Nostrum: Tales of Valor

Herald

"Perished?" Samara chimes in, placing a hand against her chest as she does so.

"Yes, yes. But I claim that that claim is false!" Herald states boldly, pointing towards the ground as he does so. "I assure you, the Moon Children could not have been so easily thwarted by a mere beast such as the one that they claim did it!"

"That's great and all, Tsar, but if they are now believed to have died, how are we to ever find them, or their remains?" Lee questions

"Isn't that the question?" The hare laughs to himself as he turns about and plops into the desk's chair. "We all seek to learn the truth of their existance, but to do so we must first unravel the mystery of their death. It is claimed that they died in battle against a lycanthrope. Nothing special 'bout it! Just another run-of-the-mill beast. Now, I ask you, how can that be when they are capable of creating something such as myself? No, no. No beast has slain them. Not a man nor woman either!"

"Herald, this doesn't answer the question."

"Oh, of course not. Travel is the key." Herald rubs his paws together as he speaks on. "Only by returning to the place of their enlistment and the place of their death can we truly understand what has happened to them. Unfortunately, I have been tied to these grounds ever since I was a youngling. So, I never got the chance to explore the truth so thoroughly as you have."

"Might I ask; What did Maciofim have to do with exploring the possibilities?" Marne wonders.

"Ah, a question only one who truly seeks understanding would ask! I'll tell, I'll tell! Maciofim is the home of Dabria. Not necessarily the place in which it was found, as that would be here in Crater's Crown, but it is the place in which Dabria was trapped! You see, long ago, Dabria was placed in the catacombs where it was to remain for all of eternity. A chunk of Impar that had managed to land here on our homelands. But, unfortunately, all the warnings about the plant had been lost, and eventually, Dabria was set free. It was then the corrupted ideology of those running The Bethel in Maciofim that the plant was a good thing. That it would one day cleanse the world, but as you and I both know, that was nothing but a misinformed theory. The fact of the matter is that Dabria must be destroyed, and fast!"

"We... sort of tried that once already." Marne states, scratching the back of his head.

"W-what?" 

"We destroyed a rather large flower that was known to be the course of Dabria, which is why, for a brief moment in time, the world was free of it." Hael explains, looking to the floor as she does so.

"Unfortunately, thanks to this lot here," Lee begins, pointing at all who are not himself, "Dabria is back again and in full force."

"Oh... I see. That is why it has begun to shower us in seeds." Herald rests into his chair, processing all that he has come to now know.

"Wait, but I did bring this." Samuel reaches into his coat and approaches the desk, placing on it several vials of the gold fluid.

"Oh, it's here! Finally it's here!" Herald swiftly collects a vial into his paws and begins examining the contents.

"How did you come across this? How did you-"

"Nevermind that." Samuel smiles at the hare heartily, then looks back to the others. "This is the reason the people of Crater's Crown are not so worried about Dabria's spreading. This serum is meant to stop it before it can spread any further."

"How does it work?" Asks Hael, who curiously reaches out for one of the vials herself.

"Like so." Herald swiftly pulls the cork from one of the vials and chugs the contents entirely. Once he has finished doing so, he licks his lips and shivers. "It doesn't taste great, but it should certainly do the trick."