Reality warped and shifted in front of me. The entire reaction was silent as the fabric of time and space tore like gauzy cloth to admit six people, only two of which I recognized.
Through the tear in reality, I saw a dimly lit corridor done in gray plaster with simple iron-colored carpets.
No sooner had the group arrived than the tear sealed itself shut. It happened so rapidly that it might have been a large door swinging open and then closed once more. But I was looking directly at the open air as it occurred in the middle of the room, rather than a wall.
“Contacts,” growled one of the four figures I didn’t recognize, a sword that looked like it was made of black glass coming up in a guard position as the obviously male figure wrapped in black-and-gray-camouflage armor stepped forward.
I reacted instinctively, my body extending backwards between the girls as my lower half melded down into a quadrupedal form reminiscent of a hunting cat while sharp claws sprouted from my new set of four feet. My arms both shifted and elbows reversed to accommodate the dactyl clubs of the mantis shrimp, but sized up to fit my body. Segmented armor of hardened chitin flowed over my body to protect myself.
This all happened in between steps the man took and he paused with his blade raised, bright red eyes glittering under his own facemask.
“Hold,” Cariad barked, the normally demure daemon’s voice cracking with authority. “That is Traveler Liam Cosgrave and his charges you are threatening. Take one more step and I will not be responsible for your continued foolishness.”
There was another three seconds of tense silence, with the other three unknown daemon’s holding back with their weapons at their sides before the more touchy one relaxed and stood upright. He sheathed his blade and bowed towards me at the waist.
“Apologies, Traveler. We were uncertain what to expect due to the severity of the alert.”
“That is partially my fault,” Cerebaton rumbled, the massive green-skinned daemon stepping forward to pat the nameless guard on the shoulder with one large hand. “We rushed things to contain this. Please, accept my apologies as well.”
The fact that the senior daemon was apologizing to me seemed to take the other four aback. They all darted glances to their superior and then to Cariad, who looked like this was only to be expected, so they didn’t speak up.
“It’s fine, Cerebaton. I can understand if things are a bit tense. That's why I messaged Cariad as soon as I realized what was going on,” I answered my fighting trainer with a smile.
Cerebaton nodded once, brusquely, and then stepped back to the group of guards.
It was a little odd seeing the man without his human disguise on. When I normally interacted with him, Cerebaton looked like a near exacting copy of a young Dolph Lundgren, complete with a chin that could split rocks and tightly cropped blond hair. But now he was in his native form, over eight feet of muscle that could have given the Hulk a run for how broad his shoulders were, with a spreading rack of elk antlers adding another two feet to his height.
I noticed that the massive, antlered man was wearing his own armor, though it looked more like a tailored suit than body-armor. The handle of a greatsword poked up above his left shoulder, but given Cerebaton’s size, it was probably just a longsword sized to fit him.
“Liam, where is the artifact?”
Cariad’s question pulled my attention back to the lovely redhead that was my friend and caseworker. I blinked in surprise when I finally had a second to take in her outfit.
Every other time I’d run into the slate-skinned daemon, she wore what could be considered office-wear, though cut to fit her form extremely well. Some sort of pencil skirt and a blouse with a few buttons undone depending on the weather. Her arms were always covered by black, silky opera-style gloves while stockings covered her legs from the sensible-heeled shoes she wore until they vanished under her skirt.
But now Cariad had added on an armored jacket that was zipped closed, the bottom half hugging her large hips and her full bust spreading the top open despite her best attempts to cover it. Her long, strawberry-red hair was twisted up into a thick bun at the back of her head to keep it out of the way and she had a boxy crossbow in her arms with a bolt on the string with a barbed head on it as thick as two fingers.
“Over there,” I answered mechanically, nodding to my right at the concealed door.
When all six of the daemons glanced at it and then back at me in confusion, I cleared my throat and reversed my shift to regain my human arms before pushing on the concealed door. The pressure made it swing outwards enough for me to hook my fingernails on the edge and tug it open.
