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kittyt-hexxed · 2 years ago

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Grayson's True Prodigy (Sevika × POC!Reader) - Ch.10

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Next Upload Date: March 7th

Act 2: Chapter Ten - Life in Ionia

Warnings: Crushes, Flirting, Teasing, Monster Hunting, Killing Monsters, Demons (Mention of murder)

Summary: You’ve left Piltover behind to start a new life in Ionia. One full of adventure and chaos with people who love you… and your mama in the back of your mind.

You let out a small grunt as you pull yourself over the edge of the cliff. Your family had arrived in Ionia yesterday and you wasted no time getting out into the wilds. The cliffs you decided to scale are the ones bordering the Qaelin Highlands. It was an attempt to feel closer to Grayson in some way. It was a few hours of travel by boat so you left early in the morning. There was nothing like watching the sunrise from the top of the cliff.

You sit down at the edge and look out over the land. If there was one thing Ionia beat other countries in… it was beauty. There is something captivating about the red-leaved oaks and the way the land seemed to beckon you closer. ‘It’s beautiful and deadly.’ You think as you see an ogre stomp through a distant tree line. Monsters are common in Ionia, but they weren’t always hostile to humans. They were initially protectors of the land until a Darkin did something. Now, monsters destroy villages looking for humans to kill and consume. It’s monsters like that which remind you why hunters like Cardin and Orum are needed.

“Hey there, little fae!” You hear Cardin call from below you. You look down to see him and his crew scaling the wall.

“Hey there, monster bait! Watch your feet!” You teasingly call down to him. You hear him laugh and go back to observing the area. Being out here brought you a sense of peace you haven’t felt in years. You were excited to see what the place had in store for you. It was no secret that Ionia brought change to those who allowed it to.

“Did you see that huge ogre to the southeast? What do you think it’s protecting over there?” Leah says as she comes up, “I kinda want to check it out.”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want to find out.” Landen sighs and drops his bag to the ground.

“You’re a monster hunter and you don’t want to find out?” You raise an eyebrow at him, “Shouldn’t you be dying to go over there?”

“Monster hunter in training.” Cardin snorts and sits next to you, “Besides, Landen’s a scout. He doesn’t get in on the action unless one of us screws up.” Leah sits close to you on your other side. You can’t help the small blush that comes to your face as she does. ‘She’s so pretty. I hope she and I can be better friends now that I’m here permanently.’

“And we never screw up.” Leah smirks and rests her arm on your shoulder, “I didn’t spend most of my life studying monsters to fail at killing them. Do you know how embarrassing that would be? My brother wouldn’t let me live it down.”

“It’s also a sweet gig. The ladies are all over you once they find out you hunt monsters for a living.” Landen smiles teasingly.

“If you’re doing it for the women, this is the wrong path, buddy.” Cardin laughs, “The only women I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with are banshees.”

“Don’t forget that nest of harpies.” Leah points out, “I’m still finding feathers in my gear.” The boys wince at her words as they visibly shiver.

“What happened with the harpies?” You raise an eyebrow in interest and exchange a glance with Leah.

“Nothing. Nothing happened with the harpies, Y/n.” Cardin rushes out and stands up, “Who’s ready to go jumping?” You snort as Leah laughs but get up anyway. You grab your bags and head into the forest until you emerge near the edge of a crater lake. You crouch down and take a deep breath before letting your magic go. It pulses through the ground, sending feedback to you about the flora and fauna in the area.

“It’s safe.” You open your eyes and stand up, “Nothing that can hurt us. There aren’t even any water nymphs nearby.”

“Perfect!” Cardin cheers and starts undressing. The rest of you follow and you approach the edge of the cliff. The water is thirty meters down, safe enough to jump into without worrying about injuries.

“Y/n and I will set up the climbing rope.” Leah announces as she grabs your arm, “You boys take a test dive.”

“Fine by me!” Landen grins and nudges Cardin, “Last one to hit the water does the other’s chores for a week.”

“You’re so on!” Cardin accepts as you two grab the gear and turn away. You toss Leah the rope and head over to one of the trees. Placing your hand on it, you let your magic wash over it and you feel it warm.

