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It took them a few hours, but eventually the duo arrived at the tower and were met again by the bizarre. The tower, which they had mistaken in the distance as being made completely of stone, was in fact only surround by an outer layer of rock, the majority being made of iron. The reason they were able to become aware of this fact was due to sizable holes in the upper and lower floors being open to the air, huge holes having been created as an object the size of a boulder crashing through the tower as if it were made of paper, throwing debris onto the ground surrounding the tower. Dirt, grass and stone were split as a trench had been dug going away from the tower, and bits of metal littered the distance between the evident start and sudden stop. Looking to the treeline, a huge chain was wrapped around several tall oaks, the chain links themselves appearing to be only about as large as that needed to retrain a large dog, but the sheer amount was startling. It seemed as though someone or something had broken the chain and spun it around like garland on the trees, the pattern erratic, but clearly from something circling them, not dropped from a height. In addition, without any cliffs being near them, there would be no place to drop the chain off from. Whoever deposited the chain there had to have been quite powerful, and there was still the mystery of what had been chained in the first place. Restless, Palu glanced at the tree line surrounding the small clearing and sighed. Nothing obvious aside from the chains was to be found in their shadows. If there was some sort of danger lurking out there, it certainly knew how to hide itself.

For now she and her new charge would have to follow procedure and do a thorough examination of the scene to put in Palu's report once they reached the academy. Ordinarily, protocol dictated that she examine the scene either with fellow Guild members or alone, but she had no safe place to send Kestrel for the time being, and the android would most likely rationalize a reason for her refusal. In truth, Palu always hated investigations into matters that ranked this high on her scale of the eerie, and it would be far worse if she had to do it alone. In addition, even without many magic spells on her side as of yet, Kestrel probably would be able to defend herself fairly easily if the potential attacker turned out to be a human who somehow had accidentally caused the death of the man in the field. Unfortunately, due to the high evidence towards a magic-related death, and the uncertainty of the situation, Palu doubted that either one of them would be able to do much on their own should the need to defend themselves arise. Sighing, she turned to find Kestrel already on the doorstep to the tower, peering in through a hole in the broken door. If a strange new foe didn't murder them both before they reached the academy, Kestrel's curiosity most likely would bring about her own demise eventually. Together they entered the tower, unceremoniously pushing the door open without even a knock, causing it to fall off of it's hinges and crash on the ground. Seeing as no dust cloud rose from the impact, the damage to the tower was very recent, Palu thought, and shivered slightly. It was an ill omen to be certain.

Slowly they searched the ground floor and found the smoldering remains of a recent fire, porridge still clinging to an overturned pot. The inner walls of the tower were covered up with a lot of tapestry, but in several places it was quite clear that cold iron lay underneath. While Palu had not heard of any recent Fey activity in the area, for which the metal was most well known for driving away, there were several other superstitious and practical applications for the metal that might be why there was so much within the tower. The second floor didn't provide much information either, just a simple bed and set of possessions that one would see in the home of almost any sort of denizen of the realm. Whatever question there had been of whether the corpse had formerly been using this tower was removed when they reached the third and final floor and an elaborate alchemical laboratory. Several desks were covered with notebooks, journals, sketches, schematics, flasks, beakers and all manner of powders and liquids. Another duplicate of the design on the amulet, this one split in half, lay on the floor in one of the papers that had been scattered in the obvious struggle with whatever had fled this room. Several bricks and sections of the cold iron were torn and broken, enough pieces left to show that whatever had caused the holes in the tower had been chained multiple times within this single room, and that when it escaped it had taken the chain with it, wrapping it until if broke from it's supports. Looking out at the place the chains had fallen, Palu grimaced. The sun was setting, and already it was far too dark now to dare attempt to reach their destination without added support. Their investigation had yielded many volumes of indecipherable script to gather and study as best as possible before continuing on. Together they scoured the works for any hint of what could have happened there, but without illustrations it seemed impossible to discern. Eventually Palu decided to call it a night, telling Kestrel to practice her fire-light spell if she wished to continue reading them in the dark. Though her intuition told her that she would most likely feel ill at ease sleeping in the stranger's bed, she did manage to succumb to her exhaustion and rest quite comfortably until the sun rose to awaken her.

