Fantasy Wherever the Wind Takes You

[Gary Sue]

He was going to let Laila know about the smell, but it appeared her nose had beaten him to it. The first thing he suspected was the same assailants they had from Sesseth, but they couldn't have possibly followed them there and decided to attack now of all times, right? Whatever the case, it was magic alright. The unusual darkening of the forest and skies despite it being just a bit past noon, the odd scent and even Rivera's and Parilla's reaction to whatever was going on...

Despite still being on horseback, Reeve quietly placed a hand on the hilt of his sword, preparing to unsheathe it and starting to look around. He didn't understand how any of this worked, but as long as he could find even a single thing out of place, maybe there'd be a clue. Magic was as strong as Reeve was uninformed, so just observing how it worked or what exactly it altered might give him a clue- that's the only thing he picked up on, last the two casters were talking among themselves during that one break they were taking.

"If you sensed anything, you'd say it... so what's going on?", the vanguard looked down at his sword, expecting an answer but instead being met with complete silence.

 

[ShredKnives]

"..."

"Hm."

The smell was getting stronger. Some parts were magic, yes, but...The smell was all natural.

"It's...Magical?"

...

"...Tck. My nose is getting runny."

The smell was getting stronger.

The smell was getting stronger.

The smell was getting stronger.

The smell was getting stronger.



A gasp echoed from Laila's friendly little ornament. "Laila, get me out! That's not magic! That's a bomb!"

"W-what? Parilla?!"

"I'll take that as a word of summons!"

Parilla shot out of Laila's back, hand reeling for the spear. With as smoothness as butter, she pierced the blade into the ground and spun and spun and kicked the horse out of the way right before something burst out of the dirt and took a dive right for the girl. The horse, naturally tough, mostly stumbled but was sliding from the sheer force of Parilla's shove. Laila would just manage to hold onto Reeve while Rivera was restabilizing himself. Reeve was probably strong enough to realize the amount of force Parilla just provided there.

A shroud of unrelenting darkness devoured Parilla whole before fragmenting like a volley blast, dispersing in fragments of pitch black goo coupled with an intense gas dispersion that smelled like a mix of urine, sweat, and chlorine. Either way, the whole area was enshrouded in black fog...Blood, perhaps?

"Ugh...!" Laila gasped, so shocked by the scent that she instinctively covered her nose. "What the hell...??"

 

[Gary Sue]

If he could still speak, his first reaction would be to scream at Parilla and ask her what in the hells she was doing- but he was too surprised by the fact they seemed to be sliding away, even though it was just a kick. Holding onto the poor horse so that Laila wouldn't fall over and get hurt either, Reeve frowned and looked at the scene as Parilla disappeared by what he could only assume was an actual magical trap this time.

And the trap quickly got destroyed in what was... well, rather disgusting. Once Rivera had stabilized, the man patted the horse's side and gestured for Laila to jump down, following right behind her as he drew his blade and continued to scout the area, paying extra attention to whatever hole was left behind from the thing that attacked Parilla. The scent reeked an awful lot, and worst yet there was now a fog around. He quickly reached for a satchel near his belt and pulled out a cloth, ripping it in half before giving one piece over to Laila.

Best put it in front of her mouth and nose to not breathe it in, in case it's poisonous gas of some sort. He did very much the same, holding the cloth with his left hand over his lower face as he held the sword before him with the other hand, taking slow steps towards where they had last seen Parilla. "It's definitely not 'my' attackers, but I'm not sure these are that much safer..."

 

[ShredKnives]

The goo inevitably dispersed upon coming into contact Parilla's figure, escaping and dripping off of her as she herself remained perfectly fine, spear still in hand. Her eyes, sharp as a hawk's, glanced left and right as the goo rapidly slithered along the ground to conjoin together.

"I knew it. They're Dragonbreath brews."

Laila finally came to her senses, asking rapidly as she jumped down alongside Reeve, "What? They're what? What are you talking about? What just attacked us?"

"Take that cloth first."

Laila looked to see Reeve offering the fabric. She grabbed it, hand pressing it against her face. Still, she didn't necessarily have a viable weapon. She can't one-hand a bow...And she lost her sword.

"What am I smelling?? Did something die here?"

"Thunder Salt and black oil. It's an alchemy concoction. And this goo is repulsive." Parilla brushed goo off her body, watching the substance rain down from her figure as they would combine and reform into another silhouette.

That of a four-legged creature.



Two arms.

Head very similar to a bear's, body of a spider's abdomen-

"It's growing. It doesn't like me, either. You'll have to finish the job." Parilla tossed the spear to Laila. Laila just barely managed to catch it, Parilla disappearing in a flash of light.

"You know how to use a spear, right? Use it."

"Whu-whua!?"

