Celebration II

"Any chance that we can just set this thing on fire or burn a hole in it?" Bloodmane suggested.

"That would be a good idea if it worked," Haro told him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, to my knowledge, most dragons are born with the ability to breathe fire or utilize some other element. It wouldn't make sense for them to be injured by their own attacks now, would it?" Haro explained.

"Hm, you have a point."

The witch came back after taking Lisler and the lady away somewhere and found everyone gathered around the table. "What are you all doing?" she asked as she walked up to them. Everyone moved over a little to make space for the witch. She looked down at the dragonskin bag. "This..."

The witch picked up the bag and gave it a good look before squeezing it. The thorny vines that were wrapped around her arm extended down to the bag and coiled around it. One of the thorns then slowly ran down one of the sides of the bag and cut it open. Everyone watched in amazement as it happened.

"What's in it?" Bloodmane immediately asked the witch after she finished cutting it open. She turned the bag upside down, placed her hand under the hole, and shook it. A single small white stone fell out of the bag and landed in the middle of her hand.

"Huh? All that for a pretty rock?" Bloodmane picked the white stone out of the witch's hand and held it up in the light to get a clearer look at it. He couldn't find anything special about it and handed it back to the witch.

The witch chuckled and told the werewolf, "This is much more than just some pretty rock you know."

"Hoo... I think I recognize that stone from somewhere." Haro landed on the table and hopped over to the witch's hand to get a good look at the stone. "Yes, I do recall seeing that stone before, but I do not remember the name of it."

"It's called a moonstone. The name comes from its milky white color and smooth surface. And as for what it does, it acts as a catalyst to magic power and is used for storing magic power," the witch explained.

"So that was what it was."

The witch channeled some of her magic power into the stone and it started to glow very faintly. "It looks like the capacity for this stone is quite big," she noted. "Well, since this is your find, it belongs to all of you. You all decide on who keeps it." The witch put the stone and the dragon skin bag back down on the table and walked away.

"Oh, and demoness, could you come with me," the witch asked Ammine.

"Do you need me for something?"

"Yes, we encountered one of your kind in the battle with the Bone Whistler. She just woke up and it doesn't seem like she speaks or understands Centrolio. May you talk with her?"

"One of my kind? A demon?"

"Yes."

"Why would there be a demon here?" Ammine followed the witch into another room where the other demon was being kept.

After the two left, everyone else looked back at the stone. "For starters, we don't need a stone such as this. I mean, none of us can use magic anyway," said Bloodmane.

"Hoot? You don't use magic? What is that red transformation then? Whenever you use it, I sense an unbelievable amount of magic pouring out of you," Haro asked the werewolf.

"Oh, that? That's rather hard to explain, but it's not magic, that's for sure," Bloodmane guaranteed. "Or at least, it's not my magic anyway," he corrected himself after a second.

"What do you mean?" Haro continued asking.

"I was born under the red moon, so I bear the curse or blessing of the red moon, depending on how you interpret this power," Bloodmane explained.

"Ah."

"What is the curse of the red moon?" Kies asked. He didn't understand any of what the two were talking about. What did Bloodmane mean by he was born under the red moon? Well, Kies got that Bloodmane was literally born when the moon was red but he didn't understand how that might mean anything other than being born when it was a blood moon.

The two looked at each other before turning back to Kies. "Child, have you heard of the story of how the first werewolf was born?" Haro asked him.

"No." Kies knew barely anything of the outside world since he was locked in Silverfield for almost his entire life. Most of the things that were taught to him while he was there were all things that were related to the war between the human kingdoms. However, he did learn about a few other things outside of the war, but he couldn't recall who it was that taught him about those things.

"Hoot, this is a long story so sit down and make yourself comfortable."

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