Ch. 2.20 | Howl are you doing?
PoV: Lania
Lania watched as Sanya took the librarian and teleported her into the horizon. Lania used this opportunity to rush towards where Nadiyya and Mai had been trapped in the librarian's spells.
Her spells broke down, either because she was too far away to maintain them, or because of the strange colors in the distance. Nadiyya and Mai collapsed onto the ground, now free from their watery chains.
Where Sanya and the librarian had gone, a dark black fog rolled over the land. Suddenly, it burst with color—oranges and blues, scattering like dust into the fog that remained floating and dense. Ethereal lights twinkled in the darkness, and the colors glowed atop the dark backdrop.
Lania paused for a moment to watch whatever was happening over there—but only for a moment. She had already felt like she failed Nadiyya, waiting to check on her would only add to that. Lania had done nothing to fight back against the librarian. She had watched Calinichia struggle and fail. Lania was weaker than her by a large margin. So, since Calinichia could do nothing, Lania would not have been able to either.
Hopefully Of-Jinan will keep her part of the deal and let me be taught magic! I want a mage type!
How strong would Lania be if she could have both her abilities as a vampire, on top of having magic? If vampires could even learn magic at all. Calinichia did not seem to have a mage type or a magically enhanced profession.
If she did have one, it definitely was not “mother.”
Mai kicked a rock on the floor, arms crossed and glaring towards the horizon. “I told her not to teleport. Hmph.” She sat down on the wet grass and continued looking northward.
“Nadiyya!” Lania cried out, continuing her run. She leapt into Nadiyya as she stood up, almost knocking her over. Lania looked up at her strange, magical friend. “Sorry!”
Nadiyya just smiled, but not one of her toothy grins—it was jarring to see her smile and not reveal her animal-esque teeth.
“Are you okay—?” Lania asked.
Anything more she would add to her worries or her speech promptly tossed itself from her brain as Nadiyya patted her on the head. Mmmm . . . Lania closed her eyes and hugged Nadiyya with more vigor. She took deep, content breaths and—
Dang, this girl could get smelly fast. All the stress and moving around of the past few hours caused that, maybe. Plus whatever backlash she had suffered from her magic to make her smell like a wet, musky wolf (the wet part was probably from all the rain). At least she did not smell like worse things—the bird dung smell was Lania's definite least favorite. A sad outcome of the ravens using Nadiyya like a perch—one that Nadiyya either did not seem to mind or was unaware of. Also, on the topic of perching, did those talons not dig into her shoulders? . . .
The last of the raindrops dispersed, and the unnatural clouds opened up into the blue sky and two shining suns.
A raven fluttered down onto Nadiyya's shoulders, it seemed to have taken off at some point during the fight—or, well, “fight.” It was more like they got tossed around by the librarian until Sanya decided to do something about it.
“I’m—eow fine,” Nadiyya whispered.
“Good,” Lania said, digging her face further into Nadiyya's chest.
Lania would have hated it if Nadiyya had gotten hurt. She would not have stopped until the librarian paid for that.
Nadiyya was Lania's to hurt, via any biting.
Um, what? Ignore that impulsive thought.
Another bird fluttered down towards Nadiyya, appearing out of what was definitely thin air. Nadiyya's time bubbles were something else . . .
The raven croaked and squawked with urgency. Nadiyya nodded along. Lania would never get used to the fact that Nadiyya could communicate with birds—and other animals. Did her backlash coincide with the animals she influenced with her magic? So, Nadiyya used a lot of ravens, cats, and wolves?
Lania had not seen the wolves yet. Cats were probably street spies, maybe? They could be a local Calderae thing. Wolves were new, too, so there could not have been too many of them. They lived in packs and controlled wide amounts of territory. What would Nadiyya even use wolves for?
Nadiyya croaked back to the raven, and it took off.
“What was that?” Lania mumbled into Nadiyya.
“I'm no longer feline good,” she said.
Oh, not good news, then? Lania wondered what it was. Wait. Something about Nadiyya's sentence sounded odd to Lania. She looked up at Nadiyya and blinked. “Did you just—”
“Instead of just noises, the backlash is pecking in puns now too, awoo . . .”
“Oh, the sounds are still there. So, what was the bird's message?”
“The birds have eyed an orange and a pink portal both crack open within the last couple of meownutes.”
Another bird descended onto Nadiyya's open shoulder. Their ritual of croaking back and forth commenced, and the bird took off.
“That was a different raven. Green and white portals have opened, ruff,” Nadiyya relayed.
“I can't tell if that was a pun or a sound,” it was probably both—or either.
“That's four portals, what in Heliux's forsaken hellscape did Sanya do? . . .” Mai sighed. Right, she was here too. Hopefully she wasn't envious or put off by Lania and Nadiyya's displays of affection. Mai was the cuddly kind, but Sanya, not so much. Hopefully those two could work it out, or maybe Mai was already fine with where they were.
“Those are just the mew colors and major portals,” Nadiyya said. “There have been a dozen or so—crawrk—small abyss portals as well.”
“Do we know the exact count of portals out there? How much does each contribute? When will the eldritch entities break through?” Lania asked.
