Chapter Text
It was time, Ainqe could feel it. Every dull ache of an old injury, every creak of a joint, every loose scale and broken spike told her that her era was at its end. It was time for her to make The Journey.
She began her pilgrimage on foot, not trusting her tattered wings to keep her aloft. Thankfully, her legs, although scarred from a long life of conflict, were still sturdy enough to manage her weight. She allowed her mind to wander as she plodded onward.
She had been a hatchling of no more than three moons when she learned of The Journey. She had been tucked snugly beneath her mother's wing as the older wyvern looked morosely at a starry night sky. Ainqe had sensed something off about her mother and gently tugged on her wing membrane to get her attention.
"Yes, dear one? Do you need something?"
"No, but I wanna know why you're starin' at the stars and why Father isn't home yet."
Mother's face had taken on a strange expression as if she had stood on a thornbug. She spoke slowly and deliberately, clearly choosing her next words carefully.
"Your father took The Journey this morning."
"The Journey?" Ainqe had parroted, confused.
"The Journey is a trip every Rathian and Rathalos must take eventually. When we have finished our time here, the Allmother calls us to return to her. We must go to a very special place and offer ourselves to the Keepers. They will set us free to join the Allmother among the stars."
"Who is the Allmother?"
"She is the beginning of everything. She found the world when it was barren and empty and made it suitable for us, her offspring. She raised the mountains that make the winds we soar on. She gouged the rivers and filled them with fish so we can eat and drink. She breathed life into the trees so we could build our nests from them and created our prey from her own scales so we could be nourished from their meat. When she was done creating our world, she wrapped her wings around us to keep us safe from the void, forming the sky. She breathed the Great Flame to keep us warm."
"But why does the Great Flame go away at dusk and come back at dawn?"
"All wyverns need rest, even the Allmother. However, even when she's resting, she keeps one silver eye open almost always, and that's why we see the moon when the Great Flame is gone."
"But," Ainqe yawned and nestled closer to her siblings, "Why did the Allmother call Father away?"
Mother nuzzled her cheek lovingly, "I think it was because he was such a good wyvern that she just had to have him back. Now, little one, rest. I'll tell you more tomorrow."
She teared up a bit at that memory and looked up at the stars after picking a spot to bed down for the night. As one streaked through the deep indigo expanse, she wondered if that was her father racing to greet her at her Journey's end.