NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter Thirty Nine
=Okay, so this is the territory of wind or whatever...? What’s that mean?=
“The territory of the Wind. It means this area belongs to the Spirit of the Wind… Although it certainly didn’t originally.”
Oh. So there’s a spirit, and Til just expected me to somehow know about it? I literally grew up in a forest, so how did he expect me to know these things? What, was it just supposed to be ingrained in my seed or something? Maybe my mother was holding a sign that I was supposed to read while I was growing? Hang on, let me just pull out my ‘life as a plant’ manual and just-
Okay, that’s enough being mentally sarcastic.
Let me just freaking ask what I need to ask I guess, even if Til’s making it difficult.
=Alright… And I don’t like this Spirit of the Wind thing for some reason? Is that it?=
Yup, more of that stupid damn look from him! He’s lucky I don’t smack him with one of my tentacles for that! I totally would have by now I think, if not for his face being just my type. Mhmm, it’d definitely be a shame to mess that work of art up.
Til sighed and looked up to the sky like he was praying to God or something, and then he put out the fire with his magic and moved in front of me with a very serious look on his face.
“...I can’t understand how you don’t know about this. It’s very important that you know.”
I did my best to nod along to his words and act all serious back, but it didn’t really work out very well since my ‘face’ doesn’t actually emote and my nodding still definitely needs more work. Oh well, at least I think I got the point across, since Til suddenly knelt down and started burning pictures into the nicely manicured grass with a few controlled bursts of fire at his fingertips. Truly, his control over magic is incredibly precise; I wonder if all elves are as talented as him.
“The world was entrusted to the four spirits to look after it: The Spirit of the Wind, the Spirit of the Water, the Spirit of the Forest, and the Spirit of the Fire. Each of them started out equal, owning their own specialized territories and sometimes agreeing to mingle with a few of the others to create something new. However, as time grew on, some of the spirits grew greedy, and believed that their territories weren’t enough; And so, through various means, they began to wage war on the others with the purpose of stealing their lands.”
Til had drawn a circle for the world (which was pretty advanced of them to know for what I'd seen of this time-period, I think), and drew four symbols that I didn’t recognize, each at the corners of the circle he drew. He also drew some pretty even looking borders surrounding the symbols, although as he spoke he repeatedly expanded some of them to overlap some of the others.
Alright, I see what he means. So these Spirit things are a pretty big deal if they’ve literally owned a section of the world from the very beginning. But uh… Why does this matter? I’m not sure I get why this would make me feel bad in any way.
Eh, let’s just let him keep talking and not jump the gun.
“Over time, the spirits divided themselves into two factions: The ones who wanted to expand and grow, the Spirit of the Wind and the Spirit of the Fire, and the ones who wanted to continue as they’d always been, the Spirit of the Water and the Spirit of the Wood. These groups held hands and fought together for their respective common goals. The 'Expanding' faction created magical creatures from their energy, with the express purpose to invade and destabilize their bordering territories to help them take over, while the other faction created defenders to help them keep hold of and protect their lands. This, L’Lan’e’frea, is exactly why your kind exists: You’re a defense mechanism of the Spirit of the Forest, meant to rid itself of all intruders.”
Oh okay, yeah. Now it’s starting to make sense. Thanks for spelling it out so well for me, Til.
=So I’m a monster that the Spirit of the Forest created, and I don’t like this place because it belongs to an opposing spirit who attacked and stole it from us?=
Til nodded and pointed his finger to the exchange arrow he’d drawn between two of the symbols in the globe.
“In fact, this territory was an area that the Forest Spirit and Water Spirit had combined together, in an effort to increase their defenses. Remember that swamp we just left? This place used to be a part of that.”
Oh wow okay, so that’s why such a swampy and dangerous place suddenly became a wide open marshy grassland like this… Yeah, I totally buy it. Amazing that all those big lizards weren’t enough to fight off whatever the Spirit of the Wind sent here.
=...So were these little foxes- Oh sorry, these little wind wolves or whatever what took this territory?=
Til looked at the slowly cooling fox he’d been cooking over the fire, and then looked back at me perplexed, like he couldn’t figure out why I would even think that.
“No, these things only exist here because they wandered into the newly expanded space from the previously owned territory. They’re far too small and insignificant to have beaten the Cruias’s that were protecting the swamp.”
=Wait I don’t get it, so those lizards were protecting the place for the Spirit of the Water, but they still attacked us even though we’re from the Spirit of the Forest? Aren’t we supposed to be on the same side, though?=
“Simply being allies doesn’t mean that they won’t get offended by us traversing the lands they protect. The swamp may be a mingling of the two spirit’s lands, but that doesn’t mean they accept others through that weren’t meant to be there. It’s most likely set up like that to make sure one side doesn’t try to betray the other.”
Yeah okay, I can see that. Just because they’re friends doesn’t mean there’s no precedent for a spirit trying to take away another spirit’s territories. Better to be safe than sorry. Good thinking, guys.
I still totally have some more questions though, and I guess now is the designated question and answer section, so why not ask away?
=Okay, but then why did that treant- I mean, that other corpse plant attack me? We’re supposed to both be protectors of the forest or whatever, and we’re even the same thing, but I felt uncomfortable with him from the very beginning!=
Til’s eyebrows scrunched as he looked at me in thought. …Was my question that hard? But it seems like Til really knew his stuff about these kinds of things. If he doesn’t know, then maybe somebody else would? Maybe like an older elf or something? If that's the case, then I guess it’s a good thing he’s taking me back to his home, because-
“...Do you not have a territory, L’Lan’e’frea?”
What? What was he asking? I cocked my head in confusion, but it certainly didn’t do anything to help me understand.
=Huh…? A territory? But I thought everywhere belonged to the spirits or whatever.=
“They do, but your kind are protectors, remember? Typically you would have a deep seated urge to settle down somewhere and protect it from invaders for the Spirit of the Forest. Didn’t the northern L’Lan’e’frea you just mentioned also have one?”
Oh, now that I think about it he’s right, isn’t he? Didn’t that whole tall and ominous looking section in the woods belong to that treant? He certainly controlled it like it did. Seems pretty cool actually… So I was supposed to have had a place like that, too?
You know, there were a few spots that I thought I really liked and wanted to settle down at so far.
That deer lake,
The cave,
The hotsprings with the capybaras…
Did I think that just because I liked them, or was it my corpse plant instinct to set up a protected area causing it?
Honestly, I always just thought it was because I wanted to set up a home.
From the way he’s saying it though, I don’t think I felt as strongly about it as I was supposed to have, somehow…
=No, I don’t have anything like that at all… So that guy attacked me because I was in his territory?=
Doesn’t really make sense though, since me not liking him right back shouldn’t have been for that reason.
“No no, it’s more than just that. You didn’t like each other because it goes against the will of the forest. You’re meant to each have a protected land of your own, and be fiercely territorial. The only reason two L’Lan’e’freas should ever meet would be if their lands began to overlap, which would mean they’d have to fight each other for rights. It’s purely instinctual to fight as soon as you see one another; It seems the Spirit of the Forest never intended for two of you to exist in the same place.”
Huh. Alright. I guess that makes sense, but when he says it like that-
“But I truly don’t understand why you don’t have a land like you’re supposed to.”
Yeah, Til took the words right out of my mouth.
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AN: I'm going to be gone for a month, so I'll see all of you lovely people again February 15th!