When I Met You

Chapter 32: Old Forest

You continued to walk the thin path between the trees, nearly tripping several times and the only thing preventing you from falling over was Loki as he was holding your hand the entire time. You decided just to float above the ground instead as it would definitely be easier, taking Loki up with you, which he absolutely wasn't expecting but the God of Mischief kind of liked it. You hovered along for a while, with Loki subtly suggesting to head slightly this way or that, not that you caught on but to distract you further, he began telling you the names of all the trees around you. However, you soon left the flowering trees behind, entering into a more traditional-looking forest although you had to admit there was something different about it as well. The trees seemed too tall, and too wide as well, with nearly every tree fallen or still standing covered in beautiful green moss, along with tall green ferns covering nearly every inch of the ground. This area seemed a lot more wild in comparison, and you soon spotted a large cluster of pinkish-red-capped mushrooms with little white dots on them, they didn't even look real to you. 

You landed near the cute little fungi, on what appeared to be an old path paved with stones, although you imagined it hadn't been used in a long time considering how overgrown and broken it was. You did land to take a closer look at the mushrooms but as you studied the path, it took your attention and the need to know where it led became all-consuming. You asked Loki if they could follow it and the God of Mischief let out a small giggle as you were already several meters away from him, heading off where the old road led. Of course, Loki agreed, you were unaware that this was where he was trying to take you so once the God of Mischief caught up, you walked hand in hand to wherever this path would go, eating the delicious baked goods you had picked up earlier. It twisted and turned, seemingly built to accommodate the environment around it, rather than altering the ground and surrounding area to build a path and soon you reached a cave at the base of a wide and long, mossy and vine-covered plateau.  

You enter, gripping Loki's hand a little tighter, with the other, you summon a little ball of light and you see some winding stairs that led up and out, connecting the level you were on to the ground above. You were nervous walking up the stairs too, as you had no idea how old they were and the thought that they could crumble away at any moment soon popped into your head. Once again you made the choice to just float above the ground but this time, Loki let go, insisting you go ahead of him as he could tell how nervous you were about being in a creepy cave. "Are you sure?" you ask, not wanting to leave Loki behind but the God of Mischief urged you to go on ahead, maybe there would be more of those cute mushrooms up there.  

You looked at Loki nervously, the hesitation to leave his side clearly showed on your face, but the God of Mischief only smiled, appreciating how cute and anxious you were to go off on your own. You were truly adorable Loki thought, before telling you again to just go ahead, suggesting for you to just float up within the center of the spiral, as it would be quicker that way. So before you could change your mind, you leaped over the railing, floating up slowly, as it was something you were getting better at but you still weren't a master of levitation yet. "See you at the top", you smiled before using more of your power to launch yourself upwards at a quicker speed, popping out of the creepy stair-cave and high up into the sky. You went much further than you wanted to, flying up above the canopy, feeling embarrassed for some reason and as a result, your powers went out for a second making you drop rather fast. You did catch yourself before you hit the ground, lowering yourself slowly, focusing hard on just landing safely, but once you did look around, it took your breath away.

In the distance you could see it, the ruins of an ancient castle, at least that's what you thought it had to be, considering it was so grand, despite how overgrown it was. Although you had to admit the architecture reminded you much more of Rivendell, it was the only thing you could think of to compare it to as you had never really seen anything like it, at least in real life. You found yourself entranced as you wandered closer, reaching out to touch an old path archway, cracked and torn up by new trees and other plant life that wasn't there before. You placed your hand on the pillar, tracing your fingers down a particular long, deep crack imagining what it must have looked like once before, how pristine it must have been. You noticed that one of the tree-like vines that wrapped around this pillar had little flowers growing on it, they looked kind of like Water Lilies, they were so beautiful and you were really tempted to pick one.