MAZE - The Endless Quest

Just as Thalion said, most of the army was going along to take the prisoners to their prison. Unlike what the humans were doing, the Alliance had a proper facility to house them. It was leagues beyond the one prison that Hera discovered. From what Kaela told them, every human would have individual rooms that were on the same level as newly established outposts. It wouldn’t be full of luxury, but it was more than many people back on Earth had.

In addition, the entire facility was constructed inside a mana dead zone. Usually, that would be a problem only for the non humans who worked there, but this particular room was different. The mana around the area wasn’t gone, instead it became extremely dense and viscous to the point where it was impossible to cast any spells in the area. People couldn’t even use the ambient mana to recover their own. For any member of the alliance, that would be equal to walking through a sauna, or a swamp filled with fog, uncomfortable, yes, but manageable. For humans, it would be like trying to walk through mud. The actual building had some protections in place to make life more pleasant inside, but to power those effects, the walls themselves would be draining the mana of any human inside. Of course, there were a few generators that could keep the entire facility running for a while, but that was supposed to be an emergency thing.

That being said, Hera herself barely had any interaction with the prisoners. They were being held by members of the army who had some experience with that kind of thing. All the Harmony Guardians, and Helena, just spent the next two days resting and licking their wounds. The Empress had a couple of broken ribs, and even with Neria’s healing, and the help of other healers who specialized in fractured bones, it would still take a few days for her to be completely recovered.

During that time, she did her best to help Viper with his intention of focusing on spells. Crimson hardly used mana, and the two of them could share since they were, according to the system, a single entity. Using her own experience with magic as a base, the Empress showed how to make a light spell and asked the Spymaster to tweak it in order to change its behavior.

Viper had his first class just after lunch, and before dinner, he was already able to make the light move, change its color, intensity, size, and focus, he managed to extend the shape of the light as if it was a neon sign. He could only make two-letter words for now, but that was already well beyond what Hera ever tried to do. Then again, it wouldn’t be hard to replicate the effect. Especially since, because of their connection, both the Empress and the blades could send spells directly into each other’s mind. But Viper wanted to learn how to do things by himself.

On the last day of rest, Helena offered to teach him about spells, since that was her specialty. In the end, Skyler, Vash, Hera, Vulcan, Lurize, Neria, and even Flint joined the class. Still, Viper was the focus of the lesson, and the others only chimed in with one question or another about a more advanced topic. By the end of the day, the Spymaster had learned another three spells. The basics for buffs with Mana Reinforcement, Magic Armor, which was a more basic version of the Elemental Armor that Hera used. And a third one that went away from what the Empress knew called Shadow Lash. It was the basic version of one of Helena’s favorite spells. Basically, it controlled the shadows to attack as if they were a whip or a tail.

He was happy with the results and already had some homework to add an element to all those spells. The buffs would be easy, but the Shadow Lash was a different thing entirely. Hera also decided to try the same thing since she learned the spell, but they chose not to work together. At least for now.

A bit before dinner on the second day, the boat that would take everyone finally arrived. Unlike the barge that the Harmony Guardians took to get here, which was more or less a civilian vessel, this ship was military. It had a reinforced hull with magic turrents all across the sides, as well as cannons and a large door on the side that could be open for smaller crafts to perform various jobs.

The army made sure to prepare the holding cells, which ended up being the cargo hold of the ship. Since they would spend two days in that vessel, people had to prepare places for everyone to sleep, which took a while. It was late at night when they finally left.

Just as they entered the ship, Kaela pulled the Harmony Guardians to the side.

“So, I know we said you wouldn’t have to do much, but I have a job for you,” the scoutmaster tried to seem casual, but she was clearly upset about something.

“Is everything ok?” Neria asked.

“Yeah… Sort of. Look, there is a group that is causing some trouble. Well, one single person, actually.”

“And you want us to deal with that person?” Skyler tilted her head.

“I do. Mostly because of you,” Kaela pointed at Hera.

“What did I do?” the Ophidianite gasped.

“You, nothing, but apparently your court did a number on her while taking over the power plant. I’m pointing at you because I imagine that when they are not outside they are inside you,” Kaela explained.

“You are not wrong, but what happened?” Hera stopped herself from calling her court out. They were in the middle of a corridor leading to the barracks and there wasn’t much space even for her tail, much less six more people.

“Basically, something they did made her snap out of any mind control that was affecting her. And I don’t mean just for the moment. If we try to use any spell, or skill related to mind control or hypnosis, there is something very strong pushing back. We asked her about that, but she’s being sketchy. She says she doesn’t know what happens, but it’s very obvious she is lying.”

“Ok… but why us?” Vash asked.

“Hera’s court knows her. And they were part of the reason why she snapped out of things. So, use that. Try to figure out how she got immune to that mind control. Something tells me it’s a title,” Kaela continued.

“A title?!” Skyler and Roan gasped.

“That’s the only thing I can think of that would make someone act like that. Or a legacy, but getting a legacy like that feels very weird. Anyway, she is in the brig. Not because she is dangerous or anything, but she keeps starting fights with the humans and we had to split her from the others. Also, she’s not going to the prison. We will be taking her to the agency so we can figure out how to make others immune to that mind control. She brought her sister and the boyfriend along. They are all in there.”

“She convinced her boyfriend to come along?” Hera asked.

