Dak And Stell/The Travelers Trilogies

1.9 Brilliant Plains

In the morning, the three of us got ourselves fed along with getting our packs on. We left the building that we were staying. It was a three-quarter sphere attached to the side of a massive pulsing tree that shimmered with tiny facets. Furthermore, it glowed with a blue pulse that faded to green as Stell walked out behind Xalmia.

Looking out across the crystallized forest, I noticed that the trees had small glowing jewels embedded in different colors. They glittered and sparkled across the tree trunks in a rainbow of colors. Xalmia and Stell noticed me standing at the edge of the canopy by the rope vine railing and came over to stand beside me.

"What do you mean by saying you use the gems for a better purpose?" I asked as I looked out across the other canopies. I could see people of all ages walking and interacting peacefully with one another. The culture seemed to have a family-based ecology to it, and nothing sounded off.

"We offer our inner energy to the crystal to borrow the magic to help sustain one's life and to defend ourselves in times of need," Xalmia explained. "This means that the use of our crystal causes us to fatigue from each use, and we tire. Some can use it more than others by building up a stronger connection with the crystal by training with it."

"So none of you can use magic? I mean, without the gems?" Stell asked.

"No, but gems are in abundance for us to use. I have been using my gem for 182 turns around Nubulis, the star we orbit." She said, rather casually.

I stared at her in amazement, 182 years? That was wonderful. She did not look a day over 21. Now I have no idea how long a turn around their star is, but I think it is safe to assume she has been here for a while.

We all stepped away from the edge and started our way down the rope bridges. We seemed to be at what appeared to be the topmost structure, and as we made our way through the tree-top canopy bridges, Stell and I had to shield our eyes. Xalmia noticed us struggling with the lights.

"Put these in over your eyes." She said as she passed us each a small case with a purple cover. As we got them and opened them up, I noticed two small glass bottles with caps over them and a larger bottle. That bottle had a stopper with a little skinny tip sticking down to the bottom of the bottle. Inside the smaller two bottles were identical small purple clear rounded discs.

"What are these for?" I asked.

"Your eyes, they will help you see, and the other bottle is to help if your eyes get dry." She explained.

Stell looked and me with a perplexed look on his face. There was no way my friend was going to use his massive fingers to open the tiny bottles. Xalmia came over and offered to help Stell with the small bottles and told him to sit down on a bench so she could help him. As he sat down, Xalmia proceeded to scale Stell with the tiny bottles in one hand.

As the two of them struggled, I opened one of the bottles and got the disc on the tip of my finger the way I could see Xalmia holding it. She was now standing on Stell's shoulders, pulling his eyelid back as he tried to remain calm. I did the same and pulled my eyelid back and set the purple disc in and blinked my eye a couple of times. I closed my other eye so I could see what it looked like, and the world had a soft purple look through the lens, but the colors seemed to come the more I looked through it.

Stell and Xalmia had finally finished their acrobatic act as I got the other lens in my eye. The world was not as bright, and we no longer need to shield our eyes, and the colors were starting to go back to normal. I looked over to Xalmia and nodded my head to her in thanks.

As we made our way down to the forest floor, we could hear birds and other things deep in the forest. I looked around but, I could not make out anything. The trees were too thick, and there were far too many of them to get a clean line sight for any amount of distance.

Xalmia motioned for us to follow her, and we headed into the forest. The sounds seemed to quiet down as we walked on. The trees continued, and there was no sign of light ahead, just more trees. I opened my self up and listened to the sounds around me. I could hear the soft hum from Xalmia's necklace, the buzz from all the tree, and the drone from the village behind us up in the trees.

We walked for what seemed to be hours, and finally, we reached the edge of the woods. The bright green rolling prismatic blades were no longer blinding. Instead, the plains look like a rolling green glass ocean. Xalmia turned and signaled us to stop.

"We need to be careful by staying low and try not to crest any of the hilltops if we do not have to." She sent to us.

" I have an idea that might help." Stell sent, and then he gathered his will.

"Augment." He spoke three times. He was first pointing to Xalmia's brown cloak, then to our white robes. As he did, they all began to change to the same color and texture as the rolling grass. He examined our clothes and nodded. They looked good, and when we tied the fronts up and pulled the hoods down, we could hide in the grass without worrying about the blades cutting us. Stell proceeded to augment our packs as well, and we became one with the grass.