A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

After leaving the graveyard, they soon entered Erik's old house. From the outside, his house was no different from the rest: small but sturdy and comfortable, made from wood and stone.

The inside was welcoming, with various rugs and warm colors. Pictures of Erik and his family were scattered around the place, showing the love and care they had for each other.

Erik felt his nostalgia bubbling up again as he walked through the house, causing him to sigh. Again, memories of various childhood events appeared in his mind, like his first verbal fight with his mother or the classic doorpost with notches for his height.

But instead of focusing on those memories, he patted the house's wall. "I've had enough reminiscence for one day. But thanks for keeping my memories safe."

Several electrical appliances were spread throughout the house since Frostvik used to have access to electricity.

Of course, none of them worked now since the electrical grid had long since collapsed on a larger scale. Luckily, the house had an emergency generator, and while it didn't have any fuel left, Elora had a solution for that.

She had little to no knowledge of electricity or modern devices. Still, by studying the phone they had been given by Katya and the electrical motor on the boat they stole, Elora was able to decipher the sigil they used to convert aetherium to electricity.

Back on the boat, Erik had wondered where such a sigil had come from, considering he didn't know anything of electricity existing back on Söl or any other planet. He had decided to ask Elora about it, "Where do you think this sigil came from?"

"It looks like a modified version of a basic and well-known sigil that simply creates lightning attributed aetherium," she explained. "It's a little crude and unrefined, but whoever created it did a good job in reducing the power output and making it compatible with your modern technology."

Soon, she had created her own, more refined version of the sigil and had applied it to both the boat and the phone.

Now, she planned on doing the same to the house's generator. She was at the back of the house with Emily, who was brought along to continue her lessons in sigil crafting.

Emily looked visibly excited, not about learning the sigil, per se, but about getting access to modern appliances again. After all, their house in London had not had electricity for a long time.

Currently, Emily had a long, thin, chisel-like tool in hand and was etching the sigil onto the generator under Elora's guidance. Such a chisel was the standard tool for sigil crafting, and the one Emily was currently holding was lent to her by Elora.

It took her a few tries, causing her to sigh as Elora scolded her, but soon, the sigil was done, and, under the excited yelling of Emma inside the house, caused the lights to go on.

That wasn't all, however. After magically cleaning the emergency water tank and filling it with melted snow, they also gained running water. Unfortunately, the water heater was broken and wouldn't work even with the electricity. Fortunately, heating sigils were some of the simplest things to craft for someone like Elora. Or, in this case, Emily.

Thus, after Elora used her Seidr magic to make sure the pipes wouldn't burst, they ended up with warm showers.

But before Emily could run back inside to enjoy the house's newly activated luxuries, she was stopped by Elora. "Not so fast!" the fairy said while exercising the power of the covenant, which she had just as much power over as Erik.

Forced to stop in her tracks, Emily grumbled and turned around. "What now?"

Elora grinned evilly. "We still need to make some more sigils in and around the house to protect against intruders and prevent light and sound from escaping outside. And, of course, when I say we, I mean you."

Emily groaned, "Why do you hate me, woman?"

While putting on an expression of disbelief, Elora giggled. "Hate you? Come now, pet. I'd have to care about you first. Besides, don't you want to learn how to craft sigils?"

That part, Emily couldn't deny. She just hated the dismissive way in which Elora treated her. Regardless, she sighed and relented. "Fine, fine. It's not like I have much choice anyway. But can you at least stop calling me pet?"

Elora grinned mischievously. "Sure, no problem. But only if you start calling me Mommy."

Feeling a chill down her spine again, Emily quickly shook her head. "No, thank you! I'll take the pet thing!"

The fairy chuckled. "As you wish then. Now get to work, P. E. T."

Emily muttered something unkind under her breath, but began following Elora's instructions in creating the protection and concealment sigils.

After they were done with everything, the house had quickly turned into a little haven of modernity, much to the delight of both Emma and Emily, who had been unable to take a proper shower in a very long time. Sure, they could keep themselves clean with some minor applications of aetherium, but it simply wasn't the same.

Even Elora had to admit that the humans of Earth had some excellent ideas regarding the comfort of living. "I like this hair dryer thing," she said while using it to dry her hair after showering. "It's much too clunky, though. I can create the same effect with some simple sigils."

While a modern shower obviously didn't exist on Söl, there were plenty of sigils that created the same effect, and Elora, too, had been missing the simple comfort of such a thing.

Naturally, there was no need for Elora to do any of this. Drying or cleaning her air was as easy as snapping her fingers, but it didn't feel as pleasant or comfortable as doing it like this.

Erik couldn't help but laugh when he heard of Elora's inspirations due to Earth's modern technology.

After everyone had their fill of enjoying some modern comforts, Erik went to prepare a meal for everyone. While he was in the kitchen, Emma showed up. "Can I help?" She asked, with a bit of anxiety, for fear that he might say no. "I'd like to be able to cook for you someday."

He could only grin at her desire to serve him and was naturally more than willing to have her help. Although he probably wouldn't give up on cooking altogether. He had come to enjoy it, and it was a way to honor his aunt.

With Emma's help and company, the time he spent on cooking flew by, and soon, they all sat together around the table.

While they ate, Erik told Emma and Emily about his immediate plans. "We'll probably spend at least a few days inside this house. So feel free to get comfortable," he said.

"I want to spend a little time trying to find a clue about my mother and uncle's whereabouts while I practice with the training notes that that bear woman, Katya, left with me. I've only been able to study them on the boat so far, as there wasn't much room to practice.

After dinner, we'll cure Astrid, and she'll likely need a few days to recover as well. Meanwhile, I want the two of you to focus on getting stronger. Emma, Elora will be helping you to advance as quickly as possible while staying safe."

Elora, who was currently in his soul, answered. "It's also a good time to try and find some clue as to what your mother knew about this entity that dragged us here and gave you that dream. Assuming she knew anything."

Erik nodded inwardly at Elora while the Ashcroft sisters nodded in acknowledgment of his words.

Finally, when everyone was done eating, they gathered in Erik's old room. It was time to do something about Astrid.

His room was nothing special and looked like what any young, introverted boy's room might look like. There was a bed, a desk with a computer, some posters, and some books.

And, of course, a hidden compartment behind his bed where he kept the backup research materials in case the power went down, which wasn't a rare occurrence for a remote village like Frostvik.

Emily looked at one of the music posters and then at Erik with an exasperated expression. "Powerwolf? Really? Isn't that a little on the nose?"

Erik grinned innocently. "I was going through a phase; what can I say? I'm just glad that was my most recent musical phase." He laughed, "I'm afraid you might lose all respect for me if you learned about some of my other phases."

But Emily patted him on the shoulder in a show of camaraderie. "It's alright, Boss. I've gone through similar things. I won't judge."

Immediately, Emma began to giggle. "Right, I vividly remember your 'wiccan phase.' Mom and Dad nearly pulled their hair out when you started to bring a rock with you everywhere and called it your familiar pebbles."

Immediately, Emily lost all color in her face and quickly covered Emma's mouth while laughing sheepishly. "She's just kidding!"

Erik laughed loudly at Emily's embarrassment. "Thanks for that, Emma. I'll be sure to reward you later."

While Emma smiled brightly beneath Emily's hand, and Emily herself grumbled about her little sister being a traitor, Erik pointed at Astrid, "Alright, enough kidding around. Emily, please tell her to lie on the bed."

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