“No, it’s the sister’s boyfriend. I didn’t ask, the situation seems messy,” Kaela shrugged and looked at her tablet, “I have to deal with some stuff. See you all later.”

“Wait, what are we supposed to do with her?” Vash asked as the Scoutmaster walked away.

“Just take care of her. Keep them out of trouble and try to figure out why she is immune to mind control,” Kaela yelled as she turned the corner.

“Well… At least we have something to do for the next couple of days,” Roan started walking but stopped after just a few steps, “Does anyone know how to get to the brig?”

It took them almost half an hour to find the cells. Hera was the first to walk inside, along with Viper, Crimson, Lurize, and Nimbus. As soon as they approached her, one of the two women in the cell stood up. It was the one that the titled blades met in the power plant.

“You!”

Nimbus glanced around, “Which one of us?”

“Any of you,” she turned to the Ophidianite, “Except you. I don’t know you.”

“Hi. I’m Hera. Nice to meet you,” the Empress smiled.

“Nice to meet you, too. I’m Ashley. Why are you all here?”

“We came to talk to you, actually,” Crimson stepped forward, closer to the bars, “Do you know why?”

“Because I’m not believing in everything the guild tells me anymore.”

Viper scoffed, “That’s one way to put it.”

“Let’s start from the start,” Hera stepped forward. Viper’s reaction caught her off guard, and she was worried the Spymaster would do something to push the woman away.

“Who are you? Like Hera. Ok but why are you here?”

“She’s our Empress,” Nimbus said.

“An Empress!” the other woman in the cell perked up, “So you are like. Nobility.”

“Of the highest kind. We are part of her court,” Viper announced proudly.

‘I appreciate it, but tone it down, ok?’ Hera told the Spymaster without looking away from the humans.

“That’s so cool! You do have a regal presence,” the second woman nodded in agreement.

“Thank you. But now, let’s talk about what is happening ok? Ashley, let me ask you this. Were you under some kind of mind control?”

“Of course not! I told the other people who came here. I was not being mind controlled. I would know if I was,” the human huffed.

“And your sister?” Hera turned to the other woman.

“Oh. Hi. I’m Kimmy. And no, I was never mind controlled. Unless you did something like that. I wouldn’t put that past your kind. Even if you are royalty.”

That comment made everyone frown, including those who were outside listening in. Hera, however, was able to control her expression.

“Ok, let’s try something different. Do you remember before the war started? Did you agree with what the guild was saying about us? The royal ‘us’, if you will,” Hera winked at the second woman. She hoped that being friendly would make it easier for the human to open up.

“Before…. Like, a little. The terrorists were targeting humans, and that was scary. Then you all took advantage of the battle against the centaurs to get rid of the strongest humans. Of course, we would be scared and think you are a threat,” Ashley replied.

Hera nodded at hearing that. She wanted to argue that they were not the ones responsible for what happened with those who fought against the centaurs, but that wasn’t the moment for it, “Ok. Is that all? Did they say anything else? Something more specific?”

“That you are just monsters created by the MAZE for us. The MAZE is just a giant dungeon. One that we can take advantage of, and whatever happens with you doesn’t matter. I don’t get why that is so hard to understand,” Kimmy scoffed. All the friendliness she showed before vanished.

“No, but… That’s not… It doesn’t make sense,” Ashley frowned.

“What are you talking about? Of course it does. Think about it, they can’t leave the MAZE. We can, ergo they are not real people,” Kimmy pressed.

“But they don’t drop things, Kimmy! If you kill one of them, the body is still there. Just like the monsters we see outside dungeons,” Ashley gasped.

“So what? Dungeons are weird, a large one like this should be different,” Kimmy shrugged.

“No. Kimmy, think about it. Can a monster in a dungeon have children?” Ashely asked.

Kimmy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, “Of course they can. A bunch of dungeons have baby monsters.”

“I mean, get pregnant and have the babies. Can any monster, or even a humanoid monster inside a dungeon, do that? You were studying for that test to teach in the guild. So tell me, what are the differences between a dungeon and a room?”

“In dungeons monsters vanish and leave behind drops. There is a dungeon quest, the environment and creatures have more freedom to mess with the laws of nature. Monsters inside a dungeon cannot reproduce, nor grow unless it’s because of a dungeon effect.”

“Exactly, even if you spend years inside a dungeon, you can’t see a monster grow from a baby to an adult. But… we saw that. We saw elves, dwarves, triton growing. How are they not people?” Ashley pressed.

“I… I don’t,” Kimmy suddenly grabbed her head and started to scream.

Neria rushed over and started healing. Her spells were much more effective than the one Crimson tried to use in the power plant.

“What is happening? Kimmy! If you hurt her I’m killing you!” the man on the other cell, who was sleeping till now, woke up with all the screaming. But Hera just ignored it.

‘This is what happened in the power plant. Once she started to doubt what the guild told her, that pain came,’ Viper told Hera.

‘It’s still early to say anything, but this might be a step in the right direction. Maybe if you doubt the guild, they lose control. A spell that hits that many people has to have its issues,’ Lurize nodded.

‘Yeah. That is a possibility. But let’s wait and see, for now. It’s up to Neria,’ Hera replied, her eyes still focused on Kimmy. It felt like it was too easy, but then again, not everything had to be complicated. Besides, as simple as a solution that seemed to be, making someone doubt their beliefs was extremely difficult.

Either way, maybe this led to some good. And for the next couple of days, they could try to discover more about this mind control.