She was light in his arms, gently swaying with each of his long strides. She seemed to glow in the shadowy cave, startling him. Deeply troubled, he stared down at her.

She felt and looked like a dream. She was so light and so thin that he feared she would disappear at a moment's notice. Never before had he seen another with hair the color of ivory with translucent eyes. She resembled a ghost more than a human, and from the hum he could sense within her, he knew she was more than mortal as him. But he was not one of his own. She seemed fresher, softer. She lacked the jaded edges of those like him.

Maybe she was a delusion derived on by the madness that seemed to trickle through his kind. He had been in the caves for a long time. They all had. It had taken years for them to claw their way to the surface. He shuddered at the memories. That was a time he didn't prefer to dwell on.

She was so bright, he marveled again. He couldn't stop studying the strange creature he carried in his arms, and as he remembered how she got there he tinged with annoyance.

The stupid girl had made all sorts of ruckus at the mouth of the cave. She had lured Beast towards them, and it still stunned him that it hadn't pursued her. Many others had been as foolish as her, seeking it out and finding themselves devoured. Beyond sense he had carried her to safety with him, compromising himself. He had become aware of her during his rounds as he had heard her traipsing through the cave with the grace of a child.

The only reason he brought her with him was the notion that she could naively cry out for him or other people when she awoke. She could chase through the caverns and lead Beast with her. Most likely she would've gotten lost and died after some time, but he wasn't willing to take the chance with his people. Not for the pitiful girl.

He had a long journey back to Community. He lagged with the bothersome girl in his arms. Usually he glided through the caves swiftly and stealthily. He was agile even for his kind. It was what caused him to get chosen for patrol, and he reveled in the silence and isolation of it. Being cramped in the tight boundaries of Community often left him feeling suffocated. He yearned for the freedom of movement and space.

Grunting, he picked up his pace, and wondered what the others would decide to do with the girl upon his return.

The darkness was beginning to wash away as he neared Community. They had learned long ago how to harness their energies into heatless fires of white light.

He scowled as he leapt down the jagged peaks that led down to Community. The girl flopped like a corpse in his arms, limp and motionless, and for a moment he wondered if he had used the wrong spell on her.

He paused and held her up with his right arm, using the other to press his hand against her heart. It thumped wildly, jerking beneath his hand and the enthusiasm of it caused him to jolt back and nearly drop her. Her heart was staggeringly lively, a stark contrast to this slow and lethargic rhythm.

She swayed as he started again, as he toed the rocks carefully as he reached the high ledges. The dusty red rocks below his feet crunched and groaned beneath their weight. He was careful to avoid the weak points he knew all too well from experience, and listened to the cave and he maneuvered his way down to the ground and onto the sleek trail leading to Community.

In the brightness, he could see the curves of her smooth face. Her skin resembled porcelain and her hair shined with brilliance beneath the glowing light. Her luster sickened him, a shot to the gut of how ragged he and his people had become. Who was she to turn up unscathed and the pinnacle of perfection? Who was she to mock him and his kind?

His lips curled in disgust and he went to drop her, to free himself of her revolting beauty, but that reprimanding voice rose above his thoughts and stopped him.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

Sighing, he turned to face Elder Raygen, a small but mighty tyrant of Community. She was one of the oldest, her face creasing in the corners of her eyes, across her brow. Her obsidian hair was always in a frizzy jumble that she attempted to pull back neatly but could never quite manage. Her tight black pants and shirt revealed her tone body, despite her age. It was an attribute to their kind. Only the fit survived.

Forced to concede as she was his elder, a leader among them, he turned and bowed his head in respect. "Elder Raygen," he murmured for propriety.

She frowned at him and the girl, her face withering with her displeasure. "What is this creature?"

He glared down at the weak, willowy girl. "I do not know. She was causing commotion towards the opening of the cave. If I didn't subdue her she would've led Beast to us. She seemed just as ignorant of us as we are her."

"You know nothing else of her?" Raygen pushed.

"No, nothing other than what can be sensed. She is constructed of something sweeter than us. She is...young, inexperienced. She knew nothing of Beast or of stealth. She put up no fight of magyk when I made her sleep. She is pathetic and helpless."

Raygen looked up to him, scrutinizing him now. "Do not be quick to judge. Some of the most powerful appear to be the most weak."

She swiftly turned from him and began to stride towards the heart of Community where Meeting Hall stood. "Come," she called. "Bring the girl with you. The others will want to know of her presence."

As if he hadn't already assumed that?

"Yes, Elder," he replied, obediently trailing her.

