by Virlyce
“Next.”
Lindyss sighed. “Are you really going to take all of them?” she asked in a defeated voice but summoned another skeleton anyway. “Can you even control them all?”
“What?” Grimmy asked as he hooked his claws into the next skeleton dragon’s eye sockets. He grunted as he pulled it out of the shadow and lifted it into the air, sending his mana into it. “You think you’re the only one who keeps some sacrifices lying around? I can power ten of these easily.”
“If there’s ten of those skeletons, then are we even needed?” Bonnie asked. She swallowed when Grimmy’s gaze landed on her, and her shoulders hunched forward, her neck shrinking back. “S-sorry I asked.”
“Seriously, what did you do to them?” Lindyss asked, her brow furrowed.
“Nothing,” Grimmy said and raised an eyebrow. “What are you accusing me of? I’d never do anything to my precious family, isn’t that right, kids?” He grinned at Bonnie and Youngest, and the two dragons shook like leaves on a branch during a windy day.
“T-that’s right, Uncle Grimmy,” Bonnie said. She glared at Lindyss. “Don’t accuse him of doing things he wouldn’t do! Uncle Grimmy’s been nothing but nice to us.” Her fierce expression disappeared, and she gave Grimmy a look that a guilty puppy would give its mother. When he nodded at her, a breath of relief escaped from her lips, and she nearly collapsed to her knees.
Lindyss frowned at Grimmy but didn’t say anything. She summoned a third dragon skeleton that Grimmy grabbed and powered as well. “How many do you want?”
“Four should be enough,” Grimmy said with a grunt. He placed aside the skeleton with glowing eye sockets and cracked his neck. “One for each limb.”
“You’re trying awfully hard,” Lindyss said. Her voice lowered to a whisper to prevent Sera from overhearing, “I thought you were just going to leave this to them to deal with. Why are you so motivated now?”
Grimmy shrugged and pulled the fourth skeleton out of the shadows. “It looks a lot more dangerous than I thought it would be. I’d rather not have anyone seriously get hurt. I’m such a kind-hearted soul, you see?”
Lindyss rolled her eyes, her shadow shrinking and returning back to its normal size. Erin poked her head out of Lindyss’ hair and blinked at the ground. “What can you store in there? How does it work? How much space does it hold?”
“You’re too nosy,” Lindyss said and patted Erin’s head with her palm, forcing the fairy queen back into her hair and out of view.
“They’re back,” Sera said, raising her head. In the distance, three dragons were flying through the clouds, heading towards the mountain peak. “Once they’re here, we’ll strike that thing fast and hard before it gets a chance to recover anymore.”
“You’re really not going to answer me?” Erin asked, crawling out from a different side of Lindyss’ hair. “Let me know more about you, you stupid turnip. Aren’t people supposed to like answering questions about themselves?”
“Don’t call people turnips if you want to know more about them,” Lindyss said and plucked the fairy out of her hair. “Why do you even want to know about my shadow anyway?”
“Because I want one too,” Erin said, struggling to free herself from Lindyss’ hand. “It looks so handy and convenient. Think of all the food I could store inside.”
“It’ll go rotten,” Lindyss said. “Only the dead can be stored inside. If any living thing goes inside…, let’s just say they won’t be alive for much longer. Even sticking metal inside will cause it to rust faster.”
“So when you ate the Fangs of Capitis with your shadow…,” Erin said, narrowing her eyes at Lindyss.
“Do you care about them that much?” Lindyss asked and raised an eyebrow. She sighed and shook her head. “They’re doing just fine and dandy, alright? They ran away to live peaceful lives on a farm.”
Erin’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Of course,” Lindyss said and smiled. “Would I lie to you?” She stuffed the fairy back into her hair before she could respond and waved at the approaching dragons. “Now that we’re all here, let’s get this over with already.”
***
“How do you feel?” Zyocuh asked and frowned. He stood over a pit that contained a sky-blue dragon bathing inside a tub of boiling red liquid. The dragon’s scales shone with a purple hue as bubbles burst and splattered red liquid against its torso. “If it feels like you’re going to die, let me know.”
