2 A New Family

It did not take them long to reach the cave at the peak of the mountain. A variety of blue colored gems were displayed all over the floor, ceiling and walls. The cave itself seemed rather dark, no human hands had changed the surface and it was left with its natural beauty, untouched like the raw gemstones, which seemed to grow everywhere.

A little stream was running through the cave and even though it was bitterly cold outside, far below the point where such a little stream should freeze over, in the cave itself it was actually rather warm.

The source of not only this heat, but also of a bright light, was a big boulder like stone at the very end of the foggy, yet sparkling blue cave, sitting in a rather big dome-like cavern which was open to the sky. The boulder had a bright blue-white color, emitting both light and heat and raising the temperature of the surroundings considerably. Occasionally one could even see sparks or little blue-white flames dancing over the surface of this glowing rock. This boulder was called the fire vein, the source of the divine fire they came here for.

The boulder was sitting in the middle of a pool, with crystal clear water, which seemed to be fed by a little waterfall, half frozen, bringing down water from above. The water around the boulder bubbled and steamed giving the whole pool a mystical look. If the water were not slightly infused with the magical energy of its surroundings, it would long have vaporized completely.

This pool was also the source of the small stream that ran all the way through the cave system as well as the fog that permeated every little nook and cranny of it. At the back of the cavern, there was a little spiral stairway, leading outside to the mountain peak, where a large statue of a woman had been erected. No one seemed to remember who created this statue, or even who it represented, as all the records of the year it was built and its creator had been swallowed up by the endless passage of time long ago.

Lynn would normally take the stairway to the top of the peak and pay respects to the statue. No matter if it resembled some goddess or a mighty ancestor, as the village used this fire vein and its divine fire as a way to scare off the weaker spirit beasts that would otherwise constantly roam around, they were looking at this figure as their benefactor and divine guardian.

For several seconds, Lynn just stared at the always peaceful little pond in shock. In the middle of the water of the pool, which was about knee-deep, sat a little girl, maybe 5 years old if she had to make a guess, leaning on the fire vein boulder quietly sleeping, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The heat from the fire vein did not seem to bother her, nor did the occasional flames. It was one thing to put out a flame that was taken away from the fire vein, but to use the very source of the fire, the very fire vein itself, with its temperature easily able to melt iron, as a backrest, was simply too unbelievable.

Before Lynn could even rub her eyes, to make sure this was not some illusion or a fever dream, Ethan was already shouting out in surprise.

"There's a girl! Look sis there's a little girl."

If the little girl were a bit older, Lynn might have believed that she was a power user, a genius kid who used spiritual power to defend herself against the heat, or even a little mage who came up with a spell to protect against the heat, similar to how her brother protected himself from the cold.

Training in either path however would require a child to be of a certain age. While this age varied and some showed signs of magical power from the time they were born, this was in no way enough to prevent a furnace like fire from harming the body at such a young age, especially as this child seemed to do it subconsciously while sleeping.

"Be careful, the water is extremely hot, don't get too close." Lynn called out to Ethan, who wanted to just blindly rush over to the girl.

They slowly got a bit closer, inspecting the girl while they made their way towards her. Lynn was even more shocked as soon as they were close enough to make out her appearance. Not just because the little girl was quite the beauty, with shoulder long raven colored hair, an angel like face and pale looking skin, that seemed as delicate and unblemished as a dolls, but mostly because she found her face quite familiar.

Unlike her brother, Lynn was here before and the same thing she expected to be doing this time around – sitting around the boulder for weeks waiting for it to give birth to a little bit of divine fire she could take away – she already did in the past. If you sit in a cave for weeks with nothing much to do, other than fueling the fire vein from time to time, it was not unexpected that she would know pretty much every single rock in this cave. Not only the ones in the cave, but she would surely also know the features of the stone statue outside on the peak. Features that were now right in front of her, because the little child sleeping in the pond, looked like a younger living version of the stone statue.

"She looks the same." Lynn mumbled, more to herself than anyone beside her, which caused her brother to look at her with confusion.

"You know her?" he asked, obviously much less in awe than his older sister, unaware of all the strange things that caused Lynn's shocked appearance. "Is she from some other village?"

Ignoring Ethan's questions Lynn covered herself in magical power, to not get burned and gently tried to wake up the child, but it seemed like the girl was quite the deep sleeper, ignoring the pokes and prods and kept on sleeping blissfully.

Unsure of what to do, Lynn then picked up the girl, put some of her own spare clothes on the child, which made her look a little odd as they obviously didn't fit and looked more like wrappings on some cute living mummy and then headed for the exit of the cave.

