Chapter 6: Salve

Once he had obtained his new staff, Dane spent two weeks attempting to rescue his grandfather six times. Every time, Hilda and a massive army of her skeleton soldiers waited for him. After the seventh attempt failed, Dane realized he would continue to fail and exhaust himself without help. The best source he could think of would be his original destination of Haim's Tree. Perhaps the Deity of Life would have a solution to overpower Hilda's army in addition to having an answer to ridding the world of Darkness.

11 entire days passed since Dane had seen any kind of civilization while traveling through the Victarani province. Searching for the Great Tree of Haim had proven harder than he first thought. His rations were running low, his back and feet ached, and he was exhausted. Dane followed some promising leads about where the tree would be. But all the information he followed brought him to a small shrine or dedicated tree in the Haim's name instead. The glowing blue stone suspended in his staff gradually dimmed over the last 3 days, a sign mostly that he was becoming too weary to use any of his magic.

Finding a small cove of roots to rest in, Dane pulled out Menodora's research journal, reading some of the notes she had left. It had been five months and twelve days since her death. He sometimes would dream about her or would find himself shedding tears when he thought about her. All in all, his sadness felt as if it were fading away, and the Darkness surrounding him dissipated. But the world didn't seem to be any brighter.

"Is this due to my light not having anything to replenish it?" he would ask himself. He would often imagine Menodora sitting across from him with some kind of food she had prepared earlier in the day as he nibbled on his rations of bread and dried fruits. If he didn't find some sort of village or even a house that could help him, he would be out of food within 2 days. After closing the book, he nestled into the roots using his knapsack as a pillow and drifted off to sleep.


Ariel did what she could for him, being sure to give him the strength needed for his long journey. As she peered down the road of time, she could see there were turbulent times ahead for this world. She tried altering events, high points in time to avoid this coming disaster. Her meddling would only make the disaster happen sooner or later. Additionally, the world itself was pushing towards a state of unrest.

Kingdoms of the people within the word would start battles for power. Disputes would break out easily among families that had been friends for generations leading to decade long feuds. Even old wrongs that had been forgiven between nations, families, or even siblings would rise to the surface. Dane helped stave off some of these unfortunate events, only for another, more potent dispute to appear somewhere else.

Ariel could see that there was something that must be done, but she didn't know what. She tried communicating this to Haim, but it seemed as of late that his only concern was making sure the world didn't die. Whether or not that meant there would be wars was inconsequential. Nanahuatzin's duties and abilities left him unable to help. The only option she had left was Dane. If only her interaction with him could be more personal, to actually meet him. The wounds in his heart were beginning to heal, yes, but based on the research she read in his journal, those wounds needed much more care if they were to fully recover. And that required a personal touch.

It would be perfect if she could actually meet him. Ariel would not only be able to heal him but, in doing so, could help him discover a way to avoid the coming disaster. She would finally have what she longed for; him, all to herself. Following Dane had made her come to love him, even if it was from a distance with no way to have that love reciprocated. Perhaps this way, she could have it returned to her as she wanted.

The problem would be how; she could extend her mind to the surface and interact with people on a minimal level. Dane seemed aware of her presence, but being a goddess of time meant that she couldn't come to the world herself without leaving most of her power and personality behind in the temple. She had done it once before when she had come to meet some devoted Clerics of her order.

In doing so, she found that her personality and demeanor were far less caring than she truly was. This would not do, especially for love. She could bring him to the temple to meet her in person, but a human could only withstand the air of the temple for so long before having to return. Human bodies couldn't endure the sheer immense power of a goddess in its entirety for long without a divine pact.

"How could I be there for you?" she asked herself while watching him sleep. Brushing aside a lock of his hair, she wished that her interaction could be so much more than minimal contact. Humans were always more receiving of divine interaction when they were asleep. This contact, while pleasing, still wasn't enough.

"Goddess Ariel, you are spending much too much time watching just that one human." A voice cut her concentration and snapped her back to her surroundings in the Temple of Time. Once aware of her surroundings, she saw one of her attending Monks of the Green standing next to her.

"And how would that be an issue? I am allowed some interaction after all, am I not?" Ariel questioned.

