Page 163 of A Soul to Embrace

In the same way, he’d been curious about everything on Earth. However, unlike that mostly colourless world, Nyl’theria had much more to offer.

Wanting to experience that awe and amazement, but vicariously throughher... well, that wasn’t quite something he was willing to miss out on. He was sure they’d have plenty of chances for her to learn about this world in the future, but there was nothing quite like being thrust into it blindly.

He’d purposefully let her have small peeks by taking her through the forest, where she could slowly adjust to the glowing flora. Draflium flowers had once been picked to near extinction, but the removal of the Elysians allowed them to flourish again in certain areas.

He couldn’t resist the potential of teasing her about them. He knew she’d likely try to touch that bloom.

In the future, he’d explain that the plants shone at night in order to rid themselves of the excess energy that came from the heat and light from the three suns. Without expending it, the world would have burned up and turned into some kind of desert realm, since it would be considered a hot and constant summer climate.

Even many of the fauna glowed due to eating the flora, although most of the animals besides small critters and insects had been eaten to extinction by the Demons.

What he was about to show her was something that only happened at night, and it would be much more enthralling if she provoked it.

The area he brought her to opened up into a tree-lined clearing, through which there was a gap that led to a much larger meadow beyond. It was far too open for his comfort, so he thought this smaller and more private environment would be safer, andintimate.

Otholla shone brightly down on the clearing, and dewdrops sparkled with reflections of its white light swirling with muted green.

As he thought, the first things that drew her attention were the shrubs just on the outskirts of the mostly unassuming, long teal grass. He released her hand so she could walk over to the closest ones, then propped his back against the trunk of a tree, folding his arms as he watched her.

Nervous about getting too close to anything now, Zylah crouched down and hugged her midsection to inspect what was before her.

Purple monstera-like leaves acted as supports for long tendrils that were about a foot in length. Glowing bright yellow all throughout, with little balls of green in their tubes, theywaved any time there was the tiniest wind. From memory, he knew them to be mostly scentless, but she did lean forward a little to sniff at them.

“Touch one,” Jabez told her with a sly smile curling his lips. “Everything in this meadow is safe.”

The biggest danger was that a Demon would likely come upon them at any moment. He would be more annoyed that it’d ruin their fun than actually be a problem they needed to worry about.

She glanced at him, her snout moving ever so slightly in his direction, and he quickly hid his growing humour. She tentatively reached out to greet a thick tendril.

The moment she touched one, that particular glowing strand dimmed as it swirled to latch onto her clawed index finger. She gasped, quickly yanked her hand away, and it easily let her go to curl downwards, hiding as if it’d grown shy.

“It moved!” she squealed, before reaching out to let another one latch on to her.

The glowing green seed pods inside it quickly leaked from its tip, using her as a way to spread itself throughout the forest. She made it let go to inspect the two seeds upon her fingers, and the stickiness surrounding them ensured it was hard for her to pry them off. It would’ve eventually dried on its own, and when it did, the seeds would’ve dropped from her in hopes of sprouting roots into the ground.

Her orbs changed from the dark yellow of curiosity into the brightness of joy, then she leapt to her feet and rushed to a different shrub. He was glad she skirted the long stalks of grass, rather than walking through them, and she didn’t seem to notice what happened when she accidentally disturbed them.

She didn’t need to crouch this time as she touched orange moss clinging to the reddish bark of a tree. It reacted to her touch, likely hugging her fingertips, but was mostly lacklustre in movement and changes in its glow.

Many of the trees in Nyl’theria had orange moss growing from them, but it only specifically grew from those with reddish bark and blue leaves. The sap from those trees was spicy in scent and taste, and was a perfect nutrient for that variety of bryophyte.

Dull-green moss grew from those with bleached trunks and purple or pink leaves, but the moss itself appeared like tiny clovers. This section of forest didn’t have those trees, but most of the world was covered in them, as they were the stronger species.

The smile that had been pestering Jabez earlier grew as she turned her attention to the ground between them.

Between the stalks of grass were glowing orange bulb flowers. Even now, he could scent their citrusy aroma.

She stepped into the thigh-high grass and gasped loudly when a flurry of red glowing circles lifted up around her. Unintelligible whispers emerged from the red orbs that moved as if they were alive – which they were.

Her head twitched and cocked as she paused, listening to them. Once she stopped moving, the annoyed tiny creatures turned blue as they found new stalks to land on before ceasing their glow in their new resting spots.

All the quiet chattering died, and she lifted her skull to him, tilting it in question.

His smile grew. “The best translation for their name would be whispering wisps. They’re insects that turn red if you disturb them but glow blue when they fly. When they are at rest, you wouldn’t know they are there.” A few were still finding a place to settle around her, occasionally lifting off from the stalks that waved around her thighs from the light wind. “Many believed they held secrets of the past and would share them if you listened closely.”

He doubted that was true. Their wings just made a sound that was inconceivable even to his and Zylah’s sensitive hearing, and it was simply their minds trying to make sense of it.

Zylah took a step forward, and they lifted off once more, glowing red and whispering as they fled.

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