2.2 I feel so free. I turned in my last real essay yesterday. It was a wonderful feeling, especially with the warm weather. Now I only have one more final next Wednesday and then I am graduating! How are your finals going? Why not take a break from studying and enjoy this chilling snippet that will make you think twice about going for a swim in a lake. Photographer: Unknown, found on mobay.vn. BTW...this picture may very well be a real place in Vietnam...the lake sirens are real, just saying.
“The orb you seek lies half way down my dark and deep―yet clear enough to see to the bottom―pond. I don’t care what you desire to do with it, I can sense your intentions are pure.” He paused and smacked his lips. “There is a catch, however. You must be the one to pull it from my pond if it is to maintain it’s magical power. Good luck, young Princess.” The frog named Prince bowed to her, gave a gummy grin, and pointed down to the orb suspended amidst a cluster of small, red fishes.
Dozens of tiny mushrooms pushed their way through the thick grass toward the lone, tall one. Their prize lay just ahead of them, protected in the thickest part. They had failed many times before to reach this area, but now their little bodies were strong enough to push it aside.
Shaking her head, Irysa tried one last time. Calling down starlight, she wove another rainbow and flung it. A faint twinkle shone two miles away. There! Irysa leapt off the cliff and called a gust of wind to fly her to the spot she had seen the star twinkle. She landed, throwing up a flurry of dust. She waited for it to settle. Humming, she danced Star on Earth and felt a stir from below the ground. Erupting out of the sandy rock, the head of a giant unicorn with a bright light on its horn answered her. It’s dusty mane rippled in the breeze and it’s body looked like the parched soil all around them. The star’s body of sand and rock raised a single leg out of the dry land to lift Irysa up. Irysa raised her hand and leg, balancing as she greeted the star. 
The dwarves were master workers of all things metal and earth. It is even said that after thousands of years spent perfecting this art, they could create living creatures from the metals of the earth. Brecke was the one of the twenty bronze creatures the dwarves successfully created to house life and help them with their work. But Brecke had other ideas. He was an unruly creature who loved mischief and children. He did not like to work and caused so many accidents in the dwarf tunnels that they had no choice but to release him into the open air. Searching the world, Brecke settled upon a small, old and forgotten forest in a corner of the world. He loved to flit among the gnarled trees so much like his own body. His beard, like a lions mane, covered his head and his intricate wings hummed when he flew through the swaying branches. Many of the animals wished to cast him out or destroy him for he caused them much grief with his pranks, but he had been made by dwarven magic and wouldn't be undone so easily. However, it was good that he couldn't be destroyed so easily for thought they didn't know it, he would save the forest and all that dwelt within it.
Sufrina hated her power. She hated being around people for it only reminded her that Death, her father, was never far away. She could see how much time they had left to live in their eyes; one side showed the time, the other side the date. But she couldn't stay locked away in her room forever. The world dangled perilously above chaos and she was the frayed string holding it up. Humans could come to her and petition for more time. Sufrina could grant it but at a high cost. There was only so much time granted to humans and if she extended one life she would have to shorten another’s. The more time they had left, the more she could transfer to another human. Sufrina hated their pleading tones, their cries that there must be another way, their anger as she continually said no. Most of the people who came to her were wicked, corrupt men and women who wished to lengthen their lives. They fed on the naive like ravenous wolves on lambs, promising gold to their families if they volunteered to give up their leftover time to them. Sufrina hated these men and women most of all. But she had no choice, she had to grant it to them. There were a few that had lived for hundreds of years and she knew that unless they stopped hungering for life they would continue to steal it.
Something was wrong with the forest. Syrana, spirit of the forest, sensed a hostile force creeping into the edges of the outer trees. She woke from her magical slumber in her cave under the great Life Tree of the forest and sniffed the air. Something foul was coming from the east. She ran, her footsteps mere ghosts and shadows on the leafy, damp floor. She wasn’t a creature of this world and so she had no body unless the forest was in danger. Syranna must investigate what was was happening to the trees. They weren’t dying; their life energy was still there, but it had changed somehow. 