In a town a week away from the capital, a young girl named Eos was playing with her friends with sticks. The rural, farming town was little known by anyone on the map, but it was prosperous and lively regardless. The two suns hung deep in the sky, with only a few hours left until sunset. The sky was a rose pink as the sun sat there, but the moon of the world was visible on the other side of the sky, glowing in the sunlight. The moon was a part of the larger ring of rocks and space dust that created a seemingly continuous ring around the world, reflecting the light of the sun back down onto the planet. The young girl looked up into the sky, looking at the moonlight and ringlight brought back down onto the planet. She knew that her parents would call her back to her house soon, but she just wanted a few more moments to sword fight with her friends.
The girl didn’t seem too old- she and her friends were no more than 8 years old. But she was dissimilar to the rest: her hair was a brighter color and her eyes were a clear blue; her ears came to a point; and she looked like she was only 6 or 7, rather than 8; her clothes were made of a slightly higher quality. Despite all of her friends being human, she was an elf.
She had three friends she was playing with, two boys and a girl. One of the boys was Cedric, who was a brown-haired boy, the son of the local smith. The other was Saer, along with his sister Aderyn. Both of them had jet-black hair and were only the children of farmers.
“Eos, it’s dinner time!” Eos turned around upon hearing the shout, and saw her mother, Thea, approaching the group of kids. Thea looked as if she was in her early 20s, but her ears came to the same point as Eos, and their hair was the same color as well. “Come here, it's time to go”
Eos walked towards her mom, taking to hold her hand. She dropped her stick, her clothes a bit dirty. Eos looked back at her friends, saddened by having to go home.
“Say bye to your friends”
“Bye-bye!” Eos shouted, waving. She jauntily walked back to their house, saying hello to everyone she passed and playing around with the environment. They walked past the fields and went to a lonely house bordering a forest. The house was small and distant from the village, but it overlooked the rest of the village. Inside the house, there was a stairwell that went both up and down, and the doorway immediately opened up into a vacuous space, where fumes from dinner spread throughout the house. Every flat surface of the house was covered in paper, and Eos’s dad was hunched over papers with a quill and ink out. He looked up as the door opened, and just in time as Eos jumped onto his lap- he barely had time to stop the ink from spilling.
“We’re home,” Thea says, going to serve food.
Eos’s dad, Moore, was a well-built man, tall and scarred. He looked like he was designed for the life of an adventurer, rather than the historian he became. His hair was silvered with age, but the rest of his body indicated he was at most 30 years old. He picked Eos up and set her next to his work.
“How was playtime?” He asked, smiling despite the filth.
Eos beamed, “I was a wizard!” she exclaimed, before describing every event that the group of children did. At a certain point, she jumped off the table to reenact what happened, causing Moore to chortle. Thea walked over from the kitchen with the food, setting it down.
“Eos, settle down to eat.” Thea said, before sitting in front of her own food.
“Okayyyy” Eos said, racing over to sit down and eat.
The rest of the night carried on as any normal night, and Eos fell asleep in her bed after taking a bath.
Throughout the dinner, lighthearted conversation carried on. Moore attempted to explain what he had done all day; his job of investigating and sorting through historical documents and archives beguiled Eos. Eos, attempting to understand, asked countless questions. “Who was Aumor?” “What was the Cataclysm?” “” “” Eos didn’t retain the answer to any questions- She was fairly sure she had asked them before, but her dad’s face always lit up when she asked questions.
As the time went on, Thea sat watching the exchange of words, occasionally interjecting to answer questions in Moore’s stead. The suns were beginning to set, when Thea interjected the discussion: “Would you two like to play dice?”
“Yes!” Eos exclaimed, nearly hopping up from the table. Moore nodded in agreement, and Thea pulled out fifteen dice and three cups. Each of them was given a cup and five dice, before shaking up the dice in the cup, and privately looking at them. Eos had a 1, two 2s, and two 5s.
Eos began, shouting out “Seven 5s!”
Both Thea and Moore looked at her. She only had three 5s; ones are wild. She was hoping they had four 5s or 1s between them. Next in the turn order was Thea. Thea looked at her own dice, then looked back at Eos. oh no, Eos thought.
