Chop. Thud. Chop. Thud. Chop. Thud. I groan in utter frustration. No matter how many times I chop off the branches and vines blocking my way and watch them fall to the ground, the forest only goes on and on. If only the guards did not fence away the clearing I created a few months ago. Chop. Thud. Was this forest always so dense? Chop. Thud. I should really ask the pixies to forge me an axe. Chop. Thud. Crack!
I falter for a second at the foreign sound, but I am so determined to reach my destination, I ignore it, assuming the Wood Fairies were out again, playing their fun games.
"Hey, babe."
I shiver at the hot breath on my neck caused by the whisper. I swivel around, swinging my sword, but before I can decapitate the intruder, a firm hand clenches the sword's handle, covering my own hand. I look up into those familiar gold eyes, bright and mesmerizing as ever. I gape at the sight in front of me.
"Gold?! What are you doing here?" the words tumble off my tongue before I can hold them back.
He lets go of my hilt and chuckles. "Great to see you after such a long time, too, Crystal."
I roll my eyes and cross my arms at my childhood friend and mumble, "Whatever, Goldilocks," but I am smiling, and he is, too.
Gold takes a good look at me and my sword, then asks the dreaded question.
"What are you doing?"
I smile teasingly, hoping to avoid the question. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
He grins with me. "Whatever it is, could I help?"
"If you can keep up with me," I get ready to chop away once more, but I am satisfied because this time is different; I now have someone to talk to.
"You've grown quite a bit in five years…" Gold remarks, while hacking vigorously. "You're much stronger, more agile, and more...outspoken, I guess."
"Well, so have you," I say, trying to be courteous. I glance at his towering frame. "You're as tall as Bertred! And your voice isn't squeaky anymore."
He laughs. "Bertred? The Nether Giant?"
"Yeah."
We do not continue speaking, and instead slave away at clearing a path through the forest. I find myself unintentionally steal glances at Gold. When he notices, he turns to me and smirks.
"What's the matter, Crys? See something you like?" he teases.
"Shut up, Goldie. Why do you have to be like that?" I grumble, slightly blushing.
"Why not?" he retorts.
"Looks like you haven't changed a bit, behavior wise," I sigh. He chuckles loudly, scaring away some of the peacefully sleeping Firedoves, who cause a few trees surrounding us to burst into red and orange. I am about to chant the Water Spell to extinguish the flames, but the Water Nymphs beat me to it. They appear from nowhere and dance into the trees, their watery selves efficiently putting the fire out. Unfortunately, this means we are drenched, too.
Gold shakes his masterfully woven shirt made of rich fabric, cursing as the droplets fly everywhere. As he does, I catch a glimpse of a string necklace with a sapphire as a pendant. I remember that necklace. After all, I made it…
He laughs. "Come on, slowpoke! Run faster!" Gold teased me as I jogged towards the tree. I was doing a relay race with him, Soul, and Silver during our daily break in school. Gold was on my team, and Soul, one of the few elves living around the area, was paired up with Silver, a satyr. We had done only two relay races so far, but since we were only seven, I was already tired. Enraged by his taunt, I sprinted. Suddenly, I tripped. I lay on the ground, clutching my ankle. Unable to bear the pain, I screamed, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Before I knew it, Gold was by my side, looking over me, anxious. "Are you okay, Crys?" I shook my head no. Soul and Silver arrived, too, and helped me up to my feet. Gold brushed away my tears.
"Come on, Crys. Don't cry. You're okay now," he tried to comfort me, but I refused to calm down until we had reached my home village, where the doctor enchanted me to ease the pain. I was lying on the hospital bed, alone, when Gold entered the room. He walked toward me.
"I'm sorry, Crys. It was my fault you got hurt. I shouldn't have teased you," he apologized to me. "Here's a get-better-soon present."
Gold thrust out a sapphire and a ruby the size of small pebbles. They was shining with a radiance I had never seen before. I gasped, then threw my hands around him as thanks.
Four years later, school was over. I knew I would never see Gold again, since he was the Prince and heir to the throne of the kingdom, while I was a mere commoner. I had made simple necklaces out of the ruby and sapphire he gave me before. I presented them to Gold and insisted he take one. After first, he refused, but after some persuading, he relented.
