Tropidor-Elgana, Daranfa

The happiness of flying only lasted as long as it took for Toby to remember that it was hotter in Daranfa than it had ever been in Lumiere. She had long since sacrificed her dignity and rolled up her sleeves, her sweat collecting and dampening her clothing. She almost envied Jill and Lilith now, they seemed to have no problem whatsoever walking around in public with absolutely no stockings. Even the bottoms of their outfits were short and loose. More than once she’d gone completely red in the face as she happened to notice their skirts being lifted by a rare passing breeze.

A glimmer of white alerted her and snapped her out of her reverie. She brought herself down carefully, landing on the roof of a nearby house. Sure enough, the white she’d seen was hair and undoubtedly belonged to Lilith.

“Damn! Where could she be?” Jill’s frustrated voice growled, and Toby winced. Perhaps she should wait a few hours before apologizing… “This is embarrassing enough; I wish I didn’t have to waste energy finding her before saying… Saying…”

“If you can’t say it now, how are you going to say it to her face?” Lilith reminded her.

“I’m sorry!” Jill yelled at her. “There, you here me? I said it! I’m sorry I called her a wuss! Is that even what I called her? Well I’m sorry for it, whatever I said!”

“You called me a crybaby!” Toby called to her. “And your apology is accepted, as long as you’ll accept mine!”

Jill looked up at her, squinting past the sun’s light. “Toby?” She asked.

Toby nodded, jumping off the roof with her broom tucked safely underneath her. Jill and Lilith both gasped at first, but calmed down as they noticed she was not falling, but floating down.

Only a safe three feet from the ground, Toby jumped off her broom and onto her feet. “I’m sorry I acted ungrateful. I’m sorry I cry.”

Jill interrupted her, blushing in her embarrassment. “That’s not something you need be sorry for.”

Toby nodded. “Alright, then let me try again… Third time’s the charm, after all.”

Much to the little blonde’s confusion, her companions burst into uncontrollable laughter. “You know what? Forget the apology.” Jill snorted. “Forget it all. Let’s just forget it ever happened, okay?” Confused, Toby nodded.

“You hear?” Some gruff man to the side sad loudly, as if he were hard of hearing. “Lady Faedra is missing. Again.”

“As if that’s news.” His companion, an even older and gruffer man, replied. “She goes missing all the time, and always ends up back at the palace within at least a few days. I’ve heard some say she only leaves in the first place to allow the poor a chance to claim reward money by giving information on her whereabouts.”

“I’d believe it.” The other chuckled. “What else does she have to do with her time during this time of year? I hope she gets back before the Last Calm, though, or her father will be cross.”

“She hasn’t much time, then. The Last Calm begins in an hour.”

Jill furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Lilith and Toby both blinked.

“Um, we don’t mean to eavesdrop or anything, but…” Toby began.

“What’s the Last Calm?” Jill demanded, skipping the niceties.

The men’s eyes widened somewhat at her question. “You must be kidding?” The older on asked incredulously. All three girls shook their heads. “The Last Calm is a ten minute eclipse that occurs before the change of seasons.” He explained.

“Oh, good!” Toby sighed. “This heat is nearly unbearable for me – What terribly hot autumns you have! Winter sounds lovely right now.” She smiled, wiping the sweat from her brow.

The younger man peered at her oddly. “Lass…” He began unsurely. “It is winter here. Right now. If you cannot stand this heat, then what are you doing on this, the hot side of the planet? After the Last Calm, the heat will increase tenfold in seconds, and only continue to get hotter!”

The girls froze in fear. “T-Tenfold?” Lilith repeated.

“At least.” He nodded. “A common spring day on this side of the planet brings heat of at least twenty-four hundred degrees – Why, it’s only a mere one hundred and nine degrees right now!” He exclaimed. “What in the name of the gods are you doing here?” He asked again.

Jill grabbed the other girls’ arms and dragged them away. “We have got to find a way to somewhere safe!” She said needlessly. “We’ve got to find a way out of this world, or we’re going to die.”

Lilith sputtered. “What about that thing you put Jill in earlier, Toby? Could it protect us from the heat?”

Toby shook her head quickly. “It might, but only for a few minutes – That’s as long as my magic would hold up against such a force. It wouldn’t matter anyways, though – It’s a barrier spell and would only trap us in one place for those few minutes.”

“Shit!” Jill seethed, pulling her hair.

“We… We could try and find that Princess. Princess Faedra.” Toby suggested. “She’s actually a goddess, you know. She told me so. I saw her. She’s the one that gave me this broom and staff, for helping her. I know where she went. We could ask for her help.”

Jill bit her lip in thought. “Y-Yeah… I think that may be our best chance at surviving this.” Lilith nodded in agreement.

“Problem is,” Toby started. “The fastest way to where she is would be to fly. This broom can only fit two people. Any more and it won’t fly.”