“Liar.” Thea said. Oh no, oh no. Each player lifted their cups and revealed their dice. Thea had one 5, and no 1s. Moore had no 5s, but two 1s.
“Six 5s,” Moore said, “three wilds and three fives.”
“That’s no fair!” Eos complained, removing one of her dice. Each of the players shook their dice in their cups again. Eos looked at her dice, seeing a 2, a 5, and two 4s.
It was on Eos to begin again. “Five 4s!” she said. Thea looked at her dice again. Again?! Eos thought.
“Five 5s.” Thea said calmly.
“Six 4s.” Moore replied quickly.
Six? I only have two… Eos thought, there’s no way!
“Liar!” Eos exclaimed. Each of them revealed their dice. Thea showed three 1s, and two 5s. Moore showed two 2s, two 4s, a 5 and a 6.
“That’s seven 4s,” Moore said, maligning Eos again.
Ugh, Eos thought, giving up another one of her dice.
The game carried on very similar to this- Eos was down to her last die, with Moore having lost none and Thea having lost one when Eos’s guess was correct.
Eos looked at her singular die. A wild! Perfect! It could be anything..
Eos had lost the last round, so she began. “One 4.” She said.
“One 6.” Thea said.
“Two 1s.” Moore said, looking straight at Eos.
Wa- he called 1s?! Eos’s face dropped. She frantically looked at her dice.
“Aha… two 4s?” Eos asked. They just need to believe I have a 4. She thought.
“Four 4s.” Thea said.
“Five 1s.” Moore countered.
“Liar!” Eos shouted, lifting her cup revealing a 1. Moore revealed his- three 1s, a 2, and a 4. “Aha!” Eos said, “That’s only four 1s.”
Thea lifted her cup- a 1, a 3, a 4, a 4, and a 5.
Oh, Eos thought. I’m out. Eos, barely holding back tears, gave up her last die. She didn’t leave the table, but instead resigned herself to watching the game play out. Moore ended up winning, with three of his dice remaining.
“Winner cleans up dinner.” Thea said, placing the dice and cups away. Moore obliged, cleaning up the three dishes.
“I think it’s time for bed.” Moore said, the last bits of luminescence from the suns fading into nothing.
“Okayy” Eos bemoaned her bedtime, but all of them retired upstairs to their bedrooms. Eos’s bedroom was a medium sized room, with barely more than a bed. She was tucked in by Thea and Moore, and with the fading wisps of light, fell asleep for the night.
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Suddenly, Eos shot awake in the night. She gazed out her window and saw something awe-inspiring- a meteor was crashing into the nearby forest. It didn’t make much sound, it was simply bright. She leaped out of bed, instantly deciding that the curiosity would be too much, and began to dress. She opened her door gently, as it let out an ominous creak. Pausing for a moment, she shoved the rest of the door open before sliding out into the hallway, down the stairs, and out the front door as quietly as she could.
Eos was exhilarated: It was her first time attempting to sneak out at night, and it was a huge success. She began to imagine everything else she could do at night without anyone noticing as she made her way to the forest. However, her thoughts ran still as she reached the edge of the woods- the howling winds and shifting moonlight in the trees terrified her. She stood there in the cold of night, and decided after her thoughts began again that she would turn back; whatever fell into the woods would be there tomorrow. However, as she turned around, she saw Saer and Aderyn walking up to the woods as well- and Saer had spotted her.
“Hey! You saw it too?” Saer asked, walking up confidently to Eos. Aderyn was walking behind Saer, almost as if she was trying to shrink into his nonexistent shadow.
“Y-yeah, I was just about to go into the woods to investigate,” Eos said, trying to look as confident as possible.
“Us too! Do you know where it landed?”
“No, but I was going to figure it out!”
“Hey Sear,” Aderyn whispered, “we should really head back. Papa always said to stay away from the forest, that there were wolves and bears and demons that liked to play there at night.”
