The Moonweaver Chronicles Part 15

When I woke up, I immediately sensed that there were more people here than there had been when I went to sleep. I opened my eyes and realized a few things. First was that Rin had set Mazurek and I down on the large bed together. The second was that there appeared to be large tables in the hut now. Third, there were bodies on said tables. Vincent and two other creatures occupied these tables and Rin had summoned Ophiuchus and seemed to be using her water energy to heal them.

"They came in the night." Rin explained, seeming to have noticed I had woken up. "These are my nephews brother and sister, Iggy and Mira." She indicated which one was which despite it being somewhat obvious, I chuckled inwardly at the needless gesture.

Iggy was just waking up and stood weakly assumed a digitigrade stance.. He looked much like myself. He had four toed feet with sharp claws that looked like they could rend even fairly dense metals. There was a backward facing claw at the end of each foot. His gait had him leaning slightly forwards with his tail balancing him far enough backwards that he didn't fall over. His hands had 4 fingers and a thumb each, tipped with inch long claws that looked fairly sharp. His head didn't have a snout like mine and when he yawned I noticed he had razor sharp teeth and a forked tongue. His eyes were slitted and red and he had ears like some sort of canine. I couldn't help but wonder if they were a remnant of a time where he may have been one.

I felt a kinship with him in a way, his aura was like mine, there was darkness worked into the very core yet still it shone with a strong light. I also noticed that his claws and the various short spikes on his body weren't natural. They had an aura of magic, as if they were replaced at some point or infused with some kind of magical metal.

Mira, on the other hand, was nothing like him. She was laying on her back. She, like Vincent, had no tail. That was about where the similarities ended. She had five toed feet with no nails or claws or anything. She appeared to have a plantigrade stance from what I could tell. Her blue-skinned body secreted some kind of slime-like substance. Rin wasn't focused on healing her injuries as much as the others, yet her ribs, or whatever she had there which appeared broken, were still repairing. This creatures regenerative abilities were something else. Her fingers were thin and dexterous, they didn't look strong at all. Her face was strangest of all, she had a slightly rounded snout and no evidence of a nose beyond two holes slightly above it. She had two antennae and four eyes, two were on stalks and two were in the normal position. Just as out of place as they looked on Iggy and Vincent, she had two canine ears atop her head and the same red eyes. I guess it was the one trait they all shared.

A cursory look over Vincent showed that he had holes in him. They were quite shallow. I couldn't help but wonder what could have penetrated his armor-like shell like that. I could have understood if something had just kept smashing around the same place, but his armor was pierced in several different locations.

The biggest question though... was how in the world these creatures had survived such a beating. Even now they were in bad shape, which means that when they came, which must have been hours ago, they were in even worse shape. The dragon was the only one who looked strong enough to have possibly carried them here. He was actually the least damaged among them, which made me wonder how he defeated whatever hurt them. If he was their sibling, how was he strong enough to take on whatever did this to them? My mind was reeling as more and more questions like these popped into it. What was this impossible place?

"Thanks for that Rin. I was really tired but I'm feeling better now." Iggy claimed weakly. Seriously? He carried them all the way here and defeated a monster like that and he was already on his feet? Wow, this kid is really something else. Were all Wardens this strong?

Iggy's entire body suddenly shook and then he stretched and punched his fist through the table he had been on, smashing it in half. "There we go, I'm all better, just needed to shake it off." Again I wondered what kind of monster can just 'shake it off' and be all better after this.

Iggy walked up to me and smelled me. He then offered his hand to me. It took me a moment but I realized he was trying to shake my hand and I grasped his, returning the gesture. "You are the one Vincent mentioned that protected aunt Rin. My mother and father really care about her and she has been really wonderful to me, so I thank you for that."

"It was no problem... really..." I said, still somewhat in shock that creatures like this one existed.

"No, it is a big deal. I don't know what I'd do if either of them got hurt." He told me, I sensed far more meaning behind it than I had yet to hear from anybody before. "Those monsters, the Reapers, tried to prevent us from regrouping I think. Considering the information Vincent gave me, those creatures have a leader that absolutely must be taken down."

He sat sideways on a nearby chair, leaning on the back for support. It seems he hadn't gotten his second wind the way he claimed to have. Still, it was no small feat that he was even concious.

"These creatures, the Reapers, seek to bring their darkness upon our home. We Wardens are the guardians of the Forest, the protectors of those who try to live in peace." He explained. "Reapers aren't without intelligence and sentience, some of the weaker ones have joined our cause even, those that cannot be reasoned with seek to take over."

"When we discovered that various metals were capable of harming them, Vincent took up blacksmithing and supplied our side with weapons that we could use. Mira is the one who heals the Wardens who are injured and I mostly just beat things up." He stared for a moment before continuing, "If you are going to stay here, Vincent needs to forge you a weapon to fight these things."

I nodded to Iggy and got up to patrol our little camp and think digest the information. I didn't think I could handle much more.