Caretaker Chapter 3: Remnant

Osburg’s Guide to Surviving the Outer Layer

Rule #1: Don’t trust anyone

Rule #2: Bring money

“So where to first?” Thomas asked up to the spider-woman busy fiddling with her piece of glass.

“That’s kind of why you’re here, human.” Vivian opened up her device into a wider slate of glass and went to typing. “But if you’re wondering “what” we’re supposed to do I don’t really know either. Luna died pretty suddenly. She didn’t leave instructions.”

“How did she die?”

“Saving all of us.” Vivian pressed her finger to her magical glass thing. That’s the only way Thomas could describe it. An image of a ring appeared out of it inside it was a sphere. Thomas ran his hand through the image and it distorted like a bad cable connection. Vivian rubbed her forehead.

“Humans.” She muttered. “She snapped her fingers at him with two of her hands. “Meat boy! Focus!” She put two hands on the slate and spread them out wide. The image enlarged relative to her arm span.

“This is Out World. The realm between realms. Division of the holy plains. This is the Outer Layer.” She pointed toward the ring that orbited the sphere in the middle. “And this is where we are. The Bloomstor Metropolis….anything sticking out to you?”

“Wait, wait, wait!...Out World? Division of what? Outer Layer?! I have no idea what any of that means.”

“Eclipse us all! I don’t have time for this!” Vivian seethed. “I’m NOT giving you an orientation! I worked too hard to go back to that grunt work. You humans have a word for it…..dammit! What is it?!”

“Heaven?...Hell?” Thomas suggested.

“Pfft!...Sure, flesh sack. We’ll go with that.” She waved her hand and the image rotated around. “It’s simple, meat. You’re in a magical land of spells and fairies. “ She wiggled her fingers and waved her hands. “Real mystical right? Like one of your anime cartoons! Just read a book sometime! Anyways just, I don’t know pick a spot. You’re the one who’s supposed to find her.”

“One spot from the entire...planet?” Thomas guessed. “I don’t think that will help.”

“It’s better than nothing, speck.” VIvian seethed. “She crashed down in the Outer Layer. We searched there. Nothing. Her homeland? We searched there. Your precious Earth? Searched there. Nothing! “Heaven?” “Hell?” Searched both. Nothing! But apparently YOU have the mojo! So pick a clipsing spot!”  

“Fine. How about here.”

“Where?”

“Here. Bloomstor. Right here.”

“Ugh!” Vivian groaned. “Are you not paying attention?! We searched the Outer Layer!”

“But I haven’t.” Thomas said. “And I’m apparently the gamechanger. I know nothing about this world. The Outer Layer, Out World. I thinks it’s best for me if I start here. Simple. Easy.”

“Dumb, boring.” Vivian added. “Fine.” She grabbed him by the arm and towed him out the armory. “Damn humans.” She folded her glass thingy back down and dialed on it. “Buns. We got any spare T-omes around. Any old one will do. Good.”

They walked, well Vivian walked, Thomas felt like he was more dragged past the cubicle area of the building.

“Buns. Hit me!” Vivian shouted and something flew through the air. She caught if with a free hand. “Here.” She said tossing it to Thomas. He wasn’t prepared and it smacked him in the face.

“Nice catch.” Viv taunted.

Thomas inspected the device. A “T-ome” apparently. It was rectangular and made of plastic. At least Thomas assumed it was plastic. It could actually be anything. It was rectangular with an assortment of unmarked buttons all over it. “What the hell is this?”

“A T-ome. You’d call it a phone, but it’s better. Like mine!” Vivian grinned and displayed her magical glass.

“This…”thing”,  is not that!” Thomas observed. What Vivian had seemed like pure magic. Some device he couldn’t even comprehend. What he held looked like an old calculator.

