The Flux's Flower

The Gift

Lalna flew for hours, his mind racing. He raced past the end portal, the farthest that Nano and him had ever explored, and kept going. Only at nightfall did he finally land, collapsing from exhaustion.

"I'm sorry Nano...This is all my fault." Lalna sighed as he fell against a nearby tree. "I should never have experimented with thaumaturgy."

"If you hadn't done your experiments, then who would be around to stop the taint?"  A deep voice echoed through the forest.

Lalna jumped up, looking around wildy and reaching for his sword. Pulling it out, he felt that it weighed slightly less, like it was built for someone smaller. Brushing the thought aside, he yelled out "Who's there!?"

The figure stepped out from behind the tree opposite Lalna, wearing battlemage armor. The figure's visor lit up in sync with his speech as he spoke "Call me Shadow."

"Alright, Shadow, why are you here?"

"I sensed the oncoming battle and stepped from my world into yours." Shadow said this as if it were as easy as opening a door. "In fact, your instruments sensed the energy displacement when I opened my portal."

"The anomaly..."

Shadow nodded. "Indeed. The taint is becoming more problematic, as it is becoming more aggressive, more...alive."

"This is your fault!" Lalna cried out, still holding the cleaver. "If you had minded your own business, Nano would still be around!"

"Would she? The taint attacked her specifically. The only difference is that it managed to gain control over that flower you two created."

Something in Lalna snapped. Perhaps it was the anger, or the fear, but he lunged at Shadow, slashing in a deadly arc with his blade. As fast as he was, Shadow was faster. In the blink of an eye, Shadow had drawn his bow and let loose an arrow, forcing Lalna to drop the blade to avoid the wickedly sharp arrow tip. Shadow grabbed the cleaver mid-air and drew his own, forcing Lalna to retreat as he slashed. Lalna drew his own bow, but only managed to get one shaky arrow off before Shadow closed the gap and held the stolen cleaver to Lalna's throat. A moment passed in tense silence, then Shadow flipped to sword point down and plunged it into the ground. "As much as you must blame me for the incident, we must work together to stop the taint."

"What makes you think i'll work with you?" Lalna spat

"The enemy of my enemy. Plus, don't you want to return the sword your friend gave you as her last gift?"

Looking down at the sword he'd used, Lalna saw a name engraved across the side of the pink blade in elegant cursive.

Nano