Everyone gathered around the table as Merlynn asked each falling silent, giving Merlynn their full attention. “First, I want to thank Cyrus and Fyri for all your help. Truly, despite all that I had planned and trained for; I would not have made it back alive if not for you two. You both even followed me to my world and helped solve my problems for which alone I will always be in your debt.” Merlynn thanked them both with a sincere bow.
“Second, I want to pay back a little of that debt now, by trusting you both fully. What I’m about to tell you both, three of us hold as the dearest secret to us. One that we would do anything to keep, one that affects your world. A secret you must tell no one else.” Merlynn announced awaiting Cyrus and Fyri’s response.
“You can tell us anything. Even if it’s about our world I swear to you on my oath that your words will not leave this room.” Cyrus answered, with Fyri nodding, backing him up. “When I was a part of the team that successfully cleared the fiftieth floor of the Boensaca Tower we gave misleading information to the guild upon our arrival.” Merlynn began as she stood and paced in place.
“While it was true that we had cleared the fiftieth floor, we didn’t stop there, the tower continued upwards. We pushed forward blazing with excitement as our party stormed through the next twenty-five floors camping in the tower to rest when we could. Instead of stopping there we chose to continue, no one had made it past the fiftieth until us and we were determined to become legendary for being the only ones to say we made it to the top. After the grueling next twenty-four floors we knew were nearing our end but had the resolve to make it to one hundred, after all there was one more set of stairs. We all agreed and rested as much as we could before ascending what we would soon realize was the final set of stairs. We weren’t prepared at all for what we found.” Merlynn paused as Cyrus could no longer contain his questions.
“Was it some kind of colossal monster? I know each tenth floor has some kind of “boss” monster to contend with. Or was it one of the gods or goddesses? We always thought it might be one of them up there taking a nap or something.” Cyrus postulated aloud then was struck in the gut by Fyri. Cyrus apologized withdrawing his questions. “The top floor was open air nothingness aside from a single raised stone slab with a young girl asleep on it.” Corey interjected trying to get the story going again albeit confused why Merlynn was mentioning this now.
“A young girl? No monster no riches? Not even a god or…” Cyrus scoffed in disappointment but was interrupted by Corey again. “The girl was divine; I could sense it without detecting her aura. Which I did anyways.” Corey spoke crossing his arms. “Wait, you’re saying that the little girl was…a goddess?” Fyri asked, laying her hands on the table. “Is, a goddess. A goddess who had no name nor knowledge of anything outside the tower. If not for her divinity I doubt she could have carried on a conversation with us let alone understand us.” Daisy interjected, now filled with concern of her own. “Merlynn I’m fine telling them this if you really trust them, but what does this have to do with…” Daisy trailed off as she noticed Merlynn’s body language shift and her hands clench white into fists. “Another party cleared the top floor and left us a message after tearing down our fucking village! They know that we took something from there. I don’t know if they know what was taken just that they assume it was some kind of prize and they took out their anger on everyone in the village, leaving no survivors.” Merlynn seethed in anger slamming her fists into the table then crumpled into her chair.
“Wait what!? Where is Dellah?!?” Daisy asked shooting up from her seat. “She’s fine Gloria is reading her a bedtime story.” Corey assured her, easing her back into her seat. Cyrus and Fyri looked at one another in bewilderment. “So you guys took a fledgling goddess from our world and brought her to yours and Merlynn’s daughter is tucking her in for the night?” Fyri asked, leaning into the table.
“Yes, but not without a warning. Before we left the village to go back to our world, Gaia made sure to tell me that once we left with the girl we couldn’t come back unless we intended to stay. In her words she’s not too fond of loaning out her toys but she made an exception for her first Paladin.” Corey answered lighting a cigarette. Merlynn followed in suite then felt Claire staring at her. As she motioned to extinguish it Claire dismissed her with a wave and smile. “Hold on you’re a paladin too!?” Cyrus shot up from his seat this time slamming his head into a rafter with a solid smack. “Owww!” Cyrus groaned profusely rubbing his head.
