"Are we there yet? We've been walking for forever."
"First ooff Stygian 'we' haven't been walking at all. Pen has beeen doing all the work. Secondly things like this take time, it is a loost city. Loooost, implying not easily found." Replied an annoyed Leon. Stygian had been asking when they would arrive ever since they entered the desert. Vaelin had tuned Stygian out after the second time the bug asked. Leon however found the task easier said than done. The bugs' mental voice grated on the nymph's nerves, it was just too pleasant sounding for a murderer.
"I wasn't asking you. Besides, what would property know of anything, you're just a wood obsessed nympho."
"In my woorld we had epic tales of similar searches, but I gueess a food obsessed illiterate moron wouldn't know anything of the sort. I expect it will take quite some time to find it."
"Hey I'm a great reader, but I'd be more than happy to show you the full extent what I can Devour. Soul Eater isn't just a fancy title." Stygian mimicked a pixie mouth just to flash a disturbing crescent grin.
"You're just an asshoole, and A FILTHY FUCKING THEIF."
"AND YOU'RE JUST AN UP JUMPED LITTLE NYMPHO. YOU WOULD BE NOTHING IF I DIDN'T KILL YOU!"
"AT LEAST I DON'T PRETEND-
"Could you both stop the dick measuring contest, I find it difficult to ignore you when you are shouting like that." Cut in an exasperated Vaelin. She had to deal with this shit the entire time, it was far beyond old at this point.
"Sorry Vae, I'll make sure my property knows its place."
"Stygian, stop being a dick."
"Yeah Styygian, stoop being a dick!"
"Leon stop being a know it all, just because Stygian is being annoying doesn't mean you have to be. Now both of you shut up, because we are almost there."
Just then they crested a sand dune and saw what looked like a white stump sticking out of the ground. As they got closer it turned out to be less of a stump and more of a shallow well. The well didn't plunge down beneath the sands, instead it was about as deep as a water fountain. It was wholeheartedly out of place. Especially since the white marble seemed to glow in the black sands.
"Stygian, Leon, and Pen I need all of you to get in the well with me." After a fair few dirty looks were exchanged and much too much grumbling everyone was standing in the shallow well.
"Now I need you two to listen closely, we are about to enter the lost city of the Fae. It isn't called the lost city because it is hard to find, but because it is extremely difficult to escape. We are looking for the throne room, but first we will have to find each other."
"Wait what, aren't we going in together? How will I protect you if we get separated." Inquired an increasingly nervous deväk.
"Well I am going to try and keep us all together, but this isn't the proper entrance. This entrance, well it likes to separate what it sees as intruders. So Stygian, if we do get seperated use your psychic link to find us, Pen and Leon stay put and don't stray too far and wait for Stygian to find you. Do not underestimate the city of the Fae." With that Vae conjured a magic blue rope, and lashed both herself and Stygian to Pen.
"What if my link breaks? I can't keep it up if you guys get too far away." Inquired our bug, who was beginning to realize that it had mild separation anxiety.
"The city isn't that big, wasn't it something like eight miles that you could keep the link going?" Asked Vae, to which our bug nodded.
Admittedly it was extremely taxing to hold the link together over that distance, but it was still doable.
"Now Stygian I need to pour water into the well, and everyone needs to be prepared to hold their-" Vaelin was cut off as the bottom of the well, that Stygian had just filled up with water, fell away. Plunging the group into the plumbing of the lost city.
It was not a pleasant ride to say the least. They were smashed into walls, flipped upside down and violently tossed every which way. It was like being in rapids except in a tube and you can't catch your breath. Unfortunately Vaelin was the only one that really had to deal with this. Since Stygian was a shapeshifter and already knew how to make gills of a sort, and Leon was a nature spirit. Vaelin was the only one that had to struggle to breathe. Well Pen did too, but that wasn't as important for a resilient magical walking tree.
