It was early the following morning when Lupie finally stopped snoring and stretched with a contented growl that sounded more like a purr coming from her little body. She had been staying in her monster girl form most of the time now; Sam figured it was because she was afraid to miss out on something new to eat.
Sam already cooked a breakfast of roasted monster meat for everyone, so she handed her sleepy companion a skewer as she sat up, rubbing her eyes groggily. She offered the snake man one using a mana thread, which he gingerly took as it hovered close to his face. She didn't think he could see her threads, which he confirmed momentarily after sniffing the still-steaming meat stick in his hand.
"Your magic is difficult to detect," he said, looking around as if expecting void bolts to start charging around him again.
"A perk of my class, I guess," was all Sam offered.
Realizing he wouldn't get more from her, he changed the subject, “I must apologize for last night. I was just surprised when I realized you were holding a Void Slime like it was your friend.”
Sam was curious what the Naga's views were on void creatures and was trying to think of a way to broach the subject when Nul, who had apparently just awoken at the tail of the Naga's statement, piped up saying, "Sam is not friend, she is sister."
The snake man looked at Sam in disbelief, and she said, "I swear Void Slimes say the darndest things sometimes.” She squeezed Nul tightly and whispered to it, "Thank you for saving me. I’m glad you’re okay.” She grabbed a skewer and offered it to Nul, asking, “Are you hungry?”
The little slime answered by shooting an appendage out, grabbing the proffered food, and munching on it contentedly, making nom-nom sounds. Sam patted the little slime on its side and hugged it tighter. She was happy Nul seemed fine now; she had been worried, considering how damaged Nul's little body had been after portaling them so far away.
“You must visit my tribe,” the Naga interrupted Sam’s thoughts, surprising her.
"Hold on, what happened to you wanting us out of your lands ASAP?" Sam asked, already knowing his change of heart was because of Nul and now the possibility she was also a Voidling.
“I…have reconsidered,” he shifted uncomfortably under Sam’s scrutiny, the giant coils of his body twisting and flexing haphazardly. Finally, he admitted, “My tribe has sworn an oath that should another Void creature appear in this world, it would be our duty to nurture and train it to prevent another catastrophe."
“You mean so your tribe can have a weapon of mass destruction beholden to them," Sam said flatly and dismissed his request, saying, "No thanks, Snaky. As I said, we will only hang around for a few days, then leave for the Elven Kingdom."
Snaky, Sam’s new name for the Naga, looked genuinely horrified at Sam's remark. After spluttering for a second, he said, "We would never use a child of the Collective as a tool! That would be akin to suicide! I cannot believe you would even suggest—”
"Oh, come off it, man," Sam said, cutting him off with a dismissive wave. She was already tired of this weird snake man and just wanted him to go away so she wouldn't constantly worry about him doing something stupid. She said, "Look, Snaky, I'll tell you what, if my friends don't show up in another day or two, we might come find your tribe when we get on our way but I will only agree to it if you leave us alone and don’t come back to bother us. Deal?”
He eyed her with distrust and asked, “How will you find my tribe if you do not even know where you are?”
Sam displayed her map to him, saying, "Cartography skill...now show me where your tribe is." He stared at her map with wonder for a moment, and Sam was surprised at how much of it was already filled in. “It must have been filling in while we were so high up yesterday,” She thought as the realization dawned on her.
Snaky gave her a suspicious look, and Sam thought he would refuse, but then he glanced at Nul, who had snagged another skewer and was happily munching away. Nodding to himself, Snaky pointed to a location on Sam's map about forty kilometers from their position still in the obscuring fog but close enough to the part that was filled in she thought she could find it. Sam mentally dropped a pin on the location and closed her map, saying, "Thanks. Now leave us in peace,” Then, displaying her map again, she asked, "Before you go, are there areas we should avoid on our way out of this canyon between here and your tribe?"
Snaky, who had already started to slither away, turned and eyed the map again. He pointed to two more points. At the first one, he said, "There is a level one hundred and twenty chimera nest here in this area. The creatures are mostly docile unless they are hunting, but avoiding them at your level would be best. They may mistake you for prey as opposed to sapient beings, considering all of you smell…like monsters," He pointed to the following location, "This will be the easiest location to exit the canyon unless your flying wolf survived the fall.”
