Seciria

“We must get to them before they do. Are you sure though, that you’ve seen enough to assume them as the…?”

A black head nodded solemnly at the unfinished statement. It’s ears flipped back to its head as birds flew out of their tree sanctuaries and the wind suddenly ceased to waft through the forest. An unusual stillness reigned.

“This does not look good.” The man listened to the silence, his muscles tense underneath the silken cloak of black, as if expecting something to occur. He arranged his hood over his clear blue eyes and steadily made his way beside his companion and beckoned it to follow him towards the thicker part of the forest. They walked silently under the thick mass of leaves of the trees through a series of jigsaw paths when suddenly a streak of lightning made them look up and saw a mass of dark clouds moving eastward to cover the blue horizon.

This does not bode well for us. They’re getting desperate.

His black companion seemed to share his opinion as it growled in apprehension, its head lifted towards the darkening sky. “Come, we have to meet Raido.” The man walked towards another part of the forest, his black companion behind as a gust of wind started to blow through the eerie forest.

Three girls are making their way through a rocky part of the forest. They looked so tired and hungry they are almost dragging their feet. Days passed without any knowledge on how to get out of the forest without their supplies or any instruments to direct their way. Though they considered it futile for them to just rely on their instincts to take any path which they thought was right, they felt it was better to move on rather than stay on one spot.

They continued their search of the area and didn’t notice the darkening horizon until Dea stopped in her tracts.

“Dhey, anything wrong?” Alithea asked as both she and Lacaille took the opportunity to bend and massage their tired limbs.

“It’s that.” Dea’s voice trembled and pointed. Their eyes moved to the direction Dea pointed and saw the massive dark clouds.

They huddled close and were silent for a long time. All seemed to think of the same thing:

Are we to get out of here alive?

“There is not much time. We need to get them before they do. Gebo, do you know where to find them?” the man with the black hood asked.

The black one nodded.

“Good. Try in any way to lead them to this area to ensure their safety in case we can’t accompany you. Make sure they don’t get hurt in any way. Understood?” He got another nod. The man then turned to approach a person a few feet away from him, standing a few meters from the pointed edge of a cliff as an unknown light shone from his outstretched hands.

The portal-creator seemed to sense his companion observing him behind his back. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. Just a few minutes more…”

“No need to hurry. As long as you do everything right.” The hooded man removed his covering and ran his fingers through his golden locks. He was nervous but he didn’t show it his companions. It was up to him to remain rational no matter what kind of adverse situation they were in. A part of his upbringing he sometimes detested but discerned its necessity.

After a few minutes, the light from his companion’s hands faded. He placed his hands down and faced him. “It’s is done.”

“Well done, Raido.” He looked up to the sky and saw the dark clouds covering the whole horizon. “All we need to do now is bring them here.” He turned to his companions. ” Let’s go. ”

“Who’s there?” Alithea and Lacaille were surprised to hear Dea speak abruptly. They followed her gaze and saw a woman clad in thick silken robes that flowed around her figure; her long, dark hair played gently with the wind. She was almost mystical in nature, so beautiful, almost like a water-nymph in form that the three were taken in her splendor, their mouths dropped open.

“I can see you’re lost fair ones. And you look so tired and hungry, I invite you to come with me and have some rest. Surely, you would not resist that.” The lady smiled and her voice was like the tinkling of little bells.

“Are you a fairy?” Alithea asked in a whisper.

The lady laughed as she came towards them and held out a white, slender hand. “I know a place where you will be safe. Come with me and I’ll take you there.”

Dea was to grasp the lady’s outstretched hand when Lacaille held her wrist and narrowed her eyes to the lady. “How are we to trust you?” Lacaille asked suspiciously.

The lady was slightly taken aback but regained her composure. “There is nothing to be afraid of. I’m…”

“Stop!”

All of them turned to the sound of the voice that came from behind a cluster of leaves. Standing there were two men and one of them had a sword, shining mysteriously, sparks illuminating from its edges. “You have no right to take them Uruz. Their place is with us,” he continued.

“That we will see, Rigel,” The woman called Uruz countered. She opened her mouth wide and a ear-splitting screech pierced through the forest. The three girls covered their ears and gritted their teeth in pain while the man called Rigel endured it and pointed his sword to Uruz. A ball of white, electrical energy shot out. Uruz dodged the ball of power, creating a small crater on the ground as the explosion sent everyone in the area flying.

