ORIGIN

In the wolf's quest to bring light to the caves again, she often found herself alone. She didn't mind it, though the last time she found herself alone and wandering she was attacked by a hostile goose.

Kera did not like to think about the Goose Incident.

She had been in this tunnel before. It was cold and damp and it weighed her fur down until it felt like it was hard to move forward. She recognized that sensation, but above all, she recognized the remains of her own works-- the remains of half-eaten bioluminescent mushrooms.

The only other gembound Kera had known who could do that was Giggle, who did not leave Canis and who did not know how to summon them before Kera showed her how. Regardless, they were half-destroyed, now. Some deer must have eaten it like an idiot.

She would have to replenish the light here, until she figured out how to turn the main lights back on and figured out how to stop Nemean from turning them back off. Shaking her fur out, she stood in the dark for a long moment, concentrating.

This new power that had come to Kera was confusing, at best. Her magic mostly lay in growing mushrooms and seeing the world through the eyes of their spores, and whatnot. Kera had very little time to explore this further, in fact-- she had an entire cave system to bring light to.

It wasn't that she was complaining, either-- the new magic brought to her seemed to be more light-based. This much was obvious by the light that illuminated under her fur, making her appear as a beacon of golden-white light that pierced through the dark.

Able to see a few more feet ahead of her now, Kera paced towards a rock. This tunnel, she decided, would be a good place to explore this pure light-magic further. If deer were passing by and eating her mushrooms, it would be neccesary to light up things that weren't mushrooms anyway.

Or, perhaps, put the mushrooms in a place they couldn't reach. Kera did not know how to do that yet, however-- she instead focused on one thing at a time. Padding through the tunnel with a slight limp in her step, she came across a rock.

... It was a good rock, Kera decided. More of a boulder-- it was large and the surface was smooth. She briefly brushed her cheek against it, feeling it out. It was hard and it was cold, but Kera had a feeling it would be pleasant if it were warmer. And drier.

She moved her face across the rock, pressing her forehead against it, and began to focus quietly.

Yet, nothing had happened. Rift had told her to be nice to plants, to mushrooms-- Kera wondered, despite knowing fine well that they weren't alive, if it were the same with rocks. She backed off from the boulder and bowed her head. "I'm sorry," she said. To a rock. Unaware of how this may look to outsiders. "I will ask, next time."

She backed off a little further before turning her back on the rock, eyes flicking around the tunnel. She shook out her fur in an attempt to dry it off, though it remained uncomfortably damp. She took another wander around the tunnel.

Her eyes grazed over the rock she had probably offended, if rocks could be offended, but she searched for another. A smaller one, this time, she decided. It might be easier to deal with, if it was her magic and not the fact that she had somehow hurt the feelings of a cold rock that was void of emotion.

Moving to a small pebble-- similar to the boulder, small and gray and bathed in the light coming from her fur. It was smooth, and pretty. Kera could have picked it up, if she wanted, but she did not.

"Hello," she whispered (to a rock) gently. "I'm going to try and put light into you so you can help others." She nodded a few times, both to herself and the pebble, and reached out to touch it with her nose.

That hadn't worked either. Kera did not know, still, if it were her magic or if this particular rock didn't want to help anyone. This rock was kind of a jerk if so-- or whatever Kin-Kin had called the clouds. An asshole? Kera couldn't recall.

She didn't want to call the rock an asshole either in case the other rocks heard and got offended. That would mean that none of them would let themselves light up. Instead, she kept it civil. "I'm sorry for bothering you," she said half-apologetically-- to a rock --and moved on elsewhere.

She wondered if touching and trying to infuse light into rocks-- who couldn't move or speak or otherwise object --was offending them in the first place. Kera did not know. For now, however, she could try something else.

But what?

Kera did not know-- Kera only stopped dead in her tracks, staring forward, then bristled and began to concentrate greatly, squeezing her eyes shut as she stood in the middle of the dark tunnel.

Through closed eyelids, Kera saw light. Light! Light was good, light meant she'd done something right. Opening her eyes again, the wolf pup was immediately blinded by strong, yellow-white light.

Half-yelping and half-screaming, Kera fell down and covered her eyes with her legs. "ASSHOLE!" She shouted instinctively, to... something. Not the rocks, Kera knew that much-- perhaps, this time, she was calling her own magic an asshole.

Groaning on the floor, Kera spent some time there. When she opened her eyes she still couldn't see-- she couldn't tell, either, if it were because she was still blinded or if the light had faded from her fur.

