Even after checking all the hotel rooms, there was still plenty more of the main resort building that Drim and Jaid had left to search through. The resort practically had every type of recreation that anyone could think of. Fortunately for the searchers at least, all the restaurants and shops had been closed and shuttered, so there were less places to inspect. Though they did do a quick stroll down the indoor streets anyways just to double check that nothing looked disturbed.
And they were glad they did, finding Ipucco in an unseemly state for such a refined gentleman. His body was slumped to the floor but his arms were outstretched. The man’s hands were clinging onto the grating that was protecting the entrance to one of the various souvenir shops. But this one specialized in selling tacky pottery and odd trinkets. The historian must have confused them for a vault of historical artifacts, but fell unconscious before he could liberate them.
There were no signs of life until they made it to the entertainment sector. A few residents had passed out watching some movie in the island’s cinema. The two Fiends weren’t sure what likely odd pick they’d chosen to watch initially, but currently the unconscious crowd was being enthralled by a flickering blank screen.
The first conscious person was one the pair elected not to disturb, or rather intervene in their fun. It was Egawo, whom they found at the karaoke bar. She was in the middle of a stunning solo, belting her words with unyielding ferocity, straight from the heart. Truly, it was one of the most passionate performances that Drim and Jaid had ever seen. But it was also one of the worst.
They’d heard Egawo sing countless times, and the woman was always humming some tune or another. She honestly had a delightful voice and great sense of melody. But not that day. Clearly she must have still been under the influence, because there was no other explanation for why she was so horrendously tone deaf, seemingly oblivious to the ear-bleeding vocals that were currently coming out of her mouth.
Drim and Jaid honestly wanted to stop her, because it sounded like she might blow out her throat if she kept singing as she was. But they had to consider their own ears and sanity first, choosing to back down from that battle before it even began. And trying to explain to a musician that their talent had suddenly vanished sounded like a torturous task as well, so they ultimately left the woman to her blissful ignorance.
They next found a few members lounging next to the resort's indoor pool. It was certainly a wonder why one existed at all since there was both a beach and the biggest waterpark in the world just a short walk away. Perhaps some didn’t fancy going outside to get to them especially during inclement weather. Though with Ledmer’s geographical location, it rarely strayed away from sunny summer all year round. Even then, in the dead of winter, a human could be comfortably walking around with their shirts off.
What made it even stranger as a popular destination choice was the fact that the pool had been entirely drained and was currently covered for maintenance on the pipes. Meaning instead of lounging around water, they were chilling next to a rather uninspiring tarp. But none of them seemed to mind, quite content in their comfortable chairs.
That had likely been the ultimate reason—somewhere they could lie down that wasn’t as far as their rooms. The pool was pretty close to where the party had started, and stumbling drunks tended to want to get off their feet as quickly as possible.
Deborah looked especially content. She was wearing a massive hat and oversized sunglasses. Somehow still in her hand was a fruity drunk that was left unspilled. The administrator looked primed for a long-overdue vacation that she was determined to enjoy every second of. They left her alone, and then after reorienting a few Lessers that were slipping out of their chairs, a few more close to losing their clothing as a result, the pair continued onward.
The next stop was the planetarium, where they found only one Fiend laying down in isolation. Drim had assumed it would be a more popular spot, but he supposed fancy flashing lights were more suited for another kind of inebriation.
“It all just makes you feel so small, doesn’t it?” a stone-cold sober middle-aged Feyj spouted soliloquies from his spot on the floor. “The vastness of the universe, it sure makes all of our struggles feel insignificant. I wonder, did Cosmos make it all too? If our world is ruled by a demigod, it stands to reason that an actual god lords above them.”
“But does that mean that every other planet also has a demigod? Or is it only a select few? Is it only the planets where there’s some form of life? If that’s the case, then why make planets without it? These are the kind of burning questions that have kept me up this past night.”
“And before you ask, no, I’m not intoxicated. I assume that I was initially, until midnight when my body reset and aged. Then I found myself amongst a drunken horde and decided to excuse myself from the situation. So I found myself here.”
“Normally, this is the kind of thing I would study once or twice and find myself bored. But not in this case. This technology is quite incredible. From what I understand, most other planetariums just display a pre-made rendering based on astral charts and speculative data when regular images aren’t available. But not this one.”
