text: She didn’t think she would be defeated by a simple shaman. Her years of study and practice developing her powers had created a sorceress of great renown. She built her tower in the center of the Great Forest, drawing the magic from the land. She took a name and made it one to fear. Her art turned dark, and she began twisting the land to suit her needs. That’s when the forest called to me. I spent my life wandering the wilderness. Learning the ebb and flow of the energies of the wild. I didn’t know my family, but nature took their place. When she began twisting the Great Forest, I owed nature my life in defense. I hadn’t spent years training in the mystic arts, I didn’t know how to use spells and potions. I did know how to ask for help, and I had all the Great Forest aiding me. “Well, shaman, are you prepared to die?” She stood at the top of her tower, gazing at the twisting nether that had grown around it. Her voice carried down to my ear as if a whisper on the wind. I was close now, the foul nether stung my eyes and nose. I took a seat upon the ground, crossed my legs, and held my staff high above my head. I lifted my face to the clouds and asked for rain. I begged them to cleanse my path so I could do as I was asked. The clouds answered. Thunder peeled as lightning streaked along the sky. I sat, face upturned, eyes closed, until I could no longer smell the acrid sting of the nether. “That was clever,” her smoky voice whispered in my ear. “What will you do, little shaman, when I twist the whole of nature?” Her laughter echoed in my mind as I made my way to the now empty ring around the tower. “I really don’t think you’ll have the chance,” I said. The laughter stopped. I stood fast, waiting for her response. “I will swallow your soul, shaman. I will make you watch as I consume your precious wilderness.” Her voice was filling with fire and smoke. “I will let the nether twist your life as it twists your forest. Lock into that frail body for an eternity. This forest is mine, and I will do with it as I please.” “My dear sorceress,” I said, feeling pity at her misunderstanding, “the forest called me here. I have been chosen to protect it. Nature isn’t something to be owned, it’s to be protected. I do not want this fight.” “How noble and selfless.” Her voice seethed contempt. “I’m nothing of the kind, I just answered the call of an old friend. I’d gladly go back to my roaming if you would just stop with this corruption. I’m not a spell caster, and really have no magic to speak of. You will probably kill me or do all those horrible things to me you spoke of.” I could feel her drawing the energies beneath the forest to her tower. I could see the tower at the center of a darkened clearing now. “I wish we could have avoided this” I said. I quickly sat down, turned my face to the sky, held my staff high, and asked the earth for protection. The air began to feel charged, and then a blinding flash and deafening crash. I held fast, eyes closed, head and staff held high. The lightning she conjured shot straight for me, striking my staff and then directed to the ground. The earth redirected the energy along the ring, coming to crash at the base of the tower. My arm seared in pain from her onslaught, but she gave way as soon as she noticed her tower was taking the full force of it. “You truly are too clever for your own good, shaman.” Her grin dark, her eyes burned with intense hate. “No, I just have help,” I said watching as she descended from her tower. The hours slipped by as her attacks continued. I made no move against her, only used her rage against her. When she took to the skies on wings of flames, she was consumed by her own fire. Her tower, constructed and maintained by her will, collapsed to dust. I lowered my staff, looked upon the smoldering pile of ash, and wept. I had no desire to be a part of her death, but the forest needed it. As I turned back towards the way I came, I heard something stirring in the ash. I gripped my staff and turned, not sure what new trial she had for me. I was not expecting what stood before me. A small girl, scared and covered in ash, stood before me where the sorceress had fallen. I had never studied sorcery or spell casting, but I did understand nature. I understood now that when she had called on the power of the phoenix, she was drawing on the full spirit of it. She had taken on all its abilities, not just the power if its flames. When she was struck down, she rose again, but like a phoenix, as a child. “Who are you?” A child with no memories. “I am a shaman, do you remember your name?” “I can’t remember anything, where am I? What happened here?” The fear in her voice seemed real enough. “This will take some time to explain, but this was your home.” I struggled with myself on what to tell her next. I reached in my bag and covered her in one of my shirts. “You saw me as your enemy, and we fought.” “Am I your enemy?” She asked, her eyes scanning for a way to escape. “You were never my enemy, you just didn’t understand what you were doing.” I gestured to the empty ring around us. “I came to ask you stop destroying the forest. You didn’t seem to like that idea and attacked.” “Was I a bad person?” Confusion was replacing the fear. “Good and bad is a difference of opinion. What you were doing was harmful to nature, and the forest called to me.” “And you chose to fight?” “I owe my life to the wilderness, and I will always answer its call.” I looked at her, “Now, you have a decision.” She looked at me with suspicion. “You’ve done great harm to this forest,” I said, gesturing to the ring of devastation around us. “You can leave, find your power again, and start the cycle all over again.” “Or?” “Or you can help me heal this land. It will take a long time, even with the help of someone as powerful as you, but your debt to the forest will be paid.” We stared at each other for a long time. The grizzled shaman and the soot covered child. One whose debt has yet to be paid, and one that can never be repaid. I laughed, my head tilting back, as my chest echoed with the sound. She jumped back, not sure