Flammie Tales Book 1: A Wizard's Trial

Chapter 5: Trust

Trust. It is truly a wonderful thing isn't it? But, what do you do when someone (or in my case something) you trust ends up trying to eat you?

I found myself sliding past Rye's rubbery tongue. He had asked me if I trusted him, then promptly began to eat me. By the time I had recovered from the shock, I was already helplessly sliding down his throat.

"Rye! What are you doing?" I screamed in terror. "I trusted you! How could you betray me like this?" I expected to feel the searing pain of stomach acid as Rye devoured the last little bit of me, but all I felt was plush.

"Relax Skyler!" Rye tried to calm me. "I wouldn't dream of digesting you. On top of that, I couldn't even if I wanted to."

"Relax? Easy for you to say!" I snapped back. "You're not the one that just got EATEN!"

"Skyler! Calm down! Think about it, I am a being that only devours cloth because I'm MADE from cloth! What use would my body have for a meaty thing like you?"

"'Calm down' he says! I JUST GOT EATEN!"

"Skyler! I know how you feel, but you…"

"Know how I feel? How could you possibly know how I feel?"

"Skyler, please just calm down and listen to Rye." Seryn's calm and gentle voice jumped in. "Trust me, he's not trying to hurt you. Besides, what would struggling accomplish at this point?" Seryn managed to get to me. I felt myself calming down and thinking more logically about the situation. I was already in Rye's hold. There was no getting out of this one unless he let me go.

"Alright." I said with a sigh. "But you ARE going to let me out, right?"

"Of course." Rye started patting his belly. "I just want to give you a good rest. Just relax and let the embrace of sleep take you."

"Fall asleep? Do you expect me to just sleep whenever I want?" (Well, it is rather comfy in here…) "But, it's still early in the day!" (My eyelids are getting quite heavy…) "And, there's still much I was going to do today!" (Actually, I have nothing in particular planned…) I closed my eyes. "Well, I guess a small nap can't hurt." (Or perhaps a not-so-small nap…) I felt myself being lulled to sleep by Rye's steady breathing.

I quickly noticed that the usual chaos of my dreams was absent. Instead, I found myself in complete darkness. One would think that this darkness would be cold and threatening, but this sanctuary harbored only warmth and comfort. On top of that, I felt as if all of my burdens from the past months had been completely lifted from my shoulders. All my fears had melted away to nothing. All my obligations had been forgotten. Everything about this place did nothing but comfort me. This was truly the ultimate stress reliever. It was as if nothing could harm me. I felt untouchable, yet my closest loved ones were there too, comforting me all the more. Nothing could ever compare to the repose I experienced there.

It seemed to be less than five minutes in this enlightened plane of existence, when I started to feel the call of the real world beckoning me back to consciousness. I tried to hang on to the realm, but to no avail.

I slowly opened my eyes to find that I was no longer asleep in Rye's gut, but tightly curled in the bed Rye had set up for me the night before. Just by the little observations I was able to make in an instant, I was able to deduce that it was late in the evening. I had been sleeping for quite some time.

I gently pushed the blankets off of myself and, as I was stretching my stiff limbs, glanced over to the bed that Seryn had made for herself. She was not there.

I shrugged and walked to the window to stare at the night sky. The moon seemed to smile down on the world, and the stars seemed to greet me with gleeful twinkling. It didn't take long for me to decide to gaze at the sky from outside. (Maybe I'll even see Seryn.) I thought to myself.

I quietly stepped out of my room and started to head for the entrance of the plush building.

"Oh hello Skyler. I didn't expect you to be awake so soon." I turned to see Rye standing behind me. "Did you enjoy your little trip into the Repose Realm?" He asked politely.

"Yes, it was very relaxing, but how did you know that falling asleep in your stomach would send me there?" I replied.

Rye chuckled. "I really wasn't joking when I said that I knew how you felt. You're not the only one who has been unexpectedly swallowed by a plushie-flammie that you trust."

"What? You're joking!" I looked at Rye in disbelief.

"No, I'm totally serious. I bet you can even guess who it was."

