Celestial Alignment

There had been an awakening.

It was strange for both Mythal and Lux to experience a similar sensation. They rarely shared the same opinion, let alone an omnipotent feeling of some power or magic sparking to life for a brief second and then fading. The Darkness King had been working over the last remnants of paperwork when he felt it; like a prickling in his neck. As his head tilted upwards and his eyes turned towards the window, the Lightbringer walked into existence beside his desk, also heading in the direction of the window.

“The hell was that?” the Darkness Slayer asked, his pen sliding out of his hand and landing flat on the desk.

“No idea but whatever it is… was… it’s gone,” Lux murmured as he walked up to the window. Then, upon realizing that they had experienced the same thing, he turned back to Mythal. “Wait you felt that?”

Mythal’s brow furrowed. “Yeah. I’m surprised you felt it.”

“Hey, that was light energy, pal. Or at least… something similar to it. You telling me that you can sense light now? Wonder if you’re getting run off from my magic starting to come back,” Lux wondered aloud, tapping his finger against his chin. “Whatever it is, that was some kind of signal.

Light magic. That was something Mythal should have an aversion to, rather than an awareness for. That was fairly concerning in and of itself. But that was something he could put on the backburner and think about later. Whatever that emergence of magical power had been, its trail was already beginning to fade. All he had was a direction at this point. His magic wrapped around him, cloaking in tendrils of darkness as he practically kicked open the window and jumped out of it. The intense energy of his own magic gave him enough power to soar through the sky, his outlined pressed against the late afternoon sky. He tore through the air at his highest speed, making sure he kept the twinkling bits of magic signature were directly in front of him.

It took several minutes but the last traces were starting to fizzle out as he came soaring down towards the ground. He was closer to Peace Village; the outcropping of trees was a couple fields away that signified the small gathering of buildings. But where he was landing was in a strange spot in the forest. There was a small ravine that ran just under the ground, where the land had parted and grown over itself quite some time ago. As Mythal came down and landed on the solid earth above the ravine, he expanded his senses to the gorge below. It was in utter darkness but there were no living beings within it beyond critters living in the soil. He knelt down, pressing his hand against the ground softly before he reared back and sent a punch downwards, cracking the dirt shell in one swift stroke. The ground trembled and the stability was thrown off, breaking apart the once steady covering. A portion of it fell downwards into the ravine; specifically the spot Mythal had knelt on. He went with it, activating his magic halfway to keep himself from a heinous impact. As the broken soil settled on the gorge floor below, he took a moment to look about the area.

With the single stream of light illuminating the immediate area, all he saw was the steep incline of the walls and the tattered surface of the ground below. As he floated downwards, Lux walked back into existence, his hands placing themselves on his hips. “Well it’s not quite what I was hoping for. I was looking forward to seeing an ancient shrine or some kind of light monster or… anything beyond a boring old cavern,” the Lightbringer sighed.

“Doesn’t seem like much, huh?” Mythal echoed the sentiment as he continued to look around. He was about to turn back and leave through the hole he’d made when he spotted something sticking out from a pile of dirt. It wasn’t directly in the beam of light so it was easy to miss but as he turned, the sunlight managed to glint off the edge of it. Curiously he approached it, bending down to inspect the source of the light.

It was… well, a key. Someone had lost a key all the way out here? Maybe someone had gotten attacked and used their magic and, during the fight, the key had gotten dropped. It would explain the sudden burst of magic from before. It looked like there was an inscription on its head. The God Slayer reached for the item, his fingers wrapping around the end of it. All of a sudden it erupted in a great burst of light and sound, knocking him and Lux back from the explosion… or rather, emergence.

The cacophonous arrival shook the entirety of the cavern, knocking chunks of dirt and rock from their resting places and dropping them to the ground below. Mythal had just enough time to whip out Curse and slam the blade into the ground, keeping his body from being pushed back any further. Lux had to rely on his own limited magic to keep from flying away, digging his heels into the surface of the cavern floor. The aura of an ancient, holy magic spread throughout the arena of earth, its resonance almost breathtaking. And then just as quickly as it had come, it was gone.

What was left in its place was a young woman, standing right where the key had been. She looked about as pleased as anyone would be after having been summoned through such an odd trinket. But she was quick to start yelling to someone called the ‘king of the heavens’, chastising the phantom target with pure, unadulterated anger. Mythal had already brought his sword up from its resting place and let it hang by his side after he had spotted the weapon upon her back. But before she could finish her tirade, she caught sight of him standing there.

She apologized and addressed him as mortal – an odd term that rubbed Mythal the wrong way instantly. Lux and Victoria had titled him as such upon their first appearances too, which meant this woman was most likely not of Earthland. She looked around the cavern, her face etching itself in confusion. She confirmed her perplexity as she asked him where they were. The Darkness King cast a short glance over his shoulder at Lux before he answered.

