Kain breathed a short breath before answering, and took the time it gave him to examine the ethereal serpent they had summoned. She was 200 feet long, with her head being 10 feet tall. Instead of her head being similar to that of a snake, it was almost identical to that of a duvalid, with 2 spiraling horns, a snout, and scaly features. Behind her head, where it met the rest of her body, there was a mane of feathers that stuck up behind her head. Her body was mostly unremarkable, with the only things that stood out being 3 pairs of bat-like wings and 2 arms that stuck out from her underside, similar to that of a chinese dragon. Her scales, blue due to being made of pure Ether, shone in the dim light.

Finishing his breath, he cleared his throat, drawing the duvalad’s attention. “I am Kain, she is Luna,” he quickly introduced. “You must be one of the Duvalad, right?”

She continued to stare at him, analyzing his face and movements, watching every detail like a hawk. “...Yes, I am. You are not who I expected to be tampering with my soul gem. What happened to my children? Did any of them survive?” she asked. Her voice sounded regal and powerful, but as she started to speak about her ‘children,’ a twinge of panic tinted her voice.

Kain shook his head. “I am afraid not. We… do not know what befell your people, however, we have found the ruins of your… home. As far as we have found, not one of your people survived,” he solemnly answered. Her figure, which had been displaying a regal image, began to sag ever so slightly with the news. He could tell that she was just coming to terms with what had happened, so he wanted to say something.

Before Kain could say anything else, Luna cut him off. “Yeah, I saw it. Or at least heard what happened. Do you want to hear about it?” she offered. Even the regal Duvalad could not contain her shock at the voice that came from Luna. She reeled back in great surprise for a moment.

“How… How are you…?” she stuttered. “You’re a rabbit, so… Just what is going on here!?” she finally shouted, rocking the room with quakes.

*=====*

She was now not just concerned, she was utterly baffled and scared. The giant-like creature by the name of Kain explained what had happened in a polite tone, but it still squirmed in her head like a bolt of lightning. She could not come to terms with the fact that her children -her creations- were dead. It was as if the world began to shatter. She had been trapped in the crystal for centuries, devoid of Ether, sight, and sound, only to be freed to find her children gone. Only to be freed to find herself in the company of odd strangers. The last straw was when the rabbit offered to explain what she had heard and seen. The surprise sent her reeling for a moment.

“How… How are you…?” she stuttered. “You’re a rabbit, so… Just what is going on here!?” she finally shouted, rocking the room with quakes. The oddity was now beyond simply based on the amount of time she had been stuck in the gem, there was something else going on here. Not only were there types of giants not half the size she knew, but there were also talking rabbits, almost painfully dense Ether, and a strange place with things scattered around that she had never heard of.

The small giant drew her attention. “Well… we are in some sort of… void. I do not know. Whatever the case may be, this place is very different from whatever world you came from. Somehow, you, your tower, and a large chunk of land nearby were all taken here. After that, it seems like a horde of monsters attacked your home, killing everyone,” the small giant answered. Ythane noted to herself that the small rabbit began to shake at the mention of the monsters that broke into her home and slaughtered her children. “Currently, we are on one of the other chunks of land close to your tower. After battling with one of the monsters, we were left up here. We are in a city, waiting for an Ether collector to accumulate all of the Ether we need to return to Earth, my home.” The barrage of odd information ground her brain to a halt.

She started frantically sorting the information, slowly withdrawing from the world around her projection. ‘Chunks? Monsters? City? Ether accumulator? Earth? So much I can’t understand… He said that these chunks are the land where things come to… whatever this place is. So we’re in a city, on one of those chunks? So what about the Ether accumulator? Maybe it’s like an Ether collector, just with a different name. So they need that to make it to… Earth? Where’s that? He said they needed Ether to get there, so it must be somewhere difficult to find. There’s also something strange about his referrals to my outpost. A giant wouldn’t think about them as homes; they’re too savage and cruel to think like that, so what’s this creature?’

She straightened slightly, regaining a bit of her regal image with it. “So, you mean to say that we are in some room, in a city, on a chunk of land, floating in the void?” she asked, looking up at the crack in the ceiling. Taking in the sight of a hazy blue sky was not reassuring to her. The creature, Kain, nodded. She thought for a moment. “Is there a way for me to… see… the ruins? Can we get there?”

“Of course there is,” Kain said. “Though, we are not going back down for a while. There is simply a lot to find and look at here, and we cannot go to Earth, so we plan on staying here until we can. Is that alright?” he asked. Looking at him, she nearly thought he was fearless. However, she noticed a sort of look in his eyes. It was one that was tinted with a very slight nervousness. She had seen it before, and did not find it surprising that he was nervous, but had to give credit to the fact that he was only feeling nervous. Her eyes shifted to the rabbit sitting atop the black deer skull and searched her eyes. Ythane did not find fear in her eyes. She did not even find nervousness. All she found was a child-like excitement, and anticipation. They were certainly similar, she noted, but in different ways.

“That is… fine,” she finally said. “However, I must ask, what are you planning on doing?”

He lightly shrugged. “We are simply here to spend time productively. We cannot go home yet, but we simply want to search through this city in the meantime. Besides, she wants to know what people are like,” he said, pointing to the rabbit. “So, we are generally here to learn.” She nodded. “Anyway, if we’re going to be spending time together, then we need a name to call you by.”

“My name is Ythane.”

“A pleasure to be traveling with you, Ythane. Anyway, I do not mean to be rude, but is there a slightly… more compact form you could use? These ruins were made for people my size or lower, so a giant Duvalad would be… inconvenient for you.”

“That makes sense. And I take no offense; we are not so crass and cruel to think that size is everything,” she agreed. Her misty form began to shed layers of smoke, the condensed Ether simply dissipating in the air. She was soon the size of a normal snake, only about 2 feet long. She used some of the extra Ether floating in the air to draw her soul gem to her body, wrapping around it with her tail. “Is this acceptable?”

He smiled. “Very much so, Ythane,” he said, walking to the closest door. “We should get going, we’ve spent plenty of time here, and I think you’re getting antsy,” he remarked to the rabbit.

“Yep! Let’s go!” she cheered, floating on her skull.

Ythane simply followed behind, embroiled in her own thoughts. ‘They… can’t all be dead, right? I can’t show it to them, but it’s eating me inside. My sons. My daughters. Please be alright. And if you are not, please let your souls be free…’

*=====*

Alright, real talk here, I’m getting a bit burned out. My writing feels sloppy, I can barely keep myself focused, and I’m just having a harder and harder time getting within the 1500 - 2000+ word range that I strive for. With that in mind, I put out a shorter chapter today to say that I’ll be taking a break for the rest of the week. Expect a new chapter on Sunday, and hopefully a return to the normal schedule. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.