Kayday

264 - Systems, Oaths, Alchemy, Souls

It all went back to what Naem had told Lexie earlier, looking at things from the top down. 

Starting from the fact that all forms of magic inherently originated from chaos. The Chaos Mother, to be exact. Different species accessed that chaos mother in different ways.

But the Fae did it in the more interesting way.

Although the Fae were not the only ones who had access to magic, they had a knack for creating systems out of that magic. Lexie wasn’t sure about this, but ...

263 - The Bug

Aiden lay on the soft cloud that was essentially his bed, as he stared up at the curved ceiling of his new room on the spaceship. It was translucent and pearlescent, allowing him to watch the passage of the stars above him.

Although that was likely an illusion too, because as fast as they were moving, it would be impossible to see a real star. 

Still, the faint veins of light drifting beside him were comforting in a way. 

The colors in the room shifted at random, ...

262 - Chaos Doors

Lexie had never seen Taybal market before, and so Tate had to show her an image of it on the NET. 

Once she had the image, though, she could teleport there using her orb. Tate also showed her how to create an untraceable money transfer, and she initiated it as they teleported to Taybal, while Duru acknowledged receipt. 

Duru then said to give him ten minutes while he created the secure delivery link with the information she needed. But Lexie couldn’t wait, and neither ...

261 - Deal or No Deal

“Are you insane?” Jerry asked.

“No,” Lexie said. “It's a pretty good deal. You get something you want, and I get something I want. I think I'm being more than fair."

“You–” he suddenly looked down, realizing the hordes of press currently taking eager photographs of her. “Oh, for the love of–You get in here.”

He grabbed her by the wrist, dragging her through the window before shutting it behind her.

Lexie landed softly on the floor as he turned to ...

260 - Top Down

In hindsight, it was actually quite obvious what Naem was trying to tell her. Lexie had even considered it on her own briefly before, in Ta-Ron-No's office.

But it just seemed nearly impossible in practice. 

So far, Lexie had the rough schematics for living cards, but she was looking for a loophole that would allow those cards to be used on Earth by humans. She'd figured she could use the converter that the Fae used to allow for that system.

Or she could figure out how ...

259 - Unsure

“What the hell is that thing?” Xena squeaked as she scrambled to her feet, her leg getting caught on the blanket.

“Pvilycht. He’s my cousin.”

“Your what?”

“I’ll explain later.” Lexie focused on Pvilycht. “What do you mean you’re in danger?”

“A creature is approaching me. I am not certain I can defeat it independently.”

What creature couldn’t Pvilycht defeat? He could just take it apart when it reached him.

“I can�...

258 - The Offer

“Xena?” Lexie blinked at the other girl. “What are you doing here? I thought school wasn’t letting out for another few days.”

“Yeah, I decided to bail early.” She shrugged. “I was done with exams, and Lionel told me that we would be going to Planet Fae before the break ended, so I figured we should start the break earlier.”

“Cool.” Lexie was about to ask Xena why she didn't answer her calls, but then she recalled that there were other people in the house. “...

257 - Three Visits

“Where have you been?” Lexie demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Here and there,” Naem responded, drifting closer to her. She rolled her eyes. Of course. It wasn’t like she expected a straight answer from him anyway. 

“Do you know where my father is?” she asked.

“No. Aiden dissolved the part of our bond that allows me to track him.”

“What? How?"

“That bond was not strictly part of the oath; it was simply a courtesy built ...

256 - Intruder

Lexie first tried to figure out the nature of the interloper. Was it human or otherwise?

It moved on two legs, but that didn’t mean much. She tracked its movement patterns, noting that it seemed to be circling the pair of fighters, exuding some kind of aura towards them, as though weaving a spell...

No, not a spell.

Wait a minute. Was Lexie detecting Eldritch essence coming from it?

Yes. It came across clearly now, despite the vast distance between them.

Whatev...

255 - Loss

“What?” Lexie jumped out of her seat immediately, assuming a defensive stance. “No. That’s not happening.”

“I don’t believe I need your permission, Lexie Sparrowfoot,” Ambassador Raz-Ro-Nan said. 

