The Violet Thread (Part One: Portal Rods)

Chapter One

Violet opened her eyes warily. The world seemed to spin. She dragged herself up from the ground and pulled the damp leaves from her face. What little light streaked through the canopy above cast shadows all around her. Nothing looked familiar. Her hands trembled, but not from the brisk morning air. Something was different. Her body naturally lifted onto her toes, nothing happened. She was grounded. Her breathing slowed as she reached behind her. She rubbed her hand across her shoulder blades and a pang hit her heart. Her wings were missing. She collapsed to her knees and the tears fell in silence. She tried to remember. She had done everything as she was told.

Yesterday had been her seventeenth birthday, the day that all fairies entered the Divination Tree. She dressed in the pale yellow tunic the elders had left for her and draped a thin gold chain around her neck. She held the pendant in her hand and traced her fingers along the delicate details of the design. This had always helped her focus and calm her nerves. Her mother had given her the necklace at birth, just as her mother had passed it to her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before flying to the silver pond to pluck a water lily as an offering. Tradition dictated that she lay the flower at the base of the opening of the tree before entering. Once inside, she repeated the incantation and waited. She had been told what to expect since she was a small child. It would begin with a low humming. Then, the earth would begin to envelop her feet. The vines would gently wrap around her body and the humming would grow louder. The air would smell sweet, like honeysuckle, as the tree listened to her heart and read her vibrations. Had she smelled the honeysuckle? She inhaled deeply and recalled the scent. It had been honeysuckle, but also smoky, like it had been just slightly burned. The light would become a pale pink and then...then, that's when things went wrong. The light didn't turn pink, it turned purple, a deep, rich purple. She was supposed to be released and emerge from the tree, her tunic changed to represent the color of her element. Blue held strength with water, green with earth, red with fire, and white with wind. She looked down at her tunic, it was still the same pale yellow only now torn and stained with dirt. What had happened after the light changed? She remembered hearing chimes in the distance as the vines wrapped tighter around her. There was a sinking sensation, as if the tree was pulling her down into its roots and then...darkness...and then, she looked around at the dense forest, and then...this. She clasped her hands together to stop the trembling and noticed the glow was gone. The glow that represented the potential of her power, stripped away before she had even felt it. Everyone lost their glow after the Tree helped bring their powers to their element. It was the sign of maturity; a sign that you had found your strength. Her mother had told her stories of emerging from the Tree, her tunic a shimmering blue, with the pull of the tides running through her veins. With the flick of her finger she lifted the dew off the water lily she had brought and danced it through the air as if she had been controlling water her entire life. Her father emerged white and with a sweep of his palm brought on a windstorm that shook the entire village. Both equally powerful, her mother was always more delicate in her control. A sad smile escaped her lips thinking of her parents. She wiped the tears from her eyes and again looked at her hands, the absence of the glow even more prominent. She felt nothing.

Violet looked around. She was at the base of a massive tree, blackened as if burned, while everything around it flourished, alive and lush. She wondered if her arrival had caused it. If not her, then what? She ran one hand up the trunk, fingering the bark, overcome with a pain and sadness that seemed to come more from the tree than from herself.

"I'm sorry," she said aloud.

Her voice sounded strange against the deafening silence. She looked around again, this time more slowly, peering through the trees and taking in distant shapes. She thought she could make out a stream in the distance and decided it was as good a start as any. The stream would have to lead somewhere and somewhere was better than staying here.