The memory of Genrith attacking Feyrith, defeating him with barely any effort, came to him then, filling his heart with dread as he kept staring at her, no idea what to do or say. If Genrith had heard Ralis talking about killing Wyn, then she had a valid reason to attack them.

"An assassination attempt on Wyn? That is your actual plan?" Genrith mocked them, adjusting her grip on her staff while keeping it aimed at their group.

Ralis raised her own staff, pointing it at Genrith while Enaryl took hers off her back, planting it against the ground, its tip pointing toward the impenetrable roof of tree branches above, ready to summon a shield. Feyrith remembered this defensive position very well.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, but even if you succeeded, it would do little to hinder anything." Genrith ran her eyes over all four of them, shaking her head. She almost seemed to be scolding Ralis for her idea, as if she found it so foolish it was worth mockery. "And now that I know of your plans, I can finally get Wyn to see reason and remove you."

Feyrith's blood ran cold at those words, even though she was just voicing what he'd already feared was the case. She planned to kill them. And there was nothing he could do. He'd stood no chance against her when he had magic, and now all he had was a bow and a dagger.

But before Genrith could do anything, a voice cried from behind them.

"Genrith, stop!"

Feyrith whirled around on instinct, only to see Wyn making his way to them, with Orenis trailing after him. And he looked furious, his eyes blazing with anger. "What are you doing?"

Genrith glared at him, matching his expression, her lips curled into almost a snarl. "What am I doing?" She stabbed her finger at Ralis. "This elf is plotting to kill you. I am simply doing what needs to be done to ensure we are successful. That our mission is successful."

Wyn looked over at Ralis as he passed her, his eyes thoughtful and narrowed, but his expression completely unreadable otherwise. Feyrith couldn't tell at all what the man was thinking, but he certainly didn't seem too upset hearing that Ralis had been planning on trying to kill him, which was strange. Wyn didn't even stop walking until he was standing between Feyrith and the others, and Genrith.

Feyrith had no idea why he wasn't focusing on Ralis instead, though he was glad because he had no doubts that just a moment ago Genrith truly had been about to kill them.

"Were you planning on apprehending her? Or were you planning on killing her?"

Genrith's eyes widened in disbelief. "Of course I was planning on killing her." She took a few steps forward until she was face to face with Wyn. "Do you know what your issue is, Wyn? You can never do what needs to be done."

"And since when is murder something that needs to be done?"

Feyrith was so focused on the fight happening in front of them that he didn't even realize Ralis was doing anything until it was too late. His attention was brought to her only when he heard her start muttering a spell, moving her staff so it was poised to attack.

Feeling his heart skip a beat, he wanted to cry at her to stop as the tip of her staff started glowing, but he was too late. Right before his eyes, almost too fast to take in, a spike of stone shot out of the earth behind Wyn, flying forward, ready to stab through the elf's chest and kill him.

Just as it was about to reach its target, though, the area exploded with a bright, golden light, the spike shattering into a thousand pieces and flying all around them as it hit the newly created shield. Feyrith blinked, throwing an arm in front of his face to protect it from the debris.

As he looked at Genrith and Wyn once more, he realized that Genrith was the one who had created the shield, her staff held up high, the dome of golden light covering both her and Wyn, who had now turned around, his eyes wide and surprised.

Feyrith wanted to breathe out and relax, then, knowing that no one had been harmed, but he didn't get a chance to. The next second, Genrith's shield blinked out of existence, and she was yelling two words Feyrith didn't know, aiming her staff at Ralis. At all of them.

Frozen in place, Feyrith couldn't even manage to try to get away from whatever Genrith had cast, seeing a blue ball of energy shoot out of her staff and rush toward them at an incomprehensible speed. He could just stare at it, waiting for his doom. But just as it was about to hit them, another wall of golden light formed, this time around Feyrith and the elves next to him, making Feyrith blink at the sudden brightness that enveloped them.

The shield only stayed for a second, but before it disappeared, a scream filled the air, which let Feyrith snap out of his shock enough that he could try to figure out what had happened.

"You old fool, what have you done?" Genrith snapped, making Feyrith focus on her. She was standing over Wyn who was now dragging himself to his knees. Even from where Feyrith was standing, it was clear that the elf's right hand was burned, the skin blackened and cracked. And his whole body was trembling.

Wyn must have summoned the shield that had protected them, Feyrith realized. He had stopped it from hitting them, but had gotten injured himself doing it, likely due to the magical energy ricocheting back at him.

