I get my goo child to pick up the prince. My child is quite smart, naturally, and grabs at his armor right at the base of his neck. I was honestly a little worried at, well, my kiddo not killing him. But it seems that the goo doesn't necessarily have to be harmful. So that's pretty cool. Goo kid also uses his hardened fingernails as the leverage.
The best part by far was Prince Leon's reaction; the screaming, the fighting, the running, and finally the sweet acceptance of his doomed fate. He had quite a lot to say about the 'grossness' of the goo. I let my kid drip sludge down his back, that sure got the prince to shut the hells up.
I casually approach the castle walls noticing the singes all along as well as the various crumbled part and the massive amount of rubble. Soldiers of each side are now helping each other; they did used to be a part of one unified royal army. Now pathetically fractured among princes. There is a large part deemed essential by the current residing King who is largely fearful that any of the various enemies this bastard of a kingdom has might take this heaven descended opportunity to chop his head off for what it is.
I cross through into the castle and see Captain Salem yet again doing much of the organization work. He is pointing and yelling, directing soldier and help alike to all of the greatly needed tasks. Putting out fires, tending to the wounded, most importantly figuring out who's making lunch.
I strut up to him, pointing my thumb backwards towards the captive prince, "Lookie here what I caught!"
He seems relieved to get to drop the leadership for a moment and lets out a hearty chuckle. Now that I'm close enough I see he's completely soaked in blood.
I add, "Is any of that yours?"
He shakes his head from side to side. "You already took out my competition. The only thing I had to worry about was getting sniped by a stray spell. Which yet again, was subdued... thanks to you." He flashes me a wide grin before pointing backwards towards a large building surrounded by the Queen's personal guard. "The moment the surrender was sounded, your prince holed up with Mommy again."
"Great, I sure was hoping to find him so soon." I walk past Captain Salem, that was probably his way of saying he needs to get back to work anyways. I throw a hand up in the air, waving it, "I'll see you after we get things squared away. Unless Prince Rythel decides otherwise. Ya never know."
Captain Salem responds, "You're a fine warrior. I hope we stay on the same side." Then he goes back to barking out orders.
I'm not quite sure what he means. I guess he's must have been snagged by the Queen. But why the Queen and I might fight, I haven't the faintest. No the more I think about it, the more I realize he must be referring to my loyalty to the prince. The tiny amount that there is. The single thread of trans rights holding it together. That must be it.
I power on through and entire the building I was directed to, the Queen's guards give me the firmest straightest salute I've seen yet before opening the double doors for me. I step through and turn back toward my kiddo, "You'll need to wait out here. Set the prince down and make friends with the guards."
My child chooses to toss the prince about 10 feet through the air before he slams to the ground, weighed down by his armor, tumbling over once before crashing to a stop. He's face is bruised, his nose bleeding, and he is tenderly holding wrist. Each of which I kindly heal. He tries to hold his glare back but can't help himself, I am the ruiner of all of his schemes after all. I help him stand up anyway. Goodness, I might be the most charitable person of all time.
Prince Leon immediately begins walking over to the table that's been setup, the Queen sitting at the head, Prince Rythel is sat to the right. Leon plops down at the chair on the left. Rythel motions for me to sit next to him and I comply.
My gaze cannot help but eventually make it's way to the Queen. Her beauty is yet again unfathomable. Her hair has been put up in a ceremonial headdress, weaving in and out of the large white arms that have been placed upon her crown.
It's meant to symbolize the kingdom 'coming together' or something. Just a bunch of royal bullshit in my opinion. But damn does she rock that weird ass thing.
Her dress is a pure white dress that has been laden with black flowers with yellow shadows. It makes her skin pop. And most importantly it makes the weird arms stretching out look at home and not so insanely out of place. I've never seen it before. The closer at look at each arm the more I see the desperation in how they're positioned. As if they're begging for help, reaching out for anything to grab onto to save them from their damned fate. A chill runs down my spine as I shake my head trying to brush off the feeling, but the Queen's eyes meet mine and I can tell she saw me staring.
The Queen amicably begins the discussion, "May we start with deciding the terms of surrender?"
