The Smaller Things (Sky: Children of the Light)

Chapter 7: Howling Old Owl in the Woods

The elder of the Hidden Forest, Teth, was a stern and respectable figure. She dictated strong rule over her limited land, and cared kindly for the creatures of Light that managed to survive in the near constant rain in the realm. Of course, whenever a Skykid visited, the temple, the storm would be ceased temporarily, before resuming some time later.

"State your business," Teth demanded as Vionn barely landed a foot inside the temple. This elder was way more speedy at answering to any visitors, they pondered. Vionn inhaled as they prepared to explain.

"Today's shard eruption, around noon, had landed in Prairie peaks, and-"

"Prairie Peaks? That has never happened fore. Allow me to check." Teth interrupted as she turned towards a shelf of various books and scrolls. She opened a beige scroll, noticeably more recently used than the others. "Yes, indeed that has never happened before. Do you know what this means, Child?"

"Well, it could very much imply that-" Vionn started but was then again cut off by Teth,

"Yes, yes. That leaves only the mainland of the Prairie safe from Shard eruptions. All other areas are vulnerable, so if Eden's storm is to worsen like we saw today, that would mean that the entire realm could be taken under the same fate as the Golden Wasteland."

Vionn flinched. It was an overestimation of a theory that Teth had provided, but it still had a significant chance of happening. They observed her bumbling around with more scrolls and books, analyzing data from who knows when...

"I had hoped the Storm wouldn't worsen, but with this new vulnerability in Prairie Peaks, other safe areas in realms could be affected." Teth flipped to a page in the middle of an old, dusty book, "what was the severity of the fallout?"

Vionn had been busy overthinking the scenarios and intrusive images of what could happen to the Prairie until that train of thought was interrupted by a question. "Um, uh- a red Shard event. No crabs were present."

"Yes, good," Teth scribbled down some notes on a blank scroll, "what was the Memory you relived?"

Vionn paused once more, and considered. Teth was already fazed enough by their mention of Prairie Peaks, so would answering truthfully worsen her mood? "It, um... wasn't any previously recognized memory," Vionn answered after some time.

A brief scribbling noise, and Teth replied, "Please elaborate," and then added, "with as much detail as possible.

Vionn tapped their foot on the ground, searching for any descriptive adjectives they could use... "It was less like a Memory and... more like a present moment? Nothing was made of stone, and there was shallow water all across the floor, which was oval-shaped and... and finite? Also, there were flowers on the floor despite the absence of any dirt or soil, and the sky wasn't a void... it- it had stars in it!"

Teth gripped her ink pen tighter as she processed the information. "You've most likely had some sort of premonition. A... prophecy of sorts. The-" she fumbled over her words and cleared her throat, "the flowers that were there. What species did they belong to."

"Roses," Vionn answered quickly.

"I do believe that whatever, or whoever, sent the premonition to you might want you to go to a place with roses. I don't know what you'll find there, but it could be vital information." Teth directed her gaze towards the temple's exit and pointed, "go! Time is of the essence!"

With their heart almost beating out of their chest, Vionn nodded in confirmation and dashed out of the Temple's door.