The Cosmic Princess

Live Free or Die Hard

"I'm pleased to see you actually listened to the Stonehenge and followed it this time."

The sound of Othana's smooth and sultry voice made me slowly turn away from the beautiful rose-gold kissed waterfall I had fallen in love with the first time I laid eyes onto and towards the blue-skinned creature standing off to the side. Like normal, her eyes observed me.

"Well," I breathed softly. "After the last incident, I've been trying to stay low and not damage any more brutish yet surprisingly gentle rock creatures." I hinted at her earlier words.

With a flick of her hand, she dismissed my subtle inquiring worry. "Don't worry, the creature is fine. I've used a little bit of my essence to help it and it healed quite fine."

"Your essence?"

"My essence." She simply replied not giving me anything more.

We stared at each for a few more moments before I finally got tired of whatever game we were playing. With a small huff, I crossed my arms against my chest and narrowed my eyes at her. "Okay, what is it? We're alive and not prisoners; therefore, there's a reason for that .What is it? What do you want?"

A small chuckle rumbled in her chest, eyes dancing with amusement. This was one big game to her it seemed, and I didn't know why. "Have you've come so accustom to others wanting something from you that you automatically think-"

"Yes." I deadpanned, cutting her off. "Yes. It's always an exchange, so what do you want?"

A smirk crawled along Othana's face. "Fine, come walk with me." With that, she turned her back to me like I wasn't a threat at all, which I guess right now I wasn't, and headed to the exit. Feeling annoyance tick at me at, I watched her for a few seconds noting the way her long locks ran down her back and the way her dark dressed dragged once again was cut precisely to the curves of her body. She stopped, turning her head over her shoulder and raised a questioning eyebrow at my lack of movement.

Not having any other option, I followed Othana till I was right by her side and she was leading us threw the dimly little tunnels with only the pulsing colorful roots to keep the area lit.

"What is this?" I reached my hand out to touch the roots that have piqued my interest ever since I laid eyes on them, but Othana's words quickly halted my actions.

"Don't ever touch them." Her words briskly shot from her mouth, quicker than her usual slow overdrawn speech. "Ever."

Eyes widened at her command, and my hand slowly dropped to my side. Once again reigning in my emotions at the contemptuous attitude to her demand, I kept my cool. "Why?"

"They are what keep us safe down here."

"What do you mean?"

"Precisely why I wanted this walk." She muttered only seconds before we emerged out of the dim tunnels and into another wide cavern. Green grass covered every inch of this cavern, from the floors to the ceiling nothing was untouched. Small trees with different assortment of fruits hung from various positions around the large cavern. Some stood completely upside down, trunk connected to the ceiling and top angled to the ground while others grew sideways, and the rest grew how I normally would expect them to grow.

Uninterrupted by our appearance, creatures picked from the trees only for a fruit to grow immediately back from where they picked it. However, a few curious ones turned to us and once they spotted me their tasks at picking food wavered. Every now and then, I would catch one of them trying to surreptitious look at me before turning back to their work only to do it again or before getting someone else's attention so they both could look at me.