Van, Luna, and Anna packed up their things and prepared to go search for Lyn. Kella was of course very much against it, but all her arguments fell on death ears. Lyn was just too much of an important person to them, her and Amie.

So the group decided to search for her, Van concentrating every so often to determine her general location. He even went so far to pack a few scrolls with pre-made magic circles that would allow him to take people and things in and out. Though once activated they won’t last very long, so it was important that they make good use of them as possible.

They also planned to save any others that might need saving. After all, they couldn’t comprehend a scenario where Lyn wouldn’t have come back to them by now or at least send some sort of message unless something really bad has happened. To that end, they also brought a few of Lyn’s followers who could more easily fit inside fairy-sized homes and buildings. Even the imp triplets decided to come in hopes of helping.

“Here, take this, these will only last about eight hours, so use them wisely…” Alecto said, handing-off a few vials of strange glowing liquid.

“I can’t believe shrinking potions are actually real…” Van muttered as he eyed the three potions with interest before accepting and safely securing them in his bag.

“That’s because shrinking potions are extremely difficult to make…” Alecto explained with some hint of weariness in her voice. Probably from spending all night making said potions.

“You should be thankful,” Agnès added, sharing some of that same sleep-deprived energy she was giving off, stifling a yawn. “Shrink potions are worth a small fortune. You probably could buy a small castle with those three right there. The ingredients necessary to create such a thing aren't cheap, or easy to come by…” making sure she drove home how rare and expensive, and by extension, hard these potions were to make.

“I promise to put them to good use,” Van said seriously, looking them both in the eye and giving them his thanks.

After that he climbed up and took a seat behind Luna, Anna holding him from behind. The priest Anna that was, with her strange staff spear since she was one of the stronger Anna’s.

“Luna… Van… please stay safe…” Agnès asked, looking at the both of them with big worried eyes.

“Don’t worry love… we will return, promise…” Luna said, giving her wife an encouraging look and gentle smile.

Then she gave the order to Sephira and the group took to the air. Van casting a small bubble over them to prevent any stray spores from getting to them. Plus, since he was there, he added some wind resistance to the bubble to help increase their speed.

“Don’t worry Lyn… we're coming for you…” Van thought, focused on getting to his wife as soon as possible, hoping for the best… and dreading the worse…

---

The group flew over the forest, watching down below, concerned and saddened by how much has changed in just a few days.

From above they saw that the spores have made the forest their home, spreading out their corrupting influence, turning what was once peaceful woodland into something out of a nightmare. Here and there were a few pockets of civilization, mana barriers on and strong, trying to prevent the inevitable from happening. But for how long?

Van watched it all with a pit of dread in his stomach and worry written all over his face. If things have gotten this bad, then it can get so much worse… considering the way the red knives spread…

As they soared, Van would periodically point in the direction he felt Lyn’s presence, and after a few hours, they found a fairly large tree with a very strong mana barrier. Except… there was one problem…

The tree inside the barrier was also infected…

Van and everyone else looked on with worry. Both wondered what this could mean and how they were going to get in. He tried using his vespera bangle in the hopes of communicating with anyone inside, but either they didn’t have the same method the bangle used, or they used a different pulse signal frequency. Maybe they didn’t even use pulse signals, perhaps they used something else to communicate, either way, there was no way of asking for permission to enter at the moment… if there was anyone left inside that could, even if they wanted to...

“Van… Do you know of a method to get in the barrier?” Luna asked as she steered Sephira closer to the barrier.

Van looked at the barrier, trying to figure out a break-in method that didn’t see them killed. Scanning the area his eyes alighted on a large tendril that seemed to have wormed its way outside the barrier from the inside. Such a thing made him immensely worried since that would mean that the spores somehow originated from the inside…

“There seems to be a weakening in the portion of the barrier,” Van said, pointing to where the infected root was. “Perhaps there we can open up a small hole that would allow us to crawl inside? Try landing us nearby, preferably away from any other tendrils.”

Luna banked Sephira towards the infected root in one swift and agile movement, landing neatly in a small clean area not far from the weak point of the barrier. The group dismounted carefully and Van set up another bubble around them just in case. After that, Van went to take a closer look of the area, using his mana sense to detect any weakness in the barrier that was exploitable. After a few moments of scanning, he found a part of the root that was rotting due to the effects of the corruption, and because of that, the barrier was weaker there.