"Leave, Genrith," Wyn forced out, gasping in pain. "We will talk once we return to the base."

"If you think—"

"Leave," Wyn repeated harshly, somehow managing to slowly pull himself to his feet so he could look the female elf in the eye directly. He was holding his burnt hand close to his chest, an agonized grimace on his face. "And if you try to hurt anyone here again, I swear I will deal with you."

Genrith stood there for a moment, looking from Wyn to Feyrith and the others before throwing her staff over her shoulder. "Fine, make however many mistakes you want. But if this endangers our plans, it is your failure, and yours alone."

And then she turned away sharply, her robes flowing behind her as she did, marching away as she put two fingers to her lips and made a loud whistling noise. Feyrith's confusion as to why she'd done that was almost immediately explained away as a quasir ran up to her. And then both she and her mount disappeared among the trees, hopefully gone for now.

As Wyn began to sway, Feyrith was about to rush to him to stop him from crashing to the ground, but seemingly out of nowhere, Edwyr ran in, at Wyn's side in no time, helping the elf gently to the ground.

"Wyn!" Edwyr cried, one arm around Wyn's back, the other around his front, holding the elf close to his chest. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Even from the few feet of distance between them Feyrith could see Wyn trying to inch away from Edwyr, to get out of his embrace, but with very limited success. And then in a barely audible mumble he spoke as he shook his head. "N-no. Don't...deserve your help. I'm...so sorry."

Wyn said nothing more as his body went limp in Edwyr's arms, his head lolling forward into Edwyr's chest. Orenis and Enaryl came rushing to him, kneeling in front of Edwyr, who was now calling Wyn's name, his hand cupping the elf's chin, but Wyn was dead to the world. Feyrith grimaced, wondering if Wyn was even still alive, walking closer despite knowing he would be of no help here.

"I only wish to heal him," Enaryl said when Edwyr hugged Wyn tighter, pulling his unconscious form away from her. "Please."

Edwyr looked down at the elf in his arms for a moment before looking at Orenis, and then he nodded, laying Wyn gently down on the ground. "Okay. Just, please, help him."

Feyrith stood by, watching as Enaryl began to do as she'd promised, though it didn't seem to be working as much as it should. Usually, elven healing was very taxing but done in an instant, but even as Enaryl repeated the healing spell, Wyn's burned hand was still far from healthy, the skin blistered and cracked, even if less dark now, not to mention that his face had grown pale, the elf still completely unresponsive. Whatever Genrith had tried to attack them with must have been devastating to make it backfiring have such an effect.

His eyes focused back on Edwyr when the elf got up, leaving Wyn's side only to march up to him and Ayd. He seemed frantic, almost, his eyes wide and scared. Earlier, Feyrith had gotten the impression that he and Wyn didn't like each other. Or at the very least that they'd had a falling out of some kind. But this seemed to imply the complete opposite. "What happened? How did he get injured?"

Before Feyrith could answer, Ayd spoke, folding his arms over his chest. "That Genrith person tried to attack us. And he put up a shield around us before whatever she sent our way could hit us."

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"Genrith," Edwyr muttered to himself through gritted teeth. Then he focused on the two of them again, anger in his gaze now. Though he was not angry at them, Feyrith was certain of that. "But why did she attack you?"

Feyrith and Ayd exchanged a look. Feyrith was trying so very hard not to look at Ralis. He didn't want to say the truth because it would just cause another fight. But before he could even come up with a convincing lie, let alone manage to say it in a way Edwyr might believe, Ralis came forward, her head held high.

"I tried to kill him."

Edwyr turned to face her instead, staring at her slack-jawed for a moment before glaring at her with murderous fury, his teeth gritted and bared. "You what?!"

"Excuse me?" exclaimed Orenis as she marched to Ralis, as well, finally leaving Wyn's side. Her scowl wasn't quite as dangerous as Edwyr's, but it was very close. "You tried to kill Wyn?"

"He is giving Cursed elves magic. It's blasphemy." Ralis bowed her head at them. She did seem regretful, but to Feyrith it came across more as her regretting feeling like she had to try to kill Wyn rather than actually attempting to do it. "I felt it was the only way to put a stop to this insult to the Goddess."

"I'll show you an insult to the Goddess!" Edwyr barked, raising his hand. Feyrith could tell he was about to use magic, but there was nothing he could do to intervene as Edwyr yelled the words to summon a fireball. Feyrith's eyes went wide at the size of the orb of fire forming above Edwyr's palm, not having expected such a powerful spell from someone who had had magic only for a month, but he didn't get the time to think about that in the short moment it had all happened.

