Chapter 15: Force of the Forest

Soon, every Forest Gormiti was running around in confusion and panic. Some were preparing for battle while others gathered up any forest children that were busy playing or helping out in the forest cottages. Some were getting weapons made out of wood ready to fight the Lava Gormiti and some just went into their homes in panic.

All Lucas could do was observe the now panicked Forest Gormiti getting ready for the threat of the Lava Gormiti. He wished there was at least something he could do but all he was at the moment is just a kid with a-

'Hold on!'

Lucas remembered about his orb. Maybe he could use it to somehow save the Forest Gormiti. The only problem was he didn't know where to go first. Luckily, Sliva was still beside him so maybe he could ask him.

He swiftly turned over towards Sliva and asked: "Hey Sliva. Do you know where I can find the power for this?" And with that, Lucas presented his orb towards Sliva.

Sliva's eyes immediately widened at the sight of the Forest Orb. He noticed that it was still glowing a faint green.

'That's got to mean something right?' Lucas thought nervously.

Sliva studied the orb carefully as if he was being a wise tutor. Then he straightened himself up. "It seems to me you would need to go over to the Tree of Life which is the big tree over there." He pointed to the enormous tree which overlooked all of the other trees which surprised Lucas.

"Is that where I'm supposed to go to charge this?" Lucas asked.

Sliva once again nodded, dodging a fireball in the process while shielding Lucas from getting hurt. "Yes. Now go quickly! The Lava Gormiti must have known you're here!"

Without saying another word, Lucas dashed off, orb in his arms, to go and find the Tree of Life. But he noticed Sliva was on the ground after only a couple of seconds.

"It's ok…" coughed Sliva through the pain and struggle of getting up. "You do what you need to do and the rest of us will fend the Lava Gormiti off." He gave one last serious look at Lucas. "Now go!"

Lucas did as what Sliva previously told him and continued to ran. He felt his breath going up and down but also panting at the same time. He never ran as fast as he could in all of his life. The orb was starting to slip in his arms but he clutched it carefully so that it wouldn't break if it fell. That would be bad if that actually did happen.

Behind him, an army of Lava soldiers began to chase after him. Lucas didn't turn around to see them though, he kept on running and running through the forest. Loads of fire balls and blasts were heading towards his way and he felt scared about one of them touching him. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to let the Lava Gormiti take him away or his orb so he retain his courage throughout his run, dodging all of the blast that were coming towards his way.

After a few minutes of running, Lucas took his eyes away from the orb and saw what was in front of him. There was a singular path that led all the way up to…the Tree of Life.

It was the biggest tree Lucas had ever seen throughout his eleven years. Its leaves almost went up into the bit where you would enter space while the trunk still stood strong enough to hold a medium sized bit of land that was at the bottom of the trunk. Lucas was sure about what to do next: run up the path to the bottom of the Tree of Life and see what happens next.

Gathering up all of his courage and bravery, he began to race up the path, being mindful about not falling off the edge in the process. It was a bit like a winding staircase that was going around in circles but it didn't make Lucas feel dizzy at all. Instead, he powered himself up through the path while the Lava soldiers were starting to catch with him.

Finally, he was at the bottom of the trunk but he didn't know what to do next.

Suddenly, the hooded figure's voice from earlier suddenly rang out: "Place the orb at the bottom, Lord of Nature Lucas, and soon you will receive its powers of the Forest,"

At first, Lucas was confused about what the figure said but then saw the army of lava soldiers finally catching up with him.

Another figure moved its way through the lava soldiers so that it stood at the front of them. Lavion.

"Ah, so I've found the first intruder which seems to be a child," he said with a smirk on his lips. "If you would be so kind as to hand me what you have got then I won't hurt you,"

Lucas wasn't sure how to feel in this moment. Lavion seemed to be pretty scary with his one crab claw and even more of a terrifying face with sharp fangs. There was no way Lucas would give if the orb but what would happen if he did. Would the world and Gorm be under perished and everyone would go into war again? There was only one way to find out.

