This is my home. [Fantasy short story].

In a forest hidden from civilization, where the trees swing with the breeze and the flowers grow and wilt with time, there’s a little and lonely creature called Yuno. He lives alone, in a deserted place, he’s never seen anywhere else but where he lives.

His mother abandoned him when he was just a baby, in a forest where his family thought he would be safe, where no one could ever harm him; and that’s exactly what happened, the forest came to life and took care of the creature while he grew up. The trees grew fruit to feed him, the river bathed him, and the caves sheltered him. It was that way until he grew up, he acknowledged the plants as his own family, this time he was the one taking care of them.

His life was not great, he did the same things everyday. Yuno loved his forest, loved every plant and river in it. But the plants couldn't talk, couldn't keep him company as another creature like him would. There weren't a lot of animals there either, it was just the forest and him.

10 years passed and Yuno was still in the same place doing the same things. He never thought about leaving the forest, he thought there was nothing else behind the wall. A wall made by trees and rocks that divided the forest from the outside world. It was a very tall wall, no one would climb it alone. To him, the forest was the whole world.

One day he came out of his home, which was a nice and cozy cave, everything didn't seem as usual. Everything was quite, the trees were not moving, the river wasn't running and the sky was completely gray. Yuno was preoccupied but thought that maybe things would go back to normal soon, so he went on with his day as usual.

The next morning things were the same, and the next too. Yuno started worrying about what might be happening. He knew that the heart of the forest was a big old tree hidden underground. It would take a whole day to go there and come back, but he had to go see the mother tree and see how he could help.

He started the journey, stood on the mouth of the cave leading to the mother tree for a moment, and sure of what needed to be done, he started walking. There is no light in the cave, it goes hundreds of meters underground, but there are a few plants that glow in the dark and that gives Yuno comfort. The plants of the cave don't seem affected from what is happening, whatever that may be. On the contrary, the plants are glowing more than ever and leading his way. He had to make a few stops to rest, eat and then continue.

When he finally arrived, it was all dark, he could not make sense of anything. Yuno walked towards where he knew the mother tree was. When he had been there before, the ground was completely flat with nothing but dirt to walk over, but this time he touched something with his feet, something that was moving.

There was a moment of silence and confusion, but then he heard crying coming from whatever he touched. In seconds, the glowing trees awoke and he could see everything. The mother tree was alright, nothing unusual, it seemed alive and healthy. When Yuno looked down he saw a creature that was not the same as him, nothing like he had seen before. "What is this?" He thought, seeking answers from the mother tree. Some branches lifted the creature and signaled Yuno to carry it in his arms. The creature stopped crying immediately, looking up at Yuno for comfort.

Yuno took a better look at her, he saw tiny red wings, gray pale skin, bright purple eyes, two tiny horns and short purple hair. He looked up at the mother tree again, but everything was standing still, no explanation, he just knew that this new creature was his to take care of now.

He sat down in front of the mother tree, which was asleep again, and looked down at the creature. "I shall call you Sun", he said and started feeding the creature some fruit and juice.

After Yuno rested he stood up and walked back home with Sun in his hands. Only a few minutes had passed but she already looked bigger after eating. She woke up hungry again when not much time had passed. Yuno thought that at this rate he would go low on food supplies for their walk home. He fed her again and walked as fast as he could to get home.

The first thing he did when they got home was get more food, Sun may be small but she was craving for food every minute now. Yuno fed her as much as he could until she fell asleep again. He was relieved to finally be able to rest, he fell asleep right away next to Sun.

Hours later Yuno woke up. He was disoriented for a moment, then he remembered what happened and looked around. "Sun", he whispered to himself. She was not in the cave with him. He quickly went outside looking for her, it was nightfall and he could not see much, only with the moonlight. It was a cold night, he shivered, but he had to find the creature, he could not let her die, who knows what might happen then. He walked for about an hour, he could no longer feel his hands from how cold they were, he had to get back to the cave where there was a fire burning, or else he might freeze to death.

Yuno tried to run back home, but the coldness was too much for him, he fell to the ground and closed his eyes. He opened his eyes disoriented again, it was already morning, he was back in his cave and the fire was out. He looked around and saw nothing unusual, but he heard the trees moving with the breeze more than usual, there was a lot of noise that he does not hear everyday. He got out of the cave and just stood there as his eyes processed what he had seen.

