Atani watched with eyes aglow as the phoenix before her dimmed its flame. The avian form shrunk in size and then condensed until it resembled a sphere of shining light. As the light faded, hardened scales of a scarlet color took its place. After the phoenix spoke its final words instructing Atani to venture off the southern shore of Hargeon, it completed its transformation. An egg full of life and color hovered momentarily in the air before gently falling into the elf’s arms. It was warm to the touch. The bird had mentioned the need to gather ethereon; Atani could feel the smallest bit sapping out of her hands from contact with her skin. If she wanted to, she could block it off considering it was such a small amount, but she wanted to give Daiko the best chance he could.

"It'll be alright, Coda," she told the raptor.

"We're going to head south and get Daiko back."

Maybe Coda understood the phoenix, maybe she didn't, but she believed the bird could understand Daiko, so hopefully she could understand Atani as well. At the very least, she hoped Coda would be able to understand her tone of voice and be comforted.


Atani, Coda, and the egg had been on the road for some time now, long enough for the scaled entity in her hands to begin to grow heavy. Though she the nature mage could quite easily summon vines to do the heavy lifting for her, she felt that the egg was far safer in her hands where she could both see and feel that it was safe.

Though it would seem that the woods was inherently an unsafe place to traverse, it was where Atani felt right at home. In any case, there were no animals that were particularly dangerous-- not any native ones at least-- therefore, it was the path she decided to take. If anyone in town saw the exotic egg the elf was carrying, who knew what kind of trouble would occur.

The animal that posed the most threat to Atani in her opinion was the species of crocodile that was native to Hargeon's waters-- not any saltwater crocodile, thank the gods, but the kind that preferred brackish or freshwater swamps-- but those should be easy enough to avoid by staying on dry land. Alligators were even less of a threat since they were skittish of humans to begin with.

"I believe that we must continue the other half of the journey by boat. The island is a good mile across the waters…"

The disembodied voice startled her. The Daiko-Egg hybrid nearly jumped out of her hands. It had been a long while since the thing spoke. She hadn't even realized it could speak due to its lack of mouth... but in the end, she did suppose it was all magic.

"There's a boat that would take us to the island?" The phoenix mentioned that the temple had supposedly been abandoned for 500 years, but perhaps that was long enough for explorers to discover and venture to the ruins, thus marking the best path able to be charted on the waters. Otherwise, she supposed it was within her abilities to hijack something and follow the phoenix's instructions.

20% WC Reduciton (Guild Lvl. 3)

544/1600

Atani had asked the egg a question, but it didn't reply. Considering this egg was in part a manifestation of the phoenix, she couldn't say this behavior was atypical. She had asked the magical bird questions before when it was in its flaming form only to be answered by either silence or a statement of a completely different matter. It was also possible though, she presumed, that the egg couldn't hear her words either. In any case, she didn't see the point in repeating herself, so she simply continued on her journey through the forested area along the outskirts of Hargeon.

At some point along their journey, there came a hiss. Crocodiles and alligators were known to hiss, but this sound was not reminiscent of either reptile. As a matter of fact, Atani couldn't pick out what type of animal this belonged to. What was more, she had the ability to communicate with animals. This animal though... whatever was making the hiss, it wasn't an ordinary creature. Its sounds were incomprehensible to her.

Atani held the egg tighter. As the soft hissing became both louder and sharper, she could see movement behind the tall grass and bushes. Leaves quivered as the creature moved ever so delicately through them. Trained to hunt from an early age, the elf's sharp eyes peered through the greenery. Camouflaged against the background, she could make out a long, uniform shape that was low against the forest floor. With each muscle contraction, it stretched and curled its way along the ground with ease. It was movement that was typical of a snake, but knowing that she was incapable of communicating with it, Atani knew that this of course was no ordinary snake.

