Chapter 251 — The Wardens
The white country had no wind.
Brook noticed that before anything else.
They had been walking for nearly an hour since crossing into Eden, and the trees had not moved once.
Not the branches.
Not the grass.
Not even the thin white leaves scattered across the ground.
Yet the air was cold against his face.
Henry noticed too.
"Is it supposed to be this quiet?"
"No," Gabriel said.
Henry looked at him.
"You sound very certain."
"I am."
Charon leaned around Henry's shoulder.
"I preferred the demons."
Crowley glanced at him.
"You preferred demons?"
"They had personality."
"They tried to eat us."
"Exactly. Very honest."
Sera snorted.
"That's your standard now?"
"I have been through a lot."
Henry adjusted the strap on his pack.
"You've been alive for a few weeks."
"Long weeks."
Brook almost laughed.
The sound came naturally.
Almost.
He caught it before it fully formed.
Gabriel noticed.
He didn't say anything.
They kept walking.
The white ground gave slightly beneath their boots.
It wasn't snow.
It wasn't ash.
It looked like pale soil, fine and dry, though every few steps Brook saw something beneath it.
A root.
A stone.
A fragment of something that might once have been a road.
They passed trees with trunks as white as bone.
Some had branches that curled inward.
Others grew perfectly straight.
None had leaves.
None had fruit.
None had birds.
Tala walked with one hand brushing the nearest trunk.
She stopped.
Her fingers remained against it.
"What?"
Sera asked.
Tala didn't answer immediately.
She closed her eyes.
"I can feel it."
Gabriel looked over.
"The Earth?"
"Yes."
"Does it know where we are?"
Tala opened her eyes.
"It knows we're here."
Crowley raised an eyebrow.
"Comforting."
"It isn't."
Crowley nodded.
"Less comforting."
Tala looked ahead.
"It doesn't like this place."
"Can you tell why?"
She shook her head.
"No."
Brook glanced at her.
"Does it want us out?"
Tala thought about it.
"No."
"Then what?"
"It doesn't know what Eden is."
Gabriel's expression changed.
"That shouldn't be possible."
Tala looked at him.
"Apparently it is."
Gabriel didn't respond.
Brook kept walking.
The first sign appeared around midday.
A white stone stood in the center of the path.
It was shaped like a person.
Not carved.
Grown.
Its body was too thin.
Its arms hung at its sides.
Its head had no face.
Henry stopped.
"Is that a statue?"
Crowley looked at it.
"No."
"What is it?"
"Don't know."
Sera approached slowly.
She circled it.
"There's no writing."
Charon extended a small hand.
"Should I touch it?"
"Absolutely not," Sera said.
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"That's not scientific."
"It doesn't need to be."
Henry grabbed Charon's arm before he could reach.
"No."
Charon sighed.
"I live under tyranny."
Crowley looked at the faceless figure.
"Move around it."
They did.
Nothing happened.
For several minutes.
Then Henry looked back.
The figure was no longer in the road.
He frowned.
"Guys."
Everyone turned.
The stone person stood behind them.
Exactly where they had just walked.
Sera stared.
"We passed it."
"I know."
"Did anyone move it?"
Nobody answered.
Crowley stepped toward it.
The figure didn't move.
He crouched.
There were no footprints around it.
No disturbed soil.
No indication it had ever been anywhere else.
Crowley stood.
"I don't like this place."
Gabriel looked toward the road ahead.
"Keep moving."
They did.
Nobody looked back.
The trees became denser.
The white trunks crowded the path until the group had to walk single file.
Brook took the front.
Gabriel stayed behind him.
Crowley followed.
Sera and Henry came next.
Tala and Hutena walked together.
Charon moved between them whenever he became bored.
The path narrowed.
Then split.
Three directions.
Brook stopped.
Gabriel came beside him.
"Which one?"
"Don't know."
Sera unfolded the map.
The ink on the page had faded.
She stared at it.
"That's new."
Crowley looked over her shoulder.
"What?"
"The roads."
She pointed.
The lines she'd drawn earlier were still there.
But the road they were standing on wasn't.
Instead, three new lines had appeared.
Sera's expression tightened.
"I didn't draw these."
Hutena approached.
She looked at the page.
Her face went pale.
"What?"
Henry asked.
She didn't answer.
Brook looked at her.
"Hutena."
She pointed at the three roads.
"I can see them."
"So?"
"I can't see where they lead."
Crowley sighed.
"Of course."
Gabriel studied the paths.
