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"We probably should bring Xaera, too. After all of this interaction, after well over a hundred years of being alone, she's probably going a little stir crazy, being cooped up like she is," Jason replied.
"That's a good idea and... oh, hey Xaera! We were just going out to get something to eat. Did you want to join us?" Sheena asked the troll woman as she walked back into the house.
"Weren't we waiting for Marstons to come back with the food?" Xaera questioned.
"Oh shit! That's right, I forgot!" Sheena replied as she facepalmed herself, much to Jason's and Xaera's amusement.
"Shut up!" Sheena snapped playfully, pointing her finger at Jason and Xaera.
"What? I didn't say anything!" Jason snickered, and she just glared at him.
"Cut our boy some slack there, will you Sheena? He's been both a dutiful Druid and an amazing boyfriend," the voice of Phalmina called out.
The small mote of light that danced into the house then flickered before it grew in size to show their fairy lover. Sheena screamed in shock and fell on her ass, which resulted in everyone there laughing hard and losing their shit. Sheena got all huffy about it and sat there on the ground, pouting.
"Oh, don't be such a grump, Sheena. Besides, I haven't told you about when I scared the living daylights out of Jason. Or have I?" Phalmina questioned, thinking to herself.
"No, you haven't told me about it. Tell me, tell me, tell me!" Sheena replied, bouncing to her feet eagerly. The four of them were having a good laugh over the story when the Marstons walked in and found them like that. They looked at each other and shrugged, letting everyone enjoy their mirth for a moment.
"Anyone here hungry?" Darren asked.
He caught their attention with bags labeled with words 'Swiss Chalet'. Calming down, the quartet got up and everyone got a full meal of food and sat down to eat. Once they finished eating, they had an animated discussion about their new battle strategy, which they believed could work. After checking around on everyone's thoughts, they came to a consensus on how it should be implemented.
"We probably should wait until Luke, Ema and Amy... Felicitae... get back before we can put this plan into motion," Jason stated.
"I agree. The whole plan hinges on what sort of concoction that Felicitae can drum up. I only hope that it will be enough to get to the grove," Sheena agreed.
******************************
In the cave that was Xaera's home, the trio walked on through, heading to the underground grove. Though they did need a couple of new plants that were now growing down there, they'd get them on the way back. Luke shook his head, feeling like he was a real adventurer in one of his games. In some ways, he was right now, leaving him with a feeling of perpetual excitement.
"So, the fresher the components, the better the spell will work?" Luke questioned.
"Yes. Though all spells mostly work with whatever components they have, the fresher the ingredients in them, the more effective the spell in question is," Felicitae/Amy replied.
"All right. I'll just be sure to remind you two about what we need from here," Luke stated.
"You know... if we weren't on such a timeline... there are some things I'd love to do right here," Emalia whispered to Luke, smirking lustfully.
"Down, girl. Besides, we agreed, anything like that happens, Karla is to be notified beforehand," Luke reminded the fairy.
"Poo! You're no fun!" Emalia pouted.
"It's not about not having fun, it's about trust. Karla trusts us both to tell her what's what and what we'll be up to. Her trust is not to be betrayed, period," Luke reiterated to the woman.
"I know! I'm just... perpetually... how do you humans say it... horny?" Emalia replied, chagrined.
"Tell you what? I'll have a word with Karla after we're done and see about doing something later," Luke promised the fairy woman. Emalia's mood perked up at the mention of this, and she looked up at the man with a grin.
"When?"
"For that, you're just going to have to wait for it. In my experience, if you know something is coming, but you wait for it, the moment you get it is all the better," Luke teased.
"Oh! This is going to be torture!" Emalia sighed.
"Hey! You two coming to help in mountain grove or what?" Felicitae/Amy called out. Seeing the possessed Shaman at the end of the luminescent tunnel put a fire under their butts to move. She was standing on the portal stone, tapping her foot as a sign of her impatience.
"I swear, you Fairies are just as bad as we are!" Felicitae/Amy groused with a smile.
"What? After being in the Long Sleep for centuries, with nothing but dreams to comfort us, of course we fairies are going to be a bit needy!" Emalia fired back.
"Especially since there aren't any fairy men around anymore," Luke reminded the spirit of the Nymph.
