“Alright! Roll call everyone!”

There was a general chorus of piteous groans at this, bringing to Jun’s immediate attention the four individuals lying prone on the other side of the barrier.

Well, three prone figures and one woman standing tall with her arms crossed. This despite the decidedly greenish cast to her skin and the way she wobbled on her feet.

“Oh? And why is that you might ask? Because if somehow, despite all of my grand efforts and peerless ability besides, the ritual went tits up, I’d much rather we get all that nasty “true death” business out of the way now as opposed to later. Should we have to contend with a soul-stricken anima upon reentry, on top of everything else, I’d wager it’d be best if it weren’t also a surprise, wouldn’t you?”

More groans were her only response. That, in addition to a few expletives thrown her way.

“Fantastic! Glad we’re all on the same page! Viviana!”

“Ugh… here.”

“Viviana, check. Arthur!”

“I feel…” heave. “Like the risks to this plan…” heave. “Weren’t covered nearly as extensively as they should have been-”

“Arthur, still a prick, check! Edmond?”

“I think… I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Okay, that sounds like everyone,” said the woman, studiously ignoring the sounds of retching coming from the man named Edmond.

“Aren’t you forgetting someone?” Jun chimed in hopefully. “Also, I’d really appreciate it if you were to help free me from this strange bubble I now find myself in? It would appear I’ve been imprisoned against my will. Something I’m sure none of you, law abiding citizens that you undoubtedly are, had anything to do with! Oh! And I can make it worth your while if money is at all an issue,” he put on his most ingratiating smile.

Unfortunately, the woman appeared more or less immune to his charms.

“Switching up your tune huh? A bit too late for that I’m afraid. I think I’ll let you stew in there a little while longer. For that god’s awful “whose god do you pray to,” line if nothing else. Edmond, I need to know how much time we have until our employer shows up. Arthur, get that teleportation circle ready. I don’t think I need to impress upon you the time constraint we’re under.”

“Jun?”

‘Ivory, do you have any clue what’s going on here? I must’ve passed out or something because I haven’t the faintest idea how we even got here.’

“It… it’s you? Really? No tricks this time?”

‘Yes? Who else would it be? Look, you’ve been staying hidden this entire time. I know it might be a lot to ask, considering, but you must at least have a better read on the situation than I do.’

“No use…”

‘I… what?’

“It’s no use! Utterly hopeless! Completely, irrevocably, well and truly fucked!”

He was momentarily taken aback by her outburst.

“If only you’d -! If you’d just listened to me-! We wouldn’t even be here! This… this place! We could have left the caves easily! Escaped! Do you have any idea how frustrating it was…! And instead? What do I get? More delays. More enemies. More abyss damned questions! Was it really so hard? To simply follow along the beaten path. For once?! Just once?! I had laid it out so perfectly. You couldn’t have missed it if you tried. Well, you did try, didn’t you? Or at least that’s how it felt. And all you ever had to do was-!”

‘I…? Ivory? Where is all this coming from? If this is about the- the vision you showed me…? Because if it is, I-‘

“No!” she actually sounded close to tears.

Jun was baffled.

‘Ivory? I don’t-! What’s going on? What’s wrong?’

“Everything is wrong! You don’t understand- can’t understand! I was going to outsmart her… This time…! This time I- no, we were supposed to go free! We’d have run away to where she couldn’t follow. Somewhere… I was sure there had to be somewhere. But now…” she gave a mirthless chuckle. “Well, it’s too late now, isn’t it? Now… now there can be no escape. And honestly? It’s almost a relief, in a way.”

At first, Jun was completely at a loss for words. And then, something she’d said earlier struck a chord with him, and all the pieces finally started clicking into place.

‘Minor suggestion.’

“Oh? Now you catch on? Better late than never, I suppose.”

‘Those thieving rats? That was you? You said it yourself. You could’ve stopped those smaller beasts if you’d really wanted to… But you wouldn’t have, would you? Not if they were already following your suggestions…’

Ivory didn’t respond.

But…? That doesn’t explain why you did it.

This revelation, on top of everything else, left him in a rather foul mood, if he was being honest.

‘Why, when you could’ve just told me? All it would’ve taken was a few words! What were we even supposed to be running away from?’

Ivory took her time in answering him. And, when at long last, she did, it was with a hopelessness he’d never heard from her before.

“Oh. There she is. Right on time, mother…”

“Uhhh… Raina…? Argh, shit! She’s here!”

“Seriously?! Mother of-! A little more warning would’ve been nice from the all-powerful rune expert!”