The head-splitting sound stopped. Dea, Lacaille and Alithea scrambled up their feet and stared in bewilderment at the two figures facing each other in guarded postures, awaiting who will make the next move.

Uruz was clearly infuriated but instantly gave a wicked smile, her beautiful face contorting indescribably, as she saw an elder man emerged beside her from nowhere. “About time you got here, Thurisaz. Now help me get rid of these nuisance.”

The elder man raised his hands and the threatening clouds burst open and heavy rain poured out. The three girls braced themselves at the force. The next instant Uruz was beside them. “We have to go. Now!” She reached out for Alithea’s and Dea’s hands. “Hey!” Lacaille followed where her two friends were being dragged.

Rigel blinked a few times, unable to see through the wall of rain, but once he was able to and saw what Uruz was doing, shouted. Immediately, the puma appeared from nowhere and growled menacingly as it lunged towards Uruz. The woman screamed in surprise and was about to call out to her man companion but saw that he was fighting another companion of Rigel.

Rigel was about to get the three girls when he was thrown back with such force that took his breath away. Through the curtain of rain he saw a man in what seemed like armor and he too was holding a sword. “So Uruz has another companion, doesn’t she? We’ll see how you fare with my sword.” He struck the side of the man with all his might and was shocked to see that there was not even a scratch. The man with the man armor then advanced toward him and struck with his sword. Rigel almost didn’t avoid that attack but he didn’t give up. He had a job to do, and by the gods, he was going to do it!

Dea nudged Alithea and Lacaille standing by her side and an unspoken agreement passed through their eyes as they slowly moved backwards to escape the hostile creatures in their midst.

The clashing of steel faded as they ran away, hoping to escape the unbelievable scene they witnessed. They didn’t stop though sounds of explosion and the sky has totally turned black and the wind started to blow so hard that trees were toppling over with rain splattering everywhere. They didn’t dare to look back, for fear they might witness something that might cost their lives. They didn’t know in what way. They just knew they had to get away.

Despite this fear, Alithea risked looking back without slowing her pace. At that instant, a black cloud seemed to forcibly infiltrate her senses; her breathing became hard and her body grew heavier until she fell to the ground but felt no pain, only the numbness in her body.

A burning impression imprinted on her forehead and through her closed eyes, a vision of three, glowing symbols appeared in her consciousness.

“Al! Al! Hey, wake up! You can’t think of sleeping now!” She felt herself being shaken and pain coursed through her head. She moaned.

“She’s waking up.” Alithea heard Lacaille and felt herself being lifted on both sides and being supported to walk in haste.

“Pull yourself together. We have to find a place to hide and shelter us from this storm.”

Storm?

Alithea’s vision cleared a little as the pain gradually wore off and she noticed her surroundings were darker compared earlier. It wasn’t that late a while ago; still the vision of the black cloud gave her goose bumps.

She turned to look at the frightened faces of her companions. She couldn’t bring herself to tell them what she saw, what she felt and add to their growing anxiety.

There’s no sense of frightening them. But something is out there … but I don’t know what…

The rain was already down to a drizzle even before they found a safe place. They walked endlessly but found something blocking their path. It was the puma. They ran away from the puma but found themselves in another cliff.

“What is with this place and cliffs?” Lacaille wailed.

The puma was edging closer to the girls and with every step taking them closer to the edge of the cliff. “Could you do what you did before, Dhey?” Alithea asked. ”You know, the levitation thing.”

“I am definitely afraid enough right now to. But I don’t think I can. I can’t leave you two guys and I can’t very well carry you!”

Lacaille grimaced at what she heard and turned to the puma. It’s eyes watching them warily. That’s a good kitty. You won’t eat us won’t you? We’re not tasty and we haven’t eaten for quite some time so we’re all stick and bones, you wouldn’t want that would you? Nice kitty.”

“Caille, it’s not working.” Alithea observed.

They continued inching backwards, to their inevitable doom.

“What if we play dead? Maybe it would go away.” Alithea suggested.

Dea shook her head. “I don’t think so. It has seen us moving.”

They stepped backwards yet another inch and Alithea felt a tingling feeling. What was that? Maybe I’m just so afraid, that’s all.

Lacaille groaned. “I don’t want to be cat food. Think of something you guys!”

Looking around for some sort of escape, Dea’s hopes fell. “There’s no way out…”

Alithea closed her eyes in fear. ”Oh please, somebody help us…” The other two also shut their eyes, desperately praying for a miracle to happen. Any second now and the puma would be on top of them.

