Gallus had only heard about kirin from the professors at the school, but he quickly grew to like Mirage Chaser as they traveled to different parts of the Wastelands. She was friendly and energetic but didn’t try to pry into his past. And she knew some fun songs when they ran out of things to talk about.
They started near the village. Gallus helped gather some pieces of plants that grew on various cliffs or tall trees. He grabbed a seed pod and flew back down to Mirage Chaser. She smiled and stroked her chin as she thought.
“If I were in your position, I’d probably stick to getting help from Grandeur, Scriptus, or Hedron, but each of them have their costs.”
“Grandeur seems to like me a lot. I’m happy to work with him, but what do the other two want?”
“Scriptus is all about gathering and preserving knowledge. If you can’t figure out a way to fit what you need into what he wants, he’s likely to politely send you on your way. But I also think he’s a bit lonely in some way. He has plenty of kobold servants, but I think he wants a friend or companion more like him.”
“And Hedron? My friends went to visit him.”
“I still haven’t got my head around exactly what he or it is. He’s intelligent, but he doesn’t really have a normal body like most creatures. He’s some complex array of intelligence spread out among magical networks and artifacts. He seeks order, but his magic tends to slowly change the world and creatures that stay close to him for long. I believe he’d love to reach out to more places than this realm.”
“A dragon is a lot easier to understand than that.”
“Exactly. That’s why the ponies here have stayed away from Hedron. But anyway, we’re almost to the last ingredient. A type of crystal forms on the rare mushrooms that only grow in this cave.”
Mirage Chaser pointed ahead. The stream of water they were following retreated into a shadowy alcove. She lit her horn. Gallus looked down at the water and sniffed the air. A yellow film covered many of the rocks near the stream. The sharp tang in the air almost made Gallus’s nostrils itch.
“Does the cave usually smell sour?”
“No. That’s bad. It’s supposed to be fresh. Let me look at that closer.”
Mirage Chaser gently scraped some of the gooey film off with a hoof. Her eyes narrowed.
“I’ve seen this before. Probably an ooze infestation, but not big enough to spawn too many small oozes yet. But I bet it got most of the mushrooms. It shouldn’t be able to dissolve the crystals. Anyway, better wash this off before it dissolves part of my hoof.”
Mirage Chaser scrubbed her hoof in the stream until it was clean.
“So do we have a plan to get the crystals from the ooze?”
“I specialize in illusions, but we’ll need more basic magic to safely get this last ingredient. You still look in bad shape, so I’ll shield you. If the shield breaks, you get to safety. You keep any small oozes from distracting me while I take on the big ooze. But if something goes wrong, go for the nucleus. It’s a special core to the ooze. Without it, the big ooze will fall apart.”
Mirage Chaser touched Gallus with her horn. He felt a protective barrier around him, almost like wearing an invisible blanket. She led the way into the narrow cave entrance. They stepped past the first columns, stalagmites, and stalactites. The cave widened into a large room. The light from the kirin’s horn lit it dimly. Gallus could definitely smell the musty fungal odor, but the slime covered the wilted remains of the mushrooms.
Mirage Chaser brightened her light. A wet squelch came from the side as Gallus spotted a small purple ooze creeping toward them. A much larger pile of slime filled a moist basin in the cave floor.
“Okay. Stick to the plan. We’ve got this.”
Gallus circled the small ooze. It slid and sometimes even jumped toward him. He crouched down and wiggled his tail and flanks as he prepared to pounce. The ooze inched forward and Gallus struck. It smeared across the stone and shrieked. It tried to run, but another swipe spread it into harmless slime across the floor.
Mirage Chaser blasted the yellow ooze with a ray of fiery magic. It quivered and stood still. Half of it suddenly formed into a thick tendril that smacked Mirage Chaser in the side. She grunted in pain and jumped back before the tendril could grab her.
Gallus leapt in to help. He tried to swipe the nucleus, but the slime shifted it out of his reach. His claws bounced uselessly off the jello-like mass.
Mirage Chaser charged up another bolt of flame, but the tendril intercepted it in the air and dispersed it without taking harm. The ooze surged forward as the tendril smashed Mirage Chaser. She screamed in pain. Her body burst into flame, but she slumped onto the cave floor. The ooze covered her and drew her into itself.
“No! Give her back!”
Gallus swiped at the core of the ooze. His claws connected and tore out the grainy nucleus. The rest of the ooze instantly vaporized as a surge of fire came from the unconscious Mirage Chaser before her flames went out.
“Ugh. This is awful.”
Gallus cleaned off the slime as best he could. The nucleus was quickly falling apart, but the glowing crystals inside it looked like what they were here for. He set them aside and tried to see how he could help Mirage Chaser.
He cleaned her off and rubbed some pony balm on her nose and hooves. She coughed and opened her eyes.
“Hey, Gallus. I guess you pulled through when I couldn’t. That was sloppy of me.”
“That was a tough monster, but a griffon like me is tougher.” He smiled and puffed up his feathery chest.
Mirage Chaser slowly got on her hooves and looked at the crystals Gallus had saved.
“Good. That’s more than enough crystals for the potion for your friend. With the oozes gone, the mushrooms should grow again. Let’s get back to the village and rest.”
The trek back to the village was much slower and more subdued. Both Gallus and Mirage Chaser needed some rest and a good meal. As they neared the village, the clouds above them swirled and darkened. Mirage Chaser’s horn glowed, and her mouth dropped open in shock.
“Storm Surge is here. How did he get one of his seeds into the village to break the protective spells?” Mirage Chaser frowned. Little flames jumped from her mane and hooves, but she took a deep breath and calmed down. “Sorry to ask for help again, but we’re going to have to save my friends. Let’s sneak closer and see what’s going on.”
Mirage Chaser knew hidden paths in the cliffs that led them to a sheltered vantage point overlooking the town. Storm Surge’s abominations circled the town and slowly moved in on the circle of ponies in the center. Gallus’s sharp eyes could pick out Smolder and Ocellus on the edge of the crowd.
“My friends are down there.”
“Maybe Storm Surge tricked them into letting him in. But everyone here is in danger if he takes over. The beings he works for play cruel games with any creatures that fall under their power. But you and your friends have a special magic that could drive him off. We’ll need one of you to damage the seed he planted, and I’ll need two of you to help me with a spell. I can send a message to your friends to tell them what’s going on, but it’s going to have to be simple. If you think you can still trust your friends, one of them could get the seed, or you could do it.”
“Hey! They’re my friends. We wouldn’t have got this far if we didn’t trust each other. I know what we should do."