Chương 92: Chapter 91 - Song

Atzi went back to the inn, and paid for another day. Then she went back to bed. After waking up, she went off to spend the rest of her time. She didn't have a lot of money left after the fancy meal and gambling. She wouldn't have spent so much if she'd known she would still be alive. Thus, she decided on a staple of her old life. Cheap prostitutes. Yet, she couldn't seem to find a brothel. Eventually, she gave up looking and just asked around until someone pointed her in the direction of the docks.

Apparently, the brothel was on a boat. When she asked why, apparently it was tradition, from a time when brothels were illegal in Mediolanum. Atzi was glad that wasn't the case anymore, as she whittled her money away. Eventually, she headed back to the beach. Half a day was vague, so she spent nearly an hour bored, drawing in the sand with her clawed toes. Then she saw them approach. The boat looked just as small and fast as the one she'd ridden on, several Pangaeans inside it. Atzi looked around the beach.

Nobody was in the immediate area, which hopefully meant nobody had seen the Pangaeans yet. She didn't want anyone freaking out. The boat stopped near the shore. Several figures rose from it. The prophet of the Forest, covered in powdery fur with two leaves sprouting from her head like ears, was garbed in a heavy cloak. Around her were her supposed bodyguards. One looked almost fully human, but with a large bushy tail.

Another was a tall wolf woman with white fur that Atzi vaguely remembered from her drugged antics in Pangaea. Next to her was an equally tall lion-like woman. They both wore twisted steel plates vaguely tied into protection, which Atzi recognized as scrapped Hasen armor. Finally, a rabbit woman with shining red eyes, wearing a wide brimmed hat with jangling beads hanging down from the sides. As Atzi approached them, she saw another Pangaean emerge from the water.

It was a shark woman she hadn't seen before, expression bored. That's a lot of guards.

"Hi!" Atzi said nervously, waving. The prophet bowed slightly to her.

"From one prophet to another, greetings." Atzi was taken aback. She'd never been good at courtesies.

"Hi, prophet of the Forest. I'm Atzi. What's your name?"

"Some refer to me as Song. Song of the Forest."

"Cool." Atzi awkwardly kicked a clawed foot.

"Aside from the demon, the journey should be simple enough. The demon is pretty scary, though." The rabbit woman's red eyes seemed to flash.

"Do you know the type of demon?"

"She had five eyes, she was really strong with her sword. Which she could extend out pretty far." The rabbit woman crossed her arms.

"A greater demon, then."

"That's bad, right?"

"It's less trivial."

"Oh, okay. I'll warn when we're getting near her hunting area, she doesn't seem to like to move from there." The rabbit woman asked, "Are demons not common around these lands?" Atzi shook her head.

"I'd never seen one till a few- recently."

"I see. In Pangaea, there are hundreds of demons. Some were summoned by us. Some by Hasen. Some simply found their way to our wilds unbidden." Atzi's eyes widened.

"Hasen summons them? And you guys do too?"

"We were the originators of the art. I believe part of Hasen's attempts to remove us lies in their desire to monopolize the demons within our lands." Atzi was stunned. She had no idea that the Pangaeans had invented demon summoning. She wondered if anyone did, and if it might help in negotiations to mention it. She pointed north.

"There's a road that takes us right to Sostra. Then people will probably be really confused seeing you all, don't worry about it I guess, we're headed for the temple district to meet with one of the gods." Song bowed once more.

"I will rely on you to express our good nature."

"I'll do my best." Atzi laughed nervously. I might be about to walk into the biggest fuckup of my life so far. Atzi led them through a short detour, cutting northwest towards the road instead of heading directly west to it. She was still nervous about being seen by anyone from Mediolanum. She just wanted things to go right. Surely, a group as big as they were would be able to handle the demon, right? -"So you actually brought strong people for me!"

The demon simply announced herself, not even bothering to attack first. She grinned broadly, showing off her sharp fangs.

"Thank you, tiny lizard!" Among the wreckage, a second cart had joined the first.

"This is the greater demon," Atzi said to the Pangaeans with her. Then she shouted towards the demon, "Do you even have a name?!"

"Xebetherus!"

"Xebetherus," Atzi mumbled to herself repeatedly to memorise it. The shark woman turned to the lion woman.

"Mel, let's do it." She hefted a small hammer. The lion woman drew a sword.

"Let's." The pair rushed at the demon while the rest hung back. Atzi tensed up as she watched the fight unfold. Song and the rabbit woman watched, while the woman with the bushy tail and the tall wolf woman stood in front of them, like protectors. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. The demon opened with a wide, sweeping strike. Both the Pangaeans easily ducked under it and closed in.

The shark woman viciously attacked the demon with her hammer while the lion woman stood a slightly further distance away, weapon raised steadily. When the shark woman made a mistake, the demon suddenly thrust her weapon out. Only for the lion woman to intercept it with her sword. Then it was the shark woman hanging back, catching her breath while the lion woman unleashed a series of blows. The rabbit woman began chanting.

They continued to fight like that, one attacking while the other recovered, never giving the demon woman time to rest or change her tactics. The demon couldn't simply bat them away. Yet the Pangaeans couldn't make ground either, the demon woman defending herself from all their strikes. When the rabbit woman finished her chant, she reached into her robes.

"Hold this," she said to Atzi. And handed her a live, beating heart. Atzi stared at it, freaked out and confused. It pulsed in her hands.

"What, never seen a blood gem before?" The rabbit woman asked, and then chanted one more word. The heart in Atzi's claw suddenly expanded out as if it might explode, before collapsing in on itself. All at once, it dissolved into blood. The gore slipped through Atzi's claws, splashing onto the ground below. Atzi shook her claw frantically, trying to get the blood off. She gagged.

