The Wonder from which he took his name took the form of a vast forest of oak trees, large and sprawling as far as the eye could see.

Some might have been fooled into thinking that was it and once Falias would have included himself amongst their number.

Once...

At least until he had visited and found the mistletoe in bloom and Daithi, his ancestor, had shown him how to find the true city.

It hadn't been that long ago, had been back in November towards the turning of the months and if Falias was being honest he hadn't been planning to return on the 2015 side of the year, because whilst Halloween tended to be the busiest time of year in his day to day life as Marlin, Christmas and the holiday period run up came a relatively close second with the shop open right up to Christmas Eve...

And that was even without counting the bits and pieces that he had left to do before he headed over to the traditional Christmas get together with first his Mum and his Mum's side of the family, followed by the one with his Dad and Lisa and his relatives on their side of the family, which meant finishing up Christmas shopping and included remembering to post Christmas cards to those that he wasn't going to get the chance to catch up with in advance of the last posting dates.

There was a lot to do and Christmas was getting ever closer and so he had been planning to let activities as Falias take a bit of a backburner - so perhaps the odd short patrol but no more.

He hadn't counted on the two trips to Olympus in relative (at least compared to past Olyumpus trips) quick succession, although if he was being honest, he couldn't say that he regretted going to the Knight night that Hvergelmir and Babylon had organised.

Even so, he hadn't been planning to do any more trips as Falias - be it Wonder-related, Olympus-related or otherwise-related until things quietend downed and that pretty meant post New Year.

But then things had started to get weird.

It wasn't anything that he could put a finger on - a niggling feeling here, a nagging prickle there. Small things that he had put down to whimsies of imagination as he buried himself in shop work by day and browsing amazon.com by eve and maybe if it had stayed like that then he could have continued on as is.

Perhaps...

But he hadn't counted on the dreams - dreams that left him awakening in a cold sweat in the middle of night.

The dreams weren't like his Mistral nightmares. There were no screeches of metal on metal or bloodstained dark chambers. There were no sobs in the dark and no murderous dolls.

In fact if there had been anyone to tell, then he would have been hard pushed to actually explain the content of his dreams given that he had no memory of what he'd been dreaming about.

It was unsettling and disconcerting and after the fourth night of waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat he had had enough.

He wasn't sure when he had made the decision to slip out of the apartment and go find somewhere to go power up or when powering up had turned into a decision to go visit his Wonder, but somehow it had and now here he was and walking through a forest of oak that bloomed with mistletoe. Walking through a forest that was as silent as ever.

Falias sighed, slipping hands into his pockets as he walked. He should go back, a part of him knew that he should turn back after all he still had a lot of things that he could be getting on with as Marlin either at home or - given that he wasn't likely to be going back to sleep anytime soon - down in the shop.

He kept walking, avoiding the path that led towards the forest centre and the Lia Fáil and avoiding too the small clearing where he had been attempting to plant things - attempting because as yet he had had no success.

Instead he found himself walking to the tree that his ancestor had shown him, could almost hear the other's voice in his mind for all that it seemed that Daithi was choosing not to make an appearance.

The true city of Falias lies above. High up in the trees. Once she could be accessed by vine, ladder or by tree staircase but the former are long gone and now only the latter remains...

Falias stopped by the tree, reaching out to feel the trunk for the carved symbol of Earth that Daithi had shown him. It took a while - Daithi had shown him in full daytime and even then the symbol had been barely noticible - whereas he was searching in the early hours of morning, the forest dim and shadowed,

He should probably have gone home, home to the warm apartment and shop.

He didn't, his hand tracing along the bark in the area that he thought that he had seen his ancestor pointing to until at last his hand traced along the symbol.

He pressed, the click sounding loud after the silence of the forest and the trunk slid away and to the side to reveal a staircase winding upwards.

He walked as he did then upwards, found himself once again struck by the fact that if those who had once lived in the city had walked up and down these stairs on a daily basis, then they must have been super healthy.

