Comet woke up confused and disoriented until he remembered where he was. He’d been training late then had to rest in a little nook in the back of the cave. The crow feathers and long, dried grass made for comfy bedding.

He instinctively knew it was dawn but lay in his bedding for a while. He was so used to having to wait for the Old Man to free him that it was strange to know that he was now free to come and go as he pleased.

Getting restless, he left to find Orion. He wanted to train a little more before SilverSkull and Janu came.

Eventually, he found Orion’s resting place where he seemed to be sleeping soundly. He half considered waking him up, but he didn’t want to be rude and make him angry with him.

He wandered away, considering going back to the warren until his eyes caught on the silver mirror, glinting in the dawn light. He could train on his own. Hopefully Orion wouldn’t mind.

He approached the mirror, putting his paw on it and wondered what to focus on. He focused on the starry sky which was quickly becoming brighter as sunrise approached.

A vision of stars appeared in the mirror. The surge of energy filled him with excitement but he forced himself to focus. The stars lingered for a while until he felt tired.

He couldn’t help but still feel it wasn’t enough. He decided to try sensing different pieces of silver as Orion had mentioned.

Eyes closed, he envisioned the mirror. He saw nothing but blackness and the only thing he felt was cold.

A faint flutter broke the silence and he opened his eyes. As they adjusted to the light, he saw a black shape coming closer and closer, flying right towards him.

“Orion!” He called, looking to the back of the cave but he got no response. He turned back to see a huge black bird coming right for him, claws razor sharp and aimed for him.

He raced down the cave.

“Orion, there's an eagle in the cave, we have to get out!” He called, racing to his sleeping place. Orion hadn’t stirred at all.

The bird had settled down, preening its feathers. Looking at it now, it seemed more like a raven or crow which had no interest in him. Still, he didn’t want to stay here with it.

He considered trying to sneak past the bird himself but the Magia Council would not be happy with him if he left Orion with a potentially dangerous bird.

As the bird shook its head, he saw silver around its neck. Mossy and Stone had told him stories about crows and how they loved to steal shiny things. He couldn’t let it steal Orions resources.

“Give that back.” He said, daring to go closer to it. It just hopped back a couple of steps, unphased though clearly looking for something.

He racked his brains for a solution. He could light up the mirror, but it was too close to the crow for him to put his paw on it. He wished he had a medallion like Orion, then he could use it from a distance.

But since he didn’t have a medallion, he dared to go closer to some silver, all in a big stack, he focused hard and lit it up. The crow squawked and fluttered back, clearly upset but it wasn’t enough.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Comet sighed with disappointment. Doing that had drained a lot of his energy. At this rate, the bird would fly off before Orion even saw what was happening.

Suddenly an idea came to him. The bird mightn’t be scared of a hare, but what about a predator.

He projected an image of a white furred creature across the silver, making a huge collective image, it crept slowly then and pounced. But despite not having a sound, the sudden movement was enough to get the crow to squawk deafeningly and flutter out of the cave. For a moment, Comet thought he’d won until he saw it lingering at the mouth of the cave, cawing unhappily.

Orion then appeared out of nowhere, “It’s ok Nightwing.” He said, heading towards the bird, ignoring Comet. Comet watched on and hurried over to him.

“What are you doing? The bird stole something from you.” He said, not angrily, just utterly confused. The crow seemed offended by him.

“Sorry about that Nightwing, I just wanted to test him, don’t worry, he won’t bother you anymore.”

“Can you please explain what’s going on?” He said, with exasperation.

“Nightwing is a friend of mine. He helps with things since these days I’m mostly confined to this cave.”

“So you can talk to him?” He asked skeptically.

“Yes, as he wears a diamond pendant, the power of clarity.” He explained. “You need to be wearing a diamond to be able to communicate though. Would you like to?”

“No thanks.” He said, the thought of talking to a bird unnerved him. “But now it looks like I did all that for nothing.”

“You mastered vision projection. That is not nothing. I’m a heavy sleeper but I did hear you. I just decided not to intervene.”

“You could have saved me some stress if you did.” He mumbled unhappily though he couldn’t deny it was his best vision projection yet.

“You know how a cat looks perfectly, I’m impressed.” Said Orion, ignoring his comment.

“My owner used to have one, she died…” he said, the thought making him sad. He didn’t really know her but it just reminded him of how everyone he was close to died.

“Well the Magia will be happy with you, which is good, because Nightwing came here to tell us they are coming.”

As Orion said goodbye to the bird, Comet thought about what showing his powers meant. If Orion was right, they wouldn’t be giving him the choice to leave afterwards. He still didn’t know if he should trust the Magia or not but he knew in his heart that staying here was his purpose now.

“Just keep calm. You know what to do.” Said Orion as they watched Magia Janu and SilverSkull approach the cave.

Comet nodded silently as they arrived.

“So, can he use the power of fortune?” Asked Janu. Orion said nothing. He wanted Comet to answer for himself.

”Yes. I can.” He said, after a brief pause.

“Show us what you can do.” He said.

Comet nodded and hopped back into the cave.

“This place always gives me the creeps.” SilverSkull muttered once they got to the heart of the cave.

“Scared of a place in your own colony.” Said Orion with amusement. SilverSkull just muttered under his breath.

Comet sat in front of the large mirror. Janu and SilverSkull crowded beside him. He couldn’t concentrate.

“Give him some space.” Said Orion then leant down to Comet, and said in a whisper. “Don’t worry about them, focus on what you know, remember you survived an encounter with a dangerous bird.”

He snorted half heartedly with amusement. If he was going to do this, he might as well show them something impressive.

He focused on the image of Nightwing flying into the cave, trying to get the details right as he pressed his paw to the mirror. Once he opened them, the bird was there just as he imagined.

They nodded happily. “That’s very impressive. I’m glad bringing you here wasn’t a waste of time after all.” Said Janu.

“What else does he know?” Asked SilverSkull.

”That’s about it.” Said Comet.

“I’ll take time to fully train him in all the powers of fortune.” Added Orion.

”I know, which is why he needs to continue training for the rest of the day.”

”The whole day?” Asked Comet. He had wanted to see more of the colony now it was daylight.

”Yes, the whole day. There’s no time to waste.” Said Janu.

”Wait a minute, let’s give him a break to introduce him to the colony. There’s so many rumours flying around about him, I want the colony to know the truth.” Said SilverSkull.

“Fine but not for long.” Said Janu, undeterred.

“I’ll see you soon.” Said Comet to Orion.

“Have fun. It’s harder to train when you’re tense.” Said Orion.

Comet nodded. He could hardly believe that the old hare was so much nicer than he thought he would be. Maybe luck really was on his side.