Guardian of Elements

Chapter 24 - Magical forest

The forest Kate had entered was very different from the autumn woods. It was much denser, even more than hers. There was moss everywhere on the ground, making the forest floor very mushy and soft. Trees, mostly oaks and beeches, were so close to each other that the Sun couldn't shine directly on the ground, making the forest dark, but not in a scary way.

Soon, Kate noticed that plants were strange. Once, she saw an orange-leafed flower with a drop of some glowing nectar in its blossom. Later, she found a small plant with four leaves that were constantly folding and unfolding around a red berry on the top. She also got herself tangled in some bushes that fastened around her feet and pulled her to the ground as soon as she entered them, and it took a lot of effort to get out of them. The entire forest was looking otherworldly.

But a real shock came when she found a small stream. Around it, there were many plants and flowers Kate couldn't recognize, many of them were glowing. But there were also several green trees with orange, bean-shaped amber fruit, approximately the size of her head, glowing from the inside. Kate was a bit hungry, so she found one close to the ground, but when she looked closely at it, through its transparent husk she saw a tiny, human-like creature, sleeping in the fluid of the pod, as if it was an egg.

Then, she heard a splash in the stream. She looked that way and saw several strange, pale blue fish with long and narrow fins and two barbels growing from the back of their heads, which were longer than their body. Then, one of them jumped out of the stream and stopped, hovering above it, as if swimming through the air. Other fish followed the first one, and when the entire school of five of them was floating above the stream, they just flew away into the forest. Kate was amazed. These creatures were far beyond her imagination.

The Sun was almost down, but thanks to many glowing plants, the forest wasn't very dark. She decided to follow the stream, which was being given a magical orange lit by the pod trees. She reached a small pond. But as she was leaving, she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. One of the trees on the other side was bending in a very unnatural way. It wasn't the wind, the tree itself was turning around. One of its branches reached above the stream and a single glowing pod fell into the water. It was floating, and soon joined by several others. Every tree along the stream bent itself and dropped one amber fruit into the current, which carried them to the pond. Night was inbound, and the amber pods were creating mesmerizing lights in the crystal-clear water. Then, the husk of one of them slowly opened, as if peeled, and the golden glowing fluid poured out of it, into the water. When it was empty, a little fairy crawled out of it and stood up on the empty pod, drying its transparent wings. Soon, as many followed her, a swarm of tiny fairies was flying above the now completely golden pond.

Kate was stunned. She felt like she had left her world and entered a completely different one. Fish breaking laws of physics, fairies, glowing plants... If this was what entire Tawarthion's forest looked like...

Tawarthion! And the fire! She got so carried away by the sight that she forgot why she was there. She gave the fairy pond one final look and darted away, deeper into the nighting woods.