Hello everyone out there!
So Magi belongs to Shinobu Ohtaka, my OC to me, there might be references to this world, music etc, spoilers for those who haven't read the manga this far and some spelling mistakes because I do the correcting stuff on my own and English is not my native language.
Even so, have a fun time reading!
Day 28: Meeting Ronové
"You are going to leave?"
Kouen raised a brow while Lenka nodded in agree. A few days had passed since her fall-out with Judar and Kouha's departure to Magnostadt and since then her mood had worsened to the point where she was sure she would have a mental breakdown if she stayed here any longer.
"Lady Scheherazade requested my assistance, as fast as possible."
Well, not exactly, but who was she to miss all the fun? Plus if she avoided a possible mental breakdown on the way... He placed the scroll he had been reading on the desk to focus completely on her, the cheerful grin and seemingly relaxed stance.
"I see."
"If you want a piece of the cake you should follow Kouha in about a week or so, because I have the feeling that something big will happen."
The brow rose again and connoted her to continue.
"I heard they have huge libraries in Magnostadt, not only about magic but on history as well."
"Are you trying to bait me, Lenka?"
"Busted."
She smiled wide at him.
"Okay, I'll tell you the truth. A little bird told me to tell you to follow Kouha or you'll miss an absolutely epic battle, the opportunity to show everyone who's the big bad first prince of Kou and the once in an age chance to get to know everything you want to know about this world, the past and Solomon."
Kouen was almost drooling after the first part of the sentence.
"Lenka. Don't test my patience."
"Believe me, it's way better when that person tells the story."
They fought a silent staring battle until Kouen leaned back, a smirk tugging at his lips.
"You know how to pique my interest."
"It's not that hard when you spent a lot of time with Kougyoku and Kouha. If you gave them the chance they would start the Cult of Our Mighty Brother Is The Extremest, Most Awesome Badass Ever Alive, short C.O.M.B.I.T.E.M.A.B.E.A."
"Come bite my bear?"
"Or something like that," shrugged Lenka and continued to grin at him.
"But 'come bite my bear' sounds pretty awesome, too."
"Your humor will remain a mystery to me. And I don't want to solve it. It might be better if I don't know what you are actually saying. Good thing I won't marry you."
"Aw, thank you for the nice compliments, Lord Kouen."
He smirked at her.
"We will see each other at the absolutely epic battle then."
"Have a good night's rest before, because this will be awesome. You are going to burn with passion, no pun intended."
"I think I'm beginning to understand why Sinbad banned you from his island."
"He banned me because I didn't want him in my pants, to be precise. Luckily you are not even a quarter the pervert he is, or else you would have to revive Koumei on a weekly base because of the complaints of you molesting females from the age ten to sixty-eight."
Kouen shuddered.
"I should at least try to ban you for causing this mental picture."
Lenka snickered then waved him goodbye.
"Now that's my signal. Remember, I will fry your balls for the sea creatures if you try to marry off my Kougyoku again and have the key to your libraries disappear miraculously in a volcano before they get covered under a diamond shell."
"Just leave."
When the door fell shut after her Kouen took the chance to snicker in solitude. Whatever was going to happen in Magnostadt, things would get interesting with Lenka there for sure. Her enemies would be scarred for life and her friends even more. He felt really sorry for the poor guy she was to marry.
The only problem Lenka and Miran had to face when leaving Kou was Kougyoku who made both travelers swear on their mother's graves that they would visit her again. The blonde was sure she would have no problem keeping that promise; the Magnostadt war was only a few weeks away now and next to the immense nervousness she felt anticipation. You didn't get to battle a thousand or so black djinn and a copy of the big bad evil overlord everyday and she was absolutely sure that they would kick ass, like it happened in the original manga.
They had decided to use horses to travel more inconspicuously than usually when they used the flying scarf, but that would take them longer, too. Lenka was sure that an army would move slow, very slow, and expected to catch up with Kouha soon, who had left a week earlier with his forces. The only problem were the horses, but after one had tried to bite Miran and the fanalis snapped back they were surprisingly obedient, sometimes even fearful of the boy.
Even so traveling by animals soon became their second least favorite way of traveling, only outmatched by ships because they were the peak of evil transportation. Foras tried to help them with her cell manipulation but both Lenka and Miran had sore muscles the first three days until they were accustomed to the saddles. At the next village they would sell or donate the mounts and continue by scarf.
But Kou was big and accidentally or intentionally Kouha had taken a straight route through the empire which was extremely uninhabited, even though this made following the army easier for the travelers. The muddy tracks were simply too obvious not to miss and even visible in the light rain as they were riding through a small canyon to get up to the Kanan plains or so the map told them.
"Have I told you I hate rain yet?" Miran said and peeked from under his rain coat at her. Lenka nodded and directed her brown horse which she had called Insufferable around a boulder.
"Yep, around thirty-two times now. But look, I guess this is the way up to the plains."
"Oh joy, so we'll get wind as well now, strong gusts that will get the rain through in an angle which is impossible to dodge."
"You really don't like rain, do you?"
"Absolutely not," Miran scowled and sneezed. She chuckled and shook her head. Sarcasm had become one of his best friends in the past days. He would be a pest to deal with when he hit puberty, certainly always the one to pick a fight and win and really popular with the girls.
But every time she tried to visualize adult Miran she was always seeing Muu Alexius and quickly distracted her with something else.
Your inability of planning your love life is becoming quite boring, Lenka. Don't worry, I'm here to fix this, Foras said with a grin and pulled a name plate out of her cleavage and placed it in front of her on the kitchen table.
Dr Foras' consultation time has begun.
Oh holy fudge, are you for real?
Her advice has saved me from being strangled by Dantalion, so I guess it works to some extend, Orias told from his place at the stove. The blonde raised a brow.
Okay? Interesting.
Soo, first of all. My ever-helpful Eligos has told me all the dirty details up until now, the fae djinn waved, so we have to focus on the future now. We know that you will meet him at the battle against the medium and I guess there will be a big reunion afterwards-
Oh Solomon, Foras, can't we postpone this talk?
No, absolutely not, Gusion joined the conversation and crossed her flippers.
You will talk about this now.