"Which one is safest?"
Hutena shook her head.
"They all disappear."
Sera looked at her.
"Disappear where?"
"I don't know."
Brook stared down the middle path.
The white trees seemed to bend inward.
"Then we pick one."
Crowley looked at him.
"That's your plan?"
"Yes."
"Brilliant."
"You have a better one?"
"No."
"Then we're picking."
Brook stepped onto the middle road.
The others followed.
They walked another twenty minutes.
Nothing attacked them.
Nothing moved.
That was almost worse.
Then Henry heard something.
A footstep.
He stopped.
Charon rose from his shoulder.
"Someone's behind us."
Brook turned.
Nothing.
Henry looked embarrassed.
"Sorry."
Crowley shook his head.
"Don't apologize."
Another footstep.
This time everyone heard it.
Behind them.
One.
Two.
Three.
Slow.
Heavy.
Sera whispered,
"Something's following."
Brook looked back.
The path was empty.
Then a white hand appeared around the trunk of a tree.
Henry stepped backward.
The hand withdrew.
Gabriel's wings did not appear.
Instead, light gathered around his fists.
"Stay together."
A second hand appeared.
Then another.
Then five.
The trees began moving.
Not the trees themselves.
The things between them.
Figures emerged from the white trunks.
Humanoid.
Tall.
Thin.
Their bodies looked woven from roots and bark.
Their faces were blank.
No eyes.
No mouths.
No features.
Each carried a long wooden spear.
Henry whispered,
"Those aren't the same things from the tree."
Gabriel shook his head.
"No."
One of the figures stepped forward.
Its feet sank into the soil.
Roots wrapped around its ankles.
It raised its spear.
Sera's hands came up.
"Wait."
The figure charged.
Brook moved first.
He blocked the spear with his forearm.
The impact forced him backward.
The creature was stronger than it looked.
Brook grabbed the shaft.
The warden twisted.
Brook released it before it could pull him off balance.
He struck the creature in the chest.
It staggered.
Didn't fall.
Another came from his left.
Gabriel intercepted it.
Light exploded between them.
The warden was thrown sideways.
It rolled once.
Then stood.
Gabriel frowned.
"They don't feel pain."
Crowley appeared behind one.
His fist connected with its spine.
The creature folded.
Crowley caught its spear before it hit the ground.
He snapped it in half.
The warden rose again.
Crowley stared.
"That's irritating."
Sera threw a word into the air.
STAY.
The warden stopped.
For half a second.
Then the word cracked.
Sera's eyes widened.
"That's not good."
Henry and Charon attacked another.
Charon's arm became a hammer.
It struck the warden's shoulder.
The thing bent sideways.
Henry shouted,
"Again!"
Charon swung.
The creature blocked with its spear.
Henry moved around it.
He kicked its knee.
The joint bent.
The creature fell.
Henry stood over it.
"Got it."
The thing's hand grabbed his ankle.
Henry stumbled.
Charon instantly wrapped around his leg.
"Don't fall!"
Henry caught himself.
"I wasn't going to!"
"You were."
"I had it!"
"Of course."
The warden pulled.
Henry dropped to one knee.
Charon's body expanded into a shield.
The creature's spear struck it.
Henry shoved forward.
Charon's shield became a blade.
The warden released him.
Henry rose.
Still standing.
"See?"
Charon smiled.
"Still standing."
Henry smiled back.
"Still standing."
Tala had not attacked.
She was staring at the ground.
Brook noticed.
"Tala!"
She looked up.
"Don't."
"What?"
"Don't hurt them."
Brook looked at the warden closest to her.
It had stopped moving.
Its roots were buried deep in the soil.
Tala stepped forward.
"They're connected."
Sera looked over.
"Connected to what?"
"The land."
Gabriel understood.
"They're guardians."
Tala shook her head.
"No."
She crouched.
"Not exactly."
One of the wardens turned toward her.
Its spear lowered.
Tala placed her hand against the soil.
The ground beneath the warden trembled.
Not an earthquake.
A small movement.
Like a muscle tightening.
The warden's roots loosened.
It stepped backward.
Another did the same.
The group watched.
Tala stood.
"They're not trying to kill us."
Crowley lowered his hand.
"Then what are they doing?"
Tala looked at the wardens.
"They're trying to make us leave."
Brook stared at them.
"Why?"
Tala shook her head.
"I don't know."
Gabriel looked toward the white trees.
"Eden has rules."
Crowley snorted.
"Apparently."
Sera lowered her hands.
