Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

Stephanie smiles at Ruby, with nothing else to say.

 

"You're welcome. You saved me from certain death. The enemy tribe would've tortured and killed me. Now we've both saved each other, eh?" I toss him the free bottle of water I got from the backpack store. "You probably haven't eaten or drank in a while. Here."

 

He catches it, but doesn't know how to get the lid off.
"Fair... point... what's on the top of the bottle?"

 

"The magic of the Birthlake is in all plants, so this root has the magic every other plant has. I'm guessing the magic made it slightly sentient. It seems to like your presence, which will be because you are a forest guardian. I don't know what a forest heart is."

"I don't know why they are suddenly appearing... something seems to be happening on the Wild Islands to make them move away, but I'm not sure what that could be."

 

"A forest heart is the true spirit of any forest. If the heart is killed, the forest dies. Forest Guardians are meant to protect the heart from harm, and in return, the heart allows us to stay in the forest and gives us power," Artemis explains, "The forest spirits you might see are sort of like forest hearts, just much smaller."

 

"I'll go look at it after this."

 

"I don't think the root is a forest heart then. The Birthlake created the forest and made it like this, but that of course is its source of power. I haven't seen anything here which could be a forest heart."

"I'll go too. Whatever it is, it can't be good."
Keila notices Aura (who of course is a Wind Dragon).

 

"Isn't that one of them...?"
"It appears tame."

 

"I'd bargain to say that the birthlake is the forest heart, then. It'd be nice to talk to them if they are," Artemis says, "Forest hearts are often very nice to talk to."

 

"Hey, uhm, Daras was it? Anyways, I'll be going ahead of the group." I say, propelling myself closer towards the trees with a whirlwind.

 

"Oh, that's Aura. She's a magical construction of a Wind Dragon Daras created a long time ago. Aura was turned into a real Wind Dragon a while ago."

"Well, the Birthlake is one of Eras' large magical sources he created, so I don't think it would be. Though there probably is a heart somewhere. These plants are always hiding secrets..."
Artemis can hear a strange creaking and groaning sound. It sounds like... laughing?

He shouts, "Wait, that isn't the path! It's this way!"
And then the branches from the trees seem to cut you off from the group.
The green lighting seems to be brighter here, almost as if something else is creating it. You realise that was what you saw through the trees. The path continues towards the green light.

 

Artemis looks toward the source of the sound.

 

It seems to be coming from all around the group, from every tree and plant.

 

"So, she's a tame projection of one that has a real body? That's kind of interesting."

 

"Hello?" Artemis asks, both physically and telepathically.

 

"It's a more complicated than that. Daras made a statue, which he made come to life whenever someone wanted it. He made lots of them, but for some reason Aura was more sentient than the rest. So recently I made it have its real form permanently so it could be a normal Wind Dragon."

Artemis makes a telepathic connection with the nearest plant, which happens to be the root. It lets out a telepathic squeak of surprise.
"Eep... h-hi?"

 

I look at the mushrooms more, careful not to get too close.

 

"Fascinating."
"You can give temporary constructs permanent bodies?"

 

"Do you know where the heart of the forest is? I wish to speak with it. I'm a forest guardian, I mean no harm." Artemis asks.

 

They seem to glow blue... except for one, which is larger than the others and changes colour very rapidly.

"Daras put a rune on all of them which could do that. All the others were destroyed, so Aura is the only one left."

"I-I... err... umm... is the heart of the forest the old thing which comes out of the tree?"