Underestimating the Children

Moira spun with the deflection and brought the hammer back down faster than the axe could be reared back for another attack. The minotaur’s horn tore from its socket, shattering his skull while still inside his head. A few numb, gurgled moans later, the beast fell from the Warden’s last strike. She checked her flank and confirmed that the other foe, a four-armed albino gorilla, remained equally dead. Both corpses, their bodies twisted by Moira’s brutality, refused to dissolve like they would in any ordinary illusion barrier; the evil wizard's trick, Moira decided, and probably one that would fail with the barrier once she slayed the Academy’s intruder. Assuming I can find her... I bet it’s a her... Moira tried not to think of why she assumed a female mage would be after John... or why that filled her with jealousy.

She failed, of course. I swear upon the honor of the Brighton name, if that ring-happy polygamist somehow walks out of this wretched hive of **** and misery with another wife, I will smite him myself-!

She looked down at the corpses again. Neither creature had been evil, Moira’s senses suggested, and neither seemed eager to attack her; their **** fighting and charging spoke of their situation under the master of this place, and the pearls in their heads, now disintegrating, radiated the same malevolence as the barrier. Unfortunately, that fact also made it hard to detect any of the evil in this place; the entire structure was aglow with dark intentions, and she'd sooner find a gulp of fresh water poured into the ocean than detect the master of this place.

Moira hoisted her hammer up and flicked it towards the wall, slinging most of the blood and chunks of fur and skin from its head. The Lady has made me strong... strong enough to fell such beasts without her intervention. But I can’t assume these were the worst... Confidently, she moved on, eager to find John and the harlot trying to steal her man-

T-The evil mage! I’m... I’m only here to slay evil! It’s just coincidence that John is involved... and surely, with five other wives beyond me, he must be sated... yes... She repeated the narrative in her mind for as long as it took to fool herself... which unfortunately took too long, as she found the next crossroads guarded by a trio of dire boars.

Layla grew another flare of fire over the next glowing brick, blinding it with soot. Quietly, she hummed a tune as she worked to regain her mana, though her thoughts struggled to focus on the lyrics of these tiny effects. I’ve never seen so many wards outside of Firesmith’s faculty hall... it’s almost exhausting! But I can’t tell what they do beyond detecting things, and I certainly don’t want to find out the hard way... Layla sighed as a shadow grew over the crossroads up ahead. A translucent cube slowly quivered into view and grew bulbous, gelatinous eyes that blinked at the shadily dressed piece of organic food just down the hall-

The ooze cube had no mouth, and so it could not scream, as its world turned to heat, then to fire, and then to ash. Layla pouted as she stopped her march. Thank goodness my lover is waiting for me... he hasn’t moved in all three minutes I’ve taken! Oh, but that blue-haired idiot is closer to me... and closer to my love- no. No, I mustn't let her reach him first! Where are the stairs?! Her pout grew as she finished meditating on her energy and, with a nervous spring to her step, resumed her hasty march.

Sweat poured down Juniluny’s face, but she couldn’t feel it until the pain finally subsided. She let the leather bit fall from her mouth as she opened one eye to look, and only then did her pained gasps turn into worried chuckles.

The new arm had finished growing, though it was a painful, ugly process for the minute it took to bubble into existence. It was a few shades paler than the rest of her and still tingled as new nerves struggled to know what to feel, but her arm was back and her blood had been restored. Satisfied, the Cabalist put the empty blue phial in the wooden desk drawer along with its two filled brothers. The taste of almonds did little to help the memory of pain... but looking at her steel examination slab, and the heavy, restraining device that pinned her latest burn victim to it, did make her a little better.

Juniluny took stock of her lab in total: a huge, round room encased in steel and guarded at its sole entrance by her strongest, and most well-endowed, Elven warriors. A large glass chamber, a soul extractor for larger beasts, remained empty; it sat next to the table currently imprisoning the Northern Wind killer, and both devices had coils of thin purple tubes streaming down from their bottoms and into the base of the central crystal’s mount. The crystal itself, a massive purple soul gem the size of a human child, glowed and hummed as it continued to gnaw on its generous reserves of soul energy. Across from the lab entrance waited the sleek, gilded glass tube of her secret elevator, her trick to traverse the labyrinth in comfort while her victims, new and old, wallowed in the maze proper.

The crystal pulsed with yearning. Juniluny had just finished tapping it to restore her own reserves of soul energy; quietly, she promised it a meal in return. To that end, she disregarded the rest of her lab, it’s cabinets, bookshelves and tables covered in flasks and bones, to go straight to her unfortunate guest's side.

