A Lunar Triumph

Nethra turned over in her bed, risen by the sound of a hermit thrush bird’s song that floated in through the hole in the side of her home, a grand oak tree. She threw her quilted blanket off of herself, sweating and chilled to the bone. The young nymph tapped a glass jar on her bedside table that swiftly illuminated with fireflies, lighting up her dwelling, so that she could put on an extra set of clothes and her shoes. It was a cold dark night, darker than usual, and the vibrations in the forest were out of tune with the creatures that lived there, including her. 

The nymph left through the vine covered doorway out into the wild night. She let the fireflies go as she did every evening, only to catch new ones before going to bed the next morning at dawn. Nethra picked up one of three torches she prepared for her nightly adventures. She snapped her fingers at the head of the torch creating a spark with her natural affinity to magic. The torch quickly caught flame and created a barrier of light in a fifteen foot sphere around her. It was one of the many novice spells that she learned herself before becoming an apprentice to the northern waterfall witch. The witch lived in a cave near a waterfall one mile north of Nethra’s tree. She visited her in the springtime to learn magic from her, but during the winter the witch liked to transfigure into a she-bear and hibernate. It was no longer winter but there was still a nip in the air as spring had yet to arrive.

Nethra set out into the night with only the torch to light her way. She took the eastern path into the thick of the trees. A path that she knew would take her to her friend's dwelling that she visited nearly every night. Along the path were luminescent flowers and mushrooms that grew up to her knees and waist. They glowed in the dark and gave off little spores and pollen that swirled around her body as she walked through them. The vines were bright green and hung all around her, she was careful not to disturb them, so that she didn’t wake up the creatures living in the trees above. As the trail snaked upwards the trees broke into a clearing, there grew crystalline flowers that absorbed sunlight in the daytime, and emitted the absorbed light in the dark.

Between the crystal flowers and the moonlight that shined in through the trees, the clearing was a magnificent nighttime playground for her friends, the spirit bear cubs. They were there now playing among the crystals and the tall grass, chasing lunar butterflies, and playing on top of an old tree stump in the center of the clearing.

The spirit bear cubs jumped on top of each other laughing and gnawing at one another. Cora, the largest of the bear cubs, jumped from the tree stump and swatted at one of the lunar butterflies, and in an amusing display she landed on top of her sister, Ura.

Nethra snuck up on the bear cubs like a predator, only when she cast her wind magic did they realize that she was there. She brought forth gusts of wind that blew the cubs up into the air and sat them on clear cushions of the invisible element. They rode wind tunnels like a slide through the open night air or they were thrown upwards only to land gently on invisible drafts and currents. They giggled playfully as the lunar butterflies dashed away into the night. Nethra waved her hands around like a composer turning the spirit bear cubs towards her. She carefully pushed one of the cubs from behind with a flick of her wrist, the second rode along on a wind slide, the third was spun around in a mini tornado, the fourth bounced on clear cushions, and the fifth dashed along a current like a waterslide, as they all landed gracefully before the nymph girl in a neat row.

They sat up and looked at her with admiration and love. She walked up to the first bear cub in the row and tapped him on the nose with her index finger. Walking from one to the next she tapped each of them on their noses and spoke their names like a role call.

“Hondo, Irnid, Tobin, Ursa, and Kiora!” she smiled at the last bear cub.

“It’s Cora!” the bear cub smiled back.

She knew that Nethra was only joking with her.

All of the cubs laughed and jumped on top of Nethra in a disorderly pile. They bounced on her and tugged at her ears and clothes. And she wrestled and rolled with them in the fluffy grass under the bright stars of the north. She stood up and unruffled her blouse, Cora readied herself for a charge and lunged at Nethra before she could dodge the attack. She bound right into her and toppled her over yet again. All of the spirit bear cubs laughed and they all laid in the grass together catching their breath, looking up at the heavens, Irnid rolled over and met Nethra’s gaze.

In an innocent voice she said, “Did you know that there are constellations that are bears?”

“I didn’t know that, that’s really interesting Irnid,” Nethra tickled her thick coat of fur made of pure ethereal energy. The bear cub licked Nethra’s arm lovingly.

“Bear’s have a long and glorious heritage,” came a deep rumbling voice. The voice commanded attention and was not only strong and fierce but beautiful and full of energy.

Sitting elegantly near the clearing's edge was a giant spirit bear, fully grown. Her coat was a bright coral blue with shades of sapphire in the crevices of her neck and arms. Dark blue runes were naturally engraved into her ethereal fur on her cheeks and back running down into her arms and legs. These ancient runes came with age for the bear cubs had not yet naturally acquired them. Her enormous muscles and brawny figure were formidable and she glowed bright like a full moon, lighting up the darkness all around her. It was the bear cub's mother, Alcmena.

