“By the way, may I ask what your name and race is? I first thought that you were maybe a Zebra, but looking at your color, hooves and horns, I don’t think that’s the case. Sorry if that offends you.” The changeling suddenly asked as the two continued their trek through the tunnels.

“Geeze, ‘you think.’” Mystic retorted before grumbling. “Fine…for your information, I’m a Gazelle. Hailing from the Savanna steppes far to the south, and my name isn’t particularly important for you to know. I just need to reach the air vent shafts you were talking about before, and then we can simply go our separate ways. So there really is no need for you to know my name.” She answered while keeping her gaze fixed on the changeling ahead.

He may be helping her, but that still doesn’t mean that she can fully trust him. Heck, she sometimes doesn’t even trust the members of her own race, given the rather heavy combative nature around those few magically gifted Gazelles that exist within her tribe. Not to mention those from other tribes, too.

Being born with the natural gift of magic is both a blessing and a curse. Not only are you precious, but you are also given high expectations from everybody else, especially the tribe elders and her own father.

A type of expectation she always hated.

Either way, the changeling sighed, before focusing back at the task at hoof.

He eventually looked back over his shoulder. “Banook.”

“What?”

“Banook is my name. Just wanted you to know, in case you still need someone to escort you back to the surface world. A lot of changelings I know are rather distrustful with surface dwellers, so you won’t really find much help when trying to approach them. I on the other hoof, believe in the nature of goodwill, and have no problems helping those in need, even those hailing from the surface. It’s…it’s just something I like to do.” The now named Banook explained, before focusing back ahead of him.

Mystic tilted her head. “Oh, is that so? Why exactly is it that you feel this way, huh? Especially when the rest of your peers don’t. It’s normally pretty natural for you to mimic the ideas and behaviors of other around you. So what the heck makes you so different compared to others?” Mystic asked, sounding just as suspicious and unconvinced as her expression.

Banook shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s just a unique perk I have, I guess. My uncle had the same philosophy in fact, mostly thanks in being enlisted as a guard, and being stationed at the surface world for most of his days to simple keep an eye on few of the entrances that lead into the hive. I guess…I kind of inherited a large part of his character into me; seeing everyone as equals and not just as a race. Strange, but true.” He again explained.

Mystic was rather perplexed by this. Not just of his reasoning, but of his uncle. A military personal who is tolerant to all races and nations besides his own? Strange, and certainly something new. Usually soldiers are only loyal to the country or race they hail from. That’s what their trainers or other higher-ups drill them for: To only see allies among themselves and not anyone else.

A truly commendable characteristic of his uncle, whoever he was.

But she kept the thought to herself. No need to dig deeper when she has other things to focus on. Plus, she most likely was never going to see this particular changeling again after his deed was done, or rather, if she was going to live another day to do so.

She won’t kid herself, it didn’t matter if these changelings were only half as decent in both combat and magic as Cyrus and Farries made them out to be; she was still going to be in a world of trouble if she ever got caught by even a few of them. Numbers are a very potent advantage after all, and no matter how good she thought she was, she could never stave off that many changelings all at once, or for an extended period of time.

So again; stealth would be her main priority to keep the bugs away from her.

“Here we are.” Banook announced as he suddenly stopped.

“Here where?” Mystic responded while looking around.

The somewhat moody lighting of the tunnels made it rather difficult to see a couple of meters past where you stood, not to mention how the damp air and tight space of the dug out tunnels was making her feel somewhat claustrophobic. She was an animal of the steppes, not someone who liked crawling around underground.

“We’re here.” Banook again stated before lighting up his horn.

His magic quickly enveloped a large rock sticking from the wall, and after a few pulls and turns, the large bolder quickly loosened, revealing a sudden stream of light and a nice cool breeze of air. Mystic was even forced to shield her eyes at the sudden change of light.

“Well, the ventilation shaft, of course. This one was accidentally opened when some of my comrades where digging out this tunnel secretly, leading up towards another large cave and from there, up to the surface. But anyway, these ventilation shafts go pretty much all over the inner sanctums of the hive; going everywhere and anywhere. So if you need to be sneaky and keep yourself away from any prying eyes or ears, this is the method of doing it. Many nymphs have actually used these shafts to reach their parents on the other side. So, they are indeed navigable. If you can fit through them, that is.”

This caused mystic to step up to the opening to peer through. She had to admit, is did look somewhat cramp inside. But one of the major bonuses she could deduct was the fact that it was surprisingly bright and cool inside, the latter being obvious, but the former was just a little bit more intriguing. Because some parts of the walls had some of those magically glowing crystals jutting out from them, giving these tunnels all the light they needed for a surface dweller like her.

“A tight squeeze, but it should suffice.” Mystic stated as she evaluated the smooth, white stone shaft.

“You sure? Your horn might get into the way, especially against those tiny crystals jutting out from the walls and ceiling.” Banook asked.

Mystic nods. “Yeah don’t worry, I’m quite flexible.” She stated before climbing through the square space. Her horns barely grazing the ceiling above her. She knew that her main method of pushing forward at this point would be with her front hooves, elbows and knees. Which was fine, as she had done something like this many times before when she and Little Steppes were little.

Sneaking in and out from the storage huts to sneak out some honey or tree syrup.

Those memories made her smile for just a little bit, before she quickly focused back on the task at hoof as she steadily crawled herself forward.

“Good luck outsider, you’re sure going to need it.” Mystic could hear Banook call after her as she slowly, but surely increased the distance between herself and him. Minding some of the shining crystal jutting out from the walls.

“Luck? Well maybe, maybe I do need a bit of luck to get through this.” She thought to herself as she continued her trek.

Having crawled like this as a fawn was fine, but now as an adult it was obviously a lot harder than it should have been. But then again, crawling back now to rethink her plans would have been impossible at this point, given the incredibly tight nature of these shafts, which made turning around almost impossible. She couldn’t even move her head from side to side, thanks to her horns.

Whether she liked it or not, she was pretty much committed at this point.

After a while, Mystic eventually crawled herself to the first fork in the road. With one tunnel leading somewhere left, while the other was leading somewhere to the right. A choice needed to be made now, a choice which would either lead her closer to, or further from her goals.

Mystic turned her head from left to right and back, mentally contemplating her choices, while also trying to remember the layout she saw from the hive so far.

Her senses where telling her to turn left, but thanks to the crystals, she could also see that the left shaft was eventually going to bend further upwards at the end of the way. She obviously wasn’t sure where the path would lead her from there, but it was still a much better bet to make then picking the right path instead. Again, she had to make a choice now or be stuck at whatever section of the hive these air vents where taking her.

