After waking up, I saw that everyone looked much more realistic in my group, and that the others looked just as surprised as I did.
"So... um... is it true that you're from thousands of years in the past, Drake?... Same with Carly and Firkle?" asked Keira, me sighing at her.
"You told all of them?" I asked Stella, her nodding at me with a small smile.
"Yes, I did," she said.
"So... this isn't a game?" Firkle asked before Marionette spoke right after a twitch.
"I'm so confused at this. How does something like this happen? Being sent thousands of years in the future?... I can't even count to a hundred, so how much is a thousand?" Marionette asked, me sighing and rolling my eyes, though luckily, she didn't notice.
"From what Stella said, it was someone that was stronger than her and her sister. But I don't know if it's a good guy or a bad guy that did so... maybe it was the Almighty Zenus? Or maybe it was some dark force that we might face in the future..." I said with a frown.
"I've studied the Almighty for numerous years before becoming Angel Falls's guardian. And he's very prideful, but also is known to go to drastic measures to assist in times of turmoil... I wasn't around for when he first wiped the world away and restarted... but I do know he was going to destroy humanity before stopped by some strange force... maybe he thought to bring someone here to this timeline that knew how to save the day should he know he'd fail to be able to withstand the blow?" Crux asked in confusion.
"All we do know is that sissy was the one that brought Carly and Firkle here, but because of her having much less power in her current state, she could only do so whenever the bodies were either very weakened, or had no soul prior," Stella frowned.
"In her current state?... Who is she and what does that mean?" Stella asked.
"Um... can I tell them?" I asked Stella.
"Just don't say a word to the other Celestrians... my sister is Celestria. And... she's the one who bore the Fyggs," she said, Pavo looking at her with a frown.
"Is that a joke?" Pavo asked.
"It's not. She took the form of Yggdrasil to prevent Zenus from destroying the mortals a second time. If not for her, then the world would be gone of all but the animals and plants... she did that to prove that the humans could be proven to be grateful and good. And only after she had gathered enough of their benevolescence would she be able to bear the Fyggs. And once taken to the Realm of the Almighty, she'd be able to return to her original self," I explained, Crux gulping at that as he took control.
"You... you're serious? Is that all true, Stella?" Crux asked.
"Yes. All of it is true. He told the story frame by frame and perfectly... so you all promise not to speak to anyone else about this?" she asked, us then nodding in agreement.
"Yes, we'll be quiet about this. We'll only talk more about it outside of towns and cities. For now, we need to get some breakfast from Erinn before then going back to the boat and continuing our quest... oh, but before that, the map that leads to the Muted Beast is near Gleeba, so we should get that out of the way first before we continue on," I said with a smirk.
"Yeah, especially since we managed to level up to 20 after defeating Equinox," Keira smirked as she then held my hand with a small smile. "So, Mister Drake, can we get a table together?" she asked.
"We'll have a table together as a group, yes. But if you want to hold hands the whole way, that's okay," I smirked, her giggling at me. I had to remember that she was more mature for her age and that she felt romantic feelings for me... but I did want to do one more thing before leaving the town, and that was to meet with Simona to introduce her to Marionette and Firkle.
And wouldn't you know it, but I saw that Simona was actually visiting the Inn for breakfast and that she was speaking with Patty at the bar.
"Oh, look who just woke up. Your husband," Patty smirked as she pointed Simona to me, her smirking at me.
"Hello, Drake. How is your journey going as of late?" she asked, me smiling at her.
"We've managed to find three more of the Fyggs, meaning only two remain... and one of them belonged to this lady right here," I smiled as I looked at Marionette. "Marionette, this is Patty, and my lovely wife, Simona," I smiled.
"Hello, friends. It's a pleasure to meet you," she smiled, Patty raising an eyebrow at that.
"Marionette? Don'tcha mean Marion? Or is there something going on here?" she asked.
"Well... something to note, Marion Bloome is currently going on a journey away from Bloomingdale... and this is her doll, which looks exactly like her... only, because of a Fygg, she was given life," I explained, Simona being surprised.
"Amazing... those heavenly fruits must be quite powerful if they turned a doll into a mortal," Simona gawked.
