Taluria's Awakening
A Jade Dreamer Trilogy Prequel Short Story
Aloha Dreamers! I bring you another short story from the world of Anu we introduced last week. As a reminder, Anu is the home planet of my fantasy trilogy, the Jade Dreamer, and I’m so excited to share this world with you. This story is the result of another amazing prompt by from the Writer’s Journey! This week, we’re going into the ancient past of Anu… thousands of years before last week’s story, and five thousand years after a Great Cataclysm that tore the world apart. I hope you enjoy!
Taluria trembled as the biting wind whipped coppery strands of hair around her face. Through misty rain, she watched the line of her friends and neighbors gathered for inspection. Lined up like cattle. Their clear quartz Heart Stones reflected rainfall and formed a shaft of light through the field. Taluria’s hand floated to her own as she silently begged someone to save them.
Slow rage rose as she watched the High Priest, clothed in jewels from their Benepach mines, make his way to a large dais before them. Jewels they were forced to send to Cadden, the Conqueror, and his god, Eno, as payment for inclusion in his glorious Empire.
Taluria knew her father was loyal to Eno, but she preferred to believe fate was in her hands… not some distant sky god demanding forced loyalty at the hands of a power hungry emperor.
The High Priest cleared his throat, “Good citizens. We are here to root out the evil among you.” A dramatic pause.
“The use of magic has long been forbidden in these lands. Still, reports have come that there are trespassers among you. Stealing the power of creation. Power that is Eno’s alone.”
Small cries escaped from the lips of several children.
“You have nothing to fear if you are faithful.” He nodded to his left where a hooded figure loomed two feet higher than everyone. “If you’re innocent, you may go free. However, if your blood tastes of magic, you shall meet your Creator’s judgement.” He paused. “Blood Eater. You may commence.”
The tall mystery removed his hood, and the villagers gasped. The gaunt features. The needle-sharp teeth revealing a wicked grin. The nearly gray skin and incredibly long limbs. He approached the line and calmly clasped the arm of a young mother holding her infant. His razor teeth clamped her wrist with incredible force, and she shrieked in terror, falling to the ground. The Blood Eater held her without mercy, drinking deeply. A breath later, he let go. With crimson red lips, he declared, “Clean.”
Taluria thought about the hypocrisy of employing a demon in the service of eliminating magic. All thoughts vacated her mind, though, as the bony hand clutched the tiny wrist of the mother’s infant. She slammed her eyes shut as he bit down, but nothing would shut out the screams of that child.
Shenora watched the Blood Eater make his way down the line of terrified villagers. She wanted to burst from the forest and take on the whole lot, but there were too many of them.
Three of the villagers she’d initiated were already tied to stakes standing on wood piles. It seemed Eno required fire to feed his jealousy. She scrambled for a plan as her eyes scanned the line to find the one she knew she must save.
She found Taluria towards the end, standing next to her father. Her back rigid, head held high. Damn girl had no idea who she was, but when the Blood Eater tasted her, he would.
Shenora’s mind went back over the years she’d spent hiding, slowly training initiates to wield mineral magic in secret while she watched Taluria from a distance. If the girl was activated before her time, it would draw attention. Her mission was to watch and wait.
She snapped back to the present when she heard a roaring groan escape the lips of a broad shouldered man. One of her initiates. The High Priest goaded him with threats while a guard pierced his side. Shenora’s gut clenched. This was her fault.
No time for regret. Shenora had enough strength to take one person, and thousands of years of work would be destroyed if Taluria were captured.
Like lightning, she threw herself into the Dream Space and wove her way through the threads of space and time until she found a hole in the fabric and slipped through. Standing directly behind Taluria, she placed a hand over her mouth and whispered, “Don’t scream. Give me your hand.”
Taluria struggled, but a second later they were gone.
In a nearby forest, Taluria hit the ground with a groan. Terrified, she backed up against a nearby tree. “Who are you?”
“You have nothing to fear.” Shenora inched closer.
“You’re a Dreamer.” Taluria whispered, taking in the deep green stone held high in Shenora’s chest. “You taught them magic.”
Shenora nodded. “You need to come with me.”
“I’m not going anywhere without my father.” Taluria scrambled to her feet as Shenora closed the distance between them.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered as she clasped Taluria’s mouth. A cloying scent whiffed into Taluria’s nose as she struggled, but the inky blackness sucked her down.
Shenora carried Taluria through the portside city of Hilarion, along the Uusian Sea, eyes focused on the Silent Storm ahead – a seemingly normal 40-foot ship. As she drew close, her sister, Belta, was waiting. Belta’s blue tinged skin and the small gills framing her mouth signaled she was of the water itself.
