Chapter 19: Artemyra

Author's Note: Here's a bit of continuation. Sorry that it's short, but I still want to work on ApoTheosis. Next chapter for Abra Cadaver may appear sooner or later.

Franklin's View.

If I remember clearly, I was in zombie mode. How was I knocked out? Instead of dwelling in the question, I got off my back and on my own two legs. I looked around. I was in a beautiful area similar to Sindria. The bright blue ocean was behind me and I stood on a brown sand. My shirt was ripped from the time Amelia and Emiline attacked me under the influence of that hallucinogenic fog, and my pants were stitched due to the octopus tearing my legs. My shoes dried up from the heat of the sun. The large bag that we rest on was right beside us.

"Amihiha!? Emiline!? Ramses!?" I looked to my right and saw Amelia's downed body,"Amelia?"

She was laying on her stomach and her face was smothered in the beach sands. I flipped her over and carried her with my hands on her back. I gently swept the sand on her hair.

"Amelia, are you okay?"

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at me.

"Franky?" she groggily said,"Where are we?"

With a sigh, I responded with:"I don't know."

She got on her snake tail and scanned the area.

"Since I don't know my way around here, you take the lead, 'kay?" she winked with a friendly grin, causing me to stifle a chuckle.

"If you say so, Amelia,"

I hopped high into the air to scan more of my surroundings. There were mostly trees, but I think I saw a giant bird flying toward me. When I landed back down, I was greeted by Amelia.

"Hey Frank, I found a blonde girl by the beach,"

She lead me there and saw the young blonde women. Her long blonde hair was longer than her whole body. She had a red tattoo on her right cheek and she was drooling. Is she a drunkard? Judging by her lack of clothing, yes. Good thing she's lying on her belly.

"Hey lady, are you alright?" I poked her forehead with my finger.

"Huh, are you talking to me? Ya talking to meh?" she slurred in a drunk fashion.

*Smack*

Amelia slapped some sense into her, causing her to wake up from her drunk dream. Does she think she's Robert DeNiro or something?

"Wah!" she sat up from her sleeping position and looked at me. She had a big smile on her face and her eyes sparkled with... enticement? She quickly hugged me, possibly because she's drunk. Thank goodness her hair covered her... you-know-whats.

"Sin! Why didn't you come to my party?" She thought I was Sinbad? Like hell I could be like that guy. She kinda sounded similar.

"Um... do you happen to know who Pisti is?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Pisti? she gave her womanhood to that Stupid King!" she's too drunk to respond coherently.

Now how do you get a drunk person to their senses? With no other choice, I did what Amelia did: slap. I slapped her once and she giggled like a little girl. I don't get this girl.

"Miss, who the hell are you?!"

"Mira...hehe," she said in a drunk fashion.

I sighed angrily. I learned a bit about the Seven Seas Alliance leaders, and one of them was Mira Dianus Artemina, Queen of Artemyra. I just never knew she would be a drunkard like Sin.

"Geez, you're like the Stupid King of the Seven Seas," I learned that name from good ol' Masrur. I like his secret snarky side,"Since you're the Queen of Artemyra, I'm guessing you know the way home right?"

Geez, what kind of stupid question was that? I'm talking to a drunkard for Solomon's sake! My face shifted from a friendly one to a face of displeasure.

"Parsine... Stupid Sin called me stupid!" she whined.

"Who the hell is Parsine?!"

A few minutes later

During this time, she slowly recovered from her drunk state. I lent her my black cape to cover her body.

"Sorry for me being drunk. I'm Mira Dianus Artemina, Queen of Artemyra," her voice was mature, yet as charming as a young adult.

"I am Franklin Steinherz, and my friend here is Amelia Anguem," she did a friendly wave when I said her name.

"Franklin Steinherz? Aren't you the alien King Vessel?" she said as she raised her brow.

