BXBX NOVEL Chapter 245 The Completed Shrine
"Oh, you\'re back!" Florabelle squealed. She turned to face them. "And you got a lot of vines!" She clapped. Lee Seng lowered the pile onto the ground and let out a sigh of relief. He could feel the negative biting at his body as he rolled his neck.
"Ah, I guess I need more practice." Lee Seng cracked his back.
"You didn\'t let me hold onto it." Keng told him. "You sure you\'ll be fine?" Keng started to check Lee Seng, but Lee Seng brushed him off.
"I\'ll be fine. It\'s not a full hit."
"Your negative really makes it difficult for you to do stuff, huh?" Ritsuka asked.
"Mmm." Lee Seng nodded. "I try to think of it as weight training. If I can handle extreme amounts of the negative on me, then I can go longer."
"It\'s a two for one negative…" Ritsuka brushed his chin. "Would\'ve never guessed to use a negative like that."
"Mmm, but I\'m fine." Lee Seng waved at both of them and turned his attention to Florabelle. She had excitedly started to quickly build a large thing between the cabin and the river. Sticks and large pieces of flower wood were being used to build a very clean bowl. The three watched as Florabelle whipped around placing things while the water seemed to bind things together. Before they knew it, most of the vines were gone.
"There!" Florabelle clapped, happily. She had created a three-foot tall shrine. It was a little hut. Flowers from the forests were scattered around the hut and she turned to face the boys. "It\'s all done!"
"Its a… hut?" Lee Seng spoke aloud.
"Mmmhm." Florabelle nodded excitedly. She flew straight to Lee seng\'s face and happily beamed in excitement. "Y\'see, when people see this, they\'ll know a Sprite lives around here. People can make offerings to nature and me! It\'ll help the area become more prosperous, too!"
"Ahhh." Lee Seng nodded. Florabelle left him and moved to the entrance of the hut.
"Now, al lI have to do is start the ritual." Florabelle landed on the ground and started to enter when Lee Seng\'s ears twitched. He turned to look around and noticed nothing.
\'Maybe it\'s my imagination…?\' Lee Seng thought. \'Nah, my senses are sharp, so I\'m not usually wrong…\'
"If you want to make an offering, you can do so in the ritual." Florabelle spoke.
"What would we offer?" Ritsuka asked.
"Anything, really. It just has to be willingly given to Nature."
Ritsuka dug through his pockets. He didn\'t have much on him. He had only his phone on him. He looked around and shrugged.
"I got nothing on me. Sorry." Ritsuka spoke.
"Oh, could I offer a Fox-fire?" Keng asked.
"A fox-fire?" Florabelle tilted her head and tapped her chin. "Why would you want to offer that?"
"Well," Keng took a step forward. "Lee Seng and I are from a sect of Fox Spirits called Saviors. I guess I want to give a part of the Foxes to Nature and help bless the area." Florabelle nodded, thinking about the offer.
"I haven\'t ever used actual magic as an offering… It\'s always been physical things from nature or made objects, but never magic… I guess the worst thing that could happen is, it doesn\'t take it." Florabelle shrugged. "Let\'s give it a go!"
"In that case, I guess I\'ll give a Fox-fire too." Lee Seng immediately spoke. Florabelle nodded and turned.
"Leave the Fox-fires at the top of the hut. I\'ll start the ritual and offer the other things I\'ve gathered as well as some of the leftover vines." Water rushed from Florabelle and grabbed the offerings and set them into the hut. Florabelle entered it and kneeled. The sounds of bells and running water started to come out of her mouth as she closed her eyes and started to mix the ingredients in the hut.
Lee Seng and Keng released a fox-fire and hovered it above the hut like they were told. The three boys watched in silence as Florabelle continued to speak in Sprite. Nothing happened for a bit. They all stood there, not sure if there was supposed to be a physical reaction or something. Time passed and then the fox-fires glowed and the magic swirled around the hut.
Keng and Ritsuka made a small noise from surprise as the energy of the fox-fires and the energy from the ingredients Florabelle was mixing started to mix together in and out of the hut.
