Prompt 3

A large, equine figure stood above the young absol, peering down at him with piercing red eyes, “Rise, ye who speak for the Gods, and accept thy duty among the stars.” With a stomp of its mighty hoof, Astraios awoke from the odd dream.

“Astraios?” The rotom smiles, a false smile that doesn’t reach their eyes.

“Ah,” he clears his throat, blinking as the bright lights of the set sear into his eyes, “sorry, yes?”

“The people would love to know what your history is, would you be so kind as to-?”

The voices blurred together as the young absol sat there, confused. The cloaked figures spoke in hushed whispers, and conversed with.. Someone. He could no longer recall their faces or names. He did remember their seeming anguish, and felt the blurry figures watching him. Before they could speak to him, he was being ushered away. The cloaked figures continued to whisper, yet they now also spoke to him. “You recieved a vision, yes?” The others mimicked them, repeating ‘a vision’ in ominous unison.

“..Astraios, move, we’ve got a job to do.” The brutus houndoom fusion barked. He now found himself back in the mountains- How did he get here..? Was he not just in an interview? The houndoom nudged him forward, into a cave.

The figures stopped once they had reached a cave. Odd drawings were carved into the walls, and painted with the juice of berries. The absol looked up at the figure nearest to him.

“Where are we, ████?” He couldn’t remember the name of the figure, he knew it was an oddity, like the rest of the things around him. 

The figure didn’t look towards him. “We are Home.”

“My home is not here, my home is back where you found me!”

“Your home is here now, you have a gift. It would do you good to remember that, and remember now your home is here.”

He jolted, as a soft paw tapped him. The small wurmple fusion looked up at him, a concerned look on their face. “Lord Astraios.. Are you alright?”

He took a shaky breath, lightly nudging his friend away from him. He didn’t know how he wound up back home. Was he not on a mission with Icarus? He wasn’t okay, he knew that, and yet, “I’m quite alright, Soleil, do not worry.”

The small critter scowled a little, before gently patting Astraios’s paw. “I believe as you say, friend, but I implore you.. Do not exhaust yourself. You have not seemed to be of sound mind these past few days..”

“I understand, thank you, Soleil.”

The little pokemon nodded, before walking away, leaving Astraios alone in the cave.

The cave was silent as he worked, headache forming as he attempted, in futility, to connect with the Gods. His frustration grew with each attempt, tears of anger forming in his eyes. He took a shaky breath, stamping his foot. ‘This is foolish!’ He thought, huffing as he stood up. A walk would clear his mind. He left the cave, following the pathway the Seers had cleared for him in instances like these. He kicked some stones off the drop to his side, grumbling.

He didn’t expect a small voice to break his lonely silence. “Are you quite alright, young prophet?” He jumped, looking around with bristled fur. The voice chuckled. “You shan’t find me in the plane of Aezesos, child. Worry not, however, I intend not to harm you. I am Nyx, though you may know me as Lunala, Goddess of the Night. Tell me, what is it you go by?”

He was once more snapped out of his trance, now sat before a wall. Several draws littered the cold stone, and paint covered the absol’s hands. Behind him, a mechanical Pokemon watched.

“You’re ill of mind. That’s not good for a prophet such as yourself.”

“I.. I assure you, I’m fine, Pandora.”

“Do you know how much time has passed since you last gained clarity?”

“A few days..?”

“Two weeks. You need rest, Astraios.”

“No. I d-“

“Look before you, at the things you have created.” He did such, and was met with a large painting- A bat-like creature adorned in night stars, and a visor like object covering their face. Astraios stumbled back, breath shaky. He found himself being picked up by the other pokemon. “Soleil informed me of your odd behaviour. He was worried. You may have fooled Icarus and the reporters, but they are not so easily swayed. I shan’t be leaving until you have recovered- Let us no longer think of pasts long gone. Let us look only towards the future; To where we shall go rather than where we have been.”