The token

Rosha ran.

Her muscles aching, her lungs burning, her fawn’s horns snaring in the lower branches above her head, she ran, weaving her way in between the trees. Her long hair got snagged on a branch when she cast a quick glance over her shoulder and she felt a painful tug but ignored it, jerking her head and powering on. Leaving a strand of light pink hair tangled on that branch, blowing in the wind. Carrying her scent.

The howls drew closer. Not dogs’, no. Dogs were from the human world, good-hearted and obedient, only becoming vile if their cruel master made them so. What was following Rosha – powered by the vicious need to sink their teeth into her flesh – was not of the human world. They were vile, violent creatures born with the instinct to kill.

And those who have put collars on them were even worse.

Rosha bit back a cry of pain when her bare foot encountered a particularly sharp stone. She had thought that the soles of her feet – beaten and battered by the distance ran barefoot through the forest litter – were hardened by now, that they have already brought her so much pain, more simply wasn’t possible. She had been wrong.

Rosha stumbled, catching herself on the trunk of the tree next to her, her breath leaving her in an anguished moan. The sting of pain was sudden and sharp, but it was nothing compared to what would befall her if she lingered here any longer, let the beasts catch up to her, so pushing off the tree, she sped on, her teeth gritting each time she put her weight on the wounded foot.

She only needed to make it a bit further, and her advantage was, they didn’t know she wasn’t just navigating the forest blindly, tracing a random path through the trees. They had no idea her erratic route, her wild escape, had a destination, a final spot she was determined to reach.

Another howl pierced the air. Rosha was not running just for her life, no. Perhaps, if it had been just her fate at stake, then maybe she would have given up by now. Not have gotten off the ground that one time her foot had snagged on a root and she fell with enough force to rattle her teeth and pierce her tongue on her incisors. Would have stayed by that tree, nursing her wounded foot, let the monsters satisfy their hunger.

But no. This was so much bigger than just a girl with pink hair and a fawn’s horns running away from a pack of degenerates. The amulet burning her skin underneath her dress was a reminder of that. A reminder of what she would do to protect everyone whose wellbeing – whose life - depended on that one piece of jewellery.

As any other Fae, Rosha knew this forest. Knew it better than the back of her hand, could navigate it with her eyes closed and other senses dulled. Otherwise, she would have long since gotten lost, been led astray by the will-o’-the-wisps, confused by the multiple illusions awaiting behind each tree. To anyone else, it would have been impossible to find one’s way to one specific tree in an ancient forest full of trees, but Rosha could find it, was led to it by the thread woven deep into her soul, connecting her with to tree. Connecting every Fae to that tree.

She entered the clearing and her heart rate picked up. Only a little bit further now. Across this clearing, to the line of trees, and there, on the edge –

A blur of movement appeared to her right. Rosha glanced to the side and gasped in horror when one of the beasts emerged from between the trees, racing across the clearing towards her. Coming from a different direction than she had.

A noise followed from her left and, sure enough, there was another monster breaking through the wall of the forest. They both aimed for her, soon joined by the others, approaching her from all sides.

Out in the open space, she had no protection. No trees to slow the beasts’ advance, no bush to duck behind. The only thing she could rely on now was her speed.

The howls were so loud now, they seemed to reverberate through Rosha’s skull. She forced her legs to eat up the space left to the edge of the clearing, her lungs to suck in gulps of air. She was nearly halfway through it now, she could not fail now, this close, having made it this far, she couldn’t, she couldn’t, she couldn’t –

A scorching hot breath grazed her exposed calf a moment before a touch followed. A blood-freezing snarl sounded way too close to Rosha, but she did not dare turn around, did not dare falter –

A wave of blinding pain pulsed through Rosha’s leg, followed by the sensation of something hot and thick trickling down her calf. She wailed but kept running, never ceasing, never pausing, her eyes focused straight forward on that tree.

A bark, a tear, a brush of cold air on the naked skin of Rosha’s back. Her dress was in utter tatters now, the last illusion of protection between the beasts and her bare flesh gone, but she didn’t care, didn’t care, didn’t care.

