The Endless Forest

Ithea was sitting within the drawing room, her feet carelessly stretched out upon one of the sofas. She wore an amused smile upon her face as she listened to the elves work within the library.

Should I tell them? It was a serious question. She considered the two promises she made today. Aluin wanted her to stay out of the way and only interfere if they couldn’t handle something themselves.

Then there was the one she made with Eri. Ithea had promised to help the elf, in exchange for the elf helping her with her own problem. This promise conflicted heavily with Aluin’s…

Truly, she had a dilemma.

She shrugged, the elves were doing an admirable job as it was. Especially Eri, the elven woman had taken control despite her mental state. It was kind of amusing watching them all working so hard to keep Felix alive.

I’ll tell them later, no reason to spoil their fun. She smiled at the thought.

Eri– No, They, gasped. Her and Kyrith had become one, melding their minds together. It was…strange.

They thought as one, even as they saw with both sets of eyes, even as they heard with both sets of ears…

Their bodies moved both together, and yet, separately. This must be what Felix and Zira must have meant–

They shared the thought, but it was interrupted by a sudden headache. Their movements were imprecise, like they were falling in and out of sync with one another. The mental pressure was building.

How can they…handle this? It was too much, the two of them were falling out of sync again.

A knock at a door sealed it. Their minds became two.

Eri let out another gasp, clutching her head. Her vision was blurry and her head pounded. Felix and Zira make it look easy… she thought, but that wasn’t entirely fair, she knew.

Felix and Zira practiced it, a lot. Meanwhile, she had pushed the idea aside instead. A mistake she was now regretting.

We aren’t growing our bond. She frowned at her realization. She and Kyrith were close, but they didn’t practice anywhere near to the level that those two did.

Zira said it’s about trust, Kyrith cut in. I trust you, Eri.

I trust– She stopped herself. Did she truly trust Kyrith? She was holding back most of her thoughts, her emotions, from him. She needed to do better.

Eri didn’t deserve Kyrith. The dragon was just too sweet, even when he craved attention. She hadn’t been treating him properly.

I need to do better. I promise to change… I just– No, I love you, Kyrith. I will do better. She committed herself fully to those words.

The door exploded open, bringing her back to the room she was sitting in.

“Eri! We did it!” It was Noria, and she was rushing over to Felix.

Lorem and Yedril quickly followed in, with Lorem holding up a vial. The blue liquid held swirls of red and black. It was strange looking, but she could feel the potency from here. It radiated a strong floral scent, with a hint of…Kyrith?

It reminded her of her partner for some reason. But she pushed the thought aside as it finally dawned on her. She jumped up from her seat.

“Quickly! Bring it over here!” She ordered, going over towards where Felix’s head lay.

Lorem came over and held it out. “Careful, it’s still warm.”

Eri gave him a small nod and took the potion from him. It was indeed warm, but cool enough to hold. She looked down to Felix, and gulped. I hope this works…

Carefully, she reached down and opened his mouth, just wide enough for her to pour it down.

Slowly, she told herself, tilting the potion. A small stream poured out, spilling slightly on his lips.

Eri winced and adjusted the vial before trying again. This time, she managed to get it into his mouth. The vial was small, a mouthful at most, but she still needed to be careful. She stopped and began to massage his throat, hoping to make him swallow…

It was a tedious process but eventually she finished. Pulling away from him, she looked over to Noria. “How long–”

Felix began to writhe. Eri immediately went to hold him still, the others quickly joined in.

He was in a sea of nothingness, floating and drifting uncontrollably. Yet, he could tell, he could feel it… He was not alone.

Someone was watching over him.

Their presence was warm and inviting, with a hint of mischievousness. They also had a certain air to them, something that felt regal to him.

A hand cupped his cheek, it felt soothing.

A memory flashed into his mind…

There was the sound of beautiful singing coming from above him. Something soft and warm laid underneath his head. A hand brushed through his hair, gently ruffling it.

He stirred and the singing stopped, the hand quickly moved away from his hair… He frowned, but did not dare open his eyes.

“No, don’t stop… I quite like that.”

An amused giggle came from above him. “Which did you like? The singing or me playing with your hair?” she teased.

“Both, actually,” he answered truthfully.

“Oh? Then I shall continue later. Perhaps I will get to show you some of my other…techniques?” she said playfully. It sent a shiver down his spine.

Her tone suddenly became serious. “Unfortunately, we must end things here for now. Duty calls for us both.”

He frowned at that, at least until he felt her lips against his–

Felix woke with a start, the aftertaste of something floral in his mouth. His entire body felt electric.

His vision was blurred but even without it, he could tell there were others next to him. Their hands held him down as his body twitched and spasmed, convulsing on its own.

He worked to get his breathing under control first, even as someone began to speak to him.

“Fe…lix…” He focused on the voice.