“I feel great,” Alora said and whimpered. She rolled her shoulders and stretched her body out, arching her back as her head and tail rose up into the air. Her wings fully extended, and she let out a groan filled with pure bliss. The red bath surged against her sides, coating her scales an even darker shade of violet. “I feel really great.”
Zyocuh furrowed his brow and took a step back, careful to avoid the symbols surrounding the pit. He knelt to the ground and placed his palms into a circular pattern that he had painted earlier with a brush. “I’ll increase the strength of the spell again. Tell me if something feels wrong.”
“You do you,” Alora said and finished stretching. She straightened her neck and exhaled before rolling around in the pit, blowing bubbles out of her nostrils as she submerged her head. She lay on her back and floated to the top, pawing at the liquid, splashing it over her stomach. “Oh, it’s getting warmer. Great.”
“Warmer is good,” Zyocuh said and grunted. Beads of sweat formed on his head, his scalp glistening in the sunlight. “There’s no pain? It doesn’t hurt?”
“Nope,” Alora said. “No pain at all. It’s a little tingly, but definitely not painful.”
“How can that be? The blood of humans shouldn’t merge so well with you since you’re a dragon.” Zyocuh swallowed as mana surged down his arms and into the symbols. “Is it possible that after experiencing Grimmoldesser’s punishment, your sense of pain is off-kilter? Anything would seem painless after that.”
Alora shuddered and rolled over onto her feet. She glared at Zyocuh and spurt smoke out of her nostrils. “Don’t remind me about that,” she said in a voice so low it was almost a growl. “If I said there’s no pain, then there’s no pain. Make my bath—err, ritual…. Make my ritual warmer!”
Zyocuh pursed his lips but did as the dragon asked.
***
“You witch! Monster! Evil woman! Stop, stop I say! I’ll tear your nose hairs out, you demon!”
Tafel turned her head around. She was sitting on Vur’s head, his body polymorphed into a dragon. Behind her, Alice and Mr. Skelly were huddling around a jar, a pouch of water in Alice’s hands. Wind blew past, pushing Tafel’s hair into her face, but before she could fix it, Mary moved the stray locks out of the way and tucked them behind the demon’s horns. The empress gave Tafel a small smile before turning her attention onto Alice and Mr. Skelly as well.
“I’ll—glub! Glub, glub, blargh! Stop it! You wicked, corpse-loving weirdo with a chest flatter than a door! I’m going to—glub!”
“Alright, seriously, what are you doing?” Tafel asked. She frowned at the water pouring out of the flask and into the jar of jam that was starting to take on a greenish color.
“I’m watering the genie,” Alice said, meeting Tafel’s gaze with a straight face. “They’re plants, right? If I don’t want him to die, I have to water him.”
“Plants can drown, you brainless oaf! I hope you slip and fall and drown while taking a bath, but that’s not possible because you don’t take any. If you did, you wouldn’t be so stinky!”
Alice tilted the pouch further, increasing the speed at which the water fell into the jar.
Tafel frowned. “I’m pretty sure there are some laws somewhere that say attempting to drown a genie is a crime.”
“That’s right!” the genie in the jar said while treading water. “That somewhere is your conscience, which this demonic hag doesn’t have!” A pillar of water fell on top of his head, forcing him down into the murky mixture of jam and some other unknown liquids.
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“Like I said, I’m feeding him.” Alice nodded and pinched the top of her water pouch shut before handing it to Mr. Skelly. “You know how people get grumpy when they’re hungry? I figure it’s the same for genies, so I thought he’d become politer if he ate.”
“Right,” Tafel said in a flat voice. “Okay. You said you were going to use up his wish for me, but, uh, I really rather prefer it if you didn’t. I think he might be holding a bit of a grudge now.”
“Are you sure?” Alice asked before shrugging. “Well, you do have those sheepmen searching for genies. You can wish for one of those to help you become a demon lord; I’ll just keep this one around then.”
