Converging Destinies: Part 1

Chapter 152

       After a few moments of searching from above, Cedric saw a glint of light off of Ella's armor. He swooped down into a nearby clearing, and then transformed back.

       Eris and Cedric ran to meet up with the rest of the group, all of which turned to meet their arrival.

       "Northeast, there's something strange Northeast." Cedric said.

       "Strange how?" Zerai asked.

       "Even for this forest, it's weirdly overgrown, and it's not quite the right color of green." Cedric explained. The whole group glanced at one another.

       "How far?" Ara' Sei asked.

       "Not entirely sure, but it's around fifteen or twenty miles. I saw it from far away." Cedric said. Ella looked up at the sky above, and the afternoon light that trickled down through the trees.

       "Well? We've still got around four hours before evening hits. Let's go!" Ella shouted. Then, the group regathered themselves and set off to the Northeast.

       Cedric and Ella easily navigated the group directly to the Northeast. Both of them were almost immediately able to tell which direction it was, and Cedric vaguely remembered what direction he had seen it in from above.

       Every now and then, Cedric would step up to a tree, and trace his fingers along it while whispering to himself. When he finished, a barely visible symbol had been inscribed upon the tree bark.

       "What's that for?" Ella asked.

       "I said I'd leave messages, traces of where I was." Cedric answered.

       For four hours, the group trekked through the forest. Cedric effortlessly navigated through brambles, boulders, and trees. Ella was better at recalling the direction that they were going in.

       By the end of the day, the group was halfway to the strange grove from where they had started.

       "Eris, do you know about anything that would leave something like that behind?" Cedric asked. Cedric stared off into space for a moment.

       "I have no idea. I wouldn't have spotted it, but once you started flying directly towards it, it did seem very off." Eris said.

       "I'm trying to figure it out too. Wait... I think I might have some idea." Cedric said.

       "What is it?" Eris asked.

       "It's a creature, not a person, I know that. I've heard that some creatures out in the world manipulate the world itself with their very presence." Cedric said.

       "Okay." Eris followed.

       "Whatever we're going after, it's very, very magical. Its magic isn't like mine where I have to go out of my way to manipulate the forest, it's very existence in one place just alters the world around it like that." Cedric continued.

       Eris' eyes widened.

       "Oh no." They muttered.

       "What is it?" Cedric asked, taken aback by Eris' sudden caution.

       "You're absolutely dead on, Cedric. This thing does have that level of magical power and it isn't a person even remotely. It has to have a reason to dislike druids. Not only that, but no ordinary creature would be smart enough to not leave traces behind. This thing is very intelligent, but it's not any ordinary animal." Eris continued.

       "The grove was large too, well over a mile across." Cedric added.

       "Cedric, do you know what this all means?" Eris asked, their eyes wide. Cedric shook his head. Eris looked to Cedric.

       "Cedric, this thing that's been making druids disappear. It's a dragon."