The Cycles of Revelation Series

Artifact of the Dawn: Ardyn (A Queer Sci-Fi Adventure)

Episode 2: Ardyn is an Athla’naa ranger and misunderstood loner who spends most of his time away from the settlement of Maala’naa. Until he encounters a tall, dark, and too handsome Medellan.

Several days earlier.

The settlement of Maala’naa was still, in the quiet of the dawn. Ardyn always rose early, preferring to prepare for the day undisturbed. He exited the small treetop dwelling as quietly as possible, to not wake his still sleeping parents, and then made his way across several bridges, interconnecting the many dwellings in his settlement. When he arrived at the outermost edge, he untied a rope ladder, lowering it before climbing it to the ground.

Once on the ground, Ardyn made his way to a nearby creek to take a bracing bath in the chill waters before anyone in Maala’naa stirred. As he approached the burbling creek, he undid his long braid of light purple hair so he could wash it. At the creekside, he stripped off his clothes and submerged himself in a deep pool naturally created by a rock formation.

Ardyn was still re-braiding his hair as he walked back toward the settlement when he encountered an Elder of the Triumvirate. “Good morning, Elder Aelrynd,” Ardyn greeted, lowering his ears in deference to the somber-looking female. “You’re up early today.”

“I have a task for you, Ardyn,” Aelrynd said in a grave tone. “A sar’ora took another child last night. All the other rangers are too far afield. As you are the only one here, the task must fall to you. I know you only returned yesterday, but it is urgent this beast is dealt with.”

“Which child?” Ardyn asked with concern.

“Not yours,” Aelrynd assured him. “It was Corae’s youngest, Athandrael. It seems he left the safety of his hut in the night, alone. His mother thinks he needed to relieve himself and did not want to disturb her.”

“He turned four winters only a few months ago,” Ardyn recalled, shaking his head. “Such senseless tragedy. That’s the third child the sar’ora has taken now, isn’t it?”

Aelrynd nodded. “Yes. We believe this one hunts alone.”

“That makes sense. Their packs usually never stray so close to our settlements,” Ardyn mused aloud. “Where was the child attacked? Did anyone see where the beast headed afterward?”

“On the northern edge of Maala’naa,” Aelrynd said, pointing a finger. “Those who found the remains of the child said they saw tracks headed north into the woods.”

Nodding his head with determination, Ardyn placed a reassuring hand on Aelrynd’s shoulder. “I will prepare myself and hunt it down,” he promised.

“Be safe and well, but make haste,” Aelrynd said before turning to Ardyn, placing both of her hands upon his shoulders. “It seems the beast takes refuge in the Aria’una. That is where the other rangers have lost it before. Hurry, before it crosses the border and eludes you.”

Ardyn nodded. Every Athla’naa knew to avoid stepping beyond the line of bhath’laa’ar — tall trees with bright red leaves — that marked the border into the Aria’una. The forbidden place.

Leaving Aelrynd, Ardyn hurried back to his family hut and packed his gear, causing his mother to stir. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she frowned at him. “Leaving so soon?”

“I’m sorry, mother,” Ardyn apologized. “Aelrynd needs me to hunt down the beast that’s been attacking our settlement.”

“Taesys, say goodbye to your son,” Saelyn said, shaking Ardyn’s father.

“What? So soon?” he grumbled.

After making his goodbyes with his parents, Ardyn grabbed his bow and quiver on his way out. He’d descended to the ground near the site of the most recent attack when he turned to see his eldest daughter, Myria, and her mother, Cylaen, approach him.

“Going off again so soon?” Cylaen asked with a disapproving scowl. “You never remain long anymore. Not even to spend some time with your child. How long will you be gone this time? A month? A season?”

Rolling his eyes, Ardyn adjusted his pack before addressing her. “Aelrynd has tasked me with hunting the lone sar’ora that has been attacking our children,” Ardyn explained. “The beast took Corae’s youngest last night. Please, tell the others. Keep the children in the treetops until I have brought back its pelt.”

Cylaen’s eyes widened, and she gave a curt nod. Myria waved as her mother herded her toward the ladder. “Bye-bye, Papa Ardyn!” Myria called as she climbed up into the safety of the treetops.

Ardyn waved back, even as Cylaen gave him another scowl. He sighed before turning to make his way toward the site of the attack. Ardyn’s mating with Cylaen hadn’t been a pleasant one, and she still resented him for his reluctance to mate with her.

When an Athla’naa came of age, the elders matched them for their first mating. It was a tradition everyone followed when they came of age, but Ardyn fought against it. The elders insisted and forced Ardyn to mate with Cylaen against his will. Because of this, he chose to have little involvement in his daughter’s upbringing.

Myria was now nine summers old and looked more like her mother every day. A part of him cared for her, but the circumstances of her conception still deeply troubled him. Seeing the child or her mother always brought back painful memories of the forced mating.

Sighing again, he shook his head and hurried toward the scene of the attack. Once there, he studied the blood pattern and tracks that were still fresh on the ground. This athla’maahk had been needlessly vicious with its kill. From how much blood there was, this was not a kill made from necessity. The tracks were deep in the soft ground. This sar’ora was large and well-fed.