She eventually got an idea. “Wait, these air vents go pretty much anywhere around the hive, right? If that’s the case, then the added draft and the overall connection of these shafts must mean that I could…” Mystic told to herself before she quickly decided giving her idea a try.

She lifted her nose, taking a few tentative sniffs of the passing gusts going past her and concentrating. Wherever she could smell the most changelings in one place would certainly be the area where the Queen must be. And by that extent, the Idol perhaps as well. If that works, then she could easily rely more on her nose than her magical senses.

She nodded to herself. “I think I got a trail. Great, just need to follow it and hope that I don’t come out where there’s a swarm of changeling guards. So, left it is.” She told herself, before continuing her crawl at the aforementioned direction.

Turning corners in the cramped spaces was thankfully a lot more manageable then she originally thought. Well, that is, until one of the sharp crystal sliced through her left flank and made her cringe.

So much for a simple crawl to her goal.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“So, what are we doing now?” Farries asked as he and the rest of the gang looked down at a band of changeling guards which they had just recently surprised and bound.

Not killed, of course, as these were still their own kin despite their allegiance to the mad queen. Plus, being stealthy themselves was a priority as well. Which meant no visible blood trails, corpses, and certainly no noise created by a fight. Plus, they could also use them for information, to get intel on enemy movements and to hopefully get the whereabouts of the Queen herself, so that they could avoid her at first before eventually confronting her once Cyrus had managed to acquire the first piece they need to challenge a changeling Queen themselves. Something which was part of this plan this entire time.

“Simple,” Cyrus answered after he put the finishing touches on the last captive. “We need to get to the royal archives, asap. One very important tome is located somewhere within its vast library of collected knowledge. An ancient book which can actually help us to defeat the Queen directly and neutralize her by stripping her of her own magical powers. Or at least, that is what Palmyria wished for me to do instead of just going for the quick and less complicated method, and to be honest, I kinda have to agree with her on that front. Plus, she is still the Queen, and the mental and magical link to all changelings nearby. We obviously can’t just kill her, unless that role is being properly transferred to Palmyria instead. Furthermore…” Cyrus stopped for a bit. “…she also doesn’t want her to be killed regardless of her actions. She is still her mother after all, and she wouldn’t be able to live it down if she was killed by her own orders. Restraining her and allowing the princess to confront her own mother to steal the role from her would be the best option at this point. Plus, it would also make everything a lot easier to fix and process once this problem has been dealt with. We got to keep our future in mind, after all.” Cyrus explained.

Farries sighed. “So true, but even so, what about the missing Gazelle we have at out hooves here…or rather not, as she is sneaking around heavens knows where? She’s most likely going to cause some form of trouble, given her attitude.” Farries questioned, to which the captain could only nod too.

“Perhaps, but you know very well that she has her own mission to perform, don’t you? To find her peoples idol and end the effects it seems to be having for those too close to it. If she is to be believed, then she is the only one capable of getting close enough to it without falling to its corruption. That’s actually what I’m personally hoping for, so that we might not get affected by the horrible whispers it seems to produce when we get close; something I’m sure would be disastrous for all of us.” Cyrus again explained before switching his gaze over to the halls.

“I think we better get moving, then. As long as the hives attention is fixated on the advancing Zebra guards up front, it will be easier for us to reach the archives and find the hidden tome that was used by Palmyria’s ancestors to usurp the previous dynasty before hers. If we can make use of its text once more, taking down the current Queen should be swift. Or at least, that’s the idea.” Cyrus announced before taking the lead further down the hall.

Both Farries and Rakash nodded before following the old noble further down, with the rest of their small force not far behind. Continuing their trek further into the belly of the beast to reach the treasure at the end of it.

This treasure being the aforementioned tome which Cyrus had just named.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Ugh…how long does this vent shaft go? I’m starting to get claustrophobic in here. Where in the god’s name is the next exit?” Mystic openly self-complained as she continued to push herself through the tight square-shaped shafts that she had been crawling through for gods know how long.

She was actually kind of right, though. She had pretty much been doing nothing but crawling through the stone carved vents for an unknown passage of time, and was getting her coat scratched and punctured along the way thanks to some of the shining crystals sticking out of the rocky walls and ceilings of the vents. The number of instances where her horns were also getting caught in these crystalline formations was just ridiculous on its own, and was maddening to Mystic.

She just hoped that she hadn’t scratched up her precious horns too much thanks to the stupid things, otherwise she might blow a fuse in here, and giving the idea of being subtle a big fat ‘middle finger,’ as the crazy-sounding king once said.

Why she was remembering that specific phrase was beyond her. But she could certainly agree that its meaning was quite fitting to the situation and frustration she was feeling, while contemplating the idea of just picking the next exit she could find and going completely nuts on the changeling guards that might be blocking her this time. That was actually one of the main reason why she was still stuck inside the blasted vents to begin with, because every exit she had come across so far mostly led into halls, rooms or other places filled with guards or patrols, giving her very little room or incentive to actually exit the vent from there and take her chances.

But now? Now she might actually just pick the next exit she comes across and just thrash her way through if need be. Because now, she was in the perfect mood to do just that. Even more so when she started realizing that these insectoid bucketheads were actually standing in between her and the long-lost idol of her people.

In fact, now that she thought about it even closer, she was pretty pumped to finally put all of her training and private teachings to the test and show these ‘lings how skilled and potent Gazelle Mages of her kind were in the past. Or rather, she’d try and show them, to be more precise. Granted, she had no idea how good Mages from the past were compared to her. Even the Elders didn’t have any specific clues on that front, since all the historical accounts and artifact that told of such a time had either been lost to the ages or were still locked away deep within the impenetrable jungles to the far south; the original homeland of her distant ancestors before their exodus to the northern grassland steppes.

Thinking about this gave her the well-needed respite to steadily calm her nerves and anger. But that still didn’t change the fact that she wanted to get out of these shafts as soon as possible to finally be rid of this burden.

Both her elbows and knees were already sore as well, thanks to their constant grinding against the hard-stone floor beneath her. That's what her strong and hard hooves were normally for, and not her soft-skinned knees and elbows.

“I swear, the next exit point I see is the one I’m taking. I don’t care if the area it leads to is filled with changeling guards, or Savanna rampaging elephants. I am so done with this crawling nonsense and getting myself scratched up by these stupid crystals. I’m getting out, one way or another.” Mystic grumbled to herself once more before the spirits somehow decided to take pity on her plight as they gifted her with the vision of another source of outside light coming from one of the corners in front of her.

