Twilight Elysium

Chapter 14: LOTR makes me sob

Hey gamers, I puked three times today, so here's an update lol

Santana quietly led Wamuu through the winding hallways, making sure his older brother didn't tumble. They made conversation along the way, but made sure to stay quiet enough that it wouldn't disturb anyone.

"Has something felt off about Lord Kars?" Santana whispered to Wamuu.

"Not any more than usual, no."

"He hasn't seemed significantly more impatient to you?"

"No, you must be suffering from a lack of sleep, Santana. I keep telling you to rest but you never listen to me."

Santana angrily whipped around to face Wamuu. Wamuu stopped as well, probably hearing Santana's footsteps halt.

"Now isn't the time to be lecturing me," Santana snapped, his teeth bared, "There's something wrong with Lord Kars, even Xydras has sensed it."

Wamuu's nose and upper lip twitched. His eyebrows knitted together.

"If you say so," Wamuu grunted.

The brothers walked in silence until they arrived at their father's study. Santana checked the room to make sure it was clear before pulling Wamuu into the room.

The first thing he noticed was how his skin prickled and his teeth chattered almost immediately. He looked back to Wamuu, only to notice that he could see the soft puffs of air he and Wamuu were emitting.

"Are there no lights on?" Wamuu whispered, licking his finger and holding it out.

"No," Santana shivered, clutching his arms. He plucked one of the candelabras from the side table. The stubby little candles were bearded with wax drippings. Santana cupped his hand around one of the wicks and murmured a spell, causing the entire set of candles to illuminate themselves.

Santana led Wamuu over to Kars' massive lounge chair and helped him into the seat. He used his newly lit candelabra to look at the books that lined the bookshelves.

"What shall we read?"

"You pick, maybe you can find something boring enough to send you to sleep."

Santana sighed through his nose and kept thumbing through the titles.

"The Comprehensive Guide to Cairns?" Santana suggested.

"Lord Kars has read that to us before," Wamuu sniggered.

Santana let out a soft laugh, "Well I think he's read everything in this library to us."

"Give me one of my braille books, I'll read to you," Wamuu said.

Santana rolled his eyes, shuffling over to the small section that Kars had made for Wamuu. He fluttered his fingers over the small indentations on the spine. He pulled the book from the shelf and looked at the title. A small, yellow dragon with its wings outstretched was in the middle of the cover page. Other than that, there were no decorations on it.

He shuffled back over to Wamuu and gingerly handed the book to him. He settled in next to his brother and set the candelabra on the side table.

"Blow out the candles and shut your eyes," Wamuu commanded, "You're going to sleep whether you like it or not."

Santana laughed, licking his fingers and extinguishing the flames. All light was gone from the room except the moonlight filtering in. He rested his head on Wamuu's shoulder.

Wamuu ran his fingers over the spine. A small smile made its way on to his face.

"Identifying Dragons for Those Who Cannot See," he murmured, gently pulling Santana in closer. There was the soft crackle of the leather cover. "There are two types of dragons; Chromatic and Metallic..."

Santana let Wamuu's deep, warm voice fill his ears. He slowed his breathing, listening to every word that passed his brother's lips.

"... Red dragons spend their adulthood collecting treasure and attacking foes when necessary. All dragons love to hoard, but the red dragon is the biggest hoarder of them all. They can recognize the value of any object from the largest bauble to the tiniest trinket."

"That explains why Xydras always bitches at me when I'm wearing fake earrings," Santana grumbled, more to himself than anything. Wamuu let out a deep chuckle.

"You think he has a problem with you? If I don't wear pure xanthanium bangles then I get berated," Wamuu murmured back. Santana snickered. "Now if you'll stop interrupting."

Santana let out a content sigh and shut his eyes.

"Wait, before you start again, how can you tell?"

"How can I tell what?"

"How can you tell what type of dragon it is? Like if you met one besides Xydras?"

"Well, they all have certain smells. Xydras has nosehair burning sulfur, and the only black dragon I've encountered smelled like sewage, and that's what they smell like according to this book. Now, hush, you're supposed to be sleeping."

~

Santana could feel that his shoes were drenched. Balalaila was curled up in his arms, her soft breaths indicating she was asleep. Santana scrunched up his eyebrows. He hadn't seen her for a very long time, why was she suddenly appearing in his dreams.

He sat up, his body sore from sleeping in such a strange place. He looked around. It seemed he was in some sort of statue garden. He carried the small sheep with him to look around.

Santana landed on the ground with a soft 'thump'. The moisture in his shoes made a nasty squelch when his feet touched the soaking ground. He noticed that his body was smaller than normal.

"Strange," he muttered to himself, finding that his voice was different, too. It was softer, more feminine. He shuffled over to a nearby puddle at which he looked in.

The first thing he noticed was that he was indeed smaller. He could make out a small face staring back at him from the ripples in the puddle. His (h/c) hair almost dipped into the mucky water, but he made sure to pull it back.

"Who am I?" He questioned, his voice still surprising himself.

He stood up from his kneeling position and walked through the statue garden. He recognized council members and several others. From the most obscure to the most profound, there were statues.

Without meaning to, he circled back to the sculpture that he had been resting in, surprised to find that it was himself. He looked up into his own face.

"Am I really that plain looking?" He asked, only to receive a happy bleat in response. Balalaila shook herself out and wriggled out of the confused god's arms. She weaved in and out of his legs, rubbing herself all over him. Santana couldn't help but smile.

"Lailai?" he chuckled, "What are you doing?"

He squatted down to her height and petted her. She jumped up and bumped her head against his hand, nipping at him playfully. Santana scooped the jubilant sheep into his arms and pressed a kiss to her woolly head.

"Where even are yo- we?" He asked, even though he knew he wouldn't get an answer from her. Santana climbed the plinth and situated himself back in his statue's lap. He pulled the sheep closer into his chest and sighed. He could feel the ewe give a content sigh as well. "There's a lot to learn, isn't there?" Balalaila only gave a tiny whine in response.