Chapter 30: Beach Episode
"It's only been a week, yet it feels like forever," Hestia said with a faint sigh as she looked up at the gates to Orario. Taylor nodded at her side, taking a moment to admire the sight.
Since she'd entered the city in an unconventional way, this was her first time actually getting a look at the entrance to the place. Sure, the parahuman had seen it while leaving, but this was different.
Mounted on Chris's back, Hestia and Taylor had retuned to Orario in order to participate in the War Game Raffle, where the gods would decide the nature of the duel between the two Familias.
The members of the Hestia Familia were glad for the day off, though. A week of intense training had left them tired. Worse, in their eyes, was that Azure, the new Blue Papilio of Taylor's swarm, could heal their wounds so training didn't end with broken bones or bruised bodies. Only their lack of stamina held them back from non-stop training.
'They'll have a lot more training ahead of them,' Taylor thought to herself with a smirk.
"Welcome back, Lady Hestia, Lady Weaver," a Ganesha Familia guard at the gate said in greeting as they approached.
"Hello, Durmot," Taylor said, recognizing him from the times she'd visited the Ganesha Familia before. "May we enter?"
"Yup! Go on in," the guard said. "Oh, and maybe you could drop in to say 'Hi' to the captain? She's been all mopey since you've been gone."
"Of course," Taylor said, smiling a little at the idea of her friend acting like that. With entry taken care of, they continued to ride Chris all the way to Babel, where they were supposed to meet up.
"What can we expect?" Taylor asked and Hestia shrugged.
"Dunno, this will be my first War Game since descending to Orario," the twin-tailed girl admitted. "No clue how it is done."
Taylor nodded. 'It'll probably be something stupid,' she thought to herself. Given what she'd seen so far of the so-called 'gods' she wasn't expecting anything else.
Reaching Babel, they were greeted by Eina and a few other Guild members, who all had relief on their faces at seeing them.
"Welcome back, Miss Taylor, Lady Hestia," Eina said, smiling at them. "We were worried about you."
"Thank you," Taylor said with a smile. "May we enter?"
"Yes, let us escort you inside," Eina said, before glancing at the monster. "Err, maybe you could keep it down here, though?"
"Sure," Taylor shrugged as she dismounted. With a mental command, Chris wandered into a corner of Babel's lobby, and crouched down to wait. Taylor made sure his Tamer tag was visible, and then went with Hestia and Eina up into the higher levels of the Tower of Babel.
Taylor had been surprised by the presence of elevators when she arrived to the tower the first time. But after thinking it over, elevators weren't exactly all that complicated as things went. With magic tools they could be made quite easily.
Boarding one, they rose up to the upper levels, all the way to the very top. The chamber where the gods' Denatus was located was the site of the event. Inside, there were already a few gods and adventurers waiting, along with the head of the Guild.
Normally, War Games, especially the preparations for them, did not get this much attention, but considering how public the Apollo Familia had been in the attack on the Hestia Familia, combined with Taylor equally public call-out and the prizes at stake, a lot of bored gods were eager to experience what promised to be something new and fun.
"Hephaestus!" Hestia called out. "It's so good to see you!"
"You too," the eyepatch-wearing smith said fondly. "You been doing well?"
"Yup! Everything is going smoothly! My Familia will be ready for anything they throw at us!"
"Hmph!" a snooty voice scoffed, and Hestia turned around to see Apollo and Hyakinthos having just entered. "And here I thought you'd run away from Orario, never to return!"
"Why would we run when our victory is already assured?" Hestia replied haughtily.
"Apollo, sit down and shut up," Loki called out as she stomped in with Finn at her side. "I already had to come here in the middle of the day! Least you could do is make it easier for all of us!"
Apollo spluttered but couldn't exactly talk back to one of the two strongest Familias in the city. He wisely walked off, sitting as far away from Hestia as he could.
"Don't mind Loki. She's just upset Ais has been acting depressed ever since Bell left to go train," Finn said in a conspiratorial whisper.
"She's my little Ais-cream!" Loki whined. "She can't have a boyfriend already!"
