The Heroes of Aeseganora: Part 1 - The Oca-Tree

The Phoeice

What in the seven seas were the Octonauts thinking when they all went through the portals? Their minds and hearts were racing at a million miles an hour with this question.

In an instant, it was as if Barnacles' body was being pulled in all directions at once and he was surrounded by a deep blue light. He eventually landed with a thud, feeling as if his body had been broken into a million pieces then jolted back together.

He gazed around his surroundings. He was in a beautiful, snowy forest, unlike any forest he had ever seen before. The air was absolutely freezing, but at the same time, it was as warm as sand on a beach. The sky, where it could be seen through the thick canopy of snow-covered branches, had a purple colour, and was decorated with the ever-so amazing aurora borealis, otherwise known as the northern lights.

Barnacles looked down at his feet, and realised that he wasn't standing on the ground at all. He was stood on a section of a flat tree branch which was covered in snow that was so deep it almost reached his torso. As he looked down further, he could see that the thick boughs of the trees knotted and snaked below him, each of the branches smooth enough to be a walkway.

The ground could have been three hundred feet below.

The smooth trunks of the trees, each one as wide as a whale shark, grew up through the interlocking web of branches. Growing on the ends of the branches and on the bark, like moss or lichen, were icicles. Some were tiny, no bigger than a baby fish, whilst others were as long as an oarfish, and growing upward, their cracked interiors glimmering delicately.

"Woah," Barnacles breathed as he looked around in wonder. The icicles glowed brighter as he reached out to touch them, as if they were delighted to see him, ready to put on a show of illumination. As he very lightly stroked them, he expected them to be as freezing as a glacier, however, he was surprised that they were cool and light under his paw.

Behind him, there was a soft chirp and the sound of feathers. He turned around to see a little bird, approximately the size of a barnacle goose, which had white and turquoise feathers, glittering as if they were made of icicles as well.

Perhaps they were.

The bird squeaked and took off, sailing deep into the twisty forest.

I hope that bird doesn't get tangled or hurt in there, Barnacles thought to himself, fearing that the branches could pose a risk of any of the two happening. Certainly from just looking at it, it was so easy to get lost into, and he wondered what sorts of mysteries and secrets lied within; it had a particular whisper of adventure.

He started to slowly walk forward, just to keep an eye on the bird. With each step, the snow on the branch reached lower and lower until the rest of his lower body started to show. Once he reached the end of the branch, he looked down below, realising that he was extremely high up from the ground.

Well, if I'm going to get down from here to search for the treasures, there's only one thing for it, he thought to himself.

And once he took several deep breaths in preparation, he jumped off the branch, expecting to hit the ground hard. However, to his surprise, he didn't. Instead, he slowly floated to the ground!

Once he landed on his feet, he noticed that tiny snowflakes were swirling everywhere, almost shimmering as bright as the magic sparkles he saw in Vivi's magnifying glass when he and the rest of the crew were in Ocalihalla.

Suddenly, he heard a loud caw; he turned around and saw another bird, which looked exactly like the one who he saw fly into the forest, only much bigger, about the size of a young sperm whale.

This one started to look the polar bear up and down very deliberately; he could feel their eyeballs pressing down onto him. He wondered if he should ask the bird for any clues as to where one of the treasures for the Oca-Tree may be hiding, and he was waiting for the bird to either pick him up with their beak and take him for a ride straightaway, or ask him if he was from around here first.