The Citadel

Flurry Heart leaned back with a heavy sigh while rubbing some sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. She was sore all over not only from the crash but also from the impromptu workout she had gotten from all the running and dodging. The right side of her waist where she was struck was especially painful, she was lucky that she was not seriously hurt and only got a little bruised.

"Well princess that was messy but I suppose you got the job done none the less." Zyzix stated plainly as she floated in front Flurry's face.

"I don't see why you did not just incinerate it with a fire spell."

She glanced up at the blue wisp wanting to argue but decided against it "I don't know any fire spells." She replied simply."
She stood up and began dusting herself off, she was glad that she at least didn't get any blood or slime on herself. The sword on the other hand was covered in the stuff so she held it away from her body.

"Oh do not be grumpy now princess, you defeated your enemy even if it was not the most effective way to do it you should still savor your victory." Zyzix voice was a little more bubbly now.

Flurry Heart dried off the blood from her sword on one of the many tendrils that was now laying all over floor before putting it back in its scabbard on her hip.

"You sound like you are enjoying the fact that we where attacked and almost killed." she said in an irritated tone.

Zyzix let out a small laugh "We where never in any real danger with a creature as weak as that one, plus your footwork is very impressive, you are quite the little acrobat you."

"You are not taking this very seriously are you?" Flurry looked at the wisp with a raised eyebrow.

"Just let me enjoy myself a little princess, I have not had any action in eons." Zyzix voice had gone from bubbly to teasingly.

Flurry Heart didn't really have a comeback to that so she just let out a small sigh and let her win this little back and forth.

"Anyway, shall we continue?" The wisp asked.

Looking towards the pathway she had been told to take earlier and seeing it was no longer blocked she answered with a short "Yeah."

~~~~~~

After wandering the dark maze of corridors for a while Zyzix decided to break the silence. "Say princess I have been meaning to ask you, what is your world like?"

Flurry was a bit startled by the sudden voice of her companion, she looked up at the wisp who was floating on her right side. Unsure if she wanted to say anything in case someone or something would hear her but decided that it was probably fine as long as she spoke quietly. She did sound genuinely curious and it could be nice to just have a normal conversation.

"Well" she started "for one thing it's a lot brighter and livelier."

"We have forests, oceans, flowers, a beautiful sky and lots of cute animals."

"And in the crystal empire where I live we have lots of snow, I love snow..." She said the last part mostly to herself as talking about it reminded her of how homesick she really was.

"Crystal empire you say, I guess your father is the emperor then?"

"No he's not the emperor." Flurry had a hard time trying not to laugh at the thought.

"Oh? so your mother is the empress then?" Zyzix asked a little confused.

Flurry Heart was strangely enjoying her otherwise composed companions puzzlement, bringing a small smile to her face for the first time today.

"My mom is the ruling princess of the empire and my dad is prince-consort and captain of the royal guard." she explained.

"So both you and your mother has the title of princess, but she is the ruler?"

"Yes."

"Well you sure have a confusing way of doing things where you are from." Zyzix sighed.

Flurry Heart didn't think it was very confusing but then again she had grown up with it always being that way so maybe it was a little strange to someone who was not used to it. But thinking about her parents again made her moved her hand towards the necklace she was wearing and held it hoping she would see them soon. She squeezed her eyes shut hoping that all of this was still just a really bad dream and when she opened her eyes again she would wake up in her room. But no such luck as her companions voice brought her back to the crocked corridor she was currently in.

"What are you doing? why did you stop?"

"It's nothing." Flurry sighed and let go of the necklace.

"I suppose that trinket has great value to you." Zyzix said softly seeing the jewelry around her neck.

Flurry Heart was quietly looking down at the ground without answering.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" the wisp asked in the same soft voice.

Taking it in her hand again to look at it she sighed "It's a snowflake in the shape of a heart and I got it from mom and dad when I was ten."

"Oh I see its a gift from your parents, it is quite precious to you then?" Zyzix was bobbing up and down as if nodding.

"Yes..." she said quietly.

"Well then princess let us continue our journey and make sure your parents gets there daughter back."

Flurry looked up at the wisp "Why do keep calling me princess anyway?"

Zyzix laughed a little "It is your title is it not? so why not use it."

"Anyway let us not linger, we are almost at the citadel now."

~~~~~~

They continued there journey trough the gloomy corridors, as Flurry rounded a corner she could see some strange shapes on one of the walls up ahead. Putting a hand on the sword hilt just to be ready to draw it she carefully moved closer. When she got close enough to see them properly she got chills, on the wall was faces twisted and contorted in various expressions of fear and anguish.

"It would seem that some of the people here got fused to the wall when the cataclysm hit." Zyzix said.

"Are they dead?" Flurry asked horrified.

"Who knows." Zyzix said nonchalantly "But let us not linger here and worry about the fate princess."

Flurry quietly started walking again but she could not take her eyes of the faces on the wall, there must have been a few hundred of them at least. She was sure this would comeback and haunt her nightmares for a long time.

After some more walking they finally emerged from the maze of dark paths and corridors into a more open area. There was still plenty of ruined buildings and rubble of different sizes scattered around the rocky terrain. Pits and cracks in the ground emitting an eerie red glow making the landscape look even more hostile. And then towering before her like a sleeping colossus was the citadel, its spires reaching high into the sky and partly disappearing among the clouds. And at its base was a large bridge over a huge gorge that looked like it opened up tartarus itself.

