The King with Six Friends

Dumble

Furze joined the group in traveling toward wherever they were going. He claimed to be over 114 years old, being a tree most of his life. In fact, he'd lived as a tree for at least eighty years by his memory.

Time passes very differently for trees. The days and nights are only distinguished by how the sun touches its leaves. The seasons are only recognized when the tree notices how its growth slows and advances. Time, for trees, blends together into one continuous life, not by how many years it has lived. It carries on the knowledge of its past in the roots and its hopes for the next life in its seeds.

Furze, being a human, could tell his own time from the seasons and days. And since he was also a tree, he had patience like no other to observe the world. For an old man his age, he was surprisingly capable of keeping with the quick pace of the group.

"What if I, say, accidentally chopped down one of your relatives?" Edge asked the tree Morph, "Not on purpose, per say, but for a job."

"Have you ever cut trees in the Southern Wood?" Furze asked him.

"Yes."

"Have you ever had a tree scream out in pain as you were chopping?"

Edge blanched. "Er, no."

Furze slowly nodded. "Then you have not cut down any of my relatives, that I know of,"

"Look at this," said Agus from ahead. He pointed into a clearing behind a brush.

In the clearing, a large grizzly bear was breaking into a large bee hive. The golden honey caught the sun, creating a golden, shimmery effect on the comb. The swarm of bees was attacking, but the bear's coat was thick, and the stings were only small pricks; a small price for a stomach of saccharine honey.

Zar noticed something strange about how the bees formed their armada. It almost looked like the silhouette of a man, forming and deforming as it hovered around the intruder. The bear took a swipe at the swarm like it had beheaded the bee-man.

"Did you see that?" Zar said to the others.

"See what?" said Agus.

"The swarm, it looks like a person." The Morphs watched the swarm as it battled in vain against the beast.

"Yes, in a way, it does," remarked Eryx, "It could be another Morph."

Another Morph?

Morphs in the West Regions were not a rare sight to behold. They often dwell in their "natural" environment, though are not unknown to live in busy cities as their human selves. Morphs, unfortunately, were shunned and irrationally feared for their abilities. For that reason, they often kept to themselves.

"Agus, could you charge the bear and scare it away?" asked Zar.

"Me?" Agus fretted. "But what if it attacks me?"

"An elephant is much bigger than a bear. It will run away," Zar reassured him, patting him on the back. "You can do it."

Agus considered this. "Alright, then," he said with confidence. "I can do it."

He stepped back from the group and circled around to the other end of the meadow. A moment later, Agus, as an elephant, burst through the trees. Shaking the ground with each step, he trumpeted so loud the trees drew back in fear. The bear, as Zar had predicted, high-tailed it out of the clearing as fast as it could, abandoning the broken hive.

As soon as it was gone, Agus turned back and the rest of the group emerged from the bushes.

The swarm buzzed around, still stunned by the noise. They hovered, condensing down into each other, until a man in a yellow and black striped waistcoat stood before them. A sabre hung at his belt.

"Thank you for the assist, but I was handling the beast just fine," he said in a jaunty tone, "I am Sir Cornelius Vespus Dumblar, but you may call me Dumble."

"Well, Sir Dumble," said Zar, "If you could turn into a person, you could have fought off the bear before it knocked down your hive."

Dumble glanced back at the hive, cracked open like an egg. Flies buzzed around it already. The honey was spoiled from the dirt.

"Oh dear," Dumble stammered, "I- I must confess, the thought of changing into a man did not cross my mind." His voice turned distressed. "And all my honey for winter is wasted!"

Kindle quipped, "You're welcome to join our merry band of Morphs, Sir Dumble, if it's fine to Zar, here." The others nodded in agreement.

It was at this moment that Zar realized that the rest of his comrades regarded him as their leader. They all seemed to be able to do so much more than him with their unique abilities. Being a king in another life had given him the gift of a leader. In one way or another, his friends looked up to him for his leadership.

"Of course!" Zar affirmed warmly. "We're traveling south."

"Splendid!" Dumble clapped his hands together. "I've always wanted to see the warmer countries."

Dumble the bee Morph had lived in the clearing for only a few months. His home, an old kingdom, was crumbling under its monarch. He had decided it was time to find greener pastures and put down new roots.