ELO

  He could not see her when she signed her name. Bree hoped that somehow he would recognize her voice. He sobbed and sobbed. A voice hissed, "He can't hear you…." Bree saw the mask. It was lying on the ground intact. Bree ignored it. She shook his limp body. "Faelorn," she called his name signing. Bree calmed her panic. She let her power flow around her.

  She felt it, the mask was hiding something, she looked at it. The mask was alive; it was part of Faelorn. Bree picked it up; what could be binding him to it? Faelorn had lost his brother, he carried the guilt with him. Bree had destroyed the mask, and yet here it was inside Faelorn's mind.

  The mask mocked, "you'll never find the answers…."

  Bree reached out and poured her powers into the mask.

  The mask screamed, and there was a flash of white light.

  Bree was in the spring, where her second life had begun. She could see something in the water. Bree ran to the edge and saw the truth in the king's reflection. She saw a red-headed little boy crying; he was covered in blood. Lying on an alter. Bree watched as a giant horned creature approached him. It was...the lord of the forest. Joltrun. He was almost unrecognizable, many many years younger. Like Faelorn's, he had a half stag form, his beard was mossy with mushrooms growing on it.

  He lifted the shrieking boy, he said gently, "there, there… your hardly a babe."

  Faelorn the child shrieked, but Joltrun held him for a long time. He said, "She gone...that terror. She will not harm you." Bree stared inches from the pool. She saw the memory crystal clear. Faelorn was looking at his brother, Joltrun covered his eyes. He said, "It's too late for him… his soul is gone perhaps to wander my forest. Come, I will take you home." Bree saw the memories one by one they flashed. Faelorn was a boy then older. He hunted, he gathered. Everywhere he went, he followed the lord of the forest like a lost lamb. Bree saw him grow into a man. He was strong and inseparable from Joltrun. For one moment she got a clear view of Faelorn and saw that he had a pair of skinny antlers. Bree leaned in and the vision was gone, it had shifted to a new memory. She saw the moment Joltrun gifted the Spirit of Uhu'rue to him. She felt the power of the spirit, enter him. She saw him fighting giving all of himself to protect the innocent and helpless fae of the lost wood. Always after each fight Bree saw that Faelorn feared his dead tormentor was watching him. A rage like no other would grip him and he would tremble on bereavement. Faelorn's terror ran deep inside him. He refused to sleep because he feared his nightmares would become reality. Above all Faelorn feared his adopted mother, and the brother that had turned on him. Bree could feel Faelorn's emotions in the spring and she knew it was her special gift. She wept for the lord of the forest. Faelorn could not let go of his previous life, and it held him down and burrowed into his heart. His fear was what the enemy used to control him.

  Bree looked back, gripping the mask in her hand. She could feel Faelorn’s pain. Bree opened her eyes. She reached for Faelorn in the darkness, and another flash, she was back where he was lying on top of the coffin. Bree looked around; they were surrounded by infinite blackness. She had yet to return to reality, her gift was leading her further into Faelorns mind. The mask hissed, "you can't kill me, or you'll kill him."

  She carried the mask and held it in one hand. She poured the wild magic into Faelorn. Every ounce, every bit of her soul. The masked demon shrieked, but Bree did not let it go. Guided by instinct, she reached into Faelorn's mouth and pulled the miasma's tentacle like black root from his body.

  Faelorn screamed and shuddered. He spat black blood. He was still submerged in the darkness that enveloped his mind; he looked at her. She looked at him. He cried, "You left me, you lied to me. You weren't real. I thought I finally found a reason. A reason to be in the forest. I was no longer lonely, you helped me fight my fears. I had a reason to fight them. A reason to return to you every morning."

  The miasma tried to reach for him and into him. Bree didn't have words; she signed, letting go of the shriveling root. He had never heard her voice. "Faelorn..." She touched his face gently, signing "I love you…" She kissed him hard, weeping. Terrified that she would lose him to the darkness.

  Faelorn shuddered. He opened his eyes; they changed from orange to yellow, then to a deep green. He receded into his human form, except for a thin pair of antlers on his head. "Bree...Bree. Your alive."

  Bree wiped her eyes. She took his hand to her heart. "The fairy seed saved me when the miasma left me, it kept me from dying. Then the King came to me." Bree cried. Faelorn looked around. He said, "where am I?" Bree signed, hoping he would believe her. She said, "We're in your mind, Faelorn, we're inside of you." Bree felt the walls of darkness shaking. She knew her time was limited. She said, "You need to wake up; your not dead yet. You need to fight the miasma. You need to let go of your brother, of your guilt. You need to face what you fear most."

