elementsofemotion

[elementsofemotion]

Chapter 10: Fish Out Of Water

Caelian woke for a second time, his eyes fluttering open as he let out a groan. Not recognizing where he was, he groggily sat up. It took him a few moments before realizing he was inside of a tent. Was he back at the denizen’s camp, then?

The memory of what happened to Gaia hit him like a rock. He felt a dull pain in his chest. He took a deep breath, quickly wiping away the tears that had formed. He’d have to try and not think about it. Gaia was fine, and she had given him a task. He’d fulfill it, no matter what.

“Oh! Birdie is awake!”

Caelian heard Evelyn’s voice come from the tent’s entrance. He looked over just in time to see her excitedly enter. He saw Damien peek inside of the tent, but they remained outside.

“Is Birdie feeling okay?” Evelyn asked as she crouched down next to him, “He fall over suddenly so Damien carry him back to where other spirits are.”

“I’m… fine, I guess,” He mumbled, “My head hurts.”

“Hmm, Evelyn will get Birdie some water, wait here!”

As Evelyn bounced out of the tent, Damien took their turn entering. They stood with their hands in their coat pockets.

“You gonna be okay after all that?” They asked, “Didn’t really expect the emotional trauma to make you pass out.”

“I don’t really think it was that,” Caelian said as he rubbed his head. Evelyn returned, carrying a wooden cup filled with water. Damien took a step back so that she had enough room to crouch down and hand it to Caelian. He hesitantly took it.

“Anyways, the denizens all seem pretty confused as to what’s going on, you might want to explain what happened,” Damien said.

“I don’t care about them,” Caelian said flatly as he took a sip of water.

Evelyn frowned, “But they all seem worried about Birdie…”

“I doubt that,” He said.

“Regardless, it’s your job as the disciple to take care of them, right?” Damien said, causing Caelian to pause mid-drink, “All of the acid disappeared and the forest got its color back. They all seem pretty confused. I think at the very least you should explain what happened to Gaia.”

“... Yeah, fine,” Caelian grumbled as he set the cup down on the ground next to him. He shakily stood up, shooing Evelyn away as she tried to help him stand.

“I didn’t mean right now-” Damien said as they reached out to try and help Caelian regain his balance, but Caelian quickly waved them away as well.

“I’m fine,” He said, before quickly walking out of the tent, only to stop as soon as he stepped outside. There was a lot for him to take in at once.

The first thing he noticed was the crowd gathered around the tent that were all now staring at him. The second thing he noticed was the gentle breeze that ruffled his hair, causing him to look upwards, squinting his eyes against the sun. What Damien had said was true. While the damage the acid had caused still remained, the trees had regained their emerald green leaves. Looking down at the ground around him, he noticed that flowers had begun to blossom as well.

Damien and Evelyn exited out of the tent behind him as someone from the crowd stepped forward, “Caelian, what did you do?” They asked.

A chorus of voices rose up around him,

“Is the Goddess okay?”

“How did you get rid of the acid?”

Caelian nervously took a step backwards, overwhelmed by everyone trying to speak at the same time. It was then that Nyxidae materialized next to him, and a calming sensation washed over him. She gave a soft chime and gently nudged Caelian forward.

“....Right,” He whispered, before taking a deep breath, “Gaia… Gaia’s rebirthed,” He announced, causing silence to fall around him as the denizens stared with wide eyes.

“But… how?”

“You killed her?!”

“Shut up,” Caelian said, shocking them back into silence. There was anger behind his voice, but he remained calm.

“It’s what needed to be done. After Garson died you all were too afraid to do anything about it. So I did. I’m the disciple. You all think I’m so useless-” Nyxidae nudged Caelian again, but he ignored her, “But now look who’s helped all of you.”

“W-We didn’t think that of you!” Someone in the crowd said, “We knew you could do something! We were worried when-”

“No you weren’t,” Caelian snapped, “You didn’t, and you weren’t. The only person that stood up for me was Mrs. Tamia. Everyone else was fine to let Garson try to kill me. Don’t act like you cared, or thought I could do anything.” There was a long silence. Then Daisy quietly nudged her way forward through the crowd.

“... You got Nyxidae back.” She said softly.

“Yeah,” Caelian said, lowering his gaze, “I did.”

“How?”

“Gaia purified her for me.”

“So… you’re not corrupt?” Someone asked.

“No, and I never was,” Caelian spat, looking back up to face them, “Gaia said I’m not corrupt. But only Nyxidae has been purified. I have to go to the other realms and get the gods to purify the others.”

“You can’t just leave!” Someone exclaimed, “Who will help Gaia during her rebirth?!”

“Gaia is lying dormant until I return. She said I can’t help her as I am.”

“But… but... what will we do without both our goddess and disciple?”

“Whatever you were doing before I came back,” He said as he turned away, “Doesn’t matter to me.”

Caelian walked away, leaving the crowd staring after him with uncertainty. Damien and Evelyn followed after him.

“Don’t you think you should’ve been a bit more gentle in your approach?” Damien asked, unimpressed, “They were obviously trying to apologize for treating you like shit, albeit in a way that absolves them of any blame.”

“I don’t care what they were doing. After what they’ve done, they’ll be lucky if I ever forgive them.” Caelian said, before ducking into a tent, “Mrs. Tamia-”

“I’m here, Caelian,” Mrs. Tamia said with a smile. She was sitting up, propped up by some pillows. “I heard what you said. And I must say, while I do think they deserve it, I do agree you should work to be kinder to the denizens in the future.”

“But-”

“I understand, Caelian,” She said with a sigh, “They've treated you horribly. But if you do so in return, the trust between them and you as a disciple will never develop. Think of it for Gaia’s sake, if you must.”

“... Fine.”

“Aside from that, I’m proud of you, Caelian,” Mrs. Tamia smiled, “I know it couldn’t have been easy for you to do what you did… The forest is already beginning to heal.”

“Thanks… It’s weird, I can’t sense Gaia’s power, but the forest is returning to normal.” He said.

Mrs. Tamia nodded, “It’s because Gaia draws most of her power from the forest itself. Without their realms, the gods are powerless.”

“That’s weird to think about,” Caeliam admitted, “And I have to go to the other realms… I don’t even know where they are.”

“Evelyn knows where the Scorched Lands are!” Evelyn chimed in.

“An entrance to The Depths is probably closer than a volcano, though.” Damien sighed, “But we’re going to have a problem getting in without a water spirit to let us.”

“I see you’ve made some knowledgeable friends,” Mrs. Tamia smiled, “I’ll leave Caelian in you young one’s hands, then. Though I must agree, The Depths is more in reach with all of the rivers and lakes around the forests, but if you don’t find a water spirit... Well, they typically hang out around in those areas, I’m sure you’ll find someone willing to help out.”

“Water spirit’s relations with others have been strained recently, though,” Damien crossed his arms with a frown, “I’m not sure why, but we might have some trouble convincing one to let us in.”

“Is that so?” Mrs. Tamia frowned, “I hadn’t heard of that… Well, I wish you three the best of luck. I’m sure you’ll find a way.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Tamia,” Caelian said, “I’ll return as soon as I can… I promise.”

---------------------------------------

Evelyn darted around near constantly, rustling the underbrush and nearly tripping Caelian over every other minute. She seemed to still be intent on finding whatever plant she had set out to find, even though Caelian was certain it didn’t exist. Damien had already snapped at her earlier for nearly tripping them, so she was giving them some distance. She dug eagerly at the dirt under a nearby bush. A moment later her ears drooped in disappointment. Not here, either. Her ears quickly flicked back up, alert and swiveling as she listened to the sounds around her.

“We are by a river, yes?” She asked, bouncing back over to Caelian.

“We’re by the Ethereal River,” Damien said, “Humans believe it to be directly connected to the Depths, hence the name. They’re not technically wrong, but a little off base.”

Much to Caelian’s chagrin, the three of them had made their way back out to the human realm. Damien had explained it was the only way to travel between realms, and while Caelian was aware of that, he just really didn’t want to spend a lot of time in the human world.

“It’s also named that since there’s often water spirit sightings around the area, so hopefully we’ll find someone dumb enough to let us in.”

“Oh! Evelyn sees, so friends just follow river, find water spirit!” Evelyn exclaimed before running off ahead of the others, disappearing into the brush as she headed towards the sound of gurgling water.

“Hey-!” Damien sighed as Evelyn’s bright pink fur disappeared amongst the leaves, “Is she… always like this?”

“Like what?” Caelian asked blankly.

“High-energy, to put it nicely.”

“I don’t know.”

Damien narrowed his eyes, “Don’t know, or don’t care?”

Caelian paused for a moment, flashing his bright blue eyes at Damien as he stopped beside them. “I’ve known her for about as long as I've known you. My current… condition, has no effect on the matter. I don’t know because I don’t know.”

The answer seemed to satisfy Damien, and they turned and quietly continued on in the direction Evelyn had run off to. Caelian took a deep breath as he pushed down the feeling of annoyance he was experiencing. What was Damien’s problem? It’s not like he wanted to not care about everything.

Hearing what sounded like a distorted breeze, he looked up in time to see a lantern materialize next to him, it’s dark purple haze consuming the light around it as it’s inky dark aura oozed into existence.

This just made him feel even more annoyed. He glowered at the lantern before swatting at it, smacking it away with a clank.

“Get out of here, I don’t want you around.”

The lantern bobbed backwards in the air after the strike, but after evening out, continued to hang lazily in the air, as if strung up by an invisible rope as it gently swayed in the breeze. Caelian let out a low growl as he stepped forward, arm raised as he was ready to strike it again, before stopping.

Stop. Your anger feeds it. It wants to upset you. Ignore it. Calm yourself, Caelian.

He looked around, unsure of where the voice originated. It was a voice that ressignated in his head, quietly echoing into his thoughts. A voice he felt like he hadn’t heard in a long, long time.

“... Nyxidae?”

He looked back to the purple lantern that was still floating motionlessly in the air. It almost felt like it was goading him into attacking. Placing a hand on his chest, he took a deep breath to calm himself. The haze around the lantern faded ever so slightly.

These are the emotions you must learn to manage. Don’t let them overcome you.

Caelian closed his eyes, and when he opened them, a deep green light was slowly shining into existence beside him. Forming into a lantern, the green light solidified into the solid black metal, with vines and flowers curling around it as they sprouted out, protecting the elemental hidden within the glass.

Though he could still feel the sense of annoyance, Nyxidae’s presence helped calm him. He looked over to the purple lantern with a frown. He didn’t need to resort to it’s tactics. He didn’t need to act in violence. Turning on his heel, he walked quickly in an attempt to catch up with Evelyn and Damien. The Nature and Shadow elementals trailed along close behind him.

The trickling of the water grew louder as Caelian approached, and he could faintly smell the damp earth as he pushed a group of large leaves out of his path. Stepping under a low-hanging branch, he nearly walked straight into Damien.

“Gods, there you are,” They said irritably, “Where have you been?”

Caelian brushed a wing past him, “Don’t worry about it. Where’s Evelyn?”

Damien motioned with his head, and Caelian followed him to see Evelyn in a clearing, sneaking up on another spirit that appeared to be resting on a large, flat rock. The sun shone down on him, causing the white, orange and black scales on his tail to glimmer radiantly. The various gold jewelry he wore also reflected the light, in contrast to his tanned skin, dark hair, and black, tight-fitting clothing.

A water spirit! But what was Evelyn doing?

Caelian began to walk towards them as Evelyn sniffed curiously at the stranger’s tail. She eyed it curiously as his fin tapped against the smooth stone. Then, with a grin, she lunged forward and sank her teeth into the soft pink flesh.

A howl of pain erupted into the forest, startling any of the wildlife in the immediate vicinity. Evelyn quickly released her grip on the tail and ducked under the rock while Damien watched in mild amusement. The water spirit thrashed his tail about as he sat up, whipping around to see what had bitten him, only to come face to face with Caelian. There was a long pause as the two of them stared silently at each other, the water spirit’s eyes growing wide. Caelian looked confused.

“Holy shit,” The water spirit mumbled under his breath, before quickly snapping out of his trance, “Hey- uh, that wasn’t you that bit me just now, right?”

“N… no?” Caelian said.

“Okay, that's great, great-” He said with a toothy grin, displaying his fangs as he lied down on his stomach with his head resting in his hands, “So, who are you?”

“Um… my name is Caelian,” He said with uncertainty.

“Zephyr! Uh, my name is Zephyr,” The spirit said, his floppy tail slapping against the rock excitedly, “Hey, has anyone ever told you that-”

“Fishie!” Evelyn interrupted, popping up next to Caelian and startling Zephyr, “Fishie is water spirit, can take us to water realm!”

“Uh… what?” Zephyr asked.

Damien sighed as they walked forward to join the group, “What she’s trying to say is that we were hoping to find someone to let us into the Depths.”

Zephyr sat up, giving the group a suspicious look, “Why do you want to go there?”

“I need to talk to Leviatha,” Caelian said.

Zephyr frowned, “Why is that?”

“Personal business.”

“But- Well, whatever, guess it doesn’t matter. But I wouldn’t go there if I were you guys. Leviatha isn’t really in a state to be spoken with right now.”

“Why’s that?” Damien asked.

“You haven’t heard? Entire place is a shitshow. Leviatha got corrupt and everything’s gone to hell. Everyone’s encased in ice or dead at this point, probably…”

“Ice?” Evelyn asked curiously.

“Really? So bad nobody escaped?” Damien asked.

“Some escaped, obviously,” The water spirit said, avoiding his gaze, “I was able to get out pretty early. Can’t say the same for everyone. Maybe more escaped than I’m aware of, I don’t know. But look, you really don’t want to go there.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Caelian said, “I have to go there.”

“Did you not hear me? Leviatha’s corrupt, there’s no point going there.”

“I need Leviatha to purify my elemental, Gaia said that she could. If I have to purify her beforehand then fine.”

“Wait, what? What do you mean?” Zephyr asked, a hint of panic in his voice, “What do you mean purify? You can’t purify corrupted spirits.”

“Spirits, no,” Damien said, “But you can force a god to rebirth by killing them.”

“You expect to kill a god?” Zephyr scoffed.

“We already have,” Damien said, “The Endless Forest suffered a similar fate, but after killing the Nature Goddess and forcing a rebirth, the realm is beginning to turn back to normal.”

“Well, you’re not gonna be able to kill Leviatha, she’s too powerful,” Zephyr said as he lied back down on his rock, “And you’re not gonna get the chance to, anyways. You won’t be able to get into the Depths without a water spirit’s help, and I’m not going back there.”

“But Fishie has to!” Evelyn exclaimed, “Birdie needs to go to water goddess and get his elemental purified!”

“His what?” Zephyr asked.

“It’s… a lot to explain,” Damien sighed.

“Look, I’m going because Gaia asked me to, and it’s my duty as her disciple to comply with her request.” Caelian said.

“W-wait,” Zephyr paled, “You’re a disciple? The… nature goddess’ disciple?”

“I am,” Caelian confirmed.

“Is… Is that so...” Zephyr paused, “So… That’s it? Your god asks you to and so you decide to risk your life over it?”

“It’s my duty,” Caelian said flatly, “I owe it to her.”

“We owe nothing to the gods,” Zephyr said bitterly, “They don’t care about us. Why do them any favor?”

His comment surprised the trio, who stared at him as he aggressively flicked his tail.

“But… the gods have always taken care of us,” Evelyn said quietly.

“Gaia cares about me, “ Caelian said with annoyance, “I don’t know what makes you think you have the right to try and say she doesn’t.”

“Yes, she cares so much that she sends her disciple out to face off against the gods. Powerful beings that could easily kill him,” He said sarcastically, “Look, all I’m saying, is that what's happening in the Great Depths isn’t of your concern, and if you valued your life, you’d stay far away from that place.”

“Well, thank you so much for your words of wisdom, water spirit.” Damien said mockingly, “That’s what your kind is known for, right? Wisdom and empathy? You sure show loads of that, don’t you? You seem to care so much about the wellbeing of your people.”

Zephyr narrowed his golden eyes at Damien, his pupils forming into narrow slits, “I’d say it’s pretty wise avoiding something that can kill you, which is why I have no desire to go back there. As for empathy? Well, I can assure you that’s a lie. Nobody in that place gives a shit about another’s suffering.”

Damien rolled their eyes, “Come on, Caelian. We’ll find someone else to help us.”

“But… if Fishie say water spirits are all gone, how will we find another?” Evelyn asked with a frown.

“We’ll manage. Come on,” Damien said as they walked off.

Caelian frowned as Damien left, not immediately following. Evelyn looked nervously between everyone before quietly following Damien. Caelian glanced over to Zephyr, who was glaring after Damien. The water spirit turned and gave Caelian a concerned look.

“I’m serious,” He said softly, “Whatever you experienced in the Eternal Forest… the Depths is a lot worse. Leviatha is powerful. She’s been corrupt for a while now. It’s not worth risking your life over. We… we’re not like the gods. We’re weak. We only get one life. There’s more at stake for us.”

Caelian shook his head, “It doesn’t matter, I have to.”

“But why?”

“I just do,” Caelian frowned as he turned away, “It’s my duty to Gaia.”

With that, Caelian left Zephyr staring quietly after him as he left to join Damien and Evelyn. As soon as Caelian caught up to them, he fell in line next to them,. Evelyn quickly switched sides so that she was walking next to Caelian and not by Damien.

“Will Fishie be alright?” Evelyn asked.

“He might need to disinfect his tail, but I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Damien snorted.

“Oh, yeah… Evelyn, why did you bite him?” Caelian asked.

“Oh! Smell like fish, yes! Fish tasty! And Evelyn hungry, so...”

“You don’t eat other spirits, Evelyn.” Damien sighed.

“E-Evelyn knows.” She pouted.

Caelian listened to the two of them talk as he glanced over to the embankment they were walking along. They were on a tall cliff, with the river far below them. The running water was loud, and when Caelian walked closer to the edge, he saw that there were rapids below them. He jumped slightly when he felt Damien nudge him.

“We seem to have company,” Damien mumbled, motioning behind them with his head.

Confused, Caelian turned to look behind him just in time to see Zephyr quickly dart behind a tree, hiding from his gaze.

“Fishie worried about us, maybe?” Evelyn asked.

“He has issues,” Damien said dismissively, “Just ignore him.”

“I… I guess,” Evelen said, not fully convinced.

“Anyways, Evelyn, you said you were hungry, right? Maybe we could-”

Damien’s sentence was cut short by a deep rumble followed by a cracking noise. The two of them looked in time to see a chunk of ground near Caelian fall away and hurtle towards the river below. Caelian stood perfectly still, staring wide-eyed.

“… Caelian,” Damien said in a measured tone, “Step away from the edge of the-”

Before he could finish his sentence, another low rumble was heard underfoot. Caelian tried to scramble backwards, but his heel got caught on a rock, causing him to stumble just enough to ensure he was dropped off the edge of the cliff amongst the debris.

The last thing he heard was Damien and Evelyn letting out a shout as he slammed into the cold water. His wings splayed out as he tried to kick back to the surface. But between his heavy clothes and now water-logged wings, it was a futile effort. For a brief moment he thought of Iaestia, and how she would have been able to help him in this situation. But she was gone, and he was alone.

Back up on the surface, Damien had a firm hold on Evelyn, who was struggling against their grasp.

“Cut it out! It won’t help anyone for you to try and go down there, it’s rapids!” They snapped as she let out a wail.

“He not swimming!” She cried. “He can’t-”

Both of them paused as a splash was heard further up the river. For a split second someone was visible just above the water, before quickly slipping down into the rushing current.

“Shit, come on,” Damien said as they ran ahead, following the embankment. Evelyn quickly followed after him.

Much further down the river, Zephyr carefully tugged an unconscious Caelian out of the water. Water dripped and pooled below the two of them as Zephyr got down next to Caelian and quickly pressed an ear against his chest. Stifling a sigh, he gently nudged Caelian’s chin up and pinched his nose shut. Placing his mouth over his, he gave him two breaths before starting on chest compressions.

It didn’t take long for Caelian to jerk away and cough up a mouthful of water. Zephyr remained quiet as the boy sat up, spitting and sputtering as he worked to regain his breath. Caelian looked around in a panic before his eyes rested on Zephyr, panting heavily as he gave him a questioning look.

“You alright?” Zephyr asked.

Unable to speak, Caelian merely nodded.

“Can’t even swim and you want to go to the Depths,” Zephyr mused, “You realize it's underwater, right?” When Caelian didn’t reply, he added, “You can breathe underwater with a water spirit’s blessing, at least…”

“Then give me one,” Caelian rasped.

Zephyr shook his head. “Why are you so intent on following Gaia’s instruction? She wants you to go and fight a god. The almighty, powerful beings that created us and the world around us. Do you really not see how ridiculous of a request that is?”

“Gaia wouldn’t ask something of me she thinks I couldn’t do.” Caelian said, seeming to finally catch his breath. “And I… It’s my fault she got corrupt. It was my fault. So I have to make things right again.”

“Look, you're her disciple, right? That's why you’re doing all this?”

Caelian nodded.

“She’s not reborn yet, is she?”

He nodded again.

“So you’re not even truly tied to her right now. Why not just go live a life of freedom? Gods don’t care about their disciples-”

“Thats not true,” Caelian spat. “I don’t- maybe it’s different for other Gods, I don’t know. But Gaia… Gaia has always been there for me. She found me as a baby. She took me in when nobody else wanted me. She raised me by herself. She’s a God, she didn’t need to do any of that. She could’ve just told somebody else to do it. But she did it herself. She’s done so much for me, I would've just… I’d have been a husk my entire life if it wasn’t for her. I want to go back to those times, when I could feel happy. I want to be with her again. I’m her disciple. She believes in me, so… I know it's possible to do what she asked of me.”

Zephyr was quiet for a moment.

“So... she was like a mom to you, in a way, is what I’m gathering?”

“… Yeah, I guess.” Caelian said softly. “I never wanted to actually… say it out loud, I guess, because I felt like it wasn’t how I should think of her. I mean, she’s a god, after all. But I’ve always kind of… seen Gaia as my mom.”

Zephyr made a small hum of understanding. “What do you mean you’d just be a husk, though? isn’t that a bit… melodramatic?”

“I can’t feel emotion.”

Zephyr gave him an odd look. “Could’ve fooled me.”

“No, I mean...” Caelian sighed. He closed his eyes, searching for the individual strings of mana that flowed through his veins before calling forth his elementals. Lanterns of forest green, ice blue, stunning red, and hazy purple materialized around him. Zephyr observed them with curiosity.

“Are those… sprites?”

“They are. But they’ve become elementals.” Caelian explained. “I was… born without emotions. When Gaia found me, she gave me these, and… I’ve never really fully been able to understand how, but they let me feel emotion.”

“Three of these are dark elements though.” Zephyr commented, reaching out towards the Ice Elemental, which promptly floated backwards out of his reach. “Wouldn’t these give negative emotions?”

Caelian nodded. “They used to be Nature, Water, Fire, and Celestial. But… when Gaia got corrupt...”

“… I see.” Zephyr glanced between all the elementals before looking back at Caelian.

“She wants the other gods to purify my elementals. She managed to purify my Nature elemental before she… faded.”

“… I’ll be honest, I’m not sure Leviatha would purify your elemental for you even in her un-corrupt state.”

“I have to try anyways.” Caelian sighed as he shakily stood up. “I… I don’t want to be like this forever. I just… Want everything to go back how it used to be.”

Zephyr watched him take a few shaky steps away before standing up himself. He walked over to Caelian and steadied him when he was about to fall over.

“You should probably at least rest a moment, you almost drowned.” Zephyr said.

When Caelian shook his head, he let out a sigh.

“Fine, then at least lean on me.. Let’s go find those other guys you were with.”

[elementsofemotion]

Chapter 9: Gaia, The Nature Goddess

Caelian ascended the steps slowly, finally taking Nathaniel’s warnings to mind. It was ironic. He never thought there’d be a day where Iaestia wasn’t there to help him. He had always been so confident she’d always be there, and that confidence showed in his carelessness. But she was gone now, replaced with an unfamiliar spirit that he wasn’t sure would help him in his time of need, let alone if it even had the power to do so.

Where was Nathaniel, anyways? Was he okay? Had he fled somewhere, or had the corruption sunken its icy grip into him, corrupting him just like the flowers and trees that surrounded them? What if he was one of the many sprites Damien had cut down? If he was, would he resent the shadow spirit even more than he already did, or would he understand it as the mercy killing that it was? He wasn’t sure.

It all hardly mattered at the moment. He carefully side-stepped a stream of acid that was falling down from above. He couldn’t help but wonder if Iaestia would’ve been able to protect him from the acid, just like she did with other things.

His heart sunk down into his stomach as he peered over the edge of the stairs, down at the ground far below them. They had managed to climb over halfway to the top. Damien and Evelyn were further back than he was, each of them being even more careful on the ascent up than he was. It wasn’t a surprise that they were terrified. It was their first time making the climb, and it was more treacherous than usual. Caelian had years of climbing the stairs under his belt. The only thing making him take it easy was the acid and his previously defunct sense of self preservation.

“A… Are we almost there?” Evelyn asked, lingering even further back than Damien was.

Caelian ignored the question as he climbed another section of the stairs. Thankfully the ones near the top weren’t as eaten away by acid or fallen away like other sections down below had been. To say it had taken them over an hour to get this far would be an understatement.

“We should be almost there, Evelyn,” Damien said, daring to lean out and peer upwards.

It was then that the forest shook with an otherworldly howl. Not beautiful, like a wolf- but deep and guttural, as if whatever made it seemed to be angry at the visitor’s disturbance.

“... Though I’m not sure we want to be,” Damien added.

Caelian stared up through the branches. Was that Gaia? No, it couldn’t have been. She couldn’t make a noise like that. But then, something deep inside of his chest was telling him that it was.

When Caelian stepped onto the familiar platform at the top of the long flight of stairs, he paused. Acid had formed large pools under the naked canopy, though somehow didn’t eat it’s way through the wood. Damien and Evelyn quickly pushed past him, both of them glad to be off of the staircase and on more solid ground, if it could even be called that. As Damien and Evelyn worked to get their breath back, Caelian took a tentative step forward, “Gaia?” He called. There was no answer.

There was a large purple mound in the middle of the room, which Caelian didn’t recognize. For a moment he thought that it was the giant ball of moss Gaia kept, but it looked too strangely deformed. It almost looked as if it were moving.

