They're coming.

Fast paced footsteps ran across the forest floor, her robe shielding her face and her body as she swiftly makes her way to safety. Her breath did not waver, her steps never hesitated, and her arms never left close to her body. A bundle of cloth is held between her and her arms, making sure she knows where the cloth is.

Where she is.

Time seemed to go by quickly as she makes her escape. Suddenly stopping, she gasps for breath and looks around. She made it. Around her are trees, all are great sizes. Their leaves wrap around their branches and reach down in a series of stringy vines. They range from a green, to blue, to purple. None in a specific place, but all the more beautiful.

The small creeks go around each tree, going out of their way, respecting space and feeding the plants with water. The water itself had a ghostly light to it, as if spirits gave up their glow and placed it in the river.

The cloaked woman makes her way to the center of the clearing. In the center lies a small sapling of the tree. Not just sprouting, as it is almost as tall as the woman, but not that old. Finally catching her breath, she admires the beautiful design of the wood, twirling around but never going straight up. Leaving a small, yet perfect sphere of space in the center.

Carefully, she slowly lifts her arms with the cloth bundle, which slightly moved around. The sapling's branches move quickly, revealing the interior it has safely guarded for weeks. She placed the cloth bundle, and once her hands left it, it made a loud wail. She quickly shushed, but it was more comforting than a commandment. With one hand, she moved aside part of the cloth.

A baby looked up at her, their slightly chubby face and beautiful green-grey eyes. Their nose was small and their skin is light. Small amounts of black hair covered their head. A human baby. Her baby.

The baby gurgled and reached out to the woman's head. She chuckled and pulled the hood back. Her hair is a glossy black, and her eyes also a grey-ish tone. Her skin is tanned and her face was sharply edged, but not skinny. Her face carries faint smiling lines and stress wrinkles, but that all was now hidden under the fact that she is smiling and crying.

She choked back a sob. She needs to be strong for this. Her baby will be better this way. The baby wailed, and she started humming them a lullaby. Remembering the lyrics of the old song her friend had taught her, many years ago.

"Red ol' sun shines during their fight,
"No more! No more!" Cried the Vo-ess.
But when that flare of a light shines down
Showing who she loved
Showing whom she hoped for
Showing whom the light needed to light their way..."

The baby relaxed easily, slowly having their eyes droop down and flutter open. The woman continued her song, and had tears of her own drip down her face.

"Red ol' sun told her during the fight,
"Oh pray for me or pray for them,
Who really need the light of the sky?"
So the Vo-ess gave her light to a tree
Who now can sing along with me..."

Looking up, the woman caught the glimpse of a leaf, which had fallen down lightly onto the tree sapling. The winds turned, and the leaves moved in the breeze. She can hear the lyrics loud and clear.

The woman will keep the shadows,
Listen to their sorrows,
Until the end of the night.
Oh how she did it wrong,
Waiting for the fight,
Than to give the light
To the shadows.
The waters of the Flare had healed her wounded heart,
The Winds allow her to sing a song from the start,
And the Sun will always shine his light on her,
To keep the ever lasting peace--

"And hope for her."

The woman turned to the voice, and her heart dropped. No, she was so close. She could of hidden the baby faster.

The winds die down, and two entities, along with a blood-wolf, stood at that direction. The two entities were Mists, humanoid or spirit like figures that can change shape. They are quick on their feet. The one on the left of the blood-wolf had a blue tinge to them, and their eyes are a glossy white.  The one on the right is a dark grey, nearly black, with white glossy eyes. They are wearing armour, iron armour, but they also have purple streaks in them.

The woman, desperate, "Please, spare my daughter, take me. I have the gift too!" She said. The baby is still asleep, she can still have the time. She just needs them to turn around.

The Mist on the right mockingly considers it, and opens their jaws slightly as they chatter and scratch their chin, revealing a row of needle-like teeth. "Perhaps we can get you and the payment you promised us. Tell us, lady, where is the stash of Guardians you are keeping? Where is the amulet?"