  Faelorn was scared. He said, "what if I can't..."

  Bree held his hand. She signed, "I want to start over with you in the forest. The king has allowed me to stay." Faelorn stood the miasma falling from his body; his face was determined. "NO NO NO," the mask shrieked. It pleaded desperately, "You can't let me die. You need me. It's your fault, mother killed me. You didn't protect me from her." Faelorn looked at the mask, contemplating it. "Goodbye, brother…" He smashed it with his foot. Bree was pushed out of Faelorn's mind, and she phased back into the king's forest. She opened her eyes. To see Tharin's machine be pulled apart by the creature that was the spirit of Uhu'rue. Bakura roared, and a jet of fire hit the beast in the face.

  The creature dropped the machine; it began shrieking, confused.

  Faelorn was awake, he spat out pieces of bloodied root. He stood screaming, as his body changed and he attempted to pull the spirit back into his own body. He tried to return to his strongest form.

  "Noooo, Nooo," screeched the ghoul inside of the coffin. Bree picked up her dagger. Elo looked at her, she was covered in sweat. She had shifted back to her human form. Her hands were bloodied, from the creature clawing at her from inside the coffin. Bree touched the lid holding her dagger. Elo yelled, "what are you doing…." Bree threw open the cover and plunged the elven dagger inside of it. She said, "I'm getting my heart back…."

  Bree stabbed the ghoul, the creature shrieked; its skeletal face contorting. It cried, "No...My heart, My HEART." It clawed at Bree, but the fairy magic protected her. Bree, half inside the coffin, pulled back her dagger and stabbed the horror in the neck. Elo used her arms to hold the ghoul's claws. Bree left her dagger in the ghoul's neck, and she reached inside and grabbed her still-beating heart that was embedded into the ghoul's chest.

  Bree pulled and found that with her magic flowing in her hands, the heart easily came free. Bree's heart sang to her. She could feel it. Her heart was her happiness that had been stripped away by the ghoul and her son, trampled by slavers and beaten by a cruel and unforgiving world.

  Bree held her heart to her chest. The fairy seed began to pull it in with it's roots, Bree groaned in pain. The ghoul was held down by Elo; it shrieked and screamed. The elfin dagger’s magic lit it on fire. Elo couldn't hold it any longer. The ghoul leaped from the coffin throwing Elo, who fell backward hard. Bree tumbled out of the casket. She was contorted, holding her chest. Pain raced through her body, the fairy queen spoke. "I'm going to leave you, Bree, your heart is back where it belongs. They enchanted it to keep it in the condition that it was in when they took it from you. This will hurt." Bree braced herself and rolled to her side, silently crying in pain. The ghoul shook the dagger free, it screamed as it regenerated and the silver fire was put out. Stalking in the mass of rotting vines and animals, it gathered the pieces of the broken mask. The ghoul slid the fragments on its rotten face. It hissed, "Anon, my true son, my good boy. Come back to me."

  The mask attached itself; the ghoul looked up as rot sprang from the spirit of Uhu'rue. "Dark god, I have awakened, come to me. I will be your anger, your vengeance. We will burn the fae together."

  Faelorn c
ould not pull his power back. He screamed and contorted as the corrupted spirit howled, and the demonic entity that had become Anon tried to possess Uhu'rue's spirit. The dark entity pulled back, blowing a blackened wind as it contorted the ancient spirit.

  Elo looked helplessly. Faelorn stood a few feet away, black miaisma clung to his chest in roots. The roots of black miasma where entangled in threads of gold. Elo realized that the threads of gold were part of the spirit of Uhu'rue. The black roots attempted to render the soul from Faelorn’s chest. Faelorn strained, trying to force the spirit back by will alone. The ghouls cried, "You're a weak child; the spirit is mine; your spirit is mine." It attempted to wretch the spirit free summoning more roots to wrap around Faelorn. Black miasma rained from Uhu'rue's pained spirit. Bree lay beside Faelorn entangled in roots. She was in to much pain to get up. The fairy seed finished sealing Bree heart back in place. Elo was pushed away from Faelorn by a mass of roots that the ghoul summoned from the rotting shell that was Anon possessing Uhu'rue.

  Faelorn looked as if he might lose. The roots of the beast threatened to swallow him. The twisted spirit of Uhu'rue circled them like a snake; it opened its stag like skull and screamed. Faelorn turned his face away, and saw Elo. Seeing her fighting a mire of roots to get to him, he had an idea.

  He cried, "Elo, Elo…."

