Chapter 5: The Brightest Light

"Rowen are you sure this is a good idea?" Clara said uneasily as Kento scaled the nearest tree and began jumping from limb to limb with the grace and agility of a chimpanzee.

"Don't worry Clara, Kento's at home in the trees and besides, he can navigate forests better than the people who live in them." Rowen said as he began walking into the woods.

"Great," Kayla muttered under her breath as she began following Rowen and Kento. "our lives could be in danger and it's up to 'monkey boy' to keep us away from it."

Upon hearing this last remark Clara and Cye looked at each other, rolled their eyes, and burst out laughing. By the time they had pulled themselves together, the others were long gone and Tiakall now stood in their place.

"Where did you come from?" Clara asked as Tiakall let out a low rumble and slowly strode away deeper into the forest. "I think she wants us to follow her, Cye."

So the three of them traveled deeper and deeper into the forest until they finally came to a small clearing and Tiakall laid down to rest. There wasn't much there except for a small pond and a massive oak tree that grew nearby.

"What a beautiful tree…" Clara mused softly as she felt the tree then suddenly gasped in pain and pulled her arm, which was now stone from the shoulder to the elbow, away from the tree.

"Clara what is it?" Cye asked in concern. "What's wrong?"

"This…this tree is evil." She said softly.

"But how can a be tree be evil when it doesn't even have a soul?" Cye asked with a perplexed look on his face.

"Somehow this tree has been filled with evil energies." Clara said quietly as she stared at the tree. "Instead of dying, the tree has learned to thrive on the constant flow of evil energies it receives with its food."

"I see."

"There's more…trapped deep within the tree is a young man with powers very much like my own. However, he has been severely weakened by the evil energies within the tree. I'm not even sure if he could successfully be revived."

She must be talking about Sage Cye thought to himself as he stared at the tree in silence. "Can nothing be done to save him?"

"Unfortunately, nothing you or your friends can do would help him." Clara said as she turned away from the tree. "However, there is a way to save him but…"

"But what?"

"But it will be extremely dangerous for me." Clara said softly as she stared into the forest, then turned toward the tree and placed a hand on it. "You see the only to save him, is to cleanse the tree of all its evil energies by taking them into myself. I know how dangerous this is and that you would obviously object to it, but it's the only way. It is part of my journey, I realized that when I revived Rowen, and I have accepted it as such; even if it means sacrificing my own life for one of your friends."

"You may do as you wish," Cye said softly, "but if you start having trouble, I will go for help."

Meanwhile Rowen, Kento, and Kayla had somehow gotten themselves hopelessly lost and had been going in circles for what seemed like hours when something suddenly occurred to them.

"Has anyone seen Cye lately?" Kayla asked as she pushed some tall weeds out of her way.

"Has anyone seen Clara lately?" Rowen asked as he continued walking through the forest.

"I'm sorry to say that I haven't seen either one for quite some time." Kento said as he struggled to pull his foot out of a small sinkhole.

"YOU IDIOT!!!" Kayla and Rowen both screamed at each other. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LOST THEM!! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! I DIDN'T LOSE THEM, YOU DID!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!"

"GUYS IT'S TIME THE TWO OF YOU STOP PLAYING THE BLAME GAME AND START THINKING OF A PLAN!!" Kento roared as he broke up the squabbling pair.

"He's right," Kayla said as she attempted to calm down, "we shouldn't be bickering like little children, we should focus our efforts on finding Cye and Clara."

Meanwhile back in the grotto, Clara sat on the ground meditating and preparing to cleanse the tree while Cye stood behind her, keeping an eye out for their friends. After a few minutes, Clara slowly rose to her feet with some help from Cye, placed a hand on the tree (which had began glowing with a dark blackish-green energy), and spoke quietly; "The time has come… Great and merciful heavenly father, please grant me the power I need to cleanse this tree of it's evil and save the young man asleep within it." As she spoke, the bark around her hand began to glow dimly with a soft silver light. "Please show me that there is more to my powers than what I know and if I am truly worthy to receive these powers then allow me to save this young man's life." Slowly the silver light beneath her hand began to pulse and dance as it grew brighter and brighter. "This young man is one of the five warriors who can save this world from the evil that now threatens it. Sage of the Halo, please hear me and awaken." She whispered softly as a bright green light enveloped the tree and Clara fainted.

"Clara please be all right." Cye whispered as he hugged her body fiercely to his own.

"Here let me see her." A familiar voice said as Cye looked up in shock to see Sage walking out of the tree towards them. Carefully he took Clara in his arms and cradled her as if she were a baby as he gave her some of his energy to revive her, not even noticing that her limbs were now encased in stone.

"Clara!" Rowen cried out as he found the trio resting in the grotto. "What happened to her Sage?"

"She had to use her energy to revive me. I had to give her some of my energy to her to revive her, but I think she's coming around." Sage explained as Clara moaned and began to stir.

"Sage you're all right…that's good. I'm glad to see you're okay." Clara murmured softly as she opened her eyes and smiled at the blonde carefully holding her in his arms.

"Only thanks to you." Sage said with a slight smile on his face.

"Are you all right Clara?" Rowen asked in concern as Clara smiled and squeezed his hand to let him know that she was doing all right. "I'm glad you're okay, but I don't want to ever try something like that again."