Yin’s POV

I was exhausted. Floating behind Carlsen I could barely keep my eyes open, I just wanted to go to sleep and forget that this day even happened - my nerves were frayed from my run-in with that damned druid. My hands shook and I almost couldn’t fly straight, if I hadn’t acted quick enough today we might be dead right now.

Even though I was annoyed at Carlsen, it was not fair to take it all out on him; this would have been his first time seeing a druid - a homicidal one at that, and I couldn’t blame him for being scared. Honestly, I was surprised that we had survived, I sent a silent prayer to whatever God was listening if any of them were still up there.

“Let’s set up camp here.”

Relieved to finally have a spot to rest I laid down and closed my eyes; I was still scared that more druids would find us but sleep overpowered my anxiety and I fell into a deep rest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke to the sound of joyful birds, a welcome noise that I felt like I hadn't heard in eons. I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the greenery and the blue sky peeking through the leaves.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” Carlsen chuckled. He held his hand out and dropped a few rich, red berries into my palm.

I sat up and yawned, “what’s the plan for today?” I threw the berries into my mouth and followed it with the water that was left in my canister. My stomach growled, we need more food than just berries.

The bright morning light shone strongly through the canopy, illuminating Carlsen’s fiery hair giving the illusion of a halo. I knew that humans believed in otherworldly creatures called ‘angels’ and depicted them with glowing rings around their heads. I used to scoff at the notion of the Gods sharing their holy role with such creatures, but at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if angels did exist.

Carlsen stood up and stretched, I watched as his shirt rode up to reveal strong muscles usually hidden under a layer of armour. I bit my lip as I felt my cheeks flush, diverting my eyes I stared absentmindedly into the forest. The branches waved gently in the wind, I heard the chittering of small animals scurrying about - no doubt looking for their next meal.

“Today! We hunt the King.”

I felt my stomach drop, we had just fought a druid and already today we were going after the King?

“We don’t have much time to waste, after all, your powers are only temporary.”

I twisted my hands in my lap, I had forgotten that the mage had only given me my powers for a week. Cracking my knuckles anxiously, I peered up at Carlsen.

“How do we find where he is?”

Carlsen smiled down at me, “that’s where you come in handy! You can fly quite a distance, right?”

“Yes...but what does that have to do with anything?” What is he planning…

“Well, we knew that there is nothing left in Ignero,” Carlsen circled our small camp, hands clasped behind his back, “and the mage said he suspected the King was hiding in Ignero.”

I turned away from Carlsen, pretending to listen to him as I pressed my hands into the dirt. My stomach grumbled viciously and I proceeded to grow a few vegetables, determined to make a stew for breakfast before embarking on whatever plan Carlsen had. I would need my strength to fly anyways.

I willed my energy into the soft Earth, feeling the power flow through my body and out my palms. A few carrots sprouted up almost instantly, as well as a couple of potatoes; I dug my hands into the dirt and greedily pulled them out.

Carlsen turned abruptly and frowned, “are you even listening to me?”

I rolled my eyes, “Carlsen, I’m so hungry. Please, can we just eat something first?”

I was surprised that Carlsen wasn’t dying of hunger, does he have a secret food stash that I don't know about?

Suddenly feeling resentful about his imaginary food stash, I narrowed my eyes at him and huffed angrily.

Carlsen raised his hands in defeat, “Okay, okay, no need to get mad. I can go catch us a fish.”

I nodded my head in approval although I could probably eat a whole whale at this point. Carlsen left the camp and I went to grab a small pot from his supplies. I opened up his knapsack and rifled through the various items, he has so many items in here! It was like he was carrying his entire life in that bag.

I jostled through a few shirts that were haphazardly folded at the top of the bag, as I pushed them aside I came across a strange-looking book. The cover was a muted brown, it looked incredibly aged. The edges were torn and it was obvious that this book had been passed through many hands.

There was an emblem on the front of the book, the same symbol that we had seen when we first entered the forest - a druid symbol.

A powerful shiver ran up my spine. Why does Carlsen have a book that belongs to druids?

I picked up the book with shaking hands, scared to open it and uncover a secret that I wasn’t sure I wanted to learn. I felt the rough cover of the book, marked by centuries of hands handling it. I was almost sure that this must be a spellbook of some sort, so I flipped it open to the first page and surveyed the strange markings that covered the worn pages. It was all written in the ancient druid language.

“What are you doing, Yin.”

A voice came from behind me, startling me so bad that I dropped the book.

I spun around and saw Carlsen standing behind me, holding a dead fish by the gills.

I felt as all the blood drained from my face; heart pounding and stomach churning I picked the book back up and held it out towards him.

“What is this.” My voice was cold, I couldn’t let him know that I was afraid.

Carlsen sighed heavily, “I already told you, as knights, we are trained in-”

I interrupted him, feeling rage swirl up inside me. I knew he was lying.

“Knights don’t have access to druid spellbooks!”

Carlsen bit his lip, he looked uncomfortable. Something was wrong, why was he lying to me? He reached out to take the book but before he could grab it, I threw it on the fire.

“NO!” Carlsen instantly dropped the fish and leaped towards the fire. I watched in shock as he stuck his unprotected hand in the burning flames, desperate to retrieve the spellbook. He pulled the book out and ripped his shirt off, smothering the flames and trying to reduce the amount of damage done to the book.

The book had minimal scarring, just a few scorch marks embellished the ancient cover. I could hear Carlsen’s ragged breaths as his shoulders heaved in anger as he stood up.

Swallowing hard, I suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe.

He slowly walked over to where I was standing, towering over me. I couldn’t bring myself to meet his eyes.

“Why, why would you do that.” His voice sounded dead with no semblance of emotion.

