Let the Play begin
Welusine, Fear and Ray suddenly appeared at the top of a bizarrely shaped tower in front of an individual almost completely obscured by a Yellow garment that only revealed their strange crimson eyes.
Ray and Fear immediately bowed their heads in reverance to the individual. "Greetings Lord Hastur, thank you for bringing us back" They said in unison as she stepped back and pushed Welusine forward. Nervously the young Vouivre steps forward,
"Hello, my name is Welusine. it's nice to meet you." she said nervously to the yellow clothed Star God. Hastur nodded to her and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's go, we need to introduce you to the rest of the group and officially give you a name." he said as he wrapped the 3 Xenos up and teleported them to his throne room.
Hastur was very interested in the young Vouivre that was now a part of his flock, or to be more precise, the Great Old One was interested in the future he saw for her with his omniscience.
Omniscience is an ability possessed by gods that allows them to perceive the possible futures of those around them based on the actions of themselves and those around them.
To most gods omniscience manifested as the branches of a tree, where thicker branches were more likely possible futures than the less likely thinner ones.
Hastur on the other hand is a Star God, a child of two Outer Gods. This resulted in a vastly different form of omniscience for him, the King in Yellow's omniscience is like being surrounded by an innumerable quantity of sand grains, each grain of sand is a possible future that he can do with as he wishes.
The futures he saw for her life was why he allowed Ray and Fear to come into contact with the adventurers. The Great Old One saw a way to get the entire lower world under his thumb without them even realizing it.
Hastur's method had not changed even as the eons past, He was a shepherd guiding sheep. Those who don't know why or to where they are being guided, only that they are.
Such were the Xenos, they were free to do and say as they pleased, not knowing that the Great Old One was controlling them like puppets dancing on strings. The Xenos knew of Hastur, but didn't know that he was in control of them.
He had approached them as he'd done with many others in the distant past. In the guise of a shepherd seeking to guide lost sheep back home.
Even the clothes the Xenos were gifted with can only be seen by others if the Great Old One allowed it, as was the case with the Hestia Familia, because Hastur had plans involving them as well.
When sent out on a mission, they would lose memory of the King in Yellow and the abilities he gifted to them, believing that their senses and instincts led them to their comrades. Not even their allies in the guild Uranus and Fels knew of Hastur's existence and more importantly, his influence.
To everyone who stepped foot in the dungeon and traversed it's floors, a tiny string of fate became attached to them. Unknown to them or their deities their actions started becoming less their own and more like their yellow clad puppet master's.
Unknown to everyone, even the gods on the surface their children began dancing to someone else's music the day Hastur had awoken and begun his grand act on the stage known as Gekai, all of it culminating in the master's grand reveal at the end of the show.
But he needed to place a lure to draw the attention of the deities first before the show could continue. The gods needed to believe that they had some semblance of control over their own fate and that of their children for a while longer. The lure in this case being Welusine and her friendship with the human Bell Cranel.
At the moment Hastur was sitting at the head of a large dining table on his Sunflower throne, observing his new flock with happiness as he saw the friendly banter between the different species of dungeon dwellers that had been recruited over the years and only remembered him when they were brought to Yellow R'yleth.
The most prominent among them were Ray, Lyd, Gros, Laura, Asterios and Fear. These 6 are the strongest among the Xenos and with the assistance from some of the other members they had become a real force to be reckoned with.
Ray is a Siren and the second in command of Lord Hastur's followers and the Great Old One's right hand. After being named by Hastur she gained the ability to create, control and become light at will, while retaining her natural ability to control others with her voice.
Ray remained a bright and cheerful person despite the hardships in the Dungeon, she still wore her sleeveless yellow and blue striped blouse with the knee-length yellow skirt and the ankle length officers coat with the symbol of the Outer Gods on the back.
Lyd, is a Lizardman and the second Xenos to join the group. After being named by lord Hastur, he gained the ability to create, control and become magma. This made him one of the most dangerous of the Xenos, despite his friendly and caring personality.
