Edan walked slowly, taking his time to observe everything. At first, the land seemed long past blighted. Dry and dead wood devoid of life on every side, and cracked earth so barren it had become naught but stone and cracked dirt in scattered patches. He then noticed the change came slow. A mushroom here. A vine on a tree that had a bit of green. Slowly, the path almost began to burst with life, but none that he recognized.
Great mushrooms the size of dining tables with heads of red and bodies of deep, rich, and toxic purple that exuded a strange and sweet aroma. Tres that bent into circles or formed long arched pathways seemingly to nowhere. He rubbed his thumb along his scar, breathing a little as he communed. Her presence was weak here, only the feelings of her magic able to reach. if only more knew and treasured her as he did. Her influence was minimal beyond her tangible gifts when he traveled far into places without homes or natural fires.
As he walked, he saw a creature dark across a strange yellow vine that hung above. It resembled a squirrel, yet he swore there were both too numerous eyes and tails to be such. it also had the fur pattern of a white and black stripes. Another snatched it up before he could fully observe, seemingly only comprised of a curled and spiked vine that dragged the creature into the bell of a hanging plant. Soon, a smell like searing acid scorched the air and his nose, only accompanied briefly by the shriek of something soon no longer living.
The place was further illuminated by brilliant bell like growths on the trees that hummed with a low blue vibrance that faded to red the further he traveled. There were strange statues here with horns like a deer. They were crumbling and uncared for, yet thrummed with this power of impending doom. He felt something's presence further in as amber eyes soon fell on a set of arched trees that did lead somewhere.
Each was rather splendid compared to the others with deep green trunks, seemingly covered by long tarnished silver marks. They looked like swirling circles that wound among one another and reminded him of the ancient celtic sigils he once had read on. Each hung with an almost silk thin vine that glistened gently with a low red color. When he passed through them, it felt more like velvet on his skin that vine, and they pulsed gently when he touched them.
Just beyond these strangely ornate trees, the prince witnessed a circle of stones. They almost seemed to hum like a cage or a trap that had sprung and been left in the moment of activation, but he only saw a blanket of mana running through them. they seemed to create a space, by what he could surmise, or some kind of space warping. Perhaps a part of another realm locked here, keeping it bound. it wasn't hard to guess what it was containing, but the why eluded him.
In the center of the groove, there was a woman. She seemed only a year or two younger of body than Edan, with the visage of a fair maiden at a glance. A simple, long green dress fitting someone in a beer hall, and well suited to her ample blessings by any man's measure. She seemed strange, however, on closer inspection. Her skin was so pale that it nearly made one think of a translucent sheet of cloth, and almost as breakably soft. Her closed eyes had a pair of small stones over them, and her legs were completely covered by thick piles of boulders. She also had longer nails with sharpened tips that seemed to glow with a natural red color. It resembled blood pooling like polish inside of the nails themselves, or making it up out of a crystal formed from them and smoothed to a shine polish.
"What foul magic has you imprisoned...?" He mused softly as he stepped closer, unknowingly bumping a stone in the circle as he leaned in for a closer look. He stepped back as the magic flashed, his scar glowing brighter suddenly. "W-what!?" He exclaimed as he grabbed onto his wrist. A great swirl of wails burst from each of the stones as Edan watched, many forming into great wraiths as they turned and lunged at the girl.
"No!" He raised his scar, grunting in pain as the bursting mana sent his own magic into overdrive. His scar begin to grow, tearing and burrowing further up his arm like a spreading root of glowing red marks, ending at his elbow as he unleashed all that force at once. "BURN!' he screamed out as his hand unleashed a flame so great, it moved like a searing wave that burned through air, tree, and spirit alike. It plumed with a heavy black smoke soon after that rose steadily, mixed with the dead fragments of the wraiths as they faded away.
He panted painfully, dropping to a knee as he collected himself. His arm was fixed in this new, almost craggy form. The skin was mostly fine, but it now had cracks that gave it the resemblance of a furnace or burning embers. "Huh..." He shook his head as he heard a soft murmur, dispelling the questions for now as he looked toward the maiden.
His eyes met slowly opening emeralds. They were eyes, in a classical sense, but they did not resemble them when one gazed deeper. Much like Nuru's Sapphires, these were emeralds that glistened with a deep and potent radiance. She stirred slowly, sheepishly rising before a whine of pain erupted as the stones on her legs became far more present. "H... help..!!" She shouted agonizingly, slashing at the boulders to little effect.
Edan wasted no time, exhausted as he was in hefting each stone away. He grunted, sweat billowing off his brow until the last stone tumbled away, and the girl let out a whimper of relief. Edan's eyes widened further as he fixed his gaze upon her legs, shocked by what he saw peeking out from the ankles of her dress. She had hooves.
"Just... Who are you...?" He knelt down, offering a hand graciously to her. Whatever she was or the circumstances she had landed there by, she was alone and imprisoned. He would not let her feel alone. She fixed him with a frightened stare for a moment, watching his hand with a shuddering nervousness. "It's okay. No more cage. See?" He waved a hand in front of them both. "Come on then. L'ss get ya back ta camp, ay?"
"Sea." She muttered softly as she laid her hand upon his scarred one.
"Pardon?"
"You.. can call me Sea."