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GLOSSARY This links to a post on the free section of my Patreon.
Note: "Book 1" is chapters 1-59, "Book 2" is chapters 60-133, "Book 3", is 134-193, "Book 4" is CH 194-(ongoing)

Back on the far coast of Kuiccihan...

Moriko's moment of nearly panicked fear at the knowledge that the dungeon was under attack quickly started to boil into outrage. These selfish, twisted cultists were carrying a two-thousand-year-old grudge forward in order to try to murder her husband and wife. And there was nothing she could do from here, which made her even angrier. She couldn't protect the two people she had dedicated herself to, and who had turned her life upside down so dramatically.

She ached to lash out, but she was a disciple of Sakiya. Moriko would not let her passions consume her, she would contain this fury until the time was right. A growl escaped her gritted teeth as she fought for control over her emotions, the turmoil within was causing her chi to manifest as wind and sparks of lighting, and her shadow writhed beneath her.

It was agony, and she felt stretched and almost split in the war between needing to act and needing to maintain her self-control.

Burning rage converted to cold fury in a sudden snap as she mastered herself, and that conquest manifested externally as a snarling aura of black lightning. The snapping, aggressive energy caused even Kazue's avatar to jump back in surprise. Moriko took a deep breath and completed the containment of her emotions, then released her overflowing energy into the ground with a small, concussive bolt of black lightning.

From the slightly detached state born of ice-cold rage, Moriko examined the painful burn marks on her skin. She'd had a feeling for a while that shadow and lightning could be combined somehow, but this new manifestation was wild and beyond her control yet. Her injuries followed the pattern of flesh struck by lightning, but the burn pattern was ash gray instead of the normal red-to-black pattern.

"Moriko, are you okay?" Kazue gasped out as she rushed back.

"I think so," Moriko replied, "but I should take care of this." She whispered a soft prayer to her goddess and a gentle warmth flowed through her flesh, erasing the burn marks.

The kitsune's tails lashed back and forth as she examined Moriko carefully for any more injuries, her fingers light and almost hesitant as they touched the half-elf's skin. "Are you sure? I haven't seen anything like that before."

"Mm," Moriko said thoughtfully, "I believe I have partially mastered something difficult. But now that my mind is clear, I have realized that there are a couple of things we can do to help." While the icy anger flowing through her was helping her think more clearly, the aura of black lightning itself had shifted her physical perceptions a little as well. For that moment, the shadows had hidden nothing from her.

Without warning she pivoted and launched a wind-strike at a patch of darkness in the lee of a building. The elven man who jumped out of concealment to dodge the attack looked surprised but he also hastily raised his hands. "Easy friends, um, Lady Yuriko sends her regards."

Kazue had been on edge already and had summoned her staff in reaction the moment Moriko started to move aggressively. A point of prismatic energy shimmered on its tip as she kept it leveled at the stranger. "Who are you?"

"You may call me Elyon. I am an agent of Lady Yuriko's. I've simply been sent along to keep an eye on the two of you as a precaution." He shrugged with an attempt at a disarming smile. "She didn't expect any actual trouble to befall you, but she's been taking care of the young royals for a while, she prefers to not take chances. Now, um, can we lower the tension? We are attracting more than our share of attention."

Moriko was not feeling in a trusting mood, but if he spoke true then she had a use for him. Hmm. "I assume you have a way to send a message then. Tell her to be on alert for other messages." That was as oblique as she could manage while still passing on something useful. Mordecai and Kazue's core voices were rolling through the back of her mind, and there was a plan. If this was truly an agent, it would prepare Lady Yuriko to respond to messages from the dungeon faster. "Oh, and ask for a replacement to arrive with someone to introduce them properly. No offense, but you now have a bad association in my mind, a fresh face would be better. We shall be staying in town for a few more days than previously planned." Kazue was giving her some side eye, but now didn't seem to be the time to explain herself. The kitsune did, however, lower her staff and withdrew the readied spell.

Elyon raised a brow but tilted his head in a slight nod of ascent. "As you wish then. I'll pass that on, but I will be staying in the area until my replacement arrives." He smiled and said, "No offense, but she's scarier than you are. By a lot."

"Fair," Moriko replied and then simply waited until the man had departed. As soon she was fairly certain they were clear, she turned to Kazue. "I don't feel like relying on a stranger's word, let's head to the temple of Yu-kiang." The leviathan's temple was the largest in an ocean port town like this.

"Okay," Kazue said slowly as she collapsed her staff back into its disk form, "um, anything you want to talk about first?"

Moriko shook her head. "No. I'm sorry love, I need to act right now, then we can go back to our room and I can let go and we can talk. I know you probably need more support right now too, but I'm holding on tightly right now. But there is a plan at least."

"Oh," Kazue replied softly, "I think I get it. Well, let's go then and get this over with."

They walked to the temple at a brisk pace and Moriko pressed out a small amount of her will, keeping their path clear of most other pedestrians. Once they were there, Moriko headed directly for the nearest clergy member. "I am Lady Moriko and this is Lady Kazue, both of the Azeria Mountain Dungeon. I need to speak to the highest rank person available who can arrange for an emergency message to be sent." She knew Mordecai's plans, but a fourth or fifth message from a different route wouldn't hurt.

The young man blinked at her in surprise as he tried to recover from her sudden introduction. "I see. And to whom would this message be sent?" The priest looked somewhat dubious, and she couldn't exactly blame him.

