Elentári Springborn's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Elentári left the scorched path behind and walked to the Tree of Life. The great oak stood at the Garden's heart, its golden leaves shining like coins in the morning light. Carved vines wound up its trunk. She had come here only when her questions grew too heavy to carry alone. Today the frost was such a question. She knelt among the roots and pressed her hands to the warm bark. "Lord," she said, "who broke the spring You promised? Show me what to do." "Dear keeper." Laurelin stepped from the trees, her green horse-legs quiet on the moss. The centaur had thawed the blooms beside Elentári at dawn, and worry still creased her pale face. "The trees whisper of a stranger in the Garden. Something new walks here." She tucked a blue flower tighter in her white hair. "I feel it the way grass feels the first cold." Light broke through the golden leaves. It did not come from the sun. A man stepped down from the roots, clad in white, a gold sash at his waist. White wings folded at his back. His hair shone like the tree above him. Elentári had never seen him, yet she knew him the moment he spoke. "You called," the angel said. "God heard." Elentári rose and bowed her head. The cross on her crown caught his light. "You are sent from Him." "I am Aurelion. God sent me to guard this Garden." His blue eyes did not blink. "The frost was no accident. An enemy crept in while you slept. He means to ruin what God made beautiful. He will try again." Laurelin stepped closer, her tail swishing. "An enemy. Here." She said it like a stone dropped in still water. Elentári felt the warning settle in her chest. "My flowers," she said. "The blooms for my King's crown. He will kill them again." "He will kill more than flowers," Aurelion said. "The creatures in your care are next." He looked at her without pity and without doubt. "You cannot fight him alone. I was sent to stand with you. But you must choose to fight." Elentári thought of the crown she had promised Christ. She thought of the black path the lion had burned, and the creatures still shivering past the castle. The gift she wanted to weave meant nothing if the enemy unmade the Garden around it. "Then I will fight," she said. "Tell me how to find him." Aurelion placed his hand on the golden bark. "The frost leaves a trail, like breath on glass. Follow the cold. It will lead to its maker." His wings spread. "I will walk with you." Elentári turned from the Tree of Life. She had come for wisdom and found a guardian and a hunt. The frost was not a wound to heal. It was an enemy to face. She felt the Garden change around her, and she set out to follow the cold.