Monsters in the Dark

After the incident at the hot springs, thing went back to something approaching normalcy. As close to normal as you could get while impending doom lingered over your head, but everyone managed well enough. Some part of Cyrus dreaded what was to come- there were two pillars to go before the main event, and so far it wasn't a great experience.

Eventually, Cyrus decided that it would be best to head in the direction of the Crimson next, where the strange, pale green pillar of light glowed in the air. That left the vivid pink one for last- but before that, Cyrus decided to spend a bit more time on break.

Asteria had given him something interesting- a great gilded staff, nearly his height, tipped with a great glowing orb, a brighter blue than just about anything he had ever seen. "So… what do you want me to do with this?"

"Just… give it a swing." Well, Asteria may not have been the most chipper of the villagers, but Cyrus figured she wouldn't try to harm him. He thought.

So Cyrus swung the staff through the air, and he felt a curious draining sensation as the orb glowed and something sprung out- a dragon like creature in gold and blue. It was kind of short and stumpy, but it still reminded him of the terrible wyverns which flew through the air, more snake-like than dragon like. It didn't seem malevolent, either- it gently orbited him, flitting around his arms and rubbing against his torso.

Cute probably wasn't the right word- it was a bit too tough looking, especially with all those sharp, glowing teeth, but Cyrus couldn't help but feel fond of it. It seemed right somehow, like it was supposed to protect him.

"Thank you, Asteria. It… he? Whatever. It's wonderful."

"No problem. It's probably not going to change anything… but it keeps me busy, I suppose."

Honestly, Cyrus wasn't entirely sure how she managed to turn those little glowing fragments into powerful weapons, but the results were worth it. First the strange flail/sword/whip thing and the throwing spear, and now this dragon to help him in battle.

"Truly, thank you. I'm very glad you're on my side."

She huffed. "'Your side' indeed. It's all futile- I can't even delude myself into thinking this is delaying the end. It's just something to do before it's all over." Her facial expression wasn't abject terror or depression, but rather a sort of resigned sadness, as if she had already made her peace and was just waiting for the inevitable.

Medulla had come along with him so she could visit her… "homeland", if that was the proper word for the visceral locale that had spawned her. She had decided to make a research trip of it, determined to learn more about the Crimson- the place rose a lot of questions, questions that Cyrus didn't particularly want answered. He could understand her deeper connection to the place, but still.

Bea seemed a little… upset, but she had provided them lunch for their trip, and after a bit of searching the two of them sat down for lunch on a nice, grassy hill. Their meal consisted of a… what was it called? A bento box? It was as appetizing as always- no surprise from Bea- but Cyrus could see Medulla's brow furrowing.

"Did she do this on purpose?" She was sending a surprisingly vitriolic glare to a pair of chopsticks held in her hands. "She didn't pack any other cutlery."

Cyrus grinned. This was the sort of thing that couples were supposed to do, right? He scooted over to her side, lifting up his chopsticks. "I'm sure I could help."

Her cheeks reddened a little. "That's kind of embarrassing…"

"Didn't you literally ask me to do this the day we met?" Her cheeks darkened more. "We're also dating now, last time I checked."

She sighed. "No need to rub it in, Cyrus." After a couple of seconds, Cyrus started feeding her as the two bathed in the warm light of the sun. Some treacherous corner of his mind wondered if this was the last chance he would ever get to spend a warm day goofing off with her in the sun.

He sidled closer to her, until their sides were touching- there was no reason not to make the most of it, after all. Cyrus couldn't help but grin as she rested her head on his shoulder, her long pink braid hanging in the air.

Technically, today was all about business, but that didn't mean they couldn't enjoy themselves- he admittedly wanted to delay the horrible pains of the pillar for as long as possible. He leaned in towards her and their lips meet, and after a few moments they were both making out on the ground, their food and Medulla's notes left abandoned.

Eventually, (and unfortunately, Cyrus thought) they stopped for air. "We need to get to the Crimson before it gets too late, Cyrus. We can't be… goofing around!"

Cyrus grinned. "Well, we've got till dinner, right? I'm sure we could just… take a longer lunch?"

She huffed. "We need to get home before dinner, alright?" Her tone seemed hesitant, but once her lips met his they suddenly found themselves too concerned with… other things to worry about scheduling.

