Elyza rose first, her halberd’s blade scratching the steel door in front of which they had emerged, exposing the silver metal under the black paint. It was simple, only a singular keyhole below the handle, and the rocks that it rested on were embedded deeper into the floor than those around them.
“Ears,” Alex called from behind, his eyelids dripping with fatigue. His words slurred a bit as he continued, “Do this quickly rather than quietly this time for me, please?”
Sighing, she gestured towards the two to step back, picking a handful of seed from her pouch and dropping them around the edge of the door. A purple and green glyph formed beneath her hand as the seed fell, its circle vibrating and glowing as her mana used it as a funnel into the seed, the spell letting loose with her command.
“Sá aníos,” The vines burrowed their roots under the rock, wriggling under the stone to settle themselves before exploding upwards in a flurry of green. Steel bent under the force exerted upon them, shattering the bricks that struck those parts of the door, causing the entire tunnel to shudder, a layer of dust falling upon the three. Before it could even threaten to collapse upon them, the vines gave one last push to sprawl across the roof of the corridor, as the ones that caused the damage, parted for her.
“Behind me,” Elyza instructed, forcing the surrounding air to form a corridor of wind to clear the path ahead of her, stepping into the presumed control room in its wake.
A wave of warmth flowed over her before Alex stepped into the darkened room, remarking, “A welcoming party?! Oh, you shouldn’t have, we aren’t planning to stay for long.”
The pushed wind was harnessed again, creating a vortex with Elyza at the centre. She wielded it to suck the dust floating in the air, and some blobs of greying slime that had been ripped from those creeping in the shadows. The room was flooded with light as soon as she let the vortex dissipate.
Rows of hundreds of levers were attached to just as many copper pipes, beads of water sticking to the metal’s surface, tiny glass rectangular windows moulded into it. The contraption stretched across the entire left wall, a gradient of orange whose brushed veneer cast a warm hue around the room. But, there would be time soon enough to study it further.
The other half of the room, opposite to the three, was filled with what looked to be a giant brick of multicoloured fluid. Around forty or so cores, made of a variety of materials, from bones to ruby, floated within the blob, seemingly dormant. Soon they started to rotate, the different colours separating with their respective cores. Modelling themselves into the most standard guards she could think of, the Eudaimorphs parted as the door behind the small battalion opened, as a man dressed in clothes that mimicked holy silks walked in.
His head tilted slightly upwards, looking down upon them, his nose curving down, and his teeth stained yellow. The longer she studied him, the more restraint it took not to slice him to pieces immediately, but unfortunately she wanted to know his plan.
Alex seemed to agree, remarking, “I don’t think you understand the nuance between walking into a room with gravitas, versus, walking into a room looking like a man who thinks punching puppies for fun makes you a conflicted person, rather than someone who’d burn a person at the stake for not letting you sniff their hair.”
She did not try to suppress the grin that resulted from his comment, in addition to seeing the priest’s face redden like a tomato, his eyes bulging like eggs. The smile threatened to turn into laughter as her partner added, “But my services are currently occupied trying not to embed a claymore into your core. I would say I could help you in the future, but I’m doubtful about it. If you have any retort, please direct them to my friend with the spear, so she can not care for the both of us.”
Surprisingly, instead of bursting out a series of insults, or trying to make himself seem superior to them, the temple hand took in a deep breath and then spoke, “I’m surprised that anyone was capable of waking themselves from the paradise I’ve constructed for them, let alone two of them on the same day. So, I find it hard to believe you’re here by chance, so someone has betrayed the tribe.”
The last part of his words were directed at his Eudaimorph peers, and as he spoke further with a deep and dead voice, he did not address the bigger threat in the room. “See how my visions have been proven true, brothers. We now have proof that people do not change, as we see the first of the non-believers working against the good of her tribe once again.”
The priest turned on his feet to gesture behind him, foretelling and welcoming another entrant to the chamber, “Let us thank Otis for his diligence on spotting these three escaping after harming our generous benefactors during the trade.”
Elyza’s helper glided into the room almost silently, his movements too erratic for a being made of slime, Otis’ core jutting forward, almost hesitating as it forced its body to move. She glared at him, and she could feel him staring back, even without any visible eyes.
“I can’t believe I fell to your wiles, almost revealing m–”
Flicking her halberd so that its blade blocked the priest’s glare towards Pili, Elyza gave him some instruction, “Do not speak directly to either of them, all conversation shall be done through me, any of your followers move and I slice your body in two, say something that offends me and I will crush your core to dust.”
