(The Birth of Natanstrelle)

"Gren, Vidurram has sent me to talk to you," Severton spoke to the imprisoned Troll locked up inside an isolation hut that was erected for him alone within the wilderness.

"Go away!" Severton heard the imprisoned Troll's melancholic tone seep through the small gaps in the thick, wooden door.

"No Gren, I won't leave. I'm going to open the door. I'm trusting that you'll not be foolish."

Severton unlocked and opened the heavy door, letting light pour in. Gren squinted as he reacted to the brightness and got up from the sand-covered floor. The disgruntled Troll stroked his dirty hand across his short, dark, spiky hair, then clawed his tensed fingertips down his face as he allowed his scorching eyes to glance up into Severton's calming red gaze. The isolation hut's door was shut again, trapping both of the Trolls inside the small, darkened space. Only the fires in their eyes managed to light up their faces.

"Vidurram and Vidorea want to speak to you, along with the Fairy chief. They wish to release you from your bondage," Severton explained.

"You mean they want to execute me?" Gren muttered his suspicion, the scowl upon his heavy set brow betraying the mistrust he had in his Troll kin. "If they wish to speak to me, why did they send you? Is this their way to get me to walk willingly to my punishment? Through your scent calming me?"

"No, Gren, not at all. They do wish to speak to you. They want to give you the chance to explain what truly happened, so that Natanstrelle can be established and all can move forward," Severton said, placing a strong hand on his tribesman's broad shoulder.

"What is Natanstrelle?" Gren demanded, shrugging his cousin's hand off.

"It is what the Fairies decided to name the reformed land. A new home for united Fairies and Trolls," Severton answered him. "It translates from Fairy Language to Floating Stars."

"Floating Stars? Is this some sort of sick joke?" Gren's angry response came out calmer than he wanted, showing that Severton's unique condition was taking effect on his nervous system.

"What do you mean, Cousin?"

"They named the new land after their tribesman's soul rising. A soul that rose only because this Troll sent it to the sky!" Gren ranted, whilst thumping his balled fist into his chest.

"Gren..."

"The Fairies seek revenge for their tribesman. I'd be foolish to believe otherwise! They cry out for my blood. They've even managed to poison some Trolls against me!"

"Vidurram will not let anything happen to you!"

"He doesn't care about me! His Fairy wife has twisted his mind! I heard him. He blames me for destroying his ceremony day. He wants me dead just as much as his wife's people do!"

"Nobody wants you dead! You mustn't think that!" Severton snapped back, a sudden wave of frustration crashing through him. His desperate words were met by a humourless laugh, which got deeper and deeper in tone, until a haunting rumble took over the hut.

Shocked by the strange sound, Severton took a stumbling step back towards the closed door.

"Where are you going?" A deep unworldly growl made him hover mid-step. His red eyes transfixed onto the deep, black void that had taken over his cousin's once bright, flaming gaze.

"Y-your eyes..." Severton's voice came out in a trembling whisper. "What's happened to your eyes?"

An evil grin took over Gren's face, a face that Severton could no longer recognise. He watched him straighten up and hold himself in an intimidating stance.

"G-Gren?"

"Gren is not available at the moment," the low rumbling answered, twisting Gren's possessed face into a dark smirk.

"W-who are you?" Severton did not dare to even blink as his cousin began to advance menacingly towards him.

With a vicious, strong hand Gren clasped Severton around the throat, making the red eyed Troll gasp in surprise. He then brought his lips to his cousin's pointed ear, and whispered in a dark, sinister tone. "I am the one the Great Power calls Noir-Astra!"

Then in one swift and strong movement, he threw Severton onto the dusty ground and kicked him until he began to spit blood.

Kneeling beside the lake in the West once again, Vidorea and Vidurram sought counsel with Illuminare-Trabem. Severton's desperate reports of his visit with the new world's prisoner had disturbed them to the core. Not only the utterance of an unknown, ominous name, but the fact that Severton barely made it out of the prison hut alive. It was close to a miracle that he managed to get out and keep Gren locked inside. He did so, then collapsed only yards away from the isolated hut.