Her ears perked up at that. “Yes, finally, another exit at last! Though this time, nothing’s going to stop me from getting the heck out of here and finally stretch my back and legs a bit.” She told herself rather loudly which she didn’t realized. An error that might have bit her in the flank if the exit she was gazing upon around the corner was actually occupied with any changelings this time.

“Well, only one way to find out.” As she crawled closer to the ventilation grill, which she quickly found out during her first encounter with them that they were actually made of either changeling spit or stomach residue.

The stench these grills were still faintly giving off was undeniable. For all the wrong and disgusting reasons. But alas, it is what it is and now she had to somehow smash her way through it without causing too much of a ruckus. Though luckily enough, those levels of subtleness would not be an issue, as the room beyond its barrier was in fact, void of any changelings this time. Especially when she couldn’t smell any of them nearby from where she was.

This might be the lucky break she was waiting for. Not just for the fact that nothing was nearby to even catch her the moment she going to crawls her white tainted butt from the vent shaft, but also for the opportunity of blowing the lid clean off instead of trying to be slow and subtle with it.

And so she did, charging up the gem on her forehead and firing a low powered blast right through the grill and shattering it into a million pieces, giving her the opening she needed to easily crawl through.

Once through, she performed some well needed stretching before allowing herself to look around. That was the initial plan at least, if it wasn’t for the fact that the room she found herself in was actual rather gloomy. But other than that, the room she found herself in looked fairly interesting besides that. It seemed to be some form of a bedroom if she had to guess, but if it was, then this bedroom was certainly one heck of a bedroom. She wasn’t particularly knowledgeable when it comes to room designs, themes or overall class. Thanks to the fact that she, or rather most of her tribe, were living in simple looking huts or tents, which didn’t offer much luxury of course, but at least meant that both building and deconstructing them was fairly quick and easily when it comes to moving along with the migrating herds of the wide open Savanna steppes of her home. But still, judging by the overall size of the room, the decorations it had on the walls and the somewhat large number of stone-made furniture it had lying about, she could guess that this was the room of someone rather important. Or at least some form of well furnished guest room, similar to the ones the crazy Monkey King had in his oversized palace.

Either way, this room was clearly meant for someone with status. Though If that was the case then one question still remind.

“Why is this so dark and moody? I could have sworn that I saw some kind of light coming from beyond the grill just now.” Mystic mumbled to herself as she continued to look around. Squinting her eyes about to room to see if any of the shining but also infernally sharp crystals were anywhere on the walls or ceiling of the room. To her slight confusion, there weren’t any, despite the fact that every hall or room she came across thus far had these light emitting crystals in them. Even the freaking ventilations shafts had them; the most unnecessary place for those things to be.

But alas, this room was void of any natural or unnatural light sources as far as she could tell.

“Blast. Though, it’s certainly still better than the other rooms I came across before this one. I just need to find a door to leave, and I can be on my merry way to either find my path, or guide myself to another damned roadblock.” Mystic stated to herself before she started to trot around the large stone bed in front of her to reach the other end of the room.

Once clearing its length, she could see even within the moody atmosphere that a very large stone door had revealed itself within the right corner of the room. She would have quickly approached it then and there if it wasn’t for both her eyes and her own unhealthy dose of curiosity stopping her from doing so.

What she ended up approaching instead was a simple looking desk carved directly out of the rock wall. Though it wasn’t the desk itself that interested her. Rather, it was in fact the items that were splayed about the desk that urged her curiosity.

Most of these items were foreign to her, but others not so much. Like the well-painted clay figurines of Zebra soldiers; most likely a toys for young Zebras to play with, if she had to guess. Though what mostly interested her were a few items right next to these figures.

“Is that, a horn flute?” She asked herself before picking the object up with her hoof and bringing it up closer to her eyes.

She was immediately surprised. It was, in fact, a horn flute. A flute made of a Gazelles horn which had been either lost in combat, in an accident, or simply fell off from old age. The horns on a Gazelle are socially and culturally very important, no matter what tripe we are talking about. Even when losing a horn, it was tradition to repurpose them for something else. In this case, as an instrument. A very traditional instrument in fact, for either initiations, funeral, or rituals.

Such items were kept very close to their owners. So how something like this ended up so far down here was beyond her. Though, this sizable flute wasn’t the only item related to Gazelle culture on the table. There was also a very recognizable necklace made of colorful stones and a very ornate cut and polished opal within its center.

A sprinter’s gift. A necklace only given to those who have successfully exhausted and then battled an alpha male lion on the open steppes and survived to tell the tale. Basically, a necklace telling those who saw it on a fellow Gazelle that they danced with one of the most powerful predators the Savanna had to offer.

The Zebras, in contrast, would have just killed the majestic beasts outright and be done with it, either with range weapons or in large pairs; acting rather disrespectful to those kings of the steppe. But then again, the Zebras had always been more dominant towards their surroundings and nature at large; always seeking to tame and master the world they inhabited. That in turn had made them more aggressive to their neighbors, even more so than the Gryphons or Minotaurs, depending on who was sitting on the throne. Or at least, that was what history had thought her.

Either way, there was yet again a mystery about how such an important cultural item found itself in changeling hooves so easily. She would have personally loved to take the items with her and bring them back to her people, but the first problem with that was that she couldn’t just allow herself to be burdened by these items as long as she was within enemy territory, and second, those items were meant to be rather personal anyway. Taking them both with her would be rather pointless in a traditional sense.

So overall, it was better to just leave them here and focus more on the task at hoof, and judging by the magical presence she could feel when focusing on the Idols whereabout, she would say that the idol easily took center stage above everything else.

Mystic shook her head and nodded to herself, before striding towards the stone door right next to her and pulling It open with her teeth. It kinda worked, both thankful that is wasn’t locked, and frustrated about how the door was really heavy and making horrible grinding sounds when pulling on it.

But overall, the deed was swiftly done, and the door was finally open enough for her to slip through, thankfully into a much more illuminated hallway which allowed her more light and required her eyes to do their thing. Plus, it didn’t seem that any changelings were here, which was also a big plus.

“Hmmm… it seems the coast is clear. Better capitalize on this while I can.” Mystic thought to herself as she began to exit the room.

She immediately began looking around, turning her head from one end of the large stone hall to the other to truly make sure that the coast was indeed clear.

“Seems clear. I can’t believe that this section seems to be void of any tangible activity. The previous rooms and halls I came across had at least a few changeling guards standing or walking about. Not sure if this is a good thing, or bad thing. Either way, I won’t question this change of luck and just take it for what it is. The Idol feels pretty close now. I can sense it.” Mystic again thought to herself as her gen started to faintly glow at the thought of that Idol.

