Questionable Origins 9 (1/2)

“What?!” Rowana protested. “Our house was just demolished for Gods know what reason, and you’re just going to leave?!”

The elf was understandably upset after waking up in the middle of the street to see her love nest almost in ruins. They were still in the middle of the ruined street with all sorts of people and officials trying to piece together exactly what had happened here. None of the house’s residents had even gotten the chance to change out of their sleepwear and were draped in light blankets provided by the authorities. These were, to put it mildly, less than ideal circumstances to be told her wife-to-be was about to go off on some adventure.

“Rowie, you know it’s not like that,” Keira tried to calm her down. “It’s just that this is an emergency.”

“Emergency?! I am your wife! What could possibly take priority over me?!”

Xera sighed internally. This was why she hated playing this part. She honestly had no idea how her Master dealt with this clingy bimbo, but Boxxy wasn’t exactly available to handle the ‘heavy lifting.’ In all honesty, she probably shouldn’t be wasting time here at all, but she needed those gullible triplets’ help. They were necessary not only for transporting the icy coffin to the Sage of the Sands, but also to help convince him to lend his aid. And in order to do that quickly and smoothly she thought it best to borrow Keira’s face, which led to this particular argument.

It was a good thing she used to be, and to an extent still was, an emotionally manipulative backstabber who had no qualms about taking advantage of a person’s misfortune.

“I don’t have all the details, but those girls’ father is in danger, Rowie,” the catgirl revealed.

“I… But… What?”

As expected, a simple mention of the word ‘father’ was enough to instantly shatter the delicate elf’s guard.

“I couldn’t save your dad… I wasn’t there for him,” she added solemnly. “If I don’t do everything I can to save theirs, I don’t know how I’ll live with myself.”

Rowana glanced over to the clearly distraught triplets several steps behind the catgirl. She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Alright. But, what about us? Azurvale clearly isn’t safe…”

“I know, that’s why I convinced the FIB agents to take you and your mom to Bitterhold.”

“Bit- Bitterhold? As in the prison?” the elf asked warily.

“It’s protective custody at the most secure facility in the Republic. Plus, between you and me,” she leaned in, “the warden owes me a favor, so you’ll be treated like royalty.”

“… Okay. If you think it’s for the best, then I’ll trust your judgement. But you come back to me in one piece, you hear?”

“Always,” Keira whispered as she hugged her.

Doris, who was standing off to the side, locked eyes with the beastkin and nodded to show she understood. She took Rowana away by the shoulder, reassuring her that they’ll get through this while Keira attended to the triplets that were the cause for this mess.

“What you will witness on this trip will make very little sense to you,” she coldly informed them. “Do not bother asking questions, for they will be ignored. Understood?”

The nephilim sisters nodded affirmatively.

“Good. Now, grab what clothes or gear you can, we leave in ten minutes.”

Though the Morgana residence was a wreck, Keira’s personal armory in the basement and all of the gear inside it were completely untouched. It was also where the semi-divine sisters stored a lot of their luggage, allowing the four women to begin equipping themselves immediately. Xera put on her Master’s combat gear, mostly for appearance’s sake. Robin donned the heavy armor her Inquisition caretakers had prepared for her prior to her leaving their headquarters. Lydia draped herself in a black and silver robe adorned with the markings of Teresa’s faith, while Madeline put on some lightly enchanted travel clothes.

Once geared up, ‘Keira’ led the triplets through the swarm of guards and personnel while flaunting her Hero status to deflect any attempts at stopping her. The authorities were, of course, entirely within their right to detain her, but nobody present was stupid enough to even try that. The redhead brought the triplets to one of the hidden entrances to the Dryad’s Domain and invited them inside. Seeing the cavernous insides of the hylt tree made the girls rather speechless, more so than the fact that there was apparently a dungeon right in the heart of the city. They looked ready to explode into all kinds of questions despite Xera’s earlier warning, but that urge was instantly forgotten the instant they laid eyes upon the owner of this lair.

“D-dad?” Robin muttered when she saw the frozen archfiend. “Dad!”

She ran up to and pressed her hands and face against the miniature iceberg, even banged her fist against it a few times. There was no danger of her breaking that ice, though. The Artifact that made it contained a tiny fraction of Overlord Liusolra’s demonic essence, certainly not the kind of thing that could be broken by a greenhorn like Robin. Unfortunately, as with most objects of demonic origin, one had to perform a minor ritual in order to unleash their power. In the case of the amulet known as the Stalker Queen’s Kiss, said ritual was just that - a kiss.

Which was why the Sandman’s bald and heavily scarred head had locked lips with the mostly limbless Kora within the ice. There was nothing sensual or romantic about it, of course. It was just a means to an end not too dissimilar from providing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The major downside of that was that the ice would entomb a minimum of two people. And since activating the magic required a ridiculous amount of MP, Boxxy couldn’t relegate this duty to anybody else. Not even Xera’s mana reserves were enough, as she had expended much of her magical energy trying and failing to activate those Bracelets of Translocation earlier that evening.

The djinn then proceeded to briefly but succinctly explain the situation. Kora’s immortal soul was unstable and in danger of collapsing completely, so her Master put it in a magically induced cryostasis to preserve it. Before doing so, he ordered his familiars to bring the two of them to the Sage of the Sands within twenty four hours with the hope of having that old man figure out a way to save them both. It was not going to be an easy thing to do, which was why Keira needed the triplets’ assistance. Something the girls were eager to agree to without any hesitation, just as expected.