Gold chose the sapphire one and teasingly dangled it before my face.
"So I can remember the color of your eyes," he answered, when I asked him why he chose that one.
He slipped it onto his neck, then grabbed the ruby one, and slipped it onto my neck.
"So you can remember the color of my blush that comes only when I see you," he grinned and pulled me into a tight hug.
"I'll miss you, babe," Gold whispered into my ear.
"Wait a minute," I snap out of my trance, realizing something. Gold looks up at me questioningly. I quickly notice that my wet top is still clinging to me, so I use the Dry Spell to instantly dry both Gold's and my clothes.
"You enchantresses are so cool," he mutters, smiling at me with gratitude. "So. What were you saying?"
"Water Nymphs," I begin. "Water Nymphs were just here."
"Yeah. What about them?" he asks.
"Water Nymphs can only be around water," I smile, but Gold is still confused.
"So?" he prompts me.
Instead of replying, I carry on chopping the branches and vines off, but with more energy. Gold shrugs, then follows my example. Another thing I love about him: he never asks too many questions.
Finally, we burst from the crowd of trees into the openness of the lake and its surroundings. The lake. I am finally here!
I rush toward the glistening, blue waters of the lake, its surface smooth as glass. I beam at the sight of the symbol of my childhood. I have come here many times, but the lake's beauty and placidness never cease to awe me.
"So this is where you were going," Gold says.
I was so wrapped up in my joy, I had forgotten he was here.
"Wait," he closes his eyes, sighing. "Hear that?"
I close my eyes, too, and try to relax. Once I manage to do that, I catch the musical whispers of the invisible spirits that roamed around the area. They speak, or rather sing, in a tone that reflects their mood. As of now, they are peaceful and calm, so the notes they create are soft and relaxing.
"This is Spirit Lake, isn't it?" Gold turns to me. I nod in reply. "We've been here before, right? When we were..."
As he trails off, I open my eyes and see him unconsciously finger his necklace. He is obviously remembering the good times we had here, before we had to grow up. His eyes shoot open as he snickers.
"This is where we first played Truth or Dare," he smirks. I blush at the faint memory. "Silver dared us to run into the lake stark naked. You were so shy, I had to yank your dress off and pull you into the water."
I grab multiple twigs that are lying at my feet and throw them at him, one by one. They hit him in the chest, but harmlessly bounce off.
"Don't say it like that!" I yell, my face now as red as a cherry, still chucking. "That isn't the entire story! And we were only five! Oh, of all the things to remember!"
He ducks for protection from my onslaught, but he is still grinning like a madman. "Okay! Okay! Fine! I won't!" he hollered…
"Hey, guys!" Soul exclaims, zipping through the trees to meet Silver, Gold, and me.
We grin and greet her with the same enthusiasm.
"I learned a new game from my sisters yesterday. Wanna play?" she asked.
"You bet we do!" Gold leapt up with excitement. "What is it?"
Soul explained the rules of Truth and Dare to us: someone asks someone else to choose between truth and dare. If a person chose truth, he or she has to answer a question from the other people. If a person chose dare, he or she has to do whatever the other people say.
When we heard the rules of the game, we decided to play. It sounded interesting enough. So we started. I was the first person asked. I chose truth. Silver asked me if I really did have a baby sister, as the rumors went. I replied, saying I did, but she had died only months later. Silver chose dare. Soul dared him to throw a pebble at a Water Nymph.
And so the game went on, until Silver finally declared, "I dare everyone to take off their clothes and run and jump into the lake!"
Soul, Gold, and Silver instantly stripped and dove into the lake (even though if Soul stayed in too long, her essence would start to slip away), but I stayed behind. I did not really want to, since it was especially cold that day, I hated being wet, and my mother would yell at me if I came home drenched. Another reason, one I did not mention, was that I did not trust Gold. Soul, Silver, and I had only just met him a week ago. So I tried to refuse, but before I could get away, Gold reached up from the lake, grabbed my dress, yanked it off and pulled me in.
