Legends of Kepler: Age of Erin

CHAPTER I: DUCHESS OF THE FORESTS (2)

CHAPTER I: DUCHESS OF THE FORESTS (2)

The next day, a clear summer morning dimmed over the sweet meadows of the forest. The woods´ streams clung together in majestic light collisions. The roars of the descending winds of the valley ran fresh above the trees, generating the dance of the summer leaves, covered in the principle of destiny, faith, and mystery.

A gleam of glowing light entered the magic room of the beautiful woman; over the small marble windows of the cabin. Entering the wake-up call, with the secret, of a message that the woman would´ve never expected. She arose instantly; breathing the sweet aroma that awakened the memory of her deep soul. Coming from the precious lilies that surrounded the small hill where the cabin gently rested.

“Dawn at last!” Leyra exclaims. “Today will be a great day, I'm pretty sure!”

"Good morning, duchess" exclaims the flying energy.

“Good morning Athäir!” says the woman. “I'm going to wake up the boy, and we'll start the expedition! You come with us, right?”

"I'm afraid your father has asked me to visit a nearby set of fallen trees" says the energy. “Apparently, their souls must cease under the earthly depths. I will be helping him, but don't worry, I will be very close to the area.”

 “It´s fine” said the woman. “Just don't go too far, okay? I have no idea how long we will go to find this woman.”

"You know my presence, is always a snap from your fingers" the floating light responds.

The magical energy went out of the small windows; quickly, fading between the winds of the warm forest. The woman got ready, promptly; got up from her bed, energetic. She washed her face, grabbed her small golden bracelet, and her magic book, which she quickly placed in her purse. She looked at herself in the mirror, pleased, but her spirit fell a little when she saw her hair. Aside from having a mess upon it, she realized that it had significantly lost its color. And what once were beautiful wavy blondes, became smooth, firm garments; with a peculiar color, similar to the green and brown that surrounded her. As if this, assimilated to the only environment she had lived in the last five years. Turning little by little, into darker, oscillated tones.

Even though her hair had a different shape, it was just as beautiful. But the woman was saddened by her new form. It was as if her hair invited her to accept the tragic nostalgia, of leaving her past behind. A downside, for her gorgeous hair, was the only thing that brought her restless mind back to really feel youthful again. But she forgot the details, as soon as her mind recalled the great task she had today. She averted her gaze, and her attention, and left her room to look for the boy.

But this boy was not in his room. This boy was no longer in his place. This boy was not even in the cabin. The woman came out of the small hut, looking at her surroundings, screaming for his name; which only she and the little boy knew. He was nowhere to be seen. There was no trace of him. He had vanished, as soon as he had come.

The woman began to get anxious, when she went to the living room, and the large medallion she had left resting on it had also disappeared. Panic, arrived. Nerves poached over the woman's body, when she quickly hears, in the distance, the crying of a child in trouble. Heavy trouble. The terrifying voice of being in front of danger, in front of falling, in front of death.

The woman quickly left her house, running in the direction where her ears located the sounds. Was it to the south? Was it to the north? The desperate mind of the woman did not help her to choose precisely. She followed the ascending path, all over the high hill, which led to the northernmost part of the forest; for both her intuition and her ears, shouted to approach quickly upon it. She exclaimed the name of her protective angel, but he did not respond; the woman was alone. Wrapped up in her own thoughts. Facing the battle of a frustrated mind, for in it, confusion and mystery resonated, as the boy's crying became increasingly exalting, and she seemed to be closer to them.

The woman arrived at the high zone of the forest, and began to choose paths everywhere. Entrances through the trees, for thousands of them seemed to distort her way. Her eyesight sharpened, but she lost track of colors. The range of dull green froze over her horizon, running aimlessly among the dozens of tree-lords from the traitorous woodland. The echoes of death creeped among them; the tear of an innocent soul, ran down the dark slope. And what was once a blessing, turned into a nightmare that enveloped the woman in a place she had never been before, and her mind repeating to her, the dark truth, as she felt she was once again, failing.

