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Chapter 697 - Wyvern Festival
🕑 Added 2023-07-21 13:00:15 +0000 UTCWhen they woke up during the fourth day of the dungeon. Luna had turned into a pile of seaweed again and was nowhere to be seen. Hera and the others got up and started getting ready for the day. During that time, the Empress told everyone how she found out that the room had two moons, they weren't able to see them because once a month they both overlap and that results in a nigh without any moonlight.
They all agreed that, if this was a dungeon about the past of the room, the moon should be something big enough to be a part of it, and they agreed with Hera's decision not to mention it to Luna. The Wyvern was a bit too excited about everything and there was a chance she would just tell them all to fly to the moon.
"Aside from that, how are you doing, Sweetie?" Helena placed a hand on Hera's shoulder.
"Like I felt when my grandma passed away. I know it's not the same thing, and they will be back, but the initial feeling is the same. That helplessness, and feeling of loss," Hera looked down."
"Yeah. I get that, but they will be back soon," the mage tried to cheer her up.
"I know," Hera just mumbled and turned away, walking towards the entrance and about to jump off when she noticed Luna approaching. However, it quickly became clear that there was something wrong. Her head was down and her tail was hanging behind her instead of her usual more energetic demeanor. The Wyvern ignored Hera completely and just landed inside her cave, sniffing. She was even bigger than the previous day, now towering over ever member of the party but her scales seemed even shinier than before.
"Luna? Are you ok?" Blue got closer.
"Oh? Hey Blue… Yeah. I'm fine," Luna didn't even seem to notice the people in her cave before anyone talked with her.
"What happened?" Bonnie asked.
"My friends. You know, the ones that play tag with us. They are just being very mean today. I don't know what happened, but they are just awful today."
"What do you mean?" Shane stepped forward.
"Today is a special day, we have a big festival. Oh, and it's the first Esbat Jubilee you are going to be a part of. So you don't even know what will happen."
"Esbat Jubilee? What's that?" Adriel titled his head.
"It's a festival. Today we celebrate the moonless night. It is the death of the moon goddess and we have a party to commemorate her life. Then, tomorrow, we have the second part of the Esbat Jubilee, where we stay up late to commemorate the return of the moon as it is reborn from the shadows. It's very fun and we usually can play around a lot, but I don't know why they are being so difficult. I went to ask Zakri and Marron to join us later, but they just told me to get lost, that they didn't have time to waste with me," Luna sniffed, "I don't know why they were so mean."
"I'm sorry, but maybe there is something going on with them. Are theirs scales normal?" Bonnie asked.
"No, they started to get black too. Well that weird black, not the black that Marron already had," Luna explained.
"And what is supposed to happen during the festival?" Blue stepped to the edge of the cave, hoping to see some of the preparations for the festival.
"Well, we usually make some trinkets for the dragons we care about and we can eat as much as we want since the fish will stay around for the entire day," Luna explained.
"The fish are back? I thought they had vanished," Bonnie looked down to the water and saw the movement of the marine life.
"Yeah, don't you remember? That only lasted for a while. We ended up eating all the fish left in the caves and the following day they showed up again," Luna titled her head with a confused expression.
"Right… sorry I guess I just forgot," the researcher scratched her cheek.
"I get it, you guys sleep a lot, but either way. That's what we do during this festival. We make something for the others, eat during most of the day, and just play around. During the night, we will gather and talk about out saddest memories that are related to the moon, as a way to let the sadness die with the moon goddess. Then tomorrow, the grown ups have to prepare something for the night, and we need to hunt the fish, but we can't eat it until night time, when we have our meal together with the moon's new light. That's when we tell a new set of stories, this time, the ones we cherish the most so the reborn moon goddess can share our joy," Luna continued.
"So we need to starve during the day?" Blue frowned.
"Not really. If you are that hungry, it's ok for you to eat, but just snack, one or two fish at most…" Luna turned to the group and thought for a moment, "I guess for you guys it would be half a fish, or a small one. Then we have a proper meal at night."
"I see… and you are upset because your friends are not going to help you make the trinkets?" Hera asked.
"A little bit. I wanted to give them one too, and to my parents. And to the elder who helped me fly before my wings were big enough."
"We can help you make those trinkets, if you want," Hera smiled.
"Yeah, then we can go give it to them. Maybe then they will be less grumpy," Helena nodded.
"That's a good idea! Everyone is happy when they get a trinket!" Luna's demeanor changed, now opening a big smile.
"Before we start. Is it ok if we get some fish? I'm kind of hungry," Mylo walked closer to the edge of the cave, "If you want I can go grab a few myself."
"No, no. That's fine. We can go get some food first, then we start making the trinkets," Luna took off and everyone followed her. They were still far from being able to keep up with her speed, but it was still much better than during the first day, even with her increase in size.
The group left the cave and started hunting, it didn't take long for their meals to be over and the next step became making the trinkets. Which were just stone baubles carved by the dragons. In total, Luna wanted to make seven different ones, but she didn't have enough time for it. So, instead, she asked the party to help her make the trinkets for her friends, while she made the ones for her parents and Tola, the dragon that taught her how to fly. Those gifts were simple carved things that could take the shape of anything, really. Luna was making a pair of stone bands for her parents, almost like wedding rings and one hollowed out horn that could be worn by a large dragon.