Kestrel had managed to find some wild berries, and added them to their small rations as they both ate in silence. Palu glanced over occasionally at her pupil, but spent most of the breakfast merely enjoying the addition and attempting to decipher the journal she held in her left hand. Kestrel, almost a mirror image of her, was holding the book Palu had given her in her right hand and ate with her left. Clearly she had been programmed to favor one hand over the other, but Palu had seen Kestrel long enough now to know that the android was in fact ambidextrous, and an extremely fast reader when she chose to be. For now, seeing as the basic magic guide was fairly old and fragile, she tenderly turned the pages and absorbed the information, desire for understanding burning in her eyes. As she read, occasionally she would leave her utensils and food on the table and mutter something, casting minor spells. A spell to draw moisture out of the air and fill two glasses on the table with water. A minor ice spell to cool said glasses. Practical spells, for that was what that guide taught most of all. After they were done eating, they cleaned their dishes, Palu out of habit, Kestrel so that she would learn better how to fit in as a human, instead of being recognized as an android immediately. When Kestrel started packing up her things, Palu smiled slightly. Soon they would be on their way again, heading onward toward Magus Ludus with a few of the journals with them to give to the headmaster. The school term would not begin for another couple of weeks, giving Kestrel time to go through the application process and attempt to enroll. Certainly, as Palu had said just two nights before, it hadn't ever been done before, but where the Arbiter got involved, the miraculous, both pleasant and horrifying, occurred. Not necessarily a point in Kestrel's favor, but then again it wouldn't be much of a hindrance either. She would most likely be watched very carefully, but Palu was beginning to like the oddity before her, and even meekly root for her success.

As they descended the tower, discussing yet another lesson in the basics of magic, they heard a faint droning noise outside. Palu grinned wildly and quickly rushed outside, her pupil following her tutor in confusion and curiosity. They ran out into the clearing towards the sound and looked out on as faint green lights shimmered and danced around, darting about in the air. As they approached, the strange creatures didn't flee, but rather circled around the two, moving in and out, even bumping into them and tickling Palu. Kestrel too, it seemed was ticklish, and though she was vastly confused, she couldn't help but laugh as she asked Palu,
“What are these things? I've never seen anything like them in Father's books!” Palu giggled and cast a simple fire-light spell, which immediately drew the creature's attention towards it instead of her. Slowly they fed off of the spell and the light diminished to Kestrel's shock.
“They're called Quoma! Little tiny things, its theorized they're a type of spectral creature. They can't really draw much out of you or the environment at a time, but they literally feed off of magic itself! Especially stronger concentrations of magical energy like spells. Don't worry though, they can't hurt you except some minor marks, like bug bites almost. They're pretty rare, but they're sometimes kept as pets...” Suddenly Palu's enthusiasm was cut short and she extinguished her fire-light spell. Kestrel's mouth opened in surprise as the Quoma wandered off, and she frowned.
“What is it?” She asked, recognizing that something was wrong.
“Kestrel, they're kept as pets sometimes, but they pass through almost everything... One exception being iron. Like in the tower!” Palu exclaimed and grabbed her pupil's arm, pulling her towards the tower. Suddenly they hear the same drone as before, but this time far lower in octave, and far higher in volume. Looking behind them, Kestrel saw a green light in the distance rising over the tree tops. A luminous shape, fluttering through the air, the drone of it's wings drowning out all security and safety from Palu, drawing confusion from Kestrel just as easily as it floated. A gigantic Quoma, heading straight towards them at an alarming speed.

Normally Quoma were quite playful with one another when they were feeding off of magic, but otherwise lethargic, preferring to merely float around in small swarms wherever the air currents took them. This particular monstrous abomination, however, made no pretense about it's intentions. It was there to feed. Quickly the two rushed back inside the tower, closing the door just as the Quoma crashed into the ground where they had previously stood. Palu shook in fear while her pupil looked out a small crack in the wall at the beast. It appeared to be wounded, a small crack on it's outer shell, but it seemed to be healing as it consumed the residual magic energy from their previous position feeding it's lesser cousins. Atop it's smooth and eyeless head, however, there seemed to be a bit of scarring, as if it had been branded. As Kestrel leaned closer towards a larger hole in the wall to get a better view, her tutor pulled her away. Immediately the gigantic Quoma turned it's head and mandibles, staring at the hole, vibrating its wings and growling. Kestrel looked out the smaller hole again and watched it stare at the larger hole for a few minutes. Eventually, it lifted off the ground and started to head back for the trees. Kestrel moved away from the wall and turned to her mentor.
“I presume from your worry that such creatures are not usually of such magnitude and aggression?” She asked and Palu gulped before shaking her head.
“It's... an anomaly. I've never heard of one ever growing so large... In fact, it should be impossible... They consume enough magic to reproduce asexually, splitting in half and creating two equal new Quoma...” The two sat in silence for a while, listening for the tell-tale drone of the larger creature. Eventually, night fell and they slept for a few hours.

