Chapter 2:

For a moment Abby thought she was back in the enchanted forest. She then realized that the trees around her were actually wood elves, very tall wood elves.

"Hey!" She called up to one of them. Her kin would not answer her. She circled the taller elf but found no face on the other side. Looking again she saw that none of them had. They all had their backs turned against her. She started to think her first assumption was closer to the truth, these were just trees and she was in some kind of forest.

Then everything changed. The shiny blue sky above her turned red as blood just as the ground and the trees turned pitch black.

Despite the dread filling her, she reached out to touch one of them and the tree immediately collapsed into splinters. Abby started to hyperventilate. She turned around and saw tree after tree fall apart. Soon the entire forest was gone and Abby was all alone. Her stomach squawked like a bird chick for its mother as tears ran down her cheeks. She was sad, hungry and scared. She wrapped her arms around herself as her breathing grew more rapid.

At that moment, she sensed it. The smell of rot. Her eyes narrowed in fury. "The child of the rot." She hissed to herself and tried to reach for her bow but it wasn't there. She checked her belt for her hunting knife but it wasn't there either. She bit her lip. Despite the danger and her current lack of weapons she still felt obligated or perhaps even compelled to confront the monster. She marched in the direction of the smell. As she walked, the stronger and more disgusting it became.

Then she saw something she didn't expect…

A tree. A sort of tree she'd never seen before but more than that, it was living. Its canopy was green and lush and its trunk looked healthy.

'The smell, the smell is coming from there but how can that be? Is the Child of the Rot by that tree? But it looks so…alive?' The red-haired elf thought to herself before resuming walking.

Once she got close enough she saw two men hacking away at the tree with their axes. She also heard something but it wasn't the chopping of wood she was hearing. It was cries of pain.

"Stop that! Can't you see your hurting him?!" She shouted at the two men. Why she referred to the tree as a 'him', not even she knew. There was just something that told her that this tree had a soul.

The two men gave her a strange look before turning on their heels and walking away.

Abby gazed up at the canopy as she stepped under the tree. She noticed the fruits that hanged from its branches. They were large, colourful and shaped like teardrops. As if sensing the girl's hunger, the tree lowered one of its branches so she could reach for it.

However, once it was in her hands, Abby realized that the foul smell she sensed was emanating from the fruit. Her face crinkled. She then gave the tree a quizzical look. She also recognized what she was holding wasn't a fruit, it was way too hard. Rather it was a capsule. 'The edible part must be inside.' Abby concluded and pried it open with her bare hands. The pulp inside thou was black and squishy and smelled even worse.

Abby wanted to gag, to throw the fruit away but instead she glared at the tree. 'This tree is rotten. It may look healthy but it's rotten. It's probably rotting everything else too. That's why does men were trying to cut it down.' She thought bitterly but then started to question herself. 'Or is it? Why should I trust my nose over my eyes? What does my heart say?' Reluctantly, she raised the fruit to her mouth, the smell stung her nostrils yet she bit down on the pulp.

The taste was like nothing she'd ever felt before. It was the most incredible flavour to ever hit her pallet. Sweet and sour, spicy and creamy. It was like love turned into flavour. She took her time savouring every bite and once she was done her hunger had been satiated.

She strolled up to the trunk of the tree and gently placed her hands on its smooth bark. "Thank you." Marvellously, the tree seem to generate its own heat, a heat which made the young elf feel comfortable and safe.

When she took her hand off the tree, she saw a mark that seemed to have been burned into the bark where her hand had been. Her eyes narrowed in on the mark that glimmered like red amber. It looked like a flower with almost heart-shaped pedals.

She saw the wind blew thru the leaves above her and in the next minute she heard someone whisper… "Help me…"

Abby turned to look around. Her pointy ears twitched but she could not hear nor see anyone.

"Abby…"

"Where are you!?" Abby called out. She turned around and saw the bark of the tree eroding to reveal two small holes. To her horror, a set of brown eyes gazed at her sadly from within the tree.

"Help me…Please, Abby…help me…"

Abby jolted awake with a gasp. She was breathing heavily and cold sweat ran down her forehead.

She looked around. The enchanted tree were nowhere to be seen. Her brother was sleeping on the ground next to her. The human travellers and their livestock also remained asleep all around them.

She sighed and stroked the sweat of her brow. "It was just a dream. It was just a-

The young elf was rendered speechless by what she saw in her hand. It was a mark, the same mark as on the tree in her dream.