"You are the Goddess of Time, yes, but even you must realize that your duty is to all the people of Usoria, not only this one human. And while your actions of the past have been menial, you can't focus on him alone. He will be gone in just a few short decades, something the Monks of the Blue have told us Monks of the Green time and again." The monk persisted, bringing the ends of his long and wide sleeves together, hiding his hands.

"I know, but I can't help but be drawn to him. He is so much like I was so long ago. His kindness is what draws me to him; his relentless drive to help others despite his own pain. It was he that I first saw after extending my vision to this world. And even if it is for just a brief moment in time, I would like to know what a love he had looks like. I want to know what it feels like."

"Goddess, you are speaking of mingling among humans. Such a thing is forbidden. Even your constant presence around that man has altered him in so many ways, perhaps even for the worse. Your power isn't something that a human could withstand…"

"I know that, monk. I still want to be a part of his life. Not as a deity, but something more. I am a goddess, yes. But at my core, I am also a woman. There has been a void in my soul ever since I could remember. Perhaps he can fill that void." Ariel smiled, turning her gaze back to the ground where Dane still slept.

"You almost sound as if you are becoming a human, goddess." The monk retorted.

"Perhaps my presence around Dane has changed me as well." She chuckled softly when the thought struck her; becoming human. Perhaps there was a way she could walk among humans and be with the one human that had captivated her so. Maybe not as a human, but something close enough to it to be with them. She went to the Halls of the Green, where every memory of Usoria was stored since The Great Beginning. She searched the record scrolls and found one that depicted what she needed.

"These creatures no longer live among the humans there, but perhaps I can use their likeness to my advantage." She thought, smiling broadly as she set her plan into motion.


The sound of birds and their sharp and high-pitched tweets interrupted Dane's sleep. As his mind became more aware, he took a mental inventory of his surroundings. The last he remembered, he had fallen asleep in a cove of roots in a reclined position; stiff and not really that comfortable.

"Something has changed." He thought, taking note that he was now lying flat with his head slightly propped against something, something soft. As his mind awoke further, he felt a slight rise and fall in whatever his head was laying against.

"Am I lying on or against something alive?" he thought. Slowly, he opened his eyes, unsure of what he would find. His surroundings were indeed different; extremely tall trees encircled him on all sides. Beneath him was a bed of down and straw, nestled in the stump of a tree.

"You're finally awake. You must have been exhausted." A pleasant voice said. Dane froze, picking up his head slightly to see a slender hand resting on his chest. Following it, he met the golden-eyed gaze of a young woman. Her mass of gilded hair lay all around them like a cloud, his head laying on her stomach. Dane bolted upright, reaching for where he had last left his staff but missed it. He held his hands forward as a spell of energy blazed to life within his palms.

"Be at ease White Mage Dane; I mean you no harm." She urged, sitting up and adjusting her delicate, transparent green and yellow wings.

"How do you know of my name?" Dane growled. Looking her over, he took note of her dress made of leaves and pointed ears, and guessed that she was some kind of magical creature. In his studies of magic, he had seen Elves and Fairies' mentions, but their sightings or knowledge of them were menial at best.

"I have been watching you for some time, Dane. Ever since the accident in Margata that took your loved one." Dane intensified his energy as his eyes went wide, struggling to hold back the flood of emotion that dug its dagger through his heart.

"How do you know of that?! I demand you answer me, woman! Who are you?!" Dane growled, stepping back away from her as she rose to her feet. The ball of energy in his hands grew and fizzled.

"I am Ephenia. The Usorian form of the Goddess of Time, Ariel." Dane slowly relaxed his stance, still trying to stay the pain of Menodora's memory being brought back to him so starkly.

"You were there in Margata while Menodora's life slipped away before me? And you did nothing?!" Dane sneered, the energy in his hands changing to a bright fire orange. He thought he had moved past this pain and was beginning to heal. Now this woman, this Goddess, was bringing it all back to him. Ephenia stepped closer to him, reaching for his hand and dissipating the flames within it.

