FENRER

"Neven, you do not have to do this if you don't want to." One single band of blackest night burned into his entire forearm. A harsh reminder of people's ignorance and fear. Tight around the buckle, he frowned at the Storm Warden who proved to be his saving grace when Sungrove fell, flat against the couch with Maria placing a couple of phials on the table, bubbling mixtures to assist both the Aurus and the one who opened their mind to them. "As per the law—"

"I know the law, Molvei'saliz." Neven sighed. "I trust you, without a doubt in my mind. The contention I have is what you may see of me. I would not have you suffer more. I dug this grave when I opened the Obscura Text. I was ready to lie in it." Neven opened the sapphire abyss to consider him, the golden feathers lifting against his ears at full height, fresh from Neven's prison sentence. "If anything hurts you... do not force yourself, I will live with my penance, but I give you free reign to do what you will, what you must." Head against the pillow, Fenrer relented in kneeling closer. Glyphs spun across the tips of his fingers, before disappearing into a faint, green glow, sparkled with embers. It was his hesitance which made him hover, wanting to pull back, but Yuven gave his order. "It's alright, Molvei'saliz."

Temples pulsed in his hands when he pressed them against Neven's.

Time to find the truth. Minds proved a harder thing to crack open than the heaviest of tomes. Thickened veils, but the pieces clicked into place for him. Clouds of mist fluttered around him while he fell into the darkness stained with crimson veins. Two hearts beat against his skull. Time for answers. Pearls shattered underneath his heel, releasing the thoughts Neven held deep inside. Ripples stretched outward to reveal bubbling ooze which swallowed the mind. It burned with his approach, but he followed the trail of magick stars, turning a sick, twisted red with each passing minute. In the silence, a single breath of wind drew him closer, though the pathway appeared neverending. As he continued, his knees shook at a far off rumble. Giant footsteps. "What?" His own voice echoed when he checked his surroundings, to not be caught off guard by the mind's defenses against intruders, though none came to throw him out for his arrogance. "Neven?"

Names danced across the surface of the pearls. Each one rising from the darkness around him. Twenty-seven. Fenrer knelt down to the brightest one, scooping it out of the ooze. It pulsed against his palm, a voice resounding through his own mind. Desperation. Confusion. "We're looking in the wrong place," Kemal argued while he stood in the bunker, full of memory's fog. "You have to stay here, Neven..." The pearl cracked, and fell apart between his fingers to fall into the dark ooze below. Another rumble in his bones, and he pushed forward to follow the shattered remnants of stars.

The Oathbound connection... Kemal is still alive. Fenrer sped up his pace when the paths lowered against Neven's mind, but the pressure against his heart heightened while his bones continued to rumble with a giant's footsteps. Larger ripples consumed his smaller ones, but he came to a stop at the end, to a formless mass. Thick, black clouds with crimson veins as the lining against an unseen sun. Tendrils wrapped around the mass, and his hope dwindled at the thorn which sent lightning bolts through the world. "Kemal?" he asked, following the footprints of men greater than he. His fingers brushed against the mass, but he drew back at the slicing sensation against his skin. Blood splats formed at where he had made contact, and he took a tiny step back. "What...?" It continued to whisper. Eyes blinked, covered with a veil of spiderwebs, but the heartbeat became far too close to ignore. Is it... did Kemal block the connection? This doesn't feel right. It's smothered but...Fenrer steeled the resolve, held onto hope, then dug his hands into the formless mass, ignoring the pain, the terror, the despair. Barbs stuck into his fingers when he tried to pry them out, and he bit on his lip as he pushed magick through his limbs, trying to pry open the cloud. Teeth grew out of the opening, a growl rumbling through his chest, the mind, the tumor he tried to dissect. Tainted ooze spilled over his arms, and weighed him down further.

He found himself glued in place when it cracked out of the shell, reaching with tendrils of tongue and teeth. A core revealed itself with a rattle, given power through another's life. Fenrer tried to tug himself back, but the veins crawled closer towards him, using the liquid splashed over him as a conduit. Terror crawled through his heart from deep within the corrupted mass, but the world shook, and a golden maw of a wyvern slammed downwards to swallow the birthing tumour with a snap of sinew. Bloody stars poured between its teeth when it dragged its neck upwards, though the msas refused to tear out from the ground. The ooze along his arms was pried off him, and he found his legs going numb at the massive amounts of pressure. Two mighty beings duking it out as the golden wyvern released a hissing growl as it whipped its head around, the bottom of the mass starting to break apart.

It snapped all at once.

The starry pathway dimmed out, though remained.

Wrack with shakes, Fenrer lifted his head to the wyvern of golden feathers when it consumed the meal of corruption. It slid a tongue between its teeth with a rattle. What... Fenrer scooted back when the wyvern turned to him with heavy huff, its tail dragging through the water while its feathers spiked outwards. Did it just... Ash fell around him, but the drain had begun. Time up, he accepted the end when the wyvern lowered itself onto the ground, and as he sank into the depths, blood started to pool out of its maw.

"Fenrer?" a distant voice asked. "Fenrer!"

Maria's voice jolted him out of it, and he looked down. Neven had gone pale, but he opened his eyes with a tilt of his head. "Find anything?" his Guardian asked.

