Fallen has been in these murky waters for days, well, actually no it's not murky anymore. When she entered the portal she was greeted by this intense purple glow and the further she went into this glow the more she could see around her. And she noticed the glow was coming from magic.

This entire place reeked of magic.

Fallen hasn’t noticed that she has spent days here yet, she was so memorized by everything down here. Sure, she hasn’t spotted any treasure yet, but she’s never seen these bioluminescent plants before! And oh, what is in this cave?

But as she was exploring what must’ve been the hundredth cave by now, that’s when she spotted the creatures that lived here.

These massive…eel creatures swam through the water with such grace that Fallen was in awe over them. They oozed a certain radiance from their bodies like they were royalty or something. Maybe they are in these grand waters, who knows?

One thing she does know…is that these creatures are corrupted.

Many of these creatures were floating lifelessly through the water, they were barely making any sort of movement even as minutes passed by. The only movements they were making were enough to stay afloat. Something was wrong, Fallen could feel it.

She’s spotted this before in her desert, yes, she has spotted creatures and animals acting this exact way and typically she’ll just leave them alone to do their…thing… But this… This is on a different scale.

She watched as the massive pink and white creature just…drifted to a rock. She winched at the loud thud that the rock produced when the creature smacked its face into it. And yet…still the thing won’t even blink. Yikes.

Okay, she can’t stand to watch this any longer.

“Hello?” Fallen emerged from her hiding spot to swim closer to the massive…very large creature. Goodness, this gal was big. “Are you okay?”

No response. Not a blink, not a twitch of movement, nothing.

“Hello? Uh…Can you hear me?” Fallen swam closer so she could get in front of its face. She waved her paw in front of its foggy green eyes. Still nothing.

Its definitely the corruption, but how can she help this gal? Uh… Uh… She could use her magic? It’s better than nothing.

And yet, as she stared at this creature’s eyes, her heart tightened up. Oh, she doesn’t feel good about using her magic on a being that can’t defend itself. But here it goes-

She blew her icy breath right at the creature’s face, hoping for something, anything.

She watched as the ice formed on the creature’s scales on its face, and the ice formed a layer over it. Is that good? What is happening-

She gasped as the ice began to crack, that can’t be good. Her body turned, her tail whipping in the water, in order for her to get away. She whipped her tail once before ice was flown into the water, nearly hitting her own body. Goodness, that wasn’t good. If that ice hit her body then it could have done some damage considering how fast it was going to hit her-

“W-What… What happened?!”

Fallen blinked and turned around, the creature’s eyes…it’s no longer foggy! It's clear! And the creature’s body was whipping this way and that, there’s definitely more animation in the body than there was just a moment ago! Did she do it? She thinks she did!

“Hello? Are you okay-”

“Who are you?!”

Fallen was nearly hit in the face by this creature’s long whiskers. “Calm down, please!! If you’re not careful you may hit the rocks and cause them to fall on us! Or the others may hear you-”

“The others!! Oh, gosh, what kind of awful state are they in? I wanted to save them but…the corruption… I wasn’t strong enough to save myself! But you…What did you do?!”

“I…uh…blew my ice magic in your face?”

“Magic… That must be it! Your magic was powerful enough to break the corruption!”

Fallen squeaked as the creature swam right up close to her. Her instincts were telling her to run now and run far. She had to force herself to stay still and let this creature speak.

“Uh…great…? Um… Who are you? Or uh…what are you?”

The creature paused and tilted her head, “I’m a rayfin, doesn’t your species know about us? … we have been in the abyss for a long time, so maybe your species forgot about us… That’ll be a shame… But! My name is Dragonfruit! It's a pleasure to meet you!” There was an audible purr in Dragonfruit’s throat.

“Uh… Maybe some of my species know about you, but I certainly don’t… So you’re a rayfin? Huh… Cool name for a species…and cool name… It fits you…”

“You think so? Thank you! What’s your name?”

“Mines? Uh…Fallen…”

“Fallen? Woah! That’s so cool! Though how did your parents come up with that name? Were you fallen as an egg or something-”

Fallen had no idea how to process this information. She’s never heard of anything called a Rayfin, but she supposes it is possible. After all, it’s not like she’s a social butterfly. Typically she lives alone, and she wants to die alone, and what better way to do that than to live in the desert where it's a fend for yourself type of landscape?

But this… Fallen has seen a lot in her late years, but never this-

“Oh! My sister! Can you help my sister? She got taken by the corruption too! I’m sure she must be somewhere around here! Please… Can you save her?”

Well, how could Fallen say no to this? Those desperate pleading eyes are…rather pathetic if she must say so herself.

“Uh…alright? Sure, why not? I was really hoping for some treasure though-”

“You want treasure?” Dragonfruit grinned, “I’ve got loads back at my place. If you do this then I’ll give you every bit of treasure I’ve got.”

“Now you’re speaking my language! You’ve got yourself a deal!”

“yay!!! Thank you so much, Fallen!!”

Before Fallen could even blink, she suddenly had Dragonfruit’s face nuzzling her cheek. Her body stiffened on instincts, and she glanced down to see…Dragonfruit’s massive fangs through the smile.

“Okay! You’re welcome! Let's get going! The sooner we get to your sister the sooner she’ll be cured from this corruption!” Fallen squeaked out as she quickly swam away from this rayfin.

She swore she could feel her scales quivering in fear.