Crystal Folly

Tenosha's Message

The sun was rising on the fourth day into what was supposed to be the group's break. There had been no signs of anyone coming remotely close to their location. Johann sat up, alone in the shack, when he heard the sounds of wildlife. Looking out of the windowless hole, he saw something that was always steeped in legends and fairy tales for young children - a unicorn. He looked around for everyone else when he stepped outside, yet saw no trace or trail that anyone besides him had been there or could've left. He went over to look at the unicorn, but when he noticed that it was only an imitation made of solid crystal, with each fragment of it a different color to match the description of one perfectly.

"What? But how? Who made this?" he asked himself aloud, barely able to hear with the sudden gusts of wind. The ground beneath him rumbled violently, causing him to nearly lose his balance and fall face first into the snow. Suddenly, everything stopped, which, again, shifted his balance from the current position he was in and causing him to fall, the snow making him shiver as it made contact with his skin. The earth beneath him began quaking again, only this time, a large crystalline hand began to emerge around him, bringing the earth up with each finger. The shaking only stopped when the forearm of the giant was visible to him, and he instantly knew that whoever this was that was lifting him up to their face wasn't Xeno, as the crystals were orange, red, and green instead of only purple. If this isn't a dream, then how many more crystal people are there? How did everyone else even leave without a trail or something to follow them by? By the time he'd noticed that he'd stop moving, he was deep in internal conversations about what methods they could've used.

"I'm sorry I had to trick you into believing that there was a unicorn," the giant said, "I just needed a way to get you off the ground." The crystal unicorn began to shrink into the earth that the giant held, splitting into individual shards once the hooves were no longer visible.

"Where are my friends?" Johann asked, nearly shouting the question. He stood up, only to realize how high he actually was in the air and that he could barely breathe while doing so. Once he sat down, he asked again while panting in between each of the words. The giant only looked at him, confused as to what he meant.

"I know not of whom you speak of, Johann," the giant finally replied, "but my time here is limited, so I must deliver this message from your father, Tenosha." It watched as Johann immediately shot up at the mention of his dad, not wanting to miss anything that was potentially important. "He said, 'You, Ender, and Taylor be careful in this upcoming fight. Watch your brother closely, his dragon form and ability to use dragon magic is only temporary, as is Stella's cat form given to her by him. You made a good choice to bring the master wizard with you. I'm proud of you, son. Stay strong, we'll see each other soon.'" While he was quoting Tenosha, Johann heard what he'd thought his father would sound like after all this time; weary, tired, barely able to contain his excitement to tell his child something after so long, and happy that his words would reach him. When he noticed that he was being lowered back to the shack, his breathing became normal again and he transformed into a cat when he was level with the roof of it before jumping onto it.

"Wait," Johann called out to the giant, who had already began splitting into smaller pieces, "how do you know my dad? Where are you from?" By the time he had a third question ready to ask, the shards had already began sinking into the ground, leaving no trace whatsoever as to what was there moments before. Shortly afterwards, he began to hear everyone inside of the shed, waking up to the sound of trees being broken nearby. So it wasn't a dream, he thought to himself. He shook the snow off of him before going back into the shack to tell everyone what he'd been told minutes before.