Chapter 5. The Sacred Arbor

The next morning he was awakened by a modest knock at the door. He hastily put on his robes, opened it and, nodding to another young girl with wings, accepted a tray of delicious pastries and a drink that smelled both sweet and sour. 

Silently thanking her as well, he decided to enjoy his breakfast on the large balcony, the exit to which he had not immediately noticed during the night, impulsively taking a book from the shelf in the corner of the room.

No sooner had he stepped outside than the sun began to caress the skin of the man seated at the small table on the balcony, surrounded by the gently intertwining branches of a huge tree. 

To the rustle of the translucent leaves, which either let the light in or intricately refract it, he opened a book with a brightly coloured cover and no identifying marks.

At first the text was indecipherable and blurred, but then, as if by some hidden force, the young man's eyes focused and the text, revealing its embedded meaning to the reader, appeared before him in all its pristine straightness.

The exact genre of the book was impossible to determine, something between a fairy tale and a first-person historical chronicle. 

It spoke of the creation of the world, of the Almighty who planted the seed of eternity in the matter of Nothing and, when it had grown, breathed life into this world and brought to light a new world called Epimetheus. 

But the power of the germ was not stable, and in order to control the situation, the Most High created creatures that could maintain balance in this world. The most ancient creatures, dragons and phoenixes, as light and darkness born from the same source, must watch over the Great Balance. Coexisting, but not overlapping, many centuries passed. 

But the world grew and began to give birth to new creatures. At first the Ancients raised them as their children, passing on their skills and knowledge, but where there is white and black, sooner or later there will be grey. Unwilling to accept that only two clans were in power, the new generations began to rebel, sowing confusion between the outsiders and their own. 

Seeing what was happening in the ranks of other creatures, the two clans attempted to join forces to guide their adopted children onto the right path, but this only exacerbated the situation, leading to the first great war that changed the world order and damaged the core of the Seed. 

Many Ancients fell in this battle, sacrificing their life energy to rebuild the Core, and many species were wiped from the face of the world for their disregard of the sacred knowledge.

When the war ended and all sides were pacified, the Phoenix Clan disappeared from the pages of history. Gentle and sensitive by nature, these creatures mourned their fallen comrades and the secret knowledge that had been passed down, which was eventually used by their named children to the detriment of what they had so reverently guarded.

As for the other clan, the Dragons were still openly in power for some time, wiping out those remnants who could revive the old knowledge, until they finally gave way to their cronies and disappeared into the endless stream of successive dynasties. 

Lacking sufficient power and centralisation, the giant kingdoms fragmented and became entangled in endless struggles for power and territory. Thousands of years passed in this way. Out of this struggle, individuals of incredible power began to emerge with increasing frequency, shaking the bowls of creation once again. 

Reappeared, the Ancients instituted a battle, to be fought every thirty years between those with sufficient power, for the right to join them and their knowledge. Each worthy person was endowed with the mark of a fighter on their neck in the appointed day, and to the rights of that mark, anyone with a similar mark could challenge the wearer to a duel. 

If the fighter conceded defeat, the mark disappeared from his body without a trace. If the fighter refused to accept defeat and continued the fight, but lost his strength or was seriously injured, the mark would turn into a scar as a reminder of his overestimation of his strength.

In the event of defeat, the one who survived the majority and made it to the final battle would suffer the unenviable fate of having all his accumulated energy drained from him. It should also be noted that these battles were often fought to the death, for to a true warrior, the deprivation of all energy was like death. 

The book went on to describe the chronologies of the most memorable battles of the next millennium, which very rarely ended with the lives and limbs of the fighters involved saved. 

"The victor, if any, was endowed with the seal of the Chosen One, the possession of which opened the door to the Ancient Ones, who, according to legend, were beyond the boundaries of the universe," the book said.

"Well, if I want to know who I am and where I come from, I have to look for traces of the Ancients, who haven't been seen for a thousand years, or even more, that's just fine," the young man thought sarcastically.

But what interested him even more was the fact that no victor had been determined in the last few centuries. As if foreseeing some kind of trick, the two strongest warriors were about to surrender in unison.

At that moment, a flock of giggling bird-girls flew past his balcony, skimming skilfully around the branches. Noticing the young man, many of them turned around in curiosity.

Smiling softly at the girls, the young man waved at them, and some of them waved back.

"Hey! This is the one who's shirking his duties! Quickly return to your places, now is not the time to play hide and seek." A flash of lightning came from below, and Elder Acer's assistant appeared in full splendour. 

She deftly grabbed two of the slower troublemakers by the arm and ear, and loudly told the rest of the fleeing students that she would tell the elders about their disobedience and violation of school discipline.

Turning to the young man, she bowed slightly and dashed off, dragging the less fortunate younger ones behind her.

The young man finished the last bun and set off to actively absorb knowledge from the other books on the shelves. The collection of books was quite varied - collections of herbs and plants, several songbooks, a novel about the love between a bear-man and a she-wolf who had reached such a level of enlightenment that she had learnt to sew beautiful shirts, a textbook on healing, but the most interesting, in the young man's opinion, was a fairly recent book describing the peoples who still inhabited the lands of Epimetheus.

