Silverladon

Rain was falling from the sky. At her vantage point, Xoee had heard the static and witnessed the lightning bolt on the mountain shrine meters above. She felt a sense of concern, wondering if Ryder had made it out in time, but brushed it off quickly. No, she had it coming, Xoee reasoned to dissipate her concern. The knight tricked her, betrayed her and tried to kill her multiple times. After everything she fought for, trying to keep Ryder from hurting her, it seemed there was no way to reason with that woman. Typical brasscoat. If anything, she concluded, using the pale beast was her best bet, if to right the wrongs of the ones who wronged her. This experiment proved that is what she should have done. Xoee then brushed aside her thoughts focused on the next step in the journey - finding the cavern. She and Yaxa were still walking around with the crystal. Throughout the trek, she mentally questioned the spirit's new appearance, but for now, her focus was on finding the way out. After

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!....shit. SHIT." Xoee cursed repeatedly under her breath as she was wailed on by the flurry of the pelting hail stones. She looked at Yaxa, standing idly by. "How the hell are we going to get there now?!" "We've got to catch up to Ryder somehow." Xoee held up the map from Ryder. They had managed to spot the real Gale shortly after the weather changed, since it started its glow in response to the hail. At the same time, the noaideia had marked it down, so they would know where they were from the others. Xoee scanned at the map for any clue on where to look. Sadly, aside from the inconsistent weather patterns, nothing stood out to her about the Tempest Gales' individual locations. Except…each Gale was at an equal distance from each other. Almost...too perfect. "Now wait a second," she took out her pen. Starting from the first crystal, Xoee drew a line from it to the second Gale and connected them. Then, from the second, another line to the third. Then the third to

"...…….." "-HEY, XOEE!!!!" "Gah-FUC-!" the table shook. The noaideia jumped in surprise and fell back from her seat, flat on the ground with a thud. Some metal containers from the table rolled over from the disruption. "Ah, ah, ah. Mind your language." The splayed noaideia instantly opened an eye to glare at the intruder inching above her: another noaideia, likewise clad in a light shade of blue, except having a robust, sturdy build that directly contrasted her own lanky shape. Especially with that goofy smile Xoee found irksome. "Formality comes next to cleanliness...which isn't what your workspace is right now." The newcomer frowned at the disorderly desk space that was piled with metal thermoses and devices, while the fallen noaideia grumbled and picked herself up. Her uniform had stains of spilled energy drinks from the containers, and her face was extremely disheveled as it hadn't slept in hours. "What do you want, Mitsee? I've got papers to read before the test." Mitsee

"GOD, WHY IS IT SO FUCKING WINDY?!" Xoee wailed. The first stretch of the forest was affected by a tempestuous windstorm, howling like a ferocious tiger and blowing so greatly that the heavy rocks on the ground seemed to levitate off the ground. And like these rocks, Xoee was nearly flying off herself. She found it hard to keep her own feet on the ground as the wind was determined to lift her up and blow her away like a leaf. She abhorred winds. Being from a city, she was used to the comfort of buildings to block out the harsh air streams. Bracing herself with her arms did nothing but block the wind from her face and sensitive eye. She tried to shift on all fours at one point, but that left her ears vulnerable to the booming wails, inducing an unpleasant sound. The wind was so strong, she could even feel her fur being pulled. When she took a look at Yaxa though, she was surprised to see that the spirit kept walking casually, and nothing seemed different about it. The winds were

The night at camp was not peaceful, to say the least. In the middle of the night, a storm had engrossed the entire area. Rain put out the fire, and a powerful wind swept across the campsite, sweeping away loose items. Everyone was forced to take cover in a large tent Bee made. Despite its size the tent was still crowded and filled to the brim with people's baggage and belongings, something that Xoee found very uncomfortable. The noaideia didn't seem to be the only one bothered by the current state of things. Her oddly-colored acquaintance from before was hiding on the other side of the tent, trying their best to keep enough of a distance from the others to not be touched. Just next to them was the wheat bar lady. "That's not what I had in mind when I asked for a shower." she remarked. Xoee couldn't help but be intrigued by the mechanical chair she used. At first, she assumed it to be some kind of small vehicle for faster travel. However, the fact that so far, even in the few

