The Tree of Life {Semi-Lit}

[EndlessFallingSnow]

Sylvia awoke with a start, getting hazily out of her bed. She hastily pulled on her clothes and slid her feet into her shoes putting her dagger into her right boot. Grabbing her bow she slung her arrows over her shoulder and ran out into the old underground tunnel complex. She quickly scaled the stairs and ran through the thicket of trees following Cyrus.

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Drake walked through the forest playing with a small ball of water rolling it around and around in his hands. He was born from the water element, and with only two of his kind left, including himself he didn’t want to be of a waste. He felt the forest change and his eyes widened. What on earth happened, he thought to himself confused. The only thing he could come up with was that something had endangered The Tree of Life, but then suddenly thought that couldn’t be it, could it?

[Placebo Effect]

Serria whimpered softly as she was caught, feeling faint and dizzy. A solitary tear flowed down her cheek. "W-what's h-happening...?" She didn't want to die, she was scared to die, terrified. She wasn't even supposed to be able to die, she was meant to be immortal. Her slender hands grasped weakly at Colton's sleeve, and her eyes closed breifly as she searched out the source of her pain. "T-the roots... F-facing east... P-poison." Well, that was as best she could describe the curse that was raging through her like an uncontrolable fire.

- - -

"What?" Cyrus didn't want to stop, but he did since he'd already noticed Erin emerging from a thicket of trees and give him the signal to deal with this new girl while Erin herself went off after Nyx. Cyrus gave a small nod as Erin sprinted off with Sylvia then returned his attention to the fire nymph standing scared and fearful in front of him. "Who's coming?" He freed his sword from his side and raised his eyebrows faintly, ducking under a branch and taking the trail path that had bought Aurora towards him in the first place. True he normally fought with a staff, but a staff is hard to carry when running so he'd grabbed the sword as he ran out to follow the assasin.

He wasn't scared of hunters, they were useless in comparison to an elf, the strength and speed of an elf would easily beat a hunter with no problems. He was however worried that this mystery person was the one to have cursed the Tree of Life, whatever had happened to Serria was making his chest tighten painfully.

- - -

She'd been asleep, happily dreaming, and then had woken with a gasp as she felt something consrict her breathing. She stumbled from bed, throwing on a jacket and boots over her pjammas. She grabbed her belt from the side and tied it round her waist, before sprinting to the door. Why she'd stayed to grab her belt? Because inside the variety of pockets were vials with pre-made spells that could be used whenever she needed to use a spell quickly. She made her way out of the underground tunnels and almost crashed into Cyrus. She caught a little bit of the fire nymph's words and after a brief exchange of signals between her and Cyrus, she rced off with Sylvia.

"Sylvia. What's happened?" Erin gasped as she attempted to keep up. Elves by rule were faster than witches, and that wasn't helping Erin keep up. "Don't slow down." She breathed, meaning it. Whatever had happened to Serria was a lot more important than her ability to keep up with Sylvia, if needed, Erin would convince Sylvia to continue on without her, depending on what was being chased.

[dandelion love]

A ᴜ ʀ ᴏ ʀ ᴀ
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"Iᴛ’s ᴇᴀsʏ ᴛᴏ sᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴏᴡᴅ. Iᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇs ᴄᴏᴜʀᴀɢᴇ ᴛᴏ sᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴀʟᴏɴᴇ."

Aurora felt the male's gaze on her, as he brought her aside from the path. She looked up at him frightened, hoping he wouldn't hurt her. So many have tried, and they have called her a 'extinct artifact'. She wasn't a artifact, she was a real living person like them. She had feelings like them, and right now she had been terrified that someone might try to hurt her. She felt a shiver run down her back, as she looked up at the elf. She heard footsteps coming there way.

