The Girl Who Killed A Tree

'The Rising...'

"Talk!" Davi announced sitting the boy down at one of the many red metal tables in the red building.

The boy made a face. "Talk about what?"

"Your Dragon friend," Davi announced. "Tell me about him."

"Why should I! What do I get if I help you?" The boy huffed? He looked past Davi noticing the powered donuts that were on the table. "I want a donut!" He announced.

Davi eyed the donuts for a moment thinking carefully. "How old are you..."

"Eight."

"...No..." Davi said slowly sliding the plate off of the table and into the trashcan. "You can't have any." He reached down and pulled up a black wolf looking dog by the ears. "You can pet this weird looking devil-beast though. He won't mind right Jakey?"

"A living creature!" Ash said excitedly. He took it and began to run his hands through its thick black fur. Jakey shot Davi a dirty look as the boy eagerly petted it.

"So about the dragon?" Davi questioned. "I really need to know what you know about it. It'd help a lot."

"R... Right..." Ash looked at the rabbit for a few moments. "A few weeks ago a man from a Guild came by. It was one I haven't heard of... P... P... Ph?"

"Phoenix Flight." Davi asked frowning.

"Yeah! That one. He was a cool looking dragon, Mister! But... But he was walking on two legs. The locals called him a Drake-Walker? He was super nice and played with all the kids! He was so cool! His name was Khinn."

Davi made a small face as he scratched at his chin for a moment. "Ahh. So it isn't Orion like I thought it was... Damn... I thought we got a lead for sure. Oh well I guess it was just a Guild member from that weird Guild we are heading to. That's still pretty neat though. So this Khinn fellow that was a part of this Guild? He stayed here and was helping you guys until he left?"

"Yes! He was really cool and funny! But he had to leave... And then... And then She came..." Ash looked down at the ground again as he became sad once more. "But... But then that lady came to the village. Said she was here for inspection. Our elder offered her up an apple pie made with some of the best apples in this village and... And... And she..." He squeezed his hands and glared at the ground as he looked like he was about to cry. "That mean lady did something awful."

***

Three Days Ago...

A blonde woman with light blue eyes, and long silver armor stood in the middle of the now, lush village. She stared with an emotionless expression towards the tree in the center which was filled with rich red apples. Her armor had what looked like a blue dragons claw, on the front of it and a golden sword hung off of her belt. The Shinning Sentinels...

In front of her, the entire village stood all staring at her with hopeful looks as the elder offered her the biggest apple pie they could make.

"This month's harvest has been really good My Lady!" The elder said in a hopeful tone. "We spent days making this food, pouring our heart, and souls into the pie, using magic to forge it. It should be the best pie we ever made."

She slowly took a small fork and stabbed it into a piece of the pie raising it up to her lips slowly as she bit into it. She was silent as she swallowed the food and slowly brought the fork down. A moment of silence passed over the group as they hopefully stared at her. That hopeful look instantly vanished as her hand came out and she slapped the pie away sending it flying. It crashed face down into the dirt splattering.

"This is a vile fruit. I'd rather eat pathetic common food, than take another bite. You should all be executed for having my tongue touch such a disgusting meal." The silence seemed to be deafening for a moment. "Still though... I suppose that the rest of this pathetic village is at least partially up to par with these standards. I'll allow you all to live for one more-"

A rock flew forward slamming into the top of her head. The crowd stared shocked as Ash stepped forward holding another rock. "You big bully! If my dragon friend from the orange Bird Guild was here he'd beat you up for sure! He was in that Guild that's way better than yours!"

A small trickle of blood dripped down her forehead slightly but she didn't seem to mind. "Phoenix Flight..." A disgusted look crossed onto her face as she drew her blade.

"Have mercy on him!" The village elder cried out jumping in front of her. "My son didn't mean anything by it! Ever since his mother died he's been like this only trying to get attention have mercy I beg-"

She slapped the old man throwing him away and stepped towards the boy staring down at him. He didn't back away even as she raised her sword. She brought it down stabbing it straight into the tree as a massive golden light exploded off of the blade.

"All of you can burn in hell for allowing such a pathetic and monstrous Guild into domain owned by me!" She yelled out turning away and fluttering her cape as the tree began to slowly turn black and began to rot. "You'll have to save yourself. Maybe that pathetic guild will be able to save you fools!"

***

Davi frowned as he nodded his head. "Yeah. That sounds like something she'd do. She's a total bit-"

There was a loud bang outside making Davi and Ash turn. It sounded like a gunshot had just gone off.

Ash's eye went wide as he jumped up. "The village!" He cried.

Davi stepped out past the door and began to walk back towards the village as he casually followed after the boy who was running down the hill as fast as he could letting out a loud yell.

"Oh boy..." Davi muttered when he saw who was standing in the village. "This looks like trouble. I hope Athena is keeping a cool head on her shoulders." He hissed as he stepped down the hill and stood in the village.

As he entered he saw an angry-looking Athena who was crackling with yellow thunder and lighting, and a nervous looing Oliver who was holding his staff staring down two guards who were now in the village.

"Low and behold!" One of the guards laughed. "We were just about to come and put a double tax on the village for not removing our Ladies sword."

"Y... You were..." One of the citizens said shocked. "B... But why!"

"Of course! Because of you folk, our lady doesn't have her precious blade. That sword was a gift from her father. So we've come to double the tax in order to motivate you all!" They laughed. "Maybe if we do that you'll all have the nerve to hurry up and finally pull that blade out so we can return it to our lady. After all she wants her sword back."

