After bussing the desk, Khanih looked at Tenebrosia once again. "Where in gods' names did ye even get those damned demon shards? Yer a bit of a chancer– never seen such craic stuff since... donkey's years!" The Paragos was elated to hear how the Maiden even got such a substance so rare and otherworldly. Tenebrosia only gave a slight chuckle before adjusting her purple-tinted top hat. The white-blue hues of her sleeves reflected the afternoon's sun, and her lengthy limbs accentuated her beauty.
"Demons keep appearing out of nowhere on the outskirts. I reckoned I've "knocked" them and harvested their precious shells with my bare fists and some tadbits of magic." Khanih nodded, backing off the pedal and going to the back room of his shop, likely getting the weapon Tenebrosia commissioned him to do. "Demons on the outskirts, aye?" he asked, his voice heard even at the back of the shop. "Verily." "That's odd," quickly replied the gray critter. "I'm no magic-wielding expert, but demons appearing at a rate so frequent is arseways. Any opinions on that?" Tenebrosia glanced at her side, then looked back at the orange-hued skies, its hues encompassing Windstrew. "The veil between the world of us, the demons, and angels appears to be thinning. I wonder if the angels have also appeared... or is there some sort of trickery specifically opening the gates of Hades?" Before Tenebrosia could speak further, a huge slam was heard behind her. A giant black box with a yellow stamp made of wax, a signature of Khanih's, rests on the desk. "I did not understand a thingamajig you yoked out yer mouth, but it does sound the mother earth is a bit fluthered if her world is getting gas." A pause, and then Khanih paused and spoke again. "Anywho, here's yer uirlis. Take care of this beauty, would ye?"
Tenebrosia, gazing at the massive charcoal-colored box, was enhanced by its beauty. She rubbed her right hand's fingers on it before opening it in a flamboyant manner with her left hand. Inside was her dear commission: "Chateau Scapegrace."
–
SKETCHES OF KHANIH
[Chateau Scapegrace]
A dollhouse, a literal giant dollhouse... well, more like a clock tower. Tenebrosia's acting the maggot with this craic request! It's the front exterior only. Made sure it's black to match her fluthered taste. I thought she was gobshite for this, but a friend is a friend, and money is money. (Made this to be bigger than even her– lady can hit like a giant with this beauty!)
Got some help from the local dollmaker, oul wan helped sketch how it would look, and I got into work on how to cram machinery– cannons, spinning blades, far-reaching maces– you name it– yer fella Khanih can make this.
It's like a giant pillar, and because of the arseways magic-thingamajig this thing has its materials from, she can manipulate the physics of this uirlis at will, by magic, I guess. Probably would. Who cares.
–
Tenebrosia grabbed the giant pillar-like, weaponized toy clock tower and flamboyantly (and effortlessly) grabbed its handle located at the very middle of the back. The weapon, as ridiculous as it was, matched Tenebrosia's already absurd flair. Despite the heavy status of the weapon– something an ordinary mortal can't even lift– Tenebrosia carries it with her left hand to a degree that she's holding it like a bag of feathers.
Shortly after, she puckered her lips out of satisfaction with Khanih's craftsmanship. The Paragos, on the other hand, was busy flicking with his dirtied claws, filled with soot and dust from crafting weapons all day. Tenebrosia then used her magic to make the weapon disappear, storing it within her dimensional pocket for use later. "Not bad," Tenebrosia looked at the Paragos; Khanih looked at her with a stern look, but his eyes told that he was proud of this new work.
"I'd better be off, then. Can't keep the world waiting for me to examine the strengths of this new craft of yours." Tenebrosia had her hands on her hips. Khanih finally spoke again, "Go on, you craic woman!" he joyfully laughed, with Tenebrosia exchanged it with a slight snicker before turning her heel and leaving with grace. The afternoon sun slowly descended into the horizon, with Khanih having more customers soon commissioning more weapons for him to craft shortly after Tenebrosia left.
...
Tenebrosia exited the large city of Windstrew, finally out again to the wide hinterlands of Galamona. The gargantuan gates of the city remain open, as countless merchants, Paragos and other anthromorphs, the nobility, and more. Even outside the main gates remains a great hub of merchants selling their goods, Windstrew's grand guards– adorned in golden armor, and their helmets dangled dark azure feathers on the back– patrolled the place, ensuring safety and that no riots could occur within the close proximities of the city's gate. To such an extent that even postwatch towers are placed every hundred meters apart from each other.
Tenebrosia walked further until the point the massive noise from Windstrew faded to nothing, indicating she must've walked at least two miles from the gates now. Indeed, Windstrew's manufacturing power of producing sounds of steam, chatter, magic, mechanics, and crowded noises is intense.
