Addie trailed into the room behind the fawn, with Christena following them in from close behind. The candlelight from the hallway competed with the fawn’s glowing antler nubs to illuminate Nettal’s room. Addie looked at the empty top bunk for a moment. Then glanced back down at the bottom bunk, where at first glance, Nettal seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Some strands of her long brown hair rested messily on her face. Nettal couldn’t so much as idly brush the stray hair out of her face, so it must have gotten messier than normal.
The bed sat flush against the room’s right-hand wall, such that you could only get into the bed from the left side. The sheets were undisturbed, even though Addie knew Nettal usually messed the blankets up in her sleep... A simple window adorned the left-hand wall, and Addie could see the dark night sky beyond. Nettal’s desk was placed on the far side of the room, with one of Auntie’s homegrown chairs accompanying it. The desk was almost depressingly empty when Addie knew there should be toys and Nettal’s drawings scattered haphazardly on top of it. Unlike the wooden floor in the hallway, Nettal’s room had a big wooly rug across the entire floor that looked like a fillow pelt. No wonder the rug filled the entire room, the giant moose-like fillow were almost as tall as Auntie’s mansion.
Addie shook her head, to try and brush away some of those distracting thoughts. She shouldn’t be thinking about fillow right now. She brought her attention back to Nettal and the fawn standing just a few inches away from her.
Nettal’s hand started raising all on its own, and Addie started to get excited. She didn’t think Nettal would be able to get better so soon! But her hopes were dashed, as she realized the ring was pulling Nettal’s hand up.
As Addie watched, the ring—a gift from Sen meant as a safeguard—began to glow a fiery red, as if thrust back into a smith’s forge. It slid off of Nettal’s finger, causing her arm to flop back onto the bed. With an almost sentient urgency, the ring expanded rapidly, encircling Nettal's bed like a protective barrier, emitting a high-pitched keening sound that vibrated through the room. The heat of summer manifested within Nettal’s room, as waves of warmth from the ring crashed into Addie.
Frozen, Addie's heart pounded as she remembered Sen’s warning: the ring was designed to protect Nettal from any further threats of soul damage. It was meant to act as a last line of defense, fiercely guarding against anything it perceived as a threat.
Unperturbed by the dramatic display, the fawn approached the spinning ring nonchalantly. With the grace of a well-trained circus animal, he leaped into the fiery hoop, walking to Nettal’s side. To Addie's amazement, as soon as the fawn passed through, the ring ceased its violent spinning, and the alarming sound cut off abruptly. The fawn, seemingly oblivious to the magical chaos it had navigated, gently sniffed Nettal’s hand and tenderly licked it.
The ring seemed to recognize the fawn’s benign intent. It floated upwards, aligning itself horizontally above the bed. It then expanded once more, growing until it formed a large, molten loop, hovering protectively.
The engraved runes along the ring’s surface ignited, and inside the loop, the space darkened dramatically, resembling a portal more than a piece of jewelry. Without hesitation, the ring descended to the floor, swallowing up the bunk bed, Nettal, and the fawn in a swift, fluid motion of light and shadow.
Behind her, Addie heard Christena gasp.
Addie could only watch in awe as the ring shrank rapidly, pulling the scene into itself until it snapped back to the size of a simple finger ring. It spun and turned for a moment more, rotating rapidly such that the air hummed and the ring looked like a blurry sphere. Then, it vanished into thin air, leaving behind nothing but the faint afterimage of its glow.
The sudden return to darkness was disorienting. Addie blinked away the spots in her vision, her mind reeling from the rapid sequence of events. The room was silent now, the only sound being her and Christena’s uneven breathing.
There was hardly any time to understand what had happened before Addie started hearing pounding footsteps from down the hall.
Addie turned around just as Auntie burst into the room, her presence like a storm. Her eyes darted around, taking in the missing bed. "What. Happened?" she demanded, her commanding tone touched with a hint of fear. She started pointing right at Christena as she advanced.
For the first time that Addie had ever seen, Christena stammered and didn’t seem to know what to say.
In her place, Addie spoke up, “I think, Sen protected Nettal?” Despite being a statement, Addie’s voice came out as a question.
“What do you mean protected? My Nettal was in danger? What. Happened!” Auntie repeated. Her hair looked frizzy, Addie noticed.
“Miss Lomain—” Christena began.
“Don’t Miss Lomain me, Christena. Tell me what happened. Where is my daughter? Why did she need protection? How did my protections fail!” Auntie started growing hysterical, a side of her Addie had never seen before as she chastised Christena.
“Well, I think... Somehow. Well, it was magic, to be honest,” Christena sputtered, and couldn’t finish explaining. Her hands uselessly waved in the air gesturing as her expression turned meeker than Addie expected from her. She seemed to shrink in on herself with each pointed question Auntie spat at her.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“How did you two let whatever stormed through here kidnap Nettal!? I ran here as soon as I realized, but obviously I was too late! And you two are just sitting around here watching it happen?! By the Binary.” Auntie’s curse came out as a shout, making Addie and Christena flinch. Auntie’s eyes started glowing purple, and her hair started rising into the air of its own volition, the brown strands almost seeming like plant fibers ready to tear everything to shreds. Violet, the poor bird, also seemed to flitter back from Auntie’s shouting, but she had nowhere to go since she was perched on Auntie’s shoulder.
She wouldn’t have even noticed Fluffy if it weren’t for her spatial sense, but the Slyfox seemed to be using illusions to make herself invisible and escape. So much for solidarity with Christena, Addie thought.
