Nightspun (#ONC_2020)

Chapter 6 - Root

Sybil fell back against the stone jetty, scrambling away from the edge of the water. 

The Nightspell elf was in shock, her arms shaking while her Ironwood arm rattled ominously at the sight of the overgrown field. Through some kind of sun streaked miracle, Dewdrop had grown a whole crop of mandraroot in less than a minute. 

"I thought you grew Quick Seed plants not Monthly Grow?" Amira exclaimed, trying to make sense of this the only way she could.

"I did! He must've…"

Sybil's voice died in her throat, unable to explain how the crops she chose suddenly changed to full grown mandraroot. Quick Seed plants like bumpkins, redderbies and jackalopes only took a few days to grow but to get a three monthly quota you had to grow a lot. Either you could risk it all on the Monthly Grow to get the quota all in one go or spend back breaking hours to harvest the Quick Seed until dawn broke. 

There was no break for those from the Outcrop but no elven cared while the quota was met. Every elf had to be fed and every elf was no exception to ignoring the hard laborers of the farmers in Floodbound. To them, they were no more inconsequential than a simple fall of rain or a sun filled sky. They existed to fulfill their purpose and nothing more. What Dewdrop had done was not only change their strict regimen but provided them with a way out of that rut.

"Even if they are almost grown...there's no way we could pick that many in time…" Sybil said, suddenly disheartened by the bountiful gift. 

Mandraroot were a very difficult plant to harvest. Every plant had different picking times depending on how ripe it was and the soil needed a constant supply of water built underneath like a film of moisture but it had to avoid reaching the roots otherwise the plant would drown. The roots of the mandraroot were unique, instead of continuing to burrow underground they would sprout upwards like a long tail and continue to grow until the Mandra flower bloomed on the first rays of sunlight.

"Don't worry about that for now. Dewy did us a massive favour. The High Nightcaster will be here for the three month quota mid morning. We'll need to harvest at dawn."

It was why a Nightspell and Sunspell elf always partnered together if they grew mandraroot. While the bud of the main plant of the mandra flower began to bloom, the roots would travel upwards. It needed to sprout at night or the roots would shrivel up the instant the sunlight hit them. But left too long in the dark the mandra flower would overgrow rapidly and be impossible to unearth from the ground.

"Yeah, I know but… I can see the mandraroot in front of me but I have no idea how? Or why?"

It needed both Sunspell and Nightspell to work in harmony and no artificial methods to create such an effect could be used to help the plant grow and cheat the timescale needed. It seemed Dewdrop wasn't in the equation when it came to artificial methods. Sprout in the night, harvest at dawn was the motto any mandraroot grower followed. Not that there were many left to pass on their knowledge.

"Isn't it obvious? You Miss Nightspun need to finish that story of yours. Don't let Dewdrop's hard work go to waste. He deserves to know the ending just as much as I do." Amira sat down on the hard ground beside her, nudging her in the shoulder just to tease her.

"Alright, if you say so." Sybil muttered, scuffing her shoes against the concrete.

Her foot hit a stray pebble and while it veered across the surface of the murky water, it sank and the Sunspell sighed. Decision made.

"Where was I...oh yeah, I was accused of falsifying the truth of an ancient tale and was branded as a traitorous blasphemer to the great elven order of Nightspun."

Amira winced at her tone, knowing how big a deal that was to any elf in Neridia. Casters took their stories very seriously since it was their only connection to the past. Any deviation from the Old Scripts passed down from generation to generation depicted elves who deviated from that path had their tongues burned or cursed off by their own Sun or Nightspell.

Legend says that the reason for this was to cleanse the world of Silvertongues and turn them into Truthseekers of this world. These names became synonymous with other countries but elves only saw the true meaning of the words they created. No other outside Neridia mattered to them and that was how it remained.

But Sybil's grandmama had gone beyond the borders and the bias of her kind long before the demon wars began. From then on her grandmama told stories outside of her infamous Nightspun name, recalling creatures made of scales and sand while winged maidens watched over barren skies. This was what first mesmerised Sybil and inspired her to become a Nightspun, not realising the consequences of her family's history carved only by them alone.

"I didn't even know it was the wrong ending and I told it on the biggest night of my life. Siara knew about my performance long before, she even helped me practice and she let me go ahead with it. She's the royal Sunstress for mages sake, she could have done something!" Sybil continued, her frustration growing louder while Amira held her tight.

The Nightspell elf, pulled her black hair back away from her eyes, green and undeterred by her friend's distress. Amira knew of Siara the royal Sunstress. Tasked only to handle the highest order of imbuing Sunspell into objects through an ancient ritual of passage to help protect and invent new ways to enrich the lives of Neridia. 

Her work was bound in the jumper Sybil wore, to the very Stone Bouy they teetered on the edge of the water. Everything in Floodbound was powered by Sunspell for Sunspell elves and every item they touched glowed with the crest of the royal Sunstress. It was why Sybil refused to be so close to the capital of Waterdown.

 It was why when she first started she broke so many shovels and it was why Sybil vowed to leave Daybreak when she did. She could feel her mother's Sunspell in everything she touched and that sickened her. Only the earth could not be imbued with such power. It belonged to a power source all on it's own. The elusive Earthspell elves.

"I'm sure she had her reasons…" Amira began, trying to see the positives in the situation but Sybil quickly shut her down.

"I'm not a child, Amira! She knew of the Old Scribes, she knew for months of the change and she let me humiliate myself."

"Siara knew how important the Astral Three story was to you. Surely she wanted you to honour her mother's memory by using her ending?" The Nightspell elf retaliated, her hands clenched at her sides.

Sybil stood up in outrage.

"No. Siara isn't like that. She isn't my mother. She said so herself. She may have raised me but it was only because grandmama died that she had to. She never wanted me and neither did he!"

Sybil was done talking.

She ran away from the jetty, from Amira, from everything as her tears burned into nothingness. The truth had only been reiterated once before and still the pain in her chest was the same.

After all, Sybil could always detect lies at a young age and now was no different. But it had dulled without Dewdrop beside her and now it had came back in full force. It was unbearable but Sybil had ran into the night, unable to face anymore of this torture.

"Syb, wait!"

All the Nightspell elf could do was let her go just as she had done the night Siara herself spoke those words and banished her from Daybreak hill for good. To her, no daughter existed in the depths of Floodbound. Only a failure of a Sunspell elf.