Mischief in the Stars

Valsaire

The sky was a deep, dark navy blue, glimmering with glowing dots throughout. Swirls of white filled the air- gusts of icy winds dancing around them. Turning in awe, Rory observed the trees around them that seem to be made of a sleek, silvery material. She gingerly touched one, the icy metal causing her to flinch back slightly. She lightly danced her fingers along the tree before the ground caught her eye. The ground was a bright white blanket. As she leaned down to take a better look, she saw the small details that made it even more extraordinary. Tiny snowflakes floated above the ground, moving just slightly around. Rory placed her hand in the middle of the small snowflakes, watching as they began to levitate towards her hand. They stuck to her hands like a magnetic pull.

Laughing out breathlessly, she turned her hand to observe each snowflake. She gently rubbed the snowflakes off her hand. Standing up, she saw a black panther with striking, glowing green eyes in the tree in front of her. She froze for a moment before the animal dipped its head down. This was when she noticed the line of white spikes down its back. They got longer as they trailed down its neck. Wide, red lines spread from the spikes down to its stomach. The lines got thinner as they approached its stomach. It locked eyes with her one more time before leaping up to a higher branch.

Rory stood up, welcoming the cold air as it nipped her skin. She turned back to the group, a smile painted on her face. The setting was quite the opposite of Fantamia, but no less beautiful. Eliphas seemed to be overjoyed to be here as he lifted both his hands up. Snapping his fingers, lights appeared in a path among the trees. Looking closely, she saw floating lanterns just next to the trees.

"This place is beautiful," Rory commented in delight as the amicordas roamed around, exploring their new environment.

"It is," Eliphas agreed smugly, "it's where I live. Many warlocks and witches reside here."

"Don't tell me this is the classic 'all the evil people are herded into one place' cliche," Rory begged with a sweet smile, using air quotations around the last bit, which caused Eliphas to scoff. He opened his mouth to speak before Channing interrupted him.

"There are evil people everywhere, just as there are good people," Channing commented next to a tree, one of the panthers nuzzling against him lovingly. He smiled at the creature, gently stroking its head.

"I'm from here as well," a voice piped up. They turned back to the bridge to see Eira approaching them, her long, thin swords in her hands. She seemed unbothered by crossing the bridge, making Rory even more curious as to who Eira hears there. "We moved to Fantamia after my family stopped fighting in wars."

"What took you so long?" Maximus asked curtly.

"After I saw Iris and Birch, I had to go to my house. You know how my family is; I didn't even have to mention the possibility of a battle for them to tell me I can't go. Then, of course, my sister was just doing her usual rambling," Eira ranted, her face full of annoyance. Malakai gave the girl a look that Rory couldn't decipher. He stared at her before turning his head to the ground and sucking in a deep breath.

"I didn't know you had a sister," Rory commented, ignoring Malakai's actions.

"Yeah..." Eira trailed off uncomfortably, causing Rory to become confused.

Aidan sighed, licking his dry lips. "How is she?"

"You know, her usual rambling of how she doesn't belong here," she responded with a shrug, clearly not enjoying this conversation.

"We should get going," Channing interrupted, pushing himself off the tree. He touched the bottom of Eira's back comfortingly for a moment before he started down the path. The others quickly followed as Eliphas sauntered to the front to lead.