The Dark Crystal - The Wingless Girl

by azmoon26

This is the first four chapters of a story about Feli, a gelfling girl without wings and is a prequel to the Dark Crystal. This was a submission for a Dark Crystal story contest. While it did not make it, I still wanted to share what I had as I am proud of the effort I put towards it. Comments, critiques and reviews are welcome, of course.

The Dark Crystal: The Wingless Girl

By E.J.S. ("Azure Moon")

Another world, another time,

In the age of wonder,

It has been five-hundred trine since the Crystal cracked,

Gelfling live in peace with their rulers, the Skeksis,

But the Skeksis harbor dark secrets,

And whispers among the gelfling catch like wildfire,

There is unrest among the seven clans,

Among them lives a girl who will change the course of gelfling history forever,

The girl without wings.

Chapter 1: Leaving Home

The three suns shone in the skies above the Skarith Valley, the land that was once rich with life and bounty but now withering outward from its heart - the Castle of the Crystal. The suns were in the formation of the Trion, a perfect triangle in distance from each other with the Rose Sun at the left, the Dying Sun at the right and the Greater Sun at the pinnacle. It only formed once a century and it was the sign of change.

A gelfling woman with a short shock of platinum colored hair and dark green eyes sat on a tall, narrow, moss-covered boulder where the land was still good and the air was fresh, glancing up at the skies under her hand. She could watch the Dying Sun as its light would not blind her and thought about the suns and the excitement they brought back in the village. Festivities were already commencing - songs and dance, food and laughs - but she had to get away from it all.

Sitting beside her was a little round ball of red fluff streaked with silver. She petted it and a purr rumbled from the small furry globe. Feli then reached into her satchel and pulled out a rolled sheet from the Yapina plant, uncurling it and reading the characters written on it:

Feli of the Woodlands

The Queen of All Gelflings asks for your presence on the night of the Trion. It is of high importance that you accept this invitation.

Below it was the intricate seal of the Queen, a formation of seven stars, one for each of the seven gelfling clans, ringed around the figure of a female gelfling in front of the Crystal.

Feli curled the sheet again and placed it in its container, then back into her satchel before taking a deep breath of the valley's air. She stood up and stretched her back, then looked over a four-legged creature called the kioda that had a solid, blunt muzzle, short, striped fur of white and black, and a billowing mane of white. She lifted the ball of red fur and hopped down from the boulder, landing gracefully onto her feet without the aid of any wings. Unlike other gelfling girls, she did not have any.

"C'mon, Tizzha. Let's go ride one more time," she said to the fizzgig cradled in her arm, which then turned and looked up at her with beady blue eyes and let out a good bark.

Because Feli had no wings, she wanted to ride. She wanted to feel the wind of Bah-Lem Valley through her hair one more time. The skeksis called it Skarith, but to Feli and the other Woodlanders it was always Bah-Lem. She carefully set Tizzha into a sack dangling from the left side of her kioda, the fizzgig holding herself up with short paws on the sack's edge and peeking up through the top. With her bow and quiver slung across her back, Feli then mounted the kioda and cried out one word. She held onto its thick mane as it took off and bounded through the verdant fields. Feli grinned as she felt the wind whip past her, savoring these last moments of true freedom.

After a few minutes of riding, they stopped at a wide stream and all three took drink from the cold water. As the fields got closer to the Woodlands, they were more full of life and still sung with the harmony of Thra. The water was good here and tasted better than even the wells at the village. Feli stood up after her drink and looked over to the dimly glowing spires of the Crystal Castle in the distance. The land there was fading, dark. Every passing trine it got worse, but some of its beauty remained, clinging to the radiance of bygone days.

Feli combed her long, slender fingers through the wild strands of her hair that she kept shorter than most gelfling women, and covered her eyes as she glanced up at the sky again. She wondered if she and her summoning had anything to do with the suns and their supposed sign, and she felt unease at the vision high above. She patted the snout of the kioda, it rumbled back at her again.

"Vesh, loda en fada," she said with a regretful tone. She wanted to keep riding forever and a part of her thought to keep doing so. But she climbed onto its back and it turned back towards the Woodlands.

Feli enjoyed one last rush through the wind before her destiny awaited her.

#

The farming village of Bordun was built on the fringes of the Woodlander's land, blending both fields and the loosely forested land that the gelfling clan had called home. The skies were still blue over this land unlike the grey of the Castle's domain. Brightly colored streamers and silver bells were tied to the poles on either side of the round, the latter chiming away with the passing winds. Loud music played from the center of the village, mingling with the noise of the busy crowds.

Farming fields stretched out along either side of the dirt path that Feli rode on, but they were abandoned as their owners enjoyed the festivities in the village. Mounders, large and friendly looking herd beasts with long, straight hair, wrinkled skin on its face and rounded snout, and curved horns were freely grazing along grassy fields. The wooden arch that acted as the entrance to the village main was decorated with white and blue flowers, with ribbons curling around it.

Feli was actually thankful that everyone had been so busy drinking, dancing and chattering away. It would mean at least once she could move through the village without seeing the way the others watched and whispered about the wingless girl. Most minded their business most of the time, but even the way they would pretend not to see her still reminded her of how she was different.

She returned the kioda to the stable that she borrowed it from. Being on her own, she could not afford one to have herself but the gelfling family running the stables were always kind enough to let her take out that one. Feli petted its snout before whispering a quiet goodbye, then took the sack holding Tizzha and slung it around her shoulder so the fizzgig rested against her hip. She then continued on her way through the market.

