Vivi was running, three spirits charging after her. This wasn’t how it was supposed to have been. One of them was silvery white. That should'be been impossible. Those types were the good kind. 

She called upon the stone in the ground. With a harsh crack, it broke through the earth in a long wall. They'd have to go around it. This had bought her a few moments. 

She ran back in the direction she'd supposed to run to. Hopefully those on patrol would be close enough to come and help her.  

Or they’ll leave me here to die, Vivi thought. That wasn’t impossible. She'd be less of a problem that way. 

She looked back to see that the white fox was getting very close. Vivi summoned rock and slammed it into the fox's side. 

She made more stone rise from the soil and curl around the spirit. Amazingly, it held the animal in place. Was that her new magic? 

Then she tripped on a gnarled root on the ground. Her face scraped against the trunk it belonged to. 

Something bit down on her ankle. She screamed and kicked out. The panther didn’t move. 

She brought out a stone blade and aimed for its head. It passed right through. 

Of all the times for the light to fail. She scrambled away as fast as she could. It didn’t let go. Cold shot up her leg. Then the third spirit came. It lunged, aiming for her neck. She out her hands, catching it before it could reach her. Her hands were flooded with cold. 

The deer whined when she touched it. It transformed completely from dark red to pale pink. Then it began to attack the panther. 

Vivi caught sight of her hands. Her skin was glowing. She tried to push the panther off her with them. It snarled. The places where she touched it turned light green, but the beast didn't take its teeth away from her leg. It wasn't hurting yet. 

She put her hands on its snout and ripped it away from her leg. A revolting sound filled her ears. From the leg, not the animal. The pain came then. She screamed. 

The panther was on its feet, but at a distance. More of it was a pale green, but still only in the form of her hands. 

Vivi glanced at them then. Her skin didn’t glow as brightly as it had before. 

The deer beside her had bowed its head, but did not attack. Would it wait until she attacked? She could handle pain, but a ruined leg could only do so much. She definitely wouldn’t be able to run. For a first true encounter with evil spirits, this was likely not the best. 

The space around her brightened. 

“Get down!” a light voice shouted. The air grew hot then. 

Vivi did. She reached out for the deer as well, pulling it close to her. It warmed the chill that’d settled over her body.

Flames passed over her head. They struck the panther. It shrieked, a sound Vivi had only ever heard from prey when it’d been caught by its hunter. 

A figure leaped over her, a shining blade in their hand. They threw it at the spirit. Vivi watched as it sank into the creature’s side. The panther froze, despite still being on fire. It was still screaming. That wasn't a sound that should've come from it. 

Then the flames disappeared, leaving only the blade of light. That began to dissolve. Pale green spread all across the panther. The transformation was complete when its eyes turned from grey to yellow. It laid down on the forest floor. 

The one who’d landed the final blow turned to look at her. She had pale gold hair, with sharp ears poking through, and strange eyes. One was blue and the other pure white. Her skin glowed far brighter then Vivi’s did, even when she’d lost control of it. 

The elf knelt down in front of her, pulling out a waterskin in the same moment. It was a crude-looking thing, but it didn’t seem to leak. “Got you good.” Her voice was a lot deeper than the first one Vivi had heard. 

She looked around then, seeing another pale-haired girl by the fox. It was still encased in stone. 

“This isn’t normal,” the one closest to her said. “Them taking a bite out of you. The attacking part is.”

“And that?” Vivi nodded to the deer. “I thought light meant they were peaceful.” 

The girl’s expression flickered with something. “It should,” she nodded, “but that doesn’t change the fact that it attacked.” Slowly, the light faded from her left eye. It turned the blue of the other. They both glittered like jewels. 

Then she started carving something into the ground beside Vivi’s mangled ankle. She did it while pouring water over the wound, washing it out. It stung, but somehow soothed it too. 

“Is it because,” Vivi trailed off, “because I’m not like you?” Of course they could sense she wasn’t like the rest. That she wasn't a full-blooded elf. She likely only had half the connection they did to the moonlight.

“No,” the other girl had come, “three attacked, because you were alone.” The light also faded from her left eye. Both her eyes were now a glistening red. Elves had eyes like jewels. Vivi's own eyes had shone brighter than others, but they were nothing like this. "And they've been getting stronger. We still don’t know why.” 

“I’m Jinsoul,” the blue-eyed girl said. “She’s Jungeun. We were supposed to be the ones to greet you.” Her brow furrowed. “Tomorrow.” 

