Apollo slowly came to his senses. His head was brimming with pain as his eyes shot open; as a painful brightness overwhelmed him, he quickly closed them again. He tried to lift his hand to shield the bright light, but his arm wouldn’t budge. Both his arms wouldn’t move, also his legs seemed to be fixed in place. He tried to lift his head, but it seemed there was a headband keeping it down. Only his hands could move a tiny bit.
Did somebody restrain him? He had to open his eyes to find out what was going on. Slowly, he tried to raise his eyelids, squinting into a bright, blinding light. It was an unnaturally cold light, likely produced by an artificial lamp, but it was still too bright to focus on anything. Since he could not even rotate his head, he had to wait for his eyes to adapt. Apollo feared crying for help, since whoever may have put him here might be close-by, just waiting for him to awake. He had to make sure to at least get a grasp about his surroundings, situation and location first. As he tried to make a quiet sound, he only heard a strange, muffled noise echoing back to him, as if he was in a small, enclosed space.
Slowly, panic started to crawl up his neck, and he was soon bathed in cold sweat. How did he end up in this situation? The last thing he remembered was slipping into darkness at the shore of the strange river, and then falling through an equally strange crack in the air, hitting twigs and finally the ground. He must have been transported back into the forest, and somebody must have taken him from there after he fell unconscious. As his eyes were still trying to adapt to the painful brightness, he tried to tug on the things holding him in place once more. It seemed there were clamps around his arms, close to his hands, and from the feel of it, more clamps held his feet in place. In addition, there was a headband holding his head in a fixed position and when he breathed out hard, he could feel his breath coming back, as if there was something blocking the airflow around him. The situation seemed hopeless to escape from, and even at full strength, his shackles would not budge. A somewhat metallic noise could be heard as he tried to move against the clamps holding him in place, which made Apollo believe the shackles were made of metal. And then, there was a throbbing pain in his head and back, probably from wounds inflicted from his previous fall from the sky. The worst, however, was that he still could not see his surroundings, and that he was completely alone in this situation.
Step by step, he could open his eyelids a bit more. The lamp turned out to be rather large and wide and mounted directly in front of his face. Everything around the lamp seemed dark at first. Apollo tried moving his eyes down, trying to get anything into focus. However, since his head was fixed in place, he could not even see down to his feet or his hands, but had to rely on the feeling that they were fixed by metal shackles. Apollo could not make out much more than his shirt, the bright light in front of him, and some dark material below him on which he was lying. It seemed that around him, there was only darkness compared to the bright light..
Even trying to focus left and right, he could see mostly darkness, but Apollo also could not cover much area in these directions since his head was fixed on place. He also tried to listen, but his surrounding were mostly silent, maybe even artificially so, since not a single noise could be heard apart from a very quiet, high-pitched hissing, or maybe buzzing sound which had been there since he first woke up in this place. It did sound like a swarm of bees, as if there was a nest close-by, but if he really was still in the mana harvesting forest, there had been no animals in this deadly area before.
It was still hard to really open his eyes and focus on anything given the bright light right in front of him, so he started to fantasize about such strange ideas. Furthermore, Apollo was very tired, likely from the exhaustion from swimming through the strangely coloured river and the fall right afterwards. His breath was not ragged anymore, but he could still not feel much energy in his body. While there was panic keeping him awake, a sudden dull feeling got hold of him, and he ran the risk of falling asleep. The fact that he basically only had his mind to think about potential explanations for this situation, and almost no input from the environment apart from a continuous, steady noise did only strengthen this effect. This was like a dream, but a really bad one.
He struggled against his shackles once more, thus increasing the pain he felt which also helped to keep him awake. It seemed that nobody was there to help him get rid of this drowsiness or to rescue him from this dangerous situation. Slowly, but steadily, a strong, almost unnatural feeling of drowsiness took hold of him, and after a fight of two more minutes, he could not resist anymore. Apollo gave in to a deep, dreamless sleep.
