The Glow

“Who’s going to try it?” Zia asked, shifting her weight impatiently as she eyed the stone. True to form, Zia had appointed herself leader despite her involvement being counted in minutes.

“You should do it, Lyra,” Orin said steadily. “You found this place.”

The clearing was just as they remembered—bathed in dappled sunlight, still and expectant. At its centre stood the smooth, waist-high, whitish stone, its symmetry striking against the rugged forest around it.

Lyra took a deep breath and leaned in towards the stone. Clutching the hexagonal tile tightly, she paused for a moment before saying, “Okay, let’s do this.”

Carefully, Lyra placed the tile into the matching indentation on the stone. It slid in effortlessly, fitting with precise perfection—tight, seamless, as if it had always belonged there.

“Well, it certainly fits,” she said, stepping back. “Why, or for what… I have no idea.”

“Me neither,” Orin admitted.

Zia glanced between them. “So… what now then?”

Lyra and Orin exchanged uncertain looks. Whatever they were expecting, they weren’t expecting nothing. No grand reveal, no sudden transformation. It was an anticlimax, and neither of them knew quite what to make of it.

Lyra sighed and reached out to take the tile back—but something inside made her hesitate. Just as she withdrew her hand, nothing became something.

Faintly at first, the tile began to glow—a soft, pulsing green. The light deepened, growing steadily brighter, casting the surroundings in an otherworldly glow. Shadows danced and twisted, and the forest around them seemed to lean in.

“Whoa,” Zia whispered, shielding her eyes slightly as the glow spread from the tile to the entire stone, its surface glistening like liquid emerald. It seemed both natural and technological at the same time—magical yet intentional.

Just as its splendour seemed to resonate with ultimate brilliance, its magnificence reaching an unsurpassable peak, something else happened: it stopped. Like someone had pulled the plug, the glowing light drained away, leaving the stone as lifeless and dull as it began.

Orin and Zia exchanged glances once again.

“What on earth was that?” Zia asked, her voice tinged with a hint of unease.

Orin shrugged, his expression blank. “No idea,” he muttered before turning to Lyra. “Lyra—what was that?”

Fixated by something else, Lyra didn’t respond. Orin turned to her, but she was standing a few steps back, her gaze fixed not on the stone or the tile—but on the sky above.

“Lyra?” Orin called softly.

Again, she didn’t respond right away, her eyes lost in an apparently empty sky. It wasn’t until Zia nudged her shoulder gently that she blinked, snapping out of her trance.

“Lyra?” Orin repeated, his tone now firmer and more insistent.

Lyra shook her head slightly, as though clearing her thoughts. “Sorry… I just—there was something… up there,” she murmured, pointing skyward.

While Orin and Zia were intently focussed on the tile, Lyra’s eye had been caught by something else—a beam of green light in the sky, projecting a radiating emblem in the distance. The emblem was intricate and mesmerising—a pattern of overlapping circles, pulsing softly as if alive. Whatever it was, Lyra couldn’t take her eyes off it.

“Didn’t you see it?” she asked, her voice trembling as she pointed to the sky again.

“See what?” Zia asked.

“The emblem,” Lyra said. “In the sky. Over there, in the distance.”

Zia and Orin both shook their heads. “I was looking at the stone,” Orin said, pointing at it.

“Me too,” Zia added.

“What?” Lyra’s mind raced. “How could you possibly have not seen the massive green swirly thing beamed into the sky?”

“Well, sorry,” Zia said defensively, crossing her arms. “I was a little busy staring at the magical green stone thingy right in front of me… You know, as one does.”

Thud! Zia kicked the stone.

“Zia!” Lyra snapped. “What are you doing?”

“Thought it might need a little kickstart,” Zia shrugged.

“Have you tried switching it on and off?” Orin chimed in. “Or rather… taking the tile out and putting it back in?”

Lyra gave him a look but decided to humour the idea. She carefully removed the tile and then slid it back into place. Nothing. Still dead.

The trio stood in silence, the lifeless stone before them, its once otherworldly glow slowly becoming a distant memory.

“Here, let me try,” Orin said as he took the tile from Lyra. He turned it over carefully, scrutinising every detail, before giving it a rub and a blow for good measure.

Lyra raised an eyebrow. He really does think he’s a magician. Orin tried the tile again with unwavering focus.

Nothing.

“It must’ve run out of energy,” Orin concluded, his voice thick with frustration as he set the tile back down.

“It’s… dead,” Lyra conceded, her voice trailing off. Then, as though struck by a sudden thought, she perked up, her eyes alight with urgency.

“I need to show you what I saw,” she said, quickly pulling her sketchbook from her satchel. “Orin, you hold on to the tile, and I’ll draw it. Maybe if we figure out what it was…”

Orin popped the tile in his pocket as he stood back to give her some room.

Lyra sat beside the stone, her sketchbook balanced carefully on her knees. She flipped to a blank page, and with a determined posture, her pencil flew across the page in a flurry of lines and shapes. The emblem she had glimpsed in the sky was blurry in her mind, but she could feel its importance. Every curve and line felt like it carried weight, like it mattered.

“Almost there,” she muttered under her breath as she neared the final touches. She glanced up briefly at Orin and Zia, who were watching her with curiosity. “Okay, are you ready?”

Zia leaned forward. “Show us what you’ve got.”

Task

Lyra caught a glimpse of something extraordinary—a glowing emblem, intricate and alive with meaning. But it vanished before she could truly take it in, leaving only a blurry memory. Now it’s your turn to help.

Your task is to draw what you think the emblem might have been. Use your imagination and creativity! Was it made up of circles, patterns, or something entirely different?

Later in the story, when the emblem’s true form is revealed, you can compare your drawing with it. How close will your version be to the real thing?

Take your time, and remember: the beauty of the emblem lies in its harmony and balance. Good luck!