This strange boy bumbled ahead, tugging Gwendolynn by her wrist.
"Fine, fine!" she yelped, his stature made her practically crawl on her knees to stay attached to his grip, but his speed made her need to stay standing to keep up with him. He ducked under a rock formation, dashing through the cave that they had entered just hours before. "DO YOU HAVE TO GO SO QUICKLY?!" Gwendolynn objected, bumping her shoulder on another stone. The kid looked back for a second, and shook his head 'No.' He then pointed at Gwendolynn, and tugged at her wrist again. "Words would make this so much easier…." she muttered to herself, before tugging back, trying to slow his pace. They were nearing the end of the cavern, and Gwendolynn could see the full moon appearing over the stony horizon. The crisp air blew past the pair, carrying with it a hint of water; it had just rained earlier. The mouth of the cavern lead them to a mountain range that seemed to be a complete circle, as if this entire area formed around a giant crater many years ago. Looking down into the crater, there was a massive body of water, going from yellow tinged edges to the darker blue of an ocean near the center. The night sky was clear, and it looked like every single star was out tonight. The moon was the fullest that Gwendolynn had ever seen, and she took a moment to stare at it in awe, just across the mountain range on the other side of this valley. She reached her free hand out, feeling for a moment that if she wanted to, she could even touch it, before she felt her other wrist pulled toward the ground once more.
"Where are we supposed to be going now?!" she again objected. The small boy answered only by pointing at the lake just ahead. "But that's water, and I'm-" she almost completed her thought, before the excited boy tugged her over the side of the cliff, and they both tumbled for a good bit. They must have made some distance, because when her vision quit swirling, they were much further down the mountain. As the vertigo faded out, the pain would fade in, causing her to grunt slightly before rolling back to an upright sitting position. "Wanna tell me before we take a crash course in flight?" she asked, rubbing her head, scanning the area for the child. Once again, he was jumping excitedly pointing at the lake.
"I get it! We're heading to the lake!" Gwendolynn dusted herself off, rising to a standing position. She found a cut on the back of her right forearm, probably from the ever-so-graceful descent down the mountain just moments ago. "Do you have a way that doesn't involve me losing more blood?" she asked, and the kid beamed…...and pointed to a stream.
"What does that even mea…." she already knew. "Oh no. Absolutely not! Those rocks are way too sharp." she objected. He swung his arms in front of him, as if to mimic swimming, and she shook her head. "I said no, okay?" she crossed her arms and turned her head away, inadvertently looking once again at the moon, which was beautiful. She fell into her trance again, staring at the moon, as she swore she could see it changing color, from a brilliant white to an almost pale yellow. She tilted her head to examine this phenomenon, but her companion objected…..a lot.
She felt her legs move slightly as she was shoved, and before she could regain her stance, she realized that her one foot was already in the stream…..as was her back, and soon she was once again plummeting toward this lake, the smooth stone carrying her with surprisingly efficiency. She felt the smaller one bump into the top of her head, which caused her to look up at him.
"IF WE DIE HERE, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" She spat up, as her foot caught a rather sharp rock ahead, causing her to spin a few times. She pulled her knee into her chest, holding onto the wound with both of her hands, and she felt her shoulder blade catch yet another rock. She would've stopped to think about how many broken bones she would have by the end of this, but she realized that she had already slowed to a stop on the sandy shore. She sat up looking at the mountain only to have an orange-haired child barrel into her chest, knocking her on her back and the wind from her lungs. She struggled to breathe, and he giggled slightly, looking down at her and bouncing a few times before realizing that her entire face had probably given him reason to dismount. He pushed on her shoulders, which stung like hell, and propped her back up to a sitting position. Once seated she cracked her neck and rotated her shoulder to make sure the joint still functioned.
"Did we really have to take that way?" she asked, grimacing from the soreness of the impact. He ran around her, faced her, and smiled, nodding quickly. This all too familiar way of saying 'yes' caused her to roll her eyes for probably the 20th time today. Each time he had an idea, they were half-way to their deaths before she could have a chance to think of her own way, or even object to his insanity. He ran out of her vision, and she turned to follow him with her eyes, rising to one knee in the process. "Where are you going now?" she asked, and he looked back, stopping at the edge of the water. He pointed to the lake, and made a motion again like swimming. "I guess it isn't nearly as steep…." Gwendolynn assured herself. "But how far in are we going?"