“No shit!” Vivian said. “Mine’s the latest T-Glass Ver. 10.1. It cost over half my last check! What you have is a shitty, knock off Colco 100 from over a century ago. I still guarantee it’s better than anything you’ve ever owned in your entire pathetic life….Well except for the Nintendo Switch. That thing is actual magic.”

“How do you know what a-”

“Shut up.” Vivian commanded. “Let’s get this field trip over with so we can actually start looking for Luna.”

Thomas sat on the edge of the steps of Vivian’s office building while she tapped at his Colco 100. From the outside Holse and Ranthor’s After Life Resources looked like any other office building on Earth. What blew Thomas away was everything else. He really was in another world. The sky was dark and he could see stars and nebulas in it, but there was so much more. Awe inspiring floating creatures that seemed too massive to be airborne. One looked like a large silver serpent off the cover of a novel he once read. Another he could only describe as a whale with wings. There were also floating platforms with structures on them.

“This really isn’t Earth.” Thomas gasped.

“Yeah it’s amazing.” Vivian droned. “Try not to act like such a tourist!” She tossed him his Colco. “I’ve linked our T-omes. I’m the only one linked to you right now so press that side button to calmm me.”

“It’s incredible!” Thomas explained. “Have you ever just, read a book or seen a show and known it was a gateway to something more, that there was more to life than what you see, that magic fantasy existed?”

“Gross. “ Vivian barfed. “You’re a nerd, aren’t you?”

She started walking down the steps. Thomas knew he was expected to follow.

“Sorry if I’m not some jaded spider-person.” Thomas sniped. “I can’t be blown away by this?” he gestured toward everything. “Do you know how many people would kill to see this place. There’s more than just Earth! We’re not alone in the universe!”

“Do you realize how human you sound right now?” Vivian asked. “This is why I got out of orientations. Everyday, waking up humans. “Good morning human! Welcome to the real world!” Bleh. Having to stare at their stupid faces when they find out they’re not so special.” Vivian put on a fake smile. “How would you like to spend your afterlife? Over and over and over!”

“Is that your job?” Thomas inferred. “You help people who’ve died transition into...what? Living in the Outer Layer?”

“Gee? It’s almost like I already told you that. Junior manager, hello?”  Vivian stopped at the bottom of the stairs right before a metal gateway. She actually a head taller than it. “I just realized I don’t know where we’re going. So step up superstar!”

“Okay, okay. Ummmm. What do you have around here?”

“Oh for-!!!” Vivian took a deep breath. “Spend two-hundred years working your way up just to go back…..clipsing..tourist...bullshit…” she fiddled with her T-Glass and the image of Out World appeared again. She used her hands to zoom in on an area and the resolution and topography changed to more detail. Blocks rose and shifted into buildings as she zoomed in even more. Then little sprites appeared.  They dashed around the corners of buildings. She zoomed in even more to two sprites standing next to a gate. One was significantly taller than the other. Thomas waved his hand and the smaller sprite moved in unison with it. It was him.

“We’re in Bloomstor.” Vivian informed. “One of like...I don’t know thousands of major metropolitan cities in the Outer Layer. It’s mostly a tourist spot, lot’s of entertainment and shopping type stuff here. Most of the commerce is in tourism and trading. That’s all I really know I just work here.”

“Any libraries or museums?”

“Museu-......WHY?!”

“So I can learn abou-”

“I said stop acting like a tourist!” Vivian yelled. “This is pointless! We should be out scouring the wilds! Kicking down doors of her closest know associates! Killing people! Not visiting a museum!”

“This is my mission!” Thomas snapped. “I want to find out more about this place!”

“You have a T-ome, human!” Vivian snapped back. “Everything you’d ever want to know is in there! Although a shitty Colco like that probably-” she paused.

Vivian grabbed Thomas by the arm.

“I know where we’re going first.” she said.