...
"This takes too long," the Maiden sighed under her breath. "I cannot manifest a gateway here to summon a demon to pace up my journey– villagers might be nearby, and then bark about it to the Council. Those cretins would conjure a crowd to exile me." She sighed again, thinking of another solution. She cupped her chin with her index and thumb, looking up at the gray skies as the sun descended and the moon took to the heavens. "I'm a bit too indolent tonight, but I reckon I'll turn into a large canine to–" before she can continue, she heard the cries of a child. Although she thought it was just a lost child crying out for its parents, the cries turned to wails of help. Tenebrosia, amused yet bored, looked to her right, from which the child's noise came. At her view was a thick, lush forest, and the noise gradually began to grow louder. Unexpectedly, the snickers of men yelled about skin, bounty, and 'precious Padomas skin displayed on a wall.'
Tenebrosia, wanting to use her weapon in a trial, made this the perfect arrangement for her: save a Padomas child, and test out her brand new armament. Besides, a Maiden's got to always keep her strength at peak. Graciously, but seemingly knowingly, those brutes cornering the Padomas wouldn't hurt it with her around. And as the axe was about to hit the poor child, Tenebrosia suddenly appeared at their backs: "What're you fledglings doing in such a place during such a tenebrific night? Shouldn't you little boys be running off to your mothers and fathers? Your curfew's unfortunately passed." The man who was about to hit the child halted, and the six bandits turned around to see Tenebrosia's figure, strutting with such grace and condescending amusement laced with malicious sarcasm, aiming at their souls.
"Watch your tongue, woman!" They looked at her outfit, and they noticed her attire was adorned with gold and jewelry. The man holding the axe to the Padomas, seemingly the leader of the group, gave Tenebrosia a malicious grin. "Well, well! Your guts won't be the only thing we'd steal and sell! Your bloodstained jewelry– we can sell it too! Lads, get her!"
All the men ignored the Padomas boy, and their focus shifted to Tenebrosia– a more profitable prey for the bandits. The Padomas child looked in awe. "My, that's no way to talk to a lady. I ought to teach you little ducklings a lesson." Tenebrosia said with such poise, and when one of the men raised his sword at her, she calmly gripped his wrist– quickly overpowering the man and halting his attack. The man's expression went from sadism to genuine fear as Tenebrosia's physical prowess alone was extremely strong. "Ooh, whose guts are going to be sold now?" Tenebrosia's words were laced with sarcastic venom, and the rest of the men stopped in their tracks. Before the man at Tenebrosia's grip could speak, she flung him to the men with such force, two got caught and crashed into a nearby tree, even going so far as to go through several more, causing the Padomas child to grip onto his knees to cover himself from the dust. "She's not normal– put your act together!" The leader yelled.
Two men, including the leader, tried to assault her at her front door while one tried to ambush her from behind. With poise and grace, she jumped to a height so inhumanely great, before manifesting Chateau Scapegrace and, within its compartments, revealed a cannon to appear to its exterior. "Fly!" Tenebrosia yelled before a cannonball was fired from the circular mouth of the cannon and killed two men who tried to attack her, excluding their leader.
Tenebrosia landed on the ground with grace, before grabbing the throat of the leader, before speaking: "The name is Tenebrosia." She paused and looked at the Padomas child at the back, still gripping himself from the tree, but his eyes locked on her figure. Tenebrosia winked at the child, adjusting her glasses and summoning purple spectrals to cover the boy's eyes gently. "Greet hell for me," and with that, she effortlessly snapped the neck of the leader, his body tumbling to the grassy ground.
–
SUZUNA'S BIOLOGY BOOK
[Padomas]
These are folks who are close relatives of the Paragos, only evolving to look more human-like but still keeping the characteristics of their relatives, like ears and tails!
In their evolutionary path, they share the same common ancestors as the Paragos, but due to their different species separating early on in different environments, their biology adapted more rigorously than the Paragos!
Although they look more human-like, they actually have a few advantages compared to us humans! Padomas people live longer, and based on my statistical analysis data, approximately forty percent longer. They do have pheromones, but we actually cannot smell them since our noses weren't evolved to do so, anyway.
Padomas people are also one of the largest groups in our population– globally too! I have a few friends, and they drink alcohol more than I do. Interesting... should I study their tolerance of rum next?
–
...
