§
The fairy looked first alarmed, then a bit offended, as she stared at the accusing, baleful light from Urrit’s device. For his part, Urrit was pale white and uncertain what to tell her.
“Dore, relax and stay as you are,” Alwain ordered as she unfolded her legs and slipped off the box built from rock slabs. As the fairy stared at her with a slightly hurt expression, the Lady of the Red Tower strode across to the cedar chest and the Reladorian mage operating it.
She placed her hand on the glowing red ball, then told him. “Good Mage, I believe you have a next step to take?”
He finally broke out of his paralysis and mutely nodded to the beautiful apsara gazing down at him.
“Proceed,” she ordered.
He moved to the left-hand globe and laid his fingers on top of it. To my relief, it glowed the brilliant white that indicated she was clean of the progenitor parasite.
Looking over at Fairy Dore, Alwain mused, “I wonder if you battled one of the fairies that bore that troublesome sign.”
“My Lady…” she responded, still looking hurt. She understood it essentially as an accusation, even if only of having a bothersome illness. Although perhaps she took it differently.
<Fairy pride, Lhan,> Sen told me. <Any imperfection is a failing to them.>
“Well, then, what do you do with an infected patient?” Alwain wondered.
Urrit was finally back on his game. He immediately answered, “As a Light mage, I am able to purge it from her, but I do not have the means to entrap it here, My Lady. We need to leave it in her until we can do so.”
“Why? What is the purpose of that?”
“Well, it’s…” he stopped and thought about what to explain. “The parasite is a Darkness spirit. It is a slave that a progenitor brainwashed to act against its own will. We aren’t sure what will happen to it if we remove it from her and let it escape. And we regard it as immoral to leave it in that state, anyway. We need to free it.”
“Purge it.” she ordered. “I shall entrap it myself. I wish to have a look at this creature.”
Urrit glanced at me with an uncertain look again. He seemed to regard me as his superior here.
I nodded. “Do it. We’re on her ground, and this is her follower.”
He didn’t look happy with it, but he stood and took out a paper talisman and turned to face Dore.
This was Reladorian-style magic, which I had not seen before. Elves have something similar, which Arken regularly uses, but this was an unfamiliar style of human magic. I was instantly fascinated.
Before he could use it, though, Alwain ordered, “Hold.”
He looked at her, then placed the talisman in her outstretched hand.
She inspected the squiggles and characters painted on it. After a bit, she wondered, “This could be made with mana storage so that anyone could use it, could it not?”
He nodded. “It would be tremendously expensive though. Ink that can store mana is quite precious, and rarely used for disposable items, My Lady. It’s better to use conductive ink and employ a Light magician’s mana.”
“Light magicians are quite rare too, are they not?”
He gave a wry smile. “Indeed, but not as rare in Relador as elsewhere, My Lady. A great many of us are fairy-blooded like me.”
She nodded wordlessly and handed it back.
“Please do nothing to ward this, Fair Maiden,” he told Dore. “I am using a talisman that only works for a voluntary purge, because it is less expensive and requires less mana. In addition, the version that does not require your cooperation is aggressive to the point of rudeness, so I don’t like to use it.”
She frowned and looked at her Lady again, but Alwain simply raised her eyebrow and ordered, “Do as he asks.”
Her mouth twisted, but she braced herself and closed her eyes. We watched as he circulated mana and then poured it into the talisman.
It glowed a brilliant white, then burned up in his hand as he let it go, releasing a wave of mana that rushed into Dore’s body. She shuddered, but then, those of us with [Fairy Sight] saw the Dark spirit emerge from her chest.
A tongue of Fire spat out from Alwain’s hand and instantly surrounded the spirit in a globe of flame. The thin shell of Fire gently drifted over to her hand, where she held it like one of Urrit’s crystal balls, studying the parasite within.
Her eyes returned to Dore. “Do you see it?”
The pale girl nodded. “Yes, My Lady.”
“I was watching closely. It certainly came out of your body. It certainly must have gone in without your notice somehow.”
Wearing a frown, she addressed Urrit.
“Good Mage, do you have any idea how it would have entered her without her knowing it?”
“The gidim progenitor has a stealthy means that seems to work well while the fairy victim is distracted by other concerns.”
“Such as being focused upon a fight?”
Urrit nodded. “Exactly.”
She nodded. “I shall study this thing and see if I can free it from its chains myself. I wish to know more about it.”
“My Lady…”
“Have no fear, Good Mage,” she interrupted before he could finish his objection. “It will not leave my grasp still enslaved.”
“If fighting someone carrying a progenitor puts a fairy at risk…” I began to worry.
“Miss Hiléa,” Urrit smoothly answered my question before I could ask it. “Our first task after every fight is to check our fairy allies. We’ve already done so.”
§
Once again wearing the [Blood Presence] spell that Rhea had returned to me, after giving me copious warnings about not focusing on the sense of familiarity that it gave me, I advanced with caution through the forest. Night had fallen in this magic-rich territory, with mana flowing in rushing streams from springs in the hills. The supernatural lighting throughout the forest told of the many magic plants and trees.
I worried a bit for Shindzha in this territory. All these mana-active plants would tend to distort mortal creatures that wandered into such a place and cause them to give birth to evolved offspring, either magic or monstrous. To get mortal blood, she needed to hunt mortal creatures, and she would be competing for them with all the other monsters. Magic creatures would suffice, but they would be less effective, and harder to catch.
<Is there any way to give her mortal blood from our supply?> I wondered.
