"What!"
The elf laughter was sharp as shattered glass. In the next breath, he moved.
Wind shrieked through the trees and leaves and dust into a blinding spiral of Carlos./ It's hurt./
Carlos had only a heartbeat to brace before the high elf leapt–grace and fury bound in one strike.
The wind screamed louder, tearing at the leaves and whipping Carlos's hair into his eyes. The pond behind him churned violently as the elf moved with a speed and grace that blurred the very air. Golden strands of hair brushed across Carlos's face, a maddening, beautiful assault he tried and failed to cut down, the wind protecting each strand like precious silk.
The elf's speed was astonishing. His movements were like the wind itself, darting in and out, striking with the force of a whirlwind, yet Carlos never faltered. His hand, despite the constant burn of the fire within, was steady. The blessing of wind allowed him to move like the breeze, just as the fire within him gave his blade a deadly edge. He was no longer the boy who had been thrust into the chaos of battle for the first time. In this moment, he was a commander, honed by the harshness of war in his past life.
The elf's amber eyes were locked onto him, his face betraying no emotion—just the cold determination of someone who had been bound to the Mother Tree for centuries, entrusted with its protection. But Carlos could see the subtle tremor in his movements as they began to realize something was different about this mortal boy before them. This wasn't just another mortal trying to steal from them. No. This boy was something else entirely. He has thought too low of Carlos or not Carlos but the god's power.
"How…How can your god's power stand still strong in my…in mother's territory."
"I don't know but I like it." Carlos didn't pause, retreating a step to catch his breath but never breaking eye contact.
Carlos pressed on, his heart beating fiercely in his chest, pushing through the searing pain in his hands from the fire that burned beneath his skin. The elf struck again, this time, he used the blessing of water not just wind, aiming for Carlos's side, but Carlos danced back, narrowly avoiding the strike.
/ He still didn't use his mother power yet./ Carlos thought. The wind caught his leg, pushing it forward as Carlos parried with his sword. The force of the elf's strike reverberated up his arm, but he was prepared—his body moved with the wind, and he struck back.
"Did you hate your mother so much," Carlos growled. " that you won't use it even when you are about to lose." it was not true after all the one who is gonna lose is Carlos, himself.
Amber eyes narrowed."I don't need her power to stop you."
"You call this respect?" Carlos laughed mid-sentence. "It is an insult, To fight someone who is equal to you, and not give them your best__how shameful." Carlos doesn't know if his words get to the elf because the wind is blowing and surrounding them. But that elf needs to use nature or Carlos is gonna be in a bad situation. The elf wind's power is greater than him , it would be true to say it is more powerful than any mortals. Even if Carlos's god is powerful, he can't give Carlos full power, Carlos would even before using it and Carlos' fire blessing didn't work because that elf kept using the water in the pond to put the fire out.
The clash resumed—fire met water as the elf called from the pond waves to smother Carlos's flames, hissing steam rising in thick clouds. Carlos danced back, narrowly evading a sharp strike aimed at his side, the wind pushing against his leg like a living thing. His arms ached, seared by the fire and chilled by the water, but he pressed on.
The wind whipped fiercely, swirling so tight around them that dust and leaves stung Carlos' skin, and he saw the faintest flicker of hesitation in the elf's eyes.
Come on, Carlos pleaded silently, use it. If you don't, I won't stand a chance.
Suddenly, from the edge of the forest came the sharp twang of a bowstring.
An arrow streaked toward Carlos, who barely dodged the projectile grazing his cheek, blood hot and bitter. If Carlos didn't dodge, he was pretty sure he was going to die, head exploded.
The elf glazed back. The archer stood on the tree still in the stand of shooting—his daughter, fierce and determined, eyes blazing with a wild magic that shimmered faintly in the air around her. Her bowstring thrummed with raw power, the arrow glowing faintly with an ethereal light—the spirit of her mother intertwined within it. No, if she used too much power, her mother's spirit won't be able to handle it. Her mother's spirit already looked like a real monster for using too much power on the first strike.
The arrow wasn't just a weapon; it was a conduit of overwhelming nature magic, the kind that could rend earth and spirit alike. As it flew, the body of the Mother Tree shimmered.
The elf's face flickered with concern, heart pounding as he saw his daughter pouring every ounce of her strength into that shot—pushing the limits of the blessing she barely can control. The spectral mother spirit flickered dangerously, threatening to overwhelm and consume the girl.