"Feli!"

Feli then turned her head towards a voice calling to her and waved to an older male gelfling standing behind a stand filled with many fruits, including oblong, yellow kurits, purple nanons that were large and round and had some of the sweetest taste of all Thra's fruits, and Feli's favorite - bunches of small, round red fruits called popplins that were both sweet and crunchy.

The gelfling was about the same age her father would have been, and had always been kind to her. He had a full, black beard, wore braids down his shoulders and had a stout body. His voice was deep and warm. He seemed to be at a break between customers, though offered smiles and nods to some passing by before turning to Feli again.

"Here, I have a gift for you," the vender said, wiping his hand along his apron and turning to grab a pink-wrapped sack.

Feli dipped her head and said, "Thank you, Jora. What is it?"

Jora grinned to her and crossed his arms before nodding towards the sack, "Go ahead. Open it."

She looked up at him with a knowing little smile, but she knew Jora liked to see her reaction even though she knew full well what was in the sack. She untied the knot and let the cloth drift open, then gasped as she looked upon a generous bounty of popplins. She immediately plucked one and took a bite, and from the burst of sweetness that tickled her tongue she knew it was the best Jora had to offer.

"Mmm, delicious. Thank you, Jora." She hugged the other gelfling, who laughed and returned it.

"You just take care of yourself now," he then said, tying the cloth for her again. "And remember, you're a gelfling just like any of us. Don't let anyone at the gathering make you feel otherwise."

Feli looked at her feet as she listened, clenching the sack a little tighter and nodding. he placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. In the moment, she hugged around him again and tightly. His large arms wrapped her around and for a moment, she felt like she was being held by her father once again. Jora was the closest gelfling she had to family left and even leaving him behind was almost too difficult.

After a long moment, he then said, "They're waiting, Feli. Be safe and may the light of the Crystal shine over you."

Feli smiled up at him with wetness in her eyes, wiping it away with her wrist before nodding and stepping along. She heard Tizzha whining from her sack and gently scratched the top of her head.

Waiting in front of her house was a group of gelfling men along with a wagon tied to a mounder. The first one she saw must have been their leader as the others seemed to frame him. He was a gelfling with dark hair streaked with silver and lavender eyes. He wore a tunic that was dark blue and carried a spear in his hand and a sheathed sword at his hip. The one standing closest to him was an older gelfling, his hair braided and his thick beard both a dull grey. He carried a spear, as well, but no sword, and there was a gentleness in his eyes. The two others were twins, Feli could tell. Both had wild red hair, dark, shining eyes and a youthful excitement about them. One favored a sword, the other a bow. Feli found herself admiring the craftsmanship of the latter.

The dark haired one stepped forward and said as he dipped his head. "Feli of the Woodlands, I presume?" After she nodded, he said, "I am Gant of the Spriton. This is Arza of the Woodlands." He motioned to the elder gelfling, then to the twins, "Mado and Maro of the Sifa. We will be accompanying you."

She nodded and said politely, "It is nice to meet you all."

Gant then said, "We should get moving. We need to make our way through the Dark Woods before the suns pass down."

Feli shivered as what she dreaded to hear was said. They would have to pass through the Dark Woods. She climbed onto the back of the wager and held the sack holding Tizzha a bit closer as it started down the path towards the forest. They passed through the market which was still alive with the sounds of music and many voices bartering, chattering and laughing. Feli then looked down to the ball of fuzzy red and white fur cuddled to her side.

She petted it and whispered, "I'm a little scared, Tizzha. You'll keep me company, though, right?"

The ball turned and looked up at the gelfling with its gentle eyes and whined as its once obscured paws kneaded at her thigh. Feli lifted the female fizzgig up and gave a kiss to the top of what was both body and head, then set Tizzha on her lap. The gelfling petted her as she watched the village disappear behind the thickening woods. The sound of the wagon's wheels churning along the stone and the talk of gelfling men now the only sounds she heard as she left her home and traveled into the depths of the Dark Woods.

Chapter 2: The Dark Woods

Life was bustling throughout the night that the wagon passed through the Dark Woods, the different songs of insects and animals filling the night's air. Feli trembled and held her arms against her chest as she looked around. The trees were tall and had dark shades of green leaves that blotted out the light from the moons. The only light except for the wagon's dim, fogged lanterns was of the fireflies here and there, dots of glowing blue, green, red, and violet dancing in the open air.

The sounds and air of the woods were almost as a lullaby to the travelers and nearly all had succumbed. Feli found it difficult to keep her eyes open, as well. She had noticed that Gant, who driving the wagon was beginning to nod off, as well. She carefully set a quietly snoring Tizzha to her side before crawling over to the side of the other gelfling who was making an effort to keep his eyes sharp and on the road ahead of him.

"I can take over if you want to sleep or maybe we should stop and make camp, after all?" Feli said, despite knowing that it was not a good idea to stop in the Dark Woods where predators were all around, both plant and animal, and the most dangerous predator of them all. The one Bordun parents told their little gelfling children about at night to keep them in bed - the Hunter.

"No, it is fine. It won't be much longer until we are out of the woods," the male gelfling said and smiled tiredly to her.

Feli smiled and found herself looking into the other gelfling's eyes, then sat down beside him on the hard seat of the wagon. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin on them as she watched the mounders pulling the wagon along.

She then said bluntly, "So, you're friendly for being a Spriton."

Gant chuckled and nodded. "Yes. You find that odd?"

