The Heralens

Itelber led myself and Illose into one of the large stone buildings, through an entryway into a hall lit only faintly by its mint green and blue-tinged corners.

Further in I was greeted by the sight of firelight, which I noticed only came from one central room at the end of the main hall. None of the halls in any other direction as we passed them seemed to be leaking any significant light, instead leading into darkness of a length indeterminable to me. When we entered the central room, I noticed that the firelight backlit, slightly to the side, three figures sitting together on a bench that was carved with a twisting wooden backrest. The way the light flickered through it made the whole room feel like it was in motion, but not in a way that made me dizzy.

The three figures sitting were distinctly lacking in any form of self-illumination, and when I picked up on this fact I found myself examining them more closely.

All three had noticeably dark, purple skin, complemented with similarly midnight blue hair, which two of them wore long and loose and the other of whom wore it tied tightly behind her head. Their faces and bodies were essentially human in shape, though their eyes were large and nearly entirely black, and each of their gazes were focused on me.

“This is the child, Itelber?” The man, the rightmost of the three, asked. His voice boomed, and I couldn’t help but flinch.

“He is indeed.” Itelber responded, “And a little quieter than that would be perfect.” The man immediately nodded, and let out a brief cough before he settled.

Are he and Itelber friends? He doesn’t seem upset that Itelber corrected him.

The man’s face was worn and scarred black but delicately shaped. If I had to guess, I’d say he was somewhere past middle-aged. He seemed to be showing a cautious interest in me, but didn’t come off as particularly hostile, especially given the way he responded to Itelber earlier. I could tell he had just the slightest extra weight on his bones under his draping clothing, and the aristocratic impression those nice-looking clothes left on me was intensified by the silvery metal I noticed weaving in and out of it and his long, straight hair, caging much of his torso and neck.

Each of the others on the bench were similarly wrapped with this silvery metal, the middle-aged woman in the center adorned with thick, spiky vines threaded mostly over the top of her chest and her neck, arching up behind her head like a spider’s web and fanning with her collar. Her hair curled around the metal loosely in some places. When I met her eyes, I could see serenity.

“Drufyna, Chieftess of Kogen, I present Danny.” Itelber’s greeting to the woman, Drufyna, led the youngest of the three to silently point at two chairs in front of them one after the other. The entire behavior felt brusque to me, but her face lacked any expression that would indicate to me that she was particularly annoyed. If anything, her mostly expressionless face seemed to be covering up some small sense of curiosity or excitement, as I could’ve sworn I saw her eyes shining at me. Maybe that was all in my head, though.

I quickly identified the girl as being around my age, and unlike the older two she gave off a more active impression. While the others looked authoritative and noble, the fact that her hair was tied up in an imperfect braided bun and her clothes were in the same leather-vested style as the others I’d seen, rather than looser embroidered cloth, made her seem like someone who’d just been interrupted while working. Silvery vines emerged in jagged shapes and found their way down the sides of her head and from the base of her skull but came down no farther, and the top of her head sported a two-pronged tiara with a single metal flower in the center. It seemed like the tiara simply dissolved under her hair, only to emerge again at the sides of her head to create short, sharp vines.

I tore my eyes away from her, and followed Itelber as he moved to sit. Illose took a position between us, where she lowered herself slightly to the ground. When I remembered her long tail feathers, it made sense to me that she didn’t try to find a seat.

Once Itelber and I sat, the woman met my eyes and began to speak.

“Welcome to Kogen,” she began, “I am Chieftess Drufyna, but you may simply call me Drufyna.” She then moved one of her arms to gesture first to the man, “This is my husband, Galla,” then moved her arm to her left, “and our daughter, Loali.”

I immediately committed both of the new names to memory, hovering my gaze over each as I did so.

“It's nice to meet you.”

“And you as well. I heard from Itelber that you were lost in the forest, and he gave me the impression that you are likely far from home and unsure of how to return.” I nodded, unable to really say anything else. If she gave me a specific question I’d try to answer, but what she’d said was the necessary summary of my situation.

“Do you know where you are?” I somewhat slowly shook my head.

“They said this was the Night Domain, but I’ve never heard of it before.”

“Then the place you came from was not the Luminescent Domain? And you’re certain about that?” I couldn’t immediately nod, considering I didn’t know what they were referring to when they mentioned it, but the name at the very least didn’t sound familiar to me.

“I’m not sure, but I’ve never heard that name before.”

“Then would I be correct in assuming that you also do not know who, or what, we are?” She asked, gesturing to herself and her family, and I nodded.

“I see. We are heralens,” she began, before briefly considering something, “and for the most part you only need to know that our metal, heralium, is both precious to us and valuable to others.” She gently ran a few of her fingers over one of the lattices built around her collar as she spoke, drawing my attention again to the glinting gray metal. “I assume you’ve already learned of lumosids and night phoenix, at least somewhat, from Itelber and Illose?” I nodded. “Do you have any particular questions?” It seemed to me that she intended to break the ice, perhaps thinking it would be easier for me to open up if they described themselves first, but despite the curiosities I felt about each of them no particular questions could seem to rise to the surface. After a few moments, I had to shake my head. Before Drufyna could propose any other questions of her own, Loali eagerly provided one.

“Where’d you come from, and what was it like there?” Loali’s eyes were clearly conveying her enthusiasm, while her face remained otherwise somber. I understood the combination to mean that she was curious, but trying to be cognizant of the fact that I hadn’t found my way here on purpose.

I guess she’s trying to be considerate, but she can’t help but ask. I do look pretty different from all of them...

“Loali, he may-” Galla started to chide her, but Drufyna stopped him.

“It’s a fair question, if Danny is willing to answer.” She said, looking from him to Loali with slightly narrowed eyes. “I do agree that there are better ways to ask, however.”

At the comment, I watched Loali avert her eyes, and I finally took the opportunity to speak.

“It’s alright,” I said, pushing past the ringing in my ears, "I'll tell you what I can."

I need to tell them about me anyway at some point, so there’s no point in letting them get upset at her for asking.

I briefly considered the idea that maybe I was being too open, that my willingness to speak thus far was idiotic given how little I knew about these people, but I felt the need to brush that thought aside quickly. There would’ve been little reason for me to hold back other than my own subconscious fears, either that I’d break down or alternatively that they’d somehow use the information against me, but if the second were even remotely possible I’d have little means by which to stop them from forcing the information out of me anyway. Regardless, I didn’t really believe they were that kind of people. I couldn’t. If I did, I’d be forced to walk back into the forest by myself again, and likely quickly die to whatever monster spotted me first. In that case, being open with them could theoretically only benefit us both.

They’re more likely to let me stay with them if I’m useful to them anyway, right?

I looked back at Loali’s curious eyes, and again made up my mind.

“I’m not really sure how I got here, but...”