A Cracked Star

[POV Arya]

 

*Crack*

 

Sitting straight up from my sleep, feeling sweat sticking to my clothes down my back. “What’s going on?” 

 

*Shatter*

 

I hear the noise again, this time easier to locate. looking over at Dawn, I can see she still hasn't moved from her current position. Around her I can see the space start to deform and crack as a purple dome starts to form around her. 

 

“What is that, it looks familiar…” I get up to walk towards her as a sharp pain is felt in my head again. A familiar headache growing as the idea of stained glass surfaces.

 

"What's wrong?" Stella asks, having woken up probably from me getting out of bed.

 

"I don't know," I replied.

 

I reach out to grab her hand and get a closer look only to be stopped by some invisible force before being launched back. Stella runs towards the direction I fly towards catching me. "I got you." Setting me back on my feet, we both stare towards Dawn before Stella speaks again. 

 

"Is she finally waking up?" 

 

A dome starts to form around Dawn, like cracked stained glass, the same colors as what was starting to spread on her hands. 

 

"No, she hasn’t moved an inch even after this dome started appearing. Though. . .” I pause, grabbing Stella’s attention. “It’s progress, we know that she isn’t going to lay there forever.”

 

~~~~~

 

Outside our soul space, we sit around with the wolves, still trying to figure out what is going on with Dawn. Ever since the dome appeared around her, our mana has been surging through our body. The gauntlet that showed up a while back is starting to solidify outside our soul space. Giving off a ghostly look as it takes place.

 

It doesn't take long before Turgis comes over to us. "The guardian is ready to see you, she's further in the cave." 

 

He leads us through a corridor further in the cave that we haven't been through yet, which leads back out of the cave, into a courtyard and a wooden cottage in the middle. The entire area is encircled by the mountains making it seem like the only way to enter and leave is the corridor we came from or by flying.

 

Continuing my observation I find the pathway is straight and made of many stones, with a sand garden on both sides, clearly being well maintained. Whoever this guardian is is meticulous in their hobbies. The cottage is only one story but is decently sized in length. 

 

I take my time to look more as we walk through the building. Paintings hang on the wall, varying from places like the courtyard we're in, or a few nicer locations like the river further out from here.

 

"Clearly whoever lives here is in contact with more than just the wildlife here." Stella pointed out.

 

“Think she’ll talk about it if we bring it up?” 

 

“Maybe, but for now we need to learn of the situation in the forest and where exactly this forest is.” She replies.

 

Eventually we find ourselves in an office. A cough and coffee table is set up in the center with a desk at the end of the room in front of a window. The quality of this couch is actually really nice, I can't really sit into it without my tail getting pressed on and being uncomfortable. Laying down though, that's where it's at. I don't sink far allowing the couch to still have a little bit of firmness while still having it soft from the leather.

 

"Wonder what's taking her so long." I say, kicking my legs in the air with boredom.

 

"Just be patient." 

 

"And what if she doesn't have any answers?." Mumbling my last sentence.

 

"I wouldn't jump to conclusions, young wolf."

 

A new voice sounded in the room. Looking up, the desk which was empty just moments ago now seats a beautiful pale elf woman. Pink hair and blue eyes, a black and gold ornament that looks like a wing is located behind one of her ears. She has dark circles around her eyes as she stares at me.

 

“What’s with the young wolf?” I ask.

 

“Turgis brought you up a lot in our conversations over the last few weeks.” The woman says.

 

Seeing my reaction, she starts to giggle before taking a drink from her cup. "Would you like a drink, currently I only have juice and water? Sadly I ran out of coffee a few days ago and the adventurer party I bought from hasn't come around to me to restock." Sighing as she finishes.

 

"I’ll pass." A scowl formed on my face as I realized she wasn’t going to take this seriously, "I need answers, and you're the only person I've met in the last two months who might have a clue."

 

"Ehh, no need to be so tense." She says with a smile. "I'm not going to harm you, quite the opposite unless I misunderstood my goddess’ vision." 

 

Her goddess? 

 

"You're a priest?" 

 

