The Twelfth Chapter | The Enchanted Woods (I)
After a good deal of walking on Prim's part, and worrying on Alvera's part, the pair reached a clearing. A large clearing, a coliseum standing in the center. It looked like it was in ruins, mostly dilapidated walls and columns surrounding it. It seemed more like an ancient relic discovered by an archaeologist than a place anyone would reside in.
Prim, with Alvera still on her shoulder, made her way into the structure. Immediately, three towering figures, each settled on their own throne, came into view. A dark-skinned man, a tan woman, and a man as pale as a ghost.
They seemed to be in some form of deep conversation before the woman in the center sensed their presence.
"Prim? What are you doing here?" Her tone portrayed both boredom and disinterest in the topic. Her flaming red hair was styled into a braid and her dull amber eyes drilled into Prim. Yikes.
Alvera wasn't surprised that they knew her, she ruled the Realm after all. Secretly, she wondered why Prim would even suggest coming here if she knew how hostile they were.
"Um... pardon me. I'm just here to ask if you might have any information for me. I want to know if you know anything about a...?"Alvera quickly caught on and filled in the gap for Prim.
"A Duke of Waylon. My father."
While the woman in the center was quiet, thinking about what exactly she might know, the dark-skinned man on her right offered some information.
"I know a bit about him."
Alvera's heart leaped in her chest. She listened intensely as the dark-skinned man told her everything he knew about her father. Although he couldn't give her a lot of information, it was still valuable. Any information was valuable.
She made a mental note to ask Cedrick and maybe even the Duke more about it later, but that's a big maybe.
~ • ~
"Where have you two been?" Cedrick asked as the females approached him.
"We made a quick detour and visited The Elders."
"Quick? It's been almost an hour, Prim. Do you know how worried I was?"
"Calm down, Cedrick. Don't you trust me?"
"No, Prim, I don't."
"That's harsh," she pouted.
"Just give me back Alvera. We need to get going."
"Where are you rushing off to?" Prim asked.
She shrunk back down to her normal size, Alvera jumping off when she decided that she's close enough to the ground to do so successfully.
"Doechi."
"What? Why are you going to see her?" Prim's dislike for Doechi was clearly showing through.
"Prim, you can't hate her forever," Cedrick says, rolling his eyes.
"I don't hate her, however, I don't particularly like her either."
"Jesus, Prim." Cedrick let out a tired sigh, "It's not like I have a choice anyway. Alvera has to meet all the Realm Rulers. I can't pick and choose. Deoechi isn't even that bad, you just like overreacting."
"Whatever, Cedrick. Just take her already. The sooner you go, the sooner you can get it over with."
Alvera was quite curious about what had happened between Prim and 'Doechi', but she thought it would be sort of rude to just ask out of the blue. Instead, she kept quiet and let Cedrick deal with the situation.
"Alright, Alvera, let's go." He crouched down on the ground, giving Alvera a chance to get on his back. Apparently, they were going to fly again. Hopefully, his wings could handle it. With one last look at Prim, essentially telling her to 'get over it', Cedrick let his wings give one violent flap and shoot them straight into the air. Alvera reflexively held onto his shoulders in an attempt to steady herself as the air quickly rushed past her.
Eventually, his flaps slowed and they were able to maintain a stable height as they soared above the rest of the world. Alvera looked down hesitantly, and was met with the same view as before, but this time from the top. Instead of viewing the trees from under them, they had a clear view of the dense forest. The trees were clustered and she could barely see the pathways beneath them, despite that, it was a pretty view.
The trees cleared out quickly enough and Cedrick took a sharp turn north, away from everywhere else they had gone. Lakes, trees, and landscapes passed in a blur as they made their descent towards the ground, landing as gracefully as they always did. She climbed off him and her boots touched the ground. The sound of golden wheat crunched under her feet and the tip of each stem reached her thighs. It was a... wheat field? Alvera, turned around looking for more, but as far as the eye could see, it was all just... wheat.