Three quarters through the clearing. Mere seconds now separated her from reaching her target, the last few metres before safety. She tugged the amulet from underneath the collar, holding it in her fist. The sight of the token seemed to spur on the beasts, as they all seemed to growl at the same time and picked up their pace. They never seemed to tire, contrary to Rosha who was exhausted, who couldn’t keep going anymore, but who was so close, so close.

Leaping across the ditch separating the trees from the clearing, she extended the hand holding the amulet in front of her. The pendant connected with the bark and she closed her eyes as an explosion of light burst out of the tree, blinding her –

And then she was swallowed.

***

Raynor stepped out of the tree and onto the clearing.

He tipped his head back and smiled as the rays of sunshine grazed his face, caressing his cheeks with warmth. His sprinkling of freckles there – already generous - would become even more prominent, if he spent enough time absorbing the rays. The amulet around his neck still emanated heat, only just cooling down after it had opened up a passage between worlds.

A gasp left Ray’s chest when his vision was suddenly obscured by a pair of hands sneaking from behind him. A smile stretched his lips as he relaxed – he would recognise those hands everywhere. Fragile, delicate, with slim fingers and that distinct scent of lilacs always clinging to them. He placed his own palms atop them, swaying slightly from side to side.

“Now, who may this be?” He mused, his own hands squeezing slightly.

A feminine giggle sounded from behind him.

“Luna? Laylah? Drusilla?” He wondered aloud, inserting pauses in between each name. “I honestly can’t remember which one I have arranged to meet with today.”

“You bunghole!” Ziya exclaimed, letting go. Her tone lacked seriousness, but she stepped away, playing petulant.

“Ah, of course,” Ray clicked his tongue, nodding in approval. “Only one person I know includes this particular word in her vocabulary.”

“It thrills me to know you only recognise me by my choice of curses,” Ziya teased back. “And at some point in your life, you have been seeing a woman named Drusilla?”

“Ah, yes, an unfortunate name,” Ray agreed. Then, added after a pause. “A wonderful kisser, though.”

Ziya scoffed and whirled around. Before she could get far, though, Ray’s fingers wrapped around her wrist and tugged her back. She feigned a half-hearted fight, spoiling her act with uncontained laughter, but Ray locked his arms firmly around her, steering her backwards. He did not stop until Ziya’s back was pressed into the tree he has just come from, and Ray’s body was, in turn, pressed into hers.

He sought out her lips, but Ziya ducked her head to the side. “You do not get to kiss me with the lips that have kissed a woman named Drusilla.”

A corner of Ray’s lips tugged up as he lowered his head and began peppering Ziya’s neck with soft pecks and nips. “Mmm, but you never seemed to mind before.”

“Ignorance is bliss,” she opposed, but her voice was weaker now, breathier, and her head falling to the side to expose more of the milky skin of her neck to Ray’s caresses did not quite drive her point across. “Awareness ruins everything.”

“Does it?” Ray nipped on Ziya’s chin and revelled in the ragged breath that escaped her. As much as he enjoyed bickering with her, he did not understand why she kept talking. There were so many other things they could be doing instead.

“Yes,” Ziya argued, then repeated that word, over and over again, each time quieter than the previous, as she gave in to Ray’s ministrations. She eventually gave in – just like she did every time – and their lips eventually met, all banter forgotten.

They kissed and kissed and kissed until Ray eventually moved away slightly. Ziya’s eyelids peeled open slowly and her unfocused eyes narrowed. “What?”

Ray didn’t respond. Reaching under his tunic – the top strings untied now – he fished out the pendant hanging from his neck on a long, thin chain. Ziya watched his every movement as he slipped it off over his head until it dangled from his palm.

“Ray?”

Still no response as he wordlessly slipped the token around Ziya’s own neck, gathering her hair up and settling it around it. She held his gaze before scooping the locket into her palm.

“What is it?”

Ray’s eyes traced the movement of Ziya’s fingers as she trailed them along the sides of the oval charm, dipping into the lines creating an intricate symbol carved into the metal. She raised her questioning gaze to his but he only grinned, shrugging.

