Nebula Gravis

[MetalRenard]

- Reynard - Itzal Castle

The air crackled with lightning around him and the shard exploded in his hand, burning away the top few layers of skin on his hand, removing his fingerprints too. A low rumble. Dust began to fly as the wind picked up. Then small pebbles joined the dust and the ground began to shake. Reynard fell onto his back, unable to stand, as did everyone within the city walls. Larger rocks began to lift up, soaring high into the clouds that had gathered above. They came crashing down, reforming walls, roofs, stone floors and the spires. The castle was rebuilding itself! Reynard was gently lifted from the floor and began to fly upwards towards the energised clouds, narrowly missing other falling chunks of stone.

Below him the castle took shape, now almost fully reconstructed. It was magnificent. Massive spires, gold encrusted decorations, a hall big enough to hold a thousand guests.The wind began to settle and Reynard was gradually lowered once again. He landed softly on his feet. The wind had stopped now and he glanced across the courtyard where there appeared to be a sundial on a short pillar. When he got closer he realised its point had a shadow, yet, when he looked up, there was no sunlight. He ran his hand over the point, attempting to block out the light from above but to no avail - the shadow was still there and continued to point to the East.

"So that is where I must go." He lifted the contraption from the pilar and walked around the castle on the inside wall, leaving from a back entrance. Towards the mountains...

It was night when he arrived, but that didn't matter, the place was fully lit from all angles, hundreds of people walking about, inspecting the purple mist around the valley, and others venturing into it. Reynard walked up to one of the people around the gap, the sundial safely hidden under his clothes. The man was sitting by a tent, a small camp-fire was burning and he was patiently watching others and occasionally laughing to himself. Reynard tapped him gently on the shoulder, "Does anyone ever return?" he asked.
The man jumped, he hadn't noticed Reynard approach, then he cackled. "Return? Haha! Don't be so stupid, boy! If there was a way to return I would have entered myself! But what about you? Are you going to enter this tear in our world? This... Torn gap?"
Not far away, a group of travellers walked towards the mist surrounding the rip in the world. The first to cross was a mountain of a man, then companions followed, two more men, a woman and a smaller creature. Reynard ran towards where they entered, removing his hood and raising his ears from beneath. He listened intently...

What he heard sent chills down his spine and curdled his blood. Screams! Horrific screams! He turned away, not able to bare it any more. He collapsed onto his knees and a single tear fell from his eyes. The screams... They were like the screams in his nightmares. The screams had started when his brother had gone missing and he knew he had been right all along. His brother's death was linked to this Undran mystery.

He stood again, threw his coat open. Ears held high... Tail showing from beneath his coat... Wind ruffling his hair... Holding out the sundial... He charged into the mist.

No screams were heard this time.