"Don't stop running!" Lua yelled
I was lagging behind and Lua's head spun around to yell at me again when she stopped and pointed into the air.
"Wait what are those?" She asked
"Griffins." I responded
They were flying overhead, circling us, waiting to dive in.
"We need to get away now, griffins are very quick and agile creatures, they're faster than dragons but not nearly as strong." I said
Aspen looked confused,
"Why haven't they attacked yet?" She questioned
" Well, griffins are incredibly intelligent creatures. They hunt in groups or drifts so they can take down larger prey. People often tame them and they can be mounted and flown, I believe that the kingdom uses them instead of horses." I stated
"Well thanks Rosie for the extra knowledge, let's just keep running." Lua responded
I contained my mental groan, they never listened to me. We needed to get into the smallest space possible, the minute we are in a clearing, they'll dive and we'll all be dead meat. And that's when we saw it. The huge gorge that had vines strung all around it, a waterfall emptied into a river at the bottom. The ravine had to be at least 500 meters wide, there was no way any of us could get across using our magic.
"We have to jump." I said
"What!" three voices yelped
"You heard me. Look at them they're about to dive." I said pointing at the griffins
"In just a few seconds they'll be coming straight for us, if we don't jump, we'll all die and then so will Faya."
I saw their unsure looks but I think I had convinced them enough,
"There are rocks down there." Aspen said looking over the edge
"Simple." I responded
"Encase yourself in a ball of energy or in Rena's case, water. When you hit the water and the rocks they won't penetrate the bubble."
"Okay." Lua said
"Let's do it."
I knew we had to be very careful with who we ran into because we were probably wanted all around the realm by now. Elementals like us were once upon a time given a drug that would strip us all of our powers, the drug was given by the government or the kingdom as most people called it. Little did they know most elementals were killed by the drug, but not all of them. Some were stripped of their powers like the drug had intended, those people got to live. Some people weren't affected at all and they were chased out of their homes if not killed. My friends and I? We were kidnapped and taken away from our families so we could have a slim chance of survival, I don't even know if my parents survived. The worst thing about it? We've seen the feed from the queen, she denies ever doing anything like that, people died and she acts like nothing happened.
"Are you guys ready?" Syrena asked, holding balls of water in her hands.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Aspen responded
Lua didn't have any abilities that allowed her to protect herself in this case so she was going in Syrena's ball of water, green sparks started flickering near my hands as I looked over the edge. I looked back and saw the griffins start to dive.
"Jump!" I screamed and threw myself over the edge.
I was twisting vines and bark into a sphere shape around my as I cascaded to the bottom of the gorge, the griffins clearly couldn't weave their way through the vines so they gave up on their pursuit. I couldn't see Aspen or Syrena and Lua so I just hoped that they were okay. My ball of plants luckily didn't hit any of the rocks as I crashed into the water. Hardly any liquid made it's way into my protective barrier, but as I unwinded the vines I found myself struggling to find air. When I was finally freed from the confines of my bubble I gasped and pulled myself up onto the shore my eyes we sealed shut and I had to pry them open only to see that the others were doing the exact same thing. I turned my head to the other side of the river, the side I was laying on and saw something that stopped my heart. In a good way of course. I immediately pulled myself up off the ground and stared, it was probably the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my 16 years of life. There was an entire world below the cliffs we had been running on. It was pretty dark but the bioluminescent flowers and plants lit up the whole area. Waters that ran through the strangely beautiful forest were shiny, vibrant blues and greens. I swear I could hear Aspen's jaw drop as the others walked up next to me. The place smelled like sweet flower nectar, like the ones from earlier but not nearly as strong. Purple flowers with long petals hung from the rock ceiling hundreds of feet above and from the branches of trees. A large golden butterfly floated past me and went deeper into the forest, all sorts of flowers that we all different colors covered the grass on the ground. Gigantic trees with iridescent leaves and pink spiral flowers the hung low on the branches. I took a step forward and took in even more of the landscape, small bubbling brooks of the colorful water could be heard echoing throughout the area, drip, drip, drip. Small, flying, green things that looked like jellyfish bobbled over my head. I reached out to touch one and it quickly floated away. Lily pads the size of large dogs covered a pond and smaller waterfalls could be seen in the distance. The area was huge and went on for what seemed like miles. And that's when it appeared. A slim looking monster that had huge fangs, long skin flaps on it's head, what looked like six legs and a lime green pebbled hide was looking right at us.
"What is that?" Lua said, the fear tainting her voice.
We started to back up when we heard another voice.
"That's just a frightwolf. Do you not have those where you come from?" it said
We all spun around and we placed face-to-face with a girl? She had a long blond braid going straight down her back, she was holding a basket of flower, and had one pinned in her hair. Her dress was long, light blue with purple edges, I found it quite pretty.
"Well they must be called frightwolves for a reason right?" Lua suggested
"I'm guessing you're not from here, but don't worry frightwolves don't attack people often. They just jump out and scare people like the name suggests." the girl responded
I swear I read about frightwolves somewhere, they only live in the.... Pixie woods.
"Are we in the pixie woods?" I asked
"Why yes you are." She voiced
The pixies lived in a very hidden community and they don't make much of a public statement in the realm, because of this they're rumored to help anyone who comes asking.
"You don't look like a pixie." Aspen said
"Well you'll find that pixies are hardly as the history books portray them, but you are right I am not a pixie."
The girl started walking into the forest, careful to avoid coming too close to the frightwolf.
"I am an elemental." She said quickly
My jaw nearly dropped, she was an elemental?
