[Quest] Spy vs Spy Conclusion: Bonebound

Astraea took a few steps closer.

His gaze regarded Wilder stoically, without any hint as to his thoughts, his feelings; he reached out his magicka (rolling) and then tossed his head lightly aside, the movement of his antlers mirroring the pull of his power.

It was stronger than he'd expected, all told. That was worrying. But he worked it quickly free, what remained, sending it strewn across the rock, leaving the black cat wholly untainted. Cut off, then, and purified, completely.

The great stag looked around. The rest seemed to be under control, bar the babbling of that rank-smelling beast. Eythan had done well in restraining their target, and Aure was, to his senses, also cleansed.

Astraea looked between Wilder and Opal, and his voice was commandingly stern as he spoke. "Now. Tell me what happened, and where the nest is."

There was... A lot of going on outside of Serek's mind, but not much he could do to help. The Bonebound were called for; he only nodded when the order of helping the Children was given.

The hybrid looked to Aure when more words were spoken after a moment of silence. Infected? They were here? In Canis? Serek took a step back, moving away from the group with his eyes wild. The others were crowding. Mother was furious, and Astraea was charging, and his brother was-

Oh, caves. Serek's guts flipped in their confines as he backpedaled, too much coming in in the panic of his family erupting into chaos. They were everywhere if they were all the way out here, they were- The mushrooms- Where? Where else in Canis? Where- Panic flourished through him and erupted in his magic as he reached out, frantic to purge with his mother, frantic to hold himself down by focusing on something, frantic to remove the sight that triggered his flight and shove it into the dirt where nobody else could see it.

His mother had gotten the most of it, but the reaching out of magic calmed his nerves enough to actually let him see and step forward once more. His teeth grit as he looked down to the mass. What- Why had it grown like that? A reaction to Aure's specific magic? Serek's pelt shook uneasily as he tried to let out his nerves, quiet as he took in everything.

He was unaware of Wilder's own dilemma as he focused on his brother. However, when the king's attention changed, his flickered interest in her in response, following his gaze and stepping closer to Giggle when Aure moved towards the pinned feline.

Relief filled Opal as Aure was freed from the fungus. He set down the rib and stared at the grotesque mass of white fuzz on the ground.The stoicism on his face did not betray his deep disgust. This had been inside him at one time, controlling his thoughts and feelings, stealing his body. He knew they made new members eat parts of Mother, but under her control, he thought nothing of it; only that it established a link. In truth, it was how it stole their minds.

That fungus was an abomination.

The figure of the stag approached in his peripherals. Opal lowered his head as his red gaze fell to him. He couldn't help but of feel intimidated. Newer gembound would to, if they had any idea of what Astraea was capable of.

"It-it all started when I touched these.. fuzzy pebbles.. in Fornax." He told him, trying to control the tremble in his voice. In hindsight, this was definitely fungus. "And I started having strange.. hallucinations and urges to share them with others." Opal lowered his fins, disappointed in himself for allowing a fungus to get the better of him. "I only knew of some in Cetus and Fornax before I was severed." He continued, then glanced at Wilder. "She may know more."

One more surge of magicka from Astraea, and another wave of agony as the fungus was pulled forcefully out of her system, and Wilder was left panting on the ground, her head clearer then it had been in cycles. She continued sobbing under Eythan's claws, the firm but gentle hold eventually managing to get her to calm down. She felt...oddly safe like this, torn off from Mother's control. She wouldn't be in her head anymore, making her do bad things and she somehow latched onto that idea and got her heart to calm its racing beat, despite still trembling a bit from the ghosts of agony.

She avoided Aure's gaze - she could see him close by but she looked away, too ashamed to look him in the eye, or even at his face. He hated her, surely, just as Giggle hated her too. They all did because she'd betrayed them.

She blinked rapidly, trying to stop the tears from collecting in her eyes and swallowed, focusing on what Astraea had asked of her. That's right - she could help like this. She couldn't make up for doing...that, but it was something, at least. "I went to talk to Reji," she said in a shaky voice, "to tell her that I was the one that woke up Rezik and...well, she wanted to know where he was but when I refused to tell her, she tricked me into smelling M-I mean, that thing's fungus. She wanted me to infect the Bonebound but I made a hive here first. I don't know if I was trying to stall or what but it's back there." Her eyes turned to the side and she called energy together, a double of herself stepping out of her body and raising a paw, pointing towards the wall where the hive she'd created was waiting. "There's one in Pisces too. I don't know exactly where, but I know there's one in there somewhere." She hadn't really been paying attention to the making of that one, in the back of her mind, but she could remember its construction.

Astraea looked slowly from Opal to Wilder, his expression imperious.

And indeed, his thoughts were serious. "We must move quickly if we're to save you. All of you," he added. "Gather your allies and march on Cetus. Find the Hive node there and destroy it. I will deal with Pisces, and then come and find you. But you can't let word get back to it," he warned, and his gaze slipped down to Wilder. "If there's any you can't trust, do not let them leave this cave."

Astraea paused. Was it wise, to trust these Gembound? They had only failed him thus far. Failed to root out the fungus before it became a problem (and Rift would pay for that - he would see to it, now). Failed to find Reji; failed to protect Rezik. "The Collector's gifts will be withheld from you... but Rezik is not wholly dead. So neither will you be punished. Now go, and do this not because I order you to, but because your survival depends upon it."

The stag regarded them all grimly, and then turned - and with a great bound he cleared the nearest pile of bones, and was gone toward Tunnel K in a flash of brown fur.