I remember these creatures, they're so annoyingly pacifist, but thinking of the delightful cries I may be able to elicit out of them puts a smile on my face.
The demon’s voice rang out again in her head just as Elyza turned another corner, jarring her thoughts away from what Otis was saying. The tunnel they were traversing seemed to have no end, and each crossroad they came across appeared to loop them back to where they just came from. The only relief her mind received that they were not travelling in circles, an ambush waiting around every turn, was that none of the pods held anyone she had seen before.
Does that man not look familiar, I think we’ve been here before.
The people trapped in the pods, and of course, the comments of the pale woman gave her peace of mind. Elyza had quickly learned that while she could communicate with the Empress, Elina was unable to perceive through her, and whatever she said could be safely ignored unless proven otherwise.
As Otis guided them towards where the control centre was, she looked besides her, towards her partner, who had remained unnervingly quiet ever since he had suggested walking as the eudaimorph explained what had led his tribe to such desperate measures. His eyes were unfocused, staring only at the rocks he was about to step on, his mouth seeming odd without a grin playing on his lips, his cheeks shifting on their own as he continued to be in deep, and silent thought.
It took her a while to ready herself when she realised her thoughts would be laid bare to him, and his to her, but it seemed to be all for naught. Because ever since that first slip up, his mind had been completely quiet, completely the opposite of the screaming vortex she had been in the middle of moments before.
Pay attention, Ears.
His voice broke into Elyza’s mind, not knowing if the instruction was from the one walking next to her, or the tiny little version of him in the back of her mind.
“... and that’s how we got access to these pods, courtesy of our new acquaintances.” The slime’s voice wormed into her mind, and her head jolted towards him.
She stared blankly at him, sighing before she admitted, “I apologise but would you repeat your explanation for me? I forgot to pay attention due to a flurry of questions currently trapped in my head.”
“How disappointing, Ears,” Her partner suddenly spoke up, a grin adorning what used to be his sullen face, as he cracked his neck, turning towards their guide as he asked, “Otis, may I?”
The slime formed a thumb and pointed it upwards, and Alex began his explanation, “A small group of Eudaimorphs separated from the main tribe that primarily reside in the continent to the west, where they originated from, for no other reason but to explore what the world had to offer, which I find respectable.”
And yet you’ve never returned to your home.
Completely ignoring the pale woman’s comments, he continued, “This happened sometime around two years or so ago, and they travelled this country, and those that flanked it, disguising themselves as a travelling circus. They brought joy wherever they went, recruiting people who wanted more time to entertain others to bring more along their pilgrimage, until one day one of them disappeared.” he let the words hang in the air, waving his fingers to add as he let out an ‘ooo’ under his breath.
You are a child.
“It was not unheard of,” he quickly added, “One may get tired of the life they joined, to try and forge their own path, or step away and enjoy the time they have left. That is what most of the tribe thought, before they found her core drained of her soul, a sign of starvation.”
“They soon discovered that the happiness that once completely sustained them, no longer did so as it should, at least not to the extent it should have. Panic overtook the tribe, as they tried to gain more happiness every day, yet each passing week took more to even keep them alive, let alone thrive.” He sighed, before continuing.
“Nothing seemed to work, until one who had left soon after joining, one who was unimpressed with the restraint the tribe showed, returned, guiding them how to store away the happiness they didn’t need for themselves, teaching them how to elicit the greatest joy in life. Through food. And when that wasn’t enough, he helped them connect with some people that made these pods, for the low, low, price of a constant supply of mana, which they even gave them the crystals for.” And immediately, his mood changed, his grin turning from amusement to knowing, worry spreading over Elyza as his eyes turned back to the slime. She could sense anger within him.
Alex. She echoed into his mind, trying to restrain those thoughts with her own.
Relax.
“A heart-warming story, hinging on a coincidence with a truly considerate stranger, a messiah to be remembered in legend,” Her friend began, and she realised whom the anger was directed towards. “If I didn’t know any better, I could mirror it to a god descending to this plane to save their worshippers…”
The words hung as Otis suddenly slowed down, allowing Alex to overtake him as he continued walking, seemingly much more interested in the words her partner was supposed to be parroting.
“Unfortunately,” he remarked, twirling on his heels as his steps became backwards but still continued onwards. “I know a lot of gods. I’ve worked for them, worked with them, fought them, killed them, even laid with some,” he continued, glancing towards his partner with a promise to tell her the details.
