Chloe managed to reach the others without incident, not long after their fake copies had come back to the inn; ‘to rest and relax.”
Alicia welcomed her in and she settled by the bed. She didn’t speak at first, instead watching Myshi and Sae as the two played a game in the middle of the room. Ellie was lounging out on one of the beds with her nose in a book. “So what did you learn?” inquired Alicia.
She sighed and handed over the documents she’d copied, “They’ve been here a while, but I think the corruption was a more recent thing. Population figures indicate the nest moved in about 72 years ago and they were fully established about 12 years later. That’s when the population started growing again but with an altered female-centric growth curve. Everything finally stabilized with a near-zero growth curve about 45 years ago and quickly settled into the usual Lizarna growth cycle with a spike in the female population occurring every seven years. That lines up with the Lizarna life cycle, they let the population of girls expand every seven years to ensure enough babies are being born for their own young to consume.”
Alicia made a disgusted face and commented, “That’s horrific.”
“Oh I agree. I’ve tried to wipe the damn things out more than once. Even thought I succeeded once or twice, only to find them again next cycle. Dragons don’t like ‘em much either, which is why they go out of their way to hunt and eat the damn things.”
“I didn’t realize they went out of their way to hunt the Child Eaters.”
“Well they do, but anyway about this nest. It’s been acting oddly for the past year and a half. Death rates among children have fallen dramatically with the number of babies being born in each litter has tripled. Not only that, but apparently the nest has been transferring ‘hatchling girls’ into the town. Yet oddly there is no sign of any additional farms being established or new residences being built.”
Alicia blinked as she caught on, “A population boom? Without any preparation to accommodate them?”
“I think it may have something to do with the corruption.”
“More investigating?” she responded with a slight whine.
Chloe shook her head, “No, too risky, we already drew too much attention. Best we lay low and act ‘normal.’ We have nine days to survive, then we are out of here.”
Alicia gave her a look, “Surely at your level you can clear...”
She slumped a little, and was about to speak, but Ellie cut her off, “She can’t!”
Alicia whirled, “What do you mean?”
“I’m stronger than the original, but I’m still limited by the mortal body I am borrowing. There is no doubt it’s the same with Chloe.”
Chloe nodded, “I can compensate to a degree by using my spiritual channels, but my mortal body can’t withstand my full power. Unless you happen to know of a tier five or above individual in the caravan willing to loan their body to me?”
Alicia blinked, “Tier five?”
“I’d need a mortal shell of at least that level to channel the kind of magic we need and even then, the shell wouldn’t be able to withstand it for more than a few minutes. The sad truth of the matter is, that we are... underleveled and ill-equipped to take on a nest of this size. Better to leave with what we know and gather allies. We must inform the temples so that they can mobilize champions to clear the nest.”
Alicia sighed, “So since someone replaced Ellie, I’ve been wondering what happened to the original Chloe?”
Chloe grimaced, “... She was used as... a catalyst in an abyssal ritual.” she let out a breath, “Furea was her patron, same as me, and she isn’t happy. I’ve been tasked with finding the cult responsible and the foul creature they summoned. It happened before we met. When we first met, you found me; not her. I didn’t tell the truth then because I didn’t know you well enough.”
“I understand.”
Ellie looked over, “What kind of ritual?”
“Soul Sacrifice, the cult severed her soul from her mortal shell then used the soul itself as fuel for the ritual to summon a high rank abyssal. Furea was able to rescue her soul and send it back through the cycle, and she granted me her vessel.”
Alicia blinked, “That’s awful.”
Ellie interjected, “It’s concerning, if I’m understanding her right, it means a noble is here. If you thought the horrors of a hundred years ago were bad, a noble is far, far worse.”
Alicia blanched. “What are we going to do?”
Chloe rolled over, “Train, investigate oddities and be on the lookout. When we find her, we deal with her.”
“Think this corruption is related?”
Chloe almost shook her head, “... Doesn’t seem likely, while there was some time between the summoning and me taking Old Chloe’s abandoned shell, it wasn’t a year and a half, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a connection between the noble and the corruption. Her cult was active before then, and there isn’t anything stopping them from acting in her stead.” she sighed, “Unfortunately, that’s nothing but idle speculation; it could very well be something else and we have no way to be sure.”
No one said anything. As the silence dragged on, Sae exclaimed, “I win!”
Chloe looked over, and congratulated her. Even as Myshi looked at the board with an all too familiar look. Then a bit of determination came over her, “Rematch! I’ll win this time!” “Mind if I join you two?” Chloe asked, looking for a distraction from the bigger problems of the world. The pair eagerly let her join the new game.
The next few hours passed peacefully with them largely staying indoors. Chloe looked up from the board of their latest game when there was a knock on the door. She glanced at the clock, it was rather late in the day. If they were on the surface she’d see signs of the impending sunset. Who’d be coming to knock at this hour?
