Chapter 21

Axon

I held Ashley tucked under my arm as I finished cooking our breakfast and I was over the moon with joy. We would be together whether luminescence chose us or not. I'd never seen anyone fight luminescence before, but I'm sure it could be done. I hoped it wouldn't be necessary though. I'd known in my heart since the moment I laid eyes on Ashley that she was the one for me. Surely luminescence would confirm that. I would just have to work harder at coaxing it along. Perhaps if we touched each other enough, or maybe even mated before the next full moon, we'd be chosen for each other.

The idea sounded silly in my head, but it was worth a try. It would be no great burden to lie with Ashley in the furs. The real question was if I'd be able to handle it. If we came upon the time of the month that Ashley wished to mate, and if I couldn't do it, would that doom us to never glow for each other? What would be the point of her glowing for me if I could not satisfy her as a male should?

"Axon, I think that's about as cooked as it's going to get," Ashley teased, which brought my attention back to the here and now.

The meat was indeed burning. I used a clean stick to place one piece of meat on a plate of leaves and handed it to her. Then I placed the other piece on a plate of leaves for myself.

"Sorry about that. Do you think it's still edible?"

Ashely took a bite and grinned. "It's a bit tough, but I've had worse."

I took a bite and nodded my head. "I'll do a better job next time."

"Don't be too hard on yourself, you were distracted." She squeezed my hand in reassurance.

"Thanks," I squeezed back.

"Do you want to see the ruins today?" She asked with excitement in her voice.

"I'd like that very much," I confirmed between bites. "Will you show me the way after breakfast?"

Ashley nodded her head with a smile as she chewed. It wasn't long before we'd finished our lackluster breakfast and she was showing me the trail of moss that she'd laid down when she went exploring.

She took a few twists and turns that I'd never taken before, which led us to an exit into the forest that was wholly new to me.

The exit was covered in vines blocking my vision, but once I pushed them to the side, the view before me took my breath away.

Statues of the goddess had been carved into the trees lining the path to a clearing. The priestess used to carve small figurines of the goddess out of wood for us children. I still had mine in my cave back home. These not only resembled what she'd given us, but they were almost exactly the same.

Ashley squeezed my hand and I was grateful to have her with me. I did not know what to make of this place, but having her here brought me comfort.

We continued on down the path into the ever present rain to a set of crumbling houses made of stone. They were constructed in a similar fashion to some of the houses in the valley, but these were more rustic, as if the builders were unskilled at their craft.

"You're people came here three hundred years ago right? Do you think this could have been their first village?" Ashley asked, and she had a good point.

"It could be, but I'm not sure why none of our stories include this place. I thought we'd always lived in the valley."

"Maybe it was too dangerous to live here. Maybe they didn't want anyone to come back thinking it was a safe place to be," she suggested.

"Maybe," I agreed as we continued down the path.

We passed more houses, a large structure that looked like a dining hall with a place for a large cookfire, some gardens with vegetable plants that were still thriving, and an area that looked like a place for children to play.

I let my fingers linger on the climbing tower that had been worn smooth from the small feet that had walked up the stairs over and over again.

This was a beautiful place to live. Whatever drove them away must have been something horrible. Maybe my brother shifters and I could defeat whatever creature lurks in this area and take this place back again.

"What's that?" Ashley pointed at something shiny that sat at the very end of the trail. A rain cloud must have shifted in the sky, because suddenly I was being blinded by the reflection of the sunlight off this very strange, very shiny material.

"It's...metal. What's metal doing here?" she asked as she tugged me along while I held my hand over my eyes.

Metal was the word the humans gave for the material that made up their ship. I'd never seen it, but Drovo described it as a smooth dead material that did not call to him.

Thankfully, the clouds returned and I was able to take a good look at the small metal building that we were approaching.

I watched Ashley as she took in the sight of it. It was large, larger than any of the buildings here and it had rounded edges. Vines and plants had started to grow all around the object, giving away its age, along with some brown spots that Ashley called rust.

She ran her fingers along the metal as she inspected the outside of the dwelling. She circled the space around it and gasped as she made her way to the back. I quickly joined her, ready to fight anything that she may have encountered, but she was not being attacked. She was pointing at an oddly shaped part of the building that stuck out of the side. The metal here was somehow even shinier.

"This is an engine. Well no, not an engine, it's the, oh what's the word? Exhaust! Exhaust pipes! Wait," she ran back to the front and I followed her.

"This is a ship."

"A ship?" I asked. "Like the one you came here on?"

"Yes! But this looks much older."

What was a ship doing here? My people did not come to this place on a ship. We came here through a miracle of the goddess. This is the story that had been passed down to us from generation to generation.

"Whose ship is it?" I wondered aloud and Ashley froze and looked up at me with the most tender, sad expression I'd seen on her before.

"Axon, there are statues of the goddess, the sirret goddess, less than one hundred feet away. Whose ship do you think it is?"

No, it couldn't be. "Is there a door?" I asked. I needed to get to the bottom of this. I needed to show Ashley that this was not my people's ship. I refused to believe that what I'd been told my entire life was a lie.

"Umm," she hummed aloud as she walked to the other side of the ship.

"Here! It's over here!" I walked to where she was and saw her fiddling with what looked like a handhold.

"It's locked, but it looks like something is supposed to go here, like a key."

There was an indentation in the metal above the handhold that looked familiar to me. It was a symbol I knew I'd seen many times, but I couldn't remember where.

I got on my knees and ran my fingers along the lines of the oval shape with the engraved picture of a set of stars above symbols that meant nothing to me. I slowly traced each star as I forced my brain to remember where I'd seen this image before. It was shiny just like this ship, it hung on something. It...

The memory hit me like an avalanche. I remembered where I'd seen this symbol before. On shaky feet, I stood back to my full height.

"You're right. There is a key that fits here and I know who has it."

"Who?" Ashley asked as she held my hand in hers.

"The priestess. The pendant on her necklace is the key."