-and the tail of a great scorpion. Four legs, and an extra two at the front to reach out.

"Holy- Am I supposed to fight that?! Uh-hh, help?!" Laila barely managed to get the spear in front of her, though one-handed spear-fighting wasn't exactly something she knew how to do.

"Just stab."

The creature lunges from above, its tail whipping underneath the body to strike and its two frontal arms opening wide, the inner sides protruding sharp thorns and spindly needles...

Potentially toxic.

 

[Gary Sue]

With wide eyes as the creature began to form before their eyes, Reeve could feel his fight or flight instinct acting up. He turned his gaze to his left arm near the shoulder momentarily, giving Laila a quick glance and seeing how lost she was when it came to using her spear one handed. "Last time we saw an abomination like that, it was only because of Laila we got by... And now she's lost and too overwhelmed to react- I can't leave her on her own this time."

Seeing its thorns and needles... it was definitely poisonous. By the time he came to that conclusion, Reeve had already jumped into action and turned the edge of his blade to himself, thrusting his sword into his upper arm and getting a bit of blood pouring out. As soon as it had made its way into the center of the blade and the gem on his sword gave off a strong glow, he held his breath and stepped in front of Laila, gripping his weapon with both hands to slash vertically.

Assuming the creature didn't make any sudden movements, he should have hit enough of its tail to deter it from attacking and hopefully get it crashing to the side. The blood flying off of the blade's edge and solidifying into a sharp, crimson jet should help damage tail further and its arms and body some too, though he would be lucky to dodge the attack in its entirety.

 

[ShredKnives]

The slash provided a good nick into the beast, enough to veer it off-course. Though it attempted to embrace one of the two party members with its arms, it missed the mark and went crashing alongside them instead, body tumbling and spraying bits of goo and perhaps blood onto the ground.

"Son of a- Alright, Laila, you need some hands-on training."

"What do you mean?!"

Laila held tight to the spear, but Parilla flashed once more into appearance, standing beside Laila and helping slide Laila's hand down until it was on the back end.

The monster scrambles to its feet, mouth burning with incense and sweat, smelling something like a chlorine or bleach gone wrong. The tail end had been cleaved right off, though the nub was already rounding out until it seemed like the tail never belonged in the first place. Its snarl sounded something like grinding wood against stone, topped with a frying sound like its voice had been broken down.

The creature gets lacerated by the blade's crimson jet, though just barely; just enough for Parilla to engage Laila in some sort of dance. The creature leapt backward, though its interest was set on both of the two.

"Move."

A command suggested to Reeve. Laila didn't just move, Laila stepped forward with spear in hand, naturally serving as Reeve's shoulder guard and easily exceeding him in range.



The creature shook its head, arms bulging and splitting off into four parts each, the first two maintaining claws while the other two turned into thin tendrils that swayed with the wind like a living plant. Parilla moved right alongside Laila in what could only be called a tango, gracefully and extremely swiftly snatched the back end of the spear while Laila seemed to automatically follow the cues. Laila's hand moved right up along the spear, and the creature responded with a slow patrol around the three. Laila arced her back up while Parilla pivoted and went down low, hand ever so gently going down until it was clasping the back end.

Step. Step. Step.

Quiet. Grass crunched. Quiet. Grass crunched.

Parilla moved with exceedingly extraordinary precision, feet knowing exactly where to go at every turn. Parilla moved and nudged Laila into a similar movement, hands pressing together in a complicated dance.

The monster then unhinged its mouth, opening and revealing a large red vortex with misshapen teeth from all sorts of creatures circulating on the edges. Its center looked like it was processing what appeared to be the remnants of the explosion, shrapnel and glass still being slowly processed through the hole.

"Gods."

"What the hell is this thing??" Laila asked, pushing the cloth further against her mouth, until even her fingers would whiten. The smell of ammonia was powerfully emanating from that "mouth."

Parilla shot a heavy glance towards Reeve, nodding her head from his sword to the creature with great urgency. She held a finger up for just a brief moment and turned her gaze between Laila and herself, then back to the monster.

The monster hinged its jaw closed, bulging and bulging before caving its mouth outward and turning its jaw into that of an elongated blade using the leftover glass. The tendrils wrapped along the glass shards, keeping it all tightly knit together. Serrated, asymmetrical, and just long enough to pose a danger to them both.

It lunged forward. Parilla pushed Laila forward, the maiden's eyes widening in shock.

AH! TRUST HER, JUST TRUST HER!!

Laila kept her eyes tightly narrowed and pushed forward in a dynamic stance not too different from a samurai, one knee front and grounded and the rear foot kept flexibly stabilized; Parilla was at her side, low and hand at the rear of the spear, other hand at Laila's hip like Parilla was preparing an artillery shot. Parilla pushed their weapon forward, and the spear flew right past Laila's front hand.

