Forest of FIre and Spells.

I stood atop a crumbling hill that flourished with flowers and weeds. A sky hung with narwhals wailing, and birds singing. In the vast distance, I could see a village with crooked little houses in rows upon rows with little fences bordering them. Fountains were streaming with bright blue water and trees blooming with vivid flowers. But the thing that attracted my eye the most, was the cracked white marble statue in the middle standing higher than the other buildings.” This is my next city,” I said as the howling wind buried my words into the empty sky. It better be worth it. I took hold of my oak wagon, and made my way down the hill, slowly disappearing into the sunrise.

As I walk across a concrete stone path lined with blazing dandelions, I glance around the small town. Ladies walking around with striking blouses, and deep red aprons, fixing up clay pots housing tomatoes and beans. Vines dangling across the broken tiles of curvy rooftops. Old men sitting around a table with cards at their mercy. Along with children jumping and spinning and frolicking around with wooden oak toys in their small, chubby hands. I get checked into an inn nearby and look around for a spot to set my wagon. As I'm strolling away, I find myself right in the heart of this village. I could tell that this was it because of all the stalls and merchants lined up on the side, with busy old ladies speaking in rather noisy tones, ‘asking’  for lower prices. I set up my place on a wall next to a shoe shop, with my cart facing directly at the marble statue from earlier. I put up my coffee-stained sign and set out all the products for viewing. Then I take out some parchment paper, ink, and a quill, and start writing. My hobby, or a more fitting term, my job, is to write spells. I write different ones for particular occasions and then sell them to potential buyers. Now, when I say I write spells, I don’t mean those normal ones though. They are, in no way, any fun to write. I write ones that are interesting and unusual. Ones that you would never think of. Besides, writing is a hobby, it shouldn’t stop me with restrictions, whether it be about turning milk spoiled, or summoning ancient warlords. 

Now, usually, my reputation in villages like these would remain quite high, but these villagers seemed very easy to irritate and misunderstand. So my influence slowly started to diminish. Furthermore, since rumors tend to spread faster than the wind could catch clear of, my personality was greatly known all around. Therefore, I was expecting a very quick leave from the village. But, I decided to stay, since profit could be made (somehow?). I began enduring all of the silent glances, whispers, and little nudges to the gate of the village. 

But, every second I spent in the vicinity of this village made the villagers even more weary of me, and thus, I decided it was my time to leave. I started packing things up one by one. Taking the sign down, putting the spells into the compartment under the wagon, and pulling on the curtains, when I suddenly hear footsteps behind me. I suspect it’s the old lady trying to explain in her “polite voice”, to get me to leave, so, without turning around, I say, “I’m closing up, alright, no need to continue persuading me.” “Oh. Are you sure you can’t spare a moment?” asks a voice that I don’t seem to recognize. I turn around to see a boy, likely my age, walking towards me. “Make it quick,” I say while turning back around. “ I was wondering if you would have a spell that would create Lotus Wing flowers.” I would’ve given him a flower-creating spell, but that name is one that I haven’t heard in a long time. “Lotus Wing?” I say turning around to face the boy. He steps back a little, and smiles while saying,” Yes, I would like a spell for conjuring them up.” “How could I give a spell that creates flowers that don’t exist anymore?” I’m unamused as I’ve had to deal with stuff like this for a while now. “No, no, no. You don’t understand. Why would I ask you for something that doesn’t exist?” He backtracked, waving his hands around in frantic motions. “ I know that you have specific conditions. That’s why I’ve come to you in the first place. I have…a place I would like to take you to,” Well, I could charge him for overtime work compensation. I didn’t even make a dime, so that would cover the money loss. Win-win situation. “Alright, I’ll go. But I'll be expecting a heavy compensation for overtime work.” I say smugly. “Name your price.” He remarked brightly. 

I’m standing outside on the cold concrete stone tiles, with the blazing orange sun rising behind me in its steady path, when I see him walking towards me. He’s carrying a golden brown basket with what seems to be food and is lugging around a spotted, sky-blue scooter down the crooked path. I straighten my posture and dust off my long buttoned white dress. “Sorry for being late,” he says awkwardly, as he sets down his basket on the scooter. “ Where are we headed?” I remarked quickly to hint that no small talk was going to happen. “Oh, well here is a map I have of the directions.” I guess he got the hint because he’s now taking a rolled map out of his basket, opening it up, and shimmying his way beside me so I could take a look. “We're going from here, Smartep Village, down to La Ssien Valley, and upwards to OakWard Den. We’ll then have to walk from there to a cavern a bit up north.” He hands the map over, and I quickly glance at the route that has been marked up. “ I’ve made this trek a couple of times now, so there will be no chance of getting lost anytime soon.” He says smiling, like a child who is showing their proudest work. I hand the map back and he starts up the scooter. It was an old one. It had many silver scratches, and some rust on the back wheel protector, but otherwise, it was kept in good condition. “ There’s a seat behind where you can sit down on- umm. Mind me, your name?”