"This is a blood gem?"

"It was, just like that was one demon." The rabbit woman pointed towards the fight. Atzi looked back up. The demon woman was gone. Now, the shark and lion woman were fighting a group of five smaller demons, ones that Atzi recognized. They looked exactly like the one that had attacked Cory, all sludge-like with crystals for eyes. Confused, Atzi asked, "Where did she go?"

"That's her now," the rabbit woman replied.

"You turned her into those?"

"Demons are inherently malleable, like clay. Thus can be broken up into smaller, weaker parts with the right spells."

"How? What kind of spells?" It sounded useful to Atzi.

"What kind of gems do I need to eat?"

"Blood gems." Atzi stuck out her tongue at the thought of eating beating hearts.

"You gotta kill stuff for those, don't you?"

"Yes." Atzi made a small whining noise.

"I don't like killing." The rabbit woman chuckled.

"You are an odd one." The shark and lion woman readily finished off the imps, which dissolved into mud. Then the two fighters rejoined the group.

"You beat her? And you all lived? Wow."

"It's just a greater demon." The shark woman rolled her shoulder.

"That's my fifth one." The lion woman - Mel, apparently - sheathed her sword.

"Ninth."

"Well, seeing even one was pretty scary to me! I can't fight like that!" Mel blinked.

"That is because you are weak."

"Way to rub it in."

"Rub what in?"

"It's an expression! It just means, I dunno, it means making fun of someone when they're already down."

"Making fun?" Atzi made a frustrated noise.

"Nevermind!" Song interrupted, turning towards Atzi.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Atzi turned towards her.

"I thought it might go worse. She killed someone I knew."

"It's great you got revenge then." Song nodded.

"The Forest teaches us all that revenge is the second highest blessing, behind only life itself." Atzi thought about Aelia, briefly. If she actually solved everything, would she reset just for her? Nah.

"Let's just go to the capital." - Atzi and the Pangaeans crested over a hill. It marked the edge of the swamp, and from it could be seen the city of Sostra.

"Is that the capital?" Song asked.

"Yeah! I've lived there for ages now, it's great. You can get anything you want if you have money." It was already the evening. Atzi noticed something strange, however. The southern gate was closed, which she couldn't remember happening ever before. A small group of people were barely visible in front of it.

"That's weird," Atzi said. She tried to think of what could be happening. Then she remembered that, around this time, three people from Dyme show up, to fetch their demigod. Then she looked further up, towards the temple district. The godscouncil temple roof was collapsed. Atzi thumped her tail.

"Something's wrong, something happened." What happened? What did I do? Did Cory do this? Song asked, "What's wrong?"

"Let's just get to the city. As fast as possible." They walked quickly, and were soon near the gates. As they approached, Atzi noticed that the three figures before the gate were indeed the people from Dyme. And up on the walls, several guards were stationed around the gate. When the guards caught sight of Atzi's group, they started shouting at each other, too loud and frantic for Atzi to make out. The three people from Dyme turned away from the guards towards them, regarding them with apparent curiosity.

Atzi's eyes widened, hoping they weren't about to get shot with crossbows.

"Hey!" she called to the Dyme group.

"What's going on in there?" The Dymish man in the center of the group, wearing small glasses, said, "I do not know. They have barred all entry and exit from the city. Who might your strange group be?"

"It's complicated," Atzi said.

"We're here to speak to the Serpent. What do you mean, all entry and exit? What happened?"

"I do not know. The guards have not said." Said guards seemed to have calmed down, but were still eyeing the Pangaeans warily. Atzi shouted up towards them, "Why can't we enter? I live here! I left for less than a week! What happened?"

"What in the hells are those things?" A guard asked instead, pointing at the Pangaeans.

"That's the prophet of a god and her bodyguards. She's been invited by the Serpent. What's happening here?" The guard looked confused.

"Serpent's in charge now, locked down the city."

"She is? Perfect!" It hadn't happened before, but Atzi considered it a good thing.

"You need to send a message to her, we're here to meet with her. Tell her Atzi is here with the prophet of the Forest." The guards conferred between each other. Finally, one shouted back.

"Yeah. Just wait here. Or else!"

"I can't wait anywhere else! Hurry up!" While Atzi waited, she wondered about what she'd heard. The Serpent's in charge? She must have said something about the gate and a fight broke out.

"Is this going to be a problem?" Song asked.

"Something's gone wrong in the city and they're paranoid," Atzi replied.

"Apparently the Serpent is in charge right now. That's probably good, since she's the one who sent me to talk to you." Song of the Forest raised a single, branch-like finger.

"I see. Is this a time of turmoil for your people?" Atzi nodded.

"Oh yeah. Big time. Very bad stuff happening."

"I see."

"This is new though. I have no idea what's going on, now." Eventually, a guard shouted down at them.

"You can all come in." He pointed at Atzi and the Pangaeans.

"You can't." He pointed at the Dyme officials.

"Sorry, guy!" Atzi waved as she walked towards the opening gate.

"You'll find your demigod later."

"That's outrageous! Our property is in your city!" The central official shouted at the guards. Then he looked at Atzi, "What, how do you-" Atzi winked, before running into the city. The gate closed behind her before she could be questioned. She laughed to herself, feeling better than she had in a while. Only then did she realize the streets were entirely empty. Not a single person in them, besides Atzi's group and a few guards. Okay, I need to ask the Serpent about what exactly happened.

"I've been instructed to bring you directly to the Serpent," a guard said.

"Yeah. I have a few questions for her. Let's go."