Chapter 3 - Brother of the Earth

"Do you remember the meadow, Quad?", the words resonated in his mind as he opened his eyes. His vision was blurred, though he felt warmth and softness around. His eyes started to focus as tall strands of golden grass appeared before him.

"A little...", the stag replied. He knew - it was Mother Doe speaking to him once again. "...But I don't remember when I was here."

"In time, you will know.", the voice replied. A flash of darkness ran past Quad. He eyes could not adjust to it. "What was that?", Quad asked.

"You don't remember him, do you?", the voice asked. Quad's voice went mute, as the shadowed figure started to approach him. His body came slightly into focus...

"Quad...", the figure spoke, "wake up Quad."

The deer's eyes opened. He was in a room, laying on a large bed with a white cover over his body. There by his side was Francis, who held one of his hooves and stared at him with his eyes wide open. "He's awake, Grandma.", the boy called out.

Quad moved his head to see the old woman walk into the room. "...Christine?", Quad spoke, his voice a little raspy. This startled Francis, "He can talk?!", the boy questioned.

Christine smiled, "Yes, he can speak to us.", she said to her grandson, then turned to the blue stag, "Oh Quad, I never thought I'd see you again." She walked to the bed and put a hand on his shoulder. He was alive again - Christine was not dreaming.

"Grandma...what is happening to our town?", Francis asked. Christine sighed, "Something terrible. I've noticed the changes in some of our neighbors...they're not acting like they should..." Francis sat up, "That's exactly like Mom and Dad! I think something is controlling them!"

Christine nodded, then turned to Quad, "This must be why Quad is here. He'll stop all of this from happening." "How do you know?", the grandson asked. The old woman smiled, "He has saved the world before..."

She looked back to Quad, stroking his shoulder for the moment. "Get some sleep, Quad.", she said to him, and walked towards the door. Francis, out of curiosity, reached over toward the deer's face and touched his mask, "Can I..?", he began to ask, and Quad smiled, "Of course." The stag let the boy lift his mask up, and he got a good look at Quad's real face. "Wow! What are you, Quad? Your face looks human!"

The deer chuckled a little, "My species is called 'talux'", he replied. About this time, Christine peeked in and said, "Let him rest, Francis. He'll answer your questions later."

Francis reluctantly stood and left the room, looking back for a moment at the deer in the bed. He closed the door, and the room became a little darker than it had been.

Quad's eyes closed, and he dreamed of the meadow once more. He sat up in the dream, looking around once again. He was alone - the shadow he saw before was nowhere to be found. The voice of Mother Doe spoke to him once again, "Your first mission will begin tomorrow morning - the Brother of the Earth calls out from the woods. He died in great agony, and since then his spirit lingers and haunts the trees. I am sending a team of talux to aid in your mission.", she spoke.

"What must I do?", Quad asked. "You must cleanse our brother in the woods of the darkness that taints him. When that time comes, you will know what to do.", the great deer god's voice replied, "With each deed you do for me, you will regain one wing. After the fourth, you will be ready to face the darkness plaguing this land..."

Quad woke up from the dream at that moment, and realized it was early in the morning morning. He got out of bed, his strength returned, and went into the next room to find Francis and Christine there. "I understand what I am here for.", Quad said to them. "Good.", Christine replied, "What can we do to help?"

-=|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|=-

The trio walked outside. "You understand what to do, right?", Quad asked them. Francis nodded, "Try to find out who has been infected, and who we can trust." The stag smiled, "I have faith in the gods that this will be taken care of. They will watch over you.", he said.

Christine nodded, "I believe they will, Quad.", and she turned to Francis, "Alright, let's start at the school." The boy nodded and the two were on their way.

Quad turned and headed to the woods. He entered and walked deep within, passing the trees as he looked around. The place was silent...until...

"...turn back...", he heard a voice say. It was quiet, but he could make out the words. "...go away...turn back...", it called again. Quad did not reply, but continued deeper into the woods. The voices suddenly stopped when he came to a clearing - it was the grotto he had slept for so many years.