Taylor and Finn rolled their eyes, while Hestia pouted, jealous at the Sword Princess having an obvious crush on Bell.
A few minutes later, the chamber finished filling up, with Ganesha happily taking his spot at the front. "I AM GANESHA!" he called out. "AND I AM THE OFFICIATOR FOR THE WAR GAMES!"
"Now that the two gods who are involved are here, we can begin," Royman said, clearing his throat so the rest of the hall could hear him. "Good. As you know, it's time to submit ideas for the War Game between the Apollo Familia and the Hestia Familia."
He pulled out a gold box studded with jewels that had a slot in the top. "Write down your suggestions and put them in here. When everyone has gone, I will draw one out, and that shall be the competition the two Familia will compete in."
'I knew it,' Taylor thought to herself, suppressing a sigh. This really was just a raffle! At her side, Hestia also had a pinched look.
One by one, the gods wrote down their ideas onto slips of paper that'd been provided, and slid them into the slot on the box. It wasn't long before every god, save Hestia, Apollo, and Ganesha, had written something down, and Royman lifted the box and shook it. He then opened the box, and presented it to Ganesha, who stuck his hand inside.
"I am Ganesha!" he called out as he extracted a single folded up piece of paper. He then read it, and for a moment, a smirk flickered across his face. "And the War Game between the Apollo and Hestia Familias shall be capture the flag!"
Murmurs rang out, and the gods looked excited.
"This is way more exciting than a pie eating contest or a dance off!" somebody called out, to numerous agreements.
"Let us discuss the rules, and where it shall be held," Royman called out, and the next hour was a long, boring discussion about the specifics of the War Game.
In the end, it was decided that the War Game would be held outside of Orario, in a pair of rundown old castles from the days when the city had yet to be built to suppress the Dungeon. Craftsmen Familias would be assigned to repair them and the Guild would provide the flags.
There was to be no killing, but beyond that, the adventurers were allowed to do whatever it took to claim the other Familia's flag. A few restrictions were leveled onto Hestia. Specifically Taylor. She could only use monsters that were Tamed. She couldn't just bring a whole bunch of them out of the Dungeon to throw at Apollo's adventurers. Additionally, Taylor could not use her swarm to just swipe the flag, it had to be grabbed by an adventurer's hand.
Those were annoying, and clearly being used by Apollo to try and limit her, but Taylor didn't care. She had a lot of ways to win without that.
Of course, such blatantly obvious attempts to collar her let Hestia impose her own rules on Apollo. For one, the god's adventurers could not Level Up. If they somehow managed to get stronger in the Dungeon, they would have to leave it till after the War Game. Secondly, no new Familia members could be added by Apollo. And lastly, the adventurers of the Apollo Familia were forbidden from leaving Orario entirely until the War Games was over.
"So glad that it's over," Hestia said with a weary sigh as they exited the Denatus chamber.
"We can leave as soon as I've spoken with Shakti," Taylor told her. "And maybe Naaza as well."
"Yeah, have a nice talk with your friends," Hestia said. "I'm gonna talk with Hephaestus!"
"Meet back up at the gate in an hour?" Taylor asked.
That sounded good, and the two split up to meet their friends. It'd been a week since they'd seen them, and Taylor was surprised by herself.
'Friends… yes, I suppose they are,' she thought to herself. Having friends again was strange, but something she hadn't known she'd needed again. While she might never see Lisa or the other Undersiders again, that she had a chance to start again in Orario was doing wonders for her mental state.
'I'll just have to obliterate the Apollo Familia, and make sure the rest of the city knows that we are off limits,' she declared to herself. The gods would learn to fear the name of Weaver!
111 &&& 111
"Wooo!" Bell said as he bent down to inspect some fine white sand.
"It's the beach!" Emma cheered, throwing her hands into the air.
"The beach!" Silva echoed.
"Lili has never been to one of these before," the pallum murmured, eyes sparkling as she looked over the scene.
"I didn't think I'd get a chance to try my new swimsuit," Lucia said, adjusting her top.
After three long weeks of training, ranging from combat practice to obstacle courses to individual work on improving different Skills, it was almost time for the next stage of the plan to begin.
