Eleanor Deveena

“I’ve been looking for you,” The patchy lady said as her head creaked ninety degrees. “Nice to meet you, my name is Ayperos.” She held out her hand, offering Eleanor a handshake. “The Prince of foo-” the redhead turned away, ignoring Ayperos’ gesture of friendship. Eleanor’s feet ran as fast as they could out of the room.

A studden Ayperos was paralyzed from Eleanor’s sudden escape. Her hand stayed in the air, motionless as it had nothing to grasp. The Prince giggled. “The little red rabbit didn’t even let me finish~”

Eleanor’s hairs stood on end as she was running down the hallway with Veronica and Professor Leylon in tow. Somehow she could tell Ayperos had stepped out of the medbay and into the hallway.

“I can see why the mistress likes you,” Ayperos said, particularly to Eleanor, “I’m guessing she’s into big tits.” She wasn’t even running, and the creature was still keeping up with the group.

“There should be an elevator on the far right of this hallway!” A limping Sixty-Six cried out, his body barely supported by a weakened Elsie.

Leylon looked back and noticed Eleanor lagging behind. Her body seemed to be dragged by an invisible force towards the creature. He raised his wand and fired a bolt of lightning. Ayperos scoffed and slapped it away.

Exasperated, the Prince of Fools smashed her four arms into the floor, releasing a wave of strange black mana through, creating a wall between Eleanor and the rest of the group. “Nul magic?” Eleanor whispered, frightened.

“It’s a little more than that,” Ayperos’ smile didn’t reach her eyes, “Now, let’s talk. I promise, I won’t hurt you.”

Eleanor’s teeth clattered. Ayperos’ towering height overwhelmed the redhead. The Prince noticed and knelt to the downed Eleanor who watched with widened eyes. The walking four-armed corpse stank of rot and flowers.

An overgrown nail scraped Eleanor’s cheek. “You feel regret. Regret and guilt over bringing everyone here. Your own obsession over lost knowledge brought everyone to this island of wonder and nightmares. A beautiful dream twisted into a hellish nightmare.”

Eleanor averted her eyes then gasped as she felt Ayperos grasp one of her breasts. She felt alone and naked with this dark freak, even when she heard her companions’ shouts from behind the dark wall Ayperos conjured. She grunted as Ayperos’ hand clenched harder. Pain shot through her chest as she felt her flesh crushed by those stubby dark-red fingers.

“Stop groping me, you freak!” Eleanor spat, vainly trying to find bravery while being cornered.

Ayperos ignored her childish outburst and continued to squeeze as she continued her speech, “And what makes you feel even worse is that you still have such curiosity coursing through your veins! You still want to explore every corner of this cursed place. And that makes you feel so so guilty.”

“Hnng!” Eleanor glared at her, ignoring her fear as she grasped Ayperos’ wrist, trying to push away her hand.

“I have a solution though. You see, my mistress wants you. For what reason, I don’t particularly care, but she is quite obsessed with you.”

“What are you...getting at?!”

“If you come with me obediently to meet my mistress, I promise I will not harm your crewmates. In fact, I’ll even grant them safe passage back home.”

Eleanor raised a brow, “Really? What about the other elves? We had five elves with us, now only Sixty-Six is left, and he’s limping!”

Ayperos sighed, shrugging her shoulders, “I’ll admit, I went a little blood-crazy. I haven’t had such good fun in a while!” She looked deep into Eleanor’s eyes; her features became soft, almost disarming. “However, if you take my hand, I promise, I’ll give them safe passage back home. And, if you come with me, I’m sure mistress would be willing enough to spoil you rotten with all kinds of knowledge. You are a nerdy mage, aren’t you?”

“...How do I know you won’t just go back on your word?” Her voice was nearly an inaudible whisper.

“Simple really,” Ayperos’ tongue slithered like a snake, “An agreement between souls. A contract, as your kind calls it.”

“A contract? No pit traps? No tricks?”

The amethyst-haired corpse shook her head, “No tricks, no traps. So,” She offered her hand. A wave of spiritual magic surrounded her palm, and mana in the form of an unassigned contract was formed. “What do you say? Do we have a deal?”

Eleanor stared at the pillar of mana, reading each individual rune with great scrutiny. The contract seemed fair, or at least appeared to be.

The swirling mass of mana danced like a temptress. If Eleanor just touched it, then everyone would go back home safely, like a genie granting her wishes.

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Ayperos’ smile grew as Eleanor’s had hovered right next to the flame. Inches away, the mage was about to seal her fate.

Until she drew her hand back. With clear eyes, she gazed upon the surprised majin. “No.”

“No?” The prince looked taken aback for a moment as she stared back into the human’s azure-blue eyes. Regaining her composure quickly, she smiled, “Well! It’s all the same to me.”

Eleanor noticed the shift in her mismatched eyes. Quickly hovering her hand over the rune beneath her, she started to zap the mana from it when Ayperos’ oversized hand grasped her by the neck and lifted her up. The wind was knocked out of her. She desperately tried to breathe but her windpipes were being crushed.

“P-pleaaszze….let…”

“I’m taking you to her, carrot or stick. Sorry, kiddo,” She squeezed her neck further, the oxygen drained from Eleanor’s brain as she felt her vision fade to black.