"B... But you can't! We can't pay a double tax much less a ten times! We can't even fend for ourselves!" The elder said shocked. "Please have mercy on us, we are suffering enough... You can't do this. We'll all die for sure."

"You guys can't do that!" Athena hissed out. "Take a step forward and I'll kick your ass for sure."

"Your hands don't look so great." One guard asked letting out a laugh. "You must have tried to draw the sword huh. Well only someone who is around the good ladies strength, and can withstand the pain from her curse, could draw it. I doubt you can still fight with hands like those."

"I'll just tear your throats out with my teeth!" Athena growled. "Besides I have Oliver backing me up and he's still strong."

"Y... Yeah!" Oliver said. 'Crap... Athena's hands is still totaled... I can fight but... Oleander Guards all have magic... Besides an Arcane Knight, they're the strongest thing in the Country.' He thought with some worry. A Novice Time Wizard didn't stand much of a chance but he wasn't about to just lay down and let them walk all over these innocent people. "It's two on two so this fight is still fair..."

The guards all laughed as they stared at the two boys. "Oh yeah? And who's gonna stop-"

There was a bright flash as two of the guards were slammed through a few of the buildings toppling them.

"Whoops," Davi said giving a small grin. "Didn't mean to total those buildings my bad. I don't have any money, unfortunately. Oh, I know." He snapped his fingers as all of his veins began to lit up with a faint flicker of blue light and mana seemed to course through his body. "How about I repay you this way?" His hand grabbed onto the sword as he pulled it back as hard as he could. The entire blade came out as it literally exploded in a golden light. Bright gold flames washed over Davi's arms as bright waves of blue mana seemed to seep out of his skin pressing against the golden flames as they clashed.

It became a literal battle of blue water looking magic, and golden flames of golden magic. Then in a flash, it was gone. The flames were out as Davi's blue magic died out. His sleeve exploded as the flames vanished fully and most of his jacket was now badly burnt and torn. Everything stared at Davi as he turned checking out the pretty golden blade.

The sword was thrown at the feet of two of the guards as they all freaked out and picked it up. Small wisps of smoke floated off of the blade as they turned away from him.

"Take that back to your Lady," Davi said sarcastically. He quickly stuffed his hands in his pockets as he leaned towards them. "And tell her I called her a bitch." He called towards them as they picked up the sword and made a run for the carriages. Davi smiled showing off his shark fangs as the two guards both let out screams and ran faster to the carriage.

The horses seemed strangely more active all of a sudden now that the curse was broken and instantly began to run away as soon as the two men were in it. The tree also seemed to be doing better. The wound was already gone in mere seconds. It still looked dead but before everyone's eyes seemed to be getting better and better as the grass began to slowly turn green once more.

Davi turned back to the stunned villagers as they all looked at him in shock. He cocked his head to the side and gave a casual smile as Athena let out a small snort, and Oliver stared with wide eyes.

"Oh. Guess I did it!"

The crowd cheered loudly as Ash stared in shock. "He... He did it..." Davi turned away from the crowd and walked back towards the red house in the distance.

Davi felt a hand on his shoulder making him stop and turn. Athena stared at him for a moment as she gave a small frown and looked him up and down. "Your hand is it..."

Davi pulled his right hand out of his pocket showing an extremely badly burnt hand. It was black and still smoking. It looked like it was made of ash and would snap off his wrist at any moment now. "The light won." He shrugged. "Damn blade newly blew my hand off. It was a close battle. I'll be down for the count for a while."

"Oh geez, that looks terrible!" A wide-eyed Oliver said. "Are you okay."

"No." Davi said flatly. "I am not okay. I am in a lot of pain right now. Taking everything I have to not burst into tears."

"Oh... Sorry..."Oliver winced. "So uh... What was with that flashy blue light show that was coming off of your hand when you were pulling the golden sword out of the tree. That isn't the first time your veins lit up? And earlier that old man called you a Demi, and you said you were a Shark Demi? Does that have something to do with the blue glowing and stuff?"

"Mmmmmmaaaaggggggggggiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiccc!" Davi said trailing out the massive word.

"What?"

Athena folded her arms and gave a small half smile. "Well. To put it simply Davi isn't a human."

"He's not!" Oliver said with wide eyes.

"Nope. He's a Magic Beast. One that looks like a human. Davi is what is called a Demi. Man Made beasts in the Country of Camelot, by the Mother of Monsters, and a few other people. Demi all look human but have weird powers based around an animal, and a feature of said animals. For example a Lion Demi could have sharp claws, Davi is a Shark Demi so he gets those freaky shark fangs. Being a Demi he has a few magical abilities based around a shark. Swim allows him to swim through the ground as if it was a liquid, and blue vein, is a magic all Demi, can use where they pump their entire body full of mana, using up a lot of power, but raising their defense up greatly. He can do a few other things being a Demi but it isn't to crazy. Anyone could learn a way to do what Davi does with just magic, being a Demi just means he was made to do that."

"Okay? I think I kind of get it?" Oliver nodded.

"We can discus this later." Davi said turning back to the two as e gave a half smirk. "For now it's time we head to-"

Hey!" A loud voice yelled out. They all turned seeing Ash running towards them.

"Oh Ash?"

The boy collapsed breathing heavily. "I... I owe you guys one for pulling the sword out."

"Oh you don't have to-" Oliver began but was cut off by Athena and Davi who gained money signs in their eyes. "Oh right you guys want rewards..." He sighed.

Ash gave a small half smirk as he pointed at them. "In return for helping us and as thanks... I'll tell you guys where a treasure is!"