Hunters of Terra Dolor (Role Playing Section)

[Black0ut]

Metal Fatigue, pt.3

"It's a very sad one, but it ends well. It is a great song to pass on to one generation to the next. However, best not to sing it to someone who has lost their love. There are... some songs that should only be sung when it's appropriate. Perhaps I'll teach you some more Elven songs in the future, maybe serenade you with one or two that I know." He murmured, his shyness returning.

"I'd like that. Maybe you can teach me elvish sometime." Sylvie smiled.

"Zhank you two... You both helped make me feel just a little bit better..." The Fly smiled.

"No problem. Just remember: just because I'm a dick at times, doesn't mean that I don't care about you. Just means I'm frustrated at the world, which seems to be fairly frequently. Probably should work on that..." He replied, conjuring an orb of light in his empty socket.

Betty stood up, slowly but with more energy than before. "I should do see to Erin... You'll join me in the morning to work on our newest projects? Right?"

"Of course. Besides, I do need to round my education with some engineering, so learning from the master would do wonders." Jay replied, looking lost in thought for a moment, before a hand of light brought down a piece of paper. At first glance it didn't look like much, but it seemed to be a charcoal drawing of Eliza that had been sealed in wax so that the drawing wouldn't fade. It was lifelike and seemed to hold Eliza's warm, sweet smile perfectly.

"And you need to have something to warm your heart when Erin and I aren't there to cheer you up." Jay smiled, the other orb he had created earlier setting the gauntlet he had taken earlier on the table.

"My baby..." Betty smiled happily and proudly as she took it gently in her hand. "I'll have to make you one just like it for your baby..."

"Oh, you don't have to do that. I was planning on using it so we could at least get back onto friendly terms again, but... I'm glad we sorted it out beforehand. And don't thank me, thank Titania. She drew it, and wanted me to say that she hopes you like it."

"I love it..." Betty brought her arms forward, embracing Jay in a platonic hug.

Jay returned the hug, and smiled before nodding his head. "She'll be glad to hear it. And... here's hoping that we'll get along better, you and I."

 

[Insane Darkness]

Frostlich1228 and Insane Darkness present...
Vampire Step Mom

Looking around at the other doors to make sure this was she was looking for, she was certain it was the Duck's. She came to finally meet her Lover's Psuedo Daughter, hopefully introducing herself to her and gain her trust so that the Duck wouldn't be suspicious of her or stalk her when she was around Titania. Kva wasn't sure if that was something she'd do, but getting to know her would doubly serve to tell her if she was even suspicious at all. She knocked firmly, standing straight as she waited to get a response.

A couple deep breaths were heard from the opposite side of the door, Faith having been scared by the unexpected visitor. "Who i-is it?" the Duck Thrope asked meekly, sitting up on her bed but ready to transform and make a run for it any a moment's notice.

"I'm... My name is Kva. I don't know if your mother as told you about me yet." The Dhampire hesitated for only a moment, reconsidering her words.

Faith rushed to the door quietly, slowly inching said door open just a crack to get a look at Titania's lover without being seen herself. She quickly found herself looking into Kva's deep red eyes, striking fear into her entire body purely by instinct. She quickly dashed to the opposite side of her room, covering her frail body in her blanket that she grabbed on the way. A vase near Faith's bed shook with the wind speeds that increased in the room, but eventually stopped wobbling and stood still once more.

Kva sighed, partly expecting this result. "It's okay. I'm close with your Mother Titania."

"I h-hear-rd..." Faith whispered. She stood up, blanket still over her head. "I-I'm sorry... I didn't mean-n to da-ash away l-like that-t..." she tried to explain.

"It's fine. I tend to have that effect on people..." She stated plainly.

"So... You a-and Titania are, uh... a coup-ple?" Faith verified, her blanket still over her head so the same thing didn't happen twice.

"We are. I... Care for her a great deal, and she cares for you." Kva nodded.

"I guarant-tee the feelings are... mut-tual on both ends," Faith responded with a serious tone. "I'm wear-ring this blanket so I c-can talk to you without being scared out of my wi-its... I'm sorry..." She lifted a hand from under the blanket as to gesture towards the blanket itself.

"You're really that scared of me?" The Elf confirmed, sighing.

"Not on p-purpose! It's just... inst-stincts..." Faith clarified, hoping that she didn't hurt Kva's feelings.

"It might be better if I just left..." She said with a neutral tone, locking away any emotions she was or wasn't feeling.

"N-no! I... It's my faul-lt. This whole situation is just reall-lly awkward..." Faith quickly ripped off the blanket from her head, squeezing her eyes closed. "I wan-nt to have a real c-conversation!"

"Alright. Then let's have one." The Vampire recentered her vision on her newly revealed face. "I came here to meet you because Titania cares about you a great deal. I also want to get to know you so you aren't so scared of me anymore."

"I want to talk to you too! T-Titania cares about you a lot and I don-n't want you to hate me because I was initially af-fraid of you!" Faith nearly yelled out. She slowly opened her eyes, prepared for the worst.

"I don't plan on hating you. Like I said, I'm used to this, I won't hold it against you." Kva countered.

Faith opened her eyes completely while she removed her crumpled hood from her head. She took a deep breath. "Okay..." she whispered to herself. "S-so... what's next?"

Kva began to slowly walk a little closer, as if trying to feed a scared rabbit. "Where are you from, Faith?"

"U-um... Neren'teva. What about you?" Faith whispered, trying to keep the conversation as informal as possible so as to not need to say as much.

"Virandio. But I was born somewhere else..." Kva answered, carefully considering if she wanted to reveal her secret to the Duck so soon.

"Ok-kay... Um..." Faith got a peek at Kva's eyes once more, but suppressed her instincts, remembering that Jay had asked her to try and control her animalistic tendencies. She took a deep breath, not knowing where to lead the conversation while simultaneously becoming the new leader of the conversation that she felt started and just continued to become even more awkward. Her hands itched with the need to throw her hood over her head, but she knew that would just make it worse.

Quickly skimming her mind for further conversation topics, Kva settled on, "I actually don't know all that much about you... You keep yourself well away from other, prying eyes. But I have heard you're a mage, is that right?"

"Y-yes... I command wind ma-magic... The keeping-away par-rt is just shyness-ss..." Faith scrunched into her robes slightly, reinforcing what she had just said. "What ab-bout yourself?"

"I use Dark Magic." The Elf answered, "Specializing in Hemomancy, the manipulation and control of blood. And as for privacy, I understand it, there is nothing wrong with taking time for you. I'm not exactly an extrovert myself, although it’s not quite the same as shyness."

A hint of a smile found its way to Faith's lips, as the two had something somewhat in common, both with their ability to use magic and that they aren't the most sociable people in Terra Dolar. Both the "dark" and "blood" parts of what she'd said had given the little Duck Thrope a few slight shivers, though. "Y-you seem like a-a nice person-n..." Faith's smile threatened to take over her entire face at that realization.

"Your Mother seems to think so. Others in the guild, not so much... I'm... Still currently unsure where I fall..." Kva let out, her identity struggles recently consuming much of her thoughts.

Faith's smile quickly turned around. She rushed Kva, embracing her with all of her might, hoping that her hugs would be powerful enough to say what she couldn't say.

"I guess the hugging runs in the family." Kva patted her head, "Thank you for having... Faith..."

Faith quickly looked upwards past Kva's breasts at her helmet, giving her a hard glare. "Is that-t a pun?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

"Not an intentional one..." Kva looked down, shaking her head slowly.

Faith stared, suspicious, but quickly stopped to plant her face in Kva's stomach. "Whatever..." she mumbled.

 

[Insane Darkness]

Vampire Step Mom cont.

"I... I have to ask, can I trust you to keep a secret? And not be scared? There is something important I should tell you." Kva sighed, deciding to reveal her secret to the Duck.

Faith slowly backed away from Kva, risking looking through the holes in her helmet. "Of course... I c-can keep a secret."

Kva sat down on the bed, taking a less intimidating posture. "You told me where you were from, but I didn't really tell you where I was from... I moved to a town called Sisseta after I left the city where I was born."

"Okay... Siss-sseta, I'm follow-wing you." Faith nodded her head to show that she was listening. "I-is there more to this-s secret?"

"Well... The place I was born was Draculesti. The Vampire City." The Elf continued, wondering if she would put it together before she had to say it outright.

"You'r-re a Vampir-re..." Faith mumbled, loud enough for only anybody standing near her to hear. "Is th-that it?"

"Yes... That's it." Kva nodded simply. "I take it that's a good reaction?"

"I-I mean... it explains how-w I've been feeling... instinctuall-lly, of course..." Faith twiddled her thumbs once more, her nervousness returning to her with guilt following suit. Suddenly, she stopped, took a deep breath as her wind magic flew through the individual strands of hair on her head, and breathed out, a look of seriousness in the place of her previous emotions. "It's okay. You're still a person." The Duck Thrope forced a smile, but realized she didn't really need to force one at all.

"I appreciate that Faith..." The newly revealed Vampire admitted to her with some genuine happiness in her voice.

Faith rushed in for another hug, a huge smile on her face as it squished up against Kva's stomach.

Kva grumbled lowly, "Too much hugs..."

Faith backed away quickly. "I-I'm sorry..." She snapped her hand at her hood like a hungry snake going after a mouse.

"I'm not upset, don't worry!" kva laughed, bringing her hand up to pat Faith's Head slowly.

Faith scrunched up at the contact but didn't try to avoid it. "Okay..." she mumbled.

"So... How did you and Titania form this Mother Daughter bond? I'm curious." She asked, gently removing her hand.

"I-it just kinda... happened... It's kin-nda illogical for a Wolf and Duck Thrope to ha-have a bond like this, but... I think it's-s okay..." Faith looked up out of her hood slightly.

"Well, she's more than her appearance. As am I." Kva noted towards the Duck.

"O-of course! That's... what I meant-t... too..." Faith slowly pulled her hood further over her head, incrementally realizing that what she was saying was somewhat embarrassing.

Kva just shook her head. "I feel as though this might take some time..."

"I'm sorr-rry..." Faith removed her hood. "It's a ha-habit..."

"Didn't I just say you didn't do anything wrong?" Kva said in a cheerful voice.

"I... I guess so..." Faith mumbled, trying her best to refrain from touching her hood.

"We should do something together. Like... What do you think would be the best way for us to bond?" The Dhampire asked.

"I usuall-lly just lay around reading books-s... Um..." Faith looked away from Kva to think. "Well... Titania and I bon-nd over sparring but... I don-n't know if it works-s every time..." she mumbled, glancing from where her head ended up at Kva.

"I wouldn't mind either. Take your pick." Kva replied openly.

"Y-you choose... I can-n't..." The itch to grab her hood intensified as she was left to make choices she would probably end up regretting.

"Well. Even though I met your Mother in combat, we can start with reading. If you have no objections." Kva offered, going against her usual eagerness to impart her lessons on others through combat.

Faith smiled, having realized that one of her favorite pass-times could be shared, before it shifted into a frown. "H-how will we bon-nd over reading?" she asked, wondering more on how they would share the experience than how it would logistically work.

"We could both read... Together. Share a book." Kva rubbed her neck.

"Read... aloud? Or sep-parate?" Faith's head tilted slightly at the posed question.

"Separate. Reading aloud seems slightly embarrassing." Kva admitted, getting more comfortable around the Duck.

"O-okay... Lead the way th-then..." Faith gestured to the door, assuming that they would be on their way to the library after the conversation ended.

Kva stood up, happy at the progress she had made. "Right. Let's go then."

 

[Black0ut]

Dahlexpert & Black0ut present:
A Training Disaster


The Light Elf patiently waited for his student to show up. He had heard of her failure with the faeries, but felt he should keep a lid on his opinions. He had, after all, trained her, so the blame rested more on his shoulders than hers.

Elma finally reached the courtyard, and was covered in sweat. "Sorry teach I was busy with other things, so I'm ready for today teaching."

"Good. Let's see... our next lesson is control. Observe." A water orb appeared, moving in unstable patterns. All at once, it stilled itself, and floated in the air. "With control, you can make your attacks lethal, precise and deadly. To master control will take you many years, as it requires the utmost concentration."

"Ou you mean like this?" Elma made a small flame and slowly expanded it, she then moved the flame all around her. Elma also mad an ice spike and circled the flame around it. "Is it something like this?"

"Similar, but not the same. Remember you're animals you conjured? You couldn't control them very well, as they defended you viciously. Focus, and you might be able to do something like this..." The water orb split into several dozen smaller ones, all of which swirled around him at dizzying speeds. They dispersed into shimmering hints of water.

