Broken Glass - Taekook

28

By end of the eighth day, our surroundings have begun to slowly evolve. Over the course of the next day or so, the thick grass of the centre of the grassland is gradually replaced with stony, rocky outcroppings, and I begin to realise that our general altitude is getting higher. On the northern horizon, I can see the fuzzy outlines of four or five grey mountains. Nothing as big as the Crown of Eithyr,  but still impressive nonetheless, as they stare out over the world before them. 

The Semorara Mountains.

As we draw nearer, Namjoon's lessons on Eithyr begin to expand to include the geography of the area we're approaching. Just south of these peaks, a great forest grows: the Rymateri Forest. It circles the mountain range, and stretches out further east, meeting with the edges of the savannah on the other side. It grows more dense the closer it gets to the plains, and then it stops abruptly and opens up into the warmth of the Yarolian Plains. 

Queen Arlayna lives in a great walled city beyond there, it's rumoured, a place that King Jaehyun has never ventured towards. The power held within the faerie capital is too strong, and too dangerous to his own reign, that he dare not risk it. Even so, Namjoon admitsthat it's possible he will try to extend his forces in that direction, as it gets closer to the day the Saviour's Prophecy is supposed to fully come true. 

The faintest blur of dark green appears on the horizon, late on the morning of the eleventh day, and solidifies into a loose wall of trees that reaches out in places into pockets of vegetation and small groves. We keep travelling for longer that evening, making it to one of these thickets just in time for the first star to appear in the western sky, blinking into view with a jewelled radiance that glows a little brighter than it normally does. 

It's a clear, motionless night, one that sighs and sways with the gentlest of breezes. It's cool, thanks to the altitude we've gained, and the moon is full tonight, painting the grass silver. The sky becomes pitch black as we settle down for the night, a velvet blanket of darkness dotted with tiny silver diamonds that twinkle and shine as we stare up into the heavens. 

We take a small, cold meal that night, and fall asleep quickly, exhausted. When we wake, a faint golden glow begins to fade from the grass around us, remnants of a stream of light that must have been watching over us as we slept. There's a moment of panic, but then we realise that it could be the golden river, watching over us. 

Despite that conclusion, we agree to be more careful, and Hoseok and I keep our swords visible in order to scare off any would-be attackers. If the Karulian Knights are on our tail, we don't have time to stop and check out everything that doesn't make total sense on first inspection. And if we did that, we'd just find Eithyrians, for the most part. 

Not long after we start moving again, we make it to the forest. Our speed drops slightly as Jimin returns to his old habits of foraging through the area, as we continue the journey. He appears sometimes to offer his opinion on something we're talking about, but then he fades back into the trees, and it's almost impossible to see where he's gone. 

Here, the trees are tall and ancient, but not curled towards us, as we pass, and the ground is remarkably stable under our feet. Sunlight passes through the leaves, leaving a golden dappled shadow on the earth below. When the canopy opens up a little, rays of light arc down like mini spotlights, dust and insects dancing in their own little stages. 

Leaf litter and long twisted roots cover the path ahead, and the twisting animal track we follow is wide enough that the ferns part easily as we walk through them. Occasionally, we come across a berry bush that's just come into the fruit season. Namjoon keeps an eye out for the now-familiar shape of a cattail plant, peeking through the rest of the undergrowth. He picks a few stems whenever he sees it, draping them over his arm as he walks.