BETAREAD BY: ekaterina016 (On a side note, i completely forgot to upload this chapter so this will be sent out alongside the next chapter, which should be another half-hour.)
Once again, Abram found himself walking down a dark corridor. The walls have little-to-no light, leaving him to wander around unaided. Certainly one of the worst days he could choose to leave his lantern and torch back at the church, in his opinion.
Bell was still recovering. Abram left the young adventurer in the care of Miss Mia, who in turn assigned a barmaid named Syr to watch after him. Hestia was getting herself ready for a party, and Eina had been sleeping for the last two days, so neither of them was available.
Apparently, the girl had taken a liking to the boy – it seemed most women in his life had. This one coincidentally happened to be the only one close to the boy's age.
In the dark was an ominous glow of a four eyed skull. It burnt like charcoal in a hot oven, red and fiery while heating up the metal around it. It stood in place, unmoving. There was only one person in these halls he knew. "Ehin."
"Moon-Scented Hunter," the Keeper's voice greeted.
"I can only assume you aren't here to chat?"
"She seeks your audience."
Abram sent a questioning gaze. Even though his only visible facial expressions were his eyes, Ehin could see the hunter's eyelids stretch and raise his brows, conveying his emotion. "Since when does she need me to be in person to speak to me?"
The Keeper unsheathed their ancient sword at the sound of approaching footsteps, evading responding to the hunter. Abram turned to the source of the incoming feet.
It was Ais and two of her companions. They took a few steps further into the darkness. Ehin took a few steps further towards the group before being stopped by Abram, "Leave them be. I thought you wanted to bring me somewhere anyway."
"I did," the Keeper answered. Ehin sheathed the sword they carried, leading Abram down the black corridors.
Abram halted his movement. He glanced back to the party, primarily to the Sword Princess herself. "These aren't the halls you would want to find yourself in. Look for similar ones, but this one should be left well alone."
Ais reluctantly agreed to the request, yet was confused nonetheless. Didn't Abram want her to look for these places? What was so special about this one? Where did this pathway even come from? Sadly, none would be answered as she watched Abram disappear into the darkness with a familiar figure from only barely two weeks ago.
'What are you hiding, Abram?'
Hestia walked into the ballroom with a new confidence about her. Her dress was finely tailored to her appearance, but still not of perfect quality. While other goddesses had fancy silk dresses, colors resembling various precious gems, Hestia's was a bit more lacking in terms of color, sticking with a plain green and blue pallet. Nonetheless, it did not whittle down her confidence.
She strutted towards the buffet table where various exotic foods sat. The goddess was salivating at the sight. Despite the appearance of status her dress gave, she couldn't help but to stuff her face as if she hadn't eaten in days. Hestia crouched down at the table so as to not be seen, but this only made her more noticeable to nearby guests.
"Well, look at we have here…" A voice said behind her.
Hestia froze in-between stuffing her face for a small moment, then turned to the voice in panic even when she could recognize the voice behind her. Her eyes lit up in joy straight afterwards.. "Hephaestus!" She jumped towards and hugged the eye-patched goddess.
"Please get off me," Hephaestus ordered while pushing the small goddess off of her. Hestia still grabbed onto her, but began to let go after she realized almost everyone within seven feet of her shot her a strange glance.
"Sorry," she said with an embarrassed smile. "So, how've you been?"
"I've been fine," answered Hephaestus. The one-eyed woman looked towards Hestia, studying the small goddess's outfit of choice. She smiled; a small chuckle released from her mouth. "You, on the other hand, look like you're doing well for yourself."
"Yeah, I've been getting some help on that end." Hestia knew where this conversation was going.
"So, does that mean you'll stop asking for favors?" Hephaestus probed. Not exactly where Hestia thought this was going, but close enough.
"Definitely!" Hestia said, unsure of her own words.
"So, how is the new guy?" Hephaestus asked, finally getting to the question Hestia was expecting.
"He's..." She was suddenly stuck, uncertain of what to say.