Sear rebuked his sister, “But we already came here! You can turn back if you want, but I’m going ahead. Besides, I don’t see any wolves, do you?” He motioned confidently towards the treeline. “Shall we go?” He said, stepping into the woods. Eos and Aderyn followed, Eos trying to hide her fear as the woods seemingly shifted around them.
After a few minutes of walking in petrifying silence, Sear motioned them towards him, pointing to something, “What’s that?” he asked.
Both Eos and Aderyn looked confused as they squinted at the dark, both trying to discern what Saer was mentioning. They both heard a loud scream behind them, causing them to jump out of their skin. “BOO” Sear shouted, both of them jolting away from him. Aderyn began to cry reflexively, and Eos instinctively punched Sear, causing him to take a few steps back.
“What was that for!” Sear screamed at Eos.
“What was that for? What was that for!” She screamed back, motioning to Aderyn.
“She’s just a scaredy cat.” he said, rubbing the impact spot, “That doesn’t mean you can just punch me!”
“That doesn’t just mean you can scare us!” She replied angrily.
“It’s fine,” Aderyn said, sniffling, “let's just continue…”
“Fine.” Eos said, angry.
“Fine.” Saer said.
They walked further into the forest, the silence thicker than ever before. As the night waned on, Eos began to worry more about the previous shouting. What if something heard them? She thought, a wolf or a demon? How big would a wolf be? Her mind began to wander off until she saw a light up ahead. Saer stopped the group and motioned for them to huddle with them behind a tree.
The light was a radiant glow, not dancing as any fire would. It was a gentle, ambient glow across the trees, lighting in such a way that there was an even orange tint across the foliage. Eos, peeked around a tree, seeing only brighter orange. Her curiosity bested her, and she dashed out from behind the tree to glimpse the origin of the light, clambering over fallen trees. She saw, to her amazement, a large crater with a radiant orange rock, glowing in the light. The rock was the size of the three children combined, and its bright light was enough to cover the entire freshly-made clearing. The crater it sat in was several meters across, and the clearing was several times larger than that. She didn’t see how deep the crater was, but she thought that she saw most of the meteor. She walked closer, the heat of the rock beginning to hit her as she walked closer until she was at the edge of the crater, where she felt as if she was next to a fire. She was raptured in awe as she looked at the rock, and didn’t even realize Saer and Aderyn had walked up next to her until Saer slightly bumped her by accident.
Aderyn was the first to break the silence, “What is that?”
“It's a rock from the sky.” Eos said, matter of factly.
“A sky rock…” Aderyn whispered.
“I bet you can’t touch it.” Saer said, looking at Eos.
“Touch it? Do you feel how hot it is?” She replied, incredulous.
“I bet you’re too scared, eh?” Saer said, egging her on.
“Why don’t you touch it yourself!” Eos replied, “I’m not touching it until you do!”
“W-well,” Saer stammered out, “I bet you first! I can totally touch it, but if I do then you’re a coward!”
“I’m not a coward, I’m just not gonna touch the rock.”
“You are too”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
“Am not.”
“Guys, there’s no need to fight.” Aderyn tried to say in the background of Saer and Eos fighting.
“Are too”
“Am not."
“Are too”
“I am not a coward!” Eos screamed, stamping her foot on the ground, “It just seems like I’d get hurt!”
“That makes you a coward!” replied Saer.
Eos turned to face the meteor and picked up a nearby stone. Tossing it at the meteor, it simply dinged off. “Fine I’m a coward then, it still seems like a stupid idea!”
“The heat’s quite nice,” Aderyn whispered, sitting down at the edge of the crater, “It’s like a campfire.”
Eos and Saer both turned to her, then looked at the rock, before turning back to Aderyn. The light from the rock lit her up, light gently trickling through their hair, her face flush from the heat. Aderyn looked up at Eos, inviting her to sit down with her. Somehow, Eos felt as if all of the tension with Saer disappeared. Eos sat down gently next to Aderyn, and the cleanly hot rock felt mesmerizing to her. Without her noticing, Saer sat down next to Eos, and they all enjoyed the heat in the night together.
After some time, Aderyn broke the silence. “You know our parents don’t like yours, right?”
“Huh?” Eos replied, looking at her. Aderyn’s head hadn’t moved off of the meteor though.