At first I was mad, but when I realized how calming the water felt, I relaxed. Gold then taught us how to swim. That day was the most important in my life; not only because I had overcome my fear of water, but also because I had made a new best friend: Gold. And unlike the short, abruptly ending friendship between Soul, Silver, and me, Gold had always been there for me, no matter what.
When I am exhausted of my anger and ammunition, I walk to the lake, sit down at the edge, and, pulling up my skirt, dip my legs in. The Water Nymphs instantly tickle them, so I have to shoo them away to enjoy the coolness of the water against my sweaty legs. Gold sits next to me and follows suit, tugging his pants up to his knees, then letting them splash into the water. The Water Nymphs do not bother him; in fact, they appear quite scared. I do not worry though, for this is usually the case with creatures who have never met the Prince of the land in person.
Gold drapes an arm over my shoulders, and I lean into him, too, enjoying his warmth and comforting scent. We rest there watching the two suns in the sky slowly dip down into the horizon, in succession, not saying a word.
When the suns have set, and the sky is completely black, we admire the red, blue, yellow, green, and purple stars.
"They weren't always like this…" Gold mutters.
"Yeah," I reply, thinking back to the last time we have done this…
When we were seven, Soul had left with her family to Elvenland never to return since her mother and father had passed away, and Silver had been sent back to his homeland on some important work. He, too, was never to return. Which left only Gold and me. At first, we had been heartbroken, and the days seemed dull without two of our best friends, but slowly, Gold and I got used to it. We would often still play around the lake, for memory sake.
Even when the Royal Pegasi Guards had declared the lake "private property of the King" and fenced away our paths leading to it, Gold and I would still come here, finding or creating more paths through the thick jungle. Back then, the stars had been a brilliant white. We had enjoyed those more, since it was easier to make out little shapes in the sky.
Gold and I would imagine thousands of different things, like bears and crabs, and even people at times. But ever since the third sun had exploded, casting radiation onto all the closer stars, there was not a speck of white in the dark sky. We were greatly disappointed, for it seemed all the constellations we had found were hiding from us. But slowly, we came to appreciate the beauty of the differently colored stars. Since they appeared to change color every so often, Gold had joked that the colors reflected upon the mood of the god living in the star: red symbolized anger, blue symbolized sadness, yellow symbolized happiness, green symbolized sickness or jealousy, and purple symbolized haughtiness or fear. So Gold and I would comment about the prominent emotion of the gods: if most stars were red, most of the gods were angry; if most stars were blue, most of the gods were sad; etc.
One day, I spotted a star shining brightly pink.
I had tugged Gold's sleeve. "Look, Gold! A pink star!"
At the sight of it, he beamed. "You're right, Crys! I've never seen anything like it!"
"What do you suppose the god inside the star is feeling?" I asked.
Gold seemed deep in thought. Then he grinned. "Of course! The god in the star is…" he dramatically paused. "deeply in love!"
I giggled. "There's a rose up there, too! Did you see it?"
He did and laughed. "Focus! Maybe we can catch the god picking it out of the sky!"
I wake from my daydream, to see Gold gazing at me fondly. I blush.
"W-What?" I stammer, embarrassed by his intense look.
He chuckles. "I was right! You were daydreaming!"
"What are you talki- Woah!" I say as Gold pulls me into the lake with him.
When I surface, he is still holding my hand, preventing my escape. I pout.
"Gold! What was that for?!" I nearly yell. Did I ever mention I did not like getting wet at all?
He guffawed. "I need you to stay awake and focus on me when I tell you this."
I blink, surprised. "Tell me what?"
He pulled me close, keeping his eyes on mine. "There's a pink star."
I turn and grin. "There is!"
"And that god isn't the only one in love," Gold continues.
I look at him and search his eyes for that sparkle of humor he has when he jokes around. But he is dead serious. I remember a certain conversation we had when we were eleven. We had been sitting at the lake.
Gold had told me a story of a man deeply in love with a woman try to get her to notice him.
I giggled. "It's a shame that doesn't happen too often over here. I'd like to see someone try to win another's heart."
"But you see it every day…" Gold murmured, a sad look on his face.
"What?" I asked, confused.
But he only shook his head and waved it away.
I gasp, now realizing what he had meant.
"Crystal," he says, pulling a pink rose from his pocket and presenting it to me. "I love you."