D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Kat ---

After the beach party things were a lot more relaxing. Everyone had a good time, and everyone except Bower spent some time floating around on the lake resting. It was a fun day, and when they woke up the day after it was easy to leave the bubble. From there, things stayed pretty casual. Looking for the drake was taking a backseat to killing time.

They wandered around through the mist, encountering bubbles of varying uniqueness but nothing too deadly. Certainly nothing like the glass bubble.

They checked up on D.E.M.O.N.S during their breaks and got back the regular 'no idea keep looking' which was just expected at this point. Bower was offered more chances to leave but he stuck around… though with the caveat that he really was running out of ammo. If this continued much longer he'd need to return home.

Perhaps not permanently, but the fight with the drake had drained his reserves, and the regular searching afterwards had started to drain more once they entered the mist.

Of course, things took a very strange turn when, four days of searching since the beach party they got some very different news from D.E.M.O.N.S. It wasn't good… though it certainly wasn't bad either. Perhaps annoying was the best descriptor. The news arrived when it was late in the afternoon, and everyone was prepping for dinner when Hunter put in the call.

Instead of the generic messages they'd been getting, demons instead had something new.

Incident Report compiled. Please read for further information and be ready for mission updates.

Needless to say nobody was expecting that. When Hunter focused on the question a massive amount of fiery text exploded into existence, making Kat's eyes swim just to behold. There were a number of words used that she didn't naturally understand, and when so much of that understanding tried to force its way into her mind… well let's just say it wasn't comfortable.

Lily was no better, hissing at the text.

Hunter quickly dismissed the notice. "I can see this is slightly above your reading comprehension level," stated Hunter. A bit rudely, but not necessarily untrue. "I can tell it is causing you pain. I shall leave move a short distance away to read over the report. Once I have completed my readings I shall return and explain what appears to be going on,"

"Sounds good," said Lily after Kat prodded her girlfriend. Kat would've said the words herself but she wasn't entirely sure she would be able to. This way they could both be polite about it. It was lucky that Lily was in her human form for once.

Hunter headed off to do the reading while Kat started work on dinner. Kamiko offered to help once more, and took up her position besides Kat. Bower picked a spot to lounge around and Lily decided to join him. She wasn't quite willing to rest on Bower himself, but next to him was fine. He'd picked a very nice and smooth rock to sit on after all.

Some time after the food was ready Hunter returned. Her portion was handed out and everyone got a start on the meal. Hunter was going to eat fast anyway, so she might as well finish while everything is fresh. Once it was done, Hunter patted at her face with a handkerchief and Kat almost wanted to check for imposters.

Hunter hadn't ever used one before… but if she wanted to use props to set the mood Kat wasn't going to judge too harshly. Totally wasn't the glare Hunter sent her way when she opened her mouth to comment.

"I have read the report and, like many reports commissioned by D.E.M.O.N.S, it is overly detailed and not particularly necessary for field reports. It is essentially a research paper on the drake itself. If you wish, you can read it later, or at least, Kamiko, Lily and Kat can. Bower I am afraid you will just have to go without," stated Hunter. Bower just shrugged.

Wasn't something he cared to deeply to investigate.

"The most important thing to get across is that, despite our belief the drake is not in fact dead… technically. We will not need to undergo any additional combat, thankfully, and the drake is almost certainly not mobile, but it is, in the most technical sense, still alive. D.E.M.O.N.S has decided that the potential risk it poses is still too high at this moment. Your journey continues with M-V-L

"Sometime tomorrow we will be provided with one additional team member and a compass designed to track the drake's energies. While the exact results of the explosion are still being debated I do have a few solid facts. When the drake exploded, it broke into an uncountably large number of pieces.

"Those pieces all tried to reform… but something went wrong. It is suspected to be a number of things actually, and I can go over them later. Ignoring those specifics for now, what I can say is that the drake failed to completely reform, but it was able to partially reform in a number of locations.

"The paper was unclear on the exact number. At least two, but no more than six. The problem with this is that even with the pieces separated like this the drake is still technically alive. After its failed attempt at pulling itself back together it lakes the necessary energy to heal itself… right now.

"D.E.M.O.N.S believes that given sufficient time to recover the drake will do so. Either by gaining enough power to merge into one being once again, a process potentially expedited by someone or something bringing the pieces together. Alternatively, it is believed that the drake may be able to gather energy and reform into smaller versions of itself from the larger remains.

"Now, this is not an immediate concern. D.E.M.O.N.S estimates, or at least the demon D.E.M.O.N.S assigned to look over the evidence estimates that this is a process that will take decades on the lower end, and millennia at the higher end. However… because we're already on planet and technically this happened because of our race in the first place D.E.M.O.N.S wants it dealt with right now.

Are there any questions?"

"Who… who is coming to help?" asked Kamiko.

"No idea the report didn't say," answered Hunter with a shrug.

"Are the pieces likely to be nearby?" asked Bower. "I don't mind sticking around but I know I could be slowing you all down if you're required to leave the mists,"

"The report was unclear on that as well. There is definitely one shard here in the mist. The report was clear on that much. It is also the largest piece. The question is how many other smaller collections of time energy have turned into pieces large enough to revive the drake instead of dissipating.

"The paper debated over the 'critical mass' of energy necessary for the drake to continue to 'exist' in a particular location and did not reach a proper conclusion. As such, I can only say that at least one within the mists exist, and a potentially larger number nearby. They are all within the kingdom at least," explained Hunter.

"Well I'll stick around for that much," said Bower. "Not sure what I'll do once all the stuff in the mist is taken care of. Probably let ya'll deal with the rest of it by yourselves. Specially if there's no more serious fighting ta be done,"

"That's fine Bower, thank you for the help," stated Hunter with a nod.

"You skipped over the details of how things went wrong with the drake splitting apart… could you go into that a bit?" asked Lily.

"I can. Without going into the even more specific data with numbers and charts… I shall outline the three major theories. The first is that the explosion violently destroyed the space bubble which scattered some pieces into the void between worlds, rendering them down into nothing. With missing pieces the drake was unable to reform.

"The next two ideas have the same beginning theory, wherein they postulate that the bubble collapsing spread the parts too far away for them to properly recognise each other. Causing all of the pieces above a certain try to reform the drake right where they are. The two theories split at this point.

"The first postulated that there simply wasn't enough energy and the process broke down because of that. The second postulates that because multiple pieces were all trying to reform at once their energies clashed against each other preventing them from reforming," explained Hunter.

"Huh… did it say one was more likely? And which one do YOU think is the most likely?" asked Lily.

Hunter shrugged, "It was postulated that they could all be true and I think it more likely than not. I personally think that the first theory is at least partially true for I think it likely pieces of the drake were lost to the void. The question for me is how much of a difference that made, and which of the other two is more correct.