The Broken Forest has not been touch by dwelling life for millenniums nor since the gods' disappearance, leaving the plains of Earia. But the creature that used to bring this broken forest to life is still there—just sleeping. No one knows why they are slumbering, just that it transpired at the same time the gods left. Some reckon that they did something to anger the gods and got cursed for it, whilst others think that these tiny creatures couldn't handle the pain of them leaving, and they just shut down. But most? They believe that fairies are merely myths.
Yet, the forest wasn't avoided by all life. It's still thrived in animals, small and big, protected by the trees and the sacredness of the place being the last sighting of gods. But the forest didn't bloom as it uses too. There was no brightly coloured flowers spread throughout or magic glittering in the air; it was just dark and grim. The once beautiful enchanted woodland became the Broken Forest tales, scaring young children who refused to sleep.
A sudden rumble of thunder could be heard throughout the forest, frightening the wildlife. It shook the tree leaves, rattling loudly against one another. The pressure dropped, and the sky opened up. Eliana was still falling.
***
The earth concaved at the force of the young woman's landing. The ground was hit so hard it looked as though a meteorite had just crashed. Luckily, none of the woodlands got damaged by the crash. She landed right in the middle of the clearing, the deepest part of the broken forest—the area where the ancestors celebrated the beginning of life.
Eliana groaned from within the cavity, her ears still ringing from the thunder, her body shaking from the adrenalin. 'How am I still alive?' she thought, throwing one arm over her forehead and her other curled up into a fist. 'Soft?' Something had caught in her hand. Raising her arm slowly, she held it above her face. A small yellow flower. 'Huh? There's only concrete that surrounds the building'. With that, she pushed herself to sit up, hoping her work colleagues weren't going to surround her.
Flowers. Bright yellow flowers. They covered everything in this giant crater. She ran her hand softly over them. But she quickly retreated it, sucking in a sharp breath. The flowers shivered at her touch. Eliana forced herself to stand. She was a bit unsteady, but she was too frightened to be so close to these flowers. As she frantically looked around to see if there was a shorter wall or something to climb on to get out of this crater, she finally realised all the flowers were facing her.
There is a large rock three meets to her left side that would allow her to get out. But she had to somehow walk through the flowers. Slowly and carefully, she lifted her foot to start walking; as she put it down in front of her, the yellow flowers weaved out of the way. She carried on this method, watching the flowers as she went. The more she moved, the louder bell-like chimes could be heard in the air. Reaching the rock, she could see it was also covered in flowers, "I don't want to squish you..." she whispered out. The tiny flowers perked up and made unmistakable jumps off the rock, gracefully fluttering down. The bells are chiming louder in excitement. Once landing, the flowers turn and face her, all puffed up petals like they were beaming at her to see if she was proud. She couldn't stop the smile that was breaking out of her face, "Thank you", she told them gently before climbing on top of the rock. Reaching her arms to the top of the side, she tried pulling herself up, but her arms were like jelly.
Trying to jump and pull herself up again, she didn't notice the yellow flowers looking at her with tilted heads and turning to one another. The chimes were fuzzy and overlapping. On another jump, she felt something hit under her feet and push her up with so much force she rolled over the edge and landed on her back, her dark hair spread out behind her like a halo. 'Oof', she grunted out, staring up at the bright blue sky, as spots of yellow leaned down over her face. The chimes softly tinkled at her, sounding worried. 'The flowers are the ones making the noise." she realised, staring at the little guys who looked as though they were about to start panicking by how much they were wiggling around.
"I'm fine. I just had my breath knocked out of me", Eliana reassured the flowers. She pushed herself up slightly to lean upon her arms. "Thank you for your help. I wouldn't have made it out without you guys." she reached out to pet them. The tiny flowers could no longer contain their excitement and charged, jumping up on to her chest to snuggle in close. She laughed, bringing her arms around them in a gentle hug. She could hear the other flowers down in the crater complaining, the chimes causing a stir with the woodland animals that had come out to see.
