text: "Please help, friends of nature." The sudden voice startled Merry and Freya, it came as unexpected as the message it carried; surely they loved nature and these walks in it. However nothing seemed wrong, it was a beautiful morning, the sunrise just around the corner, and the usual cacophony of birdsong was heard everywhere. They looked at each other with a mixture of fear, doubt, and disbelief in their eyes. Were they hallucinating? A foot-high creature, with antlers and butterfly wings came floating down from the canopy, "sorry that I so abruptly interrupt, it was not my intention to scare you." Frozen between anxiety, awe, and a flood wave of thoughts, Freya and Merry didn't move a muscle after seeing the mystical creature. "My name is Blossomhearth, protector of nature, the first fairy of the queen," the creature continued, "we need your help, pure souls." Freya was the first able to express her feelings, "wh...wha...what?" Hearing her voice grounded Freya, she straightened her back, relaxed her shoulders, her eyes darted around between observing Blossomhearth and finding a stimulus-free spot so she could think. With a bit more confidence, "what? Explain yourself fairy." Hearing the power in the voice of Freya, Merry snapped out of freeze mode. Blossomhearth answered, "we require pure-hearted humans to save nature." Seeing them get back within the moment, although still doubtful and alert, the fairy continued, "please follow me, it is easier to show you the problem than it is to explain." Having regained their senses and movement, Freya and Merry gave each other a reassuring look and did as requested. _ The fog in the red, yellow, and green woodlands was thick. They seemed to be crossing through some sort of arboretum, different kinds of trees were everywhere, the next one more ancient-looking than the last. The fairy they were following moved quite quickly until it reached the middle of an open space. Freya and Merry stepped into the circular field. All around them they saw trees with bright purple foliage. Before the two humans could let the wonder sink in, a bright flash erupted from Blossomhearth. Everything changed, the brightness faded into a pitch-black, they floated weightlessly around in space. They saw the stars, the moon, and the sun. O The earth in front of them stopped spinning east and started to rotate west. Faster and faster, until no details were discernible. Just before the dizziness became too much for Merry to bear, everything came to a halt. They floated towards the earth and saw lush green scenery and animals roaming freely. In the distance they heard a drumming sound, growing louder and louder, a group of shadowy figures appeared. In the middle of the group, one of them was working hard until a glow radiated from beneath him. The drums stopped, a shock on the faces around. Time and space picked up in speed again, slowing down on certain points where moments flashed before them; more and more fires were created; people settled in place; more and more fires were created; trees were being chopped; more and more fires were created; metals were mined; villages and cities appeared; more and more fires were created; peat was used as fuel then coal and oil; more and more fires were created. As sudden as the journey started, as sudden it ended. They were back in the beautiful field, on a beautiful morning. "We need your help," Blossomhearth said with a slight quiver in its voice, "please safe our queen, mother Earth." _ "H...ho...how?" Freya tried to gather her thoughts after the flood of information and the request to save the world. "You obviously have strong magical powers why don't you save Earth? Or why haven't you done so many centuries ago?" This time Merry was the one sharp who stepped up, being annoyed by the huge responsibility laid upon them by the fairy. Blossomhearth neither got angry nor upset, he patiently replied, "I did, we did try to do so many times before you. We have sworn to not interfere immediately with any lifeform or their internal politics, this includes humans. We have recruited many couples like yourself before, each one of them failed. Their followers twisted their words to gain power, the woman got ignored completely and every time religious warfare escalated as a consequence. You will be equipped with magical powers to make pants grow, earth rise, and rivers flow." Freya and Merry apathetically stared into some sort of abyss for hours straight. When they finally snapped out of it Freya produced some words directed at no one, "what if we refuse?" "If you refuse or fail we might need to wait for many generations to find another wife and husband with a pure soul. It might be too late, your race might be a deadly virus spreading through the universe, killing all life on every planet they come across." "You leave me little choice Blossomhearth, I will accept," Freya said. "I will stand by my wife and will accept as well," Merry said. A greenish pool of energy formed beneath their feet, slowly creeping up around their body, fully submerged in a bubble of energy they began to absorb it until everything looked like it was before. Blossomhearth had disappeared as did the open space with purple trees. They were once again in the forest they knew and walked before. _ After years of diligently and tirelessly working to convince people of the urgency, frustration and gloom got the better of Freya and Merry. Anxiety set in, humans were too egocentric and stubborn to acknowledge climate change was their responsibility or willing to change enough to prevent the consequences. Freya crept back into her shell, depressed, overwhelmed, and broken. Merry packed his backpack and walked out, furious. After nearly a year of grieving Freya finally had the heart to put on the news. The headline beneath the anchor read "nature strikes back." "For the 43rd Sunday in a row, strange events have happened, this time an oil power plant in Africa has been cleared. On satellite images, we can see a flood wave appears without warning putting out all fires and presumably clearing the hundreds of employees at the site. After the flood, a forest grows within minutes leaving no trace of the plant. Millions of people in the area have lost their power supply. For the local weather, we go to Tom, goodnight, and godspeed." Freya turned the TV off and felt a surge of mixed emotions overwhelming her. "Merry, you are alive," was her first thought, followed directly with, "what have you become?" She started to cry and crawl into herself. _ "STOP!" Freya had tracked Merry down by their natural connection. Merry ignored her, Freya fought the tears, which were heard in her voice, "please stop, Merry." "Freya?" He came back to his usual self for a bit and said, "I am sorry love, that I have left you, and that I have become rogue, this is the only way." "No, you are hurting people, you have become what you hate most." "I am completing our oath," his voice became angry and bitter. "Not like this, please, I don't want to hurt you, you have left me when I needed you most, I am here for you. The message has come across, we can convince them to work with us now. Please, Merry, search your feelings, this is not the way, this is not who you are. Please, please, please." Merry turned to face her, she saw the darkness on his face, he recognized her compassion. For a moment they locked eyes, he dropped his head, and fell to his knees, "I am sorry love, I did not know what to do." They cried together. _ Word count 1301 _ Written as five separate parts, denoted by an underscore, for a serie of photo's I have taken. I hope you enjoy(ed) reading.