Chapter Text
The first thing Grian saw was stars.
He took in a breath, unsure of what it meant, but aware of its purpose. And for a while, that's all his world was reduced to—the glowing night sky and his slow, paced breathing. The only thing proving to him that he was not in an endless void of stars were the dark blades of grass that encompassed either side of his vision.
He wasn't sure how long he stayed there, gazing up at the stars.
Eventually he felt sparks jut through his body, slowly fixing his senses. He at least felt the grass underneath him—soft, slightly damp, cold—but not too cold, just enough to keep him rooted to his body, to reality.
Soon enough he could hear as well—The gentle chirping of crickets, the hushed howling of the wind, and his own steady breath.
He could even smell... something? It was crisp and cold, sweet and refreshing. If he could smell stars, he supposed, this would be it.
He twitched his fingers, feeling the sparks continuing to course through him. Once his body gained enough sense to move well enough, he struggled up and onto his feet. Once he did, he did a full 360, taking in his unfamiliar surroundings.
It was open prairie it seemed, and it was night. But it wasn't... night night. The stars were out and the sky was a deep indigo purple, but he could see perfectly fine, almost as if everything had a gentle luminescence to it. The sky especially, being lit up by an endless web of stars, sparkling in unison in the vast above him.
He scoured the horizon for any signs of life, only finding some fireflies gently glowing against the dark grass, and that same humming of the crickets—constant, but fluctuating in every minute way he couldn't quite differ from another. It was as if they were desperately trying to remind him of their solemn, minor existence.
There were some trees in distance, few and far apart, and only appearing as silhouettes from his perspective, shadowy apparitions splotched against the canvas of the night sky.
Grian searched the horizon for any signs that could disprove his solitude, but met nothing. Nothing except the stars. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. There was really only one option left, wait. Wait for someone—or something—to find him.
If there even was anyone else out there, of course.
...
"Hello."
...
Grian swiftly twisted around, and standing there, just in front of him, was a ⎓ᔑᒲ╎ꖎ╎ᔑ∷ ⎓ᔑᓵᒷ ...person? It was a figure, cloaked in black and shining with the radiance of the sky above. "...H- hello?"
"Hello." The person repeated.
"...Hello.." Grian brought his hand to his chest. "My name's-"
"Grian."
Grian blinked. "Yes, yes that- that's correct." Suddenly, he wasn't quite sure how he even knew his own name.
The person chuckled, then pulled their hood down. Now that he could see their face better, it was clearly a woman, looking to be around her early adulthood. And most peculiarly, her eyes were almost completely black, and where her pupils should be, instead were replaced with shimmering white, almost forming crescent shapes.
Then, the woman turned around and began to walk. "Follow me if you want, or not, but I greatly recommend you do, lest you wish to meet what else roams out here first."
"Wh- excuse me? Do you mind at least telling me where I am?"
The woman didn't respond.
Grian sighed, and began to follow her. "How about your name, can you tell me that?"
The woman didn't respond.
"...What can you tell me? Cause I don't know if you can tell, but I'm a bit lost."
"Don't be." The woman didn't stop walking.
"W-.. What?"
The woman turned her head around as she continued her trek forwards. That is, if there was such a thing as forward. "Don't be lost, or else you might not be able to find yourself again."
"What does that even-?" Grian walked faster in an attempt to catch up to her. "You know what, never mind. But can you at least maybe tell me where we're going?"
"You'll see! It will all make sense when we get there."
"Well, you're sure gonna have to do a lot of explaining. Like- why's the sky so bright even though the stars are out? And why are-"
"Hush." She spoke. "We will answer all your questions soon."
Grian sighed in annoyance, but continued walking, before suddenly stopping in his path. "...We?"
She turned her head once more. "Soon."
He huffed out a breath, and paced after her.
Grian didn't know when they arrived, but they did.
"We're here."
Grian eyed the.. place up and down. "I could tell..."
It was.. magnificent, to say the least. It spanned a few hundred feet in each direction—not all that large for a town, but it made up for it in the detail. Buildings made of wood and dark stone skewered into the sky, with all sorts of dimensions and patterns engraved into their surfaces. Warm yellow lights peered out from the windows, contrasting against the cool stone. And the lights only grew in abundance as his vision trailed upwards, both from windows and from lanterns, crowning the city in glowing sparks, as if imitating the stars themselves.
"This," The woman spread her arms out. "Is Elysium."
"It's.." Grian's eyes scoured the village for what felt like the fourth time. "Beautiful.."
