Pain of broken bones.

Murky, suffocating darkness.

Dirty, trash-filled water rushing to fill my lungs. I tried to swim upwards, but I was still paralyzed, unable to move my limbs properly, unable to reach the increasingly distant surface. Bubbles escaped from me as I sank deeper and deeper into the murky void.

. . .

I woke up with a gasp, flailing against a bed sheet. None of these things were real. The painful, all consuming darkness was just a figment of my dream-addled imagination. It was just a dream fermented by the dark tale of how Grogtilda’s mother had ended up in Undertown acting in combination with the paralyzing sleep spell.

I rubbed sleep out of my eyes to discover that my mysterious assailants had not dumped me into the garbage-filled river as I had expected them to, but… into a rather lovely, well-decorated bedroom.

White and pink satin sheets wrapped my body. A ridiculously soft pillow hugged my head, smelling of lavender and… coffee? I inhaled heartily. It was definitely coffee. I barely believed my senses as I sat up on the bed and looked around.

Light broke through a few massive windows, white curtains fluttering in the wind.

I peered out of the window next to the bed, staring through the decorative stained glass. I discovered a very lush garden outside filled with arboretums, fountains, and gold statues.

The enormous, fancy bed I was currently located upon was carved from thick, hearty wood covered with hand-made gothic motifs. Elaborate wooden flowers covered the back baseboard, extending all the way to the ceiling, culminating with an incredibly complex stained glass that depicted a lush forest scene wrapped in blue lakes and azure glacier mountains.

My hands automatically tried to grab at my soul-carving, all-killing knife only to discover that it wasn’t there anymore.

My armor was gone too. So was Dawn. The only thing of value that I had on me was my armacus, currently looking and feeling like a large, useless, shiny bracelet.

I was also wearing a very pink, long and frilly nightgown-style dress. My privacy had been quite thoroughly violated and yet… for some reason I wasn’t freaking out. I felt ridiculously calm… relaxed even! I was calmer than I have ever been. A blanket of unnatural calmness was wrapped over my shoulders, keeping me afloat in an ocean of serenity.

A magical effect?

I glanced around the room and determined that the calmness was radiating from a stained glass, spherical, glowing lamp that sat on the bedside table.

Right… a resonance artifact of some sort was affecting my mind, keeping me exceptionally relaxed, not letting me freak out.

It was making me feel like I was drunk on a hundred Valerian pills… like this place was my favorite room in the universe, like I never wanted to leave this wonderful, relaxing bedroom. As far as prisons went, it was suspiciously pleasant.

I very calmly closed my eyes and tried to feel the pulse of Sempiternity and also my soul’s connection to my nightcrawler armor.

The knife was somewhere nearby, just like the rest of my armor. I opened my eyes and looked to where my soul was pulling towards. Aha! My stuff was located somewhere inside a very large wardrobe next to the bed.

I slowly and calmly pulled the wardrobe open and exhaled in relief. Saccy sat inside it along with Dawn located on a hanger, my armor and weapons laid out on the shelves within.

“Juni!” Dawn flashed with silver glimmers from within. “You’re finally up! I was worried!”

“Hey,” I said, my eyes darting towards my precious knife.

My fingers closed around my hexagon-covered weapon, feeling the familiar pulse of Sempiternity.

I calmly walked towards the glowing, stained glass sphere and calmly swung the arcane weapon against it, calmly wishing it oblivion.

The knife struck the calming artifact. The arcane device flickered, but didn’t die. I calmly stared at it in the Astral, observing its hexagrammic imprint, memorizing, mentally picturing the pattern it cast into the void and stabbed it again. The calmness field weakened under my assault.

I bared my feline teeth, defined it again, swinging harder, ruby gemstone hair sparkling in the sunlight breaking through the oversized bedroom windows.

“Die,” I uttered, swinging the all-killing knife into the artifact with all of my strength, defining the calmness effect and the artifact in its entirety as a separate, living concept.

Like a soap bubble, the calmness field suddenly popped, shattered, detonated. The knife sank deep into the artifact. The spherical surface of the calming device shimmered, warping. With a whoosh and crackle it exploded into silver, sparkling dust.

“Ef-fffing mind control bullshit,” I growled.

There were other artifacts, other nice, magical things sitting on the shelf. The pure-black knife sang in my hand.

Death. Experience. Power. Vengeance. Terminus. The end of all things. The darkness of the Void when every star is extinguished at the end of the Universe.

