An Adventurous Year, Act 12

Spring of Eyes and Elation, part 2

VI.

The skeleton stood triumphantly before the girls. Madoka did not sense any killing intent from Ceghinort but this was not what she expected. Well, Madoka paused her thoughts. She did not know what to expect. Audrey was about to say something but the maid moved in front of her.

"So," Madoka drew her sword and kept her voice calm. She did not think a plain sword would do much to a supposed God but she spoke again. "Are you a friend or a foe?"

She pointed the sword at the creaking skeleton. It nervously snapped back to a salutation. Its movements were stiff as if something or someone was controlling it. Madoka kept her intent up but it did not seem to affect the God.

"Why would a lovable skeleton such as I be an enemy?" Ceghinort complained. "I'll have you know I am your superior."

It brought out a large crimson gemstone shaped like a droplet and something twinkled upon it. Madoka looked closer and saw a gleaming, jade tag. It was beautiful despite the bloody stone it was fused to. She sighed and sheathed her sword. The skeleton held the necklace high as if it was some kind of accomplishment but the two girls simply stared blankly at it. Or so she thought the both of them were unimpressed but Madoka looked back at Audrey. The girl's eyes were gleaming with wonder!

"Star Jade. Acquired from Star Fallen Chelise," Ceghinort clicked his fingers together. The skeleton's skull kept its gaze intently on Audrey's gleaming eyes before cackling. He dangled the tag before them. "I joke! You Narms are so funny! Your eyes shine with greed for the hunt, that's what I like! One day, this tag will be yours."

He cracked his neck while the two just eyed him suspiciously.

"Now. You two look like you have a lot of questions for me. Especially you, princess."

At the mention of her identity, Madoka lunged at the skeleton but Audrey stopped her with a surprising amount of strength. Madoka exchanged a look with her princess but tried to lunge again. This fiend was the reason they almost died in this cave to begin with!

"I'm sorry, uh, Mister Ceghinort," Audrey pulled Madoka back. She growled at Ceghinort. "I'm just having difficulty thinking of what to say to a living Halloween decoration. Down, Madoka, down! Bad kitty!"

"What? I am a God. And you are lively as ever, Madoka," Ceghinort clapped his bony hands together. Madoka calmed herself down. "Ask away. My time is limited in this thing, however. Despite my healthy appearance, I am not able to hold this spell for too long."

The skeleton emitted a chuckle but its jaw fell off. He awkwardly bent over and picked it up as the two watched him in silence. Audrey paused in thought so Madoka asked first.

"That door, was that a trial of yours?" Madoka demanded. "That was uncharitable of you to lead us to our near deaths, you know."

The maid was not sure what uncharitable meant but she was sure it made an impact on the skeleton.

"Yeah!" Audrey chirped behind her. Madoka glared at her and caused her to gulp back into silence. Madoka realized it was also her fault they ended up in this ridiculous ordeal to begin with! Between these two fools the maid did not know who to scold first.

"Easy, easy! I'll start from the beginning!" Ceghinort's bones cracked as he waved his hands defensively but then he placed a hand to his forehead. "I am the Almighty God of Adventure! The Creator of the Guild itself. You copper sprouts would do well to listen to your elders. Hah! As for the door, I don't know what those are!"

Madoka groaned and she was sure Audrey's core flared up from behind her.

"Those doors are a fallen god's blight from centuries ago," Ceghinort continued. He seemed unafraid of Audrey's magic core. Perhaps it was because this skeleton was not his true form.

"I have adventured on this world until my wings felt like they have snapped off. Traveled the deepest I could go into the Labyrinth, climbed the tallest Pnaumen Mountaintops... And you two, in all my days, are the most exciting adventurers I've ever watched in centuries. A pair of refugees from a burning country, crossing mountains, fighting monsters, ah! I simply had to come back to this world and call upon you myself!"

The implication that this being was from another world settled on Madoka like a cold and soaked blanket. Was he like Audrey? Or was Audrey like him? Ceghinort howled with spooky laughter. His bones clinked together as he seemed to enjoy Madoka's confusion.

"I cannot see through those doors, however. Adventurers, the ones who survived anyways, who go beyond them have reported that they leave feeling hollow or bittersweet. The fallen god has its influence upon them. Yet, the mystery is what the Spirit of Adventuring truly is. Wouldn't you agree, Your Highness?"

"Uh," Audrey's eyes looked like they were also going to pop. "So you sent for us here?"

"Precisely," Ceghinort's tone was too smug for Madoka's comfort. Dealing with gods frustrated her! Its hand broke off of his wrist but the God did not pick up the pieces. She was tempted to smash the rest of its skeleton into dust as well. "Don't be angry at me! You got some good loot out of it, didn't you?"

"W-What do you want from us?" Madoka pressed. The skeleton paused, apparently in thought. Do Gods need to think? She wondered.

"What do I want?" The skeleton clicked his other unbroken hand's fragile fingers together. Ceghinort's body heaved a noiseless sigh but it carried on with the motion all the same.

