Menders of Mind - The Tranquil: Part 1

Menders of Mind
The Tranquil: Part 1

“I do find it rather curious, sister. You do not know him.”

“Ah shut yer yapper and watch out for more bandits.”

   The three Pullers made their way through the deep underground tunnels at a calm and calculated pace. At the very front was Amos, a legendary figure blessed with wings, who used his elevated magical abilities to pick the right path through the maze. Behind him was Vericia, a muscled lady with an unconscious brown Runner on her back and the last one of the caravan was Eli, a beautiful pastel-colored gentleman with a tamed temper. 

   The siblings have had crazy past few days since the moment they discovered the new entrance to the unexplored cavern system up till now. The new creatures, who called themselves the Haedians, definitely didn’t leave a welcoming or polite first impression - some of them tried to rob them of their gear and others were fighting each other over some stupid golden rocks. Absurdity! However, what made them stay down here was the battered Runner on Vericia’s back and Amos guiding them somewhere. Not to make this story into a whole book, the siblings stumbled upon the Runner, calling himself Vazghar as he was trying to escape from the aforementioned lunatics after they had beaten him up. Sadly the scrawny Runner couldn’t elaborate as he lost consciousness from dehydration, hunger and the injuries he had sustained. Then, right on que, Amos appeared, convincing Vericia and Eli to take Vazghar even deeper and further into the novel cave system as he could sense powerful energy not too far from them, which he could harness to heal the Vayron as dragging him back to the surface and looking for nearest village with a healer would be too time consuming. And with that, here we are.

“I am, no need to worry about me. I can express my concern and stay guard simultaneously.”

“Yeah, yeah. Hey Amos, how much further?”

   Vericia left a gruff first impression but anyone who spent more than five minutes around her knew what an absolute softie she really was. She knew how to stand for herself and fight, for sure, while she also wasn’t afraid to use her direct and sharp tongue. That was just her way of expressing herself and that takes a bit of time getting used to.

“Hmm, hard to tell exactly. I can sense the direction of the energy, not the path to it. Though I can assure you we’re making progress. How’s our companion doing?”

   Amos didn’t let himself be bothered by the constant bantering between the other two, his focus was only on their destination. Amos seemed to be reserved and closed off, he didn’t want to be here but another book full of stuff happened which left him in this position. If there was a Reosean in dire need of healing then he couldn’t just turn his back and say ‘no’.

   Eli leaned his head forward towards Vericia’s back to take a moment of closer look at the limp Vazghar, then restored his previous posh posture.

“Still alive and breathing.”

   Eli was a rather eccentric character. He was calm, understanding and moderately kind to most of the Reoseans while he also left the impression of a snobbish high-class noble who wouldn’t waste their precious time on looking towards the middle class and below. Most importantly, he never allowed his emotions to take control of his actions or words and yet, like his sister Vericia, he also had a tendency to make sharp remarks or come up with witty responses from time to time. But enough of the sidetracking, let’s focus on the story.

   Amos stopped here and there to choose the optimal direction or passage that led them closer to the source of the energy Amos was sensing. It took them a few detours, dead ends and Vericia’s grumpy grumbling, as she was getting tired from carrying all this extra weight with her, till they reached a well-lit corridor. The glowing crystals here emitted a warm and relaxing shade of yellow, leading the trio towards the opening in the end of it. The cavern they reached offered a surprising view - it had trees growing in it. Actual trees, with a bark-covered trunk, branches, leaf-like formations and all the shebang. On the ground were lush bushes, various alien flowers and batches of soft grass. The trees and rest of the vegetation formed a circle in the middle of the room around a complex-shaped cluster of crystals. It was quite obvious that this was the source that drew Amos to this place. 

“Nobody is here, we are clear.”

   Eli had quickly examined the potential hiding spots around them with his keen eyes. He was surprisingly good at it, playing hide and seek with him as kids definitely wasn’t Vericia’s favorite game.

“Good, keep it that way. Amos, what’s next?”

   Vericia could sense that the moment to get Vazghar off her back was close, which probably made her a tad impatient. Amos simply walked up to the cluster and gestured to Vericia to place Vaz down somewhere near it. Eli had also followed them and helped to gently roll the unconscious lass off his sister’s back. While Vericia stretched with her joint crackles echoing in the cave and Eli adjusting Vazghar’s position on the silky grass, Amos had placed one paw up in front of him almost against the crystal. With eyes closed, he focused on resonating with the pulse of magic inside of it. It took him only a few moments to figure it out, so he stopped the synchronization to make preparations.

“Eli, please get some fresh water from that small stream over there. Vericia, I need you to pull four feathers from my wings, one from each.”

   The request left Vericia dumbfounded as she stared at Amos with wide eyes, while Eli trotted off to fulfill his part of the process. To show Vericia he was serious about it, Amos turned his back to her, sat down and spread his magnificent wings. Vericia hesitated before she extended her paw and with quick pulls plucked the four feathers. She didn’t take the biggest or the smallest ones, and Amos seemed to be pleased with Vericia’s choices. Eli returned with a keg full of fresh cold spring water while Amos placed his feathers on certain spots on Vazghar’s body. The preparations had been made.

   Amos instructed the siblings to sit around Vazghar, after which he closed his eyes to resonate with the pulsing cluster once more. Finding and directing the right energy from it, he channeled it into his feathers on Vazghar, to which the feathers lit up with ethereal pink glow, gradually turning into pure energy that sank into the Runner’s body. His injuries healed up within seconds and with a loud deep gasp and eyes sprung wide open, he was back. Amos snapped out of his trance and having quickly shaken his head to clear up his vision, his eyes locked on his patient. Vaz rolled to his side to cough and Amos gestured to Eli to offer him water while Vericia tried to figure out what spell or school of magic Amos was using here.

   Vazghar grabbed the keg without giving it a second thought and gulped down all the water. Only then he started to look around with a big question mark painted in his face to figure out where or why he was.

“Hey, heeyyy… it’s okay, you’re okay now.”

   Vericia decided to calm Vaz in case he started to panic. Eli retrieved his keg and decided to refill it, just in case. Fortunately Vaz remembered what had occurred before he passed out so he didn’t freak out now. He heaved himself up to sit, still feeling weakness in his limbs from the lack of nutrition.

“Where am I?”

“Still in the Beneath, but there’s no darn Haedians here, it’s safe.”

   Vericia reassured the skinny Runner, neither of them noticed how something had caught Amos’ attention. Eli returned with the refill and offered it to Vaz, which was gratefully accepted. After having taken a couple sips, Vaz turned to look towards his savior, inevitably seeing what Amos was looking at.

“Oh yeah? Then what is that?”

   Vericia and Eli simultaneously turned their focus at the same spot after Vazghar’s unamused remark. At one other tunnel entrance stood a light grey fluffy Haedian with pretty pink patterns adorning its fur, who had its pink eyes curiously locked at the guests from the Topside.