Fantasy When Forests Burn (Coreonysis & n.y.c.t.o)

[Elowyn]

"Psst. Wake up. Time to go."

Her ear flicked toward the sound. She had had a wonderful dream about turning into a small black fox and gallumphing through the woods. It was a strangely vivid dream, but when his voice pierced through her slumber, she put it aside and tried her best to wake up.

Waking up was an uncomfortable experience. Her fingers didn't want to uncurl, and her legs felt tired and sore from yesterday's long journey. "I'm coming." Tawny rubbed sleepies out of her eyes and stretched luxuriously. It was only then that she realized that there was something sticking out of the small of her back.

And that is how her own tail frightened her nearly half to death. She leapt up with a vigor she didn't know she had and darted over to the elf's side and clung pitifully to his leg. "Wh-what's happened to me? Why do I have a tail?" Meanwhile her ears had gone flat in fear.

 

[Coreonysis]

He looked to her, bemusement lacing his pupils.

"You didn't notice? I smelled the magic on you right away. You're a forest spirit; of what kind, I have no idea. But you aren't human, that much I can guarantee." He was incredulous as to how she didn't know of her own heritage. Her father was most likely the faerie, as the father was the one to usually pass along the magic.

"Anyway, we're heading out. So make sure you're ready to go." He had wanted to leave before the sun rose, though it had been daylight for a few minutes by then. Elves could cover serious distance, and very quickly; he hated that he would have to slow down for her.

"I'm ready when you are."

 

[Elowyn]

By and by Tawny calmed down to a reasonable state of mind. She found the ears too and wriggled them, turning them this way and that. She found that she could use her tail to balance herself even when walking on a narrow ledge, such as the pine log which she tried out. Although she'd been doing this quite naturally through the past day, it helped to know that she now had a few advantages over the average human.

So now her ears stuck closer to the top of her head than she was used to, but that was alright. She figured out how to collect sound waves from multiple directions. It was a bit disorienting at first, however.

"All right. Where are we headed?"

And soon following: "What kind of person is your brother, hm? Why do we need to find him?"

 

[Coreonysis]

"We're heading west." He said, leaving the compound with what felt like dooming finality.

"We have to find my brother because me and him are the leaders of the elves." He said, matter-of-factly. His steps were sure footed and true, but there was some hesitation in his voice. "We check each other's power. If he has sole control... He's not a bad guy, but power can corrupt the kindest of souls."

He knew what would happen. Kayvalen would try to get the elves to leave the forest. Kirinti knew that if they did that, there would be no one to protect the trees.

And as the forest came down, the elves would fall with it.

 

[Elowyn]

The girl was quiet for a while after that, following along at a somewhat slower pace. It didn't bother her. "...So, tell me about the elves. I've only heard the stories that they're mischevious and tricksters... those are the tales my mother tells anyway."

As they traveled across the leveled landscape, Tawny's body began to warm up. But now her stomach was beginning to hurt from not eating for so long. Before too much time had passed, she called out: "Wait... I need to eat. I'm--" It was at this timely instant that her stomach growled.

 

[Coreonysis]

Kirinti let out a sharp laugh at the question. The elves? Tricksters? More like the sprites. They were the ones always causing the ruckus, and the elves were lumped in with them because they were both faeries.

"It's not usually us that's causing the problem, it's usually-" Kirinti stopped dead in his tracks. His nose twitched, and then he closed his eyes and inhaled. It was a deep breath, as if he were searching for a scent in the air. And he was; for he could have sworn he smelled... No. It couldn't be. They didn't exist anymore. They had been killed off. They...

There it was again.

He didn't move. He couldn't move. He couldn't bring himself to tear his body from that one spot, until the stench of what was in the air was almost overwhelming. It was at that moment, that he knew what started the fire.

"GET DOWN." He screeched, crashing into Tawny and bringing her to the floor with him. It was at that instant that a massive gust of flame surged over top of them; it scorched the trees behind them with a roaring ferocity. Kirinti couldn't believe what was happening. He couldn't believe that after all these years...

Dragons.

 

[Elowyn]

He was about to explain further when he suddenly stopped. All of a sudden on high alert, Tawny paused as well. It was faint, but she could detect vibrations... from the air. She had never felt this before but knew almost instinctively that whatever it was had to be massive.

