60 Light Sprout

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*Pop*

The sound of the Seed of Hope sprouting was very quiet, on normal circumstances this sound should've negligible, but when the Wandering Souls heard this sound, all of them stopped on their tracks, all of their eyes fixated in this, one weak looking stem that doesn't even have a single leaf, with great trepidation on their eyes.

As Sieg saw this happen he was puzzled as well, he didn't knew why these souls stopped moving around until he saw that one stem coming out from the soil where he planted the seed. But as for why the souls froze, that is still a mystery for him.

Not long after that scene, a wave of strange fluctuations drowned the entire area. For Sieg, this fluctuation gave him a strange sense of calmness, peace and security, but for the Wandering Souls, these fluctuations made all the hairs on their body stood on each end. A strong sense of despair, fear and danger screamed inside their heads, all of these beast were trembling as they look at that one weak looking stem. Sieg was greatly baffled by this scene, but since it was his mission to protect the seed until it sprouts then his mission should be finished now.

He made careful, retreating steps towards the plant, or it would be more accurate to say, towards the Light Sprout, he maintained vigilance towards these Wandering Souls while also paying close attention to Light Sprout in front of him. Strangely enough, it wasn't that remarkable, it was only a few inches tall without even a leaf yet, the trunk would flash black like goo and would also emit a strong brilliance from time to time, it looked incredibly mysterious and different from what Sieg expected in his mind.

*Buzz*

While Sieg was staring at it, the sprout emit another wave of fluctuation, this time it was visible and it travelled with the speed of sound. Being in the close proximity of the sprout, Sieg of course didn't have time to evade this fluctuation, but he didn't have to anyway since it didn't even hurt him, in fact it even healed some of his wounds immediately and gave him a strange sense of euphoria.

Of course, something different happened to the souls around him. As the wave hit their body they all exploded into nothingness and only their ethereal form was left, they didn't even had time to scream of defend themselves, they could only silently accept their fates and die in a gruesome manner. Sieg's mouth widened as he saw this happen, he didn't know that the fluctuation was very harmful towards the Wandering Souls that much to the point that they're just going to explode like that. He was thanking his good luck that he was born different from them or else he could've experienced the same thing. He also find it hard to believe that this Light Sprout could be this ferocious, one couldn't really judge a book by it's cover.

"Congratulations Young Sir!"

"Who!!!" Sieg's eyes dilated a bit as he looked around and searched for the voice, his sense were taut all of the sudden and his heartbeat went incredibly fast. Suddenly a commotion happened im front of him, the ground churned and there were some quaking that happened a bit before the ground spat a very familiar figure.

"Please do calm down Young Sir, it is I, the humble attendant from the Reward Station." The turtle like Forlorn spoke in a respectful manner.

As Sieg saw him, he let out a sigh of relief and relaxed a bit. The reason why he acted like that earlier was because his voice came out from nowhere, it had to be known that Sieg's senses are incredibly sharp specially now that he's in soul form but he didn't even manage to sense the presence of the attendant despite being so close to him, luckily the attendant didn't had any intentions of killing him or else he would died countless times already.

"My bad, you came out of nowhere." Sieg said with a fatigued expression on his face, he slumped down into the ground and rested, the battle really took a toll on him.

"I should be the one apologizing Young Sir, I just couldn't help but be excited when I felt that you succeeded in the first part of the mission." The attendant smiled sheepishly, he also took a glance towards the Light Sprout and was captivated by it.

"You're saying that you felt this all the way over there?" Sieg said exasperatedly.

The attendant nodded his head still looking at the Light Sprout like it was the most beautiful thing in this world.

Sieg's eyes widened a bit when the attendant answered him, one had to know that he used one week to go from Blight Town to this place, the word 'very far' is such an understatement to describe the distance between the two yet when the Seed of Hope became a Light Sprout, which took place not even an hour ago, this turtle looking attendant felt it all the way there and travelled all the way here in just a snap? How is that even possible?

"This should count as a mission complete right?" Sieg asked while he was catching his breath.

"Yes Young Sir, you could receive the rewards after going back to the town and going to the Rewarding Station, for now please take advantage of this light sprout and recuperate well before going back. Young Sir could use the Return Talisman to go back in no time." The attendant smiled and explained carefully.

"Alright. I have a question though." Sieg paused for a moment and then said: "Just what exactly is this thing?"

"Well, how should I explain it?" The attendant said while marvelling at the sight of the Light Sprout, "I would say hope? Light maybe? Or even a shelter for our kind and yours inside this ominous grounds. I could even say that this is like a seeing an oasis after traveling the dessert for too long."

"We don't know this as well, but someone or something gave these seeds to us many moons ago. The voice said that these seeds could be our retribution or our paradise but the voice also said that we couldn't be the ones to plant it, at least not using our kind's hands. It said that only a human could, but Young Sir should be aware of our 'relationship' with your kind right?" The attendant still wore an amicable smile throughout his description but he couldn't hide the disappointment and a bit of sadness in his voice.

It wasn't his fault anyway, it's not like they wanted to be like this for the rest their lives, they didn't wanted to experience such treatment as well as be exiled even though from their perspective, they weren't that different from humans really. But what could they do in the end? Strength reigns supreme right? For the sake of their survival, they could only accept such treatments silently.

"Let's not talk about depressing matters, I'll follow your suggestion an be back for the next part." Sieg smiled and closed his eyes to silently recuperate.

The attendant only smiled and burrowed underground to leave as well.

***

Inside a small hut made out of shabby wood, a slightly bigger than an average cat and an entity with a bull's head, human torso, lower part of a horse and claws of a lizard were having an intriguing conversation.

"You're eyes is a sharp as ever." Carmen said while still scratching the table.

"What could I say? I'm just awesome don't you think? Nyahahaha!!!" Liam said as he roared in laughter that echoed inside the hut.

"Nya~ alright, alright, you win this time. But you better make sure that 'it' would grow up well, or else even if you hide from the center of this place I'll still hunt you down and tear you to pieces."

"Yes Ma'am! Well, it's not like you are the only one who's concerned. We've been enduring for quite sometime now and to ne honest, my patience is already wearing thin." Liam said and smiled wryly.

Carmen scowled and said: "Remember the creed Liam, we have a purpose here, just endure for some more, we've already staying here for a very long time, a few more years would mean nothing to us."

"I know, but why us anyway? They're far more stronger than us in this remark so why put us here? I wanna bathe under the sun too?" Liam said in a whining manner.

"Oh stop it with your whining, it doesn't suit your appearance." Carmen waved her paws in front of him and continued: "Anyway, duty is what we should focus about, endure for a bit more and you could bathe under the sun for as long as you want once we finish this. Our 'hope' is here, and that's our priority." Carmen's eyes and tone went very solemn as she said this.

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[A/N: I broke the creed of one chapter a day I know. I just want to explain what happened. So approximately a week before, during the storm, I'm already feeling extremely bad, though I had a hunch that I might get sick, I ignored it since I thought it might just be because of the weather. But boi! Was I wrong. I caught, what seems to be, the strongest flu in my entire life.

I was paralyzed for two days, breathing was hard and speaking or even just opening my eyes became a chore. I couldn't even lift my tablet to upload a chapter for you guys.

I'm feeling slightly better now, I could make some simple task like typing and such but not for too long. If my condition wouldn't be better after another week then I'm afraid that I have to go to the hospital and I don't want that since I'm broke as fuck. With that said, updates within these week might be a bit irregular so please be patient with me.

Anyways, I just want to thank you guys for everything so far. I'll be better I promise, I love you all, stay safe, and see on the next chapter. :) ]