The woman concentrated her vision towards emptiness; she found a descending path that made its way through the trees, but that did not testify to where she was going later. Without thinking, the woman ran over the walk of nothingness. She crossed the path, covered in a strange mist on the ground. Running from her fate. Her mind began to block, and the screams of despair and agony covered the walls of her consciousness, and among them, the pleas of the piercing voices of her children, her husband, her mother; being devoured by mitigating shadows that prevented salvation, while the woman tried to close her eyes, trying to avoid the infinite projections of insatiable death devouring the spirits of her loved ones.

A tear fell from her eyes, but the woman tried to open them again. And suddenly, and rooted cliff was in front of the woman's desperate feet. It was too late. She fell and rolled, damaging herself between the treacherous and descending hills of the eternal valley; but she was quickly caught by the first leaves of some lower trees. Hidden in the mist that sustain the woman's soul, but not her body, which began to strongly hit the inner branches of the solid trunks; between the fall and thousands of collisions with the ancestral fathers of the forests, her body collapsed heavily on a strange meadow full of autumn flowers.

The prairie was smooth and delirious; with floral ranges the woman had never seen before. She certainly had no idea where she was, or what she was dealing with. The woman raised her face and looked slowly at her sides.

“Am I death?” the woman exclaims. “What is this?”

The Duchess of the Forest had no idea if she was delusional; her mind couldn´t tell if the beautiful designs she saw were real. She placed her knee in the bush, and looked ahead, only to find herself faced on the eventide that strangely brought up a memoir of her former queen steps. An imminent threat. A medium wall, covered with wood, standing in front of her; hidden among ancestral roots. An on top of it, dozens of archers, placed into attack. Pointing from everywhere to the young woman, who was tremendously nervous and confused.

In the center of the top of the wall, between the passageway of the archers, a man stands still on the heights. Elegant, smooth, with gentle movements. He had sapphire rings on all of his fingers, and was dressed in a robe with the rarest designs the woman had ever seen, embroidered on a garment.

"Introduce yourself" the man in the robe exclaims, highly.

"Just tell me where the boy is" Leyra exclaims.

“What in heaven´s name are you talking about?” says the man, laughing. “Are you insane woman? Do you know what your eyes are seeing right now?”

The woman did not know what to say, probably because her mind brought back the idea that she was delirious; words did not come out of the woman's mouth.

"I'll give you one last chance" exclaims the man. “Tell me, who are you?”

But the woman had no voice; her mind could not reason, since she clearly saw the small fortress as an evident town, which she was completely unaware of. This defense did not trust her, and the archers were about to release dozens of arrows to deliberately end the life of the innocent woman, who was still trying to process the sudden event.

“Finish her” exclaims the man.

The front archers of the barrier unleased the attack, simultaneously. And before the eyes of the woman, certain death was approaching with unthinkable speed upon her being. The woman closed her eyes, and raised her arms to the front. She opened her hands, and in an instant, all the arrows stood static between the heights. The woman put her fingers together, and a pink luminescence sprang from her hands; swinging over them. The suspended arrows broke apart on the heights, falling into millions of pieces on the ground.

 With her left hand, the woman made a quick movement to her side, and from where she was, a violet power was formed. It crossed through the air, in the form of an energetic wave, which increased in length throughout its trajectory; heading at full power towards the archers. The purple wave, strikes the defense harshly, whom fell from the wall into the kingdom, one by one. Taking them all down.

"I'm not here to battle" says the woman, out loud. “I am looking for a child. But since we´re here, I would love to know, who are you? How come I´ve never seen you before? What are your intentions with this nature?”

The man in the strange robe, was the only one who leaned his head over the wall. He looked at the woman from the distance, and slowly, descended the stairs of the entrance to his kingdom. Suddenly, a small and hidden door opened at the bottom of the wall; in one of its corners. He walked out into the meadow of fallen leaves, along with two armed warriors, and headed elegantly toward the woman.

"Daughter, are you a Solarian?" the man asks.

“What is that?” Leyra exclaims.

"Well, it seems you are not" the man replies. “How do you have abilities that only the god of creation can offer?”

The woman remained silent, until she emphasized her main purpose again.

