Cormac took a moment to breathe in the brisk mountain air, take in the surroundings, adjust the straps on his backpack a bit, and feel his head for bumps.

He frowned as he ran a hand through his long red hair, inspecting his scalp and turning up nothing. A second hand similarly turned up nothing. Which meant that there was one less thing to explain away something he could possibly see if he were to turn around this very instant.

Blinking a few times, staring out ahead at the forest, he braced himself before turning around.

Seeing her still there just a short ways back caused him to wince and his frown to grow.

She in turn gained a look of concern as she quickly looked around and tensed up. Finding nothing amiss, the dryad of mottled dark brown and green skin, and hair an even more vibrant shade of green looked back to Cormac.

"What's wrong, Guardian?" The forest woman, who had been following Cormac ever since he rolled that log off a beautiful forest flower, asked.

"No bump on my head, which means this isn't a concussion." He gave another deep breath, lungs filling with air before continuing. "And I'm not so far up the mountain that not enough oxygen is getting to my brain. Only been out here a few hours, not starving. Not dehydrated. I don’t *think* there’s any poisonous plants up here-”

“There are, one moment.” The dryad quickly closed the distance between them and grabbed Cormac’s hand, carefully inspecting it and running a fingertip over it that reminded Cormac of plant flesh. She released his hand and gave a curt nod. “The rose’s poison does not run within your veins.”

Cormac’s mouth hung open a bit as he tried to settle on a question to ask, finding it difficult to do so when a naked tree woman was standing right in front of him. “Uh, okay. Good to know. Also good to know I’ve got nothing left but insanity as an excuse for why I’m seeing you.”

“I cannot confirm your mental state but you see me because I allow it.” She responded in a matter of fact tone in that contralto voice of hers.

“Good to know...uh...well since you’re not a hallucination could you…” Cormac looked away, blushing slightly. “Put some clothes on? Walking around with a plant woman is going to raise enough questions, more questions arise when she’s naked.”

She tilted her head, brow of bright green raising. “I told you. You are allowed to see me. Others are not, Guardian, so you need not worry.”

Cormac sighed, regretting picking today of all days to go for a nice relaxing hike. “A no on the clothes, got it.”

He turned and continued walking, knowing she was following. Not from footsteps, as those had been silent, but from the fact that she had been following him for the last hour or so. He should have been back to his truck by now but he had taken the most circuitous path possible in some attempt to leave her behind, the logic of which began with and ended at hoping she got bored and left.

She didn’t. Every time he dared to look back, every time he made a sharp turn through the forest and chanced a look from the corner of his eye, even when he tried looking behind him in his signal mirror she was back there.

Eventually he found a nice rock to sit and rest on, the dryad joining him by sitting on the forest floor.

“So, do you have a name?” He asked as he pulled out a granola bar.

“You would be unable to pronounce my true name, Guardian. But you may call me Ixia- wait, what are you eating?” The dryad frowned, getting up from her seat and looming over Cormac.

“...granola? It’s just oats and nuts and seeds…” Cormac started to sweat a bit as he wondered if this was something like cannibalism to her.

Ixia huffed as she walked over to a nearby tree and reached into a knothole to retrieve a strange spherical fruit in an unfamiliar shade of indigo. She quickly walked back over to Cormac, pushing his granola bar aside and holding out the fruit to him.

“A guardian will require strength and proper nourishment, this ‘granola’ will not do.” She insisted.

Not being one to argue with strange tree women who were still very naked, Cormac reached out a cautious hand to take the strange fruit as he pocketed his granola for a time where it wouldn’t cause such offense. Looking it over, it appeared to be about the size of an orange with a slightly waxy flesh. He turned it over in his hands a few times before looking back up to Ixia.

“So...do I just bite it or do I peel it?”

“Consume all but the seeds at the center. Never, ever consume the seeds.” She warned.

Cormac gulped, eyes wide as he nodded. A part of him felt like this was a terrible idea and he was probably going to be under a curse or something as magic maybe existed now, but if it did he had roughly no chance of saying no to the magic woman.

