I know i said there will be some childhood chapters, but it looks like i might only write one. I'll probably make another one when "The Bloodmoon Huntress" comes out. I'm sorry.
Regardless, enjoy.
xxXxx
"Hehehe" childlike giggles were heard around the forest.
A young Rayla looked around her perceptively, wary of any presence that might be sharing the area with her.
She soon stopped abruptly and stared at a tree. Rayla narrowed her eyes as she approached the seemingly normal tree.
"Ah-hah! Found you!" Said Rayla as she pounced onto the tree and caught a figure smaller than hers causing both her and the figure to burst into giggles.
The figure was a boy younger than Rayla with bright yellow eyes. It was her little brother, Zill. (I can't describe his clothes, but just know that the colors are bright like Lujaane's instead of the usual darker clothes moonshadow elves usually wear while still favoring some mobility.)
"Seriously, how do you keep finding me faster and faster each time?" Asked Zill happily in his sister's grasp.
"Right? Soon you won't be able to hide using your pesky illusions." Said Rayla with a smug look.
Zill blew a raspberry at his sister's comment as he rolled his eyes, only fueling Rayla's pride in the process.
"Just wait, one day you won't even know where you're walking!" Said Zill crossing his arms as he narrowed his eyes.
"I guess you might beat me if I'm an old lady." Replied Rayla giving Zill a smug look causing him to make an illusion touch her shoulder to scare her. "Aah!"
Zill snickered at her reaction and Rayla frowned at him.
Suddenly, Zill's shadow, with it's eyes completely see through moved behind Rayla while still being connected to Zill's feet. The shadow cast itself upon a tree before staring at the two with a tired look as it pointed at the sky.
"Oh no, we'll be late! C'mon!" Said Rayla in realization before quickly taking her little brother and running towards their home as fast as possible. "We can take a shortcut."
Zill, despite being younger, was able to keep up with Rayla when she was being considerate to his stature.
As the two ran back home, they found a particularly large ledge they couldn't climb or get around.
"Hmm, looks like we can't get past this." Said Rayla staring at the giant ledge with a hand on her chin. "Shade, can you give us a lift?"
The shadow nodded in affirmation before turning to Zill who nodded in confirmation.
Zill stretched his arms and took a deep breath. Then, without drawing a rune, he spoke.
"Umbra Lunae." With the spell declared, Shade was able to move to their plane of existence and transformed into some stairs that weren't quite able to reach the top of the ledge. Luckily, it was enough to allow them to jump their way over.
Soon, the two made it to their home safely. The silvergrove, home to a community of moonshadow elves living in homes built inside trees.
The two siblings soon reached their house to see Tiadrin and Lain, their parents, looking...not so cheery.
"Oh, you're here." Said Lain looking as if he had something to say.
"Hi, what's...going on?" Asked Rayla noticing the slightly grim atmosphere.
"Uhm, we have something we need to tell you. You might want to rest first though and take these moonberry surprises with you too." Said Tiadrin with a smile before Rayla's eyes lit up in joy and excitement.
Zill, however, looked unaffected by the offer of a tasty treat and was more focused on the situation before it clicked and his heart sunk.
'They must've been chosen for the dragon guard.' Zill knew it was inevitable. He knew the future and knew what would happen to his parents and he really wanted to help them. But, sadly, that decision would bring about serious consequences for everyone; a fact that Shade drilled into him despite how hard he wanted to try.
Zill quickly took his dessert with him to his room silently, closing the door behind him. The action surprised his mother, but she payed it no mind.
Shade cast himself onto one of the room's walls upon the door closing as Zill slumped in front of the door.
"Everything is going so fast." Said Zill dejectedly taking a bite out of his moonberry surprise before spitting it out. "Ugh, too sweet."
Zill then cast an illusion to change the taste of the dessert before taking another bite.
"Much better." He said as he took a deep breath. "So I'm just supposed to do nothing?"
Shade nodded as he stared at his other half with narrowed eyes.
"That's so stupid! Urgh!" Said Zill angrily
'What can you do that won't make things worse?' Shade whispered telepathically as he hovered over Zill.
"...i-if i make a good plan, i might-" Said Zill avoiding eye contact.
'No means no. Just be patient.'
"Easy for you to say. You don't actually have to interact with anyone or anything that much. You can be as calm as you want." Replied Zill taking another bite out of his moonberry surprise. "Meanwhile, I'm considered the reckless prodigy."
'They're not wrong. Remember the Curso Perpendiculum incident?' Commented Shade with a shrug causing Zill to groan.
"I still can't believe we're the same person."
"Zill!" Rayla suddenly called from Zill's window scaring him in the process. "Come out, it's serious!"
