[center][h3]Burned by Midnight[/h3][/center] Having finally obtained the information she wanted, Luna left the village and that annoying djinn behind. The sun had yet to set at the time and thus, she reckoned she would be able to cover a fair amount of the distance to her destination. However, after walking through the desert for some time, Luna realised that her previous thinking was way off. The sun was already setting and she had yet to find any new traces of another village, much less a city. [color=ff4500][i]“Whoa, time flew by so fast…”[/i][/color] Luna though. [color=ff4500][i]“Of course, that's nothing really. Galbar has a much milder climate when compared to Cygnea, and plus, there's this as well...[/i][/color] Luna concentrated her thoughts, and her spiritual essence, the divine gift that Ull’Yang had awakened inside of her formed a stream, at first, a stream that slowly widened and grew more forceful with time. As her essence flowed through her veins she felt as if she was a small mountain with a surging river passing through it. Much like how a real river carries water and deposits nutrients to the earth over its entirety and up until it finally meets the ocean, spiritual essence courses through the veins, nourishing the body and the mind, strengthening and protecting the user. The moment a cycle was completed Luna could instantly feel the effects, as a faint light shone over her fur, shielding her from the cold. She set off once again into the night, travelling down the length of the Mahd, a name she got to know very recently, from the memories of the village shaman she'd come in contact with earlier. Like that, running through the desert became a breeze. Of course, constantly drawing on her spiritual reserves would eventually wear out even her, and so she took the occasional break here and there to rest and re-energize. It helped that she had a source of fresh water literally next to her as well. [centre]— — — — —[/centre] Luna had been travelling for a couple of days when she noticed a change in the stars. Galbar was quite peculiar, in that it was not contained inside a small plane of existence, or so Ull'Yang had said. No, Galbar was but one speck, one particle of dust before the grand Universe that contains everything and all that is, the Universe he and his brethren gave birth to. She also knew about Ull'Yang's godly domain, the stars. She could not, of course, understand and delve deeper into the profound nature of the divine, she was but a blessed being in the end. Nevertheless, what she did know for a fact was that the stars never behaved in the manner she was witnessing at that moment. [color=ff4500][b]"Those are not simple falling stars..."[/b][/color] Luna muttered as she stood up. Above her, countless stars were streaking across the night sky. Fiery tails of myriad colourings formed behind them, the friction from their descend onto Galbar manifesting unique phenomena. Wherever the wolf's eyes darted to, Luna spotted a falling star. After a minute or so the tremors started coming in, confirming her suspicions. Quick on her feet, Luna grabbed the Sunderer from where she had planted it in the sand and made a beeline towards the direction of the desert empire. Or so she would. Luna's ears perked up, and when she turned her head around, she was greeted by one big flaming ball of plasma heading right at her direction, seemingly having deliberately strayed from its previous path. Luna had but a few seconds of precious time available to her to dodge. She circulated her essence, gathering it on her palms, and with a shout infused it all into the Sunderer while pointing towards the ground. From the end of the divine rod, a blinding beam shot out, the force of the propulsion launched her high up and in an angle away from the epicentre of the explosion that followed the landing of the ball of fire, with the shockwave generated by it carrying her even further beyond. Luna landed several hundred meters away from ground zero with a solid thud. She tried to stand up but soon realized that would not be possible, for the sheer impact of the fall, along with the crushing force of the shockwave had resulted in her having most of the bones on her skeleton broken, rendering her immobile and in excruciating pain. However, as if that wasn't enough, Luna found herself unable to call upon her essence to heal her wounds. No matter how divinely blessed her natural regeneration was, it was simply unable to heal her broken body without the support of her spiritual essence. Unable to heal herself, unable to fight, unable to do anything but lay inside the pit her body formed when she landed on the sand, Luna found herself utterly vulnerable for the second time since her coming to Galbar. The first time had been when she was caged inside her own mind while Ommok seized control of her body, and now this. She knew her injuries were fatal, a mortal being would have been disintegrated even before the plasma ball had landed, much less survive the shockwave following its landing like she had, even with her being so close to death because of it. Thoughts of Ull'Yang immediately sprang up in her mind as she realized that might be it for her; that she was probably never going to see [b]him[/b] again.... Her body unable to properly sustain brain function, Luna started slipping in and out of consciousness. It was at that time that she heard [b]it[/b]. [b]It[/b] was walking towards her, and probably had been for some time, but was reaching her location just now. Luna could feel the sheer heat [b]it[/b] radiated. Unlike the kind of warmth she felt when standing close to Ull'Yang, this type of warmth seemed... [i][b]alien[/b][/i], and [i][b]distant[/b][/i]. And that was when [b]it[/b] appeared. Thick carapace shielding a fiery interior, graceful in appearance but menacing in her eyes, the [b]Invader[/b] peered at the wolf-girl from above, slightly tilting its head to the right. After what seemed like an eternity to Luna, [b]it[/b] raised its hand, its finger pointing right at her forehead. Its finger started getting hotter and hotter, the being clearly charging up for the finishing blow. Then there was light. And [b]warmth[/b]. Familiar, but foreign. Old, but new. Yet it was still oh so warm. And then there was darkness. [hider=Summary]Whew, was finally hit by inspiration after answering BBeast's question in the OOC. I think I know how I want to progress with my story now, so thanks [@BBeast] for making me think I guess xD. Now, as for this post: I'd like to think it's one of my better posts, as there's plenty of character development for Luna, some setting up for later posts, as well as some other stuff. Basically, After leaving the village, Luna is on her way to Vetros. She is travelling along the river Mahd. Too bad for her, however, that Logos has other plans. Cue Realta Invasion. (Yay, I finally get my story to this part of the timeline!). Luna gets ROFLstomped by a Realta [i]before it even touches her[/i]. Gets all the bones in her body broken. She's sure she's dead after this. We get to see how she perceives the Realta, while it's charging up its laz0r to fire at her. Then everything turns bright, and then everything turns dark. Read the post pls. It's my first in 4 months. Pls. 😢[/hider][hider=Khookie Summary] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/l98DSQs.png[/img] [b][color=ff4500]The Twilight Queen Level 6 Hero 55 Khookies[/color][/b][/center][list] [*][b]+4[/b] base Khookies to Luna [*][b]+2[/b] post length Khookies to Luna [/list][b][u]TOTAL[/u][/b] [list] [*]61 Khookies [/list][/hider]