Excerpt: Subtle Moonrise

Subtle Moonrise
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February 3, 2007
Saturday, Midmorning

Twilight still hadn’t had any Dreams that could be so important, at least as far as she could tell. No ‘a world is ending, save it’ Dreams, or even, ‘help this person’ Dreams. I suppose they’ll come up when I least expect it, or something, she thought with a sigh. Jesse had ‘called’ earlier through her thoughts, and said that there were too many things going on that weekend for them to meet. Twilight had decided that maybe she should start putting more of the ‘worldgates’ up. She was not sure why, but she felt an odd compulsion to do so. Maybe there’s some Idea for the future that needs to be set, or something. Twilight went up to her room, telling her parents that she’d be back by lunch, and that there was something she had to do.

When she got upstairs, she made sure that the blinds were closed, and then phased to the nameless world.

She phased in on the peninsula that she had left from the last time she was there. She was in her wolf form again, and as she looked around, a name for the world around her, a strange name, but a name, came to her Knowing. ArtheIref… Hmmm… Interesting… Still, if it’s to be, might as well go along with it. Twilight leaped into the air again, and flew around. She saw that the setting of the land had changed little; the time in this world must have run the same as hers, Twilight herself crossing through time notwithstanding. She looked to the North, and saw the snow fall. No… Not today, I think. Maybe later, but now doesn’t feel like the time. She turned her gaze to the West, and saw another place, beside a river, that ran by the castle. The river, nearly a mile wide at that point, protected the spot. The river- Tonitro, River Tonitro, she reminded herself- split in two directions at this point, and the place that she felt pulled to, was on the nearly cut off peninsula on the western end. Well, when in Rome… thought Twilight. She might as well go see whether it was a good place for a worldgate.

She flew across the forest, not hurrying, but enjoying the wind under her wings, and the weightless feeling of flying in one direction or another. Twilight wasn’t cold; her fur kept the wind out, and it was a clear, sunny day, regardless. She passed over a few small towns that looked up at her. In the air, farther away, were dragons and their riders, enjoying the air just as she was. Twilight let the Knowing through, and saw that some of those in the air outside were true Dragon Riders, rare as they were. As she approached the river, she could see the castle- The Keep, really, she thought, as another flash went through her mind- she could see the Keep towering above the land below. Whoa…. Big… L.A.’s got nothing on this. The Keep was huge, a city unto itself. In the north-center of the Keep was a castle, the main building. Passing over it, her sharp eyes caught a person- A seer, she’s a visiting seer from the North Kingdom, she amended- look at her, then pass out as a vision hit. Oh. Great. Well, this world will be fun, won’t it. Still, Twilight continued flying West, towards the Tonitro.

She arrived at the peninsula a little later than she expected. Then again, I was practically flying across a continent in itself, she thought. Still, she had time enough; Twilight had finally mastered the ‘crossing through time’ part of her abilities, when she wasn’t bypassing the structure part, which she still often did. She padded around the peninsula, searching for the place she was pulled to. When Twilight neared the middle of the bar of land, she saw what had called her. Standing in the middle of a small clearing, was another stone. It was stood up in the same manner as the last, and was the same overall shape. However, it was different. It was made of, if she was not mistaken, solid obsidian. Blacker than night itself, the stone held a depth that transcended reality. A perfect place for a worldgate to everywhere. Well, I just hope this doesn’t get me into trouble later, she thought. Twilight began to craft the door.

When she had finished, Twilight pulled back to look at what she had created. The marks on the stone glittered coldly, and the stone itself seemed to ripple like water when something touched it. Signs of power. “I think,” she said quietly to herself, as she often did, “that hiding this with a disillusionment would be a lovely idea.” Twilight felt through the world around her, bending it. She made the space of the peninsula push away at those who would use the gate as a tool for chaos. She made it push at those who came for nothing more than sport, so unless they were truly determined, it would cloud their way. After a while, and several more precautions, Twilight looked at the space as a whole again. It sparkled with enchantments, of many colors.

“One more, I think,” she whispered quietly, looking down a bit. The final spell was not of protection, but of peace. If one who came to this spot was troubled, or sad, they would feel a certain equality. The spell was not truly to be upon each who came, but upon the space itself. There would be a connection, with all things loved and lost, here, at this place so appropriate, at this crossing of all worlds. Twilight wove the spell through the clearing, and as she did so, a whispering tune began to carry about the air. It started slowly, and then sped up, though never beyond a certain point. It was the clarity of a flute-song, running on the wings of the sky, and as the spell was cast, all across the land the song was heard.

A young Queen, eyes showing knowledge older than her years, looked up, and felt the sorrow of a terrible loss lift, for the first time in a long while.

A boy, unable to help as his dragon lay dying in the plains to the far, far, North, watched as the pain fled his friend’s eyes at the sound.

A storyteller who had inherited a little bit of the sight heard the soft notes, and saw their story play in the landscape of his mind.

And far in the Southlands, a young black dragon named Kedris felt the calling darkness in his sorrowed heart lift for what would be the last time, in hundreds and hundreds of years.

Twilight knew nothing of these events, happening far away from her. But, as she completed the casting, she felt like a story, a set of event, had… Not so much been set in motion, as affected implicitly by what had just happened. And now would be about the time to get home, she thought as her inner sense of time alerted her. She was still reluctant to go through time except for the normal variations that one would expect when traveling through dimensions. So, with little further thought upon the preceding events (besides to file them away for later contemplation), Twilight phased home.

She reappeared back in her room, and upon doing so, realized she had forgotten to shift back. Twilight did so, opting to leave on the wings. Hey, maybe if I’m careful, I could pretend they’re part of a Halloween costume this year! Just then, her mother called everyone down for lunch. She shrugged at the errant thought, that maybe she should shift so she didn’t have wings; her parents were now a little bit more used to her walking around looking not-quite-herself of late. And that is a thought I will have to ponder later. Lunch apparently awaits.