Minutes passed and nothing happened. Dea slowly opened her eyes and was shocked at what she saw.

“Al, Caille, look!” Dea shouted.

Alithea shut her eyes more tightly. “I don’t want to.”

“Open your eyes. Look!” Dea insisted.

Lacaille opened an eye. “What the…!”

Alithea reluctantly opened her eyes and saw the puma slowly morphing into a human form. The human stood up and smiled to them.

The former-puma-now human spoke. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

The three’s mouth were hanging wide open. Who… I mean what are you? A shape shifter?”

The newcomer gave a small smile. “Quite like that.”

Dea shook her head in disbelief. “That can’t be true. That’s only a myth.”

Alithea thought otherwise. “But we just saw it, Dhey. She morphed from a cat to a human.”

Dea wasn’t convinced. “This can be just a joke. Look here, we don’t have time to play games and we need to get back home so if you would please lead us back to the trail…”

The shape-shifter interrupted. “I would readily oblige but I can’t do that.”

Lacaille, who was silently digesting the situation, narrowed her eyes. ”And why not?”

“Because you now belong here. You are needed,” the shape-shifter answered cryptically.

Now Lacaille was confused. “Needed? Needed by whom?”

“Needed by all the people, to fulfill a prophecy.”

Lacaille had enough of cryptic messages. “Look here, miss. We have been in the woods for a long time. Longer than we intended. Many things happened to us, most of them bad. We lost all our things, our supplies and almost our sanity. We are very hungry, tired, wet and even bruised and then you come into our lives with this weird friends of yours and lead us to this place and say we are needed! This is not a good joke and I’m loosing my patience here so it would be best for all of us if you and your friends to stop this charade of yours, lead us back to the trial or better yet, bring us out of that cursed forest and let us live our own lives.”

On the other hand, Alithea was thinking of something else. What is this? Why do I feel as if there is some truth to what this person says, that we are needed? I even feel as if I… belong here? No it’s impossible. She looked around and was frozen at what she saw.

Lacaille was still talking to the shape-shifter. “If you don’t do as we say, you are going to get it. Right, girls?”

“Right!” Dea shouted.

Lacaille didn’t hear Alithea’s answer. “Al?” There was no answer.

“Al?”

The two turn to Alithea, who was staring at something. Dea decided to repeat the question. “Al, we were telling this person that…” They all stopped as they saw what Alithea was staring at. There were floating mountains, waterfalls, giant crystals, a multicolored sky, everything of the imagination.

“What is this place?” Alithea whispered.

The shape-shifter found amusement in their shock. “This is the place of dreams and magic and you are here to fulfill a destiny.” She smiled. “I welcome you ladies, to the world of Seciria.”

Licorne’s Notes:
Jasmine Rose dumped the action scenes to me! Again! In this chapter, Shattered Eyes was taking a break from writing.

Pumas and Cliffs

It proved unfounded, of course. There was no trace of any possible explanation for the peculiar behavior of the trees. Nothing peculiar happened to the surrounding area. What really happened last night? They were still thinking about it as they made a start of finding the road trail again.

“Maybe that creepy puma brought some friends along and they had a stalking party around our camp.” Lacaille suggested.

The other two glared at their friend. They didn’t like the idea of a bunch of animals lurking behind the bushes, waiting and watching at their sleeping forms. Also, they have already forgotten about the black puma from yesterday and it was not comforting to be reminded of it again today when their nerves are frazzled from uncomfortable sleep and mysterious surroundings.

“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about that.” Dea haven’t seen the puma at all today, a tiny consolation. She didn’t really need the feeling of being watched when she was tired, wet and hungry. She was feeling something strange about that animal. Whenever she sees it, its cat eyes gleam as if in recognition, making her shudder at what those eyes reveal.

They found a brook around noon and decided to rest, thereby avoiding the blistering heat of the sun. Lacaille went off upstream saying she needed to heed a call of nature. Dea rummaged through her backpack and groaned when she didn’t find anything edible. They haven’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday and she was having mental pictures of her stomach eating itself.

Alithea looked up from her bag and gave her friend a rueful grin. “Nothing there either, huh?”

“Not a single morsel! We lost all of it last night in the storm.” Dea slumped down beside Alithea. “What are we going to eat now?” Dea saw Alithea look hopefully at the brook. Dea shook her head. “There’s no use in hoping. There are no fishes in there. The water’s too shallow. ”

Alithea’s face fell before getting a faraway look. “What I’d really want right now is some steak. Tender juicy steak. With mashed potatoes and salad.” She patted her middle and moistened her lips, as if seeing the delicacy right in front of her.

