What's yours...Is Mine [Erik x Oc]

Chapter 2 | To Heliodor and Beyond

"We're back safe and sound, Grandad!" Gemma says happily as the two girls bound down cheerily on the hills, to the small crowd of people collecting because of the teens' returns.

"Indeed you are, my dear! Thank the Spirits for that!" Her grandfather, Dunstan, replied. He smiled at his granddaughter's endless happiness, and hope it wasn't just for two seconds. "When we saw lightning striking up there, we got a little worried, I have to tell you. Hyeh heh!" The old man guffawed in a friendly manner.

"Well, it was quite tough up there. Monsters had infested the Tor." Amara starts, "and then when it couldn't get any worse, it did. There was this bird that knocked Gemma off her feet and she almost fell to her death. I managed to catch her, but before we were going to become mincemeat, this symbol on my hand," Amara lifts her hand up to show the strange mark, "lit up and that's when the lightning struck, saving us." Amara finishes explaining what happened on the Tor.

"Well I never! Sounds like it's nothing short of a miracle that you made it back in one piece!" He says, shock laden through both his features and voice. "Now tell me, my dear—how was the view from the top?" Dunstan asks his granddaughter, Gemma.

"It was wonderful! I saw the sea stretching to the horizon, and the sunlight playing on the water, and... Oh, I've never seen anything like it in my life!" Gemma bounded on aimlessly, her head drifting up to her own fantasy. Although everything she was true, Amara could confirm.

"You're true Cobblestonians now—only we have the pleasure of looking out over the world of Erdrea in such breathtaking fashion, you know." He says, nodding in a professional fashion. He quite liked bragging about that, to be honest. "You're still young, and the day may yet come when you decide to leave Cobblestone behind." When those words are said, a few sad eyes drift between the crowd.

"I hope our little ceremony has opened your eyes to a little of what may await you out there." He says happily, donning his normal smile. "Now, it's high time we were heading back. I'm sure your mother is eager to hear how things went, young lady. Don't keep poor Amber in suspense!" Dunstan finishes, now talking to Amara.

Then Gemma turns to Amara and says, "Come on, you! Home time!" Amara laughs happily in time with her best friend, as the two follow the crowd back to their bustling hometown, Cobblestone. The walk back wasn't a long one, but it was the chattiest one by far. How the happy words drifted from the girls' lips the entire walk back, and how it pleased all the elders in the group.

When Amara returns home, she sees her mother hunched over a stove, cooking something that gifted a yummy aroma. Amber, Amara's mother, turned around when sensing another presence in the room with her. The mother donned a relieved and happy smile upon seeing her daughter safe and sound.

"Here's my little princess! Well, not so little any more—I've heard all about your big adventure! Look at you, all grown-up!" She says in an overly motherly tone, but a happy one none-the-less. Amara and Gemma sat down at a nearby chair.

"I hope she wasn't too much of a bother, Gemma dear." Amber says to Amara's friend, which just erupt contagious laughter.

"Hm hm! Of course not!" She responds kindly, as if there was no other way to reply. It made Amara smile just thinking about it. "Quite the opposite, in fact! You would have been proud of her!" Amara's friend continoues on. "We got attacked by a monster at the top of the Tor, and I ended up hanging on the edge of the cliff by my fingertips! I thought I was done for!" Gemma retells their story—rather dramatically even, as Amber's eyes widen with each event becoming told. "But you'll never guess what happened next—that mark on her hand suddenly lit up, and a bolt of lightning hit the monster!"

At Gemma's words, Amber feels she has to interrupt the rather dire retelling of the story. "What did you say!?" The mother said worriedly. "That funny little mark? Lightning flying about the place? Goodness me..." She mutters. "Here I was hoping she'd turn out nice and ordinary, but it seems his grandfather was right all along.." She sighs and turns back to her daughter, Amara. "Well, I've been putting this off for long enough now. You and me need to have a little talk."