by Virlyce
“You’re dead,” Lindyss said with a blank expression. “What chill?”
Mr. Skelly cleared his throat. “I was just trying to make small talk, mistress,” he said before scratching his skull. He glanced at Alice and clacked his teeth before making eye contact with Lindyss.
“Small talk?” Lindyss asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s a first.”
Mr. Skelly let out a dry laugh as his cheekbones flushed pink. “Well, what I want to say next is a little embarrassing after all,” he said. He took in a deep breath, the air whistling out of his ribcage. His feet clacked against the metal ground as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. “I think I’m in love.”
Alice’s face burned bright red as she lowered her head, her glasses slipping down her nose. She pushed them up with her finger, but she didn’t dare raise her head. Her fingers clenched and unclenched, wrinkling the hem of her dress. She pursed her lips and took a quick peek at Lindyss, but that quick peek turned into a prolonged stare.
“So, as I was saying,” Lindyss said to E with her back to Mr. Skelly and Alice. “When Vur and Tafel wake up, you can bring this out to the center of the plaza. I’ve already ordered my people to calm everyone down and clean up the earlier mess. The scuffle between the phoenixes and dragons are over, so we can finally get things going.”
Mr. Skelly grabbed Alice’s hands and rubbed the back of her palm with his thumb. He coughed, trying to get Lindyss’ attention, but she acted as if she didn’t hear him. He coughed again, louder this time. She ignored him again. Soon, the coughs filling the room could overwhelm a group of pneumonic smokers.
Lindyss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose before turning around. “What is it?”
“This is Alice,” Mr. Skelly said, waving Alice’s hand for her. “We’re in love.”
Lindyss sighed again, lowering her head while rubbing her temples with her fingers. “Alice,” she said, snapping her head up.
Alice stiffened and took a tiny step back. “Y-yes?”
“Do your eyes work?” Lindyss asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Not that well,” Alice said, pursing her lips. She pointed at her glasses which were slipping again. “That’s why I wear glasses.”
“Let me rephrase that,” Lindyss said. She pointed at Mr. Skelly. “What does he look like to you?”
Alice furrowed her brow. “A skeleton. But I don’t mind! I know he’s dead.”
“A pervert,” Lindyss said and groaned. She glared at Mr. Skelly. “Do you know how irresponsible you’re being? Why the hell did you chase after this poor woman’s heart?”
“She fell for me, actually,” Mr. Skelly said, his face flushing. “My charisma transcends life and death. I’m quite dashing if I may say so myself. It’s no surprise given how suave I am.”
Lindyss punted Mr. Skelly’s head off with a swift kick to the temple. Within a second, a new skull reappeared with a grin. “That’s new,” Lindyss said. She clicked her tongue and whirled around to face Alice, placing her hands on the guild master’s shoulders. “Look. What would your parents think if you went to a cemetery, dug up a corpse, and asked it to marry you?”
“They told me to do my best,” Alice said, staring into Lindyss’ eyes, “in everything: Training, studying, working, pursuing love. And I want to pursue Nate. My parents would want me to give this relationship everything I have.”
“Nate?”
“Did you forget my name, mistress?” Mr. Skelly asked. He clutched his ribcage and made a sound as if he was just punched in the stomach. “My feelings.”
Lindyss kicked Mr. Skelly away, his skeletal frame slamming into the room’s metal walls. “Stay out of this, you irresponsible rascal,” she said. She pressed her palm against Alice’s forehead. “You’re not under an illusion. And you don’t have a fever. But I’m pretty sure you’re sick in the head. I can ask a holy dragon to cure that for you—I have some connections.”
“I’m not!” Alice said, breaking away from Lindyss’ grip. “I’m perfectly sane! I—”
“I wasn’t aware they updated the definition of sane to include marrying corpses,” E said. Alice glared at him, the rune on her forehead flaring up. E raised both his hands and had his armor set retreat a few steps. “Alright, berserk librarian, I’ll stay out of this. I think I’ll check on Vur and Tafel.”
Alice watched the dwarf leave before facing Lindyss. “Please.”
