Three years, nine months after the invasion.
Aylie watched Ember and Zen speak in hushed tones with the newcomer. While she couldn’t hear them with her ears, she was able to see the words coming from their minds, mostly from the newcomer. From what she gathered, they had come here to see Zen and get his help.
Ember had brought her and Lumin here to see Uncle Zen with Zalia and Boreal unfortunately unable to join them because of issues at home. Ember had offered to cancel the trip but Zalia had insisted she was fine and they should come along and see Zen anyway. Everything had been as pleasant as usual, both of Zen’s parents and his grandmother were sweet as usual and his younger siblings as annoying as usual. It was a nice little break from training though, something her mothers had started ramping up at her insistence.
She had been surprised when they had asked her if she really wanted to train to become someone strong enough to combat the demons directly. If she was sure she didn’t want a normal life. Of course, she wanted to! Her life hadn’t been normal for a long time and there was no way she would let the demons continue their horrible invasions, not after what they had done to her family. With her decision made, Aylie got to see a side of her mothers that she hadn’t before. Usually, they were quite held back with the training they had done over the years, being quietly supportive and letting her explore everything at her own pace. Now, they pushed her limits as much as they could manage without putting her in any serious harm's way.
And she loved it.
It felt good to properly test her limits, to grow her abilities and her mastery of them quicker. For the first time, she felt like she might actually be ready when the next war came.
They hadn’t ever spoken to her about that but she had picked it up from their thoughts. It was always there if she knew where to look, a tag-along riding hidden in the depths of everything else. Not that she could ever read Zalia without her letting down her defenses yet.
She tried focusing on the conversation Ember and Zen were having again, more focused on the man they were talking to than either of them. There was something odd about him she couldn’t quite place. Thinking of how the next war rode along Ember and Zalia’s thoughts, she swore there was something hidden amongst this man's thoughts too. Something sinister.
Tapping her leg repeatedly, she inspected the man closely. He didn’t seem sinister, or untrustworthy at all. Ember and Zen looked like they trusted him.
The astral was suddenly filled with another presence, one she recognised. She spun around and watched as Nateysta, Zalia’s friend Ro-ak, grew from the ground. Roots twisted amongst themselves to form the two trunk-like legs, the body and wings of leaves topped by the vine hair of the Ascendant they all called their saviour. She ran forward and embraced him in a big hug.
“What are you doing here! It’s been so long!”
“Your growth has not slowed in all that time either, I see.”
Aylie pulled away from the soft leafy crow as the conversation behind them had stopped, the three adults having noticed Ro.
“Ro!? Where in the worlds have you been?”
Ember came marching up, looking annoyed. Not annoyed for her own sake, Aylie could see, but for Zalia’s.
“I apologise for my absence these years. The other spirit who lives here and I have been working together to fashion a prison so secure for the Thousand-eyed one that it will never escape. Our work is only now finished.”
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“What, you mean the god in the lava? If you’ve been here the whole time why didn’t you ever pop out to see us?”
Ro’s head cocked.
“I have not been here Ember, my essence has been deep in the earth. Forming a permanent cage for an Ascendant is no easy feat,” he paused for a moment, “Well, maybe not permanent but such a long time that it is so even by my perception of time.”
Ember crossed her arms.
“Still, you could have told us where you were going to be.”
Ro’s head flicked back and forth a bit like he was trying to decipher the words.
“Why? It has not even been a decade.”
Ember pressed her face into her palm and took a deep breath.
“Right, you should probably go and see Zalia. There’s a lot I think she’d like to talk to you about.”
She thought a moment before adding,
“It’s good to have you back.”
Ro dipped his head.
“It is good to be back. I would like to see how this kingdom has advanced in the past four years, you humans might not have much power but you change with incredible speed. If your progress is any basis to go on Starblessed, I will not be disappointed. I shall speak with the Starlight wolf before I go to see Zalia, as I sense them nearby.”
With that, Ro took off with a single beat of his wings. He shot off and landed further up the mountain where Lumin was no doubt getting up to no good.
Aylie and Ember turned back to where Zen and the other guy were busy shaking. Their first experience with an Ascendant and a very strong and vocal one at that.
As they started talking and Ember tried to calm the two down, Aylie focused on the man’s thoughts again. The sinister undertone to them had disappeared, replaced by something akin to fear. There was no need for such a feeling in relation to Ro, but humans often reacted weirdly when faced with that much power.
At the end of the conversation, it was decided that Aylie, Ember and Lumin would swing past the man’s town to try and help them with their demon problem on their way back home. The man said that a team from the Morning’s Shade had been sent out to clear it out but they hadn’t been able to find it. The demons hadn’t attacked during that time but as soon as the team left, the town was under attack again. Being close to the kingdom’s northern border, he had decided to come here for help instead. It was a town Zen had even helped before, some years back when the invasion first happened.
Aylie could read from Ember’s mind that she expected it to be a den of the illusionist demons. They were the hardest ones to find, often hidden extremely well and guarded by intelligent demons. It would make sense that such a den wouldn’t attack while a strong Morning’s Shade team was nearby. Aylie would have believed it if the man didn’t still have those hidden sinister under thoughts escaping his mind. If she could only read them, then they would know what was up.
“This man is not what he seems,” she sent to Ember.
Ember didn’t visibly react, used to Aylie’s mental communication. Unlike Zalia, Aylie had developed a way to perform the task through her ability to see and touch the astral rather than an ability that could do it specifically.
“How so?” Ember asked back.
Aylie sent a mental shrug.
“He has sinister thoughts hidden in his mind. I believe he means to trick us somehow.”
Ember smiled and nodded, reassuring the man that it was okay as he thanked them for offering to help.
“Alright, we’ll play it safe then.”
For the second time in the short conversation, an Ascendant interrupted.
Lumin, now in the body of a young starry wolf, dropped from the sky like a falling star. They landed in a crash, sprawling across the snow, limbs tangled. Lumin was yet to perfect their landings.
Luminescence - Iron rank (Ascendant).
Shaking her head at the silly wolf, she waved goodbye to Zen and followed Ember as she led the man away from the mountain.