Narcissa dragged Hermione into the middle of the clearing, then dropped to the ground exhausted, breathing heavily. She eyed Hermione, who seemed to have started to calm down and looked as though her head was clearing from her rut in those woods. "Are you alright?" Narcissa asked after a moment.
"Loki's Bastards, that was terrible! Who the hell floods a space with rut-inducing fumes and then just lets them loose on whoever may be in these woods? Odin help whoever thought that one up because if I get my hands on them, I'll kill them," Hermione growled low in anger as her body slowly started to return to normal. "As pissed off as I am, at least I had the chance to test, for a brief moment, whether the curse was lifted or not. Let me tell you, it is definitely gone," She smirked at Narcissa, as she tried to hide a wince of pain from having to revert back to normal so quickly.
"Alphas," Narcissa thought as she rolled her eyes and huffed. "I'm glad that you're all better, but I would like to focus on getting out of this place with our limbs still intact and not being induced into lust-filled stupors, if you don't mind."
As she spoke, another hooded figure stepped forward and spoke in a low, male-sounding tone. "I must commend you both on making it this far. No one else has made it past the woods to this point. Well done. Now, for your final prize, my staff of great power," The figure revealed a long wooden staff with a stone caged in a web of vines at the top. "With this staff, you may be able to fend off the great evil that is coming to ravage your plane of existence," He handed the staff to Narcissa who looked at it quizzically. She noticed the markings that had been carved into the wood while trying to figure out what stone was on the top.
Narcissa shook her head to clear her mind of her curiosities, stood with the staff in hand, and looked at the figure sternly. "Who are you? Do you have any useful information about this great evil that will be plaguing us soon? I have to say, your timing on this is complete bollocks. We just defeated one egomaniac that nearly destroyed Britain's Wizarding World not that long ago. Yes, I have been told that The Demon Overlord is much worse, so, if you please, I would like as much information as I can get that doesn't involve a ring that gives vague bloody answers!" She huffed in annoyance.
Hermione finally broke free from the ropes, stood up next to Narcisssa, and then grabbed one of her hands to try to calm her down. Narcissa took a deep breath as she centered herself and calmed down with the help of Hermione's strong, comforting hand.
The figure removed his hood and spoke once more. "My name is Merlin. I can tell you of the three trials that will fall unto you, signifying the start of his arrival. With each new trial, a different form of chaos will ensue. They are known as the Bringer of Sorrows, the Curse of Madness, and finally, the Wandering Bard of Chaos. With these trials, it is imperative that you deal with them before they cause so much chaos and destruction that The Demon Overlord can come and retrieve what he wants."
Hermione looked at him in confusion. "What if we can't deal with these trials in time? What happens if The Demon Overlord can collect his omega prize? How do we stop him then?"
The man sighed and looked at her with sad eyes. "Then you must find the one that can retrieve Excalibur from its resting place in Avalon. Only the person that the sword deems worthy to wield it will be able to, which will be no easy feat, I can assure you. The sword requires the wielder to be someone that has truly redeemed themselves and one who has no desire to be all-powerful."
Upon hearing that information, Narcissa and Hermione looked at one another. Using legilimency, they had a short conversation, agreeing on who they thought would work if the situation came up. "We have someone in mind for that, Merlin. I would like to know when this foreboding monster will descend upon us? Also, when this endeavor is concluded, what shall become of the relics?" Narcissa asked with a smirk at the brief look of surprise that crossed the man's face at her statement.
"The trials will begin within a few month's time. The relics will return here to this place so that they can be kept safe, should they be needed once more in the future."
Narcissa nodded in agreement that—at least this time around—they knew there was a threat and that there was time to prepare. Not to mention, this would be the better plan of action with these relics because if somehow someone with bad intentions were to get their hands on them and be able to wield them, it would not end well for anyone.
She looked at Hermione who nodded as well agreeing with those terms. "Well, that sounds like a good plan to me. Now, how do we get out of here?" Hermione questioned as she pulled Narcissa closer.
Merlin nodded and spoke one final time. "Your memories will be wiped of what trials you went through here, but you'll retain the rest of the information you've collected," As he waved his hand dismissively at them, they tried to protest to their minds being tampered with, but were apparated back outside of Stonehenge's circle.
They took a minute to shake off the fog of having their minds altered, then looked at one another. "By the fangs of Jormungdr, that was rude! He could have given us more of a warning than that before just ejecting us out of there," Hermione huffed in annoyance.
Narcissa hummed in agreement. "It was extremely rude of him, but we can't waste time thinking about that right now. We have more pressing matters to attend to at the moment, wouldn't you agree?"
Hermione nodded and wrapped her arms around Narcissa, apparating them back to Black Manor.
Once back in the manor, both women decided to take a shower and scrub away the weird experience that lingered on them. When they both felt clean with a change of clothes, they converged in the kitchen for something to eat, since they were at Stonehenge for most of the day.
