Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 55: Remembered

"I believe Caligo has returned."

Silence. Astra and I stared at Moon, our jaws gaping in disbelief. From what I remembered, 'Caligo' was a harbinger. Harbingers, also known as the gods' avatars, came from the oldest legends of the battle between the Sun and the Moon, though they were rarely spoken of because most dragons thought them fake. Still, it is said that if a harbinger was seen, great calamity would soon follow; they were a sign that it was time to flee from certain death. The legends only spoke of two harbingers; Caligo and Lumen.

"Th-The Caligo?" Astra whimpered.

The harbingers were mythical beings used in scary stories, long believed to be mere fantasy. Learning that such cataclysmic beings were real was frightening in itself, but hearing that one was alive shook me to the core. Moon's serious countenance made it very clear that she wasn't kidding. 

"I'm afraid so," Moon murmured.

"And the only one who can beat her is dead," I whispered, horrified. "We are fucked." The only ones capable of defeating Caligo were Lumen and Moon, but the latter couldn't risk exposing herself and losing the night. That left Lumen, who was very dead.

"I didn't think he would stoop so low," she murmured. "He couldn't have possibly had an egg of his own, so he must've risen her from death in her old body. Nobody deserves that, not even her."

"Th-There's gotta be something we can do!" Astra whined pleadingly, her wide eyes darting back and forth between us. "Make another avatar or something!"

"As a female, I could reincarnate Lumen," she murmured. "But it would take season-cycles for Lumen to be old enough, then much more to teach everything all over again. It can't be done."

"What about Shadow—"

"I am not throwing Shadow into this," Moon growled low in her throat, casting Astra a death glare. "She has never experienced war, and I never want her to. Suggest her again, and I will make sure you fear even thinking of such a thing." Astra wisely shut up, thoroughly intimidated.

I swallowed thickly. "What can we do? Can we escape to the place my kind came from?"

Moon relaxed back into her depressed state, staring at her paws. "I don't know," she admitted quietly. "We can't run from an avatar forever, and I don't have my own avatar any... more..." She trailed off, her eyes widening.

I dared to feel a little hope. "Yes?" Against impossible odds, we needed every advantage we could get. "Moon?"

Her head shot up. "Follow!" She barked, turning and bolting out of the burrow, leaving us to scramble after her.

"This place looks... really old," I commented quietly, eyeing the looming cave before us. It laid on the opposite side of the mountains, its gaping opening easily a body-length wide and tall, covered in lichen that Moon carelessly tore away. Its grey, gouged stone was obscured by the dense forest growing right up the base of the mountains, keeping it hidden from prying eyes. Thankfully, Vænn was intimidated enough by the strange cave that he didn't stray from my back.

"It is old," Moon grunted, ripping out the last of the overgrowth. Shadow watched with less fear than my son, though she wasn't brave enough to venture onward alone. "This entire island dates back to the beginning." She looked up at the arching opening nostalgically. "This place was once what I called home. I put my first creations here, and burned their bodies here when they eventually passed." She turned and fixed us a stern glare. "You will see bones here," she growled warningly. "Bones of my first and dearest friends. If you so much as touch one, you will wish you were dead. Am I perfectly clear?"