“Greetings, sister.” Belta bowed, hands clasped at her waist.
“I will hug you later. We must be quick,” Shenora whispered, climbing the gangplank.
Belta followed. “Do the Three know of your arrival?”
“There wasn’t time. And they may not welcome my return.”
The Silent Storm glided a mile above the sea, carried on invisible waves Belta created from mist in the air as she simultaneously summoned a great storm to hide them from the coastline. If their flight was witnessed, Cadden would know the full extent of the magic in his lands. Something he didn’t need to know. Yet.
While Taluria slept safely below, Shenora stood at the helm. Soon, the mysterious floating islands appeared as they soared higher.
Ishka.
The floating islands were the result of an earthquake several years ago when Cadden was waging war on all fronts as he established his empire. The land was soaked in a sea of blood and one day could take no more. The quake began in the Ulusian Sea and reverberated through the continent, splitting it into three pieces. Shenora believed it was Anu Herself preventing Cadden from destroying the last vestige of purity, the Ishka Islands, since when the quake hit, the islands mysteriously hurled a mile high into the diamond sky with no loss of life.
The islands were home to her sisterhood sworn to protect the hidden knowledge of Anu and forgotten magic. The only ones alive who remembered the glory before the Cataclysm five thousand years prior when fire rained from the sky and Anu almost split in two.
As the lush islands swelled before her, Shenora took in the verdant mountains, raining waterfalls and crystal structures gleaming in the sunlight. She drew in a deep breath as the crestline of the land came into full view. She was home.
She was also now a stranger to these lands.
The Three waited for her, their long robes waving in the breeze as they stood cliffside. Of course they knew she was coming. She noted their appearance hadn’t changed in the twenty years she’d been gone. The Maiden, Mother and Crone seemed just as she’d left them. Stealing a glance around, she was relieved to see nothing changed with the new aerial location. The winds were still soft, the air felt like a gentle hug and the sun kissed every surface with a blessing. Even a mile high, she could feel Anu here.
Coming to a standstill before the Three, Shenora bowed. The Mother stepped forward.
“Child, you should not have come.” Her voice held reproach and affection.
Shenora flinched, but raised her head. “She was about to be taken.”
Taluria began to stir and twisted out of Shenora’s hold, falling to the ground. Terror slammed into her eyes as she beheld her surroundings. “Where am I?” she rasped.
The Crone stepped forward, looking for all the world like a normal grandmother except for her gleaming green eyes. Taluria spotted the jade stone in her chest. “You’re all Dreamers.”
“More than that, child,” The Crone whispered as she approached. “We are the Triskele.”
Taluria didn’t know what that meant and didn’t care. “Stay away.” She turned to run only to find herself at the cliff’s edge… hovering a mile above sea water. She whirled around.
The Crone chuckled. “You have her fire.” Green eyes danced against silver hair and the midnight blue hood she wore. “You are safe, child.” She extended a hand.
Taluria hesitated. The voice in her head screaming to run. But where to?
“Mothers, we must awaken her.” Shenora interrupted. “There’s no time—”
“Silence!” The Mother’s hand rose. She moved to Taluria, seeming to float across the ground. “Child, I know you must be confused. I’m sorry. I ask your grace as we prepare to receive you. How about a tour of the grounds?”
Taluria considered her options. She knew none of them, yet something felt as though an unknown cord connected them. Her heart slowed and she took in the land, gasping at the lush beauty. She would like to explore, but…
“My father?”
Shenora stepped forward. “He was not one of mine. He will be safe.”
Taluria’s body sagged.
The Mother spoke as a tall Ishka man with dark skin and silver hair approached. “Rian will watch from a distance for safety, but you may roam as you please.”
With that, the four women disappeared into the mist.
Taluria viewed the mountainous peaks studded with waterfalls and craggy crevices that seemed to hug the island. The village was to her right and a long field of wildflowers with a mysterious crystal structure swept to the left. As she didn’t feel up to meeting strangers, she chose the mysterious structure.
Gliding through the iodine blue flowers, she felt the land itself call to her. But it wasn’t her name.
“Inona.”
The whisper found her ears, sending a shiver down her spine. She made her way to the crystal building and quickly climbed the steps.
“Miss.” A cough behind her. She turned to see Rian below. “That’s a temple.”
“For who?” She asked continuing to climb.
“Inona.” Now she had to go in. “Wait, miss. I don’t think –”Taluria shut the temple door, cutting off the rest of his speech.
Her whole body shook as she entered the crystal chamber. That name again.
“Inona.”