Kim had started to stir awake, likely from the pain of exposure. “Let me help you with that,” Juniluny chuckled as she twisted a knob on the device. The large, purple plastic tube connecting her to the gem began to surge, and Kim’s screams followed Juniluny as she went down to investigate the intruder who would soon get to John’s floor.

The elevator closed... and Kim, finally awake and aware, cried as she tried to focus. The pain was nothing that training could possibly-

I find... my foes... with their eyes... The medallion spun in her mind and whistled its metallic song. I... hear... malevolent steps with their... ears... Kim found her center anew... and though it made the damage to her body appear so much worse, she shunted the pain until it was merely a notification of her danger... one she could set aside.

I... am humble before my duty... with their hearts.

The machine began to surge again, to steal something more from her, something important... and she raised her barriers around her soul, as best as she could, with the magical focus that charged her body. The machine tapped her again. It took another piece... smaller, this time, but no less searing in the very tapestry of her being than the cracking patches of black on her skin.

The purple wires were largely still. Kim continued to cry as the crystal before her tried to **** her very being, but her focus returned. With a muted mind, she focused on staving off infection as she began to mend her flesh. She would be scarred... she didn't want to think of what she looked like, without hair, without proper skin... but if she could repair her muscles, she could escape. To think... I would run away... Kim smothered the surge of shame within her and continued to heal while the machine began to whir with another attack. I am the Slayer... and I cannot squander that responsibility on pride-! The machine whirred, surged, and again took another tiny, irreplaceable piece of Kim Moon.

John’s mouth formed an ‘O’ as he realized the parallels. So far, every floor is the same size... With his eyes still closed, he continued his exercise. He remained seated in the hallway, which now had two corpses: the bizarre raptor creature he initially killed and, just beyond those remains, the deflating hulk of what was apparently a balloon-like beast of thick, black fur and translucent blue tentacles. A third beast, smelling the coughed or spurted blood of its fellow denizens, creeped into view. More humanoid than the others, its purple and beige form was something out a child’s nightmare: long, flexible limbs that terminated in three-fingered grips lined with spikes. Human-like legs that ended in padded, toeless feet stepped carefully on springy, spongy legs. It’s face was a jagged hole filled with human molars; its eyes sat where one expected ears, and it let itself drool for fear of alerting the prey with the normal, healthy suction of its throat. John’s back was to it; it’s steps were quiet, and it was halfway down the hall when John took a brief intermission from his project.

Your serpent’s lunge deals 557 damage to the yukai choker!
Your serpent’s lunge deals 557 damage to the yukai choker!
Your serpent’s lunge deals 557 damage to the yukai choker!

Yukai choker has been slain!
+1,003XP
+$10
+yukai choker hide
+3 pieces of naturally spiked leather
+elastic yukai membrane

The creature’s spine snapped under the barrage, and its mouth gibbered and suckled at the air until the final blow ended its hideous existence.

John had observed his floor and the one above; there was yet another above that, and the floor (or floors!) beneath him. With the ugly creature behind him dead, that meant there were still another nine misshapen monsters on his floor, though none were of a worrying level.

What worried John was that he had yet to see any sign of the alleged intruders. Where could they be? Unless she already... no. Don’t think about it. Keep going. John checked his maps again and mentally flicked between them. His eyes remained closed, but his eyebrows perked as he noticed it: the rare curved wall, an oddity that rarely came up in his search, had turned out to relate to the same, single chamber--with no apparent point of entry--on his floor... and now with the next floor complete, he realized the same single, round room was there, too. Nothing else about the two maze floors, except for the staircases that connected them, was the same. More, this exception was the same round room, at the same place, and of the same size! What does it mean, then? Some kind of shaft? If it’s sealed off, then only she, or whatever else can walk through these walls, can access it. I mean, it must be some kind of connection between the levels, like a staircase or an elevator, right? For now, it was a mere curiosity; his search had to continue, at least until he knew the others, whoever they were, were safe from Juniluny. Quietly, his eyelids twitched and shifted unnaturally as he worked.

“Geez...”

Galley Gallows had not signed up for this. The column of flesh crawled on the ground and ceiling simultaneously with dozens of sucking, popping limbs as it slowly abandoned its post at the far end of the hall. Its pink hue was interrupted only by the yellowing ivory of fangs, chirping and clicking as they protruded from stab wound mouths that leaked more of the glistening fluid that gave it its healthy hue, and at least three bulbous blue eyes. This horror was not a victim; its scent confirmed that it was eager to consume Galley, and the pearl that glittered near its top didn’t need to encourage it.

The monstrosity neared and began to expand.

"Ah... well, you wouldn't have to suffer if she didn't kidnap you, too. So same deal for you, friend... sorry." The beast's eyes had barely ticked up to track Galley's lunging punch before her knuckles connected.

