Into The Crimson Night
Dedicated to My sister, Love always.
The story of Reyna Black,
And the Ancients.
The wind howled as the storm raged on in the night. Tree limbs swayed and whipped as if in an exotic dance. Cold, stinging rain poured down on a lone wanderer. Reyna ran for cover, vibrant teal locks stuck to her pale face like a colorful river. Deep emerald eyes darted back and forth, searching for a safe place out of reach of the violent storm.
"Finally!" she whispered spotting an extremely large Mangolna tree, with thick roots that were woven into a den of sorts. The Mangolna were known for their tough ivory bark. She would be safe hiding amid its roots. The great tree groaned as a bolt of lightning struck its upper bows, illuminating her huddled form. Reyna pulled her singed emerald gloves from cold hands, and pressed her bare palms to the smooth bark. An ancient, pleading prayer for safety and strength dripped from her lips, with the sound of sweet chimes, and the taste of golden honey.
As her voice strengthened, a soft violet glow began to flow from her palms outward coating the unearthed roots of the massive tree. Ivory roots began writhing like snakes forming a protective barrier between her and the outside world. "Your safe now child, rest." the words wrapped around her like a breeze, calming her.
The morning came in a whirl of heat, her alcove significantly cooler than the blazing grounds around her. Reyna sighed, watching as the emerald leaves of a young tree across the way caught fire, looking strange against the pale sky and scorched grass. The heat tended to only grow worse, killing anything stupid enough to be caught in it. Most of the humans left knew enough of the old ways to keep themselves from harm. Reyna's mother and her mother before her had passed down the family spells, chants, and prayers. For years things had been slowly getting worse, the earth growing closer to the sun every year.
Stretching her body out as best she could, Reyna stroked two fingers along the silvery root by her head and murmured "Frutta" smiling as small branches began to wind from the base of the root, fruits blossoming from it every so often. Small cherries took up most of the vine like branches, followed by juicy red apples. The remainder of the branches were covered in beautiful flowers, the trees own way of amusing it's charge. Plucking a large blossom from the end Reyna admired the combination of reds, blues, and violet that flowed endlessly. Holding it under her nose she sighed with pleasure, it was like the scent of every flower in the world combined into one heavenly scent.