Legendseekers Part 5: Darkness Falling
Rune took a worried glance at Ragna. The red-headed vexyn had been far too quiet on their way back to Moonreach.
They had opted to walk back large parts of the way as to not attract attention from their enemies. The outskirts of the capital had been evacuated some time ago and were deserted of xyn life. But that didn’t mean that there was no life at all. Corruption beasts and corrupted xyns roamed the area. It were only few, maybe scouts for the large-scaled attack that was coming later, but they seemed to pop up so suddenly and silently that Ragna and Rune decided to take no chances. A flying xyn was easy to spot, a walking one less so.
Ragna had even gone so far as to roll around in the dust, so that her bright red colors got dull and more earthy-looking. Now she looked as if she’d tripped into a mud puddle, with her fur full of leaves and sticking up everywhere. It would have been amusing, had the situation not been so dire.
„I can’t believe I’m saying that, but you’re awfully quiet. What’s on your mind?“
Ragna’s jaw clenched, a sign of stress, but she didn’t say anything.
Rune hesitated.
„You’re worried?“ She asked, carefully.
„Of course I’m worried!“ Ragna exploded.
Rune realized how well she had gotten to know the redhead to not feel offended by her tone.
„Ragna…“ she said gently.
„NO.“ The vexyn interrupted, but made a concious effort to regulate her voice after the single word. „I know we cannot save Lunerest alone. I know that. But we can give the others a chance to make it out alive. That’s why we must hurry.“
Rune nodded. She had used all her vials of bottled magic, among them some wind magic that had them travel faster, but they were all used-up at this point. Only their legs could carry them now, and they were terribly slow compared to their wings. Rune understood why Ragna was frustrated, but they couldn’t become reckless now.
Rune almost tripped over her feet when she spotted the fleck of bright yellow fur ahead of them and Ragna cursed, summoning her fire magic in a wide arc above her head.
„Well, hello to you too, sweetheart.“ Kingdom said, drolly.
„KINGDOM.“ Ragna gasped, fire fizzling out. „You little shit. I almost fried you.“
„Of course you did“, the bright-colored moxyn scoffed.
„Kingdom“, Rune intervened, heart still beating madly in her chest. „What are you doing here?“
„Waiting for you, obviously. Thought you’d like to be let back in through the barrier once you return.“ They paused and then, like an afterthought, added a dry „You’re welcome“.
„You left the barrier open?“ Ragna asked, dark and threatening.
„Of course not, I’m not an idiot. Don’t judge others by your own standards.“
„EXCUSE ME?!?!“
Rune could feel the hair at the back of her neck rising and she turned around. There, on the horizon, the first signs of a large army appeared. Dark smoke, that could be mistaken for dust from afar, rose about it, but Rune knew for certain that it was corruption mist.
„Ehm, guys…“ She said, as the other two xyns, eerily, turned towards her at the same time.
They followed her gaze and, without another word, the three xyns turned around and dashed towards the barrier.
Previous prompt:
Ragna and Rune decided together, they would pursue the villain at any cost. They already took so much from Lunerest, the two xyns couldn’t just sit in the protection of the barrier and let things happen the way the villain wanted.
It was easier said than done though.
There were knights and even regular xyns posted all around Moonreach supporting the barrier. Surely, they would sense if Ragna and Rune just brute-forced their way through the barrier. Ragna and Rune quietly walked the perimeter of the barrier, not making it obvious they wanted to escape but just casually talking as they kept their eye out for any weakness.
Eventually, near the back of Moonreach and the barrier, they saw a shimmery familiar rainbow moxyn looking bored and casting ice magic into the barrier. The moxyn grinned at the two as they began to walk by- not a kind grin but a bit mocking.
“Hey there.” Kingdom, a regular in Moonreach castle called to them with a smarmy look on his face. Kingdom was a frequent dimension-hopper and was known to be a bit of a rule-bender. Ragna returned his smile with her own angry one.
“Wouldn’t expect you to be helping the barrier, Kingdom.” she shot at him with a growl. Ragna had a few knight missions to go looking for this xyn causing trouble in other dimensions more than once.
Kingdom’s tail flicked playfully as he shrugged, casting another burst of magic into the barrier.