Cautiously, the mage willed vines to grow around her back to secure the egg. She slowly transitioned the egg into the clutch of her vines and summoned a bow from the pocket dimension of her golden ring. Atani didn't need to speak magic serpent in order to know what this creature wanted. If it was anything like serpents in the wild, it wanted to eat the egg. The raw ethereon that radiated from it must have acted like a beacon to this thing: a magical treat for a magical creature. In a forest like this, it was no doubt a delicacy the snake wouldn't pass up on. Unfortunately for Atani, this meant it wouldn't likely back down just from the presence of an elf like her. Any other mundane snake would, but this? Not a chance.

Soon enough, its head poked out of the bushes. Its tongue flickered in and out of its mouth, no doubt enjoying the delectable smell from the egg that permeated the air around it. Atani drew back the string of her bow as the snake coiled to strike. Its beady eyes were not focused on her, but rather the egg. It was Atani's hope that this would be enough of a distraction to hit the snake, but she would just have to see. It was large, and thus it was an easy target, but the muscles beneath the reptilian skin told Atani that it had the strength to launch itself at great lengths. In an environment like the forest, this left her with little room to escape.

Atani let one of her arrows fly. She aimed for the head-- a vital spot-- but the snake coiled to dodge. The arrow missed its target, but it hit the snake elsewhere on the body; however, it hardly reacted. Even her strongest arrow wouldn't be enough to pierce through its thick skin.

"Rhaich.*"

*Val'Elvarin curse (damn, shit, etc.)

1145/1600

When her arrow hit the gargantuan serpent, it didn't disappear in the manner that she had expected it to. Given that her arrows were made of magic, much like weapons that could be created with maker magic spells, they often crumbled to nothing but dust the moment they hit its target. Strangely enough, this arrow didn't for whatever reason, and the serpent was intelligent enough to use that to its advantage. Rather than brushing the projectile off like a twig, it rolled it along its massive tail and flicked it back in the direction of the elf.

As powerful as a snake's tail was, it was no substitute for the strength and precision of a bow. Atani had years of experience training with such a weapon alongside other Wood Elves who did the same. It proved little trouble for her to dodge the attack. As she did so, she unleashed a spell that sent a swarm of butterflies to attack the snake. It was the same tactic she had used back in Astera when she fought a snake of an ever greater size than this one. Just as expected, the snake didn't know how to properly react to her spell, perhaps not thinking that it was even a threat since it consisted of winged insects made of moonflower petals. It might have assumed it was a distraction more than anything... It was wrong. It hissed in pain as the butterflies touched its scales.

"Coda!" Atani called. She looked to the scarlet raptor and motioned towards the snake who was momentarily distracted. The lifelong companion of Daiko had surely seen her fair share of battles with the kind of life a Blue Pegasus mage had. Given that the elf was more a healer than a fighter, she could really use the bird's help.

1447/1600

Despite the great sorrow that Atani knew weighed Coda down, when the time was right, she was able to pull herself together and help fight against the serpent. Her powerful wings sent strong gusts of wind to pummel the snake. Her sharp talons pierced its flesh with ease. All the while, Atani had sustained the spell she previously cast in order to continuously drain the reptilian of its life force. For extra measure, she cast another spell that would not just damage the serpent, but simultaneously heal any injuries that Coda may have sustained in her assault.

In no time at all, the serpent was defeated. Its corpse lay in a bloody mess on the marshy forest floor, a feast for any scavengers that would happen to stumble across it after she and Coda left.

"You did great," Atani said to the raptor. She scratched the feathers beneath her break appreciatively. "Now, to find that boat the phoenix spoke of..."

There were no other encounters with dangerous wildlife the rest of the trip. Perhaps the earlier fight had scared them away, but it any case, they all had eventually made it to the boat.

"This... is what we're sailing to the island in?" To put it nicely, their vessel was rather unassuming. It was nothing more than a fisher's rowboat by the looks of it. But if it was all they had, it would have to do.

1684/1600