When your character loses its conscience in Mephisto, you do not see what is happening around you; however, something was now off with my setup. I still had an understanding of the environment.

I think Andy lost her conscience due to the high blood loss. White Flower's healing typically does replace the blood loss, but Andy was too low a healer, and her healing, even if based on White Flower's understanding, could not and did not work as well.

As Andy's eyes were wide open, I still could see, but I could not do anything, not even move my pupils to follow a movement; I saw only what was in front of me. I saw how the dwarf came hesitatingly towards me to halt suddenly as Bubble started to move.

“What is this? A parasite?” - he said, taking a step back.

He tried again to come closer, but Bubble blocked the way. He lost precious time quarreling with Bubble, and I was very afraid that he would kill the little slime. As I could not do anything, everything was just scary and frustrating!

Then the picture froze and started to become blank. This was still not in line with how things should happen when your character is not by conscience, but soon my confabulation came to a stop as my thinking process got hampered. It was as if my mind would get slower and slower, as if walking through denser mud and then freezing in a blank stare.

*

Spartacius had been combining new dishes, now at Tina's advice, whilst they were all playing jury in the quest of finding the best possible dessert.

“Mmmm. Not bad. Maybe you need more syrup?” - said the Lynx wetting his lips with his tongue.

“No, not syrup. I was thinking of adding more honey!” - countered Tina trying to concentrate on the aftertaste in her mouth.

“Buerk! It is impossibly sweet as it is, and you want to add even more honey?” - protested Alice.

Sid was savoring the dish keeping his eyes closed. He had received a giant portion, fit for a dragon, as he had complained that previous pieces had been too small for him to give an appraisal.

Spartacius took a small bite from his cake but instead of giving his 'cake opinion' voiced one of the thoughts that had been preoccupying him for some time.

“You know, I think I have a way to leave this cavern. I could try to check if Cala has any problems and try to bring a portal myself.”

As soon as he said that, his cheeks became red. Smelling a rat, the Lynx raised a brow and turned at him:

“Where is the catch?”

Spartacius took a deep breath:

“Well, there is no catch... hm... it goes about misusing an angel...”

Tina laughed as if hearing a good joke while Alice furrowed her brows, observing him carefully:

“You are being serious?”

"Misusing an angel?" - wondered the Lynx - "This is a new low. Let's do it!"

Spartacius nodded at Alice and made a grimace at the Lynx.

“It is a minor exploit of the situation I am in.”

The Lynx grinned:

“An exploit?”

“What situation are you in?” - wondered Tina - “what do you mean?”

Spartacius sighed, his cheeks becoming redder:

“Well, I am technically only fourteen; therefore, I am specially protected.”

Tina tried to protest:

“Nonsense! I am not yet thirteen, technically and non-technically, or whatever you want! Where is my special protection? Besides, you must be twenty-something!”

Alice interrupted her:

“I know how you feel, but we all know that Spartacius is twenty; however, Michael is fourteen.” - she turned towards Spartacius - “so what about that?”

“That's always confusing!” - mumbled Tina

“Let the boy explain!” - interrupted the Lynx

Spartacius turned a bit aghast towards the Lynx at being called a boy, but the Lynx only shrugged, looking at him. You just said you are fourteen? He sighed again and started to explain:

“I think I've told you that if I am in any situation that is deemed inappropriate for my age, I would be pulled away.”

“You said teleported away!” - corrected Alice

He nodded.

“Well, that's it, but the mechanism is a bit different. From what I've read about it, I believe there is an angel that is continuously by me. If anything becomes inappropriate, the angel would protect me and pull me away and place me in the next protected town. However, I have only 3 strikes, and then I would be banned from the world. That is to force me to try to avoid such situations.”

“Interesting thing. So how many such 'teleports' did you consume so far?” - asked the Lynx.

“None”

“OK. So you could be pulled away by an angel. And what should we do to make it happen? Kill you? Torture you? Cut your limbs? Eat your liver?”

Spartacius sighed and looked down.

“No, that is not protected, but if one of the girls would try to do something... ahm... sexually with me... ahm...”

Alice started to laugh:

“Nice try! This is a new and original way I was never asked before! I give you that!”

“Don't even dream of getting kissed by me!” - protested Tina

The Lynx laughed, rolling on the floor:

“No limb cutting would do it, but being kissed by a girl is protected! That's what's called angel protection!”

A red-cheeked Spartacius turned towards Alice.

“Well, maybe some sadistic torturing would do it too, but... but... OK, it sounds stupid, but it should work. For instance, if you would bare your breasts in front of me... It's preferable to be tortured... Maybe even try to kiss me...”

Even his ears became striking red.

“You can dream about it! But we can talk in more detail about which torture would do it,” - protested Tina crossing her hands above her lemon-sized breasts.

Alice furrowed her brows again, looking at him while Sid finally gulped down the cake.

“Now, now, ladies, don't kill him with your looks!” - laughed the Lynx, but then he turned towards Spartacius with a sigh - “I'm with you, nice try, but look, Cala was almost completely naked when she came out of the wolshi. That did not seem to work for your angel; you are still here. It does not seem to work.”

Spartacius shrugged, looking intensively at the ground.

“Maybe because she didn't want to show anything, it just happened... There was nothing sexual in that; she was just hurt and bleeding...”

“Give me the food sack!” - said Tina - “if you may disappear from here, we should still have something to eat!”

Spartacius handed her his magic food sack:

“True, it is a good point. Why? Are you going to...?”

He got a slap over his face that he didn't try to block.

“No. Who do you think I am?” - protested Tina.

“Oh girls, that's not such a terrible request. He may be right. If this works, he may at least be out of here! If it were about me, I would do it.” - said the Lynx looking askew at Alice.