In a similar way, Laila's back hand thrust alongside Parilla. Just as the spear dashed ahead, an enormous clink shouted between the two blades, the glass veering off-course. Parilla's hand spun Laila backward, Laila's toes practically sliding and pivoting around Parilla like it was their personal waltz.

The monster was forced to turn its side towards the three, the vibrations of the two blades dizzying it for just a spare fraction of a second. It was already beginning to get its bearings.

 

[Gary Sue]

With Parilla's help, Laila was taking a proper stance and her blows appeared to be incredibly strong, unlike what he had seen even with the blade. Reeve was left gawking at the two for so long, he almost breathed in the toxic air as he quickly raised the piece of cloth again and held it over his mouth, followed by a large inhale. After that blow, they must have certainly dealt a lot of damage to the beast, and yet- there it was, already coming back to proper.

​

Despite all the damage that his sword must have dealt when he managed to cut its tail clean, it seemed to have already healed from the blow and it was nastier than ever. The insides of its mouth, its jaw coming in and out of its place... And Reeve's flesh wound stung a bit, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. His blood flow was rather slower than normal, but judging by the soft gleam on his sword's gemstone, it was probably to do with his blade. Still, he needed more than just a slash if he wanted to take it down.

Taking a deep breath, he quickly slashed a bit more of his upper arm and let blood cover the blade, its silver steel beginning to darken into a jet black color and its orange gem changing colors into a red one. He kept the cloth over his face, making sure to take breaths and steady himself as a river of crimson flowed down his arm, starting to meld into his armor and turning it black, lustering it from his fingertips up. Once it had reached up to his wrist, even while it kept expanding he took another deep breath and held it, putting the cloth by his waist on the belt.

In great contrast to Laila's slower, methodical steps he gripped his sword with his right hand, keeping the left one protected by his blood armor in front of him almost like a shield as he ran towards the beast. Quickly having arrived to right in front of it, he tried to slash downwards at the monster's neck, hoping to slice the abomination's head clean. Though as much as he hated thinking about it, a part of him was certain that it wouldn't be that simple and just like the tail, it would heal, be unnecessary for its functioning even.

 

[ShredKnives]

Parilla took an interested glance at Reeve. Clearly, she hadn't quite seen anything like it before. The monster was capable of great things itself, but it too seemed to watch Reeve's movements with greater interest.

"...I see now. It's from your blade. I suppose one would call you a dark knight."

"Whatever! Can we get it dead or to go away?!"

"We find out."
As Reeve approached in his new armor, the monster slowly circled him, much more prioritizing the man coated in blood.

Parilla whispered. "Follow."

Laila moved forward, their bodies in synchronization as Parilla imitated Laila's cadence, foot by foot, hand by spear, shoulder to shoulder.

The monster stood still as Reeve charged, watching his moves. As soon as Reeve brought his blade forward...

Shit! It's going to dodge!

Another whisper. "Go. Down."

Laila followed and moved her blade downward, slamming it to the ground with her foot. Parilla followed suit by firmly pushing Laila's foot around the blade with her own foot.

The monster side-stepped to the side with an almost smug mannerism, Reeve's blade whiffing entirely.

They then dipped their foot underneath and swung it up, the spear jolting upward from the sudden force imbalance and barely nicking into the neck of the monster in a violent arc and spray of black goo.

In a howl similar to that of a creaking door, the monster reared its body backward and shifted its form, the glass shards dropping out of its body like stalactites. It immediately turned coat, lunged into the air right into a tree, and jumped off the branches in its mess of a fall, dripping black goo and tumbling into the bushes and scrambling away from them in an immense speed. Laila didn't even get a chance to throw her spear, it had moved so quick.

Quiet...So quiet...The silence was welcomed with the fading night as the daylight began to show again.

Laila was breathing hard...So much had just happened. Not enough time to process.

"Huff...Huff...Hah..." She slowly removed her cloth, finally enlightened to be breathing real air now. "Reeve. Reeve! Are you okay?"

Laila was already looking up and down Reeve, staring at the wounds as she muttered her cantrips once more, trying to mend his...Well, mostly self-inflicted wounds.

A glance to Parilla. "That...Was that not magic? What that thing did? What was that...? What was that creature?"

"...I'm not too certain myself...Certainly some sort of nocturnal creature...It seemingly set up an ambush with an explosive in its mouth...Perhaps something bred from...The kobolds?" Parilla slowly let go of the spear, with Laila snatching it back. "It may be best to ward it off for now. It doesn't seem to look at us like prey."

Laila continued looking up and down Reeve. "How are we doing? Good? Thumbs up, thumbs down?"

