The wooden door creaked as Anandriel stepped out into the warm morning air, his dark hair drifting in the breeze. The village was already abuzz with activities, the children playing while the men were already working on the grain fields. Windrest village was a secluded farming village at the far outskirt of Vasim Empire; founded by deserters from the war of manifestation seventy years back, the present inhabitants were the second generation.
It had been two years since Serbin, the village elder, had found him injured and lost at the edge of the forest. Serbin had taken him in without hesitation, cared for him like family, and provided him with a home when he had none. The people in the village were a kind welcoming people who were always ready to see the best in people-except Lordan and his friends. To Anandriel, the Serbin was more than a village elder-he had been like a father, a friend, and a brother all at once.
"You're staring at the sky again. I have told that nothing would happen, father said that the cosmic storm is every six years, which is next year" Arina's voice came from behind him, her tone laced with impatience. She stood beside him, her arms crossed as she glanced up at the churning clouds.
"I can't help it," Anandriel replied quietly, his brow furrowed. "It feels different this time, the sky has been getting dark for the past three days and all the animals are uneasy"
The cosmic storm was just one of the fascinating things that he had seen and heard about since he woke up . Every ten years, a destructive storm would descend, this was more than rain and thunder, the sky would go dark for a full month and the elements would display its full force in thunder, hail and most importantly, after the storm there are usually displacements. Portion of places would disappear as if it was plucked or cutoff. Some people say that those parts that are cut out appear in other places.
Serbin claimed that the former village head, his father, told him that the Sabertooth Mountain wasn't always there until the cosmic storm five decades back. That was how the reclusive mountain dwarves that lived in their city deep inside the mountain appeared in this part of the world.
Vasim and surrounding empires had marched down to check out the mountain for treasures but had faced resistance from the mountain dwellers forcing them to turn back. Anandriel didn't know how true it was, but what he did know is that surrounding villages including Windrest usually sell grains to the dwarves in exchange for farming tools.
"I'll go join the old man at the shed" Anandriel said. Turning towards the small shed attached to the house, this was where the village head cured the hide of animals caught by the hunters.
"Maybe next time," he said, shaking his head fondly before making his way toward the shed where Serbin was working.
The faint smell of curing hides greeted him as he entered the shed. Serbin, his back broad back bent slightly, was working methodically, his hands moving over a large hide, stretching it over a wooden frame. His face lit up when he saw Anandriel, his crow's feet deepening around his eyes-a sure sign of his easygoing nature. He was a man in his late thirties, with an handsome and kind face.
"Ah, Anandriel," Serbin greeted, wiping his hands on a cloth. "I could use an extra pair of hands. These hides don't stretch themselves."
"Sure thing," Anandriel replied, stepping in to help hold the hide steady. "What are you planning to make with these?"
"Blankets for winter," Serbin said, tugging on the edges of the hide. "Might not look fancy, but they'll keep people warm when the cold winds come through the village. Besides, the young ones don't care about fancy, do they?"
Anandriel nodded, admiring the man's constant thoughtfulness. Serbin, a man in his late thirties, was the youngest village head that Windrest would had ever had. "You always think ahead for everyone. It's why the village looks up to you."
Serbin chuckled, the warmth of his laugh filling the small shed. "Leadership isn't about being looked up to. It's about looking out for people, making sure no one's left behind. Even the strongest need a little help sometimes."
Anandriel paused, gripping the hide a little tighter. "You've done a lot for me, for all of us. Sometimes, I don't know how to repay you."
Serbin gave him a gentle, fatherly pat on the shoulder. "There's no debt between friends, Anandriel. You're family now. That's enough."
For a moment, Anandriel felt a rare, quiet sense of peace. Serbin's words always seemed to ease the weight on his shoulders, reminding him that here, he wasn't just a stranger, but part of something bigger.
"Besides," Serbin added with a wink, "I've got plenty more hides for you to stretch if you really feel like paying me back."
Anandriel grinned, rolling his eyes playfully. "Don't push your luck."
Suddenly, the sky began to twist and the sun disappeared in an instant, Anandriel's heart raced as the strong breeze started blowing, scattering the hides hung at a corner of the shed . Anandriel looked at Serbin and both men seemed to have the same thought. The cosmic storm!
"Handle the animals and make sure that Arina and Lordan gets inside the house, I'll check on the villagers and join you soon" Serbin said as he dashed towards the fields. "Be careful!" Ananadriel shouted over the sound of the strong wind and clap of thunder. He hoped Serbin would be okay because he forgot to carry an oil lamp with him, the whole world had suddenly gone dark and the darkness seemed menacing.