… have I told you that you are impossible already?
Your love life and inability to talk about it annoy me out of my mind, so we force you to talk about it. Now.
Foras nodded and continued.
At some point you will have to talk to him. You will tell him that you were sent to Kou. Got it?
Yes. What can I say?
For example that Kouen tried to marry you but yo declined.
He was joking, and there is no way that I would tell Muu about that!
"Stop right here, you fiend."
Exactly, so that's why you talk about your time with Kougyoku first, and that she's a good girl, how caring her siblings are and the peaceful plans they have for the world.
Lenka blinked. Now that was actually...
That's a good idea.
I know I have good ideas. Anyway, most importantly you have to apologize for not contacting him after you were to disappear.
"Lenka."
Yeah, can do that. So apologizing, telling what I did, what their goals are, convincing him that they are good guys, more apologizing – something else?
You should deal with the bandit waiting for you on the road.
"Huh?"
She turned in the saddle and looked down at the slender human holding a bow while looking rather confused and close to desperation. Apparently she had overseen the person in her way and the horse had walked around him or her without even stopping.
"Hey kid, sorry for not minding you. Did you say something?"
The other raised the bow again and pointed with the arrow on her, the long cape fell apart at this move and Lenka could see that the attacker was a girl in a knee-long dress and riding pants, leather boots and gloves.
"I said give me your horse."
Did she just say those magical words? Those words that had a chorus of angels appear behind her, singing heavenly hallelujah?
"You want the horse."
"Are you stupid? I said I want the horse, so give me your horse."
"You're an angel!" the blonde cried and instantly jumped out of the saddle, took her bags, tossed them on her back, grabbed the reins and handed them to the girl.
"A true life-safer. Do you want another horse? Here, we have another horse!"
Miran pleadingly held out the reins of his mount, The Biter – he had demanded capitalization – for the speechless bandit whose left eye-lid started twitching.
"Please take mine as well, I don't mind walking the way to Magnostadt."
The girl opened her mouth but no sound was audible so he wrapped the leather straps around her bow and smiled at Lenka.
"Let's get out of the canyon, the rain is not as bad when we're running, right? Good bye, Miss friendly bandit!"
"May Solomon bless you for your good heart! Live a happy life!"
And then I no longer wonder why we are all considered mad, Orias mused and waved his fork of pancake in the air.
Because your actions seem insane to the ones who don't know your story. This was almost at Judar-level of insanity.
She will notice soon, Lenka answered and followed her charge who was climbing up the canyon at the speed of sound, so happy was he had gotten rid of The Biter. After a few hundred meters into the big plains they heard an infuriated scream which meant that the girl had finally noticed just what beast she had acquired, causing the two to start laughing like mad.
Miran spotted the village first; a accumulation of stone houses in the middle of nowhere, a grayish-brown blob in the vast grasslands, but nevertheless, maybe they could find an inn to spend the night there. Camping was only so much fun after all, and even less when it was raining.
But when they entered through the gates she noticed a few odd things about this settlement. First, the high wall and the heavily guarded gates. Usually an indicator that the villagers had to deal with bandits or worse. Second, the inhabitants looked haggard, sad, despaired, something she had seen in Balbadd and Aktia. People had went missing then. Third, and last, the top of a tower that rose from a few miles further to the north.
A dungeon.
"Judar you idiot," she murmured then stopped a weary looking woman.
"Excuse me, but where can we find the person in charge? A mayor or chief or something like that?"
"Chief Hua Bing lives in the house with the Kou banner on the roof. He might be sitting on the porch right now," the villager answered while sluggishly pointing backwards and continued her way. Lenka made a face and glanced at Miran who nodded then walked next to her through the muddy streets.
And once again she realized just how much influence Kou had over it's people and every newly acquired territory: everyone was wearing the same green commoner's clothes like in the capital, here and there were even some brown slaves on their way, but somehow the village was really empty. Some of the houses were undeniably shabby as if the owners hadn't been living in them for a longer period of time and the dampness of the whole place was simply unnatural. Without doubt the dungeon was the cause of this.
The worried frown on her face deepened when they arrived at the mayor's house. An elderly man sat on his porch, nibbling at his pipe and staring in the gloomy rain. Deep shadows were under his eyes when they fixated the two travelers. Lenka bowed her head respectfully before speaking.
"Are you mayor Hua Bing? Could you please tell us what happened here? Despite the Kou army coming through."
The man frowned.
"'t wasn't the army that did that to Hang village. It's the tower."
Lenka hissed understandingly. The Magi really was an idiot.
Hua Bing nodded solemnly.
"It appeared two months ago, suddenly it rose from the earth. Since then it hasn't stopped raining."
She had the strong urge to fly back to the capital and kick Judar's butt to Remano but contended herself with biting her lower lip and looking sympathetically.
"I heard that some of the towers abduct people. Has that happened here as well?"
"... sadly yes," the mayor sighed, "it started three nights after the tower appeared. Since then more than thirty men and women have disappeared and almost as many have moved out to bring them back. Fruitlessly, I have to say."
Miran tugged at the sleeve of her raincoat.
"Sorry to interrupt, but look who's coming this way."
The bandit girl, now rather ragged looking and definitely aware of how devilishly the two horses following her were, stopped in her tracks when she spotted them. Her brown eyes started to sparkle and with a furious yell she pointed on them.
"You!"
"Oh, the angel who accepted our horses," Lenka exclaimed and waved, just to see if she could make the other puff steam out of her ears.
"The insane blonde and the twerp!"
"I don't think I should be grateful any longer," Miran mused and wriggled his fingers before closing them around his household vessel but lowered them when Lenka signed him not to act so threatening.
"Looks like you found out why we gave them to you so easily. On the other hand, you were not that much of a danger to us."
"Kang Shun Ra," the mayor said and rose from his chair to cross his arms and stare at the girl.
"What have you done this time? No, I don't need to hear your answer. Give them the horses back and then go to your room."
"No, please keep them," the dungeon capturer said and raised her hands.
"We were thinking of selling them in the next village anyway. And we don't need payment, but we would be very glad if you could tell us everything that has happened after the dungeon appeared."
"Dungeon?" the girl asked with distrust. Hua Bing furrowed his brows.
