Forest Whispers

The night laid heavy on the deathly forest. Dry branches twisted into the bleak sky like starving arms begging for salvation. Ghostly thin mists swirled through the cool air, hiding the muddy earth from the dull glow of the twin moons above. Among the dried remains of the underbrush, the hushed give of footsteps against the damp ground wafted through the barren trees. The clay pulled sloppily at the shoes of refugees who struggled to move forward, away from the nightmare that they desperately fled from.

A lone figure at the end of the sparse group halted for a moment. His labored breath came in ragged puffs that floated delicately through the frigid air around him. Bright green eyes peered out from under a thick, unkept mane of dark brown hair, scanning the skies towards the south wearily. Long and pointed ears that peaked out through the matting twitched as they searched the whispers of the woods. His malnourished, sun kissed form was taught under his gray, tattered tunic, ready for the first sign of danger. The glint of his damaged armor reflected the moonlight quietly as he turned and sent broken fractals across the cascading bark on the trees.

"Kiran."

A voice broke the quiet and he jumped slightly from the disturbance. The gruff voice belonged to the Creulean Elder Felds who walked towards him with slow purpose, limping slightly from an oozing wound on his lower leg. A souvenir from their last encounter with their pursuers. He leaned heavily on his woven blackwood staff, the mud smeared deep into the crevices of the winding branches.

Grey streaks swept through what used to be ebony black hair and laid in a thick braid past his shoulders, though many strands of hair had escaped on the journey. His thick beard brushed his worn brown cloak that hung off his shoulders precariously by a single button, the others long since given in. He was covered in sweat and dirt, but it couldn't hide the cleverness that seemed to radiate from him.

"Are we safe?"

The short question made Kiran look at him in for a moment before returning his gaze to the hazy sky.

"No. My guess is they're waiting for us to stop again. I doubt we'll have to wait much longer before they make their presence known."

A cold breeze made Kiran shiver as he spoke. He rubbed his arm in passing, glaring at the dreary clouds. The blistering heat of the south had long abandoned them. It had gotten progressively colder as they had escaped further north and away from the Capitol. Here, rain and ice pelted them for days on end. When the heavens calmed, the winds picked up, ripping through and bringing with it thick fog and intense cold.

"Oh they're there, I have no doubt, just out of range, watching us. They're worse than a plague. At least illness stops when you are dead…" Feld's shifted on his staff, trying to take more weight off his leg. Somehow, it only made him sink further into the murk.

"How far till we make it to the hills? We can't be far now."

Felds gave his head a slight shake as he too took in the dead woods they wandered in. An exhausted breath floated above his head as he glanced towards the mountains that hid behind the branches overhead.

"We are still a day out, at least. Maybe more with how damned slow we are going. We'll have to rest soon if we intend to keep what's left of us alive."

Kiran's face darkened as Felds spoke. He turned to the group ahead of them, some of them beginning to fade out of view as the fog obscured his vision. It gave the illusion that the forest was swallowing them. His jaw clenched.

When they had fled the capitol, there were over fifty Elementals with them, using their collective strengths to force their way out of the burning pits and out onto the flat lands that surrounded the golden city's high walls. They had done so spectacularly, leaving a trail of fire and bodies in their wake. Now, between the constant barrage and hostile environment, their numbers had dwindled down to fifteen.

As if on que Kiran's stomach growled loudly, reminding him that he hadn't eaten in over a day, their rations completely gone.

"If we don't find something to eat soon, we'll have more problems than just the Metalians on our tail. Going north was a bad idea. Had we headed straight to the desert border we would've at least had a fighting chance."

He ended in nearly a growl, shooting a glare at the elder. Felds straightened, meeting Kiran's glower evenly. His voice was just as calm.

"Maybe. But you know as well as I that the borders are being watched by far more than what we could handle. If we had tried to cross so close to the capitol and got caught it would've been a slaughter. We have to pass through the northern range to get through and come back down. More of us will survive."

Another refugee passed, his thin, boney frame heaving from exertion. His eyes were dull, barely conscious as he staggered forward. His feet dragging thick piles of mud with him. "Apparently."

Disdain dripped from Kiran's deep voice. Felds flashed him a look.

"We can't keep going tonight… We will rest up ahead. There should be dry ground soon."

"And when the Metalians catch up?"

