Cold metal.
Not an unfamiliar feeling, all things considered, but to wake up on it didn't bode well. Blurry figures danced before Varian's eyes as he struggled to convince his limbs to move. Everything was so heavy. His eyelids weighed a hundred pounds, more than the rest of his small figure combined.
There was no pain, for which he was grateful, but if he could stop waking up in strange places or circumstances, that would be a nice little gift from the universe. It was becoming more disconcerting than the initial amnesia to begin with. But perhaps it was too much to ask for...
Finally blinking his eyes open into the thankfully dim light, Varian saw bars. The sight stirred both fear and grudging acceptance, the latter another confusing tidbit that might make sense someday. His world seemed bound to remain full of mysteries for the most mundane things.
Maybe being used to being locked up shouldn't be considered mundane.
Either way, he could just barely roll so that his face wasn't smushed into the metal flooring, the strap of his goggles creaking as leather rubbed against iron. Facing up, through the top of his enclosure, he could see odd white branches of enormous size reaching up and out of the mountain itself. He wondered if the tree had started underground, or if something had caused it to fall deeper. Maybe the mountain had moved around it.
He giggled at the absurdity, unknowingly alerting his captors to his conscious state.
"Welcome, little Shard." The cage door creaked open, and a female voice filled the area as a cloaked form moved forward. "Forgive the lacking accommodations, but you won't be kept in here for long. In fact, we have something to show you."
A surprisingly gentle set of hands helped him stand, waiting until he was steady before taking his arm and leading him out of the cage. Underneath the gentleness was a surprising amount of strength; he could not have pulled away if he'd tried.
For the time being, he just went with it. Things were weird enough already that it wouldn't be too surprising if it turned out he already knew these people. He was led up to a raised platform, where he could see, carved into the tree's trunk, runes not dissimilar to what had been on the scroll. The inscriptions, however, were entirely different from what he had seen before. They began:
Crescent high above,
Evolving as you go...
And
Gifts of Sun and Moon,
Falling to the Earth...
"What... is this?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
The hooded woman hummed, pleased. "These are, or are what should be, your gifts. One for you, and one to share. The Sun Drop has the Scroll, but the Moonstone has this, more secret and protected. We went through a lot to obtain it, and only you can use it."
She shrugged, "Eventually, anyway. First we must deal with the corruption, something both you and the Sun Drop should thank us for. And in thanks, the two of you will grant us payment in assisting in a manner that the both of you are needed for."
"Gifts? Corruption?" Varian was entirely lost. ...Payment?
"All in good time," she smiled, and Varian thought he could sense something poisonous in it. "Your Princess meddled in things she should not have touched, and it brought devastation to the land and worse, a blight on what we hold most sacred. She will be joining us soon, but I felt you would prefer to be out of that cage as soon as possible. It was an unfortunate precaution in the case of interruption. We couldn't risk misplacing you again."
Not only did that sound hauntingly familiar, but Varian was getting the gist that she really liked to talk. If he prompted her, he might be able to get more information out of her than she meant to share. He wasn't sure what he would be able to do with it just yet...
"The time of purification is approaching," she patted his trapped arm, like a little old lady being led through the square by a Nice Young Boy. "And we may finally see our master again."
A chill ran down Varian's spine.
"Who... are all of you?" Varian hesitated, but managed to force out the question.
"Ah, yes." It seemed to only just occur to her that they hadn't been properly introduced. "Our individual names are insignificant, but we are the Followers of the Sun and Moon." She paused, letting him soak in the apparent grandeur of the statement. "If it helps, you may refer to me as Luna, and my partner, who you met before and no doubt remember as the one who first met you, as Solas. We, as all humans tend to, have favorites, of course," She smiled down at him. "But I cannot deny the importance of the Sun Drop working in tandem with the Moonstone, in very distinct and controlled instances."
Uncomfortable, Varian looked around, seeing the tree roots dip and rise as part of the walkways and walls of the area. There were more cages over where he had been, and he could see the others likewise imprisoned. It didn't look like there would be a rescue party for them.
He didn't know from what, or if they needed to be rescued in the first place, anyway. If Luna was right, this was something that needed to happen.
But wasn't there always a catch?
There was a clamor, as another of the cages was opened and its occupant freed, relatively speaking. Guards flanked her, a firm grip on her upper arms as she was escorted towards the raised platform.