He only nodded yes.
Gwendolynn had tied her hair back, even though it was already waterlogged and a complete mess. She looked at her shoulder and could see a bruise forming through a torn part of her shirt. Seeing the damage only made it come to the fore of her mind. She again practiced moving her arm and as her arm was straight outward she realized there it was in the most pain. She resolved to not leave her arm in that position any more, making a mental note. She looked at her foot, and luckily it was only really minor damage. The bottom of her foot had a chunk of skin knocked loose by the previous impact, along with a hell of a hole torn into her shoe that made it all but useless. She decided to take off her shoes and cast them onto this shore for now. Why use shoes to swim anyways? Placing her foot into the sand was relaxing at least…...until the salt from the beach started to sink into the cut, which made her recoil her foot from the ground. As her foot was suspended, she barely noticed the kid making his way over to her, his hands coated in a slight blue glow, coated in some clear goo. Rubbing his index and middle fingers across the wound, the goo acted like some kind of liquid skin, sealing the cut rather easily, which the kid then returned the goo to a small jar he had in his pocket.
"Thanks….I guess." Gwendolynn said, placing her foot back into the sand. It was cool, and the sound of the lake lapping against the shore was comforting as well. "Where are we?" she asked, looking around at this gorgeous landscape. Her eyes wandered from the mountain tops to the moon (which most certainly had turned a yellow color), to the center of the lake, to…..Oh.
"Nica's Cradle" was written in the sand by Olive's hand. He looked up to meet her eyes, and nodded, motioning again at the lake.
"Nica…." Gwendolynn said to herself. The name seemed familiar, as if it was from some ancient dream, lost somewhere in the dregs of her memories. The surface of the lake began to glow in the moonlight...
"Is that something that's supposed to happen?" she asked, to herself and to Olive. He nodded, and pulled her again toward the surface of the water. The Glow was pulsating, and the waves seemed to grow completely still as the light became stronger with each lumination. Soon the lake was glowing more often than not, and the surface of the water became perfectly still. Gwendolynn's eyes were drawn upward to find the source of the light, only to see that the moon was fading from the night rapidly. The Surface of the lake was maintaining the light that it had, but the rest of the world was growing darker around it. This was an eclipse. With one more shove from Olive, she found herself falling face first into the water ahead of her. She felt shock, the surface of the water, and then she felt nothing at all as she fell into oblivion.
Stars faded into her vision, as Gwendolynn realized that neither up nor down existed anymore. She simply was, and so was everything around her. Stars passed by, yet there was no moon or earth. She breathed in a couple of times to make sure she was still alive, and instinctively kicked her feet as well. She tried to spin her body about, but she ended up just flailing her arms for a couple of seconds to no avail. Soon one of the stars was headed directly towards her, and she panicked slightly ready to try to avoid it. It was made a bit stranger when she saw a figure riding atop the star, and it slowed to a stop as it approached her.
"Gwendolynn Ena Miastina, I'll assume?" the girl atop the star said, looking down at her.
You got the first part right….but what's the rest?" Gwendolynn asked, bewildered. "Who are you? Where am I? What happened to Olive?" she continued her battery of questions.
"One thing at a time," the girl waved her hand dismissively at Gwendolynn. "What I said is your full name, and I knew it because I've been expecting you. I am Nicola, one of the ones that I believe you from the mortal realm would refer to as 'Gods.' You are in the realm of the Gods, outside of space and time. And are you talking about my guardian?" she tilted her head.
"Guardian?!" Gwendolynn was stunned. "That child?!" she asked.
