Give the handkerchief back to the girl.
From Create Your Own Story
You feel your strength mostly returned to you by now, and you ignore the redhead's last sentence to clamber to your feet and spin around, looking for the girl who was there. But she's gone, no trace of her black hair or her white gown. Was she ever here? You walk to where she was, right in the middle of the room, and Fernweh suddenly pushes you out of the way of a falling corpse, then drags you to the wall, and points up. You see the beautiful web on the ceiling, slowly fraying and falling apart, and the plethora of corpses falling down because of that. The nymph saved your life again.
"Jeez, pay attention to what's around you! What are you looking for, anyways?" the nymph asks.
"One of the other kids of the village," you reply.
"They came in here?"
"Yeah. Six of them came here a few days ago. They never returned," you explain. Just the thought of the way they abandoned you starts to make you angry, but your concern for the girl overrides that. "Hey! Are you here? Celdi! I have your handkerchief!" you shout, and your voice echoes through the rocky chamber and down the passages before coming back to you.
"Shhhh! Don't yell!" Fernweh hisses, putting her finger up to her mouth. "Something might hear!"
You fetch the stained handkerchief from your pocket, holding it up just to look at it. You sigh and put it back. The nymph seems curious, but does not pry further. You are grateful for that. Instead, she runs her hand through her hair and sighs.
"So did you see her in here or something?"
"Yeah. She was sitting right there," you point as you speak, "and crying. Then when I got close, she started acting freaky and told me to run. Then I got caught."
Fernweh glances up at the corpses that fall to the ground, one by one, and you hear her inhale sharply. "I... think I know what it was. The soul-eater kept all those bodies for a reason. I bet... I bet it only mostly devoured the souls of its victims, and used the remnants as puppets to lure in more prey," she says. "It must have only had limited control over them, if she was able to speak to you. That's why it kept the bodies, which grant even a weak necromancer power over a spirit."
"What?"
"It made ghosts out of the people it ate. Including your friend," she says, muttering additional words under her breath that you can't quite hear.
"Oh, no," you gasp, holding your forehead as the realization hits you. You want to cry.
"It's just a theory! We don't know for sure. But if it's true, her body will be here," Fernweh says, rubbing your back soothingly. Most of the corpses have come down already. You glance up and see a frame roughly the size of a little girl fall down, and you race over to it to tear the dissolving webbing off of it. The dessicated flesh makes you gag, but you force yourself to look further, and see her hair. It is her. Trembling, you reach into your pocket, withdraw the handkerchief, and place it over the wrinkled, disfigured face. Then you avert your gaze and trot to the entrance of the chamber, entering the tunnel and leaning on the wall to gulp your lunch back down.
The redhead lightly steps over the bodies to reach you, and grabs your shoulder, squeezing it softly. "Iolaus, with the soul-eater dead, the remnants of her soul are free. She isn't bound to this place, and can leave immediately. In fact, I'm sure all of the ghosts of the victims have already departed the cave and are looking for someone to lay them to rest. Everything will be alright. I'm sure of it."
You sniff and take a deep breath. It actually is very comforting to hear, but Celdi is still dead. The reality is too grim for you to handle. And it dawns on you that your other friends may all have met the same fate. Stunned, you slowly lower yourself to the ground and sit down against the cold, rocky wall, wrapping your arms around your legs and pulling them to your chest. The nymph sits down beside you, crossing her legs and putting her hands between them as she stared at the wall. "But it still hurts, right?" she asks.
You nod, unable to bring yourself to speak.
"That's how it is," she says. "You may not ever recover from this, but it will, eventually, hurt less."
"And how would you know that?" you snap, lashing out. Fernweh grunts and sighs.
"Yeah, that's a fair question. When I was a little one, my glade - my home, where I had been born by the vibrancy of life itself - was burned down, to the ground, in a big fire. It's a hazard of nature. I was lucky, and I got out with my skin intact, but my friends all burned with their home. I was young enough to not have been permanently linked to that place yet, unlike them. They never had a chance. I've been wandering since," she says, staring into the distance wistfully.
You listen intently, and for some reason, her story strikes true to your heart. You almost cry, but hold it in. "And it doesn't hurt as badly?"
The nymph chuckles. "No, thank the gods for that. At first I just sat there and cried. I don't remember how long I cried. It was probably for several days. I was a real cry-baby!" she says, trying to lighten the mood. It does not work. "Then I frankly got bored, and walked around until I found a road. Some kind traveling scholars picked me up and took me to the nearest town, but that place was smelly, so I walked out of it and to the next town. Long story short, I got hooked to the traveling lifestyle. For better or worse! Through thick and thin! I was always going to the next town, the next place, to see new sights, meet new people, and so on. Heheheh..."
"That sounds like being an adventurer," you note.
"It kind of does, doesn't it? Well, I never really did the whole fighting thing. I defended myself and others whenever I needed to with my magic, but it's not like I actively sought out monsters or villains to kill. Like I said before, I don't murder anything. Period."
"How did you fight, then?"
"I know a lot of spells that are good for self-defense. I can bind people with roots or vines, knock them out with rocks, call on animals to protect me, stuff like that," the nymph says. "Unfortunately, down here the only thing there is an abundance of is rocks, and they don't even like me. I have to be very, very persuasive to get them to help, which means it takes a lot of magic..."
"Magic? Wait, I thought you used all of your magic already? How did you save me?" you ask, turning to look at her. She giggles nervously and scratches the side of her face.
"Oh, well, yeah, I did. I just dipped into my life force. It's... not exactly safe, but I had no choice. Trust me, I've done it before, I'll be fine!" she says.
"Really?"
"Really, really. I'll just need to find a source of magic soon. It's not a big deal!"
You find yourself unable to believe her. "What sources are there?"
"Well, just being around a place full of life for a while will do the trick, like a jungle or a swamp. There's some forests here in the mountains, but I'd need to get out of this place to reach them," she explains.
"Is there anything else?" She shakes her head. "So we need to get out as soon as possible?" She nods.
"Well, I didn't use up too much life force, really. I used spells that mostly rely on natural forces, like gravity, and your own body's abilities, to do the brunt of the work. Low cost stuff. I should be fine for a while. But I'll need to eat and rest," Fernweh says.
"I didn't know fairies had to eat," you say, tilting your head inquisitively.
"We don't, usually. Of course we usually don't wander around, either. If we don't have a steady supply of magic from the land, and our stores run low, we are forced to eat like any mortal," she says.
"Well... then, what can you eat? I haven't seen any food anywhere," you say.
"Actually, interestingly enough, the moss on the walls and the floor is edible and even slightly filling," Fernweh explains, pointing to the glowing stuff. "It's a weird sort of moss that speaks a language I've never heard before. Otherwise I'd ask it where the way out of here is," she adds.
You scoop up some of the soggy, cold moss, and sniff it. It has no discernible smell. Your stomach growls. You summon your courage and take a bite out of the clump, and are surprised to find that it tastes rather nice, reminding you of chicken. "Hey! This stuff ain't bad," you say, taking another bite and chewing it up before swallowing. Fernweh mutters an appreciative prayer for the health of the moss under her breath, picks up some of the moss, and tastes it with a lick.
"You're right, this is good," she nods. You both start stuffing yourselves with the glowing green stuff, and eventually you both are satisfied.
"We should try to explore this place properly, after we get some sleep. I can feel that it's late at night now," the fey woman says. "We can sleep in here, I guess, though the bodies are a bit morbid. At least there's only one entrance, so it's much easier to defend. Or, I guess we can go to the room with the water. It has two entrances, but it's got the water for quick drinks if we want them. What do you think?"