"I would have helped her, Dane, but her life was already beyond even my help. There was a dark power at work around her that I could not overcome. The most I could do was slow time for you so that you had as long as possible together." Dane did his best to push away the pain, push away the tears; he was beyond this! It had been months since her death. He should remember her and not feel sadness or pain or loneliness. He shouldn't be, but he was. Ephenia moved to him; Dane stepped back but missed his footing and began to fall back. In one swift motion, Ephenia put her arms around him, spreading her wings and hovering while holding him close.

"You may weep, White Mage. As you have found, tears are a part of healing. You may have begun to heal, but a wound this deep takes much more time than what you have allotted yourself. You have suffered a great loss all at once. Let your tears come; I will catch them." She whispered, pulling him tightly to herself. Dane struggled hard, willing his tears and pain back into the corners of his being.

The comfort she offered, the permission to weep for loved ones eroded his will to remain stoic. The strength left him as he collapsed into her, letting his tears freely fall. Ephenia gently landed, his wails echoing through the forest in what felt to be an endless cycle. When he no longer had the strength to weep, Ephenia lay under him allowing his utterly exhausted being time to rest.

There would be more tears, she was sure, but she was glad that she could finally come to him and touch him in both body and soul. She hoped that her love would reach him once he had healed and that her love would be returned as she listened to his breathing.


"She thinks that she is so great just because she can take on another form. Can't we do that as well?" one voice asked. It was high, paired with two blue eyes amidst the shadows.

"She is a goddess, after all. She can do as she pleases. This just happens to be one of them." A second, lower voice answered, paired with green eyes just beside the first.

"I bet she going to play a trick on him while he's sleeping."

"No, I don't think she would do that. She has too much of a connection to him."

"But why not? It would be so much fun, don't you think? Why don't we play a trick on him instead?"

"Because you and I both know that we would be eliminated before either of us knew what happened."

"Aww, you're just afraid."

"No, I am not. I just understand my limitations. Unlike you."

"Ha! You are scared!"

"No, I am not!"

"Then prove it! Go play a trick on that Goddess or whatever she is." The blue-eyed being pressed. The green-eyed being narrowed their eyes, sighing and rolling them before looking around and finding a snake nearby. Small stubs protruded from the shadowy figure and picked it up, hovering over to the two people in the center of the clearing, then dropped the snake right on the woman's head, flitting back to the hiding spot.

"I'll bet that snake bites her and fills her blood with poison!" the blue-eyed being laughed.

"I bet that snake will wrap around her neck and stop her breathing." The green-eyed being retorted, both of them watching intently. The woman looked as if she stirred when the snake slithered through her hair and across her arm. With a shout, she kicked off the man and began batting wildly in the air, trying to rid her hair of the snake that had gotten caught in her mass of golden locks. The man instantly woke up, groggily looking around to find what had happened when he saw the woman in a panic.

"Stop flailing; you'll make it bite you." The man scolded. The woman seemed to not hear him, continuing to flail. Both beings inched closer to the clearing, waiting with bated breath for what the snake was going to do. But the man quickly grabbed the woman's arms, pinning her securely against himself. With his other hand, he gently removed the snake from her hair before walking it to the edge of the clearing and setting it free.

"Aww! Come on! That snake should have at least bitten her!" the blue-eyed being whined when they both saw the man's gaze fixed on them in the shadows. How could he see them? People usually couldn't see them, so their tricks were traditionally blamed on someone else. But this man looked as if he could see them; how? Quickly, the two of them turned and left, weaving their way through the forest.

"You didn't get the right snake, did you?" the blue-eyed being scoffed.

"A snake is a snake. How am I supposed to know which will bite and which will wrap? They all look the same. But did you see the way she panicked when she saw the snake?!" The green-eyed being laughed hard, its eyes squinting to slits as it laughed, until they were overshadowed by a soft blue light.

"What mischief have you gotten into this time?" The large being asked. The two shadow beings turned around to see a log-like creature hovering behind them, blue light glowing within the split log of his body.

"Oh, come off it Guwaru. We were just having a little fun." The blue-eyed being grunted.

"As the Guardian of the Forest, I must scold you for your actions. You may not like humans, but I cannot allow you to do something as deadly as trying to kill a human. It was reckless and uncalled for. If you do this again, I will have no choice but to dispel you."

"You're no fun, Grandpa Tree Bark." The green-eyed being huffed.