“And I have met nary a deity that helps mortals from the goodness of their hearts, many don’t even have one. But, I’ve met more than I would like who’ve faked their generosity, or at least tried to, preying on those looking for an answer to their troubles.” Elyza could feel his anger rising, but it suddenly vanished, as he spoke further, “I say little to those… sorts, and I suspect whom you’re speaking of, the saviour of your tribe, to be one of them.”’
The layers of Otis’ core stopped moving for a second, which she interpreted as him rewinding her partner’s words. “We’re close to the control panel, I hope?” Alex asked the slime, his grin switching once again to one of calmness.
“Yes,” He answered simply.
“Then I’m guessing there’s a prison nearby as well, let’s have a look at who’s willing to aid us,” he instructed, glaring at Otis as he fell behind him once again, trusting that the eudaimorph would follow his demands.
I’ve been here for sixteen years, yet I’m still horrified with your effectiveness.
The Empress admitted, as the next turn they took defied the direction they had been travelling for minutes, without a word from their guide. Elyza, for the first time, agreed with the Empress as Alex opened his mind for them to talk.
Sorry about the silence, needed to think on my own for a while. He spoke in her mind.
How long do you think we will be able to communicate like this?
Blowing a raspberry, he thought about it for a moment, before replying out loud, “Probably not permanent, hopefully at least. I’m guessing an hour to half a day for the effects to persist.”
Elyza nodded, able to hold her curiosity at bay for a few more metres of walking before the intrusive thoughts flooded her mind and into his.
I apologise for my brashness, but which gods have you slept with and how frequently?
“Calm yourself, Ears,” Alex remarked, his grin wider than ever, “I would be able to sense your excitement even without you speaking directly into my brain, and avoid going in there for this conversation, unless you want to be an unwilling recipient of some… vivid memories.”
“Go on,” she remarked, not telling him that she was still lingering in his mind.
“I’ve not slept with any gods. Well… technically?”
“Explain yourself.”
“I’ve not slept with any gods, but I’m surprisingly popular with a lot of goddesses, and here’s where the technicality appears, I’m also really good friends, and have had a one-night stand, with Loki, who was originally a god, but she’s primarily a goddess nowadays, so I’m going to consider her one. Notable deities that have decided to bed me are Loki, Kali, Alakshmi, Melopemene, Thalia, surprisingly Erato, since I’m horrible at singing, Nyx, Nemesis and Philotes, Amaterasu, Imentet, Maat, Qetesh, and more who I will not name because they have asked me to. So, if I think about it, I’ve slept with around fifty or so goddesses.”
Slut.
“That I am,” He admitted, continuing on without his grin dropping a hair, “even more so since that isn’t including mortals I’ve slept with, and that includes only six years of my life.”
Elyza was about to comment on the newly learned life of her partner, when he suddenly started again, “Surprisingly, Aphrodite and I, while having met multiple times and talked just as much, have never tried to fuck each other.”
“Wait,” she immediately interjected, not believing what she had just heard, “The Goddess of Sexual Love has not once tried to sleep with you, and you have never been interested in laying the Goddess of Beauty?”
“Well… It may be that she knows we won’t be compatible, or she won’t enjoy it as much. Or, the news of another goddess forcing herself on me, and promptly being hunted down and obliterated from the face of this earth, did what it was meant to do,” he hypothesised, his smile growing wider.
Welcome for that, again.
“That… is a lot to think about,” Elyza admitted, her thoughts filled with so many more questions than she started with, but her imagination was able to answer many of them, her mind given enough information about Alex’s type.
“How about you, Elyza? Any notable lays in your past?”
“Not to the extent of yours, no. Only ten in my past.”
“Don’t worry, with enough grit and determination, you’ll get to my level sooner rather than later. Not all of us are blessed with ass-ets such as mine.”
Elyza couldn’t help herself but let out a laugh straight from her stomach, quickly putting a hand over her mouth, lest the bellow be heard by someone other than him.
They walked in silence for a while, or at least in relative quiet, Alex peeking into her mind to ask if she needed any water, or fruit, or if they should take a break. She replied in kind, with questions about the demon, and some conformation to her hypotheses of his past. But soon, the floor made of brushed slabs of stone turned into loose dirt, and finally into solid, stable, cobblestone bricks. The tiny, dim round crystals that were pebbled in the walls moments before, gave way to lanterns that housed fire of blazing red, hanging above their heads. The lanterns swayed slightly, the illuminance they provided flickering under the slight, soft breeze that had started to assert itself.
