Consciousness returned swiftly and irrevocably. A torrent of sounds flooded his ears; a multitude of scents invaded his nose. The sensation was as if a multi-layered oil painting had been slapped onto a pristine white canvas with a single stroke.
The young man's eyes snapped open. The lightness he felt was incomparable to anything before. But what was 'before'? Before this explosion of color?
With a soft groan, he raised his hand to the sky and spent a considerable time studying his fingers and palm in the midday sun. Birds flitted back and forth, chattering busily about something. The grass in which he lay swayed softly in the breeze. Clouds drifted lazily across the azure sky.
Frowning slightly, the young man plucked a flower that was tickling his face. It was vaguely familiar, but he couldn't recall its name, no matter how hard he tried. Examining its blossom with pointed petals sitting on a slender stem like in a tiny vase, he sneezed, causing someone nearby to yelp in surprise.
Startled, the young man sat up, his gaze meeting two young girls who stood a short distance away. Seeing the stranger sitting in the grass, they shrieked so loudly that the birds, which had been calmly flitting between tree branches, shot into the sky all at once.
Clutching each other, they stared at him wide-eyed. Shaking his head slightly to clear the ringing from his ears, the young man got to his feet and slowly held out his hands in a placating gesture, trying to calm them and show he meant no harm.
But this action only made one of the girls burst into full-blown tears, while the other, covering her companion's eyes, gaped at him as if he were a denizen of the underworld. Seeing their reaction, the young man looked down at himself and immediately collapsed back into the grass. A bright blush burned on his cheeks.
He was completely naked! What shame! On his knees, covering his privates, he didn't know what to do next.
Suddenly, the sound of flapping wings filled the air, making the grass ripple from the disturbed air.
Looking up, the young man saw two spears pointed at his face.
The people holding these spears—or rather, two tall women—were clad in light armor with metal plates and headdresses resembling birds' heads. They regarded the stranger with grim expressions. Behind their backs, two powerful, feathered wings twitched slightly with tension.
"This!.. But how is this possible!"
"A man! What are you doing here!? How did you get here? The path to the Umbral Woods is forbidden to men!" one of the women shouted, her voice carrying a slight screech. "Where... Where are your clothes? You frightened our younger sisters! Are you plotting something evil?"
The young man could only shake his head, studying the two bird-like women, who were full of fear, and his surroundings.
Disgustedly poking him with her spear, the second woman, who looked slightly younger than the first, said:
"Why are you shaking your head like a fool? Maybe he's sick, that's why the barrier didn't work?" The last phrase was directed at her companion.
"This is very strange... Sister, what should we do?"
"We can't leave him here; there must have been some anomaly in the barrier array... And his appearance is very strange; he doesn't look like the steppe-dwellers or the sand-folk. And he has no signs of a zoomorph. In any case, we must take him to the Elders. Let them look at him and pass judgment."
"Fully agreed. Once we hand him over, he won't be our problem anymore."
With a deft spin of her spear in the air, the older-looking one struck the stranger with the shaft, knocking him out in one move.
He awoke in a different place. There was no rustle of leaves or birdsong, only the wind howling through the bars of a narrow window, wandering through the chamber before escaping through the doorway. He lay on rather hard straw that painfully pricked his sides.
Besides the strewn straw, two wooden buckets stood in the opposite corner of the room; one contained water, the other was completely empty. That was the extent of the furnishings.
Feeling his body, he paused at the loincloth tied around his waist. Well, at least they hadn't left him completely naked; that was something. His head ached where the blow had landed; a bump had surely formed there. Sitting up, he strained to remember anything, but it was as if a draft had swept through his mind, blowing out everything that was once there.
Despite this, images and basic skills for interacting with various objects surfaced from the depths of his subconscious. But everything concerning his identity was utterly erased.
Looking around, he rose from the improvised bedding and, holding his head, approached the bucket to fetch some water to quench his tormenting thirst.
Kneeling before the bucket, he froze and, slowly, afraid to exhale, hovered over the mirror-like surface of the water with wide eyes.