Lyd is a Lizardman with crimson scales on his back and white scales on his lower jaw, chest, abdomen, and tail. He wears a long yellow coat on his shoulders held in place by a string going across his chest. Lyd also has 2 curved swords sheathed on his hips.
Gros is a Gargoyle and also one of the earliest of the Xenos. After gaining his name from Hastur, he gained the ability to become and move through solid rock as though it was water. This ability allows Gros to move between the floors easily as he can just swim through the walls or floors.
Gros has the appearance of a gray stone dragon and even had a pair of functional wings. The only thing identifying him as one of the Xenos was a yellow backpack strapped to his back. It was bigger on the inside than the outside and was used to carry supplies from the different hidden villages to the others.
Laura, a Lamia and the second female Xenos in the group, she was found on the 25th floor in the water kingdom of the dungeon. When Laura was named she gained the ability to create, control and become ice.
The Lamia has a calm, collected and mature personality and is very slow to anger. When her anger is unleashed however, entire floors have been known to have a change in climate.
Her appearance was that of serpent with the upper half of a woman, completely covered from head to tail in lime green scales. She had beautiful golden eyes like Welusine and her hair was a darker seaweed green colour. Laura wore a sleeveless yellow corset that reached down to her waist.
Next was Asterios, a black minotaur who had recently been found in the deep floors fighting strong monsters, when he met the Xenos he challenged them to a fight. They declined due to the unknown control of the King in Yellow, but enticed him by saying that their 'leader' would love to have a duel with him.
The fight between Hastur and Asterios was awe inspiring to the Xenos and greatly humbling to the young Minotaur. After Hastur's reality bending power was revealed the Xenos now including the Asterios swore even greater allegiance to the Great Old One.
Only to then forget it as soon as they left Yellow R'yleth, because Hastur made sure that no memory, record or knowledge of his existence left his home on the 100th floor.
Asterios has the appearance of a 7 foot tall black furred, crimson horned bull man, with yellow horizontal pupiled eyes. After he was named by lord Hastur he gained the ability to harden his body with diamond armour.
He wears a crimson loincloth and a yellow coloured chest plate over his left pectoral muscle held in place by leather straps. He also has 2 axes strapped to his back. One double sided axe that is used as his main weapon and a single sided magic axe he got after killing an adventurer.
Ranye, an arachne that had been part of Hastur's group for almost a decade. When the Arachne was named by Hastur she gained the ability to produce a variety of poisons and antidotes that saved the Xenos on several occasions.
She was basically the mother hen of the group and took care of all the younger members of the Xenos, but had an inherent distrust towards adventurers.
Her appearance was that of a silver haired woman with the upper half of her body being humanoid whilst her lower half was the body of a spider with 8 long black legs.
Ranye wears a yellow coloured tube top blouse on the upper half of her body with several yellow coloured backpacks on her lower half for storing weapons or magic stones the 'children' appropriated from adventurers or other monsters.She also wears a golden helmet to conceal her face from the adventurers.
Each of the former work in groups of 2 or 3 with the exception being the latter who leads largest group consisting mainly of the younger members.
After the feast, Hastur teleported the Xenos to the different hidden villages in the dungeon. The Great Old One meanwhile peered into the future with his omniscience and alters a future in which a week passes before the group of poachers from Ikelios Familia capture a group of the younger Xenos.
Instead the event happens in 3 days, this allows the King in Yellow time to take control of the hearts of the adventurers of the Hestia Familia.
The King in Yellow notes that Bell Cranel will be the most difficult to control because of his skill Realis Freece, prevented direct mind control. That didn't mean the Star God couldn't control him, he just needed a different method. Which is what he was doing now.
Hastur projected his consciousness into the dreamlands, and after finding his target began allowing him to dream about the Xenos being hunted and killed by not only adventurers but monsters as well.
These nightmares started the day Hestia Familia encountered Ray and Fear. Needless to say, the Familia became very concerned about their captain when they noticed the dark rings under his eyes, after a few days.
