by Ian Rodgers
“Indeed it does my dear guest.” Heads whipped around with record speed as a new voice entered their ears.
The humanoid woman who was approaching the group possessed an unearthly presence. Standing ten feet tall, she had an hourglass figure, but her skin was a deep, navy blue. She wore a flickering dress made of sea green bubbles and rainbow pearls, while coral and shell jewelry of assorted colors decorated her wrists and ankles.
What was most eye-catching though was her hair, if it could be called that. Atop her head was a flowing, shifting mass of water, slightly opaque and filled with dozens of small minnow-like fish that swam lazily around within. This ‘hair’ was wild, shifting and twisting in invisible currents into countless different styles every few seconds, and took up almost as much space as she did, effectively doubling her size whenever her ‘hair’ shifted upwards into a beehive, quiff, or mohawk style.
“My name is Dramhyda, and you three are currently trespassing on my property without paying for the privilege,” the mysterious woman announced. She snapped her fingers and from the sand erupted a dozen horse-sized yellow and red lobsters, all menacingly circling Dora and her party.
“Please, explain to me how you managed to sneak in here,” she ordered, her kindly tone filling with venom. “Otherwise, I might have to have security here throw you out…”
“Oh, please, thank you, send us back home!” Enrai pleaded.
“…and into a dimension where the only concept that exists is ‘Pain,’” Dramhyda finished.
“On second thought, why don’t you tell the nice lady how we got here, Dora,” the Monk said, metaphorically throwing the Healer under the cart.
“You will pay for this!” she hissed at him before clearing her throat. “Err, well, it’s a long story, but it all began almost a year ago when my family was attacked by these strange creatures…”
∞.∞.∞
Screams of agony reverberated through the ancient halls of the palace. Lying in front of a hallway that led to a dead end, a man in a black cloak writhed and howled, his hands covering his face. On the ground in front of him lay a shattered silver mask, broken into five pieces. And further from him, was the desecrated corpse of an orc, its blood staining the marble walls and floor.
All around him demons watched as he suffered. Some were curious as to what could cause such exquisite pain, others were amused by how the once powerful and arrogant man was reduced to a mewling wreck.
Not a single demon thought to attack the individual, though. To attack a disciple of the Void, no matter how weakened, would only bring disaster.
Something stirred in the air, and the demons stiffened before assuming submissive stances. A ripple of energy slipped out and tore apart the magic within the Lost City of Targua. From the disturbance, a figure emerged, sliding into reality without so much as a flash of light or a swirling vortex to announce his arrival.
Floating a foot above the floor, an empty hooded cloak hovered. The garment was beautiful, all the colors of the rainbow shifting and churning upon it. For all its beauty, though, the cloak exuded an aura of domination and madness, and even though it appeared empty, something stirred within the folds of the otherworldly cloth.
“What a mess,” the creature declared, the hood staring down at the twisting shape in front of him. It spared a curious glance towards the remains of the orc, but had its attention drawn back to the still living individual.
“Y-you… help…” the man choked out in between bouts of screeching.
“Oh, might as well,” it chuckled, and the pieces of the silver mask rose up from the ground. Carefully, the shards were pressed together, and a pulse of dark energy crawled along the surface. The cracks were sealed, and the mask was restored back to normal. Prominently displayed was a large spiral engraved onto the surface.
The screaming stopped abruptly once it was fixed, and the man tore his hands from his face, revealing what was beneath. It was as if someone had taken a human face, but distorted it, blurring the features till nothing of its original shape or appearance remained, leaving a grotesque parody of a head behind.
Eagerly, the black robed man grabbed the mask and placed it against his face, letting out a sigh of relief as it bonded with him, fusing onto his being.
“Yes… oh, yes!” he gushed out in relief. “Ah, it’s good to be whole once more!”
With sincere gratitude, the Void worshipper bowed towards the floating cloak. “My thanks, Demon Lord Vivid.”
“Mmm, indeed. You are welcome, Spiral of the Void. As payment for my services, please explain to me why your base no longer has the barrier around it,” the cloak demanded.
