Book of The Lightborn: Rise

Until We Meet Again

'I send my prayer to you, Creator,' atop a tree, the Blessed amongst the Ascended raises a prayer, 'bring them back to me, for I miss them oh so much,' for his siblings to meet him once again. His hair has grown to where the tips of his fingers would get lost between all of them, while his flesh bore the burden of a few more scars.

"We must go brother," Eharel stood at the bottom of the tree, ensuring no creature was to ambush them, whispering to Kilon, "the others are probably home by now," in his hand, the spear with a blade made of a clawbear claw had a more sharp edge, shining an almost white grey.

"That we must," Kilon approved, letting his feet touch a branch of the tree, "I just had this odd feeling ever since we entered this portion.". Kilon and his group were on the hunt for the apex predator that was proving to be far more cunning than they could imagine. 'It's reminiscent of the Link, I can tell,' Kilon climbed down the tree without manipulating the wind, so as to not attract unwanted attention 'but maybe it's just me, from using my light for so long.'. At the base of the tree, a group of a hundred Lightborn were quietly gathering.

"Avunaia and the Sweepers left already, they had two injured," despite their own cunning, the Lightborn had a difficult time dealing with this predator. "The draxes were especially careful this time," the face of exhaustion from Eharel telling as much, "they're starting to learn Kilon.".

Treacons, the apex predators of the Lands Between Mountains, were lizard-like creatures. Walking on all fours, having a feline body, a line of fur on their backs, the rest of the body covered in thick scales, these creatures have evolved with high intelligence and awareness of their surroundings. They weren't the only intelligent species around the lands, the regal deers being highly aware themselves. But due to the constant challenges they subject themselves to, the draxes were learning from the Lightborn other methods of survival, thus were becoming more and more cunning.

"They've been doing it for two tree times," Kilon was speaking of months by how a tree's leaves were changing, in this case, six of them, "ever since we arrived, they've been stalking us, preying on the smaller groups whenever they could.". Kilon held his spear in his right hand, the blade was made purely of the metal that was melted on the edge of Eharel's weapon, his clawbear cape adorned with small trinkets from various animals. "It will stop though," he stood as tall as ever, his siblings looking with religious eyes towards him, more so than six months prior to when it began, "that I will ensure.".

From east where they were, Kilon and the hundred Lightborns with him started to head back west. Once out of the forest, they could see the sun shining in the west. The warm embrace of its rays were slightly denied by the cold winds surrounding the forests, then reinforced as they stepped into open fields. There like the branches of a tree, above grass, the crowns of regal deers were moving. Most of them were of a dark brown colour, while Kilon's, Eharel's and a few other Lightborn's were of a beautiful black that would hide them in the night. The regal deers were used to sleeping during the day, but thanks to the Lightborns' radiant energy, they could push through the better part of the day. This was used as a method to train them to sleep whenever the Lightborn found it most useful.

The dawn of day came with the breaking of bloom moons in the vast fields as well, Kilon admiring their fragile beauty in the fresh and moist air. The other Lightborn were spreading around, as their regal deers had specific positions, so as not to attract any draxe from the forest. Their crowns were rising up from within the grass as soon as their respective master was near them, the smart creatures recognizing the special feeling each of their light had imprinted onto them. Once Kilon was near his, much like him, it was the largest of them all. He called his mount Arhegon. In their tongue arhenul meant night, while eregon meant dawn, thus Arhegon meant 'dawn of night'. Arhegon was tamed by Kilon, and the other mounts by their respective masters. In Kilon's case, aside from his size that needed to be accommodated by a larger regal deer, there was also the fact that his mount shouldn't be intimidated by his presence. So when Kilon stumbled across Arhegon, they both fought each other, Kilon proving his dominance by stopping the crown strike Arhegon tried upon him. The strike from the crown of a seven metres large beast, the crown alone being five metres tall and three metres in width, would've killed even a clawbear in a single strike.