The Clef Compass [Legendseekers, MOX-994]

For several days after acquiring the ability to Celestial Shift, Pantalaimon practiced moving about to get adjusted to their anthroxyn form, with Troia giving them. The sensation of having fingers and toes was a bizarre one- but they quickly learned how to grab and use items with their hands, somersault, hop and skip on both legs, do pushups and situps; lift weights, and more. Most interesting to them was learning to play their favorite musical instruments, especially their flute, with their hands and fingers; it was nothing like handling an instrument almost entirely from magic.

But every night, they continued to struggled to sleep soundly. They dreamed ream of soaring in the sky amongst darkened clouds to see their world below being overtaken by the blackened ash and ooze of corruption. Pamtalaimon would always see the silhouette of the villain emerge from the dark clouds to face them, grinning menacingly - yet shortly after, a melody, soothing flooded the world- and everything in Pantalaimon's sight turned an eye-searing white.

Pantalaimon jolted awake in a cold sweat, and their faerie halo stirred awake too. It troubled them deeply. They panted as they laid in their bed, looking out at Yanwei shining faintly in the sky at midnight- it was slightly difficult to see past the magical barrier that Ryu struggled to maintain. Pantalaimon's Ophistles (Asclepius, Hermes, Mercury) and white Pwigi (Alicanto) were snuggled beside them, and they had woken up too from Pantalaimon's distress.

"Sorry to disturb you all," Pantalaimon sighed. Their companions didn't seem to mind; three of their Ophistles' crystalline cheeks began to glow with a magical warmth to soothe them, and Alicanto waddled up to Pantalaimon's cheek to nestle there, chirping before it fell asleep. Pantalaimon curled up again, holding all of their companions close before they drifted off to sleep again. Their faerie halo fluttered above Alicanto's head to sleep on top of it, and stopped moving, sleeping too.

The sound of that same music drifted into their mind again, and they drifted off into a dreamless, but not silent, sleep...

Pantalaimon and Troia had breakfast together that morning in the Knight's barracks. It normally wasn't required with enough energy from moonbathing, but the knights had been consuming substantially more moon energy potions and solid foods in an attempt to keep themselves afloat in the coming days of grueling physical and magical labor.

"Troia," they asked her, "This might sound strange, but last night, I've had a dream of the aftermath the war the Queen will rage against the corrupted lands- and I keep hearing this song in my sleep. Once it plays, everything turns a pure, blinding white light..."

"You have?" The mask halo on Troia's face would have blinked if it was possible. "... I've been experiencing the same thing," she admitted.

Pantalaimon furrowed their brows. "It's kismet. We're both hearing this before the war Queen Yuhi will wage in the corrupted lands... This certainly has to mean something..."

And they hesitated for a second, before musing aloud: "...I think we should ask Oberon about this."

"...You literally saw how busy he was with studying the relics and studying the moons before the day the war begins," said Troia. She shrugged. "He didn't like us bothering him for the Celestial Shifting potions."

"But it's like I said- your brother's astral vision showed me a vision where I heard the notes of a song- asking Oberon one more time can't hurt."

That gave Troia enough pause to consider Pantalaimon's words.

Pantalaimon beckoned to her with a light sway of their tail and a tilt of their head, stepping out towards the door leading out to the street. "We should go and ask. We haven't anything to lose."

Troia and Pantalaimon arrived at Oberon's. A Vexyn standing

"State your business," the guardxyn said. "Oberon hired me recently due to the number of visitors soliciting him for his services; he isn't allowing any more visitors unless they've previously arranged a meeting with him or it's dire news. I'll have to turn you away if what you have to say is neither."

Troia and Pantalaimon exchanged brief glances, before Pantalaimon spoke up. "We need Oberon's help. I know that this'll sound strange, but in my sleep I've been hearing a mysterious song, and-"

Before the guardxyn could respond, the door suddenly swung open- revealing a very frazzled and sleep-deprived Oberon standing behind it.