Prince Leon frowns deeply but openly admits, "I promised your wizard my full support. I believe most of my mages were killed though. Yet I have plenty of troops who would happily rally behind you given that you allow me to stand at your side."
Prince Rythel seethes, "I don't want you by my side, brother. Or else I will look weak and feeble. I want you beneath me, barking like the dog you are."
The Queen glares at Prince Rythel but chooses to stay silent, letting the brothers—the future rulers of this unfortunate land–figure out their beef on their own. But she also gives slight glance towards me.
Well I'm certainly not shy and I don't want to sit here listening to this spoiled assholes argue all damned day. Like I know they would happily do. Time for an interjection and an early one.
"Why don't we officially install Prince Leon with duties of servitude. That way we can both get what we want. Make him your ambassador. Send him and a few troops to go parlay with the eldest."
The princes take a few moments to chew on my words before shrugging in a reluctant agreement. Well that was certainly easy.
I hop up and take my leave hearing the two begin to bicker about additional details I'm happy to not learn about. Right before exiting I turn and ask the only remaining detail of personal relevance, "When do I need to come back? I plan on going to meet with MM and Sir Kahlin, figuring they would be essential additions to the final battle." We fucking hope the final battle. I'm under the stark impression that this kingdom is going to get invaded by Mother Death or some fucker the moment Rythel or probably his eldest brother tries to put on the crown.
Prince Rythel just waves his hand, "Someone will be in touch."
I swing the doors open to a magical sight, my goo child is currently juggling some knights as the rest watch in a split between abject horror and relief of not being chosen. They turn to me in hopes that I stop the shenanigans but I am not a merciful wizard. By that I mean that I allow my kid to notice my presence and to quickly and clumsily put down the knights. One of which I'm required to catch with [Telekinesis] before I gently right him and set him on his feet.
I finally have a moment to think now that all the stressful shit is over.
I begin walking with my... boy? girl? genderless goo monster? My kid and I get to thinking I can't just keep calling this thing whatever, they need a name. I've never named something before, all the horses I cared for already had- wait. OH MY HELLS. I can't believe I forgot. I fucking named myself. So I'm already like a fucking expert on this shit already. My kid is so lucky I'm their mama.
I look up at the bubbling blob of towering goo, quite literally blotting the sun out from the sky. Hmph. Your name would be... Gooey? Blobby? This is not as easy as the one for myself now that I think about it. Maybe the difference is for my entire life I've cooked and stewed on what my new name would be—whether I was aware of that fact or not. Meanwhile, this little creature just hopped, skipped, and danced right into my life. Saving my life, that is. That's exactly when it hits me.
Bloob. It's perfect. I've never felt more confident in my life.
By now we've exited the castle and I [Fly] upwards toward, hopefully, Bloob and I say, "Hey bud. What do you think about being named? What about Bloob?"
The genderless goo creature happily claps their hands together—in what I'm assuming is a sign of acceptance—causing massive splashes of thankfully non-harmful muck to spray on the unsuspecting soldiers.
Well that definitely marks our time to leave, though now that I'm thinking about this, how in the world is Bloob going to keep up with me. Maybe those long legs of theirs can run really fast.
"Hey Bloob, We're going to go try to find MM, Sir Kahlin, and Ruby. They're my friends, who are also gonna help us fight. Buuuuut that requires some pretty fast flight. Is there anything you can do for that? Maybe like a transformation?"
Bloob shakes his head from side to side. Aw fuck, I was just really getting attached to the little buddy. Maybe there's something I can do? I definitely am not going to be able to [Telekinesis] the fucker everywhere I go. Not at that size.
I'm not letting this get the best of me, no, I'm damned determined now. I walk will Bloob out far enough to where there's nobody around save for a few farmers who are happily tending to their undamaged plots of land. I summon good ol' Ruby the Red Mage. She walks out of the much smaller portal with a big stretch and a yawn, "Uuuuugh, I just love being in such a magic rich land. You would not believe how suffocating it is down in the hells. Well no, you actually probably would. It's exactly the image 'Hell' conjures in the mind. Only more suffering. So how did things go? I can only assume my mentorship was the b-b-boooomb."