"You both make fair points, but can we keep the... eye fucking... to a minimum, please? We still have a job to do," Felicitae/Amy reminded them. Nodding, the pair joined their friend on the portal stone and joined hands, as the Gaians thought of the grove and the portal stone took them there. They took in the bright greenery around them, as Gaia's power radiated throughout the grove.
"Wow!" Luke mumbled, looking over the area surrounding them.
"What?" Emalia asked.
"It's just that... no matter how many times I come through, or how many times I see this place, it never ceases to amaze me," Luke admitted.
"Hopefully, one day soon, others will see beauty like this, outside of the grove," Felicitae/Amy replied.
"This stuff can grow beyond here?" Luke asked.
"Of course! It just requires good soil and a tender hand to guide them," Emalia told him with a smile.
"Are there any seeds I can take with? I know my mom would lose her shit to have some of the flowers here!" Luke breathed.
"Let's get what we came for first, then I'll show you where to get the seeds from each flower," Felicitae/Amy responded.
"Sounds good to me!" Luke enthused as they got to work.
The trio got to it, moving around at the Nymph/Human's direction, collecting the plants and herbs they needed. While they worked, the Guardians of the grove had moved from their positions to come and watch them work. None of them noticed the pair as they watched, curious about what the fleshlings were doing.
"Whoa! I didn't know that you had Guardians up here!" Felicitae/Amy replied, as she spotted the sentries standing there.
"Guardians?" Emalia asked.
"Yes, those who chose a path of protection, to keep the holy places of Gaia safe from invaders and interlopers," Felicitae/Amy stated, looking over the constructs.
"From what I know, they were constructs that were built to help us in that regard. I don't recall them having a choice in the matter," Emalia replied, bewildered at the thought.
"Well, they do, because they aren't constructs. Not entirely anyway," Felicitae/Amy told them.
"How do you know?" Luke asked, inserting himself into the conversation.
"Observe."
Without another word, Felicitae/Amy began chanting, but in a tongue that was foreign to both Emalia and Luke. Gaian energies answered her call, and she extended them out to the Guardians. The magic wrapped around them, embracing them, before it lit them up and they glowed. Luke's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he watched this, thinking this a dream.
Felicitae/Amy called to the Guardians, and they obeyed her, ambling over, almost in a dreamlike haze. Emalia was just as surprised as Luke was, never having seen a Guardian obey anyone so readily! Both constructs stopped in front of the Nymph/Human and waited for Felicitae/Amy to do something.
"The Guardians are more than just constructs, they are living beings, encased in living armor," Felicitae/Amy stated. She waved her hand in front of one of them and the vines and shoots that made up its chest parted. Inside was the humanoid form of a Nymph! Not a Nymph like Felicitae was, but a male Nymph and a rather handsome one at that!
"Wha... I thought they were all destroyed or died off!" Emalia peeped in surprise.
"They almost were. Many were encased in armor like this to protect our kind from extinction. When the humans came for us and our homes, we built these as a means of scaring them away. It worked for a while, but then, humans got bolder and destroyed many of them, unknowingly decimating our race," Felicitae/Amy replied sadly.
"Can your race be saved?" Luke asked, hoping they could be.
"Possibly. If more constructs like this exist, then we will find a Nymph at the heart of them," Felicitae/Amy replied.
She then turned to the Nymph inside the construct, catching his attention, coaxing him out. The green-skinned man seemed reluctant to leave the safety of his construct, but he saw and felt the magic that was like his own. Taking a risk and trusting the woman, he disengaged the vines that were attached to him and clambered out. Moments after he cleared the construct, he gasped and fell to the ground, shaking like he had palsy.
"What's happening to him?!?" Emalia cried out, as the Nymph started to wither away.
Thinking quickly, Luke scooped the Nymph up and hustled over to the pool, nearly diving headfirst into the water. The Nymph felt the cool embrace of the water and turned to it, with Luke helping him. The moment his lips touched it, he began to drink and drink deeply of it. He drank so much that Luke almost feared he was going over-hydrate himself, but that wasn't the case.
The withering that was happening to the man had stopped and even reversed a little. His skin, which had become a sickly brown, turned green again. Sure, it was pale and pasty, but it was far better than what was happening to the man. He finally broke his head out of the water, dragging in fresh lungfuls of air.
He looked much better than he had minutes ago, not looking like he was going to die. His vision caught Luke and smiled, thinking to speak, but what came out was a noisy, raspy wheeze. He looked like he had choked on or ate something that didn't agree with him. He tried speaking again, and it was even worse than the first time.
