Fifty Three: Whole

Warm. Dark. Comfort.

Love.

My conscious stirred. I vaguely knew I was asleep, yet at the same time I was aware of myself. I was floating, as I'd become accustomed to doing lately instead of dreaming. Each time I found myself in this familiar space it became easier to remember who I was and what was happening around me.

I took a breath. A deep breath, of warmth and slight smoke. It was more vivid now than ever. I knew in my heart I had to seek out this thing. And this thing, it was awake today.

'Find me.'

The low rumble of dark and power that I had heard a handful of times now beckoned me. Sleepy, I stretched my form as much as I could in this shapeless existence. I tried to pinpoint where the dark thing was, but it was nowhere. Everywhere. I didn't have a direction to face, so I just closed my eyes and spoke.

"Are you the Night Ender?" I asked softly, knowing somehow that it would be able to hear me.

But I was only met with silence. The warmth that was ever moving around me even seemed to pause, as I floated in the dark abyss. It alarmed me, I hadn't realized I was always surrounded by movement until now.

"We're trying to find you," I told the black presence. "But it's hard when we don't know what we're looking for."

Still silent. It was unnerving, and I felt a sense of urgency rise in me. An anxious panic.

"Are you in a cave?" I asked.

At that, the movement started again, but it was a swirl of fret. A stirring of remembrance. For the first time, it was the black presence that was distressed.

Maybe the mention of the cave had bothered it. If this was really the Night Ender, and it was really in a cave, then maybe we could find it after all.

"Are... are you chained?" I tried prodding again. "Is that why you can't come to us?"

Screeching. A distant sound that if it were next to me would be deafening. It was more than the scream of pain or anger.

It was a lament. And it broke my heart to hear it.

The distress of this thing that I hadn't known but somehow had for months now. It was confused, enraged, and sad all at the same time.

And as it flicked through a myriad of different emotions, the blackness around me became unstable. I was tossed, turned, and swirled around. Up, down, sideways, I had no idea which way I was turned, and then suddenly I was tossed out of the blackness entirely.

I woke, gasping.

And next to me, Schula woke the same way. My eyes sharpened in the dark, and I looked over to her face. In a heartbeat I could see she was distressed. Sweating, panting, and clutching at her chest with wild eyes.

"We have to go," she said, throwing the covers off of her.

"Yes," I agreed and stood quickly.

But what we had forgotten, was that we slept on the floor of Nassir's room, and we had disturbed his sleep in our panic. As Schula and I scrambled to our feet, Nassir woke and sat up.

"Schula, what... Little bird, are you two okay?" He stood as he felt out distress.

"We have to go," Schula said, opening his door.

"We'll be back, but we have to see something." I rushed to the door after her.

"It's distressed," Schula whined.

I made a whimpering sound from my throat and reached out to grab Schula's hand. I wanted to be with her now more than ever, a strong pull between us.

"What is... oh. Oh." Something changed in Nassir's worried expression to one of amusement. "Let's go then, I will follow as best as I can but if you must run, do it."

We nodded in unison, and stopped only long enough to take cloaks from our rooms. Hand in hand again, Schula and I stormed out of Kalor's halls and into the common space near the entrance of the keep.

"Kalor!"

I turned my head back into the hall.

"Go, I will speak to him," Nassir said, shooing us out.

I nodded, we turned back forward and went for the door.

"Hold," A scout stopped us. "We need to fetch you an escort, what business are you about in the middle of the night?"

It wasn't the same ones from a few hours ago that Fandor had convinced to let us through. He looked suspiciously between us. And if I wasn't so upset and distracted, I probably would have understood the position we were putting him in. His partner scout eyed nervously between him and us.

"I have business in the southern forest that I must reach as soon as possible," I said. "We will not be in Eidelhein at all, please let us through."

"What is this?" A familiar voice was coming downstairs from the wing where the offices were. Teyber, looking exhausted and surrounded by a gaggle of scouts. He was wearing a fresh tunic since I had seen him yesterday, but otherwise didn't look as though he had slept.

"Captain." The scout in front of us stood at attention. "They say they want to go out in the middle of the night."

"So? Let them. Only the children have a curfew." Teyber grunted.

"Sir, the arrangement for the fae..."

Teyber sighed and rubbed his temples with one big hand. "Right, right. An escort. Hold on, I'll take them."

"Captain, you have too many duties and you need to wrap them up and get some sleep." I was surprised to se Liana step out from behind the other scouts, something like actual concern on her face for Teyber and possibly the most emotion I'd seen her show. "I'll go."

His eyebrows shot up, but his eyes were still dark and puffy with exhaustion. He looked at Liana for a long breath, and waved a hand. "Go."

Liana nodded, and gave a small smile as she trotted the rest of the way down the stairs and to us. Schula wasted no time in leaving. She practically pushed past the guards the moment it didn't look like they would physically try to restrain us and we were off.

I followed Schula out, and we both looked to the south. The sense of dire urgency had softened, but we were still pushed to find it. The source of this feeling. The Night Ender. The black presence.

"What is happening?" Liana looked between us with a frown as we walked.

