AN: So, real quick- as I was updating this story a weird glitch happened with Wattpad. Not only did I get more than five copies of a story part, but apparently I can write into the past- before I was born- and before Wattpad was even created.... o.O
My niece has suggested that I have at some point created time travel because of this 🤔
Anywho-
Enjoy the story! XD
Breaks:
[L1,2 or 3] represents the beginning of a flashback to one of Elena's past lives. There is more than one past life, which is why I have put up the numbers. Though, these memories are usually told as she sleeps and Elena herself cannot remember them.
[/L1,2 or 3] represents the end of a flashback to one of Elena's past lives.
[P] represents the beginning of a retelling of a memory in Elena's current life.
[/P] represents the end of a retelling of a memory in Elena's current life.
~3~ is just a time skip
________________________
[L1]
The stars were bright out this night. With the sky dark from a lack of a moon, the stars seemed to take a special shine to them. As though they were trying to prove that they could light up the night even without the help of the moon.
A cold wisp of a cloud broke around me, and I felt a chill go down my back as it left droplets of water behind on my skin. It broke me out of my thoughts and brought me back to the present.
Currently, I was leaning my back against my sister dragon's large horn as I rode on her head, my legs crossed underneath of me. Dark wings that blended into the night sky, beated rhythmically to the sounds of my sister's breaths; slow, lazy, and even. With every downward stroke of the powerful limbs, we would bob forwards, then fall back a bit as her wings lifted up against gravity. Dark black scales with blotches of deep purple patches made up my sister's hide, making her a hunter of the night. Tehanu (the Night Stalker), is the name that was given to her.
"We are here." Tehanu's gentle voice called up to me, and I blinked.
Curiously, I got up to my feet, and walked from the crown of my sisters head (where the base of her large purple-black horns started), down to her forehead- where I stood just between her warm, purple eyes. My sister began to descend from our spot in clouds, and that's when I spotted it.
Scattered in between a cluster of kuppes were small, bright lights. They were the homes of my people, the Eliatropes. There were many small houses, with lanterns containing blue energy that hung on the porches or beside the front doors. These were the houses of Eliatropes without dragons, who simply wanted to settle down and start families.
Then there were the eight temples. Each one large enough to house fully grown dragons, and their twin sibling. Seven of these temples were set at exact distances from one another, on the outer edge of the Eliatrope village. They were placed so that if lines were drawn between them, it would resemble a seven pointed star.
The eighth temple was built at the very center of village. The Eliatrope houses surrounded the center temple, and spiraled outwards, but kept within the borders of the seven other temples.
By the time that we landed in the center of the village, my stomach was in knots. It had been a very long time since my dragon sister and I had set foot in the village. Curious Eliatropes had come out of their houses at the soft sound of my sister's wing beats (despite the late hour), and stared at us with wide, elated eyes. Whispers of our names began to spread throughout the village; a low murmur that was steadily growing in volume.
A calm, warm feeling washed over me suddenly, and I relaxed as I realized my sister was trying to comfort me through our shared mental link. Grateful for her reassurance, I sent her a thankful feeling in return. My dragon sibling hummed at me in acceptance as I called upon my magic, and the noise seemed to vibrate the very air around me.
A bright, blue light appeared before me as I effortlessly opened a travel gate. It was a portal, which allowed me enter, then reappear wherever I had set the exit portal. This was a magic that was granted to all the Eliatrope people, by the Goddess Eliatrope, our mother. And creating a simple warp portal, was just the beginning of what we Eliatrope have discovered that our magic can accomplish.
After I stepped through my portal, I reappeared in front of my sister (who was crouched like a giant cat), and looked up at the temple of the center of the village. The Conversing Temple it was named, as it was mainly used for gatherings of the Eliatropes or meetings for the Eliatrope Council. A council that I was now ready to become a part of.
The last time that I stood before the large doors to the Temple of Conversing, I was only a child. An older Eliatrope who was also a twin to a dragon brother (Mina and Phaeris), had volunteered to help me start my journey. Until that very day, I- and two other Eliatrope children who had twin dragon siblings- had spent every day being taught a little bit of every art that the Eliatrope knew. Construction, healing, reading, farming, inventing, experimenting, defending and so much more.
From it all, I had decided on which one I enjoyed the most and wished to peruse for the rest of my life. And on that day, Mina and Phaeris took me out of the Eliatrope village for the very first time. They would help me until they were confidant in my and Tehanu's abilities to survive without them, then return to the village to continue on with their own chosen roles.
