Nightspun (#ONC_2020)

Prologue

Siara stared beyond the canopy of trees, the rain pelting everything in sight.

 An unnatural storm wreaked havoc on the street below, the city of Floodbound drenched in seconds. Not unusual for a city surrounded by canals instead of streets but for the weather controlling elves of Neridia, even this was a little more rainfall than they were used to.

The Stormspell mages with their sea green cloaks stood warily before the storm, several of their apprentices fleeing at the sight of lightning headed their way. The marbled arches overflowing with water began to crumble under their very feet. They had stood for centuries, withstood even dragonflame yet the precision aim of lightning was too much for even arkalite stone to handle. Whoever was wielding the storm to their will was a formidable force of nature. No Forecaster elf could do such damage. 

Yet despite all this carnage, here Siara was wrapped up tight within a small hidden cabin on a hill. Her family had protected this plot of land for generations and here it still stood, invisible to even the harshest of storms. No one truly knew why but as long as the next generation of Sunspell elves chose to call this place home, here the cabin would stay on Daybreak hill.

Averting her gaze from the storm she brushed her hand over the glass window pane to dim it from view. The flecks of sunlight dappling the trees disappeared at once, the Ironwood trees bowing without the fresh nutrients the sun provided. 

Siara sighed, returning to her work despite the looming chaos outside and lingering sun magic on her fingertips. There in front of her was a piece of everyday scrap of cloth, grey and sickly after being scavenged from a cobalt cloaked individual seen scouting beyond their borders. She had heard rumours of their powers but none had truly dared to experiment with them beyond the desert walls of Caldor. Perhaps that was why the storm was so harsh today.

But as the royal Sunstress of Neridia, it was her job to do the impossible.

Running her hand through the soft, silky material she tugged at the hair pin holding her hair up with her free hand and let her hair fall loose. It was half dry with scraps of thread and endless tangles of silver but it was exactly the way she liked it. Laughing, she swiped her fringe away from her face, turning the flower pin around in her fingers. 

"Ringent."

Siara's hand glowed with sunlight, the hairpin snapping in two as the bejeweled flower on the top of the pin began to open, its snapdragon maw peeling away the whittled wood to reveal three sewing needles. One pearly gold, the middle a dull silver and the last a blackened tinge of copper.

"Sorry, Grandmamma. I know you worked hard to get these for us. Do forgive me."

Gingerly picking up one of the treasured needles, Siara pricked her finger on the tip and rested it on the top of the material. Everything important was bound in blood regardless of race. It proved she was who she said she was. Blood couldn't lie to the light of the world: be it sun, moon or stars. Every elf had a purpose and every purpose was aligned with the will of the past.

Waiting for her chance to weave the sunlight spell into the cloth, the needle glowed and dimmed once more: barely potent enough for a single stitch. The cloth instantly turned hard and brittle like armour before remaining rigid, her handprint being mockingly mirrored back at her. Siara gasped, dropping the piece at once, staring at her hand as she realised the flecks of sundust coating her skin. The material, whatever it was, hadn't just reacted to her Sunspell. It had rejected it.

"That's…impossible. It can't be, surely it can't be beyond my Casting. Unless…is it Astral magic?" 

A loud noise startled Siara out of her daze, a quiet, childish giggle muffled by the walls between them. Despite her failure, she couldn't help but smile, the corners of her mouth tweaking up in amusement. Setting aside her work, she frowned at the conundrum one last time before gathering her prized possessions. It would do her any good to let her daughter see her frown on a horrid day like today.