Lupie snorted out a laugh, and the Naga looked at her curiously, but when no one said anything else, he gave them a final nod and left.
Once he was out of sight, Sam sniffed her armpits curiously and turned to Lupie, “Do I really smell like a monster?”
"You smell primal," Lupie responded between bites as she happily gobbled down another skewer, "If you were not my summoner, I would feel obligated to either submit to you or challenge you for dominance." Lupie paused her chewing to lean in close. She started sniffing around Sam’s head and chest, her little nose nearly brushing Sam’s skin and tickling her neck hairs as she did so.
Sam was amused and let it go on for a minute, but when the little wolf girl started to sniff her crotch, she pushed her head away gently, saying, "Hold on now, at least buy me a drink first," chuckling a little. She didn't know why, but she was a little uncomfortable with Lupie's curiosity.
Lupie looked up, her yellow eyes playful, "So, if I buy you something to drink, I can sniff you?"
"No, it's just an expression," Sam said quickly. When Lupie's ears drooped, she hurriedly continued, “I’m not saying no, you can't sniff me, just not right now…I mean…fuck I don't know what I mean," Sam was getting flustered, and she had no idea why so she tried to get back on topic, "Why were you sniffing me anyway?"
"To see if I would submit or try to dominate if I were a monster of a similar level and felt threatened," Lupie responded, "And I think I would submit, but maybe that is because I know how strong and resourceful you are since you have already defeated me once when you were a much lower level." Lupie looked in the direction Snaky had disappeared and commented almost to herself, "That snake really is an idiot. Or maybe his nose doesn't work as well as mine."
“I’m leaning toward a bit of both,” Sam said with a smirk. Then she asked seriously, "Do you think we can trust him? Do you think he told the truth about his tribe helping train Nul?"
Lupie shrugged, “I did not detect deceit in his voice, scent, or movements. And if we can get trained by someone better than we are, then it may be beneficial," She grinned a predatory smile, exposing her sharp fangs. "Besides, if he betrays us, we can kill and eat him! He was delicious!"
***
True to her word, Sam made them wait all of that day. They spent their time alternating between relaxing on the soft grass at the bottom of the canyon and soaking in the cool water of the nearby stream. That isn’t to say they weren’t also productive during their downtime.
Regardless of where she was relaxing, Sam constantly fabricated permanent constructs. Arrows, swords, daggers, axes, spears, shields, mana crystals, and anything else she could dream up. Her new Magismith skill makes everything twice as easy and fast. Out of all of her creations, by far, her favorites were the two arcane cloaks she made for herself and Lupie.
Sam had taken some serious concentration to get her mana to create a permanent flexible material with the same consistency as soft leather. She nearly gave up several times, but the fact that she could make ballistic gel out of mana, conjure mana whips, and repair clothes to make them pliable gave her hope that a permanent flexible material was possible. So, after several hours of failures, she decided to try a different approach.
Removing the rogue’s cloak from her inventory, she tore off a small piece of the leather from the hem. Then she tore off a similarly sized piece of her t-shirt. Activating mana repair and mana sight, she scrutinized how the arcane mana repaired the two materials through her skills. With the leather, the magic added layer after layer of mana over the damaged part. Each layer would adhere to the one before it, and the skill would pause until the piece absorbed the mana and turned it into leather before the next layer was added. With the cotton shirt, the skill wove microscopic threads to recreate the cotton fibers, still pausing every millimeter to allow the mana to take on the properties of the material it was repairing. As she observed the repairs, she felt the Magismith skill 'learn' how to turn mana into leather and cotton. This was freaking amazing!
“Who needs rat skin clothes when you can make your own kick-ass arcane outerwear, bitches!" She thought happily, already planning epic outfits with the new aspect of her Magismith skill.
Sam also realized she had been going about making the cloaks backward. Like usual, she had been forming a framework in the shape of the cloak she wanted to make, then filling it in with mana. Although this technique worked for rigid constructs, it needed to be more conducive to what she needed for the cloak. Now that she had realized her mistake, Sam started with a millimeter-thick thread of mana about the length of her arm, one so thin and small it didn't need a frame to form around. Then, instead of trying to frame it out from there, she layered another thread of mana onto the first, mentally guiding them to adhere to each other. Once the threads combined, Sam added enough mana to make the construct permanent with Magismith.
