Where are you, Scylla?

Yes! And to mark the occasion, have... THE REST OF CHAPTER 14!!!!!

The sun was setting. It cast its blazing orange rays through the woods, seeming to burn the leaves in scarlet flames. But nothing was burning and nothing was safe. Sheena suddenly felt very stupid. Why didn't I ask Narwhal when he was going to... attack the Essence of Terra?

She shook her head. Not like he would've told me anyway. He doesn't trust me. I'm surprised he hasn't found me yet. He will soon, anyway. 

I need to talk to Terra again. Maybe he'll post guards outside the Essence. Maybe not. There's nothing I can really do. I am so lost. Everything is lost.

Her thoughts flashed back to Narwhal, trapped inside his own mind. Would she become like that? Paranoid and confused, unstable and damaged? Sheena shuddered, blocking out the images. She needed to focus. 

What would Ciel do?

Sheena thought of her teacher: Patient, calm, thoughtful, collected. Even in dire situations, he always seemed to know what to do. Sheena decided that he would do research. He would try to learn as much as he could about the Essences and how to protect them, maybe even how to relocate them. Sheena headed towards the Great Tree, hoping to get to the Knowledge Chamber. Maybe the Terra Knowledge Protector would let her read some of his lore. 

Sheena reached the huge tree, padding through the entrance. Her claws worked the mossy ground and she approached the gnarled root rope. It rose from the earth in uneven, green spirals, and some flowers budded from it. It was almost beautiful, Sheena thought. She leaped onto it, claws digging into the tough fiber, and began her ascension.

The roots felt strong under her claws. They were cool to the touch, and small vines laced across them. They were tightly wound, tangled, and Sheena knew that they wouldn't unravel. She powerfully pushed herself upward using her haunches, struggling upward. Why couldn't they have made something easier to climb, like ledges or something? Her muscles burned already and she was barely past the healing level. She dipped her head to the healer, who nodded back, still busy organizing the stacks of leaves. Sheena had always watched the Aqua healer, Levi, and wondered what it would be like to be a healer. But she was glad the was a Knowledge Protector. She loved the history of the Elementi, loved feeling involved in such a great thing. She wouldn't have given up her place for anything.

Now there was no place to give up. The future seemed bleak. She was the only leopard bearing any natural trace of the Aqua.

Sheena suddenly hated her parents with a bitterness that surprised her. Her mother had been such a moron, falling in love with an Aether. The Aether. Sheena deserved to be a soulless husk next to her Element, cowering in the shadows, feeling nothing. But instead she had to live with the guilt and shame she felt. 

To feel nothing....

It would be bliss. But not. Sheena ground her teeth, eyes narrowed in anger. Why did she have to be Hidden?

A sudden thought struck her. Even if Narwhal kills the rest of the Elementi, he can't touch me. I'm invincible to him. He can't take my life force. I'm a new Element. I am my own Essence.

These thoughts empowered her, driving her upward. 

But how could I live with the fact that I had saved no one? 

I could run away, she thought. Far from the Elementi. I could leave them to their fate and that's that. 

But she could never do that.

Yet what was the right choice?

She pushed her troubled thoughts away as she reached the Level of Knowledge. She carefully dislodged her limbs, one at a time, from the root pillar, scrabbling onto the wooden platform. She pulled herself into it and lay panting for a while, then stood up. "Hello?" she called.

"Coming!" a faraway voice called back.

Sheena sat down, taking in the chamber as she waited. 

It was a circular room, with a tall ceiling and a hole in the center for the root pillar. There were tiny niches dug from the wood walls and reach contained several scrolls or tablets. It was all very orderly and neat, and there were rushes on the ground. They were like grass, covering the floor up. Their sweet scent was calming to Sheena. 

Then a figure scrambled down the roots to greet her. It was a Terra leopard, with pine-green spots on a pale brown pelt. His eyes were orange and observed her with a calculating gaze. 

"Hello," she said cautiously.

"Hello there," the leopard answered. "I'm Koshik, the Knowledge Protector."

"I'm Sheena," Sheena responded.

