Abyssal Road Trip

The guardsman looked Julia over and, even with Torm partly between them, raised an eyebrow at her hooded face. Even with the emblems apparent, her ‘secretive’ state, and Torm’s lack of armour set the rumour mill spinning in his mind.

{{You going to let him spread rumours as well? }}

B’s words were digging with taunting discontent at Julia letting Torm take the lead.

He’ll just spread different ones.

“My name is Julia.”

Julia said as she stepped around Torm, and those nearby went still as her hood fell back. The quick motion parted the cloak enough that the finely detailed leathers she’d designed with B were visible. Her Id had tired of boring practical and insisted on prettier clothing. Tight leather pants laced along the sides from knee to waist, while what looked like woven leather enfolded her torso and arms.

The interlocking weave of the leather strands, accented by beads of metal and gemstones, added eye-catching splashes of light over the deep brown of the material that hugged her form. More practical bracers enfolded her forearms, with sheathed daggers buckled on the inside of each. B had insisted on bling, so Julia chased their scabbards in silver and rubies. Blades, based on her memory of Shun knives, had provided ones that cut cleanly with the tests she’d run and a balance that felt like part of her arm.

“A guest of the Temple of Týr and the Wizard Yngvarr. Please record my name against the chit.”

Zen State stilled her voice, but even to herself, she sounded more tired than calm. Julia took the chit from Torm’s fingers and presented it to the guard.

“Of course, Julia,” he replied, taking the chit from her hand. “I mean Lady Julia.” His gaze flickered across the gemstones and silver as he did so.

I can’t even honestly say I don’t have a title.

With the hood still back from her face, Julia took the chit when they offered it and started towards the inner gate. The press of people soon bringing Torm closer to her side as they walked.

{{Why don’t you hold his hand? You might get lost. }}

B!

{{J! }}

Even though she’d snapped right back, Julia could feel the wash of amusement, the familiarity of it helping to calm the surging emotions.

Torm knocked on the door, and it was quickly pulled open, and Julia saw Rika beyond with a puzzled expression on her face as she looked between them.

“Captain Torm, Livia dropped by saying you were going to bring Julia with you. Did she not arrive?”

“I look different, but it’s still me, Rika,” Julia said and watched her eyes widen in surprise and delight.

The hug Julia received from the large girl didn’t make her jump, but even with the greater height of Julia’s current form, Rika still had to bend to hug her properly. The openness and warmth of it making Julia laugh in amusement and disbelief.

She just accepted that at face value. I wonder what Yngvarr told them.

{{I know you will not peek into her brain without an invitation. }}

{{But just a question: who was it again that helped her become a Wizard? }}

{{You could likely turn up in complete Succubus form, and you’d only get a blink if Torm were with you. }}

Yeah, yeah, not testing that.

{{Spoil sport! }}

“I’ll bring tea to the sitting room and let Yngvarr know,” Rika said.

“Aren’t you an apprentice now?” Julia asked, frowning as she wondered what trick Yngvarr was pulling.

“It’s what apprentices normally do, to earn their keep. Plus, we take turns doing the housework with basic spell forms; so it doesn’t just fall on one of us,” Rika replied, delight clear in her gaze.

She’d spent some time catching Yngvarr, Alfarr, and Torm up on what had happened in the Abyss. From the expression on Yngvarr’s face when she mentioned leaving them in Ternòx, she hadn’t been game to breach the subject of the Lómë. Though it wasn’t the only subject they avoided; Julia’s time with the Sisterhood, had been covered only in minimal detail. The damage to the Stronghold, the tally of the dead from fighting in Àluga, and the info on Lêdhins only matched what she’d already told Torm. The discussion of potential Prestige Classes lit a fire in Yngvarr’s gaze that only partly chased the sorrow from his gaze.

It was late in the afternoon before Torm headed back to the Temple, and Julia sat across from Farhad. He almost finished pouring himself tea when Julia set down parchment with Ebusuku’s name written in Abyssal runes.

“When did you meet her?” Farhad asked calmly, with an odd, thoughtful look on his face.