As soon as the door’s seal was broken once more, all six daemon’s hissed in surprise and their weapons came up again, though not directed at us.
This time, my girls were ready and their spell rods came up to match the movement, which made all six daemon’s freeze.
“Easy girls, they are here to help,” I said gently, reaching back to pat one of them lightly with my left hand. Shayla squeaked in surprise and I had to fight down a blush when I realized the soft curve under my hand was her butt.
Thankfully, my words were enough to relax them, and I heard my girls settle once more. Since I was still in my cat-centaur form, I felt four different hands reach out to touch my back and flanks, seeking comfort.
Let me tell you, I can now understand why Rieka liked her ear rubs so much and why cats like scratches, because something about how their hands felt made the hair on my neck stand on end.
“Cariad, take his report. I’m taking responsibility for recovering the artifact,” Cerebaton rumbled, his voice as hard as I’ve ever heard it. His bright yellow eyes snapped as he focused on the door without a single glance spared my way.
“Understood, Mr. Cerebaton,” Cariad chirped and bounced around the others to scamper over towards us. The girls tensed behind me, I could tell from how their hands on me tightened and pulled at the dense yellow fur that covered my lower half.
“Cariad,” I said with a smile and opened my arms to her. She smiled brightly up at me and carefully held her weapon out of the way to give me a one-armed hug that ensured none of the skin she had exposed would touch me. “Sorry this caused such a fuss.”
“Nothing to apologize about, Liam. I’m coming to expect things that upend the department to center around you at this point,” Cariad laughed lightly before stepping back and settling her weapon on her shoulder. “And I take it that these are your lovely summoners that I keep hearing about?”
“What?” Jane squeaked in surprise behind me, clearly startled to be known by this woman and I muffled a laugh.
“Yes, these wonderful ladies are my summoners and bonded companions. Rieka and Kassandra,” I indicated my princess and dwarf lamia, “were with me when I found the first location of interest and helped me clear and secure it. We brought Jane and Shayla,” I indicated the mouse and moth kin next, “when we returned to clear it the second time. Kass and Jane worked with evidence we recovered to potentially locate other facilities, which led us here.”
“Can you report on what you’ve found so far?” Cariad shifted her weapon onto a shoulder strap and unzipped her armored jacket. This caused her full bust to spill out in a way that made Jane squeak again in surprise, but I ignored it as Cariad fished out her familiar sky-blue legal pad and a pen to take my report.
“So far, it’s been pretty straightforward. There was a questionable summoning circle in the other half of the facility that unfortunately suffered from some extreme damage which prevented proper identification of what it was intended to summon. We continued exploring and found nothing out of the ordinary despite the large number of traps linked to summoning effects.”
“Summoning traps?” Cariad raised a manicured eyebrow in surprise as she wrote but didn’t look up. “That is curious, such things normally don’t last for too long unless…” She let the sentence trail off and kept writing.
I waited for a moment to let her continue, but she remained silent as the other daemon’s discussed in low tones. Their words were flying quickly but I could tell they were trying to be quiet as Cerebaton interrupted the argument and gave a decisive order from how he gestured.
“Once we got in here, we found the control room that connected to the traps. After disabling the traps, I and Rieka went out into the hallway to test and confirm things were safe. I tore up one of the trigger plates, so you can check that if you want. Coming back, Shayla recognized a change in the brick pattern on the wall. I checked it and found the concealed room. If it hadn’t been for her then I would have missed it.”
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As I named each of the girls, Cariad glanced up to lock eyes with them and nodded before returning to her notes.
“Did you find any other… suspicious summoning information? Or other areas with similarly damaged runes?” Cariad asked when I paused to take a breath.
“None so far. I believe this particular ruin is far smaller than the other and more focused in its work. Though the summoning room here appears to have been royally trashed. Girls?”
I glanced over my shoulder to check on them and saw a collection of shaking heads.
“No, haven’t seen anything that looked out of place,” Kassandra answered for the group. “The summoning information in here that I can make out is all standard. It looks like they were working on nailing down specifics of the fire-earth convergence when whatever happened.”