I embraced her song.

One by one the artifacts sitting on the table died, shattered into clouds of purified crystalline dust. My experience skyrocketed upwards with each kill. The things I’ve killed weren’t old, broken garbage - they were extremely expensive, powerful and filling.

To drown the final bit of my anger, I pulled the fancy, pink, frilly dress off myself and swung at it as it fluttered in the air.

“Die,” I growled as the dastardly, pink, satin nightie detonated into sparkling dust.

[1804/1800 Experience optimum reached! Initiate level up?]

A message flashed in my eyes. I was standing in front of an empty table, panting. I was tired, but felt ravenous for more destruction. My heart was beating rapidly and an angry scowl sat on my face.

“Please do not stab your bestie,” Dawn whispered from the wardrobe.

I rolled my eyes at her as I pulled my sentient dress on myself.

I heard the sound of soft applause from behind me. I spun, facing the clapping. The clapping ceased.

A very tall, grey-haired woman was standing in the hallway behind the currently open doorway into the room. A long, pure-white dress and large white derby hat framed her exceptionally curvy figure. My eyes became drawn to a large, flashing necklace on her chest.

The core gemstone of the necklace shined like an eternally spinning ring. The figure of the woman lit up from within, as if she was the heart, the furnace of the sun. Coronas of gold and white lightning started to dance around her, flashing in my eyes, blinding me with her perfection and beauty.

The magical resonance of the flashes drew me in, drowned my gaze in them… resonating, pulsating with pure absolute love.

I’ve felt this kind of devotion before, a false love produced by the pulse of Saccy. I felt submission take hold of me, the desire to prostrate myself before her, to bow, to kiss her feet…

“No,” I swung the black knife in front of my face.

I carved right through her light, through the very concept of love that took hold of me, through the resonance pulse between us, visibly seen in the Astral.

With a crackling flash the affection-binding tether between me and her broke, snapped like a torn piece of twine.

The gemstone on her chest dimmed.

My guess was right! The knife really could slice up spells!

HA!

I looked at the face of the woman. She was still impressive and motherly-looking, but no longer stunning like a perfect being. A wide smile spread across her face as she opened her eyes.

“Well done,” she said. “I bow to your prowess, high-cendai Juni. You are truly as talented as Eunisii described.”

She bowed to me, diamond-like, large white gemstones glittering over her neck. I noted that her hair shimmered with unnatural tones, almost like it was woven from yellow and white crystals.

“You’re a chimera,” I said, keeping the black knife in front of me, between me and her magical, mind-control necklace.

“Correct, my dear,” silver-gold eyes flashed at me as the human-body of a chimera high-cendai readjusted her large, white derby hat. “I am Baroness Amadea Nourd Calypso!”

“Ah,” I lowered the knife ever so slightly. “Eunice told me about you.”

“Indeed. We are all equal beneath Goddess Eunisii,” Baroness Amadea smiled. The smile felt false, didn't reach her eyes.

“This is your place then?” I waved my knife at the posh room.

“Indeed, you are in my Baronial Estate, Palais De La Solstice,” Amadea spread her hands open.

She was a bit too tall for a human, her skin sparkling like white diamonds. “Do forgive the ruffians that brought you here. The mages working in Undertown aren't the best at following orders to the letter. I hope they didn't rough you up too much. I've heard you've put up quite the fight. I'm impressed how quickly you were able to acquire a lawmaker's armacus without any resources.”

The eyes of the chimera Baroness glanced at the silver bracelet on my right hand.

“You sent ruffians after me?” I asked, squinting at her.

“There are many humans under my employ,” Baroness said with an exhale. “Eunice told me to locate you as soon as possible and to make sure that you don’t get into trouble. I don’t know what you did to hide your future-scent… but you’re a crafty one. If you hold a grudge against the human that struck you with a sleep-spell, I can have them executed.”

My eye twitched.

“No need,” I said. “Now, who took off my armor and dress?”

“My trusted servants,” Amadea snapped her fingers.

Two gray-haired girls wearing white, black and gold lace emerged from a small, hidden door. “This is Voltara and Arouetta. They are yours to command during your stay in my Estate.”

I opened my mouth to say a rebuttal to being assigned servants.

“Don’t worry,” the Baroness smiled, glancing at the sand-covered table. “This room belongs to you. Feel free to destroy or replace anything within to make yourself as comfortable as you desire. There’s a bag with ten thousand obliss in the left drawer for any... sudden expenses.”

