Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Lornaine Forest

Walking towards the bear, her face an icy mask, calculating, plotting. Sari dropped to her knees in front of the bear.

"I apologize for any damage done by me to your home. I had tried to minimize the damage, however, I realize that that effort does not negate the damage I had wrought upon your home. What would you have me do to make up for this?"

After finishing her apology, Sari hung her head, waiting for the bear to respond.
 
A shiver caused the fur across the bear to ripple. Not only did she not smell of anything remotely normal, she didn't even smell alive, this woman who kneeled before him. He spoke to the sprite, who had shown some apparent ability to understand his thoughts, by forming more words mentally.

<You may tell her that I would see her gone from this place. Not gone from my forest, but gone from all of this world. She does not live like a creature born of nature, and were you not here to act as an intermediary, Spriteling, I would have already done my best to put whatever it is that she is into the hard ground beneath my claws. At least the other one smells of life, though he's a fool to bare steel at me.> Aengus growled again, low in his throat, stepping past Sari before rearing onto his hind legs.

Now bipedal, the bear's size became apparent. He wasn't simply large, he was monstrously huge for an ursine being. He stood, growling, only a few feet away from Cameron, his forelegs slightly raised.
 
Cameron backed off, his eyes flicking back behind him as he judged his distance to the cliff. "Apologise for killing the trees? I wasn't flying the ship, I'm not even with her!"
 
Polyglot turned with a wide smile as the bear reared on his hind legs. "Good news! He's not going to kill you." He nodded sagely. "Now come, let's get out of the forest. I'll lead you around the city."

He began waltzing down a path on the cliff towards the city.
 
Sari, getting up from her kneeling position, walked around the bear. Her footsteps silent, imperceptible to all but Polyglot. Almost appearing out of nowhere, the android's black hair fluttered in the breeze. With right arm outstretched, Sari grabbed onto the back of Cameron's collar and began to drag him away from the bear and after Polyglot.

"Where are wo going to, Polyglot?" She asked, her voice somewhat quizzical.
 
Aengus dropped to all fours as they began to move away from him. As he fell to the ground, the lighter patterns in his fur shimmered slightly. When his paws hit the soil, a sudden eruption of stone and dirt formed in front of them.

<Spriteling, you will translate word for word. They are to leave, not saunter to the city. This is a final warning to them, and yourself.>
 
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"Jesus-!" Cameron dragged his heels, tripping back as Sari pulled on his shirt. He caught himself with his free hand before hitting the ground, keeping his knife ready.
 
Polyglot looked over his shoulder, surprised. "Oh! Right. Sorry." He looked back to Sari and Cameron. "My good cousin wants you to leave leave. As in, leave these lands entirely." He scratched his head. "I guess you can't do that without that fuel stuff you need for your big machine though, huh?"

Back to the bear. <Cousin, I think they're trying to do that, but the giant metal bird that they arrived on is out of whatever it is that makes it fly. I'm leading them to the city so they can get some more. Otherwise they'll truly be stuck here.>
 
As Sari began to drag Cameron away from the bear, an eruption of dirt and stone blocked her way. Dirt got in her eyes and began to work its way into the exposed joints of her right arm. Damnit! She was going to have to disassemble and clean it out now. Then, almost like an afterthought, a stone, small and hard, came flying at her.

Swiftly, her left hand came up to her face, catching the stone that was mere inches from her eye. With a flick of her wrist, Sari twisted on her left foot, the right one coming behind so that she now faced the bear, the stone went flying. It came hurdling towards the bear, unable to be seen by the human eye. Coming within an inch of the bear's front left paw, the stone buried itself an entire foot within the ground.

Sari's face, once cold but soft, was now hard, like that of a glacier. An icy flame burned within her eyes. No one was going to get in her way, never again.

"Bear, I suggest for your sake that you do not block my way or force my passage. I shall not harm your forest again, and you will not try and force me into anything. Understood?" Sari's icy voice came out as though it was a glacial wind, her threat evident, and, based off of the rock, completely true.
 
