Silver Cathedral Saga Read Free Page A

path ahead.

    They
set off when they were ready some minutes later, when their feet
felt less heavy and they could think about the long journey ahead
again without wanting to cry.
    The night
sky was still like a black, thick veil covering the sun; not a
single ray of light crept through.
    A few thick
clouds were scattered around near; still, this created what the
Astorians called a clog: A cloudlike fog that was hardly strange
weather for these folk, rather common in fact.
    “It should
take us about another hour to get to Sunndira, even in these
conditions,” said Eleanor. “I’m hoping the inn there will have some
news of how to get to this Silver Cathedral.”
    “By the
gods, I really hope so. It’s all we have going for us right now,”
replied Christian.
    The three
of them hurried along the path with a brisk walk, seeing many trees
take form and continue to grow in numbers the farther they moved to
their destination.
    Christian
whistled a song their village used to sing sometimes at the more
cheery gatherings, hoping to perk them both up a little. His sister
joined in too.
    There
seemed to be nothing else but white bushes and tall trees, signs
telling them they were going the right way and themselves.
    As the
children went on they began to notice all plant life on the
floating lands of Astora were white, and not just in Hiva Aura like
they strangely expected.

    Sounds
of chirping crickets pounced into the young travellers ears from
within a white field of tall grass. They came from one direction,
then another. Both the children were no strangers to crickets, so
they were not sure if it was one cricket jumping around making all
these noises, or several, or even more.
    “The white
meadow,” said Eleanor, halting. Christian and Miyah stopped just as
she done so.
    The kids’
all this time always wore a metal band on their wrist, and that was
the normal part.
    These
bracelets were crafted from star-metal, made from ‘ Starao’ in huge quantities thousands of years ago. It
was a rare site if a person didn’t have one in these times, on this
world.
    This
star-metal is like any other during the day. But by night, they
create a light from the stars being out. And everybody knew stars
were always out on the planet Astora, as long as that darkness was
night.
    “The ‘White
Meadow’? Do you know about this?” asked Christian.
    “For a
puzzle solver you do ask some silly questions,” replied Eleanor.
Light from their star-metal bracelets made the meadow around them
look like it had a tint of eerie blue.
    “Well?”
    “Yes, okay.
This is the place where Starao herself called down the star, then
crafted the Sceptre of Power. The one on Amaranth right now. It’s
amazing. Such an iconic event took place here, or so I was told.
The history of things—they ’ re so
fascinating. You can go anywhere, and know there has been an insane
amount of stories throughout time, and you are always the active
one. There is such joy in how deep we can look at things. Such
energy, passion.”
    “Okay, I
think someone got a little too excited,” said Christian. He laughed
for a mere second before Eleanor slapped him out of his hysterics.
Quite literally—she slapped him: A crack fell into the air with
this action, and Miyah couldn’t help but laugh at it all.
    Christian
froze, feeling that he didn’t go too far at all when he finally
thought on it. Though it was quite clear the other two did, and
didn’t back down.
    “This is no
laughing matter. Why do you never take anything seriously?” said
Eleanor.
    “He’s
always been like that,” said Miyah. “Covers his problems by not
making them serious. One of his little quirks.
    It was some
time before Eleanor said something else, something entirely
different whilst looking across the meadow. “The descendant…” As if
she just remembered something.
    The male
was quiet until after his buddy spoke the last two words. “The
who?” Her friend looked at the floor after he had