CHAPTER 27 JARED #2
I really don’t know what he’s talking about but on some weird impulse, I take the pendant off and put it onto Silvio’s chest.
"Take my hand, child," he whispers. "It’s you who are crucial. You're the catalyst here."
Completely lost in what's happening, but ready to do whatever he asks of me, I lean closer, terrified of missing even a single word.
He's lying on the grass, and the ground beneath him is soaked red…
Suddenly, I feel a subtle shiver, like something slid down through my hand toward Silvio.
And then… the crimson of his blood is fading.
Turning…
Green?
Silvio's face is impossibly peaceful.
"Child, your gift is wonderful. It was hidden inside you, but it's awakening…"
"If you know how to use it, do it!"
Silvio smiles weakly, adding, "Thank you. And I think we can even do something extra with it."
"Extra? I don't understand."
"I've lived a long life," he whispers. "For many years I was the Guardian of the Forest, and later I passed that duty on to Renato.
Even so, my bond with the forest has never faded.
I owe it everything, because it protected me and gave me strength for so many years.
With your help I can give it one final gift. "
He pauses for a slow breath.
"…the gift of healing."
"I don't understand how I could—" I whisper helplessly.
"Trust me. Hold my hands and open yourself to the power of your kind, the forest elves, the Virdelfi. It lives in your blood too."
I squeeze both of his hands, feeling that strange, electric cold flowing through my body like a soft river, as delicate as fine muslin.
Then…
Silvio's body begins to change.
His shape slowly shifts, becoming neither fully human nor fully… something else. Shades of green and brown spread across him until his limbs resemble living branches and leaves woven together into the outline of a man.
Around him, the light grows brighter and brighter.
"Open yourself to it! The green…"
Those are the last words I hear him whisper.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do.
So I simply stop resisting and let the energy flow through me.
Deep inside, I feel that tiny green spark I've carried since childhood, the strange little fragment of magic I almost never touch and almost never dare to use.
It expands.
It joins with Silvio's immense power, saturating it, mixing with it.
And then something impossible happens.
A blinding pulse erupts from his body.
Brilliant green streaked with shimmering gold, it explodes outward like a colossal shockwave, racing across the surrounding forest.
The force is overwhelming.
I stagger, lose my balance, and collapse to the side, my fingers slipping from Silvio's hands…
Except…
He doesn't have hands anymore.
His body keeps transforming.
His legs sink into the earth, taking root, while his arms rise toward the sky, stretching higher and higher until they unfold into the crown of a magnificent tree.
Silvio's entire form, his human omega body, disappears, and in his place, right there on the lawn beside Renato's estate…
a massive tree begins to grow. It bends and sways as it climbs higher and higher into the sky, its broad branches spreading wide in every direction until they stretch over us like a living canopy.
Soon I find myself kneeling at its roots, still immersed in that wave of golden energy drifting through the air around me, while a strange tingling sensation spreads around my ears.
The pendant lies on the ground near my folded knees, still glimmering with a strange, emerald green glow. I pick it up and glance up at Renato.
He closes his eyes, and a peaceful smile slowly softens his face.
"Silvio's final gift to the forest," he whispers. "A gift he could only give because of you, Jared. The blood of forest elves flows in you, and its magic joined with ours today."
"I… don't understand."
"Can’t you feel it? The entire woodland under my care has been healed! The trees will recover their strength, Jared. Thank you! There won't be a dying forest anymore."
His voice is thick with emotion.
"For the first time in two millennia, the Virdelfi and Silvari have worked together, as they did in ancient times… We were forest folk, our two bloodlines, and it can be… like this once more. It depends on you."
I am still trembling, unable to fully grasp what has just happened.
Only then do I notice Emilio, Gianni, and Tony standing several yards away on the lawn. Emilio is openly sobbing as he stares at the towering tree that was once Silvio.
"What about Silvio?" I whimper, feeling a strange ache in my chest. "Is he gone?"
"Only his mortal body. The pendant worked. Silvio’s soul will still be with us, within this tree, and all forest folk will be able to communicate with him…"
"Me… included?"
"You included."
Little by little, the golden shimmer hanging in the air fades away. Somehow I simply know Renato is telling the truth.