Rain and her group of companions wandered through the rainforest by the hidden paths that only the elves knew existed, leading the way for the mothers, children, elderly and disabled elves and their familiars behind them.

They followed paths that only the Arcadians Knew of. Outsiders were met with thick foliage of vines, tree roots, man eating plants the size of horse-drawn carriages, quicksand and the familiars that guarded the elven kingdom.

The elves, however, were in tune with the heavy forest and it opened itself up to them in a clear dirt path dotted with random pebbles. Soft sunlight filtered through the canvas of greenery above, casting pale shadows along the path. It was almost as if they were walking through a tunnel created by the surrounding plant life, in fact, that's exactly what it was.

The sound of soft paws hitting the earth echoed around them as several animal figures sifted through the trees and foliage on each side of the evacuee caravan, as if an escort was summoned to protect them on their journey. Rain knew what they were, fellow familiars who would be staying to fight.

"We are almost to the edge of Arcadian territory." Solar spoke, breaking her from her thoughts. “Once we reach the Crags, we can move around them and then it will take about a day to reach Alexhand.”

She nodded then and glanced at Colorful who was still in his familiar form.

“Colorful, you managed to kidnap me, you can change back to your elven form now.”

I like this form Rain, just like you like your birb form. He chided.

"By the way," she said, turning her attention to Solar and Christopher, who were further up the path. "Where are Topia and Leaves?" Topia was Solar's lion familiar, Leaves was Christopher's panther familiar.

"Neither wanted to come along, they wanted to guard the forest." Solar explained.

Usually, Elves didn't travel without their shifter companions, but lately this norm had begun to change within their society.

All members of Arcadia were shape shifters and familiar tamers. Many learned to use other magics but for the most part they took pride in being able to turn into animals. Rain had the highest ability to tame any familiar, which was rare since most elves could only tame one familiar in their life time.

Familiars were spirits of the Arcadian Rainforest who protected the elves and their home. The bond between elf and spirit went back centuries, it was sacred, once an elf bonded to a familiar they gained the ability to shift to that familiar's form and the familiar gained the ability to shift to an elven form. There were differences however, familiars were always stuck with parts of their animal anatomy even after they shifted.

The bond allowed both spirit and elf to gain certain abilities that were hidden until the bond was complete, this was the blessing given to them by the great Rainbirb of the Arcadian Rainforest. An ancient phoenix familiar who allowed the creation of the Arcadian Rainforest. However, once bonded, it didn't always mean the familiars and elves had the best of relationships.

Wanting to be like her friend, Rain turned into her birb form. A small blue birb whose beak and feet were white, and a set of tiny deep blue eyes lay in the small face. Flapping her wings, she settled herself on Colorful's back.

Fair enough. She said cheerfully through her telepathy. He gave a low chuckle that reverberated deep within his belly .

Colorful? Rain asked, looking back down the path.

He's fine Rain. He answered knowingly. The main reason Weslo sent his familiar with Rain was because the bond between familiar and tamer allowed them to know when the other was in danger or alive. If one died, the other would feel the loss through the bond. Once an elf died, its spirit became one with the familiars of the forest, taking on the form of the familiar it bonded with in life.

That's what familiars were after all, Spirits of the elves who gained physical form after a bond was complete. They lost this ability once the elf died, but they could form another bond with another living elf. The elves never chose which spirit they bonded with, the spirit chose the elf. Sometimes it was an ancestor, other times it was a friend.

Only Rain possessed the ability to choose her familiars and the ability to shift into any of her bonded spirits. She could even shift into the great Rainbirb for some reason. Welso thought it was because she was a descendant of the spirit. That’s what made her royalty. All royal elves were descendants of the great spirit.

Solar stopped abruptly; the others followed suit.

"What's the matter?" Christopher asked.

"Look." Solar commanded, pointing through a spot in the trees. "A part of the land is missing."

Christopher gave him a puzzled look. Rain darted her tiny eyes back and fourth between them.

