The Star, The Demon, and The God - 26. Higher Class in the Sanctuary

Luno

Kulu’s tongue tickles at my neck as he rubs his face a bit under my jaw. I laugh at his antics and help him put his tongue back in his mouth.

“A shame we can never fix your tongue,” I say to him. “I bet you would like that wouldn’t you?”

He only blinks at me with a dead stare.

I smile and run my finger along the top of his head.

It is the middle of the night in the Sanctuary, which means that it is the middle of the day outside.

All the day creatures are sleeping; some are even in the shack with Tobias.

The creatures of the night however are acting somewhat strange.

Like the day creatures, they are constantly trying to distract me with showing off tricks. It is mostly jumping or spinning in place.

Their small brains tend to keep them from thinking of anything else to do.

While it is all cute in their own ways, sometimes ridiculous like the griffin, it is very concerning as to why they are doing this.

Sure, I have left the Sanctuary a few times but whenever I came back, they had never acted so strangely to me.

Before, they would rub against me or even hug me like Avric; now they try and distract me for a good few moments until another animal could take their place.

Since none of them can talk, I have to go to the only other creature that can communicate with me.

As soon as I get closer to the winter area, a shiver runs up my spine.

I quickly use magic to bring some of the clothes Tobias bought for me. A shirt, a pair of pants, socks, and boots.

How I was ever fine with walking in the cold with barely any clothes on before is beyond me!

Trying on clothes for the first time did ruin things however. It made things much too warm to the point that I am too used to it!

Hugging myself, I trudge through the steep snow and head towards the frozen lake.

Perhaps out of all the creatures here, I did miss the water dragon the most. He is the most gentlest thing! Not to mention how smart he is!

If anyone can tell me what the creatures in the Sanctuary have been up to, it would be him.

To my left, I see a giant white owl flapping its wings underneath the snow.

Smiling at the sight, I continue on, walking through the snow-covered pine trees. The smell is quite nice.

I have spent a lot of time in cold climates lately, haven’t I?

Avelin and the Plains of Anucius were somewhat warm I guess. Tobias and I were only there for a short period of time. Both were unpleasant to say the least.

Thanks to being down south and in the snow, I have determined that I prefer the summer time more than anything now.

I wonder what the Serendian deserts feels like. I bet it is nice, warm, and lovely!

A part of me wants to visit with Tobias, but most of the humans made it sound a little scary.

Obviously I do not believe what they say about the Serendians. Everyone clearly hates them only because they are different compared to themselves, but I do wonder what stories were true about the deserts.

Shrugging to myself, I pat Kulu’s head and keep walking towards the lake.

With my first step on the ice, the shadow of the dragon can be seen rising from the depths. It’s bioluminescent lights glow under the ice covering the lake.

A loud, muffled groan can be heard underneath.

I smile and lift myself up a few inches off the ice. This allows me to drift smoothly through the air and straight for the middle of the lake.

The water dragon had told me that the best way to greet any dragon you meet, is through a dance.

The dance is more about movement. Mostly because of the type of dragon he is. Like water, you want to flow around each other. Since he has bonded with me through our time together, the dance is to be reverent and gentle. Not angry and crashing like the ocean in a storm.

One downside to his being a water dragon is that he cannot breathe air like me. He must always have water around the gills on his neck.

It is a good thing I can create a bubble for him to breathe!

With a wave of my hand, I melt all the ice around me.

He is rather large, so I make sure I create a big circle. I can’t have him feeling stuffy now can I?

Bubbles rise from the surface. Stubborn ones that tell me he does not like something.

With a sigh, I quickly fly over to the snow and drop off my boots and socks. The chill reaches my feet and I pray this conversation won’t last forever.

Drifting back, my toe barely brushes by the water and I inwardly shriek at how cold the water is.

It’s alright. I can just...warm myself up later!

What sounds like a whale singing shows that the dragon is pleased with the change.

I roll my eyes and smile.

Slowly, I begin to circle above the water, creating little baby waves on the surface.

The shadow made of tiny blue lights sings again and begins to follow me. His giant wings spread out under the water, creating a pretty picture of shining lights.

Now because he is such a big guy, he needs a little help being lifted out of the water.

It is kind of funny seeing him struggle to stay above the surface on his own however.

Once he has swam close to the surface, I control the water with my hands.

With small scooping motions, I push the direction of the water underneath his belly. After a short while, I lift my hands up, bringing the dragon a little bit higher. As soon as I feel the water spreading free around him, I do the scooping motions again before lifting my hands once more.

It has to be done a few times but eventually, the dragon’s head breaks the surface.

Flying higher to keep up with his long neck, I create the bubble around his gills as he uses his front legs to help himself up on the ice near the edge.

The dragon blinks his sparking yellow eyes at me before leaning its forehead towards me. I lean forward as well and rest mine against his.