"Then I shall spell it out for you. If you continue this destructive path, other humans will come thinking there is a dangerous creature killing humans here. In turn, I will have to protect the forest and only escalate things further."

"You're the guardian of the forest. Why would you protect humans? They're so loud and don't really have that much power."

"I protect the humans and, in turn, protect the forest," Guwaru answered, reaching his hands around the shadow beings and beginning to move back into the forest with them. Both beings sighed in discontent as they were pulled further into the woods.

"It's not just us that's causing problems, you know. Other shadows are draining the land of life!" The blue-eyed being squeaked.

"Yes, I know. But they are not threatening the life of the forest as of yet. I have no intention of expending unnecessary energy."


Dane kept his eye on the shadows for a while, his senses tingling as he thought he saw two pairs of eyes leave the outer circle before returning to Ephenia.

"You shouldn't have panicked like that. There are poisonous snakes here in the forest." Dane huffed, sitting down once his adrenalin high wore off and the weight of Menodora's memory returned.

"I will admit, I have only been in this form for less than a day. The sensations of that creature were… strange. I simply wanted them to stop." She answered. Dane nodded silently and put his head in his hands, supporting his elbows with his knees.

"Who are you? And why have you been following me? I have never seen you before, and yet you know so much about me." Dane asked once he had gathered enough strength.

"As I said, this body 'Ephenia' allows me, the Goddess Ariel, to be here with you. I have been following you from my temple ever since the disaster in Margata. The amount of power released with the collapse of your Great Circle is what caught my attention. Ever since then, I felt drawn to you. And so, I followed you by extending my mind and vision." Looking up from his hunched position, Dane turned his gaze to her as thoughts connected.

"You have been the presence I felt following me?" Dane probed, watching her smile and softly nod. Dane was unsure as to what he should feel. He was indeed thankful for her presence, which helped his heart from collapsing entirely. At the same time, he felt deceived that the presence he had noticed wasn't Menodora whatsoever.

"Then was it you lending me the power to heal those on the brink of death?"

"Yes, that was also me."

"Why? Again, you are a goddess; you could have healed Menodora in an instant, despite the problems. You could have simply healed them all, and yet you limit yourself to helping those that are ill by enhancing my magic."

"You misunderstand White Mage. Your loved one…"

"Menodora." Dane snapped.

"Menodora had been touched by a brutal raw force that broke down power, magic, and even life itself. To close the wound and will her body to stitch itself back together, it would have taken a massive amount of power to rise above that force; her life force was too weak and wouldn't have been able to withstand it."

"What force do you mean? What is so powerful that it can even break down the power of a goddess?"

"There is only one person in Usoria that I know of who created and uses this force; a man within a city called Kritas named Arkarium." Dane's eyes became wide as the realization of what prevented Menodora's survival hit him: Anti-magic, or as the Margatans knew it, Dark Alchemy. Dane's shoulders sank; he allowed its use and even improved it for Dr. Long's experiment. HE was the one to blame for Menodora's death, not Russel.

"It's all my fault." He choked. Ephenia immediately went to him, putting her hand on his jaw and turning his face to hers.

"It's all my fault…"

"White Mage. Dane, look at me. Look at me!" she urged, getting him to focus on her.

"Her death was not your fault. You didn't know what would happen. You didn't force this on her. You. Are. Innocent." She said with conviction, each of her words fighting their way into his mind and calming him.

"What about you? You are the Goddess of Time! You could have seen what would have happened!" Dane countered. Ephenia paused; her lack of attention to the world could have been a factor in this. But this man, this human, needed healing. Telling him the truth now might be more than he would be able to bear.

"Even with my power, there would have been no way to foresee this unfortunate outcome until it was too late to do anything. Some paths are hidden to me, and this was one such path." Dane felt his being quiver with pain once more and wanted to turn away. Ephenia turned his head to her once again, her strength easily overpowering his.

"I have never experienced the pain of the loss you feel. But let me be the salve to those wounds. Remember Menodora's last words? She said not to let your light die with her. Please, your light is too pure to let die." Tears plummeted from Dane's eyes, and his face contorted with grief.

"Please, save me." He whimpered. Ephenia pulled him to her chest as he collapsed into her once more, hiding his mourning in the crook of her neck.