The next morning, before any of the crew could wake up, a howl pierced through the air and the ground shook. Several glowing orbs descended into the shield, turning into more silvery lances like the ones from before, and stabbing themselves into the ground. Hundreds of lances thrust into the ground with a loud *Shing* and formed a ring around the edges of the shield, waking everyone up in the process.

“Captain! The shield!”

The crimson tinted dome that had proved impenetrable was now dispelled. As soon as he saw it, the captain ordered the lieutenant to lift off quick and get them out before the shield reformed. But before he could, several tendrils of an ethereal red, fog like substance encircled them all inside the cabin. The fog swirled and distorted the space, the heads of tens of wolves suddenly appearing in the mist, snapping at any who got close.

The corporal was the first to brandish his blade against the monsters. He attacked in a strict and measured fashion that was the mark of years of training, darting in and out of the attack range. However, his blade, despite its enchantments, could not cut the beasts. As soon as the blade touched a wolf's head, it dissolved and another dashed into the fight forcing James to retreat. More and more wolf heads began showing up as the others picked up whatever objects they could and began fighting back.

“No one move!” ordered the captain.

As soon as everyone stopped, the heads in the mist dissolved and became indistinguishable from the fog around it. Few had sustained injuries, including puncture wounds and scratches. James had sustained a bite wound on his upper arm. A set of ragged puncture marks oozed the clear rust colored blood of the beastfolk.

“What are we dealing with James?”

“No apparent venom or toxins. Pack creatures including mentality and strategy, Reactive to general movement, small movements like breathing and talking do not set them off. Incorpal most likely until they form up.”

“How many?”

“Unknown. We could be seeing a mirage or a full pack. I would lean closer to a full pack though sir.”

Did their jailers finally decide to execute them? If so, why now? It’s been 3 days and they didn’t have a shortage of chances to surprise attack them. Not that they needed the element of surprise, they were most likely powerful enough to wipe them out with just a wave their finger.

“Sir!” the Lieutenant shouted.

She pointed out the window. Outside, the ground was being pried up from the ground by the silvery lances. The air hummed with power as the mile diameter area the shield had enclosed was pulled up from the rest of the moon and moved farther away from the ground.

“What the steam’n hellas!” shouted the dwarf.

As soon as they cleared the atmosphere, the whole area lit up with a bright white aura as they sped up, stars whizzed by and the surface of the red moon soon left their sight as they rapidly approached the gray moon.

The entire crew screamed as the whole land mass entered the atmosphere and began to heat up, pieces breaking off here and there sending dust and rocks into the air. However, the aura covering everything, including the crew, resisted the heat and stress from the G-force and whatever other powers pulling the sky island down, keeping them safe.

The surface soon came into sight as they broke through the cloud layer. It was dark here, the blue moon blocked out all of the sunlight. It was colder and wetter in comparison to the red moon desert. Dull gray raindrops deflected away from them as soon as they entered the area of the silver lances.

“Where are we going?” shouted the lieutenant.

After the almost lightspeed flight through space and through the atmosphere twice, everyone was looking a little green. The dwarf was visibly tossing up his dinner from the night before on the floor. Luckily, the red mist wolves had all ceased hostility except for direct contact with them which resulted in someone receiving a bite wound.

The sky island maneuvered around mountains and through valleys, slowly coming to a halt in the middle of a lake surrounded by open plains. The water rippled in the rain and reflected the blue moon on its surface. The sky island floated several meters above the lake surface, calmly waiting there, suspended by whatever force had taken it there.

Suddenly the mist surrounding the crew all turned into a full pack of wolves, complete with 15 dangerous looking animals a little bigger than a regular wolf. They herded the crew members out the airlock and down a path. In the distance, two glowing balls of light came down formed into the shape of the battle goddess and the scholarly goddess from before.

The scholarly one walked forwards a few steps, towering over the others while speaking.

“We meet again, and apparently under better circumstances.”

The dwarf wanted to shout out “How is this spark’n better!” while looking at the wolves, but wisely he did not wish to provoke them.

This time the captain stepped forward and bowed to the duo.

“Greetings again. Might I ask-”

“We are not interested in conversing with you. We wish to talk to the elf who we spoke to last time.”

The captain paused a moment, looking back at Lia who was cowering behind her sister. Definitely no.

“If you want to talk to my crew members, I am afraid I must be present and the the person you wish to speak to must consent first.”

“Sir…!”

The others looked at him like he was crazy. This wasn't bravery, it was stupidity! They pulled the entire area the ship had been on from one moon to another! It was a death wish to want to mess with them!

