Novaris: Adventure in the Shattered Fang Continent

Novaris. Octus. 903. AGC.

Annale Dalara was a Cleric of Luxana and, by extension, had become a Moon Elf after reaching 100 years of age. However, she did not advertise her identity as such, as it would often confuse many around the planet. This confusion came from the fact that she had light blue hair and eyes and not the shining silver variants that most expected from a Moon Elf, even though those expectations were incorrect. The thing was that, at the end of the day, she couldn’t expect everyone to know the key differences between all the different elves. The fact was that with the rumors and deception brought by the Goddess of Darkness and her kin, many folks had become confused as to who exactly was what.

Annale was a Moon Elf, which just marked her as an elf who became a follower of Luxana. And besides having a better affinity with the goddesses' mana, Moon Elves only gained healthy pale skin from their transformation. Meanwhile, the rest of their person was left untouched, meaning their eyes and hair stayed their original colors.

On the other hand, Moon Touched Elves were those who had been personally blessed by Luxana while still in their mother's wombs. These elves also came from the joining of a celestial entity loyal to Luxana, like a Moon Angel and a humanoid species. These half-breed individuals were celestial in nature, though to different degrees. They also passed down their celestial traits to their descendants, which barely allowed for a descendant to sometimes fall under the Moon Touched category.

As can be expected, Moon Touched Elves did manifest silver eyes, hair, and paler skin, though the more mixed a child was, the less likely it was expected for them to manifest these traits.

And as if Moon Elves and Moon Touched Elves were not enough, there were also Night Elves who did not serve Luxana. Night Elves instead were regular elves who just enjoyed the night and preferred to be active during such hours. The problem was that even though they weren’t followers of Luxana, they naturally gained silver hair, and only living during the night caused them to have much paler skins. Luckily, these elves couldn’t manifest silver eyes all by themselves.

Sadly, Star Elves, who did gain silver hair and eyes due to practicing certain astrological and astronomical magics, were also in the mix. Star Elves, however, had skins in shades of purple and blue, but all in all, these differences didn’t matter to an uninformed individual. Either way, both Night and Star Elves often also heeded the call of nature and became followers of Amphis, the Goddess of Nature.

Finally, there were the Dark Elves. They were the Moon Elves' counterparts and were the followers of Setiel, the Goddess of Darkness. Due to Setiel also being a Goddess of the Moon, though in her case it would be the New Moon, she is seen as Luxana's counterpart. Naturally, being seen as Setiel's counterpart infuriated Luxana, prompting Setiel to make her Dark Elves after the Moon Touched Elves to anger the other moon goddess even further. However, she did make them slightly different, giving them dark obsidian skin but still keeping the silver hair and eyes in order to sow confusion and as a way to anger Luxana.

All of this is to say that when Annale heard about a human girl with silver-black hair, she had to investigate for several reasons. The first was to ensure it was silver hair, not just some illusion magic at work. Secondly, to see if this woman was possibly a follower of Setiel, in which case she would be dealt with. Her third reason was to see if the silver-haired girl was possibly related to Luxana.

The last reason was the most important, as Luxana was very careful to keep track of all humanoids with any celestial attachment to her. The goddess hadn’t been like this before, but ever since she began creating half-celestial entities around a hundred or so years back, she made sure to have all of them accounted for. And to this day, the count had been almost perfect, except for one girl she had lost track of in her last attempt to create the ideal mortal-celestial hybrid.

Since then, Luxana has been searching for this girl, though the priority has decreased throughout the years. Now, the search merely extends to checking upon silver-haired individuals whenever possible. Naturally, the search has been derailed many times as Dark, Night, and Star Elves are found to be the culprits.

So Annale found herself heading to the Smiling Sun Inn to check on this new individual. Entering the inn restaurant combination late in the evening, she immediately saw the girl in question. She was of average height but had a lithe figure with the right proportions in the right places, which many men or women would find.

The girl was called Jasmine and had pristine pale skin that seemed to glow with life under the inn's light. Jasmine wore a beautiful maid outfit that was well cared for and matched her gorgeous black and silver locks of hair.

When Jasmine came to take her order, she peered into the girl's eyes and was amazed. Her iris were a swirling grey color, but her pupils were still as dark as a moonless night. Jasmine's look puzzled Annale as she couldn’t be sure if she was related to Luxana at all or if it was just an odd variant of innate magics that caused Jasmine’s particular appearance. Either way, Annale wanted to be sure and scanned the girl to get a measure of her and see if any of Luxana’s power was hidden within. To her disappointment, the girl seemed like any ordinary person, so she spoke with the inn’s owner to learn more about her.

