First and foremost, I apologize for not updating sooner. I haven't been really in the mood to work on my story because of this one person harassing me about it.
Not really going to go into much detail there here but I want to clear some things up just in case anyone else has these thoughts:
I did not steal my story from anyone. This person brought up SLIGHT similarities between this story and another and automatically assumed I stole bits and pieces and made my own story.
1. My story was published before the story I supposedly stole from. How can I steal ideas from someone after my story was already published and was multiple chapters in?
2. I've never read said story until I was accused of stealing. I see SOME similarities but holy crap that happens. Their story is different from mine so let's all be adults here.
3. I did not put the links to my social sites so I can be harassed by anons from here.
So please, stop.
Back to the story:
Everyone's ideas for what's going on were wonderful! A couple of you are actually slightly correct! I can't elaborate anymore than that because of spoilers, but man. Good job guys!
In regards to Skylar:
You didn't miss anything. The reason why Lilith can't see Leesa even though she has Phase Walk has not been explained yet. Once we get to the chapter where it is explained, I will let everyone know in the A/N.
As Salvador and Mordecai drove two technicals around the Highlands by Opportunity, Roland kept and eye and ear out for any signs from Leesa.
Salvador slowed down the bandit technical with Roland and Lilith in the back of it, "What are we looking for, exactamente?"
Roland placed his hand on the side of the car, "Anything suspicious. I've been trying to see if Leesa is here but she hasn't shown up yet."
Mordecai pulled up with Zero and Maya and stopped next to Salvador. He leaned back in his seat, "Do we even have any ideas on what Lyptus is?" Glacier flew around Mordecai's technical while screeching excitedly.
"Lyptus could be the name of another Vault or it could very well be a person." Lilith answered.
"What if Lyptus is another Siren?" Maya asked while shifting in the back of Mordecai's technical.
"Or an Eridian?" Mordecai added.
"It could be a previous Icebringer Siren..." Zero checked the ammo count in his pistol, "We can't keep driving around without knowing what to look for."
"What should we do, Roland?" Lilith asked, placing her hand on his shoulder.
Roland kept scanning the Highlands, "We could go to Overlook and ask Karima is she knows anything about a Lyptus."
Mordecai nodded, "Meet you guys there!" He placed his foot on the gas and drove off, taking a steady and slow drive to make sure Maya was not hurt. Glacier flew in circles where the technical had been before flying after Mordecai.
"Hang on, amigos!" Salvador slammed down the gas pedal and took off after Mordecai, surpassing him. Roland and Lilith were moved forward slightly but stabilized each other for the crazy drive Salvador was taking. The two bandit technicals drove over and across hills and through the creeks until they entered the tunnel that led to Overlook. Halfway through the tunnel, a stalker was walking in the road. It turned its head toward Salvador's car and leaned down like it was going to crouch.
Roland looked on as Salvador yelled out excitedly and drove right over the stalker. Blood and guts splattered around the car and the sight made Roland's heart ache. He placed a hand on his chest and looked around frantically.
"What's wrong?" Lilith shouted over the engine.
"Did Leesa ever mention anything about stalkers?" Roland asked once his eyes landed on Lilith.
She shook her head, "Did something happen?"
"She's affecting my emotions now." Roland simply answered, "Something about that stalker's death... Hurt."
Salvador slowed down the car once they exited the tunnel and he pulled up the hill to Overlook. He turned off the technical and hopped out. When Mordecai pulled up, Lilith climbed out the back of Salvador's technical and walked to Mordecai's door.
"Did Leesa ever tell you about stalkers?" Lilith asked while opening the door before Mordecai could. As soon as Mordecai stepped out of the car, he held out his arm for Glacier to land on it. She side stepped across Mordecai's arm onto his shoulder and rubbed her beak against his neck.
Mordecai nodded while letting his arm fall back down to his side, "Leesa told me her father created them."
"What? How?" Maya asked while Zero jumped out of the back. He turned around and grabbed onto Maya's sides to lift her out of the technical.
"He wanted to see if he could make Sirens to exceed the six Siren limit. He took Leesa's blood and tried to inject it into women and each one mutated into stalkers." Mordecai explained while slamming his door shut.
Salvador walked up to Mordecai with Roland, "That must have been a lot of attempts."
"There were only eight. Somehow the stalkers were able to breed and made the majority of the stalker population."
Maya started crying, "That is so messed up! Why would he do such a thing?!"
