Once the broadcast was over, Diada skittered away on the ceiling, balancing a couple of burgers tightly held in her arms. Tom shuffled away, wobbling a little, a conflicted look in his eyes.
Mads wished her friends good night and herself, boosted out the window and took a seat on the roof, resting her back on a chimney. She looked up at the stary sky, imagining every star either the eye of a massive beast or a spell carelessly cast by some ancient god. She smiled. For the first time, she realized there was a path she could walk without end and fucking hell, she had the means to walk it. On the other hand, those were goals so distant, their weight didn't register, letting her calmly look back to the ground and plan for the more immediate challenges.
She brought her hands above her head and formed two orbs of infernal fire. Despite their small size, the yellow, sulfuric flames raged, as if they were massive stars, tens of thousands of kilometres away. The girl brought them down, ahead of her face and let her hands rest on her lap. She focused on the ball on the right and tried to smooth it out. Condense and control it, so it'd appear as if liquid.
When the morning sun rose, before her floated two, bubbling orbs, occasionally exploding in tiny arcs. Mads rouse her head and blinked at the blue sky, the exhaustion from hours of maintaining the spells hit her and she slumped over. Asleep, she slid down the roof and her body stopped at the railing.
She dreamt of taming a beast roving between galaxies, using its star-sized eyes as bedside lamps.
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Tom took in a deep breath and exhaled, relaxing his stance. He gathered mana in his legs, extended it in cones ahead of his feet and pushed off. He stopped three-fourths of the way from the mansion's door, to the gate, the snow on the path blasted to the sides. The boy shook his head and slowly kicked away the snow off the rest of the path.
Mad's cleaned the leftover ice with a cone of fire and called him back in, "Cate's done with breakfast, get changed and join us!" She zoomed back into the house, through a window to the right of the door, not waiting for a reply.
The cat took two strides back towards the mansion and scrambled up the wall into his room. Inside he stumbled, almost stepping on the books and notes he studied the night before and hopped over them, scratching the ceiling with his ears. He landed unsteadily and after shaking his head, turned to the bathroom.
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A healthy scrub down and drying on a heating rune later, the kitten changed into comfortable jeans and a black shirt with his dad's favourite band's logo. Feeling refreshed, he slid across the floor and the railing down and pirouetted through the door to the dining room.
Mad's practised proper table manners, while Diada shot with her spider limbs for various foods all across the table. In a blink, Cate disappeared from her seat and materialised behind Tom's. She grabbed his chair to pull it back for him.
Tom nodded gratefully to the maid, the discomfort of being treated like a noble, gone after months of living with the three women.
"We've got any plans for today?", the boy asked between bites. He looked around, Diada seemed to ignore the question and just kept frantically shovelling food into her face. Mads on the other hand looked up with a thoughtful look on her face.
"I was thinking that we could go out of town for a day or two..." she paused to take another bite out of her sandwich, "I found information on an old burial site, there are three dungeons there, each beyond us, but it might be nice to just go for a walk, maybe visiting the shrine there."
The little Devil stretched and exhaled. "It seems some hermits used to live there and people used to visit them seeking wisdom. I think it'd be nice to learn some local history, or just enjoy the views from on top of their hills."
"That might be nice, the city is pretty noisy..." Tom paused and scratched his cheek. "Do you think there will be something for us to stretch at?"
"Cate could walk us through the dungeons." Diada threw in between bites.
The maid smiled gently and opened her mouth to speak, when a blue screen appeared before her face. She scanned it for a moment and bowed to the Spiderling. While looking at her knees, she grimaced, fixed her expression back into a neutral one and replied, with just the tiniest hint of ice in her voice. "Yes, I will gladly offer you a demonstration."
Mads shot from her chair and gently landed in Cate's lap. "Thanks!! You are the best maid ever!"
Seeing a lack of reaction to the complement, a cheeky light sparked in the devil's eyes. "I wonder how you will make such a high-level place, seem completely uninspiring..."
"Please, don't play during breakfast, mistress." A sound, of a gentle spring wind, chided the girl.
Mads zoomed around the table, back into her seat and after sitting properly, got back to her meal. "Do we need to pack anything Cate?"
"Don't worry mistress, I will prepare the trip." The maid replied with a bow.