Elyza could feel the air bouncing off of the tiny irregularities in the brickwork, knowing that its growing strength was signalling the approaching surface. But as it waned, a thought to her ring brought forward her halberd as they turned their backs to the breeze. Otis’ pace quickened as they delved deeper into the structure, his body gliding over the floor silently, yet leaving a trail of slime behind in his wake.
It forced the duo to do the same, Alex flipping up his hood, and Elyza donning her mask, ducking as they followed the slime. Easily able to match their guide’s tempo, their steps were even more hushed than before, their shoes muffling the sound of the ground they stepped upon, allowing them to blend into the darkness, a way to see others before they could them. But they came across none, never once had the eudaimorph slowed down upon hearing echoes in the tunnels.
She could only assume the rest of his tribe were preoccupied elsewhere, or readying themselves for the intruders. Either way, her grip on her halberd grew tighter, as the breeze finally died out, and they finally stood at the entrance of a tunnel leading below.
“The prison’s down there,” Otis declared, forming a hand to point down into the darkness, his orb slowly starting to move again, yet his body appeared unusually rigid for fluid, as if it had been frozen.
“You have to be elsewhere?” Elyza asked, knowing the answer but wanting his reason.
“I have to confirm something for myself, the person you find downstairs will be more than knowledgeable enough to guide you to the control panel,” He proclaimed, his core whizzing with mana as it shot back to where they had come from, dragging the purple fluid through the air behind it, leaving the duo on their own.
I sense a betrayal.
Alex looked at where their guide had scampered off to, his eyes narrowing as if he was following the slime through the pitch black shadows, remarking, “Didn’t try to stop him, I see.”
“Unless I am mistaken, you have eyes all the same as I do, even better, as you have repeatedly tried to prove in the past,” she replied, a smile playing on her lips as she stared down into the stairway into a prison, doubt floating in her mind as it would be theirs.
“Then we agree,” he stated, cracking his fingers by stretching them in front of his face, which caused each one of them to catch on fire as the joints popped, echoing off the stone bricks. “I don’t fancy going quietly into the night today, how about you?”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Neither do I, but we still have to tread carefully,” She reminded him, stepping aside so he could take the lead down the stairs, her halberd shrinking back around her finger.
“How kind of you, if only my last partner was this chivalrous…” Alex remarked, his flaming hands extinguishing, a buzz of electricity replacing them, as the soft purple glow of the lightning that jumped across his skin lighted their way forwards in the fire’s place.
There was a slight crackle in the air as he took the first step down the stairs, his other hand trailing the wall beside him, as he started slowly, feeling out the rhythm of the staircase with his feet, only the stairs immediately below her partner illuminated by the light of his magic. Elyza followed closely behind, keeping a hand on her partner’s shoulder, the other on the wall opposite to his, tracing out the steps for herself, waiting till his signal.
Soon, ten or fifteen steps down the stairways, they met a wall stopping their way forward. As he turned right twice, he staggered forwards as his boot fell to the first step of another set of stairs, his partner yanking him backwards to make sure he didn’t tumble. Lightning filled the hand in front of his face, jumping onwards as soon as he pointed it the way down. The purple stream of pure burning radiance that shot out flooded the corridor with light. It was only for a split second, but it was enough.
Their hands returned back to their sides, and all semblance of caution in the darkness fell away, her partner the first to dash down the stairs, Elyza following close behind. She leapt two steps for every one of his, yet she was barely able to keep up with him. A snap of fingers, or slap onto the walls signalled to her if she needed to be careful with her steps, but yet they barely slowed.
Two, four, six, the sets of stairs never seemed to stop, the darkness never once giving them leverage, but she never needed any. Finally, there was light at the end of the tunnel, the soft red glow of fire, about thirty metres down from where they had started. As soon as he saw it, her partner slowed to a stop, his elbows grinding in the flanking walls as his hands scampered to stop him from jumping into the light. She was able to slow herself just as she turned the corner, her halberd materialising in her hand as they started to creep down the final steps, barely able to fit into the corridor.
Alex stepped into the light, his steel parrying dagger primed to surprise any guards that may be lingering ahead. As Elyza tried to do the same, her heel hit the edge of the penultimate step, and for a second it felt she was falling through the sky till her sole settled on the floor. She calmed herself down, looking up to see Alex, failing to hide a smile that had settled on his face.
“You alright?” He asked, sheathing his dagger into the shadow of his cloak, signalling to her to do the same. A quick nod answered him, her halberd returning beneath her gauntlets.
