Desperate Journeys
written by VoyagerOrchid, Foghammer, for the Fall 2018 Magi Nation Duel Online Storyline Tournament.
“Regent Jaela!” A voice called. “A new report from the Sky Watch!”
“Tell me, Nimbulo.” The queen stated, turning from the map of the Moonlands. “Has there been any progress with the unrest?”
“There has, my Lady. The Watch reports that the Bograthians have slowed their attack on Paradwyn, but the cave-ins and earthquakes in the Teeth still continue. The emissary from Ombor is furious – it seems there was another large tunnel collapse.”
“Tell the Underlings we’ll work on it. Send a watch-member to d’Resh, perhaps something can be done to commission a sand sculptor. What still troubles the Moonlands, elder?”
Nimbulo nodded gravely at the regent. “The forest immediately around Vash Naroom is still corrupted. The surviving Naroomites have settled outside in the greater forest, but they’ve still had reports of felled and burned trees near the city. We’re unsure who is responsible, but initial reports indicate Calderan spellcraft. The Flamekeeper has been unresponsive since our last missive, Your Highness.
“The grass torn from the weave is still spreading in d’Resh, though we haven’t received any news from either region since the initial report.
“Our sky watch member is still investigating the earthquakes in the Teeth. There are rumors that something terrible has happened with Kybar’s Fang. Gruk has sent a report to Ombor about this.
“The Naran iceberg is nearing the eastern shores of Paradwyn. It has started to melt, and there are strange shapes inside it, beyond the peculiar dark color…”Nimbulo fell silent. More problems had befallen the Moonlands than he could remember in his lifetime. Things had become strange and different ever since Agram’s release and re-sealing, since that peculiar boy Tony had appeared.
There had even been rumors of ruptures in the dream barrier. If there was any truth to this, what would happen if ever there was a breach in it? He did not dare mention such things to his regent yet, however.
“Nimbulo!” Jaela called after the pensive elder. “Please, focus. We need information from all the affected regions. Send a watch member to each of the Keepers of those regions; see that the magi are talking to one another. We need solutions, and simply playing courier will not do.”
* * *
Quilla was bored. Since the vault had been raided, they had lost a lot of their more interesting relics to the fire. She idly turned an Orothean Horn in her hands, and looked at a small cubic frame on the coral workbench. There was so much unrest in the Moonlands above, but here in the deeps, only that mischief with Bria and her old friend Qwade had stirred up any real news.
Her friend Orthea hadn’t been around either lately, having been sent by Mobis to talk to the Lady, and try to “Calm those mischievous youngsters from their dramatic meddling” as Mobis had said.
Well, she could sit here and be bored, or she could go exploring in the shallow reefs. There was still fighting in the outskirts of the wetlands of Bograth, so maybe she could help stop a battle or find some wreckage. She swam toward the surface waters, leaving Oscent Mar behind. The normally bright waters above were dark for some reason, so she swam faster up, and cast a quick spell to elongate her tail flukes to speed her journey. There was something dark blue blocking the the sunlight, an odd ovoid shape, floating at the surface! An iceberg! But what was it doing this far south? Mobis would want to hear about this! She accelerated again, exploring along its base, looking for any irregularity, until she came across a cave-like opening. Up she swam, into the dark, yet oddly glowing ice. Mysteries always drove Quilla onwards, maybe she could discover why an iceberg was off the Bograthian coastline.
* * *
Sorreah hailed Yaki. He was camped a bit off from the rest of the Naroomi hunting party.
“How’re things in the sky, Brother?” Yaki asked, somewhat glumly.
“Arderial is quite removed from the struggles down here, but our hearts are with you while the Regent exercises caution." Sorreah chose his words carefully, but made good on his words with a warm smile. "How are you, my friend?”
“Ooh, well, Pruitt’s mighty angry at me from that last stunt, but at least we stopped the shadow magi in The Teeth, oh yeah. She won’t talk to me still. And Eidon’s pretty mad too. Tryin’ to lay low for a while.” Yaki said.
"Perhaps you could accompany me for a while, give the others time to cool their heels?" Sorreah offered, extending an open palm to the Corestalker.
Yaki considered the Arderian's gesture for a moment. "I'll probably take you up on that, yeah, but lemme check in before we go anywhere." With that Yaki turned away from Sorreah and walked quietly back to the camp where Pruitt and the Narans were still waiting for scouts to return with updates on Warrada's movement.
* * *
Pruitt stood in front of the Narans with a hastily drawn map laid out in front of them on the ground. Mobility had been so essential in recent days that luxuries like tables and even full tents had been abandoned. "I don't want us splitting up any more than we have. I'd rather lose the trail than for anyone else to be lost to us." Pruitt's tone was pleading, but carried a hint of frustration.
"I understand, ringsmith. You speak with wisdom beyond your years, and our own tracker would do well to heed your words." Odavast nodded, cutting a narrow glance to the side at Thast, who sat scowling with his arms crossed.
