In Search of Auria (15 page)

The forest was as silent and dark as usual;
the trails were the same, and the air was as moist as ever. The
only thing that had changed was Erik, his perspective. Rather than
being enthusiastic, he walked grimly. His mood made the walk longer
than normal, and it gave him the time to think about all the other
times he had gone back and forth through that same trail. All those
times wishing for the unobtainable, it was a shame this was how it
was going to end.

Reaching Auria’s tree, Erik passed through
the ivy curtain and commenced the long way up the stairwell. The
dampness lessened and the staircase brightened with each passing
step. At the end of the long flight of stairs, he opened the door
to the landing, making the shine of the sun blast through. He
peeked by the door frame and saw the fairies with their daily
chores, and the young ones with their usual play. He then noticed
that the front door of Auria’s home was open. He walked closer and
heard some weeping. He immediately felt the guilt deep within.
Auria had been distraught with sadness all this time. Wanting make
things right, he stepped inside her house.

“Auria, I’m sorry!”

But, Auria wasn’t there. Sitting on a chair
by the table was Glorio, Auria’s grandfather. He sat with a shaking
frown; one hand on his knee and the other on his forehead. He
looked up as Erik made his entrance. He wasn’t too happy to see
him.

“You!” Glorio blurted out. Erik had been
prohibited from entering the heights of the forest. So as he
feared, Glorio turned violent against him. The old man tried to
push Erik, but he held him back by grabbing his arms. They both
struggled as they pushed one another.

“I know I’ve been banned from your
presence,” Erik said, “but I need to talk with Auria.”

“How dare you call to her!”

They continued the tussle until Erik had to
jostle him off. Glorio fell back with a painful cry.

“Elder, I’m sorry. I meant no harm,” Eric
approached, but Glorio started to yell frantically.

“What have you done? Tell me what you did!”
he roared, followed by sobs and wild screams. Erik decided to leave
before the old man’s tantrum attracted any unwanted attention.
Halfway through the open landing, Glorio’s screams lured a certain
individual that wasn’t too keen with Erik. It was Radian.

He stormed towards the house after hearing
the screams. And at the sight of the land dweller, his wings
instantly flared an intense red. He punched the air, casting a
blast of light from his fist. The flash darted right for Erik. He
ran for the stairwell’s door, but when the light hit the tree, its
heat instantly cracked the trunk open. The blast knocked him into
the stair’s door, slamming it off its hinges. The door served as a
sled as he slid down the stairs. Shrieking like a baby, Erik held
on tight as the bumpy spiral ride continued. The light dulled and
it quickly turned dark again. Erik felt sick to his stomach as he
swirled down round and around. When the ride reached the bottom,
the door stabbed into the last step and launched Erik to the
opposing wall. He moaned as he laid on the ground, trying to rub
the pain off his body.

He exited the tree by the ivy curtain, when
he suddenly heard Radian calling to him, “Show yourself, you
gutless worm! Stop hiding!”

Erik walked closely by the giant root of the
tree and peered around it. He saw Radian clinging from another tree
not too far off. The shine of his wings illuminated the surrounding
trails and bushes in a fiery crimson. His facial lines pulsed in a
dark purple. Erik stayed hidden and quiet as Radian feverishly
looked around for him. The fairy finally let out a mad roar and
flew back up to the Heights. Once the light diminished and the
atmosphere returned to its regular ease, Erik sighed, “Wow, when
they say ‘never return’, they mean it… Maybe I should never come
back.”

Making up his mind, he turned around to
leave when the tip of a wooden spear almost impaled his face. It
was held by a thin, short man. He wore a shabby mantle with dirty
peasant’s clothes and gloves. And covering his face with a blue
scarf and a brown woolen cap, the only thing Erik saw of him were
his eyes.

“You must be Erik,” The man said with a
young tone. “The fairy heard my footsteps as I walked through here.
He pursued me, thinking I was you. Tell me, why have you
returned?”

“Why is this forest so hostile today?” Erik
remarked.

“Answer me!”

Erik raised his hands and spoke annoyed, “I
only passed here to see Auria.”

“Lair, what have you done to her?”

Erik’s face waned as he heard that.