“Apologies, but she’s moving really really fast! She’ll be here in ten.”

“Minutes or seconds?!”

“What do you think?”

“Argh! Alright fine! Places people! Leave the talking to me.”

“If she doesn’t simply obliterate us from orbit that is. Have I mentioned how much I’m against this part of the plan?”

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“Arthur? Not helping.”

“Because poking the sleeping hornets' nest has always worked so well in the past.”

“We’re not poking, we’re bargaining, now shut up and let me concentrate.”

Jun, having paid close attention to their conversation, couldn’t help but feel a reciprocal anxiety.

‘Ivory, what do you mean by, “mother?”‘ he subvocalized hesitantly.

But before she could respond, he received his answer.

A presence descended upon their vibrant little glade unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. Grass flattened instantaneously, tree trunks bowed under the weight, and then the very air around them went eerily still—as if prey caught in the presence of an apex predator.

If Jun hadn’t already been sitting down, it was likely the mounting pressure would have brought him to his knees. As it was, he was having an increasingly hard time coaxing his chest to continue its slow rise and fall, while raising his chin or arms by even an inch had essentially become impossible.

The pressure was enormous.

All encompassing.

Unquantifiable.

Like the weight of an entire mountain had been placed upon his shoulders.

Only more.

It wasn’t long before the loud snaps and cracks of branches breaking, trees splintering, could be heard from the forest all around them.

Like the rapid-fire crackle of fireworks, followed by the thunderous crash of trees being toppled. With a blinding series of golden sparks, a brilliant flash only seen in his periphery, and a sharp, fizzling sound, the barrier that’d done a pretty good job of imprisoning him thus far abruptly winked out and faded into ambient spirit. Just as ill equipped as the surrounding flora to handle this kind of spiritual weight.

Not that escape was really in the cards for him at the moment.

All at once though, as if mocking him, the pressure disappeared.

The suddenness of the transition was, if anything, even more terrifying than only moments before. Finally able to raise his head again, Jun couldn’t help but slowly turn towards where he could, even now, feel the source of that godlike presence.

And though a part of him quailed at the idea of what he might find, the action was almost involuntary.

And so it was that, for what felt like the first time ever, he saw her. Hovering not fifteen paces away, was a humanoid creature with skin the color of alabaster, owning a woman’s tall figure and well-toned physique, with a head that could’ve been mistaken for an underwater sea-creature.

She could’ve been Ivory’s mother the similarities were so apparent. And it was a testament to how off balance he’d become, that it didn’t even occur to him that, perhaps, that’s exactly what she was, until Ivory slipped from his robes silently and began drifting dejectedly towards her.

Jun opened his mouth to say something, anything.

Though whatever that might’ve been was soon lost to time. That is to say, he never managed it—choked off by terror, awe, and confusion—until Ivory was already hovering by the larger Cthulle’s side.

Without looking, the alien woman lowered a claw tipped hand to rest possessively on Ivory’s head. Jun was possibly the only one in the clearing to notice the way his soul bonded companion flinched.

The female cthulle wasn’t alone either. Two more of her kind, slightly larger and far more brutish, hovered in the air to either side of her—bat-like wings tucked in close, with heads bowed in clear deference to the mother.

Though, where both mother and daughter were a bright, alabaster white, these two were a light devouring pitch.

“This… is not what we agreed upon,” she spoke in airy, almost harmonic tones.

“Yeah, well. When your contract basically amounts to a poorly constructed riddle, can you really blame someone for misinterpreting the fine print? Of which there was none, if that wasn’t already clear.”

“Can I not? And what about this came to pass through a miscommunication on my part? I’d thought I was being fairly explicit with my instructions. Not to mention your reward for carrying out my will.”

“Excluding the part where you failed to mention this fine land of plenty you’ve got here. A perforated anima. The genuine article no less! Not something I’d have been at all sorry to see at the bargaining table. If anything, I’d have led with that one, personally.”

“The reward befits the tier of service.”

“And I’d say we did a pretty bang-up job of it, wouldn’t you?”

The mother Cthulle’s eye twitched, and gravity around them more than doubled.

“Woah, woah, woah! Theres no need for that! We’re all friends here, aren’t we?” the pressure doubled again. “Associates at least! Look, here’s the pitch. We give you the boy, as agreed, yeah? You keep whatever coin you would’ve paid us for a job well done, and instead give us free rein of the place for as long as it remains stable. Also, maybe give us a heads up when you’re thinking of torching the place? You’ll never see or hear from us again, unless you once more find yourself in need of our services that is. A clean break. What do you say?”

