“When do I get something cool” Aj said mentally as he watched Mig play with his cool new sheaths. He was teleporting his sword back and forth between the two mercury white sheaths at his hips. Mig seemed thoroughly entertained.
“You’ve got me, I think I’m pretty cool” Kit replied mentally to Aj, jokingly sounding like he was offended.
“Yeah you're alright I guess…” Aj said trying to be as dead panned as possible, before letting a few mental laughs through to let Kit know he was only joking. He felt like himself more now, after getting some rest in. It felt good to joke around with Kit again, to get a feeling of normalcy in this stronghold, or dungeon or whatever they were in.
“Aj watch this!” Mig said excitedly. Aj turned and saw him standing still, his left hip popped out in a pose. Aj was about to ask what he was watching, before the sword disappeared from Mig’s left sheath. Again Aj was about to interject and point out that he’d already seen it do that, before he noticed something. The sword hadn’t reappeared in Mig’s right sheath, in fact it didn’t reappear anywhere.
“Where’d it go?” Aj asked intrigued.
“I think inside the sheath somewhere” Mig said, closing his eyes and focusing intently. With only a little delay the sword reappeared in Mig’s right sheath. “It’s really hard for me to figure out, but I think it’s storing them somehow. This is really exciting! If I’m just figuring this out now I wonder what else it can do if I give it more practice!”
“Think you could teleport a sword into a monster?” Aj asked
“I’m doubtful, but maybe” Mig said, beginning to focus again. Aj moved away just in case he was trying to make it reappear somewhere in the vicinity. Last thing he needed was a sword teleporting into his chest. Aj watched from a distance as Mig continued to swap the sword back and forth, sometimes making it disappear completely. Aj pondered what Mig had said earlier about how the sheaths are different from the heartstrung items he’d seen previously. All the items he’d previously seen had at least one heart, the more complex ones having multiple. The sheaths however contained no hearts whatsoever. Supposedly interacting your cor with the hearts of the items is what allowed you to use them for their unique purposes. The fact that these sheaths had no hearts and were probably predecessor relics made them incredibly fascinating to Mig. Aj was intrigued by it as well, but it was a lot for his limited understanding.
“Fwoosh” Aj’s thoughts were disrupted by Mig letting out a sudden exhale.
“I think I should give up for now” Mig said winded, his hands resting on his thighs.
“Okay, we rest for a little bit then check out the rest of the room?” Aj suggested. Mig nodded in response and headed over to the metallic couch.
A quick nap turned into a few hours as they rested on the strange couch. Aj again woke up to Kit’s voice in his ear.
“I think we should get up man, Mig’s been up and stretching for like 15 minutes. Aj peeked his eye open and saw that Kit was right. With a rolling grunt, Aj crawled off the couch onto the floor and stood up.
“Could’ve woke me up if you were ready earlier” Aj said, rubbing sleep out of his eye.
“Don’t worry about it, you looked like you needed a little bit longer and I’m not in any hurry right now” Mig replied. Aj believed him, this room had been a godsend, it was safe and comfortable. Who knew if they were gonna find another room like it in the stronghold.
After taking a few minutes for Aj to wake up and try to copy some of Mig’s stretches, they headed off and searched the rest of the room. The second table was covered in a variation of purple parchment and a pile of white metallic shavings. Aj slipped a handful into one of his sweatpant’s pockets and they moved on. On the third table was a single ornate box, its sides were a glossy black and its top was the same white mercury as the sheaths. After a little discussion, Mig put his hand on top of the box and ebbed his cor into it. Mig couldn’t really explain what was happening but he felt like he had done something, after waiting a few moments they decided to open the box and look inside.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The inside of the box was largely empty, except for a few sheets of black dividers. It reminded Aj of the insides of a filing cabinet. The only thing remaining was a knife held in a little compartment in the front inside of the box. Mig tentatively reached inside and grabbed the knife holding it out above the box. It had a familiar looking ivory mercury hilt which was covered in a variety of intersecting runes. The hilt tapered as it went up the knife at an angle. Its blade was semi-transparent, looking like it was made of blueish ice or glass. At the base of the blade near the hilt there was an etching in the blade of a ten-pointed star surrounded by four triangles.
Mig focused his cor through the dagger and confirmed that it was indeed a predecessor artifact with no heart. He couldn’t figure out how to make it work, but he could tell that there was something, he just couldn’t tell what.
“Here, you need something as a last ditch option” Mig said, handing the dagger over to Aj.
