Knight Quests: Bravery

The Pixyn ushered Pantalaimon, Troia and the rest of the Knights & trainees to  the center of the forest. It was uncomfortably silent still- nobody could see where the test of the Pixyns were. Some of the nature here had already begun to wither; some trees were prematurely shedding their leaves 

"Come out, everyone!" called the Pixyn in  a hushed whisper. "The Royal Knights have come to help us!"

Numerous plants in the forest began to stir as if on cue- and one by one, numerous Pixyns popped out of their plant forms to greet the group of knights. Pantalaimon immediately noticed that many of them seemed dazed, and withdrawn; the loss of the two moons and their magic was clearly taking it's toll on the Pixyns here.

"We've brought supplies for you all,"  said Troia, using the tip of her tail's stinger to motion to the Bags of Holding the knights wore, magically enchanted to carry as much as they possibly could. The knights unloaded their bags to reveal provisions full of moon energy together with medical supplies, and all of the Pixyns clustered towards them, snatching items as quickly as they came  with hushed little "Thank you!"s before fluttering off. Pantalaimon struggled with passing out potions with both of their paws and prehensile wings- they might as well let the Pixyns dive into the bags and get everything themselves since they were small enough to fit inside.

All of a sudden, a pixyn burst out of the foliage, wailing with tears streaming from their eyes. "DAFFODIL IS MISSING!!!" They cried. "THEY VANISHED WITHOUT A TRACE!" 

Every Pixyn present froze in place, then swarmed to the newcomer to comfort them, almost dropping the supplies that they carried. 

"Shh! Not so loud, if you don't want the Corruption Beasts to hear us!"

"That can't be!"

"We can't search for Daffodil now! The Corruption Beasts will come for us!"

"But we can't leave her all alone like that!" sniffled the newcomer xyn. They were about to sob outright again, but another pixyn used their magic to quickly grow a flower and stuffed the newcomer's mouth with the flower to quiet them. 

A light glinted in Pantalaimon's eyes, and they smiled inwardly to themself. This was the perfect opportunity for Pantalaimon to gain the trust of others...

"Now, now," said Pantalaimon, equally as hushed as everyone else. They batted the flower out of the Pixyn's mouth, mopping their tears away with the tips of their wings feathers. "You're saying this with an entourage of Knights here to help you! Tell us more about where Daffodil was."

They immediately yanked Troia in either their tail and hissed into her ear: "You're coming to help with me." She flattened her ears in response and nudged them away from her- they knew that, though disgruntled, she had agreed.

The crying pixyn that sat before them sniffled, blowing their nose with a nearby leaf before brightening up. "Really?! Oh, I can't thank you enough! Daffodil was right outside the forest Pixiehome with me- we didn't even cross the Moon River! I needed to head back into Pixiehome to grab something real quick, and Daffodil she'd stay back since she was sure the Moon River kept her safe; but when I came back she was GONE..."

The crying Pixyn hiccuped and immediately passed out on the ground. Pantalaimon and the other knights stared blankly as some other Pixyns carried the unconscious one away to a tree to take care of them. 

The Pixyn that first guided the group of Knights in spoke up in the crying ones place. "We can't thank you enough for trying to help. It's too dangerous for us Pixyns to leave Pixiehome now. Rumor has it that Corruption Beasts and Corrupted xyns are inching closer to the Moon River when they couldn't cross it before; if they actually cross the river, I don't want to think about what will happen to Pixiehome..."

Pantalaimon nodded. "Then there's no time to lose! Troia will join me in the search; the rest of you knights stay back here and protect Pixiehome! Come on, Troia!" They immediately galloped off to exit the forest with a burst of wind magic, and Troia sprinted behind to follow suit, before the rest of the knights could protest.

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Troia and Pantalaimon arrived outside of Pixiehome, stopping just before the river bordering the Corrupted Lands. 

Pantalaimon looked out towards the Corrupted Lands. "You don't think that Daffodil could have gone to...?"

