The Heart of EverShade

I have been awake for all of twelve minutes- I haven’t even opened my eyes yet, when I feel Bramble the squirrel drop an acorn directly on the top of my stone head, with a loud thonk. “Good morning to you, too.” I utter, as he drops another. I can’t control my eyes rolling as I sigh, quickly losing my patience. “I am Morrow- a seven- hundred year old Gargoyle Guardian, Bramble. The last of the Guardians. I have battled creatures with six heads. I have survived three centuries of human expansion. I have watched kingdoms rise and crumble. I have…”

He dropped a third acorn.

“You are truly testing me today, squirrel.” Though, I refuse to move or react further to the squirrels ridiculous games. Partly because gargoyles are exceptionally good at remaining still, and partly because Bramble has woken me up before the light appears every morning, ever since he was a tiny baby- even smaller than his blasted acorns- by dropping acorns down directly on my head. But mostly, because I am highly debating on whether seven- hundred years of Guardian training has permitted me to launch a certain squirrel into a blackberry bush that is currently growing half way across the forest.

It’s as I’m lost in my vision of catapulting squirrels, that I realize something feels off for this early in the morning. The forest is quiet. There are no birds tweeting from above. There are no creatures scurrying down below. How odd for this time of day. Usually, early mornings are the most active in my forest as it’s the time before the great fireball in the sky comes out and burns us, though Bramble is the only one who causes this much chaos, this early every morning.

Thonk!

“Alright, Bramble! I’m up!”

It’s as I begin to open my eyes and stretch my stiff, stone body that I quickly come to realize that outside of Bramble’s insistent game of acorn toss, the only sound I can hear is human made heavy machinery. It’s a sound that I could never forget. A sound that still haunts my dreams even after all of these years.

My eyes fly open and I gasp sharply, as I am tossed into a flashback of only a hundred years ago. I was sitting amongst hundreds of my gargoyle family members as they were discussing our duty to each of our enchanted forests. It was our job after all, to protect these sacred grounds with the last of the magic that this world had to offer- knowing that if we fell, so would our assigned forest- and if our forest fell, we too would fall.

That’s when they struck. The humans came in and bulldozed our sacred grounds of meeting, all for the sake of expansion. They had no idea what these forests meant or what they protected, they just knew they wanted more. They wanted more land for their shopping centers and apartment buildings. They were greedy and it would be their undoing. The humans had came in so fast and struck so hard that they had at least three quarters of us down within moments just by simply running us over, assuming we were nothing more than statues left behind by history. The few of us who remained were inexperienced. We had only survived because we were not permitted access onto the center of the meeting grounds yet, and instead were placed just outside the circle- just outside what happened to be the demolition zone. We fought back with every ounce of magic that we had in us- using the tree roots to trip feet and the forest vines, usually hanging far up in the canopy- to tangle their wheels.

In the end though, the battle had been futile. All of my brethren were slaughtered, most of the animal population was killed either in battle or from the lack of resources thereafter. Our winter food storage, our berry bushes, and even our watering holes were gone in the blink of an eye- and suddenly, I was left all alone. My Guardian brothers had protected me with their lives, as I was the only remaining female, but I questioned every day if their sacrifices had been worth it. I was the only one left who could wield what was left of our ancient magic, to protect our forests and animals. Even worse than that, I was the only gargoyle left standing to protect the Heart- Tree. The Heart- Tree that gave this entire planet life. Without it, not only would our beautiful EverShade Forest die- the last of the enchanted forests, but the entire planet itself would shatter. Why these humans were so intent on destroying it, I will never understand.

With all but one forest gone, there was just no possible way to sustain every one. I brought every creature to EverShade that I possibly could, but in the end we lost almost all of our creatures simply from the lack of resources that came with only having one remaining forest.

Thonk!

I jump up, shaking free of the horrible memories. Taking a deep breathe to steady myself, I use my supernatural senses to reach out and find the humans rapidly approaching the center of EverShade- in a direct path towards the Heart- Tree. I take one last glance up at Bramble and see his tiny, terrified, face looking back down at me. “Thanks little buddy. You go take cover and bring everyone you see along the way- you are all in grave danger. Tell them it is time to leave EverShade.” As he turns to scurry across the branches and into the next tree, I stop him.

“Bramble?” I call out. He freezes, looks back at me, turning his head slightly in question. “You’d better stay safe.” I sternly shake my finger in his direction with a hand on my hip. “I have an entire winters worth of acorns to throw at you once this is all over.” I swear he smirked at me as he turned towards safety.