Caelian took another step forward. “Gaia?”

The mound in the center of the platform sprung to life, whirling to face Caelian and leaving him pale. She was barely recognizable.

Her bottom jaw was gone, bug-like appendages sprouting out of her open throat in it’s place. The lip on her top jaw seemed to be torn away, leaving her teeth to show as a part of her boney face. Only one of her antlers still stood proud- the other had been snapped off, leaving behind only a sharp stump of bone.

The mound appeared to be the main part of her body, her torso sticking out of the writhing mass of flesh. Her arms had been turned into long claws, reminiscent of a praying mantis, and her wings had been plucked down to the bone. Thorns and vines ensnared her writhing body, leaving acid to pour out of the wounds.

One of her eye sockets was completely empty, with more acid taking it’s place, slowly dripping out of the hole. She looked down at Caelian with an unreadable expression.

“Caelian…” Her voice was strange. It still held a tone of kindness, but sounded garbled, as if numerous voices were speaking at once.

“Gaia…?” Caelian’s voice quivered as he took another step forward, staring up at the goddess he barely recognized. He could barely believe that the monstrous being before him was the same Gaia he knew and loved. Tears were forming in the corners of his eyes. His blurred vision along with his let down guard let him miss the fact that she had slowly raised her razor sharp claws into the air.

“Caelian!” She screeched, causing him to stop like a deer in the headlights. If it weren’t for Damien leaping forward and shoving him out of the way, he would have been impaled as Gaia brought down one of her claws, splintering the wood beneath it.

She let out a ghastly howl as she dug her claws into the floor and dragged herself forward towards them.

“You did this!” She screeched, her words echoing through the forest, “This is your fault!”

Caelian sat on his hands and knees, shaking as he stared at the floor. He barely budged as Damien shoved him.

“Hey! Get a grip! Ugh,” Damien growled, “Annette, get ready.”

The shadow sprite ascended from their shoulder and began to glow a dark shade of purple as Damien pointed a hand towards Gaia, who already had a claw in the air, ready to strike. She was brought to a halt mid-swing, causing her to let out a cry as shadow chains wrapped around her, keeping her claw hanging in the air. It was only a moment later that the chains broke, and Damien only had enough time to mumble out a “shit,” before getting slammed into a nearby thick branch. They coughed as they got up onto their hands and knees, thankful that they hadn’t been sent flying right off of the platform.

Gaia had turned her attention to Damien as Caelian was left shaking on the floor. Damien tried scrambling up onto their feet, but slipped on a puddle of acid, causing them to fall into the burning liquid with a surprised yell.

As Gaia lifted her claw, it was then that Evelyn sprung up onto her, clamping down onto her flesh with her sharp fangs. Hardly affected, Gaia growled as she shook her off her arm, using her other claw to swat at her in mid-air and send her flying across to the other side of the platform.

With both Damien and Evelyn lying on the ground, she turned her attention back to Caelian, who had sat up. He looked dazedly up at her as she lingered over him.

“Look at what you’ve done,” She hissed, “Have you seen it? The forest, your friends. How many lives were lost because of you?”

“I… I didn’t…”

“You did this!” She screeched, lowering herself so that her face was in front of him, “This is your fault.”

Deny it.

“Are you happy now with your new elementals? Was accepting them worth all of this?” She asked.

Deny it.

The voice in the back of his head was buzzing like static. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Caelian said, lowering his gaze, “I haven’t done anything.”

“Don’t lie to me, Caelian,” Gaia hissed, spewing rancid breath onto him, “I know exactly what you’ve done.”

The green lantern that spewed acid materialized next to Caelian with a chime.

Deny it. You’ve done nothing wrong. They brought this upon themselves. They deserve it. The denizens that treated you so poorly. Gaia did nothing about it. It’s her fault. She withheld information from you. If she had told you about the other elements none of this would have ever happened.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!” Caelian said, “It’s not my fault this happened! You- You’re the goddess! Why didn’t you prevent any of this from happening?!”

“I was weakened when you were corrupt,” Gaia bellowed, “And already weak from protecting the forest with my barrier. All you had to do was what I asked of you. All of this is due to your negligence.”

“It is not!” Caelian shouted, standing as a green aura began to glow around his horns. Vines shot up and entangled Gaia, digging into her flesh and causing acid to spew forth. She let out a scream as she struggled against them, but wasn’t able to break them as she did the chains.

“If you had just told me about the other elements this would have never happened! It’s your fault!” He shouted.

Thorns wrapped around Gaia’s throat, asphyxiating her as she struggled. She tried to say his name, but all that could come out was a low growl.

“Stop blaming me for everything! Everyone, and now you… You said you believed in me but that was just a lie!” Caelian said.

Gaia’s struggling was cut short and she went limp as another vine materialized, piercing her straight through the heart. The forest fell silent as she hung there, propped up by the vines, motionless. A moment later the vines shriveled away, leaving her to tumble over, landing on the floor and shaking the platform, causing Caelian to lose his balance and fall. He stared blankly at her body. What Happened? He knew he had to kill her, but this…

He hadn’t meant to do this. He hadn’t meant to kill her like this.

“Caelian…”

He jumped in surprise when she spoke in a familiar tone. Warm and gentle, but quavering. He watched as her body shrunk, pieces of her drifting away and disappearing into thin air until all that was left was what he remembered her to look like. Gaia had returned to her former self, albeit in her small, human-size form. But she wasn’t moving.

“Gaia?!” Caelian quickly stood up and ran over to her before kneeling down beside her. Elsewhere, Damien was helping Evelyn onto her feet, and the two of them quietly watched them from afar.

“Caelian…” She managed a weak smile as he turned her over and pulled her into his lap. “I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean those things I said. I do believe in you… I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you.”

“N-no, don’t apologize,” Caelian said quickly, tears forming in the corners of his eyes, “You’re- You’re going to be okay, right?”

She let out a soft sigh, “In the end, I will be fine. But I’m going to die, Caelian.”

“But-”

“Hush, it’s okay. Death for me isn’t the same as it is for you.”

“I- I know,” Caelian said, his voice breaking, “Mrs. Tamia told me, but you- I- I still don’t want you to die, Gaia. What if you’re not the same when you come back?”

“That will depend on you, my little sprout,” She said with a smile, “But there’s something that troubles me… Caelian, you’re elementals…”

She paused as the Toxin elemental drifted down to her. She weakly outstretched her arms, and the elemental allowed her to take hold of it. She closed her eyes, and her hands glowed with a dim green energy. The glass on the lantern began to crack, before it shattered with a shrill scream. For a moment Caelian was horrified, but seconds later the glass mended itself. The thorns on the vines that surrounded the lantern sunk in, disappearing as flowers bloomed in their place. The green aura inside the lantern darkened into a forest green, replacing the eye-piercing acid green that had previously taken residence.

“Nyxidae!” Caelian exclaimed, reaching an arm out and touching the lantern as it made multiple soft chimes. “You- you’re back!”

“As I thought,” Gaia smiled, “They can be purified… Caelian, listen closely. I need to tell you something important.”

“What is it?” He asked, looking down at her.

“As I said, Caelian, how I act after my rebirth will be up to you… which is why your corruption is a problem.”

Caelian felt himself deflate, “So… I really am corrupt? But isn’t corruption not able to be purified? How did you purify Nyx?”

Gaia shook her head, “In a way. You both are and are not. Your elementals are a part of you, Caelian. With them being corrupt, you’ll act in ways that aren’t yourself. I’m sure you’ve already experienced this.”

Caelian thought back to the times he had felt the desire to harm others. “Y-yeah, I guess so… But…”

“If you were to tend to me after my rebirth as you are now, I’d turn out as if I were corrupt. Perhaps not as bad, but it wouldn’t be the me you’re familiar with. As for the Elementals… sprites are different from spirits. They're made out of elemental energy. If enough light energy is siphoned into them, they can be purified. Unfortunately, the same cannot be done for spirits. But since it’s not you, yourself, that has been corrupt, what has been done can be reversed.”

“Okay, so… You purified Nyx, can’t you purify the others?”

Gaia weakly shook her head. Her eyes were starting to look dull. “I can only purify your nature sprite, Nyxidae. I don’t have enough energy to try and purify the others even if I could. Caelian, you need to go to the other gods and request that they purify your elementals. Go to Leviatha, Ifrit, and Sol.”

“I won’t have time for that!” Caelian said, “Gaia you can’t die, you can’t-”

“I can postpone my rebirth,” Gaia said, giving Caelian a sense of hope, “By lying dormant until you return.”

His hope immediately faltered. “But… But I-”

“Shh, sweetheart,” Gaia smiled as she wiped away his tears, “I had hoped I’d never see you cry… But that was foolish of me. I should have told you everything instead of trying to protecting. I’m so sorry.... I love you, Caelian. I need to go now.”

“No!” Caelian wailed, “Please don’t! Please don’t leave me!”

Gaia gently cupped his face, “I believe in you, Caelian. I was right to choose you as my disciple. Return to me when your elementals are purified.”

Her hand fell from his face. Her eyes remained open, dull and lifeless. Caelian sobbed as her body melted like sand through his fingertips, becoming a pile of green sparkling powder on the ground.

“I love you too, mom…” He whispered.

A moment later a large flower bud sprouted forth out of the powder, giving off a gentle green aura as it swayed in the wind that picked up, sending the green powder flying out into the forest. The forest would slowly begin to heal even while it’s goddess slept.

Caelian stood up with a sniffle as he wiped his face on his sleeve. Damien and Evelyn, who had been giving him some space, slowly walked up to him as he turned and looked at his nature elemental.

“At least you’re with me, Nyx-” Caelien’s words got caught in his throat. The world around him began to spin, and the last thing he saw was Evelyn gasping as Damien jumping towards him as his vision went black.

---------

Caelian woke up with his face pressed against grass. He groggily pushed himself up and looked at his surroundings. This wasn’t the eternal forest. It was a forest, but everything seemed dark. The sky was black, and everything seemed transparent and cast in a blue tint. It almost looked as though the foliage around him was glowing. Looking down at his hands, he saw that he, too, was transparent and tinted blue.

“So you’ve awoken.”

He jumped at the loud voice, and quickly stood up. Looking around, he couldn’t see anyone that was near him.

“Bother not looking for me, for I am not which you can see.”

“W… what?” Caelian asked, “Who are you?”

There was a long pause.

“You may call me the Dreamer. It is what I went by, long ago.”

“Am… Am I dead?” Caelian asked.

“No, you are not. It seems purifying an elemental wears more on it’s user than Gaia thought… But this is not a realm you are meant to be. Not yet. But I am glad you are here, even if your visit must be brief.”

“I don’t get it,” Caelian said as he stood up, “Where am I?”

“Somewhere between where the realms meet. Follow the path. Someone is waiting for you.”

“Who is?”

“You will see. I must go, but we will meet again, Caelian.”

“Wait! How do you know my name?!” Caelian asked. But he got no reply.

He looked at the strange forest around him. Follow a path? He didn’t see a path. Taking a step forward, he was surprised when the foliage seemed to suddenly come to life, parting to reveal a pale blue path along the dark ground.

That was unsettling. Everything around him felt unsettling, with the eerie blue glow it all had. Caelian tentatively took a step forward, the tip of his boot barely touching the glowing path. With a deep breath, he started forward, following its twists and curves as it led him deeper into the ethereal forest.

He felt uncomfortable. Though he heard the sound of the wind, the leaves around him remained perfectly still. No animals could be heard, either. It almost reminded him of the corrupted forest. Sensing the mana in the air made him feel… surprisingly calm. He jumped at the revelation. Focusing in on the mana made him feel almost sleepy. Just what was this place?

The path eventually led him to a clearing, which opened up before him. In its center, on a fallen log, sat someone Caelian couldn’t recognize, but felt eerily familiar. He had impressive antlers like a deer, and long, tied back hair. He couldn’t tell what color it was, as the being was a pale blue, as was everything else in the forest. He took notice of Caelian as soon as he stepped into the clearing and gave him a smile.

“Hello Caelian,” He said, “Nice meeting you. I’m Nathaniel.”

“You’re… huh?” Caelian asked, “But then… so I am dead.”

Nathaniel shook his head with a laugh as he slid off of the log, “While this is the realm of the dead, you’re very much alive.”

“Then if I’m not dead, why am I here?”

“It’s quite the mystery, isn't it?” Nathaniel grinned, “But it matters not; I can show you back to the realm of the living, so don’t worry too much about it. Follow me.”

Caelian hesitantly followed after Nathaniel as he led the way. “So… If this is the realm of the dead… Does that mean I could find Gaia here somewhere?”

“Oh, has Gaia died?” Nathaniel asked, sounding nonchalant, “She doesn’t really die, so she shouldn’t be here.”

“O-Oh,” Caelian said, sounding disappointed.

“How did she die, if you don’t mind me asking? She shouldn’t be old enough yet.”

“I… I had to kill her. She was corrupt. I didn’t want to.” He quickly added.

“I see,” Nathaniel turned and gave him a sympathetic look, “I can only imagine how hard that was for you. I don’t think I would’ve been able to, myself.”

“Why do you say that? Everyone always talks about you. How well you protected everyone and the forest. I’m sure you would’ve managed.” Caelian said.

Nathaniel gave a small laugh, “I suppose in the end I’d have to. But hm, they’re still talking about me? Shouldn’t they be focused on you?”

“Nobody… really likes me.”

“Let me guess- they think you’re too young?”

Caelian looked surprised, “Y-yeah, they do…”

“And they think you’re unworthy of being her disciple.”

“How do you know that?” Caelian asked.

“History is bound to repeat itself, I suppose.” Nathaniel said.

“What does that mean?”

“I was rejected at first for the same reason,” Nathaniel said with a soft smile, “I was very young when Gaia chose me. Practically a baby, hadn’t even lived a century yet. Oh, the looks and sneersI got…”

“But everyone loves you now,” Caelian said, “So how?”

“Well… I just never gave up, I guess,” Nathaniel shrugged, “Even if they hated me, I did what I could to help. I guess eventually people started to view me as someone worthy of being called a disciple.”

“How could you help them when they hated you?”

“I ignored the looks and comments. It wasn’t easy, but there were some who were kind to me. I started with them, and slowly, slowly worked my way out.”

Caelian frowned, “It feels too hard. I want to just ignore them and focus on helping Gaia.”

“Part of the disciple’s job is helping the people. By helping them, you help Gaia,” Nathaniel reminded, “You’ll get there, Caelian. Believe in yourself. Gaia chose you for a reason.”

“Y-Yeah, but… what kind of disciple am I now? I can’t even help Gaia after her rebirth with how I am right now…”

“Are you referring to your elementals? Hm, yes, that’s a problem… But they can be purified, no? After that, you should do a fine job. Helping Gaia after a rebirth. I had to do it once myself, you know.”

“You did?” Caelian asked, “What- what was it like?”

“Well, after Gaia got too old and died, she sprouted into this giant bud. Then one day it opened and there was a child inside of it. That child was Gaia. I essentially had to raise her like she was my own,” He chuckled.

“So Gaia will turn into a baby?”

“Essentially. She’ll grow at a much more rapid pace than a normal spirit child, so don’t worry too much.”

“But... I’ve never even held a baby before…”

“Ah- I see,” Nathaniel stroked his chin, “I’m sure there’s someone that would be willing to teach you a few of the basic things you’d need to know.”

Caelian frowned. Maybe Mrs. Tamia could help him.

“Well, like I said, don’t worry too much,” Nathaniel grinned, “You’ll do a fine job. Anyways, this is where our paths divide.”

Caelian hadn’t been paying attention to where they were. He looked around, noting that the darkness around them had turned to a bright white.

“W-wait, I have more questions I want to ask!” Caelian said, but Nathaniel merely shook his head.

“It’s best if you don’t dally here any longer than needed. This isn’t a place you belong. Now, wake up.”

[elementsofemotion]

Chapter 8: The Forest That Cries Acid

“Why does a shadow spirit know how to enter the Eternal Forest, anyways?” Caelian asked as the trio made their way through the forest.

“Why wouldn’t I? How to enter all the different realms is common knowledge,” Damien said.

“But Evelyn not know how to enter anywhere except Scorched Lands…” Evelyn said, her ears drooping sadly.

“Yes, well… Anyways,” Damien quickly mumbled while pushing up their glasses, “Thankfully the Eternal Forest has a relatively simple entrance. Realms like the Depths and the Highlands can typically only be accessed by their own residents.”

“Why's that?” Evelyn asked.

“Because you need to be able to breath underwater or fly, respectively.”

“Oh… But Birdie has wings! Could get into Highlands,” Eveyln said.

Caelian remained quiet, opting not to share the information that he wasn’t able to fly.

“Right... Anyways, here we are,” Damien said, stopping in a clearing.

“... This is still the human realm, asshole,” Caelian said.

Damien sighed. Meanwhile, Evelyn had taken notice of a ring of flowers and mushrooms. She walked over and crouched down, inspecting them with silent admiration.

“I’m aware this is still the human realm, Caelian,” Damien said, as if they were talking to a small child, “However, this clearing has what we need to get out of the human realm.”

“What, some flowers?” Caelian asked.

“It’s called a fairy circle,” They said as they walked up next to Evelyn, “Thankfully found in abundance in this particular forest.”

They knelt down, placing their hands into the ring. Their hands glowed with a purple aura, before shadow magic transferred from their hands and seeped into the ground. They stood up and took a step back. A moment later the inner ring of the fairy circle glowed with a bright green light, magic steadily rising up and forming into an oblong shape above the ground. For a moment Caelian thought it just created a see-through ring, but as he stepped closer, he released what he saw didn’t match what was behind it. He could see a different forest within the portal Damien had created.

“Alright, everyone through,” Damien said.

“Why us first?” Caelian asked.

“Because the portal will close as soon as whoever opens it goes through it.”

“Evelyn will go first!” Evelyn said excitedly as she stood up and jumped through the portal without hesitation.

Caelian watched as Evelyn ran out of view before hesitantly sticking a foot in through the portal. He heard an annoyed sigh before he was pushed the rest of the way through, nearly falling flat onto his face.

“What was that for?!” He asked, whipping around to face Damien as the portal disappeared behind them.

“I don’t have time for you to fuck around,” They said.

Caelian rolled his eyes, pausing for a moment as Evelyn ran past them again with a giggle. He observed his surroundings, noting that things looked surprisingly normal. He took a moment to sense the mana flowing through the air, and sure enough: They were in the Eternal Forest.

“Hey… are you sure that the forest had been corrupt?” Caelian asked with uncertainty, “It doesn’t look… like what I saw last time. This is normal. Could it have not actually-”

“We’re on the very outskirts judging from how far we went into the forest. It may have not spread here yet, but it will,” Damien said.

“Oh…” Caelian frowned, noting that it was eerily quiet. There didn’t appear to be any birds around, and there wasn’t even any wind to rustle the leaves of the trees.

“Evelyn smells a weird smell,” Evelyn said as she bounced back over to the group, looking troubled, “It smells like when Evelyn’s food go bad, but worse.”

Caelian inhaled, “I don’t smell anything.”

“Evelyn can probably smell better than we can,” Damien said, “It’s probably from whatever’s happening due to the corruption. Anyways, so about those questions I had- Uh, excuse me?” Damien had been retrieving a notebook from the bag they carried with them, but upon looking up, found Caelian had begun to walk off.

Evelyn stood there in confusion as Damien ran after Caelian, forcing him to a halt as they stood in front of them.

“We had an agreement,” Damien said irritably, “I was nice, I brought you back to your forest, now answer my questions.”

“Can’t it wait until I’m done?” Caelian asked.

“Done with what?! No!”

“Then ask while I walk,” Caelian said with a sigh as he moved past Damien.

Damien clutched their notebook with a bit more force than necessary. Annette, who had been sitting on his shoulder, noted their frustration and gave them a gentle pat on the cheek.

“Yeah yeah, fine, sorry,” They mumbled quietly so that only she could hear. They waited for Evelyn to run past, before begrudgingly turning to follow.

“Fine, first question, then,” They said as they flipped open their notebook, “Why do you have four elementals?”

“Gaia gave them to me.”

“No shit, jackass. I meant why did Gaia give them to you.”

“Pass.”

“Uh, no. No Pass. Either answer the question or I’ll drag you back out of this forest myself.”

“I don’t want to answer personal questions,” Caelian said.

“Well surprise, sometimes science gets personal,” Damien said, “So answer or you’re going back out and you’re staying out until you decide to cooperate.”

“... She gave me them so I could feel emotion.”

Damien had begun to write his answer down but paused half-way. They looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. “... What do you mean so you can feel emotion?”

“I was born without the ability to feel emotion. So she gave me elementals of each element. Each one embodies certain emotions, or something, so they work in tandem to let me be normal.”

“Ha. Amazing, one of the things I wanted to prove was that elementals had an effect on emotion and you can confirm that they do… Wait, you said one of each element. That’d mean you have eight, not four.”

“There’s eight?!” Caelian stopped dead in his tracks.

Damien gave him a hard look. “... Name what elementals you have.”

“I… One is shadow…”

“Mhm. And the others?”

“I…” Caelian stared uncertainly at the ground.

Damien folded their arms, “There’s something that’s been bothering me ever since I first saw it. You’re not a dark spirit, but you have a shadow elemental. If Gaia was going to give you only four elementals, I can’t imagine they wouldn’t just be all of the light elements. No reason to include shadow, especially with how hard it’d be for her to get a shadow sprite. I want you to explain this to me.”

“N… no.”

“No?”

“I don’t want to,” Caelian said quickly as he took off walking again.

“I don’t care if you want to, you’re going to,” Damien said as they followed him.

“Damien, if Birdie doesn’t want to talk about it, maybe Damien shouldn’t make him…” Evelyn said, sensing how tense Caelian had become.

“No, I’m not letting this go. It makes no sense. You’re lying about something. So what is it?”

“It’s none of you’re fucking business!” Caelian snapped as he turned around to face Damien.

A moment later he slammed onto the ground on his stomach, struggling against some familiar shadowy chains.

Evelyn let out a surprised gasp, “Damien!”

But they merely held their hand up in a ‘stop’ motion before kneeling down in front of the struggling Caelian. Annette was hovering in the air next to Damien, giving off a deep purple aura as she observed.

“This won’t be like last time, you won’t be breaking them,” Damien said, “So just answer the question.”

Caelian spent a few minutes struggling against the chains, refusing to answer Damien, who had merely shrugged and said that they would wait. With a whimper, Caelian finally stopped struggling against the chains, breathing heavily with a lump in his throat.

“I- They- I got corrupt, okay?! I had nature, water, fire, and celestial and they got corrupt and changed into whatever the fuck they are now, happy?!”

Damien stared at him blankly, before sighing as their expression turned into a pitiful look. The chains disappeared, releasing Caelian, who immediately sat up and scooted away from Damien with a sniffle.

“Not what I was expecting, but you don’t seem to be lying,” Damien said as Evelyn sat down next to Caelian with a worried expression, “It’s interesting, though, if elementals have heavy influence over their user, going as far as influencing their emotions, that you’re not also corrupt.”

“What do you mean?” Caelian asked, wiping away a tear as he glared at Damien.

“You’re not corrupt. Your elementals may be, but you’re fine. Well, as fine as you can be, I guess.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m a shadow spirit. You light spirits always like to say we’re the closest thing to a corrupted spirit and you're asking me how I’d know?” Damien shrugged, “Anyways, you’re not trying to mindlessly kill everything in sight, so you’re not corrupt.”

Evelyn had tried to give Caelian a hug, but was quickly pushed away, causing her to pout.

“Are you sure?” Caelian asked, “The forest denizens were all certain I was corrupt. That’s why they…” he paused, uncertain if he should continue.

But it was too late as Damien gave him a hard look. “... Holy shit, they threw you out, didn’t they?” They asked, “Haha, of course. Light spirits are such fucking cowards. They’d banish a kid over some corrupted elementals… incredible.

“... Yeah,” Was all Caelian managed to say.

He stood up, not bothering to brush the dirt off of himself. Damien sighed as they stood up as well.

“So in that case, what you have right now is Toxin, Ice, Fear, and Shadow… noted. I would’ve preferred to study light elementals, since those are what’s been so hard for me to find, but oh well. I’ll give you a break for now, since you’re a bit distraught at the moment,” They said as they scribbled something down in their notebook. Annette landed on their shoulder again.

“Gee, thanks.” Caelian mumbled before turning and walking off.

Evelyn followed close to Caelian, a worried expression on her face. “Did they hurt Birdie when they throw him out?” She asked.

“You mean when I was banished? … Yeah, actually. They were going to kill me, but… a friend of mine stopped them.” He said.

“They were going to kill Birdie?!” Evelyn gasped, “But, Birdie didn’t even do anything, did he?”

“... I… Um…. I did, actually… I attacked this one guy… but he deserved it.”

“I was going to chime in with a ‘it's hardly your fault if your shadow elemental has that tight of a grip on you’ until you got to that last part,” Damien said.

“What? He did deserve it. He’s a dickhead.”

“What is a ‘dickhead’?” Evelyn asked, causing Damien to snort in amusement.

“... Nevermind, Evelyn,” Caelian said.

As the three of them walked on, signs of corruption began to slowly appear. A dead tree here, some acid there, until they got into the heart of the forest, and they were surrounded by the sickly purple foliage and acid-dripping trees that Caelian was uncomfortably familiar with.

“It smells bad,” Evelyn said, covering her nose, “Same smell like before, but worse.”

“The acid does have a bit of a potent smell,” Damien observed.

“You can go back, Evelyn,” Caelian said, “I don’t know why you're still following us, anyways. Don’t you have a plant to find?”

“Evelyn does need to do that, but she wants to help Birdie, too!” She said.

Caelian rolled his eyes, “There’s nothing to help with.”

“But…” Evelyn’s ears drooped, “Evelyn find way to help, anyways.”

“Right, why did you want to come back here, again?” Damien asked, looking at a patch of acid-burned grass, “It doesn’t seem livable.”

“I just…” Caelian paused, “Need to make sure some people are doing okay.”

It was nearly impossible for Caelian to recognize his usual landmarks with how much the scenery had changed. He was crestfallen, feeling even more lost than he did in the human realm’s forest. It was a miracle he was able to lead them to the forest denizen’s town. Though, it was so unrecognizable, he had nearly walked right past it.