When she finished, and the tiny thread was still flexible in her hands, she fist pumped and immediately began the arduous process of creating the cloaks for her and her companion, one millimeter thin strand at a time. To her further excitement, the skill didn't actually turn the arcane threads into leather but only gave them the same basic physical properties of cured animal skin. This meant her cloaks had stats! Which she eagerly checked.
Arcane Cloak [Level 3] 1 of 1
Classification: Outer Garment
Quality: Pure
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Magical: Yes
Enchantments: Absorb Magic
Capacity: 15mu
This cloak came into existence from nothing by a novice Magismith who used pure arcane mana as its composition. As the amount of mana used to form the cloak was less than its structure can retain, it can absorb a small amount of incoming magical damage before it fails under the strain. It will also keep its wearer dry in the rain.
When Sam finished the first cloak, one she made for Lupie, and realized it was the same level of her skill at level three, she thought it may have been a coincidence but figured it would be easy for her to check since completing it had leveled up her Magismith skill to level four. So, when her second cloak was finished, and it was level four, Sam assumed that whatever she made followed her skill level. The stats were only slightly better, but there was some improvement.
Arcane Cloak [Level 4] 1 of 1
Classification: Outer Garment
Quality: Pure
Magical: Yes
Enchantments: Absorb Magic
Capacity: 20mu
This cloak came into existence from nothing by a novice Magismith who used pure arcane mana as its composition. As the amount of mana used to form the cloak was less than its structure can retain, it can absorb a small amount of incoming magical damage before it fails under the strain. It will also keep its wearer dry in the rain.
***
Sam decided they should leave the canyon the following morning. Her reasoning was that none of her friends could fly, and if they were traveling on foot, there was little chance they would choose to travel down through the canyon if it wasn't needed. She had kept a close eye on her map the previous day and through the night, checking for blue dots and frequently checking her interface to see if Nara and the others had rejoined her party. There was nothing else on her map besides an occasional red dot showing up high above on the lip of the canyon.
So, they set out early that morning, rested and in high spirits. Lupie transitioned into her wolf form so Sam could ride her. Sam knew it was mainly because the Bloodmorph wanted ear scratches and back rubs as they traveled. Sam was perfectly fine with that, though, so she happily took up Nara's usual role of wolf rider.
With no one chasing them, there was no reason to rush, so they traveled slowly, methodically, making their way around the giant boulders littering the base of the canyon and occasionally through small groves of stunted trees. The trip was pleasant and relaxing, especially once the sun peeked over the lip of the high walls and kissed the light dew on the grass and rocks, making everything sparkle almost magically with the refracting light, creating curtains of glitter up the high stone walls.
“Who am I kidding,” Sam thought, taking a deep breath of the crisp morning air, “This isn't almost magical; it is magical.”
None of them spoke as they traveled. The only sounds were Lupie's light footfalls and her occasional deep rumbling purr of contentment as Sam scratched her neck and behind her ears affectionately.
Around noon, they stopped in one of the small groves for a light lunch of grilled meats, although Sam insisted on them eating at least a serving of vegetables, too. Her stocks of fruits and vegetables were running low, though, since she had yet to have time to purchase more before fleeing the city, she was trying to ration them.
Lying on the soft grass propped up against Lupie’s stomach after finishing her meal, Sam stared up at the rays of sunlight filtering through the canopy and felt content and happy.
As she lay there listening to Lupie's deep, calm breaths, Sam asked herself, "Why am I so dead set on getting off this planet? Is it just because I got a prize that could give me a chance to? Do I really want to leave Nara and the others? Also, where would I even go? Parish’s mother’s planet, with people that level in the tens of thousands? That would be insane.” Then she thought about how the Church of the Light would continue to actively hunt her and Nul until they were dead. She sighed; fanatics like them would never give up their pursuit. Murdering her and Nul gave purpose to their miserable existence because they were too weak or simple-minded to find their own purpose in life. Sam knew she had to leave to keep Nul and herself safe. Although the thought of leaving Nara hurt her deeply, she knew it would be best to distance herself from her friend…at least for a little while.
