Thesa wanted to catch her breath but Kelreyn could still be pursuing her so she barrelled through the next [Floor] and the next [Floor] and on and on. She lost track of where she was until she pushed through a metallic door into the murky water of [Floor] 65.
Lelly, the KangarooHawk, and the Cow-Dog were all waiting by the door. As soon as Thesa came through, the naiad pushed the door closed and began manipulating her green scaled hands to cast a magic lock into place.
Thesa's heart was beating out of her chest. “Wait, wait, what about Merijest?”
Lelly swallowed. “Thesa, Merijest told me to do this. She told me to be ready for you and that if she can get away, she will contact me so I can unseal the door.”
“But–” Thesa was still shouting but couldn't think to say any more.
“Thesa,” Lelly said softly, putting a smooth, scaly hand on Thesa’s shoulder. “The best thing you can do for Merijest right now is get healed up, honest. If she makes it to us with Knights on her trail, we need to be ready.”
Thesa couldn't think of anything else to argue and the adrenaline was starting to leave her brain, although the rest of her body took its time to reach equilibrium.
***
The next day, Thesa lay face down on the wooden floor of Lelly's dorm. The naiad [Druid]’s dwelling was small. A bedroom, a front room, and a bathroom.
The KangarooHawk and Cow-Dog stood (swam?) guard out on the [Floor] proper. Yabba had been laid on the soft rug in Lelly’s bedroom. Thesa was in the front room.
Lelly had used a spell to stabilize the [Minor Familiar]’s condition. As the creature lay resting, strands of wood pulp reached across the cracks in its frame, expanding to seal up each break.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuggh,” Thesa elaborated. She wasn’t sure if it was the distance from her [Stake] or pure exhaustion, but for the first time she really felt undead. She imagined herself looking ragged although she hadn’t checked her reflection.
Lelly brought over a mug of hot tea. She placed it beside Thesa and took a seat on a chair decorated to look like a big, dotted mushroom cap. It was next to the small futon where Thesa had been sleeping. “Still no news, huh?”
Thesa replied through inaction, not replying or changing her demeanor in any way. “Uggggggggggh,” she continued.
There was a time when she had planned on escaping from Merijest but now she was mortified at what might be happening in the [Floors] above. Merijest was powerful, but there was no guarantee against that trio of Knights. And Thesa felt like she couldn't really start to process the whole encounter if it hadn't truly ended yet. Reconsidering the history of her friendship with Kelreyn and trying to figure out what was up with Peter were questions for later. All of Merijest’s plans for liberating Beautuk’s Realm and saving Thesa’s mother were now perfectly unachievable.
“Have you and Merijest ever really been apart this long?” the naiad asked.
"Well I guess," Thesa replied, misunderstanding the question. "It's not like we've always known each other."
"No, I mean like since you started seeing each other?" Lelly rephrased.
"Seeing each other?" Thesa asked, confused.
“You know, like, got together…” (No recognition.) “...as a couple…” (Still none.) “...romantically?”
“Wait, we're not together like that,” Thesa said. Her cheeks reddened even as she stared at the floor. “What gave you that idea?”
“Oh gosh,” Lelly said, scrambling, “I didn't mean– I just thought– the way way you two– um. Sorry I shouldn't have assumed.” She fidgeted with her pink coral ‘hair.’
There was a long awkward silence.
“I don't think she looks at me like that,” Thesa said. She tried to replay various memories of the past few days with Merijest but as always she couldn’t really picture faces. Merijest was certainly protective of her and often teased her, but that was just the demoness’s personality. Impossible to read anything into it, Thesa decided.
“Hmm,” Lelly said. “I think that might be worth some further investigation, Thesa.”
Thesa didn't understand what Lelly was saying.
“Safe for now,” came the first [Message] from Merijest. “Hidden and moving slowly. [Floor] 38. Need to focus on stealth.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Thesa considered the [Message], trying to come up with a reply that didn't sound stupid. ‘I miss you.’ ‘I'm worried.’ ‘I don't know what to do.’ It all sounded pathetic and Merijest had just said she needed to focus. Thesa relayed the message to Lelly.
