"The Silence of the Trees"
What an unusual place... it's soo... My mind slows and I can't concentrate on any thoughts. The greenish light seeping between the leaves of the trees has a calming effect to it. And this place is so warm and fresh. I can feel life coursing through it in everything from the smallest leaf to the countless drops of water that fill the ponds. I slowly tread over to a nearby tree, but don't make it there. It's difficult to move or even keep my eyes open... What's the harm in resting... just for a minute... or two.
My eyes flicker open. How long have been asleep? Couldn't have been long... Did I fall asleep standing up? That's strange. I am thinking clearer now, my mind having adjusted to the surroundings. I should probably be heading home... home? This is home... Isn't it? I look around at what seem to be very familiar surroundings. Something's tickling my nose. It's a leaf. Pfft! I blow at it, but it only flutters for a moment then settles back in the same place. Strange. I thought occurs to me that is extremely frightening. I lift my arms to feel my head, or at least I try to, my arms won't move. I look down and see that roots have twisted up around my ankles and up my legs and everything from my neck down had turned brown and looks like tree bark. I blow at the leaf on my nose again and suddenly there are two. Then three. I also feel them beginning to sprout on my arms and I might even feel bark inching across my face. I realize I should be panicking at this point, I mean I'm actually turning into a tree, but the nearly tangible sereneness of this place makes it hard to feel worried.
I let my eyes close again and it must be quite a length of time before I open my eyes back up, because when I do I can't move any of my body except my eyes. Above me I can see the towering trunk of a large tree and I realize that it's me.
My mind is still in a haze from my slumber. I wonder what woke me up... Why don't any of the other trees have eyes? Am I a strange tree? Maybe I'm not a tree at all... What is that? I see something coming out of one of the ponds. It's a human. I've never seen a human here before. What's that it's doing? Is it pretending to be a pond? It's lying flat near the pond... What strange habits humans have. Oh, look there's another one working its way out of the water. I see the human standing near the human that thinks it's a pond. Maybe that one thinks it's a tree... A tree? Oh no! I'm not a tree at all, or at least I wasn't. I should warn them before they change too! I try to yell; my mouth won't open. I try to make any sort of noise; not happening. Maybe I can move my branches and when they look they'll see my eyes and they'll know; but that doesn't work either.
The humans are slowly falling asleep and I don't know what to do. I use all my will power to try to get their attention; I can feel life and energy pouring out of me, surely they must feel that. And they must because they stir slightly, but not much more. I start to give up hope for them. Maybe they are better off as trees, but just as I am thinking that something stirs in a different pond. And within a single moment a large, golden lion appears from it. Light seems to radiate from the lion as he walks past me. Help them! I plead in my mind, but who am I kidding, lions don't think. And with that the lion turns his head to look at me and then nods. Or at least I think he nods. He then opens his mouth to roar, but no sound comes out. It most have done something though because there is a faint wind that falls over the forest for a moment and the humans stir again. They exchange words that I can't hear and then they head off quickly to one of the other ponds and disappear into the waters, once again.
The lion looks at me again and I want to thank him but I can't. My eyes are nearly covered now and my thoughts are fading away. The lion open his mouth one more time and lets out another silent roar. I feel the impact of the roar hit me and in that moment I don't feel so much like a tree anymore. I attempt to move one foot forward and it works. I feel my body pull away from the spirit, but I can also tell that not all of my spirit came with it. I stretch myself walking towards the lion and that's when I notice that there are other humans of varying ages climbing out of trees as well.
What's going on? I wonder to myself.
"My dear children," begins the lion. And immediately in these few words I can feel the power of this voice right down to my very cor. This lion surely must be someone very important. "You are spirits of the forest; tree nymphs. You have been freed from your bonds. But take heed in this warning; these trees are not only your homes, but also they're apart of you and this place is yours to protect, do so well and you may keep this freedom to roam the land as you please. But if you do not you will be forced back into an endless slumber, until called on once again."
Thank you, Aslan. I nod in unison with the other nymphs, not at all shocked by my sudden knowledge of the great one's name. Aslan nods back and disappears into another pond.
~theeShadyLady~
A/N- And that everyone is the story of how tree nymphs came to be.
