*Seh’m-pai decided to have some fun here, the cute mortals wanted to keep their little world, and he didn’t mind that, but there are rules. There are always rules, so he chased after the one in the lead, who was ducking and diving desperately between fragments of his old play area, chasing just a tad too slow.

If the mortal was so determined, then they had earned this, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t mess with them mercilessly on the way. He grasped at them gently, aiming to narrowly miss the catch.

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Oh Gods, Mibbet really didn’t like this, her legs were burning from all the running, She really didn’t know what would happen if she was caught, she didn’t want to find out,

She ducked as a hand the size of Trundles whizzed past her head barely missing her, nope, nope, NOPE, she definitely didn’t want to find out. Spotting a well cut hole in the street ahead, that looked suspiciously like a tunnel, an idea hit her. That was it, she was a genius. Bounding off the surrounding walls, she dove into the opening, they’d never fit down there, surely.

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Seh’m-pai saw what she was up to, smart little mortal, and it was always adorable when they thought the laws of physics applied here, reaching out with a grin and a giggle, they reached down and slid into the sewers below the ruins. In the mortal realms this wouldn’t have worked, but here, he wrote the rules, enforced the rules, and was the rules.

No point in making the game too easy after all, if the mortals start believing that they could win without effort, they’d get cocky, just like their gods.

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Mibbet looked back, at the thing that just crawled down behind her, and bit back a curse. This was a terrible idea, what kind of idiot thinks of something like crawling down into a darker place in the void, while a monster followed them?

“That would be you.” Rosalind replied “So now you’re in this mess, I suggest you use what you use best, that down the middle there is water right?”

Mibbet glanced at the black, oozing fluid, if that was water, she was a gorilla, still, she doubted the creature was going to anticipate an amphibious Princess. Even in the void, they didn’t exactly pop up too often, so bracing herself, she took a look at the ooze once more, braced herself for impending grossness, and dove in.

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Seh’m-pai looked around with a chuckle, these mortals were getting cleverer, true it had been a few millennia since his last attempt to play in that world. Back then, they’d been cute little hairy things that bounced around waving sticks, fresh out of the trees. (The Mortal gods had totally cheated back then, but now he understood why, they grew so fast.)

Now they weren’t praying to gods to change them, or naming champions, instead they were changing themselves to better suit their environment, or at least a lot quicker. For that alone, it was well worth giving them a shot. Was this one somehow part water dweller? Out of curiosity, they sent out a probing glance, checking what they could learn about their visitor. Oh, that explained a lot, two souls, one body. If they kept on at this rate, maybe by next time around they’d be ready to play.

“Go on little one” Seh’m-pai said with a chuckle. “Get out of here before I change my mind.” Of course that wasn’t how mortals would perceive it, but it was the thought that counted, surely.

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The creature kept searching, while Mibbet held position under the water's surface. She could tell that it was still searching for her, the feeling of that magic was unmistakable, like your soul was being grabbed, and flipped around for a rather too long for comfort examination. It was like full body pins and needles, with actual pins and needles, while somehow oily, suffice to say whatever the hell that magic was, it was not a pleasant experience. Imagine that dream where you show up to class in your underwear, then imagine the entire classroom was made up of that one person you like. No, not just the people, the entire classroom, and every component therein. All of whom have just noticed you in your scanties. Add in the realisation that today is the day you chose to wear your granny pants, (you know? The ones that you always mean to throw out, but never get round to discarding, the ones with the loose elastic.) Then imagine every other classroom is arranged in a similar setup, all lined up panopticon fashion, and you are each copy of yourself. All aware of this fact, and you would be close to halfway to how creepy this felt. Add in that all those judgemental eyes know everything you ever read, (yes, even that), and you’re almost there. Then imagine they all knew what that reading material was about. (Yes, all of it).

Suffice to say it was a freaky feeling, it was all Mibbet could do to not break and run, particularly when, the creature, not a moment later, gave off a disturbingly smug sounding noise that made Mibbet want to use a set of Errol’s knitting needles as ear plugs, to avoid ever hearing it again.

At least it didn’t seem to be searching the water, as Mibbet searched desperately trying to figure out where to go from here, finally spotting a tunnel that headed vaguely in the direction of the beacon. She quickly (but not too quickly, being spotted would kind of defeat her purpose in being here), started to swim in that direction, doing her best to ignore the horrifying sounds from behind her, as she slipped past some kind of grating, and let herself quietly drop into the water below, with as little splash as possible.

Then, once she was clear, and sure it hadn’t spotted her yet, took the long, and often winding trail, towards her destination.