“It’ll let us tie the rope.” You turn to Leah, “Just be gentle because there’s a bird’s nest in its branches.” You hear distant shouts from the guys, assuming that’s them jumping in.

“I think it’s so cool that you can communicate with nature. That must make so many things easier for you.” Leah grins as you start to wrap the rope around the tree.

“It does, but it took a lot of practice to keep myself from being overwhelmed.” You shrug, tying a knot, “I can hear everything. Not just one tree. If I really let my magic go, I could hear all of Ionia.”

“Woah.” Leah breathes out in shock, “I stand corrected.” She flashes you a smile and you feel your stomach twist. You focus on your task as a blush rises to your face. It takes another minute before the rope is secured and you carry it to the edge of the cliff. Peering over the edge, you see the boys splashing around in the water. With a shake of your head, you toss the rope over and watch it hit the water. You nod in satisfaction and take a few steps back.

“Ready?” Leah throws you a smirk and holds out her hand. You feel something flutter in your chest with her actions.

“Ready.” You grab it with a grin and nod. You take a few more steps back, counting to five before running forward. You leap off of the cliff, feeling weightless for a moment before you drop. A scream leaves your lips as you fall and you vaguely hear one from Leah. You let go of her hand and brace yourself for the water. You find out that it’s pleasantly warm when you’re submerged. You swim up to the top and laugh once you’re clear of the water.

“That was awesome!” Leah cheers as she swims over to you, “We're doing that again!”

“Well look who decides to stop flirt-!” Landen gets cut off as you jump on him, pushing him under the water.

“Sorry, what was that Landen? I can’t hear you because of the- waaaater!” You shout as Cardin lifts you up and tosses you in. You sputter and shake your hair out when you come back up.

“Cardin!” You gasp playfully, “That was unfair!”

“Not as unfair as this!” Leah smiles mischievously and points into the air. You blink and follow her indication before you feel your nerves set in. ‘WHEN WAS SHE ABLE TO CONTROL WATER?!’ You think, staring at the large balls of water above you.

“Uhhh, Leah?” Landen laughs nervously, “What are you gonna do with those?”

“This.” Leah grins as the water balls come falling towards your group.

“LEAH!” You all scream in a panic and cover your face as you’re pelted with water. You all laugh and splash around for a bit longer before you decide to jump off again. Cardin tags along with you and you grin at him as he reaches the top.

“So, you and Leah.” Cardin says casually as you walk to the edge, “You’re into her, huh?”

“What? No. Leah and I are just friends.” You deny but the butterflies in your chest say otherwise.

“It’s alright, I know what you see in her. Tall, dark hair, lean muscles, a monster hunter, and a fiery personality.” Cardin smirks at you, ruffling his black hair on purpose, “Sounds like you got a-” You scoff and shove him off the cliff.

“-TTTTYYYPPPEE! SHIIIIT!” Cardin screams before you hear a loud splash.

“I don’t have a type.” You huff and cross your arms.

You hum to yourself, swinging the basket back and forth in your hands, as you collect some fruit. The forest around the monastery has a small orchard that the monks had created. It contained all of the fruit that could grow at this elevation and was constantly in need of maintenance. It’s your favorite spot in the monastery to practice your magic and talk with the spirits. In Ionia, there was a small ritual to everything if you didn’t want to upset the land. Picking fruits from a tree required that you replant the seeds from one of the fruits you take. If they’re not planted before they go bad, then a dryad would mark you as tainted and you wouldn’t be able to eat fruits again.

“Hello, sweetie.” You coo at a strawberry bush and gently stroke its leaves, “I’m only taking a few from you today. Just enough to make some jam.” The bush perks up and reveals the ripe berries to you, pushing them close enough so you didn’t have to search for them. You let out a soft chuckle and use your clippers to cut the stems of the berries. Once you have a handful, you thank the plant before moving on to the nectarine tree. It reminds you of Leah since they’re her favorite fruits. ‘I wonder if Leah is doing okay. She came by a few days ago with her mentor to talk to my grandmothers.’ You found yourself crushing on the young hunter and it made you so flustered around her at times. You shake your head and refocus on the tree, but before you can place your hand against it, you hear a throat clear from behind you. You pause and turn to see Elder Abe giving you a kind smile.

