Chapter XII - The favor for friend
The morning light shone down on the Lupus Castle, and flowers scent was heavy in the air. The woods sang with the cacophony of birds' voices, watching the winter spirit and two big wolves playing together.
Inside, Raijū sat on the couch and started reading, enjoying his peace and quiet. A werewolf reads for an hour or so before a something big came flying through the window with super speed.
It was a tall, middle-aged man with an athletic, muscular build. He had short-cropped sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, a sharp nose, and the sneaky elfish features. He also had a thin golden crown with two wings on each side, and a sapphire caduceus in the center, and solid, golden arm cuffs. He wearing a brown leather and metal tunic with a Greek chest plate, as well as a golden spaulder on left shoulder. He had a white loincloth that was held up by a braided belt, and boots with gold wing decals.
"Hermes*?" Raijū looked up at god with a confused expression.
"A registered letter for Raijū Storm." Hermes brought out scroll. "You just sign here and initial here and sign there."
The werewolf signed the small scroll. Then Hermes took the scroll from him and pulled curled paper out of the mailbag. Raijū gingerly accepts it, and unravels the paper. Hermes disappeared before the werewolf read the first two words.
Dear Raijū
I've got a problem, and I need your help. The details of which will be discussed later, when we meet.
Nova
Ps. This gem transport you to my Island.
Raijū's ears twitched with reluctance. Helping Nova wasn't exactly on his list of things to do today. And honestly, he don't like Nova so much... but he's in her debt. So, he didn't have a choice.
"I guess I'd better get this over with." The man took the tiny topaz with two fingers and threw it on the floor.
And the whole room filled with sparkling smoke in about two seconds.
"Hey, Raijū have you seen a-"
~•~
Jack walked into the living room, the next thing he knew everything went black; he began to fall and his ear-drums were being pushed deeper into his skull.
The winter spirit closed his eyes, feeling the contents of his stomach want to get out of him, but suddenly he landed on his feet, landing with a poof of something cold and a bit damp.
Before Jack could see where he was, he knew that it wasn't his home. Sure enough, when he opened his eyes, boy was greeted by the sight of a massive, sprawling white clouds reaching as far as the eye could see, strewn with few column of light patches and many rolling, rocky path.
A handsome manor house grew out of the darkness at the end of the straight drive on which they all stands, lights glinting in the diamond-paned downstairs windows.
Jack confusedly asked the werewolf a question. "Where we are?"
"Floating Island of Zodiac sign." Raijū said as he stepped forwards, gesturing to the large banners outside of the building with each one showing the symbol of the twelve zodiac sign.
"I have a meeting with... a certain person." He started walking toward the manor. "You guys wait outside."
Sköll immediately sat on the ground, and Hati looked so disappointed.
"Then why bring us here?" Jack asked expectantly. "If you want us to stay outside."
"I did not mean to do it. You three just enter the room when I opened the teleport link with the Island." Raijū took a good long look at Jack's face. "So, you all wait here. Is that understood?"
"Yes."
And then Raijū just turned and walked away.
"And don't touch that column, Jack!" The werewolf keep on walking, don't look back.
"How did he know?" Jack thought, with the tip of his staff only inches from the column of light.
~•~
The equatorial room was a widely proportioned room. Probably the grandest room of the manor, it had ceilings 30 feet high, two crystal chandeliers, and large windows, with a magnificient carpet covering most of the stone floor. The grey and dark-blue slightly opalescent clouds floating around room.
Raijū just two steps away from the door and saw a lone, female figure stood in the middle of the floor.
She had long, dual-toned hair of both dark purple and blue. Her skin also had a tint of purple to it. She wearing a long white dress with gold trim and dark blue cape that was lined with glimmering star designs and attached to her arms. She also had a silver ribbon around her waist and a circular gold crown with a silver star in the center.
The werewolf watched woman spun, her hands lighting a brilliant blue. With that, a blue star rose into the air. It expanded for a moment before bursting into small blue balls of light.
"Hello Nova."
"Raijū, how nice of you to come." Her voice was all feigned pleasantry, and not the slightest sign of surprise.
"You ask me to meet you here." Raijū crossed his arms and looked away during his reply.
"You're still mad at me about the whole Loom of Fate thing, aren't you?"
"Every incident like this is pretty hard to forget."
She squared her shoulders and spoke with studied guilt "It was awful, let's just put it behind us..."
"I will think about it." Raijū said softly, looking at the woman again. "So, why'd you call me up here?"
Excitement —and a little self-satisfaction—filled Nova's eyes. " Because of this."
She shoved her hand inside one of opalescent clouds and pulled a black-gold iron meteorite with regmaglypts resembling thumbprints.
