A small sprinkling of cold raindrops fell silently from the cloudy sky, their watery bodies bursting as they hit the forest floor. The gentle breeze that had lazily swept through the woods for the past couple of hours was beginning to pick up, morphing into a biting wind.

Tun dug his fingers deep into the fleshy surface of the transparent mushroom he sat on, his back pressed up against a tree trunk. He didn't have a problem with heights--he lived in the valley citadel, after all. . . He just didn't feel like accidentally sliding off the slippery mushroom and plummeting to his death, today.

"See anything, up there?" Tor called out from the muddy ground far below.

Tun warily lifted one hand and raised it to shield his eyes from the rain. He squinted into the darkness, slowly turning his head from side to side, surveying the woods. Everything was still, silent, and otherwise completely normal. There was no sign of broken branches or glowing lights to be seen.

"Nothing up here!" Tun yelled down and dug both hands into the mushroom cap, swinging himself out into the air and dropping down to the mushroom below him. It bounced slightly under his weight, and he crouched down, scooting away from the edge. He glanced up, ready to make the next jump, then stopped, narrowing his eyes against the rain. He could have sworn he'd seen. . . There it was again! Nearly invisible in the dim moonlight was a long, dark line slashing through the treetops. Almost like. . . "A scar. . ." Tun whispered out loud, eyes widening.

"What!?" Tor yelled up to him, tapping her foot anxiously against the ground. "I can't hear a word you're saying! Stop messing around, and get back down here before you fall!"

Tun turned to look down at her, the smile that was slowly beginning to spread across his face hidden beneath his mask. He crouched down low and leaped out into the air, slamming feet-first into the next tree over and springing off it, landing on the wet ground and skidding a few feet. Mud sprayed up around him as he landed, coating his legs in a thin layer of dirty water, but he hardly noticed.

"Found it!" he gasped pumping a fist with one hand and pointing off into the woods with the other. "That way! I saw something dark in the trees! It looks kinda like some of the branches have been. . ." he paused, looking for the right word. "Burned. . ."

Tor's eyes slowly widened as her brother's words dawned on her. "Burned. . ." her head swiveled to look at him. "You're sure?"

Tun shrugged as he leaped up onto the manta's back, staring off into the woods. He pointed into the shadows with one hand, wiping streams of water from his mask with the other. "Dunno. Only one way to find out, I guess!"

The manta gave an annoyed huff and tilted itself over sideways, depositing the elder back onto the ground with a loud "Thunk!" It huffed softly and flew a few feet into the air, circling for a second before settling back down to the ground, wings propped up to shield itself from the rain.

Tor gave a wry smile and offered her brother a hand. "Looks like we're walking." she scrunched up her face as she pulled the muddy boy up off the ground. "Or, at least, you're walking. I might just tag along with the manta, here. . ."

"Oi!" Tun laughed and gave her a joking shove, leaving a muddy hand-print on her arm. "If I have to walk, so do you! It's, like, the twin law or something!"

"What!?" Tor scoffed, crossing her arms and looking away. "Twin law? Who came up with that garbage?"

"Uhh, guilty?" Tun admitted with a small grin. He could have sworn he saw the manta roll its eyes as it turned away to block out the twins' bickering. It lowered its wings slightly to hide its head from view. "Guess we'd better get going. . ." he said, jabbing a thumb in the manta's direction. "Before Grumpy Face over here decides to fly off without us!"

The manta didn't even bother turning around. It simply flicked out its tail and gave Tun a sharp knock over the head.

"Hey!" Tun shouted in protest, stumbling backwards into a tree. He glanced up and shot the manta a dirty look, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "Not cool, man!"

Had the elder looked over at that exact moment, he would have noticed a small blue spirit slide into the shadow of a nearby tree, crouching down low, hidden by the darkness of night. The spirit glanced around uncertainly, then settled back down to watch the strange trio, curiosity shining in their wide blue eyes.

Tun shuddered and glanced over, but it was too late, the spirit had already passed out of sight. He rubbed the back of his neck uneasily, certain that there was someone out there. . . Lurking in the shadows. . . He shook his head and looked again. There was no one there.

Tor knelt down in front of him, a joking look dancing across her face. "Don't tell me you're afraid of your own shadow, now?"

"What!?" Tun cried back, holding a hand over his heart in mock horror, all thoughts of the shadowy watcher gone. "That's ridiculous! The only things I'm afraid of are that manta. . ." he pointed over at the manta who gave a loud hoot in response. He turned the finger to Tor and continued. ". . .And you when you first get up in the morning!"

"Hey!" Tor snapped, eyes narrowing. She grabbed her brother by the ear and yanked him to his feet. "Now, you're just getting personal!" she paused, glancing around uncertainly. "And I'm not scary in the mornings."

"You're right." Tun muttered, rubbing his ear. "You're terrifying. . . All the time!"

Tor rolled her eyes and muttered something unintelligible under her breath, starting off into the woods. She paused and glanced back over her shoulder at the others. "Well?" she asked and waved for them to follow. "Are you two coming or not? We came here to find the fallen light, so let's go find it!"

Tun glanced over at the manta. It caught his look and raised its tail threateningly.

"Hey! Chill out!" Tun held his hands up in surrender. "That tail hurts!" he scrambled after his sister, wiping his muddy hands clean on his soaked shirt as he went.

The wind picked up as they walked, howling through the trees like a wounded beast, and the rain wasn't much better; slashing through the sky in cold waves. Tun wrapped his arms around himself, lowering his head against the stinging water. He glanced over and noticed the manta staring down at the ground miserably, the tip of its tail dragging through the muddy ground as it went. He winced, almost feeling sorry for the creature. . . But a tiny pang of pain on his head from where it had whacked him quickly snuffed out any pity he felt.

"Hey!" Tor cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled to be heard over the pounding rain. She pointed up into the trees above them, and Tun followed the path of her finger, tilting his head up and squinting. "Is that what you saw?"

Tearing through the treetops was a line of darkness. Branches had been sheared away leaving dark, burnt stumps in their wake. A black slash ripped across the side of a trees' trunk, leaving a groove in the wood. Tun nodded, returning his gaze to the ground before more water got in his eyes. "That's it, alright!"

Tor pointed a finger forwards. "Looks like it fell this way!" She stepped forward, water sloshing up beneath her feet.

Tun glanced over at the manta who gave him a death glare in return.

The elder shrugged. "Hey! This was her idea, not mine!"

Before it could give him another tail-whack, Tun took off after his sister, hurrying through the pouring rain, skidding around a tree and nearly slamming into her back. He slid to a stop, his feet kicking up clotted lumps of dirt. He raised a hand to cover his face, and glanced over at his sister. "Why'd we stop?"

"Well. . ." she muttered, eyes wide. She nodded forward, and Tun followed her gaze, his eyes widening in shock as they landed on the object that lay before them. Tor gave a slight shake of her head, and continued, voice shaky. "I'd say that's a pretty good reason to stop."

Lying face down, curled up in a small, muddy crater, shielded from the rain only by a small cluster of charred tree roots was a child. An elegantly woven red cape hung over their shoulders, five white stars sewn down its back. A pattern that looked suspiciously like a giant eye had been spun into the cape using a slightly darker shade of red. A mess of tangled white hair clung to the child's head, plastered to their shoulders by rain. Though the strangest thing about the child wasn't their cape, or their hair. . . It was the fact that the child itself seemed to be. . . Glowing.