Upon a Star: Karyana's Journey: Chapter 22

Part of the truth is spoken, while two women are given a second chance.

Upon a star: Karyana’s story

Chapter 22

By: Yurix

 

Daylight was nearly upon Alban’s campsite. The rest of a roasted boar on an iron spit lay had fallen into the flames, making the smell of charred flesh, which filled the area, was now a mere memory.

 

Onyx looked with great curiosity at the sleeping servant boy. Or what he used to think was merely a messenger, sent by an unnamed lord to forge a wedding band for him. Thinking back to when he first arrived, it made little sense that he was merely a servant.

 

The first questionable evidence were the clothes the ‘page’ was wearing. They looked much too clean for a servant, even one who said traveled from Frostreach to this place, half-way between Myst and the boundaries of the Emerald Sea. Also, they seemed far too light; anyone trekking from the north would be wearing pelts, northern wolf skins or even bear fur. As it was, the boy had come in wearing a hemp shirt, leather arm-guards, walking boots and greyed-out trousers. Something a novice adventurer would wear, but not a servant boy.

 

The second piece of the puzzle was the boy’s mask. Even with the heat of the forge, he never removed that trinket, and from its design, a servant boy wouldn’t have the luxury, nor the coin, to buy something like this, let alone wear it. The mask was smudged with pitch, but there was still a faint glimmer of something metallic underneath. As the dwarf knew quite well how to differentiate metals, the masquerade �" so to speak �" didn’t hold water.

 

The third issue was the boy’s etiquette. Even for a servant boy, he was too polite. That actually caused both him and Alban to question the validity of the boy’s words when, during the evening meal, he actually pulled out a pocket knife to carve a piece of venison, and used a wooden bowl to hold it, while the ranger and the smith simply tore strips of cooked pig fresh off. Also, even if Alban had told him not to, the servant boy kept using the former title ‘Master’ when speaking to them. A normal servant would probably correct his speech after this, but he did not.

 

The last, and most important concern, was the circlet itself. Onyx had seen manaweavers shape metal with such precision that his own craft looked shoddy, but this was… unnaturally crafted. His own Runeforger skills allowed him to trade some of his blood to enchant his forged creations, but even with that, it was almost impossible to make metal bend so elegantly without having an elven weaver to guide him.

 

The circlet had been finished for almost an hour now, but needed to cool and be polished before it was presentable, and the combination of platinum and silver seemed to have been very precisely measured as to avoid impurities.

 

Onyx scratched his beard, placed the blade, the one he had worked on while the boy was weaving the circlet into shape, in the bucket of water to cool, and walked over to his ranger friend as steam poured out of the iron tub.

 

“That boy is a terrible liar.” the dwarf said. “I’ve never seen a servant boy use such an intricate manaweave before. Either his master taught him more than he is telling us, or…”

 

Alban wiped the sleepiness from his eyes as his watch on the campsite was tiring him. “Or?”

 

“Or he’s not a servant boy at all, and there is no master.” the smith said.

 

“You… are you sure of what you’re saying?” the ranger said, his friend’s comment startling him enough to keep him awake.

 

“He seemed… eager to learn.” Onyx noted, removing his helmet to scratch his scalp. “It felt like he was trying to be my apprentice, but from the look of that circlet he and I made, it’s safe to say that his manaweave abilities are almost as potent as that gold-haired witch.”

 

Alban folded his arms. “You’re telling me that this boy studied under the Order?”

 

The dwarf shook his head. “No. I’m saying that whoever taught him how to weave found a pupil that was probably as powerful a spell-caster as our friend. If that’s the case, then I’m certain that this boy has the potential to be a whole lot more than a mere servant. If so, then he probably is not a servant boy at all…”

 

“So, what is he?” the ranger said, looking down at the sleeping young man.

 

“I don’t know, and for now, I wouldn’t worry about it.” Onyx concluded. “He seems trustworthy enough, even though he doesn’t want us to know who he really is. For now, I’d rather not ask.”

 

Onyx walked back to his forge, picked the blade by the hilt and started hammering at it. “Wake him up, will you? His trinket’s finished cooling.”