She chuckled. "I'm glad you think so, because it is where you will be staying from here on out."
Grian blinked, staring at the woman for several beats before speaking. "...Excuse me?"
"Don't worry, just follow behind me." And with that she was walking again, deeper into the heart of the town.
Grian's eyes darted around, spotting a few figures, their ghostly eyes returning his curious glare. He didn't really have any other options, so he decided to oblige and follow behind her. They trekked down the rather desolate streets, the walls nothing but a dark gray, and the tiled floor an even darker shade, made of a lustrous stone that almost seemed to reflect the sky above.
She eventually stopped, at what was presumably the center of the city. It was a clearing made of the same stone, and what looked to be runes of some sort inscribed into them.
As they walked to the center of the clearing, the figures from before slowly crept towards them in a strange sort of haunting waltz, and he couldn't help but notice that they were now surrounded. There were three of them, to be exact.
"Alright." The woman stood in the very center. "Sit here, we'll help explain some things."
"I... Okay.." Grian walked to her. He decided he had no reason to resist, so he did as she said, sitting down in the very center. He kept a squint on the distant figure, but their spacing from each other made it impossible to watch all of them at once.
The star-cloaked woman began to walk in circles around him. "I'll start with where we are right now. This place, as I said, is the town of Elysium. It's a haven for lost spirits like you, and is protected from threats by us—guardians, protectors, sentinels—whatever you wish to call us, we do our jobs all the same."
The other three got closer, standing just on the edges of the clearing. "...What do you mean by 'lost spirits'?"
"If you do not wish for me to refer to you such, then I won't, but there aren't much nicer words."
"No I- It's fine, but what does it mean? A spirit? Is that what I am?" Grian did his best to sit still on the stone tiles beneath him.
"If you are here, yes."
"...Am I here?"
The woman looked to one of the three spectators. "Is he here?"
"As here as we all are, assuming we're all here." The man replied. "So yes."
Grian was very confused, to say the least. Although, he almost felt like she should've been.. more confused? But then again what did he know? His existence has summed up to be what he could only assume to be about thirty minutes.
"Time doesn't work in minutes," The moon-eyed woman said above him. "Time does not work much at all here."
Grian paused, then looked up to her. "..I didn't say anything."
She smiled. "You don't need to say anything, your thoughts are loud enough to speak for you."
Grian sputtered. Could she hear everything he was thinking? "..Al- alright..." Grian looked back to the floor. "This is quite a lot to take in at once..."
One of the three spoke up. "I-I know it is, but we promise you can have a good rest after this, to take it all in.."
Grian looked to them. It was a woman, in various shades of teal and black clothing, with a gray and teal.. wolf mask? of sorts? However, it seemed the wolf mask didn't hide her eyes. In fact, it looked like the mask had eyes of it's own?
"She's telling the truth." The moon-eyed woman had stopped walking some time ago. "But I assure you it is still important we do this."
"And what exactly is 'this'?" Grian questioned.
She nodded at the others, signaling them to come closer. Almost in sync, they all sat in a triangle around him. "First, we'll introduce ourselves."
"I'm Gemini." One of them spoke. "Or Gem for short!" She giggled. "And I'm the spirit of vitality."
She looked... peculiar, but that also wasn't something she had over the other two. She appeared mostly human, although her bottom half appeared to be that of a faun's, and she had antlers poking out from under her bright ginger hair to compliment that observation.
"And I'm the Wolf Spirit." The wolf-masked one from earlier held her hand out to him.
A bit reluctantly, he reached his own hand out and shook hers.
"Well- my name's Shelby, but I'm the Wolf Spirit. Oh- and uhm, emotion." She continued shaking for an awkward amount of time. "That's what I'm, -that's what I'm the spirit of..."
Finally, she pulled out of the handshake. Grian squinted at her a moment longer, before twisting his head to meet the final spirit.
"It's- Scott. Just Scott. Spirit of reality."
Grian looked him up and down. He was arguably the most normal looking of the three—the only inherently inhuman attributes being his eyes, which shone a bright purple with white pupils. Other than that he just wore some fancy robes and had bright violet hair.
"And finally," The last spirit spoke up. "Pearl, spirit of knowledge." She smiled, piercing her luminous crescent shaped eyes into his.
Pearl, huh. ∴⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ ⍑ᔑ↸ ⍑ᒷ ⍑ᒷᔑ∷↸ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑℸ ̣ リᔑᒲᒷ?