“Fire and earth, got it,” Cariad muttered and made another note on her pad.
A loud clunk from the concealed room made me jump. Glancing that way, I saw the four guards had sheathed their weapons and were working on breaking open the containment unit while Cerebaton supervised. The large daemon had a rectangular case about the size of a shoebox in his hands that was sitting open.
Glancing back at Cariad, she answered my unspoken question without hesitation.
“Containment case. If the artifact is anything like what we think it is, we need to be very careful with it.”
“Is it the source of the higher than usual mana concentration in the air?” Jane asked curiously. I felt the little scholar duck back behind me when Cariad glanced her way, but my daemon friend just smiled down at her.
“That is my suspicion. I’m not allowed to discuss more until my supervisor gives me permission.”
“Since we found it, I hope we at least get some information about it,” Kassandra grumbled quietly, but my noodle was not good at being subtle and Cariad heard her.
“If it were up to me, I would fill you all in on it right now. But given how the System interfaces lit up like they were on fire a few minutes ago, we need to go through the proper channels.”
“Understandable,” Rieka asserted, stepping forward with her free hand on her chest. My princess gave Cariad a dignified smile and a slight bow of her head. “I know we will all appreciate any information that can be passed along in the spirit of cooperation. If this… artifact worries your people so much, then I would sincerely wish to know more about it so that I can keep my eyes open for other such items to see them returned to your custody.”
Cariad turned her attention to Rieka when my princess started to speak and I caught the moment when her second set of eyes flicked open to study Rieka and the others. The electric-blue orbs set in Cariad’s temples studied each of them for a brief moment before settling on me and then flicking closed.
To Rieka’s credit, the odd sight did not throw her off her game and she threaded her free arm through mine, hugging my arm to her chest possessively.
The gesture drew a small, happy smile to Cariad’s lips and the daemon nodded once, her hair bobbing and a few strands falling in front of her face.
“I will endeavor to make the point known to our supervisors. Liam has already made a good impression with his hard work and honesty, so that will be in his favor. And before you ask, a reward will be arranged. Its specifics will be something the district supervisors will have to agree on, and will be dispensed to Liam to distribute to you all.”
“Well that is relieving,” Shayla sighed gustily and I could imagine my lovely moth’s antennae relaxing and unfurling as her wings flexed and fluttered in relief. “If a reward is on the table then I can hopefully avoid nightmares of someone just stepping through a wall in my room to kill me and keep me silent.”
“Not going to happen,” I growled. The words charged out of my mouth on instinct, but I did not regret or even try to slow them. The feline tail that I had sprouted curled around Shayla’s thigh possessively and she eep’d quietly in response to the contact.
“Indeed,” Cariad was quick to assert. “Not only would it break established DSR protocol, such actions would not be condoned by the System and it would be likely that the System itself would intervene to grant Liam the right to protect his summoners. The DSR does not directly intervene unless there is a dire circumstance.”
Like someone summoning entropy aligned creatures? I considered silently, or maybe daemons themselves?
My train of thought was interrupted by a sharp snap as the casket in Cerebaton’s arms closing, followed by a thunk of a lock engaging.
“Artifact secured, sir,” one of the daemon’s said to Cerebaton, handing him an ornate silver card that reminded me of the keycard from the Shadow Mountain facility.
“We will return to the department and secure it,” Cerebaton rumbled in his deep voice. “Only once the artifact is secured will we send in repair teams to inspect the dimensional membrane here for instability.”
“Do you need us to clear out, Cerebaton?” I called to the big man as the group turned to walk back towards us. My tension and improved mental scores allowed me to pick up on the faint tightening of expressions from several of the guards with Cerebaton, but the big man just nodded to me.
Looks like they don’t appreciate me being so familiar with their boss. Well screw that. If Cerebaton had a problem with it, he’d tell me, I thought.
“If you would, Liam. I don’t expect it to take us more than a few hours to confirm damage, and if there is a need for repair then I will let you know.”
