Chi suddenly looked up. In the middle of teaching Dusk how to read runes, the unicorn shivered. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"There's something malicious happening," Chi said, and she closed her eyes and held the pose for quite some while before turning her head towards Dusk, opening her eyes. "All's well," Chi said. "As far as I know."
Dusk didn't like the sound of it.
"As for this rune..." Chi said, pointing at the one carved into the walls of her dwelling.
"Hold up," Dusk said. "It may be well now, but what of later? Shouldn't you go and aid?"
Chi sighed. "If I did, then there wouldn't be anyone left to protect the other parts of this woods."
Dusk frowned. "Before all this happened, I attended something called the 'Pack Quest', and this was one of the places we had to pass through. Some of my friends devoured the animals from this woods, and oddities happened. A purple tail, unblinking eyes... We were scared by how still this forest was, yet, it was screaming with danger... to us. Now... this place is so... hectic with all these happenings. Even weirder things arose. Trees than become creatures, wolves changing into dragons, and so on."
Chi didn't seem to be listening, but Dusk ploughed on ahead. "What has this place become? What are you all?"
Dusk could faintly remember that even the wind was scarce in the forest, and it was so silent that one could hear their own breath as they walked down the path calmly. It was all too odd.
Where did these creatures come from? They were obviously not normal. Wolves can't turn into dragons, nor can they cast spells, and unicorns shouldn't have existed.
"This forest was built by magic-users. They used this land as their sanctuary, and thus now magic grows here as well," Chi said, turning away from the rune.
"Sanctuary?" Dusk echoed.
"It's our sacred area," Chi said. "It has a special magic tying this land with out spirits."
"A bond?"
Chi flicked her tail. "Our soul and this place is connected!" she exclaimed.
"Whoa," Dusk said.
There was a pause, and Chi decided to continue with the story. "Soon, the magic-users began to realise the shift in magic. Crystal was one of the factors. The unbalanced world of the magics and non-magics has also caused the rise of dark and light. To each tribe, they had their own darkness to fear, and light to savour. Those here realised their forest would push the favour of magic, and the Court of Magic was formed."
"Court of Magic?" asked Dusk.
Chi nodded. "Quit interrupting, alright? I'll get to it soon."
Dusk wasn't surprised at Chi's sudden outburst, for it was normal.
"The Court of Magic started with different tribes. The magical non-magic, a majestic wolf, a superior magic, a manticore, and the everlasting phoenix. They were driven to the point where they want the world to be as before. Thus, they assigned themselves ranks. The eternal phoenix got his title as Alpha, the manticore as the Beta, while the wolf, which they considered weak in magic, Omega."
"So... all this... Chi, Beta, Zeta, Lambda... they're not your names, but ranks?" Dusk asked.
"Yes, though Chi is a nickname of my name Chira, so it was an uncanny coincidence," the unicorn replied.
"Then why are you introducing us to your fake names??" Dusk demanded.
"It's just what we call each other by."
"Are you saying Lambda isn't the leader?"
"Hush!" snapped Chi. "I will get to that soon!"
Dusk scoffed at it, but listened to what Chi had to say next. "It was not long until they have collected all twenty-four members, each given a rank by their magic status. The wolf remained the only non-magic animal in the court.
"They take on tasks to clear humans from the path of magics, those who hunt down the phoenix tribe had to face the court, or even for purchasing illegal goods, both the seller and purchaser would be doomed. The court slowly shifted the magic back into favour and balance, however it was too slow, and such rapid mistakes made magic fall back down. The non-magics are in favour, Crystal was the biggest factor, but she was praised by the unicorn tribe, so if the court was to harm her, the unicorn race, with no doubt, would oppose them.
"As animals come and go in and out of the court, some eventually retired, or left due to boredom, or succumbed to an enemy outside of battle. With the number of magics reducing, more non-magics joined. The next non-magic was a white lion."
Dusk couldn't help but breathe out, "Lambda."
"Yes, he had taken the slot for Lambda," said Chi. "The former had taken leave as they no longer wanted to protect magic seeing it's a hopeless case. The Alpha admired Lambda quickly as the lion was known to do it with all he has. Where he came from, it seemed like the biggest mystery shrouding Lambda.
"Eons pass by. The members change, and yet a war between magics brew more violently than ever. To magics, this was the most brutal war. The Magic Battle, in which one tribe tears down the rest, dragons, phoenix, manticores, centaurs... so many tribes were lost that fateful year. The number of the court as some aided their own tribes, some tried to stop it whole.
"Lambda did nothing but sit back. He watched his friends fall in the battle. It was a war he could do nothing to stop. Everything... everything the court strived for has disappeared that fateful day.
"With the only member Lambda left, he disbanded the court, and seeked for those who cared about peace. Those with magic, those without. It was over so long ago, when I was just a filly. Omicron could not possibly be as old as Lambda despite their relations, but then when the opportunity approaches, the Silver Woods was started to be populated once more. Those who had fallen in war and could be saved, their souls linger in wild animals in the woods, like a bird, or even powerful ones regain form as a wolf, then leave or stay.
"Lambda's decision was not always right. When he found the wolf once more, once dubbed Omega, Lambda gave the wolf a second chance at their reincarnation. That wolf would be now known as Beta, while Lambda insisted to stick with his title. Beta, Rune and the war against him, that is a different story not of this forest.
"This is our heaven, Dusk. If we were to die here, our magic connecting us and this land would spark, and our souls would find a new body, or, rather, craft it with our powers. What. You've seen as you pass by was a façade, and a lie. It was the front cover. This is what's inside, and... now, you know, Dusk," Chi said, "and we... we are magic.
"Spirits of magic."
Author's Note: We're getting to learn a bit of history haha. I wonder when is the climax oops.
