Eternal Forest: Savage Rising (29 page)

“How?” she asked.

“Grand Seryan,” Sunrise said. “I request that Azalea be allowed to touch the Ashes of Shimmer.”

Silvermist’s eyes went wide in alarm once again. “Acolyte, do you know what you ask?!”

“I do,” Sunrise responded. “I also know there is no other way. You asked me to bring the Sorceress here so we could learn more about her. This is how we will gain that knowledge.”

Silvermist nodded her head. “I suppose you are right. This is a mystery that must be solved, no matter the method.” She moved slowly towards the center of the Temple where the statue of Shimmer towered over all other things. The image of the elf maiden was both dominating and inviting. Even after two hundred years, her calm face was a constant reminder that everything would be all right, that the Lady was in control of all destinies.

At the base of the statute, the Grand Seryan reached out and lifted the lid off the golden urn sitting atop the marble pedestal. She moved slowly and deliberately, being careful to show this moment the absolute reverence it deserved. With the lid removed, everyone leaned over to peer inside. A pile of fine, gray ash filled the urn. Azalea leaned in close. It certainly didn’t look like anything miraculous. Could this really offer her the help she needed?

“The Ashes of Shimmer have been well preserved for over two hundred years,” Silvermist said seriously. “Even in death, she continues to bestow blessings on the Lady’s children. Are you ready, young maiden?”

“I am,” Azalea replied. She slowly reached her right hand out towards the urn. Her fingers were cold with worry, and trembled like leaves in a gentle wind. Before they could descend into the ashes, Zehlyr reached out and took her hand into his. Startled, Azalea turned and looked deep into his eyes.

“Are you sure about this?” Zehlyr asked.

Closing her eyes, Azalea nodded. “I am,” she replied. “I have to know.”

Zehlyr leaned in and kissed Azalea’s forehead. “I love you,” he whispered softly.

She smiled. A tear ran down her face and splashed onto the cold, marble floor. “I love you,” she replied. Zehlyr stepped to the side as Azalea turned once again to face the urn. Holding her breath, she reached towards the ashes. Everyone watched in silent anticipation, not knowing what to expect. She paused for a moment, her fingertips hovering just an inch above the cremated remains. It was a needed moment of reflection as Azalea held to possibly her last moment of feeling human.

Then, she pushed her fingers down into the Ashes.

There was a brilliant flash of light from the urn, forcing everyone to turn away and shield his or her eyes. Azalea was knocked backwards onto the floor. The flash reflected off the polished walls and ornate windows of the Temple, making the whole room seem to glow as brightly as the sun for a single, fleeting moment.

As Zehlyr’s eyesight returned, he searched the chaos for Azalea. The multiple white surfaces inside the Temple made it difficult to regain his bearings in the room. He finally did find her, lying on the ground in front of the urn. Of course, she did not look exactly as she had.

She still looked mostly human, but her hair was now laced with bright, pink flowers growing from thin vines. Her skin was dotted with small patches of thin, light tree bark. Small leaves grew from her arms and shoulders in no discernable order. It was as though she were transforming into a small tree, but had stopped halfway through.

Zehlyr dropped to his knees and held Azalea’s head up. The sparkling green around her pupils now covered all of her eyes. It was breathtaking, beautiful, and frightening all at the same time. “Azalea?” he said. “Do you remember who you were?”

Azalea looked up into Zehlyr’s eyes and gasped. “I do,” she replied. “But, I don’t just remember myself.” She reached up, placing her hand on his cheek. There was a smile of wonder on her face, a visual sign of the revelation within her mind. “I remember you.”

Chapter 29

              Mouths were gaped open and eyes were wide as Azalea slowly rose to her feet. Her transformation had been as sudden as it was miraculous. After the dryads took on physical form during the Great Blight, those that survived the battle told stories and drew images of what they had looked like. Those pictures were kept safe in the Temple archives and the Grand Seryan had seen them many times. After seeing Azalea’s new form, there could be no doubt she was indeed a dryad.

             
“Lady’s grace,” Silvermist said softly. “So, it’s true.”

             
“It is, Grand Seryan,” Azalea said confidently. “I am a dryad, a caretaker of the Lady’s forest. Though this is still not my true form, regaining my memory has started the transformation from this human shell.

             
“Azalea,” Zehlyr said with a trembling voice. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It looked like Azalea, and still, it didn’t. He could only hope that the girl he knew, the girl he had fallen in love with, was still in there somewhere. “Do you still…? Are you still…?”

             
Azalea smiled. “Yes, I am still me,” she said. “Nothing about our time together has been lost, nor have my feelings for you.”

             
Zehlyr breathed a very noticeable sigh of relief.

             
“Do you remember the ritual now?” Viyana asked. “Do you recall the events before your transformation?”

