Chapter 17: Zazi

Bay quickly made her way into the cave, which was surprisingly bigger than one would think if you looked at it from the outside. It was filled with many caverns and chambers turning it into an entire underground labyrinth.

Deep within the labyrinth there was a particular cavern that was larger than the others, not only was it larger but its floor was flattened. There were a few tents set up in this cavern with many crates and sacks filled with different varieties of food.

At this moment a fire was lazily burning, illuminating the cavern and the beings that lived there.

"Quiet down Xaszix, it's just a flesh wound!" Yelled a brown-haired golden-eyed man. He had broad shoulders and a muscular physique coupled with his chiseled chin and stern expression he looked like an old veteran knight."

"Flesh wound my ass!", Xaszix yelled as he contorted from the pain he was feeling, three of his scorpion legs were broken and he had a few cracks on his shell.

"Gerbaut, stop teasing my brother and focus more on healing him, can't you see he's in pain!", another Girtablilu yelled, she was Xazix's Younger sister, her name was Zazi, and she was currently the strongest among the entire group, but at this moment her facial expression was filled with worry as she held her brother's hand.

"Yeah, I'm doing my best but if he keeps squirming he will just reopen his wounds, and just so you know its a pain to heal exoskeletal beings such as yourself, I mean do you know how hard it is to stop the bleeding and how easy it is for the wound to reopen", Gerbaut, the group's healer said as he hands kept moving, sometimes he would even cast a healing spell every now and then but since he was also the weakest among the group he couldn't do much with his magic. Although he was the weakest he was also the oldest of the group and there were many times that he would give council when somebody had troubles.

"I know, I apologize for my outburst it's just...", Zazi said with a low voice but didn't finish her sentence but looked at her brother.

"You worry too much, he won't die from this kind of injury, you yourself should know your species resilience, it's actually a bit scary how hard it is to kill you guys," Gerbaut said trying to console the worried Zazi.

"But not impossible", Zazi said sadly, causing Zasix and Gebauts to expressions to change.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean...", Gerbaut apologized but was cut off by Zazi. Even though he was the oldest he had a tendency to sometimes speak without thought.

"It's fine its already been thirty years", Zazi said with a sad smile, which caused Gerbaut to feel even worse.

"Don't beat yourself up over it doc", Zaszix said with a smile or a cheap imitation of one as his facial muscles were twitching from the pain. Gerbaut nodded and got back to treating his eight-legged poison-tailed buddy.

Soon they heard footsteps heading their way, Zazi turned towards the cavern entrance in confusion, she had asked the other four to stand guard with a rotation every six hours. They would guard the entrance in pairs while the other two would rest up for their turn or in case there was an attack so that they could reinforce the guards and let the others know about the attack.

What confused Zazi was that there was no sign of anxiety from the footsteps, they might have been a bit quick, but they were steady. Soon two people came into the cavern one of them was Bay and the other was a tall hulking monster of a man, he stood over two meters with a massive club in his hands.

Zazi knew him, he was the half-orc of the group, Hoth. Although he looked intimidating he was nothing more than a teddy bear with a brought exterior. He abhorred violence and would rather spend his time listening to the chirping of birds. The Mistress had found him when he was only a baby, and he had stood by her side since then, he was the iron fort that protected her and the second strongest in the entire group.

"What's wrong?", Zazi asked not understanding why these two would desert their stations.

Hoth merely nudged his head towards Bay, who stepped forward and spoke.

"We have a visitor outside," Bay said.

"Your kidding right, why didn't you guys just chase him off?" Zazi asked.

"With Iphy's personality do you think we didn't try, unfortunately, she didn't consider the fact that he was a Champion", Bay answered well shaking her head as if saying she can hardly believe it herself. Champions were rare and had high positions, so why would one have the time to come here.

"Have we been found?", Zazi couldn't help but voice her worry, they had been hiding for almost thirty years waiting for their mistress to wake up, they had moved many times as to lose their pursuers trail, they had even crossed a few countries.

"To think our enemies would hunt us even now.", Zazi lamented, but Bay spoke up with a reassuring voice.

"I don't think this one means us any harm."

"And why not?", Zazi asked. Hoth, Gerbaut, and the injured Xaszix also listened quietly.

"Well we all know how Iphy is and even after all her antics he didn't even flare a bit, he didn't even show a hint of wanting to hurt us, Zazi you are a Champion, tell me if there was someone you didn't know attacking you and insulting you and was merely in the middle levels of Warrior rank what would you do?", Bay asked.

"Of course I would kill the bug without hesitation or remorse", Zazi said without any thought, ", but that doesn't mean that it can't be a ploy of this Champion so that he could block any way of escaping", Zazi said.

"True, I would also be doubtful, that is until he cast seventh circle magic!" Bay said her voice betraying the fact that even until now she couldn't even believe what she saw.

"Seventh circle! Bay, are you sure it wasn't a mistake", Zazi asked, at this moment she was very worried yet also relieved. Worried since there was a high-level champion waiting outside their home, and relived since such a high-level champion wouldn't have to stoop to such tricks to hurt them, with their mistress unconscious the mysterious Champion could easily kill them all.

"Ok, Bay bring him in, I would like to meet this Lord, Hoth, you go with her just in case," Zazi said.

"Where is Iphy?", Xaszix couldn't help but ask, since she wasn't here.

"I left her outside to tend to our guests", Bay said, causing the entire cavern to fall silent as everybody's faces paled a bit.

"Bay have you gone mad, you left Iphy of all people to keep the Champion company, do you even love your sister anymore?", Berbaut asked with anxiety.

"Don't worry, I thought about it and it was for the best, plus I doubt the Lord would harm Iphy, Lets go Hoth", Bay said and started walking towards the Cavern exit, Hoth following behind her humming some unknown nursery rime which strangely caused the tense atmosphere in the cavern to loosen.

Watching the duo exit the cavern, Zasi let out a sigh, before refocusing her attention on her wounded brother who was looking better thanks to Gerbaut's continued medical treatment.

"What is to happen will happen, no point worrying about something like that, rather focus on the now", Gerbaut said, finally calming Zazi's nerves.

...

Outside the cavern, Lorthic stood silently waiting for Bay to return while Iphy and Anabel were sitting off to the side talking to each other. It's only been a few minutes and the two of them already became close friends, although they were different in many ways they just felt a strange companionship when they started talking to each other. With this being the case it wasn't long before they were giggling and gossiping they would even sometimes take sneak peeks at Lorthic, whether it was to see if he wasn't eavesdropping or if it was because the topic of the conversation involved him, he didn't know nor did he care to try and find out. He would respect the two girls' privacy.

The wait didn't bother Lorthic, he was old enough to understand that only the patient will achieve greatness, while the impatient will find their graves early. He would look at the sky and try and unravel the mysteries of its existence, he would look at the earth and try to understand how it came to be and what created it. The worlds and realms in the entire universe were endless, Lorthic had made it since a young age, his goal to unravel them. That was one of the main reasons he became a necromancer, the promise of endless life to explore endless mysteries was the most enticing thing he has ever felt. Other mages and warriors might have longer lifespans the stronger they become but only the pale master would truly be detached from the decay of time.

For how can decay kill its Ruler, how can corrosion touch its king and how could Death even think of claiming its Master.