The Quantum Wanderer

I enter the cathedral, I close the door behind me. I cast a light spell up on top. The crows that live in the cathedral are on the benches arms, making this kind of small crow corridor. Sidhu is kowtowing in front of me.

“Hi Sidhu. I need some flags with the church’s emblems.”

Some priests and priestess arrive at the cathedral’s chapel part. They arrive from the back doors, closer to the altar.  They see me and Sidhu. The light magic is making the armor shine. The dragons in the armor are moving around. Brokkr really went all out on this.

Two priests come from a door, and two priests come from another. They are all in sleeping attires. I turn to Sidhu. I think I am going to give him something that he will enjoy.

“Sidhu, you are my pope. From this moment on, you will not be required to kowtow in front of me.”

The priests and priestesses look at me, and then at Sidhu, that is slowly getting up. They are flabberghasted.

“LONG LIVE POPE SIDHU! LONG LIVE POPE SIDHU!”

Sidhu blushes.

“Sidhu, I need those flags.”

“Oh, of course, your godliness. What size?”

“Something a person would carry…? About 3 feet long, 2 feet high? I don’t know the proportions you used.”

“How many flags are you going to need?”

I am going to need one to give to Skylar, obviously. I am going to need another one for Dávrin. Another one for Edward, he can share it with Anthon. Rajesh can just pick the design with Sidhu. One for Leopold, one for Andrew, one for Akiko.

“I am going to need six flags. I have to get at least one tonight.”

“Only six, Great Adventurer?” Sidhu laughs. “Do you take your church so lightly? No problem at all.”

Sidhu turn to the priests kowtowing.

“Harish! Amush! You hear the Great Adventurer! Go fetch the flags! NOW!”

The two male priests kowtowing stand up, and start running. Sidhu smiles. I giggle. One of the priestesses, still kowtowing, says out loud.

“Great Adventurer, is there anything we can provide you? Anything at all? At all?”

I giggle a little. I think I could have some juice, or some tea. I think they are spoiling me rotten.

“I could have something to drink.”

“Of course.”

She stands up, lifts her sleeping dress and starts running. I wonder why she lifted it up all the way to her stomach, it seems a little too much.

“May I ask what this is about?” Sidhu asks.

I gesture him to one of the benches. The crows that were around the arm move. Muninn and Huggin fly to the top of my statue.

“The other council member, Skylar, has landed in human lands. He got in touch with some king, noble, whatever. I am going there to make sure we split the hunting grounds. The demon empire, the human empire, the dwarves are going to be in my area. And a couple of other small places, where I have friends.

“I also needed something to make sure that travelers from these areas would not get attacked. I am going to talk to him, and this flag is going to indicate who is my friend. But I still haven’t talked to Skylar yet.”

Sidhu looks at me with the eyes of a hungry puppy that has been given kraken meat. His eyes shine. I can see a tear coming out of the side of his eye. The moment is broken by a loud banging on the door. Another banging. A shout from outside.

“CALL POPE SIDHU! WE HAVE AN URGENT MESSAGE FOR HIS HOLINESS!”

The priestess that stayed kowtowing, shouts.

“May I open the door, your godliness?”

“Yes.”

She stands up, lift her sleeping dress and comes running towards the door. She releases her dress and opens the door. Two guards come inside. They kneel down, and offer a sealed letter. The priestess grabs the letter, and hits the guard on the head.

“YOU ARE IN FRONT OF THE GREAT ADVENTURER, YOU MORON!”

She has a very scary voice. If I didn’t know any better, I would ask if she trained that with Piotr. The guard looks around, and notices me. He kowtows. His colleague does the same.

“That’s better.”

She comes to Sidhu and I, with the sweetest smile. Her voice is sweet and innocent, kind of musical.

“Here is the communication, your holiness.”

Sidhu breaks the seal and reads the letter. He shrugs.

“This is his grace informing us of the dragon in human lands.”

“Rajesh is efficient.”

Sidhu nods. He turns to the guards.

“Thank you for bringing the letter. You may go.”

“Yes, commander! Sorry, your holiness!”

The two guards stand up and leave, also running. The priestess bows down.

“Is there anyway I can serve you, your godliness?”

I gesture the bench in front of us.

“Sure, just sit here, keep us some company.”

