Chapter 15. Virdis

 He thanked the boatman and his daughter profusely and came ashore in high spirits. 

Leaving the desert behind, this shore beckoned with its lush vegetation. 

This land was tacitly called Evergreen, especially in contrast to the Desert Lands. 

Virginia

 was a land of wealth and power. All its neighbours reckoned with it in one way or another. In addition to its natural riches, it had many schools where eminent masters taught how to subdue and control its energy.

Cornflower easily evaded the control, not without a little trick of disguise, and went to eat at the nearest establishment, gorging himself on fried fish. He had forgotten the last time he had eaten fish and hadn't been able to eat properly for the last twenty-four hours. It was fortunate that many of the restaurants here were open late. 

Deciding not to linger, he hurriedly bought some dried dates and a handful of nuts for the road and headed out of town into the night. 

When he had travelled far enough to be sure that there were no people on the road, he unleashed some of his strength and, with the grace of a doe and the flashes of a firefly, he sprinted along the road, barely touching the ground, until dawn broke in the distance and he was exhausted.

If anyone had seen him in that dark night, they would have taken him for the ghost of a stranger.

He was glad to see the mountains in the distance, covered with dense greenery, and the dampness that began to increase with the dawn, making his shirt wet under his cloak.

As soon as the sun lit up the valley, the road was immediately filled with hurrying people. There were many villages and people living in them, so the main road was often crowded with people, carriages and palanquins of the nobility, with their servants and guards, sometimes scattering the commoners.

So the young man had to change his course. He wandered into one of the nearby villages and, after resting in the first inn he found, decided to find another way to the capital of Virdis. 

After buying a map of the area, new light clothes and a snack of steamed buns with rice, Cornflower decided to avoid the crowded places and at the same time check the state of the local energy streams, which became difficult for him in his latent form once he crossed the river.

It was quite possible that due to the presence of many people with high levels of inner energy in this area, there was a much more intense energy field here that could interfere with his perception.

***

All of the eastern lands were renowned for their lush vegetation and the south-east was no exception. 

Throughout history, the thickets have only grown to provide shelter for a wide variety of birds and animals. This made the area a magnet for hunters of all kinds and poachers.

Once a season, in this restricted guise, he had to walk the familiar paths. 

Not that he didn't like it, but sometimes it was nice to get away from problems and affairs, to immerse himself in his essence and live through that time without much worry.

He usually had a premonition that another side effect of the curse was approaching, allowing him to give the appropriate orders for the duration of his absence. Of all the people, only a few were aware of his peculiar affliction, and would skilfully cover for his absence when necessary.

With a change of uniform, he was free to roam for his allotted time, which usually did not exceed seven days. 

With the change of form came a radical change in the perception of the world. 

All senses were sharpened and altered to suit his form. 

The senses inherent in his human form were completely sealed. 

And his body was completely deprived of all the gifts given to mankind by the higher powers. In fact, at this time he was no different from any other animal except for a more vivid self-consciousness that could not follow instinct without question.

And now he went deeper into the forest, leaping and dodging the traps set by the hunters, until he felt a strange aura. 

As he approached, he heard a scream mixed with a frightened growl.

Cleverly, he ducked between the branching roots and ducked behind a wild bush.

He saw the following scene - a tiger cub had fallen straight into one of the traps, breaking its paw, and a man, whose exact features were difficult to discern through the haze of his aura, was bending over the frightened animal, trying to reach its paw. 

The wounds left on the man's arm by a pair of clawed paws were bleeding profusely, but the man didn't seem to notice. 

As he approached, all he could make out in the man's look were softly glowing eyes, looking anxiously at the tortured animal.

 Abandoning his attempts to persuade the animal, that he can open the trap without hurting it, Cornflower tried what was sure to work - just let the local natural energy circulate through his body and let it out. 

These places were hardly desecrated, but the effect had an effect on the unfortunate animal, and it immediately calmed down and trusted him.

Carefully taking out the broken leg, he began to treat it with his energy, lightly touching the animal's fur with his left hand, only glancing at the bloody drops left by his right hand on which he rested. 

By now he could hear and feel the animals approaching, rustling leaves as they approached from all sides. 

This had happened before, so Cornflower was not frightened by the possibility of coming face to face with the local predators, especially since they usually formed a kind of circle around him, beyond which no one could go.

In those moments, he felt like a real shaman performing a cleansing ritual, surrendering to it completely, when he suddenly felt something cold pushed his right hand.

Cornflower turned his head and met gaze with eyes the colour of red amber, which immediately brought back bad memories and made him shudder.