“No, this is actually a real-time broadcast of our universe. It takes the current data pinged from Nathym’s various probes and satellites he scattered and compiles it into this impressive visual. The truly spectacular part is that it updates every few seconds. And because of this, I noticed something unusual.”
“I’d like to draw your attention to P2,” Feyj fiddled with the control panel that he’d stolen from the operator’s booth. “Of course I was interested in it because of my curiosity regarding the divine. If Senli’s accounts are to be believed, and I do agree that we have no reason to doubt her, then she spoke to the demigod of that world. Yet the planet as we can observe it is rather boring, no sign of a deity or life in general. In fact, the entire planet looks dead.”
“Very close to P2, however, it’s a different story. If it wasn't for the fantastic refresh rate on this system, I never would have noticed it. That or disregarded it as a blip or a speck of dust. But tell me, what do you believe that is?”
At first, the other two Fiends had no idea what he was referring to, pointing at what looked like an empty void of space. But then the royal zoomed in a bit, to what could still really only be called a speck. Though the planetarium was clearly registering the tiny dot as an actual object.
“If you wait a few seconds,” Feyj paused for dramatic effect. “The display refreshes. Notice anything different?”
Drim and Jaid could both only gawk since it looked like nothing had changed. “I suppose it’s difficult for someone without my perspective to see,” The Royal slumped up from the floor. They then put their finger right next to the little dot and waited for it to refresh a few more times. “See it now? It’s moving.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“In the grand scheme of things, compared to the universe, it’s barely moving at all. But it actually must be traveling at a rather insane speed. And I’m guessing neither of you are caught up on your astronomy, so I’ll just go ahead and explain why it’s important. This little dot is headed right towards us, towards Rathe.” Feyj zoomed out quite a bit, until both planets were showing, and then traced the trajectory with his finger.
“My theory is that it’s the monster whom I suppose we robbed. Senli did say that the planet warned her that it would come after us. At its current rate, it will still be a while. I didn’t have it in me to do the calculations with my phone, but it shouldn’t be anytime in the immediate future. I’ll try to get a more concise date when we get back, though it will be well beyond all of our current plans. A problem for the future.”
“Thank you, Feyj. Keep us updated,” the king needed to remain stoic, having to hide the new burden that would weigh on his mind. Fortunately, it was something that could remain buried for a while, because the forefront of his concerns was already overloading. But some of the issues they faced should be offloaded in the very near future.
The next person the pair came across wasn’t a person at all. It was Pox, and surprisingly, he was the only one in the dining hall where the party had started. The critter was running around, clearing off the tables, scraping leftovers into the nearby trash cans.
He then ate every single disposable dish, silverware, table setting, bones, wrappers, cups, anything that would otherwise end up in a landfill somewhere when disposed of. Now that the main feast was over, the little monster was indulging in a feast of his own, even giving Jaid a run for her money as a glutton. After giving him a few quick pets, they left Pox to his banquet of bilge.
Drim and Jaid struck it lucky by finding two members next, both relaxing with their eyes closed at one of the card table booths in the resort’s casino. It was obvious that they weren’t fully asleep, since both of them shifted their heads towards the looming figures that approached, likely judging if they were threats that needed to be defended against or dealt with. But both dropped their guard once they’d identified their guests.
“So it was you two who started this whole gambling mess, huh?” Jaid didn’t even hesitate to accuse them, though with how much circumstantial evidence was around it would be hard for them to defend themselves regardless of the truth.
“Well, I can’t say who started it,” Nachi slurred her words with a self-satisfied grin, clearly still a little wasted. “But all I know is that I won!” the woman then slumped forward hard onto the table in front of her, the blow cushioned by the sheer volume of clothes that she was wearing. She was wearing at least a dozen various shirts and jackets, all puffed up over her torso, and uncountable layers of pants, boxers, and other lower-half garments.
“It was some good and clean gambling,” Tize defended their actions, sitting next to her in the booth. He seemed to be one of the very few who had retained his shirt. But it was drooping low, so it was hard to tell if he managed to keep anything on below his waist. “No money changed hands, no one went into debt, just fun and embarrassment for all involved.”
“Well that’s only because you couldn’t get your cards to work,” Jaid pounced, ready to chastise their actions.
“Are you really going to lay into us again after last night?” The ex-soldier was having none of it. “Yelling our ears off and then punching me right in the face wasn’t good enough for you?”
