Ch. 13 Spirit of the Forest
Tian followed the scent of Kodama using track. She was fast but his tracking skill was extremely useful. As long as he didn't get distracted he could keep his eye on her prints and follow the wisps of color that showed him her scent. He followed for a bit more happy that she appeared to be enjoying herself. Tian watched the difference in the run. He even saw a few times where she seemed to bounce off the trees.
He chuckled happily that his sister seemed to be enjoying herself. He came across an opening though and was stunned enough to freeze. Before him was his sister staring at a floating being who looked like looked to be made of leaves and bark. She looked over at Tian briefly with bright green eyes and then looked back at Kodama. Tian walked up quickly to stand beside his sister. She was watching this creature with eyes full of fascination and wonder. Tian looked at the creature before him getting a much better look now.
The creature had beautiful green orbs for eyes. They had a slight glow to them. She seemed like a floating bush that moved and acted like a person. He could see a faint glow in her chest hidden behind all the leaves and twigs. She would shed a leaf every half a second or so and another instantly growing back in its place. It was a fascinating representation of life and death. As the creature moved around the wind would make her leaves dance.
She let off a giggle and began to fly around the pair of young dragons before finally settling in front of Kodama again. She then reached out and touched her on her snout. Kodama remained still, as if in a trance. The creature took this as a sign that she was okay with being touched and went in to hug Kodamas head. She was about the size of her head so it was pretty funny to see. Kodamas head just disappeared into the flying bush. When the creature backed away after the hug she did a twirl and giggled softly again. Kodama let out a soft mew and began to prance around the creature.
"You are so sweet young one. It has been a long time since I've seen a Kirin. Are you perhaps thinking of becoming the spirit of the forest one day? I could show you how. Though I feel you'd be able to do it without any issue. My name is Tamliu. I am the current spirit of this forest. It is a great pleasure to meet you young one." Tamliu introduced herself to Kodama with a smile. Still completely ignoring Tian he watched the interaction as they danced around each other in the opening. He didn't want to really interrupt them in fear of scaring her off. Tian decided to use Inspect at this time because he wanted to see what they were dealing with. Looking at the creature he didn't think she'd be too high.
"Inspect"
Name: Tamliu
Species: ??????
Level: ??????
Skills: ??????
Tian looked at this stat window confused. This little creature is such a high level? As he inspected her, he also noticed she glanced over at him again and quickly focused on Kodama again. Tian laid down ignoring the inspect and just enjoyed watching his sister playing with her new friend. "Maybe being the spirit of the forest is a bigger deal than I thought" Tian thought to himself as he thought about inspecting her earlier. He went to a big tree that was near the edge of the clearing and went to lay down so Kodama could play with her new friend and not be distracted.
He was brought out of his thoughts a few moments later when the two began to run off. The creature leading the way giggling. Kodama followed along once again running with her tongue out reminding Tian once again of a dog. He quickly stood up and began to run after them. With his larger size and higher stats he was able to at least keep her within his eye sight. They ran around for what felt like hours before they made their way to the clearing where the rest of the family was. Their father glanced over at Tamliu and nodded to her slightly. She paused her play and did a graceful curtsy to Muk and then kept playing with Kodama. Tian noticed this and walked over to his father now.
"Father, do you know that creature?" Tian asked Muk as he sat down and kept an eye on the two as they played around. "Yes, that is Tamliu. She is the spirit of this forest. She's not very strong, as I told you we picked this forest because everything in it is weak. It looks like she's taken a liking to your sister. Will likely try to get her to agree to be be her replacement. She's getting up there in age and will need to be replaced soon. However your sister will be able to find a much better domain." Tian thought for a moment and then looked at his father in confusion. "Father, isn't this your domain?" Muk chuckled and shook his head. "No, we came here just to have you kids. Our home is much farther away. Once you kids are older and out on your own, I'll show you it. You will still have to find your own area though. You need not worry about that though. You have plenty of time before this comes to be." Tian nodded and got up to look for Eldra wanting to see if she wanted to play.
As he was walking to the glimmer of red scales he saw earlier, he noticed Eldra stalking yet another creature. He couldn't quite tell what it was as it was behind a few bushes. He moved carefully not wanting to ruin her hunt. The creature still hasn't noticed Eldra as she moved even closer. She looked like she was about to move into the bush but noticed that it would likely alert the creature. The prey however made this easier because it began to move around the bush or even eat it it. Eldra used this as a chance to pounce forward over the bush and on top of whatever it was. There was a roar and then some rustling going on. Tian was about to rush through just to keep an eye on her to ensure she was okay however before he could do that the creature is thrown through the bush followed quickly by Eldra.
She quickly grabbed ahold of its neck and bit down finishing it off. It appeared to be a small deer so he was surprised that she caught it but figured it was likely because the creature was so busy eating. It appears young so it wasn't experienced. Tian looked over towards the woods when he heard a twig snap and saw a massive buck staring him down. The air in the area began to feel like there was static going around. It felt like a lightning strike was about to hit him. The buck glanced over at the corpse that Eldra got and let out a rough breath. It must have figured that it wasn't worth it fighting the young drake since the young one was already dead. Tian stared back at it ready to move in to fight if it decided it wanted to. This was all for nothing though as it grunts loudly towards the rest of the herd and they run off deeper into the forest.
Eldra ran over to nudged her head into Tians chest to bring his attention to her. When he looked over at her she pranced over to her prize and stood proudly over it. "Good job Eldra. Fantastic hunt! It never stood a chance! That is your prize, go ahead and eat. I'll watch over you so you're not bothered." A huge smile appeared on her lips as she began to eat.
Before he could blink, Tamliu appeared next to Eldra and the prize. Eldra jumped backwards in shock having not noticed that she was there earlier and was playing with Kodama. Tamliu put her hand on the chest of the corpse and closed her eyes. Eldra growled at her but she ignored the young dragon completely. Tian watched with fascination as a small bright white orb was extracted from where Tamliu was touching it. She pulled back and brought it up to her lips. She softly whispered something to it and then kissed it lightly. She raised her hands up and the orb began to dissipate and disappeared into the wind. A small tear appeared below one of her bright green eyes and then she appeared back near Kodama leaving Eldra completely confused. She looked around from the corpse, Tian and the rest of the field before her eyes landed on her over by Kodama. "It's okay. She's a friend. She's the spirit of the forest and I'm guessing that was something she had to do. I'll ask father about it later. Enjoy your prize." Tian said to her trying to calm her down. After staring at Tamliu for a bit she quickly went back to eating as if afraid Tamliu would take her prize from her.
Once Eldra ate her fill, Tian picked up the prize and brought it towards the lake with Eldras permission. Cypheras appeared out of the water and shook off her scales and looked at the food and licked her lips. Tian looked at Eldra and she nodded. Cypheras walked over and began to eat the food. Kodama came over as well however she was alone. Tamliu was nowhere to be seen. Kodama joined her sister in eating. Tian watched over them for awhile with a smile before he finally closed his eyes and rested his head to take a nap. It had been a long morning and he still had the rest of the day ahead of him.