Kestrel awoke to find her mentor missing, but thankfully she found her in the alchemical lab they had previously found. Softly she stepped into the room and waited as Palu ransacked the room.
“You don't think that was a natural mutation either, do you?” Kestrel startled Palu and the woman threw everything she was holding up into the air. Catching her breath again, Palu turned to her student and shook her head. “I... Saw something on the Quoma, but I wasn't sure if it was significant. There seems to be some scaring on it's skull, like that made with a brand or acid...” Palu's jaw dropped, and she immediately dropped to the ground, searching for one of the papers she had thrown up. When she found it, she showed the diagram to her pupil. Kestrel nodded. The design appeared to have been smudged as the Quoma tried to heal itself, but it clearly was the same symbols and magic circles. “Why would anyone harm another like that?” Kestrel asked in disgust and shock.
“I'm afraid that no one has an answer to that... It could be a psychological disorder, a misguided accident, or any number of things that drives a person to harm another creature or person. In this case... I think it was to test a theory of... the corpse back in the other clearing... What it was, I have no idea... This archaic design looks like a common one meant to keep magic stored within an object, but this is a living creature, and... It shouldn't have worked. Any time a Quoma detects magic, it tries to eat it. That includes magic from a potential spell that would be carved into it, because the act of creating it draws magic from the creator as well as the environment. Which the Quoma could eat faster than the spell could be cast if it had as many in a swarm as it just scared off...”

Kestrel looked around the room and found a small trinket on one of the tables. A glass and lead jar with small chains and fragments of Quoma shells and wings in it. What appeared to be a small metal pole for prodding a captured Quoma turned out to be two. Upon further examination, Kestrel saw a fine etching in the tips. Showing it to Palu, her mentor gasped as she realized what the markings signified.
“So that's how... Each of these is but half of a spell, holding no magic on their own, but together... enough to hold in the magic that lets the Quoma divide and reproduce. He branded it. What twisted man would-” Her disgust was interrupted as the wall behind her crumbled as a tree crashed through the rock and cold iron, turning to dust rapidly before it fell to the ground. Any living thing holding magic, it seemed, wasn't safe from the monstrous entity that now reached it's mandibles and tentacles into the hole. Kestrel, acting quickly, picked up a piece of the rubble and threw it at the beast. As the cold iron struck the Quoma, it reared it's head back, screaming in pain as it backed away. Palu caught her breath and moved closer towards her just as the beast crashed into the wall again, shuddering the tower. Both women deftly moved across the floor to the spiral staircase and moved down it, out of the creature's reach.

Kestrel quickly ran a self-diagnostic and found no significant problems within herself, but upon examining Palu she saw that the woman had a deep gouge in her side that was leaking blood.
“Palu Yist, we must get you to a doctor.” She said, pointing to her wound.
“I'm fine, Kestrel, we just need to figure out how to lose this abomination.” Palu took a glimpse up the stairs and winced as she turned.
“But you need medical attention, your side is-”
“I said I'm fine!” Palu snapped, and Kestrel jerked back in shock. Palu sighed. “I'm sorry Kestrel, I didn't mean to startle you... It's just, if we can't escape this tortured creature, it won't matter if I'm wounded or not. If we were alone, I could heal it myself, but with that... Thing out there, I can't use a spell without it knowing where we are. You should just leave me here and see if you can escape through the ground floor while I distract it. I-” Kestrel's hand moved on a programmed impulse even she did not understand, and a moment later Palu rubbed the cheek that had been slapped. She began to apologize, but Palu started laughing. “You're... More noble than I thought. Even if you are a ro-android. Well, what are we going to do then? That thing can outlast us easily...” Palu slumped against the wall of the stairwell and tilted her head down in defeat. Kestrel stood there for a few moments, the creature's attacks shaking the walls and dropping dust down on them, her processes running as a glimmer of an idea popped into her synthetic cerebellum. She tightened her hands into fists and spoke out loud softly. Her mentor didn't respond with anything other than a sob.
“Palu...” The woman looked up at her, despair in her eyes. “The reason the Quoma is attacking is because it's hungry for magic, right?” Palu blinked in confusion and nodded. “And the brand on it is what is preventing it from dividing, so its appetite continues to grow... That is what the brand signified, right?” Again, a slight nod, but Palu's eyes softened and widened as she heard what her pupil said next, “What would happen if the brand was altered?”