"You're that Aqua everyone's been taking about," he asserted. "Why are you here?"

"I need help," Sheena said.

He brightened. "Alright then. Follow me." He paused to look back at her. "And welcome to the Library of Terra."

She trotted after him. "What's a library?"

"It's what we call our collection of lore." Koshik waved a paw at the niches. "Everything is in chronological order. The oldest stories are on the left side, and the timeline continues until the gap in the niches, where it continues on the second level."

Sheena looked to the direction he pointed in, noticing a bare strip of the wall. She supposed this was the gap in the niches he was talking about. 

"That's interesting."

"What do you need help with?" His eyes glowed with curiosity.

"Do you have any information on the Essences?"

"This way." 

Koshik padded over to the bare strip of wall. "The Essence lore is at the very beginning. Do you want to know something specific?"

"How were they created?" Sheena asked. "How can you move them? How can you protect them? How can you—" 

"Stop your questions," he said gently. "I'll get you the things you need."

Without further ado, he leaped into the wall, hooking his claws into the wood. He scaled up it, grabbing several items and storing them below his chin. Sheena noticed that everything at the beginning of the Library was clay. There were no scrolls, only dry tablets of mud and earth. 

Koshik came back down, depositing the tablets carefully at Sheena's paws.

"Be careful," he warned. "These tablets are ancient. I have yet to transcribe them onto new scrolls, so be as careful as you possibly can."

Sheena felt overawed in the presence of such knowledge. "I'll be careful," she breathed. "Thank you." Then she settled down, tucking her forepaws under her chest, and began to read.

"The Essences were rumored to have been created by the original Elementi. Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Ignis, and Terra were so powerful... Too powerful, one might say. They were overflowing with Elemental magic--after all, they were the first of their kind. It is said that they met one day, long after starting their own Elements. Many of their leopards were just ordinary leopards, without anything that set them apart from the other Elements. The Elementi leaders decided that they wanted to share some of their gifts with their followers. Together, with the help of their father, Kyto, they extracted some of their very souls. 

What they drew forth were five orbs of uncontrolled power. Kyto said that they would need a vessel to contain such power, and presented them each with a small stone. He had chosen these from the earth itself, each, he claimed, suited to their holders' spirit. The Elementi placed the stones inside of their souls, and soon all that was left was that--a stone. But each stone glowed with the magic of what it contained. 

And they were called the Essences."

Sheena remembered the Essence of Aqua. It had been a small stone, but its aura seemed much fiercer than what the tablet described. Maybe it's the exposure to so much of the Aqua's element, she thought, returning to the text.

"Before they returned to their lands with their Essences, Kyto told them that they must take a drop of each and place it in the earth. So they did. A magnificent tree grew from the place where each Essence particle was planted, its boughs decorated with signs of that Element. Kyto declared that this would be the meeting place of the Elementi, if they ever needed to discuss something."

This isn't what I need to know, Sheena thought, skimming forward. But the tablet ended and she drew the next one from the stack, setting the first aside. 

"The Construction of an Essence," the new tablet's title read. Sheena looked over it eagerly. Information on this might help!

"The Essences are tiny fragments of the first Elementi's souls, drawn forth to share the gift of the elements. They, in addition to causing the Elemental Trees' growth, were presented to each Elemental leader's group. When the groups accepted the gift, they transformed into the Elementi. The Essences were hidden deep in the heart of each land so that the gift of the Elementi would last forever.

"The Essences, despite coming from such strong leopards, are very fragile. Nearly unbreakable defenses have been fabricated around them, protecting them from possible harm. If one with ill intent were even to touch an Essence, it would be drawn to their touch and into their body. This is the act of absorption."

I know that firsthand, Sheena thought. I saw it.... Does this mean that Narwhal now has part of the first Aqua inside him? Her heart plummeted as she read the next part.

"There is currently no known way to free the Essence from its absorber."

Sheena stared at the tablet blankly. But then a spark of hope entered her eyes as she remembered. This tablet is ancient! It's probably outdated. She set it atop the first one she'd read, sifting through the remaining tablets until she reached the bottom of the stack. She held the last one up, observing it. It was in a different handwriting and the clay was darker and less flaky. She took this as a sign that it was newer, and brightened when she read the title.

