Adele's Stories

Mother Nature

The trees dipped and swayed as I walked through them, the breeze following me gently. Their leaves turned green in succession as I passed by, my fingers trailing over them lightly. Purple, pink and red flowers blossomed in my footsteps and blue and white bulbs emerged from the bushes. I smiled as rabbits and deer tentatively poked their heads through the brush trying to discern if spring had yet come. The large white deer beside me assured them winter had ended.

Verin was the constant companion of the Mothers of Nature. That’s what we called ourselves, based off the human legend of us; Mother Nature. Really we were just a family of elves with the best jobs. I and my mother before me and her mother before her and so on, bring the changing of the seasons. My mother had retired last year and finally passed the torch on to me. I had been apprenticing for years but now I am officially Mother Nature.

Walking through the forests with Verin beside me always made so happy I was born into the nature elves. The ocean elves and sky elves are cool, but nature is by far the best.

Verin nudged me with his shoulder and directed me onto another path. I smiled at his guidance and coaxed the flowers around us to bloom. The path widened before us and we soon found ourselves before a frozen river. Verin nudged me forward and we walked across the river together, the ice melting behind us revealing the crystal water hidden beneath.

Woodland creatures emerged from the trees behind us, tentatively bending down to test the water. As we reached the other side the trees seemed to sway in welcome, begging us to bring them back to life. Before I could reach the trees though, Verin stopped at the bank and turned his head to look behind him. Curious, I turned to look too. The animals had all scattered, rushing through the brush in fear. I turned to Verin concerned.

He shook his ahead and stamped his foot. It was a warning. I took a step back, looking around uncertainly. Verin turned his head to look at me. The look in his eyes told me to run. Why did I need to run? I couldn’t leave Verin here alone to face whatever it was that was coming.

Verin huffed and pawed at the ground. I knew what that meant too. If I didn’t leave now he was gonna make me leave. Choking back tears, I turned and ran. The forest turned green around me as I ran, struggling to keep up with me. I took quick notice when the deer, rabbits, squirrels, and other woodland creatures began running beside me. But what we were running from I had no idea.

We didn’t stop until the trees ended and we emerged onto the meadow surrounding the elven village. I spun around the face the forest as elves emerged out of their homes and gathered around to see what at all the ruckus was about.

The forest had come alive with the rebirth of spring, recovering quickly from the speed with which I had to do it. We stood together, animals and elves, as we watched the smoke appear above the trees. There was a collective gasp and we heard the loud noise of what we could only assume was a human machine. We’d seen and heard them occasionally at the edge of the forest, but never this loud or this close.

But just as we feared it would find us, the noise stopped. It was hours before we were brave enough to investigate. There was evidence of a large something having been in the forest but that was about it. I knew the only reason the forest was still standing was because of Verin. But Verin was no where to be found.

In the years to come the humans would spread around a legend of a large white stag who protects the forests, but no one had ever caught him. And that didn’t stop them from invading the trees. But every now and then there was a story of a mysterious presence forcing them back.

But the elves never saw him again. From that day on Mother Nature brought the changing of the seasons on her own.

Guardians of the Waters

There was nothing in the world better than being an ocean elf. Swimming with dolphins, playing in the waves, coloring the coral. The sky elves and nature elves were cool, but no one had as much fun as the ocean elves.

We were the guardians of the waters. Watching over the creatures and healing the reefs were what we were made for. It was on one these day, that me and some of my friends were gliding among the coral when the dolphin appeared.

Naturally, we thought nothing of it. We saw dolphins all the time, it was the sea creature that the ocean elves had the closest bond with. But today, as much as we wanted to, we couldn’t play with the dolphin as we were sent on an assignment to check up on the reef.

The dolphin swam in a circle around us, clicking anxiously and tossing his head. I sent a look to my friends next to me and we all stopped to watch the dolphin. She continued to circle us and cry out in distress. We could see nothing physically wrong with her so we assumed she was asking us to follow her.