Her crafting skills were extremely crude, and the end result was something that could be said to have come from the stone age. Still, she seemed extremely pleased with her trinkets, even if it took her about 4 hours to make them. When the Wyvern finally went to take a look at what Hera and the others made, she was flabbergasted.
There were a few crude attempts, like a bowl that Blue made which was just a piece of rock, or a smooth stone made by Alex, thinking it might be a good toy to play with, along with other simple objects that were just stones carved in basic shapes. Bonnie ignored the rocks and took some seaweed to make a few dream catchers. However, Mylo, Shane, Hera, and Adriel didn't pull any punches. Hera made a few stone bracelets that were made out of a set of two rocks carved one from inside the other. They were beautiful and had a somewhat intricate scale like pattern that was amazing considering the time she put into them. Shane, made wings covers, like they were one of those earrings that should go over the ear. Those covers had spiral patterns and hooks giving a somewhat intimidating look to them. Adriel made a wild assortment of children's toys. Rabbits, a rocking horse, birds and even a bear. Lastly, Mylo was the surprising star of the show. Instead of toys, he made smaller versions of all Luna's friends, including a small version of Luna herself. He wasn't the only one who did something like that. The entire party agreed that, since they were already making a trinket, they might as well make one for Luna too.
"This is amazing!" Luna jumped around, "Look at the details, and the pose. How were you able to make it look so much like me?" she turned to Mylo.
"I like making these kinds of things. Working with wood is easier, but this is fun. If I had time I could make it more realistic," Mylo replied.
"This is great! Thank you so much," Luna took her bauble with her mouth and was about to fly to her cave to store it in a safe place when the rest of the party approached. They did their best with the gifts for Luna's friends, but they worked harder in the ones for her. The Wyvern's eyes teared up and brought everyone in for a hug before asking for help to wear what she could and then bring the rest to her cave.
Following that, they took the gifts the party made, each of the sculptures that Mylo made would go to their respective dragons, and as a gift from the party, they picked the options that fitted the receiver better. The rocking horse, for Marron, the wing covers for Zakri and Cornelius and the bracelet for Totorino. This seemed to cheer the dragons up and they even joined as the group went around giving gifts to other dragons.
Night came and they gathered with Luna's parents, to tell the sad stories about the moon. Luna herself didn't have anything to contribute, which made the whole experience extremely weird. As the dragons spoke, Hera and the others understood only the feelings and not what actually happen. At some points, they could understand they were talking about a loss, someone who passed away and was no longer here, but most of the stories were just like hearing someone saying 'I'm sad, what happened was very sad and made me sad. I was happy before, now I'm sad.'
Helena tried to participate, thinking about the day when her mana turned to shadow, but Luna stopped her. This part of the festival was something for the grown ups, they were older and had more stories to get rid of. The children would have their chance to speak in the next day. Understating that this wasn't something they were supposed to interrupt, the party just continued hearing and later, ate more fish before heading to bed after having their fill. They knew that, tomorrow, they wouldn't be able to eat properly until the evening and decided to eat as much as they could for now.
Finally, the last day of the dungeon started, but not close to dawn as they were used to. Instead, everyone slept until noon, when the sun was high in the sky. Luna herself was also there, waking up with the group for the first time.
"So, what the plan for today, Luna?" Alex was stretching by the cave's entrance.
"We need to get fish, as much as we can. And put them all on top of the pillar. After the sunset, when the first light of the new moon shines across the ocean we will eat, then talk about stories than all dragons who can make lights will make them and send them to the sky, so we can share our own light with the reborn goddess of the moon," Luna explained as she walked to the entrance, "Remember, you can eat if you need to, but just enough to keep going. We should all eat together with the moon."
With that, the party started fishing, first trying to figure out a way to be more effective, and landing on the idea of using Adriel's drones for that. The elf was adamant against it since he didn't want his relic to be smelling of fish, and they just started going back and forth from the top of the pillar to the ocean, grabbing as much fish as they could. Until, night finally came and everyone joined together on top of the pillar with Luna, her parents, her friends, her friends parents, Tola, Hera, and her party. All watching the sunset and waiting for the moon to appear on the sky.
It was a beautiful sight, and even without the orange sediment on the rocks, if one was to look at the pillars from the right angle, they would be ale to see the sleeping dragon. It was just a shame that the sight only lasted a few moments. When the sun vanished in the horizon everyone just waited for what would happen next. If this was a festival there should be something that signaled its start.
A roar echoed through the room and Hera turned to Luna with a smile, "Does that mean it…" she wasn't able to finish the sentence as the Wyvern's face clearly showed there was something wrong.
"Mom? Dad?" Luna was staring at her parents who were currently shaking. Their scales turned black as time went by. With a jerk, both of them opened their eyes, that were now red instead of the blue. They pointed their head to the sky and roared, being joined by all the draconic beings in the room, with the exception of Luna.
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Dungeon quest discovered. The Change.
Protect the last sane Wyvern from the other creatures who went mad due The Change
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