A Cracked Star

[Dawn]

 

I continued to lay on the carriage as we continued making our way through the valley, my chest still aching from the multiple hits I took. Doesn’t help that Rosa is laying her big head on top of me currently. That fight left me feeling conflicted about a lot of things, most of it with what I’m doing wrong.

 

“Dawn, you can sulk all you want, but at least do it in silence, I don’t have the patience to listen to you sigh all day.” Taleah says from the driver seat.

 

“Yeah yeah.” I said, grunting as I laidd Rosa to the side so I could take a seat beside Taleah.

 

“Was it that much of a shock for you? The difference between you two.” She asked.

 

“A little, but not entirely. I do feel down about being humiliated like that but it helped me with a few thoughts that plagued my mind I guess.” I replied.

 

“Oh, do tell, what type of thoughts.” She said in a teasing manner.

 

“In my world, there are stories that people have written of others being dragged to other worlds however it happens. Death and summoning being the biggest reasons. The case is that normally that person gets a sort of . . cheat.” I say as I gaze off down our current path.

 

“And you don’t have one I can guess.” Taleah pointed out.

 

“Correct.” I replied, unsure of how I felt. “I guess having access to magic like I do is a plus. No need for magic circles and countless hours of research. For me though, I thought the teachings I received from my teacher could help me out more than they did. I mean at least Rakgu respected me for where I reside strength wise currently.”

 

“I suppose he did, didn't he?” She said, “Anyways, do you have any fun stories you can tell me? Even some short fun memories you have would work. I’m about to be as bored as you were before your spar against the orc chieftain.” 

 

“Mhmm, maybe, I didn’t have a lot of those growing up, at least until I reached double digits in age.” I said.

 

“Why’s that?” Taleah said.

 

“Parents were uh . . . busy all the time.” I said, trying to find the right wording. “It wasn’t until I started being around my grandparents more that I was able to do things.”

 

“Well if you want, I can tell you of some pranks I did growing up while you think of something to talk about.”  Taleah suggested.

 

“Yeah that could work.” I replied.

 

“I think it was about twenty-five years ago if I remember correctly, I was still working as an adventurer around my town. I usually worked as a solo adventurer, mainly because I didn’t trust many people.” She said, chuckling to herself.

 

She took a bit to gather her thoughts before continuing. “I remember heading to the guild hall that day because I was specifically requested for help, mainly because I can navigate through the forests around here quite well. There had been reports of a cultist smuggling creatures into the forests to perform experiments on them. What we didn’t know at the time was that he was smuggling nagas.” 

 

“Smuggling nagas?” I asked.

 

“Oh yeah, to this day I still don’t know how he managed to get that through port towns.” She said, shaking her head. “See, depending on where and what species of naga it is, they can range from being some of the most friendly creatures you could know to your worst nightmare. They’re quite vicious creatures.”

 

“So what happened next?” I asked, feeling myself grow more interested in where her tale goes.

 

“I’ll get back to the nagas, let's go back to the guild hall. The party I was being assigned was a whole mess. For some reason, the receptionists decided it was a good idea to take a bunch of solo adventurers and put them in a party for an urgent quest based on the fact that we all worked efficiently.” Taleah said.

 

“That doesn’t sound smart.” I replied, getting a small laugh from Taleah.

 

“You’re correct. The group consisted of four members, me included, having two elves, a dwarf, and a dragonborn.” She recalled.

 

“Don’t elves and dwarves not get along?” I asked.

 

“Why would you think that?” Taleah looked confused.

 

“A lot of stories from my world talk about how there are always conflicts between elves and dwarves.” I said.

 

“Meh, I wouldn’t believe anything your world might have about our races. It couldn’t be any more wrong even if it wanted to be. Dwarves and elves have been close races for as long as I can remember. Something about a great battle in the past connecting the two races. It’s a common sight to see dwarves and elves together. There’s a section in the capital where a large group of dwarves live. Spreading their cultures and cuisine to the rest of our city.” Taleah said as she wiped her mouth. “They make some of the best meat dishes out there.”

 

“Interesting.” I say.

 

“I’ll take you to try some later. Now where was I?” She mumbles to herself.

 

“Haaah, you were meeting up with the rest of the party.” I told her while yawning.

 

“Right. The other elf was a stuck up, rude little brat who thought they knew everything!” She ranted. “Sorry, the dragonborn was drunk half the time. And the dwarf was only focused on money, while he was a money grubber, his work was actually decent.” She said as her grin grew from ear to ear, “The quest we were giving was to locate the cultist and if possible, kill him.” 

 

“I can assume with you being alive to this day that you succeeded.” I said.

 

“Well yeah, just because the party members were a bunch of idiots doesn’t mean I wasn’t going to do my best to finish the quest. See, the quest took us about three weeks to complete, we searched all the way until the coast looking for this cultist. The elf I talked about, the one who was so full of himself. Well even the plants didn’t like him. As we searched he was constantly being harassed because he kept making threats to the plant life.” She says laughing.

