250 Back from the dead (1/2)

Detra and the kids were staring in disbelief as Xadi, Eclipse, and Lance entered the inn they were hiding in right after they assumed the three had been destroyed alongside the East temple.

”How are you still alive!!??” Detra shouted.

”Nice to see you too...” the frog toy replied.

”Answer the question!! We saw the mansion going up in flames!! Is this some kind of trick?? Are you one of the demons in disguise??”

”Demons...??”

Claire and Dia were confused as well as they separated Xadi from Lance who kept trying to devour the toy.

”A demon attacked the temple and blew it up like it was nothing... We thought everyone in it was dead...” Claire whispered.

”Oh... I see... And here I was thinking you were the one behind that...” Xadi commented.

”What!!??”

”I mean... What did you expect?? You're the only mage I know that deals with explosions...” Xadi tried to argue as Claire proceeded to strangle him, but as he was a spirit he couldn't feel anything.

”Are all the others alive as well...??” Dia wondered.

”Yes, yes... Everyone is fine... Right before the temple went up in flames that crazy Hana goddess or whatever appeared in the last second and used her power to teleport everyone out of the building...” Xadi explained.

”Ah... I see...” Detra mumbled, ”Someone must have prayed for her and alerted that the place was in danger...”

”Wait... We can call for the gods just by praying to them??” Claire gasped.

”Well... Not anymore...” Detra admitted, ”without the shrine, Hana can't be contacted anymore... And I've been trying to reach for any of the others with no success... My guess is that all the other shrines got destroyed as well...”

”So... We don't have access to any of the gods??” Claire gasped, ”How are we going home??”

Detra rested her chin on her hand, ”We need to get the shrines back... But we can't do that while running away from Kuncker's demon dragons...”

”Then... What do we do...?? I went through all that training and fought in a war to rescue my mother, and now I'm stuck here without being able to see her???” Claire complained.

”Don't worry... We will fix this somehow!” Dia mentioned trying to cheer Claire up.

”How!!??” Claire wondered.

Dia opened her mouth to reply but quickly realized she had no idea. She then stared at Detra and hoped she would have an answer.

”What...?” Detra mumbled while noticing Claire and Dia staring at her.

”You're the adult here... What do we do?” Dia whispered.

”I'm the adult here...?” Detra repeated. She then looked around and finally realized she was truly the only one who wasn't a kid in that place besides the frog doll, ”Oh, Lord... I'm the only adult here...”

”This is gonna be awful...” she murmured.

Claire noticed that the woman was lost in her own thoughts and turned to Xadi again, ”How did you find us...?”

”The black lion has a really good sense of smell... After we exited the temple the baby grabbed me and wouldn't let me go no matter how much I tried, and when this kid is alone the big guy always follows him around to make sure he is safe... Once he saw that his parents were gone, he just started to roam around looking for any familiar scent while dragging me with it...”

”...” Claire stared at Xadi for a moment.

”What...?”

”I just realized that I'm talking with a possessed talking, walking fur toy like it's the most normal thing in the world...”

”Hehe... Welcome to the world of magic... So anyway, where is my disciple?”

Dia raised her hand to point at the table, ”He passed out after absorbing demon dragon fire while trying to protect us and now won't stop overheating...”

”He absorbed demon dragon fire?? Haha!! That's my disciple!!” Xadi proudly boasted, ”A couple more years and I will be able to enjoy an easy life while sponging off of him as my number one student!!”

”Oh, you poor illuded soul...” Claire muttered.

”Step back!!” Xadi ordered while jumping on the table, ”He is my boy, let me deal with his treatment! Someone get me a wand or a staff!”

Detra handed over Joseph's shield to the toy and observed as he began to take care of the kid.

”Detra, is it ok to let this guy have access to magic??” Claire wondered.

”He knows healing magic and ice magic... He's the best person to help Joseph and his problem... Plus, this will give me time to put my thought in order...”

Detra used this moment to re-cap everything she knew so far. The temples were destroyed, the gods were gone, Evlin and her team were still in the city of the West, and Knucker was out there sending demon dragons after them.

She needed to get the shrines fixed but to do that, she would need to get rid of the demons, but from what she saw, they were now made of dragon DNA as well, and the only way to deal with that was terminal energy.

Evlin and Marcus were away, and Ellie was still weak from her fight with Mia. So the only one left was...

”Hey, girl...?” Detra asked while looking at Dia.

”Eh...?” the kid replied.

”How would you like to learn how to fight?”

Dia just tilted her head, ”What...?”