Untold Tales: A Collection of Short Stories

SS #2 : The Last of the Treelings

Genre: Fantasy

Started: September 26, 2017
Finished: September 30, 2017

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Eldelette delights in the kiss of the sun on her cheeks as it drips its golden lights into the forest of Elderbrush. From above the canopy of trees, the fiery hues of gold and red reflects on her dark brown eyes. The fresh minty breeze of the first solstice morning fills her lungs as she takes a deep breath.

"El? Where are you? I've come to visit!" Shouts a voice from beneath the canopy--a voice too familiar for her to miss.

"Coming Flavius!" She screams back, allowing her body to melt into the tree and carry her beneath the foliage of leaves.

Being the very last treeling alive in the world of Ferilyana, creatures have always hunted for her. From the elves, fairies, witches, and hobbits: they all want her ability to bring forth great harvest and call upon the menacing force of nature. Flavius is by far her only acknowledged friend. He is a hobbit but she trusts him. She knows he will never betray her.

The dapple of leaves masks her presence as the tree spits her out. She walks up to the hobbit, her green leafy hair sweeping back behind her. Her greenish moldy skin makes no sound as she waltzes above parched leaves.

Flavius--in his scrawny frame, messy brown hair, and large feet--greets her with a toothy grin. "Glad to see you El," he says. His deep golden eyes twinkles in delight and pleasure.

"I am also delighted by your presence, Flavius. It's been quite a while since we've seen one another," she says, picking on the tree bark that remains attached on her skin. "How had things been?"

"Truth be told El, the kingdom never tires to annoy me. Their rules for Hobbits are nothing but rubbish I tell you."

She quirks up her eyebrows and clears her throat. "I say, you tell those head-bloated self-satisfying men up there that you do nothing they say! For you are your own man!"

Her friend tilts his head to the side before bursting into a fit of laughter. "If only I can my friend, if only..."

Eldelette sees a brown basket behind her friend. She points at it and asks, "What is that for?"

Flavius almost leaps aside--nervous--and glances at the basket behind him. "Oh, uhm, well..." He scratches his nape as a splash of red paints his cheeks. Eldelette is confused what her friend is so nervous about, but she patiently waits. "I wanted to eat lunch with you, if you're okay with that."

"Oh Flavius, you know I have no need for any other form of food aside from water and light. I live by them."

"You live with the trees, talk with the trees, and eat like trees. What, will you become tree yourself?"

"To be honest with you my friend, I am working on how to do that as of late."

The two friends that spend their days and nights with each other at most, burst into a fit of heartfelt laughter.

Eldelette is grateful for what they have and share. Flavius is an exile, gifted and different but hated by his own race. She, on the other hand, is on the run in fear of the leashes that may bind her and hamper her freedom. And from two uncanny races, a friendship blossoms--a friendship that shines like candlelight in a world devoured by darkness that comes in many forms.