"Well, not exactly," Marionette smiled. "I wasn't mortal when the Fygg was in me. I was just a wooden doll that could talk and walk like one, but without any soul. Once Drake fed me some of his wing feathers that he found, I became completely mortal... along with a soul from someone he knows," she smiled, Simona looking at her with confusion.
"Beg pardon?" And then the twitch happened.
"She means me," Firkle said, the change of voice to 6-year-old girl spooking Simona big time. "Do I really sound scary?" she asked.
"No, no... s-so... who are you?" Simona asked.
"My name is Firkle, and I'm Drake's lil' sis. I was sent to Marionette's body shortly after she became mortal," she explained.
"I see... so you're related to him?"
"Yep. But Marionette finds attraction to big brother, so uh... yeah, it's very weird," Firkle admitted.
"Hehe, that does sound weird. So what are you planning on doing now?" Patty asked.
"We're going to get back on the hunt for the Fyggs after breakfast," Veronica smiled.
"So what's on the menu?" Crux smirked.
"Only the best food in the entire kingdom. Seriously, Erinn's cooking is top notch, with her hotcakes being the best," Simona smiled widely.
"Then I guess I'll have an order of Hotcakes, then," I smirked.
"Same," almost all of my allies said, minus Stella.
"And what of the invisible fairy?" Simona smiled.
"Tell her I want an egg sandwich," Stella smiled as she saw the menu.
"She would like an egg sandwich," Carly smiled.
"Very well. one egg sandwich and 7 orders of hotcakes coming up," Patty smiled as she then went to a door behind the counter and placed the ticket in a small window. We then took our seats at the table and waited patiently. Only after 5 minutes did the food arrive, along with complimentary orange juice and milk. And it did, indeed, taste amazing. Marionette was simply in love with them, me smirking as I saw her trill in delight at the food. If it looked like the 3D games still, I bet she'd have hearts in her eyes.
"Mm, mmm! That Inny girl must've chosen chef as an occupation, cause that was the tastiest thing I've ever had!" Stella smirked widely.
"Agreed, at least, for me and Marionette," Firkle giggled.
"Best pancakes I've ever had, that's for sure. Perfect drizzle of syrup and just the right dollop of butter. And MUCH better than anything from back home, huh?" Carly asked with a smile.
"For sure," I smirked.
"What does food taste like in your world?" Veronica asked with a smile.
"Not as good as the food here, that's for sure. Plus, food in my world is kinda... toxic," I frowned.
"Then why eat it if it's poisonous?" Dillon asked.
"Well, not poison but... how to put this... imagine a food that looks delicious and that you'd really want to eat... now imagine adding something to it that makes it look exactly like it is for up to a month or more without the food ever looking like it was going bad. And then you buy this food and eat it, not knowing how long it was there and then eating it... and it's not only still tasty, but also filled with sugar, no matter what it is. And that this sugar is so addicting, that you just want to keep eating the stuff," I explained.
"Really?... So, they make the food unable to age, but also highly addictive? Sounds like good eating to me," Keira smirked.
"Well, not really. Because once you get addicted to this food, you then eat it all the time. And it's so unhealthy to eat with so many carbs, grease, and unhealthy fats that you end up getting fatter and fatter and then you get susceptible to diseases like diabetes and kidney failure," I explained. And the group looked surprised at that.
"Oh... wow... so not good eating," Stella gawked.
"It's why I'm happy to get anything sugary while I'm here. One bite of that food, and you're hooked," I explained.
"Same. I ate chocolate during my first trip to the Protectorate, and I've been lustful for it ever since," Crux said from my head. We then finished our meal and proceeded to ask Simona a question.
"So, Simona... have your parents said anything about the two of us being married?" I asked, her smiling at me.
"Mother just can't stop crying joyful tears whenever she sees my wedding ring and father has told me he thinks you'd make a fine king one day," she smiled.
"Hehe, I'm not really the king type, but I could give it a whirl when the adventures are done," I smirked.
"I don't like that idea. Sounds like trouble," Pavo frowned.
