Mother Nature

Vanessa and Silver were walking next to each other through the forest. Innumerable Lines of Pine trees stretched out in all directions around them and along the path they tread.

Vanessa clutched her left arm as she walked staring down at the ground. Silver noticed her aversion to meet his gaze, but he too was stunned into silence. 

How could she have known ? Was she actually telling the truth? Silver hesitated at the thought of killing her, perplexing his tongue into submission. It was a strange feeling for a man who was too fond of killing. 

“Hey..” Vanessa murmured under her breath “You don’t need to be so tense I’m fine.” She exclaimed as she closed her eyes and let out a huge sigh, letting go of her arm and straightening her back.

“I’m not really…”

“No it’s fine.” She cut off the wizard, pensively observing her surroundings in the process

“I’ve been through this many times before, you’re not the first. However... I had hoped that the last time would have stayed the last time. But now… there’s this time.. and I don't really….” Vanessa perplexed herself and began to stare at the ground again, clutching her left arm subconsciously.

“That’s not what I was referring to but-” before Silver could complete his sentence, he was thrust upward from the heel of his foot and turned upside down by a sentient vine.

”The vines are moving?!!” Silver thought completely blindsided as the vine slammed him down head first into the ground!!

“Silver!!” Vanessa shouted out horrified as she watched his face break his fall on the ground beneath their feet.

“Don’t worry about me, watch out!” Silver commanded Vanessa who barely evaded capture as a pair of vines appeared from the trees behind her. Silver freed himself from the vine wrapped around his leg and jumped towards her without a scratch on his face, shocking Vanessa.

“Are you alright?!” Silver beckoned as he leapt to her rescue, causing her to smile gleefully.

“Yeah!” She smiled warmly at Silver who was taken aback by her beauty. In that split second of intense romantic tension, the ground beneath Silver and Vanessa caved and they were immediately encircled by vines...

Oh no this is bad, I can’t break free! 

Silver thought to himself privately as he was quickly tied and bound. The mage realized the vines were getting stronger

“Wait a minute, these vines are friendly..” Vanessa relaxed as she was being gently propped up by the vines like a father tossing his toddler in the air. Silver looked at her dumbfounded and started to get pissed off at being treated harshly by the sentient foliage.

“What gives?! Why are these vines only attacking me?!” Silver lamented as he saw Vanessa being cuddled by the vines that were even squishing her cheeks to test how soft she was. As all of this was happening, a young boy appeared from the path in front of them.

“ I didn’t expect you to be so strong mister, I had to come here personally just to restrain you with all of my power “ the young boy smiled innocently at the duo who looked at each other confused

“My name’s Ken! I live in this forest, who are you guys?” the young boy smiled as he gently brought the two closer with the vines that seemed to obey his command. Vanessa dismounted the vines once they carried her to Ken’s location, while Silver was still tied.

“Let me go kid, this isn’t a game! “ Silver tried to scare the little boy

“Try to break free mister!!” Ken replied enthusiastically instead, surprising the wizard who laughed at the thought of his might being tested. Silver began to apply more and more force, until a point came where Ken could no longer restrain him and let go

“Wow you’re super strong!” Ken shouted out amazed as Silver walked over to Vanessa’s side and brushed the dust off of himself

“Why’d you attack us anyways ? What gives?” Silver rebuked the young lad

“I don't know... I was bored and I hadn’t seen anybody here in so many years that I decided to play with you!” The young boy replied innocently causing the wizard to sigh

“So you saw me fighting those guys earlier? Anyways, that was a pretty good fight kid. You’re not too shabby yourself, you had me tied until the very last second.” Silver winked at Ken who was young and impressionable, immediately turning into his number one fan. Vanessa just stared at Ken and Silver amused, unable to control herself as she burst out into laughter.

“So where’s your house kid?” Silver asked Ken whose eyes turned into stars at the idea of having guests over.

“Follow me!” 

Ken shouted out excitedly as he led the two towards his dwelling deep in the heart of the forest. The group went off road and had to slide down diagonal patches of land which were offset by the occasional horizontal resting spots. Since they were in the mountains, the path was carved out by nature. Going off road was the natural move but it proved to be tough for Vanessa who was being carried around by Ken on his vines through the forest. Vanessa looked at the forest scenery blend in around her as she was being zigzagged through this environment by the vines and without breaking a sweat.

The trio were moving at an incredibly fast pace. Silver was running at full sprint and followed behind Vanessa and Ken who were riding the vines at nearly 35 miles per hour.

“That must be fun!” Silver laughed as he watched her brush her hair to the side, awestruck at what she was experiencing. Her lucious obsidian locs blew in the wind as excitement drew itself on her face, showing in her innocent and keen eyes as Ken picked up the pace.

“You ain't seen nothing yet!” Ken proclaimed as he rode his vines like a skateboard, maneuvering the landscape with Vanessa behind him and Silver in tow.

In a moment of pure blissful epicness, the trio launched itself out over a cliff and had a view of the entire landscape in front of them! In the distance was a large body of water along which the setting sun was visible in its dying molten hues. 

The sun sat precariously over the Horizon line, making its way down along with the trio who began to fall and descend into the dense forestation some 300 meters below them. Far in the distance in front of them, some 30 km away, Vanessa could make out a port town with a coastline connected to the land. Near here was a well developed area where there seemed to be a bustling community of people.

There was nothing there 10 years ago… 

she thought as she saw the change in the scenery go from barren to populous through a folding of memories in her mind.

“Hold on tight!” Ken ordered as he descended with his vines into the forest canopy beneath them. Vanessa pulled down her skirt as the trio maneuvered through the branches and leaves of the trees to enter a barren space.