Troia stood motionless, only looking out torwards the same horizon that Pantalaimon was facing. 

"No," she replied. "No Pixyn would enter the Corrupted Lands willingly. I think I sense someone is here with us-" her ears swiveled back, and she turned around to snarl. "PANTALAIMON! BEHIND YOU!"

Pantalaimon whipped around. It was two corrupted moxyns- but something was strange about them. Their eyes crackled with some intense corrupted energy, and they appeared more vicious than ever. The corrupted xyns snarled, and pinned their ears back, pawing the earth to charge. 

Pantalaimon gritted their fangs; this must have what made Daffodil dissappear. They and Troia had no option but to completely knock out the corrupted xyns unconscious if they were going to find and save Daffodil- if she could even be found now...

"I don't like the looks of this, Troia," said Pantalaimon. "This Corruption doesn't seem normal!"

"We have no choice but to fight!" Troia retorted. She arched her back and flared the massive  feathers on her body in her threat display together with bristling her fur and waving the stinger on her tail; she would gauge how hard she had to fight depending on the response that the corrupted xyns gave her.

The corrupted xyns howled, enraged, and charged straight at the both of them. 

Pantalaimon blasted their wind breath at one corrupted xyn in several blasts. It dodged each breath each time, snarling, and charged to lash out at Pantalaimon. Pantalaimon dodged each time, but struggled to get a hit in with their magic.

Troia slashed relentlessly at the other corrupted xyn with her  claws, frequently jabbing into it with her stinger and evading it's own attacks by melting into shadow before catching it by surprise from behind to attack once more. But it successfully countered each strike she made, and  lashed out at her too. It was all she could do to dodge its frenzied attacks.

These unusually corrupted xyns were more tenacious than others they had fought before- and they were growing impatient. As if on cue, both of their bodies surged with an almost electrifying corrupted energy, and one blasted a corrupted Breath at Troia; she snarled and dove to the ground to dodge it just in time to avoid it.

"TROIA!!!" Pantalaimon cried out. Troia and Pantalaimon stood back-to-back as both  xyns prowled closer, their roving eyes sizzling with corruption.

"They're fighting too well! It's almost as if they can think for themselves!" shouted Troia. "What do you propose we do now?"

Pantalaimon knitted their brows in concentration and gritted their teeth. "I've got one ace up my sleeve," they said as quietly as they could. "Cast your dark magic on me to make me invisible and act as a decoy; I'll strike them both with my wind magic in one fell swoop. We have only one chance to get it right, or I can't say what'll happen to us afterwards! Don't let them take their eyes off of you for a second!"

"Fine!" Troia said through gritted fangs too. "Show me what you can do!"

Her horns flared with magic, and Pantalaimon vanished in an instant. The corrupted xyns turned about to search foe them, but she immediately goaded both of them to direct their attention to her by using her threat display again, flaring her feathers while hissing as loudly as she could. Both xyns growled, and advanced towards her slowly.

Pantalaimon closed their eyes, concentrating as they exhaled their Breath slowly to churn the air around them into a spiral.  Their wind magic flared; it was time. They pawed the ground and sprang into action, sprinting as fast as was ever possible for them. With the wind magic now blistering around them like a jet cutting through the air, they shot themself like a rocket directly into both of the corrupted's xyns at once- their wind magic formed a barrier that shielded them from direct fur-to-fur contact. Pantalaimon shit their eyes as they barrelled through both xyns and as they heard the crunch of both bodies being pierced by the tip of their jet of air. They hated the thought of harming something that wasn't control of itself, but their corruption left Pantalaimon no choice- they were no stranger being forced to do things that they didn't want to. 

The invisibility spell wore off, and Pantalaimon flickered back into view as they crashed to the ground; the impact of their air rocket was enough to send both xyns flying far enough past the Moon River and onto the other side, the territory of the Corrupted Lands. 

