A wide terrain surrounded by trees, the former village where Elesia and Aya were born, Nash, a young man with brown short hair; the sides of his head trimmed. He has a pair of brown eyes, thick eyebrows, and a jawline that can be seen easily.
He's sitting on a large stone. The white beings that he created from ink, ranging from giants wielding hammers, to humans standing at 6 feet holding a spear and a shield are scattered everywhere. Nash turns his eyes to the nearest trees, and a small white bird is looking around.
Meanwhile, Ivan who's not so far from Nash is sitting under a tree while Felicia is sitting at a different spot but not far from the two men. She hums a tune, a pop song as a stalk of grass is stuck between her lips.
"That song, it's the famous song 'You Behold The Beat'?"
(My fellow Filipino readers it's the Tagalog title of "Hawak mo Ang B***)
Felicia nods slowly as she smiles. "Yeah. The song is kind of catchy, it's giving me some pop and locking moves."
"Pop and lock?" Ivan raised his thick eyebrow, "The heck is that? Like robots?"
Felicia pushes herself to her feet and looks at him. "Watch me show these jaw-dropping snapping moves."
Ivan straightens his body and stares at her. Felicia stretches her arms, and she swings her hips. As she swings her hips, she suddenly shakes her head like snapping it. Ivan's eyes grow wide as Felicia folds her elbow and swings her hips before shaking her head multiple times.
"Geez," Ivan swung his hand as he got hurt, "are you okay?"
"Yeah, like 100% YEAH!" Felicia chuckled while holding her belly.
She looks around her, and her gaze lands on the man sitting on the stone while scribbling with a small paintbrush on a page in his notebook. "I don't think Nash is an idiot captain but why is he there?! WHAT IF AN ENEMY ARRIVES AND SEES HIM?! WE WON'T BE ABLE TO AMBUSH THE ENEMY!"
Ivan lets his eyebrows meet as his forehead crunches with his eyes narrowing at Nash, then, he stops glaring but he remains staring at Nash with a blank expression. "No, he's always like that. It's not because he's an 'idiot' but he's doing what he wants, and that is exposure."
Felicia groans and walks out of her hiding spot but she feels a hand holding her shoulder, and she stops walking. Ivan lowers his hand from her shoulder, and speaks, "Nash is not doing that just for an exposure but there is another reason."
Felicia turns around to face Ivan, and seeing something in his eyes, she narrows her eyes. "A sacrificial move for the enemy?"
Ivan shakes his head. "Because he wants to study the movement of his enemy, and through that, he can create a creature that can rival the enemy."
Felicia releases a long deep breath from her mouth. "But isn't that a suicidal move?! I don't understand our captain!"
Among the trees in a forest, there are trees without leaves, and from one of them, a wooden hand comes out. A face soon comes out, and a wooden humanoid comes out. That wooden humanoid is a tall man standing at 6'2 feet. His hair is green and long fixed in a tomahawk, his eyes are yellow mixed with green, and he has a muscular physique but not that bulky.
He's half naked, and he's wearing a skirt made of rattan leaves. With a bend of his head sideward, he inhales the air around him. "This world... it reeks of trees asking for justice. That is why I am here now, but I must find where Coseria is. That darn weak seed is not righteous in the rankings but sadly, I am not allowed to kill her."
He hums and shakes his head at his thought. He wears a wide smile. "I don't need any disguise but all I need is the location of the Makiling's Flower for my mission to start."
Inside an apartment room, Nicholas is sitting on a chair while answering the assignments on his large phone. "Why did I have to be homeschooled? There are no missions to do!"
*knock* *knock*
Nicholas looks beside him, meeting the eyes of a small white bird standing outside the closed glass window. He blinks and points at himself, and the bird chirps. He slides the glass window, opening it, and he grins at the bird.
"Hello! What can I do for you, you cutie!" Nicholas asked.
The bird opens its beak. "I am the creator of this bird, and I am speaking to you through this bird."
Nicholas' eyebrows meet, and he tilts his head. "You mean, your creator is connected to you?"
The bird chirps, and the male voice speaks again. "You see, I am a member of the Guardians. I am a captain of Team Ferocious. Today, I am giving you a mission to investigate the forest where sightings of a strange being are reported."
Nicholas blinks and points at his face. "Wait! Are you sure? I am just a volunteer guardian."
The voice speaks again through the bird. "Whatever your rank is, if you are capable of doing this task, then, I wholeheartedly trust you. So, volunteer guardian, the strange being is the same as Aya's murderer, and the caretaker's murderer."
The eyes of Nicholas narrow. "Give me the mission, and I will eradicate that creature before it causes any killings!"
The bird chirps in distress, and the voice speaks again. "D-Damn! You're a lot more terrifying than my teammate when he's mad. But, volunteer guardian, you need to bring your comrade with you.
"In this mission, go and find the strange being. If he does any harm to you or your comrade, then, I give you the power to fight back. Also, if you can just make him unconscious or immobilise him, bring him back safely to the headquarters."