“What?” he replied confused.

“Where is she?” the youngster demanded.

“Auria is missing?”

“Speak!”

Erik swiftly grabbed the spear and yanked it
out the young man’s hands. He then grabbed him by the shirt and
pressed him hard against the root wall.

“What’s happened to Auria?” Erik barked, but
the young man only replied with fearful eyes. “Tell me, or by the
heavens I will drag you to the top of this tree and let you drop
dead to the bottom.”

The young man calmed down and stared at
Erik, “Y-you really do not know?”

“Know what!”

“I will tell you, but not here. I will take
you to my place.”

Erik heard him, but wouldn’t let go.

“Release me, or be done with me!”

Erik finally set him free, but with a fair
warning, “You lead me astray, and I shall slay you in the blink of
an eye.”

“Do not worry. You may trust me.”

#

The trek through the forest was short, but
only because the young man walked with a restless pace. Erik
noticed a hump on the right side of youngster’s back, but he did
not comment on it. He led Erik to the pond, where he and Auria had
seen each other last.

“What are we doing here?” Erik asked.

“That shack by the pond is my shelter. This
is my place.”

“Wait, Auria told me once about you. You’re
the one that lives here at the bottom of the forest. If only I’d
remember… Bri! Your name is Bri.”

The boy stopped walking when he heard his
name. He turned and removed the scarf and cap. Erik stepped closer
and recognized the features he knew too well.

“Y-you’re a fairy, too.”

Not only was Bri young, he had the same
facial lines as Auria and the other fairies. But, the lines were
completely black, and his skin was as pale as a white mushroom.

“I don’t understand. Why are you like this?
You don’t look like the others,” Erik stated.

Bri smiled and put his cap on again, “I know
I am different. It is my punishment for being reckless.” He turned
to the pond and took off his mantle and shirt. When he revealed his
back, Erik pitied the sight. His right wings unrolled and
stretched, while on his left he had none. They had been ripped off
clean from the root. Only scarred skin and cartilage remained.

“What happened to you?” Erik asked
softly.

“Up in the Heights, I was once the brightest
young one,” Bri told with grief clinging on his throat. “I was the
one with the best set of wings and the fastest flyer. But also, I
was an adept troublemaker. On every flight I would annoy the
others, pushing them around for being slower than me. I even
knocked belongings from the balconies down to the bottom.

“Then one day, while I was flying near the
top of the tallest tree, a sudden gust of wind caught me by
surprise. It swirled me out of control and sent me spinning down. I
ended up slamming against a tree trunk and landing on a branch. I
thought the pain I felt on my back was because of the hit, but I
was wrong. The bark of the tree I slammed on was splintered and
cracked open. By the sticky mix of blood, veins and skin, my left
wings hanged lifeless from the ruptured trunk.”

Bri coiled his wings and put his shirt back
on. “Because of my failure to behave, this happened to me. My
people tried to help me, but I refused. I was so ashamed I hid
myself at the base of the forest. And without any sun to light me,
I gained this pale complexion. I felt so alone. That is until Auria
reached out to me. She found me once and offered me company. She
made me as happy as I used to be.”

Bri suddenly remembered the urgency about
Auria. He got a bit sidetracked by his own past. He turned to Erik,
but too many thoughts came into his mind. He couldn’t get out a
single sentence.

“Hey, stop. Breath and relax.” Erik put his
hand on his shoulder, “Just calm down and tell me what
happened.”

Bri nodded and continued, “Auria wanted to
meet me by the river at the west of the forest. She wanted to talk
with the relaxing sound of the running waters. I went to meet her,
and as I got near the edge of the forest, I heard a scream. I ran
as fast as I could, but when I got there, I saw land dwellers. They
looked like you, with swords. And there was a man with blue robes
and a staff. Using some kind of power, he created a bridge of ice
to cross the river.”

Erik rubbed his chin and said, “The ones
that looked like me had to be soldiers, but the one with robes and
staff must’ve been a sorcerer of some kind.”