“Why are you taking him?” Lexie asked. “He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“That’s not for you to decide." He regarded Aiden. "The Fae and Human authorities have agreed to surrender you for a full advanced memory sweep. We must discover the true orig...

254 - Rejection

The group remained still for a few seconds, while Pvilycht stood dutifully beside Lexie.

“Lexie...” Conrad spoke first, his voice quivering before he cleared his throat. “What the ever-living hell is that thing?”

“This is Pvilcht,” Lexie responded. “He’s like my assistant.”

“He looks very weird…” Cara murmured.

“That’s rude, Cara,” Lane said.

“Rude but true.”

Lexie turned to observe Pvilycht. She supposed he did look weird....

253 - Expectation

At first, Lexie thought Torin was choking on something. His hand was on his throat, and his eyes were squeezed shut as a bead of sweat trailed down his face.

But the sound he was making wasn't choking sounds. They were intermittent gasps. His breathing was shallow and fast, like his lungs were having trouble completing each breath.

But Lexie could breathe.

And the few people she’d seen on her way here could breathe too. It seemed to only be affecting him.

Did someone...

252 - The Deal

The Alchemist smiled at Aiden’s request, clearly pleased. His seat swept back automatically, and he held up his finger as he stood. 

“One more thing to note,” he said. “By showing you the future and letting you leave here with that knowledge, I am fundamentally changing it. There’s no way to know exactly how it will change, but we can mitigate that later by altering your memories. Not to mention, with our contract, we can ensure that no matter how things change, your daug...

251 - New Normal

Jerry got up after the announcement, his expression like that of someone who had surrendered to the gallows.

“I’ll go speak to them first,” he said. “You guys stay and decide if you’re going for the Archmage's deal or not.”

“What’s your vote?” Stella asked him. 

“Abstain,” he said. “I know what you said makes sense, but I don’t trust the Archmage or his daughter. They have both committed several confirmed crimes, including consorting with Eldri...

250 - Architect

Abernathy was exhausted.

He'd spent most of last night studying new potions that he could make for the clinic, and also doing homework for some of the free courses he was taking. Not to mention Professor Aikins was even having him grade papers now, which was more than he was supposed to be doing as a thirteen-year-old TA.

The professor was overly demanding and not as thankful and warm as Aiden had been.  Unlike Aiden, who was always eager to teach Abernathy everything he knew...

249 - Deepest Desire

“NO!”

The sound exploded out of Aiden’s chest as Lexie vanished, her teleportation glitching at the last second, preventing her from coming up for air.

"NO!" He screamed again, and it was echoed around him as more of the heroes disappeared, along with the hands that haunted them.

Aiden's eyes were focused on where Lexie had vanished, leaving nothing but darkness in her wake.

He'd seen it coming.

Somehow, he'd known this would happen, yet he'd still been pow...

248 - The Perfect Storm

Lexie had connected to the dungeon, and from what she could judge, it was still relatively the same distance away.

If she entered the dungeon and connected to Yasycht, she could locate her father, but getting out would still be a risk. She’d never attempted interdimensional travel with pocket dimensions before. It might be riskier than traveling from a dungeon to a planet, and might even be just as risky as traveling through time, though it was lower on the difficulty hierarchy for Ya...

247 - The Capture Part 2

Lexie blinked at her father as he dispatched a large energy pulse that shoved most of the golems against what appeared to be an invisible wall that marked the borders of their new reality.

He did it again and again, holding them there, while the Ward-Hero put up shields that deflected the bullets.

Another hero, a shorter auburn-haired woman, was crouched close to the ground, her hand out, scanning whatever was underneath, and the Wolf guy had his teeth bared, and his claw hands ex...

246 - The Capture Part 1

Lexie was out of bed and standing in front of her father in the blink of an eye. 

“Where?”

“In a pocket dimension near the Shatters.”

Lexie shivered. How long had he been there? Was he there when she visited the Shatters? Did he watch her? How was he so close by, and she never even knew it? 

“How did they find him?” Lexie asked.

“Through the interrogation of his captured allies, Vacek and his detectives were able to triangulate his movemen...