"Shun Ra. I thought I had given you an assignment. Bring the horses to the stable."
"Whatever. Come, you beasts," she murmured and pulled the animals away. The mayor sighed gravely then bowed slightly.
"Please excuse my niece's rudeness. Her mother was one of the first to disappear and her father went missing when he searched for her."
"No problem, I'm used to deal with this kind of people. So the constant rain and people disappearing. Anything else you noticed? Strange men in long white dresses and masked faces carrying staffs?"
"No, but why are you asking? Are you-" his eyes widened when he realized what he was gong to say.
"Are you insane?"
"Lenka is not insane," Miran stated and took a step forward. Hua Bing looked even more shocked.
"You can't perhaps think of going into that tower! That's suicide!"
"The last five didn't kill me, so why should this one?"
Lenka grinned at his gaping surprise then her expression softened.
"We'll do our best to find survivors and bring them out. A dungeon is no place you should entered unprepared."
"Unless you are us."
"Unless you are us," she repeated the fanalis' words with a nod.
The rain got stronger the closer they got to the entrance of the dungeon and after a while the coats were so wet and chilly that they were no longer a shield against the water. For the twelfth time in twice as many minutes Lenka cursed Judar for setting up the tower this close to the village. If this djinn was similar to Zagan they would have a hard time conquering it and the closer they came to the building the more nervous she got. Miran catched her mood and turned into a hyperactive fanalis yo-yo before calming down to the point where his steps were almost inaudible, especially when they climbed up a slippery staircase to the portal that would bring them to the real dungeon.
"And here we go again," she sighed and smiled at the boy.
"I bet this will never get boring."
"Ditto."
They stepped into the portal, blinding lights flashing around the travelers before they were warped though the dimensions and landed in the dungeon. A dim room with one dark green door greeted Lenka when the blur of the teleportation subsided, the air was cool and humid and a faint thrum vibrated through the brown tiles of the floor. Luckily Miran was in the same starting point as she this time, head cocked to the side to listen to the noises.
"I can hear peo- entities moving somewhere behind the door."
"Alright," nodded Lenka, unsheathed her sword and opened the way to a corridor further into the dungeon. The warm pulse of the metal vessels wrapped around her like an armor, impeccable if she wanted it to be, and certainly terrifying. Nothing could hold a candle to her if she decided to go on a rampage.
"It smells like decaying bodies and leaves," he informed her, his fingers tightly gripping his brass knuckles. Whatever was waiting for them would be a nasty surprise, but they were prepared. She inhaled deeply when a two-winged gate came into view.
"Ready?"
"When you are."
Lenka chuckled dryly and pushed open the door, but the sight of what was inside made her blood freeze in her veins. A party, a loud, raucous feast, the people were eating, drinking and seemed to enjoy themselves greatly. There was only one problem:
All of them were dead. Rotting corpses, horrible wounds on them, missing limbs and eyes and what else one could miss if he or she had been turned into a zombie. Well, at least she knew now what had happened to the villagers. Unlucky fellows. Upon their entry the whole zombie army turned around to face them, their low groans becoming louder and louder as they caught their scents. And then the first undead took a step forward. Instantly he and the ones next to him were engulfed in bright white flames when Lenka started the elimination process.
"Don't let them bite you, or you will become an undead like them. The head is the weak point."
"Okay!"
Miran began to pick up broken chair legs and throw them at the zombies but was soon out of hurling material. He then broke pieces out of the floor and dropped them on the undead while Lenka switched her djinn and used Gusion's crystalline spears to get work done. After a while the waves of fresh zombies lessened and after three minutes or so the whole chamber was filled with now really dead zombies. Just to be sure they weren't just playing dead she set every corpse on fire as they carefully walked towards the exit.
"Well, that was rather anticlimactic," the boy commented with a shrug and dropped the rock he was holding on a burning corpse.
"Kougyoku and Kouha taught you more words?"
"Mostly Kouha. He's great! If you were a man you should be like him."
Lenka faked a gasp, pressed her hand on her cleavage and stared wide-eyed at him.
"You didn't just say that you like him more than me, did you?"
"No, I would never say that!"
"Just kidding, I like him, too. He would be a nice brother for you, but then again I think I'm collecting quite many siblings for you to spent time with."
"And I'm sure I will like them all, even the ones I haven't met yet!"
Giggling she opened the door to the next room and suddenly they were standing on a foggy graveyard. A round full moon illuminated the stones and the dark castle that was built on the edge of a cliff.
"Great, now the only thing we need is the scary background music and then the monster can arrive- Miran?"
Lenka searched the scenery for the familiar red hair then murmured a curse; apparently the djinn of the dungeon had decided to separate them. Somehow this was starting to get annoying.
Miran sighed and stared at the wall through which Lenka had just disappeared. Seriously. If it wasn't so exciting he would start to hate dungeon conquests by now.
His ears catched a hushing noise, a rustle of cloth. He whirled around and raised his fists, prepared to deliver a crippling blow to whoever or whatever moving behind him and stopped, surprised from what he was seeing. The bandit who wasn't a bandit yelped and raised her bow, two arrows nocked on it.
"Stop right there!"
Miran rolled his eyes and used his superior speed to jump behind her and press his fist in her side, a threat and good position to break her spine if she did as much as flinch.
"Why are you here? This is no place for children."
"You are one to say, midget," she snapped back.
"I've helped conquering two dungeons before. How many have you?"
That had effectively silenced her. Now the bigger problem was that she was still here in the dungeon. Miran bit on the inside of his cheek while thinking. He couldn't simply leave her here, so there was only one way to deal with the issue.
"Promise not to run away?"
"As if you could catch me."
The boy snorted and stepped away from the girl to stare at her. Funny how oblivious she was. The only persons who could outrun him were adult fanalis and on some occasions Lenka when she was really running away from something, like Kougyoku and a new dress.
"As if you could survive here without me. The only way to get out is to conquer the dungeon, and for that we need to find Lenka. I wouldn't mind if you died, but she would think bad of me if you really get killed.
So? Stay and get killed or come with me. It's your decision."