“Okay, new plan,” Sam resolved, "If I find a way off this rock, I will only leave if I am sure I’ll be able to quickly return if Nara needs me…also, I need to find a way to communicate with Nara across the multiverse…no biggie, I'm sure multidimensional communication methods are lying all over Hallista." She groaned inwardly, suddenly tired, "Yeah, that's a stupid plan. I guess I'll have to play it by ear as I go along." Looking around the peaceful grove to clear her mind, Sam told Lupie, "Hey girl, I think I need to take a short nap. Are you okay keeping watch?"
“Of course, mistress,” Lupie responded immediately in her deep wolf-mother voice as Sam had come to think of it.
Relaxing even further into her friend's soft fur, Sam closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
***
“Are you sure?” Cara asked her daughter softly.
"Yes, Mother, I was taking her to Father for her safety when we found you. She doesn’t know the safe paths through the Beastlands." Parish said, not bothering to whisper.
"Are you two talking about Sam?" Nara asked, wandering over to sit beside Parish in the clearing the two groups had set up camp in. More accurately, the elders, Bradley and Naris, had set up the camp while the rest slept off, accepting a quest for two days.
“Yes,” Parish confirmed with a smile.
Cara ignored Nara as she had been doing since the Tenarian had woken up and continued speaking to Parish, "If what you say is true, then we must go in search of her immediately. Be ready to leave in ten minutes."
Parish shook her head at her mother, "You know I would if I could, but it has already been over two days. Not to mention that my will is no longer my own until Queen Nara sits upon the throne of Tenaris.”
“She is no queen until the throne is in her possession,” Cara said with more heat than she intended, still refusing to look at Nara.
Parish bristled at that, but Nara placed a calming hand on her shoulder and asked Cara something she was not sure she wanted an answer to, "Why did you let my mother die and then pay someone in the church to enslave me?”
Nara asked the question without a hint of anger or malice. Still, the tension in the clearing instantly became oppressive when all the high-leveled in the group went rigid, their auras flaring in a powerful wave.
The energies retracted just as quickly as they had come when the elders reigned in control of their emotions.
Parish turned to Nara in anger, "Nara! How dare you accuse my mother of such a thing?!? To think I swore myself to you only days ago, and you repay it by—”
"Because your mother was a monster, and it was the safest way to protect you from the Church,” Cara cut her daughter off.
“Cara!" Lady Jenath snapped sharply, unfurling her wings to emphasize the rebuke.
"What?" Cara snapped back, "You all saw it! Her bloodlust was becoming insatiable! She no longer thought rationally, and all of you just followed along as though—"
“She was our friend. We could have reasoned with her.” Duke Oberon countered, cutting Cara off. He sounded as if he would cry.
"She murdered innocents, Derrick. Drained them and killed them without provocation. And she did it right in front of her child. What would talking to her have accomplished?" Cara sounded defeated and sad, as if she had said this hundreds of times. Hanging her head, she said under her breath but loud enough for Nara to hear, “She was my friend too.”
An uncomfortable silence fell over the clearing. No one seemed to want to break it. Parish was looking at her mother with a horrified look on her face. At the same time, the quadruplets, Nina and Chad, were all frozen in place with no idea what to say, afraid to move. Finally, Nara broke the silence with a question directed at Lady Jenath, “Is it true? Did my mother murder innocents?”
The winged woman nodded solemnly, "Yes, child, it is true." Then she looked back at Cara, saying, "But that does not excuse what you did or explain why you let this young one be bound to the church! You told us she had perished with my brother!”
Cara sat back down and responded with her head still in her hands, “Because the church knew she had a daughter and they have never stopped searching for her, I knew they wouldn’t. But they had no reason to search in their own ranks for anyone who had been bound before the last sighting of the child. At the time, I had enough access to their systems to falsify her records and make it look like she had been bound before the Blue Queen emerged. So, I found a priest to bind her, knowing the binding would hide her mark, which I had covered, so he wouldn't suspect anything. Then I killed him and removed his bones to prevent them from dissolving his body." She pointed toward the north, "His body and bones are buried under fifty meters of ice in the mountains a few hundred kilometers in that general direction.”
