Meeting with the Moon

The cavern wasn’t a terribly large one, a ways down the shore of this desolate land, tucked away in the sand and damp from the waves at high tide. A lone traveler, wrapped all in dark blacks and browns, grunted as he made his way over the jutting rocks, advancing on the entrance with a wary eye at the stalactites that hung from the roof. He ducked into the cave and slowly took a few steps inside before pausing.

“This is really as far as I feel comfortable with; I hope you don’t mind.” He didn’t really care if his mysterious summoner minded or not. This had been a rather rough journey and not one he cared to repeat.

“Understandable. I thank you for coming all this way.”

The man blinked, momentarily lost, as a woman appeared out of the darkness, wearing a long, blue-white summer gown. Her brunette hair was long and curled in gentle ringlets at the ends, her eyes a cool, crystalline blue, lighter than the ocean, more the color of a clear lake or pond that glittered in the sunlight. “Do I know you?”

She smiled graciously and offered a curtsy. “I am Aurelia Jervas.”

All interest in the situation left the man instantly. “Ah.”

Aurelia didn’t seem sure what to do with that reaction, but she pressed ahead. “And you are Sypher.”

“What can I do for you, my lady?”

Aurelia’s eyes darkened briefly. “You know who I am.” It wasn’t a question, but there was an inquiry behind it nevertheless.

Sypher sighed. “You’re the consort of the Golden Emperor, Aurelia. It’s the kind of thing that gets noticed.”

Aurelia took a breath. “To be completely frank with you, I didn’t know if politics from another world was something with which you would care to familiarize yourself. As I understood it, you were a bit busy handing your own world over to demons.”

“One specific demon,” Sypher corrected carelessly. “And everybody knows about the chosen one who married the man she was supposed to kill.”

Aurelia narrowed her eyes, and Sypher saw a flicker of her true self behind the mask, a fragment of the creature within, but she kept a lid on it, taking a deep breath. “I did no such thing. I married a man with the title of the man I was supposed to kill. That’s part of why I wanted to talk with you.”

“What, so I would advocate for you? Apparently you’re the one who needs to do more research on other planes; I’m accused of trying to assault the Winter Queen back home. My word stands for nothing.”

“Did you do it?”

“No.” Sypher leaned back against the cavern wall, heedless of the water that began to seep into his shirt.

“Why would she accuse you?”

“I turned down her advances.”

Aurelia scoffed.

Sypher shrugged. “You can believe me or not as you will, but that’s what happened.”

“Ophelia Shalaigh hasn’t been the same since the ordeal with the World Walker.”

Both Aurelia and Sypher turned, finding a new woman entering the cavern. She was dressed for winter despite the desert she would have had to cross to reach the meeting place. Her eyes were a similar shade to Aurelia’s, but with more white in them, the color of ice in a frozen tundra. Her hair was pure white. “Am I late?”

“Late?” Sypher echoed, arching an eyebrow at the newcomer, then looking back at Aurelia.

Aurelia shrugged.

The newcomer looked bemused. “You don’t know why we’re here?”

“Not even sure who you are,” Sypher told her dryly.

“She is Winter Lumi,” Aurelia said, though she spoke the name with an undercurrent of skeptical amusement. “Consort of the Silent.”

Sypher stared at her, slowly reaching for a sword that wasn’t there but would appear with a thought.

“You give me too much credit,” Winter said. “We’re only engaged.” She glanced at Sypher. “Relax; unlike some, I’m still loyal to my calling.”

A low growl came from Aurelia, a sound that human vocal cords weren’t capable of producing.

Winter smirked.

“The Golden Emperor, or, more specifically, Yoseph Jhin, will fall,” Aurelia snapped. “The route to get there just proved to be rather more circuitous. Not all of us have such straightforward responsibilities.”

“I’m just glad I haven’t been asked to marry anybody,” Sypher muttered.

“Trueborn,” Winter said, as though that alone explained it.

Maybe it did.

“The Lady does not play favorites,” Aurelia said, and Sypher rolled his eyes.

Of course she was a true believer.

“Everyone plays favorites,” Sypher said with a snort.

“Loathe as I am to agree with the little one-”

Sypher rolled his eyes.

“-he is correct,” Winter finished. “What else do you call her choosing you?”

“Mercy,” Aurelia said simply.

To Sypher’s surprise, she didn’t look angry with them for not sharing her faith. She was looking at them with pity. It made him uncomfortable.

“World Walker?” he hearkened back to a previous conversation topic, glancing at Winter.

“Yes,” Winter said, as though that clarified the matter.

Sypher rolled his eyes. “Who is that? And why not just call them a Traveler?”

Her eyes glittered. “Because he wasn’t. Zaren Adariel was gifted of no gifts from the heavens, bore no greatness in his soul. He created himself a contraption that could maintain physicality within the Rifts and cast himself inside the sea of soul-devouring monsters. And he lived.”

“That’s possible?” Sypher arched an eyebrow.

“It’s how you got here, is it not?”

“I’m a dragon,” Sypher said blandly. “I don’t put myself in a box and pray; I flew.”

“He put himself in a box,” Winter shrugged. “Though I doubt he did much praying, save perhaps to himself.”

Aurelia scoffed.

“And he landed on my shores?” Sypher asked.

“On the banks of the Felmist,” Winter confirmed.

“And he lived?”

“Lived, courted the Queens themselves,” Winter confirmed before making a face. “Ended up creating the biggest problems for the universe ever made.” Then she smiled. “Though they were of benefit to our Lady.”

“Queens?” Sypher echoed. “Plural?”

“Ashera and Ophelia. Guess which one he picked.”