“Don’t you want children in the future?” Lindyss asked. “A proper family? Someone warm and not bony to cuddle? And what’s going to happen to your bedroom life? I want you to think long and hard about the choice you’re making. Write down all your thoughts and give them to me in a week.” She poked Alice’s forehead, causing tears to drop from the guild master’s watery eyes. “I’m not doing this to be mean. I just can’t let someone ruin their future because they didn’t think ahead.” She sighed when Alice sniffled. “Alright, how about this? You and the immoral skeleton can go on a honeymoon for a month. Do whatever you want, and if you decide you still want to be with him by the end of it, I’ll release my control over him. That’s what both of you want me to do, right?”
“Thank you, mistress,” Mr. Skelly said with a grin. He clapped his arm over Alice’s shoulder. “I told you everything would be fine. And she didn’t even want to sacrifice your soul.”
“…What kind of weird rumors are you spreading about me?”
37
“Dee! The party’s starting,” Zilphy said. She was in the form of a green rock, tugging on a brown rock which was resting on Vur’s chest. “Let’s go!”
“We’re contracted elementals now,” Diamant said with a sigh. “Act like one, please. When our owner is defenseless in his sleep like he is now, we can’t leave.”
“It’ll be fine,” Zilphy said, tugging harder. The two rocks tumbled off of Vur and bounced on the bed, landing next to Tafel. She was sleeping beside Vur, the rune on her forehead flashing with red and black lights. Vur's rune was doing the same. “Sheryl’s still there. And that stupid fairy.”
“I’m not stupid!” Stella said as she stuck her head out of the tattoo on Vur’s chest. “You’re stupid!”
“No, I’m not,” Zilphy said. “You are!”
“No, you!”
“I’m—”
“Stop bickering, you two,” Sheryl said from the yellow runes on Vur’s shoulder. “Go have fun at the party, Zilphy. Watch over her, Deedee. Stella and I will take care of Vur.”
“But,” Diamant said and scratched his rocky head.
“You heard her,” Zilphy said, lifting Diamant with her stick-thin arms. “We got permission to party!” She hopped over Tafel and landed on the ground with a cracking noise. Like the wind, she blew past the door with a whistling sound, taking Diamant with her. The door slammed with a bang, rattling the frame.
Sheryl sighed as Vur stirred. “Why do you become so immature when dealing with Zilphy?” she asked Stella.
“I’m practically a baby,” Stella said, fully crawling out of Vur’s chest. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m allowed to be immature. Being grown up is no fun: too much stress and too little play.”
Before Sheryl could respond, the door flew open, flying off its hinges, and landed on the ground. “Found her!” a high-pitched voice said.
“Eh? You found her? We found her!” another high-pitched voice said, coming from further away.
“We found her!”
“Mom’s been found!”
“Hey, hey! Listen! We found her!”
“We….”
The voices echoed throughout the whole building and beyond until they were coming from outside the windows in the room as well. The windows shattered as dozens of fairies pushed and shoved their way inside. Sheryl emerged from Vur’s body with wide eyes. She summoned a dome of flames to cover Vur and Tafel, causing the fairies to scream and shout.
“W-what’s going on?” Sheryl asked, peering outside the flames. “Why are there so
many fairies?”
“Mom! It’s us,” a voice said from right next to the crackling dome. “Rella and Bella. You’re in there, right? Someone turn the fire off!”
“Do you—” Sheryl’s words stopped mid-question when she saw tears rolling down Stella’s face. She pursed her rocky lips. “Should I stop the flames?”
Stella wiped away her tears with the backs of her hands. “Yes,” she said and nodded, straightening her back. She fixed her hair and rubbed her eyes one more time as the dome dispersed. She smiled at the fairies hovering in the air. “Children.”
“Mom came back!” Rella said. She was the first to flying tackle Stella, but not the last. Hundreds of fairies piled on top of them, causing Vur and Tafel to disappear underneath the writhing winged mass. As this was happening, E stepped inside the room. He took one glance at the pile of fairies before turning around and leaving.
