Between five seconds and five hundred thousand years passed as Omid took in his surroundings. Only his eyes dared move at first as they strained to see all that they could within his field of vision.

Despite his best efforts that almost resulted in straining his eye, Omid could not see behind himself without turning his head. A risk he was not yet willing to take. But from the sounds of things, and simple inference, there were more birds in that direction. A large black vulture held Omid’s gaze for a moment before he looked back to a still terrified Taljir.

After having spent enough time in enough days seeing only Taljir’s eyes left uncovered by his scarf, Omid had learned to pick up on many subtle expressions with only the other lad’s eyes as a reference.

None of that was needed right now as Taljir’s eyes were wide open and screaming out a very clear non-verbal message of “HELP!” and also “WHAT IS GOING ON?!?”

Questions that Omid also desperately wanted answers to, and that his own eyes might be shouting as well. The apprentice mage hadn’t even dared to blink, but found his eyes growing dry in the quickly warming morning. He directed his focus back to the bird currently perched on his chest, still inspecting him.

The small bird was a little bit larger than his closed fist, with a short black beak and iridescent plumage in emerald greens and sapphire blues ending in trailing tailfeathers. A crest of red feathers on its head swished back and forth as the bird kept tilting its head this way and that to inspect Omid. The apprentice mage locked eyes with the bird, searching for some kind of hint in its eyes as to what all of this was about. If this was meant to be a threat, what was the threat supposed to be? Were they merely holding him and Taljir here until some far greater threat arrives? Might the birds themselves be unable to provide much more than a nuisance to them and they were relying on fear to keep their prey in place?

And the small bird just stared back in response before hopping forward on Omid’s chest to be even more uncomfortably close to his face.

Omid had lost track of time. He knew that something magical and no doubt dangerous was going on, but any details beyond that escaped him. They were in every sense of the word surrounded, and he was not eager to test how quickly he could make an earthen shield for himself and Taljir when one of these very possible magical assailants of questionable power sat on his chest and stared into his soul. Which left him with nothing to do but quietly observing and biding his time until he could figure something out when he didn’t even want to chance saying something to startle the flock.

A sneeze then erupted from his side to echo through the canyon walls to assault the ears and sanity of everyone present. Omid, along with every other bird present, turned their heads to stare at Taljir. The young man’s eyes were as wide as saucers and a flood of sweat broke through every dam and was now pouring from his face.

Though every bird was now staring, none of them made any other move. And as Omid stared he finally got to take in more of the scene. There were in fact a massive amount of birds on all sides in every size, shape, and color. The camels were still relaxed and resting as a few small birds sat on them and picked miniscule pests from their fur.

“Omid...” Taljir’s voice was low, and his tone and darting eyes made it clear that just the one word was very much a test. When nothing more happened after several seconds of silence, he continued after steadying his breathing. “What are we going to do?”

“Well…” Omid’s own first words were just as much of a test as he immediately bit his tongue and dared to shift his head around to ensure that no birds were about to make a move. He nodded to himself and then continued. “We have to consider that they may be able to understand us. So…”

A look of confusion crossed Taljir’s face as his mouth hung open and his brows pressed together before immediate understanding overtook him and he cast his eyes down and nodded. “I miss when that didn’t make sense.”

Just for the moment, Omid maybe missed that time just a little despite how his mind still ran wild with the notion of speaking to a bird. He frowned as he realized that might already be possible, and he may have already been rude to these new faces. Turning to the bird on his chest, he took that chance.. “Apologies if we have been rude, can you understand us?”

Complete silence and black avian stares from the massive flock was his answer. Taljir sat up slowly as he did not have a bird currently perched on his chest. The rest of his movements were slow as he looked around at the flock. “They don’t seem hostile. Curious! But not hostile. Just don’t startle them with sudden movements or loud noises.”

Omid thought to himself that he could work with that, and put a hand to the ground as he whispered a spell of Sense Earth. He had no idea what he would find, but a quick assessment of the environment was in order. There were, of course, more birds than he could count. Far beyond what was in the immediate area, he sensed more further out. Sure enough, as he looked further up the canyon walls he saw more birds all sitting and watching in silence. It was when he felt something else out there as he chanted his spell that something felt off.

There was something else out there. Something that was doing its best to elude description. Every night before sleep, Omid would chant Earth Sense and get a sense of what was out there. And every morning after waking, under normal circumstances, he would do the same to see if anything had changed. Something had of course changed, with all the birds out there. But something else was lurking in a more subtle fashion.

