WINTER'S SWEET EMBRACE

"... Vincent?"

"Hey, Roxa. Nice night for a soak, huh?"

Without waiting for a response, he quickly turned his back to her. "My bad for looking, but please understand that I Maelle and I were searching for you with the thought that something bad must’ve happened."

Roxa’s face flushed red with embarrassment as she realised he was staring at her completely naked body. She let go of her dagger and crossed both arms tightly over her chest, sinking lower into the steaming water.

Vincent took a step out the water, but as he did, a strange, faint tugging sensation pulled at the center of his chest – a bizarre, hypnotic urge urging him to step back into the water.

To sit down and just... relax.

He shook his head vigorously and snapped his mind back to clarity.

’What the hell was that? Where did that come from?’

Getting out water, he pushed past the hedge where Maelle brushed past him, her face a mix of stoic anger and relief as she stomped right up to the edge of the hotspring.

"So this is where you were, Roxa? You said you were going for a fifteen-minute perimeter sweep. You have been gone for over an hour."

Roxa blinked hazy, tired eyes up at her, her voice sounding unusually relaxed. "I am... sorry. There were far more monsters lurking in the woods than... anticipated. But then... I stumbled upon this spring... They asked... favour... I had to..."

"What are you saying? What do you mean you couldn’t help yourself? Your mission is to remain at my side and be my escort. Not to enjoy nature’s gifts and leave me vulnerable in a dangerous forest!"

"I... I know..." Roxa murmured, resting her head back against the smooth stone. "I was going to turn back, but then... Argh!"

Suddenly, Roxa clutched her temple as a painful buzz ran through her body.

Her icy-blue eyes lost their focus, turning completely blank and hazy. Her body relaxed and slumped against the warm rocks as she stared aimlessly at the sky once again.

"Roxa? What are you doing? Answer me."

Maelle took a step forward into the shallow edge of the spring.

Standing behind the dense bushes, Vincent was currently using a small amount of his divine power to dry his wet pants. "Hey, is everything alright over there?"

""......""

"Maelle? Roxa?"

Still, no response came from the other side.

"Haaaa. Alright, look – I’m giving you two until the count of three to say something. If nobody answers, I’m turning around. Aaannnd... Three.... Two.... One.... Okay. You asked for this."

He turned around and pushed through the flowering vines only to freeze.

"... Seriously?"

Maelle’s dark duvet, thigh-high boots, crimson bodysuit, and undergarments were scattered on the mossy grass near the water’s edge.

Looking up into the steam, Vincent saw both Maelle and Roxa sitting side-by-side in the warm spring, their bodies completely still and their heads staring blankly up at the sky.

"Hey! Maelle! Roxa! What are you guys doing?!"

Neither of them moved a muscle. They didn’t even blink.

Vincent reached the edge of the water and raised a foot to step in... then paused.

’Yeah, no. I just dried these. Not about getting soaked again.’

Flapping his wings once, he lifted off the ground and hovered above Maelle. There he properly saw how unfocused and glazed over with a vacant haze her eyes were.

Next, he hovered over to Roxa and did the same. Like Maelle, her eyes were blank, in addition, her breathing was unnaturally slow and shallow.

"What in the world...?"

Deciding to test their reflexes, Vincent took a deep breath, cupped his hands around his mouth, and let out an ear-splitting scream above them: "MONSTER ATTACK! ON YOUR SIX! GET READY!"

Nope. Not a single flinch. No heart rate spike, no eye twitch.

Vincent hovered back, crossed his arms, and tried making bizarre, ridiculous faces at them. Nothing.

Finally, he scooped up a palmful of water and splashed it directly into their faces. The water dripped harmlessly off their hair and chin, yet they remained utterly immobile.

"Okay. Something is extremely wrong here."

Hovering lower, Vincent wrapped his arms under Maelle’s arms and lifted her upward out of the spring.

The second her waist cleared the water, her body suddenly jolted violently. She began thrashing and struggling against his grip. Her hands blindly pushed against him until she slipped free, splashing back down into the warm pool.