'Is that…no it can't be…' She brushed her thumb over the glowing mark on her palm. With dilated eyes and mouth agape, she realized what she had. 'My soulmark.' Raising her gaze, she saw her Red String of Fate springing from her hand and vanishing into the darkness of the night. She stood up.

That magical thing that the rest of her generation got to experience years ago was finally happening to her. Now of all times. 'My soulmate is out there. I have to find him.'

She squatted over her brother's sleeping form. "Ty. Ty, wake up." She said as she tried to shake him awake.

"What-wha." Ty awoke although his eyes would barely open.

"We need to go. Now."

The spikey-haired elf blinked. "Why?"

"I need to find m-

Abby suddenly hesitated. In normal circumstances she knew her honourable brother would help her find her soulmate but they were supposed to be on a mission right now. He might suggest waiting till after they've found the source of the rot. Now that she thought of it, maybe that was the best course of action. But… something kept telling her that she needed to find her soulmate immediately. A gut feeling? Her Red String of Fate?

She clutched her hand, knowing that others couldn't see her Red String of Fate but they could see her soulmark. "We need to find the Child of the Rot."

That only made Ty more confused. "Sure but why do we need to leave now? After all, we have no way of knowing where he is."

Abby scowled at him. Did he have to be so difficult? "I know where he is." She sounded like an impatient child.

Ty's eyes dilated. He quickly got onto his feet. "How?"

"I-I just do." The redheaded elf insisted.

Ty raised an eyebrow. "I can't follow a trail I can't see, Abby. Tell me how you expect us to find him."

Abby's patience had run out. "Fine. I'll find him myself." She declared as she turned around and started running, leaving her brother in the dust as she followed the path her Red String of Fate had laid out for her.

Ty didn't understand why his sister was suddenly acting so out of character but his brotherly instincts soon overcame his scepticism and he rushed after her.

For hours, Abby ran for miles after her Red String of Fate. Her brother following close behind. "Sister, do you sense that smell?!" She heard her brother call out.

Without slowing down her steps, she took a deep inhale. It was the smell of putrid meat.

"It's the smell of rot. It's getting stronger so we much be nearing its source." Her brother continued.

Abby was tracking her soulmate, she did not expect to find the Child of Rot. 'If that monster is near my soulmate I must find him before he does. I will not let my soulmate decompose before I've even seen his face.' She thought. Her eyes narrowed with determination as she picked up speed.

She did not stop running until night turned into dawn.

Before her was a stony ridge. Her Red String of Fate flowed over its edge. 'There. Above that ridge is my soulmate.' She thought as she gazed longingly after her string.

"Yuck! I've never felt such a foul, putrid stench." Her brother's whining interrupted her thoughts. He ignored her annoyed glare as he dismounted his bow and loaded it with an arrow from his quill. "I'll say we split up and scout the area. The Child of the Rot must be nearby. I can sense it."

"Me too." Abby smiled a bit at the irony of those words. Her brother then turned around and ran off. Abby on the other hand starter climbing the ridge.

Once reaching the top, Abby saw her Red String of Fate leading into a vast open quarry, ending at the feet of a boy sitting curled up in the middle of it. His head, covered by pale blonde hair rested against his knees. He seemed to be sobbing.

'It's him. He's my soulmate.' Abby thought with both amazement and hesitation. She took a small step forth and unintentionally caused some rubble to fall down the ridge.

The boy must have heard her cause he stood up and looked in her direction. Abby in turn immediately ducked, pressing herself flat against the ground. With the rising sun behind her, she doubted he could see her. She didn't really get why she was hiding. The butterflies in her stomach was making her nervous.

"Is someone there!?" The boy called out.

Abby raised her head a notch and her heart sunk upon seeing him. The boy had tar coloured skin, a gaunt physic and silvery eyes. Abby had not felt it before but her sensitive nose now felt the stench of death emanating from that boy.

'No, no it can't be.' She shook her head in denial. 'The Child of the Rot is my soulmate?' She looked again at her Red String of Fate and true enough, it fed into that boy's hand. She then crawled back behind the ridge, turned over on her back and clutched her temples. 'It can't be-It can't be him! I could never love someone who hates nature, even less someone who wants to destroy it. I must be dreaming or-or under a spell or-or…maybe…maybe there's more to this.' The redhead peaked over the ridge once again.

Her elfen ears suddenly picked up the sound of something whooshing thru the air and in the next second she witnessed an arrow penetrating her soulmate's leg. The Child of the Rot let out a cry of pain (not too dissimilar to what she heard in her dream) before falling to the ground. She turned her head and spotted her brother perched atop another rocky ridge a few hundred meters away from her. His bow already loaded with another arrow.