They travelled down the streets of Bloomstor away from Holse and Ranthor. Thomas looked around the place. It really seemed a lot like Earth except off. For instance they had roads and street lights, except the roads were made of hexagonal stone plates some of which occasionally floated a few inches off the ground, and the streetlights seemed normal enough until you realized they didn’t have bulbs. Instead it was just floating balls of light.

They past people or more like creatures of all shapes and sizes. Some looked more humanoid but with animal features like Vivian or Buns. A furry’s wet dream, but others were things he couldn’t even recognize. Moving balls of slime with no conceivable form oozing down the streets like it was nothing, tiny, squat legged, stone creatures with mossy beards. Thomas had mistaken one for a statue and leaned against it. It had kicked him in the shin and cursed at him in a language he had no hope of understanding. There were also humans. People like him. Lots of them. They walked the streets as casually and calmly as anyone on Earth, except most were dressed like cosplayers. It almost felt like it was Halloween and everyone was wearing an elaborate costume to go trick or treating. Thomas inspected his own attire. Suddenly he didn’t feel so out of place.

They stopped next to a square metal machine installed into the sidewalk.

“Put your T-ome up to the panel and press the middle button.” Vivian instructed.

Thomas obeyed.

Nothing happened.

“Give it a minute.” Vivian said before him. “These old Colco’s take a bit to sync up with the user.”

“Thomas Waldo: Emissary of Luna Delecastierre, Daughter of Winrey of a thousand bladed nightmares, Immortal, Moon who eclipses us all. Registered. Welcome to Bloomstor. Now downloading 1 of 3,334,219 standard updates. Map complete. Archive complete, Shadow speak complete, E-banking complete, web browser complete, twitter-”

Vivian pressed a button on his device. “Okay, we can just shut that up. There you go blue boy! All set. Any nerdy question you could possibly have about Bloomstor is now archived.”

“Really?” Thomas raised an eyebrow. Was it really that easy. “What did it mean I “emissary”?”

“I can’t believe it either. She gave you a title. You must be the luckiest bastard this side of the Emerald Wide.”

“I really don’t understand.”

“Just ask it a question, human.” Vivian sighed. “We’re wasting moonlight!”  

“Okay, ummm. Bloomstor shopping.” He said into his device.

“Bloomstor has forty-two separate shopping districts in your vicinity. Do you wish to make a purchase?”

“Just give me directions to the closest one.”

“That would be the Crab Mouth Bazaar. GPS update not yet installed.”

“Shopping? Really?! You don’t even have any money!” Vivian said.

Thomas gave her a look.

She sighed. “I know where it is.”

It was called the Crab Mouth Bazaar because it was located in the mouth of a giant crab. It was an ancient creature called a Dynastodon. That wasn’t all, apparently it was still alive, just in the midst of a thousand year hibernation.

“Why would people do business in the mouth of a giant crab?” Thomas questioned.

“Tch. I don’t know, human! Why not!? What the hell are we doing here?!”

“I used to work at a mall.” Thomas said. “Luna’s death.”

“Ahem.”

“Really?.....Luna; Daughter of Winrey, Immortal, Moon that eclipses us all’s death was a big deal right?”

“The biggest deal.”

“So people must be talking about it. People always gossip while they’re shopping. I heard so much when I worked there. I figure it works the same no matter where you are. We put are noses to the ground. We’ll find something. Someone knows something.”

“This isn’t an RPG, soft skin.” Vivian griped. “You can’t just get a quest by talking to a random NPC. You think we haven’t investigated, that we’re not still investigating. Actual gods are on this. Telepaths are breaking the minds of anyone who so much as glanced at her once. You don’t honestly think eavesdropping on inane “mall” chatter will help?’

“It’s worth a shot.” Thomas said.

“Fine, but only because I have shopping to do myself.” Vivian agreed. “And just so we’re clear. I’m being very generous with you today. When this goes nowhere we’re doing things my way!”

“Yeah, okay.” Thomas nodded. He knew it was a longshot, but he had a feeling. A tightness in his shoes that only relaxed when they’d gotten to the bazaar. He felt like there was something here that would lead him to Luna.