Right as she hit the water, her thrashing ceased, and she went back to sit next to Roxa, returning to her blank state.

’Oh no...’

He flew over to Roxa and tried to lift her instead.

The exact same thing happened – the moment her body was pulled from the pool, she fought back with instinctive panic until she tumbled back down and sat.

As Vincent pondered his next move, Roxa’s upper body suddenly limp-slanted forward.

SPLASH!

"Whoa! Roxa!"

He quickly caught her shoulders and set her upright against the smooth rock so she wouldn’t drown.

Holding onto her shoulders, he focused on his sensory sight to scan their internal mana.

His eyes widened in shock. Both Maelle’s and Roxa’s mana were actively being drained out their bodies in faint, invisible threads of light and syphoned away into the surrounding earth.

’Roxa’s mana is almost completely depleted... That’s why she felt weak and fell in earlier! She’s been sitting in this trap for over an hour! But why?!’

Determined to stop whatever was feeding on them, Vincent rose high into the air and followed the glowing threads of stolen mana flowing through the dirt like luminous roots.

As he went deeper into the dark, uncharted woods, the quiet night air was suddenly broken by faint, high-pitched sounds.

"Hehehe...."

"Hehe..hehe."

"Hehehe...hehehe."

Vincent’s ears twitched. As he pushed past hanging branches, the high-pitched giggling grew louder, multiplying into dozens of overlapping, mischievous voices.

"Look at him~! He’s flying~!"

"He’s so tall! And shiny!"

"Is he coming to play? Or is he mad~?"

"He’s trying to resist us! How amusing! What an interesting fellow~!"

Vincent felt a vein pulse on his forehead. Their constant, ringing chatter was grating on his nerves like nails on a chalkboard.

"Ooooh, look! He’s getting angry~! We’re under his skin, hihihi!"

"Shut. Up." Vincent growled softly.

At the absolute climax of the noise, Vincent burst into a small clearing dominated by an ancient tree.

Its bark was gnarled, cracked, and grey, its leaves withered and dead. The voices stopped, but there was nobody in sight.

The thousands of glowing mana threads were all plunging straight into the base of the dying trunk.

’So this tree is the source... It’s syphoning them to... feed itself?’

"Welp. Time to burn some firewood."

He raised his right hand above his head. A concentrated surge of pure divine power swirled around his arm before condensing into an orb of destruction in his palm.

The annoying voices returned, echoing from the branches above, and singing in playful delight.

"Oooooh~! What unique mana~!"

"It smells so delicious! Give it to us~! Feed the tree~!"

Vincent’s lips curled into a cold, menacing smirk.

FWOOSH!!!

The golden-blue ball of divine energy instantly detonated into a massive, blinding fireball, casting harsh, fiery shadows across the entire dark forest.

The playful giggles turned into pure panic.

"AHHHH! IT’S FIRE! REAL FIRE!"

"HE’S GOING TO BURN THE TREE! HE’S GOING TO BURN US!"

"DON’T THROW IT! PLEASE DON’T THROW IT!"

Vincent let out a villainous laugh, holding what practically looks like a sun above his head.

"HAHAHAHA! WHO’S LAUGHING NOW, HUH?! DIE!"

Just as he reared his arm back to hurl the apocalyptic fireball directly into the dying trunk–

WOOSH-WOOSH-WOOSH-WOOSH!

Dozens of tiny, winged figures exploded out of the hollows of the trees, flying and scrambling into the open clearing.

Some fell to their knees on the grass, bowing; others held their tiny hands up in terror as tears streamed down their faces.

They had long, sharp ears – much pointier than an elf’s – translucent dragonfly-like wings, pale greenish skin, swept-back foliage hair, and wide, dilated eyes.

It was a swarm of tiny Pixies.

"PLEASE DON’T BURN THE TREE!" a lead pixie sobbed, clutching her tiny hands together.

"This is our mother tree! It’s where new pixies sprout from! If you destroy it, our unborn brothers and sisters will die!"

The entire swarm burst into loud, squeaky wailing, begging him for mercy.

Vincent lowered his arm slightly, the massive fireball still crackling ominously above him. "What did you do to those girls in the hot spring?"