Initially, the owner was wary of Annale, but she quickly identified herself as a Cleric of Luxana, which helped ease the owner’s worry. Apparently, as of lately, more and more individuals wanted to learn more about Jasmine, all probably having malicious intentions at heart. However, as a Cleric of Luxana, the owner’s suspicion was quickly appeased, and she told Annale some information about Jasmine but mainly directed her to the Free Spirit Orphanage, where she could speak with a Ms. Emeline for more details.

Annale soon made it to the orphanage, though she had passed by the temple to put on her clergy robes first. She had gone to the inn in regular clothing, as a High Cleric of Luxana entering a random inn would draw too much attention. Her robes would also help convince Emeline that she was indeed a Cleric of Luxana and would allow the woman to feel better about sharing Jasmine's personal information.

Naturally, Emeline quickly welcomed her into the orphanage. After introductions and a bit of small talk, Annale brought up the subject of Jasmine and told Emeline she had spoken with Heledh in the Smiling Sun Inn and had learned about Jasmine’s transformation. She then told the older woman that she might be able to help the girl with her issue, which seemed to pique the woman's attention, and she soon explained the problems.

Emeline told Annale everything about Jasmine, from her birth date to the divination issue, her shy behavior, and her unique gifts. She also spoke about the Cleric of Sol’s various theories involving a possible celestial entity or a fey Monarch. Emeline also pointed out that Jasmine’s birthdays seemed to trigger her transformations. And soon, Annale was returning to the temple with a million thoughts swirling in her head.

However, there had been a slight oversight when Emeline told Jasmine's story—an oversight that no one could blame her for, as she had lost track of a very small detail: the night Jasmine arrived, there were two names on a small piece of paper.

Well, Emeline eventually did remember this detail, but it was days later, and she figured such an insignificant piece of information wouldn’t change much, so she never told Annale.

Either way, as Annale headed back to her temple, she was unsure of what to do, so she did the most natural thing for a cleric to do and quickly contacted her goddess.

“Luxana, I beseech you please answer your loyal servant.” Annale thought in her mind and soon felt her connection to her goddess strengthen. A second later, she heard the voice of her goddess.

“Yes, Child. What troubles you so?”

Annale then explained all she had learned about Jasmine and the many oddities around the girl. Her goddess listened intently before speaking again.

“Keep an eye on the girl. There is a chance she is the one I have been looking for, and if what you say is right, her upcoming birthday will be the day when the truth is revealed. On that day, you will know if she is the one. However, until then, do not intervene. Other powers are afoot, and the wrong attention can be deadly.”

And just like that, Annale felt her connection to Luxana weaken as the goddess's attention left her, and she was once again left with her thoughts.

Elegnos had arrived in the Kingdom of Lezi last month as he was tasked with performing some work for his mistress. He had disembarked in the Capital City of Aloy and had met with some of the cult fanatics who called the city their home.

While he stayed in the capital, Elegnos had to remain undercover as his silver hair might tip off any of Luxana’s Clerics, which could ruin his mission there. So, he had activated an illusion ring.

The ring allowed him to alter his appearance. He turned his silver hair into a dark brown shade that somewhat matched his midnight skin, and his silver eyes also became dull brown.

With that particular thing out of the way, Elegnos began his work around the city.

His work consisted of assisting the local fanatics or other shady figures in the city with various illegal jobs that involved assassinating competitors or other members who had fallen out of so-called good standing with these criminals. In turn, the various hidden groups within the city would help his cult maintain cover and allow the cult to maintain a base of operations. All in all, it was a you scratch my back, I will scratch yours type of trade.

As Elegnos passed the time in the city, he began to hear rumors about a certain girl. Apparently, she was a sight to behold, which piqued his curiosity, and eventually, he made his way to the Smiling Sun Inn.

Upon seeing the girl and her silver hair and grey eyes, he immediately remembered a task given to all lower members of the cult. They were to be on the lookout for a girl who should, at this point, be around 14 or 15 years of age. The girl was supposedly the sister of one of Lady Setiel's experiments, and where the girl was located likely was the experiment. However, they were told to be careful as the sister was part of Luxana’s ilk and might be under protection. Yet, as Elegnos watched the girl, she didn’t seem like a Cleric of Luxana. After all, no clerics of the damn goddess would ever find themselves working as barmaids. And if he was right about this girl being the right one, there was a good chance that she had yet to be found. So, there was a chance that a cleric would eventually approach her if he stuck around for long enough. Then, once a cleric approached her, he would know she was the one and could use her to find Setiel’s so-called experiment.