She wanted to call his name to snap him out of his frozen state, but realized she hadn't even asked his name yet. Mentally she sweat-dropped realizing her rudeness.

"Gack--!" and he tackled her to the ground just as a surge of flame consumed the air above their heads. Her eyes widened as she craned her head, trying to get a glimpse of the attacker.

Perhaps traveling with a stranger who is a Fae isn't such a good idea... the thought crossed her mind. Then she realized how close he was and began to wiggle around trying to escape the protective cage of his physical body. She wasn't going to allow him to pull some self-sacrificing stunt and get singed again. Besides, if there was something so dangerous attacking them they should be running or looking for a shelter to hide in. Not cowering on the ground like easy prey.

 

[Coreonysis]

Kirinti cursed in the Elven language, something he hadn't done in a long time. It seemed as if the forest swayed in disapproval.

But he believed he earned it, at least at that moment. A fucking dragon. The last one was supposedly killed centuries prior, by an elf of a rival tribe. He hadn't heard any whispers in the trees about such a thing, but here it was. Deadly, facing them directly. He had to figure out what to do; it would be difficult to get any sort of shot in, because the hide of a dragon was so thick.

He cursed his brother, who had made sure that no elf carried weapons more dangerous than a bow.

He got up, pulling the girl to her feet, and looked back. The compound was miles behind them, and he didn't see anywhere that was of much cover. He sighed, rolling up his sleeves and pressing his hands together. This would take more magic than he had used in a long time.

"Domidius phos inataru de spinkrar. Alvana de amnipotai corenta." The spell whispered past his lips, and the largest tree in front of them began to expand. A door opened in the trunk; it was small but it was shelter.

"Let's go."

 

[Elowyn]

After his brief cursing and spell, Tawny called out: "Wait. Hold on--!" and nearly finished with 'Tell me where the door leads!" but decided most anywhere was better than here, with the dragon. The awe and rarity of meeting such a beast was lost on her in the scramble to escape without being burned.

She found her legs carrying her faster than she had thought possible towards the door in the trunk which had opened up. The trees were offering her safety and protection again. The forest would always be her home, and her respect for nature increased. For what it was worth, Tawny decided that traveling with an experienced elf who could pull of amazing spells like this was worth her while, and that her mother's stories were perhaps a little exaggerated and generalized.

Her spells were limited to enhancing the senses and finding water, and divining via the weather, or scrying with crystals. Occasionally she could pull off a complex spell involving a circular diagram with various points and a crystal on a chain, but that was all. Tawny hoped he would teach her some forest magic eventually.

 

[Coreonysis]

The door was a small one, and Kirinti had to duck to fit inside. The space that had opened was much bigger than it appeared outside, and he thanked the trees for their hospitality. It was more than he could have asked for. Two wooden chair grew from the floor, crafted of living wood that the tree still held viable. Kirinti closed the door, breathing hard, and slid down the wall with his back against it.

A God damned dragon.

"Where the hell did that come from?" He muttered aloud, standing and pacing around the still cramped chamber. "The last one died centuries ago. There aren't supposed to be any more dragons." He pulled his bow from his shoulders, and laid it alongside his quiver. Fourteen arrows, all crafted of bark from the Domna Amnia. The elven tree that stood at the heart of the forest was soaked in magic, and the arrows always found their mark. With dragons, however... The same could not be said.

The beasts were not subject to Elven magic; they were beasts of the dwarves, whom had not been seen since the forest they stood in had consisted of a single sapling. No dwarven magic was known to Kirinti, though he did not know about his brother. Maybe Kayvalen had a few tricks up his sleeve.

"It's going to be near impossible to stop it." He said, hopelessness infecting his tone. "We've lost."

 

[Elowyn]

It turned out to be a larger-than-expected room within the tree itself. She sorely hoped that even if the dragon toppled or burned the tree that the room would remain intact. There wasn't much space to run or hide if it did end up attacking the tree itself. But perhaps it didn't see them... if that was the case, why had it flamed for nothing? Was it just out for destruction? Or was it actively hunting them? These questions spun around in her mind like a whirlwind.

