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His life hadn't been miserable in any way, no one hurt him, wasn't abused in any way, just lonely, his Family did what his Family has always done, breakfast in the mornings together, usually a hushed affair, even though they were numbering in the dozens around that large table, even the few children spotted here and there were more reclusive then conversational. After that Arthur spent the entire day was learning their respective crafts, even said kids got forced to choose a craft by the time they hit 6, wasn't much of an issue to Arthur really, he always found jewellery crafting to be impossibly fun, from rings to necklaces to whole body suits of intricately woven gold and silver, by the time he was 5 he had already become what his Family considered a good craftsman, which was considered a master to the rest of the world. Still, the Wrights had no masters of the crafts in their Family, only good craftsmen.
By the time Arthur was 6 he had already learned more about JJewellerysmithing then should be necessary, so he moved to sculpturing, crafting small and prominent figures from all kinds of stone and even metals and gemstones his Family bought, another craft he found both fun and easy, his favourite sculpture so far was the one he made of him and his parents, Adobella and Rufus, they weren't bad parents, it's just his Family has always been standoffish, so when he had shown them the sculpture, little larger than a snow globe, they had been excited and delighted, but that was it, no hugs, no praises and no congratulations, it wasn't bad, just how they have been raised. This distance of theirs had hurt Arthur; he had thought that if he made something good enough, he would at least get a congratulations, maybe even a hug, but nothing, so he decided it wasn't good enough.
Arthur spent the following 3 years studying and practicing sculpturing whilst including his jJewellerysmithing into the product, eyes of gemstones, rivulets of gold and hair of sHairr on top of a sculpture made of marble, it was another sculpture of their Family, this time larger, Lifesize, and made with months of work, it had turned his workshop into a mess, with the amount of failures over the last three years, he had been getting worried he couldn't make it, it was his Family. His father had black, onyx eyes, hair carved meticulously from obsidian, much to Arthur's literal pain when cutting the material, with three golden rings on his fingers, all made to look identical to his real ones; this time, they were carved from marble. Then here was his mother, eyes of deep blue Sapphire, hair of fHairng silver and wearing a necklace of pure gold, the same necklace exchanged when his parents had wed. Then there was Arthur himself, standing proudly in front of his parents, hand on each shoulder, mother on his left and father on his right, he was made from marble, his eyes a reflection of his fathers, made of Onyx as black as obsidian with Sapphire lining the external of his iris as he had taken some of his mother's colour, Hair madeHairsilver and patches of obsidian peeking through here and there reflecting his parents hair in his own way, and finally the necklace and ring he has worn since he made them, the ring of silver and in-laid Sapphires in a twisting pattern, curling around the silver band as if alive, and his gold necklace studded with Obsidian in every link, leaving no light reflecting from the necklace, a perfect recreation of his Family.
It had taken him 7 months to create this sculpture of his, countless hours of trial, error and restarts, all to see his mother and father dismiss it when he brought them down to have a look, perfect recreations of them all. They looked and moved back to their own crafts, not even a smile, just a glance, he understood, of course, it wasn't good enough, he just needed to be better, and he would. Still, just for a few months, he will relax. He started by taking a look around his workshop, the one he hadn't had a good look at in a while, and it was certainly in dire need of a clean. There was marble cascading from buried work tables, a literal pile of imperfect eyes on another shelf in another part of his workshop, and several failed iterations of the same sculpture he had just finished littering the room; they would need to be deconstructed and salvaged, of course. Still, he just looked past them. In the corner was his bed and bedside table. It had been a long time since he had last slept, and he felt the call of sleep, welcoming it as he weaved through the workshop to his cot and lay down, staring at his glass room as the clouds parted and revealed the moon. Tonight, he would sleep, and tomorrow he would get started cleaning.
Arthur had spent the last month just deconstructing and salvaging as much material as possible, waste not and all that, he hadn't left his part of the manor, not to eat with Family or to talk with much of anyone, he did have one of the butlers bring food and water every morning and evening to ensure he didn't starve, and he did take care of his personal hygiene, showering each morning and ensuring his lining was clean, but that was it, he limited his interaction with his Family to a minimum for now. It was another two weeks later when he finally salvaged all he could from the last sculpture, leaving the final one in the centre of his workshop, when he decided it was time for an early night, he would get started learning metal sculpting the next day, it was this day as he was staring at the moon, entering its new moon quarter that he seemed to see another star, just as bright next to it, he had read some fantasy of course and new what a shooting star was, it had been the centre piece on an exceptionally detailed sculpture of the night sky, been one of his first "good" works, so he did what any child his age would do, he wished upon a star.
Arthur awoke the next morning, a headache searing across his brain when he opened his eyes, all around him had been colour, motes of green and yellow and blue, flittering around him again and again, and the noise as well, it was like a thousand people were talking whilst simultaneously hammering their squeaky voices into his eardrums, he quickly shot out of his bed, trying to get away from the motes but they all seemed to follow him, flittering around with what he distinctly saw were wings of some kind, like those of a thousand different insects, before a great squeak called out through his workshop.
"Silence", it called, it was distinctly sharp and very much a voice he remembered, it was the one who asked him a question last night? "Allow the speaker to acclimate to us, please. We should all know how encompassing our presence is for those not born with sight." Instantly, the noise stopped, and the motes of light flittered back. Arthur was able to make them out now, small creatures of all kinds; there were Dragons, both western and eastern, there were dryads and fairies and a thousand more species, but most of all, there were motes of light, no wings and no discernible features, just motes.
"Speaker, I know this is sudden but I do not have much time here, the new moon has passed and I will need to return to the heavens soon, you wished upon me last night to have companions, to feel loved and wanted, I could not offer that, but I could offer you the site and the language of the Spirits, from this moment forward you have been judged, and have been judged worthy to communicate with the Spirits of the world, in exchange I have taken that sculpture in which you poured your everything, it will be with me forever, and in kind part of me will be with you forever." Arthur had finally cleared his head enough to look towards the source of the voice, it was a distinctly human figure, but made entirely of mud and earth and plants, her hair lookHairike trees, her eyes the colour of the ocean and her clothes a carpet of moss, she was massive in comparison to all the other Spirits in the room, easily the size of him, and that was ignoring the other seven Spirits, all equally unique in design. "I am who you would call Gaia, Mother Spirit of Earth, and I have been watching you for some time now, Arthur. Your sculpture of the stars included me, just next to the moon, which implies you were Magical Arthur, allowing me to bestow this gift upon you. You will never be alone again so long as you wish not to be, for the Spirits of Terra will communicate with you. Now I need to be leaving, Arthur, for the heavens call for our return, but we will be here if you need us, good day, Speaker."
The Spirit, Gaia, dissolved into light that streamed through his glass ceiling and into the stars above. The other seven Spirits around her did the same, dissolving and phasing through the glass and into different spots in the heavens, 8 new stars seemed to form in front of his eyes in the night sky. The Spirits around seemed to fade from view, starting with the unformed ones; they slowly shifted until they were barely visible specks of colour. All the shaped Spirits faded, watching him as they did, before they vanished entirely, leaving behind only traces on his eyes as he acclimated back to the lack of light in his dark workshop. Arthur looked up and saw the stars from earlier fading from his view as well, deciding he was done for the night, he crawled back into his bed and willed himself to sleep, missing the gathering of Spirits around him.