“Um. Auntie,” Addie whispered, barely able to get her voice out. “I think she’s safe with Sen.”
Auntie took a deep breath focusing her wide open eyes on Addie, “In simple words, explain to me what. Happened.” Her hair slowly succumbed to gravity, though her eyes kept glowing purple. “Explain it to me from the beginning.”
Addie gulped. Auntie still looked livid. Like a teakettle barely able to hold back the pressure from bursting. Her arms were trembling, and her hands shaking. Her voice broke, “Where is my little girl?”
Christena hunched back on herself, slightly in shock, so Addie decided to take the lead on the explanation. Auntie started growing chairs out of the ground for everyone to sit on.
The more Addie told Auntie about the events from the past few hours, the more Auntie seemed to if not quite relax, at least keep calm enough to stop trembling. At the mention of the Impossible Deer’s healing abilities her eyes lit up with hope, for what to Addie seemed like the first time in weeks. When Addie started telling Auntie about how the fawn seemed to pacify Auntie’s powers and move the tree branches away from itself, Auntie’s face looked lost in thought, considering, as she tapped her finger against an armrest.
“Huh,” Auntie chuckled self-deprecatingly, “I created the magic in this house as an extension of myself. A place where my will could act to protect those I hold dear and fulfill my intentions,” She explained, almost to herself. “No wonder this house let the fawn straight through.” Auntie shook her head.
Addie explained how the HeartFlame ring from Sen activated when the fawn entered Nettal’s room, and how it seemed to teleport them away into Realmspace.
Finally, at the end of the recap of the night’s events, Auntie’s eyes stopped glowing, and Violet relaxed, too, her purple chest feathers poofing out as she rested her head down.
Everyone sat in silence for a moment after Addie’s explanation came to an end. A few times throughout it, Christena had jumped in for places that needed clarification, or when Addie rushed along a bit too fast without explaining something clearly.
“Alright, I think I more or less understand the situation.” Auntie looked calmer now that she knew Nettal was just with Sen, though a level of impatience remained. “That being said, Addie, it’s time to visit that dragon.”
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
A few last-minute preparations were made, and Auntie decided that Christena should join them, too. She and Fluffy would be back up and ‘moral support’ though Addie wasn’t sure that Fluffy tended to be an ethical creature so that last part confused her.
Holding both Christena and Auntie’s hands in either of her own, Addie and Squishy began building up their magic to enter Realmspace. The magic came easily to them, a well-practiced skill by this point. However, when it came time to actually teleport everyone into Realmspace, Addie felt resistance— different than when someone tried to prevent her from using magic. This felt like no matter how much magical power she poured into the working, it just wouldn’t click. She and Squishy worked together to build their magic and figuratively slot it into place, but the working just kept demanding more and more power. After what felt like forever to Addie, the working snapped into place, finally satisfying its hunger.
All six of them popped into Realmspace, Addie, Christena, Auntie, and everyone’s bonded companions.
Without further ado, Addie grabbed the loose part of her ribbon, untangling the knot and pulling it out from her hair in one smooth motion. She lifted it up near her face, and said, “Sen, we’re here.”
Christena gasped as the twinkling lights suddenly turned on beneath their feet, and the molten gold flowed up to form a now familiar doorway with archaic runes.
“Crazy, isn’t it?” Auntie said to Christena. “To see such wonders? I used to feel like this all the time when I was a girl. My mother, Addie’s grandmother, used to drag me out on such grand adventures.” She sighed. “I’m getting too old for all this excitement.
Addie had been listening attentively. “But Auntie, you don’t look old at all! Your hair isn’t even gray.”
She just shook her head and laughed gently. “All Area Lords are old, Addie. Remember that.”
Addie took a moment to take that in. Then she said, “Christena, Auntie, let’s go! I’m sure Sen is waiting for us.” While she dragged both forward by the wrists through the portal.
Just a step before it, Auntie’s viollow, Violet, started chirping like crazy, but everyone ignored it and walked through anyway.
The moment they made it into Sen’s hoard, a warm gust buffeted against them, causing Christena’s maid uniform to flap a bit. Addie watched her as she quickly held it down to try and maintain some level of primness
Floating up near the ceiling was a familiar sight, Nettal lying horizontally almost as if she were on a sturdy bed of air. The fawn seemed to be curled up laying across her body, his antlers no longer glowing. On the ground, surprisingly close, was the black dragon Sen, his blood-red tail contrasting against the rest of his body as he moved it about in slow gentle motions.
“Welcome, mortals, to my domain. Splendid, is it not? Addie, I see you are enjoying your gift.” Despite being close enough for his head to tower above and cast a shadow on them, Addie wasn’t intimidated. She smiled and started to tie her blue ribbon back into her hair.
His voice emanated around the room, without a proper source. Even this close to his mouth, Addie could tell he definitely wasn’t talking with his body. She had guessed at it before, but his speech must be some kind of magical effect. “You bring another with you this time. Ah, an illusionist. I had a brother who performed those, once.” Sen huffed out a breath in remembrance, the warm air buffeting them again. Christena performed a respectful curtsy. Fluffy just chittered.
Auntie spoke up, “Is my little girl alright?”
“For now, I have her contained within a stasis. Somehow, her protective ring activated, so I decided to bring her here for safekeeping. Imagine my surprise, when along with Nettal came another child. Tell me, Nettal’s mother, are you ready for me to weave magic into her soul such that I may heal her? You are lucky. The other child has magic uniquely suited for this purpose.”