To the gigantic Quoma, life had only two purposes: To eat, and to reproduce. When the horrible food-source had captured it in it's prison of glass and iron, it was irritated, but knew that at least the swarm was still safe for the time being. That it's capture meant that it's cousins would know to avoid the food-source that had captured it. That it's life would fade without more food, but that at least it's death would not be in vain. It grew angry then, that the food-source had captured several of it's cousins in addition to it, and fed it, enough to survive, but not to reproduce. What could the food-source be planning with them? Curiosity turned to horror as it heard the screams of it's cousins as they were burned in the wild experiments of the food-source. It grew to hate the food-source, to want to feast on it more and more. When it's turn came, the food-source burned it as well, but he stopped burning the others to the Quoma's relief. However, when next it fed, it grew, just a slight amount at first, but as it was fed more and more, it grew larger until it no longer fit in the jar, and was leashed with an iron chain and stone collar. It did not reproduce as it's cousins did, and it's hunger grew as did its size.

Eventually, even the chain was unable to stop it, and it managed to break free, tearing the chain from the wall as it escaped. Wrapping it's leash around the trees, it managed to break the stone collar, burning itself multiple times as the chain struck it, but eventually it was free. Free to enact it's revenge. The tower itself deterred the beast as it couldn't phase through the cold iron within, but it soon learned that with its increase in size, so too did it's strength increase. Enough to start throwing trees against and into the tower, it's very touch draining the tree of life even as it flew from its grasp. The food-source managed to escape the tower, to flee from the Quoma, but it was hunted down and fed upon, and the Quoma had it's revenge. But it was still cursed to be different from the others, unable to reproduce, and always hungry. And now two more food-sources, each as bright and brilliant as the first had arrived to feed upon! Both were out of it's reach for the moment, but they too would try to flee eventually, and it would feed once more, if only to cease the pain inside of it. As it reached one of it's tendrils almost to the stairwell, it suddenly felt a heat behind it, and turned to see one of the food-sources heading to the clearing. As it withdrew from the tower it felt the same heat again, from within the tower this time. As it turned, it's vision grew white as the food-source launched itself at it's face.

Kestrel had waited until her mentor had exited the tower to ascend the stairs, keeping to the walls as she looked for anything large enough to use that was made of cold iron. When the beast turned, she knew that she didn't have any more time to search and picked up a chunk of it from the ground as she began to dash towards the Quoma, casting the fire-light spell as she held the cold iron near the hand that held the flame. The creature turned, it's scaring pointing right at her, it's mandibles and tentacles reaching out for her as she dove above them towards the brand. As she thrust the heated metal into the Quoma's face, it screeched in pain and thrashed about, a mandible knocking Kestral into the side of the hole. She clung on tightly as she turned to see light pouring out the monstrosity, cracks growing along it's surface. Palu stood at the entrance to the clearing, a hand in front of her eyes to protect them. The intensity grew until finally it was replaced with a thousand small green globules of light, drifting aimlessly, dancing and scattering to the four winds in search of more food. All that remained were three small Quoma that glowed blue. As Kestrel pulled herself back up into the tower, the Quoma pushed her from beneath, not tickling her as before, but cooling her skin for a brief moment as they assisted her. These Quoma hovered around her as she allowed her intake valves to slow down and allow the excess heat from her exertion to cool.

Palu rushed back into the tower to find her pupil casting a small fire-light spell and the blue Quoma changing the color of the flame slowly, rather than consuming it as quickly as their cousins had done earlier. Palu had already cast a spell to heal her wound, leaving only a faint pink scar as a reminder that would fade in a few months. She sat down beside her student and sighed. She should have been the one to risk her life to protect her student, not the other way around. What her student had done was reckless, risky, and unlikely to even work. Breaking the spell might have caused it to overload and wreck the entire tower as well as her own body, and that of the Quoma. As it stood, Palu had to acknowledged that the Arbiter's fate for this little android must be important for something of this magnitude to have been put forth as one of her earliest challenges. Certainly, she had a long ways to go, but all doubt that Palu Yist had of Kestrel's determination and ability to overcome obstacles in her way had vanished just as suddenly as the Quoma had divided. All that remained was a sense of a meaningful bond to this strange girl, and a confidence that was unshakable. That, and three mutated Quoma that were certainly less dangerous than their precursor. Even their ability to consume magic seemed to have diminished, and though they still couldn't pass through cold iron, it no longer seemed to harm them as it had. They were a new species entirely, and they seemed to have taken a liking to the woman they now encircled. Palu merely smiled as she saw her pupil play with them, undeterred by the ordeal they had just gone through. Then she walked to the bedroom they had used the night before and fell asleep as her head hit the pillow.