Panic swept over my entire body, I needed to escape. Something was telling me not to trust this man anymore. I started to back away but he grabbed my shoulders, holding me in place.

“Carlsen-”

“Yin. Why did you do that? Answer me.”

Was he seriously questioning why I would burn a druids book?

My head started to spin, I couldn’t make heads or tails of this situation anymore. The fear that I had felt moments ago was swiftly replaced by irritation and fury. This wretched creature, whatever he was, dared to lay a hand on me?

I shook myself out of his grasp and glowered up at him. His golden eyes matched the anger that I felt.

“You DARE to touch a GOD?” I spat my words at him, my voice full of venom. The wind around us picked up, it howled loudly through this damned druid forest; the clacking of the branches creating a beat that matched my heartbeat.

Carlsen didn’t say a word, he continued to stare vehemently at me with his fists balled up at his sides.

Is he going to try to attack me? I was a God, a Ruler, a Holy creature - he wouldn’t dare try to harm me.

I threw my head back and chortled, “are you actually mad that I tried to destroy that stupid little druid book?”

“This book means more to me than you could ever know.”

My breath caught in my throat, it was starting to all make sense. He’s a druid.

The sounds of the forest disappeared and all I could hear was my own blood pounding in my ears. My vision swam and I couldn’t think straight, do I kill him?

The anger in Carlsen’s eyes was now replaced by sadness, he knew that I knew. The whole world seemed to come to a standstill as we were locked in a stare at each other - no one daring to make a move.

I had been tricked; conned; deceived. Had Carlsen been sent by the other druids to hunt me down and kill me? Was this why he took me to this forest? A million possibilities churned in my head but I knew one thing for certain - I had to escape.

Carlsen blinked languidly, “please, Yin, don’t be scared.”

Too late for that.

Without a word, I turned away from Carlsen and took a running start towards the trunk of a tree; the wind whipped by causing my hair to fly all over the place. I could hear Carlsen moving behind me, I wasn’t what he was doing but I wasn’t going to stick around long enough to find out.

I leapt towards the tree feet first and used it as a landing board to push off of and propel myself up into the air; I felt branches and twigs scratch my face as I flew up through the canopy. The leaves danced all around me, enveloping me within the greenery and I felt as if I was getting swallowed by the thicket.

“Yin!” I heard Carlsen call for me from far below. There was no hint of malice in his voice, but I could no longer bring myself to face him. He was an enemy and I had been foolish to trust him in the first place.

I continued my journey up through the trees, desperate to burst through the treetops and get as far away from him as possible. The trees seemed to blur together as I flew faster and faster, pushing my limits.

Finally reaching the top of the trees, I pushed through the last few branches and burst out into the warm sun. I almost fell back down as my eyes adjusted to the blinding sun and I saw the scene in front of me; for miles upon miles, there was absolutely nothing except a vast forest.

The forest stretched further than my own two eyes could see, a vast canopy of woodland that had no end, no escape. As I floated above the treeline, I closed my eyes and concentrated. There must be an exit back to Ignero somewhere.

In my mind, I could see Carlsen scrambling on the forest floor, he was shoving his items back into his bag and then he started to climb up a tree. I chuckled, it would take him forever to scale one of these massive trees. I moved my vision away from Carlsen and scanned the forest, I couldn’t see anything except various animals and more and more trees. There was nothing except woodland here.

I shuddered slightly, suddenly feeling cold even with the warm sun beating down on me. I opened my eyes and began to glide over the trees; I hoped that my intrinsic senses might be able to guide me to a safe area to exit the forest.

If only the other Gods could see me now, they would surely be bent over in half laughing their heads off. Their younger Sister having fallen into such a dumb trap, what a disgrace I was.

“Yin!” I whipped my head around and saw Carlsen poking out of the top of the trees. My mouth fell open in surprise and I thought maybe I was hallucinating.

“Yin, I can explain!”

I landed on a branch and grabbed a hold of it, pulsing energy flowed through me causing the tree that Carlsen was balancing on to shake violently. I wasn’t too eager to outright kill him, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t scare him enough to get him to stop following me.

“Fuck! Yin, stop!” I ignored his cries and continued to upset the tree he was on. With one last burst of power, I heard him scream and the crack of branches as he fell towards the ground. I felt bad but I couldn’t let my initial feelings for him cloud my judgement - he was dangerous.

Jumping off of the branch I continued through the sky, surveying the treetops below me, looking for any sign of human life or any that could point towards an escape from this cursed forest.

I travelled for hours, never seeing any sign of humans or any other creatures except the woodland animals. The afternoon sun was slowly fading in the dusk, it would be night soon and I still hadn’t eaten.

I circled back around to a small pond that I had seen earlier and slowly lowered myself to the ground. My muscles ached from flying for so long and my stomach was on the verge of eating itself.

I crouched down and splashed the cool water on my face, rubbing the stress out of my forehead and cheeks. I took a few mouthfuls of the welcome drink before taking off my shoes and relaxing my feet into the crystalline water. I pressed my hands into the soil and sprouted a few vegetables and various berry bushes; I feasted on my produce while a pair of ducks circled each other at the other end of the pond.

“It’s a new world,” I sighed, suddenly feeling forlorn. Life wasn’t supposed to be like this for me, I had been destined to rule over the Earth with my Sisters; not be trapped in a forest being chased by a handsome druid.

I shook my head furiously as images of Carlsen flooded my mind. His company had been nice, but now I was all alone once again - with no one to depend on except myself.

I laid down and stared up at the hastily disappearing light. I guess I’m just destined to be alone.

My eyes felt heavy and I let myself relax into the grass, feeling the soft caress of the water on my sore feet. I was about to drift into a deep sleep when I felt something grab my foot.