A phial was pushed into his hands, and he downed it. "I managed to cleanse most of the patches the Obscura Text left you with," he said. "And... I went as far as the Oathbound connection would let me." He frowned when Neven's feathers perked up, but he shook his head slowly. "I... couldn't get through. Kemal is suppressing it, not only that..." He looked at Maria, who placed another phial in Neven's awaiting hands. "Something else is blocking it."

"Something else?" Neven sat up. "Like?"

Fenrer sat down on the other chair, tasting defeat though victory had been in reach. "I can't say for certain, though I am confident Kemal is alive," he replied. "It was a black mass." He checked on his once sliced hands, though they were untouched. "Wherever Kemal is, it's... rife with tainted magicks. I couldn't go much farther than that." He bowed his head. "I'm sorry."

Neven relaxed with a weak smile. "It matters not... as long as Kemal is alive, that means there's still a chance." He sat up further to throw his legs over the edge of the couch. "Thank you, Fenrer. You've lifted a weight off my shoulders. I think I can... approach this with a clearer head." Neven bowed in return, though Fenrer found his gratitude too heavy to carry. "Yuven will be pleased to hear as such, because I don't plan on abandoning this post, not after how many Storm Wardens threw themselves into the unknown for some sort of answer. We're very close."

Fenrer forced a smile on his face, then looked over the arm of his chair at Adara coming down the stairs. "I think I'm ready for some exploring," she piped up, her silver aura full of hope, curiosity and life to burn away the darkness of his own. Though she paused when Neven slid his gaze to her. 'Er, around the town, I mean. Not out of it." Adara bounded for the door with a smile in his direction. "You good to go, Fen? Or do you need a couple more minutes?"

Torn two directions, he frowned when Neven nodded at him. Warmth and happiness spread over him when Neven's aura of a winter breeze weaved with it. Encouragement. "We'll be right back," Fenrer assured and got out of his chair to join Adara at the door. "Do rest after that, Neven. I need time to think about what I saw, but I promise." He swung himself back for Neven. "Kemal's alive, and we're going to find him, and all the rest who went missing." It's going to be okay.

Neven's pale lips raised up into another smile. "Well, we have no time to waste, as Yuven would say," he said with a good-natured chuckle, though Fenrer frowned when he coughed. Maria's own calm expression started to shift to one of concerned confusion. "Aiya..." He waved his hand at both of them. "I'll rest, Fenrer."

"Come on, Fen," Adara said with her own questioning glance in Neven's direction. "I saw that there was a library in the center of town and I want to see what books they have."

Fenrer motioned for her to go on ahead, before turning to Maria and Neven. "Yuven should be at the Lodge reading through the records you've made since," he said. "If anyone can pick out something, he can." Out the door, he slowed through the frame, and threw one last check on neven over his shoulder. He remained as he was, if a little pale, shaken from his torment and the mindwalk pushed onto him. Though through the winter breeze of an aura, the tiniest bolt of red lightning tore through the snow, but when he blinked, it disappeared.

Fenrer closed the door, and ran to catch up with Adara. Storefronts bustled with bits and bobs, with Adara examining every corner with a continued, unbroken sense of wonder. His own came to the surface. Hers an infectious sense of wanderlust, he stuck to her growing shadow. The townsfolk went about their lives with a sense of determined happiness, giving him respectful head bobs when their gaze trailed on the insignia on his armor and the oath around his neck without the distaste and uncertainty those of Orkaena gave. A welcome shift. He tucked his banded forearm close to his chest while he let Adara wander, to experience the world past Prunal. Adara spun on her heel with a chuckle, arms wide open for the new. "It's good to get out and do things," she said. "Considering I'm sure Yuven will be working us to the bone soon enough."

"You wouldn't be wrong." Fenrer laughed. "But knowing him, he'll make sure he has all the cards in his hand before doing that." His own happiness faltered and the weight on his mind returned. What did I see in Neven's mind? I burnt away most of the muck but... He lifted his head to the fluffy clouds in the sky, the sunlight striking his skin while Adara found herself enraptured with a bookstand, with an Elvkin making conversation with her. He found his attention drawn to the crash of waves and the creaking of the boats, from small karves to the sole galleon in port. Something's not right... why would Kemal—

He gave a jolt when Adara tapped him on the chest, then held out a book. "Look," she said, before drawing it back into her arms to read out the title, "Elvkana's Natural Magick Wonders." Her fingers tapped against the cover carved with shifting environments. "Think we'll see any of them?"

"Maybe." Fenrer smiled again. "I'm sure we'll be here a while enough to at least see one."

Her wanderlust proved a saving grace among the dark, and he followed her deeper into the town. I won't be helpful to anyone if I'm too stuck in my own head. Adara has the right idea. He ran after her, ducking around people to catch up, though Adara learned far too much from Yuven, though she faltered to let him catch up with her own giggle, pointing all around them. From the tall boughs of the massive trees with their thick trunks where guard posts nestled into them, to the tiny flowers on the edges of the pavement.

From the greatest wyvern—

The golden visage of one pried off the abyss from consuming him.

To the smallest flowers...

Fenrer knelt beside Adara when she stopped by a protected garden, brushing her thumb against one of the fluffy petals.

"I will give my all," the words rumbled out in Navei with the power of wyverns, and the core found itself swallowed between mighty jaws without fear or the hesitation he showed.