She spun the spear around her head, adding some extra spins for flourish, stopping a hair’s breadth away from sending the halberd’s point into his forehead. “You were put up to this behaviour by someone or something, tell me who.”
“Have I met you before?” The priest remarked, trying to hide the audible gulp that came from him afterwards, continuing, “I remember being warned by someone of your description by the c– visions that brought me here to aid those who once wanted nothing with me…”
This is unnecessary, I have a way to extract the truth out of him much faster.
Elyza pretended not to hear the Empress’ voice, something she had been doing for a while. She stared into the priest’s lifeless eyes, trying to spot the lie in his words, when Alex’s voice suddenly echoed in her mind.
Fine, drag him here for me, Ears, I can guess what he’s trying to do anyway.
Are you certain? It may cause the others to attack.
Ah, right, restrain them before you do it then, because the pod apparently doesn’t put you to sleep.
Even his voice sounded tired in her mind, she couldn’t tell out of annoyance or fatigue, although it was likely both. Starting slowly, she exerted her will onto the air in the room, commanding it to swirl around her. She kept the current close to the ground as it ramped in speed. Wisps of water were carried within the wind as the beads of moisture from the pipes were sucked into the whirling typhoon. This was when someone other than the two in the room realised what was happening, but Elyza noticed them first.
With a single thought, the whirlpool snapped outwards, collapsing into a powerful propulsion that slammed into the battalion of guards. Their form devolved into streaks of slime as they flew through the air for a split second before being stopped by the wall behind. In an instant, the only ones left standing were the three and the priest.
As his mimicry fell, his arms melted only to harden into blades, he lunged forwards past her halberd’s blade, attempting a strike at her throat. His body distorted as his core was hooked by the halberd’s blade, his arms crackling as they liquefied. Elyza swung her weapon with her body, dragging the levitating slime behind its blade, flicking the core towards her partner.
Stretching his arm forward, Alex positioned his hand so that the core fell right into it. Faded grey fluid rushed through the air, racing to shield the core, to obscure it from their glares. But, as the slime swirled around the capsule of the priest’s soul, Elyza noticed that his core looked more peculiar than the rest. It was made of interlocking peacock feathers, which were in turn carved of metal and jewels, the metal barbs pointing the opposite way. A singular dull green rock floated within it, strange considering the glimmering sphere surrounding it.
She was able to recognise that there was a language etched into the silver metal, but could not make out what the scribbles said before it was enveloped by her partner’s hand. Pushing through the swirling mess of grey with ease, his fingers weaved through the core’s layers, holding it high. The churning fluid lashed out against him, using his arm as a bridge to slap his face, unable to ground itself to gain some leverage.
Before the slime could force its way into his head, already prodding at his nose and lips, to Alex’s clearly expressed annoyance. “You’re a bizarre one, aren’t you? I’ve met a lot of Eudaimorphs, some from the first generation, but nothing like y–”
Shut up, and let me through.
Sighing, too tired to argue, his shadow parted to allow tendrils to climb upon him, restraining the priest's tentacles as the umbra made its way towards the core he held. “Well then, whatever you are, you’re still an Eudaimorph at your base…” Her partner drawled out, a glimmer sparking in his eyes just as his shadow wrapped itself around the priest’s soul.
Grinning, he added, “So, I can finally test my theory of what happens when you compel one to consume every unhappy memory a person can ever have.”
A sharp, metallic screech emanated from within the ball of darkness in his hand, before more tendrils leapt from his arm to smother the noise silent. Abruptly halting, the priest’s fluid body froze in the air, in the midst of trying to escape the inky grasp of her partner’s magic. The slime fell to the ground, not weightlessly, a tiny string of it still connecting the blob on the floor to the core trapped within his spell.
The sphere forged from black remained eerily still in his hands. The entire chamber was devoid of sound, except for the echo of drops of water hitting stone. Elyza made sure that the few of the Eudaimorphs who awakened knew what the situation was, holding them at her halberd’s point. Slowly, something started to push the walls of the prison of umbra, a bulge developing around its equator. Spikes burst out from the balls, the darkness able to restrain its force, stifling whatever was happening within, drops of ink leaking from the walls of the spells as they fell to the ground.
The air itself aimed to slow down their descent, the drips falling slower than honey on a frigid winter night, stretching, almost reaching for the shadows beneath. Alex blankly stared at the core’s prison, his entire face lax, completely unstirred. Elyza had a primal urge to check if he was still breathing, as the streaks of darkness continued to creep ever closer to the floor.
