Eternal Beasts

Chapter 20: Rebirth

Of the storm that chased him and Sam out to sea, only stopped by running into Isla Mobius, there was no sign. Outside the dripping water everywhere, that is. It was almost like being back in the Pacific Northwest, with its temperate rainforests.

Jared nodded in satisfaction. Sioned was right. This place was perfect for bringing back the Unicorns! With an abundance of life, they would be nurtured and strengthened almost instantly.

A glance at the eastern sky then he was dropping to his knees to quickly dig a hole in the moist soil, his big hands scooping out the mucky stuff almost better than an actual shovel. When it was deep enough to bury the entire horn, Jared picked up his miniature saddle and put it to the side. Where a tap on the pommel expanded it with a 'whoosh' of displaced air.

Fulling open the saddle bag he had stored the horn in, he quickly pulled it out, the horn warm and smooth in his hands. A quick visual inspection to make sure it had survived the leviathan's attack and the long dunk in sea water intact, Jared placed the horn base down into the hole. Another tap returned the saddle to small size and it went back into his pouch. Then, holding the tip with his left to keep it upright, he scooped the dirt back in with his right, packing it down around the cream-colored horn as he went.

Going as quickly as he could even as the sky continued to lighten, Jared felt a wave of relief when the last handful went in and he was patting it down, the horn now completely buried. Just in time; even as he looked up at the sky to again take measure of where the suns' rise was, morning's first light was piercing the nearby wall of trees to fill the space with golden, springtime illumination.

He was about to turn to see the horn's reaction when, with a pulse of undeniable power, a surge of energy picked him up and threw him backwards into some nearby bushes. Grimacing, he struggled to pull himself free. As he did, Jared looked back to where he had buried the horned. And found himself speechless with astonishment at what his eyes now beheld.

The surge that had knocked him back now filled the entire glen, its source invisible at first, but quickly coalescing before his eyes. It swiftly gathered into a glowing ball of silvery blue light directly over the disturbed soil marking where he had buried the horn. At the same time Jared's left eye could see the ball as a seething orb of gold, stretching energy tendrils away from itself as it spun rapidly like a miniature star. The ball swelled as more energy flowed into it until it dominated the glen with its magnitude.

There it hung for a second or two as if reorganizing the energy it had absorbed. As Jared watched with bated breath, it then extended a thin tendril downward until it touched the fresh earth above the horn. At the contact, particles of dirt flew in all directions. A heartbeat later the tendril thickened with power, visibly channeling it down into the ground.

Slowly the ball diminished as more and more energy flowed into the ground. Until it was the same fist-sized ball that Jared first saw appear after the initial surge of energy pushed him away from where the horn was buried. Jared blinked then the tendril was drawing back into the ball after thinning to a mere thread. The ground then began to tremble around the blasted hole the tendril had made with its impact, strong enough that he could feel it reaching into him from beneath.

When the trembling was strong enough to make the trees close to the ball start to shake, the tendril once again extended downward into the hole it had made. Somehow, as it did that, Jared could feel it attach itself to Moonwind's horn. Then, the ground shivering all around it, Jared watched as the horn began to emerge from the churned up soil. The small ball of energy, almost now totally depleted, flared with light and the shivering became a tremor once more as the horn continued to rise out of the hole.

By this point, the energy that was swirling around the glen suddenly refocused on the breaching horn. And, as he watched, the horn continued to move slowly upwards, sparks of power easily visible moving down the spiral grooves in its surface, the horn itself now glowing with a soft, golden light.