--------///----General Narration----\--------

The forest had hardly changed over the years, however the world outside of the forest was another issue entirely. With an entire kingdom overthrown in a day, the power balance was disrupted. At first, the various kingdoms had tried to disrupt the stabilization of the new kingdom by disrupting trade and halting adventurers from traveling towards it. At one point there would've been a war if the founders of the new kingdom didn't supress the others. Which inadvertantly created a new empire.

The news of these events shook most of the continent as the thought of the two empires clashing and bringing war all over the continent, put fear in the hearts of many. However many people didn't expect for a treaty to be announced between the two. The people didn't understand however the insiders were even more surprised at the reason why this was able to happen in the first place. They would never have expected for one wolf to lead to the treaty between two empires.

These developments led to the foundations of the new empire to be solidified faster then normal, which normally would have been a problem. However with the support Ulderria and her empire, the security and stability of the new empire was assured. This led to a time of relative peace as any rebellions had been snuffed out before they became issues. There were trade routes that became open and the prosperity of both empires developed by leaps and bounds.

However these effects also impacted areas and people unrelated to the empires. There were a few territories that were becoming incorporated into them and there were also adventurer parties that would travel and take quests from the empires for various rewards. There was even a certain party that could freely travel through either empire without having much trouble.

This party consisted of three humans, the founders of the party, and two recruits that had joined a year ago. The first recruit had been the parties healer, a female dove birdkin with more human blood then beastkin. And a male lizardkin vanguard. They were known for having a trio of basilisk children trailing them and growing under their care. Along with a slime that seemed to be in charge of them. However this party was currently nowhere near either empire at this point.

Currently this party was located in a cove bordering the sea. There had been a request to handle a nest of sea reapers which they had taken. Sea reapers were a type of serpent with scyth like appendages running along their sides. They had light blue scales and could blend into the water, effectively making themselves invisible. With that, they would sneak behind prey and constrict them while cutting them into pieces.

The nest was a problem as the sea reapers would invade the harbors and disrupt their hauls. They would also shed their skin and clog up the drains which was a more prominent issue for the people then the fish. The sea reapers weren't that powerful outside of the water, but they were still problematic. However with this party, they weren't much of a threat at all. In the cove, this party was already half way thtough the tunnels and already left a trail of corpses iin their wake.

In the lead was the party vanguard, the two and a half meter tall brown scaled lizardkin who held a tower shield. His gear consisted of an iron breastplate and leggings. He didn't have a helmet since it would "Get in my way" as he would say, and had a spiked gauntlet on his other hand. His tail was three meters long and ended in a club like shape that he had attached a steel frame to.

To his left and right were a pair of assassins who rushed through the sea reapers and tore through them. Behind them was the other new member, the dove birdkin who was being protected by the party leader and the trio of basilisks who were already three meters long. They were capable of hunting on their own and when they were all together with their "parents", they could boost the power of the party to a threathening degree.

However for now, they were at the back protecting the nervous healer clearly unsettled by them. The party was going through the cove at a pace that would surprise anyone else. They had been going through for an hour and made decent progress yet they were still far from reaching the nest of these sea reapers themselves. That fact was annoying a certain member of the party.

--------///----Reina's POV----\--------

~ Tch. Why do they have to be so far down? This place is so annoying. Ughhh. ~

(Endis) " Rei, you're getting a little sloppy. "

Endis' voice came from my left which caught me a bit off guard since he went to to the right. I checked and saw he stabbed a blade through a reapers head. That reaper was one that i tore into but apparently it didn't die. Whoops. He dashed back over to his side and went back to deal with the ones over there. For now i had to just but my annoyed thoughts aside and get back to cutting the reapers apart.

We repeated this for a while so i was already used to this way of fighting. And after a few minutes we cleared out all the reapers that showed up. I couldn't help but think about how good reapers would be combat wise if they could use their invisibility on land. Though even if they could, they wouldn't be a match for us. Mina's gotten good with her air so she could sense them, Endis could find them with his earth if Mina couldn't. Though i didn't reach that point yet. Then we finished gathering the good stuff and regrouped while our basilisks came back to us.

