The Unicaid

A forest. A forest unlike any other in this world or any other world, a mythical forest. It obeys none of the laws of physics, like dimension or time, and yet, it has a border, a place where the majestic and impossibly high trees start to shorten. The forest becomes less thick and eventually ends giving way to rolling plains surrounding the forest in every direction. Flat land covered in a carpet on short grass, and lined with rivers, rivers originating in the mountains surrounding the plains in a wide rough circle. Three rivers come from the mountains to, for want of a better word, North and North-West, and all lead into the forest, but one wide and much stronger river comes out from the South of the forest and snakes its way down and exits in between a high gap in the wall of mountains to the South-East.
As mentioned before, the forest, and indeed the world which contains it does not obey common laws of dimension. But even in this world, this forest is huge, and is even bigger when you’re inside it.
Viewing the landscape from one of the numerous high mountains, it is a quiet one. No noise reaches these heights, and yet there is visible movement.
As first sun reaches the horizon in the ‘West’ and the second, much smaller and weaker sun has just started its two day journey from the North, the sky turns a bright pink mixed with orange fading to purple overhead and a deep blue behind. The light reflects off the top of the high tress, and for a few minutes half the forest looks ablaze. And to the South, looking like insects from up here, a group of Centaurs bursts from the forest following the river on both banks on a hunting run. Flying over the low mountains closer to the plains, dragons swoop and spin, performing stunts showing off their amazing range of coloured scales, trying to impress the watching females. Other wondrous and mythical flying creatures can be seen flying low over the forests trees, although it would be impossible to identify what they where from out here.
For this is the world within all worlds. And in this impressive forest where born all the mythical and legendary creatures we find in our world’s stories. But here, they are as real as the land they walk on. How real ‘here’ is, is a question that can not be answered using rational thought.
We enter the forest.
Silhouettes of differently coloured lights against the dark background created by the forest fly in every direction. In groups, alone or in couples, leaving streaks of lights behind them and speaking to each other in their high pitched squeaky voices. Where a couple would stop and enter a trumpet flower, a coloured dim lamp is created giving the area a more magical atmosphere.
Going deeper into the forest, the trees get bigger, and so do the creatures prowling around in the dim light. Marvellous creatures like unicorns gallop through the forest, dodging round trees and jumping fallen logs and low bushes. Sphinxes rests on rocks jutting out of the leaf covered floor riddling each other in an endless battle of wit. Minotaur rampaged around with no real purpose. Gryphons walked through the forest with their life long partner, eagle heads held high, wings folded over their backs.
At a point the river widens and deepens, forming a lake, visible only from above through a small opening left by the trees which over hung the lake creating an igloo made of trees with a skylight. Fauns sit on the rocks by the bank playing their tune to the nature around them. Mermaids and mermen where seen leaping and flipping over the centre of the lake, the males with well built and sculptured torsos and long braided hair and beards, and the females with flowing un-kept, yet beautiful hair, and entrancing laughing voices.
Moving further towards the centre, the trees become massive. These towering giants are the home of wood-elves, tall, slim, agile creatures who make there homes among the branches and leaves of these magnificent creatures. Tree houses surround each tree, and each house joined to others by bridges and ropes, an entire village suspended far above the forest floor.
But the most marvellous of things is to be found at the very centre of this enchanting forest, for at the centre there is a clearing, a circular area of land void of any trees except one. At the very centre of the clearing there is a tree you will not find in any book on flora. It is as high at the giant plants ‘guarding’ the clearing in a wide circle, but its branches spread out much further. It is full of leaves of a dark green colour, almost black. Its bark is rough and impossibly difficult to cut. And although it would seem to be a likely candidate to become a home, no living creature comes near it.
In one of the lower branches of the tree, close to the trunk, exists one pure white flower bud. There always is. If the flower was to open it will be replaced within seconds by another bud. The flower does not bloom according to season, or weather. There is one way for it to open, and it serves only one purpose.
Every time a tear of pure love is shed, any were, is that world, or in ours, the flower would bloom. Its pure white, quickly turns to a royal shade of purple, then fades to black as the flower dries up and falls making way for the new bud.
But that is not the most interesting thing. From this marvellous flower found on a strange tree in a clearing in the middle of a mythical forest, is born a Unicaid, top half is a Unicorn’s, and the bottom half is a mermaid’s. This creature is rare, as one can imagine, and is made even rarer by the fact that, due to a fuck up of evolution, dies almost straight after its birth as a fish tail is useless on land, and hooves are just as useful for swimming.
Poor Unicaid.


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Dedicated to my laptop, which died almost straight after finishing this piece of work.
It will greatly missed