 

Alban leaned down to Medy’s shoulder and gave him a rough shake. “Alright, boy, get up!” he said, not having the patience to do it the hard way �" which would have been, to Onyx’s disapproval, the pouring of a bucket of water on the boy’s face.

 

The servant boy woke with a start, as if he had just been pulled out of a nightmare. “Huh? Who? What?” he nervously responded.

 

“I guess that leaves us with ‘How?’, ‘Where?’ and ‘Why?’…” the dwarf replied in-between hammer strokes. “You slept the whole night through. Consider yourself lucky that no cut-purses, or cut-throats for that matter, stumbled here.”

Demyan calmed his nerves and looked back at the forge. “May I… may I see it?” he said, trying to keep his servant boy act, but forgetting the proper former title.

 

“I’ll tell you what.” Onyx retorted. “If you drop the act and tell us why you really wanted me to make this, I might just let you have it.”

 

The young man let out a sigh before removing his mask. “I guess I wasn’t very convincing, was I?” he commented.

 

Alban folded his arms. “Well, you did have us fooled for a while, until you slipped. I’ve seen knaves far less polite than you were, and seen traveling sorcerers with less skill than you.”

 

Looking from the ranger to the dwarf, Demyan let out a sigh and spoke. “There’s no master. In fact, I wanted to learn from a Runeforger on how to craft my own weaves.” he replied, adding a white lie to it. “The truth is… this circlet was to help a mutual friend of mine and yours.”

 

Both Onyx and Alban gazed at each other with mutual confusion. “Who exactly is that friend?” Alban said, finding all this increasingly fishy.

 

“Karyana.” the young man spoke. “Ever since I was young, I kept seeing her in my dreams… but those dreams were so vivid, it was like she and I were really there, in this… field of tall grass and golden buckwheat… I can still remember that-”

 

“-that lone apple tree on a cliff-side?” Alban answered, twisting the image to see if the boy was speaking the truth.

 

“It wasn’t a cliff. More like a hill with a slope.” he replied.

 

Both Onyx and Alban looked shocked. Having both spent time at Warmcreek, they knew perfectly the location the young man spoke of. As the boy kept speaking about his dreams, the ranger took a moment to think.

 

“So you know her… from your dreams? And you wanted this circlet made for her? But why? And why the secrecy?” Alban finally replied after Demyan finished talking.

 

“Her mind is severed into three identities.” he spoke, betraying his wisdom. “With her current state of mind, she may jeopardize her own existence, so I thought that a gift, infused with a spell to reknit her memories, would allow her to be herself… so to speak.”

 

Onyx scratched his beard. “Seems to me like you love that odd-minded girl.” he commented, which made Demyan blush mildly. “Too bad you missed her by two days. Who knows where she is now?”

 

Demyan put his mask back on to cover his fading blush as the dwarf handed him a small bag, followed by a sheathed longsword. “Here. That’s all for her, right?” the smithy said, the question wasn’t much as one, but rather a remark.

 

Before the young man could ask about the weapon, Alban spoke. “From what we gathered, that sword was born from the… um… basically, it was two swords that turned into one. A scimitar that could looked like it had been forged with frost wyvern’s breath, and a short sword that looked like a phoenix’s tail-feather had been encased in steel.”

 

Onyx pulled the cornerstone of the forge out of the ground, making the entire construct vanish, leaving only a charred circular imprint on what was a grass-covered, flat parcel of ground. “A sword that weaves fire and ice perfectly… heh. It’s like night and day.” he commented.

 

Demyan took a moment to think as he examined the blade. Barely longer than a scimitar, but straight as any longsword, the blade, which he pulled out of its sheath, had such a manaweave that no equal seemed possible. The weapon itself was etched in dwarven runes and seemed almost too elegant for dwarf to have made. The guard had two crescent shapes �" one with jagged edges like sun rays, while the other was smoothed out, like the circle of the moon. “Night and day… Eclipse.”

 

Alban cocked an eyebrow. “What did you say?”

 

“It’s name. This sword will be named ‘Eclipse’.” The young man answered.

