Lightning crackled through the sky as thunder rumbled, casting a bright, strobing light across Perditi Cemetery.  The storm had raged on for quite some time, but the electrical discharges that it offered seemed to only be intensifying.  No lives souls were present within the cemetery, even the graverobbers that usually crept the grounds in the dark of night no matter the weather had sought shelter from the violent storm that had fallen on the Vilpamolan coast. 

The downpour of rain seemed insurmountable, the damp earth of the cemetery grounds quickly turning into thick mud.  Some of the older gravestones still withstood the storm, but had begun to crumble on the tops, small pebbles of the marble memorials falling to the mud with little plops.  

Without warning, the rain ceased.  Lighting crackled in the distance, but the storm that had arrived to suddenly and raged so strongly had all but vanished.  A calm came over the cemetery, the thick muck the rain had created with the ground settling into a still layer over the ground.  Suddenly, a massive bolt of blue lightning shot down from the sky, completely obliterating one of the gravestones, sinking into the earth.  Booming thunder clapped overhead simultaneously with the strike, deafening to any ears which would have heard it.  

Where the lightning struck, the ground glowed blue for a time being, veins of energy trickling outwards before dissipating.  And soon, all was silent.  No rain fell, no thunder struck.  The trees did not sway in even the gentlest of breezes.  Silence.  The silence was broken soon by a strange noise in the ground, and within moments a pale hand shot up from the wet earth, clawing its way to the surface.  Soon, a second hand joined the first, and the two hands assisted in pulling out a body.

From the earth emerged a pale but dirty female, tattered rags of burial clothing barely covering her body.  Her hair was long and wild, coated with muck from the journey through the earth to the surface.  She was propped on all fours and made an attempt to move, but instead fell to the earth with a soft thud, her body lying in the muck.  She opened her mouth in an attempt to make some sort of sound - but nothing came out but a scream.

There was a storm brewing, but it was not one of Moliira's making.  Something strange was at play, and the Storm Wolf wanted to find out just what it was.  And it was an anomaly of some kind, which had her quite curious.  So the drow ran through the storm clouds in her lupine form, seeking to learn just what was going on.  The lightning played over her fur, and she felt revitalized by it.  But suddenly Moliira realized two things simultaneously.  One, that storm was about to suddenly break up, a storm that had blown up very quickly, and one that would fall apart just as fast.  Two, there was a sentience somewhere close by.  It wasn't humanoid, it felt for more primal.

Once her paws reached the ground, Moliira raised her nose to the dying winds.  And the Storm Wolf hid her eyes just in time as a massive bolt of lightning struck the ground.  It wouldn't done any permanent damage to her, but it certainly would have been unpleasant.  Oddly enough, it was quiet.  Too quiet, and the wolf's ears twitched.  There was a strange tension in the air, she knew something was about to happen.  Moliira caught sight of a hand emerging from the dirt and mud, and she could only start for a few moments.  The dead did occasionally come to life on their own, but she could sense that something else was at play here.  Something within her realm.

When the female body tried to scream, Moliira stopped.  It was likely a bad idea to approach in wolf form, most sentient beings knew them to be predatory creatures.  So she slipped back into her drow form, making sure her weapons were hidden.  Holding her hands up, it was a sign that most creatures knew to be non-threatening.  She could what was behind the moving body, and knew the entity would need some aid.  "I'm a friend.  I will help, if you let me.  Do you have a name?" Moliira asked, using the one language she knew the being would understand.

Emotion was a feeling this creature was not used to experiencing, but a barrage of emotions had overtaken it.  It had never used verbal language before, but an odd calm washed over the being when a voice echoed in its mind.  Somehow, the being twisted its head - head? - towards the new presence that had approached. The movement of this body that it possessed moved in strange ways and was very uncomfortable - and why had it been below the earth?

The creature inhabiting the body of the young woman stared at Moliira, tilting its head sideways in an animalistic fashion.  It was clear this creature was most definitely not human.  Its mouth opened and closed a few times, as though it were trying to speak and it could not get the proper words out. ”I do not know if I have a name,” it managed to think back to Moliira, its eyes never once leaving the drow.  ”What is this place?” it asked, silent as the dead.  ”Do you know how I came to be here?” The awakened corpse questioned the drow before it, unaware of how powerful a being stood before it.  

It managed to bring itself to its feet, though it was clear that the creature within the body was uncertain how to make it function properly.  It wobbled on its feet for a moment, before standing mostly steady.  The lips pursed, the body of the woman attempting once more to form words.  “My… my name,” it managed to say, in a soft voice.  “I am… called… Mak…. Makani,” it managed to say, looking absolutely amazed at the fact that sounds were coming out of its own mouth.  It looked at Moliira again, befuddlement in its eyes.  “Who… you…. Are?” it asked, its words jumbled and quite obviously unsure of itself.