Pearl stood behind him, kneeling down a bit. "Now, I am just going to... look at you."
"..Look at me? I-I'm not exactly sure I know what that means.." He gave a nervous chuckle.
"Don't worry, it will not hurt." She placed her hands on either side of his head. "...If you stay still."
"I, uh.." Grian did his best not to move, still very much confused on what was even happening. "How long does it take?.."
"Not long at all, it's almost done." She said. Although, only after a moment did she make a sort of puzzled 'wh-' sound.
What's that supposed to mean?
"What is it Pearl?" The wolf spirit asked.
"It's uh- nothing! it's nothing..." She removed her hands from his temples. "I'm done."
"Alright." Grian shuffled his shoulders back. "Now can I-"
"Wait." She painted her hands down against his shoulder. "Just give me one more moment."
He sighed, and nodded. "I don't think I have the option to resist."
"That isn't true." Pearl objected above him.
"Oh yeah? So will you let me walk away right now?"
...
"That's what I thought..." He murmured.
He couldn't quite see what she was doing from this angle, but she was doing some kinds of gestures, moving her arms in strange patterns behind him.
"We're only trying to protect you, you know..." She spoke.
"From what exactly? I didn't see anything even slightly dangerous out in the plains."
"Some dangers are more dangerous when you have knowledge of them. All you need to know is that you're safe here, no matter what. At least trust me on that."
Grian felt a sudden rush of cold over his body, and vision seemed to glow a faint purple. What was she doing to him? "It's.. not that easy, Pearl. And you've still refused to answer most of my questions-"
"Hush." She placed her palm on the back of his head
Grian bit down his lip, trying his best not to lash out. But before he could say anymore, that same feeling—that cold warmth (that was the best way he could put it, don't ask him how it made any sense), it flowed through his whole body, until he couldn't move. He tried to thrash around in panic, but he couldn't.
And then, he- he wasn't seeing things—he had wings. He couldn't see all too well from his perspective, but large glowing lavender WINGS were spread out from either side of his vision. His breath shuddered, overwhelmed by this... feeling, of.. power?—It was an energy of some sort.
And just as quickly as the wings appeared, they vanished.
Pearl slowly stumbled back. "Oh my.."
Grian couldn't take anymore of whatever this was. He stood up and glared at her. "What the hell was that?!"
She didn't respond, but this time it wasn't in some sort of stupid mysterious way, she looked shocked. He looked to the other spirits, and they seemed to be just as surprised (or maybe awestruck?) as she was. "What is it?! Are we done?"
Pearl quickly stepped back in front of him, and placed her had on his cheek. "Yeah, y-yeah we're done. You can- we'll take you to your room."
Grian furrowed his eyebrows, that still isn't answers. But he had to admit, he did feel strangely exhausted. Pearl gripped his hand in hers. "Come with me, I promise I'll tell you everything I can."
"Okay, yeah. That'll do..." He gave one as last shudder as that strange energy just now seemed to wear off completely.
The trek was uncomfortably silent, as she led him by the hand to.. wherever they were going. None of the five spoke, and there was no murmur of any other spirit citizens that may have been around, it was just... silence. Cold, deafening silence.
As they took twists and turns in ways that no one would if they had a definite destination, Grian started to question if Pearl even knew where she was going. And even when they did arrive at their destination, everyone still looked unsure for some reason.
He took a good look at the building, and he couldn't help but notice it looked a bit more.. special? It was clearly different from the other building surrounding it, being mostly made out of a much darker stone and lacking any trace of wood unlike some of the other buildings. And atop it's facade, was a rather grandeur window, made with fragmented glass stained of deep blues and purples. It seemed to form a pattern, or rather.. a symbol? He couldn't say he recognized it, if it even meant anything.
"We're here." She muttered, then opened the door. Her and two of the other spirits walked in with her, but he stayed behind for just a moment longer.
"It's okay if you're nervous, Grian." The wolf girl—Shelby, said behind him. "I was too when I first joined Elysium." She looked down and scratched behind her wolf mask's ear (it twitched in response, it might not even be a mask). "I know it's a bit of a.. strange place, but it's actually quite nice when you get used to it!"
Grian looked to her, to her iridescent blue eyes, bright as a flame. And then, he took in a deep sigh, looking back up to the building before them. "How long am I gonna be here?"
She stared at him, meeting his eyes as they landed back on her, her eyes perfectly mirroring his. "...Is there anywhere else you need to be?" Her voice was strangely melancholic.