The cubs all ran to their mothers side and gathered around her obediently.

“Would you like to join us in storytelling this evening Nethra?” Alcmena asked her.

“I’m sorry Alcmena but I must go tonight, there is something strange in the forest calling to me,” Nethra replied.

“I see, there have been odd rumors these last few nights. Many of the Faraway Forest inhabitants are concerned that something is amiss, and I feel it too. There is a darkness creeping through the air and the trees. Be careful wherever you may roam tonight Nethra, take Cora with you.”

“I cannot, Alcmena. Are you sure?” Nethra asked.

“Yes dear, she will protect you. May she light your way if your torch goes out.”

“Thank you, you have been like a mother to me,” Nethra said.

“And you, a daughter,” Alcmena replied. “Now go and return safely, both of you.”

The bear cubs and Alcmena walked back into the cover of the forest towards their den hidden by the hills and the trees. Except for Cora who accompanied Nethra onward into the night. A single lunar butterfly trailed far behind them.

They ran swiftly northeast, north of the waterfall witches cave where she felt the foul energy emanating from. But that way was a vertical ascent that was unclimbable, so they tarried around a bend that sloped downward. Nethra felt that she could make it to the peak of the mountain and back before dawn and she knew of another path that may lead them there. But she knew little about the dangers that lay on this side of the mountain.

“It’s cold tonight,” Cora said.

“Cora, you should use your spirit form at all times tonight. Unless I ask for your help, do you understand? I don’t want you to get hurt,” Nethra said.

“Okay,” Cora went into hiding and appeared nearly invisible. Her natural luminescence dimmed and she looked like a ghost, but she was hidden and safe.

“Stay close. But if we run into any trouble, hide okay?”

“Okay,” Cora obeyed.

As they passed through two large ridges of sheet rocks they made their way down the side of the mountain into the black of the night. Nethra planned on passing through this trail and curving back around to climb up the mountain. But as they left the cover of the rocky ridges it was as Nethra feared, a pack of dark wolves that wandered into the edges of Faraway Forest, all lay dead before her. Something big must have killed them and on top of their corpses were loathsome, maleficent, vultures.

They were plucking at the wolves putrid hides as Nethra’s torch cast light upon them, like devil-birds feasting in the underworld. Their necks turned abruptly and the black orbs of their eyes glistened in the firelight, one of the birds grunted and cawed. The rest understood the dominant vulture's queue to attack, they thrashed their wings and flew at Nethra.

Nethra charged back at them and threw her torch forcefully at the dominant vulture. It hit the vulture in the face and it toppled the bird sideways as it flailed wildly off into the shadows. Nethra bent down and forced her hand into the earth, she grabbed at something and ripped it out of the ground. It was a tree root long and thick with a sharp curve at the end like a thorn. She spun the whip around her torso and let it loose as it cracked a second vulture across the face. Spinning and cracking the earthen whip she was holding the vultures at bay. But then she realized that she was greatly outnumbered, as more of the birds flew in from the darkness. A crumbling noise from behind her alerted her to the fact that she was pinned up against the rocks. And then from above she felt an immense force rushing down on top of her, she rolled out of the way as fast as she could, but the boulder clipped her shoulder. The nymph magician looked up at the top of the ridge to find Cora standing there looking ashamed.

“I’m sorry Nethra, I was trying to help!” the bear cub cried out.

Nethra threw her root whip to the side, she thrusted her hand out behind her and balled up her fist in the direction of the rock pass that they had walked in from. From up on the hill Nethra summoned a wind tunnel that came downwards and gained momentum as it surged past her. By the time that it reached the wake of vultures it was a raging tornado of fury. The tornado blasted the wretched birds, throwing them all around; the birds hit one another, they were thrown into trees and rocks, and they were pushed onward down the mountainside until they were decimated. Nethra summoned another upward gale that carried her up into the air and onto the ledge above where Cora was waiting for her. They escaped over a ridge that led them further up the mountainside.

Her torch was lost, so Cora remained in solid form in order to light their way. The light barrier was similar but more lunar in nature, in fact it was better than torch light because it was more subtle. They reached three enormous boulders before them.

As they rounded the boulders she heard a noise that she would never forget. It was the yowling of a pack of itherit’s, the creatures were elongated and looked like mongooses as they scurried along the rocks and the ground. They were undead creatures without fur, with gaunt skin and their bones protruding from their flesh. They had sharp sly skulls and eyes that glowed blood red in the night. Their yowls were like felines when they are threatened and they moved like centipedes low to the ground. Nethra and Cora were quickly surrounded by them.