Tomorrow, the Hestia Familia would return to Orario and enter the Dungeon for some intense stat grinding.
Before that, though, today was a time to rest. Everyone had done great work, and deserved a chance to kick back and relax. To that end, they'd gone to a secluded private beach near Melen to swim and play in the sand.
"Everyone, feel free to have fun," Taylor said, smiling a little at their excitement. The beach they were on was much nicer than the one Brockton Bay had once had. No trash, or any sort of debris marring the view. There was a small cove that provided shade, and a lot of fish that could be spotted swimming around just out of reach in the surf.
"We will!" Hestia said. "Bell! Come over here and help me put on some sunscreen!"
"Y-yes, Lady Hestia!" Bell squeaked, causing the other adventurers to giggle at the way his face turned red.
"Don't tease him too badly, Hestia," Taylor chuckled.
"Let's go!" Iris said, grabbing a ball, and she and Leo ran off to play volleyball. Or the Fantasy equivalent they had here in Orario. Lili watched Hestia and Bell jealously before getting roped into building a sand castle with Silva. Emma and Lucia were going to do some sunbathing as well, followed by a dip into the water.
As for Taylor? She was going to check on something she'd wanted to look at for a while, now.
Taylor walked up to the water's edge and fit a pair of goggles over her head before diving into the lake. The water was cool despite the summer heat, and the water was quite clear. Thanks to the prescription lens she'd installed in the goggles, she could see perfectly fine.
What she saw was incredible. There were numerous colorful fish swimming around, ranging from minnow-sized to tunas. Veritable forests of water plants and unique freshwater coral reefs lined the bottom, and here and there, numerous species of shellfish that resembled mussels clinging to the rocks. Glimmers of crystals could be seen poking up here and there as well.
There were also monsters, or at least the descendants of them. Shark-like fish with too many teeth and razorsharp scales that could tear through nets. Giant sea urchins and tumbled across the lake bottom, hunting smaller crustaceans. Enormous blue softshelled crabs that could turn the water around them freezing cold. And lobsters with oversized claws that could shoot jets of water strong enough to puncture flesh.
None were that strong. Maybe Level 1 at best, and they'd adapted and diversified, becoming their own unique species in some cases as time passed. But it was still astonishing to see life adapt to monsters, and vice-versa.
Yet the sights were not why she'd gone swimming. What she wanted to find was the famous Great Seal, formed from the bones of one of the Three Disasters, monsters who'd been the equivalent of this world's Endbringers.
'They even had similar names,' Taylor thought to herself as she swam towards the seal.
She knew exactly where to go. It was hard to miss. A malevolent aura pressed down on her mind. Ever since she'd arrived at Melen, the presence of Leviathan's remains had called out to her, a bellowing roar of wind and rain mixed with the rushing of water.
The power of the Great Seal repelled monsters – Dungeonborn and the descendants of such alike – keeping the lake free of any major aquatic threats. Life still thrived here, though, regular animals gathering in great numbers as the lack of large predators was a boon for them. But there was a tranquility that was absent from the Dungeon, even with the malice from the seal scraping against her mind.
It wasn't long before Taylor reached the place where the Great Seal was located, the private beach being rather close. In fact, that was the whole reason she'd selected it for their day off.
The pressure increased, and after a certain point she wasn't able to get any closer. Not without her head feeling like it was about to pop. She was close enough to observe the Great Seal, however. It was rather hard to miss due to its size.
'Incredible,' she thought to herself, staring at the giant corpse that plugged up one of the Dungeon's entrances.
In life, the Leviathan must have been truly terrifying to behold. Over a hundred feet long with a serpentine, Eastern Dragon-like appearance and the power to command water, it had ravaged the coasts of the world until finally being slain by the combined might of the Zeus, Hera and Poseidon Familias fifteen years ago. And unlike the other monsters that had been birthed from the Dungeon, it did not revert into ash upon death, nor did it have a Magic Stone. That was how the Great Seal had been able to be forged in the first place, after all.