“Elder Abe.” You bow to him, “I’m pleased to see you out of bed. Is the wheelchair to your comfort?”

“Ah, nothing feels quite the same anymore, young fae.” Elder Abe chuckles, “I am pleased to see you home, even if it’s without our lion.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t bring her home.” You frown, feeling the grief rising. The days were challenging without mama around. It has only been a few weeks since her funeral and sometimes you find yourself crying out of nowhere. The grief would choke you, forcing you to bend over and gasp for breath as the tears fell. The spirits of the monastery would come to comfort you when you did, whispering stories of mama’s childhood self to make you laugh. Some of them took to following you around the place saying that you made them feel less lonely. It made you happy to hear, so you welcomed their company.

“That was not your fault, young fae. Do not blame yourself for the mistakes that others made. Grayson had a bright light and whoever dared to kill her will get what’s coming to them.” Elder Abe says fiercely before clearing his throat, “I came to get you for Gem. She said that there’s something you might want to see.”

“Something I might want to see?” You tilt your head curiously, “Let’s go then.” You hum and hand your basket off to one of the monks. It broke your heart to see the scarring that covered the Elder’s legs, but he showed them off proudly. You had questioned him about it and he admitted that he felt remorseful for what Lee Sin had gone through. He was even starting to advocate for his return to the monastery so he could continue teaching him.

“Thank you for coming here with me, Elder Abe.” You smile at him as you reach the wall of the archive.

“It was my pleasure.” Elder Abe nods, “Enjoy, young fae. Come tell me what you find?”

“Of course.” You nod before heading down into the archives. Gem was there to greet you when you reached the bottom. She immediately guides you to the back of the room where there are some tables nestled against the wall. Laid across them are a handful of opened scrolls that catch your attention.

“We found these scrolls while looking through some personal items from past Hiranas. It took a bit of time to make out the handwriting, but we believe these were written by Master Iyana. Since you are the new owner of her staff, I thought you might like to look at them. You might be the only one to make sense of the words, as none of us can understand them. It’s not ancient Ionian or any known language, so I’ll leave you to read them.” Gem pats your shoulder before walking away from you. Curiously, you take a seat at the table and tug one of the scrolls closer to you.

‘As the youngest daughter of the Hirana Clan, I was taken care of greatly by all of my siblings. They included me in everything that they could if it wasn’t restricted. Yet, I felt different from my family. Although I have my parents' facial features, that’s where the similarities ended. My hair is a deep green and although my sisters bear a similar skin tone to me, it is a touch deeper than theirs. Another puzzling factor is my profound connection to the spirit realm. I can see spirits without having to invoke my spiritual sight. This has made the monks wonder how I am so close to the spirits and they chose to test me.

I was sent into the First Lands to find an object using my connection to the spirit realm, but I found something else… I found a spirit portal. I was enthusiastically invited in by the fae when they caught wind of my essence. Confused and intrigued, I followed them in, and I can not put the marvel of this realm into words. The things I was shown made everything I questioned about my existence make sense. To whoever reads this, know that the spirit realm is calling to you. This scroll is only legible to those who are like me. I cannot explain it, for it is something you must experience on your own. Go. Go into the wilds and learn about what makes you different.’

You fall back into your chair as you stare at the scroll in shock. ‘Master Iyana… sounds like me.’ A moment passes before you scramble to grab the rest of the scrolls. You immerse yourself into the writing of the previous master, reading about her life and her experiences with the spirit realm. It wasn’t until you got to the last few scrolls that something started to feel strange about this woman. The scrolls detailed her decision to leave the monastery and Ionia behind due to her yearning for adventure. So her middle name became her last name so people wouldn’t immediately recognize her. ‘Daya… Her middle name is… Daya? But that’s…’

“Papa, can you tell me about your family?” You look up from the Piltover House family tree you were trying to fill in, “I just realized that I don’t know much about them… and I know way too much about the upper-class ones.” You sigh.

“Ah, well my family took a bit of a backseat to your mother’s.” Your papa puts down his book and comes over to you, “We aren’t a high family like your mother’s, so it wasn’t as important for you to learn about.”