The purple spectrals still covered the Padomas boy's eyes. Tenebrosia looked around, and no bystanders besides the child were in her sights. She looked back at the perished bodies around her vicinity– the three men she hauled through the verdure and trees were seen splattered on a prodigious body of rock; the rock being stained with the velvet of their blood. The other two she blasted off with her cannon were lifeless a few meters from her, and the leader lay dead at her feet. The Maiden stored her weapon within her dimensional pocket once more. "What a mess," Tenebrosia rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers.
Even in such dire times where the veil between demon, angel, and human supposedly is thinning, she opened several portals to Hades–controlled even, and demonic hands dragged the lifeless bandits down to the portals that manifested below their bodies; an act of sacrificial offering for her 'infernal associates.' The tall Maiden clapped twice quickly, and the purple spectrals that once covered the child's eyes were gone. His gray, wolf-like tail, with its ends white, still wrapped around his body. His ears were the same color patterns as his tail's, and the boy only wore a loose, blue tunic. His feet were bare, and his pupils were big and had a hazy, gold color– his hair was white.
Tenebrosia bent slightly forward, her hands on her hips as the cyan boas from her bangles that cuffed on her wrists swayed lightly in the wind. The little Padomas boy looked at her with awe and amazement, as if he had encountered an angel that descended from the heavens. Tenebrosia spoke, remaining in that confident tone: "There you go, little one. Off you go."
The boy stood up, his tail unwrapped itself from his body, and he stood up, standing at no more than three and a half feet. Before he could speak, the little boy saw the crescent that bore the carving of the Maidens of Darkness; his eyes lit up immediately. Not only was he impressed by her display of power, but also by someone who seemed to be a leader of the clan. "Buckets of the gods, miss!" The child looked up at her in admiration, his eyes almost seemingly turning into glowing diamonds from the amount of fascination of his aficionado with the clan. "Thank you," he yelped, catching his breath despite his shaking intake of the air– still recovering from the fear those now-gone bandits inflicted upon the boy.
Tenebrosia looked at him with amusement, with the small critter-lad exhaling and inhaling through his mouth– his hands on his adorable, small knees. "Run along now," the Maiden pointed her index finger at him, "go back to your parents, little boy. Wherever they are." Then there was a pause. However, the child then spoke– "Hey, I'm no 'little boy,' I'm past twelve!" The tall Maiden scuffed, her hands still cupping her hips. "No matter, you're still but a child. You'd better get somewhere else to find your desire bone, dear."
Though not intending to belittle the boy, Tenebrosia turned her heel and tried to go back to the dirt path. The moon illuminated the way, but before Tenebrosia could even take not even her tenth step, the Padomas boy tugged one of her cyan boas and continued to follow her. "You're a Maiden, miss! I really, really enjoyed your clan's history!" Tenebrosia halted in her tracks and looked back at the child. Her head did not look down; simply her eyes did. "And you don't fear us?" she asked, her curiosity truly piqued. The child shook his head and looked at her in awe, continuing to tug at her cyan boas with his delightful, little yet dirtied hands. "You're one of the two tops of magic! I simply adore the Maidens!" he said with glee. Tenebrosia slightly raised her eyebrows before speaking again. "Oh, how commendable. Now off you go–" the lady was interrupted again. "No," yelped the child, "I am but an orphan, but please do take me in– please! I want to learn the techniques of the Maidens to be strong... so I can protect myself from people like the thugs you've... you've..." his words faded, as if too afraid to speak of the recent 'tragic' event.
"Then ask Windstrew about it. I'm sure you belong in one of their orphanages," Tenebrosia spoke again, but the boy continued to grip onto her boas. "Oh, please, miss! I hate it there! I don't have any friends there, plenty of the kiddiewinks despise me for my ancestry– please, I could repay you with a limitless amount of travel assistance from the traveling merchant's carriage that I stole–" he paused. The boy accidentally spilled his habits of troubling civilians of Windstrew.
This then was another opportunity for Tenebrosia. A merchant carriage? Perfect for traveling long distances without causing a ruckus from passing villagers she may encounter on the way to the Moirai Summits, she may summon a demon or use unconventional methods to travel faster, but these methods can harm bystanders. Her thought was interrupted by the quiet sniffles of the child, seemingly afraid of her, that he might get into trouble and be turned in to the authorities of Windstrew, locked away as a juvenile thief. "Are you taking me to jail?" he asked so innocently in between cries.
Taking the opportunity, Tenebrosia turned her entire figure toward him and bent down. "If you can take me to where I want to go in your carriage, I will take you in as my apprentice, little orphan." The boy's eyes lit up, and all his tears instantly got wiped away in such a chucklesome way. Intending to speak, he was interrupted by Tenebrosia, pressing her index finger to his much smaller lips. "But, you must ensure you are to follow my rules, and the journey to succeeding in the arts of the Maidens requires extreme discipline. I must also ensure your loyalty to me is unwavering; I cannot have a critter like you outing me to random thugs," she said in an almost teasing manner.
