Exiastgardsun Chronicles – Twelve Fruits of Creation

The inn of Astoria whispered of warmth, timbered walls creaked with age, hearths hummed with flame. Candlelight wavered in glass lanterns, casting soft shadows on worn oak floors. Outside, the city of humans dimmed beneath a navy sky, but laughter and spice still drifted from open tavern shutters.

Twelve elves gathered at a long wooden table. Their plates steamed with roasted meats and spiced root vegetables. Sakura was on her third helping. Orchid accidentally debuffed her stew again; it glowed faintly purple. Jessica snuck her bowl toward Kyle, who escaped with a muttered, "No way." Adiw and Yetsan were arm-wrestling with forks. Sinryo eyed the innkeeper's coin pouch. Fuhiken's headache brewed.

Fahleena proposed tomorrow's "quest" involving chocojelly hunting and playing magical pranks on humans. Yuuna, expression flat, vetoed it instantly. Gabyola sighed. Gigih poked his food with a fireball spell, setting a sausage ablaze. Kyle applauded.

Sleep soon claimed them. Two big rooms, one for boys, one for girls. Mattresses hay-stuffed but soft, blankets warmed by hearth. Outside, night thickened, cobbles quiet, moon slipping behind drifting clouds.

---

Then, she came.

No one saw her enter. She simply was. A wandering bard. Cloaked in soft gray, hood low, voice lower. She carried a stringed instrument unlike any known in Exiastgardsun, curved wood, six taut strings, and a tone like dew on ancient stone.

She sat on the tavern's raised edge, silent at first. A breath. A pluck. The inn's keeper paused mid-dish. The fire hushed itself. Even rats stilled in rafters. Then, she sang.

"When the world was but wind and whisper,

No mountain, no moon, no breath nor blade, 

She dreamed it whole with hands of wonder,

From stardust veiled in silence made."

Her fingers danced. Her voice, neither young nor old, neither soft nor strong, but something deeper. Memory wrapped in melody.

"A silver name beneath no sky,

She walked alone where no feet tread, 

She sang to stone, she wept to trees,

Till life awoke where none had bled."

The innkeeper, half-asleep, stopped wiping the bar.

Outside, rain threatened but dared not fall.

"Twelve stars she bore from branch and bone,

A tree whose fruit the dawn had kissed.

Each star a will, a spark unknown, 

Each child born from mother's mist."

Unseen upstairs, Yuuna stirred slightly, brows faintly furrowed. Fahleena turned in her sleep, muttering something about "Keyblade Kingdoms." Jessica clutched her blanket, small smile curling. The others breathed deep, unaware of myth unfolding below.

"But war beyond the stars once broke,

A heaven cracked by Odin's pride.

One angel fled, and one awoke, 

In silent light where gods may hide."

Her voice grew lighter, like wind across snow.

"She taught the goddess sky and flame,

And gave her wings to shape the stream.

With stone, with seed, with flame she named,

The waking world, a dreaming gleam."

The tavern's fire dimmed, flickered blue. The instrument's hum grew slow, solemn.

"Yet none remember who first sang,

Nor why the gods began to fear.

Only echoes now remain,

Of the maker's fall, the angel's tear."

One last note.

A silence followed that stretched thin, trembling, eternal. The bard stood. No applause, no coin. She turned. At the door, her hand paused. Then she vanished into the mist outside.

Outside, the city still stirred. Night breath clung to cobblestones. Lanterns glowed golden above closed shops and idle stalls.

She walked.

Through Astoria's veins, twisting alleys, open squares, chattering drunkards, quiet vendors closing for the night. Rain kissed the air, but never fell. Her cloak moved like mist.

Then she stopped.

Before a building of stone and story, arched windows, broad timbered door, the scent of iron and ink. Faded letters marked it: Adventurer's Guild.

She stood there, silent.

A place of quests and coin, of lives earned and lost in pages and blood.

She did not enter. Not yet. The wind carried her cloak forward. Her steps vanished with the fog.

---

Morning came with birdsong and bustle. The twelve awoke, stretching limbs and blinking dreams from their eyes. Downstairs, breakfast waited, toast, eggs, a suspiciously jiggly pudding.

Fuhiken wrangled the group toward plans. Gabyola passed around schedules. Kyle and Sinryo plotted chaos. Jessica giggled at Fahleena's new dramatic pose: "Princess of Twilight Star!"

"Denied," Yuuna mumbled, flipping a page.

None of them spoke of the bard. But somewhere deep inside, something stirred. A knowing. A hum beneath thought.

A myth unheard, unremembered.

---