“Jeez… What happened here?” Damien commented, looking at the destruction around them.

Houses that once stood tall were crumbled to the ground, decayed and eaten away at by the acid falling from any trees that were still standing. Most of the trees had been uprooted and fallen over, though that didn’t stop acid from seeping out from underneath the grizzled bark.

Where was everyone? Caelian had been peeking into any structures that were still standing, searching for any signs of life. But none of the denizens were anywhere to be found.

“Is strange, looks like town, but nobody is here…” Evelyn commented as she looked around.

“It is a town… at least, it was,” Caelian said.

“They all probably took shelter somewhere,” Damien said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they fled to the human realm.”

“No, I don’t think they’d go to the human realm,” Caelian said, “They have to be around here somewhere.”

A moment later the two of them heard a squeal from Evelyn. Not knowing where she had run off to, they looked around until Caelian spotted her over by one of the fallen trees. Standing next to her was someone that he recognized. They were staring at Evelyn with their weapon drawn. A moment later it was knocked out of their hands by a shadowy arm that sprouted from the ground.

“Okay bud, let’s not go pointing a bow at Evelyn, she’s harmless,” Damien said as the arm retracted back into the ground.

“Y-you’re a shadow spirit,” The man spat, “What are you and a fire spirit doing in our- YOU!” He yelled, pointing towards Caelian, “How did you get back in here?!”

Caelian frowned and Evelyn quickly darted away from the man and hid behind Damien as they stepped forward, “I let him in. Lovely of you guys to throw out one of your own with all of this going on.”

“You are corrupt! I knew it! You’re working with the shadow spirits!”

“Oh, come on,” Damien said, “Are all light spirits conspiracy theorists?”

“Lonnie, where are others? Where did everyone go?” Caelian asked.

“Why would I tell you?! You did this to us!”

When Evelyn and Damien gave him a curious look, he grew quickly flustered, “I didn’t do anything, the forest getting corrupt wasn’t my fault!”

“Oh, so it was just a coincidence that it happened at the same time you got corrupted? The Goddess’ disciple failed her!”

“The Goddess’ what? Wait, her what?” Damien asked.

Caelian flinched as both they and Evelyn gave him a wide-eyed look.

“Aah! Birdie- C-Caelian is a disciple, Evelyn is sorry she is rude!!” She said, quickly lowering her head and giving him a bow.

“C-cut it out,” Caelian huffed before quickly moving over to Lonnie, who backed away with a disdainful look, “Lonnie, where are the others? You have to take me to them.”

“I have to do nothing.”

“At least now I understand why Gaia gave him elementals,” Damien mumbled under his breath, “Just not feeling emotion didn’t seem right, itd be stupid to grant them over just that… Wonder why make him a disciple in the first place though… Hey, asshole, shouldn’t you be listening to your guys’ disciple?” He said to Lonnie, who was in a glaring match with Caelian.

“He’s not our disciple. Not anymore.”

“What, are you gonna try to say Garson is your disciple now?” Caelian spat.

“Garson… Garson is dead.”

“What?”

“He’s dead,” Lonnie repeated, “He led an expedition to see what happened to the Goddess. The others made it back but he…. He got attacked.”

“Attacked by what?” Caelian asked.

“By the Goddess.”

“Bullshit,” Caelian said, “Gaia would never hurt one of the forest denizens!”

“That’s what we thought,” Lonnie said gravely, “But she… that thing isn't the Goddess anymore.”

“Don’t you dare speak about her like that,” Caelian said, stepping towards him.

“Don’t believe me? Go see for yourself. Maybe she’ll get along with a corrupted spirit.”

“Oh fuck off, Lonnie,” Caelian said, “Where are the others?”

“I’m not-”

Lonnie was cut off when Caelian slammed a purple claw into his shoulder, pinning him against the fallen tree trunk. He winced as acid soaked through the back of his vest.

“I said where are they?!”

“F… fine, it’s not worth dying over,” Lonnie choked, “Let me go and I’ll take you to where we’ve holed up.”

Caelian released him, the purple claw disappearing from his hand as Lonnie stumbled to the ground. He quickly stood up, glaring at Caelian as he walked past him and picked up his bow.

“Don’t try anything.” Caelian said.

“Between you and that shadow spirit, there’s nothing i’d be able to do.” Lonnie mumbled.

As Lonnie led the way, Caelian hung back as he followed. Damien and Evelyn walked alongside him, Evelyn looking at him curiously while Damien stared blankly ahead.

“So, when were you going to decide to grace us with the knowledge that you're the nature disciple?”

“... I didn’t think it was important,” Caelian said.

“Bullshit you didn’t,” Damien sighed, “But whatever. It doesn’t change anything.”

“Right… so can you stop looking at me like that?” Caelian asked, looking over to Evelyn.

Evelyn gave a sheepish smile, “Sorry, Evelyn just never meet a disciple before… very important job!”

“Yeah, I guess,” Caelian mumbled, “Not like I can even do my job anymore.”

Evelyn looked at him empathetically, while ahead of them Lonnie turned to get their attention.

“The camp is straight ahead,” He said quickly, “I’m not gonna take the blame if you go and attack everybody, so I’m out. Keep walking and you’ll find them.”

“Tch, what a coward…” Damien said as Lonnie ran off in another direction.

The camp quickly came into view. It was a clearing devoid of any trees. Caelian could imagine that they selected this location because no acid would drop down onto them. Tents were sprung up throughout the area, and most spirits were sat at the campfires they had set up.

It didn’t take long for someone to notice the newcomers, and when they did, they immediately froze. More and more people noticed Caelian as he weaved among them, and quickly moved to get out of his way. Caelian knew that with Garson gone, it was unlikely for anyone to approach him. Evelyn and Damien tried to stay close to Caelian as they walked. Damien was unbothered by the looks they received, but Evelyn was starting to feel nervous from the hostility.

“Caelian?” A young girl stood up from where she was sitting, looking at him in surprise. “What are you doing back?”

“Oh, Daisy…” Caelian said, taking a step back as the girl came over, “I got some help.”

“It’s been awful ever since they threw you out,” She said, watery-eyed, “Everything’s been getting destroyed, and… Garson died, you know…”

“I heard.”

Daisy frowned, taking a step back. “I know you didn’t like him, but…”

“I really don’t care that he died,” Caelian said flatly, “Daisy, where’s Mrs. Tamia?”

Daisy gave him a surprised look, before turning her head to look at the ground. “She… isn’t doing well. I don’t know if Sanders will let you see her, but I’ll take you to where she is.”

The group followed Daisy as she led the way while explaining everything that had occurred while Caelian was gone. How Garson had immediately taken charge, how they moved when their homes began to fall apart, how Garson had led a group to go see Gaia, how they had returned without him and recounted how he died.

“... Ever since then, we’ve kind of just… been sitting here waiting for something to happen, I guess,” Daisy said quietly, “But now you’re here! You’re our disciple, you can do something, right?”

“None of you seemed to think that before,” Caelian said flatly.

“O-oh… I…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Caelian said as he walked past her and towards the tent she had indicated Mrs. Tamia was in. Thankfully Sanders didn’t seem to be around at the moment.

“We should probably wait outsi-” Damien started, but stopped with a sigh when he saw Evelyn following Caelian into the tent, “Or we just don’t give him any privacy, that’s fine,” He mumbled as he followed.

“Mrs. Tamia?” Caelian said quietly as he stepped into the tent. It felt weird to see Mrs. Tamia lying there in a tent, not surrounded by all of her trinkets. He felt a pain in his heart when he realized that all of her belongings were all gone, eroded away by acid. He’d never be able to see or play with them again.

“Caelian?” The old woman asked, moving her head to look at her visitors. Damien held Evelyn back near the entrance of the tent while Caelian moved to sit down next to Mrs. Tamia.

“Oh, Caelian, I’m so glad that you’re alright…” Mrs. Tamia sighed, her breath fogging up her glasses.

“Mrs. Tamia… are you okay?” Caelian asked. He felt afraid of the fact that he didn’t feel like he actually cared. That he was just going through the motion of what he knew was right. Mrs. Tamia had always been kind to him, why was his last memory of her held with such disdain?

“I’ll be fine, dearie,” Mrs. Tamia said, “The acid just doesn’t agree with these old bones. How did you get back in?”

“I got help,” Caelian said, glancing over to where Damien and Evelyn stood, “Will you be okay? Everything is destroyed…”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Worry for the others,” Mrs. Tamia sighed, “Garson led a group to see how the Goddess was holding up, but, well…”

“I heard,” Caelian said with little emotion, “He’s dead.”

“He acted cruelly towards you, Caelian, but he was well-loved in the community. He and the others we lost will be missed.”

“I’m sure.”

“You need to go to the Goddess, Caelian,” Mrs Tamia said, “The survivors came back with… stories. Of what happened. Of what they saw. Gaia is corrupt. That’s why the forest is like this. But I’m sure you’ve already realized it.”

“I guess I might’ve,” Caelian said as he stared at the ground, “But what am I supposed to do?”

“You have to kill the Goddess.”

“What?!” Caelian jumped in surprise, “You’re joking, right? I-I can’t kill her! Besides, she’s a god!”

Mrs. Tamia shook her head, “The only way to save Gaia is to kill her, Caelian. Trigger a rebirth. She should still be weak from the corruption taking over her. If you wait, the forest will be poisoned for thousands of years to come, until she dies naturally.”

“What do you mean die naturally? She’s a god, she can’t die!”

“Death for her doesn’t mean the same as it does for the rest of us,” Mrs. Tamia explained, “Whenever one of the gods dies, they rebirth. I’m surprised she never told you this, Caelian. This is the biggest reason for the disciples. When a god rebirths, they’re essentially a child. It’s the disciples job to raise them, and help restore their power. The disciple greatly affects the outcome of the rebirthed god. It’s why she chose you, Caelian. You have a childlike innocence. Just like Nathaniel, and just like all of those before him. It’s always been the type the goddess has chosen.”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s well documented, my dear,” Mrs. Tamia chuckled.

“Okay, but… I… I still don’t think I’d be able to kill her.”

“I know it’s a tall ask, Caelian. But it’s what must be done, for the sake of Gaia and this forest. It’s what Garson and the others tried to do, but, well…”

“But I’m not even that strong,” Caelian said, “Gaia never even gave me that much of her power, and I don’t even have my elementals anymore-”

He paused when Mrs. Tamia reached up and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Caelian… I know it’s a lot. But I know that you know, you have to at least try. You still have elementals. You may not know how to control them yet, or even be able to, but you must try. Gaia will understand, Caelian. Do it for her.”

“... Fine,” He said quietly, “I’ll try.”

“That’s my boy,” Mrs. Tamia grinned, before letting out a hacking cough, “I believe in you, Caelian. You’ll succeed.”

“We’ll see,” Caelian said as he stood up, “Stay safe, Mrs. Tamia…”

“You as well, my dear.”

Caelian pushed past Evelyn and Damien as he exited, walking at a brisk pace in the direction of the great tree. The two of them quickly caught up to him.

“Was that Birdie’s mom?” Evelyn asked, giving Caelian a curious look.

“I don’t think he’d address her like that if she was his mom, Evelyn.” Damien said with a roll of their eyes, “So, what? You’re actually going to try and take on your god?”

“If that’s what I have to do.” Caelian said.

“Or you could just leave.”

Caelian frowned. It was true, he could just do that. Part of him wanted to.

“If… if I have to kill Gaia to save her, and the forest, then I will.”

“You sound pretty uncertain about that.”

“I’m not,” Caelian said defensively, “I’ll manage it.”

“Is okay, Bridie, Evelyn and Damien will help!”

“I never offered my help,” Damien said flatly, “I don’t plan on dying anytime soon.”

“Mm, seems scary, yes…” Evelyn admitted, “But Evelyn wants to help!”

“Yeah, fine,” Caelian mumbled, “Hey, just remember, if I’m dead I can’t help with your shitty little experiments.”

Damien clicked their tongue, “Fine, I’ll help.”

“Yay!” Evelyn cheered, “Everyone going to help Birdie!”

“Which makes me want to ask: Can you even fight, Evelyn? Do you even know how?” Damien asked.

“Mhm, of course Evelyn does!”

“Oh, good,” Damien sighed, “At least two of us do. Fire should do more than my shadow, and it’s not like Caelian will be good for much.”

“Oh… yes… Fire, right…” Evelyn mumbled.

“What do you mean I won’t be good for much?!” Caelian snapped.

“I mean, your attempts at trying to attack me yesterday were kind of pathetic.”

“I hit you, didn’t I?!”

“When I wasn’t paying attention, sure. Can you even control your elementals?”

“Whatever,” Caelian grumbled, “I’ll figure it out.”

It took Caelian longer than usual to find his way to the Great Tree, having to take detours to avoid the pooling lakes of acid. The more of the forest he saw in this state the more his heart hurt. Even the roots that he had once called his home had been melted away. He’d never be able to sleep nestled up among them again.

The trio stopped at the edge of the clearing of the Great Tree. It looked pale and lifeless, with waterfalls of acid pouring down from its leafless branches. Caelian tried looking to see if Gaia was visible without any leaves blocking his line of sight, but he wasn’t able to make anything out from so far down.

With a deep breath, he took his first few steps towards the stairs that would lead him up to the top.

[elementsofemotion]

Chapter 7: Tales of the Lost

By the time Caelian had finally woken up and went downstairs, Sam and Jack had already been sent out to run errands while Evelyn was helping Ann serve breakfast to the late-risers. “Holy shit, there’s another one,” Caelian heard the man speak to his friend as he passed by one of the tables. They didn’t bother to hide their stares when he turned to look at them. He stood there a moment before turning and continuing on to where Ann and Evelyn were working. Evelyn was just leaving to take a tray to a table.

“Good morning, Birdie!” She hummed as she passed him. Ann chuckled as Caelian gave an exasperated look in her direction before sitting down. “Don’t mind some of the travelers here being coming off as rude from their amazement, we haven’t seen any spirits ‘round these parts in quite a while, aside from Evelyn a few days back.” She said. “Well, yeah, spirits don’t really like coming to the human world,” Caelian said. “That so?” Ann asked as she scooted a plate of waffles over to him, “You and Evelyn are here.” “Yeah, well, I don’t really have a choice,” He mumbled. He hadn’t really meant for Ann to hear, since she had been walking away, but she gave a sympathetic nod. “Ah, that’s right, Evelyn mentioned it this morning while you were still asleep. You need a way back into the spirit realm,” She said while wiping down a glass, “I’ll admit, I didn’t really know that there were different realms that each one of ya lived in. Kind of figured it was just one big place, kind of like it is out here.” “No, it’s different from the human realm” Caelian said, “Why do you even know that?” “Oh, I asked Evelyn why she couldn’t just let you back in, but she said she only knew how to get into some place called the Scorched Lands. Guessing that's what you lot call the fire realm. I’ve gotta say, though, I was surprised when she mentioned you were a forest spirit. What, with your little horns and tail there I figured you might’ve been a dark spirit, or-” “I AM a forest spirit!” Caelian said as he slammed his fist onto the counter, garnering a few looks. Ann was taken aback, but quickly recovered with a smile as she set down the glass she had been working on, “Alright, alright, didn’t know that was gonna come off offensive, my apologies.” Caelian frowned down at his untouched plate of food as Evelyn returned. “Why Birdie shouting and hitting things?” She asked with a frown. “No yell at Ann, she-” “It’s okay, Evelyn. I said something I shouldn’t’ve,” Ann said. Evelyn gave a small “Hmph,” as she sat down next to Caelian, “Still, no need be grumpy, Birdie be nice.” “Whatever,” He mumbled. “Anyways, thanks so much for helping out, Evelyn. The travelers seem enthralled to see spirits in person. I’m sure they’ll be talking about you for ages.” “No problems!” Evelyn beamed, “Now that Birdie is awake and Evelyn is done, we should go out and ask for if anyone can help Birdie.” “Alright, take care, you two!” Ann said with a wave as Evelyn grabbed Caelian and practically dragged him out, “Let me know before you leave town for good, otherwise I’ll be worried!”

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Caelian hung back and let Evelyn do most of the talking, while also doing his best to keep up with her. He didn’t feel like getting lost, and he didn’t think he’d be able to find his way back to the inn. Asking any of the humans for help with finding his way back was out of the question, obviously. They were met with shaking heads each time Evelyn made an inquiry, and Caelian was starting to get annoyed with how often they'd get stopped and met with curiosity. Evelyn was always happy to answer the human’s questions, but he always ignored them, which he could tell bothered Evelyn. But he didn’t really care. He wasn’t there to make friends with humans. Caelian was ready to leave after an hour or two when it became apparent that nobody was going to know anything about entering the forest realm, but Evelyn kept insisting they continue for a couple more hours. It wasn’t until Caelian turned around and began to walk back himself that Evelyn finally relented. “Sorry, Birdie,” She said, sounding crestfallen, “Evelyn really thought someone might know…” “Yeah, well, it makes sense none of the humans here would know, otherwise we’d have seen humans entering the forest all of the time,” He said. As they approached the inn, they were surprised to see Ann standing outside, looking worried. She gave a smile when she noticed them. “Welcome back, you two,” She said, sounding slightly on edge, “Did you have any luck?” “No, no one knew…” Evelyn sighed. Caelian remained silent. Ann frowned, “Sorry to hear that. You two wouldn’t have happened to see Sam and Jack while you were out and about, did you?” “Mm, no, Evelyn not think she see them. Why?” “They should’ve been back hours ago. I tried asking if anyone’s seen them, but nobody has since this morning. I’m worried,” Ann folded her arms and stared off past the two of them, “They kept going on about how they wanted to help you two out… If you didn’t see them out in the city, I’m worried that they might’ve done something stupid, like go to the forest themselves…” “Oh? What so stupid about that?” Evelyn frowned. “Lately, people have been going in the forest and never coming back out,” Ann said. She glanced at Caelian before quickly looking away again, “We usually have the forest sprites to help guide any lost souls back out, but we haven’t seen them in quite a while. Not everyone that goes in gets lost, but…” Caelian looked down to the ground. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. It felt like he had done something wrong. “Annie is worried Sammy and Jackie got lost in the forest?” Evelyn asked, “Caelian and Evelyn can go look!” “I hate to bother you two when I know you have your own problems, but could you?” Ann asked. “Mhm, of course! Happy to help!” Evelyn beamed. Caelian had opened his mouth to say something, but Evelyn had already grabbed him and took off.

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“Evelyn- Hey, EVELYN!” Caelian shouted, ripping his arm out of her grasp after her ignoring him until they were almost to the tree line, “What exactly do you think we’re going to be able to do here? We got lost trying to find our own way out and the forest is huge, what makes you think we’re going to find two kids?” “We have to try!” Evelyn said firmly, “Is our fault Sammy and Jackie got lost! Wouldn’t have gone to forest if not for us!” “We don’t even know for sure if they came here! We could just be wasting our time, and either way, it’s wasting MY time because I have more important things to do than worry over some humans!” Evelyn gave him an icy glare before stepping forward and jabbing him in the chest, “Evelyn spend her time trying to help you, and humans were nice enough to give you a place to stay and try to help. You want to be ungrateful? Fine. But Evelyn do good things for the people that do good things for Evelyn.” With that, she turned and ran into the forest. Caelian stared off into the forest where Evelyn had disappeared. He let out a sigh. Now what? He had no leads, no idea what to do… At least Evelyn wouldn’t be bothering him anymore. He tentatively stepped under the canopy of trees, deciding that he’d have to try and figure out how to re-enter the Eternal Forest by himself. At the very least, maybe he’d be lucky and stumble across a forest sprite. They would know how. He just hoped Ann was exaggerating about there being no sprites out in the forest. Just like the last time, he found himself lost pretty quickly. But he wasn’t left wandering for too long before he heard a scream echo through the trees. He looked on in surprise at the direction it came from. His first thought was Evelyn, but it didn’t quite sound like her voice. Could it have been Sam? Caelian glanced over when a second later Evelyn came jumping out of some nearby bushes, leaves tangled in her hair and feathers. She was looking wide-eyed in the direction the scream came from. Giving Caelian a look, she grabbed a hold of him and tugged on his arm. “ Follow ,” She said sternly, before releasing him and bounding off through the forest. Though he was annoyed with her demand, Caelian did as he was told and took off after her. He would’ve lost her if it weren’t for all the noise she made when running straight through the brush. It was only a few moments later that they stumbled upon Sam, sitting against a tree, sniffling as she wiped tears away from her eyes. While Evelyn immediately went to tend to her, Caelian’s attention was caught by something else. A few feet away lay a small green body, the purple flower on the end of its tail contrasting starkly with the grass around it. Caelian walked over to it and knelt down, gently scooping it up into his hands. His heart dropped. It didn’t take him long to realize the sprite was dead as it’s blue blood leaked from between his fingers, dripping into the puddle that had pooled underneath its body. Evelyn and Sam were discussing something behind him, but he paid no attention. What had happened to the sprite? It was covered in wounds.  It’s body hadn’t evaporated into mana yet, so it must have died recently. “Birdie! Are you- Oh…” Evelyn paused when she noticed what he was holding, “Is it…?” Caelian gently laid the sprite back down on the ground and stood up, “What happened to it?” he asked, looking directly at Sam, who was giving him a wide-eyed stare. “I… I… Another spirit did it, I-” “Another spirit?” Caelian asked incredulously. “Sammy say that she and Jackie got attacked and that another spirit saved them,” Evelyn said. “Attacked by what? The sprite? They wouldn’t attack anyone,” Caelian said. “It did!” Sam said, “It… it went all weird and attacked us. Jack ran off and the spirit that helped us followed after him- you- you need to go find him!” “Evelyn will take Sammie back to her mother, Caelian needs to go find-” By the time Evelyn had helped Sam up onto her feet, Caelian had already taken off through the forest. He didn’t believe that another spirit would have killed a forest sprite. There’d be no reason to. Something else had to have happened. Was whatever happened in the eternal forest causing this? He paused as he listened carefully. He hadn’t noticed it before, but he could sense an energy in the forest that wasn’t there before. It had felt lifeless and stagnant. Now there was a hint of mana on the wind, but something felt off about it. Moving onward, he was unsure how he was going to find whatever had killed the sprite. Until he had stumbled upon another sprite lying on the ground. Then another. And another. His blood felt hot as he followed the trail of death, and he found himself gritting his teeth. Whatever- whoever had done this, was going to regret it. It had dawned on him that it was possible that the cloaked figure from before- the one that had tricked him- could very well be the type to kill sprites. Maybe that’s why he didn’t feel quite as surprised when another spirit came into view through the trees. Caelian arrived just in time to witness a sprite fall to the ground, blood dripping off of the spirit’s dagger and onto the ground. They were giving it a pitiful look. Caelian was fairly certain this spirit wasn’t the same as the cloaked figure- this one appeared masculine, and had white hair tied back into a messy ponytail, fluffy ears, and a short, fluffy tail. They wore dark clothing, causing their pink eyes and bandanna to stand out.