“A Chosen One came in and stole the Depiction of Utopia,” Spiral snarled. “Without it, the barrier that kept this place protected from the Abyss’ influence was removed. Hence why you can sense it.”
“How did a Chosen One get inside? The barrier was perfect! Not even I could force my way through. Well, not without a great deal of effort,” Demon Lord Vivid exclaimed in shock.
“The bitch and her companions used a portal of some sort to appear on the edges of Targua. And then they just… walked through! Even managed to evade all the demons you had stationed around the city. After that, she stole the painting and the remaining hostages.”
“Where are they now?” Vivid inquired, and the Apostle of the World Rebellion shrugged.
“No clue. They jumped through a portal. Could be anywhere,” Spiral replied bitterly, clenching his fists. “When I get my hands on her…”
The Demon Lord Vivid drifted over to the end of the corridor and leaned in towards the spot where it was able to sense several fading waves of dimensional energy. With the wave of an invisible and intangible limb, it attempted to unravel the origin of the portal that had previously existed here. However, after a few moments it gave up.
“Well, isn’t that interesting,” Vivid mused, peering at nothing in particular.
“What? What is it?” Spiral demanded.
“It seems like the portal was overridden by someone else. The original destination was changed to a different one. You’re correct in assuming the Chosen One and her group could be literally anywhere in the Aether.”
“Damn it,” he swore furiously. “I wanted to kill her myself! But if she’s truly in the Aether…”
“Yes, you and your cult aren’t exactly welcome there right now. Not after Root and Sword rampaged through a couple of dimensions and planes. It got so bad the Hierophant had to step in.”
At the mention of his master, Spiral trembled in fear. “Oh, by the Void, he’s never going to let me hear the end of this! Losing the hostages? So what, they were merely unimportant mortals. But the Depiction of Utopia! Void preserve me!”
“It’ll turn up eventually. A divine artifact that powerful is going to attract every art thief, rarities collector, and master of magic in the cosmos! When we find who has it, we can take it back,” Demon Lord Vivid assured him.
Spiral glared suspiciously at the floating rainbow-stained cloak. “You’re being awfully helpful.”
“We’re on the same side, little Voidling. We both seek an end to this mad, chaotic, and imperfect existence we’re forced to experience. Only the Void can grant us our wishes,” Demon Lord Vivid stated, brushing off the World Rebellion Apostle’s suspicions.
“That is true, but don’t think we won’t be watching. Try not to interfere with our business, especially with that Chosen One bitch! She’s mine!” Spiral growled.
The vile demonic apparition snorted but bobbed up and down in a facsimile of a nod.
“As you like. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting I must get to.”
With that, the demon lord rapidly faded out of existence, disappearing into thin air without another word, or a flash of magic. Spiral stared long and hard at the spot where the World Rebellion’s ally had been, eventually snorting.
“Demons,” he scoffed, before shooting a glare at the Abyssal denizens still loitering ar
ound. “What are you lot waiting for?! Get back to whatever it is you do!”
The demons scattered, leaving Spiral to stew in his anger alone. And stew he did, as he envisioned all the horrible things he would do to the green skinned tart who’d broken his mask with her accursed Light magic.
Chapter 2: The greatest vacation
“…and that’s how we got here,” Dora concluded, heaving a big sigh and taking deep breaths as she finished retelling the events that led her and her friends to this place.
At some point Dora couldn’t remember, Lady Dramhyda had conjured up chairs from the surrounding sand. The sand chair was soft and comfy, better than many wooden ones she’d sat in over her life.
Ain and Enrai had occasionally butted in to give explanations of certain things, like how they’d fought against Bane and a Hundred Grudge Insect while the half-orc had hunted down the rogue necromancer.
As for her audience, Lady Dramhyda had listened to the whole tale without so much as a flicker of emotion. The vampire child, however, had been awestruck, listening as the tale unfolded with mouth agape and eyes filled with wonder.