“Can you tell me? I really want to know now.” You beg him and he gives you a fond smile. He pulls out the chair across from you and takes a seat. You let out an excited squeal and snap the book in front of you shut. You move your chair closer and give all of your attention to him.

“Well, I should start from the beginning… My great-great-great grandmother came to Piltover from another country when it first started to be created. The great Matriarch of the family… Her name was Iyana Daya. From her painting on the wall, I can see many similarities between the two of you. I’ll have to take you to the house someday, but back on track. Grandmother Iyana came to Piltover and ended up settling down and having four children.” Your papa carries on his explanation of the family.

Everything suddenly clicked into place and your hand flew up to the clip in your hair. ‘I’m directly related to Master Iyana?! That means- That means I am a Hirana by blood!’ You gasp and shoot up out of your chair. You run from the table, intent on finding Gem and telling her and your grandmothers of the news.

“Miss Gem!” You shout as you slide around a corner, “Miss Gem-!” You let out a grunt as you collide with someone. You fall to the ground, hearing the other person fall as well as the books they must’ve been holding. Embarrassed, you snap your head up to apologize when you see Leah. You’re unable to stop the blush that covers your face as she looks at you.

“Leah!” You squeak out before shaking your head furiously, “I-I’m so sorry. I thought I was the only one down here.” You ramble as you help her collect the books from the floor. Leah doesn’t say a word as you do but you can see a blush on her face.

“That’s okay.” Leah clears her throat, “I just got clearance to be down here.” She gives an airy laugh that dies out quickly. She brushes her hair behind her ear as she counts the books to make sure they’re all there. ‘I can’t believe I just did that.’ You think, mortified.

“W-What’s the clearance for?” You question with interest. ‘Maybe that’s the reason they came by a few days ago. It has to be for a hunt, but what would they need to research?’

“We’re hunting some kind of demon that uses water as a way to trap its victims. It… might be similar to the demon that… killed my mom.” Leah hesitates, “And if that’s true then it might be the one that cursed me.”

“Cursed… Your water abilities?” You tilt your head. This was the first time you’ve heard about her curse. She’s talked about her mother a bit and how she was consumed by a demon when Leah was a toddler.

“Yeah, those. My father said it’s a curse for living through the attack or something like that.” Leah shrugs, “The Guildmasters disagree with him though.”

“We do have something about water demons in the archives.” You give her a reassuring smile, “Hopefully it’s one of them! Good luck on your hunt.” You wave to her, still wanting to go find Gem. She waves to you as you leave before you hear her call your name. You pause and turn back to her with a questioning glance.

“After my hunt, go on a date with me to the lotus river festival.” Leah says strongly. You blink before giving her a bright smile. ‘She likes me back?! She likes me back!’

“I’d love to.” You step forward and give her a kiss on the cheek, “I’ll see you then.” You giggle at her surprised face and go back to searching for Gem. ‘Today has been an amazing day, mama.’ You smile to yourself.

The ogre roars in rage as you all scatter away from his hit. You launch yourself up into a tree with the others as it looks around for your group. Your heart is racing in your chest from your narrow escape from the beast. You had been asleep when the trees woke you up, warning you of approaching danger. You woke everyone up and buried your camping equipment in a hurry. You had enough time to anticipate an attack before the ogre came crashing into the small clearing.

“What happened to being the scout!” You hiss at Landen as the ogre locks onto you. It lets out another roar, tearing a boulder out of the ground and hurling it at you. You grab Leah and jump into the tree next to you as you hear the loud cracking of the tree snapping in half. Your girlfriend growls and pulls her katana out of its sheath as she scowls down at the monster. You had decided to go into the wilds on a search for the spirit portal. To your surprise, Cardin and Leah had followed you stating that it was dangerous to go alone. So, it ended up with your small group traveling through the forests on your search. Landen was supposed to be on the lookout for tonight but you found him fast asleep at his post.

“Thanks for falling asleep, Landen!” Leah grins ferally, “I was getting bored!” She leaps from the tree with a yell that has you shaking your head.