"I want you to be happy with what you have done, Child of the Stars. I've seen the trials you've triumphed over, the very monsters you've faced, the darkest thoughts and the mysteries you've uncovered. Each victory, each defeat, the quiet moments on the trail of glory and the exciting heat of battle — yes, your body and minds have been broken but you still get up. Lying down with no purpose, Madoka, that's easy. An immortal being such as I can blink and miss a century! I want... I want to see more. I will see more. Your adventures give me strength. I want you to become a part of my hoard! Yes, that is what I desire most!"

Madoka did not know whether to cry from the memories or stay quiet.

"It's why we go after these prestigious tags," the skeleton took the Star Jade tag out again. "I gain strength from your worship, you gain strength from picking each other up. I protect my hoard like you protect Her Highness. We build each other up and achieve even greater heights. It's the Adventurer's way."

"So I take it you don't know what we went through in there," Audrey finally spoke up.

"My apologies, Your Highness, but I regretfully do not have that reach," Ceghinort flinched when Madoka glared at him. The God switched to Reverent Noble instead. "Your past is sealed behind those doors. Your sins, however, are within the ruins. I won't judge you for slaying your own kin. I just want entertainment before I gain enough power to go further beyond."

"Oi," Audrey protested. "It was self defense! And what do you mean, kin? I am a Narm, last time I checked!"

She guessed the word "Narm" referred to people like her. Ones without pointed ears or tiny scales dotting their skin. The brilliant princess must have figured that out the moment the word was mentioned. The skeleton leaned back and started to laugh but his skull fell off and clattered on the ground. The body picked the skull up and bowed. It pointed a finger at Madoka's chest. Audrey was pouting but the skeletal hand disintegrated into ash.

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"Take care of that divine treasure in your heart, eh? Oh, would you look at the time!" The skeleton's torso dissolved to ashen dust but the skull still rested in its arms as it crumbled to powder. "Rank up quickly. You two have quite the future here in this Guild, considering you defeated a slime and survived the Secret Garden. The sooner you get Silver the sooner you can meet me at my full glory at the Capital!"

"Wait!" Audrey tried to catch the skeleton's skull before it shattered on the ground. "We lost signal. Tch!"

Madoka pushed the ashes of the bones around absentmindedly with her boots into small piles and found that the ruby droplet and Star Jade pendant were gone. Their clothes were surprisingly clean after the battle with that machine golem. Repent. That word echoed in her mind.

"Audrey."

The princess gulped and slowly turned to face her maid.

"That thing, Hesonoo," Madoka spoke slowly. "It told you to repent of the sins you committed."

Audrey froze in thought. Her face wore confusion like mist. Even though she managed to survive its superior attacks, she knew she could not have gotten to its Eye without Audrey's help. Despite the girl's lack of planning for trouble, she was surprisingly adept at creating openings and advantages in adverse combat conditions.

"I wonder if it knows I let an entire country down," she sat at the edge of the lake and kicked her boots off. "Of all the things I did to you... How could I possibly atone for all of the lives I said I didn't care about?"

Madoka's heart sank like the ashes of Ceghinort's skeleton in the lake. She forgot that the princess has probably kept the burden of her fallen country at bay for so long. She cursed that place for reopening the wound that has scarred a long time ago.

"Forgive me, Audrey," Madoka started. "I should not have mentioned what the golem said to you."

"Well, now I know what he meant when he said the doors evoke hollowness and bitterness," Audrey dipped her warm toes in the waters. "I do miss my world. I wanted so long to go back to it. But if I am to be honest with myself, I was running from my guilt. I let them all die. How could I? My magic was useless back then."

"You did all you could," Madoka sat beside her. "They just did not listen."

"I just did not trust any of the gods," Audrey sat down and stared at the ripples in the lake water. "And now, I swear I'll get stronger and return to Fiara."

"Do you trust the gods now?" Madoka stretched.

"Not really," Audrey stated. "Especially if they're capable of leading us into dangerous traps. You saw how the world beyond that doorway seemed normal until all hell got set loose. Like an interference pattern or a collapse in quantum superpositions or something. Just being inside of it and observing it caused it to glitch and become dangerous. Or the Admins and Devs are just screwing with me... Sorry... I'm going off on a nerd rant again. But I do have a secret to share with you."

"A secret?" Madoka asked. The princess stood up and knelt before her. The girl blushed but leaned close to her maid's face. This time, Madoka froze up from the sight of her friend's soft lips closing in towards her own. Audrey instead moved and whispered in her ears something she would never forget.

"If we somehow make it back to Fiara and it turns out I am evil all along," the princess's whisper darkened Madoka's thoughts. "You're the only one who can kill me."

Madoka gasped at the suggestion. She could never do that! Her feelings for the princess were too strong! Another intrusive thought pushed her doubts further. She was unsure if she could even take on a single one of Audrey's powerful magic spells. So she remained still, paralyzed from the lusty tension from the princess's hot breath gently brushing on her earlobe and the harrowing declaration she delivered. Audrey drew away from her with a teary smile on her face.

"Well, besides that I don't think I'm evil," Audrey sighed. "I just wanna be with you, Madoka. I want to grow with you and take my time in this life."

"Mm," Madoka grunted but her legs were weak. Throughout the conversation something nagged at her and rumbled within her. Her stomach growled.

