MAZE - The Endless Quest

“Hera? What’s wrong?” Helena noticed the change in the Empress’ expression.

“I… I… I have to go to my private room,” Hera replied, still shell-shocked.

“Why? Is everything ok?” the mage pressed.

“Yeah, yeah. I just,” she glanced around, noticing people taking out various pots to prepare some food, “It’s my stomach. I need to go,” she recalled her court, which caused whatever they were holding to fall to the ground. Thankfully, it wasn’t anything fragile.

“What’s going on?” Neria got up, noticing something was wrong.

“I need to go to the bathroom, and I’m using the one in my private room,” Hera replied, already walking towards the doorway but was stopped by the triton who held her arm.

“Do you need someone to go with you?” Neria asked with a worried expression.

“NO! I mean, no. I just need to be alone. It’s private, it’s not gonna be pretty,” Hera tried to pull back.

Flint, who walked over due to the commotion, snorted, “I told you not to underestimate dwarven spices. Even if you are an Ophidianite, it’s your own fault. “

Hearing that, the Empress leaned in the idea, “Yeah. I thought I was ok but I guess my resistances just slowed down the process. I have to go,” she turned away and ran towards the doorway, vanishing in just a few seconds.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to worry about the crossing limit. Sleeping here would be much more comfortable than in the Oceancrest Falls. In that room, they would be so high in the sky that it would be akin to sleeping at the top of a mountain. Not to mention the humidity of the place. The army also had a couple of explorers in their ranks, and that made the sight of someone randomly going to their private room not that uncommon.

Just as Hera regained her movements, now already inside the room where she met her friends so many times, she pulled up her tablet and texted them. Thankfully, the guides were ready for the Ophidianite, and less than 10 seconds after the text, there was a knock on the door.

The Empress yanked it open, “What happened with the Spirits?!”

“Hello to you too, kid. It’s been some time,” Peaches rolled his eyes.

“Sorry, yeah. Hi. But you can’t blame me for my reaction.”

“Indeed, we can’t. It is a fallacy of your good heart,” Capri nodded.

“Hey, I got bingo!” Lodi cheered with a large smile.

“What?” Hera looked at the pink slime girl with a confused expression.

“Sorry, we were playing a game. Everyone made bingo cards about each other. I just needed ‘Capri uses his word of the day in the first sentence after meeting someone,’” the sheep guide groaned something about not talking about something anymore, but Hera wasn’t able to pay attention.

“That sucks, I was so close. All I needed was Tara hides under her hat,” Nina sighed.

“Hey! I only do that if I’m around people I don’t know,” Tara protested.

“Yeah, I figure someone new would drop by. I had no clue you were so popular,” Nina shrugged.

Hera blinked a couple of times, “I’m happy that you are all friends, but can someone please tell me what is going on with the spirits?”

“Yeah, we should. Can we come in first?” Fritz, the hermit crab with a translucent shell, asked, “it’s a bit awkward to do this in the hallway.”

Hera stepped back and gestured them to get inside, but she was still standing up while the guides found places to sit on the floor or on the couch. Once they were all ready, they looked at the Empress, who was getting more anxious by the second.

“May I?” Kelp, the goldfish inside a diving suit, raised his hand.

“Go for it. We don’t have much to say anyway,” Nina sighed.

“Can someone please just tell me what is going on? Are the Strength Spirits ok?” Hera gasped.

“They are,” Kelp nodded, “The quest was completed because the Spirits are currently safe. They are still in the same place, it wasn’t a case of destroying their home so they ended up somewhere else. And what was threatening them is gone. And I don’t just mean they ran and can come back at any moment. They are actually safe. At least for now. Things might change in the future,” Kelp crossed his arms while taking two laps around the fishbowl head of the suit, “But that’s all we can say.”

“What do you mean, that’s all you can say? What happened? Who saved them? Was it the Alliance or someone else?” Hera protested, that wasn’t enough. She had to know.

