Ch. 2.31 | ‘Fit Check!
PoV: Sanya
On the way back to the guild hall, Sanya realized that her tops were fit for her . . . before her changes.
She also did not want anyone asking questions about her sudden change in appearance.
So, with heavy reluctance, she molded herself to mirror her old self as much as she could. Just with the bonus of no body hair or the unwanted item between her legs.
She wanted to find a way to dress into one of her new outfits, but did not feel like tearing a portal to the barrier in order to change, nor any of the alternatives. Mai would beg her to wear one anyway.
So, she would make a quick detour somewhere before getting to the guild hall.
First, she may or may not have spent thirty minutes looking for the individual that sold the witch hats. It was just a part of her look now, and she did not want to abandon that.
It was not market day, so she had to do a bit of asking around.
Eventually, she found the house and knocked on the door after a moment of hesitation.
She tried to ignore how the craftswoman jumped and the look of shock on her face upon greeting Sanya.
“Um. Hi. I kind-of destroyed my witch hat and was wondering if I could buy another one from you? . . .”
The craftswoman pursed her lips. “Alright. Give me a minute.” She closed the door.
Sanya wondered if she wouldn't open it again.
Sanya retrieved the appropriate amount of money from her Repository, plus a little extra, since she has come directly to her home, and everything. That was either weird or at least not normal. Some people did sell out of their homes. Some people, not all.
Would she knock again? How long should she wait before she did? Should she even bother? If the craftswoman closed the door on Sanya, should she just take the hint and leave? She would just be sad and witch hat-less.
Thankfully, the door opened again. She could not help but feel relieved, her body relaxing. She hadn't realized she was so tense.
“Same color?” the craftswoman asked, handing out a hat with one hand. It was a question, yet she had picked out one with the same color and had it ready, in her hand now. It was as if she knew “no” would not be an answer.
Whatever. Some people said they knew what their patrons wanted right as they walked into the door or up to the stall. Maybe she was no different.
Sanya truly was predictable, but so was everyone else. Despite the chaos and illogical nature of humans, they still retained patterns.
Sanya smiled. “Yes. Thank you.” She handed the money to the woman's free hand and took the hat. “Have a nice day.”
“You too,” she said, closing the door with what was far from a slam.
Success? . . . Sanya placed the hat on her head, letting the familiar weight on top give her a small wave of comfort and security.
Next, Sanya went to her house and stepped inside. It was barely a ten minute walk to her house. Still, she was adding time to her delay in getting back to the guild hall. She deposited her robes into her repository and stepped into an outfit.
She wore a black, pleated skirt atop dark leggings. She wore a pale top with a tiny hint of pink and then a light brown cardigan. Definitely much less riotous on the eyes than Mai's clothes. They would almost match in style otherwise.
Now she could slay in more ways than one.
Great golden shell of the divine! Sanya owned and was wearing feminine-designated clothing for, like, the first time. Sanya was a girl! N-not that all people who wear feminine clothing are girls.
She may have had a deeper voice or a masculine bone structure or a lack of chest, but she was a girl! She would have said she also had that . . . thing . . . but she didn't anymore! Which meant it would not get all . . . extra gross . . . by the pure joy of wearing her clothes! Victory!
Hmph . . . maybe if she grew out her chest just a bit? . . . Ah, she did not have any chest wraps or anything though. Maybe she could make her body mimic the effects?
Ah well, later.
Okay. To the guild hall!
She was so happy she could almost forget the end of the world was nigh and she would be responsible for it!
If only she could ride all these mental exclamation points into extra momentum to defeat Zulfaqar's army and the eventual eldritch entities.
Oh. Right. They were doing that whole fighting-Zulfaqar thing today, weren't they?
Sanya looked up at the sky. What time was it? . . . It had been, like, an hour, maybe more than that. She was most definitely late.
She hurried her pace. She wouldn't have them losing just because she was held up by . . . various things. Getting taken over by her parasite and crashing Speleothem among them.
Sanya arrived at the guild hall. She made her way through the foyer, nodded to Tabassum, the humble butler. She even gave him a little smile, as a treat.
Why did she have the urge to smile and wave to every person she came across? . . .
“Who is that?” a voice asked.
There were other people in the room besides the Guild's inner circle. It seemed that Aisha had brought in some other mages and maybe even mundane soldiers. She had turned this into her war room. The inner circle was all there. Even Calinichia had decided to grace them all with her presence.
“S-sanya?!” Mai exclaimed. “Sanya!” Mai ran up to Sanya and tossed her arms around her. “You're all gray now! What happened? You almost match with Aisha, although your complexion is still leagues better . . . Eeeee! Your clothes. You're so pretty! I want to gobble you up!”
“You took your sweet time,” Aisha intoned flatly. Oops? She was not happy. Her super awesome weapon being late when hours from a war would do that to a person.
“I . . . uh . . . got caught up in something,” Sanya answered sheepishly, breaking away from Mai's embrace. There was worry on Mai's face now, and perhaps her expression silently asked to discuss the developments later? . . .
Aisha raised an eyebrow. “Did it have something to do with the eldritch entity in Speleothem? Because I see you retrieved your clothes from there.”
“Y-yeah?” Sanya winced. “Yes.”
“Did you have a hand in—no, it wasn't defeated, it teleported away . . . Can you debrief us?”
“Do we have time for that?” one of the other people asked.
“This is important. Are the eldritch entities going to flood through anytime soon? Are we in grave danger?”
