[Matriarch] Special Quest 1

“We’ll find them,” Eva promised as she stood next to her latest friend, Adaline. 

“Don’t worry about a thing,” Adaline added brightly, “We’ll bring them back unharmed; they can’t be far.”

Eva and Adaline smiled with ease. Their confidence was contagious, and it eased the caregivers' worries. The haedians nodded and gave the pair of vayrons a few more instructions and words of wisdom before the vayrons began their search. They calmly walked through tunnels, looking for anything that would lead to the nyxthorns. 

The tunnels were covered in crystals. They shimmered and provided the pair of vayrons with more than enough light to see every nook and cranny. Eva and Adaline carefully moved rocks out of their way to look into cracks in the tunnel walls. They picked their way through the tunnels with no luck. Eva was feeling the pressure of the promises they made, but she was quickly relieved of the pressure when she spotted something pink sparkling ahead of them. 

“Over there,” Eva exclaimed. 

Adaline turned her head to look in the direction Eva was gesturing. At first, she couldn’t see anything, but the longer she looked, the clearer the glittering quills became. Adaline and Eva raced over to the quills to get a better look, and to their relief, the quills could easily be followed. 

The orange and pink quills sparkled from all the colourful lights emitting from the crystals that lined the walls of the tunnels around them. Adaline and Eva carefully followed the quill trail, but after a few minutes, the trail of quills slowly vanished. The pair of vayrons looked around, hoping to spot a place where the quill path restarted, but they couldn’t find anything. 

“Damn,” Eva huffed. 

“They have to be around here somewhere,” Adaline insisted. 

“What if something grabbed them?” Eva asked with a horrified expression on her face.

Adaline was quick to reassure her that that wouldn’t happen, “No, their quills would protect them. They aren’t defenseless.”

“But what if…”

“No, don’t think that like that,” Adaline urged, “We will find them. You said so yourself.”

Eva nodded. She took a deep breath and attempted to stop her thoughts from spiraling into darker conclusions. Adaline watched the puller calm herself, and when Adaline finally thought Eva was going to be okay, she began to search the new area again. 

Adaline looked around every crystal and rock. She would take one step and look around meticulously, trying to spot anything new or anything that would give her a clue about where the nyxthorn had gone. Eva was mirroring Adaline on the other side of the tunnel. The pair looked through the tunnel until they came to a fork in the road. 

“What should we do?” Eva asked. 

“We shouldn’t split up,” Adaline answered, “Pick a path, and then we can easily come back.”

Eva exhaled loudly as she examined both paths. Adaline tried to squint as she peered down each path. At one point, she thought she saw something, but when she blinked, it was gone, so she remained quiet. Eva noticed Adaline pause longer by the left path, but when the pink puller didn’t say anything, Eva thought it was nothing. However, after several more minutes of indecision, Eva decided to pick the left path. 

The pair carefully walked down the left path, and the further they went, the more solemn Eva’s mood became. Adaline tried to encourage a more positive atmosphere but it didn’t seem to be working. However, as if luck was on their side, they came across more glittering quills. Eva’s mood immediately brightened. She quickly turned her head to Adaline with a grin on her face before she raced closer to the quill trail. 

The pair followed the second trail deeper into the Beneath. The tunnel around them became less bright as the crystals became more sparse. At a certain point, the quills became difficult to see, so Adaline summoned a sphere of glowing pink magic. Her magic washed over them with a dim light that made the tunnel more visible. The additional light made the quills stand out as they sparkled against the dark backdrop of the tunnel. 

“How much further do you think these nyxthorn went?” Eva whispered, staying close to Adaline.

“I’m not sure,” Adaline quietly replied. 

The trail of quills eventually led the pair of vayrons toward a dark forested area. Neither of them knew where they were, but the bushes and large-leafed plants gave the nyxthorn many more hiding places than the tunnels would have given them. Adaline and Eva squinted as they tried to see where the little critters were hiding. Adaline forced her magic higher and made the ball bigger to give the pair more light, and thankfully, it worked. With the brighter light, Eva and Adaline could make out the nyxthorn’s quills poking out of their hiding places. 

The pair exhaled, relieved they found them. Now, all they had to do was calm them down and lure them back to the Matriarch. 

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