POV Narrator:
Laura, Diana, Hellene, Akko and Marianne went to try to recover Fluit An Neart, but they ended up facing a not very pleasant surprise that was the revelation of the identity of the boss, which was none other than Miranda Holbrook, who showed that she has no little magic power, attacking all of them and defeating them with few blows, leaving Laura paraplegic in the middle of the way, which McLaren was trying to move after being teleported with her friends in the middle of a nest full of cockatrices that were watching everything, knowing that the situation could get much more tense than they could imagine.
POV Laura:
Dese creatures haven't noticed us until now, I can't move my legs, I don't even know if dere will be magic capable of curing me of dis, now dat I am doomed to a wheelchair after all dis, I see dat de cockatrices were just walking around deir nest, de girls are waking up, opening deir eyes, after taking a blow like dat.
"Huh? What happened..." Said Akko until I give an impulse dragging myself to 'er and closing de Japanese woman's mouth.
"Shhhhhhhhhhh, don't talk so loud Akko, you might get de attention of de cockatrice" I whisper to 'er before we could get in danger.
I see dat de other girls are waking up too, one by one, what de hell, I won't be able to shut dem all up in time, dis way it will be really complicated not to attract de attention of de cockatoos, luckily we weren't sent when dey came to attack us, it was a moment of surprise, we dedn't die, but we ran de risk that our lives might come to an end.
"Mum? Where are we?" Diana asks and I signal 'er to be quiet.
"Shhhhhhhhhh, girls stay put, we have to get out of here de cockatrice will get us" I whisper to dem who finally understand.
"I'm with Shiny Rod here, let's go - Whispers the Japanese woman who was getting up.
"Hey, there is no way I can walk, you could help me - I tell them holding their hands.
Hellene holds me and carries me in 'er arms, I am still very wounded and I don't feel 'er hands on my legs, dey go walking together to get out of dis hell of a place, we 'ave to go soon before de dangers increase, but without wanting to I hear de sound of a branch breaking, it was exactly Diana who stepped accidentally on a branch making a cockatrice look at us.
"Shit" I say as I see dat we are going to die now.
"Noctu OrfeiAude Fraetor" Akko said turning Claiomh Solais into a bow and launching an arrow towards de first cockatrice who is stunned.
"Run" I tell dem.
"What about ye, mother?" asks my eldest daughter.
"I can run holding mom" Said my youngest daughter and no need I am willing to sacrifice.
Dey went running and Akko went ahead shooting arrows with de Claiomh Solais stunning any cockatrice dat came in front of us, which can be a good sign, we will manage to leave de nest, I may even get out of dis alive, but I just hope I am not too much weight for my daughter, it is not enough to be heavy, now I am hindering 'er from surviving and running faster.
POV Akko:
This is all too weird, I just remember that the boss revealed to be the director and then all this, she hit us while we were trying to get the flute and then I wake up in this strange place, but I'm not giving up, now we have to go back and get the flute back or else hope that Mary got it, I hope so, it would be perfect.
The monstrous cockatrices were scarier before, but now I can even run away from them and use the arrows from the first word causing huge damage, although behind us they are following us, but I see Diana is using a glyph to protect us from the worst.
"There are sae many, that damn thing really wanted us tae die in the most painful way" said my girlfriend.
"Sorry about everything, I ruined your lives, I got you into dis mess and now we could die because of it," said Mrs McLaren.
"We are not going to die, I believe we can get out of this" I say continuing to shoot arrows and the girls behind me also continued to help on the way, although I have no idea how we are going to get out of here, it seems that there is no end of cockatrices, what the hell, each one that I stun, comes two ahead, this way I don't know if the staff will hold.
A flame comes towards the cockatrices, I'm still trying to shoot the arrows, several dragons appear in our direction, are they the machines of Fafnir, being strangely allied? This is too weird, but it's being a great distraction from defeating these giant chickens, I still shoot to clear the way, as more cockatrizes appear to surround us.
"What is this? I remember these robotic dragons coming from fanfnir, why is he helping us?" I say in shock.
"After almost killing us that's too weird, we can't really trust that" Diana said.
"Take dis daughter, finish dese chickens off on a shooting basis" Said Mrs McLaren handing over the pistol she had used against the boss.
And with Diana having the power of the pistol things were quite different, in the first shot it was already enough to cut off a chicken and throw it on the ground, which I am even shocked, my arrows at most stunned the cockatrices, I'm trying what I can, with the help of Diana I stun one by one of the cockatrices and she shoots with the pistol, what little by little more robotic dragons appeared.