As soon as she raised her hand, his eyes darted towards it, almost surprised to see her. The ink drops sinking through the air froze as he gained consciousness, soaring through the air to return to their place lest he notice their subversion.
“That should be enough,” Alex stated, as the shadows perched onto his arms slithered backwards towards their nesting grounds, sinking into his shadow, producing only a singular noise as they retreated.
One of these days you’ll fall for it.
The core of the priest struck the rock, causing a sharp, ringing sound to echo through the chamber. Whatever was left of the bed of slime, the fluid, was unwilling to help soften its fall. So, it laid there, metal and gems no longer shimmering in the warm hue of the room, its mechanisms refusing to move.
Shivering, almost grateful to have escaped the turmoil, the dull green rock held within the core started to glow a faint white, as the rings started to creak back to life. Slowly, the feathers started to revolve, the entire core floating as the gyration of the rings sped up. The pale slime around it was repulsed at first, trying to run away from who once commanded it, before it was sucked into the metallic sphere. Swirling around the core sluggishly, more slime started to emerge from within the core, materialising to meld into the rest of the fluid.
A body started to form from the whirlpool, which immediately slumped over to its knees, lacking the will to stand on its own. Some Eudaimorphs stepped forward, maybe trying to help their leader up, maybe wanting to take a closer look at what was to follow, but a quick twirl of her halberd dissuaded any such efforts.
The priest stared at the ground, fully formed, only his hair remained to harden, gasping, heaving, even without lungs, his entire body trembling. “Wh-what did you d-do to me?!” his words rang out, his voice dead no longer, trembling with confusion. Sweat started to drip down his face, hitting the ground to add to the echo of the room.
“Oh,” Alex began, bowing over him as he continued, “It’s quite simple, actually. I connected our minds, creating an illusion around yours, as well as your ‘body’, that I could freely influence. Then, I rammed yours with every… single… horror… I've either seen or felt, ensuring that you could feel everything I did at that moment. Granted, while no one is ever prepared for such an assault on their senses, even if they were, the amount of… unfortunate incidents I’ve endured is arguably greater than anyone should in a lifetime.”
“Y-you’re a monster…” The priest heaved out, lifting himself up to his knees.
“Please.” Her partner remarked in a mocking tone, swiping the statement aside as he squatted in front of the defeated figure, tapping his forehead, “I had worse things in mind for you, but can’t let you become a martyr for these peaceful folks, can I? So, what do you say, Iskar? Want to live another day but free, or die like the obedient little dog you are?”
“H-ho–”
“Connection’s a two-way street.” Alex remarked, winking. “I scoured through that tiny little world in your head, easier than normal, considering your soul isn’t as whole as you would like others to think. We both know why, most of your… sources of inspiration tend to remember their mortal lives perfectly, but you wouldn’t know anything of that.”
“I-I-I don’t kn-know wha–”
“Well, I don’t think you would like to remember all the failures you were, before becoming ‘good enough’,” her partner mumbled out loud, holding the priest’s face still, staring into his eyes. “I’m on the verge of collapsing into a snoring pile, spells of such calibre being harnessed in such a short time tend to take a toll, even on mou. But magic just restricts one’s imagination when dealing with pests, don’t you agree? So, Patéras, what’s your choice?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Silence enveloped the room, all waiting for the slime creature’s answer, who kept his gaze restricted to the rocks below him. “What do I have to admit?” he whispered, loud enough for only the duo to hear.
“Hopefully, when you do, you will speak louder, so others can hear as well,” Elyza remarked, keeping her eyes on the conscious Eudaimorphs.
“Firstly, how about you tell the others why you showed up at the absolute perfect time, and how you were able to solve their problem,” Alex instructed, standing up to stretch his back.
“We were able to convince a youth in the tribe to carry an artefact with him. The artefact was designed to disrupt the process by which Eudaimorphs turn happiness to mana, and it worked better than our expectations,” The priest explained, his voice devoid of any emotion.
“A problem arose, however,” he revealed, finally looking up at Alex as he continued on. “It turned out its effectiveness was a hindrance, the boy carrying it was unable to match its mana consumption with how pathetic the artefact turned the process. The artefact substituted the lack of energy with the boy’s life force, all the while using every single drop of mana it came across. It was unfortunate, he succumbed much sooner than necessary, so the company decided to send me in. They modified my core to act as a modified version of the artefact, allowing me to control its strength and sap excess happiness to store it.”
