"Te....!"
'Oh my head.'
"..luv.!" A graceful, and melodic voice shouted.
'Hmm, who is that? Who's yelling?'
"TELUVE!"
"Haaah! Hrk! Kkhh!" Teluve shot up coughing as he glanced around at his immediate surroundings.
Quickly scanning the area, Teluve discovered that he was in a cavern. The space was quite large, looking to be over 100 meters wide, 300 meters long, and 100 meters high with varied speleothem formations. The cavern was like a work of art, a natural wonder, it's covered in various crystalline features, resembling that of marble, long curtains, stalagmites, masses of helictites, and various colorful mineral deposits of blues, greens, and whites formed all across the ceiling, the walls, and the floor, a picturesque underground landscape.
Teluve was in awe of the room until a sudden rush of pain hit him, "Ah!" Teluve hissed in pain as he grabbed at his head, feeling it throbbing in pain, "What happened? Where am I?" Teluve spoke aloud, his voice smooth, and confident.
Looking around further, his eyes fell upon a daughter of eloi sitting behind him. She's extremely beautiful, with a curvy hourglass figure, and smooth dark-gold hued brown skin that seemed to radiate in the dark, with all but her face covered by an ornate suit of segmented plate armor.
Her armor looked to be forged of some kind of silver metal, and featured an intricate decorative design that flowed from embossed motifs of fruit bearing trees, to gold inlayed lotus flowers, and leaves, to engravings of vines, and floral filigree, as well as the edges of her armor all were leafed with gold. She boasted a multi-layered breastplate, and backplate that covered her torso, the central area of her breastplate also is raised, and displays a large white opal surrounded by embossed flower petals. Connected to her breastplate were her pauldrons which were quite pronounced with a sculpted edge, they covered her shoulders, and extended down her upper arms, they featured a central motif of a lotus flower, and in the center of the flowers were a white opal gemstone. The faulds, and tassets hung from the bottom of her breastplate covering her hips, and upper thighs, covering her forearms were her vambraces, that display a stunning gold inlaid panels of floral filigree, and at their center was an embossed image of a fruit bearing tree with the fruits of the tree being represented by small embedded white opal jewels. Her greaves covered her shins, and were also richly decorated with golden panels of floral filigree, and in their center was a single white opal gem. Lastly there was her helm that lie to her side, it has a rounded conical shape with a slightly pointed top, it featured no visor, and had fixed cheek guards, to the sides of the helm were integrated wings that extended back, and slightly upward, they were intricately detailed to resemble natural feathers, and in the brow of the helm lie another precious white opal stone.
Looking back to her, she has a radiant appearance with a symmetrical face, her eyes a crimson gold with dilated slit pupils, and a golden ring that shined in the middle of her irises. Her eyes fluttered with full eyelashes, full well-shaped eyebrows framed her eyes. She's long pointed ears, her head is crowned with two curled black horns that broke through her wavy golden hair that cascades down to her lower back. Her small straight nose gives her a youthful cuteness, her high cheekbones heighten her already elegant appearance, well proportioned lips amplify her femininity, her well defined jaw adding to her beauty. A set of large wings protruded from her lower back with a plumage of golden feathers, a slim long tail was at rest near her leg, it's about 3 meters in length, and is about 2 inches in diameter. Teluve was completely captivated by her, that was until he noticed her eyes brimming with tears.
"Thanks be to the Ancient of Days, your ok, I was so worried." She cried, lifting her hands she held Teluve's face gently as her tears started to stream down her face.
Teluve didn't quite understand why, but seeing her cry made his heart ache, a short moment later Teluve felt that she's familiar, then he recognized her, "Bimy? BIMY!" Teluve broke from his stupor, immediately he wrapped his arms around her to comfort her.
"Lulu I was so worried. You weren't responding for so long. I'm so glad that you're ok." Bimy fell into Teluve's shoulder as he held her.
"It's ok Bimy, my head just hurts." Teluve, and Bimy stayed holding each other for a few minutes as Teluve comforted her, stroking her hair.
After Bimy calmed herself, and regained her composure she, and Teluve separated, "To think you'd would make me cry like this today. Why'd you rush forward like that?" Bimy admonished Teluve for making her worry.
