The Endless Forest

Felix was deep in thought as he made his way towards the edge of the clearing. His meeting with Calinna and Oralyn hadn’t gone bad per se, but it had mentally exhausted him. Especially when Calinna wanted more detail so she could draw things out.

Now, he was slowly making his way to the grove where Yarnel wanted to hold class for the day. This piqued his interest, so far they had been using it only for Ithea’s training and a part of him wondered if Yarnel was going to teach through demonstration.

But… If that was the case, why would he not explain what I was supposed to be looking for? He pondered the question, still feeling a little frustration from their interaction this morning.

The sound of someone rushing up from behind broke him from his thoughts. Turning, his mood lifted slightly as Eri caught up to him. After a moment for her to catch her breath, her smile faltered.

“Everything alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, just thinking…” Felix said, trailing off. He didn’t bother to hide his mood from her.

Eri studied him for several moments, before pushing. “About what?”

He motioned for her to follow as he explained. “Well, for a start, Yarnel wasn’t much help this morning. He wanted me to compare my soul with that… That sound.”

Her hand found his as they set off again. “Oh? And I take it he left it cryptic?”

He gave her a nod. “Yeah, but that’s not all that happened–” Felix cut himself off.

“What?” She gave him a concerned look. “What happened next?”

Slowing his pace, he let out a sigh. “I, uh, promised to take Calinna and Oralyn to the hatch–”

“What?! Why? I thought you didn’t want anyone to go there? Especially Calinna, since she’s Chief Calsen’s daughter!”

He winced from her interruption. “Look! I know… But, well, I just couldn’t say no. Calinna came to me and asked to see the hatchery– She apparently wanted to draw the eggs in her journal.”

“And you just believed her?” Eri asked incredulously.

“No! And wait a second, do you suspect she is working for her father?”

That caused Eri to skip a step. “Not exactly… But don’t you find it suspicious? I mean after–”

Now it was her turn to quickly shut her mouth, which only made her look guilty. They both came to a stop.

“After what? Has something happened?” he asked her seriously.

Eri remained silent for several seconds before answering. “There was…an incident– But it has been handled,” she quickly added.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “What happened?”

Again, there was another long pause before it looked like she came to a decision. “Alright, I’ll tell you but please, don’t say or do anything. Like I said, I handled the situation by myself and there is a reason I didn’t tell you about it.”

I don’t like the sound of this one bit. What reason could she have for not telling me? He decided to set that question aside for now, figuring her story would include an explanation. “I’m listening, and I promise I won’t do anything.”

That seemed to be all the confirmation she needed as she visibly relaxed afterward. “It started a few days ago…”

***

By the time they reached the grove, Felix was furious. How dare he! That… That bastard! “I’ll string him alive!” he shouted out unintentionally.

“Felix! Please, calm yourself!” Eri whispered loudly.

Both were too distracted to notice the angry stare coming from Yarnel. Meanwhile, the dragons were still in the middle of their lessons.

“Why didn’t you tell me? What was the reason?” he asked, lowering his voice but keeping the anger.

“Because! I can’t be seen coming to you for everything bad that happens, Felix. You may be the one deciding who becomes queen, but remember that if it’s me then I have to show them I can handle things on my own. They would have no confidence in me otherwise.”

He sucked in a lungful of air and held it. He understood her reasoning, and it wasn’t lost that he had done similar things to her.

Really, can I even be mad? It was that thought he focused on as he closed his eyes and exhaled. To a point, but she has a sound reason…

“Okay,” Felix said.

“Okay?”

He gave her a nod. “Yes. Okay, I trust you. But you have to trust me as well.”

Eri’s expression turned into confusion. “Trust you about– Oh, tomorrow.”

Another nod. “I don’t know if Calinna is helping her father– And I understand the concern. Hells, I even said we shouldn’t do this… But, I think she needs it. I think even if she is doing this for him, I can persuade her away.”

“Okay,” she said, which caused him to smile.

“Okay…”

They let the conversation drift away as they turned their attention to the dragons and the annoyed Yarnel staring down at them.