The faraway look was now also on Dea’s face. “Barbequed chicken, buttered noodles, coleslaw, some vanilla sherbet. . .” The two of them sighed at the mental pictures those words invoked.

They were in this state of euphoria when Lacaille came back from her trek. She took in the scene and looked suspiciously from one to the other. “Are you guys high?”

“We might as well be,” answered Alithea nonchalantly, refusing to be driven back to reality.

“Fine.” Lacaille plopped down near a tree and shrugged. “I might as well keep all this food to myself.” She revealed a pouch from whence came berries and nuts.

The two were immediately beside their friend. “Where did you get it? Are there still some left? What are these?” Dea’s barrage of questions continued as she held up a round red berry.

Lacaille frowned. “I don’t really know.” Dea stopped in the act of putting the berry in her mouth and Alithea started to choke since she just popped one into her mouth.

“What?” Alithea finally stopped coughing. “You don’t even know what these are and you’re feeding them to us? Are you trying to kill us?”

A mischievous smile touched Lacaille’s lips. “Well, the thought did cross my mind.” She held up her hands in surrender when the two started to approach her menacingly. “Seriously, I don’t know but I think I have a good idea of what they are and I know they’re safe.”

“You’re sure?” Dea was still doubtful. “How did you know which berries to get?”

“Must have read it somewhere,” Lacaille muttered. That was good enough for Alithea as she continued popping one berry after another into her mouth.

They finished off the last of the berries and filled their water bottles to the brim for they knew not when they would find another source of water in this unpredictable terrain.

“I can’t wait to get home.” Because of the food, Alithea’s spirits were up again. ” Then I can have all the food I want. I’ll also make sure not to set foot in this place again!”

They were already packing up their things when Dea held up a hand in silence. “What is it?” Lacaille looked up from her bag.

“Did you hear that?” Dea was looking around for any sign of movement. She definitely heard something. She was about to shrug it off when she heard the sound again. Like rumbling, like it came from a deep cave somewhere. Their eyes widened in shock and they looked back at each other, considering what to do next.

The next instant the black puma from yesterday leaped from the bushes and was coming towards them at incredible speed. The three girls screamed in terror and ran as fast as they could away from the animal.

“You said it wasn’t hungry!” Lacaille was screaming through gasps of breath from running.

Dea looked back and saw the animal still pursuing them. “I don’t know,” she screamed back, “maybe, like us, it hasn’t had its dinner yet!”

“Don’t joke like that!” Alithea felt branches and thorns drawing blood on her skin but she didn’t care. Those scratches are better than being clawed alive by that creature.

Dea was running in the lead and didn’t see that the ground was ending a few meters ahead and by the time she saw it, it was already too late. She felt no ground beneath her and fell into the mountain cliff. She could hear the others screaming her name but she knew there would be no help. The ground was coming fast beneath her. She was going to die. She knew. But I don’t want to die. She was falling. Falling fast. I don’t want to die. . .

And then suddenly, it stopped. Dea blinked a few times to process what was going on. She looked down and saw the ground but it was not coming towards her. She had stopped falling. What happened? Did I get caught on a branch? She looked around and froze. She didn’t get hooked on a branch. She was hanging in mid-air six feet from the ground!

She was going to pinch herself to know she wasn’t dreaming when she suddenly dropped and hit the ground hard. “Ouch!” Dea rubbed her behind. “So I wasn’t dreaming. But what was that all about?” Then her eyes widened. “Al and Caille!” she screamed and ran to find a way up to the cliff where her friends were.

She didn’t she see the puma looking down at her from the cliff all this time.

Meanwhile the two girls were in tears at their friend’s fate. They felt relieved that they finally managed to lose the puma but were devastated at the lost of their friend. Lacaille didn’t want to lose hope. “She’s alright.” Her eyes were filling with tears.” Maybe she didn’t fall. And if she did, she’d survive. You know that she’s thick-headed.”

Alithea wasn’t encouraged. “You saw that cliff, Caille. No one could survive that fall.” She wiped her tears away with a hand. Lacaille held Alithea’s hand and both fell into a mournful silence.

“What are you guys doing?” Dea demanded.

“Wha. . . wha. . .” Lacaille was pointing at Dea in shock.

