He had met Daphne, a friend! He called her a friend. Someone to travel with. Though he didn't remember much from the time before his hatching, he was determined to learn more about this land.

Zephiran padded cautiously into the vast darkness. His paws clicked against the stones under him. The space before him was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The barren rock, emitting a bluish glow, rested calmly in his mouth. Bright eyes traveled to the cavern walls.

The ceiling stretched high above with countless quartz crystals that shimmered like a night sky. Their reflections pulsed, mirroring the soft glow of a stone he carried. Ears flickered as he pawed with awe. White streaks of quartz lined the cavern, trailing like a ghostly crack. All while towering crystals jutted from the ground like a pillar.

What caught his eye was the valley-like dip among the room. Clenching onto his rock, he moved forward with grace. Blue eyes gazed to the broken ruins of what appeared to be something long ago. Oh he'd have to bring the information back to Daphne. Maybe they could hide it out for a while here?

The faint glow of blue shined around his muzzle, while he tilted his head up to gaze at the shimmering quartz.

---

"Speaking"

Esther, having been through Orion many times, does not take awe at the things around them. The cave was simply their chosen patrol for this day - mostly in a choice to avoid the caves still festering with Order. Something that perhaps they should be dealing with... though they don't feel like it.

Pushing the cheap excuse out of their mind, Esther keeps moving through the ruins. They kick over loose rocks, shoving them aside quickly with their long finger-claws, sending them down hills. Frankly its quite annoying, but Esther's pretty sure they can handle most fights. (Except for Vargas and Draconua - there's hardly a risk of them here. And they're allies anyway.)

A little blip of light - different from Orion's built in stars - catches their eye. It's low to the ground, and moving. Esther's fur begins to glow a bright sheen - in attempt to give themselves more light to work with.

It goes well enough, and they make their way over to the small figure - ah, it's a wolf pup.

Their own glow flitters out now, as they look to the child.

"Hello." They hum, calm. "Are you alone?"

Not unusual for the cave children, it's still good to ask.

@Zephiran

The sharp crack of stone striking stone shattered the silence, sending a jolt through Zephiran's fur. A lift of his hackles. Eyes darted to the sound. A large creature. No, a wolf?

But.. It had large claws and wings. The pup stood in silence. His heart pounded in his chest, filling his head with nothing but echoes. Only the words from the strangers mouth jolted him back.

The stranger remained calm, collected. Asking if he was alone.. He wasn't. But he was right now. Could.. he trust them? Is it safe to trust everyone?

"Maybe.. Who wants to know? And why?"

Zephiran tried to remain calm, but his claws dug into the stones underneath him. Clenching onto the rather small barren rock with his glow. Blue eyes narrowed toward the stranger, trying to mask his unease.

---

"Speaking"

Esther frowns at the pup in front of them when he speaks. A scared little thing, much different to how Esther was when they were a child. All brawns and no brain - thankfully they've grown out of that phase long ago. (Now they burn the forest down as their job, funny how that works)

"Do not worry pup, I will not hurt you." They say slowly. "My name is Esther."

The pup looks like he's faring pretty well alone, at least - most of the lessers can be hunted by even the smallest of things.

"I was worried that you were lost, but you seem to be faring fine alone." They wave their tail side to side.

@Zephiran

"We, uhm, uh, are Zephiran."

Zephiran's words are short and uneven. Trying his best to remain calm, but there's an edge to his voice. There's an unevenness to his paws, claws clicked against the stones as he didn't know how to keep his weight steady.

"Uhm! Actually, We don't know where we are. We.. just hatched?"

The pup went to tilt his head, setting the glowing stone at his paw. Lifting his head up cautiously. The hackles of his fur settled but his ears flickered back and forth.

"Do you, uhm, know anything that could help us? Like, uhm, what's that?"

Zephiran lifted his paw up, pointing his toes up to the shimmering crystals above. To him. It looked like small glowy lights. Something new. Something he made from his paw. A flicker of light onto a stone that stayed lit.. pretty well too.