"Am I... missing something here?"
"Not really. The Enchanted Woods has always been different. This is a transition Realm. The only one actually. It's a sight thing, so if you keep going, there's a sort of invisible gateline and once you pass it, the whole area just changes."
"Uh-huh, so which way are we going?" She turned one more time, facing Cedrick and looking him in the eyes.
"Over that way, the same direction the third sun travels," he said, pointing.
Alvera followed his arm and started making her way in that direction. She kept going for a few feet, having to put in my effort with how thick the wheat was. Eventually, Alvera stopped. She could feel something. She was at it, the gateline. It was the same feeling you would get right before you collided with something when you had your eyes closed. As if you could... sense it before you saw it.
Alvera took a hesitant step forward as Cedrick stood behind her, waiting patiently. As she passed through the invisible veil, she felt nothing. It was strange. She didn't know what exactly she was thinking, but she at least expected it to at least feel... well, anything. Alvera thought it would feel dense or... thick? It definitely felt like that before she actually walked through it. It just felt like walking through air, mostly.
She looked around, hoping for some form of change and at first, not a thing looked different. It looked just like it did from the other side. Cedrick appeared beside her and Alvera gave him a questioning look.
"Give it a second, M'lady."
Suddenly, the ground started to shake intensely, throwing her off balance. Cedrick, on the other hand, didn't flinch. He did however extend a hand out to help Alvera steady herself after she almost fell over. She thanked him and tried to focus on what was happening in front of her.
As if out of nowhere, large trees sprouted out from the wheat stalks. Each bark twisting and fusing with another as if hugging themselves. Leaves emerged from the branches, glistening in the sun and rivaling the color of the stems they had germinated from. The wheat remaining in the ground, shrunk down into smaller patches of golden grass, essentially clearing a path for them to pass.
Despite the enchanting and borderline fairy tale aesthetic, the atmosphere was somewhat denser than outside. Maybe that was what she expected to feel when she passed through the gateline. She didn't pay much attention to it, but it was a bit annoying.
After the whole forest had finished forming, the only sound filling the silence was the gentle swaying of the gold leaves in the wind. Cedrick made his way forward and Alvera followed him silently, still taking in her surroundings.
"So Doechi is the ruler of The Enchanted Woods? Right?"
"Mhm. She's pretty okay, Prim has just always had a problem with her. Don't let that shape how you think of Doechi though."
Hm.
"So, tell me about this Realm."
"The Enchanters are very powerful magic users. They practice the purest form of magic here, Life-giving magic. Essentially, they can bring both non-living things and anything on the verge of dying back to life, however, doing such strenuous tasks takes a toll on their own bodies by getting rid of days or even years of their life. Mostly, they just stick to petty healing to avoid taking too much time off and losing their existence. They are pretty isolated from the rest of the Realms, and it's kind of rare to see an Enchanter walking around. They like themselves and don't breed out of their Realm."
"That was actually a question on mine. What kind of kid would be born if cross-breeding happens in the Realms?"
"Well, typically, the baby inherits only one of the power sets from the parent and then is primarily raised in that Realm after. It's quite a rare thing though. You'll hardly ever see a child like that. One odd thing about the whole cross-breeding situation is just that whenever these types of kids are born, they're usually able to speak all the languages of the Realms. Nobody knows how, but it just... happens. At least it did in all the cases I saw," he shrugged.
Norvella. She's...
"So you're Alvera?" a sly voice interjected.
Alvera's eyes scanned over a head of dark teal hair and a matching pair of teal eyes, coupled with a jaw so sharp and defined it could cut diamonds. She had a single industrial left ear piercing and thin, pink lips. Her gaze was fixated on Alvera, scanning and analyzing. Just being under her stare was intense, but in her eyes was just as much amusement as there was curiosity.
She smirked.
"I've heard a lot about you."