Sanctum of the World

“Wake up, little one,” says the soft voice.

Amethyst opens her eyes and looks around. Her surroundings had changed so much since she drifted off for her nap. She untangles herself from the soft auburn hair and sits on the Elf’s shoulders, looking around. There’s a salty echo of the sea in the mist. The air is humid from recent spring rain. They are walking along a path through dense forest. The wood is alive with the cheerful sounds of nature. The trees are a combination of tall redwoods, maple, and dogwood.

“Where are we?” she chimes in a soft, crystalline voice.

“Lantafalma.” Lyric, the Elf, replies.

The Fae glances at her companion, “That doesn’t sound like a Human place. I thought you said we were going to Earth. Last I heard, there were no Elves left on that world.”

Lyric chuckles softly, making the pixie-sized creature on her shoulder bob up and down. “We are on the Mortal Plane, little one. This place is special.”

“Oh?” chimes the crystalline voice.

“This is one of the rare regions of concentrated magic in this world. It holds the last known portal to The Sanctum.”

“Lantafalma, I like the sound of it.” The Fae creature smiles.

The Elf smiles back. “I’m glad you approve. We’ll be staying here for a while.”

“What?” the small creature squeaks on her shoulder. The raised voice is a high-pitched tone nearly out of Human range. Lyric winces slightly.

“Sorry,” the small creature blushes.

“I understand your surprise, but we need to scout the area before we attempt to use the portal here. We’ve not heard from The Sanctum in decades. We must be cautious. Humans here dislike strangers setting up camp, so I have secured lodging.”

Amethyst stands up, holding on to the Elf’s ear to make sure not to fall off as they enter a clearing and approach a small cottage. It’s a quaint little place, only really suitable for one person. The elegant walls are made of polished local stone with stained glass windows and a clay tile roof. Elven architecture inspired its ornate design, as it blends in with the surrounding forest. In this form, the Fae doesn’t take up a lot of space, so the single-bedroom cottage will be more than enough for the Elf to sleep in.

They step through a beautifully crafted wooden door with a stained glass window. Amethyst admires the craftsmanship. They cut and shaped the pieces to look like a blooming flower on a vine.

“We’re going to stay here at least overnight.” Her Elven companion comments. You may not have been walking all this time, but for me, it’s been a long journey.”

Amethyst hops off her companion’s shoulders and flies throughout the cottage. Exploring the various nooks and crannies. She returns in a few moments as her companion is unpacking her travel bag into a small dresser in the bedroom.

“There are things in this cottage I’ve not seen before.” The flying creature reports.

Lyric chuckles. “Humans here have inventions many in the other realms have not seen before. What they lack in mystical ability, they’ve compensated for with technology.”

“Techno-what?” asks the small purple glowing figure floating in front of Lyric’s face.

“Technology, here, make yourself larger, so I can show you.”

The fairy lands on the ground, and expands to medium size, appearing much like a meter and a half tall young teen. She could easily be mistaken for a Human girl of fourteen or fifteen years of age.

As her eyes dim down to a crystalline amethyst colour, she looks up at the Elf, “Is this big enough?”

Lyric nods, looking at her companion, truly seeing the Fae for the first time. The girl’s skin is a soft white, like mother-of-pearl or polished porcelain. She wears a soft purplish off-white long-sleeve shoulder-less tunic. An embroidered cream doe-leather vest is tied to her body like a corset, making the bottom of the tunic appear to be a skirt. The embroidery on the arms of the tunic resembles silvery-white flowers and vines, matching the patterns on the vest. Her outfit has changed since they first met, denoting an Elven influence.

Covering the girl’s legs are lilac leggings ending in a pair of soft cream-coloured flats. She could be mistaken for a Human girl dressed up as a princess. Her amethyst eyes, peaked ears, and pastel rainbow shoulder-length hair are the true tells that this girl may not be entirely Human. As Amethyst is tying her hair up in a tall pony tail, her gossamer lilac wings unfold and flap to air themselves out. They move naturally and definitely won’t be mistaken as a prop.

“You will have to hide your wings when out in public.” Lyric reminds her.

“Hide my wings?” they flutter as she objects.

“You won’t be able to pass your gossamer dragonfly wings as a costume. They’ll be too noticeable. Until we reach The Sanctum, humanity shouldn’t see your natural form.”

The fairy pouts and sighs. “Fine,” she chimes in a crystal voice, and folds the wings about her torso. The wing pattern blends into her bodice, looking to be a mere decoration on the vest.

“And your ears,” pointing out that, with her hair now tied up, the points of her ears are too noticeable.

Amethyst frowns. Her eyes glow as she concentrates. She pushes her index fingers on her ear tips and they round down. “Better?”

The Elf nods. “Would you be able to do that with mine as well? So that I don’t have to worry about hiding my long ear-tips in my hair?”