The most numerous people were considered to be the Plainsmen, and from the description they looked exactly like him, except that they had pointed ear-tips and narrow, elongated chins. Their eyes were always a light shade and their hair ranged from russet to light blonde.

Second in numbers were the desert men, broad-shouldered, stocky men with incredible natural strength and endurance. They were described as having eyes like dark amethyst, hair the colour of burnt umber and skin the colour of oak bark. 

In third place were the people of the steppes, who had eyes as white as snow and hair the colour of a crow's wing. Naturally, they possessed great psychic powers, but their vision was not as clear as that of the others.

Then described the many classes of zoomophilic creatures, who lived in a variety of places, from the tops of mountains to the bottom of the sea. And each of them possessed some unique power or ability. For some unknown reason, particularly strong representatives were classified as demons, and it was forbidden to approach them, especially during the Battle of the Ancients, as many of their representatives were marked by the participants.

The amount of information made his eyes water. He closed the book with a sweet yawn and stretched, deciding to take a walk along the Tree.

There was an endless flow of air along the corridor and the walls were still greedily sucking it in. With light steps he walked upwards, interested in reaching the top of the crown. Meeting no one on his way, he came to a beautifully carved door depicting warriors of the past. As he opened it, a strong wind blew his clothes to the ground and ruffled the hair he light braided.

He was confronted by two dozen bird-girls standing with their backs to him in a wedge formation, practising the same moves. A voice came from behind him:

"We'd better get out of here before they notice you, or the training will lose all meaning for them."

The Elder's assistant, whom he had already seen this morning, tugged at Twinkle's sleeve and pulled him back into the corridor, closing the door behind him.

"The guest should not make too many public appearances with us, it could have the most unpredictable consequences."

"Co..." he said a little audibly. "Cornflower. A name."

It was the first thing he had seen and recognised when he woke up, and it was the first thing he remembered that made his heart ache. And it was the first thing he remembered when Acer touched him, the name of the flower - Cornflower.

"So that's your name, Mentor will be pleased to hear that you've started talking. As you know, my name is Twinkle and I am currently her oldest student and part-time assistant. "- she said with pride in her voice.

"Your mentor has asked me to look after you and help you settle in. If I were you, I wouldn't go anywhere unaccompanied for a while. The appearance of a male creature has disturbed our nest. You see, the Sacred Tree has protected this place for centuries with barriers, including a defence against humans. And as many of us had never seen a member of the opposite sex before you, there was naturally an uproar as never before. The eldest briefly described your situation, and to be honest I didn't understand it all, but she obviously has good reasons for keeping you here..." and after she had led him to the room, she stopped with a gesture inviting him in.

"Perhaps the guest would like something?"

"Books. I want to read books."

"Oh, if that's the case, it will be easier for me to take you to the library, if you don't mind, it's quicker from the outside." - Without saying a word, she entered his room first and went out onto the balcony, shaking her wings.

Cornflower followed her, looking uncertainly at the girl who was half a head shorter than him. Seeing his hesitation, she said with a firm voice:

"Do you think my wings can't lift a stubby like you? There's a reason I'm Elder Acer's apprentice! Come on, don't be shy, we'll be there in no time."

She quickly grabbed him by the chest and soared upwards, not missing a beat as she took off towards the heavens, where the blue sky above the crown of Giant Tree glistened with the sun's rays. 

For miles around the Sacred Tree stretched the forest, where, among the most ordinary trees, one could see similar giants, but half or even smaller than Sacred Arbor.

"Look, Cornflower, this is my home, the Umbra Forest. You won't see anything like it anywhere else. Bird-women have been here since the last Ancients lived here.

This was the capital city of the Phoenix Clan, and they built the Sacred Arbor that gives us shelter, food and protection. It turned slightly and they flew through endless branches, making Cornflower feel nauseous.

Only somewhere near the roots did they slow down, and Twinkle slipped into one of the gaps in the bark, which turned out to be a passage perfectly sized for two outstretched wings. 

Time passed quickly, and the girl had to hurry the guest along, who took a few books in a hurry and politely declined the transport offered in the form of two wings, asking to be shown the way to the library on foot.

Cornflower's speech became less confused as he had been reading aloud all the time he had spent in the library. But unfortunately, while the writing was easy for him to understand, he was unable to reproduce anything himself. It seemed that the moment he tried to draw a single symbol, his hand refused to obey him. After a few attempts, he tossed the pencil he had found aside and decided to try again later.

It was a long way from the library to his room. After a short silence Cornflower asked:

"Can you tell me more about your people?"

"What exactly do you want to hear?" -she replied, a little surprised.

"I know almost nothing about you, so I would like to understand more about you and your life."

"Oh, ok .I understand. Then, if you don't mind, I'll tell you the main points that concern us. The birds-woman are believed to have descended from the ancient Phoenix clan after their coitus with mortal men, as all Phoenixes are female."

"All of them?" -interrupted the young man.