"Eh, hakuna matata," I said, the group looking confused at that.
"Awhatcha macallit?" Keira asked.
"It's a saying from where we come from. It means 'no worries', but in a different language," Firkle smirked.
"Really? From your world?" Simona asked, me looking at the others, them simply smiling. I then looked at her and smiled.
"Well... from what I learned last night... surprisingly, I'm not from an alternate dimension... I come from thousands years in the past, before the Protectorate ever existed," I explained, her being surprised.
"R-Really?... W-What year was it that you were sent here?" she asked.
"In my timeline, 2021 AD."
"That's shocking... the oldest records we have of that time is a book that's had to be rewritten over and over again, which is currently in my family's royal archives. Talking about a specific person called Joseph Biden and how he was the worst president of a nation called the United States..." she gawked.
"Hehe, sounds like it was made by a Republican," Carly smiled.
"They mentioned words like Republican in the book... but it's been years since I read it," Simona said with a sigh.
"Just don't mention that to King Schott, please? I doubt he'd believe that I'm from the past... oh, and by the way. Joseph Biden was the president during the year I was sent here, in case you wanted to know."
"Nice to know. Now you should be getting back to work. The world needs saving, after all," Simona smirked, me nodding as I kissed her goodbye and she blushed at me. "Be careful, Drake. I'll await the day when we can finally have a night of passion," she smiled at me.
"But of course, Simona," I smiled.
"Ugh... Drake, you are even worse than Crux was when wooing me... I can't stand that mushy gushy stuff," Pavo groaned.
"Fine, fine, I'll behave, Pavo," I smiled sarcastically as we then left the Quester's Rest and I then zoomed us back to Gleeba. We then diverted our route to the southern part of the island and found the entry to the second dungeon of the Muted Beast in the area where you could find Gold Golems. We also used some picked up items like Glass Frits and Duneberries to make some more items. I managed to make a boomerang called the Dunerang, which was a boomerang empowered with earth magic by mixing an edged boomerang with two Duneberries, which was awesome, since the boomerang had 90 attack points, perfect for Stella. And we also made a Sandstorm spear for Carly, since she was getting some bigger muscles and skills from the multiple levels we'd been gaining.
"Just in case you wanted to try something other than spellplay," I smiled at her.
"Thanks, I'll start training with it right away," she smirked. We soon unearthed the hole that was hidden in the area where you could find Evencloth. We then ventured within, us finding that the dungeon had a couple tougher foes waiting for us, including Brainy Badboons, Giddy Gastropogs, and we even found a couple Liquid Metal Slimes! And when they dared attack us first? We attacked them back, but harder. We managed to use our different weaponry in Metal Slash and Carly using her spear to use Pressure Pointer, which killed the second Metal Slime in one hit with the instant-death effect.
After defeating three of them, our group had managed to level up to 30 for every single one of our different vocations, which meant we could get tougher. I upped my points in the special areas of Martial Arts so I could get the Psyche Up ability. Marionette also got the same skill while also adding to her fisticuffs skills, which made her muscles expand a bit. And it was then that I realized that, somehow, Marionette and Firkle also had all the different vocations for them despite meeting them after the Alltrades Abbey!
"So... why are you getting the same perks as us, Marionette? Because the Abbot gave us the multiple vocations before we even met you," I asked, her shrugging her shoulders with a smile.
"You can thank me for that at a later date," Stella smiled, me only then getting it.
"Oooh, I got it. Because you're still technically a goddess, right?" I asked, her smirking at me with a wink.
"Don't go calling me goddess or princess, Drake, or I'll whack ya upside yer head," she smirked at me.
"He already did though," Crux said, me then pinching myself. "You know I don't feel that, right?" I frowned at him.
"I meant as cutesy names," Stella said.
"Are you two a thing yet? Or not?" Veronica asked, me blushing at that.
"She said when the Fyggs are gathered, then we'll talk," I admitted.
"What he said," Stella smiled. We then finally got to the bottom of the grotto at floor 9 and saw that the one waiting for us was the giant chimaera monster that would be our first real challenge.
"Nemean... the powerful mouth of the Almighty," Stella said, the giant lion monster growling angrily as it looked at us and then at Stella.
