Higher up in the frozen lands, grew wild trees and shrubs. This region of Heliin had no sunlight, due to its outer atmosphere. It had a different climate. The landscape froze, entire areas littered with ice. The only form of life were purple flowers.
Lying on a frozen plateau of land, a sleeping girl did not stir in these conditions. She was, beautifully dressed. A long red dress with 6 bows on the back decorated her. She had long black hair, reaching to her waist. The girl slept with a smile, oblivious to the freezing temperatures.
“Faylin… Faylin…” an imperceptible voice whisphered.
“Mmmm…”
“FAYLIN!” the voice shouted.
“Huh! What?” Faylin sat up.
Her hand was frozen to the touch, and each exhalation created frozen ice on her nose. “Where am I?” the girl put her arms around her body. She decided to look for someplace warm. A sudden unusual wind blew through the calm area, and rustled the trees, blowing off their purple leaves. The leaves drifted in the sky, and a few landed on Faylin.
“What’s this?” she picked up one leaf. Faylin touched the stem area. It was scalding hot. She decided to pick up more, but the trees were too high. No matter how hard she reached, nothing worked. Out of the blue, the strong wind came again, and it shed the tree bare.
Faylin smiled cheerfully, feeling warmer by the presence of the hot leaves. A faint snicker echoed out of the blue. It was like someone was observing her. The girl looked around. Nothing but more and more frozen trees and shrubs. “Who’s there?” she asked. “Whoever you are, thank you very much for the leaves!” she said.
No response. Faylin decided to continue walking.
“What a nice dream…” she thought to herself.
In front of an enormous block of ice, she stopped. A white furry creature descended upon her. With the build and wings of an owl, and the face and feet of a rabbit, it landed with a light thud. “Aw, how cute!” More of the creatures landed, and all circled Faylin. To her it was like a fairytale dream. She crept down to touch it…
“NO!! Don’t touch it!” a muffled cry came from the ice block.
“Huh?” Faylin looked left at the ice block, but it was too late. The creature put its paw on her hand. Sharp electrical impulses coursed through her skin and there was an instant stinging sensation.
“AHHHHH!” she went, as she collapsed. her whole body went numb from the touch.
Only her mind and head could function. She saw the ice block. Smoke started to spew out from the tip. It was, melting! The ice block slowly faded away to reveal what was under it. a cold, but visible stone statue. However, the ice only melted away the showing the head portion. The eyes of the statue suddenly turned from the dull grey to bright green. The statue gave a very grieved and angry expression, as green light shot out of its eyes. It shot everywhere on the ground and there were explosions. Puff of green smoke appeared. Faylin was terrified, but, she was unharmed! The creatures now backed off. Faylin’s condition started to worsen, as her neck was stiff. She could not feel the hardness or coldness of her surroundings, and her vision became a blur. The white ice in her eyesight started to fade…
The moment she woke up again, the world was still a blur. She could faintly make out that there was a girl, having her face to hers. Looking worried with her hands together, she sighed. “That was close…”
“Who are you?” Faylin asked, still lying down. Even as she tried to get up, her body won’t let her.
“Please don’t struggle. Delouse Windler Posion won’t completely wear off until 5 minutes more.”
“Excuse me, erm, thank you very much.”
“What for?”
“For saving my life. Are you the girl from the statue?”
“Yes I am.” Faylin saw the girl stand up, and started to distance. “Please don’t go! I need to know where I am!”
“Don’t worry, I won’t go! I am supposed to stay by your side!”
“Really?”
“Yes. Really.” The girl said, smiling.
“I am Faylin Pamela Fetlyn, a high school student, what about you?”
“Chloris. I am the Goddess Of Nature & Healing.”
As time passed, Faylin managed to do a full recovery. She looked at the girl. She had long green hair and eyes, and she wore a white one piece dress. More significantly, she had a bright halo over her head. “Hey, whats that?” as she reached over the grab it. However, her hand went clean through it.
“Hmm, no matter how hard you try, you won’t get my halo.”
“Why not?”
“Because I am only a tarot, a mere spirit summoned to help you all out.”
“You all? Oh, oh! Are there more of people like me?” Faylin jumped for joy.
“Yes… You see, a long time ago, a person, a messenger from the gods, descended upon this world. He wanted to let people know of an eminent danger.”
“What danger? Oh this is so fun!” Faylin got closer to Chloris.
“Far from it. The danger is called ‘The Darkness’. It is an elite organization, started by the infamous Lord Dernhelm.”
“Oh, oh! Question!” Faylin raised her hand.
“Yes?”
“Is that the purpose of everybody like me? To help defeat this Lord?”
“Yes, quite right. But…”
“Send me at him!”
“You DON’T know how to fight yet! How would you defeat him!”
“Then let’s start immediately!”
“Wait a moment. I have something that I need to give you.” Chloris said.
She took out a hand-sized wand from her pocket. It was dull silver, with the tip of it being in the shape of an old oak. She raised it high, and it attracted beads of light into the tree, giving it a green colour. She then waved the wand in an X formation, creating a visible X shape in the air. “The Wand of Strength, may it summon for only just purposes, for my partner’s needs, grant her weapon!” The wand blinked brightly on and off, and let off green puffs of smoke. The smoke materialized into a vague long object, as strings of metal appeared and started morphing.
A metal pole.
“Hey, that’s it?” Faylin looked unimpressed. The pole fell and rolled towards Faylin. “Go on, pick it up!” Chloris said excitedly. Faylin picked it up. The moment her skin touched, the pole started to change its form. It became longer, and grew a tree-like formation on the tip. The roots extended onto the side of the pole as engravings, and appeared like vines of a Poison Ivy vines. A series of words begun to engrave onto the side.
The Staff of the Forests.
“Wow, so cool!” Faylin exclaimed, waving it around.”
“Don’t! You’ll…” and at that instant, the icy ground started vibrating crazily. Brown sharp roots shot out from the solid ice in a tangle. They followed Faylin’s instructions obediently. Faylin giggled at the site, though the pet was menacing. Faylin liked her new partner. It was her first time seeing a green-haired person in her life, or holding a leaf that gave extreme heat, or even see a frozen land! These thoughts did not continue to ponder in her mind though. She merely accepted it. It was like a lucid dream.
But, was this really a dream?