The Blade Of God-Chapter 55: The Forest of Arcane (Slash III)

The Forest of Arcane is the first stage--the beginning premise to one reaching the Tower of Gods.

The forest isn’t built like a maze per-say, but it is the mechanics of filtering out of the forest that make it so. The forest repeats itself at a certain point before the victims run in various circles, facing the same starting point they arrive at until either they resolve the maze (which is usually unlikely), or they defeat the spring guardian who protects a portion of whatever maze-point they reside at. If you’re lucky, you face a guardian and earn a win, and if your not, you may never meet a guardian for eons, leading ultimately to your forsaken doom.

"The Gods really packed all the punches to protect the tower." Zayn said, listening as Jeremiah tells her of the forest origins. "So the forest is like a maze and--then, what was with the lake thing? I-."

You also saw something?" Jeremiah asked, grabbing a tree branch and lifting it high enough for Zayn to walk by without being smacked with it. "I...well from what legends foretell, the lake is the Lake of Foretelling."

"Foretelling?" Zayn asked, watching as Jeremiah catches up to her pace. "Oh, so that lake is..."

"A Lake that foretells the future, correct." Jeremiah said. "The lake was gifted to the current Goddess of Spring, Persa, from the God of the Underworld, Hayden. Hayden gifted it to his wife so she could see the future of her mother, the Goddess of Agriculture, Poppy. However, Persa ended up seeing the death of her mother, which before she could stop it, still prevailed. Legends say she seeks the lake whenever she misses her mother and fills it with her tears."

"Oh that’s-that is so sad." Zayn said, a hint of saddens in her tone, one Jeremiah notes with an odd sense of butterflies in his chest. "I mean, Hayden was just trying to do something nice for his wife and-wow, seeing your mother’s death sounds like a lot on one’s shoulders."

"Correct I-well, I agree..." Jeremiah said. "The lake is only used if one wants to ignore the risk of seeing a horrible future, but just as much as the future can be bad, it can also be fairly sweet."

"Oh wow, so you don’t even know why you get the vision you get?" Zayn asked, and there’s a hint of nervousness in her voice, something Jeremiah catches on. "I...I see."

"When one touches the water, it’s like a good-luck fortune draw." Jeremiah said. "One never knows."

"Well I hope your future-vision-thing is of happiness." Zayn said. "I hope it brought you some sort of closure o-or something."

"If I’m honest." Jeremiah said. "My mind is of a mess. I would say it brought closure to one issue, yet it...it complicates things a bit. Of course, if it is what I believe it is to be. Yet I-well, I also hope for yourself Zayn, it is of abundance."

Zayn nods and clears her throat, and Jeremiah watches slowly as her caramel skin begins to blossom red as she plays with her fingers in her hand.

"Oh shucks..." Is all Zayn mutters, causing Jeremiah to feel confused and slightly concerned.

Jeremiah opens his mouth to retort to Zayn’s behavior, but there isn’t much time to dwell on that issue, as another one persists, this time in the form of a loud roar, one that causes the trees near Jeremiah and Zayn to blow forward, causing Jeremiah’s once drenched and wet hair to dry like spikes on his head, and for Zayn’s skirt to rustle with the wind and lift up. Jeremiah quickly turns his head as he moves to stand in front of Zayn, shielding her waist from whatever guest appears to head towards them.

Zayn blinks, hurriedly fixing her skirt and looking up at Jeremiah, gripping his forearm in an unspoken thanks as her cheeks burn red in embarrassment, and her heart hammers in her chest.

Zayn and Jeremiah stand with bated breath, watching as more trees rapidly move with the wind, the roaring gets closer, and there’s now the sound of heavy footsteps rapidly running towards them. Zayn readies her fist, a nervously expression on her face as Jeremiah calmly grips his obsidian sword’s hilt from strapped to his back.

The two knights wait in anticipation until a large, round figure steps out of a meadow of trees. Its tall, round body and fat legs stomp on the ground, causing a small crater to form within its step. Jeremiah and Zayn watch as the figure--a fiend made out of stone--glooms down at them with angry as their stone wings flap, causing the surrounding trees to move with the wings’ heavy cries.

"A stone...dude? Giant?" Zayn asked, slowly putting her fists down.

"I am not sure myself." Jeremiah said. "I have never seen a round stone move like this before..."

"Stone fairy!" The stone fiend cries, its voice loud and high in pitch. "Stone fairy, I am!"