 

Onyx chuckled. “You could’ve went for Twilight or Daybreak, y’know.”

 

The young Magelord thought for a moment as he got up. “If you can make more swords for her, I might just named them that way…” he concluded, before giving the two a proper bow. “For now, I have to find her.”

 

Alban looked back at the young man. “You still need to learn how to use that sword.” he added, walking over to him, just as Onyx pocketed his travel-forge and followed the two. “How about you stay with us for a while? Learning from one dwarf is good for the forge, but have you ever studied under an Academia graduate?”

 

The feel of tall-grass against her skin, tickling her cheeks as a mild breeze made the blades dance, felt like a warm welcome. The echoing shouts and giggles of children, the crunching of grass under their feet… and the sunlight, faintly blocked by the apple tree leaves overhead…

 

“Where… where are we?” Kaina wondered, her voice echoing in Karyana’s mind.

 

The young woman awoke, lifting herself into a sitting position on the grass, legs curling up to be held by her arms. Taking a moment to admire the scenery, before noticing the view from her perch, she looked on as a mockingbird flew from its perch overhead and glided towards the small town.

 

“Warmcreek…” she whispered, her blue eyes shimmering as the mark on her forehead faded completely in a moment of pure and simple delight. “I’m… I’m home...”

 

Karyana rose to her feet, turned around and noticed an apple a few inches from her head. Reaching up to it, she noticed a small hand reach down to grab the apple, which quickly snatched it before pulling itself up.

 

“Finders keepers!” came a young boy’s voice from up in the tree. Karyana looked up and spotted a farmer boy, wearing a set of rough wool overalls and a grass-colored quilt shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbow.

 

The young woman let out a sigh as she watched the boy hungrily munch down on the ripe fruit. “How long have you been up in that tree, young man? Won’t your parents be worried?”

 

The young boy grabbed onto a large branch with his legs and gave himself a side push, falling in a half-circle as to look at Karyana from an upside-down view. “They already know I’m here, miss.” he said, his short brown hair hanging like a dangling rope. “It’s almost half-morning, anyways.”

 

Half-morning was a commoner’s way of saying that the sun was half-way between dawn and high in the sky. This was a term that she had not heard in far too long.

 

“Aren’t you going to get sick, dangling like a hanged man?” she asked the boy, who barely looked into his tweens.

 

Before the boy answered, he latched onto the apple with his teeth, dropped off of his perch and made a half-flip, landing on his hands and knees. “Used to it. I’m Rem, by the way. Remy Flagger.” he said after pulling the fruit from his mouth, a large bite still being chewed while he spoke

 

The Flagger family, from what Karyana remembered, used to run Warmcreek’s local bank, and were known to be shrewd negotiators, but fair traders. She still remembered how her father was able to pay back a hefty tab by selling every single liquor bottle he had stashed, thus helping him stop ending his days with too much mead down his throat.

 

“I’m Kary.” she replied, shaking his hand. “Karyana Desteen.”

 

The boy looked shocked for a moment. “D-dest… Desteen?” he said, before the stunned expression on his face turned to amazement. “Y-you’re… blimey! I never thought the stories were true!”

 

It was the young woman’s turn to be confused. “Um… stories?”

Turning around, Rem looked back at a group of children that were playing tag at the bottom of the slope. “You gotta meet the pack! Come on!” he said excitingly, grabbing onto her hand before pulling her forward.

 

Karyana took uneasy steps as the boy led him down towards the eight other children that were playing about. Part of her wondered what all that was about, but looking at the young boys and girls, all dressed to play, with clothes and dresses stained with grass and mud, made a memory stir: of being in the same place, playing the same games, but with a handful of different kids, along with a tiny creature that… her quick daydream vanished when she heard Rem yell for attention.

 

“Listen, everybody!” the boy said, loud enough for all the children to hear and stop playing about. “We got some visit!”

 

A young girl, her dark brown hair in two pigtails, looked at Remy with disdain. “Really, big bro? I was just about to tag Alys… who is it, this time?”

 

Rem looked back at Kary with a knowing smile, then at the others. “Ah, come on, Enny. Remember that story about that big ol’ monster that attacked the town?” he asked them.

