Filvis checked her surroundings as she entered a random alley before letting out a sigh and leaning her head against the wall. The last few days were rather... stressful. The fact the Hermes Familia was utterly depressed due to the casualties they suffered was just the tip of the iceberg. A part of her felt a bit guilty for not being there but she squashed that feeling with ease. After all, it wasn't really her Familia. Not in her heart at least. No, the most stressful was having to sneak around like in the old days. Only this time with no backup whatsoever and being on the opposite side of things. While it wouldn't exactly bad if she got caught, it would've made things a lot more inconvenient. Shaking her head, she glanced at the streets, eyes narrowed. People sure loved violence, if they celebrated this much at the mere thought of two Familia clashing in a controlled manner. They certainly weren't that happy when Evilus acted openly.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance. No use stalling any longer. If she pushed her boundaries, they might actually pull out more sanctions or something like that. With a scoff she closed her eyes... and released her magic. The feeling of disappearing, of the world changing around her as she vanished into particles. The noises of people on the streets distorted and vanished. Then slowly, she felt strength return to her. Two sets of memories fused. Thoughts of joy opposed thoughts of despair. Excitement against boredom. She grit her teeth as the two existences became one once more. Eventually, the daze disappeared and she was whole again.
Filvis Challia, the creature, opened her sunken dark blue eyes in her cell. The arrows planted around her in this church's basement still radiated magic, keeping her shut with ease. She glanced at the mirror in her prison, a disgusted smile appearing on her face. Ah yes, there she was. The monster, with the red roots coming out of her magic stone in her chest. Her hair became long enough to cover parts of the ground. As usual, it was irritating at best. Shaking her head she glanced to the front of her cell, staring at two chairs being occupied. The gods Hermes and Loki, leaning forward and legs crossed respectively, patiently waited for her to catch herself. Closing her eyes for a moment, she checked the two sets of memories in her mind before letting out a laugh. The things she found as the adventurer and the information she received from Hermes himself.
"Hah. Now that was actually interesting," Filvis muttered, stretching her arms, having enough room. It was always something that bothered her. Jail or not, it was quite spacious and it wasn't like she was missing things to distract herself with, with the shelves of books and idle games to keep herself from going utterly insane with that damned voice in her head.
"Told you I wouldn't let you get bored."
Filvis scoffed in response. Gods, she always hated that man. Such a two faced existence. Sure, Lord Dionysus was also like that but Hermes was just the different kind of scumbag that made looking at his mere face into an aggravating event in her life. Turning away, she sat down at her desk, pulling out the feather in her ink and began to write down the information she found outside. Not that it was a lot, as she didn't manage to enter Knossos ever since her own key mysteriously vanished from Hermes' grasp before he even knew what it was for. One could say about the Night Queen what they wanted but when it came to information denial, she was good. But every little bit helped so she wrote it down, even if it didn't seem helpful to her. Others could potentially find something out.
The Creature glanced at her audience, noting that the Trickster's mocking smile wasn't in place. In fact she seemed to seethe at something as she impatiently tapped her chair. Filvis couldn'T help herself and gave the goddess a mocking grin.
"Did something bad happen?"
"Don't test me," Loki growled before snapping her fingers at the elf. "Wolf monster. Dullahan riding it."
Fivlis stopped in her writing and fully turned around, raising an eyebrow. Odd combination. She motioned for them to continue. After hearing about the details of what occured in Rivira, something that made even her flinch despite her apathy towards the Hermes Familia, Filvis crossed her arms thoughtfully. No wonder everyone was so depressed. Normally she would've been blamed for not being there but they seemed awfully glad she wasn't there at 'the shitshow' as some called it. From what she could hear, that was an understatement. In the end, Filvis shook her head, causing Loki to click her tongue in annoyance.
"I do not know that monster. If Evilus really controls it, it happened after you caught me."
"No ideas whatsoever?" Hermes asked, folding his hands. Again, the Creature shook her head.
"I wouldn't know where they would get the monster from. The people I spied on also didn't really know. Just some rumors about some failure of the Night Queen. Nothing confirmed however."
"So you know nothing?"
"Perhaps Lord Dionysus would know but you just had to banish him," Filvis bit out, bitterness creeping into her voice. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before turning back to writing her report. "I assume it is neither a Demi Spirit nor a Creature like me. Else it wouldn't have nearly as much patience as you describe it, in terms of killing or in terms of wanting to reach the surface."