“I just thought it is unfair that it always has to be me visiting you,” he said. “And decided it is the high time you visited me instead.”

Ziya’s brows pulled in together. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll show you.”

Placing his hand over hers, Ray guided the medallion towards the tree at Ziya’s back. Holding it just above the uneven bark, he met her gaze and asked, “Ready?”

“For what?”

Ray’s smile softened. “Do you trust me?”

Ziya’s wide eyes met his, and held. They searched his face for something – some kind of an answer, he assumed – shining with an equal balance of curiosity and concern. Ray watched with satisfaction as the former emotion won, and she nodded her chin slightly.

“All right,” Ray squeezed Ziya’s hand briefly before murmuring.

“One,”

Her throat worked on a swallow.

“Two.”

Ray never broke eye contact. Pressing the carved side of the token into the tree, he whispered, “Three.”

***

Faye tried to discern what she was feeling as she made her way across the clearing. The darkness of the late night enveloped her, wrapping her in a thick yet silky blanket, comforting her. Giving her the illusion of not being alone.

The cricket song and the gentle breeze blowing through the crowns of the tall trees surrounding the clearing silenced her footsteps through the soft grass.

Sadness?

It wasn’t really sadness that she felt, no. Something akin to it, but not quite.

Emptiness?

Frankly, a little bit. There did seem to be that hollow place inside of her that has been slowly growing for a while now. Faye was not sure if what she was feeling now was it sealing up or broadening, claiming more of her.

Apprehension?

Faye’s fingers wandered under the thin material of her blouse and wrapped around the locket there. No, she did not know what would happen in a few moments. She could only imagine, deduct from the whispers she had heard here and there, the secrets travelling

among her people.

Her people.

Faye guessed she could not call them that anymore. After all, this, now, her making her way across that clearing in the late hours of the night, was the result of her losing touch with those people. Of breaking that connection with them, of that warmth she used to feel around them diminishing.

Of her deciding she would rather see what else is for her out there than feel like an outsider among those who had taught her everything she knew and given her everything she had.

Well, not quite. Faye’s hold on the locket tightened. Not everything she possessed now had been given to her by her people precisely.

A rustle sounded somewhere behind her and she spun around, eyes searching. It was not monsters she was afraid of – no, she had stopped believing in those long ago. Who she truly feared – and it pained her to admit it – were the same people she was leaving behind now. Sleeping soundly in their beds, not so far away from this clearing.

When nothing moved, Faye continued forward, her steps lighter than before. The outline of the tree loomed in front of her, thick and sturdy and ancient. She felt tiny in front of that tree, had the illusion of herself growing smaller and smaller with every step she took towards it.

Her delicate moth wings fluttered in the gust of the soft breeze when she crossed the last of the distance separating her and the tree.

Faye just stood in front of it for a few moments, staring.

She did not feel any sort of energy emanating from that tree. No special calling, like she had been expecting. It seemed like a regular tree, just wider and taller and older than others.

Except it was not.

Faye extended her hand and grazed her fingers across the bark. No spark, no sizzle of power still. She spent a while familiarising herself with the tree, tracing the pattern of its trunk, dipping her fingers into the grooves there, listening to the rustle of its leaves on the wind. She even pressed her cheek to it for a few heartbeats, just breathing in. Taking it all in.

Eventually, Faye took a step back. Tipping her chin back one more time, she regarded the canopy of branches and leaves above her head and reached inside her blouse once again. The metal was warm from her skin when she slid it out completely and slipped the chain over her head. It pooled inside her open palm, the silver reflecting the moonlight.

One last look over her shoulder. One last sweep of her eyes across the clearing. One last chance to commit this sight to the memory before she would not be able to see it again.

Faye did not know what the other side looked like. She was only just about to find out.

Honestly, she had expected to cry. At least shed one tear when she turned back to the tree, extended her hand. Hoped to feel more than this surprising… calmness settling inside of her as the token moved closer and closer to the tree.

As light exploded around her, and enveloped her, and carried her across.

And all Faye felt was numbness.