Caregivers Clan: 2

The three empyrians were hardly settled in the water before they were dragged into a memory so suddenly they felt sick. Aule and Griffith were slow to clue into what memory they were about to witness, but Oeric, even with the blurry colours whirling around without taking form, could tell what they were about to see. There was no way for him to describe how much he didn’t want to see this buried memory. 

“No,” Oeric panicked, “Not this, I don’t want to see this.”

“Oeric, breathe,” Aule calmly said. 

“N…No,” Oeric stuttered, “I, I don’t want to see this.”

“Deep breaths,” Griffith urged as he felt his voice fading. 

“I, I can’t -” Oeric couldn’t finish what he was trying to say as the magic of the cavern locked out the present voices. Oeric’s panic only increased with the inability to speak his mind. While he wasn’t unable to speak, he was unable to hear himself. 

In the cavern, his panic shouts bounced off the walls as the Handmaids watched on. 

Meanwhile, in the memory, the Warrenfall environment came into focus. Aule was still confused about what memory they were watching, but as the sun filtered through the autumn leaves of the forest around them Griffith knew exactly what they were about to see. And he could only feel for his panicking friend. 

A young Oeric jumped from branch to branch, uncertain about his wingspan in the tightly packed forest. He was running away from Griffith, and they were laughing playing a game of tag. They were waiting for Aule to come, so at this point of the memory present-day Aule was still unsure what was going to happen. 

The light-hearted game continued for a few more minutes before the pair took a break near a swallow pond. These last few months had been dry, and without any rain, the pond was drying up with all the plants around this area. The two young empyrians waited for another couple of minutes before Aule came to meet them. 

As the three messed around with another game of tag and various activities, the present-day Aule started to realize what they were going to watch. While the day started joyfully, it would end in the worst way. 

In the cavern, the Handmaids remained stoic as Aule whispered, “Oh, no.”

However, back in the memory, the three were still having a blast. Until Oeric tried to fly higher, it started as a joke but quickly turned into a competition of who could fly the highest. Griffith was the first to bow out, feeling uncomfortable that high. Aule and Oeric laughed as they raced each other to the stars. 

Oeric suddenly felt a cramp in his wing, causing him to falter in the sky, and he was unable to right himself as he spiraled to the ground. Griffith and Aule were too slow before Oeric’s body slammed into the ground. The two friends raced to his side to make sure he was alright, but as they reached for him, Oeric’s spark erupted in flames outward, scorching everything. 

Griffith and Aule screamed as the fires burned their fur. They tried to wake Oeric through it all, but it was no use and the two empyrians collapsed next to their friend. Oeric was barely conscious as he witnessed the carnage he caused to his loved ones and the forest around him. It terrified him until he passed out from the pressure. With Oeric’s loss of consciousness, the fire from his body stopped, but the raging forest fire around them continued to burn. 

Aule’s parents would be the first to put out the fire and heal the boys with their wondrous water magic, but that hardly did anything to heal the rift between the friends. 

The memory began to fade away, bringing Oeric’s voice back to him as he flailed around trying to sit up in the water. He breathed heavily as the crystal cavern returned to focus around him. He couldn’t bring himself to look at either of his friends because while they managed to work through the pain of that day, it still left scars. 

Griffith and Aule found the memory frightening, but they spent a long time working through the trauma of that day. They knew it wasn’t Oeric’s fault, he was young and his magic was always wild. In their adult years, they assumed, because their friendship was as strong as ever, Oeric had forgiven himself. However, seeing him cry in the water of this cavern it was clear there was still some time needed. 

Aule and Griffith made moves to comfort their friend, but as they shifted in the water another memory pulled their consciousness away from them. The three empyrians fell back into the shallow water as the new memory rippled in their minds. 

[802]