"As I said, I am not here to fight with you, nor to give details about myself" she replied. “I am looking for a boy. I found him yesterday, among the woods. He has strayed out from his mother, and I heard his screams very close to here.”

"Well, here, no child had passed by."

The woman tilted her head, puzzled. She didn't understand why life had brought her there. She did not understand why her father was taking her out of her ways. She did not understand if what she had lived with the boy had been real; for the voice, was never heard again.

“Is it possible to know how are you upon these forests?” asked the man.  “And how could you have even reached here?”

"I am an exiled" exclaims the woman. “From the kingdom of Glamdoer.”

"Glamdoer?" exclaims the man, confused. “That kingdom was destroyed a long time ago, by the hands of the fallen King Argônæth.”

"It is like this" answers the woman. “It was like this.”

"Although" continues the man, "I was told that its survivors followed him to the discord of his kingdom, and joined the realm.”

"Most of them, but not all" the woman replied. “A small group decided to escape while the emigration was taking place, and choose other paths; trails to the forest. The king killed my husband. I was not going to follow his ways.

"I'm so sorry" says the man. “But there is nothing to worry about anymore. That cursed king has received his punishment. Are there more like you?”

"Unfortunately, it´s just me, sir" answers the woman. “The group fell, and I was the only one who managed to survive. I have been alone in the forest for five rimerians.”

"Ten, you mean" exclaims the man. “Since the fall of Glamdoer; according to what you allegedly claim you are.”

"Yes, that is" says the woman, stammering. “That's right sir. The notion of time is lost when you live so isolated in these forests.”

"Well, I don´t trust you so much" exclaims the man in the robe. “It seems that you hide some things, but I understand that, after having lived what you have lived. Besides, you are one more victim of the misfortunate kingdom that once was in Anaís, and of its capricious kings. So I feel sorry for you. You can stay with us for a few days, and you can decide if you want to stay to help in delicate, fine eyes, with colorations in their irises delighted with fascination and charm. All working together; harvesting a large quantity of wheat. Working and remodeling, an exquisite town, with a lot of joy.

"Welcome to the Mystic Eleanor´s Realm!" exclaims the man. “These are just the outskirts, the great Edoer people. The first part of the two communities that make up this empire. As you can see, we are all elves; the only ones of the south, upon these mountains. Descendants of the great golden queen, the mythical legend. But later on, I will tell you about her in detail. Maybe you understand our story better, when you understand hers.”

"It´s the twelfth day of the Serodite Cycle" continues the man. “Summer is ending, and autumn is already upon us. As I told you, this is only the front line, and therefore, our defense and the ideal zone for our crops. Here we sow, here we reap. We also have our great wheat mills. And among the farming part of this region, are the sacred cave, which lead to our second community. The main realm, and the one blessed by Elgoneth. Followed throughout the secret tunnels that the eternal queen discovered with the first great elves, and led them to the nation of the suspended waterfalls. The divine refuge. The sacred city. The secret of mysticism. The fantastic City of Zaragad.”

The woman was astonished by everything the man in the robe told her; On her journey, she was fascinated, as she saw very modern structures. Eccentric temples. Mind-blowing cabins; glass houses, and hiding places with floating objects. A singular magic, that overflowed the most impressive power that the woman had seen in her thirty rimerians.

"I can't believe what I'm seeing" exclaims the woman. “How can a kingdom like this exist in Anaís?”

“Anaís?” exclaims the man. “No, my friend, you are no longer in Anaís.”

"But then" interrupts Leyra, "I mean, what is this?"

“This?” responds the man in the strange robe. “This is the preciousness of the pink parcels dancing as descending ladders from the highest hegemony of flora and pride. As the promulgation of ancient roots from the wisest trees; whose origins could only be explained by Elgoneth, since the beginning of all days. These becoming, the testimonies of the creation itself; the fathers of the earth. Moored from the genesis of the underground times, up to the highest point of the divine firmament. Perching on the eternal forest. Proclaiming themselves as the eternal owners of the south and the east. Glimpsing their sweetest colors above the lost heights of the strangest kingdom your rimmers have ever traveled, and ever will. This is, the stealthy realm, of Eldrįner.”