“I agree with that, but I would like to talk to Lizy about this first. She deserves a choice in this, but I will also explain to her that it is essential. How long will it take for us to get there, and is there anything that is closer that we can go to in the meantime? I asked, and the table lit up before me, and a map appeared on the top of it.
“Hey! This is pretty cool! Did you make this?” I asked, looking at Mex, but he shook his head.
“No, this is Keita’s rendition of a map that I had saved. It is pretty comprehensive, but it’s nearly impossible to find a map that has every island on it,” Mex explained as he gestured to the map displayed on the table like it was on a glass computer screen.
“Wow, I can’t wait to go see what she has been working on!” I laughed as I looked over the map that was spotted with islands.
“We are down in the corner where you are, and Gardaina is this massive land mass on the other side of the world. I wish that we could lift the map up and put it on a sphere, but we are basically as far as you can get from Gardaina, so we don’t need to worry about them. I think we head to Death’s summit, and from there is an archipelago of islands we can explore that I never got a chance to when I was on my way here. Dao wasn’t much for sightseeing,” Mex laughed.
“Let me talk to Lizy first. Point us at the archipelago, and we can go explore that. I would like to get used to my power first before confronting any Gods,” I said, and Mex grinned at me.
“You took down Thesta pretty easily,” Mex replied, and I put one hand in the air with a “so what” look on my face.
“That was a shell of what Thesta’s actual body is, you know that, right? I am guessing that Thesta had many copies of herself out there, and this is not the last time that we will run into her. If Fearcania is anything like that, she is not going to be someone I want to approach half-hearted,” I explained, and Nushi nodded along with me.
“Zack is right. The creature that I saw was a massive, thirty-foot-tall spider woman, and I am sure she could probably get bigger. I watched her crush and kill her own children as a lesson to make them not trust anyone. I think it is a good plan to prepare for an encounter like this,” Nushi added, and I smiled at her.
“Fine, I see no problem with hitting the islands up first! This is an uncharted area for me, so I am excited to see what the islands have in store!” Mex laughed, and Nixi groaned, pointing.
“You know there are reasons why we have no information about places, right? Demons were sent out to map all the islands, but the ones that have no information are because no one ever returned. Do you notice that there are large Xs on the shorelines on the outer islands? Those are shipwrecks that were spotted from a distance. There are other creatures in the ocean that are stronger than the Demons, and that is why they can’t get a firm grip on the world,” Nixi explained, but I didn’t think that sounded too bad.
“Well, that means that there won’t be any Demons there, so I think that it would be a good place for a vacation. I don’t mind if we have to clear a place off, but I think we are all due for some beach time,” I laughed, squeezing Lidy’s hand.
“That sounds like a good plan, and we could set up a big barbecue. I am sure that the islands will have something that we can use for meat, and we can stock up. Food is something that we can’t create that easily,” Lidy said, and Beeno nodded.
“We could make a competition and get all the girls in on it! I would like to get in on something like that!” Beeno said with her red tails swishing in excitement.
“Are none of you listening to what I just said?! The island is going to have natives on it that will probably try to kill us!” Nixi exclaimed, and I nodded.
“I assume the same, so we will have to meet the locals and come to some sort of understanding. We aren’t Demons that are coming to take the place over,” I said.
“Speak for yourself! I am still very much a Demon!” Nixi retorted, and I gave her a knowing look.
“You are like Mex’s daughter, aren’t you? You don’t actually look like that, do you?” I asked, letting go of Lidy’s hand to walk around the table to Nixi.
“What does that have anything to do with anything?” Nixi exclaimed as the girls backed away from her with smiles.
“I suggest that everyone clears the room. I need to have a conversation with Nixi. Close the room off on your way out, Mex,” I said and then looked back to Lidy. “I will meet you in Keita’s shop after I am done here.”
“Wait! What is going on here?!” Nixi exclaimed as everyone left the area.
I smiled at the old woman's panicked look, taking pleasure in it, considering the headaches Nixi had caused me. Metal shutters slid up, sealing the room off from all sound, just leaving the two of us in the room.
“Show me what you look like,” I said, and Nixi flinched back.
“Why do you want to see it so bad?!” Nixi asked, looking uncertain.
“Do you really not know? Do you want to be a Demon, or do you want to be something different? I mean, I can leave you the way you are, but if you want to change, it will be better for both of us if you return to your original body, right” I asked, and Nixi’s eyes almost fell out of her head.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l