A/N
I know I was a little late updating, but my computer is going crazy and it keeps on having a temper tantrum when I want to get on. Yesterday I got a little sick and slept a good part of the day (but I'm feeling much better now) summer allergies are a pain in my butt. A few other things contributed, but we won't go into that, besides, it just been three days since the last update. That's still much better then when I was still in school.
"I really hope they don't get lost or something." I said to myself as I wandered through the woods.
I was not lost. Well, not really. I could always rely on animals to point me in the right direction, but I didn't know where the others were.
The big iron thing, which I had left half sunken into the riverbed, had done an absolutely marvelous job at scattering us. But I wasn't all that worried. We all were pretty hard to catch unawares, and all of us would be jumpy and hard to approach after the last incident.
I traced my fingers across a tree trunk just like every other one I'd seen. The bark was swirled and rough to the touch, and had around it a vine and several buds. The buds were slowly opening to reveal star pointed blue flowers.
"Close to danger." I murmured aloud as I watched flowers on other trees bloom. They all seemed to be blooming the same way, which was incredibly odd. I know that when I ran off into the forest I'd probably see more of the flowers, but this was ridiculous. Flowers do not all bloom the same direction, unless one counts flowers that bloom towards the sun. But there was little sun here and no wind that was strong enough to bend them back.
It was as if they all bloomed in—
Oh.
I followed a trailing vine down into the moss. I cleared the moss away slowly and carefully so I wouldn't break anything.
The more moss I cleared, the more obvious the pattern became.
Every single vine traveled across the trees and onto the ground to merge with other vines, which in turn traveled deeper into the forest.
"A system." I dug out of my memory the term for it. The human term anyway. I needed to study my science books a little more.
"I wonder how far it goes?" I asked aloud. It wasn't a question of where it went. I knew that answer. It went to the center. What was at that center, I wasn't sure, but I sure wasn't going to find out here.
I really shouldn't go though. What about the others? I'd feel bad if I made them worry. But the forest was so…enticing. I wanted to see where the flowers came from, and what was at the center, and if there was anything beyond it. Of course there was, but was it interesting?
And who knew? I might find them in the process. Or get yelled at when found by them. And there was no danger, except by the river. I would know if there was.
"That's it then." Trouble it is.
I kept walking past the flowers and noted the way they all looked back at the way I came. If they all did that, then if the center was a flower, where did it look?
As I walked through the woods, the flowers began to show up a little tighter together than before. Instead on one or two flowers per tree there were three or four. And the moss was growing grayer, it seemed.
Almost an hour and a half later following the flowers, I noticed they had begun to look in different directions. Never back, but now they fanned out to the side. Judging by the way it looked, I'd say the flowers were arranged in a circular pattern, all going outwards, until they got to the center.
My feet crunched on something and I glanced down. The moss was beginning to recede and the ground was littered with twigs and the foot thick vine that was traveling across the ground.
And it still had to merge with several others I saw.
"Wow." I stepped over it carefully, not knowing if it was fragile or not. As big as it was, it didn't look like I could dent it with a hammer, but looks can be deceiving.
I followed the big vines as they moved into the forest, but was stopped from following all the way by a small grove of trees, which were knitted together by the vines and star pointed flowers. The blue flowers seemed to bob even though there was no wind.
The walls of vines were impenetrable, at least from where I was standing. I walked around the grove, only about fifteen trees by my estimate, and found the same for all sides.
"I take it you all don't entertain much." I said half-aloud to the flowers. They, as expected, didn't answer.
"The Blue Lights live forever as long as they bar their past to the mortal eye."
I straightened up fast and turned. There was an old man, with a short mostly black ponytail. He walked slowly and with a purpose, and there was no sign he suffered from any of the pains of old age. The only thing that betrayed him as such was the wrinkles on his face and the way his eyes seemed to take in everything with knowledge of all.
"Excuse me?" I asked, a little taken back.
"You figured out how the Blue Lights move. Their center lives in that grove."
He wore a button down vest and white shirt, with black pants. Even though I'd say he was a little overdressed for these woods, he seemed to fit in with an eerie grace.
"What's in there?" I asked.
"The beginning of their universe." He answered. I'd have to say his appearance reminded me of the old Indian pictures my great Grandpa showed me.
"So…the very first flower. And that's what keeps them alive, that flower, so they protect it by growing a wall separating it and the outside world."
He nodded. He looked satisfied, probably because I figured it out.
"Which way…does the first flower look?" I asked him. I was really curious now that I'd given up trying to see it for myself.
"There is a story about the Blue Lights. They say the flower is a god, sent down into this form to show the people how to live their lives. And the flower taught them well."
"What did it teach?"
"The flower teaches us that we must keep close ties to our family, no matter how far away they are. It also teaches us that without the beginning, whether it be the flower that gives us the bud or the first vine that crawls out into the open, we could never be."
"Nothing is achieved without taking the first step?" I summarized, trying to keep up with him. He nodded.
"If you want to look at it that way. It also teaches us that together we are strong, but something are accomplished only by setting out on your own. And the last, most important thing is this—You may keep your ties to the past, but to look back obscure your view of the future, and distracts those around you from doing the same."
"Wow. That's deep." I said intelligently, for lack of something to say. It was amazing people could get so many things from just a flower, even though it did make good sense.
He chuckled. It was actually a little high pitched for the man that was so all knowing a second ago.
"You are a lot like the other that dropped by the town a few days ago."
"Other?" Warning bells started clanging and I eagerly asked, "What were they like? Did they say a name?"
"Are you looking for someone?"
"Yes, I lost some friends."
"These the same ones you ditched after you ran the Soul King's soldier into the river?"