“This place is the source of my power, I don’t want it destroyed by some corruption-worshipping xyn.” Kingdom casually mentioned, though he looked like he had been working hard. His halo was dim and bags were heavy around his eyes. His magic wavered a bit as it went into the barrier to strengthen it. Rune looked at Ragna with eyes that told her to be calm. With a huff, Ragna composed herself to sound as sweet as she could.
“That’s great, Kingdom, real great.” she said through clenched teeth. “Sooo…” she swished her tail. “I know how much you like messing around in the human Earth dimension… what if I just kinda overlooked that the next time you wanted to mess around?”
Kingdom’s ears twitched as he listened. “Why, what do you want, royal knight?” Kingdom asked, puffing out his cheeks a bit. “I need you to let us through real quick and not tell anyone.” Ragna said quickly, Rune nodded along.
“HAHA!” Kingdom burst out, Ragna felt frustration flare in her as he continued, “Aww, didn’t the queens tell their lapxyns to stay here and protect Moonreach? That’s not like you, Ragnaaa…” Kingdom teased for a bit, but then brought his wing to his chin, “Well I guess it is.”
Ragna contained her urge to breathe fire at the little moxyn as Rune gently placed her tail on Ragna’s to calm her.
“P…” Ragna choked a bit on the word, “Please, Kingdom.” she asked painfully.
“Aww, Raggy, you sweet-talker.” Kingdom made a heart shape with their lion tail at the two xyns.
Ragna snorted out a burst of fire.
“Alright, you two can go through and I won’t say anything. I’ll be expecting that favour once the valiant knights save Lunerest!” Kingdom’s tone was dripping with mockery, but he turned and poked a vexyn-sized hole in the barrier for Ragna and Rune. Ragna glared at Kingdom as he let the two xyns slip through. Kingdom waved them goodbye with his wing before closing the barrier once again.
Ragna spent most of the journey back to the Corrupted Lands complaining about Kingdom’s attitude while Rune patiently listened. The closer they got, the quieter Ragna became. They had to be careful knowing the villain could control the corruption beasts that were around.
Ragna and Rune were tense, but they snuck through the Corrupted Lands unnoticed with their specialty spells and training. The Corrupted Lands felt different than how they normally did. The sound of corruption beasts could hardly be heard even though the air felt dense with corruption around them.
After patrolling the edges, Rune noticed a small, moxyn-sized cavern tucked away among some destroyed boulders. She used a potion she’d brewed a long time ago to shrink Ragna down a bit and they both pushed themselves into the hole together. Ragna led the two of them, using her fire occasionally to be able to see a bit better. The cavern was dark and smelled strongly of corruption. It made the xyn’s fur bristle just at the concentrated smell of it.
Eventually, the small tunnel opened up into a bigger cavern. The two xyns snuck in quickly, disturbed by what they saw. Tons of eggs with the same voidlike cracks the villain’s relic had lined the walls.
The two xyns exchanged worried glances as they hid behind a mass of rocks. They heard someone or something coming.
A few corrupted xyns came in and started breathing breath magic on the eggs. It had the same purple voidlike tinge to it as the villain’s relic had. The eggs glowed with power and soon, the villain themselves walked into the room. The corruption around him whipped and crackled with power and it looked like the relic took up more of their face.
“Hmm, good, hatch me more corruption beasts.” the villain hissed, “Soon, we’ll attack Moonreach now that I know Thr’zair can affect the queens.”
Blood pulsed in Ragna’s ears with alarm at those words. Rune had to hold Ragna back with her magic; but the two waited for all the corrupted xyns to leave.
“We have to DO SOMETHING.” Ragna quietly yelled to Rune.
“We can’t, you promised we would just gather information!! If anything happens to us, Moonreach will be in trouble.” Rune hissed.
After some grumbling, Rune managed to get Ragna out of the cave and flying back to Moonreach.
“We have to let Ryu know what’s coming.” Rune panted as the two flew as fast as they could.
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Ragna roared as she flew faster. “Kingdom better let us in.” she grumbled as the two began to discuss what they had seen.
Moonreach just had to know.
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Kingdom doesn't show it, but they got worried, so they found a xyn to take their place at the barrier (under the promise to let them back upon their return of course) and went to look for Ragna and Rune.
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560 words
Submitted By Tav
Submitted: 1 day ago ・
Last Updated: 1 day ago