“The Sisterhood assigned me to be her assistant after the Castellan ordered my return to the Stronghold. They decided I belong amid the irregulars because of the strangeness of my gaining the Blood Monk class,” explained Julia. When Farhad gestured for her to continue, she re-counted what had occurred, being careful not to say names aloud. Her high intelligence was happy enough to cough up details upon request, even those she’d prefer to forget.

“I did not win the challenge. My father defeated me easily,” Farhad stated when her account concluded.

“Was your father the Grandmaster?” Julia asked, her tone coloured by surprise. She’d been half expecting it to be a coincidence of names.

“No, he was the Grandmaster’s junior-most assistant of five. I wasn’t as ready as I believed in the arrogance of my youth.” Farhad corrected then offered information that she found staggering. “After incapacitating me, he petitioned the Grandmaster to set me a task of service to redeem myself. Two hundred years later, I was still protecting the Persian King’s line when the dragons destroyed the Orders and the refugees they were guiding. I had sent messages warning them of the danger I believe their trip would involve. They ignored my warnings because of my history with the Order.”

So how old is Farhad? Ebusuku made it sound like they were going at it like bunnies. And he didn’t even blink when I told him what she’d said.

“So about,” Julia said, gesturing at the parchment with Ebusuku’s name.

{{Bunny! Hop! Oh, hop!}}

The breathiness in B’s tone was only partly able to conceal her bubbling amusement.

Yeah, yeah.

“You look like a rich child, having just found her parents engaged in coitus. A Persian Princess I once guarded couldn’t look at her mother without giggling for a week. I should have never left Ebusuku; I gained nothing. Even my service to the Kings was pointless, they were never in danger that other guards couldn’t have handled. Instead, all I achieved was turning my back on her. Little wonder she returned to the Abyss.”

“It sounded like she moves between there and Hell. How long did you travel together?” Julia asked.

{{Oh, smooth subject change, just tell him you’re a virgin, maybe he can give you position tips. }}

{{Kata, Kama - so similar they even have the same number of letters. I know, perhaps he can tutor you. }}

{{How to fall. How to slide with a blow.}}

B, please!

“So diplomatic. Yes, we spent more waking time together than I can recall. When she wasn’t trying to distract from my training, we fought or expanded on the Kama Sutra. When we met, she had been taking work fighting in the Elemental Plane of Fire. Trading goods from Elementals she’d destroyed to Humans and other mortal species living about the Planes. She hadn’t been in any lower plane in ten or twelve thousand years before that. No matter what your Analysis shows you, I believe she is more Nephilim than Succubus.” Farhad stated.

“A Nephilim?” Julia asked, trying to understand how it could come about.

Does that explain why Devils see her as one of theirs? Lilith had children with Angels and Demons, according to legends.

{{ That’s right, run away, la la not listening to the Sensei talk about fucking like bunnies. Ask if he eats like one too! }}

“Wait, her Progenitor, she said something about Death.” Julia interrupted before Farhad could start explaining. Grumbling internally at B just earned her more laughter.

“Their line descends from one of the Titan’s prime servants. I believe she likely takes after him in her nature even if her passions run freely as well.”

“She mentioned you two were pretty passionate about each other,” Julia offered, hesitating to even broach the subject.

“I’m surprised that in your recounting she mentioned me with anything but distaste,” Farhad mused before taking a sip of his tea.

“Sounded like she missed your time together. It had her fixated on me since my Willpower reminded her a bit of yours,” remarked Julia, hoping to get some sort of reaction from the older Monk.

“Perhaps.”

“That’s all you have to say? Perhaps?” Julia asked.

“If you would let her know that I’m alive but failed in my challenge of the Grandmaster, I’ll meet her at our past gathering spot when she has time from her current endeavours,” instructed Farhad.

“That will give away I know you and raise a lot of questions,” replied Julia, blinking in disbelief.

“Correct, but it will also probably remove her attention from you.”

“And if it doesn’t?” Julia asked. Though even if someone else contacted Ebusuku for Farhad, it would raise so many questions.

“Then I’ll be in a lot of trouble as well,” Farhad said, smiling slightly as he held the cup nestled in his palms.

“Likelihood?”

“I’ll have a fight on my hands; it’s been a while. I wonder how much she’s improved? Worse case, I’ll need to talk to the Judge and wait out my release.”