I started laughing. I immediately knew who he was talking about. "Seryn? Wow, that's something I didn't expect." We laughed together for a good half-minute.

"So where are you going anyway?" Rye asked me once he caught his breath.

"I just wanted to go for a walk and look at the sky." I responded with a shrug. "What about you? Where were you headed?"

"Honestly, I was just going to bed." Rye replied casually. (If he was going to bed, why would he be heading outside? He's hiding something. I'd better not ask though. It's probably none of my business.)

I nodded. "Hey, before you go, have you seen Seryn anywhere?"

Rye, who had started to walk further into the plush corridor, looked back and shook his head. "As far as I knew, she was in your room." He replied as he continued his walk deeper into the building.

I turned and walked outside. It was pleasantly cool. I thought for a moment about what to do, and quickly decided to sit in a tree and gaze at the sky.

It was a short walk to the edge of the forest where I was told to I could practice my magic. I looked at the trees for a branch that was a reasonable distance from the ground, yet still reachable. It didn't take long to find one. I grabbed the branch with both of my hands and hoisted one leg over. I set one of my feet flat on the top of the branch (to avoid a very uncomfortable situation) with my knee bent. I rested my arm on my knee while the other arm hung limply at my side and gazed at the stars. After hours of star gazing, I dropped back down to the ground and decided to head back to my room. I didn't exactly feel tired, but I felt relaxed and I wanted to just go to sleep to pass the time. I laid on the ground and gazed up in the sky until I finally fell asleep.

I dreamed of practicing magic in a vast meadow. I just couldn't seem to get the spell. Suddenly large and malicious dark violet clouds started to cover the sky. There were so many. They even blotted out the sun to a point that it seemed like nighttime.

The sky grumbled and roared, and suddenly a colossal lightning bolt struck the ground. The fire caused by the bolt threatened to engulf the entire meadow and me with it. It grew and grew until it completely surrounded me.

"No!" I yelled. "I have to try to stop this blaze!" I held my staff horizontally in front of my chest and began to cast a spell. I separated my aura into three different pools and turned it blue.

"Aqua Edge!" I yelled. The pools of aura suddenly turned to water and shot in different directions. All three extinguished a good portion of the blaze, but it was still too strong. It quickly recovered and crept ever closer.

I cast Aqua Edge numerous times, but each was less effective than the last. Soon the flame was a mere foot from me. Just as the flames were about to reach me, a green light shot from the ground that I was standing on and slammed into the clouds. They quickly lost their color and became normal rain clouds. It started to rain.

The rain from the clouds extinguished the fire before it could reach me, but I was saddened by the sight of the once beautiful meadow. Everything was reduced to ash. I knelt down and tears flowed from my eyes. I had come so close to death.

The clouds began to split and revealed the moon. The moon shined bleakly on the barren wasteland and seemed to be sad.

A small drop of liquid fell from the moon and hit the ground in front of me. The scorched grass around me started to regain its life and color. Trees erupted from the earth and shot up toward the sky. Flowers poked up from the ground and bloomed. In a matter of minutes, I was in a clearing of a vast forest. The moon had given this simple meadow a forest of life.

Skyler?" A voice called. "Skyler! Wake up!" (It sounds like … Seryn!) "C'mon! Wake up!" (She sounds worried. I wonder why.)

I opened my eyes and saw Seryn calmly sitting next to me with her paw on my chest like she was shaking me a bit. "Good morning, you little narcoleptic." She withdrew her paw and tucked it under her chin similar to what a cat would do.

I looked at the sky and noticed the sun low in the eastern sky. It was still early morning. I took a deep breath of the cool and refreshing morning air. I turned to Seryn with a subtle smile on my face. "When did you find me here?"

"Around midnight. I was on my back to our room after a flight in the moonlight and just happen to see you napping down here, so I decided to wait for you to wake up and offer you a ride home. I guess I dozed off myself. Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you'd be in your bed."

"I came out side to gaze at the stars while I waited for you to get back. Actually at first I was sitting in that branch," I made a quick gesture to the branch above me. "but I started to feel sleepy, so I came down and lay on the ground so I wouldn't fall off the branch if I did fall asleep."

