Lemmy
The inn was a lot nicer than the cabin, the floors were made of wood rather than the rough stone of the cavern, the windows were only slightly cracked rather than broken, and the walls retained a lot more heat than she ever felt! She didn't even need a blanket to sleep, meaning she could hang from the ceiling which strangely felt a lot more comfortable despite not laying on anything. Though she had to close the curtains… she didn't like how people outside stared at her whenever they noticed her. Despite the fact the sun had set, there were still people on the streets, there was still light outside her window, strange lanterns littered the streets which made it much easier to look outside.
She rested a lot on the way here while Bucket carried her, so she didn't feel all that tired, but Maria was asleep now, so was the Inn owner, his snoring was very loud, and Bucket was looking for a new arm. Speaking of which, she wondered how that was going, it wouldn't hurt to try and check up on them.
—
Bucket
"Uh? Are you trying to say something or?" The rather dirty merchant asked as Bucket, for the third time in a row, pointed at the rusted Automation arm then at some money they found in one of the carriages back in the cavern. "Uhhh, sorry, that might've been enough I'd say… a couple decades ago? But automation parts are getting harder to find, and that's not accounting for stuff like inflation, logistical costs, scavenger fees-" Bucket put his head into their remaining hand in defeat, they couldn't even afford an arm belonging to a different model of automation, that was considered old even back when they were created!
They quickly left the marketplace and sat down on an abandoned crate as two conscripts walked past them. They considered selling some of their weapons, but the main reason they were looking for a new arm was to better use their weapons. Bucket supposed one weapon might be fine? But they couldn't guarantee they'd be able to find them after, but an arm would have a lot more utility than a weapon they couldn't aim properly so perhaps the risk would be worth it? The arm might not work from the looks of it though… Bucket considered their options before someone walked in front of them. "Why helloooo my metal friend, what has you mopping about?" a rather obnoxious-sounding man spoke, looking up Bucket could see a man wearing an extremely mismatched set of clothing.
An oversized baby blue coat with a golden trim, with what seemed to be a mustard yellow buttoned shirt and ruby red puffy pants. He seemed to me at least in his late thirties, yet based on the crystals hidden in his hair he could be much older than he appears. Bucket simply pointed to their missing arm, causing the man to lean in. "Hmmm, yes that seems quite unfortunate, don't you agree?" He said as three slimes poked their gelatinous bodies out of his oversized coat. A lavender, orange, and lime green, all of which seemed to stare at Bucket… or at least that's what Bucket assumed, it was hard to tell with their lack of eyes. "Yes that's quite unfortunate Mr. Yuri, do you have a spell that could help them?" The lavender slime spoke in a feminine voice. "Why help this rust bucket? Don't we have a meeting to get to? We're already bloody late!" The lime slime snapped in a masculine voice. The orange one remained silent, yet Bucket shouldn't shake off the feeling that it was looking at them with malicious intent. "Ah, don't worry dear lime, it should not take but a second to fix this. For I am the amazing, benevolent, and all-powerful Nicolo!" He proclaimed proudly, causing the few people out at night to look over, along with the conscripts the judges had brought with them… Perhaps it would be best to go to the Inn to avoid unnecessary attention.
Just as Bucket was about to get up and leave, the man suddenly grabbed Bucket, which they responded by pushing him away with both of their hands; then quickly noticed they had their missing arm back. Bucket stared at it, it wasn't like their old one, it was a strange, grey liquid like material that seemed to stay in the shape of an arm and hand despite the fact there wasn't anything keeping it that way. Even when Bucket used their mana sensor, they only detected a trace amount of mana within it, as if it was a weak spell rather than a literal limb-creating spell. "It's an experimental spell, while I am one of the most well-known and highly skilled mages in the land, do expect a flaw or two. Also, I noticed you cannot speak, while normally I would assume you're simply too stunned by my presence to speak, would I be wrong to assume something else is missing? I could likely fix that too if you let me look inside-" before he could finish, a judge would yell out. "Nicolo, you will come with us-"
"Never! Assistants, take me away!" He pulled out a small staff and slammed it on the ground, causing the entire area to be covered in smoke… yet when it cleared, Nicolo was only a few inches on the ground, while the three slimes were stretched out as they attempted to pull Nicolo up onto the roof nearby.
"Ngh- by the dead ones what did you eat?! A bloody Goleth?!" Lime yelled in frustration.
"Lime! Don't be so rude to our master! Though admittedly he does feel heavier than last time…" Lavender said back to him.
"Nicolo… you have a meeting with the high judge… we're here to escort you…" The judge said, seemingly expecting something like this to happen, causing Nicolo to adopt a look of realization.
