MAZE - The Endless Quest

Once the Harmony Guardians left the Crater of the Sky, they were back at the camp where the army rested the previous night. A few people already roamed the tents, most of them were part of the supply lines that didn’t participate in the actual battle. Others were those who were injured or under the effect of powerful debuffs that took them out of commission for long enough to not be worth being on the battlefield.

Hera and her friends started walking towards their tent, the luxury campsite they bought just a few days ago. While moving, a few people recognized them, some thanked Neria for her healing, or Vash and Skyler for the help defending against spells, even Roan and Flint got a few thank yous here and there from people who they helped either when they were in the camps or during that final assault. But most of the attention was directed at Hera.

She was the Ophidianite Empress. The only person who was able to face not just one, but two Soldiers of Strength alone and survive. Sure, some people knew that she didn’t fight completely on her own, but very few understood the intricacies of her legacy. To most, Livy, Nimbus, Twiggy, Sun, Robin, Shadow, and all the others were all mana constructs. Summons that had to be controlled by a single summoner. Hera.

The fact that her court, in the eyes of the army, her summons were able to invade the city, sabotage the power plant and still bring back an entire battalion of captives on their own only increased the rumors. Just in the small walk between the doorway to their tent, Hera heard variations of that story. From saying she had killed an entire squad of Soldiers of Strength, to her summons invaded the city and destroyed an entire garrison before deactivating the power plant and holding it against half the human army.

“Don’t worry about that. People are just making the story bigger than it actually is because not many people who were there are here. Once they come and they can share the truth, the rumors will die down,” Skyler tried to cheer Hera up as they arrived in their tent. It was a very long day, but the group didn’t feel like sleeping. Not yet, at least. For one, everyone wanted to take a shower, which they could do in the tent as it was part of the deluxe version they got.

“I really hope you’re right. I don’t want to be stuck in something like that again,” the Ophidianite sighed, slumping down in one of the hammocks while still wearing her armor.

“Like what?” Roan asked while going towards his bag and pulling a bottle of hard liquor, “Who want’s a drink?” all Harmony Guardians raised their hands as the beastmen started to pour in some glasses and pass them around.

“Do you all remember when the Wendigos first appeared? After the wall being broken, I mean,” Hera thanked Roan for the glass and took a sip while getting a nod in response from the others, “Well. Yeah, They did a whole interview with me because I was the first person to find one in a lower layer of the MAZE. It was all propaganda. Just a way to make people feel more comfortable. I even got a silver card back then.”

“And you don’t want to be a tool for propaganda again?” Skyler asked.

“Exactly. Even if I’m already one. More or less,” the Empress let out a groan as she took another swig of the drink.

“Oh. No, that’s a sipping whiskey,” Roan warned, but it was too late. Hera was already coughing because of the burn.

“How is that possible? My Endurance is at 149 for crying out loud!”

“I know, that’s why I got the good stuff. Skyler and Vash got theirs with a lot of water to dilute a bit,” Roan explained.

“Thanks for looking out for us,” Vash raised his glass half teasing Hera.

“No worries,” the beastmen replied with a smile.

Neria shook her head and gave Hera a different glass. One with a healing water to solve that burn. It wouldn’t do anything with the alcohol in her stomach, but at least numb a bit of the feeling in the back of her throat.

“Thanks,” the Empress smiled as she finished the glass of water.

“But why are you so upset about that? I mean, being the poster child for something is not that bad. Even then. You didn’t get famous enough. Not to be rude, but I had no idea who you were before I met you,” Skyler continued.

“I just knew you as the girl the humans were saying was a terrorist,” Flint added.

“I don’t like the idea of being famous. It was never my intention. I just want to be free to do what I want,” Hera shrugged.

“And then you get dragged into this. Yeah, it kind of sucks,” Vash walked to the side, “Can I take a shower first? My feathers are a mess.”

“No,” Hera’s reply made the harpy stop his movement, “Sorry. You can take a shower. I mean, no. I wasn’t dragged here. I want to be here. This sucks, I’m not saying otherwise. If there wasn’t a war, things would be better. But if there is one going on, I want to do my part. Even if I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of a battle like this.”

“Oh, ok. I understand. Sort of. But can I go?” Vash pointed at the bathroom.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll take the last turn. I still have to figure out what to do with my scales and I don’t think it will be quick,” Hera warned everyone.

“If you clog the drain, you are the one cleaning that up,” Flint said.

“Yes sir,” Hera shrugged.

“But do you really not want to be famous?” Skyler asked.

“Not really. Having people watching everything I do never sounded fun. Besides, interviews are annoying as hell. Becca was great, but I still don't want to go through that again. Why?” Hera turned to the elf.

“I don’t know. Most people dream about being famous. I’m just surprised you don’t want that.”

