It was definite that they were going and not staying the night. Unfortunately, that was the only thing that was clear on their path.

Gwen pushed to simply leave with Rio and the key - something Lilian expected. But her reasons weren’t so easily guessed. In addition to her being convinced the Elder won’t trust outsiders like them to go with Rio or their ceremonial objects, they may fear them doing something terrible in accordance with it. Gwen wasn’t going to let “some old crone’s fear keep us from going home”.

Sora was surprisingly vivid in his insistence that they should clear this with the Elder and not risk major issues down the line or being labeled kidnappers down the line. The few times Lilian had ever seen him before this - each time accompanying Gwen - were very quiet encounters. Lilian had never heard him raise his voice until now and it was against Gwen of all people - someone much louder and taller than he was.

Nothing Rio and Lilian could say could get through their intense debate; Lilian got annoyed by this since Rio being a native would better guide their actions if they let her speak. But Rio was unsure as well. She said the Elder was kind and she was of age to request trips outside the village, but two aspects had her concern. One was the Elder’s want to be fair to the village and the other was to protect her. Both may lead to the Elder saying no, so she had no way to break the stalemate with certainty.

What ended up stopping the argument was the reappearance of Trecanyx. Lilian could swear it was all the noise Sora and Gwen were making, but Lilian got a weird feeling right as he appeared. She couldn’t place it.

“What is the problem? Can I help?” he asked once again clinging to Gwen’s arm.

“We’re merely having a debate,” said Rio in her familiar blank way. “There’s nothing you can do to help.”

“Only your word!” said Trecanyx with a touch of aggression before returning to a smile for Gwen. “What are you all talking about?”

“We..are going to have to leave soon and we’re figuring out which way to go,” said Gwen. While Lilian was happy she came up with a credible half-lie, she’d never vocalize this thanks if she could help it.

“I want to come with you, Miss Gwen!” he exclaimed. “I’ve always wanted to see warriors in action!”

“You can’t help,” said Rio.

“And you can!?” Trecanyx was growing more and more irritated. “You can’t help either - isn’t that what you said to me!?”

“Uh...care to explain?” asked Lilian, a bit concerned by that.

Rio was once again frowning. “Trecanyx has an...obsession with powerful warriors. Ever since a group of adventurers visited the village long ago, he’s wanted such a being for a mate ever since. It seems this is his only reason for wanting to tag along.”

“Hey, I’ve been training since then! I can help her!” shouted Trecanyx.

“You’re too loud - as usual,” said Rio.

As the two went back and forth with talk in their native tongue, Gwen for once looked unsure as the information about Trecanyx rattled around her brain.

“So...he’s attached out of me being so kickass or just wants to bang me?”

“Seems like both,” said Sora.

“It’s less something so vulgar,” said Lilian dismissively. “I doubt it’s about that much about sex; tough women may just be his type and he’s crushing on you...somehow.”

After letting that sink in with the rest like a quicksand pit, she interrupted the arguing Veloverij. “Okay, just curious - how old are you anyway?” she asked Trecanyx.

After a bit of talk in their language - it was unclear if it was calculations or another parting shot at Rio - he replied. “I am an adult if that is what you mean - the system for the amount of time in this world for us is different from humans.”

“That...felt like a dodge, but can’t be sure,” said Gwen before turning to Rio. “And how do you know so much about him?”

“Aside from general village...gossip I believe is the word...he was attached to me the same way when he heard the story behind the fear of red claws,” said Rio, again gazing at the parts in question. “While more positive than the other talk I received, it went too far with the other wind. He eventually pulled away when it became clear to him I wasn’t going to become like those adventurers - going away from the village, wandering the land to slay monsters. I have not been in combat and neither had he. Such dreams were beyond us.”

“Ooooooh...so he’s almost like an ex.” Gwen snickered.

“An...ex?” Rio looked to Lilian for an explanation.

“She means that...she thinks you...you two were previously...mates but have since disengaged,” said Lilian, attempting to phrase things correctly.

