The weather was warm, but the wind shook the tree crowns with might. Morant's hair fluttered revealing his forehead despite him holding it down. Damien thought it was funny how he was shy about it.
Stolas walked ahead, marking the trees he caressed on his way. It seemed the trees slowly opened a path around them as if they were some sort of disease. The ones he touched seemingly peeled away their skin. Cirrus walked behind him wondering what the meaning behind his expression was. It seemed his face showed frustration rather than wonder like everybody else's.
Daelan was curious, he was no stranger to the smell of magic, but magic that came from magic manipulators was raw. In a way that it seemed to bleed. In a way that made you aware of how afraid you are of your own insides. Like a broken shell. He was curious about how much magic could a body handle before breaking.
Faolán seemed overwhelmed with the emotions that surrounded him, he couldn't help being affected by them. He observed the habitat searching for something furry he could hold with both hands. A black serpent with an iridescent effect slithered its way across the field. He thought to himself, he could capture it if the others didn't mind it, but they usually did. They usually commented about the animals that stuck with him, and he understood it was not always a compliment. Ants or snails were always a problem. Boys at school like to say Faolan smell bad, but he doesn't. Stolas always said Faolan smelled like a tree after a soft rain in a sunny day. He said it made him feel at ease. Regardless, all sorts of bugs crawled on him.
Harriet noticed how the branches of the trees seemed to bounce as if been hit by the wind but instead of flowing back and forth, they rotated as if they were fixed to block the air out. The ground was covered in something similar to lose sand as if it was constantly swirled around. He noticed how all the roots of the trees were exposed as if they were standing on their feet.
"Do you have any thoughts?" Harriet asked unsure about whether his own worries were worth mentioning.
"I'm just counting my steps."
"Is there any solid rock?"
"Some, very deep in, but that shouldn't be a problem" Morant responded with an uninterested voice. "Are you ready to fight?"
"I don't know, I can't feel any humidity in the ground"
"And the air?"
"I don't know if I can gather enough. Every time I breathe in, I feel like my head is inside a bag."
Mo wondered if that was a coincidence, but ever since he stepped, he felt somethings insidious. "Cirrus! Are you listening?" he yelled from across all the others towards their leader who hadn't spoken a word to them.
Cirrus continued to mutter while stolas stood beside him. Listening with his face down.
"Damien! can you bend the trees?" Mo asked annoyed at the lack of seriousness from Cirrus.
"Nope" he said without a second thought.
"They are not much bigger than what you have handled before." Mo responded taken back from his attitude.
"That's not an issue, if these were trees, I could at least try, but they are not malleable. If you want to call them something that makes sense to you, they could be giants. That grow leaves instead of hair."
Mo and Harriet turned to Faolán who was just walking towards Cirrus.
"I don't know if I can talk to them, I don't even know if they have a tongue or anything similar." Said Faolán under his breath.
Cirrus turned to them unaware of their dispute. "Okay, we'll get out as fast as we can. It will be better if we don't mess with any sort of habitat. Mo, guide us out of the woods."
"Were you listening? We think Faolan can speak to them."
"To the trees?" He said in disbelief as if they were being ridiculous.
"I can try to see if they have any feelings directed towards me."
"Okay, let's get out of here, you might be drunk from all the new smells."
"I tried to filtrate the toxins, but I don't even know what I'm looking for." Said Morgan annoyed.
When they reached the tall grass Mo continued to sulk. Daelan got along with them. He was easy to like. His voice was loud and his laugh contagious.
" Cirrus, I think I can do it, let me go and try."
Cirrus wondered why so much interest and nodded at him.
"Morgan! Go with him."
"Isn't it better that I stay here, if we make a fire, I can keep the warmth in."
"Just got with him." He said without a care.
"I can go too, if there's anything dangerous, I'll take care of them" Daelan said with a hopeful smile directed to Cirrus whom he tried to impress.
"Can I go too!?" Harriet said already standing up from a trunk.
"They should be fine by themselves, right?
Mo had laid his body on his side, facing away from them like an upset wife.
Faolán, Morgan, Daelan stepped into the forest while Cirrus, Stolas, Damien and Harriet surrounded a pile of thin branches trying to make a fire before night. Mo was also there although he was unwilling to participate.
Faolán walked straight into the woods with Morgan and Daelan 4 meters behind him. He caressed the trees with the intention of seeming friendly but soon noticed the peels.
"How come you can't merge minerals underground."
"I can but, I have to be standing on top of it to know where it is, I have a terrible sense of direction so I just use what I'm confident I can reach."
"Mo memorizes where everything is as he walks along, can't you do that?"
"YOU DO IT!"
"GUYS! I'm going to walk ahead further, please just stay far from me."
He sat in front of a Tree of his choice, untouched by Stolas and curved downwards. He sat close enough to touch it but avoided that as much as he could, instead he seemed to remove all the bugs he could feel on his limbs and released them safely in dried up leaves on the grass. He wanted to see what his actions evoked on him and he was pleasantly surprised, He felt it. The tree was afraid.