Kiran asked, his fears echoing more sincerely now with the repercussions of his words as he glanced back to the stragglers lagging further behind.

Felds followed his line of sight until it landed on the two women that lingered at the very back. The younger of the two, a gentle looking blonde was currently recovering from tripping over her chains once again. Her nervous ice blue eyes stood out against the dirt that laid thick on her pale skin. Her high cheek bones, delicate limbs, and narrow frame clearly marked her Cruelean blood, much like most of their other companions. Her wrists were bound together in thick metal cuffs. On the opposite end of the chains staggered an ancient woman whose spindly fingers gripped the other woman's arm as they moved at a painfully slow pace, the heavy links that connected them clanged loudly in the night.

"Do what you can to keep them up Kiran."

"What? Wh…"

Kiran's indignation was hushed by the elder, the twinkle in his eye changing.

"We only have you and Dio left to protect the others. Make sure the skies stay clear. We'll leave again at dawn." Felds said, his beady eyes glanced at the others ahead of them who rocked on their feet. The way dark bags hung heavy on their faces.

Kiran looked at him, almost baffled.

"We barely escaped the last time. Like hell you expect us to do that again."

"We are barely moving as it is. They can't pick us off so easily if we've at least slept." Kiran was about to snap back, but after a moment, he conceded.

"Just for a few hours. Then we keep going." Feld's gave Kiran a final look before he turned away, his staff sinking deep into the ground as he moved.

"Careful Kiran. There may come a day when you need their help as much as they need yours now." He gave the two a final glance before limping back to the front to stop the group. Kiran watched him as he retreated, again reviewing the night as he had so many times before until the dark hid Felds away from view.

"We should've just gone blown up the south gate. This shit is pointless." A deep growling voice greeted Kiran as a beast of a man walked out of the shadows along side him. His heavily muscled form moved easily through twilight, unlike the the rest of the group.

Dio was the only Herculean of the group, one of the smaller but older factions of elementals still surviving the Metalian's massacre. Domineering, bulky, and powerful, he towered proudly over everyone else in the group, even Kiran who stood taller than most.

"Maybe we should've... The bastards are making sport of hunting us at this point." Kiran grumbled and Dio huffed a laugh, a twisted smirk marring his square face.

"If we get out of this alive, I'll be sure to return the favor." Kiran watched him with a tired expression before moving his attention back towards the women who were just beginning to catch up.

"Just keep your eyes up." Kiran said, crossing his arms while he waited for the final two to reach them. Dio let out a harsh breath. "I'm tired of waiting for them to pick us off one by one. It's never going to end."

One final time, Kiran searched the skies through the branches, the hairs on the back of his neck on end.

"We could kill them before they try again." The words came from the old woman in front of him, finally having caught up. Another Cruelean elder, E'wan was hunched over and leaning heavily on the young woman next to her. Her oversized clothes hung around her like heavy bags, making her look older than she already was. The last spark of life in her body lingered in her eyes, threatening to wander off at any moment.

The blonde, Muse, sputtered. She shifted nervously, her head bowed and clung to the old woman next to her. Dio however just grinned, the smile lighting up his face.

"Now we're talking. What's the plan?"

"W-why can't we just hide? We're not a threat after all, they'll have to stop looking eventually…" Dio looked offended, "Not a threat? Hell with that! I'll kill every single on of 'em if I have to." Dio pounded his chest which shook Kiran's ears.

"How did you survive this long with that kind of outlook?" Kiran asked as he walked with them, trying to match his long gate with their short shuffle which was barely faster than a crawl. He found himself tripping over his own feet, fueling his irritation.

"They won't stop. They're having too much fun."

"You can't know that for sure." Finally she brought her eyes up to meet his. They were almost unnaturally blue, swirling orbs that were on the verge of tears. Her lip trembled giving off the look of a baby dear looking for its mother. Kiran took her in for a moment, reminding him of the far past before Dio's thunderous voice brought him back.

"Oh yeah, and killing us off in the pits was for a different reason? Having us fight each other to death had a point?" He snarled. E'wan placed a small hand on his, dwarfing herself but it stopped him, at least somewhat. She turned to Muse.

"You were raised in a cage and used as decoration because of your pretty face. It kept you away from the pits and alive but it did you no favors beyond that. These are Metalians we are talking about." Her voice rattled as she took a breath.

