Chapter 3 - Departure

In which our heroes begin their perilous journey

Ever since Ein restored her voice through the use of some traditional Chinese medicine, Meute, the former mute, had been getting the fairy LuLu to give her some free tuition in the English language.

Today they were working on her pronunciation.

"Now Meute, repeat what I just said." instructed our willing tutor.

"Hro…ver…does not…own…Ri...viera…The Promised…Land…" the undine recited, clearly with difficulty.

"We're gonna have to work on that…" LuLu remarked, "C'mon, let's try again…"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The four friends were still at the discussion table. No headway had been made, and they were no closer to solving the problem than they had been a few hours prior.

And then, just as it seemed all hope was lost, just when it seemed like poor Lina was doomed to spend the rest of her natural life in whatever god-forsaken place she was currently in, Fia had an idea.

Cautiously emerging from her hiding place behind the sofa, where she had lain safe from the murderous glares of her companions throughout most of the evening, she quietly cleared her throat.

"What if…" she began, and was rewarded with immediate silence. Fia shuddered slightly as she anticipated the possible reactions to her suggestion, then soldiered valiantly onward.

"Well… if I banished you guys as well, then you'd be able to look for Lina, right?" having said the above sentence, she quickly ducked behind the sofa, leaving only a few strands of her emerald hair visible.

"Oh, not satisfied with just Lina, are we?" asked Serene, in a voice dripping with icy sarcasm "Want the whole collection now, do we?" Obviously, it was that time of the month again for our brave heroine.

"Now listen here Fia," continued the hormonally challenged Arc. "I've known you a long time. And so I hope you won't take it the wrong way when I call you a bloody-"

"GENIUS!" interjected Cierra, clearly, she had been waiting for the perfect moment to hijack Serene's speech.

Having thus got the attention of everyone in the room, the scarlet skirted sorceress continued in a quieter tone:

"If Fia was to cast the same spell on us, we should arrive at a destination similar to Lina's. We'll be able to rescue her easily!"

And besides, she thought to herself Elendia's getting to be really boring anyway.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

And so that was how our heroes found themselves standing together inside the village's magic circle, as Fia prepared to send them off into the unknown.

The varied emotional states of our characters is perhaps worthy of some mention. True to form, Cierra was in a state of barely suppressed excitement, while Fia was two minutes away from having a nervous breakdown.

She had originally planned on staying behind. After all, someone had to take care of the house, right? However, her plans had been vetoed by Ein, who now would not let Fia within ten meters of his rock collection, leaving her alone with it would be unthinkable. Why, gods forbid, she might even try to get rid of it again!

As for Serene, she was furiously sharpening her scythe, occasionally looking up to give Fia a meaningful look. Sparks flew from her whetstone, her scythe was now so sharp Ein almost cut himself just looking at it. The others avoided her. They knew from experience that Serene + Sharp Object + Murderous Facial Expression was one equation they simply did not want to deal with. S+SO+MFE RIP.

Fia decided to waste no time. Within minutes of arriving at the circle she had already prepared all the necessary components required for the banishment.

And so, for the second time that day, she produced a rosary from one of her pockets and began her spell.

"Evil ones, begone! Banishment!"

Only upon its completion, when she and her three friends were spinning through the void, blinded by the ever-present light en-route to an unknown destination, did she spot the fatal flaw in her plan.

Oh gods. she thought, moments before losing consciousness.

How are we going to get back?

------------------------------------------------------------------------