“Everything was moving perfectly,” the priest remarked, sighing as he added, “I was slowly centering the tribe to operate around me, when the company decided that there was more that the Eudaimorphs could provide. They needed a vast amount of mana, and they sent over machines to aid me, instructing me to disguise them as necessary for the tribe’s survival, and in return provide them with crystals filled to the brim.”
She tried to gauge the reactions of the Eudaimorphs to their great leader’s admittance, a hard act to accomplish without any faces to study. Most of their cores were revolving furiously, but the best indication of their emotions was Otis, who had morphed into his humanoid form. He was staring intently at the priest, anger brewing under his pupils.
“Well, then,” Alex remarked, his grin growing wider, “That brings us to the question we all have heard, as my lovely partner asked before…”
“Who do you work for?” Elyza finished his words, turning her weapon onto the kneeling monster, holding the axe above his head, ready to cleave him into two.
“I don’t know…” he tried to lie.
Not a lie, Ears.
Alex’s voice stopped her from separating the priest’s head from his body, allowing him to continue, “My memories are not written by me, neither can I control what I can recall, whoever was responsible for my creation made sure of it.”
Sounds like my kind of people.
“Oh, you have no idea the thoughts lingering within your head, Iskar, and I’m not motivated to reveal them for you,” Her partner stated, letting a laugh echo through the room. Addressing the beings behind Elyza, looking at Otis, he asked, “I gather you had something to do with this situation? I’m guessing the ‘trade’ happens somewhere on the surface?”
Through the wave of relaxation moving through Alex’s body, she could guess the answer her Eudaimorph friend had given him. “Good then,” her partner continued, gesturing towards Pili, who’s eyes were closed in prayer, “Help her release the people trapped in their dreams while we three go on a walk.”
Yanking the priest to his feet, Alex pushed him towards Elyza, who stepped aside as Iskar staggered past her. The guards that followed him earlier gave him a wide berth, ignoring him as he walked towards the exit in front of the three. The duo followed closely behind, the halberd kept aimed at his back. There were a few stragglers the three encountered in the winding corridors, some were the prisoners that had gotten lost, some were loyalists on their way to perform their daily duties. The former reacted to the sight by smacking the priest wherever they could reach, the latter either scurried away or when they tried to negotiate his release, were scared away by the duo’s glares.
Elyza could feel the air start to become lighter, the muskiness of the dungeon lost its potency the more steps they took. She could feel the breeze flowing over the bricks as it rushed through the tunnel, trying to overcome the stale underground air, carrying the scent of rain with it. The further they went, the more the walls started to display wear. Moss grew in between the cracks in the bricks, their surfaces smooth as metal.
Soon, the grey bricks turned green as moss overtook them, but the walls then transitioned into a deep orange. Baked clay bricks started to take the place of the stone ones, seemingly replaced recently in an attempt to reinforce the corridor for some reason.
But, as the sound of a torrent of water falling upon soil started reverberating through the passage, their pace increased. Pushing the priest using the edge of her blade, Elyza navigated for them, using the stream of air to carve out a path to follow. She yearned to smell the trees, to feel the wind in its full glory. As the bricks fell away to tunnels that were carved by water, not men, she could feel a large opening awaiting them.
A few more moments till the outside, a few more strides till rain hit her skin. But even she knew there was still work to do. Soft cool light scattered into their eyes from the damp walls around them, before they could see where it came from, obscuring the way forward. And then, suddenly, the three stood in a gigantic cave, with at least six carriages parked on the smooth surface, strangely no horses in sight. One had been pancaked into a crumpled heap, some remains of crates mixed within it, but the rest of the carriages retained their cargo, their crew nowhere in sight.
“What have you done with… our victims?” Alex remarked, overtaking the two, his partner busy looking out at the sea of green past the mouth of the cave, a veil of rain trying to block her view.
“I ordered them to be taken to the healers, under the assumption I would catch who had done this. I didn’t expect… you,” The priest spit out the last word with venom more vile than Elyza had ever encountered, and she had fought a poison spitting worm.
“Most never do, don’t think you’re special,” Her partner remarked, grinning as he gestured to her to drag their guest behind him. Walking towards a carriage with the aim of inspecting it, he added, “But it is good to hear Otis didn’t fatally harm them. Never knew what went on in his head, but at least he isn’t insane, unlike you and I.”
She had connected the dots as soon as she had seen her Eudaimorph friend in the control room, but Elyza was surprised her partner had revealed the fact. There was no response from the priest, if an attempt of defiance, or out of shock, she did not care.
