Nen watched as the ground jump towards her.
-That’s odd, when did the earth turn sideways? No, I’m the one that is sideways. Have I learned to fly? That would be odd. Oh! Now everything is getting very bright. Do I glow while I fly? That would be helpful at night. I wonder what I would look like from the ground? Maybe a fire fly, or a shooting star?
“What the…”-Sooty
The world turned bright white as Nen felt the impact as she hit the ground.
-Disappointing. I really didn’t learn to fly.
Heavy wind caring leaves, branches, and even small rocks, past violently over her back. Through the roar of the wind, she could barely make out the Sound of Sooty swearing violently.
-His volume must be pretty impressive if I can hear him over this noise. Oh, I’ll have to remember that one. Did the three-legged goblin come first, or was it the drunk slime? I’ll have to work it out later. This wind is lasting a long time. I think it has turned up my skirt. I'll have to talk with Cupe later and see if she can fix such an unfortunate flaw.
The light faded and the rush of wind reversed, blowing back towards the clearing they had run from earlier. As the wind faded, silence descended, bring a calm that seemed to mock the shear chaos that had reigned earlier.
Nen lifted her head up from the ground and looked for her friends. Trasig was just getting up behind her, his hair was messed and full of twigs and leaves. Sooty had arm around Cupe, off to her right, both were looking up and around from where they lay.
-Good, Cupe’s skirt is down, not that Sooty would have minded. Trasig looks ok as well. I hope my hair is not as bad as his, it would take forever to get all the tangles out.
The forest had been flattened around them, only the heavier trees still stood, thoroughly denuded of all their leaves. Nen looked past Trasig, hoping to see Lord Volk dusting himself off, rubbing his nose while speculating on the cause of the explosion. All she could see was the giant Phantom Bonzi.
-Was the tree that large before? No, it is much larger and shaped slightly differently now, its roots completely cover the original clearing. I wonder if all these trees will heal like we do, or will this be huge clearing in the future. Sir Volk must be in the roots somewhere.
“Did anyone see what happened?”-Cupe
Cupe looked around as she stood with Sooty’s help. Trasig turned to look back towards the clearing as he picked leaves from his hair.
“I don’t know. I lost my blade blocking one of those flying globs from the Water Fiend when Sir Volk yelled to retreat. Then it got bright and really loud.”-Trasig
“Did that tree get larger?”-Cupe
“Looks like it did. Has anyone seen Sir Volk?”-Sooty
Nen shook her head as she started walking towards the Phantom Bonzi.
“He might be in between the Roots.”-Nen
“I saw him when I looked back as we were running. He was still standing by the tree, glowing brightly, and firing lightening at the monster.”-Trasig
The rest followed Nen, making their way over the huge jumbled roots till they reached the trunk of the tree. From here they could see that the roots now extended down the escarpments face and into the pond bellow.
“I think this is where he was standing, or at least before this tree grew so much”-Trasig
Trasig shrugged looking around. Sooty lifted his hands to the sides of his mouth and yelled.
“Sir Volk!”-Sooty
The sound reverberated from the cliff bellow, but elicited no response. A moment later Nen pointed up into the tree.
“Look!”-Nen
A brightly glowing soul bead was spiraling around a branch up in the canopy of the Phantom Bonzi.
-That is the brightest soul bead I have seen. The branch it’s flying around looks like it is crystal, not like the translucent wavery effect of the rest of the tree. Could it be the monsters? They are always so small and dim. Oh no! Could it be...
“I think it’s Lord Volk’s”-Nen
The group of four watched in mixed sorrow and elation as the brightly glowing soul bead played amongst the branches before finally disappearing into the trunk of the now massive Phantom Bonzi tree.
