The Light Through The Leaves Novels & Stories

I know what’s at stake. Moving quickly, I navigate through the overgrown path, careful not to make too much noise. Every shadow feels like a pair of eyes watching me, but I force my legs forward. It doesn’t take long before I spot Blissleaf. The plant is smaller than I expected, its silvery leaves shimmering faintly under the moonlight. It grows in clusters near the base of a fallen tree, hidden beneath tangled roots. I crouch down, reaching for the delicate stems. My fingers graze the leaves—

They gathered… spinning, spiraling, folding inward as they moved. The vortex tightened, faster and faster, until the trees groaned under the strain and the ground trembled faintly. The forest seemed to bow, drawn helplessly towards the center of the storm. At the heart of it… Light bloomed in Seryna’s palm. It burned white-gold, fierce and living, casting sharp shadows that writhed across the trunks of the trees. The leaves were dragged toward it, crushed together by unseen force, their edges smoothing, darkening, hardening…

"Ready." "I've been ready." We walked. Twenty minutes to the garden, the May afternoon was warm enough to be outside without purpose, which was the point. She was different in the garden. Slower. She stopped at things I'd have walked past. Not plants specifically. Light through leaves. A particular arrangement of color. The way water moved in the small fountain near the entrance. I stopped when she stopped and looked at what she was looking at. "What are you seeing," I said. "The way that plant catches light." She pointed. "The leaf structure. It's built to hold water but it looks like it's built to hold light."

"The text says she could see what others could not until she showed it to them." The library is quiet. River is looking at the window. The October morning light is coming through it in the flat pale way of this time of year and she is watching it with the tracking quality, the gold eyes following the angle of it across the floor. "She can already see the light moving," Soren says from the doorway. "She has been watching it since we came in here," I say. "Lyra watched the leaf shadows," Ivy says. "River is watching the light itself," Bastien says. "Not the shadow it makes. The light."

The leaves were thin, long, a blue so dark they looked black at first glance. Under the moonlight filtered through the glass — a moon that wasn’t the same one outside —, a purplish and greenish glow slowly traveled along each vein. It was like watching stars trapped inside the leaves. Alexei held his breath, his heart hammering against his ribs. “Lunaria Tenebris…” Lyra knelt in front of them. She didn’t touch them immediately; first she tilted her head, like someone greeting old friends. Then she spoke softly, her voice so gentle it almost blended with the whisper of the wind between the leaves.

“Don’t push it. Just… offer it.” A soft, multicoloured light, not the brilliant silver of her own power, but a weaker, mixed glow of gold, green, blue, and copper, emanated from their circle and touched the grey patch. The mosaic tiles flickered and for a moment, an image appeared: a single, perfect leaf from the World Tree, its veins pulsing with light, then it faded, and the patch was grey again. It hadn’t worked, well, not fully. But it had almost worked.

The early morning sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting an otherworldly glow. Suddenly, I stumbled upon a clearing that had silver light. The eerie, silver light intensified, and I felt a subtle shift in the air.

Yadiel’s perspective: Looking out my window, I am greeted by a vibrant scene of autumn splendor. The leaves, in their various shades of red, orange, and yellow, dance gracefully in the gentle breeze. They rustle and sway, creating a mesmerizing display of colors against the backdrop of the clear blue sky. The branches of the trees, once lush with green foliage, now showcase a mosaic of hues, painting a picture of nature's transition.

Bright sunbeams glided through the spreading crowns of trees and lay like a sparkling cobweb on the clearings. Rainbow light seemed to saturate the entire forest, filling every emerald green leaf, every fragile twig, every drop of dew. He was everywhere, often giving a particularly bright and joyful look.

These flying insects from afar look no different from tiny neon-colored led lights shining in the dark. From the occasional small gaps between the overlapping branches of the trees, rays of light pass through it. Specks of dust that appears to be dancing gracefully under the spotlight can be seen within those rays of lights that managed to penetrate the thick canopy of trees. Everything within their sight fits perfectly and there is nothing that appears to be out of place at all. The whole place seems to leap out straight from a fairytale book!