They didn’t notice Caelian as they turned to move away from the body on the ground. A moment later they felt a searing pain in their left shoulder as something knocked them forward. Caelian already had his purple claw-like hand raised and ready to strike a second time, but by the time he slashed towards the other spirit, they had swiftly jumped out of the way, spinning to face him while grasping their injured shoulder. Blood trickled onto the ground as they gave Caelian an incredulous look. “You're- no, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” They asked in a surprisingly calm voice. In response, Caelian pounced forward again, aiming another swipe at them, but they easily dodged his clumsy attempt. Caelian clenched his teeth so tightly he thought they were at risk of cracking as he spun himself around. “You fucking murderer!” He shouted, “You come here and kill forest sprites and ask me what I’m doing?!” “Are you stupid?” The other spirit asked, “You’re from the Eternal Forest and you don’t know-” “Shut up!” Caelian said, missing another swipe with his claws. Easily dodging a slew of attempts made by Caelian, the other spirit let out a sigh as Caelian stopped, breathing heavily as he glared at them. “You want to do it this way? Fine.” They said, releasing their hold on their injured shoulder, “Annette.” A purple and black sprite popped out from somewhere that Caelian couldn’t see. He could immediately recognize it as a shadow sprite. Why did they have a shadow sprite with them? With a snap of the other spirit’s fingers, Caelian suddenly felt something wrap around him and yank him down to the ground, pinning him tightly. As he struggled, he realized that black, wispy chains had materialized from the shadows among the ground. So this person was a dark spirit, then? It figured both of the dark spirits he met so far were up to no good. That must’ve been why they were considered dark and the other elements were light. The other sprite walked calmly over to Caelian and knelt down. The shadow sprite, now glowing with a purple aura, hovered along behind them. “Feel like calming down yet?” The spirit asked in an almost bored voice. “Shut up!” Caelian hissed through his teeth, still struggling to push himself up from the ground, but the shadow chains gave him no leeway. “Charmer,” They mumbled as they stood up, “Look, I can keep you here all day until-” They stopped mid sentence as a soft chime echoed through the clearing as Caelian’s shadow elemental materialized. The purple lantern hung in the air above him as he still struggled against the chains. The spirit’s eyes widened, “You have an elemental?” Before Caelian could decide if he wanted to answer or not, the shadow elemental began to glow brightly with a menacing aura. It trailed down to where Caelian was pinned, appearing to be absorbed by him. A moment later the aura could be seen snaking around the arm that was still normal, causing flesh to quickly melt away into another oozing purple claw. One of the shadow chains holding him down snapped as he struggled against them, now even more fiercely. The other spirit quickly moved back as the rest of the chains broke, but wasn’t quite fast enough to dodge Caelian’s lunge. This time Caelian managed to draw blood, but just a little as he left a gash on their cheek. The spirit placed his fingers against his cheek and examined the blood left behind on his fingers. They frowned. Something about Caelian felt different now. Like he was exerting even more bloodlust than before. They extended their arm and gripped a slim sword that materialized from thin air. It looked made out of a similar material as the chains. “Where did you get an elemental?” The spirit asked. “Doesn’t concern you!” Caelian spat back. Caelian was prepared to lunge at them once again, regardless of the weapon they now possessed, but stopped short when something shot out of the nearby bushes, causing him to topple over. Teeth snapped shut near his ear, and whatever was now clawing at his face was heavy and large. It was only a moment later that it was cleaved in half by the other spirit, freeing Caelian from it’s grasp. Caelian sat up in a daze, looking to where the being had fallen. He was confused when he saw the body of a nature spirit, a gash through its midsection. His brain began to process things at a furious pace. Where had the sprite come from? It wasn’t what had attacked him. Whatever it was, it was large, much larger than the tiny sprite. He hadn’t gotten a good look at it, but he was able to see that it was a mixture of green and purple, and had more sharp teeth than anything could possibly need. But there was a dead nature sprite next to him. What the hell was going on? Caelian’s thoughts were interrupted by a scream echoing through the forest. The other spirit whipped their head in the direction it came from, before turning to give Caelian a glare and run off. “H-hey, wait,” Caelian said, shakily pushing himself up from the ground. He just then noticed that his shadow elemental had disappeared. Both of his hands were back to normal, which sent irritation through his veins. He had no other weapon to attack with, and he wasn’t sure he could command the shadow sprite to do it again. It just… seemed to happen whenever he felt his blood boil with the desire to harm someone. He glanced back at the dead sprite. Maybe it wouldn’t be too hard to make it happen again. Caelian took off in the direction they had gone, which he was pretty sure was the same direction the scream had come from. He was pretty sure he knew who the scream belonged to. It sounded like a young boy, and Jack was the only person he knew that’d be in the forest right now. Sam had mentioned that other spirit had helped them. For what reason? It didn’t take him long to catch up. He arrived just in time to see a creature lunge towards Jack, who was cowering against a tree. Before Caelian could even think to react, the spirit from before kicked the creature away before stabbing it with his blade. Caelian winced as it let out a blood curdling scream before falling silent. It was an ugly creature, almost insect-like in nature. It’s flesh appeared to be constantly moving, with multiple eyes that had been darting around in all directions before they permanently closed. Purple in color, holes in its body oozed a green substance that was eerily familiar. Then it melted away into a nature sprite. Caelian stared blankly, unable to speak. Not even when Jack noticed him and came running over in tears was he able to tear his eyes away from the fallen sprite. What the hell had happened? “Caelian,” Jack sobbed, “I’m sorry, me, me and Sam- we wanted to try and, and help you find a way back- and help Evelyn find the herb she needs- But we got attacked by those monsters… The shadow spirit helped us…” “Helped how?” Caelian asked, “He’s just been murdering sprites.” “Never seen a corrupted sprite, I guess,” The spirit said casually, their sword dematerializing in their hand. “They all look pretty much the same, but I find the nature ones to be particularly… gross.” “What do you mean?” Caelian questioned, finally turning his eyes away from the tiny body. “Unless your sprites usually look like that,” The spirit shrugged, “Which I’d have to say I doubt, since they show their true form upon death. Despite what you clearly think, I don’t go around killing sprites for fun,” the shadow sprite that followed them landed on their head, as if to prove a point, “But creatures that only have the desire to kill can’t be kept alive.” “... Why did they get corrupted?” He asked, knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer. “Incidentally, that’s one of the reasons I came here. Then I had to play hero,” They said, motioning towards Jack, “I heard something happened to the Eternal Forest so I wanted to check. But judging from the corrupted sprites infesting this place, I think I got my answer.” “And what answer is that?” The spirit raised an eyebrow. “You live here, do you not? Has nothing unusual happened?” Something clicked in the back of Caelian’s mind. “So what you’re implying,” Caelian said, “Is that the Eternal Forest… has been corrupt . And that's why… the spirits are corrupt, too.” “Am I wrong?” They asked. “... I guess I just… Didn’t want to realize what had actually happened,” Caelian mumbled. “Hm. A shame.” “Birdie!” Evelyn came bursting out from the bushes, making everyone jump in surprise. “There you are! Evelyn got lost again but she smelled you and… Oh, who is new friend?” She asked, noticing the other spirit. “My name is Damien,” They said, “I take it you’re with the human and… Birdie?” “My name isn’t Birdie,” Caelian snapped, “It’s Caelian.” “Evelyn is Evelyn!” Evelyn said happily. “Um. What?” Damien asked. “... Her name is Evelyn,” Caelian said. “Ah. I see,” Damien said, “Anyways, now that that’s all cleared up, why do you have an elemental?” “Why do you care?” Caelian asked. “Because I-” “Birdie, we need to bring Jackie back to Annie!” Evelyn pouted, “She is worried!” “Ah, right…” Caelian said, looking down at the sniveling boy who was still clinging to him. Damien was giving an annoyed look. “Damie can-” “Do not call me that,” Damien quickly cut her off. There was a pause. “... Kitty can ask their questions when we get back.” Damien gave her an incredulous look as she, Caelian and Jack turned and began to make the trek back to town. Thankfully, Damien had a better sense of direction than any of them, and was able to lead them back without any problems. As soon as they stepped foot into the inn, Ann had already flown out from behind the bar and tightly embraced Jack. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” She sobbed, “Don’t you ever do that again, you and your sister aren’t leaving this inn for the next month.” “But mom…” While Evelyn stayed with the reunited family, Damien had managed to convince Caelian to step back outside. The sun was just beginning to set, casting an orange hue over everything. “So, again, why do you have an elemental?” They asked. “... I have four.” Caelian mumbled. “... Who are you?” They asked suspiciously. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Spirits aren’t just randomly given elementals, they’re a gift from either Gaia or Sol. What the hell have you done to be given four? And why the hell is one of them Shadow? I can’t imagine any reason why Gaia would grant a dark elemental.” “Does- that part really matter?” Caelian asked uncomfortably, looking away. “I have them, why do you need to know why I do?” He wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t want to admit to being Gaia’s disciple. Though, was he, after everything that had happened? Damien let out a sigh, “Fine, whatever. I’ll get straight to the point, then. I’m a field researcher. I study sprites and their effect on mana flow. I came here because I wanted to observe the corrupted nature sprites, but…” “But?” “I’ve been trying to find someone with an elemental for a long fucking time .” “So, what?” Caelian frowned, “You want to experiment on me or something?” “I guess you could say that, but you don’t seem like a very agreeable person,” Damien sighed, “So I’d settle with you answering some questions for now.” “Why should I even bother to help you? I don’t know you. We just met, I still don’t like you. Even if you had a reason to kill those nature sprites.” “For fucks sake, they were corrupt!” “I know! I… I know… I know that now… But I just… When I saw them lying there on the forest floor, dead like that, I....” Damien frowned, “Look, like I said, I don’t enjoy killing sprites. They’re a soft spot of mine, you could say.” The shadow sprite that accompanied them flew off from Damien’s shoulder and fluttered in front of Caelian’s face, giving him a curious look. “This is Annette. She’s been with me for quite a while. While studying sprites I sort of tried to… make my own elemental, you could say? Obviously, she’s still a normal sprite, but she’s able to help enhance my own elemental abilities, similar to that of an elemental.” “You didn’t hurt her, did you?” Caelian asked suspiciously. Annette shook her head. “No, I’d never hurt her. She may not be able to speak, but we’ve been together long enough that I can tell what she’s feeling, and when she’s too tired to help me.” Damien paused, “And no, her not being able to speak isn’t a result of anything i’ve done. She’s always been that way.” Annette nodded as she landed back down on Damien’s shoulder. “Yeah. Okay. Still don’t see why I should help you.” “Would a trade interest you?” Damien asked. “What kind of trade?” “Whatever you want it to be. State what you want and if it’s reasonable, I’ll do my part, and you answer a few questions.” Evelyn came bouncing out of the inn and over to Caelian and Damien, curious as to why they had been outside for so long. “Unless you happen to know how to enter the Eternal Forest, I don’t have anything I’d want in a trade,” Caelian said. “How would me knowing how to enter the Eternal Forest benefit you at all?” Damien asked. “Oh! Birdie not know how to get back into spirit realm, so Evelyn has been trying to help him find someone who knows!” Evelyn said. Damien gave an expectant look to Caelian, and when he didn’t speak, he asked, “Wait, are you serious? You’re a nature spirit and you don’t know how to get back into your own spirit plane?” There was another silent pause. Then Damien burst out laughing. “S-shut up,” Caelian said, his face growing hot, “I never had to leave before and nobody ever taught me how! If you can’t help then fine, but I’m not answering any of your stupid questions!” “Hahaha, that’s fucking rich,” Damien said as he wiped away a tear, “But yeah, fine kid, I’ll show you how to get back into the Eternal Forest.” “I said I’m not- W-wait,” Caelian stopped, “What did you say?” “I know how to enter the Eternal Forest.”

[elementsofemotion]

Chapter 6: The Everglade Inn

Caelian lingered behind Evelyn, reluctant to step out from under the tree line. While she had stepped out into the sunny plane with ease, he felt uncertainty brewing in his stomach as he gazed out at the rolling hills, where trees and brush seemed scarce.

The trees stopped near the edge of an overhang that was high enough to let him see a town in the distance. Windmills stood tall against the buildings, their blades turning at a slow pace. He could see numerous lights shining through the stone buildings’ windows, barely visible as the sun just began to set.

“Come!” Evelyn called from below him, “It gets dark soon, so let us get there before then!”

“It’s a ways away,” Caelian mumbled, not intending for Evelyn to hear him, “It will be dark before we reach it, anyways…”

He finally stepped out from the trees, pausing as a cloud drifted overhead, casting a shadow down on him. The shade felt comforting, even if it only lasted for a few moments.

He carefully followed the path he had seen Evelyn take, sliding down the series of steep ledges until the ground smoothed out beneath him.

The wind was blowing strong as they traveled along the dirt path. Caelian thought it was a good thing that the path existed, as Evelyn had gotten them lost multiple times in the forest before they had reached where they were now. But then, even if it didn’t exist, it’d be pretty impressive for Evelyn to get them lost when they could see the town in the distance.

… But then, Caelian didn’t doubt her ability to do so.

Evelyn had been cheerfully babbling almost the entire time they had been traveling. At first it had grated on Caelian’s nerves, but he had slowly learned to tune her out as she went on about things he didn’t care about. How many siblings she had, or why lilies were her favorite favorite flower, were inconsequential to him. The only thing he was thinking about was how he could get back into the Eternal Forest.

But then at the same time, he wondered: Why? Why bother with it? They clearly didn’t want him to try and help. He should just leave them to their demise. Gaia was the only one he cared about, and he still didn’t even know what happened to her. Even then, he was forcing himself forward to try and get back to the Eternal Forest, not because he currently wanted to, but because he knew, under normal circumstances, that he’d do anything to go back and try to help her. But at the moment it was hard to make himself do anything. It all seemed pointless.

“-ie…. BIRDIE!”

Caelian flinched as Evelyn nearly shouted directly into his face, breaking him out of his thoughts. Having closed his eyes, he peeked one open to see Evelyn frowning at him.

“What?” He asked.

“We are here,” She said.

“Oh,” Was all Caelian was able to mumble out as he looked up at the stone walls that towered before them. Dusk had fallen, and he could just barely make out two figures standing on either side of the open gate that led into the town.

“Let’s go!” Evelyn said as she grabbed Caelian’s arm, practically dragging him towards the gate. He tensed as they walked past the guards, though they did little but quietly observe them as they entered in through the gate. He remained tense, however, when he saw the amount of people wandering about the streets.

“Okay, we’re here, now what?” Caelian said briskly.

“Mm…” Evelyn released his arm, tapping her claw against one of her fangs as she thought. “Is dark now, so not as many people out right now…”

Caelian glanced over at a group that was chatting nearby. This was considered not many?

“But Evelyn know of nice lady, she let Evelyn stay during the night. A place she called… an inn, Evelyn thinks? She was… this way, maybe?” She said, before heading off in a random direction. Caelian sighed, knowing that Evelyn had no idea where she was going, but since he didn’t know where anything was either, he followed.

The townspeople didn’t bother to try and hide their stares as Evelyn and Caelian walked through the streets. It made Caelian even more tense as they reminded him of the stares he got whenever he went to the forest denizen’s town. Even if he could tell the looks were more out of curiosity than malice, he still didn’t like it.

“Oh, wait! Evelyn knows where we are, now! Is this way!” She said abruptly, before running off and leaving Caelian behind.

Caelian paused where Evelyn had left him. It appeared to be the town square, being an open area decorated with flower beds and a large fountain in the center. He passed some closed market stalls, stopping in front of the fountain and staring up at the statue that resided in the middle. It was of a woman with long hair, wings, and antlers. It reminded him of Gaia, though it seemed more akin to if someone had tried to describe what she looked like to somebody who had never seen her before.

Hearing a sudden gasp from behind him, he turned to see a little boy staring at him with wide eyes. Caelian turned to leave, but was cut off by the child as he bounced over in front of him.

“You’re a spirit!” He said, nearing dropping the large bag he was holding onto with both arms, “Wow! Look at your wings! They’re so cool!”

“Uh… Thanks,” Caelian said as he moved his wings away when the child tried to reach out and touch one. He didn’t seem to notice Caelian moving his wing away as he quickly grabbed onto his bag as it began to slip again.

“Yeah! The other spirit had feathers too, but she didn’t have wings… They were super bright pink!”

Caelian had already begun to walk away, but turned and looked at the boy after he spoke, “You saw the spirit with bright pink feathers?” He asked.

“Yeah! My mom let her stay at our inn for a night since she seemed kinda lost.”

“...Where’s your inn?”

“Oh, do you need a place to stay, too?” The boy grinned, “I’ll show you, it’s this way!”

Caelian watched as the boy walked away, constantly having to adjust his grip on the large bag as he took uneven steps. He took a moment to look back up at the statue that watched over the square, before turning to follow.

-------------------------

“He was right behind Evelyn earlier, though…” Evelyn said, her face wearing a worried expression as she gazed out the window.

“I can help you look for him if you want, Evelyn!” A young girl said, standing a few feet away with a broom in her hands.

“It’s too dark out, Sam,” An older woman said as she threw another log into the burning fireplace, “You stay indoors and finish sweeping.”

The ground floor of the inn was empty aside from the three of them. The fireplace and scattered candles were their only source of light, throwing a dim orange hue onto the smooth wooden walls and floor. The tables had already been washed and cleared much earlier, and the innkeeper, the older woman with tied-back curly hair, had moved on to wiping down the bar counter. There was the occasional creak from upstairs as a patron stepped on one of the squeaky floor boards, but otherwise it was comfortably silent as the fire crackled.

Sam sighed as she went back to violently sweeping the floor, “You let Jack go outside at night…” She grumbled.

“Jack was supposed to be back before the sun set,” The innkeeper said irritably as she placed a drinking glass into a cupboard with a soft clink. “I’ll certainly think twice before sending that boy out for any more errands this late in the day.”

Evelyn made a whining noise as she sat down on the padded bench underneath the window. “Evelyn doesn’t remember the last place she saw him…”

“Give him a bit, Evelyn,” The innkeeper said sympathetically, “You said it was an inn you were looking for, right? There’s only a few inns in this town, I’m sure he’ll find his way eventually. I don’t want you going out there and being lost at this hour, either.”

“Birdie not seem used to human towns, though,” Evelyn said, “Evelyn not think-”

“I’M BACK!” Jack said, slamming open the door and stomping inside.

“Jack, don’t shout!” The innkeeper said in a hushed-yell, “You’ll-”

“HEY!” Sam screeched, jabbing a finger towards Sam, “I just swept that! Get your dirty feet off my clean floor!”

“Well, sorry I can’t float!” Jack said as he stuck out his tongue.

“Both of you, shush! I don’t need more noise complaints tonight!” The innkeeper said.

“Sorry, Mom…” They said in unison.

It was at that point Caelian strolled inside behind Jack, causing Evelyn to let out a happy squeal as she jumped up and rushed over to him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. The innkeeper merely sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Birdie!! Evelyn thought she lost you!”

“Maybe look behind you more often,” He mumbled as he tried to gently tug himself away.

“Well, that worked out, I suppose,” The innkeeper said with a grin, “Welcome to the Everglade inn, stranger. Name’s Ann. I see you already know Evelyn and met my son, Jack, there,” She glanced over to him, who was begrudgingly taking off his shoes as Sam glared at him, “And the lass over there is my daughter, Sam.”

He nodded as Evelyn released her grip on him, and there was a long pause of silence before he noticed Evelyn staring expectantly at him. Remembering something from earlier, he muttered a quick, “My name is Caelian.”

“Ah, figured your name wasn’t ‘Birdie’. Evelyn likes her nicknames,” Ann chuckled, “Well, now that both of you are here, let me see if I can find you anything to eat.”

Evelyn perked up at the mention of food, and happily skipped over to the bar. She sat down as Ann pulled something out from the oven, leaving Caelian to watch quietly from afar as Jack joined her.

After Sam finished putting away the broom she had been using, she walked over to Caelian and grabbed a hold of his sleeve, not noticing the grimace he gave her as she tugged on his jacket.

“Come on!” She said, practically dragging him over to the counter despite her small size. What was with people and dragging him around? Was this how others normally act?

Caelian ended up sitting in between Sam and Evelyn, with Jack on the other side of Evelyn. Ann was already plating something up, while Evelyn excitedly tapped her claws against the countertop.

“So did you find that thing you were looking for, Evelyn?” Sam asked, leaning forward onto the counter to look over at her.

“No,” Evelyn said sadly, “Evelyn has not found it yet… Birdie say he not know either.”

“Aw, that’s too bad,” Jack said.

“Yeah, but you’ll find it eventually! Don’t worry!” Sam said.

“Mm, Evelyn hopes so…”

“Alright, here you lot are,” Ann said, placing steaming plates and silverware down in front of Evelyn and Caelian, “And don’t worry Evelyn, Sam’s right, you’ll find it eventually.”

Caelian couldn’t help but frown at what was on the plate in front of him. Meanwhile, Evelyn had already begun eagerly tearing into the turkey with her hands.

“Yeah, we’ve been asking anyone that comes here, too, to try and help,” Jack said, “We haven’t had anyone that knows, yet, though…”

“Yeah, we’ve been asking everyone! Someone eventually has to know, so be sure to come back to visit every now and then!”

“Mhm, Evelyn will,” Evelyn mumbled around a mouth full of food.

Ann returned with two more plates, this time setting them down in front of Jack and Sam.

“Oh, yeah!” Jack said, “That reminds me, we-”

“I, um,” Caelian mumbled, interrupting Jack and causing the three humans to look at him in surprise while Evelyn continued to eat, “I don’t eat meat.”

“...Huh?” Jack and Sam said in unison.

“What do you mean? What’s wrong with it? Mom cooks it just fine. It’s good, just eat it,” Sam said.

“Sam, shush,” Ann said, giving her a look before turning to Caelian, “I’m sorry, dear. I guess I should’ve asked.”

“Just eat around it. There’s other stuff. See?” Jack said, scooping up some mashed potatoes onto his fork.

“No, everything is coated in gravy. If he doesn’t eat meat he can’t eat that. Let me get something else for you, Caelian,” Ann said before turning and heading back to find him something else.

Evelyn swallowed loudly before looking over at Caelian, “If Birdie no eat it can Evelyn have it?” She asked innocently enough.

Wordlessly, Caelian scooted the plate towards her. She smiled and gave a few claps before taking the plate and tearing into the food, having already finished her own.

“Why don’t you eat meat, though?” Jack asked. “Do you not like how it tastes or something?”

“Yeah, that’s weird,” Sam commented.

“I can get by eating other things, I don’t need to kill and eat animals,” He said flatly.

“Oh, uh… I guess,” Jack said, glancing down at his own food.

“I just think they taste good,” Sam shrugged as she took a bite of turkey.

“Here you are,” Ann said as she returned. She placed down what looked like a vegetable and bean mixture, with a side of toasted bread and some kind of red sauce drizzled over it. “Sorry this is the best I can do, most of my cooking includes meat in one way or another.”

“Whatever, it’s fine,” Caelian mumbled just under his breath.

By the time they had all finished eating, Ann had ushered Caelian and Evelyn upstairs to show them to their rooms. Caelian had tried to object and say he preferred sleeping outside, but Ann had quickly waved him off.

“I’d feel awful knowing you were out sleeping in the cold. Don’t worry about it, it's fine! Sleep well!”

“But I don’t-” Caelian paused when the door shut, leaving him alone in the room, “... Like being indoors…”

He stood there awkwardly for a few moments before taking the time to glance around the room. It was dimly lit, the only light source being a lamp on the bedside table. There wasn’t much for decoration, either: Aside from the Bed and bedside table there was just a table and chair set pushed up in the corner of the room with a few books piled ontop. If it weren’t so barren, the unfinished wood walls and floors might’ve reminded him of Mrs. Tamia’s home. He wondered how she was doing. Was she okay back in the forest? Were any of the denizens mad at her for making them spare his life?

He tucked his wings closer to his back as he made his way over to the bed, looking down at it with uncertainty. He grabbed onto the blanket and sheets, bunching them up into a round shape with a dip in the center. He added pillows around it to try and make it hold it’s shape more.

He didn’t bother to take his shoes or jacket off before climbing into his makeshift nest, curling up like an animal with a sigh. It felt foreign to him, but admittedly, it was cozier than sleeping out in the open. He just missed the smell of the bark and lilies that surrounded his moss bed back in the forest. Would he ever be able to go back to those times? Were they really going to figure out how to make it back into the Eternal Forest without the help of another forest spirit? He hugged one of the pillows close to his chest and closed his eyes.

[elementsofemotion]

Chapter 5: Cheery Incompetence

Long claw marks accompanied the paw prints that were left behind in the damp earth. They led into the brush, close to where Caelian was sleeping. Someone had been eyeing him for a while now, curious about the pile of black and white feathers that were pressed up against the tree trunk.

They began to inch closer, pausing when a twig snapped underneath their foot. Seeing that the feathers didn’t stir, they continued to stalk closer and closer.

A scream pierced the forest, sending any nearby birds flying to the sky in a panic. Having felt something jump onto him, Caelian had reflexively twisted and shoved away whatever it was. He scrambled to his feet, flapping his wings in a panic to try and help his balance. The person that had pounced on him was still sitting where Caelian had pushed her off, her head tilted to the side and staring at some feathers that were slowly drifting to the ground.

“What the hell was that for?!” Caelian spat as he took another step back.

“Hmm, Evelyn disappointed. She thought you were a big bird. Oh well!” She said, seemingly unbothered by his hostility.

“What? Who is Evelyn?!”

“Evelyn is Evelyn.”

“I don’t know who- Ugh, who are you?” Caelian asked with a frustrated sigh as he folded his ruffled wings against his back.

She looked up at him with her bright green eyes, “Evelyn is Evelyn,” She repeated.

“You’re Evelyn?”

“Yes.”

“Could’ve just said that,” Caelian mumbled, calming down a bit, “Wait, you’re... a spirit.”

Evelyn stood up from the almost feral-looking crouched position she had been sitting in. She was a lot taller than Caelian- which wasn’t exactly saying much, considering how short he was. Her hair was bright pink and fell down to her shoulder blades. She had long ears, and a tail that almost seemed bigger than her body, both sporting soft, pink feathers instead of fur. The tan skin on her legs sprouted black feathers just above her knees, covering them down to her paw-like feet.

“Yes,” She said, placing her claw-like hands on her hips and giving him a prideful grin, “Evelyn is fire spirit!”

“You’re… not afraid of me?”

“Mm, no? Should Evelyn be?”

“Nevermind,” He said quickly, “Uh, wait, you said you were a fire spirit? You’re not from the Eternal Forest, then?”

“Nope! Evelyn is from the Scorched Lands, like other fire spirits.”

“Ah,” Caelian said blankly, “You couldn’t help me, then,” he said as he turned away.

Evelyn’s hands fell to her sides as she watched Caelian begin to leave. He only got a few steps in before she dashed in front of him, blocking his way. He stiffened as she folded her arms with a frown.

“What?” He asked.

“Evelyn introduced herself, so Birdie should introduce himself to Evelyn,” She huffed.

“Does it matter?”

There was a long stretch of silence as Evelyn stared at him expectantly. Caelian let out a reluctant sigh, “My name is Caelian.”

“There!” Evelyn beamed, flashing him a toothy grin, “Not so hard to be polite, yes? Now, what is it Birdie says Evelyn can’t help with?”

“Why ask my name if you’re not gonna use it?” Caelian mumbled, “You’re a fire spirit, you’re not going to know how to enter The Eternal Forest.”

Evelyn tapped one of her claws against her teeth as she thought for a moment, “Mmm… nope, Evelyn not know how to get into forest. But, Birdie is forest spirit, yes? Shouldn’t he know?”

“I’ve never left the spirit realm before. So nobody ever told me how I'd go back.”

“But if Birdie not know how to get back, why leave?”

He opened his mouth to answer, but closed it without a word. Grimacing, he quickly walked past her while saying, “I don’t have time for this.”

Evelyn frowned. She waited a few moments before turning to follow him, “Wait, Birdie is forest spirit, yes? Evelyn needs to find root. Birdie can help, yes?”

“I just said I don’t have time, go find someone else.”

“But Evelyn not find any other forest spirit,” She huffed, “Evelyn has been looking for a long time, because her friend needs, but Evelyn can’t find it...”

“Why are you even here? Couldn’t you have asked someone in the Scorched Lands to help you?” Caelian asked, not breaking his stride.

Evelyn bounced along beside him, “Evelyn not find it there, and nobody she ask knew. So Evelyn thought she’d try forest, because lots of plants there. Is called Pig’s Foot, do you know it?”

Caelian glanced over to her, “There isn’t any kind of root called that.”

“There is! Friend says so.”

“Uh, no. I know all of the plants here. There isn’t anything called Pig’s Foot.”

“Birdie just not know,” Evelyn pouted, “But is okay, Evelyn will find it eventually.”

“There’s not- Ugh, whatever,” He mumbled.

Caelian felt lost as he wandered aimlessly through the trees. While he knew it was foolish, he kept hoping to see something that he’d recognize. Something to signify he was still in the Eternal Forest, and not banished to some unfamiliar land outside of the spirit realm. But the further he walked, the more that hope of his diminished. It wasn’t just some nightmare he had in his sleep. Everything that had happened was real. Something terrible was happening in his home, and he couldn’t even find a way back to try and fix it.

He looked up helplessly at the sky. The forest canopy wasn’t as dense here as it was in the Eternal Forest. He could easily see the blue sky through the treetops, which allowed more light to filter in than he was used to. It reminded him of how bright it was when he climbed the Great Tree on his way to Gaia. He looked back down to the ground, quickly pushing those memories out of his head. They were making him feel something he didn’t like.

“... Why are you still following me, by the way?” He asked, giving an annoyed look to Evelyn, who had been trailing just a little ways behind him for the past several minutes.