There was a creature with big red wings, purple hair and bright purple eyes. "Sun?", he said. She was flying around above the trees, laughing and touching the top leaves. She stopped when Yuno talked, she looked at him and flew down immediately. "Yes, that's me, Yuno, look how much I've grown! And it was all thanks to you!", she said smiling and showing off her new grown wings.

"But... you were as small as my two hands. What are you?", asked Yuno confused.

"Oh, right, you've never seen one of my kind before, have you?", said Sun enthusiastic. "Well, I'm a fairy, of course!".

"A fairy?", asked Yuno sitting down in front of his cave.

"Yes, a fairy. Mother tree sent me down here to help you.", said Sun while kneeling down in front of Yuno, trying to make him understand. "I know you may think you don't need help, but you do. It's not safe in this forest anymore, I'm here to take you to a new land".

Yuno looked up to her not understanding one word. "A new land? But there is no other land, this is my home, and there's nowhere else to go. Besides, why do you think we should leave?", he protested.
"This land has been hidden for many years, away from what is out there, but they have recently discovered it and it's just a matter of days until they break that wall and come through to destroy everything.", explained Sun.

"What do you mean? Who are you talking about? You mean that there are more creatures behind the wall... who could harm us?", asked Yuno with a very sad tone.

"I know this is hard for you to understand right now, but perhaps you'll allow me to fly you over the wall so you can see for yourself.", said Sun.

"You can't carry me, and I don't think it would be safe to fly that high.", said Yuno scared.

"Of course I can't carry you!", said Sun laughing. "I have magic now that I'm all grown, I can make you fly by yourself so you can come with me".

"Magic? What's that?", asked Yuno.

"You don't know what magic is? Well, I don't exactly have a definition for it, it's just a supernatural ability. Come on, I'll show you.", said Sun and they both stood up. She started waving her hands around and in a few seconds Yuno was in the air. Sun started flying up and Yuno followed her.

When they reached the top of the wall they didn't cross it, just stood on top of it watching what was behind it. A deserted land, without trees, or water. The air was very heavy, there were machines right behind the wall, which Yuno had never seen before and had no idea what they were for.

"See those things next to the wall? Those are machines to help the destroyers breakthrough.
Whenever they find something new for them, they either destroy it or keep it as a slave, meaning they will make you work for them under awful circumstances.", explained Sun.

"But, why would they do that? And what are these creatures you speak of?", asked Yuno, trying to understand.

"They're called Humans. They cut trees, eat creatures that they think are inferior of them, and destroy lands that are of no use for them. And they'll be here in no time.", said Sun.

"But... If we leave, then my land will be destroyed, mother tree will die and all the trees along with it. We can't let that happen! We need to stop them!", cried Yuno.

"We can't, Yuno. Us fairies tried for so many years to stop them, to make peace between species, but they want to have control of everything. Right now, they don't even know we exist, they think we are just stories. And it's better that way.", said Sun. "Now we come down here to help others like you, who are alone and helpless against them."

There was a moment of silence, they both just watched the destroyed land behind the wall. Yuno was trying to process all this new information, but it was too much for him. He sat down and tears came down from his eyes.

"Come one, we have go back before they come and see us.", said Sun after a moment. They flew down and Sun knew Yuno needed a moment alone with the forest, so she went to the top of a tree and sat there watching Yuno say goodbye to the trees, or trying to.

It was afternoon now when Sun came down from the tree to have a meal. She collected some fruit and took them to Yuno so they could eat together. He was still very sad, just sitting in front of a tree not even moving. Sun sat in front of him and put the fruit in the middle of the two of them, she started eating hoping he would follow, but he didn't.

"Do you know how you came here, Yuno?", asked Sun starting a conversation. Yuno didn't reply. "Your mom, a creature the same kind as you who created you, dropped you off here so you could be safe. Their species where running, they had been found by the Humans. Your mom left as fast as she could to drive the humans away from this place, and she definitely succeeded, but didn't survive, the humans got to her eventually.", continued Sun.

"How come your kind didn't help them?", asked Yuno.

"We tried. We drove the Humans away and protected your kind, it was that way for years until the they found the land and there was nothing to do then. Everything happened too fast.", responded Sun.

