Stone Serpent

Awaken, please

It took them a couple days to reach the small villages that were close to the walls of the High Court. Desmond explained that there was parts of the shadow Realm that didn't change each day, parts that stayed the same throughout the centuries. The High Court had the most power, that all the strong High Faes lived within the walls of the court and the power radiated outside the walls, causing areas close to the High Court to remain the same. Desmond spoke about the Faes that lived in the small villages outside the Court to ensure that their homes didn't change and their heir could grow up with the safety of the court nearby.

Most Fae lived within the villages around the court and others that were banished from the court was forced to live in the everchanging environments of the shadow realm, or that's what Carmen understood.

Carmen had tuned them both out after the first day, getting bored of learning the history of the Shadow Realm. Ky and Desmond, though they did it out of the kindest of their hearts, were boring her with the history. They believed that by talking about the history and learning it, that the Serpent soul within would finally awaken.

Instead of listening to the two talk, Carmen day dreamed about the awakening. The awakening of the Serpent soul sounded so mystical and out of a book, that Carmen dreamed of it. She believed that the awakening would lift her into the sky, her soul would emerge with the Serpent soul and they would become one.

Carmen smiled to herself and felt a small nudge.

She shook her head and looked at Ky, who had his head tilted trying to figure out what she was thinking about.

Desmond groaned, "have you been listening or day dreaming again?"

"Listening," Carmen answered quickly with a smile.

"Okay, then where are we?" Desmond questioned and Ky smirked as a dreadful look crossed Carmen's face.

She looked around. There was neat rows of cottages, smoke pillowing out of each roof. She could hear children laughing and hushed voices of the people and she tilted her head.

"It's a town," she started, watching a group of green Fae run through the streets with a a flying object, "what is that flying thing?"

"Yes, this is a town, but what is the name? Where are we?" Desmond asked again, ignoring her question.

Carmen broke her gaze at the flying object and the children to look at Ky. He was trying to mouth the answer to her. He had his back turned to Desmond and put a hand to the side of his mouth just in case Desmond looked over.

"Silverwood," he mouthed over and over again, trying to enunciate each syllable of the word.

Carmen nodded and looked at Desmond. He stood staring ahead at the town, watching the Fae move about their day.

"Silverwood," Carmen answered confidently before seeing Ky shake his head sadly.

"Wrong," was all Desmond said and Carmen looked at Ky.

"It's Silverblood," Ky sheepishly said, rubbing the back of his head before continuing, "this is one of six villages around the High Court."

Carmen nodded and shrugged, knowing she never was good at reading lips.

"Can you tell me what the flying thing is now?" Carmen asked, looking at Ky and Desmond. Ky opened his mouth to answer, but Desmond beat him to it.

"That is a Fae Slave. It's conjured up using magic on an inanimate object. The children love playing with them so the parents bring all sorts of things to life for a day," Desmond explained, pointing to another group of children chasing a rolling stone. The stone rolled up and down the streets, just fast enough to keep out of reach of the children's grabbing hands.