He was really glad to have met Kouha who had given him a crash course on threats and ultimatums and how to use them in which situations next to five different kinds of sneers and glares to accompany them. The girl frowned at him and he noticed that her brows were rather small, almost drop-shaped. She looked like a fox or like the seal babies they had once seen during their travel by ship.
"... alright. Lead the way."
Success! Miran maintained his indifferent expression and looked through the room.
"We need to find a way further into the dungeon first. You should keep your bow ready. I don't know what will come next."
"But you said you have been-"
"Every dungeon is different. Are you always this annoying?"
"You are annoying!"
"I'm not!"
"Yes you are!"
He was about to repeat his words again then shook his head and turned to the wall through which Lenka had disappeared. Another door had grown out of the floor and waited for him and the annoying not-bandit to enter.
"So, do you see this door?"
"Is there something wrong with your eyes?" she scoffed and the thought that he was better off without her came to him again.
"The dungeon can mess with your mind, have you seeing illusions and get eaten by monsters of which you think they were your friends and family," he explained slowly as if he was talking to a child, just to annoy her. His efforts were not in vain, she scowled even more and rushed past him to open the door.
"Don't treat me like a child, I'm fifteen!"
"Sure you are, bandit girl."
"My name is Kang Shun Ra, remember!"
"Shura it's then."
"Shun! Ra! Not Shura!"
Miran grinned. Kouha had been a great teacher.
Lenka shivered in the chilly air and continued her way towards the castle, but the thrice-damned graveyard was larger than she had expected. She had stumbled over graves at least four times now and had kicked against the first so hard Foras had to readjust a few toes, which hurt like hell followed by the feeling of pins and needles and the urge to kill something.
And then there was nothing to kill! The only things fluttering around were a few bats in the distance. Bats were cute, especially the fruit-eating ones. Pointy noses...
The blonde frowned and gripped her sword. Somehow this bats were a tad too large to be cute. No, bats the size of retrievers were not in the least cute. Definitely not.
The little run-in with the bats was followed by another zombie attack which she annihilated with a few blasts of Gusion's spears, hungry monster trees with glowing eyes that burned really well, more zombies...
She was almost glad when she reached the gate of the castle, the heavy doors opened without her pushing and someone pulling form inside. Lenka sighed. Somehow this was way too much like the setting of a C-ranked horror movie, in which the busty blonde heroine would separate from the group to find the bathroom and then the killer with the big ass ax/chainsaw/kitchen knife/ or the hungry snake monster/wraith/vampire count/whatever would come out to slaughter her. She could almost feel the presence of something creeping up to her, thus she whirled around to stare at the empty path up the mountain.
Orobas, a sign from Miran?
The djinn was silent for a few moments before he spoke.
The familiar is somewhere out in the dungeon, I have problems pin-pointing his location.
Didn't this happen in Eligos and Foras already?
The density of Rukh is higher in dungeons and you know just how hard it is to find him in your normal world already.
Point to you.
Lenka scanned the entrance hall, but the only potentially dangerous thing in here were the long dusty curtains that were pulled back to show an old portrait of a woman, the wide staircase to the upper floor and the rusty chain holding a big rusty chandelier. Eight closed doors, identical to the grain and the handles. Her steps left trails on the dusty floor, the planks creaked under her weight.
"Let's see what we've got here," she murmured and opened the one that was on the far left. The dim light from the entrance hall did not much to illuminate the chamber she was looking into, but after a few seconds she realized that she was looking into a lab room. Shelves stuffed with glass containers preserving every kind of organ, limb and animal, surgery instruments on a table next to a operation bed...
She closed the door again and used her sword to scratch an X mark into it. There was no way she would go inside, there was probably some kind of angry ghost inside that would start throwing things at her or worse.
A shiver ran down her spine, the feeling that someone or something was with her in the main room got stronger. And still there was nothing visible to the naked eye, but the Rukh were fluttering nervously, a sign that the dungeon was preparing a nasty surprise for her.
Lenka gripped her sword tighter and opened the next door. A library. If she was Kouen she would run inside to look for scrolls and finish the monster without even looking and a growled "don't stop my reading."
You would need a goatee, Eligos mused.
Anyway, choose whoever you need from us if the need arises.
You bet.
A whispering as if the hem of a dress was dragged over the floor disturbed her inner conversation and she turned around slowly to face her opponent. The rotting corpse hovered a few inches over the floor, the black robes were tattered and threadbare, bones were visible through the tears and holes. An unholy purple light flickered in the empty sockets as the undead grinned at her and raised the claw-like fingers.
"Blaze!"
The white flames simply rushed through the entity without causing damage so she quickly jumped to the side to get some distance from it.
Is that a ghost?
"Space distortion!"
Several black holes appeared and tried to suck the thing into another dimension, but this didn't work as well, the undead simply started floating towards her, hands raised as if it wanted to scratch her eyes out. Lenka blocked and concentrated on the symbol on the sword until her eyes started to burn and the blade turned into a metal gauntlet similar to Gusion's forearm protector.
"Submission stare."
Eligos got the wraith. You can control it freely now.
"Please do an Irish jig."
The spirit hissed and then seemed to dance, or an action similar to a dance, actually it was just whirling around in small circles and waved it's limbs.
"Amazing."
Now she had a pet wraith. Time to use it to go into the rooms first.
Swamps had risen another place on the list of things Miran really, really despised and ranged under rain now. Kang Shun Ra had jumped ranks quickly as well, even though she had stopped her nagging and bitching in favor of a sneak attack to eventual enemies. The slight fog over the area was actually good for him and the girl, they couldn't been detected unless they were too close but then he would have spotted the opponent already. Despite the feeling he had received earlier from her Shura's shooting was pretty decent, if not good, he seriously had to admit that.
She was still annoying.
"How long will we have to walk through this bog? I can't smell a thing any more," she complained and poked a batch of moss with an arrow to see if it was firm ground then slowly lowered her foot on it. Miran rubbed his nose and sniffed. Another thing he didn't like at her: the belief she was the only one suffering and that no one had it as bad as her. He was the one with the superior senses, he had it worse!
On the other hand this made him feel much older and mature than ten years of some sort, which was very good. Time was strange when you were in dungeons, he was sure he had had his birthday in Foras'.