Ding.

The gilded glass doors slid apart, and Juniluny was on the second floor... but the master of the Maze did not step forward. Instead, she remained at the center of the diminutive steel chamber, built for a halfling, with her thoughts. Her new arm still tingled; her body felt naked without the comforting sheathe of her Umbral protection spell. She could neither afford to drink another regrowth elixir nor call on Umbra’s protection a second time today; the former might kill her with its toxicity, and the latter would be refused without doubling the bargain, a deal her soul might not afford. Some Practicus before her had already perished that way, so Snickerbottom never dared it. The stakes for either, then, wouldn’t come down until at least nightfall...

Damn the Academy schedule, and damn this morning plot of mine! I can’t wait all day with these wretches crawling around my precious home... unless my babies can take care of them, but I don’t exactly keep the pets on this floor in fighting condition-

Her hope cut off as she finally stepped out of the elevator and noticed, to the left of the elevator, the limp noodle body of her favorite cave crawler. Blue blood and a milky pus mixed from the large and eviscerated eye it once spotted, and the other dozen or so had turned milky in their irises. It was dead, to be sure, and was probably killed by the human who now walked away from it.

Juniluny figured it was a woman by the hips and tight swell of chest the tall, blue-haired bitch sported. Her pants and shirt, an Academy uniform as far as Juniluny could guess, had blackened in spots and torn open in small gashes elsewhere; clearly, she had a rough time earlier, proven by the corpses the halfling spotted here and there. Juniluny struggled to sense anything from the girl. Cautiously, the Cabalist approached as she walked through the layers of walls between them. This girl... barely has anything to her! She has the mana of an untapped child; she's nothing more than a mere peasant! How the Hell did she get in here?! The Cloak would surely have fooled someone so weak... and I would’ve gotten far more attention than... wait...

Juniluny narrowed her eyes as she surveyed the corpses she could see more carefully: here and there, she saw that their apparent wounds were all the same: one or more fist-sized holes burrowed into or through their bodies, leading to the wide puddles of gore around them. She continued to approach the human, taking care to align herself to a nearby hall that was still far from the intruder’s path. On closer inspection, she saw that the human's hands were empty; no muck from dealing the hideous wounds, no gun or wand... no sign at all of her discipline, if she even had one. The shocking blue pixie mohawk, however, kept nagging at Juniluny... and she realized why when the enemy turned a corner and revealed her face.

"Ms. Snick's" mind went back to the walk to the Academy. She had taken an Über taxi close enough to remain undetected and walked the rest of the way, scouting out the surroundings with her magical vision... and saw, without explanation, this blue-haired girl facing off with an unknown mage. The latter had been dressed shadily and possessed a monstrous magical aura; both had taken note of Juniluny, there, but calmly disregarded her in the way the Cloak of Merlin made all such peons do. There's no way my Maze could have mixed with their barrier, which means they had to leave theirs... and at least this one somehow entered mine! But how?! If the Cloak had their drooling fool eyes fooled once, why isn't it keeping them fooled until sundown?! The growing fear in Juniluny was impossible to confirm: that the Cloak of Merlin, an effect so subtle that she could only detect its existence by its results, had somehow failed before dusk. She had used it dozens of times; it had never faltered, nevermind so ill-performed. She had even escaped an Order hunt in Germany with it! Then... the boy... no, but ignoring its effect is one thing; nullifying it is entirely another! The witch, then?! But why so convoluted a betrayal?!

The blue-haired woman walked through the hall that ran parallel to the one Juniluny now stood in... and stopped. She sniffed the air audibly; Juniluny’s sour expression eased at the humorous, almost dog-like behavior of the woman, but then turned into shock when the human's gaze suddenly met hers through the wall.

The intruder stared daggers at the owner. There was no doubt: despite Juniluny’s care and a solid wall of bricks, she had been detected.

"It's you... good." The stranger's hands remained at her sides... but each cracked its joints audibly. "I've been making promises all day."

H-How the Hell... I still can't detect even a lick of true power coming from her! Did she... humans don't sniff things out like dogs, I'm positive of this! Nevermind through walls! How did she smell me coming?! Snickerbottom quietly shifted her feet. Calm down... whatever her abilities, she's all pock-marked just fighting the worthless rabble I keep down here... so how much of a threat could she be? I just need to handle her intelligently... Smiling, she put her airs back on and taunted her enemy. "Ho hoooo... impressive. But what promises? And who are you to so boldly step into my lair?”

Juniluny quietly stepped to her left. The blue-haired witch's eyes and feet followed along from inside her own hall. “I'm a mage with the Order.”

She's honest... pitiful, really. “That's a shame.”

"For a Cabalist."

