Forest in the Sky

"This is …special?" Yllana quirked her eyebrows as she scrutinized a long rusty metallic staff. It was plain with no fancy decorations or engraved marks on it. It is as ordinary as a walking stick of an old man, except, of course, it is made of metal. Most staffs are made of wood or bone from huge animals. It was their first time to see a metal staff.

"I can't pick up any fluctuations from that metal. Are you going to keep it?" Midel was observing her the whole time. She only picked up three small chests, a sword, and the rusty staff.

"I think it is a staff," or at least that was what Blue said.

Larika listened to their conversation. The ordinary-looking piece of metal caught her attention. It is long just like any staff that she had seen so far. Her brows furrowed as she looked closer to the metallic staff. After a few seconds, she saw some small symbols appear on the body of the staff. She raised her brows.

"I can see some inscription on it," she said.

"Huh?" They all turned to her in surprise. They could not see anything on the body of the staff. It was plain without any stone nor décor. Larika pointed at herself and gave a smug smile.

"Nymphean," they all heard her say. "Anyway, it says here that this staff holds the power of the sky. But as you can see, neither of us can sense any power from it. Add the fact that it is rusty, maybe Lucien will have an idea about it?"

Upon hearing his name, Yllana looked at Midel. She still remembered what he said last time, 'You can't always be a hero.' That hurt her pride as a knight. But knowing him, he only said that so that she will not push trying to help them. This journey was hers to start with. And knowing Lucien, those half-blood demons are no match for him. She felt at ease with her thoughts settled. Indeed, he was stronger than when she met him. How did he become strong that fast?

"I'll take it just in case," said Yllana.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Fog. Mud. Weary. Fog greeted them at the edge of the cave. And mud said hello to their shoes. The end of the cave compressed into a hole so small that they had to crawl on all fours just to reach the other end. And the fog was the very first thing that greeted them when they set out a foot outside that hole. It was a dreary atmosphere outside. And the mud on their clothes made them look equally dreadful. Since it was bleak outside the cave, their eyes adjusted fast to their surroundings.

Vandier focused his eyes ahead but failed to see any farther than a meter before them. The air was wet with the fog hovering around them. The mud below also gave them an unsettling feeling. Mix in their tired bodies, the two young boys just kept silent and blinked hard.

"The sun would be setting soon, we need to find somewhere to camp," said Kareem. But is there a suitable place to even pitch a single tent?

Midel looked at the shadow of the sun from the horizon. Even the sun was blocked by the thick fog. He could barely tell the time of the day. "Let's move out then,"

They were all hesitant when Midel told them to walk further. They dragged their bodies further until the moon went up into the sky. Or more specifically, the light from the sun faded. Even the moon was nowhere to be found.

Midel lit up crystal balls. "We only have two left. Kareem, is there any chance we could find dry land?"

"I don't think so,"

Larika held to Yllana's hand and pulled closer into her. She shivered at the thought of having to sleep on the muddy floor. The palace life really wasn't comparable to an adventurer's life. She bit her lip just thinking about her life in the palace. But this was her choice, she kept thinking.

"Your Highness," Yllana smiled at Larika. Since she was taller than her by a head, it made them look like sisters. "We will find a place to rest soon," she said as she tapped Larika's hand on hers.

"Oh! Trees! Look, we could use them to make dry beds for the night," Vandier walked briskly to the patch of trees ahead and started what he said he would do.

Yllana started a fire and they settled in for the night. Even if the wind didn't blow, the air was still cold. But since they were all tired and weary, the cold air didn't stop them from falling asleep.

"Oh, heavens. My back aches like hell!" said Kareem. They continued weaving their way out of the fog in the morning but with all sorts of aches and pains. The bottles of medicine were taking longer than usual to cure them.

"Something is wrong with this fog," Larika inhaled the fog deeply. Being always drugged by scents in the palace, her nose became sensitive to almost any smell.

"Oh hohoho! There certainly is young miss!" A voice called from out of nowhere. They all looked around searching for the figure in the fog but found no one.