“Don’t be so presumptuous-”

“I won’t speak either without the Captain present!” The elf girl shouted out.

She didn’t want to talk to them alone again like last time. It had been frightening and an experience she did not wish to experience again. The captain had understood this and provided an opportunity for his support, and pushed to allow himself to be present. Lia caught on and desperately went with it.

The battle goddess growled but was silenced by a gesture from the scholarly goddess. She whispered something in her ear and the battle goddess nodded as if content.

“If you must. However only you and her. The rest of your crew must wait over there.” she said pointing to a hill.

On the hill, a gazebo like structure erected itself. The ground rose up like molten lead and molded itself into pillars and benches. The liquid structure turned solid and lanterns lit up, casting a golden glow over a table of foodstuff. Roast Gugu birds, a type of domestic bird similar to a chicken, Blue horned cow stew, a brown stew with swirls of violet streaks inside it, and a fountain of some sort of frothy drink and many other stews, meats, breads, and fruits none of them could name. It was a feast a king or emperor might be unable to put together.

For the past few days, they had eaten rations out of storage. The mouth watering smell of fresh food enticed the rest of them greatly. Ariel glanced at the captain as if to ask for orders.

“It’s fine. Go eat,” he said.

With a look of worry, the Lieutenant led the rest of them over to the table and took seats. Ghostly servants appeared and started dishing out the food and pouring drinks.

“Come now. We have much to discuss.”

The two started strolling in the opposite direction towards the oasis that had come with them. A similar gazebo had formed itself on the banks of the water. Instead of a table full of food and drink, a polished table of shiny obsidian formed itself out of the silver liquid. It was small and oval shaped with a row of 3 chairs on either side despite there being only 4 guests.

“Please sit.” the scholarly one said sitting with the battle goddess on the other side.

The two sat down on the opposite side of the table facing them. The battle goddess removed her helmet and set it down in the seat next to her. She had a hard but pretty face, with high cheekbones, thin almond eyes, ginger hair, and bronze skin. More ghostly servants made of mist appeared and served tea in crystal glasses. Cautiously, Lia took a sip from her glass.

It was delicious! A warm, minty liquid spread over her taste buds before running down her throat and changing to a honey and bitterness on the way down.

“It’s good!”

“Should be. Tea made with the leaves of the ginseng my sister was experimenting with. I believe she took qualities from the plant you mortals call Snow Ogre Ginseng and Winter Ghost Mint.” said the battle goddess, taking a sip herself.

The captain was oblivious to the reply she gave, but Lia, who specialized in herbs and alchemy knew and was stunned. Snow Ogre Ginseng was a poisonous herb that when ingested or drunk stopped a person from casting magic and froze them to the bone. It only grew in the northern wastes that were infamous for their witch tribes and below freezing climate. Rubbing the leaves on your skin would cause magic deficiencies in that area and froze it. Northern Ogres liked to eat it because it enhanced their tough, ice like skin and increased their resistance to magic. Of course, potions could also be made out of the stuff to achieve the same effect.

Winter Ghost Mint was even rarer. It also only grew in the north along with the others but compared to them. This one was harder to get a hold of because it was so rare. It often grew around areas that had hosted great battles and were plagued with restless spirits as battlefields often were.

It had uses in alchemy and blacksmithing. Armor and potions could be made out of them to increase resistance to undead and spirit attacks as well as a bit of cold resistance. Blacksmiths and chemists would pay a small fortune for one.

“You used Snow Ogre Ginseng and Winter Ghost Mint to make tea…” Lia asked visibly shaking.

“Oh yes. My sister is quite the tea brewer. I believe she has quite the collection of herbs, to name a few, 3 Shade Crystal Cherries, Crimson Dragthar, Purple Mystical Flower, Thousand Year Azure Tree Root…”

Even Lia, an elf specializing in herbology and alchemy, did not recognize all those names. However, the ones she did she was pretty sure were locked up in the treasure vaults of one of the grand empires, or somewhere in the midst of some frozen, burning, or storming hell where a mountain could be mistaken for a sleeping monster.

“Why do you ask?” said the suspicious battle goddess.

“...No reason…”

Her timid and quiet reply was enough to convince her that she wasn’t planning anything harmful. But she was still on guard.

The captain sat, sipping his drink. The taste was very good to him, despite him not being a tea kind of person. He was more of a Mountain Cola kind of person. At least he was when he could go and get one out of a vending machine.