"Then maybe we should stop fighting."
A warden suddenly lunged at Brook.
Sera shouted,
"Brook!"
Brook moved.
The spear passed beside his face.
He grabbed the shaft.
The warden pulled.
Brook pulled back.
For one second, neither moved.
The creature's blank face remained inches away.
Brook felt something.
Not anger.
Recognition.
The ground beneath them remembered the creature.
The creature remembered him.
But it wasn't recognition like Tala described.
It was something colder.
The warden released the spear.
Brook stumbled backward.
It stepped away.
Then every warden did the same.
They retreated between the trees.
One by one.
Gone.
Henry lowered his shield.
"That's it?"
Crowley looked around.
"I hope so."
Charon raised his hand.
"Can we leave now?"
Sera nodded.
"Yes."
"Excellent."
They walked.
Nobody spoke for several minutes.
Then Henry broke the silence.
"So."
Crowley sighed.
"Here we go."
"Those things weren't trying to kill us."
"No."
"They were protecting something."
"Probably."
"From us?"
Crowley glanced at him.
"Probably."
Henry frowned.
"That doesn't make me feel better."
"It wasn't intended to."
Gabriel looked toward Brook.
"You felt something."
Brook looked at him.
"What?"
"With the warden."
Brook hesitated.
"Maybe."
Gabriel waited.
Brook looked ahead.
"It knew me."
Nobody spoke.
Sera's eyes narrowed.
"How?"
"I don't know."
Hutena looked at him.
Her expression was troubled.
"That's not the future I saw."
Brook looked at her.
"What did you see?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
She shook her head.
"Not exactly."
She stared toward the trees.
"I saw you enter Eden."
A pause.
"I saw you walk."
Another.
"But I didn't see these things."
Crowley looked at her.
"Because?"
"They weren't there."
"Or because you couldn't see them?"
Hutena looked at him.
"I don't know."
Crowley nodded.
"Fair enough."
The sun was lowering.
At least they assumed it was.
The sky inside Eden didn't behave like a normal sky.
There was light.
Then less light.
But no clear sun.
No shadows long enough to measure time.
The group stopped beside a cluster of white trees.
They didn't make camp.
Not yet.
They simply stood.
Tala leaned against one of the trunks.
Her eyes closed.
Brook watched her.
"You okay?"
She opened her eyes.
"I'm fine."
"You don't sound fine."
"I can hear less."
Brook frowned.
"How much less?"
Tala looked at him.
"Yesterday, I could feel the village."
"And now?"
She glanced down.
"Only the ground beneath my feet."
Brook was quiet.
Gabriel looked at Tala.
"Does that mean the Earth is gone?"
Tala shook her head.
"No."
"Then what?"
She looked deeper into Eden.
"It means something else is louder."
Nobody asked what.
Tala didn't seem to know.
Hutena sat beside her.
"You should rest."
Tala smiled.
"So should you."
"I know."
Henry dropped his pack.
"Everyone says that."
Charon appeared.
"I've noticed."
Henry looked around.
"We've been walking for hours."
Crowley nodded.
"We continue."
Henry groaned.
"Of course."
Sera looked at him.
"You wanted an adventure."
"I wanted to survive."
"Those aren't mutually exclusive."
"With us, they are."
Gabriel laughed.
Even Crowley smiled.
Brook looked at them.
He smiled too.
For a moment, the white country felt less empty.
Then the sound came.
A single deep crack.
Everyone turned.
Far behind them, one of the white trees had split down the middle.
Not from the wind.
There was no wind.
The two halves slowly pulled apart.
Inside the trunk was darkness.
Not black.
Something deeper.
Hutena stood.
"I can't see that."
Crowley reached for his weapon.
"Good."
The darkness remained open for several seconds.
Then the tree closed.
No explanation.
No attack.
Nothing.
Brook stared at it.
Michael spoke inside him.
It saw you.
Lucifer laughed softly.
Everything here seems to.
Death's voice came last.
Some things should not.
Brook looked toward the path ahead.
"Keep moving."
Crowley studied him.
"Why?"
Brook looked at the white road.
"Because I don't think the next thing is going to ask us to leave."
Crowley didn't like the answer.
Neither did Gabriel.
But they moved.
Together.
Behind them, the wardens remained among the trees.
They did not follow.
Not yet.
And farther back still, beyond the white country they had crossed, the road to the ordinary world was gone.
Ahead, Eden stretched deeper.
White.
Silent.
Waiting.
End of Chapter 251