Nicholas stares at the bird in silence, and after a minute, he nods with his index finger and middle finger intertwined. "I will bring that creature back whatever it takes, I promise."
The sunlight continuously shines on the entire world, Nicholas is standing in front of the apartment. The doors open, the bell chimes, and Elesia steps out.
Her hair is brown but has green streaks, her hair is shoulder-length. Her eyes are small, and she is wearing a green dress with a short dark skirt and dark cycling shorts beneath, and she's wearing a pair of green boots.
"Let's go?" she said.
Nicholas slides his hand inside his pocket and brings a dark badge out. He aims it at the right side of his chest, and it slips into his chest. Dark metallic particles appear around his hands, expanding into a gauntlet, and the dark metallic particles on his feet wrap around his shoes, turning into boots.
Dark goggles manifest on his eyes, and Nicholas blinks. He crouches and jumps which leaves a small round crater on the ground. Elesia shakes her head, and she covers her shoes with green energy.
Nicholas looks over his shoulder and witnesses Elesia flying behind him. He lands on top of a building, then, jumps onto the other buildings. The duo arrives right in front of many trees, and Nicholas remains with a flat lip and a curious gaze. "This is the forest that the captain has given me."
Elesia steps toward his left side, and she observes the shadows within the gaps of the trees. A green energy appears in her hand, quickly moulding it into a long green spear. "I sense something odd but let's investigate first."
Nicholas makes multiple calm steps until he enters the forest. "Let's split?"
Elesia looks at the trees around her. "I think I should give you this."
She lends a necklace to Nicholas with a green pendant, symbolising a heart. "Just put a small amount of energy into the pendant, then, I will find you quickly."
Nicholas stares at her eyes, and he gently grabs the necklace. They both give each other a nod, and they walk in different directions while Nicholas wears the necklace around his neck.
After multiple trials, he stumbles upon an empty field with large grey trees with no leaves. He approaches one of the trees. "What happened here?"
Nicholas rests his hand on the body of the grey tree, and his green eyes brighten a bit. He moves his hand away while furrowing his eyebrows. "What was that?"
"I found these dead bodies, Nicholas!" Elesia dragged two people as she walked towards Nicholas.
He approaches Elesia and crouches to look at the dead bodies. "These bodies look very thin."
Elesia scowls. "This is clearly an attack from those wood creatures!"
Nicholas looks up at her face. "What?"
She simply nods and trails her fingers over the tiny holes on the wrists, neck, and chest of the victims. "They drained the nutrients from the bodies of their victims."
"Why are they targeting humans? They're supposed to be feeding from water, right?" Nicholas tilted his head.
A memory appears in her mind, and in that memory, there is a large room that seems to be a living room with Aya sitting on a wooden chair. Elesia looks at Aya, and says, "Elesia, you know our hunters who are found dead inside the forest?"
Elesia shifts her attention towards Aya. "What did the healers find?"
Aya replies with a calm stare. "Those bodies are so thin that someone or something drained their nutrients."
"But we know that there's a report from the human world that two women were found dead with the same fate," she added to what she said.
Aya inhales deeply as her lips form a thin line. "Now that the fabric of two worlds is torn, there is a high probability that evil monsters will unleash evil upon this world."
Elesia rests her hands on her lap, and she intertwines her fingers. "That means, the Seeds are behind this, right?"
The older sister looks at her younger sister, Elesia's face. "Those Seeds are now targeting humans as their food means that they have evolved, and have desires to study the human race."
"But why?" Elesia asked.
Presently, Elesia looks at Nicholas after he spoke, "To copy the appearance of a human! To blend in with my race!"
Elesia moves her head up and down. "Now, we must know what they are aiming for in this world."
Nicholas turns his eyes to his right arm just above his elbow. "The mark remains, even after I killed Acacia."
"Acacia?" Elesia raised her eyebrow.
"The one who murdered my friend," Nicholas answered.
He stands up and looks around him. A white bird appears, descending at the level of his eyes, and it opens its beak. "What did you find?"
Nicholas inhales deeply and looks down at the dead bodies. "Nothing but these two dead bodies. I want to find that creature who killed these two people!"
Meanwhile, the creator of the bird, Nash looks up. In the sky, the humanoid from the woods with no human skin is heading straight at the barrier. Nash speaks through the bird. "Nicholas, thank you but if I haven't made any contact with you, go to a wet market in Meycauayan, Bulacan. There, you will find John, and he's selling fresh fish."
Nicholas blinks. "Who is this John?"
Nash speaks through the bird in a calm tone. "He will give you an entry to a highly guarded facility where a sacred flower is kept. Nicholas, I plead you, do everything in your power to protect the flower."
He stops speaking as he stands from the large stone with moss. With one last deep breath, he speaks through the bird. "Prepare yourself because the creature that I will face might go there, and steal the flower."
Nicholas shakes his head as Nash can see his face on a page in his notebook but his face has lines that make him look like a moving animation.
"I don't know who the heck you are but be safe," Nicholas said.
Nash closes his notebook, and the bird in front of Nicholas bursts into small ink.