8 Colors

Desire was on his way back after he had his fun with his familiar when it happened. He suddenly felt something tugging at him. It was barely recognizable but he was sure of it.

Desire looked back to see nothing. He didn't even have clothes to tug onto. As he looked back to his original destination, he felt the feeling of tugging again. It was pulling him and it was saying something to him.

Desire didn't find this unknown something to be annoying or fearful. Instead he even felt it to be familiar and if it was a voice, it was a voice relaxing enough for him to sleep with it.

"What's happening?"

He asked himself. There are so many strange happenings with him that the general knowledge that he was born with wasn't useful. As he contemplated about the feeling, he spotted the village from far away or to be exact, he became aware of them. Without knowing it, he came near the village.

"H-huh? Did I walk here? Anyways…What's happening?"

He knew for sure that while he was thinking, he wasn't walking and yet for some reason, here he is. And what's more is that the village got rowdy and even though he was still quite a distance away from the village, he could hear voices here and there.

He ventured towards the noisy village to know what happened and he saw that the people were moving frantically about almost everywhere. It was messy but when one looked from above, they were following certain patterns. Desire couldn't see that though as he was looking from the ground.

As he looked at them, he soon saw a familiar face. That was Lyra, the girl that brought him here. She was talking to some other women and after some talking; the women quickly went on their way. Desire walked on her direction and he raised his voice to call Lyra.

"Lyra, what's happening?"

"Ah? Oh, Desire. So you were here?"

"I just got back."

Lyra was surprised at the sudden voice of Desire as she focused all of her attention towards the impending crisis. Desire wasn't on her mind at all.

"I see. Well, it looks like you might have to leave here after all."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"…Humans are attacking. To be precise, a huge fire has been set by the hands of humans."

Hearing that, the expression on Desire's face crumpled and changed to a hateful one. He asked in a low voice.

"Humans?!"

"Y-yeah that's right."

Lyra didn't expect that Desire will react that way. Though she found it cute that Desire was a straightforward guy when it comes to things like expressions.

She spoke to advise him once more.

"The fire is already nearing our home. I'm afraid that the scale of it is already big enough for mother to not be able to put it out. That is why, while it's still safe you should get out of here."

Once more, the expression on Desire's face changed from a hateful one to a worried one. It seems like he really couldn't help but show his emotions on his face.

"W-what will happen to you guys? I mean, can't you run too?"

"We can't. In the first place, there's no other forest besides this one. If we run, we'll only be hunted down."

Indeed, there's no other forest. That means there's no other place that they could create a home to. Even if there was another forest in the vicinity, they'll have to get out and defeat the humans that are laying in wait for them.

Desire couldn't give a reply to that one. He wasn't worrying about losing the home that he found or losing the teacher that will guide and teach him about magic. What he was worried about was that the Suckus will lose their home. For him, the Suckus losing their home is just unfair. The world may be where the strong stands on top but he didn't want to accept that. That was why…

"T-then I'll help too! I mean, any drop counts right?"

He will help. For Desire, that was the only thing he could do. As little as he may be, he wanted to help protect the home of his beloved monsters.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I am."

Though Lyra wanted to stop Desire, she couldn't give him any preferential treatment. Their lives were at stake here and she thought that if the situation gets bad, at least she'll help him escape. That's why she replied with a yes.

"Alright but if you want to run, you can. Technically, you're a human so maybe they won't kill you."

"I won't run."

Lyra wanted Desire to run and Desire wanted to protect. That resolute attitude of Desire was as hot as the sun at the thought of defending the Suckus' home. The woman and the baby were talking with their eyes.

If one looked at this, one could only laugh at the woman for even talking to the kid at this dangerous time.

Lyra walked towards Desire and picked him up. At the same time, the people in the village finished their preparations and Liya walked down the stairs of branches with her group.

Lyra spoke with a low voice and a worried tone.

"I hope you won't regret this, Desire."

Whether hearing it or not, Desire didn't respond. He was looking at Liya who was brimming with the color of green. The green was flickering with a span of a second and soon it stopped. After the flickering, Liya shouted.

"Treeport!"

And the bodies of the women glowed with the color of green. Desire that was held up by Lyra was also glowing in a similar fashion. As if it wasn't enough, the branches of the trees and the colorful leaves and the sky soon glowed with the color of green.

Then suddenly, they were in a different place. The leaves that had a variety of colors was now colored with one; the color of green. The spacious space that was the village couldn't be seen and the trees crowded between them.

Desire was shocked about this and asked Lyra.

"What happened?"

"Mother used Treeport: An advanced Dryad magic that lets them teleport all at once, any number. And since we are a descendant of Dryad, we are capable of using it."

Perhaps the shock that came to him was too strong as Desire only nodded his head to respond.

And then one of the women spoke. It was the one who spotted the fire.

"This way, it's still ongoing."

And they raced off towards the fire…

****

The sun was still up and about in the sky but the heat wasn't coming from the sun; it was coming from the fire. It was still far away and they could only see it yet they could already feel the heat. One could imagine how strong that must be.

"That's…a great fire."

Desire muttered as he looked over the fire that was eating the forest as if its sole purpose was to destroy. He was getting worried. The fire in front of them was as tall as the sky and the wind wasn't making the situation any better.

He couldn't think of a way on how to stop that.

As they neared the fire, Liya gave out the orders.

"Spread out! The moon formation!"

"Yes!"

The women immediately got to work and went on to their planned positions. They don't number many, about only eighty. Over half of them went on to put out the fire and the others were positioned in a semi circle.

Without taking a break from their run, they immediately got to work and started their preparations.

The women whose work was to put out the fire started their chanting of magic with the direction of Liya.

"Great waterfall!"

The women shouted. The sky that only had the color of fire was soon dyed with the flag of water. It was a grand sight for Desire as he looked at it. Fire and water were elements that had zero affinity with each other, from the knowledge that he had.

Desire and Lyra wasn't working yet. It looks like Lyra was stationed in the semi circle and so, Desire was in that semi circle.

"U-um…Why are we positioned this way?"

As he got his wits together, he found the formation strange. He was thinking why all of them aren't working towards to putting out the fire. If they all work together, the fire will be put out a second faster. And so, he asked the person holding him.

"It's because there are outside factors. Listen, humans made this fire so of course, humans will be near. If we use all our manpower to put out the fire, we would get taken out by them. That's why some are guarding while the majority is putting it out."

Lyra answered as such. Desire looked around and saw that the women were keeping watch of their surroundings.

'Humans again…'

He once again evaluated of how much he hated humans. The humans who started the fire and the humans who will take advantage of the fire, he hated them. And as if fate was playing a trick on him as one of the women shouted out with a desperate voice.

"Humans are here!"