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[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Rosalie's decision - Part IV

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

‘Isn't it reckless to let the construction of your ships become known so easily?’ asked Belli. ‘I mean, then the enemy can actually just get in and take over the whole thing, can't they?’ ‘They can't take it. Far too big and far too many people on board. All you can do is destroy it, and you'll have to fly in in a nutshell so they don't see you. The defence systems are designed for larger ships. When they were planning the construction, they just assumed that nobody would be crazy enough to try to destroy that thing on their own without weapons or a ship.’ ‘Good for us, we don't want to destroy it, we just want to find Orania.’ Finding the dungeons turned out to be pretty easy. They were clichédly far down in the belly of the ship, near the engines. It was more difficult to find a way in, preferably unseen. ‘Smaller ships are transported here on the plain.’ Belli pointed to the hangar plain, which was used to transport smaller armed ships. ‘Because the ship is so big and confusing, some of these small ships always accompany it. But they have to be powered by something, don't they?’ ‘Yes, fuel,’ said Hermes. ‘And if one of the smaller ships is replaced because it has run out of fuel, we simply walk through the airlock into the interior. As you said, nobody destroys one of these things on their own and a large airlock like this is certainly only monitored for ships, not people.’ ‘That's not a bad idea, but it's quite a long way from the hangars to the dungeons.’ ‘But it's mostly through warehouses and engine rooms. They're not busy places and there should be plenty of places to hide. And if we're lucky, Bargoss feels so safe in his monster ship that he won't have it too heavily guarded.’ Hermes still didn't feel one hundred per cent comfortable with the idea, but Belli's plan was at least better than none. The most dangerous place was probably the airlock, as there was practically nowhere to hide. As for the dungeons, they could only hope that they could be opened with an opening spell or that they might be able to get hold of the keys. Bargoss had certainly protected his ship against teleportation, but once they were in space, they could simply make a run for it. In itself, it all sounded very promising. Almost too easy. However, Hermes and Belli soon realised that it wasn't going to be exactly that.

Chapter 24 is coming on Saturday 28 September 2024 at 8 pm

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Rosalie's decision - Part III

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

Somehow that sounded mean. As if he didn't want to help her. That wasn't true, but Hermes also understood Rosalie's point. Not the stubbornness with which she insisted on locking them all up here, but she was right that they couldn't just turn up on Bargoss's spaceship, put Orania in their jacket pocket and leave. They would need a rough plan, including what to do if they were caught. At the same time, Hermes was aware that Orania was in danger and that her rescue could not be postponed. But he was not in a position to communicate this dichotomy properly. ‘Tell me, are you still listening to me?’ Hermes was rudely torn from the terrible trench inside him when Belli snapped her fingers in front of his face. ‘You listen to me fiercely.’ she grumbled, almost offended. ‘You're not listening to me!’ Hermes suddenly snapped angrily. ‘I have nothing against your bloody plan, but you must realise that you can't just march up there and politely ask Bargoss to release your little sister!’ ‘You sound like Rosalie already.’ ‘I don't sound like Rosalie at all! She would just stubbornly shout ‘No, no’ and not really listen. Otherwise she'd realise that she's not following any kind of logic.’ ‘Yes, your behaviour right now.’ It was exasperating. Hermes didn't really want to argue with Belli, but her simple refusal to listen to logical reasoning simply annoyed him. Especially because she was copying Rosalie's behaviour exactly and doing exactly what she was accusing him of. ‘Listen, Belli.’ he tried again calmly. ‘Everyone here realises that saving Orania is the only sensible thing we can do right now. Probably even Rosalie, even if, for whatever reason, she's fighting against this realisation. The only problem is that we don't even know whether Orania is on the spaceship with Bargoss. Perhaps, contrary to expectations, he hasn't abducted her after all. He probably did, but all our assumptions are based on theories for which we have no evidence. The only thing we know is that a spaceship is hovering over Forrest in space. We don't even know if it's really coming from Megatron. If we want to get there, and I admit that makes the most sense, we have to figure out how. Otherwise we can forget the whole thing.’ Hermes was relieved that Belli had let him finish and explain himself. His lecture seemed to have been at least a barrier to her excitement and seemed to have reactivated her thinking. ‘Well, we'll go up there, find Orania, free her and get out again.’ ‘And how are you going to get onto the spaceship unseen?’ ‘How are megatronic battleships constructed? Are they all the same, or are they all different?’ Hermes narrowed his eyes. He wasn't familiar with megatronic war technology, but… ‘Rosalie just wants us to stay here, doesn't she? We weren't forbidden to do a little research.’ ‘Where do you want to do your research?’ ‘Library, archives, anywhere we can find something. With a bit of luck we'll find some facts and descriptions, with a lot of luck a plan of the construction of megatronic battleships. As a rule, these things are always built in the same or a similar way.’ They were very lucky. Apparently the gods had already plundered the part of the archive where documents and maps on warfare in other galaxies were stored. Belli had nevertheless insisted on searching roughly once more. And indeed, shortly afterwards she had unearthed an inconspicuous map stuck between two boxes. The writing was so small that it was practically illegible and the illustrations were also very difficult to recognise, but the plan showed the structure of larger megatronic battleships from various perspectives. It was divided into several levels to make it easy to visualise all the control centres, rooms and guns.

