Malroth dropped the bottle when the murky cloud erupted and surrounded him. He went stiff, but kept his mouth closed tight, not wanting the pained cry to leave him as something scratched at any exposed skin. When he opened his eyes, he was in a dark room, the sight caused a growl to leave him. "This shit again? I'm not Lily, I don't enjoy being here."
He looked over, seeing the large green monster staring at him with a bored expression. "We have work to do so, are you gonna do something or are we gonna work together?" Malroth put his hands in his pockets as he glared up at the beast.
The green monster watched the male before him, the dark grin on his face spread as the two stared at each other for a moment. The monster slowly stood on his hind legs before lunging down, jaw open for an attack.
Lily put herself between Malroth and the others as the dark cloud slowly engulfed him. She reached into the pouch on her hip, quickly pulling out the sharp golden blade as the cloud grew. Her jaw dropped when the large beast form of Malroth emerged, she covered her mouth to stifle the laughter that left her when he immediately had to curl up to avoid hitting the ceiling. "Uhm… Mal?"
The beast glared down at her, clearly annoyed as he closed his golden eyes and lowered his head to her level. It's all his fault. Malroth's voice echoed around them even though his mouth didn't move. He tricked me. I don't know how to explain it.
Dracken looked between the two and then at the way out. "I don't think he's going to fit." He whispered to Rose and Lulu who seemed to think that was a funny joke. He tried to ignore the annoyed look he got from the much bigger monster in the room.
"I hope he isn't stuck like that…" Lulu whispered back, a shit-eating grin on her face as she nudged Dracken. "That's gonna put a serious damper on the love life."
Lily turned and stared at Lulu now, her jaw dropping when her grandmother started laughing. "I will let him eat all three of you."
"No, you won't." Rose patted Lily on the head before pointing to the door. "So, master builder, how are you going to get him out?"
Lily growled at the old woman before walking over to Malroth and climbing up his back. "So, master builder." She mocked in an annoyed voice. "How are you gonna get 'im out, huh?" As soon as she was at his shoulders, she threw blocks down until she had a little platform next to her monstrous lover that she could work from.
The group beneath her watched as she destroyed the ceiling and made a hole for him to climb out of. She looked down at them and pointed to the door. "We'll see you up top."
"Hey! You're gonna make us walk that far?!" Lulu gasped with her hands on her hips. "That's not fair, Lily!"
"Guess you should keep your jokes to yourself then!"
"What about my ceiling?!" Dracken gawked up at the builder as Malroth climbed out of the hole she made. He raised a fist at her when she only shrugged before following the monster out. "Brat!"
Babs stood with Lily and her grandmother at the edge of the oasis as Malroth rolled over onto his back in the water, a groan leaving him as the sun started to warm his belly. "So…" Babs nervously looked to Lily who was glaring at the monstrous Malroth. "I 'ope you weren't wantin' any alone time wiv 'im."
"Babs, can we not talk about what I may or may not do with Malroth while my grandmother is standing next to us." Lily grumbled as she went through the mental checklist of things she could do to get Malroth back to normal.
Rose grinned as she looked at Lily and Babs. "You all aren't even a little afraid of him like this?"
"Nah, 'e's jus' a big ol' sweety wiv a mean face." Babs laughed softly as she stripped off the summer dress she wore, exposing her itty-bitty swimsuit. "Will you be joinin' us Lily?"
"No, not today. Dracken told me that Brownbeard had a letter from the monsters so I was going to look into that and see what I could do to hunt them down." Lily turned to her grandmother before walking towards a Sabrecub that was lounging nearby. "Would you like a lift anywhere?"
"No, no. I think I might venture to the Green Gardens and visit with your friend Rosie for a while, maybe help Lilian cook." Rose smiled at her granddaughter, putting a hand on the young girls shoulder. "Lily, I want you to know how proud I am of you. Look at what you've created, the friendships…" she looked over, seeing that Malroth was suddenly creeping up behind Lily now that Rose had her distracted some. Rose shook her head and hugged her granddaughter, keeping her back turned to the ornery monster. "I'm just proud of you, sweetheart."