“Some of the soldiers had already crossed,
carrying a large bag,” Bri resumed, “But the ones preparing to
cross, they had captured Auria with chains. I ran towards them,
when the sorcerer got in my way. He said, ‘Weak, worthless boy,
don’t interfere with bigger things than you’. He then spoke some
strange words with his staff and something knocked me unconscious.
When I came to be, they were gone and the bridge was there no more.
Using the stairs in the tree, I went up to the Heights and told my
people. But, when I said it was land dwellers with swords, they
thought you had come with others and took her away.”

Erik looked at the pond in thought. That
explained why Glorio and Radian where angry at him. They believed
it was he the one that abducted Auria. But, he still didn’t
understand why soldiers were there. He didn’t know of any
miaflorian plan to go by the river, and the balorians had been
pushed back. He needed more details.

“Bri, what were the soldiers wearing? What
type of armor?”

Bri shook his head, “I did not notice that,
but I do remember something about the one leading the land
dwellers. He wore a helmet with many horns.”

Immediately, Erik had a flashback of when he
defeated Sebastien “The Beast”. The man that commanded the
balorians and ordered the bowmen to fire, he wore a helmet with
horns. It had to be him!

Bri then looked at Erik and said, “Auria
told me that you were the one that defeated the Great Corvus. You
are braver and stronger than any of us. So, will you go? Will you
please bring her back?”

“I
will
bring her back, Bri,” Erik
said, showing his courage and valor. “I promise you I’ll never give
up until I return with her.”

He then put his hands on Bri’s shoulders and
shook him a bit, “And don’t speak as if you’re a weakling. Even
though you knew I slew the corvus, you still had the courage to
raise a spear against me. You don’t have your wings, but you are
still a fairy. You are still a Daystar!”

Bri’s eyes brightened as if a spark ignited
inside him. Erik then took off, running towards the Crude
River.

Nearing the edge of the forest, light
started to pierce through the branches and the sky became clear to
see. Finally reaching the river, there was only one problem to
overcome: how was he going to cross it? He was no sorcerer to
magically conjure a bridge. The river was harsh, rocky, wide and
deep. He would not be able to swim to the other side. It was a
miracle he made it out alive the last time. Erik paced up and down
beside the bank, thinking what to do.

“Damn it, how do I cross?” he shouted. “I
need to hurry. What do I do?”

Then, on the opposing bank came hopping a
familiar creature. It was the enormous frog that had dragged him
out the river before. Erik wondered if it would do it again. He
waved his arms around, trying to capture the frog’s attention. The
frog stopped hopping and fixed its gaze on his movements. When he
moved upriver, the frog hopped upriver; when he paced down, so did
the amphibian. Now that its attention was locked on him, he only
needed to do two more things: jump into the river, and pray that
his plan would work.

Erik climbed a tree and steadily walked upon
a branch that hovered over the waters. And with a deep breath, he
jumped in. Looking at the great splash Erik made, the frog quickly
hopped to the riverbank. It searched the water with its bulgy eyes
and when it found its target, it launched its long, slimy tongue.
Grabbing hold of its prey, the frog yanked and quickly recoiled to
have a tasty human lunch. But instead, it received a nasty
surprise. Out of the water came Erik, with the tongue in one hand
and his sword in the other. The frog pulled hard to bite its prey,
but when the prey neared, so did the blade. The sharp tip went
through the throat and out the back of the head, killing the frog
instantly.

Erik removed the blade and sheathed it. He
was now on Balorian soil and somewhere beyond the trees ahead was
Auria.

“I will find you, Auria. Even if it costs me
my life, I will bring you back.”

He sprung forward and ran into the
woods.

His search had begun…

*

I woke up. The fire had gone out and I began
to feel cold. It was early morning and the sun hadn’t come out. I
sat up and leaned against a rock, meditating on the dream I had.
Bri’s teary eyes were stuck in my mind. Then, it hit me like a
brick.

“What the hell am I doing?”

I needed to change my mindset. The dream
reminded me of what I had to do, and of what I’ve been doing all
night; lamenting myself like a child. I had lost her yesterday, but
that didn’t mean she was lost forever. As a fierce warrior of the
Eternal Squadron, I was not backing down. Rescuing Auria was my
mission, and that’s exactly what I was going to do. I promised!