Part IV:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Rosalie's decision - Part II

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

Or was it? All of a sudden, a sense of urgency spread through Belli. She realised that haste was a disadvantage in this situation, but all at once she became aware of the danger her sister was in. They could only speculate about Bargoss's motives. They didn't know what his plan was, whether he had changed it or what he intended to do with Orania. There was a possibility that he killed Orania after all, for a reason that perhaps could only be understood if you knew his entire plan. ‘Change of subject,’ Belli interrupted Rosalie. ‘Orania.’ ‘What Orania?’, Rosalie nagged, clearly not happy about the interruption. ‘Well, we have to save her. Now.’ ‘Tell me, are you kidding me? Have you ever opened your ears when we've explained something to you? How are you going to do that?’ Belli realised that interrupting Rosalie had not been a good idea, but the sudden urgency left her no time to quibble. ‘We don't know what Bargoss is planning. We don't know why he kidnapped Orania, at least not for sure, and what he plans to do with her. He could kill her too!’ Rosalie snorted. ‘And why would he do that?’ ‘I admit, with what we know, there's no real logical reason for it. But we don't know everything. Maybe Bargoss wants to isolate each of us one by one and then kill us. He could then gradually erase the whole Puzzle of Light. We don't know if that's really the case, but we've underestimated the danger Orania is in at the moment. The bottom line is: we should concentrate on saving her first and foremost. Together, we can then take more effective action against Bargoss and Sialia.’ ‘Well, my dear Belli, you've forgotten that you're not supposed to take action against them.’ Belli was about to reply, but Rosalie cut her off. ‘No more discussions! You stay here, full stop!’ ‘But Orania…’ ‘I understand your point, Belli. But rushing up to that spaceship up there can't be your solution! Without a sensible plan, you're serving yourself up to Bargoss on a silver platter. And then he won't hesitate to seize the opportunity and kill you. A good plan needs time, and during that time you'll be waiting here!’ Belli would have liked to continue the discussion, even if it was nonsensical. She couldn't resign herself to doing nothing. But the gods left them alone with Rosalie's decision.

Hermes felt uncomfortable. After Rosalie had more or less grounded them for the third time, their mood had soured. Not even Rainbow knew how they could escape the supervision of the gods again. And what were they supposed to do? Said gods had deliberately not told them anything about the current situation in Paradise, so they didn't know where to go to do anything. Belli was right that continuing to search for Orania was the only sensible idea, but none of them could get away from Chamomile without Rosalie's consent. Rosalie and Green Poud had more than made sure of that. However, none of this stopped Belli from sticking to her decision to rescue Orania from Bargoss's clutches immediately. However, she also seemed to realise that she would not be able to do this on her own. And she had started her recruitment attempts with Hermes of all people.

Part III:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Rosalie's decision - Part I

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

The new clothes felt good. It was a little too loose and the cloak had weighed unbearably heavily on her shoulders at first, but Belli had quickly got used to it. She wasn't sure if it was really the fabric that weighed so much and not the mixture of fear and despair that kept working to bring her to her knees. She was tired of this fight. She wanted nothing more than to just lie down and get some rest. To sleep. When was the last time she had slept? Belli skilfully avoided the mirror on the wall because she was aware that a pale and half-dead image of herself would have been staring back at her, with circles under her eyes up to her upper lip. Metaphorically, of course, but she still didn't want to see how much it was eating away at her. It would probably have made her feel even more miserable. They had found the clothes in one of the abandoned houses, in one of the villages that Bargoss's mercenaries had devastated. It seemed wrong to Belli to help herself to someone else's things, but there was no one left to miss them anyway. Nevertheless, their stay in the Foggy Moor had not lasted long. Green Poud had found them when they had just left the village and wanted to hide somewhere in the forest. The usually good-natured god was anything but in a good mood when he dragged them back to Chamomile with some kind of spell. But Green Poud was nothing compared to Rosalie. She had picked up the rest of them on Forrest and had probably already given them hell there. ‘So, an explanation, please,’ the goddess demanded after she had gathered everyone except Moonshine on Chamomile. Belli was astonished. She had expected the goddess to hit the roof or literally explode with rage, but she remained surprisingly calm. ‘Moonshine should have informed you…’ Rainbow suddenly said very meekly. ‘About the fact that someone was hanging around here who could imitate Sialia very credibly and that you got her to let you slip away on Daylight, yes. But I'd like to know why you defied what you were explicitly told again.’ ‘Well, because Sialia was on Rosstal and we wanted to help Amadeus protect his village.’ ‘I see, and that's why you just wander over there and see what she's up to?’ Rosalie was far more intimidating when she was ‘relaxed’ than when she was out of control. ‘No, we had a plan!’ ‘And what was that?’ ‘We created a doppelganger of Orania and pretended we were going to banish her again. And she fell for it.’ Rosalie raised an unimpressed eyebrow and Green Poud reached for his head. ‘And you think she'd just accept that? All you did was provoke her!’ ‘We saved Amadeus's village! And we might know where Orania is. Bargoss has sent us his messages from a ship up in space. He's there and Orania is almost certainly there too!’ ‘That's just a guess. We don't even know for sure whether Bargoss has really abducted Orania and whether she is still alive. And as for Amadeus's village: you have to accept collateral damage if you can prevent something worse. And Sialia's wrath is definitely worse.’ ‘Collateral damage!?’ Amadeus interjected. ‘You're not serious!’ ‘Amadeus, shut up!’ Rosalie hissed at him. She started talking again, but Belli wasn't listening to her at all And whether she is still alive. No, it couldn't be. It couldn't be. If Bargoss had wanted to kill Orania, why had he kidnapped her in the first place or, Belli didn't even want to think about it, hidden her body? Why had he gone to all that trouble? So that they would think Orania was still alive and look for her? But what added value would that have for him? Was he trying to lure them onto his ship? No, that would not have brought him any advantage. One of them perhaps, but all of them was not a good idea even without Orania, he had to realise that, after all he did not know that the gods would interfere.