"Yes, I am. But I'm in no way related to Al-Thamen or this Alma Torran crap,"

A sigh of relief came out from her mouth. She looked at me with a silly smile, as if attracted?

"You know for an alien, you look pretty cute,"

I chuckled from her compliment and scratched the back of my head.

"Thanks. People at school usually ignore my looks," I found myself smiling warmly,"Now, can you tell me the way to Artemyra?"

She stood up, holding my cloak tightly and pointed to the forest.

"If we keep walking through that forest, we'll reach a caravan pathway to Artemyra," she smiled, but later grumbled to herself,"If only I wasn't stripped of my clothes from that party last night,"

Amelia sighed, having to slither most of the time. I grabbed the large bag of gold, which was basically weightless to me. We kept venturing through the forest, encountering many creatures on the way. Mira told me not to kill the animals, as they're just hungry, yet humans weren't their main appetite. I followed the Queen's orders and only damaged them to give them the clear message on who's stronger. Few hours have past, and through the Queen's directions, we found a caravan pathway. There were some caravans passing by.

"Hello!" Mira called out to one of the caravan drivers.

They halted and saw Mira, Amelia, and I.

"What do you want you bunch of peasants?"

Rude.

"I'm Mira Dianus Artemina, my friends and I wish to have a ride on your caravan,"

The driver looked closely at Mira's face. The tattoo was what caught his attention; a symbol of her royalty. He quickly hopped off and did a formal bow.

"Excuse me your highness," he said formally.

Artemyra

The journey to Artemyra was quite long. It took us half the day to make it back. While we were waiting, Amelia and I talked about our adventure in Goap. She was aware of the presence of Goap, but she never knew that my friends and I conquered it. I reminded her of the giant bag of gold we got from the journey. When I was done, she talked about Artemyra. Artemyra is actually a country with mostly women, and they were known as the nation that dances with the skies. Judging by her description of Artemyra, it's probably mountainous.

I was still in the cart, which was still moving. Mira looked out the window and looked back at us with an excited face.

"Hey, we're getting close to my home, just wait for a few minutes,"

Amelia and I decided not to look out until we arrived. A few minutes have past and Mira lead the way. When we got out of the caravan, a beautiful sight welcomed us.

"Welcome to Artemyra."

Artemyra. This place was above the clouds and was also mountainous. There were many Greek styled buildings floating near the mountain, and many people rode on giant birds to get around. The floating lands were interlinked with extremely secure bridges. Near the mountain top was a large castle with few floating towers. The Caravan stopped a few meters away from the entrance.

"I'd like to show you around my Kingdom for a while."

Artemyra mostly had women and little men. The people were usually blonde and had magenta eyes. The main transportation in Artemyra was through giant birds. According to Mira, there are larger birds which are used to transport military allies to war, like how the SSA entered in the war against the Medium. The main fashion in here were white robes, or sometimes pink dresses with openings in the center, similar to Pisti's. Suddenly, a blonde cat girl saw us and ran up to Mira.

"Mira-nya!" she said as she hopped toward her and hugged her.

"Whoa there Feyleene, don't get too excited!"

She hopped off and landed on all fours, crying with sparkling eyes.

"I was looking for you all day- who're those guys?"

Mira turned to us.

"The boy's name is Franklin, and the lamia is Amelia. They're travelers," she said.

She suddenly disappeared, but the constant "nyas" to my left was what made me find her easily. She was on her back, playing around with Amelia's tail. The blue gorgon found it cute that she's playing around with her tail. When she saw me looking at her, she ceased her cativity (Oh wow, I made a pun) and stood on her legs.

"Sorry for the rude welcome. I'm Feyleene Dia Niki. I'm Mira's Household," she looked closely at my clothing, making me feel uncomfortable,"Mew sure have weird clothes... Are you from Sasan?"

I shook my head in response.

"You'll learn from your Highness later,"

A courteous laugh slipped from the Queen's lips.