Bell Cranel was not having a good night, he had awoken 3 times this evening in a cold sweat. It was a different nightmare each time, but the thing that remained constant was the fact that he was a monster in his dream and in each one ended up dieing at the hands of an adventurer or another monster.
Bell knew what they were about. Those two monsters they encountered on the 18th floor, the truth they shared with his Familia about the group they're apart of. The thought of intelligent monsters flipped quite a few of their world views on their heads.
Bell was the worst off, because for most of his life he believed that it was his duty to kill the monster, save the girl and become her hero. Now the girl and the monster have switched places and the hero had become a villain.
Sigh* "What am I supposed to do about this?" he asked himself as he realized his Familia was in a tough spot. If they sided with the Xenos which would be morally correct, they'd be betraying the dreams they vowed to achieve.
However, if they sided with the adventurers, a group of innocents would be killed for no other reason than they exist.
"There's nothing to be worried about master Bell, I believe you will make the right decision regardless of what you choose." an unexpected voice answered from the door to his room. Bell looked up to see Haruhime standing in the doorway.
"Haruhime, what are you doing here? I thought you were asleep like the others." Bell said as he smiled tiredly at the Renard in his doorway. "My room is next to yours, I heard you tossing and turning in your sleep and came to check on you." she answered shyly.
"I'm fine, just having some nightmares, about the Xenos." he said before getting up. "Hey Haruhime, let's go get something to eat, I need someone to talk to about this and maybe I'll be able to sleep better afterwards." Bell led the Renard through the mansion to the kitchen not knowing that something else was watching him through Haruhime's eyes.
3 days later
Ray had informed Fels about the meeting she and Fear had with the Hestia Familia, unsurprisingly Fels was shocked by their acceptance of the Xenos.
He was about to suggest setting up a meeting between them and the rest of the Xenos, when Arles the Almiraj came sprinting into the room where they were having their meeting with Fels. She was in a panic frantically pointing and chittering about something.
All the Xenos in the room seemed to understand her and were shocked by what she said, before shock gave way to anger as Ray explained to Fels that the Younger group of the Xenos led by Ranye were killed and Fear and Welusine captured by the dungeon poachers that hunted them.
The Xenos immediately moved into action to go and rescue their friends. Fels followed them at equal pace, "Ray, are you sure we should be rushing into battle like this, we don't even know where they are." the cloaked figure said as the Xenos continued going.
"I don't know how, but the Xenos always know where the others like them are. It doesn't matter which floor they're on, we always know." Ray responded as she flew beside Fels. The cloaked skeleton was contemplative but before he could truly dwell on it they entered the 18th floor.
Surprisingly the group of Xenos didn't encounter any other monsters or adventurers on their way up... until now. Just as they entered a clearing in the forest they encountered the Hestia Familia, who had set up camp in the clearing.
They were immediately on guard, until they saw Ray but still held their weapons on hand. Bell was the first to break the silence between the 2 groups. "Ray, it's nice to meet you again, are these the rest of your group... um, where are you all going?" the white haired adventurer greeted then asked as he saw all of them were wearing something yellow.
Except for one who was hidden in a dark black cloak who stepped forward to speak before Ray could. " Greetings members of the Hestia Familia, I am Fels, the right hand of the god Uranus." the cloaked figure said in a gender ambiguous voice.
"I would like to officially hire your Familia to assist the Xenos in getting their members back from the poachers that have captured them" Fels offered before they could respond to his introduction. The adventurers looked at their captain wait for him to make a decision.
" Alright, we'll help just let us know what you need us to do." Bell said as he looked back at his team to see all in varying degrees of weariness before they nodded and followed after the now once again running group of monsters.
The Hestia Familia didn't know why, but they had an unexplainable urge to reach the 18th floor quickly today. It seemed that their instincts were right.
"Hey you're Bell aren't you, Ray told us about you. I'm Lyd, this tough guy is Gros and the pretty lady is Laura. It's nice to meet you." The red scaled Lizardman introduced himself and some of his allies. Bell smiled brightly before responding "It's nice to meet you Lyd." and introducing the rest of his Familia to the Xenos in turn.