"As long as it continues," he answered nonchalantly and jumped over the watery surface to a dry spot then scanned his surroundings. The bats had come closer again, despite the ultra-sonic death threats he was shouting now and then, and that made him uncomfortable. They were bigger than normal, their eyes gleamed red and some of them had foam dripping from their fangs. This ones launched attacks at the others, that was probably the only reason they hadn't found him and Shun Ra yet. At the moment five were close enough to shoot, or so he hoped, with another three attacking them.
He gestured her to stop her whining and pointed at the animals.
"Can you see them?"
"Better, I can shoot them, too. God, it's a miracle to me how you have survived if you are this useless, twerp."
"The foaming first, Shura."
"Duh. Don't call me Shura, twerp."
The only good thing was that she could switch into hunting mode and be completely silent. Swiftly she pulled several arrows from the quiver strapped to her back, stabbed them into the moss, nocked three on the string and pulled. The low hum of the projectiles came too late for the targets to dodge, they fell into the muddy water like stones, but the others had detected them and shot towards their small island.
Miran inhaled and launched an ultra-sonic attack that made them falter, the girl fired another two arrows, but one only grazed the bat that dove at her, long fangs bared and hindlegs in front of the body to claw Shun Ra. That was when he decided to join physically and kicked the animal out of the way into the swamp. Using the centrifugal force to spin around, jump up and crush the others in a single move was a bit tricky but the outcome was more than satisfying: her jaw dropped similar to the bats, but they had no chance to dodge the bog.
He landed on a broken tree and grinned at her.
"Still a miracle how I survived?"
"How – what? Just- just how did you manage to jump that high?!" yelled the girl and waved the arrow she had been about to nock on the bow. He shrugged and hopped back to her, fully aware that the distance he was covering was not one a normal human could jump.
"I'm a fanalis. We are awesome like that."
Apparently Shun Ra was so shocked by his sudden display of strength that she couldn't even manage a sarcastic reply when he turned and chose a new path through the reed to get them out of the swamp.
"Freaky."
Lenka used her wraith to enter the next room and directed it through an obstacle course full of falling spears, traps and arrows fired from dark corners until it reached a dead end. Smiling a little when the ghost came back, looking a lot more ragged than before, she thought of the other dungeons she had conquered. It had been a long time since she had entered one this difficult, it was actually kind of flattering that the djinn thought of her as capable of surviving multiple death traps, monster assaults and riddles.
But it made the conquest a time-consuming business.
"Three down, five to go," she told the spirit, marked the door and opened another. Eligos' power was really handy. Luckily she was the one to get it. She didn't even want to imagine if it had been another person to get hold of it, for example Sinbad or Hakuryuu...
Those are the best examples you can come up with, Orobas murmured.
Of course. This dungeon looks Halloween-themed to me, doesn't it?
If I knew what Halloween was I would agree, but I do because I think you are right.
Gee, I missed chatting with you. It's been a long time since I was sent to your dungeon.
Good old times, Orobas sighed.
It was a lot more quiet in your mindscape.
I think you're the only one who believes that.
Lenka smiled when he started to deny everything and focused on the ghost. It's presence was a constant hum in the Rukh and thanks to them she could give the spirit more orders if needed. It had floated through a tunnel and into another chamber that would have been empty if not for the large black coffin placed atop of a crumbling staircase.
She scowled.
"Do you think it is what I think it is? No way in hell is there a vampire inside. Oh holy fudge please not."
A giggle escaped her and before Lenka realized she doubled over with laughter. Somehow this was just getting more and more insane. But then again insanity was part of her daily life. She then urged the wraith to break a wooden plank from the floor, sharpen it to a stake and open the coffin. Inside was a pale man whose eyes snapped open in surprise before the ghost impaled him on the stake; he collapsed and turned into a silvery heap of dust.
"Yes! Lenka, the apprentice vampire slayer! I'll so add this to my introduction!"
Oh Solomon, Orias murmured.
Handy was becoming an understatement for Eligos' manipulation power but it needed a lot more control than her first three djinn's powers. Maybe that was a reason why she had struggled so long trying to master the equip. Lenka stared at the wraith and debated whether or not she had to kill it now and if, then how she should do that. It stared almost as calculating at her until she sighed and directed it to the fourth door.
Another big space behind it, a city in ruins. Smoke rose from the remains of the houses, the sky was gray and had a sickly yellowish tint. A former war zone that was surely filled with uncountable monsters. Oh joy.
Eligos!
The djinn nodded and the wraith froze up while the weapon equip faded. Before it could find its victim Lenka had jumped through the door and pulled it close, inwardly doing a small victory dance. Hopefully the thing would stay behind the door.
She turned around to scan for possible enemies and when her eyes found none she tried to search the Rukh, something that had gotten more and more difficult lately. Monsters, monsters, monsters, giant snakes, giant spiders, skeletons, angry spirits, hidden behind walls, under the floor, in the puddle on the other side of the street...
Oh joy.
Let's kill stuff, Gusion murmured.
Let's kill stuff, let's kill stuff, Orobas chanted and Eligos and Foras joined happily, while Orias shook his head in defeat.
I don't care anymore. Let's kill stuff. Maybe some of them have swallowed money accidentally.
I think you have converted to Gusionism now. I'm so proud of you.
"Well, what is there more to say? Let's kill stuff!"
And as if on cue a two-headed hydra skidded around the corner, hissed gleefully when it saw her and began spitting globs of poison slime. Lenka evaded and drove her sword into its torso and sliced cleanly to the hearth side. Smiling she pulled the weapon out and set the body on fire then turned to the monsters that had begun crawling into the street while she was busy.
"Who of you want's to go next? Ah, well, doesn't matter. Come at me!"
Miran frowned when the familiar told him that Lenka was fighting. This was not exactly what he wanted to hear, especially since he was still stuck in some kind of dark spooky forest with Shun Ra being the only company. At least they had left the swamp behind them, and almost everything was better than bog.
But then they met the pumpkin. A pumpkin with a face. A grinning face. Something had went terribly wrong during its growth.
"Just tell me where my parents are!" Shun Ra screamed at it as soon as it had introduced itself and asked if it could do something for them. The pumpkin grinned and rolled to the side.