“Those are the rules, kid. We can’t tell you anything else,” Peaches shook his head and looked into Hera’s eyes, “But you can figure that out. Trust your connections. You did a lot of networking with people in the upper echelons. It won’t even be hard for you to find out that information. Just come up with a good excuse for why you know about it.”

Hearing that, the Ophidianite nodded, “Yeah. I can talk with Ka’mal. Maybe even Sovereign Nereus.”

“Stofin,” Lodi corrected, “The way to address him would be Sovereign Stofin, Nereus is his first name. Sure, he will be annoyed and ask you to call him Nereus or just ‘Dude’, but that’s the formal way to address him.”

Hera pointed at Lodi while turning to Kelp, “Ok, what the fuck? She just told me about the personal preference of the triton leader, but you can’t tell me about the Spirits?”

“Hey! I was just trying to help,” the slime girl huffed.

“And what she told you is basic information. Anyone can figure that out in a few minutes on the internet. What we would need to tell you is much different and only a handful of people know about it,” Kelp explained.

“Fine, I get it,” Hera sighed and turned back to Lodi, “And sorry. I’m just worried.”

Lodi waved her off, “That’s fine. I get how some things seem odd about what we can and can’t do.”

“No, it’s not. You are helping me, and I snapped. Sorry,” Hera slumped down and sat on the floor, using her tail as a stool, “Do you mind telling Vulcan about this? It doesn’t feel right to not tell him. And it’s better form him to hear it directly from you.”

“Right, his situation is complicated, but also,” Kelp turned to Peaches, who nodded in reply.

“Because of who he is, we can say a bit more. Not much but, still.”

“Great! I’m calling him, and if he ends up going to his Daemonic form, can you all make a barrier or something around you? He won’t hurt me, but he might attack you. It’s a berserker situation, not anything else.”

“I think we should stay outside then. In the corridor, just as we talk,” Tara suggested.

“I agree. That way, no problem can happen. Aside from him breaking things in the room. That’s better,” Nina nodded.

The guides, who had just sat down, moved back to the hallway and kept the door open. Hera never could go to that corridor, since it was a space only available for the guides. With everyone ready, the Empress called Forge out.

“Oh? What’s going on?” Vulcan asked once he realized he was the only one outside the legacy.

“Vulcan, the guides are going to speak a bit and you are not allowed to react or interrupt until I say they are done. You will stay completely still and listen to what they have to say. I’m sorry, but that’s an order.”

Hearing that, Forge’s eyebrows that were in the middle of being raised stopped and the tip of his tail was just a bit above the ground. Hera gave him an apologetic smile and turned to the guides, “You can tell him now.”

Capri cleared his throat, but Talpa quickly started speaking. She knew that if she let this to the flying sheep, they would stay outside for at least half an hour, “First, everything is fine. Everyone, well, everyone who is there, is safe. Keep that in mind. The Strength Spirits are now safe. Whatever was happening to them that attempted to force all of them into becoming Daemons is over. They still have their home and can stay there without a worry. For now, we don’t know what will happen in the future. And the humans that captured you are no longer there. Most are not even alive, but a few did escape. The bad part of this is that not all Strength Spirits returned. Some died, others… are somewhere else. We cannot say more than that, but thanks to you being here we already were able to say more than what we told Hera,” with that, she turned to the Ophidianite, “That’s all.”

“Ok, they are done. You can move now, and again, I’m sorry.”

Vulcan regained control of his body, “Ugh, that felt really weird,” he stared daggers at the Empress but then shook his head, “Despite everything, that was a good call. The influence jumped to 86% from 21. Some of those assholes escaped, and they took my kind. Yet, the quest is over? Just like that?”

Hera nodded, “Yes, the quest was about freeing your people, not saving every single one of them. That is a good thing, is one less problem to worry about while we try to find the rest of them. It’s a win, and a big one at that.”

“Yeah, yeah. We are still going after the others, right?”

“Of course. I don’t know how or when. But that’s the plan. I mean, let’s face it. The only reason I’m participating in this war is because of the whole issue with the Soldiers of Strength. And now, after all of this, I still want to save the people who are trapped,” Hera nodded.