Alithea rushed forward and hugged Dea. “I’m so glad you’re alright.” She studied Dea up and down. “I guess you really are thick-headed.”

“What?”

“You got caught on a branch, right?” It was now Lacaille’s turn to hug Dea.

Dea looked at the ecstatic faces in front of her. “Well, no.”

Confused faces looked back at her. “I levitated.” Dea could see disbelief in Alithea’s face while Lacaille had an understanding expression.

“You hit your head!” Lacaille examined Dea’s head. “Where does it hurt? Are you bleeding? Would you need stitches?”

Dea shooed her friend away. “No, really. I levitated.”

“Sure.” Lacaille was still looking at Dea’s head. “Right before you fell from the cliff you levitated thus saving you from a gruesome death. We believe you.”

“Listen to me! I didn’t hit my head! I levitated!” Dea realized she was screaming in frustration.

Her friends were silent. Dea felt embarrassed at her outburst. “But Dhey,” Alithea started, “Do you know how silly that sounds?”

“I know! Don’t you think I know that! But it happened! It’s not hard to believe when I was hanging six feet above the ground!” Dea slumped on the ground in frustration of trying to convince her friends and herself of the impossibility of the incident.

Alithea was thinking hard. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s ESP! I’ve read that there is nothing impossible where the mind is concerned. Some people have the ability of telekinesis so why not levitation?”

Dea looked doubtfully at her friend. “You think so?”

She pounded a fist in one hand. “That must be it! You were so afraid of dying at that moment that your mind used that fear in order for you to levitate thus removing the fear!”

“Cool!” Lacaille was looking at Dea wide-eyed. “Can you teach me how to do that, too? Please?”

“What?” Dea tried to shoo her friend away. “I don’t even know why I levitated much less how to do it!”

“You’re so selfish!”

“I am not!” Dea pinched Lacaille’s ear then, realizing their current situation, let her eyes wander, anxiety clearly showing in their depths. “That is the least of our problems right now. We now have a hungry puma running around loose in the forest and here we are—easy prey. We best expand the distance between us and this place.”

“Great plan. But there’s a tiny glitch in it,” Lacaille said. “We left our packs back at the stream remember? Our things, clothes and most importantly, the map and compass are still there. How are we supposed to get home without those?

Alithea grimaced. ”Shoot!”

Lacaille went on. “On the other hand, if we go back we might encounter that puma again and I know you don’t relish that. So it’s either go on and wander through the forest for I don’t know how long or go back and chance a meeting with that puma.” She shook her head. “What a horrible predicament we’re in!”

Alithea groaned.

“Tough choice.” Dea’s brows were knitted together in thought. She looked at the two. “So what should we do?” Her friends shrugged in response. “I think we should go on. We were already lost, even with the map and compass to guide us, so it’s no use getting them now considering the danger. And I don’t think either one of us bothered to see where we were going when we were chased by that puma; that means not one of us know how to get back to the stream. The best we could do is hope that we meet someone or see signs of civilization along the way. Do you agree?”

“Absolutely,” Lacaille said.

“It’s better than nothing,” Alithea grumbled, then brightened up and looked lovingly at Lacaille.

Lacaille narrowed her eyes suspiciously. ”What?”

Alithea displayed her nicest smile. ”Caille, could you possibly find us some more of those berries? All that running made me hungry.”

“Go away!”

Licorne’s Notes:
I had so much fun writing this chapter! I definitely needed some cheering up since I wrote this part after a not-so-good result in the said math exam #_#. Writing always cheers me up!

The Storm

The biggest storm in history and the three of them were in the middle of it. Soaking and weary, the three girls prodded their way through the thick forest, barely seeing anything in front of them. If she weren’t so exhausted, Dea would have cried. Bad luck seemed to follow them ever since they started this trip.

As they resumed their hiking the morning that Alithea told them about her dream, they became lost. They consulted the map and compass for the nth time but they seemed to be going around in circles. It was on their fifth day of being lost that they noticed a sleek black puma following them.

Lacaille threw a dark look at Dea. “I thought wild animals weren’t common in this area?”

A sheepish look passed over Dea’s face. “I thought so, too. I guess the best we could do is ignore it and try not to startle it. At least we have to be thankful that it’s not hungry!” The other two shot her a venomous look. They decided to leave it alone and with luck it would get tired of following them.