Part II:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Hunted again - Part IV

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

Rainbow had moved some levers and something appeared on a dusty number field. Amadeus made the mistake of blowing away the dust on the field, which he immediately regretted, coughing, but now they could read the numbers on the small strip. ‘What's that?’ asked Sea. ‘A capsule? An egg cell?’ ‘What does it even show?’ Jana intervened. ‘The surface of the recognised object.’ The dragon explained. ‘And in what unit? Square centimetres?’ ‘No, square metres.’ ‘Oh… oh! That's big.’ ‘Yep.’ Rainbow and the dragon looked at each other. ‘Very big.’ Sea could visualise roughly the size of the spaceship. Not a lorry, not even a private jet. A battleship was hovering above them in space.

Chapter 23 is coming on Saturday 21 September 2024 at 8 pm

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Hunted again - Part III

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

The air was humid and filled with the strange sounds of animals unknown to Sea. This was more or less how she had imagined the rainforests on Earth to be. Except that they were, at least supposedly, rather warm in most cases. This was not the case for Forrest. It did seem warmer, but that was probably only due to the high humidity. It also smelled different. The air was saturated with strange animal odours, which together produced a smell reminiscent of musk oxen. Only not as pungent, fortunately. They walked a good distance, which felt like an eternity to Sea, but in reality probably took no longer than 30 minutes. Which could be a very long time, considering how exhausting the march through the impassable forest, which was definitely not meant for two-legged creatures, was. After the same half hour, they reached a small, inconspicuous building. It was almost completely covered in fallen leaves and Sea was amazed that the roof of the box didn't collapse under the weight. But the small station seemed stable and built to last. Its interior showed that it had been defying the conditions, which were not exactly favourable for a building, for quite some time. Sea didn't know much about space travel, but even she understood that the technology inside the box was outdated. It was cramped and dark and the whole room was full of control panels, which in turn were littered with switches and a few small lights. Not a single one was flashing. ‘And you can use it to multiply the traffic in space?’ Sea asked sceptically. The system gave the impression that it couldn't even send signals up to the treetops. If it could transmit or receive anything at all, because it seemed very dead. ‘It's no longer active,’ Rainbow explained. ‘It used to be used for long-distance traffic control, but when the transmission strength of the stations on Shakespie and Rosstal covered its area, it was no longer needed. The technology, however, was built for many more years of operation, even if it is now somewhat outdated.’ ‘Outdated is good,’ muttered Amadeus. ‘It's good enough for us.’ ‘Is there a reason why we didn't look for a modern station directly on Rosstal? With better technology and more space.’ ‘Nobody knows this one.’ Amadeus wanted to say something else, but Rainbow turned away from him and pulled a lever in a box to the left of the door. There was a sound like a large spotlight being switched on and a few small fluorescent tubes on the ceiling lit up, shaking. The lights on the desks began to glow and flash. ‘I didn't realise that our galaxies are sometimes so similar,’ Jana murmured, while Rainbow set off in search of the right desk. ‘Do you have anything like that?’ Sea asked curiously. ‘In the Milky Way?’ ‘Yes, the fluorescent tubes, the consoles. Not identical, but similar. I wonder who came up with the idea first.’ ‘And how it could happen that they are so similar if there was no exchange. And there certainly wasn't. Tell me, Rainbow, is there anything you don't know or can't do?’ ‘Huh?’ Rainbow asked from the far corner of the box. ‘Seriously, is there ever a situation where you don't have a plan, or something you don't know about?’ ‘Literary history.’ ‘Seriously?’ ‘Yes.’ Sea turned away with a snort and looked around. Which didn't take long, as the less-than-cool light revealed nothing new. It smelled of old dust and the sounds from outside could no longer be heard. The little thing had thick walls. A real bunker. ‘I've got it!’ Rainbow shouted from the left wall. Sea and Jana came trotting up to him and Amadeus. The dragon changed its position from an old steel cabinet, on which he had been crouching in the semi-darkness like the reincarnation of every child's nightmare, to the neighbouring desk without moving a lever, which was remarkable given their numbers.

Part IV:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Hunted again - Part II