And she hadn't actually seen the dragon itself. Just a glimpse of scaly hide. This was a rare opportunity! Just imagine if her sister had been here! Although her mother had told her tales of fairies, she really hadn't mentioned dragons much at all. I guess that makes sense if they've died out a long time ago.

"It's going to be near impossible to stop it. We've lost."

"Don't give up hope just yet! Perhaps if we figure out why it attacked us we can do something! Can you communicate with dragons?"

 

[Coreonysis]

Kirinti thought about that question. it was interesting.

While it was true that Elven magic had no effect on dragons, the tongue should be understood by them. The thing was, he had never heard of a dragon communicating with anyone. He had only ever heard of them causing blatant destruction in their path, usually at the hands of...

No. No way. No way there were dwarves controlling the beast. Though it was true the last dragon had been killed when the dwarves went into hiding, it was widely accepted that they had died out. No dwarves could still exist.

Though Kirinti supposed that if a dragon could be alive... So could at least a single dwarf.

"I think I know where my brother is going." He said suddenly, and stopped pacing. He looked her directly in the eyes, and said, "That dragon could be controlled by a dwarf. The last place a dwarf was seen was Cøpenhøden. In English... The cave of souls."

It had been years since the name of that place had been spoken aloud. Now... Both Kayvalen and Kirinti were going to search for it.

 

[Elowyn]

"Cøpenhøden..." she said quietly to herself, trying out the word. It seemed to bear much significance. The place of the Dwarves. That meant more peoples that she had never met, much less known.

Letting a dreamy smile come over her features, Tawny sighed. "That sounds great..." and yet in a moment of self-consciousness, she corrected her wandering train of thought: "How will we get there?"

 

[Coreonysis]

Kirinti laughed a bit, but it wasn't a rude laugh. More of a laugh that showed just how much she didn't know.

"That's the thing. No one knows exactly where it is. It is said to lie in the far west of the forest, but no one but the dwarves ever had access to it." It was as remote as remote gets, which was what the dwarves needed when they went into hiding. Where a dragon would have been hiding, though... Kirinti had no idea where something that big could stay.

"We'll head due west. If we find my brother, Kayvalen, we'll have a greater chance of finding it. Elven magic may not work on the dwarves, but that also means dwarven magic will not work on us. Which means any sort of illusion spell will have no effect." He looked at her then, and really had to try to decide what she was.

"Well... Won't work on us elves. I have no idea if it'll work on you or not."

 

[Elowyn]

At this, Tawny merely tilted her head to one side a bit like a bird. "I'm human... I think." said she. But the fact of the matter was that she had never met her father.

It was news to her that dwarvish and elven magic didn't affect the opposite race. She wondered what else her mother had left out of the lessons. She had been home schooled in the basic subject of arithmetic, latin, english, astronomy, botany, and philosophy, as well as a little healing sprinkled in here and there. She had also been taught the basics of divination and water searching.

 

[Coreonysis]

Kirinti laughed, though it wasn't unkind. He looked her over, though he stumbled a bit when he felt the room begin to shrink. His magic was draining; the familiar sucking feeling in his chest told him that. He didn't know if the dragon was gone, but he had to risk it.

Opening the door slowly, he peered outside. Much of the damage had been concentrated behind them, and though he felt the pang of the loss for the trees, he didn't feel as when the majority of the forest had burned. He looked to Tawny, helping her out of the trunk, and then allowed the tree to return to it's natural form.

"Tack naij delmi, dom norme." He said, which roughly translated to, "Thank you, kindest friend." He then turned to the girl who was now trapped on a quest with him, and began to speak once again.

"You aren't human. To the best of my knowledge, you have some sort of forest magic within you. What kind, I have no idea; it's nothing that I've ever seen. I suppose that is why I didn't scent it immediately; it is different from all magic I have ever known.

Kirinti turned due west, where the rumored Cøpenhøden lied. If it was out there, it should have been found by the elves. They had searched for centuries. And yet, if the dwarves had someone found another being with enough magic to shroud their cave...

Perhaps this girl was the only way to find it.

 

[Elowyn]

The elf laughed at that, and Tawny almost smiled. It was such an out-of-place thing, laughter. While trapped in a tree with little possibility of escaping a fire-breathing dragon. So it was funny. He helped her out of the tree, generously lending her a hand. After saying something foreign to the tree, he turned to her and proceeded to destroy what she thought she knew about herself.

