Dungii’s antenna extended as he caught the scent of a many strong Imdrina signatures. Vlux surmised that he must be detecting the general location of Brexcen, but they were still many kilometers off, so she let Dungii navigate on autopilot. Kiliyi on Vlux’s head, sat under the mushroom, reading through the tome. Ang sat on top of the mushroom, playing his ocarina and taking in the sights. Vegetation became more sparse as they traveled further inland. Patches of forest dotted the land, linked by dusty plains and jagged slopes. He felt a gentle tug on his shirt as Vlux climbed the mushroom.

“What are you doing up here?”

“Just practicing my music and looking around. How was studying with Kiliyi?”

“Wonderful, she’s very knowledgeable and well traveled.”

“Well traveled, Kiliyi, a spider?”

“Oh yes, she was telling me stories about when she had a bird companion, and they traveled together doing research for Lysyntri and Myorni. That’s how she knows so much about magic.”

“What happened to this bird companion?”

“She wouldn’t say, seemed like a sore topic so I let it go.”

“What does she sound like when she talks to you?”

“I don’t hear a voice. It’s different with every creature. Kiliyi, can create very vivid images in my head. Most of the time, the message is vague. With plants, it’s more like a feeling and you have to interpret what they mean. That’s not the case with animals. Sometimes they don’t want to talk at all. I can’t force them.”

“Where is she?”

“She said she had to check on something and would meet us at Brexcen. Apparently she’s been there a few times. She left this with me.”

“Her exoskeleton, it’s creepy how she can do that. Almost like reanimating a dead body.”

“Almost but, with some differences. It has no internal organs so it can’t spin silk, but she can remotely see through it, since it was once her body. She also told me the fangs have a little venom left, enough for one bite.“

“Now I wonder how many times she left me with an exoskeleton and I didn’t know.”

“Possibly a few times.”

“So why did you work with the Koru?”

“A few years ago, when the Koru first arrived here they began enslaving the native humans, the Satke. My people, the pixies, had a close relationship with the Satke. The Koru is trying to gather as much Imdrina as it can, and they needed an Elucidator, someone with my abilities, to assist them. A Satke shaman revealed the existence of us pixies to them. A few of us, myself included, were on the outside monitoring the Koru’s movements and purposefully throwing them off the trail. However, when it became clear that they would find us, I revealed myself and struck a bargain with them. I convinced them it was me they needed, and not the other pixies. But then I saw the horrible things they do.” She sighed. "Those humans have to be stopped. You are right Ang, running away isn’t going to solve our problem.”

They stopped in a vast green patch. Several boulders mixed in with the tall grass and loosely packed trees.

“Dungii why’d you stop? Vlux are we at Brexcen? I don’t see anything.”

“No, we’re still a little way off. Dungii I thought you knew where we were going?”

“Murp, murp murp murp.”

“I think he’s saying there’s someone here,” whispered Vlux.

“I thought you couldn’t connect with him.”

“I’ve been interpreting for creatures my whole life. I can make a good guess. Plus you have to learn to recognize the signs. You feel that crackle in the air?”

“Now that you mention it. Yes, I do feel it.”

“Someone is readying a spell.”

“What do we do?”

“We ready our own spells, act normal.”

#

It hovered around them silent and invisible. Detecting a sudden shift in the ether, it retaliated with a bolt of lighting.

Ang, drawing his protection rune on the mushroom top, deflected the bolt. Vlux channeled Imdrina through her markings to stir up dirt. While undercover, they dove beneath the mushroom.

The invisible assailant rose higher into the air. It could still detect the active Imdrina channels of its query. As it prepared another bolt, a small Dungii shot through the dust like a cannonball. Using his antennae for accuracy, he collided with the attacker. Briefly the attackers camouflage waned. Vlux targeted with the tome, knocking it out of the sky. It fell on top of a rune Ang drew that sealed it behind a barrier. Vlux and Ang carefully approached the creature and inspected it.

“What is that?” said Vlux her tiny face wrinkling with disgust.

“You’re asking the dwarf who just found out about pixie’s and humans.”

“Good point.”

“Meep meep meep.”

“For once no one is asking you that question,” giggled Ang.

“Meep.”

