Calypso’s mind exploded with the possibilities of what that sentiment means for him, but elected to save face. “A neutral entity…?”
“Yes,” Richard quickly righted himself, injecting that airiness about him in real time. “Fate is a fickle mistress, that comes for all man. It’s hard to appease because… Well, they want to do their jobs. But when one does… It becomes what we call ‘magic’. Appeasing fate, telling the to-be that there are other ways, and getting away with it. Making the impossible, possible. Gale, Calypso—”
“Huh and huh--?” Gale jumped a bit, looking at her friend in confusion and support.
“Don’t worry, he’ll explain…” Calypso gave her an answer, easing her with a smile before dropping it as she returned Richard’s gaze.
“What you did in that skirmish, that was tapping into your latent ability to perform magic. You Consumed are naturally magical, because your very existence now is impossible.” Richard pointed at Gale, “You commanding the earth…” Then shifted his sights on Calypso, “And your arm turning into a blade. You’ve barely scratched the surface! However…”
“However…?” Calypso grew concerned.
“It is wild in nature. That’s why it was so hard to control for you. There really is no ‘control’, but you can direct it, guide it. After all, you’re keeping fate from doing their job… And boy, the Fates That Be are vindictive. Your wish becomes a two-way street, what you’ve pleaded can easily be turned back on you, so you must be careful in your wording and most definitely your intent… I… Would advise from handling anything precious with that arm, in the short term.”
Calypso glanced down at said arm. Considering she pleaded for fate to let her kill with it, the monster girl shuddered and took the advice to heart.
“…Wait…” Calypso realized. “That’s the solution, then.”
“Have Cassie’s proclamation blow up in her face,” the gnat had her arms crossed. “Thus, all that debt she owes hit all at once…”
“Indeed!” Richard cheerfully wrangled his fits in excitement, before clapping them together. “Maybe you are the ones for this mission. Righting my wrong, and end this terrible curse that I’ve placed on this land I adore so much…”
“There is still the problem of um…” the gnat motioned her head. “Surviving, in order to do it—”
“And we don’t know how to do that stuff anyways…” Gale added, glumly. “We could barely handle ‘Chimera Jaws’ and stuff. And we only knew about magic until right now, and lemme tell ya’, it’s not like Harry Potter at all…”
And Richard created such a sound from his mouth, Calypso could barely believe that it came from him.
“And here I thought we were bonding…” Richard shook his head, before groaning again. “There’s other fantasy series other than Harry Potter—”
“C’moooon!” Gale needled affectionately. “It’s great!”
Calypso’s worst nightmare was realized… She had to be referee for both girls, after all.
“Back to the matter at hand…” Calypso interjected. “Is there a method to stop Terrortide…?”
“Disprove her claims. Give the Fates That Be the opening they need to move in. It doesn’t have to be a display of might. It could be a simple yet effective gesture that undermines everything she’d work for… You don’t even have to best her in combat, she has so much debt that it could easily take care of her.”
“Right…” Calypso scratched her eyebrow by rubbing her palm into it. “That said. We’re still groundlings. No magic, no experience… Can we truly make enough of a difference?”
“Even Cassie called us interesting—what’s that about when we’re total scrubs?” the gnat added, causing Calypso to glance over and her to sheepishly smile back.
“It’s quite easy to explain… Each of you show signs of being very skilled with aspects of being a Consumed.”
Richard pointed at the gnat, “You have a very notable transformation threshold. You were transformed at the start of all of this, during the day even. Not many can do that.”
“…Man. And here I thought pushing myself to be transformed for at least half a day until night fall was trying to make up for being so vanilla…” the gnat sounded puzzled. And a bit proud.
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“Gale,” Richard pointed at her. “You can wield magic so easily, that you’ve thought nothing of it until I’ve told you. You’ve seen Calypso, and how unwieldly it was for her. And yet it’s second nature for you.”
Gale giggled, closing her eyes and letting her smile dominate her soft face, “I… Just ask the Earth to help, is all. Do it nicely and it always works, I guess~?”
“I’m sure…” Richard chuckled, then turned to face Calypso. “And you, Calypso… You managed to hold on, when you shared the same fate as my fallen men. They were died within seconds, while you were just about to fade when I approached you… If that doesn’t show signs of wonderous healing ability, I don’t know the subject as well as I thought.”
Calypso glanced at the gnat’s neck, seeing that the liasons were only just beginning to fade away. And thought back earlier, to Gale’s hands being ruined, and despite transforming that those wounds were still there… It did make too much sense.
“…You really believe in us…?” Calypso could only muster that as a response.