The body language spoke of confusion and inexperience, but Moliira remained.  She had to, this being carried something of her realm within its self.  The voice spoke of storms and the chaotic power of electricity, and she nodded when it asked her questions.  "This place is a cemetery, where the humans bury their dead.  And you have taken one of them for now," Moliira said, curiosity in her voice.  How had this happened?  An accident, yes, most likely.  But did the entity seek the body on purpose, or what it something that had just happened.  "You came from the storm," she added, pointing at the dissipating clouds overhead.  The thunder was fading too, but the echoes could still be heard.

When it stood, albeit with a bit of understood unsteadiness, Moliira's lips curled into a smile.  The entity was strong, it could usually take some time to adjust to having a body.  But it already stood.  And it was speaking as well.  "I am Moliira.  And maybe I can help you.  But only if you would like.  I know magic of your element, of the storms.  But I will not force you to accept my help," she said.  She slowed her speech, enunciating carefully to make sure that Makani would be able to understand.

“W- what mean you say ‘taken’ one?” the creature asked, its grammar showing that it did not wholly grasp the concept of spoken language.  It was still attempting to speak verbally, even when Moliira spoke to it telepathically.  “I come from storm?” it asked, and the female body looked to the sky, at the clouds that were gradually making their way somewhere else.  “I come not from storm,” it said, its face furrowing in emotion.  “I am the storm,” it spoke, its words sounding much more solid and confident than any others that it had spoken thus far.

“Mo-lee-rah,” it repeated, fractioning out the word incorrectly.  “You know the storm?” it asked, its expression lighting up.  The begin - she - studied the drow for a moment.  “You… storm.  You control storm.”  The being seemed to be able to sense the power resonating off of Moliira.  ‘You help Makani?” it asked, its eyes showing a glimmer of hope.  It seemed that each minute it inhabited the body, it seemed more at peace with where it had ended up, and with the body that it had taken up residence in.  “You have power,” it said, sensing the electricity that ran within Moliira’s power.

It took the drow a few moments to figure how the best way to explain her own thoughts.  Dealing with a newly sentient entity wasn't something she had a whole lot of experience with, but Moliira had never let such a minor thing deter her.  "The body you wear was… inanimate.  Its mind was gone, the person within it ceased being.  This is a place where humans bury their dead," Moliira explained.  How many more questions would spawn from that, she had no idea.  But Makani at least understood enough of itself to explain what it was.  And she knew in that moment this creature would teach her quite a bit, even as she was teaching it. 

She nodded at the questions, confirming what it asked.  "I know the storm well.  I help it, guide it where it is needed.  I help others understand its power, too.  And its potential.  So I will help you with yours," she said, hoping that her words and her tone were reassuring.  It was still night now, but dawn was a few hours away.  And with the storm dissipating, Moliira knew that the graverobbers would soon creep back in.  "Do you want to go somewhere safe?  It is my home, and you are welcome there," Moliira said.  Having a nascent storm elemental in her realm would be interesting, and some of her staff could use the bit of a shakeup.

Makani stared at the drow with question in its eyes.  It looked around, taking in the gravestones that surrounded the sacred earth around it.  “Makani wear skin of human,” it said, in a way that it seemed to be understanding what the drow was saying to it.  “When die… you bury in earth?” Makani questioned the drow, head cocking in question.  “Our dead… they gone, in the wind,” it said, confusion wracking its expression.

“Makani feel storm in you,” it said, nodding strongly.  “You help storm - you guide storm - you help Makani,” it repeated, but as it spoke its words became clearer with time.  “Makani have great power, but Makani not know how use power in body,” it said, frowning.  “Makani is… Makani is woman?” it said, looking down at its body.  It looked back at Moliira, and nodded again.  “Safe place good,” it said, and took a few unsure steps towards the drow.  “Makani come with you,” it said, again nodding.  Electricity crackled from Makani’s hands, startling it.  After a few moments, a quiet yes slightly unsure laugh came from the being.  “Makani… excited to go.”  It looked to Moliira, waiting for her to show it to this new place.

She nodded, Moliira was glad the entity was intelligent.  That made teaching it much easier.  "Humans do.  I am a drow, and we have our own death rituals.  As do your kind.  Every species is just a bit different," she explained.  And there were some truly odd rituals she had come across in her travels.  Perhaps she would reveal that to Makani in time.  An idea was already forming in her mind, of how she could both help this entity and herself at the same time.  But that was a thought for later.

She chuckled at the startled reaction, but there was a gentle look in her eyes.  She wanted to nurture Makani, and help it to grow, and she nodded.  With a flick of the wrist, a lightning limned portal opened.  The heather covered foothills revealed through it were shadowed by an oncoming storm, and the faint smell of ozone drifted into the cemetery.  "Come, that is my home, and yours now as well," she said before stepping through.  She trusted Makani would follow her, and the drow smiled.  Odder things had happened, and she had learned to take advantage of those events.