“Seeeeee look, now you’ve got two cool things. A super powered sovereign and a beautiful letter opener!” Kit said mentally as Aj took the dagger from Mig. “But seriously though, maybe we can try taking a look at it together later. I bet we can figure it out, we’re basically experts” Kit continued full of false bravado.
“Sounds like a plan” Aj replied mentally to Kit, the idea making him genuinely happy.
The boys decided to take another quick rest before getting back to exploring the stronghold. They both agreed that they would prefer to rest here longer to let their wounds fully heal and recover, but they were basically out of food. They had to get out and explore, either happening amongst some supplies magically or hunting down a stray mantis for food. The idea of eating blue mantis flesh didn’t really appeal to Aj, but it was likely going to be their only option. The boys were just about to hit the couch before they heard a troubling noise.
With an almost silent “crreaakkk” the room’s black stone doors opened. Aj and Mig took a single quick look at each other before Mig pulled his sword from his new sheaths and Aj grabbed his dagger. He wasn’t really sure what he was going to do with it, but he certainly had it out and was ready to try to use it.
“Hello?” A young high pitched voice cut into the room. It reminded Aj of a stereotypical young anime girl voice. He was immediately more scared and creeped out than he just was a second ago when the door started opening. Stepping out past the door appeared a shorter young girl around 18-19 years old. She was wearing something out of a fantasy anime, a frilly white-blue dress, completed by a bonnet wrapped around her head.
“Holy shit” Kit said quietly to Aj. “This chick’s straight out of “Reincarnated As A Midcentury Butterchurner””
“Is that the one where the guy becomes a female and leads a rebellion against the French royalty who were actually robots?” Aj asked
“Nah, you’re thinking of “That Time I Became The Ultimate Housewife”” Kit responded
“Oh!” The girl said breaking Aj and Kit’s mental conversation. “I was hoping to find someone else! Are there any more of you? Things have gotten very complicated in this dungeon” She said, rather quickly and rushed. Aj didn’t think he recognized her from when he watched the expedition party prepare to headout, but he didn’t really memorize what they looked like. He took a quick look at Mig to see if he recognized her and saw Mig looked completely confused as well.
“It’s just the two of us” Mig said. “I’m Mig and this is Aj”
“Mig and Aj, very good to meet the both of you. I am Kairi of the Nami’Riah” The girl said, giving a slight bow. Aj got the feeling based off how she said her name that it was important. He took a glance at Mig and saw him nodding in response.
“The Nami’Riah are here? Is this underworld connected to one of their strongholds?” Mig asked, Aj couldn’t it tell if he was holding back excitement or worry as he spoke.
“Unfortunately no, the nearest stronghold is several underworlds away.” Kairi said matter of factly. “I do know, though, of a safe place beyond this underworld. A base of operations small but secure. I could take you there with me. If you are willing to help?” Kairi finished. Mig looked at Aj trying to gauge his reaction, Aj shrugged his shoulders and nodded in response.
“That seems agreeable” Mig replied “What do you need our help with?”
“The recent shift caused a change in the passages in and out of this underworld. I can lead us to the exit channel, but I require access to a command crystal with higher administrative capabilities to open the exit for us.” Kairi continued “I believe I know where one may be found, but it is in a very dangerous location surrounded by mantises. That is where you would both come in, you are both fighters yes? Bonded or sovereign?” She asked. Aj and Mig both shared a look at each other. Mig was a good fighter, but by definition he wasn’t a bonded or a sovereign. Aj’s classification was obviously up for debate, but to Mig’s knowledge he was a sovereign with very limited combat experience. To say that Aj was a fighter would definitely be a stretch of the truth.
“Yep, we’re both good fighters,” Mig said, lying through his teeth.
“Excellent, that is very good to hear! I’ve already had a few close calls and I was worried that I wouldn’t last much longer” Kairi said, sounding relieved. “We venture out now then?” She said, placing her hand on top of her bonnet. As her hand touched her bonnet, the bonnet turned into a collection of water draped over her head. The water though did not fall and soak Kairi, instead it formed a small sphere just slightly above her now visible black hair. The sphere of water twisted, taking the form of a small prairie dog which burrowed slightly into Kairi’s hair.
“Eaaaak, Eaaap Eaaap” The semi translucent prairie dog squeaked from atop Kairi’s head.
“Okay that’s adorable. We gotta get one of those” Kit said mentally in Aj’s ear.