"We're off to find a legendary monster," Schula murmured, then snapped to attention and faced Liana. "How do we get off this Stars forsaken cliff and go south?"

The scout's eyes widened slightly before falling back into her usual neutral expression. Liana didn't say anything after that, she just walked a little faster, taking the lead.

We followed her down a street that wound around behind a lot of the city and over the river. We headed mostly east but a little south, and soon it became apparent we were heading for a tree with ropes and bridges coming off of it. It sat, overlooking the drop of the plateau to the south.

"Caw!"

I turned to see Puko flying over Nassir as they both made their way to us. I smiled, glad to have them with us. But we didn't stop our pursuit of the bridges off the cliffs.

Nassir caught up to us before we reached the way down. He didn't say a word, he simply fell into step behind us. I nodded to him, acknowledging his arrival but not saying a thing. I was too focused on getting off the plateau.

My heart raced as we approached the tree with the bridges. Finally, we were descending into the forest. The bridge was much like the one we ascended to reach Eidelhein with Teyber in the first place. It carried us down to another tree, and down a little more, and a little more until we reached a ladder to the ground. All the while, Schula and I were in a silent urgency and Liana simply stood aside and followed us once we were on the ground.

If I wasn't so distracted by the need to go south, I would have been impressed by her silently following along with what must have sounded like an insane mission. She hadn't even questioned it when Nassir showed up, she just went along with it.

The journey was hard from there. The cluttered and rough forest floor was difficult to tread over. Luckily, none of us were completely human and could see in the dark, which helped. Liana, despite being the smallest part elf, had the easiest time. Then again, she would have traversed these woods her whole life, and we had only been here a few weeks.

What happened next was over the course of hours. The sun rose before we spoke about anything, and even that was just Nassir asking us questions about how we felt. If it was urgent, if we thought we could rest, if we thought we could eat.

It was frustrating to stop, but I knew it was wiser to take breaks. I had no idea how far the southern coast was, and we hadn't brought anything but our cloaks. Those ended up being quite useful during a morning downpour.

Liana convinced us to wait out the storm under a large tree, high in the branches. She said getting sick after a rain when we were nowhere near supplies would be a bad idea. When the rain let up enough, we built a fire to try to dry out before setting out again.

Impatient. Irritable. Frustrated. Desperate. Without sleeping, our only connection to the black presence, Schula and I had no connection to ensure we were going the right way. It was all on instinct. Frustrating, desperate, instinct.

It was the evening when we were taken by surprise.

Schula and I had been convinced to take another break while Liana caught and skinned some kind of ground fowl that could be eaten. I sat on a large tree root, holding Schula's hand and bouncing my leg as I kept my eyes trained to the south. I had taken to biting my nails as well, a habit I had never had before but couldn't seem to stop doing now.

"What was that?" Nassir asked.

I paused my nervous tics long enough to listen. Just sounds of the forest. Animals, leaves, insects.

"I don't hear anything," Schula said.

"Shh." Liana stopped her bloody task, bird in one hand and knife in the other. She set the bird down on the rock she was working on, and stood with the bloody knife still in her other hand.

Then I heard it. A strange animal call.

Liana lifted her head, cupped her moth with her free hand, and mimicked the call. It startled me and Schula, and distressed Puko who was on Nassir's lap. He puffed out his feathers and flapped away to watch safely from the trees.

"What was that?" I asked.

"More green children are here. Scouts. They must have tracked us," Liana answered.

"Why?" Schula asked.

Liana shrugged, and didn't answer. She just went back to cleaning the fowl.

I watched in anxious silence. Liana calmly made dinner, cleaned it, cooked it, and tore pieces apart to hand out to each of us. I took mine, forcing it down despite the fact that I hadn't eaten in a whole day. I was too anxious to move on to sit and eat.

Schula sighed into hers, took a bite, and then broke off little pieces to discreetly feed Puko. He was happy to fly back down if it meant dinner.

As we were finishing up, Liana stood and faced the direction the call came in before. She cupped her hands to her mouth again and made that sound.

It was answered, this time from much closer.

"They're not far," Liana said. "We should wait here."

I groaned.

"I know, Wren," Nassir said. "Be patient with us a little longer, I promise we can walk again soon."

Schula leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder. It calmed the both of us down a little, and I reached out to take one of her hands.

The moment I heard the rustling steps of the approaching scouts, I stood up.

"Hello, camp. Scouts approaching." From around a large tree, Teyber stepped out. He was followed by two other scouts, and of all people Kalor and Fandor.

Liana's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head. "Captain? And... why?"

"Nassir told me what was going on," Kalor said gently, walking over to pull me into a hug. "We brought provisions and we will accompany you."

I nodded and returned the hug, but over Kalor's shoulder I could see Liana and Teyber having a hushed conversation. I wondered what it was about, but then I realized she was probably reporting everything we had done to this point.

Kalor pulled back from me and looked me up and down. "You haven't slept. Well, of course you haven't, we hadn't gotten to sleep in order to catch up to you. You need rest, Wren. All of you."