 

“How did you eventually find the cultist’s location?” I asked with a smile.

 

Taleah goes silent for a bit after my question, her face growing darker with each minute. “Thanks to a dryad we found dying. Her tree had been destroyed by the time we found her, it was a miracle she was even of mind to speak to us. Most dryad’s who have their tree destroyed go insane or die along with their tree. What makes this death weigh on me, even to this day is how we found her. Chunks of flesh missing here and there, one of her arms was torn off from right below her shoulder. She had a gash running from her waist all the way to her left eye.” 

 

“That’s horrible.” I say.

 

“That’s not even the worst part. This psycho of a cultist even put a curse on her, making all her wounds constantly hurt and feel as if she was bathing in fire.” She says as I unconsciously grab my right arm.

 

“There wasn’t much you could do for her, was there?” I asked.

 

“No.” She softly said. “All I could do was end her as quickly and peacefully as possible.” 

 

We continued to ride for a few minutes after she finished speaking. “See, we all appreciated nature and what it does for us, the beauty of it all, even the stuck up elf. One thing we all realized shortly after her death was that her tree wasn’t destroyed by whatever attacked her. She did it herself to protect the rest of the forest, in fear that the curse would spread. After that encounter, it wasn’t just a quest anymore, it was personal to all of us.”

 

“I can’t imagine how that must have felt.” I asked.

 

“I’ve come to realize through my life that when you want to kill someone, like truly want to, there is this feeling as if the air around you grows sharp, like it’s ready to shock someone. I haven't felt that type of anger in a long time. Searching through the cave we found areas where he disposed of the naga’s corpses when he was done with them. Think we saw around eighteen of them.” She said, tightly gripping the steering ropes. 

 

“What did you do about the corpses?” I replied.

 

“We burnt them, it’s all we could do for them as we sent them on with a prayer. It was the first time I felt such sorrow for the dead. They didn’t deserve that type of end, to be desecrated in such a way. I prayed to any god that was known, hoping they would take pity on the nagas.” Taleah said.

 

During this time we were talking, we eventually made it into a cave to pass through, making our way through the dimly lit cave to make it out. Once outside, I noticed a large forest off in the distance, trees that reached for the skies. It reminded me of those huge oak redforests I heard about back on earth. 

 

“Woah.” I said, my eyes widening to take in the sight. 

 

“Beautiful isn’t it, that’s our destination actually, the elven capital sits further in those forests.” Taleah said proudly. “Continuing on, we made our way deeper into the cave system the cultist rooted himself in. We found him in the center of the room as he experimented on live nagas, trying to mutate them so he could control them for his sick plans. He actually succeeded too, managing to change them into something entirely different.” 

 

“Hold on, should we set up camp for the night?” I asked, seeing the sky starting to darken.

 

“That sounds good. I’ll go ahead and start making dinner for the night, we’re out of meat currently so sandwiches it is.” Taleah replied.

 

“Okay.” I said.

 

~~~~~

 

Taleah and I sat around the campfire while we ate our sandwiches. It wasn’t anything great, just a bunch of vegetables with fruit on the side. She did remember we had eggs so we made that for the meal, making the sandwiches better in my opinion. 

 

“Is this something you ate often back in your world?” Taleah asked.

 

“Yeah, I liked to have this sort of meal more so in the mornings than at night, but it’s nice on occasion to eat it for dinner.” I replied as I stuffed my face again. “Cam ybou continu fwom earlier?”

 

“Don’t speak with your mouth full stupid.” Taleah scolded.

 

Swallowing my food before repeating what I asked. “Can you continue the story from earlier?”

 

“Sure.” She said, getting comfortable before continuing. “The cultist managed to mutate the naga, turning it into a vengeful spirit of sorts. He made it into an undead. Not only that, it was actually stronger than nagas usually are. This was actually when my goddess took notice of me. My feelings that I held for the dead and the care I showed them. She aided my party with spells to give us an edge over the undead. To this day I still am thankful for her help, because we needed it.”

 

“Why’s that?” I asked. From the sounds of it, it should have only been one undead and the cultist, I don’t see how they could have had that much trouble from it.

 

“The worst thing for us was lack of information, we had no clue what the naga could do. The second worst thing was the fact that the one we fought was not his first success. He had three more that he released as we were fighting the first one. Normally nagas are more friendly, they would help countries out if they lived near one. They’re very law-abiding people, whatever the cultist did, twisted this trait and made them almost mindless beasts. I say almost because they could still think, but they only sought out death and destruction.” Taleah pointed out.

 

“And the naga’s just let themselves be captured?” I asked.

 

“Goddess no, what we fought were only as big as juveniles. I fear that if we fought adults that were mutated like that, then we wouldn’t be alive to this day.” Taleah said, taking a sip from her drink. “Nagas have the racial ability to be revived once in their lifetime after a number of days, never more than a week though. The only way to combat this from what I know is possible is a wish spell. And good luck finding an artifact capable of this or god willing to use it for you.”

 

“Wish spell? So anything you can think of is possible?” I said.

 

“Yes, but from what legends say, the wording in a wish is everything. It took us a while to finally fight off the spirit nagas, is the term we’ve given them, and the cultist. We couldn’t leave the cave for a week straight in fear that they might revive. I don’t know why, but thankfully they didn’t. My best guess is that the cultist had to kill them to start the mutation. Taking away the only chance they have for revival.” Taleah said.

 

I don’t know what to say about any of that, from the circumstances to the outcome. And if the nagas that were smuggled were only children, then what about their families?

 

“I think I’ve said enough now. Lets get some shuteye before we continue towards the capital, we only have a few more days now.” Taleah said. 

 

“Okay.” I replied, heading back to the carriage to lay with Rosa. “Hey Taleah?”

 

“Yeah?” She asked.

 

“Thanks for telling me about all that. Just next time, can I listen to a lighter adventure?” I said.

 

“Sure.” Taleah said.

 