Before more could be said Ray spoke up, "They're close, I can sense them behind that wall." pointing at a large flat sided rock against the wall of the dungeon. Fels immediately took out a purple gem and raised it towards the wall and it suddenly opened revealing a hidden tunnel.
"So our fears were valid, Evilis was using the Gates of Knossos to hide from us." Fels spoke gravely as they continued into the cave." What are the Gates of Knossos?" Bell asked Fels as he looked around cautiously.
"The Gates of Knossos are artificial dungeons created by the God Daedalus, They connect many floors of the dungeon to the surface and even outside Orario." Fels explained as they came to a stop in the middle of a large room full of cages.
In each cage were some monsters and even the 2 kidnapped Xenos, beaten up and bloody chained to the floor. "Well hello there, we were gonna go hunting for you guys next, but it looks like you saved us the trouble." An adventurer exclaimed as he looked down on them from the top of a large cage.
The Xenos looked at him with rage, as did Bell. Before anyone could attack Fels spoke, "You are Dix Perdix, captain of the Ikelios Familia." the cloaked figure said before continuing "So, your entire Familia is involved in this as well." Fels finished his speech as he removed a black wand from his robe.
Dix jumped down from the cage and landed at the top of a flight of stairs. "Yes we are, and you've brought the rest of our catch right to us, just as we planned it, isn't that right guys!" The captain yelled before almost a dozen more adventurers stepped out of the shadows.
"Let's begin shall we?" He said with a maniacal grin on his face as both Hestia and Ikelios Familias unsheathed their weapons, with the Xenos preparing to fight with their natural abilities.
Hastur meanwhile on his throne in Yellow R'yleth watched the proceedings unfold between the 2 Familias and the Xenos. He was so amazed at how well his plans were going, he even allowed that poacher to believe that his curse was working on the Xenos.
The Great Old One listened as Bell Cranel gave a motivational speech that partially woke up the Xenos from the effects of Dix's curse turning them from mindless beasts, that randomly attacked anyone to the assistance the Hestia Familia needed in this fight.
The Hestia Familia was doing rather poorly in the battle against Ikelios Familia due to the difference in the members levels. It became even harder when Dix activated his curse, turning the Xenos into mindless attackers.
They were going to lose until Bell made his loyalties known This snapped Lyd out of his daze and together they were able to take down the captain of Ikelios Familia and release the curses effect on the Xenos, allowing them to focus solely on the poachers.
In a last ditch attempt to turn the tables Dix removed the red gem on Welusine's forehead sending her into a blood rage as she tore through the retreating members of the Ikelios Familia, who had been trying to escape the dungeon through Knossos.
Bell and his Familia chased after her as best they could but she was too fast. Soon the mindless Vouivre broke through the rock and found her way to the surface where she terrorized the civilians of Orario.
"Just a little more and the finale can commence." Hastur said as he watched the chaos unfold.
The members of the Hestia Familia watched in horror as Welusine rampaged in the streets of Orario, swatting people aside like bugs. They wanted to stop her, but if they killed her the Xenos would be greatly saddened and feel betrayed.
But it seems like their choice had been made for them, when suddenly a gold tipped spear pinned the rampaging Vouivre to a wall by it's shoulder. Welusine screamed in pain as she tried to free herself, but only succeeded in injuring herself further.
The one who attacked her was a blonde Pallum, named Finn Demine. He was the captain of the Loki Familia and was currently surrounded by his Familia's executives. All first class adventurers at level 5 or 6.
When Bell and the rest saw them, they knew that there was no hope of saving Welusine now that Loki Familia was here. Though they were on good terms with the members of the Loki Familia, they knew they stood no chance in a fight with any of the executives.
Bell was about to step out of their hiding spot when suddenly a yellow and red blur passed him and his Familia. When they looked back at the situation they saw both Ray and Lyd standing in front of the pinned Vouivre.