"Oh- My apologies, it seems I've forgotten." He admitted as the three slimes suddenly let go of the roof, which resulted in him landing safely on the ground as the three quickly hid inside his coat. "Lead the way, also apologizes my metal… friend, I hope we shall meet again to help with your many flaws!" He said as he waved Bucket off before leaving with the conscripts. Bucket needed time to process what just happened, they had several questions, but couldn't exactly ask any at the moment. But on the bright side, they had two arms again, even if one seemed rather unusual and was allegedly an experiment. Though it was rather easy to take their mind off of that as they noticed something, a girl wearing a familiar-looking hat staring at them.
—
Lemmy
Lemmy was very confused, the weird man used magic like Maria, but it felt different. In fact now that she thought about it, Maria's magic felt different than her's too. When she used magic the mana felt… natural she'd say? For her it feels like yelling but louder. But the mana in Maria's spells felt heavier, like they were being forced to move along with her spells, while the weird man's spell felt like a torrent of mana being thrown around. She never thought about it till now, but she felt odd whenever another person used magic, as if she felt senses that didn't belong to her.
Bucket looked over at her, or at least in her direction, it's hard to tell exactly but she knows she was seen as they began to approach her. She knew there wasn't a point in hiding anymore, but still it was a bit embarrassing getting caught like this. "Uh… sorry?" She said, unsure if she was doing something she shouldn't or not. Bucket simply stared down at her, unable to speak, they just pointed at her. Lemmy tilted her head in confusion to this, causing Bucket to motion towards where their eyes would be. Lemmy stared at them for several moments before her eyes widened. Her eyes! She forgot that people didn't like them, something about monsters having similar eyes? She kinda forgot after the incident with the shop keeper… though now she's gotta get back before anyone notices!
Though as she and Bucket were about to go back, she noticed a small frog, it looked very cute! Or was it a toad? Either way it's blue skin was very cute looking! Was it a pet? Or was it an animal that somehow got into the city? It stared at her with its black, beady eyes as she reached out to pet it before Bucket grabbed her and dragged her away. She frowned but couldn't complain, she watched as the frog turned to look at her and- did… did a spider just crawl out of its mouth?
—
???
Brother toad and sister widow opened their eyes, they were instructed by brother Cobra to spy on the mages without alerting them, he even taught them to control toads and spiders respectively to spy on multiple at once. But the one with a weird arm was the most productive to watch! She was really boring to watch for a long time, but recently the girl she met made her a lot more interesting in their eyes! She seemed to be like them, though there was one difference… she didn't serve the masters.
Toad was the first to get up first, his eyes were nearly pitch black with the exception of brown pupils that had a horizontal shape. His stocky body towered over Widow who had her legs crossed. "We might have a new sister! I don't know exactly what she is, maybe a mix between some sort of rodent monster? Wonder what she's like…" he said, his body was covered in a strange mucus-like substance that gave his skin a greenish hue.
Widow on the other hand was quite smaller… possibly shorter than the girl they watched earlier. "Should we report this to the masters and brother-" four spider-like legs pierced out of her back instinctively and dragged her away as brother Toad frowned, leaving a small trail of blackened blood as she hid in the darkened corner of their room. "No, brother Cobra has more things to worry about… this is even more true for the masters! For now, let's just watch her, I want to get to know the youngest better before the masters find her." Toad said, Widow simply didn't respond. She knew better than to question brother toad, since he and Cobra are the oldest, maybe she'd get to push around Lemon or whatever or name was after the masters find out… she just hopes the masters doesn't punish her too for listening to him… she pushed her black hair out of her face as she closed her eyes again to focus back on the spiders under her control.
—
Lemmy
Ever since she followed Bucket, Lemmy felt strange… like someone was watching her, though she didn't know why. Did the frog follow her to the Inn? She didn't see it, only a spider that seemed keenly focused on her, though Lemmy tried to ignore it.
After forcing herself to rest for tonight, she approached Maria's room in the morning, she attempted to open the door though for some reason the door got stuck. "Hm? Who's there? Lemmy?" Maria asked. "Yeah, I think the door is stuck! Need me to break it down?" She asked as she prepared to knock it down which Maria quickly responded with. "NO- Erm- I'll open it-"
Maria quickly rushed to the door and opened it. "Don't knock down doors just because they're locked!" Maria scolded her, causing Lemmy's ears to flatten. "Oh… sorry." She said, before letting herself into Maria's room. Maria responded with a simple sigh. "So is there a reason you came here this early?" Maria asked in a tired voice, her hair was still messy and she seemed to only had just finished putting on her dress.
"Where are you from? Are there more cities like this? If so, are they all this empty?" Lemmy barraged her with questions, not letting her have an opportunity to answer until she asked all of her questions. "Okay allow me a moment to think, you're asking too many questions in a short amount of time." Maria responded before allowing herself a moment to collect herself before answering her questions, though she could only remember the first three questions at the moment. Everything after was spoken too quickly for her to understand.