Scanning the room, she could make out ten distinct cells, with a torch providing light in between every other compartment, barely able to reach the depths of the dungeons. Most seemed empty, with four lining the wall that faced the stairway, six cells to the duo’s left side, and an empty space between them. Only a desk and chair decorated the room they had just entered, no guards present in their sight.
Alex knelt down, prying a loose broken up brick up from beneath his feet, handing it to her, with a simple instruction, “Let’s see who all are awake, shall we?”
Elyza sighed as she held the rock in her hand, deciding which cell doors to strike to make the most noise. Her shoulders dropped before she brought the brick back and hurled it towards the iron bars. The projectile shattered into a thousands pieces as soon as it struck the metal, the plume of dust that followed felt insignificant to the noise that it produced.
The entire chamber seemed to ring out in response to the strike, a sharp, piercing echo that hung around for far longer than it needed too. Hands appeared from the darkness, well, most appeared to be hands, as they grabbed the iron bars of seven of the ten cells, trying to stop the sound and failing in their efforts.
Alex brought his hands together, holding them ten centimetres apart, waiting for a second, charging, before letting lightning jump between them. The cloud of white purple sizzled as it leapt through the air, its crackling muffled by the distance it had to travel, but enough to pull everyone’s attention onto him.
“Hel~loo, everyone, today may be your lucky day.” he began, his hands catching on fire so that the prisoners could see his face, at least the part that didn’t fall under the shadow of his hood.
Murmuring began to rise among his audience, which led to him having to speak louder, “I’m Nemo, recent escapee from one of those pods up there, and I’m here to… well, I’ll be direct, I’m here to break you out of prison, and I need only one thing from you, tell me what happened and who’s responsible for the tribe’s new outlook on kidnapping. Do this, and you’ll be free to leave, or if you want, join us as we utterly dismant–”
“Whitlock?” A high-pitched voice spouted his family name from within a cell, and Alex just froze for a second, breaking his momentum. She knew that whatever the voice said next was going to be important, if not a bit embarrassing for her partner, so she reached the jail before he could.
“You know him?” Elyza asked, sure that there was a glimmer in her eyes, excited that there was more that she could unearth about her partner.
But before the creature could step out of the shadows and address her, walls of shadows burst out beneath the other cell doors, covering them so they couldn’t eavesdrop on them. “God fucking damn it, this day is not going to be good for the mystique I’ve cultivated around me,” Alex remarked, putting a hand to his head, grinning as he added, “Elyza, Ears, I’m going to need some of your life stories and secrets after this, because this is just unfair.”
I know one more thing she may be interested to know.
“It is you!” The voice screamed again, sounding excited. An arm made of blue slime slipping in between the iron bars, forming a Neko’s hand as it pawed his face, smushing his nose and cheek, feeling around for a while before exclaiming, “Still butt ugly, I see, but at least your nose isn’t broken this time.”
Elyza could not help but let out a singular laugh, barely able to hide her snickering even after covering her mouth, but Alex didn’t seem to take offence. In a fluid moment, his dagger appeared in his hand and he brought it upwards, cleanly slicing through the slimy appendage, causing it to fall.
But before it could hit the ground, greying as it fell through the air, Alex kicked it back into the cell, remarking as it flew between the bars, “I thought you were living as a priestess way up north these days, in the desert, so why are you trapped in a dark, humid, dungeon, again, Pili?”
As he said the words, he pulled out a small hexagonal crystal from his pouch, tossing it into the darkness. It entered something with a pop, lighting up the insides of a mass of faded blue slime, converting it into a lantern within the cell. The light crystal floated alongside the bronze core of the eudaimorph, which looked much more arcane than Otis’, some parts of it turning bluer, some appearing green, but Elyza could not appreciate its craft for long.
The core started to spin, the fluid revolving like a reverse whirlpool, lifting the bronze mechanisms up into the air. The slime appeared to multiply, hiding the glowing sphere beneath it, waves of blue overtaking its surface, which were hidden by more, slowly starting to morph in a more humanoid body. Glowing even fainter now, through the layers of blue, its hue starting to shift, the core rose above Elyza’s head, as a face started to emerge from the fluid.
First emerged a snout, similar to one of a leopard, the nose snooping back towards a pair of piercing orange feline eyes, white whiskers emerging before the mix of grey and brown fur grew and shrank to give way to patchy human skin. Ears shot out from the sides of their head, small, round, and fluffy, puffs of fur adorning the rim of the lobes, and a massive plume of curly hair popping up from the top. This was quickly hidden by a shawl that fell and wrapped around her neck. Her hands, or paws, reached up to tuck the shawl behind her ears, as the rest of her outfit emerged from beneath her fur.