Now, I am full grown. And my sister and I have learnt all that we could from our travels across the globe. So it was time that we came back to the village, ready to add to the Eliatrope knowledge and make the lives of our people better for it.
A small crowd of curious Eliatropes had already gathered around us, in the small time that Tehanu and I have landed. Excited smiles, and happy greetings met my ears, prompting a semi-nervous smile from me.
Unlike the Seven, none of these Eliatropes had (or would have) a dragon sibling. They did not need to leave the village to learn their life trade, as I did. As the other six had. Even though they all descended from Mina and Chibi, they had shorter lifespans. Therefore these Eliatropes stayed in the village for most of their lives. Though, most left to find life partners in the few other species that occupied our world. Then they'd return, either alone or with their chosen, and live the rest of their lives protected by us- the Seven- surrounded by their children and grandchildren. Eventually, whenever I choose my life partner, my own children will join Mina and Chibi's descendants in the village. They will pass on long before me but leave behind children of their own. A bittersweet fate.
With a small, (awkward) wave of greeting to the gathering of Eliatropes, I walked forwards, and opened the doors to the temple.
The inside of the temple, simply put; was massive. Truly, because this temple only had one purpose- after opening the temple doors, there was only the single room here (with the exception of a small bathroom that had been added after many complaints). The towering walls were a deep orange, like the setting sun. The ceiling was the same orange as the walls near the edges, but it slowly turned into a calming yellow towards it's center. Sporadically encrusted in these surfaces were small stones or trinkets that were found while creating the Eliatrope village, each one catching and reflecting the light as though they were small stars.
In the center of the large, round room were seven chairs (which were really only pillows). These chairs made a small circle together, and were where the Eliatrope Council would sit as they discussed daily matters. Behind each council member would lay their dragon twin siblings, who liked to add their own ideas or accounts to discussions.
The moment that I opened the temple doors, ten sets of eyes turned to Tehanu and I.
My sister, being the more collected one between the two of us, was completely at ease. She stood regally behind me, and demanded the attention of everyone in the room with her very presence. Perhaps it came from the pride of being a full dragon; for the moment that I felt the weight of the stares from the others, I thought that my heart might have given out. And before I could attempt to stop it, a whine of discomfort forced it's way out of my throat. My body froze and I felt as though I had suddenly been pinned to the spot by my shadow.
Luckily, I didn't have to stay petrified for long, as Tehanu huffed a warm burst of air over my head. The loose strands of my lilac-colored hair flew in front of my face and got in my eyes, which forced me to move them back behind my ears awkwardly, once they settled. When I focused on the council before me, I was met with warm, smiling faces.
A warm feeling settled in my chest, and I smiled at them cheekily. "I'm alive!" I greeted, as though they would need more proof.
The first to get up from her chair was Mina. Her loose, medium length blonde hair fell over her shoulders perfectly straight. Warm, grey eyes stared at me from under her sea green Eliatrope hat. Her favorite green color only seeming to accent her pale skin. Mina's twin dragon brother was Phearis, a large teal dragon with random splotches of white scales.
"Elena!" Mina greeted me as she wrapped me in a tight hug. She tried to tuck my head under her chin, so she could hug me as she did when I was still a child, but we were now the same height and that proved to be difficult.
The next to sweep me away from Mina was none other than Chibi. Chibi wore all brown, a color that seemed to contrast with his purely white hair but matched with his eyes and tanned skin color. His dragon twin brother was named Grougaloragran, a large black dragon with white patches.
"Elena, welcome." Chibi greeted as he gave me a tight hug. He had often taught me about the stars when I was little, along with the knowledge of actions to take and possible consequences of those actions when regarding other Eliatropes. Both Chibi and Mina were of the same age, having been hatched a few decades earlier than me and the other two council members.
Separating from our hug, Chibi gave me a fond smile before he put a gentle hand on my arm and turned us towards the last two present members of the council. They were both my school mates and childhood friends; Qilby and Yugo.
During my time away, I had seen Qilby quite often. He had chosen a path of inventing for himself, and thus had gone back to the village far earlier than I had. However, he also left the village often to find new and unique materials. Since I had decided to become a healer, I traveled far and wide rather frequently in search of different plants. I am always eager to try different ways of combining them. There would be times where we would run into one another and spend hours simply catching up. We would talk about the village and about the progress that we made in our own fields of research. In a way, inventing new items and tools for Eliatropes to use and creating new medicines were not too different from one another.
It had been a few years since I last saw Qilby, and I noticed how he had grown much taller, but a little on the lanky side. His brown hair had darkened and he had allowed a long beard to grow on his chin- an odd sight in comparison to the bare face I knew from my memories. The ears of his white Eliatrope hat had grown longer, but his skin seemed to have paled, as though he had left his lab less and less over the years that we had not seen each other.