“I believe in the power of a wild card,” Richard smiled. “And we have three of them in the form of you all.”
“And to be fair to the guy, a wild card fucked his entire plans for the worse—so he’s not wrong…” the gnat chimed in.
Richard chuckled, and finally tugged his mask forward. Returning it to it’s natural state. “We have a lead that she’s somehow taken over a hospital. It stands to reason that this is a Terrorsign. It’s there that you can practice your solution to stopping her Terrortide completely. At the very least, learn all you can about it and her. I wish you all the best.”
“Wait!”
Richard “looked” surprised, and faced Calypso.
“While we accept… You have to understand. She knows our faces… She has the motivation to stalk us or send agents… Asking for direct protection, I know it’s way too much, but we need some sort of insurance. If we’re so pivotal to all of this, you have to invest in us, even if you don’t want to make another pact anytime soon—understandably, of course.”
The mask. That damn mask. It completely hides his face under such an unsightly façade. Not only causing the person talking to him—making it such a chore due to the ugliness of the mask, but hides any possible tells he had.
So when Richard said, after such a long silence: “…You have the best way of words here, dear.” Calypso ran cold. Was it praise? Or did he finally see through her completely?
Nevertheless, he snapped. Three men stepped forward, and took off their cloaks, bowing towards the monster girls while keeping their head low. During this, Calypso had to glance at each of the back of their heads—just to prove that they are humans—which they were. One had a buzz cut, the other a woman with a short ponytail—auburn. The other shaggy.
“Here are your new Shadowshroud cloaks. With these, unless one knows how to look for them, these cloaks can allow you and what you hold to merge into the shadows. Virtually invisible, as long as there’s shade to protect you. Hence—us being able to watch your entire journey today.”
“…” Gale had a smug expression on her face. “Soooo, Invisibility--?”
“NoooOOOOOO” Richard comically raised his voice, knowing exactly what Gale was going to reference. “I can take these back, y’know--!”
“No worries, no worries…” Gale giggled, as she picked up hers, looking at it before fastening hers on.
The gnat and Calypso took theirs, and Calypso stepped forward. “Thank you, Richard. Hopefully, we won’t let you down.”
Richard nodded, but quickly added, “Well, you can’t do anything but succeed. But I wish you ladies luck regardless. If fate is planning your lives to be a tragedy… Then you know now that you can fight against it.”
The spear men ripped the spears out of the ground. The dome immediately melted away… To unveil that the area that Cassie literally burned—it was healed. Back to normal, as if nothing happened.
Before Calypso could ask, she got her answer.
“Miracle Matter,” Richard’s smile could be heard through the tone again. “All for a Better People… And soon, a Better World.”
And as they took five steps, they folded into the shadows. Disappearing in an instant.
“…HOLY SHIT!” Gale turned on her heels, facing the other two. “WE LITERALLY HAVE TO SAVE THE WORLD, GUYS!”
“Yeeeah…” the gnat scratched her unwieldy, indigo hair. “That was… Well, a lot.”
“I’m just surprised that you’re not running off,” Calypso was practically staring daggers into her.
“I mean, I’m thinking about that—like at the back of the mind all the time—”
Calypso nearly grabbed her again, if it weren’t for Gale stepping in.
“Guys. We cannot do this right now. Everyone is counting on us, remember…?”
“I’ll just say this, gnat,” Calypso began. “If you dare thinking about double-crossing us, you better hope that Cassie would be the one that kills you.”
“…Noted!” the fear was clear in the gnat’s voice. It pleased Calypso.
She stepped away, the skeletal girl looked at her claws again, flexing them as the others continued to talk.
“Sooooo, we have to go the hospital…” Gale hummed. “Do we sneak in? Do we go now? Because uh, I’m pretty tired—body wise and especially brain wise—”
“I can try to find some way in, at least…” the gnat responded. “I don’t know how long my leash is now, but if you let me, I’m your girl… But, considering it’s literally installed with Cassie’s goons, what I have in mind won’t work. Which is a shame, because I like that plan…”
Calypso stopped flexing her claws, balling them into a fist. Sighing.
“…Gale,” Calypso began. “I trust you the most here… Are you willing to carry me there, fashion some story for the so-called staff? And keeping an eye on her, especially.”
“Of… Course,” Gale answered genuinely, if not confused. “But you’re acting like you’re gonna get hurt—”
Calypso slammed her entire fist into her abdomen, causing a shower of black blood to explode from her stomach and mouth. The pain was so great, she immediately passed out.
Only the guilt of making her family worry again, being her last thoughts.