Her struggling arms went limp and dangled lifelessly. Ayperos placed an arm below Eleanor’s legs and carried her in her four arms. Eleanor’s eyes were slightly open; her pupils were hazy and unseeing. She turned away from the black mass of mana she created and headed to the portal.

Ayperos’ still smile was like a doll’s, unnerving and unfeeling. One of her hands poked between Eleanor’s breasts, right at her heart. It was beating softly, like a heavy drum.

Veronica Leylon

She bashed her fists against the wall of shadows in front of her. It was like hitting a steel wall. No fist or magic was able to break through it. Even with the combined efforts of everyone’s mana, no one was able to tear a hole through the wall.

Veronica felt a sort of panic settle deep in her heart. She clenched her pale knuckles together as she grinded her teeth. Elsie, on her left, charged mana in her arm before sending it into a spiral of red mana into the wall to no success.

“I...can’t…” Elsie slumped to her knees, out of breath.

Veronica snatched the wand from her father and shot a clump of lightning into the barricade. It bounced off.

Sixty-Six could barely move as he was supported by one of the corridor walls, so he was unable to contribute.

Professor Leylon’s feet shifted. “Veronica, I have something to tell you.” His voice was oddly cool.

His daughter turned to him as Elsie kept banging on the constructed shadow. He also called out to Elsie. “Elsie, I have a favor to ask you.”

“Kind of in the middle of something here, if you hadn’t noticed!” She seethed, but quickly stopped as she felt his urgency through her empathic connection. Elsie quickly stood by Veronica’s side. She knew Veronica had felt animosity and jealousy towards her, but that was exactly why she trusted Eleanor with her.

“What you see here, Elsie, I want you to keep it a secret. I don’t have to explain that to Sixty-Six, since he’s barely awake regardless,” He said, motioning to the nearly-passed out elf who had only managed to stay awake due to the pain in his leg.

He looked at Veronica, his gaze softer than she ever saw it, “I had promised your mothers I’d keep you safe, but in doing so I had stunted your growth. Your carrier mother was only human, but your donor mother was something much more than that.”

“You told me she was a Fae,” Veronica pointed out.

“Much more than just a Fae. She was something divine.”

“Divine?” Elsie spoke the word Veronica wanted to say.

He ignored Elsie’s stupor and continued with a tremor in his voice, “Veronica. You...are half-Valkyrie.”

She stared at her father with unblinking eyes. Her silver-black eyebrows didn’t flutter and were as still as a statue. “I had sealed away your capabilities as a Valkyrie at a young age. In my act of protection, I had stunted your growth.”

“Damn right you geezer,” Elsie spoke up for Veronica. She was acting strangely angry at this revelation, more so than the exotic-haired girl herself, “Stunting someone just because they’re a little bit different is downrigh-”

“Miss Ellienheart, this is between my father and I, please don’t interrupt again,” Her wintery voice cut through Elsie’s rage. “Why did you seal my abilities?”

His throat felt parched, like he was dying in the middle of a desert. “You were….dying. Your human body was unable to withstand the divinity of the Valkyrie species. You were little and thus weak.”

She kept silent, waiting for her father to continue. Although she looked calm, collected, and patient on the surface, Veronica was dying to get back to Eleanor. Every second wasted was a second lost. She didn’t want to waste it on pointless bickering.

“You’ve grown stronger as a human, Veronica. I think now you might have a better chance at handling it. Maybe, hopefully, possibly,” He said, uncharacteristically hesitant, “Listen, the backlash from your divine power might...incapacitate you permanently. Your mana circuits might end up completely blowing out, or you might even go into a coma. Finish that blasted freak as quickly as possible, do you hear me?”

She nodded. “I hear you. I promise. Do it, pelase.”

He placed his wrinkled hand over her stomach. She looked down on that hand and realized just how old and delicate it was. Veronica had always seen him as a stubborn and powerful old goat, but right now, he was as delicate as glass.

She felt something crack inside her; not just physically, but spiritually, like a dam torn apart by a tsunami. There was no warmth or cold, but she felt out of place; like her foot was too small.

Something sprouted from her back, nearly shoving Elsie away.

Divine wings made of light shifted in and out of reality. They were made of sheer paracausal power.

*****

Ayperos shifted into the otherside of the Anomaly with a sleeping beauty in her arms. The smile on her chapped lips grew wider. The demonic runes around her glew with a fierce red. Miasmic winds became ferocious.

She was drawing nearer to her mistress. Looking behind her, she gestured to the portal to close. Watching it closing, she hummed in satisfaction.

Until a bright light tore the seams of the Anomaly open, blinding her with intense pain not unlike that of a burning sun straight to her stomach. The sleeping girl fell out of her arms as vertigo took over and flung Ayperos like a ragdoll.

Prickles of divine will prickled at her undead skin like needles going into her skull. She smiled at the pain. Her mismatched eyes gazed over her new challenger. A girl with silver and black hair glared at her with the ferocity of a God.

Those patchy wings of light swirled like tendrils behind Veronica. The darkness of the otherside reality was being exorcised away by Veronica’s simple presence. In her arms, she held her sleeping mate, Eleanor. She brushed away the locks of red hair and saw the bags under her eyes. That angered her further.

The portal opened up with Leylon, Elsie, and Sixty-Six going through it.

“Kick her ass, Veronica.” Elsie pumped up.

“Hmph,” Ayperos’ smile turned into a cartoonish frown.