As the young dark-haired woman played with the yellow flowers on the clearing, down in the hole, the wind started to brew. It was slowly lifting the flowers from the ground up, delicately picking them up like children. Creating a mini yellow tornado, it wasn't violently twisting. It was twirling softly to the giggling chimes they were making. Floating it's way up to the unaware woman.
In a short amount of time, Eliana had come to adore these creepy little flowers, even though she didn't believe it was really happening. She honestly thought she was hallucinating or dead. She couldn't believe that this could be real? Something behind her caught the flowers attention making her turn to look. Yep. She was definitely hallucinating, as a yellow flower tornado was making it's way over. Nothing else could explain it. Feeling little pats to her cheek, she watched as her tiny friends jumped into the tornado, and with the last ones joining, the tornado started to change shape. It grew brighter and more solid in colour; the flowers merged, creating the form of a body, and on the top, they came together, making one big version of themselves. The petals gently closed up, and slowly, the core of the flower started to expand. Something was gathering up inside. A few moments past and gold dust exploded out of it make Eliana turn and shield her face. What stood in front of her was a creature she was sure her mind couldn't possibly be able to make up.
It stood a foot taller than her; its body was elegant and delicate with long arm and legs. Red Ivy wrapped around it, twirling up the body from the right leg to the left arm, gathering over certain areas, covering the private bits. It had a light green complexion, with light red freckles brushing the bridge of its tiny nose and round apple cheeks. The eyes were large and doe-like, shining bright yellow. Just above the eyes on the middle of the forehead was a small orange jewel. It didn't have hair, but it did replace it with large yellow petals that laid softly down its back.
The creature was smiling down at her. As though she was the most beautiful creature in the world. It reached out, stroking her hair, intrigued by its colour. Eliana watched as the jewel began to glow, not knowing her eyes were doing the same thing. The creature smiled radiantly at the glowing amber eyes. Opening its mouth to talk, but only bell-like chimes came out. The creature noticed she didn't understand and frowned. Smiling sadly, it bent down and gave a kiss to her forehead before pulling back and looking her deeply in the eyes, trying to convey a message throw. With that, it gave one last cheeky smile before dancing off into the forest, leaving a wake of tiny yellow flowers.
'A nymph.' her own mind told her.
"What the hell is going on!" She calls out towards the sky, pulling at her dark, messy curls.
***
Eliana didn't know what was happening. She didn't understand where she was or how there was a bloody nymph in front of her created from creepy giggling yellow flowers. All she can remember is lightning striking her.
'The fuck! I got smoted!'
Collapsing to the ground, she runs her hand down her face. She already looked done with all of this. Opening her coat, she saw that her satchel was still there, even though the coat didn't show a lump and her shoulder didn't feel any weight from it. Pulling it forward, she checked to see if everything was still in tack. Pulling her tablet out first in its brown leather case and opening it, she blew out a breath she didn't know she was holding. 'It's okay', she saw no cracks in the screen. But from seeing that nymph, she guessed that it was going to be useless here. Putting it to the side, she carried on, pulling everything out of the bag finding her black converse at the bottom with some ankle socks 'thank god', she thought, seeing the shoes. There's was no way she would be able to make it out of the forest in heels.
Looking at the piles of content, she saw she had an excessive amount of first aid stuff; it made her finally understanding why her parents call her a worrywart. She just liked to be prepared; you never know when something will happen. Plus, she works with kids. They fall over all the time. After swapping her shoes over, she started to fill her bag back up. 'Maybe I should just give it a try?' She thought, glancing at her tablet. Picking it up, she sits it on her lap, pressing the lock button. The screen lit up, but it wasn't her home screen.
The screen was bright white with a strange gold symbol in the middle. There was a diagonal swoop mark going up the middle of the scrren, with a curved line over it near the base; slightly above that line, another line was going across it with the left side curling upwards around a circle. 'Sky', her mind translated. Brushing her finger gently over it, it started to emit a radiant white light covering the entire tablet. It was too bright for Eliana. She had to close her eyes. Once she felt the light dull behind her eyelids, she carefully opened them to find a large, brown leather-bound book on her lap with a pale yellow envelope on top, her name wrote in cursive on it. With shaking hands, she plucked the envelope up, turned it around and seeing a gold wax seal with the sky emblem pressed into it. Breaking the seal, she pulled the letter out and began to read.
