My eyes shoot open as the goddess disappears. Orange sunlight blinds me for a moment as I try to figure out where I am. It seems like I've been moved to the main room of the Bear Temple with the alter and statue while I was unconscious. The sun is at the perfect angle to come through the Temple's main hall and get me right in the eyes. I shade my eyes and look around to find the others are also lying on the ground. They all begin to stir at the same time.
"Ugh...what happened?" Gil asks.
"I was hoping you could tell me," I reply. "The last thing I remember was passing out in the room with the bears."
"West caught you," Gilbert recalls. "Then the rest is a blank."
"We must have all lost consciousness at the same time," Kiku determines.
"How did we get back out here?" Lovino asks with a shake of his head.
"Beats me," I say with a shrug. "Maybe it was magic."
"With all the crazy stuff going on lately I wouldn't be surprised," Gilbert mumbles.
"Everyone's alright though, right?" Ludwig asks in his deep voice. We all nod.
"Veeee~! That was a nice nap!" Feli raises his arms to stretch, but winces and pulls his left arm back. I had almost forgotten about his injury.
"Here, Feli. Let me see," I say as I scoot over to him.
"It's okay Elizabeta! Really!" the Wolf insists. He pulls his arm in closer.
"Just show me Feli." I give him a look that says I'm not going to take no for an answer.
He sighs and hesitantly holds his arm out to me. I carefully roll the sleeve back and gasp. The cut on his arm is definitely not okay. It looks like it's infected, so it's all discolored and swollen. Dried pus and scabs crust the edge of the wound, and I do my best not to touch it.
"Feli, how long has it been like this?" I ask in distress.
"A while," he says with his head bowed. "I didn't want everyone to worry. I didn't want to hold everyone back."
"You idiot," Lovino growls. He's standing above the two of us and looking at his brothers arm. "How many times do I have to tell you to think about yourself more!"
"I-I'm s-s-sorry," Feli stutters out. Tears begin to pool in the corner of his eyes. "I-I didn't know w-what to do."
"How are we supposed to treat an infection like that?" Ludwig asks in concern. "We don't have any medicine strong enough, and it will get worse before we can make it back to any civilization."
A tense silence comes over our group as we realize the severity of our situation. I gently release Feli's arm and begin to roll up my sleeves.
"What are you doing Liza?" the sniffling Wolf asks. He wipes a few tears away with the back of his good arm.
"I've never tried this before," I tell him. "So I'm just preparing myself." I place my hands just above his wound and brace myself. "I don't think this will hurt, but brace yourself just in case."
Everyone watches me try to heal Feli's arm. I've only just acquired this ability, so I have no idea how it really works. All I know is that it has to work or Feli's in deep trouble. I focus on the wound and will it with my mind to heal. Energy begins to flow through me to my hands, and they let off a golden light. We all stare dumbfounded when Feli's arm heals itself. It first gets rid of the infection, then the cut itself disappears. The light fades, and Feli holds up his arm, which is now in perfect condition.
"Veeeee~! Liza! How did you do that?" Feli asks with a big smile. "Thank you!" He give me a big hug, which I gladly return.
"How did you do that?" Gilbert asks curiously. I can tell he's not the only one who wants to know.
"The Great Mother gave me this power when we were all passed out," I explain. "She must have brought us back here too."
Lovino sighs moodily. "Man, all of this crazy stuff is happening on this stupid quest. I wish the legends had been more specific about what's going to happen. Instead we just get weird powers and magically transported without warning." He sighs again and faces me. "Thank you though, for helping my brother," he says with averted eyes.
"You're welcome," I reply with a smile. I stand and help Feli up too. "What should we do now?"
"It's already pretty late," Ludwig says as he looks toward the exit. The sun has already dropped past the jagged horizon. "We should camp out here tonight."
"Let's go back to the place we stayed last night," Lovino says as he begins to walk to the exit. "I'm getting sick of this place."
We hike a little ways back to our previous camping spot, and set up camp in a similar fashion as the night before. Gilbert coaxes a small fire out of the dry shrubs we scavenge, which we use to heat up a little water. We sit around the fire silently as it crackles in the dark.
"Where do we go next?" I ask no one in particular.
"Most likely to Wolf Territory," Kiku answers. "The usual order of things is Bear, Wolf, Eagle."
