Forest of Kings

by Jack Knight

  Even with his eyes closed, he could sense where everything around him was. He could feel the position of all of his friends in the room, the shape of the tree around him, and every leaf in the canopy above. He had had this happen before, it was the nature magic trance that all elves slept in. It was unsettling when it happened, especially since Xion had no control over it.

  “... definitely demon,” Xion heard Ava’s voice.

  She and Sapphire would obviously need a lot less sleep than he, Warren, or Laira did, so he was not surprised that they were awake, but he did not want to be eavesdropping, and he could not stop himself.

  “You don’t know that,” Sapphire said reassuringly.

  “What else could it be? The scales aren’t exactly being subtle,” Ava snapped back.

  They were both speaking in just above a whisper, so Xion assumed that Warren and Laira were both still sleeping. He could sense their bodies in the room, but he had no way of knowing if they were awake.

  What bothered Xion was the “scales” comment. Were they talking about him?

  “True, but that doesn’t necessarily mean ‘demon’,” Sapphire whispered insistently.

  “Look, it’s demon blood, I’m sure of it,” Ava said. “And, you can’t tell anyone.”

  “How do you know for sure, though?” Sapphire asked.

  “I’ve known for a while. It wasn’t hard to figure out. Now, promise, you can’t tell anyone,” Ava insisted.

  Xion was sure they were talking about him. There had been a few times that Xion was sure that she knew what his bloodline was. Now that Xion heard them talking about it, the interaction she had with Warren after the fight with the dragon made more sense. Warren must have guessed it, and Ava had made him stay quiet, just like she was doing with Sapphire now.

  “I just feel like the others should know, especially Xion, he would…”

  “No!” Ava hissed. “Nobody. Do you know what they do to demons? Do you know what happened when people found out about a half demon in Qua’ke?”

  Sapphire hesitated. “Yeah, I know. You told me before, and when we met your father… I figured it out.”

  “Good, then you understand, right?” Ava demanded.

  “Yeah, I guess, but still…”

  “Sapphire!” Ava hissed.

  “Okay, okay,” Sapphire said dejectedly. “I won’t say anything.”

  “Good, now…”

  Xion did not know what Ava said after that, he drifted out of the nature magic trance, and back into a dream.

  Xion was standing in the forest, and looking at a large, hulking mass of darkness laying across a pile of giant, fallen trees. Xion could see the wings folded across the back of the mass, and smoke trailing upwards from the snakelike head at one end. Xion recognized Draxis immediately.

  He had had many nightmares about Draxis, so it took Xion a few seconds to realize that this was not a dream, and that he was seeing Draxis from afar, once again.

  Surrounding Draxis were a dozen people clad in black leather armor. Once more, Xion had become aware in the middle of a conversation.

  “... a few miles away,” one of the leather clad people finished.

  Draxis’ deep, growling voice rumbled through the forest. “You were defeated by a human without magic, and four apprentices of the city of blasphemy?” The anger in his voice sent a shiver down Xion’s spine. As much as he hated those who had captured him and his friends, he worried for them in that moment.

  “My lord,” another figure spoke, Xion recognized the voice as Dario, “we were overconfident. My daughter is more crafty than we thought.”

  Draxis growled menacingly, and then shook his massive head. “It is not the elf. The halfborn is gifted in many ways, he is NOT to be underestimated again.”

  “Of course, my lord,” Dario replied quickly.

  “It is no matter,” Draxis continued, “All that matters is that the portal is opened. Did you find the tome?”

  Another leather clad figure walked forward. “We think we know it’s location. We tracked it to the dragon’s tomb, just as you suspected.”

  “Do you have it with you?” Draxis insisted.

  “No, my lord,” Dario answered.

  “Then find it. Immediately,” Draxis commanded. “I need to release the Five Hells while the humans are distracted by their silly little scuffle.”

  “Of course, my lord,” Dario agreed.

