Yellow Light (Dragonfly #5)

Power on the Outside

Zarathustra
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"No need to be alarmed, I won't hurt you," she said.

Sh walked closer and I could see she was a fox. But I almost didn't place it, because her fur was completely white. Except for her paws, tip of her tail, and the back of her ears, which were black. She had deep, aquamarine eyes, that sparkled with intelligence.

"Who are you?" I interrogated, remembering past encounters with foxes.

She didn't look at me for a few seconds. "I found you unconscious, you've been out for a couple of days, here you must be hungry," a vole flew threw the air.

I caught it and started tearing into it viciously. She was staring at me curiously, I must have put on quite a show. But I had been eating skinny rats for the last month, those things are disgusting. I quickly inhaled it, then chewed on the bones.

"What are you?" The fox asked, pacing around, and organizing some jars of herbs, They didn't look as though they were made by birds though.

"I'm an Ice-claw."

"Ice-claw," She repeated.

The fox continued sifting through things. I saw a puddle of water nearby and happily lapped it up. I still didn't know who she was. Something flashed on her neck as she shifted. A faint symbol, a zig-zag, or a bolt of lightning

"What's that?" I questioned, reaching out.

The white fox quickly darted out of my reach. "Nothing I just spilled some berries, earlier," but she worked with her other side to me.

"What's your name?" I asked, again.

"Fulgura, yours?"

"Zara, hey, by any chance have you seen another Ice-claw who looks like me?"

She shook her head, and my hopes sank back down into the dark from whence they came. Sigh, I really missed my brother.

"Here, eat this,"she said.

It was a mouse this time. only it had an appalling stench. My nose wrinkled at the thought of it sliding own my throat.

"I put some medicine on it, it's perfectly safe," Fulgura pushed it towards me.

I stretched my head out to sniff it again. When I got close to Fulgura's paw, something surprised my, like someone had flicked a small whip across my snout. She quickly drew her paw back, and moved away from me. I had been shocked.

"S-sorry," she stuttered.

"It's fine, can I go now?" I asked.

"No, you need to rest... I hope you don't mind me asking, but you were really malnourished when I found you, where did you come from?" She asked.

I began to tell the entire story, but I left out being friends with the king of Ghosts, and that I was a heir to the throne. Fulgura listened closely and asked questions from time to time. When I was done, she nodded slowly.

"I wish I had a brother like that," she commented.

"I know he's out there somewhere still looking for me, I can feel it," I said with confidence.

There was a brief silence before the fox stood up again. "I'm going to hunt now, don't move. Then she disappeared.

As soon as she was gone, I tried to stay still. But after a while I did some snooping. I hung around with Jay a lot and could roughly tell which herbs were which. I found sage, marigold, basil, and catnip. I sneakily took a leaf of the catnip, nobody would notice...

I poked around at some scrolls. Most of them were on herb lore. Three were fighting technics, one was mostly blank, except for some scrawly writing. I found to my surprise it was a story. I read for a few minutes before drastically reaching a cliffhanger. If Fulgura had written this, she picked a dandy spot to take a break. I carefully rolled it back up and placed it back on it's shelf, feeling somewhat frustrated.

I continued snooping through her things, until I came across another scroll of pitictular interest. This one was full of pictures, but something very faintly had been written across the bottom. I squinted hard at it, and could just make out a couple lines. When the four have reached their fourteenth year, their cursed spells shall disappear, they will take up to the skies, far away from jeering eyes...

"What are you doing!?" A voice cried out from behind me.

I dropped the scroll, and spun around. Fulgura was standing with her teeth bared, slowly advancing on me. I could hear a faint crackling sound. And bits of light started flashing off her pelt. I backed away, not fully understanding what was going on here. But that's when I saw her eyes.

Fulgura's eyes had gone from sky blue to a pulsing, glowing. white, all sign of her pupils had gone. And bolts of electricity shot through the air towards me.
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