At that moment, an aura of dark magic enveloped the boy like a raging fire. The arrow impeded in his thigh decomposed into nothingness. However, what Abby most took notice of was the red blood that continued pooling underneath him. 'He's injured.' She turned towards her brother again and saw him drawing his arrow.

If it was the influence of her soulmark or her compassion who drove her Abby did not know but before she knew it she leaped down from the ridge and ran towards the Child of the Rot. "STOP! BROTHER, STOP!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. Gazing down at her, Ty lowered his arrow. Abby reached the boy she believed to be her soulmate and took a stance between him and her brother. "Please, don't shoot!"

"What are you doing, Abby?!" Her brother cried out.

"I'm protecting this poor boy!" Abby hollered back at him.

Ty paused for a moment before shouting, "What!? He's the Child of the Rot! He's dangerous!"

"I won't let you harm him again, Ty!" She turned to the Child of the Rot. He stared up at her. The peasants hadn't been exaggerating. His eyes really did look like white moons in the middle of dark puddles, rimmed by blood red circles. However, she saw no evil in those eyes. Instead they reflected dread, confusion and maybe just a hint of gratitude.

She kneeled in front of him. There was a moment of silence as the two looked each other in the eye. Abby's gaze then moved down to his leg. "You have a pretty sincere wound. If we don't bandage and sterilize it you will die." She picked a pouch off her belt. Inside was a mortar and pestle as well as mass of differently coloured seeds. "These seeds come from flowering plants that grew in our forest. Even without spellcasting they possess incredible healing powers." The wood elf explained as she started grinding the seeds into powder.

"Plants are…extraordinary, aren't they?" The boy mumbled to himself and the girl flashed him a smile.

Abby held the mortar up to the boy's face who blinked in response. "Spit." Abby ordered which only seem to confuse him more. "For the incantation to work, I need some body-fluid from my patient." Abby explained but the boy remained hesitant. The female elf smiled mischievously. "If your mouth is too dry maybe you can donate some blood instead. I know how to get it out."

That seem to frighten the boy enough into spitting into the mortar. Abby used the pestle to grind it up into a paste which she then poured onto a rag. "Can you show me your wound, please?"

The boy hesitated but did eventually pull up his trouser leg, hissing as it passed his wound. His clothes were very mundane. A brown tunic and a matching set of pants, both seemed to have once been long sleeved but were now ragged and torn.

Abby pressed the rag against the gash, causing the boy to hiss in pain thru gritting teeth. She then wrapped it around his leg before placing a hand over where the arrow had pierced his skin. She chanted a spell in an ancient elfen language and let manna course thru her hands and into his blood. "There. That should excel the healing process." She said once she was done.

The boy wiggled his leg a little. He then looked at her with those large eyes of his. "Why did you help me?"

"I would also like an answer to that." A familiar voice vented. Abby gazed over her shoulder and saw her brother approaching, his face contorted into grim scowl. "Abby, why would you heal this demon?" Ty demanded to know.

Abby stood up, glaring directly at him. "Cause I couldn't stand seeing him suffer."

"Have you gone insane!?" Ty shouted, flailing his arms like he was at his wits end. "He's the Child of the Rot! He's the reason our forest is dying!"

"You don't know that." Abby shot back.

"He's right." A snivelling voice got the wood elves to turn their attention to the boy on the ground. "I am the one spreading all this death." The Child of the Rot admitted with what sounded like a lump in his throat. Tears ran down his cheeks. "I don't mean to but I do. I actually came out here to kill myself but didn't have the courage for it. So if you're here to kill me, please just do it."

Abby's hands immediately went over her mouth. Her soulmate was going to end himself before she even had the chance to meet him. Ty's reaction was a bit tamer but he still raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Can you wait here for a moment? I need to discuss things with my brother." Abby addressed the crying boy who nodded in response, wiping his tears with his arm. She grabbed her brother by the arm lead him away. The elf siblings did not begin talking till they were out of the boy's earshot.

"This is bizarre. Clearly the boy is cursed in some-

"You have to give me a moment alone with him." Abby interrupted Ty in a stern tone.

The raven haired elf blinked. "You have to be japing. Just cause he's cursed doesn't mean he's not dangerous! Besides, you shouldn't have to do this alone." He placed a soft hand on her shoulder. "We're a team, Abby. Any obstacle you face we face together."

"Thanks brother but I really do need to talk with him, just him and me."

