Morning Star (The Dragon Prince X Reader)

Chapter 5 - Tap the Stars

You've forgotten what cold water feels like. The grass prickles your cheek and arm as the dew begins to soak into your clothes. It's only the presence of your two liberators that stop you from staying there face-down until you've memorised the sensation.

Your legs are steady as you get to your feet, and you don't feel hungry. That's good; it means your enchantments worked properly. Your body was frozen in something similar to stasis, as you wanted, and the bruises and hunger pangs you should have accumulated aren't even hitting you all at once. Quite an impressive magical feat, if you think about it...

But it's difficult to think about anything at all. Despite everything that's the same, there is one glaringly obvious thing about your body that wasn't true a minute ago: it's glowing.

Dawn hasn't yet brushed the horizon, and an uncountable number of stars are clear in the sky. Some planets, some suns, some meteors. A few elves, staring impassively down on you. Each star's distant light is faint, but you can feel the power in each one.

It reflects in you; in your hair, which lifts into the air, in the tips of your limbs, which glow red, in your eyes, in the golden sparks on your skin, in your twisting horns, and in the star on your chest.

You tilt your head back and laugh.

For a moment, you reach out with your mind and feel every connection you have. The mage girl, who's alarmed and suspicious, the magic that exists in most things, the stars above you, the past, the present, the future...

A striking absence. One of your closest connections is muted, almost gone. Not disintegrated, but... suppressed.

Not weak, but smothered. With the power the stars afford you, though, you grasp it and tug. A moment; long enough to send him a single sentiment.

I'm free.

Maybe you're imagining it, but you think you feel a faint note of interest. Other emotions too, but you have no time to dwell. If you're using Star magic, Star magic can very easily be used on you.

You exhale, withdraw, and soften your connection with the Star primal. That should stop involuntary magic on your part, and make it a lot harder for anyone or anything else to use Star magic on you. Your hair settles into a normal position and your glow recedes. The blazing symbol on your chest settles into only a faintly shining state.

You closed your eyes at some point. You open them again, blink, and look around. The grass is... very green. You had almost forgotten that shade. And the lighting — unreplicatable in the small room you were trapped in. Various objects are strewn around the meadow. Candles, hairpins, the large cushion and blanket you used as a bed, a table, paper, sewing equipment, ink drawings... Everything you've interacted with in the last three hundred years is scattered on the wet ground. All quite useless now, but the real measure of your ultimate success is that you're here to witness it at all.

You take another deep breath, relishing the scent of fresh air. Then you turn to look at the mage and her guard. She's hiding behind him, leaning on his armoured back for support, and he's pointing a sword at you.

"Hello," you try.

"Hi," the soldier replies through gritted teeth.

"So, ah," you continue, "I'm sorry if I startled you with the, ah, laughing and glowing and everything. Thank you both so much for helping me out. I truly... is she alright?" You nod to the dark mage, who's gripping her companion's arm.

"Why wouldn't she be okay? It's not like you just used her as a weird, glow-eyed puppet with no warning!" he snaps. 

...That explains it. You would probably be very frightened if you saw Startouch magic for the first time and didn't know what was happening. You smile, which only makes him tense further. "I'm sorry if I scared you. I thought it was clear enough that I didn't need to explain it..." And any misgivings were swiftly silenced by the prospect of freedom, but you leave that part out.