Adventures of Oahron (part 8)

Wind whistles itself a lingering howl, yet still there is a stretching silence to follow. Neither dead nor harmed, Oahron sits in the middle of a mysterious hollow, still shrinking from the curse. The door is gone now, and Magenta is outside the walls pacing in panic. She has grown very fond of this young Zenroe boy already, and she was right about him not escaping, only wrong about him being dead.

What is left but to await Death swinging his bloody scythe, or a spirit swordsman with a sharp blade? Coiling up, the child covers his head with his arms shaking in dreadful nervousness as he has never been this close to demise since he hurt himself as a young boy. In the distance he hears a strange cough of splendidly great timing! An odd little leprechaun-accented man startles the child with the most pleasantness of odd company.

“So what ye doing here, lade?” the tiny figure, with a chubby belly, approaches him in a kind of silly voice. The strange man has a beard.

“I…I am lost,” he says as he looks up with big wet eyes. “Can you help me please? I am trapped in the real, real bad tree. Please do help me, mister!”

“You are a Zenroe kid, aren’t ye? Odd though, you are not supposed to be scared. Be brave like ye daddy, wills ye?” the little fellow shows off his fatigue-muscles, flexing boldly like some sort of iconic hero.

“What are you…?” the child asks, giving a slanted stare at the tiny, green-clothed man floating in midair as his rodent-headed staff spins.

“Don’t ye worry about what I ams. Just look upward towards yonder,” the man points high above toward a small opening of light while bobbing his head side to side like a turkey. It seems the walls have slowed down and this odd... creature... thing... person has some sort of magic himself. “There is year exit, my boy. Climb as the tree gets closer ye will have but a few seconds at the least. It is closed on the outside, but you can open it up from in her.”

Pointing his chubby finger toward the boy, and towards the way, the little green fairy-man pops out into nothing before Oahron can even open his lips. Gazing up to the opening, he realizes, “It is that hole I had fallen in from at the beginning.” It is seeable again! This tree is almost like a tree again, and that is a bad thing though, at least from within the inside, isn’t it?

Ten feet apart now, the walls move in slower and slower, trying to settle a normal shape as it creaks loudly like a machine. Leaping straight up onto the left side of the wall the boy impales his sharp fingernails into the smooth inner bark. Knowing that little time remains, he hops several feet to the opposite wall to gain more height. Holding on is exceedingly difficult, but he manages to do it with all the fear within his rumbling belly as he twists and turns. His teeth and nails now point sharper; little hairs begin to emerge on his normally smooth arms. Another leap with a cat-like growl brings him just a few feet away from the top exit path.

There is no more room to get more tallness. I have to climb with a hand against both of the scratchy walls, the smart lad concludes, now speeding with emotion as the walls become very close together to squishing him. Crawling up like a rat from a floor-hole, his hand reaches saving length as his fingers grab onto the exit-hole of the tree.

Wood begins forming around his legs to hold him in place as it pulls him back downward, but he kicks free with a struggle. With feet scraping against the right wall, he kicks up to grab his arms through the opening once more. His heart is thumping heavily with sweat drenching his clothes like an ocean-wave rolling down into the shifting tree.

Each drop of sweat on the inside blooms a single flower in the leaves on the tree’s outside branches. With all strength weighing into his arms, he pulls himself through, forcing out his upper body to hang onto the big branch on the outside of the lofty tree --- leaving trapped his lower half. He can feel the fairies from before tickling his backside, but they should not even be there! Magenta must have heard the commotion from behind, for she too rushes toward him.

“Oahron! Oahron!” she squeaks happily as the boy’s red dripping face lets out a breath against her wings. “You are so okay! Never scare me like that again, you big lug of a kid!” The Zenroe boy coughs sarcastically looking back towards his covered legs as he begins to gasp fast, knowing that he is still trapped.

“Ohh…” Magenta also gasps dumbfoundedly. “You are stuck in that tree there, aren’t you…?” Tightening his lips he shakes his head slowly, his eyes half open. She grabs his finger and pulls with all her little pixie might. “I will get you out though!” she yells with a strain. “This is your home stretch now; you are almost free,” yes, the little pixie is that much determined to get her kid... but...

