The chill of the morning dissipated as the sun reached its zenith. We had been walking for around two hours when Ari broke the silence that enveloped us.
“Do we even have a plan? Where are we going?” Ari snapped, annoyed.
“Simple, we are going in… this direction.” Huricana laughed, pointing in front of us.
“I’m more concerned about putting distance between us and the big green if you know what I mean.” Sunama whispered, worried. “They could be right behind us.”
“Big green?” Huricana spat with laughter.
“We should head toward one of our allies. We need an army if we are going to stop the Goblins.” I suggested casually.
“An army?" Ari stared blankly, "What do we waltz up to an allied king and say?" Making her voice high pitched and whiny she said, "Please king sir, give my sisters and me control of your army so we can fight the nasty goblins and fulfill the prophecy." Her voice returning to normal, she glared. "They’ll laugh in our faces and lock us up."
“Do you have a better idea? Maybe wander around the woods a while, hope they give up on finding us. Maybe growing old in an old witch's hut and never fulfil what we are meant to?” I asked, annoyed.
“An old witch's hut sounds good to me.” Huricana chided in. I glared at her in response.
“Our best bet is to talk to our allies and try to prove ourselves so we can wipe this scourge from our realm. Do you really think they are going to stop at pixies?” I accused, “they will go after everyone who differs from them. If we don’t do something, our realm will belong only to the goblin kingdom and their allies.” I shuddered at the thought.
Gia shuddered. “What a visual. Thanks for that.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Ari shrugged.
“Which ally should we go to first?” Sunama asked as she pulled out a map of the different kingdoms. The map showed the regions of the different species in our realm, the goblins, and pixies obviously, but also the elves, nymphs, dragon shifters, centaurs, and Drow (dark elves), to name a few.
“The Elves are the closest.” Huricana pointed to a spot on the map.
There were rumors that the elves have tattoos on their shoulder of a phoenix; They trained the Kingdom not to show any emotion, as enemies could use it as a weakness. The tattoo changed color with their mood. They painstakingly kept these tattoos covered so their opponents would be at a disadvantage, It was also said that some have psychic abilities and that they could read minds, feel emotions from others, and, in rare cases, could move things with their mind.
“Yeah, and are notoriously hard-headed.” Ari pointed out.
“You sure you’re not related?” Gia asked with a smirk as Ari punched her in the arm. “Ow.” She pouted.
“Some prophetic warriors.” I laughed.
They passed the prophecy that was in a way a curse down through pixie bloodlines. It told of five sisters who could control an element to the point of becoming the element itself, but the more powerful the ability, the more debilitating the side-effect. Like my migraines and vision loss.
Five sisters who would stop a great evil that was trying to destroy the mythological realm and connect it to the human one. The sisters are suspected of hiding the key to the human realm. The key, when used, could cause a rift between our realm and theirs, forever connecting them.
The evil wanted to take over the human realm and enslave them to do their bidding and thus expand their empire.
My parents believed we were the sisters of prophecy, so from a very young age they had trained us militantly so we can fulfil the prophecy. We also believed that the reason the Goblins attacked was because of the prophecy, and I fully believe that they are the evil we are meant to stop. Ela and Karm believed this as well.
The human realm aged faster than ours a year in our time was a couple hundred in theirs. We age a lot more slowly as well. Humans think us immortal, but the truth is we are not. Everything dies, even us, our lifespan was just a lot longer.
“We should go to the nymphs first.” Ari pointed to another spot on the map, pulling me from my thoughts. “They can camouflage us.”
“The nymphs are over two weeks away; the Elves are closer. We should speak to them first!” Gia argued with Ari.
There are many types of nymphs, forest, mountain, jungle, and desert. They are shape shifters and can camouflage to match their home regions. They have tattoos to go with their region. Forest nymphs, for example, have leaf tattoos that line their arms and legs. Jungle nymphs have vines or snake tattoos on their arms and legs and so on.
I sighed. “It makes more sense to go to the Elves. They are closer, and their army is larger.” I stated. “I think you are being difficult on purpose.”
“I don’t like elves,” she pouted, “they are so rigid.” Ari stated.