"Did you hear that? I think it came from this side." Midel pointed at the south.

"No, it came from this side. I'm sure of it." Van pointed to the west.

"What? Didn't it come from there?" Larika pointed north.

Kareem observed Yllana from the corner of his eyes expecting she would point to another direction. He waited and waited…and waited. While the three were discussing and pointing at different directions, Ylana scanned the ground they were stepping on. The mud has thinned at this point. She noticed Kareem was looking at her curiously. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"You heard the voice too?"

"Yes,"

"Aren't you going to find out where it was from?"

Yllana shook her head. If that were an enemy, it would have attacked them and not simply just startle them with their voice. She thought the other way around. She also heard that unidentifiable voice.

"I actually do not care. Let's go."

She walked straight ahead of them while Kareem followed. Noticing that the two were not interested in the voice, the other three followed silently still puzzled about the voice they heard.

After a few more hours of walking, they came into a forest of large wet vines swinging from the trees above. Larika looked at the sky and only saw the black slimy trunks of the trees that stretched higher through the thick fog. It was tiring seeing nothing but fog and slimy trees or dead vines. She took a deep breath. And squinted her eyes. Something moved up ahead. "Eeeeeek!"

Larika shrieked. She pointed at a shadow ahead of them. Amidst the fog, there a silhouette with a round head five times bigger than an average human. It had thick long strands of hair swinging about as it tilts its head from side to side. Midel and Vandier posed at the sides ready to attack. Then they saw that silhouette swing its arms from side to side very slowly.

Midel saw another silhouette coming near his left side. Vandier noticed another on the right. They gritted their teeth. They could not see the faces of these creatures who stand about a meter taller than them. Are these the half-bloods that were hunting them before? Midel was about to shout when he noticed Kareem and Yllana are relaxed. Their weapons are not drawn.

"Yllana? Why aren't you drawing your weapons?"

"I wonder why they were slow and when we go near, they move away."

They move away? Then, these creatures or whatever they are, in the shadows were there since earlier? Midel did not notice anything. He was only concentrating on the path ahead. He loosened his grip on the sword he was holding and looked steadily at one of the silhouettes. He stepped near one and to his surprise…it moved away from him.

"Hehe, you are a clever little lass,"

The voice sounded again. But this time, Yllana did not ignore it. She grinned at the sky and whispered, "Found you."

She leaped up in the fog above. Branch to branch she jumped higher and higher and the others followed her never losing her from their sight. When Midel looked back at the silhouettes, he saw clumps of vines on dead tree trunks. The head was a ball of vines with large long leaves hanging at the sides. What he perceived as arms were also something thick like vines but with some more roots? Thick roots? Larika also noticed the silhouettes were not alive, something was just making them move about slowly.

As they moved higher, they saw a thin ray of light. Sunlight at last! They all thought. At the top of one of the highest branches, they saw a clear sky. There was no fog at that height and they could clearly see the afternoon sun. Their eyes glowed in amazement. After two days of being on the dark and the fog, they get to see the sun at last.

When they roamed their eyes at the trunks of the trees, they were amazed at what they saw. Those weren't simply trees, those were giant trees. There was a forest of tree trunks as thick as ten men huddled together with vines hanging about them. And beyond that magnificent view of the sky with gigantic trees, they saw more vines above them. But this time, the vines were woven in circular shapes making cocoon-like structures hanging on the branches of the trees.

Below them was the thick fog that you could mistaken as clouds. Above them was a forest of greenery with the golden sun in between. It was simply breathtaking!

"Hehe, you all arrived at last! Welcome to the Floating Isles of Desonia."

A woman with clothes made of leaves and vines swing in front of them using a vine and stopped in front of Yllana. She had large blue eyes and chestnut brown hair tied in a messy bun on the top of her head. Even as she was dressed plainly as the forest around her, there was merriment in her eyes as it stared back at Yllana.

"You called for us?" Yllana smiled back at the smiling girl.