"Easy, brother. You must have been in there for a long time, to be this weak. Take your time to speak, as we are in no rush," Felicitae/Amy told him. He smiled and nodded, understanding what she was saying. He then looked around and his eyes caught the orange tree that Jason had planted more than a month ago. Eyeing the fruit, he tried to stand, but fell back down, as his legs were too weak to carry him.
"Poor guy's probably hungry too! Ema, pass me some of those oranges, would you?" Luke asked and Emalia nodded, smiling.
She flitted over to the tree that sat nearby, plucking the ripest, heaviest oranges that hung there. Once she had an armload of them, she flew over to where the Nymph sat and handed him one. He took the fruit gratefully and studied it, unsure what to make of the fruit.
"Never seen one of these before?" Luke asked, and the Nymph shook his head. "Here. You peel them like this."
Luke then demonstrated how to peel an orange and to discard the peel. He then separated it into various wedges and popped one in his mouth. He found a couple of seeds within the slice and spit them out, showing the Nymph how you ate an orange. Nodding, the man took the wedges happily and stuffed his face, making short work of the first fruit. He looked to Emalia for another, which she gave over with a laugh.
"I can't believe that this guy hasn't seen an orange before," Luke commented.
"Because he's probably from around here, where oranges don't grow. Remember, I didn't know what an orange was either, until I saw them here, after Jason had plated that tree," Emalia reminded him.
"Fair enough," Luke replied as he looked at the man, who was still devouring the fruit. After he hit around fifteen oranges, did he finally stop eating. The Nymph was at least breathing much easier, and his color was nearly what it was when he first came out of the construct.
"Ema, mind helping me with this guy, too?" Felicitae/Amy asked, catching the fairy's attention.
Emalia flew over to where the other Guardian was standing, looking like it was envious of what his counterpart was enjoying. He then let himself be guided over to the pool and Felicitae/Amy invoked her Nymph magic yet again. Like the first Guardian, the vines and roots that made up its chest parted and within was another male Nymph.
This one was darker skinned, with a hint of red to it, marking him as a different type of Nymph. He nearly tumbled out when Felicitae/Amy detached him from the vines holding him in. The Nymph went face first into the pool and immediately started drinking. After a few minutes, he surfaced, his thirst finally slaked, and he turned to his friend. Having witnessed Luke's demonstration, the Nymph attacked the oranges, devouring each one he saw.
"What made them wither like that? Shouldn't they have come out just like anyone?" Luke wondered.
"These Guardians must have been locked into their armor for many centuries," Felicitae/Amy surmised.
"How is that possible?"
"When we constructed the armor for the Nymphs to wear, we made it so they would not need to rely on food, water, or have to manage their... bodily functions," Felicitae/Amy explained. "We tapped into Gaia's magic to give them what they needed to sustain them through their duty. The only catch was that once they went in, they couldn't come out. Not unless they had help from one of their kind."
"Ok, I just need to know something first. Shouldn't the Nymph race be immortal like the fairies are? I mean, I heard about what Gaia did for the fairy race, but you'd think that she'd have done the same thing for the Nymphs or any other race that was being hunted," Luke asked.
"We would have received Gaia's blessing if she was awake to give it. At the point when we were being hunted down, she had already retreated into her slumber. With humans renouncing their faith in Gaia, coupled with the destruction of many races, Gaia's hold on this world was limited. There was only so much she could do, with what little influence she could extend," Felicitae/Amy explained.
"She speaks the truth. Even my race had to run and hide, as humans were becoming cleverer with ways to hunt us down. We couldn't even go to meet those who professed to believe in Gaia, fearing it was a trap," Emalia explained.
"Do you see why there was little that could be done to save us?" Felicitae/Amy questioned.
"Yeah, I get it. I fucking hate that mankind just destroys that which it does not understand," Luke grumbled, understanding Felicitae/Amy's point.
"Indeed! I was there when it happened," Emalia grumbled.
"Wait, you were there?" Luke queried.
"Yup. When the rise of a group, known as Christians, came to the forests, looking to root us out. Calling us evil and that we would bewitch people into doing evil things. The truth is, we didn't need to do that. They did evil all on their own," Emalia growled.
"Your way of life wasn't the only one that was devastated by such beliefs," Luke told her with a meaningful sigh.
