A Cracked Star

[Dawn]

 

"Wake up young wolf." An old rough voice pulls me from my sleep. 

 

Looking around I find a purple cracked dome encased around me, an old man can be seen leaning against it. Light brown skin with black hair and brown eyes, wearing black  and silver armor, with a fur cloak wrapped around his neck that reaches down to his knees. A wolf howling engraved on the front chest piece. 

 

"The name's Saladeen, one of the twelve founders for the Iron Lords."  Still trying to wake up I don't fully catch what he says. 

 

"Salad man?" I say, confused as to why his name would be Salad man, is it a joke? Possibly.

 

He starts laughing loudly before looking at me once again. "Ah that's a good one, never heard someone mess my name up that badly before. My old pals would have loved that one." He says with a small smile, "But no, it's Saladeen." 

 

"My bad." I say, scratching behind my ears, only to notice that my ears are missing.

 

“What, where are my ears?“ Getting up from the bed I quickly find myself falling towards the ground as I feel something throwing off my balance. 

 

On the ground I turn my head to see a tail coming from my back, not believing what I’m seeing, I reach for it with my hand and start to run it through the hair on it. 

 

“It . . it’s real?” I mumble to myself as I feel the sensation of my hand running over it. As I continue to be mesmerized by my tail I feel something twitching on top of my head. 

 

Sitting up, I bring my other hand there to find two long members on top of my head, fuzzy and soft to the touch. The sensations make me feel weak in my legs as they overwhelm my head. I’m completely lost as to what happened to me. 

 

I hear Saladeen coughing, making me look up as I see his huge frame hiding what looks to be a two headed battle ax almost the length of his body. Once again I take in the surroundings more awake this time. 

 

"Right, uh sorry about that, I don’t think I’ll be able to walk straight for a while. Anyways, where are we?" I ask.

 

"Inside your soul." His quick response caught me off guard.

 

“How is that possible?” I say to myself. “First I’m no longer human and now some old man I’ve never met before is telling me we’re inside my own soul. Am I dreaming?”

 

He just chuckles to himself. “No young wolf, you’re not.”

 

“Okay, if that’s the case, I can understand why I’m here, though not how I got here. But why are you here?” I say, pointing at him.

 

"That's easy to answer, I’m here to make you my successor." Saladin says, before taking his battle ax and setting it between us. 

 

“Your successor to what?” I ask Saladeen as he stands there. Seeing him start to talk I cut him off to ask something else. “And why should I even accept this position? If you couldn’t tell already, I have my own situation I have to resolve now.”

 

"Haah, I’ll explain it as best I can if you’ll just listen." He sighs as his face steels itself. “I was one of countless leaders for the Iron Lords. We worked together with the very gods in our world to protect it from the invaders. They are extremely strong, resistant to most weapons, only ever truly affected by magic.” 

 

Next thing I know, he's taking out a red gem, clear enough to see a fire burning bright within it. Taking a deep breath he continues. 

 

"I don't know how you managed to acquire the sunstone, but this stone is what I used along with the ax to fight against the fallen. I had to specifically create equipment to cool myself down when using it as the stone radiated both light and heat strong enough to burn me should I choose to use it without the equipment. My ax, the Iron lord leader’s weapon, was one of the only weapons I knew of that could be imbued with the power of the stone and launch attacks capable of burning through everything the invaders threw at us." He says as his eyes lose focus talking about his past. 

 

"And what does any of this have to do with me, from the sounds of it you found the means to end the war with the invaders and did so right?" I said.

 

"If only that was everything to it young wolf. You're both correct and wrong, we only stopped the battle. The war was never truly over, a battle was won. Heroes died. And our mistakes stayed with us as we sealed the world in hopes that it would end everything.” He lets go of the sunstone as it starts to break apart and float in front of me. ”Many gods laid down their lives to stop them, along with cities and long standing powers. Everyone in my time united together to stop them as we all knew that if we didn’t this world wouldn’t last." 

 

During his talk, he started to grow faint, becoming more transparent to the point I was starting to make out what was on the other side of him. "I don't have much longer to answer your original question. The biggest reason I am choosing you is because your bloodline was able to integrate with the sunstone, and from what I can sense, perfectly at that. The invaders will return one day, and you’ll need to be ready. What little bit of my soul is left is tied to my ax, hence how I’m able to talk to you right now. She has a will of her own to choose her next wielder, but even then you have to agree to her request." 

