Wings of Destruction and Duty

13 || Aurnia

The sound of paws scratching pulled Aurnia from her sleep and bleary eyed, she sat up and tried to push away the last slivers of slumber. Her eyes widened as the previous day's events rushed through her head. She scrambled to her feet and was amazed to find thin trails of ice snaking their way across the ground behind her. A brief bolt of panic raced up her head when her eyes landed on the frosty paw prints tracking up the battered bookcases.

Then, as she watched another book crumble beneath the cold, she shrugged and let it be. It made no difference whether the items in this room remained intact or not. It wasn't like her mother was going to be receiving visitors anytime soon. Once the doors to the underworld closed over, not even a mouse could escape Agrona's grasp.

Her arm ached and wincing she pulled herself onto her feet. Mottled blue bruises raced up her arm and the place that the silver creature had bitten her was ringed with green. Aurnia gingerly shook her arm and was pleased to find that it moved without too much pain, the blotch even seemed to have stopped moving.

Aurnia scratched her head before looking around for her new friend.

"Koa?" A small pile of papers shuffled on the desk as she called out softly. Then moments later a tiny horned face poked out from within. It jittered before springing onto the ground and leaping into her arms.

"You're awake!" Koa's gentle chirping echoed around her head as he squirmed to get more comfortable in her arms. "I found a map with pretty pictures! It tasted yucky." He pointed at the table clumsily with his tail and shot her a small toothy grin. Aurnia could not help but laugh.

"Next time wake me up if you're feeling hungry. Eating paper isn't good for your stomach." She gave him a playful prod in the stomach before carefully tucking him behind her shoulders. As she approached the other side of the room, her mother's desk seemed to loom before her. Aurnia hesitated before pushing things to one side. Her hand brushed past a half empty glass and she grimaced. What was once liquid shuddered beneath a thin layer of golden mold.

It seemed that the mountain's wild magic had found the time to meddle with even the most mundane of creatures.

"Which map did you say you found?" Aurnia stroked Koa's ears and directed his attention to the unruly stack of documents before them.

The Sinyo hummed as Aurnia flicked sheet after sheet of paper onto the ground. Then Koa's paw shot up and lightly batted her face. "That one. It smells funny."

Time had leached some of the details off the page before them, but Aurnia could still make out the major landmarks. Mountain ranges, towns and citadels spilled across the crinkled page. A pang of sadness clenched her heart and Aurnia found herself missing those who had been lost. The centuries had marched on without a word, and once she had turned a blind eye to the passing of time. That was until Lily decided to get involved with the kingdom.

It was outdated but it would have to do.

And upon closer inspection, she grinned. Dots of blue peppered the map where Agrona's old hiding spots had once been. It seemed that while her mother had forbidden her from seeing the goddess ever again, she had seen some use marking down the areas where Argona was known to roam.

Aurnia spun on her toes and raced over to where she had thrown her bag, gently folded the map and tucked it into a hidden pocket. Things were finally beginning to fall into place, and with any luck she'd soon have Lily freed.

Now there was the issue of finding Argrona's gift. Her mother had never explained why keeping it close was a bad idea and a phantom chill traced its way across Aurnia's back. A halfhearted rummage through the desk drawers revealed nothing but some rotten fruit and crumbling papers.