“Let me go! I promise I won’t try to kill any of you again, I’m just a grunt!” The creature squirmed against his bondage while the barkeep carried him through town. Despite being made of pure magical energy, his restraints were surprisingly uncomfortable.

The barkeep jiggled him in her grip. “You can talk when we’re home.” She caught the eye of a group of confused villagers, giving them a nervous wave and grin. Mark, Horan, Quet and Omet followed behind her, trying to keep a low profile.

The parts of the village undamaged by the assault had more or less begun to resume normal life. That didn’t mean they’d stopped thinking about what had just happened. At least one gaze was fixed on the Primoi at all time, and a few people were trying to haul the scorched corpse of the pillbug-creature to a butcher.

The barkeep brought the group to a small house, pulled out a key ring from her pocket, opened the door and ushered everyone in. Once she was the last one still outside, she looked around, tossed the captive creature into the house and closed the door.

The house was small, but shockingly well-kept for supposedly making it through the apocalypse. It didn’t even look like the barkeep was squatting in it, it just looked like a normal, pre-Nabbing home. A living room/kitchen made up the apparent bulk of the home, with framed sketches of nature scenes and vinyl records adorning the walls, along with a blood-red rope belt surrounding a red-and-gold luchador mask for some reason. Doorways on the far end and to the left led to a kitchen and another room with a closed door.

Once inside, the barkeep made sure all the blinds were pulled over the windows before turning to the group. Now that nobody was watching, she shifted back into her true form.

Her eyes lit up like lightbulbs, taking on a bright orange hue. She grew an extra foot and a half, and had to crouch slightly to stop herself from banging her head on a ceiling lamp.

Horan pumped his fist. “Yes! Primus! I knew it!”

The Primus collapsed into a nearby sofa, sighing. “Been a while since I’ve been like this. I’ll be honest, I was kinda hoping I’d never change back.”

The creature, who had landed on his face, rolled over so that he could see everyone. “I assume that this is your house, does that mean-”

“Later!” The entire room shouted in unison.

The Primus leaned forward, leaving an indent in the back of the sofa. “Actually, can we get back to that thing? That whole attack is really worrying.”

“I resent being called a thing.”

The Primus balled one hand into a fist, her eyes flaring with light. Horan, who was standing closest to her, thought he felt some heat radiate off of her.

“...Got the message.” The creature rolled back onto his face.

Horan shifted into his own true form, along with the two Aztecs. After making sure it wouldn’t buckle under his weight, he pulled up a chair from the nearby dining table. “Sorry, we outnumber you four to one. Five to one if Omet does the thing. You’re gonna have to start us off, because I don’t know about these guys, but I’ve got plenty of questions.”

Quet shook her head. “Nah, I have no clue what’s going on either.”

Mark sat in the other chair. “I’m just tired.”

The Primus buried her head in her hands. “Fine, you win. Name’s Waia, of the Hawaiian Domain.”

“But I thought the Hawaiians died years ago, or at least lost their powers,” Questioned Horan. “How are you able to do all that lava stuff?”

Waia sighed and looked at Quet. “Hey, can you do me a solid? I’m thirsty.”

“But you don’t even need to drink, how are you..?”

“It means I want a drink, this is gonna take a while. I’ve got glasses and a sink in the kitchen over there.”

“Alright, good to know.” Quet nodded and didn’t move.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Omet nudged her. “She’s asking you to get a drink.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense.” Omet turned and headed to the kitchen.

While she left, Mark called after her. “Hey, can you make that two? I’d also like something.”

“Make it three,” echoed Horan. “Might as well.”

While Quet was filling up glasses in the kitchen, Waia continued. “We didn’t die, we just thought we had more important priorities than fighting with other Domains over what to do. Say, blue guy, what exactly have you been doing since everyone vanished?”

Horan tried to figure out if he should take the bait or not. “...Partying.”

“More so than usual, I assume?”

“Well, we don’t have many other alternatives, so-”

“There it is. Well, while the potential defenders of humanity have been acting like nothing’s wrong, my Domain is actually invested in surviving this whole ordeal. And from where I’m sitting, it seems to me like the hordes of murder-creatures are a result of your actions having consequences for once.”

