On the other side of the door, there was a room with decor similar to the one we were in. In the middle, there was a long black wooden table with four chairs, two on each of the longer sides. The table was covered in boxes. There were five large square flat ones in the centre of it along with some translucent bottles from some strange material that were filled with dark liquid. Next to them lay a stack of four plates, forks and knives, another bottle this one filled with something red and tall glasses. There was also a pink ribbon-tied green box lying on the table in front of each of the chairs. They were labelled with our names. Mine and Lilyth’s boxes were fairly large and long; Sav’s was medium-sized and rectangular: while Caei’s was small and square. My two girlfriends were to be seated on one side, while I and Sav on the other.
‘Is that what I think it is?’ Savri turned to Lilyth, pointing to the stack of square boxes.
There was a mix of hope and disbelief in
‘I think it is.’ my girlfriend said with an expression of pure ecstasy.
‘By the gods, I thought I would never have had a chance to eat this stuff, again.’
‘Me neither.’
‘Aren’t you worried this stuff could be poisonous?’ Caei asked.
‘Only in the way it is unhealthy,’ Sav shrugged.
‘Eh,’ Lilyth chuckled. ‘This stuff IS worth dying for.’
‘Indeed.’ Sav agreed. ‘So, dig in my friends. For this is the food of the gods.’
‘I am seriously confused,’ Caei said, echoing my thoughts. ‘What is it?’ I asked.
Sav opened one of the boxes. I immediately started smelling the warm and rich fragrance of baked pastries with meat, cheese and some vegetables.
‘Oh, god,’ Lilyth cooed. ‘It smells so good.’
It really did. I started salivating.
‘This is pizza,’ Sav finished.
‘What’s this dark stuff?’ I asked, pointing at the liquid, as Lilyth poured some of it into a glass. It was… fizzing and foam formed on top.
‘Off-brand diet soda,’ Lilyth answered, took a sip and sighed in pleasure. ‘Tastes like the real thing.’
‘It does?’ Sav asked, her mouth filled with food, so it sounded like id daf.
She immediately swallowed and poured herself some.’
‘Oh my god…’ she gasped. ‘I missed this stuff soo much.
I had to try some. This pizza stuff was really good, so this had to be too. I ended up preferring the non-diet variant though.
‘Is this food from your world?’ Caei wondered with a satisfied expression. ‘By the gods, I must visit it someday.’
She then let out a loud burp which caused her to have a horrified expression, but Sav and Lilyth only laughed. We soon joined them. By the time we were almost finished, it was my turn to burp which only caused the merriment to resume.
‘Should have warned you,’ Sav said, wiping tears from her eyes. ‘This stuff is carbonated.’
‘Filled with gas,’ Lilyth quickly added. ‘It causes the fizzing. But then it has to leave your body… somehow.’
Once we were done with the round of laughter this observation brought on, Lilyth asked Sav
‘So, where did you have a chance to eat pizza, Sav?’
‘I guess no point in hiding it,’ she said. ‘You are not the only one who took a tour of another dimension. Unfortunately, I got to return from there.’
Unfortunately?
‘And that's all I needed to know,’ Lilyth said, a mournful expression on her face. ‘And don’t worry. I understand. I really do. If you ever need to talk I am here.
‘Thank you,’ Sav muttered, tears glistening in her eyes. Thank you...’
I could see there now formed a very deep link of a shared experience between her and Lilyth.
Should I ask Lilyth about the “unfortunately” part? And if I do… will I ever really understand it? Why would you be sad about returning home?
‘This is the part that Isekai stories always get wrong…’ Lilyth muttered and then she changed the subject. ‘Let’s check out the boxes, eh?’
We purposefully ignored them before eating in case whatever they contained forced us to abandon this wondrous feast. This was honestly the best food I’ve ever eaten. Lilyth suggested we open them one by one, just in case. I agreed and went first. My box was really heavy and inside there were… two falchions and matching sheaths for them.
They looked just like my old pair but they gleamed with magic light, one with white and the other with blue.
Item: Siren
Class: Weapon - One-handed Sword - Falchion - Divine
Rarity: Unique
Durability: 50/50
Traits:
* Soulbound - Cannot be stolen. If lost, can be resummoned by the owner at any time. If damaged, durability is restored at twice the owner’s natural healing rate.
* Elementally Infused - Water - Attacks have a chance to inflict additional Water damage. Higher levels of Water Arcana knowledge will improve the probability of the effect occurring.
Item: Yuki-onna
Class: Weapon - One-handed Sword - Falchion - Divine
Rarity: Unique
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Durability: 50/50
Traits:
* Soulbound - Cannot be stolen. If lost, can be resummoned by the owner at any time. If damaged, durability is restored at twice the owner’s natural healing rate.
* Elementally Infused - Ice - Attacks have a chance to inflict additional Ice damage. Higher levels of Water Arcana knowledge will improve the probability of the effect occurring.
Do you want to bind the items: Siren and Yuki-onna to yourself?
Yes/No?
‘Woooow,’ I exclaimed seeing the descriptions and thought “Yes”.
Items: Siren and Yuki-onna are now soulbound to you
Caei’s contained a rune. She immediately used it.
‘What was that?’ Savri asked.
Caeileera stood up and extended her arm to the side. Red light started gathering there and a glaive of blood formed.
‘Create Sanguine Weapon’, she proclaimed proudly. ‘Usually, only personal guard of the Crimson Vicars are allowed to learn this spell. And I never even heard of a rune of this spell existing.’
There was awe in her voice.
Next, it was Lilyth's turn. She took out a bastard sword in a dark leather scabbard with this “rabbit” thing stamped on it. The very recognizable black flower at the end of the leather-bound hilt.
‘A Blade of the Black Rose?’