"No thanks, little girl. Let me give you a riddle first."
"I don't want-" she started but Miran kept her shut.
"We'd like to hear the riddle, thank you Mr Pumpkin."
The grin widened.
"Clever kid. Sooo, the riddle... … ..."
Shun Ra shuffled around behind him as the pumpkin stopped in mid-sentence and continued to grin at them.
"I forgot."
"What?!" she exploded, pulled an arrow from the quiver and attempted to stab the vegetable that escaped by jumping and rolling around her.
"Now that is not nice, little girl. What if I remember it but die because of your sharp weapon!"
"Tell! Me!"
Miran rolled his eyes and picked up the orange nuisance when it passed him.
"I am a fanalis, if you know what that is. Tell us what we want to know or you can say your puny existence good bye. I'm counting to ten. And then I'll crush. And then we are going to have pumpkin soup for dinner."
"Gross, as if I want to eat that thing!"
To quote Lenka, fudge.
"Thank you for ruining my threat, it would have worked out perfectly," he grumbled then shrugged and added a little pressure to the thing in his hands.
"Now then. One. Two. Three. Fourfivesixseveneight-!"
"Stop! Stop! I know something! Just stop!"
"Aw," Miran complained and grinned at Shun Ra who stared at him with wide eyes and open mouth. She had underestimated him again.
"Talk. Where is the way to the treasure room? Where are her parents? And where is Lenka?"
"Okay, okay. Jeez, you are not funny, kid. So, no riddle. In about two miles south from here is a ruin city. Somewhere in there is the gate to the last room before the empty city. Her parents... might be dead already. Or undead. Either way they won't leave the dungeon again."
The girl's lower lip started to tremble.
"Liar. They aren't dead."
"It said 'might', a possibility, not certain," he murmured before shaking the pumpkin.
"And Lenka?"
As soon as the question left his mouth a tremor shook the ground, followed by a gust of wind which smelled like smoke, blood and ozone. Miran dropped the pumpkin and started running towards the cause of the earthquake then remembered Shun Ra was not in the least as fast as he was, turned back to pick her up and carry on his arms, an action she commented with a surprised squeak.
"Hold on."
The squeak turned into a scream as he zigzagged through the trees at inhuman speed, jumped over boulders and tree trunks and even a dry river bed, outbalanced the next earthquakes and dodged the shock waves and the trees that were uprooted by the force and came flying at them like compostable missiles. And she was screaming all the way and tried to strangle the life out of him.
A thick layer of smoke billowed over the ruins, huge craters in the streets told the story of a violent encounter, as did the remains of countless dungeon monsters, zombies, stains and smoldering carcasses, and what else had attacked Lenka. Shards of greenish crystal stuck from the ground like the stumps of trees, puddles of red, green and yellow made the cobblestone slippery and disgusting. The smell was even worse. Burning flesh, chitin and hair.
When they had left the forest and sprinted towards the abandoned settlement more tremors shook the landscape, flames erupted now and then and caused white flashes to flicker over the the dark skies but now it was quiet, as if every sound had been absorbed by the dungeon.
"What happened? Everything is so... desolate," Shun Ra whispered, several arrows nocked on her bow, ready to fire them any moment. Miran inhaled slowly, taking in the different smells, tasted them before exhaling with a sigh.
"Lenka happened."
As if on cue a wall crumbled and collapsed into a pile of rubble and dust. Shun Ra flinched.
"Holy hell. Just how strong is she?"
"Very strong. But she wants to get even stronger."
"But why?" she asked incredulously.
"She is, like, a force of nature already!"
"Now you know how strong our foes are," Miran replied a nonchalant shrug. The girl gulped and gripped her weapon tightly as they continued their way through the ruins. More dead monsters, more craters, more crystal shards, until they arrived at the market place. Their jaws dropped at the sight that waited for them: a pile of defeated enemies, frozen in a green crystal shell and the familiar figure sitting atop of a spike. Lenka grinned down at them and waved lazily with her djinn weapon, Gusion's sword-lance.
"Hey there. I doubt there are enemies left for you to maim."
"The pumpkin didn't want to talk," Miran replied with a wide grin and hugged her when she jumped down and strolled over to them. She blinked once then nodded and ruffled his hair.
"I see. I became apprentice vampire slayer."
"Did he sparkle? You told me about sparkling vampires."
"Unfortunately it was inside, I don't think he did."
"Aw."
"Can't you concentrate on the most important thing? I still haven't found my parents!"
The fanalis groaned and turned to Shun Ra who was standing a few feet away, her cheeks were flushed an angry red and her fist was shaking. She was clearly not in the mood for more vampire jokes so Lenka simply nodded again and turned to point at the ruins of a large building. The front was almost intact but the roof had broken down after what looked like a meteor impact.
"I got the information that the path further into the dungeon is through the church's crypt. Alas, there will be-"
"Then what are you waiting for!"
The girl started running over the plaza while Miran sighed and shook his head.
"She's a nuisance. Never listens to what others tell her. I hope that's not contagious."
"I figured out as much," Lenka nodded and followed her, suddenly reckoning that it was maybe not the best idea to have Shun Ra enter first. A thought that came a moment too late, she had already pushed open the huge door and stepped into the darkness of the room behind.
The banks had fallen over, been thrown into the corners and broken, buried under tiles and the wooden balks, colorful shards of the glass windowpanes littered the pieces of the floor that hadn't collapsed into the hole where once the altar stood. An unearthly green light flickered inside and illuminated the undead turning around to the three living beings.
Lenka felt the urge to facepalm. As if the girl hadn't come this far without noticing just what kind of place a dungeon was!
"M-mother?"
The whisper was barely audible over the groaning that started when they caught their scent. Miran leaned to the right and grabbed a large stone, waiting on her command.
"Father? It's me, Shun Ra."
The girl took a tentative step forward and the zombies were on the loose.
"Crystal prison."
The green substance instantly covered the approaching danger and froze them in place. Shun Ra's scream of panic turned into a desperate wail as the corpses of her parents stopped moving and rushed towards the prison, banged against the crystal and screamed their names. Lenka exchanged glances with Miran then slowly walked up to the crying girl and carefully touched her shoulder.
