A Peculiar String of Bizarre Dreams

Chapter 28: Forest at the Edge

Zira's uncle shares her features only to the extent of her hair and pallor,  but not her wings. I didn't see them before, perhaps there were folded in but I can't imagine how, considering they're twice as grand as Zira's. The feathers on his wings are needle sharp and blacker than outer space. I keep my distance in fear of getting my skin slit by any askew ones.

I hear Zira tell me that her uncle's name is Alistair, while he continues to regard me with his cool gaze and I attempt to summon the will to speak again.

"I have a friend who speaks of your realm. I would like to get a souvenir for her. A gem from your land?" I stammer at him.

"What  you're looking for is known by the name of Seraphinite. A possessor of this gem thrives from the heart, your friend will certainly be attuned to our realm when she receives this gift from you. And if she is attuned already, it will deepen her connection with our realm," he replies sagely.

I knew  I could find something suitable for Phina! Alistair gauges my response like a warrior ready for battle, with his iron-clad wings, black armour suit and hair pulled back for redemption.

And then slowly, he makes his attack, "However, our home is not very giving. Not all the time."

"What do you mean?" I ask suspiciously.

"I only have the power to give you the key. It is up to our home if it'll show you the door."

I  stare at the seraph, mystified and then glance towards Zira, pleading for assistance. She stands behind her uncle, seemingly like a body guard ready to compromise her life at his behest.

"Okay, I would like the key, then," I conclude and mentally make a note to rely solely on myself.

In his eerily silken voice, he recites:

firm soils dotted with oceans

some deceive while,

some are only as they seem

soldier on till the forest at the edge

ablaze The Fiery will be

in a colour unalike

fruit eaten will yield charred seeds

sow and undo —

you shall have what you reap

At the sound of the last word 'reap', he vanishes into thin air along with his niece, mansion and the mountains.

I  stand there startled for a few seconds. What was that? He narrates a riddle and then disappears. I didn't even have time to repeat it in my  head, before I could consider memorizing it. I didn't even get the chance to thank Zira for saving me from the jaguars.

I spin around and realize I'm in a different place. It is still white everywhere around me, but I can sense that I've not been here before.

A message is scrawled in crooked calligraphy, in the white sand in front  of me. I read through it and I'm glad to find that it is Alistair's key.  I read through it a couple more times, trying to make sense of it.

I cast an eye over the land on which I stand. It is dotted with the water puddles that I have seen before. I repeat the first line in my mind, 'firm soils dotted with oceans'. And then the second and third line, 'some deceive while some are only as they seem'.  Some are wormholes leading to a purgatory, but others are not? I wonder feeling unsure.

The other lines refer to a forest and there is the mention of a Fiery, which will have a different colour — I presume from the words 'colour unalike'. And maybe next, I have to eat a fireberry. But I'm not sure about the 'charred seeds'.  The fireberry I tasted before with Zira did not have any seeds. I decide to get moving, I can figure out the last few lines later.

I read the key until I have a mental plan set in place. Based on my  interpretation: (i) Avoid wormholes and walk ahead, (ii) Find a forest of fieries, (iii) Look for a fiery that is different in colour, (iv) Figure out the rest of the riddle later. I perfectly memorize the last  three lines of the key, to carry out the fourth action of my plan.

I take a long breath, look ahead and start walking. The white sand is as even and gritty as before.

I  have taken about five steps, when a flash of fire blazes out of a  wormhole in an upward direction and I catch myself in time. Its sparks and embers go here and there about me.

I thought the watery puddles only took you to purgatory, not go aflame and strike out. This isn't going to be easy, is it?

From that point on, I make sure to keep a safe distance from all the 'dotted oceans'.

After some time of walking, I begin to see a troop of fieries and try not to run towards them. I could easily fall through a wormhole or get burnt by the puddles, especially now that they seem to have increased in number and are considerably slowing me down.

I finally reach them; they're taller than me, burning angrily in  uniformity. Various bunches of fireberries hang from their flaming  branches. I move close to a fiery to inspect if I can make contact with it. Zira was able to pick its fruit with such careless grace; I'm hoping I can do the same.

I'm a hand's length away from touching it, when I realize all the fieries are lined at the edge of a cliff. That probably explains the 'forest at the edge'.

But that's not it, because beyond the cliff, I hear the jaguars and then, I  see them. A thousand jaguars, all stuck in a ditch below the cliff. They're not sprawled out lazily as one would like to expect, but instead they're anxiously climbing up towards me. 

With their white teeth salivating and their jaws snapping rabidly, this task just got harder.

I try to recall my plan of action steps but have trouble thinking about anything, let alone action steps. My heart hammers madly in my chest and as per usual, my mouth goes dry. I am running out of time.

I  attempt to focus: Step 1, find the forest of fieries, check. All I have to do now is find the right one and eat its fruit. I take a step back and quickly glance at every fiery in my sight while trying to tune out the noise of jaguars clawing their way up the cliff.

All the fieries look the same. Nothing about them looks different.  Involuntarily, I find myself clutching the locket of my necklace.

I'm still rushing past the fieries, one by one, when I hear a voice yell at me. "The sapphire, Jemma, the SAPPHIRE!"

Sachelle? What do I do with the Sapphire? I flip open the locket around my neck and the Sapphire sits intact within it.

I  glance up at the fieries and instantly notice that the flames of one  fiery on my right, are changing colours from orange to pale green. Is that the one? I snap close the locket and tuck it safely inside.  From the corner of my eye, I catch the sight of pointed claws trying to grab hold of the cliff's edge.

I  run to the green fiery, reach out for its fireberries and pull a bunch out with a quick swipe. Thereupon, a pain begins to rise in my hand. The green flames weren't hot, but something else has happened, because my hand now feels like it is being flattened under a massive anchor. I try to ignore the ache and quickly chew on a fireberry.

Immediately, my teeth hit a hard  center and I spit it out. It's a seed and it seems to be darkening to a burnt black on its own — 'fruit eaten will yield charred seeds'. At some point, I seem to have deciphered that line and acted as per its instructions.

Then, I hear it growl — a ferocious ambitious jaguar has managed to climb atop the cliff. I don't look in its direction and concentrate on the very last lines of the key, 'sow and undo, you shall have what you reap'. Based simply on logic, I dig a hole in the ground, throw the seed in and cover it up.

The  jaguar is now close enough to pounce on me but I don't waste a moment and dig back into the same hole. Right then, I spot a glimmer of a gray-green stone resting in the dirt replaced by the charred seed; I grab at it, simultaneously willing myself to leave the land of seraphs.

Just in the nick of time, I escape the jaguar's hungry eyes and its horrifying jaw with dripping canines positioned to attack my neck.