Lucid (L): Prologue - Bad Start

The fireflies flittered about in the night, flickering lights that rode the thermal winds she could not feel.

A dream then. One that hadn't surfaced in quite some Time.

She follows them through the pathless forest, feet bare and wearing a simple white dress, ribbon sash trailing behind her. Raising her hands to greet them, she pauses at her name.

"Lori." She returns, a smile on her lips as she bounds over.

"Lorien." he corrects gently, and the smile grows wider with fond exasperation, "Welcome back To Swapnil, Seren."

"So it's Swapnil tonight?" she falls into step beside Lorien, though not without a last look over her shoulder. She didn't need to turn to see them, her 3rd eye taking in the forest as a whole, but she liked doing so, "I'll miss the fireflies."

"They'll be there when you next return." Lorien was still looking ahead of them. Swapnil loomed in the distant horizon, "... 'Twere it up to me, I'd have chosen Azlin. It is said that A. Polaris is lighting down there--though I doubt he will be long."

The North Star himself?

"Rain is there?"

"Most likely. Probably been there for the past couple days when it first came to light."

The soft tapping of the branch Lorien carried as a walking stick accompanied their steps in comfortable silence.

"Do you think she'll finally catch up with him." she ponders aloud, "That their paths will finally cross?"

"Who knows. Though her orbit brings her ever closer, the refulgent North is yet two steps ahead. He has, thus far eluded collision with his satellite at every turn." he chuckles, "Not that she hasn't come close. Star-crossed lovers, those two."

Seren fakes a scandalized gasp in mock astonishment, adding her own flair of the melodramatic much to his amusement. It doesn't last long, for such good tidings were one they had both been long awaiting for their mutual friend. She brightens, and as expected, urges for more, "So the rumors are true? He's taken her on as his moon?"

"It's mere jest. Although..." his free hand rubs at his chin, thoughtful, "It is likely that the Celestial Lord has already accepted her, otherwise he wouldn't be a mere two steps ahead."

"If North wanted to make himself scarce, none would know of him. The mere fact that he's made his presence clear speaks for itself. But--" Lorien grimaces, hand falling to his side, and his step quickens, "--it'll take more than just a merry chase before he relents. He's testing her, it's not just a matter of when."

Though what that something is, he could only fathom.

"You seem to be on familiar terms with the North Star."

And somehow she thinks his smile sad when he chuckles, and responds, "Perhaps."

She hums a thoughtful tune as she looks up at the dizzying, spiraling, and looping, towers of Swapnil. The transition from forest to city is quite subtle. Trees of the same vertigo-inducing patterns circled them, reaching up high into the starlit night.

She wonders if he's given it any thought since then, and voices the same.

"The collision of our two friends?" he seems genuinely oblivious. And it baffles him when her smile curls, before breaking into laughter.

Ah. She remembers this feeling. Almost dreamlike. Is in fact, and the same fuzzy warmth that overtakes her.

A melodic laughter spills from her lips, light and sweet, and the fireflies seem to resonate in the same vibrant sound. Seren shakes her head, still smiling, "I like you!"

"I like you too." Lorien returns easily. Too easily. And he smiles, offering her his arm and it gives her pause.

"I like you as more than just a friend."

"This... What you feel isn't real." he says, chiding her softly even as his voice remained gentle, as one should be where emotions were concerned, "This isn't sustainable."

A thoughtful but unnecessary gesture, for she was not so soft. Perhaps if it were her tender years still. "I don't mind."

His arm is still poised, an offering between them for her to take. And she would not leave him hanging.

"You can do better." He leaves it at that.

They walk through the empty streets on a path of stars, climbing up one of the tall ebony spires to a vantage point high above. He offers her his cloak, though she still cannot feel the wind, and together they gaze up at the celestial sea, where the celestial bodies swam both above and below.

All too suddenly, far in the distance there comes a streak.

A falling star.

"It's the North Star." She stares at the burning trail left in the Celestial Lord's wake, and it is with mild perturbation that she noted.

"He's burning much too fast." But it wasn't Seren who spoke.

When she looks beside her, Lorien is already on his feet, back rigid and face lit in an eerie hue, bathed in the angry red streak left in the sky.

Where had her 3rd eye gone? When had he stood? She hadn't felt him move.

"Lori--is something wrong?"

Seren struggled to keep her 3rd open. To see beyond her mere mortal projection.

"The remnants we see now are what's left of North's deviation. He must've noticed that Lady Reign is present. This bodes ill--he's not rested in well over a century."

"Meaning?"

"If he consumes too much there will be nothing left of his Star. North will likely light down somewhere nearby--he'll have to or risk burning himself out." Lorien pulled his cloak tighter around her shoulders. "Shall we?"

Seren nodded and leapt into the sky, and the two of them soared towards the distant light, drawn by the gravitational pull that Lorien was so attuned to.