Nyxis inclined his head at the dark ceiling a few distance from his head. He clicked his tongue as it chose to drop small chunks of debris at his hair. His scalp had been itching since he and his companions entered the tunnels. The idea of people seeing him with pebbles peppering his locks like dandruff was revolting and something he wouldn't allow when he could.

Over the past few days, it had been nothing but a constant reminder that he wouldn't have a proper bath unless they defeat Synketros and Cardovia. That's why he's out here, trudging in a dimly-lit tunnel excavated by a paranoid shard fairy and accompanying the most bizarre assortment of keijuis.

Cyrdel, a brownie and the Heir to the Alkaran throne, muttered as he walked, his fingers tinkering with a lump of metal he had plucked from the wall a few paces back. The heir's tool belt, which hung around his waist, bulged with random minerals and things he found interesting during their journey.

Nyxis didn't know what to think of that except maybe it was the brownie's only way of coping with boredom and frustration of being cooped up for days in an air-deficient walkway while being surrounded with nothing but brown and the putrid smell of earth and...something Nyxis didn't want to name.

Anahel cursed audibly to Nyxis's right, the shard fairy's mouth fouler than an average portmaster. Nyxis had the advantage of meeting one when Cardina was considering turning the small portion of the Disfavored region into a trading port. In retrospect, Anahel's swearing made Nyxis think maybe he was just travelling with not one, but two, portmasters.

The shard fairy complained about everything—the walls, the dimness, the air, Nyxis's face (he won't be forgetting that jab any time soon)—and after days of travelling, Nyxis could feel his brain absorbing all that. It took up all his headspace to stop the urge to snap at the shard fairy to shut up.

Of course, his years of growing up in a Human family trained him to never answer back to his superiors, whether by rank or years. From what Nyxis could glean from his companions, Anahel had been around for thrice Nyxis's entire lifetime.

As were their other two companions, the husband and wife, Eldan and Airese. Nature fairy and brownie, respectively.

At first, Nyxis was appalled at the idea of cross-race bonding but after seeing how natural Eldan and Airese's connection were, he decided he didn't mind. Not that he was allowed to, in the first place.

Eldan ran his hands along the earthen wall, his senses no doubt looking for any connection to plant life above ground. He was a kaviste keiju, a type of Nature fairy who has some sort of command over plant life. Up until now, Nyxis hadn't thought he'd see one in action. In fact, he spent their first day of travelling asking Eldan the specifics of the synnavaim.

Nyxis learned that Eldan couldn't make plant life appear out of nowhere. There has to be some form it could start from, for example, a seed. Kaviste keijuis weren't making trees grow by magic. Rather, they were merely boosting the plant's growth capability and that kind of magic has too great of a price.

"I stay away from it when I can," Eldan had said with his nose wrinkling.

Another thing Nyxis found intriguing was that Eldan was basically a walking plant almanac and a seed inventory. The nature fairy claimed their race was required to study every type of life in Umazure because it's their innate ability. Nyxis also had a peek inside Eldan's long cloak and true enough, there were pockets sewed onto the fabric which no doubt contained the seeds Eldan needed to call forth plants.

Nyxis had bit his tongue multiple times in the past days to avoid asking another plant-related question. They couldn't afford to be distracted any more than they were. Not now.

"You are right in that regard, Nyxis," Airese's voice echoed in the tunnel, making Nyxis jump. He whirled to the short-haired brownie walking a few paces behind him. He caught a playful twinkle of knowing a secret in her eye before it disappeared.

Airese Vivenca. A brownie and a powerful thyminka. She could control minds, wipe memories, and eavesdrop on any thoughts within a mile's radius. Fear gurgled in Nyxis's gut even though he stood a head taller than her and he wouldn't put it past Airese to not notice it. According to Rhys, Reeca's brother, Airese had once modified at least four people's memories and identity. It's convincing enough to make Rhys spend a whole week doubting if Eldan was really his father.

Should the island let powerful beings like this run around? As far as he knew about brownie politics and culture, thyminkais weren't even allowed outside the brownie Temples. How did Airese end up gallivanting around with them like this?

Airese winked at him and Nyxis swallowed the growing lump in his throat. No. He didn't want to know.

