The Ashes of Allmau: The Orfolk of Allmau

Chapter 6

The dunes and dales flowed around her like waves on the ocean. The crests frothed with seasonal flowers, and the troughs pooled with shallow water from which silver fish leapt. The waves rolled towards the cliffs, which seemed to constantly crumble and grow, calving boulders the size of houses that tumbled, shattered and dissolved into sand. The bramble marsh churned, climbing over itself as the younger trees pulled the older ones down, only to be dragged down by their own offspring. The only thing that remained static, as though pinning this all together, was the tower of Higard. Not even her dreams could move that monolith.

Ahna set her eyes upon it and saw the flicker of copper light that had captivated her earlier. The light flickered again, and again, like the signal lights used to pass messages between the Sounds. Without any thought Ahna was drawn towards the tower. Climbing the crests of the green waves, she reached higher and higher, reaching for the tower and the light.

The climb became steeper as she got closer and the tower seemed to dip away, as though the dune was growing. It became so steep she fell to her knees, clutching at the grass and drawing herself ever upwards. She continued to climb, only pausing when she watched the green of the dunes creep in where the sky should be...

Bemused, she looked up, discovering the ground was now above her. She was on the underside of a large grassy sphere that floated just above the undulating dunes, like a bubble. She climbed to her feet and stretched above her head to stroke the grass above (/below) her.

This was all so lucid and clear, but none of it was real. With a gentle push, she pushed the grassy bubble away from the sounds. It started to rise, taking her with it. She took a moment to survey everything from upside down, it was a bit of a headache. She climbed to the crown of the sphere and set her eyes, once again, upon the tower of Higard. Which still stood, unyielding.

As the sphere rose, a sunless sky set behind the tower. A long shadow stretched out from the cliffs, swallowing the land below in darkness. The grassy balloon climbed higher, daring to reveal what lay beyond. She stood on her tiptoes to peak, but still couldn't see. Impatiently, she jumped up and down, hoping to gain a valuable inch more. Each time she landed the balloon sunk a few feet.

"No!" she cried, "I need to see!"

She fell to her knees and tried to hoist it up by the grass, pulling as hard as she could, only to tear out clumps that yellowed and dissolved into sand. Though this all made some kind of poetic sense in Ahna's mind, it was all very odd for Kydd who walked in to find her.

His sensation of this experience was much different from Ahna's in that he was now the size of her, the cool damp of the grass tickling his long toes. He set his eyes on Ahna who was frantic and focused on the tower. He turned towards what Ahna would recognise as the sea. As far as he was concerned, everything this side of the tower, was the end of the world. It presented itself to him as a vast open night sky. It went on forever in a great, deep, dark void that somehow instilled both fear and calm. What was this place? The last thing he remembered was being on the balloon and watching his friends drift off into the distance.

"No!" screamed Ahna, trying her best to lift the ground beneath her, "Wait! Please! I need to see!"

Kydd looked up at the tower, unfamiliar as it was from this angel, a few flickering memories popped in mind.

"Excuse me?" he called, Ahna ignored him.

"Sorry," he said, poking her shoulder, "Are we dead?"

Ahna paused with clumps of grass in her hands. She slowly turned back and set her eyes on Kydd. She screamed out, the last time she saw an orfolk it was tiny, this one was around the size of Euol. She scrambled on all fours across the sphere, in doing so she rolled it, and Kydd away.

"Wait!" he called, "I'm not going to hurt you."

Ahna came to rest once she'd rolled Kydd to the other side of the sphere, but now something else was happening. The surface of the green sphere seemed to bubble and move, like the undulations of the balloon. Ahna stood up quickly and it burst beneath it, spreading colourful sand in all directions and revealing Rune at its core.

Ahna and Kydd floated in the air either side of the significant stone. It glowed beautifully, with colourful curls and coils of, what looked to be either coarse sand or aetherforms, depending on the angel. The patterns grew more elaborate and larger, at the middle of it all, Rune grew brighter. She became so bright everything else faded and the pair were blinded.

Ahna stirred from her sleep, trying to block the light from her eyes. It drained away and she awoke to the dark blue, early morning light. Something still glowed, she trained her eyes upon it. At the end of her hammock, holding a peculiar glowing stone, was the little orfolk from the marsh.

Kydd held Rune in his hands, her brilliant light had brought back colour to his eyes, waking him to this new world. The light returned to the contours of Rune, leaving Kydd conscious and in full control at the end of Ahna's bed. He remained calm, mostly through bafflement. He looked up at Ahna she stared back at him.

Notknowing what to do, he lifted a paw and gave a friendly wave, "Good morning."