Lily hugged her grandmother back for a moment before pulling away. "Thanks, Gram. I honestly don't know what I'd do without everyone, especially Mal." She tucked her hands behind her back as she looked at her feet. "I'm glad you get to meet him, really. He's hard headed, but he means well." She finally looked up, seeing the awe in her grandmothers face a moment too late. She let out a screech when she was suddenly picked up and tossed into the water.
Malroth sat at the edge of the oasis, a grin on his face as Lily breached the surface and started screaming profanities at him. He glanced down at her grandmother who was laughing just as loud as the inhabitants of the Scarlet Sands. Would you like a lift to the Gardens? I think I need to give cranky pants a minute to dry off.
"I would appreciate that, Malroth." Rose wiped the tears from her eyes as she used Malroth's hand to climb onto his back. "You're looking a little soaked, my dear. I'd recommend drying off before you went anywhere."
"Really!?" Lily slowly swam back to the shore, growling the entire way. "What an ass."
"Oh, y'know ya love it!" Babs laughed as she floated along in her little floaty tube that Lily had made forever ago. "Y'know ya missed this." The dancing girl winked at her friend as the builder climbed out of the warm water.
Lily stood on the docks; her arms crossed over her chest as she listened to Lilian talk to Brownbeard about going to Furrowfield to visit her sister. The young girl looked to Lily, giving the builder a pathetic look. "Don't worry about me, Lilian, I'll make Malroth take me to the islands I want to go to."
"Are you sure?"
"Oh, I'm sure that he won't fit on Brownbeard's ship, so he has to play escort anyways." Lily smiled at Lilian when the girl glanced over and saw Malroth pouting in the water just beyond Brownbeard's boat. "I was just waiting to get a letter from Brownbeard anyways."
"That's right! I'm sorry, Ms. Lily!" Brownbeard pulled a small bottle out of a pocket in his vest before tossing it to her. "I think it's from the monsters, it has a little bit of slime on the outside of it."
Lily let the bottle fall to the ground after Brownbeard warned her of the slime. "Thanks for the heads up." She carefully picked the bottle up, frowning at the goop on the side of it. "How- y'know what, I don't even wanna think about it." She pulled the letter out as she climbed onto Malroth's back, relaxing at the back of his neck as she read it. "It's from Whitebones, they're currently stuck in that area between the worlds."
Malroth pulled himself out of the water when they arrived at an island, a low grumble leaving his throat to announce their arrival to Lily. She was going on about finding the monsters and getting him back to four appendages versus six. He relaxed on the beach, groaning when the hot sand hit his belly. How long are we staying here?
"It took us a day to get here, so I think a day? How long until that guy comes back?"
He said something like a week… I think.
"So, we don't have long." Lily groaned as she slid off Malroth's back and stretched. "It's a good thing you're buoyant." She gave him a cheesy grin as she started trotting along the shore. "C'mon, I don't really feel like waiting around, I just want to see what they have here. And I wanna get coral for the aquarium I plan on building for Gillian."
Malroth moved until he was on the other side of the beach, eagerly sliding into the water on the other side. It's like one big bowl, I love it. He let out a yawn as he swam along next to Lily who was picking up new plants and materials to take back to the Isle. He slowed to a stop when he saw merman eyeing Lily from the shallow waters just up ahead. The fins on the side of his head flicked around, slightly annoyed that the monster was so distracted that he hadn't seen the even bigger monster in the water nearby.
Lily eyed the merman and slowly began to put distance between herself and the waters edge. She glanced back at Mal, seeing he was going into a slow hunting stalk. The snake headed tail was keeping an eye out on their surroundings as the large monster bore all of his focus on the smaller monster. The merman quickly turned, crying out when he felt the pressure that Malroth exerted on him. The smaller monster dove down deep into the water, easily escaping Malroth's wrath. Lily trotted back over to the side of the shore that Malroth was on. "Perhaps there are more than one perks to having you stay as a monster."