Vivian followed him for a change as they walked from stall to stall. All manner of uncanny creatures shouted over each other to get the attention of patrons. The place was rather busy. Thomas had never been to a market like this. It felt very street level. It wasn’t the multileveled buildings with countless outlets and retailers. It  seemed like every stall had its own individual owner.

“Produce!”he heard in an earthy tone. Thomas looked up to see an absolute giant of a man. A human man by the looks but he was easily fifteen feet tall. Taller than Vivian who up to that point was the largest humanoid he’d seen. “Fresh produce!” He addressed him. “Blood Oranges, blood grapes, or maybe test your courage with dragon vine. Show your woman you’re a real man. Increases vitality and endurance, I guarantee you a fun night with your lass.”

“Ew, no.” Vivian said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a gold coin. She flicked it at him. “Two muddle beetles.”

The man reached under his desk and retrieved two absolutely grotesque bugs. They were round with glowing green warts and pustules all over their body. They drooled some kind of brown foul smelling mucus from their mandibles. Vivian took them and handed one to Thomas.

“Don’t say I never did anything nice for you.”

“What is this thing.”

“Produce.” Vivian said. She plucked off one of the warts and tossed it in her mouth. She actually smiled as she swallowed another one. “These are fresh too!”

Thomas decided it was best not to fight it. Vivian could poison him herself far easier. He plucked one of the pustules off the beetle and bit it. The flavor explosion that followed was nearly orgasmic. It tasted like the juiciest sweetest, plum he’d ever had. He bit another one, cherry, then lime, and a cavalcade of sweet flavors he couldn’t recognize.

“This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”

“You’re a cheap date aren’t you.” Vivian sniped. She’d picked off all the pustules and was sucking the drool off the mandibles. She licked her lips and in one quick motion bit off the beetle’s head. Thomas actually heard the poor creature scream. She devoured the whole thing alive in a gruesome display. She belched and smiled. “That one was pregnant! Real top quality.”

She eyed his beetle. He’d eaten all the pustules and warts as well.

“You gonna finish that?”

“I’ve lost my appetite.”

“Your loss.” Vivian snatched his beetle and bit its head off much like the first one. He watched in awe as Vivian’s face pincers tore into the helpless creature. For the first time he saw a mouth full of razor sharp teeth crush the shell and flesh beneath it with every bite. Vivian glared at him with a full mouth.

She swallowed. “You got some kind of vore fetish, pervert?’

“It’s just uhh.”

“Don’t give me that look. I know for a fact you humans eat meat. Don’t judge me for following my predatory instincts, monkey!”

“Let’s just move on.” Thomas said, dropping the topic. Still it was a good reminder that Vivian herself was pretty dangerous. An actual giant spider. He’d make sure never to forget that.

They continued walking the market for at least an hour. Thomas wasn’t sure where he was going but his feet seemed to move on their own sometimes. It felt like he was being pulled in a certain direction at times. Vivian was mostly quiet during this, either messing with her T-ome or stopping to buy something and dropping it in Thomas’ silk bag. When interrogated she would say they needed supplies for later and that was it. Thomas could guess she had plans to leave Bloomstor. Somewhere outside the city entirely. Searching here wasn’t satisfying or exciting enough for her. He couldn’t exactly blame her. She was clearly frustrated not just with him but the search for Luna in general. How long had she been searching for her lost friend? Who else was involved? And why did she think it they only had ten years? It seemed exceptionally farfetched that he would be able to succeed where she had failed. Especially with her experience and apparent resources.

“You give up yet?” she yawned. “Cause I booked us tickets to the reefs. We can search the crater where she crashed for clues, some residual energy lying around, maybe you can catch her scent or something. You humans do that right?”

