Zech slowly opened his eyes. He stood up very slowly, his head dangled lightly as he stretched his neck. His whole body felt weak; it somehow felt as if he had been asleep for a week, but also sleepless that entire time. He breathed deeply and opened his eyes fully, looking around. His ears perked up as he looked at all sides frantically. He found himself inside a hallway; one decorated with wood, clay pots with flowers and dangling leaves on the ceiling.
“W-what…? Is this…This looks like a red’s nest.”
He thought to himself. The structure was unfamiliar to him, he had only ever seen them from the outside.
“What in the world just happened…”
Confused, he took very slow and light steps, moving stealthily through the wooden home. Behind a door frame, laid two Llums. A mother and a very small daughter, sleeping on their bed of leaves.
“Is that…Wait. Is this Rosie’s?!”
He sniffed the air, trying to pick up her scent. It was faint, but it was there.
“What?! What am I doing here?”
He walked a bit faster now, still trying to be as quiet as possible. Lost, he wandered through a couple rooms. Though he felt inclined to use his Vie to hover and move more silently, he reasoned that the glow could alert others, especially in red territory. His curiosity was strong, but not strong enough to risk being found. He eventually found the main room where the large clay pot was.
“So this is where they drink…huh. Rosie’s not here…”
He found the main doorframe, and peeked outside, making sure there wasn’t anyone that could see him. He sneaked out, but without hurrying he took a good look around.
“The reds’ town is quite…pretty, up close.”
He shook his head and got ready to take flight.
“I’ll find Rosie tomorrow. I need to leave.”
He stood there, but his Vie didn’t light.
“…huh?”
He tried again. An action that was as natural as blinking; something that happened automatically but could also be willed, but it was failing him.
“Impossible. No, no, is this a dream?”
He kicked the ground, feeling the dirt.
“No, this is too real. What the hell is going on?!”
His heart began to rush, and his breathing accelerated. He squeezed his muscles, closed his eyes tightly, but no amount of mental or physical strength brought his light. Two older Llums walked through the road where Zech stood squirming.
“Have a look at this little one. Do you think he found some of those magic herbs? Hah.”
They approached. As they did, they squinted, and then took an aggressive stance, making themselves taller.
“Oi! This sucker is a blue one!”
Zech finally noticed them, and looked wide eyed in shock. He had seen them before, that morning at the assembly. They were in a group with other blue Llums, he had even seen them smiling.
“N-no! No sir! Um, I’m red like you!”
They got uncomfortably close, one of them sniffed him.
“Look at those scrawny legs and that darker coat. This one flies, no doubt about it! You think you can fool us? You have no spikes, how stupid do you think we are?”
“What is a sucker like you doing in our home, huh? Let alone at this hour!”
The two older Llums flashed, their red markings lighting up with a distinct buzz.
“No, no! you got it wrong, I’m not red! I-I mean, I’m not blue! I…!”
One of them pounced, going for Zech’s neck. Zech yelped and ducked, he was small enough to dodge by sliding between the attacker’s legs. He began sprinting away.
“Just grab him, you idiot!”
One of them yelled to the other. His Vie shone brighter, as he tried to use it to freeze Zech in place. The red Llums was suddenly knocked back to the ground by something unseen.
“Oof! What?! How did he do that?! Get him!”
The other one looked back and forth confused, helping his friend stand up. In doing so, he had already lost sight of their prey.
“Some devil that one is…you let him go, you moron.”
Zech ran as fast as he could, now sobbing. He headed towards the plains, there was no way he could make it to his nest up the blue tree, having been stripped of his ability to fly. As he approached the plains, he slowed down and trotted more lightly, panting and catching his breath, sniffing and shaking his head to clear the tears. He began walking towards a tree, the one where he met Rosie every night. He noticed a silhouette sitting there next to it, and his eyes glimmered. He swallowed to clear his throat, and called softly.
“R-Rosie? Is that you, friend?”
The silhouette stood up quickly and turned to look at where the voice was coming from. It then began running towards him. Though he was on edge at first, he quickly calmed down as he noticed it was indeed his beloved friend.
“Zech!”
