Forest Of Destiny

Chapter 1- Memory

Cruxian's POV

   Everything is dark. Too dark. What day is it? Who am I? Everything hurts. I can't remember a thing. Am-am I bleeding? Was I stabbed?!

Then the memories hit me like a bull.

"Come on C̷̭̿́̓ŗ̶͔͕͉͈̉̎̉̉̈ͅṷ̵̦͊́͜͝x̵̧̛͖̮̘̟̺̝̱̙̱̃̑̅̃̈́̒̉ì̷̥̈́̿̇͆̚͝a̵̧͙͈͇͇͇͚̙̦̟͠ņ̷̞̖͙̙͕̯̾̂͆͋͂̿́̽̍̕͜͜! We'll be late for the meeting if we don't hurry! Queen H̵̙̺̭̞͙̜̉̄̅̕o̵͍͉̮̘̘͚̠̞͋p̴͕͍̬̫͋͠è̸̲͍̟̝̮͙̒̿͌̐̿͒͝wants us ready for action."

"Okay okay Ợ̵̗̠̮̩̤̀̑̒ṗ̵̟́͒̊̆̔á̴̧̫͉̳͕̄l̷͍̳͉̙̽͑̕, I'm coming."

Why do I remember this voice? Who is this strange girl?

"You're ridiculous. Why wouldn't we attack Glacier? They're just weak, so that would mean so much more territory for us!"

No! Don't attack... Ice? Ice cube? What was it?

"Dammit Cruxian, you are such an entitled brat. You're almost as bad as Ñ̷̢̙̫ͅŏ̶̬̱̏̓̑v̵̟̈́̊͆̾̿ḁ̵̣͑ͅ, and she keeps insisting she's "not a girl". If I were the king by now, I'd have both of your heads on a silver platter, but Mother won't let me because she's too cruel to let me rule for a day."

God, that kid sounds like such a little rat!

"Everyone just leave, dammit! I can't concentrate on starting a war with your fighting."

Wow Captain Obvious. Want a medal for that observation?

"H-hey, what are you doing with that knife? Get away! My mother will he-AUGH!"

What was that? D-did someone die?! What's happening?!

"You... you monster! You killed my son!! GUARDS, ARREST HER!" 

"Wait, no! Please Queen H̵̙̺̭̞͙̜̉̄̅̕o̵͍͉̮̘̘͚̠̞͋p̴͕͍̬̫͋͠è̸̲͍̟̝̮͙̒̿͌̐̿͒͝, don't do this! I'm innocent, I swear!"

"Lies! You killed Á̵̬́p̴̹̝̥̠͚͊́͂̑ȏ̴̟̳̳̱̣l̶͚͉̿̈́̅̆͠ͅl̶̢̡̮̒o̶̞̫͒, and you would have killed me too if my loyal maid hadn't alerted me! I'll have your hideous wings clipped and banish you to the Ash Forest for this!"

Killed? Banished?! 

"C̴̼̈́̂̔̾̾ř̵̯̮̭̇͋̂u̵̻͋̍̎̓͊x̷̥̂̑i̴̞̬̼̪̻͂̍̎̕͠a̷̳̔̃͌̐ṉ̵͉͋̊, leave us and never come back. Forget about being a guard. Forget about us. Just die."

Why would anyone do this? I'm sure there was a reason for this slaughter... Right? Right??

"You useless little girl, we told you to leave! Don't make me get violent!"

"Please— please! Listen to me!!"

"I gave you a warning. Now SHUT UP! GET. THE. HELL. AWAY!!!"

That memory... it HURTS! I FEEL LIKE I'M DYING! PLEASE! SOMEONE! ANYONE! HELP!! 

Minty's POV

"Another day, another forest. I can't believe it's taken me three days to walk from Glacier to the Northern Star Kingdom. I haven't found a single injured creature! Ugh, could it be any warmer? God, this forest is so boring too. May as well sing to improve the mood."

"I was hanging with you and then I realized... I didn't think it was true, I was surprised..."

 Minty found herself singing softly to herself as she wandered through the seemingly endless forest, her long gray tail dragging a furrow in the leaves in her wake. 

"When I found out I'd fallen for you..." 

Suddenly she heard a thump. The sharp, coppery smell of blood filled her nose. Instantly she sprang into action, following the scent to a young girl with short black hair and brown feathery wings stained with crimson. Blood was pouring from a single stab wound in the girl's side.

"Oh no, she's badly hurt!" Her mind flashed with ways to help her when she remembered her healing bag. "Duh, you moron! There's aloe in there-that heals stab wounds!" She quickly grabbed it and pulled out a flask of water, some bandages, a couple aloe stalks, a sharp knife, and most importantly: her spell book.

"Okay, now what was that spell? Oh yeah, here it is!" Minty flipped to a page that said Wound Healing. She quickly muttered a quick incantation and the bleeding began to slow. She repeated it until the blood flow had dwindled down to a mere trickle before cleaning and bandaging the wound.

"Phew... she's alive." She muttered. "I shudder to think of what made her like this... oh wait. What will I do with her now? I don't see anyone for miles, and I can't just leave her..." She worried. She hadn't been trained for this, and it was getting dark out. In a moment of intelligence, she whipped out her book again and recited a shrinking spell that shrunk the strange girl to the size of a bird so she could carry her to somewhere safe. "Damn girl, you are a genius!" She thought. 

After a short walk, she found a small cave near a waterfall that looked out on the rising moon. "Well, it's no luxury palace, but it will do for now." She gently set the strange girl down and began to cast a variety of spells to keep them safe and comfortable for as long as necessary.

Fifteen minutes later, she collapsed onto one of the newly made beds she'd conjured up. "God, this is exhausting!" She muttered. It had taken a lot of energy, but she had made the cave into a cozy little place where the girl, whom she had taken to calling Birdy, could recover safely. Before passing out, she quickly turned Birdy back to her proper size and laid her down in one of the beds to heal. Content with the girl's treatment, she laid down in bed and promptly fell asleep.