The priestess Ryuna cautiously explored the quiet cave around her with her scepter in hand. She was wearing flowing white robes with a long burgundy skirt. Only the fair skin of her shoulders was visible due to her separate draping sleeves, and her long black hair was adorned with a white fabric tiara resembling a nurse's cap. The gravel on the floor of the cavern softly crunched under her laced white boots each time she took another step.

The aura coming from these depths was evil, and it was growing with each passing day. Ryuna's divine abilities allowed her to feel this, and she was determined to cleanse this place before it was too late. As she trekked further toward what she sensed was her goal, however, something unusual interrupted her concentration.

"Hi!"

Ryuna jumped with a slight start when the head of a young boy unexpectedly poked out from behind a large rock. She then shook her fears from her head and quietly approached the innocent-looking child as he stepped onto the open path. When she was close enough, she knelt to one knee to bring her face to his. She gave him a sisterly smile as she spoke softly.

"Hello. What are you doing here?"

The boy was wearing a yellow tunic over his tiny body. At his waist was a small wooden sword tied in place with a tan sash. His shoulder length hair was somewhere between light brown and dark blonde, and Ryuna couldn't get over how he had one of the cutest smiles she'd ever seen. Aside being found in such an unlikely location, the only thing noteworthy about this boy were his eyes. His irises were a unusual purple color, matching the shade of the water he had been created in. He laughed joyfully before he responded to the traveling woman's question.

"Helping mommy look for something."

Ryuna nodded slowly.

"Is your mother close by? You aren't lost, are you?"

The boy shook his head vigorously to her second question.

"I know just where she is. Your dress is kind of like her's, but yours is bigger."

He looked down in concentration for a second before continuing.

"I think I like her's a little more, though. Wanna meet her?"

Ryuna nodded again with a caring smile. It was her duty to ensure this child was safe, and she began following where the boy playfully led her. She became curious as to what exactly she would find this deep in the cavern.

As the pair traveled deeper down their current path, the boy's occasional giggles seemed to take on an increasingly eerie quality. However, Ryuna soon blamed this feeling on the general atmosphere around her rather than the child himself. A few minutes later, she gasped softly as she was led into an open chamber. The quiet sound of flowing water could be heard coming from somewhere beyond this room.

On a long stone shaped like a bench, Kureha sat with her legs crossed. She didn't look any older than the day she had first come to this place on a mission similar to Ryuna's, and her skin was still crisp with a subtle tan despite hardly seeing the sun's rays in the time that had passed.

Just as the boy had vaguely promised, the bored-looking young woman seated in front of Ryuna was dressed in the robes of a shrine priestess. They were much shorter than Ryuna's, though, as the yellow top was cut low enough to offer a view of Kureha's cleavage, and a brief brown and white miniskirt took the place of a long dress skirt. Her outfit was bound together by a biege-colored sash around her waist, and her long brown hair was decorated by a simple but effective white ribbon. From her forearms hung the draping sleeves familiar to all shrine maiden robes, colored yellow to match her vibrant top. Around her feet were a pair of loose-fitting white boots. Perhaps this girl was a battle priestess rather than a healer, Ryuna thought, with a robe more adapted for physical combat. The slender muscles in Kureha's exposed arms and legs seemed to suggest this. In any case, Ryuna could see where the design of the boy's tunic had come from. The dark-haired cleric couldn't believe that the thing her holy perception had led her to looked so... human.

The small lad now ran to his seated mother with an expression of joy.

"Mommy! I brought you the nice lady you wanted!"

Kureha now grinned and brought the child into her arms after he excitedly hopped onto her lap. She playfully pecked the top of his head with her lips before praising him.

"Good boy. Now be a brave little soldier and go back to lookout duty, okay?"

He nodded energetically before jumping down from her lap and run out of one of the chamber's many exits. After watching this, Ryuna wasn't sure how to introduce herself to Kureha. She wandered through her words in a diplomatic voice.

"I... um... Hello. My name is Ryuna. I'm looking for..."

Kureha returned Ryuna's introduction with a warm smile. She then took control of the conversation as the visiting priestess tried to think of her next words.

"I've heard of you. The Maiden of the Dragon, isn't it?"

Ryuna nodded and allowed Kureha to continue.

"Where's that bodyguard of yours?"

The cave's guest answered quietly but sternly.

"Just outside of here. He knows I need to be alone so I can purify this place."

Kureha sighed in disappointment before speaking.

"That's too bad. It sounds like our deities are enemies."

The black-haired traveler now spoke in confusion.

"Your... deity?"