“I’ll run.” Lilith told her. “I’m swift, so don’t worry about me. I’ll follow you, just lead the way.”

Toby nodded, bringing the broom under her bottom and leaving enough space by the bristles for Jill. “Come on, hurry!” She urged, and Jill, awkwardly but quickly, sat on the empty space beside her.

Toby kicked off, with more vigor than normal for two people, and they began to fly. Jill gasped, involuntarily grabbing onto Toby’s waist in her surprise. “Gods!” She cried, squirming a bit but for the most part frozen in fear.

“Relax!” Toby told her. “You’ll make us fall if you don’t stop moving so much!” At that, Jill stopped moving altogether, instead holding onto the other girl’s waist for dear life. “Well don’t be so stiff, either!” The blonde reprimanded. “It makes it hard to steer!”

“Would you please make up your mind?” Jill replied fearfully, starting to feel a little queasy.

“Just be natural.” She said soothingly, trying to calm her.

“My natural instincts are telling me to get off this thing!” She replied curtly.

“Hmm.” Toby replied, thinking. “Perhaps a little speed will calm you down?”

Speed? Thought Jill, This thing goes faster?

“Then let’s go!” Toby said, mentally commanding her broom to go faster. Jill shrieked, stiffening even worse. In response, Toby brought them up higher, above the buildings so that steering wouldn’t be a problem. Jill eventually stopped screaming when she finally realized and remembered that the sun above them was a more immediate danger than the ground below them or the wind that rushed past them, however painful and annoying that wind may be when it was blowing right into your face and stinging your eyes.

Toby wondered how Lilith, who was running swift as the wind that ailed them and was maintaining every bit of distance they covered, was planning to get through the rocks when it dawned upon her, and not gently either, that Lilith wasn’t planning on going through the canyons. She was also going to go over them like Toby and Jill. Only she didn’t need to fly, she continued to run up the canyon wall as if gravity didn’t even make any difference to her. She let her arms flow behind her, having no use for them at the moment, and if Toby had had the time, she would have marveled at how Lilith’s arms, hair and clothes dangled towards the ground, but the rest of her body moved upward. What strength it must take to do such a thing!

Still, there was no time to praise or fawn. All three made it over the canyons in less than a minute, though when you may only live for forty more, a minute seems like an unbearably long time to waste. In the distance they spotted Faedra. Her, and a strange woman, donned in silver armor. They approached slowly, never straying from the pathway. Though devoid of life, the surrounding barren land and flat-topped boulders intimidated them.

“Seems we have company.” The armored woman commented quietly.

“It does seem so. Just a few girls, though. You’re not intimidated, are you, Soul?”

“Hardly.” She smiled unpleasantly, insulted. “But it’s best not to take chances, right?”

“Soul!” Faedra gasped quickly, “Take me and leave, the sun will kill them in less than an hour!”

Soul didn’t have eyebrows. Might not have any hair at all, or might – It wasn’t clear. She wore dark fabric, though blue instead of black, on her head like a nun from Toby’s world. Nevertheless, the muscles where her eyebrows would have been, should she have had them, lifted. “Why so nervous? Why do you care how they die?” She smirked. “As if burning to death is a less painful way to go than what I have planned.”

By then the girls had gotten close enough to hear her. “Nobody is going to die.” Jill said bravely, though they all knew she couldn’t possibly know it for sure.

“I agreed to meet you here so that you would hurt no one!” Faedra hissed, getting desperate. “That includes those girls! If you hurt them, I’ll—”

“You’ll be compliant still; else I’ll kill off the entire city of Tropidor-Elgana.” Soul interrupted, unimpressed with her.

Toby pointed her staff at her. Jill and Lilith drew out their swords – Different in design, but equal in sharpness. Lilith’s was slim and short with little in the way of decorations. Jill’s was long and stout with an impressively fine-welded handle, which was made of silver instead of wood, like Lilith’s.

“Toys.” Scoffed Soul. “I don’t play with toys anymore.” She smirked at them, her cocky attitude a stark contrast to how she looked like a Cathedral Sister. “Like most grown women, I now spend my time in front of mirrors.” Nothing like a Cathedral Sister. Such a statement would be scandalously egotistical, if also shamefully true, from a normal lady of the house.

Almost delicately, she unlocked a small knob at her sides and removed her silver breastplate over her head. Since this looked like nothing more than disarming herself, neither Jill nor Lilith tried to stop her. But then, much to their shock, the metal melted in her hands, but did not fall to the ground. It stayed suspended, a quivering globe of mercurial metal-liquid, right above her hands.

“What the hell is that?” Jill started, looking at the metallic blob as if it were a nasty bug.

“A spell, I think...” Answered Toby.