"That's a good sign we are already being safe" I say relieved.
"But ye still have those machines" said my girlfriend.
"Aren't they allies?" Marianne said.
"Anyway we'll let those dings take us" Mrs McLaren said.
We extended our hands and soon the dragons were catching us while they were fighting with the cockatrices, we were being taken by ride, I was still using the staff, to protect the girls since some cockatrices were still following us, by the way we are close to the ruins of rastavan, since there are the dragons of the fafnir that is not even a little trustworthy to be honest.
"I hope we really are safe, I can't trust Fafnir" I tell them.
"Either way it's better dan dying at de hands of de cockatrices or causing a mass extinction of dem" Mrs McLaren said.
We are getting safer, there are no more cockatoos following us, I managed to stun them all thanks to the power of Claiomh Solais, but now it is going to be a complicated situation, we are going to have to deal with the fanfnir and he is extremely dangerous as well, I don't know if we are going to get out of this the best, I can already see that we are getting closer to his place.
"We are coming" I tell the girls.
"Ah what a relief, at least one place away from de cockatrice" McLaren said.
And there we went arriving right at Fafnir's house, where the dragons had left us on his table, he was with that poor old man face he does, but I know that behind that he hides the face of a disgraced dragon, I don't doubt it much, as well as this whole environment, at least we could be safe from the cockatrice right away.
"I told you, like I told you, I tried to warn you girl, you were messing with big people" Said the dragon.
"I would not give up, after I found out that there was such a boss that caused everything bad for magic I had to fight to put an end to it, I had been being affected by this curse and now I know who it is" I tell Fafnir.
"Oh and ye're the bastard who almost killed us back in Rastavan, if it wasn't fae us hiding and using the Fluit an Neart tae escape yer presence, how can we trust ye?" Said Diana and she really has a good point there.
"Oh it's a good point, I was just protecting my assets, you guys who came and destroyed my business, I lost millions in shares because of your heroism, millions that could be applied in shares of some company emerging with more news, I was just doing for the market ... Anyway, I also have something else to say, I was once offered to work with Miranda, all that stuff that happened here... It was all a setup by Miranda, the contract is fake, although I really got money from Luna Nova for my benefit, the loan debt was paid since 1417, but I made sure to keep pulling and when the fire happened I was part of helping, I wanted more profit to have reason to take money from Jennifer too, but anyway, by then I had already paid too, she was extremely rich and profited easily thanks to the deeds she did, but that's not what I came to talk about, it was about the recent setup... Holbrook paid me to make them think that Luna Nova was in debt and that Diana would deny it, she wanted this to serve as a demonstration so that you Japanese girl would give up, she wanted to show that she would never reach the level of a real witch, but it seems that her plan failed on that point, you still did not give up Luna Nova" Fafnir said and now it makes even more sense and what a little dragon bastard, that does not justify his actions.
"You are nothing but a pig just like Miranda 'erself" Said Mrs McLaren sitting on the floor, it's weird she's in that position, I didn't even notice she was paraplegic.
"Nothing much different from what greedy worldly people are, finally I will bring you some potions, you look like you will need to heal, then I will talk about an important matter, as well as you, I want to defeat Miranda Holbrook, she is a stone in the shoe of my business" Said the greedy dragon.
And there he was leaving that place, we went the more until Laura that was seated in the floor and she was all wounded, the clothes were with rips she was full of hematomas, our the boss really made an enormous damage in my mother-in-law, she is still holding everything, it seems that there is something more motivating her, we hugged her after everything.
"Why?" She said confused.
"You were too brave mum and somehow you saved us from de boss killing us, if it wasn't for you de boss would only destroy us at once, at dis time she must 'ave no idea of what's ahead" Hellene said.
"I was only a burden, now I am a paraplegic, a weight, I can no longer fight or walk, because of my attempt to protect you... I was only supposed to use an escape tactic, but I focused on brute force, I thought it would be enough for us to get de flute back... In de end we dedn't even get dat - Mrs. McLaren really fell apart emotionally after all this.
And soon Fanfir comes back with giant potion vials, until he shows us he has a human form and hands us the full size vials, I had no idea he could transform into a human too, this is too shocking, he looks exactly the way he is as a dragon, but as a human, a gentleman with a beard and white hair, wearing glasses.
"Here it is, heal yourselves and you will be able to recover from this arduous battle" Fafnir said to us.
We took the potions and I only had bruises from what the boss cast a spell in our direction, but Mrs. McLaren was very hurt, the potion left her practically brand new, she only had some rips in her clothes, but she couldn't help it, she at least is ok, after everything that happened, even so Laura was trying to get up and nothing, she just sat there.
