"Ooooh we maybe get to repair and finish building a ship! That's really cool. Are we gonna go hear about our quest now?"

Ruby vibrates in place a bit with excitement.

"Yeah, let's!"

And Gloria follows Neo into the cathedral. 

The cathedral is many, many stories high, with a high vaulted ceiling inset with stained glass. Scenes of mangoes are portrayed in the panels; being eaten, being picked, the seeds being used to cast spells...

In the center of the hall is a large altar hewn from a single block of rose quartz, and atop it is a blue dish holding the scarred and scorched pit of a mango. 

Help... 

The voice is slightly stronger, here. A little less quiet. It seems to emanante from the altar.

"Mango? Why mango?"

Maya hums thoughtfully and then holds her left hand out to Sable, index finger extended toward her mouth, cheeks very faintly flushed.

Sable blushes faintly and takes a bite, sighing hotly. After a moment to chew and swallow, she nods. "Mango. Good guess, Maya."

Gloria blushes and looks away.

She approaches the altar and looks at the... offering bowl? 

The pit in the center doesn't look healthy at all...

"Do you think we need to replace this?" She asks the group.

"Seems likely."

Lilian's gaze slides over to Maya.

Hailey hums for a moment. "Is the pit we put in the offering bowl likely to be stuck there? Or is that temporary, and we can take Maya's pit back out to be the core of our future ship?"

"Well, we did see more liftfruit trees on the way here, so we have an alternative if need be."

"I think an alternative liftfruit would probably be wise. But I don't like the look of that pit. I think we should replace it as soon as we can, because if it's keeping the island up..."

"Agreed," Sable says with a frown.

"Hey Neo! Race ya to the liftfruit trees!" Ruby grins, then blurs into a dash, sakura petals falling behind her as she goes.

After a moment of shock, Neo grins and sprints off as well, taking flight as soon as she's clear of the door.

"Looks like we've got liftfruit retrieval handled. Does it look like there's any kinda procedure to replacing it, or do we just need t'swap 'em? Let's double-check these windows."

"I think the smart thing to do would be to just place the second lift-fruit in the bowl before taking the old one out?"

Heroes... I am... failing...

The light around the altar flickers for a moment, and the whole island shudders.

"Uh, Maya - "

"Oh no." She digs her hands into her chest, about where the sternum would be on a human, and pulls, tearing herself open. "Sable, help," she gasps out.

Sable blinks in shock, then plunges her hands into Maya's gaping chest, reaching past sticky mango flesh to wrap her fingers around a hard pit. Normally she'd make more a scene out of this, but not falling takes priority. She yanks, tearing the pit free from Maya's chest and quickly nibbling any remaining bits of flesh off as she strides over to the altar, then swaps the pits.

The altar flickers and falters for a moment, and the island lurches about a foot - then stops. 

Heroes!  

The voice is far brighter now. 

You've saved the island, at least for now! The blight has not taken the heart of your lover, it is safe and stable. You are so, so, so welcome for your aid!

I am Anima. I am the spirit of this Cathedral, guardian of the heart of a once-great realm. I called all of you here with the last of my power, to re-assemble the broken shards of this failing world.

I am sorry for the inconvenience. Rest assured, once the blight has been resolved I'll be able to send you back. It's simply a matter of enough liftfruits. But I am afraid you will be stuck for some time until then.

I can explain more, now, if you wish.

Gloria jumps a little at the renewed voice, then exhales. "Oh! It's you, the altar. You're a... spirit?"

I am an ASI, an Artificial Soul Integrate. The techniques to make those like me were a high magic... But it has been largely lost over the course of the past two decades as the republic has fallen to the blight. 

I will explain more once you are all here. I'm calling the rest of you to the Cathedral now.