Chapter 6

And so it began.

Day one of the year long journey that will shape the rest of Lurtz' life. Lurtz took only the essentials in a small travel satchel and ventured to the edge of Enquie and was now standing at the gate. It was only now he was feeling nervous, feelings of anxiety and worry filled him, he had never been outside the forest and Panthanus was a big place to get lost in.

Taking in a deep breath Lurtz began to walk forward and into the Dae forest. The morning feels cool, and the breeze refreshing as it caresses Lurtz' fair skin. Lurtz began to feel less nervous with every step and relaxed as he began imagining all the amazing things he could accomplish on his journey.

The forest seemed to stretch forever, Lurtz had been walking all day and wasn't seeing anything besides trees, then trees, then more trees. Initially Lurtz had been worried about the many fierce creatures he may run into in the forest, but so far seen nothing.

Along the way Lurtz stopped and harvested interesting plants and herbs that would be useful for poisons or spells, he stopped every time a plant caught his eye, never one to miss a good opportunity. After a while of seeing the same plants over and over Lurtz just continued walking. Lurtz walked along, happily and mildly distracted and continued to do so when something amazing caught his eye. A plant he had never seen or read about before was growing on the ground not far from him, rushing over Lurtz threw himself on the ground in front of it.

Lurtz couldn't believe his eyes, the plant stood about ten centimeters tall and was glowing an intense ruby red. The plant curved going up the stem and featured one flower on the top leaning off to the side which let off a bright emerald green. This was by far the most curious plant Lurtz had ever seen, and to add to the bizarreness, it seemed to be generating its own energy.

Closing his eyes Lurtz began to concentrate, holding his hands out above the plant he began to lower them until they held suspended just above the grounds surface. The curious plant began to slowly vibrate, then began increasing in intensity. As if having a fit the plant began thrashing and vibrating violently, Lurtz' face though looking worried and a little panicked, stayed sharply concentrated and determined.

This continued for about ten minutes, then all of a sudden in a flash of white light the plant was gone.

Seconds later the gem adorning the top of Lurtz' long dark staff glowed for a moment then returned to normal, satisfied Lurtz rose back to his feet.

Through his studies Lurtz had mastered the ability to transfer a live growing plant into the gem of his staff, there it would survive off the gems energy until it was re-transferred into the ground. Lurtz wanted to learn about the plant before he did anything with it. A strange noise rang through the forest, and now snapped out of his bliss Lurtz felt a shiver of panic run up his spine. He was now in an unfamiliar part of the forest and re began his walking, now faster than before.

Lurtz had been gone from this small part of the forest for about twenty minutes. This part, now robbed of the curious plant seemed different than it had before, and not just because of the absence of the plant, but also because of the appearance of a new light. A yellow light hung suspended in the still air, a light that appeared soon after the plant vanished, a light now drifting in the direction Lurtz had walked.