The remaining members re-entered the caverns, without the fear of the Colligere chasing them they were able to make a more methodical search; they found three hidden passageways. The first passage opened to a warmly lit space. “Wow. Big treasure room.” Devourer said dryly. It was an understatement to call it a ‘treasure room’, the ‘room’ was over a hundred meters tall; the lit candles recessed into the walls of the room (and columns of stone) lost the power of their light after that height and the rest height was cloaked in a murky haze of candle smoke.

Onion sprouted little golden vines across his back as he reflexively uttered “So much treasure.”

“How big is this place?” Devourer asked nobody in particular. The far wall was hidden by the same haze…and by the hills of precariously stacked treasure. There was one entire hill that was made of scepters made of gold, silver, iron, copper, tin and even one made of clay that was constantly shifting. To help the hill keep its form there was gold coins and precious jewels mixed among the rods. There was another of enchanted swords; there were swords made of unbreakable crystal, swords that sang with voices of maidens, two swords that were floating in the air dueling, oversized swords as long as a man is tall, even a sword made of sunlight that caused a million shimmers of light as it bounced off the surrounding treasure like a disco ball. There was a hill of shields to match the swords. And armor, crowns and the list could have continued for a long, long time. The trio moved among the hills, slipping on the treasure underfoot. The marble attendants followed behind the group tidying up.

“I don’t see any tree.” Mrs. Strawberry pointed out.

Devourer stowed a curved dagger into an inner pocket; there was a flickering of shadows along the handle as it became concealed within his jacket. “I don’t either. But it is best we be extra cautious and circle around a bit more.”

“What about saving Descendre?!” Onion snapped out his question.

The barefoot gentleman shrugged “As the cook said, she is perfectly safe within the tree.” He grabbed a robe from a hill fabric and tried it on, he tucked it in close and inspected himself in a silver framed mirror; the metal was sculpted into creatures that were part lion and part large, scaled fish. The creatures moved as he made a happy little harumph and shoved it into another pocket. “And I would prefer we take what we want before the populace of our land is freed.”

“What are you going to do with that robe?” Onion asked suspiciously “Planning on ruling a place?”

“No.” Devourer stuck his tongue out at the Silken. “I think it will be a nice bathrobe. Fluffy and warm!” He tried on a striped jacket before shaking his head with distaste and putting it back. He started climbing the hill, throwing fabrics behind him as he started digging through the various materials.

Onion opened his mouth, but Mrs. Strawberry rested a hand on the Silken’s shoulder. “We can let him have this moment. Come on.”

The Auris squealed in glee as he found a three eared stocking cap.

“WE ARE GOING TO KEEP SEARCHING!” Onion shouted, a touch of frustration and anger in his voice.

Devourer threw a pile of dresses from the hill; it landed atop one of the marble creatures and the puppet made a squeak as it disappeared. The first sound one had ever made. It struggled to free itself without tearing the delicate fabrics. The gentleman waved his hand without looking at the cook and plant mage. His focus on the vest in his hand. “Take care of yourselves, there may be traps!”

“His true nature revealed at last.” Onion growled as he turned with a snap of his tail and slunk towards the entrance.

Mrs. Strawberry was not phased “He has been more than responsible when it mattered, people need to be allowed to relax once the danger has passed. If you don’t allow yourself to indulge every once in a while you will have a mental break. And we are on the last leg of our adventure, no need to rush.”

Onion froze in place. He turned to look at the woman, his head tilted to the side like a dog trying to figure something out, his expression changing as realization dawned. “It’s Friday!”

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They entered the second hidden room; this one was not as large as the treasure room, but it was large none the less and was filled with the marble constructs. Most of them were unmoving, floating above magic circles as they recharged. The few moving puppets were making repairs on the floating ones. There were a few bookshelves to the side with intriguing looking bindings. With titles of ‘How to keep your construct from killing you for singing badly in the shower’, ‘Why use marble and not granite when animating?” and ‘Puppet making for dummies’. There was a pair of elegant marble gauntlets that floated in the air above another magic circle.

“No need to look deeper.” The ranger said with a cursory glance, and they left the room.

The final passageway was their goal.

