<~> Chapter 313"Lilith, Mimi..."

  I turned around to find Morrigan standing behind me with tears in her eyes. She ran up and pulled me into a tight hug. Before she got to me, I shifted my magic armor down to a thin yer so she wouldn't be hurt when she crashed into me. She buried her face against me and bawled, only stopping to pull Mimi into the hug once she got close enough.

  "I thought you died. When the explosion went off, the three of you disappeared," Morrigan managed to get out between sobs.

  Torien came over and joined the group hug, squeezing in next to me and Morrigan. She didn't say anything, but I could feel her relief through the bond. She hadn't rexed until she found her sister again. It was the first time any of us had been meaningfully separated in a dangerous situation like this.

  I kissed the top of Morrigan's head and held the group hug for several minutes while Morrigan let out her tears. I had still been in the middle of fighting when the explosion had happened, and we began to search for the others immediately the moment we nded. I never considered how things might look from their perspective. But it was true. I had to drop so fast to catch Sibyl that the bond had quickly snapped from range. If I hadn't known what happened, I may have thought the same thing in their shoes.

  When Morrigan had calmed herself enough to pull away, I gnced around the clearing. "I don't think it's safe to stay here for long. There are a lot of those shadows in this forest, and those big monsters might respawn. We should find somewhere to hide and rest while we wait for Silva to recover. It will be safe to move her, right?"

  Bel nodded. "She'll recover, but it'll take some time. Nature healing isn't great for blood loss, and Nelly's healing magic isn't quite strong enough to recover her instantly yet. She'll recover faster once she regains consciousness and can drink some of Nelly's milk."

  "I think we should try feeding her some of my milk once we reach somewhere safe. She'll need something in her stomach to recover her strength, and that should help with the blood loss," Nelly added.

  "I'll carry her," I said as I gently picked her up and cradled her against my chest. Silva is a fairly rge woman, but in my true form, I was around eight feet tall. It wasn't exactly easy to carry her, but with my Strength, it was mainly just awkward.

  "I'll scout ahead," Lori said as she stood up.

  Torien gnced at her arrow quiver and took a step toward her. "I'll join you."

  For a brief moment, Lori looked like she was going to argue, but it wasn't a request, and Torien wasn't mad at her. All of this went over Torien's head since she was distracted, but Lori seems to have wanted some time alone. If the situation were different, I might have helped her out, but having two scouts find us a pce to rest would be better than one. We needed to find somewhere safe to hide for a while. Silva was the only one who had been seriously hurt, but everyone had used a lot of their resources to get here. All of us will need some rest.

  I pointed to the nearby mountain. "I think it would be best if we could find the opening to a cave. We should travel around it, away from the dungeon entrance, until we find somewhere to hide out."

  Lori nodded. "I had a simir thought, let's go then, Torien."

  The two of them went out ahead. We followed them at a distance, with everyone protecting me since my hands were full carrying Silva. She was a huge rabbit demi, so she wasn't exactly easy to carry, despite my size. It was often a bit amusing how strong the woman was, even though her beastfolk heritage were considered "prey animals." She used the speed rabbits are known for to great effect, and her lightning magic only adds to that feeling. This is the most physically vulnerable I think I've ever seen her before.

  We moved through the forest as quietly as we could. We hadn't really gotten an opportunity to tell everyone what happened, but we weren't safe enough to talk freely yet. Even if we spoke through the bond, we needed to watch for enemies. Our group could be quickly overwhelmed with both me and Silva out of commission at this point. Thankfully, it didn't take us long to find a suitable spot to hide.

  "This cave will work well," Raya said as she examined the walls. "I should be able to use my illusions to hide us here without much trouble."

  Morrigan split off to collect a pile of freshly cut grass to lie her on. A quick application of wind magic was able to cleanly cut plenty in short order. Mimi pulled out a bnket, and we were able to fashion her a quick bed. I helped settle Silva into the bnkets so she would be lying in a comfortable position when she woke up.

