Zoella

Part 54

"..."

"And now, we need to purify the forest immediately."

"We will escort you."

Darfin commanded the elves that faithfully follow him everywhere to stay behind. He only took Tyrael, Hayes, and Zoella to the cave where the life stone remain.

Right at the cave's entrance, Zoella could feel the overwhelming power enveloping her body. It was warm and welcoming. She now understood why Hayes compared the life stone with the light.

Zoella entered the cave with anticipation in her heart. It was a stone from a myth and was said to have enormous power. She was curious about the shape of this marvelous stone.

"Right here."

Darfin pointed to a space behind a big stone. Hayes and Zoella hurriedly went over to take a look.

A pang of disappointment hit her heart the second she laid her eyes on the stone. Zoella expected the stone to be large. But this stone wasn't even as big as her palm.

Contrary to Zoella's disappointment, Hayes looked impressed by the stone. This white little stone had bigger energy than he expected. He carefully scooped the stone and placed it on a flat stone. Now that she looked at it closely, its shape was like a teardrop.

'No wonder the myth said that.'

Hayes and Zoella sat across each other. However, Hayes still hadn't told her what she should do.

"Do it just like when you spread your mana."

Zoella nodded. The two of them began to focus with their hands hovered over the life stone. Hayes's red mana and Zoella's blue mana danced around the life stone making it shine more than ever.

The dark cave slowly filled with light. It was dazzling that Tyrael and Darfin covered their eyes.

The mana brought out the life stone's power as it spread around the forest. The life stone couldn't bring back the dead. However, it healed the dying animals and plants.

Hayes nodded as a sign to Zoella that everything had been back to normal. Neither the black smoke nor the stain of black mana could be felt in the forest.

The light started to fade as they stopped channeling their mana to the life stone.

Zoella blinked her eyes a few times. For some reason, the forest felt different after they wiped off the black mana. She didn't know what it is but she felt it.

While Zoella wondering about the feeling in her heart, Hayes grabbed a stone and carved it exactly the same as the life stone's shape.

He brought it closer to the life stone as he channeled his mana again. The red mana took out the life's stone energy as it wrapped around the carved stone.

The carved stone gradually let out the light just like the life stone. It even emitted the same energy as the real one.

"Sir Hayes, what is it that you make?"

Tyrael asked as he and his father approached him.

"From now on, this is the real life stone."

The three people had the same reaction to his words. They frowned as they tried to process what Hayes just said.

"What do you mean, teacher?"

Hayes put on a smirk with his hand rubbing the carved stone.

"It's been two days since we passed out. During that time, there would be no way the master  wouldn't be suspicious as to why his subordinates hadn't back yet."

"..."

"So, he commanded his other subordinates to look for them, and when they found those corpses his next move will be spying on this village to find the culprit, which is me."

"What's that got to do with the stone?"

"Easy, Zoe. Now, because this cave is still inside the village I believe they still haven't caught a glimpse of us. Later when we leave the village, take this stone and place it in a different cave."

"So they will mistake this stone as the real one."

"Correct. While we're at it, we will create an illusion in this cave making the life stone's energy subtle."

"I see. Very well, we will do it."

Hayes's smile got wider as he handed the stone to Darfin. With that, they proceeded Hayes's plan without a hitch.

Just like Hayes expected, the black mages didn't make a move even after the two left with Tyrael. Darfin wanted Tyrael to go with them so he could learn about the outside world. And Hayes had no choice but to take him in.

"Seem like things are going well."

With his mana, he could feel the black mage follow the elves when they move the fake life stone to another cave. But they didn't attack the elves at all.

"Well, yeah but we need to do something with these two."

Hayes stopped as he looked at Tyrael and Eirwen. There would be no way these two could go to the human village looking like their current appearance.

"Right."