But after a closer look he exhaled, shaking off the obsession, the aura of this animal was completely different from the one that desecrated all living things, expressing only one thing - a fierce lust for killing. Now he stood before an ordinary fox.

Amazed that this fox could get so close, the young man turned back to his patient when he was distracted again. This time he felt something rough licking his right hand.

"I hope it doesn't eat me before I'm done here," he thought, chuckling slightly, either at the tickle the fox had given him while licking his wounds, or at the thought.

When the patient was well enough, he helped him to his paws and stopped the flow of energy. 

Tired but satisfied, Cornflower leaned back against the tree and covered his eyes. With the end of the bursts of natural energy, some of the beasts immediately began to disperse. Some of them stayed at a distance from the young man, and only the fox, having finished licking his hand, lay down beside him and laid its head on his lap.

Cornflower was overwhelmed by a series of memories of the black, shy animal, which suddenly made him feel lonely.

"You'll leave me later too, won't you?"

 He turned to the fox, who looked at him with his piercing eyes.

Without waiting for an answer, the young man could no longer stand it and scratched him behind his furry ear, causing the fox to squint with delight.

"You know, but I am always in a hurry, in a hurry to find myself, in a hurry to understand myself, in a hurry to fulfil the mission. I hurry, I hurry, I hurry... I wonder if there will come a moment when I will be able to take a step to be reunited with my loved ones? To see their beautiful flight again? Hey, fox, do you have a family?"

At the word 'family', the fox's ear twitched nervously and he huddled even closer to the young man. 

Cornflower ignored the change and continued as if nothing had happened:

"I had one once, but they were killed. And I can't even get revenge because I don't know who it was or when it happened. I... I don't know anything and I don't remember what happened before the relatively recent events. Where I grew up, who raised me, what kind of person I was before this awakening."

At these words he covered his face with a hand.

Feeling someone else's breath on his cheek, he pulled his hand away and looked at the fox, whose eyes were once again opposite his own.

"You sympathise with me? Thank you."

He unconsciously hugged the warm, fluffy animal that smelled so pleasantly of fresh grass and buried his face in its silky fur. For a moment he thought the fox was trying to hug him too.

It was only after a few moments that he pulled away, embarrassed at how silly he must look. A big guy hugging a pet.

"I'm sorry. I have to go, will you share it with me, at least for a while?"

Again, without expecting a reaction, he got up and walked in the direction he had chosen earlier, hoping to reach his destination by evening. He sighed inwardly with satisfaction when he saw that the Fox had followed him.

Side by side they walked for hours, carefully avoiding and disarming the hunters' traps. 

At first Cornflower was worried about the fox, but then he noticed its unprecedented intelligence and was even glad to have such a companion, even if their journey together would not be long. 

From time to time the fox would leave and return after a while with a mouse or hare in its jaws, periodically offering its prey to the man, who for some reason would always smile and refuse. 

After waiting for the fox to finish his meal, they continued on their way.

When they reached their destination in the evening, Cornflower filled a canteen from a stream that ran down from the ridge, while the fox greedily lapped at the water nearby. 

The couple sat in the shade of a spreading maple tree, watching the sunset in silence.

Cornflower glanced sideways at the fox. There was something different about him, not like the other animals. Even his favourite Stipa was not like that... so understanding?

Sighing, he covered himself with his travelling cloak and fell asleep for the first time in a long while. 

Fox followed his example and curled up next to him, but sleep did not come to him for a long time and he just lay there, looking at the myriads of stars above them and thinking with pain in his heart that if he had had the chance, he would never have left the man with such a pure aura, like the morning dew on the field.

When Cornflower awoke, the fox was no longer beside him. Only the crumpled leaves he had been lying on reminded him that Cornflower was not alone. He grinned bitterly and continued on his way to the capital.

***

He awoke late at night to find his chest on fire. He jumped to his feet and glanced around to see his chest purse glowing through his clothes. 

Hastily pulling it out, he found that the cause was the two quills he had carefully kept. 

Unaware of what was happening, he carefully pulled them out, even though his hands were burning like hell. They gave off a pulsating glow similar to a heartbeat.

As soon as the two feathers were in his hands, the pearl had been given by Zafran glowed on his wrist, and his consciousness travelled like a meteor hundreds and thousands of miles to the north, where he saw an image he would have nightmares about for a long time to come.

He saw a badly injured Elder Acer on her knees, tearfully holding a bloodied figure in her hands. 

The figure's wings were broken in several places, part of a wing was missing, and a spear shaft was protruding from its chest. 