“No we don’t.” Thomas infomed. “Just give me a few more hours. I know I’ll find something.” Thomas didn’t know where this confidence was coming from. He’d never trusted his gut before but this just felt…...right.

They reached the back of the throat nearest to a dark passageway that must have lead the dynastodon’s gut. He came up to a stall manned by a green skinned humanoid with long pointed ears and nose. “Jewelry.” it beckoned. It seemed female. “Trinkets and treasures from the upper realms! Lost artifacts of the gods!”

Thomas inspected her wares and honestly they seemed like worthless knick-knacks he could find back home. Wooden totem carvings, shelled bracelets and necklaces, a bag of marbled spheres and other different incidentals. He was going to turn but his legs didn’t seem to want to move. They felt heavy, slow. He lingered near the stall and gave them a once over again. This irritated Vivian.

“There can’t honestly be anything here worth buying.” She bent down and loomed over the stall and the green skinned woman.

“Sapphires from the gate of Garosh!” Said the woman. Vivian glanced at a frog shaped bowl with blue stones inside.

“These are rocks painted with luminous jelly.” Vivian said biting into one. It crumbled in her mouth. “Spoiled luminous jelly.”

‘Away from my stall!” The woman screeched. “Both of you!” She shooed at them with her hands. Vivian froze. In a flash she seized the green skinned woman by the arm and held her up five feet from the ground.

“Where did you get these?!” She sneered.

“Vivian!”

She grabbed the woman’s left hand and pressed a claw into a string of bright blue beads on her wrist.

“They’re not for sale!” She shrieked.

“You would dare!” Vivian raised one of her stingers to the woman’s face.

“Talk now!”

“The sewers!” The woman cried. “I fished them out from the sewers!”

“Liar!”

“Vivian calm down!” Thomas grabbed at her leg but she swatted him away easily. He flew backward into someone else’s stall of cast iron dishware.

Vivian gave him a worried glance and in that moment intense pain ran through her hand. She dropped the woman who scurried away.

“Clipsing bitch!” Vivian cursed holding her hand. She’d been stabbed.

“What the hell was that, Viv!?” Thomas bellowed.

“Those beads she’s wearing!” Vivian barked. “They’re Luna’s!”

Suddenly Thomas’ shoes felt two sizes too small. Before he’d even thought of it he took off in a sprint. He was planning on running after the green woman, but his feet had been step ahead. Vivian was taken aback by this sudden reaction. Maybe the human wasn’t entirely worthless. She vomited up some special silk from her mouth. It was more viscous than the silk she made from her hands. She smeared it on her injured hand and took off in pursuit.

Thomas had lost sight of the woman but kept running anyway. He turned a corner and was now at the opening of the passage into the crab monster’s gut. The woman couldn’t have actually went in there could she? Apparently he thought so because he was sprinting a lot faster than he thought possible. Another shock was that he wasn’t tired. Had dying increased his stamina? There were too many questions to ask about just his body and the transformation of the dying process. He heard a sound from a passageway to the side and went in that direction. He could see a shadow cast across the light of the tunnel. There were torches. Someone was living in here.

Soon enough Vivian had joined him in the chase.

“You’re pretty fast for a human.” She said. “Which way did that thieving gutter rat go?!”

“Not sure.” Thomas huffed. “But this feels like the right way.” he hit a wall of hard carapace. There was nowhere else to go. The only way lead back behind them. It was a dead end.

“Nice job, human!” Vivian spat. “The only good lead in half a century and it’s gone because of you!”

“How is this my fault?”
“You got in my way at the bazaar. Some misguided sense of morality!”

“You threatened to kill her!”

“So what?!” Vivian snarled. “What we’re doing is way more important than one life. She’s a worthless thief holding the relic of a god! Do you know what that means?! The power she-”

The floor opened up and they both fell downward into the darkness.

They landed in something wet and foul smelling. They were in the dark.

“Great. We’ve been swallowed.” Vivian grumbled. “That’s just what I needed today.”