Zero immediately pulled Maya into a hug.
"Can I kill him?!" Maya asked through her tears.
Zero couldn't help but chuckle, "No Maya. He's dead, remember?"
"Can we get Leesa to bring him back and then kill him again?"
"No Maya..." Zero brushed Maya's hair comfortingly.
Mordecai crossed his arms, "Has that been fun, Zero?"
"I swear, Mordecai, if you make one more snide comment I will rip your throat out-" Maya spun around in Zero's arm and tried to pull her gun off her hip. Zero took the gun from her and held onto her wrists.
Mordecai held his arms up in fear and backed away, "I apologize."
Salvador busted into laughter while Roland shook his head, "Come on."
Maya calmed down and allowed Zero to hold her left hand. Zero whispered in Maya's ear, "Let's try not to kill anyone."
"I can't make any promises." Maya whispered back while drying her wet face with her hand.
Roland led the way through Overlook with everyone following behind him.
Lilith looked around, "The town seems to be improving."
"I came here a few times to help repair the homes and pub." Mordecai responded while brushing Glacier's feathers with his hand as she cooed softly.
"So this is where you've been sneaking off to the last few months?" Lilith asked as she caught up to Mordecai. Glacier hopped from Mordecai's shoulder onto Lilith's and rubbed Lilith's face with hers. Lilith smiled and placed her hand on the side of Glacier's wing.
"I actually like this town. It has great potential to be another Sanctuary." Mordecai answered.
Glacier flew off of Lilith's shoulder and landed on the edge of a gutter on Karima's roof. She looked down as Roland reached the door and knocked on it three times.
Karima's hologram appeared before the group, "Hi there, guys!"
"How's everything going, Karima? You look good as far as I can tell." Roland greeted.
Karima laughed lightly, "Every one is doing much better!"
"That's good to hear." Roland responded.
Karima looked around the group to see nearly all of the Vault Hunters were there, "Did something happen?"
"No, nothing happened." Roland reassured, "We just have a question to ask you."
"Shoot."
"Have you ever heard of a... Lyptus?" Roland asked while placing his hands in his pockets.
Karima's eyes widened as she disappeared from her screen. Roland looked back at the group as they all heard Karima's door being unlocked. The door was flung open with Karima standing behind it. She has short blonde hair with a flower crown made of daisies above her bangs. Her eyes were a bright blue and her outfit was a white jumpsuit with blue accents on it.
"Get in, now." Karima waited until everyone walked into the house with Glacier flying in behind them. She closed the door quickly and locked all ten locks on her door.
Zero walked over to Karima's desk and pulled the chair from it. He rolled it close to Maya and helped her sit down on it. Maya smiled and reached her hand forward to grab Zero's hand to hold.
Lilith, Roland, and Mordecai stood in the center of the room while Salvador walked over to Karima's small bed and sat down on it. The walls were completely blocked by giant book cases crammed with tattered books. There were stairs by the side of Karima's desk that led upstairs and the ground was littered with cups and paper plates.
Karima turned around quickly, "Where did you hear about Lyptus?"
Roland looked over to Mordecai, "You'll have to explain."
Mordecai nodded, "Basically my girlfriend is an Icebringer Siren and she-"
Karima placed a hand over her heart, "Oh, my... I have to meet her! Where is she?"
Mordecai looked down, "She's trapped in another dimension."
"The one that bridges are own..." Karima nodded, "Go on."
"My girlfriend, Leesa is trapped in the other dimension and we want to free her. We uh... We never told you about this but, Roland was killed by Jack quite a while ago-" Mordecai stopped abruptly at the serious look on Karima's face.
Karima walked up to Roland and pulled out a flashlight. She place the light across Roland's eyes and noticed that his pupils did not shrink. She pulled back, "Leesa brought you back, right?"
Roland nodded, "How do you-"
"I wrote many papers on Eridians. Tannis isn't the only woman on Pandora obsessed with Eridians and their past culture. I've studied the best researchers' papers in order to track down any remaining Eridians." Karima explained. She walked over to a giant desk in the corner of her small room and opened a drawer. She pulled out giant stacks of papers and handed a stack to Roland, "This is my paper on Icebringer Sirens."
Roland looked down, "Irming King?"
"That is my pseudo name."
"You wrote about Vault Hunters too, right?" Lilith asked.
Karima handed Lilith another stack, "Yes. I've always had an interest in Vault Hunters such as yourself."
