II

---

━━━━━━┓༻❁༺┏━━━━━━

---

Arc II Chapter 19

---

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

---

 

18^th of Anima Lunar 753 AAC

 

Aurora suffered from a mild concussion, accompanied by a severe case of motion sickness. Disorientation. Confusion. Dizziness. Her headsie kept spinning, unable to tell left from right. Her poor earsies rang. The tinnitus was the worst. Yet she knew that in time her concussion would pass. It was only a matter of time and patience before the symptoms would subside.

 

Time passed before her vision gradually returned. As her blurry eyes recovered and her sight adjusted, Aurora and her dolly companions were greeted by an enormous crater with rock and stone hurled everywhere. The diameter was considerable to the point she deserved a commendation for her handiwork, despite the tiny miscalculation on her part. The detonation proved far more powerful than anticipated. Glinting in the sunlight, a myriad of crystal splinters covered the ground. Apparently, the crystal vein ran far deeper than assumed, thus amplifying the explosion far beyond her predictions. The resulting aetherial cataclysm ripped the ground apart, pulverising earth and stone alike in a shower of debris. Creating a giant crater in the middle of an ancient city was admittedly not the most optimal course of action, but wiser men than her had erred far worse before. Nobody would miss a little chunk of land here and there, right?

 

Looking upon her fallen enemy, the explosion and a few million volts had roasted the beast alive. He took the brunt of the blast, yet her heart felt neither pity, nor compassion for the dead creature. He deserved his fate for attacking a helpless and innocent girl. Her will-o-wisps seconded her opinion, while dancing in joy. It was a miracle that they had survived the ordeal without suffering any casualties in the process.

 

Aurora rewarded her comrades in arms with a benign smile. They truly made it… somehow. Against all expectations, her friends defied the odds. “Excellent work, everyone! You didn't disappoint me.”

 

Gullible in mind, the sprites fell for her flattery. Their chests swelled with pride as their amorphous bodies expanded. Forgotten was the fact that they had been used as literal cannon fodder.

 

Approaching the smouldering remains of her late enemy, Aurora took petty revenge on the carcass with a series of kicks. Unfortunately, her cute, little kicks proved ineffective, unable to barely move his bulky body. Her weak legs lacked the physical strength, but her small boots were able to move the greasy soot covering his scorched skin. Take that! “Told you so, who is laughing last now, you oversized fur coat?” Cute, little girls with dolls were no adequate food source ...

 

“Are you out of your mind, brat? What are you doing there?” A familiar voice reprimanded her from behind. “Get away from it!!! Immediately ... Ouch. Why are you hitting me, Iris?”

 

Iris retracted her striking hand. “Because you are scaring her, Rudolf.” 

 

For a brief moment, Aurora froze. This was bad, very bad, as she was where she wasn't supposed to be, and people that weren't supposed to arrive stumbled upon her.

 

 

Deploying her brightest smile and masking her surprise, Aurora turned around to face her visitors. “Sister Iris, Uncle Rudolf, nice to see you! What are you doing here?”

 

...

...

...

 

 

Rudolf narrowed his eyes, as he was clearly not much the type for niceties. “Listen, lass, this is not the way things work around here. You have had overstepped your boundaries, and we demand some answers right now, right here. So I ask you once again, what are you doing here?”

 

A secret smirk crossed Aurora's lips. Rudolf made a subpar move, presenting her with an opening to counter, an opportunity she gladly took. Rubbing her eyes with her sleeves and hugging her doll, Aurora broke out into a stream of tears rolling down her cute little cheeks. .“But ... But ... But ... I only wanted ... I only wanted ...”

 

His actions earned Rudolf a withering look of shame. Iris crossed her arms and glared at him. “Excellent work, Rudolf, you have made her cry. It seems that your children's skills are impeccable as usual.”

 

Her words made Rudolf fume, as his temper got once again the better of him. “Don't be fooled by her, Iris. The girl is toying with us. Don't fall for her little act …”

 

Iris wasn’t even listening. Instead, she ignored her companion and wrapped her arms around a crying Aurora to cuddle and comfort her. “Calm down, little one. No need to cry, Sister Iris is here to protect you from big mean Rudolf.”

 

“Really?” Aurora sniffed, as her tears subsided.

 

Iris nodded. “Yes, I will protect you. In exchange, you just need to tell Sister Iris what happened.”

 

“But I ... don't ... know. Everything is so confusing. Everything happened so quickly.”

 

“Don't worry, take your time. Take one little step at a time.” Iris' wry smile encouraged Aurora. “Just share with us whatever you do remember.”

 

Aurora and her doll nodded, as her deception succeeded.

 

“Good girl.” Iris rewarded her with a warm head pat, a gesture that Aurora very much appreciated. “Tell us, little one, why did you run away? Don’t you understand that we were quite worried about you? You can't leave on your own, just like that. This place is dangerous.”

 

“I am sowwy.” Aurora lowered her gaze in guilt, her meek voice barely audible. “I just wanted to experience explore the ruins. Everything was going well until the evil… creature there appeared.”

 

Her fingers pointed at the smouldering carcass of the slain creature. Smoke was rising from the blackened mass of grilled flesh. “The beast attacked me. It wanted to eat me.” Her aetherial friends supported her version of the events, aggregating around their saviour in a motion of support.

 

Much to Aurora's surprise, neither Iris, nor Rudolf displayed any reaction whatsoever. The will-o-wisps were danced and floating around her, yet the two didn’t react in the slightest at the sight of their frivolous activities. Could it be that, unlike her, … they couldn’t see them?

 

Rudolf and Iris followed her eyes before turning suddenly very silent. In an instant, their blood froze solid like ice, as their eyes widened in terror. 

 

“Holy shit, this is ... This is ...” Rudolf gasped in shock. “This is a dread wolf!” His hand reached for his trusted spear to poke the carcass from a prudent distance. Fortunately, his fears were unfounded, and the beast didn't move. The creature dead, deader than dead, which elicited a sigh of relief from Rudolf.

 

Yet his fierce gaze remained on the carcass, every watchful. “A fully grown dread wolf. I have heard rumours about them, but to think they would wander this far south this time of the year. I always thought that they could be only found further up north.”

 

Aurora sharpened her ears. “A dread wolf? What's that?”

 

Rudolf rose from the ground. “They are powerful beasts sustained by aether, usually affiliated with the dark elements, with ice, lightning, and fire. They are native to the vast boreal regions of Norgard, but they are quite common further north and east along the borders ... ... ... You are truly a lucky girl. Dread wolves are dangerous creatures, easily capable of slaughtering even seasoned adventurers. To be honest, I don't have even the faintest idea about how you have managed to survive an encounter with such a beast. Have you sold your soul to a demon when we weren’t looking?”  

 

Aurora tilted her head. “Not that I know of, Uncle Rudolf. As far as I am aware. I didn't sign any contract, but what I know is that the evil wolfie killed himself.”

 

“Sure ... Wait, what?” His eyes blinked in what could be only described as surprise. “Did you really just say that the dread wolf killed itself?”

 

Aurora nodded vigorously. Her doll nodded vigorously. Her will-o-wisps nodded vigorously.

---

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

---