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

‘What was that?’ the dragon heard Amadeus ask behind him. ‘I actually assumed you knew that,’ Rainbow said dryly. ‘Uh, and how?’ ‘Erm, because you were born and raised on Rosstal, perhaps?’ Amadeus sighed. ‘No, there are no murdering killer bushes on Rosstal. At least not here. And I know the forest around the village. There's definitely no dangerous greenery here, not even poisonous plants.’ They all realised what that meant. Or rather: who was behind it. ‘And what do we do now?’ Hermes asked meekly after the familiar silence had begun to spread again. ‘We should take Belli away from here,’ said Rainbow. ‘No matter where Sialia is now, she has prepared at least one trap here too. Apparently she was expecting us to turn up and we shouldn't rely on this being her only attempt to kill you, Belli. In short, you need to get out of here, because there are probably more traps.’ ‘And where exactly should I go?’ asked Belli, who had already stood up again and was eyeing her wet clothes. ‘Foggy Moor?’ the dragon suggested. ‘Chamomile is far too obvious and if Bargoss or Sialia try to come after us, you shouldn't be on Forrest with us. On Daylight, Moonshine would snatch you right back and I don't think any of us want to listen to that lecture any sooner than necessary. Shakespie would actually have been my first choice, which is exactly why it's far too obvious. That leaves the Foggy Moor.’ ‘But should I really go there alone?’ ‘No, someone has to go with you.’ The dragon let his gaze wander over those gathered, but he didn't have to think about it for long. Hermes took the decision out of his claws. ‘I'm coming with you!’ he shouted resolutely. No one was probably particularly surprised. The dragon wasn't particularly interested in interpersonal relationships, but he had to admit that he was curious to see what else developed between the two of them. ‘Good,’ Rainbow said. ‘Then you to the Foggy Moor and the rest of us to Forrest. And find Belli some dry clothes, nobody really needs a cold right now.’

Sea realised for the first time that she had never been to Forrest before. Her world had mainly been the Foggy Moor. She had only imagined the other planets, but mainly Daylight, Shakespie and Rosstal, and that Chamomile before Draragon had only been a desolate moonscape was common knowledge. Not exciting enough for the mind of a little girl who wanted to imagine a colourful world full of life and not rugged, grey mountains and dark craters. But Forrest had fallen completely behind. It had probably just been too small and unknown to find a place in her young mind. It wasn't particularly spectacular either. In fact, the name said it all: Forrest was a forest. Completely. The whole planet. And it wasn't the tall trees of the Foggy Moor or Rosstal, where life overflowed between the gigantic trunks. The trees on Forrest were small, with branches reaching down to the ground. The whole planet was small, uninhabited, impassable and extremely unspectacular. No wonder there were no adventurous stories about it. Forrest was simply there and that was the end of it. Sea soon regretted letting go of Rainbow's sleeve after they arrived, as she found it difficult to follow the rest through the thicket. Rainbow didn't know the exact location of the station, so they had to find it. She would never again refer to the Foggy Moor as a forest with dense ground cover, because Forrest was a whole new level of densely overgrown. She couldn't even tell exactly what was actually sprouting from the seemingly extremely fertile and apparently always moist soil. In addition to the eerily dense trees with their low-hanging branches, there were countless other young plants sprouting their woody trunks from the dark brown, almost black earth. Their strangely hooked tips were everywhere and regularly tripped them all up, except for the dragon of course. There was also no sign of the bushes typical for Paradise. Instead, strange, indefinable things were pushing up the leaves, which were surprisingly large for such small trees and probably chronically wet. In some places, they piled up into heaps that seemed to climb up the narrow trunks.

Part III:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Hunted again - Part I

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

The joy was great when Sialia was gone. But it slowly waned as they all gradually realised that the shadow creature most certainly did not find this trick amusing. Sea, who didn't seem to have decided yet how to judge their action in retrospect, let Orania's illusion disappear again. The dragon thought he saw a slight hint of sadness on Belli's face. ‘And now?’ she asked. ‘Well… now we find Orania and do the same thing again,’ Rainbow replied. Once again there was a hushed silence. They all realised that they had no clue where Orania might be. Although they were all convinced that Bargoss had kidnapped her, they still didn't know where he was holding her. None of them had ever been to Megatron. They couldn't just travel there and search, apart from the fact that this would be a hopeless endeavour anyway. ‘We'd have to find out where Bargoss is somehow,’ Rainbow finally said. ‘And why?’ asked Jana. ‘Because he's surely keeping her close to him, isn't he? After all, he must assume that we're looking for her. If I were him, I'd always keep her close to me so that I can make sure she doesn't run off or get rescued.’ At least it was a start. If only they knew where Bargoss was. ‘He's been sending messages to us,’ the dragon mused. ‘So he can't be light years away. Or at least not many. That he's in Megatron is out of the question, it's too far away.’ ‘So he must be on a spaceship or something similar,’ Rainbow continued. ‘If we assume that Orania is with him, which would fit, since it's much easier to kidnap her on a spaceship than in another galaxy, she would also have to be on the spaceship. So it would have to be big enough for a prisoner to live there for several days. Maybe even with guards if he doesn't want to look after Orania himself all day.’ ‘Is there a way to locate large flying objects in the vicinity?’ ‘Yes, that's possible. It should be possible from Forrest, which is very far away. There is such a station there. But if Bargoss's spaceship is right on the other side of the galaxy, we wouldn't see it either.’ ‘He sent a message to Chamomile and that's a neighbour of Forrest. It must have been there at least until last night.’ ‘So to Forrest?’ ‘Prob… head down!’ Belli hadn't been known for her brilliant reflexes until now, but this time she reacted with presence of mind. She seemed to realise that the attack was coming from behind, as she fortunately did not fall backwards, but forwards onto her stomach. The sharp branch pierced the air where her head had just been. The head again. This kind of attack looked familiar to the dragon. Belli pressed her hands into the wet snow and slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position until she was sitting upright between the bushes. Later, the dragon would scold himself for not stopping her, as it would have saved them a few more scares. He saw the next branch a second too late. At least too late for him to warn Belli again and for her to react, but this time she had been more attentive than the rest. Probably because a branch that was right in front of her face started to move. She couldn't have missed it. She also had the presence of mind to immediately drop onto her back. The fact that she had assessed the situation so quickly, and correctly, and acted immediately before the branch came hurtling towards her, probably saved her life, because if she had waited, the sharp wooden spear would have pierced right through her right eye and into her brain. Perhaps even further, considering the force with which the spearhead hit the opposite trunk. Belli rolled to her right as another branch began to twitch, but she seemed to realise shortly afterwards that the shaking of the branch was only due to the force of the previous branch's impact. This, albeit understandable, misjudgement would probably have earned her another branch attack had Rainbow not had the idea of dragging her out of the bushes and away from the killer branches. Just in time, because shortly afterwards a third one rammed itself into the ground.