"There is a chance that they will return to normal. If we make it to the treasury."
The other's face distorted into an angry grimace.
"It's all your fault! Your fault that they are like this!"
The blonde flinched; the girl had a point there. Technically it had been Judar who had raised the dungeon but the Magi had done this solely to impress, please, whatever, for both their selfish reasons.
"You are right. That's why I'm taking responsibility."
Then she picked up the struggling kid, gestured Miran to pick up her bow and follow her down the crater to the colossal door with the eight-pointed star on it.
"Open sesame."
The door to the treasury opened and Lenka strode in confidently, searching for a pedestal until she found it and touched the stone trident placed on it. Shun Ra, who had been forced to walk on her own after entering the Necropolis of the dungeon, yelped in surprise and reached foran arrow when the djinn emerged. Miran on the other hand watched with mild curiosity how the granite heaps in the room turned into gold and jewels then concentrated on the djinn.
"WHO IS IT WHO WANTS TO BE KING?"
"That would be me," Lenka said and calmly faced the blue giant hovering over her. He grinned wide and showed sharp, jagged teeth, a trait he shared with many other djinn. Looking fairly human, albeit with the ears of a bat he raised his hands, palms upwards, and so showed his long nails and the metal ornaments in the form of autumn leafs on the back of them.
"Very well, female, I am Ronové, twenty-seventh djinn, a spirit of servitude and harvests. Yet there is another candidate I could deem worthy of becoming my master."
"I don't want to be your master! Turn my parents back to normal!"
Ronové didn't even raise a brow at Shun Ra's shouting and continued.
"Thereby I demand you two to show me your servants."
"Huh?"
This time he didn't ignore her.
"So?"
Lenka gripped the hilt of her sword.
"Miran is not my servant. He is my brother, my friend, someone who is important to me."
The djinn's three eyes wandered over to the small fanalis who returned the glance with the blank, calm fanalis stare then raised a fist to show the brass knuckles. Ronové nodded.
"A red lion. And the loud twin's household. Predictable."
Hey, it works just fine, Orobas growled.
"I'm still growing, thus learning. And I don't care what you say, you had talking pumpkins in your dungeon."
"That was really weird," Shun Ra agreed, then noticed her words and blushed a little, apparently uncomfortable that she had the same opinion as the boy. The djinn sighed and leaned back to watch the three humans standing before him for a few more seconds.
"Alas, I have heard many interesting things from the others. You have come quite far, female. You realized your mistakes, know what you can do and can't do. You have connections. Now the only thing you need are more servants. And those I can give to you."
Lenka nodded.
"Fine. My name is Lenka, the traveler, dungeon capturer, apprentice vampire slayer, guardian of the Magi and Solomon's warrior. Nice to meet you, Ronové. I guess you can teleport us west when the dugeon closes?"
The djinn inclined his head.
"Now then, west it is."
"Wait! My parents!"
"Well, as long as they are more or less unscathed I can turn them into humans again. Alas, that won't be the fate of the ones slain, but those are the casualties. They will return to the place where the dungeon stood."
Shun Ra's eyes watered again and suddenly she hugged Lenka who was about to call upon Orias' power to collect the majority of the treasure.
"Thank you! Thank you! I don't know what I would have been doing without your help!"
"Dying, surely painfully and in vain," Miran murmured while the dungeon capturer smiled and patted the crying girl's head.
"There, there. Everything is alright now."
She nodded and let go of the tall woman to glance at the boy.
"And thank you too... I guess."
Ronové cleared his throat and clapped his hands.
"Well, before we indulge ourselves too much in gratitude I will proceed to close the dungeon. Dungeon capturer, this left earring of yours will suit my purpose just fine. Now, to west you go!"
And the dungeon disappeared in a blur of colors.
Lenka blinked up at the sun then looked around. The air was very humid, tropical plants grew behind them while she could see a city built into the walls of the ravine they had landed upon. Miran sat up and inhaled deeply then furrowed his brows.
"There are birds. They are far too big to be normal birds. They are carrying people."
"Just where are we now? Where are my parents?! It's all the fault of you insane people!"
Oh, was the girl not a companion of yours, my queen? Now, that is a big mistake on my behalf, I'm truly sorry.
"Sorry, doesn't cut it!"
Far east twelve villagers looked around and wondered if they had been having a strange dream involving zombies, sparkling vampires and talking pumpkins, then realized that they were standing at the bottom of a deep square muddy pit and had several large bags filled with gold and treasure with them.
Truly, a very strange dream.
Those of you who have been waiting for the second part of the omake from a while ago, here it is! Enjoy!
Three-way wager (Part II)
Foras chuckled devilishly and scribbled another name on her list, as well as the age and likes of her newest conquest. Lazing on her bed she counted the number again. Fifty-seven females. In two weeks. And from different species, too. Even though she had to tell at least eight of her bet with Orobas and Barbatos, but those eight girls had been very understanding.
"Kick their asses, darling!"
"Good luck, and please come by and tell me that you've won."
"Whatever you win, can I get a piece of the prize?"
And many of the other forty-nine had become her friends, not as in girlfriend but in friend-friend. Life was pretty nice to her at the moment. Now where should she go this evening?
A knock on the door interrupted her musing but Foras didn't mind. Hopefully it was Eligos who brought her some more information on the cutie in the fae tribe...
She blinked surprised at Orobas grinned wide at her.
"Hey, can I hide in your house for a few hours?"
Foras blinked again then waved him inside when she felt a nearing killing intent which felt very familiar.
"Okay, hide in the kitchen. And then you tell me what happened."
"God, you're a life-safer," he whispered and rushed into the direction her finger pointed. She heard the clatter of a chair being pulled around and something rustling, maybe the curtains or the tablecloth and giggled. Whoever he had angered, he had made him or her very angry.
The killing intent was almost overwhelming right now then suddenly died down before someone knocked. She opened and grinned at Focalor who tried to look not intimidating and blood-thirsty, but the club he tried to hide behind his back spoke a language on its own.
"Hello Focalor. What can I do for you on this beautiful day?"
