Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lin gasped as life seemed to spring up around her again. It was like a huge breath of life had entered the forest again, and in Lin. Her eyes opened completely again, and there was a new awareness in her eyes. She was completely back, albeit still very weak.

She smiled thankfully at the stranger for his help. But he couldn't have done it all by himself, surely.

She then turned her head and her eyes widened when she saw her professor beside her. Instead of being happy, though, she was upset, hurt. And she couldn't keep a frown from forming on her face.

Her voice was a whisper, "What are you doing here?"

Dymetri was abruptly cut off in mid-lecture when he sensed death nearby. A death he was not causing.
He exhaled and slipped on his jacket. "Class, we'll continue this lesson and start another tomorrow. In the next lesson, we'll learn how to resurrect plants and certain creatures with the herbs you learned about today mixed with what we learned in the beginning of the year. Pack your things and head out early."
As soon as all the students dispersed, he locked the door and pivoted to the window behind him. He opened and crawled through it, being that it was closer to the forest than the front of the building.
He walked through the forest, using the smell of death and his senses to help him. It wasn't long before the feeling of death washed away with just a sudden pang of weakness around him. He kept walking and found Lin, against a tree, staring at Ophiuchus, who was inching away from her, with a passionate rage.
Dymetri was behind the tree, and she was obviously not noticing him being centimeters away from her. He reached his arm around the tree and his fingers grazed her cheek.
"Lin, are you all right? What happened?"

Lin gasped and instantly felt her face flush and fill with life as fingers brushed along her cheek. Fingers from someone she had dearly missed.

She turned her head to look behind the tree and could barely believe her eyes. After all this chaos, after all of this horrible mess, there before her was the most beautiful sight she could ever imagine.

"Dymetri? Is that you? Really?"

Her voice was getting stronger by each word. She even found the strength to move forward enough to throw her arms around Dymetri's neck.

"I have missed you so much!"

Lin smiled and shook her head. She smoothed her own soft hands down Dymetri's cheeks and had tears in her eyes. "It doesn't matter now. I am fine now, you are here. We are fine. I love you, Dymetri. I have missed you so much."

She leaned forward and kissed him softly and slowly. When she pulled back a few moments later, she chuckled softly and whispered, "Do you want to go get some coffee at that Starbucks again?"

She brushed the back of her hand down the side of Dymetri's face.

"Villain'll hold the mic like he's mean and his tummy hurt. In a clean pair, ripped jeans and a bummy shirt. Wonderin would you clap your hands if he was friendly?"
He was facing away from the group at this point. Although nobody could tell by looking at him with his vicious scowl, agitated eyes, and overall angry posture, but deep within the confines of his seemingly twisted mind, a war was being waged between his beliefs and what some would call his conscious; or what remained of it, at least.

Adolf nodded in thanks. "Thank you. I am coming to visit my goddaughter - perhaps you know her? Her name is Athena. However, she doesn't know I'm on my way. I was hoping to surprise her."

Lin didn't want Dymetri to worry about her. The past couple of hours had been so bad and she just wanted to forget about it and focus on Dymetri, but he did deserve an explanation.

Lin sighed and leaned back against the tree. "I.... I met Riser. Twice. That is what happened to the forest right here before you came. And then Professor Akakios healed it just moments ago. I was here when Riser let the darkness seep in and start to kill the forest. And you know what happens to me when large sections of nature begins to die around me. We elves gain our strength from nature."