A Little Visitor
You suck in a deep breath and decide to go and investigate, but carefully – you know nothing about Shards or what could be living in this Shard in particular, so, you take slow, gradual steps toward the tree where the knocking noise is coming from.
As you approach, the knocking slows, but it isn’t until you reach the tree that the knocking ceases entirely. At first, you check the tree trunk, studying it to see if what’s making the noise could be an animal of some kind, like a squirrel or a woodpecker, yet when you circle the tree, you see no sign of any animal whatsoever.
‘What…?’ you think, confused.
There are no holes in the trunk anywhere – it’s smooth besides the tree lines, which tells you it isn’t something INSIDE the tree… but then, you feel yourself at a total loss.
“I must be hearing things,” you mutter to yourself.
“No, no, not hearing things, just looking for the wrong things.”
The voice startles you. You gawk and look around, but see no one standing near you.
“Take a few steps to your left, and check the trunk again.”
You frown. The voice is rather high-pitched, sounding oddly… small. But, you cautiously do what it’s said, and go left to circle around the trunk while you study the trunk for any sign of whatever could be talking. That is, until you finally see something on the trunk; a break in the usual lines you see on tree trunks, one shaped more like a large oval.
‘Is the tree… talking?’ you wonder.
You get your answer when that oval shape flickers and, in the blink of an eye, it is torn away like it was a piece of cloth or something that happened to be colored the same as the tree trunk’s bark. You blink rapidly, and stare, however, at the hole now present in the tree trunk – but you stare more at what is standing in the hole: a little person!
Of course, it isn’t a total human, but, it looks fairly humanoid in shape. It has pale skin and is dressed in small clothes that look to be made from bark and leaves, with big brown eyes, a bigger head compared to its tiny body, and wood-brown hair.
You gawk at the creature and wonder what it could be. A fairy? A gnome?
The creature eyes you for a beat, its big eyes looking up and down. “Well now, so the others were right. A human has entered our quaint little domain after all.” Its expression softens as it gazes at you with interest. “A human touched by magics, it would seem.”
“Uh…”
“Oh, yes, sorry,” the tiny person says with a giggle. “I can tell you’ve little experience in a Shard, eh, since you had a selkie as a guide. You needn’t worry, friend, we’re not a danger to you.” It offers a smile. “My name’s Ern. And you’re in broonie territory.”
“Broonie?” you say.
“You might know us more as… what’s the term… ‘brownie,’ methinks,” Ern says. “But you humans have a sweet called a brownie, which has always confused us greatly.”
It takes you a moment to wrack your brain, before it dawns on you. “Oh… wait, I think…” You try to shake your gawking off. “I think I’ve heard of brownies before, the, uh, the being, not the sweet.” You blink again. “If my memory is right, brownies are… I thought they were more like household spirits or something like that?”
Ern cocks its head to the side. “Mm, some, yes.”
There’s a beat of silence as you soak in the fact you’re speaking to a tiny humanoid creature – one that can talk and is no doubt magical in nature, since it knows you’re a human and it mentioned Moirine. Your shoulders droop, and you let out a quiet breath.
“I had no idea anything lived here,” you admit.
“Yes, yes,” Ern says, and it smiles again. “Every tree you see is home to a family of broonies, human friend. And beneath the ground you stand on is a series of tunnels that connect every single tree – that’s why I knew you were human and knew of the selkie, because the moment you came out from the Southern Shard, word spread like wildfire.”
You glance around at the various trees. “Oh. So those are all homes, then.”
“Yep.”
“I see… I guess that makes sense.” You nod and soak this in (and you wonder if the unease you felt had to do with being watched by every single tree surrounding you), then turn back to Ern. “Were you, uh, trying to get my attention with the noise, then?”
“Indeed, indeed,” Ern says. It cocks it head sideways once more. “We don’t often get visitors in our domain, unless we invite them directly. You can imagine our confusion at seeing a human and a selkie walking about, especially since we’re used to selkie being in the water, not on land.” It puts its hands on its hips. “What brings you here, human?”
“Oh, uh,” you run a hand through your hair, “well, I was sort of turned into a selkie by a genie I met because of some… choice words I made, and, uh, after I met Moirine and learned more about the selkie, I was asked to try and find that genie, so…”
“Ah, I see!” Ern says. “You’re trying to find the Shard where this djinn is located, eh?”
You nod.
“Say no more, human friend,” Ern says. It blinks, and you swear you hear faint whispering noises from inside the tree. Ern pauses and looks behind itself into the tree for a moment, as if its listening to those whispers, then it looks back to you quizzically. “Pardon a moment, but, did you say the djinn turned you into a selkie?”
“Yeah,” you say.
“But not as a wish?”
You nod again. “That’s why the, uh, Seamother asked me to find him.”
“Oh dear,” Ern says. It frowns. “A djinn shouldn’t be meddling with humans like that.”