“We’re near a small village in Fiore,” he said slowly, shifting himself so he was facing her fully. “But that’s hardly the most important question here. Who are you? What are you? I touched a key buried in the ground and suddenly you popped up. That ain’t normal by any standards.”

“She’s definitely got some kind of holy aura about her,” Lux said, stepping up and past Mythal. He made it a point to sniff at the air, almost like a dog. “Not entirely sure though. There’s so many realms out there and I don’t pretend to know most… well, any of them.” The Lightbringer shrugged. “King of the Heavens seems familiar though. Can’t really recall from where…”

The look of utter bewilderment on the girl’s face at the mention of Fiore was enough to tell Mythal that something wasn’t right. Fiore was a small nation but it was, in no way, mysterious or hidden away. It was a fairly large global power. He didn’t offer much more in terms of description because he expected a lightbulb to go off at the mention of, at least, the land. So when she inquired further about Fiore, wondering if it was a forest, he let out a soft sigh and a slight shake of his head. “Fiore is a nation. Neighbors Seven and Bosco, though I doubt you know what those are either,” he explained carefully. At the question of what she was, she was quick to explain that she was a Celestial Spirit, seeming more surprised that he hadn’t put that together either. Once she said it, it was like the puzzle pieces clicked together. “Celestial Spirit…”

“Oh so she’s one of them star spirits then. That makes more sense,” Lux nodded, having put all the pieces together as well. Rather than interrupt, the two listened as Vayrin mused aloud about her interaction with her former boss, the Celestial Spirit King, that resulted in her banishment for ‘a few minutes’. But already the gears were beginning to turn in both men’s minds. The key had practically been buried – in fact, it probably had been before the earth had opened up and given it a reason to send a signal to anyone listening. There was also the fact that she had no idea what Fiore was. The all too heavy confirmation came as she stepped forward and asked where Novius was. “Ohh chica, we got some bad news for you,” Lux started, not trying very hard to hide his amusement.

“Novius is gone. I ain’t gonna claim to have a whole lot of knowledge about it but I know the name from textbooks. It ain’t around anymore.” He paused to let that sink in before he continued. “And your key wasn’t thrown into some old cavern for a couple of minutes. It was half-buried when I found it and, good chance, it had been buried for some time before… whatever tore open the earth. I hate to be that guy but, I think you’ve been in your so-called void for a very long time. Like a very long time.”

Well, she was taking it… well?

There was an air and look of disbelief on the girl’s face as they told her all the facts. At least, what they assumed were the facts. Truthfully, this was all becoming a lot more out of hand than expected. While Lux seemed more amused by the situation than anything else, Mythal seemed more concerned. And while Vayrin clearly believed their explanations to be some kind of prank, it was curious that this Celestial Spirit had awakened all of a sudden out of nowhere.

But the more pressing concern was her lack of belief. Mythal opened his mouth to try and counter the introductions and turn the attention more on the dilemma. But instead, Lux decided to jump right in – literally transmitting himself from where he was standing, to right in front of Vayrin. This also did a great job of putting the Lightbringer between the spirit and the Darkness King. “My name is Lux. The Seal of Light, the Lightbringer and a whole slew of other wonderful and amazing titles that don’t quite stand up to my great self. In terms of who is more important that who, well…. Let’s just say you were made by a really, really, really off brand version of my creator. Your guy made you and your other friends while mine made, well everything. So in the echelon of things, you might think of me as your boss.”

“That’s enough, Lux,” Mythal started, walking towards the pair.

“Dark and dreadful back there is Mythal. The guy whose soul I’m attached to and whose body I’m going to commandeer one of these days. You don’t really need to know much more than—“

“Shut up,” the Darkness King cut in, quite literally pushing through Lux’s form. The Lightbringer rolled his eyes as Mythal came out in front of him. The Rune Knight General cast another glare at the Seal before turning his attention back to Vayrin. “I’m Mythal Ragnos, General of the Special Operations department of the Rune Knights. And what we told you isn’t a joke. But if I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t believe it either. So… how about this; come back to the Rune Knight headquarters in Era and look through some of the history books in the library. It’ll confirm what I said and it might offer some more explanations to questions you haven’t asked yet.”

“Hah!” Lux let out a laugh, grinning as this rabbit-eared spirit tried to insist that her boss could purge him. “Oh she’s got spunk. I’m going to enjoy proving her wrong very, very, much,” the Lightbringer replied, his grin warping into something more sadistic. It seemed like he was primed and ready to let out a whole new slew of descriptions and ideas for what exactly he had in mind as well.