An angry blush crossed her face as it all translated. “It was never close to that point. It was like a bee to a flower; persistent bothering until he found someone else to bother.”

This resulted in more unclear yelling from Trecanyx until Gwen stopped him. All of the group aside from Trecanyx knew it would be noisy once he realized Rio was in fact going with them on an adventure that may include defeating monsters. Taking him didn’t feel like something they wanted to do, but the question was how to get him to leave them alone long enough to get back to decide their plan of action.

Unfortunately, another interruption ensued as screams came from the front of town.

“What the hell was that!?” Gwen had one hand on her guitar on her back

“An intruder,” said Trecanyx. “There wouldn’t be that much noise otherwise. But so many voices at once…”

“The village Arms have returned to their posts,” said Rio. “Were they hurt?”

“If it’s that much trouble to take down multiple beings, it’s nothing we should be running towards,” cautioned Sora.

“We have to at least see how many of them are hurt and maybe alert the Elder--” said Lilian after a thought, but Gwen rushed off, retrieving her guitar from its case with Trecanyx close behind. “I meant carefully check, not rush in like morons!”

“We’re going after them, aren’t we?” asked Rio.

“Unfortunately,” said Lilian.

Once they reached nearer to the entrance of the village, they realized the problem that just came in. The body and rapidly flapping wings was like a hummingbird but much, much larger and with compound eyes. It was colored red and black with a webbing pattern on its front. But the more horrifying trait was the “beak” was split into 8 needles all connected to a point on the face. Each of those needles was buried into the neck or back of a Veloverij who all were unresponsive to the cries of others or the creature feeding on them but were still walking and moving to the horror of their kin.

“It’s like many mosquitos got fused to this thing,” said Lilian with a shudder. “What is it?”

“A Viremesite,” said Rio, her voice failing to reveal how she felt about the creature. “I guess this explains how that Karnipyre Drone was this far from the Hive.”

“Is that thing...controlling them?” wondered Sora, a few steps behind the girls.

“To get them to feed on its behalf,” added Rio. “It can’t eat normal foods. While it can leave on its own without damage to the homes, it may feed too much on the villagers and seriously harm them.”

“So besides the whole feeding thing, it’s not...as hostile as the Drone things, right?” asked Lilian. “Not a lot of deaths connected to them?”

Just as she asked that, one of the Viremesite’s free proboscis stabbed towards Gwen. Gwen dodged easily as it was more a lazy thrust as opposed to an intent to impale.

“There are occasional deaths from overfeeding and...accidents,” said Rio.

“Yeah, my blood is staying within me, thank you very much!” shouted Gwen as she charged with her guitar.

The Viremesite thrusted its needle out again, but Gwen nimbly dodged. It tried using one of the hosts to impede the rocker, but they too were dodged.

CLANG! The guitar clocked the beast on the side of the head, dropping it to the ground with a thud. Unlike the fight with the Drone, the beast’s head and the upper part of its body splattered open with dark red plasma spilling.

Neither Gwen or the beings that were being fed on ended up being caught in the bloodbath as they were pulled back. When Gwen looked around, trying to figure out how this happened, she noticed silver strings unattaching from her and the others, recoiling to Trecanyx.

“Well, saved me from that cleanup,” said Gwen, giving him a thumbs-up. “Nice work.”

“Just wanted to be useful to you,” mumbled Trecanyx, a blush across his face.

As the duo got to work disconnecting the needles still embedded in the villagers’ bodies, Lilian and Rio were perplexed by a noise. “Do those things make noises after they die?” asked Lilian.

“Not to my knowledge,” said Rio. “The Viremesite have hearts, but the wingbeats are the loudest noises they make. ...oh dear. It may have come with a mate.”

Gwen heard the comment, but she had put her guitar down briefly to help the victims. This meant she had no defense from the coming threat. One of the needles dug into Gwen’s back as well as all but two of the previous victims.

“Miss Gwen!” Trecanyx immediately panicked.

“I’m...fine..just...gotta…” Gwen’s speech slurred as the beast began to feed. Her hands repeatedly clenched and unclenched as she tried to keep a grip on her guitar and her eyes open.