 

A chubby boy with short blond hair folded his arms. “That was just to scare us from doing bad things…” he remarked, looking unimpressed.

 

“Nuh-uh, Wilmer.” the boy replied. “That’s no tale! She’s the one who made it go away!”

 

Some of the children looked at each other and started whispering. “Do you even have proof?” Wilmer asked. “Last time, you thought that Danika Trodger lady was the one, and she was way too old.”

 

Karyana looked back at the children, who were starting to doubt Rem’s words. “I knew Danika, and she was so scared when it happened, she wouldn’t come out of her house for a whole week!” she answered, stretching the truth enough to make it sound plausible. In fact, the Trodgers always doubted the use of manaweave and the possibility of magic actually existing. It was them who organized the tournaments when they came at Dawncreek, and they always made it so that the wizards and sorcerers would be ridiculed or made into mere conjurers of cheap tricks.

 

Alys, a pale girl that barely stepped in her teens, looked at the black-haired woman with piercing blue eyes. “That doesn’t prove anything.” she said, before readjusting the white ribbon in her long red hair. “If you’re really the one Rem says that scared that monster away, why don’t you prove it?”

 

The rest of the children added their votes to hers, making Karyana a bit uneasy. Rem spotted it and tugged on the young woman’s sleeve. “How about it? Nothing a little spell won’t fix, right?” he commented, making her shake her head for a moment.

 

“Alright, alright… I’ll do it.” she said, causing the children to raise in clamor. “But I can’t just make a monster out of thin air, so… why don’t you get me something I could change?”

 

It didn’t take a lot more for the children to scatter about, looking for anything and everything salvageable.

 

Rem looked at Karyana with a wide smile. “Wait ‘till I tell miss Allision! She’ll never believe me!” he said before running off to town, leaving her sitting down on a half-polished rock.

 

“Allision?” she wondered. “I don’t remember anyone with that name…”

 

 

As Rem ran into town, he slowed his step before coming to a halt near the temple of Prolectae, a newly-built construct started on the day of Karyana’s arrival to the town, and finished three years ago. Relaxing his traits, he looked around, as time seemed to slow to a stop.

 

Another set of steps were heard, even as every mortal around was frozen in the instant. “Very subtle.” the woman’s voice spoke with a hint of sarcasm. “I’m surprised you actually took a mortal form this time around, Progeny.”

 

The Planar-possessed boy turned around and noticed a tall woman, about as tall as Karyana, give or take an inch, with crimson hair that stopped near her shoulders, ocean blue eyes gazing at the boy with disdain.

 

“I see you changed the Dun-elf’s body, Prolectae.” the Childlord commented, examining the woman who seemed old enough to wed, but the grey robes, laced at the bust with a golden ribbon, showed the woman as a young priestess of the Planar of Love, Beauty and Motherhood. Only her ears, which were smaller but still had that elven pointed tip, showed the woman for who she once was.

 

“I can’t believe you let that she-elf off this easily.” the Planar-Lady replied. “She murdered her own kin, and not only that, but she killed every male that asked me for her hand!”

 

The young boy shrugged. “Some people do not suffer being ordered or commanded. Sayeth was one of them.”

 

Prolectae folded her arms underneath her breasts, making them stand out, even as she looked at the Childlord with a scowl. “And you think that stripping her soul from her dying body, making her escape the Cycle, and having me reshape that body into something more acceptable will have her accept her place in your ‘grand scheme’?” she replied, not liking her actions, or Progeny’s plan, one bit.

 

“That mortal soul has the potential to awaken Karyana’s hidden power.” the boy replied. “In her martyrdom, she allowed the fate-weaver to punish Pison for his treachery.”

 

Prolectae meditated on those words for a moment. “That does not mean that the half-demon will not return for her.”

 

Progeny thought for a moment, then looked back at the motherly figure inside the young woman’s body. “Perhaps, but by inflicting upon him mortal pain and rebuking his demonic form, it will take him time to recreate himself. In the meantime, the fate-weaver will travel to Raemu’s shrine in Frostreach. But first, the mortal who was once Sayeth must take its first step as Allision Emberheart, and rekindle Karyana’s hope in her forgotten comrades.”