The only thing she needs to do now is follow its magical signature and avoid any possible encounters with the guards. She may have been in the mood for an open fight earlier, but now that she was calmed down again, that idea had been solidified as a poor choice once more. Not to mention pointless, and rather dangerous on her part. Even more so when there’s a risk of facing multiple opponents at once; something she obviously didn’t need for multiple reasons.

“Anyway, let’s just move. Standing around will get me nowhere and most certainly spotted as well.” She mumbled to herself before doing just that. Picking the right hallway and minding the steps of her hooves, making sure that her steps were light and not as infernally loud as hooves tend to be on stone hard surfaces, something that creature with paws or feet have no problem with.

As Mystic kept going, she couldn’t help but dart her eyes at the overall looks and architecture of these halls as she moved past them. These halls were a lot more decorative and ornamented than the ones she had seen before, with the walls being completely covered in a sea of chiseled markings that looked like hieroglyphs to her than anything else, giving these halls a sense of greater importance than the one she traveled through previously. There were even large banners hanging from the walls and ceilings from time to time. Similar to the hallways of the crazy Monkey King’s palace up above.

This caused her to think.

Which in turn meant that this area Mystic was in, must be some form of palace as well if she had to guess from her own personal knowledge. Then again, she also had no bloody idea why both the Zebras and the changeling really needed THAT much space to begin with. With the changelings she could understand, but with the Zebras, not so much.

Even the temples to their deities were fairly large. Not sure what type of Gods these Zebra worship. But judging by their temples. These gods must be very demanding individuals to require such tall structures. She can’t really say the same of her races ancestor gods. The shrines she had visited before were simple altars within either caves or groves, similar to the graves of their ancestors, being simply carved out of rock walls, without requiring extensive underground complexes like the Zebras have.

Mystic shook her head. “Argh… this is not the time to start mentally comparing cultures and customs. Focus, Mystic, focus! You are literally within enemy territory right about now. This is by far the worst possible moment for you to get side tracked by your surroundings and be consumed by unrelated topics.” She mentally kicked herself before willing her mind back on track and refocus her sense back at the possibilities of dangers ahead of her.

And not a moment too soon. As her ears suddenly managed to pick up some distant clopping and buzzing up ahead which was rapidly getting closer. A realization that quickly activated her fight or flight response, though neither of these option seemed particularly enticing to her at the moment.

“The voices...run from the voices...they don’t stop...they don’t stop.” Mystic managed to hear the echoing voice of someone off in the distance, sounding incredible distressed and desperate by the sounds of it.

Mystic began to panic a bit. “Crap, not again. Argh…I hate getting myself into situations like these. Though this time, it would make sense to assume that no random bug horse is going to just pop out of the ground and allow me refuge in some underground tunnel or something. Not that I want to crawl back into something tight and dark anyway. I already had enough thanks to those stupid vent shafts.” She thought to herself while frantically looking around herself for something to hide with.

An invisibility spell would be pretty helpful right now. But sadly such a spell required a high amount of mana and practice to pull off, something that Mystic was sadly missing on both fronts, especially on the practicing part.

“Wait, there!” She silently stated after gazing at one of the banners hanging nearby. This one actually sporting a broken pole on top, which in turn meant that it was hanging a lot lower to the ground than the other banners opposite from it. It was, in fact, touching the cold stone floor beneath it, which was perfect.

“I can easily hide behind that and pray to my ancestors that they won’t notice me when passing by. Not that I have much choice anyway.” Mystic thought to herself before dashing towards the banner.

And not a moment too soon, as the changeling guards quickly appeared from around the corner and were galloping past Mystic’s hidden form with both great haste and speed. All of them not minding the slight bulge on the banners fabric.

All Mystic had to do was hold her breath and keep still.

Mystic quietly sighed with relief after the coast was clear, allowing her to leave the protected cover of the banner.

“Whispers. What did that one changeling said about whispers?” Mystic mumbled to herself as she gazes at the fleeing changelings’ direction. Or rather, where they disappeared too.

“Whispers, whispers whispers...” She wondered to herself before it finally clicked. “Oh yes...the whispers. The curse of the Idol!” Mystic almost shouted, before quickly capping her mouth with a hoof to silence herself.

Though after a few second of looking around. She sighed, before removing her hoof.

“Well then, in that case, it means that I must be really getting close to the source. Good, now I’ll finally have the chance to bring an end to all of this. Not just for Cyrus, and the Zebras’ sakes, but more importantly for my kind as well. The idol will return to my people not matter what.” Mystic thought to herself, pepping herself up with as much determination and zeal as possible.

With that thought out of her way, she wasted no time in passing further down the hall and keeping her eyes and ears trained for anything out of the ordinary.

A few paces in and the atmosphere was already chilling. Like literally, the air around her quickly turned a lot colder for no reason, while the bright crystal lights above her grew dimmer and dimmer the further in she trotted. To say that this was getting both strange and creepy would have been an understatement.

The fact that the halls were getting quieter as well was creepy enough. She had been trotting through these halls casually for almost 10 minutes without any changelings or any other life form nearby.

It was quite haunting, very much so.

“This is strange, beyond strange.” Mystic mumbled to herself as she stayed vigilant. Especially when she reached a large crossing with three possible options to choose from. Though none of them seemed to be particularly inviting, and the lack of any lights made it even worse, with the magical crystals above her having long died out, just like the rest in all three directions.

“Could this be the Idol’s work? Drawing out magic from possible sources?” Mystic mentally wondered before looking over her shoulder from where she came. More accurately, looking up at some of the crystal that still had a bit of light in them, watching as the light in them slowly but surely faded away.

She wasn’t really sure if this was the Idol’s doing, but it was still a pretty good guess to make, judging from what she knew.

“How much magic has this crazy Queen of theirs been taking from the Idol?” Mystic wondered to herself before focusing back at the crossroad in front of her.

From what she could personally recall...or rather, from what she had been taught, whenever the Idol was being used in a ritual to ascend a Gazelle fawn into the magical gifted one Mystic was, a small slice of the Idol’s powers are being used to created a spiritual link with them and the magic around them, allowing them to access the magical winds that occupy this world.

The keyword here being ‘small slice.’ Though whatever these changelings must have done to it must have been a lot more than just a slice. Starving the spirits within the Idol of their natural power. And now, the aftermath of such recklessness towards an otherworldly Idol can be clearly seen around here. The spirits are starving and the only things they can do now is to draw the magic from anything they can get their constructs on. The natural magical aura which exists pretty much everywhere in this world are no longer enough, and are now forced to draw from physical sources instead.