“I’ll save you!” Trecanyx swore as he took a fighting stance.

Rio and Lilian looked at each other, unsure of what next to do. “Go get those two to safety,” Lilian insisted.

“But I ca…” Rio’s gaze again fell to her claws.

“You’re probably a little stronger than me to carry them,” Lilian said as she reached down to pick up one of the broken proboscis and swung it to test its ability to be a weapon. “I’m not going to force you to fall into some stupid sterotype your village is buying into the second they see you fight. We’ll manage to get that idiot free so she can steal the praise again.”

Rio was clearly conflicted, but nodded. She scooped up the two downed villagers and started to carry them deeper into the village while urging the others to do the same.. Lilian and Trecanyx faced down the creature with Gwen struggling to keep her eyes open.

Trecanyx immediately took flight and released his threads, wrapping them around Gwen and trying to pull her free. The Viremesite used its other hosts to grab onto the thread like a game of tug-of-war. Outnumbered, Trecanyx was tugged toward the creature and to the ground.

At the same time, Lilian attempted to stab the creature on the flank while it was distracted. Having the ability to fly, it could dodge rather than block, leaving Lilian to stumble.

With both enemies briefly down, it was the Viremesite being spoilt for choice of who to feed from. With two needles free, it could get them both, so it was more a matter of who to go after first. It decided to go after Trecanyx first.

The scream was horrifying for Lilian to hear - and it was only her and Gwen to hear since Gwen still showed some pale ghost of resistance and she couldn’t tell if Sora was still around.

I’m just cursed, aren’t I? I’ll just bring them misfortune...

Lilian tightened her grip on the needle and stabbed it in the head. It wasn’t enough to down it, but was enough to disrupt it getting a grip on Trecanyx.

“Get out of here! Now!” Lilian screamed.

Trecanyx struggled to shake out the chemical cobwebs. “I can’t...nnggh...leave you and miss Gwen--”

“At this point, you’re in the way!” Lilian shouted back as she went back in for another attack.

Lilian went for a slash to the monster’s eye. This time, it didn’t dodge. Instead, it used Gwen to defend itself. Her guitar broke the needle, but not without leaving a scratch on the guitar in the process.

Without her power, it’s just a regular guitar…

Lilian is knocked off her feet by one of the needles jutting towards her but she uses both hands to keep it from stabbing into her. It’s a struggle to keep up the resistance as Lilian fought against the fate attempting to be thrust upon her, so when she thought of a quick plan, she acted without following it through.

With all her might, she pushed the needle to the right just as she loosened her grip. It stabbed into the ground beside her and appeared to be stuck. But just as she tried to crawl free, the other hosts clamped onto her with more hands than were necessary. She wasn’t allowed any room to move and her breaths came short and fast as her pupils shrank. The Viremesite was clumsy using their Veloverij hosts and their claws cut her body and clothing where they held her down.

But unintentionally harrowing was the fact Gwen was the one having a tight grip on her hair and holding her head down, turning it slightly to the side to ease access to her neck with eyes shut like a sleepwalking vampire.

“Damn it Gwendolyn - for all your talk, you’re getting puppetted by this thing and drained!” Lilian growled with her face in the dirt.

Gwen’s eyelids fluttered slightly and a groan left her lips.

Lilian still couldn’t move so she continued her half-beratement, half-rousing rant. “All bark and no bite! So your mind is that easily overcome, Miss Punk Rock Psychic!?”

“Gotta...be…” Gwen was mumbling, but at least it was speech.

“Fight it, you cocky bitch!”

“Be stronger...to protect you…” Gwen was talking like she was half asleep and soon she passed out once again without another word with her body still pinning Lilian down.

Protect...me? All her bullshit since that day...was to look out for me? To protect me!?

Lilian didn’t know what to think about this - and it upset her. It drove her nuts. Her left eye felt like it was burning and she couldn't cover it with her hands.

“You better hurry up, you stupid monster or I’ll make you regret it,” she growled.