"Wow cool Alright then let me try this." Elma concentrated and made a flaming wolf. The wolf looked at Elma and wagged its tail."Good boy, so what do think I say I got some good control of my constructs."

"Good, yes. Complete control? No. I can conjure a two-headed snake that doesn't react with animalistic movements. Yours on the other hand..."

The flaming wolf started to growl at the Elf. "Oy enough, alright then so I still need work but I have gotten better have I not?"

"You have... but not enough to stave off another disaster like with the faeries." He replied, as he mentally recoiled at what he said. Rubbing salt into wounds... great. I'm such a shit teacher for saying that...


Elma eyes twitch. " I'll tell you what why don't I show you how much I improved, with a little battle." Elma smiling at Jay." If I win you'll tell me your name finally."

Over a hundred orbs formed around him as he frowned. "If I agree, I won't hold back. Your arms and or legs may be broken by the end of the battle. If that's fine with you, then I guess it's a deal, despite me already telling you my true name."

"No I wish to know your real name, you gave me your slave number before but you will tell me your name." Two circles appeared around Elma hands." And you will tell me it today."

"My new name is not what I chose for myself. The only name that is close to being my real name and is applicable to me is that number. But if you wish, I'll give you a name that my master chose for me." The orbs all split into two and half of them flew fast at Elma, some going for an overhead strike, some moving to flank and hit her sides.

The two magical circles that were on Elma hands stared to fling small fire balls all around Elma hitting the orbs that were coming around her with her right hand, and her left hand hit the orbs that were going for her side." Do you relay think I would fall for that, allow me to tell you what I've been doing since I failed my last mission.I went on another and helped the village that was in that same area, there was another mage there and he over whelmed me. But I decided to stop being useless to the others, and since then I haven been hunting bandiest for weeks since I came back." Elma pulled out her staff. "So I will not be going easy on you ether."

Jay started chuckling, and then broke out into a mad laughter. Opening his empty eye, he smiled a menacing grin. "If you think that was me trying, this might turn out a lot worse for you." He started walking forward as water orbs by the dozens formed ready to ward off any potential attacks Elma might throw at him.

"Humm." Elma pointed her staff and Jay and showed no expression." Then come and get me then."

"I may be more maniacal right now, but I'm not stupid. If I charge you, you'll beat me with no hesitation, but... all I have to do... is tire you out. And I can do that." Jay said in a monotone voice, as a vortex of water formed around Elma's feet, as it tried to rip her legs apart. To fuel the attack, many of the orbs disappeared.


Elma thrusted her staff to the ground and from the staff Ice started to freeze the water at her feet. "Wonderful now it's my turn." The magic circle that was on Elma hand reappeared and a spray of fire came out of it heading for jay.


A watery shield formed in front of him, as he returned her attack with one of his: draining himself to where he struggled to not pant out his exhaustion, a thousand orbs of water appeared, all in the shape of various weaponry, and flew at Elma from all sides and above her, as well as a water orb in the shape of spear stabbing up at her.


Elma quickly make a small barrier around her blocking some of the weapons, though some broke through the shield and hit her arms legs and hands missing her vital organs. Elma fell to the ground coughing up blood.

Dropping the rest of his magic, he sat down and focused, pouring as much magic as he could into the light orbs that began to repair his student. "I did warn you that you weren't ready to challenge me. Please leave the actual challenge for me to decide next time. And again, my name is two hundred fifty-one..."

"Who said I was done with you? You ran right into my trap, your surrounded by water."

"If you don't want me to snap your arms and legs like twigs with light magic, you'll stop trying to take me out. Besides, you are bleeding too bad... you'll bleed out in five hours max. I'd rather have you as an apprentice than a corpse." He replied, his voice still monotone, as he opened his empty socket to seemingly stare at her.

Elma made a small sphere around her and her body started to heal, the wounds around Elma started to close and Elma got up. "I will learn your name, and i'm not finished with you yet, I still have something for you."

A Titanic water snake with two heads appeared, towering over both of them easily. "Potential corpse it is." The snake then lunged at her, it's tail going through body to reappear at the other end to spear the other mage, as the two heads flanked her to bite into her flesh. As the snake went to attack, the Light Elf collapsed onto the ground, his mana usage affecting him physically.

“An opening, hay wake up damn you!” From her hands Elma conjured a huge bolts of lightning destroying the construct, and shocking Jay.

"Trying to shock a weakened old man is downright deplorable. So is a metal staff to the gut." His water staff propelled itself fast towards Elma, the dirty blow intending to knock her out.

“I’m not being deplorable I’m taking advantage of a situation.” Elma stopped her attack and grabbed Jay staff.

The staff lifted her up, dragging her up into the sky with it. "Then I suppose if you want to play dirty, I will too. Meet your very hard to beat opponent: my staff. Also, word of warning, that staff was formally corrupted and is still somewhat unstable. If you want to test how deadly an explosive blast of magic is at close range, shoot it with any of your magic. I’d prefer not, though."

“Damn you bastard!” Elma let go of the staff and started to fall, she quickly made a ice barrier around her and landed in the lake.

"Considering your shocking gift, I'd rather not be damned, thank you." Jay snarked, his staff chasing her, but stayed out of reach and out of the water.

Suddenly small spikes came from the barrier and fired at Jay, while he was able to easily dodge it his staff was a different matter. The ice Spikes since they were magic made caused the staff to release it magic.

A wave of corruption spiked in all directions, hitting and spreading the corruption into the water Elma was in. Jay was hit sending him flying back with a thud, as the corruption seemed to spread.

Elma quickly emerged from her ice barrier and reached for her staff, she quickly put all of her magic into the staff and released a huge blast of light magic.

 

[Black0ut]

A Training Disaster, cont.


Water magic that was far weaker than what Elma had fought yanked her out of the water. "Stupid girl... what the hell did I tell you? That was a corrupted water staff that took a week of the Head Scientist and me purifying it, all ruined because you thought I was joking. Congratulations, you've made my staff, and that body of water, corrupted by water magic, plus the fact that you just created a monster nest here." He growled, his single eye narrowing as he took a harsh tone.

"That staff is now screwed because of you. If I had any reason to not tell you my name, I now damn well have it!"

“Me who keeps a corrupted staff throw it at someone launching them several feet in the air!? If it was so important why treat it like a regular staff!?”

"You are infuriating! How do you think I could move it without a normal orb of my magic? Because I was using the corruption still left in it to throw and lift you, i.e. not using it like a normal staff! No wonder a mage like you caused an S-rank Hunter to lose his arm!" Jay growled, as he started to walk away.

Elma eyes glowed blue and she slowly walked to Jay, the ground turning into ice with every step. Jay then felt like he was in the frozen waist, when he turned around he saw the corruption around the lake start to freeze.” Let’s get a few things straight you injure me with water spears, then have your construct try and eat me, then used a corrupted staff to send me flying in the air. And now you mention something you know nothing about!” Each step Elma made the ground turned into ice. “I should turn you into a frozen statue for that.”

He laughed and pointed at her. "You? You asked me to fight you. I agreed. I gave you my conditions to fight, which were, I'm fighting seriously, I will hurt you. You agreed. So... if you want to fucking play semantics, you were warned far beyond this point. I even tried to heal you, stupid girl! I even offered a truce, and you didn't take it! So, by all rights, if you want to kill the scientist who helps Erin, makes potions for your brother, and fucking trains you, go ahead. You only prove my point. So... grow the fuck up, and get over yourself." He cast his eyes downwards and glared, before walking away. "That fucking name you wanted? It's Jay Sancros." He stopped and turned back to look at her, the anger gone from his face. "Was it worth it? Was knowing a name I don't feel is mine worth destroying my staff, ending whatever working relationship we had, and threatening to kill me over it?"

“It was. Thanks slave.” Elma grabbed her staff and bumped past Jay.” Have fun cleaning your mess.”

He grabbed her arm, his grip tight. "I will give you a warning; If you ever disrespect me and use that title against me again... I will call your brother, Lady Havenbrook and several others to talk about you. Plus," His grip slackened and he just looked her up and down, "I doubt you could even handle being enslaved for a day, let alone forty years. For an honorable family name your brother upholds, you just seem to spit all over it. Too bad that a demon and a Thrope deserve your family name more than you do. Farewell, Elma the Ogol. May we never cross paths again." The Light Elven man growled, walking closer to the corruption, but conjuring a water orb in front of him to guard against any attack Elma might throw his way.

“I will call you whatever I want slave, and go ahead tell Mina and my brother tell them I left, have fun with your mess.” Elma went into the forest leaving Jay behind.

 

[Dahlexpert]

Big brother advice

Serasam forest

2:23PM


Jay actually telling Charter what happen Charter went hinting for his sister.” Gods damn Elma why are you getting like this, ever since you touched that stone you haven’t been yourself what in the hell has gotten into you.” Slone final catch the scent of Elma made a sharp turn to his left and ran to Elma scent, after a few hours Charter found an ice barrier just sitting there with a dire wolf pup scratching at it.” Slone tend to you kid, while deal with my sister.” Slone went next to Sam and licked his head, Sam rubbed his head on Slone and went to the side. Carter then looked at the barrier.” Elma come on get here we need to talk.” There was no response Charter rolled his eyes and knocked on the ice barrier.” Elma come on out!”

The ice started to crumble and Elma back was to Charter.” I take that you heard of what happen?”

“Yes I’m not even going to get into you for that.” Charter sat on a rock and looked at his sister.” What gives Elma you haven’t been the same since Elluviana, ever since you were posed that stone you have not been the same at all. So I’m goanna ask what happen when you touched that stone?”

Elma started to shake not wanting to remember that mission.” I saw death and ocean of blood millions of people screaming in my head, it was maddening! So I’m a bit of a jackass right now, because I can still hear those screaming and that image ever since I came back and it won’t go away!”

Charter looked surprised at Elma response and hugged his sister. “I’m sorry sis I didn’t think that was still effecting you, I wish that I could give you some advice on this but I can’t. And after what you did as well it’s probably best that you stay low for a little bit. Look why don’t you stay at the local town it could be a way for you to grow as well.”

“And how do I grow huh? I have no teachers, most of the people at the guild probably hate me how do I fix this?”

“Alight one at a time, first you want a teacher? Yea that’s not happening, tell me Elma what did you think of your timer at the collage and other schools you were sent to?”

Elma started too grown.” Ugg it was borrrring, all I learned was how to use simple magic I would have never learn most of the spells I do now if I was still there.”

“Alright so you want to get better, teach yourself like you did with most of your other spells. Also learn how to counter certain spells, like combat with swords and other melee weapons there are ways to counter physical attacks there must be a way to do the same with magic. Second earn their respect, your still young Elma so mistakes are bound to happen to you we all learned from our mistakes so learn from this mistake alright.”

Elma smiled at Charter.” Thank you Charter I needed to hear that, I really screwed up this time huh?”

“No problem and yes you did,but your still very young Elma you can improve is there anything you need from me?"

"Um but can you get my money for me please?”

“Sure thing kid I’ll be right back.” Charter got on Slone and after about two hours Charter gave Elma her coin purse and hugged Elma before going back to the guild.

Elma went into town and to the inn she got her first contract. Were the innkeeper recognize Elma.” Hay I remember you thanks for handling the bandits for us, anyway what can I do for you?”

“Um do you have a room I can rent?”

“Ou yea sure, since you cleared out those raiders for us the rent is about twenty silver a month. You’re welcome to the bar and the menu as well.”

Elam bowed her head and the innkeeper escorted Elma to the room, the room was nothing special all it had was a bookshelf a bed and a closet.” It’s not much but it will work thank you very much for your kindness. Elma bowed her head to the inn keeper.

“No problem honey, I should be thanking you for killing those bandits for us anyway enjoy your stay.”

The door closed and Elma looked around her temporary room and breathed a sigh of relief.”Alright then well best get to this self-improving thing started with.” Elma went to one of the table and started to read one of her spell books.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Black0ut, Dahlexpert, Frostlich1228, InsaneDarkness, MarineAvenger, & ZombieSplitter53
An End to Chaos
Part One

Havenbrook Manor/Guildhouse
Indoor Training Room
Sept. 30th, 3349
12:00 p.m.

Mina stood with a calm, composed look before her group of Hunters and staff, those she trusted most, needed most in the coming fight, or both. Betty and Sylvie. Charter and Elma. Titania and Jay. Lyr and Drayce. Erin and Eliza. Zodiak and Eraqus. At Mina’s side, Aemilia sat on the ground, looking none too happy. A mysterious woman stood a little ways back, sharpening a knife.

