The Ancient Forest Sage

The birds chirping echoed throughout the dense and silent forest as the gentle flow of streams endlessly rushed through the rocks and riverbeds. The distance of the branches of trees allowed the sunlight to crack through, emanating its light to the lush soils underneath.

The Great Forest of Dura was the largest forest in the world, inhabited by thousands of plants, animals, and magical creatures. The peaceful forest was known to be protected by a guardian diety that slaughters anyone who tries to harm its serene and pure beauty.

Alden watched over the forest for thousands of years, keeping away any evil that tries to harm it. His powers have grown deep with the forest that his body breathes with it. He was connected to the trees, that if the forest perishes, so will he.

Cackle. Boom!

The silent forest was filled with chaos after a powerful explosion caused the trees to burn. Animals were running rampantly, away from the flames and falling trees.

"Get away from here!"

Alden rushed to the direction of the disaster. A tall man with a youthful looking face hovered above the flames. His body was filled with green scale-like leaves as a pair of curved horns protruded above his temples.

"Damned Flood"

He screamed, reaching his hands out in front of him. A gush of water appeared from thin air, flowing toward the direction of the flames. Alden continuously poured the water until the flames died down, leaving only charred trees, animals, and creatures in its wake.

"Who did this?!"

Alden lowered himself until he reached the ground, his eyes filled with fury and despair. Not only did the flames hurt the forest, but it hurt him too. He watched as the innocent creatures lie lifelessly on the ground, the smell of death reeking the air.

His body twitched as he felt unfamiliar presence in the forest. He sighed and stood, offering prayers to the fallen. When he walked away, a shiny metal object caught his eye.

It was a metal pin with a shield insignia. Inside the shield was a lion standing on its hind legs, mouth wide open and a long serpent-like tongue coming out of it.

Alden glared at the pin, trying to locate the presence of whoever owned it. He took another form and rushed to the other side of the forest where he felt a large group of presence.

"The ones who did this will pay."

--

"Over here!"

A young girl jumped across the creeks as her comrades ran after her. They carried large weapons with them, looking around for a particular tree to cut branches from.

"It must be here somewhere."

The girl glanced left and right to find the tree, trying to identify through the dense number of other trees in front of her. She and her party was only trying to earn a quick buck when they caught the attention of the guardian.

"Oh."

The party whipped their heads to the direction of the sound, an old man carrying a bag of firewood on his back. On his right hand was a walking stick while on the other was a small flask.

"I didn't know the forest has visitors today."

The old man grinned, showing his narrowed eyes and incomplete set of teeth. His wrinkles creased through his forehead when he cracked a smile.

"Gust, help him."

The woman ordered one of her allies— a tall bulky man with dark skin and long braided hair. He immediately ran to the direction of the old man, offering to take the stack of firewood from his back. The old man ecstatically agreed and gave his bag to the bigger man.

"What brings you to the Great Forest of Dura?"

The old man asked, causing the group to look at each other in silence. He took a sip of water from the flask on his hand as he waited for the young adventurers to answer his question.

"My name is Bella, and this is my party, Gust, Drake, and Simon."

She introduced her allies. Gust was the tall man who acted as their tank. Drake was a rather short man with red hair and a blue cape— he was their mage. While Simon was a slender man with medium build. He carried a staff and took the role of priest.

"We came here in search for a golden hornwood tree for a quest. Do you, perhaps know where we could get one?"

The old man nodded and then grinned.

"I happened to have a tree right on my backyard."

The group was excited and happily followed the old man. It was their fourth day trying to find the tree, but they have been losing hope. It was a rare tree and can only be seen deep in the Great Forest, yet they have been walking and getting lost for days yet were still unable to collect the material.

"My name is Alden."

The old man introduced himself as a retired lampmaker. He told his stories to the young adventurers as they ventured through the thick forest of Dura.

When the adventurers arrived at a small wooden cabin deeper into the woods several hours later, they saw the magnificent tree behind it. The cabin and the tree were surrounded with an old picket fence that was covered with moss and has a couple of sequences missing.

"Pardon my old, humble home."

The old man spoke. He sighed and opened his nearly-broken door.

"It's not much, but it is home for me."

Bella looked around and frowned. She tapped on Gust's shoulder, and the man almost immediately knew what she wanted. He glanced at the others and they immediately agreed.

"Do you want us to fix your home for you?"

Bella offered, making the old man look at her with a wide smile.

"You saved us an entire month of trying to find the tree, so it's the least that we could do for you."

The old man nodded and thanked them. He told them how he was too old to fix anything, so he just let things be. He let the group fix the house along with the fence. With their energy and some abilities, they were able to finish the job in less than a day's work, rebuilding everything from scratch.

"Oh, how lovely the house looks."