That something else was woven into so many places around them that it was easy to miss it at first. A mass and presence that had not been there last night but was now unmistakable once Omid knew it was there. Despite Taljir’s confusion, Omid looked around at their surroundings and noticed…things that were different. Despite the increase in vegetation this far into the mountains and canyons, there appeared to be more than he recalled last night. New, fully formed and healthy looking ferns that had sprouted in the night. More great vines that snaked their way across the canyon walls.

“Omid…” Taljir’s wavering voice brought Omid out of his growing panic, and what he pointed at instead accelerated that panic by shoving it down a hill face first.

There on a rock overhang that provided the camels some cover and shade, a vine hung down over Masel that held a familiar indigo flower.

The apprentice mage’s eyes flew open. He moved to bolt upright but stopped himself and grit his teeth as the bird on his chest reminded him not to move too suddenly. Omid ever so carefully tried leaning onto his side to encourage the small vibrant bird to hop off of him. After entirely too much coaxing until the last possible second the bird hopped off of the young man who then climbed to his feet and forced himself into an awkward slow walk.

Taljir grit his teeth and looked around to the flock as Omid did his best to force a slow walk upon himself as every instinct screamed at him to sprint over to Masel to make sure the most precious flower in the entire world was still secure and not in fact dangling above his camel like it obviously was. He had to confirm that, just like the flower, everything was now upside down and he hadn’t even realized it yet.

After making it to an unphased Masel, Omid threw open the leather satchel where the glass jar had been just last night. And still was. With the indigo flower still perfect and intact within. Omid’s panic turned to confusion as he held the glass jar up for Taljir to see, who’s expression matched his own.

“I…don’t…understand?” Taljir was asking everyone in attendance. A list that was far too large and much too incomprehensible for comfort.

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Omid looked back and forth between the indigo flower behind the glass, and the one dangling above his head as though some meaning would finally present itself if he compared them enough. “I…believe it’s metaphorical.”

“For what?”

“I have no idea.” The apprentice mage’s eyes followed the vine upward along the rock wall where it snaked back down onto the ground where the canyon opened up into the path that they had planned to continue down. Just as Taljir was following his gaze, every bird surrounded them took flight at once without a squawk or shriek between them. Only the all encompassing flapping of wings was heard as the pair of humans ducked down while the sun was blocked out by the feathered mass taking to the air.

Before either of the young men could figure out what was going on and feel anything more than panic, before Omid could form a stone barrier, the birds were already landing along the edge of the path forward. They sat like feathered sentinels and directed their attention back towards Omid, who’s own gaze fell towards something sitting in the middle of the path ahead.

Omid had fallen back against Masel, who remained completely calm during all of this. He pushed himself up off the camel before craning his neck to see what appeared to be vibrant green leaves laid on the path ahead. With a death grip on the glass bell jar, Omid crept closer to the path as Taljir climbed to his feet. The canyon had fallen silent aside from the flaps of a few final birds settling into place. Omid finally reached one of the leaves, and discovered the plant that they belonged to.

It took the apprentice mage a few moments to realize what he was looking at, as he picked a green flower from the sand and rock. His eyes widened as he realized that it was the same distinct color as the green scarf around his neck and just at the edge of his peripheral vision. He grabbed at his scarf while gripping the green flower to get a better look, comparing the two in his hand to confirm that it did indeed have the same coloration despite never seeing any other flower with green petals. And in a trail leading from where he stood to where the canyon path turned he spied a sparse trail of more vibrant green flower petals.

He turned to Taljir, holding the flower and scarf for him to see. Taljir tilted his head to the side before his eyes too grew with realization.

“I don’t understand this metaphor yet, but I don’t like it.” Taljir lamented while staring past Omid to the birds flanking the path forward.

Omid took several steps back from the path as he spoke. “Perhaps this is a greeting, or an invitation. We cannot be rude.”

“Well…” Taljir ran a hand through his black hair, scratching his head as recollection hit him. “I do aim to be the best guest that I can be?”

He looked to Omid with a shrug, hoping for some kind of confirmation that he was following what he assumed to be the rules at play in this situation. Omid gave a sympathetic shrug back as he too guessed at what had to be done.

With as much haste as they believed they could manage without disturbing the army of birds that were still staring them down, the pair of young men prepared for the day and mounted their camels. Nerves filled their stomachs and left no room for a proper morning meal even as they both felt like they might be marching towards their own execution. Omid knew they were fairly close to their destination, which made traversing the bird lined gauntlet even more unnerving.