'Perhaps living on the surface for so long caused it to lose its Magic Stone and become closer to a second-generation or greater monster, losing the need for the Magic Stone to support its existence as it fed on the lifeforms of the surface to sustain itself?' Taylor wondered. 'Or maybe they never had Magic Stones to begin with, and the Dungeon created them as unique existences. Or it could be there is some other reason for it.'
The Great Seal was an impressive sight all the same, whatever the circumstances behind its creation, and the parahuman wondered how many monsters had escaped from the Dungeon before this path was sealed off, and how many were still out there, lurking in the shadows beyond civilization.
'Though if there's two passages that connect to the Dungeon, logically, there should be more elsewhere,' Taylor mused.
And wasn't that a worrying thought? Though she was able to calm down by assuring herself that if there was a way in or out then it would have been discovered already and taken care of.
Curiosity satisfied, Taylor swam back to shore. Her family hadn't noticed she'd left, or if they had, weren't worried for her safety, and were getting lunch ready, having set up a magic tool grill.
"I can't wait to try these 'burgers,'" Iris said, mouth watering as she watched Bell and Hestia cook up hamburger patties and sausages.
"Isn't it weird to eat beef when you're… you know…" Emma asked, trailing off a little.
That was something Taylor was interested to hear as well, and directed some of her insects closer.
"What? Nah, there's nothing wrong with it," Iris replied, the cow-girl waving it off with a laugh. "I mean, maybe if the cow could talk I'd be hesitant, but they don't, so I'm fine with eating beef."
"I see," Emma said. "Good to know! And thank you for not saying my question was weird!"
"Didn't grow up around a lot of beastfolk, did you?" Silva asked knowingly, and Emma nodded.
"That's right. My village only had humans."
"Same," Bell spoke up as he flipped a patty. "I'd never seen another race before making my way to Orario!"
"I've seen odd people before, but I've also never met another race," Taylor spoke up as she walked over to join everyone.
"Welcome back! Did you enjoy your swim?" Hestia inquired.
"I did," she replied. "Need any help?"
"Not now, but for dessert!" Hestia told her.
"Alright," Taylor hummed.
"Miss Taylor, Lili has never heard of a 'burger' before. Nor mincing up meat like this to create little meat discs for grilling," the pallum said.
"You're in for a treat," Taylor assured her. "Ground meat mixed with herbs and spices is just the start. Bell? Did you get the buns?"
"I did!" he confirmed. "And the cheese!"
"Great," Taylor nodded. She then got the ingredients out of the bag and began to set things up, slicing the buns, which were just ordinary bread rolls, and the cheese, which was a block of hard and sharp white cheddar.
When everything was ready, Bell used his Falna granted dexterity to expertly flip a finished burger patty onto the bottom of a waiting bread roll, and Taylor slapped a bit of cheese on top. No onions or pickles nor any condiments, but it was good enough.
"These look really easy to eat," Lucia said as Taylor handed her one. "Handheld, like a sandwich, but different in a way."
"I'm considering setting up new food carts and selling them," Hestia spoke up. "Along with sausages in a bun."
"Sausages in a bun?" Iris asked, blinking a little. "How would that work? Aren't sausages kinda too long to fit in a regular bread roll?"
"Different kind of bun," Taylor said. "They don't have them in Orario, unfortunately, so we'd have to make do with what we have."
"You'll have to show us sometime," Silva requested.
"Of course," Taylor promised.
Once everyone had a burger, they dug in. It was not the same sort of food Taylor would have gotten back on Earth. Fresher, for one. Certainly not greasy enough to be from Fugly Bob's. But it had a nostalgic taste all the same that had her tearing up a little.
She tried to hide her tears, and mostly succeeded, but Hestia was able to see them before they could be wiped away.
The twin-tailed girl said nothing, though, simply smiling sadly at the girl who was a long way from home, before returning to her lunch.
After the burgers were devoured, Hestia brought out a cooler, where she removed a number of ingredients.
"Bit extravagant for lunch, don't you think?" Taylor asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Ice cream is perfect for the beach! Now, show me that magic trick!" Hestia asked. "The one you used last night!"
