Chapter Text
There are strange things in Xadia. Maybe 'strange' would not be an appropriate expression to an elf, who lived their whole life there, but to a human it is indeed very strange. There are all kinds of wonders, magical creatures, trees higher than the eyes can see, deserts more scorching than skin can bare. Mountains surrounded by eternal storms, Oceans bluer, deeper, deadlier than anywhere else in the world.
Xadia truly is a place of mystery and wonder. This is common knowledge for humans and elves alike. Enne was no exception. The little moonshadow elf was sitting on a higher branch of a great tree, just around the outskirts of Moonshade village. The girl looked young, barely a decade old. Her pale lilac skin reflected the moon and stars perfectly, her white hair glimmered in the night light. Her markings looked relatively new, purple lines that travelled from her jaw, up to her eyes, and little swirls accomodating the primary marks. Her horns were still small, just peaking out of her fluffy white hair. She was in traditional moonshadow silver and green, curly patters decorating her shirt.
Her glowy yellow eyes were watching the starry sky, focused, as if she was looking for something. Enne often came here to be by herself. To be away from the judging looks, the mean words of her town. Has someone been present to witness this sight, he or she might have tought there were thin streaks of tears running down the little elf's cheeks, which was absolutely ridiculous! Because there most definately weren't. Every snot faced kindergarten moonshadow knows that crying is for babies. And Enne was in fact, not a baby anymore. So there was absolutely no way that there would be any existence of tears, anywhere near Enne.
She looked up at the stars again, longingly wishing she could get away from it all. If she could only float and be in the night sky, surely no dumb bullies would be bothering her there. She kept dreaming along these lines until, as if the universe would have taken this chance to ironize her, instead of Enne coming closer to the stars, the stars came closer to Enne.
Suddenly a sharp, whistling sound cut through the night, followed by a loud thundering noise. Enne barely had time to react as a bright, hot blur of blue and purple soared over her head from behind, missing her only by a few feet, plummeting into the ground with even more noise.
Enne had to take a moment to process the events that just occurred. A literal star came and crashed in front of her.
A LITERAL. STAR.
She immediately goes to check it out.
With that she wasted no more time, closed her gaping mouth, and started to climb down from her branch. It took a good ten minutes to find where the shooting star landed, because it was already dark, and Enne's eyes, altough a moonshadow's but a young one at that, still haven't developed the ability to see in the night, like a fully grown moonshadow elf's are. So she had to mainly rely on her smell, to pick up the scent of smoke.
Eventually, she came upon the destroyed trees, burnt undergrowt, and scorched soil. She followed the path of destruction, till she reached where she assumed the fallen star was, hence the hole and the eerie blue glow radiating from inside it. At that moment she hesitated. Was she really about to go near this thing? Who knows what the other side of the crate holds? Mom surely wouldn't let her. She looked around, slightly paranoid, as if making sure said mother wouldn't bust out of the shadows to scold her.
Before she had any time to think things through properly, something began to move inside the crate. Scraching sounds could be heard, growl-like grunts echoed from the area of the impact. A figure climbed up the edge of the hill, that it created by crashing into the ground, features shaded thanks to the blue light that emitated from behind it. Enne wouldn't move. The reasonable thing for her to do would have been to run, call for help, but it felt like her feet rooted into the burnt soil. She wouldn't budge. The figure opened it's eyes, and looked down at the frightened little elf with it's glowing green orbs. It took a step forward.
Then it stumbled.
It let out a few girly whines of pain as it rolled down the little hill, as it was abused by several rocks and branches. He, because he was indeed a he, landed facefirst right in front of Enne's feet. She could make out his features clearly now. The boy looked around the same age as her. He was a strange thing to look at, too. He had bluish, purple skin, long messy hair, white like the milky way. His horns altough still small, definately more majestic, and bigger an elf's his age should be. His marks were bright and shiny, three little diamonds in a line under each of his eyes, and a bigger one in the middle of his forehead.
Speaking of eyes, Enne has never ever seen eyes such as this boy's before. His sclera was a really, really dark gray, but not completely pitch black and his irises were the most radiant, burning green she has looked upon. His face, and arms were covered in bright, white freckles, glowing like stars in the midnight sky. Enne was mesmerized by the little star motes on his skin for just a moment, until she was interrupted by the boy suddenly speaking up. "Greetings!" He said with a straight, yet somehow still curious face. Enne jumped back a little bit, startled by the boy.
"Did...did I say something wrong? Can you understand me?" He titled his face, still expressionless.
Enne nodded. "Y-yeah."
"Oh, good" said the young elf as he suddenly rose up to his feet.
The boy was only a few inches taller than the little moonshadow. He wore a blue tank top with a few golden stars plasteted on them as decoration. His gray, baggy pants were torn, and he was barefoot. He looked around.
"Strange place." He mused. "I didn't see this part of the Green Lands with my spells."
Enne suddenly forgot the alien-like strangeness of the situation and asked him excitedly "You know how to do spells?" The boy looked at her. "Oh yeah, look-" he drew a few simple, sparkling lines in front of him, gathering magic energy.
"Divinatio"
His eyes suddenly flashed in a yellow light for a second, fading away as quickly as it brightened. He spoke up."You left your footwear at a really big tree in your hurry." Enne looked down and indeed, she was without her boots.
Slightly flustered at her forgetfulness, she asked. "How did you know about the great tree?" She wondered. "Divination lets me see stuff. That's how I learned about the Green Lands from my temple." He explained
"What temple?" She asked. The boy just looked at her, his face still unreadable then pointed to a very bright star in the sky, one that seemed to be closer than the others.
"My temple."
Suddenly Enne put two and two together. She gasped and turned to the newcomer with wide eyes."You're a Startouch elf!!" She exclaimed. "I am?" Asked the young startouch. "You are!" Enne continued. "I tought there wasn't any left of you anymore! Oh my gosh, what's your name!?" He looked at her with curios, yet confused eyes.
"What?"
"Your name!"
"What's a name?"
Enne blinked. "Do you...not have a name?" "I keep telling you, I don't know what that is." Enne could not believe this. "It's your name! What you're called! How you identify yourself! It's important!"
The kid looked a little flustered. "I...haven't been called anything yet." His face went a little purple. "This is the first time I met someone other than starfish." He added so quietly, Enne almost didn't hear. The moonshadow elf's heart clenched just a little. This boy...he was just like her. Alone, and completely lost. He didn't even have a name! Her mother always told her that names are important.
So she decided. "Alright. How about I give you a name?" The Startouch's eyes lit up, altough his face still quite monotone. "You can do that?" He asked. "Of course, let me think." She looked him over, regarded every feature of his. When her eyes caught his very conveniently shaped horns.
"How about Bug?"
...
"Bug?"
"Yes, Bug! Your horns remind me of a specific type of moonbeetle! So it's fitting." She explained with a big smile. "Fitting..." He repeated in a monotone voice. Then for the first time since he landed, he smiled. He began to giggle. Then giggles turned into laughter. His bell-like voice echoed through the forest, as he was holding his sides. Enne blushed a deep crimson. Was the name silly? Did he really find it that cringey that he literally got a laughing stroke out of it?
"What's your name?" The young boy asked the little elf, still breathy from all the laughing.
"...Enne.." Said the girl a little more shyly than before
"Nice to meet you Enne." He gave her a big, radiant smile.
"My name is Bug"