Why, she doesn't know, but she was sure that there must be a reason behind it.

Though this could also probably explain why these changelings are going mad if they stay too close to the Idol. Their hive link must also be another form of magic being fed off of if that was the case.

Mystic wasn’t particularly sure if that was a fact, but it made sense in her head when she thought about it more. It might also explain why the changelings are hearing whispers in their heads as well; the spirits trying to seduce them closer, so that they can draw more from their magic.

Mystic shook her head. She then began to concentrate, trying to once again pinpoint the magical calling of the Idol. She quickly found it, turning herself to her left and trotting down the aforementioned corridor.

She was close, she could feel it, quite literally.

Just like before, the halls she passed through were all abandoned and silent, though with the added creepiness of being pitch black as well. The many side doors and portals on both sides where not making it any less foreboding ether. Most of them sporting wide open doors, or no doors at all, allowing the doe a front view of a black abyss beyond her sight.

Mystic was starting to get tense, as her paranoia strengthened with every step she took. She was even charging her horns at some points, just in case. Though, besides the growing sense of dread, she was at least getting close. All she needed to do was pass through another crossroad and the Idol should be right in front of her. Or rather, right behind a very large door which eventually presented itself.

She stopped in front of it. Disengaging her magic and gazing up at the large portal in front of her. She recoiled a bit once she realized what the doors were actually made of. She knew in advance that these changelings just love to use their own sludge to build things, but also constructing a whole big door out of it is just something that tickled her on a whole new level. And not in a good way.

She began to reach forward. Touching the door’s rough texture and almost shuddering at the touch. Not just out of disgust, but also with the fact that the door felt very, very cold. Even through her hoof.

Mystic was both surprised and confused by this. Mentally asking herself how the Idol was doing this? But she shook her confusion off as she began resting both of her fore hooves on the door’s surface. She then started to push to push, only for her to discover that the doors wouldn’t budge. As expected, but this didn’t stopped her.

She was this close, this close to finally coming face-to-face with a relic she had only heard of in stories and legends. She would be damned to give up now.

She needed to get this thing open, not matter wha…

“Halt. This shall be as far as you come. Not a step further”

This caused Mystic to freeze. She slowly turned her head, only to be met with the figure of a lone standing changeling guard behind her. Not just two, three, or even a dozen of them. But just one, one lonely changeling guard. Completely decked out in jet black armor that covered him from head to hoof.

It was both strange and quite confusing for Mystic. She wasn’t even sure how to really react to this, seeing that it was just one and not the dozens of changelings guards like she had encountered thus far.

She instinctively turned herself around, facing the changeling in front of her and began to rapidly look around to see if there were anymore besides him. But again, there was nothing, just this one lonely guard whose chitin wasn’t even visible thanks to all of that armor.

The changeling wasn’t even sporting a weapon. Just standing there like a statue while staring mystic down with his glowing blue eyes. Mystic again wasn’t particularly sure what to make of this unexpected encounter, but she knew that she had to do something. It was clear that this changeling was here to stop her, most likely with force if he had to. So Mystic did the first best thing she could think of and charged up her horns.

The changeling mysteriously though did nothing. Casually standing there without even blinking or twitching a muscle. Mystic was again a bit confused by this but didn’t let her guard down.

Though that still didn’t stopped her from getting surprised by her adversary. As Mystic suddenly found herself pinned to the door behind her by an unseen force. That force though was coming directly from the changeling himself. His horn glowing and crackling dangerously with unstable magic.

Mystic was trying to move, trying to break free from the changeling’s magical bond, but with no avail, even attempting to use a spell for herself didn’t have any results. Whatever magic this changeling was using was also canceling hers out.

She was trapped, and this was bad.

Mystic, though, continued to struggle regardless. Watching as the changeling was slowly stepping closer to her.

She wasn’t sure what this changeling was planning to do with her, but judging by her situation it surely wasn’t anything good, especially in how his magic was crackling and sparking unstably. Some bolts of unstable magic even jumping to the door around her, leaving very visible scorch marks on its surface.

She was trapped, her magic canceled out, and faced with unstable magic. She was, for the first time, feeling true dread; her zeal long gone and so was her courage.

She felt helpless. Even more so when the changeling suddenly moved his head closer to hers, his muzzle only inches away from hers.

The changeling was about say something before the intended words suddenly turned more into unintelligible grunts. He seemed to be struggling with something, before his grunts quickly turned into hisses and groans of pain. He eventually collapsed onto the floor, clutching his head with both his hooves before screaming. Letting Mystic go from his magical grasp.

Mystic of course fell flank first, causing her to yelp.

The changeling on the other hand was busy with something else. Or rather with someone else as his screams was all she was capable of hearing.

“ARGH...GET THEM OUT OF MY HEAD...STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO AND GET OUT OF MY HEAD...ARRRGH!” He screamed while rolling around the floor.

Mystic understandingly recoiled at the sound of his volume. Looking at the changeling with both shock and surprise as he began to hit his head against the floor in an almost comical manner. Mystic eventually shook her head, taking this opportunity given to her by the changeling’s horn and channeling her magic. She decided to end this once and for all. She had been pushed around for far to long. Now it was time for some well needed pay pack for the crap she had to go through. This mission, that stupid Monkey king, those Zebras, these accused changelings, and most importantly that damn father of hers and his overreaching pride.

If it wasn’t for him and his stupid traditions, she wouldn’t even be in this mess to begin with. Retrieving the Idol or not, let someone else go on this damn fetch quest.

“I had enough of this. I am no longer allowing ANYONE to push me around and make me look like a little helpless fawn. I will get the Idol back to my tribe no matter what.” She screamed before finally releasing the spell she had been preparing this whole time.

A white bright orb was released from Mystic’s horns and flew towards the grounded changelings in front of her. The spell hits its mark, causing the changeling to spasm out on the ground before finally ceasing his cries. He laid there still, unmoving and slightly smoking from Mystic’s magic.

Mystic sighed after everything was over. Watching silently as the changeling’s body just laid there. She didn’t killed him, but in fact used a little stun spell to overwhelmed his nervous system. She was in the position to take the kill, but decided not to. Especially when she had never killed anyone or anything in her life, and she was sure as hell not going to start with it now. No matter how frustrated she felt. Not here, not now. Not when her father might have demanded otherwise from her.

She wasn’t going to do his wishes now, even if he isn’t here to say or see them.

“By the name of my ancestors. I really needed that.” She sighed.