“Can we focus guys? We need to find out what this is, and what to do with it.”

A gelatinous mass of flesh lay on the ground before them. It had a long tapered body, a ribboned tail, wings like a manta, several long filaments covering it, a smaller pair of wings in the middle, and an even smaller pair near the tail. The head had four eye stalks, two above and two below. Streams of neon blue pulsed through its mostly clear body.

Ang tackled Vlux as a swath of fire passed over them. Dungii launched himself toward the new threat, but hit a boulder. The air buzzed with the sound of a hundred whip lashes. It assaulted Dungii from all sides with unrelenting force. He closed the flower petals around his head as the whips jostled him in the air and tossed him several meters away.

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The dust, still too thick to see through. Ang picked up his ocarina compressed the dirt into a wall and blasted the attacker. He noticed a silhouette duck behind a boulder. Ang stomped his foot, activated his tracer light, and played a deep rolling rhythm as he molded the soil into a worm. The worm lashed out at the boulder, destroying it. Knocked back by a strong blast, a whip sliced the worm in half. Vlux shielded herself and Ang from the debris with the tome. They heard a cry and a thud. Slowly they peeked from behind the tome and looked at the attacker.

She had dark brown skin, a toned frame, and wore a red and gold sarong with silk bindings across her breasts and shoulders exposing her well-defined abdomen. Her black hair fell over her in long thin perfect braids, each braid ending with a different colored bead.

“I remember her, she was brought into the Koru fortress recently.”

“Looks like she escaped just like you. Let’s go help her.”

“Ang wait, you can’t just be that trusting. We need to be cautious; it might be better to leave her.”

“She’s wounded, alone, and scared, any of us would lash out.” Ang slowly approached her, when out of the corner of his eye he noticed movement from a few of her braids. He jumped back and rolled out of the way. Her long hair began to flail wildly, striking stone, and wood leaving deep gashes where it struck.

“She is literally lashing out. Now what? I still think we should leave her.”

With a broad sweep of his tail, Dungii gathered up all the flailing braids and lifted the caster’s head.

“Good job,” said Ang.

“Murp murp”

“Hey, I just want to talk, maybe I can help.” Ang said as he cautiously approached. She didn’t move or speak, just lay there limp. If it was not for her flaming amber eyes, staring daggers at him, he would have thought her dead. He carefully looked over her bruised and battered body and noticed the exoskeleton by her leg and a slowly expanding dark purple area. He took out the blue cloth and wrapped it around her leg. “Don’t let go of her hair. The venom paralyzed her body, but her hair can still move. I’m going to position her on your back so we can take her to Brexcen.”

“I don’t agree with this. And we still don’t know what that is.” She pointed to the creature in the barrier.

“Let’s take it with us.”

“You’re so young and naïve. You’ll learn one day. Do what you want.” While still gripping her hair Dungii and Ang lifted her onto Dungii’s back and secured her body around the mushroom with some silk rope, Ang also restrained her hair. Then he turned to the slimy creature in his barrier and pondered how he could transport it.

“Here let me help” Vlux used the tome to pick up the bubble barrier. Then carried it to the top of the mushroom.

“That’s perfect, thanks.”

“If we're all set let’s move. We’re not far.” Vlux and Ang crawled onto Dungii’s back with their new companion menacingly staring at them. The slug like creature on top of the mushroom, behind a barrier. They continued to travel across the increasingly barren terrain.

“I’m really sorry about this. That venom isn’t deadly it just paralyzes the muscles. I know the spider that bit you very well; she might have an antivenom. This is, uh… it’s a long story, but this isn’t actually her. But we’ll see her soon and get you moving again.” The caster glares at him. If she was staring with daggers before, she is now using spears. “Vlux can you help me out here? Don’t you know her?”

“No, I don’t know her. I’ve only seen her before. She is from somewhere far away and I don’t think she speaks our language. We were held in different parts of the fortress. I can try connecting with her.”

“Then do that. Ask her what her name is. I’m Angdraoni by the way, but you can call me Ang and this is Vlux. You can talk through her.” Vlux reached out her hand and touched the caster’s forehead, after a few moments she retracted her hand.

“She doesn’t want to talk, like I said, I can’t force a connection.”

“Well, this is a little awkward.”