“Have you ever met one?” I asked.
“No” Ari admitted.
“Then how do you know?” Gia accused
“I might point out that nymphs rarely fight they hide and observe, so how would they help us?” I asked. “We need an army, not a place to hide.”
“They can hide us for a while so we can make a decent plan, and they may know about goblin weaknesses from their observing.” Ari pointed out.
“You make a good point, but with no army, their information would be useless.” I informed.
“Fine, we will go to the elves first.” Ari fumed.
After deciding which route to take, we folded up our map and headed out in the decided upon direction.
I looked around for Eva and Karm, wondering if they were around; it was unlike them to stay away for this long, especially when we were on the run. Maybe my tie to them weakened the further we were from pixie territory.
Not even an hour into our journey, a tree sneezed and turned into a half-dressed woman. A forest nymph? Why is she so far from home?
The Nymph was beautiful. She had long curly blonde hair that fell to her waist it was tangled with branches and leaves sticking out randomly. Her face was slim with wide blue eyes, tattooed leaves lined her arms and legs. She was wearing a skirt made of leaves (if you could call it that) and no shirt, but her hair covered what a shirt would have.
“Just keep walking. I’m trying to hide from the Goblin Prince. He’s out looking for nymphs and pixies.” She whispered in a rush.
“How long has Prince Rehan been looking for us?” I asked before she tried to shift.
Half shifted into a tree and half human, she asked, “Why would he be looking for you?”
“He wiped out our village and wanted no survivors. He knows we got away.” I answered, not giving the full truth.
“He’s been crashing through the forest with his guards. For the past few days, I could hear the screams from the forest last night.” She paused. “They are coming.” And finished her transformation.
The nymph had just finished shifting when a spear flew by Ari’s head, her eyes turned orange and she accidentally the nymph on fire. The nymph shifted back in a rush as she let out a blood-curdling scream and frantically tried to put the flames out. Sunama, with her eyes flickering turquoise from her power, doused the fire with water that she called up from the earth. “Great, you gave away our position?” Ari yelled as smoke rose from the nymph. “No, the smoke from the nymph did.” Sunama yelled back, “Because you set her on fire!” I walked over to the nymph who was lying on the ground and helped her up; she was already healing. “Stay away from me.” She snapped, getting up off the ground. “This isn’t helping matters!” Gia spoke calmly, as an arrow flew past her nose. “That’s it, I’ve had enough.” Her eyes turned emerald, green, and she tried to create a void in the ground, but ended up creating a small crack. Sunama was holding her stomach as she laughed hysterically, Gia slapping
After the Goblins left, the elf man turned to face me. “I am Tyr. Did they hurt you?” he asked after he introduced himself. I shook my head. "No, they didn’t. I’m Akasha and these are my sisters, Ari, Huricana, Sunama and Gia." Each of them nodded as their names were spoken. “It’s nice to meet you all.” A man from the elf army walked towards me his dark brown hair was long and braided down his back, but the sides of his head were bald, he had the same high cheekbones and pointed chin that Tyr had but he had broader shoulders and was a few inches taller than Tyr his eyes were a pale blue that almost looked white. “This is General Moon.” Tyr introduced him. “Call me Frey,” he smiled at my sisters and me. “Why are you running from the Goblin army?” Tyr asked me. What harm would it do to tell them who we were, after all, we're trying to get help from their king? “They burned down our village and we are the only ones that made it out. Or at least I think we are.” I replied as Tyr mad
The soldiers were relaxing, visiting, and joking amongst each other, that is aside from the ones on guard duty. After recreating the anchor with Ela and Karm, I walked around as my sisters rested in the tent, all except Ari, who had seemed to vanish. Karm and Ela went to search for her on the outskirts of the camp while I was walking around the camp looking for her, a little worried because she wouldn't just up and leave. I was about to give up on my search and return to my tent to get my other sisters to help when I heard Ari yelling about fighting tactics, following her voice, I found her and Frey behind one of the tents. “I’m just saying strength trumps speed any day.” Frey boasted as he smiled down at her. "Typical man saying that, I know for a fact speed would win." She argued, crossing her arms. “Are you guys really fighting about this?” I laughed as I walked towards them. They turned to me, “Well?” Ari asked angrily. “Well, what?” I asked, hoping they wouldn’t drag me in