The guildmaster cleared her throat. “The time has come,” she said. “Many of you already know this, but many of the problems we have faced recently are the doings of the Goddess of Chaos and Discord, Tecunte. Trouble in Serasam. The political trouble in Stormrend. The chimera in Mirandia. Our losses in Neren’teva. The near war in Elluviana. She has her hands in everything. Well, I made a deal with her. I put my guild… and my life on the line, saying we would stop all her schemes, and if we did, it would usher in an era of peace from her.”

Mina shook her head. “Well, we’re not playing her game any longer. I am not going to let her keep manipulating us, and I have little reason to believe she’ll keep her word. So if she will eventually betray us, why not beat her to the punch?”

She took a deep breath. “Over twelve years ago, the Goddess Nemesis had something stolen from her. The last Golden Hind, whose blood can kill a god. They didn’t know who did it, so to counter it, they made a weapon that could kill the thief before they were killed. This weapon… was entrusted to me. My family has a history with the gods, so when it came time to hide the weapon’s existence, they trusted me. The gods are now sure Tecunte was the one who stole the Hind. So… they will lend a small amount of assistance to allow us to use the weapon… and kill Tecunte.”

Charter smiled at Mina.”Well this should be interesting so we're finally going after that woman, finally.” Charter looked at Elma.” Hay don’t worry Elma this is your chance to fix everything, this is a major opurenty for you to get a new reputation.” Elma kept her head down and said nothing to Charter.” Elma you had a fuck up, your young it was an honest mistake besides you can find other teachers like Erin possibly or maybe someone in town can help you.. Elma?” Charter lifted Elma hood and sees a scow on her face and put her hood back down. “Elam don’t be to reckless alright, just do enough so people change their minds about you alright.”

Elma said nothing but shook her head in agreement.

Zodiak stepped forward, standing tall but a curious look was apparent on his face. “What sort of weapon do you possess, Mina?”

Mina sighed, and motioned for Aemilia to step forward. “Aemilia… is the weapon. As some of you might know… but most likely do not, Aemilia is not actually blind. Her eyes contain the power to turn anyone she locks eyes with into stone. She is blind by choice to avoid killing anyone.”

“All these years, everyone, including the weapon, thought it was a little girl with a curse.” The mysterious woman in the back stepped forward. “I am Saboran, Smith of the Gods. And I made the one you call Aemilia. It is a homunculus, and its eyes were made like they are in case we ever had to face the one who has the blood. It can petrify anything… even a goddess.”

Zodiak shifted uncomfortably. “I… don’t know how to feel about you referring to her as an object…” he mumbled, meaning no disrespect but felt that the girl wasn’t receiving any in the first place.

Saboran sighed. “I made it… made her myself. Manufactured her.” She shook her head. “Sorry. It is hard to get over. But I’ll try. Anyway, we’ll set up a field to stop Tecunte from using her portals. We can not get involved directly though. That is your job.”

“You really… Created her? She's… a weapon?” Betty seemed upset at the fact, she considered Aemilia her friend.

The girl ‘looked’ towards her voice, sadness on her face. “I’m sorry. I… I-I didn’t know.”

Betty shook her head. “It's not your fault… I'm just tired of lies and secrets…”

Mina gave her a sad look, but cleared her throat. “We’ll be calling the goddess to the area just outside of the Manor to avoid it being destroyed. The other gods predict a swarm of monsters will be brought to attack it anyway, and that is why I don’t have more A and B rank Hunters here. They will be responsible for protecting the building and, above all else, the civilian staff. I… I want this group with me. Most of you, in a short time, have earned my trust more then some Hunters have over years. So… I will be counting on you all.”

“Wait.” Sylvie held up a hand, donning her armor for the first time in a month. “You're saying she can call Monsters at will? Like what happened to my village…”

Mina nodded. “She might have had more to do with that then we thought…”

Sylvie pulled her new spear from her back, the one that had been gifted to her by Skye. “Then this is for everyone who died there… It really is all because of her…”

“The… child’s abilities work by draining the life force of the person she looks at until nothing it left, and the body petrifies,” Saboran explained. “A Goddess has a lot of life force though, so you’ll have to weaken her first.”

“How would you rate her combat prowess? I only ask because if she is too powerful, this may end up being a suicide mission.” The Light Elf asked, having sat down on the floor awhile ago with his missing eye open.

Saboran grinned. “She has many different abilities. She is strong, fast, and has shapeshifting powers. But… she doesn’t fight her own battles. I can only think of a few situations in which she has. In otherwards, she is strong, but not even close to being a true fighter.”

“Interesting… the only downside is her power. You gods tend to be far stronger than an group of hunters, or, hell even an army. Even if my staff wasn’t corrupting an area, I have no idea if we could actually pull it off. But, even so… if it means making a world safe for my child, count me in, even if it is a bad idea.”

“I forget that you know how to really drag a mood down… maybe I should warn people beforehand…” Titania muttered, as she turned her attention to the goddess, “Saboran, with my powers and current equipment, do you think Tecunte is as fast as me or faster?”

The goddess smiled. “I can’t say for sure if you are as fast as her, but I know if there is one person who can keep up with her, it is you, Titania.”

The thrope smiled back and then a thought popped into her mind. “Out of curiosity… and this will sound stupid as there has been more than enough time for you to have made anything for her, but do know what weapons she’ll be using or what armor? The strengths of the items, the weaknesses?”

Saboran shook her head. “I have never made anything for you but trinkets. In all likelihood, she won’t rely on them and simply count on her godly stamina and strength. Lucky you, huh?”

“Most definitely a lucky thing. If she had any skill in combat, and used it, we wouldn’t be able to win. Strength and stamina alone aren’t enough to win any amount of battles. In fact… we could use those assets against her when the time comes. Just need to be ready for when she inevitably hits us.” Titania strategized, rubbing one of her ears out of habit.

“Ah, but there’s a problem with that thought, Titania: We don’t know what she’ll be using, and I doubt she’ll wade into battle with just her fists. If anything, she’ll bring something bladed, and that unleashes a whole slew of problems. We’ll need to prepare, and if we have enough time, hopefully get you your new weapon ready.” Turning to look at Saboran, he shrugged. “You’ll probably like it, as it’ll be the only kind of weapon of its kind for a long, long time. Perhaps I’ll show you the schematics if Betty’ll let me… that is if we win, of course. When, excuse me. Doloran is such a weird language...”

Mina sighed. “I wish I could fight with you, but I can’t for obvious reasons. But I have faith in you all. I know for a fact that we’ll take her out once and for all.”

“Do not worry about her personal safety either.” Another voice imputed off to the side. Janne was dressed for battle, his burnt face locked in a serious demeanor. “Nothing will get past me, so your leader is fine.”

“What are me and Drayce supposed to do though?” Lyr asked his mother, scratching the top of his head, “I mean, why not just assign us to monster duty?”

Mina looked around at the others before looking at her son. “Let’s not mince words. I need strong hands fighting to protect the manor, but Tecunte is the biggest threat, and you two are two of the heaviest hitters I have. Splitting Tecunte’s attention twelve ways will help, but I need a couple of fighters who can take more punishment than others to… well, take that punishment. And I trust you two can handle that.”

Drayce pressed his fingers together, looking over at the sullen Aemilia. His gaze flickered to Eliza, then back to her, and he walked to her, not really saying anything as he knelt down and gave her a loving hug. Ameilia smiled sadly. “You don’t mind I’m… n-not human?”

He rubbed his head against her affectionately, “Did you ever care I wasn’t normal either?” the young Thrope questioned. Glancing over at Eliza, he opened one arm and beckoned her to come join them in the embrace.

Eliza rushed over and hugged them both. “We are an odd group… but we’ll make it together, right?”

“Mhmm.” Drayce affirmed with a nod, smiling childishly. “I love you both.” he told them in a whisper so no one else would hear.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

An End to Chaos
Part Two

Three Days Later

As predicted, the open challenge to Tecunte did not go over well. A swarm of monsters descended on the manor, the higher rank hunters fighting outside the barrier while the lower rank hunters handled any that made it in.

In the area outside the manor, right next to the forest, Tecunte had her hands on her hips as she face Mina and her chosen twelve. “So… this is really how you want it to end?” Tecunte chuckled. “You know I can meet your challenge by killing you now. Never thought you would be that stupid.”

“You thought of us as nothing but stupid,” Mina stated. “It was obvious that you would never keep your side of the deal. Enough talk. Let’s do this.”

The goddess let out a maniacal laugh. “You think you can take me just because you have numbers? Ha! I can beat you with a fraction of my power. In fact.” She held out her hand, a flame forming in it. The flame started to grow and split until five flames, her size and shape, were before her. “I present my power to you. Power. Speed. Magic. Illusion. Transformation.” Each flame vanished, leaving five exact copies of Tecunte. “Fear our overwhelming strength they said together.”

“Mina, stay back with Aemilia,” Eraqus insisted. “Everyone else, split into pairs. And do not falter. Do not be intimidated. Even a goddess can not make an exact copy of herself. These all surely have a sixth of her power.”

“Do not speak as though you know us!” The copies said together. “Now die!” They rushed forward, and the Hunters split up with those closest to them.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

An End to Chaos
Part Three

“Looks like we got power,” Erin muttered as their copy grew into a hulking brute. “Are you ready?”

Eliza cracked her neck back and forth. “Stupid god lady is going down.”

“We’ll see about that, puny demon.” Tecunte charged, far faster then she looked like she would be. She started pummelling Eliza relentlessly.

“J-just stick to the plan!” Erin shouted, and started chanting softly. It sickened her to see Eliza take such a beating, but she had to concentrate.

“Ha! Your so called mother doesn’t even care if you get beat!” Tecunte mocked. “Some family!”

“Shut up!” Eliza flew to the goddess’ side, slashing it with burning claws, then dodging a swing. “We have a plan. It’s a smart plan. A great plan! You’ll see!”

“Whatever puny magic that mortal can conjure up is no match for me!”

The fighting continued for some time. Eliza one out in the sheer number of blows. A punch to the face. A kick to the ribs. A slash across her back. But each blow that connected from the goddess was the most painful thing ever. Eliza flew up into the sky, and opened her mouth to launch a fireball. To her surprise, Tecunte jumped with such strength and speed, she was practically flying herself. She grabbed Eliza by the face, and slammed her into the ground. She then picked her up and slammed her again and again and again.

Tecunte lifted her limp body up and laughed. “You see? You are nothing. Just a weak, pathetic demon raised by weak, pathetic Thropes. Maybe if you were raised by your kind, you’d actually stand a chance. Blame Erin. Blame Betty. Don’t worry though. I’ll be sure to punish them for you. Make your precious little Amam suffer.”

Eliza’s eyes snapped to life, a fire in them. She kicked up, and there was a loud snap as Tecunte’s arm was broken, causing her to drop Eliza. The girl quickly transformed into her stronger form, and the fight became one sided. Eliza began to destroy the goddess, punching her repeatedly in the stomach, the face, and the chest. Tecunte got her shots in, but they didn’t seem to slow Eliza down one bit.

“How?! How are you this powerful?!” the goddess demanded before her face was pummelled again.

“You did your homework on us, but obviously didn’t study up for the test,” Erin said with a laugh. “That’s why you made two mistakes. First, Eliza is a demon. She isn’t like us, getting sloppy and careless when angered. Rage makes her stronger. Faster. Deadlier.”

Tecunte dropped to her knees, breathing heavily. “I’ll kill… the both… of y-” Eliza shoved her hand into Tecunte’s mouth, shutting her up.”

“And you second mistake.” Erin let out a haughty laugh, raising her glowing staff. “You ignored me because you thought you could handle any spell I launched against you, and you’re probably right. Which is we I’ve been casting a particularly taboo spell this whole time. One on Eliza, not you. A spell that gradually powers up a demon. You would have noticed her getting stronger as the fight went on if you just couldn’t help but underestimate everyone you fight. Eliza? Please end this.”

Tecunte started punching the demon in the stomach, but it was too late. Eliza used both hands to break open the goddess’ jaw. For added measure, Eliza erupted pure fire over her face and down her throat, roasting Tecunte from the inside out.

The demon girl tossed the body aside, panting softly. Erin lowered her staff and stumbled a bit, the spell taking a lot out of her. “A-are you okay dear?”

Eliza looked back, a rage still in her eyes. It quickly evaporated, however, and she shrank down with a smile. “Yes. Can I go help Amam now.”

Erin chuckled. “Of course. Though I’m sure she has done fine on her own.”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

An End to Chaos
Part Four

Charter swung his sword at the Tecunte copy, causing her to jump back. Rather then pressing the attack, however, he hesitated. Tecunte had not shown her hand yet. What had she said? Power, Speed, Magic, Illusion, and Transformation. What version had they got? Was Tecunte about to unleash a massive magical attack? Maybe speed over to Elma and take her out? Either way, it had the siblings on edge.