The witness to the scene stared breathlessly into the face of the girl dying before his eyes, blood dripping from her mouth.

"No."

"How could you? Why did you kill her?! You want me, not her!!!"

The Elder Acer screamed, coughing up blood. 

"She shouldn't pry. But it's better this way, it's one less problem."

A woman's voice spoke with a note of irritation.

 "Quercus, Twinkle and you are all very attached to an old system that has outlived its usefulness. Our ancestors abandoned us and this place, and you're all clinging to the past like fools. With new patrons, we will reach heights our predecessors never dreamed of."

 After saying that, Elder Acer's body flew into the air and hit the ground with a crash, blood splattering all around her.

"No."

"Pina come on, how rude of you to address the Elder like that."

"Tilia, I don't need your moralising. What's Fraxinus doing up there?"

"You think it's easy to seal the spirit of the tree?You think it's easy?"

"He is with her."

 Seizing the moment, Acer tried to summon all her strength for a single killing blow, to take at least one of the conspirators with her, but at the moment of the blow, a figure emerged from the shadows, hiding its face in the darkness, foreshadowing the outcome.

The other warriors had no choice but to freeze and watch.

"No." 

A slight hesitation and the lifeless body of Elder Acer lay on the ground beside Twinkle, with a large hole in her stomach. 

"No!"

"You're useless if you can't get rid of people like her quickly."

The Shadow's cold voice replied harshly, shaking the blood from his hand.

In response, the two women just kneeled down with their heads bowed.

"I'm sorry, my lord!"

"Your sister has sealed the spirit, now it can't affect the universe in any way, do as you wish. "

"No, no, no, no, no, no. NO!"

The image swirled and faded, Cornflower was brought back to his body.

The whole world fell apart for him into before and after. Somewhere deep inside Cornflower, as if shaking off a long sleep, an ancient, angry beast raised its head. 

 In his hand, two quills burned with scarlet flame, gradually turning to ash, and before his eyes appeared the image of the girl who, for all her apparent severity and diligence, had always been gentle and sweet. 

She touched his cheek, on which there was a trail of tears, and smiled sadly before she disappeared forever and said:

"I'm sorry, I can no longer wait for you. But my heart is with you forever."

And vanished into a thousand colourful shards.

"NOOOOOOO!"

It was as if Cornflower's chains had been broken, and with a wild roar the creature slumbering within him broke free. 

And unstoppable flow of true energy flames shook the earth and sky. 

The storm of emotions that had overwhelmed him burst forth in a maddening torrent. 

The confusion that had previously reigned within him erupted, shattering everything in its path, including the streams of energy that had previously floated peacefully. Now, this part of the forest was doomed to become a deadly wasteland for years after such a rampage.

The uncontrollable pillar of explosive energy could be seen from the capital city of Virdis and the surrounding lands. 

Many masters, drawn by this unbridled power, rushed to the source of this all-destroying aura to find its source. But an invisible barrier that appeared out of nowhere prevented them from getting any closer, and the fire vortex prevented them from seeing what was going on inside.

Akihiro, who preferred to hide his face and presence, hurried from his residence in the capital to the same place. 

He watched the flow with surprise and interest, wondering who or what had created it and mentally mocking the attempts of other masters to penetrate the barrier. 

He didn't really want to try to break through to the place where the Unknown raged, more powerful than any living Master, and it was much more fun to watch the attempts of others.

He saw a black lightning flash towards the barrier and through it, unafraid of the flames or the heat that could be felt even behind the barrier.

"Cat?" Akihiro said in surprise and thoughtfulness, "Or was it just me?"

The black steppe cat approached the mindless creature, treading softly on the ground despite the powerful streams of energy that blew away everything in its path. Standing a few metres off the ground, it was a terrifying sight in the form of a man covered in fire, with two wings whose feathers were like multicoloured daggers.

The man's face, writhing in excruciating pain and mute screams, was flooded with tears like flowing lava. 

He writhed, clenching his hands into fists at his heart. Recognising nothing and no one around him, he was wracked with grief and hatred that completely bound his mind, body and soul. 

A horrible sight. 

Shaking its furry head, completely unafraid of the fire, like a fluffy cat, it leapt onto the creature's shoulders. 

With a green flash, both cat and creature vanished in an instant. 

The barrier dissipated, leaving the observers with nothing but a picture of scorched earth with a crater in the place where an incredible phenomenon had just taken place.

Meanwhile, somewhere far away in the halls of the Ancients, the Clock of the Universe, driven by Cornflower's uncontrollable energy, moved forward a full minute, announcing the beginning of a new cycle and the approaching end of the world.