Ashton had heard stories of Euphranor and how beautiful it was. The stories didn’t do the scene before him justice.
The trees of the forest were gigantic. The diameter of each trunk was the size of a large building on Earth. Their branches were the size of small trees and several exotic flowers of every color bloomed from the depths of their green leaves. The leaves glistened in the sunlight as if it had just rained, but the ground was completely dry.
Ashton walked over to smell a royal blue and gold fuzzy flower hanging off of one of the lower branches. He leaned forward, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His eyes popped open and his eyebrows scrunched down in confusion. There was no smell.
“’Guid day, whit the bludy heel is gonnae oan haur,” a voice, with a Scottish accent, boomed.
Ashton spun around, scanned the area, and glanced over at Malachi. “What was that?”
Malachi shrugged his shoulders and Ashton turned around, looking at the flower in front of him. He lurched back as the flower popped off the tree and flew into the air. The flower changed midair into some odd looking creature. It’s long, droopy ears puffed out as it glided to the ground. Its gold eyes glared at Ashton.
“Ye dornt see me a walkin’ around smellin’ ye, dae ye?” the creature demanded as it stalked forward, waving its long, vine-like finger at Ashton.
“Och, boy…. haur we go again,” another voice, with a Scottish accent, chirped.
A gold and black flower shifted into the same kind of creature. It’s golden and black body shimmered as its oversized vine-like feet clung to the branch. Its black eyes stared over at Ashton. “Ye got heem started an’ it’ll be a bit afair he staps.”
The blue creature’s golden eyes narrowed. “Ye stay outta it Mischuff! Females hae nae business in a male’s affairs.”
The gold creature rolled its black eyes as it flipped off the branch and glided to the forest floor. “If ye say sae, Phitz. It’d nae be sae bad if ye didne bite ‘eryone’s heed off ye come across.”
Ashton looked from the blue creature to the golden creature. “What are you?”
Mischuff smiled up at him, showing off teeth that sparkled like diamonds. “Me and Phitz, we’re Eirian. Some ay th’ best creatures yoo’ll eva hae th’ pleasure ay meetin’.”
Phitz scowled as he glared at Ashton. “An’ we hae the displeasure of a meetin’ ye. Ah was sleepin’ soondly afair ye rudely awoke me.”
Ashton knelt down. “My apologies to you both.” He looked at Phitz and then Mischuff. “I’m new to this world and I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
A horn bellowed in the distance and Phitz’s ears perked up. Phitz rubbed his gold viney hands together as he licked his lips. “It’s ‘ime tae eat!”
Excitement flared in Mischuff’s black eyes. “Ye dornt got tae teel me twice!”
Ashton backed up as the Eirians spun, flinging dirt, as they burrowed into the ground. Mischuff and Phitz took off underground, causing the dirt to rise up on the forest floor. It reminded Ashton of what was left behind after a mole dug into the ground.
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