Cuts and bruises littered his trembling skin, all colour had gone from his traumatised face, and the red fire in his eyes had dulled to a weak ember. What once was a Troll of strength, bringing hope to others, was now a shivering wreck being nursed by a distraught Nèopri. He lay inside the main tent in Chridocus, brought there by Trolls and Fairies who had found him lying in the wilderness' sand.

Shining stars danced upon the rippling waters of the lake, as a beacon of golden light displayed the Great Power's presence.

"Noir-Astra has been waiting dormant for so long. Waiting for his time. All he needed was rage and willing, open eyes," Illuminare-Trabem's velvety voice embraced the first couple of Natanstrelle's ears.

"The darkness enters through the eyes? That means it first entered Sol!" Vidorea announced the connection she had made - remembering vividly what she saw at her joining ceremony feast.

"Indeed, Child. Gren and Sol have been tricked and have been forced to pay a great price."

"How could this happen?" Vidurram asked through clenched teeth, as he fought to keep his emotions at bay.

"The darkness is sly, it is fast and it is ruthless," the Great Power's voice echoed his ever calm tone.

"You didn't warn us," Vidorea mumbled, making Vidurram look at her with warning in his fiery eyes. This look caused her to shake her head. "Am I wrong to say this? It's true, is it not? Illuminare-Trabem, you didn't warn us. Why didn't you tell us about this darkness?"

"There was nothing that you could've done to stop this from happening my dear violet Sìthicris," the powerful voice spoke as a parent would to a child.

"Well, if we couldn't do something, why didn't you do something?" Vidorea questioned further, "Sev is broken, surely he will never be the same again! And Nèopri is so worried, she had opened up her heart to him. She seeks to one day be joined to him."

"And so they shall, Vidorea, all hope is not gone." Illuminare-Trabem's tone didn't waver, it stayed true. It was calm, collected and full of knowledge that was beyond what both Vidurram and Vidorea could ever fathom.

Vidurram shook his head, a scowl etched in his brow. "Sev would never harm even the smallest blade of grass. It is not fair that he should be attacked the way he was!"

"I hear and understand the pain you feel for your brother. But I promise you, he shall heal. Nèopri will bring the fire back in his eyes."

A long shuddering sigh fought out of the Troglobha's chest as he squeezed his eyes shut in deep despair.

"Hear me Vidurram, I am with you. I shall never leave you, and together - you, your people and myself - we will overcome the darkness and Natanstrelle will be as it should be."

"I don't understand..." Vidorea spoke up in a trembling whisper, the weakness in her voice making Vidurram hug his strong arm around her petite Fairy form.

"Things are difficult to understand when you don't see the full picture." The warmth within Illuminare-Trabem's patient words caressed the couple's souls. "All you must do is trust me, trust my words and follow my instructions."

"So there is something we can do?" Vidurram asked, hope returning to his dimmed irises.

"There is indeed something that must be done about Gren the Troglobha - Noir-Astra's new vessel. And it must be done as soon as possible."

"What must we do?" Vidorea asked, glancing quickly between her husband and the shining lake.

"You must open a portal, a portal to a separate world. A world that starves Noir-Astra's power. Sending Gren there will indeed save his life, but at a great price, for he will be lost in this other world for the rest of his days." Illuminare-Trabem's words struck Vidurram hard in the chest and Vidorea let out a long and heavy sigh.

Once the news sank in, with a nod, Vidurram, bravely rose to his feet, bringing his wife alongside him.

"We'll do it, Illuminare-Trabem," Vidurram declared, his hand holding his wife's in a steady grasp.

Vidorea, who was moved by her husband's courage and loyalty to Illuminare-Trabem, nodded her head in agreement, took in a deep breath and said with certainty, "We will trust you, Illuminare-Trabem, for who else can we possibly trust?"

"I am proud of you, my dear dear children. And for your obedience I shall bless your joining further." The Great Power then reached out his hand of pure light and caressed Vidorea's abdomen, leaving a heat inside of her. "Your child shall be the first of a new race, and it will be through this race that light magic will prosper and overcome the darkness once and for all."