“Not a spell.” Soul interrupted them. “A spell is a magick that nearly anyone can perform, if they practice long enough… This is a chosen border. It can only be passed from a single person to the next, and only who that person chooses.” She smiled, this time mirthfully. “Let me show you what it does.”

With that, the globe in her hand separated into three smaller ones, which wobblingly floated over to the three girls. Then, to their shock and horror, the mercury-like balls began to contort and take shape. Their shape. They grew arms, one muscular like Jill’s, another slender like Toby’s, and the last in-between like Lilith’s. They sculpted out faces for themselves – Hard, slightly emaciated and scowling like Jill, still baby-chubby and with a confused pout like Toby, and full but stretched, with a prepared, set line to her lips like Lilith. They stood exactly opposite of them, in their exact positions, reflecting their colors and taking them. They were perfect replicas. Perfect mirror images.

“What the--!” Started Jill, only to be silenced when her mirror image charged, equipped with a perfect replica of her sword. She shielded herself with her own blade, kicking at her other’s stomach. Her foot only went right through her. “Fucking hell…!” She growled, propelling herself back a few steps.

Lilith was faring no better with her liquid clone. It coolly swiped at her with its own slender katana, and when Lilith attempted to jump up and kick her face, the face itself flew off in beads of liquid metal before returning to the rest of the body. But then, unfairly, when the clone punched her in the face, her fist remained solid.

Toby jumped onto her broom and flew upwards, expecting her refection to do the same. She did. Or rather, tried to. She tucked the broom underneath her bottom and jumped up, but only fell to the ground. Both she and Toby blinked, perplexed. From the air, Toby aimed her staff at her, and being her copy, the clone did the same.

“Fridget.” She called calmly, licking her lips in curious wonder. Her clone mumbled the same words, but no spell emerged from her own staff. She was hit cleanly with the freezing spell and fell to the ground, shattering like glass. Toby idly wondered if she’d get seven years of bad luck for that.

Soul cursed. “How is the witch able—”

“Not very wise to judge an opponent so flippantly.” Faedra interrupted quietly, smiling a little to herself. “Those copies have no hearts, do they? No souls. They can’t copy magick that comes from those places – They’re powerless against sorcerers.”

“Sorcerer?” She repeated, confused.

Faedra looked at her oddly. “Does no one have a heart where you are from, wherever that is? Sorcerers – Ones who use the magick from their hearts.”

“Damn!” Was all Soul bothered to reply with after that.

Not wasting a second, Toby flew down lower and started throwing more freezing spells at Jill and Lilith’s clones, a welcome relief since the two girls hadn’t been faring well at all. Jill’s clone had her on her stomach, pressing her knee into her back. Lilith’s had her in a similar position, with her katana raised and ready to strike.

And immediately after, Toby fell to the ground.

“Toby?” Lilith gasped, pushing the frozen clone off of her and rushing to her. Fortunately she hadn’t been too far up when she fell, but it still knocked the wind out of her. She gasped painfully several times. Her broom had fallen beside her. “What’s wrong with her?”

Faedra bit her lip in worry. “Mercury…?”

“Not poisoning.” Soul murmured. “But it has something to do with that, yes. Mercury is not easily frozen, let alone such a large quantity of mercury. To freeze those three… I suspect she’ll be unable to cast a spell for at least three days.” She smirked. “Admittedly, that she was able to pull that off at all is more impressive than I’d expected.”

“Spare me.” Faedra growled.

Soul only turned her head to the goddess with a twisted smile. “Isn’t it nearly time for the Tears of the Damned?”

Faedra’s eyes went wide. “N-No, damnit…!”

But apparently it was. The earth began to shake, and a warm rain began to fall from the sky. Soul laughed. She grabbed Faedra by her red hair and turned to face the three girls. Her voice was loud, but hard to hear over the even loudly thunder.

“Toby.” Her voice called out. “Lilith. Jill.” Toby’s gasping ceased at she and the two others turned to stare. “You’ll find them, all three of them, in the same world as the Thirteenth. But I warn you.” She paused theatrically. It sounded rehearsed. “If we take the Eight, your futures will look dim. If we take the Tenth, it will be nearly impossible to stop us. But if you are unable to stop us from taking the Thirteenth, all hope, every shred of possibility in defeating us, will be lost.” The last sentence, at least, was said with a deadly sort of finality.

Toby yelped as a particularly large drop of rain landed on her cheek. The water was hot now, not warm. It was unpleasant, though not scolding. They couldn’t take the chance that it would not get worse, though. Because it would.

“She,” Soul went on, tightening her grip on Faedra’s hair, “Is the first.”

Toby wasn’t listening to her anymore. “…L-Libura Karim…” Nothing happened.

“Don’t be foolish, girl.” Soul murmured condescendingly. “You won’t be able to levitate a piece of parchment for at least two days, let alone manage a barrier spell. Have your friends drag you out through a portal.” And just as she said this, the all too familiar colored and black portals, strewn through black clouds, began to pop up, along with Tluda, who this time took the form of a horned lizard.