Sypher processed that for a moment and then scoffed. “You claim she’s unstable because her sister stole her man?”

“She is the Queen of the Winter Court. Do you think she has ever lost anything before?”

“Me.”

It was a fourth newcomer, another new voice, but Sypher only had long enough to think that he was getting tired of this before recognition and realization hit him.

It was not a new voice.

Aurelia was on her knees first, followed shortly by Winter after a sharp inhale. Sypher stared at the floor, his knees shaking. Through an effort of will, he remained standing even as both the women stared at him, seemingly afraid he would be struck down on the spot.

“It’s alright, Sypher. I know why you won’t kneel for me.” Her voice was soft, compassionate, but underlined with a cold amusement, a sense of deep superiority. “Rise,” she said to the other two, the two who still worshipped her– their creator, their Moon.

“My Lady,” Aurelia whispered, head still bowed in deference.

Winter only stared.

“Am I not what you expected?” The all-knowing goddess laughed, a soft, tinkling sound. She looked not unlike Winter in appearance– the same white hair, pale skin, even dressed in a small white dress, though the goddess’ was covered in lace and frills. Yet her eyes were red, not blue, giving her face an unnatural appearance that distorted the impression of cuteness and youth.

“No,” Winter said, honest but quiet. “You are not.” Then she inclined her head. “My Lady.”

“Good,” the Moon said, shrugging. She chose a rock and hopped up upon it, kicking her legs in a child-like way.

“I thought you were the one who called us here,” Sypher said to Aurelia, voice quiet.

“What? No. How would I have even done that?”

“I didn’t know. But you greeted me when I entered as though you had!”

“It… seemed the thing to do. This is my world,” Aurelia shrugged, eyes darting nervously between him and the Moon. “And I wanted to talk to you, for a moment.”

“To plead your case?” Sypher asked, baffled. “Why should you care what I thought of you?”

“You are trueborn.”

Sypher blinked, repeatedly.

“They think it the greatest gift that they can never obtain,” the Moon said softly, speaking to the floor before looking up to meet Sypher’s eyes. “You have always been as you are. What a blessing that must be.”

“I am no less created by you than they,” Sypher said, though the words grated him somewhat as he admitted to it. “All dragons are your handiwork.”

The Moon laughed. “Many things are my handiwork, but yes. You are my favorites– all of you,” she said, looking pointedly at Winter. “I have not given you your trials because I favor others, but because I know you are a match to them. Now, tell me, how is my brother?”

All three dragons shared a look briefly.

“The… Silent?” Winter said hesitantly.

“Of course! We share a kinship, him and I. Someday he will know of it. Now speak!”

Winter jolted slightly and then swallowed. “He is absorbed with his work.”

“In the libraries still?”

“Yes.”

“He searches for the answers to what he is.” Briefly, the goddess looked sad, though it quickly passed. “He will not find them there. But as miserable as he is now in his ignorance, I think the truth will hurt him even more.” She took a deep breath. “I will not meddle with the pathway. We have another for that.”

Sypher glanced at the other dragons and was glad to see they looked as lost as he was by their creator’s apparent ramblings.

“Continue to be a companion to him,” the Moon announced, looking back at Winter.

“The others are growing suspect of my influence.”

“Then throw them off the trail. But listen to me carefully– you are to hurt none of them. They are misguided now, but they will not always be. They are important to the plan.”

The Moon barely waited for Winter to offer a nod in response before she turned to Aurelia. “And you? How is your husband?”

“Busy.” Aurelia paused, swallowing. “My Lady, I married him to further–”

“Don’t make your excuses to me, girl. You married him because you loved him.”

Aurelia recoiled as though struck.

“And that’s good. I’m happy for you. The mission will be completed, and when it is over, you will be released from my service.”

Sypher almost found it amusing to watch Aurelia’s face rotate through expressions– shock, happiness, determination, and then back around to shock, this time in horrifying despair.

“What? But I–”

“Must follow him now, obviously,” the Moon said. “Though I hope you had the good sense to choose a man who would follow me.” She grinned, broadly, and then moved on, leaving Aurelia in her shock.

“As for you,” the Moon said, and now she was looking at Sypher.

Sypher sighed. “I’m really not sure why you even invited me.”

“Of course not; you are not all-knowing,” the Moon answered flatly. “First, I called you here because your parents have been praying nonstop for your safety since you left. Send them a letter.”

Sypher blinked in surprise. “They’re still with–”

“You are a foolish boy. Your family did not remain with a Court that accused you of a crime you did not commit and chased you away. They have returned to the Mountains. Go see them. Understood?”

Stunned, Sypher nodded mutely.

“Good. Second, I called you here because your alliance with the Lord of Elysium and, through him, his patron of the Underworld, is a valuable one. I may call upon you in the future to take full advantage of it.”

“I have more loyalty to Dankovsky than I have to you,” Sypher rebounded instantly.

“All-knowing seems to be a difficult concept for you to grasp I see,” the Moon said dryly. “I will request a meeting. That is all. And this you do know as well as I– the Vampire Lord would love a chance to meet the Moon herself.” The goddess paused momentarily, seemingly finding something amusing in that, and then moved on. “Finally, I called you here because I forgive you.”

Sypher stared.

“Goodbye!”

With a jolt and a flash of light, Sypher found himself standing in his true form at the base of the Nightwind Mountains, back home.

He looked around at the Felmist spread out below him, covering almost half the continent, looked over to the eastern horizon and the Heights on the other coast.

“Huh.”

With that, he spread his wings and took off, flying up to the Mountains, to his ancestral home. Apparently, he needed to visit his parents.