(???) " Hmm, those vermin were more numerous then is expected from a single nest. "

(Mina) " You have a point. I was sure sea reapers nests were small... So why are there so many? "

(Reina) " You mean the beastiary was sure. "

(Mina) " Same thing! "

(Endis) " Whatever you say cous. "

(Mina) " Tch. Anyway, how's your shield, Orven? "

(Orven) " It is fine. These whelps are not strong enough to put any dents in my shield. "

(???) " Are you ok then? "

(Orven) " Of course i am. There is no need for you to worry about my health, Ava. "

Even though she already knew that he was fine, she would always ask him since he always led the charge. That part of her was nice to see. Looking at her, she was on the shorter side under a meter and a half with pale white skin and white hair and feathers. Her wings were two meters long if she extended them fully and she was good at flying. If she kept them hidden under her robe, then she could easily pass as a very pale human. If it wasn't for Endis and the training he gave me then i would've actually thought that was what she was.

Ava was interesting since even though she was scared of our basilisks, she wasn't all that afraid of Orven. Which was surprising since the first time i met him i was a little intimidated. Though Ava was different since she hit it off with him. I couldn't figure it out. And even though she was the last one to join, she didn't feel awkward with any of us. She was just a natural at talking with others. Our party was looking good.

(???) " Mom. Thingy. "

And our party wasn't the only thing that just changed. Jelly could actually talk now! Though she could just do a few words and broken sentences, she could still talk. The first time she spoke called me mom nearly gave me a heart attack since it just came out of nowhere. She would still use the other ways that we taught her but she seemed to like speaking more then the other things.

When Jelly said that, i couldn't help but be curious and check out what she found. She was at a crack that was covered by a reaper corpse. The crack didn't seem to be that special, but when i used my earth to open it up to see what she found, i noticed that this crack seemed to be something way bigger then what i thought. On the other side of the crack was something we've been getting familiar with over the years.

The crack led to a small room that a kid could probably fit into but still find it cramped. And in the center of the room was a rift... A small one but still a rift.

(Mina) " Endis! Orven, get over here and help me close this up! "

(Endis) " Huh? "

They didn't notice me leave so when i shouted they were suprised that i wasn't there anymore. They came over and saw what i saw and had the same reaction i did. Over the years there've been rifts that have been causing problems for whoever came across them or whoevers village or town was in the way. There was even one that had something wipe a village clean off the map. Everyone was worried about rifts and eventually people just started to make cages or block the areas the rifts spouted.

The first time we did this, the thing that came out wasn't kept contained so we had to kill it. And that wasn't easy at all. The next time we all made an effort and made a cage with all of our magic that kept the thing inside until it got tired of thrashing around. When it tired itself out, we went in and beat it down. Though we were in a cove filled with sea reapers. We couldn't just wait for this one to open while the sea reapers were here.

With having me, Endis and Orven sealing the crack and reinforcing the wall, even if the rift opened up, we would have time to clear the place out and get out safetly. Though we would have to pick up the pace so we didn't get caught between the reapers and whatever came out of the rift. So after we sealed the area around the rift and reinforced the wall, we started speeding through the rest of the cove.

After what Mina said was twenty minutes, we made it to the deepest part of the cove where the sea reaper queens and eggs were. The queens were massive and looked to be atleast fifteen meters tall while they were coiled. Though when they saw us, the first of the trio uncoiled and charged at us while the other two supported her. The queens in the back helped to coat the first queen in water and ice while they also started to make ice shields to defend themselves. Thankfully we left our basilisks and Jelly outside of the entrance so they wouldn't be caught up in any of this.

Orven charged towards the queen with his tower shield and coated himself in his golem form. When it came to earth defense and form, Orven outmatched me and Endis. He was able to use his earth to turn into a eight meter golem. And thanks to having a tower shield with a size adjustability enchantment, he could still use his tower shield in that form. He charged into her and she started to coil her tail around his shield, though he didn't seem to mind since he raised his shield up, bashed her with his knee and turned to slam his tail onto her side.

While he took care of that one, Ava flew up and hovered near him so she could take care of him and keep her eyes on the entire field so she could heal anyone that needed it. With her up there, me and Endis could split off and take a supporting queen each while Mina supported us. Me and Endis coated ourselves in our darkness and shot out towards them.And thanks to Mina, we were even faster with her air buff.

Though the supporting queens wouldn't just let us have our way. They stregthened their shields and used water they made to fight back. Though me and Endis were faster then their water so we could easily avoid them. When the queens noticed that, they started wetting the floor infront of us and then froze it over when we got in range. Endis jumped out of the way though i got caught in a small bit of ice which slowed me down.

