Submission (#6796) Approved

King found himself staying in Faerindell for longer than he originally anticipated. Before he knew it, hours had quickly become days. There wasn’t much business that kept the large kittom in the town he was staying in. If he thought hard about it, the big reason why he found himself staying for so long was because of the Phantom Step he saw someone have. While the initial shock and awe had settled down, it was still something that scratched at the back of King’s mind.
After the first day he was in Faerindell, which ended with getting paint everywhere and a quick clean up, he had returned to the small library in town and continued his search for more books, attempting the ebay he could to find more information about Phantom Step. While he didn’t find any new information than the first book he picked up on the first day, he did find books on other exotic and special ‘mutations’ that elnin could have. Very interesting, but not what he was looking for.
As he was looking through the various books in the small library, he overheard two elnin talking. Something about Bellmoril and Academics. King wasn’t able to pick up much from the conversation but he couldn’t help but wonder- Would there be more information and bigger libraries in Bellmoril? He decided it was about time to leave this small town and venture out for answers. The large kittom headed back to the inn and collected his things, stuffing food and water into his bag. After checking out of the inn he asked the elnin at the front desk the best route to Bellmoril. The elnin thought for a moment before telling him what roads to go down. With that King thanked the elnin for the information and waved goodbye before heading outside.

It was a beautiful day.The sky was a crystal blue, the wind was gentle, and there was still an obnoxious amount of colorful flowers everywhere. King adjusted the strap of his bag around his shoulder, stood up straight, and proudly began to make his way out of town. After crossing a few stone bridges and staying on the path, King eventually left the town behind him. The trail he was on stretched as far as he could see, curving between grassy hills.

Minutes passed in silence. The kittom’s mind began to wander, and then his eyes drifted off the path in front of him over towards the landscape around him. If he was sick of seeing flowers in town, the sight of the flowers around him now was revolting. It was hard to tell if there was more grass or more flowers on the hills around him. Poking out between blades of grass were colorful petals of every shade imaginable and then some.

King was about to look away when he noticed something in the flowers. He stopped walking as what he thought were petals began to flutter. When several petals began to flutter in the air, he realized what he was looking at was a butterfly. The colorful butterfly fluttered up several feet before moving to land on another flower. Now that King knew what he was looking for, he noticed that there were lots of butterflies resting on the flowers next to him.

The kittom began to think of what he had read before. Some elnin had a phantom step that appeared like butterflies, fluttering around the elnin before gently disappearing. King stood there for several minutes, merely watching the butterflies slowly open and close their wings as they rested on the flowers, before he began to move again. Ever so carefully he slipped his back off his shoulders and set it down on the edge of the trail. With the bag now off his shoulders, King felt a little more lightweight.
He started to walk over to the flowers and butterflies, every step slow and calculated. If the butterflies noticed him they didn’t seem to mind his presence as none of them stirred. It was only when he was a mere inch away from the flowers closest to the trail that the butterflies began to shift and stir on their resting spots. King was a large kittom, but there were grassy spots between some flowers that he was able to step on without crushing anything but blades of grass. He began to move through the flowers and crowd of butterflies. Splotches of color took to the sky as numerous butterflies lifted off the flowers. King watched as colorful petals from flowers and colorful wings of butterflies danced and soared around him, as if his steps had created a rainbow whirlwind.

King continued through the flowers until he reached the otherside, only seeing grass in front of him. He turned around and watched as some butterflies settled back down on the flowers while some decided to head off towards other fields, not wanting to chance being disturbed again. A small grin spread across his face. Was that how elnin with phantom steps with animals felt? What a rush! Though, if he was honest with himself, he had been a little nervous about stepping too close to a butterfly or flower. Phantom Steps weren’t made out of real animals, but did other elnin feel uneasy as well? Or did they grow used to it?

He decided to take the long way round back to the trail, staying in the grass and avoiding the butterflies. He had disturbed the remaining ones enough for today. Once he reached the trail he slung his bag back on his shoulder and started to make his way down the trail again, thinking more about what sort of phantom step he would have if he had one.