The amulet. It is a golden necklace with triangular gem slots. Multiple Guardians can fit in it, any size, any shape. They all turn into triangular shapes in the presence of the amulet, and from there, you can combine their powers to create beauty, or destruction. She had it before, but for some reason, it has disappeared without a trace. She tried finding it, but she doesn't know where it is.

Once again, she shakily says, "Spare my child. You don't have to take care of it if you do. You can leave them. But please, take me instead. I'll do anything!"

The second mist clicked something to the first, and they both chuckle darkly. The purple streaks in their armour glows, and their eyes take on a black abyss with purple slits for eyes. They growl, and in unison, they asked, "Anything? Why not the amulet? Where is it?"

She tries to move her hand to the sapling, to protect the baby. But the blood-wolf shot out of the tree line, using their jaw to latch on. The woman screams and grabs the blood-wolf's ear. Using her magic, she drained the life force from it, her arm turning dark, her nails grew into claws as she felt more leaner and flexible. Her face grew a snout, and her teeth were replaced with sharper ones. Her eyes became white and luminescent, as she threw aside the now dead blood-wolf.

Turning to the two mists, she growled at them. Testing a protective mother to her child, not what they wanted to do. But unfortunately, the Mists were corrupted, and they attack at the same time. Their fight was quick, they slashed against each other-the shadow with claws and the mists with teeth and daggers. None of them were distracted by the crying of the baby, it only urged them to keep fighting.

Then something went wrong.

The shadow leaped and landed on the blue mist, reaching down into their armour and taking out a crystal-which was dark purple-and shatters it. The mist wails in agony as it dispersed into the air, killing them. The shadow felt a sharp pain on her neck, and she screamed and used her claws to make an upward strike against the second mist, which fell over. Instead of ripping out their shard, the shadow takes up their life force, storing it, and the mist slowly disperses. Their shard melted into the ground.

Panting, the shadow slowly stood up and limped their way to the baby, which is red faced from crying. The shadow croons to the child, and gently nuzzles them with their nout. The child slowly stopped crying, only needing comfort from touch.

The shadow knew herself that doing this is right.

The shadow gently reached her hands out to the branches, after pulling her muzzle away. Her neck still hurts, but the branches gently wrapped their way back to how they were before, a large cocoon for the small baby. She let out a smile, that sort of branching is impossible to break. She knows that because of the song.

A odd sound went into the air, then a thwack, then the shadow crumpled onto the ground, their hand barely touching the tree, but in the water.

Running into the clearing is a figure,  more specifically, a demon, with a boxy head and muzzle like a dog, and sharp teeth. Their body resembles a pattern of markings, and is also dark grey. His tail is up in alarm, and his black eyes are widened. He growls to himself, "No no no, that was supposed to get the..." He looked around. He is on the wrong territory to kill a shadow. Suddenly, he heard a wail from where the shadow is from.

He draws another arrow and makes his way cautiously to the center, not stepping into the waters at any time. When he makes it to the center, he frowned with disgust.

Inside of the tree, the child woke up and is looking around. The child spotted the demon, and reached out, desperate for comforting but too tired to cry for them. He chuckled, but he wasn't amused or happy, just angry. "Poor child. Starved by their own mother, letting the shadows come and get them in the lifeless sapling." He says, out loud and in his mind.

The child had seemed to fall asleep, but their hand was still enough that he focused on that, "Oh look, the child is dead. So sick of their troubles in the world. Thing probably starved to death." He explores the child's mind. Not able to feel any memories but the mother's presence.

He paused when he listened to the name.

Soon after, he withdrew and yanked out the arrow of the shadow, not even mentioning the fallen mists and bloodhound. "Oh well. One less thing to worry about. We can easily win this war." He grumbled, but still talking.

He averted his direction from the child, to leaving, but noticed one detail. The shadow's hand was in the water.