“Your girlfriend is feral!” Landen shouts, making Cardin laugh. Your spirit brother has an electrified grin on his face as lightning crackles around him, “Her brother is too!” He shouts before following after his teammate. Landen gives you an exasperated look and you just smirk at him. He’s the only one that didn’t like to jump into the action. You launch yourself off of the branch as Leah lands a blow on the ogre, slicing its ear off when it moves at the last second.

“It’s moving too much!” Leah shouts, “I can’t get a proper hit on it!” She dodges its hand when it tries to rip her off of its shoulder.

“On it!” You respond and throw your hand out, “One immobilized ogre coming up!” Large roots tear their way out of the ground and twine around the monster’s legs. As it goes to take a step, its foot gets caught causing it to fall over. It lets out an angry bellow as you laugh and fly out of its reach, “That’s for the tree!”

“You’re the best!” Cardin cheers as he cleaves off one of its arms. It shrieks in pain, thrashing around in the roots but they only tighten around it.

“Agreed!” Leah cackles as she whirls around and slices at its thick neck, blood spewing from the wound. It weakly swats at her and she flips out of the way as Cardin rushes in. You watch enraptured as they methodically move around and kill the ogre. You grab Landen as the ogre falls limp and lower him to the ground. You hold your hand out and the blood soaks into the ground with the roots growing to cover most of the body. ‘They might want to harvest the teeth to sell, so I’ll leave it above ground for a bit.’ Leah comes over to you and gives you a sweet kiss that makes you blush. You weren’t used to affection in front of the guys yet, especially when they loved to tease you two.

“That was a huge one.” Landen says as he observes the carcass, “Orges only get that big when there's a large source of magic nearby.”

“Then let's go find out what it's been feeding off of.” Cardin sheaths his sword and motions to you. You nod and pull your gear out of the ground before returning the roots to how they were. Leah approaches the ogre and gets to work on taking out its teeth. Powdered ogre teeth were used in some topical medicines or even some weapons. Poor Landen got roped into it while you and Cardin grabbed your things.

“I’m surprised it only took a month for a monster to find us.” Cardin muses as he secures his tent.

“I’m not.” You shrug your backpack on as your fairy form dissolves, “I may have deflected a monster or two during our travels.” Cardin stops and stares at you before pouting.

“They better not have been good ones.” Cardin whines, “You know I love fighting!”

“You and Leah.” You chuckle and head to the others. Leah now has a large bag tossed over her shoulder with what you assume to be the ogre’s teeth. You clench your hand into a fist and the ogre gets pulled under the ground with the roots. You hold your palm out and whisper a small prayer for the ogre's body to nourish the earth.

“You ready?” Cardin asks as you come to a stop next to them. Leah nods and Landen takes his things before you head off in the direction the ogre came from. You let the trees guide you until you could sense powerful energy radiating from in front of you. You’re forced to stop when you hear giggling come from in front of you. Wearily, your group looks around as the giggling sounds again. ‘That sounds familiar.’ You squint into the forest, looking for an indication of something. Suddenly a very familiar butterfly flies past you, making you gasp. It’s very quickly flying away from you and you find yourself chasing it before you can stop yourself.

“Wait!” You cry out, stumbling over the terrain as you keep your eyes trained on it.

“Y/N!” You hear your friends shout from behind you, but you can’t stop. Even though you were aware that you needed to, you couldn’t. Your legs felt like they were moving on their own and that made you nervous. Yet, you could sense that you were getting closer and closer to the magic source you came looking for. You see something shimmer in the air before you when the butterfly vanishes. ‘What?!’ You gasp, but you still can’t stop moving.

The air is heavy with magic and you feel something ripple across your skin as the world around you brightens. You shield your eyes as you finally come to a stop and squint into the light. Your breath is stolen from your lungs as your vision adjusts and you can see your surroundings clearly. The sky was swirling with various shades of blue and purple and everything seemed more vibrant than normal. You take a step forward as you take it all in. Plants and animals that you’ve never seen before, two suns shining in the sky, and the sheer amount of magic in the air left you dumbfounded.

“It’s about time you’ve reincarnated again, Priestess.” A sugary voice says from above you. You look up to see dozens of faeries fluttering above you. Your eyes widen at the display. ‘I’m in the spirit realm… but… how?’