My mind caught onto something of great importance.

“You let… humans undress a chimera cendai?” I asked, tilting my head.

“I had to make sure that you’re really cendai Juni and not some other tricky, armored mageling. My most experienced, loyal trackers had a lot of trouble finding you. Don’t worry,” Amadea waved her hands at the gray-haired servant girls. “My pets are fully bound with living Vows to Eunisii. They cannot leave this Estate or speak of our secrets.”

“Vows?” I squinted at the two girls, looking at them with my Still-Walker sight.

I gasped at what my magic-vision revealed to me.

Massive, fractal, fungi-shaped, gold, flower-like constructs hung above the girls, hundreds of shimmering gold threads descending down and boring deep into their bodies. The gold thread entered into the servants’ arms, legs and heads. They were indeed completely bound with some sort of monstrous... divine magic.

I gulped.

“Don't worry! Unlike these adorable creatures, we cannot be bound with Vows. Humans are practically made to serve us,” Amadea said casually as her hand crowned by white, sharp fingernails caressed the head of one of the servant girls. “Voltara and Arouetta, like all of the servants in my palace, bound themselves into eternal servitude to me of their own free will.”

“You didn’t use your Resonance magic to force these... vows?” I raised an eyebrow.

“My Resonance magic is quite weak, actually. I specialize in... Anima. I've helped design these little angels for our young Goddess," Amadea pointed at the ghostly Vows. "A Vow of belief cannot be forced onto a human by mind-control magic. It is forged in and fed by the deepest spring of the soul. My Barony owns several gold mines and humans sell their own daughters to me for a bit of shiny metal. I raised them myself for I am the arch-mother to all maidens in my Barony.”

“I see,” I said, trying to keep my face calm.

“I really do apologize for the way you were brought here,” the Baroness smiled. “I could not disobey my Master’s orders... had to find you. I hope that my noble gift makes it up to you.”

“What gift?” I raised my eyebrow.

“My eldest suggested it,” Amadea brought her hands together.

“Suggested what?” I blinked apprehensively.

“The best place in all of Illatius to study humans, of course,” the Baroness smirked. “I’ve enrolled your human body in Nemendias. No need to thank me. I’m on the Board of Directors, plus I practically own the place with all of the donations I’ve been making to it, you see.”

“You do know that my human body is that of a lowborn?” I asked.

“Of course! I do love a good prank on the humans,” Amadea laughed. “When Eunisii told me that you’ve taken a lowborn I knew exactly why you did it. A lowborn in Nemendias! That’s sure to ruffle some feathers. Don’t worry, everything is paid for. Take as many years as you want to study humans and their magics and collect as many adorable highborn pets as you desire for your future Barony of Undertown. You won’t have to spend a copper!”

Ah. The inevitability of my education in Nemendias that Dawn felt suddenly made sense. Eunice told Amadea to take me under her wings and she really did.

“Your eldest studies in Nemendias then?” I asked.

“Indeed,” Baroness Amadea nodded. “My daughter Agatha is going into her last year soon. When she graduates she will marry Prince Licor and inherit the Empire. The other six can eat my spell-contrails, because I’ll be the one who brings humans fully under our rule!”

“Very impressive,” I commented. “Is Agatha a chimera like us? Is she your monwai from Tokimorimïtul?”

“Oh no,” Amadea shook her head. “She’s really my daughter. She is the first of her kind - a mixture of a chimera and a human.”

“You’ve had… kids… with a human?” I blinked.

“I do like to play with my pets,” Amadea smiled. “Unlike the other six, I love humans and find them adorable. I do hope you share my deposition towards humans?”

“Umm,” I mumbled. “I like humans too.”

“Excellent, then I hope that I can have your friendship, our Eighth,” Amadea bowed. “Now, I do have social obligations… calls to make and whatnot, but I shall see you later. If you wish to join me for lunch, come to the main dining hall. My youngest, Emerald will come by in a bit and show you around the Estate,”

“Sure,” I nodded.

“Feel free to wander around the grounds and play with anyone here. Do sheathe your knife, my dear, you are in no danger here.”

Amadea departed, leaving me alone with the two servants. The gray-haired girls stood completely still, waiting for my orders.

I looked at their expressionless, lace-covered faces and then looked at the black, concept-killing knife in my hand.

Hrm.