Flaming Tides

Blobby and I stand waist-deep in the sea water as I run my hands through my hair. "Do I really have to kill you?"

The temporary human nods shakily. "It's just a dream. Besides, you tried to kill me before. What's the harm now?"

I furrow my brows. "When did I do that?"

"When I was really big in that pond near town. I got away, but..." She shivers, her arms coming up near her chest. "Your mana was just so tasty I couldn't stay away..."

"That was you? Geez...now I feel bad..."

"Don't. If it hadn't been for that, I wouldn't be here. I'd have never remembered...anything." She brushes back a strand of hair. "I'd have never met Bel, or Eve, or anyone. I'd probably have just been beaten up by some low-level adventurer. Now, I can-..." She turns to me, a look of realization on her face. "Dusk, I-I don't know her name, but I have a girlfriend. She's the one who brought me here, and...I promised I'd find her after I came back. I know it's not a lot of information, but..."

I set a hand on her head. "I'll try. If you remember anything else about her, let me know. Speaking of, do you remember your name?"

Blobby shakes her head. "I remember I had a girlfriend, and that I became blind and deaf in some accident, which is how I know ASL, but...not much else. A lot of sex in the dark, really..." She takes a breath, glancing behind us at the four other women waiting on the beach. "Anyway, we should probably get this over with. Just...hold me under the water." She takes hold of my hand with both of her own.

I exhale, gripping her hands tight. "Yeah." I set a hand on her back and begin lowering her so she's face up. "Don't worry. It'll be over soon, and we'll see each other again when you wake up." I gulp as her head goes underwater, raising my voice so she can still hear me. "Just take a deep breath, and let it all out."

She smiles, and bubbles begin escaping her mouth. It's an agonizing few minutes, as she begins fidgeting in place. The fidgeting becomes more erratic, and she begins trying to push upward, but...I keep her down. This wasn't like with any of the hornets, or even that one goblin chief I killed. I'm looking at the pained face of someone trying to live, struggling with all their might. It's...absolutely horrible, to snuff the life of someone like this...

And I suddenly open my eyes, my real eyes, to the dim light of the dungeon underneath the prison. I breath heavily, my throat **** up. Immediately, I try to test the 'threads' that connected me to the others, breathing a sigh of relief when I still count four. Just a dream... She's okay. I only now notice that I'm hogtied sideways on the dungeon floor. "Hello?"

A number of people with butcher's aprons on all glance to me, each one with something on the side of their heads - and they're all women? Weren't some of these researchers men before? - and one approaches. This one has a white...rose(?) on the side of her head, around the temple. "You're awake, good. I'll skip over most of the complicated talk." She kneels down and begins untying me. "The Empress has been here for some time, and has constantly told her subjects to get her out, no matter the cost. However, for some reason, she thinks you can help her escape more peacefully. Despite that, she's too weak now to tell all her other subjects of this, and they're causing mayhem above. The captain went to pacify the others, but that was over an hou-"

The large stone doors on the other side of the room suddenly burst open, or more accurately break open. "Dusk, you in here?"

"Demona?" I stand up, now free of my binding.

"Yeah! Bel said to find you after I woke up." The dust settles as she walks closer, most of the researchers turning back to their work as if nothing went wrong. "Looks like you've got things covered, though."

I glance to Rose behind me. "Long story short, we need to get her out of here. Do you think you can help with that?"

She looks to the verdure. "I don't think so, no. If she were smaller, I could do it myself, but I don't think she could even fit through the door upstairs."

Shit... If only there were some way to keep her alive while... My eyes light up as I remember one of those random facts I had learned about some plants and fungi. "Demona, scratch that. Find Essraya and bring her here, as soon as possible. I'll see if I can help Rose out in the meantime."

"Aye aye, 'Captain'." She cocks a grin as she turns and trots back, making small cracks in the floor with every step.

The researcher next to me is slack-jawed. "You dare refer to the Empress so casually?"

I glare. "Fuck off. We're on a timetable and last I checked, you're one of the reasons she's still here in the first place. Go back to whatever you were doing to actually help her instead of worrying about formalities." I turn and pace back to Rose, focusing on conjuring up my light blade and a light bolt in my other hand. Taking a knee next to her, I hold both my hands close to her leaves. I really hope this actually helps...

. . .

Maybe twenty minutes pass, and I can feel my mana is draining fast. Whether or not I'm actually helping is a different story, but with God's Eye, it seems like her level of exhaustion at least hasn't increased since I started, staying steady at 98%... Let's not think about what happens when it gets to 100%...