A completely unknown person stared back at him. Hair the color of gold fell onto his torso and below, curling slightly at the ends. Gentle, light-green eyes seemed to glow from within, accentuated by thin, arching eyebrows. Regular features and slightly full lips gave his face a charm bordering on femininity. Combined with his slender build, in the right attire, he could be mistaken either for a heaven-blessed young prince or an equally refined maiden.
Gently touching the water's surface, he watched the ripples spread.
It was useless. He remembered nothing—his face seemed utterly foreign to him.
Scratching behind his ear, he cast an empty gaze at the sky beyond the bars. The sun was beginning to set.
Slowly approaching the window, he sighed noisily. The view was indescribable.
It seemed he was inside the trunk of a vast tree, a giant that towered over all other trees by ten times, if not more. Massive branches and a canopy that blotted out part of the sky stretched in all directions, but the most unusual thing was that it didn't block the sun; on the contrary, it seemed this giant reflected it, softly diffusing the light.
Filled with awe, the young man wanted to say something, but the words seemed to stick in his throat. Noticing this, he deliberately tried to utter something, but his tongue seemed disobedient, producing only inarticulate sounds bordering on mooing.
The sound of a turning lock, accompanied by the unpleasant screech of a door, announced the arrival of several people, making the young man's bare skin break out in goosebumps from the intensified draft.
With a gesture indicating the prisoner shouldn't move, two bird-women—as the young man had mentally dubbed them, based on their distinctive features, though not the ones he'd seen earlier—tied a rope around his body and dragged him outside by force. The young man offered no resistance but frowned deeply at the rough treatment and occasional kicks.
They walked along a spiral corridor that ascended, occasionally branching into several paths. The walls, floor, and ceiling were composed of woody fibers intertwined in wondrous patterns. Instead of lamps, unusual flowers bloomed under the ceiling as the procession approached.
The floor was uneven in places; long vines of an unknown plant with small thorns occasionally snaked across it. With shoes, they would have been unnoticeable, but the barefoot young man winced in pain whenever his unprotected foot encountered another thorny stem.
The young man's attention was captured by the sounds reigning here.
The entire way, it seemed the walls were sucking in air, which rushed through the corridor as a draft, humming a sad melody. Listening closely, it occurred to the young man that a mournful song could be set to this tune.
"Asssh," he hissed after a particularly sharp jab from one of the guards.
"Don't slow down then," she said through gritted teeth. "The Elders don't like to wait."
After another spiral turn, they stood before large, carved doors twice the height of the tallest woman escorting him, adorned with a stunning wooden panel.
At the top of the scene depicted before him stood a person surrounded by a halo of light, arms outstretched as if wanting to embrace someone.
At his feet swirled various fantastic beasts, and at the very bottom, one could observe scenes from the life of a people who resembled the local inhabitants, who had already thoroughly annoyed the young man in the past day.
The detail and quality of the scenes were astounding. The young man felt the characters were about to come alive, stepping off the panel to meet him.
One of his escorts lightly touched the doors, and the light from her hand activated some mechanism invisible to the eye, causing them to swing open slowly. Before the young man's eyes opened a vast hall where, instead of lighting, hundreds of glowing moths in yellow, lilac, and blue hues swirled under the ceiling.
A wonderful scent of cedar filled the hall, and its vaults seemed to weave into the very heavens, ready to burst forth with billions of stars, yet maintaining a calm darkness.
In the center of the hall, on a raised platform, were five backless chairs. Only three were occupied; the main central seat was empty.
"Bring in the prisoner!"
The young man was shoved inside, not given time to look around, and dragged closer to the platform. A kick forced him to his knees; the two guards bowed to those seated on the platform and departed.
The door behind them closed with a soft sigh—the hall fell into silence. Sweat immediately broke out on the young man under the scorching gaze of three pairs of eyes, but he found the strength to look each woman in the eye in turn.
One of them giggled, breaking the tense silence:
"Little sisters, just look at him. He looks more like some little animal than a man. So cute, makes you want to pinch his cheeks." As she said this, the youngest and stockiest woman in the hall pouted her lips, leaning on the arm of her chair and leaning forward slightly, thus accentuating her ample curves. "No wonder the Sacred Tree let him in."
