Kaede

Kaede sat quietly, watching the group of former slaves trying their hardest to beat the wolf and sproutlings. She decides to bless them with her presence, and approaches, yelling out, “Just hit it already! Quit being cowardly! Do you even want to save others!?” She raises her staff as one of the four is angered and throws herself forward at a sproutling. Slamming down as the spell takes hold, she bisects the plant monster, bringing excitement and a small bit of courage to the rest. With that, they start to genuinely fight. Though they were terrible at it, they were gaining courage as they defeated the other sproutling, and caused the wolf to get nervous, backing away. Kaede smiles as she sees the four actually managing to fight. As the wolf runs off, the four begin to celebrate. Kaede already knows this celebration is too early, as she could see the next test already approaching. A group of enlarged doves swoop down, and begin hovering in front of the four. The battle was about to restart, and the four could only stare in confusion.

As one dove launches forward, and then just barely past one, they realize the fight isn’t over. Their technique is terrible, and they barely eke out a victory, before the final challenge approaches, a Bear and Cloud. Kaede smirks, and then has to hold back a laugh, as she realizes Luné isn’t holding any punches. It will be a painful end to the fight, but at least Cloud knows how to hold back. The armor glistens slightly in the sun, and the bear lumbers forward, growling out its warcry. She watches as the fight is ended quickly, simply by Cloud, who leaves the four on the ground, and sits watching them carefully. The bear lumbers off, having done almost nothing aside take a few hits, like the tank it is.

With that done, she approached, and simply cast a small spell to heal their wounds a small bit. Just enough to bring them back up, and off the ground. The four start to sit up slowly, as she says, “You lack the strength you need. Keep training, because there will always be tougher opponents. Once you can beat Cloud here, you’re good enough, but nowhere near where you need to be.” The four are silent, and then seem to gain back their enthusiasm, Kaede quickly realizes she may have inspired them to keep going until they drop again, and states, “But you need to rest first. You’re in no shape to keep going. Doing that in an actual fight will end up with a dance with Death itself.” The four’s fires seem to fade at that, and they return to the town that is slowly forming.

Kaede hears Luné’s voice, happy and energetic, “Good thinking on the spell. I didn’t think about how to make them more confident.” Kaede smiles as she says, “The monsters you sent were too strong for them, Little Lady. Just had to do something so they could actually defeat a single monster at the least. Show that victory isn’t impossible.” Luné responds with a question, “Do you want to take over their training?” Kaede immediately answers, “Hell no. Didn’t even do that for Baal. Only thing I’ll do is explain the basics of magic to those who end up magi.” Luné responds rather simply, yet with a playful tone, “Alright then. I’ll leave that to you, Miss Witch.” Kaede smiles, she hasn’t had a normal conversation in a long time. Ever since she last was at Aichen, trying to kill Duchess Hearth. Then again, the last person she talked to there was Victor. Not really a normal conversation when you know the person you’re talking to could kill you in a second for simply misspeaking. Though he’d never do that.

Kaede begins to walk off, “Alright, I’m going to go get started on my little tower somewhere in the dungeon.” Luné seems curious as Kaede feels her eyes lingering on her for a few seconds, then shift elsewhere. Cloud begins to follow Kaede, and Kaede already gets annoyed, “What, puppy?” Cloud growls at that, and Kaede just ignores her, walking calmly off into the forest, but remaining in Codex’s territory.

Sebastia Rin

Sebastia sat silently, while waiting. Soon the door opened, and she saw the Etherling step in, a trio of rabbits in her left hand. Walking over to a counter, she lays the rabbits down, and begins gathering tools to start cooking. Sebastia speaks, curious at this point, “The picture. You have a sister?” The Etherling does not look up, but answers, “Yes. She is somewhere far away at the moment. Likely enjoying her own life.” Sebastia stands up and approaches the counter, listening quietly. She gets nothing more though, and decides to press more on the question, “Did something happen between you two?” The Freeborne shakes her head, then says, “Not at all. We just have different things we wish to do with our lives. We may be twins, but we could not be any more different. She enjoys the lavish and more interesting life, while I enjoy the simple and quiet life. Though, of course, being a Freeborne I tend to find interesting things often enough that I cannot simply live a quiet life.” Sebastia is silent, before saying, “I can understand that feeling. I once thought I wanted a quiet farm life, but I joined my town guard, and soon found myself as a talented fighter, destined to go against all around me.”

The Freeborne starts to prepare the rabbits for cooking, as she says, “You are an otherworlder, as such this world is far different to what you expect.” Sebastia is startled, as she had been trying to hide that fact for now, but the Freeborne continues, “All otherworlders suffer one specific flaw. They have a strange additive to their life essence.” She looks up, her face calm and collected, “This is something you will likely begin to be able to see, as an Angel. One thing you must note, is that almost all Freeborne have that same strangeness, as we are not bound to one World. However, those born without the ability to traverse, only gain that strangeness by being sent by someone else.” Sebastia remains silent, as the Freeborne returns to the rabbits.