She has been listening. He starts running to the forest, but the leaves of the trees block his path, and the roots wrap around his feet as the winds pick up again. The shadow dissolved into the waters,  another ghostly glow, but blue. They slip into the river, and he growls and looks around.

You are banned from this place,
To leave, to wait, still haunts me to keep safe.
Yet, you came here.
To kill a mother, for who I held dear.
I let you live another day
But what is the price you pay?

The demon struggled to get the roots off. There is no point in attacking them, but he managed to grumble, "I pay the price of knowing I could of notched the arrow two inches to the right and hit the baby." He pulled on his leg, "Which, by the way, was about to get eaten by said shadow."

The roots tightened when he said that, clearly something was wrong. He was about ask when the winds became cold and answered wickedly.

The Child you looked at did not appear,
And the mother has always been here.
Hidden in plain sight, the mother is a Nargoul,
The one you have all been hunting for, the child forgotten.
Why did you speak as if the Child was-

He interrupted her, "Dead. The child is dead. I will report that to the group. The child is dead, killed by drowning, impaled by your roots." He said, trying to emphasis on the word 'dead'.

He honestly didn't care at all. But if they are going to waste time on breaking an unbreakable tree, when they should be doing something else, why still do it in the first place? Besides, he did not want to come here. He was sent here.

The roots 'softened' their grip, but didn't let go. The winds howl and the voice surprisingly became dark and foreboding.

To seek the truest Allie,
You must go to your past.
The crystal hidden away,
Is a key to His wrath.

If you wish to keep on His good side,
Go ahead,
But once He finds out about your own past,
You may as well wind up dead.

Seek the crystal,
Find the Guardians,
And do not fight directly
In this war you are in.
Beware the Amulet and Ghost,
As together they will be one,
And to aid an old friend on a journey,
Was your choice from the start.

Do not fail me, Demon.

The winds die. The roots return to their original positions, and other than the new flowers on the sapling, blossoming to hide what they are keeping, nothing else moved or made a sound.

Quickly, he grudgingly thanked Vo-ess for her mercy, and trudged back into the forest. Thinking of a convincing excuse, he went back onto what the old tree said. He stopped and looked down at his hands and concentrated. A small crystal appeared on it, only the size of a small golden nugget. He frowned.

Does he really want to go back into his old life?

He considered the pros and cons, and realized that what Vo-ess had said was not a request, but a command. He definitely does not want to be turned into a tree or impaled by roots or whatever death she had been fantasizing for him.

He sighed, and closed his hand around the crystal.

Alright Jacklynn, he thought, are you ready for a new body? Because I am going to make you stick out like a sore claw so I can find you more easily.

She'd probably love that, he mused, and turned west, away from camp. Towards Ti'vie Nu.

Teleport Mountain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The fortress is tall and mighty, as a regular fortress should be. Many spires and towers reach to the sky, and the walls of the towers are painted a bone white.

"Look into the throne room."

Inside the throne room is a large chair, with dark spikes curling around the top. The throne itself is mostly stone, and some sort of red pillow cushions the seat. On the throne sat a human figure. His skin is deathly pale, and his hair is darker than shadow fur. His eyes are a dark brown and his face has a serious look to it. His body is well built, and is in armour of all things. He looks around, before yelling out, "Bomber!" His voice sounds young.

An odd creature, mostly skin colored and red hair, with the frame of wings on his back, but no wings to fly on. He has a tail that drags on the ground, and is currently wearing a purple armour chest plate and some ragged slacks. He looked nervous, his yellow eyes looking around the room quickly, "Y-yes my lord?" He managed to squeak. His voice is high and scratchy.

The human, impatient, asked, "Where is she?" To which, 'Bomber', replied, "Who? O-oh! Her. Well, u-uhm, searchers aren't exactly sure where she is..." He gulped when the man growled angrily, "B-But w-we have found something, definitely!" Bomber stuttered. He holds out his hand. He was carrying something, small and bright. It was a small sphere.