“Judge?” Julia asked, baffled by his lack of concern.

“The eastern Hells differ from what you know. I’m an Immortal as long as I’m true in following my way.”

So he just has to say Hi, gets a slap on the wrist and comes back?

“Then why didn’t the Grandmaster and the Order Seniors return?”

“Mine was a personal arrogance and failure, but I’ve always been true to my way of self-perfection. They claimed the Order’s Way was intended for protection, yet their arrogance caused entire peoples, down to the youngest child to be extinguished. Given that knowledge, do you believe their sentence would have been completed yet? Or after failing so, do you believe their very enlightenment might suffer?” Farhad asked. His tone was calm and considered as if they were discussing the weather.

“I don’t know.”

“Julia, you believe things according to your perceptions. I’m a Monk, helping your Livia, so I must be good. That is not the case. I follow a Way that doesn’t regard good nor evil; it sees only Law. I have no conflict with the Church of Tyr; they seek to uphold the Law and undertake Justice through its enforcement. But that is not my way. I follow the Law, and my focus is self-perfection, not the actions of others. While I have broken no Law in the places it applied, I have travelled in places where you would disagree with the Law followed. I’ve also never cared who was being hurt by the Law of others. You see causes to rally around; I see distractions from my practice and pursuit of self-perfection. Strangely, I find I still care for Ebusuku. After meeting you and learning about your situation, I have considered our parting more and more. It is an area that I neglected in myself, and you have reminded me of it, so I will see where this aspect of my path leads.”

Julia just looked at him, not sure how to respond, as Farhad calmly resumed drinking his tea.

“Why did you take up with her?” Julia asked, still struggling to make sense of it all.

“We both wished to kill the same Lord among the Efreeti; I assassinated him first and drew her interest.”

“You assassinated someone!” Julia exclaimed, eyes widening in surprise.

“Yes, one of his underlings hired me.” Farhad explained, his tone enduring in its patience.

“I thought you said you had broken no Law?” Julia asked plaintively.

(( You did not know him truly from speaking of the Martial Arts, techniques and improvements. Now you’ve learnt more.))

“Murder among them is illegal. Assassination among the Efreeti is a promotion method if you’ve hired a registered Assassin. You will see it as a loophole, but it is not, it’s simply Law for them. It’s why I focus on self-perfection and leave arguments of Law, and the benefit of one civilisation’s code compared to another, to others.”

“You’re an Assassin!” Julia exclaimed, blinking in disbelief.

Was he really the only option for teaching Livia?

“One of my Prestige Classes involves Assassin. I knew of tier five before you told Yngvarr. I’m not as ignorant as others, but it is not my place to educate them, they need to seek their own enlightenment.” Farhad stated, a slight shrug emphasising his lack of concern.

Okay, I guess he hasn’t completely lost that arrogance he spoke of from his youth.

“Why did you agree to teach Livia then?” asked Julia.

“I’m teaching her about self-perfection of the flesh, her enlightenment of Soul needs no work. The path she walks following it is her own to choose. In that she is like you, she has a generosity of spirit. I hope it provides her enough challenges, and she has the Willpower to remain intact and enlightened while walking her Way. It is strange you could aid her to enlightenment but remain in darkness yourself. Perhaps it is because you left it to the purity of Ki to heal her Soul.” Farhad mused.

“Then why are you teaching Torm? Or agreed to teach others?” Julia asked, trying to understand the reason for the exception in his disinterest.

“After reaching certain heights, it is necessary to return to the fundamentals. When teaching others they ask questions you have already moved past. When questioned, instead of simply repeating the answers told to you, you should re-examine those fundamentals. Only after re-examination explain them to the less enlightened, it aids you through forced self-reflection. I found teaching Livia beneficial for self-reflection and will continue to do so.” explained Farhad, his words flowing as if he shared it many times in the past.

“You’re going to become involved with her again?” Julia asked, pointing to the parchment with Ebusuku’s name, still feeling too paranoid to say it aloud. “and you’re going to teach Torm, and others following Týr?“

“You see Celestials and Devils, I see extremes of Law, and they balance each other. While I respect the potential power of both, they are not entities I revere or revile. To do either gives them power over me, and that is not my way.”