"And there it is, is it not marvelous." Zyzix was almost bursting with joy at seeing the structure.

"You have an awful taste." Flurry said in a deadpan tone, but she had to admit that the size of the thing was impressive.

Zyzix ignored her snide remark "Now we just need to enter and work our way to the top."

"I guess it won't be that easy, right?" Flurry asked.

"No it will not, this tower acts like a beacon with all the magic that is gathered under it manifesting all kinds of things." Her companion sounded really excited about it.

She shrugged and started walking down the path towards the intimidating building but still keeping a lookout for anything that might be dangerous. While climbing over the rubble of a collapsed building she noticed something moving in the corner of her eye. When she turned to look she let out a gasp and quickly hid herself behind a broken wall. There in the window of one of the ruined buildings was the same lanky figure that she saw before. She was unsure if it had spotted her as it just stood there, its tattered robes waving in the wind.

"Oh that is not good." Zyzix said also having seen the figure.

"Do you know what that thing is?" Flurry asked while taking a small peek to see if it was still there.

"That is a souleater, a creature born from the void who hunts and consumes magic, I had hoped that they where all destroyed." Zyzix explained in a serious tone.

"I saw one before and it looked right at me, why didn't it attack me then?" she was glad it hadn't attacked but still thought it was a little strange.

"They hunt by seeing your magical aura but I have noticed that yours is quite weak for some reason so it must not have thought of you as a target."

"But I do wonder, I can sense that your magic should be way more potent then it currently is may I ask what happened?" Zyzix floated up so she was in front of her face.

"I had an incident when I escaped the dungeon and it almost killed me." Flurry said shuddering a little from the memory.

"Ah I see." Zyzix responded knowingly "We will have to fix that for you, can not have you running around here without magic now can we."

"Fix how?" Flurry asked.

"I will show you soon but first we need to go around the souleater, follow me." Zyzix then floated away trough a crack in the wall.

Flurry Heart took a final peek around the corner to see if the thing was still there, which it was thankfully. She let out a small sigh of relief before she followed her companion and crawled trough the crack.

~~~~~~

After crawling and climbing inside the ruined buildings for a few minutes they entered a room that was mostly intact. Like all the other ruins she had seen here there wasn't much in the room, just empty stone walls and sand. She got up and dusted herself of as best she could but some of the dirt still remained which irritated her a bit since she didn't like being dirty. Zyzix who had been flying around the room as if she was inspecting it drifted back towards Flurry.

"We should be far enough away now." she stated.

"Follow my instructions carefully and you should have your magic restored in no time."

Flurry Heart wasn't sure of what the wisp had planed but if it meant that her slight headache would go away and she got full use of her magic again then she was all for it.

"I need you to draw me a glyph in the sand, just follow me with a finger and I will guide you." Zyzix instructed.

Flurry just nodded her head and did as she was told, she carefully followed after the glowing ball with her hand as it slowly floated over the sand. And after they where done Zyzix inspected the lines and circles they made for any mistakes.

"This should work fine, excellent job princess." Zyzix said pleased.

"Now stand back and let me do the rest."

Flurry did as told and took a few steps back, and as she did her companion began flying in a circle over the glyph with a low humming sound like she was chanting. Not long after that the markings in the sand started to glow in the same blue colour as the wisp and a small twig slowly sprouted from its middle. It was dark purple in colour and continued to grow steadily as Zyzix flew in a circle above it. Eventually it stopped growing and a single fruit formed at the tip of the plant, it was shaped like a teardrop and looked to be made of glass. Zyzix stopped her spell and floated over to Flurry Heart before addressing her.

"That was more taxing then I expected it to be, but it should do the trick." Zyzix said a little winded.

"So... what is that?" Flurry asked eyeing the slightly glowing fruit with suspicion.

"You could call it a manafruit if you will, I created it by drawing from the magic swirling around inside the planet."

"So you want me to eat it?" Flurry glanced at the wisp floating above her head.

"Yes, and do not worry it should be safe for you to consume it." Zyzix chuckled.

"Right..." Flurry said in a dry tone as she approached the fruit.

Picking up the fruit it was warm to the touch and she could practically feel the energy radiating from it. She held it in her hand and looking at its glass like surface, it was kind of pretty and wouldn't look out of place in and art museum. Her stomach growled slightly making her realize that she might be more hungry then she first thought. Flurry Heart closed her eyes and took a big bite from the fruit, it didn't have any taste but it was warm, juicy and kind of spicy. With every bite she took she could feel her energy return to her. Any pain or fatigue she felt before was gone and by the time she finished the fruit she was feeling very restored.

"Thanks for the meal Zyzix, that was just what I needed." she said turning towards her companion after letting out a small burp.

"You are welcome princess, I need you at full strength for when we enter the citadel." the wisp replied.

"Can you make more of these fruits in case we need them later?" Flurry asked.

"Like I told you before, my magic is limited because of my weakened form so I rater not use to much of it." Zyzix explained.

"Oh right, sorry." she said scratching herself on the head.

"Now let us leave this place before anything dangerous finds us." Zyzix urged.