The sound of thunder rumbling shook the walls, which woke Luna from her slumber. Getting out of bed, she looked out the window. The sky was light, just enough to show that it was late morning. But the dark grey clouds that hung overhead looked like they were promising to ruin everyone’s day. Luna wondered if she should try to go on the road in this weather. But before her thoughts could get too far, the rain pounded on the window with little notice.
Maybe it’s best if I stay another day. Oh!
It suddenly dawned on Luna that Lyzal and Saros were still outside.
But they’re maiaaks.
Then she imagined them getting sick because they were in the rain.
Surely they won’t get sick from being a little wet.
Another loud thunder roared, shaking the walls again. Groaning, Luna grabbed her cloak and ran out of the inn, making her way behind the building where she last saw Saros. Calling out, Saros responded, but not Lyzal. As the rain came down harder, Luna gave up and led Saros inside. Quickly leading him inside, avoiding as many glances as she could, she shoved him into the room.
Dripping wet, getting inside the room, “Where is Lyzal? She couldn’t have gone too far since she’s bonded to me. Why isn’t she-”
The sound of thunder clashed simultaneously with a loud knock on the window. Yelping, Luna jumped onto Saros from the shock, who caught her and re-balanced her.
“Calm down. It’s just Lyzal at the window.”
“Bless Meraki!” Luna opened the window, letting Lyzal in.
After awkwardly letting herself in through the small window, Lyzal closed the window. She then wrung out her shirt.
“Why must you-?” Deeply inhaling, Luna turned away from Lyzal, while closing her eyes, doing a silent pray to keep her patience. Turning back around to face Lyzal, “Lyzal, why didn’t you- where are your wings?”
“Hm?” Lyzal casually looked up at Luna. “I put them away. I can do at least that much while still bonded.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You actually think I can fly with that restrictive spell on me?”
“You just came through the window.”
“What? You think those one-two flaps are flying?”
“But you keep talking about how we can fly everywhere.”
“Yeah, if you remove it.” Lyzal snapped.
Luna took a small step back, bringing a finger to her chin as she thought about all the times she thought Lyzal was flying. Lyzal and Saros watched as realization dawned on her face. Did she not realize what all the effects it had on a maiaak?
“Well, it’s not coming off.”
“I figured.” Lyzal mumbled while wringing out her shirt again, dripping all over the floor.
Sighing, Luna switched topics. “I guess we’re here until the rain stops.”
“Should be fun.” Lyzal spoke with what Luna could only assume was sarcasm.
The room remained silent for a few hours. Lyzal and Saros had both picked a designated spot on either side of the room, opposite of each other. Luna sat at the table in the middle. She, surprisingly, finished writing in her journal in peace. Luna pulled out the pendant that Serahm had given her the day before.
“It looks nice.” Saros spoke from his corner.
Luna didn’t respond, as the surrounding sounds dulled. Running a finger over the light green opal rock. Something about the pendant didn’t sit right with Luna.
“Luna.”
Luna’s focus on the pendant lessened. Looking at Saros, who was staring at her. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I said that the symbol I saw shows the crest of the moon. So why does that have a full moon?”
“Oh. The different phases of the moon represent your level of devotion to Meraki. A full moon is the highest compliment.”
“Interesting. Makes one wonder how such a humble man like Serahm got his hands on it.”
That only made Luna feel even more nervous about having the pendant in her possession. “I’m returning it.”
“As soon as I can. It’s not right for me to take something like this.”
“You’re a peculiar human, you know that?” Saros asked.
“How? I’m just doing what’s right.” Luna mumbled to herself, half embarrassed.
“Is that why you gave me blood?”
“Th-that was more complicated.”
The pitter-patter of rain seemed louder as Saros hummed in thought.
"Moreover," Luna added, "I think that applies to you as well."
“Oh?”
“You would not kill me. That’s not normal, maiaak.”
“And you’d let a maiaak walk free. If I’m understanding your faith correctly, that’s heresy.”
“Th-that is also complicated!” After a moment’s pause. “And you seemed reasonable.” Luna sputtered out, fumbling for composure.
“Careful, Liora.” Lyzal spoke from her corner. “The fascination starts small. But before you know it, you’ll be a sanguinist.”
Luna turned her attention to Lyzal, “A what?”
Lyzal leaned forward; “A nephir follower.”
“There’s no such thing!”
Lyzal leaned back against the wall, shrugging her shoulders. Luna whipped her attention back to Saros, who had his head resting on his hand with a grin on his face. His silence only made Luna’s stomach turn. She didn’t believe them, though. There was no way that there were nephir human followers.
The rain softened throughout the night. None of them spoke after that, leaving each other alone with their own thoughts once again. The steady rhythm dulled their thoughts, and sleep came slow.