It was unclear if the beast heard her or understood her, but it seemed primed to follow through. But just as the needle was primed to drive forward, the creature stumbled back as it struck. It only was enough to move Gwen’s body backward so Lilian was finally able to turn her head. What she saw...is two large glowing silver needles piercing the body of the Viremesite and just missing its rapidly beating wings.

“Miss Lilian!” Rio flew in at incredible speed back to the battle.

“Rio…” Lilian was relieved yet panicked as her left eye was clenched shut. “Did you do that?”

“It is one of my skills, yes,” she said as she harassed the creature to give Lilian room to escape.

“But what about the village?” Lilian asked as she kicked herself free with the hands loosening their grip.

“I was unsure before. Now I am not,” said Rio as she conjures two more needles, each the size of a short sword and shorter than the ones previously fired. “I do not care what they think.”

The Viremesite decided to pursue Rio - whether it was out of spite for being attacked or preferring the blood and energy of Veloverij - and flung every Host it had control of at her. While fending off attacks with one needle, she flung the other through a gap in the mass of bodies to hit the Viremesite in the head. The momentum flung the beast backwards as its wingbeats slowed and it got closer and closer to the ground.

“Woohoo! Nice going!” cheered Lilian to which Rio offered a slight smile. “Now we just have to get everyone free. No way it can come back from that.”

Just as Rio began the process of removing people from the feeding tubes of the Viremesite, it swirled around and dove at Lilian with its remaining speed.

“Me and my big--” That was all Lilian managed to get out. CRASH. It had just enough movement to tackle Lilian with its Hosts and go into a nearby home.

“Miss Lilian!” Rio rushed towards the scene, pushing through to get to the creature - not using her needles but her bare claws - to get to Lily, Gwen and the villagers potentially crushed by that last-ditch maneuver.

As she fought her way past the dying body of the other Viremesite and trying to move it aside, she drew blood from its form and pierced the skin. Unfortunately, given as its body was holding mostly blood, quite a bit gushed out onto Rio’s face and claws before the wound sealed up slightly. This petrified Rio for a moment before she finally found the power to continue moving the body.

Outside, Trecanyx recovered enough to stand. He had heard what had happened but only now could he act. But just as he took a step--

KSSSSH!

Blood suddenly burst forth from the ruins of the house. Trecanyx was just clear of the splash zone and only peeked through afterwards. The villagers were fine, mildly dirty and unconscious. Gwen was in the same condition. But in the middle of the ruins was Lily and Rio - somehow the only ones covered in blood.

“Still don’t care what the villagers will think of this?” asked Lilian.

“...I don’t,” said Rio.

=====================================================================

What was that?

What?

It was quite a disturbance I detected to the south.

It’s not there now. Couldn’t be that important if it faded so quick.

But it was so noticeable. Should I alert Lady Talyawa?

...if you want, but I’m sure she’ll tell you it’s nothing.

=====================================================================

As Lilian feared, the villagers did jump to conclusions upon seeing Rio covered in blood. But Lilian stood up for her in explaining the situation. That in turn got the barely conscious victims to speak up and Gwen having her back encouraged Trecanyx to take their side as well. The Elder finally settled the conflict, proclaiming the group had to be rewarded. Each of the humans received a blue and green pendant while Rio and Trecanyx received rewards that were less tangible, but the humans were assured they were great honors.

After finally getting themselves and their clothes cleaned in a building that doubled as a bathhouse and fantasy laundry, Rio used the same needle spell she used to stop the creature to mend Lilian’s clothes. According to Rio, this was her main use of it before today. They then returned to Rio’s house for her to pack a travel bag and to finally change out of the ceremonial clothes; she was joining Lilian’s group and the honor she received meant she was free to come and go as she pleased.

“Miss Lilian, I must ask a question,” Rio said while in her bedroom.

“I have a couple as well so sure,” said Lilian as she gazed at her pendant around her neck, turning it and looking at it from all angles. “And it’s fair to say we’re friends now, so you can drop the whole Miss thing.”

