"Alright, time for the first test." Said Enid with an enthusiastic smile as she put on some protection goggles. "Let's call this prototype...latrop? It's portal backwards. What's a good name for a portal device?"
Enid put a hand on her chin and began thinking of a cool name for her portal machine. Several candidates appeared in her mind, but only some appealed to her.
"Savior 1? Cause it's gonna save me from my life?" Said Enid before frowning. "Screw it, I'll name it later."
Enid then held a staff. A staff that was her portal machine. It was a fancy black and white stick connected to a Rubik's cube (colors: red, blue, green, yellow, white, black) that held the whole device's controls.
"Alright. Let's add the code for the human realm." Said Enid with a smile before quickly solving the cube and bringing the red side to her and pressing each red square once like a number key pad. "There we go, a relatively simple code for a relatively simple realm. Let's hope this doesn't get too complicated when i get to unsolved cubes and multiple sides."
Deciding to ignore the feeling of regret over her overly complicated system, Enid sighed before taking a deep breath. She held the staff in air and willed it to do its work.
All the cube's sides became clear and see through as it began projecting the portal. A working portal to the human realm. She was able to see the scenery of Gravesfield where Luz lived.
Enid's breathing quickened with excitement. She was so excited she forgot to throw in a test dummy first and extended her hand through the portal.
Her hand was fine and a smile grew on her face out of happiness. That happiness was short-lived, however.
The portal staff began shaking in Enid's hand. Enid turned to the device to find it breaking apart.
Her eyes widened as she realized the danger of the situation and threw the staff away before creating a barrier out of a nearby potion made for these situations.
The staff exploded and various magical liquids flew all over the room. Enid groaned.
"Why can it never just end?!" Enid yelled angrily as she lowered her barrier. "Ugh, what did i do wrong?"
She got up and approached the parts of the staff that were still intact and began making deductions.
"The energy source is good, the magic potions are good, the only thing that could've been faulty is the frame." Said Enid with a frown. "Was the material not strong enough to handle everything?"
Enid pouted. She lied on her back on the ground and began thinking.
"It's not enough to just be strong, it needs to not react with everything in the slightest." She narrowed her eyes. "What's super durable and can hold something that can break time and space without reacting with it?"
Enid thought and thought of any material that could serve this purpose, but alas, she couldn't think of anything.
"Ugh! If i just had titan's blood, i wouldn't need to go through all- wait, titan's blood! It's super reactive with some types of magic, and can break time and space. Then what holds titan's blood?" Titan's veins and arteries!"
With newfound vigor, Enid got up from the floor and pulled out a book with a map of the boiling isles.
"Everything loops back to you, doesn't it?" Said Enid narrowing her eyes as she glared at the drawing of the titan. "Now, which is better to get; part of the veins or the arteries?"
After some thought, Enid decided that an artery would be better.
She grabbed a bag of potions, changed into her normal clothes (you can imagine what you like) and other supplies before getting permission from Bump to go on her little excursion and he agreed.
All she had to do now was go and get a part of one of the titan's arteries. Super easy.
However, what she should've expected by now was that things never go according to plan.
xxXxx
Hunter, The Golden Guard, was currently on a mission.
A mission to slay and deliver a stonesleeper rumored to live in a cave made from the titan's arm artery.
He didn't know why his uncle wanted this beast dead, but he wasn't one to question orders.
And so, he headed towards the arm rumored to house the stonesleeper ready to slay the beast.
He didn't expect to see the girl who ruined his uncle's reputation there. He frowned as he saw her heading towards the same cave he was heading to.
"She must be here to get the stonesleeper before us." Said Hunter as he glared at the gray haired girl. "I need to take her down."
Hunter pulled out his artificial magic staff and dashed into the air in a red blur before landing directly in front of Enid.
"Halt!" Exclaimed Hunter as he took a fighting stance. "For crimes against the emperor, you are under arrest!"
Enid's reaction...wasn't what Hunter expected. Instead of being afraid or angry, she just looked tired. Even more so when you look at the bags under her eyes.
"In hindsight, i should've expected this." Deadpanned Enid pinching the bridge of her nose.
"What?"
"It's just...this happens way too often." Said Enid tiredly before pulling out a potion from her side bag and lightly throwing it towards Hunter.
Hunter easily caught the potion with his staff's magic and scoffed.
"Did you really think THAT was going to-" he couldn't finish the sentence before the potion exploded and knocked Hunter away, breaking his staff in the process.
"It was worth a shot." Ignoring the explosion completely and believing that Hunter was relatively harmless without his staff, Enid walked towards the cave as if nothing happened. "Buh-bye"
As Enid entered the cave and began appreciating the walls that she was going to mine.
This proved to be a mistake when a maskless Golden Guard tackled her a second later.
"G-get off me!" Exclaimed Enid angrily as she struggled against Hunter who quickly overpowered her and pinned her down.
"You are under arrest for attacking a coven offici-"
Enid didn't let him finish as she magically controlled some orange liquid from a vial in her bag to restrain him.
Hunter dodged pounced on her attempting to reach her bag. Enid tried to stop him by using the liquid, but Hunter took out a potion from her bag and broke it before using it as a weapon to threaten Enid.
