As I walked out off the hut, I saw, for the first time in my life, Luminusae, the Trees of Light. I thought that I was hallucinating. But I wasn’t. Trees. Hundreds of trees. I wasn’t amazed by that, as Entheen was pretty rural. But huts and houses, and all of the roads and paths were made from living tree trunks. That were still in the ground, growing, making all of the trees accessible. But the trees themselves were the most amazing thing about this place. The trees glowed like fire. They were florescent blues and whites and purples, and the trees illuminated like light. Tiny balls of light, wafting and floating like snow, but slower, illuminated the entire forest with a light blue glow. I want to say that they moved like snow, but there is no word for it. They were slower, and didn’t clog up the air like snow did, but instead it seemed to make it seem material, the air and the light.

I walked slowly toward one, and cupped it in my hands. It was warm, and shone brightly. It seemed to have a gentle breeze resonating from it. It blew my hair back. I blew instinctively. It flickered, and though I seemed to have a primal sadness and hope that it wasn’t blown out, it simply regained it’s bright pallor, and flew out of my hand like a dandelion spore. On the ground and in the trees, buds bloomed into huge, pale blue lotuses and roses, releasing the tiny wondrous balls of light. It was amazing. This place was not right. It was too perfect. The moons shone red and crimson, an amazing contrast to the blue light of the woods. The leaves seemed to be made of tinted glass, also light blues and purples that had veins of the light flowing throughout their tiny, delicate forms.

I looked at Yhavane, and her face seemed alight with the unearthly light. Her eyes stood out among the blues, two deep brown-green orbs. I followed Yhavane along the crystal bark ground. She seemed to walk best on the balls of her feet, her heels above the ground. I touched one of the trees, and it seemed to be warm, as if alive. It’s color seemed to undulate in a pattern, as if it were breathing. I followed Yhavane. “Wow. What is this light?” I asked her, in an almost-whisper, because I felt dirty and unclean among the perfection of the woods. “This is Luminusae. We needed to take you here. If we didn’t, you would have died of blood loss. Along with your friends. See, the light here is believed to heal. And it does.” I noticed that she spoke rather sophisticatedly for a little girl. “But what is Luminusae? This light, everything. What causes it.”  She stopped and stared at me in a scowl. “You humans always need to catagorize everything, don’t you? You can’t just accept the blessings you are given. You need to question the purpose, never just trusting. Why?” she said irritably. “I apologize. I didn’t know. I am just not used to the splendors of this place. I am a bit overwhelmed. I thank you for saving us.” I bowed and made the Aerlbetla, a sacred Truist sign of blessing. I got on my knees, folded my index fingers, and spread apart the others. I touched heir tips together, and shut my eyes. I got back up. “I accept your apologies, and please accept mine. But never make that sign again. The ancients have molded these wonders under the Ayelhyme faith, the faith under which I and the rest of the Annumreale have pledged themselves. I do not want these woods to lose favor of you.” she said. “Lose favor?” “Yes. Nephrin, the goddess of nature, and the only god you and I both believe in, has all of these woods as a part of her sentience. She does not like worship of any kind to take place here, as it is meant to be a haven for all peoples. And I apologize at how I acted earlier.” she said, smiling sadly. “I just lost someone close to me. I apologize again .” “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”  We finally reached where we were going. I saw many Annumreale. Most of them adults, some of them children. They were standing around a small lake, and the lake too glowed with the blue light. It shone and shimmered, as if on fire. It’s surface was tranquil, like a mirror. Not even birds flew over it. But I saw something disturbing un the water. Then, a group of Annumreale walked forward solemnly, carrying a large (or at least it was compared to them) raft. It had flowers all around it, but I couldn’t see what lay on top of it. Then, they laid it down in the water. And someone was strapped to it, chained by his wrists and ankles. Poseidon. I could see he wasn’t putting up much of a fight, mainly just laying there, looking as if he wanted to wake up from a bad dream. they floated him out to the center of the lake. Then, an Annumreale with grey hair and a wolf-like tail walked out solemnly, holding a wooden staff. It had a wooden ring on it’s top, and tiny threads were tied around it so it resembled a spider web. White feathers with red tips adorned it’s sides. I couldn’t quite place it, but there was something just distinctly wolf-like about him. The way he moved, the way he stared. He walked out to the lake, and he reached the raft Poseidon was tied to. He climbed onto the raft, but the raft didn’t react at all, as if he were too light. He raised his staff, and uttered one word: “Iekthala.” then, Poseidon went insane. He screamed, not the human way of screaming, but a primal, infernal shriek, that seemed to force another primal response back. He writhed and howled, his eyes wide and reddening, his mouth foaming. His hands twisted into claws, not hands, claws, and made the raft almost flip over. A strange energy, that seemed to twist and make Poseidon’s body seem not his own, went through his body as if he were struck by lightening. His wings flapped and smacked the raft, sending large brown-red feathers floating to shore. The Annumreale raised his hand barely out of range of Poseidon’s beak, and opened his palm wide. I could see a tiny circle of tattoos in the Annumreales hand glow and shimmer with blue light. Poseidon immediately stopped struggling, and stared into the Annumreale’s hand. Slowly, he rose his hand, and looked as if he were pulling strings with his fingers, as one would with a puppet. Poseidon’s head moved accordingly. Then, a huge breath left Poseidon’s mouth, a shuddering breath that seemed too big for his lungs. When the breath finally completely left him, Poseidon fell, limp. The waters became turbulent around the raft and the shimmering of the lake grew. A black cloud, that seemed to want to infect the lake’s beauty, appeared. The wind moved around it, swirling the water. The Annumreale shook his staff, and finally jumped (they jumped at least twice their height) at the thing. He swung the staff, and the thing hissed and screamed. It convulsed, a black liquid dropping from it’s cloud of sentience and a hissing rising from the water. The tiny Annumreale spread his arms, and suddenly, tattoos appeared all over his body. The cloud rose like a wave, and then fell on the tiny figure, consuming him. Then, a shining beam of light that pierced the cloud like a spear shot through it. Then the cloud dissipated into nothing, and the Annumreale fell into the shining lake, limp and unconscious.

