Trial Quest

Fialova

“I will fuse a part of my life force into you, Fialova. Remember, tell them. Tell them the truth. Be honest. This is where we depart. Goodbye Fialova,” Lilac said softly. “ Wait! Lilac, wait! Who will face the Trial of Compassion?” She looked at me grimly. “ Ouranó.” And with that, she melted among the shadows and disappeared. I awoke from a sleep-like trance. The world was black, and I couldn’t see anything. “ Fialova’s alive!!” I heard the others rejoicing as I stumbled into the clearing once I got my sight back. My hippogriff, Chrabrost, swooped out of a nearby tree. She was getting too big to sit on my shoulder, so instead she landed next to me. She chirped cheerfully. Tell them, whispered a voice in my head. I sighed. Here goes revealing my secret. I stroked Chrabrost's silver feathers. “ Guys, I- I have something to tell you. Re- remember I told you about elves who are blessed by unicorns, and how they are the most powerful? Well the girl, Lilac, who was the only one blessed in hundreds of years-” my voice faltered. I took in a deep breath. “ Is me. Those trances, that is Lilac- the unicorn- talking to me.” “But Fialova, why didn’t you tell us,” asked Ouranó. I gulped.“I- I didn’t tell you because I was- I was afraid. I had thought I had finally made friends that liked me for who I am, and not because of what I am. I-” I burst into tears. “ I was scared. I was scared. Please forgive me.” “ Fialova, we forgive you. It’s okay. We understand. Everyone has kept a secret because they were afraid. Fialova, everyone has been afraid,” said Charlotte. Just then a sharp pain on my leg made me fall to the ground. I put my hand on my leg, clutching where the arrow had pierced my skin. Ouranó and Kamen helped me up, with Chrabrost helping to push me upwards, and helped me sit on a tree stump. “She needs to recover and her leg needs to be elevated. Fialova, do you have the herbs I gave you? Aha! I found it.” He gave me Feverfew leaves, Echinacea root, and some Unicorn Magic. He mixed the Feverfew leaves and Echinacea root with some Unicorn Magic and put some on my leg. Rey said, “ I don’t understand. How could an arrow in the leg almost kill someone?” “ Remember what Vrba said before we left on the quest? There are incurable poison and forbidden fruits? The arrow was infused with poison from one particular fruit: Okamžitá smrť,” said Kamen. Seeing the look on Charlotte’s face he added, “ Instant Death. Literal instant death. Now, for Fialova, it was different. She sacrificed herself for you, Rey, and took the arrow instead.”

“So why didn’t she die?”

“ Good question. Fialova?”

“ I went into a sort of trance. Lilac, she told me that after I did that, the Trial of Friendship was done. It was a sort of sacrifice. I didn’t die because she fused a part of her life into me. It changed some of my hair pure-white, matching the color of her fur. She said I will heal, but I will need to rest. It is making me feel helpless. I really do not like feeling helpless,” I confessed. “ She also told me who would face the next Trial, the Trial of Compassion.” 

“Who, Fialova,” asked Sycamore. I gulped. “ Ouranó. Ouranó will face the next Trial ” 

Fialova

“ Ouranó,” asked Sycamore. I gulped. “ Ano. I do not know why. I do not know why we all have to endure these trials.” I saw Charlotte open her mouth. “ I know. To get you back home.” “No,” Said Charlotte. “ I was going to say, remember the prophecy? ‘The greatest powers, not magic, nor words, but a feeling. One whose heart pure and true must learn the value of friendship. Remember what Fialova said?’ ‘I had thought I had finally made friends that liked me for who I am, and not because of what I am’? It must make us face our weaknesses or fears. It also probably likes plays on words. Pure and true describes a unicorn’s heart. Remember the lullaby? ‘Yet pure and true like a unicorn.’ It wasn’t describing Fialova, per se, but Lilac. It was describing Lilac. So… Sycamore, Mahogany, Is there anyone named compassion or needs compassion?”

“Er… no. Ouranó, Mabey.”

“ Possibly. ‘One whose heart knows no compassion.’ Fialova was afraid to tell us. She protected Rey through friendship-” I stood up.“ AH! Oh, ow,” I exclaimed. Once again, I collapsed to the ground. Again, Ouranó and Kamen helped me up. “ You need to stay on the log,” Kamen said strictly. I do not like feeling helpless! URGH! To myself, I sang “So fall, my darling in the sea, Turn, to the sky’s above. Find grace with the ground beneath you. And grow my darling like a tree. Relight all the burnt-out embers. Unite under nature’s heart. Be free, and soar like a griffin. Be determined, and loyal like a hippogriff. Your song as sweet as a siren’s. Yet pure and true like a unicorn. 

So fall, my darling in the sea, Turn, to the sky’s above. Find grace with the ground beneath you. And grow my darling like a tree. Relight all the burnt-out embers. Unite under nature’s heart. Unite under nature’s heart. The elements of which all nature’s beings unite. Unite under nature’s heart.

All paths, some easy and some not, are chosen with the song of nature’s heart. The elements of which all nature’s beings unite, and create our history. United under nature’s heart. Where all beings put aside their differences. To come together and converse. Where all polar opposites attract. United under nature’s heart.” Then it hit me. I jumped up quickly, and before my leg could hurt again, sat back down. “I just got an idea. Sycamore, Mahogany, Kamen and I are all from the earthen element. Ouranó is part- Aurae, she is from the sky. Charlotte also seems to be from the earth, recite that one Bye-bell verse, the ashes and dust please.” “Okay, ”Charlotte said. “Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.” “ Ano. You come from the Zeme, the zivels we are missing are water and fire. Are any of you from one of those elements?” I looked around. Rey waved at me, smiling. “ Oh my goodness, I am an idiot. You are a water druid. Forgive me, Rey.” He smiled. “ That’s okay,” he said. “ At least you are calling me Rey and not Rheolydd.” “ Still, who is from the fire element?” Ouranó smiled smugly. “None of us are from the fire. But I know who is.”