I pull out my copy of the legend from my pack. "Matrisus and her companions visited the homes of each child to gain the blessings of the goddesses and the land. In the mountains, the bear brothers were blessed with enchanted claws. In the plains, the wolf twins were blessed with heightened senses. In the valleys, the single eagle was blessed with foresight."
"Enchanted claws?" Gilbert asks with a raised eyebrow. "So these?" He pulls his necklace out from under his shirt.
"I guess so," I say. "But what about the Wolves getting their heightened senses or the Eagle getting foresight? Those aren't actual things like the necklace."
"Perhaps the enchanted claws are in reference to the extra strength we've been given," Ludwig comments. "It's symbolic for the blessings, not the claws themselves."
"That make sense too," I agree with a nod.
"Pffeh. I don't know what you idiots are even talking about," Lovino mumbles as he stands up. "I'm going to bed."
"Goodnight!" I call, but he doesn't respond as he slips into his tent.
"It is getting late. We should all be going to sleep," Ludwig tells us.
We agree, and the others get up to follow Lovino's example. I turn to my pack to put the legend away when something catches my eye. I unstrap my spear from my pack and look at it closely. Sure enough, something that looks like bear claws tied to leather cords now hang from the blunt end of my spear. I hold them closer to my face, and they shine in the dim glow of the dying fire.
"For receiving your first blessing and passing the tests," the faint voice of the Great Mother says. I smile softly as I reattach the spear to my pack. I guess I'm making some decent progress after all.
I pick up my pack and bring it with me into my tent. I can hear Kiku's heavy breathing as I make my way to my side of our shared tent, which can only mean that he's sleeping. I settle down on the ground and think about what we have yet to do on our quest. We're about a third of the way through, so we'll hopefully be done before the snows come. I shiver slightly when I think about snow. It's already cool enough in the mountains without more snow. I pull my cloak out of my pack and wrap myself in it tightly before falling asleep, completely oblivious of the dark shadow slinking around our camp.
Ludwig gets us going fairly early the next morning. His goal is to find a place to stock up on food before trekking east across Bear Territory to Wolf Territory. We all agree that Monteurbem is not an option after what happened the last time we stopped there. Ludwig leads us toward smaller cities closer to the eastern border.
It's going to take a few days to get there, so we brace ourselves for a lot of walking. Despite that fact, the mood of our group has definitely improved from the seriousness that weighed on everyone in the Bear Temple. Feli and Italy hop around happily as we hike down gravely paths away from the mountains. He and his spirit animal stop prancing around to talk to Ludwig and Germany for a moment before continuing their skipping.
I smile as I see the smiles on everyone else's faces. Even Lovino has a faint smile tugging on his lips. The idea of leaving Bear Territory must be what's putting him in an unusually good mood. I don't really blame him though. The mountains are starting to become rather redundant, and I can't wait to get back to some trees and grass.
We stop for the night at the base of the last mountain peak in the area. I have Kiku show me where we are on the map because I have no clue where we are or where we're going. He points to a spot east of Monteurbem. We're not as far inland as the large city, but the mountains don't go as far here as they do at Monteurbem. I'm relieved to know we'll be seeing some greenery soon. We all go to bed early to get a good night's rest. Seeing trees again makes everyone excited to get an early start.
I wake up refreshed and rearing to go almost as soon as Ludwig wakes us all up. We pack up quickly and resume walking to one of the cities Ludwig and Kiku have picked on the map, but they can't decide which one they'd rather go to yet, and argue about it as we walk.
"But Kiku, Coruscaluco is closer to where we are now. It would be better if we go there," Ludwig says to my dark haired friend.
Kiku twitches his black wings in impatience. It would seem they've been discussing this for a while. "That may be true, but it's too far out of the way. Salictiligna is on our way."
"We won't make it there with the supplies we have," Ludwig argues back. "We need to buy more food."
"We can find some on our way to Salictiligna in the forest," Kiku retorts.
Ludwig turns and notices me listening to the two of them. "What do you think, Elizabeta?"
"Er...well..." I wasn't expecting to get pulled into this.
"I think you two should loosen up!" Gilbert shouts as he runs past us. "Live a little!" he yells as he jumps off the cliff at the end of the trail we're on.
After a moment he shoots up through the air above our heads on his large white wings. I smile and run for the cliff myself. Giving my wings a stretch sounds like a great idea right about now. I hurl myself over the cliff and am met with an amazing view of the deep green forest growing right up to the cliff face. My wings open with a snap, and I'm carried high into the sky by an upward air draft. I do some rolls in the air and giggle excitedly at the feeling of exhilaration that fills me from head to toe.