"Warrada's not taking that thing out into the world to hide out or lay low." Thast growled. "We let her get any more of a lead on us, we're gonna be hurtin', along with a lot of other innocents. I'd blame us."
"Only Warrada is to blame. We are doing all that we can." Pruitt sighed, exasperated.
"We're not doing all we can, we're sitting here talking about doing something while doing nothing!" Thast shouted, balling up his fists in anger.
"Thast!" Bronn raised a gauntleted hand to him. "We are guests of Naroom, and this is their fight. We are only here to support them."
"Tell that to the Kybarites, or the Paradans, or TO OUR OWN PEOPLE! We don't know where she's taking that thing, and if you think I'm going to sit here and--"
"That is enough, Thast." Laranel laid a gentle hand on Thast's shoulder. "We will do as Pruitt asks and stay together. Is that understood?" The Ice Queen glanced around at each of her subordinates, and without waiting for a response, turned back to Pruitt. "Please continue, Ringsmith."
"I... that is all I wanted to say." Pruitt said, trying to hide her stress.
The Narans departed quietly back to their tents to finish packing, except Laranel who lingered to offer Pruitt some encouragement. "Continuing to move forward is all that one can do. That is the wisdom of the glacier. Do what you think is right, and demolish whatever obstacles lie before you." Laranel smiled at the young Naroomite and left her to think.
"Thanks... I think..." Pruitt said as she strode back to her tent.
It was this moment that Yaki chose to descended from the tree he had perched in. Pruitt had become accustomed to this in recent months; she frowned at the tracker. "Pru... I know you're still angry, so I'm going to go with Sorreah for a while..." He said to her in hushed tones.
Pruitt balked. "What? Yaki, no! How is that making things better? You just run away from the problem and when you come back it's supposed to be fixed?"
"No, I'm just giving everyone time to cool off! Sorreah wants my help--"
"You just watched me telling everyone that I didn't want us splitting up any more!"
"But they don't trust me, dig it?" Yaki whispered harshly back at her, his eyes flaring with their eerie jade light. Pruitt flinched. "I'm-I'm sorry, Pru. I just... I can feel the resentment, oooh yeah. And I know you'll all do better without me distracting everyone."
Pruitt stared at Yaki for a moment; his shrinking posture, his fidgety hands playing with the rings on his fingers, the way his eyes scanned the ground nervously between glances at her.
"Do what you think is right." She sighed.
* * *
Quilla had wandered for hours in the labyrinthine depths of the purple iceberg. She had wandered up and down pathways, and to multiple dead ends. Her shoes were starting to show signs of undreaming, and she hated having to walk on legs for so long. This was boring! Why did Bria get all the exciting adventures? And Blu got to meet that interesting Toneey Jones guy that had that fascinating Core Glyph thing Blu was always going on about! Quilla got to find this glowing purple iceberg, and there was nothing to collect or study in it at all!
Lost in her thoughts and lost in her way through the icy maze, Quilla suddenly stopped. She had heard something, soft as a whisper, but she was sure it was real. She looked forward and back, side to side. The whisper, again. It had come from the left fork of the crossroads where she was standing. “Hello?” She called. Excited, she strode more confidently down the left path. Certain that her grand adventure would soon start. Oh, and maybe there’d be some relics to scavenge!
* * *
Quilla approached to the source of the glow, but had not heard the whispers in some time. Rounding an intersection where the glow seemed the brightest, she gasped. There was a whitish orb in the middle of a dead end on the tip of an icy shaft sticking straight out of the wall. The walls all along the dead end were shadowed, even scraped, with dark colors and bizarre claw marks. Slowly, she approached. The orb's gleam was an almost opaque cool white, but waves of purple and blue washed over its milky surface at seemingly random intervals. The glowing orb would pulse with brilliant light with the appearance of each purple swirl, almost too bright to look at.
She poked the orb with the butt of her old, barnacle encrusted spear. Nothing happened. “Well,” Quilla muttered. “Nothing risked, nothing gained!” She snatched up the orb. It felt icy cold in her hands, to no surprise- she was in the middle of an iceberg after all. She turned to go. Maybe Mobis would know what it was.
A loud crack sounded behind her. One glance back showed a big crack in the shaft the orb had sat on. She could see something under the ice. Were those...fingers?? Quilla started running. Finders keepers! She thought as she picked up the pace. The whispers started up again.
* * *
Yaki and Sorreah traveled southwest toward an odd glow on the horizon. The light seemed to be both beneath and above the sea. Sorreah flew circles above as Yaki charged forward; they headed through the still damaged areas of the forest, and through the outskirt areas of Paradwyn. They traveled for two days, camping at night and crossing the great river, when they finally arrived at Bograthi Bay. It had not been long since Yaki had rampaged through Bograth, stopping the magi there from continuing to build rafts to supply their raids on Paradwyn, but now there was something else clogging the bay -- a large, multihued iceberg. It wasn’t the normal color of bluish white of regular icebergs, but was twisted in several irregular mounds and had a greenish-purple color towards the center. This was what the regent of Arderial had sent Sorreah to investigate. If there was a threat within the iceberg, it could cause damage to the regional ecosystems of three regions – Paradwyn coastlines, Bograthian estuaries, and even the depths of Orothe.
