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Frontier Town The Wanderin' Zera

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"I was... also concerned," Nova admitted. Her scrubbing had, at the very least, gotten some of the turquoise scale patches on his flank visible again. His fur had a complete scaly pelt underneath, as if to further accentuate his bizarre appearance. "Not just with that. With this whole 'offworlders get astronomically stronger than natives scarily fast' thing. But when I asked Powehi if something like that could change... he warned me how radical such thoughts were. How it still counted as exerting my will over Forlas."

He hung his head. "I can't be trusted with stuff like that. I made a conflict back home, too. Rebelling against my creator. And 'winning'... ruined a lot of lives." His glowing parts dimmed. "I freed a monster who then shadowed me. And I had to watch a family get torn apart like yours." His fur bristled. "A lunala died trying to save her child, only to fail. Deceived by someone she once thought a friend. The grief and pain proved too much for the father, some big chunk of black crystals."
 
"Lunala, hm," Mhynt repeated. "What I used to be." She focused. Her shadow changed shape, taking on the silhouette of a great crescent bat. It then returned to normal. "A chunk of black crystals sounds like Necrozma in its depleted form. An interesting pair, certainly..."

She sighed. "I'd be careful about the advice from someone like Powehi. Even if they have good intentions, their outlook is clouded by their element. Owen made similar mistakes in his world and we're still paying for it... but it can still be useful insight."
 
"You used to be—" Sputtering, Nova cut himself off.

"... I guess that explains the teleportation." He laughed nervously. "But the point was I get where you're at right now. And it's even more confusing because he was coming to rescue you back home... only for that situation to get flipped on its head here." Nova shifted his weight around. "Assuming we can, y'know, actually purge that corruption. I dunno if it'd be the Relic Fragment or not. Maybe we could, like, supercharge it with our combined radiance?"
 
"That might help," Mhynt agreed with an uncertain nod. "Still... it could also kill him or melt him away. We'd have to ask an expert, if an expert exists on Radiance against someone so deeply corrupted." She sighed. "If we could at least get information from him about Alexander, it might be useful, even if we have to... 'send him home.'" She nearly rolled her eyes at the euphemism.
 
Nova traced a talon through the dirt, humming in thought.

"What do you hope will happen?" he wondered. "If we could fix him, would you want him around?"
 
Mhynt blinked and paused her cleaning. Nova had asked a question that she hadn't even considered, despite everything.

"Want him around," she repeated... and gave no answer. She didn't know.
 
This was a first for Nova. Usually, Mhynt always had some sort of response. Even a snappy comeback. A follow up occurred to Nova, though he needed a bit to figure out how to phrase it.

"Were you... so convinced we'd have to kill him that you weren't expecting this opportunity?"
 
"How else should this have gone?" Mhynt replied, this one a little easier. "Look at him. I'd be surprised if he was of flesh and bone anymore. His blood was replaced with Shadow ichor. His scales radiated a black haze. The Shadows of this world... whatever Alexander did... he's something I'd never seen. And... I didn't..." She hesitated, taking a breath. It was in her mind but hard to speak.

"I didn't know how to talk to him again."
 
Nova leaned over so he could nudge her head. "And that's okay. No one's blaming you for it. I can't begin to imagine how hard it is for you." His cheek bolts turned slowly. "If Gene were here... I'd be just as lost. The last thing I ever did for him was leave him a message saying I'd be too far gone to help and he'd need to put me out of my misery."
 
"...I wonder if Owen would have told me the same," Mhynt said, looking at Nova. "You remind me of him in a few ways. Not... necessarily the personality, but the circumstances." With a wistful sigh, she added, "But blaming me in the past... maybe it was unreasonable. But now, I feel as though I should be able to do something for him, other than kill him. There must be a way..." But Mhynt sounded unsure.
 
"There's gotta be something," Nova said. "Even if we have to, like, throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks." His turquoise parts slowly pulsated like a heartbeat. "Was there any means back home of purging shadows? In my world, it's a one-way process, so I'm out of my element..."
 
Mhynt sighed thoughtfully. "A one-way process? Then inevitably the whole world would become Shadowed," she thought aloud. "Much like mine. There was very little access to a 'cure' other than time and hoping your spirit was strong enough to chip away at it. That is why Alexander--who could harness those Shadows without eroding under their influence--rose to become its ruler."

Mhynt worked a little harder to clean off the void ash.

"Radiance is another," she said and then paused. "Hm..."

She began to channel that light into the cloth and continued cleaning.

"But we didn't have access to that kind of energy in any abundance. Anyone who could was... dealt with swiftly. But my fear is, in Owen's current state, would Radiance cure him, or disintegrate him?"
 
It was a reasonable point. Still, there was something Nova wondered. "Is he truly that far shadowed, though? He was still coherent to give... responses to us. To recognize the message I left for him. Shouldn't that mean something?" He tilted his age. "Sage was turned into a literal shadow producing machine and seems to have some semblance of control..."
 
"Maybe so," Mhynt admitted. "Which means Alexander can't Shadow someone as far as he can in my world. Or... he chooses not to, since they're more useful with parts of themselves still on the surface. Risk and reward... But one thing that hasn't changed is if Alexander gets near him again, he might assume control."
 
"Then we've gotta cure him quickly," Nova surmised. "That way, he can fight with us against the prick."
 
Mhynt nodded, looking a little more resolute. "He would want that. Maybe we could even... find a way to angle it that way if he's still corrupted. He's very competitive. Maybe the idea of fighting his old master would... excite him?"
 
"Well, it's far less likely to blow up in his face then it did for me." Nova laughed nervously.
 
"Mm." Mhynt nodded apologetically. "Well. It's something to consider... I doubt Alexander has that firm a hold on things, assuming Powehi isn't underestimating him... though, Alexander can come off as... unassuming." She shook her head. "I'm speculating too much."
 
"Well, at least now we know there are wards we can put up against his corrupting influence," Nova said. "I'll bet there are others lying around Forlas. In Divine Dungeons."
 
"Divine Dungeons..." Mhynt nodded. "Right. Well, until we find more solutions, I suppose Owen will be... under Giovanni's care."

She checked at the void ash, wondering if her Radiance had helped scrub it off more effectively.
 
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