The Adventurer’s Academy

{Xhez}

The forest that Xhez called home was alive as ever. With the sun out and bathing the land in its brilliance, Xhez decided that it was a good time to stretch her legs. She knew that her parents would be angry with her if they caught her, but that didn't matter. Every now and then, Xhez simply wanted to feel something different. As all her kind did, she too loved the waters, but feeling the sun on her semi-gelatinous skin was an equally fulfilling sensation.

So, looking around under the surface of her pond, she gathered her particles and stuck them all to her corporeal body.

[Time to leave! Just for a little bit, just a little.]

Slowly, she swam up and broke out, the air instantly hugging her body. Breathing air always felt more visceral, and strange than breathing water, but it wasn't something she disliked.

Of course, there was a small bit of apprehension inside of her. She knew how fragile her kind was. She hadn't met any other sprites besides her parents, but they had instilled so many lessons and experiences into her that she knew one fact quite well.

Most things outside of the waters could kill her, and easily.

They hadn't only taught her these lessons verbally, but through the spiritual connection that all sprites were capable of. Her parents did not want to torture her with the experiences of less fortunate sprites, so they only showed her a few of their memories, but those few were enough for her to understand the point they wanted to convey.

Everything in the world wanted to kill them. As far as she or her parents knew, there was no real reason for it. That was just how things were, and they needed to be aware of that at all times.

But Xhez would routinely ask herself the question, does it have to be that way?

It was this question that led to the dream that would often overtake her mind at night. A dream that one day, she would meet another intelligent species and they'd connect. That one day, she would truly understand a sprite's place in this world. That she would see just how big the world was.

For now, though, she had to settle for letting her feet move over small leaves, the sensation making her giggle with each step.

[Ah! What a beautiful day!] Xhez looked up at the blue sky and thought. [The trees, the dirt, oh, it is wonderful. I wish I could be out here more often.]

There weren't many ways for sprites to pass the time, but the few they had were more than enjoyable to Xhez. Her preferred method had always been singing the day away. So, she crouched just beside her pond, resting her butt on a boulder, and closed her eyes.

From her lips, a high, warm tone breezed out into the world and she could feel her spirit being cleansed by the act. With the harmonies of birds and the whistling of the wind behind her, she felt a song from her soul take form.

She sang quietly, at first. A low note that stretched out with the promise of blooming into something greater. But, she was interrupted.

There was a rustling from beyond some bushes to her right. She stopped instantly.

The blue tint on her hands darkened as they usually did when a sprite grew scared. She stared in that direction, trying to see the source of the sound. Then, she heard it.

"So, I told him to fuck off and he left. Then..." Something said in the distance. [There they are again.] Xhez thought. [Those creatures. Humans.]

They were the only other ones Xhez had seen that looked like her. They walked on two legs, had two arms, but their bodies were strange and colorful. Sometimes they seemed solid and metallic, other times they looked like they were made of flesh and skin.

Xhez sighed. Her dream was a foolish one, in the end. Because she knew that if any creature were to be the one to fulfill it, it would be these that were walking beyond a few trees. But, she also knew that these were the very creatures that most often decimated her kind, based on the experiences and memories her parents had shared with her.

So, despite the questions that rummaged through her brain, she dove back into the water and shrunk her form down to where even if they were to come in with her, they'd hopefully not see her.

So, curled up next to a rock at the bottom of the pond, she waited for them to pass.

But the sounds they were making were getting closer. She looked up and through the water saw that one of them was doing that strange thing where they took off their layers and revealed their flesh underneath.

Then, out from some long fleshy tube, orange water poured into her pond and she moved away. It usually felt weird.

As per usual, the being above then put their layers back on and walked away, leaving Xhez to sigh.

[Maybe one day.] She thought. [Maybe one day I will learn how they see the world. How they see us.]

Until then, all she could do was live her life normally.

As they walked away, she rose up out of the water and sat on the dirt. [Hm. Maybe a few more minutes.] And after some time, she felt her eyelids getting heavier. [Hm. I think I have around four more hours before I go into a forced sleep state. I can make that work.]

But as time went on, something drew closer. She could feel a presence coming to her. [Hm. Another human?] The guttural clicks let her know that wasn't the case though.

Sure enough, when she turned to check she found a large, wolf-like creature with hundreds of teeth in its snout. Xhez wasn't too frightened though. She'd encountered things like this before. She knew how to handle them. Inhaling deeply, she built up some air in her lungs until she felt she had enough and expelled it into one, long, high-pitched note.

When she had been growing up, Xhez didn't understand what it was that made her different from other sprites. But, when she fought one of these things for the first time, that was when she realized that it was her voice. Essence flowed up from within in a way that no other sprite could say it did for them.

And when that Essence, dancing with the note she sang, entered the creature's ears, it went wild.

The creature shook its head, trying to push her voice out but failing to do so. Then, as it was unsuccessful, it whimpered, running away.