“Understood. Safe travels then. We could use a chance to wash up and clean off, it’s been a long day already.” I gave the horned man a nod that he returned.
“Are you done with the interview, Cariad?” Cerebaton asked as he led the way for his group towards the center of the room where they had appeared.
“Almost. Liam, can you recount exactly what happened when you unsealed the hidden doorway?” Cariad asked quickly, clicking her pen once and preparing to write.
“Sure. I opened the door and felt the pressure of mana washing out of the room, which led me to believe that this was the source of the higher-than-normal content of mana in the air I’d detected when we came down here. It’d been thinning out as we used it, so I had figured that it was a slow process. When I saw the contents and the machine still running, as well as the reaction when sand was dropped onto it, I sent for you and cleared everyone away from it.”
“Got it. I’ll have the specialists check in there to ensure nothing compromising is left behind. Thank you again for reaching out to me, Liam.” Cariad bobbed her head once and looked up to smile at me once more.
“Of course, Cari. Let me know if you need anything else, okay?”
“I will. You girls look after him, okay? Liam is much too hard on himself to admit it if he’s worn himself out.” Cariad addressed the last part to my girls and Kassandra was the one to respond.
My dwarf lamia slithered up on the side opposite of Rieka and grabbed my other arm, rising up on her tail so she could properly wedge it between her breasts.
“Of course. Liam should be resting already, but he wouldn’t let it lie until we checked this whole place over. I’ll make sure he’s well taken care of.” There was the familiar teasing in my Nugget’s tone and Cariad’s cheeks flushed lightly, showing she’d heard it too.
“Good. He deserves to be treated well,” Cariad said with surprising confidence despite the blush. “Take care, all of you. And it was a pleasure to meet you all. Maybe we can chat again in the future?”
“Cariad, we need to get moving,” Cerebaton shouted from the center of the room, making my caseworker jump.
“Coming!” she called before turning to shoot me a wink and scampering off, shoving her notes away inside her jacket before swinging her weapon back around into her arms.
I couldn’t help but stare at Cariad’s bouncing bottom as she ran, and neither could Kassandra from the ‘damn…’ I heard her whisper at the sight.
Another soundless ripple of motion heralded the opening of the dimensional membrane and the group stepped through before reality stitched itself back together.
We stood in silence for a few long minutes, just catching our breaths after the strange sight. It was Jane who finally broke the silence, but not with words. A quiet grumble of her stomach expressing its hunger made the little mouse flush and the girls giggle.
“Well then, let’s head back to the surface and get some food. I wasn’t joking about needing a bath either,” I laughed and turned around. Jane was too busy blushing to notice my motion until I scooped the smaller woman up in my arms, though she did squeak and flail in protest until I dropped her onto my feline back. Once she realized where she was, she immediately clung to my back and her long tail wrapped around my waist to hold her in place.
“Lucky girl,” Kassandra teased with a giggle. “Guess Jane gets to ride him first.”
Jane just bit her lip and held on tighter, her large mouse ears burning with heat from the blush, but she didn’t say anything to argue Kassandra’s point.
Normally, I would have said something to blunt Kassandra’s teasing, but a message had scrolled across my vision and it was distracting the heck out of me.
Congratulations Traveler.
You have cleared and secured the Ice Field Research Facility.
Ensure that the facility remains concealed until the forces from the Coldeye Queendom can come to claim it.
As you eliminated illicit research materials and assisted the Dimensional Service and Repair in reclaiming hazardous materials, mission bonus reward has been unlocked.
Standby…
Traveler has received the Guardian track power: Tunnel to Contracted.
Tunnel to Contracted (Unranked) - Cost: 0 SP (Special Award) - For a proportional cost in SP, the user may create a dimensional tunnel from their current location to a summoner who holds at least a Guardian Contract (Level 1) with them.
This ability will function at a reduced cost if on the same plane as the target.
SP cost is determined by how long the user remains at their destination, their power level, and current mastery of skill. (Current rate: 3 SP/ten minutes.)
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