“You’re smothering me,” Stella said as she crawled out of the bodies and stuck her head out of the top. Rella’s and Bella’s heads appeared next to hers, and the pile of fairies untangled itself. “What are all of you doing here?”
“The skeletons brought us to play a game of war,” Rella said. “It was super fun! And they’re hosting a celebration outside right now. C’mon, let’s go play!”
Stella didn’t have a chance to respond as Rella and Bella grabbed her arms and flew out the window. The fairies disappeared just as quickly as they came, leaving behind messy blankets, broken glass, and the fallen door. Sheryl looked around and sighed. “I guess I’ll watch over them by myself.”
Sheryl hopped off of Vur and landed on the ground. She picked up the fragments of the windows and stacked them into a neat pile. Her rocky body expanded as she took in a deep breath and exhaled a breath of blood-red flames onto the pile, melting it into an orange puddle. Luckily, the floor didn’t catch fire in the process. A moment later, the puddle cooled and solidified. Sheryl nodded as she lifted the glass slab and propped it up against the wall. “Now what do I do about the door…?”
“Excuse me,” a voice said. Sheryl blinked and faced the doorway. A small pebble with white dots for eyes was standing on two hair-like legs. “Is Diamant, the ex-guild master, here?”
“No,” Sheryl said. “He went to the party.”
The pebble sighed as it tilted forward, its gaze lowering to the ground. “I see.”
Sheryl stared as the pebble turned around and trudged away. Before it took three steps, Sheryl called out, “Would you like to leave a message for him?”
“Can I?” the pebble asked, its eyes lighting up.
Sheryl nodded.
The pebble coughed a few times and patted its chest. “This message is from Mistle. She said she wishes Diamant a life of happiness with his wife, and that she’s disappointed, but she’ll get over him in time. Out of heartbreak, she gathered all the water elementals and left the continent. She was also afraid of being contracted to a single person after hearing about what happened to him, Zilphy, and Az. And a shadow ate one of her contractors and destroyed the contract, which played a part in her decision to leave as well. In short, she hopes that they’ll meet again one day in the future, preferably after Zilphy leaves him because she knows she will. Wind elementals are flaky.” The pebble nodded. “That was it.”
“I received the message,” Sheryl said. The pebble nodded again before running away. Sheryl sighed as she lifted the wooden door and placed it against the wall. “Why’s Deedee so popular?” She shook her head before climbing back onto the bed and onto Vur’s chest. “Well, he won’t have to deal with Mistle for a long time, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”
***
Mistle hovered in the air, peering down from within the clouds. “This seems like a good place to settle, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” a water elemental beside her said. “But the residents sure love the color pink, huh?”
“Mm. Must be a cultural thing.” Mistle merged into the cloud and fell to the ground as rain.
***
“Oh, so you’re also from the same land as Vur and Tafel,” Minerva said, leaning against Grimmy’s massive body. A keg filled with foamy liquid was floating in front of her face. She craned her neck forward and swallowed a few beakfuls before leaning back and sighing. “I can’t remember the last time I had something appropriate to drink. Elves don’t have a brewery, you know? And I made a deal with Kondra to stay in the forest.” She leaned forward again but pulled her head back while furrowing her brow. “Tsk, empty already? Emile! Get me another.”
Emile frowned. “Mom….”
“Are you going or not?” Minerva asked, glowering at her son. She snorted before arching her neck towards the sky and shouted, “Who wants the favor of a phoenix? The one who brings me the best barrel of ale will receive a feather!”
Emile’s expression darkened as Grimmy burst out into laughter. “You’re an interesting phoenix,” Grimmy said as he folded his front paws underneath his head. “Very interesting.” He turned his gaze away from Minerva and scanned the party grounds. The four holy dragon siblings were sitting next to each other in a row, their expressions blank. In front of them, hundreds of people dressed in white robes with painted scale patterns were bowing at them while a person at the front was performing a ritual. An almost imperceptible sigh escaped from Leila’s mouth, and her eyes happened to meet Grimmy’s. She gave him a wry smile before turning her attention back towards the worshippers.
“M-m-m-miss matriarch phoenix ma’am!”