"You mean to say you summoned me here because of rock?" Raijū's expression disappointed.
"Meteorite." The woman responded in kind.
"It doesn't matter what you call it. That's a rock, Nova."
"But it's from space." She answered coldly. "It come from place, in a distant part of the galaxy. And I need your help to open it."
Raijū just put his fists together and summon his weapon. The Vesuvian Diamond Dagger*, which fought in countless battles during the Golden Age.
Nova let her special 'rock' rest in his hand, while her sparkling eyes gazing into dagger. The blade came to rest a few inches above dark meteorite.
"Are there any living things in there?" Raijū lowered his voice, looking at meteor suspiciously.
"No." Nova reached out and stroked the meteorite. "But inside, in the hard rock, something's waiting for freedom."
"Now, you might want to stand back." He said, letting the gem embedded within the centre of the dagger shining with a brilliant radiance of white light.
And then a second later the woman keep a minimum safe distance.
The werewolf flipped his dagger and pluged the blade directly into the side of the meteorite. Then he look at the stone with surprise. The cosmic rock was solid and hard as his magical dagger.
As if reacting to his frame of mind, the gem within the dagger shined a litter brighter, catching Nova's attention. With a look of determination spreading across his face, giving a small nod to the blade, Raijū just held hilt tighter and tighter.
"Maybe you should..."
Just as Raijū push a little bit harder, grinding his teeth, he heard the sound of a cracking stone, and the room burst into bright light, momentarily blinding them and cutting Nova off mid-sentence. When the glare receded, Raijū noticed two things. The first, Nova's eyes opened wide, like he saw the eighth wonder of the world.
The second thing he noticed was meteor, all cracked in half, revealing what was inside it.
It was a floating shard, one undoubtedly filled with some type of energy, as it hovered a little above the rugged surface of stone. It continued to glow with its energies coursing through it and its goldish-white, glittering with sparkles that almost looked like bright colors of the fireworks rubbing off of it.
Nova pick up that shard like it's made of glass.
As werewolf still hold the half of meteorite Nova carried the shard into a hole in the wall placing it safely inside watching the glow fade as she removed her hands.
Then Raijū's sensitive hearing catch a disturbing sound. He turned his weapon thrice in other hand. Rubbing his finger across the surface, feeling the few cracks, he gazed at it. The dagger was heavily damaged.
"Great. I hope you realize how hard it is to fix this kind of magic blade." The werewolf looked at Nova, ears perking up, then said, "Wait, you're not surprised!"
"I had 50/50 feeling that this would happen." Nova said as she waved her hand.
It would have been nice if you had at least have warned me. Of course, you didn't d...
A sudden crash tore Raijū out of his line of thought.
They looked towards the noise, and a part of Raijū wanted to be surprised at the sight...but he really wasn't.
Hati had his head hidden in sparkling cloud, looking for something.
Sköll, of course, was clutching onto Hati's tail with his mouth, trying to tug brother back. Jack himself was pulling on the relentless galaxy wolf's mane.
"Hati! You stupid wolf, let it go!" Jack demanded, digging his heels into the floor.
Raijū and Nova glanced at each other. Raijū's face reflected that of someone who had seen this many times before, and was tired. Nova's showing pure irritability and nervousness.
Jack and Sköll yanked on Hati, hard. The wolf finally popped off of the cloud and spun around, revealing a glowing ball in his mouth.
Raijū looked towards the wolf with an expression that conveyed he wasn't mad, just confused and maybe slightly amused. "Hati, spit that out."
The wolf's ears drooped slightly before followed Raijū's order.
"Don't make that face, Hati." He sends the wolf a mildly chastising look, before he said, "Maybe if you ask nicely, Nova let you have that ball."
"No, no and double no." Nova told Raijū with an irritated look on her face. Then she shot the wolf a half-hearted glare. "This priceless orbs are not a toys."
"There's half thousand of orbs in this room. So, why not give Hati one, then?" Jack said, scratching Hati's head.
"Excuse me, who are you?"
"I'm Jack Frost." The boy said with a theatre bow.
"Nova, he's with me." Raijū firmly said before she can do anything she might regret.
"Hm..Jack Frost." Nova walked over for a closer look, moving around Jack in a half circle until the boy was between her and the wolves.
Sköll put himself between the woman and the boy. His muzzle curled back and revealed his long fangs. He snarled low in his throat. A warning.
"I mean no harm to boy." With a gentleness that surprised Sköll, Nova pushed the wolf aside, so she could get to Jack.
"I am Nova." They were shaking hands... and then she leaned down to look Jack in the eye.