“Aderyn!” Saer said, astonished.
“Something about elves not being hard workers,” Aderyn continued despite Saer’s protesting, “They say your parents have never done a day of labor in their life. That's because you’re all elves, it’s easy for you. I don’t care much for that though, I like playing with you.”
“Aderyn,” Eos said, not sure how to reply.
“Adreyn!” Saer said, clearly angry. It was only then that Eos finally noticed Saer had sat next to her.
“Even though they say your parents haven’t done labor in their life, I couldn’t blame them even if it was true.” Aderyn continued, “I don’t want to till fields for my entire life. I’d rather be a doctor.” She finally turned towards Eos and Saer, “What do you wanna be Eos?”
“I don’t know.” She replied, turning towards the rock. “I haven’t really thought about it.”
“Elves have a long time to think about it.” Saer said, “But I want to be a knight!” He jumped up and pretended to pull a sword out, fighting an imaginary opponent. Both Eos and Aderyn laughed at his imaginary battle.
“What are you laughing at!” He said.
Aderyn replied, “Have you ever lifted a real sword before? Or even seen one?”
Saer sat back down next to Eos, “Sure I have! Papa said he’s gonna show me how to use a sword next year.”
“Maybe you should become a mage,” Aderyn said, “So you could go on adventures with Saer.”
“Huh?” Eos replied, looking at Aderyn.
“It’d be fun adventuring with Saer, wouldn’t it?”
“Only if you’d come along! Saer would need someone to take care of him after all.” Eos’s face turned bright red. Magic, huh? She thought, Magic…
Eos’s ideas of magic flitted through her mind: Birds flying through the air, rising and soaring, floating with the beats of wings; lighting a fire with a word, controlling the flickering flame and making it dance; hearing what the birds and deer and cows say in conversation. Eos could imagine herself flying amongst the Ring, circling the moon, through the forest and above her town. Maybe, she’d even be able to cause ring rocks to fall whenever she wanted.
Aderyn laughed, “I think you could do that well enough. I’m not sure I would want to be an adventurer.”
“Saer wanted to be a knight, not an adventurer anyways,” Eos said, “Right Saer?”
She turned to Saer to only see he was looking away from her, the side of his face lit a deep orange from the fading light of the rock.
“Saer?” She asked.
“Yeah, I wanna be a knight, not an adventurer. B-besides, who would want to go on an adventure with a coward like you?” he stammered, shooting up to his feet again. However, as he tried to stand up on the edge of the crater, his footing slipped and he began to stumble. Eos went to catch him, but as she stood up, he placed a hand on her shoulder to stabilize himself. He pushed himself off of her, and in the instability of her standing up, she tumbled into the crater. Aderyn looked in horror as time seemed to slow for Eos. Eos saw Saer get his footing back, then less than a moment later saw Eos falling. Eos saw Saer’s face fill with panic, and in what must have been less than a second, she hit the slope of the crater. Immediately her back was filled with pain, and she let out an involuntary grunt of pain before she started to roll down the crater. Small rocks jut out from the side of the crater, tearing her clothes and into her skin, as the residual heat from the meteor increased. She impacted the boulder with her forehead first and crumpled into a scratched bloody mess. She heard sounds coming from above her, but her grasp on consciousness was loose as her vision turned red. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but the pain of her injuries started to catch up to her, as her consciousness began to fade. One thought did cross her mind at this point: Why isn’t this rock hot?
The moment before she slipped into unconsciousness, she heard a sound. It was sharp, clear, and distinct, not muddled like the sounds she heard after her fall. The sound was obviously speaking, but she couldn’t understand the language. Her vision began to clear, the blood seemingly wiped away from her eyes. Suddenly, her crumpled body, previously resting on the meteor, collapsed into a heap as the meteor seemingly disappeared. She felt the wounds on her head closing as her eyes cleared of blood, but her head still felt a loose grasp of consciousness. After all her wounds closed, she had a moment of respite with her groggy mind. However, the moment wouldn’t last as a sharp pain pierced her eyes and skull, overwhelming her already-delicate consciousness, and finally, everything turned black.