After a few moments of breathing and calming her nerves from what she had just done, she eventually was ready again to focus back on her task at hoof, more specifically the door behind her. She gave it a hard good look before just frowning at it. With her bottled up emotions now somewhat released, she was more or less back to her old short tempered self as she glared at the two doors.

She charged up her horns again. This time not holding back one ounce or even giving a damn if anyone was going to hear her. She channelled as much explosive magic as she could in between her horns, before releasing it all with one mighty battle cry.

The spell she released was a body sized fireball, and just like in its nature, it did its thing by creating a huge fiery explosion once it impacted with the door. It illuminated the halls in a fiery red glow and dispelled its shadows. Once the deed was done though, Mystic began to wave away the smoke hovering around her face and re-opened her eyes.

What she saw pleased her. Her natural sense for aggression finally paid off for once as she was greeted with a wide-open hole where the large body of the door used to be. Though the remaining sections of the massive doors were still perfectly intact, somewhat annoying the doe.

But it didn’t matter as she could see a small shimmer or light coming from inside the room. It was still too faint to really make out, but it was enough to get her excited. She dashed right through the opening, not minding the sudden drop in temperature as her breaths became visible.

It was her sense of excitement and a feeling of finality which kept her warm.

As she got closer though, it was finally clear what the faint light source was. Mystic’s eyes widen as she realized the shape it had.

The murals and glyphs on its surface, the chiseled and wonderfully painted from, and also the distinct head shape and Gazelle horns on top. And most importantly, the magic it was radiating. There was no mistaken, this was the Idol, no doubt about it.

“By the spirits, this is it, the long lost Idol.” Mystic muttered to herself as she finally reach her long awaited prize. The Deity Idol, resting on top a sludge-made pedestal, looking just as prestige as the elders had described it. The gold and silver lining. The gems for eyes and the massive sapphire on its forehead. All truly a sight to behold.

“This relic is even more beautiful in person then I could have ever imagined. This is truly amazing!” Mystic continued to comment as she simply basked in the Idol’s aura. Even though it was heavily drained of its power, the magic it was still radiating was enough to make Mystic’s gem glow regardless. She could feel the presence within the Idol reach out to her, almost recognizing as to who she was and mending to her emotions.

But she shook it all off. She had to take the Idol back to the surface where it could be safe from further meddling. She was about to reach out for it before a sudden bolt of magic stopped her from doing so. It zipped past her face, causing her to yelp and step back.

She quickly turned her head to its source, only to be meant with a set of menacingly green eyes piercing through the darkness. Mystic readied herself. Channeling her magic and feeling the power of the Idol fuel her efforts.

This caused the hidden being to snarl at her before firing another bolt at her. This one flying true and heading directly for Mystic.

She on the other end stood her ground. Directing her magic to form a magical ward in front of her. Deflecting the deadly bolts and even absorbing some of its magical energy.

Mystic was ready this time. This time she was going to stand her ground and fight for the Idol, no matter who it might be hiding in the shadows.

As if on cue, the being behind the darkness stepped forward, showing its true visage to the surface dweller. She was tall, slender, regal and a complete and utter mess. Most notably, her mane and yellow tail. Furthermore, this tall changeling seemed to be the source of the coldness for some reason.

There was no doubt about it. This was certainly the queen Mystic had been hearing about so much. This crazy-looking woman is the cause for the Idol’s side effects running rampant within her hive.

“You dare to feed from MY Idol?! I will rip you apart for this you surface dwelling worm! The magic is has is mine! MINE YOU HEAR ME?!” She shouted before charging her horn.

Mystic just steeled herself. Lowering herself in a defensive positions with her horns and gem sparking with magic, ready to cast if need be.

The queen on the other hand took this as an offense as she quickly fired another spell towards the Gazelle. Mystic responded to this with a swift spell of her own, casing a ward in front of her and blocking the attack.

This had the immediate results of enraging the mad queen even further as she simply charged Mystic, rapidly firing spells from her horn as she did so.

It seems clear that this crazy queen was more acting on her emotions rather than actual thinking through her attacks.

Though despite that exploitable flaw, Mystic for her part was forced to dodge as the queen got too close to her. Disengaging the shield as a result and leaving her wide open for another assault because of it. The queen took advantage of this as she fired another spell once she turned herself around; this one being more concentrated and narrow than the first couple, mimicking the shape of a blade that flew directly towards Mystic.

Mystic on the other end tried to dodge this one as well, but still managed to get herself clipped on her right flank as she did so. She hissed, not just through the pain, but also the electrifying sensation going through the whole of her left hind leg, which rendered it quite numb for a quick moment, forcing her to her knees.

The Queen smirked at this before her crazed slit eyes fell upon the Idol. She began to direct her horn towards it, visibly drawing from the Idol’s magic pool in the form of a light blue mist coming from the statue.

This caused Mystic’s eyes to widen before she adopted a sense of rage within herself. She forced herself back on all fours, charging the queen with her horns lowered and crashing into the oblivious queen. Both her and Mystic then started to tumble about on the floor before coming to a dead stop in front of a cupboard looking thing at the other end of the room. Mystic might not have realized it at the time, but she was actually inside the Queen's private chambers. It was just really hard for her to figure it out thanks to the darkness which encased the room. Plus, the obviously more pressing problem in having a crazy-minded queen on her hooves.

The only light source which offered any form of illumination within the room was either coming from the queen’s unstably charged horn, Mystic’s magical gem, and of course the Idol itself.

The first one to recover from this crash was unfortunately the queen herself as she sent a shock wave out of her horn, which blew Mystics unprepared form to the opposite side of the room. Mystic grunted in pain as she impacted the wall hard enough for the air to be knocked out of her system. Her flank once again was the first to make contact with the floor beneath her which just added to her discomfort.

She wasn’t sure if anything broke during the impact, but for her it pretty much felt like her entire body was on fire. Her heart was racing a million miles per hour and her breaths were becoming coarse and ragged.

She was physically unable to pick herself up, but her mind and will screamed at her to bloody get up and impale this changeling garbage with her horns if she had to.

She tried to push herself up at first with no avail. That is, until she suddenly felt a sort of stream reaching her, entering her body and easing the pain and fatigue she was feeling. She could feel the Idol reaching out to her and gifting her with a large portion of its own magic to strengthen hers. She could feel the magic coursing through her vain as the runes on her horn suddenly began to expand to the rest of her body. Her gem was growing in luminescence as well when she found herself being lifted up on all fours. The runes circling through her body started to glow as well, going down to her hooves which also started to shine and a bluish light.

