Thanatos steps through the violet strand, and Vaelis closes around him in breathless green shadow. In the clearing ahead, a glowing vine pulses like a wounded heartbeat.
A purple furred Vaelin hacks at it with a stone blade, each swing slow with exhaustion. The vine twists harder under the strain, its light stuttering.
Thanatos emerges from the trees, his presence dimming the edge of the clearing. The violet strand behind him stains with veins of shadow where his hand passed.
The Vaelin
Halt... if you are a spirit, I have had enough omens for one dusk.
The Vaelin turns, stone blade lifted, ears flattened in alarm as he finally sees the cloaked figure in the dark.
The Vaelin
I mean no trespass. The vine chokes the grove. If it breaks, the trees may follow.
The Origin-Shimmer
The balance frays here, as I feared. Thanatos, the blight has found a living root.
✓ Quest Accepted
Gain the Vaelin elder's cooperation
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the source of the life-excess blight