The goddess placed a hand on her hip. “We have a lot of history, don’t we Charter? How many times have you tried to kill me now? Three? Four? I still remember when you had me ripped apart and devoured. That hurt, you know?”

“And your lucky I didn't bring Slone this time, hell he threw you up the last time you tasted disgusting to him had to brush his teeth he was disgusted.” Charter fired a crossbow at the Tecunte clone hitting her throat.

It didn’t seem speed was her thing as it lodged in her. Something interesting happened. As she pulled out the arrow, it took a few seconds for it to heal. It seemed what Eraqus had said was true. Each was not as strong as the whole. She shook her head, and thrust her hand forward, a force of energy knocking Charter to the ground. As he stood, her eyes wondered to Elma. “Sweet girl. You have caused so much chaos. You would be a perfect student of mine. Why not join me, dear?”

“Teh” Elma launched an ice spike to Tecunte stomach, and used her staff to hit her with a spray of ice freezing her.” Join you please, I may have had plenty of fuck ups but I will never join you.”

The ice burst, and Tecunte let out an angry snarl, rushing over to Elma and lifting her by the neck. “I’m giving you a chance for real power! You would be a fool to give it up! And yet you continue to attack me! Too side with your idiot brother!”

Elma instead of panicking thrusted her lower half to Tecunte arm and her legs around her neck, Elma shifted her her body down and put Tecunte in armbar. She then immediately used her fire magic on Tecunte arm spreading it to her entire body.”My idiot brother taught me that, and join you for power don’t make me laugh. I know you, you would only take me in just to use me and then later kill me like I was some kind of tool!”

Tecunte seemed to burn away, and disappeared. Charter and Elma weren’t convinced, however, and stayed on guard. “You trained her well.” Charter spun around to find that Elma was gone, and in her place was Tecunte. “Guess I’ll just have to kill you both.”

Charter looked at Tecunte, and thrusted his dagger into the goddess side.” Yea good luck with that, considering the only person you killed was your sister, if we even believe that damn vampire.”

*****​

“You have a lot of spunk, I can tell you that.” Elma spun to her side to find Charter missing, Tecunte standing where he was. “Let’s see if we can cut it out of you.” The goddess quickly pulled out a dagger and charged forward, stabbing Elma in the side.

Elam screamed in pain, she quickly grabbed Tecunte arm and used her ice magic to freeze her arm and then quickly put her hand on the gods head and put a ice spike through her. Once the dagged got out of Elma she quickly tried to heal her wound.

*****​

“I have killed far more than real realize, idiot!” Tecunte grabbed Charter’s arm and it was suddenly frozen over. As he recoiled in pain, she planted her hand on his head. An ice spike shot out, and only Charter’s helmet stopped it from killing him right there. Tecunte stumbled back, healing her wound. “And when I’m done with you, I’ll kill that pathetic little sister of yours.”

Charter quickly slammed his arm at the closest tree and did it several times until the ice broke.” Alright Charter think Tecunte never used ice before but just to make sure of it.” Charter chased Tecunte through the forest and found her still healing herself. Charter quickly used a blue enchanted bottle and poured it on his sword, he then slashed his sword at tecunte and a slash of water cut into her back.

*****​

“Think I’m just going to let you heal?!” Tecunte chased after Elma as she was still trying to heal her wound. Now weilding a sword with a blue glow, she darted behind Elma and slashed her in the back.

The enchanted water pierced through Elma robe, causing her to yell in pain again knocking her to the ground Elma stopped using her healing magic and instead used her ice magic to freeze the ground and then use her lightning magic on Tecunte when she was sliding on the ice shocking her. Elma rolled into some bushes and used both her hands to make a healing aura around herself.” Damn woman as if I didn't see enough water magic as it is.”

*****​

More ice magic flowed across the ground to Charter before she used another magic she never had before. Tecunte fired lightning magic at Charter, leaving him stunned as she rolled to the side and into a bush. “You’ll have to do better than that!”

“Yep this pretty much confirms it, well then let me try something then.” Charter slowly lifted himself up and made his way to the bushes and saw Tecunte with a healing aura around her, she then looked up at Charter but Charter pulled out his dagger and thrust it into his hand.”Ouch well then let’s see if this is what I think it is.”

*****​

Tectune found Elma, and pulled out a dagger, having her dead to rights. However, instead of attacking Elma, she stabbed herself in the hand. “Damn it… I mean… wanna see something… crazy?”

“What in the why would she? Elma finally put two and two together.” Charter? That damn bitch using illusion magic on us alright fine then I see how it is.” Elma then mad a small ice spike,and thrust it into her hand as well.” That’s my brother for you, actually using his brain he must have faced a mage that could do this before.”

*****​

Tecunte suddenly created a spike of ice. “I, uh… I can do that too, fool!” She quickly thrust it into her own hand, cursing loudly.

“Yep I figured you will use trickery it’s in your damn nature, that just proves that your getting worried that you will die today. Besides I faced a few mages that did this to me many years ago, killed a lot of good people with this horrid magic. It’s not until the person your facing hurts themselves is when you put two and two together and see the big picture. So in short you been out smarterd again.”

Magic flowed away from Charter and Elma, revealing their true nature and the real Tecunte standing nearby. “D-damn you,” she said, breathing heavily. It seemed the illusions had taken a lot out of her. “You think you two are so smart?! You really think you can kill me?!”

“Yep.” Elma said hitting Tecunte with a wave of fire magic burning her to the bone, destroying her skin and muscle. Elma then looked at Charter.” Good work there Charter, I guess that you becoming a mercenary allowed you to figure it out.”

The goddess slowly looked up from the ground, desperately trying to crawl forward. “I swear… I’ll… kill you both…”

Charter charged the goddess and thrusted his sword into the Goddess skull. Charte pulled out his sword and looked at Elma.” Well look at you, see what I mean by second chances. It’s a good thing I had you hunting bandits for a few weeks.” Charter patted Elma head.”I’m so proud of you Elma, you come a long way from the little girl that joined a few months ago.”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

An End to Chaos
Part Five

The Tecunte Sylvie and Betty got didn’t waste time showing off what version of her powers she had. She quickly grew in side, taking the form of a massive Orthrus. Speaking from her dual heads, she said, “Bug girl and tree girl. I remember you both. I think I will enjoy devouring you.”

“So we get ze shapeshifter?” Betty held up her gauntlet, clenching her fist. “I have been through a lot lately… I zhink I'm going to enjoy zhis opportunity to relieve some frustration…”

“Yeah.” The Huntress agreed. “You aren't anything to worry about. Just another Hunt. It's time you get what's coming to you ‘Goddess’.”

Tecunte chuckled, then lunged forward, blasting twin fireballs at the pair.

Sylvie dug into the ground, raising a wall of roots to block the blast from hitting the both of them. Meanwhile Betty quickly brainstormed, picking up rocks and blasting them into fragments with her Weapon towards the clone, the wall giving her some cover.

The fragments hit the beast like a explosive blast, and Tectunte stumbled, slamming into the wall. She roared angrily, a stream of fire erupting from her mouths to burn the roots.

The roots caught up quickly, erupting into a blaze that forced the two women to reposition to both sides of the Orthrus. Betty clicked up a switch on her gauntlet, raising it up, “Here! I can do zhat too!”

A Small spark lit up under the nozzle of her newest invention moments before a thick jet of pitch and tar was released. The Mixture quickly burst into flame and flew towards the God, choking the air with black smoke.

With a loud shriek of pain and a dog-like whine, Tecunte backed away. “Tricky bitch!” Tecunte’s bones and flesh shifted and molded with disgusting sounds. She transformed into a giant Zolom, and slithered her way around the flames, intent on biting the Fly-girl’s head off.

However, taking advantage of the distraction Betty made with her Flamethrower, Sylvie made her way in, staying low to the ground as she ran. The Huntress quickly threw her normal spear into the coils of the beast, slashing with her antler claw as she got into range.

Tecunte hissed angrily, frustrated that she was taking all the injuries and dealing none of it back. Figuring bigger wasn’t the answer, she shrank down. She was now a beast with four arms and nasty fangs. She moved faster too, smashing the ground to throw up dirt as she closed in on Sylvie.

Sylvie coughed, retrieving her spear that had fallen out of the goddess during her transformation. This left her open however, the speed of Tecunte’s new form giving her a chance to strike in the blinding cloud of dirt. She was punched hard, two massive fists plowing into her and cracking a few ribs as they sent her flying.

Sylvie sucked in air as she landed, she could feel sharp bone pressing against her lungs as she tried to breath. Still she stood up, however, channeling her magic into a thick cage of bent trees and branches, hoping to contain her.

Tecunte smashed her arms against it, yelling in frustration. “Think this will hold me!” She shifted forms again, transforming into a small weasel that slipped between the bars.

Seeing her opportunity now that she had chosen an animal so small, Betty released her container of flammable material, switching it out for her Basilisk gas and spraying it into a cloud through the cage towards Tecunte.

Tecunte cried out, slowly shifting back to her humanoid form and collapsing to her hands and knees. “What… is this… crap!”

“You should know! Zhanks for donating to us those Basilisks!” Betty said, yelling. “Sylvie, if you're going to use zhat new spear, use it now!”

The Human woman grit her teeth through the pain, taking her newly gained weapon and launching it towards the clone. If she was more familiar with the weight of the weapon and had she not been in so much pain, it would've been a direct hit, but it had only stabbed into Tecunte’s arm… but that was enough, Sylvie knew.

The Goddess’ arm started to twist into wood from the point of entry, the blood it had connect with turning into thorns that cut from the inside while her flesh twisted and morphed horribly against her will all the while her skin turned to bark. It was moving up to her body quickly, it looked as though it would be done with her in half a minute as her mind filled with an unbelievable pain.

“What have you done to me!” she yelled out. “How… I’m a goddess! You magic shouldn’t work on me!”

“It's not my magic… It's My Goddess’.” Sylvie grinned.

Tecunte screamed in horrible pain as her arm was completely consumed. She suddenly shifted her other arm into a mantis arm and sliced her arm off, screaming in even more pain as blood poured from the stump. All seemed lost when it quickly stopped bleeding, but it didn’t grow back. The mere copy wasn’t able to regenerate from an injury like that. “You’re dead!” she yelled, grabbing the spear and rushing Sylvie.

Sylvie prepared herself, but the spear in Tecunte’s hands almost defied her grasp. It bent away from its owner as it reached her, then began to unwind and wrap around Tecunte’s hand, stabbing into her flesh.

Tecunte cried out again, her head transforming into a wolf’s and biting off the other arm. She shifted back into the form of a snake, though significantly smaller. “Fine! I said I would eat you, and now I will!”

Suddenly, something slammed into the head of the snake from behind at high speed, a small metal canister painted with a dangerous red. Whatever substance was inside coated the head of the Snake in a pitch black sticky substance.

“Did you forget about me?” Betty yelled, pointing her gun towards the shapeshifter.

Tecunte slowly shifted back to normal, on her knees. “What… what is this crap, bitch?”

“You really are dumb…” Betty shook her head, firing her pistol. However it missed, sparking off against a rock behind her and… The sparks set off the mixture as soon as it came in contact with the tar, lighting her and everything covered in it in a torrent of searing flame hundreds of degrees hot.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

An End to Chaos
Part Six

Titania and Jay’s opponent didn’t bother hiding what powers she had been given. In a flash, she was over by them, grinning at the Thrope. “Think you can keep up with the speed of a goddess, girl?” She quickly stepped back before she could be hit.

“I’ve been training my whole life, whereas you just took your powers for granted. So yes, I can and will keep up with you.” Titania growled as her eyes turned feral, but seem to have more of a calm nature to them. Taking her longsword out, she whispered to Jay. “Get ready to use that thousand bullet spell… You’ll know when.”

Not waiting for his reply, she disappeared from sight moving to engage Tecunte in a flurry of blows, but made sure to keep Tecunte out of range from hitting her. Tecunte was quick to move with her. To Jay and anyone else watching, it was a blur of two forms occasionally moving towards them. Titania was right about one thing. Tecunte was quite a bit faster, even with her powers split, and got an occasional hit in with a small, ornate knife. But Titania had experience using her powers, having done so her whole life. She got far more hits in, slashing Tecunte in the side, cutting her arm, and nearly taking her head.

The pair found themselves running side by side, all around the forest. “Heard you got your powers from your a pathetic union of a weak goddess and a cheating father. Filthy halfbreed with a sad, sad past and a vicious temper. How sad.”

“Say’s the pathetic goddess wanting attention so desperately, she tried to destroy the world… oh and because she wanted to advance her own agenda, she fucked her own son. Who’s a sad, pathetic, miserable waste again?” Titania replied monotonously, as she continued to strike at her.