The Crimson was just as charming as Cyrus remembered, meaning that he started dry heaving the moment he got a whiff of that reeking, horrible smell rising from the sanguine landscape. Once again, Cyrus was struck by the feeling that he walking on a truly massive grave- the visceral landscape, the parasitic monsters, and above all that terrible smell.

His train of thought was interrupted by the gentle scratching of pen on paper, thanks to Medulla, who was carefully taking notes about the new changes to the Crimson. Idly, he noted the ink stains blotting her lab coat- surely, she could just get it cleaned? Maybe it was an aesthetic choice. Admittedly, Cyrus could see grass stains- those were probably his fault.

"Uhh, what are taking those notes about?"

"All these monsters- I've never seen anything quite like them!" Her eyes were flitting from place to place, moving nearly as fast as her pen across the page.

Cyrus grinned, even if he felt like loosing his lunch. He could definitely appreciate her enthusiasm, especially considering how she could make the most out of this gory hellhole. "If you're amazed with the Crimson, the pillar will shock you. They're surrounded by all sorts of strange creatures."

As they approached the tremendous pillar, things slowly got more green, a particularly pale and sickly looking shade that somehow made the Crimson even more disgusting. The first enemy Cyrus noticed was some sort of slug or larva like creature that was inching across the ground, and on instinct Cyrus crushed it flat with his boot.

"Hey! I didn't get done sketching that!" Medulla seemed indignant, grasping her pen tightly.

Cyrus stopped trying to scrape larva off his shoe to look at her. "Sorry- but we don't know what any of these things can do. I don't want any of them to surprise us."

She huffed, but got back to taking notes, as Cyrus turned to viciously yoyo some sort of vile looking giant hornet creature. It lashed out at him with a nasty looking bright blue stinger that Cyrus didn't want anywhere near him.

The air was filled with the sound of buzzing wings now, and Cyrus turned to see a seething swarm of the creatures- headed by massive, man sized brutes that glared at him with brilliantly glowing eyes. Behind him, he could hear the scratching of pen on paper come to a stop as Medulla let out a panicked "Eep!"

Deciding that a change in tactics was in order, he pulled out his brilliantly glowing solar flail-sword thing and lashed out, a brilliant arc of vibrant orange smoothly cutting dozens of the creatures in half, including one of those massive looking ones- which fell to the ground as larva crawled from the body.

He focused on the flying creatures, cutting them down in great swathes, but out of the corner of his eye he saw that the larva were growing at remarkable pace, rapidly sprouting legs and vicious stings. His attacks became a wild flurry, but he had to focus on the ground now too- the larva needed to be culled, along with the occasional strange humanoid figure that charged towards him.

Those humanoid figures were tremendous pains: some of them were armed with guns, and the air was filled with an echoing ra-ta-ta as they tried to hem him in- the shots bounced off his armor, but they still hurt. The other ones were more melee oriented, and just charged wildly- it was important to kill them before they got close, to avoid both their lashing claws and the portals they spawned upon their deaths.

Still, Cyrus wasn't going to be cowed by swarms of enemies, as gross looking as they might be, and Cyrus filled the air with the harsh, burning light of his weapon- maybe he needed to give it a name? Solar Eruption, perhaps.

The new dubbed Solar Eruption reminded him of the sun in the desert- vicious, merciless, and almost completely inescapable. He had gotten so lost in his attacks that he was almost surprised when he heard the great, glass-shattering sound of the pillar's defensive barrier collapsing in on itself.

"Follow me, Medulla!" Cyrus slowly started working his way towards the source of the light, Medulla following close behind, observing all of the enemies swarming around them- until Cyrus bisected them, of course.

The pillar was, quite unsurprisingly, very large, its sides dotted with strange pustules that glowed blue-green, and the air around it hummed with electricity. Other than dodging the occasional bolt of electricity or giant insect, it wasn't too hard to chip away at the pillar, cutting great blue gashes into its sides until it finally succumbed.

Cyrus dove to catch the girl- her head wreathed by pale aquamarine hair- and waited for a moment for the waves of pain; therefore, he was pretty surprised by the screaming. It filled his ears, a howling cacophony of noise, and he immediately turned to see Medulla, who wasn't producing the sound, but was bent over double and covering her ears in a vain attempt to negate it.

For obvious reasons Cyrus didn't have free hands to cover his ears, but he managed to snatch the strange, whorling fragments of power out of the air and teleported them all home before the noise could deafen him.