"Yes, absolutely, all the little ones know that the Ancients were divided into two clans, the Phoenixes and the Dragons. The Dragons were male and the Phoenixes female. Marriages between them were forbidden, so in the early centuries of history they found mates among other creatures. Some say they did it to increase their power, some say they wanted to pass on some of their powers in case something happened to them, and some think they did it out of boredom and pleasure. But who can understand them, the Ancients? We have inherited some of their powers and knowledge from the Phoenixes. But if the wings of the Ancients were made of spiritual power and were not visible in their normal state, then we have them from birth. I, for example, have very rare wings, the plumage of a field harrier is considered very lucky for the wearer. If it hadn't been for the events of the First War, they would have stayed to protect us, but after the hour of mourning, they all disappeared overnight. Rumour has it that some of their knowledge and the items they enchanted are still stored in our Sacred Tree, but whether this is true or not can only be known by an initiated Elder. At the moment it is Elder Acer."

Cornflower hesitated, tilted his head slightly, touched his chin and waited for a pause before asking:

"How can I meet Elder Acer?"

"How can I meet with Elder Acer?"

"She's not available at the moment."

"It's not possible at the moment, she has urgent business, but I'll ask her if I can."

"I would be very grateful. Please continue with your story."

"Oh yes, where was I? In our hierarchy, Elder Acer is the most important, followed by the Council of Elders, who have not only experience but also knowledge and power. After Acer, Fraxinus will probably be the eldest, as she is the closest in age and knowledge, as well as having amazing martial and magical skills. Also on the council are Quercus, Pina and Tilia. Quercus is our strongest warrior, she is unrivalled in speed and pike-wielding, though she is inferior to the others in magic, but once you see her in action you will doubt the need for magic to defeat the enemy. Pina and Tilia are equal in strength and magical energy, but they are inferior to Quercus in combat experience."-Twinkle's eyes lit up with enthusiasm as she said this. 

"The hierarchy is followed by adult female warriors who are not on the Council, then the apprentices of the Council of Elders, and then those who are apprentices of others. Much also depends on age and level of training. Potentially, anyone can join the council if they challenge one of the elders and win."

"Your whole life revolves around fighting?" - Cornflower asked in surprise.

"No, not only that, but military training is mandatory for every bird-woman. We have to defend our lands from enemies, and you know there are many of them out there, beyond the barrier. Of course there are farmers and traders among us, but by the age of seventeen everyone must have military training, at least the basics. We are brought up in this way from childhood, and every one of us is prepared to sacrifice his life to protect the lands near the Sacred Arbor, the Umbra Forest and Silva Saxei."

"... But it's so peaceful here that it's hard to tell about hostility?..."

"It's only at first glance, behind the barrier of the Sacred Tree, that it's a completely different world. Only within the protective dome of the Arbor are our people protected, enjoying a peaceful existence among the evergreen grasses and trees of this utopian land. But out there, beyond the layered defences, wars are often waged and the hearts of the people are black as coal, with deceitful thoughts and sweet as poisonous words that have poisoned the gifts given to us by the Ancients for centuries. In the past, when the Ancients were with their children, there were more trees, but the fires of war have burned them all to ashes, and in the ashes no trees grow taller than thirty metres. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine? You probably know it yourself."

"No, no, go on!"

She looked at her companion with a strange expression before continuing:

"Now, the Sacred Tree is our main stronghold, but since others have been encroaching on our wealth and knowledge for centuries, and the barrier has begun to shrink with each passing century, about a thousand years ago, the First Council of Elders organised another city outside the Sacred Tree, Silva Saxei, which stands just inside the gorge that leads to this valley. Our tribesmen live there too, often adult bird-women who have some kind of activity with the outside world, military men and former apprentices who have completed their training. After training, we are all sent there, and after a year of living in the outside world, we can either return here to take on a new brood as apprentices or trainees, or we can stay there forever, protecting the border between the outside world and our Protector's barrier." - Twinkle fell silent at these words.

It was as if the young man was enlightened, and he asked hastily:

"How do you make families? "

The question took Twinkle by surprise:

"We are all family." - She rounded her eyes and blurted out.

"I mean, how do bird-women raise their children, not apprentices? How do you even start a family?"

Staring down at her feet and biting her lower lip, she said:

"Bird-women do not have families in the traditional sense. When we mate, we use special charms and amulets to find a mate, and when we find one, we enchant him and return to the tree after coitus. When the time comes and the female gives birth, the child is taken from her to be raised and then passed on to other female birds for training." -Twinkle's eyes flickered slightly at these words. 

A little weather, she added:

"We are all family, no matter who is from whom, it makes us more united."

"What if a boy is born? "- Cornflower asked in surprise.

"No, if one of the foetuses is male, it will die in the womb because of the barrier of the Sacred Tree,"- she added with a cheerful smile, turning to him:

"That's why there's so much excitement, because you're the first and only person of the opposite sex to pass through the barrier and survive. Phew, we're here at last, and how much energy and time we could have saved if we'd gone up on wings. I see dinner's here. Have a good evening!"

"Thank you for such a detailed story. Good night."

"Good night."

And each of us bowed and went our way.