The goddess let out a snarl worthy of Titania’s wolf form. “You have no idea what you’re talking about! You think you’re better than me?! You know nothing, stupid child!”

“I don’t think, I know I’m better than you. You are a goddess, right? A divine being meant to ensure balance? Then why the fuck are you acting like a child, throwing a tantrum that is going to get you killed, your son killed, and even the actual half-breed you made with your son? Are you that fucking stupid?!” Titania roared, her longsword swinging with lethal intent.

Tecunte blocked it, though it sent her dagger and a couple fingers flying. “No one talks to me like that! No one!” She tackled into Titania, attempting to go for the simple approach of choking her to death.

Titania’s claws came out and she slashed at Tecunte’s face, arms and chest. “Then… Grow… The… Fuck… Up.”

Tecunte let go and zoomed back, more frustrated than anything else. “Stupid girl! Fine! I’ll slow you down by injuring your heart!” She ran forward again, but didn’t mean heart literally as she rushed to take down Jay.

“Amin hiraetha, Syl… (I’m sorry, Syl.)” He murmured as over a couple hundred weapons formed, creating a box around the two, as they flew fast at the two locked inside.

Tecunte started rapidly dodging, but in such a confined space, there was nothing she could do to avoid them all, and one after another, she started to get scraped, scratched, and skewered. “Are you mad?! You’ll die with me!”

“I’m a slave. I was born with only two things in mind: to live and to die. I finally have a child, and to keep her safe… if it means I die killing you, so be it.” At that precise second, several weapons pierced The Light Elf’s torso, but more weapons converged on Tecunte. “This… is your chaos… rejoice… you’ll get to experience it… soon.”

The weapons all flew into her, the woman screaming fiercely as the buried her. After a few moments, there was nothing but a pile of weapons, and Tecunte’s screams of pains were silenced.

“G-good… Syl… vie.” He murmured before falling onto his side, blood leaking out of his mouth.

Titania rushed over and cradled the Light Elf. “H-hey… no dying, Jay. You got a baby to take care of right? And she needs her dad. Come on… hang in there.”

“Death… is… a… dream…” He croaked out, as the watery weapons faded out of his back.

“Nononononono, you aren’t allowed to die! You can’t! Who’s going to be there for me when I need it? Who’s going to make me laugh and make me forget the problems of the world?! You bastard, don’t you dare fucking leave me!” Titania screeched, tears dropping onto Jay’s head.

“Sis..ter… don...t cry… I’m… with…” Jay coughed again, more blood coming out as it was soaked into the ground he was on.

“She’ll pay for this… I’ll make her pay…” Titania’s rage began building up, as her tears flowed faster.

“No… just… take… care of… Jas…” A single light orb, tiny and barely stabilized floated towards the Light Elf and some of the blood stopped leaking out. “Ah… I didn’t… think… I… had… more… mana.”

When he looked up at Titania, he already found her gone, Her helmet resting next to him.

The weapons faded away, and Tecunte looked like a pin cushion. She opened her mouth to talk, and a mouthful of blood poured out. “Not done… yet… gonna… kill you like… stupid Elf…”

“Go… fuck… yourself… Te… cunt… e.” Jay got out breathlessly, hummored on the inside by his own word play.

Tecunte stumbled towards, Titania, forming claws in her right hand. She did the same in her left, but the hand fell off. “You think any of this matter? I’ll… make you suffer… stupid half-breed bitch. Prepare… die.” She swiped at the woman.

Titania’s arms seemed to disappear, as the Goddess’ hand fell off with a neat cut. “I pity you. So much talent, brains, strength… and yet you wasted it for what? Power that you’re not getting? You were a goddess, respected and feared by all, with a comfortable life that you could have had. Instead, you wasted it. And to think I, at one point in my life, thought you were actually an option of a Goddess to worship… how the mighty have fallen.” Titania lamented, as she became more wolf-like until she was in her in between state. “But all of this battling has made me hungry… and I think I could go for some meat. Say, you got any spare meat, failure goddess? No? I guess your body will have to do as an appetizer…” Within moments, both of Tecunte’s arm had been ripped off, as had her throat.Titania slowed, as she began ripping the Goddess body into bloody chunks, her body being coated in divine blood.

Returning back to the Light Elf, she restrained herself from yelling at him. “Why? Why nearly kill yourself?”

“Because… she would’ve hurt you, Seler’. And that was a risk I couldn’t take. Rather I kill one of her copies, and weaken her than the possibility my wife, best friend, and daughter suffer for it.”

“I’d rather get hurt than you… and what is Seler’? What does that mean?” Titania asked, as she reverted back to her normal Thrope state.

“It means sister.” Sancoss murmured as he passed out, too drained and damaged to say awake.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

An End to Chaos
Part Seven

Lyr and Drayce, Ophidian demigod and the only dragon thrope, stood side by side as the Tecunte clone slowly walked over. “I must tell you, out of everyone here, you two are probably on the top of my list of people that… mmm, give me the most pause. That’s why I saved the version of me you could never hope to beat.” She held up her hands, two torrents of black fire forming in them. “I will drown you in my magic, then scorch everyone! And I will make sure your precious Mina dies last, so she can watch as she loses everyone and everything she loves.”

“Do you ever shut up?” Lyr asked, unimpressed by all her talk, “We get it, you’re evil and a bitch. Doesn’t it ever get a bit boring just saying evil stuff trying to be menacing?” he formed his light spear, leaning against it. Drayce used a claw to pick at his teeth, looking between Lyr and Tecunte with the same lax attitude at her bluster.

The woman let out a haughty laugh. “Feign confidence all you want, boy. Truth is, the little one there is going to be a bit of trouble as we sheer magic elements. But my chaos magic will obliterate your light attacks… and you with it.” She held out her hand, and a swirl of chaos fire rushed to burn the Ophidian teen.

A portal formed in front of Lyr, the attack going inside and come out behind the goddess. His spear morphed into a bow and he pulled back the string, launching a volley of arrows from range as Drayce formed wings and sped towards the copy. Tecunte stumbled forward from the blast in the back. She rolled to the side, sending up flames to block the arrows.

Noting the incoming dragon boy, she scoffed. “You wanna play with portals? Fine!” She held out a hand… and nothing happened. “What?! Why can’t I…”

Drayce’s head slammed into Tecunte’s abdomen, wrapping his arms around her as she stumbled back, pinning her down like Eliza did so often with him when they wrestled. He smiled at the goddess victoriously.

“Get… g-get off me, whelp!” She struggled, and tried to open a portal underneath herself. “Damn them! The other gods are doing this to prevent my escape! When I kill you all, I will hunt them down one by one!” She opened her hands, trying to burn Drayce’s sides with chaos flames.

It burned through his clothing no problem, and the Thrope winced slightly in discomfort, but the chaos flames did little else to mar him with damage. “Why do you want to kill things?” he asked innocently, “I don’t get it.”

“Uh… Drayce, this is supposed to be a fight…” Lyr pointed out, blinking in confusion about what was going on.

“What are you talking about?” The goddess continued to struggle, impressed by the boy’s strength. “It is in my nature. I am a goddess of chaos. It is in my nature to cause discord and destruction in my wake. You should know the thrill of the kill. How many have you slain, boy?”

“Many.” He admitted, looking a bit sad, “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I am a dragon of chaos, but I am not simply that because it is my nature. I love to do things, and I love people despite being what I am. No one is simply bound by their nature. I don’t think Saboran spends exclusively all her time being a smith. Just because you are a goddess, does it mean you have to be bad? Lyr told me about his trial. About Birusu. She is supposed to be very bad, but she is actually very sweet from what I hear.”

“Birusu is wasted space. I would make a much better goddess of destruction. Perhaps I will when I kill her.” Tecunte grinned. “Sorry kid, but I like being bad. I like pain and destruction and misery. I want to spread my sweet chaos everywhere!” She laughed. “You could join me. Just kill the snake to prove your loyalty.”

Drayce pursed his lips. Erin and Esmeralda had taught him many things over his time at Havenbrook and something was tickling his mind. “Um, Tecunte, can I still ask you a few more questions before I make up my mind?”

“If it will help you see my side of things, go ahead,” she answered.

“This is just getting weirder by the minute…” Lyr grumbled, sighing as he sat down, building up his energy should his assistance actually be required, “What is your game dragon boy?”

“Okay, so… who is your dad?” Drayce began his questioning, looking the goddess’ copy in the eyes with a curious look.

“My… dad?” Tecunte raised an eyebrow. “Taydar, the god of Death. Why?”

“Well I mean, he is a god of death, but he doesn’t cause a bunch of deaths just because he likes it. He even defied his very nature to make you, which is like… the opposite of death. And if there was nothing but chaos in the world, wouldn’t that make things… well, harmonious? If everything is in chaos, it is all in harmony with chaos so… wouldn’t you just be doing your sisters job in making everything… the same?”

“I… you…” Tecunte was obviously struggling with his innocent logic. “N-no! Because if everything is chaos, then… everything… would be… chaotic… you don’t know what you’re talking about, you fool! I… would figure it out when the time came!”

“Hm… harmony… in agreement or concord. That’s the definition Essy told me. And if you caused chaos everywhere across the world, there would be no more chaos to spread. That would become extremely boring, wouldn’t it? You just told me you like spreading the stuff, but how will you spread it if it is all over the place already? Don’t you need everyone to stop you in order to have more fun?”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

An End to Chaos
Part Eight

Tecunte open and closed her mouth. “I… it is… no. I mean… yes, it would be boring if… if I had no one to… to fight, so… but I have to… it is… I will have all the… power to…”

“Has anyone ever hugged you before?” Drayce asked with his head tilted to the side.

“What? Hugged. Y-yes, of course. My mother… w-when I was much younger. It has… been a long time…”

Drayce once more wrapped his arms around Tecunte, putting his head on her chest, rubbing her like he had Aemilia before. Lyr put his face in his hand, shaking his head slowly. Tecunte slowly smiled. “Th… thank you, young man. There is… far more to you then I thought there was.”

“You know, turning the world and all the gods against you must leave you with few people to appreciate you. Isn’t a god’s purpose to be loved? You have a bunch of cultists devoted to you, but I hardly think that is the kind of love anyone needs. It is just… creepy.” the dragon Thrope noted, looking up at her.

“None have ever truly loved me.” Tecunte looked down. “Except my son and… my sister. But I killed her. She’s… gone now…”

“You used that Golden Hind on her?” Drayce asked.

Tecunte slowly nodded. “I got angry… and in my anger… I killed her.”

“Surely there must be a way to get her back. I doubt the gods would have a way to kill one another and not have a way to come back should they die.” He looked at a small scrape on Tecunte’s cheek, crawling up her and licking it slowly.

Tecunte nodded. “I took her soul. Split it in four pieces and hid them in Hell. If they were to be found, she could be brought back by the smith goddess and goddesses of life and creation.”

“Alright.” He sat up, not holding down her arms anymore. He merely sat on her, not worried to be hurt from how off-guard he looked. “This is only a fragment of you huh? I doubt if you returned to normal, any of this talk would matter to the rest of you?”

Tecunte thought on it, and slowly shook her head. “It would have an effect… but I know the true me is too far gone to be convinced… or saved.”

“Well… could you inhabit a new host? That way, we can weaken the other goddess more effectively! And even if you’ll be much weaker since you’re a fragment, maybe the gods will be more likely to forgive you. Especially after you try to bring your sister back. It could be a win all around. Why die with the rest of the evil you?”

Again the goddess fell into silent thought. She placed her hand against her chest, and a small spark of energy came out. “This… this is the essence of this version of my being. When this is over… if you could give it to the other gods. It will be up to them to decide what happens to me, but if there is any part of me they would be willing to forgive, it is this.”

Drayce thought himself a little bit, then came up with a plan. “If you want to know a secret we share in common, I don’t really like the gods either. I mean… the Old Man lied to me but… he’s always been there for me, so I love him. I am just mad at him. But the others I don’t really trust. I don’t trust them to judge you fairly. Not after all of this. So… let me protect you? I… have a place you can hide and… you did say you were a shapeshifter so it wouldn’t be permanent…” he began, looking away blushing at his own words. His weakness for women once again betrayed him with that coloring.

Tecunte quickly nodded. “Please, tell me your idea.”

“One moment…” Drayce stuck out his tongue in concentration, rummaging around in the torn holes of his robe. His face lit up, and he pulled something out and held it out for her to see, a little white mouse in his grip squirming. “This little one has been with me a long time. He’s my pet slave. So I don’t mind if you take him over. He’s been a good pet, but if you want… you can merge with him. Just go human form whenever it is safe. And since I use chaos magic, it isn’t like you can be detected until we get all your sister’s pieces. Once that is done, then I can show you to the gods and we will have already done the good deed!”