“I found a place,” Van said, taking a closer look. “If we time it right, we can destroy this root and blast the surrounding edges of the barrier. Do that, and there will be a window of opportunity for us to move in quickly.”

Luna looked at the corrupted root, then back to Sephira. “What about Sephira? I don’t think she will fit in through the hole.” looking worried for her friend.

Van brought out a few stones from his bag. “These are mana barrier stones, not as strong as a barrier core, but surround the area and they should at least last a few hours. I’ll almost make sure to increase the strength of her bubble before we leave, just to make sure.”

Luna and Anna took the stones and started placing them around the area while Van transferred some more mana to reinforce Sephira’s bubble. “Try to be brave girl.” Van said gently as he patted her snout. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.” trying to soothe Sephira’s worries, who looked back and forth fearfully between him and Luna, clearly agitated about being left behind.

“If worse comes to worst… leave us and return to camp, okay?” Van asked of her, looking into Sephira’s eyes.

Sephira whined a bit, clearly unhappy with what he said, and trying to nuzzle him as if to say that everything would be alright, or perhaps asking him not to go. She did the same to Luna and Anna, but in the end, the group left to prepare for their breach through the barrier…

“Alright!” the red imp said, smacking her fist into her palm. “Let’s get this show on the road!”

Van still wasn’t sure why the imps decided to come along, but he wasn’t going to turn down any help at this moment. He also wasn’t sure where they got the skin-tight black outfits, or the night vision goggles they were wearing, but he wasn’t going to ask.

With a thought, he prepared a large fireball spell, planning to blast through the weaker part of the barrier and the corrupted root all in one go. Wishing that Agnès was here since she could probably do this in her sleep. The girls and a few of Lyn’s followers formed up around him, ready to move the second he was done.

With a large explosion, the root was blown away, revealing an open space. The barrier quickly tried to close the hole, but in its weakened state, it was a slow process that the group took advantage of. Running through the passage and making it through just in time.

When they got through, Van relaxed his aura and looked around. The big tree, now that he saw it, wasn’t as badly infected as he first thought it was. Clearly, there were signs that people had tried to stop the infection from spreading if the many burn marks and cut-off parts were of any indication.

Van reinforced the bubbles around them, then manipulated them to better form around them. They then spread out a bit and started looking around for a way inside the tree.

As the group searched, Van couldn’t help but feel somewhat in awe of the tree in front of him. Taking a moment's pause to watch it and imagine what it must have looked like before it was taken by the red knives…

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and let it out, centering himself. Slowly, he felt the presence of Lyn, somewhere down below and forward from him. Opening his eyes again, he found nothing but the bare bark of the tree. He now knew that she was definitely here, but was at a loss of how to get to her. There was clearly no way in, at least, not at his size…

Then one of the imps started calling for him. “We found the doorway! But it's blocked by some sort of red gunk!” the red imp said, pointing over to where a small opening was found and where one of Lyn’s followers was waving at them with both her arms, trying to get their attention.

The group then moved in, trying to peek through the hole that supposedly was there to let them in. they tried calling, shouting through the small opening, to see if anyone was alive, but only received silence. The group looked to each other, and Van prepared a flamethrower spell, and shot it in, scorching the insides until nothing of the strange red gunk was left.

“D-do you think you should have done that? Wha-what if you hurt someone?” the green imp asked nervously.

“It doesn’t matter at this point.” the blue imp said. “We need to get in. And if there was anyone there, they would have answered when we tried to call. Besides, we don’t have the time to waste, we have to get in and out as soon as possible. Van’s mana pool isn’t infinite, so we can’t afford to debate when lives could be at risk.” the blue imp explained.

Despite saying that, the triplets did get into a debate about it, to which Van and the group ignored.

Van handed out the potions of shrinking, uncorked the bottle, and looked nervously at the bubbling mixture inside. Sharing one more look with each other, Luna, Anna, and Van drank the liquid.

It tasted like, spicy... tangy… strawberries?

A strange sensation all of a sudden took their bodies. A feeling of vertigo mixed with a sense of wrongness, or offness. Slowly, they shrunk down, thankfully with their clothes, and started to fall to the ground.

“Oh no you don’t!” the red imp exclaimed, eyes widening and zipping into action alongside her sisters. The trio manage to catch them before they hit the ground, not that such a fall would have really hurt them at this point, but it was the thought that counts.

“You really shout give us a heads up before doing something like that.” the blue imp said as she held onto Van from behind. With that, the imps safely carried Van and the others safely to the now burnt entryway that led deeper into the tree.

