Shalte's domain

The beginning, again? ~ part 1

Alone, cursed to repeat the history of her ancestor. The domain of shalte was small, up top a tall mountain with no way down. She recalls the legend of her great grandfather where the gods had gifted him with the kingdom she had grown up in. Shalte pondered quietly, and stared intently as the land began to change and flow like water creating a small pond of water.

Shalte wasted no time hopping straight into the pond, the water lathering her dehydrated skin, she would have died standing in the beating sun much longer and it seems the gods had once again become the saviour of the frogdom kingdom.

Peering over the shear Cliff face lay the village that had been witnessed both the first rise of the frog kingdom known as frogdom, and the inevitable crumble of the sky fell platforms, studying the village shalte had noticed the large crop fields that stretched almost to the horizon and the small greenish/greyish blobs that slowly worked their ways through the paths and fields.

The stone flowed once more, forming a safe slope for Shalte to descend slightly. She followed the small sloping path and found herself at a cave entrance cloaked in lichen to protect it from the harsh wind and upcoming snowy days, as Shalte pushed aside the lichen to enter, the pond up above dissipated and reformed itself into the now damp corner of the cave.

She exited hopped over to the pool of water illuminated by a variation of lichen known as glow lichen, she jumped high in the still cave air with her powerful hind legs and splashed in the deeper portion of the pool. She swam to a ledge covered just slightly with water and folded her goopy little legs underneath her forming a froggy pancake.

~ *in the village* ~

Charm was a priestess frog that resides in the little towns church of the holy frogs, and her job was to be a vessel of the holy frogs and relay their important messages to the town folk, so when she had received a hefty message from the holy frogs about the long lost kings and queens of frogdom, she had rushed out the church and went straight to the town leader to ask him to hold a town meeting about this new prophecy.

The town leader quickly gathered the small population of cold-valley and let Charm distribute the prophecy to all in once foul swoop. The prophecy when roughly translated into English read, "the queen of frogdom will survive, as one brave frog will march the trail of high-rock and reignite the embers of light."

The frogs of cold-valley were elated at the new prosperity that would grow the town and its economy to new heights, however there was a small problem. The prophecy told by Charm did not label a frog in the town and a scuffle had broken out at the back, the frogs were now fighting over who would ascend the high-rock and reunite the queen with the town!

Charm looked up at the sky as thunder clouds rolled in alarmingly fast, she croaked with all her might to warn the fighting frogs of the gods anger at them for fighting among themselves. Once Charm had the attention of all the frogs again she stated that she was going to assent the high-rock to prevent further aggravation of the town frogs, she then went on to scold the frogs for their aggression towards their fellow frogs and the angering of the holy frogs. The town frogs looked down in shame they had betrayed a rule of the holy frogs, they had caused stress and aggravation over a stupid reason.

Charm walked off in dissatisfaction as she silently repented the sins of the town folk to the holy frogs. She reached her door and slowly lifted a goopy front foot towards the handle, she climbed inside and looked for things to pack for this journey she unwilling forced upon herself for the good of the town. She grabbed a cloak from her room and threw it over her back  tying the strings in the front, Charm then went to reach for her sun hat when she noticed that it wasn't on the desk where she was sure she last left it. Forgetting the hat for now she grabbed a small hand crafted basket and filled it with the freshly baked bread she had purchased just this morning.

Walking into the living room she saw the misplaced sun hat on the sofa and snatched it up on her way from the kitchen, and sat it on her little head to protect the large beady eyes that rested just below.

She exited the house and headed for her mothers house where she would meet her new little tadpole brothers before setting off for the high-rock, Charm politely waited for her mother to open the door and invited her in. As she stepped in the house her eyes secreted the room looking for the pool of tadpoles that would be her froggy siblings, her mother guided her to another room that was mostly water and dove in waiting for Charm to follow, as she followed her mother she found her two little brothers swinging blissfully in their small pond.

Charm went over and was introduced by her mother to the small black blobby creatures, they went straight for Charm and swam circles around her infixing her to play with them. She sadly declined explaining that she had a big adventure to go on and was leaving very soon, Charm and her mother left the pond and sat on the porch drinking some home brewed lavender and honey tea from the herb garden outside. She and her mother drank in the small moments they had left before she had to leave, and mostly sat in silence enjoying the atmosphere around them.

Charm then said good bye and went back home to sleep, because tomorrow she had a long day ahead.

~~Shalte~~

As Shalte watched the sun rise she saw the small lively town slowly become more active, she sadly receded into her smallish cave feeling the tug of loneliness on her little green chest. She was guilt ridden at being the only survivor of the crumbled kingdom, large droplets fell to the ground as she weeped in sorrow she remembered her non conforming froggy sibling, Chimkin and how they had set out on an adventure somewhere out in the wild, and hope fluttered like butterflies in her chest her sibling might still be alive! Chimkin had Left before the kingdom fell and was the strongest out of the three triplets.

She wiped her tears quickly and steadied herself, she reminded herself that she was now the queen of frogdom and would have to take on the responsibilities that that title held.

~~ In the village ~~

Charm woke up that day before the sun had fully risen and reached for the now slightly stale bread in the handwoven basket, she was leaving today. She went on her way, walking the ever familiar worn path to her mothers house to leave a goodbye note, as they wouldn't be awake at this hour. She left the surrounding area of the house in sadness and hopped her way to the towns edge.

Charm reached the front gates of the town, the only barrier between cold-valley and the wilderness, she bade no one goodbye and set out towards the high-rock. Charm hopped from rock to rock for hours with no end in site, her long froggy legs ached with tiredness and her stomach rumbled, ravenous for some bread. She sat on a particularly flat rock and ate some dinner, she wrapped her coat close to her body and huddled under some rocks to shelter her against the piercing winds, and prepared for the hardest night of her life.

The harsh winds blew cold all night, freezing the moisture in Charms skin causing pain and discomfort, the cold from the stone seeped into her froggy joints. They would definitely ache in the morning.

The sun rose, breathing life into charms cold dry body. The frozen moister slowly defrosting causing pain. She slowly crawled into the sun to bask in the refreshing heat, she grabbed another bread stick and ate breakfast for the day.

She continued her unforgiving climb up the mountain, jumping from plateau to rock face using her froggy feet to stick to the dirty rocks. Stopping to take a breather she noticed some grass, wandering over she followed the grass to a beautiful flower of gold and red.

She sat admiring the living art work and settled down for the day in a little alcove in the mountain side, shielding her from the cold winds. The night was surprisingly warm and comfortable on the bed of grass, compared to the cold harsh night of yesterday, which was weird considering she was going higher and it should be getting colder.

She brushed the logical thinking off and closed her eyes to sleep and slowly drifted into the dream realm. Charm awoke in awe of the view, she looked over the edge and out over the field eyeing the rolling hills of the meadow town, she then turned her eyes to the sky.

Looking up she realised she was close to the top about a day and a half away and if she pushed herself she could make it tonight, her stomach rumbled reminding her that she forgot to eat dinner. She scoffed down two 🥯 bread rolls and quickly got to hopping, energised and refreshed she doubled in speed hopping from wall to wall.

1619 words have a froggy night, discord link in bio for more froggy adventures.