"We... We set up a charm over the spring! It lures misguided travelers and forest beasts inside, lulling them into a trance inside the water so that the mother tree can syphon their mana! With enough mana, the tree sprouts new pixies!"

Vincent looked up at the grey, decaying bark of the ancient trunk with skepticism.

"No offense, but this tree looks like a rotting stump. It doesn’t look like it’s in any condition to be popping out new pixies."

"It’s nearly a thousand years old!" another pixie cried out. "It’s dying of mana deficiency! We already relocated our main colony to a new tree grown from its seed, but this mother tree still has unfinished sprouts inside that haven’t bloomed yet! It’s been stuck like this for fifty years!"

The lead pixie looked up at him pleadingly. "We need those sprouts to hatch... and the mana from that pure elf and other girl is so special! C-Can’t we just syphon a little bit more? Please?"

"No, you can’t. They’re already passing out. If you keep taking from them, they’ll die."

The pixies gasped in horror, clutching their heads in a panic, utterly at a loss for what to do.

Vincent looked at the crying little creatures, then up at his glowing fireball. He let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head.

’I really am a softie...’

With a simple flick of his wrist, the terrifying sun vanished into thin air.

"You guys said my energy looked delicious, right? I’ll just give the tree enough power to hatch those sprouts myself."

The pixies froze as their tiny jaws dropped in absolute shock, gratitude, and utter disbelief.

"W-What?!" the lead pixie stammered. "B-But sir! A-Are you sure?!"

"Oh yeah. Don’t worry about me. I’ve got more than enough power to feed a whole forest, let alone a tree."

He reached for the base of the massive trunk, staring at the rough bark.

’Well... kissing a tree to transfer my power like I do with Nat definitely isn’t happening. Hmmm...’

"Say. Where do I dump the power? Or uh mana?"

"A-At the main root line near the base!"

Vincent nodded. Raising his left hand, he drew a quick, sharp line across his palm, allowing a few droplets of blood to well up. He pressed his wounded palm directly against the gnarled root at the base of the tree.

Closing his eyes, he reached deep into his soul, tapping into the vast, boundless ocean of divine power resting within him.

Suddenly, a golden light erupted from his hand.

As he continued pouring, he felt a tug at his hand – the tree was greedily trying to gorge itself on his energy.

"Yeesh. Hungry little guy, aren’t you? Don’t be shy now. Take as much as you need!"

He forced an overwhelming wave of divine power straight down into the roots.

SHEEN!

The dry, decaying bark of the thousand-year-old tree burst into a vibrant, deep mahogany hue.

Lush, emerald-green leaves sprouted from the bare branches in a rushing wave, while thousands of glowing pink flowers bloomed across the wood and the surrounding grass, lighting up the dark forest in a breathtaking, magical aura of pink and gold.

"IT’S WORKING! IT’S WORKING!"

"YAY! THE NEWBORNS ARE BEGINNING TO SPROUT!"

"I-I can’t believe it! Stop! Stop!" the lead pixie shouted as tears of joy streamed down her face. "It’s full! It’s more than full!"

Vincent severed the flow of energy and pulled his hand back, watching the faint cut on his palm seal itself shut.

’Nice.’

All around him, the pixies erupted into a wild, tearful celebration, flying in ecstatic loops through the glowing air.

They swarmed down around Vincent, landing on his shoulders, his head, and his wings, bowing and crying out their thanks.

"Thank you! Thank you, kind traveler! How can we ever repay you?!"

"Just turn off the hot spring of death so I can get my friends back. That’s all I ask."

"Consider it done! No more spring of death!" The lead pixie declared.

Vincent gave them a friendly wave, turning on around to head back toward the spring. But as he walked, the entire swarm of pixies flew alongside him, piling back onto his back and arms.

"""We will never forget this!""" they sang in unison.

"We will protect the three of you forever from the monsters of the night!"

Vincent looked over his shoulder at the glowing, tiny army hugging him. A genuine smile spread across his face as he hovered in the air, ready to take off.

"Thanks, guys. Adios."

FWOOSH!