Chapter 363: Compass
Ferro raised his arms in triumph, laughing. Breathing. Laughing again. Enjoying the sweet air of Ayther in the desert he recognized.
And when he could laugh no more, he let his arms drop and spoke to the sky, one hand clutching the necklace he was wearing over his clothes.
"I’m free..."
"That’s nice," a voice said behind him, and he crunched upward and turned to find a four-armed demoness and a very gaunt-looking human staring at him from a few measures away. "Who are you?" the demoness continued.
Standing and turning, Ferro sized them up quickly. The human - No wait... what’s that extra limb on her back? - looked ready to fall down from a stiff breeze. The demoness seemed... much tougher.
"I’m, ah, Ferrovia," he said, relaxing down to his tails enough to stand straight. "May I ask the same of you?"
"I’m Anko. This is Malz," the demoness pointed two thumbs at the... other demoness?
"Nice to, um... meet you," he started circulating his senses, assessing the local conditions in case he needed to defend himself. "What are you doing here?"
"Being lost," the dark-haired woman spoke. Her voice had a smoky quality to it that was quite different, accent-wise, from anything Ferro had ever heard.
"I’m guessing we’re in the same boat then," Ferro looked down. He’d still been clutching his necklace, and small needle spikes of light pointed out from it, one for each of the women in front of him. "But, um..." He stepped to the left, and the needles continued to point at them. "I also seem to be where I need to be?"
The two women shared a look. "What does that mean?" the demoness, Anko, asked. "Where the Hell did you come from?"