Part II:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Amadeus - Part I

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

Rainbow felt the invisible shackles that chained his mind to the here and now like ropes that dug painfully into his insides every time his thoughts threatened to wander. Moonshine had created them. They had tried to ask her nicely to follow Sialia to Rosstal. Rainbow realised that if they simply went against her, this would be their last trip. And damn it, he had assumed that there was some humanity, or at least sanity, buried somewhere in the minds of the other gods. It looked like he'd been wrong. Green Poud and Rosalie had instructed them from afar not to do anything. Rainbow had tried to get back in touch with them several times afterwards, but they had ignored him coldly. And Moonshine had also stoically stuck to this motto. Do nothing, wait and hope that no-one found them. Until something happened. Ideally, Bargoss would lose interest and Orania would return on her own. But the gods must have realised that this wasn't going to happen. Jana had tried to explain to them that Green Poud, Rosalie and Moonshine were probably overwhelmed by the seemingly hopeless situation themselves and had lost themselves in stubbornness. The two older ones were doggedly determined to stick to a plan they knew of, because they had no idea how else to deal with the situation. And Moonshine stuck strictly to what they said because she didn't know what to do herself. All three of them were so committed to their ‘plan’ that it was going to be difficult to get them to let go of it. Rainbow had tried more than once with logical arguments and Hermes's constant nagging had not had the desired effect either. Moonshine had shut down and the other two had already disengaged. For Amadeus, however, this was no reason to give up, understandably. But despair and fear for his home, friends and family had not given him the all-important idea either. Instead, his emotions had taken over and he had asked Moonshine more and more harshly whether she had lost her mind and whether she didn't care about all the lives she had ended by doing nothing. Moonshine's silent answer to this was the shackles that were now wrapped around all their spirits. It was disconcerting to feel how something alien held them own thoughts in the here and now. It was not possible to wander off mentally, which made it impossible to imagine another place, which was the prerequisite for teleportation. Just remembering the last half hour, Rainbow felt the invisible tug that forcibly held him in the present. It was bloody boring to just sit there and think practically nothing, but Rainbow couldn't blame Amadeus for that. Who wouldn't be distraught if they knew their friends and family were in danger? He had never seen the young man show so much emotion. But that was also understandable. His understanding of the gods, on the other hand, was limited. Although Jana's attempts at explanation were coherent, he still couldn't really understand this ignorant behaviour. He had tried everything. He had dipped his hands in the stream, even though it felt like they would die on first contact with the icy cold liquid, and had drawn patterns on the stones at the edge of the streambed with the water. Hell, he even knew every pattern of the stones in the wall and the number of pods in the fields, but it still hadn't relieved the boredom. At some point he had started patrolling the stretch between the stream and the copse to see how the rest were passing the time. On his last foray, Amadeus seemed to have changed locations, as he was no longer in the copse where Rainbow had last seen him. No one met him on the way to the stream either. There was no Amadeus to be seen at the stream itself or in the fields. Was he going to walk to Rosstal? Or take a Giant?