He bit in, finding the texture to be like that of mango, and sweeter than anything he had ever tasted before. His eyes lit up as he quickly scarfed down the strange fruit, carefully avoiding the hard black seeds about the size of small pills at the center.

“Thanks.” He said between bites. “My name’s Cormac, by the way. Since I got yours. Or the pronounceable version of it.”

Looking pleased, she smiled and returned to her seat on the forest floor. “A good name for a guardian.”

“You keep mentioning some guardian thing.” Cormac said after swallowing a bite, finding that there was no non-messy way of eating this fruit that was already staining his pale hands indigo. “Is this because of that flower- wait a minute, what exactly am I going to need strength for?”

His worried question was quickly answered by a howl sounding almost like a wolf but thoroughly different. There were no wolves in this part of the country, only coyotes. And that was no coyote howl.

“You can answer on the way to my truck.” He said as he quickly stood and looked around for the source of the howl.

Ixia’s face was one of resolute determination as she too stood. “That is one of those metal boxes that moves, yes? The armor will help.”

Cormac had many questions at this point, but another unearthly howl pushed them aside for later. He took a final bite of the fruit, looking down to the four seeds in his palm before pocketing them quickly and breaking into a run.

Somewhere between running for his life with a dryad, climbing into his truck, and realizing that magic exists maybe, Cormac became aware of the fact that he was not even slightly out of breath. He only had a second to wonder about it before the knocking at the passenger door knocked him out of his temporary reverie.

“Let me in!” Ixia called out, as Cormac quickly leaned over to open the door for her. She climbed in and after a brief moment of looking at the door, shut it a bit too hard. “I was...not aware how to operate such a device.” She said while looking away.

Cormac quickly turned the ignition and his old truck roared to life. He pulled out onto the mountain road as the most pressing question finally made its way to the top of the roiling sea of his mind.

“So I don’t know what the...thing that made that sound was but, I’m taking us far away from it. Also put your seat belt on.” He said as he only slightly slowed down to take a turn.

“It will still come for me.” She shivered in place a bit, frowning slightly and looking down. “You may have reawakened me but The Ash Hound will still seek my life. My forest is still in danger so long as all of The Old Kin remain there.”

“I understood some of that, like the part about you being chased. Not really getting the part about how rolling a log off of a flower reawakened you? Also seat belt, the small metal bit attached to the straps?” He pointed to his own as he tried keeping his eyes on the road in the rearview mirror, gripping the steering wheel harder as he heard the howl again.

After some heavy insistence and explaining while accelerating down an old mountain road Ixia was buckled in and fidgeting about under the seat belt. “That flower was one of my forest hearts. As soon as you freed it, there were enough active and I awoke.”

She stared out the window at the forest rapidly going by, her frown growing. “Are you certain you cannot fight these foes at this moment?”

“Very. I don’t mind helping you out of course but I didn’t sign up for fighting supernatural beasts. In part because that’s *absolutely not something I’m capable of doing*. So I’m getting us far away from them for now.”

She sighed like a gentle spring breeze and looked over to him. “I am sorry, Guardian.”

“You can call me Cormac.”

“Cormac, I am sorry. I am indebted to you for saving my life, and yet I ask more of you. There are few others I would trust with this matter.” Ixia said.

Before he could object to every single bit of this, they both heard the unearthly howl once more. Ixia looked over her shoulder and Cormac looked in the rearview mirror, they both saw the beast charging onto the road and gaining speed on them.

The Ash Hound, as Ixia called it, appeared similar to a six legged wolf with just as many eyes gleaming like stars on a too long head atop a body the size of a moose. Its six legs carried it faster and faster, yet low to the ground for a beast of its size. It’s flesh matched that of its name, and looked as though volcanic ash had coalesced into a solid flesh form.

“Quickly, I shall require an obsidian knife!” Ixia called out.

It took all of Cormac’s willpower to keep his eyes on the road and not to glare at the tree woman. He settled for a completely deadpan response despite the adrenaline coursing through his veins. “I don’t have one of those.”

“Your guardian knife was stolen? Unfortunate, any harm we deal the Ash Hound shall be temporary.” Her eyes narrowed at the beast as it gained on them.