"…you good?" Hephaestus asked the smaller goddess.
Hestia tilted her head up, facing the ceiling of the manor. "Like I told Takemikazuchi, I think he's… strange. I don't think he's dangerous, but he's strange." Hestia lied both to Hephaestus and herself when she said that. She definitely thought Abram was dangerous, but could still be trusted. It's the only reason she hasn't kicked him out of her Familia.
"Strange in what way?" Hephaestus probed.
"For one, he rarely sleeps." The taller of the two wasn't impressed. A lot of her own blacksmiths rarely sleep – they rarely ever stop working, full stop. Hestia picked up her words again. "I know that doesn't sound all too strange, but he'll spend at least an hour a day sleeping. After that, he just stares out the window, like something is coming to kill us."
"That is a bit weird," Hephaestus admitted, "but not very."
"He also has some sort of floral scent to him. No matter how much blood and dirt he has on him, the scent of flowers remains."
"Could be some aromatic spray…" Hephaestus reasoned.
"He doesn't buy any. He spends all his money on repairs, foods and poisons."
Hephaestus paused for a moment. "Poisons?"
"Yeah, he dips his throwing knives in them," Hestia explained. "Ever since he found some alchemy recipes in the library, he's been messing around with poisons. He has slow acting, fast acting, disorienting and paralyzing poisons he keeps around the house."
"And he makes them all himself?" Hephaestus asked for clarification. Hestia nodded. The image of a scrawny old hunchback with one working eye made its way into her mind. The man sat over a table pouring vials of repugnant smelling liquids into each other. She grimaced at the thought. "So… about the flower smell?" She redirected the conversation. Though homemaking poisons also wasn't the weirdest, it did gain her interest.
"It gets stronger under the moonlight," she answered. "It could be from a contract he had with a previous god…?"
"I thought the rumors said he had no previous Familia? So it's not true?"
"They are, to a degree, but not entirely," Hestia confirmed. "The gods of his homeland operate differently. They don't give falna's; they deal in contracts. I can only assume the scent of the god he was working for rubbed off on him."
"So… a god of flowers?" Hephaestus humored.
Hestia laughed anxiously. "I have no idea."
Hephaestus mulled over the new information. A god who makes deals in contracts, smells like flowers, enhanced under direct moonlight.
She was stuck. Hephaestus went over her thoughts again, simplifying them this time. 'Contracts, flowers, moon.' She was still stuck. It sounded like someone had simply clustered Mithra, Tsukuyomi, and Chloris all into one being. "I don't think I know a god like that."
Hestia shrugged in confusion, agreeing with the one-eyed goddess. She picked up a piece of bread as another memory popped up in her head. "By the way, there's something on the tower."
"I'm sorry?"
"Yeah," Hestia continued, "Abram was pointing at something on the tower where your Familia works, but I have no idea what. I couldn't see it, but I could kinda sense it."
"But he can see it?" She asked.
"Apparently, he can."
"What does it look like – to you, at least?"
Hestia hummed in thought. "It really didn't look like anything. At the distance I was at, it really just looked like a distortion in the air."
"Did he describe it?"
The shorter of the two hummed again. "No, he didn't. All's he said is it makes him uncomfortable to look at."
This was new. Why wasn't she informed of it earlier? Did it matter if she was? This invisible creature Hestia's eldest Familia member could see didn't seem to bothering anyone – at least not to her knowledge. "Can I meet with him sometime? I want to know exactly what he saw."
"Sure," Hestia agreed, a smile accompanying her words. "He's usually in the dungeon, every other day or so. We can wait for him near the exit."
"I really don't have that time; maybe you could send him my way at some point?"
"I can do that," Hestia complied with the simple request.
Hephaestus was quick to change the discussion. Maybe asking other questions about the new adventure would keep their chatter going? "How'd you come across... Abram?"
"That's his name," Hestia affirmed. "And it was Bell who brought him to me. Apparently, he saved him from dying."
"According to Loki's Bete, '…then, Ais saved the tomato runt while some pair of dumbasses stood by and watched!'"