Aurora was getting closer to him every second, and she could finally see Apollo’s outline in the distance with her normal eyesight. But it seems she was too late: He was already climbing over the shoreline, exiting the ley line as if it was normal to do so. Didn’t he feel the mana current drawing him back? Aurora started to cry out to him, wildly moving her single free hand, trying to alert him. But Apollo did not seem to notice her yet, and she could see him finally laying down flat next to the mana river, apparently exhausted from the struggle.
As he finally stood up, even though they were still quite some distance apart, Aurora felt that their eyes met; he froze in place, and his face brightened up shortly. Suddenly, the ley line seemed to eject him, as the ground below him crumbled apart and he started to fall. Aurora knew it was too late, and she was surprised it had taken so long for the inevitable to happen. Sadness crept into her face as she kept flying towards him, knowing she wouldn’t be able to reach him in time. All she could do was watching him fall, as exiting the ley line at a different destination than the one she destined them to go to when opening the initial rift was beyond her abilities. It was an incredible, maybe even impossible feat that Apollo had managed to achieve without knowing.
While Aurora watched Apollo fade into the distance, she realized she may have one single way to support him. While neither she nor the still fast asleep Simetra could follow him, she could try to throw his backpack towards him. It might help him to survive at whatever location he was thrown out, as he had also survived in the mana harvesting forest before. Aurora took aim, and threw the backpack towards him with her single free arm, keeping Simetra safe in her embrace. She prayed that she’d made it, as she saw the backpack vanish together with Apollo into the dark void beyond the ley line.
Moments later, a tremendous draft of air took hold of her. She tumbled, and the river below her exploded in a wild frenzy as if complaining about what had happened. Aurora was usually very proficient at flying, but the powerful hurricane which suddenly broke loose was too much even for her. She managed to hold on to Simetra, but apart from that, she was thrown through the air without any way to control her flight as the storm pulled her along, down the ley line, and dangerously close to the mana stream. The wooden sign soon escaped the grip of her legs, and fell into the river. She barely managed to stay above the stream as the powerful hurricane moved her closer to the end of the ley line at tremendous velocity.
As Simetra woke up, her muscles still hurt and her head was pounding with pain. She opened her eyes slowly, and as she took in her surroundings, she was surprised to find she was in some kind of wooden cabin, lying on a soft bed. She sat up, careful not to rip the soft bed sheets, and twisted her head. She was alone in here, but clearly somebody had taken care of her. There was a bowl of water next to the bed, and a perch she could sit on comfortably, which she did immediately. Only now, she realized how thirsty she had been and started to drink the clear water. Her headache slowly subsided as the cool water refreshed her life energy.
After quenching her thirst, she started to wonder how she ended up here. Somehow, this place felt safe, for the first time in a long while. The last images in her mind were from the struggle to keep Apollo and the wooden sign afloat, together with Aurora. Aurora had been preparing something which looked like a spell, which would hopefully guide them to safety. Had they succeeded?
As Simetra continued sipping from the clear water, she took a closer look around. The wooden cabin was professionally built, with intricate decorations and a simple but comfortable furniture. It felt like a comfortable place for guests, having only a single room on a single floor. There were some cupboards with several assorted bowls and jars whose contents looked like naturally made products such as tasty jam, honey and more. Only then, Simetra realized it was bright inside, so there must be a light source somewhere, albeit she had not made out any windows yet. Looking around, she found that there were indeed windows, but the wooden shutters were closed, and the light was definitely not streaming in through these. Simetra looked upwards, and found that the light which felt like sunlight seemed to come from a bright globe levitating close to the ceiling. A warm, sun-like shine was emitted by this globe, which probably was powered by magic.
To find out more about her location, Simetra would have to open one of the windows. She approached the shutters, and pulled on one with her beak. As if triggered by that, the light source dimmed itself magically, such that she could barely see the outlines of the furniture in the room at first until her eyes slowly adapted. As she managed to open the shutters, she realized why, as it seemed to be the middle of the night and the bit of light which was left escaped the window and shone upon green leaves and healthy twigs. It seems the cabin was located in a tree, but not one of the trees in the dead, silent harvesting forest, but a real, healthy tree. Also, there was a grating in front of the window, so there was no risk of falling out; and no chance of escaping. But Simetra did not think about escaping, as this place felt safe to her.
