Wither

Chapter 1 - Luna

In Jardyn Wood, the vibrant coloured blooms flourish all day, and all night. These flowers are of such great importance to the nymphs that inhabite the forest, that to unearth one was treason. But that decree was destined to be broken.

Luna, the night nymph, walked around the blooming garden, feeling sad and alone. As she was the only nocturnal nymph in Jardyn Wood, the only company she had were the flowers. And everyone knows that flowers don't make good company, they serve only to observe. That was why Luna was walking alone at night in sadness. Groaning to herself, Luna continued her walk to the edge of the forest. Sitting on the ground, she raised her head towards the sky so that she could observe the stars, whom she also considered her friends. She moved to get up when she spotted something shimmering in the corner of her eye. Curious, she looked around and walked deeper into the forest to find what had captivated her attention. She looked a while longer and perceive the most beautiful flower in the world.

The flower before her was black as night, but at the same time it shone as brightly as the sun. Astounded, Luna leaned towards the flower, and before her mind could catch up with her actions, she jerked it from the ground. Somewhere in her head, Luna realised that what she had just done was against the law, but she was so entranced by the beautiful flower, that she could not bring herself to feel guilty. Luna, wanting to keep the flower to herself, snuck it over to her house, and planted the flower in a pot so that she could hide it under her sink. Pleased with her new companion, Luna went to bed just as the sun began to rise.

When Luna was fast asleep, the village was in a turmoil. When the nymphs of the forest woke up, they were faced with a scene that brought them to the edge of tears. All of the forest's flowers had begun to die, and their petals began to fall as if the woods were crying as well. In desperation, the nymphs began to water the flowers to no avail, the flowers did not come back to life. Venus, the queen of the nymphs had never encountered a problem of the same magnitude. Not a single flower of the forest had ever died under her reign of a millennia, and certainly not the entier garden! There could only be one explanation, thought the Queen, the flower of life has been uprooted from the earth.

Convinced that that was the reason behind the death of the flowers, Queen Venus ordered her best hunting troops to find the missing flower, "You must find the flower of life! And bring me the nymph responsable for this outrage!"

With this declaration, the hunters began their vigorous search for the flower. They ransacked each and every treehold, and when they reached Luna's they gave a loud knock at the door. Luna woke in confusion, no one had ever woke her in the middle of the day. Luna opened the door, half asleep, but when she saw the line of hunters positioned before her house, she was fully awake.

As Luna watched them, mouth gaping, the nearest, and roughest looking hunter announced in a voice as strong as granite, "We are here to look through your treehold for the flower of life that was uprooted some time last night. This is to ensure the survival of our garden, that has begun to perish in it's absence. So step aside, and show us around."

Luna, who had just realized the severity of what she had done, motioned shakily for the hunters to enter. The brutal hunter eyed her suspiciously with his dark grey eyes, and roughly brushed her aside as he walked by.

As she showed them the interior of her home, she tried her best to go through the kitchen quickly, but the hunters were determined to be thorough, and one opened the cabinet under the sink to discover the pot that contained the flower of life.

Without raising his eyes from the shimmering flower, the hunter stated, "You are coming with us, to Queen Venus ."

Then, without another word, Luna was immobilized and dragged by two hunters towards Queen Venus's castle where she was dropped at the Queen's feet like a sack of dirt. The rough hunter, who appeared to be the commander, explained to the Queen what had happened.

With pursed lips, and icy blue eyes that caused goose flesh to spread over Luna's body when they settled on her trembling form, the Queen turned to Luna, "Is this true?" Her voice crackled with furry, and vapor poured past her lips as her magic went unchecked. "Did you uproot the flower of life last night? Are you the one responsible for the devastation brought upon our sacred forest? Have you defied me, and the one law we follow above all?"

With a small hiccupping voice, Luna tried to explain as tears cascaded down her pale cheeks, "I ... I didn't mean to cause the death of all these flowers, they are my only friends. I saw this flower last night, and it fascinated me, so ... I took it from the ground and brought it home so that I could have something to talk to. I didn't think... I didn't want... I'm so sorry. "

Queen Venus, not at all moved, declared, "Your apology is worthless. You have admitted to treason, and to the murder of our beloved garden, and you will pay."

Luna became more and more frightened as ice spread from Queen Venus's fingers to the arms of her throne like a frozen spider web. "I didn't know that the other flowers would die!" Luna tried again desperately.

Furious, the Queen yelled, "Enough!" Ice pellets shot across the room in a flash, one scrapped Luna's arm, and caused a steady stream of blood to drip, drip onto the cold stone floor. "I will not listen to any more excuses. You have caused more rot to spread our forest than we have experienced since the Dragon War two thousand years ago! Not only will you be forever banished from Jardyn Wood, but I will make sure that you will never be tempted to uproot a flower again."

A slow wicked smile started to spread over the Queen's face, "From this day forward, flower's shall only bloom in sunlighy, and no flower, in all the land of Evargrien, shall bloom again after night's fall."

With that said, the Queen lifted her hands up, and shut her eyes in concentration as the air around her started to glisten with her magic and spread over the land.

"No!" Luna cried, struggling to reach the Queen.

The Queen snapped her eyes open, and with a freezing glance sealed Luna's mouth shut with an ice cold band that bit painfully into her skin. "Get rid of her." Queen Venus ordered her hunters, as she continued to spread her spell.

Luna was thrown out of the wooden carriage when they had reached the outskirts of Jardyn Wood, where she was finally freed from her ice gag.

"Please!" She begged the grey eyed hunter, "You can't do this! It's dangerous for nymphs outside of the Jardyn Wood. You may as well kill me now." Even the death trained, supposedly fearless hunters didn't dare step a foot out of the wood's boundary line.

The hunter stared at her mercilessly. "Don't bother coming back." He said in a monotone voice, "Or the Queen will have your head on a frozen spike."

The hunters waited until Luna grudgingly inched her way out of Jardyn Wood's protective boundary line until they took off towards the castle.

Her surroundings were a stark contrast to what she was accustomed to. Yes, she was used to the dark, and to the silence, but the darkness she had known was more friendly, it had seemed to caress her, and the silence had held whispers of beautiful songs. The darkness that now surrounded her was thick and suffocating, and the silence eerie and threatening. Luna was lost in a world she had never thought to see. What dangers awaited her? How long would she last? Luna imagined that this sense of misplacement was the worst thing she could ever experience. But, when the night finally came, and her flower friends folded on themselves, she realised that she was wrong. Because whatever sense of loneliness she had felt before was nothing compared to the emptiness she felt now.

Luna was utterly alone.