Mystic wasn’t particularly sure what the heck was going on as she looked down at herself with a sense of awe and surprise. She was understandably confused by this but didn’t have the luxury of dwelling on it for too long as another bolt of magic flew towards her.

Her eyes went wide when she realized that it was too late for her to react. She simply closed her eyes and braced herself for the inevitable pain which was to come.

Though surprisingly it didn’t come, in fact her gem started to glow brightly without her even knowing it before encasing her in a shield which blanketed her form.

The bolt then harmlessly bounced off Mystic’s shield and impacted the wall to the far left.

The queen understandingly was stunned by this, but so was Mystic once she realized what had happened. She wasn’t sure how she managed to do that without her being aware of it, but she did understood to never really looked into a gift lion’s mouth and expect any form of enlightenment from it. Especially when she was far from safe with this crazed queen still standing in front of her.

“Is this...the Idol’s doing? Is it really trying to actively help me?” Mystic muttered to herself while looking down at her sky blue hooves and the runes running up her front legs.

She wasn’t too sure with her guess, but what she did know was that she somehow gained a fighting chance, and she would be damned to throw it away just because she was feeling unsure about something. That was normally her sister’s job, not hers.

So with that, she focused herself back on the fight and smirked at the wide-eyed changeling. This of course had the intended effect of enraging the queen as she glared at the confident looking doe with great malice.

“You insignificant little pest of a surface mutt, I will burn your very soul for daring to defy me like this. No one defies me, NO ONE!” She screamed before firing another spell at her. This time in the form of some very unstable looking lightning which was arching wildly towards the doe.

Mystic again stood her ground before powering up her magic and flashing herself away from the incoming danger. The spell the queen fired impacted against the far wall by which Mystic was previously standing it, and causing the room to be illuminated by a bright red flash and a thundering sound. Once everything cleared, the far wall where the spell impacted was molten red giving this room another light source in the form of melted stone.

Mystic was understandably surprised in just how powerful that spell was. She knew that if she hadn’t blinked herself away in the nick of time, that she would have been most likely disintegrate by this spell. If blocking it with her ward would have been possible was another question entirely.

But either way, none of that really mattered now as Mystic was forced to raise yet another shield to guard herself from a second attack coming from the crazy queen.

Mystic at this point was sick of having to go into the defensive this entire time and decided to blink herself away again in order to momentary confuse the changeling Queen.

Blinking herself to the rear of the queen on the other end of the room and quickly preparing another spell once she reappeared. She fired it, being the same fireball spell she had cast on the door earlier, though this time a lot bigger and more powerful thanks to her given power up. Though unlike before, her sense of accuracy didn’t mean much as the spell still missed when the queen took to the air and dodged it, allowing the flaming ball to pass through under her and impacting the far wall behind her and causing another huge explosion within the room. One which Mystic was forced to look away from thanks to its bright glare and substantial heat coming from it. Even from a distance the heat of the blast was fairly uncomfortable.

Once the damage was done though, Mystic found herself flying into the air once more as a spell impacted and exploded right in front of her, though this time she managed to catch herself and land back on all fours. Quickly retaliating with a couple of blasts of her own at the airborne queen.

The queen on the other end managed to dodged most of them, with only one clipping her right wing which forced her to hiss. She was forced back onto the ground to even out the battle once more.

“You...you...you...insolent...surface...worm...how dare you...” The Queen tried to hiss before Mystic cut her off by firing another blast of magic towards her and forcing her to side step.

The queen was visibly livid at this point. It seriously wouldn’t surprise Mystic if she would suddenly suffer from a heart attack because of it. But it again didn’t matter, as she personally wanted to end this as quickly as possible. No more time wasting, no more taunting, no more annoying words coming from this heretic changeling Queen.

Her natural quirk of an impatient little doe once again shining through.

The queen responded to this by blinking herself away as well which caught Mystic completely off guard. The queen then swiftly reappeared in front of Mystic just as quickly, causing her to yelp before screaming in pain instead when the queen suddenly sank her fangs into Mystic’s shoulder and lifted her off the ground with unbelievable strength before throwingl her into the nearest wall.

Mystic once again was able to catch herself with some self-levitation despite the burning pain she felt in her left shoulder. She looked down at her wounds, and was horrified to see that along with her blood, there was also a distinct green liquid coming from her wound as well. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out what that green substance might be.

Mystic then glared at the queen. She was done holding back now, especially when she only has a limited time before the poison, or whatever it is she injected into her was going take its effect. She tried to do the same thing as she did, blinking herself out of existence and re-appearing right in front of her followed with a might head butt aimed at her chest.

Her efforts where a success, as her horns slammed into the queens chest with enough force to send her flying. Right into a nearby wall where she slammed on just as hard.

Karma can be so delicious sometimes.

Mystic was now panting. She doesn’t know if this was because of her growing exhaustion, or perhaps the fact that the poison might be already taking its effect. She didn’t know, but what she did know what that she needed to finish NOW. Especially when she finally managed to do some substantial damage to the queen. Her chest cracked and bleeding with green blood through its gaps.

“How did you...*cough*...how did you...breach my chitin? *cough*...I will...argh.” The queen tried to retort before her aforementioned chest damage made itself known to her.

It was her turn to glare at the Gazelle who had done this to her, who has actually managed to crack her chitin and expose her. Her horn crackled with dangerous magic as she viewed the spell-channeling doe with nothing but hate. She was not allowing herself to be bested by some surface-dwelling worm, not here, not now, not ever. She was going to make this thing pay.

With that she did what she had to do. Channeling as much magic as she could into her horn. Or rather, all of it. This much magic in one concentrated point might be enough to blow a huge section of the noble quarters right off the hive, but as long as it would guarantee killing this usurper, it was okay. She, on the other hand, could handle an explosion of her own making.

Mystic on her part was seemingly oblivious on the Queen’s desperate ideas as she was busy fighting her own coarse breathing. She would normally be trying to get her finished off while she was down. But the poison coursing through her veins was making it difficult to even concentrate.

This was bad, really bad, she was already suffering the effects of the poison before she could finishing her off. Despite her slowly increasing problems, she still willed herself to at least move closer towards the queen to try and finish her off the old fashion way. Her vision was starting to get blurry as well and her steadily deteriorating balance was not helping her either.

She needed to get this done. She needed to finish her off while she was charging up her horn, so that she can...wait...her horn?

Mystic finally realized what this changeling was trying to do. That much magic in one concentrated spot surely can’t mean anything good.