“Because Birdie seems lost,” She said, “So Evelyn not want to leave him alone.”

“I’m fine,” He mumbled, “So you should leave.”

“But-”

“Would you just get away from me?!” He snapped, stopping to whirl around and face her, “You can’t help me, and I don’t know anything about your stupid pig’s foot! So leave me alone!”

Evelyn stood silently as Caelian marched off, leaving her alone in the forest. --------------------------------------------

Caelian sat quietly at the edge of the lake he had stumbled upon, picking the mud out from his feathers. He felt guilty for yelling at Evelyn like that. It was an unpleasant feeling: His heart feeling heavy as he replayed the moment over and over again in his mind. He had told the elementals to leave him alone, but it was clear that he was still feeling their influence.

As if on cue, he heard a soft ringing that made him turn and look up beside him. The frosty blue lantern had appeared next to him. He stared at it blankly as it floated down closer to him, before he scoffed and slapped it away.

“I told you to leave me alone,” he muttered before going back to tending to his feathers.

As he washed them with water from the lake, he occasionally felt an odd compulsion to pluck one of them out. He winced as he did so, pausing to watch blood well up from where the feather was ripped out. He glanced over to the pile of feathers beside him with a frown, sighing as he added another to it.

The chiming of the elemental had continued for several minutes now, despite him ignoring it. It was as if it were a child begging for their parents attention. It was starting to aggravate him, and he rolled his eyes when it made a particularly loud noise. He turned to look behind him, intending to tell it to stop, but instead stiffened. A few yards away stood Evelyn, turning the lantern over in her hands as she examined it.

He shot up, wasting no time in running over to her, “Hey, let that go!” He shouted, making her flinch in surprise. She took a step back as he stopped in front of her.

“It’s dangerous, get away from it!” He said.

“Hmm,” Evelyn mused, glancing down at it, “Not seem dangerous. Just cold. What is it?” She asked, before doing as she was told and gently releasing it from her grasp. The lantern floated back to Caelian, slowly circling around him now that it was free.

Caelian wasn’t sure which he was more perplexed by. The fact the sprite hadn’t done anything to harm her, or that she seemingly had no idea what it was. Her reaction was vastly different from the forest denizens. She didn’t look at it in fear, but merely with curiosity and awe.

“You don’t know what an elemental is?”

“Nope! Is a fancy word for light box?”

“You mean a lantern? No, it- I mean, it’s a lantern, yeah, but…” He trailed off, frowning as he looked at the circling sprite.

“Is Caelian’s?” Evelyn asked, tilting her head.

“Yeah… It’s mine,” He mumbled, “But… Aren’t you afraid of it? It’s a corrupt sprite.”

“Oh!” Evelyn suddenly perked up as if a light bulb went off in her head, “Is sprite! But in a lantern… You call them elemental? Evelyn not recognize it… Mm… If light blue, and cold... Is just normal ice sprite, yes?”

“Is it?” He asked, giving her a doubtful look.

Evelyn frowned, “Oh, is Caelian one of the spirits that not like dark spirits?” She placed her hands on her hips, “Very prejudiced, you know.”

“Pre- what?”

“Everyone says dark spirits are negative emotions, so they're bad! But Evelyn know some dark spirits, they not all bad! People assume and misunderstand them,” She huffed, “Why does Caelian have ice sprite with him if he not like them?”

“It’s not like I asked for it,” He said in defense, “It used to be a water sprite. Then it became… this. That’s why it's corrupt.”

Evelyn placed her hand on her chin as she examined the lantern as it still circled Caelian, “Evelyn never hear of water sprite turning to ice sprite. Strange. But, seems like normal ice sprite. Dark elements not mean corrupt element, you know.”

“Yeah… well… water sprites don’t usually just turn into ice sprites, right? So obviously something is wrong. Elementals work by influencing the person they’re connected to with certain emotions based on the element. This sprite is connected to me, so it’s probably better if you just… stay away from me.”

Evelyn frowned, “Evelyn never heard of elemental, but she not afraid of ice sprite.”

“I guess it makes sense you wouldn’t know,” He sighed, “But anyways, just don’t mess with it, I don’t want it to hurt you, or… have it make me hurt you.”

He turned to walk away, before pausing to say, “Don’t follow me this time.”

He only got a couple steps away before he heard footsteps behind him on the grass, causing him to roll his eyes as he turned back around to say, “Look, I already told you I can’t help you.”

“Mhm, is fine,” Evelyn said, “But Caelian need to find a way back to Eternal Forest, yes? Maybe he ask in human town?”

“... What?”

“In human town,” She repeated, “Human sometimes know how to enter spirit realm if they live close enough. Evelyn pass through a town on her way here.”

Caelian felt an odd churning in his stomach, “I… don’t want to talk to any humans,” he said in a quiet voice.

Evelyn frowned at him, “First Caelian not like dark sprite, now Caelian not like human? Hmph. Nothing wrong with dark sprite, or human!”

“I just… wait, you just… let the humans see you?”

“Mhm! They not mind… usually. Ones in town Evelyn passed by were nice, a bit surprised, but seem happy to see Evelyn. Evelyn ask if they know about pigs foot there, too, but they said no.”

Caelian frowned as he considered it. There were stories about humans accidentally wandering into the forest and getting lost. There was a possibility Evelyn was right, someone might have an idea how. But he really didn’t want to go to a town full of humans. He had spent so much of his life trying to convince others that he wasn’t half-human that the thought of being around them made him uneasy.

“Evelyn will go with if Caelian afraid,” She said.

“I’m not afraid,” He said, “I just don’t want to… But… If you think they can help then… Maybe, I guess…”

“Good!” She grinned, “Evelyn can show the way. And not to worry, humans there were very nice. They probably be even nicer to forest spirit! Evelyn see… um… Evelyn not remember name, but things that show what human worship- they were of forest goddess.”

“Of Gaia?” Caelian asked in surprise, “The humans there worship Gaia?”

“Seems so, yup! Evelyn will show, follow!”

“Huh…” he mumbled as he watched Evelyn bounce along ahead. He followed at a slower pace, thinking to himself. He hadn’t considered that there could be humans who also worshiped Gaia. He was actually surprised they’d even know about her. How much of the spirit realm could humans possibly know about?

He was startled out of his thoughts by the noise his ice elemental made when it phased back out of existence. It was sharp, almost like the sound the crackling red one would make- but more like a shattering sound than a crack. He wondered what made it appear in the first place. They didn’t seem to behave like the sprites he was familiar with. At least, he didn’t think so. Nyxidae, Iaestia, Riemos and Ishar would appear if he wanted them to or if he was feeling heightened emotions. When the ice elemental appeared, he didn’t think he was feeling anything too strongly. Or maybe he was? It was hard to tell when he couldn’t put a name to his own emotions.

Then there was Evelyn. He didn’t know why she’d want to help him, or how she wasn’t the least bit afraid of him. How could the forest denizens look at him in horror and she not be phased at all? Were the denizens biased against dark sprites, like Evelyn had accused him of being? He was always told that the dark elements encompassed negative emotions. Was it really so wrong to be biased against them?

He stared at the ground as he folded his arms. Or maybe Evelyn wasn’t afraid simply because she hadn’t witnessed how he had attacked Garson. He hadn’t meant to. He didn’t want to attack Garson… At least… Now he could say that he didn’t want to attack Garson. But he could still vividly recall how he felt at that moment. It was like a fire festering in his stomach that he was convinced would only be put out if he hurt him. He’d have to try not to let his emotions get the better of him like that again. Being emotionless was better than that, and he couldn’t afford to chase away anyone that was willing to help him, even if he couldn’t understand why they'd want to.

[elementsofemotion]

Chapter 4: Blooming Decay

Caelian woke to the taste of blood in his mouth. He coughed, spraying a mixture of saliva and blood onto the ground as he twisted himself up into a sitting position. He held his pounding head with one hand as he looked around, his vision spinning. Something felt extremely wrong.

Remembering the events of the day before, he quickly stood up, stumbling into a tree as his vision momentarily went dark. He braced himself against it, pressing the side of his head against the bark. Taking a deep breath, he let it settle before letting his eyes scan the forest floor. There was no trace of the purple lantern. The cloaked figure was nowhere to be seen, either. Had his elementals chased them off while he was passed out?

He could tell by the light that shone down through the trees that it was now daytime, but the foliage still looked as though they held the familiar dull purple hue they’d turn in the moonlight. Squinting, he positioned himself closer to a nearby bush and gently reached out to examine it. As his fingers touched the brambles, he winced and quickly pulled his hand back. A small drip of blood gently dropped off his finger onto the ground.

He didn’t remember any of the bushes in the forest having thorns. As his vision slowly focused, he realized that the bushes had indeed turned a sickly shade of purple. There were still some patches of green scattered throughout: an untouched bush, a few individual leaves on the trees that still hung on to their original color, some flowers wilting- but still clinging on to their vibrant hue. But everywhere Caelian looked, he was met with that same sickly purple. The greens that had always calmed him were gone.

He took a tentative step away from the tree. Where had the mana orb disappeared to? He needed to find it. Gaia probably didn’t even have enough energy to make another. Getting on his hands and knees, he tried to look under the nearby bushes, being careful of their thorns. It couldn’t have gone that far, could it? Maybe he could ask his elementals to help him. They were small, and could-

His body grew rigid with a sudden realization. Why couldn’t he feel the presence of his elementals?

“Nixidae?” Caelian called, waiting for the green lantern to materialize next to him, just as she always did. But the air was silent and still. A strange, bubbling sensation that was eerily familiar was beginning to rise in Caelian’s stomach.

“Iaestia?” He called, whirling around, “Riemos? Ishtar?”

The silence felt heavy as he kept turning in circles, looking for any sign of them. He eventually came to a stop, panting heavily as he struggled to breath. He placed a hand against his chest, swallowing as he felt his quickened heartbeat. What happened to them? What happened to him?

Caelian jumped at the loud crackle that came from behind him. He whirled around in time to see a lantern materialize a couple of feet away from him, it’s red aura intense and crackling wildly like electricity. He stared at it with wide eyes as it hung motionless in the air.

His heart was still pounding as he took a tentative step towards it. “Riemos?” He asked with uncertainty.

The elemental remained silent as Caelian took another step forward. “Hello…?” He reached his hand out, intending to touch the glass, but yelped in pain when a shock emitted from the lantern. Quickly retracting his hand, he grasped it with his other as he stumbled backwards. Caelian gave the elemental a disbelieving look before looking down at his hand, gently opening his fist to see the black mark it had left on his palm. He frowned.

“...Not … us…”

Caelian snapped his head up, hearing the familiar echo of one of his elementals speaking to him. His eyes locked back onto the red-hued lantern that was remaining perfectly still.

“What?” Caelian asked, in a quiet voice. Moments of silence passed. “I couldn’t hear you,” He said, pushing for the elemental to repeat itself.

The lantern finally moved, though Caelian quickly stepped backward as it floated towards him. It stopped again after a moment, now closer, but not by much.

“You’re not Reimos,” Caelian said, “Who are you?”

There was another long pause, to the point where Caelian had thought he wasn’t going to get an answer, until a single word flashed across the back of his mind.

“Fear.”

Caelian stared at the elemental for a few moments longer. He took a few steps back, before turning and running off into the forest. He wasn’t sure if the elemental was following him, but he didn’t care to look behind him and check. He needed to return to Gaia and see what was wrong with him and where his elementals went.

His pace slowed as he continued on through the forest, getting lost as he realized he almost didn’t recognize anything. There was nothing but the same sickly purple wherever he went, with bright green acid occasionally dripping off of the tree branches and onto the forest floor, leaving smoldering black spots in the already dead grass.

Where gnarled roots had once been were now twisting vines, their thorns looking razor sharp as they glinted in the dull sunlight. Wilted flowers were everywhere he walked, though he noticed a few new ones growing among them, their buds turning to watch as he walked past. It was as if he had woken up somewhere that wasn’t the Eternal Forest.

But he knew it was the same. As much as he wanted to believe it wasn’t, every now and then, despite how different it looked, he could just barely recognize a few of the landmarks he once knew.

He walked into a familiar clearing, the pond now an unnatural, bright pink as opposed to the crystalline blue he remembered. He finally came to a stop, his arms wrapped around himself as he took in the sight. He didn’t jump this time at the sharp crackle beside him, signaling that the elemental from before had appeared. Ignoring it, he walked down closer to the water.

He peered over the edge. Despite its change in color, it was just as reflective as before. Caelian almost didn’t recognize himself when he saw his own reflection. The expression he had on his face seemed foreign to him. Why was he even making that face?

He stepped away from the edge, ignoring his urge to dip his hand into the bright pink liquid. Somehow, he felt that would be a terrible idea.

He tried to rack his mind to remember where exactly in the forest he was, but his thoughts were a swirling mess. He was just glad that the Great Tree was in the middle of the forest, standing above all else and easy to spot. He’d just have to climb up onto one of the trees.

Choosing one that had less acid oozing out of it from the others, he hoisted himself up easily. He climbed quickly up the trunk until he reached the branches, doing his best to avoid any of the acid. He pulled himself up until his head popped out of the top layer of leaves, and when he did, his heart sank.

He should’ve expected it, but it wasn’t really something he had wanted to consider. Off in the distance stood the Great Tree, towering above the rest of the forest. But it’s wood was a pale purple like most other things in the forest, and its leaves brown and decaying. Even from a distance, Caelian could see the waterfalls of green ooze spilling from the treetop.

He dropped down out of the tree and tumbled roughly onto the ground. He forced himself back up onto his legs, taking off quickly through the forest. The sight had left him feeling like he was going to vomit.

Gaia had always assured him that nothing could ever happen to the Eternal Forest, that she would be able to protect it. But something clearly had happened that she wasn’t able to prevent. Was she okay? Caelian’s worry and fear was eating at him from the inside out.

He was barely paying attention to where he ran, only making sure to keep to the same direction as the Great Tree. He hadn’t considered from which side he’d be approaching, and when he accidentally stumbled across the forest denizens’ town, he had barely recognized it. The same signs of death and decay had spread even to it, many of the homes now seeming uninhabitable from the acid as it melted the roofs and walls of their tree-homes.

He stopped in his tracks, breathing heavily as he took a moment to observe the town. He’d decided to continue on and check on them later- Gaia took precedence- but as soon as he took a step forward, he froze as someone shouted,

“Look! It’s the disciple!”

Within moments he was surrounded, the desperate forest denizens all speaking at once as they crowded into him. It was a tangle of voices where he could barely pick out where one sentence began and where another ended.

“What happened?!”

“Is Gaia okay?”

“What’s wrong with the forest?”

“The trees are dying!”

Caelian took a step backward, his eyes wide at their panicked cries. He only managed to stutter out in response, “I… I…”

“You!”

Silence immediately fell upon the crowd, and spirits shuffled out of the way to make room for the man whose resonating voice was heard above all the rest. Garson approached Caelian briskly, fire behind his eyes like Caelian had never seen before.

“What have you done?!” He yelled, getting right into Caelian’s face. “What happened to the Goddess?! To the forest?”

Caelian shrunk away from him, taking a step back. “I- I don’t know, I just-”

“Don’t play stupid with me!” Garson snarled, grabbing Caelian by his coat collar. Other spirits tried to step in and separate the two, but Garson quickly blocked them with his free arm.

“You came by the other day with a bunch’a the Goddess’ mana, an’ the next day the forest just falls to ruin?! What did you do, boy?!”

“Why are you blaming me?!” Caelian spat, causing everyone, sans Garson, to reel back in surprise. “I haven’t done anything! I don’t know what’s going on either! I woke up and everything was like this!”

Garson gave Caelian a shake as he spat back, “Because you’re the disciple! Your job is to protect the forest an’ you don’t even know what’s happenin’ to the forest?!”

Caelian bit his tongue as a memory struck him. The cloaked figure and the fifth elemental. Could that have been related to what happened to the forest? No, surely not. This was not his fault. It couldn’t have been. All he did was accept a new elemental. Elementals didn’t have the power to do all this.

“Like you could have done any better?!” Caelian shot back, “Why do you always act so much better than me, Garson? What would you have done? You’d only have been a disciple for just as long as I have, you wouldn’t have had enough time to absorb any more of Gaia’s mana. So what makes you think you're so special and that you could have done any better? You can barely even control the element of nature!”

Hushed murmurs engulfed the crowd around them, though Garson seemed unable to hear them.

“I would have stopped this before it could even become a problem!” Garson shouted.

“Stopped it how?! Do you even know what is happening? What would you have done? I followed Gaia’s orders. Are you saying you’d have gone against what she said? You think that’d make you a better disciple?”

Garson’ face was a hot red at this point as he continued to shake Caelian as he spoke, “What makes you think you can talk to me like that?! You know nothin’! The goddess gave you a pointless task because you’re not capable of anything!”

“Yet she still chose me over you, didn’t she? So what’s that say about you?”

Garson gripped Caelian’s collar tighter, staring directly into his eyes.

“You weren’t good enough,” Caelian continued, “Look at you. Thinking you’re so great. Then why didn’t Gaia pick you? You’re so qualified for the position, so why would Gaia have ever chosen me over you? Because you’re not good enough.”

“You…” Garson breathed, the veins on his neck and fist bulging.

“What, can’t come up with anything to say?” Caelian taunted, “You can’t, can you? Because you know I’m right. You try to act like you should be Gaia’s disciple, but why should you be? Because you act important and pretend that you're helping the denizens? Are you sure it’s out of good will or just because you want to pretend you’re the disciple? You purposefully drove the denizens away from me. You’re jealous Gaia chose me over you. You want me to have nothing so that-”

Caelian’s tirade was cut short when he was thrown, the breath knocked out of him as his back collided with the ground. He tried to take in a breath, but it was quickly forced back out of him when Garson stomped his foot down onto his stomach.

“You fuckin’ no good halfie!” He yelled, stomping his foot down a second time. The other spirits quickly intervened and pulled Garson off Caelian, though none of them bothered to check if Caelian was okay, as he slowly heaved himself up into a sitting position.

“A full-blooded forest spirit is the only thing worthy of servin’ the Goddess! Not some half-blood that doesn’t even know what element his spirit half is!” Garson spat, ripping himself away from the grasp of the two spirits holding him back. As soon as Caelian stood back up, Garson shoved him backwards, “You’re a disgrace to the entire fuckin’ forest! An’ now look what’s happened to it!”

Caelian kept his balance, glowering at Garson as the man towered over him. He could feel his blood start to boil just by looking at his face.

“I’m not a halfie, I’m a forest spirit,” He said through gritted teeth, “And I’m not a disgrace.”

“Bullshit!” Garson said, shoving Caelian back again, “You think you’re worthy to be the Goddess’ disciple?! Look at what’s happened to the forest because you couldn’t do nothin’ to stop it! The forest is dying because we had a fuckin’ no good halfie trying to do a spirit’s job!”

“I’m-”

“Imagine how disappointed the Goddess will be,” Garson interrupted, his voice more level as he stared directly into Caelian’s eyes, “That her forest, her home, everything she loved, was destroyed by her own disciple.” Caelian glared at him.

“The Goddess should have let you rot out in the forest,” Garson sneered, “Halfies don’t bring anythin’ good to anyone. The Goddess’ kindness has cost us all.”

“I’ve told you I’m not a damn halfie.”

“You ain’t no forest spirit. You’re a disgusting, no good, mistake.”

“I’m not-”

“Your parents probably left you in the forest because they were ashamed,” Garson said, “that they brought such a useless, emotionless, piece a’ shit halfie like you into the-”

“I’M NOT A HALFIE!” Caelian yelled. In an instant, dark purple ooze traveled up and around his arm, forming it into a monstrous claw as Caelian slashed it across Garson’ face, sending the man flying backwards.

Caelian immediately froze, staring wide-eyed at Garson as he writhed and screamed in pain on the ground in front of him. He hadn’t even noticed the purple lantern that materialized next to him, emitting a soft hum as the ooze slowly disappeared from his arm. Only the blood dripping from his own fingers remained.

“I- I’m sorry,” Caelian stuttered, taking a step back as the other spirits rushed to Garson’ side, “I- I didn’t mean to-”

His words were cut off as 3 more lanterns materialized next to him, alongside the purple one. The familiar red one, its aura wild like electricity. An icy blue one, frost clinging to its glass and icicles hanging from the black steel. Then finally one that caused many eyes to fall upon it: A bright, neon green lantern that had thorns wrapped around it, as a familiar green ooze leaked out of its cracked glass, burning the grass it fell down upon.

“You…”

Garson’ voice made Caelian rip his eyes away from the four elementals. When he saw him, sitting up with the assistance of another spirit, one his eyes closed and bloody, he was surprised. There was no more anger in his expression. Only a look that, until recently, Caelian wouldn’t have been able to place.

He looked at Caelian with fear.

“You’ve been corrupt,” He almost whispered, “This is your fault. You… you caused the Goddess to become corrupt. It was through you. That’s why… that’s why the forest is like this.”

Caelian’s stomach sank at Garson’ words, alongside the looks he was receiving from the others. They all looked at him the same way. They were afraid of him.

“What?” Caelian asked in a small voice, “But I’m not… how?”

Garson shakily stood up with the assistance of one of the spirits, “That’s somethin’ we should be asking you, boy,” He said, “Where did you get those dark sprites? What happened to your elementals?”

Caelian stared wordlessly at Garson as the four elementals circled around him. He was corrupt? From what?

Having those four elementals meant he was corrupt? That didn’t line up with how corruption had been explained to him. It was something born of negative feelings, sure, but… They were just elementals for the emotions he didn’t have. That didn’t mean he was corrupt, did it?

“I… I’m not corrupt,” Caelian said, “I don’t… how could I have been? I don’t- I… I didn’t… even feel… negative emotions…” He trailed off, coming to a sudden realization. He could feel them now. It was all he felt.

Did he really have corruption? He thought back to the robed figure. The purple lantern. What did they do?

His eyes swept across the line of forest spirits that still surrounded them, their murmurs filling his ears.

“The disciple is corrupt?”

“But he doesn’t seem it.”

“Did you not see how he just attacked Garson?!”

“He’s dangerous, then?”

“He would have never lashed out at Garson’ taunts before.”

“Surely everyone has a limit?”

“No, he was incapable. Something is different. Something happened to the elementals the Goddess gave him. Look how that one spews the same acid as the trees.”

“What are we supposed to do if the disciple is corrupt?”

“What are we supposed to do?!”

“What about the Goddess?”

What about the Goddess? Caelian focused on those words as they echoed through his mind. What happened to Gaia? Garson had said she became corrupt. But surely, she wasn’t…? Not because of him?

He stared down at his hand as the blood dripped off of it. The denizen’s murmurings had become a faint buzz in the back of his mind. Slowly, he took a step back. He needed to return to the Great Tree and speak to Gaia.

He turned and ran, deaf to the shouts that suddenly erupted behind him. Though he could ignore the voices, he couldn’t ignore being tackled to the ground, his face skidding in the dirt.

“Get off!” He shouted, flailing his legs and wings as more spirits rushed over to hold him down, “I need to go to Gaia!”

“You won’t be goin’ anywhere, Halfie,” Garson growled as he moved towards the downed disciple, supported by another spirit to help him walk.

“What should we do?”

Though Caelian couldn’t see them with his face crushed against the earth, it sounded like the spirit that had their knee on his back was speaking.

“What do you mean what should we do?” Garson snapped, stumbling forward as he left the spirit helping him behind. “The same that we do with any spirit that’s been corrupt!”

A silence fell over the gathering, the only thing to break it being Caelian’s heavy breathing as he lay still underneath the hold of the other spirits. His heart and lungs felt constricted, and sweat was beginning to form all over his body. His wings twitched helplessly under the hold of the other spirits. He wanted to get away, but he felt paralyzed, unable to fight against those holding him down. Tears began to form in the corners of his eyes as his breathing grew more even more erratic.

They were going to kill him.

“I… I don’t know about that, Garson,” Caelian heard someone further away speak up.

“What do you mean you don’t know about that?” Garson sounded like he was nearly boiling over with rage.

“I mean… He’s still the disciple, isn’t he? Should we really-”

“He’s corrupt, Sen. Disciple or not, we can’t just let corrupt spirits hang around and take the rest of us,” Someone else said.

“But…”

“I agree with Sen. We shouldn’t kill him.”

“Are both of you stupid?”

“What if it negatively affects the Goddess? She became weak when Nathaniel left us.”

“It’s ALREADY negatively affected the Goddess!” Garson roared, drowning out the others. “Just take a look around you! You think this could have happened to the forest if she wasn’t affected somehow?! We need to start by getting rid of the source of the problem. The corrupted halfie needs to be killed.”

There was a shuffling behind Caelian, and he felt a weight lifted off of him. His first instinct was to run, but he was quickly kicked over onto his back, only to be held down again as Garson planted his foot squarely on his chest. Even with his hands free and his feet kicking at the air, it yielded him nothing. He grasped desperately at Garson’s boot, trying to push him off and struggle out from underneath him, but it only caused the man to press down with more of his weight, making it nearly impossible to breathe.

Caelian could hear a commotion spark up around him, and thought that out of his peripheral vision he could make out some of the spirits trying to get past the others that were holding them back. But his focus was placed solely on the dagger that Garson had already raised above his head. Tears blurred his vision, and part of him was telling himself to just close his eyes, but they remained open in terror, even as the dagger was thrust downward.

“Garson, don’t you dare!”

Flowering vines sprung up around them within fractions of a second, one of them wrapping around Garson’s arm and tugging it back violently, causing a loud pop to emit from his shoulder as his arm was violently twisted away from Caelian.

Garson’s shout of pain caused everyone to stop what they were doing and stare. Caelian also stared up in disbelief for a few seconds, before quickly flicking his eyes over in time to see the crowd part to let someone through.

Tamia was storming towards Garson as fast as she could hobble with her cane, a stony glare etched onto her face. Caelian managed to turn his head enough to look at her, though no sense of relief was able to flow through him as the tears and struggling, panicked breathing continued.

More of the vines wrapped around Garson and yanked him off of Caelian. He stumbled, barely being able to regain his footing as the vines released him, disappearing back into the ground just as suddenly as they appeared. He dropped the dagger as he grabbed onto his injured shoulder.

“What do you think you’re doing, Tamia?!” He shouted as the old woman stood in front of Caelian, shielding him.