"Alright, calm down," Taylor said as she took the icy bowl filled with milk, cream, and sugar, and dipped a finger into it. "Earthquake."
The chant was shortened, and there was no magic circle to accompany it, but the spell worked just fine for her purposes.
The Earthquake spell was, as the name implied, normally used to create a small, localized earthquake to shake the ground and make it harder for people to stay standing and keep their footing and aim. Reduced as it was, the spell did something different, and churned the contents of the bowl, doing the work of several hours in seconds. A very smooth and creamy soft serve ice cream was left behind, but Taylor wasn't finished.
"Compact," Taylor intoned, and the magic caused the soft ice cream to firm up and harden. The spell she used this time was supposed to be used to bind and harden wet or muddy soil for construction purposes, but here it was used to make a more solid ice cream.
"I'm so proud of you!" Hestia said with a wide grin.
"I can't believe you used magic to help you cook," Emma said, staring with stars in her eyes at Taylor.
"Where'd you learn those spells?" Bell wondered.
"They came with the primer on magic. Just minor spells and cantrips that can be cast by anyone with a couple of Magic Stones," Taylor replied. "Thanks to my Mind stat, I have a lot more energy to use and can afford to not bother with the full chants or magic circles. Though, it would be easier to just buy a magic tool that does the same thing instead of trying to cast the same spell every time for the average adventurer."
"It's still impressive," Lili said. "Though Lili thinks it would probably cause a real mage to have conniptions seeing spells used for cooking like this."
"Mages do tend to be… high-strung. And snooty," Leo agreed, revealing she'd known magic users in her past before joining the Hestia Familia.
"Well, no sense letting the ice cream melt!" Hestia said, scooping out the tasty cold treat into bowls for everyone.
The flavor was a bit blander than what Taylor had known, but it was still nice and refreshing under the warm sun.
When everyone was done, they went back to having fun, though slightly more sedated since they were still digesting. Taylor took the chance to get a bit of suntanning herself. She couldn't remember the last time she'd ever done so.
'In fact, I don't think I ever just spent time at a beach like this,' she thought to herself. Sure, Brockton Bay had been near the ocean and had had a beach, but both the water and sand had been a bit too trash-filled to enjoy properly.
Several hours passed, everyone enjoying their day off, and when the late afternoon drew on and got closer to dusk, it was time to pack back up and prepare to return to Melen.
"That was fun!" Hestia said. Despite spending a lot of time in the sun, her skin hadn't tanned at all. The same couldn't be said of Bell, whose near-albino complexion was currently lobster red.
"Forgot the sunscreen, huh?" Silva said with a smirk.
"Yes," Bell whimpered.
"Eh, it'll be fine! Your Endurance stat should clear it all up by tomorrow morning!" Iris said, slapping him on the back. Bell let out a squeak of agony at the contact, and Lucia reached up and pinched her cow-girl friend on the ear in admonishment.
Upon returning to the Green Pearl, Taylor pulled Lili aside, a serious look on her face.
"Lili, can we talk?" Taylor asked, and the Supporter nodded.
"Sure, Miss Taylor. What is it?"
"Not here," Taylor said, shaking her head. "Too open. We need to go somewhere else."
"Um. Okay," Lili said, somewhat confused but willing to go along with it. She trusted the taller girl, after all.
"We'll ride Chris," Taylor said, beckoning for her Tamed monster, and he arrived from the stables, kneeling down so the two of them could mount up.
The Crystal Mantis then ran off, carrying the duo out of town and off into the wilderness around Melen. There was nothing but grassy plains and hills as far as the eye could see. It was only when Taylor could no longer feel the malevolence of the Great Seal did she direct Chris to come to a stop atop a hilltop. Nobody was visible for miles.
"What did you want to talk about, Miss Taylor?" Lili asked as they got off, and Taylor stared off into the distance for a bit before responding.
"You're part of the Familia now, Lili," Taylor said. "And even before you switched from the Soma Familia, you were close to us. Bell and I… we saw you as a friend. We still do."
She looked over to the pallum. "I think it's time I told you about where I came from."