Description
It took them a few hours, but eventually the duo arrived at the tower and were met again by the bizarre. The tower, which they had mistaken in the distance as being made completely of stone, was in fact only surround by an outer layer of rock, the majority being made of iron. The reason they were able to become aware of this fact was due to sizable holes in the upper and lower floors being open to the air, huge holes having been created as an object the size of a boulder crashing through the tower as if it were made of paper, throwing debris onto the ground surrounding the tower. Dirt, grass and stone were split as a trench had been dug going away from the tower, and bits of metal littered the distance between the evident start and sudden stop. Looking to the treeline, a huge chain was wrapped around several tall oaks, the chain links themselves appearing to be only about as large as that needed to retrain a large dog, but the sheer amount was startling. It seemed as though someone or something had broken the chain and spun it around like garland on the trees, the pattern erratic, but clearly from something circling them, not dropped from a height. In addition, without any cliffs being near them, there would be no place to drop the chain off from. Whoever deposited the chain there had to have been quite powerful, and there was still the mystery of what had been chained in the first place. Restless, Palu glanced at the tree line surrounding the small clearing and sighed. Nothing obvious aside from the chains was to be found in their shadows. If there was some sort of danger lurking out there, it certainly knew how to hide itself.

For now she and her new charge would have to follow procedure and do a thorough examination of the scene to put in Palu's report once they reached the academy. Ordinarily, protocol dictated that she examine the scene either with fellow Guild members or alone, but she had no safe place to send Kestrel for the time being, and the android would most likely rationalize a reason for her refusal. In truth, Palu always hated investigations into matters that ranked this high on her scale of the eerie, and it would be far worse if she had to do it alone. In addition, even without many magic spells on her side as of yet, Kestrel probably would be able to defend herself fairly easily if the potential attacker turned out to be a human who somehow had accidentally caused the death of the man in the field. Unfortunately, due to the high evidence towards a magic-related death, and the uncertainty of the situation, Palu doubted that either one of them would be able to do much on their own should the need to defend themselves arise. Sighing, she turned to find Kestrel already on the doorstep to the tower, peering in through a hole in the broken door. If a strange new foe didn't murder them both before they reached the academy, Kestrel's curiosity most likely would bring about her own demise eventually. Together they entered the tower, unceremoniously pushing the door open without even a knock, causing it to fall off of it's hinges and crash on the ground. Seeing as no dust cloud rose from the impact, the damage to the tower was very recent, Palu thought, and shivered slightly. It was an ill omen to be certain.

Slowly they searched the ground floor and found the smoldering remains of a recent fire, porridge still clinging to an overturned pot. The inner walls of the tower were covered up with a lot of tapestry, but in several places it was quite clear that cold iron lay underneath. While Palu had not heard of any recent Fey activity in the area, for which the metal was most well known for driving away, there were several other superstitious and practical applications for the metal that might be why there was so much within the tower. The second floor didn't provide much information either, just a simple bed and set of possessions that one would see in the home of almost any sort of denizen of the realm. Whatever question there had been of whether the corpse had formerly been using this tower was removed when they reached the third and final floor and an elaborate alchemical laboratory. Several desks were covered with notebooks, journals, sketches, schematics, flasks, beakers and all manner of powders and liquids. Another duplicate of the design on the amulet, this one split in half, lay on the floor in one of the papers that had been scattered in the obvious struggle with whatever had fled this room. Several bricks and sections of the cold iron were torn and broken, enough pieces left to show that whatever had caused the holes in the tower had been chained multiple times within this single room, and that when it escaped it had taken the chain with it, wrapping it until if broke from it's supports. Looking out at the place the chains had fallen, Palu grimaced. The sun was setting, and already it was far too dark now to dare attempt to reach their destination without added support. Their investigation had yielded many volumes of indecipherable script to gather and study as best as possible before continuing on. Together they scoured the works for any hint of what could have happened there, but without illustrations it seemed impossible to discern. Eventually Palu decided to call it a night, telling Kestrel to practice her fire-light spell if she wished to continue reading them in the dark. Though her intuition told her that she would most likely feel ill at ease sleeping in the stranger's bed, she did manage to succumb to her exhaustion and rest quite comfortably until the sun rose to awaken her.