“But we don’t even know where to start,” Vulcan huffed.

“Sort of, we are technically not even supposed to know the Spirits are safe. When we reach the capital, I’ll talk with a few people to see what we can do. Maybe we should even go there to take a look ourselves. I’m sure everyone will agree that getting you there will be a good thing.”

Forge looked at Hera. His ember eyes glowing almost like there was a fire inside of them, “Thank you for that, Hera. I don’t know if going there will be good or bad for me, but I do know I have to go.”

“You don’t have to thank me. We are more than just a court, you are all part of me, and I’ll always do whatever I can to help you.”

Vulcan smiled at her, and the two stayed there for a moment. Eventually, Capri cleared his throat again, “May we return inside, or would you like to continue this moment of understanding? It is a beautiful sight, but one that we could also watch from the comfort of the couch.”

Hera chuckled, “Yeah, come back inside. Sorry for all that,” still she turned to Forge once more, “Vulcan, warn me if you get past 90. I don’t want to risk you lashing out at the guides.”

“Will do,” the kangaroo blacksmith nodded, but his expression had softened. Despite everything, this was a weight off his shoulder.

“Now for the fun part,” Tara turned to the guides as they went back to their spots inside the room, “Right?”

“Yeah. Like Peaches said, when you got the quest, you already had put in the work by helping the Alliance figure out where the Spirits could be. Now all that’s left to do is to get the spoils,” Lodi smiled.

“Right, the… Mana Palace, was it? Actually, just a moment,” Hera waved her hand and called her entire court while dismissing Vulcan. She gave them a quick rundown of what happened before bringing Forge back. There was no need for an order, everyone understood that any conversation about the Strength Spirits should not include the newest titled blade unless absolutely necessary.

“So, Mana Palace,” Fritz spoke up once the Empress finished catching everyone up to speed, “Originally, the skill was made with the idea of storing magic. You can precast spells and save them for later. There are restrictions, of course, things like maximum mana, you can’t change their direction or any other aspect of the spell. They can only be of a certain size, and a few more volatile spells won’t work. I’m talking about things like a hurricane, an explosion, a lightning. Those things can’t be stored. But especially for buffs and complicated spells, that’s when this skill shines.”

“Part of the skill involves picturing an actual palace, or a structure to store all those spells. Some people make an apartment building, other create like a shelf with various divisions. There was one person who made a zoo. Which was kind of cool, especially when the leaned in and created phantom animals,” Kelp showed an illusion of those versions of the spell.

“But since you have a legacy, and are trying to make the skill enter the legacy itself. We talked with a few other guides who had good relationships with legacy holders. Veridallion was one of them. Along with Shane, they’ve been having a lot of meetings about Zaxalam,” Tara continued.

Hera chuckled hearing that, “Yeah, that tracks. The MAZE is at war and Shane is exploring ruins.”

Tara replied with an awkward laugh and continued, “So, we talked with them to figure out how to make it more likely that a skill fits a legacy. And we have an idea. Did you have a chance to make the court’s home with that app we put on your tablet?”

Hera nodded, “I did. Most of the basic layout, at least. I also had an idea about the place and I wanted to know if it’s possible-“

“Ok, we’ll talk about it soon, just let Tara finish, kid,” Peaches interrupted, and the Ophidianite stopped talking.

“Right, so the idea is to have the Mana Palace be represented as something that matches the legacy extremely closely. In your case, we figured an armory could work. Or, even better, an actual palace where each room has both blacksmithing tools and Golem making tools.”

“Those tools can be there too?”

“You can have anything inside the palace, as long as you spend enough mana for it,” Nina added.

“I see, and can I change it later if I want to?”

“Yeah, the palace can be changed any time it’s empty.”

Hera nodded and pulled her tablet, opening the blueprint of the palace she created with her court, “Ok then. Because in the end I wanted to make something like this.”

The guides looked over and glanced back to Hera, eyes wide. But Peaches started laughing, “Kid, you really know how to surprise me.”