“Apparently, he has a Master, and, the Master is responsible somehow?” you remark. You shrug and shake your head. “I’m gonna be honest, I’m still figuring all this stuff out.”
Ern gives you a sympathetic look. “We could tell, human. That’s why we decided to try and speak to you in the first place. We don’t often mingle with humans, but, we don’t want to see humans getting lost in our domain – it’s happened before.” Ern shakes its head. “What did this Shard look like? The one where you met this djinn, human?”
You frown to yourself. “Good question. Uh…” You think back to the area where you ended up finding that djinn. “It was… well, it started off as a forest, but, then it opened up and there was this big clearing. And in that clearing, there was…” You close your eyes to try and better visualize it. “…there was this weird little shop of some kind in the center of the area, and then, a cave, and a really big tree. Yeah, that was it.”
“Oh, yes, I know the one,” Ern says, and it smiles brightly at you. “Your selkie friend went into the wrong Shard, human friend. You want to use the Shard on the back of the Elder Tree. Go through that and you should end up right where you need to be.”
Your jaw nearly drops. “Wait, really?”
“Yep,” Ern says. “She would likely have figured that out when she went in there, but me telling you hopefully hastens the process of getting where you need to go.” It nods at this with a knowing look. “She ought to be coming out soon to tell you as much. The Shard she used takes you to a mountain domain where the griffons live.”
“Griffons…” you say, and you need a moment to shake your head. “Jesus, that is so cool to know…” You run both hands through your hair. “This whole experience has become way more than I ever thought it would when I first stumbled onto that shop.”
Ern giggles. “Yes, yes, I imagine so! But you will find where you need to be, just use that Shard on the other side.” Its expression grows more stern after its mirth ceases. “And do be mindful when you return to this djinn, human friend. We don’t like that a djinn would do such a thing given the laws we all follow, even if it has a Master. It’s quite worrisome to learn, oh yes, because it goes against a lot of the values we strive for.”
“Yeah,” you say. “I was told that, uh… all the different supernatural species we humans aren’t meant to know about have laws and rules about how you interact with us?”
“Indeed, we do,” Ern says.
Another bit of silence falls, and you look back toward the massive tree for a moment.
“Best of luck on your quest, human,” Ern says. “I ought to return to business…”
“Oh, uh, wait, please,” you say.
Ern pauses and eyes you curiously. “You have questions, yes?”
You nod.
Ern giggles again. “Proceed, proceed.”
“So…” You try to find the right words. “All these Shards… they’re all pocket realms detached from my world, and, most of them are connected to each other somehow?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Ern says. “Almost every Shard leads to your world, human friend, but there are some which don’t. Those are typically impossible for a human to find, mind you.” It shrugs. “Those Shards can only be found through another Shard, yet going into that topic would likely become confusing for you, which is understandable.”
“…what happens if you just keep… going forward instead of entering a Shard?” you ask, looking around to further emphasize your point, since you thought of this earlier. “I mean, this place looks like it’s only trees. I don’t see anything else in the area.”
“Oh, a good question to ask,” Ern says. “Well, it depends, human friend. A Shard is actually quite spacious if you were to see its size – it isn’t as large as your human world is, no, but, it is quite big. Now, you won’t fall off of anything, you can be assured of this much.” It giggles. “No, no, nothing like that. But, if you were to walk and keep walking, you would either leave the Shard and end up back in your realm, or, you would likely end up circling back to where you began. Shards are rather tricky like that, you see.”
“Wait,” you say. “You mean if I go forward, and keep going, I’ll end up back here?”
“Depends on the direction you go, but, yes, yes,” Ern says. “Granted, you don’t have to worry about that, given you know where to go, and you have a selkie to guide you.”
“Jeez,” you say. “The more I learn about Shards… the crazier they become.”
Ern gives a shrug. “They are quite bizarre, we agree. We broonie have existed for thousands of your human years, and even now, we don’t know the exact nature behind why Shards exist or why they act the way they do. But we believe they have some measure of sentience, human friend, and this is partly why they are so very strange.”
“Sentience?”
Ern nods. “We broonie have long believed that, when Shards came into existence, the magics which created them also led to giving the Shard a form of life essence. I mean much like how these trees are alive, or how the trees and vegetation in your world is alive, yes, rather than how you are alive, or how we broonie are alive, so you know.”
“Huh,” you say.
“Every Shard is its own body,” Ern says. “That is what we think. And the magics that permeate each Shard is both the soul and the mind of that Shard. The fact that every Shard is home to something, like us broonie or the selkie or the griffons, and so on, is what gives further empowerment to the Shard. Without a strong presence of life, then, we believe a Shard would grow weaker. But such has never been the case, I think.”
You ponder this, and, again, you glance back toward the massive tree. There is still no sign of Moirine from it yet and you wonder how long it’ll be before she comes out.
Your lips purse. Do you go back and wait anyways? Or do you speak with Ern more?
Written by Hollowpages on 05 February 2022