 

[Gary Sue]

With his blade completely missing, Reeve's eyes widened as he moved his foot slightly further behind him, raising his armored hand towards the monster as though it were holding a shield and narrowing his eyes, expecting a counterattack. There probably would have been one, if not for the quick thinking of Laila and Parilla who slashed at it and caused a spray of that disgusting goo again.

Somewhat more surprising than the monster's quick escape afterwards was the flinging of Reeve's blood armor off his gauntlet and towards the goo, quickly liquifying itself and acting as a shield to stop any of the foreign substance from getting on the knight or his allies. The blood dripping down his arm resupplied the armor and coated his gauntlet again soon enough, but with the fight now over, he waited until the mist dispersed before he finally fell on his knees and began breathing heavily.

He was on the verge of breathing in the fumes the monster had produced, and the blood loss wasn't helping much with all that adrenaline coursing right through him from the pain and (ashamed) thrill of the combat. Stabbing his blade into the ground as its black shimmer began to wear off and dripped down the silver blade as blood, staining the ground, he continued to try to catch his breath with sharp and long inhales.

Much less blood lost than last time. You're getting the hang of this, boy.
​

The knight's attention was turned back to the shrine maiden, as he grinned and gave her a thumbs up. His lie quickly became apparent though when through her cantrip closing his wound, it opened rather quickly again, though he didn't begin to bleed again. A loud groan followed by Reeve as he tightened the grip on his blade's hilt and tried to not writhe too much, as the blood armor liquified and began streaming in reverse, up his arm. Slowly seeping back into the wound that re-opened, it disappeared with few stains on the man's clothes and armor. The next time Laila would try to seal the wound shut, it hopefully wouldn't rip itself back open, seeing as there was no more blood to 'reclaim' from the fight.

Still, his eyes remained focused as ever even despite the pain. A silent glance went towards Parilla as he heard what she had mentioned about Kobolds, frowning and biting his lip a little. "... Revenge on the Flower Maidens..? And with dark arts of all things, too.", that was rather foreboding... Almost as much as that odd look on the monster's face that mirrored the princess' more curious expression when she noticed Reeve's blade at work. "Is that... why the monster looked at me like that? They're interested in you.", the knight connected the dots as best as he could as he looked down at his sword, just to get corrected.

'You' would mean you too. Our souls are one now, so you're also their target if I am.​

 

[ShredKnives]

"Don't just cast that on the dot, his blood's returning. Give it a moment...Now use this." Parilla passed Laila a somewhat heavier cloth to work with, with Laila pressing it against the wounds and recasting Heal Minor Wounds.

Watching Reeve's armor was like watching a magic show. Seeing the wound reopen only to reintroduce the blood back into his body, seeing the blood armor transform in real time....It was all mesmerizing.

Laila sighed in relief once Reeve was fully safe and sound. Her gaze eventually turned to glare upon Parilla. "Seriously, Parilla, what did you just do? What was that? How did I do those...Things, you just made me do?"

"They're your moves, Laila. I only coerced them."

"Coerc- that's bull! And you smell like pee, too!"

"That's what happens when this kind of bomb explodes around me."

"Alright, fine, but you still didn't answer on what you did! That wasn't my style. That wasn't even Mom's or...Or Arioon's, I don't...I don't get what you had me doing there..."

Parilla sighed, eventually leaving the both of them and leaning against a tree, hopefully wavering off the smell. "I simply followed your dance..." and Parilla grabbed Laila's waterskin, the maiden's head nodding questionably as Parilla rinsed her hands off. Parilla sauntered over to Laila, brushing a hand over the spear's handle where Laila kept her own hand. "...And I encouraged you to lead."

Laila took a deep breath, struggling on comprehending this. "I...I don't know what you are, but you are something special."

Parilla shrugged, hand on her hip. "I mentioned it, didn't I? To call me a princess."

Parilla tossed the waterskin to Laila again, Laila barely managing to catch it as she glanced back at Reeve. Laila took another deep breath. "Ooookay...Parilla...Can you at least tell me where Rivera is?"

"I saw him go around your five o'clock position. I can still see his tail from here."

"Alright...Alright, let's...Let's get out of here...Preferably a detour. Maybe this is its territory or something..."

 

[Gary Sue]

With his wounds finally closing, Reeve could start breathing slower and properly- no more sharp pain coursing through him, no more having to worry about his flesh getting ripped open again. He rested for a moment more as he listened to the two, smiling a little. If they wanted to focus on the bright side of things, then they could definitely feel better about Laila learning how to use Parilla a bit better, even though they were going to be parting ways sooner or later with the ego weapon.

Knowing Rivera wasn't too far away was good too, he thought as he pushed himself up to both feet again, taking a moment to make sure he could keep his balance before he followed behind Laila to get to the horse, who seemed to have hidden behind a few trees while the fight was taking place. "... Is Laila that naive, or is she just trying to keep her mind off of things..?", was the only thing on his mind as he let out a sigh, seeing their horse who neighed when they approached him again.