"Their entire history is built on cruel and relentless military prowess. They proved that when they went after the Source wells." E'wan heaved a sigh, blowing a plume of mist from her cracked lips before continuing.

"I remember when they overtook the Capitol. I witnessed it first hand… What they did to every child of Source they could find. Trust me, they'll chase us as long as they think we're alive. And they like proof of their kills." Muse didn't respond, she stared down at the ground, shivering with wide eyes. Dio however was distracted.

"Source Well? That's just a myth. Stories to make us feel better about the shit hand we got."

E'wan let out a low chuckle. The fog had dissipated some, allowing them to see the rest of the group. There was an old town up ahead, abandoned and slowly disintegrating as what was left of nature overtook it. Crumbling stone and a few half standing houses littered the clearing. a few stray leaves scratched against the stone pathways, barely visible over the years of neglect. Bones of the owners laid in heaps around the town, broken weapons laying nearby hinted at the violence that had occurred here. The other refugees had scattered some what, finding patches of dry ground to rest among the broken stone and the dead.

Though her eyes looked in their direction, they were glazed over as they looked through time, remembering happier years.

"They. There are seven of them, and they certainly are NOT a myth." She snorted. "Where do you think your ancestors came from? All Elemental Originals were birthed from the Source Wells. They were the life givers to our planet, everything we could possibly need, they provided. There is one in the capitol actually, under the palace. They wanted to build a body around a heart. That was the idea anyway…How ironic now that the heart has died." She trailed off, her shoulders slouching further. She stayed quiet, the silence becoming awkward.

"What do you mean…died?" Kiran asked slowly while Muse fretted over the woman. "Exactly that I'm afraid. You must have heard the old stories. The Elementals and Metalians have been at war for centuries now, using everything we can to kill the other."

Muse perked up. "I know this, I heard my masters talking about this before. They called it the Everfall right?"

"Exactly. But because of it, we angered the Mother of us all, and the wells one by one started going dark. They've been dead for near twenty years now. Thats why this forest." She waived at their surroundings dismissively. "Everywhere, really, is in such a state. When the heart dies, the body is soon to follow."

They had finally made their way through the group and into a small house that still had most of its structure intact. Broken furniture had been pushed to the side next to a cracked fireplace. Rotten beams held up streaming tatters of roof. Though there were holes that let dusty moonlight in, it was better than laying out in the open. No one else spoke, all seemingly entranced in the elder's words with the exception of Felds who sat on the fireplace, sifting through the few maps he had managed to steal during their escape. He had lit a small candle he carried with him, giving him just enough light to stare at the parchment that he held right in front of his nose. Muse helped E'wan down on the ground. Their chains pooled around them like a vicious snake that had finally grown tired.

"What do they look like?" Muse offered, changing the path of the conversation. Kiran glanced in her direction, taking in the young Creulean. Her gentle eyes were locked on the old woman, curiosity oozing from her.

"I've never seen one myself actually." She sighed as she rolled onto her back, letting her limbs relax. Her bones crackled as she settled, a mountain finally coming to rest. "If you've never seen one, how are you so certain they're even real?" She chuckled at Dio. "Its less about what you see, it's something you feel. When you are near a living Source Well, it's like nothing you've ever felt before."

"That makes no sense." Kiran remarked, leaning against a wall of the hut. It shifted as he pushed his weight into it, and for a terrible second he thought it was going to give. It however held, and he maintained his attitude. "How does it feel?" Muse wondered from her place next to her. E'wan stayed quiet for a while watching the fog move over the house with the wind. Eventually, she smiled ever so slightly. Her eyes glistened with memory.

"When you are near a living well everything is so green, as if the world's going to explode with life. Blooming trees sway in the breeze. Water runs so crystal clear you can see the fish swimming deep below. No one is sick, no one hurts. The air buzzes with electricity like its alive, and it's living for you." Despite Kiran's efforts, he couldn't help but be drawn in my E'wan, listening intently to her words. Even Dio seemed hypnotized in the moment.

"It gives off a certain feeling of…Peace. As if the goddess herself is walking with you, minding to your happiness, your dreams, your desires personally." Her eyes shimmered as tears threatened to tread the deep valleys in her face. "It's alive. And I would do anything to see the world like that again."