Sanya shook her head. “I'll explain . . . later. Simply put, that entity was a fluke. It won't happen again. Well—the rest won’t break through right now, at least.”
“I . . . I will choose to trust that.
“Right. So, Sanya! I sent half of our force towards Hope via Temporal bubbles. Zulfaqar is indeed going that way, and Nadiyya has seen no feint attack. Mai and Esmat are each going to grab a group of twenty-three and chain [Organic Displacements] towards Hope. You will teleport the rest over on (Globetrot Anchor].
“We do so whenever you're ready. Which is now, I hope.”
“I haven't had breakfast yet. And I'm running on zero hours of sleep . . .” Sanya smiled mischievously.
Aisha gave her a death stare.
“Okay, point me to the group and I'll send them over,” Sanya said.
Aisha nodded, a grimace on her face. “Right. Let's do this then. Our forces are gathered at the southwest gate.”
☆ ☆ ☆
The highest command of the Calderae-Hope army stepped outside the southwestern gate—errr, entryway. Sanya was a part of that! And, uhhh, Calinichia too? . . . Should either of them be trusted with this? Well, maybe they would not be ordering soldiers around, but they were mingling with the people who would.
Anyway, they stepped into ranks of thousands. Actually only two thousand in soldiers and mages.
The other half was already marching towards Hope underneath time bubbles.
Aisha had already moved the two groups of twenty-three. Apparently some other Spatial mages had teleported off with their own groups as well.
Aisha quickly delegated the two groups to Mai and Esmat. Aisha really did think there was no time to waste.
“So . . . I'll see you there,” Mai said to Sanya, walking up to her.
Sanya nodded, then took a step forward. She reached out towards Mai.
Mai tilted her head.
Sanya beckoned her with a gesture, then closed the gap between them. She bent down and planted a kiss on Mai's lips. They did not trade tongue this time—it was but a simple thing.
They broke away.
“Yeah,” Sanya said. “See you. Five minutes?”
“Five minutes!” Mai echoed enthusiastically, grinning. She bounded off—literally skipping—to her group. They chained, and then they disappeared into the horizon.
Esmat's group had vanished some time before that.
Oh. I'm going to war. I'm going to war alongside Mai. Mai is going to war. This is weird. Why is this so weird?
We're eighteen and going to fight in a battle of thousands.
At least I might be stronger than all of them combined.
Ugh . . . People might die—they probably have families. Parents, children, loved ones. Not all of them will be connection-less orphans.
I hate war.
“You can do this?” Aisha asked.
Sanya nodded.
[Globetrot Anchor] or a very responsible portal?
A portal that may or may not hasten the eldritch entities to come through? . . .
No, yeah, this was far easier.
Sanya summoned her extra ghostly limbs, then tore at the fabric of reality and plunged nearly two thousand individuals through.
They passed through the barrier space for but a brief moment before Sanya ripped open a portal atop everyone and emerged in front of Hope, to the west, where Zulfaqar's army would arrive from. In fact, she did everyone a favor and turned the entire army ninety degrees to face west in their same ranks instead of north.
Aisha was gaping at Sanya. “Sanya? . . . What in Heliux's forsaken hellscape was that? That was not [Globetrot Anchor]. Wait . . . Did you just silent cast? Also . . . those arms . . . Sanya? . . .”
Sanya turned to look in the direction of Zulfaqar's army.
Twenty thousand, by Nadiyya's count. Well, her birds’ count, they could count better than her.
Twenty thousand soldiers and mages with their siege weapons.
Sanya felt overwhelmed by the sheer scale of Zulfaqar's forces. All that potential for violence . . . Only to realize her potential for violence might be greater.
Twenty thousand matching towards a tiny city built around teenagers learning magic. This was a place of learning. Of building the future. Of peace, as far as learning magic was peace. This was a place that should not be touched by war or other mortal squabbling. For Zulfaqar to target it . . . it was infuriating. It was a blunder beyond any semblance of a thinking brain.
Sanya pushed the mercy option off the metaphorical table. Not that she knew what that even looked like. She could probably find it if she wanted to.
No, yeah, she wasn't overwhelmed at all. Zulfaqar and his legions meant absolutely nothing to her. Not a threat. Not even the tiniest pinprick of damage would they be able to deal against Sanya.
Zulfaqar must have known this by now. The parasite had emerged and Sanya had wrestled complete ownership from it. It wasn't supposed to happen this soon. It wasn't supposed to succeed. His silly timelines that he swore his life by would have changed. His failure was inevitable.
Sanya stepped away from Hope, towards Zulfaqar’s forces.
She was going to crush them all to dust. Let their life force feed her and strengthen her. However little strength twenty thousand mortals would give her. Their magic was so . . . underwhelming developed. She could see the mages with her [Spatial Sense]. Sanya shook her head and clicked her tongue.
“Sanya? . . .” Aisha called, her voice quivering. Fear, from one of their greatest mages. Pathetic. “Are you even listening to me right now?”
Sanya waved a hand in dismissal, without looking back. “Give me five minutes.”
Sanya would finish this before Mai or the rest of the army could even arrive. The opposing force was a twenty thousand that had condemned themselves to silence and the abyss.
Five minutes, because she still wanted to eat breakfast, before it became lunch time.
Huh . . . she could still eat human food and go hungry the normal, mortal way. That was neat. Or inconvenient. Depended on the part of Sanya that was asked. Guess she needed to do more excising later. Cutting into her own body . . . just like she had done to her arms, before.
Some things never change.