The Magic Deep Within [AlexieD and Oceane]

[AlexieD]

Zalinka Pendah, She had always been a wandering mystic. She didn't seem to find a place she belonged at all even her own family had cast her out after her choice of wind of magic she had chosen. The winds of Necromancy and death had always been something she had been adept at sensing and had always interested the woman from a young age, preferring to spend her time with a nose in her books learning about the gods of death and how their powers can be channelled to be put to good use.

So she did what she did best and walked till she found something that interested her and walked some more to the next. She was still young but also at the age where mothers would start asking their daughters about marriage and grand children, most of her friends had married long before that and it had always confused her as to why they would weaken themselves by submitting to a man in such a way. The ebony skinned woman also scoffed at the thought of allowing a parasite to grow inside her womb and sucking away her youth and her power in the process.

Zalinka, Zali as she liked to be called, nursed her simple wooden goblet in one hand and sipped at it idly as  she overheard the locals speaking of an interesting tale that had piked her curiosity. There had been a magical Forest not too far from where she was currently that was slowly dying, the forest had been a place to collect leaves and herbs for potions and for divination but because of the state it was in nothing of the sort was growing. Sadly, no one knew what was causing such a phenomenon. There was no sign of physical abuse of the sort and even other 'powerful' Mystics, witches and even exorcists had attempted to enter the Forest to see for themselves what was causing such a problem but because of the odd nature of the magic nothing could be pinned down only a general aura could be felt.

The locals had been unaware of the nymph that lurked in the treetops had also fallen into the same category as the others. She too had been unable to figure out what had been causing the death of her beloved Forest till now. 

Zalinka threw a small handful of golden coins onto the bench, smiled at the inn-keeper softly and guzzled down the last of her wine as she gathered up her thick shawl and pulled it around her broad shoulders tightly and adjusted her headband. Standing to her full height and threw her head up into the air sending her dreads bouncing as she walked across the squeaky wooden planks of the inn. No one had noticed her leave and she preferred it that way, from time to time people would give her slack for the jewellery she wore and the bone fragments she had woven into her hair. But for once she had managed to keep to herself and avoid a confrontation with the locals.

She had a vague idea of what direction she should be heading in and when that trail ran cold she could always sense what odd auras were rolling off the wooded area.

Her blue dress swayed from side to side and swirled in the soft breeze as she walked along the cobbled road. The sun slipped away behind the rolling hills that curled around the small Forest she had her eyes firmly locked on. With every step closer to the dying copse she could feel the negative energy curling on the winds and the life-force of the nature that had once stood tall and proud slowly die off. Usually, death was her deal but not like this, not when others depended on the herbs and plants that grew beneath it's canopy. Like what had been said in the tales there didn't seem to be an origin of the energy she was sensing on the wind, it just seemed to drip from every leaf, tree, animal and whatever dwelt in the woods. This stuck odd with the Mystic; She had always been able to figure things out when others were stumped. But this only pushed Zalinka further.

A cool breeze whipped through the area rustling the leaves and throwing handfuls up into the air, her brown eyes narrowed and a grin pulled at the corners of her lips as she had been looking for a challenge like this for a long while. Most of the rumours she had gone chasing after had just been common charlatans trying to pull the wool over simple villagers eyes but it seemed this story she had stumbled upon was the real deal. Excitement swelled in her chest as she drew out her dagger and started to cut away at the dying vines that blocked her entrance to her grand adventure. She was ready to see what evil or dark source could be explored and possibly retained for future use. But she had to get in and look around and get a feel for what she was up against.

[Oceane]

She woke choking, her throat dry and lips cracked. It was getting worse… each morning she opened her eyes slower, took longer to pull herself to her feet. Her head felt fuzzy like the soft moss that grew at the bottoms of the trees.  She gave it a shake, letting the honey coloured tendrils of her hair fly around her like a gossamer halo. A maple seed was flung free and spun quickly to the earth below the branch on which she had slept.

Elowen reached her hands high above her head and then down to touch her toes, enjoying the feel of her muscles stretching and her body limbering up. Glancing below her, she leapt from the branch and landed softly onto the grassy ground.  Finally, she sighed and placed her hands firmly on the trunk of the tree.

Her eyes closed, her consciousness slipped into the tree and through it, to the rest of the forest. She smiled as she felt it sense her, but it slipped when she felt just how sick it was becoming. She still hadn’t been able to figure out how to fix it. Something - some foreign magic that tasted metallic in her mouth and seemed to curl purple fingers of strength through the deep, strong roots of her forest - was strangling them. It was siphoning the life force straight from the network as a whole.  She shuddered and withdrew, opening her eyes and reclimbing the tree. She was faster in the treetops than on the ground, the reaching arms of each maple, oak and poplar twisting fingers together with each other to form a road all her own. Well, she supposed, she shared it with the squirrels and birds. 

