The Flower of Aisling
A Prequel Short Story from the Jade Dreamer Trilogy
Aloha, Dreamers! We’re switching up the pace a bit this week, and I’m sharing a short story I wrote as a result of a Power Up Prompt from in his epic community, The Writer’s Journey. Thank you for this prompt, Bradley!
I’m incredibly excited to share this as it’s the first piece of fiction I’ve put out into the world… especially here on Substack. This is also the first introduction to the world I’m building for the Jade Dreamer Trilogy, the fantasy series I’ve mentioned. Welcome the Trimordian Galaxy and the home planet of Anu! Grab some tea and enjoy. 🍵
Mona’s foot hit sludge as her body slipped deeper in the water of the Bás Swamp of Leandor. The notorious sinking swamp. Her pack almost soaked as she grasped a nearby tree root to pull herself up. The treacherous muck held her foot with supernatural force.
“We need to switch to land,” she called behind her.
She heard a splash, she looked behind her to find Solon, her tall, but less agile companion, face down in the swamp.
While Solon steadied himself, Mona searched the sky to find their course. The stars twinkled like a million diamonds, the only light in the sky as Inona’s Moon was hiding. This was the evening of her rebirth. Their only chance to harvest the Flower of Aisling. The only way they could save hundreds who would die if they returned without the pollen from the charmed flower. Mona couldn’t help but appreciate the irony that it was sealed away in a swamp of death.
She crawled onto the shore while the trees above seemed to moan urgent warnings. She stared at their dark, twisting branches… captivated. Then, shuddered and turned back to help Solon find his way to the bank.
“We can’t go up there.” He coughed – still struggling with swamp water in his lungs. “The Leandorians could guard the trail, and we don’t know if the path is safe.”
“We don’t have time not to.” Mona sized up her companion. His jet-black hair gleaming in the night. She could feel him send silent words in the space between them.
“You don’t always have to be so strong.” The thought wafted into her mind as he breathed it in his… a gift of his Griorgan magic. He was a born leader, but not built for trekking in enemy lands to find mystical flowers. But he’d insisted on coming.
She wondered for the millionth time why she hadn’t chosen him all those years ago, but then she remembered the hundreds of adventures she’d taken with her Brenn over their twenty years together. Traveling every crevice of Anu’s surface, guarding her secrets and protecting her treasures. They were a team. Or at least they had been.
“Stay out of my head, Solon.” Heading deeper in between the trees, she called back, “If there’s an earthquake, we need to be on high ground. The trail is up ahead.”
“I still think we could have asked.” Solon whispered urgently behind her back.
“There is no way. The tribes are still at war, remember?” She scoffed.
“Which war? I’m losing count.” Solon sighed.
Mona felt a surge of energy return as she spied the path of solid rock laid out ahead. Solon was right… there was a chance the Leandorians were there. This was their night to harvest the flower too. Hopefully they were all at the ceremony site by now.
“One thing at a time. We stop Reynard from taking Rialu and building the Dome. If he gets one up, it won’t be long before he has the whole planet in his grasp. And we can’t stop him with half our fighting force paralyzed by his poison.” The stone path hovered above them. They would have to climb.
As she searched for roots, Solon edged behind her. “You can’t keep avoiding this.”
She grunted as she pulled herself up. “Are you going to start climbing?”
“Your husband is on the edge of death, and he got another woman pregnant. You must have some feelings about that.” Solon bent his hands on his hips and waited.
Mona grunted as she placed a hand on the stone path above her. “Solon, shut up and climb. Now is —”
Suddenly, the ground began to quiver beneath them. It started as a gentle roar, but soon the whole world was tumbling. Mona clutched the root between her hands with all her might.
“Mona!” She looked down to see the ground around Solon falling away to nothing. A circle formed around her friend, and she watched as inch by inch it grew smaller. He was going to be swallowed; she had to act fast. She latched the tree root in her arm and reached her hand out. “Jump!”
Solon hesitated, the ground shook even harder and he made the leap. Mona thought he would miss, but at the last second his hand clutched hers. Her body jerked, but she held tight while he grasped a nearby root.
Mona heaved in a few deep breaths before starting to climb again. “Would you like to discuss my marriage, or should we find that Flower?” Solon shot a sheepish look her way and kept climbing.
