Chapter 29
It was midday before Gravos finally managed to get out of bed. He sat up and looked to the other mattress in the room, but the fox-man was already gone, 'hope he's making some food'. Gravos grunted and stretched as he got up from the large mattress on the floor. Miss Filia hadn't gotten around to buying proper beds for the spare room yet, but he didn't mind it. His own bed back in town wasn't that much different anyway. Not many places make beds able to support his size and weight.
Yawning and scratching the base of his tail the lizard man made his way down the stairs to the kitchen. Jilas was indeed downstairs working on some lunch, a pot boiling to the side as he fried up some meat. "Mornin'" Gravos greeted as he walked in the room.
Jilas turned, "Afternoon" he replied irritably, returning to making lunch. Gravos took a quick look around the room. "So where's master Val?"
"'E's in th' livin' room with th' monst'r lady" Jilas replied distractedly. Gravos passed through the dining room and peered into the living area. The curtains were drawn shut, leaving the room rather dark in the middle of the day. At first he couldn't see either of them until movement caught his eye infront of the unlit fireplace. He saw large dark wings unfurl in a stretch and curl back into the main body, a slight glint of a sharp beak and shining black eyes could be made out from the light of the dining room doorway.
Whilst not much scared Gravos anymore, seeing his fair share of monsters, even ones that call themselves 'humans', this large bird lady still managed to give him the creeps. "Hey ah, Miss Kerry. Is master Val in here?" Gravos asked nervously, staying in the doorway as he tried to give his eye time to adjust to the dim light.
"Keep it down you big oaf. He's napping right here," she replied sharply, lifting herself from her perched position on the ground, revealing the dark form of the baby dragon curled up underneath her feathers.
"Well. That takes babysitting to a whole new level," Gravos said with humor in his voice.
"Tsk, whatever. He seems to prefer it. And it keeps him still and quiet," Kerry said lowering herself back onto the hatchling.
"Yeah, I'll bet it does". They both turned their heads upwards to the sound of a door opening, then both wincing as it was heard slamming shut hard. "Sounds like Miss Filia is back," Gravis commented as they heard her stomping around and muttering angrily.
Kerry chuckled to herself. "Sounds like things went rather well," she said in amusement, Filia now stomping down the stairs. Gravos left the doorway towards the kitchen to greet the boss lady. "Hey Miss Filia! Wasn't expecting you for- what's with the get-up? And what did you do to your hair?" Kerry tilted her head curiously. "I'll explain later Gravos. Just, give me some space right now please," Filia replied. She then heard more footsteps and a large door open and close. A small moment later the large green lizard man walked back into the room.
"Hey Miss Kerry. I'm sorry to bug you, but I think something is up with the boss lady. Do you think you could talk with her, girl to girl?" Gravos asked as he fiddled with his fingers.
Kerry tilted her head in annoyance. "Why do you expect me to talk with her? I'm not her keeper".
"I know, but if there's one thing I've learnt about womenfolk, when they go drastically changing their looks it's safer to stay away and get another woman to deal with them. A man's more likely to say the wrong thing and end up paying for it," Gravos said with an air of belief that this was the most important piece of wisdom he's ever learnt.
Kerry sighed in frustration. "Fine. But only because I'm curious about what's so different," she said as she carefully rose off of the sleeping ancient. Transforming into her human form she walked past Gravos, Through the house and out the front door. Looking around she spotted the gold over across a small field sitting on a swing hanging from a tree.
Filia stared at the ground, digging the tip of her shoe into the earth as she gently swung back and forth. "Well isn't this a new look for you," Filia looked up to see Kerry standing before her. Kerry gave her a once over and seemed to look impressed. "Being mated looks good on you". A pained look crossed the golds features as she buried her face in her hands. Kerry raised a curious eyebrow, "regretting the decision already? That's got to be some kind of record".
Filia looked up in surprise, "No no it's not that. I've made my choice and I'll stick by it. No it's just, somethings happened. To me and I think to Xellos as well and I'm just, I don't think I'm handling it too well".
"Ah," Kerry moved over to lean against the trunk of the tree. "So I'm guessing your appearance isn't the only thing different then?" she questioned with crossed arms.
Filia sighed heavily. "No, no it's not". She then proceeded to tell her what she and Xellos had figured out so far, which still wasn't much.
