After a few days of ceremonies, we get through all of the dead. We then spent the rest of our time helping them with the rebuild, which took us a week after the ceremonies for the whole town with Dysis's help. After we got Entre looking better than before the invasion, we said our goodbyes to everyone here and departed. Entre's leadership requested that we leave the small circle so they could use it to get to the capital quickly. Lysara adjusts the circle so it transports to the capital, but far enough away from people and the palace. She says she will cordon off so people don't stand in the arrival spot and get overwritten. She said she will also put up signs reminding people to promptly leave the arrival space with safety warnings, as teleporting is very dangerous due to the risk of being overwritten. We leave the circle but advise the leadership to hold off on sending anybody through the circle until they hear from Lysara for safety reasons.
We get back to the capital, and Thultu is filled with excitement. It seems this is what he needed to temporarily escape all the terror he has experienced in recent events. His eyes are full of sparkle at all the new things that he has never seen before. He has never left the town of Entre before, so all of this is new to him. I look at Lysara and say, "We need to give Thultu here a bath." She nods, "Yep, sure do." Thultu looks scared, "I don't like baths, they are cold!" I responded to him while booping his nose, "I think you will like Mummy's bath. It is very warm and comfortable." Thultu is confused, "Wait, baths don't have to be cold?" I shake my head, "Sure don't, kiddo. I think you will love it."
We get to Lysara's room and go to her private bath. We get in there, and the water is steaming, and Thultu realizes it really is going to be warm from the temperature in this room, and seeing the steam, he tears off his clothes and jumps in with youthful enthusiasm. Lysara and I are giggling at him, and he starts playing in the bath, "This feels so nice! I could stay here all day!" He then starts having a fit of uncontrollable giggles while he plays in the bath, and Lysara and I watch him absorbing this moment into our eternal memory. We love this child so much. After a little while of watching his adorableness, we proceeded to wash him ourselves since he was too busy playing. He could barely sit still long enough for us to wash him, and we were drenched by the time bath time was over.
We don't want Thultu to put rags on after his bath, so we put him in a tiny robe for children they had in the castle while Lysara gets Adoni to fetch something suitable for a prince to wear. She comes back with an outfit that is slightly too large for Thultu. Even though it is very loose-fitting on him, he looks like a little noble. We have to get him something specifically made for him and his adorable lizard self.
Now that we are in the capital, there are plenty of clothing stores we can go to. I tell Thultu, "We are going to buy you so much stuff today." His face looks a bit pitiful, but his tail is still wagging, "You are going to buy someone like me things?" I lightly flick his forehead, "Someone like you is our son now, and we can't have you looking like we don't love and take care of you." Lysara chimes in, "That is right. I am the princess of this nation. My son will be adorned in the finest of garments as long as I bear this title." She says as she strokes his face with affection and kisses his forehead.
We head to a store that has nice clothing for children. Lysara gets that gleam in her eye and starts grabbing soooo much. She is grabbing so many types of clothes with an opening for Thultu's tail. She is better at these things than I am. I always paid minimal attention when it came to fashion due to always having to wear those suffocating dresses.
It wasn't a pleasant experience for me.
Thultu then goes into the changing room and tries on so many different outfits. The nice garments look so good on him.
As if they were made specifically for him.
So far, there hasn't been anything that didn't look good on him. Don't know if that has to do with Lysara's choices or if it has to do with how adorable our precious Thultu is. Maybe it is a mixture of both. The last outfit he tries on is a fancy, noble-looking outfit that is so cute and formal on him. Lysara's face is trying to contain all the cuteness she is looking at right now, and she goes up to him and squeezes him. With care, obviously, since he is a child and she squeals with excitement, "We are getting all of them! You look perfect in everything!" Thultu's tail is wagging, and he is blushing from all of the positive attention on his cute scaly cheeks. You already know that everything we bought had defensive and healing enchantments because we must protect our son.
As we are walking back towards the castle, we come across a special artisan shop run by an earth magic user. They use their earth magic to mold the clay into funny and cute characters into mugs. They also employed a fire magic user to apply heat to give it a beautiful, shiny finish at the end. I look at Lysara, and we share a look like she knows exactly what I am thinking. We go in and both hold one of Thultu's hands. The earth magic user is molding another cute little creation that appears to be a cat child with big, giant, exaggerated eyes for extra cuteness. He asks us without losing his concentration, "Are you guys interested in a commission?"
Lysara, without missing a beat, says, "Yes, please." I politely said, "We don't mean to interrupt, sorry." The earth magic shop user waves one of his hands while he continues to mold with precision with his other hand, "No worries, I am happy you visited my shop. I will be right with you shortly. Just let me get to a good stopping point here." After a moment, he gets the shape of the cute cat child mug done, he sets it aside and approaches us, "Alright, what can I make you today?" I asked while looking down at Thutltu while squeezing his hand ever so gently in affection, "Would it be possible for you to make a mug of our son here?" The shop owner looks at Thultu and smiles, "I sure can. I should be finished with that in probably an hour. The longest part is the painting process. Something like that will be about 4 silvers." We wave our hands, and Lysara says, "That is fine."
