Book 2: Chapter 58

“Is this it?” Lindyss muttered to herself as she hovered above a suspiciously-evil looking building. It was designed like a castle, its walls made of obsidian. There were no windows, and a moat with strange creatures she had never seen before surrounded the building. The roof was covered by a blood-red tarp, and a massive fence with barbed wire at the top cut off the building from its peaceful surroundings. The black building looked completely out of place in the picturesque meadow it was located in. “I think this qualifies as a dungeon of doom and despair.”

A piercing noise caught Lindyss’ attention, and she turned her head towards the sound. A massive roc was flying in her direction, its wings cutting through the air, emitting shrieks. Lindyss gulped before licking her lips. “I could use a little snack before I begin,” she said as her eyes narrowed at the approaching beast. Her translucent purple wings beat once, launching her above the clouds and out of sight.

The roc screeched as it spread its wings and leaned back, angling its body to slow its flight as it approached the area where Lindyss had just occupied. It glided in a lazy circle, its head staring down at the castle below. Its eyes narrowed at the dwarves standing guard near the gates, and it beat its wings twice, positioning itself to dive. A whistling sound caught the roc’s attention, and it turned its head up towards the clouds. Its eyes widened as Lindyss plunged towards it, holding a massive spike made of purple mana in her hands. The roc twisted its body, dodging to the side. It managed to avoid a fatal strike to its vitals, but the spike in the cursed elf’s hands pierced its wing before her body collided against the roc’s.

Lindyss smiled as a translucent purple’s bat head extended from her aura and sank its fangs into the roc’s neck. The roc opened its mouth, but instead of the shriek Lindyss was expecting, it let out a string of curses. “What the hell!? Flying elves!? Quit biting me, you witch!”

Lindyss stiffened as her aura stopped draining the roc’s blood. Her mouth opened and closed before she furrowed her brow. “A talking roc?” she asked as she dispersed the mana spike in her hands. “The hell? How can you speak?”

“I’m a fairy, you numbnut!” The roc struggled to throw Lindyss off its back as it continued to plummet towards the ground.

Lindyss’ eyes narrowed as the bat aura sank its fangs deeper into the roc’s neck. “There’s only two things that really irritate me,” she said. “Getting woken up during a dream, and fairies. Become my dinner, please.”

“You’re a lunatic!” the roc shouted as it strained its neck, trying to pull away from the aura’s fangs. But all it did was help it dig deeper into its flesh. The roc screeched before rapidly shrinking, escaping from Lindyss’ grasp. Its feathers receded into its body while its wings took on a humanoid form. The voice coming out of the half-roc half-fairy sounded discombobulated as it asked, “Which colony are you from!? I swear on my name as Erin Koller that I’ll destroy it!”

“You can swear on anything you’d like,” Lindyss said, “but you won’t be able to destroy a single thing once I’m done with you.”

Blood gushed out of two holes in Erin’s neck as she retreated backwards in the air, flapping her wings to distance herself from Lindyss. She grimaced as she pressed her hand against her wound. “Why are you attacking me? Who sent you? Was it the dwarves?”

Lindyss shrugged as she swallowed, the blood in her aura disappearing. “Didn’t I tell you?” she asked. “Fairies irritate me, and lately, I’ve been in a very, very bad mood.”

Erin’s expression darkened. “Don’t you have any regard for life?” she asked. She gritted her teeth. “You’d kill a fairy just because you’re in a bad mood?”

“I’d kill a fairy even if I were in a good mood,” Lindyss said with a snort. “Rotten liars, every single one of you.” Her eyes narrowed at Erin’s silver hair. “Especially the queens.”

Erin wrinkled her nose. “Fell for one or two harmless pranks, have you?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips. The bleeding on her neck had stopped, the bite marks completely gone. “That doesn’t warrant such hatred.” She pointed her finger at Lindyss. “You’re an evil person.”

Lindyss nodded. “I never said I was good.” She flew forwards, a white halo appearing above her head and a white sword appearing in her hand.

“Polymorph!” Erin shouted. Lindyss’ eyes widened as her body became pink and shrank. The purple and white auras around her body disappeared as she turned into worm, plummeting towards the ground. Erin placed her hands on her hips and shouted down at the falling polymorphed elf, “Repent in your next life!”

Translucent purple wings sprouted out of the worm’s body, and an aura engulfed it, taking the shape of a bat. Erin raised an eyebrow as the bat flew towards her. “So you can still control your awakening as a worm,” she muttered. “You’re not bad.”

A massive fireball erupted from the bat’s mouth, flying towards Erin. The fairy yelped before diving downwards, narrowly avoiding the flames, but a series of thunderbolts struck her body, the lightning striking from a clear sky.

“Who the hell are you!?” Erin shouted as her limbs stopped tingling. She pointed at the bat aura and said, “Polymorph!”

The purple aura dispersed as Lindyss transformed into a rabbit. She clawed at the air as she plummeted towards the ground. A few seconds later, a pair of translucent wings shot out of her back, and she glared at the fairy floating above her.

“Polymorph!” Erin shouted again.

The aura wings on Lindyss body disappeared again as she was transformed into a goat. It took her the same amount of time to adapt to her new body and call out her wings.

Erin ground her teeth together. “Polymorph! I’ll turn you into an animal so complex you won’t know how to control your awakening!”

“Polymorph!”

“Polymorph!”

“Polymorph!”

“Polymorph!”

***

“If you look to your right, you’ll see our Dwarven Dungeons of Doom, Despair, and Decay,” E said. A set of armor sat beside him to catch him in case he fell out of his seat.

Vur took his eyes off the road and glanced towards the right. His brow furrowed. “Do bears fly on this continent?”

“No?” E asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh,” Vur said and blinked. “What about crocodiles?”

“What are you even thinking about?” E asked as he followed Vur’s gaze. He couldn’t see anything, but he thought he saw a dot in the sky.

“Look,” Vur said, taking his hand off the wheel and pointing. “There’s—”

Stella grabbed Vur’s ear and turned his head away from the dwarven dungeon. “Eyes on the road, please,” she said. “You almost ran someone over.”

Vur scratched his head. Maybe driving for too long caused hallucinations.