She sits there, but she turns around to be able to face us. She is staring at the armor I am using. Then she stares at my face. Sidhu clears his throat.

“Great Adventurer, when can I start announcing that your blessing is going to keep our travelers safe from the dragon?”

I turn to Sidhu. He is technically correct but it sounds a lot bigger than it is. I am just going to negotiate something with a person that has the same level as me in an organization. This is the way I would phrase it.

The priestess in front of us has a face that is a mix of emotions. She is flabbergasted, happy, and she has so much pheromones around her that she feels like a starving succubus. Just figuratively, of course.

“I am waiting for Skylar to get alone, so that I can talk to him. After I talk to him, assuming everything goes well. I don’t see why it wouldn’t, though.”

The demoness’s tail is ticking nervously, sometimes hitting the bench.

“Priya, behave yourself! This is not the time!”

She lowers her head.

“I am sorry, your godliness, your holiness…”

The priest with the flags and the priestess, carrying a tray with some refreshments arrive at the same time. They come over. The priest kneels down and hands over the flags. I pick them up and place them inside my bag of holding.

The priestess pour a cup of cold juice for me. Muninn and Huginn come over, flying, and land on the back of the bench, one on each side of the demoness that is in front of Sidhu and me. Muninn looks at the priestess that brought the refreshment.

“Where is OUR cup?”

The girl looks at Muninn, terrified. She kowtows immediately.

“I AM SORRY, YOUR GODLINESS! PUNISH THIS IDIOT AS YOU SEE FIT!”

I sigh. I turn to the girl.

“It’s ok. Just bring another cup for each of them.

The demoness raises her skirt again, this time not so high, and goes back running. She is doing some serious running right now. The priestess that stayed serves me the cup. I taste it. The other priestess comes back, with the cups, and serves Huginn and Muninn.

As I am enjoying the cool sweet juice, Huginn stops drinking. She raises her head.

“Papa, the dragon was left in his room. There are some women in there, though.”

“This is good enough.”

I finish the drink, and hand over the cup back. The demoness is hold it as if it were something made out of the finest crystal. I open a portal to the balcony outside Skylar’s room, and jump through. I can feel the mana irradiating from Skylar, inside the room. He senses mine. He shouts, inside the room.

“ALL OF YOU, OUT! NOW!”

I hear a woman asking in a very lewd voice.

“Why my lor-“

I hear the noise of someone suffocating, and then something being thrown against the wall.

“NOW!”

I hear some panicky girls, some running, then silence.

“I was waiting for you, councilor.”

Skylar opens the door to the balcony. He has a long straight red hair, the same size as the girl’s. I expected his red hair to be a little fuzzy like Ruby’s, but  it isn’t. He is muscular, but not overtly so. His eyes has a bit of malice and a bit of wisdom mixed in a deep green, with a vertical slit. He probably decided to keep that characteristic.

“Good evening, councilor.”

“Be invited to my temporary cave, councilor. Have you perhaps come to discuss hunting grounds?”

He opens a wide smile. He also kept canines larger than normal in his human shape. I don’t know if he is showing his teeth or smiling. I break the moment a little, to proceed inside the room. I cast a silence spell.

I did not expect him to open with the hunting grounds question, so straight to the point. But it makes sense. He is a foreign dragon. The valuable properties a dragon has are females and hunting grounds. He knows that females are off limits. It is a natural inquiry.

“As a matter of fact, yes. I have already some areas that I have in particular.  May I?”

Muninn and Huginn fly to the top of the bed, close to the ceiling. Skylar looks at them.

“Amazing! They actually look like crows!”

I smile. I move over to a couch, near a coffee table. I take the map out of the holding bag, and extend it on top of the table.

I cast a light spell to make it clear.

“These large areas here, here and here are mine. There are three cities that I have friends in. Here, here and here.”

I think about our plans to visit the elves in the future.

“I am going to check this area here in the future.”

Skylar tilts his head, and scratches his chin.

“What about the rest?”

“I don’t really care. Muninn, Huginn, did I forget anything?”

Huginn answers.

“No, papa.”

I continue. I take out one of the flags from my bag of holding, and hand it to Skylar.

“I am going to tell all my traveling friends to use this flag. They may be crossing one of your hunting grounds, but I ask that you withhold from hurting them. They are going to be instructed not to provoke you as well.”

