Stillness

Fletcher watched as the humans set fire to the gardens. He'd always known this day would come. He'd tried to warn the others, but his words fell on deaf ears every time he brought it up. "The humans wouldn't hurt us", "Most of them don't even believe we exist", "We are protected". So many excuses. So many of their elders still believing the laws of nature remain unchanged.

But now the elders were dead or soon would be, and his friends and family were being carried away in cages made of new magic. And still Fletcher watched, and still Fletcher did nothing. He stayed hidden as his family's tree was engulfed in flames, its fruit, meant to represent the life of each member of it, falling as the branches they hung from turned to charcoal.

He stayed quiet while he saw his fellows try to fly away, much too afraid to dare call out to them from where he was. He didn't even feel shame, although he imagined that would come after. If there even was an after.

He kept thinking about what he could've done to prevent this, but how could one change the minds of beings so ancient as their leaders? They made the humans believe they were gods for so long, they started to believe it themselves, so it was no wonder they refused to believe the humans had begun to resent them. That resentment quickly turned to hate, and that hate had brought them here.

He almost broke when he saw the cage they were holding her daughter in. He watched as her eyes, which were red from crying, searched for him in the other cages, not knowing he wasn't there and hoping that he was, because then she'd know he was alive.

He knew he'd never see her or her wife ever again, and still, he was unable to move. When he couldn't look at her anymore, he turned his head, only to see the limp body of one of the hounds of the garden, one of their loyal protectors. He tried to warn them, too, but it had been a long time since anyone took him seriously, and the hounds obeyed the elders above all. Even Prin, his friend for as long as he could remember, paid no mind to his warnings, disregarding them as wild rambles from someone who had nothing better to do. And that was his fault as well, he realised. Of course they didn't believe him. Of course they didn't trust him. Even now, at a time when he was truly needed, all he could manage to do was hide.

The flames were approaching him fast, so he started to look for a different spot. He spotted a strawberry bush toward the edge of the grounds. Maybe he could find a way out without being noticed. He cursed the pixie dust that fell from him as he flew, hoping the strange mechanism the humans were using couldn't detect him, but suspecting they did. He reached it and managed to get inside when he realised someone else had beaten him to it.

"Fletch? Is that you?" a voice called out, barely audible.

He had to strain his eyes to see, what he saw who the voice belonged to. "Ezra?"

Ezra jumped from the ground and embraced Fletcher in a hug so tight it would've been painful in any other situation, but not now. Not when now there were two of them still alive.

"Ezra, how did you - how did you escape?"

"I didn't. I was still tending to the bush when the council called for the meeting. It was only damn luck I wasn't there."

"Thank the father for your obsession with these plants." Ezra actually smiled at this. He loved how he could always remain an optimist, but he couldn't help but get angry at him for even daring to be so at this time. "We need to go. Now."

"But where? It's been decades since anyone was allowed outside the garden. You've been saying for weeks now that we have no idea what the actual world is like these days".

"I know what I've been saying, Ezra, but no matter how bad it is out there, it can't be worse than here. We will die if we don't leave."

"Okay, you're right." A momentary feeling of relief rose up within Fletcher. It'd been a long time since he heard that. "The fence is not too far away; we can make it, but we have to be fast."

"Very fast. I think their magic allows them to find us even when hidden."

"Then let's go. Stay close behind me." And he flew away, Fletcher having to push his own body to keep up.

Maybe it was because of how fast they were going that he didn't see the cage falling on top of Ezra until it was too late to do anything about it. Always too late.

"GO!" screamed Ezra, but Fletcher didn't need to be told it; he was already leaving him behind. Another friend left to fend for himself, another chance to do what was right, but picking the coward's way.

He risked a glance back and saw a group of humans chasing him. Some of them were casting spells to try and catch him, while others were throwing nets at him.

He could see the fence now, and he pushed his body even further to reach it. He was almost there when a big ball of fire exploded next to him and sent him flying over to a patch of crops. He was dazed, but somehow conscious enough to try and hide between the vegetables growing there. He got inside an ear of corn and covered himself with the husk. He remained quiet while he heard the shouts of the humans, desperate to find him. He remained still, as still as a dead body, until he could hear them no longer.

He snuck his head out slowly to see if anyone was near, and when he saw he was alone, he dashed for the fence once again. And, whether it be luck or a favor from the real gods, he crossed the threshold of the gardens for the first time in his life, and most likely his last. He kept going until he couldn't anymore and collapsed to the ground at the roots of a tree. He looked toward the horizon, where black smoke rose from what used to be his whole world, and thought of all that he'd lost, all that he'd never see again. He wanted to cry, but didn't even have the energy to form tears. He remained still and quiet, not for the first time, but maybe his last, as he watched his home burn.