"I'm sorry Bimy." Teluve smiled bitterly, pecking her on the lips, "I'll be more careful."
"You better. I couldn't live without you, it'd break my heart Lulu." Bimy blushed lightly as she hugged Teluve tightly again, "Please be more careful."
"I will." Teluve smiled, hugging her back.
Once Teluve, and Bimy separated Teluve something tackled him down, "Oof."
"Eee-Eee." Hearing the light shrieks Teluve looked at what had knocked him over. There was simian, an urakin that was a little over 4 feet tall, he had a lithe, and compact body with lean muscles, and a tail about 5 feet long. He had a rounded head, with a prominent forehead, orange eyes, a straight nose, with flat nostrils, his skin was ivory black covered in dark green fur. The urakin was holding him tightly with his long arms, and legs.
"Oh Kedu. I'm sorry buddy. You were worried about me." Teluve realized his bond had tackled him, and began to brush Kedu's fur.
"Eee-Eee." Kedu responded with a concerned shrill.
Teluve lifted Kedu up, placing him on his shoulder, "See, I'm fine." Teluve said as he scratched Kedu under his chin.
"Squeak!", "Hiss!" Teluve heard an odd combination of sounds.
Teluve looking to see what made the strange noise saw Bimy with a leporine, a little salkin on her shoulder, he was almost a foot long with a full rounded figure, and four little paws. He had a round compacted head, two round ears, large expressive eyes, a small moist nose, with long whiskers, a delicate mouth, with slight upper lips, and a bushy tail measuring 2 feet long. To Bimy's side there was a massive serpent, a bryneor, she had a lean body 30 feet in length, and a diameter of about a foot. She slithered across the floor closer to Teluve, she was covered in crimson, and obsidian scales, her head was elongated, and narrow, crowned with two black curled horns, she's pale green eyes with dilated slit pupils, nostrils, and a wide mouth.
"Ah. Flavi, Lifmy were you worried about me too?" Teluve settled after realizing the sound came from Bimy's two bonds.
"Squeak." Lifmy let out an affirming squeak, "HISS!" while Flavi let out a disgruntled hiss.
"Oh." Bimy stroked Flavi's snout, "Looks like she's upset with you."
"Ha ha." Teluve laughed, "Seems like it." Teluve leaned over, and rubbed Flavi's head, "How about I give you something tasty when we're finished with all this?"
Flavi eyes glowed, and she perked up, nuzzling Teluve.
Bimy shook her head, "This girl is to easy to appease."
Teluve smiled at Bimy as he held Flavi's head, "I just know how to make a lady happy."
Flavi moved back as Teluve finally stood up, standing to his full 7 foot 5 inch frame. He's beautiful with smooth, and vibrant brown skin, having a strong, and compact V-shaped body, and fine smooth, and sleek overlapping scales of black, and brown layered over his skin, except for his face, and hands, with the nails of his hands each ending in a sharp bladelike tip. He had a symmetrical face, with a smooth complexion, his heterochromatic eyes were expressive, and captivating, one a light green, and the other an amber color, with dilated slit pupils, his black full-thick eyebrows contrasted with his bright eyes, his straight proportioned nose brought harmony to his face, his lips were full, not too thin, or thick, his jawline strong, and defined. His silky hair was black, and wavy, falling well past his shoulders, he wore a midnight purple jacket, a one piece high collar garment, and straight cut tapered pants, with a sleeveless robe over the top, secured at the waist with a golden waistband, all with gold piping that decorated the seams, and edges, his attire also features gold designs of leaves, lilies, lotus flowers, and vines that ran across its surface, he wore gold bracers with beautiful floral engravings of leaves, and white lilies, with crystal opal gemstone inlays for the anthers of the flowers, he also wore a golden ring with subtle runic engravings on his right pinky finger, everything giving Teluve a confident, and majestic bearing, he helped Bimy up as she stood to her full 7 foot height.
Teluve looked at Bimy, "Bimy what exactly happened?" Teluve glanced around the cavern, "How'd we end up here, why are our disuises disillusioned?"
Bimy looked at Teluve with some concern, "You don't remember Lulu?"