The vanguard raised one of his hands to calm Rivera, taking slow steps and placing it on his forehead as he offered a tired smile. "No need to worry. We're done fighting.", and as he pet the horse, it began to calm down by the minute. Soon enough, the two could get back on their mount and on the way, though Reeve was a bit worried about the hex on his arm... What Parilla had said earlier grabbed his attention, too.

When they were finally on the way once more, he kept thinking about her calling him a 'dark knight' and telling Laila to 'give him a moment'. Maybe it was just him being hopeful and grasping at straws, but it almost sounded like Parilla knew a thing or two more about his affliction when she put it like that.

 

[ShredKnives]

Laila kept mostly quiet, though her mind seemed to fire on all cylinders. She didn't look too stressed out, thankfully.

There's been all sorts of crap they've been going through, and Laila and Reeve were really just in the crossfire. Laila was mostly trying to get home and not bother with all this hullabaloo. But Parilla was intriguing her. Mom was more mysterious than ever. Alina, Laila couldn't be sure if she still knew. And Arioon...Was still Arioon.

Makou and Vermillion, at the least, were cool individuals, but Laila and company only met them because of Arioon's request. Really, they've been on this goose chase mostly to investigate the secrets of his sword and undo the curse, but fate appeared to be actively fighting them.

Laila couldn't confirm that.

"Parilla."

"Yes."

Meanwhile, Parilla was still tailing over Laila's shoulder, and surprisingly stopped smelling like piss a while ago.

"Where'd you learn to move like that?"

"Some individual that my father hired from Taeramun, why?"

"Uh huh...What did they use?"

"A polearm. Not quite this spear...Longer and had a large curvier blade on it. It sort of looked like...A crescent moon, but it looked closer to a goose wing than anything else. Serrated teeth and a notch on the back. Very oriental. If I knew better, I would've praised the craftsmanship."

"Huh...Did it look like something I would use?"

"No."

"Okay...Didn't need to be so quick to say that."

Asshole.

Laila rubbed her cheek. "Huh...Reeve, any ideas?"

 

[Gary Sue]

Although Reeve wasn't entirely sure where the discussion even started, the way it played out and ended resulted in the man scratching his head as he raised an eyebrow at the both of them, looking at Laila's defeated expression and shaking his head when she asked him about it. Even though the two didn't have any time to talk while Parilla was there (no shit), it would seem the maiden had already connected some dots if she began asking completely random questions like 'did it look like something I would use' and she was questioning her technique on top of it all.

Was Parilla somehow more closely related to Tomoe or the Flower Maidens than they had realised? Especially after an encounter like that, he was completely dry out of ideas and a bit worried about the hex he'd inflicted on himself, which was thankfully not acting up yet. Thank again, it hadn't acted up quite this early last time either, so regardless of how many worried glances he gave his arm, the wound wouldn't reopen for the time being.

Gagh, all of this was giving him a complete headache. Once more, when he glanced down at his sword for any ideas or answers, all he was met with was complete silence... Not even a warning about the hex, not a hypothesis about anything going on, just complete silence. "It would help if you could give me a few pointers too, you know."

I don't remember ever stating I'm omniscient.​

 

[ShredKnives]

Answers could be found at a later day.

Much of that journey was left in silence, with Parilla investigating the environment and Laila now consistently, with great paranoia, staring at the sky and grass incase they were on more abomination territory.

Laila was still thinking about it, though. She wasn't entirely sure what the capital's ways of fighting were, but such a martial art couldn't possibly exist in today's time, and definitely not in the hands of Parilla who wielded a weapon that belonged to the western world. Spears like hers were the kinds of spears that were treated like tools that could be disassembled and reshaped into citizen-centric assets like sickles and rakes, not something like on the eastern side that prided its heirlooms on the war and metal they were first forged in. There was a reason Laila's temple still displayed old weapons.

At some point, she took a break from all of that thinking. Parilla didn't seem interested in opening up anymore, so Laila continued riding along Rivera with Reeve by her side.

"...Weather is looking nice!" Laila said with a real happy-girl smile. "I could really go for a rice ball right now, though...How's your body doing, Reeve? It always scares me how much blood you take out..."

 

[Gary Sue]

Even though he wasn't aware yet, it was reassuring that Laila was just as perplexed as he was. And so, the journey continued rather quietly, with both of them mulling over the topic and trying to come to their own conclusions, though neither of them was particularly successful. The silence was broken when she ended up asking him how he was, earning a surprised smile from him before he looked down at his arm and touched it with his other hand, rubbing over the wound which felt... sealed. It hadn't opened up in a while, and now he was simply curious.

