Cherish

Chapter 1

The stars started to fade away as Mystic and I were walking the path to a town called Millnerve. Cylla was somewhere in the trees watching over us, making sure nothing was coming and making sure that we are safe. As we were staring at the night sky slowly fading, I started to think about that day. That day was so long ago but the pain still stabs at my heart pulling me deeper and deeper into the abyss that most people call depression.

As we grew closer to Millnerve, the trees grew quiet and the morning birds that were once chirping away so happily were silent. Cylla jumped out of a tree in front of us and made a gesture telling us that someone was coming. Mystic steadied his breathing and pulled out his long sword. The sword reflected the light of the morning sun against his long pointed ears as the trees were no longer providing coverage from its harsh rays. I grabbed my bow but no arrow. My magic arrows cause much more damage. I thought to myself as I pulled the bowstring back with nothing on it. The more I concentrated on the bowstring, the more visible a lightning arrow became, already knocked onto the string. I could hear my breathing grow heavy. This feeling in the air feels so familiar to me. My throat was stinging for an odd amount of time. Then it hit me. This is magic! My thoughts began to swim as I tried to think of what this magic was and why it seemed so familiar to me.

Before I could continue to think of what this magic was, a person came into view and had an immense amount of power in his aura. My mind was still swimming when Mystic went to go attack the person.

"NO!" I yelled after him and realized that my concentration had been elsewhere so my magic arrow was gone and my bow was empty. Mystic didn't slow down but Cylla who was about to move stopped and paused a moment after I yelled.

"I need to figure this out. This all seems way too familiar to me." As I was explaining to Cylla, I heard Mystic screaming at someone to put him down. I watched as the person who was walking to us just a second before, had Mystic in a death grip without even touching him.

"Put him down please," I said in a calm and smooth voice trying not to make the thing in front of us angry. The person slowly turned their head. His hood was covering his face so that I couldn't see who he was. I could only tell that he was a man by the slight amount of stubble that was growing from his chin. He stared at me for a second, then dropped Mystic and ran over to me almost making me fall over as he got closer.

"Cherish?" The man in front of me questioned my name. I looked at him in a confused way as to ask how he knew my name. As he said my name Mystic jumped over to my side and pulled me behind him. Cylla also did the same to where they are both standing in front of me and I could no longer see the man. I heard some rustling, and all of a sudden a gasp came from Mystic in front of me. I tried to push him out of the way but he tightened his muscles as to keep his ground and tell me not to come forward.

"Please allow me to see Cherish," the voice of the man came out from in front of Cylla and Mystic. All I could tell of what was going on was Mystic gasped because either the man did something or he was someone we knew. But I can't tell why Mystic isn't letting me see the person.

After about 5 minutes of just listening to the rustling of the wind, which I just realized had come back, I got annoyed. They weren't talking or doing anything. Cylla and Mystic were just towering away from me to protect me from the man.

I stomped my foot making Mystic jump a bit. After I caught him off guard I pushed through him and made my way to the man in the hooded cloak. And realized that Mystic gasped because the man had fallen to his knees almost begging to let him see me.

"Who are you and how the heck do you know my name?" I questioned him and he gave a scoff from under his hood. He slowly raised his arms up to his hood and pulled it back to show his head. My eyes widened and I almost wanted to cry seeing that this man looked exactly like Zen. My hands went to my mouth as the tears began to fall.

"I know who I look like, but I am not Zen," he sighed as he himself looked like he was about to cry. "My name is Zeland, I am Zens cousin. Zen sent me a messenger eagle before he and Mystic went to fight the basilisk. He told me that if he was killed in battle, then I would need to look out for you and Mystic. He mentioned another person but said that that person could take care of themselves," He explained, obviously talking about Cylla in the end. He also explained how he knew my name and gave me his background story so that I could better understand how close he and Zen were when they were younger. They were actually really quite close but one day Zen ran away because the family that they belonged to treated them both horribly. Zen had to run but meant to take Zeland with him. They just didn't realize that Zeland's mother would be with Zeland all night beating him because he was useless. He didn't know magic by the normal age of 6. Zen got his magic sense at the age of 2 so when Zeland only just got his power at the age of 11, his family had already beat him to the point where he was afraid that if they found out about his powers they would beat him till he could no longer breathe. So when Zen ran away at the age of 7, Zeland had to be left alone with his mother beating him senseless.

Zeland told me that when he finally got his powers he also gained the courage to run away. He ran at the age of 16. He couldn't let his family keep torturing him like that just because they thought he didn't have power. After a while of Zeland running, he took a breath and realized that he had run clear to another town.

"I had finally felt free to be me. After a while, I got a job and started raising money to by my own home. I moved in but then had to leave soon after because my family had come looking for me. So I ran again. Until a few years ago when Zen contacted me. He told me all about you and the elf boy called Mystic. So I decided I would find you three. It took a lot longer than I thought it would have, but I'm here,"

He explained everything in full detail. To the point where I thought he might have been crying.

I looked over to Mystic. After I saw his face, I felt like my heart was going to be ripped from my chest. His face was a mix of confusion and pain. We all knew what kind of person Zen was to Mystic, but to him, their story was a happy and grand story. We would hear them laughing in the middle of the night because they were reminiscing the fun times when Zen had first met Mystic and me.

Mystic and I were orphans from Feltscavern. A small town that was known for trade and animal pelts. Mystic was found as a baby by me when I was only 9. He was only one and looked like he needed a home. So I took him to my hideout where I took care of him. That is until Zen found us.

"Zen found us when I had just turned 18. Mystic was about 10 years of age and really looked up to him. Zen was close to the same age as me and we started to have feelings for each other right away. Cylla came into the picture before we had met Zen. Even to this day, I don't know much about Cylla, but they seem to feel safe around us and they stay with us no matter how far we travel. Sometimes Cylla even carries me because we would walk to the point where my feet would bleed and I couldn't feel them anymore. But Cylla has never complained once.

We welcome you Zeland. No matter who you look like and what you have been through in your life. We will always be there for you. And maybe you can help train Mystic. He really needs it."

Zeland laughed a bit and looked at me with gratitude.

"And how did you silence the birds? I was So confused!"

He laughed again and told me he would tell me later.