Nothing.
Nico had decided to wait until the next day to head farther east. Because he was a normal person who believed that wandering through unfamiliar marshlands contaminated by unstable rift mana alone at night was, at the very least, spooky. And when Nico mentioned he felt like they were being watched—
“I was going to reprimand you for portalling back to the quarters from a recently stabilized zone,” Kai said, his voice cold before softening. “But yeah, that’s pretty scary. Sorry for not waiting to go back with you.”
Nico very much noticed that Kai didn’t ask more questions about said Sage or the dragon eye.
…Did he leave because he noticed Zhoumin there?
He’d known Kai for over twenty years. Long enough to know that Kai would keep this ambiguous for the rest of his life.
The two Lycan alchemists trotted along the quiet walkway that split the central government building from the outer quarters. The government district— also known as the Arcanite quarter— where many Arcanites worked and resided, was paved with uniform white stone and sported iron fixtures with angular imported designs. Glowpanes cast hard shadows along the walls and trees sat boxed inside of planters. Mana generators buzzed faintly, sapping ambient mana from the air. In the distance, lights pulsed through the canopy, softened by a dreamy haze.
“We’re still going?” Nico asked.
“To dinner? Yeah. Effie invited us. I said yes for both of us.”
“That’s kind of both of you.”
“I know, isn’t it. "
Nico had wanted to see the Virid quarters anyway. He left the interpersonal networking to Kai when they were on missions together. It usually fell on Nico to deal with when he teamed with other people. He could manage when he had to, but when given the option not to, he’d happily take it. Plus, both of them were currently in their canine forms.
|| Skill: ? Lycanthropy || [Status: Active | +200% fluff]
In this shape, they were talking height with all four feet of Effie, who greeted them with a bright smile and a bounce of her antennae at the edge of the town quarters.
The sleek, industrial architecture of the Arcanite district faded behind them, giving way to low-built dwellings that curved naturally with the landscape. The roads turned to packed earth softened with grass.
Virid homes were crafted from the earth itself, composed of arched walls of woven wood, smoothed stone, and beams and roofs draped in moss. Flowers bloomed along railings, vines twisted up posts, and herbs lined every stoop, tended with care. Some houses looked like repurposed marsh trees hollowed into cozy homes. Between dwellings, long lines of glowing fungi dangled from branches like gentle stars. And all throughout, Virid saplings and Ori fledglings ran barefoot through the grass, hair and feathers alike tangled with petals and fronds.
Kai adjusted his ears back and forth. “It’s nice here.”
“Yeah,” Nico flapped his ears teasingly in response.
Their destination was tucked behind a winding stone path, where trees bent overhead to form a canopy. The home was round and squat, a bit lopsided in shape, as though it had been grown instead of built. It sat in a crescent of other dwellings that wrapped around a shared yard lit by lanternfruit.
Effie led them through the clearing to a broad wooden deck prepared for the evening meal. The air carried roasted herbs, citrusy oil, and something crisp and fried. Dozens of Virids— young, old, and every bloom stage between— gathered under flowering branches, passing bowls, teasing children, and calling greetings to Effie as she arrived.
Kai stepped forward first, dipping his head in greeting. “Thank you for having us,” he said with a warm smile that made a few elders immediately soften. Nico followed a step behind, also offering a warm greeting. A group of saplings peeked from behind a railing, wide-eyed at the two unfamiliar Lycans. Effie laughed and beckoned the kids closer. “These are the visiting alchemists I told you about.”
Kai lowered himself with grace, front paws folded like a prince entertaining a royal court. His tail thumped lazily against the wood, earning giggles from the saplings.
Effie’s partner— a Virid with short hair vines and moss-colored eyes— was frantically twisting knobs on a mana oven that had gone dark, its glyphs blinking out one by one. “I swear it worked yesterday,” they muttered.
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“I can take a look,” Nico offered.
“Ah! You’re the lightning one, right?”
“That’s one way to put it.”
She stepped back, and Nico placed a paw on the oven.
|| SKILL ACTIVATED || [???? Mana Circuitry (A) | "glyph keyboard"]
Mana sparked as he traced over the device’s inscription panel. The glyphs lit again, steady and bright. The oven hummed back to life.
To his embarrassment, some people clapped.
Meanwhile, Kai had become an instant playground. Still in wolf form, he lounged on his side while five saplings with leafy tufts in their hair climbed on him. One had already braided a violet into his tail; another perched on his back, weaving ribbons through his mane with impressive focus.
Effie grinned. “He’s the favorite now.”
“Seems so,” Nico sat back, amused, until he felt stubby vine-wrapped fingers tug on his tail.
“Are you the alchemist?” the sapling asked, eyes bright.