Feli thought about the conflicts that were arising between the two clans over the land of the Dark Woods. At one time, both clans were one but at some point in the past they divided with the Woodland Clan given most of the land by the ruling Skeksis. Though there had been tension since, it has been escalating recently to the point of near violence - something that the gelflings had almost no experience with among each other. No Woodlanders and Spriton were friendly with each other now.

"Yes, to be truthful," she then murmured.

Gant was quiet for a few seconds but just as he was about to speak, he chuckled at something instead. Feli tilted her head and looked confused before he motioned towards the awakened Tizzha, who was peeking over the edge of Feli's lap at him and softly growling. She then chuckled, too.

"I don't think she likes me," he said.

Feli smiled and scratched at the back of Tizzha's body, the little creature closing her eyes and purring at the attention. "Oh, it's not that."

Gant smiled and said, "She's protective of you, then?"

Feli nodded. "Yes, she is." She was quiet a moment, then said, "I once got lost in these woods and fell into a whisper's trap." She shuddered at the memory of the plant creature that formed a pit out of its own body with vines that bound her and a massive mouth full of spiny teeth. She then said, "She was able to find my father and lead him back to me, and he rescued me from the trap."

"That's a very good nose and memory on her, then," Gant said.

Feli nodded with a smile, then was quiet for a few seconds again before she asked, "So, where are we going?"

Gant then just said, "To the truth of things."

"The truth?" She asked, confused.

Gant looked at her and smiled, "I have said too much and this is no place to dreamfast. I fear the eyes that watch and the ears that hear in the shadows of this place. Once we get to the destination, though, you will see. It's time for all gelflings to put aside their differences and join together."

Feli was surprised by Gant's words and asked him, "Why? You can at least tell me that."

Gant looked thoughtful before asking, "Have you ever heard of the gelfling named Rian?"

Feli shook her head, though there was something familiar about that name.

The male gelfling frowned as he watched the darkness in front. "I didn't think so. His name and the truth he carried with him has been buried by the skeksis over the trines."

Feli blinked as she heard the accusation. "The skeksis? What truth are you talking about?"

Gant inhaled a deep breath and stared forward then began to say, "The skeksis..."

The mounders had suddenly stopped in their tracks and began to grunt and stamp their feet. Gant stood up from his seat and whistled a few times before calling out to the great beasts in the language of the forest but they would not listen and still fidgeted around instead of moving forward.

Feli stood up and asked, "What is wrong with them?"

"They're scared. Something is out there. Everyone wake up!" Gant called as he turned back into the wagon and shook the other gelflings awake one by one. Tizzha had awakened, as well, and turned her round body around and began to bark at the trees.

"Tizzha, what's wrong?" Feli asked as she reached around for her bow and pulled an arrow from her quiver. She aligned it along the handle and began to pull the arrow back on its string as her gaze skimmed through the darkness around her.

The other gelflings jumped out of the wagon with spears and bows in hand, circling around it as the mounders began to groan loudly in distress. They began to shout as the mounders then suddenly ran off with the wagon down the trail, leaving the group behind with just the dim light of the fireflies around them until Gant lit a torch, using a flash of brimdust. Then, they heard a new sound.

Clack-clack-clack-click-clack

It seemed to echo around them, the sound like rocks dropping into a quarry.

"What do you think it is?" Mado asked as he clenched his sword tighter.

His brother whispered, "Could be a storax."

Feli shivered in hearing that name. The storax moved on four quick legs, was strong of body and had a wide, round head that housed rows of venomous sharp teeth when opened. Ever since she was a young gelfling she had heard the tales of attacks in the woods at night, but she had never seen one.

Clack-clack-clack-click-clack

"That is no storax," the elder gelfling said, the hood of his cloak pulled over his head. "It may be the Hunter."

The other murmured amongst themselves and Feli could see the panic in their eyes, and felt a shiver up her spine. She knew the stories of the Hunter and how its prey never returned. Some say that the Hunter's prey was its meals, as well. She always thought they were stories to keep her cautious but now she wondered. For a brief moment, she thought of her family.

"Everyone, stay close together. Protect the girl," Gant then whispered.

"I am not helpless," she said.

They stood in a protective circle around Feli. She frowned at this as they gave her little room to use her bow should she need to. The tense moment was long but nothing further bothered the group. Gant put up a hand and they loosened their formation, but kept a watchful eye on their surroundings and their weapons at the ready.

"We move on, but be careful. We are almost at the meeting place with the other group, but we don't know what is out there," he said.

Feli kept her hands on her bow as the group moved forward down the trail with Gant holding the torch and leading the way. They walked slowly and kept turning their heads to watch the dense darkness to their sides. A fierce wind passed through the Dark Woods at that moment, the leaves rustling from the trees and in tandem making a sound almost like the waves of the ocean crashing on a shore. Feli shielded her eyes from the debris of leaves and twigs showering through and looked to her left. She stopped as she noticed a large spot in the leaves did not move with the rest.

One of the twins behind Feli nearly collided against her back and grunted as he and the others looked in the same direction.

"What is it?" the gelfling behind her asked. "I see nothing."

Feli blinked and the leaves began to move again. She shook her head. "Nothing. I'm still tired, I think." She said it more to assure them than herself, but she looked back at that spot that did not move and frowned. She knew whatever was haunting them was still out there.

They walked on for a while longer until Gant held his hand up again to halt them. They had reached the ruins of their wagon with the mounders abandoned it, the ropes having held their harnesses ripped apart. Feli knew the mounders must have been desperate to get away.

