Blood of the Abyss

blood of the abyss Part 3

Chapter 3

Unknowing

Lysandra

Three Years Later

Attempts to find Caspian failed as we searched all Aglirim for him. His father had taken him somewhere that none of us could find. As time went on, the sadness that had gripped me for days, weeks, months was still there though it was dulling. I devoted my time to tending to the orchard with Illine and Thelran and we occasionally would check in on Alwine, hoping that he had seen Caspian at some point. It was all pointless...Caspian was gone, maybe even dead. Whatever regrets I had, I would have to start moving on.

Three years seemed to go on for an eternity. The trees grew taller, I grew older. But that love I had felt had now turned into a wound that would never fully heal. The oranges had begun to ripen, signifying the anniversary of Caspian's disappearance. As I walked through the trees with my basket full of oranges I found one perfect orange. I remembered an old tale that if one found a flawless orange in this grove a wish would be granted to them. I picked the orange and with thoughts of Caspian overwhelming me, whispered my wish.

"Think of me, remember me, promise me you'll try to spare a thought for me, if you can still remember, think of all the things we have shared and seen. Imagine me trying too hard to put you from my mind. There will never be a day when I won't think of you. It seems so long ago how young and innocent we were. Flowers fade, the fruits of summer fade, they have their seasons so do we, but please promise me sometimes you will think of me." After the words had left me, I pressed my lips to this perfect orange and felt tears escape from my eyes. I wiped the tears away and placed the orange on top in the basket. As I turned to start back to the village, out of the corner of my eye I noticed one of the trees in the orchard was pitch black as if it had caught fire. I placed the basket down and approached the tree. I stretched out my hand and pressed it against the tree. My hand suddenly felt sticky and I noticed that the tree had a metallic smell. When I pulled my hand back, it was thickly coated in scarlet red blood. The tree was bleeding. I looked past it and noticed other trees in the orchard were also black with blood. Something terrible was happening to the orchard. Forgetting the oranges, I ran for Merrilora.

***

"Merrilora!" I was pushing other elves out of the way as I raced toward Merrilora's hut. If anyone knew the answer to what was happening to the trees it would be Merrilora.

"Lysandra?" I reached her hut out of breath and was hurriedly trying to catch it.

"Thetreesareblackandbleeding!" I shouted.

"What? Lysandra, take a breath and try again." Merrilora motioned for me to sit down.

Taking a deep breath, I started again. "The trees, Merrilora. They are black and bleeding." I extended my hand, showing the black and red stains from the trees.

Merrilora's eyes widened in shock or fear; I was unsure of which. "Take me to the orchard." We quickly exited her hut and started back to the orchard. I navigated my way through the dense trees to where my orange basket was. That perfect orange still sat perfectly on top of the other oranges. I grimaced and grabbed Merrilora's hand as we reached the trees that were bleeding.

Merrilora glanced at all the trees that were coated in the thick blood.

"Is the orchard dying?" I asked the thought aloud.

"In a word, yes." Merrilora sighed. Again the woman knew more than she was letting on.

"Merrilora, the last time you kept things from me, Caspian was taken. Tell me what you know."

"I promised myself I would never speak of Parf Edhellen ever again. The cost of it all was too great. No one should have access to that power," she shook her head, staring at the dying trees.

"Parf Edhellen? The Abyss?" I translated. "What are you talking about?"

"Lysandra," her eyes were pleading with me. "It is a terrible place. And there is always a cost." She sighed again, and suddenly her demeanor changed from fear to that of resolve. "But you must know, otherwise we are all doomed." I approached her side and she gave me a small, sad smile. "Parf Edhellen is a place of great and terrible power. No one knows how it came to existence, but access to the power comes at a cost. There is always the need for balance in this world. To have access to the power, a price must be paid to ensure that the balance is maintained. Many years ago, I went to the abyss to seek power and wisdom for my people. At that time, there was a terrible plague. Many souls were lost and as a last effort I went there to save my people from extinction."

I was enraptured in her words. I remembered stories of the plague, my mother had lost her parents to the plague. I knew Merrilora was older, but she didn't look old thanks to elves having a longer life-span.

Merrilora continued speaking. "The only power that I found from that place was that of the demon realm. You see, Lysandra, Parf Edhellen is home to the demons. When people use the power of that place, the taint of the demons spreads. This is what is happening to our trees. The taint from the abyss has spread."