An understanding smile curved Vidorea's pink lips as she stroked her hand over her belly. She looked up towards her husband, whose face reflected her look of pure happiness. Without needing to say a word, they embraced each other with tears of joy trickling down their cheeks.

"My friends, Sìthicris and Troglobha alike," Chief Dìonad addressed the gathered tribesmen within the walls of Chridocus. "Thank you for gathering here today in this unified fashion. Now, my daughter wishes to speak to you all."

"Thank you, Father," Vidorea bowed her head towards the chief then turned towards all who looked upon her violet form. "The events leading up to this moment have been both sweet and bitter, as you all well know. There is much to be done to put away all things that cause us division and for us to move forward."

"How are we to even start?" a distraught Sìthicris called out amongst the crowd. "Sol was murdered in cold blood! How can we be certain that Troglobha won't do this again?" The rose coloured Sìthicris' words caused the fire within the Troglobha tribesmen's eyes to spark, which then made the rest of the Sìthicris glow brighter in response.

"Indeed, something must be done!" Pula spoke up with an equal level of intensity as her rose cousin.

"Yes and something is to be done!" Vidorea projected from her platform. "Vidurram and I have sought counsel with Illuminare-Trabem himself, he has given us instructions."

"What instructions are these? Is the guilty Troglobha going to pay for what he did to Sol?" Pula demanded, "Surely he does not deserve to live!" What the orange Sìthicris added made a few Troglobha standing around her growl in response.

"Now friends," Vidurram interrupted, "More death is not the answer. Gren is imprisoned and is to face further punishment, that is for certain. But there shall be no more violence."

"What do you know? Trog!" Bhilina spat, making her hands glow with her pink light. She squared up bravely towards the other Troglobha that snarled in response to the slur that she dared to use.

"Enough!" Vidurram held out his hand in warning towards his kinsmen.

"Don't we have the right to avenge our brother?" Pula questioned further, as the Troglobha backed down in obedience to Vidurram.

"There is a better way, Pula," Vidorea spoke up, her eyes glowing a warm violet.

"What better way?" the orange Sìthicris scoffed.

"Illuminare-Trabem's way," Vidorea answered in a straight-forward tone, which shut Pula up.

Then, turning her focus back towards the crowd, Vidorea held above her head a rolled up scroll. "Written here, is the recipe of the Patengailte Potion, invented by Iluminare-Trabem himself. This potion shall open a portal to another land, where magic cannot dwell. This shall be the place that Gren will live out his days. He shall live a separate life with new opportunities, but for his actions and the darkness inside him, he must live those days separate from Natanstrelle and this land's magic."

A loud sound of numerous voices rumbled through Chridocus as the crowd took in what they had just heard. Some sounded happy towards the decision, others utterly baffled and a few outraged.

"However, that is not all that Illuminare-Trabem has told us to do to mend this trying time," Vidorea raised her voice over the noisy crowd. She waited until they all quietened down and were ready to listen before she continued.

"Look at the walls surrounding you."

All present did as they were asked and took in the white walls of Chridocus, which stood proudly around them.

"Do you see the symbols? Vidurram carved them himself. These are symbols given by the Tree creatures to represent different aspects of our nature's magic. Food crop, healing crop, plants with magical properties, our land's creatures and our hopes for our future. All aspects of goodness in our lives are represented." Vidorea took in a deep breath as she allowed the Sìthicris and Troglobha to take in what she had just explained. She then let it out in a long drawn out blow. "Now, watch this."

She gave Vidurram the scroll that she was holding, and lifted her glowing hands above her head. The carved symbols began to shine a bright gold. Then like many, golden butterflies, the symbols fluttered around the crowd and landed upon all who stood within Chridocus, filling everybody - Sìthicris and Troglobha - with warmth and a new sense of peace.

"This shall be a tradition in Natanstrelle. This is what we must do to banish hard feelings and temptation of revenge. Doing this brings about peace and true family connection. This magical practice has been named by Illuminare-Trabem himself. This is Beanna-Cessori - the Ancestor's Blessing."