“Good,” the redhead nodded. “In that case, let’s set out immediately.”

“Uhm, I don’t mean to say this the wrong way,” Lydia piped up, “but isn’t the Sage of the Sands, y’know, in the desert? How are we supposed to get there in just a day?”

It was a very valid question, as the Pearly Dunes were literally on the other side of the continent. It would still take over a week to get there even if they flew by griffin.

“You’re about to find out,” Keira replied. “Drea!”

The tundra webstalker descended from above via a rope of spider silk, making the triplets’ eyes and mouths go wide open. It was their first time seeing such a demon, so it was only inevitable that they’d stare. Drea herself wished they’d ease off, as being scrutinized so closely made her chitter nervously. Still, she played her part and avoided tearing their eyes out, at least for the moment.

“I suggest you, tktktktktktk, stand still.”

Seconds later, the triplets and their caretaker were strapped to the block of ice via the arachnid demon’s webbing. Once she was sure they were bound securely enough, Xera accessed the dungeon management menu. As extensions to their master’s power, Boxxy’s familiars had the same authority when it came to accessing and operating the dungeon core’s features and modules. The shapeshifter normally forbade them from doing anything like that for fear that they might mess things up, but it had lifted those restrictions on their behavior in light of this emergency.

Which was how Xera was able to activate Nexus Access and transport the entire group to another dungeon. They couldn’t make it all the way to the desert in one go, however. The ‘cargo’ being moved this time around was about five times heavier than the single hylt creeper that normally used this feature, so the MP required to teleport it scaled up to match. They still arrived at their destination, though it took one or two detours to get there.

Once released from their bondage, the nephilim immediately recognized they were no longer in Republic territory. The tiny chamber they were in was built out of white sandstone and had a strangely slanted ceiling with a thin layer of sand covering the floor. It was a completely different look and feel to the bark-covered cavern they were in just minutes ago. Xera then had the others help her hoist the frozen couple onto a wooden cart near the mini-dungeon’s exit. They had to lift the combined weight of Boxxy, Kora, and the ice to do so, hence why it took a good bit of doing. It was also a minor miracle the simple vehicle didn’t just snap under the heavy load placed upon it.

“Phew!” Robin exclaimed, having done most of the work. “I think dad needs to go on a diet or something.”

“Don’t worry, your ‘dad’ will be practically weightless if you don’t shut up and get busy,” Keira coldly scolded her. “There are no beasts of burden here, so guess who needs to pull this thing.”

“… Ah, crap.”

“Don’t worry, Robin,” Lydia reassured her. “I’ll keep you energetic with my restorative magic.”

“And I’ll keep your spirits up with a lively song!” Madeline declared.

“These three seem awfully relaxed considering what’s at stake,” Drea hissed through the telepathic link.

“They’re idiots just like their moron of a father,” Xera replied. “Honestly, what was she thinking trying to take on a Demonbane weapon?”

“We’ll probably find out once we reach the Sage’s place. We better get a move on.”

“Right, that’s enough chit-chat,” Keira shouted out loud. “Stop whining and get this crate over to the nearby town.”

After getting the triplets’ butts in gear, the djinn guided them out of the dungeon through the massive sliding stone door in one of the walls, which sealed itself back up behind them. They were now in a dark cave that used to be a bandit’s hideout before they were ‘coerced’ into relocating. A few minutes of navigating the narrow passageways brought them outside, where the nephilim were stunned for the countless time this evening as the Pearly Dunes stretched out before them.

With pure white sand stretching out towards the horizon and an endless sea of stars up above them, it was an odd sight that was impossible to behold anywhere else on this world. It was also a lot colder than the triplets were expecting from the desert. They almost felt like this was another planet altogether if not for the ghostly pale light of Terrania’s three moons in the night sky above.

“So… uh… which way do we go?” Robin asked after a few moments of soaking in the eerie atmosphere.

“Guiding Light.”

A small ball of white luminescence appeared out of thin air in response to the djinn’s words. The beetle-sized construct spun around her a few times before coming to a rest in front of her face.

“Gwoooahn?” it asked her.

“Lead us to the closest village,” she commanded.

“Chkwong.”

The mote of light darted around the place like a lost firefly for several seconds before drifting off northward. Robin grunted with effort as she began pulling the cart after it and the others followed on foot. Thankfully she had Kora’s idiocy-powered strength, so she was making surprisingly fast progress given her relatively low Level. The other two nephilim naturally asked what that Guiding Light was, but Xera firmly deflected their inquiries by stating it was a ‘trade secret.’ She’d wipe their memories of the trip anyway, but there was no reason to cause a scene by revealing that she was not, in fact, Keira.

It was then that she was reminded of something else she needed to take care of.

Hookenstein: I am here indeed. Who might you be, though?

Xerababadubuth: This is Boxxy’s favorite Snack.

Hookenstein: Ah, the scrumptious demon-morsel. So this is your true name, hm? Quite the mouthful.

Xerababadubuth: What about yourself? What’s ‘Hookenstein’ supposed to be?

Hookenstein: Oh, just a fun little moniker I had your pet bird assign to this child. More importantly, why do you seek my attention?

Xera then spent the next few minutes explaining the situation through the chat feature of the dungeon network’s Surveillance Net. She didn’t think it wise to give the slime all of the details, however, so she summed up Boxxy’s current predicament as being ‘temporarily indisposed.’