Chapter 4

Sylvi

Nothing in my life had prepared me for leaving the forest, and I only started to understand what my decision meant when my feet took me far beyond the stream that marked the border of our land. I felt so empty, and the overwhelming loneliness made the tears flow down my cheeks and fall onto the path that led me away from home and everything I knew.

My heart cried, and I needed all my strength to resist the urge to turn back and run as fast as I could to the cold water of the stream to wash away the feelings overflowing me. But I couldn’t. The forest had given me a vision of the dark future that awaited us all if I didn’t come with Sara, a vision so vivid and strong that it almost felt like it had a life of its own. I wondered if she carried a similar vision in her heart, since I didn’t understand how she found the strength to carry on after everything that had happened to her.

The experience made me bond with her; only she could understand how I felt, but it also made me feel lonely. Because even if I somehow could turn back and go home, no one in the forest would understand what I’d seen. I only wished Sara would comfort me. She must understand what I was going through, but as much as she always treated me kindly, she was also cold and distant, focusing only on evading our pursuers. Most of the time, she was deep in thoughts I had no way of knowing. I couldn’t blame her for it because even if she would share them with me, I probably wouldn’t understand them. We travelled on paths that only a few knew, moving further and further away from my home, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t reach her heart. I cried quietly during many sleepless nights, watching the stars. They looked the same as when I lay at home, but rather than bringing me joy and wonder, they only intensified the deep loneliness in my heart.

Even on those rare occasions when we stayed in one place for a few days, gathering our strength, she kept her guard up, leaving me alone with all these strange and alien feelings. I’d never felt like this before, and I didn’t know how to find a balance without neglecting any of them.

With time, she took us to places that had fallen under the shadow of the Witch, and I felt the sadness the people carried in their hearts. I wondered how I could heal them since there was no point in singing for them if they would wake up to the shadow the next morning. My song would soon become a distant dream to them, fading away as they carried on through yet another day.

I felt so helpless and useless those times, and I wished we would never visit such places again and instead stay in the wilderness. It didn’t feel or look like my home, but at least it didn't make me feel sad and hopeless. But she kept taking me there, regardless of my inner wishes, and they filled me with doubt and left me empty and drained long before we left them. In those dark times, I wondered how Sara had been before she took this quest on herself and if….if I would become like her before our journey ended. Those were the dark thoughts that slowly crept into my heart and became a constant companion of every waking hour.

Maybe she started to notice my state and tried to lift my mood by telling me stories of the past. But they left me even more sad and confused than I was before. Did she really believe that my people had a magic so powerful it defeated the darkness a long time ago? It was hard for me to doubt her words since she was a Unicorn, after all, but I couldn’t find any comfort in them. Especially now, when our pursuers were closing in, and Sara began to lose her confidence that we could escape them unscratched. I dreaded the evenings when Sara prepared me for it, telling me what would happen if they finally caught up with us. I couldn’t sleep on those nights, and the fear slowly crept deeper and deeper into my heart, shattering the remnants of the balance I once had.

In the end, she decided to take us East and cross the great river, hoping it would put a barrier between us and give us more time. That would lead us away from the sad places, and for that, I was grateful to her. I didn’t notice the flames dancing in her eyes whenever she looked at me, though. Even if I had, how could I have known what she planned to do with me? I trusted her with all my heart.