“This conversation wasn’t what I expected,” Julia admitted.

“That is a flaw. You held an expectation. Find facts, then proceed. If you decide then look for facts you will never find the truth. You believe a Celestial found me to teach Livia, therefore I must be good? The beings you met with after freeing Rana were not all Celestials. Midyåci is one such. It is a servant of absolute Law, and it found individuals that knew me. They oppose the destructive entity whose altar you encountered. If I hadn’t agreed they would have fetched a Monk from another world.”

“How does he lockdown my powers?” asked Julia.

“You took the Assassin class, but you are not really a killer,” Farhad stated, his gaze resting on Julia as the conversation detoured from the question.

What does that have to do with it? And I’ve got more than a few kills.

{{We made the plants greener. }}

“I’ve killed,” Julia said.

“You have killed those who opposed you but only rarely focus on the killing itself. You do not approach combat with true killing intent. Even when your Id had the upper hand, her purpose wasn’t to kill, even though she enjoyed it, she was playing. How effective is your Death Strike or Silent Kill? Do you rely on them? Or are you just dipping your toes into their waters?”

“They’re in what I see as introductory ranks still,” Julia replied, wondering at his reason for asking.

“How many foes have you fought since you gained them? Ten, dozens, a hundred or more?” asked Farhad, just giving a slight shake of his head. “Never mind, just from looking at you, I know. You don’t even consider you’re killing Demons. They’re only obstacles for you to overcome, especially ones you don’t fight on their home Plane. Then you see it as returning their energy to the Abyss.”

“I don’t understand.”

“No, you do not. When we fought, you were outclassed, but the only Succubus power you used was Flight. Even then, only where needed to balance my advantage using aerial steppingstones. You sought balance, to fight me fairly, not even seeking to best me. I would say you had fun, even though I broke your bones repeatedly.” Farhad said, shaking his head in concern.

“I knew they’d heal,” Julia said, smiling slightly at the memory of that fight.

“Because you know so much about me?” asked Farhad, arching an eyebrow before lowering it to raise the other. “Does it matter which eyebrow you use? Livia won’t tell me.”

“No, not really, unless you’re a purist.”

Farhad set his cup down and moved towards Julia.

“Your hand, please?” asked Farhad as he held out his own.

Julia sat forward, and the moment Farhad’s fingers touched hers, she found herself frozen, but he just stood unmoving.

“There is no cause for alarm; it is merely a lesson you needed. Your mastery of some Skills is very thin, you assume too much. You relax, and you let your guard down. You will bring your own destruction.”

“Why are you telling me?” asked Julia, her voice somehow functional even though the rest of her body wouldn’t respond. Emotion roiled in her like a surging ocean, and even calling on Zen State felt like a thin layer on its surface.

“You did me a service telling me of Ebusuku’s continued interest. I wished to do you one in return, one to remember well. I told you I wasn’t what you consider good, just as Lêdhins told you he wasn’t to be trusted. Yet after that, you baited out a rabid animal, and continued to sit unconcernedly with me drinking tea. You are talented, but you need to learn deeper lessons. Stay out of the Abyss while you heal your spirit properly; it feels fragile. I would recommend you travel the Elemental Planes and fight foes as Ebusuku used to do. If Ebusuku tells the Sisterhood you were useful before your form’s destruction, they might not even look to see where you ended up.”

Farhad lifted his fingers from her hand, and Julia felt sensation return to her form, and B giggled away inside her.

{{Oh Babe, that was all tingly. }}

“What was that?” asked Julia, the churning inside making her voice tremble, but Farhad didn’t even blink.

“It is an ability that extends from Death Strike, but until you genuinely wish to kill your foes, you will not gain it. You see foes as obstacles. You strive to punch, kick, or strike to the best of your ability. While you have great focus and Willpower for one so young, you waste it in battle. You need to seek every strike in a battle to be a progression towards your foe’s death, not just victory. While you inflict damage on foes, it is not the reason you pursue the Martials Arts, nor even the reason you fight. You pursue the Martial Arts for control; it is a way of self-defence where you come from, and that is why you learnt it. For me, it is a way to perfect myself and crush my enemies.”

