MEOVANNI
It did not look like the stars would come out tonight. The rain had started to pour. It was too bad, she thought. It would have been nice to see them. She needed to relax a little.
Moonlit sat up from under the roscby tree. She cursed herself for not preventing her friends to go on that hunt. Mar's hatred was so blinding. Why would vamps destroy his village so many years ago? It did not make any sense.
The pale white furre sighed against her tree. There was something else... Maybe she should have went with them. She trusted Gorian, but Mar may not be able to see very clearly...
I was right. You are stunning.
Moonlit looked up at the sound. There was no one there. Yet she could of sworn she heard a voice... almost like a whisper.
Furre of Stars...
"Who's there?" Moonlit demanded.
Soils of yesterday. I stand before you, younger than the valleys of which you hide...
"Say what?"
I am the ageless furre on your changing mountains, swept by the fluid of long ago. You are my blood and I am your body.
Moonlit stood up, bracing herself against the tree. Her tail peaked out from the canopy and was getting wet. She tousled back her blood red hair and squinted toward the voice.
"This is not funny," she yelled, "Show yourself!"
Under the tree with her, a brown feline came into view. He looked very young with a babyish face, ears slightly large for his head. He was handsome with beady dark eyes, black hair, thick yet matted. Like her, he had black stripes, like most tabbies she knew. He smiled at her. It was then that she noticed his clothing. They appeared to be nothing more than old brown leather.
Earth remains.
"Who are you?" Moonlit demanded again.
I am Earth.
"Earth?" she asked, puzzled, "Is that your name?"
You have nice blue eyes, just like Blue Skies.
"Does your mother know you're here, little man?" she asked, "Or did you run away from home?"
You have the power over the stars.
Moonlit frowned, "How did you know that? WHO ARE YOU?"
I am Earth.
"What is your real name?" she screamed.
It does not matter. It died years ago.
The brown furre reach with his paw and gently brushed her cheek. Moonlit stepped back automatically. She poised herself defensively and hissed at the intruder.
"Get off my land!"
"Moonlit Star??" someone cried from a short distance away. Moonlit was relieved at the sound of her old friend.
"Kaelin!" she answered, "There's a freak scaring me here!"
The brown furre looked back towards Kaelin. Suddenly the warrior was there, completely drenched by what Moonlit thought was the rain. Not that the furre of stars cared how Kaelin looked at this time. She was just glad there was help.
Hello Blue Skies.
"You stay away from her," Kaelin demanded. She stretched out her arm, revealing a small dagger in her paw.
"Do you know him?" Moonlit asked.
We were lovers.
"You were never my lover!" Kaelin yelled, "Step back from Moonlit NOW!"
If Moonlit was paying attention, she might have noticed the rain getting heavier. She may have been able to notice the tremendous waves in the nearby canal. But at the moment, she was frozen, watching this bizarre confrontation.
You should be protecting the innocents, Kaelin. Not the elements ... or your orphans you always save from me.
"What the Ayem is he talking about..." Moonlit asked, shaking her head.
A large splash from her right was the first distracting sound she heard since this furre arrived. She looked to the canal and watched as a large portion of shore gave way and sink into the water. Suddenly a feline's head appeared from inside the artificial river. A small boy was in the water, struggling to keep himself up.
"Oh Ayem," Moonlit gasped.
Innocents like him, Kaelin.
The brown furre grabbed Moonlit's arm. She struggled, but his grip was firm. She looked back at the intruder. His eyes were shining out of his darkness... black, but still glowing.
I will take you now.
Instinctively, Moonlit swung back her other arm. She tried one last time to lose his grip. He remained strong. She clinched her fist and took a swing for his head.
"I'll show you stars," she snarled.
She expected her paw to sting upon impact. But she felt nothing. She did feel shock, as it appeared as if her entire hand penetrated his face. Furre of Land winced, shutting his eyes as if he were in intense pain. A faint white glow shone from the crevasse her fist made. From that crevasse, his face started to crack in different directions like a shattered mirror. Suddenly a blinding white light flashed from his body. Moonlit staggered backward into the rain. She felt sprays of dirt hit her face and body. She blinked several times, trying to get used to the now dimming light. To her horror, the furre of land's body dropped down at her feet, headless.
"Kaelin!" she screamed.
"Are you alright?" she asked quickly.
Moonlit nodded, still staring at the corpse.
"Good," Kaelin said. She looked back to the
canal, searching. Moonlit looked too. The boy was no longer
above water. She watched as Kaelin ran to the canal's edge.
The warrior jumped off the shore and dove in. Moonlit followed to
the canal's edge and watched Kaelin disappear into the waters below.
