Bris didn't know exactly what she was talking about but he'd heard disturbing whispers about magical ecosystems already facing dangers. It was strange, a much advanced timeline than their own world, and he wondered if the linking that had begun and the entry of some members of the magical protection agency and the temple into Fantastoria had been the cause. He had no proof, though, and was reluctant to point fingers without it.
That members of the temple were also turning on the bound races wasn't something he really wanted to think about. Ash was in a very precarious position with the temples of Sidus, constant rumors circulating with no discernible source. They ranged from the normal ones he knew had likely reached her own ears, that she might be something other than a Starborn with how different she acted from Lord Sidus, to much more dangerous ones: that none of the Starborn had been meant to survive the Grand Hunt, that his own lord had initiated the hunt in order to wipe them out for unknown reasons.
He settled by the pond, drawing her with him to sit on the ground to talk. As anxious as he was to get back to his work of trying to protect the bound races of Fantastoria, he was far more so for her safety and well being. She was all that was left keeping Terra from falling to corrupted magic, the last one capable of fighting it off as it slowly overtook the entire planet and her magic was failing.
He could help her, it was his job to guard over hunting on Terra and his job to try to educate those that hunted the bound races as to why it was a terrible idea. Many humans, though, no longer remembered what it was like to live in a world where their magical ecosystems weren't collapsing and dungeons cropping up in strange places.
He'd met Lucrum, the lone god of Terra able to interact with it, and spoken much. Between the two, the idea to link the worlds of Terra and Fantastoria had come to be. Lucrum wanted to be able to properly join the pantheon and needed people to worship him in order for that to happen. Bris wanted people to be educated on what a properly balanced magical ecosystem looked like, what they could restore their own world to with some effort. Their goals aligned and, after much back and forth with the temples, they'd gotten the support to make it happen.
Looking down at Ashterra, feeling how her magic wavered, he worried that he had been far too focused on that goal. He'd never even thought to test his own magic against hers, had taken it as simple fact that it would be someone else to help her.
He asked after what was going on, getting the story of how Ash had started out in Fantastoria in the process. A valuable poison had been stolen and inadvertently used on her instead of its intended target. That target was already too strong to fight without the poison and so they had no choice but to leave it to grow stronger. They only had twenty-six days remaining until the flame boar came to attack the city of Redwood Stars in its search for food.
It simultaneously felt like a lot and not nearly enough. They had nearly a month to ready themselves, to make sure the Godsborn were ready as well. As he sat and spoke with her, he coaxed out more of her time in Fantastoria. She wove a tale that was already packed with happenings. It also concerned him deeply because she didn't mention Terra in the tale she wove save for once when she spoke of feeling her body stop breathing.
Curious, he asked a bit of an indirect question to get the answer he was after, "Don't you need to wake soon to eat?"
Ash shook her head ever so slightly, looking away from Bris and to her starseeing pond in search of peace. Reminded of Terra, of the condition she was really in, there was no peace to be found. Normally, he'd be right and she would actually be waking in order to be ready to visit at least the main temple for the Starlight Festival.
"I don't spend much time awake these days," she admitted in a wavering voice, "My magic is far too broken, so much so that I am in constant pain when awake. My only time awake is for the cleansing anymore, three months out of the year and sometimes an extra day or so for the Starlight Festival. This year, though, I will be sleeping through the festival on Terra."
That news spoke far more strongly to how bad her condition was than the feeling of it he got from touching her. He'd convinced himself at least a little that she was still in good enough condition to be living a normal life. After all, they were of a similar age and his own magic had only recently started to break under the strain of all that he did.
"Why are you in so much pain?"
He was afraid he knew the answer, terrified that she was far closer to death's door than he wanted to think about.
Ash sighed heavily and looked up at the Star Ash that dominated her grove, "Do you know how many Star Ash this world has?"
He shook his head, not entirely sure how the question was connected to her condition though he knew the Star Ash were replacements for the Starborn in other worlds.
"There is one in the center of every settlement no matter how small. Either the settlement is developed around it or one of the precious seeds is planted years before they start building. They can also be found in the wilds. I have seen four of them and I've truly only been here in my own grove, in Redwood Stars and in Gold Arches. We didn't deviate from the path on the way to Gold Arches and so didn't see any out there. Still, though, just the number of settlements adds up to a lot more than the forty-six Starborn that existed on Terra. Especially since sixteen of them were dead by the grand hunt before the gods were sealed from the world."
He'd never realized how incredibly low the number of Starborn unicorn was, had made the mistake of assuming the Starlight unicorns helped them in their spells. The way Ash spoke, though, told him otherwise fairly clearly. On the day the gods had been sealed from the world she had been one of but thirty Starborn and by sunset she'd been the last.
"Surely if there are so few of you, you were made powerful enough to do your job without repercussion?"
Ash shook her head once more, "We are the first children of the gods to be woven, I have been told. The gods are only called to create the bound races when the world grows close to needing them…Since Terra is one of the first worlds," she shrugged slightly, "The gods didn't know the burden we would have and our power is our downfall for it means there are far too few of us for the job. It would have been fine, we were managing as the world's magic grew…Then the grand hunt began."