Exodus

-The next day.-

-The room is dark except for an area where the sun is shining near the bed. In the bed lies Kasumi and Akio in bliss from last night’s ‘adventure’ with Akta. The blissful sleep is interrupted, however, by knocking at the door. Kasumi, still worn from last night, uses her leg and tail to try and gently wake Akio so he can answer the door while she tries her best to change back to her human form. Akio wakes up and moves to the door after kissing Kasumi on the forehead. Before he opens the door, he puts on some clothes and turns to her just in time to see her shift back to her human form. At the door, was 3 white-robed individuals who either intentionally or not gave Akio a sense of great danger. His sword was too far from him and even if he was able to get it, he’d be leaving Kasumi open for their attack, so he decided to block their view as best as he can.-

“Something you need?” Akio asked the individuals.

“No. Something you need. Where is she?”

“Who?”

“You know who we are referring to, don’t waste our time, commoner.”

“Commoner? I’ll have you know, I’m one of the reasons this town isn’t overrun by thugs or ruled by a greedy governor.”

“A small action for a sinful town.”

Akio realizes who these individuals are, “who sent you? Why are you even here?”

The woman to his left answers, “we are the ones who will ask the questions, you will answer them and you will be honest. Now, answer the question.”

-Before Akio could answer, he felt a presence attempt to enter his mind, he can resist it for a couple of minutes before it subsides. The individuals were not amused.-

“So, this is how you want to get answers? Well, you can forget it, go back to your boss or whatever and tell them to fuck off!” Akio slams the door shut and walks a few inches from it before hearing a loud thud and feel the wind from the door fall behind him. Kasumi wakes up and peeks her head to see what is going on.

“We will not ask again, commoner. We can erase this town from the map and no one will question it.”

“Hmm. Ok, so you just confirmed something.”

“What would that be? We would love to hear your ideas.” The male said sarcastically.

“Which god sent you?”

“Fool. It wasn’t just one, there was a unanimous vote to summon us from the gods to this town to find your companion.”

“Let me guess, Valeria said something she wasn’t supposed to say.”

The individuals looked at Akio surprised to figure out who ratted them out.

“Your friend needs to learn to mind her own damn business sometimes.”

-Kasumi looks at Akio’s sword, casts mage hand and throws it at Akio, who catches it and readies himself. Kasumi, still being naked and in human form, uses the mage hand to pick up a chair and throw it at one of the cloaked people.-

“Dammit!” The woman turns to the direction the chair was thrown from and sees the mage hand. “(Elvish) She is here somewhere, remember, they want her alive. Kill the commoner if you have to.”

-Kasumi hears them very well and knows that she has to try to stay as hidden as possible and assist Akio without revealing her location, even though there is a huge lump in the bed’s sheets the shape of a body that the individuals somehow missed. Akio lunged at one of the individuals who parried his attack with their sai. The other individual saw the opportunity to strike him but didn’t get close to him and almost killed their companion. The third individual was also focused on the fight and watching the mage hand as it just stood there motionless as if waiting for a command. When she turns to the bed, the sheets were open, she noticed that the lump was no longer there and Akio was lunging at her but was denied by a shield that bounced his attack back at him.-

“You are rather foolish for a human. We only want to talk to your companion, if we wanted to kill her, we wouldn’t have walked up to your door and had that conversation.” The female individual said.

Akio gets up from being knocked down, “but the fact that Valeria had to tell the church about our trip is reasoning enough for me to deny you from speaking to her.”

“You can’t stop us. Lay down your weapon and tell us where she went.”

-Akio looks at the bed and sees she isn’t there, he looks at the window and sees it wasn’t open, he looks around and sees Kasumi’s clothing is still around, which to him either meant she found a hiding spot or she snuck out the room, then the mage hand threw another chair at them, they dodged it and looked around for her.-

“Tell your companion that we don’t mean any harm.”

“She could still hear you unless she went out of the window.”

“You can come out, Ms. Bollani. We just want to talk. If it makes you feel better, we don’t believe Valeria’s words.”

“Mostly because she is still a novice at this work,” one of the males said.

What should I do, Akio?

I can’t fight them by myself, Kasumi and if they did want to kill us, they would have done it already.

That fucking priestess bitch couldn’t keep her damn mouth shut. If we make it out of this, remind me to kill her.

Noted.

Kasumi pokes her head out from the bottom-front of the bed, “Can the questions wait a few minutes? We need to freshen up at least.”

“Very well. Make it quick, the elders will know something is up and will no doubt attack the town if they don’t hear from us in the next… hour.” The female motions to her compatriots to leave the room and they head downstairs.