“Sorry,” Felix mouthed genuinely feeling bad for potentially interrupting the lesson. However, all he got was a frustrated snort before Yarnel looked toward the other dragons.

Felix followed the dragon’s gaze and found the others were sitting on their haunches, heads low. It looked as if they were offering a prayer to him, and the smaller dragons looked absolutely adorable as they did their best to sit still. They were taking this seriously, yet the odd twitch told him they wouldn’t be lasting much longer.

However, that wasn’t all he noticed. Light through the sky trees caused small objects at their feet to glint. Mana crystals, Felix realized. Curiosity got the better of him and he decided to activate his mana sight.

The world exploded into a rainbow of color. Almost all of it was coming from the crystals. Almost, but not all, he observed. The various dragons were consuming a tiny amount of mana, yet nothing compared to Zira.

His eyes landed on his partner. She had multiple scattered around her but even then, a void of mana threatened to encapsulate her as the crystals struggled to keep up.

A quick peek into her mind told Felix that Zira was far too concentrated on her task to even have noticed his appearance. Still, he wanted to know what she was doing.

Ending his mana sight, he elegantly slipped into her mind. Controlling his consciousness, their minds touched. He did his utmost best to not accidentally combine, that would certainly make her lose her concentration…

Focus… He heard her say. It seemed he hadn’t been entirely successful.

Focus…

With more caution, he delved deeper and almost gasped.

Zira started a deep, almost guttural rumble. It started low, only through her mind could he hear it, but soon it became audible enough for his ears to pick up.

She wasn’t the only one.

Kyrith was next, his was even deeper.

Then Zarrina, adding a higher, almost angelic tone.

Azelea was next. Her rhythmic hum was somewhere between Zira and Zarrina, yet it was entirely unique. Melodic and distinct, all on its own.

But then came the last two, Tzarin and Falzan. They somehow matched Kyrith, but much like Azelea, there was a melody that they almost seemed to dance to with their voices.

All together, it was– Magical. Felix immediately pulled away from Zira’s mind, still trying to be cautious. If she noticed, it did not bother her.

Back in the safety of his own head, Felix could only stand there in awe as pressure began to build around him and Eri. A quick glance her way told him she was experiencing the exact same thing.

Meanwhile, the pressure kept building and building. It took another couple of seconds for it to register what he was feeling. Mana…

But before he could reactivate his mana sight, there was a loud CRACK!

Blinking, Felix looked for the cause of the noise. He found it, one of the crystals near Zira had shattered. As he watched, it began to disintegrate and turn into powder before even that was consumed.

More loud cracking noises started. First it was the rest around Zira, but then the one Kyrith had shattered as well. Next up were the ones the younger dragons had. In quick succession, those broke apart and vanished into nothingness.

As all the crystals were consumed, each dragon ended their voices. The slow tapering of sound also brought an end to the pressure Felix felt. And after a moment there was nothing but silence.

“Very good! Wonderful! Oh, I knew you all could do it! Yes, with just the right guidance anything is possible!” Yarnel beamed a toothy smile at his ‘students.’

One by one, each of the other dragons lifted their heads, blinking their eyes and giving the occasional shake.

Zira immediately turned hers towards Felix. Next time, please don’t go poking around in my head while I am trying to meditate. It’s distracting, and I nearly lost control.

Felix shrunk under her gaze. Sorry… In my defense though, I tried to be as quiet as possible.

She gave him an amused snort. I know, I could feel your intentions. But constantly thinking about it, well… It was leaking into my thoughts.

Sorry, he repeated. I won’t do it again.

Yarnel cleared his throat. “Zira, please pay attention. I know your partner is here and you are clearly excited to tell him everything, but I need you to focus for now.”

Her gaze went to the small dragon. “I was paying attention–”

“Very good, but please, let me continue.” Yarnel cleared his throat before addressing the rest of the dragons. “This concludes your lesson for today. Take what you learned and think about its implications.

“I would ask that you refrain from any attempt at mediating without my supervision, as using any magic at this stage of your growth could potentially stunt you. My mana crystals are the only safe way for you all to practice.”