Kestrel had managed to find some wild berries, and added them to their small rations as they both ate in silence. Palu glanced over occasionally at her pupil, but spent most of the breakfast merely enjoying the addition and attempting to decipher the journal she held in her left hand. Kestrel, almost a mirror image of her, was holding the book Palu had given her in her right hand and ate with her left. Clearly she had been programmed to favor one hand over the other, but Palu had seen Kestrel long enough now to know that the android was in fact ambidextrous, and an extremely fast reader when she chose to be. For now, seeing as the basic magic guide was fairly old and fragile, she tenderly turned the pages and absorbed the information, desire for understanding burning in her eyes. As she read, occasionally she would leave her utensils and food on the table and mutter something, casting minor spells. A spell to draw moisture out of the air and fill two glasses on the table with water. A minor ice spell to cool said glasses. Practical spells, for that was what that guide taught most of all. After they were done eating, they cleaned their dishes, Palu out of habit, Kestrel so that she would learn better how to fit in as a human, instead of being recognized as an android immediately. When Kestrel started packing up her things, Palu smiled slightly. Soon they would be on their way again, heading onward toward Magus Ludus with a few of the journals with them to give to the headmaster. The school term would not begin for another couple of weeks, giving Kestrel time to go through the application process and attempt to enroll. Certainly, as Palu had said just two nights before, it hadn't ever been done before, but where the Arbiter got involved, the miraculous, both pleasant and horrifying, occurred. Not necessarily a point in Kestrel's favor, but then again it wouldn't be much of a hindrance either. She would most likely be watched very carefully, but Palu was beginning to like the oddity before her, and even meekly root for her success.

As they descended the tower, discussing yet another lesson in the basics of magic, they heard a faint droning noise outside. Palu grinned wildly and quickly rushed outside, her pupil following her tutor in confusion and curiosity. They ran out into the clearing towards the sound and looked out on as faint green lights shimmered and danced around, darting about in the air. As they approached, the strange creatures didn't flee, but rather circled around the two, moving in and out, even bumping into them and tickling Palu. Kestrel too, it seemed was ticklish, and though she was vastly confused, she couldn't help but laugh as she asked Palu,
“What are these things? I've never seen anything like them in Father's books!” Palu giggled and cast a simple fire-light spell, which immediately drew the creature's attention towards it instead of her. Slowly they fed off of the spell and the light diminished to Kestrel's shock.
“They're called Quoma! Little tiny things, its theorized they're a type of spectral creature. They can't really draw much out of you or the environment at a time, but they literally feed off of magic itself! Especially stronger concentrations of magical energy like spells. Don't worry though, they can't hurt you except some minor marks, like bug bites almost. They're pretty rare, but they're sometimes kept as pets...” Suddenly Palu's enthusiasm was cut short and she extinguished her fire-light spell. Kestrel's mouth opened in surprise as the Quoma wandered off, and she frowned.
“What is it?” She asked, recognizing that something was wrong.
“Kestrel, they're kept as pets sometimes, but they pass through almost everything... One exception being iron. Like in the tower!” Palu exclaimed and grabbed her pupil's arm, pulling her towards the tower. Suddenly they hear the same drone as before, but this time far lower in octave, and far higher in volume. Looking behind them, Kestrel saw a green light in the distance rising over the tree tops. A luminous shape, fluttering through the air, the drone of it's wings drowning out all security and safety from Palu, drawing confusion from Kestrel just as easily as it floated. A gigantic Quoma, heading straight towards them at an alarming speed.

Normally Quoma were quite playful with one another when they were feeding off of magic, but otherwise lethargic, preferring to merely float around in small swarms wherever the air currents took them. This particular monstrous abomination, however, made no pretense about it's intentions. It was there to feed. Quickly the two rushed back inside the tower, closing the door just as the Quoma crashed into the ground where they had previously stood. Palu shook in fear while her pupil looked out a small crack in the wall at the beast. It appeared to be wounded, a small crack on it's outer shell, but it seemed to be healing as it consumed the residual magic energy from their previous position feeding it's lesser cousins. Atop it's smooth and eyeless head, however, there seemed to be a bit of scarring, as if it had been branded. As Kestrel leaned closer towards a larger hole in the wall to get a better view, her tutor pulled her away. Immediately the gigantic Quoma turned it's head and mandibles, staring at the hole, vibrating its wings and growling. Kestrel looked out the smaller hole again and watched it stare at the larger hole for a few minutes. Eventually, it lifted off the ground and started to head back for the trees. Kestrel moved away from the wall and turned to her mentor.
“I presume from your worry that such creatures are not usually of such magnitude and aggression?” She asked and Palu gulped before shaking her head.
“It's... an anomaly. I've never heard of one ever growing so large... In fact, it should be impossible... They consume enough magic to reproduce asexually, splitting in half and creating two equal new Quoma...” The two sat in silence for a while, listening for the tell-tale drone of the larger creature. Eventually, night fell and they slept for a few hours.