"Yes, I follow the teachings of Sehanine Moonbow, for as long as I can remember. Been one of her priests for almost eightyish years now, mainly known for her rule over the moons, dreams, and death.” She replies with eagerness, ”There are a few other aspects to her but they aren't as widely known anymore. Ironically, she actually hates the undead, necromancy practices are usually hunted down, save for the few that practice white necromancy. Though, white necromancers are really only tolerated by a small fraction of the living, not  really liked." 

 

"Her goddess’ teachings are pretty widespread, it's hard to not see a major city without her temple in it." She says with a sigh of relief. 

 

"You see. My goddess likes to speak in unclear ways, either through dreams, or complicated poems to my dismay." She sighs, "She does occasionally speak in a clear tone, but from my own experience, that usually means something is threatening the lives of elves as a whole."

 

She continues to take a sip from her cup, "Ah, that's good. You're really missing out on this you know, not often I have spare sunmelon juice in my storage."

 

"Another time, thank you." I replied.

 

She shrugs. "Oh well. Anyways, my goddess gave me a dream back when Turgis first started telling me about you, it could be about you but honestly I doubt it. Wouldn’t be the first time she sends a message that was only a coincidence." She mutters the last part to herself.

 

"Dream?" 

 

She nods, "Mm-hmm, a fractured star falling from the skies above to push back an ever growing darkness." Getting up she walks over in front of us, grabbing our chin and making me stare into her eyes as she studies my face. "And I must say, while I have some ideas where this leads, I don’t get why she chose to show a star of all things." 

 

A falling star huh, do the gods know of our circumstances, and what does that mean for us? I don’t want to become an experiment or something for some psycho. Also it would make sense for literal gods to have seen us return to this world. Though, I wonder how far their sight reaches, the vision is too similar to our situation that they couldn’t see everything.

 

I look up at the ceiling. "I just want to get back to our family, but we have no idea where exactly we are. How long would it take for us to get back to WolfenDorf?" 

 

The elf gets this look on her face like what I said was an issue. "The city of hunters, what are you doing all the way out here? Though it would make sense why the wolf pack was eager to go look for you. With you being from a city blessed by the same god they follow."

 

"They follow Amarok?" Stella exclaims beside me.

 

"What?" I get lost between what the elf and Stella said.

 

"Yeah, the world tree's dryad was how they came to learn of the god, their pack has lived in this forest for as long as I can remember, always helping keep balance in the forest. The dryad introduced them and their god after seeing them protect this forest for so long. Honestly surprised their god never found them quicker than that, with the forest around the world tree being as much of a wild wilderness as a place can get." 

 

“They might have a way for me to advance my unique skill. You need to see if we can ever meet with that Dryad.” I hear Stella quickly say to me.

 

“If there is a way, could I meet with that Dryad in the future?” I ask. "And how dangerous is the trip there?" 

 

"It’s a possibility, I’d have to send a message to ask, but I don’t think they’ll be against it. And the trip there can be partially dangerous, at least for you." The guardian says, her eyes looking off into space as she falls into deep thoughts. “Most wildlife have come to understand that while the wolf pack is helping keep a balance in the forest, they’re not specifically guarding them so they stay away from them. And I have my own means of staying safe. You however, will need to become stronger, the Dryad, while not against meeting won’t just make the trip easy for you.”

 

Eventually she smirks before she says her next thought. Her smiling face is giving me mixed feelings, like I'm not going to like this next exchange.

 

"You know. . “She says, disappearing from my sight as I feel a hand press down on my shoulder. “Why don't you learn from me? You seem to have a good foundation and I can feel your mana surging throughout your body. And while you seem to be controlling it for the most part, it’s going out of control in some areas." 

 

I feel my eyebrows rising from her question before I look down to where she gestured and I see the gauntlet still forming. Drawing large amounts of mana from the rest of my body.

 

"And you. . “ I said moving her hand off my shoulder. “Can teach me? I don't even know your name.”

 

"I haven't told you my name have I?" The elf lightly laughs before continuing, "You can call me Taleah, I don't see why not. I feel my background should be good enough.”

 

“Why don't I show you, or ask really. What do you know about magic, about spells?" Taleah says.