Malroth lifted a scaled brow at Lily, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. I can think of a few reasons as to why you don't want me to stay as a monster. His grin widened when he saw Lily's cheeks burst into every shade of red he knew. He went back to swimming, leaving her to collect herself. A noise just ahead of him had him slinking out of the water, one clawed hand raised to stop Lily as she approached. He climbed over the rocks, the fins on the side of his head stretched forward so he could focus on the noise better.
"Oh, globs! Captain wanted us to find materials! Not… trash…"
"Thith thuckth! Why did it have to be uth?!"
"Don't ask me…"
Malroth sat down and watched the tiny metal slime and grimlin, tilting his head curiously when Lily let out a surprised noise as she came up next to him. "Arisplotle?! Gremville?!"
The two small monsters looked up when they heard their names, only to let out screams at the sight of the enormous Malroth that loomed behind Lily. Lily glanced back, giving Malroth a shrug before turning back to the other two. "Guys, this is Malroth."
"W-We notithed!" Gremville cried out before falling to the ground, having passed out from shock. Arisplotle only gawked up at Malroth, his little eyes bugging from his head in awe. "Holy… moly…" He turned to Lily, the sparkle returning to his eyes. "We should get back to the others! They'll be gooper excited to see goo again!"
Lily carried Gremville in her arms while Arisplotle guided her back to the wrecked ship on the other side of the half sunken island. "I thought you guys were stuck in the place between worlds?"
"Oh, we were. But the good captain glooped us out!" Arisplotle kept glancing back at Malroth who was swimming slowly next to them. "Did goo really wear a pumpkin hat?"
Malroth stopped and stared at them, feeling a hunger stir within him when the little slime shrank down out of fear. Did Lily tell you that story? He went back to swimming when Lily quickened her pace. It must be true then.
Lily slowed back down and looked to Malroth, seeing a dark gleam in his eyes. She watched as he rose up out of the water, attention suddenly in front of them. She turned to see what he was looking at when she spotted the Ark. "We're here!" She laughed and started to run when she felt a predator watching her. She came skidding to a halt and ripped Arisplotle off her shoulder, clutching him against her chest with Gremville. "Don't move…" Her voice was barely a whisper as her heart slammed in her throat when water dripped down onto her cheek and shoulders.
Malroth stood over her, a monstrous growl left his throat as he slowly began to circle around her. He pressed his nose against her, breathing in her sweet scent. A clawed hand came up, touching her and toying with her pigtails. The monster's claws began to wrap around her, getting ready to lift the builder when a ball of fire came over the rocky slope, slamming into the beast. Malroth reared back and let out a roar, suddenly griping his head.
Lily jumped away from Malroth, her eyes wide as Pastor Al came running up to her and pulling her back away from her friend. She looked over her shoulder, seeing the Pastor was getting ready to protect her again. She jumped up and set the two smaller monsters down. "Wait, it's fine!" She cautiously stepped towards Malroth, putting a hand on one of his. "Mal?"
Sorry, sorry… I saw you running and…
"It's quite simple, you're a monster. You see something, or someone, run and you have every desire to destroy it. Perfectly normal." Pastor Al came over and stood in front of Malroth, a smile in his voice as if he were proud of the Master of Destruction.
Lily frowned at Al before looking back up at Malroth. "Malroth scared Gremville by accident, the poor thing passed out from shock. I… was actually hoping we would run into you… you wouldn't happen to know of a way to get him back to… normal, would you?"
Al rubbed the chin of his mask as he looked over at Malroth, grumbling to himself for a moment. "I might know of something, but it will only be temporary. Walk with me." He snatched her away from the Master and tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow as they walked to the altar room on the ship. "Dracken told me some time ago that Malroth's physical body was back in your home world, correct?"
"Yeah, I don't know where it is now though, Dracken moved it when the soldiers from Moonbrooke came to investigate."
"Interesting. It sounds like your problems are much bigger than we originally hoped." He paused and stared at the altar before starting to work on something. "Tell me something, I can sense a power coming from you, but it… doesn't feel complete. I know that sounds weird, but it's like it's sizzling like an egg on a skillet. Popping and hissing in my ear, but nothing dangerous. Nothing like our Master."
