A new friend, Entering the broken forest

[grayfoxz]

It's day, althoug the sky is clouded it's quite warm,..no it's more like damp.
Areto enters the broken forest.
He's impressed, it's not big but it certainly is beautifull.
The green leaves waving in the wind, the flowers emitting their smell into the air. Ah... wonderfull.

As Areto walks deeper into the forest he starts wondering.
Why hasn't he seen any living creature yet?
As he start getting suspicous he ready's his daggers.
Where are they??

[TwilightQueen]

The forest was watching this intruder. He was not welcome; none of his kind, or any other, were. As soon as one of those boots touched the soil, they knew there was an invader. They knew there was one armed with arrows which mercilessly kill and cold blades which bite deep into flesh, wood and earth alike. And fire. There was always fire to devour freshly cut branches and burn once-living flesh.

He was not welcome here.

Those born of the forest stalked the shadows, watching this stranger with hatred in their blood. They need not speak to each other, for they were one. Each knew what the others were thinking, each knew what they were going to do and when they were going to do it.

They were the Spirits which guarded these woods, the children of the Great Tree which was the mother of this forest. When the mortals of this world turned their axes and fires on her, the Spirits wept. Now, they've swore revenge, and revenge they shall have.

Their skins were like bark, rough and sturdy. Long claws grew from their long fingers and toes. Their eyes were like green stones set in carved wooden faces. They bore no mouths, no noses, for they had no need to breathe or eat. Leaves sprouted among flowers from all parts of their body, creating delightfully manes around their faces. They have no genders, or so it is assumed. Their bodies all look relatively the same: almost like monkies. Their lithe bodies make them skilled climbers and fast, fierce opponents. Were it not for their deadly rage, these would be a lovely, peaceful people. However, blind furry has turned them into deadly monsters.

And now they have set their sites on one of those they despise, two hated knifes in his fists.

[grayfoxz]

Areto stops and looks around. There's nothing more than trees and plants. At least that's what those creatures try to make him believe.
Ever since he started getting closer to the heart of the once gigantic forest he started seeing things move.
Not big or strong, but small and cunning. He starte wondering why they would follow him.
Suddenly he looks at his daggers. Of course, his daggers!
Slowly he brings them to the back of his belt and puts them in their place.
Then he stands up straight and holds his hands up in the air showing to whoever looks at him that he means no harm.
Hopfully it understands.

[TwilightQueen]

Now.

The Spirits seperated themselves from their forest's shadows, turning angry eyes on this stranger. Yes, he had put away his arms, but that didn't make him any less dangerous. They were everywhere, it seemed, their lithe bodies watching from branches above and from the shadows the forest cast all around. Only one stood before him, it's long, clawed hands never remaining still for more than a second. It was as if it couldn't wait to rid the forest of this strange mortal's presence. One of it's kin stood behind the intruder, equally as hungry as the one to his fore.

A third spirit stepped out of the shadows to look at the intruder. It was old, vines wrapped about it's spindly body. It was the spirit born from one of the first trees the forest held, and, unlike the others, it seemed calm.

"Your kind is not welcome here, you know this," it said. It's voice the like of which could never be described. It was neither male nor female, sounding exactly like what an elm tree would, had it a voice. "So why, have you wandered so far into our Forest, bearing your blades?"

[grayfoxz]

"My blades are only for those who would harm me for no reason. I've come to your forest to become friends with it's inhabitants."Gray says as he looks at the strange figure in front of him.

"If you and you're kin find the need to kill me right here, I would not stop you for I've come where I shouldn't have come. I am a lover of all forests. I've come here to get to know both the spirits as well as the history and it's desires. I'm here so I would get to know you're home, with you're approval." Gray bows deeply before the treelike being.

[TwilightQueen]

Whispers rushed throughout the gathered Spirits, all in their own language, a language known only to themselves and their closest allies. The Old One waited for the din to dye down.

"How can we trust a fire-starter, an axe-maker like you?" the Spirit behind the Old One hissed, it's anger almost tangable. Aside from the occasional sound of a Spirit chattering with another, silence wove it's fingers around the area. Obviously, the speaker had said what the Old One was about to ask. They were waiting for the answer.

[grayfoxz]

"If you refer to all the people who made the size of the forest as it is.
I was never part of it. I don't cut down tree's for I love them to much and I only make fire when it's neccacery and even then I try to keep it as small as possible. Oh and I don't use living wood."
Gray looks around ans sighs.