"No!" I protested. "We have to be getting close, I can feel it."

"We can go on and you can follow," Schula suggested. "We can't sit here much longer."

"Kalor," Nassir spoke up. "We may need to let them go on. I can tell you, they are having a very difficult time right now."

Kalor gave me a soft, worried look as he turned to Nassir. "I will have to refer to you, since you would know better than I."

"Does that mean we can go?" I asked, perking up at the idea.

"Hold on," Schula said and turned to Teyber. "Teyber, how far are we from the coast?"

Teyber's eyes widened. "The coast?"

My eyes darted to Fandor and back. He hadn't told anyone, just like he promised.

"About another day at the pace you've been keeping," Teyber answered.

My heart sank, but my desire to move on held firm.

"If you two are able to sleep at all, you might try," Nassir suggested. "If no, I understand."

I looked to Schula, and we both begrudgingly nodded.

"Alright," Teyber said and clapped his hands. "Scouts, shape the camp and list watches."

And a scurry of action took shape. Everyone began doing something, except for Schula and I who looked at each other with a silent resolution. Sleeping meant one thing for us, and that was our connection to the black presence.

As hard as it was to watch a proper camp being set up, I was glad for the sleeping mat they gave us. My mind may have been sharp and ready to go, but my body was glad for something to rest on.

Then the struggle to fall asleep began. I had a hard time concentrating, but it would seem so did Schula. After a good hour of restlessness, she silently got up from her mat, pulled it next to mine, and laid back down as we entangled our arms with each other.

After that I was finally able to sleep. And as the darkness took me, I smiled.

Warm. Dark. Smoke.

I floated. I waited. I recognized the black presence. I felt Schula's white light.

But the little time I had been there, I already felt the distress in the darkness.

Schula poured out love and hurt toward the blackness. I did too. I had no idea if we reached it. I wanted it to know we were coming for them. But all we got in return was desperation and despair.

And then, we were thrown from the darkness.

I woke, gasping and clutching my chest. My brow had a mist of sweat on it. Schlua sat up at the same time.

Looking to the stars, I could tell we had managed to get a couple hours of rest. It would have to be enough for another day.

My gray eyes met Schula's icy blue ones. Silently, we stood, and we ran.

I was vaguely aware of the stirring of the camp behind us. I didn't care. Nassir seemed to be taking care of our journey, hopefully he could make the others understand.

So Schula and I ran in the thick forest, not knowing where we were going and letting our hearts pull us along. The hors blurred. We didn't stop. The sun rose, and began to dip. That's when I smelled the salt in the air. I noticed the very distant sounds of lapping water.

"Schula-"

"I know."

We kept going. We kept the pace as quick as we could without tripping over the forest clutter underfoot. The trees thinned. The grasses grew taller. A strange, mossy vine began to appear.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I should be excited to see an ocean for the first time. But my excitement was completely for the pulsing feeling that we were drawing close to.

When the trees parted enough for a vast blueness to emerge, I held my breath. Never have I seen so much water in all my life. It was far bigger than Silver Lake, and nothing could compare to it.

The rocky coastline was jagged and bare of plants. The porous rocks had developed deep holes and cervices from the crashing of the water over them.

Fandor's story told of a holy cave from a people long gone. One would think we wouldn't have an easy time finding it among all the hidden entrances that dotted the shore. But the decision was easy.

Schula took my hand as we ran up a particularly large rock. It was covered in jagged edges and was hard to hold onto as we climbed. But climb we did, and at the very top of the rock was a narrow entrance.

It was carved, long ago. The art now washed away by the salt and the sea. Whatever story it once wanted to tell was gone with time. Schula slipped in first, having to wriggle her hips to slide in completely. I was next, and my bony elven frame made my descent easier.

It was almost completely dark, but we could se enough. The thought passed my mind that we could have been falling to our death, but we jumped into the darkness without a thought.

The instant my feet hit the soft sand, I felt it. A warm, dark, soft presence. It was big. Enormous. Schula and I ran to it. I lit my palms with fire, flickering the cavernous space to life with light. I found driftwood as I rushed forward. I flung fire at it and moved on, effectively making a bonfire for light.

A giant black shape was curled up on itself, shining white chains wrapped around it. I should have been terrified. I knew what this was from old stories. But instead, Schula and I rushed forward and wrapped our arms over it. It was warm, and smooth, like laying on a pile of living stones.

We were at it's head, and it slowly opened it's eyes.

Bright, golden eyes, like two blazing stars on it's black scales.

Tears were now falling freely down my face. Schula sobbed with delight.

A groaning of something that hadn't moved in a long, long time stirred in the cavern. The dragon lifted it's wings, and dragged them through the sand to wrap around us. We were completely covered by the massive serpent. Black, warm scales. Golden, ancient eyes.

My heart could have burst, I was so happy. Schula giggled as she reached over and wiped my tears off. I smiled and did the same, until a long tongue darted out to lick my chin, surprising me  into a fit of giggles.

And in that moment I couldn't have cared what happened with the rest of the world.

I could taste the word on my tongue. Triquetram.

I finally had one.

And we were whole.