We arrived at another island, and my expert intel-gathering skills -that are definitely not just me waiting on Celest to work her magic- tells me that the so-called “warlord” is somewhere around here. Specifically on this island, I still have no idea where he is.

I slip and slide around the island, Celest resting against my body as I pretend she’s leisurely surfing without a board. So it’s kind of just her leaning against a fake-wave I’m holding up as I slide my frictionless body around the island.

I’m considering just surrounding the island and calling him out. I’ll know where he left, if he tries, and I’m working for Helvetica, so I’m going to ASSUME I have the authority. I mean, stopping me is abetting a criminal… Right? It doesn’t matter, I want to try and be sneaky this time anyways…

Who am I kidding- “I do NOT like working for a dictator…” I tell Celest, as we slide down the street, passing cars and people as we go… “Well what is little ol’ YOU gonna’ do about it? I’M not fighting a world power.” That’s kind of how we all felt, honestly. We all knew what we could be getting into.

I stop us at a bench, and sit down for a moment, deciding to take a break so we can talk… “To be honest, I kind of knew what we were getting into. I did it for Glant, of course, he needs control over his powers.” I told her as she walked over to sit down and stretch her legs.

She rests against the back of the bench and looks down at me. “That makes sense. It sure did take us a while. Huh? I remember how Steriya freaked out the moment she figured out he had these elements…” You weren’t even there. I simply ignore it.

“Yeah, that was funny. I wonder how learning Space Magic is going for her- Anyways. If we want to beat Arigold, we’ll need as much power, and as many allies as we can gather.” I continued as she sat there and watched for people passing by. “So getting as many world powers on our side as possible is absolutely necessary… We started from a disadvantageous position… Do you ever think about it, Celest?” From what I’ve seen, she’s the most laid-back member in the family…

She sighs and slides down a little further on her back. “Rarely. I’m- I’m just busy with the things I actually want to do. I’ve told you plenty of times, I’m not a warrior, I can’t afford to stress myself out about it anyways.” She finally drops the constant grin, allowing me to see how she really felt.

“So… Yes. Sometimes I think about it. I hope your plan works out, Demitallis. The stress is getting harder and harder to deal with…” She finally told me, and I knew exactly what she was talking about, as much as I hated to admit it…

“I’m sorry, Celest. Let’s go find something fun to do.” I tried instead, deciding I didn’t want to deal with this any longer. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re probably taking it harder than any of us anyways. What were you thinking?” She began smiling again, and I struggled to actually think of something that could entertain HER…

I think and think, but nothing really comes to me- “I’ve got nothing.” I finally admit, making her giggle… “Alright. Let’s go see if there’s a park, I think we’ve earned a break.” She tells me, and so I slide over and pick her up again- “YEP, let’s go!” I announce before running off down the street again!

We passed by and dodged plenty of people and vehicles as we strode around the city. I have to say, these islands are pretty big. We finally arrive at what looks to be a park. “So this is their park, huh? It’s pretty nice, how this one spot ISN’T completely overgrown with the jungle.” Celest said, as we walked, watching other people enjoy the park themselves.

This island had by far the largest trees and the densest population of them, it’s why I assumed that the warlord must have been here. I now realize how dumb that is… “Yeah, I finally don’t have to feel like I’m being suffocated.” She puts her legs on the bench and simply lies back…

We sat like this for minutes, until Celest finally broke the silence… “Are we in over our heads?” She asked… “Oh yeah, totally. I mean, we still HAVE to do this, but we’re absolutely unprepared… My luck’s gotten me this far, though. We were never free.”

She shifts in the bench a little, as we watch undead walk around the park, taking summary glances at us. “Jeez, you were right about everything we talk about being ultimately depressing…” She sighed with a tired look on her face, making me feel bad…

I reconsider things- “No, that’s my fault. It’s just, since the day I was born, I’ve seen horror after horror rear its ugly head… Arigold’s conscription, Fallengrar’s exploitation, Vilstrous’s Decay, and…” I stop myself as I come to Ling, I’m just not ready for that one right now.

“I’m sorry, Demitallis… You shouldn’t have to deal with this… Come on, let’s get back to work.” So that’s how she wants to handle this, delve into work. My uncle did the same, when he lost his dog. I don’t even know if my cousin has gotten over that yet either.