"And Ive lived in several forests longer than I've lived anywhere in the world. Forests are my home and I would do nothing to destroy it."
The decesion is up to you, for I have never heard of a spirit of the broken forest who killed without reason." again gray waits silently for the awnser of the spirits.

[TwilightQueen]

A long silence followed, not even an occasional whisper from one of the other spirits could be heard. Attention wavered from the stranger to the Old One, waiting for a decision to be reached. The elderly Spirit examined the stranger.

"What do your kin call you?" the Spirit asked in measured toned, his odd voice seeming to blend the silence into sound, rather than break it.

[grayfoxz]

"My kin..." Gray shighs "My kin calls me an outcast."
Looking sadly at the spirit who asked the question.
"Most of them don't even know I exist. I'm known to almost no people. If I die nobody would care. So... I still wait for your awnser.
I came here to not only get to know your kin but also to see if there was a reason to live in and love the forest."
Gray stands still waiting for the next question, if it would come.

[TwilightQueen]

"Anoutkast," the Spirit said, completely missing the point of what the stranger had said. Well, the begining of it at least. After a few thoughtful strokings of it's leafy, white beard, the Old One turned sharply on it's heels and headed deeper into the woods, towards it's very heart. It gave but one command: "Come."

Some of the spirits lingered where they were, watching for the stranger's reaction. Others vanished into the woods without a sound, each knowing already what their duty was.

The Old One continued to walk, not looking back to see if the stranger would follow. This was a test of sorts.

[grayfoxz]

Areto followed the strange being on a respectfull distance.
He did bot want to make the spirit angray with him.
But why go deeper into the forest?
Is it a trap or a test?
A bit confused Areto keeps following the spirit.

[grayfoxz]

(( Waiting. waiting, waiting. waitngid.. i mean waiting. Don't worry take your time ))

[TwilightQueen]

A thick tangle of trees and shrubs acted as a gate to a wide clearing. Without pausing, the Old One walked into this tangle, seeming to dissolve into the foliage. Upon entering the clearing, the Old One was no where to be seen. It was as if the spirit had truly vanished.

However, the clearing was not empty. It was a lovely place, really. A grand place of beauty, untouched by all that had tainted the rest of the forest. A crystal stream wound its way though the place, gentle sunlight dancing off the shallow waters as the stream made plesant gurggling noises against the smooth rocks that formed it's bed. Soft moss grew at the little stream's banks, small blue and pink flowers sprouting up here and there. Across the little stream, at the far end of the clearing was a great tree, it's trunk so wide that fifty strong men could not link hands around it's base. Strong limbs reached up to the cloud-spotted sky, as if it was trying to catch one of the fluffy things. Wind danced though its leaves, adding its soft music to that of the stream's. It was an old tree, that was to be certain. In fact, it was the oldest tree in the Broken Forest, the tree which had first set its roots in the soft soil.

And as breattakingly beautiful as this whole sceen was, there was something else that held more captivation that the setting. She sat, nestled in the wide roots of the Oldest Tree, gentle brown eyes watching as a stranger entered her woods. Soft green hair was bound loosely by a strip of coarse linnen, a few wayward strands falling free to frame her gentle, round face. Horns, not unlike branches, spiraled back from her brow, arching ever so slightly downward. Her pale skin was hued such a soft green it was hard to tell she wasn't white. Wrapped loosely around her slender, beautiful form was simple linnen, the same that bound her hair. The cloth hardly covered what it was meant to, but she didn't seem to care. Somehow, it didn't seem indecent, it just seemed... right. She stood, gracefully coming to stand just inches from the stream's water's. Her ankles lead not to feet, but to almond-colored hooves. She extended a small hand to the stranger. She said nothing, but simply watched him with her wide, captivating, brown eyes.

[grayfoxz]

Areto slowly walks towards the open place.
Just before he enters he stops.
He puts off his drity boots and his weapons and walks towards the beautifull creature, not wanting to undo the magic hanging in the air there.
As he aproached he started remembering things from his past.
But as soon as he saw them they dissapeared in thin air.
the creature hold out her hand and as areto got closer he noticed she was meven more beautifull thatn his thought, He putted his hand in her's and waited.

[TwilightQueen]

This being of the forest offered him a smile as she clasped her small hand around his. Almost as soon as the hands joined, she eased them apart.

"Why have you come?" she asked. Her voice was gentle and as pure as the crystal stream which wound across the clearing. She spoke like a currious child, not like the ancient being she truely was. Her wide eyes watched his face as her hands were clasped before her. There was no sign of threat, danger or any of the like. There was calm and peace, just like the forests of Old used to be.