Chapter 1: i don't even know your name
Autumn begins on a cloudy day with a slight chance of fairy showers. The streets are barren, save for a few trucks on the Maiden Bridges. Lunar magic clings to the very fabric of the city, and the people move as if commanded by the celestial goddess herself.
It’s every bit as beautiful as promised. But not, of course, nearly as beautiful as himself.
“You do realize this is why people say you’ve got more hot air than lunar running through you, right?” Austin’s voice is exasperated as it bubbles through the magic mirror within Kai’s grasp, his eyes fond in spite of the dry voice falling from his lips.
All the while, Kai sits with one leg strewn over the other, lowers his sunglasses, and says, “No.” He adjusts the golden collar of his sparkly gray cloak, the matching golden ascents standing out against the backdrop of gray and rain. Traveling on a cloud of rain of his own making, Kai makes his journey over the Bridge with about as much enthusiasm as he can muster. “I am the very picture of humility.”
The rain begins, with intermittent shrieking fairies, shortly after pulling over the Lunar Hotel. Umbrella-wand braced against his shoulder, Kai sniffles and teleports a handful of enchanted moon quarters to the hotel manager in pre-greeting. His silver rain boots squeak as he makes landfall and allows his personal cloud to dissipate in a puff of moonbeams and stardust.
A few bellhops are gathered underneath the Hotel’s awnings, among them Evangeline, with a barely-suppressed smile to boot. All at once, any longing Kai might’ve felt for the Gray Moons Guildhouse seems to evaporate. Moonwater is a new city, unlike anything he’s ever known. But Austin and Evangeline are family. So long as they’re here, he’ll be fine.
With a quiet inhale, Kai starts down the long roll of red carpet stretched out for him. He’s moved onto greeting the bellhop and is preparing to enter the Hotel when a giant mass of blue fur suddenly descends upon them. Startled gasps tear from the crowd as Kai’s knocked into a puddle of muddy water.
Thunder ripples through the air, outraged cries igniting the atmosphere as lightning crackles over the silvery sign of the Hotel. His mirror fizzles out until Austin’s voice is nothing more than a memory. Annoyed, Kai peers through the panicked crowd of people. Amongst many wizards and vampires, he makes out a lone wolf, taller and broader than anyone he’s ever seen.
The Astra has stories about wolves, the kind that serve more as cautionary tales than anything grounded in fact. And as with all cautionary tales, Kai views the stories as nothing more than forgotten childhood nightmares.
But this wolf’s neither a cautionary tale nor a childhood nightmare. She is, for all intents and purposes, a wolf, in the same sense that he is a wizard. Strip away the bells and whistles, the cloaks and claws, that’s all they are; simple and innocent as a newborn that’s yet to even receive a name.
Sirens disappear, shrill fairy cries thinned out into nothing until all Kai hears is raindrops on asphalt. With a coat of fur varying in shades of blue, she locks eyes with Kai and stalks closer on her unsteady twos. She crouches before him, sharp fangs just hidden behind a full set of lips as she simply watches him. And her eyes, as wide and luminescent as the moon, stare so deeply into his own, it’s like staring into open space.
She lifts one of her front paws and says four simple words: “Hey, stranger. Lose somethin'?”
When Kai finally finds his breath, he spares a glance at the wolf’s paw, and to his astonishment, finds his wand clenched between her claws. “Thank you.” He accepts the wand gratefully, noting just how very thick and soft her fur is before looking up at her once more. He falters, and the wolf raises her fuzzy eyebrows. “Sorry, you’ve got some…gray. In your fur. N-no, right there.”
The wolf blinks, her fangs contorting into something that resembles a smile, and fills Kai with a warmth he’s been longing for since he first left the Astra. “Thanks. And uh, sorry for knockin’ you over, I guess.”
Within moments, she’s up and over the fence surrounding the perimeter of the Hotel. A moment passes where they hold one another’s stare. The wolf smiles again, though this time with far less teeth. “See you around, stranger.”
As quickly as she’d arrived, she disappears. Kai rises to his feet and lifts his umbrella over his head, mystified before the sound of gurgling greets his ears. He shakes his head, calms his expression, makes a beckoning curl off his finger. Silver wisps of light surround his mirror and fish it out of the puddle. “Nice,” Kai says with a dejected sigh.
“Kai!” a voice calls out, and he pauses, his umbrella shielding him from the fairies and raindrops that continue to pelt at them. Evangeline, sporting a half-shaved head of purple hair, rushes over to him, her red eyes frantic as she scans him. “You aren’t hurt, are you? Do you need a healer?” She snaps her fingers and summons a healer’s spellbook.
Ushered further towards the Hotel, he thinks of the strange woman that knocked him flat on his a*s and brought his whole world to a standstill. “Kid, it’s just a few scrapes, I’m fine. I’m actually more interested in that lady. Why was she running?”
Eve spins her hands about themselves until a cloud of crimson consumes them. “My best guess? She’s an artist.” She points a finger in favor of explaining. He follows her gesture and, there, spray-painted in familiar gray, is the image of a wolf etched into the side of the Hotel. A full blue moon looms over its head, and further up above, two bright blue pawprints.