All he had time for was to jump back and out of the way as Edwyr threw the ball of fire at Ralis. He heard her say something, her words lost under the loud burst of the fireball colliding with her. Or so Feyrith had thought until he took a proper look and saw that she had summoned a shield, the fire deflected to the side, flying away. Right for the glowing river next to them.

The ground shook violently, throwing Feyrith and everyone else he could see to the ground as a horribly loud rumbling followed, making him cover his ears, his teeth gritted as the earthquake continued. The glowing waters in the river splashed around, spraying the trees, but Feyrith tried not to think about what might happen if the liquid got on him, just staying on his knees, curled up into a ball, waiting for it to pass.

So that was how these earthquakes had been caused—by interacting with the stream. It didn't explain who had been doing it or why, but at least now they knew how it had been happening. They just needed to figure out how to put a stop to it once and for all.

As the ground stilled, the shaking coming to an end, Feyrith still waited for a second before sitting up and taking his hands off his ears. Everyone was looking at each other and the river with wide eyes, more elves having joined them, brought here likely by the light from Edwyr's fireball.

"What in the Goddess' name just happen?" one of them, a tall woman with short hair almost yelled as she got back on her feet. Her eyes were trained on the river, but soon she looked over at Edwyr and Ralis. And now so was everyone else.

"Edwyr's magic must have disturbed the river," Feyrith said immediately, worried that someone might do something rash. "We can't risk casting spells here unless we do something about the river. It could be catastrophic."

Edwyr still looked furious, but his glare had lessened, some measure of reason returning to his features as he stared at Ralis. But when Edwyr looked at Feyrith instead, there was also shame and guilt in his eyes. Somehow Feyrith could tell that this wasn't about causing the earthquake, but rather Edwyr's involvement in taking Feyrith's magic away. But he had little interest in discussing that. His magic was now going to be renewed, and that was that. It didn't matter anymore.

Feyrith almost blinked at that realization. But he was sure, he had decided.

"Try to hurt Wyn again, and I will kill you, no matter the consequences," Edwyr spat at Ralis after a moment of silence, not moving an inch. Then he looked at the elves around them. "This elf just tried to kill Wyn." He pointed at Ralis, glaring at her. "And she opposes the idea of the magicless gaining magic."

A few people called out their judgments and solutions to the situation, namely killing Ralis, but after it was pointed out that Wyn wouldn't wish that, the decision came to restraining Ralis, and gagging her so she would be of no danger to anyone present. Even though from the way she wasn't fighting back, it was clear she had given up on the idea for now at least.

Feyrith watched the whole scene with a frown, not liking any of this at all, but he didn't say anything. He'd warned Ralis this wouldn't go well, as had Ayd, and Enaryl. He tried not to stare when the elves tied Ralis to a tree, relieved that at least they weren't hurting her. He wished they could simply let her go, but not even he was sure if she wouldn't try to go back and finish Wyn off, which would no doubt just result in more fighting and likely deaths.

Enaryl, now barely stumbling along after healing Wyn, went to Ralis, sitting down next to where she was forced to stand, looking somber. Feyrith could see Enaryl was saying something to Ralis, but the noise of the elves around them talking drowned it out. Not that it was any of Feyrith's business.

"Can we trust the other outsiders?" asked one of the elves, making Ayd scowl at him. But before he could say anything, Edwyr spoke.

"Yes, none of them wanted to do anything like this aside from this one." He looked at Feyrith with a grimace before making his way over to where Wyn lay, watched over by two other elves who were attempting to heal him. He did look better than the last time Feyrith had looked at him, but he was still unconscious, so something about the healing was not working.

Things stayed calm for a while after that, with all of them waiting for the device, apparently called a Magic Infuser, to...ready itself for the transfer of magic. Orenis explained to Feyrith that the same way magic had been taken from his veins, it would be inserted once more. And that it would hurt.

But Feyrith didn't care about that. He remembered what Ayd had said, how he was enough without magic, but now that the opportunity offered itself, Feyrith couldn't refuse. He'd been a little worried about Ayd's reaction, but the elf just smiled when Feyrith had confirmed to Orenis he wanted this, and said nothing, only laughing and refusing when faced with the same question.

It was so odd to Feyrith that Ayd didn't want magic, even with no clear drawbacks, but he didn't try to convince him otherwise. The elf had made his choice, and Feyrith would respect it, much like how Ayd respected his.

