Dream's ̶W̶i̶s̶h̶ Curse

Under the Canopy

Eaucrat seemed to fall for an eternity, down through the dark void. Luminescent streams of a familiar setting rushed past her and with a loud thump she landed on the soft forest floor. Wafts of fresh, forest scents rose from the green stratum below. A hanging vine to the left was damp and there was no wind here, which left the air moist. Water dripped slowly but rhythmically from a nearby anthurium hookeri. Almost every plant in view had thick layers of protection against the moist air. Heavy rays of sunlight poured down from the gaps between leaves of the tall trees. The whole forest was . . . no, rainforest, was alive and breathing.

She groaned and rubbed the side of her head. Eaucrat had luckily landed on a patch where there weren't many spikes, but where was she? First, she dropped through a hole into a dream, then she fell through a mysterious hole while travelling to the meeting place and now she had fallen through a hole that had opened up at the meeting place which was especially bad since her armour was heavier than most armour.

What is with these people and falling through holes?

But that's when Eaucrat realised, where were the other people? There were definitely supposed to be three others with her. She lifted herself from off the ground and looked around for a sight of anyone –

A yell from across the forest floor caused her to look in its direction. And saw light reflecting off someone's armour. It was definitely Ophelia. She knew of no one else who had such reflective armour. A pair of glaring red eyes were just visible through the layers of bushes and trees. That was also Ophelia.

With a grumble, Ophelia stood up and walked over to where Eaucrat was standing. The air whooshed to reveal a certain, gleaming golden phoenix and a red dragon.

"Kirmizi!" cried Eaucrat, running over to the dragon. At the same time, the phoenix swooped over to Ophelia, who smiled. "Kultainen."

However, though reunited with their faithful companions, Amber and Angelina were nowhere to be seen. They were missing. Eaucrat sighed and tapped her foot on the ground. "Should we stay here or go look for the others?"

"There's no point staying here so, look for the others?"

"Okay."

They resumed walking, but not without noticing the increasing absence of light. Eaucrat squinted at the barely-visible sky through the tree canopies. It looked like it was getting closer to night-time, but the light was receding far too quickly. Is this natural? What could be the cause of this?

As if in response to her queries, the two of them, in addition to Kirmizi and Kultainen, arrived at the front of a sign which read 'The Evil'. It was ironic, since the strange whisper before she fell in the last hole-known-as-a-void had said something to do with it. Oh well, there was no point remembering, since her memory was bad anyway.

The sign wasn't really a sign, but the words were hurriedly carved onto the side of the tree trunk by a sharp object. The sky turned completely dark and the only light in the open was the golden phoenix, not even the moon or stars.

Oh well, getting back to the task, the writing was strange . . . like something could just pass through it – and not just the empty parts of the carving. Eaucrat's hand reached out to touch it, and her hand went straight through the tree.

Eaucrat and Ophelia glanced at each other and slowly, her hand reached further in the tree. It felt just like air! In fact, the whole, tall ceiba genus was a projected image from tomfoolery. The image of it and a few other trees spluttered and weakened, melting into the surrounding air.

When the ceiba genus fully disappeared, what the two girls saw was . . . a destroyed village. Ash and charred bits of wooden buildings was clear evidence of a fire. Also, the smoky smell of the fire remained, lingering in the previously fresh air . . . what was happening?

Ophelia looked back behind them. The rainforest was still behind them, but the village was also in front. They obviously belonged to different locations. Eaucrat tapped Ophelia's shoulder and whispered, "Wasn't your friend a fire thing?"

Ophelia whispered back, "Mossa said she wielded Phoenix Breath. But I haven't even talked to her, I just saw her from the top of the rock I was sitting on at Hitain Moutak."

"Hitain Moutak?"

"You didn't know? That's the name of our meeting place."

What a strange name for a meeting place. Whoever named it should've named it something simpler, like Rock Hillock and Yellows. Actually that may be too complicated anyway. Looking back to the front at the destroyed village, it was utterly abandoned, except for . . . what was that? Eaucrat took a few steps forward, into the village, to get a better view.

It was exactly what she thought it was – a flower bud. What was it doing in the middle of a destroyed village? The bud was a thin encasement, its white petals wrapped protectively around it. The inside had a soft glow as if symbolising the coming of life and illuminated the dark space. She briefly thumbed the flower and took her hand away. It was warm, unlike the smoke around the burnt village. It seemed as if as long as you were close to the flower bud, it would provide you with its heat and energy.

It felt just like home, back at the Rong Khun palace, where there was so much life in the gardens. The flower bud wouldn't be of any use in this burnt village, so maybe she should just . . . take it. Eaucrat pinched the stem of the bud and held it firmly but gently in her hands. She searched around in the few sachets tied to her armour and took out a fat, cylindrical bottle. She then unscrewed the metal lid and placed the bud in the glass bottle. She screwed the lid back on and popped it back in her sachet for later use.

Ophelia coughed, "Are you sure it'll survive in there . . . ? I'm pretty sure that they need some sort of water for it to survive without soil."

Eaucrat looked up at her. "That's true, but this bottle is made from Rong Khun palace's garden dust, so it should stay alive until we find another source."

A rustle in the rainforest signalled for them to be quiet. There was another rustle and both of the fighters gripped onto their weapons. A shamrock green-clad figure made a mad dash towards them, obviously having failed their rainforest disguise. The green attacker lunged at the sachet containing the bud. Kirmizi, the red dragon, leapt up in time to catch the attacker's arm in its jaw. Which meant blood had been spilled.

Instead of wildly shaking his hand, trying to get rid of the sharp teeth, he just stood still. A crack formed on his very leafy disguise and he fell apart. Literally. The person, complete with green sunhat, green duffle, green mid-calf boots and his physical body, lay in pieces on the ground.

Eaucrat knelt down and picked up a piece. It was hard, like a rock. As seconds passed, the pieces turned a dull grey and crumbled into fine stone dust. Hm . . . strange. Ophelia dipped a finger on the remains of the human and blew on it. The dust scattered in the air and settled on the village ground.

But, Eaucrat noticed, the dust wasn't randomly spread about –they were gathered collectively to form a picture of a tipped balance scale.