Chapter Text
Peter does not remember much, he does, however, remember darkness and seeing stars fall from the sky. He remembers being told to wake up, to bring lost stars home. He remembers falling.
When he wakes up, he is greeted with the sound of waves crashing on land, thunder rolling through the clouds, and lighting crackling far overhead. Every now and then he can see the streaks of lighting illuminate the ground. Speaking of ground, he finds that it is rather unpleasant and so he stands. The stone he was laying on is still cool underneath his bare feet, the breeze is cool and smells of salt.
In front of him is what looks to be a portal, he can see lavender skies and what seems to be a mountain. To the right of the first, there are five pairs of broken pillars, a dirt path leading to the center of each. There is a closed door at the end, it is taller than Peter, and the pillars. It sends a shiver down his spine.
The thunder booms on and the lighting continues to crackle, yet the ocean is calm. It takes him a moment, but he soon realizes that he is surrounded by water. And it is calm, despite the storm raging overhead. Peter looks around, all he can see is land leading to the water. The island is very small. The portal from before looks to lead off the little island completely. The sky there is lavender, that place looks better than where Peter is now. So, with little thinking, Peter walks through the portal.
There is more land than water this time and a mound of sand that leads into a cave. The sand is warm under his feet, always shifting with each step he takes. As he approaches the cave, the walls begin to light up, cave paintings glow against the dark rock. The paintings depict people praying and stars falling and people collecting the fallen stars. Peter doesn’t notice but by the time the ground drops he’s already on the ground, feet wet, though the fall hurt it wouldn’t leave any bruising. A few steps ahead is the exit to the cave, though it was more of a tunnel. There is another drop, this one doesn’t catch Peter’s attention. What does catch it, is a person, though you can’t really call them that. They’re bright yellow all over, almost like… like a star. Peter reaches out, as if on instinct, and grabs at the light. Suddenly, he knows exactly what this is.
A winged light.
Peter is engulfed in a bright and warm light and temporarily lifted off the ground. When his toes connect with sand again, his back feels a little heavier, almost as if there’s something on it. There is. On his shoulders is a brown cape. It’s warm. It’s… familiar. Suddenly there is an overwhelming need to take flight. Peter does. He doesn’t get far, unfortunately. He lands in front of another winged light on what looks to be the remains of a weathered, far in-land boat. With the wind blowing and the waves crashing onto the shore, Peter takes it. His cape flashes once and he takes flight again. What distance he doesn't cover in the air, he covers by foot. The walk isn’t long. He begins to see new things almost immediately. To his right, there is a tall rock formation, in front of him there is another. He begins the short walk to the one in front.
From the viewpoint of the rock formation, Peter can see two things. Another winged light, and what appears to be a castle. After taking the winged light he can begin to hear the tolling of a bell, its loud chimes coming from the castle above. Separating him from the castle is height, distance, and clouds. He can’t walk there so he flies there. When he lands he’s met with cool grass and a comforting breeze. Turning around he sees how far he flew, it may not be a huge distance, but it’s long enough to cause pride to swell in his chest. He smiles.
There are more washed-up boats, how they got there is unknown to Peter. He wanders into the castle soon after, eyes wide and searching. The only thing stopping Peter from going forward is a large door. This one isn’t like the one before, it doesn’t scare him in any way. He holds his hand out to the door, a red candle appears in his hand. The door seems to react to the candle almost immediately, opening to let him through. Peter lowers his hand and the candle disappears into a puff of light. The room is empty, save a singular white candle and a statue with eyes that glow softly. He holds his hand out again to summon his candle, using it to light the white one. Then, as if triggering something deep within the castle, a light begins to circle the bottom of Peter’s feet. Something in him tells him to sit, he does.
When he wakes up the door he came through is closed and a new one has opened. There is only one way to go. Peter goes forward. He can hear the singing of birds before he even steps outside. Once outside, there is nothing but clouds and an open sky, as blue as it can be. The sun presses such gentle kisses on his skin and the rock underneath him is warm. The wind rustles his hair ever so slightly. If there was ever a place to take flight, it would be here.
Peter does not know where he’s going or how far he’ll travel, but he takes flight. He takes soars and he does not look back.