Lucia pushed her way through the Zalra with a burdened sigh, it was a dense and cluttered place filled with an immaculate and beautiful landscape even if it was a little harrowing and frightening to those that understood the crystal. "She should be here somewhere, fan out." She spoke with a heavy sigh as her undead corps began to rise from the soil. Undead knights rose first, pushing their way through the rocks and dirt to get to the surface. They were already familiar with the way things worked, being called for laborious duties. Despite their newest goal though as Lucia's task force they weren't too adverse to the change. While some did enjoy fighting and would bash a few skulls here and there when bandits surfaced, most were conscripted from random corpses Lucia'd happened to come across, less willing to fight and only wanting to serve out their term in peace the best they could, the majority approved of this shift in jobs. Soon after the knights, what followed were their steeds, the ants from her assassination mission she eventually gave up on. The knights mounted up forming search parties and exploratory units as they moved to scan the surrounding terrain. Naturally Lucia was looking for Luna. While she understood Luna could take care of herself, she would always be a little overprotective of the girl who had once been too afraid to leave the starter town. A small smile crept up to her face when she thought of just how far she'd gone. Even if the girl's build was still a little messy she was cleaning up a little bit at a time. "Luna?!" She kept calling out through cupped hands as she moved through the Zalra, her undead imitating the gesture from ant-back as the search party explored. On Lucia's shoulder a small spider girl imitated the gesture even though she couldn't speak, naively and adorably cupping her hands over her mouth pretending to cry out as well. Occasionally, Lucia would stroke the small spider's head in passing as they went. The impatient and easily bored spider girl was Lucia's latest companion, from the Titanius battle she'd plucked the egg from the chaos during her travels through the other side. It was a creature from the first world boss, one that Lucia unfortunately couldn't be present for, so it was nice to keep a piece from that time. Lucia wandered a great deal looking for Luna, a touch of worry but not so much to be panicked. Instead she thought to find the girl before returning to her own territory. Titanius was a harsh battle, one that she didn't want to repeat. Instead she wanted to relax, perhaps take some time off before returning to her usual routine. She couldn't do so without Luna though, the girl did a great deal to help her relax and enjoy her surroundings. If there was someone who was a light of happiness and peace for her it was definitely Luna.
Lost in the crystallized forest, Luna was beset by nothing but awe and wonder as the crystal plants and creatures seemed to be truly alive around her, above her head and beneath her feet when she walked. The rivers were alive with crystal fish, the trees consisting of crystal bark and leaves, it was a world of crystal that had her completely and totally enraptured by her surroundings. Natiri by her side, sticking close too her as she examined every little thing, leaning down to examine small details, running her fingers across the cold, smooth gems that made up life. Living gems, an infection that had changed the world here into something so serene and beautiful. Truly, it might be strange to admit it, but she felt incredibly safe here. It was like....home. Her fingertips were covered in tiny nicks and cuts, jagged crystals having caught her in her moments of awe and intrigue, though the real shock came from when she'd actually been attacked by some kind of living plant matter, crystalline of course. Shrouding herself in a layer of Arcane energy had been her instinctive reaction to the attack, she'd only meant to repel the attack. Instead, her energy had lashed out, turning a violent crimson color and breaking down the creature, dragging the tiny pieces towards her, breaking them down even further into raw energy, before they engulfed her and became one with her. It was such an odd feeling, but now she could feel a connection to this place all the same, even if that connection was small and fleeting. Yet, when she looked at her masteries now, one showed up on the list where only empty space had once been. Nature Magic. Had she been gifted that by this forest? Or perhaps cursed? A voice cut through her thoughts and she smiled. She'd come! She'd actually come looking for her! "Lucia! I can hear you!" She called out, following Natiri as the tigress led the way to the Necromancer. She didn't stop once she found Lucia, sprinting straight at the woman and colliding with her, wrapping her arms around her. "Lucia! You came for me!"
Lucia smiled brightly, nodding back when Luna jumped into her arms. Hugging her back sweetly, the few cavalry members of her knights fanned out a bit further, they'd found each other already but there were still hostile creatures around perhaps. Clinging to Luna affectionately, even lifting a hand to stroke her hair lovingly making sure the girl felt some care. "Of course I'd come for you silly... Luckily you were here-- It was the first place I thought to check. If it had been another portal by accident I would've been in trouble." She spoke with a melodious chuckle. Lucia wouldn't take long in the embrace to notice Luna's hands though, a bitter smile coming to her face. She knew that those kinds of injuries in the Zalra was dangerous. For a moment, resolution showed on her face-- she could just cut them off right here, apologize and explain the reasons afterwards. People changed because of the Zalra, she didn't want Luna to suffer. But looking up into the girl's eyes, her resolve weakened. Luna was a frail person before, though she'd gotten better Lucia felt she still had a tough time from time to time; Comparing herself to others, feeling left out, being cared for too often, being left alone too much. There were a myriad of things that Lucia worried Luna had taken to heart... If the Zalra could help with that, she shouldn't judge right? After all, her own personal darkness was also similar, if someone offered to cut it out of her, she might feel off as well. "Are you okay?" In the end was all she could ask, searching Luna's gaze for anything unnatural. If Luna felt something off, and wanted her help, Lucia would certainly give it... But if Luna felt things were better then ever, if she was excited she'd try to let it go. "You did well, Titanius ended a while ago, we managed to make it out, though I can't say the same for a lot of us... It was really unpleasent towards the end specially." She commented with a dry smile
Well thank goodness that this place had been the first location that Lucia had thought to check for some reason. Maybe the woman had prior experience with this beautiful crystal forest? It wouldn't have surprised her if that was the case at hand, the necromancer always seemed to know something about wherever in the game they were, no matter what they were doing there. "Thanks for coming for me." She hugged the woman a little closer, smiling softly. She didn't see Lucia's gaze harden for a minute, in truth she hadn't paid much attention to her own hands or the cuts. People got tiny nicks and splinters all of the time, her HP hadn't even dropped when she got them. They were superficial at most, so as far as Luna was aware, she had nothing to even begin to worry about when it came to them. They did itch slightly, but that was probably just irritation from the cuts and stuff more than anything else. "I'm okay, yeah. My HP is still a tiny bit low from fighting Titanius, but I'm not feeling that horrible dissonance stuff all over me anymore." She had no way of knowing if the crystal zalra had purged it from her to replace it, she wasn't aware of the infectious nature of the crystal after all. "And um, I have a new mastery on my list now. Somehow I picked up nature magic from this forest. Crazy right? I kinda love it here."