_________
An hour later, they were securely on the stone path with no sign of Leandorian guards. Yet.
“Will you have enough power when we get there?” Solon whispered as he followed Mona’s lead through the dense undergrowth.
Mona, eyes ahead, kept stalking. She would find a way. She was about to tell Solon as much when she heard a snarling growl, and brush move around them. She twirled just in time to see a Lorgon attack Solon. The creature came hurling out of the slime, its long frog-like legs sprawled as it jumped an incredible distance. It’s short, stubby snout swung open to reveal eight hundred teeth in more rows than she could count. It was snarling, drooling and chewing on her friend.
Mona took off towards them but stopped when she heard a low growl near her ankle.
“Solon!” She dared not move.
She watched as her friend punched the Lorgon with more force than she thought he had in him. The Lorgon careened through the air into darkness, and Solon hauled himself up. His shoulder was bleeding.
“There’s one by my foot,” Mona whispered. She became aware of hundreds of eyes watching them. “We’re surrounded,” she croaked.
The words just escaped her lips when hundreds of the beasts flew from the shadows… straight for them. She clenched her eyes shut. She didn’t to watch this dear man die.
The world went quiet, and she cracked open her eyes. Solon held an energetic shield around them. Hundreds of Lorgons crashed against the invisible wall of power, slid down and plopped on the ground. If they weren’t so terrifying, she would have laughed. Beside her, she heard Solon chuckle.
She couldn’t help but smile. “Hold them.”
Solon shot her a worried look. “You won’t have enough juice.”
She sat down to block out the world around her. Solon. The Lorgons. The Bás Swamp with its creepy trees. All of it. Silencing her mind until she saw the strands of space and time. Woven before her inner eye like a tapestry of beauty and chaos. It rippled and waved – ever changing with every choice made by every soul. Which made it tricky to find their strand, but Mona had been doing this for years. She knew how to navigate the Dream Space.
She breathed, sinking even deeper until she was immersed within the Dream Space. Each strand rippled with power as it raced past her. She willed herself to find their position and saw a golden glow up ahead. That was it.
Mona walked to the gleaming thread and plucked. She would have to pull them up into the unseen realms. The world between worlds. With one hand on the golden strand, she used all the thrumming power within her to expand the thread until she saw multiple doors within its threads. She walked towards one of the doors while reaching for Solon’s hand in the real world. He grabbed her hand while she kept her eyes sealed. Focused on that door.
“When I tell you, drop the shield and sit down,” she gasped.
“I’m ready.”
Opening the door within the Dream Space, she stepped and found herself in the Bás Swamp. She hovered above, looking down at her and Solon. And several hundred snarling Lorgons.
“Now!” She cried and held her focus. She felt Solon plop down, heard the increased rumble of Lorgon cries. Her magic slipped for a second, but she held fast. Solon appeared next to her in the Dream Space and they looked down to see confused Lorgons searching empty ground.
Mona could hold them in the Upper realms, but they would have to hurry.
______________
The Leandorian tribe gathered around the Flower of Aisling. Hundreds of them. Armed to the teeth. Mona and Solon hovered above, invisible to the naked eye. They arrived just as the tribe’s shaman stepped forward to commence the ceremony. He was rotund and wore a dark headdress woven of Lordon teeth and bones.
She shot Solon a look, “We need to move fast.” He nodded.
They watched for the perfect moment. The Leandorian tribe, protectors of ancient plant spirits and keepers of the Root of Anu, had become barbaric during the decades long war that raged across the planet. They turned to blood magic and to keep the Flower of Aisling for themselves, they cursed it. The Flower would only release its healing pollen in exchange for sacrifice, and every year, they selected one of their own to be given to death. The unfortunate soul was standing in the middle of the circle with the shaman.
Solon grasped her hand. It was time. The Leandorians spun wildly in a circle, dancing and chanting in synchronized rhythm to an ancient call. Their bodies moving in time… from above it looked as though they were one great, writhing serpent.
Beyond the clearing, under the pale starlight, Mona could see the Flower of Aisling, the bud brimming to fullness. It was about to burst as it moved and swayed with the song.
It was now or never. Mona and Solon floated over to the spot above the Flower. Their only hope was to catch it just as it opened… before the Leandorians could see it. They would have to blink out of the Upper Realms and back within seconds or they would be slaughtered. No room for error.