Hunters, the don't just kill. They keep what they kill as trophies. She was sure she didn't want to be stuffed like an animal and be placed as a trophy. She heard the footsteps getting closer, and closer. So the hunter was standing in front of her and the elf, but of course he couldn't see them since they were hidden in the bushes. He had a rather smug smirk on his face, "I know your here. Your the last of your kind, you should just get this over with." He shouted out to the Fire Nymph.

She was scared and moved behind the elf, she was afraid she would find her and the elf. He was one of the most top hunters around the world. So of course he would go for one of the last of her kind. She looked at the elf with sad eyes, she didn't want him to get hurt. She was actually thinking about going out there to the hunter, so no one else would get hurt.

[Placebo Effect]

Cyrus frowned slightly as he heard the overconfident hunter approaching. He gently took Aurora's hand and pulled her towards the thicket that Erin had first appeared from. There was a large gaping hole in the tree that Cyrus led Aurora to as they worked to escpe the hunter, and Cyrus headed into the tree, pulling Aurora in after him.

It turned out that the passage turned into a set of stairs and led down into the underground complex. Cyrus mumbled something under his breath and the tree began to grow, covering up the hole that they'd escaped down. Cyrus looked over at Aurora, sizing up her condition, seeing if she was hurt or not. He whispered softly, "You alright?"

He smiled slightly, "Come on, Erin's room is not far away and I doubt she'd mind if you borrowed some of her clothes." He pointed to the mud. "And do you want something to eat? Drink?"

[EndlessFallingSnow]

Sylvia continued to run, but slowed her pace slightly to Erin, giving her time to catch her breath. “Something, or in this case someone, has harmed The Tree of Life,” she informed her, stopping for a minute to see if they were still on the right track. She crouched down to look at some bent grass and could just make out the form of a shoe-print. Sylvia smirked to herself and stood back up; shielding her eyes from the rising sun she looked out across the field. Farther in the distance she could see the fae village and muttered something to herself. Whoever had done this clearly thought that the village would offer more protection. Maybe the villagers had seen someone suspicious? she thought to herself. I mean surely they would have noticed if it wasn't someone orginally from the village, but then again it is early morning and most people are asleep. Could it have been someone from the village? she thought, pondering it a bit to long and looked back at Erin hoping she'd have caught her breath by now.

[loki.i love you.]

Colton's cerulean gaze caught sight of the tear and new set of worry delved into his stomach. "N-nothing, Serria. You're going to be okay.." He trailed off as he wiped her tear from her cheek. At her words, he glanced towards the East where the roots she was talking were. What did she want him to do? He didn't work with healing magic. "B-But..."

[dandelion love]

A ᴜ ʀ ᴏ ʀ ᴀ
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"Iᴛ’s ᴇᴀsʏ ᴛᴏ sᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴏᴡᴅ. Iᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇs ᴄᴏᴜʀᴀɢᴇ ᴛᴏ sᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴀʟᴏɴᴇ."

Aurora let him take her hand, pulling her towards the large thicket. She saw a rather large hole in a tree, which he pulled her in there. She looked around as she saw stairs that lead down the trunk of the tree. She started to walk down them with the elf. She looked back, seeing that that the tree had closed thegap behind of them. She looked back at him when she heard him starting to speak to her. She nodded, "I should be fine..." She said it. She ignored the bruises on her arms and the cut that was bleeding on her leg. She could handle the cut on her leg later. She watched him smile at her, which it made her feel a bit more safer with him. She smiled slightly and nodded. She watched him point to the mud, as he asked if she wantd to eat or drink anything. She was a bit confused. She shook her head, "No I think I am good. And thanks." She was grateful that he had helped from her from the hunter, and brought her to safety and for his friend Erin, she seemed nice.

[Placebo Effect]

Serria's eyelids drooped sleepily, and she mumbled softly under her breath. "L-listen carefully. N-need to s-sleep so the p-poison acts s-slower... I can s-survive f-five days... D-don't move m-me away from t-tree... A-ask E-Erin to help with t-translations..." Her eyes closed completely, and she slipped into a self-induced sleep. For a few minutes it was probable that Colton would worry since the part about translations was unclear, yet slowly, the roots of the Tree of Life began to move. Underneath one of the weakly moving roots was a hallow space, and a small leather bound book was hidden underneath it, a necromancy volume.