The fairy nods and motions for the Elf to lean forward. The woman leans down, bowing to the Fae. Again Amethyst’s eyes glow, with a touch of her hands the Elf’s ears and face take on a more Human appearance.

Amethyst steps back, “The glamour won’t last more than a few days. I’ll have to do this again if we stay here longer.”

The Elf nods, “Thank you, my friend.”

The girl nods and smiles, “That’s what I’m here for.”

“That and so much more,” Lyric comments to herself.

The girl turns to look at the big grey screen on the wall beside her, “What’s that?”

Lyric stands and follows her gaze, “That is a television.”

“Tel-e-vi-sion,” the fairy repeats slowly, turning the word around on her tongue. “What does it do?” Her eyes sparkle with wonder and excitement.

“It’s a form of entertainment,” the Elf smiles, picking up a small, hand-sized thin box. “This remote controls the wall display,” she points at the buttoned device in her hand.

To demonstrate, she pushes the red button at the top of the small box, and the wall lights up in moving colour and sound. The girl gasps, eyes wide as she gazes at the screen in amazement. “It’s like an illusion!” she cocks her head to the side, “but flat.”

“That’s a quick and simple way of looking at what this does, yes. These are public broadcasts, including news, information, and entertainment. The remote allows you to choose a show or performance that you like.”

“Can you interact with the illusion?” the girl ponders out loud, touching the screen gently.

“No, it’s just something to watch. If you want to interact with entertainment, you need one of these.”

Lyric moves over to the kitchen’s island counter. Beside a strange-looking book, she picks up another slim box with a glass face, turns around and hands it to the fairy.

“This is a cell phone. Humans primarily use it for communication, but it can do much more. You can perform other tasks such as searching for information, and playing games,” she presses the power button before releasing it.

Amethyst looks at it in wonder as the device shows an animated logo. The screen flashes the lock screen with the time, date, and weather, then goes dark. The girl stares at the darkened glass face, and then back at her companion, “How does it work?”

“Press the dimple at the bottom of the screen.”

Amethyst does so and the screen lights up again. The device chimes, startling her, and she nearly drops it.

“Careful, those can be expensive to replace. You don’t want to break it.”

The Fae nods, looking the device over. “What strange writing…” she mumbles. Her eyes glow as she whispers a spell and then smiles, “There, now it’s legible.”

The Elf looks at her small companion in amazement. “If only I could translate things with a mere incantation,” she mumbles. It took Lyric decades to learn only one or two of the human tongues. When she can, the Elf borrows a Comprehend Languages scroll, but it’s not a spell she can cast on her own.

Lyric patiently shows Amethyst how the cell phone works. Noting that, when she’s in the mortal realm, she can’t just send off a Message spell. “This is how Humans talk to one another over long distances.”

For those who may not know, Fae love shiny things, and Amethyst is enthralled with this new device. Lyric shows her how to change the colours of the display to what she likes. The Elf produces a similar device from a belt pouch and shows the Fae how to contact each other by voice or text. Once she covers the basics of the device, Lyric shows her some simple things that might amuse her friend — of course, the Gems game would be the one the Fae enjoys the most. Once convinced that the Fae could use the cell phone without breaking it, Lyric stands up.

“There is a bigger version of this over here on the counter,” she walks over to the strange book and opens it.

Amethyst looks up from her game as the screen lights up. The flat image resembles the ‘television’ on the wall, but the bottom of the open book bears lettered buttons. Tied on a cord to the book is a strange palm-sized ovoid.

“The mouse is used to move this pointer on the screen.”

Amethyst blinks, then looks around the room, her eyes glowing slightly, “I don’t detect a mouse.”

Lyric chuckles, “This ovoid object, the Humans call it a ‘mouse’. It’s not a real mouse, it only helps move the little arrow on the screen like this… ”

“Why do they call it a mouse?” the Fae probes as she’s shown how it works.

“I don’t know, Little One. Humans have odd names for many of the things they’ve created.”

“Such strange creatures,” the Fae muses.

“That’s putting it lightly,” the Elf giggles.

The Fae becomes enthralled as Lyric shows her how this strange book device that the Elf calls a ‘laptop’ works. Lyric smiles as Amethyst giggles over the name. As a mystical creature, she wasn’t expecting the Fae to catch on to Human technology so quickly, but the cunning little fairy seems to connect with the laptop on a level she’s only seen few possess. Soon, the curious girl is showing her things on the device that the Elf hadn’t even learned yet. What was the term her Human friends once used? Oh, yes… geek. Her little fairy friend was a natural geek. That could prove to be both advantageous and problematic — seeing as how curious Fae can be.

When convinced Amethyst won’t likely break the laptop, Lyric stretches, and yawns. “I’m going to grab something to eat and get some rest. Unlike you, little lazy one, I’ve been walking most of the day. Luke assured me that Angel would restock the icebox when I called ahead and told them of our arrival.”