“After we’re done here, we can talk more about it later. You both are welcome to stay here at the bar for the night. Which I recommend, since I know it’s getting late on Flameria right now and a warm bed beats a cot in the woods any day.” Corey chuckled leaning into his seat. “You said Gaia, right? As in the mythical matron Goddess who became the planet and whose lover became the sun?” Fyri asked, crossing her arms in suspicion. “The one and the same.” Corey answered with absolution.
“She’s just a myth. She’s not actually real.” Fyri sneered across the table at Corey. He then rose from his seat and walked over to her. He stroked his beard once then laid his eyes on a swollen cut clotted with blood on Fyri’s shoulder peeking through her sleeve. “Ya know, you remind me a lot of someone else who likes to hide their wounds and put on a brave face.” Corey spoke aloud revealing the festering wound for all to see. He then laid an open palm across the wound. Without a word he closed his eyes and warm light flooded from his hand healing the wound without leaving so much as a blemish. “Label me wrong.” Fyri spoke in amazement. “Someone write that down!” Cyrus belted out in laughter. “Okay, so you are indeed a paladin, I still say Gaia is just a legend though.” Fyri admitted rubbing at her healed arm. “I believe he’s telling the truth.” Cyrus spoke aloud sitting back down. The chair creaked a bit from his weight but otherwise held him. “What, can you suddenly detect lies now?” Fyri asked sarcastically. “No, however, the guilds keep track of things like that and when I registered they told me that I was the only active paladin they currently had record of. Granted at the time I didn’t think to ask about specific previous paladins, but when they had me sign in the registry I did notice the first paladin recorded hailed Gaia. The pen strokes looked to deliberate and concise to be written in doubt. After signing they showered me with so much attention that I got lost in the moment.” Cyrus answered.
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“So what’s the plan then? Is there a plan?” Claire asked still lost on most of the situation. “As of now Corey and Daisy can’t go to Flameria, not without dragging Dellah into the mix. Claire unfortunately you can’t come either seeing as Flameria’s sun hurts you for some strange reason.” Merlynn answered speaking broadly. “I’ve got no choice in the matter so I’m definitely going.” Merlynn continued. “Your’re leaving again!? But you just got back!!!” Claire shouted in anger banging her fist on the table. “I figured this would lead to going to their authorities or something, but now I’ve got the feeling your talking about going away for a lot longer this time!” Claire shouted again this time rising from her seat filling with anger. “I am. I’m sorry Claire but, I need to confirm for myself what that those bastards think we took. It’s obvious they think its something worth killing for.” Merlynn walked to her briskly without a shred of anger. She reached for Claire’s hand but was not reciprocated.
“Why do you have to be the one to deal with everything! Can’t we just tell one of their guilds what they did and have them arrested? This all sounds like more revenge to me!” Claire raised her voice standing to look Merlynn in her eyes. She stood there in silence at Claire unsure what to say. She was good in the heat of the moment with any villain or evil bastard out there, but when it came to the people she cared about most she always struggled to find the right words to say. Her panic was apparent in her eyes which set worry into Claire dousing her rage.
“I’m sorry Lynn, everyone. I didn’t mean to upset you nor make a scene.” Claire apologized with a soft sob. “I know we’ve barely started our relationship and that you have a whole family to worry about, I haven’t forgotten that. It makes me so happy that you accepted me, and I want to spend as much time with you as I can. You have no idea what your love really means to me and unless you somehow become immortal your time is finite where mine is eternal. I know it’s selfish of me to want you to stay.” Claire sobbed harder when Merlynn suddenly wrapped her up in her arms.