Solon gave Mona the nod. He would watch guard while Mona placed a necklace from one of their oldest citizens who was on the brink of death into the flower. Her name was Tialda. Her family insisted she would be honored to give herself for Anu. Her death for new life. Mona hesitated. Solon nudged again, and she reached to retrieve the necklace.
It was gone.
Her gaze slammed to meet Solon’s as understanding dawned in his violet eyes. She frantically searched her clothing. Nothing. She could feel her power waning.
“The earthquake.” She mouthed the words. Her eyes held terror. His did not.
He looked down at his torn shoulder, bleeding profusely under a tourniquet, and back up at Mona. He let go of her hand.
She shook her head. No. There had to be another way.
“Let me go.” He whispered.
No. He’d sacrificed so much for his people. He would lead them once they managed to unscrew the mess Reynard made. She was not going to let him do this. But if she gave herself, he’d be stranded and likely slaughtered anyway.
Her mind raced through scenarios… what would Brenn say? Her heart panged remembering his betrayal.
Shaking her head, she called on Anu within the Dream Space. “Help us!”
Before she could blink, Brenn’s face appeared before her. A memory. Before the battle. Before she knew. They were sitting before a fire. Children playing, couples dancing, friends laughing.
Brenn held her hands and grew serious. Grim.
“What is it?” she asked, leaning closer.
“Mona – If anything happens —” He paused.
“Brenn, don’t —”
He gathered himself. “If something happens, you let me go.”
She shook her head, but he grasped her cheek gently. “Promise.”
She reluctantly nodded.
The memory snapped and she was back in the present.
The chanting came to a harried frenzy. Mona looked to Solon. She looked down. The Flower was blooming. It was happening. She knew what to do.
Without thinking, she opened the portal partially and Solon went slamming to the ground in the middle of the Lenorians. The chanting ground to a halt.
“Now!” Mona thought. She slid her wedding ring off. As the gigantic, glowing petals of the Flower of Aisling began to unfurl, she tossed it into the center. Her throat choked. Brenn.
No matter what, she loved him. He was the —
She couldn’t think about that now. She had one eye on Solon, who was on his feet, backing away from the circle of warriors shrinking around him, and one on the flower which was opening fully. Luminescent light beams shot off the white petals as it displayed its full majesty. She would never see this again. Pity she couldn’t enjoy it.
She waited a heartbeat for the red on the petals to signal the sacrifice was accepted and she could harvest. Nothing.
Hands up, Solon was conversing with the Leandorian shaman in their native tongue. How many languages did he know? Mona was nearly out of magic and about to lose her mind.
When she looked back, the flower petals began turning a deep crimson red. Praise Anu! She lowered herself to the ground, maintaining the spell, and quietly harvested the pollen.
The Lenorians grew louder. Solon didn’t have long. She picked a large stick and threw it in the woods behind them. Someone heard and shouted. At least half of them turned to find the source.
“The Flower!” the voice of a young woman rang in the stillness, and they all looked at the Flower of Aisling. Right at Mona.
She breathed deeply and held her place as they streamed past her - some of them crying, some of them raging – to discover the sacrifice was already done. Moving ever so slowly, she wove her way to Solon, left behind in the melee.
Solon’s eyes met hers.
“What have you done?” He mouthed. She held a finger to her mouth and grabbed his hand. In one move she wrapped him in her enchantment again and lifted them.
She was losing power. Fast. She kept hold of Solon’s wrist and willed herself to carry them away. They floated for a distance, leaving the fire and terror behind. A wild cry let them know it was discovered Solon was gone.
Just as her power gave way, a quiet spot between several trees revealed itself and Mona set them down. She let go of the spell, and Solon laid in.
“What were you thinking, Mona! You should have let me —”
She held up her hand, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“He would have wanted this. I just know.”
He swallowed his words. She turned away and grasped her slightly bulging belly… feeling the life within.
“We need to run. Now.” And she took off.
Thank you so much for reading! I’d love to hear from you in the comments… I’ll release more stories like this as I build out the Trilogy, so all feedback is so welcomed. Questions about the world, insights, and even ideas!
Mahalo and Aloha Mā… from my heart to yours!
Kyra ✨
This is well written. Keep it going.
good piece kyra