Aengus was about to respond to Polyglot, using some words to show he understood that man could fly, but that whatever machine had crashed operated on some magic altogether unknown to him, but before the words could form in his mind, the stone rammed into the ground at terrifying speeds just before him. He stopped, then slowly turned to look at Sari as she spoke at him. The urge to growl was there, to put the little two-legs in her place, whatever she was, but he kept quiet instead. Despite his willpower, his fur still bristled at the sudden aggressive return.

<Spriteling, let her hear my words once more. She is like all others who walk upon two legs. She is thoughtless when it comes to nature, to things that live only by what nature gave to them, and in being such, she misunderstands all Ah have told her. Ah don't care what she has planned, she's a murderer and must pay her penance for it. If that means we comes to blows, then let nature decide the victor. She not only injured and destroyed trees I have known since they were sprouts, but the creatures who called those places home now lie dead from causes wholly unnatural.> He paused, briefly, before continuing, the russet lines in his fur shimmering with a copper light.

<The man here, Ah can forgive. He has no more guile in this than a stone has a will to fly, but this woman is to either leave this world by her own craft, or by returning to the soil from which we all arose. This is the will of Lornanine herself, for Ah speak with her voice where others cannot hear it, and my will as well, for Ah protect this place, one of the few holy forests remaining in this land of Old Winter.>
 
The sprite nodded. "He says that you are thoughtless to nature, to the forest, and that you will pay penance for your crimes." Polyglot pointed at Cameron. "You, he forgives. It's quite clear to all of us that you are an idiot, and you cannot be blamed for that." He pointed again to Sari. "But you, he says, must face some sort of punishment... though I'm a bit unsure if he's just saying that you ought to be punished or if he'll be the one to give to you." He scratched his head. "He's not going to attack you, but I think he's willing to fight back if you seek to challenge him."

Polyglot said all this as if it were the simplest thing in the world. The laws of nature, after all, were far different than those of men - in some ways kinder and more empathetic, in others far more savage and cruel.

<Brother, will you let them pass to acquire the things they need to leave these lands?>
 
Cameron stood up, sheathing his knife and brushing himself off as he turned to the boy. "Look," he said in an annoyed tone. "I might be new, and lost, but I am not an idiot. I'm just trying to get somewhere calm and figure out what to do with my life now. If you two want to have a dick measuring contest go ahead, I just need to get to civilisation.
 
Sari's eyes were blue fire itself. She stared at the bear with a force that would be impossible for a girl of her stature to create. She had no quarrel with the bear or his home, but he was coming dangerously close to getting in her way. If he did that, then he would have to be taken care of.

"Bear, I have no quarrel with you, as was evident by my apology being the first to be spoken. However, you seem to have some sort of quarrel with me." Pausing, Sari continued, "I warn you now, not as a threat, but as a truth. If you get in my way, then I will be forced to dispose of you." The Android's voice took on a steely tone as she spoke.

"I do not wish for this, and I hope that it would not be a desirable outcome for you either. As such, I suggest that you leave me to my own devices. Allow me to seek out that which I require, and allow me to leave when I am so inclined."

There was a promise in her eyes, a promise of both danger and safety.
 
Aengus listened carefully. His fur continued to shimmer with copper light, his magic seeping into the ground around the area. If nothing else, it would alert him to when they returned to the forest.

<How long will it take them, Spriteling. I can only suffer her presence on this world so long.>
 
The spriteling shrugged. <As long as it takes to buy something, I suppose. I've heard that can be very quick or very long.>
 
The bear shuffled slightly, then shook his great head.

<I will relent, but I will mark her vessel and move it to a location more suitable for it. That will be on the edge of Lornanine closest to the city, and she is not to take flight above my forest again. Should she cross me again, she will know my fury, and that of all nature behind me.> He snuffled briefly, then turned and trundled off into the forest's undergrowth once more.
 
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