“What...what are you doing...so much magic on one point can easily get out of control and possible exploited. Are you MAD?!” Mystic tried to reason as the magic in the changeling queen’s horn was steadily becoming more unstable and chaotic. Sparks were practically shooting everywhere, forcing Mystic to step aside a couple of times to not get hit by them. Despite her steadily deteriorating conditions.

This poison was working fast, dangerously so.

“Now, you will die you insulant worm. I will blow you to pieces, even if I have to sacrifice a large portion of my hive. I refuse to be bested by the likes of you. You, and all those traitors will DIE!” She screamed as the magic in her horn was reaching a critical apex.

Mystic was now visibly panicking. She tried to do something, to concentrate on a spell or move closer to the queen to stop her, but the poison was steadily making it difficult to do both as she soon found herself stumbling forward and collapsing to the floor; her chest in pain and her muscles growing increasingly numb.

Breathing alone was quickly becoming a chore as she tried desperately to concentrate on a spell. But only receiving weak failed sparks as a result. Even the Idol seemed to be unable to help her now. No amount of magic could help her now if she couldn’t even concentrate long enough to cast the simplest of spells.

This crazy queen was going to blow everything up with the sparking ball on top of her, and the only thing she could do was just watch as a sudden flash appeared right above the queen alongside with a figure popping right throu…wait what?

Mystic’s eyes immediately widen when she realized that something had suddenly popped into existence and fell right onto the already injured queen. Landing on her and more or less knocking her out with its wight, canceling out and dispersing the magic she had been building up harmlessly.

Mystic sighed with relief at the sudden change of luck she had been given. But that still left one question open as to who or what suddenly appeared right above the crazy queen.

She tried her best to focus her blurry vision despite having more pressing issues to worry about besides just her eyes. But a very recognizable voice quickly answered her question as it suddenly started to speak up.

“Oh...so that’s what that ring shape thing was for. To think that is can teleport things to persons to random locations is quite handy to know. Perhaps we can make it less random and actually create a link to two designated points? That would certainly ease my travel time from the kitchen to the bathroom significantly. Oh the luxuries of teleportation.” Alex commented, which in turn made Mystic just groan before looking back with confusion. Or rather tried too.

“What the...how the...how did you get here?” Mystic asked, her confusion quite evident in her voice and expression. Totally ignoring the issues about a certain poison coursing through her veins because of it.

This caused the aforementioned Monkey King to look around. Noting the dark damp room he was in, Mystic laying on the floor with a shit ton more tattoos and an interesting shaped statue in the middle of the room.

He was of course more interesting at the glowing thing in front of him, like a small child getting mesmerized by a light-up Christmas tree.

“Ooh pretty, is that the magical jiggyMcthingie those Gazelles have been looking for?” Alex comment, totally oblivious or maybe uncaring as to what he had teleported into.

This was rather frustrating to Mystic as she just groaned again. She still wasn’t sure as to how this crazy monarch of a different nature has managed to get himself down here besides the previous mentioning of some ring device that got him here.

She needed more than just him spouting vague nonsense like he always does. “Wait a minute, you still haven’t told me HOW you managed to get here in more detail, and how you...wait...where are you going?” Mystic tried to asked before noticing Alex getting off the queen’s body and making his way towards the shiny Idol at the center of the room.

It was already bad enough that he was ignoring her. She always hated that, no matter who it was, but now he was also moving closer to the Idol she fought so hard for. The last thing she wanted to happen right now is for someone else touching or possibly misusing the Idol even further.

King of the Zebras or not, she was not going to allow anyone to touch it at this point. Heck, she fought a power hungry queen for that thing.

“Hey, stop right there...don’t you bloody...touch what belongs to my kind you...you crazy...argh.” She shouted before she got brutally reminded that she was still suffering from whatever concoction the mad mutt of a queen injected into her.

She would try to ask for help, but she knew who this king was, and asking for any form of assistance might be a meaningless endeavor. She doubted that this...king had any medical knowledge whatsoever, let alone magical knowledge, besides the use of magical items, like that one ring thing he mentioned which she still hadn’t gotten a straight answer to, and he was about to touch the Idol as well, if the blurry image of his outstretched arms was true.

“I swear...if you...touch it...then I will...” She tried to scream before mentally deciding to just not bother anymore. One, because she was in pain and two, she knew that he would touch it anyway no matter what she threatened to do to him.

And so it happened. The crazy Monkey King poked the ancient and quite powerful Idol of some old Deity of the Gazelles. The results from that were...just as one would expect.

Absolutely bloody nothing.

“Huh...and here I thought that something amazing would suddenly happ...” He was about to comments before his expectations suddenly came true.

Something did happened, in fact, something bright and rather unexpected. The Idol suddenly began to shine; all over its ancient body, runes and gemstones embedded inside of it glowing. The light eventually clustered together to form a shining sphere in front of the Idol. A sphere which changed into the shape of an egg, before hovering right in front Alexander’s wondrous form as he looked down at the yellow egg in front of him.

Mystic on the other hand was beyond baffled by this. Once again forgetting her peril and focusing on the egg that just materialized from the Idol.

“Ooh...fancy.” Alex commented as he took the egg. The egg itself gave off a faint glow at the contact of Alex’s hands before settling down.

Alex was observing the egg from all angles afterwards. Getting a sense of Déjà vu when he first found Penelope’s egg. In fact, this reminded him.

“Wait...didn’t I have Penelope on my arm when I was fiddling with that one ring-shaped relic within the Palace vault?” He wondered out loud.

Right on cue though, another flash suddenly appeared right above the downed queen where Alex originally appeared. It was none other then the aforementioned missing drake herself, dropping right out of the air and landing right onto the queens back which knocked a bit of air out of her.

Penelope on the other hand seemed to be relatively unharmed or unfazed by all of this, as she simply babbled on happily while clapping her claws together.

Alex perked up at that. “Ah, there you are. I was wondering where you teleported off too. You are making big old Alex worried you know!” The Monkey King cheerfully stated before making his way to her and picking her up.

This was basically the final straw for Mystic as the decided now was the good time to allow herself to be knocked out. The combination of exhaustion, brain fuckery and of course the poison causing her great pain was in the end to much for her.

At least she went out knowing that she was the first Gazelle after many decades to first laid eye on the famed Idol of their more glorious past.

She did her thing, now she just hoped that she was going to survive long enough to witness the fruits of her labor, or that someone was going to have the common sense to bring the Idol back to the surface where her sister could bring it back to her tribe.

She had very little hope that the King would actually do it himself.

Author's Notes:

I am going to try out something...unexpected and a bit unorthodox with this egg. So bear with me. You all can even later decide if I should continue with this idea or not. I can easily change it if you all don't like it.