"Come one everyone!" I shout behind me.
I circle around to see Feli and Lovino also jumping off the cliff after me. They open their brown wings and climb the warm updraft as well. The only way I can even tell them apart from this distance is the color of their hair and wings. Feli's hair is redder, and his wings are lighter brown. Lovino has darker hair and wings, which have light brown speckles. The twin Wolves do loops in unison as they fly toward me.
Gilbert suddenly appears next to me with a grin. "Was this an awesome idea or what?" I smile back at him happily.
We fly back to the cliff together to get Kiku and Ludwig to join us. They haven't gotten off the ground yet, and this is definitely a problem because they're missing all the fun.
"Come one Kiku!" I yell at the short Eagle. "It's so nice! Japan would like it too!"
Kiku looks up at me when I mention his spirit animal. It's been a while since the two have gone flying together. The Eagle lets out a sigh and manifests his animal. The sleek falcon appears on his shoulder but quickly takes to the air. That's all the persuasion Kiku needs to jump into the air after his partner. His black wings glisten in the sun as he flies after the falcon.
"You're the last one, West!" Gilbert shouts at his brother. "Hurry up! We gotta show them how awesome us Beilschmidts are!"
Ludwig sighs in defeat. He must know there's no way out of it now. The blonde Bear crouches slightly before leaping high into the air. He jumps at least three of his own body lengths before whipping open his huge pale yellow wings. The two brothers do several areal maneuvers that make me wonder if Bears really are the weakest flyers.
I take off after the others, who are starting to fly over the forest and away from the cliff, when I remember my own spirit animal. Excitedly, I call my partner out in a burst of crimson flames. She's as beautiful as ever, and shines radiantly in the sun as we catch up to everyone.
"Hello, Elizabeta," she says in my mind.
"Hey, Hungary," I say back. "Sorry I haven't called you out lately. Things have been kinda crazy."
"I understand," she says with a blink. "But I am glad you called me out now. It's lovely outside today."
I look up at the azure sky and the fluffy white clouds rolling across it. The air is crisp and fresh as it blows my long hair around. "It really is," I say with a smile.
We catch up to the others and fly together for a while. The wind is blowing from our back, which gives us a boost, and it's easy sailing for at least a few hours. I enjoy seeing the vibrant greens of the plants growing below us, unlike the dull browns of the mountains.
My eyes wander across the vast expanse of green, and land on a hole in the forest. This makes me rather curious, so I turn to look at Hungary.
"Do you see that?" I ask pointing to the clearing. "What is it?"
"I don't know," the phoenix answers in my mind. "Let's go take a look."
We serve toward the opening in the forest, and the others stop to watch us go. They eventually follow after us in confusion, and I can hear Lovino complaining loudly. Hungary and I reach the clearing first, and I gasp in surprise at what I see. A decent sized town is nestled in the forest with lots of people walking around. They people notice me in the air and start waving excitedly.
"What is this place?" I ask Hungary.
"I do not know, but it doesn't feel normal," she says as she narrows her eyes.
"Elizabeta! Where are you going?" Kiku calls as he and the others fly over to me. They hover in the air next to me and look at the town with shock.
"This is odd," Ludwig says. "This city isn't on any map. I can't tell you what it's called either. I've never been here before."
"I agree with West," Gilbert adds. "I've never heard of a city here before. This is some of the thickest forest in the Bear Territory. I didn't think people lived out here."
"Should we go down there?" I ask. "They're all waving us down."
"It couldn't hurt," Gil says with a shrug.
We slowly descend in the middle of the town, and the large crowd that has gathered makes room for us to land. They look at us excitedly with gleaming eyes and large smiles. There's something a little weird about the people though. I can see some with twigs and leaves sticking out of their hair. Others have odd splotches of green ink or paint on their skin. A little girl approaches me with a shy smile on her face. She looks completely normal, except for her wings. They're not feathered like ours. I would describe them more like insect wings, thin, clear, and shimmering.
"Hello, champions of the Great Mother," the girl says in a bell like voice. "Welcome to Sylvumbra."
Latin Meanings for Names:
Coruscaluco: formed using coruscante luco (shining grove)
Salictiligna: formed using salicti ligna (willow wood)
Sylvumbra: formed using sylva umbra (forest shade)