“Thanks.” was all that Van said as they were dropped off. He then turned to address everyone. “Alright, I don’t know the way around here, but I do know that Lyn is somewhere ahead and below us. Do any of you have an idea where she could be?” looking towards the half dozen or so of Lyn’s followers that tagged along.

A few of the insect-kin looked at each other before one took a step forward. “I’ve been here before, though only twice. I’m not entirely sure where she is, but she could be holed up in the basement? It would make sense considering the situation. Perhaps that’s where everyone else is as well?”

“Do you know how to get to the basement?” Van asked her.

She shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t, I wasn’t allowed free reign of the area… but!” looking up as if struck by an idea. “I do know where some of the staircases that lead downward are! Perhaps we could use your ability to sense where Lyn is and determine which staircase to take? Or just simply go down as much as possible and use your connection with Lyn to determine her general location…”

Van thought about that before nodding. “Alright, we’ll do that.” he then moved to the side and motioned forward. “Lead the way. We’ll follow you.”

“R-right!” the insect-kin said nervously, not used to being left in charge of such an important task such as leading an entire group safely through what is clearly now a very dangerous environment.

She took the lead and started going down the hallway, taking turns left and right, using what little she remembered of the place to get to more familiar places and from there to get to the picture she had in her head of where they should go.

Sadly, it wasn’t an easy walk at first. There was a bunch of strange red gunk everywhere that Van had to burn away before they could move on. And sometimes entire paths were blocked off by large tendrils with razor-sharp thorn-like knives. Twice, those tendrils attacked and they were forced to fight back.

The good news was, the closer they got to the center of the tree, the less infection there was, but almost as if to balance that out, the more scorch marks and cut-out bits there were as well.

The insect-kin looked back towards the group. “We're nearing the main hall. It’s the center of the tree and leads practically everywhere. Once they get there I can show you to a few stairs cases nearby that would allow us to go downward for several floors.”

“Good,” Van said, with some relief. “Let’s get out of here as soon as possible, being small feels… weird…” For some reason, that elicited a chuckle from the insect-kin and the imps, and he was left looking around confused as to why but receiving no answer.

A few minutes later they were in the grand hall, a beautiful place where one can see several floors above them and below them. As Van and the group moved towards the center, Van couldn’t help but look up to see how far it went, perhaps for a few dozen floors. Then he looked down over the railing and saw a few more floors below them. That’s when he heard multiple clicks and looked up again.

They were surrounded by dozens of fairies in green armor with the house Viridia insignia on them. All of them pointing crossbows at them, making Van wonder where they all popped out from.

“Intruders! Stay where you are and explain yourselves! Any sudden movements and you will be shot!” a woman in more flamboyant armor yelled, as she looked down on them from a balcony.

Van and the group paused, not expecting the sudden change in situation. As they traversed these halls they got the feeling that they were the only ones here, which led them to lower their defenses. But they were clearly wrong, as dozens of crossbow bolts were now pointed at them.

Van took a deep breath and forcibly calmed his nerves, trying to think of a way out of this peacefully. He looked up at the leader of the insect-kin surrounding them, and in his most courteous voice tried to explain the situation and why they were here.

“We are sorry to intrude, we tried contacting you from the outside but no one answered. I don’t know if it is because you use a different method of communication from us or that something happened to prevent the both of us from getting in touch beforehand.” lifting his arm to show off his vespera bangle and by that also show his method of communication as an explanation.

“We're here because we are looking for my wife… Lyn…” for some reason he felt hesitant to say that. Something felt… wrong… but he was always told by her that if he ever finds himself here, to just ask for her, so he couldn’t help but put some trust into that and pray it would all work out.

“She's been missing for a while now… and we're just very worried… Do you know what could have happened to her?” Van asked.

The leader narrowed her eyes, looking at them for a long while before suddenly shouting. “ARREST THEM!” and soon, dozens more fairies surrounded Van and the group.

“I-I don’t understand! Did we do something wrong!?” Van asked, going full tilt into the confused husband and acting innocent, but already concluding that something very wrong must have happened.

“Do not resist! We will take you to Gloria! She will determine what will be done with you!” the fairy yelled. “Blame yourselves for having wed a traitor!”

Van and the group did not resist, he made sure of that by giving everyone a look. Oddly enough the imps were missing, he hoped they wouldn’t cause any trouble… With that, Van the group were taken away… hopefully he would find his answers with Gloria…