             
“Clearly,” Azalea said with a nod. “I remember the balisekts as they formed a circle. As a spirit, I was able to move freely about the forest. No tree, or bush, or creature of flesh and blood could hinder me.” Azalea’s sparkling eyes turned downward. Her newly returned memory was not a happy one.

             
“So, what happened?” Heeska asked. He’d been watching from the shadows as the ritual took place, but he hadn’t understood what was happening, even after the deed was done.

             
“Balisekts weren’t common in my part of the forest, so I was curious. I moved about them, watching their faces and hearing their strange chants. I moved to the middle of their circle, studying the strange trinkets they had placed there.” Her eyes shut and her face twisted as though in pain. “And then…”

             
“What?” Silvermist asked. She was hanging on the dryad’s every word. “What happened then?”

             
Azalea took a deep, fast breath, causing her lower lip to quiver slightly. “I started to feel an unnatural presence around me. There was a dark power forming in my forest and I wanted no part of it. I hurried away, but I found myself unable to escape.” Her breaths became heavier and her voice rose in pitch as she spoke.

“They had me trapped. It was like being in an invisible box. I didn’t understand how they were doing it, but I could only move a few feet in all directions from the center of their circle. As they kept chanting, my invisible box became smaller and smaller. Soon, I was locked in place as though bound by chains. I could feel the restraints digging deeper, going inside of me. I tried to struggle. Frantically, I called out for the Lady to free me. Then, there was a brilliant flash, and it was over.”

“It was more than just a flash,” Viyana mentioned. “It leveled a square mile of forest.”

“Death magic performed on living soil,” Sunrise said. “Very powerful, but ultimately disastrous.”

“A lesson Killika seemed to learn the hard way,” Heeska said. “It must have taken him three years to learn the craft of summoning demons.”

“The demon that attacked Stonemouth must have been summoned from the fire burning on the northern horizon,” Viyana added.

“So, what happens to you now?” Zehlyr asked Azalea, fearful of what the answer would be.

She looked sorrowfully into his eyes. “As I said, regaining my memories has begun the transformation, but it will not complete until I return to the area of the forest to which the Lady assigned me.”

Zehlyr swallowed hard. His stomach felt heavy and his heart was about to burst. “And when you return, what then?”

Azalea reached out and took Zehlyr’s hands. “Follow me,” she said softly. “I wish to speak with you privately.”

~~\*/~~

             
They found a quiet spot at the edge of the water a good distance from the Temple. It was a long walk through the trees that surrounded the shore, and one mostly traveled in silence. Neither knew where they were going. In truth, they didn’t want there to be a destination. A destination meant stopping to face what was to come. In the meantime, they were together, they were in a beautiful place, and they were at peace. Though they didn’t say a word, they each wished the walk could last forever.

             
A tiny patch of rocky soil extended out from the trees towards the water. The ripples on the lake rolled slowly towards it, but didn’t cover it. There was space there to stand and talk. It was perfect, terrifyingly perfect. There they stood, their foreheads pressed together and their hands interlocked. They laughed a bit as the tears started.

             
“You have to go, don’t you?” Zehlyr said.

             
“Yes,” Azalea replied, her voice was broken and high-pitched. “I love you, truly, but this is not my world.”

             
Zehlyr lifted a hand and took hold of the back of her head. He could see her chest heaving with her tears. “But it could be,” he pleaded. “We can be together, out in the Wilds. It could be just the two of us, like it has been. We could…”

             
“She needs me, Zehlyr,” Azalea said, interrupting his pleas. She didn’t want to argue with him. It pained her to smash his dreams. They were her dreams, too. Nevertheless, she had regained more than just her memories. There was something new she was missing, something that the Ashes of Shimmer would never be able to return to her.

             
“Who?” Zehlyr asked. “Who needs you?”

             
“The Lady,” she replied. “I remember my past. I remember my life as a spirit in the forest, and I remember the feeling of being one with the Lady. That is a part of me. It’s a part of me that I cannot be without.”

             
“But you can be without me?” Zehlyr asked. His face was wet from tears and he knew he was being childish, but his heart compelled him to block the inevitable at every turn.

             
Azalea closed her eyes and put her hands on his shoulders. “Zehlyr, please don’t…”

             
“You remember, yes,” he said. “But the first thing you told me was that you remember me;
me
. Does that not count for something? You remember me, and our time together, and…”

             
Though still sobbing, Azalea let out a small laugh. “That’s not what I remembered,” she said.

             
Zehlyr sniffed hard. “What do you mean?”

             
She looked up, gazing into his tear-filled eyes, eyes she now knew she had seen before. “It was years ago. You were so young then. I remember how scared you were, out there all alone in the Savage Lands.”

             
Zehlyr took a step back. His wet eyes went wide. “What…what are you saying?”