Alex gestured towards the carriage in front of them, asking, “Ears, you recognise these? I don’t think I could recognise shapes with this level of sleep deprivation”
The carriages were draped with dyed orange leather sheets, attached with green rope. She could spot a pattern on the faded surface; a triangle within another, mirroring the first, their sides connected to form a pattern similar to a paper stamp, or what it was recently being used as, infinity. It was immensely familiar to her, a symbol she had seen in every single major city she had visited, and much more on the roads of the country. She had never paid attention to it, but Elyza knew what it represented.
“Primulturum, the Cyllenius family trade.” Annoyance crawled across her partner’s face. She knew it could not be because of her answer, but this did not bode well.
“I really hope these have been stolen, or a disguise. I would pray for once in my life if these are disguises,” Alex muttered the last part as fast as he could, pulling a crate from the back of the carriage, which rattled as he dropped it onto the rocks. Running his fingers over the wood, he seemed to be probing for something. His hands slid just below the edges of the box, feeling the wood for some sort of irregularity, before he suddenly threw up his hands.
“My fingers are buzzing, and I can’t seem to stop the electricity flowing through them, Ears. Flip this over for me, will you?” He pleaded, slapping his hands together to wake them up.
As she wrapped her arms around the crate, the box almost slid out of her grip, not prepared for the lack of friction the box provided. The surface had been sanded down in a clear attempt to be rid of any distinguishing factors. But readjusting her grip, she could barely feel a pattern on the edges of the cube. A line of interlocking triangles that ran the crate’s length, almost akin to warding spells etched into mausoleums, carrying the same outline as the faded sign on the carriage’s covering.
“Alex,” Elyza began.
His face fell almost instantly, as he muttered, “Lati’s going to kill me with how much paperwork this is going to produce…” Grinning, his eyes still displaying his annoyance, he turned towards the priest, “I already know you’re going to lie to me, but please, for the love of whoever you worship, tell me your creators aren’t the biggest exporters and importers of goods in this country.”
The priest opened his mouth, but before words could leave it, Alex cut him off, “Stop. I’d rather not give the Guild any more bias than they already have, at least then they’ll give me some usable answers.”
“I would not trust the House if I were you, boy. My masters’ hold more power than you can ever imagine, you’ll rue this day forever. They will not stop till they parade your head on a stick.” Elyza held off her want to crush his core as the faux Eudaimorph spit out the words, noticing her partner’s eyes glimmering with joy.
You think you can stop the wind ahead of us for just a second?
I would need some time to prepare, but yes.
Ohhhhhh, I see what you want to do, it has been a while since you’ve taken it out, so this should be interesting.
His voice in her head was weaker than before, but Elyza was more concerned with why the Empress seemed to be supporting whatever her partner was planning.
Gesturing for the priest to follow him, he spoke as he paced towards the cave’s mouth, “Firstly, Iskar, you are a mere creation, meaning I’m older than you, so don’t call me ‘boy’, child.”
“Secondly, you are not the first, nor will you be the last, of those who have warned me of their all-powerful friends, of their godly parents, of their demonic lovers,” Alex added, stopping before he stepped into the path of the river falling from the sky.
“Thirdly,” He began, turning on his heels as he stepped to the side, “You’re free to go.”
The words caused the priest to freeze. Elyza flicked the halberd back around her fingers as she stood opposite her partner, confounding him further. She took in a deep breath, trying to map the path of the gale weaving through the forest. The wind whipped the rain into a greater frenzy as she did, against the idea of being restrained, but it still yielded the flow it wanted to follow nonetheless.
“Why?!” The priest shouted, knowing this to be some sort of trick.
Elyza focused her breathing as her partner answered, “I keep my word, no matter how much someone deserves death.”
The priest’s feet inched forwards, glaring at Alex as he did, waiting for some trap to spring around him. As soon as he stepped into the rain, fully exposed to the stinging droplets, out of the cave’s protection, her partner added, “Oh, now that you’re free, you have till the count of ten.” His words were accompanied by his shadow splitting open to allow a steel bow to rise from them.
Instantly, the priest’s mimicry fell, returning back to a monster of slime, shooting towards the safety of the trees.
“TEN!” Alex shouted, pulling out a leather quiver from his cloak, a bunch of arrows stored within it. It was something Elyza never thought that he would bother keeping.
“Elyza? You remember that whistling arrow? NINE! Could you pull that out for me?” Her partner requested, keeping his eyes on the mass of slime weaving through the trunks, trying to break his aim.
