Andreamore

32

Tyler is restless, something is wrong. Hell something's been wrong since the whole civil war started, but there's something more and he can't put his finger on it and it's making him antsy.

"Tyler settle down," Lisa says starting to get nauseas as Tyler paces across the room and back.

"Sorry Lisa, something is wrong, I can feel it, but I don't know where or what. It's driving me wild, I want to fix it. I want to fix my land and heal my people." Tyler is getting frustrated and almost jumps when Lisa steps in front of him and takes his hand.

"Then let's figure it out together," her voice is calming and he allows her to lead him to a chair where he sits and pulls her down on top of him.

"Okay, Tyler relax alright?" Lisa takes his hand and closes her own eyes, not entirely sure what she is doing but feels this is what she needs to do. "We're going to take a look around Andreamore and figure out what is wrong." As he goes to speak Lisa presses his lips with a finger from her hand that isn't holding his.

"Good, now relax and let's go for a ride shall we?" Once her magic takes off she wonders if this is such a good idea after all. The magic goes so fast it's making her sick. They go everywhere circling out from the palace and then like a hound on the trail takes off after its prey they go forward faster than the eye can keep up.

Then suddenly it all stops. "Where the hell is this place?" Lisa gasps in shock.

"Every world has a badlands Lisa, this is Andreamore's." Tyler says in disapproval. Indeed it looks like an apocalyptic ending had hit. "In ancient times the wars weren't so tame as the one you finished when you came. The magic was strong and so were the magic users. This used to be a fertile valley and vibrant civilization. Over a million strong lived here, before the war at least. This is a lesson of what happens when the magic is used against the land itself. This is what you stopped from happening, or at least if there had been other magic users strong enough to fight like this. 

"Our magic users aren't as strong as they used to be. Many say that is a sign that the magic is weakening. Perhaps that is true, even before the war the magical creatures have lessened, some even disappearing.

"There were two civilizations back then. Both very powerful, both became very- they became corrupt and greedy, power hungry for more than they had. They turned from the magic we use to magic learned and dark. They found it to be stronger and more powerful and in truth for what they wanted the power for it was. But in using it the land fought back, it didn't like being ripped to pieces in agony the world writhed in pain. Volcanoes broke free, tidal waves or tsunami's as you now call them covered the land. If it wasn't drowning, then it was burning. The survivors of that time write that the screams followed them until they died. But what really haunted them, was the silence. After the destruction, the silence of the land was deafening.

"Cities, miles of land pieces as large as the gulf of Mexico were simply gone. Ocean's replaced them. The volcanoes and earthquakes caused cities to disappear, never to be seen again. Not the simple deaths of Pompeii but a fiery death. That is what you are seeing before you.

"In the end there was only a broken people. They had no choice but to band together and strive to survive. It took centuries before we recovered enough to have any cities of more than a few thousand. Even now, there are only three major ones.

"They say that a phoenix was born on that day of destruction. I don't know about that, the destruction of the phoenix there is no doubt. But there is or rather was little in the way of healing afterwards.

"In less than a century the lessons learned from the previous civilizations were lost, we had something similar to world war two. There are places even worse than this created by that war. Less than a thousand elves survived. Cities that had been started before were destroyed all over again." Tyler snorts in disgust, "we Elves don't seem to learn our lessons I guess."

"Wow, you have your own version of a nuclear war it seems. If the magic abilities have waned then perhaps it's a good thing. It seems that with the great power came great corruption." Lisa tries to lighten the atmosphere a bit, but with the landscape the way it is she finds it hard to do. She finds tears in her eyes for the lost people that lived in the ancient days of Andreamore.

Like always her tears go to healing. Tyler looks on in shock as the lands that had been nothing more than a desolate nightmare for thousands of years take on the look of a green meadow with wildflowers bringing color to the scene. Then as more of Lisa's tears take hold trees that have perhaps not been seen in the land for thousands of years sprout and shoot up as tall as the redwoods Lisa had seen pictures of. Then when she thought nothing more could be done a spring bubbles to the surface not to far away and runs down a cliff face making it's new way to a far off ocean.

"Insects?" The sound of crickets and grasshoppers, the buzzing of bees, flies and mosquitoes assault their ears. Rustling in the foliage and they spot rabbits, Lisa has to hold in a squeal as a mouse runs in front of her.

Birds of prey and song birds compete with the sound of the insects. They look on incredulous as fish jump out of the newly made pool at the bottom of the cliff.

Tyler spots stags and does with little ones at their sides as they cautiously step from the new forestland. 

And finally a unicorn comes out and looks at them both before seeming to nod at them and returning to his domain.

By then Lisa's tears had dried. They look on together, even lessons of the past can be healed.

"Do you still feel the restlessness, the wrongness Ty?" Lisa dares to say after nearly an hour of stunned silence on both their parts.

"This shouldn't be possible, not even the ancients could control healing powers so great to heal this land. You brought life back to where there was none." Indeed the wasteland was exactly that. Dryer than the driest desert on Earth.

Tyler turns to Lisa, "Truly you have been a blessing to Andreamore. You should reign in my stead Lisa. You are far more fit ruler than I. I was struggling just to hold back the traitors, you, you have ended the war and restored land that was thought lost thousands of years ago. Not to mention the healing of the animals and-"

"Stop it right there Tyler. Don't you dare speak another word of me becoming the ruler of Andreamore or I'll return to Earth and never speak to you again." Lisa is angry that he is doing this again.