The Naga standing in our path looked haggard, to say the least, with shoddy looking leather armor they looked tired for lack of a better word. Their weapons were a different story, they looked deadly if a bit primitive, I saw mostly spears with a few clubs scattered among them. The most impressive were the bows, I had a hard time imagining how someone was able to pull back the strings of those monsters. They were at least as big as the upper bodies of the archers carrying them, one look at the oversized arrows had me blanching at the thought of being hit by one, they were like small spears tied in neat stacks on the Naga’s backs. There were about ten snake-women in the clearing, not counting Eshanai and Lezuz, and their expressions brightened considerably when they noticed who they had saved. There was a cacophony of ululations and Eshanai, and Lezuz rushed over to the group to embrace each of our saviors in turn. What followed was a lot of heartfelt crying, and what seemed to me to be very inappropriate touching, Eshanai seemed to take it in stride though, doing much of the touching herself. I felt myself blushing, why must I react this way, this was most likely very normal in Naga society, and I would have to get used to it.

By the time I had calmed myself down the reunion had devolved into frantic kissing and more groping, Eshanai finally seemed to remember that I was there and stopped herself from going further. She spoke to the now focused Naga, they seemed spellbound and utterly awed by her words and they broke into cheers when she was done. Of course, I didn’t understand a thing, but then their curious eyes turned to stare at me, and I blushed again. Eshanai spoke more foreign words, all I understood that time was my name, Lilian, the stares turned from curiosity to something like pity if I weren’t mistaken. Most of the naga smiled gently at me while others turned away to watch our surroundings. Eshanai approached me from out of the crowd to speak to me, a tension I hadn’t noticed in her before seemed to have left her, she seemed more relaxed now that she had found her people.

“I have explained to them that you might be unused to our ways, no one will bother you if you don’t cause offense.”

“Ok, that sounds good,” I answered, “but how do I keep from causing offense?”

“Oh, just don’t attack anyone I guess, and don’t challenge anyone,” Eshanai said as if it was no big deal.

“I think I can manage not to attack anyone,” I said, “but what do you mean by challenge?”

“I sometimes forget how different you mainlanders are,” she said with a sigh before continuing in frustration, “just don’t, don’t make yourself out to be, oh I don’t know, stronger than anyone else. Wich, you might well be with your magic, hm, we might have a problem here,” Eshanai took some time to think before continuing, what would happen if someone challenged me? Would they fight me and kill me when they won? “Be humble,” she said finally, “Don’t be arrogant,” was Eshanai’s words of advice, they didn’t assuage my fears though.

“What will happen if someone challenges me despite all that, will they hurt me… kill me?” I asked in worry, wringing my hands in front of me.

“Oh no!” Eshanai exclaimed looking horrified, her outburst drew a few curious stares, and she lowered her voice as she explained. “Challenges are for testing your strength or sometimes skill against another, the purpose is not to kill or do damage but to see who is superior,” her words reassured me, and I let go of my anxiety, finally relaxing. Her next words made my stomach twist, but it wasn’t as bad as before, “although, we have never had an outsider participate before, they should leave you alone since you are still a child,” Eshanai saw my expression darken, and she hurried to calm me down. “But don’t worry, I won’t let anything harm you deliberately. Whether it be one of my clan or a monster in the woods, your safe with me.” Eshanai smiled at me warmly, it helped, but I was still weary.

“Do you know what happened to all the plants, by the way? They just stopped when we got here,” I asked in curiosity, trying to change the subject from what the Naga might or might not do to me.

“Rulan did it,” Eshanai said, seeming to debate with herself before telling me, she gestured towards a Naga with green scales, pale skin, and long brown hair tied in a braid hanging down her back. The Naga, Rulan, waived at us with enthusiasm when she noticed our attention, but quickly went back to talk to one of the archers. “She said the plants listen to her, Lubus thinks some of the Naga have awakened due to the large amounts of mana in the air and ground.” Eshanai continued, that meant more would probably awaken shortly. What did that mean for me though? Would my magic grow stronger just by being here? The presence of mana in the air was obvious, and I could feel it entering my body with every breath I took. It had had a drastic effect on the forest, there was almost a haze in the air, and mana pulsed up the roots and stalks of plants making them glow with energy. What would that do to the food grown on this island? I didn’t need to think about that right now, as Eshanai gathered the Naga and we began to move towards the home cave I had heard so much about.