Juniluny grimaced. The stranger showed no emotion in her face beyond the small bend in her brow. "What's your name, Order doggy?"

The stranger started to fiddle with her right sleeve. “Names are for friends."

"Can't we be friends?"

"Come out and face me, and we’ll find out.”

“I’m rather shy.” No use in saying anything else, Juni... after all, there’s still two more interlopers to consider, and then my precious new toys... Snickerbottom began her silent motions as she prepared another hellfire blast. She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice; this pitiful wretch would be cooked straight away, without warning, and then the halfling could investigate her other "guests" above and below. “How about I call you... 'Blue'?”

“I hate that nickname.” Blue's tone remained oddly cool, even calm. She rolled up her sleeve to reveal a rather elaborate tattoo of a caduceus. Set entirely in black, the iconic snakes that wrapped around the staff appeared to be feathered, serpentine dragons, and their wings spread from the top of their bodies by their roaring heads as each threatened to consume the staff’s eye-shaped head. Blue kept the tattoo bared for an oddly long moment and stared silently at the Cabalist.

“Nice skin ink, whelp, though I wonder if you can even fathom its true significance. Should I call you Hermes, then?”

"Heh...” Hermes offered a small smile.

She won't be smirking in a moment!

“That one’s new, but I don’t like being given nicknames." She raised her untattooed arm to rap her knuckle on the bricks; once again, her gaze fell on Juniluny through them, though she showed no apparent worry as Juniluny began to finalize her silent spell. "Say, I can hear you pretty good despite these walls. I guess that means you-"

Juniluny offered Hermes no verbal tip to her casting. All the warning given was to be found in her two fat, little hobbit index fingers, pressed together and pointing, emerging from the stone to unleash the blackest flames. The empowered hellfire blast was let loose, and ebony heat consumed the giant. The wave enveloped her, filled the hall, and muted whatever screams the young mage might’ve offered. Juniluny hadn’t had to kill many Order goons in her day; only one of them had been something as high-profile as a mage. This **** would probably mean she couldn’t approach Springfield, or Europe for that matter, for at least a few years. No matter; that will give me plenty of time to shape the boy, to run my experiments on soul manipulation, and to replenish my stock that this foolish cow had so callously-

A pressure on her fingers... no, something akin to a vice grip. The flames of her spell died down... and as the first licks of them perished, Juniluny’s voice squeaked.

Hermes’ closed fist now clenched her index fingers. Juniluny slowly followed the now naked arm up. The Order mage had been stripped down to her skin... and no further. The soft swell of her chest had proven to be bindings or a sports bra of prestigious strength, as a healthy, massive chest now hung freely from her chiseled torso. Snickerbottom's eyes continued to travel up... and found the ragged black locks of hair over a stern glare... and the slightest hint of a smile. Juniluny's fire had stripped or boiled out all the product from Hermes' hair... yet not an inch of the beast seemed so much as singed.

"There you are."

The halfling yanked on her hands with all her body weight, but she remained anchored in that inhuman grip. The human calmly pulled away from the wall, pulling her catch through it, and hung the evil mage in the air a clear three feet from the floor. The Cabalist squirmed as she willed weak, instant spells through her trapped fingers. A green flash of her fetid touch--the horrible spell that had mutilated the Northern Wind girl--was visible only through the tight crevices of the Order mage's closed fist... but the fist refused to melt into a sack of rot and decay. Only now did Juniluny's eyes track the tattoo... and notice as the left-handed dragon's tail had begun to shimmer with a blue luminescence. That odd glow had brightened very slightly with her spell. "W-Wait!"

"Of course." Juniluny blinked at her captor as she opened her clenched fist... and kept the hobbit's fingers trapped, and her whole, thick little body suspended, with just a thumb and forefinger. Juniluny stared up with a weak sob in her throat as the beast's massive fingers stretched out only to wrap around her middle fingers too. "There. Qabal gestures channel energy through Jupiter and Saturn, right?"

Juniluny blinked at her enemy with growing horror. H-H-How does she know that?!

The Order mage sighed. "All the same, down to your faults. Still, I was surprised you didn't... well, it doesn't matter now." The blue energy on her forearm vanished... and her right fist reared back.

At least one tattoo... magic absorption... powerful magical sense... no... no! She's real?! But why is she-?! "No-!"

"Like I said: I've got promises to keep."

"Eh-?!"

BOOM!

Juniluny's body wrapped around Galley's fist and forearm. Her teeth clamped down on her tongue as all the contents of her belly began to surge upwards. Her ribcage fell to pieces inside her. Her enchanted, reinforced outfit exploded in a burst of magical energies and shreds of velvet. The next moment, she was sent flying, and then skipping, down the full length of the hall and through the far wall...