Tear off the devil-suppressing bracelet

The metal ring clatters to the hard wood floor, the sound ringing out into the silence that follows it. Lia must have heard, because the rustling sounds have stopped, too. You can’t hear her moving, but if she’s really able to silence her footsteps then she could be finding somewhere to hide.

Hild hasn’t moved an inch since you wrenched the bracelet off her wrist. She hasn’t said a word, either, which is starting to really be a concern. You expected her to get mad at you, or freak out that you took off the only thing supposedly helping her manage this “devil possession” you heard about. Instead, it’s as if she’s frozen in time. You walk around in front of her and peek around the corner, seeing the mess that must be where Lia was rummaging through items a moment ago, but no sign of Lia herself. You wave a hand in front of Hild’s face, but she remains frozen and unblinking with a startled expression.

“Hild?” you say. You place a hand on her shoulder and give her a little shake.

No response. You look around for Lia again, and this time spot her tail as it pokes out from behind some crates and waves around before hiding again. Good, you think, she’s safe. You turn your attention to Hild one more time, to verify that she is actually breathing even if she’s unresponsive, and then you make your way over to Lia’s hiding spot.

“Did you find them?” you ask. Lia steps out from behind the crates and proudly presents her open rucksack for you to peer into. Inside are three fist-sized gemstones, each a different shape and color. You smile easily at the sight of them, and place your hands on Lia’s shoulders to give her an excited shake. “How did you —” You stop yourself before you can launch into how curious you are about how she managed to find them so quickly. Your questions can wait. “You did great. Let’s get out of here.”

You and Lia slip past the still unresponsive Hild and head back to the door leading into the main hall. Lia cracks it open, peeks out, then slips through gracefully. You follow, as nonchalantly as you can manage. Hopefully, you can get clean away before someone finds Hild frozen back there.

You emerge into a hall of adventurers still engrossed in the heated exchanges of the S-rank party. Blythe is standing over by the front doors, feigning interest in the ongoing argument while inconspicuously watching you and Lia approach. Lia walks right past her and out into the town, in keeping with the plan; you meet up with Blythe, walk her around the hall for a minute, then leave with her. The two of you walk for a few minutes in the direction of the inn before Lia joins back up with you.

“You were not in the back for very long,” says Blythe as you all continue towards the inn to pick up the rest of your belongings. It’s unlikely that you’ll get a chance after the Elemental is defeated, so now is the time to grab the tents and anything else not currently on-hand. “I trust you found what we were looking for?”

“Lia’s amazing,” you say. “I don’t know how she did it, but she found those stones in record time.”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” says Lia, waving her arms around dramatically. “They weren’t even that well hidden. I’m more interested in whatever you did to that lady back there. She was totally out of it! What did you do to her?” Both girls look interested to know the answer to this.

To be honest, you think, I don’t really know.

“I took off her bracelet,” you say. “I heard a rumor that she’s possessed by a devil, and that the bracelet suppresses it.” It was a gamble, considering you don’t know what any of that means in the context of this fictional world set up for the trial, but you were ****. Also, your dream had suggested things might get sexual if you did it, and that wasn’t entirely not the reason you did it. You definitely weren’t disappointed when she froze up instead of going nymphomaniacal on you. It would have been fun, though. It’s at least some small comfort when the girls both tell you that they also have no idea why someone “devil-possessed” would react that way, or what being “devil-possessed” even means.

You and your party arrive at the Bunnykin Inn to collect your things. As you pass through the lobby both coming and going, you look around for Jas but can’t find her. You would’ve liked to have said goodbye, but there’s no time to go searching for her now. Blythe informs the bunnykin at the reception desk that your party will not be staying another night, and the three of you make your way to the edge of town.

…

Less than two hours after entering the Guild, you, Blythe, and Lia are back in the wind-swept plains, standing around the stone altar where Blue Cloak talked to you three days ago. If you’re right about everything so far, this altar will be used to summon the “Elemental” you’re meant to defeat. The altar has three recesses, spaced evenly around the circumference of the runic circle etched into its surface. Blue Cloak told your party that this is a “trial of earth,” and you discovered three large gemstones in the town you were directed towards. Hopefully, all you have to do now is place the gemstones in the altar for the summoning to activate.

Lia gets started, dumping the colorful stones out of her bag and rolling the first into its own space. As she’s moving the second one, you feel a change in the air: there’s a tension that wasn’t there before. Then, you hear footsteps.

A chill runs down your neck. You turn around in time to see an armored figure leaping at you with a {if@ sword = true}sword{elseif mace = true}mace{elseif spear = true}spear{endif}.

Blythe steps in front of you and parries a strike that would’ve taken your head. She then takes a ready stance against this newcomer. “What is the meaning of this?” she asks the enemy.

“That’s what I should be asking you!” they say. They point their silver {if@ sword = true}sword{elseif mace = true}mace{elseif spear = true}spear{endif} not at Blythe but at you, and as they hold that pose the weapon begins shaking. “A thief? You were supposed to be different!” You recognize the enchanted {if@ sword = true}sword{elseif mace = true}mace{elseif spear = true}spear{endif}, the polished steel chestplate and gauntlets, the padded leather bottoms and black, enchanted boots. You recognize the rabbit-like ears poking through the specially-designed helmet and the voice of the hardened adventurer with a softer side. It’s Jas Evergreen, the woman you tied up last night.

Thoughts barrel through your head as you try to come up with some way to diffuse the situation. How do you explain what you’re about to do? How do you explain what you’ve had to do to get to this point? From Jas’s perspective, this all probably looks really bad, although you’re not sure how much she knows. Does she know about Hild? Does she know what these gemstones do?

Before you can say anything, you hear the sound of Lia rolling the final gemstone into place, and a low whir of magic activating.