“I won’t let you hurt this child, you stupid, ignorant man.” She said.

“He’s corrupt, Tamia!” Garson shouted, “He needs to-”

“Corrupt?!” She shouted back as she stomped her cane against the ground, causing Garson to clamp his mouth shut. “The lot of you are all fools! Look at him, tell me, does he look like a corrupt spirit?!”

Caelian had sat up by now, gulping back some of his tears as he stared up at Tamia. Garson gave her an incredulous look.

“He attacked me, you delirious hag. Were you not watching?!”

“I would have attacked you too if you spoke to me like that, you damned oaf.” She spat back with venom.

“But… his sprites- the elementals,” Someone else spoke up as Garson glared at Tamia.

“Yes, the elementals.” Tamia’s spoke sullenly, turning to glance at the four lanterns that still hovered around Caelian, “It does seem as though they have been corrupt. But let’s focus on the boy. Tell me, does he look corrupt?”

There was a silence as she turned to stare at them.

“Has he been transformed? Became deranged? Lost his mind? Yes, Garson, he attacked you. But I fail to see a corrupt spirit that only lives to kill and destroy. All I see is a scared and confused child, experiencing all of the negative emotions that he has never felt before in his life. The forest is in shambles. The elementals he knew are gone. He is overwhelmed. Look at him, you idiots,” She stomped her cane into the ground just as Caelian sniffled and wiped some of the tears from his face, “You dare to tell me that this is a corrupt spirit?!”

“Corruption is corruption, Tamia,” Garson hissed, “Even if it is just the elementals, they're tied to him. Everyone here knows that. What do we do if he can’t control himself over the persuasion of his own corrupt emotions?”

“Are you not able to control your emotions, Garson? Actually, don’t answer that, you’re not a good example,” She waved her hand, causing Garson to sneer, “I’m sure he’d be able to control the elementals in time. Regardless, he is a baby. I will not let you hurt him.”

“He can’t just stay here, Tamia,” Garson growled, “He’s a risk to us all.”

“Then have him leave,” Tamia said flatly, “Banish him if you must. But I will not let you kill him.”

Garson and Tamia stared at each other in a silent standoff before Garson finally relented, stepping away with a grunt. Though Tamia remained standing tall, Caelian noticed her shoulders droop just a little bit as soon as the attention was taken off of her and put back onto Garson as he began to throw orders.

Caelian watched as she slowly crouched down next to him, gently placing her hand on his check as she gave him a weak smile.

“I’m sorry. This is all I can do to protect you,” She whispered, “I’m so sorry this happened, Caelian. If there was more support for you, I’d push to have you stay. But I can already tell there’s more that want you gone than those who don’t.”

“Tamia, I-” Caelian was cut off by a choked out sob, and Tamia shook her head.

“It’s okay. You don’t need to say anything. Caelian… If i’m being honest, I can’t say for certain if you’re truly corrupt or not. But I can tell you still have your mind about you. But I know you. Regardless of whatever negative feelings have taken over you, I know you’d never want to hurt anyone on purpose.I want you to live, and maybe someday, by some miracle, you will be allowed to return to us.”

Tamia pressed her lips firmly together as two spirits roughly grabbed Caelian, dragging him away. He began to struggle again, until a sharp blow to his head made him still. The spirit that had knocked him out with their blunt weapon gave him a sympathetic look, as he and his comrade continued to drag Caelian out of the town and towards the edge of the realm.

Tamia stood and watched, until they disappeared into the forest. “Take care of yourself, Caelian,” She said weakly.

When Caelian finally woke, it was to him being thrown onto the muddy ground. Though his vision was blurry and his head was spinning, he tried to push himself up. Rain battered against his face as he looked around at the glum scenery around him, before one of his hands slipped and his chin slapped back into the mud. Having no will to get up, he stared blankly ahead.

Behind him, unnoticed, the two spirits that had bought him there were quietly observing.

“Are you sure this is far enough?” One asked in a quiet voice.

“He’s never left the realm before. He won’t know how to enter,” The other sighed, “So it doesn’t matter how close we leave him. He won’t ever be able to return. He’ll be stuck in the human realm for as long as he lives. Even if he finds another spirit, I’m sure they wouldn’t show him the way back. Only an idiot would be willing to hang around someone that's corrupt.”

“Yeah… I guess... Hey, can… Can we even get a new disciple if the last one is still alive?”

“...I think that’s the least of our worries right now.”

The quiet one looked at the other sullenly. They took a moment to look pitifully at Caelian before the two of them turned and disappeared into the forest.

Time felt like a lost concept. Caelian had no idea how long he laid there, and the rain never seemed to stop. He wasn’t sure how long it had been when he finally pushed himself up, his arms shaky and barely able to support his weight. He didn’t bother to wipe the mud from his face as he stood up. He wobbled off to the side, grabbing onto a nearby tree for support.

He sniffled as he surveyed his surroundings, barely able to see through the dark downpour. He was in a forest, but he could tell it wasn’t the forest he had called his home. The trees and foliage looked normal, green and flourishing just as the ones he once knew. But the air around him felt different. It was too still; lifeless, with a lack of mana. Where was he? They had said something about the human realm, but… where was that? Caelian had only heard about humans in passing, or when he was being insulted for ‘being a halfie’.

He stepped away from the tree, though he had no motivation to move. Even though at the moment he felt nothing, he knew that he needed to try and get to Gaia. No matter what had happened. He needed to return to her.

He wandered aimlessly through the forest, looking hopelessly for something that he didn’t even know to look for. If he just kept walking, would he find his way back? Humans sometimes mistakenly wandered into the Eternal Forest, so surely he should be able to find the way in?

He wasn’t sure if the rain or his own tears were stinging his eyes more. He raised his sleeve to try and wipe away some of the water, but only succeeded in smudging more mud onto his face. He let out a pitiful whine, stopping in his tracks to try and clear the mud from his eyes.

After a few moments Caelian blinked his eyes back open. They stung even more now, but hopefully the rain could make itself useful and help wash away the mud.

Seeing blurry movement out of the corner of his eye, he spun around to face a deer that had poked its head out of the brush. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, and when Caelian held out his hand, the deer turned and fled. Caelian stared after it in quiet disappointment. Why did it run? Was it afraid of him? They never had been fearful of him before. Could it tell that he was corrupt?

He gently wrapped his arms around himself as he stared down at the ground. Was this all he had to look forward to for the rest of his life? Stuck in the human realm, lost and alone? Maybe it was what he deserved.

Caelian frowned. No, he didn’t deserve this. It wasn’t his fault any of that had happened. How could it be? All he did was claim his fifth elemental. The cloaked figure was only there to deliver it to him. Something else must have happened.

Maybe if the forest denizens hadn’t forced him out he would have been able to do something about it. What were they going to do by themselves, anyways? He was the disciple. He could handle the situation better than anyone else could. Who the hell did they think they were to kick him out, anyways? He was essentially second in charge next to Gaia. They should have been listening to him. Maybe if Tamia hadn’t been so useless and quick to agree in banishing him-

He shook his head, as if to shake away the thoughts. He didn’t like how he was feeling or thinking at that moment. What the hell kind of emotion was that? He knew the forest denizens were just trying to do what they thought would protect the forest. He knew Tamia did what she could. So why was he feeling differently?

Hearing a chime beside him, he turned his head to see the neon green lantern floating beside him.

“... You, huh?” Caelian said, “Then stop.”

He wrapped his arms back around himself as he trudged through the mud. He kept trying to not think about it, but the events of that day kept playing through his mind, getting more and more twisted with each passing.

“I said stop,” He said, not bothering to look at the lantern that had kept up by his side, “Do you not speak the common tongue or something? Just leave me alone.”

The lantern merely chimed in response, and Caelian felt a flicker of annoyance that it still hadn’t pulled back its influence. He turned to look at it, barely getting his mouth open to speak before tripping over some stray brambles and slamming back down into the muddy ground.

He slowly pushed himself up, kneeling in the mud as he stared down at the ground. Feeling something inside of him break, he let out a sob. Why was this happening? What had he done to deserve this?

Caelian tensed at the sound of more elementals materializing. He flapped open his dirty wings, forcing the lanterns away from him.

“Leave me alone,” He muttered, before dragging himself over to a nearby tree trunk. It provided little shelter from the rain, but it was better than nothing as he curled up into a ball with his wings wrapped around him.

All four of the lanterns gently floated closer, each making their own unique chiming and humming sounds as they crowded around him. Caelian stiffened again, pushing the blue one away as it got close to his face.

“I said go away,” He said more gruffly.

But they continued to draw near, staying within inches of Caelian as he buried his face into his knees. In the back of his mind he thought he could hear voices. They all echoed over each other, like a buzzing, incomprehensible mess as they struggled to be heard. Caelian’s head began to pound, growing worse with each passing second, as the voices slowly began to grow in volume.

“Leave me alone,” Caelian choked out, “I don’t want you anymore. I don’t like you. Look what you’ve done.”

Ignoring him, they remained. It wasn’t until the purple one gently drifted forward enough to touch him that he finally snapped.

“GO AWAY!” he yelled, flinging his arm out with the same purple claw he had used on Garson.. He knocked all four of the lanterns away in a single blow, hard enough to send them all flying into the muddy ground. The purple ooze around his arm disappeared quickly as Caelian buried his face into his hands, sobbing.

“Go away, leave me alone. Go away, go away, go away. I hate you. I hate this. I hate all of you. I’d rather feel nothing. Just let me feel nothing if I can’t have the others back. Let me feel nothing. Go away.”

His desperate babbling continued as the lanterns remained still in the mud. Their light began to slowly dim, before they disappeared one by one. When the last had vanished, Caelian fell silent. He sat perfectly still as the rain pattered around him for hours, him never moving an inch.

It was nearly pitch dark by the time Caelian slowly lowered his hands from his face. He let them fall lifelessly to his sides as he stared down at the ground between his feet, his eyes dull and lifeless. The elementals had finally listened to him.

He felt nothing.

[elementsofemotion]

Chapter 3: Fallen Leaves

As the sun rose into the sky, dapples of light slowly began to peek through the forest’s thick canopy. In the early hours of the morning the songbirds chirped, once again welcoming the warmth of the new day.

Caelian lied safely in his hollow under the roots, curled up into a ball on top of his over-sized flower bed. He was more lazily splayed out than usual, with his wings being a ruffled mess on either side of him. He stirred slightly in his sleep as a beam of light slowly crawled over to his face. He groaned as he covered his eyes with one of his wings, before rolling over and out of the sunlight.

He never appreciated the sun using it’s light as an alarm clock. He’d rather wake up whenever his body decided to, which was why he had taken to covering himself with his wings while he slept. Unfortunately, his tossing and turning in the night sometimes ruined his lazy sleep schedule.

He let his wings fold up against his back as his eyes drowsily blinked open. It was then that the memories of the previous day flooded back to him, and upon realizing that he still needed to return to Gaia, he forced himself up into a sitting position. He yawned as he grabbed onto one of the thick roots above him, using it as leverage to pull himself out into the open. Finally having enough room to stretch, he let his wings unfurl as he raised his arms. His wings shuddered as they were held out at their full length, before folding up against his back once again as he dropped his arms.

"Oh, you’re already awake.”

The voice caused Caelian to crane his neck upwards to see Nathaniel hovering in the air above him.

“Good,” Nathaniel said, “Don’t have to waste 15 minutes of my day waking you up.”

“It doesn’t take that long, does it?” Caelian asked, watching as Nathaniel drifted down and landed on one of the high-arching roots in front of him.

“It does. Sometimes, even longer,” He sighed, “But you’re up, so it’s fine. Surprising though, I figured you’d be super hard to wake up today, with all that running you were doing last night. What was up with that, anyways?”

“I’m not sure, actually,” Caelian said, as he tilted his head, “I just… felt like I needed to.”

“Excess energy, I guess,” Nathaniel shrugged, “Riemos sure likes to randomly fire you up. Well, go ahead and report back to Gaia, then. She’s been waiting long enough.”

“Are you not coming?” Caelian asked, as Nathaniel fluttered back into the air.

Nathaniel shook his tiny head, “Nah, I have stuff I need to do. Just don’t fall or anything, okay? And NO,” He quickly interjected, as Caelian began to open his mouth, “Do NOT just rely on Iaestia. Learn to like, at least GLIDE or something. Sheesh. Six wings. Can’t fly. Useless. Why have em.”

Nathaniel mumbled to himself as he zipped off into the forest, disappearing among the trees and leaving a small trail of glitter slowly falling down to the ground behind him. Caelian sat there for a moment, staring off into the direction he had vanished.

He absolutely was going to rely on Iaestia.

Caelian stood up and brushed off some moss that had been clinging to his clothes, before carefully navigating through the roots. As soon as his feet were able to hit solid ground again, he took off quickly through the forest in the direction of the Great Tree. If there was one thing Caelian could ever say he was good at, it was endurance. Sure, he wasn’t particularly fast, or strong, but by the time he reached the top of the spiraling stairway leading to Gaia’s dwelling, he wasn’t even tired or winded. He had even ran a bit to save time. Something Nathaniel definitely wouldn’t have approved of, but he wasn’t here right now to voice his worry about Caelian slipping and falling. As Caelian stepped underneath the shaded canopy, he paused. “Gaia?” He called, not immediately seeing her in her usual spot, curled up against her giant moss ball. He took a few steps forward, glancing around before his eyes locked onto a smaller figure. They were standing in front of the giant opening in the back of the room that looked out over the forest.

“Gaia!” Caelian called again as he ran over to her.

The goddess turned as Caelian called out, giving him a smile as he stopped in front of her. Even at a more “normal” size and height, she was still a few inches taller than him.

“Good morning, Caelian,” She said in her gentle voice, “I think this is the earliest you’ve ever come to visit me,” She laughed. “Is it?” Caelian asked, his tail lightly brushing across the floor. “The sun isn’t usually this low in the sky. That aside, Nathaniel said you’d visit today since you got back late last night. Tell me, is everything well in the town?”

“Oh, yeah! Everything seems to be, at least… Nobody really needed me for anything.” “I see,” Gaia gave him an empathetic smile, “Regardless of whether they needed you or not, thank you for checking in. I take it Garson had nothing to request of me either, then?” “He didn’t really mention you, honestly,” Caelian said, “He just… didn’t seem to like that I was there at all, I guess. He said that I should stop bothering to go back to the town.” “I see,” Gaia said softly, turning to look out over the forest. She let out a soft sigh, “Garson is a prideful man. I’m sure you can tell by now that he thinks I should have chosen him as my disciple. I can tell that many of the denizens agree with him.” Caelian watched as Gaia turned and slowly walked towards the center of the room. “But pride isn’t what I need in a disciple,” Gaia continued, stopping to face Caelian again from the middle of the room. “His envy merely shows he was never suited for the position.”

“Envy?” Caelian asked as he approached Gaia, stopping when he reached her side, “What does that mean?”

Gaia took a moment before answering, as she stared off in thought. “Envy is… something that starts from thoughts of comparison. Thoughts of inferiority and superiority. The outcome of someone thinking somebody else is better than them. It’s a desperate and bitter sense of wanting what someone else has. Garson has an ego, and feels by me choosing you over him, that he doesn’t measure up to you. That his accomplishments mean nothing, since he wasn’t chosen. So in turn, he may hate you for it. Envy is like a poison that rots the soul.” “Oh, thats…” Caelian paused, “It doesn’t… sound nice. Is… is that one of the emotions I don’t have?” “It is.” Caelian thought for a moment. Being something he wasn’t able to feel, he couldn’t really comprehend that sort of emotion. But from Gaia’s explanation, he could almost understand the cause for whatever that feeling was, at least. “Hey, Gaia?” Caelian asked after a few more moments of pause, “Before you never really explained negative emotions to me if I asked about them… I didn’t know envy was one of them, but… you did this time?”

“You’re right, I usually don't,” Gaia let out a soft sigh, “But I’ve been thinking lately… I’m no longer sure if shielding you from such things is what I should be doing anymore.”

Caelian remained silent as she turned to him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. “Caelian, tell me,” She said quietly, “Last night in the forest, did anything seem unusual?” Caelian racked his mind for a moment, “Well… after Nathaniel went on ahead, after the sun set, I felt… something weird? Like something was watching me. In a weird way, though.”

“I see,” Gaia frowned, “You didn’t see anything?” “No, why?” Gaia gently released Caelian’s shoulder with a soft sigh, clasping her hands together and bringing them near her chest. “I have something I need you to do today, Caelian,” She said, “I’m sorry to bother you with tasks two days in a row.”

“Oh, it’s fine!” Caelian said, his tail wagging as he took a step forward, “What do you need?”

Gaia held out her clasped hands, Caelian watching with curiosity as a yellow glow began to envelope them. She gently lifted them apart as a yellow orb materialized in the space between them. Swirls of orange were spread across its golden surface, moving and twisting freely. It’s pulsing light was bright enough to make Caelian squint as Gaia gently held it out to him.

Caelian gingerly accepted the orb, noting that it was extremely lightweight, as if he wasn’t actually holding anything at all.

"What is it?” He asked, turning it over in his hands as he examined it.

“It’s mana in physical form. I need you to take this to each corner of the realm and leave a piece of it, along with the town.”

“Oh! Do I just break part of it off, then?” Caelian asked. Gaia shook her head and gently placed her hand against the orb. She let her palm rest against it for a moment, before gently digging her fingers in, her hand nearly disappearing as she scooped out part of the orb as if it were a liquid. It quickly reshaped itself into another smaller, perfectly round orb in her palm. While Caelian was staring in awe, she took the smaller orb and pressed it against the original, pushing with her palm as the large orb reabsorbed that which she had taken. “It should be easy for you to do this, since my power flows through you as well,” Gaia explained, “But please, do be careful. This is magic in its purest form. It could easily harm someone if they were to try and touch it.” “Wait, this your mana?” Caelian asked, “Shouldn’t you be conserving it?”

Gaia shook her head, “No, I can’t afford to right now. That presence you felt last night- I feel as though something managed to get through the barrier. I believe you wandered dangerously close to whatever it was.” “But... is that even possible?” Caelian tilted his head slightly, “The barrier is what you’ve been putting all of your energy into, so it should be super strong, right?”

“It is, however, there are a few things I can think of that could have slipped through regardless.” Gaia sighed as she gently wrapped her arms around herself, “Nothing normal should have been able to get through. That is what worries me. I know it’s a lot to ask and that it will take some time, but if you can get my mana fragments spread out, I can get a better sense of where everything is in the forest. If whatever slipped through is a threat, it needs to be located. I could take down my barrier for a bit to have enough mana to sense the realm as I would normally, but it’s too risky. I can’t be everywhere at once, but since this is made from my mana, as long as it's spread out, I won’t have to expend as much energy. The orbs will eventually fade, so I may need you to do this multiple times.” “Okay… But can’t you just take back some of the reserved mana you gave me?” Caelian asked, “Then maybe you’d have enough to keep the barrier up and sense everything in the forest? I don’t want you to be exhausted because you keep using so much mana...”

Gaia smiled, “I appreciate your concern, my little sprout. But don’t worry. Even at my weakest state, I am this realm’s Goddess, and I will be able to protect it. I won’t take back any of the mana I've given you yet. With how little I’ve been able to store in you so far, I’m not even sure it’d be enough. Then our connection would grow weaker for no purpose, and you may not be able to handle the mana orb anymore.”

Caelian looked down at the glowing orb. “Oh,” He said, “So… I guess it’s better this way, huh?” Gaia reached out and gently patted him on the head with a smile, “Worry not, Caelian. It was a good idea, thank you. Someday in the future that may be something I ask of you, but for now,  we’ll have you continue to build it up and strengthen our bond.”

“Okay,” Caelian said, “I’ll place the fragments as fast as I can, then! Um, it might be a few days though, the Eternal Forest is pretty big…”

“I expected it to take a while. I’m sorry, i'm sure it will be tiring for you, but I’m relying on you.”

“Yeah!” Caelian beamed. “Don’t worry, I got it! I wish I could fly, though, I could do it a lot faster that way, I think…”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to teach you,” Gaia gave a sympathetic smile as she gave her own wings a light flap, “Someday you’ll manage, though, I’m sure.”

Caelian nodded, “Yeah, I hope so. But okay, I’ll be back in a few days, probably!”

“Leave a fragment in the town first, if you could,” Gaia called after Caelian as he was hurrying out of the treetop, “I’m worried for the forest denizens.”

“I will!” Caelian called back, not turning his head as he replied. He quickly stepped out from under the canopy, the bright sun causing him to squint. Clutching the mana orb tightly, he jumped off the edge of the platform.

Nathaniel wasn’t around to screech at him this time.

As he fell, he briefly considered trying to open his wings and see if anything would come of it,  but quickly dismissed the idea as Iaestia formed her protective bubble around him.

He stood up as soon as the bubble stopped bouncing along the ground and burst open, shaking some of the water off as he hurried into the forest. The shade from the forest canopy mixed with his soaking wet clothes gave him a bit of a chill, but hopefully movement could keep him from getting too cold.

As he neared the edge of town, he wondered what the denizens would think of him visiting two days in a row. He definitely had never done so before. He wished Nathaniel could have been with him, but since he was just meant to leave a mana fragment and didn’t need to visit anyone, it should be fine.

He had half-expected some of the surprised looks he got when he entered town. He noticed some curious looks towards the glowing orb he was holding—it was about the same size, if not a bit larger than his head, so it was pretty attention-grabbing— but nobody stopped him to ask any questions.

He paused to look around, trying to determine where he should leave the fragment. Gaia had said it could injure someone if they touched it, so maybe somewhere out of the way?

“Ah, great. It’s you again.”

Caelian turned at the sound of Garson’s voice to see the man walking towards him with an annoyed expression.

“An’ what in the goddess’ name is that ?” The older man asked, pointing at the mana orb.

“Be careful, Gaia said it can hurt you guys if you touch it,” Caelian said, taking a step back so Garson’s hand wasn’t so close to it, “She asked me to leave a piece of it here.”

“Ah, of course. Should’ve guessed you wouldn’t have come here on your own. Is that some of her mana? What are you doing with that?”

“Something might have gotten through the barrier, so-”

“Bah! As if that’s even possible. The goddess has been protecting us for years, nothin’ can get through her barriers.” Garson interrupted.

“Well, she said something could have. So she asked me to leave a mana fragment here to protect the town.”

Garson folded his arms across his chest as he stared Caelian Down. “If somethin’ DID somehow get  through the barrier, isn't that somethin’ you should be takin’ care of, forest prince ?”

“I am, I’m going to-”

“No, I don’t mean making Gaia weaken herself even more to scatter her mana throughout the realm so she can deal with it. I mean you take care of it.”

“What do you mean?” Caelian asked.

“Ugh, this halfie can’t do anythin, ’” Garson grumbled, as if Caelian wasn’t standing right in front of him, “You know what a disciples job is, right? To assist the goddess and protect the realm? Or are you just planning to be a little mana jar for the goddess and nothing else?”

“I’m… not understanding what you mean,” Caelian said, “What am I doing wrong?”

“What I mean is, Gaia shouldn’t be havin’ to run herself ragged over all this. You’re supposed to be the disciple, so you should’ve been off huntin’ down whatever it is that supposedly got through the barrier. But Gaia picked some young, weak an’ stupid halfie so all she ever does is baby you since she’s worried about you gettin’ hurt. It’s admirable of her, sure, but she shouldn’t be havin’ to expend more energy to protect a useless disciple, when it should be the disciple protectin’ her.

If Ezekial were still around this wouldn’t have even been a problem, nobody would be havin’ to worry about whether or not the Goddess is running low on mana, an’ he’d have been off doing something about the problem without Gaia even havin’ to tell him to.”

Caelian stared at him blankly. Maybe Garson was right, that he should’ve been able to do more. It was true that if Ezekiel was still Gaia’s disciple, with how long they had been together, that there would have been such a surplus of mana, Gaia wouldn’t have needed to have mana orbs spread out. But he wasn’t Ezekial. He was himself, and he was trying his best. “Gaia gave me an order so I’m going to follow it. I’m sorry you think that’s not enough. I can’t do more than what she asks of me. Do you know a good spot to put a fragment where nobody will touch it and hurt themselves?” He asked, his voice almost unnaturally monotone.

Garson gave a snort, “What’s wrong, halfie? Can’t feel anger or shame so you just go monotone on me? Whatever, fine. Put it up in one of the trees supportin’ the rope bridges, then.”

“Okay, thanks,” Caelian said, quickly turning and fast-walking away. He didn’t need to turn and look to be able to tell Garson was still glaring daggers at him. At least as he got away from Garson, he could slowly start to feel his elementals’ influence again.

He quickly ascended a nearby staircase that spiraled around one of the trees that supported the intricate rope bridge system that was built above the town. The stairs were almost like a mini version of the ones around the Great Tree, except more obviously man-made and not neatly integrated into the tree trunk.

The rope bridge swayed ever so slightly as he stepped out onto it from the circular platform that surrounded the tree. He didn’t go up onto the bridges very often, but whenever he did, he thought the swaying from side to side was fun. He couldn’t understand why some people would feel nauseous walking on them, or whatever they meant when they said they were afraid of it.

He decided on one of the taller trees that was more towards the center of town and quickly made his way over to it, the planks reverberating with each step he took. He looked up at the branches that sat a few feet higher than the circular platform reached. Carefully tucking the mana orb under one arm, he slowly clambered up the side of the tree. He swung his leg over a branch at the first opportunity to do so, and sat down on it.

He took the orb again in both hands, staring down at it for a moment before taking his left hand and gently pressing his palm against it, as Gaia had demonstrated. He dipped his fingertips into it, scooping out a handful of liquid that quickly formed into a smaller orb in his palm.

He admired the smaller orb for a moment, before leaning forward and gently placing it in between some of the branches to keep it stable. He tried to, at least. As soon as he had released it, it floated up into the air a few inches before coming to a stop.

Well, at least he didn’t need to worry about it falling.

Caelian quickly slipped back down the tree trunk and onto the rounded platform surrounding it, before making his way back down onto the forest floor. He walked at a brisk pace, leaving town quickly, with the mana orb now a little bit smaller.

He slowed his pace a bit as he got deeper into the forest, trying to decide where his next stop should be. He could probably make it to the south-western corner before the end of the day. It would still take him almost a week to reach the other corners of the realm, however.