‘The Blade of the Black Rose,’ Lilyth corrected. ‘It’s the same sword I lost down below Y-Ram. It is still soulbound to me and Tyrric’s soul is imprinted on it.’
I giggled at the memory of the poor knight and what he had to endure.
Lilyth handed me the weapon as proof:
Item: Blade of the Black Rose
Class: Weapon - Special - Bastard Sword
Rarity: Unique
Durability: 50/50
Effects:
* Small chance to imbued with the user’s dominant arcana type on strike (doesn't consume mana)
Traits:
* Soulbound - Cannot be stolen. If lost, can be resummoned by the owner at any time. If damaged, durability is restored at twice the owner’s natural healing rate.
* Focus - can be used a spell focus to channel a chosen arcana type to launch a ranged attack (consumes mana)
Imprint: The day that Tyrric was accepted into the Order of the Black Rose was the proudest in the young knight's life. The Tower of Trials was supposed to be the place where he would show that his place in the Order was well-earned. Instead, it became his tomb, like for all who dared to enter that cursed place.
‘Who’s Tyrric?’ Caei asked.
‘Some poor fuck next to whose skeleton we made out with Aki back in the Tower,’ Lilyth laughed.
‘Let me guess: long story?’ Sav asked mirthfully.
‘Not really,’ Lilyth shook her head. ‘We just had one too many “I can’t believe we survived” moments with Aki and it kinda happened. The chamber where Tyrric was just happened to be one that was reasonably monster corpse-free.’
‘I don’t think Sav knows the full story about the Tower,’ I realised. ‘Or Y-Ram.’
‘Now that is a long story,’ Lilyth confirmed and began giving Sav the short version.
Parts of that still made me sweat with fear at the memory.
‘You know…’ Sav said when Lil was done. ‘That explains A LOT.’
She paused, took another sip of the soda thing and continued.
‘Those Tooth Horrors have me worried, though. Leaving a monster nest underground is probably not the best thing to do. I’m not saying it was wrong for you to retreat there. But we might have to pass it along to someone with more military power. Us four won’t amount to much.’
We couldn't dispute that.
‘It’s a massive shame we’ve lost all the books you retrieved from Rivard's and Löwe’s lab. And that spell scroll of yours. I would have loved to help you go through those.’
‘Oh no…,’ I cried out. ‘All the books on alchemy and that formulary…’
Lilyth gave me a reassuring smile.
‘Don’t worry, hon. We’ll figure out how to teach you alchemy.’
She blew me a kiss which made me smile back at her.
Our attention went back to more immediate concerns.
‘What I wonder about is: how is this blade even here?’ Lilyth continued. ‘It broke into a million pieces down below.’
‘I don’t think that's a problem for a god,’ Caei pointed out.
‘I keep forgetting about them,’ Lilyth sighed heavily. ‘Life without the divine was so simple. Anyway… Sav… your turn.’
Savri’s gift contained a large magitek handgun that had a boxy look to it.
‘They certainly didn't cut corners on this one,’ Lilyth, I assume, joked.
Savri understood her and I guess that's what mattered in the end. Still… I was less than thrilled about it.
Amazing. We had one person we could barely understand at times. Now we have two. And the worst thing is - they understand each other.
‘Reminds me of the gun I had… out there,’ she mused and pulled something else out. It was a smooth metal box with some sort of an indentation on top. There was a small white packet attached next to it. Savri went pale again. With shaking hands, she took the packet and opened it. There was a needle inside. Lilyth must have realised what was happening as she quickly got up and walked over to Savri. She took the needle in one hand and the demoness’s hand in the other.
‘Never did that before,’ she said.
‘Just do it,’ Sav replied weakly
Lilyth sighed and pierced her finger, which made the demoness wince.
‘Thanks,’ she still said.
Lilyth nodded and without a word returned to her place.
I could see a look of complete confusion on Caei’s face which probably mirrored my own.
‘DNA lock,’ Lilyth explained, clearly lost in thought. ‘At least that's what I suspect this is.’
‘What the fuck is Dee’enei?’ Caei asked.
Before Lilyth could reply a metallic voice said something I couldn't understand, though Lilyth judging by her raised eyebrow did. Once again, the “why” of it was the question for her instead.
We all turned our attention back to Sav. There was now a glowing sigil surrounding the indentation. The demoness whispered something I couldn't hear, but the magic in the air felt… different. Wrong. Then another sigil appeared on the box and Sav cast another spell. This time it was Life Arcana and it cleared the air of wrongness.
‘Someone really wanted to ensure only you would be able to open this,’ observed Lilyth.
Savri nodded weakly and with her hands once again shaking lifted the lid of the box.
She stared at the contents in shock. Then tears started flowing from her eyes unbidden. She took out a translucent flat fist-sized crystal on a golden chain. Inside it there was a black feather, it looked different from the ones Caei had on her wings. I noticed a piece of paper was somehow attached to the crystal. Sav ripped it off and read it. This only made her cry harder.
‘Is everything okay?’ I asked, seriously worried.
‘Yes,’ she blubbered. ‘I just thought I would never see this again. This is the last reminder of my previous life. But he…
my guardian angel somehow brought it to me…’
But that's impossible,’ Caei protested. ‘It’s been what… two hours since we left the Abyss? Three? I doubt the word has even spread about the incident.’
‘That never stopped him.’ Sav smiled and put the necklace on. ‘He would always find a way around this kind of stuff. Oh gods, he didn't abandon me here.’
She then whispered softly.
‘He was always watching over me.’
Lilyth then approached her and put her hand on Sav’s shoulder. The demon got up and whispered something into my girlfriend’s ear. Lilyth immediately nodded. There was no hesitation in her movement.
‘If there is a way, I will not rest until I help you find it,’ I heard her whisper back. ‘This, I promise.’