The Guardians of the Woods [#JustWriteIt]

Chapter Thirteen: "Who am I going to lose?"

*Just found the image on Google and messed with it in Gimp.*

    I looked around. Everything was a gorgeous blue. The grass was sky blue, the giant lake in front of me was cerulean, the plants all around were berry blue, and the sky was a dark color of midnight blue that was speckled with little stars all over. I sat down, enjoying the cool breeze that was passing through.

    "No! Mommy! Please, I can't leave her!"

    I whipped my head around, wondering where the scream came from. It sounded like a young animal, but what was going on? I narrowed my eyes and saw three deer: a doe, a stag, and a fawn. The doe was blocking the fawn from running off, and the stag was keeping watch for something.

    "Apollo, your mother will hurt you! You can't stay with her!" The doe said as she kept moving to block the fawn.

    "I was helping her, she'll get better!" the fawn cried out as he tried to get past.

    The stag turned around and lowered his head to the fawn. "Apollo, I'm sorry. Your mother can't get better. The demons have infected her too far; she's gone now. Your mom isn't there anymore, only the demon," he said, trying to calm the fawn down.

    I realized something. Apollo...Apollonios! This fawn is Apollonios as a child! I wondered if I could've helped, but I then thought that it wouldn't matter. This vision wasn't real, and I can't fix the past.

    "No, no! She's still there! I promise!" Apollo sobbed, weakly headbutting the doe.

    "Apollo, why don't you get it? Your mother's gone. She's probably already banished by now," the doe sighed, not affected by the headbutts.

    Apollo sat down, exhausted by his attempts of leaving. He cried for a while, and the doe nuzzled him for comfort.

    They faded away, and adult Apollo appeared in front of me. "Everyone experiences loss in their life, Teofilo. Be prepared for this," he said.

     I whimpered. What did Apollo mean? Who would I lose? "Who am I going to lose?" I asked urgently.

    Apollo closed his eyes and didn't say anything. All of the sudden, he morphed into a demon and snarled at me. I yelped, ran off, and everything disappeared in a second.

    The owls had let us sleep near the base of the Meeting Pine after I washed off my scratch. I looked around, and I noticed Milu wasn't here. I yawned and tiredly got up to find him.

    It didn't take long; he was at the stream drinking. "Milu, why are you up so early?" I asked him, going over to a small patch of grass to eat.

    "No reason. I just woke up early. I was thinking about the last animal, by the way. 'By the trees that grow near,' a rabbit named Pine, I'm assuming. That's the only kind of tree that grows near the Rabbit Meadow. Their name makes sense, but I don't understand how Larissa's name fits. 'The name that is spoken with love.' What's that supposed to mean?" Milu turned to look at me.

    I shrugged. "Maybe 'Spoken with love' means it's just a beautiful name like I said. She's also the healer, and I'm pretty sure everyone mentions the Healer in a kind way." I took a bite out of the grass. It wasn't as good as the Bear Land's, but it was edible at least.

    "I guess that would work," Milu said before taking a drink again.

~*~*~

    We left to find Pine. Well, I assumed its name would be Pine like Milu said. Angel was easy to travel with since she could just eat berries with Cole. She stated that she could last a while without meat, but might catch a bird once in a while to eat. I told her to tell me when she would so that I could look away.

    "Alright, so it was a small, brown, male rabbit. Milu said his name might be Pine, but if not then we just look for tree related names. Got it, everyone?" I said as we walked.

    Cole nodded. "Wait, why a tree related name?" Angel asked, tilting her head.

    I told her about the dream when I got the prophecy, and Cole looked interested even though he knew it. "Huh. 'That came down from up above' makes sense since my name's Angel. You have clever dreams, Teo," Angel giggled.

    "Why haven't I seen my Guardian, Teo? Have you seen yours, Angel?" Cole asked, and Angel shook her head.

    Why haven't they seen their Guardian?  "Uh...I don't know. Maybe...They'll show up soon?" I said, very unsure. Am I the only one who's seen my Guardian? Am I doing something wrong?

    Angel shrugged. "I'd be all right with that."

    "I hope we do see them soon!" Cole squeaked.

    I hope so too.