She called as she ran towards him, and he began running towards her too. They met and immediately nuzzled each other’s faces. Zech could notice she had been crying, too.
“Rosie…What is happening? Y-your Vie! Is your light…?”
She quickly shook her head.
“I don’t know, Zech. I woke up in some…cave, up there in the mountains. My light is gone…” They caught their breath and remained in silence. They walked together up the hill, to their tree, and sat against it.
“Alright, let’s not panic…more…”
Zech looked at Rosie, who in turn just looked at the ground.
“We can figure this one out, right? What could we do…?”
The boy asked, trying to put up a smile, though he was noticeably worried. They looked up at the clear night, and the blue giant at the center of the sky.
“Deon.”
Rosie spoke plainly. Zech’s ears dropped backwards lightly and he looked away, but didn’t protest.
“We go to Deon. He’s…the only grownup we can tell this to. Anyone else would send us to him anyway. And…”
She turned to look at her friend, then spoke again.
“And I don’t think we can figure this out on our own.”
Zech thought for a second, and then just nodded.
“Do you think we can just go and walk into the temple…? At this hour? We could just wait, maybe it’ll come back….”
He looked at Rosie with concern. She shook her head.
“The altar is always open… we just need to go from there to wherever Deon lives…He…He won’t get mad.”
Zech stood up, then pushed Rosie very lightly with his nose.
“I hope you’re right.”
Rosie gave back a tired smile, and stood up. They walked together towards the temple grounds. It wasn’t hard to avoid being seen by others, it was very late and the path to the temple split the two territories apart. They approached cautiously, the gates had remained wide open since that morning. Inside, it was eerily quiet, almost alien to them. These hallways were always packed with chatter, but now laid dormant. Empty and dark.
“Jeez…this is creepy…O-oh, Rosie? I…I think I woke up in your nest…”
Zech whispered as they walked towards the altar. Rosie looked at him with wide eyes.
“Is Hailey ok?!”
“Shh!”
Zech stopped her, then nodded.
“I saw her with an older Llums…your mom? Hey good thing you didn’t appear in my place, you wouldn’t like my dad.”
Rosie let out a sigh of relief.
“A-arlight now…where…where are the nests of the saints that live here?”
Rosie looked for any marking, or carved writing that would indicate it.
“I don’t know, but after the sermons they always head towards the back…”
Zech gestured with his head, pointing towards the structure at the end of the main hall.
“Yeah, that looks like the way…!”
A third voice whispered between them. The cubs jolted and squealed, turning around immediately. They saw Deon, standing as imposing as always, with that gentle smile that he always wore. They smiled and jumped, quickly nuzzling against his legs.
“Deon! You’re here!”
They cheered.
“Wow! What a delightful but unexpected display of affection! It must be some miracle, specially coming from you Zech. To what do I owe the honor?”
The cubs regained their composure and took a deep breath, looking up at him in relief.
“Wait, how did you know we were here?”
“I felt it.”
The priest responded quickly. The two looked up and tilted their heads.
“I’m very good at sensing Vie. I also don’t sleep much, so I spend most nights meditating around here instead.”
They looked at each other, then up at him again, their faces showing worry once again.
“I-it…it is about Vie. We need your help…um…”
Rosie spoke, unsure of how to explain. Zech continued.
“Yeah uh…our light is…gone…?”
Deon’s eyes widened and his smile faded ever so slightly, just to return in a second after he took a deep breath.
“If your light had gone, you’d surely be dead.”
Zech growled.
“We’re telling the truth, Deon! We can’t use our Vie! I couldn’t even fly back home!”
Rosie just nodded after each of Zech’s words, looking down at the floor. Deon sat down and closed his eyes.
“Hm. Then what was it that I sensed when you walked in here? And how would you even be alive? How did this happen?”
“U-um, well…we saw a strange light out in the plains but...”
Rosie spoke nervously, Zech interjected.
“It was after the sermon. We saw a light shoot across the sky, and we followed it towards the plains! We found a…weird shape, I’ve never seen anything like it. Oh and the sky did this weird thing where it flashed and…ugh…”
He seemed to get frustrated and caught up in his own words. Deon listened carefully, then stood up and walked slowly towards the altar.
