Chronicles of Espiria Season 2
Episode 14 – The Resurrection of Memories
Written by the Dude
Banner Image by Stormrider
Oden made his way along the beach north of the Dark Forest, using powerful magicks to hide himself from the nearby Wilders. His destination was the Azure Cove; it was here, he had been assured by Zolrath himself, that he would find a worthy servant in his quest. He had only to wrest her from the Wilders' grasp.
When he reached the cove, he proceeded straight into the water, disappearing beneath the waves before anyone could have gasped in horror. He continued to chant camouflage spells as he searched the sandy bottom of the cove, careful to avoid the living coral that threatened to rip at his legs as he walked. As he ventured deeper into the cove, the coral only grew thicker, until at last, he was forced to swim above the coral to make any further progress.
At last, he reached the center of the cove. The coral here grew so thick that one could hardly see the sandy floor in the gently filtered light from the surface of the water. Everywhere he looked, he would spot brief glimpses of mermaids who had ventured near him out of morbid curiosity, but fled at the sight of what should have been his face. It was here that Oden encountered the infamous Spirit of the Cove as he materialized before Oden.
"Your kind is not welcome here, Graveborn." Seirus said in a warning tone.
"My business here is brief, elemental." Oden promised. "I only come to collect my own kind from your safekeeping. Her name is Nara. You first encountered her not long before the Hypogean invasion, when she and her crew attempted to take the Wilders of the Dark Forest as slaves."
"I remember her. I remember that she was alive before she came to my waters. She was not of your kind."
"And yet she is now dead. Only a few simple spells keep her from rising again. Besides, she serves no purpose to you..."
"On the contrary," Seirus interrupted, "she and her crew have likely done more good here as food for the fish than they have ever done before. And if I release her to you, there will be nothing to stop her from seeking revenge."
"I have no interest in the Wilders; my quarrel is with the Lightbearers alone. If you demand that we leave in peace and never set foot in your realm again, I will accept. All I want is the child."
"Very well. Take what is left of her and be gone."
Seirus faded back into the water. As soon as Seirus was gone, Oden chanted a locator spell, then watched as the scattered pieces of Nara floated up from among the coral. Much of her body had been picked clean by the fish, but that was easily repaired by taking bits of flesh from her crew and sewing it to her bones. When she was reassembled, Oden dragged her back to the surface and laid her on the grass. He then recited the resurrection incantation, being careful to make her swear allegiance to him instead of Quadam. Without warning, she sat bolt upright and gasped for air, more out of reflex and instinct than any need for oxygen. With her lungs full, she let out a scream that curdled the blood of every resident of the Dark Forest. Oden simply stood by and watched her panic; normally, she would have been prepared for this by Niru at the Whispering Doom, but for Oden, time and secrecy were of the essence.
"The fire! It won't go out! It won't stop burning!" she shouted with her next breath as she reached out for anything to cling to.
"Snap out of it, child!" Oden shouted as he slapped Nara's face. "You are back in Espiria!"
Nara slowly calmed as she realized that she was no longer surrounded by flames. This did nothing for her confusion, however, as she continued to examine her surroundings.
"T...This is..."
She finally looked behind her at the water, and her expression changed from confusion to fury.
"This is where I died!"
She picked up an old, rusted axe thrown from the wreckage of her ship and tried to charge back into the water.
"You did this to me! You sent me to that place! I was burning! I'll..."
"Nara, compose yourself!" Oden demanded.
"You stay out of this, conehead! I got a big fish to fry!"
"Nara, you will obey me!"
Nara froze in place. Slowly, she turned around and walked back to Oden, a look of fresh panic on her face.
"Why did I just do that?"
"Your free will is no longer your own, child. Your soul belongs to me, until such time that I have no further need of you. But it is not my preference to command your every move; that is a failing of Quadam and the Celestials. I merely needed your attention."
"Well, you got it." Nara said with a mixture of snark and caution. "What do you want?"
"It is painfully obvious that you want revenge on the elemental responsible for your death, but charging at your murderer in his element is a foolhardy gesture that will only see you cast back into the Underworld."
Nara flinched at this prospect.
"I offer an alternative path to revenge that does not end in your laughable failure. Join me, and we will bring vengeance on not only the elemental and his Wilder allies, but on all the guilty of Espiria! What say you?"
As Nara considered Oden's offer, three trained Hypogean imps moved swiftly and silently through the Dark Forest, hoping the shadows of the trees would hide their presence from unwanted attention. Little did they know that even the trees could warn the residents of intruders.
"How will we know Yggdrasil when we see it?" one of them asked.
