Chapter 184: Finishing Up
Xinya listened as Rhiannon began to reiterate what the quest summary had already told him. However, he didn't mind hearing the details again, because the quest summary was just that, a summary and wouldn't give him a real insight into what was going on in the Fae realm.
From what Rhiannon told him, he learned that before the Unseelie began going against the natural order of things, a strange object fell from the sky. With the description that Rhiannon gave to him, Xinya could tell that it was a meteor of some kind.
Inside of the meteor was a foreign substance that began to seep into the ground. The Unseelie was able to clean it up, but after a couple of days, they began to get sick.
Rhiannon went on to tell him how the Seelie queen had tried to send some of her best Seelie healers to aid the Unseelie only for them to be stopped at the border. The Unseelie guards who were posted there told them that the Unseelie king didn't want whatever illness that they contracted to spread.
The Unseelie territory was sealed for ten years and once the seal was released all the Unseelie inside had been changed. Rhiannon told him that there weren't any physical changes, but there were extreme mental ones.
They became more aggressive, they stopped caring about the balance, and they began to covet the Seelie territory. The once peaceful relationship between the two Fae had crumbled until it became dust.
Rhiannon believed that whatever was in that object that fell from the sky, was the cause for all of this. She told him that while she was traveling around she had snuck into the Unseelie territory and saw the landing sight of the object.
She described seeing a forest of withered Madér trees, that looked as if the life was sucked right out of them, and in the center of the forest was a bubbling aperture that was filled with an opaque looking substance.
Rhiannon explained to Xinya, about how she wanted to get closer to get a better look at it, but when she tried a sharp pain pierced her skull and she felt as if someone or something was shouting 'NO' at her. She believed that it was Lady Nature herself, stopping her from getting near the anomaly.
From what Rhiannon was telling him, Xinya understood that she believed that Lady Nature is fighting against this unknown substance with the magic of this world and that is what was causing the depletion of magic in her Realm. That is why she wanted to find more Madér tree seeds, she thinks that if she plants more of the trees it would bring more magic and help Lady Nature fight off the anomaly.
Xinya felt that Rhiannon's way of thinking was naive and the only way to bring magic back to normal was to destroy the cause of the depletion, but he also knew that she was just an NPC and that fighting the anomaly was probably part of another questline. Thinking that way, Xinya had a feeling that growing a Madér was only step one, and once he came back to this realm he would be given another quest that pertains to fighting the substance.
"So, will you help me by taking this Madér bud to your realm, and make it grow until it blooms fully?" Rhiannon asked after she finished telling Xinya about what happened. "I know I'm asking a lot, but I don't think it would be able to healthily grow in the Fae realm with how things are now."
[Do you accept Rhiannon's quest? Yes or NO?]
Pressing the yes button, Xinya smiled at the Fae woman, "I will do my best to help you with this.
"Thank you, thank you so much," exclaimed Rhiannon as she pushed the tree bud back into Xinya's hand. She could only smile as the tree bud came back to life as soon as the boy was touching it.
Wandering Sound who was using his arm to lean against the counter waiting for Drifting Cloud to finish getting his quest, elbow slipped making him fall against the counter causing a small ruckus. He started blushing in embarrassment at his small mishap, especially when everyone turned to look at him, although he did try his best to play it off as if it was nothing.
However, because of Wandering Sound's accident, Rhiannon realized how unprofessional she was acting, allowing her customers to be kept waiting like this. After giving a look to her friend, she walked back behind the counter and continued the check out process that was stopped.
~
It didn't take long at all before Xinya and his friends had all signed and paid for their items. Everyone in the group was very happy that the items that they picked out truly belong to them now.
They became even happier when after putting the item into their inventories they learned that it became exclusive to only them. This meant that if a monster or an illegal pvper killed them the item wouldn't be able to be dropped or stolen.
This was something the Xinya and Melting Snow wouldn't really have to worry about, but for Wandering Sound and Wei this was a relief. Especially since they would be journeying all alone soon.
Rhiannon who had just finished taking care of Xinya turned away from the counter to the crystal shelf that was just above her and picked up a pink-colored card-shaped object that was on it. Turning back around, she left the counter and walked over to Xinya.
"Before I forget, please keep this in your possession," Rhiannon said, holding out the card towards him.
Taking the shiny pink metallic card from the woman's hand, Xinya asked, " What is this?"
"This is Mariposa's Key," Rhiannon began while snapping her fingers making all the items in the shop disappear. She then proceeded to snap her fingers once again making a large vine-covered door appear against the wall. "This key will allow you to create a door from your world to ours and vice versa. Once you have completed growing the Madér bud that key will activate allowing you to make a door to come back to the fairy realm.
Looking down at the card in his hand, Xinya was happy to know that he had an easy way of getting back to the world instead of doing that ritual again. "I understand, I will make sure to keep it safe."
"Good. Also because I know that the tree will be hard to carry back on your own, I will allow you to bring up to 20 other people you trust back here to help you." Rhiannon told him generously.
Xinya almost laughed when Rhiannon said those words because now he knew for sure that he was right and growing this bud was only going to be the first step, and sooner or later he would have to fight that substance that took over Unseelie once he returned.
Waving her arm, the door in front of them opened revealing a swirl of colors, "This will lead you back to the place where you entered from."
After giving Rhiannon their thanks, Xinya and his friends walked through the door leaving the Fae realm behind. As the door closed and disappeared, Rhiannon wondered if she should have told them that time works differently in the Fae realm and they would arrive back to their realm within a minute of when they left.
Knowing that it was too late to do so anyway, Rhiannon just shook her head and disappeared the door with a snap of her fingers.