The fairy pouts, “Walking is boring, and you can’t keep up with me when I’m flying.”

The Elf chuckles, “No, I don’t think anyone can keep up with you when you’re flying. Even at a full run, you still move faster than I can.”

Lyric walks around the counter to a large ornate cast-iron box. Brass inlays form vines and leaf-like designs, making it as attractive as it is functional. The chest has two doors in the front. The Elf opens the large bottom door, pulling out some fresh lettuce and vegetables to make a salad.

“Can I help?” Amethyst volunteers.

“Gather some bowls out of the cupboard there,” pointing to her left. “If you want some, I’ll make enough salad for two.”

“Yes, please,” the Fae chimes.

As Lyric dices up the vegetables into smaller morsels. The girl bounces over to the cupboard and looks up. They designed the kitchen for adults. At only a meter and a half, there is no way to reach the cupboard handle at her height. After hopping a few times, she sighs. Her eyes glow as she reaches up again, this time growing in size to the same height as her companion. She removes two stoneware bowls from the cupboard. Turning around, her eyes dim as she shrinks back to her previous size. The girl hums to herself as she places the bowls on the counter.

Lyric glances over and chuckles, “Most people would have asked for help, or gotten a stool or chair. The cutlery is in the drawer beside the washbasin.”

“That would have taken too long,” Amethyst retorts playfully while pulling open the drawer. She gathers two forks, then sits down on a bar stool. She watches her companion mix the salad in a large bowl before portioning it out between the two of them.

The Elf returns to the ‘ice box’ and removes a small bottle, pouring sweet-smelling liquid onto her salad. “Care for some dressing?”

The Fae nods and watches as the liquid is poured. The salad dressing, as the Elf calls it, is deliciously sweet and tangy at the same time.

The two converse about their plans for the next day while eating: Check out the portal, see if it’s still active as her contacts have assured, then make contact with someone on the other side. Hopefully, the day will go as simple as the plan sounds. Originally Lyric was going to scout alone, but the fairy insists on joining her, not wanting to be alone in this strange place.

The Elf doesn’t object. She’s learned in their months-long journey that it is pointless to argue with the energetic little creature. While the girl seems very pleasant and outgoing, one does not cross the Fae. The one time she saw Amethyst lose her temper, it was a frightening experience.

She studies her companion, thinking that the term ‘girl’ probably isn’t completely accurate. The Fae appeared to be a young thing, but who knew just how old she actually was? When she shifted to adult size, the Fae ‘aged’, resembling a young adult. Appearances can be deceiving for long-lived races. As an Elf, Lyric is already a few centuries in age, but by Human standards, she resembles your average twenty-year-old. It’s quite possible that the Fae is the same age, or even older. She read that fairies never truly age. The elders of the Forest Fairy village didn’t look much older than the children running around them. For all she knew, Fae live millennia like the Elves, or may not die of old age at all. As closely as her clan had worked with the Fae from the Forest Realm, they never truly knew their mystical cousins.

What Lyric knew of her companion is that Amethyst has talents in the arcane — unlike her surface cousins who revere nature. Amethyst is a Grotto Fae who lives underground. The fairy’s power seems to be focused through gems and crystals. Like the silver-wire-wrapped gemstone that bears her name around her neck. She carries more with her in a small pouch. Although Lyric would have preferred working with a woodland fairy, the elders chose Amethyst for her abilities, insisting they needed her.

“So, who’s going to do the dishes?” the Elf asks once they’re done eating.

Amethyst waves her hands over the dirty bowls, and the bits of food and dressing disappear. The Fae then snaps her fingers and the bowls vanish.

“There, done and put away,” she beams, hops off the stool, and picks up the phone to explore it more.

“Well, I guess I don’t have to explain how a dishwasher works with you around then,” Lyric grins. “I’m going to rest. We may have a long day tomorrow. Try not to stay up too late.”

“Okay,” the Fae smiles, poking at the screen in her small hands, already absorbed in her game of Gems.

“Like a magpie, drawn to shiny and pretty things.” Lyric shakes her head. So far, Lyric had caught the little creature ‘acquiring’ things more than once. It was hard to get angry at the fairy, though. Amethyst was not stealing out of greed, mischief, or malice. She was just drawn to the object. More than once in their travels, they picked up a trinket or two that the Elf paid for, as Amethyst was unwilling to part with her new ‘possession’.

Amethyst has already been a handful as it is. “Let’s hope that it has been worth it,” Lyric muses. She changes out of her dusty travel clothes and slips into a soft, comfortable shift. Pulling back the covers, she reaches out to the side table and turns off the small tulip-shaped lamp, then climbs into bed. She relaxes, letting her mind and body rest. It’s so good to be in a safe place for a change.