Hermione offered to cook since Narcissa made breakfast earlier. Narcissa smiled sweetly and nodded as she sat back down at the table, watching the alpha start cooking for them.
"According to the information we gathered from Stonehenge, we're dealing with three trials of chaos. The trials will lead to the coming of The Demon Overlord. Any thoughts as to what they might entail?" Hermione asked as she was cooking some sort of ground meat in a frying pan.
Narcissa thought about it for a moment. "Do you want me to tell you what I know? Or should I ask the ring for information? Because, honestly, I haven't the foggiest idea what any of these trials are going to entail. The Bard, I'm going to guess, has something to do with singing, but otherwise I'm completely baffled by the other two," Narcissa said as she placed her elbow on the table and leaned her chin on her hand.
She continued to watch the alpha work, smiling sweetly as she caught sight of how Hermione stuck her tongue out when she concentrated on something. She bit her lip to hold back a whimper when she caught glimpses of the intricate tattoo of wings through her tank top as she went through the motions of cooking. "Good Godric I never knew that an alpha cooking could be such a turn on. Let alone, one with such enticing tattoos. They look like they're flapping when she moves her arms just right," Narcissa thought as she continued to stare at Hermione.
"Sadly, the only knowledge I have of Bards has to do with a Muggle board game called 'Dungeons and Dragons' and trust me, that won't be much help with this. Nevertheless, I guess any information is better than nothing at all, I suppose. I am curious to know how you know what a Bard is," Hermione said as she continued to work on the food. She looked back briefly at Narcissa who was staring at her with a dreamy look on her face. She looked at the older woman curiously. "What? What's that face for? Did I get sauce on me or something?"
Narcissa shook her head to clear her mind then chuckled at the goofy alpha. "No. Nothing like that. I was just admiring how precious you are when you're concentrating on something. You stick your tongue out when you're really focused, and it's completely adorable," she said as she giggled softly at the sour face Hermione made when being called adorable.
"I'm so happy that I amuse you, Cissa," she rolled her eyes jokingly as she went back to cooking.
Narcissa chuckled. While waiting on the food, she left to retrieve the book that she had been reading at Hermione's place earlier. She returned, sat back down at the table, and began to read from where she left off.
When Hermione finished cooking, she turned around, about to speak when she was dumbstruck at the sight before her. Narcissa was now wearing reading glasses and was twirling her hair around her finger again, consumed with the book in her hand. "By the scruff of Fenrir's neck, it should be a crime to look that gorgeous while wearing glasses. Sweet Freya I am so far gone for this woman," Hermione thought as she felt the plates in her hands start to slip which caused her to squeak softly and quickly recover from nearly dropping them. Narcissa looked up at the noise to see what was going on. She noticed Hermione almost dropped the plates in her hands and was now sporting a deep blush along her cheeks and neck.
"Are you alright, darling?" Narcissa asked as she began to get up from the table to help her.
"I'm fine. Just got caught off guard by a most exquisite vision when I turned around. You have no room to poke fun at me anymore for my subconscious habits when yours are just as precious as mine," she chuckled as she handed Narcissa her plate of what looked like noodles, some sort of sauce, and ground meat. Narcissa pouted at her comment, but went back to inspecting her food.
"Mia, not that I'm complaining about your cooking skills, but what exactly is this?" Narcissa questioned as she took a fork and moved it around to get a good look at it.
"It's called spaghetti, and it's exactly what it looks like: noodles with seasoned tomato sauce and ground beef, which is easy to make and tastes really good," Hermione said as she took a bite of it and hummed happily.
Narcissa raised an eyebrow in curiosity before taking a bite of everything and chewed for a moment before her eyes grew huge as she looked at Hermione and moaned at how amazing it tasted. "Merlin, this is amazing. As often as I've explored muggle restaurants, I have yet to come across this before," she said as went back to eating.
"I'm glad you are enjoying it," Hermione said with a fond smile. They continued to enjoy the meal in comfortable silence. After they finished eating, Hermione broke the silence.
"So, you mentioned that you have heard of bards before?"
"Yes, I believe you have as well, since it is the well-known children's story of the Pied Piper. He is considered a type of Bard, though I'm not entirely sure how that will help us now, honestly," Narcissa sighed.
"Yes. I see your point. I'm not sure if that helps us in this situation or not. Maybe you're right in asking the ring to help narrow down our search at least a little," Hermione said hopefully, standing from the table and casting a spell to put the dishes in the sink to wash them with a self-cleaning spell. She held out her hand to Narcissa who took it, stood from her seat, and walked hand in hand down the hall to the library. After inquiring what little knowledge they could from the ring, they decided that it would be best to split up in the hopes of trying to see all they could uncover in reference to the coming trials from past records. Then, after a time, they would come back together to share what they had found.