Soon she reached the pool. An old oak stretched one long limb out across its surface, one twig bowing low enough to drench its leaves when the wind blew in the right direction. Elowen creeped across it until she could dunk a hand in, bringing the clear, earthy water to her lips.

“Blech!”  She spat the water from her mouth and gasped, staring down at the pool. “No…” she whispered it through dripping lips and soon tears were falling from her vivid, green eyes.  The pool had been contaminated.  Elowen wiped her mouth with her hand, eager to be rid of the metallic taste and then wrapped her arms around the branch.

It was breaking her heart. The forest was slowly dying, each day left with less and less energy to reach leaves skyward to drink in the sunshine, to draw the rain into its capillaries, to borrow nutrients from the soil.  Soon it would be too weak to do any of it and then it would only be a matter of time. Elowen was working hard to save it but each day she too felt the drain. She was just as much a part of the forest as any tree and it wouldn’t be long until she was also too weak to continue.

Elowen had always been in the forest. She’d been birthed from the first seed, alongside the oldest and tallest tree, deep in the center of the woods. She’d nurtured and protected it, keeping bugs and birds away as it grew, shielding it from wayward deer hooves and teeth. As she grew, so did the forest and soon she was surrounded by trees, plants and animals that were a part of her just as she was a part of them.

So when the vines she’d coaxed across the path that had led through the forest - protecting it and keeping any additional dangers from threatening it - were severed, she felt it.  Elowen jumped quickly down from the branch across the pool and then up a nearby spruce to head towards the mouth of the forest.

[AlexieD]

With every swing of her dagger the vines were tossed to the side which wasn't so hard now that the forest was slowly dying, She was eager to get in further to see what was causing all this commotion and worry from the local villagers. It more so for herself but if the villagers were to thank her for the efforts she put into 'taking away the evil that was infesting their materials' she could move along to the next town already in hopes to find more jobs to occupy her mundane life.

"pye rezen modi sa yo y ' ap fè la a , nan vilaj yo te di yo te vin isit la souvan kolekte remèd fèy .... remèd fèy manman bourik mwen an" She grunted in her native language as more and more of the vines were hacked away and dropped to the ground and were crushed under her feet as she ventured further into the cool copse. She wondered to herself if the Villagers hadn't been trying to influence her to leave without asking her to her face. With the way she dressed and looked she wouldn't blame the villagers for being intimidated.

She paused for a second when she thought to have sensed movement, it wasn't odd for a Forest like this to have some kind of protector and she had assumed since it had gotten so bad maybe the Nymph or groundskeeper had been put down or left but with the odd wisps of magic she felt echoed through the woods she stopped her attacking of the dying wood.

"Who goes there" She called out, her brown eyes darting around looking for shadows or any kind of rustling. The last thing she wanted was to be caught un-aware by whatever was strangling the life out of this place and be put through the same fate. "I know there's something there.. Make yourself known?". As the silence continued her heart started to pound with excitement. Sometimes demons and imps were tricky and preferred to keep their prey on their toes but also try to catch them off guard. It was why so many children were easily snatched up and carted off into the nether-realms.

She reached out her dagger before herself in a readied stance as she continued to hack away at the dead leaves and branches that were blocking her way. If whatever was watching her wasn't going to make itself known by coming out when being called she would have to keep going. With every swing of her dagger the bangles that curled around her wrists jangled together making a soft tinkling noise with every strike. "I guess I'll just keep going... minding my own business" she said before muttering "Mwen jis vin tante l 'ka kònen kote sa a lwen ak yon boul men Lè sa a ki ta ka pa gen plezi" under her breath.

[Oceane]

Hidden high in the treetops and by the magic that faded her appearance against the leaves, Elowen watched the strange woman hack her way deeper into the woods. The woman was a blue flash, the metal surrounding her wrists and hanging from various parts of her shining like beacons and tinkling like music. She’d never seen someone so adorned as this one was. The villagers wore clothes of raw linen and cotton, sometimes dyed in muted tones, they disappeared into their surroundings much like Elowen’s magic was shielding her now.  The blue woman was fascinating - and dangerous. It was easy to sense the powerful magic housed inside her and Elowen was unsure of her purpose in her forest.

