94 Numb (1/2)

Rine's POV

The three of us just sat there in silence until the evening was setting on. It was a little unusual for Mist to stay quiet but I knew that she had been feeling low on energy. Or maybe she was just being courteous to Ivy resting. I enjoyed the chance to calm my heart some more after I nearly got eaten by a trout.

The sun was just about to dip behind the horizon when Ivy stirred. I quickly hopped out of the crook of her arm where I had settled myself as she started to pull herself out of the tangle of plants that had grown around her. ”The show should be starting soon,” she said while standing up and moving a little closer to the edge of the pond and letting her feet enter the water. She caused a large lily pad to form more of a cup shape and dipped it into the water. ”I can help give you a better view if you want?”

A normal mortal probably would not be able to notice any change, but we could tell when Mist moved inside the leaf. Ivy started to pull the leaf out of the water when it began to give way under the added weight of Mist. So she quickly reinforced it before she straightened up.

”So what are we supposed to be looking at?” Mist said in a much more quiet voice than when she was in the pond.

”Just wait a little and you will figure it out,” Ivy said, still not willing to spoil whatever the surprise was. I was feeling a little vulnerable in the fading light so I flew up to Ivy's shoulder. It would give me a better few than down on the ground anyway.

It did not take long to figure out something was different. ”Is it shining?” I asked in confusion. It was a mesmerizing sight and hard to take my eyes off of.

”It is so beautiful at night. I was trying to spread these trees around my woods when I was attacked by a creepy human.” I felt Ivy shudder under me.

”Wait? You were attacked by a human?” Mist asked.

”Yes, that's why I came here,” Ivy said slowly while watching the tree. ”Laurel told me that if I ever came across him I should seek shelter in her woods.”

”What happened?” I asked. I knew she was in trouble, but humans attacking spirits was not a new thing and would usually not be considered as trouble for a greater spirit.

Ivy seemed more than happy to tell her story and said, ”I was at the southern end of my woods trying to expand my domain as Laurel taught me. After planting one of Laurel's golden maple-”

”-is that really what she called it?” Mist said. Her voice sounded incredulous, but it did not really come across that way since her voice was so small in the lily pad cup.

”Um, well no. But that was the best name that I could think of,” Ivy bashfully said. ”I am still working on a name. But anyways after a lot of complications and some peril, I planted one of the trees and grew it to about a year old. I rested for the night watching that tree, but the next day I woke up and felt something was wrong. I found that my woods were sick. I snuck up on the man that was causing this disease and lashed out with my vines and captured him,” Ivy said shooting her arms forward like they were vines.

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please clickfor visiting.

”Hey watch it!” Mist called out. Her bowl was shaken by Ivy's demonstration.

”Sadly his corruption was stronger than I thought and the vines binding him began to decay. Seeing this, I caught hold of him with even more vines. It was a great struggle but finally I was able to overpower him. Or at least I thought I did. Thinking about it, I think he realized that he could not face me directly but played a cruel trick on me. He had stopped struggling and I thought I had him caught but soon after I relaxed the vines fell off him.

”I knew then that even if I caught him I would not be able to hold him. So as quick as I could, I made my way to Laurel's woods. She said that I would be safer here. But just chasing me off did not seem to be enough. He chased after me. I threw all sorts of thistles and brambles in his path, but they barely made up for his much longer strides than mine. I was just about out of my woods when he managed to trip me up. Before I could get back up he was over me and tried to cover my face in some sort of black tar. I managed to kick the container out of his hand into the trunk of a nearby tree, shattering its contents all over the grove.