May 16, 2014

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Dust II: Elysian Kingdom

Chapter 3 Come Back to Me


"What?! The Sovereign of ALL of Falana?" Dust immediately reacted to what Erin had just told him and Ahrah.

"Why yes! See, after your triumph over General Gaius, and a little motivational speech from the Elder himself, a large group of people worked together for a long, long time—I think about three years it was—to construct a new home for the Moonblood civilization; a grand palace of wondrous design.. It really looks like a sight to behold in the photographs that my husband took when he was there! Elder Gray Eyes then declared himself as a peaceful ruler of Falana, and there were no immediate objections, so he oversees everything to this day."

"I must say, that really is a nice thing to hear after all these years. My old friend still never ceases to amaze me," Ahrah said proudly.

"Well then," Dust interjected, "It's clear that we need to travel to this palace and speak to the Elder.. and hopefully he knows where Fidget and Ginger are."

"It sounds like you care a lot about these people, dear.. Are they your family?" Erin asked, concerned. The expression that overcame Dust's face showed how much he really missed seeing them, and he knew an emotional reunion was certain. He could almost feel his eyes tearing up.

Dust regained his stern look. "Yes, you could say that.. I just need to talk to them as soon as possible."

"You should go then, I can tell this is very important to you, and if it's been five whole years.. then there's not a moment to spare!" Erin encouraged.

"But the snow storm.. I almost died out there."

"Oh don't worry about that, dear! Wait here," Erin said as she got up from her rocking chair and walked over to a closet on the other side of the small house. Opening it, she took out a heavy grey-colored cloak, with visible tearing on the bottom; it clearly had seen some use. She also gathered an old worn-out compass from the closet and put it in one of the cloak's side pockets.

She shuffled back over to where Dust was sitting and handed him the cloak. "I may not look like it, but I used to be quite the adventurer; a nomad actually. My husband and I once travelled all over Falana, but the years haven't been so kind to me.. Anyway, this cloak will keep you perfectly warm in that harsh storm, dear! I also put a compass in one of the pockets to help guide you; Aurora Palace is a long way southeast from here, right outside Aurora Village."

"Ahh, I remember Aurora Village quite clearly.. Thank you for everything, Erin. I won't forget you," Dust declared as he got up from his chair and bowed, when Erin suddenly jumped forward and hugged him.

She waited a bit before letting go. "Anything for you, Sen-Mithrarin. It was a pleasure meeting such a legend." And then she bowed just like Dust did before, and he smiled back at her.

Dust then took the heavy cloak that Erin gave him, and put it over his minimally-clothed body; it reached all the way from his shoulders down to his lower legs so only his ankles and feet were showing. He could already feel the thick coat retain the warmth of the house and the fire. The garment also came with a hood, which he reached back and pulled over his head. His ears fit perfectly into the specially-cut pouches that the hood was adorned with at the top. The cloak had sleeves, but Dust kept his arms and hands concealed inside its main body.

"Oh! I almost forgot," Erin exclaimed as she handed Dust a pair of tattered tan-colored boots, which she also took from the closet which contained the cloak. "These were my husband's back in the day, but I'm sure they'll still be great against the awful terrain out there!"

Dust took the boots from her and pulled them up his legs one by one, stomping lightly on the ground afterwards to make sure they were on as tight as possible.

"I can't thank you enough, Erin," Dust said wholeheartedly as he hugged her one last time.

She whispered back, "Goodbye, Dust," as he slowly escaped her arms and turned to the door to the outside, walking through the doorway and into the frozen tundra of the Blackmoor Mountains.

Although the snow storm was still going on strong, it did show a few signs of letting up. It was a little easier to see in it than it was when Dust first travelled to Erin's cabin, but it still wasn't clear as day in any sense of the phrase. The temperature was still blistering cold, but the cloak and boots that Erin gave Dust were helping keep him warm much more than he thought they would. Dust took the compass out from the cloak's side pocket and held it close to his face so he could see the directions as clear as possible.

"Southeast.." he mumbled to himself as he looked up from the compass and swiveled his head in the direction he wanted, and started to quickly dash the same way. The harsh wind blew viciously against the front of his body, but the cloak shielded most of him, save for the small opening in the hood for part of his face to show through, which was the only part of him that was truly feeling the effects of the chilling storm. Even with his heavy garments, he could hardly wait until he was out of these mountains and back into the calm weather he fondly remembered from his days five years ago.

And of course, he couldn't wait to just see everyone again.


Almost another full day passed; it was early morning. After making a handful of rest stops in various small caves along the path out of the Blackmoor Mountains, Dust and Ahrah finally made it back into the main forested region of Falana; they knew they were close to Aurora Village, but not quite. Dust assumed they were around the outskirts of the Sorrowing Meadow, due to the mix of decaying, leafless trees and trees with varying colors of leaves on them.

"We have to be at least halfway between the Sorrowing Meadow and Aurora Village by now.." Dust said exhaustedly, pulling the cloak's hood off his head and staring at his compass.