"Oh. Uhm, well, Creation had me focus before we became one and… I sensed something coming from my grandmother and… apparently my mother, she said that they shared my power. Like a puzzle, and they're the last few pieces."
"Creation?"
"She's… I don't know how to explain it other than how she showed me when we became one." Lily frowned as she crossed her arms and sat on the edge of one of the horrifying statues in the room. "Creation saw that the Dragonlord was becoming a threat again, so she revived my great-grandmother, gave her power and she got pregnant, handing that power off to my grandmother. But my grandmother never had a use for that power, so she never used it, never alerted Creation to it. My mother did, but Creation won't show me… or tell me anything about my mother, keeps saying it'll only hurt me."
"I would trust her on that, then. It will all come in time, my child." Al held a small bottle up to her, smiling softly. "Give this to Malroth, it should help thwart off the magic being used on him to keep him in his monstrous form."
Lily carefully took it, eyeing Al curiously. "You seemed to pull this out of your ass pretty quick."
"Vulgar. The Master is rubbing off on you." Al laughed as he walked out of the room. "The two of you will have to retrieve the remnants of his physical form so he can collect the last of his true power."
"Right…" Lily frowned at the bottle before looking up at Malroth who was looking around like he was looking for something. "Oh… Hey, Al? Where is everyone?"
"Hm? They're out gathering materials, we can't for the life of us figure out how to fix the ship, Hellen took a small ground to one end of the island while Arisplotle and Gremville went to the other side."
"A little higher!" Lily couldn't help her laughter when Malroth snarled at her as he lifted the ship up over them on dry land so she could take a look at the bottom of it more easily. "There! One of the motors is punctured, I should be able to fix it just fine." She ran over and began to work on the ship.
The job didn't take her long and soon the landing gear was out and holding the ship up so Malroth could quit holding it. The builder went to pull the bottle out when she heard a cry, the two looked over, seeing a badboon and a small blue slime quickly making their way back to the ship. "W-We gotta go-oo-oo! GET THE SHIP READY, EEK, EEK!"
Lily looked to Malroth who scooped her up and jumped over the ship, landing behind the two monsters as a golem came over the rocky shore, it was a golden golem. Lily stared at it for a moment before putting her hand on Malroth's arm. "Wait, I have an idea." She jumped down, pulling a small baggy out as she ran up to the monster. Malroth watched, ready to step in as Lily slid under the golem and then shot back up behind it. She used its' slow movements against it, quickly jumping up onto its' back. It wasn't nearly as big as Goldirox was, but it seemed just as angry as when Goldi became a full Golden Golem. She gripped the baggy and rammed it into the monsters mouth, grinning when it reared back and stumbled a few steps.
Malroth watched with wide eyes as the golem tried to shake his builder off but after munching on the baggy, it calmed down and seemed to relax. The beast shook one more time, but it wasn't to try and shake Lily off, it was just to get used to having someone on his back. That was easy. Why did you want a Golden Golem?
"You'll see!" Lily laughed as she guided the golem onto the boat. Once it was sitting in a corner by itself, she turned to Malroth and held up a bottle. "Drink this, please."
Glad you said please. Malroth carefully took the bottle between two clawed fingers before tossing it up and just crunching down on the bottle. He straightened up, burped, then a dark cloud surrounded him and suddenly he was back to normal. He looked over, waving at Lily whose cheeks were slowly becoming more and more red. "What?"
"Nothing… you just… did you…" Lily licked her lips as she looked Malroth over, his pointed ears were a little longer and his muscles were even more defined than before. "I didn't think you could get more muscular, if I were being honest…"
Malroth cornered Lily against the ship, a hungry look coming to his eyes. "You like what you see, darlin'?" He tipped his head, his sharp teeth teasing the side of her neck when something was brought down on the back of his head. He dropped, groaning in pain as he gripped the back of his head. "What the fuck!?"
