Lyrian and Faylin sit on the driver's bench over the wooden wheels bumping over rocks and trotting of horses that kicks up dirt. Faylin snaps the reins of the horse and her brown horse neighs to keep up pace with Lyrian's black horse.

  Both horses are pulling their carriage entering the hot sun above their heads.

  Lyrian is sitting back in the corner of his seat and thinks about what Aleena said about him over the jolty ride. He wonders if there's any truth to her words.

  Faylin is driving the carriage, watching Lyrian from the corner of her eye, looking distracted. The forest trail passes along with tall trees and vines hovering over. Mixing swamp with forest, mud becomes more hardened over time.

  Faylin still watches him, and Aleena who is riding Snowdrop in the distance. Things are awkward for her getting that strange nag from Aleena earlier and Lyrian is not helping by staying silent.

  "Lyrian?" Faylin taps him, bringing him out of thought. "What's wrong?"

  "What? Oh, yeah, just thinking about what Aleena said about me," he replies, thinking back to what she said earlier in the morning. "Do you think she was telling the truth about me?"

  "Oh, come on, Lyrian. You don't honestly believe that you're a lazy bum?" she pats his shoulder being playful.

  "I don't know. I mean, I don't think I am, but sometimes, I wonder..." he trails off. "I'm not exactly the most useful person in a fight." Lyrian sighs, "and I don't think I'm very attractive either."

  Faylin chuckles, "what kind of nonsense are you spewing?" Faylin reaches over for a gentle touch to his chin yet being serious to his face, "come on, chin up. You're not lazy. You've been the most useful person here. Don't listen to that stuck up elf."

  "It's not just her," he shrugs off her fingers. "My family always said I wouldn't amount to anything and that I wasn't smart enough to handle a farm and business. And well, they weren't exactly wrong. I spend most of my time helping you."

  Faylin's voice lowers with feelings of guilt, thinking that she has kept him for herself for too long, "well, what do you want to do? Do you want to run your magic farm? Go back and live in Aigeia? Continue your journey with us? Or maybe find something else?"

  "I really want to be part of the mage's guild. It's been my dream since I was little, to study and perform powerful magic spells," he perks up with excitement. "That was the whole point of running my farm anyways, so I can use the extra money and buy magical ingredients."

  Faylin thinks to herself as she might lose her assistant and mining mage. She was only getting by because of him using magic to dig so quickly. She bites the inside of her cheek, "oh, uh, that sounds like fun. So you want to quit helping our business?"

  "No," he quickly responds, shaking his head. "If that's the case I'd keep helping you. I enjoy spending time with you and working on the forge. Your work fascinates me and I want to keep learning new things from you."

  "You still can if you're wanting to be a mage. It's your life and you should follow your dreams. What happened that caused you to change from doing your own path to helping me?"

  "I want to, but I just worry you'll fall behind on business," he admits.

  "But I'm not your priority nor your goal," she worries shaking her head slowly.

  "Exactly what most mages would say. Mages love to be independent," he rolls his eyes with his arms crossed. "It's okay to stick with family Faylin. Many races do it, especially in such economic depressions. Like you do with Bibby. Maybe it's just people's pressure that's getting to me. Always putting me down, misunderstanding, making me think I'm lazy or an underachiever."

  Faylin pays her attention back on the road to drive, "you are more than welcome to leave anytime." Faylin slightly panics with a nervous chuckle, "not that I want you gone!"

  "Sorry," Faylin apologizes. "I just don't want to drag you away from your ambitions. You are smart and capable of anything."

  Faylin looks to him but Lyrian is not paying attention, "if you want to focus on magic, that's great, it's your life, and I would support you."

  "Ugh," he glares firmly raising his voice. "Faylin, you're not getting it. Dreams are just dreams. Not everyone is serious about them and that's okay. I have my hobbies and stuff that makes me happy. The circle tower already pays for my small house and taxes as long as I look after the earth. If I want to achieve my dreams then I will when I feel like it and that's not lazy!"

  Lyrian takes a breath. Faylin gives a nervous expression as Lyrian eases back into reality after his rant.

  "I'm just tired of being misunderstood and put down," Lyrian slumps in the seat of the carriage.

  Faylin nods, "okay, I get it."

  "And now Aleena calls me a lazy slob this morning. Saying those harsh things. To think I thought she was cute." he sighs, shaking his head. "This day has been awful. Why can't I just be left alone to do whatever I want."

  "What?" Faylin's brows furrow in disbelief. "You're not seriously saying you have feelings for her?"