“Felix! Can you hear me?!” It was Eri and she sounded rather concerned.

“I–” His voice sounded gravelly. “Yes…” he got out. His vision was clearing, in fact, his mind was becoming more focused.

A moment later, he felt pressure upon his body as someone collapsed on top of him. It took him a moment to realize it was again Eri, and she was trying to hug him.

His body began to settle down, now it was just twitching. The others began to let go.

With a shaky hand, he lifted his arm around her and pulled her closer. “I’m…alive,” he tried to joke, but there was no humor in his voice.

“Aw cheer up, you only had one foot in the grave. I was born in it!” Yedril shouted from the foot of his bed.

Everyone had a look of horror upon their face. Except for Felix. He began to laugh…

***

The hours ticked by and eventually everything began to wind down. During that time, Felix was filled in on everything that happened, including Zira’s state. That had caused him to wince, he was going to be making up for that for a long time.

Thankfully, the dragon was resting for now…

With him caught up, he told them about his harrowing flight. Although, sadly, he had been too focused on not falling off to really describe the scene or sensations. Still, he tried his best…

However, during all this, he noticed that Eri barely left his side. In fact, she would not let go of his hand and chose to sit down at the edge of his bed.

She had yet to explain why she ran off in the first place…

Felix let out an exaggerated yawn before looking up to the group of elves. “I want to thank you all again for saving my sorry ass. I promise to make it up to you all, but for now? I’m still rather exhausted…”

The elves all made for the door, except for Eri. Felix kept a hold of her hand as she tried to get up. “Stay with me,” he mouthed, giving her a wink.

She looked a little surprised at that but nodded and spoke up to Yedril, who was the last one leaving. “Close the door, please.”

The sickly elf froze for a moment before he continued. The door gently closed.

They were left in silence, as the shuffling of feet faded. Felix took the opportunity to pat the bed next to him.

Eri sat back down, letting out a sigh. Felix frowned, and shuffled closer to her. Before she could realize what he was doing, he wrapped his arms around her, causing her to let out a yelp.

His strength was mostly gone, but his size made it up for it as he pulled her down into the bed next to him.

“So, want to tell me what happened?” he asked, almost whispering into her ear. She was facing away from him as they laid down.

Her silence stretched on for far too long for his liking. However, he waited patiently for her to speak. Whatever happened, it was a sore and touchy subject and he didn’t want to pry too hard.

“Master Aluin,” she finally started, “told me I won’t become a sage.”

He felt her tense up even more in his embrace. He thought carefully about his next words. “How does that make you feel?” The words felt silly to him, but it was the best he could come up with.

“I… I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure that out.” She said honestly.

“Hmm? Do you hate him?”

She shook her head, causing her hair to lightly whip into his face. He wasn’t bothered by it.

“Why not, if I may ask?”

She took another moment to answer. “He said that I was on the right path… That he will support me. He even left me a note, before he left.”

That explains why he never came to see me… He let the thought die, he could ask about that later. Right now, he wanted to focus solely on Eri.

“So, you don’t know what to do?”

“I– Yeah.” She curled up ever so slightly more.

“Can I tell you what I think?” he asked her.

“Sure…”

He pulled her even closer to him. “To me, it doesn’t matter what you do or become. I fell in love with you, as you are. But I think Aluin knew that there is something special about you. I think he realized that making you a Sage would be a waste.”

Eri had an incredulous look as she rolled over to face him. “How could becoming a Sage possibly be a waste?”

Felix shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. But it’s clear to me he thinks so, else why would he have gone through all this trouble and not make you a Sage? He even told you he will continue to support you, right? He sees something even more within you… I see something more in you.”

Her expression changed to one of confusion. “You…do?”

“Yep,” he nodded. “I mean, just look at what you’ve accomplished here. You hatched a dragon, and honestly you’re the closest to a leader we have here–”

She frowned at that.

“–Just by going with what everyone said, you took charge and got them organized. Honestly? I think you did better than I ever could, if our roles were reversed…” That was a hard truth for him to admit, considering he was supposed to be in charge of the eggs.

“I… I’m not so sure about that. I barely did anything, Noria was already working on that potion…” She admitted.

“And? They were all looking up to you, and you delivered. Even when all you wanted to do was break down and cry. You are stronger than you think.”

“But I did… I did break down. Once they all left, I cried for a while… I’m not as strong as you think I am.”

“No, you’re right.” He agreed, causing her to recoil a bit from that, but he wasn’t done. “You’re much stronger than I thought.”

Before she could respond, he leaned in and kissed her.

I’ll make you see…

Noria was the first to wake. The subtle sounds of others sleeping was her only greeting.

She stumbled out of her little bunk and into the dark room. Quietly, she pulled some fresh clothes and snuck to the door.

It creaked, she winced. No one stirred. She let out a sigh and slunk out into the hall, closing the door behind her.

