Group Only things i almost remember

The girl would wake from her nap at the crest of dusk. The sun would dip, lowering beneath the edges of the distant mountains, and the birth of the night would bring with it the relief of a cool breeze spilling from the surrounding peaks. And the moon, full and bright, would wake from slumber, growing brighter and brighter in the sky. The clouds themselves would part, making way for the silver light that blanketed the landscape below.

Mazikeen would pull herself from the den, legs growing long and eyes growing wise. Age had begun to give her grace in her form, her adolescence erasing the roundness of her childhood and replacing it with the sharper curves of her Viking heritage.

In her jaws she clutched the black quartz given to her by her Matb — her talisman, as Sreda had called it. It was imbued with energy, a connection to those of her past and those of the other side. Her guides that she could not see.

But she did not need to see them.

Achlys had taught her that you did not need to see in order to know.

Mazikeen would find a small clearing behind the den. It was a place she’d been coming to for the past few nights. The moon seemed to peek just right through the canopy above, drenching the ground below in a charging silver light. In the center of the clearing was an old tree trunk, hollowed by time. Tendrils of vines slithered between the decaying bark, and Mazikeen would blink a few times before placing her quartz at the edge of the trunk.

She had a few more things to gather.

She had to have everything right.

[Image: dc9fazz-fda8fc7d-25ee-4fbb-998d-421aba47...7oGDOe_dOk]