Lily gasped and looked at the attacker, seeing Hellen holding her morning stars up. "H-Hellen?!"
"Y-You mean… to tell me that this is the Master?!" Hellen gawked a the two in front of her as they all gathered around Malroth and Lily on the Ark. "I hit the Master of Destruction?!"
"Sure did." Malroth rolled his shoulders as he put his hands in his pockets, giving Hellen a snide look.
Hellen quickly looked at her feet, her panic making the air thick. Griswold patted Lily on the head as they all laughed, though the fact of just who Malroth was seemed to go over all of the monsters heads, except for Hellen and Pastor Al. "I knew we hadn't seen the last of you!"
"I was excited to see you guys, but I wasn't expecting you four!" Lily turned to the small cluster surrounding the old woman from Skelkatraz, Molly. Splodger bounced towards Lily, wrapping around her ankle. "You'll have to tell me of your adventures on the way home!"
"Do my eye sockets deceive me?!"
The group of monsters and humans turned, seeing Captain Whitebones climbing onto the ship. "Captain!" Lily gasped and ran over to the captain, hugging him when he got closer. "It's so good to see you!"
"I bet you're relieved to see me! I found you your favorite food!" The skeletal captain held out a small bag, laughing when Lily slowly took it. "All the kelp you could imagine!" He slapped Lily's back before looking to Malroth. "And who is this?"
"I'm Malroth! You must be Captain Whitebones," he turned and looked at the other monsters. "so that makes you Arisplotle, Hellen-"
"How do you know my name?! We've never been introdoozed!" Arisplotle jumped onto Lily's shoulder, eyes bugging out at Malroth.
Malroth threw his head back in a laugh as Lily patted the small metallic slime. "Lily has told me all about you guys! Thank you for helping Lily save me from myself back on Malhalla."
All of the monsters froze and suddenly stared at Malroth like he had two extra arms, horns and was big, green and scary. "B-Back… on Mal…halla…?" Griswold slowly picked up his lower jaw, glancing at Lily who had a knowing grin on her face. "Li… Lily… is that…?"
"Didn't we already say this? I'm Malroth. God of Destruction." Malroth lunged, catching Gremville when the small flying monster fainted again. "He doesn't take surprises very well, does he?"
Griswold dropped to his knees; eyes wide as he gaped up at Malroth. "L-L-Lord M-Ma-M-Malroth! We are not worthy of such praise!"
"He'th… holding me…" Gremville whimpered, a starstruck look on his round face.
"He said my name…!" Arisplotle gasped before falling off Lily's shoulder as if he couldn't hold his own shape any longer.
"My Lord, I beg of You – please see it in the blackest corner of You heart to excuse my paucity of manners before. I would not have hit you before… had I known who you were… I just… our child Lily looked to be in distress and…"
"You were looking out for her, no need to beg for forgiveness." Malroth wrapped an arm around Lily, pulling her against his side as he grinned at Hellen who was still staring at her feet. "C'mon! Enough of this! You all are acting weird and I hate it."
Molly cleared her throat before smacking Malroth on the back of the head. "Young Master, you are these monsters God. They are but a little star struck with meeting you, you'll have to forgive them for their nervousness."
Malroth glared at Molly when she hit him, but he only shrugged before looking back at Whitebones. "Hey, captain! You gonna take us home or nah?"
"You got it, boss!" Whitebones laughed as he climbed up to the drivers seat and started flipping switches, giving a holler when the Ark started right up.
"Hey, Lils, where's Adamn and wasn't there another priest?" Malroth looked around more, seeing a serious lack of monsters. "I was expecting a lot more than this…"
"A part of our group stayed on Skelkatraz to help figure out what to do with the monsters there, Adamn went to go find monsters that are littered throughout the lands to help guide them on where to go to next, but I feel as if we should perhaps get a base up for them." Hellen offered, nervously looking to Pastor Al when Malroth and Lily seemed to have a gleam in their eyes. "Uhm…"
"You have lit an idea in their heads. I have a feeling that our Isle of Awakening will turn into a rehabilitation center for monsters?" Al laughed softly as he walked over to Hellen's side.