“Aeress,” I say while settling down onto the musky leather cushion of the scooter. “Aeress. Like the Goddess Eris?” He says as he starts shifting the gears. “Yes.” I remark, pushing and resting my feet on the foot pedal, “ You might want to hold on tight, the road ahead is very unstable.” He says just as the scooter starts moving. I take my cold hands and wrap them around his waist while tucking my skirt and cardigan around my feet, as the scooter starts picking up speed. We began to ride off into the morning rites of the golden sky, just as the milky white clouds started to wake up.

We’ve been riding along the La Ssien Valley for a while now. But it wasn’t necessarily a boring ride. If you looked around, you would see acres on end of gorgeous, vibrant flowers sprinkled across the valley. There were blue tints, vivid pinks, purple hues, glistening greens, and fiery reds just dispersed along the iridescent grass and cobalt sky. The narwhals wailed gleefully, and birds sang their sweet song. The trees whistled on end, and their leaves joined with a shuttering tune. Baby pink deers and fawns traveled across the paint palette garden in steady paces. The air was warm and smooth, and the road sent grainy dust into the mellow atmosphere. It was like life stopped at that moment, to paint this picture of a reality. “Whatcha thinking about?” The boy said over his shoulder. I still didn’t know his name even though we’d been traveling for a while, so I felt the need to ask out of respect. “ Nothing much. By the way, what’s your name?” I say staring at the scenery. “Knox.” He replied non-chantly.  It was quiet once again. But that silence was broken quickly this time. “ How long have you been traveling for?” he questioned. “Around five years now,” I say, admiring the lotuses on the clear, luminescent waters. "Must have been hard all alone,” he said, pitying me. “Not really. It was lonely at first, but after a while, it started to feel- convenient of sorts.” I say, closing my eyes and sighing. The rest of the ride was quiet with the soft blow of the sun's kisses landing on our faces, as clouds welcomed our silence.

Some time passes by when the scooter comes to an abrupt halt. “What happened?” I say, steadying myself on the cushion. “This is it,” Knox said as he got off the scooter. I do the same as him and start strutting beside him to get a look. “Looks like a normal forest,” I remark. “That’s why no one really goes to this place often.” he started walking to his right, towards the meadow filled with dazzling dandelions fluttering across the field. I follow up with him, and we start walking through the meadow. I was about to say something when I felt a tug at my boots. I look around to see a cat kneeing me. “Who is yo?” uttered the cat. “Umm…” I silently take some steps backward and turn to face Knox who’s beaming from ear to ear. “Mini-bee!” He gets on his knees excitedly and fistbumps the little cat who in turn follows his fistbump. “Mini-shoap!” the cat eagerly says. “Mini-shoap?” I say sarcastically. I end up bending to my knees as well, to try to get to their height and look towards Knox. “Mini-bee this is Aeress. Aeress, this is Mini-bee.” He smiled joyfully. “Lady Mini-aroshoap.” “Umm… right. Thank you Mini-bee.” I look towards Knox signaling for an explanation. “Mini-bee is here protecting the forest from those with bad intentions.” and is if they were practicing this introduction, Mini-bee takes his little silver sword and points it to the sky with one (limb?) on a small rock. It was a very bizarre sight if you have never seen a dwarf cat before, but that wasn’t to say that it wasn’t cute. “Wow. You protect this forest by yourself?” I say trying to sound impressed. “Yash. Mini-bee Pretoct de ferost.” He proudly remarked. “And he does a fine job at it,” Knox replied. “Now Mini-bee, me, and Miniaroshoap need to go to Emisfin Cavern. Could you take us there?” He smiled at Mini-bee like he was bribing a child with those sweet words. I mean I guess it wasn’t that different. “Yash. Mini-bee shael take Lady Mini-aroshoap to emi-cav.” Mini-bee got up and raised his paw towards me, asking for me to hold it. With a laugh, I let out my index finger, and he grabs onto it. He started leading me forward through the fiery dandelions, and bold olive grass with Knox following behind us.