Slowly, Simetra started to wonder why she was alone. Surely she was just left here to relax and recover from their wild travelling so far, but she still felt unsteady as she did not know what had happened to her companions. Rarely had she been alone in the last years, especially when at ground or inside a building. It was a strange, uncomfortable experience, and the forest was quite silent at night apart from a rare noise from animals active at night coming in through the window. Compared to the silence of the dead forest they had travelled through before, however, this was a lively and comforting soundscape.
After breathing in the refreshing, but cool air for a while, Simetra decided to close the shutters again. The light inside the cabin became brighter once more, and she looked around. There was also a door with a small window inside, also closed with a wooden board which could be moved to the side to allow checking on visitors before opening the door completely. She fluttered over, shifting the board and looking outside. There was a suspension bridge in view, so she was likely high up in these large trees. She closed the board again, and tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge; likely, it was locked from outside. Was she held captive here?
Even though all this indicated she was kept here against her will, she still felt safe. This all looked a bit like a place where fairies would live, so Aurora might have brought her here. Maybe the door was only locked at night to protect her from unwanted visitors, or from getting lost in this unknown location? She opened the board at the door again and had a closer look. There was no guardian placed outside, as surely would be in case she was held captive. What should she do now?
She closed the board at the door again, and sipped a bit from the clear water. It really took a while to refill her, she had felt completely sucked dry as she woke up earlier. She was not hungry yet, somehow she was still satiated from the meal they had at lunch. However, she was also full of worry, which likely prevented her from feeling hunger, too. All she could do in here, would be to either stay awake and worry, or try to sleep. Indeed, she was still somewhat tired, now that her thirst was quenched. But how would she tune down the light?
As Simetra thought this and placed herself on the soft bed again, the light slowly dimmed itself, until it finally became the shade and brightness of moonlight. She felt put at ease a bit, as the lighting globe above her also projected some tiny specks of light on the ceiling, simulating a beautiful, starry sky. This helped her to calm down, and while she could not stop worrying, there was nothing she could do right now but sleep. Slowly, she drifted into a light, not fully relaxing sleep filled with uneasy dreams of loneliness.
As Aurora woke up, she hurt all over. It took her a few seconds to collect herself. There was green grass growing around her; she must have reached the end of the ley line, and been ejected from it the hard way. She held her head, as even though the grass here was dense, she must have had hit the ground hard moments ago. The wooden sign was lying next to her, probably ejected, too. There was something below it, or rather someone. Aurora quickly crawled over to the sign and put it aside, and luckily, it seemed that Simetra who had been caught underneath was unfazed. She was lying there, probably still unconscious from the fall, but breathing normally. Aurora relaxed; they had reached safety, for now. She looked around, and found the large menhirs around them she knew so well. This was the clearing where the ley line leading to her hometown ended, a place used by her people when they wanted to get close to nature itself and experience their inner peace.
It was silent, and the peaceful forest around her which consisted of real trees full of life emanated a warmth she had missed for many weeks. Aurora unfolded her wings, stretched her legs and arms, and found nothing was broken. She had been really lucky to escape this wild hurricane mostly unfazed, even rescuing Simetra and the wooden sign along with herself. She fumbled along her belt, until she finally found a small whistle. As she carefully put the whistle to her mouth and blew, a clear sound, bright as a bell, escaped the tiny instrument. She paused shortly, and blew again, and a tune and rhythm unique to her and known by the other fairies travelled through the air, amplified by magic to travel the many kilometres to her hometown. Her family would be here soon.
Aurora rubbed her forehead as if to wipe away the remaining pain. Her head still felt a bit dull from the heavy fall, and she had bruises all over, but this was a small price to pay for them being safe. Still, she worried about Apollo. They had to find him soon, or he might be found by evil first. She tried to stand up, and her legs were still wobbly, but she managed to stand still. While her wings would unfold just fine, she was not strong enough to take off right now. She closed her eyes, and felt the strong flow of magic from the ley line around her. It was still wild, if not angry, and it was impossible for her to synchronize with it. She’d have to wait for her family to arrive to help her recover her stamina, and heal both her bruises and Simetra.