Lydia replied, <I shall ask Fan Li to consider it. I think it would be another unique magic, but it seems she is quite adept at using her foreign ideas and those of your other incarnations to forge new methods.>
Puzzled, I asked, <You mean, magic from other worlds?>
<Yes,> she agreed. <It seems Fan Li was a great scholar in her world, and has put her skills to work quite a lot. The [Blood Effigy] and [Qi Sword] that Lhan has been using are her inventions.>
It seemed too bizarre, but I couldn’t imagine Lydia lying without me being able to sense it. It must be true.
<But, just like you, she’s supposed to be… me?>
<That’s correct, My Lady. No, I don’t pretend to truly understand it either. But just as I can feel kinship to you somehow, I can feel kinship with them. That’s the case even when thousands of years separate our respective lives, such as between you and I.>
I very vaguely knew what she meant.
Continuing through the forest, we soon made it to the little hollow under a standing stone where Shindzha hid. But I saw nothing there.
My [Fairy Sight] is very powerful, and my [Fairy Sense] might be more so. I was convinced they had moved on, even though Rhea told me they were still there.
I saw movement nearby, and sensed a snake slipping through the grass.
(“Ah, there you are,”) came Mireia’s voice, (“I thought you might have got lost.”)
I don’t get lost. Rhea (who this certainly must be) knows that perfectly well.
<Is that snake you?>
(“It’s one of my pets, Little One. I cannot actually be present in your world, but I can sense through my pets. Sadly, this one’s sense of vision isn’t great, but being a magic species, it has a weak spiritual sense that I can amplify. The range is quite limited though.”)
<Has it been here, waiting for us?>
(“It has, indeed. I don’t think I could have chased you down with this weak creature.”)
<Then did you see which way Shindzha went?>
(“Why, nowhere, Little One,”) Rhea answered, sounding a little giggly. (“She’s right there. You’re underestimating your little sister’s stealth magic.”)
I swear, I could see nothing at all. My [Vampire Cloak] had failed to hide Shindzha entirely from Kiki’s eyes, but my eyes absolutely could not penetrate Kiki’s stealth.
(“She’s had ten thousand years to perfect it,”) Rhea answered, still amused. (“Now, proceed according to plan.”)
<I am not entirely happy with this plan, you know. I feel like it would be best to let Shindzha leave this place and hide somewhere safe and far away.>
Frankly, she and I both were still being pushed around by the seniors. I was going along with it because they were helping me assist the expedition, but this part… I really didn’t think it was necessary.
(“Please, Lady Tiana,”) Rhea asked politely. (“Giving Shindzha confidence that she can be part of your team is what’s best for her. You forbade her to kill herself, so without being of use to you, her life is meaningless. Letting her be of use is the best thing you can do for her.”)
That news jolted me. <You mean, she would kill herself if I hadn’t forbidden it?>
(“There is probably no person who hates her life more in this world. From the day she watched her lord consume her mother, she has lived a true living hell, unable to disobey the man that killed and ate her only family while he forced her to work his will and serve him bodily too. You gave her a glimpse of hope when you freed her. Now, let her grow that hope by becoming useful to you.”)
Resigned, I went ahead and projected my image through [Blood Presence]. This time, I was wearing my usual chemise, just as my real body wore at that moment.
Kiki’s stealth waned, causing her and the hellspawn girl to fade into view. Kiki, still curled up in Shindzha’s bosom, put her finger to her mouth and whispered, “Shhh! Pretty demon girl sleepy sleepy.”
Shindzha was indeed asleep. She looked truly worn out.
(“Well, this is a good opportunity,”) Rhea mused. (“Have the pixie move. I want to sense the demon core.”)
“Ah, Kiki,” I said quietly. “Move away from that spot for a bit.”
“Okay!” she chirped, and tried to move to my cleavage… only to discover to her great puzzlement that she couldn’t land on me because I wasn’t actually there.
“Huh? Oh!”
She amused herself, flying through me several times, while Rhea’s pet slithered its way closer to Shindzha.
<Um… won’t you scare her if she wakes?>
(“I’m keeping her asleep for the moment,”) Rhea stated as the snake slithered right up onto Shindzha’s lap.
I forced myself not to cringe as it actually nosed its way under her blouse and leather armor, disappearing inside, then appearing again, nosing its way up through her cleavage.
<Oh, Heavens, I do dearly hope you really do keep her from waking up.>
As I watched, I was trying very hard not to imagine the sensation of a snake crawling on my bare skin.
The snake’s head waved back and forth, then Rhea commented, (“This is a bad angle. He’s having trouble staying in position here.”)
As I continued having imagined sympathetic sensations of being crawled upon in the same manner, the creature continued upward, crossed her collarbone and disappeared behind her neck. After emerging from the other side and moving down until he was hanging with his head above the critical spot, he bent his body outward so he could point his nose straight at her breastbone.
I felt shivers in parts of my body that I didn’t know could shiver.
(“Mmm. Alright, I see. Hmmm. I need to show this to Gaia…”).
The snake pulled the rest of its body up out of her décolletage, looping itself sideways so it didn’t have to move its head. Said head began traveling back and forth, investigating the girl’s chest carefully.
At last, the goddess decided, (“Alright. I suppose we have sufficient data now.”)
To my relief, it didn’t return the same way. It chose instead to descend down the outside of her armor. I watched with intense relief as it slithered into the tall grass and disappeared.
I don’t believe I’ll ever look at a snake the same way again.
