Fallen From the Heavens

The Strange Happenings

It felt like he had been sleeping for only a few minutes when he was awoken to total chaos. Lily was shaking him violently, trying to get him out of bed. The whole place was alight, and it didn’t take long for him to understand that the whole cottage was on fire. It was all around them, and the noise was like the sound of deepest hell.
“What the………….?” he yelled, but Lily didn’t pay any attention as she hauled him up. “Hurry and get your bag by your bed!” she yelled. “Or we will both be consumed in this inferno!” She rushed to her table of vials and bottles and shoved most of them in a brown knapsack she was holding.
He didn’t notice it at first, but there was indeed a bag by his bed. His? He realized with great happiness the contents inside could be the very thing to finding out who he was. He grabbed it up fast and turned back towards Lily. She was looking around to see if there was an opening in the wall of fire around them for an escape. None.
She grabbed a blanket off of a nearby chair and threw it over both herself and her strange companion. “When I count to 3, I want you to run with me. Don’t pause or hesitate, ok?”
“Um… right”, he said confused as to why they were going to run into the fire.
She turned to face the fire again beneath the blanket. “One”, she started out. “Two.”
This is insane, the boy thought.
“Three!”, she yelled. They ran towards the fire, its flames licking towards them. They threw themselves at it, and landed on the other side.
Not waiting a heartbeat, Lily jumped to her feet. “Follow me, and don’t stray”, she commanded him.
She ran to the closest door and out. He followed behind her. Then he realized that they were outside, brighter then the inside of the cottage. The whole village was ablaze. Villagers were running to and fro, trying to put it out with buckets of water.
But he didn’t have time to stop and observe this strange situation, for Lily was already running into the forest. They went deep into the woods and she didn’t stop until he thought that they were completely lost. Then she rounded on him with eyes full of fury and a pointed finger at his chest. “What the HELL did you do to my village!!”, she demanded with a yell.
“Whaaa???,” he gasped. “Do you think that I did that!?”, he asked outraged by her accusation.
“Hmmmmmm…..let me remember if I can.,” she said sarcastically. “I wake up to loud slams outside and look curiously out my window. Do you know what I saw?”
He slowly shook his head no.
“FIREBALLS!!!!!!” she screamed. “FREAKN’ FIREBALLS FROM THE SKY!!!”
The boy took a step back from her outraged form, anger building in his system. “Wow, you better get your attitude in check Lila or Livia or whatever your name is,” he said dangerously. “How dare you accuse me of such stupid things when I was asleep!”
Lily didn’t say anything. This was a different side of the boy she rescued two weeks ago. He was treating her like he was her superior! She took a deep breath to steady her anger.
“I’m not saying you did it personally,” she started out. “But I believe your somehow related to this.”
“Then why the heck did you lead me out in the woods to tell me this,” he spat with dark narrowed eyes.
She gave a half smile. “Because these are the Forbidden Woods and the magic in it conceals us from prying eyes and ears from the outside.”
“You got us lost?” he almost yelled.
“I’m the only one who knows my way around the woods,” she replied calmly. Her anger was gone now. “When I was a kid, I would always runaway from my parents to play here. Its sort of my secret haven, when I just want to be alone.”
“Its been said that those who enter the Forbidden Woods have never returned. But I, a mere girl of 5 was able to find my way around without getting lost!”
She started leading the way through the trees again while she talked.
“No one could figure out why the forest accepted me like its own child, then that’s when my healing powers started to show and everyone understood. My parents were terrified that I was different, and they tried to keep me from going back to the woods I loved.”
“When I got a little older, I built a small hut here with all my valuable keepsakes in it.” She laughed at that. “Guess you can call it my treasure house.”
The boy gave a little smile in response.
Right then, they reached a small clearing in the trees, and in the middle stood a wooden hut. Lily held out her arm for him to enter first. He was expecting to see riches and jewels, but all he saw were tattered old books on dusty shelves, a pile of junk on a table in the corner that looked like dusty cracked china bowls, cobwebbed candle holders, and things he couldn’t find a name to. Dusty picture frames stood on a small table next to a small staircase that led up to a little loft above. In it, he found more dusty books, a small dresser, and a little bed about 3 ft. off the floor. The interior was the same wood as the outside. Lily lit up candles so the place was illuminated even more. That’s when he realized something he hadn’t noticed before. A huge mirror that was bigger than him was attached to the ceiling of the loft. It looked all swirly with blue smoke, but that was all.
“I’m afraid that I haven’t visited this place in a while,” Lily sighed while looking at the mess.
“What’s that mirror for?’ he asked pointing at the ceiling. Lily’s face was concealed in the shadow of a corner, so he couldn’t see the expression on her face. He thought he heard her give a small cry of sorrow, but when she spoke, there was no trace of it in her voice.
“It’s just for decoration,” she replied plainly.
“Hmmmmmmm….,” he said, knowing that there was something more to it.
“Anyways, I brought you here so that you can be safe while I go back to the village and help. I don’t want you to leave this hut, ok?”
He nodded.
She handed him the small knapsack with the few items from the cottage in it. “I put food and water in there for you, along with some of my important medicine potions and healing treatments.”
He took it and set it on the small bed along with his own bag.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she called out as she left the hut.
After a few minutes of quite, the boy sighed and his eyes gave one more sweep at his new home, and then they stared at ‘his’ bag on the bed.
He sat down and slowly opened it up to see what was inside.



Peace,
Goddess of the Eastern Wind