“And my brother?” Lady Jenath asked, "Did your plan always involve him dying, or was he just collateral damage?" The bitterness in her tone was palpable.
"Your brother is alive, Jenath," Cara said, finally looking up to stare back at the woman, "He is the only other soul that knew of this." Jenath was shaking her head, rage contorting her features. She looked ready to explode.
Cara noticed Alexander's eyes were glowing, meaning he was calculating, so she explained quickly, hoping to prevent a fight between her and the Avian woman, "He has been leading the church around Hallista since that day, making them think he has the child while I have been feeding him information on their movements so he can stay just ahead of them but not so far they give up the pursuit."
“Truth,” Alexander said flatly as the glow in his eyes faded. That statement caused Jenath to cover her mouth with her hands. She dropped to her knees slowly, her wings drooping to the ground behind her.
“Thank you,” Nara said to Alexander before anyone else could speak. She turned her attention to Cara and said, “I’m still only getting glimpses of my past. What little I do remember doesn’t seem right. In fact, only the past decade of my life seems real. Did you…”
“Yes, it was a memory suppression scroll that worked for both the past and some little bit into the future," Cara admitted, eliciting a hiss of disapproval from Parish, "Just suppression, nothing permanent," Cara continued, ignoring her daughter, "now that your memories are coming back it shouldn’t be long before the effects vanish completely.”
Nara nodded at that. She had most of her memories back now but wasn’t sure how much she wanted to tell everyone until she saw how this played out. The flood of information getting those memories back nearly overwhelmed her when Chad had accepted the quest, and the System bound the eight of them together. She knew what Cara had done and why; she remembered watching her mother, along with her blight, drain and murder an entire village of innocent people. But her memories were still so chaotic Nara didn't trust them fully. So, she asked Cara about it openly in front of everyone, gambling that what little she remembered about the kind natures of the group of elders was true and they wouldn't try to kill each other immediately.
Everyone was patiently waiting for Nara to speak, including the tearful Jenath.
“Oh, shit,” Realizing what she said next may very well have far-reaching consequences, Nara asked herself, "What would a queen say to someone who, through their own volition, allowed my mother, even though she was a murderer, to die at the hands of her enemies? Cara was right to do what she did; my mother was a monster and deserved much worse than to die in combat…but how do I say that to them without pissing at least some of them off?” Nara realized she had no idea what a queen would say or do. Still, she did know what an intelligent, kindhearted, borderline insane violet-haired force of nature would say. So, Nara looked at each of the elders and said, “I remember everything I need to.”
Then she turned her gaze to the seven people who had only known her for a few days before, in her mind, foolishly pledging themselves to aid her in a suicidal quest for a long-forgotten throne. She sternly told them, "I want you to swear an oath before we proceed. Swear to me that if I ever begin murdering innocents knowingly and without provocation or cause, you will not sacrifice your friendships as Miss Cara did to allow me to fall honorably in combat. Instead, you will strike me down where I stand immediately and without hesitation.”
Dead silence permeated the clearing for a long moment, and then Brenda blurted, "You cannot be serious!" At her words, everyone started talking and arguing at the same time.
Naris, who had crept over to sit by Nara, whispered, "It could have gone worse." She nodded silently, listening to her new friends freak out over her request for the oath. He put his arm around her shoulders, saying one more thing, "I think we both know it will never come to that."
Nara smiled at Naris’s words. She knew it would not, especially since Naris was no longer feral and afraid of this reality. But she had not requested the oath for herself; instead, she thought of how Sam would use a situation like this to not only express her thoughts but to also show that she held no animosity toward the woman who was responsible for her mother’s death while at the same time partially exonerating the friends who had held such hate for so many years by subtly suggesting they had been unknowingly playing a part forced upon them through detailed planning.
Parish was the only one out of the groups not talking; instead, she stared at Nara in admiration. She knew what Nara had just done and was proud of her. Had Nara forgiven her mother and moved on, the bad blood between the elders would have remained. But Nara had acknowledged Cara's sacrifice and condoned her actions by requiring the oath that the next generation follow in Cara's example.
The quest had given them a party chat function, so Parish used it to announce, “I will swear the oath. Queen Nara.”