Kestrel awoke to find her mentor missing, but thankfully she found her in the alchemical lab they had previously found. Softly she stepped into the room and waited as Palu ransacked the room.
“You don't think that was a natural mutation either, do you?” Kestrel startled Palu and the woman threw everything she was holding up into the air. Catching her breath again, Palu turned to her student and shook her head. “I... Saw something on the Quoma, but I wasn't sure if it was significant. There seems to be some scaring on it's skull, like that made with a brand or acid...” Palu's jaw dropped, and she immediately dropped to the ground, searching for one of the papers she had thrown up. When she found it, she showed the diagram to her pupil. Kestrel nodded. The design appeared to have been smudged as the Quoma tried to heal itself, but it clearly was the same symbols and magic circles. “Why would anyone harm another like that?” Kestrel asked in disgust and shock.
“I'm afraid that no one has an answer to that... It could be a psychological disorder, a misguided accident, or any number of things that drives a person to harm another creature or person. In this case... I think it was to test a theory of... the corpse back in the other clearing... What it was, I have no idea... This archaic design looks like a common one meant to keep magic stored within an object, but this is a living creature, and... It shouldn't have worked. Any time a Quoma detects magic, it tries to eat it. That includes magic from a potential spell that would be carved into it, because the act of creating it draws magic from the creator as well as the environment. Which the Quoma could eat faster than the spell could be cast if it had as many in a swarm as it just scared off...”

Kestrel looked around the room and found a small trinket on one of the tables. A glass and lead jar with small chains and fragments of Quoma shells and wings in it. What appeared to be a small metal pole for prodding a captured Quoma turned out to be two. Upon further examination, Kestrel saw a fine etching in the tips. Showing it to Palu, her mentor gasped as she realized what the markings signified.
“So that's how... Each of these is but half of a spell, holding no magic on their own, but together... enough to hold in the magic that lets the Quoma divide and reproduce. He branded it. What twisted man would-” Her disgust was interrupted as the wall behind her crumbled as a tree crashed through the rock and cold iron, turning to dust rapidly before it fell to the ground. Any living thing holding magic, it seemed, wasn't safe from the monstrous entity that now reached it's mandibles and tentacles into the hole. Kestrel, acting quickly, picked up a piece of the rubble and threw it at the beast. As the cold iron struck the Quoma, it reared it's head back, screaming in pain as it backed away. Palu caught her breath and moved closer towards her just as the beast crashed into the wall again, shuddering the tower. Both women deftly moved across the floor to the spiral staircase and moved down it, out of the creature's reach.

Kestrel quickly ran a self-diagnostic and found no significant problems within herself, but upon examining Palu she saw that the woman had a deep gouge in her side that was leaking blood.
“Palu Yist, we must get you to a doctor.” She said, pointing to her wound.
“I'm fine, Kestrel, we just need to figure out how to lose this abomination.” Palu took a glimpse up the stairs and winced as she turned.
“But you need medical attention, your side is-”
“I said I'm fine!” Palu snapped, and Kestrel jerked back in shock. Palu sighed. “I'm sorry Kestrel, I didn't mean to startle you... It's just, if we can't escape this tortured creature, it won't matter if I'm wounded or not. If we were alone, I could heal it myself, but with that... Thing out there, I can't use a spell without it knowing where we are. You should just leave me here and see if you can escape through the ground floor while I distract it. I-” Kestrel's hand moved on a programmed impulse even she did not understand, and a moment later Palu rubbed the cheek that had been slapped. She began to apologize, but Palu started laughing. “You're... More noble than I thought. Even if you are a ro-android. Well, what are we going to do then? That thing can outlast us easily...” Palu slumped against the wall of the stairwell and tilted her head down in defeat. Kestrel stood there for a few moments, the creature's attacks shaking the walls and dropping dust down on them, her processes running as a glimmer of an idea popped into her synthetic cerebellum. She tightened her hands into fists and spoke out loud softly. Her mentor didn't respond with anything other than a sob.
“Palu...” The woman looked up at her, despair in her eyes. “The reason the Quoma is attacking is because it's hungry for magic, right?” Palu blinked in confusion and nodded. “And the brand on it is what is preventing it from dividing, so its appetite continues to grow... That is what the brand signified, right?” Again, a slight nod, but Palu's eyes softened and widened as she heard what her pupil said next, “What would happen if the brand was altered?”