The other gelflings walked over to the wagon and were salvaging whatever goods they could from it when Gant stepped over to Feli, again. "What did you see out there?" He then asked, his face serious under the dim, orange light of his torch.

Feli inhaled before she said, "The leaves were not moving."

"What do you mean?"

"When one of those winds was passing through. There was a spot in one of the trees that did not move."

Gant lifted his brow.

Feli frowned and shook her head, "As I said, I'm still tired."

That was when they heard the first scream. The gelflings were shouting frantically and gathered against the left edge of the path as one of the red-haired twins was yanked into the darkness. Feli and Gant ran over to join the others.

"Maro! It took Maro!" Mado cried and then ran towards the woods until the older gelfling stopped him and the others soon joined.

"Stop, Mado!"

"It has my brother!" Mado shouted as he tried to struggle free from the arms holding him back. They lost hold of him and he ran into the darkness, still calling his brother's name.

Gant then said to the elder gelfling, "Arza, watch over Feli. I will meet you back here as soon as I can."

"What of Maro?" Arza asked as he rubbed his beard, his brow furrowed and sweating.

Gant sighed. "I will bring back who I can."

Feli watched Gant murmur with the elder gelfling, her breaths heavy. She frowned as she was being left out of the talk and stepped over to the two.

"What is going on?" She asked, clenching the handle of her bow as Gant disappeared into the forest.

Arza looked at her, "We will use the wagon for cover until they come back. If they do by the time the moon passes over us, then we will move forward as fast as possible."

She nodded and the three stepped over to the wagon, carefully placing the sack holding Tizzha into it. She stayed outside of it with her bow ready, looking around the woods.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Keeping watch."

"You need to hide. I will keep watch. You will be safer that way."

She still kept her gaze away from him. "I am not a helpless girl."

"I didn't say that, but you're too important. We're charged with getting you to the appointed place safely."

Feli paused at this and stared into Arza's wrinkled eyes. His words both troubled her and piqued her curiosity. Too important? Appointed place? She knew she was being called for some reason important to the gelfling, but she had no knowledge that the group she traveled with was solely there for her protection, rather than gelflings of equal importance to her.

Arza stood by the opening of the turned over wagon, waiting for her. Feli frowned as she finally relented, slinging her bow behind her and slipping the arrow back in its quiver before ducking under the wagon. She sat and crossed her arms as the male gelfling stood with his spear held in a defensive stance, the lantern still bobbing from the wagon giving them light.

After some time, Feli found herself nodding off despite the tension in the air. It was the shouting that once again roused her. She gasped in seeing Arza's body heaped in front of the wagon and heard the clashing of weapons and Gant's curses nearby. She trembled as she slowly crawled over to check on the elder gelfling and closed her eyes tightly for a brief moment after seeing the lack of life in his own.

She then turned to look over at Gant who was off the trail, the metal of his sword meeting the curved metal of another much larger blade, but she could not make out who or what he was fighting. She could see the desperation in Gant's swings, though. She stood up, pulled her bow at the ready and nocked an arrow back on its string, her eyes squinting as she tried to make out what Gant was fighting. All she could see was the forest, though, as if he were dueling with the Dark Woods, itself.

"Shoot it! Shoot it, Feli!" Gant cried out as he was being forced back by flurries of the curved metal.

She gritted her teeth and gasped, her body trembling and her knees nearly buckling. She aimed but did not know what at. It was just the forest there. She closed her eyes tightly again as Gant cried out and disappeared into the darkness. When she opened them again, there was nothing there and all she heard was the leaves rustling. She then looked at the overturned wagon where Tizzha was hiding and down each direction of the trail. She could not move and could not think. She was just frozen in place and felt her body trembling stiffly for the longest moment.

Clack-Clack-Clack-Click-Clack

The sound was just above her. She stood in place and dropped her bow and arrow as she looked up in the branches high above. The forest was moving up there, again. The leaves were rustling but there was no wind. The bark of the branch shifted as the branch itself bent down with a groan. She watched as a large form floated down from that branch and landed in front of her. It crashed down on the sack that had her popplins, making them crackle beneath it.

It was like the forest itself was moving in one spot. At her distance, she was finally able to realize it was a cloak that mimicked the surroundings of the woods. She slowly looked away from the crushed sack and stared up into a white face. It was the face of a hungry spirit.

The only sounds she heard now was of Tizzha barking at the apparition. She looked into the face of the Hunter and with one motion and sudden thud to her head, all was dark.

Chapter 3: The Secret in the Shadows

Many visions passed through Feli's dreameyes. She was a young gelfling girl running through the edges of the Skarith valley where the plants had not yet withered as they had around the Crystal Castle. Her family was with her. It was a memory of a better time and she was happy in it. Her brother would tease her, but she teased back that once she grew her wings then she would fly over him and dump tarnen dung over his head. They all laughed at this and the vision changed.

She was now in her parent's home and it was not a happy memory. Her brother had disappeared and the search party had returned with no good news. Feli cried as her father hugged and consoled her mother. The Dark Woods had taken another. She remembered making a necklace out of a scon shell she found in the river for him. It was for luck, but now she blamed herself for giving him the bad kind. Her parents then disappeared from her view, as more victims of the Dark Woods.

The vision changed again and it was a familiar sight to her. It was the village but it was not the lively place she had left behind. There were no gelflings or podlings or any other sorts of visitors. The huts were mere ruins of the warm homes they had been. And there was no green, no songs, no life to be held there. It was a dead place.

She saw the ghost face of the Hunter and her soul screamed in terror. That was when she awakened and left the dream lands.