The walls were crafted of Moonstone and let in soft light. Her heart pounded as her eyes adjusted. The room was bare save a few wooden benches and a simple altar holding crystals of all sizes and types. Her quartz Heart Stone pulled her forward and she obeyed.
As she approached, the whisper reached a fever pitch. She fell to the floor, clutching her head. “What do you want?”
No answer. Just that ringing name.
She slammed her eyes shut and found herself in an alternate reality as glimmering threads spun around her with incredible speed. Different colors and thicknesses. There was order, yet it felt unpredictable. And dangerous. Sucking in a breath, Taruria stepped into the stream of threads. To her surprise, they passed right through as though she were invisible. What was this place?
She heard the voice again.
“Inona.”
Singing from beyond the threads which seemed to stream infinitely. She was being called. Towards the sound of a name she’d never heard.
Shenora sat before the Three in their crystal dwelling.
“So should I have let the Blood Eater take her?” Irritation surged through her veins. “If that girl doesn’t come into her power, we will have lost before we begin. She’s the first return. We can’t let Eno take her.” Shenora felt she was stating the obvious.
For the first time, the Maiden spoke. “You took a great risk coming here. We serve at the will of Anu. If it were time, we would have been told.”
“So I should have let her die?” Shenora retorted.
“You should have trusted. Anu always provides.” The Crone interjected.
“How do you know this wasn’t Her plan?” Shenora asserted, chin held high.
The Three looked at her in united silence as though she’d slapped them. “I’ve spent the last twenty years of my life serving Anu’s plan. Serving you. I do trust. I’m asking you to trust me.” She paused. “We need to perform the Awakening rites.”
The Crone’s hand grabbed the Mother’s wrist as her eyes slammed back in her head. She shook as she was sucked into a vision, coming out a moment later. “To the temple. Now.”
Taluria heard a heartbeat pulsing behind the great, shimmering weave. The more she walked, the louder it became. That thump reverberated through her entire frame. She reached past the threads and was sucked into a place of soft, rich, total darkness.
She floated. Carried on the whispers of that heartbeat. The air around suddenly felt fluid. Alive. Full of everything and nothing at the same time.
She wasn’t afraid. Rocked by the gentle rhythm. A form began taking shape before her. The largest crystal she’d ever seen hovered ahead. She blinked as a rainbow of gleaming colors shifted and rippled through the crystal. The beating continued.
“Inona. Do you remember?” A whisper to her soul that brought tears to her eyes.
Shenora and the Three arrived in the temple, stupefied by the scene before them. Taluria hovered at least twenty feet in the air, in a trance.
“She’s in the Dream Space.” The Maiden whispered.
“She’s gone farther than that.” The Crone went to stand below Taluria’s body.
“Who are you?” Taluria croaked, keeping her eyes on the crystal.
“Do you know who you are?” The voice replied. As it did, cracks appeared in the crystal. Small at first, then growing to cover the whole surface as though struck by an invisible pickaxe. With the cracking, a tremendous wrack of pain rang through Taluria’s chest. As if her heart was being torn. The more cracks, the more intense the pain.
“Make it stop!” As the words escaped her lips, small pieces of crystal fell around her, plunging into darkness.
“You must do it.” The voice hauntingly replied. “Bring my children home.”
Taluria scrambled as she felt something tug her from below. “How?” She clawed harder… something was pulling her… the heartbeat slowed… she couldn’t breathe…
Taluria gulped air as she woke up in the arms of the Crone, the other three hovering above her.
“It’s dying.” She gasped. “Her children, her children…” she mumbled incoherently, still not back in this world.
The four women exchanged glances.
“It seems Anu has done the awakening for us.” The Crone stroked Taluria’s hair. “We must hide her before they find her.”
Shenora felt a cold shiver snake down her spine as an all too familiar voice slithered into her ears.
“I’m afraid it’s too late, sisters.”
Shenora and the Three whirled to find the Blood Eater lazily leaning on the doorway.
“I have come to claim her blood.” And he advanced toward them.
Thank you so much for reading! You are the first to view this world, so please do let me know if any parts need more explanation or you have any questions… all feedback is welcomed. I’m looking forward to sharing more soon, and Part 2 of the Joyful Creator series is coming! Until then…
From my heart to yours… Aloha Mā,
Kyra ✨
Noooooooo, that ending!! Haha, I literally shouted "WHAT?!" when I read that last part with the Blood Eater. Also, can we talk about how cool the Blood Eater concept and design is, please? This was such a good read, it's clear you have put a lot of thought into this world, and it feels rich and vibrant as a result. I loved this!
Kyra! This was such a great first taste for me - I’ll definitely be looking forward to more. The scene with her mother was particularly moving, I thought, in a story packed with big emotions. Congratulations!