They thought wrong, it seems, since the puma was still there by the time they were setting up their tents for the night in a clearing. It was watching them carefully from its hiding place behind the trees with searching eyes. They had to admit that they were very unnerved by this uninvited guest and were startled when a flash of blinding light appeared out of nowhere, illuminating the whole campsite.

After the light vanished the puma was nowhere to be found. They were again taken aback when they saw lightning strike a tree just a few hundred meters from the clearing at the same time that a strong storm suddenly fell down on them. Heavy rain poured and a violent wind howled through the forest.

The three of them were still staring transfixed at the charred tree and the succession of lightning that followed that they unaware that the wind blew away their tents. It was already too late when they noticed but they decided to look for them anyway even in this weather. The thought of a cold wet night was not appealing to them at the moment.

They also wanted to get away from the open clearing since they were terrified of getting hit by lightning. They could still hear the crackling of burning trees, the sound of lightning like that of a cracking whip and the deafening howl of the wind behind them. They didn’t dare look back since they already knew what became of their camp. An inferno.

So here they were, trudging through the barely visible forest, dripping with rain and trying hard not to stumble in exhaustion. Finding the tents and lost supplies were the least of their concerns right now. They just wanted to find any kind of shelter in this ferocious storm.

Even Alithea felt weary, something apart from her cheeriness. “Can we please rest now? I feel like I keep gaining a pound with every step.

Dea, gritting her teeth replied. “As soon as we find shelter or covering of some kind. We can’t very well sleep in the rain!”

They walked on for some time still before they finally decided to stop at a patch of ground surrounded by huge leaf trees. It wasn’t exactly an improvement from the falling rain but at this time the three felt that they would drop through the forest ground if they continued any further.

Blindly, between chattering teeth, they cleared the ground with its wet leaves and twigs and laid out their outer clothing that were uncomfortably clinging to their cold wet skin. They huddled close together, taking comfort in the warmth of each other’s bodies.

Lacaille knew that it had been a long time since she had felt so miserable and as she drifted into an uneasy sleep she kept thinking about her cozy bed at home and how she wished to be warm and dry. Warm and dry. . .

“Wake up, Lacaille,” a frantic voice invaded Lacaille’s dreams. She irritably covered her ears and tried to recapture her wonderful reverie. But the speaker wouldn’t give up so easily. “Get up this instant!” it shouted once more.

Furious beyond words, Lacaille opened her eyes and looked at the speaker with steely eyes. “Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t throw my shoe at you right now. You know I get a splitting headache when I am awakened abruptly.”

Alithea’s concerned eyes looked at her. “I know, I know. I wouldn’t have woken you if it wasn’t important but it is.” She knew her friend’s headache would last for a few minutes and she wanted to wait before she gave her any more surprises.

After a few minutes, Lacaille looked up and grimaced. “Fine. What is it?”

“Look around you,” Alithea said cryptically.

Lacaille’s frown deepened. Great! I got woken up for a guessing game. She let her gaze wander around their little camp. The earth was still damp from the storm last night. She squinted her eyes at a ray of sunlight that managed to pass through the huge leafy trees around them. The birds were already out and about with their singing. She stared back at Alithea, who was looking at her expectantly, and noticed something was wrong. “Where’s Dhey?”

Alithea slapped a hand on her forehead. “Not her! Although I think she’s around somewhere. Looking for food, I guess. You know we lost our provisions. ” She leaned closer as if imparting a great secret. “Look at the trees.”

Lacaille didn’t know whether to take her friend seriously or not. Nonetheless, she looked at the huge monstrosities surrounding them. Their branches were full of overgrown leaves that she should be thankful for keeping them at least dry last night. Not only that, the branches seemed to have grown in an odd angle. All the trees around them had their branches forward, coming together to form a roof in the middle of their camp.

“What the–?” Lacaille exclaimed in disbelief. “The trees weren’t like that last night.” She looked wide-eyed at Alithea who was nodding her head.

“I know. Dhey is scouting around, looking for an explanation why this happened.” At Lacaille’s confused look she went on, “Wild animals, climate changes, weather patterns, the like.”

“Are you trying to tell me that this was caused by weather patterns? That must be the dumbest excuse I’ve heard!”

Alithea frowned. “Well if you have a better explanation then let’s here it. I’m open for one.”

Shaking her head in shock, Lacaille only managed to say, “I don’t know. Maybe Dhey had better luck in finding out what really happened.”

Licorne’s Notes:
This chapter was written during a time when I would rather write a story than study for a math test ^_^. Electromagnetics, anyone?