“And it looks like you’ve finally managed to perfect your form!” Another faerie squeaks happily and lands on your shoulder, “Although, you appear quite young.”

“I… what?” You breathe out in shock.

“Oops, I forgot you don’t remember. Silly me!” The faerie giggles, “Don’t worry! We’ll explain everything.” You just stare in disbelief as the faeries continue to speak.

You stroll through the marketplace with a mild interest in what’s being sold. Your first mission from the monastery was to scope out a Vastayan village that had been claiming to be haunted. So you were walking around and trying to see if you could find anything indicating unrested spirits. The village wasn’t too far from the spirit portal you stumbled into a few months ago, so it could be likely there is an issue. It also made you happier that you killed that ogre, but the information didn’t line up. They spoke of missing crops, waterways getting blocked, items going missing and even a fire breaking out at one point. While those are signs, the energy you were getting from the area was peaceful and not hostile. Since your shocking visit to the spirit realm, you felt the connection to the realm all of the time. It felt like a spark within your chest that crackled with power. You’ve been in Ionia for about six months now, and you couldn’t be happier. You’ve risen within the ranks at the monastery, made friends, figured out who you are, got a girlfriend, and left your life in Piltover behind. You even made regular visits to Sav’ven and his cluster!

So far, you couldn’t sense any unrested spirits but that didn’t mean there weren’t any here. It could be timing or even based. ‘I should probably purchase something to support this village. While Vastaya are widely more accepted here in Ionia, there are still humans who treat them horribly.’ You frown to yourself.

“Excuse me? Um… miss monk?” A childish voice calls to you. You pause and turn to your right where you see a young bear Vastaya and his caretakers. You give them a friendly smile and approach them, clasping your hands behind your back as you do.

“Hello, young one.” You say pleasantly, “What can I do for you?” The young child glances at his caretakers and they gently encourage him to continue. He nervously steps towards you and you crouch down so you’re not standing above him.

“Are you here to kill the Yirlaj? My momma told me that you’re here to get rid of it.” He asks nervously, almost scared for your answer. Your eyes flick up to his parents and back to the young cub.

“No, young one. I am not here to kill the… Yirlaj. I’m here to send it back to sleep.” You soothe him, “Ghosts do not die.”

“The Yirlaj isn’t a ghost! It takes the form of an animal!” The child shouts and stomps his foot, “It’s a God!” He insists right before his father snatches him up. ‘A God? Does this mean he has seen this creature before?’ He hurriedly walks inside the tent with his child as his mother approaches you with a worried look.

“I’m so sorry, miss! My son is troubled after he was attacked by the creature a few months ago. He didn’t mean any disrespect by what he said.” The mother pleads with you, and you place a hand on her shoulder.

“Ma’am.” You say softly, kindly, “I took no offense at all. What your son has said may help me on my mission. Everyone else insists this creature is a spirit, but I haven’t felt any unrest nearby… can you tell me what happened?”

“My son and I went into the forest to gather some mushrooms, but he ran away from me. I lost sight of him and couldn’t find him when I heard a loud, terrifying screech. My son screamed right after that and I raced in his direction. When I found him, he was mumbling to himself about the Yirlaj and white as a sheet. He hasn’t been the same since.” You nod slowly, thinking about what she said. You reach into your satchel and tug out a map of the area.

“Can you mark where you were?” You politely ask her and she nods, marking an area north of the village. You study the area before thanking her and handing her a handful of ruby cowrie shells as payment. Her eyes go wide at the amount of money you handed her.

“I-I can’t take this. All I did was give you information.” The mother stutters and tries to give them back to you. Your eyes soften and you delicately clasp her hand in yours.

“Save it for a rainy day. You may never know what happens within the Lands.” You inform her and she nods. With a smile and a wave goodbye, you head for the forest.

You didn’t want to waste any time figuring out what was going on. A lot of the Vastayas in this village are terrified of whatever is plaguing them. Bringing them some form of clarity is what you are focusing on, and that starts with going to the only place there had been a sighting. Things began to feel off when you got to the entrance of the forest. The energy radiating from the land is sad and depressing and it made your mood drop. You take a moment to still yourself before heading inside. From your first step, the forest rushed to tell you what has happened. You listen to them carefully as they show you flashes of a creature. With a whispered thank you, you trekked to the area marked on your map.