"I... Well, I don't know. I haven't seen anywhere else."
"Pearl wasn't lying when she said it's dangerous out there. I know it might be a hard thing to do, but you're gonna have to stick closely with us us if you want to survive in this world Grian. At least for the start."
As Grian blinked, he was barely able to make out that she perfectly mimicked it. "...I'll try."
"Could you two maybe.. hurry up? you're gonna let fireflies inside!" Scott called from beyond the door frame.
"...Right." Shelby walked in, giving him one last glance.
Grian scratched his head and made his way in as well. It was quite nice and spacious inside, and rather luxurious—no, leaning on straight up royal furniture littered the place. He closed the door behind him, and took in a deep breath. It smelled... cold.
"Sit anywhere you'd like" Pearl gestured around the living room. "I'll go and prepare a room for you."
Grian looked around, and sat down on one of the sofas. Pearl nodded and headed up a flight of stairs.
Grian tapped his fingers against his lap. "So, uh.. hi."
"Hi." Scott replied.
"...This is quite a nice place, a bit big for just me though.."
"Oh um," Gem pursed her lips. "This isn't exactly... yours.."
"Oh." He combed his hand through his hair. "S- sorry?"
"No no it's fine, we brought you here did we not?" Gem continued with a small giggle. "But no, this is the sanctum! And yeah, it's kind of our place—well, we don't really live in it exactly, but we own it collectively. And we often stay here in order to study, as well as keep the rest of Elysium in check!"
Grian nodded. "Alrighty. But then, do you mind me asking what I'm doing here? If this isn't where I live then why was I taken here?"
There was a silence between them. Shelby twitched her ear. "You know that's actually a good question."
"It's clear Pearl thinks you're special." Scott said, crossing one of his legs over the other as he sat down. "..So I guess you're staying here temporarily."
"Oh?" Grian raised an eyebrow, sensing a bit of a threatening tone in the spirit's words.
"Scott!" Shelby snapped, though clearly not too seriously. "Be nicer."
Scott looked between them. "What, are you defending him now? Pearl just picked him off of the fields a few moments ago, why should we trust him?"
"If we can trust Pearl, we can trust him." Shelby retaliated, her voice mirroring his tone.
"Oh so what, you're the spirit of trust now?" Scott teased.
"Just listen to her, Scott." Gem intervened, though she clearly wasn't bothered by his tone. "You know exactly why Pearl brought him here." She glared, then turned to face Grian and smiled. "Sorry about him. We love him, but he's a bit rough edged sometimes."
"I'm gonna take that as a compliment." Scott replied with a smug grin.
"He also doesn't know when to shut up!" Shelby playfully knocked him over the head.
"Ow-" Scott cowered forwards, then rubbed the back of his head with a grumble.
"It's-" Grian chuckled a little bit. "It's okay, I'm just a little... -are all new people like this at first?"
Shelby looked between the others, seeming to have a silent conversation. Then she looked back to Grian, tilting her head from side to side. "..Some are quicker to adapt than others. But don't worry, it still hasn't been very long at all."
"Yeah.." Grian looked to the floor. "Yeah I suppose it really hasn't..."
"You are a bit different though.." Shelby continued with a mutter.
Grian perked back up. "What?"
"You.. feel different." Shelby's eyes seemed as if they were reading him, and doing well at that. "Confusion is normal and expected, but.. As the spirit of emotion, it would be blind of me not to see that that's not all."
"I can feel it too." Scott spoke. "You are special in some way, it seems."
"O.. -kay? ..But is anybody gonna tell me what? Or do you not know yourself?"
Scott looked between everyone in the room. "Eh, we'll tell you tomorrow."
"Pearl will tell you tomorrow." Gem corrected.
Grian slumped back with a sigh. "I don't know why I expected any other answer."
There was another hush.
Grian lazily rolled his head to the right. "It's.. fine. Where is Pearl anyway? Does it really take that long to fix a room?"
Scott chuckled. "She's not actually up there, you know."
Grian looked to him. "What?"
"There's several rooms that are already prepared, Grian." Gem explained. "You could've gone to bed whenever you wanted."
"Wh- then where is she?!"
The spirits all looked between each other. "You'll see tomorrow." Shelby said.
Grian rubbed his eyes with another sigh. "..And when exactly is tomorrow? I came in here with no relative sense of time."
"Whenever you wake up is your tomorrow." Shelby replied.