However after the fifth time they smashed into a wall Vaelin's tether broke and she was separated from the group. Quickly after that Stygian and Leon were also separated. For a while Stygian kept getting smashed around the pipes, far longer than anyone could have held their breath. Which is to say that Stygian had gone well past the point of being mad or even livid, and had come full circle back to annoyed. At least it did with the help of Shackle.
Then Stygian was abruptly dumped out of the pipes, it was as though the pipes had lost interest when they realized Stygian couldn't be drowned. Take a moment to relax after being so thoroughly battered, our bug took a look around. It was spat out in a near pitch black chamber, that was neither full a cave, nor a room. Stygian's grew a pair of hyper sensitive eyes to get a clearer picture. It seemed to be half plant garden and half stone garden, but regardless it was a very wide open room. Stygian stood up and the dim light began to shine brighter, unfortunately this light wasn't the direction Stygian wanted to go. The link to Vaelin hadn't snapped, but it was also too far away for Stygian to convey any type of message. What's more is that the link was pulling Stygian in the exact opposite direction than the dim light. Reluctantly Stygian began to walk away from Vaelin and thanks to its shapeshifted eyes our bug made its way unerringly towards it.
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Surprisingly the chamber began to light up as Stygian walked towards the original source of light. The light was harsh and an ethereal green. A light that strongly reminded our bug of the undead. Though Stygian had never seen such creatures, Vaelin had been sure to make the bug read and learn of them. She especially made sure that Stygian could recognize the feeling of such twisted magic.
The vague feeling of unease, a reluctance to act that would cause a fatal mistake. That was exactly what Stygian was feeling right now. However instead of anxiously awaiting the undead to jump out, Stygian was thrilled. Our bug hadn't had a chance to go all since it's newly forged soul familiar's, and was itching to find the limits of its new found power. As Stygian continued to walk along the ever brightening path figures began to speak in the dim glow. Twisted broken things that had long since rotted away to not but bone. Green flames flickered to life in the vacant eyes of the skeletons. Evidently this city had fallen long ago.
Stygian summoned Reya, from the soul space that a Knight's Fork resided in. Spying a shambling mess that was closer than the others, our bug, with a brief application of telekinesis, sent Reya exploding through its skull. Stygian wasn't strong enough to control the entire flight, but could ensure that Reya would destroy anything in its path. Then Nora was summoned up and telekinesis thrown as well, also destroying a skeleton. With a flash of orange Reya was back in Stygian's grasp and then ripping threw another undead. Then with a flash blue Nora was back and being hurdled through the air once more. Our shelled friend kept switching back and forth using its ability to instantly recall its soul familiar's to try and grow its skill with telekinesis. This was entirely because the spell could be utterly devastating if leveled. Stygian could just imagine stopping a horde of projectiles with just a thought.
However that was far out of reach right now, and it wasn't long before Stygian's head started to ache. Stygian had taken out nearly twenty with this combination. Now dear friends you should know that our bug wasn't running low on magic, it was just part of the toll telekinesis took on the body. Combined with the fact that the bug had highly inefficient Mana pathways, well it was just a matter of time before something started to hurt or feel overused. So wrapping up its arm's in shifter flesh Stygian began to push the boundaries of its melee combat. Nora, Reya, and Stygian all act in concert and the feeling of being untouchable washed over them. Just as our bug could shift flesh, so too would the trio's fighting style shift. Well at this point it is a little generous to call it a style, but they were a sight to behold. Especially since more and more skeletons kept showing up.
Four jumped at Stygian only to be stopped with one blindingly fast strike of Reya in the form of a scimitar. A skeleton snuck up from behind as the four in front were dealt with. As it was about to lunge at Stygian, our bug lashed out with a backwards kick causing the skeleton to stumble into a skeleton right behind it, both impaled upon the spear of Nora. Reya shifted into a mace as it was easier to crush bone than it was to cut it, and Nora became a hooked sword to unbalance the ever encroaching undead. Stygian darted in and out to keep a circle free of the undead as bones began to pile up around the bug, and our bug was reminded of the time so long ago when it had to fight off the corruption of its soul.
