"But why wasn't Stella instantly attacked by us? And why didn't I attack you?" Silas was very curious. Many more questions still flowing around inside of his head.
"I will answer soon. You see, the forest might be called dangerous, because there are many spheres that one thinks is a threat. But really, it works more as an organism rather than multiple standalone creatures. The spheres are little creatures, like humans with awakened components, they have special abilities. This species in particular, seems to be specialized in mind attacks."
"Children are ussually not very mentally resilient and a mob of people is harder to control, which is why they intertwine a weird logic to the actions of people under their spell, making the human mind confused. That way, the mind thinks it's a normal reaction, making the human continue the thought on it's own."
"The forest feeds on dead people. The spheres deliver the bodies. And finally, the forest makes fog, allowing the spheres to exist during the day, even if in weakened states. That's why they only attack at night. That's the ecosystem of the forest."
Stella was very surprised. "Why does the forest then not die? It must have been starving for the last sixty years then..." suddenly, realization hit her.
"That's why the moss is dry..." She mumbled.
'So she saw it too.' Silas was very surprised. 'She wasn't here for a year and instantly noticed...'
Orren shrugged his shoulders. "Back then, the people weren't buried in town. We took them outside, in order for the forest to have enough to sustain itself..." Orren coughed again, clearly drained from talking so long but he still continued.
"The forest wasn't fully nurished though, because the people wanted their dead family members and friends near them... even after having already left, the townsfolk still didn't want to let go, burying the dead. And so... the forest demanded it's tribute."
"... The elders of that time." Silas finished. "Nourishing the woods for sixty years because of their strong essence..."
The implications, again, were grave. Settling onto Silas' shoulders. No matter how long it would take. No matter how long they had... The forest was going to want food again.
Orren smiled. "It's alright, neither of you will have to worry. The huge amounts of essence it took, should last for another decade at least."
Silas' burden was sllightly lightened. His shoulders relaxed in relief.
***
"Hmm. But to return to the problem of illusions... I promised that I would teach you spirit vision right? Then now's the time to start." Orren stood up, walked toward a corner and lifted up a bag, opened and scattered it's ingredients on the table.
A mortar, a vial with red powder, a pipette, a knife, a small spile and two flasks.
"Those are the necessary ingredients to start the transformation of your eyes." Orren said as a matter of factly.
The story of Orren already forgotten, Stella mumbled. "That sure is a lot of stuff."
The old man, as if haven't heard it, continued. "We will first of all need some syrup from the trees. Then, a little moss and tree bark. We will mix it inside the mortar and add the red powder. You'll also have to put about 50 ml of your own blood into the mixture for it to work. Finally, when the ointment is ready, comes the uncomfortable part. You'll have to put it onto your eyelids. About four drops each. The rest will need to be drank. At first, you'll feel a pain, incomparable to anything else. Afterwards it will be slightly better but don't get your hopes up, the power gained by this mixture is so not small, so you will feel a lot at first. You'll have to train a lot in order to be stronger, though. But if you are lucky, then the acension component of yours has something to do with vision or something alike. If that's the case the power of spirit vision will multiply with the component." Exhausted from talking so long, the old man leaned back in his chair.
Stella and Silas looked at each other again. Their minds rattling because of all the new information. They stayed quiet for a few minutes. Trying to process everything new.
'What kind of "component" will i get? maybe some cool elemental thing? Or even better, heat vision would be soo great.' Stella chuckled childishly in order to relieve some mental pressure.
"So let's start, no? You said that we need to train a lot to be immune to those "mind attacks"." Silas said enthusiastically. 'I hope I can finally explore those new places. But it's curious. I'm suddenly so excited about finding this green eyeball.'
***
"Now's the time. This sample is for you." Orren pushed a small flask toward Stella. "And this one's for you." The twins looked at it suspiciously.
They layed onto the ground and glanced at each other one last time.
"It can't be that bad." Silas reassured. But the nervous movements he made proved his confident words wrong.
"Stella you'll be the first. Close your eyes."
Orren knelt beside her.
Drip, Drip, Drip, Drip. "The first eye is done. Now the second." The old man said with an honest measure of caution.
Drip, Drip, Drip, Drip. "Open your mouth now..."
Stella drank the rest of the mixture. The four drops, still forming a small lake on her closed eyelids suddenly vanished. Her eyes opened wide, the pain visible in her shivering fingers. A slight groan escaped her lips as she turned to a side. The girls' body, now curled up, was wincing from pain.
"Stella!" Silas shot up about to go over to her but Orren held him back. The old man looked at Silas neutrally and shook his head.
Both watched in horror for another few minutes untill one last groan was pushed out of her. Stellas' body relaxed and she turned onto her back, eyes closed.
"Stella, are you alright?" At Silas' voice, her eyelids slowly opened.
"Beautiful..." Silas suddenlz mumbled, fully taken aback from the color of her, for him, before grey, now green eyes. The color seemed to flow out of her pupils, building a lake below her. The color of her eyes drenched the ussually grey surroundings into a deeply green liquid. He admired the beautiful, dark and light green, mixing colors . Stella slowly sat up glancing around. Her eyes still looking like green waterfalls for everyone around her.
"You did great!" An old croaking voice said near them. Orrens smile was fuller than at other times.
'It looks somehow sincere.' Silas thought happily. 'He's finally normal!'
"Now close your eyes again." He guided the young woman. "What do you feel?"
"It's as if there's a warm, radiating pulse inside of my eyes." She said calmly.
"Good. It's the same as with your heartbeat and blood. Right now there is too much essence in your eyes, so it's leaking. Try to control it. Make it pulse, not just in your eyes, but in your whole body."
After waiting for a moment, Stella managed to distribute it evenly and opened her eyes again.
This time, her eyes didn't look just green, but it was a deep neon color, they nearly glowed in the dark. The waterfall vanished.
'Wow...' Silas mouth was open by the sheer sight of something so beautiful.