"But doesn't everyone wake up at different times?"
Shelby nodded. "Everyone has their own tomorrow. Except in our case, because for us, there is no tomorrow."
"You.. don't sleep?"
Gem shook her head. "You can't protect something when you aren't present. We were all chosen to be the guardians of Elysium for a reason, Grian."
"We're the spirits of the night sky." Scott continued.
"And as long as the stars are above us, we will shine with them." Shelby finished. "..Or something like that."
Grian felt a wave of chills course through him. Perhaps it was the gaze of all three of the spirits on him, or maybe it was just the cold getting to him—he couldn't say he knew. "..Alright, then. I think I'm done for the day- er, night."
He couldn't see under Shelby's mask, but he could tell she smiled. "Of course, see you tomorrow Grian."
Grian slowly stood up, still feeling their eyes on him. "You too.." He gently made his way to the staircase, taking a look back. They weren't stopping him, and they weren't guiding him either. He took a step up the stairs, and another, until he reached the top.
The first thing he was met with was a.. balcony? It sure wasn't the first thing he expected to find, but alright. Actually, he didn't know if he could even call it a balcony—it spanned the entire length of the hallway, letting the moonlight flood in onto his skin. He took a moment to look out, placing his hands on the railings and peering across the landscape. It seems the sanctum was more or less on the edge of the town, because all he could see were the open plains and the bright sky above. It was beautiful though, and he doesn't think he'll ever meet another person who would disagree.
He took in a deep breath of the cool air, and then looked to his left and right—there were several doors, presumably all to rooms. Then he looked back down the stairway. "Which one's mine?" He called out.
"Any of them."
"Oh my-" He whipped his head around in shock, meeting face to face with the moon-eyed woman
Pearl gave an amused chuckle. "I apologize, I forget that it takes time for people to get used to that."
Grian held his hand to his chest with something of a smile on his face. "You're very.. everywhere..."
"You sound like Scott." She said with a fond smile, then nodded her head backwards. "Come with me, you can pick any room you'd like." Pearl, being her constantly moving self, turned around and jaunted down the hallway.
He followed her once more, never quite knowing his destination when he did so. Pearl flicked her hand towards one of the rooms. "That one's Shelby's, but the rest are open for you."
"Why does only Shelby have a room?"
Pearl stopped at the end of the hallway and turned around. "She's.. a little different than the others. For one, she's a kleptomaniac, so she needs space to store all her jun-..things..."
Grian raised an eyebrow, opening the door to another room and looking in. It was clean, and pretty spacious for one person. The bed was neatly tucked into a corner, and a shelf with a lantern filled of fireflies sat right beside it. "This one looks nice."
"Good, cause they all look exactly the same."
He stepped in and looked around some more. There was a shelf filled to the brim with books (a bookshelf Grian, a bookshelf), and a window that sat right above, its blinds open and letting in the glowing moonlight. Grian walked over to his bed, sitting on the sheets and staring out at the moon through the window.
He reached his hand out and grabbed the firefly lantern, staring at the little glowing insects flying around inside. He gave it a little shake, he didn't quite know why, but he did. "Don't these guys need to eat or something?"
"Most male fireflies live for just long enough to find a mate, eating won't help them live any longer. So no, but I release them after a few weeks so they can fulfill their goal."
He continued watching each of the bugs floating around, no purpose in mind, just doing what they did best, glow. He almost envied it. "And so then what? do you just scoop up another bunch?"
"Essentially, yes. There's tons in the field, as you saw."
Grian nodded, placing the lantern back down. "Thank you Pearl. Thank you for somewhere to stay."
"It is my purpose Grian, I'm just protecting my kind."
Grian faced her, her smile solemn but kind. "Good night, Pearl."
"I'm not going to sleep, but-" She gave a soft giggle. "Good- good night, Grian."
"See you tomorrow."
"See you soon."
The door closed with a click.
He lied back in bed, tossing his head from left to right. The light from the moon shuttered through the blinds and into his eyes, rippling down his torso until it faded into the darkness around. He sighed and stood back up, walking up and closing the blinds with one hand before slumping back onto the bed, wriggling under the sheets and adjusting the pillows to his liking.
The light of the moon still peeked through the thin cracks of the blinds, but other than that, only the gentle flicker of the fireflies was left. And as his vision was reduced to noise as silent and still as the sky, he realized just how tired he was. His mind began to flood out any sound other than the gentle chirping of crickets outside, until he slowly drifted off.