Guttural whispers ripple along the edges of my mind. They sound like they are far away in a dream.

Pressing my hand on his face, I reach into his mind to feel his emotions.

A smile comes on my face when I see he has not changed much. The old dragon is always tired yet humbled to see me.

The whispers become clear in my mind as the connection is made.

“You were gone for quite some time, star child,” His voice ripples through my head. “It pleases me to see you are safe once more.”

I beam down at him.

“I missed you too, big guy! You won’t believe how homesick I was. The outside world is so...murky.”

He huffs mist out of his nose. It sprays onto my face, giving me a slight relief from the cold.

“So we have heard,” His voice chuckles. “I sense the tiger demon is still graced by your presence. Why?”

My face begins to burn at the thought of Tobias.

“Everyone is welcome here,” I simply say, crossing my arms. “You know this!”

The dragon’s voice hums in my head.

“Forgive me if I am wrong, but is he the dark to your light?”

I tilt my head. “What does that mean?”

He rumbles out a deep and throaty laugh, cloud of mist spurting out of him.

“In time I am sure you will find out.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “What’s so funny?”

The dragon only laughs some more.

Rude!

Shaking my head, I remember what I had come here for in the first place.

“Can you tell me why everyone is acting so strange? They are all trying to be goofy and I don’t understand why! This hasn’t happened before.”

The dragon pauses and blinks, possibly overthinking on what to tell me.

“I suppose it would rests on me to tell you. Their decision was entirely on them by the way. I had no part in their thought process.”

Raising an eyebrow, I wait for an answer.

The dragon lets out an equivalent to a sigh before speaking again.

“Everyone knows what happened to Enfi. Just as we are connected to you, we are connected to each other. We felt the bond break with Enfi. We were heartbroken. The main problem for us was that we can feel your grief. You know we do not like seeing you in such a state.”

I give a dejected look at his words before resting my hand on his snout.

“In an effort to make you happy, they had all planned to find ways to bring your spirits up. Obviously they did it with such...little self-respect. Honestly it wounds me to see how low they can bring themselves.”

Not even I could help myself from laughing at his little comments.

Still, the fact they all cared enough to do such a thing honestly makes my eyes water up a bit.

“Oh. Have I displeased you? You may put me under the ice once again. Forgive me.”

I shake my head and grab him to keep him from leaving, as if I’d even be able to have the strength to even move this giant creature.

“What? No! They are happy tears! You guys are special to me! I love you all and it does make me happy! Maybe...maybe you could tell them all to mourn for themselves however. I don’t want to be everyone’s main focus at this time. I wasn’t the only one who lost her.”

The dragon nods and leans his forehead against mine. His snout practically reaches past my toes.

“I will spread the news. Go and get some rest. You have had quite the journey, Star child.”

As if on cue, a yawn escapes my lips.

“Alright,” I say with a tired smile. “You sleep well. Love you, big guy!”

He huffs out a breath of mist against my face. This time as a sign of affection.

The dragon pushes back and sinks down into the water.

Once his shadow fades into it, I create a sheet of ice on the surface.

Grabbing my socks and boots, I shove them on and decide to fly over to the summer beach area to try and warm up. The air feels quite nice over there.

The griffin’s nest is there, so I snuggle up under her wing for a short time to warm up.

My peace is short lived however because she uses her beak to try and pull out any tangles in my hair.