A tail curved around the eudaimorph’s torso, reaching into her stomach, which rippled as it allowed the fifth appendage inside. As it left, carrying with it the glowing crystal, everything about her solidified, fabric looking like fabric, fur looking like fur, a mimicry that even Alex couldn’t achieve. And finally, there was a bakeneko standing behind the bars, slightly looking down at Elyza with her fiery piercing eyes.
“Who’s this with you, a new lady friend, perhaps?” Her voice was smooth and sisterly, as she sat down on her knees, studying Elyza as she added, “I’m a little hurt, but I didn’t have my feminine wiles back then, so I’ll let that slide.”
“I’m surprised to hear those words for one of Thoth’s favourite mortals, allegedly,” Alex replied, his grin falling quickly as he added, “Are you hurt? What happened?”
Pili brought her hand up to hide a yawn, muttering through it, “Nothing you’ve not seen before, I gather. Someone from the old continent was travelling with them, and things were desperate enough for them to approach me, wanting some answers. I travelled back here, but before everyone could tell me what they suspected, a man arrived. Calling himself Ulysseus, he came dressed as a temple hand, though I doubt he has much experience as one. While I was researching the probable causes of their… never before seen issues regarding the consumption of happiness, he garnered support, telling them he had a way to alleviate the issue.”
Claw’s popped out from her paw, using them to scratch something into the light crystal as she continued, “And it worked, surprisingly, things improved, joy did what it was supposed to do before. But, as always, it didn’t last. I was working with him to find out why, and how he was able to improve conditions in the first place.”
She sighed, tossing the crystal back towards her partner before she continued, “He spoke some nonsense about spirits and how people on this part of the continent are less capable of happiness than others, talked about how Eudaimorphs are the perfect species, capable of doing more than just making others happy. Deciding that the tribe was doing things inefficiently, he got in contact with some of his friends to supply them with the material required. But before I had the pleasure of listening to more of his dogma, he thought I was starting to fly too close to the truth.”
Pili leaned close to them both as she concluded, “He labelled me as one of the causes of the problem, stating that they must, ‘forge a path separate to the old ones’. As much as I’ve heard from the others, he declared as… ‘Unbelievers’ let us say, things have been expanding quite rapidly. At least this short bereft of responsibility gave me a chance to figure out their problem.”
“You know how to solve it?” Alex inquired, which was answered by a nod, leaving him to ask,“You know where the control panel is?” Another, yet this time, hesitant nod satisfied his question.
“Let’s get you moving then,” he remarked, inky tentacles rising from the ground where light couldn’t reach, wrapping around the bars, before Pili grabbed the bars.
“Alex, you can not kill him,” She declared, her eyes darkening with determination.
Her partner simply smiled, “You know first hand why I don’t make those sorts of promises.”
The bakeneko sighed, muttering beneath her breath, “Still on about that day,” before she let go of the bars, conceding, “Fine, but at least try, will you?”
“We’ll see when I meet the cunt…”
That’s the spirit.
“Language!” Pili interrupted, her mouth starting to curve.
“You were a pirate for a decade…” Alex reminded her, the tentacles pushing aside the iron bars with a low groan, just big enough for the Eudaimorph to walk through, just as the walls obscuring them melted into the ground.
“You know first hand that judging others for the sins of their past is not always warranted,” she replied, arms of slime exploding from her back. Wrapping around the iron doors of the other cells, the tentacles pushed them upwards, before letting go, causing them to clatter momentarily before they settled on the ground.
“How do you know Alex?” Elyza threw out into the conversation, wanting her questions answered before they started again.
The bakeneko hummed for a moment, as the slime appendages retracted into her clothes, mumbling to herself, “Depends.”
“Well…” She began, as Alex checked up on the, now no longer, prisoners, “To cut an extremely long and entertaining story that may have been adapted into a play; I masqueraded as a long dead prince and worked as a prostitute, and his… ‘family’ hired our common friend to make sure everyone and everything I remotely even glanced at, forgot my existence. And they did. I would’ve as well, but some memories are extremely memorable.”
“Yeah, that was a disturbing month for me,” Her partner admitted, quickly muttering, “Thankfully, it would’ve been worse if she knew what the prince actually looked like.”
