Chapter Text
Lost in the woods
Princess Elizabeth was angry. She stared up at the ceiling in her darkened bedroom, fists clenched brows furrowed. Three different families had lost livestock to the trees, and one of them lost a father; it was the first time a human had been taken and Eliza was sure it was only the beginning. She sat up and glared out of her window at the forest below. The forest glowed with a soft green light in the night that only the princess could see. She'd asked her father years ago if he noticed it and he’d only looked mildly surprised and said he had not. King Lyinol had also looked only slightly grim upon receiving the report of the missing cows and the missing farmer. He'd told the families that he would investigate it and do what he could to help them move to a safer location, but that wouldn’t fix the problem.
Eliza focused on the gentle pulsing of the trees; she could fix the problem. Her father had always been afraid of the forest bordering their home and took steps to keep her away from it; but Eliza was 20 years old and not afraid of a few trees. Her mother was a Flower Goddess for island’s sake, The forest had been her home before she’d married Eliza’s Father. Eliza angrily kicked her Pajamas across the room as she stormed to her closet and yanked black pants from a hanger. Hopping a little to put them on, she rummaged through her pile of probably clean clothes for a black tank top and slid it over her head, careful not to let it snag on her silver braids which were pulled up in a messy evening bun. She stopped briefly in front of her mirror. Her cerulean blue eyes were a perfect match for her father's own aside from the fact that they glowed in the dark, casting a weak glow onto her brown cheeks. As she took in her reflection the young woman in the mirror relaxed a little. Slightly pointed ears twitched as the tension leaked out of her. This was a bad idea, Eliza knew that; but she headed for the window anyway, unlatching the lock to allow it to gently swing open, the cool evening air blew across her face. The stars were bright tonight. She took that as a promising sign as she leapt gracefully from her 5th story window, controlling the air around her, landing soundlessly in the garden below.
As Eliza stalked toward the trees, she formulated a plan. She would enter the forest and try to negotiate with whatever was taking her people. If that didn’t work then she would fight them. She’d been practicing combat with her wind magic for 4 years now and she was more capable of holding her own against five of the palace guards. Whatever was in those trees was going to regret messing with her people.
The first thing Eliza felt as she crossed the tree line was the pressure of the magic in the air. It clung to her skin like humidity, she could feel it in her lungs as she breathed. She cast her eyes up and stood still, taking a moment to truly see the place that had been forbidden to her all her life.
The forest of Insula was a place of wonder. The trees were a dark caramel brown with light green veins that spanned from the deepest root to the highest branches covered in evergreen leaves. Some trees were as wide as four strong men and others as skinny as a young girl’s forearm. The forest of Insula is most beautiful at night, when the trees glow, and the Farah lilies pulse a soft pink and red from their bushes on the forest floor. When the Fairies zip through the leaves of the bushes giving off a soft blue light. The grass was a mint green year-round, and large white mushrooms grew in perfect circles throughout the land. That is what mortals would see if they were still allowed to enter such a magical place, and they would be amazed. But when Elizabeth entered the forest her mother's blood, which was also her own blood, warmed unnaturally in her veins. The forest was steeped in magic; it pulsed through the ground and felt like a moist fog in the air, and her body's own supply seemed to call out to it. The trees were alive, like all trees, but these spoke in the language of leaves and moss and roots. Everything in the forest held its breath. Eliza watched as the leaves stilled and the little blue lights zipped away out of sight. Eliza's confidence wavered as the magic in the air became thicker, fog rising from the ground.
“Hello.” she said, her voice was barely a whisper. The trees seemed to be staring at her though they had no eyes. She continued forward, stumbling, she looked down to see the slip of a root disappearing into the ground.
That was rude, she thought. She looked up again and froze. Two green lights glowed in the fog 12 feet away from her, the fog thinned. What looked to be a young man with mahogany brown skin and glowing green eyes stood before her. His hair was also green and tied in a messy knot on the top of his head, green fly-aways floating around long pointed ears.
“Hello.” he said, his voice reminded Eliza of the rustling of leaves. His eyes were just glowing lights, no pupils, only shades of green.
“I do not think I ever expected to see you here” he spoke as if lost in thought. Floating 2 or 3 inches from the forest floor. Eliza had to glance upward now to meet his eyes. The Entity smiled, a shiver ran down Eliza’s spine and she resisted the urge to run.
“Little Elizabeth isn’t little anymore, you're all grown up” he began slowly floating around her. Eliza didn’t move.
“I thought I'd finally gone mad, seeing those eyes again” his voice came from behind her, her breath caught in her throat, she fought against every instinct not to turn around.