  "She'll probably wake in the next few hours, but it would be best for her to wait a while after she regains consciousness so she can recover all the way," Bel said. She turned to Mimi. "Can I have my normal clothes back? I'd like to return to my beastfolk form if we're not going to be flying for the rest of the day."

  I moved to the front of the cave to watch Raya put up the illusion that would protect us for a while. I hadn't wanted to spend this much time here, but it was unavoidable with Silva becoming injured. At the very least, we would have to wait until she was conscious, but in the meantime, we can scout out the next pilr while she's resting. I really hoped the next pilr would require less flying to get to after that st disaster.

  Soon, we all finished our quick tasks, and everyone gathered in the cave to rest and talk. Sibyl, Mimi, and I told everyone what had happened. The bomb exploding closer than intended, rapidly dropping to catch up with Sibyl, healing her in midair with Nelly's milk, and a short roundup of us finding everyone once we nded.

  Morrigan shook her head. "I didn't see what happened. I just felt my connection to Lilith snap, and when I looked over, I saw the cloud of peppersmoke, and the three of you had disappeared. We were already close to nding when the bomb went off. After we touched down, we got spread apart, and Silva didn't see what had happened either. We were fighting for a long time, but we eventually killed all of the small ones. Just when we thought we found a safe pce to rest, we got ambushed by that four-armed demon. I wasn't able to do much but try to defend Silva once she went down. I could tell she was still alive, but I couldn't do anything for her, and the monster was too tough to ignore. I needed my full attention on defensive magic."

  Raya sighed. "Lilith told me that she was going to rescue Sibyl, so I trusted her and focused on helping to clear a pce to nd. I thought she was going to be right behind us, but she didn't come right away. I didn't notice that she was cut off from the bond until ter, but I still assumed they would come back when they could. Things were so rough on the ground that we had to focus on that. I almost got surrounded by myself after my wings disappeared, but Bel came and rescued me. Then it was just the two of us looking for a pce to regroup."

  "I wasn't able to do much to help anyone," Torien said while scratching at the back of her head. "Nelly and I got separated as soon as we nded, and Kal'daeryn used the new artifact she got from the other dungeon to come over to us. I saw the others being pushed in opposite directions. The only ones I didn't see were Lilith, Mimi, and Sibyl after the peppersmoke bomb went off. I... I also thought they were gone." Torien's voice cracked at the end.

  I felt a little guilty over how things pyed out, but my emotions were nothing compared to the ones that were leaking from Lori. She was staring at the ground, unable to look any of us in the eye. "It was my fault. It was on my order that Sibyl threw the st bomb when it wasn't safe for her to do so. I... I almost got one of us killed. Maybe Silva would be in better shape too, if that hadn't happened. This is why I don't work with others..."

  Sibyl snapped at her, "Lorriene, it's not your fault. It's mine. You called for me to throw the bomb, but everything was chaotic and crazy, and I panicked. When I threw it, I didn't realize the banshee it collided with was so close to me. The peppersmoke bombs were my idea in the first pce. You created the triggers, but it was my peppersmoke that was filling all of them. I fucked it up, not you."

  "You're just—"

  "No, I'm not just trying to make you feel better. You met me after I transformed, but I'm even older than you are. I used to be an experienced adventurer. You have no responsibility to keep me safe or take responsibility for an order I executed poorly. Lorriene, I fucked up. Just drop it," Sibyl finished with a huff.

  Lori looked away with her ears back, but I could tell that Sibyl's words had alleviated the weight she carried a little. It didn't look like she was completely over it, but it was clear that no one was bming her for what happened but herself.

  "We should just take it as a learning experience," I said. "Not all of us are experienced with bombs, but despite the mishap, they still made a massive impact on our ability to get to the isnd safely. All of us might have fallen if there were more banshees attacking us before we could nd. The wings are more fragile than I thought, and we don't really have any good options if they get too close. Either way, we'll need to be more careful when using something simir in the future."

