Mysterious Man

"What... just happened?" Sydra asks, looking at the spot the man had disappeared at. Turning to look at the Red Wisp, Sydra can tell that it is just as confused as he is. "You know, you're not really much help in fights,"

Growing two shoulders, the Wisp shrugs them before going back to looking at the water. Sighing, Sydra turns to the shore and begins to walk out, when the water behind him splashes once more. Flipping around, Sydra whips out his daggers and points them towards the sound, expecting the parasitic man to have come back.

Instead, a tall man with glasses is standing there, with a red book in his hands. Adjusting his glasses, the man studies Sydra for a few seconds before flipping open his book, "Are you Sydra Glass, otherwise known as the Nature Spirit of the Cloud Ascending Tree?" he asks.

"I am... Who might you be, and why did you come here?" Sydra asks, watching the man nod and shut the book.

Putting the book inside his grey coat's pocket, the man then pulls out a letter and hands it to Sydra, "Who I am doesn't matter, all you need to know is that Master Arthur wishes to meet with you, and you're expected to show up. On the day listed, I will come to bring you there, so make sure you're prepared,"

Before Sydra can respond, the man slips back underneath the water, leaving no trace of his appearance behind. Frowning, Sydra opens the letter, only to discover that it is an invitation to a noble's home in one of the few smaller kingdoms that weren't controlled by the elves, or dwarves.

Beneath the invitation note, there was another letter that explained that Master Arthur wished to discuss something important with Sydra, and it would be in his best interest to be there on time.

"I don't know why this person wants to meet with me, but if they are anywhere as powerful as the man who gave me this letter, then I best show up," Sydra says, putting the letter away into the storage bag. 'The invitation was for the Ashlock Ball, and it is fifteen days from now, which means I have that long to get used to my two new powers,'

With no more people appearing from the water, Sydra swiftly left the ravine and returned to Lola's home in the swamp. Hopping off his board, Sydra makes his way down the path when he hears the sound of fire crackling.

"Did Lola really start a fire in a house made from wood, or is it something else?" Sydra wonders, his eyes darting between the windows of the house. Peering inside, Sydra notices fire spreading about on the first floor and the shadow of a man escaping out the back, the Staff of Wisdom in his hands.

'Crap, he is stealing the staff, but if I chase after him, Lola might die,'. With that thought in his mind, Sydra rushes into the house and calls out for Lola, but only the sounds of crackling flames responds. Grimacing, he rushes up the stairs to the second floor, where he finds the body of Lola laying on the floor, her head bleeding from being hit with a blunt object.

"Lola!" Sydra yells, running over to Lola's body and squatting down. Reaching out his hands, Sydra lifts Lola's body up and turns back to the stairs. Making his way over to the stairs, Sydra finds the fire creeping its way up to the second floor and blocking off his way out.

"Damn it, I need to find a different way," Sydra says as he backs away from the staircase. Spinning around, he spots an open window, but it is positioned over Swamp Roses, which have long thorns that can paralyze a full-grown man in an instant.

Grinding his teeth, Sydra searches for a different window to jump out of, but all the windows he finds lead to dangerous swamp plants, "If we make it out of here alive, you're going to have to tell me why you couldn't make one single window lead to nice fluffy plants," Sydra says, glancing down at Lola childlike face.

Out of options, Sydra makes his way back over to the window that leads to Swamp Roses, as they were the only ones that wouldn't kill Sydra upon impact. Activating his magnetism aura, Sydra places Lola's body onto it before sliding her through the open window.

"It's too bad I can only float a few inches above the ground with these, otherwise I would simply fly out of this place," Sydra says, stepping up onto the window sill. Leaning out, Sydra grips onto the silver board as tightly as he can and leaps off the sill. This makes it so instead of a straight plummet into the plants below, Sydra glides at an angle above them.

"Come on, just a few more feet and I will be out of the reach of the Swamp Roses," Sydra says, the roses below briefly touching his stomach before he safely makes it over them to the ground on the other side.

Exhaling, Sydra lets go of the silver board and turns his attention back to Lola's head. Hovering his hand a few feet away from it, Sydra activates his healing aura, and the green lightning descends upon the wound on her head. 'After healing her, I need to leave this place and get the Staff of Wisdom back from that man,'

Watching the lightning dance back and forth across Lola's head, Sydra begins to worry when the wound doesn't close. Raising his other hand, he increases the amount of healing aura being used, "Come on, why isn't this working!"

The next few minutes pass by slowly, the wound on Lola's head continuing to bleed profusely. Suddenly, Sydra feels the Swamp Gem in his pouch vibrating and pulls it out. Flashing bright green, the Swamp Gem floats out of Sydra's head and lands on top of Lola's forehead.

Watching the Swamp Gem, Syda feels a sense of hope forming in his chest, "Although my healing aura wasn't doing anything, maybe this will save her?"

Continuing to flash, the Swamp Gem releases vines of light that twirl in the air before diving into Lola's forehead. Spreading about, the vines make their way deeper into Lola, and the Swamp Gem begins flashing more rapidly.

Squinting his eyes, Sydra watches as the Swamp Gem sinks into Lola's forehead, and the wound on the back of her head closes up. Once it was more than halfway inside her forehead, the Swamp Gem stopped flashing, and Lola's eyes fluttered open.

"Sydra? Why are we outside, and what happened to that man that attacked me?" she asks, before turning around and catching sight of her burning mansion. As her eyes widen, Lola stands up and takes a step towards the mansion, "Why... Why is my house on fire?"

Standing beside her, Sydra watches the flames devour the house, tendrils of them spreading out into the plants around it. "I believe it was that man, the one who attacked you I mean. I saw him escaping from the back of your house with the Staff of Wisdom, but I didn't chase after him because I wanted to make sure you were safe first,"

With tears streaming down her face, Lola looks up at Sydra with a light smile on her face, "If that is the case, then thank you. I know you desired the staff, but you choose me instead, and I will never forget that,"

Seeing her cute face look up towards him, Sydra blushes and looks away, "It... It was nothing, I'll just have to track down that man and get the staff back,"

Drying her tears, Lola bends down and places her palm against the stump, the aura within her body flickering widely, "Don't worry, that man didn't take the real Staff of Wisdom, he only got my walking stick,"

"Wait, then where is the real one?" Sydra asks, watching Lola stand back up and motion towards the center of the stump. Turning his focus in that direction, Sydra is shocked when a large wooden column erupts out of the burning mansion. "Please don't tell me that is the Staff of Wisdom,"

Giggling, Lola shakes her head and waves her hand in the air, causing branches to grow from the wooden column and sweep the burning debris off the stump, "Not at all, but it is the holding container for the staff,"

Making her way over to the wooden column, Lola places her hand against it, and a large archway appears to her left. Inside the column is a glass container, an oak staff floating inside it. The oak staff is emitting a powerful aura that presses down on Sydra as he approaches the glass.

"This... This is incredible," Sydra says, watching as the top of the staff flickers between different elements. Turning to look at Lola, Sydra points towards the staff in confusion, "Why is it doing that?"

"That's because the Staff of Wisdom was created by a group of people that came from beyond the Edge. Each one of them added a material at the Legendary Rank, and then had the Forge God combine all the pieces together, forming this staff," Lola explains, looking through the glass in admiration.

"If it was forged from so many high-quality materials, then how did you get a hold of it? Especially since you couldn't leave here," Sydra asks, turning to look at Lola.

"I'm actually not sure how it came to be here, all I know is that one day it appeared in front of my door, and when I touched it I saw the scene of it being forged. After that, I heard the group discussing how the staff was made for the one who would travel beyond the Edge," Lola says.