The Emerald Legend (Book 1)

Chapter Ten: Hiddenfolk

Amalia heard the faint calls of the people she had once known to be her family and pain struck her nerves as the bubbling emotions began to drown out the pouring rain. Seian ran deeper and deeper into the dark unknown before Amalia felt it was okay to slow to a steadied pace. She held on to her tiring rider and slowly sobbed into his fur while he trotted into the darkness.

Seian slowed down even further as his energy was almost completely spent and Amalia noticed the change in her rider and brought him slowly to a halt. She slipped off of him and landed into the muddy earth below, completely drenching her feet. She looked around as the rain poured off of every angle of her face but nothing seemed familiar in this drenched land. She wasn't paying any mind during their escape into the forest, and now she had no idea where they had ended up.

She sighed and looked up into the storm of droplets falling in endless number. "What am I supposed to do now!?" she yelled to the crying sky. She lowered her head back down and pushed the sticking hairs away from her face. A small whimper exited her lips. She turned to her rider, who had a worried expression on his face, and fell to her knees, the mud sinking around her as she put her face to her rider's chest. She sobbed into his fur, not knowing what else to do.

The rain had rolled past the deepest parts of the forest and continued down the density of Algaza, heading for the farmlands. Just as she was about to lose all hope, she heard a playful giggle come from behind her.

Amalia spun to where the sound had come from and to her surprise she saw nothing. She stood up and peered into the darkness—nothing but the waterlogged leaves beyond. Then, another playful laugh came from the other side of her. Seian was also perking up, so she knew it was not simply her imagination.

"Who's there?" she asked into the darkness with nervousness bubbling in her throat.

The giggling turned into a joyous howl when a dark violet light shot around Amalia and spun around in all directions. The violet orb shot down and hovered above the ground in front of her. She stumbled back a bit.

The light shone with more intensity as it began to materialize into the shape of a small childlike creature—although, it was much too small to be a human child. The size in total was only about one and a half feet tall and had boyish features. The creature was clothed in patch worked garments that were dark burgundy and violet in color. Its skin was lavender and the eyes were a deep black. He smiled as he entered and two large, bat-like wings sat gracefully on his small back.

"Greetings!" It gave her a mischievous smirk. Amalia looked at this thing in front of her with amazement, wondering if what she was witnessing was actually real.

"You're a—" Amalia began to speak but couldn't quite find the words to describe what she was seeing. The thing rolled its eyes and placed its hands on its hips.

"Before you come to any ridiculous false conclusion like saying that I'm some sort of goblin, or batchild, those things are highly incorrect!" It spoke fluent Gaian dialect, and with such poise that Amalia would have almost thought it learned from a Richmun in Ba'sool.

Before she could think any longer, it spoke again. "I'm a Faeling, resident to the woods of Algaza."

Amalia's head rocked again at the sight of this creature, which had only been spoken of in legends and myths her entire life. No one had actually witnessed such a creature.

"A Faeling?" she said, as if she needed to hear it again to be sure.

"Yes, indeed," he said and smiled. "We are resident to these woods and others; protectors, if you will. Now, tell me Terran, what are you doing in these woods?"