“Help!” Thomas heard.

“Please help me!”

Vivian pulled out her T-Glass and a light emitted from it. She cut the dark with the searchlight and shined it on the corner of the chamber they were in. The green woman was there. She ran away but fell face first into the muk.

“Stay away!” She said. “I’m warning you.” She brandished a dagger.

“Please.” Vivian said. She spit up a wad of webbing into her hand and beamed the woman right in the gut with it. The momentum blew her back into the wall of the dynastodon and adhered her to it. Vivian encroached on her baring her fangs and stingers.

“You know what I like?” She asked the terrified woman. “Flesh. I’m not allowed to eat raw meat in town, but...I don’t think it’s a problem here.”

“No please!”

“You’re a kobaln right?” Vivian grinned showing her maw of razor sharp whites. “I haven’t eaten one of you before. What do you think you’ll taste like? I’m betting fish.”  She licked her lips.

“Stay away from me!” She cried out in terror.

“Do you know how spiderkin like to eat?” Vivian asked. “We like to stun our pray with neurotoxin.” She stuck the kobaln woman with her left stinger. “It won’t kill you, just paralyze you or knock you out if I’m feeling generous.”

“Human!” the kobaln tried. “Help me please! She’s gonna kill me!”

“Vivian stop!”

“Stay back, human!” She hissed and Thomas jumped backward in instinctive terror. “She deserves this!” Vivian turned back to the frightened woman. “How long have you had that bracelet? You know what it is don’t you? Who it belongs to, don’t you?!”

“I’m sorry I-”

Vivian smacked her across the face. Thomas had first hand experience with Vivian’s slaps. He knew how painful they were.

“Spiderkin like to toy around with their prey. Make them suffer.” She cackled. “Then we inject you.” She opened up her mouth and her fangs gleamed. “A venom that dissolves your organs piece by piece. I’ve heard it’s agony. Can you imagine? Melting from the inside out! Hehehe.”

Thomas couldn’t believe it. She was enjoying this! His relationship with Vivian was tenuous at best. He wasn’t sure it it was wise to interfere, but he couldn’t just sit back and watch a woman get murdered. Eaten alive!

The woman started muttering something it sounded like a chant. “ECLIPSE US ALL!” she shouted. The beads glowed blue, then flashed and shined in a dazzling blue light.

Vivian recoiled from the painful rays. The room illuminated in the ethereal beams. The ground shook and rumbled.

“It’s waking up!” Vivian screamed.

Water started flooding into the room, but Thomas couldn’t react. For him time was frozen. The light, that wonderful, glorious blue light. It shined brighter until his world was one of pure whiteness.

“Thomas…..Thomas.”

“Do you remember me, Thomas?”

“I knew you’d find me.”

“It’s good to see you again.”

“My friend.”

Thomas sucked in a mouthful of water and coughed. He opened his eyes. He was underwater. The chamber of the dynastodon! He was floating inside the chamber of the dynastodon. It was filled with the blue light from the kobaln’s bracelet.  He tried to breathe in but couldn’t he was underwater! He was drowning! He choked and coughed. Was this how he would die? He continued to gag on salt water as he floundered in the wake only..he hadn’t lost consciousness. That’s right! He was already dead! That apparently meant he didn’t need to actually breath even though his lungs burned from the salt water and lack of oxygen. He forced himself to cough releasing water and remaining air bubbles. He saw two woman floating limply in the water. Vivian and the kobaln! He swam up to Vivian hoping she wasn’t dead. He wouldn’t know what to do without her! Suddenly he felt a current drag him down. A hole had opened up in the bottom of whatever organ they were in and it created a vortex. Thomas, Vivian, and the motionless kobaln were sucked in.

