Side A – Yasgrid
The house still stood. It wasn’t what it had been, but as Yasgrid and the Shining Heart cast new life into it, the nearly ruined dwelling became a home once more.
That wasn’t the miracle though.
The miracle took the form of four people walking out of a building where only three had been imperiled.
Yasgrid didn’t know their names. Nia had never met them, and none of the magic coursing through Yasgrid’s veins was the sort of provide insight or enlightenment on people or any other subject. Despite that though, she knew who they were.
There were the children, tugging their parents out to the fresh, clean air. There was their mother, stumbling forward under the weight of her husband.
And there was the father and husband. A man Yasgrid was more than a little certain had not survived the ravages of Blood, Flame, and Ruin.
A man who, though clearly not in the best of shape, was nonetheless drawing breath just like the rest of his family.
In the smoke and haze, the family found themselves in an alien landscape, their familiar village rendered strange by the fallen buildings and still blazing structures. The mother, though already exhausted, directed them forward, towards the outskirts of town and away from the flames which were still burning.
Focused on the safety of their children, the parents didn’t see Yasgrid, but the children caught sight of her.
Through their eyes and the startled wave of concern which swept over their features, Yasgrid saw herself, a strange elven woman, wreathed in flames, with the light of rainbows dancing behind her and eyes which were nothing less than pools of magic.
Yasgrid smiled at them both and put a finger to her lips. She had so much more work to do, and their parents had to be desperately in need of the explanations which Yasgrid did not have time to provide.
With a wave of her other hand she cast another stream of magic out to extinguish the home next to theirs, hoping that would show the kids that things were going to be okay.
From how the children’s eyes lit up like twin moons, Yasgrid guessed they’d understood exactly what she was doing, especially when both put their hands to the lips to confirm their pledge of secrecy.
Within her chest a far greater secret beat though.
From beyond the world’s horizon, a frantic, beautiful booming crashed and rumbled ever nearer.
From her tips of her toes to the top of her head, Yasgrid felt the rumble building power and strength as it drew near.
Against the magic she wielded, the storm that Nia was bringing felt overwhelming. Where Yasgrid and the Shining Heart had lacked the sheer might to drown out the flames across an entire village, Nia was guiding enough magic to wash the whole Darkwood away.
Yasgrid wanted to reach out and tell Nia to stop, or to divert the force of her playing, but that wasn’t going to possible. If Nia stopped, all of the people Yasgrid couldn’t reach in time wouldn’t be saved.
And if Nia didn’t use all the force she was leading?
Side B – Nia
She wasn’t going to make it.
They weren’t going to make it.
For all the rousing, surging momentum they’d gathered, for all that they were, each of them, playing better than they ever had before, for all that their hearts were aligned, they weren’t going to reach the spot where Yasgrid stood.
Nia felt the beats of her drum echoing off the dome of the deepest sky. She and the other drummers had passed beyond the reach of the clouds and sunlit blue. Their song rang out where no winds could carry it and they flew along with it.
So far out had they passed that it seemed impossible they could ever travel back to where they’d been.
But they had to.
Nia had to bring them back.
She’d been the one to call them out. She stood as their leader.
But she wasn’t enough.
And that was why they weren’t going to make it.
In the timeless moments of the beats, Nia hung alone in the cosmos and felt how monumentally out of her depth she was.
She was a fledgling drummer.
She knew that.
She’d accomplished amazing things, but that didn’t mean every ridiculous notion that sprang into her head was within her reach.
In the endless quiet, she was able to admit that to herself.
Admit that she wasn’t strong enough to will miracles into existence, and likely never would be. She could get better. She would get better. But she wasn’t always going to win and cover herself in glory.
Sometimes she’d fail.
Sometimes things would end on a sour note and all her efforts would turn to ash.
And that was okay.
She would pick herself up and keep going. She would learn, and develop, and make even better mistakes.
Except…
Except, she hadn’t been looking to cover herself in glory with the fit of madness she was riding.
And it hadn’t been a random idea that had popped into her head.
Something much greater had called to her.
And, most importantly, she wasn’t in this alone.
From the faintest, most distant of echoes, Nia listened for the heart of the beat she and her drummers had developed. Listened to each of the little variations and spins the drummers had colored their playing with.
And then she added a new beat to the mix.
The beat of the Starflame’s heart.
The former Trouble didn’t have a Shatter Drum to work with and it’s magic was not the magic of the drums, but it was something even better.
The beat of Starflame’s heart called out to the beat of every drummer’s heart, adding them to the song and calling it back down to the world that still held them dear.
It wasn’t Nia who picked their destination. It was just her heart that showed them the way. What carried them across the countless were the drummers, all of them united in their desire for this one moment.
They’d made the leap because there was something so terribly wrong that they could make right and they weren’t giving up on that.