NOVPUB
Chapter 407: 407
Of course someone was there as the first time this happened, out of concern for their queen, the women got closer in concern to see what was wrong with her, only to start burning up. If not for quickly backing out, the woman would have experienced her second real death.
For Xerosis, the sight she sees is different from the sight of everyone around her. Holding her in his embrace was a tall golden man with flaming hair. The warmth from his embrace was everything she needed at the moment, as for the man holding her it was none other than her uncle Crepuscular.
As for how this started, we have to take a few steps back when Xerosis left the forest and home built by her and her brother as she journeyed to the eastern continent where a guide for her ascension was waiting for her.
For the first week, she missed the presence of her brother as this was the longest she has gone without him close to her. With her servants worried for her, they asked her to take a step out from her room and take a look around at the world from the sky and birds flying by them.
Xerosis and her brother shared a common distaste for sunlight and did their best to avoid it if possible, which was why the ship was surrounded with a magical shield to prevent light from coming through, nonetheless she didn’t like the idea of going out and staring at the blue sky with sun hanging above.
One day Xerosis finally decided to stop wallowing as she stepped out from her room and went to the deck. To say that the sight made her swallow back her words was no exaggeration as for the first time in her long life she saw the world with the sun shining down on it. Rather than the sight she was used to where it was the moon and night sky with stars which had it own beauty too but this was something else.
The world shimmered. Not with the cool, ethereal glow of moonlight she knew so well, but with a vibrant, almost painful brilliance. The ocean, instead of a dark, mysterious expanse, stretched out in an endless sheet of sapphire, reflecting the blinding light above. Tiny, white-capped waves danced and sparkled like a million scattered diamonds. The huge flying creature staring curiosly at their ship before flying off with occasional squeak.
She guided to shiled to weaken a bit as light penetrated through, she shielded her eyes with a hand, her dark pupils struggling to adjust. The light seemed to penetrate even her closed eyelids, painting the inside of her vision a fiery orange. It was overwhelming, disorienting, and yet... undeniably captivating.
Her servants, who had followed her out, watched with a mixture of concern and relief. They had never seen their mistress react to anything with such visible emotion. One of them, a kind-faced woman named Lyra, approached cautiously. "My Lady," she said softly, "are you alright?"
Xerosis slowly lowered her hand, her gaze fixed on the horizon where the sky met the sea in a hazy, shimmering line. "I... I had no idea," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "It’s... beautiful." n𝚘𝚟𝚙u𝚋.co𝚖
The word felt foreign on her tongue. Beauty, to Xerosis, had always been synonymous with the night: the velvet darkness, the silent stars, the pale, watchful moon. This was something entirely different. This was a raw, untamed energy, a force of nature that pulsed with life.
As she continued to observe, a peculiar phenomenon began to occur. While the world around her basked in the golden light of the sun, Xerosis perceived something entirely different. The sun’s harsh glare softened in her eyes, transforming into a warm, golden aura.
She grew frightened when the aura seemed to single her out, enveloping her wholly and creating a sensation of warmth on her skin. In her fear, she immediately strengthened her shield, but it did nothing to repel the golden aura. It lingered, clinging to her.
Xerosis couldn’t understand her sudden and extreme reaction, but she found herself fleeing back to her room. Thankfully, once there, the golden aura disappeared, no longer following her.
Far above the mortal world, Crepuscular sat cross-legged in his humanoid form, his great wings stretched out behind him.
The landscape of his realm was a vision of fire and brilliance. Rivers of molten gold flowed through valleys of flame, and forests of giant, glowing mushrooms reached toward the heavens. The ground was cracked and broken, revealing the molten rock beneath, and the ever-present sun bathed everything in an intense, blinding light.
He was not alone in his realm. Creatures that seemed to be formed entirely of flames roamed the fiery expanse. Even the plants appeared to be made of fire, their blazing forms swaying in the heated air. At the center of this luminous realm stood the palace of the sun and sky god—a masterpiece of heat and light. Constructed of white marble that reflected the sun’s rays, it glittered with gold and jewels, a beacon of divine majesty.
Crepuscular’s attention, however, was fixed elsewhere. His gaze lingered on the place where Xerosis had fled. Specifically, he focused on the golden aura that had shrouded her. Watching her flustered figure retreat to the cabin, Crepuscular was struck by an unexpected sense of loss.
Initially, he had paid no special attention to her. What drew his notice was her pure and heartfelt admiration for the blue sky and the sun. His little brother had once remarked that he and Mahu should find a way for mortals to truly understand the significance of the sun he represented and the moon Mahu embodied.
Mortals took his "ball of fire" for granted, knowing only that it existed and would always be there. While they offered admiration, it was rarely enough for Crepuscular. His brother had suggested teaching the mortals to appreciate their celestial gifts, but Crepuscular had been stumped as to how to achieve this.
But how? How could he, a being of blinding light and incomprehensible power, bridge the gap between his divine essence and the fleeting, fragile awareness of mortals? How could he teach them to see the sun not as a simple source of heat and light but as the heart of their existence, a force that nourished life and held the world in balance? For centuries, he had been stumped, unable to devise a way to make mortals comprehend the magnitude of his gift.
And then came Xerosis. A being born of darkness, unacquainted with the splendor of light, yet utterly enchanted when she encountered it. Her awe was unpretentious and genuine, free from the burdens of entitlement or routine. She did not simply see the sun; she experienced it. Her admiration felt like a bridge—a small, fragile thread connecting Crepuscular to the understanding he had sought for so long.
It was a rare and welcome praise that warmed Crepuscular’s heart. In his haste, he had acted impulsively, wrapping her in his warm embrace and inadvertently frightening her.
It was a fleeting moment, but Crepuscular etched into his memory the image of Xerosis smiling with pure joy as she discovered light.
The sight of her retreating form, the brief flicker of fear in her eyes before she vanished back into the ship’s interior, caused a pang in Crepuscular’s ancient heart. He hadn’t meant to frighten her. He had simply wanted to share a moment, a connection, a fleeting echo of the joy he felt watching her discover the world anew. It was a clumsy, impulsive act, born of a desperate longing for connection.
He sighed, a gust of hot air that stirred the flames around him. His realm reflected his own tumultuous emotions. The rivers of molten gold seemed to flow faster, the flames burned brighter.
The memory of Ursula, his daughter, flickered in his mind, a painful reminder of the unintended consequences of his power. Born from his very essence, from the heart of his flames, she had paradoxically been burned by them. He had loved her fiercely, but his love, like his light, was too intense for her semi mortal form. The memory served as a stark warning, a constant reminder of the delicate balance he had to maintain when interacting with those less powerful than himself.
Down below, Xerosis stepped back into the familiar embrace of darkness, the cool, quiet solitude of her cabin. The initial fear began to recede, replaced by a strange mix of confusion and... curiosity. She chided herself for her panicked reaction. It was likely her uncle, as she suspected, and if he had truly meant her harm, she would have been powerless to stop him. The thought brought a shiver, not of fear, but of a strange anticipation. The sensation, the warmth, the overwhelming sense of presence, was unlike anything she had ever experienced.
Days turned into weeks, and a restlessness began to stir within Xerosis. The memory of the golden aura, the fleeting warmth, lingered in her mind, a phantom sensation on her skin. She found herself craving it, yearning for that connection, that intense, almost overwhelming feeling. It was a foreign sensation, this longing for something she had previously feared, but it grew stronger with each passing day.
