The Yellow Flash Of The Leaf Novels & Stories

I pushed my love for Cyrus, my grief for my baby, and my hope for a future into that one point. Suddenly, a geyser of golden light erupted from the lake. The honey beneath me surged, a pillar of liquid fire shooting upward and then diving back down, sinking deep into the floor of the pool. A shockwave rippled through the glade. The trees groaned, their leaves turning from a sickly yellow to a vibrant emerald green in the blink of an eye. The flowers at the water's edge bloomed with such violence that they practically exploded into color. I felt a surge of triumph, but it was quickly followed by crushing exhaustion. I stumbled, my legs turning to jelly in the thick honey.

He raises his hand and points toward the riverbank ahead. “Look.” I follow his gaze. At first I do not see anything unusual. Just muddy ground and dark water. Then something catches my attention. A small cluster of plants growing right near the edge of the water. I walk closer. And the moment I see it properly my eyes widen slightly. “Silvarin.” The leaves are thin and long but their color is strange. Instead of normal green they have a faint silver glow that makes them stand out even in the dim marsh light. The edges of the leaves shimmer slightly whenever the wind moves them.

I crouched down gently, brushing aside a cluster of leaves. “Like this,” I said, picking one. I held it up slightly. “See the edges?” I pointed. “Sharp. Slightly jagged. That usually means it has a strong effect.” One of the guards leaned in a little. “And the color?” he asked. I flipped the leaf over. “Silver underneath,” I said. “That’s another sign. It’s not always exact, but it helps narrow things down.” They watched closely. Listening. Actually listening. Something about that caught me off guard.

I watched in fear as his jaw opened to swallow me whole. My entire body felt an electric shock, which brought me back to reality. I opened my eyes, but I didn't see anything, but I could feel that I was trapped inside my leaf. She whispered to me that I was safe and that she would protect me. I leaned my head back on her and turned slightly, kissing my leaf several times, thanking her. For a while, we stayed like this, until I heard a rumble of thunder. I saw through my leaf a series of flashes around me, I clung to it tighter. In utter horror, I yelled, “NO!” as I saw the leaf start to open. “No, don't.” I held on to the leaf as tightly as I could, digging my nails into its delicate surface

I could still hear the murmur of the others talking, concern colouring the tone of their conversation, but I pushed away the feeling of being watched and spoken about. I breathed in a lungful of bitterly cold air. I felt it fog against my lips as I exhaled. But my next breath was warmer, and my next one warmer still. I opened my eyes, right as Rhiannon gasped. “The leaves!” I looked up. Buds were bobbling along the branches of the tree, unfurling before my eyes into bright green leaves, which grew darker the longer I watched. Compound leaves, I noted distantly. It was an ash.

Furious, Isolde flicked her wrist, and a series of ripples shot out from Swanflight, flying right at Cassian. He quickly dodged the ripples, grabbing a handful of maple leaves and tossing them behind him. Immediately, the leaves crumbled, and the ripples vanished. Seizing the moment, Cassian leaned against a maple tree, pinched a single leaf between his fingers, and flicked it. The leaf flew through the air in a strange curve as it shot straight toward Isolde. Isolde swung her sword, slicing the leaf cleanly in half. That was soon followed by a forceful attack as the sword came right at Cassian.

“Only one. Not the branch, not the tree. Just one leaf.” It was the hardest thing I’d ever done but all I had to do was concentrate. Really concentrate. I raised my hand and summoned the flame. The urge hit me. The urge to let it fly, to burn everything like I once did in the woods when I escaped Greenwood. But I didn’t. Instead, I focused. I pictured the leaf. Its veins. Its texture and breathed slowly. A single leaf lit up. A tiny flame curled at the tip of the leaf. and glowed like a firefly, delicate and precise.

The starry sky, the fireflies, the moon; there was no better companion, indeed. At the outskirt of the forbidden forest, she’d noticed the long bolt-like streak of purplish light flashing through the horizon. It made her stop in her track because the way it moved was different from the genuine lightning. Instead of a linear track, it went in a circle, just at the radius of the school’s horizon. She’d never seen something like it before, or was she too preoccupied to pour some attention to it? Either way, it’s too breathtaking to watch, as it also radiated a purplish glow to the trees below it. Its leaves were reacting in a way that its color changed from green to dull gray, all of which fell

I turned back to the coffee maker, finally getting the filter in place but not before I felt it, that flash of heat behind my eyes. And I knew without looking that my eyes had flashed gold for just a second. What am I?

“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.