“Hmmm… visions and sightings…Fading Vie isn’t written in our slabs… Could this be an ailment, perhaps a doctor would be more helpful?”
At this point, it seemed as if he was talking more to himself than the worried cubs, who looked at each other and sighed. He looked at the walls, walls that had many engraved texts. He lit up his Vie so he could see clearer, but didn’t show his wings.
“Don’t worry, children. Please step up here.”
They nodded and followed, stepping up to the altar and standing next to the white-furred Llums.
“I can’t say I have any real answers right now, I apologize. Lucian may be more knowledgeable about this…The saints are all resting though. For now, all we can do, all we should do, is pray.”
Zech growled audibly, showing his teeth.
“Of course that’s your solution. That’s the only help you ever give, do you ever think about anything else?”
Deon sighed.
“Zech, I know you don’t like this but please, do it for me just this once. I can’t help you by myself, but Aigaion is always there. I know you don’t believe it, but right now we can only wait until morning so we can meet with the council and other scholars that may have more answers than I do, so we may as well. Please?”
Zech kept growling, and then shook his head with a bark. A gesture that took the two others by surprise, as it seemed unusually feral.
“Fine. We may as well.”
Zech approached and sat next to them. Deon showed his wings, which wrapped around the two small Llums in front of him, coating them in a warm light. They all closed their eyes. Deon took a deep breath.
“Aigaion, almighty. We raise our voices to you so that you may hear us. We pray now to you so that you may guide us. So that you may help these children…”
Zech twitched lightly.
“S-stop…”
He whispered, almost inaudibly.
“We pray that you may give us answers. That you may help them with this situation they find themselves in. So that you may help us all understand it.”
“Stop.”
Zech’s neck twitched, so did his legs. Involuntary spasms ran through his body.
“I-it hurts…”
Deon kept his eyes closed, and continued. Rosie echoed his words.
“We praise you, so you judge us favorably upon your return.”
“I said stop it, you monster!”
Zech screamed. His last word echoed through the entire temple, and seemed to come from within the other Llums’ heads themselves. It sounded as if two had yelled it, in a voice that wasn’t Zech’s. Deon’s wings shattered like glass in a flash of light. Though it didn’t hurt him, it sent a strong shiver all the way down his body.
“W-what the…?”
Deon shook his head and opened his eyes. His smile completely faded, and his eyes widened at the sight in front of him. Rosie, disoriented for a second, looked up at Deon. Noticing his expression, she turned to look at Zech, who stood in an aggressive stance, with the face of a demon. From the tip of his tail, slowly flowing up his spine and down his legs, up his chest and reaching his face, his Vie began shining again. A bright purple light that now coated the altar. Zech stood up normally and shook his head, his face returned to that of the friend Rosie knew.
“H-huh?”
Zech turned to look at Rosie. His ears bent backwards.
“Rosie…your light…”
Without uttering any words but unable to wipe the shocked look off of his face, Deon turned to look at the other cub. She quickly looked down at herself, then raised a paw to look at the sides of her leg. She looked back in panic at the markings down her hind legs. They all shone in the same purple hue as Zech’s.
*consults the graph The 'fuck around' magnitude of outright calling out a god that actually exists... High Means the 'find out' magnitude is also... Severe.
Poor things, one can hope Deon and the other saints won't see them as outcasts T.T
Oh boy, that's not good. *consults the graph The 'fuck around' magnitude of outright calling out a
Well that was quite the chapter, seems like (As TPoE puts it) Zeke may have upset the wrong person. Though at the same time, I can’t say I was expecting what seems to be possession either. I was honestly surprised too with how violent those two reds at the start were, I mean, I sure as hell didn’t expect one of them to just go straight for the throat.
You did a great job describing how natural it is for them to use their Vie too, Flame. I can only assume waking up without it must be akin to waking up and finding out your hands don’t work anymore.
Also, Deon continues to be based.
Well that was quite the chapter, seems like (As TPoE puts it) Zeke may have upset the wrong person.