“…By the sacred undergarments of Cynthia, Selika, and Nia, you three must be the unluckiest lucky people I’ve ever met. Surviving a city filled with Creeping Rot, and purging it? Encountering that uppity bastard Bane and living to tell the tale? Meeting the gods-be-damned Lich of Calamity himself?! And then you go and top it off with raiding a demon-infested city and giving the World Rebellion a massive black eye!”
The blood sucker couldn’t help herself and began laughing uproariously. “Amazing! You three are simply too amazing! You remind me of a purple and squishy guy I used to go to school with!”
Dora glanced sideways at the cackling vampire, unnerved by the fit of laughter she was engaged in. But the Healer also couldn’t help but be curious about the ‘purple and squishy’ individual the vampire had mentioned. For some reason, that description made her mind drift back to the strange dream she’d had a while back that had involved a weird purple balloon trying to give her counseling and advice.
“Do you still have the token the merfolk gave you?” Dramhyda asked out of the blue, and Dora blinked in surprise at the question, but nodded.
“Yes, I’ve kept it close to me since I got it,” she replied, before removing her necklace. There, nestled alongside the silver charms that represented the Divine Family, was a new addition: an ivory white piece of coral, shaped into a facsimile of a fish. A faint blue luster could be seen on the token, and in the light of the azure moons the item glowed.
Dora carefully removed the merfolk’s gift and passed it over to Dramhyda’s outstretched hand. As she did so, the Healer noticed that quite a few of the charms worn around the blue giantess’ wrists and ankles were made of the same azure and ivory coral.
Taking it, Dramhyda closely examined the token before nodding. “I know now how you came to this place,” she announced.
“Really?” Dora inquired.
“Yes, this is one of many artifacts I have crafted that allows passage to my resort, and acts as a voucher for staying here. I hand these out as tokens of appreciation to those who do various tasks for me. This particular one was given to the Dry Tears Clan of merfolk many centuries ago when one of them helped me deal with some troublesome customers,” Dramhyda informed. “I can tell that this was given freely to you as a gift, so there’s no need for me to destroy you or banish you to a realm of pain.”
“We didn’t really mean to come here,” Ain stated. “Why did it override the portal we were using and take us to a different location than the one we wanted?”
“Someone wanted you to come here, and used their powers to alter the spell,” Dramhyda announced. At the shocked looks on the trio’s face, she chuckled. “I can feel a trace of Divine magic on the item, but only enough to cause the token’s latent magic to latch onto the nearest dimensional anomaly and alter its destination.”
“Oh… then, can we… leave?” Dora asked.
The blue lady shook her head, causing all of them to duck as her hair, now in the form of a pompadour, nearly took their heads clean off.
“No, I recognize the energy signature of the deity who sent you to me. I’ll contact them, and inquire as to what they want with you three. Until then, you should use the chance to unwind. You’ve had a very difficult time, and I think a few days of relaxation would do you all a world of good.”
“We can really stay here?” Dora asked, surprised at the generous offer.
“But of course! Didn’t I say earlier that these tokens act as vouchers as well? One token equals one week of free VIP treatment!” Dramhyda said happily. She then tapped her chin. “Although, that’s really only for one person per token… since you have two companions with you, I assume you’ll want to stick together?”
“Yes!” Dora cried, and the tall aquatic woman smiled kindly when she saw the resolute expressions on the Monk and Spell Sword.
“In that case, I’ll have to cut the amount of time you can spend here, but I’ll extend the offer to all of you. Thus, instead of a week of free vacation for one person, you’ll only get three days for three people.”
“That should be more than plenty,” Enrai said gratefully, bowing his head in thanks. Ain and Dora both quickly mimicked the gesture.
“Tilda, be sure to show our new guests to the front desk so they can check in. I’m sure fellow natives of the same planet will get along well,” Dramhyda instructed, and the young blonde vampire mock saluted.
“Sure thing, boss-lady,” she agreed, a lazy smile on her face. As the mysterious blue woman sauntered off to contact some deities, the child-like entity gestured for them to follow her.