Kureha's brown eyes carefully scanned Ryuna from toe to head, attempting to estimate the shape of the nubile figure hidden underneath the invader's long robes. After giving a satisfied nod, she responded to the girl's gentle question.

"Yes, he lives here."

As Ryuna continued to peer into Kureha's eyes in doubt, she was overcome by a strange influence. She struggled to verbalize her next thoughts.

"Is he... going to make you fight me... ?"

Kureha giggled as she shook her head.

"Nope. Not unless you really insist on it."

She repositioned her softly toned legs as she raised one of her draped arms to her chin. A grin of anticipation formed on her face.

"In fact, I think he's interested in you. If you were anyone else, he probably would have had me kill you by now. You're special, though. Priestesses like you and me are the only ones trained in a way that lets us really understand him. We'd never be able to use his power if we weren't."

She blinked and tilted her head curiously.

"Would you like to meet him?"

Falling further into her trance, Ryuna nodded obediently to the rival oracle's inquiry and lowered her decorated staff to her side. Kureha smiled toward this before rising from her seat and slowly walking toward her catch.

"Great. Follow me."


Kureha and Ryuna now stood waist-deep in a shallow portion of the subterranean pond. The girls' draping sleeves floated across the surface of the glowing water in a swirl of white and yellow as Ryuna stood with her back to her captor's chest. The robes of both young women were soaked from a recent swim, and Kureha's hair ribbon sloppily clung to her head as Ryuna's abandoned white cap floated on the surface of the water just out of reach.

Ryuna had weakly complained toward the prospect of bathing in what she considered to be filth, but her resistance soon melted away just as Kureha's had so long ago. She remained quiet as the brunette now took a handful of warm water into her palm and turned it into a small waterfall that caressed the front of Ryuna's damp white robe. Kureha whispered into the black-haired girl's ear as this happened.

"This is my god, Ryuna. Does he still frighten you?"

Ryuna shook her head and closed her eyes as she sighed in comfort. She then slowly inhaled through her nose, inviting some of the lake's steamy vapor to enter her body.

"No. He feels really nice..."

After Ryuna lifted her eyelids again, the water around her sloshed quietly as she turned in place to meet Kureha's gaze. In an impulse she made no attempt to fight, the tempted priestess moved her lips to Kureha's so the girls could share a deep kiss. After their tongues danced for a few seconds, Ryuna pulled away and shyly spoke again.

"Um... can I stay here, Kureha?"

The yellow-clad seductress smiled brightly as she replied.

"Sure."

The orcs would have fresh meat tonight.


A few days later, Kureha and Ryuna were sleeping together on the floor of the cave in their respective robes, sharing pleasant dreams of destruction and conquest. Suddenly, the tiny boy from before ran into the chamber and knelt on the floor so he could rattle Kureha's shoulders.

"Mommy! Mommy! Intruders!"

Kureha opened her eyes and sleepily sat up at attention. She looked at the boy with concern.

"Did any of them look like daddy?"

He shook his head.

"Nuh-uh! These were big guys! Real mean-looking!"

The child outstretched his arms on "big," and then snarled and made his fingers into hooked claws on "mean." Kureha nodded her head in understanding. It was another mob of disgusting mercenaries trying to rid the world of her kind.

"Okay, sweetie. Hide in your secret place while mommy and her new friend protect you from the bad guys. Remember, I'll be really sad if you get hurt."

The boy quickly nodded to his mother's concerned gaze before running to a safe corridor of the cave in joyful enthusiasm. When he was gone, Kureha playfully prodded Ryuna's side to awaken her as well. Kureha knew she could easily hold the temple ground on her own, but she felt this would be a good opportunity for the new priestess to complete her initiation. The raven-haired girl slowly opened her eyes and glanced toward her companion.

"Hmm?"

Kureha smiled to her groggy friend.

"We have visitors."

Ryuna soon sat up with a worried expression. She hadn't been the most apt for direct combat in her previous life, and she had yet to discover the new talents her recent baptism had gifted her. Kureha could see her concern and spoke again calmly.

"Don't worry. We'll support each other."

Ryuna grinned in response. She reached to ground beside her to retrieve her medical cap, then placed it upon her head before rising to her feet with Kureha. After Kureha summoned her familiar black bow, Ryuna outstretched her arms to summon a new staff in her hands. This equipment closely matched the design her original weapon, but now it was constructed from polished obsidian, and the once angelic wings that decorated it now looked bat-like and leathery. After a few seconds of preparation, the two partners began their dash toward the entrance of the cave so they could intercept the doomed mercenaries.