Eshanai hadn’t lied when she said that I needed to get used to more nudity, the only Naga who were wearing clothes at the home cave were the guards outside and the warriors, everyone else was nude. My embarrassment was replaced by horror as I realized what shape most of them were in, the caves consisted of many branching paths with rooms cut into the walls. Most of the free space was needed for tending to the injured snake women, most of them had makeshift bandages covering grievous wounds, some even had limbs missing. Eshanai grew horrified too until a look of hope spread across her face, and she rushed up to the first unconscious Naga we came across. She laid her hands on the sleeping woman and closed her eyes, a short moment later she clenched her fists in frustration until her knuckles grew white.

“Don’t do this Red, not now,” she said in a deceptively calm voice, her eyes moved back and forth through the air as if she was reading something. “If you are not my ally, then you’re my ENEMY!” Eshanai snarled, fangs extended, and she reached under her shirt and gripped the red gem in a fist. She tugged on it until tears ran down her cheeks, red arcs of lightning raced up her arm, and Eshanai screamed in pain through her clenched teeth, she collapsed on the floor panting. A couple of Naga that was nearby and I tried to approach her.

“Eshanai, what is happening? Tell me what to do to help,” I said reaching out to lay a hand on her.

“No, stay back,” she grunted out before she flinched away from my touch. “I’m sorry, it isn’t safe, just let me handle this,” Eshanai turned to speak to the Naga in the room, and they backed off too, looking uncertain. “If you won’t heal them, what good are you?” She wasn’t speaking to me, that much was obvious, instead, she seemed to be talking to the gem in her navel. Eshanai’s head snapped up as she lay on the floor, her eyes moving through empty air again. Her fangs slowly retracted, and she visibly calmed herself before she pushed herself off the floor to stand on her tail. She stood there unflinchingly as purple light shot out of the gem to take shape in the middle of the room, it was too bright to look at directly, and I had to cover my eyes to keep them from hurting. When I looked at the spot again a muscular man was standing there, wearing a loose robe.

Lubus stood in front of me looking sad, he was a bit taller and more muscular, but I still recognized him. I threw my arms around him, and he embraced me readily, his scent hit me then, I didn’t realize how much I had missed him, and I started crying into the crook of his neck.

Hello Eshanai, I’ve missed you, he said in my head, and I realized I could still sense him. His emotions were a turbulent mix of happiness and shame, and I looked up at him with furrowed eyebrows. He smiled weekly at me before his voice resounded in my head again, I can’t heal them.

“Why not?” I asked, aware of the frustration poured into my words, but I didn’t care, Lubus could sense my emotions anyway.

I am still tied to the core, my mana flows through it, and Red can cut me off or grant me more as it pleases, I am still not free I’m afraid. Lubus explained, I rested my forehead against his chest, he really had grown taller, and sighed, letting all my frustration leak out of me.

“It was too good to be true,” I said in a tired voice, “I am still happy to have you with me again though,” I looked up at him and smiled, he smiled back, and for a moment there was only the two of us in the room.

And I am glad to be back, He said and squeezed me around my waist.

“Though, I swear, if even one of my sisters dies because Red didn’t allow us to heal them I will crush the little gem and spread the dust in the sea,” I said through gritted teeth, it felt good to vent, Lubus hand on my cheek felt even better.

You need the core, with its help, getting weapons for your people will be easy, like conjuring them from thin air. You need that, especially now that the island is changing so rapidly, he was right of course, it galled me to have to rely on the dungeon after what it had done. It had basically abandoned us in the jungle, trapping all our weapons inside itself, if it hadn’t allowed Lubus to return I would think it wanted to kill me.

“I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed you,” I said and nuzzled my cheek into his hand, “but what will we do now if Red refuses to help us?”

Remember that dungeons don’t think like you and me, they are more, shall we say, pragmatic. All we need to do is find something sufficient for it to absorb and your agreement will be back on track and I will have more freedom to help your people. There should be plenty of new things it hasn’t seen before here on the island, with this much mana in the air the wildlife is evolving by the day. We will get through this, Lubus reassured me, it helped, and I could feel my mood lifting already. It seemed possible now, not like the daunting obstacle I had imagined. Our moment was interrupted by Lilian, and I remembered that there were other people in the room.

“I don’t want to interrupt, but who is this? Why isn’t he talking?” The girl asked, and I realized how strange we must seem from the outside with only me talking.

“I’m sorry Lilian, this is Lubus,” the look of shock on her face was amusing, “why don’t you introduce yourself?” I said to the man, he looked sheepish before he opened his mouth to speak.

“I s-still s-s-s-tutter,” Lubus stuttered, I think I had been put through too many emotions today, but this was just too much, and I started laughing hysterically. Lubus looked annoyed at first but then he smiled at my mirth and even chuckled slightly. My laughter was interrupted by Rulan rushing into the room.

“There you are, I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” she said in the Naga tongue. “Vista is gone, she has taken some of the warriors to go to the goblin cave to try and free our people.”