~ by Amanda Pizzolatto
A figure flitted between the linden trees, her right hand gently clutching a yellow linden blossom and her left holding a guinea pig close to her chest. The little creature was sound asleep, but she would glance down and check on it from time to time. It was a fairly long walk to where she needed to go, but her feet practically flew over the ground in a ballerina stride as she passed by an almost identical scenery. The linden trees were perfectly spaced, with a pool of shimmering liquid between each.
Each pool was perfectly round and rather large; almost large enough to fit a small boat on it. And there were rows upon rows of them, each pool a portal to another world. But her focus was to get out of the forest; a seemingly impossible feat as there was linden trees for miles around. Yet she kept on going, not stopping for a moment. In a few minutes, she had left the green-tinted light of the forest and had stepped out into the bright, pale golden light of the sun. A line of date-plum trees bordered the forest, but beyond that was a meadow.
She waded through the field of poppies and nabk bushes before finally reaching her destination, an enormous magnolia tree. A staircase made of vines and branches wove around its trunk before disappearing into the leafy boughs at the top. Just barely visible behind the base of the tree was a pond full of lotuses and various pond life that were making the only noise for miles around. Other beings like her; beings with anther eyelashes, floral shaped eyes, leafy nails, light green skin, and floral-colored hair, were striding around the dainty balconies at each story. Most did not look her way, and those that did blinked in surprise, but did not call out to her or try to follow. They could tell this was urgent, and that they would find out after the king was told. She continued up the long flight of stairs, never tiring in her ascent, until she reached a large room at the very top where a giant magnolia flower was set against the far side of the room.
She bowed her head. “Your majesty, I must speak with you.”
The magnolia flower opened and a young man with dark auburn hair mixed with deep violet strands rose from the flower. His eyes looked like two pupils that were overlapped along with two irises, the iris on the right in each eye was green while the iris on the left was gold. He glanced at the pink-haired silat standing before him with a question. “What is it, Lauretta?”
She approached him and opened her hands. “These just came through one of the portals. Earth, to be exact.” The guinea pig was awake now and seemed to be cleaning itself, as if it understood that the person looking down at it was important.
The king’s eyes widened. “Earth? Are you sure?”
“It’s the only world we sent the dust from the linden branches. It was a ring at first, but it returned to being a flower the instant I touched it,” explained Lauretta.
“Can you . . . can you turn it back into a ring?” asked the king.
Lauretta’s anther lashes closed and reopened as she smiled warmly. “But of course, Panfilo! It’s only in contact with a silat that the dust would return to its original form.”
“Good, because if this is a test and whoever made the rings came through . . .”
Lauretta laughed. “I see where you are going with this, Panfilo, but have no fear, there’s more than one of these little guys wandering around the forest,” she stated as she petted the guinea pig.
“What are they, anyway?”
“Oh, an Earth favorite, my king; they’re called guinea pigs. People like to use them for tests along with rats. But they also make great pets.”
“Have you ever been to Earth, Lauretta?”
“No, I have not, your majesty. You still do not understand?”
Panfilo shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid not, Lauretta. You silats have ways that are still strange to me.”
“Do not worry, my king, you will soon come to understand. But try to understand this; we are like plants, somewhat, and plants communicate with water. When a silat touches a pool, we can see the events that happened prior, or, if we were to touch a portal, we would see everything we would need to know about that world. When I touched the liquid of the portal to Earth, I gathered the information I needed, like water into the stem of a plant.”
“Understandable . . . so far. But it is still amazing, I must say.”
“Thank you, your majesty.”
“And there is still much to learn,” he stated as he petted the guinea pig.
“Yes there is, my king, but learning how to make a good decision is much more important before becoming king than learning about us silats or the forest. You will be king for a long time, there will be time to learn and to understand. The longer you take to learn about a thing, the better you will come to understand it.”
Panfilo nodded. “I can see the wisdom in that. So, is there anything you can tell me about the person who sent these, um . . .”
“Guinea pigs,” enunciated Lauretta slowly.
“Guinea pigs,” echoed Panfilo as he took the rodent from Lauretta. He glanced back at Lauretta. “So, who sent them?”
Lauretta’s face seemed to darken as she replied, “Someone who has no business fooling with the dust, my lord. Some good may come of it, but what it is, I do not know. Nor do I trust such power in such feeble, and greedy, hands.”
Panfilo gulped as he clutched the guinea pig a little tighter. Angering a silat was never a good idea. Angering a djinn of any kind was never a good idea. They were the most powerful beings in the universe, only below the angels. Even though they all had to serve a master, most could still turn a vengeful eye upon the unfortunate soul who angered them and do something without the permission of their masters. Not even ordering them to leave the person alone would do much good, for djinn were patient, intelligent, and sly. Panfilo knew he would have to speak and choose wisely; not for his sake, he was the king and their master and they could not harm him, but he was rightly worried for the sake of others.
“What are you planning on doing?” Panfilo finally asked.
Lauretta glanced at him. “I’ll most likely just observe for now and report to you of any findings, like this guinea pig. But he may try soon, if he can find a willing participant.”
“If he can find a willing participant?” Panfilo asked incredulously. He didn’t like the sound of that.
Lauretta nodded grimly. “Yes, which is why I don’t like the idea of such power in such feeble and greedy hands, your majesty. Who he sends here may be good, but this magician himself is no savory character.”
“H-he’s evil?” asked Panfilo.
“Not exactly, just untrustworthy. But he is certainly open to serving someone who is truly evil, at the rate he’s going,” quipped Lauretta.
“And you’re afraid that he may try to bring that evil through here?”
“It’s possible, but the spell on the Wood may be enough to render any evil powerless while they are here. No, I’m more worried about if they manage to take an evil from one world and into another,” remarked Lauretta.
Panfilo gulped. “Then we need to have someone watching that portal at all times.”
Lauretta bowed. “I shall spread the word, your majesty. And we shall be on our guard.”
The silats were ever vigilant, and saw when two children came through the portal for Earth. They let the children explore, but were watchful in case they should need aid. But the children simply went into another portal, one the silats knew was at its end, so they figured nothing would come of it. As soon as the children realized the world was dying, they would come right back. So when an urgent message came bubbling through the portal of Alixandria, the lone silat on watch went to investigate. Being an urgent message to King Panfilo, the silat took it straightaway to him. As such, no one was around when the children came back through the Wood and went back home, with something else. Nor was there anyone there when they came back from Earth to try and return that something else back home, only to wander off into a world just being created.
When the silats finally learned of the exchange, they were horrified that they had left the Wood without a guard for so long. But they found out that things would soon right themselves, which put their minds at ease. For the most part, there was still the matter of Alixandria to consider, and it was going to take all their focus to solve that problem. But that is a story for another time.