Kerry stood there in contemplation. "Hmm, hate to break it to ya Goldie, but you know he's right," she said as Filia turned to look at her. "It'd be more dangerous not to know than any risks you take testing".
FIlia rubbed her head in frustration. "Grr I don't know! I guess he has a point but, this is just too much. I don't know what to do, how I'm supposed to handle this, I just want it to stop!" she vented while pacing, anxious and frustrated.
"Well it's not going to stop. And the world's not going to wait for you to get yourself together," Kerry's words were harsh and blunt. Filia stopped her pacing and stared at her feet, fighting back tears. It didn't matter that she was right. She still felt helpless and scared, and she hated that.
"How about instead of standing there feeling sorry for yourself, you do something useful and test a few things out for yourself?" Kerry offered.
Filia fiddled with her hands in apprehension. "Maybe...I could start off small I suppose".
"Good! Well since I've got some free time, I'll lend you my assistance. This should be fun," Kerry exclaimed clapping her hands together with enthusiasm. "First things first, lets see how your dragon form looks," she then waited a moment expectantly. When Filia made no move to transform she got snappy. "Well come on! You still remember how right?"
Filia felt like she was going to be sick. She hadn't shifted to her true form ever since...
"I'm sorry, no. I, I can't do it. Lets try something else," Filia stammered, reluctance clear in her voice.
"Uuugh whatever. We'll try something a bit smaller I suppose. Say, have you tried linking with Xellos yet? Let's see if you can do that," Kerry suggested instead.
"Linking?" Filia questioned, having never heard of the term before.
"Yeah. Oh, I suppose you don't know about that yet. It's something monsters can do with their masters and their mates. Kind of like communicating with their minds. Um," Kerry paused as she tried to think. "This is actually hard to explain in words. You kind of, share your thoughts on the Astral plane. But you have to, find them there with your mind first, otherwise you're talking to empty space," Kerry tried to explain. But looking at Filia's confused face she knew she wasn't getting the message across. "Look, try to open your mind until you feel it touch the Astral plane, then you find the one you want to talk to by feeling around. Try to think of how Xellos feels in your head, then track that feeling on the Astral side".
Track him on the Astral side? How was she supposed to do that? Filia held a finger to her chin in thought. Monsters are beings whose physical forms predominantly exist in the Astral plane. That's probably how they are able to mentally connect to it like how Kerry said. Maybe, if she focused on the part of her that was actually Xellos's power, maybe she could use its connection to the Astral plane to 'link' with him...
Filia took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing inwards. She let her mind wander around herself, trying to find something that didn't fit with her. She had no idea exactly what she was looking for. A thought? A feeling? Some sensation or tingle? She tried using the same method she would to sense evil around her- Filia felt a sharp, electric sensation pulse through her. It worked! She found it! She kept her focus on that sensation as she tried to do as instructed, using the feeling as a guide. However to her frustration she kept losing focus on it every time she tried to open her mind outward.
She started to get frustrated with herself, reaching up and rubbing the stiffness from the back of her neck. She felt a prickle as her hand pressed into the nape of her neck...where Xellos had bit her... Curious and running out of other ideas, she pressed into the spot as she tried again. She found the new demonic part of her much more smoothly, so that was a good sign, sort of. This time when she cast her mind outward she kept the connection. Beginning to get hopeful she searched out blindly, hoping to stumble across something that felt familiar. Her fingers were tingling as if being zapped by tiny little lightning bolts.
'Oh for Ceifeed's sake. How will I even know if this is working?'
'Believe me Fi-chan, it is working,' Filia jumped when she heard Xellos's voice clear as day in her head.
'Xellos!? Oh my gosh. I did it!' Filia exclaimed in excitement.
'Yes. Now Filia whilst I am impressed and have quite a few questions for you, now is not a good time. And this is incredibly distracting'.
Filia furrowed her eyebrows, 'why is now not a good time Xellos?' she prodded.
'That's enough Filia. We'll talk later, I'm busy'. Filia felt a firm push on her mind as she assumes Xellos cut their connection.
Frowning she removed her hand from her neck and opened her eyes. "He can be such a jerk sometimes," she complained to her monster companion.
Kerry raised a brow in surprise, "that he can. So you actually did it? Not bad. I've got to admit I wasn't expecting that to actually work for you, and on your first try no less".