---

"Speaking"

The small thing - who now has a name - is so clearly nervous. Esther's first thought is to instill calm using their magic, it would be easy to break into the mind of something so new, but they decide not to. False calm may temporarily work, but it would eventually ware off.

"This section is called Orion. It's one of many."

Esther follows the paw with their eyes until they focus on the lights above them. Being honest, Esther isn't sure what to call those.

"They're just crystals. A lot of the caves have them scattered around, this one just has them up." They pause, thinking for a moment. "Magic can do something similar."

"As for helpful things, if you see any white fungus growing on anything - or on some of the animals in the area, stay away from them. They'll infect you, too." The thought of the Hive corrupting something so small nearly makes them wretch. They suppose the Hive would say the same thing about Corruption.

@Zephiran

"Orion..."

The child repeated, more in a murmur tone. As nervous as the child was, he felt brave enough to stand side by side with new things. To see what they might.. become. You never know until you try, yeah?

"Like.. Like the thing I hatched out of? Do.. they do anything?"

Zephiran had so many questions, it was nice to hear someone or something had answers. To not be left blindsided in the dark. There was an uneven smile upon the child's maw. His gaze turned from the crystals down to the Esther. Putting his paw among the ground.

A cock of his head towards something called a fungi. More closely a fungus. And to stay away from it?

"What's a, uh Foongus? Infection? Is that what you are?"

Zephiran blurted, uncertain what to look for. And deep down he felt uncertain about leaving Daphne alone now. Whatever this infection sounded scary. He didn't want to get it, nor did he want her to.

---

"Speaking"

"What you hatched out of is a little different." Esther says, kicking over some pebbles. "Those lights above only serve the purpose of lighting this cave. Our Chrysalis can help keep us alive after a bad injury, for example." Most adult age gembound know this fact first-hand.

Esther has no clue how to share what a fungus is -- there's so many different kinds. The amount of mushrooms in this single cave is probably in the hundreds. The maned wolf knows pretty much nothing about plants on top of it. Fire's always been their thing, even when their current fire is completely absent of warmth.

They get the idea to push the idea of the Hive's fungus into the kid's head with their magic, but as they try to push the spell outward - there's nothing. At least nothing backfired this time, either way it's unfortunate.

"It's like a mushroom, white and powdery. You'll know it when you see it."

"I.... Am different from that, and so are you. Have you used magic yet?"



@Zephiran

"It does?! That's kinda cool!"

For a second there was a brighter smile on the wolf’s face. Not that he wanted an injury by any means, but it was nice to know this weird place he hatched in could help him!

"White fooongus. Okay, we’ll stay away from it!"

Slowly but surely Zephiran was beginning to gain his confidence. A tilt of his head. The wolf before him said.. that he was different. So was he. Then the power!

"Oh! Yeah! That's how we made this!! Look, it glows!"

Zephiran moved his front paw to gently kick the barren rock he carried from the tunnel. The rock took a gentle tumble forward, a bluish glow emitting from it. Showing no signs of dissipating.

"We could try it again! If you wanna see it! We did this on accident earlier, but we sure we can do it again!"

This time there was a gentle wagging of his tail low to the ground. Happy to try something new, maybe on something else. Something new.

---

"Speaking"

Esther watches as the pup shows them the glowing stone, it doesn't look like ittl dissipate anytime soon. They cant quite remember what the spell is that causes it, they just know they don't have the ability to do it themselves. Magic comes on instinct, but they can't use something they don't have.

They smile at the pup. "I have this ring, you could try it on there?"

They pick up their hand-claw and splay it out in front of the pup. On one finger, a well-fitting ring slotted on a finger. From the time they went underwater - how they got their venom and bioluminescence. It was an interesting quest, and a fond memory for them.

"I got this a long time ago, you could try to make the gem glow?"

They are hesitant to show the pup their own magic, born of CHAOS almost impossible to CONTROL.

"I can show you mine, if you want." Esther is confident that they could put out a chaos fire - with all of the rocks here it would be hard for it to catch anyway. Or.... They could just use the banana one. Get a good laugh out of it. Maybe.

@Zephiran