“Icequake!” Sorreah shouted! “They ran out of the cave, but the shaking didn’t stop. Then there was a bright purple flash from inside, and everything grew still again, just as suddenly as it had begun.
“We gotta go in, brother! I know it sounds crazy, but the tunnel’s still there, maybe someone’s in trouble!” said Yaki.
“Let’s go.” agreed Sorreah. Cautiously, they entered the tunnel again, nervously looking at the stalactites above them.
* * *
Yaki and Sorreah had wandered deeper into the cave for what seemed like hours, but had likely been only a few minutes - they were hurrying to try to get to the source of the now missing light- but had no idea how far it would be. They chose paths when the tunnel split always heading downwards, leading to ever darker tunnels. Eventually, they came to a rather flat, open tunnel area, where recently, it seemed, there had been a cave-in from one of the ice walls. Yaki inspected the fallen ice chunks, which still resonated with some magic, though he wasn’t quite sure the origin. It was entirely alien to his trackers’ instincts. Sorreah was looking back the way they had come, leaving a tracking rune in the ice - so they wouldn’t be lost.
“I think something was here, brother!” Yaki exclaimed. “There’s magic all over these chunks, but it’s… different. Reminds me of that kiddo who was vis…” A blast of icy air hit Yaki in the back, causing him to tumble down the path towards Sorreah. Sorreah immediately summoned up a Vellup, but it was quickly slammed by a piece of small red stone, weakening in it.
“Get away from our mine!” A raspy voice shouted at them. A reef hyren lumbered up, with an Orothean sitting on its shell. A dark blue Orish floated up nearby.
Sorreah tapped another ring, bringing forth an Ayebaw, and Yaki flared his Furok ring to life. The two creatures were there in an instant to engage in battle, but the hyren was faster- again spitting red stones at both creatures, causing them to weaken even as they were magined into existence.
The Orothean was no one Sorreah recognized. Her eyes glowed a cold white light, however, and she held out her left hand, as if holding something gently. She ordered her creatures to attack. Yaki dove out of the way as the dream creatures engaged in fierce combat, but with both of their creatures weakened, Yaki had to quickly magine out his next creatures, two hinkos and a wasperine. Sorreah calmly summoned more creatures too, but it was clear they were both losing the fight. Sorreah strained with effort, searching for some reason the Orothean would attack them like this.
“Stop!” he called. “We don’t want to fight you!
“Get out!” was her only reply, “I was here first, and you just want to stop my lovely freeze!” She spread her arms, and several relics gleamed on her arms and shoulders. Again an icy blast struck one of Yaki’s creatures, and it burst back to the dream plane with a tinkle of animite. The air was getting colder, and they were already in an iceberg cavern! Suddenly, the Orothean looked behind her, and shivered.
“No! Its…. it’s mine… where…” and she screamed, blasting a large wave of water through both of Sorreah and Yaki’s creatures, and bowling them both over in the icy wake. All the creatures on the battlefield had vanished, and the Orothean lay on the icy floor, her tail now spread behind her, face down. Sorreah saw only blackness.
* * *
Yaki shook Sorreah awake. His wings ached like never before, and he felt like he need a week of sleep. He wouldn’t be able to magine anything for some time.
“Hey brother, you alright?” he asked Sorreah. “Quilla here’s up too, seems we got more trouble than we thought, oh yeah!”
Quilla, the Orothean magi from the battle, looked at Sorreah sheepishly, her legs now transformed again, and offered him a hand up.
“I’m sorry about that, trackers,” she said. “It… it was the relic. It had some… dream, some power over me.” There’s a magi controlling it! They want to cover the whole moon with dark ice! It was like being in someone else’s dream, except it was a nightmare. They forced me in the dream to want that too!”
“We have to stop them, brother!” Yaki responded.
“Agreed, but where did they go?” Sorreah asked. “We’re still in this iceberg, and we don’t know where they went!”
“Well… when I was in their dream, I...I think I could see their plans… and, well, I could see three different regions. Maybe they’re going to one of them?” Quilla offered.
“What were the regions?” Yaki and Sorreah each asked.
“...I’m not sure entirely, but I know I saw the trees of Naroom. And...no, that can’t be right, how can a volcano freeze, that could be Cald? And...oh no, I saw Ocent Mar!! We have to stop them!”
The three magi picked up some animite shards on their slow trek back out of the iceberg. They quietly discussed which of the regions were the most likely. This might be a completely new threat to the moonlands, beyond the unrest that had been brought with Agram’s dreams.
To be continued, in the next storyline tournament!
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