I also expected the trees to thin out to make room for such a busy, massive city. However, that wasn’t the case. The tall, skyscraper-height trees stood next to modern-looking buildings. It was obvious that the forest had been here way before these people were, and instead of cutting everything down, everything was woven together with it. Streets, bicycles, buildings, and shops.
Every establishment looked small, but a short walk to a slightly higher elevation showed how far the city development had expanded. We also passed a small creek with canoes that reminded me of the ones I’ve seen on Italian tourist sites. It cut through the center of the city, but the water wasn’t polluted, like it would be back home.
Suddenly, something started to tickle my ears.
At first, I wasn’t sure what I was experiencing. It wasn’t until I could identify individual notes that I realized I washearingsomething. A song. Perhaps someone was playing music in the distance, since this seemed like a lively city.
“That sounds beautiful,” I said.
“What does?” Audrey asked.
“The music,” I replied.
Liam and Audrey gave me curious looks before Audrey asked, “What music?”
“The music.” I turned around, trying to locate where it was coming from, but I couldn’t pick out a certain direction. It was still so faint, but when I faced her again, she just gave me a confused look.
She didn’t hear it.
Oh my god, maybe I was having a breakdown after all.
“Never mind.” I waved my hand dismissively. “I thought I heard music. I think it was just someone talking.”
Audrey nodded. “The languages do sound beautiful, don’t they?”
I agreed and moved on. I still heard the tune but kept it to myself.
I couldn’t track where the melody was coming from, but it brought me comfort to hear music, an art that brought me relief in my darkest and lowest times. I sent a silent prayer up to the universe, thanking it for letting me experience a tranquil melody in this realm as I adjusted to my new reality.
I was lost in my thoughts as we walked throughout Liam’s flowery home city, Enhavenn. Which apparently was in the fae territory (country) of Enharra. There were little to no cars or vehicles at all. Everyone rode bikes or walked, which made the city feel cozy, even though it was large.
Audrey led us to an EV train station, which I would have thought would clash with the classic stone structure of the city, but it didn’t. It didn’t look like a metal rusty tube like the main train system California had. It looked like a tube of polished wood, stained with a light oak, with green and yellow paint to make it feel like it belonged with the city’s architecture.
“First, we need to take the train out of Enharra and to Sammara,” Audrey explained as we took our seats. They were comfy, with embroidered cushions. A quick look around the full space made me realize that this was a very common form oftransportation. Families, businesspeople, the elderly, and teens all took their seats around us.
“Is Sammara another fae city?” I asked as I made eye contact with a young child again. I smiled and waved, and she blushed and turned away from me in her seat, toward her parent.
“Sammara is the capital of Hyvenmere,” Liam explained as he settled next to Audrey, facing me. There was a stone table in between us, with an electronic tablet built into the surface, with the Hyvenmerian language dancing across the screen. It looked like a map showing us the route we were about to take. “It’s a city where all the people of Hyvenmere gather to celebrate each other. Sammara is where you go when you want to experience every territory's cuisine, art, and culture. It’s also where the Mellhawn Gates are, which is how we’ll get you back home.”
The train started to take off, and when I glanced out the window, I was shocked.
We were travelingsofast.
Enharra was very green, with a thick forest that reminded me a lot of Northern California, covered in the largest redwood trees I’d ever seen. Watching the massive trees zoom past us as the train practically flew under ancient canopies, until the landscape opened up wide enough for us to see for miles, was surreal. By my estimate, we were easily traveling over one hundred miles per hour, if not one hundred and fifty.
I could feel Audrey’s eyes on me as I watched the landscape zoom past us.
After the vast landscape was exposed, and my jaw audibly dropped, Liam excused himself, saying he was going to find us coffee.
Thank fuck they had coffee in Hyvenmere.
In the far distance, a city made of bricks and stones, surrounded by large evergreens and redwoods—at least, treesthatlookedlike evergreens and redwoods, started to come into view.
Audrey studied me, and I focused on her reflection in the glass. The tall and short buildings of what I assumed to be Sammara slowly crawled closer to us as the train left the old-growth forest and traveled over a large body of water. Far away in the distance, on another green landmass separated by a large river, were mountains capped with a dusting of snow.
“Those are the Fjellenheim Mountains of Lyndoruun,” Audrey nodded her head toward them as she spoke. “Legend has it that the goddess Tynara used to reside there. Watching over the continent of Hyvenmere. Keeping everything balanced and fruitful.”
I grinned. “I’m glad it’s a goddess.”