Trekking through the fuzzy moss, rotten leaves, and very slimy mud was horrendously awful. Branches would trickle down our neck, and the wind had a cold sheer to it. But eventually, we got to the cavern. “Fair lady, thish iz whee me take yo.” Mini-bee said while bowing his down. I offered a courtesy of respect, and Mini-bee was off.  “Whatcha think about Mini-bee?” Knox asked next to me. “He’s a perfect gentleman.” I smiled and tried to dust off the suspicious… substances that had made streaks down my dress. Not the best time to wear white at all. “Well, here we are,” Knox said, putting his hands on the cavern’s door and gently creating a small opening. “Ladies first.” he let out his hand for me to go through the gate. And without thinking much of it, I took his hand and led myself inside. The corridor was very stuffy with the humidity that had been trapped inside. The vines that dangled and the weeds that scaled up the walls looked as if no one had disturbed them for years. The musky smell had filled the corridor to the very end, where light was emerging from. I looked behind Knox, and he motioned to continue. After each step, the light became increasingly closer and closer, and in seconds I was in front of it. There were lanterns and vines longer than the one before, dropping from the ceiling. The lanterns had a blueish, yellowish hue to them, with the amount of them increasing each time. Then, suddenly, it felt like I was taken to that garden of flowers again. But this time, all you could see would be fiery reds and blazing oranges. Bright yellows, and those olive greens. There were little spore buddies, strolling around and tending to the sun-kissed flowers with care and diligence. There were torches along the wall and a small waterfall that was consistently carrying out crystal blue water. I looked back to see Knox smiling cheerfully. “See? I told you I had a reason.” He sounded so sure in his voice, and I guess he was right. I bent down to the ground and started surveying the flowers' details. Huge spotted petals dropped downward with orange flames reaching out from the center. A thin green stem and prickly leaves with a red-hued center. The petals had intricate layers and folds and would’ve looked lovely basking in the morning sun’s radiance, housed in an earthy clay pot. No wonder they died out so quickly. “They're beautiful, aren’t they? But they were hunted to extinction for the very same reason that made them alive. This is the only place that they’ve been able to be preserved for so long. That’s why I want to bring them back.” I smile at the conviction In his voice. “Well, now you can,” I remark with a genuine smile. After a while spent inside the cavern, we end up leaving and get escorted to the foothold of the forest. We say our farewells to Mini-bee and start riding off back to the village, with faint smiles on our faces.

The bright, pale moon was shining down on the dark wooden fences around the village. Knox let out his hand and I took it, steadying myself from jumping off the scooter. I ruffle out my dress and dust anything that might be off about it, as he turns the scooter off and gets the basket. We walk in silence to my Inn, get my things together, and prepare for me to leave. I grab my wagon, and we start walking side by side with nothing but the gentle breeze of humidity brushing against our cheeks. The weeds were sharp, the grass was tall and it looked as if the clouds had finally taken their rest. I set my cart down by the entrance and turned to him. “Thank you very much for showing that cavern. It was a surreal experience.” I smile, intertwining my hands together. “No problem. I’m just glad that I was able to finally share it with someone.” A lulled peace surrounded us. “Well, I’ll be taking my leave now.” I offer a bow of respect take my wagon in hand, and start walking up the hill we came from. I walked a couple steps, then a couple more, waiting for something. Then I heard it. He called for the spell. At that moment, I let my wagon go, pulled out a piece of paper from my pocket, and blew it away. The sheet turned to dust into the air, and that was when my proudest work had been displayed. An intense golden light blinded our eyes, turning into brilliant, lush sparks of green, red, and blue. Flaming flowers with this intense yellow and golden hue lit up the dark starry night, like fireworks in a dead sky. The air filled with white silvery spores, and light, featherly petals falling down on us. A meadow of fire was created around us, devouring us in its red-hot flames of purity. I saw him standing there. Eyes wide, and mouth open. Looking around, but only to see the same flowers in that tiny cavern. “I gave you your wish better than any spell I could make,” I told him with a smile. Moments passed by like years on end while flaming sparks filled the silence between. The quietness turned to me getting a hold of my wagon, grinning, and continuing walking up the hill. I turned my head to see him standing with a lotus wing in his hand. “Writing doesn’t have to be spoken, or written, or even thought of. It can be imagined, and still be just as magical.” I said to the narwhals in the sky. To the spore buddies tending to blazing flowers. And to the boy that was standing in the smoldering flora. With that, I took a step with burning foliage trailing behind, as I disappeared into the sunrise.