The room she was in was dark and cold, but there was a blood red light filling the room in a dim, grotesque glow. Feli tried to sit up but realized her wrists and ankles were bound by firm straps to a hard-surfaced bed of sorts that was tilted at an angle. She tested her restraints but they were too strong and she laid her head back, staring up at a ceiling that she could not make out in the darkness. She then heard the breathing of many others around her and she weakly turned her head to try and make out the others, but they were only hazy forms.

She was left with her thoughts and worries for some time. She worried for the other gelflings that accompanied her and thought their fate was either like her own and they may be imprisoned in this same room, or worse. She knew poor Arza was dead. The fate the others was still a mystery but she remembered the stories of the Hunter and how it ate its prey. This send a shudder through her body, but a whisper of hope remained that since she had not met such a fate, then perhaps the others had not, either. Feli worried for Tizzha, as well. Brave, loyal little Tizzha who stayed with her until she passed out in the woods. She did not want to even think about the worst for her pet and friend and hoped that she had managed to get to safety. She certainly worried for herself, her body aching and her stomach rumbling with hunger in this dark, featureless place. She hoped that if this was the Hunter's lair, she would not be its next meal.

Feli then saw a dim, yellow light to her right and turned her head. She inhaled as she saw a long row of other gelfling bound to chairs such as hers, but now saw more than just chairs and shackles. Tubing extended from a brass contraption attached to the back of each chair with a wiry apparatus attached to each gelfling's head. They were so light that she had not even noticed the one she was wearing. The glass tubing itself curled and coiled around the chair, ending in bulbous decanters.

The light was coming from a lantern held by a tall figure covered in elaborate gowns. It had a long, ribbed beak and wore a small pair of round spectacles near its eyes. It was much taller than any gelfling and walked with an air of superiority and wicked thought. She realized quickly what it was.

A skeksis.

She knew its name, too. It was skekTek, the Scientist. She had seen him before when he visited the village. She remembered he was there to learn from the gelfling about some of the newfound flora and fauna of the Dark Woods, but she remembered watching him stroll along the roads and observing the gelflings. Even then, she did not like the look in his eyes, as if he were appraising them.

skekTek moved in that casual way, stopping to look at each gelfling with those inspecting eyes that Feli did not like. When the skeksis had turned one of the gelfling's head to face her, she gasped in horror.

The gelfling's eyes were white. His skin was pale and thin and his hair was grey and wiry. His mouth hung open as if caught in a moment of terror and he made a very quiet grunting sound as skekTek spoke to him. Feli realized the others in that direction were in the same state and finally turned her head away from them to meet the eyes of Mado on her other side. Unlike the others she saw, he still had life in him but he dared not speak as the skeksis stopped in front of Feli.

It reached out with its long fingers and pinched her chin between two claws, then leaned down from its impressive height He adjusted his spectacles and stared at her with a curious look in his beady eyes.

"A wingless girl," it said with a high, scratchy voice. "Quite rare, but perhaps a less than preferable specimen."

She gritted her teeth and struggled against her restraints as she stared back into the skeksis' eyes. "What are you doing?"

skekTek giggled at this and continued on his observational stroll. "Just judging your quality. You are food for our glorious emperor. You keep him young and strong." He tapped at the tip of his beak's chin. "Perhaps, since you are not ideal he will allow me to drink yours. One can always hope, yes?"

Mado then asked, his voice raised, "Why are you doing this? I thought skeksis were friends to the gelfling. Was all that kindness a lie?"

skekTek busied himself with observing the male gelfling as he replied, "We are kind to you, yes, as you are kind to your cattle. Quite similar. You are food for us, as your cattle is for you. There is nothing wrong with being kind to one's food."

Neither Feli or Mado had words for that answer. All they knew that the words whispered through the centuries were true and that skeksis truly were their enemies, and now there was nothing they could do about it. Feli clenched her fingers into fists. She watched skekTek with a fiery eyes as the lumbering creature made its rounds along the row of victims. She wanted to free herself from her binds and send the monster down into the flaming belly of Thra but she was bound to the chair. She had to watch and wait as skekTek stopped in front of Mado and pinched the gelfling's chin between two talon-like fingertips.

"You will do," the skeksis said, then leaned over and pulled a lever to the side of the chair.

"What are you doing, demon!?" Mado asked in desperation, his eyes widening.

"Letting you serve your purpose. Your only real purpose."

Feli had to watch and to wait as the room shook and the rock wall lowered in front of them, pouring more of that cruel red light into the chamber. She saw what appeared to be many lenses riddling the glowing crimson space where the rock gave away but the sight beyond it made her heart sink.

She could see the Crystal, but it was not the heart of brilliance and awe she had so often dreamed about since a child. It was darkened, its glow was dim and weak and sorrowful much as the Castle had appeared. It hummed lowly, but it did not sing. It was dying and in that moment, Feli knew that Thra truly was dying with it. The skeksis were killing them all.

A violet ray shot from the crystal, bouncing off one lens to another as the Scientist made his adjustments to the arrays until it pinpointed the eyes of Mado. The gelfing jerked in his chair and gasped sharply, his eyes widening and his breath quickening. His back arched forward and he groaned in a raspy voice as the color and the light went out of his eyes. His skin withered and sank against his bones and his once vibrant red hair whitened and thinned.

Feli was nearly frozen in her seat as she watched except for the way her body trembled at the sight of her once companion losing all of what counted as life within him. When it was over and the light faded away, the skeksis stepped over and reached down beside the chair. He pulled up a decanter that had a clear blue liquid in it. He seemed to watch it with ecstasy in his beady eyes and opened his beak.

