Ican, the Third Sun, crouched hidden within the long grass of the prairie around him, surrounded by a sea of tall grass that brushed, their yellowed blades brushing against him softly in the midnight wind.
Clutching the shaft of the makeshift wooden spear he had carved from the branch of a tree, Ican watched the stars with grave intent.
Even the cool prairie wind could not ease the worry he had built up whilst waiting. His nerves were on edge as his brain filtered through every possible outcome. He could not sweat, nor show much emotion really; his pitch black body, made of a dark crystalline material did not allow him to physically express himself. He was more akin to a large human-shaped piece of rock wearing nothing but a small hooded tunic and rough patchy trousers, than an actual human. Yet he still imagined that if he did have a beating heart, it would have broken out of his chest already.
What if there was an enemy tribesman here? Perhaps multiple of them? Maybe they knew he was here. Perhaps they were watching him already using their wondrous magic, spying on him from a great distance; ready to use their magic to smite him down in an instant once instructed.
He was paranoid that was certain, but he would not leave. This would be his only chance, the soothsayer told him that if he failed now, he’d have wasted nearly half a year of effort for nothing.
He couldn’t make a single mistake, and so he forced his inorganic body to be still. Never moving a limb, completely motionless, as he stared out from his hiding spot within the tall grass into the sky, always fearful that he’d feel the twang of a bow string, or the sound of his body being crushed by the blow from a hammer. He’d only begin moving again once he saw one of the stars fall.
How much longer would he need to wait?
Not very long, for after his fifth hour of waiting still, he finally saw it. A falling star.
Heading right towards him.
At first it was barely anything but a speck, yet as it grew closer Ican made it out to be something more. A spark of bright blue against the dark moonless night.
Pulling up his hood, Ican grabbed his spear and ducked into the ocean of grass before him, running towards the spark.
The soothsayer was right, a falling star was crashing into the world; a fragment of the Dreamers.
Ican could barely focus on anything else, instead he rushed towards the star like nothing else, even his life mattered.
The falling meteor was so close, like he could almost reach up and clutch it.
The rational part of his mind grew weary. What if the comet landed right atop him and crushed his inorganic body to dust? Wouldn’t that be funny, for his enemies to arrive at the crash site only to see several crushed limbs sticking out from beneath the fragment.
Finally, the falling star landed, an explosion showering Ican and the surrounding area in a magnificent blue light, force so strong it threatened to push Ican from where he stood; having struggled to a halt from the abrupt force from the impact.
Rushing wind and grass moved past him as he shielded his face from the blinding blue light. As the mana explosion washed over him, he felt his prismatic body react, reverberating as he willed himself to resist the blue mana’s influence. He could feel his body try to absorb the light.
Blue seas and open skies, a chorus of angels singing to him, beckoning him to come closer. Thoughts of serenity threatened to overwhelm his mind, until everything he was was washed away.
Ican almost did give in to the calming blue light, but thankfully, it ended as quickly as it ended. The divine fragment had fallen from the heavens and crashed into the mortal world.
He stood on the edge of a large crater, nearly the size of a two story building. If he had been any closer, he would’ve been vaporized.
He mentally chastised himself, he was a lucky idiot thats what he was... he’d need to be less dog brained next time.
But now was not the time for future reflection.
In the middle of the crater, blue light spilling forth, was a fragment from the gods. It was a strange shape, Ican wasn’t quite sure what it originally was. He heard that fragments were pieces of a god’s flesh or armor, sometimes even from their weapons, but this fragment seemed oddly shaped from where he stood... He’d have to move closer.
Quickly checking his surroundings for a moment, Ican listened and watched for any signs of a second party... and thankfully there seemed to be none. Content that he was alone for the moment, he carefully started to climb down the impact site.
From here it was obvious that the fragment was leaking some amount of mana. The further he made his way down the crater, the more warped the ground seemed to grow.Dirt around the fragment had been converted into some sort of fine golden sand, and any exposed rock seemed to have been softened into a white, fluffy material akin to a solid cloud.
Now that he had a closer look at the fragment, Ican saw that it seemed to be a floating orb composed of some strange silver liquid. Barely the size of a child’s ball, it hovered several feet above the air, it’s surface rippling gently in the wind.
Now this was interesting. How did such a small floating orb of some unknown liquid cause such a large crater? Was it solid before landing? How would he even carry it back with him…? He at most expected some small scrap of divine armor, yet this seemed to be a floating ball of water, would it pop like a bubble if poked?
Ican looked around the crater as he began to approach the orb. It seemed like he truly was alone, at least for now. He figured that if there were any rival fragment hunters, they would have shown up by now.
As he grew closer, he could feel the orb’s vibrant blue mana begin to throb within him. His crystal body was reacting the mana greedily, wishing to absorb and store it’s energy inside itself, but Ican resisted such temptations, he had other plans for this fragment.
Within the orb, he could see small barely visible runes crawl down the orb’s surface. It was the fragment’s imbued knowledge of magic, the knowledge of the gods imparted within the simple fragment.
Carefully, half expecting the orb to burst, Ican cupped the bottom of the orb with both hands, surprisingly finding it to be quite solid yet squishy when held, as if he was carrying a weightless water balloon.
As he gazed into the orb, he could see the runes begin to react, bubbling up to the surface to form a sort of script.
He couldn’t decipher it here, but already he could tell that whatever the text was saying was only the beginning of the knowledge stored within. Being a fragment, the information within would likely be incomplete, but even a scrap of divine wisdom was valuable.
Ican’s mind raced through the possibilities... yet at the same time he couldn’t help but consider the other option.
The divine fragment in his hands held not just divine knowledge, but also divine power; yet he could only choose one.
To extract the orb’s wisdom, leaving it lifeless, or to harvest it for it’s raw mana. Both were tempting options, which only made it all the more harder to choose.
With a sigh, Ican pulled out a small sack from from his cloak and gingerly placed the small orb within it, sighing in relief as the orb’s blue glow was muted once within the sack. It seemed like the orb’s mana had stabilized too, meaning he wouldn’t have to deal with any adverse side effects from carrying an orb composed of liquid divine mana around.
Once the sack carrying the fragment was secured to his waist, he climbed out from the crater and gave another look around the surrounding prairie; half expecting to hear the twang of an assassin’s bow. When he saw nor heard nothing, Ican raced off into the prairie grass, disappearing into the night.