"Perhaps you should rest a bit more, Dust. This past day HAS been very taxing on you," Ahrah suggested.

Dust sighed. "Alright.. but only for a bit," as he walked over to the base of one of the trees and sat down under it, then leaned against it. He was sweating quite heavily, due to the rapid increase in temperature from the mountains. He lifted the thick cloak off of his body and set it down next to him. He relaxed and sighed again, this time more heavily than before.

Ahrah seemed concerned. "Something on your mind, Dust?"

"More like what isn't on my mind.." he said as he closed his eyes and held his hand to his head. "I'm just.. concerned about how everyone will react to me being, you know, alive.. and what if Fidget and Ginger aren't at the palace? Then we'll have to go find them.."

"There's no need to worry about that, my friend. No matter where they are, we will find them. And you know their reactions will be nothing but emotional and true to how they really feel about you."

"Thank you, Ahrah, I think that helps.." Dust responded as he got up from his sitting position, put his cloak back on, and looked down at his compass one last time. "C'mon, we've got a palace to find."


At last, Dust stood triumphantly stood outside the entrance to Aurora Village, and let out a sigh of relief. "Ah, now this definitely brings back memories.."

He slowly began walking past the stone wall gate, followed by the small decaying wooden fence that opened up at the end. Dust was a bit surprised that it looked so much the same as it did five years ago, if not a bit worse.

"I guess they didn't have extra time to attend to the village much if they spent all those years constructing the palace."

He continued past the sparsely scattered buildings and came to the next group of wooden fences, followed by the simple shack where he met the first inhabitants of the village long ago.

"Hm, where is everyone? I know it's been awhile but Bean and Calum should really be out here keeping watch.. or at least SOMEONE.."

"It IS early morning," Ahrah observed, "The inhabitants are likely still in their homes at this hour."

Dust scanned the area and noticed that the twig gatherings at the ends of the stone walls weren't lit with flame like they usually were. "Hmm yeah, the fires aren't lit yet, so you're probably right. But still, it would just be nice to see really anyone out here.."

Nevertheless, Dust continued through Aurora Village, walking past the more regal-looking buildings and homes that he remembered so vaguely yet so fondly. He walked up one of the stone staircases that were embedded in the path, where there were more homes and longer wooden fences.

"This just feels too weird," Dust thought to himself. "It feels just like it did when I first came here.. like the calm before a storm.."

Coming to an area where the ground had been dug out and had only wood frames and stone blocks keeping up the top layer, Dust jumped to the higher ground and continued on. He climbed another batch of stone stairs, up to more rock walls and another regal home in a more densely forested area than the rest of the village. Dust suddenly stopped at the top of the hill in front of the house.

"This.. This is where I first met Ginger. She seemed so distant back then.. I even called her bratty; how could I be so stupid..?"

"There's no use in beating yourself up over the past, Dust. What matters is now." Ahrah said comfortingly. "Dust truly does have an impeccable memory.."

"You're right.. Let's go," Dust said as he started walking down the path, slightly faster than before. "We can't waste any more time."

As Dust continued down the path past more stone walls and down more stairs, he began to see a strange foreign object come into view as the trees started to disperse more and more.

"Hey Ahrah, I see.. something different.."

The wall-like object was mostly an off-white color, with faintly-colored gold designs etched into the sides. It was fairly large, so much that the points where it both began and ended couldn't be seen, due to some trees obscuring the view. The more Dust dashed towards it, the more of it became unconcealed. When the trees were completely out of the way, the object was revealed; it was clearly the side wall of a huge castle-like structure.

Dust looked on in amazement. "That must be it, Aurora Palace!" His eyes lit up as he picked up speed and dashed quickly past the remaining houses and into the outskirts of the village.

He ran as fast as he could towards the castle, moving at an angle so that he could see the front of the building slowly come into view. He began to see gorgeous stained-glass windows and unlit, mounted gold torches on the front outside wall. Tall rounded towers with battlements at the tops were situated on each corner of the structure. The faded gold designs continued around from the side wall to the remainder of the wall space. Dust ran faster and faster, until he finally stopped directly in front of what he assumed to be the castle's main entrance doors, which were fronted by a heavy wooden bridge that spanned from the doors, across the moat that surrounded the palace, to where Dust was standing. The ends of thick metal chains were mounted onto the corners of the bridge, and reached back into openings on the palace's front wall.

"Erin was right, this really is magnificent.." Dust said in awe of the structure in front of him.

"An architectural marvel, for sure. I'm impressed," Ahrah agreed.

Dust slowly walked onto the bridge that crossed the moat, looking down into the deep trench filled with calm waters that came in from the river that the palace was built next to. His footsteps quietly echoed through the wood of the bridge. He reached the other side and stood in front of the oversized, ornately-decorated twin doors that towered over him.

He reached out his arms, put both of his hands on the doors, looked down, and sighed.

"Alright, here we go.."


[Phew, finally got this done. I really did want it to be longer than the previous two chapters, and I think it was worth it :D And I hit two thousand words, so yay. Next chapter is going to be intense; I hope you guys can contain yourselves until then lol.]