It was a sad sight. No reason for their demise was discernible, but with how the flower was drying out too, and the yellow patches at parts of the valley, it seemed to be related to the empty riverbed.

Though, the fact that Theora could see all of this was somewhat peculiar.

“Why did it get bright again suddenly?” she asked. “Didn’t you say it was the pollen of the flower that caused the effect? Why wouldn’t it be strongest at the core?”

“Antidote, I was told,” Isobel said. “Another type of pollen that dispels the effect. Just, it doesn’t carry as far. I would assume it’s because of the symbiosis? Makes it easier to defend the flowers.”

Theora gazed over the dying biome, and then, her eyes came to a halt on the flower. “We can’t take it.”

“Can’t take it?” Iso asked.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but this place is struggling. If we take the flower, we will accelerate its collapse. We can’t take it.”

Iso kept her in a questioning gaze, then looked back at the flower. “So… We just go home? The mages won’t be happy.”

“It’s a catalyst, right?” Theora replied. “These flowers make their task easier, but they don’t strictly need them?”

Iso nodded.

“Feel free to go home if you want to,” Theora said as she rummaged inside her layered cloak. “I will stay for a while.” With that, she pulled out her little Vial of Endless Water.

Better than nothing. If thirst was the problem, maybe she could help. Theora’s gaze went over the valley, edging the positions of each prowler into her head.

Actually… wasn’t there some kind of map function? It didn’t show the surrounding terrain, but it showed where her teammates were. Maybe it was possible to add some markers…?

After navigating the HUD for a moment, Theora managed to place some waypoints, although they were just vague estimations. She also put a marker at the location of the flower. That would make navigating the darkness easier.

It was a shame she didn’t have more water on hand.

Maybe Isobel should return home after all, and ask a few guards for help…?

Although… Would they even help? They required the Darkness Daffodils for some of their tasks, but they saw the prowlers as a threat. Theora had no idea how they would react. That said, they probably wouldn’t harm them if Theora requested they didn’t. Also, the guards were all busy with issues on their own.

With a low sigh, Theora made off towards the nearest prowler.

“Hey!” Iso shouted, then clacked after with fast steps. “What’s your plan! Share your plan with me! That’s a… Vial of Endless Water? Damn, how cool! Wait, how’d you get it? I want one!”

“Maybe these creatures require water,” Theora explained. “I want to help them, if I can. And then see if I can find the reason for the riverbed drying out.” At that, Theora hesitated for a moment.

A long time ago, when she was young, the world had been quite warm.

And then, as was natural throughout millennia, the temperature had slowly decreased. Was that course reversing? Had the world gotten warmer in the past few decades, while she’d been busy clearing Afterthoughts day in day out?

No… that was too fast. She’d need to investigate the region.

That would either take days, or… Or she’d use her Orb of Seven Wishes after all, to survey the place quicker with flight.

“Oh… We want to help the prowlers? Sure! Sounds good!” Iso nodded, grinning. “Even though they could probably tear me apart with a single bite! Sure, I’ll help them. I’m immortal, after all!”

“If that happened, Dema might be able to fix you,” Theora added.

“Yeah, maybe. We haven’t tried yet, but it seems promising if I like, break into a few pieces. As long as I don’t get ‘ground into the finest dust’, it’s fine,” she said. “Dema’s words, not mine.”

Theora nodded. “I’ve heard those words as well.”

They were closing in on the first waypoint, and after running a few circles, finally hit upon the targeted prowler. Theora touched its fur, rough and long. Her hand sunk right in.

The creature was still warm, its heart pounding slowly, its breath weak, but steady.

How fast was its metabolism? Had these prowlers been lying here for days? Weeks? … Years?

Many predators could go without food for long periods of time. Water, maybe less so, but being monsters, they had access to Skills and mana too, so that would help them survive through hardships.

Theora closed in on its comparatively tiny head. It looked like a mixture of a large hyena and a sheep, eyes tiny and green. It possessed curled horns with long white feelers radiating from its base. Maybe those helped pick up wind currents in place of sight?

Or, maybe they’d developed ways to counteract the flower’s pollen and could see in its artificial darkness just fine.