"That child, as you put it, is thousands of years old." Nicola responded. Gwendolynn could only drop her jaw in awe at this creature. Sitting atop a star made it difficult for Gwendolynn to see her, so she squinted for a better view. "Right…" she continued, and the star then faded into nothingness. Nicola lowered herself to Gwendolynn's eye level, and Gwendolynn realized that they were almost the same height, with Nicola having maybe 6 inches on Gwendolynn. Her eyes were surrounded by black, and her short grey hair seemed to hold its form, illuminated by the halo above her head. The strangest quality about her was her 2 wings that seemed to mirror one another perfectly, even in their movements, with the tops of the wings being golden, the feathers were a brilliant white. This matched what could be described as the only mundane thing about this Goddess: The simple white gown that she wore to cover her humanoid form, was split near the hips allowing Gwendolynn to catch glimpses of the sides of her legs. She also wore detached sleeves to match her colors, made of white fabric with golden flecks where the fabric was braced to her arms, again with absolutely perfect symmetry.
"Guardian of what?" Gwendolynn pursued.
"Guardian of the gateway that leads to this, the realm of the Gods." Nicola said, waving her arms to motion to the surrounding area. "He protects the portal between our worlds, keeping it sealed away from any mortal who would simply stumble into it." Gwendolynn's face flushed red.
"I….actually kind of did just stumble into it…." she admitted sheepishly. "He just pushed me and in I went…." she finished her explanation.
"Yes, of course." Nicola responded. "He holds the key, after all."
"There….wasn't a key though." Gwendolynn retorted…..because there wasn't.
"Oh?" The goddess questioned, "Then how was the portal unlocked?" Gwendolynn had to think of an answer, since this seemed to not be a rhetorical question.
"Maybe…." she started, "it was never locked in the first place?" she asked, half-seriously, but also ready for it to be taken as a joke. The Goddess's eyes widened at the realization, looking past Gwendolynn to see the portal still very much open behind her. Through it, Olive was smiling looking into the realm of the Gods, waving at the two. Gwendolynn would've jumped back in a startled way if she could've moved, but she did let out a slight yelp of surprise. This made Olive appear to laugh from the other side.
"It appears as though he's found you, The Lost One." The goddess chimed into their unspoken conversation.
"The lost one?" Gwendolynn asked, turning back to face the Goddess before her.
"Quite. The Lost and Last One." she added to the newfound title. "You are the one who will find and relinquish your people from their captivity."
"My people?" Gwendolynn again asked, tilting her head slightly in confusion. Nicola nodded.
"Elves." was her only response. "Those who are like yourself, being magically gifted, and with a much closer connection to nature and magic than their human counterparts. They are your true family, and they are who you are supposed to liberate from their prison."
"Prison?" Gwendolynn asked, still bewildered by this onslaught of information. Again, Nicola nodded.
"They are trapped very far away, and you will save them, for I cannot directly interfere with the plane of the living as I once did. They are indeed one of my favorite creations, and I would appreciate it greatly if they didn't end with you." she continued.
That was foreboding.
"So….how am I supposed to do this anyways?" Gwendolynn continued.
"You have the power within you, however you will certainly need assistance. Find those who you trust the most, and ask them to join you. There are those yet whom you have not discovered who are just as much against the imprisonment of the Fey as you are, if not more. Let your wisdom guide you, and you will find your allies in due time, and if you have doubts, Olive Juice has led you this far, has he not? He will make a fine companion in the coming years."
Gwendolynn shook her head, "That depends on how many cliffs he has me jump off of!!" she objected. "This is crazy!" she put things together in her head, "I'm supposed to save an entire race?!" she couldn't believe her own words, but talking to a Goddess was pretty unbelievable to begin with. Then, Nicola tilted her head in response, breaking her seemingly infinite symmetry.
"You lack confidence," she said after a second with a smile. She raised her left hand and plucked a star from the sky around her, an act that seemed to break reality. The star was infinitely far away, but now in the palm of her hand? She reached her hand toward Gwendolynn, offering this star. Gwendolynn reached her hand toward the star, but found it leap toward her, and soon a bright flash of light engulfed her vision. When she could see again, the star was gone.
"What was that?" she asked, partially out of amazement, but also a bit of concern in her voice.
"That, was your trump card." Nicola explained. Gwendolynn smiled, shaking her head.
