A Younger, Brighter Etheria

Chapter 1: A Younger, Brighter Etheria

                      Argon, the purple Dragon with his two fairy companions: Clair, the blue fairy with his ability to see in the future and Goldie, the golden fairy with her ability to multiply gold were transported back in time. A time before Etheria had been overcome by the dark dragon.

They had forgotten the amazingly sweet smell of crocus that penetrated all through the air. The calm and peaceful feeling surrounding the land! The castle, that stood on the mountain in the middle of the woods was standing brightly. There was a rainbow arching above it; the woods still damp from the rain. Etheria seemed all refreshed and renewed.

The woods were full of life. The many trails had endless possibilities of hidden treasures. Fairies were happily buzzing their wings with the bumble bees. The sweet smell of strawberries mixed with the smell of the crocus as the butterflies were fluttering from flower to flower. Everything was so green. 

They were so thrilled that they had gone back to a time before all the dark days of destruction and devastation.

A new excitement filled Argon’s heart as he realized that changing the future might really be possible as he had hoped.

He could have spent hours just absorbing in the feelings of this rediscovered Etheria. Argon knew that they would have to work fast to keep this land from being overrun by the Raven King, his conspiracy of ravens and the recent addition of the Red Ogres

The time they had traveled back to was just as the Raven King had cast a spell on all the Ogres changing them from blue gentle giants that love the fairies into angry Red Ogres that hated the fairies and demanded something from them every time a fairy made the mistake of coming across them. The Raven King had just started searching the woods for the Red Ogres he had created.

It was Argon that had come up with the plan to change the giant Red Ogres back to the gentle giants they used to be. They hadn’t started their damage yet so Argon felt that they could stop them before the terror that they were going to cause would happen. He knew that if he could find them before the Raven King could control them, they could also keep them away from the Raven King.

Hidden somewhere inside the woods were magical green cauldrons. Cooking with them was an important part of the magic needed to help the Ogres in remembering who they really were.

Argon knew of two recipes that could magically change back the ogres. The simplest recipe was the Green Elixir. Besides the magic green cauldron, they would need to find a magic wand, the eternal match and an emerald to make sure that the effect would be eternal. The second was a delightful strawberry cake. It too would need the green cauldron and eternal match.

 Flour made from sunflowers and sweet honey from the bees made the cake batter along with beautiful red strawberries, both inside the cake and as decoration. This would soften the heart of any ogre.

They decided that they would start out in different directions. They had come from the East and Argon would stay in that area for a time. Clair would be over the Northern area and Goldie would be over the Southern area. Even though they would be separated physically, they knew they could still communicate with each other. They had such a strong bond between them that they knew each other’s thoughts.

They would only need to be together to exchange items. It was so peaceful knowing they would never be alone even through separation. Clair would always assist his team in knowing if the next path they were planning on going on was the right path for them to take. The team always valued this ability of his. How much safer they felt knowing that any choice they were making could be checked by Clair.

Another very valuable gift was Argon’s ability of rearranging objects. He used this magic to move an object to the best location available. This was especially true with any gold they could see in the upcoming path. He would always make sure, if there was gold to be had; Goldie would be the one to pick it up. Goldie had always had the gift of multiplying gold which made others marvel. For her, it just came naturally. The idea that gold wouldn’t grow seemed odd to her. While others saw gold as something solid and fixed, she knew it was liquid and flowing with the ability of shifting and changing.

She had seen it not only multiply but diminish in the hands of those that would use it for purposes that didn’t serve others.

 She had even seen it become so slippery that it would disappear from the hands that would misuse it. She knew that gold longed to be used for good. It was its mission to create abundance for those that would use it for good in Etheria. Celio, the King of Utopia, made sure that in the creation of Etheria, gold would be abundant; so that it could fulfill its mission.

Goldie hated seeing it used to puff its possessor higher than others, that they would look down upon. She knew how sad it made the gold to be so misused, especially when those that were looked down on would blame the gold for what was happening.

Goldie knew if they could find and grow their gold, they could also entice the Red Ogres to assist them.

Unlike the Ravens, that saw no value in the treasures of Etheria; the Ogres valued everything Etheria had to offer. 

She knew it was not as lasting as Argon’s magic potion but once they had used the magic to get one blue ogre, he would assist them to get more gold to get more Ogres on their side.

Goldie knew two great recipes that the ogres love to eat. Both recipes would need almonds for flour, a cooking cauldron and match as well as a golden egg. The first recipe was for some lavender macarons that would also need lavender and honey from the bees.

The second recipe would be some mint, blackberry cupcakes. The blue ogres always loved sweet treats that came from the natural ingredients that Etheria offered.

Argon decided that he would avoid being by the castle and go on the outer edges of the woods. He was planning on meeting the fairies at the western edge of the woods after he gathered an abundance of treasures. He could hold twice as much treasures as the others.

As he wondered if he should go north or south, he asked Clair to check on what was in the path north, Clair saw that on the northern path there would be almonds for eating. Argon decided that even though they would make a great snack and be useful once the Ogres were their friends, he would venture to the south instead. Heading on the southern path he came across a field of sunflowers.

 Argon had forgotten how brilliantly yellow the sunflowers were. He had loved them as a young wyrmling. And would spend hours playing in the fields. The sunflowers would be something that he would need to bake that cake for the Ogres. He felt blessed to not only have something that would be of great use, but something that reminded him of who he was.

As he gathered them up, he felt lead to the lake on the southeast corner of the woods. Clair realized that Argon will be meeting with the Lady of the Lake soon. He realized that she might assist them in their mission. 

He communicated with Goldie that they should head west to the lakes so that everyone can talk with the Lady of the Lake. When Clair was a youth, he had gotten acquainted with the Lady of the Lake. Whenever he needed to feel close to Celio he knew that by going to any of the lakes he would find her. They would talk for hours about Celio and their deep love for him.

Unlike the others, The Lady of the Lake had the ability to be at all four lakes at the same time. A fairy or dryad to visit with the Lady of the Lake at any of the four lakes found in the corners of Etheria.

Clair saw that the path toward the lake had a citrine. He loved how this bright, yellow quartz crystal glistened in the sun. No wonder it was called the sunshine stone.

Not sure if this would be needed or not. He asked Celio. There was a very strong bond between Clair and Celio. While any dryad or fairy could talk with Celio the King; Clair and Celio would have deep conversations just as Clair had with the Lady of the Lake.

Celio told Clair that indeed the citrine would be very useful. He would find out very soon why. Clair picked it up and continued on the path to the lake.

Clair saw that on Goldies path are some bees busily making sweet honey. Goldie was excited that they have found another ingredient for making the strawberry cake to fed the Red Ogres.

As she met up with the bees, she asked permission to carry them on her journey. The bees were always excited to go on adventures with Goldie. Now not only did Goldie have honey for the cake but any time she wanted to have a sweet treat, there will be honey for her to enjoy.

 Suddenly they all hear a gurgling croak. The team looked up and saw the Raven King soaring high the air

In all the beauty of the woods they had almost forgotten about the Raven King. He swept down and picked up a shiny red ruby.

The Raven King was delighted to keep it away from the team and took it to his stash. He knew that in order to conjure up ravens that would be loyal guards of his castle, he would need to the treasures of Etheria.

He didn’t really care about the treasures for their value, but only to a means to get what he wanted and keep the fairies from what they wanted. He seemed to get great pleasure was seeing fairies in misery. 

He had come to realized that every time he could create pain and sadness in a fairy, his joy and delight increased.