Finally, the woman called out. More than likely she was able to sense the forest guardian. Perhaps she would help her investigate the cause of the sickness in the woods.  If she was a threat, she was not the same as the one siphoning the trees and beings of the forest - it did not feel metallic or purple, but something else… something she couldn’t quite grasp yet.

So, quietly and slowly, she made her way down from the trees, hand over hand, down the branches and trunks that had been her home since the day she came into existence. Her heart cried out for a moment as she slunk downwards, temporarily caught up in the tragedy that would befall the pillars of living energy that surrounded her if the mysterious threat continued to bleed them of their magic. With tentative hope, she allowed her cloaking magic to fade away and stepped from the trees into the open space of the path.

Before the bright woman could speak, Elowen raised a hand in greeting.

“Hello. I am Elowen, guardian of this forest. If you are here to plunder, there is nothing for you as the forest is already sick and dying and so you should leave. If you are here to help, then I am willing to talk.”

[AlexieD]

Most of the jewellery she wore were trinkets she had collected over the years and also trophies of her triumphs over past enemies. There were others she had once had but in time when work had been sparce she had to trade it for lodgings and sustinence.

Zalinka looked around confused as she continued to feel the presence of something watching her, she knew what she was indeed getting herself into moving towards trouble instead of away from it as most villagers told her to do in her stead. But curiosity had her by the throat and she wanted to know more about the dying Forrest.

When she felt the presence draw close her fingers tightened around the handle of her dagger, if it was hostile she would go down swinging like she always promised herself. Magical wisps started to circle around her hand as she started to charge her power through the blade turning it red hot, ready for anything that come her way.

But when it was revealed to the woman that what was coming closer was not a menace but thought her to be up to no good the spell dissipated with a soft puff and the blade returned to its normal dull state.

"Well" she started "You're the one in charge then?" brown eyes darted around the dying wood. "I'm not here to loot and plunder... But I am here to..." her hand rolled as she looked for the right word "Assist in removing the core of the issue here" she said crossing her hands over her narrow chest sending her bangles tinkling. "Clearly there's hardly anything left here aside from what's causing the sickness... Normally a place like this would be rich with apothecary and Alchemical ingredients... But right now not so much"

[Oceane]

Elowen nodded her head as the woman spoke. She was right, the forest was normally ripe with many manner of ingredient used for several potions and curative remedies. Those resources were some of the first things to die off. When the local villagers had come looking and could no longer find them, they’d began to trounce through the underbrush and into areas of the forests they were forbidden from venturing. When Elowen had seen how difficult recovery from these visits had become, it was then that she’d sealed the forest. 

“Come,” She spoke softly and with tentative trust to the woman and beckoned her to follow. Through the trails and carefully through the wooded areas, she led her towards the pool. While they walked she spoke of the forest and how it had been in it’s prime, how the deterioration had begun and progressed, and of the state it was in at the moment.  Along the way, she paused for small breaks, trying desperately to still appear strong to the strange woman. Chances were she was trustworthy - who else would come venturing as she had?  The threat remained, however and Elowen was determined to protect the forest until there was no forest left to protect.

They came to the pool and at it’s edge, she knelt, dipping cupped hands in to withdraw a sample of it’s tainted waters.  “You see…” she offered her hands to the woman in hopes she would take a sip and notice the metallic and acrid taste she’d tasted herself.   “This pool was clean only yesterday and now it has been overtaken. It was the last untouched part of the forest. I no longer know what I can do to prevent the death of my home.”

From there, she stood and took a winding path past the pool and into a small, hidden grove.  Birds still chirped in the trees and flew through the expanse of sky the parting branches created above the thick meadow.  The grass had turned yellow and felt rough and brittle to the touch. Under normal circumstances, it was lush, soft and green, dotted with wildflowers and the sweet smell of clover. Bees hovered and luxuriated in the bright blossoms and animals stepped without fear from the trees and into the clearing. Now, the birds were the only creatures who seemed oblivious to what had been happening.

“This was where I first noticed the taint.  It seems to be coming from somewhere near here, but I have never been able to grasp a thread of it’s power for long enough to follow it to the source. There are tendrils that travel from here, to all corners of the forest. What have I missed?” Ignoring the mist in her eyes she implored the woman, reaching out a thin hand to grasp the dark wrist of the other. Hopefully she would have some sort of an answer... if not... then she was indeed doomed.

[AlexieD]

This Nymph was rather helpful and polite, not like many of the others she had met in the past. Elowen might not have been able to senses the death magic that washed off the Oracle in waves because of the death and deterioration that surrounded them. It was either that or the guardian was desperate for any kind of help that would bring her wood back to its former glory.