The goddess nodded, and placed her soul spark against the small rodent. It entered him, and he glowed briefly as her essense entered him. That done, the woman before Drayce started to disintegrate. “I will enjoy being your loyal pet for a while, and I hope your plan will work. Though it… partially relies on…” Her gaze shifted to the Ophidian watching the whole thing.

It didn’t look like Lyr was particularly enjoying the idea of the plan, especially after all the pain she caused. Especially the part about killing his mother and unborn sibling in a different timeline, but if she was willing to repent then that was Drayce’s responsibility. “Sticking it to the gods might be fun. I won’t snitch, but I won’t go down if this bites the two of you.”

The dragon Thrope smiled widely in appreciation, lightly bumping onto the ground as the copy’s body was now completely gone. Looking at the rodent in his hand, its fur was now black, purple eyes staring up at him. “You there?” he asked it curiously, bringing his face close.

The mouse slowly nodded, rubbing its nose against his. If a rodent could smile, it would have.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

An End to Chaos
Part Nine

Eraqus and Zodiak got the lucky draw, or the unlucky draw depending on how you looked at it. As Tectunte split five copies of herself to fight the others, this pair had to face the original. “Remember,” Eraqus said softly as he circled the woman. “She would have had to transfer a chunk of her power into those copies but she is still a goddess. Don’t let your guard down.”

Zodiak’s teeth clenched as he followed Eraqus’ lead. “Considering we don’t know how much power she has left, it may just be best to stall her out… Although, do goddesses still have pressure points?...” he replied, trying his best to keep his own voice at the same volume Eraqus’ was.

“I don’t know.” Eraqus grinned. “Let’s try a beat her down… and find out.”

“Are you done with your little whispers?” Tecunte rolled her neck. “Because I’m done playing around. Everyone else gets a trick or two. You two… especially you, Elf… I’m just going to straight up rip apart.” Her fingers elongated into massive claws. Despite saying she would target Eraqus, however, she sprinted towards Zodiak and started slashing furiously.

Zodiak ducked, in fact so far back that he landed on his back, kicking the goddess in her stomach. “Mind games? Isn’t it a little early for that?”

“No mind games. Just death!” She moved to stab down, but Eraqus slashed her across the back. The wound healed as she stumbled forward, but much slower than usual. With a furious cry, she started slashing at Eraqus. It was awkward to fight with his fake arm, but as he blocked low after blow, it was clear that Tecunte was no fighter.

Zodiak pushed himself out of his horizontal position but had no intention of leaving it for long. He dashed at Tecunte, ripping her leg from under her and flipped his body so that when she landed on the ground, his foot would end up on her head, burying it.

She cried out, feeling more pain than she was used to. A burst of power made the two men stumble back, and she jumped up. Grabbing Zodiak by the leg, she jumped up and slammed him down. “You think you can stand against me, boy!” Dark flames formed in her hands.

Zodiak was wracked with coughs as the sound of broken ribs echoed in his skull. Shit, shit, shit! He clenched his eyes closed, the pain seeming to not want to cease. He attacked one of his own pressure points, preventing him from feeling the pain, before looping his leg around the goddess’ arm, flipping her over his body to slam her into the ground in front of him.

Eraqus jumped onto her chest and started punching her in the face. Over and over again, he slammed his fist into her until his knuckles bled. He cried out sharply when Tecunte stabbed her claws into his side and started roasting him. “Zodiak!”

Zodiak pushed himself off the ground, slower than usual. While he felt no pain, he could tell that it was much harder to breathe than before. He used his arms to push his body off the ground, dashing forward to push Eraqus off of Tecunte while looping his legs around her neck, ending up with her, once again, in a horizontal position in front of him, but he had Eraqus on top of him, which didn’t feel very nice on his chest.

Eraqus used the opportunity to roll away and hold his sides in pain. The fight was going fast, and it was hard to say who was winning. It was skill against stamina, though Tecunte at least seemed to be slowing. Not fast enough though. “That… pressure point thing… try it…”

“If I… can fucking breathe…” Zodiak coughed heavily, “I’ll do it.” Shadows covered his eyes as he stood up, making him look more serious than he was at the beginning of the fight. The pain from the chest blow was slowly coming back as a dull throb, which wasn’t a good thing, clearly. He held his hands like he was holding two apples, now planning to play defensive, even if he was out-ranged.

Tecunte climbed to her feet, wiping blood from her mouth. She looked the man up and down, chuckled, and lunged for his neck.

Zodiak ducked once again, thrusting his palm into her elbow then into her stomach, before moving between her legs and quickly standing up to give her a chop to the neck.

She stumbled to the ground, coughing. She crawled a bit away before standing and facing him. “You think… you can beat me with just your fists? Pathetic!” She lunged again, this time a bit faster.

Zodiak ran away, feigning fear. “H-hey!...” Rapid coughs resonated through his chest. “Leave me… alone!” She laughed maniacally, jumping and going for a slash at his back. A quick draw of the shortbow from his back had an arrow aimed right at the goddess’ head. “Checkmate, you fucking bitch.” he growled, letting the arrow fly as he made his best attempt to dash backwards away from her claws.

The arrow lodged into her left eye, and she screamed in anger in pain. Stumbling back, she glared at the man with her good eye. “I’ll tear you a-” A crossbow bolt shot into the back of her head, through her other eye, and she stumbled back again, screaming even louder than before. She tried yanking the arrow out with one hand while blindly slashing with the other. “Fucking bitches! I’ll kill you! I’ll FUCKING KILL YOU!”

Eraqus carefully ran around her to Zodiak’s side. “You okay?”

“Could’ve… done without… that chest crush…” Zodiak heaved. “But otherwise… I’ll… be fine… maybe…” The pain from the blow was starting to build, which he was definitely not happy about.

Eraqus held his side and nodded. “Ready to finish this? Can you get her airborne?”

“On my honor... it shall be done.” Zodiak rushed Tecunte, yelling louder than his chest could take, but he had to in order to push through the returning pain. He grabbed her hands, pulling her arms from their sockets while pushing the rest of her body away with a foot, before swinging her around and throwing her into the air.

Eraqus was already in the air, screaming loudly as he brought his sword down with all his strength. With a mighty blow, he swung his sword down. Landing awkwardly, he stumbled back before the two halves of Tecunte hit the ground.

Zodiak landed on one knee, struggling to breathe and the pain setting in heavily once more. He perused his mind for other pressure points, but there wasn’t enough oxygen making the trip to his brain. The edges of his sight were becoming black. I… can’t die… Not… h...e...r...e…

*****​

The original slowly melted away, the two pools of magic mush forming back into the goddess. She fell to her knee, panting heavily. “You think… this is over?”

Eraqus struggled to breath himself as the others turned to face her. “Well, to be honest… yeah. I kinda am hoping so.” He looked around. Erin and Elma were exhausted. Jay and Zodiak were down. Sylvie didn’t look too good. Drayce and Lyr seemed okay. Could they finish this by themselves if need be, though?

Tecunte laughed, calmly at first, then faster and louder until it was mad cackling. “She really is nuts,” Mina muttered, in the back with her protector and secret weapon. “Get ready, Aemilia.” The girl nodded, removing her bandages.

“I want to show you a neat little trick.” Tecuntre stretched her hands out, and the bodies of her copies disintegrated. Slowly, their essense flowed to her, and her wounds were healed. “Tell me, if you kill yourself to save yourself, is it murder, suicide, or self preservation?”

“This isn’t good,” Eraqus mumbled, getting ready for the attack.

Tecunte took a deep breath. “There! Completely better. And now, I’ll just split again! Let’s see if you can handle another round of…” She faltered and stumbled. What was wrong with her? Her skin felt like it was on fire. He insides were burning up. Both her hands had trouble moving, feeling stiff as a tree. Her body ached like it was covered in a thousand cuts and gashes. Her head ached so much. Worst of all, she didn’t feel complete, like a part of her hadn’t returned. Had they really done so much damage to her copies.

“Gotcha!” To everyone’s surprise, especially the goddess’, Eraqus put her in a full nelson, using his good arm to force her eye open. “Now, everyone close your eyes! Aemilia!”

“L-let me go, you fool!” Tecunte cried out.

“What are you doing!” Mina cried out. “We can still beat her. “I… Dryace and Lyr can still fight! Janne can join you, I…”

Eraqus shook her head. “We can’t take that chance. I won’t. She might be weakened now, but if we let this chance go, she could kill us all!”

“What are you… I said release me!” Even weakened, it took all Eraqus’ strength to restrain her. The goddess tried to open a portal to escape, but it was no use.

Mina lowered her gaze, knowing he was right. “A… Aemilia… o-open your eyes.”

Slowly, hesitantly, Aemilia did as she was told as everyone closed their eyes and looked away. In an instant, Eraqus was petrified, ensuring a tight grasp on the goddess. Tears filled the young girl’s eyes, but she refused to close them. Tecunte fought and struggled, and after a minute, finally broke free. Eraqus shattered into pieces and Tecunte closed her eyes, but it was too late. A link of life force was solidly connected between the eyes of her and the living weapon.

“No! Stop this!” She could feel her energy draining, her body slowing down. This is what death felt like. She couldn’t die! So many plans. So much revenge needed to be plotted. Mina. Alice. The other Gods. She would rule the world after seeing it covered in chaos. This could be the end. She… couldn’t… die… here…

The overfilled Aemilia’s eyes rolled back, and she dropped to the ground, unconscious, her body burning up. Janne, the only one able to ‘watch’, quickly caught her. Slowly, everyone opened their eyes to see what they had fought so hard for.

Before Mina, on its hands and knees and reaching for Mina, a face of pure terror on its face, was a statue of the Goddess of Discord, as still as death.

 

[SmiteGrinder]

Frostlich1228 and SmiteGrinder: Outsiders

Johanna moved through the open gates of the Manor, half walking and half limping as she had been attacked during her travels. The slash wound in her knee wasn't too deep, but it was damaging enough to hinder her movement. The Mercenary didn't care however. She was the vessel to the Mistress and, given time, the demon's dark energy would bring the leg back to it's original state. The only wound the creature would not heal was her left arm... a wound so bad that not even Johanna herself was willing to look at it. However, the only indications that it was wounded were the many bandages that covered the arm up to her shoulder. She could use it as if it was never harmed and didn't feel any pain from it anymore. However, now was not the time for testing the limits of her wounded body. Johanna needed to find a area where she could rest... and the Mistress would mend the bleeding gash in her leg.

Outside of the building was the visage of a woman clad in a shroud of black leather, complete with an ebony colored helm. Standing in front of a cloth training dummy inside a ring of bright red rope, she rubbed the blade of her similarly tinted rapier with a damp cloth. However, her eyes were drawn past the woman to a medical kit, sitting open on a wooden chair near her. It was just what she needed.

Johanna looked down at the wound, then back at the medical kit. The demon inside of her could mend wounds within hours, but human supplies and magic could do it in an instant. The effects of man made healing may not be the same, but it was a decent fix to keep her steady while the Mistress did her work. The mercenary walked up to the chair, leaning in front of it to see what supplies where still in the kit and where in good enough shape to use.

It was completely full, it was clear whoever the owner of this med-kit was didn't have to use it too much. The most obvious answer would be the woman due to her proximity, but she wasn't currently looking.

Johanna looked up at the leather clad woman. She was indeed an interesting figure, but the reasons behind the attire were not an important matter. The Mercenary walked up to her. "I'm assuming that those are your medical supplies." Johanna remarked, keeping a strong and determined composure despite the wound on her leg.

The Shadowy woman turned around slowly. "You would not be incorrect in the assumption."

She took a moment to look Johanna over. "I don't believe I recognize you..."

"Not many would." The damaged woman replied, a small bit of ice in her voice. "I've made it very hard for my legacy to be remembered. As far as most are concerned, I'm supposed to be dead."

"Well. You've picked a good place to hide from the shambles of your old life. Or at least a common one." The Woman chuckled grimly. "By the way... If you want to use the kit, you could just say so."

Johanna looked down at her wound. It may had been half the size it was when she first received it, but it was still large enough to be impairing. "Admittedly it would be useful, but it's not needed for a full recovery."

She raised an eyebrow, then took a look at her eyes, noting the distinctive color. "I see... Well, It's similar for me, so I have little need of it."

"Not need hmm?" A barely noticeable grin touched the Mercenary's face. "So you're not quite human either then?"

"If you mean I'm not quite ordinary, then yes." She chuckled. "You'll find a lot of that here."

"Is that so." Johanna took a moment to think. "What makes you different then?"