“Why isn’t anyone doin’ anythin’?!” I yelled, and dove into the lake. I was surprised by how it felt, the light seeming to be a physical thing. It felt like a current. Strings of black liquid twisted and curved like leeches or  black snakes, dissolving slowly in the water, stemmed and rose from the lifeless body of the Annumreale. I looked at his face, and it looked dead. His large eyes wide, black liquid stemming from the corners like vile tears, fierce eyebrows furrowing, angry in the confusion of what happened. The thick black liquid poured from his eyes, ears and nose. I tried to shake him to wake him up, but that only spread the oil-like liquid, clogging and infecting the lake. I held his body up out of the water, which was quite light for some reason, and I looked at him. His figure was completely covered, his features blocked out by at least 4 inches of the liquid. The liquid seemed to be heavier than he was. The figure was covered, his legs and arms unrecognizable. He was just a black mass, that was dripping thick blobs of blackness into the water. My arms were completely covered as well, at least up to my shoulders. I tried to push some of the liquid away from his mouth, so he could breathe, but it seemed to be never ending. I put him back in the water, using it to try and clean the water off. I pounded the small figure’s back with my fist, and then I felt his body convulse. I raised him out of the water, and he coughed a thick blob out of his throat. He stood shakily, and then coughed over and over again. When all of it was out of his system, he turned, and, I swear I could hear he was about to thank me, but when he saw me, his eyes looked betrayed. “How could you do that?! Leave me!” he said as he ran back to shore. I looked around and asked Poseidon’s limp body on the raft,  “Uh, didn’t I just save his life?” I was answered by the sound of waves against the shore. I walked back to shore, not sure if I should bring Poseidon’s body back with me. There were no more people on the shore. I think they left when the wolf Annumreale left. I tapped Poseidon’s shoulder, and it was cold. “Uh, dude? You still awake?”  He groaned. “What... what happened?” he said weakly. “Uh, you were tied to this thing, and then you spit out this evil cloud thingie, and then I saved this little dude’s life, but he was mad about it that’s pretty much it.” “He was still confused. “But, um, why’d they take you out here?” I asked. “Um... there was this little kid... with, like, a tail ‘n stuff. And he was really freaked out ‘cause he saw the back of my head. I have an old scar there, but I don’t think that freaked him out.” “Uh, don’t you have, like, a ‘tainted mind’, or somethin’?” “What’re you talkin about?” he asked. “Never mind. Why did you freak out back there?” “What?” I undid the locks, ans he ringed his sore wrists. “Why am I so tired? I just remember falling, and trying to catch you guys...” “What?! How did you try to catch us?” he looked out, and then shook his head. “Oh. Yeah. Watch, because I don’t want to explain it.” he said, sadly. He sat up, and held out his hands. The air rippled, like the air did when a flame was put under it, and then I looked at the shallow water. It splashed a little, like a fish was just under the surface. Then the water, first as little drops, and growing into amorphous blobs, rose up and joined into a large mass. I looked through the clear water, and then Don said, “look at me.” I turned. After a second, he said,  “Now look.” I turned to the blob of water, and it was me. It was like looking into a mirror, but my form was transparent. I reached out to touch it, and it fell with a splatter. “Dude! That’s awesome! How the hell’d you do that?!” I thought he would greet my excitement in an equal way, but he simply looked down. “Wanna see something else?” he said, smiling weakly. (It still escapes me how I knew when a beak was smiling, but I guess I just did). He shut his eyes, and took a deep breath. He looked as if he were lifting something. That’s when I heard a dripping noise. I looked down, and realized that it was my clothes dripping into th water... three feet down. “Whoa, whoa! This is cool!” I shouted. He lowered me, and then I saw a trickle of blood fall down the side of his beak from the holes that were his nose. “Uh, dude? Are you okay?” he held his hand up to his nose. “I’m fine, I’m fine.” I now knew a dragon that was fireproof, a griffon who could, um, rock (a term Ace taught me), and another griffon with telekinesis, yes that’s right, telefreakin’kinesis.

Yeah. I lead a weird life.