Father-Tree

     "Sylvia, sylvia!" Ash yells, "Sylvia, wake the hell up!"

Sylvia starts to stur in her sleep. She is dreaming of family, and the joy she had before having to leave.

     "Wake up!" screamed an echo in the dark.

     "Ash? Ash where are you!" Sylvia asks.

     "Sylvia…..Sylvia, wake up!" the echo continues.

Ash is fighting with the vines that seem to respond to her yelling for Sylvia. The vines lift Ash in to the air, dangling her upside down. A face slowly appears from the leaves in the trees that had surrounded them.

     "Who are you child?" spoke the tree, in an old, yet wizined voice.

Ash knew exactly what she was staring at, this being, its an elder forest treant. She had only heard stories about them, treants in general that is, in the stories they are portrayed as kind and gentle beings. Sylvia slowly starts to wake up.

     "What is happening?" she says through a yawn, unaware that she was dangling a few feet in the air. "Mr. Gale Leaf, what is happening here?" as she falls back to sleep. Ash thinks quickly as the treant was distracted.

     "Sir treant, pardon any rudeness, but may i ask you your name before i give you mine?" Ash quickly says while trying to keep her nightgown from falling off of her body.

     "I am known simply as the Father-Tree, and now small one you will answer my question. Who are you?" Father-Tree spoke with a slightly relaxed tone, to his voice.

     "I am Sylvia, and the other girl there is my sister Ash. We apologize if we caused you any inconvenience, Sir Father-Tree." There was such sincerity in Ash's voice. The vines slowly lowered the two girls.

     "You are from the town just to the east of here are you not?" Askes Father-Tree. 

     "Why yes we are. How could you tell?" Sylvia asked, with a hint of worry in her voice. When Sylvia's body touched the ground she immediately woke up, but she decided not to say anything and instead listen to her sister and the treant talk.

     "The forest to the west here is inhabited with many creatures, that are furoshous, savage, primal killers." He stops for a second and looks out deep into the forest. "There is danger near, hurry children you must flee." Father-Tree sounded concerned. Sylvia took that moment to cast a night vision spell on herself and her sister. As soon as the world around them becomes bright and visible again the two look in the direction Father-Tree was staring. At first they couldnt see anything, then there was a rush of small forest animals scampering and running in terror heading east. The girls stood perfectly still as the stampede of small animals rushed past them. As everything calmed down for a few moments after that chaos, there was a low rumble, the earth vibrated as if there was a tremor. Father-Tree picked the two girls up with his vines and attempted to secure as much of their belongings as he could, there wasn't much damage done to their belongings. All of them could feel the tremors becoming more frequent and rougher. Father-Tree started to walk north by northeast, slowly he started to pick up speed as he moved faster, or was the world shrinking before him. Ash had read about land strider magic before but never saw it in person, the sensation was hard to explain. She could feel the air rush through her hair, it was just a breathtaking sensation for her. Sylvia took this time to try and observe whatever it was that was causing the terror they had just witnessed.

Back in the elvish town, they could feel the vibrations in the ground. Fal-Tahem, the girl's father, was rallying the town to prepare them for the worst to come. The tremors, where not just simple shakes of the earth, no they where a sign. A sign of the end of days, and Fal-Tahem knew that. That was why the ritual was performed, every few months, it was to ensure that the children of the town would survive. 

     The world around Fal-Tahem quivered and shook, he took to organizing the evacuation of the elvish town. Wasting not even a second, he aided those who could hardly keep up with the rest of the town. The young and able helped the elderly, but in the many moments of the evacuation, it appeared. A shadow that caused the entire sky to go black, with less than half the population outside the wall fleeing for their lives. Fal-Tahem feared the worst, as he gathered all of the strongest mages that were still within the walls. Together they started to cast a protection spell to buy the remaining elves more time to escape, though the effort would ultimately be for not, none save one knew that at the time. Just as half the remaining population flee, a large looming yet solid mass slowly rises above the horizon. A symbol of doom, and despair a beast that marks the beginning of the end. Fal-Tahem acted swiftly, raced to get to the top of the eastern wall. Only the gods knew what he was about to do for Fal-Tahem did not even know what to do. He closed his eyes, cleared his mind and allowed his body to take full control. Before anyone knew what was happening Fal-Tahem was radiating pure magical energy, when he had cleared his mind he had prayed to the elvish gods, asking for strength to save everyone in the town, and to slow the monster down because even, he had known that none but another or a god could slay the monstrosity. 

     In his youth Fal-Tahem was told stories of great adventures, and legendary adventurers who have saved many towns, cities, and kingdoms alike. His father had once told him that the reason for this small settlement was to stave off a fate worse than death. That there was a seal far to the east, placed there by an ancient and powerful wizard from long ago, the legend goes that the wizard known only by his long beard, and excessively large hat had sacrificed himself while casting a spell to seal away a magical beast, according to the stories it was a small nameless thing. But this was well beyond what the legends had proclaimed, now that it is free of its prison only the gods know what it will do. 