At the very next moment a small ray of light singes the tree-bark above Oahron’s gasping chubby face. The smoking woodchips drip down onto the boy’s naked backside. Magenta turns around in a jolt as her eyes glow, brightly widened with anger towards another dark sprite wanting a little revenge against our helpful pixie companion.

It laughs with its colorful lips as Magenta tries to hit the little bugger; the girl uses a vibrant mana-powder attack to shield herself and Magenta sends another blast right back. It seems that there is never an end to these things; they are like a plague. The evil little imp brushes the attack away in a wind’s swerve, using only her arm. Several more of them make their way to surround the tree, the ones who ran before apparently got more reinforcements like they tend to do!

How stupid it was to let them escape... At the far top, the imp who had attacked Magenta points a finger at the child constrained tightly by the tree, and they all aim their wands!

“There is no way for chubby-butt to escape or Magenta to defend him by herself!” she shouts. With the little creature using a quick opposing blast, Magenta hops in front of the child to absorb the enemy’s dark magic! The Zenroe child is okay, but Magenta falls to the tree bottom burnt and paralyzed.

“You don't think that is all we’ve got, do you?” the evil little imp grins. A second opposing shot smacks against the now growling Zenroe boy, making him glow before soaring back down into the dark innards of the cursed tree!

“Why," he cries in a long fall, "do they want to keep me down so bad in this bad place!?” He plumps at the bottom in smoke and knows he cannot climb out this time as his arms twitch on the ground sore and weak. The small opening on the outside is now sealed for they must have cast a spell as the room turns pitch black, but it has again stretched a slight bit in its overall width. The walls again creak as they start to move closer and closer, tighter and tighter, faster and faster, racing this time like they have no longer a tad of patience.

In a tiny burst of adrenalin, he breaks out an opening in the wall with his right claw, leaving scratches upon his knuckles as little pieces of wood flake across his face. With such strength he does so again, almost as if mana-magic is absorbed into his next punch. The boy knows that he has the strength to break this place down if he tries real real hard, even if it disastrously maims what's left of him --- just as long as he is not squashed dead is all that really matters.

Far above him green sprites make strange formations, similar to stars in the sky. They resemble archers shooting long green arrows. These are not evil sprites either, it seems, perhaps. They may not even be real; maybe they are just lights from another dimension. What do the red ones mean? They all could be an illusion, part of the magical world around him, maybe even a message from the great Creator of the skies manifesting precisely where we are.

There is a feeling, however, that they are giving him some sort of energy, empowering him in a way, a will to keep fighting, to regain freedom, and to save Magenta from her little opposers. The boy remembers what Jahru told him about the stars, and his little face regains light as he tries not to look down despite his head feeling heavy. Seeing this all around him, he considers that he has all the power he needs with the great Deity of the universe on his side and not against him. Now he just has to have the trust and take the step forward.

With each slash into the inner-bark you can see light from the outside world, a strong glow of many colors. Similar to a rainbow, the colors of promise... Cursed with unending life in a fallen world, the tree heals itself before the kid can force himself outward. He tries again. This time he is able to see the faces of his tiny ‘innocent’ little foes. They are waiting for him outside, knowing he will escape somehow. Their sharp eyes paint themselves in his mind as he scurries to free himself from the darkness of the inside of the menacing wooden bark.

“I don't have enough strength to break out of this scary place on my own!” he cries, running out of time and breath as he can feel roots entering his body. A few more punches go nowhere; the tree just keeps getting tougher and tougher like life, slowly restraining his limbs. The tree grows stronger trying to defend itself from the boy's attacks like an immune system against his cause.

“Magenta, Magenta is out there... I have to hurry, or she will get hurt! I have to not get smushed first, so then I can help her!” He starts scratching the tree fast like a dog, peeling his arms away, his claws begin to hurt from the fury, but he is getting through! A small green light from nowhere catches the kid’s eye from behind; it carries with it an illuminating energy. Is it a fairy or a goddess, perhaps an archer or a sprite?