And here he was thinking Moonwater would be a dull and dreary experience.
Hours later, Kai's in his hotel suite, guiding his suitcase and backpack through a portal and into a closet. The doors to the balcony are open, allowing a brisk autumn breeze to filter in as he tirelessly sorts through his things. He’s halfway finished when a quiet mewl pierces through the quiet air of the room before Bruiser steps through his own portal. Tufts of cloud waft off the cat as he springs into Kai’s lap. Kai just snorts and shakes his head. “I was wondering when you’d show up,” he whispers, gray fingers gently scratching Bruiser behind the ear. “So what do you think of our home away from home?”
Full disclosure, Kai has always been accustomed to a life of glam and luxury. Growing up a Graymon, it came about as easy as breathing. Hotels, limos, wealth, they’re nothing new to him.
It’s everything else that’s new.
Bruiser butts his head into his stomach, and Kai lets out an exhausted exhale. “I know, pal.” His Graymon’s cloak billows gently with the wind ushered in from the open balcony doors. Despite it all, homesickness clings like a hex to his bones and refuses to leave. He wonders if it ever will. “I know.”
On the other side of the room, he hears the faint buzzing of his compact mirror. Fatigue weighs heavily at Kai as he summons a cloud to carry him to his wardrobe. He pries the still damp mirror out of his mini-cauldron and peers into its reflection. Austin’s name flickers across the misty cloud of purple and red.
“What happened?” Austin’s voice is stricken with panic, worry, and only slightly bubbly from the water that remains in the mirror. “I heard about the hotel, they--they said there was some kind of wolf attack?”
Kai presses his back to his wardrobe, fondly recalling the strange wolf he encountered just outside the Hotel. “It wasn’t an attack,” Kai explains with a shrug. “I think she got caught in some graffiti job. It was actually kind of nice.”
Stuff like that didn’t happen back at the Guildhouse. There was a very strict code of conduct, and those that didn’t adhere to it normally didn’t fare too well. Kai’s probably living proof of that.
“...don’t know why they sent you to that Hotel anyway. Something’s always happening there. Eve said something about a ghost in the pipes the other day.” When Kai tunes back into the conversation, he finds Austin in the middle of a rant, expression forever grumpy as he criticizes the Graymon. It’s such a familiar sight, it brings to mind memories of all-nighters at the Guildhouse, surrounded by piles of spellbooks and potions.
With a small smile gracing his lips, Kai crawls atop his wardrobe, legs folded underneath him as he looks over the massive room. “I’m a big boy, Austin. I think I can handle a little graffiti. Are all hotel rooms this obnoxious, or did I just never notice it before?”
“I don’t think you actually want me to answer that question,” Austin retorts teasingly. The connection wavers, water flooding the reflection even as his voice remains. “Do you still want me to stop by later? I’ll be flying over that area, so I could…show you around.”
Tempting an offer as that sounds, Kai shakes his head, his mood souring as he recalls the Craterheads’ parting words to him. “I’m supposed to be keeping a low profile. For the first few days, at least.” He somersaults off the wardrobe, snapping his fingers to gracefully assist his descent back into bed. With his mirror cradled lightly in his hand, he grumbles, “Think I’ll just take a minute to get adjusted. We’ll hang out tomorrow. I promise”.
The water clears in his mirror long enough to reveal Austin watching him with eyes full of pity. “Well, if you change your mind…give me a call.”
And so Kai’s on his lonesome once more. The hours fly past him, and the temperature plummets to the point that he has to close the doors to his balcony. It’s another thing he misses about the Astra. It was warm and sunny. Never any need for an umbrella or rain boots or, Goddess forbid, snow boots.
He climbs into bed longing for his old bed in his old Guildhouse full of all his old things, idly wondering if he’ll ever see them again. Even with his curtains drawn shut, he has a full view of all the twinkling lights of the city, a stark contrast to the candle-lit halls of his former life.
It’s different.
Midnight approaches, Kai’s burrowed deep within his covers, Bruiser cradled close to him. He anticipates a long, sleepless night when the sound of shimmer greets his ears.
In another realm, it might’ve been a comforting, joyful sound. But in Astral and Terran Realms, shimmer means only one thing, and that’s a breached ward. Kai bolts upright in bed, sharing a startled glance with Bruiser. When the shimmer sounds off a second time, followed by a strangled growl, he reaches underneath his pillow for his wand.
Footsteps lighter than feathers, Kai tiptoes towards the main suite. Lunar glyphs aglow, he sends a charge of lunar magic through his wand and pokes his head around the corner.
Now, Kai’s notorious for creating the worst wards in the history of wardmagic. Try as he might, they just never do what he actually wants. So when he approaches his wards, he does so with hesitance, for fear of his own safety.
But today’s a day for surprises. When he rounds the corner, he finds his wards in decent condition. More shocking than that is the sight of a familiar wolf caught within its confines. The graffiti wolf, fully shifted, lifts her eyes as Kai lifts his wand. Brought to a stalemate, they stand there in silence, neither quite sure of how to proceed.