  The dream quickly disappeared and was replaced with Sapphire’s face above him, her red hair falling down toward him, illuminated by the faint green light shining in through the window. Xion’s heart raced for a few seconds before he fully woke up.

  “Morning,” she greeted him softly.

  Much too quickly, whatever had happened faded and was replaced with his memory of her and Ava talking the night before. Ava knew that he was part demon, and Sapphire had agreed. They were keeping it a secret from him, which hurt more than he thought it would. How could she think that part of him was a monster, and still smile at him like that?

  “Hey,” he replied.

  Sapphire stood up and her smile faded. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  Xion shook his head. “No, just woke up,” he replied as he sat up. He tried to push the thoughts out of his head. He was sure they had a good reason for not telling him, but they should know him better than that. He was hurt that they did not trust him to know his own lineage, but he could not let them know that he had overheard their conversation.

  “Okay,” Sapphire said, her smile returned quickly. “Everyone else has already gone down to the forest floor, we’re meeting with Kronos.”

  “Even Warren and Laira?” Xion asked.

  “Well, no,” Sapphire corrected, “they went hunting. Warren is trying to teach her how to use a bow.” Sapphire’s lips quivered as she tried to hide a smile. Warren was a decent sword fighter, but he was terrible with a bow. Sapphire could barely use any weapon at all, and Ava never even tried to fight with anything but her dagger. If anyone was going to be teaching Laira to use a bow, it should have been Xion.

  Xion forced a smile. “How well do you think that’s going to go?” he asked, trying to make a joke.

  Sapphire laughed, making Xion’s heart skip a beat again. What was wrong with him? Was he getting sick?

  “I think it’s for the best. I don’t think anyone should eat meat in the elf capital,” she answered.

  Xion pushed himself out of bed and followed Sapphire out of the tree. They used the same spell they had the day before to climb down the trees to the forest floor, where they found Kronos, Ava, and Xara waiting for them. The three of them sat in the center of the clearing in a circle that was completed when Xion and Sapphire sat down.

  “Finally decided to wake up, I see,” Kronos said as Xion sat down.

  “I need more sleep than you do,” Xion pointed out.

  “So do I,” Xara commented, “but I was up two hours ago.”

  Xion did not say anything. He could feel anger creeping into him, and he did not want to be rude.

  “Now that you decided to join us,” Kronos remarked, “we can begin.”

  “Begin what exactly?” Ava asked.

  “Teaching you nature magic,” Kronos said in a tone that implied Ava had not been paying attention. She glared back at him, but said nothing.

  “Or, chaos magic, as you called it,” Kronos continued. “Either way, it is powerful, and less draining to the system, because when you use it, you draw power from the world around you, as well as from inside yourself. Much like wizards do.”

  “How is that possible?” Xion asked. “Every time I use it, it drains me so much I pass out.”

  “Do I have to worry about you interrupting me every time I speak?” Kronos asked. Xion avoided Kronos’ eyes and said nothing.

  “You probably drain yourself too much,” Kronos explained, “because you have no link to the natural world, which is the most important part of nature magic. You need a familiar.”

&n
bsp; “Oh! We’re going to get animals?” Sapphire asked excitedly.

  Kronos looked at her, not unkindly, but so seriously that her excitement drained out of her instantly.

  “It is not something to take lightly,” Kronos insisted. “You will be calling out to nature until one of its denizens chooses to bond with you. When you first touch the animal that has chosen to become your familiar, you will exchange a piece of your soul with that animal.”

  Ava’s eyes went wide with surprise, Sapphire gasped, and Xion felt his stomach drop out of him. Across the circle, Xara muttered, “So cool.”

  “I like my soul to myself, thanks,” Ava said defiantly.

  “Then go,” Kronos said gruffly. “I’m not stopping you.”

  Ava shifted uncomfortably, but did not leave.

  As if nothing had interrupted him, Kronos continued. “Now, open yourself up, force yourself outward like you do when you enter the nature magic trance, and call out for a companion. Do that for as long as it takes for something to heed the call.”