"Oh! Sorry to offend!" Zayn said, raising her hands up. "Swear that was my next guess!"

Jeremiah snorts, rolling his eyes as he watches the stone fairy huff, bouncing on its round legs in irritation as it glowers down at the two knights.

"So we fight this guy, win, and leave, right?" Zayn said, pointing at the stone fairy. "I-I think I can take him on, Captain."

"I wouldn’t mind, Holy Knight Zayn."

Jeremiah said, letting his hand drop from his sword’s hilt, "But please remember your strength-."

Zayn sighs, exhaling in and out before she nods and rushes forward. She reaches back, extending her hand to form into a fist, but she feels a familiar, long spear form in her empty hand. Zayn squeaks, accidentally throwing the spear instead of her fist at the stone fairy, only able to throw the spear through half of the stone fairy’s face and through a cavern of trees, causing a trail of trees to whisk away, a large tunnel of carters to carve themselves into the ground, and a cloud in the sky to part from the strength of the throw.

Zayn slowly turns around, awkwardly meeting eyes with an expressionless Jeremiah, who watches as the spear causes the extreme mess and sticks itself far away into the ground.

"Holy Knight-."

"S-sorry, Captain." Zayn said, cutting Jeremiah off, clearing her throat, and pulling the long chain that attaches Excalibur to her wrist, causing the long spear to drag itself back to her hands and curve its chains around her arm. "And to you too, Exci."

Zayn ignores the grumbling in her head, focusing her attention to Jeremiah, who watches the stone fairy scream in agony, holding its half gone face and stutter backwards.

"I’ll take care of the rest, Holy Knight Zayn."

Jeremiah calmly said, grabbing his obsidian blade from his back, gripping the sword’s pommel as he shakes his messy hair, letting his loose black curls become a curtain for his green eyes.

"Exodus."Jeremiah said to his sword. ""فك درعه." Jeremiah continues, hearing steam release from his sword’s cover and release as the sword’s sheath spilts into two, dropping to the ground while the steam from his sword releases. The obsidian sword weeps as the blacken sword is slowly absorbed with a blackened, thick smoke before the smoke seeps into the sword, eating away the sword’s black color and leaving the sword’s body as instead of a black blade, a clear blade with smoke fuming out of the swords’ guard.

"Holy Gods." Zayn mutters as Jeremiah calmly steps forward, holding his large, invisible blade as he eyes the stone fairy with a blank expression. "T-that sword is-it’s invisible?! Holy-! Captain is so cool!"

Jeremiah opens his mouth to speak, feeling the tips of his ears stain red, but he shakes his head, focusing his attention on the large stone fairy standing before him, ready to roar and raise it’s fist at Jeremiah.

"Stupid, you!" The stone fairy cries. "You stupid-!" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Jeremiah doesn’t bat an eyelash as he swings his sword, watching with a blank face as the stone fairy crumbles into tiny pieces, yet as a last resort, lets out one last might roar as it’s only remaining arm reaches for Jeremiah, who strikes the arm effortlessly before he turns away.

"That was...quick..." Zayn said, "For such a sword, this feels wasted..."

"I appreciate the sincerity." Jeremiah said, watching as smoke swirls on his sword, Exodus’ body, forming a firm cover in the form of a black and red sword sheath. "It’s a blade passed down within my family lineage, so the compliment is much appreciated."

"Dragons are so freakin’ cool..." Zayn whispers, holding her hands to her cheeks as she stands on her tippy toes and bounces. "Like super, duper cool!"

Jeremiah looks away, feeling his cheeks and ears blaze with warmth, but he doesn’t say much else, not until where the stone fairy once crumbles, there is a faint light that forms before Jeremiah and Zayn. The light begins to crack, breaking into pieces before a small portal forms, revealing another part of the forest.

"Should we walk through that?" Zayn said, pointing to the small portal. "We should, right? Last time we walked through a magical portal, we all ended up being spilt. I don’t want to be apart from Captain, though..."

Jeremiah clears his throat, ignoring how the words Zayn mutters makes his heart thump in his chest.

"We’ll be just fine," Jeremiah said, offering his hand to Zayn. "Yet, in case, this method will work."

Zayn heavily swallows, nodding her head as she slips her smaller hand into Jeremiah’s larger one, watching as he delicately steps into the portal and pulls her from behind himself to follow.