The old man grinned and smiled at the adventurers, satisfied with how everything turned out. Bella and his friends were also happy that they were able to give back to what they owed.

"Oh, how lovely it is."

They all snapped their heads to the direction of the voice. It was a tall burly man with a dark suit and a sword as big as him. He grinned while walking towards the group, kicking the fence gate as a few more big men followed him.

"I see the golden hornwood tree right there and it was a good thing I followed you for days. I was losing hope too, you know. I never thought a couple of nobodies would actually do it."

The group was frightened at the sight of the man. Bella started shaking as Gust hid her and the old man behind him. He grit his teeth as his body slowly began to shake in fear as well.

"Damian Foxx."

Gust muttered. The old man peeked through him, but he raised his arm to hide him. His body was huge enough so that Alden could not see through.

"No, sir. This man is dangerous. He works directly under Lord Foxx, a crowned adventurer."

When Gust glanced back at Damian, it was too late. A powerful fist greeted his jaw, blowing him away in a blink of an eye. The rest of the group could only watch Damian annihilate them one by one.

Bella tried to wrap her arms around the old man, but it was too late. A hand gripped her nape, raising her from the ground. She tried to wriggle her way out of Damian's grasp, but the man was too powerful against her frail body.

"An assassin should not be caught this easily."

Damian laughed as he slammed Bella to the ground, causing her to puke blood and break some of her bones. The old man trembled in fear for his life as the tall figure of Damian approached him.

When his hand was about to reach the old man, Gust ran forward. He raised his sword, swinging it against Damian. Although he was fast and powerful, he was considerably weaker than him.

With a single hand holding his sword, Damian blocked the attack. He glanced at the attacker, grinning and then suddenly slashing his sword. Just when the blade was about to end his life, a flaming orb was launched from Drake's wand.

"Run, old man!"

Simon yelled and ran in front of the old man. He cast a skill to heal his allies while Bella jumped in front of him. She glared at Damian while defensively raising her daggers.

"You need to leave us here, Alden. He's more powerful than us, but we can stall him as much as we can."

The old man was silent as Bella told him to leave. He only stared at the scenes in front of him, speechless and frozen.

"Damn it!"

Bella growled and launched herself from the ground. She spun her body to a twisting motion while tilting the blades of her daggers upward to create a drill-like attack.

Damian sighed and parried the attack like it was nothing. He yawned as several more fireballs were launched at him, all of them not even leaving a simple burn on his body.

"This is getting annoying."

Damian gripped his sword with both of his hands. With a single slash, all of his enemies were cut right on their chests. A large slice on their bodies caused their blood to splash, making them to fall on their knees.

Damian's followers laughed as they watched the young adventurers meet their demise. The man shook his head in amusement and approached the old man.

"I am a six star adventurer and they were merely two or three stars. They really thought they could defeat me when I'm about to reach my first Crown, huh?"

He glanced at the old man and grinned.

"I'll spare your life because you're just an old man."

When he turned around, one of his followers dashed toward the old man. He had a sword in his hand, ready to cut.

"I'll spare you, but I didn't say my allies will too."

Damian grinned as his follower raised his sword and was about to cut the old man.

"This is for some EXP!"

Splat!

When Damian turned and shrugged, he smelled death behind him. He felt the warm liquid splash on his back, making his eyebrows crease in confusion. There seemed to be too much blood for a such an old man.

His other followers paled as they stared behind Damian in horror. His forehead creased in confusion and turned, only for him to lose the strength on his knees.

"W-What..."

The old man sighed. He stood and looked up, showing the blood that was splattered at him. His body was covered with blood and pieces of flesh.

"I was trying to get to know them, you know."

Damian stepped back in fear as he felt an immense surge of power flow from the old man. The old man grinned and chuckled, watching their lives flash before their very eyes.

"I see now that humans are still pretty terrible. Even after eons, you're all still pathetic."

Just when Damian tried to escape, he felt a pang of pain in his foot. He looked down, only to see his body twisting like a wet laundry. With a snap, Damian's body exploded, splattering all his flesh and blood around him. His followers followed him, all meeting the same unfortunate fate.

Meanwhile, Alden leaned down to check on the younger adventurers and sighed. A pale green energy lit up from his palm, covering the bodies of the adventurers.

"May you never find your way into the forest again."

--

Bella felt a gentle tug on her shoulder, causing her eyes to flutter open. It was Gust, looking at her while sitting beside her lying body.

"You're awake. Good."

Her eyes wandered around her, trying to take in her surroundings.

"We're outside of the forest? What about the old man?"

"This is where we came from four days ago, Bella. And I'm pretty sure that we almost died. I think that old man wasn't just an old man."

Drake said to her, making her smile as she watched the dense forest in front of her. She looked down to see the branch of golden hornwood lying beside her, causing another smile to paint her face.

"The ancient forest sage is real."