By morning, the air was still heavy, but the sky had cleared, mostly. Luna stirred to pale blue light slipping through the shutters, and the faint scent of damp wood filling the room. Lyzal was huddled in a corner under the window, hair tangled against the wall. Saros sat against the opposite side of the room, hair covering his face, eyes closed. For a moment, it was peaceful. Almost normal. Then Luna remembered where they were and who she was traveling with.
Stretching, Luna sat up and got out of bed. She quietly put her things away. Once done, she reached for Saros, whose brown eyes opened and looked up at Luna before she could touch him.
Taking a couple of steps back, drawing her hand to her chest. “Sorry. I was just going to wake you.”
Saros made a small acknowledgement sound and stood up, doing a small back stretch. Hearing a minor bump from the opposite corner, Luna turned in Lyzal’s direction. Lyzal had vanished, and the window was open. Saros grabbed the larger bag as Luna grabbed the smaller bag and small pouch she kept on her waist and followed her out. It was drizzling as they got out. Lyzal was already waiting outside, and her wings back out in all their glory. Keeping her head low, Luna counted coins with her thumb as she bought what she could for the road. A pouch of dried fruit, and a small jar of salve. Making her way through the town, she got to Serahm’s bakery. Letting herself in, she held the door open for Saros and Lyzal. All of them took deep breaths. Once again, Luna felt warm and fuzzy inside. Elira came out to greet them.
“Welcome back. Here for some more bread?”
Luna beamed, “I would be delighted to get more bread.”
Elira got another, smaller basket ready. This time, Luna paid.
“By chance, is your husband here?” Luna asked as politely as she could. Not that she didn’t want to see Elira, but she had to give the pendant back.
“My husband? I believe you may have confused me with someone else. I don’t have a husband.” Elira blinked, confused.
“Se-Serahm? You don’t know where Serahm is?” Luna tried asking again.
“I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I don’t know anyone by that name.”
Luna stared for a moment, wondering if Elira was going to laugh and say that she was only joking. But she didn’t. She stood there, just as confused.
“You both gave me a basket of bread as a thank you.” Luna decided on a different approach.
“I remember you coming in for some bread, but not with anyone else except those two maiaaks.” Elira nodded at Lyzal and Saros.
Luna could feel the air stuck in her lungs. Desperate, Luna dug into her small pouch on her waist, and pulled out the pendant. The only other proof she had of Serahm.
“He gave me this. You were there when he gave it to me.”
Elira stared at the pendant. “It’s beautiful.” She paused, a strange look befell her face. “But I have never seen that before.”
Luna could feel her stomach drop as her shoulders slumped, and the air froze. The lights seemed to have dimmed as she tried to process what Elira had just said. Lyzal and Saros exchanged glances. Lyzal took a step towards Luna and lightly tugged on the elbow of her sleeve. Hesitantly, Luna looked back at Lyzal. Lyzal nodded her head toward the door. Remembering to breathe, Luna turned back around to face Elira.
“Thank you for your time. S-Sorry for bothering you.” Luna spoke just above a whisper.
Elira smiled. “Of course. And if you need any more help, that’s not about Serham, you just let me know.”
Luna’s already pale face became ghost-white at the mispronunciation of his name. Lyzal led Luna out the door. With little thought, Luna put the pendant back in the pouch. Once outside, a few feet away from the bakery, Luna whipped around to face Lyzal and Saros.
“You remember Serahm, right?”
“The human we saved in the forest, right?” Lyzal asked.
“Yes!” Luna tried not to shout, as she got excited knowing she wasn’t insane.
“I only remember him because you brought him up just now. I don’t recall what he looks like.” Saros added.
Luna’s shoulders slumped again. “But we just talked about him last night. And you saw him the day before yesterday. Don’t either of you find it odd that we’ve been with him for almost a week and you don’t remember him?”
The maiaaks glanced at each other, then back at Luna, shrugging.
“Are you sure it was almost a week?” Lyzal tilted her head. “I would have remembered his face whether or not I wanted to if we were together for almost a week.”
Luna tried to find the words. But just as she was about to speak again, the sound of a deep horn interrupted her thoughts. Confused, Luna looked around and noticed the townspeople frantically talking to each other. Another horn sounded off. Now, the people panicked as they quickly hid in their shops and homes. Luna could feel her heart pound against her chest as she realized what the horn meant. Turning toward the sound, it blew a third time. In the sky, a flock of birds flew above the town, away from where the horns blared.
“Maiaak!” a straggler screamed out.
The other stragglers screamed as they ran for cover. Aman, tripping over his own feet, fell to the ground. Luna ran out to help him as a shadow flew over her. A dark figure swooped down, and suddenly the man had disappeared. Luna skidded to a halt. Hearing a scream from the sky, Luna looked up only to be blinded by the now-peeking sun. But she could make out a figure in the sky. Blinking, the figure was gone and there was a loud crash behind her. Turning around, he had been dropped onto one of the shops. Watching people run out trying to find another hiding spot, Luna took a few steps back as she stared at the now mangled body.
“Get inside, Liora!” The two Disenthralls came out, unsheathing their swords.