***
Dear Eliana.
I know this must be very frightening for you, and I'm sorry that we did this to you. If I could, I would've never let it happen, but I was outvoted and made to bring you here as I'm the only one with the power who could.
I'm so sorry I couldn't make that experience nicer.
If you haven't already worked it out, you are no longer on Earth. Where you are is a lot like Earth in its early years before technology and harmful pollution. But here, they have magic. Magic has pushed this world to evolve differently from Earth. So it may look like you are walking around in a fantasy book. Some of the things this world has discovered with magic are genuinely wonderful and wouldn't be possible with Earth's technology.
Also, where Earth likes to change every decade, aspects here could stay the same for hundreds of years. Especially there clothing. So you may stick out like a sore thumb until you can get a hold of something.
The book on your lap. It's still your tablet, just disguised as a grimoire. This disguise will help protect it from others as there's a fundamental law across all species that they can't read someone else's grimoire without explicit permission. If you don't know, a grimoire is a spellbook that's been passed down and added on to by new holders in a family. They don't just have spells and potions in them. They can have diary entries, clues to hidden treasure, but they are all very personal to a family.
You're probably wondering how that book is still your tablet, right? Well, to connect it, there's a silver necklace with an amber gemstone tucked inside the book. All you need to do is say, "hey, Ciri?" And that jewel will mould its self on the front of the cover, forming the engraving of a sun around it. The gem turns the book into a type of A.I., and it will answer everything. You just have to ask it what you want, and the book will open up with the information you need: even videos and your photos. However, you would have to hide the jewel if people were about. You just say 'hide Ciri', and it turns back into a necklace, leaving the engraving behind.
I'm sorry to say I'm not allowed to tell you why you are here but only give the message: Provide them with hope.
I know this is not much, and it doesn't help at all.
But I will say become a healer and a mage, your standing will be higher with all species and try your best to climb the ranks. The higher you are, the easier it will be to accomplish your task.
One thing? Please don't freak out when you see humans; the magic evolved them a little differently.
Stay safe and be strong, little firebug. We will meet in the future.
Caelus
P.s.
I have snuck in a special feature into your book without the others knowing; this feature will make learning easier. There's also a bracelet in the envelope put that on, and it will protect you. Never take it off.
***
The letter didn't tell her if she would be able to get back home; that was the first thing, Eliana noticed. She was stuck here in this scary magical world. A world she didn't know the name too. The letter didn't even mention it. With a sigh, she reached for the envelope and saw that it did have something in it, 'that wasn't there before.' the object barely fit inside it. It definitely wouldn't have sealed shut with it. Pulling it out, she held the bracelet. It was quite simple, with a large oval amber stone embedded in a silver base with two silver bars placed at the top and bottom of the stone that followed the curve to meet and join, forming the rest of the bracket. 'It kinda looks like an eye.' though it did look too big for her wrist.
Slipping it on to her right wrist, the stone glowed slightly, and the bracelet tightened up to the point where it wouldn't slide about, but not to tight that it would hurt her wrist. 'I don't think I can take it off?' Using her left hand, she tried to pull it off, but it wouldn't even budge a tiny bit. 'Well, you're a part of me now.' she patted the gem.
Looking down in her lap, she started to study the leather book. It really did look like a bigger version of her tablet case. The back cover was longer than the front to allow it to wrap around the side and reach the fore-edge to the front of the book. It looks like it still stuck with the magnetic. Building up her courage, she placed the book on the ground and scooted back a bit.
"Hey Ciri?" the book instantly started hovering slightly off the ground. Eliana watched as Celtic knots burned itself into the book's spine, trimming the cover with the same print. The wrap grew two long thick finger width straps with a punctured holes. The book's center started taring open and silver liquid flew out of the hole, floating above the book. The round amber gem pushed its way out, and the leather started melding around it. Once the stone was secured in tight to the front. The cover started burning out a complex sun engraving around the stone. The silver split into five parts; two of them slowly moved down to the spine, creating two small buckles. One moved over the gem, making a delicate embellishment on top of it, and the last two moved to the side of amber, creating small intricate fairy wings that embedded themselves to the leather.
