Lumina Nightglow's Arc

Chapter 1 of 34

Lumina Nightglow watched the last flower in her home dim, and she knew the forest was dying. She had to reach the sleeping heart deep in the fairy petal forest and wake it before its glow faded for good. But the forest's depths were black. To walk them, she needed a light she could carry. So she flew out from her star-shaped dwelling to gather one. The grove where she landed still shone. Glowing trees rose over grass dusted with tiny sparks. Flowers burned soft blues and pinks in the dark. Lumina reached for a bloom and closed her fingers around its stem. The flower crumbled. Gray ash sifted through her hand and vanished. She tried a second bloom, then a third. Each one broke apart the moment she touched it. Her green-gold eyes stung. Her firefly wings dimmed. She could not carry a light that died in her grip. "You are squeezing what should be cupped." The voice came from behind her. Lumina turned. An old fairy stepped between the glowing trees, her long hair pale as starlight, her wings the yellow of firefly light. Lumina had heard the young ones speak of her. She was the eldest, the one who remembered the forest when its heart still beat strong. Lumina had never dared approach her. "They crumble for everyone," the elder said. "You cannot take this light. It is not yours to hold." She did not sound cruel. She sounded tired, as if she had watched many fairies fail here. "Then how do I reach the heart?" Lumina asked. The elder studied her. "Not with a flower you steal. You need one who lights the way from the inside." She raised her hand toward the grove's edge. Water glinted there, a still pool Lumina had not noticed. A fairy with a shimmering tail rose from it. Her hair fell long and blue, threaded with points of starlight. Light poured off her skin and did not fade. She looked at Lumina and smiled. "This is Luminara Tidewhisper," the elder said. "Her light shows the path to save the forest. She carries it within her. It cannot crumble." Lumina's heart lifted. Here was the light she needed, alive and whole. Then Luminara Tidewhisper spoke, and the lift dropped away. "I will guide you," she said. "But my light only shines over water. There is no river into the deep forest. If you want me to lead you, you must find one, or make one." Lumina stood in the ash of the flowers she had killed. She had found her light at last. Now she had to carry water into a forest that had none.