On this rare occasion, Moonlit wished she could swim.
Kaelin cursed at her subsequent splash. The sound was deafening. It was impossible to hear where the boy was. She concentrated with the turbulent canal. As she sunk down, she negotiated. The water calmed completely. She began her search, feeling within the liquid for a presence.
The child was nearby, she noted. She looked around, still concentrating with the fluid. There was an emptiness in the water to her left. Something large was in that void. She swam toward the disturbance.
The boy was there, lifeless. His body was hidden under the clump of land Earth shattered. Kaelin took him into her arms and tried to pry him out. It was going to take a while, she thought. She opened his mouth, pressed her lips against his and breathed into him. The boy exhaled with water. There might not be enough time, she noted.
Kaelin looked up to the surface and pulled at the water with her paw. A large pocket of air sunk toward them. The bubble landed around her and the boy. She tried to resuscitate him again. The child started to gag.
"Finally," Kaelin said to herself. It was a good sign, but the boy was still not out of danger. She kept pulling the boy from the clumps as she tried to put breath into the child. On her third try, Kaelin noticed something large and dark moving toward them. The boy gagged water again as she concentrated on the figure. It could not possibly be Earth...
"Kaelin," the figure rasped.
"Dark Harvest," Kaelin gasped, "No! You can't take him."
"He is dying," the ancient furre said, standing just outside the bubble. Kaelin leaned against the boy's face and tried to breath into him again. There was still too much water within him.
"You took my family," she protested, desperately pulling at the child's body, "You took my soldiers. I will not let you take anyone else."
"It's what I do," he replied, "It's what I've always done."
Kaelin could just make out his orange hair, swooping backward. Dark Harvest was retrieving something, she noted. She strained to see, but she already knew what it was. He was taking out his spear. Kaelin instinctively took out her dagger.
"You cannot kill an ancient," Dark Harvest reminded her.
"I will not let you take this boy," she snarled.
"He's dying," he reminded her again, "His soul must be mine."
"Let me save him," she plead, "You saved Gorian when
he was in trouble. You let Damoxte save Markliam when he was close
to death."
"This boy is not a descendent of an officer of Xte,"
Dark Harvest argued, "We do not need to save him. Overall, he will
not be worth anything in our fight against the wings."
"He's worth a great deal to someone," Kaelin said. She tried to resuscitate the boy again. This time the boy started coughing. The child opened his eyes to the horror of being beneath the water. He attempted to squirm under her grip. Kaelin held him steady and pulled once more. He suddenly became free, too easily. Kaelin looked back outside the bubble. Dark Harvest was gone.
"Stay calm," Kaelin assured the child, "And hold your breath, ok?"
The boy nodded. Kaelin wrapped the child around her, placed her dagger back into her pocket, and pushed her feet off the bottom of the canal. She shot up through the water like a cork from a bottle. In mere seconds, she reached the surface and embraced the rain.
"Kaelin!" shouted Moonlit.
Kaelin swam with the boy in her arms toward the furre of stars. A group of other furres, most likely the child's family stood around her. Moonlit crouched down when Kaelin got close enough and grabbed the boy. The boy's father took him from her and embraced him. Moonlit extended her paw to Kaelin. She took it and climbed out of the canal. The boy's family left her there, probably because of their emotional state. But Moonlit remained. They stood, but Moonlit's paw remained firm against Kaelin's arm.
"I want to know what's going on," Moonlit said, "Who was that freak? What did I do to his head?"
"I don't know what you did to him," she answered, "But it proved to be very effective."
Moonlit looked stunned for a moment. It was as if she had just realized something.
"You know about my connection with the stars, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Then you'd better start explaining," Moonlit demanded, "You seem to know a great deal about what just happened ... what's been happening. Why do I have power over stars? Who was that Earth guy? And what did you do down there?"
Moonlit Star pointed back at the canal.
"As soon as you got in, the waters calmed down," furre of stars continued, "And no one could survive that long underwater."
"This is all a very long and complicated story," she answered.
"I just blew up someone's head!" Moonlit protested, "I have this insane power to move stars. I think I deserve to know what this is all about. I mean... Ayem... I just killed someone."
"He's not dead," Kaelin answered. She looked back to the lifeless body of Earth and noticed a glare or light from the dirt. She walked to the body and reached into the now wet and shapeless corpse. It was her sword.
"Kaelin," Moonlit plead. She placed her paw on Kaelin's shoulder, "Please tell me what this is all about."
Kaelin stood and washed her sword in the rain.
"Come back with me to my hut," she said, "And I'll try my best."