Sanctum of the World

Lyric wakes to the sound of music and voices coming from the living room. She quickly composes herself and cautiously investigates. Opening the bedroom door, she sees Amethyst in an off-white tunic and pant set dancing around. Glancing to her right, she discovers the source of the sounds. The fairy discovered the fitness channel and is working out to a dance aerobics broadcast. The elf smiles. “Well, Amethyst seems to be having no trouble adapting to her new environment.”

Feeling hungry, Lyric moves over to the icebox, pulls out some yogourt, milk, a banana, and some berries, then sets them on the counter. From a bottom cupboard, she pulls out a small bag of chia seeds and protein powder. From another bottom cupboard, she pulls out the blender. “Time for a morning power shake,” she smiles to herself. Something the Humans had introduced her to two decades ago. After filling the glass pitcher with her breakfast, she hits the ‘Smoothie’ setting and puts what is no longer needed away.

Amethyst hadn’t been paying much attention at this point until the blender started. The TV suddenly grows quiet. The next thing Lyric knows, the girl is beside her, looking intently at the blender.

“What is that?” she gasps, her purple eyes wide with wonder.

“It’s called a blender. It’s used to quickly mash and mix food into a liquid you can consume.”

As the ‘Smoothie’ preset finishes, the blender beeps and stops. Lyric reaches up and grabs a large glass from the cupboard, then turns to her companion.

“Did you want to try some?”

The Fae nods, and Lyric pulls out a smaller glass, unsure if the girl will like the drink or not. It’s a bit of an acquired taste. She pours the small glass, her own, and then sets to rinsing out the pitcher. She places it in the dry rack and turns to get her drink. Amethyst, by now, has finished her small glass, and looking at Lyric’s drink hungrily.

“You enjoyed that, did you?” she probes and the Fae grins while nodding. “Sorry, I only made enough for one.”

“Oh,” the girl pouts slightly. Before she can offer to make amends, the Fae’s expression changes, “Then we’ll just create another.” She snaps her fingers, and a copy of Lyric’s full glass appears beside it. She takes the copy, leaving the original for the Elf to drink and sits down on the couch humming to herself.

“Well, I’ll be!” The Elf chuckles to herself. “So that’s why you only take samples and small portions. I wondered how you never went hungry during our journey. You don’t need to cook. You just duplicate any food you see?”

“Sometimes,” the Fae smiles. She has a frothy moustache, as she enjoys her shake, “but I do know how to prepare food when I need to.”

Lyric smiles and joins her on the couch. She regards her companion, “Did you sleep last night?”

“Was I supposed to?” the Fae turns the question around. “The day cycle is so short on this world. I slept enough during our trip.”

The Elf shakes her head, wondering if she should worry about what the curious creature could have gotten into last night. The cottage is still standing, so it wasn’t destructive, she muses. She switches on the weather channel to make sure it is going to be favourable to venture out today. She frowns as the woman on the screen talks about the hills surrounding them.

“Well, unless you want to go scouting in the rain, Little One, we’re better off staying inside where it’s warm and dry today.”

The Fae glances at her companion and objects. “I thought the weather didn’t bother Wood Elves?”

“Oh, we can go out in the rain if you like. But, when given the choice, we don’t enjoy scouting in the pouring rain where visibility is limited.”

As if to prove her point, they hear a rumbling outside as the storm pours down from the mountain. The room darkens, and the round stained glass window is soon pelted with rain.

Amethyst looks disappointed, “Oh, alright.”

As the storm continues, the two make the best of their situation. They, fortunately, don’t lose power; not that she thinks this cottage ever could. She’s sure most of the lighting and heat are magical. It allows Lyric time to wash their travel clothes. The washing machine is another new discovery for the Fae, who sits there for several minutes watching the wet clothes tumble through the glass door in the front load washing machine.

Eventually, Amethyst grows bored and wanders over to the laptop, where she discovers the web browser. There are no more complaints about being bored or not going out after that. Again, Lyric marvels at Amethyst’s aptitude for using technology; the Internet doesn’t seem to be a mystery to her winged friend. Amethyst spends the day reading up on Human culture and locations. Every now and again, she has questions in which Lyric points out where to find the answers.

Of the Humans she’s met on this world, only a few have recognized Lyric as not being one of their kind. Some due to fictional literature that the Humans call ‘fantasy’, others because of her odd accent and inability to speak their language properly. Humans have both a keen interest and a fear of the mystical and unknown. She’s always cautious to see which side of the pendulum the Human stands on before revealing her true identity. Artisans, mystics, and Bards, like herself, are the most receptive to her presence. They are more curious than afraid of what she is. Elvenkind exiled themselves from Earth two millennia ago, long before she was born. She’s a third-generation mortal Elf born in Arvandor. Some would say that a mortal born in the High Heavens is a strange occurrence, but Gaia’s children aren’t the only mortal Elves that live in Arboria. Until Humanity is mature enough to accept Gaia’s Firstborn back to Earth, they’ll remain in exile. Lyric has seen some of Humanity’s fear of the unknown firsthand, and wouldn’t wish it on any of her kin.

