Zephaterra: Anciano's Magic

• Ashley B Cook, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2011

A butterfly flew across the sky, cutting through the mist with its radiant colours. It flew downwards, making a graceful landing on a green, luscious leaf. The leaf, the healthiest one could ever hope to lay eyes upon. So green, the colours reflected onto surrounding area. So well nourished, it’s veins rich with sap, even the human eye could clearly see. But most of all, so beautiful, that anyone who looked upon it, would gasp at the beauty of this single green leaf. Whoever happened to be looking at the leaf, would turn to see another leaf, almost exactly the same and would turn to see another and yet another until a whole tree took shape. A tree so grand and mighty, it would cover the sun yet inexplicably, sun would still filter through, blanketing the ground below!
A creation that took hundreds of years of nurturing and patience to form complicated, seemingly random, patterns of ancient wood. Then whoever happened to be watching, would look over and see another tree just like it and they would figure out that the town of Telaus was covered in plants and wildlife full of majesty and greatness. Telaus was a true ‘Eden’!
Although it had been there for hundreds of years, Telaus was considered ‘a babe in the woods’, so it’s defenses were always on alert. Neighbouring Sweeping Dunes had deadly creatures living within it. Sweeping Dunes was truly a dangerous place. Its inhabitants were mutated beasts that had genetically altered in order to adapt to the harsh, desert-like conditions. Only some ‘people’ were able to live there.
The strict quarantine ensured that Telaus remained a place of pristine beauty. Everything outside the Telaus Quarantine Zone seemed to fall into chaos. Fighting between the creatures of Zephaterra and the foul beasts of Sweeping Dunes made it unsafe and impossible to venture out of Telaus. Much of the native fauna and flora surrounding these areas had died from all sorts of diseases. Telaus was a ‘Safe House’ of sorts.
Telaus did not simply deny access to it’s beauty, or kill infected beings. The Leaders of the Quarantine Programme trained healers to nurture any living thing that sought refuge within it’s walls. That included plant life!
Telaus’ only other natural defense was Anciano. An ancient forest that had been there before the Great Telaus Terentius had discovered the hilltops known as Telaus.Anciano was old. In fact, it was home to the first breed of Zephur’s, agile, tree-dwelling creatures. Although the Zephur evolved into the Wood Elves, they reverted to being called by their original name-Zephur.
Anciano was close to the borders of Sweeping Dunes, thus it had evolved to suit the needs of its inhabitants. In turn, they defended Anciano to the death!
Anciano was a strange and magnificent place. A great magic ran through it, allowing the forest and everything within it to act as one. It was the core that housed all life! But at what price?