Understanding Life Slip
Ardyn and Atina made camp on the first island. They used magic to raise tents of life and shadow. They worked together as vines, flowers, and dark shadow wove together to create large breathing domes. They sat on pedestals of softly compacted soil. The entire area was lit with soft, vibrant lilac light.
They had both decided to get familiar with the Serenia island chain before heading off to the central weave—and the Sylvani. The people of Serenia—the Sylvani—had given Ardyn a rather accurate map of Serenia. She, in turn, gave it to Atina; their passage had been guaranteed.
Atina went off to scout the next few islands ahead, and Ardyn decided to meditate and try to communicate with Aureas or connect with the Life Slip. She was not confident in achieving both, but she was sure she could do at least one.
She sat down and immediately entered a meditative state. She allowed her perceptions to slowly seep out in all directions. As they moved out, she allowed her songs to awaken and form her inner song. This moved forward and out into her 360-degree arc of perception. She skimmed over the island, understanding how it was positioned and interacted within the magic of Serenia.
The trees here all seemed to be asleep. Their magic was dormant, and their flowering and fruiting cycles seemed to have been paused. She frowned inwardly. Her Song of Nature swelled and moved forward. It braided with her Song of the Tree and wove into the trees of the island and the next island.
The Song of Tree spoke to the trees. It woke them, and the trees listened as they lamented and complained. Slowly, Ardyn began to understand the problems of Serenia.
Her songs of nature and of the tree began to slowly nourish and revive the trees of the two islands. A faint rustling sounded around Serenia. It was a melodious harmony that rose into the skies and down into the mists. Hundreds of Galians rose from the depths of the mists. They rose like ethereal creatures, huge and majestic. They levitated above the mists and up onto the islands with the awakened trees. As they neared the trees, their songs changed, and their flowers bloomed. Fruit quickly grew from the blooms and seemed to present themselves to the Galians.
The ethereal beasts consumed the fruit, and when they ate their fill, they raised their heads, one by one, to the bright, brilliant sky. They sang with the trees, and the magic of the fruits bloomed within them. Magic radiated from them and flowed into the mists and throughout this end of Serenia.
It moved out toward the twin redwoods—the moat of red within the mists shimmered and rose back up into the trees. The twin redwoods swayed toward the two islands—now partially restored—as if they were much-needed sustenance.
As this all happened, the Cheys also changed. Their ancient stone bodies stopped bleeding stone dust and became supple; their cracks smoothing out and sealing.
Only the walkways did not repair—and this proved to Ardyn that the solution had not been truly found.
The Cheys turned to her, their stone eyes, with greenish patina, glaring at her, and she felt their pleading—their need. She sighed and projected an assurance. It was a call and a declaration to all of Serenia that she would find a way; she would help.
Her magic carried on, the Galians continued to feed, and this edge of Serenia continued to improve. The entire while she could not grasp an understanding of the Life Slip; she couldn't even figure out what the Life Slip was.
She took a deep cleansing breath and refocused. She allowed her Song of Tree to take the lead, and she listened—she listened to what the trees had to say to her.
As she listened, a soft voice began to rise within the cacophony. At first, Ardyn did not even understand it was significant, then it rose higher and higher above the unique harmony that was Serenia.
It was a soft, tranquil voice that held a resonance and a power that surpassed everything else.
Then it became clear, and Ardyn knew it was Aureas. She listened to the Aetheric Sea as it explained Serenia, The Life Way, and the Life Slip. Ardyn soaked it all in, the information brewing anew and completing things within her that she did not know were incomplete.
'What you seek is beyond you now. The Life Way is a complex piece of magic, and both the Life Call Talisman and the Life Slip are needed to complete it. You have the first and need to learn the latter. Once you know all four components intimately, you will understand how to perform the Life Way.
'Save Serenia, and you will understand both of the first two components, and you will be halfway to the Life Way.'
Ardyn's soul stirred with anticipation.
She was ready to take this next step. She now understood that the Life Slip was a technique that could not be explained—it had to be learned, embraced, and trusted. It was the first true step toward the Life Way, and Ardyn was ready to begin learning it.
She opened her eyes, breaking her trance, and looked out over the islands of Serenia. She was ready to walk this path.
She was ready to—once again—become more.