Chapter 12 Part 3

The party goes into the field where they just fought to look for Llamiryl.

"Do you see any sign of her?" Thordis asks.

"Before that. Was it ok to leave Christopher with the guard?" Mizubi says.

"Yeah, I told them that if they hurt him or lose him while we were gone, I'll make sure dad knows about it." Haider says.

"I don't notice because you're usually with Christopher, but you're pretty frightening Haider." Mizubi responds.

"Nah, I'm just a massive homo. We're just that frightening." Haider giggles.

Krenn cackles at Haider's statement. "Why do you think that's funny big guy?" Thordis asks.

"Cuz joke true!" Krenn continues to laugh.

"I like him. Is he always this entertained?" Haider says.

"He may act like an idiot, but he's smarter than you realise. Only a single instance of a mistake and he won't make it again. That was made clear when he met your dad, ha-ha." Thordis answers.

"Now, how do we find Llamiryl?" Mizubi asks.

"I could try to track her with a soulustriousized wolf. Their sense of smell would be great, but I have nothing for it to track. My mage sight wouldn't work, either. I don't have enough experience to track the mana trail." Heather says.

"If only Christopher were here." Haider says.

"What do you mean?" Thordis asks.

"He's a spatial mage. So that means that he can track her with the mana he took from her." Haider replies.

"Ah, I got you now. You're saying that Christopher can identify where she went by releasing it, then following heather has something to track, right?" Mizubi says.

"In a way, I guess. An alustrious can track the things that their Soulustriousized entities would. So if she were to make a mana bat, then yeah, she can use it to track." Haider responds.

"Ok, I actually understand now. We always have a scarf of hers we keep with Krenn. Could we use that with a wolf to find her?" Thordis asks.

"Hold on guys, I've used a ton of mana today. I don't think I can make a wolf without killing my cute little leopard Jake!" Heather says.

"By the Mother, I forgot you still have him! He's perfect. Leopards have a great sense of smell as well. Call him over so he can track Llamiryl." Haider says.

"*sigh* Alright, give me a few minutes." Heather says. She goes back into the trance with her eyes going cloudy once more.

"That is still so freaky." Mizubi says uneasily.

"It's not the most pleasant thing to look at, is it?" Thordis says.

"Little girl spooky." Krenn says.

"She isn't scary. As long as you don't kill her pets, that is." Haider says.

Heather comes out of her bond with the Soulustriousized leopard and says, "He's coming. I had a little trouble getting past all the adventurers. They're trying to chase him right now."

"Did they hurt Jake?" Haider asks.

"No, they ain't that experienced. They couldn't even find him after he turned a corner.." Heather replies.

"It must be some of the teams who do safe work trying to get some recognition." Mizubi says.

"Jake will be with us in a few. We might as well look for disturbances in the grass or something while he gets here." Heather says.

The group searches the area for any recent disturbances in the ground, other than the destruction they caused. Mizubi searches a very specific spot where he identifies one of Llamiryl's rings. "I think I know why she wandered off." He says.

"She better not have lost her concentration band!" Thordis exasperates.

"That's exactly what has happened." Mizubi responds.

"Wait, explain. I have no idea what a concentration band is." Haider says.

"Ok, so the band helps Llamiryl focus on things around her. She suffered a head injury when she was a kid. It was so severe that healing couldn't recover much of her mind. It was kinda just replaced. She isn't just Llamiryl anymore. She is Shelly Brook and Henry Forbes too. Shelly had dementia, and the ring suppresses that personality." Thordis explains.

"Wait, so there are multiple people living in her mind?" Heather asks.

"That's right." Thordis answers.

"What about Henry? What is he like?" Haider asks.

"We don't talk about Henry." Mizubi says.

"Is he like a serial killer or something?" Haider asks.

The three stand in silence, sweating while scratching their heads.

"By the Mother! Henry's a serial killer!" Haider screams.

"To keep him suppressed, she nailed a charm to her heart. The charm would explode when he breaks out of it, which hasn't happened since the charm was put in." Thordis shakingly says.

"So if he breaks the charm's enchantment, it will blow a hole in her chest? That is some brutal suicide to avoid something." Heather says.

"She doesn't want him to come out again. The charm is checked monthly to repair it, but it may just snap one day." Thordis says.

(Narrator) Got it. Don't form an emotional attachment cuz she might die. I'm getting sick of watching deaths. You'd think I would be used to it by now.