It was a room smaller than the previous two, sunlight streamed through large openings in the ceiling and a large opening that connected to a gigantic sloping hill. Vines and vegetation growing into the cavern from the holes.

“That was anti-climactic.” Devourer said behind the two as he rejoined them. “I am sort of disappointed. No traps or last-minute beasts to fight.”

“Don’t jinx us.” Onion growled. But nothing happened. There was simply a beautiful tree the size of an ancient oak. With orange sized pearls that gleamed with the essence of the being trapped within. The Silken rested his hand against the bark “If I recall, Descendre said we just need to cut down the tree.” He looked at his companion. “Care to do the honors?”

The cook pulled her butcher’s cleaver with its black metal. She planted her feet and with one swing of her blade it sliced through the wood like butter. The cut was so smooth that the sapling didn’t topple over until Onion gave it a might kick. There was an unexpected tinkling of bells as it struck the ground. It was a torrential tidal wave of light as the orbs bounced off each other and cascaded down the hillside. Each slowed and came to a rest among the blades of green grass. Two pieces of fruit took back on their shapes, becoming Descendre and Gus.

“Descendre!” The Auris ran down the hill at full tilt and leapt into the air with arms wide. The cat didn’t have time react and crashed to the ground with the three-eared gentleman atop her. “You’re okay!”

“Get off of me, moron.” The Derkaz grumbled.

“No!” Devourer retorted with a broad grin.

She slowly extricated herself from the hug and stood up. She blinked up at the bright sky then at Gus. “Was that weird for you too?”

“Yeah…what exactly happened?” Gus asked.

Before The Auris could respond the smaller orbs turned into butterflies and various other insects. The bugs flew, scurried and burrowed away in a panic. Next to return to physical form were the animals. They leapt, flapped and scurried away as well.

The three looked around, in a daze from the abrupt activity. Descendre looked down at their feet “Guys… there are still a lot of fruit…”

They made a fast dash up the hill as the balls of essence started to transform. They were only halfway there when the entire populace of a nation was freed from their enchantment. It took some time to get organized, luckily Gus and Mrs. Strawberry were up to the challenge. They first found all the magic users and with a concentrated effort they were able to summon the resident Realm Rippers. Mrs. Strawberry handed off Swift Foot’s keystone while a gate was built to Devourer and Descendre’s continent. Within a short time from that the various displaced creatures were streaming through the arches.

“Excuse me” a ten-eared Auris said to Devourer. Their ears were long and slender, draping down from the base of their skull and then lifted up by an ornate headdress with the ears fanning out. They wore a black robe with a hem that was cut at a diagonal angle to show a well-muscled leg at almost hip level. They had a smile that showed a dimple.

Devourer visibly gulped as he made eye contact with the ten-ear. “Um, yes?”

“My name is Sliver. I asked who my savior was and the Derkaz pointed you out.” The dark garbed Sliver said as they took a step closer. “It is only proper that I thank my hero. Does your pod have a ten-ear by chance?”

Devourer gulped again, looking at the group to save him “Um…”

“He just got an opening for a ten-ear!” Onion blurted out.

The barefoot gentleman shot his friend a withering glare.

“That’s perfect.” Sliver said without batting an eyelash. “Let’s go chat and get to know each other then, who knows we might want to find some hot coals in the future.”

Devourer gulped again, Mrs. Strawberry nudged him and said softly “This is where you say ‘I would love to do that.’”

“I would love to do that!” The three-ear said with relief.

The group watched their friend stumble after Sliver with all the grace of a puppy.

-

It was midnight when Sliver the last of the rescued entered the gate back home.

The rest of the adventurers were sitting around a campfire, the Auris was still beaming. “That went really well.” He used his dagger to cut off a slice of sizzling meat and popped it into his mouth. “We are going to start courtship once I get back.”

“I am curious to see what that entails.” Onion said as he nibbled on his food. “Why didn’t you just follow Sliver?”

Devourer cut himself another slice of the sizzling meat took a nibble before continuing “Because—"

“-YOUR SEVEN DAYS ARE UP!” the necklace shouted, and blue smoke rose up around the adventures.