"Well. I'm an Elf for starters." She shrugged.

"And Elves are still in need of medicine and magic to survive wounds and bleeding." The mercenary retorted. "You already mentioned that you have no need of a medical kit... which means there is something much more interesting about you then others."

"Let's just say, I might be something similar to you, but that depends on what you are." She replied, crossing her arms.

"I am simply a human." The woman stated. "A human carrying a dark power inside of her."

"Well... You're not the only one like that here. You'll fit right in with them." She put a hand on her hip. "As for the some others... They're a little more sensitive."

"One's sensitivity is not of my concern." The Mercenary took a piece of equipment from the med kit with her bandaged hand. "If they can not accept that this is a gruesome world we live in, they they have no right to fight for it."

"You have an interesting perspective Ms..." She stopped herself momentarily before continuing. "Allow me to introduce myself first. You may call me Kva."

"Johanna." The battle worn maiden replied back.

"It's good to meet you." Kva nodded her head slightly. "So... I take it you're bringing dark magic to the guild, based on what you said. But that can entail much, of course."

"Yes, I'm bringing dark magic to this guild..." Johanna remarked as she threaded the needle and began stitching her knee. "Though, it is not my own."

"Not your own? I... Don't follow?" The Elf raised an eyebrow behind her visor.

"Are you familiar with Demon souls and what happens to them when one of the creatures is to die?"

"Demon's Souls? No, I'm afraid you must enlighten me. The study of demons has a long way to go." Kva tapped the jawline of her helmet

"Well... Demon's don't die when they are slain." The wounded woman explained. "Their souls are preserved in magic and can be resummoned with enough sacrifices... and a vessel. I currently act as the vessel for the Demon known as the Mistress."

"You're possessed?" Kva confirmed, seeming more than a little curious.

"Exactly." Johanna confirmed. "But, unlike others, I can fight the Demon's will, allowing me to keep my conscious."

"And if you can't, there are those here who could aid you..." Kva advised, rotating her rapier in her hands. "Since you confided in me your secret... I feel it is only fair to tell you mine. Normally I would avoid telling someone so new, but you only just met me as well. Besides, you don't seem like the kind of girl to shun dark aspects of people."

"Only a hypocrite would shun others would being the same as them." The possessed weapon remarked solemnly. "Secrets can only last for so long anyways, better to not them."

Of course you recall how I told you I had little need of the medical kit." She crossed her arms, arcing her back slightly. "It's because I'm a Vampire."

"A Vampire hm?" For a second, the woman sounded intrigued.

"I assume you do know what that is." Kva confirmed.

"Yes." Johanna said simply.

"And?" Kva shrugged lightly. "No opinion? Comment? Concern? Question? Shortsighted insult?"

"When you've been in my field of work long enough, you've learned not to care about who, or what, someone is."

"And what is 'your field of work'?" The Fencer questioned.

"I'm a mercenary." The possessed woman answered. "You want something done, I'll do for the right price."

"No questions asked. I see." She nodded. "It's a common profession and many transfer from Merc to Hunter fluidly. Their both money work. Question is, is this your first go with a Hunter Guild?"

"Yes, it is." The mercenary replied as she finished the stitching on her leg. "Escorts and assassinations were too easy and rather unnecessary... I came here for something a bit more challenging."

"You'll find it in no short supply then." She said was she held out her hand. "Welcome to Havenbrook Johanna."

"Thank you for the invitation." Johanna remarked. "Hopefully we will have some more time to talk in the future."

"I feel the same way Johanna." The Dhampir gave a contained smile as her new friend went on her way.

 

[Dahlexpert]

The fallowing is done between Dhalexpert and Zombiesplitter53

My boyfriend is your boyfriend

Have Brook manor
Library

Charter entered the library looking for Esmerelda." Es are you around here? Es." Charter made his way through the library and saw Esmerelda siting down on a chair. "There you are what's up Es."


Esmeralda smiled up at him. "I'm waiting. Oh, isn't it exciting?!"

Charter smiled at Esmerelda and put his hand on her stomach." You must have had a long day let me help you." Charter took off Esmerelda shoes and started rubbing her feet.

Es closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm okay. I've just been waiting here. Too excited to even read. What have you been doing?"

"Ou you know the usual, training helping around the area sending Elma on some bounties that stuff. What have you been waiting for anyway?"

"Oh, I told you... didn't I? Maybe not..." Es tapped her lips, then shrugged. "Let it be a surprise! Tell me how Elma is doing. You know... after..." She frowned.

"She's on the brink right now, I got her to kill bandits for weeks now. However I feel if Elma gets another screw up she'll just leave, I fear that the pressure is getting to her not to mention the guilt of what happen to Eraqus."

Esmeralda frowned deeper. "Is Eraqus being hard on her? Regardless of whether Elma deserves any blame, he should be mad at Tecunte. She's such a... a... a witch with a capital B!"

"Yea sure, it's not just that most people think she's a coward for obvious reasons. But Elma is close to losing it, but maybe it's for the best. When you put coal under pressure it will ether crumble or turn into something beautiful, so Elma leaving might be good for her. People need to find their own way in life and Elma will hopefully find hers."

Esmeralda lowered her head. "Maybe I should talk to her. I don't want her to leave. I love having her here. It is like having a third sister."

"I want to as well, but this is something Elma must face on her own. She has to find her own way to things, that’s just how it is Es." Charter said still rubbing her feet, and slowly moved to her thigh.

"A little open with your signs of affection, aren't you?" asked a somewhat familiar voice behind Charter.

Charter seemed confused at the voice and looked at Esmerelda. "Es is that who I think it is?"

"Safria!" Esmeralda shouted, and would have jumped from her chair if Charter didn't have her leg. "Welcome!"

"As energetic as always..." The older of Es' younger sister' stepped next to them. She had simple black slacks and a black shirt with a skull on it, as well as an unzipped black travel jacket, and dark sunglasses. "Hey, bro."

Charter got up and looked at Safria." Well nice to see you wearing close this time figured you be parading in your underwear again, not that i'm complaining." Charter taking a small jab at her." Alright Es I’m out of your way."

"Too cold out for that. But if you really want to see me..." Safria was interrupted by Esmeralda squeezing her tightly. "Jeez... nice to see you Too, I guess. Still butting in on other people's problems?"

Es let her go and pouted. "Still listening in on other people's conversations?"

"I'm actually surprised to see you here, you’re a long way from home Safria never thought that you would come all the way out here how have you been?"

"I'm fine," she answered in a bored tone." Safria folded her arms. "And this was my parents' idea. They insisted I spend some time here after an... Incident."

"Incident what are your family OK? Were you store broke into or something, is your mother alright?"

"Store is fine, mom is fine. I..." She looked away. "I had a spat with my boyfriend."

Charter blinked in confusion. "You have a boyfriend, I mean you’re a beautiful women it's just shocking and interesting and um I’m goanna go polish my sword and feed Slone yea that sounds like a good idea." Charter slowly made his way to the door.

Behind him, he heard Esmeralda gasp loudly. When he turned back, she had removed Safria's sunglasses to reveal a massive black eye that was still healing.

Charter saw the black eye left and came back with one of his potions." Sit down and hold still." Safria sit down and Charter put the potion into a napkin and wiped it on her eye. "Alright what happen, did you show this to your brother?"

"Yeah. He almost killed my boyfriend. My mom and dad want me to stay away from him, and they think sending me away for a few weeks will make me get over him."

"Well you might as well enjoy yourself for a few weeks, come on then let's head out get you some sun and tour you around the city. Hell you might as well see this as an opportunity right Es."

Esmeralda nodded. "No lazing around like at home."

"Oh... but I like lazing around." Safria scoffed. "Fine, fine. I need to have a smoke anyway. Unless I can smoke in here."

"No!" Esmeralda gave her a serious look. "No fire around my books. Besides, no one likes your stinky medicine smoke."

"Alright alright, look let me get a few things." Charter put his hands on Safria on shoulder. “Look just try and enjoy yourself alright, you could use this time to actual do some sightseeing."

"Yeah yeah." She shrugged and grinned. "Maybe I'll find other ways to have fun."

“Ou I’m sure you will, come let’s get you some sun and if we’re lucky maybe put a smile on that face of your I mean I did it once I’m sure I can make you smile again.”

She rolled her eyes and walked out with him, Esmeralda close behind.

As Charter made his way to the outside he whistled and Slone came out of the forest." Safria you remember Slone don't you, the wolf that gave you a panic attack."

"Rubi had the panic attack. I was merely... concerned. I'm not afraid of some wolf." Still, Safria hesitated in presenting her hand for him to smell.

Slone rubbed his head on her hand.” Aw see he remembered you right, Slone we’re going to the city you know the drill.” Character got on Slone back and walk around the horses.” Come on you two we don’t have all day.”

They climbed aboard. "These horses are pretty well train to be around a dire wolf so calmly," Safria stated, the sister' following Charter.

“Well they been around Slone for quite some time so by now there used to him, also he does keep them safe from other monsters.”

Safria sighed, pulling out a hand roll stick from her pocket and a lighter. "So where are we going?"

“To the city I’m sure we can find something in there to keep you interested.” Character patted Slone side and Slone ran to the city.

They followed closely, Safria smoking on the way. By the time they arrived, she was fairly high but it had little effect on her.

 

[Dahlexpert]

Part 2

Once they arrived Charter patted Slone side and Slon ran away from the city." Right then." Charter helped Esmerelda off the horse." You alright hon, don't want you falling off or anything."

"Mmm... my back hurts." Es smiled at him. "Can you rub it when we get home?"

"I will try, milk this in while you still can. You do have months of this, so for now let's get you both fed at the moment and also." Charter stood in front of Safria." You can mention how or what possed him to do this to you."

Safria gave him a glazed look. "Tell... who did what?"

“You can play dumb all you want, Ou right she’s not in the right state of mind right now. Whelp better go and feed her then.”

As they walked along, Safria suddenly blurted out, "Oh, the shiner! You want to know why he hit me?"

“Yes that I would like to know why your boyfriend did that to you, if it’s not too much trouble.”

She shrugged. "I mouthed off. That's what men do when they don't like what you have to say."

"Realy so what did you say to this man for him to punch you? And by the way that's not what all men do."

Safria folded her arms. "That his and blows chunks and he'll never make it anywhere if he doesn't, you know... get a bit of talent. He yelled, I yelled... then he hit me."

"Just the once?" Esmeralda asked suspiciously.

Her sister shrugged. "I might have a... bruise on my arm where he grabbed me..."

"Ou boy alright let's go eat and we can talk about your boyfriend and what type of guy he is while we eat." Charter and the girls entered a restraint and sat at a booth." Alright talk what is he like?"

Safria looked around. "What do they serve here?" she asked, avoiding the question.

Almost on que a waitress came along, Charter ordering an Ail while Esmerelda ordered water Charter then gave Safria the menu." That's what they have, now i'll ask again what type of guy is he before I go down there personal and find him myself. Though personally I might treat him better than if your brother got his hand on him."

Safria shrugged again. "I don't know. Tall. Kinda skinny but he works out... a little. Like dark things like I do. Into some weird stuff but hooks me up when I run out. Kinda has a... temper..."

"Ugh define the temper, is this a normal thing with him?"

"Look, he gets mad but... but he loves me. And we always make up for a while. He... he really does love me. And... And like you said, who else am I goanna find?"

"Anyone else look i'm just worried about you is all, I mean were going to be family at some point. I just want to be sure that you’re fine and happy."

"Are you still..." Esmeralda stared, but a firm look from her sister shut her up.

"Is she still what, is there something going on with her or something?"

Safria sighed. She took off her jacket and lifted her arms, which were covered in scars. "See. No new ones. Haven't cut myself in a month."

Character eyes widen in shock.” Yea no see that’s a problem, did this happen when you dated the man?”

"During. Before." Safria flipped through the menu. "Sometimes you just need to do something to feel alive, you know. Why? You have a problem with it?" She pulled out another joint.

Character then grabbed the joint.” Yes I do, cutting yourself is not a good solution.”

"Give it back!" She shouted. "I don't cut myself when I smoke, and it has been several months!"

Character reluctantly gives Safari back her joint and looked at Esmeralda.” Es wear something over your mouth so you don’t breathe in the smoke.”

Safria scoffed and put it away. "I'll lay off, alright? But you need to back off too. You're not my dad, and you told me to take this as a vacation, right? Hard to do that when you keep lecturing me."

“Fine I’ll lay off then, just be mindful when smoking around Es Alright. Don’t want my future child with messed up lungs and all ok?”

Safria nodded. "So... about the baby. You two getting married before she has him?"

“Well that’s the hope anyway, and we can probably do it in Mirandia. My family should afford all the wedding type stuff, and knowing my mom she will go all out with it.”