Coming back to near silence was sheer bliss after that terrible chaotic noise that killing the pillar spawned- and once Cyrus could actually hear things, he was pretty glad that he didn't get hit with another horrible wave of pain or even get a headache- maybe he was getting used to it? Of course, getting used to horrible cosmic powers slamming into his body probably wasn't a good thing, but he'd still have to go through this whole pillar song and dance one more time.

Medulla was fascinated with the faint glow coming from their newest guest's hair, and she started scribbling away as she observed the three girls who had come from the pillars. Cyrus was honestly more interested in the pirate girl- she was still resting, but it seemed like she was stirring.

Just before the two of them left for dinner (Cyrus and Medulla managed to make it home with time to spare despite their… distractions) the pirate girl awoke from her sleep, her one uncovered eye opening to reveal a pretty hazel eye.

"Ahoy there," Oh good grief, was she going to talk like a pirate? "Could you tell me where to get some grub around here, landlubber?"

"We were just about to have dinner, actually. I assume you're hungry?"

"Aye, you could say that. I hope you've got something better than hardtack!"

The woman- who introduced herself as Christina- was very hungry and thirsty, and seemed determined to eat as quickly as she possibly could. Titania, Visca, and Regina, as royalty, seemed a little upset with her lack of table manners, but Bea and Terra were happy to have such a voracious eater enjoying their food.

"Compliments to the chef-" Christina stopped to make a massive swig of ale, which they had somehow managed to get their hands on. "I suppose I could tolerate you landlubbers if it meant food like this every day."

"If she's going to eat like this every day, I'm going to lose it." Visca muttered, nursing a mug of ale with a stormy expression on her translucent face.

Cyrus swung his arm over her shoulder. "You'll teach her proper table manners eventually, I'm sure." She huffed and took another swig.

Honestly, there was quite a bit of reason to be drinking right now, the way things were going, but Cyrus had decided to abstain. He was genuinely worried what he would do if he also happened to be drunk while waving around one of his weapons. Say goodbye to the wooden walls.

He wasn't the only teetotaler at the table either, considering that Asteria was drinking water as well. Honestly, Cyrus thought of all the girls she would probably be helped the most by a drink to calm her nerves, but if she didn't want to drink… what was he going to do about it?

Annelida and the mechanical bosses both seemed mostly unaffected by the whole thing, probably thanks to the former's massive tail and the latter's general biological weirdness. Meanwhile, most of the others were drinking themselves under the tables, not that Cyrus could go throwing stones in glass houses when it came to self destructive tendencies.

Deep underground, Cyrus marched through the dark, craggy tunnels, just looking for something to do; in all honesty this was just an excuse to get underground. The brilliant pink light of the last pillar hung in the air like some terrible sword, a promise of violence and death hanging over the horizon.

Perhaps some time ago Cyrus would have been afraid of the these dark caverns, so dark and terrible- but now he was prepared. It had been a long, long time since he first appeared in this world, when he was afraid to delve deep for fear of whatever was hidden inside- and Cyrus had a lot more than a copper pickaxe over his shoulder.

Cyrus could have spent days wandering those caverns and grottoes, looking for treasure (not that those little trinkets in golden chests were worth much to him now) and loot. Still, the caves were choking and oppressive in their own way, hemming him in closely.

The air was stale and the caves were damp, but it was nostalgic in a way. He remembered rescuing quite a few of his villagers from these dark caverns, like Roxanne the stylist (even if she was in a spider's cave) or the goblin tinkerer Knogs. Speaking of, Cyrus could see a figure standing in the distance, a brilliantly gleaming mane of hair hanging down to her hips.

Upon closer analysis, Cyrus realized that the only thing keeping her decent was her hair- he could feel his cheeks heating up even as he got closer. Still, he made sure to keep his eyes open- he didn't want to get ambushed by anything, or let this poor girl get hurt.

She turned with a flourish, revealing a pretty face and a pair of soulful eyes that filled Cyrus with a deep, instinctive urge to protect her- at least once he had averted his eyes. And that was nearly his undoing.

He heard the quick pitter-pattter of feet on stone, and Cyrus looked back at the girl to see a monstrous visage, her skin green and mottled as she lunged with terrifying fangs. Those razor sharp teeth clamped onto his armor, and Cyrus tried to shake her off as her jaws tightened.

