing his voice.

Zerah stood up from the ground. He breathed out, and while doing so the black ooze covering his arms fell to the floor in a puddle, revealing two awkwardly cut stumps where the rest of his arms should be. Zerah looked down at them, the skin permanently darker from having the blood on them for 2 years. Zerah frowned at the sight and summoned the blood to form his hands once more. He sat back down, head resting against his legs.

Daryn was surprised by the pixie's voice coming from overhead and whipped her head up in reaction to it. She then processed what the girl said and laughed loudly at the threat. Pinky then continued to speak.


"Leth..." Daryn muttered, trailing off and immediately forgetting the rest of the name. "A glimmer tree!" Daryn whispered quietly in awe. Such a title for a tree seemed so fantastic to Daryn's small knowledge of the world. She looked at the leaves of the towering plant life, almost wanting to touch them. There was however a slight fear of the unknown nagging the back of her mind, helping her resist the temptation.

"Well, I'd heard of magical beings but I never heard of a magical tree! I gotta be honest, I didn't expect it at all." Daryn said, moving from her spot to look around the trunk a bit. She then remembered her comrades behind her and turned around to face them, with the whole of her arm pointing at the glimmer tree.

"Guys! This tree is magic!" She shouted. Normally she was opposed to magic and the like, but that was when there was a person hiding behind it. With a plant, Daryn had no feelings of distaste. It amazed her more than appalled her.

    Enoch followed Daryn into the courtyard, his eyes wide with awe at the copious amounts of blooming flowers, and a tree he'd never seen before, glimmering in the center. The scene would be breathtaking in any season, but to see such a spectacle in the winter was Alroth was standing right in the middle, and it wasn't until Daryn smacked the back of the puppet that he realized that it was empty.


The priest froze, his gaze slowly shifting down to his feet before he sighed in relief and relaxed, looking up at the small pixie on the branch and chuckling. He'd only seen her emerge from afar a couple times prior, and even then he'd never gotten the chance to speak with her. Frankly, despite her miniscule size, he found her somewhat intimidating. Even outside of Alroth.


    "Le-thl-gly-ne-ros...?" Enoch sounded out each syllable deliberately, trying to follow along as best as he could before staring at the tree in fascination, touching the bark gently. He had only a very vague idea of how Alroth worked. Heck, he'd never met a pixie before Alroth, and had only read vaguely about them.


    The priest burst into laughter at Daryn's fascination, nodding and circling the tree carefully, almost afraid to touch it or mess with the flora. "It's really amazing, Pinky. What's the purpose of doing this? How does it work?" he asked curiously, biting his tongue as more questions flooded into mind.

Daryn froze up at the burst of laughter emitted from her friend. She slowly lowered her arm in embarrassment, understanding the priest was likely laughing at her reaction to the tree. She cleared her throat and looked to Mimisko instead, nodded slightly and looked back up at Pinky. She awaited the answers to Enoch's questions just as eagerly as he seemed to.

Zerah giggled at the child's simple solution. Oh how Zerah wished it would be that easy for him. Zerah stood up once again, surprised to see Oxy in his fearen form peering into the small window. He hoped that no one else was around that hadn't been there in the forest.

"Heheh, I wish it was that easy for me, buddy. Let me tell you a little secret. You see this blood?" Zerah pointed towards his arm. "Well, this blood does different things to a person, depending on their race when it mixes with magic. For example, if a human had this blood and used magic, his skin would start to...uh.." Zerah was about to say petrify, but figured the word might be too complicated for Oxy to understand. "It'd start to turn into stone. If an elf were to use magic with this blood, his skin would burn away. If a vishkanyan were to use magic with this blood, they'd get frostbite."

Zerah had learned this through his travels over the years, coming across a few people who had the same ritual performed on them. "Now, here's what it does to me. I have to use magic to keep this blood in the shape of my hands. Now while, it doesn't take too much magic, it still takes its toll. This blood, when mixed with magic, drives imps crazy, to the point where they can't tell bad from good." Zerah explained it in a lighter way, not wanting to tell Oxy that his brain was deteriorating as a result of the ooze. "Now, I've had this blood for two years now, and it's already gotten to where it's hard for me to tell what's good and what's not." Zerah smiled, trying to keep his spirits up for the child. 

Zerah formed his finger into a key and unlocked the door, while the small child was still hanging from it. He emerged from the room, and picked Oxy off of the door and turned the child to face him. "But you know what, I promise I'm gonna try my best to be good, but you have to promise me something." Zerah set Oxy down. "You have to be good too! You gotta grow up to be a hero, okay?" Zerah smiled at the little shapeshifter, waiting for his response.