Mina lounged in the reclining chair that Carl had set up for her on the second level of the workshop, feeling that she must surely sleep soon but simultaneously feeling far too excited to do so. Her thoughts wandered back and forth over her incredible, strange day.
The day she had been brought back from the realm of the dead as Mina.
The thought once again warmed her entire body, and she curled up in the fully-reclined fornication chair, basking in the glow of the unfamiliar sensation that she'd been feeling since her revivification.
Happiness.
For the first time that she could recall, Mina was well and truly joyful. She had managed an unbelievably long nap in her steamcar while Carl drove, neither occurrence being something she'd imagined possible.
No, she'd never permitted anyone else to drive her steamcar, though her siblings' attempts had mostly been thwarted by their inability to comprehend the method by which it functioned. Their methods to sabotage or destroy it were similarly thwarted on those occasions by the very durability glyphs which she'd had Balan create in order to permit the vehicle to function at all.
Nor had she managed long periods of sleep in quite some time. Always she was disrupted, whether by the Hero, or her mother, or her sisters, being forced to subsist on shorter naps spread throughout the day. It was only the family's old devil blood which had kept her appearance from changing to one that was more haggard.
Yes, perhaps I'm still somewhat vain. I've never wished to look any other way. I only wish others were capable of appreciating me beyond how I appear.
Mina had found one, at least, who possessed that quality. She'd been gently awoken after her extended doze, finding to her amazement that she was both safe and unmolested. It seemed so terrible to have to wish for such things, but such was her life.
They'd passed through the city's gates without incident, and she'd even managed to impress Carl with her knowledge of the city, just as she'd told him she was capable of doing. That he'd had such a strong grasp of the Stadalite language, not seeming to struggle in the slightest with the different tongue, would have been greatly intriguing to her were he not an outworlder.
It was then that the problem had begun for her as her mind started, once again, to steer in directions that she would prefer it didn't.
What if Carl grew weary of her? He'd seemed genuine and caring enough up to the point when they'd entered the city, but she had so little to offer a man who could even raise the dead! She had her wit, yes, and her steamcar, which had been modified to such a degree that it could likely not even be fully attributed to her any longer, with Ir'alith, the Demon Queen, apparently having a keen interest in mechanics. But besides that, what else was there to the girl known as Mina, who had felt alternating stabs of joy, pain, and jealousy as she falsified her surname in the course of entering the city.
The fear had grown throughout the day the more she considered it, despite her efforts not to consider it. Gone were her previous fears, but now they were being replaced by all-new ones. If Carl chose to leave her, she knew what would befall her.
She'd already lived that life.
Mina was still not strong, as she realized when she'd seen her oldest sister for the first time in well over a year. Emma was strong. She'd managed to escape from Charus City all on her own, catching her husband with a net of a certain kind—one which had resulted in continued sounds echoing from her chambers for a week before she'd departed the castle, never to return. And she seemed to be excelling in this country, if her husband's status as a driver from the upper track was anything to go by.
The precise details of such a thing eluded Mina, but she was certain she'd gather them in time. Time that she now knew she must spend in an attempt to defeat her sister's husband in a race. Growing up, she had never defeated Emma in any manner of contest, whether it had been physical, like fencing, or even mental, like chess. It was not that she was incapable of doing so.
Not exactly.
I'm still afraid. Mina shivered despite the heat of the new country to which she'd traveled that caused her to perspire almost incessantly. Always she hated me, though I never was able to learn why. Even when I was young, it was she who mocked me for being unable to triumph over my fear. Or perhaps that's simply when it began in earnest. She drew her hands to her chest, clasping them together. But this time, I will win. I must. There's still so much work to be done, though…
Her mind turned again to the near-unlimited improvements she planned to make to her steamcar, the orderly thoughts soothing her as they always did.
Until she thought again of her new assistant.
Perhaps… She struggled to see the value that Carl had seen in the magical construct, having agreed at the time in part because she feared arguing with him. Perhaps it has some capability that he sees and I cannot. His is the perspective of an empty sheet of paper, with no prior knowledge or preconceptions to taint his…
Or perhaps it's taken the appearance of a hybrid, looking mostly like his wife with bits of Ir'alith added to his tastes, and he'll fall to his lust as all men seem to. Though the genuine way in which he protested it was entertaining. Surely he had no need to make such a serious face if he'd intended only to lie.
Mina yawned, and her thoughts grew more sluggish. She continued worrying at the idea she'd returned to earlier in the day of removing her steamcar's boiler until eventually she lost herself to sleep.
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"Mina," came a quiet voice.
Mina groaned softly. No, why must they always wake me…
"Mina. I… I have need of your skills."
Mina stirred at this, the words sounding straight from one of her fondest, oldest dreams in which her indifferent family had, at long last, realized the value of her abilities and begun to care. She opened her eyes.
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Ir'alith, the Demon Queen, stared back at her from a strangely-floored room beyond a purple-ringed portal, her orange eyes staring forward and her forehead creased in a manner that could only be described as worried.
Mina rolled back in the chair, huddling against the wall. What…
"Jungrathol, place it here," Ir'alith called, lying back against an oddly fibrous wall.
A pair of giant red arms entered the visible area at the edge of the portal and set an odd, metallic object beside the blue-skinned, armored…person with a soft clank.
Mina frowned, her curiosity overriding her fear at the manner in which she'd been awoken. What manner of machine is this?
The metal machine was quadrupedal, though its nature as a machine and motionlessness prevented that fear from taking hold. It also bore an uncanny resemblance to a dog or, perhaps, a wolf. The thing was small, looking as though it wouldn't even rise to her knee if it were standing, but it had a certain sense about it.