"I have heard of such events, long after the war on Gaians was over," Emalia replied, sympathizing with Luke.
"Such battles still aren't over," Luke replied scornfully.
"Maybe now things will get better. Maybe they will change for the better," Felicitae/Amy said.
"What makes you think that?" Luke questioned.
"Because their way has done nothing but corrupt and destroy. Gaia's magic and influence is returning, and we are seeing more who would stand with us, over these other beliefs," Felicitae/Amy responded.
"And we are finding more allies as we go along," Emalia gestured, indicating the two male Nymphs. Both of them looked much healthier now and smiled happily at being let out of their armor.
"I suppose you're right, but it will take a while for things to change. Even with magic on our side," Luke replied.
"We will have nothing but time to deal with these issues, but only after the threat to Gaia and all things living is eradicated," Emalia reminded Luke.
"Can't change anything if you're dead," Luke agreed. "So, what do we do now?"
"Well, we have everything we need to cast the spell, so the only thing that remains is to make it happen. Also, these two could be a big help in giving us the edge we need to break the Darkness' hold on the forest," Felicitae/Amy responded.
"That would be a good idea, but then the grove would be defenseless," Emalia stated, with Luke agreeing.
"The entrance to the grove can be sealed, you know," Felicitae/Amy responded, giving Emalia a look.
"I... don't know how to... do that," Emalia admitted sheepishly.
"Lucky for you, I know how. All I would need is someone who is tied to this grove to make it happen," Felicitae/Amy responded.
"Is sealing the grove the best thing to do right now? I mean, I'm all for keeping this place safe, but it was only Jason who found this grove. You'd think that no one else would know or think to look up here," Luke thought out loud.
"Good point, if a little flawed. From what I am seeing of Amy's memories, you encountered a group known as the Sons of Caesar, right?" Felicitae/Amy questioned.
"Yeah."
"Though the chapter was decimated, someone got away?" the Nymph questioned further.
"Agh! Fuck!!!" Luke replied, putting the pieces together.
"They could find this place?" Emalia yipped, fear etching her otherwise beautiful face.
"Yeah, they just might!" Luke replied as everything came together in his mind.
"How?"
"Well, the Sons knew Jason was here, at this park. They were watching him for a while after they found out who he was. If they were watching him, they might have tried tracking his movements, from both before and after he came here," Luke started.
"Oh, shit!" Emalia peeped.
"Yup! The Sons were likely also the ones who sent the Praetorians after us. With that team dead, odds are they will probably send more, until they finish what they came here to do," Luke went on.
"So, sealing the grove from all non-Gaian entry is the best course of action. Even with Guardians here, it should have been sealed a while ago. We can't lose any more of them," Felicitae/Amy stated.
"All right, then. Let's seal the main entry to the grove then," Emalia said.
Felicitae/Amy led the way, heading down the entry path to where the tunnel started. Drawing upon her own Nymph energies, along with Amy's Shamanistic magics, she wove the spell needed to begin the closing. Emalia followed along, mimicking her friend, but with her own fairy magic, giving the spell the life it needed. The walls themselves then lit up with energy as it took hold, and seconds later, they began to strain and shift.
"Start backing into the grove, slowly," Felicitae/Amy told the fairy and Emalia nodded.
Step by step, they moved together, retreating away from the moving stone. The tunnel began to narrow, but the duo had plenty of time to get clear. Just as they reached the end of the tunnel on their end, did the tunnel get cramped. Once they cleared the passageway, they invoked the final runes, and the tunnel slammed shut. A few seconds later, the stone walls merged together, so it looked like it was one solid slab.
"Damn! I really love magic!" Luke enthused as he had watched the women work.
"Now that we have what we need, we really should head on back to the house. Jason should have recovered by now and we need to get things rolling, before my corrupted self has enough time to recover," Felicitae/Amy stated.
"Yeah. Just one thing. Are we bringing the armor with us?" Luke asked.
"Of course! It's far too useful to leave here!" Emalia told him, and the other Nymphs nodded in agreement.
"Ok then. But how are we moving them? Nevermind trying to fit them into the van!" Luke groused. Emalia sighed and brought up her fairy magic once again, weaving it upon the hollow armor suits that the Nymphs occupied. Seconds later, they shrank down to where they were the size of miniature figures, and Luke grinned sheepishly.