“Could have also fixed the door…”

Kasumi got out from under the bed, lifted the door and cast mending to repair the door back on its hinges, “better? Get in the shower and hurry up. I’ll have to make a call to my Mistress.”

“Think Akta already knows?”

“Doubt it. She isn’t omnipotent.”

-Akio heads into the bathroom and Kasumi attempts to contact Akta. For three minutes, she had no success but kept trying as this was important and thought she should know.-

Kasumi? How did—know what? That’s not important, yet. You contacted me, what’s wrong?

Valeria told the church about the trip down in the tomb. We had three individuals show up in the room, of course, we thought they wanted to kill me, but they said they don’t believe Valeria. I think they are just saying that to make me feel comfortable.

Don’t panic, Kasumi. They might not know about your connections with me, but if they do, keep calm and deny. Don’t make it obvious or they will continue questioning you and Akio.

What about Valeria?

I should have killed her when I came to your aid… Let me deal with that rat, dear. You won’t be hearing from her when I’m finished.

Thank you, Mistress. I have to go now, these people are waiting for us.

-As Kasumi was done communicating with Akta, Akio steps in the room, a towel wrapped around his waist, a washcloth drying his hair and he tells her that the bathroom is ready for her. She wastes no time getting in the bathroom, taking off her clothes and stepping into the shower. As she was showering, she was contemplating what she thought would happen while they were talking to her and Akio. She imagined that they would kidnap her and bring her to a faraway island where **** would be her only escape; they would kill both of them on the spot and make it look like Kasumi and Akio were fighting each other; or get the gods to intervene, kill Akta and destroy the succubus realm and **** Kasumi to break her bonds. These thoughts were playing through her mind, and it only made her more anxious.-

“Kasumi, you don’t have to worry, I’m right beside you all the way. If they try to hurt you, I can get us out of town. I can’t guarantee we will lose them, but we will have a head-start, so, that’s got to count for something… right?”

“Akio… I’m worried. I know Akta can handle herself, but what about us? What if we can’t get a head-start? What if they capture us? They only want me anyway… They’ll more than likely dispose you and… I don’t know what I’ll do if that happens.”

-Akio walks in the bathroom and moves the shower curtain slightly to see a soaked Kasumi lost in her thoughts with tears streaming down her face. He puts a towel around her, hugs her and helps her get ready. After they got ready and had their clothes on, they went downstairs and found the same individuals at a table waiting patiently for them. The female motioned to them to sit at the empty seats next to them and Akio had to guide Kasumi to the chair because her thoughts from earlier caused her to freeze in place.-

“We only want to speak with her, you may go do whatever you planned to do to get your meager pay.”

Akio stood next to Kasumi in his chain mail armor that has seen better days, “No, I’m staying with her. That’s it.”

“Suit yourself, know that whatever is said here, you will not tell anyone outside this table. Understood? Good, let’s get started. Kasumi, how did you learn about the tomb under the town?”

-Kasumi broke out of her anxiety, but stayed silent knowing if she told them it was from bandits, they would continue questioning how they got it.-

“Its ok, dear child. We are more curious as to how an ancient burial site was uncovered and raided.”

“Some of us are,” said the third individual. “Tell us how the hell you found out, now. We don’t have all day.”

-Kasumi remained silent, thinking about how Valeria could betray them without giving a second thought. That didn’t stop the individuals from continuing questioning her.-

“Listen, blacksmith, we don’t have time for your games.”

“So, you think this is a game? Having someone betray your trust and then send lapdogs to terrorize people for information?”

“Lapdogs?! Why you—” When the male got up from his seat, the woman looked at her companion which made him freeze in place and sit back down.

“Valeria sent us because she was worried about something. She was worried about you.” The female said

“Maybe she should learn to sometimes mind her own damn business,” Akio snapped.

“Could say the same for you, commoner,” the second male replied.

“Kasumi is part of it, so make sure you get that in your damn skull before you go defending that little punk.”

“You have balls, but it won’t save you when the gods have a word with you.”

Kasumi had enough of the questioning, the bickering, the slander, the betrayal and finally spoke, “You want to know where I got it that badly? Fine. I stole it from the bandits.”

“Ha, you finally talk and you try to make yourself a hero. Cute.” The third male said.

“You and your gods weren’t there when they kidnapped and robbed us! You and your gods didn’t see what they did to the others in the camps! I was the one who got the map from them and freed the prisoners! Where were your gods then?! They only care about the people who fear and worship them without question! I… I’ve had enough. This talk is over.” Kasumi gets up from her seat, walks over to the innkeeper and pays for the room then grabs Akio’s hand and walks out the inn.

