FOURTH BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES OF FANTASILIA SERIES
𝘈 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭. 𝘈 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘈 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘈 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦.
Xanthiene Vivenca, a fairy with a bounty for her soul, is caught between...
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The roar of water was the first thing Xanthy registered as soon as the sirtya dropped them out of its influence. She opened her eyes to a subterranean cavern that reminded her of Kamharaim that for a second she thought she was back at the Pilgrim Road even though Cirasa said it's in Avalora.
"Come on," Cirasa edged his way across the slippery rocks covered in gray-green alga. "It's this way."
Xanthy craned her neck towards a domed ceiling peppered with inverted towers of sepia stalactites. "How do you even know it's in here?" She stalked after Cirasa who leaped from mould to mould without falling into the carpet of cerulean water around them. "What's the Witch's Fall?"
"It's a well of knowledge," Cirasa braced the rough wall and glanced at the wall of water raging from a crevice in the wall to Xanthy's right. "I knew of it in several literature, both ancient and contemporary," he paused. "It's also one of the places I visited when I'm searching for answers about my... sickness."
Xanthy took a deep breath and the smell of earth filled her nose. The dim light perpetuated by the thousands of flowers and leaves glowing on their own was their only way of seeing what was ahead. "Did you find any?" she asked.
Cirasa hopped from the last rock and landed on a flat ground that seemed to lead to a neighboring cavern. "The guardian won't tell me."
"Guardian?" Xanthy's boots slapped the moist ground and almost knocked Cirasa over had the shard fairy not caught her in time. Curse this slippery thing.
"It's a spirit left behind by Pelrise," Cirasa's voice strained over the roar of the waterfall which seemed to strengthen due to them being almost level with its basin. "It's impossible to talk to it properly."
Xanthy cleared her throat as she pushed away from Cirasa. "How so?"
Cirasa sighed. "You'll see."
Together, they entered the subsequent cavern and a heavy, flowery smell hit Xanthy's nose. There was no wind blowing around but her skin prickled with the cold air. Her boots crunched against a fine layer of grass as they came into an elevated platform that led down to a lagoon with still, turquoise water.
Cirasa trudged to the edge of the elevation and began tackling a strip of flat rocks that cascaded down towards the lagoon. Xanthy sucked in a lungful of the freshest air she ever encountered and ran after the shard fairy. Then, they stopped at the height where they could jump off without breaking anything. Xanthy glanced at Cirasa and nodded. She launched into the air.
Her boots hit the solid floor as her knees folded to take the brunt of the impact. She pushed her hair off her face, straightening to survey the space for any danger. Apart from the flowers with bunching pink buds growing in abundance between the cracks on the rocks and at the number of trees with bright, lilac leaves dropping down in long, spindly arms, there was nothing.
Then, Cirasa approached the end banks of the lagoon and tucked his hands into the sleeves of his robe. When Xanthy caught up to him, her eyes landed on a pedestal in the middle of the lagoon that resembled Acosa in the dead center of a chasm. Only this time, instead of a palace, the pedestal contained a...klaire fruit.