Anandriel ran towards the house with a using the occasional flash of lightning as a guide towards the house. He saw Arina, with a lamp, removing eggs from the small pen at the front of their house.. "Hurry inside the house, I'll take the mules and lock them in the shed. Put the chickens in the coop and take them inside the house." He shouted as he dashed for the shed.
The mules and horses were frantic and frightened, sensing the storm's approach, Anandriel moved quickly, making noises to calm them while herding them into the shed. He made sure to lock the shed before running towards the house.
"Anandriel!" Arina shouted from the doorway. "Come on, you need to get inside."
He turned toward her but hesitated, feeling a strange tightness in his chest. Something within him seemed to be moving. His eyes locked onto the swirling sky, and for a moment, he couldn't move. The pressure in the air, the hum of energy-it felt like his body was calling for it, but he didn't know why.
Before he could react, Lordan, Serbin's younger brother, came barreling toward him. His face was twisted with panic, and his words came out in a breathless shout. "What are you waiting for? Get out my way!" Without warning, Lordan shoved Anandriel to the ground, ignoring Arina's cries as he bolted for the cottage.
"Lordan! no!" Arina protested, wanting to run out to help him, but it was too late. Lordan dragged her back into the house and slammed the door shut, locking it behind him. Anandriel could hear Arina banging the door and begging Lordan to open it for her father and Anandriel, but the door wouldn't budge.
Anandriel lay on the ground, winded from the fall. His breath came in ragged gasps as the sky above twisted, darkening with each passing second. He struggled to push himself up, but his body refused to move. His limbs were heavy, like something was pressing down on him, rooting him to the earth.
Then, it hit.
A crack of energy shot down from the sky, and began to hit the ground. The sky had gone dark and the only source of light was the constant flashing of the falling lightning. Some houses caught fire, he just hoped Serbin was okay. As Anandriel got up, thinking of finding shelter in the shed, a bolt of light curved through the dark sky and hit him like it was targeting him. Anandriel's body seized every muscle locking up as the energy struck him directly in the chest. The pain was overwhelming, searing through his veins like fire.
As the lightening coursed through his body it reached a broken crystal core in his glabella. At that moment the core pulsed and began to suck in the lightening. Anandriel cried screamed in pain.
The pressure in the air built, and another pulse of energy struck him. His body convulsed, but the crystal deep within him, began to shine brighter, as though it were being charged by the storm itself. Each strike filled it, igniting the core with a light that Anandriel had never felt before.
His skin began to peel and veins began to rupture, at this point Anandriel had fainted from the pain. When it A final burst of energy struck, stronger than any before, and Anandriel's vision blurred. The world around him faded into a haze of light, the storm roaring above, charging him relentlessly. His body lifted off the ground as the crystal inside him shone with an almost blinding intensity.
Then, everything went black.
-----
In the endless void...
The void stretched endlessly, a massive temple; million of kilometers large floated in the silence of space. Inside the temple, bronze giants, over two hundred thousand kilometers in heights moved around great forges, with their anvil and hammers. They plucked stars drifting in the cosmos-at times entire worlds-and threw them into the furnace. At times the result of their work would be thrown back into the endless void, moving with speed that creatures on worlds saw as shooting stars. The most peculiar thing about them was that their pupils were white; they were blind.
For a brief moment, they all stopped their works and turn their blind eyes toward the distant corner of the universe where A'naim lay, as though sensing something... but it was fleeting, almost imperceptible.
Then, as quickly as it had come, the resonance disappeared.
The Forgers stood still for another heartbeat, then turned back to their work, resuming their tasks without a word. The brief disturbance had been nothing more than a flicker in the vastness of the cosmos, forgotten as soon as it was felt.
The forges burned on, and the ancient temple continued its quiet existence, floating through the vast cosmos.
---
Back on Ana'im, the sky remained dark as the storm seems to destroy everything in its part. Thousand and millions of mile from Windrest, there was a city which was surrounded by great arrays of lights as men and women emitting strange and powerful energies-some of the elements, others of giant phantom beast dancing in the air-sat crosslegged forming a trigram to protect their city.
Further away in a remote valley filled with huts, men and women dressed in the hides of beasts when about their business as a great kun swam in the sky swallowing every sign of the storm, some other places it was protected by artifacts of great power…
Somewhere, deep within the endless forest east of Windrest, shadows danced as savage hibernating beasts were woken by the storm. These beast seemed to bath and bask in the coursing energies of the storm.
At Windrest, the storm continued to batter the villages around, what remained of Serbin corpse was on the floor of the village. Anandriel body had disappeared.