"We should bring her back, it can't be good to let her sleep here all on her own."

Ethan looked at his sister like she had gone mad. Why would she just kidnap a little girl? What if the girl's parents came here and looked for her.

"Sis, are you sure this is a good idea? What if her family looks for her? Will they not worry if they cannot find her?"

Lynn nodded but shortly after shook her head. "I don't think she has family here." she paused for a while pondering what to say next. "I think she was sent to us by the Protector Goddess. It must be fate for us to find her here."

Ethan's eyes opened up in surprise. 'Protector Goddess? Sis have you hit your head somewhere?' he thought to himself, but did not dare to voice his thoughts directly. He knew that his sis had a habit of giving him a beating if he annoyed her too much and this seemed like the time where she was rather serious.

"Right!" Lynn suddenly remembered something when they stepped out of the cave. "Could you cast that cold protection spell on her that you used to get up here?"

Ethan just nodded, curious how this 'adventure' of theirs would end up. 'I didn't even get a dragon steed but already picked up a little sister, I wonder if I should rethink my ideas of adventures.' was all he could think of, but like an obedient little brother he cast the protective magic over the child.

"All done, ready to go!" he announced. "Now that we found us a new sister, what shall we tell mom and dad? What's her name anyways? Oh and won't the elders be mad if we come back without the fire?" he asked, but Lynn only shrugged her shoulders.

Lynn eyes had an odd look when he talked about their 'little sister' but didn't further comment on it. "We will figure it out once we are back at the village. The girl is more important than the fire. It likely won't appear for several weeks anyways."

Accepting his older sister's words, Ethan no longer worried and they started to head down to the village again. The two teenagers brought the little child, who was sleeping in the older sister's arms, her little head resting peacefully on Lynn's shoulder, back to their village, still unaware of how much their future would change because of it.

--

The young child slowly opened her eyes, the dark red irises making her pale face look even more mysterious. Looking around she found herself in a small room, with a simple but homey feeling. A bed, a table some chairs, a cupboard, other than some simple magic lights there was not much else to be found in the room, still it was clean and well cared for.

It did not take long for her no notice the teenage girl at her bedside, who seemed to be taking a nap of her own right next to her.

She still could not remember much of her past, but she was rather happy, because at least she did not seem to be alone anymore. Curious she reached out her hand and put it on the forehead of the person at her bedside. It did not take her more than a moment to find what she had been looking for and soon images and experiences that were not her own flooded her mind, making her a little bit dizzy.

"Humans. I'm a human now. Well, sort of I guess." the child mumbled in the villagers language, a language that she had not even been aware of until recently. The girl at her side, who seemed to have the name of Lynn, was also the one who found her near the fire vein and brought her back to this village.

It did not take long for Lynn to wake up from her nap and find out that the child who was now occupying her own bed was awake and smiling brightly at her.

"Good morning." the childlike voice said shyly. Lynn just stared for a moment, before she finally remembered that it might be a good idea to answer.

"Good morning to you as well little one." was her reply. "How are you, do you remember what happened to you and how you got to the cave on the mountain? What is your name?" Lynn just started asking questions one after another.

"Myra." the little girl answered after giving it some thought, as if it took her a while to remember.

"Give her some time to get her bearings, don't just overwhelm her." a deep voice could be heard from outside the room's door, before the owner of that voice stepped in and looked at the child their daughter brought back a few days ago. Chuckling he looked at Lynn and then the child. "Better get out of bed, dinner will be ready soon."

"Sure dad." Lynn nodded and started to help their little guest get dressed in some of her own older clothes, before eating dinner.

Dinner seemed to be a very lively thing in this village, with everyone happily eating their food and sharing thoughts and stories all the time.

"I think you already met Lynn, but let me introduce everyone else as well here." The father of the little family said.

"I am Logan, this is my wife Yvonne and our kids here are Aron, Lynn and Ethan. I'm not sure how you really got to the mountain cave, but Lynn and Ethan brought you back down, as they were worried about you."

Myra couldn't really explain how she got here. 'I can't just tell them, that I am not from this world right?' She was not sure how these people might treat her if she just told them about her real existence but she was sure that none of them had ever left the planet before.

"I am not sure how I got here. I can't really remember a lot." she told them and decided to keep it simple. If she could not remember, they would probably stop asking questions.

They did indeed just accept her words and didn't really doubt her. She was soon taught the basics about the village, as well as their way of life.