“The blue portal was probably closed by now. All these small purples probably equal the one large one from the academy,” Mai theorized. “What Sanya and Esmat saw was the parasites communicating with the entities and seeing if they could break through with what portals were out now. Who knows? . . . We probably won't until we see the first emergency—we don't even know what that will look like, exactly.
“Mmm,” Lania acknowledged. “So, um, what's that spell? And should you go check on Sanya?”
“That's [Nebula Cleansing],” Mai answered. “It clears boons and effects from spells and can push those in its area to channel overuse. If the librarian casts any more spells she'll suffer backlash and faint. I should probably go check on Sanya—after the spell. She should not teleport, and [Nebula Cleansing] can hit her too—and me.”
Calinichia stepped up towards Nadiyya and Lania. “Are you going to be my daughter-in-law?”
Lania's brain emptied once again. What had Calinichia just asked? Lania processed the world's and promptly flushed. “I-it’s too early to tell!” She cried out before Nadiyya could fashion a response.
Nadiyya frowned at that. “Is it really too early? I can already tell I want to be with you fur-ever, and I don't think anything will change that. You're pawsitively fetching in more looks and purr-sonality.”
Lania snorted—the puns again!
“I'm sorry! They just squawk out!”
“You certainly have a strange fancy,” Calinichia raised an eyebrow at Lania.
“Hey!” Lania glared back. “Don't be rude. Nadiyya is amazing, and a little backlash won't dissuade me!” She found it endearing, most of the time. Maybe even alluring—all her weird quirks and verbal impulses. The cute ears and that one intense cat-like eye, the sharp teeth—the only thing Lania did not like was the talons, those could probably make her bleed at the touch. At least Nadiyya's other hand was currently normal! Who was to say when the next change would occur, and what it would be? Ooh, could Nadiyya get wings?
“If anything, Lania being a vampire is a plus,” Nadiyya grinned.
“Obviously,” Calinichia said with a wave of her hand. Then she proceeded to examine her nails. “We are grand and noble.” Yeah, and supremacist and egotistical. What do you mean you ruled over the humans, like they were your servants? Grand and noble? Come on! If they—we?—were so amazing, then how come their realm fell?
“You just want to be bitten,” Lania muttered, instead of arguing with Calinichia.
Nadiyya lowered her head and whispered into Lania's ear. “So what if I do?”
Nadiyya wasn't making it any harder to not want to bite her! Her neck is right there—a little nibble won't hurt.
No!No drinking Nadiyya’s blood!
But . . . what if she wants it? . . .
“As much as I love a good romance, please do not do it in front of me. It's weird—you're my daughters.”
“Claiming her already?” Lania asked as Nadiyya brought her head—and neck—away from her.
“Oh, please. You two are never going to separate. On the impossible chance that happens, I will off myself.”
Mai choked on air.
“Yes, yes, very funny—insane vampire lady with too much self-preservation betting to end herself. Ha. Ha,” Calinicha said, voice riddled with—no, absolutely steeped in—sarcasm.
Lania had a very impulsive response to that, out before she could so much as think.
“Nadiyya,” Lania whispered. “Let's break up.”
Nadiyya blinked, then frowned. She looked so hurt. Wincing and . . . oops. “What? Fur real? Wait, are we even together?”
Calinichia clapped slowly. “Let's give it up for Lania, everyone. Comedic genius, for the first time since before the tempest.”
“I thought it was good,” Mai muttered.
“Sorry,” Lania said. “It was a joke, Nadiyya. I thought that—” No no no. I'm sorry I'm sorry. I didn't realize you wouldn't get it aaaaaaah. Fix this quickly!
“Oh-woo. That makes sense. A joke, yes.”
“And yes, I think it's safe to say we're together. If you'll have me.”
“I'll have you,” it was Nadiyya’s turn to whisper. “Everylastpiece of you.”
Wow, no backlash that time. If there had been, Lania thought that line would be much less intense and yet also giving her warm and fuzzy feelings inside.
And maybe a little urge to draw some blood.
No! Argh!
Mai stood. “Looks like it's my time to go fetch Sanya, and the librarian, I guess.” The spell—[Cleansing Nebula] or whatever, Lania forgot—must have finished or dispelled. Lania could not see behind or over Nadiyya, to look northward. She did not particularly care to try and look anyway, the view was already nice.
Had Mai used the word “fetch.” Lania gasped.
“Oh no, you're being infected by the animal puns!” Lania cried.
Mai paw-sed. “I think I would have used that regardless. Anyway, I'm going to go retrieve my feral cat.”
I'm even thinking about puns now! Nadiyya!!! This is all your fault!
Mai pointed northward. “[Organic Displacement].” She vanished, and air rushed to take her place.
“So, kitten, want a bite to eat after this is all over?” Nadiyya asked Lania. Her voice was quiet and husky. Lania's brain buzzed to it like a moth to a lantern.
“K-kitten?”
“Do you want it scratched? Don't partners call each other endearing nicknames?”
“It just caught me off guard, is all.” As did the previous pun, scratching it, because cats, really? What was this backlash? Also, it was interesting that Nadiyya's backlash came in permanent effects, and slowly accumulated from her magic use. Most other backlashes occurred because of casting too many spells or channeling too much mana in too little time, and were often temporary.
“Good girl, I wouldn't want to accidentally upset you, kitten.”
Lania melted into Nadiyya, her brain now thoroughly sundered.