  "Is crossing with the wings still the best pn after I almost fell to my death? I still feel uncomfortable relying on them," Sibyl said.

  Kal'daeryn grumbled. "I feel the same way, but I don't think we have much of a choice in this pce."

  "We don't. We won't be able to finish the dungeon without them, and we'll still need them to escape afterwards," Morrigan said.

  "I think we should explore this isnd more before we try it again," Bel interjected. "We might be going about this the wrong way. Maybe there are hidden transports somewhere. We haven't actually confirmed that what we're doing is the right strategy. The dungeon is already locked into a dungeon break. It's possible that's the only reason the dungeon hasn't reacted more strongly to us flying over the water."

  "I think these pilrs are the equivalent of floors, so that would actually make sense. We've been operating under the assumption that we weren't breaking the dungeon's rules, and taking that as confirmation that we need flight to get through, but we don't actually know that for sure. Looking around is a good idea," Sibyl said.

  I frowned. "You aren't just saying that because you don't like relying on my spell, right?"

  Sibyl stared at the ceiling for a moment before she replied. "To be honest, it does help make the idea more appealing, but no. I think that it's fairly likely there is another way across the isnds. We should at least look a little. We didn't even explore the cave that we hid inside on the first isnd."

  Lori stood up. "I'll go scout, then."

  "Wait," Torien was quick to follow after her. "Let me go with you... I want to talk a little, and after what happened earlier, I don't want anyone to slip from the bond unaccounted for."

  Lori hesitated, and her mixed emotions rumbled under the surface of the bond. She was feeling emotional right now, and that was making it harder for her to control the hold that she was keeping on it. She wanted to hide that she wanted to be alone right now, but couldn't. Lori was also weak to the requests of her nieces, especially Torien, whom she had bonded with more closely than Morrigan.

  She sighed. "Alright, just you and me then." Lori turned to me. "We'll look around the area and see if there are any signs of something out there. Maybe one of you can poke around in here and see how deep this cave goes. See if there's anything worthwhile any deeper in."

  I nodded. "Okay, you two stay safe. We don't really have any way of telling the time in here, but try to check back within a few bells. We'll start to worry after a while."

  Her eyebrows rose as if she hadn't considered the possibility. "Right... of course. We won't go too far, don't worry."

  Torien talked with Mimi and refilled her arrow quiver before the two pantharians left together shortly after. Once they left, I shifted back to my regur form since we wouldn't need my wings for a while, but I kept my magic armor from [Arms of Light] with only a few minor adjustments. The spell was pretty convenient for someone like me who shapeshifts, but I might not be able to get away with it in the city. It was too bad I didn't have any way to store things the way Mimi could. The transition between the two forms didn't feel as jarring to me anymore, even though the difference in self-confidence I gained was still pretty noticeable. Having to take off my clothes or armor every time was a bit frustrating.

  I noticed Bel was watching me transform while blushing. I wasn't sure exactly why until she came over and sat on my p.

  I ughed. "Are you okay?"

  Bel continued to blush, but she leaned against me and rexed. "I just want you to hold me for a while... I think the way that I feel while I'm in my true form is rubbing off on me a little."

  I smiled. "That's good then. Let's watch over Silva together for a while."

  Bel rexed just a tiny bit more at my acceptance. "Okay, that's good..."

  Saine

  Hello! I'm doing a bit better now, but this week is gonna be light on chapters like I was saying. (I basically got no writing done while I was sick.) There will be no chapter of Lilith on Sunday, and no Umbral Feast on Friday. Next week I should be good to go on Monday for the next Umbral Feast, though.

  This chapter was pretty fun to write. I haven't had many opportunities to have characters get into arguments like this, and this was a fun pce to see Lori and Sibyl csh. Both of them look young now, but Sibyl is so radically different from her old self that it's easy to forget she was once an old retired wolf woman. I feel like Sibyl and Raya have gotten a lot of time to shine tely, which is nice, since they have been added to the group a lot ter than most of the others. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading!

  Check out my other story here: Umbral Feast

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