Shouldering his gear, Ardyn walked steadfastly northward into the forest where the tracks led.

Ardyn crept silently through the brush, his eyes focused, his ears scanning for any signs of the beast. He had been stalking the sar’ora for days now, waiting for the right moment to catch it unaware and get a clean shot. When Ardyn came upon the beast again, he found it sleeping next to the remains of its latest kill, a paal’dak. A small creature that would jump into low-hanging branches of trees when startled. The sar’ora had gorged itself and felt secure enough to take a nap within the small clearing.

With his ears lowered back, intent upon his prey, Ardyn failed to notice that the sun had faded behind clouds that were rapidly blanketing the sky. He crouched low and quietly pulled out his bow and an arrow from his quiver. He had barely nocked his arrow when the beast stirred, blinking its three luminous, silver eyes. The wind picked up and howled around them, causing the sar’ora to rise and shake out its silver-grey fur before darting into the undergrowth.

Barely having time to curse the wind, the clouds burst open, and rain pelted down in heavy sheets. The dense cover of trees did little to prevent Ardyn from becoming soaked to the skin in a matter of moments. Putting away the arrow and his bow, Ardyn rose to his feet and ran to seek shelter. The rain and wind whipped tree branches into his face as he ran toward a rocky outcropping he’d seen earlier in the day.

Bright flashes lit the sky, followed by the crack and boom of thunder. Ardyn ran faster, hating to be caught out in the middle of such a fierce storm. He’d seen one too many trees obliterated by lightning in the past. It made him worry about his people back at their settlement with their homes nestled within the treetops.

Ardyn didn’t know how long he ran until he found the entrance to a small cave along a nearby cliff side, nearly hidden behind thick brush. He was lucky to find it at all, with the rain obscuring everything within a few feet in front of him. Stumbling inside, breathless, he sank to his knees onto the dry cave floor.

Once he’d caught his breath, Ardyn sat at the mouth of the cave and watched the storm while he wrung water from his long braid. This storm would not relent soon, so he made camp for the night. Unpacking his gear, he pulled out his bedroll, his waterskin, and some rations.

Being a ranger, Ardyn always had enough supplies to survive in the forest for weeks at a time. Most of the time, he’d hunt and gather the food he needed, but he always carried some rations for times when that wasn’t possible. They made the rations from a mix of dried meat, berries, and herbs. Rangers favored them, as they spent weeks or months away from their home settlement.

Ardyn ate his rations and washed them down with some water. Still soaked to the skin, Ardyn stripped out of his wet leathers and laid them out on the cave floor, hoping they’d dry without the aid of a fire. It would be impossible to find dry wood in a deluge like this. While he huddled nude inside his damp bedroll, Ardyn tried to rub himself warm.

He was on the verge of drifting to sleep when a flash of lightning startled Ardyn awake. Another flash drew his attention to the far side of the cave as the light glinted off something. He may never have noticed it if he hadn’t been looking in that direction. Ever curious, Ardyn rose and made his way toward where he saw the twinkle.

In the dim light of the cave, he could barely make it out. There seemed to be something metallic, partially buried in the dirt that covered the cave floor. If it was metallic, that meant it had to be made by one of those Medellan athla’maakh. That would mean this cave must be one that their hunters used. Ardyn realized he must have strayed too far from his own people’s lands when stalking the beast.

Ardyn’s curiosity got the better of him, and he reached out to see what the half-hidden object was. As he picked it up and brushed the dirt from its surface, he startled and dropped it.

It… glowed.

Occasionally, Ardyn had seen some metal tools the athla’maakh used when he traded with them, but he’d never seen one that glowed. Without touching the object again, he bent closer to study it. As soon as he’d dropped it, the glow had faded. Now it just glinted dully in the dim light. His heart pounded in his chest as he reached out again. As soon as he touched it, the glow came back, making him flinch away.

While his own people shunned technology, he had never feared it. However, he had never seen technology behave like this. What could cause this object to glow from a mere touch? Ardyn steeled his nerves before he reached for the object again, picking it up with a firmer grip. The light it produced was a faint, eerie blue, emanating from a pattern etched on the surface of the silver metal.

Looking more closely at the pattern, Ardyn’s eyes widened in surprise. It wasn’t some random pattern; they were words written in an ancient Athla’naa script. The script was too archaic for him to read, but he recognized it from some ancient scrolls and books the elders kept.

This made little sense. His people didn’t forge metal. They didn’t have technology for anything like this. This object was more advanced than anything Ardyn had ever seen. The metal tools he’d seen the athla’maakh carry were never this polished, and none had ever glowed.

Wanting to understand what this object was, he turned it over, studying it from various angles. It was small, just large enough to grasp comfortably with one hand, and quite thin. Roughly octagonal, it had four sides longer than the others. One edge extended out from the silvery metal and was a reddish color.

The glowing writing only appeared on one side, while the other was smooth with no marks. He looked around, sifting through the dirt of the cave floor to see if there were any other objects like this one, but he found nothing.

Shivering from the cool air in the cave, Ardyn carefully put the object into his pack and slid back into the warmth of his bedroll. Exhaustion hit him, so he settled in to get some much-needed sleep while the storm continued to rage outside. He could worry about the strange object tomorrow.

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