Normally, Cyrus would have immediately attacked before she actually started doing damage, but some small (horny) part of him wondered if she could be saved. Perhaps this was some sort of weird mental effect, where the girl (well, he supposed she was a monster, but his eyes were telling him she was… very female) made people want to protect her, so she could go in for the kill… but she was cute, damnit.

Pulling out his mirror, he managed to teleport himself home, his unexpected passenger still clamped onto his arm. He was vaguely reminded of some sort of rabid dog in the way she was trying to tear off his arm.

"Hey, uhh- could somebody help me out here?" Cyrus cried out, trying his best to shake the girl off.

Some support finally arrived in the form of Francisca, who rushed to his aside. "Are you in need of assistance, Cyrus?" Even in the face of a rabid monster girl, Francisca remained fairly stoic.

"Could you take this?" He finally threw off the girl, who lunged at Francisca, who blocked with her arms, one of which bent under the strain of the girl's teeth. Her eyes- now a gleaming red- reflected off the metal of Francisca's arms as Francisca wrestled with her.

"Please don't hurt her, at least right now!" Cyrus honestly felt a little silly just tossing off the girl to Francisca, but she was definitely strong enough to handle her. At least until he heard the metal creaking and bending under the force of those teeth.

With a yelp, the nymph like creature lept backwards, hissing furiously. He could see the heating element inside Francisca's arm glowing brilliantly, and Cyrus realized that she had repelled the girl with the sheer heat of her prosthetic's mechanisms. The nymph lunged for Cyrus, and he managed block her assault, her jaws slamming shut around the handle of his pick.

Some of the other villagers were peaking out, gawking at Cyrus and Francisca trying to manage this wild nymph. Of course, no one was interested in getting too close to those gnashing fangs and claw like fingernails, but eventually Cyrus heard a shout.

"Here!" Nissa shouted, tossing a pale blue bag of something towards him, which Cyrus caught easily before opening the bag and throwing its contents at the girl, sending a plume of pale white powder in the girl's direction. The moment she took a break of the stuff, she immediately stopped her assault and started coughing violently, her skin loosing the sickly green coloring even if her teeth didn't loose quite all of their sharpness.

She was back in her "default" state, and Cyrus felt that same sense of pity welling up in his gut as h watched the poor girl cough violently. Some part of Cyrus wanted to go up and help her, but the other part was reminding him that the girl was almost completely naked.

Maybe he could get somebody else to handle her? Cyrus looked to his right, seeing Francisca, who was staring at the girl with a curious look on her face. "Is she safe now, or should I continue attacking?"

Somebody who wasn't Francisca.

Abigail took the girl under her wing, guiding her in the direction of the sickroom with Lacrima in tow. Part of him wondered how exactly she had ended up down in those caverns- was she an unfortunate victim of circumstance, or was the whole lost girl thing an act, a honey-trap intended to lure overly caring miners to a bloody death?

Lacrima would hopefully provide the girl with some clothes to wear- unless the mysterious girl was one of those people who were into that sort of thing. However, Cyrus had a more pressing concern, as he rushed over to Francisca, who was holding her dented and warped arm.

"Are you alright?"

"My arm is not operating at peak capacity, but it's… sufficient." Cyrus looked down at her arms, the metal warped and bent with visible teeth marks.

"I insist. We need to get this checked out." Cyrus took her by one of her undamaged arms (he wasn't taking chances) and began to pull her in the direction of Meredith and Judith. If anyone could fix this, they could.

Judith and Meredith were quietly debating the merits of various materials and arguing which one would be the best to repair Francisca's arm. Cyrus didn't understand much of it, but Francisca was patient and let them carefully look over her arms.

"Have you had any issues with your components recently? Anything else that needs repairing while we're at it?" Meredith questioned, carefully tucking a long strand of orange hair behind her ear.

"No major issues, but I have had some of the strangest bugs…"

"Bugs?" Meredith's brow furrowed with worry, and Cyrus shared the sentiment. Was something wrong?

"Strange issues with my hardware. Increased heart rate for no discernible reason, phantom sensations in the stomach…"

Judith grinned. "Sensations like what?"

"A sort of strange fluttering feeling- it's hard to describe, Miss Judith."

Cyrus gulped as Judith gave a wide grin. "That's nothing to worry about, Francisca. Part of the human condition."

"Am I… human?"

