Kenov first felt himself being lifted, along with Axle's weight.
Then he was moving through an unfamiliar space, lined with strings of blue, green, red and gold, stretching far into the distance and pulsing from one end to the other.
Then he dropped on grass, wincing as Axle's weight forced his ribs into the ground. He raised himself a bit and tilted to the left to push Axle off, then he himself rolled on to his back, breathing heavily.
He thought for a moment about how the sky was a beatiful shade of light purple with gold tinted clouds, then he remembered it was supposed to be nighttime. A confused expression crossed his face then he sat up immediately.
"Where the fu-"
A rift opened in front of him and Ashton, Lyssa and Hailey stepped out, holding on to each other. First relief registered across their faces, then surprise when they saw Kenov and Axle, and then confusion. Rushing to Kenov's side to make sure they were okay, Hailey was the first to speak,
"Where the fuck are we?"
"Took the words right out of my mouth", said Keno
"How about we start with what the fuck is going on...", said Ashton
"Last thing I remember is me about to get out of the bathroom to go check on Axle, then BAM! Everywhere goes white and I'm outside with you guys. Speaking of which...", Keno looked down at his still towel covered lower half, "this towel is a life saver. I could've been running commando..."
"That kind of happened to us too, except for the... you know...", said Lyssa, visibly shaken, "We were talking about how we all happened to get an awful feeling coming from upstairs, but just when we wanted to move, everything went white and we were all outside"
"Guess we now know the source of the feeling. Who were those people back there? Everything was so weird and strange..." Hailey said.
Another rift opened and the woman from before stepped out. It held open for a while and the burning man stepped out as well, wearing an aloof expression.
The cohort shuffled back nervously.
"Who are you guys? What do you want with us?", fear evident in Hailey's voice.
The burning man paid attention to the group and sighed softly. Then he spoke
"In the silent tongue, my name is -"
His lips moved, but neither words nor sounds escaped them.
And yet understanding washed over them, causing a shiver to run through their beings as they felt the name, it's meaning, somewhere inside of them.
'Light'
"In the tongue of this realm, my name is Sārūn. And translated to English... well, you already know that part", he said with a small knowing smile.
Then he looked to the woman,
"I expect she wants to do her introductions herself..."
She grabbed her half mask from beneath her chin and yanked it off, earning a gasp from all of them.
"Mi-Miss Freiya...?", a weak voice came from behind the cohort.
They turned to see a weak Axle sitting upright with a hand on his head.
"Where are we?"
"Welcome to Sēlvān, kids. This... is the...".
'Soul'
**************
A gentle breeze blew past them, the grass rustling in response.
All of them were sitting except Sārūn, who stood behind them at the edge of the island, listening as they recounted everything that had happened to Axle who had been unconcious.
A yawn escaped every now and then from one of them.
Beautiful.
An understatement, but the best they could think of to describe this place. Beautiful...
They were currently standing on a small floating island, overrun with lush green grass and sweet smelling flowers, some they could recognize, others... not so much. The island itself was enough to accomodate at least twelve people standing side by side, tiny in comparison to the mutliple other massive islands around them, stretching out as far as the eye could see.
They were also on a lower elevation than the bigger islands, so they could see how thick they were, at least a mile or so.
Beneath the islands was nothing but gold tinted clouds and gold streaks of aurora-like veins in the sky, like ribbons of soft shifting light localized near clouds, and an empty light purple space, just like the sky above. In fact, they had a sneaking suspicion but chose not to say it out.
Far out into the horizon, three suns hovered at the same level as the islands. They weren't the warm amber of Earth's sun, but a strange, luminous blue - soft, almost cold to look at. One hung far to the left, another to the right and another far behind them, each casting their own light everywhere.
Their island had begun to move towards the closest larger island.
"What's that... thing you did?" Lyssa asked Freiya. She was nervous, but also strangely at ease. They all were. Most likely because they were tired.
"What thing, dear?"
Freiya was sitting on the grass
"The thing where you say something... but you don't actually say anything, but we still hear it... kind of..."
"Oh you mean the silent tongue", she giggled, "Well, that's something you're sure to figure out while you're here. It should be... fun."
"I'm having trouble wrapping my head around what's going on Miss Freiya.", said Hailey.
"Who are you, really? Who's he?", she added, pointing over her shoulder at Sārūn.
"And what is this place?", Keno asked.
"I said I would tell you all in time and I will. But for now, you all need to rest first, it's been a rather long day for everyone. And we need to get you some clothes, young man."
The island came to a stop with a soft thud and Freiya stood up in excitement.
"Ooh we're here!"
The cohort turned and watched as their little island sprouted white vines and roots, latching on to the bigger island and forming a rather short and wide bridge.
The island was a breathtaking image of a peaceful village with mutliple small buildings spread out as far as it stretched. From houses to sheds to other strange structures they could see, all were strange and beautiful pieces of architecture that seemed perfectly sculpted rather than built.
Then there were the people. If they could be called people...
There was a small gathering of... different beings... close to where they got off. The friends scanned the little crowd, taking note of horns, wings, tails and entirely different body structures than what they knew as human... with a few humans in there as well.
A mix of alarm and fascination registered on their faces, then a higher concentration of alarm as the gathering noticed them. First, one turned head, then two, then five and then all of them, each face wearing humanly recognizable emotions -- surprise and then awe. Slight murmurs passed through the crowd, then two people got pushed aside as a tall figure darted out excitedly towards them.
"Sār!"
For a moment, Sārūn's expression brightened, breaking into a wide smile,
"Thāleris! My boy!"
"Lord Sārūn is back! The Light One is returned!"
Chants came from the small crowd, reverbrating with excitement and anticipation.
