Folklore Forest | A Zodiac Story

Epilouge

"...and next week, we'll go over the difference between Fairies and Fae folk," he said. "Any other questions before we leave?"

"Professor Walt?" one student asked, raising their hand. The rest of the class went quiet.

"Yes, Luna?" the professor hummed, cleaning up his papers.

"How is this useful?" Luna asked, rolling her eyes. "Like, do you expect us to actually believe this stuff?"

The professor, young for his tenure, let out a laugh. "Alright, that's fair. But let me tell you something. You all are in college to learn and to understand other people's lives and perspectives. To know something greater than yourself. Who am I to bar you from that?"

The girl raised an eyebrow, and he could see that his answer wasn't satisfactory. It was an entry level course, most people were taking it as an elective.

"There was a time where these myths and fables were how people were able to understand the world. Where they used gods and fairies instead of science, and witches instead of coincidence. You may not find it all that useful, or inviting -- but I invite you to realize that one day people may view our beliefs the same way. That our religious texts may just be the next collection of Grimm's fairy tales, and how our customs may fall into this category at some point," Walt went on. 

The class was silent, and the girl was going red in her seat. Her neighbors were smirking, looking at her out of the corner of their eye. 

"And when that happens, they will teach a class on it," the professor said, a youthful glint in his eye and a growing grin. "And a student will raise their hand and ask if it is useful."

The girl huffed, but the professor was paying no more attention to her.

"The short answer to your question is that it may not be," he hummed. "But you have to learn and understand the past to better understand the future, but also to better understand each other. "

He looked at his watch. It was old, broken and silver, laced with vines and flowers sprouting through the cracks. But the clock still ticked.

"And that is time, if anyone would like to talk to me about anything, please come chat. And you have your papers due next week," he announced. 

Shuffles of papers scattered through the classroom, laptops being put away and textbooks being closed shut. Talking resumed as students walked out with their friends to grab lunch. The lecture hall, meant for 200 students, slowly emptied out.

One student, who had tan skin and pointy ears, came bounding down the hall to where the professor's desk was. He walked with a lightness to his steps, and there was something noticeably wrong with his eyes, like they could not hold one color entirely. He had a strange tattoo on his neck, that looked like some runes that the professor could almost recognize. He cocked his head and grinned.

"May I have your name, sir?" he asked, his eyes finally materializing to the same brown that the professor's were.

The professor, who was not foolish, laughed. "You've been doing your readings. No, you may not. But you may refer to me as Professor Capricorn Walt. And how may I refer to you?"

"Ramus, sir," the student said. 

Capricorn stared at him, blinking slowly. "Your parents named you branch?"

Ramus went red. "That was my A-- my dad's fault. Besides the point, I have a delivery for you. I was told you'd have something for me?"

Capricorn frowned. "What do you have for me?"

The student pulled a box from his backpack, and when Capricorn opened it, it was all letters. Piles of them, some older than others. All with old paper. From his bag, Capricorn pulled out his own small box of them, dating back to when he was a teenager.

"Who are you?" Capricorn asked the boy. "How did you get here?"

"The forest says hello," Ramus said, grinning. "So do my parents." 

Capricorn threw his head back and laughed. When he looked back to the boy, he had disappeared, leaving nothing but the cool lagoon breeze of the forest.

Capricorn took his phone and quickly dialed a familiar number.

"Virgo, you will not believe what just happened to me..."

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Oh, and scene.