The only thing she could do is shut her eyes and wait for it to pass-- or perhaps it would never pass, and Kera would have to lay there blinded forever. That was a scary thought.

When the shock and the alarm left, however, Kera was able to consider her next actions.

If the light had left her fur-- which it had --she could start by re-illuminating her hide and then going back to asking rocks to let her infuse them with light. Or perhaps she wouldn't ask at all, and just do it like a regular person.

... if wolves could be considered people, that is.

Perhaps she would return to doing what she did best-- mushrooms --and spent the next while feeling out and learning where it would be best to grow them. She could do what Giggle had said-- she could experiment and see where the mushrooms liked to grow best.

There wasn't many things in this tunnel, however. There wasn't many places where she could grow her mushrooms-- not new places, at least --but Kera couldn't be quite sure of this. She was, currently, wirthing blinded on the floor.

She could try to figure out what she had just done and try to master it. What the hell had she managed to do? She knew there was strong, blinding light but she had no idea what it had done to anything else around her, nor where it had come from.

Shifting, she cracked open her eyes. Things seemed a little bleary, still-- but she could see shapes through the darkness, now. With a groan, Kera picked herself up.

"Okay," Kera began, speaking to the nothing-in-particular she had referred to before. "I'm sorry for calling you an asshole. I'm going to try again."

Kera had no idea what she was even going to try. She shook her fur out again, bleary-eyed, and began staring into a dark corner of the tunnel. For a moment she thought of light-- strong and blinding --appearing where she was staring, but nothing happened.

A thought crossed her mind-- of the Eyes. Perhaps good, blinding light would be a way to scare it off, or get rid of it all together? Kera did not know, but if she could nail this down, she could tell Giggle and show her how to do it.

Looking around, even-- she realised the light hadn't left anything behind. It was as if it were never there. Wondering if she had merely imagined it, Kera grimaced and looked back to the dark corner.

Surely not. She had spent a solid fifteen minutes blinded on the ground. She took a breath, and began to focus with a furrowed brow on summoning photons into the darkness. She just hoped, this time, she wouldn't get more light in her eyes.

Please don't blind me, please don't blind me, please don't blind me, please don't blind me, please don't blind me, please don't blind me, please don't blind me, please don't blind me, please don't blind me, please don't--

In the corner, a bright light appeared. It faltered briefly, flickering, and then it was strong and illuminating the whole tunnel. It hurt to look at, and the second Kera looked away, it stopped.

Regardless of that, it had worked. Kera had no idea what it was, only that it was bright and exhausting to summon, but that it had worked. It was something she could show to Giggle, something she could tell her about and something that might be able to scare off the Eyes.

Giggle would be proud!

Taking a moment (still half-blinded), Kera leapt and bounded in a circle in brief celebration before remembering something very important. This new light wasn't permanent, and Kera had a quest to get on with.

.... right.

Focusing again, Kera shook out her fur. With her gem glowing pink in her throat, she began to get on with her business.

Oh, yes. Kera was having a good winning streak, now. Her fur and her skin ignited in yellow-white light. Stronger than before-- as strong as the light that had been in the corner, it seemed. Kera could see several feet in front of her.

She grinned. This was great. She knew fine well that she would be the one to bring light to the caves, as Giggle had said, but she liked to be reassured in moments like this. That said, these thoughts likely just jinxed her chances at success.

Now wasn't the time to look too far into that, however. She moved on, back to the large, smooth rock she had tried to bauble before. "I'm putting light into you," she said with an air of confidence.

To a rock.

That much didn't matter. Kera placed her face against the rock and began to focus again, concentrating on both her gem and the rock with her eyes shut.

She grinned again as light appeared under her face, bathing the rock in more brilliant light. It was dimmer than the light that covered her skin and made her fur yellow. She was still doing well-- this new, light-based magic was suiting her fairly well.

Good. It should be!

Tail wagging, she stepped away. With herself and a single boulder glowing with light, Kera decided to visit her mushrooms again. She was better with them, anyway.

Forgetting that she should keep her mushrooms out of reach of lingering deer (or rats, maybe? Kera had no idea what rats eat) she moved off into the dark corner she had summoned blinding light into.

She was about to press her face against the ground when she realised it would be smarter to first, feel out and see where it would be best for her to grow mushrooms. Shaking herself out, she stared out, focusing quietly.