Judith and Meredith were silent for a second until Cyrus jumped in, resting an arm on her shoulder. "I certainly think so. How about we give them some time to work on planning?"

The next thing Cyrus knew, he was eating lunch with Francisca, the two of them relatively alone. The village was fairly crowded, but there were a number of places to hide out if you wanted some peace and quiet- like the little nook they had tucked themselves into along with their lunch.

"So… hardware issues, huh? Are you sure you're alright? I'd be happy to help if you need something."

She hummed. "This is exactly the sort of thing that causes them in the first place- my heart is beating faster already!"

Cyrus gulped. "Well, emotions are good. Feeling things, feeling excitement or pleasure- isn't a bug."

"It's… irritating," Francisca clenched her fists, the metal of her hands groaning faintly, "Was I supposed to know these sorts of things already?"

"Maybe? I can't exactly go around saying what and what not people are supposed to know- hell, I barely know anything about my own life."

"Can… you help me then?"

"I don't see why not."

Vaguely, Cyrus had a faint idea of what Francisca might have been feeling, but he didn't feel like opening that particular can of worms, at least right now.

Still, Cyrus had tried things that were a lot more idiotic than this, so he could probably give it a shot. "So, do you feel like doing anything in particular?"

"Perhaps… weapons testing? I try to test them as often as possible- far more frequently than normal maintenance would require."

"Maybe you just enjoy using your weapons- I can't blame you. Waving around a big weapon is always fun."

"I suppose I do?" Francisca tilted her head to the side. "So what do I do about that?"

"When you can, you go out to do things you enjoy. Heck, I could even help you with it, if you'd like. I should probably fit a bit more practice in." Cyrus chuckled, scratching his head. He was probably going to need that practice, considering what lay ahead, but he could still have some fun, right?

"That… that sounds like something I would like to partake in." Francisca nodded. Cyrus was almost hoping for a smile- he was sure that she would have a wonderful smile, but he supposed he could wait.

Lacrima was taking measures of their newest guest, the as of yet unnamed nymph. She would have to make an entire wardrobe from scratch for the girl- she wasn't against a challenge, but some part of her wondered if she would have the time.

However, worrying about the potential end of days wasn't very productive, so she got back to work, scribbling down measures. "Say, do you have a name, miss?"

The silver haired girl was quiet for a couple of seconds. "I think… Maia. That's it, I'm fairly sure." She nodded confidently.

"That's a nice name. Do you remember anything else?"

"Just the caverns… other than my name, it's one big gray blur."

"Damn, join the club." Lacrima chuckled, stopping to jot down Maia's measurements- hell, those were some measurements!

"Really?"

"Yep. Most of us don't remember much- well, some of the more normal villagers might, but I've never asked. Awkward subject matter, yeah?"

"I suppose so. You'll have to show me around, give me a tour and introduce me to our fellow amnesiacs."

Lacrima flushed. "Let's get some clothes on your back first, alright?"

"Sure, sure- I'm sure you'll make me look wonderful." Maia gave a brilliant smile, and Lacrima tried her best not to stare.

Maia was pleasantly surprised by how accommodating everyone was- well, she supposed that the reason behind all these free clothes was just the general awkwardness surrounding her nakedness. Honestly, she didn't really mind, other than the occasional chill, but she supposed she could start wearing clothes if it made everyone else comfortable- they all seemed so antsy!

Plus, the first set of clothes she received was just downright phenomenal. She had never felt fabric this soft before, and it was dyed so vividly- well, she hadn't seen much fabric in her life, but still. Civilization wasn't too bad, if it came with nice outfits, she supposed. Well, if a village of a couple dozen people counted as civilization.

Lacrima definitely seemed to approve of her new outfit, and with that job done they took a look around town. The most striking thing she noticed was the sheer gender imbalance- there were barely any of them, although the most important of them seemed to be this Cyrus character.

Technically, Maia had Cyrus to thank for her new accommodations- and her new lease on life as well-

but she hadn't seen much of him. Maybe he was preoccupied? She turned to Lacrima. "Say, this Cyrus fellow- where is he?"

"I'm not entirely sure- he's probably around here somewhere, taking a break between the pillars."

"The… pillars?"

Lacrima whistled. "You might want to sit down for this one."

Francisca rose from the ground, not even bothering to dust off her clothes- she and Cyrus were kicking each other around in a way that sent dust and dirt flying. The dirt and grass had caked themselves into his armor marvelously, and Francisca wasn't much better, although her clothes were a little classier, which almost made him feel bad. Almost.

