World Arcanum - Geography - The Glimmering Forest

s we moved deeper into the Forest, we entered a realm of shadow, where the shifting green canopy of leaves above scattered the light like golden coins at our feet. These were old, strong, majestic trees: oak, elm and maple holding dominion, but broken in some places by stands of white-limbed beech and ash, and giving way in clearings to hawthorn and holly. The silence was penetrating, like the hush of a great Cathedral; our footfalls were cushioned by a dense undergrowth of soft ferns and moss, and even I made very little sound.

"But why is it called the Glimmering Forest?" I asked at last, when Elidorn finally allowed that we might stop for a drink of water. "That is what the word 'Nysterrial' means, is it not?"

"You will see," he said, smiling. "When you are ready, we will continue."

Stung by his nonchalance, I staggered to my feet and soldiered on, unwilling to face his unspoken scorn of my need for rest. Only when the shadows thickened at evening did he stop me again, putting his hand lightly on my arm.

"Up there," he said, pointing to the treetops overhead. "The Glimmering begins."

I squinted and craned my neck upward, trying to see what he pointed to; it took a moment to realize that the lights above us were not the stars. Moving in the high branches were countless tiny embers of white and gold, floating and circling gracefully in the twilight. As I watched, more and more of them appeared, until the whole roof the forest was alive with little dancing sparks.

When I looked again at Elidorn, I saw that the lights now emerging from the darkness around us as well. Like a child I chased one and caught it gently in the cup of my hands, bringing it close to my face so that I could see what made the light: holding it to my eye, I could see a trapped, little struggling figure no larger than the nail of my pinkie finger. It was a naked little man, with the wings and eyes of a fly; wriggling on his back in the palm of my hand, his breast glowed with some unearthly inner fire, as if his tiny heart were aflame.

"They are called si'im tala," Elidorn said.

"Si'im tala," I murmured. After a moment's struggle, I hazarded a translation. "Love-lights?"

He smiled. "Very close. They are so called because the male glows, so that the female will see and come to him in the night."

The little beast toiled gamely up to the tip of my finger and launched himself once again into the cool evening air. "Beautiful," I said simply. "I have never heard of these things."

"Look there," he said, pointing off into the trees. A much greater light was moving there, cold blue and fiery in the gloom. It bobbed in a distant clearing, moving far more slowly than the tiny "love-lights", and its passing lit up the trees all around with a ghastly glow.

A chill went through me. "Death-lantern," I said. "I have seen them before."

"They are dangerous to us only in far greater numbers," Elidorn said. "For the most part they feed on will-o-wisps and si'im. But you must be careful not to follow them if they try to entice you deeper into the woods; if you stumble into a nest of them, you'll make quite a feast."

I swallowed, trying not to imagine such an occasion in detail. "Your advice is well-taken."