Rapunzel was brought up, fury in her eyes. Her hands were encased in metal from fingertip to elbow, leaving no room for her to grab or otherwise manipulate her hair in a helpful fashion. Varian felt her fury turn to him, and only just realized how bad it looked for him to just be standing there when she had been dragged.
But it wasn't like he could do anything, either. Was it his fault they weren't hurting him enough for her satisfaction?
The venom in the thought took him off guard.
"What do you think you're doing?" Rapunzel demanded, shooting out the question in general, not sure who to question at this point.
The woman, Luna, who had a hold on Varian laughed condescendingly, as if finding her outburst a toddler's tantrum: a cute, quaint thing.
"We're going to give you your proper gifts back, instead of the ones you stole. Accidentally, I'm sure," She simpered, amused. "To do so intentionally would have required years of knowledge and planning that you simply did not have. Be it luck, fate, or otherwise, you have something that does not belong to you, and it is reflected in the Shard."
"The Moonstone was never meant to heal, just as the Sun Drop could never truly protect." Luna continued, as the guards forced Rapunzel onto a sigil, before stepping back and locking her into place. "To do so is an abomination, one that is taken out on the users. The True Gifts become warped and unstable, even each of your destructive powers become uncontrollable."
"...destructive?" The whisper stole from Rapunzel's lips, confusion painting her expression.
"Perhaps the two of you have not gotten to that yet," the cloaked woman shrugged. "The Shard, incomplete as he is, I can understand, but it seems odd that you would not have. Oh, well."
Glancing down, Varian realized with a jolt that the two of them were standing on a similar sigil to what was holding Rapunzel. If he had tried to bolt, he would have been likewise frozen. Noticing this, Luna's grip on him relaxed, and she stepped away, triggering the mechanism.
"We're all here? Great~!" The previously assumed leader, Solas, made his entrance, standing side by side with the cloaked woman.
"No time to waste," Luna began.
Rapunzel's accusing gaze fell on Varian, and he felt his anger rising. What was he supposed to do?
As the other members began to gather around, the hooded woman again began to speak. "You see, Princess. When you came in contact with the pedestal on the night of a Blue Moon, when your Gift was already weakened and had no conduit to hold it steady, you started a chain reaction of consequences. You corrupted your Gift and soon after, came in contact with the Shard, spreading the problem. The land came to reflect this."
The followers began to chant, led by the enthusiastic Solas. A blue glow illuminated the tree and the incantations written on it.
"We're here to set that right." Luna grinned viciously under her hood. "This may hurt a bit."
Rapunzel fell down onto the sigil, crying out at the white hot fire lancing through her as the chanting continued. Her hair glowed golden, whipping around angrily, but contained within the sigil's bounds. It was too bright to look at.
She grew weaker as they continued, and Varian looked on, stunned, dark spots dancing on his vision, but he was unable to tear his gaze away.
He couldn't reach her. A part of him didn't want to.
The chanting reached its crescendo and Rapunzel collapsed entirely. When she did, needle sharp pain struck Varian's skull, but only for a moment of agony before it faded. He squeezed his eyes shut against the fading pain.
That... wasn't so bad.
Varian shuddered, glancing over again to an apparently unconscious Rapunzel. He imagined it was much worse for her.
"And of course, we cannot leave you incomplete." Luna walked over to the center of the dias, muttering a quick incantation. A single shoot of white tree limb rose into the air, encasing a glowing blue stone.
It called to Varian, blocking out all else in the room.
When released from its bindings, it floated in mid air for a few seconds before zipping straight to Varian.
"Now, normally, a moonstone user would bear the stone on their chest, controlling it externally." She began, mostly ignored by Varian as his gaze locked onto the bright blue opal. "However, that is limiting, and we don't have the time for you to get used to forcing it to do your bidding. Besides, you were already chosen, just look how it hovers."
The other members looked on in reverence, not daring to break their spell circle, but distracted all the same.
The stone lowered itself from the air, a chill reverberating from it that strengthened as it drew closer to its missing piece.
"It will be a part of you until it is time to pass it on to another, just as the Sun Drop is a part of the Princess."
The stone finally made contact with Varian's forehead in a touch so cold it burned before soothing away to nothing as the gem turned to light and was absorbed into him. The room suddenly felt much warmer than it had been, his form much lighter.
Varian blinked as a moment passed, the glow fading.
A deep sense of foreboding stole over him, stealing his breath from his throat.
His mind exploded with memories.
Thank you for the lovely reviews! They spur me on in this journey :D