Hunter has a sharp broken bottle to Enid's neck while Enid had an orange magic liquid floating in the air ready to restrain Hunter.
"Give *pant* u-"
"Or you'll kill me? *pant* I wish." Said Enid with a glare.
"WOULD YOU LET ME FINISH ONE SENTENCE?!" Yelled Hunter angrily as he kept the broken bottle to Enid's neck. "Now, drop that orange liquid...thing."
Enid rolled her eyes and Hunter frowned harder.
"I said drop it!" He repeated as he pressed the broken bottle against her neck just enough to not spill blood.
Enid grit her teeth before letting the orange liquid hit the ground.
"Alright, now you-" Hunter couldn't finish the sentence before a nasty smell hit his nose. "Ugh, what is that smell."
Enid's eyes widened as she realized the source of the smell.
"We need to leave, NOW!" Said Enid with clear urgency.
"I'm not falling for any of your tricks anymore." Replied Hunter.
Enid immediately began panicking. "That smell is from the potion you broke. If we-"
Before Enid could finish her sentence, the walls began shaking and soon they began collapsing.
Hunter was able to dodge and thankfully, he was able to pull Enid away with him. Her bag wasn't so lucky as it was crushed under the debris.
"*pant* what *pant* was that?!" Yelled Hunter.
"It's a mining tool. It lets out a bad smell to warn anything that might be too close." Said Enid as she brushed away her hair.
The two teens were able to see that the cave's entrance was now blocked and there was no way through.
"We need to find another way." Said Enid as she stood up before abruptly stopping when a very sharp broke bottle was pointed at her neck.
"And you're leading the way." Added Hunter threateningly. "And answering some questions too."
Enid groaned before obeying and leading the way through the artery.
xxXxx
"First, why did you slander the emperor in front of everyone?" Asked Hunter with a frown.
"I only said the truth." Said Enid rolling her eyes.
"That's a lie. Belos never tried to imprison you. It was the potion head." Said Hunter angrily as he pointed the broke bottle to the back of Enid's neck.
"And the potion head works for Belos. So it's Belos's fault." Said Enid calmly.
"You could've asked the emperor for help." Countered Hunter with a frown.
"And what's he gonna do? Belos doesn't care about anyone. He just cares about enforcing his quote unquote titan's will and stopping the so called dangerous wild magic."
"He's helping the isles! Wild magic IS dangerous. Without him, everyone would've been stuck in the savage ages and-"
"And what? What's wrong with the savage ages? It's not like today's any different. I've seen people die on the streets and people laying traps for others to kill them and your precious Belos never bats an eye. Heck, even though the coven head was the one who kidnapped and imprisoned me for NO REASON, your coven scouts decided to execute me for NO REASON. See? Your entire system and purpose is just a big joke made by an even bigger clown."
"Shut up!"
"I wonder how disposable you are to him."
"I'm not disposable!" Exclaimed Hunter angrily.
"Of course you are. How many times did he allude to getting a replacement, i wonder." Added Enid calmly.
Hunter went silent and Enid smiled. 'Why not mess with Belos a little bit more?' She thought.
"Guess i was right. You Grimwalkers mean nothing to him."
"Grimwalkers?" He asked as they continued walking.
"It's like an artificial witch. The ingredients are: selkidomus scales, galder stones-" with every ingredient listed, Hunter shook even more. "-palistrom wood, a bone of ortet and...what was the last ingredient again?"
"Stonesleepers." Said Hunter as he stopped in his tracks staring at what was in front of Enid.
"Oh, right. Stonesleeper lungs!" Said Enid with a smile before noticing a big stonesleeper with its babies all sleeping together like stone statues. "Ah, you meant those."
There was also an exit for the cave near the stonesleepers, but it was overshadowed by the creatures themselves.
"I have to slay one." Said Hunter with a determined expression.
"And become more replaceable when he makes another one of you?" Asked Enid with a frown.
"You're LYING! I'm NOT A GRIM WHATEVER YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Said Hunter angrily.
"Maybe i am, but then again do you know what he's using this for?" Asked Enid calmly only getting silence as a response. "How about this, you pretend to have never seen the stonesleepers and me and Belos keeps you as a pet for just that bit longer, maybe even prove that he doesn't need a replacement."
Hunter flinched upon hearing the last part and Enid continued.
"A plus is that you don't ruin an innocent family of a simple creature that's nearly extinct."
Hunter was now completely shaking from head to toes as he questioned everything he stood for.
A minute later, he made his choice. He dropped the broke bottle and Enid smiled at him.
"Just don't tell Belos about the grimwalker thing. He'll definitely end you on the spot. If you want to look into what i said, there are some books at the library."
"What are you going to do with the stonesleepers?" Asked Hunter.
"I'm not here for the stonesleepers. I'm here to collect some of the artery."
"If i find out that you're lying about the grim-"
"You know where i live." Deadpanned Enid rolling her eyes. "And would you look
Hunter clenched his fists and slowly walked away through the exit.
Enid let out a sigh of relief. "That took a lot out of me. How can normal people talk for this long?"
Enid then removed her left shoe and pulled out a small vial from it.
"This should do the trick."
xxXxx
Tell me how i did. Leave a review.
Toodles.