I really cannot get used to the energy this woman puts off. It just does not give old lady at all. Does she harness the energy of her students? Maybe it's what she gets up to in the Hells, draining the youthfulness out of babies or something.
"Yeah it went real well actually. I honestly made The Wizard of Ames look like a complete incompetent loser. It was pretty sweet. Especially after he tried grooming me. Oh yeah, he also fucking misgendered me. The main difficulty was some necrotic interference. Me thinks from Mother Death. That's what's up with my newfound kid." I thumb upwards directing Ruby the Red Mage's widening eyes towards the towering purple goo, "There were these 4 hulking like 10 feet tall things, they basically were infinitely regenerating. I tried all the different types of weakness undead could possibly have. Nothing. That's when I just said fuck it, locked em together, made a small star and let it eat all their energy. It worked, they weren't infinite. Just designed real well to act like it. But in the time it took me to do that, The Wizard of Ames was back on my ass, only this time with a vast difference in magical reservoir between us. So I gave Bloob life. Now I'm a mother."
Ruby the Red Mage just start laughing for like 30 seconds before she finally wipes her eyes and clutches her stomach, willing her body to stop. "Oh my fucking word, you're the best Jessica. I swear. You kill me. Yeah that would happen wouldn't it." She looks up at Bloob analyzing them. "I honestly can't make head or tails of the complexities of Mother Death's spells, that lady is a realm of her own when it comes to necrotic stuff. But the layers you threw up on top are more or less standard [Golem] spellwork. Great shit with the improv, you actually did a pretty good job. Unfortunately," she spells on magical gloves onto each hand, "I'm gonna need to rework this a good bit. Give some channels for transformation and work in... some wings?"
Now's as great of a time as any to rely some additional information about more 'permanent' spells. Spells like the entire existence of my purple gloob child. The river within each and every one of us living on this planet in fact is nearly identical to the structure of each and every spell, this can be observed much more readily with 'permanent' spells. This is how Ruby the Red Mage will now dive into Bloob and edit the very structure of their being. Giving them the capability of flight and transformation. It's extremely complex and arduous work but with enough practice and observation, it boils down to an exact science. However, the methods of changing a flowing river—in my humble opinion—are more like art. The be able to observe the flowing of a river and to know how and where the erosion will take it, how it might handle in a flood, or even a drought. These are all very important, especially so when like Bloob your life depends on it.
As to how to change a river so that it allows a [Golem]-like blobular undead such as my child, Gloob, to transform and even grow wings and take to the skies, I have no damn clue. I'm sure Ruby the Red Mage will enlighten me one day.
For now, Ruby the Red Mage has shrunk down Bloob into the size of an almond, "We still wanted to travel right? Dual tasking like a boooooss!!"
I feel a large surge of secondhand embarrassment that I can't quite understand but I immediately push past it, "Yeah let's go."
Ruby the Red Mage and I soar into the sky racing upwards into the atmosphere reducing the castle to a small gray blob. I scan around and pull through the depths of my river a trace of where MM might be. But I can't find anything. I reluctantly look to Ruby the Red Mage for guidance.
"Can't find 'em huh? Came to your 'ol teach to show you the ways. That damn MM probably out a fucking nasty ass [Cloaking] spell up. I was looking through your memories and saw the one she had around her tower. Impressive waste of talent right there. Like why train to hide when you can just learn how to kill anyone you'd need to hide from? I just can't understand it." She shakes her head disapprovingly, "I'm gonna give that girl an earful when we find them." She takes a big breathe in and out, clearing her head of the distraction, "Ok, for now, is there anyone there that you'd have a special connection with? I think that'll be our link."
Well I've known Sir Kahlin the longest, MM was my 'teacher' for a week, but my heart immediately tells me it's Ruby. I close my eyes and let traces of the environment's magic flow through me, like sifting for a sparkly gem in my river. I feel the anger and pain, the relief and celebration of the battle we were just at. I let it flow away deeper into my river. Finally, I feel something else; something reaching out towards me. It lights a fire in my heart and my eyes shoot open.
"I found her." I race without a care in the world following the string of hot fiery magic.