"Behave decently, Pina. He could have cast a siren's charm on himself, or somehow breached the barrier array to deceive our vigilance," replied a woman with thick brows and coarse features, the only one sitting in armor. Her height surpassed all present, even as she lounged on a massive-looking chair.
"Quercus, you know the procedures better than us. Of course, our sisters examined him for charms, glamours, potions, and energy shells. None of the tests showed a positive result. So, it remains a mystery how he managed to penetrate the multi-layered barrier established by the Progenitress herself, which has protected our Sanctuary for so many centuries. Essentially, that's the reason he's still alive. Sisters, I think a breach has appeared in the barrier." Saying this, the woman with sharp features glared at the young man with predatory eyes.
"Then let's beat the answer out of him! Hey, you! Why are you silent?! Cat got your tongue?! Answer us quickly, who are you and how did you get past the barrier?!" Quercus boomed in an authoritative tone, spreading something like a pulse wave throughout the hall.
Such force ran through the young man to the tips of his nails, but he could only shake his head in his now-habitual motion. The ropes cut into his skin like knives with the slightest movement, and he winced unconsciously.
"He dares to mock us!" roared Quercus, and in a fraction of a second, she was already bringing her powerful fist down toward the young man's head with a murderous desire to smash his skull against the floor, but she was too late—a white cloud descended from above, softly grabbing her raised arm, completely suppressing the energy impulse ready to crash down on the young man.
"Shhh, sister. I am still the eldest here, and only I, as the Matriarch, make the final decision here. Or has something changed during my absence?"
Slightly abashed, Quercus freed her arm and muttered, stepping back:
"No, Matriarch Acer." With a movement too fast to see, she returned to her seat.
Turning to him, the woman who had arrived as if from nowhere had a very pleasant appearance but was clearly not young. Silver tinged both her hair and her wings. Wrinkles were scattered across her face, yet her whole being radiated warmth.
"Young man, how did you manage to get to us? Perhaps you still wish to say something?" the Matriarch's voice was soft, without a hint of pressure.
The young man remained silent, merely straightening his back and looking up with his clear eyes, devoid of any malice.
"Well, I ask your forgiveness, but I cannot decide anything regarding you until I see for myself. Allow me to learn a little more about you than we can see now."
Smiling softly, she gently touched his forehead, and a momentary flash of flame that enveloped the young man's subconscious seemed to untie some knot inside him.
His whole body glowed with a bright light, as if a celestial body had been lit within him.
After this interaction, she sharply withdrew her hand and stared at the young man with disbelieving eyes for another minute. Her back was to the sisters, so none of them could see her reaction.
"Well? What did you see?" drawled the enormous bird-woman named Quercus.
"Sister, don't be silent, we're curious too..."
"Quiet, can't you see Matriarch Acer isn't finished? Don't distract her," said the eldest of those seated on the platform, who had earlier pulled Pina back.
When the initial shock subsided, the Matriarch assumed a serene expression, smoothed a stray lock from her forehead, and turned to the sisters.
"I fear, my dearly beloved younger sisters, we will learn nothing from him, even if we apply the most severe tortures that would make an Ancient speak..."
A silent question hung in the air. Sighing, Matriarch Acer continued, crossing her arms thoughtfully:
"Sisters, your Matriarch is utterly perplexed. However I try, I cannot understand the origin of his energy."
"What! How is that possible?!" the three women on the platform said almost in unison, agitated.
"Hmm, the only thing I can say with certainty is that this young man has distorted energy channels... His energy flow clearly runs backward."
Pina and Quercus fell silent as the woman with the predatory look exclaimed:
"Is that even possible?"
"To be honest, I'm encountering this for the first time in my entire long life."
"So what do we do with him now? Throw him back outside the barrier?" Pina mumbled.
"No, let's kill him! He's seen the Holy Arbor!" cried Quercus.
"Silence! Maintain decorum. Let the Matriarch deliver the verdict."