~~~~~

 

I woke up in a cold sweat and a splitting headache, finding myself in bed with my sisters who were both dead asleep. Confused in how I managed to get into our soul realm. Getting up I wander around as I try to remember the dream I just had. For some reason all I can remember is that I was getting scolded by an older woman about how to take proper care of my tails. 

 

Is this what Arya feels every time she sees a memory? Was that something Stella went through in the past? 

 

“No, that felt too recent to have been, it also felt more directed at me?” I say to myself, unaware that one of my sisters was waking up. 

 

When I recall the dream, I can clearly think of the process for taking care of my tail which makes me believe it wasn’t just a memory. Was it some sort of vision of the future? I wouldn’t count it against being possible with this being an entirely different world from Earth.Though I have to wonder, do we even have that ability? 

 

As I think to myself, I look at my tail as I try to remember if my fur looked so soft and shiny before. Bringing my hand closer, I feel across my tail as I find myself entranced by the softness of my tail.

 

“Dawn?” I hear a sleepy voice from behind, pulling my attention towards it.

 

“Oh, uh, morning? I don’t really know what time it is.” I say as I see Stella push herself up.

 

“When did you get here?” Stella said.

 

“Uhh, I don’t know. I found myself here after waking up. So, weird question, but is our tail softer than before?” I ask.

 

“Huh?” Stella blinked.

 

“Yeah, I had a weird dream, at least I think it was a dream, where I was being scolded by an older woman. She taught me how to take proper care of our tails.” I said.

 

“I don’t think so, let me feel my own.” Stella said before she started to mess with her tail.

 

“I wonder why I had that dream. What would happen if I continue to not care for my tail?” I feel myself start to shiver at the thought of that as I mumble to myself. 

 

“You’re right!” Stella said. “My tail’s fur is softer.”

 

“Are you able to think of how to take care of it?” I ask.

 

Stella scratches her head before replying. “Yeah, and I can understand how it’s better than what I used to know.”

 

“Weird, I guess I’ll ask Taleah in the morning.”  I say. 

 

“Alright, for now though let's go back to sleep, you’re here for once and I’m not going to let you get out of sleep that easily.” Stella says.

 

“Oh come on, I got some sleep already, I feel res-” I start to say, getting cut off by Stella.

 

“No buts, I won’t budge on this stance, you need more sleep.” Stella says.

 

“Okay mooom.” I mumble to myself.

 

~~~~~

 

[???]

 

I sense someone making their way towards me as I sit on my couch, flipping through a book I borrowed from one of my buddies.

 

“Thanks again for allowing me to come over here and deal with that poorly maintained fluff.” The woman says.

 

“No worries Luna, just don’t expect to be able to come over often.” I tell her, not looking up from my book.

 

“Fufufufu, as interesting as this world seems, I wouldn’t want to be away from my wife for so long anyways.” Luna replied as she hid her face with one of her many tails.

 

Not replying, I create a portal back to my buddy’s realm and a small scroll, handing it to Luna. Taking my silence as a clue, Luna gets up to leave, but not before leaving a bottle on the table.

 

“I’ll take this time to leave behind a little present for you. Payto said you enjoyed this type of drink, so I asked for a bottle from my local god of Alcohol as payment for allowing me to come over here.” Luna said.

 

“Yeah, yeah.” I wave her off. “Ask Payto about the scroll if you want, or just leave it with him. He’ll know what to do with it.”

 

After that, Luna starts to head towards the portal to leave, stopping just a little bit in front of the portal before turning back around. 

 

“One last thing, a gift from Payto. FLUFFIFY” Luna says, as she points at me, hitting me with her blessing before quickly jumping into the portal. 

 

Next thing I know, I’m growing a wolf tail and ears with black fur. Looking at it, all I can think of is how I’m going to get back at Payto later. 

 

“Oh well.” I say to myself, feeling my newly grown wolf tail as I continue to read from my current book. “At least it’s soft. I’ll just keep it for now.”