Lyra Gelatine's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

The crystal's threads pulled her east until the marsh gave way to old stone. Vines swallowed a ruined temple, but Lyra saw the truth inside its shell. Warm lanterns glowed. Small houses leaned against broken walls. Someone had made a home here. She stopped at the mossy steps and heard the movement before she saw it. Shapes darted behind doors. Eyes watched from windows. A nest of frightened monsters, exactly as the merchant warned. Lyra had prepared. She had traded her black cloak for a gown of purple and green, stitched with mana crystals. She wanted to look like a healer, not a hunter. In her hands she carried a slime core shaped like a heart. It glowed soft and cheerful. Proof she was one of them. She lifted it and stepped onto the first stair. A snarl broke the quiet. A wolfish shape lunged from a doorway, teeth bared, blocking her path. Others scattered behind him. A child was yanked indoors. The wolf-thing crouched low, ready to spring. Lyra froze. One wrong move and they would attack or vanish forever. "Wait." She held the glowing core high. "I'm awakened, like you. I only want to talk." The wolf did not soften. His eyes flicked past her to the trees, checking for the humans he expected. Lyra's plan was failing. A shiny gown and a pretty stone meant nothing to something that had been hunted. Then a door opened at the top of the steps. A bull-man came out, broad-shouldered, wrapped in a white priest's robe. He moved slow, one hand raised. Lyra knew his face. She had once closed a deep wound in his side with her magic. Brother Tauros. "Down," he said to the wolf. His deep voice filled the courtyard. "She is no threat. This one healed me when I could not walk." The wolf's ears twitched. He looked at the priest, then at Lyra, unsure. Brother Tauros came down the steps and stood beside her. He set a heavy hand on her shoulder, gentle. "I owe her my life," he told the watching windows. "She grows flowers. She mends flesh. She does not sell us." He nodded at the core in her hands. "And she carries a true heart. Look at it." One by one, doors eased open. A small green creature crept out first. Then another. The wolf backed away, still wary, but he let her pass. Lyra breathed again. "You built them something," Brother Tauros said quietly. "A safe place." "I did." Lyra looked at the frightened faces around her. "But it sits empty." The priest studied her a long moment. "Then I will speak for you here. Some may come. But these ones are broken by fear. Moving them will not be easy." He glanced toward the far wall, where the wolf still watched. "And not all of us wish to leave. Some would rather fight than trust a human road." Lyra nodded. She had found them at last. Now she had to earn them one by one.