     "Oh no, the great black Wyvern is here." Fal-Tahem whispered, he held fast to his hope as the majestic beast descended upon them. "Stay your fear, we do this for our people and the children! Do not waver hold the wards, we can not allow this monstrosity to destroy our home before everyone is out!"

A wave of fire and debris flew into the magic wards over the city obscuring their vision of the beast above, accompanied by unbelievably strong winds brought in a dust storm blinding most of the townsfolk, who are left. Fal-Tahem cleared his eyes and looked around, the last ones to escape where a few elderly, the supporting Elves, and himself.

     "What do I do now?" he thought to himself. "There is no way for the rest of us to get out." His hope shattered, Fal-Tahem fell to his knees. "It's all over anyways isn't it? Go!" he yelled to the others. "Get out of here save yourselves!" Fal-tahem stands up for what will be his last time, "You will not harm anyone else!" He yells at the beast.

     The ground trembled as the wyvern roared out. The great beast swooped down onto the nearly decimated elvish town. It scooped Fal-Tahem up into its claws, and carried him far from the devastation that it had caused.

     Three weeks after the Black Wyvern had been in the region, a small group of adventurers passed through the ruins where the beast was sealed away. 

     "Hey look over there!" one of them said pointing out the wreckage of the town.

     "I wonder if anyone survived?" Replied another. Their party consists of no more than five people. a human necromancer anti-paladin, a tabaxi Gloomwalker, a changeling cleric who worships the goddess of life, a dragon born berserker, and finally a half-elf bard trained in the domain of lore.

     "Twas the black winged dragon, known as Ka velsom." sang the bard.

     "What are you singing about, Zelma?" Questioned the berserker.

     "He is referring to the devastation, just look  Evrin." Said the tabaxi, while pointing out in the direction of the destruction.

     "Rin, Kat, i can tell you now its not as bas as it looks, the only lives lost, where those of animals." Spoke the necromancer in a somber monotone.

     "Well we won't learn anything by just standing here" Declared Rin, as she started to walk on in the direction of the destruction.

     Ash awoke to a swinging sensation, and a sudden change in the temperature. Silently she wondered, where are we? She didn't remember that she had fallen asleep, nor pitching the hanging tent.

     "It must have been Father-Tree!" She exclaimed with a gasp. " Still how did he set up our tent?" 

     "No, mom I want to stay on the swings." Sylvia muttered in her sleep.

Ash scoffed at her sister, "How is it she can always find a way to sleep in any situation?" she thought to herself.

     "Young ones are you awake?" Askes Father-Tree.

     "Sir Father-Tree I am awake, though my sister yet sleeps." Ash replied, "Do you know where our backpacks are, Father-Tree?"

     "Your bags hang from my branches just above your small shelter." His old raspy voice replied. The group had been traveling for a few days, without stopping. They left quite the   distance from the home and forest the girls once knew. Sylvia, who was just waking up, took a look outside of the hanging tent. A sense of ah and wonder overtook her as she stared out into the vast wilderness, that they were passing through.

    "I think we are safe to stop here for a time." Father-Tree stated to the girls. "Alas I can not   travel with you any further than this, if you continue strate for a day and a half you will reach a small city, the humans there call it a trading outpost. Find an apothecary by the name of Wild-Wood Beltart, her and I have a long history and deep friendship."

     "Thank you Sir Father-Tree." The two say together. The sisters gather their things, and Father-Tree lowers them to the ground.

     "Take this."  He pulls one of his larger branches and hands it to Ash, "May it serve you well in your journey." Ash takes the branch, it's about six feet long, to her five foot tall stature, she bows her head to Father-Tree, then puts the branch, securrly in her bag. The way it's positioned it is more between her bag and her back, then in her bag. Ash feels a warmth emanating from the staff, it's not too hot in fact it reminds her of home and how her and Sylvia would bundle up under blankets by the fire in winter,the smells of ginger and and the taste of roasted chestnuts. Ash loses herself in thought for a few moments.

     "Ash! Hey, snap out of it!" Sylvia yelled at her.

     "Humm? Oh, I- I'm sorry. Alright let's be on our way and see this Trading town." She said with a timid smile. "Let's not waste any time."  

     The travel was long but the girls managed to shave off about a quarter of the actual travel time arriving in the town earlier than even they had expected. From the outside there was a lot of movement, more than was back home, everyone rushing to and from. It wasn't hard to get directions to the shop they were looking for, but what came to them as great surprise was that the shop owner was an elf like them. Wild-wood Beltart is an elder wood-elf, though she seemed very spry for her old age.