And perhaps it was because he was traversing the stairs earlier, or perhaps it was because this time he was traversing them alone but Falias found himself noticing that he was not walking up in darkness - that the inside of the trunk was actually lit - although he couldn't spot any visible light source and that was despite himself pausing to briefly to check.

It had grown much lighter outside by the time that he reached the top of the stairway and stepped out onto the walkway linking the tree to the next but still he continued walking.

Some of the walkways led to carved wooden buildings, whilst others linked the trees together in a road of sorts. Many were crumbled the path forward either too dangerous to traverse or gone althogether with only a glimpse of maybe and perhaps to be caught on the other side.

But there was enough of a path forward for Falias to keep walking and whilst he couldn't say what his overall destination was, it didn't stop him from continuing to walk forward.

At some point during the walk he had stopped telling himself that he should probably have gone home, because whilst he knew that he should - knew as time continued to pass that the things he needed to do as Marlin would become more and more pressing - he also knew that he wasn't about to turn back and head home. At least not yet he wasn't.

He wasn't sure how long he had been walking for before he saw the tree - oak like its fellows albeit noticibly larger... And that was saying something since the trees that made up the forest that was his Wonder weren't exactly small.

He kept walking, except unlike before when he'd been walking to no real purpose, he finally had a destination. The tree.

Even so it still took a fair bit more walking until he finally managed to find a walkway leading towards it, the final carved walkway more staircase than walkway.

Falias walked upwards, a slight urgency to his steps, although he wouldn't have been able to give a reason for it if there had been anyone around to ask him why the hurry.

And then he was finally at the top and in place of urgency was an uncharacteristic hesitation.

The stairs had led him to the outside of a room and one that had been carved into the very tree trunk. There was no door barring his way, instead it seemed at some point that someone had carved a wooden archway, the carvings still clear despite of their age.

He finally stepped forward and into the room, boots tapping against the wood of the floor as his green eyes glanced around the room.

It was big one, big enough - at least by his reckoning - to fit at least 2 or 3 other people in addition to himself.

It was also lit, although like the staircase Falias could discern no visible light source, the light revealing that the walls of the room had been carved into murals of mistletoe and a stone that he recognised as being that of the Lia Fáil.

A pulsating orb of energy, about the size of a baseball, hovered above a wooden pedestal in the center of the tree. It seemed to have a presence—like it was more than just a light. While it did not share the same mist-like appearance as the Code Piece on Olympus, there was no denying that this orb of light was one in the same. Although smaller, it still seemed powerful.

Falias stepped forward, a part of him noting the simplicity of the pedestal in contrast to the elaborately carved walls and he was struck by something that Hvergelmir had said at the Knight meeting.

Your Wonder may not seem like much, but something made it special -- something gave it power and worth.

And he found himself wondering as he gazed at the orb of energy, small though it was, that was one and the same as the Code piece at Olympus.

"Why?" The words came out before he realised that he was speaking them "Why are children being involved in this war?" And whilst it wasn't something that he had meant to ask, it was something that had been bothering him and something that truth be told had haunted him since his bloodstained experiences in Mistral's deathrinth.

None of those that had died had deserved to die that way, but in a way worse had been the kids - the fricking high schoolers for christ sakes - who had been part of the Level 6 party and who had died horribly, their lives cut terribly short.

It wasn't right, it could never be right and a part of him still hated himself in that he hadn't even been able to save even one of them.

It was perhaps because he was caught up in his thoughts that it took a while for him to realise that the Code piece was talking, his head looking up almost automatically to listen and then wish he hadn't.

"Why shouldn't they be? This war affects all, no matter the age. Should they not fight for what they want? For what's important to them? Or, is it because they are so young? Because," the Code seemed amused. "In that case, I understand. You are just too late. Their death is already slated."

For a moment he found staring at the piece of Code as it continued to speak, his green eyes stricken as it talked about kids deaths being slated in a voice full of amusement.

And then he whirled and turned his only thought to get out of there. Away from the room and from something that seemed to think that kids dying was unimportant - was something amusing - some sort of joke in fact.

Was this what it really meant to be a knight? Was following something like this part of his supposed knightly duty?

Because if so he wanted no part of it - no part at all.

-- 1956 words --