"Well according to Bell, Ais, and Abram himself, said even though Abram didn't do much, he did help distract the Minotaur, preventing it from killing Bell."
"You got a word in with the Sword Princess?" Hephaestus asked impressed.
Hestia chuckled slightly, "Actually I asked Bell's advisor when she came to visit, and that's when she told Whatserface's story."
Hephaestus could see Hestia seething through a false smile. "Are you okay?" She asked with genuine concern.
"It's nothing," Hestia waved off, still shaking with a slight bit of rage. "I just had to step out with the girl to tell her Bell is mine."
"I can assume there's more to that?"
"No, that's all."
Hephaestus filtered out a snicker. "I'll ask Abram about it when you send him my way."
"Then I'll just make sure he keeps his mouth shut."
From there, the room went silent. Conversations shutting down as all heads turned to the top of the stairs. There, a woman stood. She wore a long white and gold dress that looked to be somewhat revealing. Her hair, a light reflective silver and decorated with white flowers, came down to her rear, and the deep purple gemstones of her jewelry matched the color of her eyes.
She scanned the room below her, keeping a watchful eye on the crowd below… then her vision was locked onto Hestia, no less. Her steps were gentle and quiet as she approached the base of the stairs where hundreds of deities waited. All held their breath, both men and women, the moment she touched the floor.
The crowd still held their words. They waited for the address she would give. "Thank you all for coming!" She shouted across the room. "It is an honor to have so many of you here. Please go back to enjoying yourselves, you don't need to wait on me!" Chatter resumed after her speech. Groups turned their attention back on each other, some struggling to remember their previous topics.
Hestia and Hephaestus returned their hostess's attention, who maintained her own on the smaller of them. Hestia knew what she wanted to speak about – if she wanted to speak to her at all. It's what everyone else she spoke to wanted to talk about as well, after all. Who wouldn't to be fair? Randomly acquiring a Level Six Adventurer was impossible as far as she was concerned.
"Hi, Freya," Hestia nervously greeted.
"Hestia. You seem to be having fun. I'm surprised Loki hasn't come out to bother you yet."
"I am as well," she admitted.
"Speaking of, where is she?" Hephaestus asked, injecting herself into the exchange.
"She's here, on the exact opposite side of your end."
"So… what brings ya' over here?"
Freya smiled. It was a cheeky one, with no malice presented by the goddess at all. "Personally, I'm surprised someone even joined your Familia in the first place." There it was. Hestia was waiting for someone to bring that up. She managed to avoid this topic up until now. "How did that happen?"
"Bell found him. He didn't seem all too eager to join, but I really don't think he cares." Freya's brow lifted, not going unnoticed by Hestia. "Nonetheless, I don't think he'll just want to leave. He's made a good relationship with Bell, and I don't think he'll just abandon that."
"I'm not going to take him from you," Freya replied. There was a truthful tone to her voice, though a feeling of threat flowed within her words. "Anyway!" She continued, "I'll let you be. Enjoy yourselves!"
Hephaestus turned back towards Hestia. "Why didn't you use his name?" She asked in regards towards Abram.
"I'm worried she might try to track him down, and if I did so, then that would just make it easier."
"You don't trust her?"
Hestia nodded slightly, "Abram told me paranoia is a life saver, so I'm putting it in practice."
"Speaking of, where is he?"
"Dungeons. He left Bell with Mia Grand."
"What's so different about her you'd let Mia take care of Bell?"
"I'd rather not argue with someone who would use me as a battering ram."
Hephaestus let out a small chuckle. Hestia was right about the old woman's strength…. maybe even her temperament as well.
Hestia turned back to the table and picked up another piece of bread. As she did so, she saw Hephaestus wave her off – a gesture she returned. Now left alone for the night, Hestia could only think of grabbing Bell and head home. She had been wondering how the boy was doing tonight. Turning to the exit, she stuffed whatever amount of food she could into her dress before walking out. No one seemed to question it, let alone care enough to say something.
