Four large wings flapped furiously as Echo was held in Lucian's talons. Her flight unyielding as she never once slowed down. Echo let his discomfort be known with a loud quack, but Lucian knew that Echo chose this fate on his own.

"Don't you dare peck me; I'll drop you." Lucian warned as she rapidly approached the mountain. Echo mockingly repeating Lucian's words, before letting out another loud quack. "That duckling is rude..."

Sighing, Lucian responded to the voice in her head. "Echo is just a child. I'm sure I was worse when I was first created. Now, why are you being so talkative?" Lucian asked, as Uruz went silent.

"The chaos in the beasts. I can sense it. It energizes me." Oh. Alright. Humming, Lucian acknowledged Uruz's words. "You think you were worse as a child? Hah, don't make me laugh. You were far more mature and patient." Oh, there's Fehu!

Lucian's wings flapped harder as she began to ascend. "Maybe because I was forced into a line of work right away? Imagine being a Guardian right off the bat." Lucian retorted, feeling the two familiar emotions of annoyance, and comfort build up.

"You think Uruz and I weren't put into that position!? We were one of the oldest Guardian's out there, we were the first, and we had to do everything on our own." Lucian ignored Fehu's comment as her talons reached stone.

Placing Echo down on the mountain's cliff, Lucian tucked her wings in and walked around the magic infused plants, towards a cave entrance.

Bowing her head, Lucian entered the small cave, before entering another, larger open space. An open top, but stone surrounds it as it reaches up. Trees and other plants scattered around the garden, and a trickle of water could be heard.

"Vespy. You know it's immature of you to leave a child out in that forest." Lucian announced their arrival, as a familiar sight of other ducklings started making their presence known.

A pale pink duckling approached, blue markings similar to Echo's on their body. "Hello, Melody." Lucian smiled fondly at the duckling, picking them up and sitting them on her horns as Lucian made her way through the garden.

Passing a couple of trees, a familiar gray body could be seen, a large hat made from real mushrooms proudly displayed on Vespera's head as the other Guardian's blue markings glowed.

Ah, so Vespera was doing a magic check, perhaps? Then Vespera must not have heard Lucian. "Vespy?" Lucian called out, approaching Vespera with caution. "Your magic is low, Lucian." Vespera sharply commented.

"I know it. Don't bother wasting your time and energy on me, though. I have something important to talk to you about." Lucian announced, sitting down next to Vespera as Melody let out a quack from Lucian's horns.

"No, no need for music, Melody. I appreciate you asking, though." Lucian answered Melody. It wasn't like Lucian could actually respond to the duckling, but the two had a strong enough bond to understand the basics of what they're saying.

"And what is it that you need to discuss?" Vespera asked. Lucian could feel the imbalance of annoyance building up in Vespera. "I felt something off whilst in one of the castles here." Lucian began, but Vespera interrupted.

"Lucian, I have warned you that those castles are dangerous and near the brink of collapsing. Did it collapse on you? Are you hurt?" Vespera asked, as Lucian shook her head. "No, it wasn't that. It was like something was just wrong. Maybe in Kenoria? It felt like the balance shifted massively." Lucian calmly informed, as Vespera nodded.

"Ah, Kenoria? I can sense that it's magic is barren. Completely dried up." Vespera sighed. Being the Guardian of Magic, Vespera was bound to sense things like that rather than anything else. "What do you think we should do? You're the wiser of us two." Lucian asked, pulling Melody off of her horns and holding the precious duckling,

Vespera pondered for a long moment, before tentatively answering. "We wait for your magic to build up, then I suggest we collect the other Guardian's and discuss the bizarre lack of magic in Kenoria."

Lucian huffed. "My magic will be fine, I can alter my reserves on my own, I don't need to sit here for long." Lucian irritably commented, as Vespera shook her head. "Don't you even think about it. Not here, at least. The last thing you need is to draw in corruption instead." Vespera snapped.

"Does she not know?" Uruz asked. "Uruz has a point. I can just remove the corruption, and even if it was primarily chaos magic, my body would filter it out and change it." Lucian sighed. Ugh, why was it so hard to talk to Vespera sometimes?

"It's not just chaos magic, child. It's corruption magic. The corruption-" "The corruption is more than just chaos, I know. I don't know why it exists, nor why you allow it to exist instead of removing it, Vespy, but I do know I'm not a child and can handle myself just fine." Lucian interrupted Vespera, who sharply glared at the purple dragon.

"Fine! We can go to the other Guardian's and seek their help. Just- eat something? At the very least?" Vespera pleaded, as Lucian nodded. "Alright, I'll eat." Lucian sighed.

This was going to be a long day.