Part II:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Amadeus - Part II

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

Rainbow faltered. The Giants. The idea was actually not too bad. Perhaps not the best option by far, but it was worth a thought. A thought he couldn't go any further with because the shackles prevented him from doing so. No matter how much he squirmed, tugged and tried to get round them, it was impossible to think about getting to Rosstal. No matter which way. ‘Stop going round them. It's not working.’ Though he wasn't even in thought, Rainbow winced. Moonshine was standing behind him. How long she stood there he couldn't say, but apparently long enough for her to realise that he was just staring idly into nothingness. And with shackles wrapped around his mind, there weren't many things to think about while staring into nothingness. ‘Do you know where Amadeus is?’ It was a rather abrupt change of subject, but Rainbow simply didn't feel like talking about the nerve-killing chains in his head. ‘No, why?’ ‘I can't find him. He's obviously not here or over there.’ He pointed in the direction of the copse. Moonshine narrowed her eyes. She hadn't undone the thread she had attached to all of them, which made it possible for her to locate them, despite the chains. ‘He's roaming around here somewhere in the neighbourhood.’ She was silent for a moment. ‘Where the hell is this guy going… oh no, no, no, he's not serious! He's taking the piss out of me!’ ‘Like what?’ ‘He's just made off. Just like that.’ Apparently Rainbow hadn't been the only one who'd had the idea about the Giants. ‘Without thinking? How did he manage that?’ ‘No idea. The bottom line is: he did it. Oh man, and with shackles on his mind! Is this guy insane?’ ‘Then undo the shackles, damn it!’ ‘Are you crazy? I'm not going to let you run off in all directions!’ ‘Then just Amadeus's for all I care! If he faces Sialia without being able to think properly, it won't even take a minute before he's minced meat!’ ‘But I can only loosen all the restraints or none at all.’ ‘Then I'll stall the others. Just think for a second! Amadeus is in serious danger, especially if you don't do anything. We don't need another missing person!’ Moonshine remained silent. For a long time. Far too long. Something in her brain seemed to be working, a part of the wall seemed to have collapsed or at least had a hole in it. A hole through which a little bit of sanity seemed to seep. Rainbow felt the anchors of the chains loosening and finally giving his mind space again. It felt liberating. Even though the feeling of the chains had been unsettling and strange, it had made him appreciate the benefits of a free mind. He still couldn't bring himself to thank Moonshine for the long overdue realisation. Mainly probably because of this overdue insight. Instead, he left her standing in the ‘snow’. Not the smart thing to do, he realised, but he didn't trust her and their other two fellow gods enough to take his time. Not anymore. The others had apparently already noticed their spirits' newfound freedom. There was a mixture of confusion and relief in the air. Only Jana seemed to have noticed that one was missing. ‘He got to Rosstal somehow.’ Rainbow said to her. ‘Who?’ squawked Sea from the side. ‘Amadeus.’ ‘Oh. Wait, how!?’ ‘Shh, not so loud!’ Rainbow looked around uncertainly to see if Moonshine had decided to follow him, but she was out of sight. And hopefully out of earshot too. For now. ‘Okay,’ he said, turning to the rest. ‘I have no idea how long it will take for Moonshine to change her mind again, but we should use the time to catch up with Amadeus, because he's already gone to Rosstal.’ ‘And how do you envisage that?’ Hermes interjected. ‘We don't know anything about Amadeus' home village. Neither where it is, where it's located…’ Rainbow had to admit to himself that he hadn't even thought about that. Inwardly, he scolded himself for it. His mind was in shackles for a moment and he promptly lost his ability to think. ‘Has anyone been here before?’ To everyone's surprise, even though it was the most obvious thing to say, Jana raised her hand.

Part III:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Amadeus - Part III

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

‘I came with him again briefly when we were allowed to go home.’ ‘He certainly wasn't happy about it.’ Hermes muttered. ‘He wasn't.’ Jana replied. Rainbow instructed her to teleport there while the rest held on to her. That way she could take them all with her. Rainbow preferred to ignore the fact that Jana couldn't remember the exact location - after all, she had last seen it a year ago - or whether she was even in a position to take them all with her. They didn't exactly have much time, whether it was Moonshine changing her mind or Amadeus serving himself to Sialia for dinner. In any case, not enough to weigh up all eventualities. The feeling of dissolving wasn't exactly pleasant, even if Rainbow had quickly got used to it, but this time it couldn't go fast enough for him. All that was left of their earthly existence could be chained by Moonshine again. And then half of them would be stuck on Daylight and the other half in non-existence. On Rosstal, however, they would be out of the goddess's reach. The best she could do would be to insult him via telepathy. Something Rainbow could handle. Jana was able to bring six other people besides herself to a place she didn't know inside out. The typically huge trees towered around them. In Rosstal, they were often even taller than in the Foggy Moor. Needles and moss covered the ground. They stood on a small hill overlooking a small village nestled on the shore of a forest lake. It was small by Rosstal's standards, but large by those of all the other planets and creatures. The houses formed a semicircle around a small bay. They were small, brightly painted wooden huts that looked as if they would fly away at the first gust of wind, but had probably been braving the extreme weather of Paradise for years. It was probably still not warm in them in winter. There was no one to be seen from the hill, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. ‘And now?’ asked Hermes. ‘Do we sneak through the village and ask if anyone has seen Amadeus or what?’ ‘Taking too long.’ Rainbow replied, his eyes still fixed on the village. ‘And maybe Sialia doesn't even have the village on her screen. But if we're walking through there and she notices us, she certainly has.’ ‘So?’ ‘Good question.’ Rainbow was just thinking that maybe Amadeus hadn't even arrived at Rosstal yet - after all, giants weren't always the fastest and most efficient means of transport - when he heard a crack to his right. He looked in that direction, but saw nothing at all in the dense forest. The others had noticed it too and Belli was about to open her mouth to say something, but Rainbow raised his hand to tell her to stop and be quiet. Until they knew what was to their right, it shouldn't know who they were. If it had noticed them. It had noticed them. And it knew who they were. Because it was Amadeus. ‘Did you knock out Moonshine or what?’ he asked half aloud. ‘No, a little logical thinking and quick action can also be very helpful. You don't seem to put much stock in the former.’ Hermes replied pointedly. ‘Ha, ha, ha.’ ‘Did you find her?’ Rainbow asked before an argument broke out. ‘Yep.’ Amadeus pointed diagonally down to the right. If you knew there was something there, you could see a figure at the foothills of the hill by the forest that seemed to be watching the village. ‘She's just standing there waiting?’ asked Belli. ‘That's exactly what she's doing.’ ‘But for what?’ ‘I don't know.’ Rainbow didn't really care what Sialia was waiting for or what she was planning. It wasn't good and they had to get her to leave the village somehow. ‘We need to distract her somehow, or preferably get her to turn back.’ he said. ‘Yes, but how? In case you've forgotten, Orania is missing.’ ‘I'm well aware of that, Sea.’ ‘But maybe we can make her think Orania isn't missing.’ Amadeus thought aloud. ‘What do you mean?’ Hermes asked, probably for all of them.