  Elo got up; the fierce wind blew between them as the demon screamed, and the ghoul rose from the ground reaching for the demonic spirit. The creature beckoned to the confused and corrupted soul. The ghoul called. "My coven now, it is time to rise." The dead bodies of the bereaved and witches rose. They clawed at the fae attacking them, no matter how hard the magical creatures fought them. The monsters of the dark regenerated and continued their siege towards the spring. The ghoul began to merge with the corpses of the dead. It twisted into a mass of rot and death. It mocked as it grew stronger. It said in a horrendous voice, "the Spirit of Uhu'rue is ours, your too late, Faelorn, my child."

  Elo crawled to Faelorn. The miasma had returned, he could no longer move, and black vines crawled up his body. He cried as the spirit of Uhu'rue convulsed and screamed. The spirit's corruption and possession was spreading to him.

  "You can do it," Elo whispered to him, she touched his hand.

  The rot had almost swallowed him, the tendrils wrapped around him. Bree was moaning on her side, the roots of the miasma started to cling to her. Elo ripped at the roots with her muzzle. Faelorn cried out, asking.

  "Elo, do you love this forest?" Elo had tears in her eyes, "yes..." Faelorn gasped in pain, asking, "Do you love the fae?

  Elo shook her head. "Yes, Faelorn, I love everyone here."

  He closed his eyes, pained. "Then Elo, I grant you my power, all of it passed on to me by Joltrun. I relinquish the spirit of Uhu'rue, to you, Elo. You are now the lord of the forest." The creature began to shrivel and die. Faelorn eyes glowed green, and something golden leaped from his chest to Elo's. The ghoul screamed, "NO!!!"

  She pointed to Anon and the evil one that had assimilated into the bereaved bodies and the dead witches. They were a mass of rotting vines and glowing orange eyes. With out the Spirit of Uhu'rue power Anon was nothing more than a weak shadow. The ghoul screamed, "get the spirit before it escapes."

  Elo stood up. Her eyes glowed green, she transformed into a deer and then grew. Horns sprouted from her head, flowers blossomed on her hide. Moss replaced her fur. Vine sprouted from her neck like whips. Her coat was long, and feathered blue flowers grew around her head and neck. A voice cried out behind the ghoul, shouting, it was Joltrun. He was limping, covered in blood, he cried out. "Elo, I grant you my power that Uhu'rue's spirit will bless you as well." Elo grew even more prominent, her horns curling. Elo bent her head and charged the failing serpent-like mass of hatred. Her golden hooves crushed the ghoul beneath them, and her antlers speared into the body of Anon. The spirit of Uhu'rue was cleansed and within Elo, the mass of Faelorn's hatred lay withering on the ground. The demons power was severed from Uhu'rue. It lay shrivled in a mass of death and dying miasma.

  The miasma left the forest and the bereaved began to fall back, the good fae convergered and gave pursuit to the fleeing creatures of the night.

  The demon possessing Anon shrieked with rage. Elo drove him back with her horns, her call, a song. The creature thrashed and shrieked, but it began to turn to ash when it tried to attack Elo. Elo had golden flames shining from her body. The spirit of Uhu'rue was renewed and it gleamed with power and strength. Determined, Elo drove the darkness away trampling it beneath her cloven hooves.

  The shadow called Anon burst into flames and faded from existence. The ghoul screeched, clawing towards Elo. Elo turned back and stood guard over Faelorn and Bree. The bodies of the bereaved and witches burnt into ashes. The ghoul lay withering on the ground. It wailed, "Nooo, Noooo!" The ghoul got up, but by the time is tried to lunge at Faelorn and Bree, Elo reared and stomped on the ghoul stopping the rotting wraith in her tracks. Bree got up pained, she made her way to Faelorn's side. Faelorn held her to his chest. Miasma fell from him in chunks. He was pale and shaking; he was not entirely human. Bree started at him hard. She noticed his ears were slightly pointed, and a pair of thin twig-like antlers graced his head.

  "Are you okay?" He whispered. Bree signed her voice, reverberating with the elven letters that danced in the air around her. "I'm okay, it's just painful, my heart it aches so much." In one hand, Bree held the queen's seed that had returned to its normal state; in her other hand, she held something rotten and black.

  Elo crushed the back of the ghoul. She looked at Faelorn. Bree showed him the rotten thing in her hand, he recoiled. "Faelorn, it's your mother's heart. You need to crush it. They left it inside me when they took mine. I think it's what keeps her alive. The ghoul pleaded. "Faelorn, my son, don't kill me. I'm your mother. I gave you a home when no one loved you. I love you, son, come to me. Let me hold you."