  "No, not in the slightest. I said she's cute and that's it," Lyrian replies.

  "Well she did insult you. I guess she isn't so cute after all," Faylin says, frustrated at Aleena, and having a nature to defend her best friend.

  Aleena rides on the white horse in the front, far distance. She looks behind her to view the duo having a chat. Faylin holds a stern posture, but Lyrian looks miserable, slouched over.

  Faylin shakes her head, "just ignore her and don't think about her insults or anyone else's. People are shameful sometimes and don't know the real you."

  "Yeah, I guess you're right," Lyrian replies. Faylin holds the reins to steer the horse.

  Aleena hears bits and pieces from Faylin's nagging and bickering. Her ears twitch towards their direction.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Lyrian looks away and rests his head on his fist, the bumps making him hard to relax, "I just thought Aleena was my friend."

  Faylin nods, "sometimes friends have disagreements. Hell, we argue all the time."

  Lyrian turns away, ignoring her.

  "Lyr-" Faylin hesitates to speak and then gives him a quick tap, "Lyrian, hey... Are you okay?"

  He looks to her, "yeah, just thinking about Aleena."

  "Oh," she sighs, "it's alright. I bet she will calm down."

  "Maybe," he looks ahead, seeing Aleena in the distance. She appears to be whispering something to the horse as she rides.

  Aleena's head turns in their direction and she whispers again.

  A squirrel scampers across the path as they travel through the forest. Heat beats down on them getting warmer with each mile, creating a uncomfortable atmosphere.

  Faylin listens to the hush, motionless forest approaching and she smiles softly, "the forest is so hot. But at least Aleena isn't nagging anymore. Maybe she'll calm down. Her whole clan was just killed." Faylin brushes her hand along a patch of tall grass near the wheel of the wagon.

  However, Aleena keeps whispering to her horse's ear and glancing in their direction.

  Faylin glares noticing her rude movements. She yells to their long gap, "I see you talking about us to a dumb animal that doesn't understand!"

  "Shut your pearly mouth you fool!" Aleena yells, shaking her fist, and Faylin barely able to hear her.

  Faylin rolls her eyes but keeps the horses at a pace. A mile by, heat gets more intense producing moisture along her arms. Flies buzz around their faces, annoying them. Lyrian just glances at the bushes along the roadside pass their traveling carriage.

  He notices a dead rat in the clustered grass side of the road, fairly new with no wounds. The reins tug as he grabs a hold of it from Faylin, "stop the carriage!" Horses neigh and stand on two feet to stomp the dirt and stand idle. Faylin is in a confusing shock but Lyrian jumps out of the carriage and tries to signal Aleena by waving his hands high in the air.

  "Aleena! Stop!" he yells.

  Aleena looks over her shoulder and gives a dirty look. The reins are pulled to the side of Snowdrop and it turns, running her over to where Lyrian is. She stops the horse and flares her nostrils at him, her eyes threaten him, "you better have a good reason for this you lazy mage."

  "Look," he points to the dead rat on the side of the road.

  Aleena lifts a brow keeps to her nagging, "yes, that is tragic, probably another one of your kind ran it over."

  "Aleena," he sets his hand in the dirt, his fingers spread out to feel the Earth's slow heartbeat, "there's death nearby, I feel it. There's more."

  Lyrian leaps over bushes and sprints through poking branches of the foliage. Aleena widens her eyes, hopping off of Snowdrop, "Lyrian, stop! A lion's den is in that direction!"

  "A what!?" Faylin says surprised. But Aleena follows and so does Faylin with no choice.

  Lyrian comes to a clearing and a large crater of dirt. Lions lay dead around and in the crater, female and male, a pack of them lifeless. Eyes are closed, and there is no sign of slaughter, just natural death.

  Aleena gasps, holding her mouth and gazing upon the death of lions all around a crater. "What happened to the pond?" she says with worry.

  The crater is a dried pond, no water to be found. A hippo is overturned upside down with its ribs and bones sticking out, as if it was once being snacked on. Boulders make a small cave nearby. But there is no life in sight, only the bodies of matted and scraggly lions.

  Aleena runs over to a male lion with a scruff mane. The lion lays with it's mouth open and eyes closed. It is not responding. She drops to her knees knowing the fate and starts to shed a tear. "The forest is wounded. It should never be this hot."

  She pets it's scruffy mane, "died of dehydration. There's literally no water nearby. This was their home of water. This means the other lakes around have dried."

