Knight Quests: Rendezvous (Legendseekers Part IV)

"Pantalaimon..." They heard a voice call to them. It was especially gentle and soothing; the type of voice a xynlet would want to hear from their parent when they were frightened or in pain.

Pantalaimon stirred, exhaling deeply the cool, clean air. Their lungs felt as if they no longer stung from inhaling corruption- but the lingering ache was there, and they coughed. They struggled to open their bleary eyes- what they saw was what they'd never expect.

 Queen Ryu stood before them, together with Oberon, Hush, and Samson, along with a few other Royal and Lullay knights. While Pantalaimon had been unconscious, they had been relocated to a separate room within the infirmary to rest in isolation; though it was clear that the whatever the room's original purpose was, it had been haphazardly reorganized with shelves and supplies shoved to the side to make room for Pantalaimon's cot. They could vaguely hear the sound of Lullay nurses rushing about from behind the walls; more patients were being admitted.

Pantalaimon shook their head rapidly in shock, and blinked. Never before had they imagined that they would ever speak to the Queen herself. They bowed their head in respect. "Q-queen Ryu, I-"

Samson narrowed his eyes when he spoke to Pantalaimon. "Enough with the formalities. We heard you and Troia disobeyed orders to stay back in Moonreach to do play around and whatever you pleased. Is that right?" His nostrils flared, but before Samson could say anything else, Hush brushed him with their wing as if to quietly cue him to stop. Oberon shook his head at Samson put a paw to his mouth to say 'shh'. 

"Please, Samson." Ryu gently corrected him. Samson quieted and frowned, turning his head to look away with his ears flattened. Ryu turned to Pantalaimon with a sad smile. "You must excuse Samson. Tensions have been high among all of us and even the bravest our knights are struggling to keep up with the demand. I'm sure you've seen it yourself, night by night."

"That being said," she continued, "Our Lullay healers were told that you suddenly materialized here from someplace with a powerful source of corruption; it's a miracle you made it out unscathed. You wanted to warn us of something before you fell unconscious; can you tell us more about it?"

"Of course," Pantalaimon replied. They held their head, reverently, to her. Some part of them felt guilty that she was granting them audience now despite what they had done, traveling to the Corrupted Lands unauthorized; but in this moment that didnt matter right now.

Slowly, Pantalaimon explained everything from the beginning; when they and Troia teleported to Pixiehome to reach the Corrupted Lands, the villain's lair that they saw, the corruption of the eggs, the strange relic that covered the villain's face...

...Troia possibly sacrificing herself to let Pantalaimon escape through her Telestone.

"That's why we're in grave danger," they murmured, finishing their tale. "I don't know what I'd do with myself if I couldn't save her." Pantalaimon, normally excellent at storytelling, fell silent at this part. They couldn't make eye contact with the queen, and stared at their bedsheets, crestfallen. 

They felt something soft and warm brush their shoulder, reassuringly; it was Ryu's wing. 

Ryu smiled at them again, despite everything she had heard. It was subdued; and weak, but it was still reassuring. It was the kind of smile with a warmth that would have made one believe that everything would be okay, were it not for the dire circumstances of the world at stake.

"Thank you, Pantalaimon, for sharing this information with us. Were it not for you and Troia; we wouldn't know... it was very brave of you to do what you could to help."

"Thank you for your kind words, Queen Ryu," Pantalaimon replied. They tried to straighten up their torso on the cot, to properly face everyone. "Is there any chance for me to teleport back to the Corrupted Lands immediately, to save Troia?"

Oberon adjusted his monocle halo with a paw, and spoke up. "I'm afraid you can't. In the past few days, any xyn that's tried to teleport to the Corrupted Lands watched their Telestone instantly shatter to pieces. In fact, trying to teleport to anywhere outside of there cracks the stones; some Xyns have even vanished without a trace after supposedly teleporting! It's unthinkable! So as much as we want to, we simply can't." He sighed, exasperated. "And trying to use our telestones to communicate to anyxyn  also causes the signal to suddenly short out and the recipient's telestone to shatter, too. It's rather clear to me that this mysterious villain doesn't want any of us to greet us at his doorstep!"

Pantalaimon faltered, and was about to speak, until Samson grumbled from behind. "The disruption in communication and travel is making everything worse; and I'm sure that I don't need to tell you how little moon energy we have left to sustain xyns for travel in between cities. All of Lunerest's civilizations are in chaos from handicapped communication and travel. We've even tried recalling dimension-hopping xyns to return to us to help; but reaching them is a gamble if our telestones and warpstones shatter on us, and we can't take anymore chances.

Hush, though they could not talk aloud, joined in the conversation using their telepathy. "Now out of all times, we must unite with every capable xyn in Lunerest to prepare for the worst," they thought, "Many xyns from outside Moonreach have sought refuge here for the time being, but we have so very little time and resources left to us to reach out to those who haven't left- Valorise especially. If we split our knights and citizens up to reach the, they may never come back. But if we stay put without supporting everyone else outside- what will happen to everyxyn outside of Moonreach's walls?" Hush faltered. "I want to help everyxyn. But what choice do we truly have, if every decision requires us to leave someone behind...?"

 It was Ryu's turn to speak this time. "And the weight of these countless decisions rests on me as Queen to direct you all towards a future... I have tried to scry the future with some of my most skilled Astral-wielding Knights to see if there are any answers at all to these questions. And most importantly- I have tried to remember who this corrupted villain is. But, night by night, no matter how much we push our Astral scrying to its limit, the only visions we've seen are clouds gradually covering the last moon- and our world turning dark, forever... with no clue as to who this villain is. Why can't I remember him?"

She shook her head. "How I wish my dear Yuhi were awake and here to help. But I must carry on as best as I can, for the same of our people."

"In honour of the bravery that you showed in the face of danger, even when you knew- you will be knighted as a Scout on the morrow, and you will recieve your scout's cloak. But at this time, we have no time or xyns left for knighting ceremonies- everyxyn is now preparing for war, and every night we are enlisting more and more xyns to join the ranks of the Knights. I'm sorry that we can't reward you properly as we would have liked to."

Pantalaimon shook their head. "Don't worry about it. But if I may ask... when do you plan to send us off to war in the Corrupted Lands?"

"The day of the Sunrise Celebration," answered Ryu. "It will be the only time that every xyn in Lunerest will have enough solar energy to make the journey to the Corrupted Lands and fight with everything that we have."

"But... even with the power of the sun on our side, we have to be prepared for the outcome that everyxyn may not come home," Samson added. He narrowed his eyes; the rest didn't need to be said. 

Oberon flicked his ears before speaking. "What's most important to me is to figure out how we complete the broken relic that all of you delivered the shattered pieces for. Once complete, perhaps that could give us a clue   how to defeat that dastardous villain, to understand what has happened to the moons, perhaps even unravel the villain's identity-"

And Hush chimed in too: "-and it is equally as paramount that we unite everyxyn, across every city, to prepare for whatever may happen in the coming nights..."

Ryu raised a wing and gently swayed her tails, to motion to everyxyn present to allow Pantalaimon to speak. All that were present in the room quieted.

"...I understand," said Pantalaimon. "I'll do my utmost to help from here on out; whatever it takes- no matter the price- this, I swear I shall do."

Their eyes narrowed resolutely. 

Countless times  before in the past they had lied outright with their vows to take advantage of other xyns; countless times they had let others down for their own benefit. But there was no room for insincerity now; not in front of the Queen's most trusted associates, not in front of the Queen herself, and not for Troia most of all; for the fate of their world felt that it rested on theirs and Troia's shoulders.

They had an inkling of what to do in the coming nights. They only hoped that it would work...