Before she can stand up, someone sits next to us- “Is that you, Demitallis?” She asks me, as I take in her appearance. She’s a Demihuman, some type of crustacean- “Is that you, Valeria? We met the day I arrived at Ryleth.” I quickly replied, simultaneously filling in Celest.

She sits back, allowing her tail to slide through the opening in the bench as I continue. “I didn’t think I’d see you again. Especially in a place like this. How’d YOU get in?” Celest simply sat against the bench again, knowing this probably wouldn’t end any time soon.

“Just visiting an old relative, they died a while back.” She answered. “Ah, okay. I got in because it turns out I’m important for some reason. I have no idea why, but it sure is convenient.” She leaned forward. “Yes, I suppose it WOULD be… What are you up to anyway? I’m heading further down, but I guess I’m quite lucky to have found you.”

“We’re looking for some warlord-guy around here. Official business from Helvetica HERSELF. Pretty swanky… right?” She’s surprised, and folds her arms. “Huh… Well, you have my faith. Come find me when you locate them.” She tells us as she stands up.

I of course considered it for a minute, and decided to just have faith she wasn’t somehow related to the aforementioned warlord in some ass-backwards way. “Sounds good to me, I could probably use your skills.” And like that, Celest stood up too, as once again, things seemed to progress faster than I thought it would.

“By the way… How long do you suppose you’ll be here for?” I considered THAT for a moment too. I hadn’t really thought about it before now, but the answer came quickly. “Until Helvetica lets everyone out. I got a friend down here, and my mom’s gonna be stuck here too, otherwise.” Celest perks up with surprise-

“Right! Helvetica wouldn’t let her out either!” She added, as Valeria stared at us. “So I guess we’re staying until THAT changes…” Celest said as I jumped down from her arms. “Where should we find you?” Valeria stretched a little, her tail fidgeting before straightening again.

“Maccross Island, it’s a few islands below this one, giant bell, you can’t miss it.” She tells us, before finally leaving… “So the islands have names. Neat.” I mentioned. “Yeah.” Celest too, mentioned. “Yeah, okay, I’ve got nothing. Where do we even start?!”

“Well… We COULD report what we’ve found, once Steriya and Calbdin are finished.” Just as she says that, I notice something pass into my field at high speed- I shoot up and surround Celest like a shield! “What’s-” She suddenly says as I catch a flurry of bullets!

“-happening?” She finished as bystanders suddenly ran away! “We have a hunter, help me out!” I quickly replied, dropping the bullets and grabbing her as she used her magic. We phased through the ground, dodging ethereal bullets as they too phased through the ground-

“Shit! He can counter this!” Celest shouted as I emerged from the ground and found our new adversary! “Explain yourself!” Trying to sound as cool as possible, and give off an air of confidence, I wait for the possibility that he might speak up…

He’s wearing a purple trench-coat with some type of visor-monitor-thing for a mask. He wields two guns, his hands covered in large gloves with large boots on his feet. Silence. “Fine, don’t talk. Few break easily anyways.” I slide towards him at high speed, catching every bullet as they’re fired!

“Leave her alone, I’M your opponent!” I tell him, as he turns to look at me and I slam a bearing shot into his head! He flies into a tree, and rubs his cracked visor as he stands up again… Celest simply watches this unfold, as I prepare an electric capture-shot…

I dodge around bullets this time, distracting with my rushing appearance, as I use the larger portion of my body to charge the bearing-shot- I slide around him, opening holes in my body as he fires more bullets, surprising me he STILL hasn’t tried something else, until I finally fire the bearing shot!

It wraps around him and begins tasing his body, leaving him open for me to fully capture him in my greater mass! “Time to speak up, buddy! Or I’ll start taking limbs.” I tell him and he quickly comes to his senses. “Alright! Alright! I’m a mercenary!” I break his guns, and spit him out.