"Oh, shit! Doesn't dat potion cure my back?" said my already frustrated mother-in-law.
"You should already know that, there are no potions capable of repairing irreversible damage to your body, there is no way to grow a limb back or walk again, once you lose the movement of a body part, you never come back, if it wasn't such a powerful blow it would be possible to recover, but this way, you will need a wheelchair like this" said the dragon to McLaren, who was already getting frustrated.
POV Laura:
I knew it was permanent, but I wanted to cheer even in a minimum way, well my life will be like dat, now I'll be likeApril's mother, a wheelchair user for de rest of my life, I dink I was a total failure after all, I could barely protect my girls, on de contrary, dey who protected me, now I'm a weakling, even recovering de magic I won't be able to attack like before.
I see dat de capitalist dragon makes some tables for us and goes sitting down while offering a real banquet, honestly I don't know if I am in de mood to eat, but I climb on de chair having help what I am already getting angry, I didn't want me to be like dis.
"So, what made you bring us 'ere?" I ask de bastard straight away.
"I see potential in the witches revolution more than I see in Holbrook's idea, I wouldn't get any benefit, the damned wants to destroy the society of now that is the one that gives me the most money until today, I don't want to go back to being a dragon inside a cave full of gold coins, there was no entertainment, there was nothing interesting, but your revolution... It is very different, you want to modernize magic and this can start a future profitable business involving magic, we can turn magic into a commodity, I can become the first trillionaire in history, that is why I saw the potential in you" What a fucking greedy pig.
"Magic is not merchandise, magic is special for everyone, it is for everyone, it is not to be used to earn a little gold coin or other, magic is something dat will bring a new system to de world, did you know dat dis is your idea dat will destroy de environment? Dere will be no world for you if you continue to exploit its resources only for your profit" I will not join dis guy, but not even fuck.
"Oh it seems Holbrook's successor is pretty stubborn about it too, I thought you were more open and tolerant, big mistake, you are two naive people who over romanticize a stone that fell in space and brought a portal to this planet we are now, magic is nothing but that, an alien force that Lilith found and went to spread to earth, if earth kills itself, I don't care, it doesn't really affect here, I'll just drain another planet, just like generations and generations of dragons did before me, we just send an asteroid with the power of the sorcerer stone and wait for intelligent life to use that to gain access to this place, you are tiny and irrelevant to what the dragons of Rastavan can do, even though you are the damned ones that extinguished almost all my race in several fights between dragons and the terraqueos, anyway I am the last of this lineage, I intend to continue the legacy I built and continue to profit, nothing will affect my world" Wow what a horrible person and I am not Holbrook's successor, I am not going to become director of Luna Nova.
"So we weren't de first, now it all makes sense, but what's de point of it all? What pleasure do you get just by taking money from others, being dat after all the riches of dat planet become irrelevant when everything is lost its value, since it was only attached to dat planet" Now I'm going to give that dragon a thought.
"Oh how naive you are, come with me I will show you something that is beyond your comprehension" I just want to see it.
"And how am I going to get out of 'ere, I don't even walk" I tell him who makes a roomba appear and de girls go riding on brooms.
We go following in de house of dis dragon, he walks until a room where everything is open, with some drawings on de floor, it can only be a pentagram or something like dat, it is really too strange, I am shocked, I see de images of what happened before and after each planet, I see dat it even happened in one dat was close to us. And also on de walls were several aliens, some looking too much like humans, as if dey were sealed in a crystal.
"That's right, the planet that today you call mars was once called earth also by the inhabitants there, it was the earliest we started this, my lineage has existed for a long time here in Arcturus, we draw the energy of the planet to ours, strengthening the magic and also use the inhabitants that live there to be able to create more dragon eggs and thus keep our race alive, Unfortunately this planet of yours has been working hard to make these efforts possible, if you think Holbrook is powerful you don't know what the power of Arcturus is" I am shocked, it is as if dere is something far above us.
"But why all dis? It's like you are space genocidaires" I say shocked.
"To ensure the supremacy of Arcturus, you see that red-headed girl inside the crystal, she is Lilith the great witch of your planet, each one of these is one of the great witches that we seal after a while to drain their vital energy, they are the ones I can create several dragon eggs with and thus revive my lineage" I am shocked, it's all too big.
"And why are you telling us dis?" I ask him and he gets a smile on his face.