To the gigantic Quoma, life had only two purposes: To eat, and to reproduce. When the horrible food-source had captured it in it's prison of glass and iron, it was irritated, but knew that at least the swarm was still safe for the time being. That it's capture meant that it's cousins would know to avoid the food-source that had captured it. That it's life would fade without more food, but that at least it's death would not be in vain. It grew angry then, that the food-source had captured several of it's cousins in addition to it, and fed it, enough to survive, but not to reproduce. What could the food-source be planning with them? Curiosity turned to horror as it heard the screams of it's cousins as they were burned in the wild experiments of the food-source. It grew to hate the food-source, to want to feast on it more and more. When it's turn came, the food-source burned it as well, but he stopped burning the others to the Quoma's relief. However, when next it fed, it grew, just a slight amount at first, but as it was fed more and more, it grew larger until it no longer fit in the jar, and was leashed with an iron chain and stone collar. It did not reproduce as it's cousins did, and it's hunger grew as did its size.

Eventually, even the chain was unable to stop it, and it managed to break free, tearing the chain from the wall as it escaped. Wrapping it's leash around the trees, it managed to break the stone collar, burning itself multiple times as the chain struck it, but eventually it was free. Free to enact it's revenge. The tower itself deterred the beast as it couldn't phase through the cold iron within, but it soon learned that with its increase in size, so too did it's strength increase. Enough to start throwing trees against and into the tower, it's very touch draining the tree of life even as it flew from its grasp. The food-source managed to escape the tower, to flee from the Quoma, but it was hunted down and fed upon, and the Quoma had it's revenge. But it was still cursed to be different from the others, unable to reproduce, and always hungry. And now two more food-sources, each as bright and brilliant as the first had arrived to feed upon! Both were out of it's reach for the moment, but they too would try to flee eventually, and it would feed once more, if only to cease the pain inside of it. As it reached one of it's tendrils almost to the stairwell, it suddenly felt a heat behind it, and turned to see one of the food-sources heading to the clearing. As it withdrew from the tower it felt the same heat again, from within the tower this time. As it turned, it's vision grew white as the food-source launched itself at it's face.

Kestrel had waited until her mentor had exited the tower to ascend the stairs, keeping to the walls as she looked for anything large enough to use that was made of cold iron. When the beast turned, she knew that she didn't have any more time to search and picked up a chunk of it from the ground as she began to dash towards the Quoma, casting the fire-light spell as she held the cold iron near the hand that held the flame. The creature turned, it's scaring pointing right at her, it's mandibles and tentacles reaching out for her as she dove above them towards the brand. As she thrust the heated metal into the Quoma's face, it screeched in pain and thrashed about, a mandible knocking Kestral into the side of the hole. She clung on tightly as she turned to see light pouring out the monstrosity, cracks growing along it's surface. Palu stood at the entrance to the clearing, a hand in front of her eyes to protect them. The intensity grew until finally it was replaced with a thousand small green globules of light, drifting aimlessly, dancing and scattering to the four winds in search of more food. All that remained were three small Quoma that glowed blue. As Kestrel pulled herself back up into the tower, the Quoma pushed her from beneath, not tickling her as before, but cooling her skin for a brief moment as they assisted her. These Quoma hovered around her as she allowed her intake valves to slow down and allow the excess heat from her exertion to cool.

Palu rushed back into the tower to find her pupil casting a small fire-light spell and the blue Quoma changing the color of the flame slowly, rather than consuming it as quickly as their cousins had done earlier. Palu had already cast a spell to heal her wound, leaving only a faint pink scar as a reminder that would fade in a few months. She sat down beside her student and sighed. She should have been the one to risk her life to protect her student, not the other way around. What her student had done was reckless, risky, and unlikely to even work. Breaking the spell might have caused it to overload and wreck the entire tower as well as her own body, and that of the Quoma. As it stood, Palu had to acknowledged that the Arbiter's fate for this little android must be important for something of this magnitude to have been put forth as one of her earliest challenges. Certainly, she had a long ways to go, but all doubt that Palu Yist had of Kestrel's determination and ability to overcome obstacles in her way had vanished just as suddenly as the Quoma had divided. All that remained was a sense of a meaningful bond to this strange girl, and a confidence that was unshakable. That, and three mutated Quoma that were certainly less dangerous than their precursor. Even their ability to consume magic seemed to have diminished, and though they still couldn't pass through cold iron, it no longer seemed to harm them as it had. They were a new species entirely, and they seemed to have taken a liking to the woman they now encircled. Palu merely smiled as she saw her pupil play with them, undeterred by the ordeal they had just gone through. Then she walked to the bedroom they had used the night before and fell asleep as her head hit the pillow.