How much longer would it be before it sliced open again? "I think I agree, I don't like how much blood comes out either... and the way it all went right back in too this time, I'm worried something's up. No re-opening of the wounds again, either...", he grumbled as he bit his lip and turned back to her, giving a half-confident nod. He knew as much as he did, and his sword remained fully silent throughout as had now become customary.

The both of them were on high alert and potentially enemy territory, so he wasn't letting his guard down quite yet, but he was starting to get worried as much as he was curious about how long it could be before their adventure went on a halt, as far as travelling was concerned, and they had to actually confront whatever wild goose chase they had been thrown in the middle of.

Even more alarmingly, it was proving to not be that much of a wild goose chase after all...

Uncertain how wounded Laila was from the attack on the two earlier, he gestured towards her with his head and a brow furled upwards. "She doesn't look hurt, but you never know. I don't know how well she's hanging mentally, either... Wish I could tell, but she always has that smile.", his thoughts went silent as he huffed, lowering his head some. "... Not that it's all bad, but."

 

[ShredKnives]

A half-nod was better than no nod, and was enough to sate Laila's worries. Still, his response back piqued her interest as well; she had forgotten about her own injuries, but she was, for the most part, lucky; there were likely some minor scrapes on her here and there, perhaps even fragmentation from when an entire glass bomb exploded into Parilla...Having comradeship really helped her sanity.

"Parilla is really starting to grow on me, now. I don't know what I would've done without her just now..."

"Don't devalue yourself. It's annoying and, frankly, untrue."

Laila gave Reeve an encouraging pat on the back. "Me...I'm doing surprisingly well. You, me, Parilla; we're really shaping up to be kind of a force to be reckoned with, huh?"

She giggled. "Just seeing you and everyone else okay is enough to keep my spirits up. Plus, no broken limbs! We really got ourselves into a miracle! And Rivera seems real calm recently, so we've really been hit with nothing but good news after that...Thing."

 

[Gary Sue]

And just like Laila said, they appeared to be out of the woods all the way until a few days later, the group was arriving into the shrine. Her home.

With Reeve checking the perimeters to make sure nothing funny would happen, incidents like Alina getting caught by traps around the shrine included, he got off the horse and looked back on top of it. The trip was... smoother than anticipated, past their initial rough bump of an encounter. Something wanted them dead, forced his hand as well as Parilla's and now the time to part ways with her was slowly nearing. Even though he cut and hexed himself, his wound never opened up again and they didn't need to visit a doctor this time. It was as odd as it got, considering just how persistent the wound's reopening was last he got hexed, but...

That was one thing. Parilla's eventual warming up to the group was a whole other deal on its own- that too, didn't mean that she had ironed out all of her kinks though. She still sounded harsh even when she was complimenting them, but at least both Laila and Reeve didn't seem to find it too much of a chore to be around her nowadays which was... good. It would be even better if they didn't have to part ways with her, considering just how potent Laila's attacks were when she was wielding her, but... their journey was coming to an end with the ego weapon.

As he held Rivera by the reins, waiting for Laila to hop off their steed too, he looked at the shrine and smiled a little. It had been something more than a month since they were last here, even though it felt like it was years. Anything since he met the whirlwind of emotion he was travelling alongside felt ages more, but that's because things were getting progressively out of his field of expertise, not because of them becoming more grueling or anything of the sort.

He stretched his limbs and let out a deep sigh, smiling ever so slightly. "Finally, a safe-heaven again. A place to rest, but...", his smile did become a bit smaller. "... Tomoe is here too, and she's still the answer to many questions we have. We just... don't know what the questions are exactly, or what the answers entail."

 

[ShredKnives]

Alina yawned from the front entrance of the shrine again, as the two exited their steed and they were back in the shrine. Refuge...

The days that had passed were passed with no major incident. Parilla tended to keep to herself, and often, she was asleep, which was an odd thing for Laila to think about. How does a weapon sleep, anyway?

And Rivera actually seemed pretty comfortable! Definitely seemed like it's grown to the two.

"No traps. Tomoe's in the back."

"Oh...Fantastic...!"

Alina raised an eyebrow. "Where's my sword?"

"Dead! IS THAT WHAT YOU ASK ME WHEN I'M COMING BACK HOME?!"

"Well, you look fine. Could be worse. Nice spear."

"This is why I never go to your dinner parties!"

"Tee. Hee." Alina slowly walked inside. "Come in, I can smell your stink from the other end of the forest. I assume you wanna tell your mom all the good news."

"Yeah!" Laila happily grabbed Reeve's hand so she could yank themselves into the shrine.

"Well, have fun."

Similarly, the shrine hadn't changed much; still just as clean as the last time they saw it. It's fairly quiet, and the ambience really takes the spotlight with the chatter of birds and leaves rustling, and all sorts of wind chimes dinging in serene tones.