She sighed tiredly.

"Oh well..."

She slowly took off her blouse. It was no show, but she hesitated. Then she did it and turned to face him. Nothing happened. With a grunt, she bowed and pitched his genitals with her hand.

“Yay?” - yelled a surprised Spartacius bowing and smacking his face involuntarily against her bare shoulder and breast.

“It does not work!” - concluded the Lynx whilst a somewhat angry and redfaced Alice was picking up her blouse from the ground.

“Turn around and stop looking at me. If I find out you did this just to... §$%*#&/!!”

“No, no! I swear!” - protested Spartacius cutting her off. He then looked confused somewhere in the air, wondering - “but if this does not work, it means I am no longer protected...”

“Welcome to the unprotected club!” - suspired Tina - “why should you be protected and I not?”

“So you mean an angel should have intervened?” - wondered the Lynx - “is this true when Michael is not here?”

“I think it is.” - confirmed Spartacius with some hesitation.

The Lynx shrugged. An already clad Alice furrowed her brows while putting her blouse in order:

“Can this have something to do with the fact that angel resurrection does not work? You know that ghost, Ivar, he complained about that.”

“Oh fuck! You may be right!” - exclaimed Spartacius - “Can it be that the same angels are tasked with both things?”

“Maybe it is one and the same angel?” - wondered Tina, then she pointed at something inside the grotto, hitting Spartacius with her elbow in the stomach -“Maybe your angel was only delayed?”

Strange lights were illuminating the grotto in a place not far away from them. As Spartacius turned to watch the lights, a slap landed over his head.

“That was for your stupid request!” - explained Alice, then added - “That is our angel, Cala. I recognize White Flower's spell.”

Spartacius turned to look at Alice whilst rubbing his head, then exclaimed happily:

“Finally she is coming back!” - and then mumbled low voice - “...actually it was worth it...”

The Lynx grinned but said nothing.

“What took her so long?” - wondered Tina.

As they spoke, they stood up and approached the place where the light show of the spell played. The Lynx grunted:

“Don't get too close. I fear something is wrong with the spell, and that may be dangerous!”

Sid looked worried at him, speaking for the first time:

“What do you mean? Why do you say that?”

Instead of the Lynx, Alice answered:

“I think the spell takes too long...”

The Lynx nodded:

“Yes, and it is weak. It is her spell, and yet it is not her; this is not White Flower!”

They looked at each other just as the spell ended with a small blast. Drops of liquid flew in all directions, and something fell with a splash on the stones. Spartacius cleaned his face with a hand.

“What was that?”

A shocked Tina exclaimed, almost out of breath:

“Blood! I am full with blood! The spell backfired! She is dead!!”

Instantly the Lynx licked his face clean.

“Keep cool; it was not so much blood, besides... No, this is not Cala. There is a different taste...”

With round saucer eyes, Spartacius turned to him:

“Taste? Have you tasted that? Besides, how do you know how Cala tastes?”

The Lynx shrugged:

"I've been splashed with her blood already a couple of times, not to count when I've bitten her down from the wolshi and ran with her in my mouth. I cannot turn off my taste buds. Besides, how else should I clean my nose?"

Sid pushed them to the side and touched the rests carefully with his tongue. A desperate Tina exclaimed:

“Gaaah. Why do you do that!?”

She was trying to clean the splattered gore from her blouse with a handkerchief.

Sid raised his head and moved his mandible as if he would be eating.

“Dark elf,” - said Sid after a while, surprising all

“Dark elf?”

“How do you know how dark elf tastes?” - wondered Spartacius

“Ahm...”

“It's not the point now!” - protested Tina.

“It's not what you think! I had a dark elf nanny!”

“A nanny? You used to eat your nanny?”

“Yeah, NO! I was small, I've bitten her many times when my teeth were growing... ” - he shrugged but did not elaborate further, then added - “dark elf... and strawberries... half-digested.”

They all looked at each other surprised. Tina could not contain the horror anymore:

"Half digested dark elf?"

Sid sighed:

"No, silly, the strawberries."

"I'm not silly!" - said Tina furrowing her brows.

The Lynx pressed his nose close to the gore on the floor.

"Smells like gastric juices... and indeed strawberries. Why would somebody send us half-digested strawberries?"

"Who and why would send us the content of a dark elf stomach?"

Sid turned to the asking Alice:

"And part of the stomach too!?"

Spartacius twisted his nose:

"This smells like a backfired spell - forgive the pun!"

"And yet it was a long spell. It was much longer than how White Flower tells the spell, but it was the same spell" - Alice looked down hesitatingly "... and it did not look like it backfired. It seemed to close normally. Somebody targeted this point. Who knew of it?"

Spartacius shrugged:

"The orcs?"

Tina shook her head:

“Maybe somebody else too. Who knows who was here before?”

Alice pointed down as the Lynx was examining the clump:

"White Flower had set up her lightfire precisely in this point..." - her eyes lit up - "There is something shiny on the ground under this stomach skin!”

She bowed and picked up an object from the gore that looked like a somewhat bloated ring.

“Is that a ring?”

"Looks like a ring..."

“Why would she send us a ring?”

“Not she, a dark elf!”

“No, she sent us the stomach of a dark elf including the content… wait...” - the Lynx interrupted himself, looking at the ring in Alice's hand - “There is something written on that emerald!”

Tina shook her head:

“No, those are only scratches!”

Alice cleaned the ring on the arm of her shirt:

“Indeed, there is something written!... In one of the adventurer's languages!”

She read out loud:

“Alice to wear. Push here to open.”

They looked at each other.