She didn't recall any Demi Spirit with wolf features. Not to mention the way they described the monster, it completely lacked the spirit's body. One might mistake the Dullahan for one, but apparently they could separate so it was different.
"You really want to call him Lord after everything he did to you?"
Filvis snarled, slamming the table and causing it to crack. Then she forced herself to exhale slowly before resuming her writing, not looking at Hermes who asked that question.
"He was all that I had left. And even that was taken from me," she whispered, filled with frustration. "You won't even give me the peace of death. No, instead I am your prisoner."
"Blame Hans, he insisted."
"Mimir... "
She had conflicted feelings about that damning man with his eyes that rivaled that of the gods. In a way, she was freed from Lord Dionysus. Filvis knew that he was insane and in some ways completely evil. Yet it didn't change the fact that he was the one to accept her first. Not to mention she was stuck in this place, not being trusted. Which was rational, all things considered. Still, only her magic was a way to taste some freedom. Perhaps because of that her emotions swayed between gratitude and hatred like a rubber ball against a wall.
With a flick of her wrist, she finished her report and shoved it onto a specific spot. The gods nodded to each other and activated some sort of mechanism, causing the barrier of the arrows to shift, in order to allow the papers to pass through. Picking them up, they read through the contents. Loki clicked her tongue and looked up, causing Filvis to shrug with a smirk.
"So you have no idea what that thing was?"
"Come now, don't look at me like that. My information is four years outdated." She paused, a memory tingling in her mind. She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "You might have to ask Mimir."
"Hans? Why?" Hermes asked. Filvis closed her eyes, looking closer at the memory. She opened her eyes then and glanced at the bookshelf of hers, grimacing a bit. She hated that most of them were from Mimir, but the damned Pallum wrote some good books.
"One of his stories. About a vengeful wolf with his headless rider, finding some semblance of purpose in a mysterious world and organization." "Hessian... Lobo."
"Guess an author has his own secrets," Hermes muttered. Shrugging, they turned away from her. Normally Filvis would just let them leave. But then she remembered. The broken expression of the Hermes Familia. The sorrow Lefiya expressed after Knossos. She breathed out, hating herself for the hypocrisy she was about to commit.
"...A cup."
"A what?" Loki asked, snapping her head around. Filvis glanced at them before looking away.
"A golden cup. It was a magical artifact. I heard of it before you caught me. Some of the Evilus remnants also mentioned that the Night Queen usually carried something like that with her." She shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "Its purpose is beyond me, but from the excitement I gleaned from Lord Dionysus? I wouldn't be surprised if that is the source of your problems."
Loki stared at her for a while before nodding slowly, eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"Good enough. Whaddya want?"
"Freedom?" She asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. Scoffing at her own words, she looked up at the ceiling. She felt her face heat up a bit before she looked away. "...I want vacation days."
"Excuse you?" Hermes asked in disbelief. Filvis huffed before turning her back at them.
"Every time I duplicate myself it's for jobs. Give me vacation."
"You never asked for it," her official god pointed out, causing the Creature to wave her hand in dismissal.
"I never needed them".
"Alright, I guess." Loki sighed. "But only if one of our Familia is with you."
"That was the plan, yes."
A flare of divine energy pressed onto her. Filvis grit her teeth before she looked back, seeing Loki glare at her with glowing eyes.
"...If ya hurt Lefiya, I'll kill ya."
"You'd be doing me a favor," Filvis whispered before letting out a scoff. "Don't worry about that."
With that said and done, she leaned against the wall, closing her eyes as she began to doze off with the gods having left. Yet she grimaced as the voice once more spoke again and again in her head, causing her to grit her teeth. Then she saw a flash of a smiling friend in her mind, somewhat calming her temper before she gave into the despair of being aimless. She hugged herself, tears falling down.
"Lefiya... "
/
"Oi. Spill it."
"I only have theories."
"More than I got. Why does the cup ring bells?"
"Doera, the Dreamer. She had a cup in her stories."
"What did it do?"
"Nobody knows. Some believe it was just placebo. Others believe it was the source of her vitality and witchcraft. Then again some are still arguing what her race even was."
"Really?"
"Myths aren't known for having a lot of historical accuracy. Hm... "
"What now?"
"Oh, nothing. Just that the symbol of the cup often appears across history. Maybe some homage to her... "
"Or they got the real deal and used it themselves."
"Perhaps. Though I have the feeling there is more behind that cup than we realize. Having abilities history never found out about."
"That your instinct as a god?"
"Naturally."
"...Great."
Time until the War Game: One week.