It was beautiful.
She watched as the book gently fell back to the floor, reaching over and picking it up; a thin silver chain fell out of it. She quickly placed the book on her lap and collected the chain, not even second-guessing before placing it over her head. Eliana felt the chain pulse a warm sensation into her heart. 'Ooh, that was strange...'
"Hide Ciri", the amber popped out of the book with the silver cage embellishment and wings. The wings quickly enclosed around it, making it disappear. Eliana felt a small drop on the necklace; lifting it, she saw that the stone had shrunk in size. Whereas it was the size of a large strawberry before, it had now turned into the size of a pea, hanging sweetly on a drop pendant. 'It matches the bracelet.' Elaine wondered if she was going to end up collecting all the necessary paraphernalia to finish the set.
"Hey Ciri", the stone encased in the silver, gently pulling it's self off the chain, floating in the air for a few seconds as if it grew in size, and the silver altered back into the embellished cage. With the wings appearing, encircled around the stone. It softly positioned its self back into the centre of the sun, with the wings gently stretching out, spreading back down on the book.
'Wicked...'
Eliana was awestruck, but it was becoming all too much. Everything kept getting thrown at her all at once. She didn't have any time to process somthing before another thing was thrown at her. First, she struck by lightning, then she awoke in the middle of a creator surrounded by moving yellow flowers. Said flowers turned into a creature. The letter explaining everything, and her tablet turned into some book with a magic gem. And to top it off, she's on a whole different planet.
'God, I'm getting dizzy...'
It was no surprise the dark-haired woman fainted.
***
"Hey, miss? Are you going to wake up?"
Eliana was pulled out of her slumber by a familiar voice. 'Was it all a dream?' she wondered. She moved her hand slightly, testing the ground 'it's grass.' it wasn't a dream, but then how was that voice here?
"Miss? I'm getting so bored! Please wake up," the familiar voice whined. 'Rachel?' Could she have landed here too? No. The light-haired woman didn't come on to the roof; she stayed in the doorway. Safe from the storm. Eliana snorted at her stupidity, thinking her friend could be here too. Rolling over, she pushed her self up. "You're awake!" Something flew right in front of her face.
"AHH" Eliana screamed, falling back down in fright; the thing shot back in shock, shrieking as well.
"AHH! Why'd you do that?" The voice complained. "That hurt my ears! And I don't have ears!" It was the book Eliana finally clicked on. It was floating on its side using its fore-edge as a mouth. It flew back in quickly, coming down to her eye level. "So what's your name? I have all your stats. Just don't have a name to put to it." it questioned; the amber eyes just stared on the back. "Right, stranger danger, I get it. Well, my name in Ciri and I woke up right next to you." the book, Ciri seemed to smile. "See, I'm no longer a stranger! So what's your name?"
"Eliana..."
"Nice to meet you, Elli. You can call me Ci or Ciri, whichever you prefer" the book kept on smiling. "We are going to be the bestest of friends!" the book celebrated. "But first. I have some important stuff to tell you. Are ya ready?"
"I'm ready?" Eliana wasn't ready.
"First thing first, that necklaces won't come off. It connects the two of us. What it does is allows me to know what's happening with you. Kinda like a really detailed smartwatch, but I know everything! Except for thought, I only get that when I'm attached to the necklace. It also supplies me with your mana. That's what keeps me alive." the book explains. "Second thing I have your Earths internet-connected up, we won't ever lose connection, and we don't need subscriptions for anything! I've checked. Third, when I'm on the necklace, I can speak to you through your mind. And you only have to think to talk back; I can't hear your most profound thoughts unless you want me too. Plus, you can still ask me questions, and the information will appear in the book, or I can inform you. Also, the book is not animated when I'm not on it." the book informed, "and lastly, Lord Caelus has given me all the knowledge of this world to help you adjust. It works the same way as the internet. You just ask something, and I can find it out. Easy peasy. Any Questions?"
She had many questions she wanted to ask, but Eliana had one crucial one to ask first.
"Can you please tell me what this world is called?"