Debris rained into Nyxis's head once more. He kissed his teeth as he glared balefully at the dark ceiling. At least the brownies were having fun. They're surrounded by their favorite color. You just don't know how to appreciate art. Xanthy's words flashed back into Nyxis's mind at the most inconvenient time. Nyxis had retorted, My face is more of an art than this.

Oh, you just need to appreciate the beauty of brown! Xanthy's elated voice sent a pang of sentiment on Nyxis's chest. It felt like ages ago even when only a few months had passed. It had been ages since they got to travel without someone breathing down their necks or without anything to save.

If he was allowed to be honest, he also missed Xanthy's bright smile. It had been a while since he saw her smile seeing the things she loved. In fact, it had been so long since any of them smiled without other emotions creeping at the corners of their eyes.

It had been a while.

Nyxis shoved his fingers into his hair and shook the debris from his scalp. Anahel hissed at him as she swished her skirts away. "Get those filthy bits away from me, human," the shard fairy made sure to add another curse word, making Nyxis's ears ring. "I have enough dirt staining my dress."

Nyxis fought the urge to roll his eyes. Seriously, if Anahel could have helped it, she should have not worn something susceptible to stains like, say, white. But no. The shard fairy insisted on donning an outfit so white she was starting to sparkle. It looked frivolous and ridiculous.

Then again, he wouldn't dare say those aloud. Shard fairies possessed the ability to alter a part of the soul called form and that part happened to be the physical and tangible body. No thanks. Nyxis preferred to keep his handsome face as long as he could.

At the back of his mind, he thought of asking Anahel to apply some of her magic into the scar running across his face and at the possible burn marks left on his back where the Heiress' incomplete spell hit him. After seeing the shard fairy hissing whenever he got to close, he decided against it. Perhaps after the war?

If he made it alive, that was.

Even though his mind urged him to seize the chance to get rid of the thing he dreaded most on his face, his heart kept telling him that scar served as a reminder. But a reminder for what? Nyxis still hadn't figured out the answer to that.

Denara had told him that a scar was just a scar and he should stop being a baby about it. Of course, she hadn't exactly handed that to him gently. Sometimes, when he wasn't paying attention, his cheek still felt the slap reverberating. Ah, Denara.

Would he see her again? There were some moments when he caught himself longing for her strange orange root crop stew and her occasional eels. But most of all, he missed her voice. The way she laughed sent trails of inexplicable warmth down his spine. And well, her cave was so cozy it made him forget about the troubles of the world for quite some time. It's...refreshing.

"Any progress?" Cyrdel asked with an impatient tone bordering on a snap. The brownie had an expression somewhere between an angry scowl and a passive stare etched on his face. Nyxis glanced at Eldan to find the nature fairy's hands still pressed against the earth wall.

"The roots are pointing towards the next bend. There should be an open space there. Perhaps it would be the one we are after," the Nature fairy's Ylanen accent was a perfect match to how natives in Cardina did. Caution colored his tone.

Nyxis understood that but it was a bit unnecessary. There's no one who could have followed them inside the tunnels' entrance, at least from where Elred sent them in. That crafty shard fairy had made sure only she could find the entrances to her workmanship.

That's probably why Anahel wouldn't stop complaining and nitpicking the cavern ever since they entered. The Helinfirth queen simply couldn't wrap her head around the fact her daughter had been building things underneath their noses, literally and figuratively. Spanning years, too.

Nyxis wasn't about to get involved in any drama between mother and daughter. His own mother had tried to kill him when he wandered in at the wrong place and at the wrong time. If there's any familial drama he would take on, it should be more than that.

A heavy breath escaped his lips as a sigh. He had been doing that quite a lot lately even though it didn't do anything to lessen the invisible burden on his shoulders nor the physical strain his satchel brought him. His fists wrapped around the strap running across his torso, getting reminded yet again of what he was carrying around with him. Stashed somewhere inside it was something he technically stole from the Ice Sprites after Xanthy decided to trash the Brownie cities.

The Warseeker, bearing the crest of the Human Monarchy, pulsed somewhere between vials of potions and impulsively-bought ingredients. Its warmth was a constant reminder that Nyxis has an obligation for all Human souls in Umazure. As if Nyxis didn't have enough pressure already.