Grimmy looked down. A woman dressed in black was hunched over, six barrels stacked atop her back like a pyramid. After some struggle, she managed to place them onto the ground without incident and raised her head, then lowered it again after making eye contact with Minerva. “I, Shadow Nelly, the greatest scout in the world, present to you these barrels of ale! I stole them from the nobles’ area; they’re the best drinks available here.”
“You’ve done well,” Minerva said and reached forward, her wing hanging above the scout’s head. Nelly swallowed and looked up. “Receive my blessing!” With a whoosh, Minerva slammed her wing down onto Nelly’s face, causing an explosion of sparks and feathers to fly out. Minerva hiccoughed and pulled her wing back, the six barrels flying into the air in front of her. Faint red marks were left on Nelly’s face along with two feathers by her side.
Nelly blinked four times and spat a piece of downy fluff out of her mouth. “T-thank you!” Her forehead touched the ground as she dropped to her knees. She pocketed the feathers around her and laughed as she ran away. “I, Shadow Nelly, am the greatest scout to ever exist!”
“That woman’s luck is pretty good,” Lindyss said, appearing on Grimmy’s forehead.
Grimmy rolled his eyes upwards. “When did you get here?” he asked. He plucked her off and placed her in the crook of his elbow.
“I took care of some administrative stuff,” Lindyss said before shaking her head. “Parties don’t run themselves. I managed to sort out the cake and coronation situations a few minutes ago, and the initial chaos caused by Kondra and the phoenix’s fight has finally been settled.”
“I have a name, you know?” Minerva asked and smacked Lindyss’ head with her wing. “It’s Minerva. Mi-ner-va.” She giggled before dunking her beak into a barrel, gulping with gusto.
“She’s a drunkard?” Lindyss asked with a scowl.
Grimmy chuckled. “Interesting, right?”
“Excuse me, drunkard has a negative connotation,” Minerva said, lifting her face out of the barrel. “I prefer to be called a connoisseur of fine wine, crude beer, and anything alcoholic.”
“A drunkard’s a drunkard no matter how you spin it,” Lindyss said, rolling her eyes. She ignored the phoenix and surveyed her surroundings. Elves, dwarves, humans, and fishmen were talking amongst each other. Skeletons were parading drinks around on metal trays while singing. Fairies were playing harmless—someone screamed as the lower half of his body turned into a horse’s—pranks on the par
tygoers. The aristocracy was forced to interact with the peasants with the persuasion of the skeletons. These scenes were repeated outside of the city, revelry filling the surroundings. Even the land where Kondra and Minerva had battled was filled with people. The only ones who weren’t drinking, dancing, eating, or chatting were the followers of the holy dragons’ church. They were performing their own ceremony with the holy dragons sitting bored out of their minds. “Vur did pretty well in uniting the continent, huh? He’s all grown up now.”
“Eh, he could’ve done better. I would’ve fully removed the church, burned down a few towns, and made sure people respected and feared me,” Grimmy said and shrugged. “How’s he doing?”
“He should be waking up soon,” Lindyss said. “It’s not like I made him contest against those souls. I already tenderized the meal for him; he just has to digest it.”
“Like feeding your babies! Eat the food and regurgitate it into their waiting mouths,” Minerva said, raising a barrel of ale into the air with her leg. “C’mere, Emile!”
“I didn’t think about it that way, but yes,” Lindyss said. “That’s essentially what I did.” She raised an eyebrow as Emile squawked and struggled, his face avoiding his mother’s open beak.
“Let me feed you!” Minerva screeched.
“I’m not hungry!” Emile flapped his wings uselessly as he was held down by his mother’s talon. “Big sis, save me!”
Before Minerva could reenact a mother-child feeding scene, Emile disappeared with a flash of silver light. He reappeared a few feet away on top of Tafel’s shoulder. “What did I just save you from?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow. Vur yawned and rubbed his eyes as he stumbled behind Tafel.
“Tafel!” Minerva said. “Perfect timing. Come here for a second. Even though you’re my child, I’ve never fed you before. Let’s fix that.”