“My dream was just to explore the MAZE. I’ve done a bit of that, but honestly. Every time I start to look for something interesting, shit hits the fan. First was the Kobold Battlefield, then the whole mess with the Centaur attack, later I got stuck near Zaxalam. Maybe next time I try to just explore I can go around without finding trouble,” Hera was looking down, but hearing her own words made her face darken. Every time something weird happened, it was worse than what happened previously. First being stuck in a city, then being attacked, stuck again, and now even a war. Could something even worse be waiting around the corner?

“I don’t think we are lucky enough for that,” Vulcan said.

Crimson gasped, “Dude. Read the room.”

“What? Am I wrong?” Vulcan huffed.

“No, but you didn’t have to say it,” Crimson shook her head.

Hera just stared at the two, before rolling her eyes, “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

They continued talking, and eventually, Helena arrived. She was doing fine and so was her family. Unfortunately, their home had been ransacked during the human attack, but they only lost some of the larger things, such as enchanted gear or some jewels that were more valuable. Their belongings, the things that were irreplaceable, were still there.

Helena herself was exhausted. Her endurance wasn’t that high and the massive undertaking that was this operation was too much for her. She was barely able to take a shower before collapsing into the bed. Not long after everyone else followed. Part of them wanted to sleep for a week, but they wouldn’t have that chance. Just a few hours later, there was a commotion in the camp as some of the human prisoners crossed through the doorway. A few tried to make a run for it, but they were quickly captured.

Unfortunately, due to the intensity of the previous day, all the Harmony Guardians were on the edge, and that small event was enough to wake them up completely. Once they started moving around the tent, someone walked over, letting them know that Thalion was calling them in his personal tent. Hearing that, the group moved right away.

“Harmony Guardians. Thank you for coming on such a short notice,” Thalion was still covered in bandages, but these had been cleaned and his face looked both better and worse at the same time. For one, there was more color on his cheeks, but his eyes had sunken even more.

“Are you ok?” Hera asked.

“The wound is healing. Or at least it stopped bleeding. I’m just very tired. Despite knowing that a good night’s rest is important before an operation, there was just so much to do that I didn’t have a chance to get one,” the elf smiled for the first time, breaking the stoic face of the commander of the army.

“You still need to sleep. Even if you are high level, you are still mortal,” Neria said with a frown, her healer side showing.

“And I very much intend to do that. Some sleep today, and once I’m back home, I intend to enter such a deep slumber that people will believe I have died,” Thalion laughed at his own joke, “But that’s not what I called you here for. First, I would like to ask for your help as we transfer the prisoners to a secure location. A large part of the army will be moving with us, but more people are never a bad thing in these situations.”

“Sure. I mean, we need to get back to a city, anyway. Is it far?” Skyler nodded.

“Not really. It will take about 4 days to get there, and we leave in 2 days since we need a proper boat to cross the ocean here.”

“Yeah, that’s easy enough,” Vash looked at the other Harmony Guardians, all nodding in agreement.

“Very well. Now, one of the reasons I’m asking you specifically is because of what comes next. I believe we will be going to the same place after this,” Thalion paused, but realized they didn’t understand what he meant, “Have you not received the invite?”

“What invite?” Flint asked.

“Did you have someone unlocking your tablets? So they can access the internet once more?”

“Oh… Right, we had to do that. Sorry, we completely forgot,” Hera admitted.

“Fair enough. Could I borrow one of your tablets?” Roan passed him to the commander who quickly deactivated the restriction to access the internet and opened a message that was sent by the Alliance HQ, “Here. And don’t forget to remove the restriction from the others.”

The group gathered to read the message. It was extensive and had the Alliance symbol in the background. The message was unnecessarily long and an excessive use of complex words, which didn’t help the tired Harmony Guardians. Still, they were able to get the gist of things.

In two weeks’ time, there would be an award ceremony for those who were vital to the success of this operation. And amongst those who were going to be celebrated would be the Harmony Guardians. They were going to travel to the triton capital where the entire council would gather for the ceremony. Along with other members of the army.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Hera groaned.

“I assume you don’t enjoy the spotlight?” Thalion smiled.

“No, I really don’t. Specially since this was clearly already planned,” Hera huffed.

“What do you mean?” Vash turned to the Empress.

“Look at the time the message came. It wasn’t even half an hour after the battle was over. The council likely already had all this prepared and were just waiting to hear we won to send this out.”

“She is not wrong. But the fact is, we needed a win. The war is not going as well as we hoped, and this will be good for the morale of the troops,” Thalion turned to Hera, “Having someone take the role of an unsung hero who was able to save children from the Soldiers of Strength, will play very well with the public, and our troop.”

“Fucking hell,” Hera groaned again. She kept trying to think how to get away from this, but in the end, she didn’t have a choice. She was part of the council and if she wanted the future Ophidianites to have a say in what happens in the MAZE, she would have to accept being used as a propaganda tool again. So much for doing what she wanted.