[Good.] Xhez let out a sigh of relief. [That took a lot out of me though.]

And with that out of the way, she dove back into the water.

---

The sun dipped and the moon emerged to replace it, and that was when her parents arrived. Her mothers walked into the pond and Xhez energetically grew her form back to its normal size and swam over to greet them.

"You're back!"

Her mothers were Saria and Vortell. Apparently, both of them had migrated to this place long ago from a larger body of water nearby where a community of sprites lived. They'd met there, fallen in love, and connected their spirits. However, something had happened that they wouldn't really explain to Xhez and they decided to leave many years ago. Then, out here in the place Xhez called home, her spirit was born from the connection of their own.

"No trouble found you?" Vortell asked. She was taller than Saria and had shorter hair that was a darker shade of blue, with a more defined jawline and a bigger nose.

Xhez shook her head.

"How was the journey?" She asked.

"It was great!" Saria quickly exclaimed and Vortell looked at her reproachingly, to which she responded by saying, "I-I mean, it was fine. Decent. Definitely, no reason for you to leave this pond."

"Moving forth," Vortell said with a sigh, "here. We acquired something for you. Cherish it, it took quite a bit of effort to maintain."

"Hm?" Xhez waited as Vortell grabbed her own hair and wrung it in front of her, squeezing out a glowing few drops of water. "Is that...?!"

"Yes, child." Vortell gave a rare smile. "Pure-water."

Before Vortell could even finish the confirmation, Xhez swam up and grasped the glowing drops, squeezing them and allowing her gelatinous self to consume them.

There was quite simply, no other experience Xhez knew of that was this refreshing.

"It was magical!" Saria exclaimed, swimming in excited twirls. "The Bright Ones were as kind as ever! They gave us enough nourishment to last the whole month!"

"I wish I could see them..."

"You can." Vortell said, "do you want to?"

"Uh... Sure." Xhez replied, but she didn't mean what Vortell had in her mind. She meant to see them personally, through her own eyes, and not someone else's.

Still, as Vortell drew close, wrapped her arms around her, and pressed their foreheads together, she allowed it to happen. It was still an enjoyable sight that she wasn't about to pass up.

And so, the memory began playing in her mind. Suddenly, she was in Vortell's body just a few hours ago, feeling the same excitement she must have felt, the same anticipation as she and her spirit-bonded Saria walked through the Forest of the Bright Ones.

She felt every step Vortell took, every breath. When Vortell turned to say something to Saria, she felt like it was her own lips moving to speak. Then, sometime later, she saw them. In the distance, Their appearance was so bright, Vortell had to shield her eyes to allow them to adjust before she could lower her hands again. Several ethereal beings walked through the forest, each with stoic eyes and transparent bodies that showed nothing inside.

The water though, was what Vortell was interested in. She and Saria walked past most of those figures, who paid them no attention as they did. They neared the pond they were looking for. A spot where the water was decorated with bright white embers inside of it, each one twinkling like a star in the sky.

Vortell snatched a bit of that water, placed it in her hair, and then the pair began to return.

At that point, the memory ceased and Xhez was back in her own body.

"How did it feel, child?" Vortell asked.

"Amazing," Xhez replied. "They glow so brilliantly!"

"They are part of what makes this existence bearable, yes," Vortell replied with a chuckle. "Now though, it is time for our slumber."

"B-But you just got back." Xhez quickly stated.

"Yes, but our energy diminishes by the moment. We spent too much time in the sun. Saria, come. It is time to sleep." Vortell beckoned her spirit-bonded over and Saria nodded and followed, but not before hugging Xhez tightly and planting a few kisses on her forehead, which made Xhez giggle as her heart swelled.

"That is the price that one must pay to experience such great things, Xhez," Vortell told her. "Nothing can be done without two things." She said, gesturing for Xhez to finish her statement.

"Sacrifice and great effort," Xhez finished. "Hm... How long will it be before you are awake?"

"Oh, maybe a month, but..." Saria replied, with an unusually serious tone, as she got closer to Xhez. "I know you enjoy your strolls, little one. So, always bear it in mind. The longer the sun touches you, the longer the time you must take to regain your energy. Do not stay out there too long or you could collapse."

"Of course." Xhez bowed. "I am aware."

"Good. Well then, I suppose it is time."

"Enjoy your own time awake, child. We will be back before you know it." Vortell declared and then, the two women shrunk down to the size of the fish that used to share this space with them. They connected their hair, their tendrils swirling together, closed their eyes, and slowly began sinking down to the floor, where the rocks acted as a bed for them. Finally, a barrier of white light meant to protect them should something like a stone fall on top of them, or a human's foot, was created and their sleep began.

"Sleep well, mothers." Xhez smiled at them with a bittersweet feeling in her spirit.

[Maybe... Maybe I could take advantage of this.] She thought. [I will miss them, but maybe this could be an opportunity to see the world.]

She shook her head.

[Right. As if that will ever happen.]