Bleeding Color

The sun hit my face, soaking into my skin. It was a feeling I'd never get tired of. I loved now if only someone wasn't glaring at me, I could enjoy it.

"Stop it."

"You killed them all."

"Forests need to burn to live." I sighed, cracking my stiff shoulders from having slept on the ground in exhaustion.

Getting up, I padded to the edge of the woods, shuffling through the ash.

"Part of the issue with climate change was it changed the fire regime. Some fire is good. There are certain seeds even that won't be released without it. However, the more frequent and intense fires caused the forests to change. The fires burned too hot and killed all the trees' plans for self-replacement. So instead of re-populating, different trees invaded to fill their spot never allowing them to regrowing their again. Remind you of someone?"

"You are referring to the Others." He limped to walk up beside.

I nodded, my hand digging into the dirt to find what I wanted. "Life survives and adapts, those that don't die. However, the circumstances directly relate to that ability. So while some were killed by fires, others thrived with them."

I pulled out a root, holding it out to him.

"A root?"

"Not only that, aspen roots are sprouters or sometimes called suckers. The roots can grow new trees."

"So...like a potato?"

I placed it in his hand and brushed the dirt off. "Something like that."

"Hm..." He turned it this way and that in disbelief while I walked away. "Alice."

The breeze picked up, floating ash by and into my hair. Looking back over my shoulder, the dryads had returned. I flinched, reaching for my swords. The man raised his hand with a shake of his head. A wove basket was placed near Pitri's feet full of some food. I froze in shock.

The mask bobbed in acknowledgement. "Child if you truly wish to be the world's savior remember that the world was never just the humans, even before we got here."

They withdrew into the charred landscape, little green shoots following their steps.

Pitri picked up a berry, smelling it before popping it into his mouth. He didn't fall over dead, so I approached and grabbed one as well. Looking to him for confirmation, I bit into it. The juices bursting over my tongue. I had never had whatever kind of berry this was, but it was good. Grabbing a handful more, I picked up the basket to prop on my hip.

"Where to now?"

Our steps fell in with each other, matching pace despite Pitri's limp as I adjusted to stay near him. His gaze narrowed, looking me up and down for something. The silver burned into me when he met my eyes with his own. I wonder what he thought of the unnatural purple that swirled in them, not that silver was exactly human.

"You really want to be Earth's savior?" He questioned softly.

"Yes." The word was just as soft, but strong and determined.

"In that case, we go to where the humans are and we teach you to actually fight." I began to protest; however, he quickly cut me off. "Your pretty good with those swords, but it's obvious you've had no real world combat and your skills with your...abilities are marginal and flaky."

I growled, chomping down angrily into more berries. He smiled, chuckling with a hint of a wince.

"We go to the humans and you learn what you are fighting for and what exactly you want to save. After that, we go to the Others and you learn what you are really fighting against."