“EIGHT!” His voice boomed as she scoured through the sheaf.
“A lot of trees in the way,” she remarked, retrieving out the arrow he had requested, and a normal arrow if he missed.
“Yup. SEVEN! Got to get my practice in somehow,” He replied, grinning as she placed the iron broadhead into his hand beside the grip of his bow. Holes carved into the tip of the arrow to produce a high-pitched noise as it sailed through the air.
“Thanks, Ears, where would I be without you,” Alex remarked, rotating his right arm to loosen it, storing the quiver back within his cloak.
“Philandering by what I have learned of you,” she replied, smiling, trying to pick out the mass of grey slime beneath the waterfall coming from the sky.
“Ye of little faith. FIVE! How strong’s the wind?”
“If Lord Njord had spilled soup on himself, why do you ask?”
“Stop it in its tracks at two,” He instructed, taking a deep breath as he pulled on the string of his hunting bow, its layered arms straining against his. They yearned for release, curving backwards on the verge of seeming to snap, even before the bowstring grazed against his cheek. The whistling arrow, now notched, sat on the hand gripping the bow, resting against the wood as he started to aim.
As he took a deep breath, the countdown in her head struck three, just as he shouted, “THREE!” His voice still echoed through the forest, as he turned his hips, aiming not at the creature, but to his right. It was above where his core would be if Alex was aiming directly at the faux-Eudaimorph, who was growing increasingly smaller in their view.
Elyza reached ahead before the countdown fell to two, and as her will spread through the forest, the wind listened. “Two,” her partner released the arrow, letting it loose through the trunks of the giants standing above them, the entire bow relaxing with its wielder, silently returning to how it was. A scream rushed through the air behind the arrow, which whipped through it frighteningly fast, splitting any raindrops that encountered it in their fall.
But her will could not be sustained for long, and the wind returned to its assault, pushing the arrow from its path, curving it towards the left along with it. “One.” Alex said with certainty, as far in the distance, the monster appeared to look towards them to gauge where the arrow was coming from, trying to spot it through the trees. The arrow screamed to warn the faux-Eudaimorph, but it was too late, hitting his core with enough force to send a crack echoing through the forest, and the fluid fell to the ground without anything to hold it together. The slime would seep into the ground, aided by the rain, only the pieces of the monster’s core would mark his grave, and even they would be stolen by ravens.
Her partner did not say anything, only slotting his bow into the ground, tendrils of shadows waiting beneath him to return it to its place. Alex looked into the rain, his eyes lost in thought, when something within Elyza told her to comment. “Impressive shot.” Instantly, he flashed a grin as his eyes filled with fabricated smugness.
“I tend not to disappoint,” He replied, sounding prouder than most gods, taking in the smell of the rain before he continued. “What makes this? Number… twelve?”
Nodding, she remarked, “Twelve shots, Twelve kills. At least, those that I have witnessed personally.”
Twelve? Slowing down, I see.
The demon’s voice was almost imperceptible, having to focus on the tiny voice at the back of her head to even comprehend what she was saying. “It appears that the potion is starting to wear off,” She concluded.
“Thank the fucking gods,” Her partner muttered through his grin, quickly clarifying as he glanced at her, “You have no idea how much effort it’s taking to make sure you don’t get bombarded with so much, just, absolutely idiotic thoughts in my head.”
Elyza tilted her head, trying to figure out a suitable reply to the remark, concluding her thoughts with the words, “Thank you.”
“No problem, Ears. Now, any guesses on why I feel like I’m forgetting something really important?” He asked, his eyes narrowing as he tried to discern his own thoughts.
Waiting for her partner to answer his own question, she looked out to look at the shower falling upon the emerald forest, taking in the sight before they delved back into the dungeon. “Oh right,” Alex remarked, rubbing his eyelids to get rid of the weariness within them, adding, “We were here to rescue Monza…”
“I believe some sleep would be beneficial today,” Elyza remarked, smiling as she enjoyed the rain.
“I second that, As soon as we set her free, tell her what happened, ask her to investigate the Cyllenius family, get the rest of the kidnapees out of here, help Pili with ensuring the tribe doesn’t pull a stunt like this again, return to the city, figure out why no one in the town’s guild reported this, get some travelling accommodations for tomorrow, I will definitely collapse into a heap and require carrying to my bed and out of my bed.”
“It appears that today is going to be a long day.”
“All in a day’s work,” Alex sighed out, falling through his shadow before dragging her along with him.