-The entire place went quiet and the people that were there heard the commotion and looked at the table, the individuals were upset that Kasumi caused a scene and left the area. When they were outside, they see Kasumi heading to the marketplace and decided to leave town. When Kasumi and Akio reach the blacksmith and head inside, they see 4 guards talking to Kasumi’s father.-

“Come on, the king asked for those supplies. Thought you were the best in town or did you think the king’s time wasn’t precious?”

“N—No it’s not like that! I sent my daughter to help look for those materials! We were side-tracked by the bandit attack.”

“Likely story, blame it on the bandits and gangs and when we come for what the king wants, you low-class peasants won’t pay your dues.”

One of the guards hits the father in the stomach, “how’s that, huh? Think we have time for your damn games?” He hits the father with his shield, “where are the supplies, old man?”

“That’s enough! Leave the area and go back to watching the king. I would say ‘you should know better,’ but you damn guards always use your position to try and get your way.”

The guards turn around and see Akio and Kasumi, “Oh great, the vigilante is here. Why don’t you go back to being watchers and let us deal with order around here? If anything happens that *may* require your assistance, we’ll ask the king to let you handle it.” Two of the guards laugh with the one talking and the fourth one looks at Kasumi. “Well well, don’t tell me you have a girl joining your ranks. You have 4 old women already. Their cookies not doing enough for you?”

“That… that’s my daughter…”

“Yeah? Well, you don’t mind if we hold her until you get those supplies done right?”

“But she is helping me. Without her help, it’ll take longer to finish.”

“Then get to work, old man.” One of the guards walk to Kasumi and reaches his hands to her, but she grabs his hand and cracks his bones.

“Shit! Damn. You are a feisty one? Ok, the fun way it is, then.”

-Akio reaches for his sword, but Kasumi grabs it and thrusts it into the guard’s chest. The others look in horror as they see the guard slump towards Kasumi and get pushed off the blade. She points the sword at the other guards and two of them go on the offense. They try to flank her sides trying to make her pay attention to one of them, but she cast Eldritch Blast at the guard to her right and clashed with the other one. Every attack he did was blocked and parried by Kasumi. Akio noticed the guard to his right was getting back up and he took the dead guard’s sword and threw it at him almost piercing his groin area. The guard screamed in agony which distracted the clashing guard allowing Kasumi to cut his throat and a fountain of blood to gush out covering her face. Both guards are dead, one is dying and the other is shitting himself, she went to the guard with the sword near his groin, took it out and shoved it in his jugular. He coughed up blood and tried vainly to breathe but fell backward and died. Kasumi turns to the other guard and he leaves the area, Kasumi turns to Akio motions to take care of the guard and walks to the backroom in the shop.-

“Mr. Bollani, are you ok?”

“Yes, thank you, Akio.”

“I haven’t seen Kasumi like this…”

“What happened? She only gets this angry if something was bothering her prior.”

“A church sent some people after us. They began questioning her and pestering her, I guess she reached her boiling point. I’ll go calm her down.”

“No. She needs something else to keep her mind off that. I’ll have her help me with some of the orders for today.”

“I can find the guard and make sure he doesn’t tell anyone then look for the materials you need for the king’s orders.”

“Thank you, Akio. Don’t trouble yourself with the guard, I just hope he learns a lesson.”

-Akio starts to walk out, then looks back at the backroom Kasumi is in and walks over slightly opening the door seeing Kasumi curled up and angry.-

“I’ll be back, Kasumi. We can go back to that spot we went to when we were kids.”

Kasumi nods and looks at him apologetically.

“I would have acted the same way if I was in your position. You have nothing to be sorry about. If I find Valeria, I’ll give her an extra few just for you.”

Kasumi smiles slightly and Akio walks out. “Who’s Valeria, sweetie?” Kasumi’s dad asks her.

-Two hours later-

-Kasumi is calm and working with her father making orders that arrived today and couldn’t be completed yesterday because people were still having a hang-over. A man walks over to the shop, requests to speak with Kasumi’s father and asks him to have a private conversation.-

“Kasumi can you take care of the rest for me until I get back?”

“Sure, I know the orders already.”

“Atta girl.” Her father walks over with the customer out of listening range, but Kasumi already knows what it was about but didn’t let it stop her from doing her job.

-Thirty minutes later, she completed four orders and started working on the fifth one when she heard her name being called. When she went to check on who it was, she saw her father and ten other people looking at her.-

“D—Did I do something wrong, dad?”

“No, at least I don’t think so. They want to talk to you about your… performance earlier.”

