Young Writers Society

Words: 1,065

Last Line(s): “Hello,” she said, a small smile dancing across her lips.

The fallen turned to look at her with violet eyes.

“Welcome to Telorum.”

Cass opened her eyes.

It was still dark outside; she could see the moon cutting through the trees through the small window in the opening flap of her tent. She stared up at the ceiling of the tent. Snippets of the dream replayed themselves in her mind as she tried to analyze what she had just witnessed. Aldonius was a member of Telorum's council. That calmed some of her fears about not being able to find a way back home; he would have access to things normal people in Telorum probably wouldn't.

But then her mind went to the fallen.

When she had seen Nebris through the altar, it hadn't seem real. It was almost like looking at someone who had a Snapchat filter on. Take away the heavenly glow and the wings, and he had looked convincingly human. The fallen hadn't. They had looked like something out of a horror movie, scales covering every inch of bare skin and a pair of sharp fangs peeking out from curled back lips. Yet the fallen had been very real, and so close that she—as Aldonius—could have touched the wings that had protectively wrapped around their body-

There was movement from the depths of the forest.

Her breath caught in her throat.

The sound had come from something fairly large. 

She fumbled for her backpack, desperately trying to remember where she had thrown her pocketknife. If the source was anything similar to the bears, wolfs and coyotes of Earth, the knife would barely do anything. But the feeling of its wooden handle made her feel slightly less afraid; she could fend off whatever lurked in the darkness if it came too close the smoldering remains of her fire and the flimsy tent. 

As she silently waited for more noise, a melody suddenly began to reach her ears. Her tense shoulders relaxed, and she let out the breath she had been holding. The voice was soft and gentle, the lyrics sweet and nostalgic to Aldonius's memories. She hesitantly pushed aside the flap. Aldonius knew the owner of the voice. She didn't know what someone would be doing in the woods at this time of night, but she decided that a peek from behind a tree wouldn't hurt.

Still clutching the knife tightly in one hand, she slipped out into the darkness.

The voice was coming from relatively nearby. She let her ears guide her to its source. As she came closer to it, a calming blue glow began to seep into her vision. Both things were coming from up ahead. Despite her plan to stop and watch the singer from afar, she found herself standing—breathless—only a handful of feet away from him.

For as far as her eye could see, the ground was covered by glowing blue flowers.

They sprung up around the trunk of every tree, their vines slowly creeping up their sides. Cass watched with awe as buds formed and burst into life. The song continued on, its singer having yet to notice that someone else had entered the field of flowers. 

Cass finally tore her gaze away from the flowers and looked at the owner of the enchanting voice. The deepness and tone identified him as male, but none of his features made it clear. Most of them were hidden underneath his billowing black cloak. The only things that she could clearly see were his black attire, thick locks of black hair going down to his chest, and his lean build.

He was plucking flowers from their stems and placing them in the wooden basket he was holding in his other gloved hand. Each time he picked a flower from a stem, another would blossom. She had seen magic during her time in Rey, but she had never seen something look so natural. This wasn't his magic. She knew that, somewhere deep within. This was the forest, and something about that made it all the more magical.

He looked up.

The singing abruptly stopped as they stared at each other. 

Cass hurried to come up with some sort of apology, but the words died on her lips when the conversation with Lira came to mind. She frantically looked him over for something that would prove to her that she was wrong, but not a single inch of his skin was left uncovered. 

He was the Dark Mage.

“You're Cassandra Hughes,” he finally said. His speaking voice was surprisingly young and unsurprisingly familiar. The hand holding the basket fell limply to his side as he watched her. 

Cass took a nervous step back. “How-How did you know that?” She desperately hoped that her guess was wrong. He knew about her. A king's subordinate would likely tell him everything he knew. If the Dark Mage knew who Cass was, then so would King Kartiel. The thought made the hand holding her pocketknife shake. She'd never be able to sneak around Telorum if the king already had his eye on her.

The Dark Mage hesitated.

“I know Aldonius,” he said. 

He took a step forward.

She stumbled back even further. Unlike before, however, a tree root greeted her feet, and she went tumbling down into the sea of glowing blue petals. A jolt of terror ran through her when she realized that he now easily towered over her. Her shaking hands grasped handfuls of flowers as she tried to hurry back to her feet. But doing so was easier said than done in her panicked state of mind, and she was still in the middle of getting up when he held his free hand out.

She stared at the extended hand.

When she finally looked up, he was staring at her from within the cowls of his hood.

“I won't hurt you,” he promised after another moment passed, his tone as soft and gentle as it had been when he was singing. “I just want to help you up.”

She hesitantly grabbed onto his outstretched hand. She knew she wasn't supposed to trust the Dark Mage, but it was hard not to when he sounded so kind. He hadn't done anything to harm her yet. Maybe that was part of whatever grand scheme King Kartiel and he had. Get the girl with the golden locket to trust them, and then they would...She couldn't figure out what exactly would come next, but she knew it couldn't possibly be good.