After a few minutes of silence and contemplation, Sebastia speaks, “So you are from somewhere else?” She nods in response, before answering properly, “In each World, there is an equivalent. In each world, there is another of you, whether in the past, present, or future. The only exception is the Freeborne. In one world, life may have found a way to create artificial life, with its own sentience, or even sapience. If a specific individual in that world creates a life, in another they will do the same in that world’s way. You are now a guardian of all life, and all death. An Angel, chosen by the Creation Gods. You must know these things now, so that you will not waver in the future, for one day you may even face yourself who has instead gone down a different path.” Sebastia remains silent, taking in the words, and then paraphrasing back, “Each world has the same people, in different circumstances? Is that what you mean?” The Freeborne nods in response, as she begins putting the now skinned, cleaned, and dissected, rabbits on a board.

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Sebastia remains silent, letting the Freeborne cook now. Having plenty to think about. This was getting stranger and stranger. Sudden rift, Clover, tests, and now the confrontation of a multiverse. Today was certainly a strange one.

Chaos, of Probability

Glancing back at the table, he sees everything seems to be going well for Sebastia. Sliding his view to Luné, he sees it to be fine as well. In fact, he would say it is far more than fine. She now had new allies in the form of former slaves. He smiles, and moves his vision down to the town of Woodshade, where he would nudge a few actors with thoughts of checking out the Dungeon that came to their aid. Soon enough, the only remaining adventurers were heading that direction. He smiled as he heard a voice, “Chaos. We need to speak about your plan again.” Turning with an exasperated sigh, she looks at Order, of Probability, and says, “Quit with the tricks, Eyalve, go bug your sister.” The Order standing in front of him shrinks down into a smaller girl with an eyepatch and large hat. Eyalve crosses her arms as she says, “You’re no fun, Father.” Chaos smiles at the use of father, but then restates himself, “Go bug your sister or Order. I’m in the middle of figuring out the next step. Your avatar will get his turn in the limelight, once Luné’s first story nears its conclusion.”

Eyalve frowns heavily, and instead of walking away, she asks a question, “What about those other stories? Why aren’t you worrying about those?” Chaos chuckles, “Well, this is the one that matters the most at this moment. Besides, time does not move here. I have all the time I would ever need, simply to see the other stories. It is a perk of being one of the Creation Gods. We can take all the time we would ever need within these halls, and thanks to its timelessness, we could skip to the End of All, or the Beginning of All. However, would it not be smarter to use our infinite lives to create a better outcome? One in which no life must forever suffer in cramped closeness, or airless vacuum? One in which nothing ever truly becomes nothing for eternity?” Eyalve is silent, then walks off, clearly bored of the conversation already. Chaos smiles happily, glad he knows the young goddess of Tricksters well. He turns back to his table, and looks through the world again, finding the many places he needs. Then he spots something he expected. He decides that will be his focal point for a bit.

Leonarde Whitewood

“My Liege, we are nearing the Town of Woodshade.” Looking out the window of his carriage, he sees the Knight who spoke, he smiles slightly, thinking of the letter he had received a while back, and the report of the Knights he had sent. “Good. I need someone to ride ahead and check the town for me. Once done, we will enter, and leave the carriage and horses at the stables. Once we have rested from our travels, we will gain directions and head for the Dungeon.” The Knight nods, then says, “It shall be done.” He guides his horse away from the carriage, and then gets one of his men to head forwards, intent on following orders. Leonarde sat quietly, still thinking about the letter. He reached across the carriage and picked it up once more, deciding to reread it.

Prince Leonarde Whitewood,

I hope this letter finds you well, and I do hope I do not reiterate what has already been stated. This letter concerns recent findings at the Town of Woodshade, and the slavers whom decided to besiege it. On the day of writing this, the slavers attacked, and were held off by the Woodshade Guard. However, as things began to look like they may turn for the worse, allies came to our assistance. The Dungeon Codex sent a force of monsters, two denizens, a Wolf Boss Monster, and its Core.

You may ask how it sent its Core, the answer to which is that the Core itself is the missing Hero, thought dead for a year, Luné Alpenglow. With the account of Quint Radoc a year ago, and Luné having no memories of the past year, along with the strange happenings during my time speaking with her, I believe that the gods themselves had a part to play in our Hero’s disappearance. It was not Material, nor Void, but rather “Chaos, of Probability”. There may be a war between the gods, and I believe we must be on Luné’s side to win.

When you have the time, please come to the Town of Woodshade. There I will explain in full detail the recent events surrounding the Dungeon Codex, and Deadgrave Wood.

-Priestess Isabell Jordan

Leonarde smiled at the news that Luné was still alive and well. Yet, he was troubled by the thought of a war between the gods. Never did he want or expect such a thing, as it would devastate too much of the land, and kill way too many. He set the letter down again, as he felt his carriage stop. He spoke, “Why have we stopped? We are not at the point we were meant to stop at?” Two Knights hop off their horses, and stand in front of the carriage’s doors, causing Leonarde to realize something possibly dangerous is outside. Seeing as his Knights are not speaking, it is an animal of some kind. Standing from his seat, he tries to get a look, and sees a small pack of four wolves, each staring at them. They were strange looking wolves at that, and one even had a satchel on its body. Taking a second, Leonarde speaks, “They are not a threat, continue onwards.” He then hears one of the Knights start to question his order, but he repeats it, and they begin moving again. The Wolves simply sniff at them as they pass by, but make no sudden moves. Once the carriage is at a safe seeming distance, the wolves begin to follow, on the road no less. Leonarde smirks, as he realizes his hunch was correct, those are Codex’s wolves.