"Well, Parilla...We've got a little person who might know about you."

"Oh?" The spear hadn't revealed itself yet, only just now waking up.

"And Reeve! Do you need to go...Take a bath or something? Actually, should we go take a bath first...?"

"I just got hit with a piss-bomb four days ago, you know. Neither of you two were...Exactly out of its splash zone."

 

[Gary Sue]

Seeing Alina once more, Reeve was happily surprised as he offered a greeting in the form of a lax salute. The small exchange that followed between the two was enough to put a smile in his face as the feeling of safety settled in, to alleviate the unease he still felt about Tomoe. He couldn't even settle on it though before he was yanked on right behind Laila, and soon enough they were in the same shrine that served as their temporary base of operations a good while ago.

Though, the two didn't really find Tomoe, and before they could- "... W-Wait, that's right, that bomb was made out of...", the man looked up and took in some of the clean air, before raising his hand near his nose and realising just how unpleasant their smell was.

"I thought Alina was referring to Parilla's magic, not the way we actually smell... Bleugh!", despite having seen more blood than most in his misadventures, this was still incredibly disgusting. He nodded at Laila frantically as he furrowed his brows, shuddering and trying to remember the damn place. The hot springs should have been around... He perked up for a moment, before slumping some again and turning to the maiden with an expectant stare. "Lead away, I'm nowhere near as familiar as I expected to be with this place."

 

[ShredKnives]

Laila was more than happy to lead him to the springs.

"Oh yeah, it's bath time!"

Bath time.gif.

Following that very relaxing experience, Laila and presumable Reeve should have his impromptu transformation (into new clothes) done, so it was now time to find...Her mom!

Laila and Reeve would eventually find her mother sweeping the living room, looking somewhat satisfied with herself. Her mom took one look at Laila and brightened up like a ray of sunshine.

"Lilac!"

"Hi, Mom!"

Hug.gif.

"It's good to see you safe!"

"It's good to be back! And we brought a thing with us!"

"Thing?!"

Tomoe was quick to lock eyes with the fanciful little weapon. "Oh? And what do you have here? Some sort of living weapon? I hope you checked if it was cursed?"

"It's a delivery for Arioon! She's supposed to wield it, after all."

Tomoe raised an eyebrow, glancing at Reeve. "Personally, if I were you two, I would just use her myself. I highly doubt Arioon has any use for something like that. You look a bit happier than last time, Reeve, did something happen?"

 

[Gary Sue]

The shower turned out to have been exactly what the duo needed at the end of the day, which meant that was time very well spent. It wasn't too long once the two were done too, that they began to explore the shrine and sooner rather than later, ran into Tomoe as well. With the mother and daughter reunited, Reeve watched quietly and not all that carefully- perhaps the shower had gotten to him and cheered him up a bit too much, for how skeptical he still felt around the ex Flower Maiden.

And fairly quickly, she seemed to catch onto his good mood too, something he himself hadn't really. Or... was it not the shower and just the fact he knew more about his sword? The two were almost assassinated a few different times, ended up taking an incredibly long trip for little reason and in the end, just found out that the knight could now risk his own life and use his blood to help bolster some of his strikes. Was that really reason to be happy?

Or maybe it was just Reeve feeling more fulfilled now that he knew exactly how directly he could contribute to the fights they'd find themselves in if they kept up the group travel, like Laila had proposed and asked him too. These roundabout thoughts took him in circles and circles for what felt like minutes, even though it wasn't more than a couple of seconds before he simply nodded, offered a smile and placed a hand to the back of his neck to rub the awkwardness away one stroke of his fingers at a time.

He hadn't even noticed his other hand making its way onto the butt of his sword's pommel to tap it, but there it was regardless, a pretty simple story to put together, for the person that found out just how cursed it was firsthand too no less.

... The smile did waver for a moment though. It wasn't just him, but she- Tomoe- mentioned that the two should just keep the ego weapon themselves instead, right? And she seemed to know about it immediately, as soon as they entered into the shrine. A quick glance was shot at Laila's way as discreetly as he could, before he let the two go right back to talking among themselves once more, seeing what little he could contribute himself.

"... Something feels a bit off. It can't be just me."

 

[ShredKnives]

"Eh? Are you sure?"

"'Am I sure-' Lilac, when was the last time an assassin needed a talking spear?"

"I am a GLAIVE, mind you!"

"See? This is horribly inconvenient."

Laila crossed her arms. "Well, I hear it's supposed to be a...Uh. Political thingy for political reasons."

Tomoe put her hands at her hips, glancing between the two of them. "Well, I'll be quite frank, it is. But I've never been too supportive of whatever this is supposed to be. Arioon has kept it under wraps for some time, but she thinks there's going to be a civil war...And, well, this weapon is either going to be a catalyst for it or its ceasefire. But here's what I believe."