  Xara closed her eyes immediately, but Ava, Sapphire, and Xion exchanged glances.

  “Or, don’t learn nature magic, it’s up to you,” Kronos added with disinterest.

  Ava rolled her eyes and scoffed before she closed them and went still. Sapphire tried to hide a smile as she followed suit. Xion closed his next, unsure of what to do.

  He had never intentionally gone into the trance and had no idea that it was even possible. He tried to remember the feeling and force it to recur. After several minutes of accomplishing nothing, Xion heard a gasp and opened his eyes again.

  Sapphire and Ava also had their eyes open, and saw Xara had her hand extended toward a lizard on the ground in front of her. The lizard was a foot long, and several inches tall. It was covered in black scales, and had stubby little legs, so its stomach trailed on the ground.

  It just stared at Xara’s hands for a few seconds, and then quickly moved forward and bumped its nose against her finger. Where the two touched, a small black light snapped into existence, and then just as quickly went out. Xara jumped like she had been shocked.

  “Whoa, tingly,” Xara chuckled.

  The lizard crawled across the distance between them, climbed up her leg, and then scurried up her stomach and chest to perch on her shoulder. Xara laughed and lightly brushed her finger across the creature’s back.

  “His name is Dirk. How cool is that?” Xara squealed.

  “Yes, yes, good job,” Kronos said quickly. “Now, hurry up, the rest of you.”

  Xion laughed at how little Kronos seemed to care about something so incredible. Xara had just shared part of her soul with that little lizard, how could he dismiss it so quickly?

  The three that still did not have a familiar closed their eyes and tried again. Xion still could not get anything to happen. His consciousness did not expand, he did not feel any different, no matter how hard he tried.

  “Oh, gods!” Sapphire gasped a few minutes later.

  Xion, frustrated that he had accomplished nothing when two others had already succeeded. He opened his eyes to see that a cat was curled up in Sapphire’s lap. The cat glowed white, like its fur was lit from within. It was nearly half as big as Sapphire was while she was sitting down.

  “A cat?” Ava asked with confused disbelieve.

  “It’s a lynx!” Sapphire said excitedly as she pet the cat.

  “It’s celestial,” Kronos said, he sounded slightly impressed.

  “Is that possible?” Ava asked.

  “Of course, familiars can come from any plane. It doesn’t happen often,” Kronos admitted, “but, it happens.”

  “He’s so cute!” Sapphire exclaimed.

  “How do you know it’s a boy?” Xion asked.

  Sapphire looked up in surprise. “Oh… I don’t know, but I’m sure he is.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Kronos insisted, waving his hand, motioning for them to continue.

  Ava groaned and closed her eyes again. Xion followed suit.

  This time there was no gasping or exclamations for too long. Xion figured that Ava was having just as much trouble as he was. He struggled with it for what had to have been at least a half hour. Finally, his awareness heightened, he felt tree roots beneath him, the four people around him, and the leaves in all the trees flowing in the morning breeze

  He was so excited that he had finally fallen into the trance, he nearly fell out of it. He felt his consciousness shrink back toward him and had to relax to get it to expand again. Once he was calm, he realized that he had no idea how to call out for a familiar.

  “Um, hi,” Xion said into his expanded awareness. “I’m looking for a familiar. If anyone wants to volunteer, I would appreciate it.”

  He waited a few minutes with nothing happening, and then tried again. “So, I really need some help here. I have no idea what I’m supposed to say, but I could really use something right about now.”

  A few more minutes passed, and then he felt something move into his bubble of awareness. It moved quickly across the forest, running on all fours, like a dog. Xion could not tell if it was coming toward him or Ava, or if it was coming toward the clearing at all, until it ran straight up to him and stopped just inches from where he sat.

  He slowly opened his eyes to see a tiny dragon sitting in front of him. It was about the size of a medium sized dog, three feet long including the tail, and standing at least two feet tall. It was covered in golden scales and filled with powerful muscles. He screamed and tried to scramble back, but the dragon followed after him and pounced on his chest, knocking him to the ground.

