Calista and the City of Glass: Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The sun shone brightly through the leaves and warmed my face. A certain contentedness, the type that only comes from late summer days and warm sunsets. I walked across one of the bridges that swung between the branches of the trees, the final one before my home. My house was a modest one, simple and small, but big enough for me and my dad to live comfortably. The tree I live in is enormous, at least a hundred feet tall and with a trunk large enough to hold two spacious houses next to each other. Up among the branches is where my city is, the city of Valentia. Our houses and shops are nestled in the branches and we walk from place to place on swinging bridges. We get a lovely view of the surrounding jungle, the giggly forest nymphs and those smug centaurs, and the occasional spriggan. I walked into my house and was immediately hit with the scent of homemade soup.

“Dad?” I called into the hut.

“Mm-Hm? He replied.

“Watcha makin’?” I asked.

My dad stepped out from behind the kitchen door, wiping his dark hands on his apron.

“Just veggie soup. Almost ready” He paused to sniff the air. “Oh! Done! Come on, get the bowls.”

“Yessir.” I bounded into the kitchen behind him and filled two bowls full of steaming soup. We sat at the little table for two in the corner and dug in.

“Mm, dad, dish is delishous!” I said with my mouth full of steaming soup. I swallowed and finished my sentence. “As usual.” Dad smiled and took another spoonful. When our bowls were empty the sun was setting over the trees, putting on a miraculous display of color. Without looking up, my dad said,

“Remember, when the sun goes down, it lights up the world for someone else. It knows that it’s making the world dark for you, but it is doing what it must. Remember that sometimes when people do things it’s not to hurt you, it’s for the best.” My dad had always been gifted with words. Mom had always said that she loved the way he could spin words from air.

I sat in my room with my mirror in my hand. It had been my mother’s, with an ivory handle. I looked at myself, my dark skin, my hair, how it flew in every direction in corkscrew curls. Now the sun was gone entirely, off to light up someone else’s day.

***

The next morning I headed off to the eastern branches of the tree to see Sasha. Sasha and I had been friends since we were babies, and I’d never gone more than a month in my life without seeing her. When I crossed the bridge to her house she was already on our favorite swing that dangled down from the branches below her house.

“Well hello darling!” She called. “Come, join me in my swinging.” I laughed and climbed down the rope ladder to the swing. Sasha had big brown eyes and mahogany skin. Unlike my corkscrews, her hair fell in soft brown waves down her back. Look at this,” she whispered, pointing to the branch the held the swing. “It’s a Neri Beetle.” It took me a second to find it.

“By Valen! It’s huge!” I screamed, nearly falling out of the swing. Sasha laughed.

“I know! It’s just been sitting here all day.”

“Weird.”

“Yeah, right? Hey, you know what else is weird? I saw Kavi the other day, and he just would not stop talking about you. You know...”

“Uggh!” I laughed, shoving her.

It seemed like only minutes later that the sun was setting and I was walking the rope bridges back home.

&&&

I woke up to the sound of screaming. Everything was on fire. I jumped out of bed and grabbed my mirror. I ran into my dad’s bedroom, but he wasn’t there.

“Dad? Dad! Dad, Dad!” My screams were only absorbed in the flames. I ran outside. The trees was on fire, and people were running everywhere though the smoke, calling for their children and loved ones. And there, facedown on the bridge, was my father. “Dad? Are you okay? Dad, dad, it’s me!” He was breathing shallowly, and he was just about to touch my hand when the tree shook as if it had been struck by a thousand bolts of lightning. The bridge collapsed and I felt my feet slip from under me almost in slow motion. Everything was black.