Dusk had set by the time he made it to his destination. He left another mana fragment, this time tossing it into the center of the lake that was a landmark for the south-western corner. As he had expected, it gently rose above the water and reflected down like a miniature full moon.

Deciding to take a quick break, he clambered up onto one of the large nearby rocks and sat down. He held the mana orb tightly against his chest as he rested his chin on it, quietly watching the fragment as it floated above the water. Crickets chirped loudly in the night, adding to the croaking of the frogs that inhabited the lake. Caelian noted that a few of them resting on the lilypads near the shore seemed to be looking in the direction of the fragment, as if they were admiring it, too.

Caelian’s eyes felt tired. His urge to sleep was battling with his desire to not make Gaia wait too long for him to finish his task. He was considering trying to push through the night, despite it being harder to navigate. At least he had a portable light source with him that produced a bit more light than his elemental lanterns did.

He stifled a yawn as he forced himself to stand back up. Though he was sleepy, his body at least wasn’t physically tired yet. He’d try to push on for a bit longer.

He paused when a soft yellow light appeared beside him, quickly forming into a lantern. Clouds floated around near the bottom of the lantern, and a bright yellow halo encircled the middle, where the yellow light of the elemental was stored. A rainbow, aura swirled around the lantern at all times, gently phasing in and out.

“What? No, I’ll be fine,” Caelian said, responding to a voice only he could hear.

“You should sleep , don’t push yourself. You can’t help Gaia if you're sleep deprived. ”

Ishtar, his celestial elemental, was about as protective over him as Iaestia. Though Iaestia usually protected him from physical harm, Ishtar usually worried over things that could affect his health in other ways.

“It’s fine,” Caelian repeated, rubbing at his eye as he spoke, “I won’t go for too much longer, just until the moon is a bit higher up in the sky. Then I'll stop.”

“Take care of yourself ,” The soft voice said.

“I will. Thank you for worrying.”

Ishtar stayed materialized as they gently floated behind Caelian, following him as he slid off of the rock and looked into the forest. He’d decided to head east now, and hopefully reach his destination within two days.

It was a peaceful walk, with the mana orb and Ishtar gently illuminating his immediate vicinity with soft yellow light as Caelian navigated the forest. He wouldn’t be able to go on for long, as his mind was beginning to feel foggy. He was on autopilot as he swerved through the trees. That was why it took him a while to notice that the forest had grown eerily quiet.

He stopped, becoming alert as he listened to the loud silence. He couldn’t hear any of the usual sounds of the forest, not even the rustle of leaves as the wind disturbed them. He had a sudden recollection of when this had happened before.

That same weird feeling hit him.

He took a step back, gripping the mana orb tightly as his eyes darted around the dark forest. He had ended up in a small clearing of trees, where the moonlight shone down directly onto him, but still barely giving enough light to see under the dark forest canopy.

The feeling in his gut wouldn’t go away. It was as strange of a sensation the first time he felt it- like an emotion he had never felt before. But how? What was it then that he was feeling for the first time, that his elementals had never given him before?

“Are you afraid?”

The voice made him whip around in surprise, his wings flaring out and flapping to help propel him backwards, causing his feet to skid lightly through the dirt. He immediately saw who had spoken to him. It appeared to be a cloaked figure, though they were low against the ground, as if they had been crawling. It was almost reminiscent of a predator, poised and ready to pounce on their prey.

The purple cloak concealed the person almost entirely, with the hood pulled up and hanging partially down into their face. But it couldn’t cover the large, leathery gray ears that stuck out the back of the hood, nor the curved horns sprouting from the being’s head.

“My apologies,” The voice said, in the same hauntingly soft tone that had made Caelian jump, “I forgot how strong Agiel’s aura can be.”

“W-what?” Caelian stuttered, “What do you mean?”

The figure remained still for a moment. They slowly rose from the ground into a hunched over position. The added height let Caelian see the person’s eyes shining out from under the hood: Icy blue and without any noticeable pupils.

“You’re Caelian, aren’t you?” They asked, “The nature Goddess’ newest disciple.”

“I am,” Caelian said, “Who are you?”

“Someone that has been sent to give you your last elemental. I apologize that we were not able to contribute sooner.”

“What do you mean?” Caelian asked, “I already have an elemental from each realm.”

Caelian thought he saw something flash behind their pupiless blue eyes, but they retained their calm, soft tone, “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you’re unaware. Where I'm from isn’t called The Lost Realms for nothing, I suppose.”

“I’ve… never heard of The Lost Realms,” Caelian admitted, “There’s a fifth realm?”

“There is,” The figure confirmed, “And always has been. Realms of Nature, Water, Fire, Celestial… and Shadow.”

“I’m sorry, nobody ever mentioned your realm- Wait, so you brought an elemental, too?” Caelian asked.

“Yes. There’s emotions you lack, is there not?”

“Well… yeah,” Caelian said, seeming unsure of himself.

“I have for you your fifth elemental, then. The gift of The Lost Realms,” The cloaked figure said, “We apologize that we are a few years late compared to the other realms- It’s hard for us to come by sprites that are powerful enough to become elementals.”

Caelian couldn’t help but feel a twinge of excitement at the thought of another elemental. He truly had no idea there was a fifth realm. He had never even heard anyone imply that there were more than the four he knew of.

“Oh! That’s great! I’ve always been curious about the emotions I don’t have! Oh, but… Gaia always said that the ones I didn’t have were bad and that I wouldn’t like them… That they were considered negative emotions.”

Though it was hard to tell, the person under the cloak seemed to silently tip their head to the side, ever so slightly.

“There’s no such thing as negative emotions,” They said, “They’re all important. Are you really content feeling incomplete?”

“Incomplete?” Caelian asked.

“Tell me: Has nobody ever claimed you to be ill? Called you unnatural? A freak? That you can’t relate to them because you can’t feel the same emotions they do?”

Caelian remained quiet, the two of them standing there in the silence of the forest for a while, until the cloaked figure continued on.

“Are you truly fine with only having half of the emotions that exist? Would you not want to be thought of as normal?” They asked.

“Half?” Caelian asked, his eyes growing wide, “I… I only have half?”

The figure nodded, “Nature, water, fire, and celestial only embody half of the spectrum of emotion.”

“So… just that one elemental can give me the other half?” Caelian asked quietly.

“Correct. Accepting this elemental will provide you with the other half of the emotional spectrum. Shadow encompasses many things, you see.”

Caelian was practically vibrating at this point, “Oh, wow… I… I knew I was missing some but I… I never knew I only had half of…”

He watched as the figure carefully pulled something out from underneath their cloak. They set it down gently, before taking a step back, giving Caelian more space to see what it was. He recognized it almost immediately when the moonlight illuminated it: An elemental lantern.

It looked just like his own lanterns, except with an obviously different element inhabiting it. He wanted to say it glowed a dark purple, but glowing wasn’t quite the right way to describe it. It almost looked like the lantern was sucking in the light, and emitting an inky darkness around it. Pure black spheres were constantly emitting from the dark light of the elemental inside of it, almost looking like leaking water as they rose upwards before disappearing into the night.

It was beautiful, in it’s own way. Caelian wasn’t at all familiar with the shadow element. But if this was what a shadow elemental looked like, the kind of power shadow sprites possessed must have been impressive.

“Thank you, but… I’m not sure… would Gaia let me?” He asked.

“Surely, if it's what you want, Gaia would understand?” The figure asked, “They’re emotions that everyone feels, after all. They’re no worse than the ones you have now. Don’t you want to fill in that void? Or perhaps you prefer feeling nothing?”

Caelian remembered all of the times his emotions ceased and he felt the emptiness he knew all too well. But would having negative emotions feel better than that feeling? Something to fill that void?

Caelian’s other three elementals materialized, huddling close to him alongside Ishtar. He thought they were trying to say something, but it was like a quiet whispering in the back of his mind that he couldn’t quite make out.

Caelian stared down at the lantern, lost in thought. He did want it. The thought of never feeling that empty feeling again was enticing. The only thing holding him back from immediately taking it was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. He slowly knelt down, observing the lantern from a short distance.

“What’s your name?” Caelian asked. He was met with silence.

“I apologize for interrupting, but she won’t be able to speak with you until you’re linked,” The cloaked figure said.

“Oh, right,” Caelian said, remembering that nobody else could hear his elementals when they spoke. Of course he wouldn’t be able to hear them yet.

He took a few more seconds to observe the lantern. It certainly gave off a much different aura to any of his other elementals. Perhaps due to how different the emotions were supposed to be?

But he had decided. Gaia may be reluctant to do it, but if he took the elemental back with him, perhaps he could convince her to link the two of them together, as she had done with the others. It was what he wanted. He was tired of feeling nothing . He wanted to at least feel something . Most of all, he wanted to be considered normal by the forest denizens. Maybe, if he could finally understand and know all of their emotions, they’d hate him less.

He would beg Gaia if he had to.

Shifting the mana orb to rest under one arm, he shuffled forward just enough to be within reach of the lantern. He examined it for a moment longer before slowly reaching out his arm and gently touching his fingers against the cold metal.

That same coldness shot up his arm, paralyzing him as he suddenly struggled to breathe. He wanted to pull his arm away, but his body refused to do what he wanted it to. An inky black ooze had begun pouring out of the lantern, and was slowly snaking its way up his arm.

His elementals acted quickly, each one of them flying protectively in front of Caelian and releasing a blast of elemental energy down onto the lantern, knocking it over and away from Caelian. The ooze released its grip on him, causing him to fall backwards. The mana orb tumbled somewhere away from him as he used both of his arms to prop himself up, panting heavily as he looked at the now still lantern.

“H- hey, what,”

A piercing shriek made him bite his tongue as he flinched. The purple lantern shot out four more inky arms, each one of them wrapping around one of Caelian’s elementals. Caelian tried to react, but before he could stand, something slammed down into his back. The wind was knocked out of him as his chest slammed into the ground, before a blow to his side made him tumble over. His vision began to blur as the strange feeling from before increased in strength, feeling like it was going to suffocate him.

The last thing he heard before passing out was the sound of shattering glass.

[elementsofemotion]

Chapter 2: The Eternal Forest

“Caelian, aren’t you done yet?” Nathaniel whined exasperatedly, as he hung limply in the air.

“Not yet,” Caelian said, as he ran his fingers down yet another individual feather.

“But you’ve been doing this for hours .”

Caelian glanced up at him before blinking up at the sun. It had certainly moved quite a bit in the sky, so the sprite probably wasn’t lying about the time.

“I have to preen all of them or it’s pointless, Nath. If I stop, I’ll lose track.”

“You’ve only done, like, three of your wings. It’s going to be another two hours before you’re done at this rate. Stop avoiding the town!” Nathaniel huffed.

“Fine, let me at least finish this wing.”

“Ugh. Fine. I’ll wait. Over there. Call me when you’re done.”

Caelian watched as Nathaniel zipped across the pond and to the other side of the meadow clearing. The sprite hovered above the flowers for a moment before settling down into one, using it as a makeshift bed.

The sun was high in the sky, leaning more towards the west now. There were probably only a few hours left before darkness fell. Nathaniel was right; he needed to hurry up and finish his task so that he could report back to Gaia. Preening wasn’t the best use of the remaining hours of daylight.

Caelian shifted on the rock that he sat on, and looked down into the sparkling water of the pond. He had mostly dried off from the water of Iaestia’s protective bubble, though his coat still felt slightly damp.

As he studied his reflection, he noticed a few leaves and twigs sticking out of his tangled hair. He brushed his hand through it, feeling his fingers getting caught in the tangles a few times. After a few more tries of running his fingers through, the stuck leaves eventually drifted out, and the twigs fell into the water, scaring away some of the nearby fish.

Caelian sat back onto his heels as he looked over at the spread out wing beside him. His white wings always ended up looking more dusty and dirty than his black ones, so he always did them first.

Maybe it wouldn’t be too noticeable if he walked into town with only half of his wings preened. The white ones were done, at least.

He returned his wing to a folded position against his back before sliding off of the rock and hitting his feet to the ground. He’d finish the other half of his wings after he was done with his job.

He walked gingerly around the pond, being careful—as always—to not step on any of the wildflowers that covered the ground. As he made it to the other side, he knelt down around the area where he had last seen Nathaniel, and inspected the larger flowers.

“Nath?” he called. Upon getting no response, he crawled over to the next patch of flowers, looking intently for the sprite’s jade green body amongst the bright colors. After a few more moments, he spotted the sprite curled up in a pale orange flower, appearing to be sound asleep. Caelian gently cupped his hands around the small sprite, lifting him up out of the pollen filled core. Nathaniel gave a small sneeze as he woke up.

“I thought you said it was too late in the day to be sleeping?” Caelian asked.

Nathaniel rubbed at his large eyes, “Yeah, well, it gets pretty tiring flying around all day. Not that’d you’d know, or anything. Can’t fly and all. Super exhausting.”

“I see,” Caelian couldn’t help but crack a soft smile. “Want to sleep in my hood for a bit?”

In response, Nathaniel flitted up and out of Caelian’s hands and into his hood. His weight was barely noticeable as he snuggled into the soft fur.

“Wake me up when we get there.” Nathaniel sighed.

Caelian pushed himself back up, steadying himself on his feet as he glanced back across the pond. A small family of deer had emerged from the other side of the clearing, some of them eyeing Caelian curiously as the others had a drink.

He had a heavy urge to go visit and play with them, as they admittedly were his favorite animal that inhabited the forest. But instead, he managed to tear his eyes away from them and step back underneath the canopy of leaves.

It wasn’t a terribly long walk. Not to Caelian, at least. An hour of pushing through the underbrush was nothing compared to the long hours he’d spend checking every corner of the realm, making sure Gaia’s barrier was still up.

Pathways didn’t exist in the forest. The spirits got around by memory and landmarks alone. The younger ones learned from their elders how to navigate through the giant trees. Sprites had been the ones to show Caelian how to navigate. Each and every scar on the trees was like an arrow pointing to a destination. Landmarks such as the fallen trees and mushroom patches- They were all neatly integrated into his mind.

If it weren’t for the fact that spirits could live for a millennia, he would’ve said that he had traveled throughout the forest more than anyone else had. But his short years in the realm simply weren’t comparable to some of the elders, who had surely explored the forest far more than he ever could in his 100 or so years of existence.

At least, he was pretty sure it had been around 100 years. It felt right, but it was a bit hard to keep track without a calendar. Maybe one of the denizens would be willing to let him have one? As he pondered on it, he wondered what he’d really do with one; he wouldn’t have much to mark into it, would he? He didn’t even know his own birthday, after all. The day Gaia found him wandering the forest was the closest substitute they had for that day. They merely guessed he was somewhere around 5 year old at that point.

To this day, it was a bit of a mystery where Caelian had come from. No forest spirit claimed him as their child. It was almost as if he simply appeared one day in the forest; a small toddler staring up at the numerous sprites as they watched him curiously.

Coincidentally, it had been Nathaniel that had told Gaia an unknown child had appeared in the forest, and it was she who personally went to retrieve him.

It was probably the very first vivid memory he had: Gaia, shrunken down to a more normal height, one of the numerous things she could accomplish with her powers, approaching him and kneeling down with a smile.

He remembered… not really thinking much when he saw her. He felt no emotion back then. The world felt like it was going on around him, with him as a mere spectator to his own life. Like he didn’t really exist. Gaia had said she immediately sensed something off about him, but that it had taken her a few weeks to fully understand what was going on.

It had then taken years for her to formulate her plan: to gather powerful enough sprites of each element who were willing to help an abandoned child that nobody knew. It was an ability only she and one other god had the power to do. Taking four different sprites from each element, with each element embodying their own set of emotions. They would be reduced to their pure elemental energy and bonded to the person through a soul link. This would grant that person the ability not only to use the elemental abilities of the sprites, but to feel the emotions they encompassed.

They took the forms of lanterns, containing their essence inside the glass. They worked without Caelian even needing to do anything. While some emotions that embodied the sprites could overlap in similarity, while working together in tandem, they let Caelian feel a wide range of emotion.

He felt normal.

… At least, those were his feelings on the matter. Perhaps not entirely normal. The forest denizens seemed to disagree on his thoughts of what normal was.

When he stepped into the edge of the clearing that nested the town, as soon as anyone nearby noticed him, they promptly turned their back to him or hurried off somewhere. Caelian only silently watched their reactions as he walked onward.

This was normal.

“Hey, Nath…” He spoke quietly, reaching behind to gently tug at his hood. A moment later he heard the sprite stir. He heard a soft yawn, and a moment later Nathaniel had climbed up onto his shoulder.

“We there already?” He yawned again.

Caelian gently lifted Nathaniel off his shoulder, cradling the small sprite in front of him as if he were some sort of protective shield.

It’s fine, he told himself. I don’t feel upset with them, so it’s not a big deal. I just feel… empty? I guess, like I used to. I’d rather not feel like that... But it will pass.

It was admittedly a strange sensation for Caelian, as if he and his elementals didn’t know how he should feel, so his emotions simply... ceased. Like a punch to the gut, the switch from feeling happy, content, anything, going to pure nothingness, always hit him like a bag of bricks. If he could experience truly feeling upset, if he had to guess, he would be upset over having to endure that feeling every time he went to the town.

But he was Gaia’s disciple, and as such, he had to endure this.

As he walked, while most of the looks he got were full of disdain, there were a few expressions of pity scattered throughout. Sure, not all of the denizens hated him. There were a handful that at the very least didn’t mind him, and even a few that were genuinely kind. But they were heavily numbered by those that dislike him. He would always visit the kinder ones last, so that he could better hold onto those memories when he had finally left for the day.

Caelian sauntered over to the town square, near the well. He didn’t actually need to visit and talk to everyone in the town; if someone needed him for anything, he simply needed to be visible long enough for them to potentially ask. But there were always a few particular individuals he’d take the time to seek out, as Gaia specifically asked it of him.

Garson’s home was only a few yards north of the well. It was a small home built into a hill, using a nearby fallen tree as an expansion. Caelian stepped onto the old, dirty doormat that laid at the partially covered entryway. Shifting Nathaniel over to be held with only one hand, he knocked.

A few moments later, an older man swung the door open, the smile on his face quickly falling at the sight of Caelian.

“Oh, well if it ain’t the little forest prince ,” he sighed, a hint of a sneer in his voice as he said Caelian’s nickname, “What d’you want?”

Caelian paused a moment before speaking, “Um, is there… has everything been alright in the town?”

Garson gave him a hard look, before taking a step forward out of the doorway. This forced Caelian to take a step back, and Garson tightly closed the door behind him.

“Look, kid. We’ve been over this. There ain’t no point for you to even keep comin’ here- not that you ever do to begin with. Go back to playin’ with your little forest animals.”

Caelian was quiet for a moment. It was true; he rarely visited the town these days.

“I’d come more often if anyone actually-”

“Kid,” Garson interrupted, placing a fisted hand onto his hip, “Ain’t no one here gonna ask anythin’ from a halfie .”

“I’m not a halfie,” Caelian shot back quickly, “You all just assume that because of how I used to act.”

Garson furrowed his brows, frowning as he pointed a fat, calloused finger at Caelian, causing the boy to lean back, “You ain’t a normal one, kid. You can’t even feel no emotion without those little lanterns of yours. That’s a halfie disease, guaranteed. One of your parents went and had a kid with a human- that’s the only way a spirit would have a disease like that.”

“It’s not a disease,” Caelian said quietly, “I just… I don’t know why I was like that. It’s fine now, Gaia helped me, so why does it matter? I’m just a nature spirit.”

Sure, it was known that if a spirit and human were to ever successfully have a child, that child would have serious complications. The two simply were not meant to mix, and their offspring would pay the price for it. There had been numerous ‘halfies’, or hemicaes, as they were more officially called, documented throughout the ages, all with unusual health problems or traits, but they were a rare occurrence, and not much was known about them as they typically ended up living lives of solitude, away from the judgement of others.

Garson shook his head, his hands falling back down to his sides. “You’re just playin’ pretend, is what you are. You can’t feel anythin’. It’s all the sprites tellin’ you what to do. You can’t relate to nothin’ and no one. I’ll never understand Gaia’s decision, choosin’ some defective, lost little halfie as her disciple,” he sighed before adding, “Shame Ezekial passed on. Him bein’ the disciple during these times would’ve been ‘lot more comfortin’.”

Caelian remained quiet. He didn’t believe what Garson said about his elementals dictating how he felt. If they did, he didn’t think they’d leave him feeling nothing right now. At least Caelian finally got out of the void at the mention of Ezekial, sparking Riemos and his own curiosity. Ezekial was the name of Gaia’s previous disciple, though he knew very little of him. He just knew that he had been with Gaia for millennia before finally passing on due to unknown causes.

Garson turned away from Caelian, opening the door to his home again and stepping inside. “Just go home, kid. Sure, you’re Gaia’s disciple now. You can store her excess power and help her with whatever she needs, fine. But don’t be expectin’ anyone here to want anythin’ to do with you.” With that, the door closed, leaving Caelian to quietly think about Garson’s words.

He was startled out of his thoughts when he felt Nathaniel wriggle away from his grasp, flitting up into the air with a huff. “What an asshole,” Nathaniel grumbled. “Don’t listen to him, Cae.”

“It’s fine. It doesn't bother me.” It was true. Caelian felt literally nothing from the conversation. He knew the words for how he should have felt, but not how those emotions would actually affect him. He couldn’t help but be curious what those emotions he still lacked were like. Gaia always told him it was for the better, but was that really true? “Well, whatever. He was no help,” Nathaniel folded his arms, “Let’s go check on everyone else.” “Alright…” He had agreed to check on the others, but he ended up wandering rather aimlessly through the town, quietly watching as the other spirits went about their lives. He often felt curious of what it was like to constantly be around other people; he had been isolated from other spirits for most of his life. Sure, the animals and sprites always kept him company, but the spirits here seemed so different.

Maybe Garson was right, that he couldn’t really relate to them.

He was broken out of his thoughts when he noticed a familiar face pass by him, causing him to immediately perk up and do a double take. A younger boy, closer to Caelian’s age, was carrying a large water jug filled to the brim with well water.

Upon noticing Caelian staring at the boy, Nathaniel quickly flew down in front of his face, blocking his line of sight, “Oh no. We’re not talking to Mathias today.” “Why not?” Caelian asked, leaning over to peer around Nathaniel’s tiny frame, “Maybe he needs help carrying water.” “Nope. He’s fine. No need for me to experience second-hand embarrassment today,” Nathaniel said flatly, moving to block Caelian again. “What’s that?” Caelian asked, taking a step back to look at Nathaniel, “Just let me check on him really quick.” “Don’t worry about it,” Nathaniel sighed with exasperation, “He’s fine, Caelian, we have other things to do, okay?” “... Okay.” “Okay, great. So let’s- HEY!” Nathaniel let out a high pitched screech as Caelian ducked under him and bounced over towards Mathias. “Mathi!” Caelian called excitedly, coming to an abrupt stop in front of the boy, causing him to nearly lose balance and fall over in surprise. “Ah- Caelian,” he shook some of his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes and gave the boy an unsure smile. “Can I help you?” “I, um- I actually wanted to ask you that. Do you need any help carrying water back to your place?” Caelian asked, his tail wagging excitedly. “Huh? Oh, this? No, it’s fine, I got it,” Mathias said, adjusting his grip on the clay jug slightly, “Thanks, though.” “Oh, okay. Um, hey, Mathias-” He spoke quickly when he saw the boy start to walk away, “I was actually wondering if we could like- hang out or something sometime?”

Mathias paused, looking back at Caelian with a concerned frown, “Ah… Well… I’m pretty busy, you know?” “I mean, whenever you’re not busy,” Caelian tilted his head slightly, leaving Mathias to let out a soft sigh. “Um, look- Everyone in the town that’s nice to you has everyone turn against them, too… You don’t seem that bad, but... I don’t really…” “... Yeah, I get it,” Caelian said softly. “Sorry,” Mathias said, giving him a genuine look of sympathy, “I need to go now.” He stood quietly as his tail slowly stopped wagging, lying limply in the dirt as he watched Mathias hurry off. A moment later, he felt the familiar plop of Nathaniel landing on his head. “Ya done?” he asked. “Yeah… I guess.” Nathaniel sighed, lightly patting the top of Caelian’s head, “Don’t worry, Cae. We’ll find you some nice friends someday.” “Huh? I have friends, though. I have the deer- and, well, you.” Nathaniel couldn’t help but snort, “Well, thanks for remembering me, I guess. Let’s just go visit Old Tamia and call it good, yeah?” Nathaniel said, jumping off Caelian’s head and back into the air. “Do you think Gaia will be upset?” Caelian asked as he turned and followed Nathaniel’s lead. Nathaniel paused for a moment, looking over his shoulder, “What makes you ask that?” “I still can’t really seem to get along with anyone.” “They won’t even give you the chance to get along, Cae.” Nathaniel sighed, “I don’t know what they expect- They get mad at you for not always knowing what to do, but if they never give you the chance to try you’re not going to improve.” “You mean back when they’d ask me questions and for help and stuff?” Caelian asked, tilting his head slightly. “Yeah- like when that one guy accused the other the other of stealing that- what was it? A pig? Goat?” Nathaniel shrugged, “I don’t remember, but they wanted you to do something about it? You’re still a baby and don’t know anyone here, of course you’re not gonna have any idea whose animal it was.”

“I didn’t think anyone would lie about getting their animals stolen…” Caelian said as he looked up at Nathaniel, who was hovering above his head. “Exactly! You haven’t had time to learn. I think everyone here is too used to Ezekiel- they expect you to be able to settle everything as quickly as he did. Hell, I doubt anyone would’ve even tried a stunt like that if he were still around.”

“Everyone always talks about how much they miss him- I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to measure up to that,” Caelian said as he stared ahead. “Someday they’ll respect you. They have to. Or else Gaia will smite all of them,” Nathaniel huffed. “Wait, she’d do that?” Caelian asked, quickly looking back up to Nathaniel. “Well, no,” Nathaniel said after a pause, “But we can threaten them with it.” “I don’t think she’d like it if we threatened them with that,” Caelian said with a small laugh as he stepped up onto a rickety old porch. Nathaniel landed on his head again as his footsteps creaked across the wood.