You're very young, physically and mentally. You aren't hooligan, but you have that wild troublemaker look in your eyes. You brings signs of winter and causes chaos. Your soul don't like being under control but you obey the rules. At least all the ones you think are important. People believe in the mythical beings, but no one kid totally believes in you. You have family. You know, you're not alone. However, you think of yourself as an outcast. And a Moon...
Her inner monologue was broken when Jack let go of her hand and take a step back.
Sköll and Hati have move to stand on either side of the boy. They growls, pins their ears back, and bares their fangs. Jack was confused by their behavior.
"Hati never liked me, and Sköll never trusted me." Nova said that as though it explains everything, "Anyways, it was nice meeting you, Jack." She said warmly, smiling like a Cheshire cat before turning to the werewolf.
"Raijū, I still have some things to discuss with you."
The two immortal stood next to the window, on the opposite side of the large room. Nova feel Sköll's eyes burning holes in the side of her head.
"So this pale brat is your protégé."
The way Nova referred to Jack felt like she was talking about a pest. Like his presence on the Earth could be equated to an actual blight.
"First of all, you will not call Jack a brat." Raijū said sternly, getting a mildly surprised reaction out of Nova. "Second of all, he is part of my pack, now." He said, calmer now.
"Please tell me, why you have decided to take him to your cave?"
The two shared a look.
"Because he was alone." Raijū said very matter-of-factly.
"So what?" The woman said in return, "A lot of spirits are lonely at the beginning of their lives."
"Jack, he's different." Emphasis was evident in Raijū's voice.
"In what sense?" Though her voice was smooth and well modulated, Nova felt natural curiosity wash over her.
"MiM do something unusual."
"Unusual," you say."
Nova took the break in conversation to study the boy again but this time she used her magic to see more. Her eyes were soft glowing as lenses of magic had condensed over her eyes like invisible glasses. The aura invisible to others became visible to her, and she was suddenly struck with what she saw. Aura revealed the truth of one's self. In this case, Nova could see a veil of light blue across Jack's body, hugging boy like a flickering aurora. Jack has an incredibly strong magical aura.
But here and there were blotches of blackness that stained young spirit personal aura, so dark they looked more like holes in space than they did coloration. Nova know what that means. Tsar Lunar, known as the Man in the Moon brought Jack back from death. But death left its mark on the boy. He've lost something. A important...
She kept staring silently for so long it began to become weird. In all the time he'd know her Raijū had never known the woman to be this quiet for this long unless she was literally asleep(because of the dreamsand) , and sometimes not even then.
"It's not polite to stare, Nova." Raijū said, discreetly using his tail to give Sköll and Hati message.
Turning, wolves walked to the large door, pausing to turn and glance at Jack, motioning at him to follow. The spirit raised an eyebrow, staring at them. He didn't understand why they should go. Huffing, Hati loped back over to Jack and caught his undershirt between his canines, tugging on it lightly to urge teenage to follow, careful not to tear it.
Jack looking back at Raijū through the room. The werewolf nodding his head, like 'Go with them, I'll be with you in a moment.' Jack nodded back at the man before walked out with the wolves.
"Nova, is there something you want to tell me?" Raijū asked after his pack leave the building.
The woman suddenly looked lost in thought, looking out the window. She wasn't forthcoming with any answer. But Raijū let the silence continue, knowing that she would tell him eventually. He was right.
"Well, I have something to say to you."
The werewolf know what happens next. Nova says something strange and mysterious or says something very ordinary.
"Thank you for helping me with that meteor." She nodded, thankful.
"Well, I owed you one, remember?" Raijū said while a slight smile embellished his face.
"I thought it was a friendly help, for old times' sake." Nova was leaning slightly forward, smiling sweetly as if hoping for something. Raijū's smile became all wolf teeth. She pulled back from him at the expression.
"Don't push your luck, Nova." The man voice had a cold undertone to it, but was warm enough that it wouldn't be received as hostile. "Remember, whatever favor I owed you is paid."
Nova feels herself smile a little. "I understand."
"I think I have to go." Raijū started walking toward door. "So, until next time."
"Good-bye, Raijū. Take good care of the boy. The truth is, he's destined for great things." Nova murmured, voice barely above a whisper.
Raijū paused at the doorway, looking back. He exhaled and allowed the smallest of smiles.
"Sure thing, Starlight."
"What did I say about that nickname!"
Author Note and other information:
Thanks for reading. I'm open to constructive criticism if you have any.Feel free to leave a comment
* Hermes is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves,merchants, and orators. In myth, Hermes functioned as the emissary and messenger of the gods.
* Nova is my Oc. She is spirit of astronomy, observations and fortune-telling.
* The Vesuvian Diamond Dagger look link
etrelley/art/Cristalgide-Chillrend-Respectful-version-TES-684119568