Matriarch: Search

The Matriarch’s cries continued through the cavern. Oeric flinched every time, even when he knew they weren’t the ones plucking away at her crystals. Griffith and Aule were older; they were put off by the sounds of her pain, too, but they had more practice steeling their expressions. 

“We can go to the surface,” Aule said after Oeric flinched for the hundredth time. 

Griffith nodded, “We can recruit help from others on the topside.” 

Oeric looked at his friends gratefully and nodded. 

Before the trio left the crystalline cavern, they approached another large haedian who held papers and fliers in their hands. Griffith explained to the haedian how they wanted to help. The haedian listened with a bored expression before making a non-committal noise and passing them some fliers. Griffith used his spark to maintain a steady stream of air around him to keep the fliers afloat so they wouldn’t need to carry them. The three empyrians glanced around the cavern one more time before they took off with strong wing beats. 

The three twisted through the cavern marked for the surface. Just like when they arrived, there were parts that were too tight to fly, forcing them to walk for a few minutes. However, during these walking phases they would come across haedians who didn’t seem to know what was going on. Oeric or Aule would quickly fill them in before Griffith would pass them a flier with his magic. Some haedians were eager to help, but others shook their heads and passed the fliers back. 

The empyrians didn’t judge, they just continued on their way because their main goal was to recruit reoseans from the surface. It surprised them all how quickly they could make it to the surface when they weren’t stopping for days at a time. They swept past crystals that flickered and blinked a wide range of colours. 

When they finally reached the surface, it was night. The twin moons hung high in the cloudless sky, washing everything with a pale blue light. The trio took a moment to sit on the ground and adjust. They had been underground and around a constant variety of colours, so the monochromatic blue environment around them was unsettling. When they had recalibrated, the next emotion to pass over them was excitement. Oeric was the first to shoot into the night sky and truly stretch his wings as far as he could. Aule and Griffith followed suit and the trio whipped around in the sky for a moment before they recentered on their task. 

“How many reoseans are out in the middle of the night, do you think?” Oeric wondered out loud as they flew. 

“There have to be some,” Aule answered. 

Griffith led his friends as they weaved through the floating islands of Vitalus. There were more reoseans out and about than Oeric had thought. Whenever they passed another vayron or empyrian they would pass out a flier and implore them for their help. Many scoffed because they didn’t believe them, but there were a good handful that seemed interested and took the flier. The trio hoped they would make their way over to the entrance of the Beneath. 

The three friends turned around and started to head back towards the entrance themselves. They flew over a forest they hadn’t been through yet. They hoped there would be more reoseans under the canopy so they could pass the last of their fliers. The group descended into the forest and found the canopy had blocked out most of the light, leaving behind scattered beams of light. 

They flew for a few minutes when they came across another small group of vayrons. The vayrons turned as Aule led his friends to the ground before them. The chaser of the group greeted them with a smile, while the pink puller greeted them, but the third of their group remained quietly observant. 

“We’re trying to recruit some vayrons to travel below and help the haedians free their Matriarch,” Oeric explained, gesturing to the fliers as Griffith floated a few in front of the vayrons. 

The pink puller and pale purple chaser looked at the flier and seemed eager to help, but they paused a moment before frowning. 

“We’re sorry, but we can’t help right now,” the pink puller said softly, and the chaser next to her nodded his head slowly. 

“That’s alright,” Aule said, “Why don’t you take a flier and if you have time, you can help?”

The chaser and puller nodded and took a flier. They turned to leave, but their third companion remained. Her thick braided hair and blue eyes held the empyrians in place, and they could see the questions in her eyes. 

“I’d…” The orange puller started, “I’d like a flier too. I can help.”

Griffith beamed and passed her a flier while Oeric and Aule thanked her. The puller nodded and then joined the rest of her group, leaving the three empyrians feeling accomplished because they had handed out all of their fliers. 

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