Eliana: The Gods have Answered

Chapter 2

  
   The Broken Forest has not been touch by dwelling life for millenniums nor since the gods' disappearance, leaving the plains of Earia. But the creature that used to bring this broken forest to life is still there—just sleeping. No one knows why they are slumbering, just that it transpired at the same time the gods left. Some reckon that they did something to anger the gods and got cursed for it, whilst others think that these tiny creatures couldn't handle the pain of them leaving, and they just shut down. But most? They believe that fairies are merely myths.
   Yet, the forest wasn't avoided by all life. It's still thrived in animals, small and big, protected by the trees and the sacredness of the place being the last sighting of gods. But the forest didn't bloom as it uses too. There was no brightly coloured flowers spread throughout or magic glittering in the air; it was just dark and grim. The once beautiful enchanted woodland became the Broken Forest tales, scaring young children who refused to sleep.

A sudden rumble of thunder could be heard throughout the forest, frightening the wildlife. It shook the tree leaves, rattling loudly against one another. The pressure dropped, and the sky opened up. Eliana was still falling.

***

   The earth concaved at the force of the young woman's landing. The ground was hit so hard it looked as though a meteorite had just crashed. Luckily, none of the woodlands got damaged by the crash. She landed right in the middle of the clearing, the deepest part of the broken forest—the area where the ancestors celebrated the beginning of life.

Eliana groaned from within the cavity, her ears still ringing from the thunder, her body shaking from the adrenalin. 'How am I still alive?' she thought, throwing one arm over her forehead and her other curled up into a fist. 'Soft?' Something had caught in her hand. Raising her arm slowly, she held it above her face. A small yellow flower. 'Huh? There's only concrete that surrounds the building'. With that, she pushed herself to sit up, hoping her work colleagues weren't going to surround her.
   Flowers. Bright yellow flowers. They covered everything in this giant crater. She ran her hand softly over them. But she quickly retreated it, sucking in a sharp breath. The flowers shivered at her touch. Eliana forced herself to stand. She was a bit unsteady, but she was too frightened to be so close to these flowers. As she frantically looked around to see if there was a shorter wall or something to climb on to get out of this crater, she finally realised all the flowers were facing her.

There is a large rock three meets to her left side that would allow her to get out. But she had to somehow walk through the flowers. Slowly and carefully, she lifted her foot to start walking; as she put it down in front of her, the yellow flowers weaved out of the way. She carried on this method, watching the flowers as she went. The more she moved, the louder bell-like chimes could be heard in the air. Reaching the rock, she could see it was also covered in flowers, "I don't want to squish you..." she whispered out. The tiny flowers perked up and made unmistakable jumps off the rock, gracefully fluttering down. The bells are chiming louder in excitement. Once landing, the flowers turn and face her, all puffed up petals like they were beaming at her to see if she was proud. She couldn't stop the smile that was breaking out of her face, "Thank you", she told them gently before climbing on top of the rock. Reaching her arms to the top of the side, she tried pulling herself up, but her arms were like jelly.

Trying to jump and pull herself up again, she didn't notice the yellow flowers looking at her with tilted heads and turning to one another. The chimes were fuzzy and overlapping. On another jump, she felt something hit under her feet and push her up with so much force she rolled over the edge and landed on her back, her dark hair spread out behind her like a halo. 'Oof', she grunted out, staring up at the bright blue sky, as spots of yellow leaned down over her face. The chimes softly tinkled at her, sounding worried. 'The flowers are the ones making the noise." she realised, staring at the little guys who looked as though they were about to start panicking by how much they were wiggling around.