The light from the small lantern illuminated the cave, revealing jagged overhangs and spiked rock formations protruding from the ceiling and ground. Marbled blue and green vines made their way up the rocky walls, the occasional vine hanging down from above. Iris padded through the narrow walkway, avoiding stones and jagged rocks. She lifted her lantern higher, casting a beam of light like starlight across the cavern. In the misty glow, Iris's eyes settled on a slightly out of place stone, glowing slightly more than the other sheets of rock. This was it. She crossed to the other side of the cave, silently, every footstep like the flutter of a dragonfly's wing. Placing a hand on the cool stone surface, Iris found a foothold in the rock and lifted herself off the ground. She placed her hands and feet perfectly, just how she had trained herself, and with the lantern attached to her belt, she climbed up into darkness. With each step up, the air became cooler, until there was almost a chill in it. Iris placed her hand higher, and this time felt empty air. She lowered her hand until it touched smooth rock, and hefted herself up. It was cooler and quieter in the small cleft that Iris found herself in. She trod very lightly across the platform of stone, short black hair swaying in the drafty breeze which had somehow made it's way through a crack in the cave wall. The pointed rocks had glowing dots on them, resembling stars in a night sky, and in fact, the small glowing dots were gently illuminating the entire area with a soft glow, again like starlight. It reflected off of Iris's azure tinted face, and danced in her turquoise eyes. Iris almost missed it it was so faint, so small. But the glowing orb just caught in her peripheral vision, and she turned her head slowly to take a better look at it. The little orb pulsed with light, like a heartbeat, and it rested in a sky bed seemingly made of stars. The silver Ubnis branches curved around to make a nest-like shape, and tiny Asters, the very souls of stars themselves, were woven into it. Iris reached out and touched the orb, still pulsing with same silvery blue beam, and inside Iris saw something move. Just the shadow of a shapeless form, but the form of a shape all the same. And suddenly the silence overwhelmed her, and Iris felt the smallest tinge of fear since she entered the cave. But the next moment the fear was gone, replaced with intrigue, and Iris suddenly felt a deep connection with the glowing orb. Little dud she know she held the life source of her entire universe in her hand.