"You are the last ones needed to revive the dragons to the peak we had, at last I can give a whole kingdom to you here in Arcturus, there are lands that are practically empty, with vast fields to where you will reign, you will be the privileged people unlike all the other aliens that came before, I will basically give a place to you, if you help me with the plan I guarantee that your future lineage will be able to live with all the luxuries of what it was like to live on your planet and we dragons will return to glory, I just want to do this as a last ditch effort before I die, unfortunately I only have another 100 years left, which is enough to use the riches of your planet to get humanity all killed" I scowl and shake my head in denial.
"I would rather die dan allow a genocide to happen, you are worse dan Miranda Holbrook" I say very clearly to him.
"Oh too bad, well you can leave then, I will be waiting for you to go back on your decision, I think I will have to use Holbrook as an ally for the time being, but I will not tell you anything about what happened here, goodbye," said Fafnir snapping his fingers.
He dedn't wait at all, we were instantly teleported to Arcturus, but damn, without Ley's lines dere's no way we're going home, I'm really pissed off by all dis, he comes from a generation of genocidal dragons dat basically drain planets for deir own benefit, dis is really scary.
"And now, mother?" asks my daughter Diana.
"Now we are going back home, de boss may be a powerful witch with 'er hands, but de mecha is superior, we are also going to defeat Fanfnir at once and free Lilith, de idiot forgot one thing, dis all just revealed de location of Lilith's Triskellion seal, we are going to find out de last word, de rest of de sounds of Fluit An Neart and also who knows find where de damn shooting star is" I say this while sitting and weirding because I was at de height of de girls who look at me weirding.
"Mum?" Diana said.
"What is it?" Dey said, have I walked again and I'm standing up, kind of strange, because I can't feel my legs.
"Mrs McLaren you are on top of it" My daughter-in-law said and I look down and am shocked.
"What? How did dis come up?" Dis is too weird.
"Ok now all we 'ave to do is get de flute back" Hellene said.
"Where are we going? Arcturus is a planet, ye heard that from Fafnir mother, we are nae on earth, until we find a portal out of here it won't be easy" Diana said and I know where we are going.
"Doras, let's fly back dere, but let's not make Mary's mistake, you go chained to my broom, I'll fly dis way saving magic" I tell de girls.
And so together we made a spell to create a chain connecting each broom, now is de way, we will 'ave a cosmic threat to defeat, a witch who wants to oppress de whole system, we still 'ave to find de flute and recover it, it will be a long mission, but I know we are closer, at least now I finally have de shooting star, I thought I would not see dis broom so soon.
"Let's go!" I tell dem and we take off and dis ding is quite manageable.
"And do ye know where Doras is?" Now you've got me by surprise
"Ok, I don't know, but de broom can guide us, go girl take us to de hills of Doras" I say tae the broom that's even going tae speed up, and this is going tae be good.
In Doras, the news was being told and it was not the most positive, still with the girls talking aboutthinking that the girls were missing or even dead?
POV Chariot:
I can't believe all this has happened, the boss may have killed Laura, Diana, Akko, Marianne, Hellene, at least we have the flute, but what guarantee are we going to have of defeating the boss, even more so now that things may get even more tense, we have nine mechas being ready and four of our pilots are missing, I am shocked so far.
"And so Mary, are you sure they could be alive?" Croix asks.
"This is all unknown, but we must do our best to finish these things and defeat the boss, she is very powerful and we already have one more death, what comes ahead will be a complete unknown" Brooks said and really I can already imagine.
"I hope they are alive, they must be missing in some dangerous corner of Arcturus and you told us Laura was hit in a way that she was going to be paraplegic too, that's really very tense" I say to Mary who nods in agreement.
"A part of me says they are alive and will come back, I trust they will, and they will be very happy to know that they are one step closer to defeating the boss, with the power of Lilith's Triskellion" Croix said.
I wait and wait hard, we kind of have no idea what to do, but we're taking the flute with us to the sifla cottage, we went in there and our girl was as usual playing Fortnite as usual, we sat next to her and she soon ended up unintentionally dying, I think we got in her way of the match.
"Oh I am sorry Sifla" I tell her who shrugs her shoulders.
"I was already looking forward to you guys coming, but where are the girls?" she asks.
"They are not back, close the portal immediately before the boss finds them and comes here" Mary said in a very serious tone.
"But what about the girls?" asks the little girl.
"They are missing, we will go after them soon, but for now we have to ensure our safety, we recovered Fluit An Near, but they are still our next priority we don't know if they are alive or not" I say to Sifla who then raises her hand and snaps her fingers.
"What happened? Tell me" Sifla said and we took a deep breath.