Chibi sat me down on a purple chair- one that was especially set out for me- before he and Mina sat down on their favorite colored chairs (one brown, the other sea green). I smiled wide in greeting to Qilby, before I looked over to Yugo. For some reason, I felt my heart skip a beat in my chest.
The last that I had seen him, Yugo had decided that he liked to defend. The choice, originally, hadn't surprised me much, since he had often come to defend me against other Eliatrope children- who didn't have a twin dragon sibling- in our youth. It would often end with the both of us bruised or scraped, but I would then tend to the both our sores and we would both laugh it off in the end.
It had saddened me greatly (at the time of our separation) when I realized that I wouldn't see Yugo until this moment. He would stay in the village and hone his abilities under the guidance of dragons and Eliatropes. On occasion, he might leave the village, if it was required to keep it safe or to simply gain experience that could not be attained in the barracks. My travels would be geared to keep me away from trouble, while he would travel in the throws of it.
Now that I could finally see him again, I knew that he had changed. Our years apart had done Yugo well, physically at least. Gone were the thin arms and scrawny waist. With his cheeks no longer rounded with baby fat, he was positively handsome. His shoulders have widened some, and the opening of his azure cloak revealed a form-fitting tunic, which hinted to toned muscles hidden underneath. Short brown hair that went just past his ears had lightened some over the years and the time in the sun had darkened his skin.
Heat rose in my cheeks as I caught his brown gaze taking me in. My turquoise tunic- which I had to trim at the collar in lieu of choking myself when my chest began to fill. The white sash at my waist that held my short tunic down and the high-waisted turquoise slacks held up underneath it. My long hair had faded to a soft lilac color over the years and my skin color had darkened from all my time spent outside.
Our eyes met. Instead of the warm brown that I remembered so fondly in my memories, I was met with a subdued, almost cold gaze. It was odd, how quickly it struck me, but somehow I knew in that moment- with that single, saddened look- that something had happened. Somehow, the fun, protective, and mischievous boy that I had known, had turned into a man who seemed to be nothing like when we were younger.
Before anything could be said, before I could even try to begin to understand what had happened- the moment was over. And my attention was drawn to Chibi. It was time for me to tell them of my travels, of what I now knew.
[/L1]
With a sudden jolt, my eyes flew open and I sucked in a pained breath. For a moment I felt almost as though I were drowning, with something pressing down on me from all sides. My chest heaved and I realized mid-gasp that my heart was thumping loudly in my ears and that my body was soaked in sweat.
Absently, I wondered about what I been dreaming about. In response, all that my tired mind could conjure up were azure eyes that seemed to be pleading for help. A hot, prickling sensation jabbed me in my chest and traveled outwards through my skin at the memory.
A pained groan left my throat and I rolled over onto my side. I curled in on myself some as my eyes tiredly wandered to the window, where the view of the island tree tops and ocean awaited me. Just beyond the ocean, where the sky and the sea seemed to meet, the sun had begun to show itself. It painted the brightening sky with soft golds and sweet pinks, and chased away the navy blue line that hid the stars just beyond it.
I laid there, unmoving, for quite a while as I watched the sun rise. It was beautiful, and it kept my thoughts away for a bit.
Calmed by the time that the sun had risen a decent ways, my mind could no longer stay focused on the colors of the sun and instead was pulled to the memories of the last two weeks. The thoughts made an uncertain frown come to my face.
Before I could think further on it, I got up, and out from under the covers of my soft bed. It was rare that I slept inside, but there had been a light drizzle last night, and I was not eager to get soaked.
My clothes that I had discarded in heaps on the floor while I had been on the way to my bed now marked a trail from the door of the room to the frame of my mattress. It was another oddity- as I normally didn't bother to undress before sleeping, but had done so anyways since it was my bed I was about to sleep in. As per usual though, the only pieces of clothing that I hadn't bothered to take off were my undergarments and unique hat.
I swiped the pieces of turquoise fabric, along with the white rope that I used in lieu of a proper sash around my waist, off of the floor. Uncaringly, I stuffed my head through my tunic and pulled the fabric down over my torso. Then I yanked on my baggy slacks and then tied the waist high garment underneath of my tunic with the white rope. I looked up and noticed my reflection in the mirror.
Long, dark lilac-colored hair brushed the tops of my eyes in an almost straight line. The rest of my hair, I had weaved into a fish braid that started underneath my long hat and was tied with a thin, white cord so that it wouldn't fly in my face.
