"Eleos, guardian of this land's elves," Myra said awkwardly, eyeing the tree up and down. "God needs you to... replace the Smiling Tree."
She glanced back at Ira, whose boredom was apparent through his continual, steady stream of black smoke and flat expression. He'd been amicable on this journey despite his grumblings about being a glorified transport- and his annoyance with her occasional outbursts during her conversations with God.
Even now, the God of Tenebris- or Atlas, as he'd revealed his name to be- whispered in her mind, "Good job. There are hundreds of souls surrounding you." Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance. She could see them herself, a breathtaking sight, but his voice still agitated her to say the least.
Her gaze snapped around as she saw a golden soul shift between them, clearly linked to the tree itself. She calmly continued, maintaining eye contact.
"Perhaps you've noticed its influence? Red energies-"
"You can see me?" a faint voice echoed from the golden soul, shocked and excited. "How?!"
Myra's expression tightened with displeasure. "Because of... experiences."
Her gaze followed his soul bouncing around like a giddy child, trying to restrain her quickly growing distaste.
"I can't believe it! I mean- I'm sorry for your losses but..." Eleos's soul shook. "It's been so long... I haven't been able to talk to anyone normally since my physical body perished."
"It perished? How?"
"Green skins ambushed our coming-of-age ceremony. Unfortunately, during that time, I was killed and I gave up my freedom to prevent my parents from succumbing to the red mist that..."
His soul stopped moving. "That you radiate with."
"Green skins... little short creatures with an insatiable bloodlust?" Myra asked, shocked as the decomposing husk of a goblin emerged from the ground.
"Yes." A giant hole was through its chest, its face twisted with agony, before it faded back into the earth.
"This doesn't make sense..." Myra muttered. "How are they here? They should only be in my land because of Selena."
"It kills the same as the Smiling Tree," Ira's voice rumbled, shaking the forest. "Is this not merely replacing it and hoping it doesn't become the same?"
Myra sighed. "Yes and no. Eleos isn't corrupted. The Smiling Tree, according to God, was corrupted from the beginning."
The branches twisted with unease as Eleos spoke again, his voice a little more on edge. "What is this Smiling Tree you speak of?"
"According to God, it was a tree corrupted long before we were created. It grew undetected, gaining power, until it had to be eliminated for corrupting the world."
"You," Myra pointed at the tree. "Need to replace it."
"I... don't want to. This is my home, and my people are just yonder." Eleos's voice echoed with hesitance and sorrow. "I feel honored that God has chosen me for the task, but my place is here."
"Do you think you have a choice?" Myra asked coldly, her crimson eyes flashing dangerously. All the souls, including Eleos, flinched and backed away. "Your people will die if something isn't done soon. My people will die."
Red wisps started to flow from Myra's hands. Ira chuckled with amusement in the background as the souls around them whizzed about in alarm.
'Stop! Calm down!' Atlas shouted in her mind, but she continued, "If my people are to die because you 'don't want to', then I'll kill your people myself- here and now- and I'll let you watch their corpses rot from beyond your petty domain."
Her gaze shifted, motioning at the sharp distinction between the normal forest and the influenced, colorful part under his domain.
Frozen with fear, Eleos's soul trembled at the thought. He flinched when she stepped closer. "You will watch their corpses rot. Helpless as you are now."
'MYRA!'
"So, what will it be?"
"I-I..." Eleos's voice trembled. "Can I... at least say goodbye?"
Nodding, Myra turned back to Ira.
"You are ruthless, Myra. I like it," Ira smirked.
Rolling her eyes, she started walking away with Ira beside her. She was expecting to hear God's angry tirade like a child who'd just watched their toy disobey but instead, she heard nothing.
"What does the Sky God have to say?"
"Nothing..." Myra frowned.
Ira chuckled with amusement as the trembling woods and souls disappeared behind them. "He must be disappointed in you."
"I don't care. So long as my people are protected."
Though as she said those words, her mind flashed back to the decomposing goblin. 'There shouldn't be a reason those creatures are here. So why...?'
-------------------------
Atlas, his face in his palms, groaned.
"It didn't have to go that way... She could've tried to negotiate. If at all..."
Wisp chirped, "Perhaps it is for the best this way. You are not familiar with cold decision-making, it seems."
"What are you talking about..."
"In theory, you've spoken coldly about moving Eleos's soul. But when it came down to it," Wisp's wing gestured toward the trembling soul of Eleos, "you turned soft. Myra's nature expedited the process."
"IF Eleos doesn't try to kill them. IF Eleos doesn't betray us in the future. If, if, if..." Atlas rambled, then sighed. His hand gestured at the screen. "And she's suspecting the oddity of goblins appearing in the western continent."
"She can only guess as long as you don't reveal anything."
"Yeah, true." Atlas gave a wry look at Wisp. "Just another thing to hide from her."
"And whose fault is that?"
-------------------------
'A will is being forced upon me. I must leave...'
A twig scribbled the first elven words into the soil as Eleos's mother and father, Flora and Aello Faewynn, grimaced.
"Forced? We will assist you in fighting these foreign invaders."
"They will not force our son to do anything," Flora nodded angrily.
'They say it is the will of God. One has the powers of the malignant energies that are corrupting. The other is powerful but resonates energies neither good nor evil.'
"Hm…" Aello frowned. "It could be possible that there is more than one god. And this one may be a deceiver... evil and manipulative, like the energies you shield this place from."
"When will they return?" he asked, his gaze rising to Eleos's tree, which shifted uneasily.
'I don't know. But fighting will lead to death. They can easily kill everyone and destroy everything here.'
"We are NOT allowing you to be taken by deceivers!" Flora raised her voice angrily, and Aello nodded.
"You protected us once," Aello whispered, regret filling his voice. "I failed as a father to protect these grounds, and you took up the mantle. Allow us to protect you this time…"
Eleos's soul shook. For the first time beyond tears of boredom or delirium, or anger or resentment, he felt a wave of… happiness? Appreciation? If he could cry, he would have. Only the sapphire-bloomed flowers that fell could represent this.
'Fighting with my family? With all of the elves? It may be possible... If we combine our magics...' Eleos thought, a small glimmer of hope flickering within him.
Flora and Aello smiled gently and nodded to him, as if understanding the meaning behind the falling flowers. Eleos, growing more confident, began to move his branch toward the soil to echo his resolution to fight when a strange phenomenon halted him in his tracks.
Not just him, but also his parents and the other elves watching who stepped back in alarm. A white light, appearing in the shape of a star, emerged above Eleos's tree. Then, with a loud thunderclap, it disappeared.
"What was that?!"
"Eleos! Are you alright?!" Aello shouted, stepping forward with his gaze falling back to Eleos's tree.
Nothing.
All the faint traces of mana that once flowed in and around the tree had vanished. The soul that gave the tree its aura of mystery was gone, and the golden flowers that once dotted the tree had turned gray.
All was still in the forest except for the elves who fell to their knees and wept. Flora, understanding what had happened, dropped to her knees and cried. Aello, in shock and feeling as though his soul was leaving him, stared at the tree in horror and defeat.
Once again he had failed his son. This realization sent him to his knees as he finally, too, cried tears held back for decades.
And on the distant horizon?
The faint outline of Myra and Ira could be seen departing the western continent.