Carlos's gaze locked on the elf. His voice dropped, deadly calm. The time has come.
"Your daughter's power is unstable. If you don't step in, she'll destroy herself—and us all."
The elf's jaw tightened. His pride warred with his desperation. He had trained for centuries to avoid this—the direct blessing of nature that tore at the soul as much as it protected. But the desperate fear in his child's eyes was undeniable.
His voice was low, rough.
"Use your nature blessings."
Carlos didn't move, didn't flinch. He saw it all—the ancient roots beginning to stir beneath their feet, the leaves trembling even though the wind had stilled for a heartbeat.
The earth hummed with power as the elf reached deep, drawing on the very life of the forest. Roots burst from the ground, twisting and curling with a fierce will. Bark hardened like armor around the elf's limbs, petals sharpened into blades, and the air thickened with the scent of moss and rain.
But just as the arrow was about to strike, the elf lunged forward with a speed born of desperation. "Rest."He caught his daughter mid-fall, cradling her body tightly as she collapsed, breath shallow and eyes fluttering closed. The elf looked straight into the spirit, step further you will suffer the coincidences. The glowing spirit wavered, retreating like a flame caught in a sudden gust.
Carlos's fire flared brighter, responding to the surge of creation with its own destructive fury. The battlefield became a tempest of flame and green, a dance of creation and ruin.
The clash was deafening. Fire ribbons licked and burned, but roots and vines lashed and struck with relentless precision. The high elf was no longer just wind and water—he was the forest incarnate, fighting to protect all he held dear.
Carlos gritted his teeth, every strike risking to burn through his very flesh, but he matched the fury. Step by step, they fought—a battle not just of power, but of will and heart.
Finally, with a roar of effort, Carlos drove the elf back to the pond's edge. Steam billowed as fire met water in an explosion that swallowed the clearing.
When the mist cleared, the elf knelt, blood mingling with the water, breath ragged but eyes blazing with unyielding fire. Still, he clutched his daughter's unconscious form to his chest, a fierce protectiveness softening his ancient pride.
Carlos lowered his sword, voice steady despite the pounding in his chest.
"You lost."
"One lost"
"Oh.." Carlos eyebrows rise. "You go the formal self."
"Leave the girl alone."
"I will, first I need to kill you, right?"
"Yes, you need to kill me. That's how we choose the higher elf again after centuries."
"...she never steps in." The elf's eyes closed, his face showing exhaustion as if he didn't want to do anymore.
"To be worthy, you have to kill the one who has been called worthy by the tree."
"Kill me."
"Oh, I will." Carlos says that but his sword doesn't come. He was also tried and he doesn't want to kill that man. If he had met that man in his past life, they would have respected each other and maybe become friends. It is a shame, this is the first time Carlos has seen someone who is someone superior to him after his brother. But this is not the time for this.
"If only we were not on opposite sides, we might be friends."
"Yes, we might." The elf smiled, a sincere smile, one that Carlos would never have thought.
And Carlos drove the sword downward to meet the elf in front of him.."What is your name old man? An enemy like you deserves to be remembered by me, even if I cheat to win."
"So, you admit cheating." the old man replied. "But it cannot be called cheating if I know the result and still did it." The old man looked straight into Carlos' eyes, finding someone that Carlos doesn't know. "My name is Aerandir Syltharion." The old man said while smiling brightly.
"And my name is Carlos Moonier. Remember that name to your next life." Carlos said, driving his sword toward the old man though.
"I will." It was a whisper but Carlos can hear it very well and see how the old man closed his eyes and let Carlos kill himself. Carlos also closed his eyes, letting everything to his hand.
But the blood didn't come. Only the sound of metal crushed the tree beneath them. Carlos opens to see what happens but he realizes the sword in his hand got brushed off by the roots. Not the one the old man has controlled but the root from the passage to the mother's tree.
The elf also opened his eyes and looked at Carlos in confusion . Then they hear a strong sound from the passage of the mother tree. The elf's gaze lifted—not to Carlos, but beyond.
The great Mother Tree stood bathed in golden light, her ancient form pulsing with life and silence.
From her trunk stepped a woman woven of living branches, her eyes deep as the oldest woods, her presence both terrifying and serene.
"My son." she said, voice like the wind rustling through leaves, "you have fought long enough."
The elf's expression twisted in rage and disbelief.
"Now you appear… What a joke."
Carlos swallowed hard, the victory he'd fought so hard for now feeling like the beginning of a deeper storm.