LUNA SUNFLOWER is a freak. The kind you whisper about on the streets or spare a few concerned glances at. But she is also a dreamer, the kind that'd dream up big adventures of fairies and mysterious assassins kidnapping mothers-her mother, to be spe...
"Au'loin is where they lived. The little people claimed to be natives of said land, where luxuries such as golds and silvers were in abundance. Where flowers bloomed in the cold of winter and the winds sang 'til the close of spring."
–––Unknown
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We stepped past the leafy bushes and around the velvet toadstools to face a great Hawthorn tree. Tall and mighty the tree stood, its branches dressed in autumn leaves mimicking a crackling fire. At the base of its sacred trunk lay the corpse of a beautiful red-headed girl.
She lay on her stomach, her pumpkin-coloured hair spilt from her skull down her shoulders and onto the pile of leaves, she slept upon, masking her visage from the world. Her small freckled shoulders rose and fell at a steady rhythm. I couldn't help but admire the gown that the child wore, almost glowing in the dark as if rebelling against the night itself.
Lucian did not hesitate to walk up to the kid and...flick a coin in the air, letting it fall and drop into the puddle that lay between him and the sleeping beauty. The coin spun and plopped into the water, a glittering drop spiralling upwards before retreating after the coin. He muttered a few inaudible verses before he scooped up a pile of dirt and gently blew it into the puddle.
The woods seemed to hold its breath.
Nothing happened for a few minutes, and I started to get impatient. Poking and patting the boy on the shoulder as I tested his sanity. He shushed me and told me to wait, but other than that, he remained completely silent.
I frowned and tugged at my sleeves, hugging my arms in the hopes of warming myself up. I rolled my eyes, not understanding how stalling in front of a strange sleeping girl and flipping a coin would help me find my ma'. I was about to turn and leave...before it happened.
I was bewildered, my restlessness fled me as I gazed at the small puddle in curiosity.
It had turned completely gold!
I took a subconscious step forward, crouching and almost reaching to touch the magnificent puddle of liquid gold. It smelled sweet, sweeter than honey but still pleasurable. It made my stomach growl.
My eyes widened and my jaw fell to the floor when the puddle started growing! Yes, growing!
At this point, I hadn't noticed Lucian had shuffled far behind me, away from the sparkling puddle that stretched below, shining and glowing, enough to fight the night and lighten the trees around it like it was the sun itself.
And it was beautiful.
I reached for it, even when the golden pool was less than thirty centimetres away from my sneaker-clad feet, I kept on stretching my short arm as far as it could go, trying to grasp the glowing orb that was fixed in the centre, where Lucian had dropped the coin. I ignored how the grass seemed to char and burn at the touch of the glittering liquid, continuing to carve its way into the forest.