245 - Ripples

Lexie managed to keep a straight face, even though internally she was totally shocked that he’d caught on to her so quickly and easily. 

“Whaaaat?” she said in a voice that sounded fake even to her own ears. “No.”

“You’re not adequate at lying,” the Ambassador pointed out. “Must be your Eldritch energy at work.”

Darn it, he was right.

Lexie had always been a good liar back in the day when she was mostly human, but being partially Eldri...

244 - The Island

As the Ferris wheel froze to a stop, waiting for riders to disembark, Lexie held out her hands to prevent both Dewie and Xena from getting off.

“Let’s do it now, Dewster,” she said. 

He was already gripping the turnstile, but he relaxed and nodded, while Xena looked between the two. “Do what?”

Lexie inhaled. “Dewie saw something when he touched my mother's gem."

“He did?” she hissed.

“Keep it down,” Lexie said. Though the bodyguards were ...

243 - The Calm

Rufina looked exactly like Lexie remembered. Same sneer, same pale, freckled skin, same dumbass haircut.

She was also with her usual crew of Tweedle-Dee, Tweedle-Dumb, and Tweedle-Dumber, all wearing varying degrees of apprehension.

As much as they tried to hide it with indifference and dislike, they were clearly scared. It made sense. They had to have already heard the rumors of Lexie's transformation and the fact that she could teleport in and out of dungeons. They knew she was ...

242 - Twisted Past

Lexie sat up, her mood instantly shifting. “It was bad?”

“I mean…” Dewie took a deep breath. “Okay, so basically I saw a lot of stuff. Mostly with her fighting monsters and stuff, and most of it was really bloody and gory, and I didn’t want to see it anymore. It was making me sick. The Mountain said that I could tune my visions with the right practice, but I’m not great at it. But I just focused really hard on not seeing any of the bloody stuff. I was hoping maybe I woul...

241 - The Cruel Clue

Lexie jumped off the counter, instantly on alert. “Let’s go.”

Aiden shook his head. “No. I’ll go. You stay.”

“Aiden–”

“Dad,” he corrected her with a stern look. She sighed. 

“Dad, I need to go with you.”

“No, you need to rest.”

“I’ve been resting all day.” Well, mostly. “What we need to do is catch onto Vulcan before more people get hurt, or before he manages to enact whatever his master plan is. Vacek was right. T...

240 - Girl Interrupted

Lexie noted the buzzing sensation, even as Professor Madswick gestured to her, “Ms. Sparrowfoot? You were saying something.”

“Umm…yeah, just give me a second.” Of course, she could step back through the portal and return to the dungeon to answer little Fae's summon, but she didn’t want to waste mana going back and forth.

She simply opened the door to his office and peeked out the hall to make sure it was empty.

Then she stepped out herself and pulled out the card...

239 - Tight Spot

Lexie aimed a large ball of VOID and blasted it through the walls in front of her, eating up the concrete until they burst out into a courtyard.

Unfortunately, the courtyard had guards who also started shooting at them. Not to mention three of four watch towers surrounding the lattice of shorter buildings that made up the prison.

Alarms blared around them.

Thunderous footsteps echoed, along with bullets, laser blasts, and the rumbling of statues coming to life. The forcefiel...

238 - Escape

While Lexie was still working out what to do with the information she just got, the previous guard walked up behind her and said, “What are you waiting for, idiot? Bring her!”

Lexie turned to him, then back to the woman on the ground, who had turned her gaze away to avoid looking like they’d been having a conversation.

The woman said she couldn’t leave because of her sister. But Lexie wondered if she really planned on dying here. 

Even worse, was she going to di...

237 - Discovery

Ambassador Raz-Ro-Nan stepped off his helipad onto the abode of the Gloom.

The Gloom was a Luminary in charge of their Eldritch Alliance and the connection to the Oath.

He typically lived apart from the rest of the Fae, and it was unprecedented for him to meet with just an Ambassador, or anyone, for that matter. The nature of his work isolated him from the rest of the Fae society, and it was delicate enough that it must be kept that way.

It was a brutal sacrifice, but it was...