Everyone flocked to the hall. They were few in numbers, but felt like many in the cramped and dusty building. Almost everyone in Community had gathered. Elder Raygen had called for a meeting, and she sat on one of the high chairs with Elder Amit and Elder Edmund on her left and right sides. They loomed over everyone, their power overwhelming and emanating throughout the room. Only the strongest and sagest lived to become an elder. Their magyk was something to awe over and their wrath was something to cower from. Yet, it did not intimidate him. He had seen far worse and greater beings.

"This meeting has been summoned over a recent discovery. During regular patrols, a creature was discovered in the caves." A shocked murmured rustled through the crowd, and Elder Raygen waited for it to subside before continuing. "It was not Beast, but a girl. We know she passes some degree of magyk, but her limits are unknown to us, as is her origin. Her presence calls in the question of what is to be done with her.

"After much discussion, we have come to two options." Elder Raygen's voice boomed. "Either we terminate the girl before giving her a chance to regain consciousness and dispose of the threat before it presents itself. Or, we can wait her out, study and watch her before deciding whether or not she must be exterminated. We leave the vote to you."

Once of the older members spoke up; one of the most experienced, but not yet an elder. "Is it possible to test her power before coming to a decision?"

Others rumbled with agreement and Elder Raygen turned to her peers. They exchanged wordless communication before she turned back to the people. "A test can be provided." Her eyes ran through the crowd, stopping on the boy who held the creature. "Bring the girl forth," Elder Raygen commanded.

He hesitated for a sliver of a second, pondering what the elders sought to do, but he smoothed away his irrelevant concern and carried the girl forward. All eyes burned him as he marched to the front of the hall and faced the elders.

Elder Raygen waved her arm. "Set her down on the podium and step back."

The boy conceded and placed her down, his eyes following her head as it lulled back as he set her down on the cold surface, reminding him of the last desperate stare she had shot him before she slipped under. Would he be the last thing she ever saw?

Her radiance screamed out at him, and he fought the urge to tumble back. He inhaled deeply, stepped back slowly, and looked away from her and back to the elders.

The three eerie elders stood and stepped down. Each placed themselves opposite of the others in a triangle around the girl. Underneath their breaths, they began to chant in a language long forgotten, and light seeped from them, lurching out and to the girl.

It nearly blinded him and almost knocked him back. He gritted his teeth and watched her as her body began to spasm beneath the raging magyk. It poured out from Elder Amit first. He drowned her in it, and she continued to twitch and contort, he looked to Elder Edmund who followed suit. He felt the dizzying vibrations, exhilarating the magyk that pulsed through him. It hummed in his veins and made him grow disoriented. Everything blurred outside of the sight before him.

Elder Raygen frowned at the girl; watching her strangely as she writhed under their power. She took a step towards her, reached her hand out to the girl's forehead, and the hums grew to a fever pitch, soaring and bellowing, they –

It all stopped, time froze, and he was enthralled as he watched the girl sit up and stare at him. All the elders stood in place as time had halted. Her gaze seared his as her lips moved, and he struggled to make out the words.

"Acacia," she whispered. "My name is Acacia."

She looked back to the elders, watching them warily, and then turned back to him. "You have to make them stop, or else it will all end. I'll end," her voice was painfully soft. "You'll end. All of your people will cease. You have to make them—"

"Stop!" he screamed, racing towards her, drawn by a force unknown to him.

The girl had begun to shriek beneath Elder Raygen's touch. The sound almost caused his ears to burst and bleed as it rose. The elder's eyes jerked to the boy bellowing towards them.

"Don't you hear her? It hurting her," he shouted. He halted before the podium, his arms reaching through the radiating magyk and to the girl, the mere force of it burning at his flesh.

"Have you lost your mind?" Elder Edmund bellowed. "Get back, fool!"

Elder Raygen's face had gone white. She yanked herself back. "Stop. Listen to him."

The others looked at her as if she was mad too. They hesitated until she yelled once more.

"She has bound him," Elder Raygen gasped. "Stop or she will end him."

They jumped back, eyes casted towards the boy as he flung himself on the girl, their bodies igniting with a brilliant light. The elders watched, stunned and dumbfounded.

Elder Raygen was the one to act, pushing everyone out of the hall and slamming the doors shut. She stood over the boy and girl, her heart tumbling in her chest.

A millennium seemed to pass before the boy began to move again, pulling the girl up with him and cradling her head in his hands. He brushed her long white hair from her face and murmured near her ear, "Awake."

Upon his command, the girl began to stir, and her wide eyes fluttered opened.