Seryn stood up, stretched, yawned, and extended a paw to me. I grabbed it and hoisted myself on my feet. "Thanks. Let's go home. I'm sure Rye is wondering where we are."

Seryn and I walked back to the cottage. Just as we were about to go inside and look for Rye, he came out the door and greeted us. "Glad to see that you're still alive." He looked at me and chuckled. "I've got some errands to run. I'll be back soon." He said as he started walking toward the forest. (What sort of errands could he possibly have to run?)

Seryn yawned. "I suppose you're not very tired. I think I'm gonna take a nap."

"Oh, alright." I responded. "I'm going to go practice some spells then."

Seryn nodded and walked into the house. I turned and started to walk back toward the forest. (I wonder if I'll see Rye. He's been so secretive about what he's doing lately. I wonder why.)

"You forgot your backpack!" Seryn called to me and tossed it out the window. It landed on the ground with a solid thud.

"Thank you!" I called back to her. I had kept the spell book in there. Without it, I had no way of learning spells.

On the way to the forest, I did indeed see Rye. He was now walking parallel to the edge of the forest, and looking around as if he was searching for something. I briefly considered following him and finding out what he was up to, but I decided that I really did need to learn a new spell or two today.

I entered into the clearing in the forest that I was supposed to practice my magic in. I set my backpack on the ground and started to flip through the pages. (Fire seems like a good place to start.) I thought to myself. (Let's see, level 2 fire spells…) I finally reached the page and stopped there.

The book read:

Level 2 Fire spell: Eruption

Eruption is a powerful fire based spell in which you make

magma explode from the earth.

How to perform:

Focus red aura just below the earth's surface and force it

to bubble up from the surface.

"So, I'm going to need to have slight control over earth too." I mumbled to myself. I stood up and waved my hand to make my staff appear. I raised my staff horizontally in front of my chest and began to concentrate on a patch of ground about 5 feet in front of me.

"Eruption!" I yelled as I swung my staff upwards. I felt a slight amount of heat, but nothing more seemed to happen. I tried again.

"Eruption!" More heat. (Once more now.)

"Eruption!" This time the ground started to bubble a bit, but there was no eruption.

"Drat!" I yelled in frustration. I took a deep breath to control my temper and tried once again.

"Eruption!" I yelled again. The ground bubbled again, but there was no fire.

"Good try, but this time, focus on the fire and not the earth." A familiar voice echoed in my head. I followed the directions.

"Eruption!" I yelled once again. This time the ground exploded and erupted three times. It was small, but at least I could perform the spell. (Wait, I know I've heard that voice somewhere before.)

I practiced Eruption again and again, and it got bigger and bigger. It really wasn't long until I had mastered my first level 2 spell!

"Eruption!" I cast it one last time to celebrate. Now the pool of lava that erupted was over ten feet big.

"Wow! You're getting good at that!" I jumped and spun around. Seryn was sitting a few yards behind me. She rose and chuckled as she started to walk toward me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." I felt hot with embarrassment.

"D-don't sneak up on me like that!" I stuttered. Seryn couldn't help but notice how embarrassed I was and chuckled again. "How long have you been there?"

"Oh five minutes or so. You really should be noticing these things." She teased me for a moment. "You really have gotten really good at casting spells though."

"Thanks!" I said, still blushing from letting her sneak up on me. "Let's head back home. I want to see Rye about that tour."

"Alright!" Seryn nearly jumped with joy. She and I started to walk back to the plush cottage that we now called home. There was only one thing on my mind. (Who was that who helped me? I know I've heard his voice before…)

END OF CHAPTER 5!

Author's Ending Notes: Oh. Wow. This chapter is shorter than I remember. Not much was changed here. I could tell that this is where I was actually getting much better at writing. The only big change that I really made was I took out the whole bit about Skyler falling out of the tree and just made him go to the ground before actually falling asleep. It just makes more sense this way.

Look out for:

Chapter 6: The Legend