After Mary tells all...
"So that was it? How awful, this damn thing has left Mrs McLaren with no movement in her legs and on top of that they could be dead, they could be devoured by the cockatrices, this is really scary indeed, we have to go after this wretch immediately, before things end the worst way" Sifla said.
"Easy there Sifla, she is extremely powerful, we can't go now to take revenge on the boss, she has enough power to turn you into dust" Mary said.
"I can't believe she was the headmistress of Luna Nova the whole time, I will shut her access around here for good, she will never touch Doras again, I will not allow her to touch a finger on us, let's do this for the girls" said the little girl.
"Well, anyway, we have to prepare for tomorrow, that's when the searches will begin" I tell them all that they are very motivated.
"Arcturus is huge, it will take us years if we want to search, we have to focus on the boss, I know it sounds cruel, but if they are alive, they will find a place to escape" Croix said and it really is a bit cruel, but she is a bit right.
"So you focus on these mechas, I will focus on finding them and bringing them back, we can not be without our strength, nor our brain, without Laura we can not have someone to guide us in this revolution" I say very motivated.
"You know how to lead as well as she does love, take it from me we don't need to rely on Laura that much, but I'll still be rooting for you to find them" Croix said and I go stroking her head.
"I will wait out here, still hoping to maybe meet them, see you later love" I say to my wife after leaving a kiss on her and going to sit on the chair outside.
Hours went by and Chariot practically didn't leave the place, she just ate what Croix occasionallyprepared for her, nightfall was coming, and the worry increased, but a hope came, when a broomtrain following a very different broom ended up landing on Doras...
I stand in disbelief, they're back, what's more they're back with the legendary shooting star, Laura lands with the other girls, takes off the chains attaching the brooms, then gets off the broom and ends up falling to the ground, which I'm already shocked was all true, she was paraplegic after all that.
"Laura!" I say with emotion, crying and going to hug her, she was unharmed, but by the damage of her clothes you could see that she had a worst fight against Holbrook.
"I saw dings I dedn't want to see, I discovered dings bigger dan us, Holbrook is small fish next to what we 'ave to beat" McLaren said.
"What do you mean? Do you have a bigger enemy?" I say shocked.
"Yes, I will tell you as soon as I get in" Said Laura who was trying to move, but nothing, her legs were doing nothing, even the shooting star ended up holding her.
"Oh Laura, try not to push yourself too hard" I tell her.
"I hate dis, damn Holbrook, all my life I've always been an active person who walked a lot and now I'm here paraplegic" Said the McLaren and we go to the inside side, where there is already a wheelchair which Laura leaned on and was sitting on it.
"Mum, you're really going to make it, den a wheelchair won't stop you" said Hellene.
"Hellene... I won't be able to drive anymore because of dis, not de same way as before, I won't 'ave de three pedals anymore, my legs accelerating, I just wish I could really 'ave movement in my legs" Laura said and soon the others noticed our presence.
Croix and Mary go running to us, giving a huge hug in all of them, including Laura who was in the wheelchair, she was very depressed with everything, we could see the frustration in Laura's face, she really must have gone through a lot to get here, poor thing, I just hope that this all comes to an end.
"So Laura, what happened?" asks my girlfriend.
"De worst happened, we dedn't get Fluit an Neart back, I found out heavier things dan de boss told me, I will tell dem everything" McLaren said.
After Laura tells everything in detail...
I'm face to face, I didn't expect us to have an even bigger threat, the life of the earth is also in our hands, we still have to deal with a dragon after all that, but damn it's all so immense, I didn't expect the threat to be so on that level.
"So basically the witch revolution will also defeat a big genocidal" Croix said.
"Fafnir so far has not reached de point dat his ancestors reached, he is de last of de lineage, he is de one who is wanting to revive based on genocide, according to what I understood, deir existence is just in de genocide of innocent lives, anyway, now all we need is to find de last word and de Triskellion of Lilith will be opened" Laura said.
"A pity we can't get Fluit an Neart back" Diana said.
"Actually I did it, it was all at the expense of Anne Finnelan's sacrifice, she said she would make a last effort for you" Mary said and I see that the girls are shocked but relieved at the same time.
POV Narrator:
And the girls managed to escape from Arcturus and the threat of the cockatrizes where the boss ended up throwing the girls, but there is still a huge threat that they ended up facing one above everything they could imagine, the presence of Fafnir revealing to be part of a line of dragons that uses the natural resources of other planets to be able to allow the growth of their lineage and increase the power of Arcturus.
See you, lost witches...