She took some time to calm herself. For the upcoming rescue mission, she’d have to be as focused as possible. This also seemed to calm down the ley line slightly, and in her mind, she apologized to the natural flow for the disturbance. While she would still have acted in the same way since there was no other solution to quickly escape from the danger which they were in, she still disturbed the fundamentals of nature even more than the current state of the world was already doing. Apollo escaping the ley line forcefully was something she had not factored in, and this was something she had never heard of happening ever before.
As she reached her inner peace again after many minutes in a natural silence, she could hear the excited beating of wings nearby, coming closer. She opened her eyes again, and looked in the direction of the sound. A warm smile developed on her face as she recognized her father, mother and the elder of their small village approaching. They smiled back at her, while there was also worry in their faces, as they saw the strange wooden sign and the unconscious owl on the ground, and Aurora standing there on shaky legs, covered in bruises. She lifted her hand and waved slightly to show them she was fine, but as they finally landed and touched the ground, they froze in place as they felt the wild torrent of mana from the ley line around them. Her parents reacted first. They came running at her with open arms, and almost threw her to the ground as they embraced her. Aurora felt the warmth and safety, and held on to the two of them as her legs wouldn’t hold her anymore.
‘All that matters is that you are back safely’, her mother said in a warm voice. Her father patted her slightly, and took a yellowish potion from his belt which would be able to restore her stamina. The elder watched in silence, but with a slightly sharp glare towards the strange piece of wood and the owl. Aurora leaned on her father, and took the potion from him, uncorking it with her thumb in a well-trained movement. She downed it quickly and closed her eyes for a few moments as she felt her stamina return. Aurora was able to stand on her own almost immediately, but she hugged her parents with all her might to savour that moment of reunion.
After a minute of silence had passed, Aurora was mostly recovered. She nodded, as if to encourage herself, stepped back, and addressed all of them, pointing at Simetra as she mentioned her. ‘We have to take action quickly, but let us first return Simetra to our village so she can recover. We can talk along the way.’ Her parents nodded, they understood each other without the exchange of more words. Aurora took Simetra in her hands, and instructed her father to take the wooden sign with him. Moments later, they were up in the air, and the elder joined them as they rose. Up in the air, Aurora began to contact the three of them via thought communication. This was more convenient during flight, and allowed them to breathe normally without interruption by speech. As close as they were, they could even communicate much faster than they could by speaking normally.
Aurora speedily talked about their travels so far, how she met with Apollo and Simetra, that both did not cleanly remember their past and Simetra had actually not even awoken to her humanity yet when she met her, and how they travelled on the wooden sign. She left out many details, since she needed to cut to the incident in the ley line as fast as possible such that they could go and look for Apollo. As she mentioned that Apollo had exited the ley line by himself, the elder turned to her with wide eyes, very much unlike his usual calm expression. ‘This has only happened once before’, he explained, his voice carrying the wisdom of many decades, but still shaky even when transmitted via thoughts. ‘While there is nobody still alive to confirm the tale, there is a myth that when the legend was born and the story played out for the very first time, the main actor had some powers defying our common sense of magic. Since this myth has a doubtful origin, it is not told as part of the legend, but passed down from one elder to the other in case at some point it may prove to be based on reality. I would never have thought I’d be allowed to live in a time period in which this would happen. Once we are back, I will have to consult the old records.’
After this, the elder fell silent, lost in thought. Aurora’s father made use of the silence to contact several hunters and experienced scouts, whom he could also reach via his thoughts, as they were slowly closing in on the village. Luckily, he was the leader of the guards, and would no doubt have a search and rescue team assembled shortly after they arrived. As Aurora had finished her story, the exhaustion crept into her mind. While the potion had returned her stamina, mental exhaustion could not be overcome by normal magic. She flew closer to her mother, who took her hand, knowing her exhaustion and sensing her anxiety for Apollo’s safety. Would they reach him in time?