The most interesting of mortals that she’s met most recently is Luke Goodson and his family. It didn’t take long for Lyric to ascertain that Luke is a powerful alchemist and half his family are magically adept. She’s known the boy for years now and watched as his family has grown. It was through Luke that she heard of the Lantalfalma portal — or Fallcrest as Humans call this place. She’s been unwilling to cross the barrier without aid. It was Luke’s suggestion that she seek others outside of his mortal kin to help her. Through him, she’s discovered a magical society hidden among humanity, but the Goodson’s keep themselves distant from other arcanists — as if he doesn’t truly trust his own kind.

She was both disappointed and surprised when the only aid she could acquire was this little grotto fairy. Certainly, she needed more help than the one Fae could provide, but the guild masters were quite certain that Amethyst would be sufficient to the task. It took months to find a way to contact the creature, and weeks to prepare for the journey. As a protected world, there is no direct route through the planes to Earth, which is why she only returns here every few years. Fortunately, this was not her first trip to this remote mortal world. With her contacts, she was able to bring Amethyst here without encountering many problems. It was a long trip, but here they finally are; ready to venture into the Realm of Sanctum and see for themselves what has happened.

“You know so much about these people,” the Fae comments, breaking Lyric from her thoughts.

The Elf smiles, “As a Bard and Lore Master, my guild has entrusted me to gather knowledge from the other realms. I’ve been travelling in and out of the Material Plane for the past century, keeping tabs as they make and discover new things. I bring the information back to the Lore Keepers of the Bardic Council for archiving. When the magically attuned mortals split off and formed their own realm a millennium ago, to protect themselves from their fearful mundane cousins, Elves have been keeping tabs on what Humanity does with the knowledge they accrue.”

Amethyst nods, “The Earthen Realm, where I come from, sent our own emissaries to Sanctum; so that we could learn what the mortals were studying. We sadly have not heard from our children in some time… which is why I wanted to be on this mission with you.”

Lyric ponders if the term ‘children’ is literal or symbolic. It now made sense why the elder Fae were so insistent on sending the Grotto Fairy than one of their own. The Earthen Realm has much more vested interest in this mission than Arborea. If she wasn’t such a knowledgeable guide, they may have just let Amethyst find her way here on her own. She’s heard the Fae has tried more than once already. The Bardic Council was adamant that one of their guild accompany the Fae. Not only for Amethyst’s protection, but for cataloguing the event. While the Council has had their doubts, Lyric can’t deny that her Fae companion can well take care of herself. Fortunately, the Fae was glad to have a guide. Lyric, being one of the more knowledgeable of the Human experience, was a natural choice.

This is a delicate mission. Lyric has discovered on more than one occasion that diplomacy is not one of the Fae’s strong points. Amethyst enjoys speaking in riddles and is often more direct than a stranger feels comfortable. Lyric wouldn’t go so far as calling her Fae friend impulsive, but she certainly is not shy. While she appears innocent, Amethyst certainly knows more than she lets on, and has unorthodox methods of getting what she wants.

This mission, however, doesn’t have room for a misstep. They can’t fail. Gaia’s children need to reconnect to their homeworld. The connections to Sanctum shattered a few decades ago. All attempts to scry or communicate with the Realm have mostly failed. This connection in Fallcrest is the only known link — on account of the mortals opening it for themselves from Earth. Since then, images from Sanctum come in, disjointed and incomplete. No one has a clear idea of what happened.

Earth hasn’t been forthcoming or helpful. The Humans have been rather quiet about it. Either they are being secretive, or they are just too busy to bother with the Outer Realms. Lyric worries that the Humans have lost knowledge of the Outer Planes, which is why their missives have gone unanswered. Worlds in the Material Realm often lose contact with the High Heavens. Once a race stops believing in the Gods, their connection to the universe outside of their own can fracture or disappear entirely. Even as the Goodsons recognized her race, they didn’t inquire as to her origins. The only one who seemed curious was their youngest child. Lyric eventually named the bright, talented Human Angel. That is a tale which shall be told at another time.

The Elf stares out the window for a few moments, “I’m glad we’re not out in this storm,” she mutters. Lyric should have checked the seasons before offering to join this mission. Spring is wet in this part of the world, and it may have been better to delay the journey by a few months when the ground is dry and travel more favourable. Too late to dwell on that now, though. With them being this close to the portal, there is no way that Lyric can convince the Fae to wait until summer.

Amethyst hums happily as she plays this adventure game she found. Lyric is glad she’s not bored. Who knows what the Fae could get into otherwise?

She turns back to the window. Tomorrow they shall find out. The weather bureau forecast shows a break in the rain in the morning. They’ll head out after dawn before the rain resumes late afternoon. From what she’s heard of Sanctum, it never truly rains there. The weather is always favourable. Magic keeps things green and spells are used to water plants when needed. It would be nice to get away from having to worry about the clouds in the skies for a change.