In the darkness Thomas twisted and turned with the flow of the water. He tried to focus his sights on the glowing light of the beads still on the kobaln’s wrist. Was she still alive? Was Vivian? As time passed his worry grew. He was some kind of undead, but he didn’t know if the same applied to Vivian or others. The water stabilized as he was thrown into the surf. He saw the light of the bracelet above him. He swam with all his might with Vivian in tow. He breached the surface and took in a breath of air and vomited out more seawater. He was outside! Outside the dynastodon! He looked behind him to see the massive red shell of the creature lurch forward. It’s legs created waves as it dragged itself deeper onto the shore. There was a panic at the beach where it was stationed. People ran in terror of the lethargic movements off the titanic beast. A wave came up behind them and washed the trio ashore. Vivian and the kobaln still weren’t moving. He rushed to Vivian’s side. Thomas had once worked a summer as a lifeguard in high school. He knew CPR. Maybe it wasn’t too late for Vivian. He pressed his palms against her abdomen and pushed.

“One, two, three, four.” He went to put his lips to her mouth and blow in air when her eyes popped open.

“What the hell are you doing, filth?!” Vivian shrieked in horror. She pushed him off her with one of her long stilt like legs and he went flying.

“I thought you were dead?!” Thomas cried.

“You wish!” Vivian hissed. “You were passed out in that crab for hours! I took a nap while I let nature run its course.” [

“You can breath underwater.”

“I have an extra set of bladders that can hold pockets of air for up to twenty-four hours.” Vivian said matter of factly.

“Wow. You’re incredible!”

“And the last horse crossed the finish line.”

“Do kobaln’s have extra lungs too?”

“No.” Vivian turned to the motionless green woman. “She’s dead. Serves her right. Too bad though. I would’ve enjoyed some fresh meat.”

“You weren’t really going to eat her were you.”

“Oh I was. I swear on Susbron I was!” Vivian stood up and retrieved the glowing beads from the corpse of the kobaln woman. She then kicked it once in the side sending it skidding across the beach sand. “Bitch.”

She turned to face Thomas. She had a venomous expression.”And don’t you dare try to interfere like that. I had things under control back at the market worm! You have no idea how things work around here! She could’ve killed us all with these beads!”  She picked him up and held him to her face. “When things get dangerous I’m in charge understand! I can’t afford to lose you!”

Thomas was frozen in fear.

“Understand!?”

“I understand!” Thomas peeped. “I understand.”

“Okay.” Vivian expression lightened. “You did good, Th-.....human. You did good.”

“I did?” Thomas gasped at the sudden praise.

“You did.” Vivian assured putting him down. “This is the first real lead and it was sitting right in my own backyard. I can’t believe it.”

:What are those? Some kind of goddess weapon?” Thomas asked.

‘No they’re just beads.” Vivian infomed. “Made from actual sapphires. I gave them to Luna as a birthday present. Tied them together with my own silk.”

“Then why all the fuss? Why were they glowing.”

“Don’t you feel it, human?” Vivian smiled brightly. “Her stink is all over it. She never took them off! These beads hold a fragment of her essence. That kobaln scum was probably trying to absorb it into herself. A process that can take years for a mortal.”

“That’s bad I guess?”

“She would’ve become a demigod. It’s a good thing we cornered her. She got so desperate she had to blow any power she’d absorbed just to escape! Hah!”

“So what now?” Thomas asked. He was excited that his hunch had been right. Although he knew it wasn’t a hunch. He was lead to these beads, like they were calling to him.

“We get these to Jasper!” Vivian said putting the beads around her wrist. “That old hound has a nose like well….a bloodhound. He’ll be able to track Luna!”

“What about that?” Thomas said pointing to the grumpy dynastodon rampaging through Bloomstor’s market district. “That’s kind of on us.”

“That’s. Someone else’s problem.” Vivian said. She walked off in the opposite direction as the dynastodon knocked over a building with its sharp, cruel claw. Thomas could hear the screaming. “Keep up human! This has only just started!”

Thomas took off after her. If this was just the beginning he shuddered at what would happen next.