POV Achous Phantomwing

In front of me, Aia’s panic fades away and it is quickly replaced by her usual, innocent smile. She seems a bit too happy, maybe I shouldn’t have agreed so readily to her suggestion. Well, there’s nothing else I can do besides risk certain death, so I’ll follow her for now.

I make my way towards the small clearing in front of the bridge. From the moat-like river, Aia emerges. Her dress flutters, as if a subtle wind is blowing past her, but there is no wind around us. Probably just another one of her oddities.

The mist avoids Aia, as she walks towards me. “I’m part of the island, so it doesn’t try to obscure my path.” She explains, but it doesn’t clear anything up. “What do you mean, is the island alive?” I enquire. The frown on my face seems to be a permanent expression, whenever I ask her questions.

“The island gave birth to me and all the other spirits, so how can it be dead?” She answers. I don’t think that counts as an explanation, but the island being alive is the least of my worries right now. “So, miss spirit, where does this ‘Ancient’ live, don’t tell me he’s another water spirit?” I ask, a little sarcasm escaping my lips.

“Don’t worry silly, I’ll take you to the Ancient. He’s quite hard to miss, but you’ll understand when you see him.” She reassures me, her smile, turning a bit sly. Without waiting further, Aia starts walking into the forest. Around her, plants make way. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear the forest fears her.

With Aia next to me, the mist keeps its distance. Around me, I finally properly observe my surroundings. This island feels like a true paradise, with towering trees, a lush underbrush and a plethora of colourful flowers all around. I can only dream of ever planting such a majestic forest. Well, it’s not like anyone planted this forest, right?

After five minutes of walking, Aia breaks the silence. “These trees have been here for as long as I can remember, but the spirits inhabiting and protecting them have only been born recently. For the first three hundred years, it was only me and the Ancient inhabiting this island, but then the other spirits appeared. The Ancient says it’s caused by increasing density of ‘Elemental Essence’ on the island, whatever that means.”.

Unable to hold my curiosity, I ask, “Are you really so old? I find it hard to believe.”. “What’s so strange about it? I’ve felt the seasons change hundreds of time. Why does my age matter, it only implies how long I've been alive and nothing else.” Aia replies, looking at me like I’m the strange one here. “Of course not!” I blurt out. Aia stops abruptly. “Sorry about that,” I say, apologising.

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I collect myself and try to explain, “All living things, including myself, will grow old as the years go by. Age signifies how many years of your total life you've lived, that's why it's important”. A small frown forms on Aia’s face as she tries to comprehend what I said. After a minute, in a small voice, she says, “If you say so…”. I don’t think she understands what I said. Well, that’s unimportant right now.

The silence between us resumes, but I’m not intent on breaking it again. Let’s just get to this ‘Ancient’ as fast as possible. After thirty minutes, Aia stops again. In one, smooth motions, she turns to me. With her usual, prominent smile, she says “We’re nearing the Ancient, I hope he’s excited to see us! Come, we shouldn’t let him wait, he’s been so bored lately.”.

In less than a minutes’ walk, we arrive at an enormous clearing. My eyes widen, filled with absolute astonishment. In front of me, a giant… wait, that doesn’t justify it. A colossal tree stands firmly rooted in the ground. It’s at least half a kilometre tall, I can only guess because I can’t see the tree’s top. I can only see a couple hundred meters up; the rest is shrouded in the eternal darkness hovering over the island. The tree's base is wide enough to fit a city inside.

My lips quiver with slight hesitation as I speak, “Is this the Ancient?”. “What else could it be?” Aia replies, seemingly confused by my question. When will she understand that her common knowledge and mine don’t match up?

Without hesitation, Aia walks through the field of blue grass, surrounding the ‘Ancient’. After walking a hundred meters, she stops and says energetic, “He seems to be asleep… Don’t worry I’ll wake him up. You might want to close your ears; the other spirits usually complain whenever I do this.”.

Cover my ears? Before I can react, I hear an ear-piercing shout, “PLEASE WAKE UP, WE HAVE A GUEST!”. My head flies into a daze and I stumble over onto my back; how can a person scream so loud, is this a form of attack? Before I can stand up, the ground starts to rumble. Is this island breaking apart? My eyes flash in terror, is this how I’m going to die?

Aia quickly helps me up, the ground around is still violently shaking. With her smile growing wider by the second, she says, “Why are you looking so scared, it’s just the Ancient waking up.”. Waking up? Is there any difference between this and the world ending?

Before I can process what’s happening, the sight in front of me blows my mind blank. The giant tree starts to bend over and from the dark sky, two hill-sized branches fly down. Akin to two giant arms, they impact the ground, creating another shockwave.

As if the sky is falling, the whole tree trunk bends over and hovers directly over us, with the two arms/branches, supporting it. From the sky, a deep, slow voice, like thunder, rumbles in my ears, “Aia, my child, why did you wake me up? I was having the most peaceful dream…”.

My mouth hangs open, unable to make a sound.