There were a few grumbles and growls at that. Clearly, that was an unpopular rule.

“Anyway–” Yarnel held out his hand and that small, round object appeared in it. “–it looks like that is it from me today. I will now be moving on to your partners. I will leave it up to you and them if you’d like to stay. Otherwise, have a wonderful day.”

With that, the dragons got up and began heading over to him and Eri. It was only then that he noticed the other elves. At some point they had made their way here, and their expressions told him they had seen much of what he and Eri had.

“I am going to head back, I can only take so much of Yarnel for one day,” Zira said aloud as she passed Felix. Obviously, she had meant for her words to be overheard. But before he could say anything in response, she continued.

“If any of the hatchlings wish to go back, I will take them.”

That made Felix raise an eyebrow. It was a first for Zira, offering to babysit the young dragons.

“That’s probably for the best,” Solanna said. “Falzan is getting antsy and wants to play.”

Lorem laughed. “So is Tzarin, though he is going a mile a minute telling me everything he learned.”

“Oh! I want to play as well,” Kyrith chimed in. “I can keep them company if you don’t want to,” he quickly added to Zira.

She gave him the equivalent of a shrug. “Fine with me, just means I can get a nap…”

Felix couldn’t help but detect that this was going completely to plan for his partner. Oh, I see. You were hoping that Kyrith would offer to play with them.

Guilty as charged. She flashed him a grin before quickly dropping it.

“Oh… Do you, uh, not want to, um… Play? Maybe we can… I mean, I was hoping we could all play together.” Poor Kyrith looked disappointed.

“Kyrith, I do not mind spending time with you or the others. But after our lesson, there is a lot I want to think about. Perhaps, though, we could play later?” Her question made him perk up.

“Yeah! That’s fine. I was worried that you maybe didn’t want to be included with me– Us.”

Oh? What’s this? Felix asked himself, noticing the dragon’s slip-up.

It didn’t escape Zira’s attention either. “If I didn’t want to be included with you, I wouldn’t have agreed. But, I suppose I could do with stretching my legs for a little bit. We have been sitting for several hours now, I wouldn’t mind a little exercise…”

Felix cocked an eyebrow, but decided to not say anything and instead motioned to Eri. Apparently, she was watching with just as much curiosity as him.

“Come on,” he said. “Let them be. Besides, we have our own lesson we have to contend with.”

“Huh? Right… Sorry, I was wondering what just happened,” she said as they started to move up and away from the dragons.

Felix let out a laugh. “Eri, I think Kyrith is developing a crush. And more interestingly, I think Zira is as well.”

She said nothing, but her expression was enough. It told him she wasn’t surprised and was heavily considering the implications.

He decided to speak up. “I think it will be wise to let them figure all that out on their own, at least for now. Though, I could understand your worry.”

“They are still way too young,” she muttered under her breath.

“That they are, but I don’t think we have to worry about anything. I doubt they will figure it out for a long while. Kyrith is… Well, clueless isn’t the right word but it's close enough. And Zira, while she might eventually figure it out, I doubt she will act on her own. Though, I would expect her to play games with him, and I don’t mean how Kyrith thinks of them.”

“Hah! Like you are the one to talk,” she said suddenly. “Remember Felix, you are the most clueless person I know.”

He rolled his eyes at that. “Yeah, yeah… But that’s how I know. If I, and by extension, men are clueless, then there won’t be anything to worry about.”

She let out her own laugh. “I suppose you are right, but I have a feeling we’ll both have to be careful. I could see Ithea causing problems, if she finds out.”

That sent a shiver down his spine. “Gods, I don’t want to even think about that…”

Their conversation trailed off as the rest of the elves soon followed them. And after a moment, Yarnel floated down closer to them.

“Is everyone ready?” the dragon asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Felix commented sarcastically. Truthfully, he was hoping to get more of an explanation about, well, everything.

The others were in agreement as they simply nodded.

“Good. Then please, take a seat and we shall begin.”

Doing as he was told, Felix sat close to Eri and let out a sigh.

Let’s hope this all goes well…