I was glad we had found Akasha. I didn’t realize the extent of her abilities, but everything I discovered about her made me want to know her more. She was beautiful, but not in the normal sense. Her long white hair flowed to her waist and shimmered in the most dazzling ways, like diamonds lined every strand and her bright blue eyes were full of wisdom, yet I could see she had another side she didn’t show people. She’s the oldest of her sisters, yet short and petite with graceful curves and the white and gold peasant dress she wore just accentuated it. Half the damn army couldn’t keep their eyes off her and she seemed oblivious to it. She had the telltale characteristics of a pixie with her little claws and petite pointed face with pointed fae ears the stars that lined her neck and shoulder proved just how much power she held, her and her sisters had many tiny stars of differing colour I’m assuming to match their elements. I escorted them to the fire where dinner was being served a
My sisters were sleeping by the time I got back to my tent, I looked at their sleeping forms and moved around them to my spot, trying not to wake them. I quickly changed into a white nightdress, setting my sword on the ground beside me. I sat cross-legged in my spot and went into a meditative state. This way I could rest my body while guarding my sisters, when we reached the kingdom, I would get a better sleep. It also helped prevent the nightmares I had been experiencing of late, some of them being my visions recurring over again and others of the goblins killing those I love most. My sisters. In my meditative state, my body could rest while my spirit observed my surroundings and communicate with the spirits that were around, usually they were more than willing to help. I had to be careful though because evil spirits were dangerous; they were like a poison that could corrupt those around them, there are ways to protect yourself, or cleanse the poison away, but it was a lot of work
We were still a distance away from the Elf kingdom, but you could already see the tall castle. It was made completely out of white marble and, as we approached; it seemed to grow in size, looming over everything that surrounded it. As we got closer, you could see a large moat surrounding the exterior castle walls, as we walked over the drawbridge, I glanced in the water seeing different types of fish and creatures swimming around. Everything was amazing, it was like the whole place sparkled, there wasn’t any dirt or mess to be found, it made our village look so small in comparison. As we walked through the village leading to the main part of the castle, I looked at my surroundings all the homes were made from white stone. The roofs were thatched, and in behind each home were vegetable and herb gardens. Every house looked exactly the same. Where there weren’t cobblestone pathways or roads, there was lush green grass, flower gardens, and trees. It looked as though the scene had been
I entered the throne room and approached the King, bowing at the foot of the stairs leading up to the royal seats. Surprisingly, my brother and the Queen were not present. “Were you successful in your mission, son?” he asked. “I was sire, they are waiting on the other side of the door.” I answered him. He nodded at one of his guards, who left the room in a rush. What was going on? I thought as my father spoke again. “Are you sure they are the sisters from the prophecy and not some wenches that have tricked you?” he accused. “The Goblins believe they are, and to be honest, they have the abilities that the prophecy speaks of.” He nodded as he stroked his long black beard in thought, his blue eyes sparkling as ideas formulated in his grotesque mind. His hair had random braids in the front and fell loose in the back. “What abilities have they shown you?” He finally asked. “They have each demonstrated their abilities to some extent, control of fire, water, air and earth was witness
“You’re a fucken Prince?” Ari asked in disbelief, as we exited the throne room. “Why didn’t you tell us?” I asked, confused. It really didn’t make a difference if he was royalty or not. “The prince likes you.” Ela teased me when I frowned. “Princes come with a lot of baggage.” Karm commented. He shrugged, “People tend to find out who I am and treat me differently and I didn’t want you to.” “He wanted you to like him for who he is, not what he is.” Ela smiled. “We are not that shallow.” I noted as he nodded and kept walking. I looked around at the splendor, everything was made of marble. The walls and columns were white marble, and the floors were black marble, everything was cleaned to perfection, we followed him down a long hallway that was open to the courtyard, even the courtyard cobblestones were black marble stark against the greenery and flowers that lined the walkways and entrances. As beautiful as this place was, I missed the forest, everything here was a little too or