The Loki Familia seemed shocked that two monsters would come to the surface and not attack the people but instead protect another monster. They like all the other adventurers and civilians still in the area were immediately silenced by what happened next.
"Can I ask you to stop right there, as I believe there is a chance that we may negotiate a ceasefire if we stopped fighting and tried to talk this over." Ray spoke aloud for everyone to hear. Dead silence was her response along with the shocked faces of everyone. While the blonde haired swordswoman simply narrowed her eyes.
Meanwhile Lyd, climbed the wall and placed the Vouivre's tear back in it's place on Welusine's forehead. This caused the young Vouivre to return to her childlike form as Lyd removed the spear impaling her to the wall.
"Ahhh!!!" the blue haired Xenos screamed as she clutched her shoulder in pain.Finally Finn seemed to regain his composure as he cleared his throat and responded to Ray's request.
"Why should we believe a monster, just because you can speak doesn't mean your words are trustworthy." The Pallum said as he gazed down at Ray and Lyd, who was currently tending to Welusine's injury.
A silver haired Werewolf named Bete Loga cut in, "C'mon Finn, don't tell me you're actually considering the words of a monster." he said with a sneer at the 3 monsters down below. The other executives and adventurers in the Area were looking at him in confusion and surprise.
"If they can speak, they can think. My intuition is telling me not to attack just yet." the captain of the Loki Familia said as he looked at his vice captain Riveria Ljos Alf, and an unspoken conversation occured as their eyes met.
"Tell me something Siren,are there more of you? Why have we never heard or seen one of you before? What are your plans with Orario?" Finn asked the important questions without wasting time.
"Firstly, my name is Ray. I am one of the leaders of my kind, we are called Xenos." the Siren stated before taking a breath to continue.
"The reason, we've never been discovered by adventurers is due to the fact that you kill us like regular monsters without remorse. As for what we want with Orario, nothing. We just wish to be left alone." Ray finished her explanation as she turned to Lyd.
"Now if you'll excuse us it's time we returned to the dungeon, bring Welusine with you." She said as she turned away from the Loki Familia and to Lyd, the 3 of them began walking back to Knossos with Lyd following while he carried Welusine in his arms.
"Hold on, we didn't say you could leave. You're not going anywhere." Bete said with irritation as he looked down on them with a mixture of confusion and disgust at the mere existence of these intelligent monsters.
Both Ray and Lyd stopped moving and became eerily still. "Listen, we came out here to clear up a few things, we the Xenos don't want to fight if we don't have to. That doesn't mean we won't defend ourselves." Ray said with a cold tone of voice as she looked directly at Finn and completely ignored the arrogant Werewolf.
Finn gazed right back and said with finality, "Though you are an intelligent species of monster, as an adventurer it's our duty to protect the people of the lower world from all that threatens them. And you and your Xenos, are a threat that can't be allowed free rein to do as they please." he said.
"That is perfectly fine,as we don't want anything to do with you in the first place. Please be honest, this is not about your duty it's about the damage your reputation would take if you let us go." Ray said, before continuing,
"A word of advice Captain, if a group's reputation can be tarnished by doing what they believe is right, then they never had a reputation to begin with." She finished her speech as she saw and heard the unsheathing of weapons.
One specifically, the blonde haired swords woman beside the Loki Familia captain unsheathed her sword and pointed it at Ray. "The time for words has passed, monsters are monsters and must be killed. There are no exceptions." the woman said with hatred in her voice.
"That is unfortunate then, for who is yet to be seen however." Ray said as she spread her wings as a yellow coloured officers coat seemed to materialize on her shoulders. The same with Lyd and Welusine as the former placed the latter on the ground.
There was a shout that drew the attention of everyone except the Xenos as more monsters clad in strange yellow coloured garments seemed to pour fourth from the breach in Knossos, and prepare themselves for battle.
The executives readied their weapons as did the adventurers in the surrounding area while 3 gods watched with interest as the situation began to devolve.
The lines had been drawn and both sides were ready to go as neither seemed willing to back down...
and then the fight began...