"We can figure something out!" Lily bounced against Malroth, not noticing how the being holding her was suddenly distracted by her.
Malroth sat on the dock, slowly eating a piece of jerk as he watched Lily run around and make a place for the monsters to sleep until they could figure something more permanent out for them. He could hear Brownbeard and Whitebones discussing their maps together, adding in missing pieces that both had, though there the area surrounding Moonbrooke that was still a mystery to both of them. He slowly got up and went down to the beach, seeing that Lily was nearly complete. "Oi, Lils!"
Before she could react to Malroth, Anessa was at the builders side, a frustrated look in her eyes as she and the builder began to argue. "Hey!" Malroth turned his bored stride into a sprint, easily catching Anessa's hand that had been meant as a punch to Lily. "Touch her…" His voice came out as a snarl as he twisted Anessa's arm behind her back. "And I'll rip you to shreds, is that understood?"
"Y-You don't even know what was going on! You… you're always taking each other's side no matter what happens!" Anessa gasped when Malroth twisted her arm more. "You both are just letting monsters rampage all over this island like they own the place!"
"Malroth, let go of her. Please?" Lily touched Malroth's shoulder, watching him relax some, but not enough to unhand Anessa. "I get where you're coming from, Nes. But you don't have to come down here all defensive like that."
Anessa glared at Lily from where she was kneeling in the sand. "You don't know where I'm coming from! You didn't fight these monsters day in and day out for years! Watch your loved ones die in your arms! Because of these monsters!"
"You killed just as many of us." Hellen walked out of the building with her hands tucked behind her as she looked between the three. "I have talked to the monsters that were aboard the Ark, they know to stay here on the beach until we can figure something else out."
"Yeah, well they aren't listening! I still have to listen to bewarewolves every night! None of us can sleep!"
"We never had any bewarewolves on the Ark, child." Hellen sighed and shook her head. "There are monsters that are native to this island, did you all clear it out before putting stake here?"
Anessa paled as she watched Hellen closely. She gasped and crawled away quickly from Malroth when he released her. She rubbed her shoulder and frowned at the sand. "No… I guess we didn't."
"I can have the monsters go and talk to the ones from this island, have them leave you humans alone, but they were here first." Hellen rubbed the chin of her mask before turning to go back into the building. She hollered at some of the monsters, giving them orders to leave the humans alone but to go talk to the monsters of the isle and ask them to join the rest of them down here on the beach. She turned back to Anessa, a frown in her voice as she spoke. "I cannot go back and rewrite what those monsters did to you, but we have changed and want to help Lady Lily and Master Malroth realize a place where monsters and humans can live side by side… but we will need your help to do so…"
Lily bit her lip, trying to fight down the words she really wanted to say when Malroth looked over at her. She closed her eyes and took in a calming breath. "I'll go finish a blueprint for the castle, make it more secure for you all of Moonbrooke, so you feel safer from now on."
Malroth watched as Lily climbed into the buggy and waited for him to join her. He trotted over and jumped in, relaxing into the plush seat with a hand touching Lily in some way. "Why didn't you tell her to go back to Moonbrooke?"
"I'm trying to be cordial and not hold a grudge against her for what someone else did. She isn't responsible for Warwick, just like Hellen isn't responsible for the monsters that attacked Moonbrooke."
"She helped lock me in a cage." Malroth jumped when Lily slammed a fist into the dash of the buggy, suddenly very aware that the rage he felt wasn't his own. "Right." He laughed and sat forward, his hands on her hips and his face pressed against her back. "Lily… Moonbrooke tested both of us, but we came out on top…" His arms slowly came around her middle, squeezing her tighter and tighter when he felt her starting to tremble. "You know… you can tell me about the nightmares, you can let me in. I'll kill him every single time." He pulled her down into his lap, cradling the sobbing builder against his chest. "N04H… change of plans, can you take us home?"
"Of-course! Turning-on-auto-pilot!"