And finally, after an almost unbearable amount of waiting, it was time.

Upon seeing the large, bulbous, imposing form of the Infuser, Feyrith took a deep breath, letting Orenis guide him to a stone seat next to it. He balked a little when she asked Ayd, who had come with him there, to hold him steady, but when he was assured that it was only so he wouldn't yank the needles out, he nodded, steeling himself.

But however prepared he thought he had been, it had done nothing to stop the screams tearing themselves from his throat as a horrible, burning cold injected itself into his blood. It felt like ice flowing through him, lighting up every nerve in his body, and it was only due to Ayd's firm hands that he didn't run away from this place. And then suddenly, as if nothing had happened at all, it was gone, the pain subsiding as quickly as it had come, leaving him feeling a little cold, but no worse for wear.

Feyrith stared down at his hands as Orenis pulled the needles out, flexing his fingers. And there it was. That spark he'd missed so dearly, in the very core of his being, the one he'd almost forgotten the feeling off. Magic.

He shut his eyes for a moment, breathing in and out, so relieved. He'd had no idea how truly empty he'd felt until this moment. It felt so good to have it back, to feel whole again. Oh Goddess, how he'd missed it.

He let himself be led out by Ayd, not paying attention to anything other than his hands as he muttered a spell to summon a small burst of fire. He grinned from ear to ear as the flames danced at his fingertips, warming his fingers but not burning. Using magic felt just the same as he remembered, just as intuitive. Like he'd never lost his magic in the first place. It made his eyes burn, but he blinked those tears away, even if they were of happiness. He still wasn't comfortable with such an open display of emotion, even though he was almost overwhelmed by them.

Though, no matter his determination, a single tear made its way down the side of his face as he continued to play with the flames in his hands. He had cried when his magic had been stolen. Perhaps it was appropriate to do so now that he'd regained it.

One by one, the Cursed elves who had come here entered the ruin and received their magic, but thankfully this didn't cause any earthquakes. It truly made Feyrith wonder just how this all worked, but since there were lives at stake, scholarly curiosity was truly not a priority.

First and foremost, they needed to make sure whoever had been messing with the river wouldn't do so again, which meant burying it, opening up the earth, and letting the glowing waters flow down before closing the ground up again. At least that was the simplest solution he could think of. Not to say that it would be easy. Something like this would require many magic users, but Feyrith was sure the elves here would be enough to manage it.

He expected it would be difficult to convince the others of this, especially because apparently these elves hadn't even been aware of the crisis devastating the north, but no one seemed to have much of an issue with it, at worst not caring that much about the fact that humans were dying, which while infuriating at least meant they weren't against dealing with this. They all seemed to agree that if the earthquakes were disturbing the wildlife, they needed to be dealt with.

And so while the Cursed received magic, the elves who could use magic and knew how to, aside from Ralis of course, took places around the stream on both sides. Even Enaryl, who hadn't left Ralis' side until now, joined in to help them. And on a count of three, they all cast the same spell to shape the earth, opening up the ground beneath the river.

Immediately, there was horribly loud rumbling, followed by the ground beneath their feet shaking enough to make some of them lose their footing, but this time, they were expecting it, having steeled themselves, leaning on the nearby trees so they wouldn't fall. No matter how much the ground shook, how loud the noise became, they didn't let up, making the glowing waters flow down below as the hole in the earth grew deeper and deeper, the glowing waters lighting up the crack in the ground until they were barely visible in the depths.

Once the river was gone from sight, Feyrith and the others sealed the ground back up around the mighty tree roots. Now there was not a single hint of the glowing river left behind, no earthquakes or rumbling, the jungle eerily silent once more if not for the cheering elves.

And Feyrith cheered with them, even if only on the inside. He felt a weight lift off his shoulders that not even getting his magic back had helped with. He was exhausted from using so much magic so quickly to deal with the river, but he felt so light, so relieved that he had to sit down, sighing in contentment when Ayd crouched down next to him and began to fuss over him.

Finally, he'd done something to help the humans, to protect them, and he'd done it right. Hopefully, the beasts would now return to the jungle and hunt each other rather than the humans, and the situation would calm down. There would still be casualties, but at least there would be no more destroyed villages.

After the journey through the jungle, after all the setbacks and danger, they'd done it. They'd actually done it. And while Feyrith wasn't entirely certain what he was going to do next, he knew one thing—now that he had magic again, getting here only felt like the beginning. And he was excited to see where his path would lead.