Let’s just say that I did not stay there very long because my scalp couldn’t handle it!

~~~

Tobias

To say that I was pretty shaken up when I found Luno missing is an understatement.

My mind had been totally convinced that Raiyo took control and made me kill Luno in my sleep.

It was only after I realized there were animals sleeping next to me that I realized everything was fine. If I really did kill Luno, the animals would have killed me right after. There is no doubt about that.

Since I am no longer slightly panicking, I push myself out of bed.

Where is the little annoyance anyway?

This place is huge and apparently just as full of life at night as it is in the day. I doubt I would ever be able to find him.

When I step out of the shack, my eyes practically bulge out when what looks like a whale floats over the summer cliffs. It has glowing strings hanging from its stomach and fins as it glides through the stars.

Where does that thing even hide during the daytime? That thing is insane!

A baby version of itself hovers close to its side.

Those are slightly terrifying. Magistic, but still giant things that could squash you if they happened to fall.

Shivering at the possibility of a pathetic ending like that, I turn back to the shack.

The bed has a few animals sleeping. Some have even rolled into my spot, chasing the warmth.

It is a good thing Luno chose to get such a giant thing of a bed.

The yeti is resting against the wall, snot spilling from his nose. In his arms are little piglets with little white daisies on their backs.

So many strange creatures in this place…

Walking into the small kitchen, I find a mirror hanging on a wall.

I usually tend to avoid mirrors. Whenever I look into them, I know that what I am looking at is a lie.

That is not my face. Maybe years ago it was, but now...it belongs to a stranger that I do not know or remember. Not even my blue eyes!

For all I know, I probably didn’t even have blue eyes when I was human.

What I do know however, is that I wish this was what I looked like. Not some nasty, giant beast with a face that no one could love.

No one right?

I close my eyes and remember the events that took place before the war with Raiyo. It sends a warmth up my chest and makes my stomach feel all fluttery.

Luno saw what I truly looked like. He saw my true form; something that only two other people have seen.

Raiyo and my Uncle.

My uncle found me first when I was thrown down from the heavens and had my halo snapped in half. My body painfully changed during the fall, but my Uncle was there to help me. He was there to guide me to Raiyo’s castle.

There, the Demon King took pity on me and offered me a spell that could hide my body’s changes.

It was his welcoming gift.

I have used the spell ever since. I never take it off. Not when there are others around at least. Concentrating on a spell day and night can be exhausting.

Maybe...maybe here I do not have to use it.

Luno said that even with my true form, he still considered me handsome.

Seeing as his only friends are animals, I suppose I should have known he would have been fine with it. Still, the fact he has not changed at all is very precious to me.

Uncle used to tell me that if you ever find a safe place, stick to it.

Obviously this was mostly about the cases of there possibly being attackers sent after me but his words fit in just the same here.

I nod to myself and pinch the air in front of my forehead and slide my fingers down, removing the spell.

This is my safe place. Maybe not specifically the Sanctuary, but being alone with the Star definitely is.

Maybe if he didn’t have that no killing rule I would think otherwise…

My human face fades away and my real body comes into reality.

I grunt at how much tighter my chest armor is and hurry to take it off. I can barely breathe!

Resting it against the wall, I look back up at the mirror and tilt my head, careful to not hit my horns into the ceiling rafters.

Yup. Still very disgusting. What Luno sees, I do not know, but I would happily trade eyes with his if it looks better.

My nose wrinkles up at the thought.

Nevermind. When I take it literally, picturing Luno with solid blue eyes and no whites at all would be too creepy.

Scratching at the fur around my neck and sides of my head, I cringe at the feeling of it.

I look ridiculous! I have fur like a godsdamn kitten!

A fucking mess!

“Tobi?” Luno’s voice says hesitantly behind me.

My face feels like all the blood ran everywhere else as soon as I hear him.

Glancing over my shoulder, I see him hopping his way over the creek stones to me.

Turning away and covering the side of my face, I try and hide myself.

“Uh, yeah?” I say, willing the spell to come back to life.

Dammit! I am panicking too much for me to concentrate!

A hand touches my bare shoulder. Does it count as bare if it is covered in fur?

Gods!

“You look nice,” He says.

When I take a peek, I see that he has a warm smile on his face.

I fidget in place, not knowing if I should face him like I normally do when we talk or if I should hide my shame out of sheer embarrassment.

Luno’s hand hovers over my cheek.

“May I?” He asks, still smiling.

Clearing my throat, I nod and turn a bit, feeling a bit more confident with him looking at my face.

Luno apparently decides for me and stands directly in front of me.

“You’re so much taller now,” He giggles. “And soft.”

I huff at his words and roll my eyes. My face feels like it is burning now.

Luno’s hands rest on my cheeks. His palms gives off a tingling warmth that spreads under my skin and into my head.

It isn’t painful; if anything, it feels quite nice. With Luno’s eyes close, it almost makes me want to fall asleep again. I am still quite tired.

Luno tilts his head before opening his eyes.

“Don’t be nervous,” He says in a soft tone. “You have nothing to be afraid of here. Nobody here will judge you. I swear it. Don’t worry about me either! The last thing I would do is judge you.”

A smile tugs at my lips and I nod. “Yeah I know. Thanks for that.”

He beams up at me, practically glowing from the moonlight outside.

My hands somehow end up touching his cheek. My fingers run through the curls of his hair and even graze against the flowers.

As soon as I touch them, they turn pink.

“Could…Could I…” I stop; not knowing if now is the right time. Especially when I look like a monster. How could Luno ever kiss something like that? A Star should never put themselves as low as that.

Luno blinks twice. “Could you what?”

I remove my hands and shake my head.

“Nothing,” I say. “We should get some proper sleep now.”

For a moment, I see a look of disappointment flash on his face, but he quickly plasters on a smile and hooks his arm into mine.

“Right,” he says cheerily. “We deserve some good sleep!”

Avric grumbles and fidgets at Luno’s voice but all the creatures still sleep.

When we somehow manage to make ourselves some spots on the bed full of animals, I end up staring at the ceiling.

Even after I hear Luno’s breathing even out, I doubt I will sleep tonight.

All I can think about is how my feelings for him are wrong. They would never work.

Luno is a Star. One of the purest of beings.

Me? I am nothing but a lowly demon.

I sigh and rub my face.

If only I could be the lie in the mirror.