"One of those, 'You'll know when you need it,' kind of deals, right?" she asked, now sounding more cynical than anything. This made Nicola laugh, and realign her head with the rest of her body, restoring that ever present symmetry that seemed to make her perfection all that more apparent. Nicola then nodded slowly.
"I feel like that would be, perhaps too vague, so it is in the form of a necklace for now." she explained. Gwendolynn looked down and could see the silver chain that held a simple charm of a diamond star laying in the crest of her chest. That was when Gwendolynn realized, her shirt wasn't torn anymore ....Neither were her pants….or her…...Nope, the shoes were still gone, but hey, at least the wounds had healed somehow.
"Right," she said, gripping the small stone in her hands, letting her fingertips grace each point and valley in this merkaba shaped prism. The light inside of the 8 pointed star seemed to glow brighter as her hand became more familiar with it, and the glow ceased when her hand drew away from it, releasing it back to where it was. She again chuckled slightly to herself, realizing that the small mute child who followed her almost endlessly was the one who would set all of this in motion.
"Also, after you leave, I'll be locking the door between the realms." Nicola added, "In hindsight, I probably should've done that long ago…...no telling how many poor creatures fumbled their way into our realm….."
Gwendolynn's eyes widened at the thought, but then she realized something. "Doesn't the portal only open during an Eclipse?" she asked.
"It what?" Nicola asked, sounding confused for the first time in their meeting.
"There was an Eclipse happening when I saw the light in the lake. That must have been what activated the portal." Gwendolynn explained. Nicola placed a finger to her lower lip, just before biting her nail in thought.
"No, I don't think so. The light from an Eclipse can show portals, but it can't activate them." she explained to Gwendolynn, whose eyes widened again.
"So…..literally anything could've come through this portal since….." Gwendolynn started to ask.
"Since about Fourteen Thousand years ago when it was created…..yes…..it would appear so." her face went blank, and they both stared in a sudden sense of shock that some pitiful creature somewhere in history fell into this portal never to return. Gwendolynn started to think of how many creatures would have met their end in a 14,000 year old void. "I mean, beings that exist here become immortal, so they'd probably be floating around here still anyways…."
Now Gwendolynn couldn't help but laugh at the thought of a 10,000 year old goat floating through space as an immortal traveler between the stars. She then felt herself floating away from Nicola. "Best of luck, child." She said, with her palm faced toward Gwendolynn. Soon the world would fade out of existence, and again she lost consciousness.
When she would awaken, she would be just outside of the surface of the lake, the tide bumping against the bottoms of her feet. She lay on her back, her eyes blinking open as she used her arms to raise herself to a seated position. When she looked around, Olive wasn't being his usual self in that he was simply sitting still, looking up at the eclipse bathing the earth in a deep crimson glow. The ice caps of the mountains turned into a blood red color, and the purple mountains became near black, with the sand turning into a burnt orange color in this twisted light. She sat in silence with Olive for a little bit, enjoying the view about as much as he was, she imagined.
"We're….probably going to need some help for what lies ahead," she started, once the Eclipse had passed, and the moon was shining fully in the sky once more. The night was bright now that the earth was no longer between the sun and moon, and she could see his eager grin quite clearly through the moonlight as he nodded.
"Do you know where to start?" Gwendolynn asked, and Olive turned to face her completely. He responded only with a wink, which Gwendolynn assumed meant yes. Resting on her arm, she realized that the bruise was still there, so after some twisting she sat completely independent of her arms. She realized her clothing was still tattered and dirty. "Well, make sure you remember tomorrow morning, okay?" She ordered him. "Tonight I think I'd like to stay in this valley. There's water for me to wash my clothes, and it looks like there isn't another creature around for miles."
"Probably because they all wandered haplessly into the portal" she thought.
Again, he nodded, and started making his way along the side of the beach to find…...well, who knows what. Gwendolynn felt a bit of terror at what was to come staring out at the lake's wavy surface. Would she have to fight? Who would she fight? How would she free an entire race? Why did it have to be her? How did she know who she could trust? Where were the elves even at? There were too many questions in her head at this moment, and luckily for her the warm waters of a late autumn lake were able to wash most of her questions and stresses away. Tonight she would relax, and tomorrow she would worry about the answers.