“Not provoke me…” Skylar giggles. “You are funny, Soul Devourer.”

He grabs the flag and opens it. He takes a look. He looks at a flag of the current kingdom that is hanging on the wall. He takes it out, burns it cinders, and uses the nails that were holding it to hang the flag I had handed to him.

“Do you have any additional requests before I lay mine down?”

“Not really. I just want us to be able to co-exist, much like we do in Drakonia. But sure, what are your requests?”

“Is there a way I can get in contact with you?”

“Talk to a bird. Tell it you want to talk to me, Marcelo.”

He tilts his head.

“Birds don’t really have a language… Present species excluded, of course.”

“Don’t worry, just use [common].”

He shrugs. I don’t think he believes me, but he is probably thinking that it is not worth arguing with the crazy in the room.

“Can I get in touch if need council about-“ He shakes his hands as if he was talking about something smelly “-humans’ customs?”

“Sure, be my guest.”

He lets a ‘hum’ out.

“Any additional requests?” I ask.

“No. I have a large enough hunting ground, you didn’t ask for much. All of your requests are reasonable. I consider this contract made.”

I extend my hand out. He tilts his head.

“Well, you are in human shape now. Shaking hands is how humans seal a verbal contract.”

He extends his hand. I grab it and shake it. He corresponds. After I let his hand go, I continue.

“Just two tips, for you to think over. First one, ashes can’t serve you. Second one, a lot of humans lie. And they may lie a lot.”

He giggles.

“Thank you. I will keep that in mind.”

Huginn and Muninn come over and land on my shoulder. I stand up. Skylar takes a look at my armor.

“Shiny armor, councilor.”

I smile.

“Yes, thank you. I will be going now, councilor. Have fun!”

I go out to the balcony, and I open a portal to home. I jump through and close it. I arrive in my living room, the girls are on the couch, waiting.

When I come through, they all seem happy. Edward is also there, but now Anthon is sitting on the couch as well. They have glasses with drinks in their hands, I can see that they are a little shaky. The girls come over to greet me. They hug me and kiss me on the lips.

“So, how did it go, my lord?” Ruby asks.

“It was very easy, actually. I told him the areas that I want for me. He saw that I did not ask for a lot in terms of area, so we sealed the deal.”

Anthon forces himself to smile.

“Excuse me, friend, what areas did you get for yourself?”

“The Empire is safe, Anthon. Some additional areas, like Shoria, Orora.”

They probably can guess that the demon empire and the dwarves are safe as well. I can see the relief downing on them. I take one of the flags that Sidhu had provided, and hand it to them.

“Here. Groups traveling with this banner will not be attacked by Skylar as well. It is part of the agreement.”

Edward opens up the flag and takes a look. He starts laughing. Anthon looks at him inquisitively.

“What?”

“Oh, you didn’t notice it yet? Where do you think our friend could have gotten a flag from?”

Anthon shrugs.

“I had hear descriptions already, but this is the flag for the Church of the Great Adventurer. From the demons.”

Anthon starts laughing.

“Once Nergal’s church hear of this they are going to have a hissy fit! Caravans carrying Wrax or Great Adventurer blessing are not going to get attacked by the dragon in human lands!”

They both start laughing histerically. I shrug. I remember that Sidhu used the same description. I am glad that everyone is happy with this. Edward holds the laughing a little while.

“Thank you for the heads up on this, friend. We are going to make sure that groups moving under our banner also carry your blessings, Great Adventurer.”

And the two of them get back to laughing.

This whole thing ended up taking some hours. The amount of quick tasks accumulated. I am already a little tired now, so I slap my hands on my legs and stand.

“I am glad that everything is already solved. Now, if you allow me, I am going to have some rest with my lovely wives. If you want, we can talk more tomorrow. I have to get the flag to Dávrin as well, and keep him posted on this development. As well as Leopold, Akiko and Hikari.”

Anthon was about to say something, but Edward grabs his arm. Anthon looks at Edward, that shakes his head. Anthon then turns to me.

“I have no words to express how thankful we are, friend! Please bear in mind that we are very grateful for this.”

Anthon bows down. He stays for around 5 seconds like this, and then stands straight again.