But Mythal had stepped through him and put his body between Vayrin and Lux. And while that mattered very little in terms of actually stopping the Seal, the action was still enough to fluster him in silence. The Darkness King shot a look back at him, a daring glance that challenged him to try and speak up once more. While the Seal didn’t actively fear Mythal in any capacity, he was quite well aware that there were ways for Mythal to act that would… inconvenience him. With the Lightbringer quelled for the moment, the Rune Knight General turned his attention to Vayrin, who seemed unbending in her belief that this was all a joke. She explained quickly that while years did go by quicker when you lived an extraordinarily long time, it wasn’t a blink and you miss it kind of deal. He’d offered the opportunity for her to use the Rune Knight library, in hopes that perhaps there was an answer lying in there for her.

She agreed to it, if only for the sake of playing the game and hopefully getting another laugh out of the situation. Mythal tried not to sigh -- she was probably going to be in for quite the shock, once things came about. But he supposed they would deal with that when they came to it. The Celestial Spirit disappeared for a moment, only to reappear directly in front of Mythal. She introduced herself formally as Vayrin, the Celestial Spirit Vulpecula. “Nice to meet ya,” he said, extending a hand for her to shake.

After that, he directed his hand away from them and summoned a portal back to the Rune Knight headquarters, gesturing to it. “This’ll take us right to the library. We’ll see what we can find.”

“Time to take the lost puppy home. Should we stop at the store first? Might want to get a kennel, some treats… maybe some toys!” Lux spat out as he followed the pair through the passageway. Once they had passed through, they would find themselves standing in the midst of several tall bookshelves, wooden structures that housed hundreds of tomes and volumes of records.

“This way,” he said, waving to the Celestial Spirit to follow. He guided her through the bookshelves until they emerged into another part of the library. Rather than standalone pieces of furniture, the shelves had been crafted into the walls along the sides, curling around the pillars that thrust out. He walked up to one of the pillars, tapping on the shelf as he turned to her. “History of Earthland should be in here. Might want to take a look and see if anything sticks out for you.”

This was turning into another Wren at this point, at least for Lux. Another spoiled, obnoxious female mortal who thought far too large about themselves. This Vayrin was a bit more cocky than the other Rune Knight pipsqueak and her attitude towards him seemed just as brazenly disrespectful as anyone else’s. The Lightbringer scowled, clearly upset that he hadn’t been able to cause any problems between Mythal and Vayrin, following after as the two of them traveled through the portal back to the Rune Knight headquarters. Once there, he set himself up in the corner, his arms crossed over his chest while he watched with annoyed interest.

Honestly, Mythal just wanted Vayrin to find some answers for herself. Though he was hesitant to say that she was confused and misunderstanding outright, it certainly seemed that things had swung that way. The world that the Celestial Spirit knew was gone and he wasn’t sure that she would find any solid proof. He certainly hoped she would, for her sake. But as the books started piling up and her frustration started to grow more and more apparent, it seemed the worst possible outcome had materialized. By the time that she had opened over half a dozen books, she was outright angry, throwing the most recent book down upon the pile. As she skimmed yet another book, it was obvious that this was going to boil over into something much more hostile.

Finally she snapped, turning her anger towards Mythal. She demanded an answer for his trickery, wanting to know why he had deceived her by leading her to a place littered with fake history. The idea of this being a joking matter had gone out of her mind and now she was truly offended, wanting to know why he had played such a cruel prank. And as Mythal began to work up the foundation for a softer, hopefully easier transition to a hard truth, Lux saw an opportunity to sew the exact amount of chaos he had been hoping for.

“Vayrin, listen. I have no reason to play any kinda trick on you. You…” the Rune Knight general started, talking to her carefully. Her hand was already on her sword and the last thing he wanted to do was antagonize her worse.

The Lightbringer appeared right beside him in an instant, his voice cutting through Mythal’s words. “Well shoot, Mythal, it looks like she saw right through our trick. It’s too bad; I really thought I made this place look as real as possible. But she’s far too smart for us.”

“Lux, shut up. Vayrin, don’t listen to him. He’s just trying to confuse you worse and make things get out of hand.”

“You know, the Celestial Spirit King said you would have been so much easier to manipulate too! He told us that we’d have no problem playing you like a harp and making you dance for our entertainment. All part of his punishment for you but alas, you’re as quick as a whip!” Lux continued, happily gesturing like a masterful actor as he sewed his seeds efficiently. “Mythal here was convinced that he could make you believe anything too. It’s a damn shame.”

“Vayrin, he is lying. He does this kind of thing to work people up, make them act as he wants ‘em too. Don’t buy into it. I am tellin’ you the truth; I ain’t workin’ for no Celestial Spirit King and I ain’t in this to play any tricks. I am just tryin’ to help you.”