Teluve shook his head, "No, the last few minutes before I woke up are a bit of a haze." Teluve thought for a moment, "I remember we were pursuing that daemonized son of mahtan, and we cornered him, but after that I don't recall anything."
"I see." Bimy collected her thoughts, and began to explain, "We were pursuing that daemonized, the tainted mahtaan, when he ran into a cave. Then, something happened when we cornered him, he reached out grabbing at something, you rushed forward to stop him, but then a bright light flashed, and enveloped everyone. When I woke up we were the only ones here, I don't know why our disguises dropped, you were unconscious next to me, so I checked your condition. You had many internal injuries, so I administered the potions that sister made, but even after your major injuries were healed you still didn't wake. When you finally woke up I couldn't stop my tears."
"I see, hah." Teluve felt a sense of guilt, and sighed, "I've really made you worry Bimy, I'm sorry."
Bimy smiled, she moved up to Teluve, and kissed him on his cheek, "It's alright Lulu, your fine now, and for that I'm thankful to the Ancient of Days."
Teluve smiled, then grew thoughtful, "What was that light then?"
Bimy shook her head, "I'm not sure Lulu, It happened too suddenly."
Teluve contemplated the event as he took out a bottle from his storage ring, the bottle held a simple clear liquid housed within its elegantly curved glass, tapered to a slender neck, uncorking it, Teluve drank its full contents, "Hm, It could've been some kind of spatial array?"
Bimy nodded, "That's the only good explanation. But why would there be a spatial array in some random cave. And why were you so injured even if that was the case" Bimy rubbed her temples in exasperation of the situation.
"I don't kno- well." An idea came to Teluve, "It's possible that the array is quite old, and hasn't been well maintained, so it grew unstable as a result."
Bimy became a bit concerned at this, "Then sister, Omani, and brother Yinor could've been seriously hurt." Bimy paused a moment, "But, Sister would have her potions, and brother Yinor has beyond a perfect affinity for the spiritual path of life, he should be able to heal any injuries they'd have with his spiritual arts."
"Yeah they'll be fine. Sister Bele always has something on hand. And my brother will survive, so long as we enura don't die we'll keep getting back up. And then there's Omani, I don't think anything can even hurt that beast." Teluve looked to Bimy, and reassured her "They're in the hands of the Ancient of Days."
"Right." Bimy nodded, smiling, she offered up a short prayer, "Ancient of Days, watch over, and protect them, may we be reunited quickly."
Bimy then donned her helm, and picked up her shield, and stave. Her shield is of a teardrop shaped design, 30 inches long, and 24 inches wide that provides extensive coverage to her upper body, and tapering down to protect her legs, forged of a silver colored metal, its edges reinforced with a gold leafed metal rim, the front of the shield is slightly convex, its face featuring gold inlayed lotus flowers, and the same fruit bearing tree motif of her vambraces with gemstone inlays in place of the fruits of the tree. Bimy's stave is close to 7 feet long, with a 2 inch diameter, made of a black colored wood, its ends reinforced with the same silver colored metal as her armor, and shield, the top end featured a mounted large crystal opal gem encased in an elegant metal lattice, were delicate vines were woven around the gem. The central region of the stave is wrapped with a golden colored fabric for its grip, and along its surface were subtle floral engravings, and gold inlays of vines.
"We need to be careful Bimy." Teluve looked about the cavern, "We've no idea where we are, or what dangers might be here, we'll look for sister Bele, brother, and Omani as we move. I pray they weren't transported with that maniac." Teluve looked back to Bimy, and they both grew serious
"Right, lets move quickly." Bimy looked into Teluve's eyes, "Are you ok to move Lulu?" Bimy's voice was laced with concern.
Teluve paused a moment as he executed a series of arts, he stood still as he examined himself, sending his manna inwardly, he checked the foundations of his cultivations, seeing that his body, soul, and spirit cultivations were stable he smiled, "I'm better, the potion sister Bele made healed most of my remaining injuries. Thankfully there was no shock to my foundation, what remains I'll be able to regenerate as we move."
"Good." Bimy smiled, giving Teluve a quick kiss.
But before Bimy could pull away Teluve pulled her into a deeper kiss, lasting a few seconds before they parted, "Lets go." Teluve smirked as Bimy blushed furiously.