“Boo!” a wide grin jokes humorously at the child, making him slow down a tad bit. It is the little man from before, “Sorry I didn’t introduce myself from before. I am Turk, a male elf fairy, and I have a beard!” About to respond, again the man interrupts Oahron from speaking. “Nothing new with that, ha-ha, poor Oahron... There is little time to talk, let’s just get ye out of here. You’ve discovered all what ye needed to learn.”

Pulling a long cane from a small pocket, and an attachment from his beard, a light flashes and the whole tree turns green (inside and out) with sparkling lights. Oahron feels very warm as the energy overtakes him and the tree peels open where he clawed it. The heated magic travels through all of his body into his lungs and out every part of his body.

Oahron glances around as he feels funny, but that strange tree fairy, or wood fairy, whatever he called himself, has vanished and the kid is now sitting outside, somewhere in the middle of the empty lifeless woods. There are hardly any sounds at all now as his ears adjust --- aside from the leaves that is. Not even an animal is present, nor the little man.

“Oh no, not again… now where is Magenta this time?” Oahron hops up to his feet as his legs feel wobbly. He rubs the backside of his knee and butt. He looks at his hands; his fingers are red and sore. His fingernails begin to shrink back to normal.

“Ahh, the curse,” he whimpers…

The boy scurries through the woods without wasting time knowing that he will run back into that same red-leafed tree. He runs and runs but just cannot make it back to that same spot... The curse must have been broken when he was freed from that stupid tree! How convenient...

“Thank you, Turk…” he whispers, a beard shakes silently in the treetops.

The boy tries to sniff her out, but her scent is too hard to pick up because she is always in the air, and there is no telling which trees she has peed on. A strong sweet smell as hers can’t be that hard to follow. He closes his eyes and inhales through his nose just a little bit harder.

“Something is here...” he says. “She must be close!” With his eyes tight he walks through the woods following the distinct, yet shallow, aroma of Magenta. He steps a ways before walking smack into a blasted tree!

“Ouch!” the child yelps with both hands over his nose. “That really stings!” Brushing himself off, he feels even less confidence than he did before. Regardless of what happens, catching her scent is not going to help now.

“She IS a tricky fairy-thing,” he considers. “So maybe if I think hard enough that the tree is this way, then it will be, and I will find her that way!” Truly, the boy's reasoning is broken, but in these woods, who actually knows what could happen? Might as well give it a darn try, huh? Pondering hard he pictures the big red leaves shaking on the treetop with Magenta flying around happily awaiting his return with all kinds of treats and goodies for him. He imagines water orbs everywhere and Jahru jumping around engulfed in the biggest smile ever seen.

Aww, happy thoughts, it has to come true! That is just like everything most of the time is after all… he believes with a false confidence. Oh wait… Jahru is going to be so very angry I am gone, isn’t he?

In a less than short walk, who would have guessed it, he actually makes it back to that same tan-leafed tree that he was looking for. As he gets here, he looks up as the floating orbs of water fall into the grass with a splash. A number of the dark imps are hurt on the ground and Magenta is gone from here; the rest of them must have retreated.

“Owies!” Oahron yelps from a sharp, seemingly random pain. It feels as if a large mosquito has biten into his neck. There is a surprise attack! He is ambushed by all the little hooligans. These stupid little things shoot magic from all directions, yet… none do very much to him at all. Like bee stings you would think... Why was Magenta so afraid before? The child plummets to the ground and starts laughing while rolling all around.

“Stop, stop it!” he yells. “You are tickling me.” The larger pixie, imp, fairy, or whatever else they go by, grunts in shock. The kid hops up and starts scratching at the playful little pests like an ornery feline as they fly away before he can play any sort of a game with them.

They are not so scary out here now since I didn’t drink more of that tea-stuff.

“Silly boy,” a stray pixie laughs. “Pixie magic cannot really harm a Zenroe or any animal for that matter.” The kid half-way chuckles at a familiar voice.

“Magenta! Oh, Magenta!” he shouts while jumping up and down. They both giggle as they are happy to see each other and he tries to put his big hands onto her tiny little hands. “You really need to quit getting lost…” he tells the girl.

“Me!?” she says in astonishment. “Boy, it is you who keeps my heart at a race. You got lost again already, and I only got lost one time!”

