Celestra Winterbloom's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Celestra Winterbloom had spent her whole life inside one wood, and now she needed to leave it. Her grandmother's stories said the ancient elven bloom once bridged the mortal and spirit realms. To wake that bloom again, Celestra had to find a place where the veil ran thin. She knew of no such place. So she followed the only clue she had: her frost magic. Where her breath froze in warm air, the two realms brushed close. For three days she walked past the last trees she recognized. Her wicker basket held wilted herbs and little else. On the fourth morning, her breath turned white in a clearing that should have been warm. The grass here grew silver. She knelt and pressed her palm to the cold ground. This was the place. The veil was thin here. A shriek split the air. Celestra spun. A creature dropped from the sky, all claws and tattered wings and hungry fangs. Its eyes burned purple. She ran, tripping over roots, and drew her slender dagger. The blade shook in her hand. The creature dove. She slashed at empty air and fell hard, her ankle twisting beneath her. Then something else moved. A second shape hit the winged creature from the side. It was tall, covered in dark fur, its head a bleached wolf skull with embers glowing in the hollow sockets. It struck the winged beast with clawed hands and drove it back. The creature screamed, beat its ragged wings, and fled into the trees. Silence fell over the silver grass. Celestra pushed herself up on her good arm. Her ankle throbbed. The dagger had slipped from her fingers into the grass. She could not reach it in time. The fur-covered shape turned toward her. Slowly it walked closer, its clawed feet quiet on the ground. To Celestra, it looked like a second monster come to finish what the first had started. She grabbed for her dagger. Her fingers closed on the hilt. She held the blade up between them, arm trembling. "Stay back," she said. Her voice cracked. "Stay back, or I'll cut you." The creature stopped. Its ember eyes fixed on her, and on the small blade shaking in her fist. It did not lunge. It did not speak. It simply stood over her, close enough that she smelled smoke and old fur. Celestra pressed her back against a tree and could go no farther. She had found the thin place at last. She had found the very ground she needed to begin her search. But she could not move. Her ankle would not hold her weight, and the thing that had saved her now blocked her only way out.