The child furiously nodded, and Tenebrosia stood again, simply saying: "Good. Now, where is this carriage of yours, anyway? My feet are starting to become sore." Tenebrosia asked, looking down at the child. He pointed just beyond the trees that surrounded them. "It's over there," he said. And soon, they were off.
On the short trip, Tenebrosia wanted to know the little boy more– she can't just have any orphan under her wing. As they walked below the crowns of the trees, she asked the Padomas boy, "What is your name?" There was a momentary pause, but they continued to walk either way. Then, the child spoke: "Sekai." Tenebrosia nodded, with the child named Sekai trying to keep up to the Maiden's pace with his little feet. "If you had a carriage, what were you even doing in the forest? It's dangerous here at night," she told Sekai with a stern tone, her gaze now focused on the boy, yet she still walked. "Uh, well..." Sekai paused, then continued. "The carriage didn't contain any of the merchant's goods... and I was starving, so I looked at the forest to find some foraged greens." Tenebrosia nodded again, and in an almost pitying yet caring voice, she said: "I'd better get you some nourishment at the nearest tavern we'd encounter along the road." Sekai's eyes glowed again. "Really?" he said in a gleeful tone, "you'd do that?" "Of course," replied the Maiden. "If my apprentice and coachman die from starvation, who's going to take me where I need to, and who do I get to teach the arts of the Sombre?"
The child giggled, and soon, they arrived at the carriage. The carriage itself, an almost box-like mobile abode, was at the back of a great beast, tied to a compartment located on the waist of a dark brown Mayuno. The mammoth-sized beast huffed out, apparent that it didn't see Sekai nor Tenebrosia as a threat but as allies.
–
SUZUNA'S BIOLOGY BOOK
[Mayuno]
Oh, look at their fluffy fur! I just want to embrace these 'gentle giants!'
Mayunos are great mammals that are quadrupeds, standing at a height of fifteen feet tall! Their fur can come in either brown (if they are calves or young adults) or gray if they have reached their elderly years (which happens when they are 45 years old). They also possess a unique proboscis: a trunk (their long noses used to wrap around a lot of things!), rich keratin tusks at the sides of their mouths, and short flappy ears.
They possess such great strength that their trunk alone can lift a tree log! Or, ram a bunch of bandits to oblivion. Either way... they can only get furious if they sense you're dangerous.
–
..."How did you even manage to steal this thing without poking at its temperance? Or alerting its merchant?" Tenebrosia asked, looking at the brown mammal, then to the carriage itself that it carries behind it. "I reckon its merchant owner was a bit rough on the creature, that's why I got him so easily," Sekai said as he patted the trunk of the Mayuno. "He's nice, see?" The Mayuno huffed again as Sekai caressed the creature's tusks. "Are you gonna hop on?" Sekai looked at the taller Tenebrosia, who still examined the creature. She then looked down at the boy, his tail wagging in excitement. "I do hope your services are of the higher ends, Sekai," her voice glossed in humor and sarcasm. "Aye, I do!" Sekai gleefully said before entering the carriage's small set of stairs, and soon Tenebrosia did, bending her body to enter such a small bogie. Inside was a full-on small house, containing a small kitchen at the back of the carriage, a small light powered by magic and fire, a small settee right beside a seat in front of a window, overlooking the aforementioned Mayuno, as well as the environment– there were ropes attached to its waist as a means of controlling and to rein the direction. Sekai sat on this seat, holding the two ropes that rested on the windowsill, and looked back at Tenebrosia, who sat on the velvet settee, looking back at the boy's eyes. "Shall I?" he asked, and Tenebrosia nodded ever so slightly. "The Moirai Summits, dear," the Maiden adjusted her glasses and leaned her back on the settee. "The tundra mountains?! But that would be too dangerous–" Sekai was interrupted by a look from Tenebrosia, one eyebrow raised with a smirk. "I thought I told you I need unwavering loyalty from my coachman?" She once again snickered. The boy let out a simple– "oh"- before looking back at the window, and his hands gripped the ropes again. "Alright, miss," he smiled at her back, "the Moirai Summits, it is!" He gently wavered the ropes, a signal for the Mayuno to take, and it began walking the road from its idle position just earlier. With optimism in the boy's eyes and two new companions for Tenebrosia in this unconventional journey, the carriage moved outward.