SilverHoops

Prologue

After stepping through the fork in the tree, a small glade appeared, seemingly in the middle of the night. The area was full of life, even though it was filled with only a handful of people. Five- maybe six- figures were laughing and having fun, all playing games and exclaiming in delight. They were all certainly charming and - to a certain extent - rowdy.

I turned to Chris, hoping for some sort explanation, “You said before that you only have a few close friends, so I want you to meet my friends, well… more like family, I must let you know they can be a bit… boisterous at times. But aside from that, they’re really very nice people and would love to meet you,” Chris let out a bright eye smile, assuring me, “I’ve told them about you, so you should know you’re welcome, right?”.

He led me towards a small campfire that was built towards the edge of the open space. I took a seat on a log next to a conversing couple, crossing my legs. The fire crackled, matching the deep wind rushing through the trees and contrasting against the dark night sky. This fire was unlike any other, it did not emit any strong heat, nor sway with the breeze or burn the wood it was draped across. Must be magic… interesting.

When I peered through the flames, I could see Chris giving encouraging motions and egging me to talk to the person straddling the log beside me. The young boy was wrapped in a cocoon of elaborately patterned blankets and playing a sort of card game with the other person beside him, illuminated by a small floating ball. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he whipped his face around faster than you could say quilt.

The first thing I noticed about him was his adorable smile and braces; he looked like a small animal, with his brown locks creating a barrier between his eyes and the world.  “Ahh, Hi! You must be Dolcey! Chris told us about you!  It’s great to finally meet you, I’m Picollo! But you can call me Pic. And this is Felix.” he smiled some more and leaned to the side so I could greet the other boy.
“Hiya!” the older boy chided. Felix had an animated presence, smiling and waving with the hand he wasn’t holding cards in. He was lean and of medium build, raggedly attractive, with wild dusty red hair with a few small plaits here and there. He had an unkempt feeling about him. He was bedecked in many feathered twine necklaces of crystals and stones and wore an un-ironed white button-up shirt and a pair of unusual scruffy jeans with no shoes.

The boys continued their game and Chris ended up walking over to a boy sitting at the side of the glade. He had writing tools spread out before him and was busy scribbling on a piece of paper. He also had a small glowing orb hovering around his shoulders. I couldn’t hear their conversation over the sound of other boys who were rough-housing on the other side of the clearing. One was dressed in a beige hooded half-jacket paired with white jeans and had sun-bleached honey hair and the other had electrified burgundy hair with a magnificent flowing chiffon grey scarf with a leather jacket. They were scuffing around, taking turns to attack, with smiles on their faces.

The blonde boy’s forceful fighting style contrasted interestingly against the scarfed boys swift and frequent attacks. Whilst the scarfed boy leaped and bounded, swift as the wind, the blonde would block and push with such a force the ground would almost shake.

The swift boy took a running jump and launched himself into a nearby tree, “Come on Datvi, I know you can do better than this!” he exclaimed, grinning and taunting the blonde from a higher tree branch, “You were much better last time!” He continued to laugh and smile until the other boy begun to ram his shoulder into the tree trunk, and his dark red eyes became the size of moons in fear, “You know that’s cheating! We agreed on it! No breaking stuff!”

“Does it look like I care Seuvel!? I’ll show you who’s better!” The hooded boy laughed, and he started to stretch at the seams, growing and shifting till he had transformed into a giant honey coloured bear that was as tall as the tree itself, with long talons and wide shoulders. Lifting his huge paws, he took hold of the whole tree, plucked it from the ground and swung it around, shaking it- dirt spraying everywhere- attempting to rid it of the squealing boy who clutched onto it for dear life. A huge clump of filth detached from the tree roots and flew into the eyes of the boy who was seated next to Chris.

“Hey! Shit-heads can you stop! I’m trying to write a letter here!” the writing boy screeched, desperately wiping his face with the back of his hands. Shaking dirt out of his raven hair, he proceeded to throw a rock at the tousling pair. His projectile hit the bear boy square on the back with a huge thundering crack.

“Come on Athello, they’re only having a bit of fun!” Felix called out.
“Yeah! You didn’t have a problem with dirt when we were all digging out holes half an hour ago!” agreed Picollo, as he motioned to multiple holes not far from where they sat.
“Shut up! If any of you have any problem with me, you can write it on a piece of paper, fold it up and shove it up your ass.” Athello shouted.

Chris put his hand on the raging boys shoulder but he shook it off, collected his belongings and took refuge under a low growing tree. Datvi placed the tree trunk down on the ground, shrank back into his toned human form and ran to go and apologise to a fuming Athello. Seuvel followed him after prying himself from the tree branches and fixing his jacket and scarf.