After Teluve, and Bimy gathered themselves, and fully took in their surroundings, the darkness not bothering them, or their bonds at all, they choose a direction, and moved.
As they were walking through the cavern, and looking around they found that the cavern they were in is actually quite beautiful. The cave is a complete crystalline landscape with its ceiling nearly covered in cave curtains, and stalactites all resembling that of marble. Flowstone, and other crystals of blues, greens, and whites covered the tunnel walls, and stalagmites adorning the the caves floor. There were even columns up to 100 meters in height, and nearing 30 meters in diameter throughout, it was as if they were in the hall of some alien castle.
"Wow this place is otherworldly." After really taking in where they were, Bimy was astonished at the beauty of it all.
"Yeah, it's quite charming." Teluve said before he approached a section of the wall.
Noticing Teluve was focused on something Bimy turned to him, "Hmm, Lulu what is it?"
"Bimy come here." Bimy moved up to Teluve's side, "Look." Teluve gestured to a crystal.
"These are … " Bimy didn't recognize what she's looking at. It's some kind of transparent octahedral crystalline structure. There's also some rough material layered over it.
"Bimy these are rough diamonds." Teluve said with some excitement.
"Diamonds?" Upon a closer look Bimy recognized them, "Oh, your right."
"Ha ha." Teluve laughed as he looked up at Bimy, "For a second, I questioned if you were really a jeweler, or not."
"Hmph, a lots happened today." Bimy grumbled as she knelt down to get a better look.
Teluve chuckled some more, "These rough diamonds will be useful for both of us, they'd be better if you could process them into a usable gemstone, but we don't have the equipment, or the time for that. The natural lattice work of the diamonds will be enough for me to augment them into a small scale array if we need it, this is a good find."
Bimy examined the rough diamonds, and thought of something, "Lulu how are there even diamonds in this kind of environment, it's unnatural for them to appear in such a place, unless." A sudden possibility shocked Bimy, "Lulu could this place be-"
"I know Bimy I had the same thought too, but that isn't important right now, we need to find the others, and figure out how to leave this place." Teluve stated before he began to strike the sides of the wall with his bear hand *BAM!*, "We need to be careful, we have no idea why that daemon came to this place, he may even have allies here that we're unaware of, *BAM!* if that's the case then we'll need even more diamonds than this to ensure our safety." *BAM!* Teluve struck the wall once more, breaking away the cluster of rough diamonds from the cave wall.
Bimy nodded, "Ancient of Days guide our path." She then stood up and started looking around the space.
"Lulu I think there's more over here." Bimy called out only a short moment later.
"Great." Teluve gave Bimy a quick kiss on her cheek before harvesting the diamonds, storing them in his spatial crystal, an amulet with a 3 inch diameter spherical crystal opal gem, encased in a golden lattice, that hung from a golden fabric tied off at his side.
"Eee-Eee." Kedu's chattering calls got Teluve, and Bimy's attention as they moved further through the cavern.
"What is it Kedu?" Teluve walked over.
"Eee." Kedu hooted, patting another deposit of rough diamonds.
"Wow this place is a treasure field." Teluve already harvested a good amount of diamonds, enough that he was a bit more at ease, "With this we'll be fine if we encounter serious trouble here."
Teluve, and Bimy passed by many more deposits of rough diamonds, filling their storage crystals, leaving very little space left, this gave Bimy, and Teluve a lot of confidence against any enemy they might encounter. They continued on, but treaded carefully down the corridor making sure to keep a keen eye out for any potential dangers, as well as any signs of Bele, Omani, and Yinor.
They had been moving for about 10 minutes, they've exited the cavern, and traversed a long tunnel before entering into another cavern, but before they continued moving Bimy stopped narrowing her eyes, and scrutinizing the scene around her.
"What is it Bimy?" Teluve looked back to her, and became alert.
Bimy walked over to the wall, "Lulu, we've somehow gone in a circle."
Teluve noticed the wall, the wall showed clear signs of abrasion, this was were he recently extracted one of the rough diamond chunks. Teluve scrutinized the whole cavern, and immediately recognized it to be the same cavern they were transported to.
"But we've been moving forward this whole time. We took no turns, there wasn't even an opti-." Teluve paused as he suddenly thought of a possibility.