"Thank you, Fraxinus, but I think my authority here is insufficient. This must be decided by Him..." Saying this, the Matriarch folded her hands in a prayerful gesture, causing her palms to glow.
As she did this, myriads of fireflies descended from the ceiling. An impenetrable whirlwind enveloped the frightened young man, but within a minute, some of the fireflies rose back to the ceiling, while others clung to the young man's body, as if covering his nakedness.
"I understand you, O Great Spirit."
And the graying bird-woman, to the astonishment of all present, with one elegant wave of her hand, severed all the ropes binding the young male body.
"Forgive us for not offering a welcoming reception, but such are our vows to the ancestors. Men have been forbidden to cross the threshold of our Holy Sanctuary—the Ancient Arbor—since the times of the Ancients. However, given that the spirit of this place has accepted you, I, as both the Elder and Matriarch of the Falconess clan, hereby decide to allow you to remain here as a guest until further notice." With these words, she helped him to his feet, causing the remaining fireflies on his body to hurry back to their companions flying under the hall's vaults.
"But how... He's a man!" Quercus roared so loudly the very walls seemed to shake.
"Also, I strongly urge those present here to explain to all the younger members the reason for my action and to request that they do not attempt to kill or maim him while he is our guest," Matriarch Acer looked around expressively. "With that, I consider the meeting of the Council of Elders adjourned. Please, someone, arrange for clothes to be brought to him; he's shaking like a withered leaf in the wind."
Snorting, Pina stood up, bowed to the head Matriarch, and walked out of the hall with a measured gait, her wings swaying slightly. The other two women simply dissolved into the air, leaving behind only its shimmer.
Standing in silence for a couple of minutes, as if convincing herself of something, Matriarch Acer exhaled heavily and turned to the young man.
"Oh, Holy Bird-Maiden, I never thought I would meet even one representative of the Ancients in my remaining years. After all, a being whose essence is based on pure energy is unmistakable. But what happened to you? Your internal energy flows seem turned inside out."
Looking into the young man's eyes, for a second it seemed she was being drawn into them, like into a whirlpool of unfathomable depth. But this hadn't happened before she touched him. Had she awakened something in him? To shake off the fascination, she had to shrug her shoulder.
"Please understand, I did not mean to offend or be discourteous by studying the core of your essence; it was my duty to examine you. Since I also touched your consciousness, I know you understand me, even though the internal spiritual and energy damage is colossal. Can you tell me your name? Do you remember which specific lineage you belong to and your alignment?"
In response, he shook his head again, looking at the woman uncomprehendingly. He heard her and understood the general meaning of the phrases, but he didn't understand a word of what she was actually saying.
At that moment, the massive doors leading to the main hall opened, and a girl of about ten with small wings on her back scurried in, holding a bundle in her hands. Approaching the young man, she handed him the contents with trembling hands, not daring to look at him, and quickly departed as soon as he accepted the offering. The bundle contained a long robe made of dense purple fabric.
Understanding wordlessly what needed to be done, he didn't waste a minute.
Waiting for the young man to dress, the bird-woman continued.
"To be honest, I am very puzzled by this entire situation and, um... I simply don't understand how you can exist in such a state. Perhaps the preserved knowledge of our clan is insufficient to comprehend this. Something truly world-law-breaking has happened to you. But since the Great Spirit has accepted you, and considering your condition, I cannot simply let you go. Not yet. Perhaps fate itself sent you here, for there are almost no places as peaceful as our Holy Arbor left on Epimetheus." As she said this, the elder bird-woman rubbed the bridge of her nose with an elegant hand, covering her eyes.
"But it's better others don't know your secret; keep this in the strictest confidence, for in these days it is very dangerous to let anyone know you are a crippled representative of an Ancient lineage. Even here, within the walls of our Sanctuary. Unfortunately, all other members of our clan are too young and impulsive. This could bring discord and turmoil to our ranks, which have been united for generations after the war... Now, please, go rest. In a proper bed."
She clapped her hands softly; the door opened, and a bird-girl with a light complexion and hair rare among the locals—the other representatives the young man had seen had dusky skin and chestnut-toned hair—entered the hall.