The Cthulle paused, as if actually considering the offer.

“And if I instead choose to break you down to your basest components? Erase you where you stand and take the boy as is my due? What then, tiny humans? What possible leverage could you hold over me? For you to feel safe speaking so freely in my presence? I’m genuinely curious.”

“Told you it wouldn’t work.”

“Alright, fine! You were right and I was wrong. Are you happy now?”

“Not really.”

“Argh! Damn, but it would’ve been so much easier this way!”

“But it’s a bust now, correct?” asked Edmond nervously.

“Yeah…” the woman sighed.

Then, before Jun could even guess as to what they were hinting at, several things happened in very quick succession.

A brilliant purple flash illuminated Jun’s immediate surroundings. There was a split second where he thought he saw Ivory’s eyes widen ever so slightly. Then his field of view was overtaken by the far too intimate close-up of one brutish Cthulle—a series of golden barriers having been erected mere inches from his face, without his even noticing.

The Cthulle’s tentacles lashed in frustration at the impediment. Then it pulled its fist back and slammed it down onto the barrier, a spiderweb of cracks radiating out from the impact. There came a pained gasp from just behind him. And finally, for the second time that day, he found himself completely unable to move, a mountain suddenly bearing all its weight down upon him.

With his chin now effectively glued to his chest, all he could do was listen as blow after seismic blow was laid into the deceptively thin barrier. The only thing separating him from the enraged Cthulle outside.

Had he ever complained about these beautiful barriers?

He took back every disparaging word he’d ever said.

Even still, it didn’t take a genius to realize that it wouldn’t last. And so it was that, as if on cue, there came one last thunderous crash as the barrier protecting him was completely shattered.

Then, in what felt like the very same instant, a rough hand latched onto his upper arm, just as a second purple flash engulfed him, and the space around them was effectively warped away.

image [https://i.ibb.co/rw6tMBB/IMG-2711.png]

Amidst a rippling sea of emerald green, the sun-maned swift fox deftly stalks its prey.

Hidden from the stubby-leg’s ever vigilant sentry by an impenetrable screen of head-height grass, the clever swift fox slowly creeps its way forward—its every movement silent, every paw placement precise.

Until, at long last, it finds itself within range, and so makes extra ready to pounce. Its belly lowers and muscles bunch, before, with a sudden burst of speed it launches itself forward.

Closing the distance in less time that it takes to blink, it’s already savoring the sweet taste of blood on its tongue, when it’s daydreaming is abruptly, and very rudely, cut short.

A brilliant purple brightness intrudes upon its hunt, startling the yipping stubby-legs back into its den.

The swift fox snarls, turning to face whatever dared to interrupt its meal, before it senses the powerful rippling’s coming off of them in waves, and so makes the very wise decision to swiftly bound away.

Raina spat, trying to rid her mouth of the foul taste of bile. It never got easier, did teleportation. If it weren’t so darn useful, she swore on her mother's grave, she wouldn’t touch a spacial practitioner with a kilometer long stick.

“Well! That went about as well as could be expected!”

“Excuse me if I whole heartedly disagree.”

A kilometer long stick and not a meter less.

“And what would you have had us do, exactly? Intrude upon her cultivated domain without even a how do ya do? Oh! And then proceed to turn around, and, not only spit directly in her face metaphorically speaking, but also on any lingering sense of legitimacy our little outfit still possessed? We had to at least try the diplomatic approach.”

“Uhh… guys?”

“Oh? And was that what you’d call diplomacy?”

“I actually tend towards agreeing with Raina on this one,” added Viviana.

“Thank you!”

“It wouldn’t speak well of us, nor our professional reputation, were we to double-cross our employer as readily as you’d have preferred, Arthur. You must see that.”

“Guys…?”

“But if the final outcome is the same regardless, what use was there in heaping on unnecessary risk?!”

“Guys.”

“But we didn’t know that she wouldn’t go for it at the time, now did we? Sometimes with you I just…!”

“Just what?! Please, enlighten me!”

“Just seem to have this hunch, don’t ask me how I know, that if we based every one of our decisions on one of your paranoid episodes, it’s exceedingly doubtful we’d have any clientele left!”

“Guys!”

“What?!” they all screamed back in unison.

“Did anyone see the kid arrive with us?” asked Edmond.

There was a tense moment of silence in which they all just looked at one another. One which Raina was the first to break.

“… fuck…”