We all looked at each other with silent questions. We were not allowed to leave the reef until our job was done, but there was a chance that whatever was going on with the dolphin was more urgent. I made a decision. I didn’t stop to see if the others joined me, I just followed the dolphin.

It lead me through the crystal waters farther and farther from the reef. Farther than I had ever been before. I almost turned back when I realized how far we were going. We weren’t allowed to come out this far.

But when we began to near what it was that had this dolphin in such an anxious state, I knew there was no turning back now. A young dolphin, very obviously not even a year old, was tangled up in a net. My fellow elves pulled up beside me and we all looked on in horror.

The net was attached to a human boat. None of us had ever seen a human or anything related to humans before, nor were we allowed to. It was why we weren’t allowed to come out this far. But its too late now. We’re here and we needed to do something.

I was the first to move, tugging at the net, trying to free the young dolphin. It didn’t even take a moment for the others to join me and we struggled together to remove the net. Just as we were about the set the dolphin free, the boat began to move, taking the dolphin away from us at an alarming speed.

We didn’t even think before we started chasing after it. We sliced through the blue waves, and weaved in between the reefs and other creatures in our race to reach the boat. We didn’t even pay attention to where it was we were going and for a moment I feared we’d never find our way home.

And then suddenly the boat stopped. We didn’t hesitate before finishing freeing the dolphin, who clicked at us gratefully before swimming away with it’s mother. But before we could begin the long swim home, the humans threw in another net. I fought panic as my foot got tangled and my friends scrambled to free me.

Freeing myself was easier than freeing the dolphin but ten times as scary. The moment I was free we raced back toward our reef. Now I knew why we weren’t allowed to go out that far. And I swore I never would again. That was until the next dolphin was in danger.

After all we were the guardians of the waters.

Rulers of the Sky

Any one who knows anything knows the sky elves are the best. The ocean elves and nature elves were cool but none were as magnificent as the sky elves. After all, we ruled the skies.

No feeling could compare to that of soaring through the sky on the back of a giant bird. Chasing the thunder clouds and racing lightning. There was nothing like it. No other elf could have as much courage and daring as us sky elves.

It happened on of my leisure days. Firestarter and I were soaring through the clouds, doing flips and dives, just having a good time in general. When all of a sudden a large beast happened upon us. It was loud and emitted dark smoke as it glided through the sky. At first I was terrified, but as it got closer I realized it wasn’t a beast at all, but a human machine.

I stared in utter shock before managing to pull myself together. The human machines had never flown in this part of the skies before. As I pondered this, it occurred to me which direction the machine was flying in. Right towards the annual gathering of the sky elf lords. I needed to warn them.

I urged Firestarter forward and we zipped through the clouds, hot on the trail of the human mechanism. It was easy to catch up to as Firestarter was nearly as fast as it was. But passing it was another matter entirely. It admitted a dark smoak that impeded our vision and choked my air ways.

I coughed heartily and wasn’t able to stop until Firestarter maneuvered to get underneath the machine. We flew parallel with it for what felt like ages. Fear began to creep into my chest as I worried how we would ever get ahead of this thing. Then the miracle happened.

A harsh wind began blow, coming in from behind us. Firestarter and I were masters of riding the winds. We circled around the machine to get above it and once Firestarter caught the wind beneath his wings we raced ahead.

It wasn’t long before I could see the gathering before us. We tumbled into their midst and I gave my urgent message before they could recover and demand what I was doing there. They didn’t quite believe me at first but once they heard the machines approach they followed quickly as we hid in the clouds high above.

The human’s flying machine was the worst thing that could have happened to the sky elves. We were forced to continuously move around trying to avoid the places we knew the humas lived, and hiding in the clouds had soon become second nature.

We were forbidden from interacting with humans or anything associated with humans, but there were the few unknown rebels who would mess with the human machines, creating malfunctions and chaos. Sending a clear message to the humans, letting them know who truly ruled the skies.