"What are you thinking Lulu?" Bimy asked.
Teluve had a thoughtful posture, "I have some ideas Bimy, but I can't be certain. Lets keep moving for now."
After a series of loops, returning back to the same place over, and over, Teluve deduced two possibilities, "We're definitely in another array. But the kind is hard to pin point, we could be in an illusory array that's causing us to keep traveling in circles to confuse, and disorient us. Or we could be in a type of spatial array that's altering, and distorting the space itself, making the area into a kind of maze."
"Its most likely to be a spatial array then, right? Given how we ended up here in the first place." Bimy interjected.
"That's highly likely." Teluve looked around, "It just means will have to keep walking these tunnels until we figure out the right path."
"Huh." Bimy abruptly sensed something, "Wait." Bimy held up her hand as she closed her eyes.
Teluve walked over to Bimy, "Do you sense something Bimy?"
"Do you feel that?" Bimy concentrated on the ambient manna, "The manna it's … It's subtle, but there's a slight fluctuation, it's flowing somewhere."
Teluve closed his eyes to concentrate on the ambient manna's flow, "Your right Bimy. It's almost unnoticeable, it seems that this array has deteriorated so much that it's caused a manna leak."
Bimy smiled, "If we follow the flow it should lead us to the array's core, or at least a node right Lulu?"
Teluve nodded, "Yes, If we can find and destroy a node it'll weaken the array's effects, but that's assuming this array was set up with any nodes. Best case would be a direct line to the core, once that's gone the whole array will crumble."
Teluve and Bimy followed the flow of manna and found that after traveling for some time they hadn't looped back to were they started.
"Finally, we're making some progress." Bimy cheered.
Kedu hung from Teluve's back, looking over his shoulder, scanning the surroundings, "Eee-Eee!" Kedu felt a sudden sense of danger.
"Hmm, what is it Kedu?" Teluve looked over his shoulder, as he was about to stop, *Hum* a delicate resonance suddenly sounded as Teluve crossed a certain threshold of the tunnel.
"Eee!" Kedu screeched as he drew his hands together, the nearby crystals erupted as the stones underneath flew forward to shield Teluve, *Boom!* an explosion of air burst forth towards Teluve, and Kedu.
"Lulu look out!" Bimy quickly reacted before Teluve, swinging her stave as she channeled her manna through it, launching her manna toward the burst of air.
When Bimy's manna clashed with the airburst the force of the two mixed for a moment before the blast dissipated into a gentle breeze that blew across Kedu's stone shield before brushing by Kedu's, and Teluve's faces.
"Eee." Kedu chattered, dropping his hands, and holding onto Teluve, as he did the shield of stone broke apart, falling to the floor in chunks of rock.
"Thank you Bimy, Kedu." Teluve looked over to where the explosion originated, about 2 meters away was a small white gemstone, a quartz embedded in the wall, with faint runic markings circling around it, Teluve moved up to the stone, "An array, set with a potent spiritual art of air. That would've caused some major damage if you hadn't reacted so quickly Bimy." Teluve smiled at her.
Bimy beamed "Luckily I have an earth grade affinity for the spiritual path of air." Bimy looked to the gem, and grew serious, "That spiritual art was quite high leveled Lulu, I had to drain a bit of my manna to disrupt it."
"It was, that caught me off guard." Teluve rubbed the back of his head, then he smiled at Bimy, "Good thing you noticed it in time."
"I'd never let anything happen to you Lulu." Bimy winked at Teluve, "We still have our ceremony to plan after all."
"Ha ha." Teluve smirked, "I'm looking forward to it."
Pausing there for just a moment, looking for any other arrays, Teluve looked back to the triggered array, "Given the appearance of this trap, we should be closing in on a node, or the core." Teluve looked to Bimy, "Lets focus our spiritual senses on any fluctuations in the manna's flow, they'll be subtle, but if we can manage to detect them, we can avoid triggering the arrays, and disarm them."
"Ok." Bimy nodded, she and Teluve focusing their spiritual senses on their surroundings.
As they continued down the corridor they managed to discover many more traps, disarming them, and even collecting the gems used to setup the arrays, however some were precarious, and couldn't be disarmed so they used their spiritual arts to destroy them.