As the woman reached out her hands with the tainted water drizzling between the gaps in her fingers as she tried to hold it up. "How could something like this happen?" Zalinka murmured to herself stepping forward and dipping a finger cautiously into the pooling of water in Elowen's hands. "Odd...curious... " she furrowed her thin eyebrows together in confusion as her finger was bought to her lips and the tastes of metal and acid danced on the end of her sensitive tongue.

"Usually... If something were contaminated there would be a source, yes...like, garbage of a demon something to go on...? I don't know but you can sense the magic but not pinpoint it? You can sense that what is draining the life from your home isn't natural...can you see the winds lingering?... If I could channel it... Just right... Maybe we could pin point where it's coming from... Maybe get an idea of what we're dealing with" She raised her hands up and started to chant as she channelled the winds and energies in the area, her eyes flickered shut as she attempted to concentrate. She had felt something similar once before. When she was a young girl and still a student to her art.

She started to turn on the spot her skirt swirling as power surged through her body, her fingers tracing through the air flicking the winds as she attempted to channel the magical traces she could pick up in the air. "Vini jwenn mwen , o majik. Toubiyon nan men m ' , idantifye tèt ou montre m kilès ki kontwole ou" as she continued to chant images seeped into her mind. A purple cloud floated around her consciousness and slowly started to form a shape. Her brows knitted together tightly as she tried to make out the shape.

"I see something in the winds..." she grunted as the image started to waver, golden eyes pierced from the shapes malformed and gaseous body. "But it is too far... I cannot pin it down... " she muttered her wrists still swirling among the winds trying to form an answer for the desperate woman.

[Oceane]

Elowen watched, nervous but still hopeful. If this woman didn’t have any answers for her, didn’t have an idea of what to do to save the forest, then it would be over.  She could feel it already - the purple, cloying sickness that was beginning to seep into the edges of her own magic. It wavered on the edge of her vision, just barely wafting across her consciousness. It was worse at the end of the day when her energy was at it’s weakest.  Come morning she was able to push it back again but for how much longer?  How long until she just simply couldn’t fight it anymore?  It would mean the end of the forest and the end of Elowen herself. 

If it came to that, Elowen hoped that she and the forest would simply die - cease to exist but for a few black husks that were once mighty trees. The alternative was enough to make her fall to her knees and wail at the thought - to be tainted so far as to be fueled by the sickness.  To become it, welcome it… it was not a pleasant thought.  She shuddered for a moment, exhaling a ragged breath and refocused her attention on the woman still working her own magic.

She was concentrating, her hands dancing through the air. Elowen could taste the tang of her magic, finally, as it strengthened and shot out to investigate the taint.  Under normal circumstances, it was the taste of a magic she would try to keep far, far away from her forest - they kind of magic that brought its own death and decay with it. Today, it was welcomed. Perhaps it took darker forms of magic to fight off whatever was invading her realm.  She would deal with the consequences later.

She took a step closer to the vibrant darkness in front of her and spoke softly, hoping not to disturb her too much.  “Can you sense anything specific yet? Is there anything I can do to assist?”

[AlexieD]

Zalinka's eyes had clouded over, but her sight was at its best in this form. The spirits were showing her imagery of whatever she requested. Sometimes when it came to searching for answers the dead always seemed to hold the key for the Oracle. But whenever an image would come into focus it would fizzle out into nothingness like the origin wasn't in reach but hundreds of millions of miles away? But that just confused her even more. She had seen things on the other side of the world with such clarity she had to wonder if it was real or not?

She sucked in another breath as she parted the winds with her fingers moving in a circle almost like she was looking for a better signal. The forest spirits voice penetrated her thoughts for a moment, even though it was a whisper it was still heard. "Not quite... Something is not right..." her voice seemed to echo now as she delved into her magic deeper chasing the image that seemed just out of her grasp. "No matter how far I chase... No matter what I do... I can't catch it"

She wanted nothing more than to find out how she could help the forest and get her own reward so she could continue her journeys before she became too complacent in her new location and decide to settle. Usually these situations were easily rectified, mostly it was ignorant mages using trees and the life in the Forrest to either fuel their own power or heal their wounds. Even though she was an Oracle of bones and dealt in death she thought it unwise to use the environment as a source of power. Only once the environment had given up and died would she use it to her own advantage.

"This seems much more... Serious than I initially thought all I can gather is... This Grove is attached to another not far from here? A bond that I can't seem to trace origins to but a link indeed... Are you... Are you able to leave this place, Child?" she asked as the clouds dissipated from her eyes as they returned to their usual brown colour.