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Hear… Feel… Think…
He was light headed, yet weighted. Energized and drained. Awake but no less fatigued.
Clive floated within the waters, carried away by its natural aetheric flow. Its stream making right what was once corrupted inside his being, reconnected to his lifeforce, asserting him to its ambience.
Deep in his core, there was a spark, followed by a burning. Then a guttural roar as his inner fire rejoined the tide of life. All senses dissipated as he turned to ash. But there was no pain once the fire raged. Before long, there was nothing but darkness… a gentle, cooling abyss deep in the life-giving waters.
A glimmer pierced through its surface. He gasped; air bubbles floated away.
Light, luminous, righteous light, blinding and true hit his lids. Gaining control of his buoyant limbs, Clive swam up, maneuvering with the current. The flow guided him out of the darkness of its depths. Brave, little sparks glided by. It was then he saw it, just beyond the surface.
An eclipsed sun.
Clive swam toward it.
It was not long before his body broke the surface of the waves and he took his first gasp of air, alive and well. Revitalized by the ambient aether which kept him afloat. The oppressive, molten heat within faded away, near to the point of extinguishing any remnants of its embers.
Clive hardly noticed.
The Dominant felt weightless, regardless of his sodden attire. He could not quite put his finger on it, but his surroundings felt… different.
The sky above him was as azure as his gaze, and yet… vibrant, alive. The shore in the distance too was filled with verdant life. For there to be such abundance of aether permeating the land, and this discernable to his senses at that, must mean the blighted influence of the Mothercrystal’s had yet to corrupt the region.
Clive swam to shore.
Gravity made itself known soon after. He fell on his knees upon the sand, the dark sun dazzling to his eyes. Clive blinked against the glare, his sopping raven strands sticking against his regal visage.
He heard a familiar bark in the distance, his shoulders unconsciously drooped, relaxed.
Torgal…
The man ran his fingers through his hair, clearing his fringe from his sight. Torgal’s loping form became all the clearer as the frost wolf rushed to his side.
Alas, he was not alone. Less than a malm away stood a petite being on the other side of the shore. Torgal rushed back toward the stranger and tugged at their sleeve with his teeth, bidding they follow. The stranger neared, revealing a woman with an ethereal visage, crowned by shorn silver hair, and lovely celeste orbs.
Clive blinked incredulously as he absorbed the woman before him.
Were those ivory horns, scales on her skin… and a tail?
She was dressed in sturdy, white traveling garbs, the furred collar a complement to her graceful gait, a staff imbued with magic on her back.
The woman stopped before him and pat the top of Torgal’s head. The Frost wolf panted, his tail wagged at the attention, comfortable by the stranger’s side. She offered Clive a tiny smile, the sun glinted in her gaze, shoulders back and stance firm. Unassuming and battle-hardened.
A fighter, and a well-trained one at that.
The rays around them grew brighter still as the eclipse faded, setting the sand and the woman aglow. The corona behind her head blinding to Clive’s eyes.
Were he a pious man, Clive would presume her Greagor reborn.
No, Clive was a slave no longer and this woman, though divine, was not a goddess. She was as the sun, powerful, luminous.
A warrior of light.
The woman knelt before him and scratched behind Torgal’s ears, addressing the wolf instead. “Is this your friend?”
Clive cleared his throat, voice hoarse from disuse. “Torgal…”
The woman repeated his words slowly, testing the phonetics of the name as she continued to pet the noble beast. “Torgal, an honor.”
She gauged Clive with near omnipotent eyes, celeste unwavering upon azure, clouded and detached. A beat and the woman’s smile brightened; her gaze regained its glimmer. She stood and offered her hand for him to take, a benediction. “Well then, to whom do I have the pleasure?”
He accepted her hand in his grip, allowing her to pull him to his feet with an ease belied by her petite figure. Clive knew not why, but he balked at the thought of lying to her, for his soul sang in homecoming at her presence. His manners from youth took over and he bowed, his form elegant. “You may call me Clive, my Lady. And to whom do I have the pleasure?”
His words seemed to amuse the silvered woman further as she curtsied gracefully in turn. “I am Davina, tis good to make your acquaintance.” Davina’s lips pursed. “Have you by any chance come across any rumors of a blazing, horned creature during your washing up to shore? The locals are quite harried and presume it to be Ifrit. Why the Eikon would be sited after so long dormant is any one’s guess.”
Now that brought Clive back to firm feet and reality forthwith. He frowned, his handsome visage the epitome of severity, azure eyes glacial. “No, but I may know a thing or two about our common query. Please allow me to be of assistance.”
Davina hummed, her orbs roved over Clive’s built form and chuckled. “You don’t say? Shall we find our common friend together then? By the look of you, I dare say you miss him far more than I.”
If only you knew the half of it.
Nevertheless, Clive kept the passing thought to himself and followed behind his new ally as she guided him away from the shore, Torgal trotting along beside the odd pair.
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