He giggles some more with his fingers by his mouth trying to make her unfold her little arms. “Uh Magenta…” he questions.

“Yes, Oahron?”

“You called them pixies…” he pauses. “I thought you said they were imps.”

“The tricky thing is, sometimes you can’t really tell. We look almost identical yet from different villages. Imps are a little darker with small points on their heads while fairies and pixies only differ minor in size and wingspan.” The girl becomes quiet for a moment, making sure he understands.

“Those there were all… imps I suppose, faking as fairies and if true, you were never in any real harm for their magic cannot seriously hurt you. I will call them pixies; I will call them imps, whatever. It pays no mind to me though. I was the one who was afraid of leaving alive even though I know they probably wouldn’t really hurt me either. That’s how we play, sometimes. We try to scare each other through tricks, and of course, the spirits in the forest protect all life here anyway, he-he,” the girl giggles. “So what do we have to worry about?”

“Play!? That tree, the tree almost crushed all my bones!”

“Yeah, it appeared so, but as I told you, it was an illusion, and a good one too! It even had me fooled at first, for a while you know. I thought you were dead somehow. But considering the source of the trick --- you would have transported back out here with me when there was no more space for you to stand. He-he, didn’t they tell you that us pixies are mischievous too?” Oahron gazes puzzled; there is no deciphering if she is telling the truth or not, for she did seem pretty scared.

“They told you, never trust a pixie, didn’t they?” the purple girl taunts as she sticks out her tongue in a trickster’s gesture then farts. The kid falls to his back exhausted!

“Can’t get hurt!?” he screams as he tilts his face sideways in the grass and rolls his head all around.

Everything seems like it was planned, everything was just some stupid game!? Even her little emotions were probably faked! Lying on the ground, his eyes slowly close as he fades away.

“Oahron… Oahron…? Oahron! Are you okay, boy child? Wake up! Right now, Oahron!”

*He continues laying completely still.*

“Oahron, please get up! I didn't mean to kill you!” Magenta continues out loud as he lays on the ground unconscious and barely breathing. The purple little whatever-you-call-her flies away in a rush as the boy lays blankly in the grass, dazed in shock. Returning with a large bucket of water, she floats over his face. Swooping down, the large water vessel, which is bigger than herself, gives the kid an unwanted bath time.

He turns with his hands across his face, choking as he sits up using his arms to wipe off his head, “You okay?” she asks him again. He smiles as he uses his knuckles to stand up while dripping wet. The pixie looks a little frightened by his devious grin.

“Guess what?” he lets out a breath slowly. She stares at his eyes clueless. “I am okay,” he says with a focused glare, “and this time… I am going to catch you, miss pixie-girl!” The child leaps up and starts his way at her, swiping his arms like a net. Making a sharp right, she almost causes the clumsy boy to trip over his own tail again.

“This way,” she waves her hand while flying low in order to not be caught by Oahron. The trees seem to repeat themselves.

She must know where she is going. She can’t be trying to lead me somewhere again, jeesh, he thinks unpleasantly. “I asked for it, I guess so, but… oh well.” The tips of the kid’s fingers brush against Magenta’s leg and butt, waving to catch her. Again and again he misses as she flies up and down and away!

“Darn it. I almost had you!” the wily boy wails aloud. She laughs slyly as she slies away further into the woods. His eyes follow her closely as he breathes in her scent so there is no way she is getting away this time. He hunts her down like a tiger hunts his prey. Now, as if she is shocked upon brushing past some nearby leaves, the girl jerks her back stiff and straight as she glances forward. Throwing off a wide yet modest grin, the boy stumbles too as he tries to halt.

This is the time… he thinks. He leaps forward swooping her in both hands!

Oahron gives off a laughing taunt before landing chest first in dirt, a few arm-lengths downward on the lower ground. The boy gets them excessively muddy as they slide down a landdrop. Scratching into the ground like a cat, he pops to his feet tall with wide eyes, he gazes deep into the scenery as mud drips off his hair. Holding the little pixie locked in his fingers like a cage, calm lights reflect upon his orange eyes, making his mouth open, just a little more than usual.