He gets some clay and, while looking at Thultu occasionally for reference and he molds an adorable mug with a likeness of Thultu with big, exaggerated, adorable eyes. Once the shape is done, which takes a few minutes, he spends most of the time painting it. After about 45 minutes, he is done painting it, and he gets his fire magic partner to use his fire to give it a glossy finish. Once it is done, he says, "Here you go, all done. That will be 4 silvers." We look at the mug and it is PERFECT. It is exactly what we were envisioning, and he did a wonderful job. I reach into my purse and hand him 5 silvers. He says, "This is too much." I then say, "Think of the other silver as our appreciation for your services. You are very talented in your craft, and we just want to thank you." He sighs and takes the money with a soft smile, "Ok, you are very welcome. Thank you for your patronage." He wraps the mug in paper, inside and out, and puts it in a bag for us. I put it carefully in my bag so it doesn't get smooshed and break.
We get back to the castle, and we ask Adoni if she can watch Thultu for us while we go take care of business. Thultu asks adorably, "Where are you guys going?" I get down to his level and stroke his adorable face, "Your Mummy and I are going to take care of the bad people who hurt your papa. We will be right back. We love you so much, Thultu. We have to make sure the bad people don't continue to hurt people." Thultu starts crying, "Please don't leave me, Momma."
MY HEART.
This makes me never want to leave again. I sigh, "Son, if I don't, then the bad men will keep hurting people." Thultu cried, "I will miss you so much, Momma." I hug him and I kiss him on top of his adorable head, "I will miss you as well, Thultu. Don't be afraid to ask Adoni here for anything. She is here to take care of you."
Adoni then says with a smile and one of her bunny ears perks up at the mention of her name, "Yes, it is as she says, young master." Thultu was confused, "Am I the young master?" I pat him on the head, "You sure are, son. You are a prince now. Anything you desire, just ask Adoni here. Food, tea, a bath, dessert, toys, anything you want." Thultu's tears stop, and he asks, "Anything?" I reassure him, "Yes, anything." He starts drooling, "Can I have some skewers and chocolate milk?" We all giggle at the weird combination, and Adoni responds, "I am sure the castle chefs can whip up exactly what you desire. I will be right back, young master." Thultu's attitude changed quickly, thank the goddess, otherwise my heart wouldn't allow me to leave. We say goodbye to Thultu and kiss him, and head out.
We take Dysis and we go in the direction that the people of Entre said they were heading. It takes us two days to catch up to their forces, which are several days away from Leo's town, heading in that direction. I have told Dysis and Lysara that they have earned our wrath and to not pull any punches. Lysara and Dysis feel the same way, so they weren't planning to pull any punches. They have come into the land that has become my home with people I cherish, and they are hurting people I love. The time for mercy has passed, and they have done the unforgivable. Sky is with us too and was in between my breasts for the commute, like he usually does when I travel on Dysis. When we get to battle, he will be our eyes in the sky. King Salenar sent a small squadron to intercept, but they were pretty evenly matched, and right now they were in their respective camps before their next skirmish.
We head to the demon squadron's camp and I sense Kenji here. He is getting pets from the demon soldiers while in his kitty cat form. Once he notices me he hops up and rubs against my legs and says, "I missed you, Ari." I say with a hint of surprise in my voice, "I was surprised to feel you here." Kenji responds still rubbing on me, "I was on a run with Tetra on my back when I smelled blood and we came across this battlefield. It was close enough to town I thought it was an immediate threat that you would want me to help with." I squat down and pet him, "You did a wonderful job, Kenji." Lysara is coming back with their leadership who is assembling the troops for another strike.
Sky stayed out and didn't get in my cleavage while Lysara and I got on Dysis's back so we could drop right in the middle of the camp while the demon soldiers attack from the outside. We hop off her back and Dysis, feeling very excited to play, lets off an array of lightning immediately, striking many of their forces. Lysara starts using her whips, holding their forces down and whipping them into submission while pairing with her pheromones.
I unsheath my sword and I jump straight into combat yelling, "YOU WANT ME?! HERE I AM! HERE TO SEND EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU TO YOUR NEXT LIVES AS PENANCE FOR THE INNOCENT LIVES YOU TOOK IN ENTRE!"
We are outnumbered even with the soldiers assistance since there are so many separatists, but we knew this going into the situation. This is a hard fight for me since I have never had to fight multiple magic users before. BUT I DON'T CARE.
I only desire to see their blood.
Some of their attacks go past my defenses, but I heal myself immediately and continue tanking through their forces. Sky's help is crucial because I would have died countless times without him calling out opponents and attacks. After the 15th person I cut down, I stopped counting how many I killed. Some people were trying to capture me, but after some time, they were just trying to survive since I was mercilessly killing them.
Cutting through their bodies like butter. The battlefield was getting littered with body parts separated from their owner and becoming a sea of red.
I was covered in blood, both my own and the enemies I cut down. Their forces are starting to run away from me, but I don't let them. They can't run away from their punishment for their actions.
The only way they can pay for it is with their lives.
I get my bow from my back and shoot the runners quickly, and soon the only ones remaining are the fire mage and the earth mage, who caused most of the damage in Entre. I go straight for the fire mage first, and he lets off a fireball in my direction. I slice it in half, but I still get burned some, and I heal while I run up to him and attack. He lets off another fireball as I cut him down, and it hits a body of water near us, and the air gets filled with steam clouds.
I can't see anything.
I feel a sharp pain in my chest, and I look down and I see a vine sticking through my chest. I hear a familiar voice I can't really place yell, "Die, you vile vampire priestess!" The vine supports me and is holding me up; otherwise, I would have fallen by now. While still upright, my eyes get heavy, and I think this might be it for me. I can't keep my eyes open anymore, and my eyes close.