"Ahh, Essence. His Majesty will be pleased," he said and pulled the lever upwards again before stepping out of the chamber.

Feli looked over when the skeksis left and then to Mado, who sat there gasping.

"Mado...Mado? Are you okay?" She asked, though already knowing in her heart he would not respond.

She sat back and took in a deep breath as she closed her eyes. She knew what she had to do now, but first she had to escape. She pulled at her restraints as hard as she could but it was to no avail. Much time passed but she was left still bound, but now sore and weak in body and spirit. She was nearly ready to give up when she heard a soft whine and looked down to her side.

"Tizzha!" She whispered loudly.

The fizzgig barked happily and jumped onto her lap.

"Shh, Tizzha, they'll hear you," Feli said but smiled at the sight of her friend, then looked at the straps holding her wrists. "Tizzha, chew through these."

Tizzha used her sharp teeth to gnaw through the strap, giving strong tugs here and there. One was loosened enough that a few good tugs by Feli's own strength would make them snap. That was when she heard two voices from the right - one familiar, one not.

"Tizzha, hide!" She whispered again and the fizzgig hopped off of her lap and rolled behind the chair.

The gelfling then looked to her right as two shapes entered the room. One was skekTek again, and another was one she did not recognize. He was so large, he made skekTek look like a podling in comparison and had a fearsome look in his eyes. He wore a dark robe with a necklace made of bone around his collar. The Scientist seemed to be somewhat meek in the other's presence.

"The Emperor is pleased," the other skeksis said, his voice deep and powerful.

"Yes, he drank well tonight."

"I am certain...but have you ever questioned why only the Emperor can drink the essence of gelflings?"

skekTek pondered this and strode along the first row of gelflings, "It is not our place to question, skekUng. It is only our place to heed his will."

skekUng grabbed the hair of one gelfling and jerked the captive's head to the side, then to the other as if playing with a doll, "And why is that? Because he is the strongest? Why does the strongest of us require so much essence?"

The Scientist busied himself at the table with mixing three liquids, creating a glowing green substance out of them but not answering the other skeksis.

skekUng then stomped over and slammed his fist on the table, severing its edge and sending the many containers shattering on the ground and spilling their contents along the paved surface. A long needle landed from the table on Feli's lap. "Because he is dying! In time, he will no longer be the strongest of us, and you know this, Scientist!"

SkekTek put down the decanter he held and held his hands behind him as he paced in front of the gelflings. "Yes, I did, but he is still the strongest of us at this moment. Would you dare to challenge him, skekUng?"

The other skeksis just stared and grinded his snout as he grunted.

The Scientist then said while drumming his fingers along the broken table, "The most you can do right now is position yourself well. Gain his favor and show the others you are more fit to rule than they."

"And how do you propose I do that?"

skekTek stepped over to the hollowed being that was once Mado and unfastened the straps holding his wrists. The gelfling slid down to his feet as the skeksis whispered in his ear, then Mado shambled down the hallway. Feli watched this heaviness in her heart and closed her eyes tightly, swearing to bring justice for him but first she would have to escape. Even before that, she needed to learn all she could and hope that the mangled strap holding her wrist would not be noticed.

"I may have an idea, skekUng, but give me time."

"Not too long, Scientist," the other warned and lumbered away.

Feli watched as skekTek paced in front of her, then stopped before her and leaned in close to look into her eyes. She looked back but fought with herself not to shrink away.

"A wingless gelfling female...curious, but once we have your essence then you will be useless to me," skeTek murmured, then smirked. "A reject."

Feli frowned and suddenly she did not feel his stabbing gaze anymore but directed one of her own. She looked with fire into the eyes of her enemy, the enemy to all gelfling. She wanted to know everything he did. What he and his kind have done and would do. And in the moment she saw his own resolve waver, she broke into his mind and into his dreams.

She saw a swirling maelstrom of violet and indigo with clashes of lightning dancing over the furious skies. She saw another Crystal, its light waning but still brighter than the sorrowful one that she witnessed just moments before. She saw two tall and luminous figures above her. Their faces were hard to read but there was hidden happiness behind them as she was cradled in their arms. Between these images, she could hear skekTek's voice.

I'm being torn apart! Such pain!

She saw raging seas and felt sudden dread at shells of the darkest black moving en masse along the tidal surface, each having arms that extended out to massive claws that would easily sever a gelfling body in two. She huddles against one of the two tall figures she saw before but she is scolded for her fear. She is told she needs to control it. To control all feelings.

Who is that? What is that there!? I hate it! It brought us this pain! We just killed one. Yes! Kill them all!

She is now walking through a field of thick, swaying stalks of some plant life not known on Thra. She is studying them, breaking off stalks and drawing her bright, elongated finger along the surface. She is curious of the plant. What it could do. She is curious of all things, life and death.

They serve us and only us, now. The others are not part of us anymore. We are free. We can feel anger. We can hate. We can rule.

She then saw many of those tall, bright figures. They were in a coliseum of sorts and surrounded a singled out group of which she was one of them. All of them pointed fingers at the group and in unison cried, "Heretics! Impure!" The light cast down brightly from the waning Crystal of Truth of this illusionary world and sent Feli and the body whose eyes she saw through towards a pathway. She moved at such a speed that transcended time and space and when it was over, she found herself plummeting with the others towards a new world.

Naive. Innocent. They listen to everything. The others are our enemies, but they cannot be harmed or we would be harmed. We will teach the gelflings to shun them.

