When Stars Fall

Chapter 2

     Towards Himirend, Eiledia fell, but it wasn't truly falling. It was more like a bird landing. It was deliberate, intentional, purposeful, and no harm would come to the young Astral still dormant as a star or the environment around him. Thus, Eiledia, in what appeared a stream of light like a meteor, landed upon the grasslands of Himirend, shining until the light took the shape of his mortal form, as it had when he'd first gotten it in Reltena. When his form solidified, a weak aura of light, of warm light like that of Vanerva, still remained around him.

     It was dark, but the sky was lit up by thousands of sleeping Astrals, forming different shapes, no, constellations, together, some clearer than others. The clearest of which from where he stood took the shape of a sort of horn, an instrument. Tall grass swayed around Eiledia, and there was a line of trees in the distance where the grasslands gave way to a forest. A cold wind blew from his left, causing Eiledia's illusory flames to flicker as if they were any sort of real flame fighting to stay alive. Nobody was in sight at all, only himself.

     Eiledia began to walk towards the trees, in the direction the mouthpiece of the horn was pointing, not having much idea of where else to go. The grass rustled as he walked and pushed his way through it. It scratched a bit at his legs, but he couldn't feel it much thanks to his shell. What was more annoying was when it caught, snagged, on his feathers. He was tempted occasionally to just burn the grass as he walked, but he was sure the grasslands could easily catch fire, and starting a wildfire would be an awful way to introduce his peaceful little self to the world, so he simply kept walking instead.

     As he walked, he felt a small drop of water hit his head, and so, naturally, he looked up. Was it about to rain? He hadn't spotted any clouds before, and, looking up now, he still didn't see any. Yet, again came a drop of water, and he was left confused. What was going on? The wind blew, and the grass around him rustled again. The grass... it seemed somehow darker than it had before. Another drop of rain fell, and then another. He looked up yet again, and when he did...

     A force from below rammed into him, knocked him upward off the ground into the air a bit, before a whip-like tail lashed towards and wrapped around him. Instinctually, he summoned his flame of peace and it lit up, easily feulled by his aggressor. Around the creature, the light of the flame seemed to disappear to darkness. A cold darkness. The creature was striped brown and green in coloration, with a relatively flat body, two claws near the front, tusks on either side of its head that resembled shovels. However, the most notable part of this creature was the long, whip-like tail that split into three parts and resembled blades of grass. The same tail that was currently wrapped around him.

     Eiledia directed his flame towards this creature, which was slightly bigger than himself, hoping to scare it away. The creature's tails quickly let go of him and came together to form a tube, and from it, it shot water to extinguish Eiledia's flame. He tried moving the flame away, but he was too late. He was too slow to react, and this creature was too fast. He lit another flame as quickly as he could just to hopefully have something to defend himself with. Panicked, he tried to revert to his star form and return to Reltena as he knew he should be able to, but he couldn't. He couldn't do it, as if this creature's darkness was anchoring him there to Himirend. The creature slammed him to the ground, which would have knocked the wind out of anyone else, but Eiledia didn't need to breathe. He had no nose or mouth, no lungs. He took the hand over which his flame of peace hovered and slammed it into the creature. It gave an angry croaking sound, its tail lashing and hissing before blasting him with pressurized water. Thankfully, his shell kept most of him safe, but he had difficulty seeing. It must have hit his eyes. No, it certainly did. The creature slammed its claws on top of him. Eiledia lashed his own back out towards the creature, this time without the fire.