“You have two options!” He suddenly announced into the room, “Either, wait here for thirty more minutes till we deal with the situation upstairs. Or, you could go right now, taking advantage of the chaos that will be occurring in a minute or two. Alright?” Elyza could sense a silent conversation occurring among the prisoners. Some beelined for the stairs, but the majority shifted where they stood, opting to stay.
“Any other questions left for the cat, Ears?” He remarked, turning towards his partner as he tossed a potion over her head.
“No,” Elyza replied, materialising her halberd within her hand, clarifying, “None that can not wait till later.”
Shadows erupted around the three, dropping them into the inky umbra, sinking into a mass of swirling umbra, which parted to let them rise into the domain of darkness, sending a ripple through the ground as they emerged.
Home at last.
The Empress' words rang louder than before, an ancient power flowing through them, but as authoritative as it was, silence quickly fell over her mind, as if the pale woman’s voice had been taken from her. Beneath them, in the sea of shadows, Elyza could make out the stairs that they had taken moments before, a replica crafted from darkness. It stretched down into the light, disintegrating before it could touch it.
“It has been a while since I’ve had the chance to appreciate this realm,” Pili remarked, holding her hands out for Alex, stating, “Same method?”
Her partner pushed aside the bakeneko’s arms, pulling her close towards him, causing her whole form to ripple. His hands held her head in place, his palms pressing into her temples, pushing her skin aside as they sunk into her. A faint blue shine started to emerge from within the folds of the fluid as Alex looked into the Eudaimorphs eyes.
“Focus on where the control room is,” he instructed, shooting a glance at Elyza to come closer, before his pupils expanded over his irises, growing darker than they ever looked. The inky umbra concealed the whites of his eyes completely, but nothing about his demeanour told his partner that he wasn’t in control.
The ground started to whisper, crackling as a circle formed around the three. They were suddenly hoisted upwards, but it didn’t feel like they were raised by something. Shifting her feet, the entire disk moved with her weight. They seemed to be floating, but her attention was stolen by tendrils of shadows crawling around her partner’s boot. The tentacles were multiplying as they slowly made their way up his leg, solidifying when they reached the end of their life, allowing others to overtake them.
They crept up till they reached his shoulders, shooting forward to his hands, seemingly covering it with inky darkness, softly absorbing any light that touched it. It started to convulse, as if extracting something from Pili, dragging whatever it was back with it, channelling it into the ground.
Suddenly, the ground started to rotate, not the disk, but everything around it. Everything started to pivot around them, revolving counterclockwise, only the mountains and creatures that waited at the horizon defying the order. There was no noise, their surroundings defying logic as it turned seamlessly, but there was more ground to cover. The mimic of the dungeon beneath them commenced its climb upwards, the void that made it turned into ghostly glass as it crossed the barrier.
Time seemed to move faster as they glided through the corridors of ghastly walls, the dungeon flipping its layout under Alex’s command, almost entirely above the dark sea. Elyza recognised the path they had taken to get the prisoners, but soon tunnels she had yet to traverse whizzed past them. And then, the disc stopped and slotted back into the ground, sending another ripple through the sea.
They were surrounded by gigantic walls, the roof of the chamber around twice her height. The ground shifted backwards suddenly, positioning the three at the end of a corridor that led into the room. Retreating back from her partner’s hands, the tendrils lost their inverse glow, melting back into the ground, allowing Alex to retrieve his hands from the insides of Pili’s head.
Grimacing, he shook his head, transferring the motion down to his feet, almost shivering. His eyes opened, allowing her to glance into his usual black irises, surrounded by a pool of white.
“That was interesting…” Elyza admitted.
“I concur,” Pili remarked, her head returned to the face she had chosen, a soft smile adorning it as she added, “You’ve tapped deeper into her powers, haven’t you?”
Alex began to say something, stopping to swallow his saliva before he remarked, grinning, “To her extremely vocal dismay.”
The silence in Elyza’s head was broken as the Empress wormed her way back into it.
I have warned you many times not to lock me in there, but you never listen, do you? So, at least tell me what transpired, so I know how much to punish you when I get out of here.
That’s a secret, maybe if you behave I’ll tell you.
“We need to return to the land of the living,” Elyza reminded her partner, striking her halberd’s butt on the ground, and his grin faltered.
Sighing, he began, “You may need to take the lead when we do, Ears, cause I am absolutely knackered.” A snap of his fingers sank the mimic of the dungeon back into the black sea, and they soon followed it, diving alongside it, the sea pushed them past it, till the three went through the core of radiant light.