To Battle: Part 4 [MOX-994]

Troia felt the adrenaline course through her heart and lungs as she, Pantalaimon, and their small group of xyns ran as fast as they could to the forest that the Scout directed them to. Already Troia could smell the acrid scent of smoke- both corrupted, and magical- wafting from the trees. Troia was the first to dart in, followed my Pantalaimon, the Scout, and everyone else keeping up behind.

It didn’t take long for them to pinpoint where Samson could have been judging by the sound of roaring and the crashing of thunder, with flashes of blinding lightning flooding the forest. Scattered groups of animals fled from the center of the forest, frightened out of their mind, bolting by the group of xyns as quickly as they came.

Troia and the others arrived at the center of the forest, where there was a clearing; what they saw was exactly what they had predicted.

Samson, and a corrupted vexyn that was far larger than him, were facing each other. The corrupted vexyn’s eyes were flashing with the same intensity of Samson’s lightning breath as he exhaled; they both reared up and smashed their heads together; the Vexyn’s long horns narrowly missing Samson’s head to pierce through. Samson snarled and shot a bolt of lightning to the Vexyn’s face, repelling it for a few moments before he charged his nubbed horns with electricity to smash his head into it’s face again; and the sound of thunder and the flash of lightning filled the entire forest again. Even the earth around them trembled slightly from the impact.

Pantalaimon nearly winced at the sheer force and ferocity that Samson displayed; but even after this, the corrupted Vexyn seemed somewhat unfazed, only stepping back to bare its teeth and howl at Samson as it was blinded and deafened briefly, shutting its eyes to rapidly shake it’s head back and forth. 

Any other vexyn that was beaten this way would been hospitalized; any smaller xyn would have been immediately killed.

Samson’s ears twitched, pivoting slightly to the direction of Troia and the others- and he whipped his head around to face them. His chest heaved as he breathed, heavily; his attack had bought him enough time to talk to the newcomers with seconds to spare.

“Everyxyn! I need you to help me knock out this Vexyn, now! I think they’re too far gone- this strength is almost unlike anything I’ve seen!”

Troia stepped forward, flaring her brilliant feathers. “The other corrupted xyns fled and stopped fighting, as if they were possessed by something! We couldn’t defeat them-”

“What-” Samson nearly began. But the corrupted Vexyn had recovered, and Samson nearly lost all of his breath the second it barreled straight into him.

One of the armed villagers from the crowd nearly shrieked, and leaped out in front of Troia. It was the moxyn that they first spoke to, when asking about the missing xyns. 

“JACOB! It’s you!” They cried out. “But… Aria, Maple, Lucy and Diamond, they’re not here-”

They broke down, sobbing, dropping their pitchfork and dropping to the ground- completely overtaken by emotion.

The vexyn’s ears swiveled around, and it turned it’s head around, threateningly, with it’s eyes sparking more furiously than it had been before. But upon seeing the moxyn, it hesitated- and for a moment, the violet-white flare of it’s eyes flickered out completely. Jacob, silently, ceased fighting.

The corrosive black ooze that sloughed off it’s body ceased to move, and the corruption mist that Jacob once exhaled dissipated.

And, just for a moment, the corrupted Jacob walked over to the sobbing Moxyn, looking down at them. Troia swore that she saw a tear bead at the corner of Jacob’s blackened eye. The moxyn sniffed, looking up at the vexyn’s face. “Jacob…?”

But the peace did not last long.

Jacob’s ears seemed to pinpoint to a sound that nobody else present heard. The corruption over their eyes immediately sparked back into view, but Jacob no longer seemed agitated. They walked, slowly, out of the forest as if in a trance- towards the direction of the Corrupted Lands. 

Nobody dared to move or make the faintest of sounds until long after Jacob had left.

Troia did not know how long she had stopped breathing for until the world around her seemed to turn blurry- she nearly fell to her feet, but Samson stepped over to her side to support her weight against his massive body. 

Samson’s eyes were fixated on the direction that the corrupted Xyn had left. Troia and the other knights knew not to disturb him in that moment.

Nobody said anything as they left  the forest- not even the moxyn that cried, for the only thing they could do was choke back their tears as they walked back home with everyone else…

—

Their arrival back in the settlement was a grim and solemn return. Troia and the others had come back to see villagers and knights repairing the ruins of numerous buildings, with a group of Lullay knights rushing in. 

Samson nodded briefly to Troia and Pantalaimon. “Thank you, both, for everything you’ve done to help. We need to focus on supporting the villagers before we report this incident back to the Queens. This is far worse than I could have imagined.”

“Don’t mention it,” said Pantalaimon. They were unenthusiastic, however- much unlike their usual self- and they seemed drained from all of the energy it took to fight and run for their life. Troia didn’t say anything, but instead tilted her head to acknowledge Samson’s words.

 before calling to the other Knights to rally them, giving out orders for protecting the village. Shortly after, a majority of the knights began to cast a protective spell around the village’s borders, and it’s perimeter shimmered with a glittering barrier. Many xyns were sobbing- swearing that they saw Maple, Aria, Lucy, and Diamond in the crowd of corrupted Xyns that had fled back to the Corrupted Lands.

One xynlet nearby was crying, and the tear-eyed moxyn rushed over to their side, embracing them fully with their wings to bring their child close to their chest. “Don’t cry now. Papa Jacob will come back. The Queens and the Knights will make sure that everything will be okay…!”

Pantalaimon’s ears drooped, and they lowered their head. Their tail hung limply behind them. Troia tried to look as stoic as she could; but her eyes, hidden behind her mask halo, were averted elsewhere, unable to look at parent and child.

Neither of them knew if it was possible to bring Jacob, and all of the other villagers that went missing, back home.

---

Far off in the distance within the Corrupted Lands, much further than could be seen by the naked eye, smoke began to drift out from a cavern from a mountain, close to the side of Valorise. One by one, a line of corrupted xyns, having just walked back from a long journey, began to enter the cavern...