The lands

Chapter 1

The breeze blowing off of the ocean whispers in the trees and cools my warm skin. The waves lap against the rocky shore with small claps and splash the bank of the forest. My hands provide a cushion for my head against one of the many thick branches of the oak tree I rest in.

I breath deeply, glad to be in my own world beside the ocean, away from the rest of the village.

"Scar! Scar!" I sigh and sit up straight. So much for my little escape.
My hands clasp around a branch beneath me and I push off of my perch. My feet land softly in the foliage at the base of the grand tree, my arms outstretched for balance. I draw my bow as I stand, striding quickly out of the forest and onto the rough trail that leads from the village to the sandy part of the beach.

"Scar!" The little girls' piercing voice cuts through the forest. "Ayana!" I shout back in a sing-song voice. She jumps out of the forest and stops three yards in front of me.
"Oliver has requested you to the sand-bay-beach."
"Did he say why?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at the child.
She shakes her head, sending her wild mass of curly copper hair flying around her small freckled face.
"He said 'it is urgent you must find her'."
I nod slowly then allow the small girl to lead me to the sand beach.

The trail curves and as we walk the trees grow taller, thicker and lusher. They sway in the breeze, more and more as we get closer to the beach.
I swing my bow back over my shoulder and gaze up at the green leaves as we run.
We soon reach a grassy clearing that borders the beach and I search the tree tops for Oliver and whomever else may be with him. "Scar! You're here!" A voice calls from the forest.
Oliver's tan face peeks out from the bush. "What is so urgent, Oliver?"
He gestures for me to follow him into the forest, so I do.
Once we are out of earshot he begins explaining. "We've been watching an object on the ocean float towards the shore since dawn, when it finally reached the beach I retrieved it." He pushes back a fern leaf the size of myself, revealing a small clear bottle capped with a strange material. Inside was a small piece of parchment paper folded many times.
Oliver glances at me, and bites his bottom lip, a common habit of his when he's nervous.
He turns around again and picks it up with both hands, delicately handing it over to me as if it could break at any minute. I grab the bottle and turn it around several times before grasping the small object blocking water from entering the capsule. I prepare to pull it out when I hear Oliver shout.
"Wait!"
"What?"
"What if it's a trap." He says, I know he is scared to open the bottle, but I am not.
"Then it's a trap." I shrug, before proceeding to twist the cap, pulling it free of the bottle.
"What if there's magic in it?" My eyes drift up from the bottle to meet his hazel-green ones.
"Like a spell? Please, when have you ever witnessed magic or heard of it from someone other than Maggi? Besides, you sent for me to see it. I decide to open the bottle."
Oliver shrugs and sighs after a while.
"Fine. Go ahead and open it, but if something goes wrong, don't say I didn't warn you." He raises is hands over his head in an action if defence before stepping back a few steps.
I roll my eyes at him and shift my gaze back down to the glass container in my hands. I twist and pull on the cap for a few moments, before I finally hear the satisfying pop of it coming free. I look back up at Oliver with an 'I told you so' look on my face. "See, that wasn't so bad, now was it?"