Thump-thump.
Life and sight returned to Eleos, but not in the way he was expecting.
Thump-thump.
Waves of energy pulsed from his body with every heartbeat. He couldn't close his eyes, yet he could see everything pulsing with each wave. It was similar to RF mapping. Every pulse sent out returned to him in gradient shades of outlines.
The sounds of the forest, and the cries of his parents, reached him as if echoing through a cave in his soul, their silhouettes shining more brilliantly with the noise they emitted.
A strange combination of echolocation and energy cartography.
'Why can't I move… or rather, why does it feel like I can move anything but myself?' Eleos thought, confused as he tried to make sense of his situation.
Why did he do it? If souls in the afterlife existed, and their belief that god was in the earth was true, then the idea that his soul could return to the earth spurred his movement.
It was worth a shot, he reasoned, rather than leaving his parents in their current state of grief and anger. The dangerous aura emitted by the energy tainting his father's magic, and the uneasy feeling growing in his chest- tempting him to travel northeast- also became a factor.
"Come, let us fulfill your wishes. Let god save your parents," the whispers cooed into his soul with seductive allure. If not for sensing the same malignant energy within his father's magic, he wouldn't have recognized the faint traces laced between the words.
Something was terribly wrong. Both in the afterlife and with his father's energy.
And now, as the beating heart of his energy, his soul, resonated through the domain surrounding him, he began to grasp his situation. His soul could somehow touch branches and vines ten meters- no, twenty, thirty, more? And not just one. He could move multiple at once as if they were his fingers or toes.
Each part of nature he connected with became an antenna, sending and receiving signals. Yet none of it was overwhelming. Instead, it integrated seamlessly, just like his previous senses and abilities in his physical elven form.
Eleos's gaze settled on what he knew to be his mother, still clutching his corpse, while his father stood over them, likely with a grim expression. The outlines were difficult to read, but his mother's features were clearer, glowing with each sob.
'My soul is in the tree… but I can see everything from any perspective,' Eleos realized, surprised. He could shift his view to the back of their heads, the front, or even high in the sky, all while remaining aware of his beating heart within the tree and an invisible strand anchoring him to it.
The siren's song, once luring him to far-off lands, had fallen silent.
"I want to bury him next to our family home," Flora sobbed, her voice illuminating her figure, the sound echoing in Eleos's mind once more.
If he had a face, it would be contorted in sorrow. Instead, his soul expressed it physically. The tree's branches curled inward and slumped.
Droplets fell from Aello's hand, illuminating the ground as they splattered against the grass. He remained silent.
------------------
The loud groans of bark splitting and cracking snapped all of the elves to attention, their alarm immediate. They thought they had cleared out the goblins. Aello's eyes flashed with fury again as he turned.
Their expressions quickly shifted to confusion, however, as a single tree shifted and bent, its branches curling toward them as if reaching out.
"What's going on?" Flora whispered, still kneeling behind Aello with Eleos's corpse cradled in her arms.
A brief moment of silence passed before one of the elder elves finally responded. "The land is responding. Look around."
"Responding?" Aello snapped. "Now?"
The elder elf nodded, his gaze fixed on the tree moving with a life of its own.
"This is the first time the land has ever responded directly to us. Why now?" Flora, her mind still sharp despite her grief, asked as she glanced around at the surrounding foliage.
Flowers were shifting, curling in a strange, rhythmic motion. Saplings swayed in their soil, and the earth bubbled briefly before popping in tiny sprays across the grass.
A trail of newly sprouted flowers bloomed in a perfect line from the river's edge to the base of the tree. A single white lily burst forth from the ground beside Flora.
The elves' gazes followed the flowers, tracing their path despite the corpses and pools of goblin blood staining the land. The vibrant blossoms stood in stark contrast to the battlefield's grim decay.
"Is it grieving for us?"
"Does it want us to bury the body here?"
Flora clutched Eleos's lifeless form even tighter, her hands trembling as she glared at the tree with resentment.
"You're not taking my son!" she spat. "I'll bury him where I desire!"
A soft creaking sound, almost like a sigh, rustled through the branches. Another pulse of movement stirred the air.
Aello stiffened. There was something unsettling about it. Not in a way that evoked fear, but something… familiar.
The shifting branches trembled before curling in slow, deliberate motions. Not erratic, not random. It was controlled. And then, ever so faintly, the leaves above it shuddered, and the branches formed a subtle shape. An open hand, reaching out.
The elves murmured in disbelief and Aello's breath caught in his throat with a thought drifting into his mind.
No. It couldn't be.
And yet, why did the branches move as though they knew them? Why did the flowers grow in response to them?
"By the spirits…" one of the elders whispered. "It… it moves with intent."
The wind carried a faint rustling, like a whisper of breath against the leaves. The tree responded. In that moment, the branches twisted again, forming a shape they all recognized.
A curled hand, pressing against its own trunk. A hand pressed to its heart. The same motion Eleos always made when comforting others.
Gasping, Flora's grip on Eleos's body faltered, her fingers curling against his cold skin as realization struck her.
Aello took a step forward, his expression unreadable. "Eleos?" he murmured, his voice hoarse.
The tree didn't speak. It didn't move wildly. But the flowers leading to it bobbed in unison.
Flora's breath hitched. "No… that's not… it can't…" Yet the moment she said it, she felt it. A presence. Faint, wordless, but there.
Her son was still with them. Just… not in the way she had ever imagined.
Stranger still, as Aello stood in shock and a branch reached out, curling gently around his hand, he felt his body becoming lighter. It was then he noticed something unnatural- an unknown, malignant energy gently ebbing from his body, tainting the magic drawn from the world's rivers of mana.
The energy condensed at the tip of the branch, pulsing in waves of crimson before blooming into a massive flower. Then, it burst and sent a shimmering cascade of red light into the air. It glittered like specks of dust catching the sun, swirling briefly before the wind swept it away.
The elves gasped in awe, mesmerized by the display.
Only Aello understood. As he looked down at his own hand, his expression turned grim. A realization settled in and a quiet, undeniable truth. Rage and despair could birth something dangerous within the elven body. Could it happen to other races? He didn't know. But for now, he understood the weight of his emotions on magic used.
It was something he would have to discuss with Flora and the other elders. His gaze lifted, landing on his wife.
Flora stood up, tears staining her face as she stepped forward, carrying Eleos's lifeless form.
Kneeling before the tree, she laid her son down at its base. Leaning over, she pressed one final kiss to his forehead before stepping back.
A single branch descended toward her, a white lily blooming at its tip. With trembling fingers, she plucked it, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks as the earth beneath Eleos's body shifted.
The elves watched in reverent silence as the soil gently embraced his form, drawing him into the roots of the tree.
It was a sight none of them had ever witnessed before, but one that would birth a new beginning. A shift in belief, a sacred truth, and a white lily that would forever become their symbol.
And a name that would forever be spoken with reverence throughout history.
Eleos Forest.