“Why?” Julia asked, not understanding the evident composure in his voice.

“Because it is a challenge, and only by challenging oneself true perfection be found. In some ways, the strongest make the Law - whether it is the strength of a society or the strength of an individual - so I prove I follow the Law by destroying my enemies. You are a good child, too good, and too kind. It will be sad to many who cherish you when you die the ultimate death. Would you be so kind as to send Ebusuku a message?” Farhad asked before retaking his seat, recovering his cup along the way.

((He sees from the perspective of his Way; you need to find your own truth.))

“Aren’t you taking a simple way out by being focused on killing?” Julia asked, trying to regain self-control.

Farhad just gave her an oddly sympathetic look before taking another sip of tea.

“What if I won’t send the message?” asked Julia, still feeling unsettled by the conversation.

“Then you won’t. Your choices are not mine to make,” Farhad replied, unruffled by the question.

“Why could I not even feel what you did?” asked Julia, the tide of emotions within her but slowly getting them under control.

“You could feel the results of it, could you not? If someone woke up and suddenly could not use their legs. Would you expect them to understand without studying why it occurred? You have the Class; by learning to seek another’s death you’ll find the Power.”

Julia composed herself before sending Ebusuku a message, only to blink at the enthusiastic response that came back. She found the rapid exchange that followed strange indeed. After some back-and-forth questions Ebusuku had sent nothing further. After nearly half a bell, Julia received another message with a location name that made no sense to her, but Farhad had nodded on hearing it.

The true Planar name of their destination in Draconic meant roughly 'meeting place for a fair exchange' and it took two minutes to say. No wonder that most people just referred to it in their native tongue as 'The Exchange' even if that didn't get them to the Plane.

The strange city in front of her soared towards the brilliant silver sunless sky far above, the volume of the noise, proclaiming the crush of activity ahead. Before Julia was a set of unadorned entry gates, with queues streaming arrivals inside at a varying pace. Even though visitors differed in shape and size, each segment of the gate easily adjusted to accommodate them. However, each visitor stepping beyond them seemed more consistently sized, though their shape still matched their previous form. It was odd watching a Treant taller than an old pine tree amble through with thundering steps and suddenly become some two metres tall.

The conduit should have connected them randomly to the Plane. Instead, Julia faced the local version of an airport customs checkpoint before it sat perfectly smooth white paving stones, all aligned with absolute precision. All around, arrivals stepped from other conduits, Planar gates, or thin air. Everywhere Julia looked, arrivals of all shapes, sizes, and energies moved with clear intent to enter.

Julia blinked as she saw a group of entities formed of living lava move in a queue ahead of a plant-like Fey that seemed tinier than her hand. True Sight peered through the glamour to show jagged teeth sitting under the Fey’s beautiful features. A cluster of lights glowing with Celestial energy hovered in another queue. While just ahead, two Devils covered in green spines, solid white eyes, serrated red teeth; over their shoulders each carried a folded net made of umbilical cords dipped in silver.

“The conduit is supposed to be random where it connects,” Julia stated, glancing about again.

“There is no randomness here besides what individuals bring. This Demi-Plane operates precisely according to its creator’s will.” Farhad stated, even as he moved towards the end of one line heading towards the gates. “These are only the entry gates, don’t leave via this gate and don’t open your conduit within. It won’t work, but something will speak to you about the offence. Remember, don’t even pick up anything if you’ve not agreed on a price, or gained the owner’s permission to touch. If attacked, you can fight back, but if you attack first outside an agreed duel, the wisps will kill or worse imprison you.”

“You said it’s neutral ground, but you’ve not told me who built it,” Julia remarked.

“There is no reason to know; just don’t look to draw attention to yourself; it’s unhealthy,” advised Farhad, heading towards the queue that appeared the longest. Julia followed him, to avoid getting separated by two pillars that looked to be composed of swirling silver. Under their exterior, Julia could see glimmers of light floating inside it, only visible to True Sight.

“Why this queue?” asked Julia, as the line ahead of them moved towards the gate. “It’s the longest.”

“It also gets let through the fastest. No trade goods, minimal currency, the intention of only a short-term stay, entry into the queue is your declaration. If the gate detects you’re lying, you get ejected from the Plane and aren’t able to re-enter for about thirty-six bells. Repeated ejections will get you imprisoned.”