“You wanted to bring her.”

“We couldn’t just leave her there, what if the Koru found her again?”

“And what if the Koru finds us?”

“Well, maybe she’ll make a great ally.”

“If she wants to be your ally after you blasted her face with dust and poisoned her.”

“I didn’t poison her, the sneaky carapace did.” He turned to the caster. “I apologize for getting sand in your hair. Your magic is really neat, my dad used to weave magic into his beard.” Her javelin eyes retracted to rapiers. “So um... I use this ocarina to cast my spells. I also know a lot of runes, and recently I got this.” He holds up the shell. “I’m not sure how it works, but it seems to produce effects relating to water. Vlux here has those markings, and Dungii can…”

“Will you stop giving her a rundown of our abilities?”

“I’m just trying to be friendly.”

“She isn’t in the mood, and besides we’re here.”

“Are we back at the ocean?”

“No, this is a Lake Vondtross. See the mountains in the distance. Brexcen is here. Can Dungii swim?”

“Yes, he learned from the whales.”

“Murp”

“Excellent, we need to go out to the middle of the lake.”

Lake Vondtross had opaque light green water. As Dungii swam, Kiliyi, skidding across the surface of the lake approached.

“Kiliyi You’re back!” exclaimed Ang as Kiliyi scuttled onto Vlux’s head. “Ask her if she has an antivenom.”

“No, she doesn’t, but there are plenty of skilled healers in Brexcen, she can work with them to craft one.”

“Where’d she go, what’d she do?”

“She says she had to go check on her daughters.”

“Daughters! She has daughters?”

“Did you think you were her only child?”

“I’ve never had siblings. I’ve been an only child all my life.”

“Well, she has many daughters, and one son who gets into a lot of trouble.”

“I won’t deny that. I’d love to meet them one day.”

“She says you will.”

They steadily travelled to the middle of the lake. Fog creeped around growing thicker and thicker the further they went.

“So... I still don’t see where Brexcen is.”

“It’s under the lake.”

“Underwater?”

“Not exactly you’ll see”

Vlux reached out her hands and began her incantation. As she did, the markings on her arms pulsated with turquoise light. The incantation took several minutes to recite, after which nothing happened.

“Um. Did you forget the words?”

“No, I think they changed the words, makes sense after all that happened. Ang why don’t you try playing the whale song.” He took out the shell and played the song. As he did, the water rose above them, and they fell under. Slowly they descended. Looking around, he saw the most fantastic structures. Glowing spheres suspended all around. Floating spires that spiraled clockwise and counterclockwise, surged with energy. Schools of prismatic sea creatures swam in perfect symmetry. Gigantic sea kelp rose from the lake bed. Luminescent and enchantingly beautiful sea flower jellyfish, and the larger sea tree jellyfish, buoyed about. Everything is this space existed in perfect harmony.

“Woah this is Brexcen.”

“No, silly it’s further down.”

“This space it’s just like being in a whale cloud.”

“Yes, long ago we learned the magic from the creatures of the ocean and created our own version of it. All these spires and spheres, they emit a song that maintains this space. Where did you get that shell from?”

“A big octopus gave it to me after we helped the whales.”

“I suspected as much. That must have been Clo-Whu. I was once under his tutelage. His feats are on par with Lysyntri’s, maybe even greater considering he lives in the vast ocean. Ordinarily I’d be shocked that someone didn’t know who he is, but then I remember who I’m talking to.”

The casters rapier eyes dulled to butter knives. Ang rolled his eyes and glanced at her. She quickly sharpened her gaze. Ang smiled warmly.

“Communicating with him was difficult, his thought process is significantly more complex than ours and difficult to comprehend. It’s like he can predict the future,” said Vlux.

“So you think he gave this to me because he figured I would need it to find the Pixie’s”

“He probably thought you were a lost Pixie. To him we all look the same. Dwarves are just slightly bigger, hairier, pixie’s. Which is mostly accurate. A few of us have gotten captured by the Koru or lost in the chaos. The sea creatures were probably just trying to guide the little lost pixie back home. If they changed the incantation for getting into Brexcen Clo-Whu would know it. Come on, let’s go down to the city.”

“Murp!”

They descended the depths, into the home of the Pixie’s.