 

“Her? You’re saying the ax has a will of its own?” I scoff at him.

 

“Yes, and should you accept her young wolf it will connect you two unlike anything else. She will never break as long as your soul has the strength and will to never falter.” He says.

 

"Why do you talk like I have already absorbed the sunstone?." Frown on my face. 

 

"Because you’ve already done so.” He says, his voice certain of this.

 

“How?” The sunstone is in my hand right now however so how could I have absorbed it already? 

 

Wait, he said we’re inside my soul right now, so then I guess he isn't wrong. And if it wasn’t for this place being devoid of anything around us, save for the beds and table in the middle of them all, I would have thought he was lying. But I feel safe in this place and more at peace than I have ever been before. 

 

“Do you know where my body is then? I’d take it that me being in here means I’m just laying down somewhere out in the open.” I ask before my face pales realizing that it could actually be the case.

 

“As far as I know, you should be within the temple I died at while allowing my people to escape the invaders. Gheleon city was the name, it was a ways away from the world tree sapling.”

 

“World tree, wait, what is the name of this planet?” I quickly asked.

 

“Triva, why?” Saladeen replied, confused by my question.

 

“Because I’m not from this world, FUCK!” I yell in anger as my shoulders slump and my face falls. “Fuck, what do I do? Gramps. . . “

 

Saladeen places his ax on the ground before walking over to sit beside me. I can finally see that the ax is broken down the middle probably from his last battle. “I don’t know how you must be feeling, young wolf, but if there is one thing I know, you have to keep moving on. If you give up now then you’ll never get the answers you need. I didn’t know you were an outworlder but I should have realized once I saw you were surprised by your own ears and tail.”

 

“What do I do then? I don’t even know where to start, also the fact that I won’t have any way to contact my grandpa to check if he’s fine.” I say as my voice grows quiet with each word.

 

“Well for one thing, you should at least prioritize gaining strength, this world isn’t one you’ll last in if you don’t do that. Your race and abilities should give you a boost to your strength compared to what you’re used to then. Let me teach you what I mean, I want you to think out in your head about seeing your status, it should show up for you to look at your abilities and such.” Saladeen says with a soft smile.

 

Status, I have a status page?  Is this like one of those games Katherin always raged on about? Wonder what all it will show me? 

 

Calling out for my status, a transparent screen appears in front of me, surprising me a bit at the suddenness in which it appeared.

 

---

Dawn

Titles:

Children of the Stars

Broken Soul Anew

???

 

Race: Astral Wolf-kin

Racial Skills:

Space Affinity: I 

Ice Affinity: I

Solar Affinity: I

Earth Affinity: I

 

Class: Sirius' Fang

Level: 3

Class Skills:

Great Ax Mastery: I

Danger Sense: I

Sundering Strike: I

Action Surge: I

Unique Skills:

Starflame Companion

---

 

I’m really not human anymore huh, honestly outside of the changes I feel, I don’t really care all that much about the change. It will take some time to get used to but I feel I can work with this.

 

“How much is there?” I hear Saladeen ask.

 

“You can’t see it?” I say pointing at the screen only to see him shake his head. “Well it shows me my race, racial skills, class and class skills.”

 

“Racial skills? Your bloodline must be stronger than I thought, would make sense though seeing you have already absorbed the blood stone.” He says, “Anything else?” 

 

“Yeah actually, I have a few titles but I don’t know what that means.” I say tilting my head, I feel Saladeen to my side flinching from my words. “What's wrong?”

 

“Nothing, I just didn’t expect you to have titles, I could understand you having racial skills but titles?” He says bringing one of his hands to his chin, rubbing his facial hair. “How long have you been in this world?” 

 

“Since you woke me up.” I say. “Which is why I’m so confused by this entire event.” 

 

“Then how do you already have titles?” He asks quietly, “Forget that, we don’t have the time to think about that. I have to know if you’ll accept my original offer. You don’t have to seek out these invaders, if we’re lucky then they won’t be back during the time you’re alive.”

 

“Why do you want me to accept this so much?” I ask him.

 

“I just don’t wish to see what might be the last bit of my history to be lost. I don’t know how long it’s been since my death but I can feel it’s been ages. No one has come to recover my ax so I have only feared the worst.” He says, his face scowling at his own words. “So I’ll ask again, will you take my ax with you? I don’t even know everything about this ax myself, but if anything can help you right now, this is it.” 

