the Twilight Crystal

◇Four: The Beginning is the End◇

"Come on, Keetone!"

"I told you already, it's SILUS!"

"And I told already you that it was Dacotti. Now we're both even."

It was only 7:00㏂ and already Silus wanted to quit. Morning dew glistened as the pink and gold promise of the morning flashed in the sky. The gentle sunlight's fingers stretched over the grassy mountains, bouncing off ponds and glowing into the darkest of caves.

And Silus despised it.

Paci sat on the wizard's shoulder, half asleep. "Silus...where are we going?" she squeaked tiredly. They both blinked against the strong sunrise, eyes still sensitive.

"On an adventure," Silus sighed, "with that." She gestured to the young and nimble magician, who was excited more than ever. She slammed the door to her house, giving it one solemn look before turning to leave. A grueling feeling settled in the pits of her stomach, caused by wild anxiety.

"Keetone, can we stop at my place?" Dacotti asked, walking ahead. "I need to gather my supplies."

Silently groaning in agitation, the wizard agreed. Very reluctantly. "Fine, but I want to be treated to a fair brunch."

Hiking down the hill the house resided on, which was steeper than the wizard can remember, the sun was rising more and more. The clattering of countless provisions and supplies echoed off the far mountains. Dacotti held all this on her back (which she persistently insisted on) and Silus just had her usual wizard robe and hat. She was also equipped with a large, strange looking cane with a glowing, purple stone sitting atop. The two began walking through the mountains and hills, stepping only on grassy fields that were plagued with dewdrops. It was for a few long, silent hours of nonstop moving until Friday finally spoke.

"This isn't really like you," she said, not looking at her higher authority.

"And just how would you know anything about me?"

Dacotti shrugged. "It's just the way you carry yourself. Plus, I've read a lot of literature about you. That's why I came in the first place." She struggled up another steep hill as the sun began to climb higher in the sky. Silus followed behind, only stopping when the magician said this. It was flattering to say the least, but then Dacotti spoke again. "And you talk way too much." Almost immediately, Silus was unamused. She started again, rushing to catch up with her present company with an eye roll.

"I appreciate it," Silus said, panting once the two reached the very top of the hill. "Wait a second. Where do you live?" She asked this because of the apparent nothingness. There were just hills upon hills of grass and flowers. Only a few trees dotted the vast surroundings, but no towns. Not even a single shack. Silus looked back, and if she squinted, she could somewhat make out the silhouette of her house. "We barely moved!"

Her cry echoed off the hills and shot back, except more anger was projected in this echo. Paci covered her ears, and Dacotti looked back. "What do you expect?" she snapped, stopping her feet from walking. "I walked over to see you because I knew you were powerful. Aren't you some renown wizard?" She waved her hands around in the air. "Just teleport us or something. That would make everyone happy!" Her face began to pink with annoyance.

Silus looked taken aback, then her face turned to a sneer. "No, no, no, you are not allowed to get annoyed with me!"

"Well do something about it! You were the one that wanted an insightful journey! Don't complain; this is what you wanted!" She turned around and began stomping down the hill.

Feeling rather defeated and insulted, Silus slouched in a very exaggerated matter. "Well, how far away are we from your town or whatever?"

"I traveled about nine days," the magician answered nonchalantly, not looking back.

Silus's eyes widened. "Nope! Not doing that!" Without another word, she took her cane in both her hands, and stomped it on the grass. Wind blew in all directions, and the wizard's eyes started glowing the same colour. "Celeritas sphaera!" she called. Suddenly, a pink bubble formed out of thin air and quickly encapsulated the wizard. Paci was now holding on to the wizard's hat, giggling with glee.

Dacotti stared in awe. "Wait, what?! No way!" She smiled, her jaw still gaping. Silus looked down at her from inside the bubble, her eyes back to normal and her staff in her hand. She then reached out with her free hand to the magician on the ground, her arm extending out the bubble and gesturing for Dacotti to join. Hesitantly, she grabbed it and was immediately pulled in to the bubble with a pop!

Everything looked pink. Each rolling hill and towering mountain was a sweet bubblegum, and didn't come close to the pastel that was Dacotti's hair. She turned in circles, astounded by the feat she had witnessed seconds before. Silus remained almost emotionless, as if nothing new happened. In reality, however, the wizard was quite surprised herself; she doesn't remember the last time she cast a spell such as this, and it was incredible that it didn't backfire. She nodded in pride, then looked down to see her hand still locked with Dacotti's. She jerked it away, and the magician snapped back to the moment.

Although the bubble was quite transparent, it was still opaque to a point where outside colours were not able to distinguish. "Are you ready?" Silus asked, gesturing for Dacotti to drop the heavy bags that burdened her shoulders. Nodding like a child, Dacotti immediately dropped her things and sat. The sphere was not spacious, but it was big enough to hold the two steady (with a comfortable distance inbetween). Nodding back, Silus set down her staff and bent forward, arms to her side. The vessel began to glide forward, slowly picking up speed. The outside surroundings slowly began to blur until they looked like streaks.

"Which direction are we going?" Silus asked, glancing over her shoulder to Dacotti. Dacotti herself sat with her legs crossed and tapped her knees with her index. "From here we go west," she answered politely. "But that's to my house. The book I have says the path to the Twilight Crystal is everchanging."

Silus immediately stopped the bubble, causing her companion to lunge forward and roll into the wizard's knees. Paci hopped off her friend's hat before she could be thrown off as well. Silus hissed and shoved the girl off her. "Wait, so you don't know the exact location?" she growled with no high volumes attached.

Dacotti struggled to stand, but when she got her footing, she merely pat her outfit down. "Well, no one does. Not even you, obviously." She sat down again near her bags, which contents were spewed out. "There isn't just a local map for these types of things. If you were actually local, you would be aware of that."

Standing, Silus didn't answer. Paci regained her spot on Silus's hat, looking back at Dacotti.

"And why aren't you around locals anyway?" she continued, letting out a sigh. "You probably would have known about the crystal before now if you just talked to people--"

"I have my reasons," Silus interrupted, glancing over her shoulder at Dacotti before looking forward again. The magician immediately felt like she had crossed a line and shrunk back. Paci tutted, and the bubble began moving again.

It wasn't until Silus heard Dacotti's faint snoring that she realized how late it had gotten. She was too lost in thought to focus on the outside world going dark. She began to slow the bubble to crawl before stopping it completely. She then guided it to the ground. With a whisper of a few chants, the bubble popped and the wizard was on grass. The sleeping magician awoken with a jolt, rubbing her eyes.

"This is a good place to set up a camp," Silus sighed more to herself. It was a positive and negative thing; somehow, the pair were still in the hill lands and nothing seemed to have changed in the past few hours. The only difference was that more trees were present. On the brighter side, they were one day closer to finding the Twilight Crystal.