“Thank you very much.” He finishes. Edward clears his throat.

“Thank you very much, friend.”

They both stand up, and Rudolph, that was in the corner of the room, escorts them out. Charles and Lucille are in a corner, frozen. Rudolph comes back. He has a smile that he is trying to contain, but can’t. I can just imagine where this is going.

“Do you need anything else, lord?”

“No Rudolph, this is going to be all for today. Girls, let’s get some sleep?”

The girls circle me, and we retire for the night.

Next morning we wake up later than usual. When we come down for breakfast, Charles and Lucille have already finished theirs. Rudolph and the maids have a smile on their faces, like they know something that is kept from the rest of the population. They seem particularly happy. I am guessing that happy is good.

Once Cecilia and I finish our breakfast, I turn to Muninn and Huginn.

“Muninn, do you think you can pass the knowledge of the neutron crystals to the girls?”

The girls all stop eating, and turn to me. Shandon is the one to ask.

“What is that, my lord?”

“I am worried with the appearance of Skylar. That would be the magic that makes my skin impossible to pierce, and my bones impossible to break. That is part of the magic I applied to my katana, the one I had on the previous sword.

“Cecilia’s skin and bones already have this magic in place, but I couldn’t do the same for you. It could be a problem if you morphed to your natural forms with this magic applied.

“Muninn and Huginn here solved it by knowing the magic. So they remove it, they shape shift, then they apply it again. They are a little vulnerable during the shape shifting, but they are careful with it. I wanted you to have the same tool.”

The girls are all excited, each in their own way, because of different things. Aquamarine blushes, Opal’s demeanor is even more royal, I don’t know how she achieved that. Shandon and Ruby are excited. Ruby can’t contain herself.

“My lord, if we were to use that, could we face Skylar?”

“It is going to be a very big advantage. His teeth, claws, swords, whatever, are not going to be able to pierce your skin. Your bones will not break. You can still be strangled, or get a big impact  and get hurt internally. The regeneration on your bones can help with that, but you are not immortal. Not even I am.”

“Papa, do you think this is wise?”

I take a serious face.

“Well, this is important. I am doing this because you are my wives. There is a huge commitment here. I am handing you something that is not to be shared.”

Ruby stands up, her chair falls down. She jumps over the table, and falls on my lap. My chair falls back, and we both fall to the ground. She whispers in my ear.

“I wish there was more than one of me to give to you, my lord!”

She kisses me.

After we get back to our seats, I continue.

“Let’s finish breakfast so that we can get on with that. We only have around two hours till noon, and I have to bring the flags to Dávrin, Leopold, Andrew and Akiko.”

Ruby ate fast. I felt that she partially transformed her mouth so that her jaw could open wider. She finished quickly, and stared daggers to the others that were taking their time savouring kraken meat.

After sometime, we all finished. We went to the living room. The girls sat on a sofa, but kind of laying down. Muninn touched his head against Ruby’s, and Huginn touched her head against Opals. Both Brâns transformed their heads to their natural shapes, with the four eyes as the four slits, two on each side. Muninn’s larger head and Huginn with her large feather on the top of her head.

They touched the girls’ heads for several minutes. We just waited. After around half an hour, the brâns removed their heads. I could sense how tired Muninn and Huginn were. It is a lot of knowledge needed to really understand the process. Half an hour is an amazing time. I open a hand sized portal on top of them, linked to the ley line above the kraken’s nest. They recover their energies in some minutes. I close the portal.

The same process is repeated for Aquamarine and Shandon. I pull out an adamantite shield from the dwarves’ treasure in my holding bag. I place it on the table.

“You can test your nails against this.”

Ruby morphs the tips of her fingers in her right hand into human sized dragon’s claws. I can feel the mana being used to coat the claws with the neutron crystal. She then coats her hands’ skin with the micro scales.

Once she is done, she opens her five fingers and stabs the shield. Her fingers go right through.

“This is AWESOME! SISTERS, TRY THIS!”

They all experiment with the process. I laugh at how happy they are. Once they are done destroying the shield, they morph their hands back, and they cover themselves with the micro scales. Cecilia sighs.

“Your bullshit magic is impressive.” She looks at the shield. “Is this… Adamantite?”

I nod, with a smile.

“Fuuuuccckkk…” She laughs.