She witnessed the time spent with the gelflings by these other-worldly beings who came to be called UrSkeks. They learned they truly were friends at first. She saw the Crystal Castle as it once was and should have been - bright and shimmering in the light of the three suns. She also saw the Crystal as it should have been and away from these visions, away from the dreams she was visiting, the gelfling inwardly wept.

No more pitiful kindness. No more patience. No more appeasing. They only need to think us friends but they are to be ruled. These gelflings, these primitives. We hunger. We will gorge ourselves on this world now.

She then bear witness to her body's transgressions. She felt the searing pain as the skeksis sheared off his own arm and replaced it with an unnatural arm of metal. Then later did the same with his leg. Feli watched as he manipulated the light of the Crystal and focused it on his subjects. First, were the podlings and then the gelflings, and the light made them as Mado had been made. Then, the most terrible of his sins was made.

She felt the exhilaration and the energy coursing through his body as he consumed the essences of both podling and gelfling. She felt that raging hunger being quelled if just for a brief time but she also felt the fear and anger and sorrow of what was being consumed and thus, she learned the true worst of it all.

Essence was the soul of those it was extracted from. The skeksis were consuming the very spirits of podlings and gelflings and was using the power of the Crystal to do it.

The shock was too much and her grasp on the skeksis' memories and dreams was nearly released, but one more vision passed through her eyes.

She heard a girl's cries fill the room around her, a girl with platinum white hair seated in a chair of her own. The cries of the little beasts mingled with her own and suddenly she felt the pain of their teeth on her skin, so many at once. She fell back and slid down a hot corridor and into the glowing red chasm of the Lake of Fire. There was a sudden, scorching pain and then, that was all.

Feli gasped as she let go of the skeksis' gaze and looked instead into an expression of both shock and ecstasy. The Scientists' mouth trembled as it opened and he then cackled in delight.

"Dreamfast. You dreamfasted with me, didn't you, gelfling? I...I saw everything about you. All your secrets. All your pain and loneliness. Your ...sight into the future. You can dreamfast with anyone without touching them. " He grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Most curious, yes. Perhaps, not a mere reject, after all."

Feli then grit her teeth as he leaned in closer, too close.

"I must inform the Emperor."

The skeksis then shrieked as the fizzgig leapt and sank her teeth into his non-metal arm. Feli then knew it was time. With all her strength, she snapped the strap binding her wrist and in the skeksis' moment of surprise she drove the needle that was on her lap into its right eye. He let out a shriek of pain and stumbled back against the remains of the table, causing it to collapse completely with his body falling in a heap over it and Tizzha rolling away back towards the gelfling.

How she wished to release the other gelflings but the skeksis was already getting up and she had no other weapons. So she picked up Tizzha and ran.

Chapter 4: Escape

The darkened halls of the castle should have been a foreign place to her but she knew every corner and secret passageway to avoid the other dwellers. She saw through the eyes of the skeksis she dreamfasted with. The cries of the half-blinded SkekTek roused the others in the castle from their activities and she could hear their voices echoing through the halls. She slipped through a crevice in a wall on which there was a staircase spiraling down from the other side. Taking in a deep breath, Feli hurried down the steps into the darkness below.

When the staircase ended, it had left her in a massive cavern from which stalactites and stalagmites jutted from the ceiling and ground like sharp teeth. Patches of rock glowed with green luminescence in some places, violet in others. There was a putrid smell of the caverns that made her pinch her nose tight and cause her eyes to moisten. It was not only dark, but cold down there. She knew she could not linger much longer and followed where her newly found knowledge of the castle led her.

She emerged from the Teeth of the Skreesh, which she saw its horrible goblin-like visage when looking behind her. The darkness in the mouth of the carved devil's head still echoed with the cries of her pursuers and she turned away quickly and ran down the stream-laden ravine that laid at the roots of the castle. She let go of her nose as she ran and while the sour stench still lingered in the air, it was weakened the further she ran.

Eventually, Feli was beyond the withering lands of the Skarith Valley and began to see green life again. She stumbled towards a stream that poured clear, cool water. She reached quickly into it, cupping her hands against each other and pooling the water in her palms to sip quickly from. Tizzha also left her arms to drink. Feeling the coolness of the water rush through her body and the freshness in the air eased her heart from the pains she just endured.

When enough strength had returned, she stood up again and looked around at her surroundings. She saw that the stream was walled off on her side by ancient stones set by some hand. They appeared to be part of some sort of ruins built into the rock face. She walked along the walled off stream, her feet still not fully having gotten their strength back. She walked for a long time as the heat of the three suns beat down on her with the fizzgig rolling along by her side.

She thought about how the others talked of her importance but until now, she thought there was nothing important about her except for her lack of wings. She had never known a gelfling to dreamfast with a skeksis, though, or to dreamfast without touching another, and to see their fate. This newfound gift weighed heavily on her, but she was determined to get back first before dwelling on it too much.

However, she was in a strange land she did not know and worse, her strength was giving away again. She had walked to a point where two very high cliffs sat with a path cutting through them. Columns of stone arose from the ground and on the ground was a design familiar to the gelfling girl. In it there were circles and formations, and she could make out the three suns in those formations. There were lines in the colored ground of the pattern as if someone had recently been drawing on it. It told the story of the Great Conjunction, of the day that the Crystal cracked.

She had just begun to step around it when the last of her strength gave away. She felt her legs give away from under her and she closed her eyes. Tizzha was whining and barking in distress. The world was dark and swirling and for a moment, she saw those violent, dark storms of the Other World in her vision with flashes of raging light.

