𝕂𝕖𝕪: ↫↫↫↫↫ . . . . . . . . . ↬↬↬↬↬ = 𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕡𝕠𝕧
I woke to the scent of fresh rain and flowers, and my eyes opened to see vines and grey-brown bark.
Bark - oh, I was in a tree.
I sat up and stretched my wings and adjusted my cloak, which was slightly damp from what must have been rainfall. It was slightly uncomfortable, but I brushed off the thought of using my light to dry it.
I hopped down from my perch, sweeping my silvery hair out of the way. Looking around, I realized I landed in front of a curious red-feathered bird with black skin and a long beak like a kiwi's. Behind him, a tent with a star on the top had been propped up, surrounded by crystals and an open book on a pedestal on its left.
"Ah, so you have arrived.
"The cards have spoken much about you, traveler. Much is to come, oh yes, for you are much anticipated."
He nodded slowly as he spoke. He talked in a different language to English, so I was glad I was able to understand every language, oral and written.
"Erm... Excuse me, what's your name?" I asked quietly.
"Clauneck, anticipated one. I am the dealer of cards, a side character in a story yet to come." He chuckled and moved to take something from behind him.
"Would you like a reading?" he asked simply.
"Um.... sure."
Clauneck shuffled the claw-sized cards, and let three drop down.
"First, we have... The Fortune. Seems that many great things are in store for you, and many terrible things too.
"The Sword. You will grow powerful and dominate, but with power comes responsibility, and with responsibility comes lessons.
"And finally, The Phoenix. You shall uncover truths throughout your journey here in The Lands of the Old Faith.
"The cards have much to say after waiting for some time... You are welcome to more readings when you find me on your journey." I smiled as he picked up the cards and shuffled them back into the larger group.
"Thanks, Clauneck," I said genuinely.
"Don't think of it, traveler. I'll ask; what is your name?"
"..."
"Lavender."
↫↫↫↫↫ . . . . . . . . . ↬↬↬↬↬
So Lavender was her name.
What was she?
Those horns, those wings, those tails, all weren't something new to me, but throwing them all together makes something unrecognizable.
Or rather, someone.
The others would like to know, but I bet they won't listen to me.
'The youngest sibling is too young to know much!'
As if I haven't already led multiple divisions into war.
As if I haven't seen the deaths of the ones I knew.
As if I haven't watched on as my followers dissented against who had kept them alive.
And really, they shouldn't because they would be dead without me.
Anyway, I should keep spyin-no, watching.
She was writing in this grey book when I looked up again, while Clauneck watched patiently.
Then she walked out of the area after waving goodbye to Clauneck. I followed, burrowing slightly into the earth.
When I emerged again, she was battling against hooded creatures.
Wait.
Those are my followers. My followers!
I should go out there and stop her.
Suddenly, she hauled back her sleeves to show a glimpse of a pair of hands that almost instantly morphed into sharp claws that were different colors.
Lavender pulled back her claws to form a curious ball of yellow light that fizzed, and she quickly pushed it through the air at the followers.
The light ball whizzed through the air with a deep purple trail and forced back my followers about a meter away while setting them on a bright yellow fire.
A few screamed and ran to their huts to find water, and a brave lot staggered forward to do some last damage before their death.
Obviously, they couldn't beat this Lavender character in their condition, and as predicted she threw some hits and kicks and flew to the other side of the battlefield.
She appeared to summon some sort of weapon and flew forward to attack, but missed by an inch.
A follower cut into her ankle, dragging her down as she yelled in pain.
She fell to the ground onto her back as a follower stood over her in the few seconds she caught her breath, and prepared to deliver another blow.
He took out a blade and swooped downwards, but then Lavender lifted the weapon and swi-
BOOM.
A flurry of dust flew into the air as a large, grey sphere landed on its target. The followers screamed something enthusiastic at the one who had lobbed the bomb and quickly cleared away the dust.
Lavender was down on her knees, coughing. One of her horns had cracked, and blood dripped down from her eye. The deer who stood in front of her looked triumphant as he prepared to slash at her throat, but his triumph was short-lived.
Lavender lept up again and resummoned her sword that had disappeared when the bomb landed on her head.
Narrowly dodging daggers, she swiftly moved out of the way of the deer's blade and back out into the open space infront of the crowd.
Seeing the comparison, the followers were actually shorter by a foot or two, while Lavender stood with an elegant stance.
She slashed at the followers with a strange glint in her eye that I was almost completely sure I'd imagined because it had disappeared after a second.
Finally, all followers had been slayed. Lavender gagged at the sight of the corpses and bones, and conjured up some flowers to pay respects before hurrying out of the area.
"..."
"Aha... There you are."
↫↫↫↫↫ . . . . . . . . . ↬↬↬↬↬
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
Lavender tried to spread her different coloured wings as he came into view. Acceptable, considering he had a head of lush green fur-like leaves and black-pine green eyes. He cast a spell and Lavender was frozen in place, terrified.
"Do not fear me, new one. Say, you are stranded in my forest, wouldn't you like guidance from the great Bishop Leshy himself?"
Lavender looked up at him in panic as blood continued to drip from her eye. Growling, Leshy lifted her up into the air at eye level and continued talking.
"Those words seem to spark a stronger fear in you, but you don't seem to recognize the word 'Bishop'. Where did you come from, traveler?"
His low growl sounded even more intimidating now, and Lavender's eyes widened with fear as he leaned forward to inspect her.
Thunk.
A rectangle-shaped something fell down onto the moss covered ground, thudding softly against the lush earth of the forest.
They both looked down, and Lavender gasped in alarm.
"Say, what's this?" Leshy bent down to pick it up.
Leshy flicked over a few pages, and then stopped.
"I... I don't understand this. It's... not in our language...."
Lavender breathed a sigh of relief, and tried to escape the freezing spell.
"Stop right there, Lavender. I'll bring this book back to the temple and get Shamura to translate it, and in the meantime, you're coming with me." He growled, lifting up a claw and taking Lavender along with him as he sunk into the ground.
𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕕 ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 𝟙𝟙𝟟𝟛 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤.