“Did I hear that right?” Malvin asked, appearing in the air in front of Vur’s face through a burst of flames. “You want to create the portal back to Erde?”
Tafel stared at the queen of the phoenixes. “You did hear right,” the demon said, nodding her head slowly. “Were you eavesdropping on us?”
“Oh, pish,” Malvina said, waving her wing dismissively. “Everyone’s eavesdropping on you; don’t make me out to be some deranged weirdo.” She nodded her head. “I can take you to the portal region. Getting back to Erde will be as simple as counting to three.”
“Okay,” Vur said, nodding his head.
Malvina’s eyes lit up, and a second later, an armored claw wrapped around her ankle. She squawked as the claw yanked her downwards despite her wings flapping in protest.
“Hold it,” a voice growled in the phoenix’s ear.
Malvina turned her head and glared at Volearden before setting her leg ablaze. Her ankle turned into flames, escaping from the armored dragon’s grasp. “What?” she asked. “If you don’t have anything important to say, get lost. I was about to show Vur the way back home.”
“Reneging on our bet,” Volearden said, taking a seat on his haunches. “How did I know you’d do that?”
Malvina sniffed and pointed her head towards the sky. “As we’ve cleared up before, no one won the bet,” she said, avoiding Volearden’s helmeted gaze. “Vur took the princess bug, so he should get to decide.”
“Decide what?” Tafel asked before the armored dragon could say anything.
“Nothing,” Malvina said, her voice vibrating when she spoke. As such, her response drowned out Volearden’s. “Why would we decide things for Vur? He’s a perfectly capable individual, and there’s no reason for us to sway his decision-making process.”
Tafel stared at Malvina with a doubting expression, but the phoenix stared back without a hint of shame on its beautiful, feathered face.
“Opening a portal back to Erde is simple,” Volearden said, “but it matters which tower you do it from.” He gestured with his paws. “A region can only connect to one tower, so all the people who step through the portal after you open it will either arrive here, in this tower, or back in your home”—the armored dragon emphasized the word while glancing at Malvina—“tower with us dragons. Where they ultimately end up depends on which tower you pick to establish the portal.”
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Vur tilted his head. “Does it matter?” he asked and scratched his rump with his front right leg. “Both towers are mine anyway.”
Tafel lowered her head to look Vur in the eyes. “Wait,” the demon said. “When did you conquer this tower?”
Vur turned his head towards Gronion. “I have a mission for you,” he said. “When you complete it, I’ll give you a bucket of insect gold.” He nodded. “Capture the rulers of this tower.”
Gronion chittered before spreading its gem-like wings, its carapace gleaming. All the antlike insects behind it stood up at the same time, their wings spreading as well. Malvina, Volearden, and Tafel stared as Gronion’s horn gleamed. The beetle waved its head, the tip of its horn snagging on the fabric of space, ripping a portal into existence. Two of the beetle’s underlings came forward and bit at the edges of the portal with their mandibles, widening the tear, their mandibles like scissors cutting apart tape.
A wave of insects flew through the tear as Gronion walked over to the side. The princess bug steadied itself before stabbing its horn into the space in front of itself, creating another portal. Once again, two underlings came forward and expanded the rift. The large beetle repeated the process, making dozens of different portals; although their edges ripple and wavered, they were stable enough for the swarm of insects to advance through like an endless sea of wicked limbs.
“It understood you, right?” Malvina asked as the bugs surged through the torn fabric of space. Even though she was a phoenix with astoundingly good hearing, she wasn’t sure if the faint screams she heard coming from the portals were a figment of her imagination or not. The bugs were loud, and when they all flapped their wings at the same time, it was difficult to hear anything other than their droning.
Vur shrugged. Gronion acted like it understood Vur’s words; as for whether or not it really did, he wasn’t sure, but he was willing to trust the princess bug until it failed; after all, it was more convenient for him that way.
“How will it identify the lords of this tower?” Volearden asked, his armor shifting to shades of blue and orange. “Even I don’t know who they are.”
***
Kim Hajun sat in the corner of the tavern and exhaled. He had actually gotten away from Vur’s group. To his surprise, no one came after him when he left, choosing to stay instead of walking through Tafel’s portal to head back to the swarm of insect-type Oebu Sin. His hand clenched as he gripped the handle of his mug, and a frown appeared on his face. If he stayed in the tower, eventually, he’d bump into Vur or Lindyss, and his soul would be taken as payment. In that case, he couldn’t stay. There were multiple towers; even if he didn’t have a prophetic dream with the locations of resources in those other towers, he was still confident in his experience to do well for himself.
Screams drew Kim Hajun’s attention, and he frowned as he turned his head towards the tavern’s window. There was a really large winged ant outside, and it was accompanied by over several hundred of its buddies. The well-dressed man’s face paled as the oversized ant threw itself at the tavern, shattering the window and destroying the wall. Had something gone wrong in the battle against the princess bug? Why were the Oebu Sin here? It didn’t make any sense!