Luna turned to the yelling voice just in time to see one of them swing their sword only for it to be taken away as the force threw him to the ground. Luna began to recognize the swooping figure.
“Is that…?”
“A v’lur.” Lyzal purred. “Must be a local.”
Luna turned to Lyzal, who was now behind her. “You have to stop him!”
“Why would I do that?”
Desperate, Luna turned to Saros. “Don’t look at me. I have less of a reason to help.”
Remembering that she was traveling with a couple of maiaaks, she panicked. They would not help unless it benefited them.
“You might want to duck,” Lyzal added as she pointed off in a direction.
“What?”
The figure swooped in and barely caught Luna by her collar. As the figure yanked her into the air, she yelped and twisted her body a few times, just hard enough for the v’lur to loosen his grip. Luna landed face flat on the dirt road a few feet away from Lyzal and Saros.
“Liora!” The other Disenthrall, who still had his sword, placed himself in front of Luna.
The v’lur had turned around, coming down again. Luna quickly put up a barrier in front of the guarding Disenthrall. She heard glass break as her barrier shattered. The sound of the sword cutting into flesh, and armor crunching. The Disenthrall had cut into the v’lur’s side, but the v’lur punctured the Disenthrall through his chest. Luna focused on the shirtless torso of the v’lur, ignoring the blood that splattered on her. Symbols were carved into his body, which was covered with dripping blood. The Disenthrall screamed as he was pulled into the air, his sword dropping. Bones could be heard snapping as Luna watched the body fall with no struggle to the ground. Hearing another scream, Luna turned her focus to a woman trying desperately to drag two children to safety. Luna ran to them as quickly as she could. Grabbing one kid, she had almost gone deaf with the woman screaming into her ear while looking past her. Instinctively, Luna pushed them all down to the ground as wind blew above them. The woman sat up, screaming again as the v’lur circled back. Luna quickly stood up, standing between them. Putting up both her hands with more determination, she put up another barrier. The v’lur ran into it, bouncing off the barrier and landing a few feet away.
“Oh?” Lyzal spoke, watching from afar with Saros, slightly impressed.
The v’lur lifted his hand, and a black orb with a deep purple center appeared and grew. Luna could feel the blood in her veins run cold as the v’lur shot the beam. Everything went black with the sudden sound of a crash. Slowly opening her eyes, Saros stood above her. The woman and two kids were also nearby as they were all now in one of the shops. Looking out, Luna realized they had gone through the wall.
Looking up at Saros, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me just yet.”
Looking past Saros, the v’lur was charging another attack. Triggering the second orb, Luna and the others jumped out of the way. Because the Disenthrall, who had lost his sword earlier, swung it at the v’lur’s arm, the blast missed and triggered early. The v’lur retracted his arm just in time not to have it cut off. Stabbing his entire arm through the Disenthrall’s armour, piercing his stomach, he threw the last Disenthrall aside. His glowing red eyes were now fixed back on Luna.
“He doesn’t seem to like you very much.” Lyzal pointed out.
That’s when it dawned on Luna. If the maiaak was targeting her, then she needed to leave. Looking back towards the south of the village, she saw the forest. It was littered with sigils to stop maiaaks from entering. She made a run for it.
“Luna!” Saros called for her attention.
Looking back at the scene, the v'lur had thrown an orb in her direction. Luna got up to run, but it was too late. In a blur, she was out of the blast’s way. This time it was Lyzal. The v’lur, for a split second, looked confused.
“We have to run.” Luna instructed Lyzal as she took off.
“Wait, what?” Lyzal stared confused, but ran after Luna through the woods.
Saros followed soon after, not sure what the plan was. The v’lur took back to the sky. As they ran, the sigils that were wrapped around or posted to the trees all burned away as they ran past them. Looking up at the sky to make sure he was following, Luna suddenly felt as if her whole body was weightless as her stomach dropped.
“You fool!” Lyzal yelled as she saw Luna fall, and dove off the cliff.
Saros stopped at the edge, watching Lyzal catch Luna as they were both falling. Lyzal flapped her wings to slow the fall down, but they disappeared into the trees.
“Are you guys alri-!” Saros felt his whole body yanked forward, following Lyzal and Luna down the cliff side.
As Lyzal and Luna fell, Lyzal turned her body, so that she was taking most of the damage from the impact of the trees. Right before Lyzal could fully cover Luna’s head, she had knocked it into the side of a tree, successfully knocking herself out. Lyzal tightened her grip around Luna’s body and kept her head closer as they continued to fall. One branch was extra thick, cracking Lyzal almost in half as she hit it. Rolling off the branch, they finally hit the ground hard. Luna rolled out of the now unconscious Lyzal. Saros skidded most of the way down, but had no way of slowing down. Avoiding as many trees as he could, his foot got caught in an outstretched root, tripping him over. He rolled the rest of the way down, slamming sideways into the trunk of a thick tree, knocking the wind out of him.