"What do you mean you weren't expecting it? You said monsters do it with their mates all the time," she asked.
"Well yes, but Goldie you're not a monster. You don't, or at least shouldn't have the same natural connection to the Astral plane that we do. At best I expected it to be a one way thing from Xellos to you. The fact that you can initiate it at all is significant," Kerry stated as she slowly walked back and forth.
"Oh, I see what you mean. Out of curiosity is the fact that it would only work for me while I was pressing this spot on the back of my neck significant too? I think he's done something there, because I can feel this prickly energy that I've not felt before," Filia questioned as she rubbed the area.
A pink blush matching her eyes streaked across the monsters face. "Um probably. I'd guess that that's where he might have...put his mating mark," she said nervously, avoiding eye contact with Filia.
Filia also felt a small blush creep across her face. "Oh. Is that what he was doing. So um, could you tell me how it looks?" Filia began to turn and lift her hair.
"Aye aye aye stop! Don't go showing that willy-nilly! In fact don't go showing it ever!" Kerry exclaimed, waving her hands and crossing her arms.
Filia paused her actions, "why not?" she asked in confusion, letting her hair fall back down.
"Because mating marks are very personal and very private. Like private private. Like 'cover it up with clothes' private," she explained in frustration.
"Oh my lord I am so sorry Miss Kerry! I had no idea," Filia held her hair flat to her neck, a feeling of absolute shame coming over her.
Kerry sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No it's alright. How would you know? If anything Xellos is the one at fault. On the neck! He's either overly confident or more brazen than I thought".
Filia fiddled with the ends of her hair. "Um, why is that? If I may ask," Filia asked hesitantly of the flustered monster.
Kerry heaved a heavy sigh, "Uuuuuuugh I need a vacation. Firstly it's proof of a vulnerability, a way to exploit them. Secondly they can have some, erogenous properties to them at times," she explained, the conversation clearly an awkward topic for her.
"Ah. I see," Filia replied.
"Look just, this is a conversation you should have with him ok? Now for Ruby Eye's sake lets just move on," Kerry said, trying desperately to cut the conversation. "Ok so, there's enough monster in you to link. Lets see if you got enough to cast a dark magic spell".
Filia squirmed into herself. "I am extremely uncomfortable with that," she said.
"Oh you'll get over it. come on we'll try a simple generic one. Do you know the spell Blast Ash?" she asked.
"Uh no, I don't".
"Ok, just do as I do. Oh darkness, bring me the abyss, destroy the enemy before me". A black spherical void of nothingness appeared 15 feet away from the pair, growing to about the size of a person and vanishing a moment later.
"You need to visualize the space you want to cast it. Now it will turn any living thing inside of it to ash, so please be careful where you aim it".
Filia gulped nervously as she faced herself towards where Kerry's spell had been. She recited the spell with shaky hands held infront of her. She felt a sharp stinging sensation all over as a small sputtering ball of darkness no bigger than a fist sputtered into existence for a second before collapsing into itself pathetically.
"...ok. Ok that can tell us something. Enough monster to link, not enough to cast black magic effectively". It sounded like she was trying to spare Filia's feelings honestly, not that Filia minded. She'd rather not cast black magic spells anyway.
"That also caused me a bit of pain. How about I try a holy spell?" Filia said as she braced her feet as she muttered her spell, "Windbreath," a gentle wind picked up and began to swirl around before them, quickly picking up in speed. Filia made a few motions with her hands and the wind whipped around the two women in a seemingly playful manner before shooting upwards. Filia smiled in her elation as she ended the spell. It went off without a hitch, she could still use her holy magic, the gods hadn't forsaken her!
"Uh,...pretty I suppose. So how are you feeling? Anything different?" Kerry asked
"Nope. Same as always," she replied, still smiling.
"Good. Now see, that wasn't so bad now was it?" Kerry said as she began to walk away.
"Wait Miss Kerry, where are you going?" Filia called out.
Kerry turned to her, "home. You're back now, and I can't think of anything else to try right now. So I'll be off. Till next time Goldie," Kerry didn't give her a chance to respond as she walked past the boundary of Filia's barrier and vanished.
Filia sighed to herself, starting the walk back to the house, absentmindedly rubbing the back of her neck.