Nico tilted his head, then lifted one paw and gently swept it through the air.
|| Skill Activated || [? Wind Thread (C) | "gentle lift"]
A breeze curled through the clearing. With a soft woosh, three of the saplings lifted from the grass like dandelion seeds. They squealed as they floated, circling before drifting softly back to earth. They shouted “Again! Again!” and scattered into the grass to better catch the breeze.
Dinner was rich and flavorful with brightly seasoned greens, roasted roots, and rolls of thinly sliced marsh fish shaped like flowers, served in bowls folded from broad leaves. Kai had a sapling in his lap who refused to feed herself, so he did it for her. Another sat behind him, tugging at his braid and declaring him “too pretty to be real.”
Effie’s partner arrived with a chilled liquid mixture, which Kai accepted with a nod. Blue mana circled it and a shimmering spiral of frost bloomed above the bowl, crystallizing into a soft cloud of shaved ice. Fruit compote, honey, and shards of candied algae were carried over as toppings. The children shrieked with joy and dove in. Nico chuckled and glanced toward Effie, who approached him with two bowls in her hands.
“Sorry we haven’t had much time to talk,” he said, taking the serving of shaved ice. “Thanks for coming,” she replied, settling beside a sapling who was testing how much ice he could fit in his mouth.
“This is my first time in Tellur,” Nico admitted. “I’ve never really seen a swamp before.”
“It’s a special place,” Effie said with a laugh. “I was born here, so I like the climate. Most visitors complain about the humidity though. What about you?”
“I don’t know you well enough to tell if you’re making fun of me or not.”
“Kai told me it was a passionate topic for you.”
“I mean, it’s different from where I grew up.”
Effie laughed. “I heard you’re from Ruzen. This definitely isn’t the desert.”
“There are some similarities though. Around this time, parents also barked for all the kits to come in for dinner.”
“Have you been back?”
“Not since I left, I plan to go back one day though.”
They sat in idle conversation, watching the saplings chase fireflies through the glowing mushrooms. Children with leafy crowns danced in a ring around the wolf as he cast a soft snow that shimmered as it fell over them.
Only when the stars came out did the conversation drift elsewhere.
Effie leaned back, stretching her legs. “Anyways, if you need anything, my office is always open to you two.”
“Thanks.” Nico hesitated, then added, “Actually… I meant to ask. You ever get Sages visiting out here?”
She tilted her head. “Not much reason for them to come out this far, they’d send their familiars if anything. Otherwise there might be an Arcanite Sage visit once every three to five years.”
“What do they do?”
“Oh, they make a scene. Roll out the red carpet at the government quarter. Dress up, smile for the press, take pictures with little gems, saplings and fledglings. Then go radio silent until next time.”
“Got it.”
Across the clearing, a few children had fallen asleep against Kai’s fur, one curled around his front leg, another fighting off sleep to finish a braid. The fireflies floated higher as the night cooled, and conversation softened to murmurs. Marsh crickets filled the pauses between laughter. Lanternfruit swayed gently above, scattering golden orbs of light across the tables.
The Lycans gave grateful farewells to the adults and quietly slipped away to not wake the sleeping buds. They walked side by side beneath the same canopy that had welcomed them earlier. The moss beneath their paws still soft, the air still smelling of bark and lily sap. Nico inhaled slowly through his nose. Kai’s steps were light despite the long evening.
When they passed the last of the lantern trees, colors began to fade. As they turned the bend, the acrid metallic smell hit them. The canopy noticeably thinned, each branch progressively more brittle and grey than the last. The vines no longer curled, but hung limp and browning.
A low grove opened before them, vacant with half-collapsed dwellings blighted by unstable mana. Caution tape bordered what used to be a park; reed swings now dangled crooked from dead limbs. Just off the path was a small pond with dull lilies, veined grey, floating on the surface. A mana generator crackled behind a nearby fence, dumping manasolids into the still water. A thin, iridescent film layered on the surface, leaving a strange sheen. They left the edge of the grove in silence.
Nico quietly opened his skill window—
|| Skill: ? Lycanthropy || [Deactivate? Y/N]
In moments, two humans with canine ears and tails stood with their boots against reinforced stone.
It no longer hummed with the songs of insects and frogs, but with the low drone of mana generators. The warmth of bioluminescent flora gave way to constructed glowpanes embedded in the walls.
Kai adjusted his sleeves, brushing off some pollen he noticed clinging to it. Nico glanced up as their lodging came into view— a sleek high rise of reinforced obsidian and manasteel rising from the cliffside, like a monument to its own endurance. The doors opened with a beep of their badges. The air conditioned lobby replaced the night’s warmth, boasting polished floors that mirrored the gleam of its inscribed walls. They parted for their respective rooms.
Nico stepped out onto his suite’s balcony and leaned against the steel rail, phone in hand. His view overlooked the city. The distant tree canopies of Virid settlements were small and low, half-obscured by the precise geometry of Arcanite towers.