Chapter 3

Gale was surrounded by an inky blackness.

Maybe inky wasn't quite the right word. The darkness wasn't slippery or blotty. It was smooth and cold. One could almost say that it was metallic, in a weird sense of the word. And it felt of electricity. Like an unnatural storm was swirling through the shadows. Gale felt as if he were trapped inside of a box. Its walls pulsed with sparks of energy like blood swimming through veins.

Just beyond his vision he could see blinks of green light. His peripheral vision could make out the shapes of ones and zeroes from the faint illumination, but nothing else. They were nothing but nonsensical numbers. Gale ran his fingers across the wall and was overtaken by a jolt of electricity shooting across his body.

There was no rhyme or reason to this place…or was there? As unnatural as the place was, it seemed like it had a purpose. What that purpose was, however, well…that was hard to say. Gale had to discover its function. He had to…

"Dada! Dada!" A small hand grasped his foot and the wizard opened his eyes.

There, at the foot of his bed, stood his youngest daughter, Chrystal, hugging her teddy bear with one hand and his right foot with the other. The room and numbers had been a dream.

Or a vision. As a wizard, he couldn't rule out the possibility.

There were tears in Chrystal's eyes. "Dada! Stella's missing!" she cried.

Gale jolted upright, remembering what day it was. His eldest, Stella, was to leave with the goddess tree sapling and Finn to travel to some far off island in order to restore its power of nature. His chest began to pulsate with pain and worry as the knowledge that he would soon lose one of his children started to come back in full force.

His wife, Molly, got up as well and glanced around. "Finn is gone too, "she observed, "You don't think that they left for the spring already?!"

The pair jumped out of their bed immediately and ran towards their front door, stopping only to pick up Chrystal. They stepped out into the early spring air and took a hurried look across the farmland. The sun was slowly rising over Harvester Ranch and the world was still awakening. Moos could be heard from the barn as the cows expected their breakfast. The poultry was already waddling out of the chicken coop in order to find early morning bugs. The fields were full of crops waiting to be watered and harvested. There was no sign of Gale and Molly's eldest anywhere.

With a glance at each other, the couple hurried towards the Goddess Spring. Gale held onto to Chrystal tighter as he sprinted. She held on for dear life and buried both her and her teddy bear's head into his chest.

How could that day have come so fast? How could Stella have grown so quickly? How could she be sent away so soon? She was still just a child. Gale knew the sapling had to be delivered by someone "pure of heart," but why did it have to be his daughter? He had so few people in this planet that mattered to him and his time with them was already limited! Pain erupted throughout his body once more as the thought of his family's mortality and his immortality invaded his thoughts.

An immortal life was usually a lonely one. Gale knew of only one other wizard: Some thief who went by the pseudonym 'Skye' and who used his powers for ill. There was also that intolerable witch, Vivi, who lived in the nearby Fugue Forest. Lastly, there were the Harvest Deities who wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, except for the Witch Princess. She had actually taught him basic magic and helped him through the primordial years of his childhood. Gale had to flee from her when he learned that she used her powers for darkness.

Gale and Molly quickly arrived at the spring. Before they could enter, however, Chrystal wiggled out of Gale's arms and jumped to the ground. She carefully placed her teddy bear on a large rock and took hold of her father's hand.

"Da-chan doesn't want to go in there," she explained.

All Gale and Molly could do was shrug and continue into the spring. The Harvest King and the Harvest Goddess of Castanet stood in front of the fully grown goddess tree and the Harvest Sprites stood at their feet. The deities gave Molly a kind, if not solemn, look of understanding as her eyes picked her eldest daughter out of the crowd. They gave Gale a look of contempt, however, and he knew that, like always, he was not welcome in their presence, even if it were to say good bye to his child. Finn, the sprite who had been Molly's personal guide and friend for many years, was busy telling the other sprites about how excited he was to finally have gained full Harvest Sprite status. A few of the other townspeople had also come to bid Stella farewell, too, unaware that they were in the presence of the deities or the sprites. For the deities only made themselves known when they wanted to be and it took a rare human to see a sprite. Candace, the seamstress, held a handkerchief close to her eyes and the young Chloe was busy embracing Stella in a tight hug. Stella hugged her back until she looked up to see the sad eyes of her parents gazing down at her.

"Mama! Papa!" She let go of Chloe to hug them, "You're late. Where were you?"

"Stella, why are you leaving?" Chrystal asked her big sister.

Stella hugged her too, "Finn and I have an important job to do, kiddo. There is an island far away from here that needs a goddess tree seedling to make it healthy again. We're going to deliver that seedling and come right back. Until then, you need to take good care of mama and papa for me, okay?"

"Okay!"

Gale tried to smile. He wanted to leave his daughter with a happy vision of him if anything were to go wrong. The edges of his mouth twitched and he hoped that his expression didn't look too fake.

He knelt before Stella and placed his hand upon her shoulder, "Stella…If you ever get lonely, just look up…We all live under the same sky…" He leaned in to whisper into her ear, "And remember…Never tell your true name to strangers... There is a chance that, as my child, you could be a witch…"

"And mortals can control witches and wizards by saying their names," she whispered back, "You've told me a hundred times, Papa! I don't think you need to worry. I haven't shown any magical ability at all. But…I promise I'll be careful."

"Good," Gale kissed his daughter's forehead and stood up.

Molly knelt down next. She brushed away tears with one hand and placed a lock of Stella's hair behind the girl's ear with the other.

"My darling girl," she hiccupped, "I'm so proud of you! I know that you'll bring more pride to the Harvester name."

"Of course, Mama!"

The bubbly mayor, Hamilton, held up a camera, "How 'bout we take a picture to commemorate this day? Line up, everybody!"

The townspeople squeezed together and smiled. Gale's family was front and center. The camera could not capture the understandable worry he and Molly felt for Stella, however.

Finn flew over and hugged Molly's nose, "I'm going to miss you, Molly. You're the best friend I've ever had."

"I'll miss you too, little buddy. Promise me you'll look after her, won't you?" Molly asked.

"With my life," Finn's face was dead serious.

"It's time," the Harvest Goddess beckoned to the rainbow bridge that would take Stella and Finn to the faraway isle of Waffle Island.

Stella took a deep breath and picked up the tiny goddess tree sapling. She turned to face her parents one more time, "Well, Mama…Papa…Chrystal…Please take care. See you later!"

She walked up to the rainbow with Finn leading the way. She placed a cautious foot on the transparent bridge. It was solid. She took a step and then another and another. The townspeople watched in awe, believing that it was the wizard's magic that allowed the girl to walk upon rainbows, not knowing that it was Finn's power as a sprite that let her do so. Soon, the pair was a mere dot in the horizon and the spring was empty save for the deities and Gale's family.

"You're certain that she is one hundred percent safe?" Molly asked.

"Of course, dear Harvester," the goddess comforted Molly, "We would never allow her to come into harm."

"And it is not wise to question our powers," the Harvest King warned.

"I…understand. Milord, milady," Molly bowed to each in turn.

Chrystal held up her arms and Molly picked her up. She took Gale's hand.

"Let's go home, honey. The cows are probably wondering why I haven't fed them by now."

They went to leave. Gale turned around to get one last look at the rainbow only to receive glares from the king and goddess. He paid them no mind.

If only his powers as a wizard could have predicted what was coming.

He never would have let Stella go.

Author's Note: Review if you feel the urge too! See y'all next week! :D