Almost robotically, I brought a hand up and lightly touched the fabric of my turquoise hat. There was a strap that I could use to tighten it around my forehead (for when I was moving quickly and didn't want to loose it) and I briefly wondered if I needed to adjust it. My hat was a long hair sock really, the end tipped with a soft white fur that lined the entire inside of it, but I've never bothered to actually put my hair inside it. Though, it made me wonder if I had originally come from a colder climate.
Then my light brown eyes landed on the two appendages that grew from atop my head. With my hat safely covering them up, I looked as though I had two large, rabbit-like ears on the top of my head- even though my real ears could clearly be seen at the sides of my head. The rabbit-like ears moved too (with my mood) and I am the only being I know who has them. It was odd to see, especially when I compared myself to the other people on this island, but I had eventually grown used to it.
With my hand back down at my side, I turned towards the door. In my room, there was a single large window (my bed underneath of it), directly across from the door. At the foot of my bed was a wooden chest, which I used to store excess cloth that could be used for the bed on colder nights or could be made into clothes at a later date. To the right of the door and near the head of the bed was my mirror. Really, it was just a large, broken sheet of reflective glass that I had found discarded on the beach a few years ago. There was no frame on it and I had simply left the thing to lean against the wall after I had carefully lugged it up to my room. The mirror did it's job though, and I was rather pleased when I had come across it.
Just behind the door to my room, tucked in the corner where the sun couldn't quite reach at this hour, was a large woven basket. It was lined with the large leaves from the tropical trees of this island, and was where my only friend slept.
Moon was my friends name, and he is a monkey. He was just a little smaller than an infant in size, and had the deepest of brown fur for his coat, which matched his warm, brown eyes. Currently, the small monkey was sound asleep in his basket and curled up to one side. His long brown tail was the only thing that hung out of the basket, but only for the end of it to wrap around the handle of a large war hammer. Moon never left the object behind, the hammer being something that he considered special.
With a fond smile sent in my friend's direction, I quietly crept out of my room. The door closed softly behind me and I was free to walk down the wooden hallway. Multiple other bedroom doors were set up down this length of hallway, each one a reflection of my own room (with the exception of the mirror). There were a total of seven, including mine. As for why there were so many bedrooms here? That reason was known only to the people who had carved out this place a long time ago.
The end of this hallway opened up to the main room of this carved out house. It was a fairly large space, the room becoming round the higher up it went, like the inside of a turtle shell. On the wooden floor, starting at the center of the room, were rings that grew in size as they moved towards the edges of this space. Like a ripple in water that had been frozen in place. The ceiling had this exact pattern replicated on it. The walls were plain, but kept the smooth, solid amber color that was the inside of this tree.
Directly across from the hallway that I had just exited, were the main double doors to the house. They were large, rounded at the top, and had mirrored trees intricately carved on their surfaces with leaf boarders around the edges of the door frame. Two large, glass windows were on either side of the main doors, and they served as the main way to get light into this space.
Just below one of the windows was my traveling bag. It was just a satchel, but was large enough to contain all the things that I collect, plus the emergency medical supplies I keep on hand- something that I've taken to carrying with me ever since I met Moon. The only thing in the bag at the moment was a simple white cloth that I'd made from plant fibers, and some ointment that I'd made which would clot up cuts and prevent someone from bleeding out. Both items (which took up very little space in the bag) left plenty of room for gathering fruits or plants.
To the right of the double doors was a carved out fireplace, which was reinforced with stones that had been dyed a faded amber color in order to match with the rest of the room. In front of the large fireplace was a low, long table, which had seven multicolored chairs (which were really just fancy pillows) all around it.
To the left of the double door entrance, and across from the fireplace, were two sets of hallways. One lead to fairly large kitchen, while the other lead to a storage room (plus the bathroom). Over the time that I have been here, I had changed the storage room to a place where I could create different medicines from the plants that I gather from all around the island.
Purposefully, I made my way over to the fireplace. It had died down to red embers over the course of the night. I had put a neat pile of dried wood beside the fireplace the night before the last, and now noticed that there were only a few logs left to burn before I would have to go out to get more. Leaving only one log behind, I piled the other three into the fireplace with the design of an upside down cone.
Once I had placed the logs, I sat down on the stones in front of the fireplace and began to add dried grass and torn dried leaves within it. The fourth log that I had left alone was one that had no knots in it at all, so I re-positioned myself so that my legs were no longer crossed underneath of me and placed this log between my feet.
