Realm of Wings

Jade, realizing that Trixie was trying to dig something up:

“Trixie get away from the tree!” I shouted again after slicing another cut across the bark of the strong willow.

I saw Trixie work her way through the mud and dirt, while only her feet were visible now and there wouldn’t be any chance for her to get out of that hole underneath the root safely, should the tree decide to lower its roots again! She would be crushed by it and the assuming orb she was digging for would be buried underneath it together with her!

“Just a second!” Trixie hollered half incoherently as her voice was muffled by the hole she was digging herself into.

I kept hitting the tree, avoiding every swipe of one of its vines and making sure the tree was only interested in me as there was no chance of me getting Trixie away from the roots and fighting off the tree at the same time. It just had to be constantly taunted to only fight me, but that was harder than it might seem. The willow felt Trixie’s presence and was nearing to get balanced again to be able to drop that root safely in the ground.

“Got it!” She suddenly yelled. “But I’m stuck!” She then commented at which I had to sigh.

“Neil, help her!”

“Yes, miss Jade!” He replied while running to her location and grabbing her feet.

He pulled her out as fast as he could and luckily it was just at the right time as the willow had managed to put its root back in its place, nearly beheading Trixie on the way down.

The willow must have taken enough beating for one day as it returned to its dormant state right after it had put all its roots back in the ground. It still doesn’t make sense how this all works or why this tree was already awake instead of being asleep like the others, but at least this fight was over now.

“Oof, that was close!” Trixie chuckled.

“Close? Close would have been when you listened to me and ran away when I said so! This was disastrous! You could have been killed in that hole!” I shouted to her.

“Yeah I know, but I trust you for saving me. Besides, how would you have gotten the orb if I didn’t go for it?” She casually replied and held the orb up with her fingers.

The orb was just the same as the one of ‘protection’ before it had gotten energized by one of those floating fluffies. It was a boring grey marble with a silver mark of the old and forgotten Fae language.

“So, this should be the one of ‘animal’?” I asked while looking towards Kallan and holding it up for him to see the mark.

“Yes, it is.” He said with a smile, happy for me to have found the second orb.

“So, Poseidon, what can this orb do?” I turned towards Poseidon and asked him this.

Poseidon stepped closer and for a moment I thought he would suddenly start talking or something, but he did no such thing. He just brushed his nostrils against the hand I held the orb in, gently tugging on my fingers with his teeth for me to open it so he could see the orb.

We all waited for something to happen, for him to do something that would be extraordinary as finding this orb would be unleashing some sort of newfound power, right? But after a few moments where we stood in silence and nothing happened other than Poseiding being a happy horse, it all turned awkward.

“Right.... soo....” Trixie started, saying out loud what I felt like. Awkward.

“Yes, so...” I said as well and just put the marble in my pocket.

“Maybe it will do something more when you have energized it at the oak tree, just like the one of protection. I mean, as soon as you landed on Kyalthemar you already could create a bubble and communicate with Poseidon in your own way. And also, you could heal other people even though no other Fae can do that. So it seems you have all the abilities ready, but just not at their maximum capacity. I believe, that as soon as you have energized this new orb, you will be able to do something more with animals than you can already do now.” Neil suddenly explained as if he was a walking encyclopedia that had roamed around these parts for centuries.

“I’m sorry, it’s just…” He cut himself off, thinking he may have been stepping out of line by suddenly letting know his opinion about things.

“No, it’s alright Neil. The fact that you aren’t Fae doesn’t mean you are useless, please, I value your ideas on this.” I kindly replied to him, letting him know that it was alright to speak up with anything that was on his mind.

“Okay, well if you can believe that to be true then there is another thing that came on my mind as soon as I saw you try and create a bigger shield.” Neil said gently but also relieved to be of use again.

“Because, when you were desperate to save Trixie and Kallan from the leaves that came crashing down, you managed to increase your power somehow, right?” He asked and I nodded. “I think, and please excuse me if I’m wrong miss Jade, but I believe that the tattoo on your back would indicate you have a connection to the tree of origin, and all trees have roots that are buried underground. So what if the magic of the roots or even the roots themselves are extending all over the planet? Because if that would be plausible then it could be the reason for you to be able to draw upon more magic.” He ended his conclusion with a slightly questioning look upon his face as he isn’t sure about this theory either.

But even though he wasn’t sure about this theory, it was a solid way of thinking. I could easily believe this to be true as all the things we have seen ever since we started this adventure are strange and new and this would actually be something very logical.

“So, would that mean that she would have a limitless amount of power to reach for?” Trixie asked Neil as if he suddenly was an Etunadain Oracle that knows everything about Kyalthemar and all its miracles.

“If I’m right, yes, but I do believe there is a limit to everything or even a downside to every good thing that happens in life. All in nature is balanced, there is good and there is evil in equal parts, and no single creature is above everything or everyone else.” He said as a wise old man, no counterargument needed.

“Yes, I’m happy to have found an extra surge of power and I do feel it is exactly that what Neil is suggesting. However, I don’t define myself as a godlike creature, one to be able to do anything I want simply because I am the strongest. I never felt like that and I’m not going to act like one either. I should draw from this power only when in dire need until we find out the negative effect of me pulling away energy from the roots of the original tree.” I chimed in.

“With great power comes great responsibility!” Trixie hollered in a manly voice, copying a line from one of the movies from Earth.

“Yes, let’s leave it with that, alright?” I mocked her with a chuckle.

But after this happy moment, us having gotten to the second marble and figuring out some new information about another ability that I apparently have, all things went back to being serious again. We were still standing in the clearance of a thick and silent forest with no food and night to come. We had to create a shelter and take up rounds in guarding the others and in the morning we would have to find a way out of this hell-hole, hungry.

After completely shredding one of the smaller bushes around the clearance, we made some sort of roof with the branches and laid underneath it while the rain started to pour. Come to think of it, it’s rather lurid to lie underneath a creature’s limbs…

Anyhow, it was my turn to stay awake and listen for any oncoming danger, but as there still weren’t any animals to hear around us and everything else was covered in a pitch-black blanket of the night, it was hard to not fall asleep.

Eventually, I decided to get the orb of animal out of my pocket and together with some energy tingling around my fingertips, just enough for me to see, I decided to look at it from close by. I let my finger brush along the silver marking and felt the raw texture of the grey orb, all the while I was thinking about the lack of animals in this forest.

I know Kyalthemar is new to me, strange even, but it just didn’t sit well with me that there was a forest without any animal, not even a single bug was to be found. Not even Kallan or Trixie were going along with the idea of a non-animal forest, they found it strange as well and they have been born and raised on Kyalthemar. Yes, on the poor side, but still…

Finding this specific orb of power, the one for animals, in a forest without any animal to find is even stranger.

Poseidon suddenly snorted and when I turned around and lit up a ball of energy in the palm of my hand, showing the contours of the dark horse, I noticed he was standing up and rocking his head up and down. “Do you want me to stand up?” I asked and he stomped his hoof on the ground agreeing.

I hesitated for a moment to go and follow Poseidon as I would be leaving the others behind, but I guess that I should start trusting him with this as he was the one that guided us towards the orb. Besides, the other nights there was no single sound or dangerous animals either, so I hoped it would be safe for them to leave right now.

Poseidon bowed for me to jump onto his back, and guided by some light from my energy ball, he carefully walked away to wherever he wanted to bring me. He surprised me when he jumped up and started to fly away as soon as we had entered the clearing where we fought the willow earlier. I wanted to stay quiet as it was strange to make a sound at a location where the sound was absent, so I just tugged Poseidon’s manes a bit to let him know that I wasn’t comfortable with what he was doing. Again, he nudged his head, forward this time, forcing me to look ahead.

But all I could see were stars and a clear night sky. Wait… A clear night sky? Where was the dense mist from during the day?

“Where’s the fog, Poseidon?” I asked him now, not being focused on the silence anymore. “Where are you taking me?” I continued. But he never replied, only flew forward, which let me believe that because of me having the new orb now, perhaps that would be the reason for the fog to have lifted.

Another snort and a head bob later, Poseidon flew down again and when getting closer to the ground which became more alit by my energy ball the further we got, I realised he had guided me towards a small lake right near the edge of the forest. Gracefully he landed, flapping his wings a few last times before tucking them on the side of his body. I jumped off and used some more energy to enlargen the ball of light to see the complete lake and some trees that surrounded it.

For a moment I could have sworn to see something jump away from the light, back into the darkness, but that could’ve also easily been my shadow as I was walking around the lake to find something here. But whatever I was searching for, Poseidon kept staying by my side, urging me to keep going.

Dragging my feet through the mud, along the edge of the lake, while looking into the forest every now and then, I finally noticed something that definitely was not my shadow. As I nearly slipped into the dark water where I could barely hold on to Poseidon’s manes to keep me from falling in, the light of my energy came close enough to the water to show the reflection of one of those overgrown badgers I have had an encounter with before. Mandibores, Kallan called them I think.

But as soon as I got up again, there was no creature to be found on the shore of the lake! Where did it go? And why hadn’t I seen it when I was just walking along the shore?

I ripped a piece of cotton from my shirt and wrapped it around a stick I found laying around and lit the hand-made torch with the energy from my core, then I held on to Poseidon’s manes with one hand and with the other I kept the torch just above the water to see where another creature would pop up as a reflection. The Mandibore had left, but soon I found another friendly creature that resembled somewhat of a deer from Earth. This one didn’t have antlers but it did have thick fur on its back and walked on six, thin legs.

Quietly I tried to pose myself in the mud so I could let go of the manes of Poseidon but kept the other arm above the water so I could keep staring at the deer in question, even though it wasn’t standing on the shore right in front of me. It was so strange to witness, to see only the reflection and not the actual creature, but it hadn’t run away and it was still standing in front of me, head facing me.

So while I reached forward, trying to make the reflection of my hand reach for the reflection of the deer, I moved a little forward. The reflective deer hesitated for a moment as it had noticed me, but wasn’t scared enough to run away from the scene. It was actually quite curious as to what I was doing and in the end, while I was switching my gaze between the reflection and the empty spot on the shore, right in front of me, the deer’s nose reached forward and our reflections touched.

And suddenly, as if the light turned on when pressing the button, the deer’s reflection rippled in the water and the actual deer that was supposed to be creating the reflection stood right in the mud with me! And eventually, it got startled from its new surroundings and quickly ran away, straight into the darkness that still covered the forest.

There was no logic to apply to this situation.

But even though it was strange, I knew now what to do here. What it was that Poseidon wanted me to see or do here. I know that I have the tattoo of ‘animal’ on my arm and I have a great connection with Poseidon, but apparently, I also have that with other animals, otherwise, this deer wouldn’t have trusted me or even touched me.

“Please Poseidon, if the other animals can hear us, could you call for them?” I gently asked and he started making sounds, yelling and screaming as only horses can. Quickly, I found an old tree stump, lit the torch some more with some extra clothing and lodged it tightly in the side of it so it would keep hanging above the water. Soon, reflection after reflection came into view, creatures of unimaginable sizes and shapes came forward, not afraid of my presence, only grateful for letting them back into the real forest once again.

A/n: Please let me know what you think of my story so far! I'm curious for new ideas and what you believe should be in this story! Thank you very much for reading. 💛🧚‍♀️