It kills us not to tell you...

"Two..." A graceful spirit stood hovering above two lonely coffins, the avatar had no heralds and spoke in a soft gentle tone. It hovered down towards the coffins and gently caressed their closed casket. The avatar then opened both of the caskets ripping the top part of it off gently as to make sure not to disturb the two sleeping their. It then leaned down towards the female first stroking her hair. "A pair of star crossed lovers... full of sadness and bitterness at the world they came from... loneliness..." She then moved onto the male her one could not see the face of the avatar as it was clear see through, transparent, but this avatar had a certain grace to it where one could tell, that it felt sad, for the two humans in death.

"Its time to get up... Ren and Sparrow" She called out their names as a flurry of light filled wind began to blow in circles around the area. It was as if the feelings of joy and life were in the air as they smothered the bodies of Ren and Maria forcing them to breath once more. "Rise... My Heralds..." Their once naked bodies were magically fitted with clothes, and once that was done a single apple was placed in their hands. Finally the wind that had been around them flew into their bodies. Giving them life, in that instance, the fairy like Avatar swayed back and fourth impatiently waiting for them to wake up as it backed away to give them room from the initial shock of dying.

The tree was covered in these winds, and shook violently but it too had a grace to it that breathed peace into the air. The waters in the moat surrounding the tree were calm, and the air smelled of spring. The sun was shining and it was cloudless sky as far as the eye could see.

Sparrow's body took a giant gasp for air as he instantly put his arms over his face as if he was still falling head first towards his death. He shook wildly in his coffin from the shear thought and feeling that he was dead. He was clutching onto the apple unknowingly. Once he had realized that he was no falling, he looked around to see his scenery had changed completely. It made him feel uneasy for a moment but then he thought to himself. "Is this heaven..." He was confused for sure, but looking up at the Avatar of Empathy he was filled with a happier feeling. He tried his best not to show what he was feeling and held a neutral expression on his face. He looked over to the coffin next to him to see that, Renae was right there next to him. His eyes widened with a sense of grief, but that grief quickly went away with the mindset of, "This must be the afterlife... I can tell her... that I am sorry for everything" He was about to get out of his coffin and greet her, but then he noticed the apple in his hand. He was still clutching it unable to put it down.

He opened his mouth slowly, cautious, he was extremely nervous and worried about his choice of words. He didn't know what to say... what if she isnt in the mood to hear all of that.... He was frozen for a moment, paralyzed by fear of his own ability to possibly do wrong. He knew he had good intentions at this very moment... but he could not do anything as his fear controlled him.

Renae opened her eyes wide as her lungs were filled with air and color given back to her complexion. She was in the air and yet not afraid. She looked over and saw Sparrow next to her and the two were slowly being dropped to the ground. She hid her face in shame for all that she had done. She knew this was the after life because she was the one to kill herself. It was no surprise. Tears ran down her face and she fell to her knees from being full of emotions. The thought of re-killing herself circled in her mind but she knew if she was here now then she was meant to have a second chance. She slowly stood back up with her head hung low and her hair covering her face. She couldn't face Sparrow after all that has happened. All she knew was that she still loved him deeply more than anything in the world.

Renae lifted her face and dried her tears and it was only in that moment that she had realized a creature that she had never seen stood before her. Renae was in awe and was almost too scared to speak with such a thing. She took a moment and then surprisingly enough felt alright again. "Excuse me," she said in a small voice towards the avatar. "Where are we and who are you?" She looked at the apple in her hand that she previously didn't even notice. "Is this for us to eat?"

Without much hesitation Renae examined the apple and figured it was fine. Why be brought from the dead just to be killed by a bad apple. She took a large bite from the apple and to her surprise it was a bitter taste. She loved bitter things because of the way it made her mouth feel. She ate the entire apple before she had gotten a response from the avatar about it in the first place. Moments later she felt kind of strange. Not in a bad way, just different. She looked up to the avatar with a questioning gaze.

Renae then looked back at Sparrow and couldn't help but smile at him. He was so amazingly attractive to her even in death. She missed the way he would hold her and run his fingers through her hair. She longed for things to be right between them again. Renae checked to see if he had eaten his apple yet, but he had not. Hopefully she made the right choice with eating hers.