The soft leather soles of my fabric shoes clung to the bark like burrs do to clothes, but I ignored the small worry that I suddenly had for the shoes- not wanting them to tear again- and looked to the two stones I kept near the wood for making kindling. The first stone was oval in shape, about the length from my fingers to the end of my wrist, but the one end of it was sharpened to a point while the opposite side was practically flat. Perfect for the second rock in my grasp which was about the size of a fist, almost round in shape and blunt.
The oval stone I grabbed first, and put the sharp end of it near the edge of my log. I held the wood steady as I began to rap my second rock on the blunt end of the first. Ever so slowly the log gave away to make small blocks of wood, each no bigger than my smallest finger, which was exactly what I needed.
I'm not sure how long I sat there as I slowly broke apart the log into kindling. My hands felt rather numb and my arms had become sore from the repetitive motions, but there was a decent pile of strips in my lap and more than half of my log had gone. So I deemed it enough, and tossed my rocks to land roughly near to where I had fist picked them up.
The log I had been holding with the soles of my feet, I also tossed to one side before I stuck the new kindling in the fireplace and into the dried grass and leaves. Once the kindling was in place, I then picked up a piece of flint and a steel knife that I had stolen a long time ago. The flint I held steady with one hand, my fingers tucked tight against my palm to keep them safe, as I held the edge of the knife diagonally in front of me. The edge of the blade I rested gently against the flint, only to swiftly push the knife forwards as I drew the flint back in a single fluid motion.
A sudden burst of flames sprang forth from the friction I had caused and touched the dried grass in the fireplace. From there, even as the small flame I had produced for no more than a moment disappeared, red embers began to smoke in the dried grass. Not wanting to loose the embers, I quickly leaned forwards and began to blow gently.
After only a few breaths a small flame suddenly came to life, and I couldn't help but smile proudly to myself as I watched it begin to grow. The fire began to spread quickly, yet I waited for an extra few moments in case it decided to die on me after all. I added a few more chunks of dried leaves to make sure the fire would catch onto my kindling as it continued to steadily grow, before I got up onto my feet and I walked towards the kitchen.
The floor and ceiling of the kitchen matched the main living room in design. Shelves had been built into the walls near the door frame, and treenails stuck out of the wall to hang various cooking pots and pans on. There was even a lovely leaf design, which matched the one on the front doors, carved into the top and bottom of the walls as a decorative border.
No door was made to enter the kitchen, only an open door frame was present, which left the room with plenty of space to walk around in. A large, rounded stone oven, that required a fire underneath of it in order to cook, took up most of the space in here. It had a hinged metal door attached to it in order to cook things inside, and it had a flat surface on top that grew hot enough to cook on as well. A large, open window was carved out of the wall beside the oven. It allowed light into the kitchen, and the extra heat to escape when cooking.
All along the wall to the right of the oven, was a stone counter. It seemed almost as though the the stone were carved out of the side of a mountain with it's sheer size. Small, glittering minerals shone in the light, trapped within in the stone. It reminded me of the sky with all of it's shining stars. Underneath this counter were multiple storage crates, which I used to store various foods.
Thoughts of eating fruits from the trees outdoors for breakfast filled my mind as I grabbed a cauldron, and filled the bottom of it with the leftover water from yesterday that was still in the water pale. As though the weight of the cauldron had not been changed, I lifted and brought it out into the living room with relative ease.
Strong streams of flames now licked along the logs in the hearth, leaving the dry wood to crackle in protest as it was slowly eaten away. Above my fire was a hook, which was embedded within the fireplace and was perfect to cook on. I placed the cauldron down before the fireplace, and lifted a single hand.
With a twist of my wrist, a bright blue portal appeared below my cauldron, before a second portal appeared just above the hook.Through a precision that I had developed through years of practice, the cauldron sunk into the portal below it, only to appear out of my second portal so that it's handle caught lightly onto the hook. The cauldron swayed gently over the fire, and I nodded to myself proudly in the knowledge that nothing was split.
I returned to the kitchen a second time for that morning, and retrieved a tea pot before reaching up to the tall shelves. From the shelf I grabbed a small jar that I had stored various dried leaves and herbs within. Only needing a small pinch of my concoction, I dropped part of the mixture into the tea pot before I retied the cloth lid and replaced the jar back onto the shelf.
With that done, I went back to the living room and set the tea pot onto the low table. By the time that the house guest would be awake, the water in the cauldron would have boiled, and they would be able to pour themselves a healthy brew of tea.
Moon had yet to wake up, and I was now done with preparing the morning tea. Deciding that it was time that I set out to get fruit for breakfast, I turned towards the main doors of the house, ready to leave right away. I stopped, however, when I heard my name called.