Pantalaimon coughed, struggling to get up on all fours. Troia immediately rushed to their side and stood at the ready to attack anything that came their way. 

Both corrupted xyns struggled to stand too- a miracle, considering that anything weaker might have been obliterated. One hissed and the other yowled, and they both ran off back to the corrupted lands.

"YOU TWO!" Pan and Troia heard some xyns shouting behind them. It was the rest of the knights, and some Pixyns from earlier, rushing to their aid. 

Pantalaimon made a move to chase after both corrupted xyns, but one of the Lullay knights stopped them. "Halt; you're badly injured. We saw what happened in the safety of the forest before the corrupted detected our presence; that was reckless of you. But I can't believe it worked!"

"Thank you so much for fighting off those corrupted moxyns!" One of the Pixyns exclaimed, joyously. "But did you find Daffodil?" 

"I haven't, but..." Pantalaimon noticed a small, yellow flower poking out from the wilted grass. During the commotion of the fight they hadn't noticed it there before; they blew a puff of warm air onto it, and out popped a bright yellow Pixyn. It was Daffodil.

"Thank you for saving me!!!" Daffodil cried. She zipped around in the air joyously before hugging Pantalaimon, and Troia, before flying back into the air. "My friend and I were out here trying to drink some water from the Moon River to see how it tasted, ever since two of our moons went quiet. My went back to the forest to get something while I decided to stay, but all of a sudden, I saw a pair of very scary corrupted xyns leap over the river. I've never seen anything like this happen before! I was so scared, I could only hide in my plant form so they wouldn't notice me!"

The knights and the other pixyns turned to each other to talk amongst themselves, clearly alarmed.

"This doesn't bode well," said Pantalaimon.  "The moon river has weakened significantly- and there was something wrong with the corrupted xyns that we saw. They were far more powerful than the average corrupted xyn we saw- their eyes were strange! It looked like they were bewitched by a curse!" They coughed, shutting an eye and leaned on Troia. 

"I saw it up close too," Troia chimed in. "We need to inform everyxyn in Moonreach as soon as possible."

"But not before you've both had a moment to rest," said the Lullay Knight. "We'll have to rest in Pixiehome for the night before we travel back in any case."

Pan and Troia nodded, and they slowly walked back with their accompaniment of knights and Pixyns- safe for now.

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Pan, Troia, and the rest of the knights sat at a tree stump, surrounded by Pixyns serving them freshly prepared Pixiehome meals served on large leaves. The Pixyns had decided to celebrate; the provisions had clearly rejuvenated them just enough to express their thanks with a specially prepared meal.

"Pantalaimon and Troia were so brave! Even in my   flower form, I could hear everything from how hard they fought. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them!" Daffodil fluttered about, chattering excitedly to everyone.

The moment a Pixyn set down Pantalaimon's leaf of food, they immediately scarfed it down as fast as they could like a starving dog. "It's so delicious!" they exclaimed, licking their lips enthusiastically. "But maybe everything is all the more delicious after risking your life. Can I have seconds?"

Everyxyn around them (except Troia, who never smiled) laughed merrily. Pantalaimon's exemplary (and unexpected) show of bravery to everyxyn present had lifted their moods considerably, despite the graveness of their circumstances.

There might be hope for the future- but only if all of them could unite to save Lunerest.

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That night, Pantalaimon tossed and turned around in the bed of a little treehouse they were alotted to sleep within a night at Pixiehome. 

They felt troubled; they had put on a brave face for everyxyn, Daffodil most of all. But to see everyone- it felt dishonest, somehow, that they were lauded with praise for being something- a Royal Knight (at least a trainee)- that they weren't entirely sure that they could honestly and truly be.  They had no issue lying and deceiving others in the past to use others for all they were worth. But to see Daffodil be so grateful and show such sincerity to them now... why was this troubling them?

Pantalaimon laid their head down on a pillow, and let themself slowly drift off to sleep.