Fantasia

Chapter 4

The next day, they woke up and during breakfast, they told strokes where they were from. They explained how they got their necklaces and how they landed here all of a sudden. Strokes scratched his head and said slowly, 'there's this legend of a portal created to another world. The legend says something about twin necklaces. You can go back only when the queen of fantasia, which is Lady Iris. And to visit her, you need to collect some gifts for her from all the kingdoms.'

Vicky gulped and said, 'and what are those?'

Strokes shifted in his seat uncomfortably. 'You need to ask the kindly witch in the witches' brew. We can go there, and if you want, I can come with you.'

Ellie sighed with relief. They decided to go immediately, and strokes grabbed a bag and started stuffing some things they would need in it.

In another half an hour, they were ready and set off, with Ellie reading a map.

She had decided what the best route was, and they set off in that direction.

'Okay, we need to travel south from here, and then we'll have to camp somewhere in the middle of the elf empire today, and we should reach the borders by tomorrow. Then, we can go to the witches brew and find the kindly witch.' She filled the others on her plan.

'Oh great,' Vicky said sarcastically. 'I expected us to reach there by tomorrow.'

They walked through the corner forest and since it was very small, they crossed it in 2 hours. They got their first glimpse of the elf empire. There were tree houses wherever they went. The shops were on trees, the houses were on trees, and all the buildings were on trees. There were rope bridges that connected two trees together, and they could see elves walking and talking to the elves they passed. All of the elves had pointy ears, but none of them had wings, like strokes did.

Vicky noticed this and asked strokes, 'hey, you're an elf right?' after Strokes nodded, she continued, 'then why don't any of the elves there have wings like you do?'

Strokes went bright red, the exact color of the cherries in a cart an elf was pushing.

'Well, I am not fully an elf, I am a part fairy. My mother was a fairy, and my father was an elf. These kinds of hybrids do happen sometimes.'

Vicky could feel the embarrassment from him, and she decided to let the matter be.

'It's impossible to walk by foot now. It'll take us ages to reach even the heart of the elf empire. And also, it doesn't help that they are staring at us.' Ellie said, nervously glancing at the elves above them.

'I can help with that.' Strokes said, and he yelled above, 'hey! Help me with these people!' and with that, three more elves with wings came down. Two of them grabbed one of Vicky's arms each, and the other and strokes carried Ellie. They soared up and landed in front of a shop.

'Thanks,' Ellie and Vicky panted. They all scrambled up to their feet, thanked the other elves who had helped them, and they set off.

They walked through the crowd, trying to blend in. But, the twins received several curious looks, as their ears were round, and not pointed.

They managed to cross the marketplace by the time the sun had set, and they decided to camp out. Strokes managed to make a fire, and after eating an apple each, they slept in the open with them taking turns to keep watch.

The next day, they set off to the border. They walked through the empire and crossed another village.

'I can't walk at all! Even my eyelashes feel tired!' Vicky groaned, and lied down on the ground.