So Elegnos began his watch some distance from Luxana’s Temple. Yet, as days turned to weeks, nothing happened. No Cleric of Luxana even remotely came close to the inn where this Jasmine girl worked. Luckily, Elegnos was an assassin at heart and understood patience was the game, so he gave himself another month of waiting. He even hired some folk to talk about a silver-haired girl while they walked near one of Luxana’s Clerics.

Surprisingly, that particular tactic worked, or maybe they got the news some other way, but around a week later, someone walked out of the temple without cleric garbs. Elegnos couldn’t detect this particular cleric’s presence, which meant she was probably in B Rank. So he knew he had to be careful as she might detect him. Luckily for him, it was dark out, and even if he was C rank, all followers of Setiel excelled in stealth.

Eventually, the cleric made her way to the Smiling Sun Inn, which was a good sign he was right. However, doubt crept into him as the cleric left an hour later and returned to the temple. He thought maybe this particular cleric was doing something on the quiet and didn’t want anyone to know she went to some inn.

Thankfully, the cleric came out again a few minutes later, wearing her cleric robes, whose insignia marked her as a High Cleric. At this point, however, Elegnos was a bit confused but decided to follow the cleric anyway.

The cleric took him to a place called the Free Spirit Orphanage, which just confused him even more. Nonetheless, he decided to wait, and around two hours later, the cleric left the orphanage only to head back to her temple and not leave for the rest of the night.

The following night, that same cleric once again left the temple in common garbs and returned to the Smiling Sun Inn. This time, Elegnos decided to head inside and spend the rest of the night watching the cleric, who, in turn, was focused on watching the girl. The cleric spent a couple of hours in the inn, seemingly happy to sit still as she watched Jasmine.

The cleric did leave around an hour or so before closing and only returned to her temple. At that point, Elegnos decided he needed to gather more information, so he waited outside the inn until Jasmine left and promptly followed her home. To Elegnos's surprise, she went straight to the Free Spirit Orphanage, yet as surprising as it was, it helped Elegnos make sense of the situation. This girl was living there, which meant that her brother was also in the building.

However, Elegnos wasn’t stupid and didn’t want to do anything reckless just yet. He knew if he barged into the place demanding to see some random kid and there was no one to be found. He would alert the cleric, which could ruin his plans. In truth, Elegnos was tired of being some lackey, and he knew if he found this kid that his goddess had been searching for, she would reward him.

So, Elegnos attempted to question the Smiling Sun Inn’s owner the following night, as Jasmine did not work that night. However, it seemed the girl had somewhat active and unruly fans, so he was rebuffed. Being rebuffed by some nobody truly angered him, and he thought about sneaking into the inn and killing the woman, but he knew such an action might destroy his plans. Instead, he waited for the following night when Jasmine did work and attempted to speak with a member of the orphanage, yet he was rebuffed once again. And once again, his thoughts were filled with murder, and he sneaked into the orphanage instead, intending to murder everyone. Yet, seconds away from plunging a dagger into some unsuspecting kid, he stopped himself and forced his brain to think.

Using his brain, he decided to question some of the inn's regulars who would definitely know more about this Jasmine and could be easily bought by a couple of gold pieces.

Through this tactic, Elegnos learned that the girl was 15 but was soon to turn 16. He also discovered that she had lived in the orphanage her whole life and hadn’t gained her current looks until recently. Jasmine was also a bit of a local celebrity, so patrons who visited the inn frequently had gotten to know her over the years. Annoyingly, though, Elegnos couldn’t find any information on a possible brother.

However, he decided that, due to the cleric's presence, this was the right person and chose to contact his patron for further guidance.

“Mother of Darkness, your humble servant implores for naught but a second of your time.”

As he thought the words of his prayer in his darkened room, he felt as if the darkness all around him embraced him with the coldness of the abyss. Then he felt his soul be tugged as the goddess's attention came upon him.

“Speak. Why have you called upon me?” The Goddess's words reverberated in his mind, almost causing him to faint. However, he held and spoke.

Elegnos told his Dark Lady all that he had found about this girl. He spoke of her age and recent changes, the cleric of the foul goddess, and, lastly, how he could not find a trace of the brother.

“It seems the girl is unaware that she holds Luxana’s taint within her. For now, watch and wait. As unsightly as the girl is, she is our only path forward. Do not act rashly; do not fail me, and you shall be rewarded.”

And with those words, the embrace of darkness pulled back, and warmth returned to his body as his goddess's attention left him.

Soon, he was back on his feet, heading to the Smiling Sun Inn, and his watch began.