The inspiration for this story comes from Saran Kit and this webcomic that she made: post/622007447232643072/an-oris-game-fan-comic-guardians-of-niwen-by

. . .

The dark forest, decaying and foreboding, and on the edge of the Niwen spirit tree's influence.

A lone shard merchant sprinted through the undergrowth and into a clearing, chased by three massive and hungry wolves!

The howlers!

Before she could make it to the river that separated her from the lush and vibrant forest of Niwen, she tripped onto her stomach.

Knowing the weight of her garbs was too much, she laid down and awaited her doom.

Suddenly, a spirit spike flew directly over the wolves with a lone spirit guardian riding it.

Fir jumped off and tumbled gracefully onto the lead howler, proceeding to decapitate the predator with his spirit edge!

One of the howlers turned its attention to him, lunging at him with its teeth bared.

But before it could get too close, three spirit arcs flew out from the forest and pierced its face!

Distracted and in pain, the large wolf could do nothing as Fir leaped over it and took its head clean off.

But while he did this, the third and final howler charged at the helpless merchant.

Just as it was about to devour her, a second spirit spike fell from the sky and impaled itself through the predator's skull with impressive precision.

A second spirit guardian, the one named Keo, had thrown it, landing on the now dead canine's nose.

"Are you alright?" Keo asked the shard merchant.

Before she could answer, Fir asked a second question.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked accusingly. "Our light barely reaches this land!"

A third guardian appeared from behind Keo, this one with longer ears and a more feminine appearance.

"Please forgive us, guardians," the merchant said softly, bowing in respect to the three warriors before her. "We need this herb for our sick children. It grows on this land only…"

"Well, good for you that we came in time," said Keo with crossed arms.

He then turned to the guardian with the rather large and drooped ears.

"Mint, escort this one back to her clan," he ordered.

The one named Mint gave a quick salute before leaving his side. As both she and the rescued merchant made their way back into the lush woods of Niwen, Fir and Keo turned to the three dead wolves in the clearing.

"Three howlers!" Fir exclaimed. "Their pack got bigger and even closer to our forest. This is bad!"

"Collect their fangs," replied Keo, ignoring his companion's alarm. "We'll bring them to the Elders."

. . .

Mint, as ordered, was escorting her squad's latest rescue back to her clan.

This was her first mission, and she was rather proud of her performance thus far, but while walking, a startling realization came to mind.

"If I may ask," she started. "Did you say those herbs grow on this land only?"

"Why yes," the rescue answered. "You sound surprised?"

"Well, yeah...I mean, anywhere that the spirit tree's light doesn't reach is nothing but decay. At least...that's what I thought…"

"Oh no! I don't know what you've been taught, brave guardian, but things do grow out here all the time! Just not the kind of things you would expect, I suppose."

"Yeah...I suppose…"

They walked in silence again for some time.

"I just always thought we were the source of growth," Mint said finally. "The spirit tree, I mean."

"Ah! Then it's your lucky day!" said the shard merchant. "You've learned something new! Me too, I suppose: I'm learning a lot about what you've been spoonfed your whole life."

Whether or not that was meant as an insult, the spirit guardian decided to ignore the comment.

"The tree was always a source of growth," the merchant continued. "But certainly not the source of growth."

"Then what is our purpose?" Mint thought out loud. "If not to protect this world's only sources of life and growth?"

"Well, perhaps it's to protect the forest's inhabitants?" she answered. "You've certainly done that for me! Perhaps that is why you're called 'spirit guardians'?"

Mint thought about it some more, about how her escortee bowed before her and her squad earlier, almost as if in fear of them.

"Hey, you're not...afraid of us?" she asked. "Are you?"

The merchant suddenly donned a look of apprehension.

"Uhm, no!" she said skittishly. "Why would you ever ask something like that?!"

"Hey! Hey!" said her escort, stopping her and grabbing her by the shoulders. "We're alone out here. You can tell me."

Mint was being genuine. She was after the truth, even if it would hurt.

At first, the shard merchant just stared back at her with widened yellow eyes, but eventually she started to relax.

"Well-" she began.

But before she could continue, five of her kin appeared from the bushes.

"Oh, thank goodness you're okay!" the lead one interrupted.

"Did you get the herbs?" asked another.

"Uh, yes! They're right here," said the rescue.

"Good. Good," said the leader. "Thank you so much, guardian! We can take it from here."

"No! Wait-!"

But before Mint could finish, the six shard merchants had disappeared into the undergrowth, leaving her with a paw reaching out to nothing.

. . .

"They're afraid of me," Mint thought out-loud. "Afraid of us...why?"

She had climbed a tree to grab a peach to eat.

Tossing the peach from hand to hand, she walked back to the clearing to get another look at the decaying forest beyond.