His meaningful glance was almost hilarious due to the fact that his hair was in disarray as if he had run a long distance very fast while swinging a club and accidentally hitting himself with it.
"Maybe some information, dearest. Have you seen something interesting in the last minutes?"
"Besides an Orobas running as if the wrath of Focalor was directed towards him, nothing much. I was rather distracted at the particular moment."
"So? What distracted you, little flower?" he smirked and tried to lean against the doorframe.
"The fact that he was not in the least afraid and yelled something about not interested in your approaches and the laughable size of your club, probably not the one you try to hide behind your back. He went west, by the way."
"This...! Thank you, Foras, if you would excuse me now, I have to club someone to death."
Giggling she shut the door and waited a few moments before walking into the kitchen where she found Orobas in fetal position under her dinner table, the cloth pulled down to hide him. Luckily the furniture was rather big or else he would have had a problem, being taller than eight feet. He grinned happily at her when she lifted the white fabric.
"Thank you so much, I don't know what would have happened to me if he found me."
"He would have clubbed you to death," Foras deadpanned and kneeled next to him.
"Just what did you – hold on, I know that sheepish grin. Did you try to flirt with his harem girls? You know that they are off-limits, do you?"
"I know. Now."
His reaction made it almost impossible to scold him, she thought. Must be the freckles.
"So, how many did you approach?"
"Every single one of them, all twenty-three," he proudly admitted.
"You didn't have to do that, they are all mine already."
"What!?"
Foras cackled devilishly.
"You know, he flirts with girls. I am a girl, or female, whatever. And as the pervert he is he enjoys some girl on girl action."
His eyes widened until she feared they would fall out of the sockets.
"Whoa."
"Don't tell anyone."
"You are awesome. Want to go grab something to eat with me? My treat."
She raised a brow while trying not to grin like a complete idiot at him.
"I don't think I'm conquerable, Orobas."
"What would happen if you were? Would you have to forfeit?"
They stared at each other like two big cats, waiting for the other to make the first move. Foras smiled lazily and dropped the tablecloth on his face.
"Get out of there, pretty boy. I'll be back in a few seconds."
Eligos grinned wide and rubbed her hands together at the memories her spy sent her flooded her mind. The fly had followed Orobas from Focalor's den through the alley to Foras' place and inside. And then she had focused her will on him and asked her friend out. From there on it would be child's play.
She had read him the first time they met, when Foras introduced the male to them. The gestures, the glances, his body language, how he reacted to her words and so on. He was clearly interested.
"Eligos."
Ah-uh. The fae turned around and grinned sheepishly at Gusion who had sneaked up to her. Maybe the rooftop of the warehouse in this district was not such a great spying place, or for an outburst of mad genius laughter.
"Hello Gusion? What can Eligos do for you?"
"I have made a bet," the jackal-seal hybrid said gravely and the fae tried not to roll her eyes. As if that was something new.
"Foras has to win."
Eligos maintained her poker-face but danced inwardly. Money on the way to her!
"How much?"
"Enough. The usual amount?"
"The usual amount. Who bet against you?"
"A few."
"Something else?"
"No."
"Consider it done, partner," Eligos gave the other a thumbs-up. Gusion nodded again and turned away.
"Good luck."
And so the competition continued, in a very interesting way. Barbatos tried to make girls fall for him, as did the other two. But then Orobas turned his focus towards Foras who in return continued with her mixed strategy of innocent approach, truth and shameless flirting. Gusion widened the betting pool by forcing some of the other tribe leaders to join as well to get enough money to pay Eligos who helped Foras without her noticing from the shadows next to her main project.
Dantalion and Orias.
They were working on something big apparently, together with Ugo and a few other human magicians. They were slowly getting closer, much to her joy – there were not enough happy couples around, even though some did their very best, like Sheba – and they looked cute together in her opinion.
Until the incident where Orobas had taken Foras out for another date – he said it was one, she protested, whatever, date – and Dantalion had seen them and confused the twins. Which led to a lot of screaming, chaos and death threats, just like Eligos loved it. Or would have loved, if she hadn't bet half of her loan from Gusion on them becoming a couple. Now the jackal/seal/whatever got her money back and the sum would only increase in a few minutes, as Foras, Orobas and Barbatos met at the deadline to see who conquered the most.
"Eighteen," said Barbatos with a confident smirk and crossed his arms after holding up a small list with names. Orobas grinned and held up his own notepad.
"Twenty-four."
"Damn. So it's my loss then – except Foras has done something completely un-Foras-ish."
The female maintained her deadpan expression and opened her pad. A page unfolded and dropped to the floor and the others gaped at the list that was almost as long as she was.
"Eighty-six individuals, both male and female, their hobbies, ages, likes and dislikes as well as, " Foras grinned smugly, "their preferences. Me."
"Holy master, teach me your ways!" Orobas yelled and attempted to worship the ground she was standing on while Barbatos grabbed the list and paled more with every name.
"Hold it, why are we on the list as well?"
"Why do you ask, isn't it obvious?"
Vinea sweatdropped at the piles of money in front of Gusion that were still growing with every better that gave her the input.
"How many more are left?"
Gusion smirked and unrolled a list even longer than Foras', causing the other tribe leader to sweat even more.
"I... see..."
"Never bet against the house, Vinea. Never."
It took the others decades to figure out why Gusion was always winning, and even then they had no evidence to prove that she was using Eligos, who was now entrusted with the mission to search for a girlfriend for Ugo so that the other could win the bet against Solomon.
Until today she has yet to find someone who is willing to do so.
Happy New Year! May it be a good one!
Next update will be on January 17, the last one before the Magnostadt War! Yay!
Thank you all so much for the support! I'm absolutely amazed and addicted to your response to the story. Worse than chocolate, really.
Reviewers! Sorry that I haven't answered (at all), there was so much stuff to do and see *cough* Star Wars *cough*
Gadget boy: He he, no need for despair at the moment. Fortunately I'm a sucker for happy ends. There will be one.
Guest who reviewed on Dec 21: mah, not really. Kouen figured out how insane Lenka is and decided to remain a happy bachelor. One of his better desicions I think...
Kanri: Was this question directed to me or others? As for me... please bear with me not announcing yet.
Yours,
TheMultipleMeExperience