Part IV:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Amadeus - Part IV

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

‘Well, we'll just make her think Orania's back. We'll just pretend that we want to banish her back to the underworld. If we surround her quickly enough, she might not have time to think much and would rather flee immediately.’ In fact, the plan wasn't stupid. On the contrary, if they coordinated well in advance, they might really be able to trick Sialia. If they managed to trick the cleverest of the shadow creatures, as the siblings were also known. If not, their fate was sealed. But there had been that risk in the Foggy Moor and they were still all complete. Rainbow preferred to ignore the fact that the mercenaries were nowhere near Sialia's power. ‘Can anyone create illusions?’ he asked the group. ‘I could try.’ Sea said, ‘But I can't guarantee that I'll succeed. Maybe she can't talk or something.’ ‘She doesn't really have to. She just has to look like Orania.’ ‘I'll try.’ Sea's illusion skills weren't bad. She didn't create a clone, but the figure that suddenly stood in their midst with hunched shoulders did indeed look one-to-one like Orania. ‘Somehow the life is missing from her eyes.’ Belli murmured softly. ‘Sialia shouldn't be a stranger to that.’ Hermes grumbled next to her. ‘At least she won't realise until she tries to hug our Orania here.’ Rainbow said. Sialia made no move to hug anyone when she saw six of the eight pieces of the Puzzle of Light emerge from the bushes. Belli, Jana, Rainbow, the dragon, Sea and Amadeus. Hermes and Orania were missing. At least Draragon's little sister didn't notice them. It was only when Hermes noisily set the Orania illusion down on the ground behind the shadow creature that she turned round. Rainbow, who was now watching her from the side, thought for a moment that he had witnessed the Lady of Darkness's mask fall, but she successfully kept her emotionless expression. And did exactly what Amadeus had predicted. Before Hermes could reach his own position and complete the circle that would have blown her staging. She dissolved faster than the gods. Perhaps she was able to determine the speed of her teleportation. So she had fallen for their little act. ‘We did it!’ Sea cheered when there was only slushy snow in the centre of the circle. Sialia hadn't even left any footprints behind. The fact that they had tricked her couldn't diminish the respect and slight fear that the shadow creature's palpably dark power had inspired in Rainbow, but it at least gave him a little hope. All they had to do was find Orania, repeat the whole thing and Sialia would be gone. Everything had gone so incredibly easily and smoothly. Too easy, actually. Then it occurred to him that Sialia would surely check to see if Orania had really escaped. Rainbow felt sick to his stomach when he thought that the Lady of Darkness would certainly not find it funny that she had been tricked.

Chapter 22 is coming on Saturday 14 September 2024 at 8 pm

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Murdering shadow - Part V

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

Even if the whole thing sounded absurd in retrospect, it had left deep scars that were still healing. Until Sialia had started to tear them open again. Reminiscing, Hermes realised somewhat belatedly that Moonshine and Rainbow were both looking up at the sky, looking extremely worried. The gods had some kind of communication system that allowed them to communicate over insanely long distances. Except that it was apparently patchy. Or Green Poud and Rosalie had simply ignored Moonshine when she tried to tell them that Sialia was on Chamomile. The news that one of them, or both of them, brought from wherever seemed to be bad. Very bad. Hermes could clearly see that as Rainbow turned back to the rest, who had realised something was wrong before Hermes did. "The bad news continue," he said. Moonshine shook her head in warning, but Rainbow ignored her. "Sialia has already realised that we've made a run for it. And she already seems to have a new plan." "And that would be?" asked the dragon. "No idea." Rainbow turned to Amadeus. "But she's on Rosstal. Near your home village."

Chapter 21:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Murdering shadow - Part IV

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

Jana's vision was already blurring when Hermes quietly told Belli where the journey was going. The feeling was still strange. It felt like losing your body. As if Jana's entire existence was dissolving and being reassembled somewhere new. Somehow it was frightening. Jana was never one hundred per cent sure whether she would manifest again or whether she would simply disappear forever. In the beginning, the teleportation had come in the form of images. The world rolled or folded to the side and there you were. Somewhere and you had no idea how or why. Jana now knew that the gift manifested itself in the first twenty years of life. In the beginning, wishes or mere dreams were enough to set it in motion, but over time, you learnt to collect your thoughts in a targeted way and put together a place in your head from them. You had to release your collected thoughts onto this place, like a stone shot with a slingshot. The shapes and colours around Jana blended into a colourless void, but before she could really perceive them, her senses and thoughts dissolved into nothingness.

