The Forest Spirits

Previously

…He looked towards the dense, shadowed woods, the path to the forest’s heart beckoning him onward. The air grew cooler, the light dimmer, as if the very trees themselves were holding their breath in anticipation. The journey had been one of discovery, of encountering the blight, of receiving blessings, but now, he was on the cusp of the true confrontation. The whispers of the artifact, the Shadow Seed, had drawn him to this precipice, and he knew, with a certainty that settled deep within his soul, that his path lay forward, into the heart of the encroaching darkness. He would not falter. He could not. The fate of the forest, and perhaps a piece of his own soul, depended on it.