Act 11

“No, no, no!!! Damn it, the corpse its gone man, I mean it freaking when of fire and when became ashes in seconds.” Mat said more frustrated than before. He struck gold but it turned into mud, he cursed and cursed and Lily heard him say “Yeah I still got the picture, yup it was mangled and bloody. So, you what me to find the thing that killed it? Your right if this thing could help back on air, the thing that killed it would make us millionaires! Good thinking partner, I’ll start investigating right now. Lily and Xavier slumped down behind the tree dumbfounded, Mat was going to look for Xavier and cage him up like a wild animal. “You were right, he This is bad Xavier; he is going after you now. What are we going to do? she said worried. Xavier patted her head and assured her that everything would be alright as long as they keep their wits and distance from Mat. Lily wasn’t convinced because she knew that Mat was smart and he would stop until he got what he wanted. “I have a plan” Xavier said smirking, Lily lit up with anxiousness but didn’t say a word while Xavier continued divulging his plan. “We already have the stone correct? And there are three more items left on that list of yours, if we can finish the incantation before Mat find me.” “Your right we can still finish this” she said confidently, then she looked at her list and crossed the stone out of the list, “We still need to find the Onyx Blossom, the pendant with the wish carved into it which is too bring you back to normal, and the minced leaves of the oldest living tree in this forest.” she while returning her notepad and continued, “There is an old oak tree in the center of the wood I heard about it in the local news. The tree is almost 300 years old today, we are already half way from where we are now and it’s still early enough to trek it so what do you say?” she said while raising her hand for an arm shake. Xavier took the gesture with a newly formed hand and a few moments later they began the next step of their quest.

They descended deeper and deeper in the woods, passing through ancient trees and flora that Lily only seen in books and documentaries. Using her phone, she took some pictures of the surrounding sceneries, the tree formations, the wildlife. Xavier was leading the way and was occasionally glazing at Lily and making sure she didn’t get lost in the woods. They arrived at the tree at around 3:30 pm and they were awestruck from the beauty of the ancient tree. It’s wasn’t that tall but it was thick, old roots were jutting out from the ground like a veiny arm. Lily took several shots and wanted to have a selfie with Xavier but she quickly erased when she remembered that she still had to keep Xavier a secret, she pocketed the phone when she saw that her shadowy companion started to head towards the tree. “Quickly Lily, we must get those leaves immediately.” he said not turning around. Lily nodded and sprinted to catch up with Xavier. When they stood a few feet near the tree, Lily looked down to find any leaves that fell, sadly they were all tree litter and the leaves had to be fresh. “These are no good we have to climb up the tree and pick some.” Lily said while looking up and pointing at the cluster of leaves at the top of the tree. The tree was short but the truck was relatively smooth and was hard to climb it without tools. Lily and Xavier was gazing up and down the majestic structure of nature hoping that she would come up with plan. A few moments passed until Xavier broke the silence, “I have an idea.” he said plainly. Lily turned her gaze to him and ask what he was going to do. Xavier told Lily to take a step back and she did, Xavier closed his eyes and he took a stance like gesture. Lily was confused at this point and was questioning her friends mental state, she opened her mouth attempting to say something but abruptly stopped when she noticed that there was a dark aura swirling around him. The dark aura continued to speed and in a few seconds a burst of dark energy reached its peak and created a short explosion. Lily covered her eyes with her arms from the light produced by the short blast. After the blinding light died down, Lily slowly lowered her arms and upon looking at Xavier her mouth dropped. Instead of the familiar cloaked figure she became accustomed to stood a slightly massive beast what resembled a wolf but with Xavier’s antlers adorned its head. “Xavier is that you?” she said while she slowly walked towards the creature, its leapt and clang on the side of the tree using its razor-sharp claws. It climbed up so fast that by the time Lily managed to blink it was already at the top, then with a final push of its stronger back legs it jumped and grabbed a branch full of leaves. After that it slowly clawed his way down the tree and landing a few feet in front of Lily, it dropped the branch down and took a step back. It sat like a dog and it dematerialized on into a cloud of the same dark aura, and with a brief pause the dark aura became to swirl again slowly forming Xavier from bottom to top. “Woah! How did you that?” Lily said amazed. “I read it in one of your books, the one with a creature that can change it form at will. While you were away, I found out that I can manipulate and conjured anything I could think of using my dark aura.” “Damn, that’s a so over the top. We can use that in some way, what else you can turn in to?” she asked with a mix of curiosity and excitement. Xavier pondered for a bit and again asked Lily to step back. She did and Xavier proceeded to repeat his stance. With a short burst of dark energy, Xavier transformed into a majestic dark stallion with black flames covering its hoofs. Lily was awestruck at the sight and her mouth once again dropped, Xavier now in his stallion form knelt down offering a ride on his back “It’s getting dark, we must head back to the mansion.” he declared. Lily nodded in agreement and plucked a handful of leaves before slowly climbing on Xavier’s back. He stood up and raised his front legs like a horse would when it was ready, “Hold on tight, it’s going to be rough ride.” Lily grabbed his shadowy mane before Xavier began to gallop slowly gaining speed with each stomp. Lily closed her eyes at the start of their ride and she slowly began to open them, she was once again breathless of the sight she witnessed.