The genie breached the surface and gasped for breath. “Die a painful death filled with thorns and crayons! Don’t you know it’s bad luck to bring harm to a genie!?”
Alice placed the jar back into her bag and closed the leather flap, drowning out the genie’s curses. She pointed towards the horizon. “I think I see them.”
Tafel glanced at the bag before following Alice’s finger. On top of a mountain, a cluster of dragons were milling about. They rose into the air, then stopped and landed back on the mountaintop. Then, they flew into the air again. But once again, they stopped and landed.
“What are they doing?” Alice asked.
“Is it a mating dance?” Mr. Skelly asked. “You know how birds do that, right? What if those dragons are doing the same?”
Alice poked Tafel’s side, causing the demon to flinch. “You’re the expert on dragons.”
Tafel scowled and pushed away Alice’s hand. “What? Since when?” She squinted at the dragons in the distance and raised her arm to shield her eyes from the sun. “It looks like they’re flying up and throwing boulders off the mountain. There’s no way they’re acting like birds.” Tafel lowered her arm and frowned. “Speaking of which, where’s Emile and Susan?”
***
“We’ve been forgotten about again,” Emile said. He and Susan were perched on a branch, staring down at a dragon bathing in a pit filled with red liquid. “But forgetting about that for a moment, what do you think she’s doing?”
Susan covered Emile’s face with her wing. “She’s taking a bath. Stop peeking.”
Emile batted away Susan’s wing and frowned. “It’s not like there’s anything to see,” he said and snorted. He gestured towards the bald man crouching next to the lip of the pit. “Look at him. He’s staring so intently, but the dragon doesn’t care.”
“It looks like he’s casting some sort of spell,” Susan said. “And looking at how it’s laid out, it doesn’t seem to be the good kind of spell either.”
“Hah?” Emile raised an eyebrow. “You can tell whether a spell is good or not just by looking at it? Since when? We’re siblings, and I’m the older one—therefore, the smarter one—but even I can’t differentiate spells based on how they’re drawn on the ground.”
“You’re not the older one, dummy.” Susan pointed at the symbols surrounding the pit with the tip of her wing. “And look. It’s drawn out in the shape of a dragon’s skull. How can it be good? If it was good, then maybe the symbols would be heart-shaped or flowerlike.”
“My egg came out of Mom first. It doesn’t matter if you hatched first, I’m the oldest. And, so what?” Emile asked. “You think that man is plotting against the dragon? Dragons might be very dumb, but humans are even dumber, okay? There’s no way a human can fool a dragon.”
“You should stop calling everything that isn’t a phoenix dumb,” Susan said. “Look at Vur. He’s not a phoenix, but he’s really smart.”
Emile rubbed his beak with his wing. “Are you taking Mom’s mission for you seriously? Don’t tell me you’re really falling for Vur.”
Susan smacked her brother’s head. “I’m not! Vur just happens to make very good points all the time,” she said and nodded. “What if that man over there is like Vur? That dragon could be in serious danger.”
Emile fixed the feathers on his face that were ruffled by Susan’s attack. “You might be right,” he said, drawing out his words. “Should we save her? I’d rather have a rivalry with dragons since we already know all their weaknesses from our previous experiences. If we fought with humans, we might actually lose due to our lack of knowledge.”
“Stop spewing things out in such a roundabout way and say you want to save the dragon if you want to save her,” Susan said. “There’s no need to make excuses.” She flapped her wings twice, lifting herself off the branch and into the air.
“I wasn’t making excuses,” Emile said and followed after his sister. “I was just trying to convince you to help her.”
Susan rolled her eyes at Emile before turning her head towards the bald man on the ground. She took in a deep breath, puffing her chest up. Then she exhaled out a stream of blood-red flames that crackled and whistled towards the man. The man raised his head just in time to see a red light wash over him, and he let out a short scream before he disappeared underneath the curtain of fire.
Emile gasped. “You killed him! You killed a man!”
“What? No,” Susan said, furrowing her brow. “I set him on fire. He’s not dead. Once he turns to ash, he’ll be reborn as a baby.”