"Franky, you don't have to be too formal with me. Just Mira is fine,"

While I love cats, I found myself wanting to pet her. I walked up to her and put my cold hand on her head. She felt queasy at first from the touch of a dead hand, but when I scratched her ears, she started purring. When I let go, she stopped her purring and said:"How come mew're so cold?"

"Believe it or not, I'm actually undead,"

With a confused "nya?" she raised a brow. Mira nodded.

"I've heard from Sin about your current body. You're quite an interesting kid," she commented.

Mira's Dinner hall.

The Queen lead us back to her castle, inviting us to a feast. She told us not to worry because there's no alcohol involved. I think she learned from her mistake. I put on my limiter gem before I ate. I used my Djinn and was a zombie for a long time, so I had to really fuel up my Magoi.

Mira was now in her casual wear. She wore a more elegant white robe, with "wings" by her collar. She wore a fancy golden crown and on her right hand was her personal spear; her Metal Vessel.

"Say Franklin, when did your Household assimilate?" she asked.

"Assimilate? Is that some sort of special Household Vessel effect?" I asked.

"Correct. Fayleen was once human you know? Assimilation grants more power by fusing yourself with the Vessel, but makes the wielder less human."

I shook my head.

"Amelia was already mutated by the Dungeon Monsters in Goap. She's been my Household Vessel for only a few days,"

"I see."

We continued to eat our food, and right when we were done, Amelia surrendered into the guest room Mira provided us. While I was walking toward the guest room, Mira approached me from behind and got my attention with a gentle pat on the shoulder.

"Hey kid, mind if I ask where you got your Djinn?"

I showed her my scissors. She had a curious face, wondering what kind of tool did I use.

"Is this your Metal Vessel? It's rather unique compared to most Metal Vessels," she commented,"What's your Djinn's name?"

"Orobas, why?" I asked.

"Orobas... I've never heard of that Djinn before," she commented. Her curiosity of my Djinn got her smiling and she pointed her spear at me.

"Mind if we do a small bout? King vs King?"

Even if she is a SSA King Vessel, I guess I won't mind a challenge.

"Sure,"

Dianus's Arena

She had her own personal training area in her garden. The arena was basically a large rectangular platform made of marble. The Artemyran Queen would usually make this arena float above her castle to prevent further damage to her garden. Whenever it floats, there's usually a barrier that surrounds the field to prevent damage outside and prevent interference.

"I guess I'll start out easy on you," she held her spear up high,"Cerberus!"

Her spear transformed into some sort of lunar staff. There were two curved blades that curved outward and a gem in the middle. Her elbow protruded ice spikes as she held the weapon.

"Orobas!"

My forearms gained black scales and my scissors had transformed into two symmetrical blades.

She covered her staff with water and formed a scythe blade with the water and froze it. She ran toward me and reeled her staff to her right. When she got near me, she swung her ice scythe at me, which I parried with my left handed blade. I swung my right hand sword at her, but I saw another arm on her left with an ice sword. The extra hand clashed with my sword, repelling my slash. I leaned forward and put my hand on the ground and threw a low roundhouse kick to her leg, causing her to trip. Her back was about to hit the floor, but an ice copy of her upper torso stopped the fall with her arms and Mira used both legs to kick me. Her copy shot her toward me, but I managed to jump away from her in time. I did a back flip before landing on the ground. When she was losing air time, she bent her legs back to brake her path and she stood up as soon as she came to a full stop. She turned to me with a confident smile.

"You're quite a strong martial artist too. Perhaps having no pain from dislocation is quite a boon,"

A Mira copy was formed on her right side, holding a bow and arrow. She aimed upward and shot an arrow to the sky. Either a high angled shot, or some sort of arrow rain?

I quickly ran toward Mira while grinding my left hand blade on the ground. The archer Mira on her right fired a volley of arrows at me, but I quickly slid on my shins, dodging the arrows. My shins didn't touch the ground due to my utility of magnetism.