"If I give you this, what would happen?" he questioned Lavion.

Lavion laughed manically at Lucas' question as if he already predicted the answer. "Don't be ridiculous, child! I think deep down you know what would happen if you gave me that orb, we'll take over the world and Earth as well!"

Lucas took a step back towards the trunk and looked at his Forest Orb. "No. This isn't right," he hesitated. "You don't care about anything that's around you." He started to wave his arm around his area to show Lavion what he meant. "The trees, the plants, the vines. All of them shows what nature is really all about. It seems that you're only thought is to destroy it and that's it." Lucas closed his eyes, still grasping the orb tightly around his arms. "Being a nature lover myself I…I decided that is exactly what I'm going to protect the forest and the trees by doing this!"

With that declaration, Lucas placed the Forest Orb at the bottom of the trunk.

The green light from the orb burst out in front of Lucas and he shielded his eyes away from it. The light surrounded him and soon he felt his body becoming a bit more…stiff? He saw brown vines suddenly wrapping around him but in a more calming way. Sure, they were quick but they didn't squeeze him too tightly so at least he was able to breathe. He closed his eyes throughout the rest of the time and when it was all over, he landed with a thud.

When Lucas opened his eyes, he rubbed his hand on his head in confusion to what happened. Upon placing his hand, he suddenly noticed that it wasn't human skin anymore but instead was made of bark. Twisting it around, it was quite unnatural to see his hand made in a different material but then he looked down at the rest of his body. It too was made out of bark but only bits of it from his legs to his chest and shoulders. The rest of his skin had turned into a light green colour, similar to the grass below him. His feet had also changed into tree like roots although they were the same light green colour as before.

Lucas was amazed by this transformation. "Wow. I- " He realised that his voice had been transformed as well. It has sounded more mature and deeper to when it was before. It felt like a real transformation now with this added detail.

"I…don't know what to say," he finally answered. "But…how?"

"You have now become the Lord of the Forest, Lucas," the figure's voice said through the light of the orb. "By placing your orb near the Tree of Life, the orb charged with energy and therefore you now control the powers of the forest,"

Lucas looked at his bark hands. 'Powers of the forest' he thought, clutching his fists back and forth. What an incredible power to have. He turned over to Lavion, who was also shocked by Lucas' transformation.

"What?!" Lavion barked in anger and frustration. "How did you-"

"Save you talk for later," Lucas interrupted Lavion, raising a hand to stop him from speaking any further. "You are speaking to the new Lord of the Forest after all,"

Before Lavion could say another word, brown-root like vines appeared from the ground, trapping him in the process. The vines wrapped the other lava soldiers as well before one by one, they all fell down to the ground.

"Idiots!" roared Lavion, struggling with the vines. "Help me get out of these!"

"You'll have to ask me first!" exclaimed Lucas. His eyes focused on his hand, stretched out. 'Did I just…do that?' he wondered in amazement. 'I wonder if I can do the same thing?'

Sure enough, he carried on focusing on his hand and tried to imagine the vines doing something else or bring more into the mix. To his surprise, his hand started to turn into more vines that linked with his own arm. Raising an eyebrow at them, he thrusted his arms in which the vines grew even longer, taking out most of the lava soldiers which were still standing. Lucas was shocked by this.

Lavion broke through the vines by using all of his strength before standing up in front of the Lord of Forest. "You think you may have won but I've still got three more nations to visit," he snarled at Lucas.

Lucas realised what Lavion was saying in shock. There were still three more nations that the Lava Gormiti were going to attack and his friends were still waiting in the Earth Nation! He immediately grabbed the Forest Orb with one of his vine before turning his hand back to its bark state and raced past Lavion.

Going down the path, Lucas called out: "I'll be back with reinforcements and soon we'll see who'll take over Gorm!"