The human did not look impressed, "A memory. But I am asking you....WHERE IS THE GIRL?!" He hit the thrown arm so loud that it startled Bomber into slipping his grip on the memory. His other hand made the catch after juggling it for a bit. He nervously chuckled, "We don't know....sir....."

The human, clearly frustrated, pinched his nose and sighed, sinking into his throne. "Anything....else?" He growled out the second word, angrily. Bomber nods, "Yes, the shapeshifter, Snaje, he....he used his shard to shatter the memories of....her. Look!" He held up the memory sphere. Something played within that memory.

The human looked up from his frustration...and he slowly smiled, an evil smile, getting an idea, "So you are saying that she...has no memories?" He asks, and Bomber nods. Suddenly, the human gave a genuine laugh. It didn't sound evil, which is what surprised Bomber.

"The old fool must have known! Foolish for giving his life up on that. Now that Allison has no memories, she will easily die in battle!" He screamed joyfully. He slowly got up, and the room becomes darker with his power, "Soon, I'll take Musiphan, and all of their stupid little creatures will know what true power is..." He kept laughing,  his madness on the verge of breaking.

A creature put the mirror down, sighing.

He was mostly on fire, but that is okay, it doesn't hurt him. He ranges in colors from red to a dark yellow, but now he has tinges of blue flames from sadness. He has grey eyes, and two large ears and an appendage on the top of his head.

He looked out the window, out onto his beautiful home. He, as a Fire Spirit, lives near a volcano, and an active one at that. It has flowing lava streams, and other fire spirits play around in no fear. The elders tell stories and the parents work at forges, or help build.

He is a warrior, and he should be fighting. But he was sent home ever since Allison, his friend, went missing.

A noise behind him. He turned, a bit tense, but smiled at seeing his friend, Flare. She also looked similar, but had slightly wider waste and a longer tail than him. She smiled, "Thinking about battle again?" She asked teasingly, pulling up a stone chair and patting it. He sat down on it, nodding. "I listened to their plans, sister. They have planned to use a memory sphere from someone."

Flare sighed, "I know Blaze, I heard. From Allison, who isn't even alive."

Blaze frowned, "She is alive! How else would a memory sphere be here, then?"

"So then why aren't you searching for her, like a true warrior?" She asked, and he thought about it. That really got him thinking, why isn't he? He returned here because he couldn't find Allison, and felt as if he would feel better coming here. But just knowing that she is alive, but has forgotten everything, just shatters him even more.

Shatters...

Flare noticed his sadness and pulled him to a hug, "Brother, I understand you are sad. I am too. But if you really think you need to go..." She pulled away and placed one hand on his cheek, "Then don't let your heart stray from the wind. Your heart might get exhausted from hurt, but you can still feel goodness."

She placed a kiss on his other cheek, and he held it in surprise. Not from the kiss, they are brother and sister, but from the words. What she said is true. And he knows that Allison needs and has to be alive for him to feel this way. He is ready to fight, as part of the rebels, he knows how this feels.

Then,  something clicked and he looked at Flare, and surprised her with a hug, "Why didn't I see this before!? Thank you do much!!" He said, kissing her cheek and letting go to race to upstairs. He scrambles to his room and gets his bag, some potions, his sword and sheath to wrap around his back, his cloth, a few pens and paper that were enchanted to survive his heat, and runs down the stairs again.

"I have to go, so don't worry, I will do what I believe-" He says and looks up at Flare. She had already packed a bag of fruits and other food. Her eyes welled in tears but she had a smile on her face. Blaze smiled, and gave her friend a hug, and took his time as she sobbed into his shoulder.

Later, he was able to get out of the house, and starts sprinting to the place they've met. Flare waving bye and shouting out prayers of good luck energized him. Encouraged, he raced on towards the forest down below, laughing in joy.

He knows Allison would at least remember this place. After all, it all started in the trunk of the biggest tree in Musiphan.