The creature rolled back over. “Is this the part where you get to me? This floor is starting to lose its zest.”

“We get to you when we get to you!”

Waia calmed down when Quet came back with four precariously-grasped glasses of water. “As I was saying before being rudely interrupted, the Hawaiians have been using our power to make sure the population of these islands are safe; at least what’s left of it.”

Horan nodded, beginning to think. “So you’re the ones keeping the skies clear, then?”

“Bingo. We’ve got a few wizards on Moloka’i keeping some weather spell or whatever up. Meanwhile, the rest of us keep some part of the islands safe, making sure the humans do well without them finding out about us. As you’d expect, I’m in charge of the quaint little town of Honoka’a. It’s a good job.” She smiled to herself.

Before anyone could respond, she stiffened. “But I doubt it’s a coincidence that right when you four show up, we get attacked by crazy murder monsters, and I would like to bring up the fact that this is the first time anyone in this region has been attacked by anyone in years.” She reached over and grabbed the creature by his restraints, holding him up like a ventriloquist’s dummy. “So do any of you mind explaining yourselves?”

The creature wriggled in discomfort. “Does this mean I can speak now?”

“I was using you as a prop, you will speak only when spoken to.” Waia dropped the creature back on the floor and took a sip of her water while gesturing at the others to begin their own introductions.

Horan decided to open. “Well, I’m-”

“Waia?”

Waia spat her drink out, dropped her glass, and fell choking to the floor. Every unoccupied head in the room turned to look at the doorway, the source of the new voice.

A scrawny-looking woman maybe in her late 20s stood in the open doorway, staring at the guests with a look of confusion, fear and worry dominating her face. A bow made of duct-taped metal rods and string was slung over one shoulder, and a partially-full quiver hung from the other.

While Waia was spluttering on the floor, she quickly shifted back into her human form. Once she felt vaguely presentable and un-Primus-like, she bolted to her feet and stared at the woman, grinning in fear. “Ivy! Hi! You-you’re back early!”

Ivy nodded slowly, her eyes darting from one thing to another. “Yeah, I heard about… the… attack… hey, um, who are these people? And why are their eyes all…?”

Horan quickly shifted into his human form. “What do you mean? I don’t see anything wrong with my eyes. Eye.”

Quet shifted as well. “Yeah, you’re crazy.”

Omet punched Quet in the shoulder while they shifted. “You’re not crazy, Ma’am. Just… hallucinating.”

Mark wordlessly pulled his hood up and pulled on the strings so that his hood engulfed his entire face.

Waia cringed so hard that it looked like she would somehow fold into herself. “Yeah, um… It’s… Dinner party?”

Ivy’s eyes slowly slid down from the Primoi and onto the bound creature on the floor. She still did not move from where she was standing.

The creature nodded in greeting. “Hey, how’s it going?”

Waia kicked the creature so hard that he didn’t even make a noise in response, he just went dead still. She looked back at Ivy. “So, uh… Can I get you something to drink?”

Ivy didn’t look at her. “Did you just kill it?”

Waia looked back down at the motionless creature. “Hopefully not. So, how about it? Feeling thirsty?” She looked over at the others and mouthed a frantic ‘help me’.

Horan got to his feet. “Well, I’m sure you two have been missing each other, so Mark and I are gonna go check out your lovely village. It would be nice to have a place to sleep before nightfall, after all.” He took Mark by the arm and rushed past Ivy out of the house. Mark, face still covered, hit his head against the doorframe on his way out. Not wanting to get involved in any of this either, Omet quickly followed suit.

While Quet dragged the unconscious creature into the kitchen, Waia relaxed and sighed. “Okay, it looks like something is clearly up, and I did say we should be honest with each other. Not too happy about this, but I can’t really avoid it anymore, and it’s what I need to do. Let’s, uh, let’s go to our room, I’ve got some stuff to explain.”

Ivy clearly didn’t know how to react. “Well, uh, there’s definitely some stuff that needs explaining, so… Yeah. Let’s go.”