“Oh. What if I wanted to stay longer than allowed? Do I need to leave and re-enter?”

“Exactly, there is no limit on your coming and going unless you’ve broken the Law. When you enter, the Law states they must know the intention behind your entry. This queue is for short-term visits; for longer stays or trade missions you need to pick a queue to the left. The further along the greater the value of the trade intended or your length of stay. The last, empty queue is for those that have purchased permanent residence. Better let your form revert, or the gate will do it for you. You can change within, but your declaration going in must be the truth. It doesn’t matter the truth as long as it’s the truth.”

“Could have told me that in advance,” Julia sighed.

“It’s not an issue for me,” Farhad said as the queue started forward with a surge.

As Julia stored her clothing and resumed her naked form, the traveller behind her muttered with clicks and chirps of annoyance as her wings grew. Her Power translating them into complaints about stupid newcomers. The eyes in her wings had become part of her base form and showed the noises came from a mantis creature nearly three metres tall. It didn’t make a fuss when Protean shaped leathers on top, and Julia released them to settle around her before she arrived at the gate.

This place is crazier than the Star Wars cantina.

{{No need for a CGI budget either. }}

As Julia moved through the gate, her perception showed her the wards, but the runes within them were far beyond anything she’d seen. A little silver glow appeared, hovering in her line of sight, but Julia couldn’t see it in front of anyone else.

“The silver dot? It’s not Mana.”

“If it dulls, you have two bells to exit the Plane. It will blink if you are facing toward the nearest exit; they’re scattered throughout the city. One way in, many ways out.”

“What if I don’t get out in time?”

“Then you’ll have a problem,” Farhad replied, ignoring Julia’s implicit question about how it functioned.

“Oh, joy.” Julia offered a verbal poke at Farhad for his continual minimal and last-minute explanations since the message exchange with Ebusuku.

Farhad sighed before continuing through the crowded streets ahead and Julia worked to keep up. When he started upwards, striding through the air, she followed, using Flight to weave through the other entities in pursuit: Bird creatures of all shapes, colours and even number of wings, swirls of living air, free-floating metallic or crystal orbs. There were also western and eastern dragons, of all different shades of colour and materials, sharing the space about the city streets. Most looked annoyed, but potentially it was just natural Draconic resting face. There were even a few flying carpets and broomsticks, some so fluorescent they were eye searingly bright.

Buildings within the city varied within the limits of their blocks. Some possessed the architecture of giant bees, regular honeycombs sealed with a material having the texture of dried mud. The only constant was the extreme variety and massive heights, not even one under fifty metres; giant castles, soaring fantasy wizard towers bristling with mysterious lights. In contrast, others were to Julia’s eye were modern corporate office blocks and metallic sci-fi type constructs of various hued liquid metals, their size reached higher than an earthen skyscraper.

Farhad stepped from the air to a tower made of polished marble, its rooftop awash with overgrown garden beds whose inhabitants were wrestling with each other. Vines from one garden bed had upended a flowerpot recently and were busily smashing it into the ground. As Julia set her feet on the building’s edge, some vines began tossing pieces off the roof while others settled into a huff. Once the destruction satisfied them, the vines writhed upwards, folding like a multitude of arms below a giant sunflower in the middle of the garden bed. A few tiny scattered sunflower petals potentially hinting at the cause of the aggression.

Everywhere she looked for acres across the rooftop of this building, bizarre plants sat in neat and orderly rows, clashing with their neighbours. Swollen cacti were energetic in discussing water rights with the water lily in the next bed, whose pond they had nearly dried up. Rose bushes were deploying barricades of thorns to prevent red-leaved brambles that had chocked their own area from overrunning theirs as well. In the middle of the acreage a grove of trees were playing full-contact chess. A maple knight scuttled along on its roots into a square occupied by one of the banksia-ish bushes on the field, apparently fulfilling pawns’ role. Rather than automatically controlling the square, their entry had branched into a battle and the other pieces were waving leaves wildly as they cheered their combatants on.