Ty withdrew his hand and gave her a puzzled look. "Why? Tell me."

Abby studied her hand, hesitated for a moment before showing him her palm. Ty was so shocked by what he saw he almost took a step back.

"Is that…a soulmark?"

Abby nodded. "And my Red String of Fate led me straight to him." She gazed back at the Child of the Rot, smiling sadly.

Ty's eyes dilated. He opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it again. His pupils darted from side to side. He tilted his chin and shifted his footing a few times. "So that's how you were able to find him." He said and ran his hand over his spikey hair, as if that was the only thing he could comprehend about this situation.

"So you understand why I need to talk to him by myself before we decide what to do?" Abby asked with a light smile.

"Yes." Ty reluctantly admitted. "But I'll stay close in case anything goes wrong. He doesn't seem to have much control over this magical rot so he could hurt you without even meaning to."

Abby placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Thanks brother." She then turned on her heels and moved towards the boy. Ty meanwhile stayed where he stood, biting his lip as he saw his sister go.

Abby felt her stomach flutter in both dread and anticipation. No matter how things would go, this conversation was sure to change her life forever.

The sad boy on the ground looked up at her.

She sat down on her knees and shot him a friendly smile. That seemed to ease him a bit, at least he wasn't hugging his knees anymore. There was a moment of awkward silence since Abby hadn't planned on what she would say. "What's your name?" She eventually blurted out.

"Chester." The boy answered.

The name sounded human to Abby. She'd certainly never heard of any elf or fairy named Chester. "Nice to meet you Chester. I am Abi-Gale of the Archer tribe but you can call me Abby-

"Why didn't you let your brother kill me? Why did you heal me?" Chester's question cut thru the atmosphere like a lightning bolt.

Abby felt like she'd been hit in the face. She found it unbelievable he would ask that and not about the Red String of Fate that was clearly dangling between them. 'Can't he see it?' Abby wondered. "I can't stand seeing someone in pain and I much rather help them than end them." She spoke softly and placed a hand on the boy's knee. "So tell me, why are you destroying nature?"

"I don't mean too!" He declared so fast like he'd been offended by the question. "I love nature! I love trees and flowers. I'm a dryad for Christ sake!"

Abby did not expect that. "A dryad? You mean a wood nymph?"

Chester nodded.

Abby had never seen a wood nymph before but her mother had told her stories about them. They were a peaceful yet mysterious folk with green skin and hair made of leaves and grass. Nothing like the haggard boy she saw in front of her. They could merge with trees and use magic that made plants grow within seconds. Her own mother had been compared to a wood nymph due to her talent for gardening. "There hasn't been a wood nymph in these lands for a hundred years."

"I know. I've never even seen another of my kind." Chester said.

"Not even your parents?" Abby asked.

Chester shook his head. When the elf girl gave him a puzzled look, he elaborated. "We wood nymphs are not born, we sprout. I sprouted from a seed seventeen years ago in a field by a farming community. I was found by a woman, a human who had lost both husband and son. She took me in and raised me as if I was her own. The other villagers thou didn't accept me, thought I was strange. After my adopted mother passed away I was completely alone. There was nothing I wanted more than to be liked by the other peasants. At the same time, our village was plagued by blight and I thought, if I could cast the kind of magic my ancestors did, I could drive the blight away and make the new crops grow before winter. That was when I remember a tale mother told me, about a druid that lived in a cave a few miles away from the village."

Abby blinked. "A druid?"

"He's known as Paul the Rat Whisperer. He's lived his entire life in a place called the Gag Cave where he keeps spells and historical accounts from across the seven realms."

"How is that possible if he stays in one place all the time?" Abby asked sceptically.

"He's mastered the tongue of the rat. He has a whole pack of them. They spy what he wants to know and steal what he needs." Chester explained. "I ventured to his cave, hoping he would have the dryad spells I needed to save the crops." A small smile graced his lips. "At first he didn't like me, he's a lonely soul but he has a good heart which is why he allowed me to search his library after I told him I wanted to help my village. I found the spell I was looking for but it was written in the ancient tongue of the dryads so I had to spend another four months there teaching myself the language before I was ready to cast the spell. LabRat used his rat pack to help me gather the ingredients I needed for the potion and then I headed back to my village. I brew the potion in an old cauldron my mom used to make soup in while chanting the spell of fruitfulness."

"And then what?" Abby asked with anticipation.