When she had processed the questions she could understand, she would begin to answer them one by one.
"So, I'm from… Well that depends on what you mean." Maria said, causing Lemmy to tilt her head in confusion. "If you mean where I was born and raised, it was in a village called Phoenix Heart, it was on the other side of the continent, though unfortunately it's no longer safe to live there last I checked." Maria said as she looked out the window, she didn't sound too sad about it, but definitely not happy. "The Faelord near the town went mad, turning into a demon and destabilizing the mana in the surrounding area. Though luckily I moved to a city far away from it, to the city of Calbin, a city that contains the largest sanctuary on the eastern half of the deadlands."
"As for the cities… there's over a hundred I believe, though I never really counted them, though most are a lot more active. This city… It already wasn't doing well after the city of Salvumm started burning, but now with the judges here, I doubt it'll get any better here anytime soon." She said with a shrug. However, Maria seemed to remember something, but before she could speak Lemmy asked another question. "Can I go to Calbin then? This place is kinda boring…" she said while looking around haphazardly while waiting for Maria's response.
She seemed mildly surprised, but still managed to speak. "I suppose, in fact I was about to suggest that since mages usually are less paranoid when it comes to chimera, or at least the ones we've met." Lemmy's eyes widened. "There's more like me?" She asked, her interest now keenly focused on Maria. "Well… there's records of them, but they've left the deadlands long before I became a mage. I'm not sure where they're exactly though, or if they're even alive, but if you want to know more, I'm sure the older mages will likely know something." Maria promised. "Oh okay, can we go now then?"
"Well, it'd be slow without any transportation, but if it's only the three of us then we won't need any protection, mages and chimera are resistant to the negative side effects of mana dense areas, and Bucket I believe the automation is called would be unaffected. Though there is one thing to worry about." Maria said, a frown formed on her face as she looked over at the moon outside the window, despite it being dawn the moon had not left the morning sky yet. "The reign of silence will end soon, and the reign of bloom is coming." Lemmy was extremely confused by that sentence, to the point where she needed several seconds to make sure she hadn't heard that before, she feels like she should know, but doesn't.
"What are Reigns?" She asked, causing Maria to look at her to make sure if she was serious. "Oh right, Bucket gave me a summary of your situation and who you two are. You lived in a cavern right? Well- Reigns are what we call the various forms of the moon, there's many theories as to why it has multiple forms but no one can agree which is true, so I'll simply state the facts." She said before standing up and creating a small illusion of the moon, her arm faintly glowing as mana flowed throughout it.
"Right now is the Reign of silence, the most peaceful and relatively normal reign, in this form it takes the form of a giant, pale rock that can darken over time. When it is fully bright, water magic is strengthened and monsters hibernate until either the end of the Reign or until it's fully darkened… at which point air magic is strengthened." Maria explained, letting Lemmy watch as the moon is shown in its brightest and its darkest.
"The Reign of Bloom however, is always bright, in fact instead of having phases like silence, Bloom starts out… well I'll show you." She said as the face moon was enveloped in clouds until the surface was completely hidden behind them, before several branches burst out of the clouds before flowers bloomed out of them. Then a number appeared next to the moon starting with 1, as it counted up the flowers and eventually branches slowly decayed until it reached 60, at which point the petals had fallen off and fell into the clouds while the branches withered away. "When the Bloom is empowered, life magic is strengthened, but while decaying death magic is more powerful… but that's not my main concern."
Soon the moon changed into a humanoid corpse, or at least Lemmy thought it was until it suddenly twitched, a flower poked out of its left eye while vines surrounded its body. "The pollen produced by the Bloom touched moon can infect people, while the body can easily fight off the pollen naturally produced by it, the dying or those attacked by bloom touched are at risk of becoming bloom-touched themselves. Their frontal lobes are consumed by the plant while their bodies are used to help the bloom survive and reproduce. They're usually dormant year round unless disturbed- or when the bloom light touches them." Maria said before destroying the illusion.
"The route we'll take will take us near a large horde of the bloom touched, while fire magic can easily take them out, there's a small city's worth of people turned into bloom touched in that horde, due to the dead lands having hundreds areas with unstable mana, this is the safest route there even during the Reign of Bloom." Maria said, Lemmy looked concerned, but determined. "But is it still possible to go through there safely?" She asked,to which Maria nodded. "Possibly, if we go the same route I took to get here, and aren't unlucky enough to cross the path of the bloom-touched horde."
—
A couple hours later, Maria, Lemmy and Bucket had gathered a few basic supplies, mostly just food and some camping supplies since Maria claimed she could create water out of something called vapors, When the sun had risen higher in the sky, the night had completely disappeared into day, and the air became warmer they had set out on their journey. Ready to face whatever monsters or men were willing to threaten them, along with a couple of smaller companions unknowingly following them… a toad and a spider.