Kasumi lowers her head, “I don’t want to talk about it. I’m done with that topic.”

“But we want to express our thanks to you.”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it!” Kasumi goes back to her work doing her best to ignore everyone and forget about the incident. Her father dismisses the crowd and goes back working with his daughter.

-Six hours later-

-They are closing up shop and Kasumi hears her name being called again. She notices it’s Akio calling her and she checks up on him.-

“Akio? What’s wrong?”

“Bunch of people in front of your house. Dressed like the same people from this morning.”

“What the fuck are they doing there?!”

“Don’t know, didn’t want to ask in case they might recognize me so I came here. Also, hi Mr. Bollani.”

“Kasumi head home now and check on your mother, Akio make sure she gets there safely then alert the watchers. Keep those bastards away from the house.”

“Yes, sir. Come on, Kasumi.” Akio grabs Kasumi’s hand and they sprint to the house as fast as they could. When they reached the house, the only thing they were met with was a burning house and no sign of the cloaked individuals or Kasumi’s mother.

“Where is she?! Is she in there?! MOM! MOM, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!”

“Kasumi, we have to go back.”

“Why? She could still be alive in there! We have to get her out.”

Akio holds Kasumi and makes her look him in the eyes, “she… didn’t make it, Kasumi. We need to head back because they are more than likely going to do the same to your father.”

“They wouldn’t fucking dare…”

“What’s to stop them?”

“Call the watchers, Akio. I need to check on dad.”

“Be careful. I don’t want to lose you either.”

-Kasumi runs back to the blacksmith shop only to find it ablaze. She sees one of the figures and can make out the outfit, it’s the same cloak from earlier. The cloak has a pink rose that extends on the right of the cloak. The individual reveals her face to Kasumi and walks away. Kasumi chases after her but loses track. She heads back and can only stare at the blaze as she imagines the screams from her mother and father.

Akta. If you are listening, I want to know if you had a hand in this… Please… I want to know.

-No response.-

Akta, please… I can’t…

Kasumi? What’s wrong? I hear your cries, what happened?

Did you orchestrate this?

-Kasumi’s left eye turns into Akta’s color and Akta sees the blaze from the blacksmith and Kasumi’s house.-

What the…? What happened?!

Please, Akta, be honest.

Kasumi, I wouldn’t do something like this. Oh shit… Is it from those individuals?

The gods have gone too far, Mistress.

We need to get you to safety. Where’s Akio?

Getting the town’s watchers to figure out this mess…

…They’ll be back. They want to test you. Wound you to the point where you have nowhere else to go. For beings calling themselves holy and whatever, they are even more diabolical than most of us demons. Kasumi, I will open a portal for you and Akio. It’ll lead to my room when you enter it, I may not be there because of a meeting with the queen. You two must hide in case she sends people to check my room, which she no doubt will.

Then what?

Then… We figure out our next move. Getting to the next artifacts will be difficult with the church after us.

-Kasumi’s eye turns back to normal as Akta disconnects her telepathic call and she heads to the burning house to find Akio who is interrogating a person with the same white cloak.-

“Akio!”

“Hmm?”

“Wait. Does that cloak have a rose on it?”

“Yes, pink actually. Why—”

-Kasumi pushes Akio aside and kicks down the individual and places her dagger at the individual’s throat.-

“Why?! What did they do to deserve this?! Why are you after me?!”

“You should know why.”

Kasumi stabbed the individual in the chest and left the knife in there, “where is Valeria?”

The individual coughs up blood and winces as Kasumi twists the knife, “I don’t know, ok? She just left town after she told us about you and that demon that healed you.”

“That bitch… So that questioning this morning was just to confirm your suspicions?”

“You’re learning. Good.”

Kasumi pushes the knife deeper in him, “What are the names of the gods pulling the strings? How much do you fuckers know of me?”

“We know you are a blacksmith in training… You have… alleged connections… with the infernal realm…”

“The gods, who made this plan?”

“I don’t know!”

“Liar!” Kasumi picks up the individual and throws him near the burning building and kicks him in the wreckage. All that was heard was his screams and cries for help then silence.

“We are leaving, Akio.”

“Should we pack?”

“We don’t have time! I will leave you here! They crossed the line!”

-Kasumi storms out of town and Akio does his best to keep up with her. They kept going until close to midday the next day. They are still traveling but both can barely keep their eyes open without almost walking into a tree.-

“We should rest… Do you know where we are going?”

“Akta said there was a portal or something we should pass through. I didn’t catch where though.”

-The two decide to rest under a tree. Both of them were too tired to keep watch so they immediately fell asleep when they sat down.-