 

The Planar-Lady let out a sigh. “Then I hope she will still remember who she was, and make penance.” she concluded before closing her eyes, a wisp of pure mana leaving the young woman’s body.

 

The Childlord merely blinked, and time slowly returned to normal. Taking his role as Remy, he let the boy take control, placing in his memory the images of him looking everywhere in town for her, and finding her just as she was returning from treating Old Jacob Leybone’s injured wrist.

 

Rem shook his head as he looked at the priestess of Prolectae, who was also mentoring the children until a proper teacher would arrive. “Miss Alli!” he said, trying to get her attention.

 

Allision let out a sigh. “How many times have I told you not to calm me Alli, young man? For Scyens’ sake, I thought I taught you better.”

 

Rem looked down for a moment before bursting anew with excitement. “I know… but I found a traveler! Wilmer and the others are with her! You have to come and see!”

 

The young priestess placed her palm against her face. “Ugh… as long as you return to you and your friends return to your chores afterwards.” she commented, slowly following the energetic boy to the hillside.

 

 

Karyana examined the pile of mismatched items the group of children had brought. Smooth river stones, flowers, an egg, some mushrooms… ‘Nothing remotely close to alchemical material.’ remarked Laurinya’s voice in the black-haired woman’s head.

 

“So… what kind of creature do you think I can make with all this?” she asked, and was met with a plethora of ideas, shouted by each kid. “Calm down… one at a time.”

 

Wilmer butted in first. “How about a dragon?” he asked, mimicking the possible beast.

 

Alys pushed the pudgy boy aside and looked at the pile of objects. “You can’t make anything out of that!” she said, though her comment was followed by a flurry of boos from the other kids.

 

“Hey! What about that big ol’ monster you scared? Think you can make something like it?” Enny asked, swaying mildly with piqued interest.

 

Karyana thought for a moment. She didn’t really have a clue how to create life, and couldn’t remember what words or incantations she had done in the past. “I didn’t really scare it…” she said, causing the children to mope and sigh, “…but I did turn it into something harmless.”

 

Enny thought for a moment. “Hey… I remember! That little kitty with the horns and wings!” she said, realizing what ‘something harmless’ meant.

 

One of the older children, a boy in his early teens, looked back at Enny with a knowing smile. “It wasn’t a cat…  What was its name again?”

 

Karyana ignored the group for a moment as they tried again and again to say names, none of them even coming close, as she tried to concentrate on the pile of common objects she had in front of her. ‘There has to be something… I just wish I could remember.’ she thought, even as her hands gave off a faint glow as they hovered about the pile.

 

 

The Viceroy examined the fields of Warmcreek with some interest. “So, she’s the one young Demyan has fallen for?” he said, looking through the immense looking-glass. “I must admit, she is quite stunning. Perhaps Prolectae took pity on this lass at the dawn of her days and-”

 

Chime’s mewling, accompanied by the creature’s paws scratching against the stone markers that held the relic aloft, broke the nobleman’s concentration. “Ugh… lousy pet.” he said with an irritated tone. “You want to take a look? Fine, but I warn you, one hair on the lens and you’ll regret it.”

 

The aristocrat slowly bent over to pick the furry creature up, but before he could raise himself and Demyan’s pet up to look at the lens, Chime jumped out of his arms and landed on the rim that hovered above the relic, which guarded from any unwanted movement.

 

“Now, get off this instant, you little-” the Viceroy spoke, but the little creature didn’t listen as it looked into the glass, mewling longingly as it stared at Karyana’s form.

 

Before the aging man could grab onto Chime’s wings, the little beast jumped up, flapped its wings for an instant, then landed right in the middle of the lens, which rippled like the broken surface of a well.

 

Bracing himself against the guard rim, the Viceroy let out a frustrated sigh. “Lousy animal… what am I going to tell young Demyan when that little pest won’t be here when he returns?”

 

 

Karyana closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on something, even as the children were getting impatient. “Just calm down, and let me think…” she said.