             
Azalea was still smiling, even through her tears. “A little boy who’d wandered too far from home. I’d never seen a human before. They lived just beyond my part of the forest. I watched you as you wandered the trees, tears in your eyes, all the way to the azalea bush.”

             
Zehlyr gasped as he realized what she was referencing. “You were there?” he asked in awe. “You were there at the azalea bush?”

             
“Zehlyr…” she said softly as she stroked her hand through her hair. Her fingers stopped on one of the small, pink flowers now growing between the flowing strands and held it up. “That
was
me. All dryads are bound to a certain tree, or bush, or cluster of flowers within their part of the forest. The azalea bush is where my spirit was bound. It is what the balisekts pulled it from when they summoned me here.”

             
A new wave of tears came to Zehlyr’s eyes, but also a warm smile. He remembered that day vividly. He’d never felt so scared, so alone. When he’d stood there, staring in awe at the beauty and wonder of that azalea bush, he’d always sworn he’d felt a presence there. Though never able to explain it, he knew there was something out in the wilderness watching out for him. “I…I can’t believe it.”

             
Azalea playfully pushed her hair back over her shoulder. “You’ve grown so much since then.”

             
“Even before I knew you, you were watching out for me,” Zehlyr said.

             
“I have,” she responded. “But now, it’s time for me to go home.”

             
Zehlyr closed his eyes and bit his lower lip, but nodded. There were so many things he wanted to say, so many arguments he wanted to make to keep her with him always. However, she was right. This was not her world. She had her own place, her own role to play in the Lady’s forest, and nothing he could do would change that. “So, what happens now?”

             
“When I return to my section of the forest, my transformation will complete itself,” she answered. “Life will return to the forest and my physical body will be no more.”

             
Zehlyr reached out and gripped tightly to Azalea’s arm. Dotting the soft, warm skin he’d known for years, there were bits of fine, thin bark. There were flowers and leaves growing in small patches all over her body. She was changing, becoming what the Lady had created her to be. “Tell me one thing,” he requested.

             
“What is it?” she asked.

             
“What is your name?” he asked.

             
Azalea opened her mouth to answer him, but then shook her head. “Azalea,” she proclaimed proudly.

             
Zehlyr raised an eyebrow. “Impossible,” he said. “I couldn’t have possibly…”

             
“No, you didn’t” she said with a laugh. It felt good to laugh with him again. She would miss it terribly.

             
“So what is it, really?” he questioned again.

             
Again, she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Azalea is the name you gave to me. It’s the one I’m going to keep from now on. It’s the one thing from you I can take with me, and I’ll cherish it always.”

             
“Azalea, Zehlyr,” Firefly said as she came zipping across the water. She was moving as fast as her butterfly-like wings could carry her, and there was a wide-eyed look of panic on her face.

             
With their intimate moment ended, Zehlyr and Azalea turned to face their worried friend. “What is it?” they asked in unison.

             
“I’m sorry to invade your privacy, but we have a big problem,” she said. “You two need to hurry back to the Temple.”

~~\*/~~

              The shore around the Temple was in pandemonium. As Zehlyr and Azalea returned, they saw hundreds of acolytes, seryans, and soldiers lined up along the bridge and the ground beyond. They were blocking the way to the Temple, and it was easy to see why. Balisekt soldiers were pouring out of the trees to the north. Though dressed in armor and carrying their weapons, they made no motion to attack. In fact, many looked as though they could barely stand. The servants of the Lady shouted from the shore in anger and shock. Soldiers drew their weapons, waving them menacingly in the air.

             
Coming from opposite directions, Zehlyr, Azalea, and the Grand Seryan reached the northern edge of the bridge almost simultaneously. Sunrise, Viyana, and Heeska were at the Grand Seryan’s side. The centaur general stood tall and proud at the end of the bridge. He had an enormous broadsword grasped tightly in his hands, waiting anxiously for his Seryan’s command to attack the savage intruders.

             
“What is going on out here?!” the Grand Seryan demanded.

             
“Grand Seryan, the savage army is attacking Tranquility!” the centaur general proclaimed.

             
Azalea threw out her hands. “Does this look like an attack to you?!” she questioned boldly.

             
“They can barely stand!” Firefly snapped.

             
The general grumbled as he lowered his weapon. “What is your purpose?!” he bellowed at the nearest balisekt soldier. “What business do you have storming into this holy place?!”

             
The rusted, bloody sword in the soldiers hand shook wildly before he finally dropped it to the ground. The soldier fell to his knees in exhaustion. Like his comrades, his body was covered with cuts and scrapes, some still bleeding. There were soldiers missing limbs. Some were holding makeshift tourniquet over large wounds. This group had seen a terrible battle, and just barely lived to tell about it.