"O-Oh," Audrey sighed. "We should probably get out of here."

Later, Madoka followed Audrey as they walked out of that confounding grotto. She never thought she would be thankful to see the massive destruction the princess caused during their battle with the slime monster but she had a new gratitude for the outdoors now.

"Not a minute went by after we went in there," Audrey stared down at the crater they climbed out of. "Hard to believe a simple slime was blocking..."

She turned around and saw the destruction she caused. Was that remorse in her eyes? Audrey caught the maid staring with doubts.

"Look, okay. I might be a tiny bit evil. Yeah, I can destroy stuff but I got a sick character build going on, okay? Don't be jealous of my Support Mage abilities," Audrey smirked and winked. Her sudden cheery demeanor took Madoka out of her fantasies and made her groan. The princess stared at the grotto. "I don't think we should leave this be. Your thoughts?"

"I—" Madoka refrained from saying that she was her princess's slave and shook out of it. "Do you have a way to hide the grotto?"

"Oh boy, do I!" Audrey's core flashed blue. Madoka shrieked before the girl could cause trouble. "Back then before I was even Level 1, I could barely cast a small bubble in the Estate. And now..."

"A less suspicious and noisy way!" Madoka protested before she could do anything. Audrey looked at her and smiled.

"Yeah, I call it my new and improved Bubble 2.0!" Audrey broke free of Madoka's grip and channeled her core magic. A translucent azure shadow formed above Madoka's head. She froze at the sight of the troublesome spell's effect. The sphere of water blotted out the sun and easily dwarfed the slime in size.

"T-That's not a bubble," Madoka complained. "That's a..."

"That's no moon!" Audrey chirped but the way she narrowed her glowing eyes and stuck out her tongue to the corner of her lips meant the girl was concentrating. Madoka just had to stand back and watch the horror unfold before her. "Now if I just..."

One of the princess's hands glowed green while her other glowed blue. The swirling colors were easy enough for Madoka to figure out. Audrey was using the Wind element and her own water magic to guide the massive bubble into the lake to refill it.

"We might get a little wet," Audrey warned. The bubble steadily traveled slowly into the crater while Madoka had to suppress the pit forming inside of her stomach as she watched.

Madoka wondered how she was capable of such divine miracles and yet call herself a Level 2 mage. She was not familiar with the arcane magic but the number seemed much less impressive than her actual power. The maid guessed that the Level term was meant to be a joke but was terrified at the possibility that Audrey was serious. The difference between having one band around her heart and two astonished the maid.

She did not have enough time to imagine what catastrophes Level 3 could inflict upon the world before Audrey yelled out something weird as usual.

"There she goes! Yeehar har har!"

"Who?" Madoka watched in horror as the huge sphere of water lost its form and popped. She scooped her princess and leapt back towards the broken ridge they hid on when they fought the slime. The princess was laughing the whole time but the maid did not have the time to slap her mouth shut while she retreated from the crashing waves.

"Job done!" Audrey clapped her hands together.

"I take it all back," Madoka breathed. "You're evil. Pure evil."

Audrey's soft features draped in her arms like they were meant to be there. Her sweet laughter melted into silence as the mist from the receding waves sprayed their skin. Peace settled as the waters pushed aside dirt and filled the lake. Madoka felt Audrey's hand push a wet strand of her red hair from her violet eyes.

"You wanna take me home and do something about my evilness?" Audrey whispered mischievously at Madoka. The maid simply dropped her to the floor when she heard the princess's advances and marched away. "Wha! Where's your romantic side, Madoka! Nae waah! Where are you even going?"

Madoka stopped along the ridge. She could see the town ahead of them just past the forest line and fields of flowers.

"We're going back to town, Audrey," Madoka trotted off after her declaration. Footsteps crunched the gravel behind her as the princess chased after her.

"What for?" Audrey used magic to launch herself above the forest trees before she could answer why. She watched her beautiful princess soar and was prepared to catch her. Surprisingly, Audrey was more prepared than she was during winter and landed gracefully back to the ground. "Town's that way!"

"Don't you remember what we were out here for in the first place?" Madoka scoffed. It was a forced one simply because Madoka made the mistake of looking at the woman behind her. She could not remain angry with Audrey for too long.

"Well, we were doing a side quest and suddenly some things, as you know, came along. Then another side quest happened and—"

"Herbs," Madoka plucked one off the ground. A Rustazian Carnial matched her hair color. "Sixteen of these. We're turning them and going back to the grind."

"Ohhhh!" Audrey slapped her forehead. "I totally forgot about that. Hey, do you see those people?"

Madoka squinted at the town's gate and saw a large crowd of people. This was not looking good, she gripped her swords beneath her cloak. Audrey nodded to her. She noticed they did not appear to be on the offense but were on guard. Why were they going to attack her and the princess?

"You ready for a fight?" Madoka asked her friend. Her voice was steady and she could use the golden strands of magic if she was desperate enough.

"I don't think they're ready to fight us, Madoka," Audrey tugged Madoka's sleeve and gestured at the crowd. Two men were waving at them. "I think they're preparing against a monster attack or something."