“Libura…!” Toby choked out, determined though she hadn’t the power to be fruitful.

“Toby, lets—” Jill started, then gasped. The flat mesas outside of the road, the ones Toby had begged her not to sleep on when they were traveling to Tropidor Elgana, began to rise from the ground, revealing what they truly were – Gigantic sand snakes. Or possibly worms? They didn’t appear to have any eyes. Or mouths, or any sort of orifices. They beat their gigantic heads, only recognizable as heads because they were just slightly more bulbous than they rest of their bodies, against Tluda, who hissed and attacked them in return, sinking his teeth and butting his horned head against their sand bodies.

“—Get out of here,” Jill finished in a gasp, dragging her now. The sound of the butting of their heads was thunderously loud, overwhelming and nearly paralyzing. The sound surrounded their ears, molesting them with its power.

“Libu…” Toby gasped again, not able to resist against Jill. “…So…” She gasped in once more, trying to pull her arm away. “Sox… Stop, Jill…”

Jill didn’t stop. Hadn’t even heard her weak voice over the rest of the sounds around them.

“Soxxes… Jill, STOP!” Toby cried, as loudly as she could. The force of her scream and the sand blowing around them caused her to choke and cough. This time Jill heard her and turned around, noticing that although Toby had her staff clutched in her free hand, they’d left her broom behind. She ran off to go get it, leaving Toby immobile but for her lips on the ground.

“Soxxes…”

“I’ve got it! Get up Toby, we’ve got—”

“S-Soxxes Mal…”

“Get out of here, it’s—”

“Soxxes Mald-d—!”

“Dangerous, come on!” Jill reached Toby now, reaching down to pull her up.

“SOXXES MALDOROR!” She screamed, hurling her staff towards the sky and nearly hitting Jill, who barely had managed to jump out of the way.

Hurled to her feet by a mysterious gravitation, Toby grabbed her broom from Jill, mounting it as a man would, and casting off into the air. Along with the dark clouds that belonged there naturally, and the ones belonging to Tluda, dark storm clouds of Toby’s accord had begun to stir into being. Real thunder began to sound off, though it was hard to tell. They only way one could, in fact, was because Toby’s storm clouds produced lightning, too. The clouds buzzed with electric current, shivered with it. They struck at Tluda with perfect aim, and on her broom, Toby flew around them, danced around them, keeping one hand on the pole of her broom while the other flicked it’s wrist about to control and direct the electricity. Her hair and skirt fought to keep up with the rest of her body, constantly twirling, constantly writhing. If the mastress of the magick weren’t an eleven year old girl, the energy might be mistaken for something vaguely sexual, what with the way her hips bucked and twisted to maintain control of flight and dance. Lightning flashed around her, light consumed her in flashes and pulses as she rocked and dipped and spun her broom around and upside down in a way that was dangerous normally and more so with such clamor around – Surely she couldn’t even see what she was doing? Bashful as she was, wouldn’t she stop if she knew what she looked like? It really appeared more like she was making love to the light around her, rather than just dancing with it.

And Jill and Lilith below her stared. Who wouldn’t? Admittedly, though, each girl saw something different. Each girl saw something according to her own experience and knowledge.

Lilith saw a jutsu. A powerful one. She saw a shinobi that called herself a sorceress, a shinobi blessed by the elements and whom was allowed to borrow their power. She saw a dance, as was intended by Toby. Or not intended. It was uncertain whether the girl was even conscious at the moment. She saw something she couldn’t understand.

Jill saw a legend. One of a witch who serviced the god of lightning in exchange for his power, and killed him with it, thereby becoming the goddess of lightning. She saw a seductress, a high class whore with a taste for the expensive and hard-to-come-by. She saw potential. She saw something she understood very well. But then, knowing the girl, she saw the death of that potential. She saw a girl who’d make her way without manipulating, and she was left clueless again.

“She’s beautiful.” Jill murmured, impressed more now than she’d yet been with Toby, but also more than a little bitter. Lilith didn’t hear her.

Her dance ended just as abruptly as it’d started, and if not for the slightest bit of magic, Toby would have completely fallen to the ground below. She seemed to have succeeded in nothing but annoying Tluda, whom was busy trying to deal with his real threat, the giant worms of Daranfa. But even that was something worth praise, if there were any time for it – But the rain now burned their skin, they had to retreat. Lilith picked up the blonde light-dancer’s body and Jill took up her broom and staff, and they all three ran through bubbling hot mud into a portal of a similar red-brown.

Groaning and growling, Tluda returned to his dark domain. Only minutes later, the Tears of the Damned evaporated and the hot side of Daranfa burst into it’s per usual spring flames.