The Heart of the Forest (2)

"Wha-" Lord Ladran clenched his fists. "I wouldn't have asked you if I knew the answer!" He protested.

"Hush – we're here!" Aether suddenly hissed as he stopped in his tracks. He pointed ahead, towards the woods that seemed to grow only more ominous and darker.

Lord Ladran fell silent as his steps also came to a halt. He narrowed his eyes as they both gazed into the darkness before. "Something is off." He finally said, glancing at the young man beside him.

"It is. The flow of magic is all wrong here." Aether whispered. He motioned to remove the stat bracelet from his wrist – he couldn't afford to limit himself to only the dart and light spells.

"Don't." Lord Ladran's words took him by surprise. "That thing is more important than you think. If you constantly remove it, they will start monitoring you in different ways."

Aether's eyes narrowed. "What does that mean?" Such a thing could only spell trouble.

"They're looking for prodigies. People they can use to further humanity's understanding of magic and the arcane. If you want to remain by your mistress' side, you can't have them suspect you know more than you let on." Lord Ladran clenched his fists. "Use this spell, I will tell them I taught it to you if they ask."

Aether watched the flow of magic form a spell in Lord Ladran's hand. "Fine." He said, then turned his attention towards the heart of the forest once more. "Shall we?"

The scholar of the Mages Council nodded. Aether chuckled as he noticed how on edge Lord Ladran seemed to be. He was clenching his fists with such force that his knuckles were white.

"Relax." He said with a low, almost reassuring voice. "I will almost believe you've never been in a battlefield before."

Lord Ladran shook his head. "I haven't." Aether almost lost his balance as he shot a surprised glance at the middle aged scholar. "You on the other hand seem way too relaxed." The other man continued. "I will almost believe you aren't even a bit worried."

Aether chuckled. "I'm not." He pushed aside a low branch and stepped into the darkness. "Whatever this world throws at us, I bet I've seen worse." When he looked back at Lord Ladran, all that was visible from the darkness was a pair of silver eyes, with slit pupils and an otherworldly silver glow.

Lord Ladran drew a sharp breath. "Of course." He whispered before following the young man.

Darkness surrounded them. Nothing was visible, it was almost as if all light had been plucked away from this part of the forest.

"Bright." Aether suddenly spoke. He shielded his eyes from something Lord Ladran couldn't see. "It's too bright. This way." He reached for Ladran's arm and led the way through the seemingly endless darkness. While the scholar wanted to ask what the young man saw, they stepped out of that darkness before he could even form a sentence in his mind.

"Beautiful." Was all Lord Ladran said as they stepped out of the woods, into small, serene grassy area.

The ground was covered in colourful flowers. Petals circled in the air, and this almost otherworldly light reflected off them. The beautiful smell of wildflowers and wet earth filled their nostrils as they spotted a small creek passing through the field of flowers.

"What is this?" Aether mumbled. He took a careful step forward as his gaze leapt from colour to colour. "This is wrong!" He suddenly breathed out.

"What do you mean?" Lord Ladran asked. "I don't sense anything wrong here." He furrowed his brows and whispered. "Inspect." Strands of magic left his fingers, and slowly scattered throughout the area.

Aether's gaze followed those strands of magic. Every time they came into contact with the natural magic in the area, Lord Ladran's expression darkened. "You're right." He finally spoke after a while. "Something is off – there is too little magic for such an… untouched place." He paused mid-sentence as if he were searching for the right world.

"That's not what I meant." Aether shook his head. "This is the source of all wildmagic anomalies in the surrounding areas. So where is it? I don't see a single strand of wildmagic. Not a single wildspawn, nothing that defies the rules of magic." He gritted his teeth. "And where are the spirits?" He asked all of a sudden.

Lord Ladran hesitated. A faint smile touched his lips. "Around here probably. We can never know."

Aether shook his head. "No, they're not. That's my point." His voice rose slightly. "Something is very wrong here!" He suddenly ran forward, trampling the colourful flowers beneath his feet as he ran to the centre of the flowery fields.

A wind suddenly blew his hair back, revealing his silver eyes. Lord Ladran caught the hood of his cape before it fell to his shoulders. "Aether, you're disturbing the spirits of the heart!" He called out.

"There are no spirits!" The young man responded. "I know you don't see them – but I can! And now there are none!"

The wind grew stronger as Aether spoke. The petals circled around him. He narrowed his eyes and looked around. They were making it difficult to see with all the light they reflected. A petal brushed against his cheek, and he felt a sudden sting. Startled, he touched his cheek, only to see the wet redness of blood on his fingertips.

His eyes widened as he looked at Lord Ladran, who had started making his way over towards him. "Don't get any closer! These are not petals!"

"Shield!" Lord Ladran shouted immediately. A barrier of magic formed around him as he hastened his steps. The petals hit the barrier, and to both of their surprise, shattered into pieces.

"Crystals?" Aether asked as the scholar reached him. His shield expanded to envelop both of them. "What are these?" The young mean mumbled as he watched more and more of them hit the shield and shatter.

"I don't know." Lord Ladran shook his head. "Whatever this is, it's not natural." He glanced at the young man besides him. "Are you sure there are no spirits?"

Aether nodded. "Yes." He gulped. "And I think I know why." He Stepped forward and reached out of the shield and caught a crystal. He winced as it cut his palm, but then pulled his hand back into safety.

He opened his hand to show the crystal. "It's a wing."

"They are dead." Aether's words struck Lord Ladran like a truck.

"But-"

"Something killed the spirits of these woods." Aether continued as the crystal wing buried into his palm slowly began to shatter. "I will not let this go unpunished." He hissed. He shook his hand, letting go of the wing.

"We need to let Luna know about this. The mundane world must be alerted." Aether barely heard Lord Ladran's words as the scholar tried to come up with a plan of action. The young man took a deep breath, then stepped out of the barrier's safety.

Almost as if the crystal wings were waiting for this, the wind picked up once more.

"What are you doing?" Lord Ladran shouted as hundreds of sharp crystals flew towards Aether.

"Spirits of the dead, souls of the fallen!" Aether shouted at the top of his lungs. "Show yourselves!" He caught the silver chain around his wrist and with a quick pull, broke it. "By the power bestowed upon me by the Mistress of the Dark, and the Lord of the Night, I order thee! Face me!"