“Right. Are you new to it or something?” I ask and he nods as he stands up again. “Yeah…” He sighs, as he picks up his broken guns, and stands up. “Thanks.” A twinge of sarcasm. Everything has been getting a lot easier lately…

“That’s what you get for trying to kill me!” Celest yells at him, as she places her hands on her hips, and glares at him with that big grin of hers. He reels back in surprise, as she chuckles. “Yeah, that’s right, I decide your fate! Eat him, Demitallis!” She stares at me with expectations as she points at him…

“No.” I tell her, knocking her over with a splash of water. “Right- Who the hell sent you?” I ask him, as Celest shakes the water out of her hair. “Dammit all- It was a wooden construct, offered me the first half of my pay up front. Obviously I don’t meet with the client up front. You should know this, if I’m apparently ‘new’ to this.” He hisses back at me.

Still though, a wooden construct. Makes me think of a tree guy, and it could be, but this world of possibilities would dictate that it could honestly be anything. I mean, when you think about it, using a psychically controlled construct IS the best option, when it comes to secrecy in that way. But still, a wood one, I suppose that helps in some way-

“Demi?” Celest asks me, poking my surface. “Sorry, I got lost in thought-” I answer, as I crawl back over to the merc. “Where ya’ from?” I figured a sense of distance might tell me how far his client would have had to have that construct commute to even pay for him. “Underground Cyber City, part of the River-Styx, linking up multiple cities.”

“River-Styx?” I felt I had to ask. “Yeah, it’s the network we mercenaries use. I can link you up, if our line of business interests you that much-” He raises his arm, his open palm facing toward me. I however decided to stop him. “No, that won’t be necessary. Do all of you use it?” He shakes his head.

“Not all of us. Most, though. It IS very useful.” Celest folds her arms and leans on her hip. “Well I guess that’s the most WE’RE getting out of him.” She looks around. “So are there any guards we can hand him over to?” The Mercenary stands up, shock in his voice- “What-”

I decided to answer. “We’re working for Helvetica, at the moment. So you attacking us is kind of an attack on HER… I’m sure she’s a forgiving person.” After that, Celest arrived with the guards and we left him in their capable hands. Doing what Celest said was honestly what I considered the most important thing at the time.

She’s a world power, there’s nothing I can do… I internally sigh, since I still technically don’t have the ability to do so. Like how I used to. I WAS once human, in case you forgot. Since Oliver is a thing in this world, somewhere out there… I wonder about the others who might have come before me, like him. I wonder if they were ever turned into weird creatures like me.

I always thought that I would begin to forget what it was like to be human, ya’ know, if this ever happened to me, but maybe that’s not as realistic as I thought it was. Either that, or my perfect memory is why I hadn’t forgot. It’s nice that I still have it, though, since it makes manipulating form into my original shape a lot easier. Imagine how long it would take for me to form the finer details.

Although, I will admit I am more used to combat as this huge blob, and slipping and sliding around while opening up holes in my body to avoid attacks. Being able to outright catch bullets is pretty nice too. That one took a good bit of practice, you know.

“Hey, Demi.” I look at Celest again- “Yeah?” I asked. “We should get back to that investigation. Seriously, I almost walked away without you. Focus, dude.” Right, I’ve been getting caught up in thought a lot lately. “Sorry about that. Come on, we’ve gotta find that damn warlord. I bet he’s hiding out in the open too, I bet we bumped into him too.” I pick her up again, and slide away.

“Since we know THAT guy knew we were here… And how fun he just randomly knows! Right?!” I’m getting a little fed up with these guys just somehow being aware. “Maybe he’s got sneaky dudes.” Celest giggled as she spoke- “They could have found out any moment. Besides, they’re criminals, they probably wouldn’t even be here if they couldn’t figure out this much.”

“Yeah, I know… It just gets annoying-” And at that moment a message from Steriya! “Hey, I figured out what’s going on.” I stop. “Nice! What’s’it all’appenin’?” Astonished silence preceded by her answer. “Okay… So the man is dead, but his friend here, SHE is trying to bring him back to life, using the tree. She’s meditating, performing some kind of spell… It must be taking everything she has… Those bulbs were once living creatures, long absorbed into the tree…”

“There’s nothing we can do for them, Demi… They’re gone. Their souls, they must have already been absorbed into the tree… There’s only one person on Orion who could possibly recover those souls… Solar…”

I audibly sighed through telepathy, because I’m going to convey that when I get the chance. “Yeah, Demistar told me about him. ‘Told me how dangerous he is. Do you think we could strike a deal with him?” Celest doesn’t say anything, just covers her face as she sits on me. “No. Whatever this guy you're looking for is doing, he’s trying to defy the rules of life and doom…”

“Well damn… Come on Celest, we better get looking. You start searching for leads, I’m gonna hunt down criminals, and defeat them! I’mma be the next big super hero!” Celest chuckles at me as I set her on the ground again. “Sure, Demi. You get’em. I’ll come find you when I think I’ve got something.” And after that we parted ways, while I went searching for criminals.

