🌟 The Clef Compass

“Mnnngh…”

Percy shook himself awake with a groan. Next to him, his luminuki companion was still curled up, sound asleep. The moxyn stood up, careful not to rouse their companion. Ever since a few days ago, a strange melody of sorts had made itself an uninvited guest in his head, echoing every time he’d decided to take a nap. Needless to say, attempting to simply force himself to sleep had been… ineffective.

“Maybe I should go for a walk…”

With a groggy mind entangled in a mess of thoughts, Percy slowly padded off. The song remained in their head, seemingly coming from multiple directions at once. He’d tried following it, of course, but it always seemed to bring him back to where he started every single time. It was frustrating, to say the least. The lack of sleep hadn’t been doing wonders for his attempts to track down the source of the song, either. 

Percy soon found himself standing in the clearing by the moon river. Not that they could blame their instincts - though he was simply wandering aimlessly, some part of himself must’ve longed to return to this spot. He chuckled to himself. Then he looked up. The stars shone just as brightly as that day a decade ago, when the night sky first took his breath away in this very clearing. As Percy retraced their memory, he slowly felt his mind become clearer, and himself more at ease. The moxyn chose to sit down, pondering what to do next as he continued to gaze at the stars. Surely he couldn’t simply not do anything about his predicament, but where should he start from if he didn’t have any leads to begin with?

That was when he was suddenly struck with an idea - why not wish upon the stars? All he had to do was find a shooting star, and wish upon it. At that moment, Percy spotted a particularly shiny one, and silently thanked the moons for his good luck. “Alright! I wish, I wi--”

“W-watch out—!”
“--wish?!” Percy’s eyes snapped open.

…Wait, he wasn't imagining it! The star was indeed falling - straight towards his position, no less! Percy looked around him in alarm, before scrambling back. He rushed over to his luminuki, scooped the sleepy critter up in his paws, and ducked for cover. Seconds later, the “wish” crashed into the ground. It left a massive, smoking crater… and from it, jumped - a xyn?!

“Are you all right?” The stranger was the first to speak, as if he wasn't the one who dropped from the sky.
Percy was too shocked to respond. Meanwhile, his luminuki trilled in confusion. Then it chirped in curiosity and bounded towards the stranger. He smiled at it, and gently gave it a reassuring pat.
“I’m sorry for giving the two of you a fright!” The xyn continued to speak as he helped Percy stand back up, mentioning something about mistaken coordinates and getting confused about the Lunerestian atmosphere being so much more dense than he was used to…

“Um…” Percy began tentatively.
“Oh!” the stranger gasped, shook his head, and smiled. “My apologies! I should have introduced myself…! My name is Seren. I'm an interdimensional traveller!”
“An interdimensional traveller?! That's so cool! I'm aiming to become a traveller, too! But just an ordinary one…” He paused in thought, realising he’d also forgotten to introduce himself.
“Oh, uh, I'm Percy, by the way!”
“Ahaha! We're both travelers, what a funny coincidence!” Seren chuckled, nodding. “I think we'll get along quite nicely!” The luminuki pawed at his scarf all the while.
Percy beamed at Seren, his headache from earlier having been all but forgotten.
“Now, then… Pardon my asking, but you seemed rather troubled a few minutes ago, no?”As he said this, Seren gently ushered the luminuki aside, and held out a paw. “If you wouldn't mind, I'd be happy to help!”

“Ah-! About that–” Percy couldn't help but heave a defeated sigh. “Truth is, lately, there's this song in my head that wouldn't leave me alone! I can hear it in my head even just thinking about it.”

“A song that plays only in your head…” Seren looked deep in thought.

“Haha… I know, it's strange, right?” Percy mumbled sheepishly.
“Oh, don't worry! I’ve got just the thing for you!” Seren cheered. He reached into his scarf, and retrieved a circular object.
“A… compass?”
“Yes, that's right! I found it during my travels, and while I was investigating it, it ended up leading me here!”
As Seren handed the compass over, the luminuki chittered and clambered up Percy's back, perched on their shoulder, and gazed at the compass in awe. It shimmered like a little sun, with little musical notes on the face.

“It's so pretty!” Percy exclaimed, lifting it up against the moonlight. “Isn’t it!”
There's just one little issue, though…
“Hey, Seren?”
“Yes?”
“Could you try holding this again?”
Seren took it in his paws, then tilted his head to the side. The luminuki mimicked his confusion.
“Just as I suspected,” Percy murmured. “The compass needle hasn't moved back to due North - Er, the musical note at the top, even though I spun it around.”
“Oh…” Seren said. Then he gasped. “...Oh?! Oh, my. I was wondering why it led me here… I didn't realise it was broken! Oh, Percy, I'm so sorry…”

“It's alri--”
Percy stopped. Was it just them, or…
“The needle! It's glowing!” Seren gasped, handing the compass back to Percy once again. However, he almost dropped it in his excitement. As a result, Percy fumbled with the compass, accidentally letting it slip out of his paws and into the air. A blur flashed past him - the luminuki! It grabbed the compass, curled its body around it, and neatly landed in the nearby grass.

“Nice work!” Seren clapped.
“I didn't know you could do that,” Percy said with a chuckle as he petted his companion. It let out a satisfied purr.
“Life is full of surprises, isn't it?” Seren smiled. “Now, let's see where it leads us!”

The compass gradually spun, finally landing on one of the notes. With much excitement, the duo (and luminuki!) headed off on their quest.

(1033 words)