"Do you hear it? The voice?", someone said. Quad turned to see some of his fellow talux standing there. "You made it!", he said happily.

Standing before him was Devren, whose empath ability was allowing him to sense a troubled entity deeper into the trees. "Envy has scouted ahead.", Raffles said, who stood nearby prepared to create whatever was needed with his abiogenesis ability. "I can already feel it," Seed said to them, "The trees are crying out from the infectious saturation in the soil." Tally and Lemon both nodded in unison - Tally's protective bubble spells coupled with Lemon's healing ability would prove to be a strong combination.

"I'm glad to see all of you!", Quad bowed. He may have lost his wings, but with the protection Mother Doe sent for him, he was confident that things would go well. At this moment, Envy returned from one path, skidding to a halt before speaking, "It's up ahead. The air reeks of death past this clearing."

Seed nodded, "We are all ready here.", he said. The others nodded. "I'll lead then.", Envy said, and headed toward the path. Devren and Raffles followed next, then Quad and Seed, and finally Lemon and Tally kept at the back of the group.

-=|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|=-

They had gone deeper into the wilderness when Devren stopped them, "Something's close. I can sense...hatred...bloodlust..." "Iugulare!", Quad exclaimed and started to run ahead when Seed stopped him, "Wait, Quad. We're all going together."

Quad's pulse slowed a little - he had forgotten that his powers of light were weak and he was in no shape to take on the Stoat. "Urgh...what's that smell?", Lemon questioned. Raffles saw something on the ground start to rise toward them. "Spores!", he exclaimed, and looking back, shouted, "Tally!". The doe was quick to react, "I'm on it!", and created a bubble around them, sealing the fresh air within while keeping the spores out. They saw the source of the spores - there were small pods on the ground that released them when the ground felt movement.

"Hang on, I'll stop them...", Seed said, and focusing his powers on the ground, he created vines that wrapped around the pods, squeezing them and destroying them. "Let's move on. Keep the bubble on for now, Tally.", Envy instructed, and the group continued on.

The further they went, the darker the woods became. Tally's bubble faded as she lost her focus, but the spores were long gone. There was, however, a foul odor in the air. "The path is too dark...", Seed said, "Raffles, can you create a light source?" "Of course!", the stag said, and focusing his abiogenesis power, he created a lantern that hovered before them. The flame inside burned a bright blue, which revealed the path for them. "Careful where you step," Devren said, "there is something on the ground." The deer looked at their feet - vines were growing toward them. "Let's move.", Envy said. The deer continued on, watching their steps as they walked the path.

Tally stopped, she thought she saw something move in the woods. "Quad, did you see...", she began to say, when one of the vines grabbed her leg. "Aah!", she cried out as the vine coiled up and constricted, a thick poison entering into her veins. The others looked back to see her collapsing, "Tally!", Lemon shouted. They went to aid her, and Seed immediately focused her ability to stop the vines from moving. Tally's leg was freed, but she took too much of the poison and began to shiver. Envy came to her side at once. "It hurts...I'm...", she began to say to him when Envy shook his head. "No, you're not going to die today.", the stag said back. He lowered his head and gently blew on the wound, and at once the poison disappeared. Lemon then helped heal the physical wounds on her leg. Tally stood and smiled at them, "Thank you." Envy and Lemon nodded, and the group was on their way.

They weren't too far away from their destination, and upon arrival they were shocked at what they saw. A dark figure appeared before them at another clearing. It was the bones of an old stag, covered by the black infection. The creature stared back at them with glowing green eyes, and each step it took made the ground fizz and burn. "By the Twin Gods, what is that?", Lemon questioned. "That...", Quad answered, "...is a poor soul who was devoured by Iugulare."