- - -

Cyrus wasn't exactly sure what Aurora was nodding to, and what she was declining, so he started to head in the direction of Erin's room anyway. He and Erin were good friends and if the situation was reversed, Cyrus wouldn't have a problem with Erin lending his clothes to someone in need of them. "So you're a fire nymph... Well I think it's obvious what I am ears and all... I'm Cyrus by the way though I honestly prefer to be known by my second name Vaun since Cyrus sounds like the name of an ecentric old elf..." He trailed off and opened the door to Erin's room, pointing out the wardrobe after explaining he didn't know what girls liked to wear. "You know where you are right? The Tree of Life village?"

- - -

"I told you- Not to- Slow down..." Erin gasped between heavy breaths, doubling over and holding herself up by putting her hands on her knees. It took her a few moments to figure out what Sylvia meant when she said Tree of Life, since Erin knew The Tree of Life much better by the name Serria. "What did- They do?" She was still gasping and heaving for breath as Sylvia began tracking whoever it was that had hurt Serria.

She rumaged through her pockets, tracking spells, were the most common spells to hand. There were so many ways to track someone, yet the way by necromancy was quite simple. Erin pulled a small red-purple vial from her pocket and passed it - in a weak shaking hand to Sylvia. When poured on the footprint, the vial would be able to trace the energy of the assassin, and Sylvia would be able to see a thin trail of energy leading towards Nyx if she did the pouring.

Erin mimed out pouring the contents of the vial onto the footprint - and felt incredibly unfit since she was still struggling for her breaths. Perhaps she sould lay off the sugared snacks for a short while...

[dandelion love]

A ᴜ ʀ ᴏ ʀ ᴀ
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"Iᴛ’s ᴇᴀsʏ ᴛᴏ sᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴏᴡᴅ. Iᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇs ᴄᴏᴜʀᴀɢᴇ ᴛᴏ sᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴀʟᴏɴᴇ."

Aurora followed him to his friend's room. She looked around, it was quite nice. She turned around and looked at him and nodded softly. "Yes, I am a Fire Nymph." She said with a smile. She was proud of what she was, but she was also on the other side of it as well. She liked who she was and what she did, but she didn't like it where hunters wanted her so much. She smiled at him, "Nice to meet you. I'm Aurora." She laughed a little when he said Cyrus sounded like a old elf, but it didn't really. Her name, Aurora, meant the Youthful One. Which was given to her when she was born by one of the last Fire Nymph that taught her everything she new, but around the fourth year she had been alive, they killed her off. She snapped out of her thoughts. She looked at him, "Yeah, I have heard about it. I heard it was the safest place to come." Little did she knew that if you resided here after you come, you to have a small connection like everyone else did. "I would feel better if we waiting for your friend... Erin right? Well, I think we should ask her. I would like to burden anyone." She told him honestly. It didn't feel right taking someone that wasn't her without asking.

[Placebo Effect]

"Well, whatever you do, no setting fire to Erin's room." He chuckled and raised his eyebrows quizically. "Aurora? Well, that's coincidentally Erin's last name though not many people know it - so I'd be glad if you didn't tell her I told you it. Call her Erin or Castelle." He waved his hand, signaling that was the end of his babble.

Hearing about the idea to wait for Erin, Cyrus chuckled and shook his head. "Erin is always busy, I doubt she'd be back for a few hours at least." He yawned slightly and leant back against the set of drawers behind him. "She won't mind, she's in her 'only wears dark colored clothes' stage, the clothes in that wardrobe are all the bright colored things she refuses to wear... Whatever you do, don't go in the other wardrobe..." He pointed to the wardrobe in the corner, the wardrobe that was chained shut and seemed to be breathing. "Little accident with that wardrobe..."