“You look just like him” they were face to face now, and Eliza had to squint to look him in the eyes, the glow of them too bright in the darkened forest.
“You entered my forest seething with malice” he kept his voice light, but his eyes hardened.
“Is there something you would like to talk to me about Elizabeth?” he stared into her eyes; his gaze unwavering.
“The trees, they took someone” Eliza whispered, to her credit her voice only slightly wavered, the Entity Floated back slightly.
“I tried to only take the cow and he attacked. I defended myself.” His voice was cold. The canopy of trees overhead seemed to vibrate.
“He was defending his animals” she said, Eliza’s voice strengthened the anger that drove her there rekindling. The Entity tilted his head, he hadn’t blinked the whole time they’d made eye contact, Eliza wasn’t sure if she had either.
"I only take what I need to keep my forest alive.”
“You hurt an innocent man and stole from families that needed those animals to make their livelihood” The venom trickled back into her voice. The Entity frowned, his eyes were as hostile as anything Eliza had ever seen, the vibrating of the canopy intensified.
“I don’t have time for this, and you are not as entertaining as I thought you would be. Leave.” He turned his back on her and started to float back into the trees when a wind like a knife whipped past his cheek. The Entity smiled.
“Very well,” he whispered. Trees' light green veins darkened into an impossible dark red. Flowers glowed brighter as if they were trying to call to Eliza, but the trees drowned out any power the flowers held. Two roots burst from the ground and shot toward the princess, she lifted her hands reaching for the grass to grow and shield her, but it denied her request. The Entity laughed as the roots latched on to her wrists winding tightly around her arms, the rough bark drawing blood. The shock of the grass ignoring her overrode the pain in her arms, she used her magic to reach for it again and received a spike of pain behind her eyes for her efforts.
“This is not your land, life here does not answer to you, Child.” The roots pulled her forward sharply, forcing her to the ground. Eliza tried to stand but the roots wrapped tightly around her ankles, keeping her on her knees. The Entity neatly folded himself into a crouch in front of her, the red glow of the trees casting stark shadows across his face
“You entered my domain and thought you would command me?” He laughed softly, he lifted her chin, his head tilted to the side considering her. “Did you even have a proper plan?” he questioned. Eliza avoided eye contact, her head was pounding, her heart beating too fast in her chest. “Humans are strange, why did you think this would work out in your favor? Your father already lost one daughter to my woods; you would have him lose another?” Eliza’s eyes zeroed back in on him. The Entity laughed again, and Eliza hated that it was a beautiful sound.
“You and Lyinol both look the same when you are afraid; eyes wide, nostrils flared, mouth in a tight line. I always thought he would cry whenever he made that face.” Eliza’s lip trembled; The Forest God’s thumb dug into her chin. After what felt like an eternity he spoke again.
“I think I’ll keep you; you have enough magic in your blood to help me keep my forest alive for at least a decade thanks to your mother. I could leave the rest of your kind alone, just like you wanted. I believe it is what you all call ‘killing two birds with one stone’” the roots around her ankles began to pull, the ground softening, Eliza felt her foot sink into the ground. She started to panic in earnest, she couldn’t use wind magic with her hands bound and the plants weren't listening to her. Panic turned her blood to ice, no one knew where she was, and she was going to die alone. The roots started to wind farther up her arm scraping against the skin of her biceps drawing blood. Little flower weeds grew where her blood fell on the forest floor, The Entity smiled.
“ARBOR” a feminine voice, broke through the trees. Arbor’s smile dropped, his brows furrowed as he rose. The trees returned to their green glow and the roots stopped moving along Eliza's arm. Arbor looked toward where the voice came from, Eliza pulled hard on the roots yanking her arms but only succeeding in tearing more skin. She clenched her teeth against the pain. She looked up and Arbor was staring down at her, his expression was unreadable. He turned and began floating toward the voice. The roots stopped pulling and slowly retracted from her skin, Eliza stumbled to her feet; ankles and arms a golden bloody messy. Arbor disappeared into the fog without so much as a word, the message clear Eliza made her way by to the edge of the forest.
Eliza stumbled once again across the tree line into the orange yellow haze of dawn, she didn’t realize how long it had been. Or maybe time passed differently in the forest, she looked down at the cuts wrapped around her arms, golden droplets falling slower as her body healed itself. The forest was more dangerous than she’d thought, her cheeks heated with shame as she started her walk back to the palace. As she walked one question burned in her mind as she limped back home.
Who had called him away?