"Mmmmgggggrrrr... GRRRROOOOOOOAAARRRGGGHHH!" it roared with bestial rage, him then trying to slash his claws at Stella, her answering back by giving the giant monster a bitch slap across the face! And when she did, I gawked at how it was much stronger than I expected it to... and that I saw that she was coated in an aura of dark red?
"Grrgg..." Nemean growled as Stella then smiled at the Almighty lion.
"Yes, you recognize me, daddy?" she asked as she simply did something surprising. She lengthened her nails to the point that they could be considered claw weapons and she grew a forked tail and a pair of ram horns on her head! "You should recognize me now, right?" she asked, her voice getting altered to sound scarier when in this new form.
We expected the giant monster to attack... but instead, it started to sniff Stella's new form before then grumbling. "I want to hug you one more time, daddy. But I can't very well do it with all of your pieces scattered. So please, let me help you out," she said, Nemean grunting and then looking at us before then looking at Stella. "You want to test the mortals, first? Fine, go ahead. They win, they get experience," she said, me smirking at that as we then put up our dukes.
Our group proceeded to psyche up for a single point of tension for our first turn, which Nemean then attacked Carly with a powerful physical attack, her wincing at the hit, but still standing strong. We then proceeded to have Veronica heal Carly while the rest of us attacked Nemean! We hit him with a physical attack for each, it being worth 3 times the damage when delivered by Firkle and Marionette's final punch, which made the giant lion chimaera take a knee, Stella smirking at how all of us then leveled up to 31 afterwards. Stella then looked at Nemean and used Fullheal on him, me smirking at that. "Grrgg?..." he grumbled in confusion.
"You're welcome, daddy," Stella smiled as Nemean then turned into a pyramid with flames coming from the top, Stella then absorbing it into her afterwards.
"So... is anyone going to ask why she turned into a demon?" Keira asked, Stella frowning at her as she returned to normal.
"It should be obvious. She was the meaner side of two halves, right?" Pavo questioned.
"I don't discriminate to slapping my fellow ladies. So don't call me demon again, and we'll be right as rain," Stella smirked.
"Sorry... but can we get an explanation? About how you can uh... change forms and the deeper voice?" Dillon asked, Stella sighing.
"It's a side I don't show too often, for obvious reasons. Not even Fatguts has seen it, and we've worked together for almost 300 years. So don't tell no one, because I ain't too proud of it," Stella said, me smiling at her.
"I promise... so long as you could enlighten me on one thing," I said, her looking at me with a frown.
"Choose your words carefully, because I'm not in a good flappin' mood right now," she frowned.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to... but uh... what all did you do when combined with your sister?" I asked, Stella gasping, before then hammering her fingers together and avoiding my gaze in embarrassment.
"O-Okay... um... I never thought I'd get asked that... w-well... when we were... Stellestria... we founded the House of Gitt... and uh... we also made all the monsters that inhabit the world... and... uh... we were married to the king of the Gittish Empire... and we had a kid..." Stella said.
"You had a child at one point?" Firkle asked.
"Yes... but daddy, when he found all this out, erased his name from my memory, and, with the mortals' assistance, demolished the Gittish Empire and every bit of their remnants... I can't remember my own kid's name. How sad is that?" Stella asked, me then holding her tiny hand and her looking at me with surprise.
"You don't need to worry about that, Stella," I said, her frowning at me. "In the far past, a good percentage of people were so destitute and poor, they just abandoned their children the moment they were born, not even naming them anything, because they couldn't even afford to feed themselves, let alone a newborn," I said, Keira gawking at that.
"That's horrible! All those poor infants!" she said in shock.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better? Because it's not," Stella said, me sighing in defeat.
"Sorry, then... if there's anything you want, I'll do it," I said, Stella looking at me with a small smile.
"A back rub," she said, me tilting my head. "On the way to the next continent. I want a back rub," she said, me looking at the others and seeing they were all smiling and some of the ladies were giggling.
"Fine, I did say anything," I said.
"Good. And watch the wings. They're priceless artifacts," she smirked.