He knew that they weren’t too far, and perhaps if things had gone even slightly different they could have avoided this. But countless tiny beady eyes all upon them made every stride of the camel drag out into aeons. The camels were calm, and didn’t startle at all when the birds began to squawk and chirp and call.

Not all at once, otherwise they may have panicked and spurred their camels into a gallop. Instead the feathered sentinels started with just a few of their number calling out. Omid and Taljir gave only mild notice to them at first but still tried to focus on the path forward. Still the birds called out at random, feeling ever more like they were taunting them. That was until, at some point that neither could identify, the individual calls of birds started to act as notes in a song.

A song that was cheerful and uplifting with a notable sinister air to it. Omid turned in his saddle to look back to Taljir and the two shared another anxiety ridden shrug. All that either could do was attempt to keep a measure of calm in the face of all of this. The song continued as their path became flanked by more colorful foliage that bloomed as they passed. Omid checked the instructions that Sareen had sent for the 15th time that day in the hope that he had missed something that would aid them here as he swore the song was growing more ominous and foreboding.

In sharp contrast to this, the foliage was getting even more vibrant and colorful. As he neared the final overlook that his instructions mentioned, near every color under the suns were in bloom and on display as the birds sang a funerary hymn. He held up a hand and their two man procession came to a halt as they overlooked what appeared to be an even more vast canyon rather than the comparatively cramped passages they found themselves in.

At the very moment that they dismounted the camels, the song stopped.

“Waiting alone was going to be nerve wracking before. But now?” Taljir shook his head as he caught up to Omid to stand next to him while looking all around at the gathered birds. “You’re certain I cannot join you?”

“The instructions are very specific.” The apprentice mage said as he held aloft the scroll, eyes still fixed upon the vast canyon before him that was surrounded by mountains that reached into the clouds on all sides. “Sareen assured me that you would be safe waiting here. And if I do not return, it will be on you to go and save the world. Let me show you again how to construct the circle-”

The taller young man interrupted Omid with a firm hand on his shoulder. “We’ve been over this before. But let’s review! If you don’t make it back, I will take my chances down here in a massive mountain range that shouldn’t exist that is filled with things that could easily kill me rather than return to a moon princess and tell her that I lost her man. But I assure you, I will do my best to die in such a way that does not endanger anyone else. Maybe Karimala and Baz will continue having better luck than us?”

There was no possible lie or manipulation of the truth that Omid could craft that would be convincing, leaving him to stare at the ground instead as Taljir held a broken smile. Not that Omid could fault him. Taljir had no magic, nor any relationship with an immensely powerful supernatural being. A shriveled husk of optimism was the only thing keeping that smile propped up as he tried to reassure Omid and himself.

A familiar, vibrantly colored songbird stared up at him before flying onto his other shoulder. The young mage shook his head, and forced himself onward rather than start talking in circles again. “If I don’t come back in two days, make a run for it.”

“And if I heroically try to wait and give you more time, what’s the absolute longest I could wait?”

“Three days.”

Taljir helped him load up a small satchel containing both the glass bell jar and a limited number of supplies to travel light. He shook hands with Taljir, and walked towards the edge with his new bird companion showing no signs of parting just yet. Stopping just before he could see over the edge of the canyon wall. Omid recalled that there was a trick to this that Sareen had him practice with her.

A ritual that would ensure that where stone walls ended and overlooked a deep canyon would reveal so much more. Omid stood at the overlook, then turned back towards Taljir and mumbled to himself while counting the number of steps. After the number and length of strides were locked in his head, he gave a final nod to Taljir before turning on his heel and holding the bell jar in his hands. A final deep breath was taken before he recited what he had spent his spare time memorizing.

“I come to you in a time of need.” Omid said as he walked forward in measured steps. “Oh you whose favor was gifted to me. Oh great and powerful, I seek your counsel. I come to you not in malice, but as a guest!”

At the word guest, Omid took a final step off the edge of that canyon cliff. No hesitation, though he did close his eyes as he started falling forward rapidly and air rushed around his ears. He stumbled as he found ground beneath his feet again. No crunch of sand and rock beneath his feet, but the feeling of living grass.

The bird perched on his shoulder chirped, and his eyes shot open to confirm that he was standing on grass. He raised his head to look around, and found an impossible paradise. Where he had just been falling into a canyon with only a reasonable amount of scattered foliage, he now found himself in a lush valley complete with trees that were taller than most buildings he had ever seen. His feathered companion chirped once more and flew off to land on a frond of some plant of vibrant yellows and reds he had never seen before, then stared at Omid as though it was waiting.

Omid carefully placed the bell jar in his satchel and hurried after the small bird.