We hear screaming, accompanied by a low kitty growl. The group turns around to see Jake, the soulustriousized leopard being chased by several adventurer parties.

"Don't you dare hurt Jake, you barbaric wannabes!" Heather says with so much malice that she releases all her aura across the grass-covered plains.

Most of the men and women pissed themselves upon seeing Heather's sheer rage. The rest thought of continuing before retreating. Jake joins Heather's side and nuzzles his head into her side, making a cute, deep sonorous purr while doing so.

"Hmph. How dare that to my adorable little baby!" Heather says.

"I mean, I don't really blame them. They did just see a vine monster run through the city on its own." Mizubi says.

Heather gets irritated by Mizubi's comment. "Did you just call my Jake a monster?" She yells.

"I didn't mean it that way, but in their eyes he was. Do you get what I'm saying?" Mizubi defends.

"Yeah, I get why they would see that, but you didn't need to call him something so mean. Jake is just too adorable to be a monster." Heather says.

"Heather not seen slime." Krenn says with a smile.

"Don't some people keep them as pets?" Haider asks.

"I guess so, but the slimes can't be easily contained and kill people quite often in their sleep. It's a common way for slimes to evolve that way and gain a human form." Thordis says.

"Doesn't evolution make them much more intelligent, though? Wouldn't they just integrate into society?" Haider asks.

"They could, but they did kill someone to do it, so they are promptly killed not long after." Mizubi says.

"I have a feeling that's going to be a plot to something else." Heather says.

(Narrator) If only otherworlds were more common, that could easily be something in their world... your world, I mean.

"Alright then, let's hurry and get Jake to track Llamiryl." Mizubi says, pulling her scarf out from a bag Krenn is carrying.

Heather commands the leopard to sniff the scarf and track. Upon sniffing the cotton fabric, Jake the vine leopard sniffs the ground and finds the trail of the elf's scent. As the leopard picks up pace, the group follows behind, eventually leading them to a cave.

Heather has Jake halt at the entrance of the cavern and waits for everyone to join her. "You're such a good boy Jake, yes you are." Heather says in a baby voice, feeding her soulustriousized vine leopard some concentrated sunlight pellets.

The rest of the group catch up to them and Krenn grunts. "Rape cave."

"What in the gods did he just say?" Haider says.

"Bahaha, by the Mother Krenn! He means that this is the cave where she last got lost." Mizubi says.

"We got to get in there fast and save Llamiryl!" Thordis yells.

Heather stops her and says, "It's not the same. This doesn't smell like goblins. It's even worse."

"What is it then?" Mizubi asks.

"Trolls. They smell like trolls." Heather answers.

"Are you sure?" Haider says, Heather replies with a nod.

"She won't be able to beat those healing sons-of-bitches." Thordis states.

"Once again, I wish Christopher were here." Haider says.

"That mana stealing spell he has would certainly be effective. Is there any other way to beat something like that?" Mizubi asks.

"We could fight fire with fire, but we would need to wait for a bit, so I don't need to kill Jake." Heather says.

"How many can you create in one day Heather?" Thordis asks. Heather answers her by holding up five fingers. "So why would you need to kill Jake to make a troll?" She responds.

"Because she made the spider, that's one. The dragon which counts as two. Finally Jake himself is in the fourth spot... wait, that's right. Why can't you soulustriosize a troll today?" Haider asks.

"Fine, you got me. It won't kill Jake, but I want to keep one spot in reserve, ok!" Heather says.

"Why couldn't you just say that? You made this way more complicated than needed." Haider says.

(Narrator) I don't think she was lying about having no spaces left today. She's done something sneaky. I can sense it.

"Since that's not an option, I could suffocate them with a flash freeze spell. But I can only do that a few times before being out of mana." Haider says.

"Let's say you have about four flash freeze spells left. I could imbue your ice sabres with a sharpening spell, allowing you to strike and sever the threads of their healing." Thordis says.

"Krenn beat some to soup." Krenn grunts.

"If I could have some defence, I could fire arrows directly into all three of their hearts at the same time." Mizubi says.

"This is good. We have a variety of ways to approach this. Why don't we have Heather defend Mizubi while the three of us take the front line? That way, we can have support from the rear with Mizubi's attacks and Heather's offensive and defensive capabilities." Thordis says. Formulating a relatively cohesive plan of attack against the trolls.

A roar comes from inside, followed by a high-pitched scream from a female voice. "Looks like we have no more time to figure this out. Let's get in there!" Mizubi yells.