They made it back to the temple and went their separate ways. All of the others headed to remove their armor and get a bath while Ash headed for the starseeing pond. It wasn't that she didn't want to get out of the armor or take a bath, but that she'd gotten a message from Luri saying that she was waiting there.
Luna waited until she stepped onto the island in the pond to throw her arms around Ash, relief coloring her voice heavily as she spoke, "I'm so happy you're alright, Asha."
Ash patted her back slightly, "I'm fine, I'm fine, Luri. I assume you saw the fight against the first phantom armor? I'm alright, no lasting harm done beyond a headache and it was gone after a little while."
She could have sworn she heard Luna sigh softly, could have sworn the arms around her tightened just a little more. The words Luna spoke next frightened Ash, left her so terrified there was barely a thought left in her head, "He's here. Someone's seen the strange material that the hunter leaves behind after he has attacked."
She managed to escape Luna's grasp but another set of arms curved around her, soft and comforting. Despite that, the grip that held her was like inescapable steel. Her gentle captor spoke, voice musical in its own way, "Daughter of my husband, Ashterra. He cannot be here at this exact moment but he will the very second he is able. Until then, I am here and no harm will befall you."
"You needn't trouble yourself," Ash said automatically, "I was merely…"
The goddess interrupted her, voice soothing even while chastising her, "Going to run off and hide in your grove for a week or two?" Umbra squeezed her husband's child ever so slightly, grateful beyond words that he had been given such a gift for he was far beyond worthy of it and had needed the child to keep himself from questioning his decision to create her kind, "We are here in this world still, child. No harm will come to you so long as we keep vigil."
"You can't always keep vigil," a shudder ran through her, "You've other responsibilities and…those that hunt your creations somehow always seem to know when your attention is elsewhere."
Ash was correct and it was something that had troubled the gods even during the time of the great hunt. No matter how tightly they kept vigil the attacks only came when their attention was forced elsewhere entirely. Ashterra had been supremely lucky in being able to get away from her hunters.
The hunter Luna had spoken of was even more troubling, though. He continued his actions after the gods had been sealed from the world. Magical creatures would disappear, nothing left in their stead but a carved token of an unknown material. No traces were ever found by those that investigated the disappearances, as if the creature had never existed in the first place.
"How?" Ash asked at length, the soft trembling word demanding to know why he hadn't been stopped when joining Fantastoria. The gods could read minds easily, they should have known the moment the hunter appeared before one of them.
Lady Umbra let out a gentle breath, holding the precious child just a little tighter, "Your joining was part of a larger influx than we've done in the past. There were hundreds coming here that day, all of whom had to be spoken to and walked through everything in order to begin their journeys. Of course, each of us checked their motives but no one found anything suspicious. Numerous people are looking for the one to stabilize their magic, weak and tired in their true bodies and unable to search because of it. A good number were here for pure entertainment, of course, considering that is part of what is needed in order to strengthen Lucrum. We have conferred heavily. None of them had any form of ill intentions in joining this world."
Ash took a trembling breath, slowly releasing it after a moment and then repeated the action several times until she felt calmer.
Luna was the one to speak up, almost timidly asking, "Lady Umbra, is it possible that we have mistaken the hunter's intentions in our own world?"
Lady Umbra remained silent, lost in thought. Their inability to watch over Ash and Luna's world meant that the only information they had about the hunter was what their oracles were able to give. None of the oracles had ever seen the hunter up close, only glimpsing them sometimes during their patrols. No one knew whether the hunter was male or female. No one could identify the material the trinkets were made of. No one had ever seen the ones that had disappeared including those that worked to protect magical creatures.
There was nothing to link the missing to each other beyond that they were beings created by a god's magic. There was nothing to speak to what the hunter wanted beyond vague descriptions of places they'd been glimpsed. The trinkets left behind seemed to be a cruel joke as well. Carved into shapes that, for the temple associated with the missing being, meant safety and left to indicate none would ever see them again.
Umbra gave a slight shake of her head, forcing the thoughts away, "It is possible…If it is truly the hunter that is here and not someone that has heard of their exploits and wishes to mimic them. Now that they are here, though, we can work towards finding more information out," she looked back down to Ash, "Know that we will keep you safe. This hunter cannot take your life in any permanent way and likely will have trouble even touching you because of the protections we have woven the Godsborn."
Ash spoke haltingly, revealing quietly, "I started finding trinkets a couple years ago on my path for the cleansing ritual," Luna stiffened and Umbra stared in shock, Ash hadn't mentioned it before to anyone, "I started taking different routes each time but…I'm running out of new paths. I've seen the maps with the estimates of where people went missing. They're all on or very near my journey paths for the cleansing. I'm…terrified…that I'm the one the hunter wants…I don't know why and it frightens me."