"Elena? Good morning." An older voice called, and I looked over my shoulder.
Coming from the hallway where all the bedrooms were, was a middle-aged man. He limped, and needed the help of a cane to walk properly. A beat up old mask covered his face and had multiple large tree leaves woven into the outer edges of it in order to further hide his face. His chest would have been bare if it weren't for the white bandage that I had wrapped around his torso in order to help keep his wounds closed. Tied around his hips was a vine, which grew long and thin leaves that resembled large grass blades.
Carefully, the old man sat down on the brown chair, and seemed to look up at me from his position on the floor. I turned, and gave him a nod in greeting.
"Botan Ficus." was all that I said back.
This island that we were on, had a fairly simple layout. At the edges of this island were the beaches, one half of sand and the other of craggy stones. Then there was the thick forest that covered the entire island, until the base of the folded mountain at the center, which grew an impressively large old tree at the summit. It was the old tree, (which I realized a while ago was slowly beginning to petrify) that the house I was currently living in was carved out of.
Parts of the forest were cleared by the single village on this island, in order to make fields for crops and tamed animals. And it was from that village that Botan came from. It was also that very same village that had banished me from their protection a long time ago.
Moon and I came across Botan Ficus when we were exploring the large roots of the Summit Tree. The eldest parts of the tree's roots had petrified long ago and had begun to crumble away. As they crumbled, they left behind large tunnels that led into the mountain. It was like following old holes which giant moles carved out of the earth. Inside grew special plants that fed off any residue nutrients that were left behind by the roots. Anything interesting that I found had been collected, even a few small bugs that had glowed and left behind glowing residue on the walls, then added to my satchel.
Eventually Moon and I came across the middle-aged man, who was passed out from a combination of pain and blood loss. At first, I hadn't been sure what to do. I contemplated simply leaving him there, and let him sort this mess out himself. I had recognized him as one of the people from the island village. At the same time, he really needed help and would probably die if I simply left him.
Unknowing of what my actions would cause, I decided to help him. Of course, Moon had run to the man's side the moment that he saw him and waited for me patiently as I made up my mind. Even if this person had come from a village that hated me... my conscious wouldn't let me leave knowing that I could potentially save his life. (I never could.)
Now Botan lives with Moon and I in the old tree. I tend to the man's wounds and he tells me stories of what he knows. As the village Shaman, he was very knowledgeable.
Before, plants and their healing properties were simply a need for survival. From the shadows I had watched as Botan took care of various plants in his own garden near the forest and took care to notice which ones he brought with him to help ailed villagers. Then I would go into the rest of the forest and find those plants for myself before I went back to the Summit Tree with my prizes. Eventually I didn't need to watch the Shaman anymore, and had started to test out which plants do what on my own. As I continued to work with plants and develop different healing powders, I grew to enjoy it quite a bit.
When Moon and I had found Botan, he had been rather impressed with how much I had come to learn on my own. He even promised to give me a special book when he was healed enough to finally go back to the village. Which would be any day now, if my healing had been done right.
"You're limping less, old man." I stated, tone blunt. Botan didn't seem to mind my words much and calmly placed his staff beside him, flat on the floor.
"I'm healing well, I assure you." he replied, and his voice sounded warm. "By the end of the day, I should be fine to go back to the village. I cannot leave the others in the care of Saul for much longer."
Saul was the reason why Botan Ficus had been injured in the first place. He had been Botan's apprentice, and had diligently practiced under Botan's watch. But Saul carried a deep greed in him, and it had driven the apprentice to try and kill his master. The attempt failed, which was why Botan was in this tree house with me, and Saul had yet to know of this. But as Botan heals, Saul is left free to take over as Shaman for the village, and do whatever he pleases with the power that the status has granted him.
There was a pause as Botan placed his hands on the table in front of him. His posture, almost pleading. "Will you be joining me Elena?"
As though the man had suddenly risen his voice and yelled at me, I flinched. My lips pressed together in distaste and my hands clenched slightly at my sides. For a couple days now, I had been expecting Botan to ask me this. He had been leaving rather large hints in our conversations in how he would need help when confronting Saul. How there just so happened to be an empty house in the village and that the people would no longer be scared if they were given the chance to get to know me, as Botan had.
Even as I knew that the question would eventually be asked, it still jolted me, as though it had come out of the blue.
"I will do what I can to help." was my eventual answer, before I shook my head. "But I'm not staying."
My place is here, with Moon. Already I could hear the echos of the villager's jeers in my mind, and I knew that I couldn't attempt to live there again. Unlike a few years ago, I no longer had any illusions as to what would happen if I tried again.
