Novels2Search

27. Shine

You awaken to the setting sun. The warm light of it washes over your face, causing you to blink and shield your eyes from its glare. Your communion with your patron leaves you a little worried about the future.

You get up from your bed, crossing the wide room to your basin, where you scoop up some water with the wooden cup there. The water is not cold and has a woody taste, obviously, but you drink it anyways. You splash yourself off, washing most of the sleepiness away until you start feeling more alert.

You absentmindedly wave your right hand, contemplating your next move.

You glance at your hand, squinting at it. It gives off a faint golden glow as you continue inspection your hand.

Curious, you flick your fingers, conjuring light in front of you with your Token.

A golden orb that pulses like a heartbeat appears in front of your hand. It shines like a miniature sun, sparkling with silent fervor that intensifies as you look at it.

It appears to have a surface of sorts, a ball with rippling pentagonal ridges that move, grow, and collide with one another. The sphere of light glows softly and dimly, its inner structure seems to shift and flow, becoming less regular before shifting back once more.

You wave your hand, and the light follows. You focus on the sphere not moving, and your hand moves right through it without collision or traction.

Sitting down on your bed again, you have the ball of light between your hands. It floats there, giving off incredibly faint but noticeable heat.

You experimentally pinch at the sphere's surface.

You sit there messing with that tiny ball of golden light as the sun sets over the horizon. Now, your only light is that same ball that you have experimenting with.

You look up from the sphere. No light from the moons seeps into your room. You quickly create more orbs to illuminate your space. Their soft, yellow shine is comforting, almost like a tiny part of the sun is here with you, watching over you.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

***

L'Oos, Goddess of the Sun, Freedom, Expression, Self, and a multitude of other things watches the sun set on another day. Dread looms over her like some impossible deadline that that mysterious voice continued to force on her when she created this world.

Two sets of avian wings alight on the branch behind her.

"Mistress," two voices speak in unison. One rich, masculine, and flamboyant, and the other slithery, feminine, and serious, "We come with tidings of unknown circumstance."

"Speak, Gaav'nil'tus'ahd and Ure'nairn'itah'likk." L'Oos responds without turning to look at them, instead keeping her eyes locked on the moons in their orbits around Xulaa.

"I have failed, L'Oos. Your request to halt the intrusion of this interloper has gone unfulfilled." Ure'nairn'itah'likk speaks first.

"I am aware, All Mother. However, I am not angry. Sero is a force of nature that could not have been prevented." L'Oos responds, now turning her head to look at a faint golden light from a Titan Tree. "We must steel ourselves for what comes next. This could mean the destruction of Xulaa."

"Y-yes, Mistress."

"And you, Gaav'nil'tus'ahd?"

"This, Sero," He seems unsure, "He has been spotted again. This time making his way, rather speedily, across the world to within 3 leagues of this exact Tree. He seems to be looking for something, again."

Only now does L'Oos turn her head to look at the Aso'une'aawn.

"We must discover his intentions before he destroys us all."

***

L'Oos's sisters march their way across the sky as you continue your experiments.

Through trial and error, you have figured out how to make your created light feel solid by imagining that you can't pass your hand through one of the orbs. With this new and exciting knowledge, you have managed to create various "light constructs": a cup, a spear, a string of beads, and a small ladder, all of which feel rather sturdy and surprisingly tangible, you even managed to support your weight on the ladder!

You create a new sphere, you have gotten quite good at that now, and you mold it into a random shape with your hands.

You go through the tedious process of making it solid, which has been getting easier and easier as you repeat it. When finished, you hold the construct in your hands, admiring its somewhat random, glowing form before sliding it through the air to float near the window.

Your room is now filled with random constructs floating at random elevations, all glowing with soft golden glows. It feels... strange yet comforting to see the lights hovering around in your dark bedroom.

You wave your hands, mentally grabbing hold of all of the light constructs and swirling them around as a test. The ladder construct slams into your desk, throwing its contents to the floor in a loud crash.

You wince. That sounded awful.

You pick up everything from the ground and put it back in order, then dust yourself off while glaring angrily at each light construct. They all hover calmly nearby, waiting patiently to be commanded again.

You move them all off to the side, dismissing them and plunging your room into darkness once again.