“So, congrats on not facing Lady Dramhyda’s wrath. And, since you know my name, why not tell me yours? It’s only polite,” Tilda inquired.
“I’m Dora Halfmoon, and this is Ain and Enrai,” the Healer introduced, pointing to the individuals in question. The elf and human nodded politely at the vampire, though kept a wary eye on her.
“I’m surprised a Healer is so comfortable being around someone like myself,” Tilda mused as she led the group into the resort. Up close, the scene was akin to a carnival, with laughter and chatter ringing across the whole area while bright lights held back the darkness.
“I met a young girl who, despite being raised by a lich to become a powerful necromancer, was still just a child at heart. I shouldn’t judge others based on appearances or preconceptions. Not with a face like mine,” Dora explained, calling attention to her mint green skin. Tilda just nodded in understanding.
“Neat. But, keep in mind I only look like a brat. I’m over fifty years old,” the vampire informed her, much to Dora’s shock.
“Oh! I didn’t know! I thought… oh, the Undead don’t age, do they,” Dora said, recalling that information.
“Yeah, it’s not fun, being perpetually small. Could be worse though,” Tilda sighed. “Now, come on, let’s get you and your buddies all nice and cozy.”
“I’d like that,” Dora said, stifling a yawn.
The half-orc and her friends were escorted by the blonde vampire into the conch shell tower that they’d seen earlier standing tall and proud above the entire resort. In an impressive display of crafting skill, the interior of the colossal shell had been converted into a hotel, with a front desk, humanoid shrimp in bellhop uniforms, and a stand that contained a number of pamphlets and fliers that detailed what exactly one could do while on vacation at the Resort.
“Keep in mind a few things while you’re staying here. First off, no stealing and no fighting between guests or staff. Doesn’t matter what you feel about Undead, Devils, or anything else, all are welcome here, and are under Lady Dramhyda’s protection,” Tilda warned the trio as the mermaid behind the front desk entered their information into a primitive typewriter-like device made of shells and barnacle encrusted wood.
“Yes, I recall the giant crab that informed us about that,” Ain repli
ed dryly.
“Hmm, good that you have a decent memory, at least,” Tilda snarked with a roll of her eyes. “In that case, the next thing you’ll want to remember is that as VIP guests of the Resort, you have permission to go pretty much anywhere, and use any of the services and amenities offered. But if you find a locked door, do not try to open it again, or force your way in. Lady Dramhyda does not like that.”
“Easy enough,” Enrai boasted.
“Hmph. Finally, you need to know how time works in the resort. One day here is almost three back home on Erafore,” Tilda explained. “Night time lasts thirty hours, here, while day time lasts another thirty. Dawn and dusk are five hours long each, respectively. And, spending one hour here at the Resort is equivalent to one second passing on Erafore.”
“Wow! That’s *YAWN!* that’s amazing!” Dora exclaimed. “I don’t have to worry about friends and family growing old without me back home!”
“Hmmm, you sound pretty tired. We’ll chat more after you get some sleep,” Tilda decided.
“Your keys, sirs and madam,” the mermaid at the front desk announced, and the trio took the room keys that’d been made out of solid pearl. “You are in rooms 3337 to 3339 in the Conch Tower.”
“Err, is there a way to get to those rooms without walking up hundreds of flights of stairs?” Enrai asked, craning his neck back to stare upwards at the ceiling that seemed to stretch upwards into infinity.
“Of course, dear customers. We have teleporters for your personal convenience,” the mermaid stated, gesturing towards several dozen magical arrays that were lined up along one wall. As the group watched, guests came and went from them, teleporting away or appearing in flashes of blue light. “Simply state the number of your room, and you’ll be taken to your room, so long as you have your key on you.”
“Thank you for the help and advice, Miss Tilda,” Dora said, bowing her head politely towards the vampire. “Perhaps we’ll see each other again later.”
“Uh, sure, why not,” the blonde blood-sucker responded. “And I guess you can call me Tilda.”