 

While the children sat down, Remy and Allision walked over. “See? I tell you; she’s the one who scared that big ol’ monster away!”

 

Allision brushed off the boy’s comment, but the moment she laid eyes on the black-haired woman, something fell back into place in her mind. Her face crisped into a startled expression as memories she never had suddenly flooded her mind. Visions of a hollowed-out mountain, with the black-haired woman dressed in rags; moments where she saw a dark-skinned elf and her verbally fight over what looked like a piece of raw meat; the young woman and the elf sleeping next to one another, with the she-elf actually taking quick glances and hesitant strokes at locks of ebony hair; her hands twisting a braid into place…

 

Rem’s tug on her sleeve shook Allision from her reverie. “Um… teacher? Are you okay?”

 

The last memory �" that of her wounded body laid down on muddy grounds, looking at the black-haired woman with a serene expression �" faded into her mind as she rubbed her free hand over her eyes. “I’m… I’m fine. Just… why did you bring me to see this?”

 

“I said she scared the monster away, and she’s gonna prove it!” the boy said before joining the others.

 

Karyana had trouble getting the right image in her mind. There was hardly anything she could use to create the intricate pattern of a flesh-and-blood being in this amalgam of objects. “This is too complicated. I just can’t-”

 

A loud mewling resonated from nearby, which made the children look everywhere and surprised Allision. “What kind of animal chirps like that? It’s too loud to be a kitten…”

 

In Karyana’s mind, the image became crystal clear as she opened her eyes, visible surprised at what she was hearing. Gasping for a moment, she looked about. “Ch-Chime?” she said in a longing voice.

 

The quick scampering of tiny steps in the tall grasp, followed by another squeaky mew, caught everyone off guard, especially when the tiny creature jumped out of the overgrowth, overjoyed, and landed on Karyana’s lap.

 

“Whoa!” Wilmer shouted, visibly spooked.

“That’s him! That’s the little creature!” Enny replied quickly stepping over to Karyana’s side. “There’s the little horns… and those wings!”

 

Karyana looked down at the creature with a relieved smile, her attention no longer on the spell, even as a strand of Chime’s fur fell into the mismatched objects. “Chime… it’s you!” she said, tears of joy starting to well up.

 

The little creature curled itself against her lap, purring as she brought her hands, which no longer glowed, to the tiny beast’s sides, raising up to look at him.

 

The young woman snuggled Chime happily. “I was so worried! I’m so glad you’re okay!”

 

The kids started to cheer, but the voice soon fell silent as the discarded pile started to move on its own, forming what looked like a spherical amalgam that started to float upwards, stopping just high enough that Allision had to look up slightly.

 

As the children stared in awe, the object took the shape of a ball of light, which then slowly reshaped itself. From the sphere, two pairs of legs pierced out, soon followed by two large, cat-like ears and a tiny bushy tail. The form slowly moved as butterfly-shaped wings fluttered opened and a pair of large eyes opened.

 

Even Chime looked in awe as the form completed itself into what looked like a duplicate of itself. However, rather than tabby, golden brown fur with a white belly, the creature had flax-colored fur with a white-rose belly. Rather than bat-like wings, the newly-born creature’s butterfly wings had the color of grass, sunflowers and lavender.

 

The little animal let out an friendly mew, to which Chime quickly replied by bouncing over to it, as if he was floating on air. The children cheered and awed as the two mystical creatures bounced about, playfully chirping.

 

Allision stood silent for a moment, even as Rem joined the others. “Karyana…” she whispered, the name appearing in her mind like a spark would start a flame. Walking over at the young woman, she smiled warmly.

 

“I’m surprised you have that much potential in mana-weaving.” she commented. “But I’m glad to see you again.”

 

Karyana looked away from the playing children towards the young priestess. “I’m sorry… have we met?”

 

Allision smirked before sitting down next to the black-haired young woman. “Oh, we have… but not like this. Back then, I was someone else, and you… well… I guess you look better with that braid, don’t you think… lackey?”

Author's Note

Any and all comments, critiques, reviews and notes will be accepted.