Alicia had left just moments ago for the bathroom, and Ellie had gone with her. So Chloe, being the only adult in the room, sighed, “I’ll get that.”
Sae nodded and Myshi spoke up, “Any idea who it could be?”
“Trouble or something,” she replied.
She didn’t have long to find an answer. Another knock rang before she answered the door. Poking her head out she spoke up, “Can I help you?”
Standing outside was the familiar form of Qrek, the inn’s cook. Of all the people in the inn, he wasn’t high on the list she’d expected to be knocking on her inn door. Then again she didn’t really expect anyone, so maybe it wasn’t? A frown touched her face.
“Sorry to bother you at this hour, but I wanted to talk with you about something. I spoke about you girls to my daughters and they are quite excited to meet you. I’ve arranged a playdate for tomorrow, you will attend of course?”
It almost felt like a question, but she recognized the undertone, “I will.”
He smiled, excellent. “Bring Sae and Myshi along, as they are also invited to attend this playdate.”
She nodded, “They will be there. May I know the schedule?”
He grinned, “I’ll be bringing them by the inn, in the morning. You three will meet them after breakfast and I’ll properly introduce you to them then. After that you’ll leave with them and they will let you know the rest of the schedule.”
“That sounds good, thank you,” she responded.
He smiled, “I’ll leave you to your evening.”
With that he left. She closed the door and turned to see the other two standing right behind her, a frown on their faces. Myshi frowned, “He didn’t use any mind magic, but that sounded like someone trying to use conditioning.”
“Definately they want us to attend this ‘playdate’ for some reason.
Sae looked between them, “What do we do?”
Chloe sighed, “Naturally we have to go. Not doing so would attract attention.” Another sigh left her, “This is going to be a long nine days.”
Myshi sighed, “So we have to attend and play at being brainwashed? Think we can send our fake copies?”
“Maybe, but I don’t think they’d hurt us. If anything does happen we will have my dark magic and your mind magic.”
Myshi gave her a look, “Or we could send....”
“I don’t want to stay inside for over a week!” complained Sae, apparently picking up on where this was going.
Chloe gestured to Sae, “Hiding in our room all day isn’t really the answer.”
Myshi deflated, “Right, guess we can’t do that. Fine, let’s go to this suspect playdate.”
Pulling them away from the door, “Thankfully we have the entire night to plan for it. We will need to discuss it with Alicia and Ellie, but we should be fine as long as we don’t let them know we aren’t actually brainwashed.”
“Too bad I can’t brainwash us, that would solve everything,” quipped Myshi.
Chloe countered, “Too risky. I can’t afford to drop my shields and you...”
“I know,” she slumped, “I hate being on this side of the fence.” She gave them a look, “Do I look like the kinda girl who gets brainwashed? I’m supposed to be the one doing the manipulations.”
Chloe sat back down at the board, “Well don’t feel bad, those damn serpents put even Abyssal mind mages to shame.”
Myshi just glared at her, “That doesn’t help.”
Nothing to say came to mind. For a moment silence reigned in the room, until Sae made her move. The girls slipped back into the game and things were back in full swing when Alicia and Ellie came back with odd expressions. Chloe noted them come in.
“That was a longer trip than expected, did something happen?”
Alicia sighed, “You could say that, Qeika joined us in the restroom. Didn’t even expect to see her, she’s usually gone at this hour.”
Ellie interjected, “I didn’t either. Turns out she was inviting us to a girls’ day out. Just us, and all day from the sound of it.”
Chloe blinked, “Huh, that’s funny, while you were gone, Qrek paid us a visit. He invited the three of us out for a playdate with his daughters.”
The girls shared looks. After a moment, Myshi interjected, “Our little foray must have drawn more attention than we thought. They are trying to keep us occupied.”
Chloe had to agree. Myshi was their local expert with mind magic. Hell given her Abyssal blood she was likely better than the average mortal mage of her level. If she said they were trying to keep them occupied, who was she to argue? It fitted. “I guess that settles the question, we can’t afford to not act as they expect.”
“Can we use your fake copies?”
Chloe shook her head, “Memories don’t transfer over. Well, Myshi could help, but we’d have to release the shield I put in place.”
Alicia blinked, then nodded, “Right, that could be an issue.”
Myshi concurred, “Especially if they are doing what I think they are. We need to play our cards carefully.”
The night passed slowly as the girls debated their plans. In the end, they were going to go themselves, but not without a few precautions. It was certainly shaping up to be an interesting few days in Black Blossom. Chloe slipped into bed, and drifted off for the night, plans whirling in her mind. Her shadowed eyes were key to their plans but she couldn’t help worrying. She liked Sae and Alicia. Myshi was turning out to be a fun girl, she didn’t want to lose them.