Simone woke to see the spectral fox looming over, its fathomless eyes reflecting a night sky that had already faded to morning hues above the fox.

  Awake, mortal? Vitalen noticed in its hollow voice. I suppose you'll want to feed again. Or excrete. You mortals can’t seem to go any length of time without doing one or the other.

  Simone shot the fox a sour look. Simone could no more change the facts of existence any more than change the number of clouds in the sky.

  Simone had been within the confines of the marae tabu for several days; only allowed to leave to cook and eat food or to take care of bodily necessities. Fires were forbidden in the sacred circle of monoliths. The rest of the time was spent sequestered within the circle.

  The fox said little; only that Simone should take time to meditate and focus on developing the powers of the shaman within her.

  Simone wasn’t certain what that meant, beyond what was already learned, so she meditated, letting her consciousness seep out of her, let herself feel the weight of the air pressing down on her, the earth beneath supporting her.

  From time to time spirits visited her, old and young, weak and strong. They swirled around her, some urged the elf to sing and dance, others to play, while still others whispered things to her, sending her visions of secrets and stories, dreams and whispers.

  She was a tiny thing, a single cell drifting in an ocean, greedily swallowing food by enveloping it; she was swallowed and eaten by something larger, and suddenly she was that thing which in turn was devoured by something larger; at some point she left the warm embrace of the oceans and crawled onto lang, her newfound lungs screaming in the strange air.

  She was a plant, she was an insect that ate the plant, she was a worm that devoured the insect, she was a rodent that ate the worm, a bird that dove from a shockingly blue sky to snatch her tiny wriggling form from the grasses, she was a snake, greedily gulping down the eggs that had been laid by the bird.

  Simone lived a countless number of lives as she grew to understand that she was part of a vast web of living things that encompassed the globe of the world- each seemingly trivial and unimportant, yet utterly crucial for the rest.

  Above and intermixed with the incomprehensibly complicated chain of life were the spirits, both an indelible part of the world and yet separate from it, like how the clouds of the sky were part of the world, yet never touched the earth. And still yet, there was something that was greater still that existed beyond the spirits-

  A female voice spoke, a form of elvish that was slightly different from the language of the People of the Plains.

  “I ask permission to enter the Circle!”

  Simone stirred, her thoughts whirling as a cosmos of life unspooled itself in her mind, a spiralling galaxy of lights that slowly churned in the heavens.

  The vision dimmed for a moment, and for that moment Simone was within the strangely suffocating confines of flesh and bone, could see another elf, a woman bent and stooped with age, her hair variegated streaks of browns and blonde.

  The woman hobbled into the circle, the lines on her face pronounced. She was venerable, ancient beyond knowing, most of her teeth gone.

  She looked at Simone, and for a heartbeat’s time, they were connected. Simone saw the story of the elven woman’s long life, her birth, her childhood, her maturity, the times she’d laughed and cried and made war, birthed children, aged, and seen others of her people succumb to injuries, to time, to illness.

  “My grandchild...” She whispered in a cracked, papery voice. “Such a journey you have before you.” There was an infinite weight of sorrow and tenderness in her voice. “Mine has come to an end, but yours...” The Elf of the Forest laid down the spear she was leaning on, lay it in front of Simone’s immobile form.

  “Are you ready?” Vitalen’s voice was empty, indifferent, yet carried the weight of respect and patience.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  The old woman straightened with a grunt of effort, and shrugged out of her shawl, which she draped around Simone’s shoulders. “It can get cold in the forests, child.” the woman confided gently.

  “I-” The woman seemed to want something, to need some answer to something, but Vitalen didn’t respond, and the question didn’t reach Simone’s ears.

  The ancient woman faded, disappeared. Death, too, was a part of life.

  *****

  It took Mercedes only a couple of days to realize that travelling through the forest was harder than she expected. There were enough gaps in the trees that she could see ahead; in small clearings she could see the mountains looming in the distance like an ancient promise.

  The weight of her armor dragged at her, the weight of her packs dragged at her, each step in her armored boots seemed to take forever, while the mountains danced mockingly out of reach.

  Still, she pressed on, even if she bemoaned the loss of her horse.

  She’d borrowed a bow and a quiver of arrows from the human village; she was at least able to hunt for food as she traveled, but that was more weight, more encumbrance, something more to slow her down.

  She kept an eye out for a ‘fox’, though she still wasn’t certain what they were, exactly.

  Mercedes’ mind was a whirlpool of conflicting thoughts- she should backtrack the way she came, she should return to the colony proper, she should press on, forge ahead. The ‘find the fox’ revelation wasn’t a revelation from the Goddess, it was her own mind throwing things at her from an unexpected direction.

  She’d stopped her plodding march several times as conflicting emotions threatened to overwhelm her, but standing still only seemed to intensify her conflicted emotions, so she forced herself to continue forward.

  But no, and no. Whatever was happening, she had to find out. She had to know. If there was some malevolent force that was threatening the colony of New Degan, she was obligated to stand in its path.

  She realized she’d stopped moving again, looked up and around herself. She stood in a small clearing atop a small hill; from here she could see how the contours of the land lumped and meandered around, heaping up into foothills and boulders the closer they were to the mountains.

  The trees themselves weren’t dense, didn’t obscure her view of the lands around her- her thoughts broke off as she spotted a ring of standing stones nestled in the forest.

  She’d seen one similar, on the other continent. Such a thing was ancient beyond measure, and when entering there was a strange sense of aversion, as if intruding. People that visited the place didn’t tarry long, and even the most stouthearted explorer or the bravest challenger couldn’t stay more than a few minutes within the ring.

  Mercedes took out her notebook and sketched the standing circle, and then added it to the map she was making.

  She stowed her notebook into her belt pouch, and suddenly froze. She wasn’t alone.

  A low growl rose up behind her.

  Her hand fell to her sword, and she pivoted quickly, drawing the blade in a ringing arc.

  A large animal stood at the edge of the forest, dappled grey fur covering its body.

  So this is a wolf.

  It stepped to the side as she faced it; there was a vague sense that there were others, other wolves, lurking in the forest.

  *****

  “Come, Mortal. It is time to leave the Marae Tabu.” Vitalen’s voice drew Simone back to herself, back to her body.

  Simone rose to her feet, absently adjusting the shawl around her shoulders so it sat more comfortably, even as she picked up the spear at her feet.

  The spear was ornately and richly decorated, the handle wrapped in thongs of leather with stone beadwork clicking together. Tiny carvings of patterned triangles, squares, interlinked circles, and spirals ringed the shaft of the spear, and the wood itself was painted in a myriad of colors.

  The head of the spear was a metal that Simone had only seen once before; in the knife that the human had left with Alteima.

  Vitalen paced around the elf in three circles.

  “You have grown, elf.” it observed. “Not many can come to a marae tabu, and even fewer can stay within its boundaries. It is time for you to leave.”

  Simone knew what was expected. The vague vision at the start of the journey had set the path; the visions received afterword had given the elf the understanding of what needed to be done. “I did not prepare the path for the traveler; I prepared the traveler for the path,” Simone replied distantly, and then shook her head and rubbed her eyes with her free hand.

  Simone glanced at the spear- where had it come from? For a moment, she seemed to know, but it slipped from her mind even as she reached for the memory.

  “Let’s go.” She agreed, and Vitalen returned Simone’s statement with a foxlike grin. A few days ago, Simone would have spoken differently, acted differently towards the spirit.