“I’ll take temporary.” Cormac called out as the beast got ever closer in the mirror. “How do we do make that happen?”

“Cause it a large amount of harm and I shall take its heart, it shall slow it down and we can perform the binding ceremony later to keep it asleep.” She looked around the cabin of the truck. “It shall be quick, so we must strike hard and fast.”

Cormac swerved around a corner as the beast howled behind them and the sound rang into depths of his very soul to give him a sickening chill. The beast followed his turn as he avoided the trees, and he hatched an idea as he gnawed at his lip.

“I’m really more of a sci-fi guy but uh...dryad right?” He asked, to which she nodded in quick confirmation as the beast opened its jaws to snap at the truck. The sound was loud enough to be heard over the roar of the engine and whistling winds.

“So, any chance you can make a tree grow really fast? Like, instant?” He asked, indigo stained hands going bone white as he gripped the wheel.

She looked back to him as fear started to overtake her face. “I can...why?”

“And you trust me?”

“With my life.”

“Probably a bad idea but, when I say ‘tree’ I need you to grow a large tree about...uhhh…” He swerved on the road a bit, gagging The Ash Hound’s reaction times against his own. “Look at how long the truck is, and let’s say about two of those. Two of those ahead of us, make a tree grow okay? Big one.”

“What kind?” She asked as the beasts jaws snapped shut far too close for comfort, the sound of jaws coming together like a thunder clap.

“I DON’T KNOW?! PINE? BRISTLECONE PINE? TREE! NOW!” Cormac shouted.

Ixia reached a hand out to the windshield, and a second later a vast bristlecone pine burst forth from the road. Cormac quickly swerved to avoid it, breaking off his side mirror in the process as The Ash Hound failed to match him in time and collided with the grand tree hard enough to produce a loud thump.

The tree didn’t budge, and Cormac slammed on the brakes a second later as he looked out the window at the now unmoving lump on the road partially hidden by the massive tree.

Ixia struggled with her seat belt until Cormac clicked it open for her, joining her as she scrambled out of the truck and over to the beast.

“Those seat belts are a nuisance!” She huffed, approaching the ashen creature.

“You didn’t go flying through the window when I hit the brakes, which I assume would hurt even you.” Cormac hung back a bit, still wary of the beast even as it lay unmoving.

Closer inspection showed its head partially smashed in, silvery blood leaking out onto the road. He took a step back as he saw one of its paws twitch.

“Until we find you an obsidian knife, it will recover. We can slow that for a long while though.” She motioned with her hands as roots burst forth from the road and through the beast’s chest, it whined in a low tone that gave Cormac that queasy feeling once more. The roots bore a crystalline heart in their clutches, still impossibly beating as Ixia broke a root off and willed it into a wooden knife. She cut away the glowing red arteries still clinging to the heart.

Using the knife, she nicked her finger and squeezed out a drop of green blood onto the heart still held amongst the roots. “I shall need some of your blood as well.” She said to Cormac, beckoning with her hand.

Cormac looked down to his hand, brow furrowing as he looked back to the naked tree woman asking for his blood to vanquish a magical beast. “....you’re sure?”

“Very sure, we must seal the heart in the blood of a pact.” She said with determination.

“This is a lot to take in.” He grimaced.

Ixia smiled, holding the knife out. “I am aware, and I am sorry I must ask for your help.”

Cormac chewed at his lip for a moment, shaking his head and groaning. “I’m already regretting this, but sure.”

The dryad quickly took his hand, pricked his finger as he winced and squeezed a bit of blood out onto the wooden blade. She dripped it onto the still beating heart, tracing a symbol with their blood onto the surface as it stopped beating and glowing.

“Would you walk with me? I must retrieve one of my forest hearts if we are to leave the forest and find an obsidian blade.” She asked with a smile.

Cormac sighed, shaking his head. “Yeah just...let me pull the truck to the side of the road. You might want to move the tree too.” He walked to the truck, passing by the beast crumbling into dust as Ixia beckoned the tree to shrink back down into the soil. She met him at the edge of the woods after he parked the truck, and they walked into the forest together.