Listen, I can have fun, even if my fun includes being forced to do Helvetica’s bidding. I mean, damn, I thought she was supposed to be one of the good ones… So far she’s been an asshole about everything… I guess I’ll have to ask Demistar about that.

I stopped in front of the bulbous tree, the very one that had been used to hurt so many people- “First things first!” I shouted as I began to overtake the tree in size, drawing everyones’ eyes! “My team has discovered that this very tree is being used to breach the rules of Life and Doom! Therefore I have made the decision to take this tree, and return it to The Core Chateau! To all loyal citizens of The Underworld!”

They all stared in awe as I spoke, watching me tear the great tree from the ground, its roots tearing the very soil apart as my great strength lifted the tree from its resting place. “Know that your home will be once more secured, thank you for your patience!” I shout as I attach threads to the islands above me, and finish tearing the tree out of the ground.

“So anyways! Doing this shit is illegal! A’ight, thank you!” I pull myself away, and create more and more threads to help me descend down the side of the islands. This has to be the coolest part of being a puddle kid, it’s such an empowering feeling-

Why do you enjoy climbing these ropes so much?

I’m not actually sure. Maybe I just liked climbing stuff, and never knew it?

I suppose? Kind of out of nowhere.

Any chance it can be a Puddle-Kid thing?

Perhaps. But I doubt it. I’m pretty sure we would have known if Puddle Kids liked climbing.

As I descend quickly past the islands, grabbing chains once they get dense enough, and finally arriving at the Chateau with the tree… “Helvetica!” I call out, looking for that part of the castle that had been previously ruined. It seemed as though somebody had already repaired it. I suppose that makes sense, it almost feels like there is nothing these people can’t do…

“What do you want?” She surprised me with that one, but I dropped the tree next to her. “It seems like that Warlord of yours was trying to bring someone back to life. They’re inside of this tree.” I tell her as she looks at it. “Ah, yes… The trees… Of course they would use these… Which tells me your target has to be a type of Floral-Demihuman. A Tree-Man. Not an ent, mind you…” She ran her hand across the side of the tree, speaking to me as she walked and judged its bulbous shape.

“Apparently those lumps were once living creatures, they were people…” It’s kind of hard to process this fact, knowing that peoples’ lives were being taken from them… “That sucks. I bet it tried taking the soul too. I’m gonna guess and say they’re trying to use those souls as a catalyst to slowly pump life back into an undead in there…” She spoke nonchalantly, and of course she did, I can only imagine the horrors she’d witnessed…

“Lost-Child, you seek a Tree-Demihuman, they can manipulate the growth of trees…” I shrink back down again and approach her, about as big as I was earlier. “Well that explains how and why they were using the tree. Thanks, Helvetica.” I tell her before preparing to head off again- “Yeah, no problem, Lost-Child. You know, it’s honestly not the first time I’d seen this. I believe it was seventeen-thousand years ago? I’m not sure, admittedly things get fuzzy after about a few thousand years. I’ll have to check one of my crystals-” She then began to just start talking to herself, and I took this chance to escape and return to that mission she gave me-

I moved as quickly as possible, not much worried about what energy I might expend going so fast, since I can just replenish it with my mana. Though then that would be putting a drain on my mana- Although my mana regens faster than most people my age. I stop myself. Most people my age probably don’t have a concept of any of this. Unless you’re talking about my sixteen years as a human- Okay enough of that.

I finally arrived at the island, and looked around for that crime I told Celest I would be dealing with. Of course, I did not see it the moment I got here, but as the dark defender of justice I am, I WILL find them, and I will beat them up, but only at night.

End of Chapter: 60 “Standby”

Thank you for reading.

“Just leave me alone…”