Tangled: Stardust and the 12 Zodiacs (Varian Fanfiction)

Chapter 3: The Translation

((This chapter would be rewritten soon))

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said it wasn't a long walk." Eugene said sarcastically as he dodged some branches. He yelped a little when his hair got stuck in some little branches. The girl leading them rolled her eyes at the dramatic older man, shaking her head.

"Quit whining you big baby. It isn't a long walk. You're clearly just not used to walking in this type of distance." Soul stated as she skillfully leaped through some logs, and huge tree roots. Looking back to the group behind her, she saw how the others were having a hard time jumping over the logs and tree roots. Rapunzel was getting through just fine, Kiera and Catalina were having trouble jumping over since they were smaller than everyone else. Lance and Eugene were much more busy complaining than leaping. Xavier, thanks to Varian who was thinking smart, walked around the obstacles.

Soul, who was leaning against a trunk of a tree, silently judged the group. To be honest, there was a shorter way. She just picked to go through the long path so she can mentally prepare what to with her guests. Her palms were sweaty, and her heart was thumping loudly. She never felt this way before, and she didn't know what to do. Well, this was the first time she will be having guests over, so it was quite understandable that she's panicking.

"Phew! Who knew going over logs and tree roots would be so tiring." Rapunzel said enthusiastically as she wiped her brow.

"Yeah, how come the trees here are much larger than the trees outside of the forest?" Varian asked, putting a hand under his chin in a thinking pose.

"Well, as I said before, Melodiah forest is known as the Mystical Forest of Corona. Because of its magical properties, people stray away from this forest that's why it isn't in any maps." Soul explained. "Not that I expect you to believe it. You are a man of science. But once you've seen it, you'll learn to believe it."

Varian let out a small "huh" as he looked around the forest before him. He didn't see that everyone else was moving on as he continued to stare to what seems like empty space to others. But to Varian, he was seeing an unknown element. Being the science lover he is, he attempted to walk closer to the element when he was punched on the face, snapping him out of his hypnotized state.

"W-what? Ow! That hurt - what - Who - Why did you punch me?" Varian shouted rubbing his slightly bruised cheek. He glared at Soul as the girl glared back at him, putting her hands on her hips.

" I told you not to stray away from the group! " She shouted at Varian. The alchemist turned to look back to what he was staring at earlier to find that the element he saw was gone. His eyes grew wide not understanding what happened to him.

"But....I saw an unknown rock there earlier, and now it's...gone? What?" He stammered, running his hands through his hair. Soul shook her head and gestured for the alchemist to follow her.

"People used to think the faeries are good mythical beings. While that is true, there are also evil faeries. And, what happened to you was you were tricked by an evil one. If you continued to follow that faerie, you would end up lost in the forest as wolf feed." Soul explained, causing Varian to shiver at the thought of being wolf food. They met with the rest of the group, and continued to walk through the path.

A few minutes later, they reached a fairly large clearing with a treehouse (A literal TREE house) on the middle. There was a small farm next to a small stable where a black horse was sleeping, and on the far left of the treehouse seemed to be a river since they can hear the faint sound of water gushing through. What fascinated the group more was the treehouse. It wasn't like any treehouse they have ever seen. The trunk of the huge tree was a small cabin and it seemed that the inside of the tree was hollowed out to place rooms inside. There were also small treehouses hanging on some larger branches with a bridge connecting it to the main trunk.