Lucius led David and Sarah across the back yard of the farmhouse. After leaving the remainder of the group, including Nicolai, for Patrick and Mary to handle, the three set off in search of Maryanne. The companions quickly caught sight of the child walking out of the barn that held the spiders, she was carrying a few large horse brushes in her hands that were covered in pink spider hair. The child began to carefully clean the brushes one by one, tossing to fluffy pink hair to the ground as the group approached her.
David and Sarah couldn't hold back their emotions as they neared Maryanne, breaking into a run and calling out to her as they approached. Maryanne lifted her eyes from the task she had been focused on with obvious confusion on her face, quickly dropping the brushes to the ground and standing frozen in place the moment she recognized the two people rushing towards her. Maryanne stood perfectly still for a few seconds, her hands slowly beginning to tremble as the emotions welled up inside her before bursting out.
"Hic... hhic—mah! MAAHMA!"
Lucius stood behind with a contented smile on his face as he observed the much overdue reunion of the family.. The impressive emotional strength that Maryanne so commonly displayed made him forget sometimes just how young the child actually was, but the uncontrolled sobbing that was taking place at this moment brought that reality back into stark focus. Maryanne grasped on to the clothing covering Sarah's back as she hugged her mother so tightly that her little hands turned white from the pressure. Her mother let out a quiet sob of her own as she returned the embrace.
David stood above the two girls, resting one hand on Maryanne's head as he covered his eyes with his free hand, the large man's shoulders shaking every few moments as he struggled to maintain his composure.
"I'm so sorry that we left you all alone, Maryanne. It will never happen again, I promise!"
David managed to speak the somber oath without breaking down. Maryanne looked up at her father as he spoke to her, releasing her mother from her tight grasp as she held her hands up in the air, urging David to pick her up.
David turned back to face Lucius as he held Maryanne in his arms, wiping his sleeve across his eyes before speaking.
"Thank you, Lucius. You single handedly saved my entire family. I can never repay this debt, but I will do my best to do so. Whatever you need in the future, you can count on me to support you."
Lucius smiled at David's words as he reached out his hand to accept the handshake that David offered.
"I did it for Maryanne, she can be very persuasive you know. I'll leave you three to get reacquainted, if I don't get some sleep you're going to find me passed out in the grass somewhere. Don't forget to see miss Mary to get that wound on your side looked at, David."
Lucius waved goodbye, giving the reunited family some privacy as he turned back towards the farmhouse, quickly making his way inside. Mary was at the kitchen table, which had become the makeshift medical center whenever people needed treating. Just being in the woman's presence left Lucius feeling a refreshing relaxation spread through his body, as her Blessing Of The Healer aura began to work it's magic on his depleted stamina.
Mary was currently applying first aid to the various wounds that the group of people had accumulated since the Abyss invaded. Many of them had infected lacerations or sprains that had grown worse and worse from neglect. Their previous leader was not exactly all that concerned with the wellbeing of his men, after all.
Having already discussed the details about the new group with Mary and Patrick, Lucius didn't linger in the kitchen and instead made his way directly to his room, collapsing into the bed without even removing his filthy clothes or cleaning the dirt off his body. Lazily kicking off his shoes before finally giving in to his bodies urgent need to sleep.
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When Lucius' eyes fluttered open later in the day, he glanced out the window and realized that only around four hours had passed. The sun was getting low in the sky, but Lucius felt wide awake.
"Well, guess I'm up."
In the old world, after a night without sleep, he would have undoubtedly slept through the entire next day and well into the next night. Probably waking up sometime around one or two in the morning. But now, with his enhanced body, he felt great after just a few short hours.
As Lucius passed through the farmhouse he saw that the kitchen had been emptied out, meaning that Mary had finished applying first aid to all the people who needed it. Stepping outside, Lucius saw the new members of the community hard at work on the defensive wall. Lucius gave a slight nod of approval as he saw that his orders had been carried out.
James was there helping as well, sitting on the back of Ellie as he directed the mother pig to dig the large holes required for the construction process. The pig would dig a large trench, and the men would follow, placing the prepared tree trunks into the hole and burying the base, much like setting fence posts.
With half of the group working on sourcing lumber and the other half planting the posts, they were making decent progress on the defensive structure. Lucius waved to James as he passed, heading toward the forge where Jack was almost certainly working.
As he approached the forge, he noticed the telltale smoke billowing from the roof—proof that someone was hard at work inside. When Lucius pushed open the door, however, he didn’t see Jack working at the forge as expected. Instead, a humanoid creature with a face like a deer, wearing a tight leather apron across her obviously female chest, was standing over the anvil, hammering a piece of metal with great vigor. Jack was sitting on a chair on the far side of the room, watching the female minotaur work as he picked at his ear lazily.
Lucius raised an eyebrow as he glanced between Jack and the mythical creature.
"What's all this? I didn’t give her to you so you could start slacking, you know."
Jack rolled his eyes at his friend’s mocking words and gestured toward the minotaur with one hand as he responded.
"Yeah, right. The moment she learned about forging, she begged me to show her what to do. Now she refuses to budge until she’s created her first weapon. I’m going to have to make a second set of all my tools if I want to get back to work without constant interruptions. I thought I was getting an assistant, not a competitor."
Lucius let out a chuckle as he motioned toward the deer-like creature.
"I’m assuming your new companion has a name by now. Why don’t you introduce me?"
"Yeah, yeah. Mina, say hi to Lucius. He’s my good buddy—the one who found you that I told you about."
Mina finally looked up from her work, placing the large hammer down on the anvil as she stepped toward Lucius, an inquisitive look in her big brown eyes. She wiped one four-fingered hand against the fur on her shoulder, brushing off some of the dirt and grease, before extending her hand toward Lucius.
Lucius rubbed the back of his head as he accepted the unusual hand in his own. The skin on her palm felt tough, like leather, but the fur on the back of her hand was soft and smooth. As Lucius was shaking hands with Mina, a puff of purple smoke appeared above his right shoulder. As the smoke dissipated, the figure of a tiny purple bat stood tall with his chin in the air, his winged arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at Mina.
"I'm Whisper! I'm the oldest, so you have to do what I say! Maryanne told me that's how it works with siblings!"
Lucius rolled his eyes as Mina shifted her gaze toward Whisper. The newly born minotaur didn’t seem to understand that Whisper was trying to provoke her and simply nodded her head enthusiastically at his words.
"It's very good to meet you as well, big brother Whisper! I will do my best to follow your lead. Please take good care of me!"
Lucius chuckled at Mina’s naïve behavior as he casually shooed Whisper off his shoulder before stepping further into the sweltering room, approaching Jack.
"Mina, huh? You know 'Minotaur' is spelled with an O, not an A, right?"
Jack's eyes widened ever so slightly before he caught himself, shaking his head and making an exaggerated face like he was offended.
"Pshh, who doesn’t know how to spell mina—mino—uh, whatever. What did you come here for? You’re not just here to poke fun at my spelling skills, right?"
Jack quickly changed the subject, looking up at Lucius expectantly, waiting for him to explain his visit.
"I brought you another present. Didn’t you want one of these?"
Lucius held up his palm to show that he was wearing a second storage ring, immediately earning the wide-eyed expression of longing from Jack that he’d been hoping for.
"No way! If you keep bringing me gifts every time you come over I might start to think you're interested in me!"
Jack stood up as Lucius rolled his eyes and removed the ring and passed it over. Jack reaching out to accept it with a broad grin spreading across his face, carefully pulling it onto his finger as he examined the item carefully.
"Uh... How do I use it?"