"To Master Theodoric of the Sakiya monastery in Ekuilance," Moriko replied with a smile, "who I trained under until earlier this year."

"Oh!" That certainly got his attention. Sending a message to another temple had a certain amount of inherent credibility. Abusing the systems in place could get one censured or banned, and losing access to divine services was something few people would be willing to risk. "Then follow me please."

He led them into the back rooms of the church and to an office where a gray-haired woman with steely blue eyes was studying a book. "Priestess?" the younger priest asked, "if you have a moment, these women have an emergency message to send to the Ekuilance Sakiya Monastery."

The woman looked up with a nod and placed the book to the side after marking her place. "I trust this is important then. Please, take a seat."

"We'll need some privacy," Moriko said and closed the door when the junior had left. "Love, could you add a layer?"

Kazue nodded and turned her attention to communing with the liminal spirit she was hosting. The spell the kitsune then cast wasn't quite a standard privacy spell, but any sort of discontinuity would help protect against mundane or magical eavesdropping. When she was done, the two of them took the offered seats while the priestess watched on patiently.

"I am sorry for skimping on protocols, but lives may truly be in the balance. I am Lady Moriko, contractor of the Azeria Mountain Dungeon and spouse to Lord Mordecai and Lady Kazue, the cores and sovereigns of the dungeon. I am also a disciple and priestess of Lady Sakiya. This is the Lady Kazue, avatar of the core of the same name." Being so formal felt unnatural to her, but she desperately needed to be clearly understood and taken seriously. "I have a direct connection with the cores, and I need to ask Master Theodoric to pass on that the dungeon requires aid. We need troops and transports for taking charge of over two hundred prisoners, plus possible back up to ensure that the invading forces are defeated. There are messages traveling by other routes, but I want to make sure that Kuiccihan's part in this plan is not lost."

The priestess raised a brow at the message, and then turned to Kazue. "Just to verify, she speaks on your behalf in this?"

"Yes," Kazue replied, "my connection to my core is limited outside of our territory, I can only verify the distress that my other self felt and that the distress has faded. This sounds like something our husband would come up with, and I trust that my wife is passing on the message correctly."

"Very well, I can send a message directly to Master Theodoric, though it will take a bit to prepare the spell as this clearly wants maximum privacy. However, I would like to ask for some evidence of your identity. While I see no reason that anyone would falsely send such a message, it seems best to be sure."

Moriko nodded and considered her available prayers. She chose a minor spell of freedom that would briefly guarantee that the blessed person could move unimpeded by terrain or attempts to hinder them and cast it upon the priestess. Sakiya was far from the only deity who could provide access to that blessing, but it spoke of an aspect of the deity who granted it. And it was unlikely that a priestess would claim to follow a god other than their own.

The other priestess closed her eyes as she accepted the blessing and examined its effects upon her. "Yes, that will do," she said when she opened them again. "I will start shortly. I will also offer my prayers on behalf of you and yours."

"Thank you," Moriko replied with relief. The cost of such transactions was generally covered by the temples and monasteries themselves when the communication was directly between them and not to a secular person, but she'd have gladly paid it herself if it had been needed.

The two of them rose and bowed before leaving the priestess to her work. When they stepped out of the temple, they found a handful of guards led by a stern-looking man who frowned at them. "Were you the two involved in the commotion earlier?"

She sighed in frustration but controlled her tone when she replied, "Yes. My wife and I received some distressing news right before I realized we were being followed. If the man is who he said he was, then it was a small misunderstanding. If he was not, then I doubt he is still in town. I am not in a good mood right now, can we drop this?" Perhaps she was a bit too controlled, her words were sharply clipped.

Kazue laid a hand gently on Moriko's arm before stepping forward to take over. "I am sorry, my wife has been taking the burden of handling things and she is rather stressed right now. We've just passed on a message and there is nothing else we need to do right now, but we are also not at our best. We have a room nearby and will be extending our stay for a few days, can we arrange to talk with you tomorrow? You can follow us to the inn if you wish to verify our lodging situation."

Moriko didn't even want to do that much right now but kept herself from saying anything. Her wife was right in how they should proceed and had a softer touch for dealing with people in general. She let Kazue handle everything with the guards right now and just followed along. By the time that they had reached the inn the lead guardsman looked much more relaxed and even a touch cheerful. She had a briefly sour thought about which of Kazue's charms the man was most swayed by, then shook the thought away as unworthy of everyone here. It did bring a small amusement to her; since when had the fiercely unattached Moriko felt so concerned about who might find one of her partners attractive? Oh, how the mighty had fallen.

When they finally were alone in their room, Moriko could relax, letting that tight control drain away. Fear and anger were both worn out, leaving her exhausted and shaking, and the two of them cuddled on the bed for several minutes in silence, each just soaking in the comforting presence of the other. When she had recovered somewhat, Moriko began telling Kazue all the plans of the cores. Her wife cried at parts of the plan; even if they wouldn't stay harmed she really didn't want to have to 'kill' the invaders. She understood the necessity, she just didn't like it.

They agreed to ignore Mordecai's suggestion to continue their journey for now. Until this was resolved they would be too worried to pay much attention to anything, and traveling while distracted like that could be dangerous for multiple reasons. Not that they'd be in much of a mood for sightseeing either, but maybe after they talked with the guards tomorrow, they could find someplace for Moriko to practice her new technique at and maybe vent a little frustrated energy. Finding out that the stupid noble boy was involved had not improved her mood in the least.

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