"Ah! It's you two again," he said, adjusting the monocle halo over his eye with a paw. "I overheard your discussion outdoors. Please let them in. This is very serious news to me- come inside, but we have to make this quick!"

The guardxyn stepped aside to make room for Troia and Pantalaimon, and Oberon ushered them in hurriedly. His office, normally pristine, was far more disorganized than usual with tomes, scrolls, and artifacts organized, stacked and opened helter-skelter. Even the seats at his office desk were chock-full of papers, and so the two guests had to stand in a small center of the room where it was not overtaken by research materials.

"Please excuse the mess. I don't need to explain how things are nowadays." Oberon sighed. "And I'm quite sorry I don't have the time to spare to invite you for tea- in fact, due to the ongoing moonlight shortages and the amount of tea required for my consumption to continuously conduct my research, we're nearly out of the that I'd like to treat my guests to-" He sighed, sharking his head and putting a paw to his face.

"-Oh, I digress. It has been highly stressful piecing and studying out the last remnants of the relic together."

He turned to focus his gaze on the two guests, and his eyes narrowed. "But I'm certain that the fact you're hearing this melody is of no coincidence considering our current circumstances and events that will soon occur; for, in fact, you're not the only xyns that have been reporting of hearing such a melody in the past few days... How strange and fortuitous! Something is calling to you all; of that I am most certain."

"What do you suppose that we do about it, then?" asked Pantalaimon.

"It's simple." Oberon made his way over to his cabinets and rummaged through their contents; carefully retrieving two golden compasses attached to golden chains. He hurriedly brought them back to Troia and Pantalaimon, placing the chains over their necks so they wore the compasses like pendants. Troia shifted uncomfortably from the weight of the compass over her neck. The compass that hung over Pantalaimon's chest nearly sank beneath their fluffy feathers. It's polished metal glinted in the candlelight.

"These are Clef Compasses," Oberon explained. "They're designed to help guide you the direction of the melody of your soul. At first I brushed off the idea that Yin believing in Athen's vision of this song had any substance of truth to it, but with the number of xyns corroborating what Athens has seen- all hearing a mysterious melody- I now find it imperative that you follow the compasses guidance. We must know where you are being directed to, and if even possible, who is guiding you... perhaps this, together with the relic I am researching, may be part of the key to save Lunerest as we know it."

Oberon continued: "And the timing of your arrival and acquisition of these compasses couldn't have happened at a better moment; a Moxyn named Chiptune will soon be guiding all of the xyns that have been hearing this melody as well; all of them will be gathering at the center of Moonreach shortly. Make it there with all due haste and she shall help you. Go on! You don't have much time!"

Before Pantalaimon or Troia could protest, Oberon shoved the both of them out of his office entirely and out onto the street, slamming the door shut to rush back to his studies. The guard vexyn shook their head and resumed their position to guard Oberon's door, watching Pantalaimon and Troia pick themselves up on their feet.

"How rude to shove us out like that!" Pantalaimon grumbled, and they fluffed up their feathers and fur to shake the dust off of themself as if a dog would when soaked wet. "Couldn't even quietly escort us out like he normally does."

"I told you," said Troia, "He's busy. We need to go."

The both of them ran off to the main square of Moonreach to try and catch Chiptune.

They both arrived at the square to see Chiptune, a vivid green moxyn, flying in circles above a crowd of xyns. Every xyn present wore a clef compass, with each of them in varying condition. Some compasses seemed polished and brand-new; others were tarnished and aged; it was questionable if they even worked at this point. 

Troia and Pantalaimon made their way to the center of the crowd to see what the commotion was about; many xyns were exhausted and weary from a lack of moonlight, and some wouldn't stop bickering amongst themselves.

Chiptune's brows were knitted with worry as she observed the restless crowd below. "Please give me your attention, everyxyn!" She called, anxiously, to them. The crowd obeyed; they paused, and looked up at her, including Pantalaimon and Troia.

What would Chiptune have to say next…?