Her first stop this morning was the guest bathroom, as she made her way in and started her bath. She slid down into it and immediately felt the stiffness from her slumber wash away…

A few minutes later, she left the bathroom and snuck back into the dorm room, only to store yesterday’s clothes and leave again.

Feeling refreshed, she made her way over to the library, noting the darkness outside. It was early, very early. But for her, it was business as usual. Her days back in the village usually started in the pre-dawn.

For a brief moment, she saw the village before her. She quickly shook the feeling away and nearly bumped into a kobold.

“Oh! Sorry…” She whisper-shouted.

The kobold quickly bowed. “No, Niri sorry. Niri lost in thought… Niri want clean library, but Niri not sure how… Master’s guest’s stuff in way. Niri know not touch guest’s stuff.”

“Huh– Oh...” Noria said, trailing off for a moment. “I, uh, I forgot to clean up after yesterday’s experiment. I’ll put everything away for you.”

The kobold bowed again. “Niri thank guest.”

Noria returned the bow, though much more awkwardly. In truth, she still didn’t know what to think about them. They were a nuisance to the village, But I’m not in the village anymore. I need to keep reminding myself that.

She stepped past the kobold and set to task, cleaning up her mess. Boxes were repacked and stored back onto the table. Her brewing stand and the various ingredients she’d used were carefully placed back into their containers and stored separately. She wasn’t done with them quite yet…

As she worked, Niri came in behind her, humming an unfamiliar tune as she swept and dusted. Noria watched curiously out of the corner of her eye. The kobold seemed to be in a rather joyful mood.

“Something good happen?” she tried, a little curious.

“Niri be mother soon! First egg show crack, won’t be long!” The blue kobold lit up even more.

“That’s… That’s wonderful. I am happy for you.” Noria felt a mixture of awkwardness and genuine happiness for Niri. She had helped plenty with the women of the village, and even a few tribes, giving birth.

“Niri will be proud mother!” The kobold shouted a bit too loud, but thankfully she realized her mistake. “Niri will raise strong kobolds,” she said in a more normal tone.

“Well, I can only pray there won’t be any complications…”

The conversation died as Niri finished her cleaning and excused herself, leaving Noria alone once again.

She took a look at the dimly lit room. The magical balls of light were slowly growing brighter with time.

It really hasn’t dawned on me yet…but this is the room my mother spent most of her time researching and studying potions. Her hand rested carefully on the table as she tried to imagine her mother sitting at the table, notes and books stacked high.

A melancholic chuckle escaped her.

Noria’s eyes drifted over to the closest bookcase. She approached and studied it before picking up a random book and opening it.

Her face reddened and she quickly closed it and put it back onto the shelf. I never knew that could fit in there!

She quickly shuffled over and noticed something odd. What is that feeling? A tugging sensation, something was sucking in mana at a surprising rate.

Noria activated her mana sense, and gasped. They’re all enchanted! Every book within the tiny library held an enchantment. Most were rather weak and hardly noticeable, unless you were looking…which she now was.

But that wasn’t the only shocking thing.

One book, in particular, was vibrating. It didn’t vibrate in the physical sense, but the mana it released did. She was drawn to it.

Looking at the book, she frowned. It was old and damaged, its leather cover was practically falling apart. Still, with careful hands, she pulled it from the bookcase and brought it over to the table.

Gently setting it down, she opened it. Her frown turned into confusion.

It was blank.

Another page.

Blank.

Another.

Still blank.

Thoroughly baffled now, she flipped to a random page and once again…

Blank. What is going on with this book? Why is every page blank? It didn’t make sense– Unless…

She closed the book and put her hand directly onto the leather binding. She prepared a spell, one that her mother had taught her. It would allow her to trace the enchanting.

The spell went off, but that only made her more perplexed. She could ‘feel’ the traces, but they were so densely packed that she struggled to tell where one trace ended and another began.

Noria stopped and scrunched her face in thought. This is way more complex than a normal reinforcing enchantment. It has to be hiding something…but why? Why leave something like this out in the open, if it’s this protected?

Something wasn’t adding up, the amount of mana the book was releasing was too much. It acted like a beacon to anyone with even subpar mana senses. Yet, the enchantment was actively hiding something.

Is it…broken? Or maybe it was meant to be found, but only by someone experienced with enchantments?

She sat down, staring at the book. She activated her mana sense again, hoping to study where the mana was coming from exactly.

Hmm, it's not coming from the cover itself but– The binding? She ended her magic and rubbed her brow. The more she studied this book, the more it truly stumped her.

Finally, after a moment, she let out a sigh and stuck her hand onto the spine of the book. “Let’s try this one last time–”

She stopped herself as her probing spell went off. Her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped. W-what… What in the hells is this?! And then the realization hit.

“A MANA CRYSTAL?!”