“See!? I am the smarter one! Only phoenixes come back to life from their ashes, you nitwit, not-older-or-smarter-than-me sister!” Emile jabbed towards the direction of the burning man with his talons. “You’re a murderer now!”
Susan clacked her beak twice and frowned. “Why didn’t you stop me if you knew?”
“How was I supposed to know you were going to do that?” Emile asked in reply, nearly shouting. “I’m supposed to be the reckless one! You’re supposed to prevent me from doing stupid things like that!”
“But…, I just wanted to….” Susan hung her head, her wings flapping up and down to suspend herself in the air. “I wasn’t thinking, alright?” She swallowed hard and stared at the smoldering body on the ground. Flames were still thriving on its back, dancing in the breeze. “Do you think he’s still alive?”
“Is the sky green? Of course he’s not alive!”
Susan pointed. “But he’s still moving.”
“Of course he’s not mov—ing?” Emile tilted his head. “Why is he moving?”
The two phoenixes didn’t do anything as the charred man picked himself off the ground and ran towards the pit. He leapt inside and landed beside the dragon. There was a hissing sound as the flames engulfing his body was extinguished by the red liquid.
“I think he’s alive,” Susan said and nodded at Emile. “See? I didn’t kill him. I’m not a murderer.”
Emile blinked, keeping his gaze on the man. “But he’s melting.”
“Humans don’t melt,” Susan said and turned her head back towards the ground. “He’s just … dissolving into a liquid. Is that supposed to happen?”
“Are you dumb? Did you eat something wrong for breakfast today?”
“Hey. Vur’s done it,” Susan said and pouted. “He’s dissolved into purple liquid before.”
Emile opened his beak. Then he shut it. He opened it and made a small sound. Then he shut it again. “Okay,” he said after a while. “That’s true. But Vur never screamed as if he were dying when he did that.”
Susan watched with a pale face as the charred man dissolved into clumps that dispersed throughout the bath, his screams sputtering down to nothing. “Um. At least we saved the dragon, right?”
“We still don’t even know for sure if the dragon was in any actual danger,” Emile said. He sighed. “Next time you want to set someone on fire, tell me first, okay? Since no one saw that except for the two of us, we can pretend it never happened, but if you had done it in front of anyone else, you’d definitely be labeled as a murderous wicked creature and hundreds of adventurers will try to kill you.”
“What about the dragon? Didn’t she see?”
“No,” Emile said. “Her eyes have been closed the entire time. Look, she doesn’t even notice t
hat her bath water is black now.”
Susan swallowed. “Should we flee before she opens her eyes?”
Emile sighed again. “You really did eat something that messed with your brain. Of course we’re fleeing!”
30
Alora’s eyes squeezed shut as she yawned, her tongue poking into the air. She exhaled and closed her mouth, smacking her lips a few times. She blinked and looked around before tilting her head. Where was she? Her surroundings were an open plain with nothing in sight, not even a single tree. The sky was blue and the day was bright, but there was no sun in view either. She spun around in a circle and frowned before sitting down on her butt. “Hello?” she asked. “Anyone out there?”
There was no response except for an eerie silence. The grass underneath her crinkled as she fidgeted. She wet her lips with her tongue and looked around again. Her wings spread open, and she leapt into the air, soaring up towards the cloudless sky. The sea of green below her was vast, unending. She flew hundreds of meters forward, but the scenery didn’t change a single bit. Just when she was about to have a panic attack, a lone figure walking on the ground caught her eye, and she dove towards him like a meteor.
Alora crashed into the ground, depressing the grass and soil in front of the bald man, knocking him off his feet. “Hey!” She tilted her head. “Aren’t you the bath warmer? What’s going on? This is really weird.”
Zyocuh swallowed, his face pale. “There seems to have been a small mistake,” he said. “We’re currently inside your soul.”
Alora blinked. Her neutral expression contorted, and she glared at Zyocuh while baring her teeth. “That’s a lie,” she said. “I must be dreaming. I fell asleep in that bath because it was so comfortable and I was so stressed from losing to Vur all the time. That must be it.”