I clicked my tongue and swapped my darkness coat for fire and raised the heat to melt the ice before it got close to me. The queens in the back hissed at me and sent a wave of water at me. I made a darkness wall and focused my earth on the ground under me and made a hole to go through. I kept focusing my earth forward to extend the tunnel i was going through and kept going until i reached the first one.

As soon as i got underneath one of the queens, i focused my darkness onto my Siellas and used my earth to burst through the ground the queen was under. Though as soon as i got out, i was met with a tail swipe. I got smacked away and almost smashed against the wall. Though thanks to Ava who used an air cushion to soften my momentum and a light shot to heal some of the damage i just took, i was good to keep going.

I ran forward again and unchained one of my Siellas to send darkness slashes towards the queen's shield. The first wave didn't do much but leave a few cracks, though the second and third wave was something else. The second wave left gashes while the third wave broke through the shield and had a slash hit the queens body. There was a moment that she reared up and let out a screech. I used that moment to rush in while i made an earth staircase to get up and jump higher and up onto her head.

Her eyes focused onto me and she coated her head in water so i slipped off. But not before i plunged my unchained Siella into a side of her face so i didn't fall to the ground. The darkness on my Siellas help cut through her scales and gave me a good spot to hold onto. Though the queen started to thrash around and tried to squash me under her weight. I had to take my Siella out and started to drop, but before i got too close to the ground i had to bet on Ava.

(Reina) " Ava, gimme a lift! "

As soon as i shouted, i felt an air current form under me and then shoot me upwards. I used that moment to change my unchained Siellas coating to earth so i could launch it out and pierce through the scales, which i did. I got them in and started to put it back to normal so i could use the pull to bring me towards her body and plunge my darkness Siella in so i could pour darkness into her.

She didn't like that and tried to thrash again, but i took my darkness coated Siella out and coated my boots in earth spikes and kicked them into her side. That made her wince and gave me time to free my earth coated Siella and unchain it. With that done i jumped off and slashed up to her newly impaled mouth. I got them in and started the process of using the pull of my Siellas to get right up to her mouth.

The queen opened her mouth when she noticed what i was doing, probably to try to swallow me whole, too bad that wouldn't work. I unchained my other Siella and changed the coating to eath like my first one and swung that one higher. I managed to get it right in her eye and stopped the pull from my first Siella and started to use the pull of my second Siella to get up to her eye while i coated the first one in darkness so i could yank it out and not end up getting stuck.

As soon as i got up to her eyes, my other Siella was back and ready to tear into her. Which is exactly what i did next. I plunged my other Siella into the same eye as the other and poured out as much darkness as i could and pushed it as close to her brain as i could. The queen was trying to thrash and swing me off but i held on and kept it up until she crashed to the ground and let out her death rattle.

With that done, i took out my Siellas and cleaned off any blood or body parts with my darkness. After that i hopped off her head and walked over to everyone else... Who were already done and just waiting for me. I clicked my tongue and just regrouped with everyone.

(Endis) " Looked pretty close there Rei. "

(Reina) " I still came out just fine. "

(Endis) " Hmm? "

Endis just raised his brow and came over and poked me in the side that took most of the queens tail. When he did that, i couldn't help but wince since it actually did hurt.

(Endis) " Just fine, huh? "

I grumbled at him and walked over to Ava who was already coming over to help me. We talked a bit more and then went through and destroyed every egg we could find. Without the queens, we could go into the back cave where the eggs were all bunched up and smash them all. We cleared those out and looked through any treasure we could find and took that back with us as we made our way back to our basilisks and Jelly.

When we did, we found them playing rock paper scissors, which Jelly taught them after Endis taught her. Apparently Endis' basilisk won since the others were glaring at it. The first time they did this we were confused but then we figured it out. When they wanted rock, they would curl their tail and present it. If they wanted scissors they would stick out their tongue. And if they wanted paper they would stiffen up and stand straight.

We all just shook our heads at them, except for Endis since he gave his basilisk a high five. We backtracked up through the cove and made it back to where the rift was. The wall was still sealed and it didn't seem to have opened. We let out sighs of relief and started to head back to the entrance. That was... Until we felt the ground shake and heard what sounded like howls fill the air.