How ominous it feels. Mina moved a little closer to the portal, her eyes sweeping over a machine that had been created with a finesse and skill unlike anything she'd ever seen. And its teeth, they seem to be more like tiny swords.
"Mina, Valgud Flintbrow has spoken to me of your intelligence," Ir'alith said after some time had passed. "It is for this reason why I come to you, a human, requesting your help. Will you aid me?"
Aid? What could one so powerful need from me? "What do you need from me?" she asked cautiously.
"A method of defeating metal monsters such as these," Ir'alith said, her tail poking the machine.
Mina frowned. Where… "You've spoken as though you've encountered more than the one here."
Ir'alith nodded, seeming exhausted. "Please, step through the portal, and we can discuss this. Maintaining it is difficult in my current state."
"I'll inform Carl first," Mina said, sliding out of her chair.
"No, you must not!" Ir'alith said, her eyes widening. "Please. Carl must never know of this."
Mina crossed her arms over her chest. This is far too suspicious. She shook her head. "No, if I'm unable to—"
"Please, Mina," Ir'alith implored, her tail twitching slightly against the floor. She looked down at herself. "I vowed that I would never beg again after what the third hero forced me to—"
"You knew Normannus?" Mina asked immediately.
Ir'alith flinched slightly. Just enough for someone who had been watching for it to notice. "I…"
Mina hurriedly stepped into her boots and through the portal, her thoughts spinning like a turbine. "He's hurt you, hasn't he?" she asked, feeling at long last like she might have someone she could truly speak with about what she'd endured.
Ir'alith nodded, her head hanging. "It was more pain than you could imagine."
The memory of the blood-covered, severed head returned. "But you killed him. You killed a hero," Mina said, staring down at the Demon Queen, who suddenly seemed frail and weak.
"I killed one and grew overconfident," Ir'alith said, her tail flopping a little on the ground. "I grew foolish. Now there are consequences for my hubris." She looked up and to the right of Mina. "Jungrathol, leave us for now."
Mina turned to see who she was talking to and shrieked when she noticed the hulking, red, four-armed demon glaring down at her. She retreated, cowering against the wall farthest from it.
"I will not leave so long as a human is this near to you, protector," Jungrathol rumbled, shaking his head. "Still I can find no reason to request her aid. Send me and five of our—"
"You would die," Ir'alith interrupted with finality. "I should be dead. That I am not is perhaps due only to a deity's intervention."
At the mention of deities, Mina's thoughts once more turned back to a time when a man had referred to Carl as one. Surely not… But… How else could he have restored me to life? The thought caused her anxiety that he would grow bored of her to increase.
Deities were known to be capricious.
"Mina, how can a creature such as this be defeated?" Ir'alith asked again.
Jungrathol seemed content to cross both sets of arms over his massive chest and glare.
How can it be defeated? Mina slowly advanced from the wall, her curiosity continuing to build as she neared the machine. She crouched down before it. What is it? She's called it a metal monster, so it's apparent she possesses no knowledge of mechanics. She poked one of its legs with her finger, but it didn't budge. She tried moving it with her hand, but she was unable. She strained with all her might, but she was unable to move the small machine even the tiniest bit.
"The monster is too heavy for a weak human to move," Jungrathol said, letting out a deep chuckle.
"The monster is too heavy for your protector to move now," Ir'alith snapped.
"I apologize, protector," Jungrathol said, falling to one knee with a thud and bowing his head, "I intended no offense."
"Where did you find such a thing?" Mina asked, having been only half-listening as she marveled at the machine's intricate construction.
"I was near Khag Daruhm when I was attacked," Ir'alith said.
Khag Daruhm? That's…somewhat near to Onyxfell, if I recall? "And this thing—this machine—nearly killed you?"
Ir'alith looked down at the machine with a baleful gaze. Her tail stabbed out, striking at its neck, but there was no mark visible from the impact. The end of her tail changed, becoming a wickedly sharp point. She stabbed down once more, and it barely penetrated the metal. "With this tail, I was capable of piercing the third hero's body. This machine is impenetrable to me with my restrictions. Even my axe was of little use. Perhaps if I had been able to shift to my combat form I would have endured for longer, but the result would have been the same in the end. They ate my magic."
Mina blinked. "They ate your magic?"
Ir'alith nodded, and her eyes closed as she leaned her head back against the wall. "I am a being of magic. I do not have mana, as you humans do. There is a conduit of magic which runs through me. It has no beginning, and it has no end. It cannot be depleted. It can only be drawn from, as I do now to maintain the barrier around us."
"Barrier?"
"The great barrier which covers the forest we live in," Jungrathol said with hostility. "Without it, you humans would have slaughtered us with your heroes and your guns."
Ir'alith slapped his foot with her tail. "Enough."
"I cannot speak my mind?" Jungrathol said, his tone growing more annoyed as he spoke. "Was it not you who returned by gate earlier, every part of you not covered by armor chewed away and mangled by the monsters created by a human? Was I not the one you requested watch over you during your recovery?"
Ir'alith remained silent, her eyes remaining closed and face tilted towards the wooden ceiling.
The enormous, red, four-armed, one-and-a-half-horned creature known as Jungrathol glared down at Mina even as he continued to kneel. "If you are an ally as the protector claims, then why did you hesitate to aid her? Why refuse only until she was forced to beg?"
Mina gulped, suddenly very conscious that the portal which had brought her to the southern forest, the terrifying place where the demons were known to live, was no longer in existence. I grew too eager to investigate the machine when I saw that we shared something so dark in our pasts! I should have remained more cautious!