Continuing forward, they were making their way through a passage, but before Bimy could take another step, "Hisss!" Flavi moved in front to block Bimy, and Teluve from advancing.
"What is it Flavi?" Teluve followed Flavi's line of sight, and spotted another gemstone, concealed in the helictites of the tunnel, "Another array."
"Squeak!" Lifmy squeaked from Bimy's shoulder and shot out a spiritual art from his mouth, an energy burst blasting at the gem. When Lifmy's blast hit, the area erupted with blades of wind that shot from one side of the wall to the other. The effect not ceasing for an entire minute.
"Thanks you two. That would've been bad." Bimy said as the cold sweat fell from her forehead.
The group continued, traveling for close to 30 minutes, encountering many more traps.
"Look out!" Teluve shouted as another array triggered. Teluve reacted quickly tossing Kedu forward as he grabbed Bimy, and dove down. Flavi, and Lifmy dashing forward as a series of wind blades shot just past them all.
"Hah, are you ok Bimy?" Teluve asked as he held Bimy in his arms.
"I'm fine Lulu." Bimy looked up, "Ah! You were hit." Bimy sat up and examined Teluve's side. There was a bloody gash that broke past his clothes, scales, skin, and opened up a layer of his flesh.
"It just grazed me Bimy." Teluve attempted to calm her.
"You call that a graze." Bimy pulled out a jar from her ring. Opening it she took a glob of a salve, and rubbed it over Teluve's open wound. As soon as the salve made contact with Teluve's skin, the wound quickly sealed.
Teluve just sat there as Bimy treated him, not even bothering to remind her that his wound would've healed in a minute, or two, he knew she hadn't yet fully recovered from her earlier shock seeing him so injured, "How long does this path go? We've been walking for nearly 30 minutes now, and there's still no end."
Once Bimy was satisfied with her application of the salve Teluve looked at the now closed wound, "Sister Bele makes some good stuff." Teluve said as he stood up offering his hand to Bimy.
Bimy stored the jar back in her ring, and took Teluve's hand, and stood, "Hopefully were getting close to the end. I'm worried about sister, brother Yinor, and Omani."
Teluve nodded in agreement, "Lets keep moving."
They continued walking, disarming, and avoiding the traps they could. After about 10 more minutes of travel they came across a large room, walls, and ceiling of smooth, reflective marble with streaks of blues, greens, and whites surrounded Bimy, Teluve, and their bonds, stalactites hung from the ceiling, stalagmites sprouted from the floor, various columns filled the space, small pools were at the bases of the stalagmites, and along the floor were larger pools, all of clear water.
"The manna trail ends here. The node, or core has to be somewhere in this room." Bimy said as she looked over the room.
"Lets start searching then, but be careful." Teluve said as he looked around, "There may be more array set here."
They all looked about the room, but found nothing, "There's nothing." Teluve grew puzzled.
"This doesn't make sense Lulu, there's nothing, no traps, no further tunnels, or passages." Bimy scanned the room.
"Eee-Eee." Kedu's chattering echoed in the chamber.
"What are you looking at Kedu?" Teluve moved behind Kedu looking over him. Kedu was staring at something in the water of one of the larger pools, Teluve focused, and spotted something odd. There appeared to be a faint glow in the depths of the pool.
"Bimy." Teluve called Bimy over, "Kedu's found something."
Bimy moved next to Teluve, and Teluve pointed out the glow, "We're in luck. I think that's the core."
"Really?" Bimy didn't think much of the glow.
"Focus on the ambient manna density." Teluve instructed.
Bimy closed her eyes in concentration, a short moment later her eyes shot open, "The manna radiating from there is insane!" Bimy was shocked.
"Yeah. The manna that's concentrated down there is absurd. It has to be the core of this array." Teluve reached down to test the water, dipping just a finger, "Water's safe." Teluve looked over to Bimy and nodded, turning he prepared to dive in.
"Hold on Lulu." Bimy called out.
Teluve halted, and looked back to Bimy, "Hmm, what is it?"
Bimy turned to Lifmy on her shoulder, "Lifmy give Lulu some help."