"Isn't it traditional for the father of the bride to pay?" Safria flipped to the beverage section of the menu. "And can I get whatever I want?"

“So long as you don’t leave me broke, and as for my father paying. He’s a very busy business man/governor of a district.”

"Well then... You have a lot of money, huh?" Safria pointed at the menu. "Can I get this... fruity drink with the rum... and a steak? Like... a big one?"

Esmeralda giggled. "She's really skinny, but she eats more then I do while I'm pregnant."

“Ugh be thankful I got payed a few weeks ago and took a few of jobs with my sister, so Fine order whatever you want for today.”

She did, and Esmeralda order something a bit less expensive. As they waited for their food, Charter couldn't help but notice Safria's neutral face was quite sad.

“Alright what’s wrong with you, you seem sadder then you normally do. So what bothering you?”

"I'm a depressed person, okay?" Safria scoffed. "Do you think happy people cut themselves?"

"I'm aware that you depressed, just you seem more of put off than normal. I just want to make your day a little more fun if you’re going to be here with us."

Esmeralda leaned to the side and whispered. "She isn't used to people being nice to her like this. That's why she likes her boyfriend. Because he is a big jerk head, and she is used to that."

"I can hear you, you know," Safria muttered.

"Alright I tell you what, how about this. IF it's alright with Es here, I be your temporary, just for the next few days. Your temporary boyfriend."

Es clapped her hands together. "That sounds like a wonderful idea!"

Safria raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to get into my pants?"

“Why can’t you take my word for this, no and besides I was a virgin before I met your sister.” The waitress returned giving charter crab legs and his ale.

Safria chuckled. "Your first time was with my spaz sister here?! A big, handsome... well, mostly handsome... fairly good looking guy like you?! Wow!"

"I was invested heavenly in my job, and I enjoyed my job a little too much. So yea my first time was with your sister, hopefully that's not jealousy in your voice that your sister took a well handsome man in your words."

Safria gulped her drink, pouting a bit. "N-no. A-anyway, if you wanna do this... th-this boyfriend loan thing, that's fine. That mean you're gonna take me on dates and buy me presents, or whatever a boyfriend is supposed to do. Be... because my boyfriend got this necklace for me. He, um... he had to take it back and pawn it to get a new set of strings, but it's the thought that counts."

Charter held Safria hand and looked at Safria eyes." Safria, even though this is temporary you have my word that I will make you happier then you ever been. And hopeful along the way you will try harder to improve yourself, because even though you’re outer appearance is that of a depressed woman. I believe that you’re a great woman, who can be much better then what she is if she tried."

Safria's cheeks turned bright red. "You... y-you're just saying that..."

“I mean what I say Safria, I truly think you can be a great caring person if you give yourself a chance.” Character then looked at Esmeralda.” You’re not gonna be jealous are you?”

 

[Dahlexpert]

part 3

"No." We poked her fingers together. "As long as you... avoid the... d-dirty stuff..."

“Right Don’t worry about that, speaking of dirty stuff.” Character looked at Esmeralda.” You mind telling me why you’re doing combat training?”

Esmeralda slowly picked up her ginger ale, mumbling, "I'm... not doing any training..."

“Es, this is me you’re talking to. I promise to not get angry or upset if you’re honest, mostly I wanna know why you didn’t come to me for training?”

"B-because it is embarrassing." Esmeralda lowered her head. "I am tired of being the weak one. The one everyone has to protect. But I couldn't come to you. You would tell me it doesn't matter, or train me ut go easy on me. Going with someone else, especially after I have the baby, means I might be able to protect you some day."

Charter smilled at Esmerelda got up from his chair and kissed Esmerelda." How many times do I have to say I love you because you just keep impressing me with your words, that nice that you thought of that and defending me one day. And you’re right I would go easy on you because of the baby, just remember that you’re pregnant alright and don't go too far."

"So you don't mind me... beefing up a little," she asked.

"No of course not, I just wish you had told me about it is all." Charter went back to his seat and back to his meal.

Safria blinked and watched him. When he said nothing more, she said, "That's it?"

“Yes that’s I wish she would come to me about it, but she told me why she didn’t I understand the reason behind it all I ask is that she be mindful of the baby and not get hit in the stomach.”

"Yeah, but you obviously don't want her to do it. Aren't you goanna, like... yell at her and tell her to stop and stuff?"

“Safrie Esmeralda is her own person, I don’t control her all I ask is that she’s careful.”

Safria grinned and leaned back. "Heh... this boyfriend thing is going to be really interesting..."

“Ou boy I can tell this is goanna be a very long few weeks with you here, but I’m up for a challenge and besides we’re goanna be family someday so might as well make you happy to.” Character looked at Esmeralda.” So since I can’t have sex with her for obvious reasons, can I kiss her then?”

Esmeralda blushed. "W-well, I... guess it wouldn't... be that bad. A-as long as you don't... f-fall in love with her."

"Ou come on Es this is me were talking about here, this is just me truing to cheer up your sister and I’m trying to giver at least a somewhat good relationship. Besides I will always love you never forget that."

Es slowly smiled, and finally nodded her head.

"Great now then once were done with all of this Safria what do you want to do, after all this is all for your benefit and I am your temporary boyfriend so tell me what you want and I will see if I could do it."

Safria looked up from the food she was shoveling into her face. "Um... I don't know... shopping?"

"Ugh right, we could see this as our first date as a temporary boyfriend and girlfriend."

After they were done eating, Character took the two Elf around the town, shopping to bars and the occasional book store.” Ugh man you are just enjoying this aren’t you Safria?”

"Cancer is always broke," Safria said, liking her new yet somehow old looking clothes. "Cancer is my boyfriend."

"His parents named him cancer?" Esmeralda asked in surprise.

"Nah, he calls himself that," Safria corrected.

"Well doesn't that say a lot, what kind of a dumbass call himself a sickness? Seriously Safria I think you could do better."

"Maybe. Probably." Safria shrugged. "But I am a depressed, antisocial bi-otch that is, honestly, the least good looking in her family. Who would want me except weirdos like you temporarily?"

Charter rolled his eyes and gave the bags he was holding to Esmerelda and stood next to Safria, he then grabbed her waist and kissed her. Ou the taste of smoke, ugh. Charter then let go of Safria." Sometimes weirdos are good, and even though I’m temporary I still think you’re just as cute as your sister."

Safria blushed, and moved a strand of hair away from her eyes. "Th... thank you... Charter."

“No problem, also this is the first time I see you blushing like this. Heh it makes you look even cuter.”

Safria punched him in the arm, but smiled. "Don't push your luck."

"Yea yea, but I got you smiling so I’m doing something right." Charter went back to Esmerelda and took the bags back from her.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Frostlich1228 & ZombieSplitter53
Return What Was Lost
Part One

Havenbrook Manor
August 5th, 3349
2:02 p.m.

The Manor had seen better days. Besides the various monsters and even a few demons that had attacked the outside of the building, a few had made it in. While there were many injured, there were only a handful of casualties. The building itself took a beating, and repair teams were hard at work. Hit the hardest were the lower levels, ironically, and efforts were being made to get the labs, forge, and armory back up to full working order.

This wasn't a concern of Kva's at the moment. The follower of the god of Death had been called to Mina's office, the call being somewhat urgent.

The Dhampire made her way up to the door, giving a solemn and nom-intrusive knock. "Ms. Havenbrook?"

"Please, come in Kva." Once she did, she noted a pair, a man and a woman in regal attire, sitting before the desk, Mina on the other side. "Come join us, my dear."

Sitting down, Kva raised an eyebrow at the two. "If this is a diplomacy mission I'd probably be your last choice. So what is this?"

"It isn't." Mina waved her hands to the pair. "This is Jerin'dek and Xia'tar, King and Queen of the gods. I want you to explain the hardships you faced trying to keep this place safe from the minions of one of their goddesses."

Kva seemed impressed, "Of course. With due respect your greatnesses, we lost a number of hunters in the defense. Many more were injured. We suffered an especially great loss against Tecunte herself..."

Mina swallowed hard. "They know about that. The others are bad enough, but Eraqus was completely pointless. It never would have happened if the gods had simply assisted us."

"You can not have it both ways." Xia placed her hands together. "We want the homonculus back. It might be burned out now, but it can be returned to its full, weaponized state."

"And I don't want her to be a weapon again!" Mina said angrily. "She might be a tool to you, but to many of us, she is a friend, and a living, loving person."

The King of the gods looked at Kva. "And so you see the problem. You took care of Tecunte. You did us a favor. And yet your guild leader expects two in return. Keep the one you call Aemilia and the return of one lost. Does that sound fair to you?"

"Perfectly. You gifted the girl to us to keep safe and use if needed. I don't believe I need to remind you that a gift given is property of the receiver. Besides, the threat is dealt with and her secret is out, all of the other gods know now. The only reason she was even effective as a weapon was due to the element of surprise." Kva explained calmly as rationally in her usually emotionless demeanor.

"Hmm... the girl has a point," Xia said with a small smile. She might have been on the losing side of that argument, but she appreciated a woman with small verbal and rational skills.

Jerin'dek, however, never appreciated being told he was wrong, and grumbled softly. "Sorry. But one favor meets one favor. You want to keep the girl, you lose your man."

"If it one favor to one favor, then perhaps we simply need to offer them another chance to do us a service." A portal of pure, blinding blackness opened in the center of the room. A man in terrifying black armor with touches of red stepped out, a skull like helmet on his head and a massive sword on his back. "Hello, Kva."

Kva's eyes widened at the sight. "I... I'm not... I don't know... if I'm worthy to stand before..."

The God of Death held out a hand. "Do not sully my name by speaking ill of one of my greatest followers. I have been watching you for a while, Kva. Ever since you left..." A pause. "...your home, you have done great services in my name. Many lost souls have been brought to me, and many are the wicked that have been cast into the inferno in my name thanks to room. Hold your head up proud and strong."

Kva bowed deeply. "I... Thank you My Lord... You gave me a purpose when I felt I had none."

He walked over to her. She could feel his gaze was intensely on her. "But now, I have a request of you. One that will be quite dangerous. I would not blame you for not escorting it."

"Life is dangerous my Lord, but still, I am confident I can suceed. If it happens to by my time to pass into your realm, then I will only regret leaving some things unattended here." Kva looked up, placing a hand on her chest.

Taydar placed a hand on her shoulder. "Kva... I need you to go to Hell."

Her eyes widened, then narrowed in thought. "Hell... I've sent many there myself... What would you have me do?"

He looked her up and down. "Well, you seem pretty tight in one hole, but have you... ever tried the other?"

She blinked quickly. "Um... Pardon? I'm not sure I understand..."

Xia laughed. "Could have phrased that better."

Taydar stepped back. "Oh... right. What I mean is, I want you to travel to Hell and rescue my daughter. Even we goods feel heartache when we lose a child, especially another god."

"Which one do you mean?" Kva asked, looking down. "I can't imagine you have much love left for Tecunte after what she did to Grimora."

Taydar paused, turning his head slightly. "No... I suppose I don't. At least not while my other daughter remains outside her living body."

"Lyr and Drayce had an interesting talk with one of Tecunte's copies," Mina explained. "Not sure on all the details, but somehow they got her to confess that the reason Grimora's soul can't be found is because it was split into four pieces and hidden in Hell."

"Interesting." The Goddess Queen rubbed her chin in thought. "The position of Chaos God can sit for a while since the balance is so out of whack, but we need a new Darkness God and keeper of hell. Things have been going a bit nutso down they, and Taydar has had to split his focus on Terra and down there. We could replace Grimora with someone new, but it would be simpler to bring back someone who already knows the job." Taydar grunted, and Xia chuckled nervously. "A-and to bring back your poor daughter, of course."

"So... Do we have an idea of where to look? I may be an Elf, but even I don't have enough time in my lifespan to scour every inch of the realm." The Fencer pointed out.

Taydar stepped over to the desk. "There are four sections of Hell, and likely one in each. Additionally, they are likely as far from the central city as possible, narrowing the search." He held out his hands and four orbs appeared, each glowing with a brilliant light. "These soul orbs react to the presence of a god. They shone bright because we are here, but would otherwise be black. The closer you are to here, the more they will shine."

"Clever. It would only give me a vague idea, but it's a good place to start." Kva agreed, considering something. "You said this was dangerous. What resistance am I looking at here? Just the souls of Hell's residents?"

"The souls run amok, but so do the creatures of Hell. The various beings of Hell meant to keep things in line will be a problem if they continue to rebel. Whatsmore, there is a time limit. A living soul can only remain in Hell for so long. You will have to take multiple groups to search all four corners at once."