Standing a little apart, she bowed in greeting and looked expectantly at Matriarch Acer.
"Twinkle will escort you. If you need anything, please turn to her; she is my personal assistant and apprentice."
Awkwardly bowing in respect and farewell, the young man allowed himself to be led by the sleeve out of the hall. Once they were in the corridor and had gone down a few meters, the girl led him into another corridor.
To his surprise, it was also a spiral with branching-off corridors.
It was a true labyrinth of spiral corridors where one could easily get lost if not for a peculiarity the young man noticed: in each spiral corridor, different flowers-lanterns bloomed. And in some specific corridors, the air current was so strong it began to tug at his clothes.
On the way, they encountered only a few idly strolling bird-women who looked at the young man with something between admiration and disgust. But their astonishment was almost tangible, that was certain. Noticing the young man's gaze, Twinkle interpreted it in her own way and decided to explain:
"We, the representatives of the bird-women clan, rarely walk the Sacred Corridors of the Arbor; we prefer to travel from the outside. It's faster to reach the desired place and we hinder the Tree's breathing less." Then she stopped at a door with a carved handle in the shape of an oak leaf and opened it.
"Matriarch asked to prepare this room for the guest. I arranged for a bath and more garments. Please, make yourself comfortable. Food will be brought a little later. If you need anything, please ring the bell on the balcony. With that, I beg your pardon; I have to get up early for training tomorrow." And without waiting for any response, she hastily retreated with such speed, as if the draft wandering the corridors had blown her away.
Entering the room, the young man looked around. A spacious room with a window the full width of the wall was flooded with starlight. The wind from the open window billowed the light curtains. Behind a wide screen were a washroom and a bathtub so large that three adults could bathe in it simultaneously.
Steam rose gently from the water in the tub, carrying a pleasant herbal aroma. Shedding his clothes, he quickly immersed himself in the hot water. At first, it stung the scratches left by the ropes on his delicate skin, but like a healing elixir, it quickly soothed them. Luxuriating in the water, he closed his eyes and, not without pleasure, dunked his head under.
At that moment, one of the younger bird-girls brought the unexpected guest a tray of food and drinks. Knocking hastily and seeing the door was ajar, she entered the room, apologized, and hurried over to the table by the wide bed. Setting down the tray, she intended to leave just as quickly to avoid encountering the room's occupant.
But then a splash caught her attention, and the girl's gaze fell on the young man emerging from the bath, who had forgotten to draw the curtain. She froze on the spot, not moving, her large black eyes fixed on him. The streams of water running down his hair and body made him look like a beautiful nymph in male form. She swallowed and awkwardly twitched her wing, causing a vase of dried flowers on the edge of the table to wobble and fall over.
Turning toward the sound, he mirrored the girl's frozen stance. An awkward silence hung in the air.
"I... I brought food for the guest. S-s-sorry!" the girl chattered and, as if stung, ran out of the room, slamming the door.
Looking down at himself, blushing now not from the hot water, the young man flopped back into the water, which no longer distracted from the pain lying on his heart.
The young man was in complete confusion. Besides questions about his origin, he didn't understand the reactions of others to him, nor his own feelings about it.
Why did it embarrass him so? If he had always been like this, acceptance of his body should have happened in early childhood, right? What was wrong with him? Too many questions for one day.
Finishing his bath, he hastily dried himself with a towel, greedily devoured the food—consisting mainly of plant-based fare richly seasoned—and, still in his bathrobe, collapsed into bed and fell into a blissful sleep.
And the girl who had brought him the food, replaying the image of his body in her head, thought how wonderful it would be when her time for marriage came, if she found such a beautiful partner.
Then the whole process surely wouldn't be as repulsive as the older sisters described. Although, she had only four years left until she entered adulthood. From the elders, she had already heard that this guest might stay for a long time.
If that happened, and she could excel in her training enough to enchant him before he left, then, wherever he was, she would be able to find him, and once she found him...
Ah, the dreams of young maidens are sometimes so naive and terrifying at once that it's often better when they remain just dreams.