“I cleared out this area all by myself!“ Ken admitted proudly as he slowed down near a place where there was a large square patch of land molded into the environment. In the middle of this area was a small dwelling which was in the shape of a shack completely composed of vines.

Near the vine shack were animals that waited for Kens arrival and immediately ran to his side.

There was a Chimpanzee, a Snake, A Lynx and Resplendent Quetzal.

“Aww you guys really missed me huh?” Ken warmly embraced them all, one at a time as Silver and Vanessa were fascinated with what they were witnessing.

“There’s a lot to unpack here so why don’t we head inside?” Silver nodded at Ken like a comrade, to which the young boy nodded back. Vanessa was eating up their dynamic because it was just so wholesome.

“It was worth it.” She murmured as she thought about escaping her solitude. The group went inside the VIne shack followed by the curious animals who were all over their new guests.

As Silver sat down inside the shack, on a seat formed out of vines no less, the snake began to slither over his massive forearm. 

Hiss!  The snake's tongue wagged as it slithered its way over the Wizards broad back and rested it’s head on his right shoulder.with its body around his neck and down his left arm.

Meanwhile the Resplendent Quetzal had perched itself on top of Vanessa’s head as she sat down on another vine chair right next to Silver. With its Golden Green beautiful tail flowing down her head like an intentional, Golden-Green streak in her salt and pepper hair. The Quetzal’s beautiful and captivating iridescence paired well with the Elf’s splendiferous visage.

Meanwhile, the Lynx had hopped on top of a table made of vines in front of them and decided to simply stare at the two, whilst Ken and the chimpanzee shared a bench made of vines on the opposite side.

“I don’t know about you, but this shack is pretty…. FINE!” Vannessa smirked, poking Silver with her elbow. He couldn’t believe that she had just made a dad joke.

“Get it? Cuz everything’s made of vi-”

“I GOT IT THANKS!” Silver facepalmed, unable to hold in a smirk with his head tilted down and his eyes closed. Ken just laughed out loud with the chimpanzee jumping up and down next to him, clearly enthralled by whatever was going on.

“You got something to eat kid, I’m starving!” Silver asked Ken who just shrugged

“I don't really need to eat to survive but I can get you guys something!”

The young boy sent his vines out with a flick of his wrist to bring his guests some freshly picked plants and fruit salad from the forest. The Vines brought delicacies from all around to the forest and soon enough there were apples, bananas and grapes amongst other fruits on the table in front of them.

“Go ahead,dig in!” Ken offered as Silver picked up a banana and Vanessa picked up an apple. Meanwhile, Ken picked up a grape just to give them company.

“You said you don’t really need to eat right? What’s that about?” Silver asked Ken as the Chimpanzee munched on a banana right next to him.

“More importantly, it’s strange that you can control these vines and animals in the first place .” Vanessa interjected as she fed a piece of the apple to the Resplendent Quetzal that was now perched on her left shoulder.

“I was born in this forest.” Ken replied as the snake launched itself at one of the bananas on the table, killing a rat that had hidden itself amongst the plants brought by the vines.

“That’s pretty handy!!” Silver laughed as Vanesa stood up fearfully, causing the Quetzal to jump to her right shoulder and away from the dead rat on the table.

“Oh you bet, I never have to worry about pests with these guys around! You should see Lynx in action!” Ken responded as he ordered his vines to throw the rat away and clear up the table.

“We should go.” Silver announced now that he was full, much to Vanessa’s shock.

“What are you talking about? We just got here!” She argued as Silver refused to give an inch.

“We don’t have time to waste! I’m an instructor at the academy and I have to be back to teach my students, otherwise I’ll get a pay deduction! Not to mention I have to sort out case files in the investigations wing this week..” Silver lamented as he thought of the possibilities of getting demoted and the work that was piling up on his desk.

“We have a kid talking to animals and you’re worried about your job?!” Vanessa lambasted but Silver was unmoved.

“I only came for you because I was curious why the Queen was so fixated on you. I can’t take a kid on me too! What will people say? They’ll definitely think we had an affair!” Silver began to think irrationally

“So you did think of taking him with us! “ She laughed and pointed at Silver who was too shy to admit his own feelings.

“No no no I’m ok here! I grew up in this forest my whole life so I’ll just come visit you guys next time!” Ken smiled gleefully as the duo looked at him

“If I didn’t see your vine powers, I would’ve said you were too young to be living alone. But you seem to be doing fine kid, and you’ve even got friends here “ Silver replied as he pet the Lynx on the table. It purred and stretched on contact with his hand 

“But doesn’t it get lonely? Where are your parents?”

“My mom was the one who left me here.”

Ken recalled “I don’t remember what happened back then, but my earliest memory is of my mom putting me in a tree trunk and walking away. I don’t know her name and I don’t know how I survived, I just know that ever since I was a little kid, I could talk to the forest. “

Ken reached out and caressed one of the vines that leaned in close. “The forest is my mother, and we talk in a language that can’t be understood by normal people who come and go. “

“I sense a spell”

Vanessa sniffed with a finger under her nose

“What if your mom was a witch and left you there as a part of her spell on this forest? “ the elf wondered

“But don’t those types of spells require a sacrifice?” Silver questioned

“Maybe Ken wasn’t the sacrifice but she was. She sacrificed herself to protect her child and merged with this forest from my understanding.. but we don’t have all the details so I could be wrong...” Vanessa pondered as Silver subconsciously understood why she got to this conclusion before anybody else.

“If that’s true, then the vines are…”

“I hope that’s true” 

he smiled as he slowly rubbed the vines with love and tenderness, a hint of tears forming in his eyes.