Farhad walked along the nearest row of garden beds without hesitation before he stepped onto a concealed metallic staircase that rang musically underfoot as he descended. Wards shimmered around them, curious but not hostile as Julia followed Farhad’s course. The penthouse below the roof was open plan and stretched out to occupy the full floor space. Close by weapons racks, a bed far larger than Julia had ever seen, and assorted furnishing making a disorganised lived-in space. A massive dining table carved from finely grained wood offered those seated near it a magnificent view of the flight paths and the long street. Within the available floor space, target ranges, free-standing weapon racks, walls of locks, floating maps of regions and building’s schematics, all laid out with no coherent plan or pattern.

Though they came soon after Ebusuku’s reply, she was already present and watching closely as they descended.

Bet she got here before she sent the message about the location to meet.

{{Ensure you’re the first to arrive and the only one left alive. }}

As they reached the floor Farhad spoke, only for Ebusuku to cut him off with a sharp look and directed her attention to Julia.

“Come here, little sister.”

Julia moved forward without hesitation, after seeing her fight Lêdhins, she knew she would be dead in a moment if Ebusuku wished it. What she wasn’t expecting were the hands upon her cheeks and the gaze that locked on hers.

“When I find him, I will remove his balls and hand him to the Devils to torment. I would have been sooner, but his wards gave me trouble even with the anklet you wore. I’ve passed his name to the Progenitor and she’s placing a reward for information.”

“Why?” Julia blurted, Ebusuku’s attitude confusing her.

“I saw the bodies and the look on your face. Lilith didn’t stand for being forced, nor do we of her Lineages. We choose who to honour with our company, we will not stand to be forced. You were my battle companion, so it’s a slight to me as well the BrÍn will regret this outrage.” Ebusuku said, her gaze borrowing into Julia with vivid intensity, “Now is it clear?”

{{Lêdhins’ in trouble! Lêdhins’ in trouble! }}

I have an evil guardian part-angel?

{{And don’t forget the wicked witch of the Abyss. }}

“Choices,” Julia said,

“Choices.” Ebusuku echoed before tapping her nose.

Ebusuku stepped past Julia, and a sound like stones smacking together rang out. When Julia spun around, she found Farhad’s hand still raised from blocking an open-hand slap from Ebusuku.

“Twelve hundred years, you misbegotten kill thief.” Ebusuku snarled, rage and longing evident in her voice.

“I did not achieve the purpose of my departure,” replied Farhad, his voice unruffled.

“So what!”

Ebusuku growled, and as she lashed out with a knife in her other hand, Farhad guided it clear of flesh. The edge of it deflecting off Ki Armour as it cut past his shoulder. Hands and feet snaked out between them as they exchanged blows and tried to knock each other off balance.

{{So, do we get popcorn or leave them to it? }}

She didn’t draw her swords. Maybe we should get out of here? Any bets on where first?

{{I think Farhad might have to worship her altar first. Give it a proper clean and polish, then kiss it better. }}

{{The heat in her gaze isn’t from anger. Maybe she needs a hose? Can we get a pet plant? I’d like a grumpy sunflower! }}

Her feet were ringing along the metallic staircase when she heard the first sound of leather and cloth ripping along with growling from Ebusuku. When the sound of cracking stone came echoing up from below, Julia shot a glance back, wondering if they had broken the floor. The scraps from Farhad’s outer robe was still fluttering in mid-air amid the ongoing activity. Weapons were spilling from a monolithic bench whose surface wasn’t enduring the increasing frenzy of impacts, and Julia fled.

{{He may be old, but he’s not dead. Geez you two, wait till the kid leaves the room.}}

{{So I was wrong about the altar, well, unless you count that stone slab. It seems Ebusuku isn’t one for foreplay.}}

Julia took to the air, pursued by primal screaming from below.

{{But I wanna pet the sunflower!!!! }}

Bs’ tone almost made her seem like a petulant child, except for the excessive amount of amusement.

I know you like touching petals.

{{It’s so true. }}

You’re like an already hyper Rach getting drunk on sugar and more sugar.

{{GIVE ME MORE SUGAR BABE!! Or Blood! Don’t forget the blood.}}

When B started giggling insanely, Julia picked a direction and flew off, intent on taking in the sheer variety of entities and buildings about the place.