“So that's good, right?” Lelly said. “We just need to sit tight for a day or two and she'll be back.”
Thesa remained nose-to-floor. “I guess so.”
“I'll try to think of some things we can do to pass the time,” Lelly said. She stood up and returned to her bedroom. “Oh wait!” she returned almost instantly. “When I was visiting Lenum's shop, he had this book I thought you would find interesting.”
Lelly pointed to a stack of books.
Thesa looked up. “Reincarnated as a Human Woman in a World Without Magic?!” she asked.
“Not that one,” Lelly said.
“My Harpy Girlfriend?” Thesa continued, completely unaware that Lelly was beginning to regret pointing out the whole stack.
“No, I'm trying to tell you its–”
“Does Falling in Love with My Arch Nemesis at Mage School Make Me a Lesbian??"
“How about I just show you,” Lelly said. Her scaly cheeks tinged with blush.
Lelly grabbed a dense book from the pile titled Plume and Granby's Encyclopedia of Demons and Fiends. “This is the latest edition and it has a section about Merijest.”
Thesa started to perk up a bit. “What does it say?”
“I haven't had time to look, but what say we do that together right now?” Lelly asked, hopefully.
Thesa sighed. “Sure.”
Lelly checked the table of contents and quickly flipped through to a short section on “Merijest the [High Devil].”
“That picture doesn't look that much like Merijest. She doesn't have scales in a lot of those spots,” Thesa said, pointing to the illustration. In truth, it was fairly accurate. Thesa just hadn't realized how much time she had spent staring at Merijest close up.
Thesa continued, “what does ‘z.e.’ after the year mean?”
“It stands for Zithixian Era,” Lelly explained. “It's used in some academic texts as a neutral alternative to the more popular b.r. for Beautuk's Reign.”
Together, they read through the short blurb.
Merijest the [High Devil]
Active: 4715 z.e. - Present
Domain: Death/Undeath
Origin: northeastern IthorBeau
Alternate Names: saint of killers, breather of shadows
Lineage: Unknown*
Symbols: Black feathers, ice, spade
Major Acts:
* Destruction of Beautuk’s statue in the ThrixOwtem region of northeast ItherBeau 4715 z.e.
* Lead an army of undead [Familiars] against an unspecified burial site in the Gomder Mountains 4717 z.e.
* Acquisition and renovation of Blinny [Dungeon] 4721 z.e.
Summary: Although newly active and mostly solitary, Merijest has made a name for herself by coming from nowhere to pick a fight with the biggest power player in the region. Like most currently-active [High Devils], her exact abilities are unknown. Merijest is known to primarily (if not exclusively) recruite non-sapient [Familiars] with no confirmed sapient [Familiars] to date.
* One of few [High Devils] to not be born a demon. Merijest's life prior to her active years is mostly unknown.
“Huh,” Thesa said. “Merijest wasn't born a demon?” She had suspected there were things she didn't know about Merijest's past, but she didn't even know a non-demon could become a demon.
“Only ten years? Honest, she hasn't been nearly as active as I thought.” Lelly said. “The way she's talked about, you would think she's been killing babies for centuries.”
“But did you know that?” Thesa asked. “That someone can become a demon?”
Lelly nodded. “It's not common but it's totally possible. Most seminars don't get into the specifics because there's a lot we don't know. Not a lot of demons interested in dictating their methods to someone from a Mage College.”
Thesa slumped back onto the floor. Now she had even more she wanted to say to Merijest. More questions. More worries.
***
Suspended upside-down, Thesa dreamed herself in a foggy pit. Merijest lay ragged and resting somewhere above her, Thesa felt without any relevant sensory input.
And suddenly she was holding that human rib bone again. Rightside-up, she felt the presence of many devils, all lying in broken coffins. These were Beautuk’s previous foes. Countless demonesses and demons throughout the history of his reign, all slain just as Thesa had once trained to slay Merijest.