Chapter 2

I blinked. The travel had gone so fast I had barely noticed leaving, let alone landing. I was standing in what must have once been a temple, but that was now nothing more than ruins. I could see crevices in the ceiling above me where the sun found its way in, painting streaks on the marble floor. The once fine stone surface was full of cracks and overgrown with strange plants, and the crumbling walls had left rubble scattered over it.

I sniffed the air. It smelled of dust and stale smoke, as if there had been a fire here a long time ago, and the building had been left unused ever since.

What was this place? I glanced around when I suddenly heard the rustling of clothes or maybe feet scratching against the floor, and I swung around. On a platform before me, in the murky light, stood what I thought to be four figures. Remembering what the cat had said about this world not being a good one, I instinctively reached for the knife at my belt.

“Selene, you did it.”

“The Goddess has arrived.”

“She has come… The Light Bringer”

Their whispers echoed in the empty chamber, and I strained to make out their words. Had they said ‘Light Bringer’? One of them raised their hand, silencing the others, and stepped forward. She placed her hand on her chest and bowed her head in a greeting. The others followed suit, and for a moment, I wondered if I should do the same when she spoke,

“Welcome, Light Bringer.”

She raised her head to look at me.

“I am Selene.”

She had stepped out into the thin sunlight, and for the first time, I could give her a closer look. She looked human, and yet not at all. Her long, pointed ears protruded from underneath her fine silver hair, and her deep purple eyes gazed at me with curiosity. I didn’t have time to observe her for long because a tall figure stepped out from the shadows, towering over me.

“Uruk, at your service, my lady!”

He definitely didn’t look human. His skin was dark green, and his yellow eyes pierced mine like a cat throwing a challenge. He held my gaze as he pounded his chest with his fist, the huge axe strapped to his back clattering. Before I got a chance to properly consider how to knock him down in case I needed to, another figure stepped out from the shadows, sniffing the air. She smiled as she laid her eyes on me.

“Thank you for coming, Light Bringer. I am Aki. I never thought the day would come when I would see the sun rise again with my own eyes. Thank you.”

This was getting weirder and weirder. Who were these people? And why did they seem to have expected me? I peered at her. She was once again different from the others. She was smaller than I, and her skin was green but lighter than Uruk’s, and her small, pointy ears jutted straight out from her head.

She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the last figure that stepped out from the shadows. He was shorter than I and stocky, but except for his exceptionally long beard, he, at least, looked human.

“I, Karim Bashar of Eldoria, welcome you into this world.”

He bowed his head, letting his long beard touch the stones under his feet.

“May the sun always shine on your path, Light Bringer. May you never lose your way.”

I glanced at him warily. Who did they think I was, exactly?

“I am Rina”, I said carefully, once the silence had stretched out long enough for me to be sure no one else would follow.

They smiled at me. Their clothes looked weird, weirder than some of the things I sometimes found in the second-hand shop, but I imagined the feeling was mutual. I was just about to wonder how to continue when Karim announced,

“We need to leave. They will find us here sooner or later.”

“But she’s here now. She can destroy them”, Aki protested, peering at me.

“No, Karim is right”, Uruk stated as he unfastened his axe and weighed it in his hand. “We’ve lost too many on our way here. We cannot take any chances. If they find us, we will die.”

“Tomorrow, the sun will rise again”, they whispered in chorus.

I only stared at them, standing with their eyes closed like some religious ceremony. Where had the cat sent me? They opened their eyes, and Aki gestured for us to follow her. She led us behind a corner and to a hole in the wall, which must once have been the entrance. She halted in the broken doorway, turned to us and opened her mouth to speak when Selene gasped and stumbled forward.

Aki! They…

But it was too late.