Love Letter

Chapter 1

I wave my hand through the air, watching as patterns of silver and white dance with each wave. Once they touch the ground, the dirt is replaced by thriving ferns and thick grass. I smile at myself and create more waves, aiming them at trees and watching as beautiful thick vines snake along the bark.

From the corner of my eye I see a young Bishka and a Higlin playing in the tall grass, the Bishka raises his hands and the area around him flourishes into ferns and small trees, the Higlin giggles and runs her hands through the tall grass, her tail swishing back and forth with excitement. She does a particularly rough turn and scratches herself on one of the small trees. The Bishka rushes over and studies the damage, he runs his fingers over the scratch and it disappears. They continue playing like it was nothing.

I smile at them and turn away, walking through the thicker part of the forest to my home. I see my mother sitting on the porch, using her magic on the wooden railing next to her, she sips her herbal tea and sighs gently.

My mother and I are Bishka, creatures of healing and nature, we have big feathered wings and tails much like an owls, we have similar traits as well, for example, we are twilight creatures, we aren't allergic to the sun or anything but our powers are of more use in the dark, some of us have different colours as well. My mum and I both have a snow-like white colour for our wings, but I have speckles that shift into chocolate brown at the ends of my wings and tail. It resembles our hair colour. We are also noticeably paler than most of the other creatures of our world, but not in a bad way, we have our own kind of glow. We also have clawed hands and feet that match with the colour of the rest of us.

Our magic comes from within us, every Bishka is born with magic, however, it can vary, some Bishka can be gifted with something completely different but still have a relation to healing and nature, my best friend Gale has been gifted incredibly heightened senses, she could hear me approaching her house when I would be ten minutes away, she can turn it off whenever she so desires but decides to keep it on in the rare circumstance that we have an attack. Bishka like her are of great use to our community.

I reach the steps of the porch and my mother looks up from her seat with a soft and welcoming smile, I return it and walk up to her to give her a hug.

"Hey mum, I was just watching some of the kids in the fields, the Higlins are growing happier each day after the move."

"Yes, it was quite upsetting seeing their homes being destroyed, those Groundlings don't know when to stop." She said softly, there was sadness in her voice. The Higlins had lost their homes to the Groundlings. Groundlings are what we call humans, I've never seen one up close, but I've heard the stories, they destroy anything that gets in their way, even if it means destroying someone's home. The Higlins were very lucky to have escaped without being seen, if one of the 'important' Groundlings found out about them, they would cause harm to them and possibly seek out the rest of us

"What do you think the council will do about it? They have been talking about helping the Higlins."

The council are the ones who somewhat decide what happens within the communities. They consist of 4 Bishka's, 4 Higlins, 2 Drooklers, and 1 Podrin. A Higlin is a creature who has a mystical connection to the animals of the forest, they each have a certain animal that they can call upon if they need it, when this happens, the Higlins will turn into that animal, their animal varies depending on their personality. On some occasions, Higlins have tails, all of them have wood like hands, this trait stays with them even when their animals are present.

Drooklers are creatures with the gift of illusion and chaos, they can practically bend the laws of physics but in ways that are only understood by them, their magic only works on Groundlings though, but their illusions work the same here, tiny crystal like dust is generated inside of them which they use to create their illusions so you could call it something else like summoning or shape making, illusionists are easier for everyone to understand. Their appearance somewhat resembles a cat and a snake, they have sharp fangs and a serpent's tail but the traits and physicality of a cat, incredibly nimble and almost silent at times, makes it easier for them to get close to Groundlings.