He probably would have felt bad if the girl hadn't sucker punched him- he could certainly feel it through his armor, but she wasn't trying to kill him (at least he thought so), which made the entire thing a lot more fun. Her arm had been repaired, and it seemed like Meredith and Judith had done an incredible job- it hurt like a bitch.

She hit really hard, and since she had four arms she could do all sorts of interesting blocks and parries that meant getting anywhere near her a tremendous risk. Get in too close and her arms turned into a terrible blur of silver, and she didn't even need to use any of her weapons.

Still, Cyrus hadn't gotten this far by keeling over the moment things got tough, so he did his best to dodge, leading to a strange sort of dance across the grass, Cyrus waiting for openings that never seemed to come because of the four arms.

After quite a bit of impromptu dodging training, they came to a stop, both of them breathing heavily. Francisca was flushed, and despite the dirt and grass stains on her clothes he couldn't help but think that she was looking beautiful today-

Bad Cyrus, bad! He shook his head, trying to derail that particular train of thought before it came to stop in a very unfortunate station. "Is something wrong?" Francisca had moved closer, and now they were almost face-to-face.

"Fine! Fine, I'm fine!" Cyrus almost cringed at how squeaky his voice sounded, but Francisca seemed to take his answer as a yes and distanced herself a little- thank goodness. The women in his life were disturbingly pretty, which was a problem when he wasn't dating them.

"Thank you for sparring with me, Cyrus." Honestly he felt a little regretful considering all the stains on her clothes, but he supposed if she was grateful than it was fine.

"Of course- I enjoyed it."

"Perhaps… we could do it again at some point in the future? I think… I think I enjoyed this." Her lips parted into a smile, and Cyrus felt his heart pounding wildly in his chest. Had he never really seen her smile before? She was so cute!

"Are you sure you're alright, Cyrus? You're flushing pretty heavily." She reached out to put her hand on his forehead, and Cyrus tried to keep himself from turning too red.

Knowing that the potential end of the world was coming was a bit of a downer, honestly. She couldn't do much to change everything going on, but it wasn't like she could do much to change things while underground and wildly deranged.

Still, looking around the village was pretty neat. After a long tour, they returned to Lacrima's workshop, which still impressed Maia. "Did you really do all of this by yourself?" She rubbed a bolt of fine silken cloth between her fingers.

"Sometimes Francisca would help- she can churn out fabric at an incredible pace, and I can use it for my projects."

"Well, can you show me some of your other works?"

"Well, a lot of them are being worn or are stored away in dressers- I can't exactly go rifling around through people's stuff."

"Well, you could…" Maia said, and Lacrima chuckled.

"Sure, I could… I just don't want to." Maia was looking over every corner of the room. What was she expecting, did she think that Lacrima kept outfits hidden away in her… Uh oh.

Lacrima was already too late. Even as she started to hiss at Maia to stop searching around her room, she swung open one particular closet to reveal tidy rows of matching outfits which she really didn't anyone to know about.

"Ooh, what are these?" Maia purred, pulling out of one of the dresses, which she didn't seem to recognize.

"It's called a maid uniform." Lacrima could feel the heat pooling in her cheeks. Could Cyrus hurry up and let the world end already?

"A maid? What is that, exactly?"

"It's a thing I learned from the town merchant, Harold. It's this job where a person basically does housework- and the uniforms are really cute, so I figured…"

Maia gave her a grin. "Why make so many, then?"

"Well the village kept on getting bigger, and we kept on getting more people, and I had all this spare fabric…"

"Make me one!"

"Wha-" Maia had gotten very good at sending pleading looks- nothing drew in poor suckers like puppy dog eyes, but she had no intention of hurting Lacrima. She needed one of those dresses.

Dinner was, if not always fun, always interesting and usually pretty fresh, considering all the new guests they seemed to be receiving constantly. This time their new guest was Maia, who seemed intensely interested in talking with Lacrima about something, although Cyrus couldn't get the specifics considering how quietly she was whispering.

Meanwhile, Cyrus was trying his best to eat his fill- he was was definitely going to need a full stomach for what was coming, but all of a sudden Bea's stunning cooking was no longer appetizing to him. He almost felt bad- she was clearly proud of what she had cooked up, and was looking at him with an expectant expression on her face.