"Yggdrasil is my target, and I alone was given the tools to fell it. You are looking for the one called Arden, a small old man with goat horns. He can weaponize the forest against us, so you must take him before he senses your presence. You," he continued, turning to face the third imp, "are here for the one called Lyca, a woman with the ears and fur of a rabbit. She commands the Dusk Patrol, so her loss will throw their forces into confusion."
"I've seen her before, sir." the imp answered. "It always confused me that an archer would be chosen to lead their forces instead of a...of a..."
"Three, are you all...alright..."
All three imps were suddenly feeling drowsy, a feeling that only grew stronger by the second. Soon, they were all sound asleep, two of them snoring loudly and contentedly. Moments later, roots emerged from the ground and gently wrapped themselves around the imps, then silently dragged the invaders beneath the surface. Never once was their sleep disturbed, even as their lungs filled with earth. Soon, the only evidence of their presence was the loosened soil they were buried in.
Once the imps were gone, Ulmus uprooted his feet and stepped before the graves. Tasi sat in a knot in his shoulder, satisfied that their passing was painless.
"Is it just me, or are more Hypogeans trying to sneak in everyday?" Tasi asked.
"The same number invade the forest, but they have learned to avoid Ogi's part of the forest. Unlike us, he leaves the battered and broken remains scattered about as a warning to our enemies to keep out."
"How does Solise feel about that?"
"She has found a workaround. Ogi's home has become a second nursery for her specimens."
They moved on from the graves and traveled deeper into the forest. Tasi watched their progress from her perch with wide-eyed wonder.
"I've seen this forest in the dreams of others for countless generations, but seeing it with my own eyes..." She heaved a contented sigh. "I'll never get tired of this."
Tasi suddenly darted from Ulmus' shoulder as something caught her attention. He watched as she alighted on the petal of a flower she had never seen before. She inhaled the flower's aroma, then turned and fell into the center, scattering the pollen as she rolled around in the flower. Ulmus couldn't help but chuckle as Tasi sat up and sneezed, scattering the pollen that had stuck to her. Tasi didn't mind; she was as delighted as Ulmus.
Until she saw that face on Ulmus again.
Though it lasted only a moment, it was long enough for Tasi to notice and recognize it; a brief look of sadness, as if remembering something from long ago that he would rather not recall.
Tasi returned to her place on Ulmus' shoulder; as they journeyed deeper into the forest, Tasi decided it was time she understood the look better.
"Ulmus, what is that face you sometimes make?"
"What face is that?"
"Now and again, you make a face as if you were sad. It only lasts a moment, but you're so much quieter afterward."
Ulmus came to a stop. He had thought he had hidden the pain better, but he should have known that Tasi, of all people, would eventually notice.
"There was a time, before Annih created the Hypogeans, when the forest teamed with amazing creatures. I still remember the conversations I had with unicorns, young dragons, and brownies. But it was always my greatest delight to watch the fairies frolicking through the trees. Even when they got into mischief, they brought a magic to the forest like nothing else could.
"Then the Hypogeans came. The war they brought decimated Espiria, turning fields and forests into deserts. The Dark Forest was not entirely spared; many creatures were driven to the brink of extinction. The fairies were the hardest hit; in one of the last battles of the war, they were entirely wiped out while defending Yggdrasil. The forest survived, but it lost much of its magic to the Hoard."
Tasi was silent as she considered Ulmus' account.
"So this form you gave me, was it born of your desire to see the fairies return?"
"Perhaps." Ulmus seemed to slip into deep thought. "The ways of Nightlander magic are still mysterious to me, but if the Call was also meant to grant a deep seeded wish, then perhaps."
"Then why do you grow sad?"
"Because it is difficult to remember the magical times without also remembering the dark times. But I do treasure those magical memories, as I also treasure the memories I have made with you."
Tasi leaned in closer to Ulmus' neck, and they continued on their way. In time, Ulmus paused and looked around. Tasi found this curious, but was soon distracted by another new flower. As she flitted off to investigate, Ulmus knelt next to a dry rotted stump and pulled out a metal box, recovered long ago from the remains of a Lightbearer caravan passing by the forest. The original contents had been left with the caravan to be recovered by the humans, the box kept to contain various oddities Ulmus might find in the forest.
He opened the box to reveal three thorny vines, the same ones he'd uprooted and retained during the demon invasion just before the fall of the Barred Gate. He had intended to replant them in the hope that they would flourish again, but he could still sense the same evil aura that they exuded on the day he uprooted them.
He was about to close the box again when he felt a chill wind blow past him. Moments later, one of the vines rose up and drove a thorn deep into Ulmus' hand before he could react. He backed away in pain, but the vine made no further attempt to move; indeed, it lay in the box as if nothing had happened. As Ulmus closed and secured the box, the vines made no further attempt to move, and Ulmus put the incident out of his mind for the time being as he noticed Tasi return to him, covered again in pollen.