“It’s not selfish. If our roles were reversed, I would honestly feel the same way. I, however, would have probably gotten real boozy and blamed myself. I know it sounds like more revenge, but it’s so much more than that. We established that village alongside friends we all grew with and loved dearly. The guilds do a lot to marshal the members as best they can, but they aren’t perfect and everything is litigation and paperwork with them. The group that attacked the village ranked among the strongest parties around and that was back when we were actively attempting the tower, seeing as they have now claimed to have reached the top there’s not a guild in the world that would listen to accusations of them pillaging.” Merlynn spoke easy, as she held Claire, softly running her fingers through her silver hair.
“Dellah is the reason why I’m going. Yes, it’s true that I want justice for those who were slain, and they will have their justice, you can count on that, but Dellah comes first. I won’t rest easy till I know what they know, least think they know. No one from Flameria has ever been to Earth before Dellah and now our two new friends. I’m worried that given time, they may go further and try to come to Earth looking for her or at least what they assume we have.” Merlynn continued as she felt Claire ease into her. “I can’t just sit here and wait for that day to come.” Merlynn finished pulling away from Claire enough to look her in the face. She lifted her chin rubbing away her tears with her thumbs. “I understand. I’m sorry I lashed out like I did.” Claire apologized, losing herself in Merlynn’s eyes. “It’s okay, no harm done.” Merlynn assured her with a kiss then turned her attention to Cyrus and Fyri. “Please make yourself comfortable, Earth unlike Flameria doesn’t have the same mana density, so it will take some time for everyone to fully recover, as you may have noticed already.” Merlynn informed them. “Now that you mention it I’m whacked, normally I could go for days, but now I feel like I could sleep for days.” Fyri yawned unladylike.
“Well with plenty food and rest we should be able to return in two days.” Merlynn grinned. “I do like the sound of food.” Cyrus remarked patting his stomach. “What is it, midnight now? I’m sure I could go make us a quick snack.” Corey interjected with a grin. “Yeah right, your quick midnight snacks become full course meals!” Daisy snickered teasing him. “Hell yeah I’ll help! I could eat a horse!” Merlynn beamed propping her foot on the table and rolled up her sleeves.
As the night blurred into morning they enjoyed a raucous party before finally setting down. Cyrus and Fyri slept in the largest room available at the bar in the VIP lounge. Gloria and Hiro retired soon after the meeting had begun. Corey and Daisy took a sleeping Dellah home tucking her into bed. Finally, Merlynn insisted that Claire come home with her, which she happily agreed to. As they entered Merlynn’s apartment, they were greeted by a worried-filled Jane. After calming her down and explaining all that happened, Merlynn proceeded to her room where she discovered Stumpy’s overturned pot and open window he had promptly escaped from prior to their arrival. She righted the pot and replanted Stumpy whom thanked her with his golden motes. Afterwards she deftly removed her clothing heading straight to the shower and was soon joined by Claire. After a sultry, steamy shower the two climbed into Merlynn’s bed cuddling deep in thick comforters. No sooner had the two fallen asleep, a thought struck Merlynn awake. “Fuck! I forgot about Lori!!!” Merlynn shouted in anger.
“Son of a bitch!” Claire exclaimed, sitting up abruptly. “Are you okay?” Claire heaved, catching her breath. “No, Yes, dammit its always something.” Merlynn grumbled as she trudged to her coat tugging at her underwear as it rode up on her. She dug through her pocket retrieving the ruby doorknob she had used earlier at the inn. “What’s that Claire asked sliding down to the foot of the bed. Her silver hair slipped off her shoulders curling around her chest as she focused on the jeweled knob. “It’s a key to a pocket dimension known as ‘Paradoxical Way’, I used it earlier on Flameria to save a friend’s life.” Merlynn answered pushing her hip into the side of her dresser noisily moving it just enough to make space for the doorway that formed when she pressed the jeweled knob to the wall.
“Care to join me? I’d love to introduce you two.” Merlynn asked with a smile. “Like I would let you leave without me.” Claire teased sliding off the bed onto her feet. She wrapped a slender pale arm around Merlynn’s pulling her close. “After you milady.” Claire mused with a fanged smile. Merlynn snickered as she tugged on Claire pulling her over the threshold and through the doorway.