"Is… is it good?"Looking into those warm brown eyes, Cyrus almost wanted to hug her.

"Yeah- I'm just not very hungry." He sighed.

"Oh. Well, would you like me to pack you lunch tomorrow? Since… you'll be going out?"

"Yeah, that would definitely be wonderful." Bea smiled and all of a sudden the idea of his potential last meal sounded a lot less daunting.

Cyrus was not looking forward to facing the last of the pillars. He couldn't guess how powerful it was, but he had managed to survive the previous three, so his worries were centered on what would follow behind. Admittedly, he had come face to face with some terrifying supernatural entities, but that didn't mean he wanted to fight any more. Every time he took a walk he was reminded that the world was basically out to kill you- or at least maul you.

Still, the pink pillar burned on the horizon, just waiting for him to come and meet his destiny. It wasn't going to move- probably- and Cyrus decided to just head out and face it. Honestly, the girls would be pissed if he just left in the middle of the night and didn't tell them, but if he didn't come back… he would be having much bigger concerns than the girls being upset with him.

So he put on his armor in the pale moonlight, but just before he could open the door and make a break for it, he heard someone clearing their throat, and he froze.

"Where exactly are you going, Cyrus?" Andi was up late, but Cyrus was planning on staying up even later so… Whatever.

"I'm… heading out. On a trip."

His reply was met with a raised eyebrow. "A trip to where, exactly?"

"The last pillar."

Andi sighed, and Cyrus had a sinking feeling that he had disappointed her. "You know, at the very least they'd want a chance to say goodbye, you know?"

"Well, if I win it's basically a day trip, and if I lose… well, you know." Cyrus scratched his head in embarrassment for a second, but quickly stopped when he heard the grating sound of his gauntlets on his helmet.

"You're a grade A dumbass, you know that? Even if it's a quick in out and trip, you're still risking your life! They're not going to let you forget that, Cyrus."

Cyrus gulped, but decided to deflect. "Wow, Andi, that sounds downright considerate of you!"

"Uhh…" Andi flushed brilliantly, turning away so she wasn't looking him in the eyes. ""I just want to avoid all the bitching that will inevitably occur if you do this."

"Yeah, yeah. I guess I'll stay to say goodbye."

"Good man. Now get some rest, alright?" She sighed. "You'll probably need it."

Dramatis Personae:

Cyrus: the player character, harem protagonist

Cthylla: ex-Eye of Cthulhu, in relationship with Cyrus

Annelida: ex-Eater of Worlds, in relationship with Cyrus

Medulla: ex-Brain of Cthulhu, in relationship with Cyrus

Visca: still insists on being called King of the Slimes, in relationship with Cyrus

Bea: ex-Queen Bee

Lacrima: ex-Skeletron, clothier replacement, in relationship with Cyrus

Andrea/Andi: ex-Wall of Flesh

Asta: ex-Spazmatism

Tina: ex-Retinazer

Francisca: ex-Skeleton Prime

Regina: ex-Queen Slime

Ditra- ex-Destroyer

Aria: ex-Plantera

Picea: ex-Everscream

Nicola: ex-Santa-NK1

Crista: ex-Ice Queen

Aqua: ex-Duke Fishron

Titania: ex-Empress

Terra: ex-Golem

Asteria: ex-Lunatic Cultist

Cera: ex-Mothon

Christina: ex-Flying Dutchman

Maia: the Nymph

?: ex-Pillars

Nissa: the Dryad

Veronica: the Zoologist

Meredith: the Mechanic

Abigail: the Nurse

Judith: the Steampunker

Roxanne: the Stylist

There's a pretty heady feeling I'm getting- I'm almost finished with something! Finished with something more than the length of a novel! Let's fucking goooo.

Christina is a named picked from the Wikipedia page Women in Piracy, simple as. Maia was the mother of Hermes in Greek Mythology- a nymph in that sense, and mother of a famously quick deity.

Why isn't Knogs in the character list? He's not a chick.

If you're interested in the Nymph as an NPC concept, check out the fic Teaser (on FFN). It takes the nymph and keeps her a nudist- not a take I went for, but good for a quick laugh.

Also. When I promise meido, I deliver meido, even if it takes ages. Other than maybe the Harvest Moon and the like, the rest of the series after next chapter is going to be all harem fluff. Like OVAs for a nominally serious series (as if you were reading for the story lmao)