As he runs towards safety, I feel it. I feel every branch break. Every flower screaming out for help as it is squashed. Every bush weep as it is ripped out by its roots. I feel my power leaving my body with every death. Cracks beginning to appear on my body, deepening with every scream for help. I run as I fear this may truly be the end. Not just my end or the end of EverShade, but the end of this entire planet. I find the strength to keep pushing forward, to fight through the pain, and I move my stone legs faster than they have ever moved before.

I finally reach an opening in the trees, only to discover the mass destruction that has already been caused- there’s nothing left here other than freshly turned dirt and a huge bonfire burning what used to be at least half of my forest. How could they have possibly destroyed so much, so fast? The built up rage in me overflows as I roar at the top of my lungs- loud enough to have machines sputtering to a halt and humans looking around in confusion, trying to see where that noise came from. Then, in unison, they all turn towards me. The fear in their eyes showing clearly, as I grow to my full height of twenty feet tall.

I reach out to the forest asking permission to use its magic alongside my own to protect us and the Heart- Tree. It’s as I’m reaching out around me that I feel them. My creatures- my friends, and dare I say it- my family. All coming in behind me, with Bramble leading the way. That rascally little acorn throwing squirrel, once again disobeying me by creating an army instead of running to safety. My stone heart beats for the first time in one hundred years, as I feel them surrounding humans and machines alike. Just waiting on my order. It’s as if they understood my purpose here- either that or they saw that I, alone, would not be strong enough to fight this battle today, after all of the damage already caused to my body from the humans destruction to my forest. How they could know that my life is tied to this forest, though, is beyond even my ancient wisdom.

I raise my arms above my head, as I stare down at these humans who dared to destroy any part of my forest- who dared to threaten my creatures, and who dared to threaten my Heart- Tree- and I release my power. As I do, I see my creatures- both big and small- begin their battle right along side of me. I see the birds pecking in a flash of colorful feathers, I can see the bees and wasps stinging, the bears chasing, and of course at the center of it all is Bramble- throwing his acorns with the precision only he could have, after years of tormenting me.

I feel the traitorous tears slipping down my cheeks as my heart now races, something it hasn’t bothered to do since losing everyone that had been close to me on that horrendous day, just one hundred short years ago, and power thrums through me like never before. I watch as these humans and their machines- or at least what remain of them- scatter out of our forest chased by my creatures. My creatures that I have spent my entire life protecting- and now they are protecting me. How truly wonderful it is to spend my final moments feeling so incredibly loved.

I focus on regrowing what has been burned- regrow the trees back to their former glory in minutes instead of hundreds of years, regrow the flowers in every shape, color, and size, bring back the lush, cool grass, and of course I bring back the berry bushes- specifically Bramble’s favorite blackberry bush. If only I was going to survive this long enough to follow through on this mornings thoughts of catapulting him into that blackberry bush for risking his life instead of going to safety.

I feel my body slowly shrinking back down to my regular three- foot size as the magic takes everything out of me in order to replenish what was stolen. As momma and papa always said- magic will alway come with a price, Morrow, but sometimes the magic is far more valuable than the price you pay. I feel my stone heart slow and my vision blur. Only feeling relief that I was able to fix what was ruined, before then falling to my knees, with a loud crack… and then… everything goes black.

I wake, gasping for air. I look around in nothing short of pure confusion as memories start flooding my mind. My forest, my Heart- Tree, my creatures, my own stone heart once again coming to a stop. How am I here? How did I get back to my own little burrow? As I look around I notice that my body feels different… I feel… new? Younger maybe? I certainly don’t feel like an ancient gargoyle who fought in a battle and restored half of a forest just… wait a minute- how long was I asleep? Thats when it hits me- my cracks- they are gone. Not healed, really- but it seems as if they have been filled with what looks to be a mix of moss, vines, and flowers. It’s as if my forest restored me, the same way I restored it.

I turn my head slightly to look around and that’s when I notice a small gift that has been left on my shoulder- an acorn. My eyes overflow with tears of joy, just from knowing that my forest- our forest- is once again safe and all of my creatures can go back to their peaceful, care- free, lives.

The biggest smile that has ever crossed this cranky, old, stone face, slowly spreads as I hold this acorn to my heart and think of Bramble- the little nuisance of a squirrel that not only saved us all today- he showed me that love truly is the strongest magic that there is and that ever will be.

Thonk!