The cohort shuffled back as the crowd suddenly surged forward excitedly, dropping to their knees for a silent bow. The six-foot figure with the head, wings and clawed feet of a blue-bird, practically jumped into Sārūn's outstretched arms with delight, his arms and wings wrapped tightly around him.
"Sārūn, it's you! It's really you! You-You're back...!", the soft-spoken bird man said, tears and questions filling his large yellow eyes as he hugged Sārūn even tighter.
"Easy there, young man", said Sārūn with a laugh, as he patted the other man's feathered back and said to the gathering, "Rise my friends... Rise."
"And Auntie Freiya.. you too!", he hugged her as well.
"Oh Thāleris, you're such a fine young man now", Freiya said realeasing him slightly to look up at him. She brought her hand to his face and stroked the feathers on his cheek as he nuzzled into her touch.
"Rather surprising that you happened to be so close to our gateway landing", Sārūn said, his tone laced with amusement.
"The Author is yet to write a bad story", Thāleris said, beaming.
Then his smile faltered,
"But if you're here then that means..."
Sārūn's expression dampened as he cut in,
"The prophecy... Yes..."
The chants of the gathering grew silent, replaced with nervous murmurs and chatter. Some of the people ran or flew off in the opposite direction, looking to spread the news they had just learned.
Thāleris frowned and looked behind Freiya, paying attention to the cohort for the first time.
"That means these are..."
"Yes"
The cohort shuffled back a bit more as Thāleris approached them.
"Hello there!", his voice took a brighter tone, "I'm Thāleris, seeker of the soul. Pleasure to meet you!"
They stared nervously at the claws on the fingertips of his outstretched arm and back at his face. His scaly arm was a very dark gray, fading into blue at his elbows. Thin feathers grew not too far from there, spreading over his lean, bare torso. He wore brown shorts, made of a thick looking material, with an opening at the back for his tail feathers.
"They're not fully accustomed to this world or their roots yet, Thāleris... Give them time", Sārūn placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare them" he retracted his hand apologetically and faced Sārūn, "What are your plans now?"
Sārūn paused, his silence measured, then said,
"Prepare a living space for us. We leave for Sēlvān'Thūm by daylight."
Thāleris nodded in knowing silence. His wings flapped as he lifted into the air and flew off.
"Where are we going?", asked Axle.
"Today, we're going to our new house. Tomorrow... we're heading to the Core", Freiya replied.
"New house?"
"Yes, Hailey", Freiya smiled, "Now come kids, there's something really cool I want you to see...!"
And then she began to shepherd them in the direction that Thāleris had flown. Having an understanding of how they must be feeling, she made light-hearted remarks and comments as they walked, in a rather great attempt to lighten the mood.
As they got closer to the village, they realized just how breathtaking the place was.
The dirt paths slowly became stone that seemed to be braided. They weaved around sets of six to eight or sometimes ten houses, each arranged in circles around a large central pond. The ponds broke off into little streams that flowed past farms, wherever there was one, and connected with other little streams forming a wide network. Young humans and... non-humans... were swimming around in the ponds and streams, while other older people were busy with one thing or the other. Wherever they walked, people bowed in reverence to Sārūn and he in turn returned the greeting with a wave or a smile.
But the people were also do something else strange...
It wasn't noticeable at first until it was.
Water would suddenly rise into the air from the pond and pour down on someone. Someone would be holding something and it would suddenly vanish from their hands. Someone was swimming unnaturally fast in the streams. The ground would rumble suspiciously close to an abviously angry figure. A farmer would be talking to his plants and flowers would bloom.
Things like that...
It was when they got to a clearing and saw Thāleris with a bunch of other people,seemingly around their own age range, that they finally understood what was going on.
"No fucking way...", Ashton said in pure astonishment.
One pale-skinned girl moved her hands and lifted a large amount of water from one of the nearby streams, then she made another motion with her body and hands that caused the suspended water to seep into the ground
Two boys stomped the ground and made pushing motions repetitively as the earth before them slowly liquefied, swirled and rose. The wet earth surged and surrounded them suddenly in a large and thick-walled dome, cutting them off from view. A groove carved itself in a spiral form going around the dome, all the way to the top. Earth shifted and shaped itself into guard rails at the top of the dome. A round opening appeared on the surface of the dome, then another and another.
'Windows', thought Hailey.
A larger opening appeared and one of the boys called out from inside,
"We need dryers on the inside now... We can't hold this up for too long!"
A girl with patches of leopard print on her skin and a tail, ran in, followed by a human boy. Soon after, an orange glow shined from the openings, fire ocassionally escaping one of them. The pale-skinned girl drew out the steam from inside the dome as it formed, keeping it cool enough for the people inside.
Soon enough, the dome hardened and they exited the dome, the two earth movers arguing.
"I told you to stop experimenting when you're on a serious job!"
"It was one doorway, it's not as big a deal as you're making it..."
"It's the only rectangular doorway in the house! Kitchen doorway at that, when everything else is arched. Do you have no sense of continuity?"
"Oh come off it already. It's set now, nothing you can do about it. Besides, we have glass making to attempt..."
One of them stopped to part the ground, so water could flow to the dome from the nearest stream, then continued on his way to meet the others.
The pale-skinned girl moved water from the new channel and made it flow up the spiral groove on the dome. Then a humanoid frog stepped forward. He stretched his hands out and began to speak some words that they couldn't understand, even Axle was struggling to grasp all of what was being said.
He turned to ask Sārūn a question, but Sārūn was already answering without looking at him,
"That is older Ænvarûn. Only seekers of magic or people with an affinity for it can really grasp the language or use it. I see your parents must have taught you the common tongue version, which is why it sounds slightly familiar to you"
"Wha-How did you-"
"I knew them…", Sārūn turned to the cohort,
"All of them…"