A turmoil of thoughts came in rapid succession to her mind: not human... magic... forest magic in me?... nothing like--different from everything else...

"Wait, but that can't be true," she said with furrowed brow. "I've been human all my life... until... until now." She reached up and patted the ears on her head and stroked the soft fur of her tail. It was a weird feeling. If this was magic, it sure didn't feel familiar or even natural to her. To herself, she mumbled: "Just who is my father?"

 

[Coreonysis]

Kirinti looked at her, an unknown intelligent look present in his eye. "There are many faerie in this forest who go out to mate with the humans. I suppose there are spirits of foxes who do the same." He began walking westward, making sure she was following. There was a gleam in his eye that wouldn't leave; perhaps he had found the way to Cøpenhøden. Perhaps that would be the way the dwarves were finally brought down.

"Your magic was most likely in limbo. It does that sometimes with half breeds, considering the human soul is fairly resistant to the use of magic. Magic, you see, is the use of soul energy in order to perform actions."

It seemed like he had given this speech before.

"Because you are a half breed, your soul is capable of magic, but you weren't aware of that until a moment of due stress. The magic... Came alive, per say." He was obviously dramatizing it for her sake, but he was having fun with it.

"So yeah. Welcome to the world of magic."

 

[Elowyn]

Tawny did not like the gleam in his eye. He knew something she didn't... something important. His explanation made sense to her, and gave her the feeling of a whole new wide world opening up before her. She didn't say anything in reply. Just: "...We better go soon before the dragon finds us."

((i'm sorry it's so short! couldn't think of what else to write))

 

[Coreonysis]

He nodded his head at that, aware that a dragon loosed amongst the forest would be something that every being would have to watch out for. He held his bow in one hand and an arrow in the other, notching it as he walked. They would have to move quickly; if Kayvalen had already made it to the cave, he had no idea what would have happened. His brother was strong, but impatient. He might not have waited until the right moment.

"Let's see what you can do." He said, welcoming the distraction. As they walked, he snapped his fingers. A small flame appeared on the tip of his pointer, dancing away merrily. She was new to magic, so he would have to start out small.

"Some things are easy, like this. Imagine the fire, and then snap. Your soul will provide the energy, your fingers the friction, and there. A flame."

 

[Elowyn]

When the flicker of a flame appeared on his pointer finger, Tawny gaped in awe. It was interesting, that he could summon a flame when that was the very thing that destroyed the trees. Nevertheless, she did not allow herself to be distracted by such thoughts and listened carefully to his explanation.

"Like... this?" She snapped her fingers and pictured a general image of fire. She willed her energy to be channeled to her fingertips. "Ah!" Flames had flickered on three of her fingers, but they only sparked for a brief moment. The next it was gone. Strangely, it didn't feel hot, merely a satisfying warmth.

 

[Coreonysis]

Kirinti laughed, a warm, kind sound. "Yes, great job! Magic is hard to master. I'm surprised you even summoned anything at all." In fact, he was a bit envious. It had taken him years as a child to summon even the smallest of sparks, and he was considered gifted. This girl... She could be something extremely powerful. He just had to find a way that would get her to unleash it.

"There are a few rules to magic you should understand." He said. They were making good pace, as they walked quickly while they talked. "First, you can't kill anyone directly. There is no magic that is able to kill someone, unless it is a side effect." He wouldn't teach her of the dark mages who were able to use magic in twisted ways, though. They broke the rules, and therefore, the magic began to break them.

"That's the most important, though the second is important as well. Don't strain yourself. If you use too much of your soul at once, you'll die; you'll become an empty husk where a spirit once resided."

There was something dark in his voice. As if he had witnessed that.

 

[Elowyn]

Tawny shuddered at the last, and beamed at the first. She listened intently to the rules of magic, not being able to kill someone. It didn't seem much line a rule to her, (to her rules were something that prevented her from doing something, something to follow) and besides, she didn't want to kill anyone. Such a thought was too terrible to bear.

She felt rather proud. This led her to trying it again, but the same thing happened, except it lasted a fraction of a second longer, and only appeared on two fingers.