"What did they do to you?!" I hear a feminine cry from behind me, and turning around, I see Xerxes rushing forth, carrying Essraya in the pot on his back. They quickly reach me, and the minotaur sets the humanoid verdure next to the more plant-like one. "Give me a moment, I'm going to help, okay?" She pulls on the part of her in her potted soil, and something looking like a root comes out. She does the same a few more times, before she's no longer restricted to the pot at all. She hops down into the soil of Rose's containment chamber, and her roots immediately dig down. "Oh, Melanoche! There's no nutrients in this soil at all! Babe, dump my pot."

The minotaur obeys, tipping it over and spilling the soil. I begin spreading it out, having dismissed my magic, making sure I get some of it all around Rose. "Don't worry about the scientists. They're all under her control."

Xerxes furrows his brows. "Control? What, she has some kind of mind magic?"

"Something like that. She can release spores, kind of like seeds, that drill in through people's skulls and burrow into their brains. Rewires them to make her the most important thing in their lives." I recite some of the information I gleamed via God's Eye.

He shakes his head. "Above my head..."

"Dusk," Essraya starts, "you didn't help...a lot, but your light magic definitely staved off the worst of it. She's been malnourished for weeks..." She turns to me, smiling. "On her behalf, thanks. Now, you should probably go help Bel with the riots."

"Riots? Are they that bad?" I sigh. "If you think you can handle things here..." I set a hand on Rose's wilted petals. "...I'll be back, okay?" We clearly weren't particularly close, especially since she tried to mind control me, but...I felt for Rose. Whether or not it was because she used to be human - she even has that Knowledge of the Self feature that Eve and Blobby have - I can't be sure, but either way, she'd been starved nearly to **** down here. Reluctantly, I turn and jog away.

. . .

I soar above, seeing the light of fires and plumes of smoke throughout the city. The guards had been surprisingly accepting of me actually leaving the prison, which just makes me more suspicious that this is whatever Bel was worried about the previous night. I dive toward the nearest one, the smell of smoke filling my nose. As I fly by, I take a scan of the situation. Here, it looks like a few dozen people are tied up, with some guards - including what looks to be Roger in his armor - using what looks like an old-fashioned firewagon to put out the fire.

Seeing as that one is largely taken care of, I don't turn around when I pass them, instead moving toward the next plume of smoke. This one is probably half a mile away from the prison, but since I haven't flown in nearly a week, it takes me longer than I'd like to get there. This one looks taken care of as well, with similarly tied up individuals, and Demona and Markonath are...in the rubble of nearby buildings. After circling a bit, I realize they made a firebreak by clearing out the buildings surrounding the blaze. Surprised the guards let them get away with that...

Moving onto the third fire, this one seems the largest of the four I saw from above, encompassing an entire block, at least. I don't need to fly by to see a procession of people with torches marching away from the flames. I quickly land a hundred feet or so ahead of them, and then realize: How am I going to get them to stop? I can't kill them, and injuries...they're not of right mind, really, it wouldn't be right. That leaves talking, but they'd only listen to... Roger was infected, wasn't he? And I was too, but I'm not influenced thanks to Angelic Protection... By the time I make up my mind and begin channeling Kara, the mob of a couple dozen or so has approached.

"Get out of our way, monster! We're not here for you!" A woman at the front - and they all look like women, each one with a white rose - shouts to me.

Using Kara's knowledge, I produce an illusion of a pink rose on my temple before turning my head to them to reveal it. Assuming white means low-ranking, red should be the highest, so pink will put me somewhere in the middle, I hope. "The Empress has rescinded her previous order. You all are to stop the spread of the fire."

They all look to me with confusion, some of them sharing looks with each other. Looks like I missed the memo on ranking... "Why hasn't she told us herself?" I hear, somewhere in the back of the crowd.

I think back to what I'd been told by another of Rose's minions. "She is too weak to send out an order on such a large scale. Now, put out the fires and make your way peacefully to the prison. If the guards attempt to arrest you, do not resist. If we don't handle this properly, the Empress won't survive the night." That last bit seemed like enough to get under their skin, and they quickly dropped any torches they were carrying and started rushing back toward the very buildings they set ablaze. I release a breath I wasn't quite aware I was holding in. "Sorry, Kara. I needed your help. I'm not that good with illusions, yet." Feeling a bit of anxiousness, but also comfort from my connection with the kitsune. I take a few steps forward, prepping a water bolt in my hand. Doesn't seem to take water from anywhere in particular... Hopefully it'll help more than it hurts... I begin rushing toward the burning buildings.