Season of Sacrifice (Blood of Azure Book 1) Jonathan Michael (red novels .txt) 📖

translated. I know what she feels, and I sense her intentions. Zoie is young and vulnerable. She knows too much about loss. We all do. And she has nobody within this village that isn’t an authority figure or beast that has grown attached to her as I have. She fears what will become of her if she loses her only friend. If she loses me. She coughs more violently than before. And more blood coats her lips. She takes a few long blinks. Her eyes close and don’t open again.

“Zoie?” I say tenderly. I give her a gentle nudge. “Zoie!” I place my hand on her chest and feel nothing. I lay my ear to her mouth, and there isn’t the faintest breath. I put my head to her chest, nor is there a heartbeat. Nothing. “Zoie!” I give her a solid nudge and shake her gently. “You’re a survivor. That’s all you know. That’s who you are, Zoie.” I squeeze her, and there’s nothing in return.

I pull away as a rough texture develops between us. A thin, grey bark consumes her, creeping around her lifeless body. It envelops her flesh like the camouflage I witnessed in the grove. She’s dead. And for what? Because I asked her to help me befriend some stupid ape. That is no reason to die.

I turn my attention back toward Coloss, the cause of this disaster, and he’s back in his damned tree. He has no concern for his youngling. Nor for Zoie. Or anyone in this village. Guardian of what? Why is he the Redcliffe Guardian if all he guards is his fucking tree? He’s reckless. This ape needs to die. My hands tremble, and all coherent thoughts flee me. My life is no longer of concern. I only desire to seek revenge for Zoie’s death.

I let it all go. All concern I have ever had. All selfish thoughts are whisked away. Any desire for greatness is a thing of the past with Zoie’s life taken before my eyes. None of that matters anymore.

A flood of emotions blasts me. Not my own, but from the forest around me. My Instincts are fully revealed for the first time. I want to cry with joy at the sensation of it all, but my rage is too much. It’s what I imagine it feels like to see the color of a rose petal for the first time. Or hear a serenading robin when all you could do prior was watch its beak silently open and close. Or taste the succulent sweetness of a starfruit, when all you could do prior was mush an odd texture about your tongue. It’s an entirely new sensation. The same sensation as when Chippie communicates with me, but far more intense. With Chippie, it was like dipping my toes in the water. The brunt force of this wave leaves me wobbly as I take it all in. Its within me. Its within him. Within everything living. I can feel it all around me. Somehow, we are all interconnected, and I’m tapping into it. Not with my thoughts or some form of magical will power. Its more instinctual than that. The forest around me is full of life and certainly not quiet. I cover my ears, but it does nothing. I close my mouth. I shield my eyes. I plug my nose, and none of it stops the flood of emotions I’m experiencing. I can’t stop it.

“Argh!” A horrid, visceral wail escapes me. Then something inaudible to my ears. “Die, ape!” I bellow through the conduit of nature that has overtaken my senses.

The beast’s eyes grow wide at first, then narrow in on me. High on a branch, he moves. I charge the impenetrable fig tree and climb fast to prevent the murderous ape from dropping down on me. He meets me halfway.

The rest of the siamangs, perched on various branches, watch as their guardian handles the intruder. Only a few branches up, I reach the same plane as Coloss. I can feel his hate and anger piercing my heart. I return it tenfold.

“You have no place here. Not anymore. Your time as Guardian is up. I can do better than this.” I gesture down to where Zoie lies, speaking to him through the channels of Instinct. But I know not if he receives them.

“Guardian?” His emotions translate perfectly. “You…selfish…greed…not worthy.” He bares his teeth and unleashes a snarling growl.

I’m equipped only with my fists and my small blade, neither of which will have any impact on him. I’ll have to improvise. I bound toward him and grip his hairy throat with one hand and the nearest branch with the other. In the heat of the moment, with my emotions running wild, I don’t realize it at first, but several branches of the tree have tethered around him. He tries to rip at them and swat them away without success. His own tree has ensnared him, binding him in place.

The forest is alive. The forest listens to my emotions. And I give it nothing in return.

His bindings tighten, not because of my doing, but his own. And it isn’t the tree he is manipulating. His forearms bulge through the branches until they snap, and he breaks loose. His entire body, legs, fists, all grow to nearly double the size. His tree decides it no longer wishes to carry the added mass, and the branch below us cracks.

When the branch gives way, another swoops in and wraps around Coloss’ left arm, and then another around his right arm, just as I had him bound. But this time he’s responsible. The two branches retract, pulling his arms taught, keeping him suspended. All the while, I’m still gripping his neck, with both hands now, in duress rather than hostility. We are face-to-face. His hot, musty breath puffs down on me and smells of rotten bananas. Cliché, but true. And it’s a