“I had to leave quickly.” Vivi didn't explain why. 

The elf looked like she wanted to ask more, but then the red-eyed one—Jungeun—tapped her arm. They shared a brief look, slightly tender, but Jungeun was saying something else. Jinsoul continued with her work on the ground. Vivi saw now that she was drawing a symbol. 

“You use sigils as well?” Vivi asked. 

“We don’t,” Jungeun said. “But she does.” She seemed proud, but that left her eyes quickly. “The deer,” she began, looking at it, “did you know you’d be able to change it?”

Vivi saw that it was no longer struggling. “No.” For the past hours, she’d acted on instinct. 

“Don’t worry,” she smiled then, “you’ll have four possible teachers for it.” 

Jinsoul gently moved Vivi’s ankle to the carved soil. She completed the sigil, which made Vivi's leg warm. Water flowed from the skin of its own accord, wrapping itself around her ruined skin. It became firm without freezing. It remained warm. The water shone in places it shouldn’t have.

That was impossible. The lunar elves didn’t control water, nor could they fire. 

“It'll be a lot to take in,” Jinsoul squeezed her arm, “but unlike the rest, we have a small idea of what you’re going through.” 

The mismatched eyes, their elemental magic, and the sigils. They'd all heard about these people, ones not born to the lunar elves—the Astra. These elves had received the magic later. Vivi had heard the most about Jungeun. The elf whose flames had stretched across the entire world, taking the lives of many with her. There'd been reasons for it. Vivi also couldn't see the monster anywhere in Jungeun's eyes. 

“You were also tied to the moon later.” 

“Later, destined for it, something," Jungeun waved a hand, “but it was definitely a surprise.” 

Together, the two elves pulled her to her feet. The deer had remained at her side. 

“Does that usually happen?” Vivi pointed at it. The spirit had strangely inquisitive eyes. Spirits were supposed to be sentient. They could only wander around or attack. Then again, Vivi had seen that spirits weren’t acting as they were supposed to anyway, so it didn't exactly matter. 

“Sometimes,” Jinsoul said. “Some think they have a drive to protect, others just think it’s a reflexive act to attack whatever’s still opposed to it.” 

“And you?” 

Jinsoul shrugged. “Would you abandon the person who helped you? If they were still in danger?”

“I hope I wouldn’t.” 

Jinsoul’s brow rose. “Why say that?” She exchanged a look with Jungeun. 

“One doesn't know their limits until they're tested.” Vivi thought of her departure, of the eagerness to see her gone. No, no one knew what they were capable of until forced to act. 

Jungeun hummed. “You're right.” There was something in her expression. Vivi wasn't surprised she understood that. 

They paused by the fox. Up close, Vivi saw that the animal had a surprisingly angry look to it. She also that the stone surrounding it was glowing. 

“So that’s moonlight?” Vivi asked. “In the rock?”

“Basically,” Jungeun replied. “It restrains these types, but doesn’t seem to do anything other than that.” 

“You can’t turn them,” she hesitated, “normal?” What was normal supposed to be? 

“Not yet,” she sighed, “the best we can do is force them to flee. Overpowering it like you did does do the trick.”

“But we’ll get to a safe distance first,” Jinsoul said. “Do you have a lot of range?”

Vivi only nodded. She didn’t need to explain that to them now. Would she ever? Did they care?

“Good.”

They started walking. The girls were strong, far more than Vivi was. They essentially carried her without protest. 

“You didn’t tell us who you were." Jungeun glanced at her. 

“Viian.” The deer, now seemingly content that there was no threat around them, pranced away. It disappeared between the trees. Vivi was sorry to see it go. 

“Which clan?" Jinsoul asked. "Unless you don't want to say.” Her brow furrowed slightly. 

“I don’t,” Vivi said. “Perhaps another time.” 

Understanding flashed in both their eyes. 

“Then another time,” Jinsoul said. “Take as long as you need.” She flashed her a gentle smile. “You’re one of us now.” 

Vivi nodded, but a part of her felt heavy. 

You’ll have four possible teachers for it. 

That meant these two and another, in an entire group of elves blessed by the moon from birth. She wanted to be hopeful, but there was plenty of reason not to be one of them. Perhaps this girl meant what she said, but Vivi had also, as they’d said, been chosen later. What would that mean to the lunar elves?