A skeleton lunged forward, Nora still in the form of a hooked sword, and Stygian whipped the blade around the skeleton's neck and yanked it to the ground. With a quick application of Ice Affinity the skeletons head was frozen to the floor. Just in time for Stygian to jump up avoiding another two skeletons, one missing an arm, the other without a jaw. Acrobatics may not sound like the best advanced attribute to most, but it definitely made our insect lighter on its feet. Plus Stygian could jump impressively high if it wanted to. However, that didn't change just how dense Stygian was, falling just as fast as ever.
Just before Stygian hit the ground the bug activated Repulse, which had two major effects. Firstly it helped kill all of Stygian's downward momentum, but more importantly it added Stygian's momentum to the repealing force of Repulse. Which means that all three Fae skeletons were shattered like glass. Following which Stygian snarled as the pain in it's head worsened. However our bug was far from done, using Reya Stygian lit the crushed bones on fire. As the flames flickered Stygian began to realize just how out numbered it was, for there were hundreds upon hundreds of skeletons. Some varied wildly from one another, while others looked like carbon copies, but one thing became abundantly clear in the fire light. This chamber that Stygian was in, wasn't a garden nor a random chamber, no it was a graveyard filled with centuries worth of undead Fae and Stygian couldn't have been more excited.
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Vaelin however, was far less enthusiastic. She had yet to reach the max level of her sin, without that she might not be able to take that step to become a higher Fae. On top of that her worst case scenario had happened. Well worst case they all would have drowned in the plumbing of the Fae city, but being seperated was a close second.
"FUUUUUUuck me, this is gonna be boring." Expelling the majority of her anger with her shout Vaelin sat up in a lotus position and began to meditate. She focused on the energy commonly referred to as Blue Mana, pouring her excess into the decorative flowers on her arm. The capacity had already exceeded her normal capacity by ten times as much. Once she had the flow going she had to barely spare a thought to keep it going. With that going on in the background Vaelin diverted her attention to her extra fun sin. She had literally hundreds of years of memories that she had to change the burning needed to do such acts and turn it into a controllable desire. After all mastering a sin has nothing to do with denial, and everything to do with control and acceptance. It's understanding how her sin affects her on every level and being comfortable with that part of herself.
She sat still for what felt like hours mastering herself, and when she could take no move she sprang to her feet and began flying in circles around the drab room she put in. After a few minutes of frantic flight Vaelin heard the noise that she had been waiting for. A faint clanking and whirling, as the sound grew Vaelin settled down. After all it was a long shot that the Assimilated Service Soul was still actively waiting for more Fae to arrive. That was the whole reason why she stayed put for so long, Leon and her were in no actual danger since they were both technically allowed in the city. Pixies being the cursed descendants of the Fae, and nature spirits being their oldest sworn allies. Vaelin just hoped that the massive garden wouldn't be too hard to navigate.
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"YoOU DIRTY PERVERT!" YOU DARE BIND YOURSELF TO A TREANT? AND AN ADOLESCENT ONE AT THAT?! NEVER IN ALL MY CYCLES." Screamed the fiftieth withered old nature spirit as Pen tramped through the massive multi floor garden's that surrounded the old Fae city.
Every tree that wasn't already dead had something to say about the apparent abomination that was the union of nymph and treant. The old crones couldn't fathom something so foul, and a treant being the tree of a nymph. Originally Leon had decided to follow Vaelin's plan, but after ten minutes of the first spirit yelling at them they walked off. Apparently when nature spirits are in close contact with human-like races that take on certain traits, that sets them aside from wild nymphs. Mainly intelligence and prejudice. The nature spirits could adapt to new things very well since they live a long time, and unfortunately obtaining language just allows them to pontificate their displeasure all the easier. To make things worse Leon couldn't find an open entrance to the city, they were all sealed by old impatient, prejudiced nymphs.
And for the first time ever Leon wished that the insufferable bug Stygian would hurry up and find it already. As he was having a very bad time.