“Man I go for a Dr. Sprite…”

“Hmm?” asked the battle goddess whose hearing was better than most.

“Oh, nothing. Anyway, you wanted to talk? What's this about?”

He regarded the situation as odd bordering suspicious. Despite being the prisoner, these goddesses were treating them like equals, VIP guests actually.

“Ah yes, to business I suppose. There are many things we are here to discuss, but first, we wanted to talk to you about your little mission to our ‘moons’, as you call them. Why have you come here?”

The original mission was to collect samples, create a map of the topography, and set up a landing site for future missions. Although the change in circumstances had thrown the mission out the window.

“We are explorers, here to see what there is to see and report back with what we have found!” declared the captain grandly.

“Hmmm...Well, apart from being incredibly arrogant and rude intruding without permission, I suppose it’s pardonable. But stealing our daughter...I believe you mortals call that a ‘capital offense’. ” said the battle goddess raising an eyebrow at the terminology.

“I would like to apologize for that misunderstanding. We didn’t know who she was at the time and we were under attack at the time. I don’t know what came over me taking her like that, but I can assure you we came here with no hostile intentions.”

“Originally you came here without evil intentions, yet you want to claim innocence when you were found with the child of another party, running away.”

The captain knew it wasn’t a convincing argument. They were caught red-handed with the child of apparently three goddesses. Disregarding the circumstances, they were the only ones there and could be the only ones held accountable.

“Again, we would like to apologize for our-”

“You think that a mere apology will suffice! Even if you were to grovel at our feet and die, it would still not be enough to cleanse your transgressions!” thundered the battle goddess.

The auras of the two flared and threatened to choke the pair. The captain had originally thought that if things went south then he distract them and buy enough time for Lia to get the other to the shuttle and escape. But any thought of escape or subterfuge was blasted from his mind as he tried to resist the overwhelming power of the two.

“Please be at ease, though. We will not kill you for such an offense. However, the words you say now will directly affect whether or not you will return to your planet a mindless puppet or of your own free will. And then there is the continued existence of your little planet to talk about.”

“Choose your words carefully mortal, for they may decide the fate of all you hold dear.”

The overwhelming aura changed and started taking on a more sinister element. A sudden vision of horror and destruction projected from the two. To the captain, reality had turned into a wasteland. The sky was the color of fire and the rotten stench of decomposing flesh rushed his senses. Piles of dead friends and family surrounded him as he walked through a literal hell.

Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed his foot. Lauan, the woman he had been summoned with and a dear friend of his, was lying on the ground, half burned beyond recognition.

“Why! Why did you do it!” she screamed.

“No...No no!”

Soon the other bodies took up the chant as multiple hands pulled him down under the surface. The last thing to cross his eyes was a burning meteor coming down and impacting, sending everything in his vision into a firestorm and burning his lungs while screaming.

“Enough!”

Lia had broken from the nightmare first and shook her captain to reality. He shook with fright. He was sweating buckets and nearly collapsed right there if not for the support of Lia.

It was just an illusion. A product of his fear. But it had been so realistic…

Seeing that her captain was in no mood at the moment to re-engage in negotiations, she took the wheel.

“Please be merciful madams. It is as my leader says. We came here bearing no ill will. We were simply caught up in circumstances. We are willing to cooperate. Please, tell us what you would have us do.”

Lia respectfully tried to reassure them they had not come to steal a child. They could only hope that whatever job they had for them wasn’t impossible, or every race on Terra could be facing the possibility of extinction.

With a bit of reassurance and respect from Lia, they slowly retracted their pressure to a tolerable amount, but it was still there in the background, like a metaphorical prowling lion waiting for a stray lie or mistruth to pounce on.

“Hmmm. Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We have seen your capabilities, but first, you must convince our sister Selene of your innocence and skills. She is not too happy with anyone frankly at the moment.”

“You mean the goddess in the blue dress?”

“Chiton. And yes, her. She is fiercely protective of Lunabelle, and unfortunately, your actions seemed to have triggered a bit of irrational overprotectiveness in her. Which is unfortunate considering the timing. In short, she has refused to even let us see her. Which is where you come in.”

It had been 3 days since Selene had stormed out of the conference room, but things had not gotten better. She had taken Lunabelle with her back to Her celestial body and refused to let anyone see her. Or even come near her.

To make the plan work, they would need Selene to give her approval and allow Lunabelle to go with them to the little planet. Astenna understood there wouldn’t be a better chance than this, so she decided to bet on the will of these ‘exploreres’ as they had called themselves and see if they could convince Selene to listen to reason.