Forest Guardians || Straykids ff

t w e n t y t w o

yeona

I woke up from someone shaking me. "Dear, wake up. Breakfast is ready." I heard someone familiar spoke. I looked at that person and saw grandma smiling at me. I was shocked to see her, and myself back in my room at her house.

I stood up and ran outside of my room. I went downstairs and there I saw Elijah preparing some plates and utensils at a long table. As soon as Elijah saw me, he smiled widely. "Good morning, Yeona. You seemed bothered. Are you okay?" He asked me, which I answered back.

"I don't know. Everything seems weird. I knew before I closed my eyes, I was in the Elven kingdom, there I fought an evil witch, and she cursed me." I told him, and he just laughed at me. "You must be exhausted from your training yesterday that's why you're dreaming something like that. Master really is brutal when it comes to training her own disciples."

I walked out of the house to the backyard as I remembered the little ones. I must have left them back in the Elven kingdom. And as soon as I walked out, I saw the mini-shed that they've been sleeping at. The doors were closed. They must have been inside.

I knocked. No one answered. I knocked the second time. Still no one answered. Then I knocked again for the third time because you know, third time's a charm, but I heard a laugh behind me. I turned around and saw Elijah on the ground, dying in laughter.

The moment he calmed down, he approached me. "Why are you knocking on the mini-shed? You think the brooms will answer you?" I looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean, aren't the little ones sleeping inside?" It was his turn to look confused. "What do you mean little ones? Who are they?" He asked, opening the door. I peeked in as well and saw cleaning and gardening tools inside. No little ones.

"But— I swear Grandma keeps these little companions since Grandpa died. And they sleep here." I explained to him, but he didn't believe me. "You must have been seeing things now." I shook my head, almost tearing up.

"What's going on there?" We heard a voice coming from the kitchen. We saw grandma standing on the door, watching us. The moment she saw me almost crying, she rushed to me and hugged me. "What happened, dear?" She asked me.

"Grandma, please tell him, you keep your little companions here in your mini-shed since grandpa died, right?" I asked her, more like convincing myself that I was right. But I was. I knew I was right.

She looked at me and smiled. "Yes dear. But that was a long time ago. They already died before you came here." I slowly backed away from them, not believing everything. They both looked at each other in disbelief. "Yeona just—" I shook my head, not wanting to hear more of their lies.

I ran towards my room to grab my wand. As soon as I entered, I saw my wand on my nightstand and grabbed it. I then remembered about the ring they gave me. I raised both of my hands, and to my surprise, the ring was there. I tried it first, if the ring would store my wand. And it worked.

I rushed down the dining room and there I saw both of them seated on the table. "You have to believe me now. I have proof that the little ones were alive when I got here." I emptied the ring, there we saw the packed foods, the little one's foods, some necessities and stuff, my wand, the books from King Einar's library, and even the Umbralfeather that I froze. They were shocked to see all of those.

"How did you get those things? Did you have an adventure before?" Elijah asked, and I nodded. "I actually finished my training, then Grandma let me have my own adventure. The little ones were also with me during those times I was outside. I've already encountered a lot of people, including Elder Hakyeon and King Einar." They looked at each other, not believing everything I said.

"You sure you didn't bump your head yesterday during the training?" Grandma asked me, and I shook my head. "I don't know what kind of training that was, but I remember myself with the little ones at the Elven kingdom. There was this evil witch and—" I stopped. I slowly looked at Grandma as I remembered what the evil witch said.

"Grandma, do you somehow know an evil witch in your entire life? Or another witch that was not blood-related to us?" I calmly asked. Even Elijah curiously looked at her. She smiled at me, then nodded her head. "That evil witch you were talking about might be your great great grandmother. The 6th witch in our bloodline." I shook my head in horror.

I ran away from the house, leaving with my wand. I heard them yelled, but I didn't look back. I ran as fast as I could towards the Elven kingdom. They could explain everything that was happening.

I arrived at the cliff, where we fought the bad guys who were cutting down the trees. I looked down and the forest was in good condition. No bald parts, not even a single tree was cut down. I slowly went down the cliff and saw the vehicles that were covered with moss and vines.

I hurriedly went to the cave where we saw the library. The cave was in bad condition, just like before when Einar saved us. I have to get down to the library. The only way was inside.

I opened a hole straight down the library and jumped down. I cast Falling Feather on myself to slow down the fall. I safely reached down and saw the door to the kingdom. I forcefully opened the door and the same room greeted me. I went to the long corridor to another room where the little ones were waiting for me before. It was like I time traveled to that same time I first arrived here.

When I left the room, I had a hard time figuring the way to the Eldertree, but with my AeroTerra Guidance spell, I quickly found my way to the Eldertree. And to my horror, I found myself lying down on the ground. The curse was still on me and some Elven people were gathering around me.

"The curse still hasn't been lifted."

"Where's the healer?"

"That damn evil witch!"

"Hurry up! We have to save her."

"Just stay with us Ms. Yeona."

"Don't close your eyes yet. We're definitely going to save you."

I looked around and saw the little ones scattered. Then Chan and Seungmin were rushing towards my body. I also saw an Elven man running towards my body. All of them were trying to remove the curse from me.

But I think I'm the only one who could do that.

With my wand, I rushed towards my lifeless body, and cast the spell I knew would work. "Vita Aeternum." I spoke, and my wand started to light up. The black mists were leaving my body towards my wand, slowly making it black. Until every mist was gone, and the black ring around my body was gone as well.

I felt like I was going to faint, so I sat down on the ground, and I put the wand beside my body before closing my eyes.