Broken Glass - Taekook

72

We sit there, listening to the last gentle reverberations of the song as they fade into silence, replaced by the soft rhythm of hooves on stone. In that moment of quiet, a slender shadow comes into view on the wall opposite us. It carries itself with such elegance, such poise, that my breath is caught in my throat for a moment, as the Stasida begins to enter the cavern.

I see the antlers first: long, tree-like extensions of bone or ivory that branch out in several directions, covered in a thin layer of velvety fur. The head appears next, deer-like in shape. Then I see two black eyes that seem to see us all at once, though we're on different sides of the room. There's some otherworldly light in them, reflecting the magenta glow of the crystals on the walls. There's a knowledge in them, a wisdom and kindness deeper than anything I've ever seen before.

I see the beginnings of massive black feathered wings, scraping the ceiling as they go. A tan-coloured flank follows that, lean and mobile, preceded by long horse-like legs with hooves.The tail is short, stubby, like that of a deer, and it flickers slightly with every step the creature makes.

The Stasida is a large, beautiful creature that seems to take up the entire other half of the cavern, and seems to see everything that happens within it. Even in this first moment, this magical being feels more real than anything I've seen so far, and there's a strength to it that I can't ignore. It seems totally in its element, entirely comfortable and in control of the world it's part of.

It truly is the guardian of the Suojaka Caverns. The Sanctuary.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see that Taehyung's eyes are damp, and Jimin's nervous expression has shifted into an awestruck one. Namjoon's quill, which was scribbling on his notebook, falls still, and a long line of black ink messily underlines what he just finished writing. Seokjin stops whittling his latest carving, and his gaze focuses on the creature that has just entered. Hoseok pauses in his sharpening of the sword on his lap, and the whetstone clatters to the ground, forgotten. Yoongi's knife freezes midway through cutting the remnants of the innards of a skin he's working on. My breath catches in my throat.

"Welcome, friends of the Great Waterfall." The voice seems to come from the cavern walls themselves, and there's an odd pulsing energy to the faint echoes it lets off, like a heartbeat that reverberates through the entire system of caves. There's a softness to it, as if the speaker is smiling, and has never stopped smiling. "Welcome, Saviour, to the Sanctuary."

A drop of water falls, the gentle tapping sound repeating in a crystalline way and bouncing off the odd stones pushed into the cavern walls., bouncing off of the odd stones pushed into the cavern walls. Aphelia's light flickers in time with this odd rhythm, shifting through the colour spectrum until it lands on a deep purple shade. She lets out a low hum, seeming to harmonise with the faint reflections of sound that still surround us.

Namjoon shifts a little in the alcove he's sitting in, and then clears his throat uncomfortably. "May I ask a question of you, Wise One?" he asks, in Eithyrian. The Stasida's head turns slowly, calmly, and those stunning liquid-like eyes blink once. The mage bites his lip, glancing around nervously at the rest of us before returning to the Stasida's calm gaze. "Why do you call it the Great Waterfall?"

The Stasida blinks, and the voice echoes through the entire cave system once again. "Energy manifests in a way that suits its surroundings," that same voice responds simply. "It flows through you like air, like water, like blood. There are symbols of power, and there are symbols of fluidity. Energy encompasses all."

Something clicks in my mind. "Symbols of power..." I murmur, half to myself, half to the others. "Like Taju? Like the sphinx in the Yarolian Plains?" The great being inclines its head in a gentle imitation of a nod.