“How did you handle being crushed by the Viremsite when it went for you? The doctor said you weren’t seriously hurt.”

The pendant drops from Lilian’s hands and her mouth hangs open for a time. “...guess I got lucky?”

“I thought you had a power like our kind do,” added Rio. “Or like your comrade Gwendolyn.”

“Uh...I think you exploding the Viremesite may have done that. How did you do that?” asked Lilian.

“I’m...not sure.” Rio finally stepped back out in a purple dress reaching about her knees - shorter than Lilian’s dress, with thinner straps and naturally with openings for her wings. Her legs were bare beyond what appeared to be a garter made of flowers on her right leg and simple flat shoes that revealed slight scales on her ankles as well. A bag was at her side that didn’t seem to be too heavy. “I noticed a mild tingling on my hands as I was clawing through, but I was too worried about reaching you and the others to look.”

Between Rio’s current attire and glimpsing her in the bathouse, it only made it more obvious to Lilian the similarities they had. They were the same height with similar annoyances with their current lot in life - thought granted Rio was more slender than she was and her troubles weren’t as visible.

“I’m sorry,” Rio said suddenly when she caught Lilian staring at her. “I don’t have many clothes. Matching you was coincidence.”

“N-no no, I wasn’t staring because of that,” Lilian said, surprised she was off-guard to that great a degree. “It’s fine, you look great!”

Before any more words were shared, there was a knock on the door.

“I assume that must be your comrades,” said Rio. “No one knocks on my door and the Elder summons me magically.”

Sure enough, she was right as Lilian opened the door to see Gwen and Sora. Sora was wearing his pendant and smiling. but Gwen was not on both counts. “You look lovely, Riowytax,” said Sora.

“Once we are out of the village, feel free to call me Rio.” Rio had a bright smile as she revealed that. “I’m growing to...prefer that.”

“What are you grumpy about?” asked Lilian of Gwen and her scowl. “Splattering another monster didn’t bring you joy?”

“It’s not that. It’s that damn-- Gah!” She found herself briefly cut off by something nearly knocking her over. She whirled around quickly like she would punch the one responsible, but she paused. “Oh. It’s you. But what’s all that stuff?”

The force responsible was Trecanyx - dressed in a new tunic, brown trousers, and a bandaged neck. His brown eyes were almost glowing as he looked at the young women and there was a bag similar to Rio’s in his hands.

“I’ve decided to...to...accompany you all!” he proclaimed.

Rio rested her hand against her face. “I feared this the moment you received the same honors,” she said. “Clearly the Eternal Maiden’s Breath favors bravery as opposed to actual impact.”

His smile dipped for a moment, but refused to disappear. “Riowytax, you will not cloud my skies. Clearly the warriors have brought out just what I thought you could become many seasons ago! And by traveling with them, the same will happen for me!”

Lilian did notice Trecanyx was looking at her and Rio a lot more now and it made her think back upon what Rio revealed about him before the sudden attack. While Sora was chatting with Trecanyx, Lilian whispered to her new friend “Don’t tell that look means--”

“He is attracted to female warriors and we defeated a Viremesite, so possibly,” said Rio. “But he still bears issues with me and if this was something worth keeping score, Gwen would be...winning.”

“Another second place trophy from a competition I didn’t ask to be included in,” grumbled Lilian as. “Speaking of don’t want…”

Rio nodded. “I agree. My past with him aside, he is a liability in combat and we won’t always have a doctor nearby.”

“I was going to say strength aside, I don’t want him risking himself for our quest, but...that too, yeah.” Lilian ran a hand through her hazel hair. “But he has those honors too, right? He’s free to follow and claim he isn’t.”

“I have an idea,” Rio said.

She went over to Gwen and whispered something in her ear. Gwen nodded a few times to the concern of Trecanyx.

“What did she tell you?” Trecanyx asked.

“Nothing bad. Just a couple of the customs of your kind,” Gwen said. “If you’re really planning to follow us, I tend to give people nicknames. So you don’t mind if I call you Trey, right?”