"Squeak." Lifmy jumped down Bimy's shoulder running over to Teluve. Lifmy reached out his paw and touched Teluve's leg, casting a spiritual art, a rush of vitality burst within him.
Teluve smiled at Bimy, "Smart."
Bimy returned the smile, "Best to be safe."
Teluve knelt down, and scratched under Lifmy's chin, "Thanks Lifmy."
"Squeak." Lifmy nuzzled into Teluve's hand, enjoying the scratches.
Teluve stood up, "Alright. I'll be right back." Teluve said before diving into the water towards the glow.
Teluve made it to the glow with no problem, and discovered that it was a massive 16 inch diameter quartz gem, shaped like a pearl, it was perfectly round, and seemed to be embedded into the bottom of the pool, 'Now's the hard part.' Teluve attempted to first disarm the array's latticework in the quartz pearl, injecting his manna into it in hopes that he could disrupt its manna flow, and shatter the lattice, but he failed.
'Damn, this array's to complex. Guess this is the only way left.' Teluve brought both of his hands around the pearl and attempted to crush it.
Moment passed, 'Come, on, break.' *Crack!* the pearl began to crack. Then, *Bam!* the pearl shattered into many pieces releasing all its remnant manna.
'This is gonna hurt' Teluve braced himself, he drove his manna forward, and condensed all the water he could around himself, forming a barrier.
All the water of the pool surged towards the pearl, before *BOOM!* a large explosion sounded as waves of water surged up in a frenzy. The once serene pool was now completely chaotic as ripples raced out in concentric circles, Teluve was launched out from the pools center, crashing into the edge by Bimy, breaking the crystal, and stone underneath with his fall.
"Ah! Lulu!" Bimy ran over to Teluve.
He was badly injured, his arms, chest, and legs were covered in burns, there's heavy trauma to his skin, the upper portion of his jacket, and robe were completely torn to shreds, and his pants were in tatters, revealing his muscular body, and skin, his black, and brown scales were more clearly seen over his form, covering most of his body excluding the front of his torso, his scales formed diamond shaped patterns that decorated his arms, back, and legs.
Bimy threw her shield, and stave to the side, grabbing hold of Teluve, and pulling him from the pool's edge, "Lulu, your badly burned."
*Cough* Teluve coughed up a mouthful of blood, "Ack, my insides aren't much better."
"Lifmy help him!" Bimy called out to Lifmy.
*Squeak* Lifmy had already rushed over to Teluve placing his paws on him, and casting a spiritual art, manna rushed into Teluve as the cooling sensation of Lifmy's spiritual art of life washed over him, his injuries starting to heal, and his pain beginning to subside.
Teluve's wounds didn't fully heal, but it was better, his burns were gone, and the trauma to his body mostly restored, only some cuts, and bruises remained, "Thanks Lifmy." Teluve said as Bimy helped him to sit down.
"What happened?" Bimy asked as she sat Teluve down.
"I shattered the core, and took an explosion of manna to the face." Teluve took out another potion from his storage ring, *Gulp.* Teluve downed it quickly, "Hah."
"Why did you do that Lulu? Why didn't you just disarm it?" Bimy questioned, clearly upset.
Teluve looked at her apologetically, "Sorry Bimy. I tried, but the array was to complex for me. My only choice was to try, and break the core."
"You dummy." Bimy reprimanded Teluve as she wiped her eyes.
"Don't worry Bimy I'm fine. Thanks to Lifmy's spiritual art, and sister Bele's potion I'm good as new." Teluve tried to comfort Bimy.
"Doesn't mean I like seeing you get hurt." Bimy glared at Teluve.
Teluve seeing her glare, gave her a quick kiss, "Well the sooner we get out of here the sooner I can make it up to you." Teluve smiled at Bimy, "What would you like?"
Bimy kept up her glare as she poked at Teluve's chest, "You owe me a specialty made dessert for all of this."
"Ha ha." Teluve laughed as he extended his hand to help her up, "Whatever you want."
Bimy took a moment to think, then she smirked, "I want cheesecake."
Teluve smirked, "No problem."
Bimy took Teluve's hand, standing she kissed Teluve, and hugged him tightly, "I love you Lulu."
Teluve smiled as he held Bimy tight, "I love you too Bimy."