Forest of Years
All the remains of a cadaver of days,
I keep hidden away, keep them there just in case.
I want to visit that place,
blow the dust from the bones
off a body of years that I left all alone
Years and years after the skies finally stopped weeping dragonfire, from the ashes of the fauns that refused to flee flourished a skeletal forest. Remnants of the old forest’s children clung to the regrowth. A traveler would not miss their slumbering faces etched into the woods. Perhaps the strangest phenomenon was a stone city that emerged from the mouth of an ancient petrified frog, one of the old guardians of the wood. It became a sacred place, a memorial of a massacre carved into their future generations. The fauns called the frog city Hlatikulu and would venture from the deepest rifts of Elera-Velon to pay their respects to the dead. The dragons allowed them this one shred of dignity, although this was perhaps more due to the second strange phenomenon of Hlatikulu.
The second strange phenomenon of Hlatikulu became apparent after the forest re-established itself. The trees were the consistency of rock, and about as flammable. The area around Hlatikulu specifically repelled dragonfire. If a dragon entered the forest barrier, his flame would dissipate as if he were submerged in salt water. This was disturbing to the Eastern Empire’s military scholars and scientists, who were not particularly fond of fireproof barriers. This was not the first circumvention of dragonfire: the Lynarian’s starmetal armor granted them some invulnerability, and the witches of Lun Xing had developed both personal and city-sized shields that could also repel the flame. However, this was the first and only known natural barrier to dragonfire, and perhaps one of the most powerful. After some discrete experimentation testing the extent of the barrier’s protection, the dragons decided to leave this area well-alone in a show of false benevolence and work instead on quietly uncovering Hlatikulu’s secret. It became forbidden for dragons to fly or breathe fire in the vicinity of this ancient forest.
The fauns were only marginally aware of this natural protection. There were rumours, but nobody was eager to bet an entire city that some mysterious benevolent force kept them safe. They did not know the source of this protection nor its duration. Thus, the fauns remained wary of re-establishing a large settlement outside of the petrified frog’s mouth, lest the dragons be tempted to return and raze what they toiled to rebuild. Instead, they rebuilt their main cities in the rifts and cracks to the western-most edges of Elera-Velon. This new area became known as Lhusaka, or Velon II.