The sun was just peaking over the horizon and drowning out the night when Varian's eyes opened.
Through the blinds a small trickling of light cascaded over the young boys goggles. Varian leaped out of bed and got dressed.
He took the goggles off the nightstand they were laying on and placed them over his hair which he didn't bother to try and detangle.
Varian looked at himself and the mirror for a while then twirled his blue hair streak around his finger, clearly lost in thought.
His eyes widened as he finally figured it out. He dashed past the clock on a small desk cluttered with gadgets. The clock read 5:30 am.
A perfect amount of time to get what I need to figure this out.
Rapunzle had asked Varian to look more into the strange weather machine that Demanitus had created under Corona many years ago.
Varian had been looking into how the machine works, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until a few weeks ago.
There was a strange vault in the wall covered in dust. It had a star on it. But it was impossible to open. Varian had looked all over but couldn't figure it out.
Until now.
No one was awake yet, so Varian didn't need to worry about his dad nagging him to get breakfast before heading out.
I'll just eat later. I need there to be stars for this to work! Varian thought.
Varian rummaged around his main lab area. So far he had gotten one item he needed from the desk in his room, a small glass ball.
But he need some other things. Varian finally found a small mirror and headed out.
Ruddiger had fallen asleep on the living room couch and was awoken by Varian dashing out the door, forgetting to close it behind him.
Ruddiger rubbed his eyes and ran after Varian, chirping at him.
"I need to hurry and get to the weather machine Ruddiger! We are losing the night!" Varian shouted at Ruddiger.
Ruddiger chirped again and them fell behind Varian, causing him to trip on a tree root. Varian stopped and picked Ruddiger up, holding him like a sack of potatoes.
The village was sort of peaceful in the early morning light. Old Corana was covered in a sweet pink light. Thankfully the castle was still caked in the darkness of night.
Varian rushed through the dirt roads, kicking up dust behind him. He was making good progress but was getting tired.
Drip
Varian stopped to catch his breath. Then he turned to Ruddiger. "Do you hear that?"
Drip
Drip
"It's not raining or anything...." Varian panted, hunched over from running so fast. Varian should be focused on getting his breath back but couldn't shake the feeling that...
Drip
Someone....
Drip
Was watching them.
Drip
But he shook it off and kept running towards the castle. It was probably and animal watching them next to a leaky pipe.
The only house around this general area was this one, which was owned by a sweet old lady that lived alone.
Varian decided he would ask to fix her leaky pipes on his way back.
For now it was time to solve this mystery with the star vault.
Varian finally made it the castle. He ran up the steps as fast as humanly possible before reaching the guards.
One of the two guards watching over the door was asleep, and the other guard jabbed him in the side with his elbow. He woke up and shook his head.
"Good morning Varian. Going to the weather machine I assume?" The guard who was sleeping said.
"Yes and I'm in a hurry!" Varian said quickly. The guards opened the door and looked amused at Varian's rapid breaths as he sped towards the weather machine.
Varian was running out of air, but had finally made it to the rusty weather machine just in time. But now was no time to rest. The stars were going away fast.
Varian walked up the makeshift ladder they made to get to the star vault. Ruddiger chirped at him, clearly confused and wanting an explanation as to what was happening.
"Ok so, Ruddiger, do you see these little holes on the vault?" Varian asked the raccoon. Ruddiger nodded.
"I figured out that they perfectly match up with the night sky, on this exact day! So I thought I would use this mirror...." Varian said running over to find a good spot to prop up the mirror.
"To reflect the stars onto this glass ball..." Varian said placing the glass ball down. Suddenly, the stars reflected onto the star vault. They were a bit off and didn't match the holes exactly, so Varian adjusted the glass ball.
"This will make sure the stars reflect onto the holes and are the perfect size to match up to the holes! This will unlock it! I'm sure of it!" Varian said, finally adjusting the glass ball to the perfect spot.
Nothing happened. Ruddiger chirped in disappointment.
"Aw man, I was sure that was It, maybe it was too light-" Varian started, but then Ruddiger grabbed onto his pant leg.
The holes started to glow and the entire vault was glowing a bright shade of blue. The glass ball shattered into shards.
Ruddiger climbed up Varian and hid behind his shoulder. Varian was in shock and laughed happily.
The vault finally creaked open. Inside was a dark room.
"Let's go in!" Varian said. Ruddiger clinged onto his shoulder in fear, paws over his eyes.
As soon as they walked in, lanterns lit up inside. Ruddiger took his paws off his eyes.
"Wow..." Varian said. They could finally see what was in the vault. And It was....