 

I take a while to answer as I look at his face as he stares straight into my eyes. I can feel from his words that he truly means well for me. After thinking it over, I decided to take a risk with him here. “Alright. I’ll take the ax with me.” I tell him, his face takes on a small smile at that. 

 

From my words, he hands me the ax. "Then I hope you see better success in your time than I did. Take it, it will grow alongside your own strength, and if you ever feel lost, look upon it as its message will guide you. Its name is the Suncleaver, created from a tree with silver wings, the durability of orichalcum, yet as mana efficient as elves. Channeling the power of solar fire to burn and purify all those corrupted by darkness and evil. Its greatest message during my time was to be a beacon of hope to those that are suffering in the tides of time." He smiles softly before letting go. “I only hope that ideal is still believed even today.” 

 

As he finishes, his body starts to grow more transparent, and starts to disappear from here. “I guess it’s my time Young Wolf, from the moment I took up the mantle of Iron Lord I made it my duty to protect those who suffered under the actions of the invaders. I feel you’ll live up to the title of Iron Lord, even if you don’t see it yourself.”

 

 

As he vanishes, the system notification pops up and I feel something connect with me. The ax that was previously broken starts to come aflame and reconnect in the broken sections, slowly making its way up the ax, leaving a fiery orange streak everywhere the flames covered. Holding the ax, I can feel a joy build up from it as it finishes up. 

 

A thankful feeling spreads towards me from it as if to thank me for accepting it, or them. I can’t tell if it’s a male or female spirit that resides within the ax but I guess I can always find out later. 

 

As I stand up, I quickly realize I still am not used to the feeling of the tail as I start to fall back towards the ground onto my knees. I breathe harshly as I feel pain in my knees, I try again, using the ax as a crutch to stand straight. Eventually I stand up straight, only this time wobbling back and forth as I try to stay up. 

 

“I feel like I’m out at sea right now, what the fuck.” I grumble, making my way towards the table in the middle of this area. “Why is there a table but no chairs, god who designed this place?” 

 

As I walk, I complain about the lack of chairs only to feel something rush out of me. I can see a simple brown chair start to appear in front of me, once it finishes forming I start to feel weaker than before. 

 

“Great so I have the ability to just make things appear here? What is this chair even made out of?” I question as I run my left hand across the chair, feeling the cold hard texture of the chair. It reminds me of compacted dirt that was made for some roads out in the middle of nowhere back home. Sitting down I start to take the time to understand the changes I’ve noticed so far. 

 

“Man, this is one weird day so fa- fuck!” I quickly stand back up as I reach back for my tail I just sat on. “Right. . . right, I have a tail now. Uhhh, if I can make this chair appear, can I change it to have an opening for my tail?” Saying so I watch in amusement as I see the chair change to have a hole in the back like I imagined it in my head. 

 

Seeing the change, I sit back down, this time slipping my tail through the opening to keep it out of the way. Setting my ax against the table I take the chance to relax and finally start to understand some things. Something I noticed quickly was that my right hand had something covering it. It was tough and cold to the touch, the feeling of metal  was easy to tell. 

 

Clenching my fist I confirmed that I could still bend my fingers pretty well and that my hand didn’t feel constrained around the joints. It reaches halfway up my forearm before it stops. The top of it, covering the back of my hand, is armored and white whereas my palm is colored a dark purple, maybe black, hard to tell really. As I continue to look at it, an image of my . . . father, appears in my mind before I snuff the thought.

 

I can’t seem to leave that past behind huh, even in a new world I can’t get away from that filth. I look at my hair to get my mind off him as a way not to get excessively angry. 

 

My hair seems to take the same color scheme as the gauntlet, with the majority of it being white and starting to turn black and purple towards the end. Same for my tail so I can only assume my ears are the same. 

 

“I wonder how far down it reaches, this is way longer than I’m used to.” I mumble to myself.

 

“Mmmm.” I feel my ears twitch as I hear someone groan. 

 

Looking for the source of the sound I see on one of the other beds a figure slowly getting up as she looks towards me. I’m confused at the fact that her hair is the exact same pattern as mine, she even has the gauntlet on her right hand as well. 

 

“Good morning Stella.” I hear the person say. 

 

“That’s not my name.” I replied before questioning her, “Who are you?” 

 

“Eh?” She says as her eyes widen further, “You're awake?!” She screams as she points at me.