Confused, Lili just nodded and sat down onto the grass with Taylor. And after a few tense seconds, the Warlord of Brockton Bay revealed her past to the shorter girl.
The truth of being from another world. Her fights against the villains of that world. Of the Endbringers, who sought to destroy civilization. Of Scion, who succeeded. The existence of parasites that infected the brains of mortals in search of some impossible answer to an impossible question. How she fought with a legion of others, and was forced to become Khepri in order to save everything. How she won, and was sentenced to death for her part in the victory, only to be saved by one of the very parasites that had caused everything in the first.
By the end, Lili's eyes were wide, disbelief and shock writ large across her face. Taylor just sat there, looking at the Level 2 Supporter without an expression on her own face.
"So, it's true then?" Lili muttered. "Other worlds?"
"Mm. A theoretically infinite number of them," Taylor confirmed. "And somehow, I ended up here when my passenger decided to save my life. Why? I don't know. Maybe for an experiment. Maybe pity. But I'm here now, will no chance of returning home. Not that there is anything to return home to."
"So, you really are a Faller," Lili mumbled to herself, and Taylor cocked her head.
"A Faller?" she asked, and the pallum looked up and nodded.
"Fallers is what we call somebody who comes from another world," Lili explained. "It's rare, but it happens. Sometimes, people just… appear in Orario. Nobody knows 'why.'"
"I see," the parahuman said, surprised. Others had experienced something like her? How?
'And if that's the case… does it mean somebody can also leave?'
The thought was quickly pushed down into the back of her mind, and instead, Taylor focused on what was important right at that moment.
"Even if Fallers are a known factor, I'd prefer it if the exact nature of, well, everything I just told you is kept secret," Taylor requested.
She was fine with a few people knowing about her history back on Earth Bet, but it wasn't something she wanted spread around, even with knowledge about other worlds and Fallers already apparently known to the general public.
"Thank you for trusting Lili," Lili whispered after a moment. "I will never speak of this to another soul."
"I appreciate it. But that's only part of the reason I brought you here," Taylor told her. "Would you like a Skill?"
"Huh?" Lili gasped.
"Yes. I can grant Skills to other people. It's thanks to what lies up here," Taylor said, tapping her forehead. "I can only do it once per person. But it's a quick way for us to gain a power-up. And we'll need every advantage against not just Apollo, but everyone who comes after."
"You think there will be others?" Lili asked.
"Power attracts power. And not all of the attention will be positive," she replied darkly, something that the Supporter couldn't deny.
"Bell's Skill," Lili murmured after a moment. "And Iris and Lucia… they also have Skills… is that because of you?"
"Only one of Bell's Skill is my doing, but yes," Taylor confirmed. "I can't say what you'll get. But it should mesh well with your preexisting combat abilities."
"Then do it," the pallum declared, hands on her hips. "Lili doesn't want to be weak anymore!"
"I understand," Taylor said, nodding firmly. "This may feel weird."
Once more, Godslayer was activated, and Queen Administrator reached out across dimensions, touching upon the brain of the short chestnut-haired girl. The pallum was judged, and found to be worthy. There was an imperceptible flicker of foreign energy, and for a moment Lili was a bit disoriented, but recovered quickly.
"Whoa," Lili uttered.
"And now you have a Skill," Taylor said, flashing her smile. "Good."
"Lili now has three Skills… she never thought that would be possible…" she murmured. "Thank you, Miss Taylor."
"Of course, Lili," Taylor said, patting her on the back. "Now, let's head back so Hestia can update your stats and we can see what we're working with."
Lili grinned, liking that idea a lot. And while Hestia glared at Taylor upon returning to the inn, proving that yes, even from that far away she – and likely every other god nearby – had felt the entity reaching out to bestow a shard upon another soul, Taylor couldn't find it in herself to care. She would protect her family. Nothing would ever hurt them on her watch.
111 &&& 111
Author's Note: Just a reminder that you can read 2 chapters ahead on Patty-ron! Or, if you want to just support the writing process, visit Akashicrecordstrue on Patty-ron!
Thanks for reading!