The Open Sky: Eternal Forest Saga - Book 3

Chapter 17

 Seryan Moonbeam always stuck rigidly to her routines. Everything in her day had its appointed time and duration. Years of this strict adherence had trained her body to behave the same, and this was most apparent in her sleep schedule. She was up with the sun every morning, well-rested from getting the same amount of sleep each night. If ever she awoke too early or too late, it was a sign that something was wrong with her.

When Moonbeam awoke it was still dark, dark enough to where she couldn't tell the hour or how long she'd been asleep. Her breaths were quick and she felt a cold sweat upon the back of her neck. At first, she thought she may have become ill. With autumn approaching, the temperatures at night were changing wildly. It was just the environment where sickness loved to flourish. But she felt no aches or fever. She was well, but something was not right with her. What exactly that was she couldn't yet deduce, but the fact there was something was unmistakable.

She rose from the bed and pulled her nightgown tightly around her torso. Being the Seryan to the elves, her hut by the lakeshore was large and better insulated than most in Tranquility, but she could still feel the cold of the night air all around her. Her window faced east, and she looked out towards the treetops on the other side of the lake. There was no line of light blue above them yet, meaning sunrise was still hours away.

"Why in Lady's name am I awake?" she said aloud in the dark. She thought about simply trying to go back to sleep, but the nagging thought that something wasn't right had her too anxious to relax. The hut was too dark to move about in, so she decided to set a light. Extending her right hand towards the desk against the wall, she flicked her wrist without turning her head. The intention was to send a magical spark to the candle wick and set it alight, but nothing happened. Puzzled, she turned to face the desk and tried again. Nothing happened.

Her heart beat faster as she walked towards the desk. Moonbeam flicked her other hand, but there was still no flame. With quickening breaths, she held her hands up with palms towards the ceiling. She tried to conjure a fireball, the most basic spell of them all, but no flames came to her in the darkness.

"What is happening?!" she cried out in panic. Her motions grew more frantic with each failed attempt to cast a spell. Fire, water, air, all the elements refused to bend to her will. Moonbeam stumbled backward and fell onto her bed. She'd been a conjurer of the Lady's magic since she was a youth. It had been a part of her life for decades. Why was it gone now? What was happening?

With trembling hands, the Seryan changed from her dressing gown to her regular robes and set out across the dark path towards the temple. Her cane squished in the wet mud next to the shore with each step. She'd had trouble walking for a few years now, a cruel gift bestowed upon her by old age, but her panic was making it hard to even stand. More than once she lost her footing and nearly fell into the black water to her right.

Rows of torches lined either side of the bridge to the Temple door. The night was quiet. Each step of her foot and strike of her cane against the stone bridge echoed across the water. She arrived at the door to find it slightly ajar. Firelight flickered from inside the stone structure. Someone else was here. The large, wooden door groaned as she pushed it open. A single torch on the back wall was lit. It's light caused shadows of the statues to dance upon the walls. Beneath the torch, at the table where the Seryan Council met, Galdaren sat alone.

"Moonbeam!" Galdaren exclaimed as she stood. "You're here."

"Are you alone?" Moonbeam asked as she made her way across the floor to the back wall. "Is anyone else present?"

Galdaren shook her head. "The Temple is empty, save for us. Has it happened to you as well?"

"I've lost my power," Moonbeam said. Even the Elven Seryan herself couldn't believe how unsure and frightened she sounded. "I couldn't even conjure a fireball. Is it the same for you?"