Suddenly, I felt my body being launched by something that punched my back. I looked behind and saw that an ice copy of Mira launched me. Suddenly, a series of ice arrows were hovering around me. I quickly gained my momentum and extended both swords into whip blades and spun around madly in all directions. The segments orbited around me as if I was a planet and both of my arms were extended outward. When I crossed my arms, the blades converged back to me and sliced all ice bolts.

"Hmm, Orobas sure has an interesting weapon," Mira commented as I landed on the ground,"You have a strong offense, but what will happen if I attack?"

This time, she charged at me at such an alarming rate. I charged my black electricity and entered a fighting pose.

Ramses's View.

Ugh... My mouth felt... sandy. I got up and sat on my knees, spitting out the sand in my mouth. Strangely, I had no top on, only a loincloth. I still had my bandages on, and my sword was still by my side. I looked behind me and was relieved to find my bag of treasures with me, but I wasn't too relieved when I realized I'm all alone, in the middle of a desert.

"Help..." a weak voice called.

I turned to the source of the noise.

In the distance, I saw a blonde haired women with medium length hair and long side bangs. She also wore a dark green dress.

I've been in desert environments, so I knew how to survive in this kind of environment. While I was in the Royal Household, Armakan invited me to a desert expedition. Though unruly and full of suffering, this journey taught me how to survive in a desert. I learned to survive without food for at least a day, and tactics to finding a nearby village. If I had enough food or water, I could regain my Magoi and simply just fly to the nearest village via Djinn Equip. Considering I was still resting from the previous battles in Goap, I think my Magoi is at a considerate capacity. I walked over to the girl and helped her up.

"Thank you stranger," she said weakly.

"You're welcome. I'm Ramses Seth, I'm a traveler that found himself sleeping here." I introduced myself.

"I'm Leila, I'm a merchant heading back to Qishan, but I fell out of my caravan," she said.

I unsheathed my blade and pointed upwards.

"Andras!"

My sword transformed into the orange long sword and Lykos was summoned right in front of me. Leila's face was filled with surprise from the fact that a King Vessel is helping her. What was strange was that he summoned a wolf with his Djinn's power alone.

"Come on, hop on in. No questions until you lead me back to Qishan,"

She looked at the sand to find caravan treads, only to find none due to the sands filling the gap. She checked a compass that she summoned from her dress and examined it.

"We should go northeast," she pointed to the direction behind me and I turned to where she pointed.

"All right, hop in," she ran to Lykos and hopped on his back. She felt a bit nervous at first, due to the fact that she was riding a wolf. I turned to her, reassuring her with a smile.

"Lykos doesn't mind friends going on his back,"

"Friend?" she blushed from him mentioning that she's a friend.

"Enough emotional moments. Let's fly!"

Lykos leapt high and shot himself toward northeast. While I screamed for joy, Leila was screaming in fear as she held on to me for her life. I looked back at her with an adventurous smile and looked forward.

"Do an spinning lance Lykos!" I said as we screamed in joy,"Hold on tight, Lay!"

My best friend obeyed and rotated his body to the right as if he was a spinning lance. Ever since I mastered my Djinn Equip, I had to get used to flight on Lykos. After two weeks, I already got used to riding him. Leila was hyperventilating from the aerial maneuver, but I also saw her smiling?

"Wow, that was fun!" she said with pumped up adrenaline.

"Don't get too caught up in your adrenaline, Leila. Tell me if we're near,"

She looked downward and looked back at me, shaking her head.

"We're getting near, but we're not here yet," she said.

The desert sun setting painted the sky orange as the night was coming close. If Leila was right about the next town coming up, then I hope I have some Magoi to spare.

Author's Note: I will still work on ApoTheosis, but once it's done, then full force on Abra Cadaver. Thank's for reading and review if you wish.

Edit 1: Shortened the Ramses scene as the last parts didn't seem to make sense.