Chester's expression grew solemn. His head lowered. "Then everything went wrong." For a moment he got quiet as fresh tears ran down his cheeks. "The spell didn't make the crops grow nor did it chase away the blight." He stared at his hands with disturbed eyes. "Instead it turned me into this ghoul-like creature. I got so scared that I tried to hide by merging with a tree but as soon as I touched it…it decayed. Everything I touched decayed. And the rot…it spread from there."

That might have been the saddest story Abby had ever heard. All Chester had wanted was to be accepted and he had tried to earn that acceptance by helping people but it all just made it worse.

Chester gripped the side of his head and groaned loudly. "I ruined everything! If only I had learned that last part!" He slammed his hand against the ground, sparks of dark energy spat like cinder in a fire. It scared Abby for a moment but she did not flinch.

"What last part?"

The boy let out a sigh but did not raise his head. "There was a final part of the spell that I couldn't translate. It had something to do with two ends but more than that I couldn't understand no matter how much I read of the ancient dryad language."

"It's very foolish to cast a spell you don't fully understand." Abby lectured.

"I know but I was just so desperate. I didn't want to wait anymore so I cast the spell over the crop field anyway."

The elf girl hymned thoughtfully. "We came across some humans on our way here. They said they saw you. They said you stepped onto their field, screaming."

"Y-yes...after I got cursed I hid in the woods for a while but then I realized that the rot wouldn't stop so I went back to the village to ask for help. I cried for them to help me but they threw rocks at me so I ran back into the woods."

Abby's hands curled into fists. The humans had conveniently left out that part of the story. The Child of The Rot hadn't hollered like a madman, he had cried like a lost child. They'd been so occupied with hating the monster they couldn't even notice the boy who cried out for help.

Abby's eyes drifted towards his hands, figuring it was time to bring that up. She cleared her throat. "I couldn't help but notice that you have a soulmark."

He looked at the aforementioned mark in his hand.

"That must mean you have someone special in your life." Abby said.

"Actually…I only got it this morning." Chester admitted. "I-I've never met my soulmate."

"But you must have seen your Red String of Fate, right?" Abby inquired, getting just a tad more riled up.

"Yes."

"Then you should follow it and then you won't be alone anymore. Isn't-isn't that what you want?"

Chester lowered his gaze once more. "I thought of doing that. I would be so happy if I didn't have to be alone but then I decided that I don't deserve a soulmate. I deserve to die alone," he started to choke on his own words, "and whoever my soulmate is…I'm sure they're too good for me." He couldn't keep it in anymore. He broke down crying.

Instinctively, Abby threw her arms around him and pulled him to her. The poor boy let out a small hiccup as his body stiffened for a moment before relaxing. He hadn't been touched like this in years. "That's not true, Chester." She spoke softly while brushing his hair. "If what you told me is true then you have the heart of a hero. Those people spurned you yet you tried to help them. You're a good person and you deserve to be happy." A fresh stream of tears started running down his cheeks. No one had ever said anything so nice to him. "As for your soulmate," Abby hesitated for a moment, "she's very happy to meet you."

Chester retreated from her hug, giving her a puzzled look. "Wha-what do you mean, Abby?"

"Look at the other end of the string, Chester." Abby smiled and held up her palm, showing him her soulmark.

Chester's eyes grew to size of saucers. He looked at his own soulmark before looking back at Abby's for comparison. They were of the same flower pattern. He then looked at the String of Fate. He seemed shocked over not seeing it earlier. The Red String of Fate trailed from his hand to hers.

"You? Y-you're my soulmate?"

Abby nodded enthusiastically.

Chester just kept staring at her. "I was right then."

The elf girl blinked. "About what?"

"You are too good for me." He replied as he reached his hand out to cup her cheek. "Look at you. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

Abby blushed and playfully swapped away his hand. "Stop it. I'm not that beautiful."

"You are. You're clever and compassionate too from what I've seen." His genuine smile toned down into a sad one. "I just wish we could have meet before I doomed myself and the rest of the world."

"Listen to me, Chester." Abby said as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "We will help you. My brother and I, we will help you lift the curse and bring back the green. And after that, I swear that you will never have to be alone again."

Her soulmate's eyes once again filled with tears. This time thou it was out of happiness.

Author's Note:

The tree in Abby's dream was originally supposed to be a Mexican Calabash but since such a tropical fruit didn't really fit into the midlevel landscape I decided to make it a fictional type of tree instead.

I was going back and forth on whether or not Abby would reveal her soulmark to Chester in this chapter or the next one. In the end I decided it would be illogical to wait any longer.

Please leave a review for this chapter. I really appreciate all your feedback.