“Wait, I did what?!” the knight took a step back, abhorred by her own alleged actions.
“Yeah, right after we started playing cards,” Tize recounted. “You stumbled over, told us off for gambling, then went into a rant about how I was a washed up soldier wasting my time with such things. And then you suddenly clocked me in the face, punched me right in my eye. Thanks to Fiend regeneration, the bruise went away pretty fast, but it was a nasty shiner.”
“Oh Cosmos. Tize, I’m so sorry,” Jaid briefly covered her mouth with shock and then offered a genuine apology.
“Well, it’s alright,” the man let his annoyance slip away. “Since I was a bit buzzed too, I didn’t take the punch lightly and tried to swing back at you. But I guess your reflexes were working better than mine, so you completely dodged it. And then you followed through, though not with another punch. Instead, you grabbed my arm and pulled me in close.”
“And then we just hugged it out for a while, letting our emotions and grievances run wild. Can’t remember what all we said in the end, but I’m sure Chorus has it recorded somewhere. I felt a lot better about it all, about our relationship when all was said and done, and you seemed to as well, so I say let’s forget about the whole thing.”
“Yeah, I suppose, and sorry again,” Jaid accepted, though it seemed like something that would bother her for a while.
“Well, as your leader I should admonish you both, since fighting amongst members outside of an official duel is strictly forbidden,” Drim reminded them. “But because the matter was resolved peacefully, I suppose we can forgo the punishment and the annoying paperwork that would come with it.”
The pair then left Nachi and Tize to sober up, something they were both experts at, and finished their trek around the building. Though their last stop was one they hadn’t planned to visit, but made a detour after they heard some staff gossiping amongst themselves about strange noises. So Drim and Jaid found themselves in the basement’s boiler room.
Before they could even click on the lights, they heard shuffling and scrambling when those inside were alerted to their presence. The two were then greeted by a ragged and haggard Nathym and Ahvra with disheveled clothes and ratty hair. No matter how much the scientists were probed, the only answer they’d give on what they’d been up to was ‘an experiment’, one they were strangely vague about the details, avoiding any actual specifics.
It wasn’t odd to walk in on the two in the middle of unexplainable circumstances and bizarre tests that would befuddle an onlooker without context. Yet Drim could only stare at them with suspicious eyes. Valen’s words from when he first woke that morning kept playing in the back of his mind. He didn’t want to make assumptions about his friends, especially since Nathym’s inherent gynophobia should have made such ideas out of the question, and yet… the man felt like his instincts were headed in the right direction.
But ultimately it was none of his business. So the king and his retainer left the two and their guilt-stricken faces behind so that they could recompose themselves.
On the way out of the building, through the front lobby since they’d come through a side-door on their way in, they had one final encounter. It was the mysterious and divine plant at the heart of Ledmer. Now that they knew of Rathe, there was no doubt that she must have been the one that had grown that plant, to ensure Drim’s survival for whatever reason that they still couldn’t understand.
And the one standing beneath it treated it like the proper divine blessing that it was, holding her hands up towards it as if she was worshiping the fruit, acting like one of the Fiendnatics giving thanks before taking a bite. But she wasn’t a part of the cult, and couldn’t care less about any sort of symbolism or religious significance. Drimini was just hungry.
As soon as each fruit spawned, the greedy plant girl would nab it from its stem and shove it directly into her mouth. After a few shallow bites, she’d gulp the whole thing down and a gluttonous grin would stretch across her face. Clearly, she could somehow sense a depth of flavor in the fruit that no one else could, because she was acting like it was the most delicious thing on Rathe.
Not only that, after each fruit consumed, her body would do a little shiver, and she’d wiggle her arms slightly. When Drimini ate plants, they acted as a sort of energy for her, just as they did for Drim’s Curse. But it was as if each fruit eaten was imbuing her with unbridled strength, brimming unlimited vigor. And now she was on a power trip, ravenously eating her way to become the strongest being alive. But with how little nutrition each fruit actually provided, it would likely take a while.
Since it was so difficult to find foods that the plant girl actually liked, outside of letting her eat literal grass off the ground, her surrogate father decided to let Drimini eat her fill. So he and Jaid finally headed outside and towards the water park. Which, in hindsight, they probably should have started with, since it had the biggest potential for danger and disaster.