"We're only here to protect them and the forest," she thought out loud. "Right?"

Eventually, she had made it back by the riverside; there she would munch on her fruit in silence, looking at the shallow water as it gently flowed past.

"Unless...it's not that simple," she said when she finished.

The spirit guardian then looked behind her at the lush and lively trees of her home forest, before staring into the void of the darkened woods across from her.

She then looked over to where their battle had been fought, eying the three dead howlers in the dirt.

"Please don't be more."

With a deep and anxious breath, she swam across the river.

. . .

Mint apprehensively trudged through the decaying undergrowth.

What am I doing?! she screamed internally. Fir and Keo expect me to be back by now!

But Mint was a spirit of curiosity, she had to know what lay beyond.

She looked around herself and settled on climbing one dead evergreen tree.

After swinging from branch to branch like a seasoned gymnast, she finally reached its peak...only to find that the tree next to hers was the tallest one in sight.

Without a second thought, she leaped from her perch, jumped a second time in mid-air, and then dashed the rest of the way over to it.

Thank goodness for sticky. she thought, clinging to the dried bark with just her paws.

Every spirit guardian in Niwen had received that shard when they came of age; Mint had gotten hers just a few days prior.

She continued upward; there were no firm branches up this high either, so this was her only stable way of climbing.

Finally, she made it: the highest point! What could she see from here? What was she even expecting to see?

Behind her was all of Niwen, vibrant and beautiful.

In front was nothing but greyness and mist for miles.

Except…

Mint had to squint her eyes and shield her white pupils from the sun's rays, but off in the distance...could it be?

Green...grass! Hills of lush, green grass!

...but no tree…

She stared at the distant anomaly for some time, before pulling out a big, and rather thick, leaf. She had pulled it from a tree on her side of the river for just such an occasion.

She jumped and glided slowly to the ground. Once her feet had touched the dirt, she casually stowed the leaf away.

"Growth without a spirit tree," she thought out loud. "How is that even pos-?!"

*ROOOOOAAAR!*

With her reactionary instincts, Mint dashed behind the nearest tree to evade the howler's sight.

She hid behind the trunk of the tree, crouching as she heard it draw near.

Her heart was racing. It must have heard her talk.

Why did I have to open my big, STUPID mouth?!

She hadn't mastered the spirit edge yet, she wanted to learn how to use a bow and arrow first. If only the contrary were true, then she might have had a chance in a fight with this thing.

She had to run, but it was blocking her exit back to Niwen!

Her only option was to sneak around it, but she had to wait.

Its nostril appeared from around the corner; Mint practically flattened herself on the tree trunk.

It pulled away; Mint took a tentative peak to see it looking the other way.

Does it actually have no idea? she thought panickedly.

While the howlers she'd seen so far were deep turquoise in color, this one was adorned with dark grey fur.

This one was different: a hunter.

She couldn't know if it was faking her out or not, but this could be her only chance!

Her heart still pounding, she crept out from her cover and eyed a rotting log; she could hide behind that next.

But halfway there, she snapped a twig!

The glowing spirit froze. She had been so fixated on the howler that she'd forgotten to look where she was stepping!

Its ear twitched at the sound, and Mint knew she only had less than a second.

She dove prone behind the log and held her breath.

Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest, she worried it could hear it!

It came closer, and she scuffled on her stomach right up against the log.

I'm dead. she thought. I'm dead. I'm dead! I'M DEAD!

She started whimpering; immediately she covered her mouth.

It's gunna look over and it's gunna eat me alive!

Shaking uncontrollably in fear, she shut her eyes and planted her face onto the dirt as she felt its nostrils peak over her cover.

*SNIFF*...*SNIFF**SNIFF*

It stepped over her, its hind legs stepping on the log as it passed. Mint opened her eyes, ready to stare death in the face.

To her shock, the giant wolf was walking away!

She remained still until it disappeared behind another tree.

It must've thought I ran off! she thought as she stood up, not daring to speak out loud again.

The young spirit then looked behind her. The path was clear...

...or so she thought.

She jumped over the log, but before she could even get close to the clearing, three turquoise howlers jumped in front of her!

"AAAH!" she squealed, stumbling onto her back.

Now hyperventilating, Mint got up and turned around…

...only to find the grey howler staring her down.

It wasn't just a hunter, they were all hunters: this one was their pack leader!

The scariest part were its eyes, glowing an enraged yellow instead of white.

Despite yellow-eyes likely being the more dangerous howler, there were still three behind Mint and only one in front of her.

There was only one sane option.

Mint whipped out her spirit arc and shot a trio of arrows at the pack-leader's head.

With it now distracted and clawing at its face in pain, she sprinted past it into the depths of the dark forest.