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When her eyes opened again, it was dark and she was in a forest but not one that she knew. The sounds were different, the smells were different, and the way the leaves moved above her was different. She shivered and found no peace her, nor did she think she would find peace in any forest again after the ambush in the Dark Woods by that spectral hunter. She was laying down on a comfortable bedding, though, with Tizzha curled up by her side.

The gelfling turned where she laid and widened her eyes at the sight of a creature sitting nearby. It was larger than her, about the same size as a skeksis, but it looked different. It looked gentle, not cruel, and at peace with itself rather than the twisted agony she saw in the face and thoughts of the skeksis.

Its long snout was rounded and wrinkled with age but she could also make out symbols tattooed over its skin. It was sitting in a meditative stance with one pair of arms held to its sides, elbows bent and palms upwards. Two of its long fingers met at their tips on each hand. It had another pair of arms but those lay on the ground as if lifeless. Its legs were crossed, bent at an angle that seemed odd to the gelfling. A green cloak covered the creature's body, embroidered with many symbols. Feli recognized some as similar to the patterns on the ground where she had collapsed. Around the creature's head was a brown blindfold, covering its eyes and surrounding its body were glowing insects that circled around.

She thought to say something but decided not to interrupt the creature's meditation. Instead, she looked around. She saw the remains of a fire that was dwindling down to glowing embers. She also saw three large bows that were laid upright against a nearby tree with three quivers full of arrows to accompany them.

Feli laid her head down again and began to close her eyes when she heard the creature's voice.

"You are awake, young one," it said, its voice deep and resonant, but tender in its tone.

She did not respond right away and there was quiet between them for a few seconds before she found the courage to do so. "Yes. Who are you?"

The creature chuckled and laid its arms down on its lap. The glowing bugs then dispersed into the trees. "I would ask the same of you. We do not get many gelfling visitors these dark days. We are saddened by this, but I am happy you came to our valley."

Feli then realized who she was speaking to. It was one of the Mystics, the ones that the gelflings were told to avoid at all costs. They stole little gelfling children in the night and turned them into statues or made stews out of them, as the stories went. But those were the stories told by the poisoned mouths of skeksis and she knew their true nature, now.

The gelfling sat up and looked to the Mystic, "My name is Feli of the Woodlands. I ...am the wingless girl." She felt odd introducing herself that way but could not think of anything else to distinguish herself among the rest of her clan.

The Mystic smiled more widely at this and nodded, "Well met, Feli the Wingless. My name is urVah, of the urRu, but I understand you know us as-"

"Mystics."

"Yes."

urVa tilted his head to the side. "I have always been curious. To you gelflings, is it supposed to be a good name or a bad one?"

Feli bit her lip before replying, "A bad one, taught to us by the skeksis."

"Ah, and the skeksis are your friends?" He asked as he rubbed his chin with two slender fingers and tilted his head.

She inhaled and shook her head, "No. They have acted as though they are our friends, but they are not. They are enemies to gelfling, only my people do not realize it."

"If your people do not know this, then how do you?"

Feli did not respond at first. She still did not know if she could trust this creature with such important information, despite what she knew of them coming from those she trusted the least now. It was then that she remembered the dreamfasting with skekTek. She remembered the conflicting feelings of happiness and anger, joy and sorrow, calmness and pain. And she remembered those positive feelings being lost after the severing of the UrSkek's soul. She remembered the faces of those confused, gentle beings and finally had completely recognized who was in front of her. If the skeksis carried all the anger, sorrow, and pain, then the one before her must carry everything else.

"It is a long story, urVa," she finally said.

He smiled and nodded as if knowing.

"It started when we left my home..."

She told the story about leaving the village and traveling through the Dark Woods with the other gelfling. She told him about the attack and stopped when urVa seemed to pause for just a moment when she described their attacker. After asking her to continue, she told about the secret laboratory and the dark secret the skeksis harbored in the castle's walls. She saw the trouble in urVa's face as she talked about it and it had encouraged her to continue. Feli then described the dreamfasting and all that she had seen from the Other World to the point where she severed the tie with the Scientist. Finally, she told the urRu about her escape and her finding the pattern and that was the last she had remembered.

"Truly, the gelfling must know about all that you have seen, Feli...but not yet."

That last part startled her and she asked, "What do you mean?"

The urRu stood up and stepped over to the bows aligned against the tree trunk. He drew his fingertips over the middle one and then said, "You are not ready for the fate that awaits you."

She frowned and sat up straight, "My fate? What do you know of my fate?"

He turned his head and she saw that he smiled in his gentle way at her again, "Your purpose. All have a purpose in this world. Your fate is entwined with mine...and another."

"Who?" She asked, leaning forward.

"The one that you faced in the Dark Woods that felled your companions and captured you."

Feli took in a deep breath and saw that ghostly face in front of her again. She held her arms as the vision of the forest moving around her made her tremble.

"What was it?" She then asked.

urVa then turned to face her again, walking over with the smallest bow out of the three. It looked too small for his hand when seen held by it but when he stepped over to her and held it out towards her, she realized that the bow was never meant for him. Did he know they would meet this day?

"A shadow. A darkness that you must face. The destiny of the gelfling people lies with you, Feli. A girl that will soar through the skies of Thra, not with wings but with her deeds."

Her eyes widened and she took the bow by its handle. It was light and its craftsmanship was greater than any she had ever seen.

urVa then said, "But first, you must be ready."

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