"So... am I the only one of my kind left?", asked Yuno.

"Yes, you are the only one left that us fairies know of. But maybe there are others, who knows.", said Sun, and a long moment of silence followed.

Sun wanted to leave as soon as possible, but Yuno needed time, time to process what was about to happen and to say goodbye to everything he has ever known. They decided to stay the night and leave in the morning, even though neither of them had any idea when the Humans may attack. Sun thought they still had a few days since the destroyers seemed to need more equipment and were still making up plans.

They were both asleep, it was already nightfall and the moon was bright and shine that night, provided a lot of light. Sun woke up to a sound that seemed like a wild animal passing by, but there were no animals around there. She flew up to have more range of view and saw the humans were already gearing up to wreck the wall. She immediately called Yuno telling him they needed to go now and there was not a second to waste. She had gathered some fruit that night before going to sleep, she knew they would need it for the journey ahead. They got some water and the food and then she did something with her hands that made Yuno be able to fly. They went to the opposite direction to the wall, where there was a large river and then lots of mountains. They flew as fast as possible to get away, but when they hit the mountains Yuno already needed to rest, he was not able to keep up because he's not used to flying around, it's not his nature.

They sat in the mountains for a few minutes, then continued on foot for a while. Yuno looked back for a moment and he saw smoke coming from the forest. They were cutting down the trees and burning up the place. He wanted to go back and help, but there was nothing that could be done. They continued the journey on foot, being conscious to not be seen by anyone or anything.

"Where are we heading to, exactly?", asked Yuno after a while of walking in silence.

"I'm taking you to a land called Perm. It's very nice and quite there, the faries made sure it was safe, it has not been detected by Humans, they do not go even close to that area.", responded Sun. "It's a little island surrounded by sea water. There are other creatures living there too, so you won't be alone anymore!"

"What... what if I'm not accepted? I'm not of anyone's kind, they won't welcome me as one of their own.", said Yuno scared and making a pause.

"Not being one of your kind didn't stop you from helping me when I was all alone, did it?", said Sun looking at his eyes. "Maybe we should rest here for a moment, let's eat something and we'll keep walking later. Our destination is about 3 and a half days from here if we fly for some time each day."
They ate some fruits and slept over in the thick branches of a tree. They slept for about three hours before they went on flying, slower this time so that Yuno wouldn't need rest too soon.

A little over three days passed and they arrived to Perm, a small island full of little houses made of palm leaves and bamboo, there were lots of plants growing food too.

"There are so many species here!", said Yuno in surprise.

"I know, there's even a small Human living here, we found him abandoned in the Human city a few years back, he's adapted very well.", responded Sun.

They landed and a few of the residents of the island gathered around them in curiosity. Sun presented Yuno and explained what had happened to his forest. The residents welcomed him with open arms and prepared a nice meal for the both of them. With that long journey they had not eaten properly in the last day and a half.

After the meal, Yuno was taken to his new home, one of the little houses that was prepared for him. He found it nice and cozy, he was starting to feel less bad about his forest, but that is something he would never forget.

"So, this is a safe place, right? The Humans don't come near here?", asked Yuno to the creature who took him to the house, who seemed to be an elf.

"We call them the destroyers here, since not all humans are bad, at least not the one living with us. This has been a safe space for as long as it has existed. And will continue to be a safe space as long as they don't find a way to travel through the strong currents that surround this place.", said the elf.
"That's great to know.", responded Yuno almost smiling.

He registered the place, getting used to it, knowing what was around, trying to know the residents. Sun went up to him letting him know that her job with him was done and she needed to leave to help other creatures in danger. She said she was gonna be back soon probably with new residents, then said goodbyes and flew away.

On the first night of Yuno in Perm everything seemed so quite, there was a nice breeze and the smell of the sea was amazing. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep. But then, in the middle of the night he heard all the residents waking up, gathering in the center of the island. Yuno stood up and went there to see what was happening, maybe it was something that they did every night. When he arrived, he saw Sun was back with a few other fairies delivering news to everyone.

"Sun! What are you doing here? Did something happened?", asked Yuno worried.

"I'm afraid so, Yuno. I was on my way to another island to see if anyone needed help, when I saw it with my own two eyes... a boat was able to make it through the currents... they will find us."