Moonrise ✔ [Complete]

04 Sun (Part 2)

The trip was to last a full day and a half. They made two stops along the way at two small island nations to refuel the aircraft and to eat. But by the time the natives had learned of her presence, she was already gone.

It was as reasonably comfortable a ride on an aircraft could be, but the slight nerves that Maeyune was feeling distracted her from rest. Her team slept undisturbed around her, and Deiyu had taken to reading a book he had pulled from his bag. She was reserved to her own thoughts, watching as clouds sped by.

She felt unsettled. She did not know what to expect. Would Bera welcome her with open arms? Would the Sun Goddess incarnate? Surely they were happy to have been provided her assistance, having seen endless battle after battle?

When the sun had set, she managed to catch several hours of sleep. When she woke again, she saw that the ocean beneath the aircraft had transformed into solid black bedecked with many spots of light. Were they...?

"We are in Bera now," Deiyu said, seeing the question on her face. "It should be only a few more hours before we land."

"Where will we be staying the night?" she asked.

"At the estates of Lady Luciana Greylord," he answered, setting his book aside to glance out his window. "She is the daughter of Head Councilor Ristoff Greylord. We will be meeting Master Den there as well."

She continued to gaze outside the window, at the spotted, black land and the crescent moon that shone bright through the clouds.

"Are you nervous?" he asked.

She looked at him. "No," she said. "Well, not entirely."

"Don't be. You will be great." He smiled warmly at her, and she found she had to turn her gaze away as her intimate memories of him resurfaced.

At long last, the voice of one of the pilots sounded through the transport aircraft, alerting them that they would be landing in half an hour.

One by one, the members of her team woke, several stretching with gaping yawns.

Eventually, they felt the aircraft descend and slow. It came to a halt as it hovered in the air, and they all peered out their windows as it alighted on the ground.

Benny clapped his hands as he shouted, "Again!"

Unbuckling herself from her seat, Maeyune rose and grabbed her bag when the door slid open. From the front of the aircraft, the pilots left their seats to perform the Beran salute, a right fist over their hearts.

Outside the plane, Clover tossed his bag to the ground and threw his hands in the sky. "I can feel it!" he shouted, a wide, ecstatic grin breaking across his face. His fire aura was bright.

He was right. He was in the land of his energy. Maeyune could feel it, too. There was something strange in the air, something different and yet vaguely familiar. It was a foreign energy that her body, fortunately, did not reject. As she breathed in and absorbed the energy through every pore, it flowed through her veins like oil in water. The environment was rich with the sun's energy.

She saw that they had landed on an aircraft pad illuminated by tall lamps. About a hundred yards away on top of a hill was a large mansion lit with hundreds of lights. There were about a dozen dark figures standing at the edge of the pad. The engine of the aircraft turned off, and the figures approached them.

They bowed low. "Welcome, Miss Maeyune Ereni," one of them greeted, a man in a uniform more sophisticated than the others. "Please, allow us to grab your bags."

With their bags in tow, Maeyune followed the man from the pad and up a flight of stairs to the extravagant mansion. She marveled at the beautiful landscape as they walked passed, the picturesque gardens lit at night by small lamps. More people awaited them by what appeared to be the back entrance to the mansion.