  Lyrian puts a hand on Aleena's bare shoulder, "I'm sorry Aleena."

  Aleena bursts into tears, crying loudly. Faylin scans the area and notices another lion panting with a mouth open and eyes closed. "Uh, looks like there's a survivor," she takes a step back fear of the predator.

  Aleena pierces her eyes to the direction and quickly gets up to run to a female lion still alive. Lyrian follows her behind but Faylin stays a distance.

  Aleena kneels to put a hand on her head, stroking it's fur. It's barely conscious but panting in the heat with short breathes. "I need water, someone!" her hands are trembling.

  Lyrian whiffs out a metal canteen and hands it to her. She pops the bottle open and pours the water in it's mouth to lick the stream and swallow.

  "The forest is changing to quickly. I don't even know where a heatwave like this came from, it should be perfect temperature," she explains.

  "Dinosaurs are making a new environment Aleena. They're adapting as the forest is adapting to them," Lyrian says.

  "The forest is wounded more like. A whole family of lions and their home destroyed? These creatures are slaughtering them and killing them with the magic they produce," she keeps a steady stroke to the lion's head for comfort.

  "Well, look who at least survived? She's strong, isn't she?" Lyrian looks to the disoriented lion. He gives her a nudge and a smile, "reminds me of a certain someone. And I admire that about you, you know?"

  Aleena doesn't respond, and focuses on pouring more water into the lioness's mouth. She gives it another pet for comfort along it's soft fur.

  "I know you might think I'm a lazy human Aleena. It might seem like all I do is just leech off of Faylin. But I look after our Earth. I provide the soil for your plants, I make minerals for different races, I provide nutrients in the water, all in my meditations. Similar to what Merrik does with plants and animals, like you. It's my job as a mage."

  "What are you talking about?" she snickers with teary eyes.

  "Your constant insults Aleena. Do you really think I'm a lazy human?" he asks.

  Aleena shakes her head with tears flowing down her cheeks, petting the animal in front of her, "Lyrian, I'm sorry. My clan is dead and now this."

  Lyrian grabs her shoulders and stares at her green eyes, "Aleena, you can trust me. You can cry right here and right now. I'm your friend. I'm not out to get you."

  She looks away from him, attending to the animal. He lowers his brows, "I'll show you."

  Lyrian walks over to the dried crater and sits in front of it with his legs crossed. Auras of green surround his area, and small cracks of wet dirt develop at the bottom of the crater. Water seeps out from beneath, bubbling up. Mudded water starts to puddle at the bottom of the crater. Then the dirt starts to settle at the bottom to make a fresh drink.

  Lyrian focuses more, tightening his eyes. Grey rocks harden at the bottom, and poke out from the dirt. They sparkle in the sun, making a nice fresh bed for a small but new nutritious puddle.

  Aleena is in awe with her jaw dropped. The lion notices and with little strength, manages to get up from her position. Fresh and sparkling water at the bottom of the crater provides the lion with a hydrating drink.

  Lyrian points, "this is what I do. That is my magic. And I managed to pull the leftover water from beneath the ground. She should survive a couple of more days in order for her to move and find another pack. The heat I cannot do anything about though."

  Aleena wipes her tears and pulls him in for a hug. His soft black robes covers her with bliss. "I'm sorry Lyrian," she says with her voice wavering. "I'm such a terrible friend, I never meant to take it out on you guys."

  "It's okay Aleena. We'll help protect your forest. I promise," he holds her in an embrace as she cries in his cotton cloth.

  Aleena stares up at him from his shoulder, "you're not lazy Lyrian. You're a strong, and moral mage with a good social life. That's actually really admirable. I know mages struggle with their social life."

  Lyrian chuckles, "yeah, I guess you can look at Merrik as an example."

  Aleena gives him a playful poke, still holding onto him in a side hug, "you better never become that crazy old man."

  Faylin lowers her eye lids, watching them hug from a distance. Yet she tries to brush it off by heading back to the carriage.

  Lyrian notices Faylin and and he plucks her arm with a gentle pinch, "come on, we'd better get going." She nods and follows him back to the carriage.

  Suddenly Aleena darts forward with her white steed. Faylin grips the reins tightly on the carriage and follows the dirt road while Lyrian tries to balance himself. The cart shakes and hops, as the horse gallops after Aleena.

  She enters through a bunch of thorny bushes and braches, leading into the thick green forest becoming even more dense with green.

  Lyrian and Faylin's New Carriage

  Aleena Weeps Over The Dying Lion