▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 6║▌║▌║█│▌

I watched as everyone bustled about, and put food and resources onto the backs of the talking animals that were here. I looked over at John and Giselle, still standing at the spot where Garen was talking to them, and they looked shocked and in awe. I smiled knowingly and walked over to them. I stood beside John as we watched the bustling monsters run about. I said to him, “It’s pretty crazy isn’t it? One minute you’re a foster kid with everyone loving, the next you are a king’s kid with no one knowing you though. Monsters, gods, I wonder if they have aliens too haha. At least the air is a lot cleaner and fresher here right?”

John showed a smirk and let out a huff, but Giselle shot at angry glance at me. She scolded me saying, “How can you be joking at a time like this? We are stuck here for five years!”

I nonchalantly, and kind of cynically and spitefully, told her, “Not everyone was loved back there Giselle. What would I be going back to? Besides, I wasn’t even talking to you.”

John put his hand on my shoulder and told me calmly, “Hey chill out, she’s just shocked is all. She does kind of deserve it though in your eyes. What were you guys talking about over by the campfire while Elle and I were getting the background from deer man there.”

I explained to him what we were talking about, and he listened intently while Giselle sat down in the lush green grass. When I finished, John looked down and told me, “You really need to let that thing that happened with that kid in middle school go. Everybody in a position of power isn’t like him. Don’t even try to tell me that you weren’t thinking about that either, I know you were.”

Maybe he was right? I wasn’t directly thinking about that incident, but something like that may have affected my perception on people in positions of power. How can something like that not? I hate thinking about it though. I also think that there are a lot of other examples in history that get corrupt to. I still think something is up with this Zeus guy, but people are probably right maybe I’m just paranoid about people using other people. I looked at the ashes of the fire and told him solemnly, “Maybe your right.”

Garen then ran over to us and told us, “Come on let’s start to head out. We need to get to the Fairy Forest before nightfall.”

“Fairy Forest?” I asked.

Garen smiled as he said, “Yeah you’ll be amazed once you see it. It’ll probably one of the most beautiful things you’ll see in your life. Now let’s hurry, it’s already almost noon.”

We headed out through the woods. We were shaded by the giant trees. They were at least double the size of the red woods I saw on a school trip earlier in the year. Some had normal brown bark while others had white bark. I even saw a couple that were covered in green moss. I was walking with John and Giselle and while I didn’t feel comfortable around that ginger, I still felt more comfortable around John than anybody else. It was a silent and awkward walk for the most part, and eventually John turned to me and asked, “Can you give me and Elle a minute? We need to talk about some things.”

Confused, I told him, “Uhh, sure. I have some more questions to ask Garen anyway.”

When did Giselle suddenly become Elle to John, I wonder? I started to walk towards the front of the line where Garen was, and as I passed everybody on the way, they grew quiet and stared at me. This is getting annoying. I should probably man up and apologize to them about what I said about their Zeus. I’ll do it when we are all gathered at the Fairy Forest tonight I suppose. I eventually caught up to Garen in the front. He looked at me and smiled as he asked, “Decided to join me up front huh? I’m afraid I can’t offer as much conversation about the trends in your world as them though.”

I chuckled a bit, “Trust me, there wasn’t much conversating going on over there. It was extremely awkward. That girl and I aren’t exactly the best of friends.”

“I know. I heard that conversation you guys were having on that bus before I fired up the magic again.”

He heard that huh? I guess that’s expected. We weren’t exactly being quiet in there. I changed the subject and asked him, “So how long is Mount Olympus from here?”

“It’s about a month away from here. We are at the southern end of Zeus’s land, and Mount Olympus is at the northern tip of it. It could be worse though. Since Zeus’s land is in like an oval shape, it would be really bad if we had to go from east to west.”

A month’s journey? This is going to be a killer. I asked him, “Did you guys have to make the journey down here too?”

“Oh no, that would take way too much time. Zeus had a magician teleport us and our supplies here. He did the same with every other retrieval group too, so the transport magicians don’t have enough magic to bring us back through teleportation.”

They have teleportation magic too? Just what type of magic do they not have? All this talk of Zeus reminded me of apologizing though, and since I am already having a one on one conversation with him, I decided to just apologize to Garen right now. I told him with my head down, “I’m sorry for talking about Zeus like that. It seems like you all care a lot about him, and I shouldn’t judge someone when I don’t know him. I have trust issues with people in power dating back to when I was in middle school, so I hope you can understand. Can you also gather everyone else up when we get to the Fairy Forest? I’d like to apologize to them too.”

He laughed when I told him this. His merry outcry carried through the dense forest. He looked at me and said, “It’s fine. I understand why you thought that way. You aren’t from here, so I don’t expect you to understand everything right away. I’ll gather everyone up in the Fairy Forest for you though, but you won’t have to wait long for that meeting. The Fairy Forest is just over that hill.”

I looked at him in disbelief. My curiosity ended taking control of my body, and I rushed up the hill. I then gazed upon the forest, and it really was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life.

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued║▌║▌║█│▌