"Essences: Theories on Construction and Release. Recorded by Lakos of the Terra, Knowledge Protector.

"It is believed that the Essences cannot be reformed after absorption, but no leopard has ever tried to test it. In fact, there has been no recorded absorption, and no leopard would risk it just for the sake of experimentation. The Essences are far too precious to sacrifice for curiosity.

"I have taken an interest in finding ways to restore the Essences in case as absorption happened. I have shared my theories with the other Knowledge Protectors so that if one Essence is absorbed, then the others will know how to help. If you are reading this, then you as well must require such help. 

"As you must know, the five Essences are parts of the Elementi's souls. If they were drawn out of their original bearers, could they be drawn out of their thieves as well? Unfortunately, the only known fact about the Withdrawal is that the Elementi's father aided the process. Seeing as he himself was not a part of the Elementi, I am unsure as to whether another Withdrawal would be possible."

Sheena felt crestfallen. Would the whole text, written in this strange fashion, be simliar? She skimmed the rest of it desperately, hoping in vain to find concrete facts. But there was only empty theory. I'm back where I started, she thought. I have to do this alone. 

You're not alone, the voice said. Although I don't see why you're doing this. Leave them to burn.

No, Sheena answered simply. I'm not you.

Yes you are, the voice argued.

Well, not exactly, Sheena amended. I need to find Narwhal.

Good luck. The voice seemed to be laughing.

Sheena called for Koshik. "Where are you?"

Once again, the wiry leopard scurried down the roots. "Did you find what you needed?" he asked, scooping up the tablets carefully.

"Not exactly," Sheena responded. "But thanks for your help."

"Anytime," the Terra Knowledge Protector answered distantly, replacing the tablets inside the wall. "You're free to go," he added, when she didn't leave.

She nodded her thanks, jumping onto the roots. 

Her claws tore through the solid pillar and her heart lurched as she fell several lengths, but she finally regained her grip, lowering herself painstakingly down the column. She leaped off it when she was a little above the earth, grateful to be on the ground again. Her claws ached from gripping the roots and she hoped she wouldn't need to climb them again. 

Sheena exited the tree trunk, and gave herself a quick grooming. Her tongue gently tugged the bits of leaf and root out of her midnight-blue fur, and it felt good to have her pelt free of leaves. She shook it out, standing up. The air was fresh and good, but she could see clouds rolling in on the far horizon, over the trees. It was going to rain soon.

Sheena's ears pricked at the thought of water. She could almost feel the rain, running through her fur; its clear coldness saturating her. She shook off the thought, focusing once more on her impending doom. 

As she often did, she decided to walk in the forest to clear her mind. The Terra settlement, despite its friendliness, was full of chatter and noise. It was nice to escape from it all. The settlement was in a clearing inside the forest, but it was a large clearing. The Great Oak rose up in the center, and many burrows had been dug around it. There was nothing aboveground aside from the burrows, some bushes, and the occasional prey item, but the surrounding forest was full of life. 

Sheena gladly strode into the trees, letting their boughs and strong trunks envelop her. She smiled, but the expression soon vanished from her face. She couldn't smile at this time. She must find Narwhal.

Sheena believed that she was following the path she had traveled from Narwhal's camp, but she couldn't be sure. However unique each place was to Flower and the other Terra, it all looked the same to Sheena. The trees had gradually grown more familiar, but it was still mostly alien to her. Not for the first time, she longed for home—for water, and for sycamores, and for moss, and for fish. Although fish had grown flavorless to her in her first days alone, she now realized how much she loved it. The prey was diverse enough here, but there was nothing quite like fish.

Sheena walked for a while, letting the soothing peace of the forest wash over her. She breathed slowly, in and out, in and out. It was almost perfect, this silent serenity.... But nothing, as she had come to realize, remained peaceful for long. 

Then she heard a twig snap, a muffled curse. And she came face to face with...

Narwhal.

(Hallia says bymy - by your what? What is happening here, Hallia?)