The avatar could not show emotion but it was quite pleased with her hopeful nature. Feeling the emotions that she had been pouring out. It then went over to Sparrow and grabbed his hand with the apple in it holding it up to his face. "You are to become my heralds... the assistant to the Avatar of Empathy... I have chosen the human race to represent me as no one is able to feel how they feel" The avatar backed away from sparrow and touched the tree once as it began to shine brightly, an assortment of rainbow colors blasting out from the tree in beams of light.

"You will be welcome to come here, as long as you do not drink from the moat, you must also promise me... that you will never eat fruit from the tree" She then ran over to Renae and grabbed her hand pulling her towards Sparrow. "You love each other... forget everything else and rest easy as this is your second chance to be together forever" The avatar then backed away as it had been doing after each interaction. It was almost as if the flow of emotions went through it each time it made contact with them, and it had to back away from being overtaken.

"Nourish each other and be heard as my voice and my will through out the land... It kills us not to tell you... but you must survive these trials... and aid the others of man kind... that is my task for you my heralds"

Sparrow held the apple to his face, and stared at it trying to keep himself from directly looking at Renae, but he could not help it as his eyes kept wandering away from the apple. He had no idea what to say to her but while his face did not show it, his emotions were raging inside him feelings of anger towards himself for not being able to say anything or do anything. As the avatar backed away from him he attempted to find his courage and took a giant bite of the apple. Chewing very quickly and swallowing. He did not bother to taste it before taking another bite and repeating his same fast eating habits. On his third bite only the core was left, and he tossed it to the ground.

As he did that he heard the Avatars words, 'the Herald of Empathy...' he thought. 'How Ironic' He scoffed to himself feeling like some kind of idiot, but the moment he did that he felt a strange sensation in his body. As the avatar pulled Renae closer to him he couldn't help but feel somewhat trapped in his pit of emotions. He opened his mouth but words wouldn't come out. He was always so difficult when trying to express himself. Looking away from her, he finally summoned the courage to speak. "I'm sorry... for not being there..." It was frustrating in itself for him to admit he was wrong to her, but even more so to admit that because he was wrong irreversible actions had occurred.

As the avatar put his hands in hers, despite all of the negative emotions he had built up inside the moment his hand touched hers all of that pain inside him had felt as if it vanished. He could not help but show a small grin as his eyes stared into hers.

Renae still didn't understand what the avatar meant by heralds, but at this moment it didn't matter to her as long as she could do it with Sparrow. She felt awful for what she has done and wishes she could take it all back, but that is the past and this is the present and it was time to start anew. She couldn't help but replay her death and Veronica's death in her mind over and over again. She hated herself for both misfortunes. Renae tried to suppress those memories with what was going on in the now. She watched as Sparrow also ate the apple and shook her head and giggled for a quick second on how his eating habits have still not changed. She was comforted to know that he hadn't changed much.

As their hands met for the first time in a long time, Renae almost cried again. Her eyes welled up with water but it did not fall down her face. She wanted to seem strong in front of him. "No don't be sorry." Renae looked Sparrow straight in the eyes. "You never did anything wrong. I was the one who over reacted and caused the accident. I was the one who took my life first. I was the one to cause all of us so much pain." At that moment tears did start to fall down her face and she wanted nothing more than to be held in Sparrow's nice muscular arms. She regained her composure and looked at the avatar.

"Thank you for your hospitality, I guess I can call it." She spoke to the avatar as if they were house guests. "What exactly is it that you intend for us to do. Why can we not drink from the moat or have anymore apples from the tree? Why did you choose us?" More and more questions filled Renae's mind with each question she asked. The last question being "What trials are you talking about?" Renae looked at all the other coffins that had already been opened and wondered if what they were being called to do had anything to do with the other people that could possibly be near by as well.

The avatar let out a chuckle, "In do time... all those answers will become clear too you" Empathy then paused and began to shake fearfully of what was about to come. Empathy then summoned a carriage that would carry them off. "We do not have time to explain any further... get in this carriage as I must take you to your first assignment... we have much work to do if we want to prevent this catastrophe" The avatar quickly pushed them into the carriage and it took off to go to where they were needed. Off towards the Roots of the tree.