what to expect. I tried to control myself as I felt her drawing power from the earth. “I’ve told you, you’re not my enemy, you have nothing to fear from me,” I said. “I see your power is still strong.” The draw dissipates, leaving her staring at her hands. “I don’t know how I did that, I just felt this power around me, and I could touch it, and pull it.” Her voice was filled with excitement. “Yes, you were powerful, and deadly.” “You defeated me.” She seemed puzzled. “You defeated yourself. I used no violence against you.” I couldn’t survive another battle like the last. “Then why should I help you? If I saw you as my enemy, and you fought to stop me, why shouldn’t I run?”" “That is your choice, I cannot make it for you. I didn’t want this, but this is where we are. If you leave, I won’t follow, you will be free to live as you please. If you stay, we will repair the damage you’ve done, nothing more, nothing less.” She thought for a moment, looking older than her face, and began slowly walking around the clearing. I didn’t follow, just watched as she looked at her legacy. She reached the pile of dust that was her tower. She took a handful and let it slip between her fingers. When the last speck was carried away on the wind, she turned. “I will help,” She said, “for now.” I loosened my grip on the staff and let my heart slow. I hadn’t realized how worried I was until it was over. I walked towards her, took her by the hand. “Well child, are you ready to begin?” “Yes,” She said, and I could see that the fear had left her. I led her to the edge of the clearing and began looking for what we needed to start the healing. I showed her the different plants, and how to extract their seeds. We took what we gathered back to the clearing. I showed her how to drill holes in the earth with a stick, and then place the seeds at the right depth. “Careful now, you don’t want the seeds too deep, the seedling won’t break through the soil.” I knew she understood, even without my explanation. “Don’t plant them too close together, the trees need room to grow.” “I know,” Her face an almost comical mixture of youthful innocence and ancient experience. “It will take some time to heal this section of the forest, we should build a shelter before too much longer.” “hm,” She was fully engaged on the task at hand, not even looking up to see what I had said. “Do you still have the seeds from the ivy and brambles?” She handed them to me, and I took them to the dust mound where her tower once stood. I used my staff to draw out a large circle, a small section left on one end. Then, holding the seeds in my palms, I reached towards the sky and asked the forest for aid. I asked for our heads to be covered and protection from the storms. I placed the seeds along the circle, imploring them to grow. When the seeds where all sown, I sat in the center and held my staff in front of me. I placed it upright, touching the ground, held with both hands. I pushed all my life into the staff and begged the forest to hear me. It answered. The seeds began sprouting, seedlings rapidly taking hold. I could feel the roots burrow deep, and the vines begin to climb. I kept my eyes closed, visualizing the form I wanted the structure to take. I guided the brambles to form the frame, a simple dome with a small door. I divided my focus to the ivy, starting at the base and weaving through the bramble. I focused my will into my staff, forming two cots on the inside of the hut. I focused the ivy into a small cage suspended from the ceiling, fine meshed with a small door. I called to some lightning bugs and asked them to fill the cage. They did, and I formed a small flower with sweet nectar in the center of the cage and closed the door. I stayed seated for some time after, the weight of the day forcing itself upon me. I placed my head against my staff and felt for the pulse of the earth. I mixed my life with that of the earth, healing and replenishing my worn spirit. I did what little I could to heal the land, but I was interrupted by a stern voice. “Am I supposed to do this all myself?” She asked, such an adult edge to such a young voice. “You’ve been done for hours and have just been sitting here.” “You’ve only been standing there a moment. How do you know what I’ve been doing?” I asked, barely able to mask my amusement of the situation. “I felt you building the hut....” “I didn’t build the hut, the plants where kind enough to give us shelter,” I corrected her. “Are all shaman as annoying as you are?” I thought for a moment on this. “I’ve never known another shaman. I try to make it a point to avoid people in general,” I told her. “I was abandoned in the forest as a child.” “Aren’t you lonely?” “How can I be lonely? I have the whole of nature as my friend. I was raised by the forest, and if I get lonely I just talk to it.” “How can you be raised by a forest?” Genuine curiosity filled her face. “Well, step one is learning to listen to it. The ebb and flow of its energy, the heartbeat.” I scanned her face, making sure she understood. “Place your hand on the ground. Good, now sit and feel for the power you felt earlier.” She did as she was told. “That power you feel is the life of the forest, if you push deep enough you can find the pulse of the entire world. Now though, just feel for the forest.” “I feel it, but I can’t hear anything, it’s not talking to me.” I swallowed back a laugh at the image of her eyes closed in concentration, and her mouth in a stern frown. “It’s always talking to you. You just don’t understand it yet. Have patience, you found the pulse faster than I did when I first looked for it.” “How did you know how to find it? How did you know the forest was speaking to you?” I picked her up, placed her gently on the cot, and said, “I didn’t, but it’s been a very long day, even longer for you having to live it twice.” I winked as I pulled a hide from my pack and tucked it around her. “You’re foolish,” she grinned as her eyes drifted off to sleep. I went back to the center of the hut and asked the light to go to sleep, they did. I crawled into my cot, and my world went dark.