""You did not heed my warnings, and now the woods will consume your bodies as it did mine!", the infected skeleton cried out. Envy scoffed, "I'm not afraid!", he said, and concentrating he created an array of spines from his body that shot out and flew at the skeleton. The spines connected, but to his shock passed through the infection and hit a tree behind, the poison on the spines foaming on the bark. "Careful everyone, the trees are infected.", Seed said. They soon saw the poisonous vines were moving toward them on the ground as well. "What can we do?", Raffles questioned. Devren closed his eyes, then opened them, "Zenith.", he said.

"What?", Envy asked, but they saw the infected deer was staring at them curiously. "What...did you say?", the infected asked him. "That is your name, isn't it, Zenith?", Devren replied. "I...", the creature began, "I haven't heard my name in ages..."

Quad stepped foward, "Listen, you can break the bond on your body. Focus, and the infection will die off.", he said. "Gah...I...can't...!", the skeleton cried out, backing away slowly. "Please, Zenith. Let go. Be free.", Devren said to him.

The creature's eyes closed. Devren smiled, "Your doe and fawn are safe, Zenith. You do not have to linger any longer.", he said. At once, the bones relaxed and came to a rest on the ground, the infection no longer having a host to feed on. The blackness vanished, and the poisonous vines retracted into the woods. Sunlight penetrated the canopy above, and Raffles allowed the lantern he created to fade away.

The bones sat on a bed of fallen leaves. There the spirit of the stag appeared before them, "Thank you. I cannot remember the last time I saw the sunlight.", he said, and soon he faded. Seed stepped forward and channeled his energy to create a variety of flowers that blanketed the bones. He smiled, "Even in death, there can still be beauty.", he said.

Then another figure appeared before them, a great deer with short, stubby antlers, and mask similar to Quads'. "You have freed the brother of the earth. I thank you all.", the new entity said to them. Lemon stepped forward, "Who are you?", she asked. The deer smiled, "I am Pent, the last of five siblings...", he said, and with a smile, he continued, "...Quad's brother."

Quad stepped forward, "Wait, what do you mean by 'five siblings'?", he asked. Pent nodded, "You are the fourth sibling, the others being our sister, Una, and brothers Duo and Trio.", he explained. Quad lowered his head, "I thought...the Twin Gods said that those three were my former lives." Pent shook his head, "No, they are your siblings. The Twin Gods did not want you to know who they were until now...they were worried that their plans would not happen..."

I have siblings!, Quad's heart was overjoyed. "I must rejoin Mother Doe. We will meet again soon, Quad, but before I leave, I have a gift for you.", Pent said, and at once his pictogram began to glow. The other deer closed their eyes, blinded by the flash, but when they opened them, they saw Quad had regained his first wing. "The others will help you become the Grand Talux once again, Quad. I must go...", Pent began, but then said, "Listen to the trees. They will protect you." The stag bowed and vanished before them.

"Hah...", Envy said, "He was that deer who spoke to trees. What a...", but never finished the sentence. "Our mission is complete, let us return to the entrance of the woods.", Seed said.

Quad led them, a smile on his face. His powers of light were slowly returning, and with his first wing on his back, he knew what Mother Doe had planned for him.

-=|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|=-

The group made it back to the clearing, where they stopped and turned to face one another. "It's time for us to return. We will pray for you that the rest of your missions go as well as ours did", Raffles said to Quad. The others nodded in unison. "I can't wait to see you with all four wings again, Quad.", Lemon said. Quad smiled, "Thank you.", he said. Envy nodded, "When the time comes, we will be back to help once again.", he said. Devren and Tally both shook their heads. They all bowed, and the talux took to the sky.

Seed stayed for a moment, "Mother Doe will protect you, Quad. She has great things planned for you.", he said. Quad smiled, "Her plans never cease to surprise me.", he replied. The two bowed, and Seed flew away with the rest of the group.

Quad ran back to Christine's house, overjoyed to know that not only was he regaining his powers, but that he had siblings. "I wonder what they were like...", he said to himself.

To Be Continued...