She passed by Hephaestus on her way out. The smith shouted a reminder to Hestia, "Remember to send your guy my way! I want to know what he was looking at!"
"I'll remember!" Hestia shouted back as she stepped further away from Hephaestus and closer to the door.
There she stood, amidst a field of Moonflowers. Ehin and Abram stood before the Great One. Her form was one Abram instantly recognized, yet it still disgusted him to look at her. That emaciated corpse with tendril-like hair. To think this was the one who bound him to his chair…
Abram could only scratch around his ear as Flora's whispers wormed their way into his head. He couldn't understand them at all. These mutterings flowed into his ears like sludge. Whatever noises which slightly resembled human speech was muffled, so much so it sounded like he was listening to someone through a wall… No, he even had heard those exact noises, yet even those were easier to hear than this.
The whispers went on for a minute before ceasing. Flora leveled her face to Abram's. Her three eyeholes stared deep into his eyes. Not even Ehin could discern what emotions she was trying to display, if any at all.
She tapped the ground with her bony fingers. The earth beneath her hands gave way, bisecting itself to reveal a corpse – a fresh one. She did so again with her other hand, parting the earth to reveal a human-sized doll. All were curious at this point. Could this even be done? Abram didn't know much about the Great Old Ones, yet from his limited knowledge he could only assume... maybe.
Flora placed the two bodies next to each other. Then… nothing. Abram didn't really know what to expect. He just stood there, staring. "What the hell is this?" He turned to Ehin "Did you just bring me here to watch her dig up the Doll and a corpse?"
Ehin gave no response, instead pointing back towards where the corpse was. Abram lazily shifted his gaze towards the two, surprised to see the once-corpse standing in its grave, sporting that same smile as the Doll. 'That same stance…'
"How?" Was Abram's only response as he stood in place dumbfounded.
Ehin spoke, "If Flora can give life to a porcelain doll, then why not a corpse?"
"But why?" Abram asked, still clueless as to the motive behind Flora's actions.
"Let her speak," Ehin directed.
The new Doll approached. She had tan skin and green eyes. A scar-like tattoo, pure black in color, made its way from her lower hip to her cheek. She stood shorter than the porcelain Doll, only coming up to Abram's nose. Her hair, matted and messy, was dark brown and came down to her shoulder blades. "It is nice to meet you again, Good Hunter." Her voice was different, as expected. There was no foreign accent to it. No sign of Maria's inspirations. "I am... was your Doll. Your skill set is widely different than those in the new city, as well as how they evolve."
"And you're here to help?" Abram assessed. The new Doll nodded. "Does this have something to do with the weird leveling system they use here?" She nodded again. "Why is this 'level' thing on my back?"
"I understand these people use a strange system of ranking their adventures. It only stood to reason Flora gave you statistics according to your strength and experience."
"And you are here to help me raise that number?"
"Yes."
"What was stopping her from just sending you here personally, instead of putting you in an Amazonian's corpse?" Abram finally asked a question he felt she couldn't answer.
"Would it not look strange having conversations with an inanimate object? Most of the people here lack the Insight to see me properly."
"So, Bell...?" Abram asked, waiting for a response.
"Would think you to be mad."
Abram sighed in frustration. What was the point to any of this? Was he not capable enough already? "Fine. I concede. Meanwhile, you need clothes." Abram looked around the chamber. No clothes appeared to be popping out of the ground – the only normal thing happening tonight. "Wear this," he offered her, taking off his trench coat, who then wrapped her nude body in it. "Take the hat too." Abram set his cap on the risen corpse's head. "Someone might recognize your face. Keep it tipped forward."
"That concludes our business, Hunter. Take care."
"I'll do my best to stay sane," Abram simply replied, before exiting the room with the Doll in tow.
First was throwing Abram into some strange other world, second was Amygdala harassing Eina, and lastly was a corpse following him out of the dungeon. Retirement appeared to be a long way from Abram's grasp. The man couldn't help but wonder if he would ever get the chance to escape.