The Legend of Fanaura : Cursed

Chapter 2 - Azurlite Forest Dungeon

When they arrived back at their shared lodgings, it was obvious that something was not right. Even from afar, they could hear crying and yelling from within. They both exchanged glances, before rushing towards the house and bursting through the door.

The people inside turned at their arrival. Moira, upon seeing Yurika, pointed at her accusingly. "It's all your fault!" she screamed through her tears, her hate-filled gaze directed at the blonde.

Yurika froze in place, lost and confused at the sudden turn of events. Wenona stepped in front of Yurika in defense of her friend, glaring at the distraught girl. "Hey, what are you pointing fingers at Yurika for? We just got back."

Zig stepped in-between them all, a tired look on his face. "Everyone, calm down." Despite how exhausted he looked, his voice was still stern and commanded authority, cutting through the tension before it could escalate further. "This is neither the time nor the place to start blaming people. That includes you, Moira."

Moira's arm dropped back to her side, her face twisted in grief. Even so, she still continued to glare at the blonde.

Yurika finally found her voice. "What's going on...?"

A grim look crossed Zig's face. "Taft went missing during our last dungeon run."

"Wait, what?!" Wenona exclaimed. "But I thought you guys were just doing a run through the Azurlite Forest dungeon! And Taft knows the place like the back of his hand - how could he have gotten lost there?"

At this, Moira looked uncomfortable. "Umm... things happened..."

Wenona's sapphire eyes narrowed suspiciously in Moira's direction. "What 'things'?"

"D-do we have to discuss this here and now?!" Moira finally barked out. "Shouldn't we be forming search parties for him, or something long those lines?"

"Everyone, please, calm down." A calm, gentle voice interjected. A girl stepped out from the crowd, her blue ponytail swishing behind her. "Moira, don't you have Taft's True Name? Try locating him via telepathy."

"Riddelle..." Moira turned to the blue-haired girl, her face tinged with obvious despair. Upon hearing the other girl's suggestion, she blanched, her hands gripping the cloth of her skirt almost to the point of tearing.

"...Moira?" Zig touched the paling girl's shoulder in concern. "You do have his True Name, don't you?"

"I... I don't!" Moira confessed, tears streaming down her face. She shook her head, "I-I don't know his True Name. He never gave it to me... Even though I gave him mine, he never..." she trailed off, and silence fell over the assembled group.

"...Alright," Zig finally spoke. He clapped his hands, catching everyone's attention. "We'll be splitting up into several small parties so that we can cover more ground. Oh, and make sure there's someone who knows the area around Azurlite in your group! We don't want more people getting lost instead." Having said that, he moved around helping divide the people into groups, giving each of them a section of the woods to search.

It was around less than 30 minutes before he realized that he hadn't seen Yurika for awhile. An uneasy feeling settled in his gut. He looked around, trying to spot Wenona. The girl was standing to the side, seemingly waiting for something - or someone. "Hey, Wenona, have you seen Yurika?"

The uneasy feeling doubled when the purple-haired girl frowned in response. "She said she was heading up to her room to grab something, but it's been awhile since I've actually seen her..." Her sapphire eyes narrowed dangerously. "Hey, you don't think she..." she didn't finish the sentence, but the meaning was clear.