Mordecai walked up to Karima, "Please... What is Lyptus?"
Karima could hear the strain in Mordecai's voice and slowly handed him a picture from the pile of papers that she held in her arms. Mordecai grabbed the picture gingerly and looked down at it. It was a giant wall in a Vault that was covered in small words in Eridian.
"What is this?" Mordecai asked.
"This is a wall where Eridians would write down stories and legends. This particular photo captures the legend of Lyptus." Karima took the photo back, "Lyptus is a cave located around here that Eridians were sent to as a punishment."
"So Lyptus is a place..." Maya commented while glancing at Zero.
Karima nodded, "This place was so mysterious that the Eridians never knew what was inside of it. All they knew was that whenever someone was sent inside of Lyptus, they would never return out of it."
"How does this place tie in with Icebringer Sirens?" Roland asked.
"Why do you think there's a connection there?" Karima flipped through her papers, "I've never read anything that correlates those two in any form of relationship."
"Yeah, about that..." Mordecai sighed, "Leesa kind of accidentally woke up the only Eridian on Pandora and he was the gatekeeper to the other dimension that would bring the Eridians back into our dimension and he ended up dying from Icebringer but he mentioned how he could see that Icebringer was no longer a part of Lyptus and when he died, the gate opened up and the only way to close it was for Leesa to stay behind in the other dimension and from there, she brought back Roland and because of this, Roland has been able to see and hear Leesa randomly and she told him to go to Lyptus and the Highlands so here we are." Mordecai breathed out after his fast paced explanation. He explained so quickly to make sure Karima would not interrupt him again.
Karima's eyes widened as she ran over to her desk and scribbled down what Mordecai told her, "This is astounding! A relationship between Lyptus and Icebringer Sirens! I've always theorized that Icebringer Sirens had split personalities but, this... This is a breakthrough!"
"All we need to know is if we go to Lyptus, can we bring Leesa back?" Zero asked while watching Karima frantically move around her bookshelves.
She grabbed random books and placed them on her desk, "It is a possibility! No one knows where Lytpus is exactly or what is inside of it. If what you're seeing is Leesa, then you probably-"
"Are you saying Roland may not be seeing Leesa?" Salvador interrupted.
Karima stopped flipping through her books and slowly turned to face everyone, "... I'm not going to pretend that everything is all and well with Leesa in the other dimension. I can tell that you all know that Icebringer is not Leesa and Leesa is not Icebringer. Leesa is a host as all of the other Icebringer Sirens have, but this time Icebringer choses to appear outside of Leesa."
"What do you mean?" Lilith asked.
"I don't know why but out of all the Icebringer Sirens that have been recorded before Leesa... None of them have experienced Icebringer like Leesa has. I've read Dr. Lovett's experiments and Icebringer has shown up even when Leesa was a child." Karima leaned back against her desk while holding onto the edge of it, "For some reason, Icebringer favors Leesa. What you are seeing, Roland, may not be Leesa. This could all be Icebringer's doing."
Roland shook his head, "I may have never met Leesa, but she showed me everything that happened after I died. I see who she is as a person and I know this is Leesa communicating with me."
Karima sighed, "What did Icebringer say to the Eridian when she killed him?"
Icebringer suddenly reached forward and grabbed onto Trey's face, "I don't need you alive to create the bridge." She wickedly smiled, "Phase End."
Mordecai spoke up, "She said she didn't need the Eridian alive to create the bridge..."
"Possibly the bridge to the other dimension?" Karima asked.
Mordecai nodded, "Before Leesa went into the other dimension, she seemed so determined that she could close it..."
Karima placed her hand on her forehead and rubbed it, "Icebringer wanted in that other dimension and she may have coerced Leesa into going through the gate under the guise of protecting you all..." Karima lowered her hand, "If what you're seeing isn't Leesa... Then there must be some reason Icebringer wants you in the other dimension..."
Roland glanced over at Maya's bangs and remembered the blue hair in Leesa's hand.
"If you decide to go into the other dimension and bring Leesa back," Roland looked back over to Karima, "You all must realize that everyone else's safety comes first. If Icebringer plans to harm anyone in this dimension, you can't let her come back."
Remember in Chapter 5 of The Icebringer? Jack had a couple of files written by Irming King. I hope this helped build everyone's theories!
I want to update this chapter before I get to class but I'm running out of time so I can't proof read. PM or review any mistakes and I'll fix it later tonight!
Thanks everyone!