A flinch. “I...that is...uh…”

“If I can’t be that casual with you, it’s going to be hard to travel with you,” continued Gwen. “We’re all...fairly close here.”

Lilian could have sworn she saw Rio snicker - if she even knew she was doing so - and had a good guess for why. Right...nicknames are considered dishonorable. So guess time to test what he holds closer…

“I...I...sure! If that’s what you’d like, miss Gwen!” Trecanyx was a bit anxious, but didn’t seem to regret his decision.

“Hey, it’s not just me - the others too!” Gwen grinned, happy Trey was loosening up. “Right, Lily?”

“I told you to not call me that,” said Lilian. She sighed and looked at Trey. “I’ll try to continue calling you by your regular name, but occasionally I’ll use Trey since it’s two less syllables.”

“Thank you, miss Lily!” said Trey with slight relief. This relief nearly reversed itself when Lilian glared.

“But I expect the same from you because I’m not fond of being called Lily,” said Lilian with a growl. “So while Gwendolyn here may get you to say it, I must insist you avoid it.”

There was a palpable silence since Trey actually seemed scared of Lilian’s warning.

“Now back to why you were being all grumpy?” Lilian looked at Gwen once again.

“Right - despite all the hero talk the Elder went on about, she stopped me from getting the key,” grumbled Gwen.

“You tried to take it in front of her, didn’t you?” asked Lilian.

“No! I mean...I didn’t even get that far,” said Gwen. “I was just looking at it since I hadn’t gotten a good look. She walked up and told me to get away before I even raised a hand. It was sacred and to not be close and junk.”

“I swear to… Well, we have to get it. I feel like it’s the biggest hint to getting home,” said Lilian.

“The Elder has quite the intuition,” said Rio. “It’s how I’ve been protected for so long. A couple of us would have to distract her.”

“Or we can just leave,” said Sora.

“Sora, you just heard Lily say it’s important, right?” Gwen had her hands on her hips after adjusting her guitar case. “We have no other clues, so let’s just get it!”

“I mean we can just leave since we already have it,” said Sora as he pulled the key out of his shirt.

“How the f…” Gwen was completely confused. “When did you--!?

“Well, looks like our party has its Rouge,” said Lilian with a grin.

Once they had gotten outside of the village, Rio held the key while airborne and seemingly in a trance for quite a while. This only broke for a moment for Lilian to join her in holding the key in trance with her.

“I get Lily holding the key,” said Gwen, “but why Rio? She got more special powers or something?”

“In a way,” said Trey. “She studied under the Elder like she was her own child. Her spiritual sense is higher than an average being.”

The two broke their trance. Lilian was unsteady for a few moments and Rio held her up until she recovered. Everyone else soon gathered around.

“Miss L...Lilian helped me verify these feelings I got from the key,” Rio finally said. “Similar energies are across the Kingdom.”

“Plural? So...it’s not just leading us straight to where we meant to go?” asked Gwen.

“Honestly, I can’t say if what Rio is detecting is the area we should be going...or possibly other keys.”

“You think we need all the keys to open the….whatever it unlocks?” asked Sora.

“I suspect not...but I can’t be sure. After two sudden monster attacks, I can’t get a read of the place yet,” said Lilian.

“So where do we go?” asked Gwen.

“There are four other faint readings,” said Rio. “One is to the south of us - perhaps on the coast. Two are north but can’t still be exact on where from here. Maybe we are too far.”

“And the last one?” asked Lilian.

Rio merely pointed across the field to the village that Gwen described as a constant party when scouting from afar. “One of our...lovely Lunefang neighbors in Roijacht must have a key or something is buried underneath the village.”

“Funny that I didn’t hear this stuff within the village,” said Sora. “Is that some kind of magic happening?”

Trey nodded. “The villagers begged the Elder. It isn’t...perfect since we have to hear if intruders approach.”

“It is the closest,” said Rio. “But the oldest of us who visited once found them...troublesome to deal with. But that was some time ago. Either way, the decision lies with you three.”