  Xion was ready to fight the beast, until it made contact. The dragon weighed almost as much as he did, and the impact was jarring. That was nothing compared to the shock that rocked through him. His consciousness rocketed back into him, and then part of it ripped from him.

  Xion felt like part of his heart had erupted out of him and was replaced by something else, some foreign mind had merged itself inside of him and he felt like he could feel the dragon, as if the dragon was an extension of himself.

  He felt something brush his mind, and he corrected himself. It was not a dragon, it was a drake.

  “What is that?” Sapphire asked in awe.

  Kronos laughed. “Well, that is a surprise.”

  The drake crawled off of Xion and sat beside him, blinking at the others, and waving its neck around to look at them all.

  “She’s a drake,” Xion said, pushing himself back up to a sitting position, looking at the drake and trying to figure out how to feel about it.

  “It’s a dragon,” Ava argued.

  Xion shook his head as he reached out to the drake and softly ran his hand along its back. The scales felt like the ones on his arm, only smaller. The drake made a soft purring noise like a cat. He could feel its contentment drifting across the link in their minds.

  “It doesn’t have wings, and it’s too small,” Xion pointed out.

  “It’s a drake,” Xara said happily. “Oh gosh, drakes are so cool.” She looked at the lizard perched on her shoulder. “Why aren’t you bigger?” she asked it.

  “So, everyone gets one but me,” Ava growled. She closed her eyes and went still again.

  Xion was excited and wanted to keep talking about the drake, but he knew he had to stay quiet for Ava like they all had for him. He just sat and pet the strange animal and felt information pass between them.

  Her name was Aurum, she was curious about the other people in the clearing, and she was very interested in Xara. He was not sure how to communicate with her, so he tried to extend his consciousness toward her like he had done when trying to call her, which he realized was not what he should have done.

  Xion felt his eyes close, and when they opened again, he was much closer to the ground, and everything around him had a slight tint of yellow. He could hear everything as if it was being amplified ten times louder, smell everything in so much more detail than he ever could before, and he could fe
el a hand on his back. He was somehow inside Aurum’s body.

  He snapped back into himself and blinked several times to get his bearings, again. Aurum looked up at him with the same surprise that he felt. She blinked twice and then turned her head back toward Xara.

  Something about Aurum’s eyes looked so familiar, he knew he had seen something just like them before. The golden eyes with vertical slits, he knew it was important that he remember, but it was just out of touch. He was trying as hard as he could to place those eyes when he felt a shiver run through Aurum’s body.

  Danger.

  Xion heard the voice. Musical and loud in his mind, definitely a female voice. It was strange to hear someone else’s voice inside his own head, but he knew it was Aurum, and it felt somehow comforting. Until he processed what she had said.

  Xion looked around the clearing and saw nothing out of the ordinary for several seconds. Then, the shadows of the trees shifted. At the edge of the clearing, the shadows cast by the light that fought its way through the leaves above, and the crystals in the city, grew darker, thicker, like they were becoming solid.

  All at once, a wolf as large as a horse and as black as Draxis’ scales burst out of the shadow, soaring through the air like it could fly. It landed just behind Ava and bumped the back of Ava’s head. A black light flickered at their touch, just like it had with Xara and her lizard.

  Kronos chuckled to himself. “You all had to surprise me, didn’t you?”

  Ava turned her head to look at the giant wolf behind her. She did not seem surprised at all as she patted its muzzle. “Good girl,” Ava said sweetly to the wolf. Xion was just as surprised at how kind Ava sounded as he had been by the appearance of the wolf.

  “What. Is. That?” Xion asked, wondering if he should be trying to protect Aurum.

  “That is a shadow wolf, a beast from the fourth hell, the realm that inspires all rational creatures to fear the darkness,” Kronos said calmly. The words sent a shiver down Xion’s spine.

  Aurum crawled into Xion’s lap and stood up as tall as she could. Xion smiled as he felt her desire to protect him come across their link.