  Faelorn glared at her. "You wanted my body to be a vessel to your evil god. Not just once but twice. Your not a mother, your a creature of the night. You don't even know the meaning of the word, you killed my real mother. Joltrun was the second to love me, and you killed him too. I can feel my father dying." Faelorn held the heart out to the ghoul, and as she reached her skeletal hand for it, he crushed it. The ghoul shrieked and died, turning to ash. Bree leaned against Faelorn. Exhaustion washed through her, and she fell asleep.

  It was many hours before the fae could lick their wounds. Most of the ones the survived returned to their forest. The forest began reverting to its natural state. The miasma was gone. Bree handed the fairy seed to the fairies to watch, and they kept it by the spring, taking turns holding and protecting it, while they waited for the queen to regenerate. Bakura looked at Elo, her eyes round with disbelief as she looked up at the lord of the forest. She said, "Well… I think you finally found you're calling Elo." Elo did not know what to think; she stared at her reflection in the spring. Faelorn and Bree laid together on fur pallets. The deer were out in the field grazing. A few returned to human forms, and they cleaned the cave, making it comfortable for Faelorn and Bree. The couple lay to exausted to even walk. Bree looked at Faelorn, she stared at his antlers. He turned red. "There's something I have to tell you, Bree....especially If we want to be together." She signed "no secrets." Tears slid down his face. He said, " Y-Y-You might not want me... Bree. I'm half-elf, I used my powers to appear more human when we were together." Bree sat up, touching the antlers on his head. They were delicate and the color of bark. She signed, "why didn't you tell me?"

  Faelorn cried, "I'm ashamed. Elves aren't supposed to mate with humans; my mother was a wild woman; my father was one of Tharin's people. I only met him twice. He abandoned my mother and me. The elves consider a half breed to be a sign of shame." Bree wiped his face; she signed, "I don't care, your still human, right?" Faelorn shrugged. "I never met any other half breeds. Tharin doesn't know much either. His people cover up their tracks when they sire human-elf offspring
." Bree stroked his face, she signed, " I really don't care." Faelorn signed back, "I could live many years more than you, Bree, I might not be able to give you children." Bree smiled, "I don't care, I love you either way." Faelorn wept, "I need to see Joltrun."

  Joltrun lay by the spring, Faelorn sat beside his dying father. Joltrun didn't say much. Bree sat beside Faelorn, holding his and Joltrun's hand. Faelorn's voice was tight. He said, " I'm sorry I failed you, I'm not the man you wanted me to be."

  Joltrun coughed, "Don't be an idiot. You're a man Faelorn, you gave up ultimate power. You and Bree saved Uhu'rue’s spirit from being consumed by the darkness. It was brilliant to pass the power on to Elo; that made it so that your pain and hurt were no longer Uhu'rue's. Uhu'rue spirit was free of your burden."

  Elo walked over Joltrun, overhearing. "What am I supposed to do with this old man. Can't I give it back to Faelorn?" Joltrun smiled, "sorry, it's your blessing now. Elo, you're kind to a fault. We don't need a lord of the forest that's a warrior anymore. We need someone who can love freely and give all of herself to the spirit." Elo looked at Faelorn. She asked, "Faelorn is this what you really want?"

  Faelorn pulled the vines from his neck that had started to die. He said, "Elo, I love the forest, but if I was honest. I found the duties of the lord to be too much for me. I want to see the other realms, I want to be with Bree." Bree turned red and looked away. Faelorn said, "If I'm the vessel of the Spirit of Uhu'rue, I cannot give myself to another human because I stopped being human. The price of immortality or power isn't equal to being happy. Elo, I finally know what I want."

  Elo sat beside her friends. She said, "I never thought of this possibility, not even dreamed of it." She looked at the herd, at Bakura, then at Bree."I love you all so much, Joltrun. I promise that I will protect the forest with all of my heart and that I will do my very best forever." Joltrun looked at Elo. "When I first met you, Elo, you wouldn't speak for many years, but I've watched you grow. I wish I had seen it before, but I guess I had eyes for Faelorn. He was my son...I wanted him to follow in my footsteps. More importantly, I want him to be happy. Your kindness will improve the Spirit of Uhu'rue." Joltrun winced, coughing blood. He said, "The King will come soon…" The rest of the night was spent sleeping by the fire. Faelorn and Bree curled up together, holding each other. Cael slept next to them. Bakura watched over the herd, and Elo, for the first time, walked the forest alone. A few days had passed, and Joltrun had gotten weaker. The herd gathered by his side. As they each said goodbye to him, Bree noticed that little Eli had run off to the forest. Her body aching, she ran after him. She caught up to him. He was crying under a great tree by the roots. She sighed and spoke, "Eli, why are you crying?"