But who was he kidding? He had seen and experienced what the throne could do. During the Ice Capital Siege, he had dropped into battle and unleashed the throne's power to stop the fight. His magic still hasn't recovered fully after that. It had been three months.

Nyxis pursed his lips, thinking of the thrones they're supposed to find here. Elred and Reeca, as both of them recounted, snuck inside the Cardovian camp in Aresving and stole the said thrones from under the Heiress's watch. Of course, Kymalin had attempted to stop them until they made it into Elred's caverns and they stashed the thrones somewhere here.

"Where are we right now?" Nyxis couldn't stop himself from asking anymore. He had been wondering about that for days.

Naturally, everyone turned to Eldan, whose hand never strayed from being pressed against the earthen wall. The nature fairy spent a few seconds attuned to the wall before answering, "Rabante."

Nyxis resisted the urge to groan mostly because Anahel beat him to it. "Come on, Eldan," the shard fairy clawed at her hair. Her own Ylanenla was tinged with a Keijula accent, making her sound like a petulant child. Well...she was, in her own way. "How much longer? I am sure my soles already have blisters. No amount of reflecting will erase them at this point."

Reflecting. It's what shard fairies call their form-altering ability. They also like using it everywhere and to everything.

Nobody had the heart to tell Anahel that they might be walking all the way to Desara if that's what it should take. The only lead they have about where the thrones could be was Aresving.

Anahel seemed to know even though no one answered her question. She just crossed her arms and frowned. Nyxis clenched his jaw before he could blurt that frowning would make the lines on her face pop out and stay there forever. The shard fairy didn't need it, not when she already had a single wrinkle running through her forehead. What had that been about? No. Nyxis didn't want to know about it.

Silence reigned in its doom cloud as they resumed walking. The only sounds ringing in the tunnel were their footsteps and the casual noise of debris breaking from the ceiling and raining over them. Nyxis raised his hand to his hair after a particular dusty rain made him cough. He caught Anahel's stare.

"Do not even think about it," the shard fairy warned. Nyxis wisely kept his hand away from his face for a moment. By the gods, how Airese and Eldan stayed friends with the Helinfirth Queen was beyond Nyxis. Perhaps some friendships were better off unscrutinized.

Cyrdel clicked his tongue as his nimble fingers tinkered with the lump of metal the sickly shade of brown he had picked up earlier. Only now, the brownie was twisting metal wires as thick as strands of hair. Nyxis was about to open his mouth to ask how did the brownie manage to do that when something whizzed past his ear and embedded itself on the earth wall to his left.

Everyone froze.

"Aim properly, you dimwit. This is not training anymore," a high-strung voice echoed around the cavern. It's a voice Nyxis knew all too well.

Marin.

And if Marin was here, then Cardovia wasn't far behind. A curse rang in circles around his head. Gods. How did Cardovia find them?

Eldan's eyebrows sank to the middle of his forehead. "That does not make sense," he said. Confusion laced around his tone. "The roots should have sensed their entry or their trails. How...?"

Unfortunately, Nyxis had an answer. "Shadowbending," he said in a grimly flat voice. "The trees couldn't sense manipulated intangible trails."

Airese frowned. She tinkered with the buttons of her brown cloak as her footsteps grew longer. "I could have sensed their thoughts."

Nobody had the time to answer because Marin's dark leather coat swept into view. At least four men in equally dark suits followed. Their faces were shrouded with a hood and a mask so that only the eyes were visible. The half-blood stopped for a second when she spotted Nyxis's entourage. Surprise passed across her face before being replaced by a playful grin. Marin spread her hands. "Well, a good time for a party, yes?"

That's when the ground beneath the half-blood's feet exploded into a shower of more debris. Nyxis had one thought before someone yanked him backwards—they wouldn't be bored a while, it seemed.

Lanbridhr is a desert of many kinds. Gligan is a rock desert with its abundance of canyons, valleys, mesas, buttes, and cliffs. It also has a caldera in the middle of the canyons where several cave systems are. Calca is a huge, huge oasis with a sand desert all around it. Gaimouth is a pebble desert and has a volcano that spans almost all of its land area. The River of Wishes treads through both Gaimouth and Gligan and the people use it to harvest and store water.