"You think it'll just be used the way it was probably intended."

"To go kill and cause a much bigger conflict than just one contained in an empire."

Laila glanced at Reeve. Something was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Hm...

"Mom, do you want this glaive, too?"

"Of course I do."

"I knew you wouldn't. Er- Uh."

"For crying out loud, it's exuding almost as much magical energy as this entire shrine," Tomoe said with a huff. "I would prefer we have it."

Laila raised an eyebrow this time around. "...And why?"

Tomoe glanced at Laila. "Well. I believe we might be seeing a civil war soon."

 

[Gary Sue]

Thoughts went through the knight's mind, as was expected. Maybe they should hand it over to Tomoe- but what if she has a plan in her own mind after all? Perhaps they should run away with it on their own, but then they'd be hunted down by even more people than whatever mystery pursuers Reeve has on his trail. And if they handed it over to Arioon and what Tomoe was saying was right, then they would be responsible for whatever civil war took place as a result of Parilla being delivered, as promised.

"Pause. Take a breath."

And take a breath he did. "Tomoe's being very openly greedy about the spear. And Arioon never looked like the kind of person to kill 'just because', even though she's... not pleasant sometimes.", he tried to organize his thoughts a little to break down their courses of action and pick what would work best. "Think. What should we do about the ego weapon..?"

Making that choice on the spot like this would be near impossible, especially if he had to communicate it over as well. But there was another alternative, considering their arrival was very much quiet and unseen by others. He looked at Laila, furrowing his brows and holding a hand out towards her, somewhat low to the ground with its palm facing down. "We should take some time to think about it. Rushing a decision and giving the glaive to the wrong people wouldn't be good for anyone."

All that they had found out on their trips, all that they had discussed and seen... it was getting to him, probably Laila and it was getting in the middle of things. The man squeezed the pommel of his sword with his other hand, but... silence. Nothing of importance was said, other than a thoughtful "That's a good course of action for now." from his blade.

"Still, if people like Tomoe can sense magic... then wouldn't that mean we don't have that much time before people realise how much stronger the shrine 'feels'..? We've got to make whatever choice we make, very soon."

 

[ShredKnives]

Laila was sensing the discord with Reeve. Surely, he never really had to do with this sort of political drama, and it was clear Tomoe was trying to keep quiet so it wouldn't involve Laila either. Alina was too far off the deep end, so it was choiceless that she become a part of the shrine's more complicated decisions.

Still. It's not like they actually had real power. They were just a shrine in the middle of the forest, right? Tomoe was really the only reason they had some word edge-wise.

And Alina...Well, she's mostly a frog with a big mouth.

"Mom, if you can feel it, won't other people as well?"

"Oh, that's plenty fine. I can just chalk it up to my years of harsh training!"

"But I don't see you doing anything these days."

"I taught boys to flatter their loves, but I certainly didn't say you were exempted from the same, ma'am," Tomoe said with a dissatisfied grunt.

Laila glanced at Reeve, then back at Tomoe. "Listen, why don't we just mull it over for a bit? Honestly, I'd rather hand the blade to Arioon first. But I mean, if her family's eyeing it...Then I can give it to her privately."

"Ugh. Quit treating me like some precious jewelry item. Just put me into my human form, give me a change of clothes, and I'll go to your friend myself. It's not like they're aware of who I look like."

Laila rubbed her chin. "Well, we could do that...I doubt the family ever got to see what Parilla looks like, because only the blacksmiths get to see that...Eh...Maybe some food before we make a decision, yeah?"

 

[Gary Sue]

Though Laila's suggestion seemed to be on the same wavelength as Reeve's, Parilla's was... conflicting. "If people are looking for her though, isn't the whole point to keep her location a secret right now..? I don't even know if people will be able to 'sense' her or not, but if they can, we and the entire shrine along with us will become targets.", his mind grumbled and grumbled, but... at least they managed to postpone their decision until after they've had a meal- that sounded good. Plenty good.

Reeve just quietly nodded at his companion and offered a small smile, before bowing ever so slightly for Tomoe and following Laila to wherever food was. He hadn't spent a lot of time in the shrine before, and honestly what little time he had spent, he had forgotten about its layout already. "All these choices though... Each one of them comes in direct conflict with the other two. No matter how we try to approach it, we always risk being backed to a wall, because everything we know is conflicting with one another.", he grumbled once more and huffed, trying to make some sense of this bothersome predicament.

Most of their choices had been proposed from the same one person, but... they weren't even sure if Tomoe could or could not be trusted at all. If she was this open about wanting the ego weapon though, wouldn't that mean her motive didn't lie in the ego weapon, but in something after it had fallen into her possession instead?

"Ugh, this is going to crack my head..."