Further down the line, Amaterasu’s ears pricked, and he rushed forward to see what Solar was talking about. “Halt.” He motioned to the civilians to stop, and then rushed to see for himself.

Rain, Colorful, Christopher and Amaterasu followed Solar through the trees until they came upon a crater in the ground, pausing at the edge. It wasn't deep by any means, but it was almost as if something had removed a huge portion of the forest.

Below, the crater filled with water from the streams that once flowed through the land that was there. The water now flowed downward into the wide crater, forming a spring at the bottom.

"When did this happen!?" Solar exclaimed furiously. "How did we not know about this!? "

Magic. Colorful said, peaking up their interest.

“Magic?” Amaterasu said confused. He felt it as well, but it was just strange, he stepped closer to the ledge and then he disappeared.

AMMY! Rain cried through her telepathy, but her friend was no longer linked.

Before anyone could ponder on what happened, the wind picked up, the sudden burst of air knocked Rain off of Colorful’s head and sent her spiraling through the forest, her friends’ voices barely more than a whisper as the crazy wind carried her further away.

Rain gathered her strength and fought to gain control of her wings as it battered against her. Finally, she managed to grab hold of a low hanging branch, just as soon as she did, the wind died down. She peered through the trees, trying to look for the others, but she didn’t see them, she didn’t even recognize her surroundings.

Where am I? Ammy….

Before she could ponder much further on what just occurred, another gust of wind knocked her off the branch and onto the ground below. Frustrated, she chirped angrily.

Suddenly, warm hands swooped her up and Rain looked up to see something she had only heard of in stories. An angel? She thought to herself, blinking her tiny eyes in confusion.

She studied the mysterious creature, the angel carried her into a cavern like place where the earth dipped beneath a large boulder.

The sky outside grew dark. The small birb watched where she perched from a large rock, as the angel gathered sticks and made a small mound on the cavern floor.

"Flamma." The angel said in a feminine voice, with her hands open over the mound. Instantly the mound caught fire.

A crack of lightning struck the ground outside the cave. Rain chirped out in defiance. The angel swooped Rain up and placed her on her shoulder. "You can stay there, you'll be safe." She said. Rain snuggled herself close to the angel's cheek in thanks.

"Awwwe! Such a cute birb!" The angel squealed with delight.

Though the cave was dark, Rain noticed by firelight that the angel was beginning to loose her feathers.

"The atmosphere in the realm of Gaia is toxic to Celestial beings." Rain remembered her brother's voice as he had once told her stories about the realm human souls went to once they died. She sometimes wondered why Elven souls were given a chance to become familiars.

She felt sad for the creature but was thankful that it had decided to help her. When dawn broke, Rain stood outside the cavern, up in the sky she noticed a circular object. From this object a golden light was emitted. That must be where the angel came from. Rain thought to herself.

"Little birb! Where did you go?" The angel's voice called from the cave. The angel emerged from the cave.

"He-hello. Where did you come from?" The angel asked Rain. She was now back to her normal form.

"Thank you for helping me last night." Rain said in thanks. "In your kindness, you spared me from a dreadful fate and I am forever in your debt."

"What? You are the birb?" The angel asked astonished.

"Indeed I am." Rain replied. "My name is Rain, I am an elf of Arcadia. I am a shape shifter and a familiar tamer. I am also lost."

Àskériàn listened as Rain told him her story. It matched evenly with what he saw in the star crystal.

"So there you have it." Rain said in ending, "my story."

"It's beautiful." Àskériàn said. "That's what I saw in her memories."

Rain nodded.

"Are you sure you’re ok with her not remembering this?" He asked.

"As I said before, it's Ardent. I doubt she’ll forget completely." Rain answered.

Àskériàn looked around. The Celestial moon was nigh in the voided sky.

"And this place? Can you tell me about it?" He was eager to learn as much as he could about this world. It was full of mystery.