Botan seemed to deflate as his mask faced me, and I could hear the faintest of sighs come from his direction. "As you wish." he conceded.
Relaxing some, when I realized he wasn't going to fight me on this, I gave the man a nod. "Then, I'll be heading out for some breakfast now." I paused after I picked up my satchel and placed the strap over my head. "You don't want anything, do you?"
"Not particularly." Botan said after a moment of thought. "Though, I do know that the fresh peels of citronana's do well for burns."
"Noted." I gave a tentative smile for the new information, until I remembered who my company was.
Not having anything else left to say, I (awkwardly) backed up and pushed open the front doors behind me to escape. As the doors closed softly behind me, I glanced up at the Summit Tree which the house was carved inside of.
It was tall, very tall. Even with my head craned all the way back, I could barely see the top branches of the dying tree. Though it wasn't quite tall enough to reach the clouds, despite the advantage of growing at the top of a mountain. The width of the tree was massive. If I didn't know better, when looking at the tree from far away, it could be mistaken for another peak of the folded mountain. That was probably why this tree was chosen to have a house carved within it's expanse; there was certainly enough room in there and the effort used to take down the entire tree would have probably taken longer than gutting the place out.
To the right of the front doors was a small path that lead down the mountain, which ended where the village had settled long ago. To the left of the front doors was a set of stairs. They spiraled up the side of the tree, each step having the thickness of half a tree trunk. No railing was present for these stairs, instead, the one who built them must have thought that the stairs were plenty wide enough in compensation.
It was the stairs that I went to, and decided to climb them leisurely. These stairs led to the top of the Summit Tree, where a large totem pole stood, just as thick and sturdy as the tree that was set underneath of it. The totem pole was the only thing about this place that was new.
A few years ago, I had gotten frightened and climbed to the stairs to the top of the tree. It had been flattened at the time, and set so that seats were carved from the walls, with a large circular platform at the very center.
Moon followed me, and saw just how scared I was. Being a monkey, he couldn't help me much, but he did have a power. Moon lifted up his hammer and slammed it's head onto the top of the tree.
At the time, I had hardly payed my friend any attention. I had simply been desperate to get somewhere safe, but I couldn't seem to find anywhere to go. So I climbed up. When I heard Moon slam his hammer down onto the wood of the tree, I jerked my head towards him, and felt my eyes go wide.
The hammer had glowed, and Moon let out a screech. Then, we were both rising up in the sky. As though it were summoned from another dimension, a totem pole had appeared on top of the old tree through the power of Moon's war hammer.
It was a few days later that I managed to somehow stick trees through the large totem pole as a sort-of make-shift stairs. Large gaps were left between the steps, and they were completely uneven. But the new set of stairs followed the direction of the curve which the previous stairs had started, and could easily support heavy weights.
In actuality, I didn't need to have the stairs there to reach the top of the totem- most of the time, I liked to use my magic to transport me from place to place. But Moon had complained, and wanted to join me when I laid at the top of the totem, under the stars. So really, I had built the sort-of stairs for him.
My feet scuffed against the flat, stone surface that was the top of the totem pole. And my gaze went to the horizon, where the ocean met the sky. It was a beautiful sight up here and, from the moment that the totem was created, held an atmosphere which calmed me.
Straitening my back, I stretched my arms high over my head. Slowly I breathed out a lung full of air as my spine made small yet satisfying popping noises. My stance widened as I planted my feet and leaned forwards. My hair fell over my shoulder, along with the end of my hat, as I pushed my arms above my head. Muscles began to protest as I woke them up, which was when I had allowed my hands to separate slowly.
Touching the coarse fur that stuck out from the inside of my leather soled shoes with the palm of my hands, I rolled my back as I moved to stand up straight. When I did, I paused as something shone in the morning light, just at the edge of my vision, and caught my attention. My eyes narrowed as I turned in the direction the shine had come from- and I then spotted it. There, between where the craggy stone beach and the sand beach met, was something that had washed up on the island.
'What could that be?' I wondered curiously, and my head tilted to one side in my failed attempt to see farther.
In the distance, there was something white that seemed to flap in the wind. Large pieces of wood were scattered around the broken object, which was big enough to rival a whale's calf.