The house that they had arrived at belonged to someone known as Mrs. Tamia. Her home was more typical than that of most of the other nature spirits. It was a simple looking house, built out of wood and red bricks. From the outside, it had quite the rustic feel to it, with numerous hanging and potted plants on the porch and numerous flowers throughout the surrounding gardens. The house itself, however, was a bit decrepit. The flowers and plants clearly received the brunt of the care. Caelian stepped up to the door and gently took it’s metal knocker into his hand. He rapped the metal against the wood a few times, before releasing it and taking a step back. He stood waiting patiently for a few minutes, before the door slowly creaked open. An older, hunched over woman with curly gray hair and large, round spectacles peeked out at him. “Oh, why if it isn’t little Caelian!” she rasped, opening the door wider as she balanced with one hand on her cane, “I was just wondering when you’d come visit again, dear. Come in, come in.” “Thanks, Mrs. Tamia,” Caelian said as he followed the woman into her home. The inside of the home felt smaller than how it looked outside, mostly due to the vast amount of things the woman had collected throughout the years. However, it did have an organized clutter to it that gave the home charm. Numerous dim lights were spread throughout the room, giving just enough light to see the various collections of knick-knacks and old books neatly displayed on the many shelves. “How have you been, Dear?” Tamia asked as she hobbled over to the kitchen area. “I’ve been well,” Caelian said, slowly keeping pace behind her. “How has Gaia been? Everything going well in the forest?” “Gaia’s fine. Everything seems normal right now. Just the usual stuff.” “Good, good. I'm glad to hear,” She said as she opened a cupboard, “I’ve been worried about the Goddess as of late. Keeping that barrier up isn’t an easy feat, especially with most of her excess power being gone. Not being able to leave the Great Tree, poor dear. But you take care of yourself too, Caelian- You're so young, I’m sure it’s not easy for you to handle all of this responsibility, either. Here, sit down.” “I’ve been doing my best,” Caelian said as he sat down at the table, “But how have you been, Mrs. Tamia? Is there anything you need help with or for me to relay to Gaia.” “Oh, I’ve been fine,” she said, pulling a container out of the cupboard, “Don’t you worry about an old hag like me. Here, love. I just made these this morning. Help yourself.” Caelian couldn’t help but wag his tail and gently tap the table in excitement as Tamia set the container down in front of him, removing the lid and  revealing numerous different kinds of cookies, all of which were neatly sorted into compartments. “Thank you,” Caelian said, taking one of the cookies. He carefully broke it in half, trying to prevent any crumbs from falling onto the cream colored table cloth, before holding it up to his head for Nathaniel to grab onto and gnaw on. This was the one nice thing about visiting the town, at least; Tamia had always been kind to him. The first time she ushered him into her home, he had been amazed at all of her belongings and would spend hours inspecting them. His favorite was still the small, colorful bird that would tip back and forth, appearing to be drinking water.

It was also the first time he ever got to experience eating such delicious foods; things like sweets, pastries, and cooked meals weren’t things that he would ever have been able to find or make out in the forest, and Tamia was always delighted to share her baking and cooking with him. As an older spirit, her offspring didn’t come around to visit much anymore, so she was happy to treat Caelian. The first time he had ever tasted one of her cookies, he had squealed in delight. “Have you already visited everyone else in the town?” Tamia asked with a smile, as she slowly sat down in the chair across from him. “Most of them- Nobody really wanted to bother with me, though,” Caelian said, giving another piece of cookie to the small, greedy hand waving in his face. Tamia let out a sigh, “Yes, it's unfortunate how the others view you. They complain to me for always hosting you- halfie this, halfie that. Bah, as if it’d matter even if it were true. You’re a kind and gentle young man. I see why Gaia would have chosen you as her new disciple. You have much of the same qualities as Ezekiel.” “Do I?” He asked, gazing up at her, “People mention him all the time, but I’ve never actually heard much about him.” She nodded, “Granted, he was much older than you, but I remember when he was young and first appointed as Gaia’s disciple. He had the same childlike curiosity about the world as you have. He was a sweet boy, and a kind man, always going out of his way to help others.” “I guess we are a bit different, then.” Caelian mused, staring back down at the cookies, “I don’t really help others much.” “Your day will come,” she said as she slowly stood up from her chair. Caelian watched as she walked over to the window, gazing out at the pink sky. “It’s already getting late. Do you still sleep out in the forest, Caelian?” “Yeah…” Tamia frowned as she turned to look at him, “Will you still not consider moving into the disciple’s house? I worry for you, especially as the colder weather approaches.” Caelian’s eyes flicked over to the window. He had been shown the disciple’s house once, long ago. It was a lone cabin, isolated but not too far from the town, that was passed down and meant for each disciple to inhabit. He remembered the smooth wood floors, the blank, cream colored walls, and how strange it felt. Then there was the thought of being so close to the town at all times. Perhaps it was useful for the past disciples, but for him… Tamia sensed his hesitation. “I know you don’t enjoy coming here,” she said gently, “But perhaps familiarity will help the denizens become more used to you.” “That’s okay,” Caelian said with a smile. “I prefer the forest, honestly. It feels more natural to me. I like the roots and moss. Plus, I’m closer to Gaia there.” Tamia gave a soft smile. “I understand. But never forget I welcome you here with open arms, Caelian. Now, here,” she walked over to the table, placing the lid back on the cookie container and then extending it out towards Caelian, “Why don’t you take this with you as a treat?” “Oh, but I don’t want to take all of them-” Caelian started, but Tamia gently pushed the container into his hands. Nathaniel flew back up into the air, allowing Tamia to gently ruffle Caelian’s messy hair. “I can always make more- it’s a gift, dear. Whenever you run out, come back to visit a lonely old woman, won’t you?” “Ah- yeah, I’ll try,” Caelian smiled, “I guess I should go, now- Sorry I couldn’t visit for long, Mrs. Tamia.” “Don’t be sorry, my dear, I know you’ve got a lot to do. You’re always welcome here, even if it's just to grab a snack and leave. Never forget that.” “I’ll try to make sure I can visit for longer next time,” Caelian said, as he stood up and pushed in his chair. “Thank you, Mrs. Tamia.” “Of course,” the old woman smiled, walking with Caelian over to the door and gently opening it. “Stay safe out there, won’t you?” “I will,” Caelian said as he stepped out the door, Nathaniel following close behind him, “Bye, Mrs Tamia, see you next time!” The woman waved to him as he walked on until they were out of view. Nathaniel landed back down on Caelian’s head as the boy looked down at the cookie container. “Well, that wasn’t too bad, right?” “Mrs. Tamia is always nice, I’m glad,” Caelian smiled, “I’d like to do something for her next time we visit- I don’t know what, though…” “Maybe you can make her something?” “I don’t really know anything I could make, though… I can’t bake or cook like she does… or sew… or anything, really.” “Well… You’ll have time to figure it out,” Nathaniel said with a yawn. “Yeah, I guess.” The sun had nearly set by the time Caelian left the town, bumbling back into the forest. It was harder to navigate at night, so he wanted to get back as soon as possible. “I don’t think you’ll make it before dark,” Nathaniel commented, looking at the slowly disappearing blotches of light against the forest floor. “Want me to go on ahead and let Gaia know you’ll report back to her in the morning?” “But I want to make sure she knows I went,” Caelian looked up as Nathaniel flew up off his head. “I’ll tell her, don’t worry. Just go ahead and go back to hollow and I’ll meet you there- I don’t want you slipping and falling off the stairs or anything because you can’t see.” “But Iaestia will just-” Caelian paused as Nathaniel zipped off ahead of him, apparently having already decided what to do, regardless of Caelian’s input. “... Use her water shield.” Caelian trekked on alone, now at a less brisk pace. He really wanted to report to Gaia tonight, but he didn’t want to make Nathaniel mad, so he’d just do as the sprite said. Lost in his own thoughts, he continued on as he recalled his time spent at the town. Mrs. Tamia was probably right, and Gaia pushed for it often, too. He really should visit more, regardless of how empty it made him feel. Even if the denizens never fully accepted him, it was his duty as the Goddess’ disciple to take care of them. Maybe if he just focused on that, with Nyxidae’s help, it wouldn’t be so bad. He smiled to himself at the thought. It was then that he noticed that the forest seemed especially quiet. It was normal for the songbird’s chattering to have died down by this hour, but there was a distinct lack of the chirping crickets that he always fell asleep to at night. He couldn’t even hear the frog’s chorus, either, despite their calls always being loud enough to echo throughout the forest. He paused, standing quietly amongst the trees. The sun was gone at this point, the moonlight now taking over, doing its best to provide the forest with its soft light. It was a feeling he couldn’t quite place, like something familiar, but forgotten. Somehow, something felt off. The air he breathed in felt unusually cold, like an icy hand gripping his throat. It was then he heard the snap of a twig from somewhere behind him, causing him to turn and look. “Hello?” he asked, staring off into the empty forest. Predators weren’t a concern for him; none of the carnivorous animals in the forest ever hunted the mana beings. But there was still a weird feeling somewhere in the pit of his stomach. He stood there for a few moments, waiting. There was nothing but silence. He took a step back, before turning and running off into the direction of the hollow. He wasn’t sure why he ran.

[elementsofemotion]

Chapter 1: The Forest Prince

Birds chirped in greeting to the morning sun as it lazily climbed its way up into the eastern sky, it's brilliant rays peeking through the tall oaks and only coming to a stop when its light was scattered about the forest floor.

Deep within the forest, at its very center and towering above the rest, stood the Great Tree, home of the Nature Goddess. The forest was her kingdom, and she loved it as much as it loved her. Though the tree was mostly hollowed out as living quarters, it still lived and flourished beautifully thanks to the Goddess’ power. It was the landmark of the Eternal Forest.

It was at the top of this landmark that a tiny nature sprite flew out from the leaves. Sprites were a common resident of the Eternal Forest, along with the other realms, as helpers of mana regulation. Their bodies were almost humanoid, though more rounded and undefined with nubby, slender legs and tiny hands. Their faces were almost reptile like, also rounded and with soft features that made their large eyes stand out. The humans often called them fairies, though it wasn’t a term the sprites were fond of.

The nature sprite’s translucent wings were multiple shades of orange and pink, arranged in a pattern reminiscent of a monarch butterfly. His skin was a deep emerald green, with darker green markings adorning his arms, legs, and nubs that continued into the antennae on the top of his head. His tail was long and slender, with leaf-like extremities that eventually ended into a pink lily.

The sprite paused in midair, quickly taking in his surroundings before quickly dropping down to the forest floor, like a falcon diving down onto its prey.

Down among the tangled roots of the great oak was the person he was looking for. The boy was considered extremely young for a spirit, only existing in the world for a mere 120 or so years, as opposed to those who had lived for millenia. On the outskirts of the long reaching roots, his home was in a shallow burrow. Moss and giant flowers gave him excellent bedding to sleep on, with the roots above him providing adequate protection from the elements.

The boy slept soundly, curled up into a tight ball in the center of a particularly large flower. Though he was down below the roots, light still reached him in plentiful amounts, dotting the area around him with the warm, yellow sunshine. Six magnificent wings- black with white tips on the right side, white with black on the left- covered him like a blanket, protecting him in a warm shell from the outside world. His feathers shifted ever so slightly with each breath.

He had messy, rosey-brown hair with a small, nubby set of black horns sprouting up from it. Black and silver Headphones covered his ears, the band carefully pushed behind his horns in an attempt to make it stay in place. He wore an unusual looking army green jacket with white fur trim, over-sized for his small frame. His undershirt was white, and black ripped-up pants were tucked into black and white converse boots. As if to match his horns, a devil-like tail was curled up around him as he rested.

The sprite landed hard on top of the boy’s folded wings with little regard to his feathers. He didn’t stir even as the sprite began to jump up and down, his weight barely noticeable.

“Caelian!” He called, sliding down the boy’s wings and landing down on the floor near his head. “Caelian! Wake up! Come on, you lazy bird!”

Caelian’s wings shuddered, before they slowly opened up around him, revealing the small boy they were protecting. He blinked his azure blue eyes groggily, not bothering to stifle his yawn as his wings neatly folded against his back and he lifted his head.

“What is it, Nathaniel?” He asked, his usually soft voice slightly hoarse from sleep.

The Sprite flitted up from the root he was standing on to the top of Caelian’s head, plopping down into a sitting position in one swift motion.

“Gaia wants to see you!”

“Oh, really?” He let out another yawn. “That’s all?”

“Yeah, she- HEY,” Nathaniel let out a shriek as Calian plopped his head back into the soft patch of moss he had been using as a pillow, causing the sprite to roll off into the roots. He let out puffs of annoyance as he climbed back up, dramatically slapping his tiny hands on top of the large root as he pulled himself up without his wings for assistance.

“Okay wise guy, no. You’ve had ENOUGH sleep, it’s time to WAKE. UP,” He emphasized the last two words as he pushed against Caelian’s face, earning little reaction.

“It’s warm out- and I’m tired- Let me sleep, Gaia won’t mind.”

“Oh yes, I’m sure Gaia will appreciate her disciple not taking his job seriously. Not like she needs anyone to help monitor the barrier and take care of the forest denizens.”

Caelian cracked open an eye.

“Poor Gaia, having someone so young and lazy as a disciple. Surely, her work is cut out for her,” Nathaniel sighed dramatically as he turned away from Caelian, shrugging his hands and shoulders. “So busy regulating the forest’s mana, y’know, so the realm doesn’t fall apart- but I suppose she’ll just have to somehow deal with everything herself since her disciple can’t even do his job. I mean, for anyone else it would be a great honor to serve as the right hand to one of the Gods, but hey, if you’re tired, go back to dreamland.”

Caelian had fully opened his eyes while Nathaniel spoke, giving the sprite a very blank look. Beside him, a soft green light began to dimly glow, growing in intensity over the span of several seconds. A moment later, a lantern materialized, the intense light quickly pulled into a sphere that floated inside of the lightly tinted glass. Vines and flowers sprung to life, twisting and turning around the lantern’s exterior as they appeared from seemingly nowhere. Finally, the light inside of the lantern dimmed again, leaving it enveloped in a sparkling green aura.

Caelian pushed himself up into a sitting position. He gave himself a light shake, stretching out his wings slightly and ruffling his feathers.

“I do take it seriously,” he said. “It is an honor to serve Gaia.”

“Then up!” Nathaniel huffed. “Up, up, up!”

He didn’t wait for Nathaniel as he climbed up and out of the tangled roots, though the sprite hardly needed him to wait, as he quickly flitted up through the roots much faster than he ever could. Nathaniel waited, hovering patiently in the air as Caelian climbed out into the beams of sunlight. He momentarily squinted against the increased amount of light, before stretching out his wings to their full length, unable to do so back in the confined space.

“Great! Let’s go!” Nathaniel darted upwards towards the hollow he had descended out of, only to pause a moment later and look back down at Caelian, who hadn’t moved. He wore a blank expression on his face as Nathaniel smugly called down to him.

“Come on! Make your wings useful for something!”

“You know I can’t, Nath,” Caelian said as the sprite zipped back down, stopping a foot in front of his face.

“Man,” Nathaniel stuck out his tongue. “Six wings and you can’t even fly. What's the point of having them? Can’t you just learn already?”

“I’ve tried, it doesn’t work.”

“Oh come on! I can fly with just two wings! Six wings has to be like, super easy!”

“I can’t, Nath,” Caelian repeated.

“Sure you can! Just flap them a few times and fwoosh, you’re flying!”

Nathaniel hung in the air, his arms raised up in exaggeration as Caelian stared quietly at him. After a few moments of silence Nathaniel sighed, mimicking a sitting position in the air as he rested his elbow on his knee and his chin on his hand. “Man, teasing you is no fun. You never get riled up.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” He asked.

“It's no fun,” Nathaniel sighed. “You’re so boring when you have Nyxidae out. Whatever, let's go the long way.”

Caelian glanced over to the green lantern that hung in the air beside him as Nathaniel flew away. Nyxidae was the name of the elemental within the lantern: The green light that hummed softly within the glass. The elemental was also what would influence his current personality and emotions.

He set off to follow Nathaniel to the base of the giant tree. Surrounding it, blending into the wood seamlessly as if naturally formed, was a staircase that twisted around the entire circumference of the trunk, leading all the way up to the top. It was quite the trek, and one Caelian was familiar with.

Nathaniel waited as Caelian took the first few steps up the stairs, before flying off far ahead of him, only to stop and wait again for the boy to catch up.

Caelian still vividly remembered when he was younger and unable to feel anything. It was assumed he was born without any sort of emotion, if such a thing were even possible. It wasn’t for certain if he was born that way or if something else had occurred to cause the loss of emotion, as he really had no memory of his early childhood. It wasn’t until Gaia found him wandering lost in the forest and took him under her wing that he received a gift of four elementals that allowed him to finally experience emotion. To feel something. To finally experience being alive.

Back when he felt nothing, he never could understand that he was missing something the others had. The smiling, laughing- He couldn’t understand what made people do such strange things. Until Reimos, his Fire Elemental, showed him that same feeling of happiness. It was then he understood. Gaia had given him what was possibly the greatest gifts he could have ever asked for, and he hoped to never have to revert into the lifeless, blank slate he used to be.

Nyxidae was the name of his Nature Elemental. The feelings she embodied were things such as Tranquility, Hope, and Peace. She also enabled him to feel a strong sense of duty for his position as Gaia’s disciple.

It was a while later that Caelian finally reached the top of the winding stairs. At some point during the trek, Nathaniel had gotten tired and decided to take a rest on top of his head. The staircase ended into the treetop, where a large platform was laid out underneath the canopy of leaves. Woven branches made a solid footing for Caelian to step onto. In the center of the canopy sat Gaia, a being several times larger than Caelian or any other person.

Her long brown hair flowed gently down along her body, brushing against her glowing tanned skin that had flowing vines and leaves growing along it. Beautiful white wings sprouted from her back, gently fanning themselves in the air. Atop her head two magnificent antlers rose, their bases hidden by the flowers weaved into her hair.

She appeared to be resting against an enormous ball of moss, her eyes closed and her breathing light. It wasn’t until Caelian stepped closer to her that she slowly opened her eyes with a smile.

“Good morning, Caelian” Her voice reverberated throughout the room. It was a soft, soothing voice that gave the feeling of safety and comfort, like a gentle breeze among the leaves.

In response, Caelian quickly dropped into a deep bow, causing Nathaniel to let out a squeak and grab onto his horns to prevent himself from falling off.

“Good morning, Gaia.”

He remained bowed until he glanced up at the sound of Gaia setting her hand down in front of him, her palm facing upward.

“Come, now. I’ve told you that you don’t need to be so formal with me.”

Caelian gave her an unsure look as he straightened back up, Nathaniel letting out a sigh of relief before quickly removing himself from Caelian’s head and flitting off somewhere out of sight.

“Come. It’s fine.”

Caelian gently clambered up onto her hand, fitting neatly into her palm. He sat with his hands resting in front of him, steadying himself as Gaia slowly raised her hand up, stopping when Caelian was close to her freckled face. Her sky blue eyes gazed at him lovingly as she lifted her other hand, using a single finger to gently stroke the top of his head.

“There you are,” She hummed as Caelian leaned into the finger that was now gently stroking the side of his face. “Are you only allowing Nyxidae out? You should just be yourself, Caelian. Don’t worry about appearing diligent in front of me.”

With that, three more lights began to shine around Caelian, before growing in intensity and materializing into lanterns, just as his first one had. Blue, Red, and Yellow colored elementals- Water, Fire and Celestial-were added alongside his green nature sprite, each with their own unique aura and decorations.

“There, isn’t that much better?” She laughed as Caelian was now making a sound reminiscent of a purr as he pushed himself into the fingers that were stroking him. His tail wagged excitedly behind him, and the feathers on his wings were puffed up to look twice their size.

“My silly little sprout, you don’t need to force yourself to one elemental at a time. They're designed to all work in tandem with each other.”

“I want to be a good disciple,” Caelian said, his cheek pressed against Gaia’s fingertip. “Only Nyxidae really helps with that.”

“You are a good Disciple, Caelian,” Gaia smiled. “Besides that, you’re my darling little sprout, and I’d never wish for you to limit your emotions like that. Now, tell me, what have you been up to since I last asked for you?”

“Um, I’ve been checking the borders of the realm every day like you’ve asked me to,” Caelian said as he placed his hands against Gaia’s thumb. “Your barrier still feels strong- nothing should be able to get in and… So… Um- What are we keeping out, again?”

“There’s just been some rumors floating around and I want to take precaution. It’s nothing for you to worry about, dear.”

“Yeah, but...”

Gaia stroked Caelian’s head again. “What about the forest? Everything seems normal?” She asked, trying to steer the conversation away from the barrier.

“Oh! Yeah, everything seems fine… I played with some deer the other day!”

“Oh?” Gaia grinned. “Did you, now? What did you play?”

“The headbutt game!”

“I see, is that what the cut on your cheek is from?” She mused, gently rubbing his cheek with her pinky finger. “Well, did you win?”

“Nope!”

Gaia laughed. “Perhaps next time, then. But please be careful, I don’t want you to get too hurt.”

“It’s okay, the deer are nice! They wouldn’t hurt me.”

“I’m sure they wouldn’t,” She smiled. “Now, what about the forest denizens? Have they had any problems recently?”

Gaia’s expression fell into a soft frown as Caelian grew quiet and looked away from her.

“Caelian...”

“I don’t like talking to them.” He said.

“I understand, Caelian. But as my disciple, it’s part of your job to assist them with any problems they can’t handle by themselves.”

“But they never even tell me if they need help with anything. I don’t see the point. Nathaniel always asks me if I feel upset when they call me things, but… Hey, Gaia, what does that mean? To be upset?”

Gaia gently stroked Caelian’s head and let out a soft sigh. “Oh, Caelian… it’s better if you don’t feel that way. Just think of it as… not liking something.”

“But isn’t it strange?” Caelian frowned. “I thought you granted me the ability to feel all of the emotions?”

“There’s some I’m not able to give you. But they’re all negative emotions, so perhaps it's for the better.”

“But… How can some emotions be bad? Emotions are linked to the elements, so… are… are there bad spirits as well?”

“I’ll explain it all to you someday, my little sprout,” Gaia said softly. “For now, I want you to go to the town and try talking to the villagers. Can you do that for me, please?”

“Yeah.. I can try,” Caelian said as Gaia lowered her hand back to the ground.

“Don’t be afraid to put your foot down if they disrespect you, Caelian,” Gaia said in a gentle voice as Caelian climbed out of her hand. “I understand you’ve ended up caught up in the middle of the dispute of who they think I should have chosen. But the decision was mine and mine alone, and I have chosen you to be my disciple.”

“Why did you choose me, anyways?” Caelian asked as he stared up at her. “Everyone says I’m… unqualified.”

Gaia slowly lowered her head down to Caelian’s level, resting her chin on her hands as her eyes met his.

“It’s true that you’re young, Caelian. I don’t doubt there are others that feel they would have been more qualified for the position. However,” She lifted her head enough to release one hand, using it to gently stroke the top of Caelian’s head with a fingertip. “I sense great things from you. I firmly believe you’ll grow into something amazing.”

Caelian seemed pleased with this answer, letting out a purr as his feathers ruffled up.

“Now, go ahead and run along,” Gaia urged with a smile. “Come back and see me when you’ve finished checking in on them.”

“Okay!” Caelian said before turning and running back across the root platform and towards the shining light of the sun.

Nathaniel, who had been waiting for Caelian outside, turned to see him just as he exited the canopy.

“Oh good, there you are. Did Gaia- Hey- Hey Cae- CAELIAN WAIT PLEASE NO NOT TODAY DON’T-”

Nathaniel’s screaming was ignored as Caelian kept running to the edge of the platform and jumped off, doing a forward flip as he tumbled out of view.

He grinned as the wind ripped past him, tussling his hair and making the tail of his coat flap violently. His wings remained firmly pinned against his back, his feathers ruffling fiercely from the wind. The wind urged them to open, to catch the wing between his feathers and soar. But he knew better.

He took a moment to admire the forest during his long fall, since it was only from high up in the sky that you could really take in the vastness of the forest. As he grew closer to the ground, he turned himself so that he was facing upright with his legs neatly tucked underneath him.

The blue lantern’s light that followed behind began to grow in intensity until water shot out of the lantern, spiraling and wrapping itself around Caelian. It formed a sphere around him, encapsulating him in a giant bubble.

As it hit the ground, the water rippled heavily as it absorbed the shock of the fall and bounced back up into the air a few feet. Caelian was thrown around inside for a bit as the bubble continued to bounce from the kinetic energy, before finally settling into a soft roll along the ground.

The bubble of water burst just as Nathaniel made his way down to where Caelian was sitting, sighing as he looked at the now drenched boy.

“Seriously?” He asked.

“It’s quicker,” Caelian said nonchalantly as he stood up, shaking some of the water from his clothing.

“Thanks, Iaestia.”

The blue lantern, whose light had now dimmed back to normal, made a satisfying chiming noise as it circled around Caelian.

“You’re going to get hurt one of these days,” Nathaniel sighed. “It’s good that you trust in your elementals to protect you, but… Jeez, I never realized how terrifying someone that doesn’t experience fear can be.”

Caelian shrugged. “I still don’t know what you mean by that.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Nathaniel grumbled as he landed on the ground, folding his arms as he glowered up at Caelian. “You don’t feel afraid so you don’t stop and think about the possible consequences of your actions.”

When Caelian only gave him a confused look, Nathaniel let out another sigh. “Well, whatever. Gaia asked you to go to the village, right?”

“Yeah… You’ll come with me, right?”

“Of course,” Nathaniel huffed. “Someone needs to be there to get angry when they all start being assholes to you.”

Caelian tapped his fingertips together as Nathaniel darted back up into the air. “It feels weird, though- I know they’re being rude and not saying nice things to me, but… I don’t really feel anything from it.”

“I mean, it doesn’t make you feel good , does it?”

Caelian paused before slowly shaking his head. “No… I don’t feel happy from it… or comforted, or anything else… The only thing I really feel is when the children throw rocks at me. It uh, hurts... in a physical sense, I mean.”

“Don’t worry, if we see those brats again I’m sending a blast of nature magic their way, kids or not.”

“Don’t hurt them, Nathaniel,” Caelian frowned. “They’re just kids.”

“Kids that throw rocks,” Nathaniel snorted. “Whatever, fine. Let’s just get going.”

Nathaniel flew ahead again, albeit this time at a much slower pace. Caelian took a moment to try and shake more of the water off, before following Nathaniel off into the overgrown forest.