It was an area dense with trees and large boulders that seems perfect for an animal to live. You stop to transform and let your magic pulse through the area. The depressed feeling is even stronger here and it takes your focus so you don’t notice anything approaching you.

You shout in alarm when something rams you in the back and sends you barreling to the ground. You slam into one of the boulders, knocking the breath out of you, and fall to the ground. Groaning in pain, you get up off of the ground and look around you. You could sense the confusion and hostility in the air but you couldn’t see what it was coming from. There’s a flash of a shadow across your vision and you hurl an energy ball in that direction. ‘Why can’t I sense what’s here? There’s no presence of a spirit or an animal.’ You fly up into the air to get a better view and catch a glimpse of something trying to run behind you. You whirl around and summon some vines, willing them to catch whatever is attacking you. Frantic snarling has you flying in that direction and your eyes widen at the creature before you. Large antlers adorn the creature's head, while its face appeared to be of a lion… but its body was that of a dragon. Confused, you watch it struggle a bit more, snapping in your direction before you move closer.

“Hey, there.” You whisper gently, getting low to the ground, “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to help you.” It focuses its angry eyes on you but stops struggling in the vines. The energy radiating from it is hostile, frightened, and confused. Your heart clenches when you move closer and it flinches away from you. ‘Something happened to this creature, and that’s what affecting this part of the forest. But, I’ve never seen it or read about it in the archives. Nothing with this description before.’ You chew on your bottom lip before slowly sitting on the ground. The vines fall away from the creature and its first instinct is to pin you down. Its antlers press against your throat as it growls in warning but its reaction makes you relax. ‘It reacted the why I knew it would. Good. That means it was not imprisoned.’ The creature seems confused by your reaction and wearily backs up.

“As I said, I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to know what happened to you… You seem sad.” You mutter but don’t move from your place on the ground.

“I am sad because this land is unfamiliar to me. I do not recognize anything here.” It vocalizes, making your eyes widen, “One moment, I am home. The next, I am here. I have been surviving off of what I can find, but it is not enough for my magic stores.”

“The portal!” You shout and throw yourself into a sitting position. The creature snarls and you raise your hands in surrender, “Sorry. I think I know what you mean. Your home… were the skies painted in blue and purples. Did it contain two suns?” The creature perks up and knocks you over.

“MY HOME! Do you know it?! You’ve seen my home?!” It interrogates you and you nod your head with a laugh.

“I do know it and I can take you there… but first I need to know your name. And, preferably… what you are.” You smile at it.

“My siblings call me Naveen. I am a proud member of the Yirlaj.” The creature boasts, raising its head in pride, “And you… I’ve sensed you before.” It tilts its head curiously. ‘A Yirlaj? That’s something I’ve definitely never read about. We don’t have anything on them in the archive.’

“I’m pleased to meet you, Naveen. I’m Y/n… a… nature fae.” You think about your answer. ‘I think that’s the best thing to call myself until I can speak to the faeries again.’

“Hello, young fae. I felt your magic course through the land. I thought you were going to attack me… My apologies for knocking you out of the air.” Naveen says sheepishly and uses his antlers to pick you up, “You will take me home now?”

“Yes, I will take you home.” You dust off your dress, “But, I’ve never heard of your kind before. Could you tell me about them?” That question seems to make the Yirlaj puff up.

“My kind is a powerful group of shapeshifters. I can change into any form I wish, other than human, although we retain our antlers as they are a sign of our power. Hiding your antlers means that you are ashamed of them.” Naveen wrinkles his nose at that prospect, “We are one of the guardian species of the spirit realm, out of hundreds.” You tilt your head in interest. You don’t know much about how the spirit realm runs on the inside. So, you take this time to find out how the realm runs from a creature that lives there. ‘I need to tell the village their ghost is gone.’ You muse to yourself. Naveen cheerily talks about his pack and you can’t help but smile.

#sevika x reader #sevika x y/n #grayson's true prodigy #sevika arcane #sevika fanfic

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