Zill looked confused and so did Shade. They both shrugged before leaving the room through the window to meet Rayla.
"What's going on?" Asked Zill tiredly as he fixed his hair that was messed up by the window.
"Mom and Dad called Runaan and Ethari here and they all don't look too happy."
"...so we're gonna try to change that?" Asked Zill donning a smile.
Rayla nodded with a smile in confirmation.
"What are you thinking?" Asked Zill curiously
"We go pick moonberries for them!" Declared Rayla happily.
Rayla looked very happy with her idea, unlike her brother. Although Zill did like moonberries a lot due to his new moonshadow elf taste buds, he was originally human and not a moonshadow elf who are strictly vegetarian.
He never really found an obsession with moonberries and sometimes even disliked some of the sweeter foods made with them on top of actually growing tired of having it in nearly everything he eats. It was why he learned how change taste with magic as soon as he could.
"I think we already had enough moonberries for today." Said Zill with a frown
"*gasp* There's no such thing as enough moonberries!" Said Rayla with a look of betrayal. "Now, come on. We need to go now if we don't want to be late."
Zill shrugged and decided "why not?" As Shade shook his head disapprovingly only to be ignored entirely as he got dragged by the two siblings.
xxXxx
It wasn't long before they made it where they needed to be.
"Okay, let's split up and find the best ones. That includes you, Shade." Said Rayla before the three split up looking for some berries.
Looking for the berries was...not easy unless the moon was in the sky. Because the moonberry and its cousin the death berry looked exactly the same save for the ability to glow in moonlight.
And thankfully, there was still some time before the moon set. So, they were able to gather quite a bit of berries.
That was until they heard some loud growling. Rayla was the first to notice it and saw a giant quadrapedal beast that she oddly couldn't discern the look of for some reason.
At first, she thought it would be friendly since the area was relatively safe.
And she was proven wrong when the beast tried to pounce on Zill, who barely noticed it at this point. Rayla immediately pushed him out of the way before the beast could reach him.
It was surprisingly slow for its shape, but the two siblings didn't have time to think about that.
"What is that thing?" Asked Zill in fear as he stared at the beast.
"I don't know, but we have to run!" Said Rayla in a hurry before she and Zill began running away, leaving the berries behind.
The two quickly hid behind a tree and covered their mouths in hopes of the beast leaving them alone.
That didn't seem to work however as the beast slowly approached the tree they were hiding behind prompting Zill to make an illusion of him and Rayla running away from behind the tree.
The trick seemed to work as the beast soon began chasing the illusions.
The two siblings let out sighs of relief before Rayla spoke.
"Let's go before it comes back." She said with a reassuring smile.
The two then safely made it back home and snuck into their rooms, unaware of a presence watching them.
xxXxx
"Well, uhm, this is hard to say. Me and your mother are going somewhere far away soon and...we won't be able to come back for a long time."
"What?" Asked Rayla looking very scared while Zill just stared at them dejectedly, knowing what they were leaving for.
"We've been chosen for the dragon guard. They protect the dragon king egg from danger so it's a very important job."
Lain then whispered something to Rayla while giving Zill a glance, something that made her nod with a determined look.
Runaan then decided to make his presence known. He approached the two siblings and knelt in front of them.
"We will be taking care of you while your parents are away. We'll also handle training the two of you." He said calmly earning confused looks from both siblings.
But before their questions could be answered, someone knocked on the door.
"Ah, she's here." Said Runaan before opening the door to reveal...the beast that was chasing Zill and Rayla a while ago.
The two jumped in fear before the beast disappeared to reveal a lady wearing an intricately carved silver mask.
"She's an old friend. She'll be your tutor for magic. While Rayla trains to become an assassin with me like she wanted." Said Runaan calmly completely ignoring the beast.
While Rayla was preoccupied with what Runaan said, Zill stared at his new teacher and she put her finger to her mouth as if saying "shh, no one needs to know about what happened."
Zill reluctantly agreed before Tiadrin and Lain approached him and Rayla.
"You two be responsible, don't want to hear from Runaan or Ethari that you're causing trouble, okay?" Said Lain with a smile causing both siblings to nod.
"And Shade-" said Tiadrin gaining the shadow's attention. "-keep them safe."
The shadow nodded slowly in affirmation and after a few more words, Tiadrin and Lain had to leave and Zill and Rayla waved them goodbye as they headed towards storm spire.
And Zill marked his first failure in trying to change his family's future.
xxXxx
I chose to call the most important spell "Umbra Lunae" because it's the latin translation of the title of this fanfic.
Also, I didn't make the death berries up. They're a canon thing you can find on the wiki.
Tell me how i did. Leave a review.
Toodles.