"Oh…were you following us?" Why didn't I sense him? Because I wasn't looking for him. He must roam these woods a lot, and the animals have gotten used to it.
"I was told from the birds that you all were wandering the forest, I went to look. Many soldiers have been in the area recently, I can only assume it's because of some altercation."
"Do the soldiers attack you?"
"No. Not usually do they attack, they just look. That's the first time I've seen one move so decisively."
"Oh. Did you say the birds talked to you?"
"Of course. Speaking with the beasts that roam with us on these lands is not so hard if you know what they are trying to say."
Oh. So it wasn't like my gift, he's running off intuition.
"Could you take me to see the person that arrived a few days ago?"
"What about your friends?"
"I can find them again. I'm told they smell strange, so it shouldn't be all that hard."
His name was not the Indian name I expected. It was Khom. I didn't know what it meant, if it did mean something.
"Incase I am caught, then I just change the words around, and I am Mohk. Home free."
I didn't ask him about why he would be caught, and he didn't press the matter on why I was wandering around in the woods.
Keeping up with him was a little difficult. He had longer strides than I did, and sometimes I had to jog to keep up with him.
I noticed vaguely at first that the scenery had begun to change. The forest began to be decorated with more flowers. Reds, greens, purples. And on the wind I could hear the light music of a flute and other wind instruments. It must not be too far now.
We passed a small stream and I was met by the fantastic view of a village, in both the trees and on the ground. Some people were dancing, others were showing off with this little glowing ball of light, some older men were around a table under a tree playing some sort of card game that looked like Poker, only with seven cards. Some women were flirting shamelessly with some guys that looked like they were probably merchants, and some were cooking what looked like a pig in a cooking pit.
"Some sort of party going on?" I asked Khom, who smiled.
"It is the festival of Blue Light, courtesy of the Blue Light City Under The Stars. When the night comes, the true celebration begins.
"Wow. I hope I'm not intruding."
"No, we sometimes bring in outsiders, and half the time people pay us a lot of money to be able to see the night sky from our spot."
"So I take it you aren't upset about letting them in."
"As long as they behave themselves, there are no worries. But we still hold the right to leave them in the forest if they tick us off."
"Oh. So I guess you have the best of both worlds, hunh? I mean, if you leave people in the forest if they make you angry, that must mean it's difficult to get out of. So you can stay here all you want and never be really bothered."
"That's about the scope of it." He said grinning.
"Danny? Is that you? Holy cow! It IS you!"
I tried to look around for the source of the voice when some sort of nut hit me in the back of the head.
"Up here!"
I turned to see Jubilee gesturing wildly on top of a rope bridge. She was dressed in a pair of cutoff jean shorts and a green shirt. Her favorite coat was nowhere in sight. Another girl, a pretty girl with light brown hair and worried eyes was trying to keep her from tumbling over the side.
"Jubilee!" I yelled and waved.
"So you do know each other. Alright then, I will leave you in the company of my cousin." Khom said as he waved to the young girl, who looked only about fifteen. He turned and before I could thank him for leading me here, he was gone.
Both of the girls rushed down the rope bridge over to a ladder which they both almost fell down in order to get to the bottom. Then Jubilee ran straight toward me and grabbed me in a hug that knocked the wind out of me. I honestly didn't know she was that strong.
"I'm so glad to see you! I had the most horrible day when I first got here, these little gremlins were dragging me around that forest out there, and then Max and her pals helped me out!"
"Max?" I said, about to turn blue. She released me and pointed to the younger girl.
"That's Max."
She nodded her head towards me and I nodded back.
"You are Danny? Jubilee said much about you and many other people."
"Yeah, I kinda left some of them back in the woods."
"Oh, don't worry. My father sent out a group to retrieve some people that were wandering aimlessly out there. That's probably your friends."
"Who's here? Who?!" Jubilee squeaked about to jump out of her skin from excitement.
"Kitty, Rahne, Jean, and Mr. McCoy. Oh, and a friend I made."
"You made another friend? What is it this time, a unicorn?"
"Not…exactly."
"Danny! Jubilee!" Kitty came running out of nowhere and latched onto Jubilee. "I was worried about you guys."
"How did you get here?" I asked, totally surprised.
"These nice guys found us in the forest and, like brought us here. We just got here, like, two minutes ago. Oh, wait here! I'll go fetch the others." She ran off before I could say anything else.
"How does she do that?" Jubilee asked no one. "She come for three seconds, then disappears leaving a lasting impression. How, may I ask?"
"Must be a repressed mutant ability."
"Will you all stay for the celebration?" Max asked me. I shrugged.
"It might be fun, but I don't know how long we'll stay."
"You should stay until tomorrow morning. It's too late to meet the edge of the forest now, and the forest holds the night."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"There are many dangerous things in those woods, but you don't see them at day."
"Alright. You're the authority on this, I won't argue with you." I told her. In my opinion, it's always better to listen to the people who know what they're talking about, it saves a whole heap of trouble.
Max nodded. Behind her I could see the telltale shapes of a bunch of mutants hurrying over to see us.
"Well, while we're here, do you want to meet the others?" I asked her.
Hmm, what will the celebration be like?
Asteria: Heh, thank you, I hope you liked this chapter!
PrincessOfWildfire:Heh, thanks. Glad you liked it, and I hope you liked the chapter!
Raliena: Herman might mistake his sword for a bug and eat it. Then we'd all be in trouble. Glad you loved the last chapter!
Anon(girl): Thanks a lot! I'm really glad you liked it! Hope you got some questions answered!
asp: Wouldn't it though? Then I'd be making my own comic book. It'd be great. Well, I hope you like this chapter even though I left you in the fog last chapter!
Herman is …sleeping for some odd reason. Well, leave the reviews by his wings and he'll collect them when he wakes up.