"Nature, hear my plea." Florabelle\'s Sprite words started to translate in Lee Seng\'s mind. "I, Florabelle, Sprite of the River, offer myself as your watcher, once again. These kind Fox Spirits offer a portion of their power to rejuvenate you. O, Mighty Nature, take our offerings."
Energy pulsed out of the hut and before they knew it, the sounds of nature grew loud. They could hear the river water grow and move downstream. The wind whistled as the flower trees swayed in response. The sticks on the hut rattled and then everything around them began to shimmer.
The ground became more lush with grass and flowers in a variety of different colors. The boys gasped as they watched the river grow bigger. The sound of rushing water grew louder. Everything blossomed as the hut began to glow different colors. Silver, gold, purples, blues, greens, and reds attached themselves to the hut. In a split second, the energy died and Florabelle finally opened her eyes.
"The ritual is complete and Nature accepted the offerings." Florabelle calmly said. She stood up and turned to leave the hut. She didn\'t use her wings until she got out of the hut. She excitedly flew straight to the boys and darted between them, happily. "It accepted your magic! Oh, that\'s so wonderful!"
"It accepted the Holy magic from God King…?" Keng asked. Florabelle turned, recognizing what he just said and nodded.
"Ohhhh, you\'re blessed by the God King himself! That\'s probably why it had such an effect on the area around! I mean, look," Florabelle darted around pointing at different things. "The grass is lusher! There\'s more small flowers growing of different colors! I haven\'t seen these before either!" She pointed at glowing gold and silver flowers.
Those flowers, in particular, caught Lee Seng and Keng\'s attention. They had some sort of magical energy imbued in them. Florabelle quickly darted over to the grown river and dunked herself in a couple of times before letting out a happy laugh.
"I can\'t believe Nature took me back! I\'m so happy!" Florabelle squealed. Lee Seng, Keng and Ritsuka listened to the cabin groan. It began to fix itself as Florabelle\'s happiness grew. The area around them was growing.
"Florabelle is… causing this?" Ritsuka whispered. Lee Seng and Keng didn\'t answer. They all watched in amazement. The cabin wood pieces seemed to fix themselves and become a brighter color. Lee Seng moved into the cabin, dodging as pieces of trash started to fly out. He yelped as he was pushed backwards and fell onto his back. He watched the large heaps of trash and liquids fly out. Keng and Ritsuka watched as it turned into fertilizer and spread throughout the forest.
"Florabelle!" Keng shouted in amazement. "You\'re doing all of this?" He pointed at the trash and then at everything else. Florabelle giggled as she moved over and nodded.
"Mmm, I got my full abilities back too! I\'m so happy!" Florabelle\'s happiness was infectious. Ritsuka and the others found themselves in better moods. They were being pulled into her happy mood. Lee Seng slowly moved out from underneath the large heaps of trash and liquids and stood up. He was about to rejoin the group when his ears twitched again.
He turned right and caught a glimpse of someone hiding behind the tree. He was curious yet a little on edge. He moved away from the group, none of them paying attention to him as he left. They all began to walk around and take in the new views. Lee Seng moved to the tree and just as he was about to turn the corner, a Fox Spirit popped out.
"You helped that Sprite? Do you know what you\'ve done?" The unfamiliar Fox Spirit asked in Fox tongue. Lee Seng tilted his head, confused.
"What do you mean?" He asked. The older looking Fox Spirit man shook his head. He had his hair in a bun and was wearing unfamiliar armor.
"You shouldn\'t have messed with the Sprite. Look what you did."
"What did I–"
The older looking Fox Spirit grabbed Lee seng stopping him mid sentence as he lifted him up into the air.
"If you thought she was the true monster, you thought wrong." The older Fox\'s form shifted and melted. A sinister smile grew on his face. His hair burst from the bun it was in and fluttered all across his back and shoulders. A couple of strands of hair fell across his face. His pale skin grew paler and his eyes flickered an ethereal green.
"You shouldn\'t mess with things you don\'t know, Fox." The man growled.