Wirrrrrr A beam of light buzzed while scanning the right eye of a blue-furred noaideia leaning in front of it. Her retina emitted a subtle blueish glow reflecting a shimmer of fractal-like patterns. Next to her was an individual with similarly-colored highlights, but had a coat that was gray like stone, with a stone-cold visage to match. The light bounced across the noaideia's eye until it receded into the monitor, her eye flinching a bit before settling back in place. Beep beep beep The monitor's screen lit up, "Who is it?" "The officer of our science division is here, sir." There was mumbling of others' voices from the intercom. It was only naturally for their ears to detect this, given the power of the noaideia's audible hearing. A silence followed, then the screen turned black, and the door next to it slid open. "Right this way, doctor." The blue creature courteously presented her party to the room. The dark noaideia strutted, her ears lowered and subdued and her expression

Xoee slowly opened her eyes. Around her was an endlessly vast black expanse. She could feel herself floating weightlessly in the dark space, which ebbed and flowed gently, like a calm ocean. What surrounded her wasn't water however but what seemed like an endless pool of white speckles. Looking up she saw one of the stars above her, larger than the others, and illuminating her with a pleasant purple light. She was back in the void, but for some reason, she felt perfectly calm. With naive curiosity, Xoee reached her hand to the star. Curiously, it seemed much smaller and closer than it appeared, as the noaideia's claws managed to make contact with its surface causing it to momentarily flicker more brightly. Seeing this, Xoee gently pulled it into her palm. The star's light grew, But before the deer creature could fully admire it, she noticed another star light up in the space around her. Then another. And another. Slowly at first, then faster and faster the mostly empty space was lit

Xoee was on her merry way by the time she parted with Yaxa. The crevice's walls were different: the crystals here were all red and arranged in columns parallel to the path. None were embedded into the wall itself. It was as though the road ahead was paved for her. She couldn't help but feel relieved, and for the first time since leaving the yacht, she was genuinely optimistic. No death monsters, no meddling by untrustworthy magical cats, and most importantly, no one to threaten her. As long as the totem was on her palm (and it wasn't going anywhere), Xoee was confident about her survival. While passing by more red crystals, the deer creature noticed something peculiar hanging off of one of them. She approached and inspected the object. A piece of fabric. A plain, yet oddly out of place find. Someone must've come through here and accidentally ripped their clothing. The crystals certainly did seem sharp. Another competitor probably got here before her, meaning she was probably on the

The sun shone down from the sky as the two continued navigating the ravine. The trip somehow felt longer than it was to Xoee. In her mind, it was because she had to care for a behemoth like Yaxa not causing more trouble. Since leaving the cavern, they had to move through spaces less than two feet. Not hard for Xoee, but for Yaxa, its girth hindered them from sunrise to midday. Yaxa often dashed ahead and often fell victim to the crystal magnets. Xoee was more careful of course, but she tripped a few times running after Yaxa and attracted some pebbles. Pro: Now Xoee knew embedded crystal clusters could magnetize by the first contact, but isolated fragments couldn't. Con: Xoee was the guinea pig in the egg-dropping experiment. And then there were the crystals -- every time they came to a clearing, Xoee had to look for opposites nearby. But then she would always hear Yaxa hissing upon the presence of crystals it hated for no reason. It went as far as crushing these stones; and in the

"North is blue, South is red, eh?" Xoee remarked as she squatted down to the rubble. Shortly after they left the clearing, Xoee and Yaxa made it to a mile down the rocky ravine. The beginning was straightforward since the opposites were mostly on the walls. As the crystals didn't seem to be making any sound Xoee had to use her good eye to look, though. For Yaxa, all she had to do was tell it to avoid them. It was by the first stretch that she started seeing more rocks. She had decided to stop and check them out. Picking up a small pebble, Xoee touched it to the red polar opposite, as Derek did in his demonstration. The pebble became glazed in a red aura as it touched the crystal. She then let go of the rock, and before she could blink, it zoomed to the blue crystal with a swish and stuck there. She tugged at the rock again and found she could not free it from the blue crystal's grip. "Hmm… this is curi-" Grooooaaaaaarrr! A loud grumble came from the distance. The noaideia's ears