It was more a field of blades than a trail of blades. They grew more and less dense as we presumably found our way to something, maybe it was the center of this ancient battleground, or whatever it may be. There was something strange though, there were no wisps. So I was doubting that this place was the center of any conflict, it was likely a graveyard more than anything. It is more where people die that wisps form rather than where their remains ended up. There was no chit chat even from Leo or I as we waited in anticipation, hoping to come across something interesting. We were not disappointed as in the distance we saw something that I at least had never seen in this place. Light from the sky. It was not much light, but it was there. As we went closer it was evident as to why there was light. There was a large clearing surrounding something.
At first I thought it was a massive stone fortress, but then I saw the curvature and texture that was reminiscent of bark behind grandiose stone towers and halls. 'A tree,' I thought in awe. The trunk looked to be at least a mile wide and had structures built all up and down it, supported by the tree. The foliage was thousands of feet in the… 'Foliage… wait, where is the foliage!?' I thought as I noticed that the tree jaggedly petered out little more than what I would imagine to be halfway up if it was complete.
"It's been burned," Kevin muttered beside me.
I saw now why it seemed so stone-like, aside from the massive stone structures built around the tree. The whole tree was blackened. I did not expect something so grandiose to be destroyed so the thought had yet to cross my mind, as if it was one of my creations or dwellings there would have been countless barriers and charms protecting it.
Now that I was paying more attention to the surroundings, there was quite a lot of rubble on the ground. It seemed to have fallen from the buildings on the tree, and the buildings themselves were all in dire need of repair. "I am surprised that there are no wisps here," I said. "Why is that?" Leo asked. "Wisps form where lots of people die, so maybe the fire had few casualties or it happened after the events that led to the formation of the wisps. Anyway, let us look around," I said. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Kevin asked worriedly. "It should be fine, the best treasures are found in ruins, monster dens, and castle treasuries, so when we inevitably find something good it should make up for any danger," I responded. "Based on what you mentioned your cause of death to be, I'm not too inclined to trust your sense of what's worth it or not," Kevin muttered under his breath. 'I am usually pretty good…' I thought, slightly disheartened. "I agree with Winter, we did come out here to explore, and there might be information about this place," Leo said.
The structures were all singed messes of grey rubble that roughly formed the shapes of buildings. Some evidently used to be very large, with the remains of high towers protruding from them. While there were some structures low to the ground that we could easily peek into, none of them had anything of value. We found the remains of some weapons and some clothes, but unlike those planted in the forest, these were completely rusted and rotted away. However, most of the structures were higher up on the tree with evident no way to get to them, So I had some hope. We finally saw something interesting after going about halfway around the tree. "I think I see a wisp," Kevin whispered, pointing to a spot right up against the tree. A transparent pale blue orb rested there, floating gently in the air. 'It shouldn't be blue though…' I thought. I was about to voice my thoughts when Lucifer enlightened us. "Oh, that's just a ghost," he said. "I did not think ghosts were real," I said, slightly surprised. "I didn't think magic was real," Kevin said, not phased by this turn of events. "Your planet did not have magic?" I asked in confusion. "Yup," Kevin said. "That is crazy," Kevin shrugged.
"Are ghosts hostile?" Leo asked Lucifer. "No, it should take on the form that it had when alive. If it notices us, then we can talk with it." He said. "Are you sure?" Kevin asked. "Yes, it's pretty obvious, they were not terribly uncommon where I'm from," "gotcha." We slowly walked through some rubble over to the ghost with Lucifer in the lead. As we got closer, I could now make out the outline of a door embedded into the tree behind the ghost. 'Looks like we have found our way up to the higher ruins,' I thought. When we got pretty close to the ghost it started to transform just as Lucifer had said it would. Almost instantly a transparent demon was staring at us. He looked aged. He had Long ruffled feathers covering his head, a long beak, with two whisker-like things making it look like he had a long mustache, and two long horns shooting straight out of the sides of his head like an ox which I was not used to seeing on birds. The rest of his body was clothed, but human. Even if he did have some feathers covering the back of his hands. In a wizened voice, the old bird man spoke "I wonder just how long it's been since the last time I've seen anyone, but I do apologize, there really isn't much left here," I nodded, after a second I asked. "Not even inside?" Motioning to the door. He shook his head, "everything of value was given to the last fellow that came here… ah, how could I have forgotten, I'm Rangothor." We all introduced ourselves too. "Strange names you all have, I would recommend leaving though, as there is nothing for you here. Even the nice view that this tree once was is now gone." Rangothor said sadly. "Did someone burn it down?" I asked curiously. "No no, some lighting struck it by chance many years ago. It was already dying, but it could have lasted a few more hundred years I'm sure," He said. Leo spoke up "You said that we should leave, but we don't really have anywhere else to go. Is there somewhere else here that has things of value, or could get us off this island?" "Island? What do you mean," Rangothor said. "Well, I checked earlier and this forest is floating in the sky." "Really?! That's new! Or maybe not, I've been here for so long that that probably happened a few hundred years ago!" Rangothor said, chuckling.
"Well, for a while now it's not been easy to get in or out of this forest, even while it was on the ground. A natural barrier caused people to get lost and end up somewhere else if they get too close. Now that I think about it, I was surprised when I saw even one person here all those years ago let alone five! How did all of you get here?" He said. "We all got randomly teleported," I said. "Hmm… Well, there should be something akin to a teleportation device at the center of these woods. The only problem is that it's hard to get to," Rangothor said after some thought. "Is it the wisps?" I asked. "Yes, those are certainly a problem for the living, but it is the twin demon spirits, Alastor and Abraxas that are the main problem. Even I can not go near those two," Rangothor said Solemnly. "Do any of you have means to deal with the wisps?" He asked. We all shook our heads. "Well, I have something that might help."
Name: Winter
Age: 22
Level : 21
EXP: 7,900/10,000
Beginner Artist
Health: 238
Mana: 24
Stat Points: 26
Stats:
Vitality : 10
Mind : 15
Endurance : 10
Strength : 10
Intelligence : 11
Soul : 28
Instinct : 5
Tinkering : 5
Luck : 0
Skill Points: 16
Skills:
Language
nieasMansincegfghjdbjkas(lva?>":)
aaddddvvjksamnacntrlscffddewgha(alv******)
Mana Pull V
Elementary flame magic (level 4)
Elementary ground magic(level 4)
Elementary light magic(level 2)
Elementary water magic(level 3)
Soul Awareness I (level 3)
Beginner artist (level 5)
Sleep Status Resistance (level 1)