The nymph girl summoned fireballs in the palms of her hands as she threw them at the itherit’s. One of them hit it’s mark and the creature scampered off towards the rocks. She bent down low and summoned a cascading barrier of spherical flames. It raged and grew hotter as the barrier pushed the itherit’s away from her and Cora, to give them space to try to escape. The wet leaves on the ground sizzled and the itherit’s weaved in and out of the flames from all directions, they were still hellbent on getting their free meal. They stood on their haunches and out of their mouths rolled black toxic clouds. The clouds had golden arcs of electricity running through them and as one of them brushed past Nethra’s arm it stung like a jellyfish. Her arm became paralyzed for a moment as her and Cora tried to get away. Nethra fumbled with her one good arm in a pouch. She pulled out a single tiny seed and chewed it, her paralysis was healed instantly. Then she produced three more of the magical seeds and threw them at the itherit’s. They snapped on the ground and created disorienting flashes of light in the darkness like small bursts of sunlight.

“What are those?” Cora asked her.

“Dragonsnaps!” Nethra yelled back. “Let’s get out of here!”

As they turned to leave one of the itherit’s jumped on Nethra’s back and sunk its teeth into her neck. Cora turned and grabbed the branch of a sapling with her paws, she pulled it back and released it. The branch hit Nethra in the face and sent her to the ground. But it was enough to get the itherit off of her. The nymph magician hurled a ball of wind at the creature sending it back down the hill. Nethra and Cora ran as fast as they could up the mountain.

They were nearly to the top when something strange happened. Tiny trails of rocks rolled uphill in neat lines. They ranged from regular sized rocks to tiny pebbles and flecks of dust. Nethra picked one up to examine it, they weren’t rocks at all, they were pieces of raw gold. They were making their way up the mountainside toward some kind of magnetic force. Nethra learned from her studies that gold wasn’t magnetic though, what sort of force could attract gold?

The trees became thicker and thicker as they made their way to the peak of the mountain. Moss began to cover nearly everything. There were thorn bushes that spun around the center of a clearing and sinister looking plants that tried to wrap themselves around Nethra’s ankles before she jumped out of the way. And the leaves on the trees were enormous, bigger than any leaves she had ever seen before. They finally arrived at an old dwarven monument that was crumbling. The moonlight illuminated the monument and there on top of a pile of glimmering gemstones and raw gold was an ancient green dragon.

There were bright white shackles on the beasts neck and legs binding it to the earth and the surrounding trees, giant chains ran outward to various points in the surrounding forest anchored by divination circles, and one of the the dragons shackles was unbound, as it layed in a deep slumber. Black shadows jumped all around the beast as it breathed heavily and its chest and shoulders moved rhythmically up and down. It turned and thrashed about, twitching and writhing as if in pain. Then it struck Nethra that the dragon was dreaming, it must have been having nightmares. That was the cause of the dark energy in the forest. And whatever or whoever had bound this dragon here was no longer here to restrain the beast.

“We have to put the shackle back on the dragon's arm,” Nethra whispered to Cora.

The bear cub nodded reluctantly.

As Nethra approached the green dragon the gems and gold shifted under her feet. By the time that she got close enough to the shackles she already made enough noise to rouse it. In a desperate attempt she lunged forward grabbing the giant shackle, and wrapped it around the dragon's arm clicking it into place.

The dragon stirred and thrusted its arm at her, sending Nethra flying backwards. It woke up and opened its hollow eyes. A blackness full of rage and hatred poured from them, but the beast could not move from its chained prison. It opened its maw as viridescent flames formed and shot out from the back of its throat. Seconds before they engulfed Nethra, Cora jumped in front of her to try and protect her. One of the ancient runes of the spirit bear tribe formed on the back of her paw. A bright orb of lunar light surrounded them and Cora stood defiantly before the dragon's flames. At long last Cora fulfilled her duty to protect Nethra as she was trying to do all night. A kaleidoscope of lunar butterflies swarmed in from the surrounding forest and attacked the green dragon's eyes, the flames ceased just as Nethra and Cora lost consciousness.

Nethra woke up in Alcmena’s den surrounded by her bear cub brothers and sisters. They were all fast asleep except for the den mother.

“What happened?” Nethra asked.

“You and Cora succeeded, and then the waterfall witch saved you and brought you back here. She has risen from her hibernation. You did it Nethra, you saved the forest from the evil energy. Now get some rest daughter,” Alcmena said.

Nethra obeyed her and closed her eyes. The rhythm of the bears breathing, and the glow of the spirit bears energy in their den lulled her to sleep quickly.