Not seeing any reason to not approach, I called upon my magic and created two blue portals before me. A quiet hum of energy radiated off of them, the perfect circles on a connected frequency. My eyes roamed the smooth-looking exterior of the portal in front of me for a brief moment before I walked right into it. Not even a moment later I had reappeared out of the second portal that I had placed in the sky, and began to fall as I prepared two more in the palms of my hands. The portal that I had appeared from winked out of existence as I threw my second pair of portals- one to catch me and the other to drop me from the sky in the general direction that I wanted to go. Over and over I repeated the process- fall, create, throw, fall, create, throw- until I had arrived at the beach.
Once I was close enough to study the mess on the beach better, I angled myself to fall onto the branches of the nearest tree. My knees bent to catch my weight in a crouch, and my hand reached out to touch the rough bark of the tree trunk. Confident in the thick branch below my feet, I straightened from my crouch into a stand.
Broken pieces of wood were scattered in the sand and on stones. My eyes landed on a large piece of wood that had broken in half, but was once clearly shaped like a large cross. The sight brought a memory from my younger self to mind.
[P]
Old yellowed pages were soft under my finger tips as I scanned the pages of a large book. Laying on my belly, my legs kicked up behind me, I gazed at the pictures of old sea crafts with interest. The wooden mask on my face bumped the skin on my collar bone irately as I looked, but didn't hinder my sight in the least.
As I turned another page, an old sketch of a ship caught my attention.
"Mommy? Mommy!" I called, to which my female guardian answered. A lovely waft of cooking food came from the kitchen as Mommy walked over, her hands toying with a towel to dry.
"I told you, my name Momiji. Mo-Mee-Gee. Not Mommy or anything else. Just Momiji." She said tiredly, which I ignored. Only when she stopped at my side to see what I was looking at did I reply.
"What that, Mommy?" I asked, one chubby finger pointed to the sketch. She sounded out her name for me again before she read out the name written in curly letters above the sketch.
"Now stop worrying about dusty old things like this."
To my utter disappointment she picked up the book and brought it over to the shelves. I scrambled up to my feet, determined to get my book with lovely pictures back.
"Hey!" I called out insistently, and tugged at a fist full of dried grass that was her skirt. Everyone wore the same clothes. "Give it back!"
"Elena, no!" Mommy berated and slapped the back of my hand away. My skin stung and turned red, causing tears to gather at the corner of my eyes.
"Book back! It was mine!" I couldn't help but blubber, valiantly keeping the tears at bay. Then I brought up my hands so my palms were about the height I thought the book had been placed at in the shelves and made grabbing gestures with my fingers.
"No, Elena, it's not yours. Now stop day dreaming about boats. It's of no use anyhow, we're not a fishing village."
"Fish?"
"That's right, we don't fish." Mommy spoke wearily, as though she had already said this many times before. "We work on the island, with animals and plants. There's no need to fish. The boats would be destroyed before they came back by that sea monster anyhow."
She went back to the kitchen to cook then, leaving me to stare up at the book shelf by myself.
[/P]
'A schooner...' I thought to myself with wonder, the sketch of the vessel and the description the book gave popping into my memory. After I learned how to read for myself, I had kept that book to read in secret. A schooner was a type of small sailing ship that had two or more masts, and was mainly used for fishing, but could carry passengers and cargo if need be.
As I remembered the sketch of the ship from the book, it was a little difficult to compare it to the wreck that was before me now, but doable. Both masts had been snapped in various places, the sails were torn, and pieces of it were cast about the near vicinity of the ship. A large hole seemed to have been punched in the hull, causing the deck above it to collapse inwards from instability, which left jagged pieces of the deck to stick out at the sky. Nothing of the bow spirit seemed to be left, scattered to pieces somewhere around the ship. The only thing that seemed to have held up was the main deck, which was littered with debris from broken railings and collapsed boards.
It was a mess to look at, and it made me wonder if there was any crew that had managed to survive whatever it was that this ship had gone through.
There is a legend that the elders in the village told to the children at night; in the waters near this island, there resided a beast of great strength. If anyone dared to go near, their ship would be ripped to shreds while the crew would be gobbled alive. They said that this was the main reason why the villagers first found this island but now that they lived here, they didn't mind the beast much. After all, they were not a fishing village. And they enjoyed the solitude that the beast granted them from the rest of the world.
Instead of being eaten by the beast in the sea, what if someone from this ship's crew had survived? My hand gripped my bag tightly at the thought. A salty breeze decided to gently blow at that moment and it caused my fringe to catch in my eyes. I brushed the hair aside with my hand, and noticed something reflecting the light of the sun out of the corner of my eye.
A small gasp left my throat as I spotted the object that had lead me here. It was a sword, it's hilt red and the blade silver, which was laying in the sand. Surprising me the most however, was the fact that there was a person who was still holding onto it.