Theora sat down, pulled the creature’s head on her lap, and wedged the jaws open carefully with her fingers placed against the pointy teeth.

She uncorked her vial, and let its contents drip down the prowler’s throat. It blinked, throat bobbing, and when enough water had accumulated in its cheek, it swallowed weakly.

Isobel was mesmerised at the sight, and then suddenly, her feelers jerked up, and she let out an, “Oh!”

Theora looked up.

“Ah, no!” Isobel said, raising her hands. “No, I was just thinking, if you want to give them water, I have water! I brought some with me!”

Theora stared at Isobel, who stood there, carrying absolutely no luggage. An Isopod girl, wearing a bit of a moss dress she’d grown for herself, her many belly and chest legs poking out, and the occasional rift in the stone peeking through, red-glowing demon blood pulsing beneath.

“You have water with you?”

“Well, yeah!” Iso said. “Since I’m like… A giant underwater isopod? I used to live in the ocean. I never even got out!” She pointed at some structures at the bottom of her stomach that were grown out of elongated moss sheets. “I used to have an organ to breathe underwater, but it didn’t fossilise properly, so I do photosynthesis now. Anyway, since I’m an underwater creature, I sometimes need water, and I eventually received a Skill to carry some inside me. More than it appears.”

“Oh,” Theora said. That’s right, they’d revived an underwater creature without paying any mind to whether it could actually live on land. She felt a little bad. At least, Isobel seemed to have found a solution. “Wait,” Theora said, “I would guess they need freshwater to drink. Is that what you have?”

“Currently, yea!” She nodded, and beamed, and clicked, and made a little jump. “Doesn’t actually make that much of a difference to me personally, so I just fill up with what’s on hand. I just need things to be wet for my moss to grow properly.”

“I see,” Theora said. She looked down at her Vial of Endless Water. “This,” she said, gesturing to it. “It’s yours now. I’ll give it to you once I’ve given water to them all.”

Isobel’s eyes went wide. She pulled up her feelers and mossbrows in a bedazzled expression. “What—” she started. “No! Much more useful on you! I was kidding earlier, I don’t need it. I can carry water with me. Just need to prepare properly so I don’t—”

“It’s yours now,” Theora repeated. “With it, you can never run out of water, even if you didn’t prepare. You need water more than I do. It’s yours.”

Isobel swallowed, and just stared for a few seconds, her mandibles clicking against each other shakily. For a moment, Theora thought she was going to cry. But then she just nodded. “Alright!” she said, determined. “I’m going to help too!”

“We can’t split up,” Theora said. “Some may still have fight in them.”

Iso nodded, and grew a large patch of damp moss in her hand. Slowly, it seemed to fill up with water like a sponge, until it was dripping wet. She put it into the throat of the prowler.

It coughed, and swallowed.

“There!” she said. “Should be enough, I put quite a bit inside!”

That was definitely faster than using the vial. Theora faintly smiled at her daughter. Who knew someone would ever go and save dangerous monsters together with her? Theora rarely met other people who cared.

Of course, Dema would have helped too. Dema would have probably fed herself to them.

Well, not like they were in a position to eat, currently.

And so, they fed drenched patches of moss to one prowler after the other. Some were indeed still able to walk, but instead of desperately attempting to devour Theora, they tried to run away from her. Isobel’s [Identify] made it so they didn’t have to bother with creatures that were already dead. [Identify] worked on corpses, but not on beings that were alive.

“How much water do you have left?” Theora asked.

“A bit,” Iso said. “Should be more than enough for the ones we’ve seen.”

“When we’re done, we should try to find out what’s causing the drought. Maybe it can be fixed.”

Maybe it can be fixed.

Was that really a thought Theora was having?

Was it alright to fix it? A ‘fix’ to a drought of such a large area would be a ‘permanent change’, just like splitting a cliff in two. And yet, Theora couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t a bad change.

Without the prowlers, the flowers would rot away. This place would no longer exist. Neither these creatures nor the Darkness Daffodils, nor this enchanting absence of light. Theora couldn’t help but want to preserve it.

Maybe that was wrong, and yet, she hoped to find a way.