Hermes could have imagined many beautiful places. He had seen many as a messenger of the gods and there were plenty that he had liked. And their number increased at the sight of the fine trees and the foliage on the ground. He avoided looking to the east, towards the farming village, even though he probably wouldn't have seen it anyway. A few fields, bushes, the stream and the spot where his father had attacked Belli still lay between him and the shallow slope that led down to the wide meadows and towards the village. In spring, Daylight could be a beautiful planet, especially in May, when the grass grew tall, the scattered bushes turned into a green hell and the plants in the fields bloomed. In summer it was often very hot, as there were few trees to provide shade and the summers in Paradise were merciless. But even the hot, dry summer now seemed more enticing than the desolate landscape that now stretched out before them. The leaves on the trees began to change from red and yellow to brown and their number on the branches seemed to diminish by the hour. Like sharp spikes, the increasingly bare trees reached towards the sky, while the leaves mingled with the slush on the ground. When the snow began to fall in winter, the landscape was transformed into a romantic white winter dream, but the phase in between was extremely bleak. And cold. Hermes had replaced his completely soaked cloak with a thicker woven one lined with leather. It didn't let the moisture through, but this was only partially true of the cold night air. "We should think about something else in the long run," Rainbow muttered. "Oh," scoffed Hermes. "Don't you like freezing?" "That's fine. That was just a short-term solution." "Oh, really? When it's so nice here." "Maybe you could come up with a solution instead of just mocking, Hermes." "Shakespie? The air there is milder, you can chop down trees with the air here." "Well, it's nice that you can think of a lot of places Hermes, but can you take us all there too?" Moonshine interjected. He probably could. But Hermes wasn't entirely sure he could remember savoury places on Shakespie well enough. The pitch-black whatever-that-really-was where he'd encountered his parents' souls might not have been his first choice. And the cage that a handful of dragons who had worked for Draragon's sidekicks on Shakespie had put him in, where he had been nagged by a hyperactive ninja, wasn't exactly appealing either. The thought made him realise for the first time how trite the whole thing with Draragon had actually been. For him, it had started with the dragon, who had been co-operating with Draragon for his own protection at the time, terrorising Daylight and Hermes had been supposed to bring some hermits, who were defencelessly at the mercy of the dragon's clutches far from any help, to safety. However, all but one of them did not want to be rescued. This hermit had somehow gone missing and Hermes had ended up with a family of Starline Warriors, whose children had later run away. He had finally made his way to the Foggy Moor and had been attacked there by the dragon. The dragon had then turned out to be Draragon, the two had swapped bodies, killed Green Poud and exchanged Moonshine for another woman. From then on, the fight against Draragon had taken its course, which had degenerated into a confusing mess, although all but two or three people had just stood around and looked stupid. And that despite the fact that half of Paradise was present at the end. Little by little, the rest of the Puzzle of Light - they urgently needed a shortcut, the name was far too long - had finally arrived and they had banished Draragon. Somewhere in between he must have landed on Shakespie too, but he had forgotten when and how.

Part V:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Murdering shadow - Part III

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

No, not someone. She knew exactly who was hunting her. Who was trying to kill her. Who kept popping up near her again and again. Who kept leaving traps behind. Belli had the feeling that Sialia's attacks were becoming more and more precise. As if she was losing patience with every attack. As if she was getting more and more serious. Belli had only escaped the attack by luck. There was no guarantee that the same would be true for the next one. She forced her body to move.

Jana felt uncomfortable. It felt as if the whole palace was suddenly full of cold. And as if the long corridors had become darker. Every shadow, no matter how small, gave her the feeling that something was lurking there. She felt like she was being watched everywhere. As if something dark was sitting deep in the bowels of the walls. It had infiltrated every stone with its dark power, had spun a web of black tendrils that told it everything that happened above. And it was waiting. Waiting for the right moment to deal them all a fatal blow. It had prepared itself and Jana thought she could feel its muscles tensing in malicious anticipation. And she didn't want to be there when it unleashed its concentrated power. Time was running out for them. She was uncomfortably cold and yet the fear seemed to spread an unbearable heat inside her. The restlessness didn't make it any better. Her ears were filled with static. Time was literally running through her fingers like sand. They had to get out of here. Amadeus next to her seemed outwardly completely unaffected by the general tension. But she had slowly begun to be able to read his facial expressions and posture. His face was not only expressionless, it seemed almost rigid. As if he had to forcibly maintain his unreadability. His jaw was tense and his eyes were fixed on one point in the room. He stood very straight and seemed to have to hold his hands behind his back almost forcibly. As if someone had handcuffed him. His posture also seemed rigid and tense. He was only maintaining his composure by force, Jana was sure of it. Where the hell was Belli? She was the last one missing. Ironic. After all, she was the one who was probably in the most danger. At least, if Sialia was really after the girl. Jana couldn't suppress a certain scepticism towards Moonshine's assumption. Somehow it was true. One could interpret Sialia's previous assassinations as focussing on Belli, but one could interpret a lot when the day was long. And they had certainly all had one. Whether this interpretation was factual was another matter, and Jana preferred not to put her full trust in it. She would have liked to ask Amadeus for his thoughts on the matter, but she had the feeling that it would be better if she left him to his forced control. He didn't seem in the mood to make a single sound. And he probably didn't want to hear one either. Jana's distracting thoughts were interrupted when Belli stumbled dazedly into the room. With anyone else, Jana would have been frustrated that her attention had been drawn back to the here and now, and thus forced back to the fear and anxiety inside her, but Belli's appearance also meant that they could finally get out of here. And that something was wrong. The girl didn't just seem agitated or anxious. Rather, she seemed to be in shock. As if something had frightened her so much that her brain had temporarily thrown out all other emotions. Jana already knew what was causing this state before Belli opened her mouth. "She tried again," she gasped. "Who?" asked Rainbow, though admittedly the question was rather unnecessary. They all knew who she was. "Sialia. Upstairs in the corridor. She set a trap for me." "Did you see her?" "No, it was just a flash coming out of the wall. But she must have known who was going that way." "Did the lightning strike you?" "Also no, but the wall and it really doesn't look healthy now." Rainbow looked past Belli to the door. "Rainbow, no," warned Moonshine. "You're not looking at it. We don't have time for this." "Where she's right, she's right," Hermes muttered from the corner. They had already decided where they wanted to go. The hill opposite the farming village on Daylight. Not the most attractive place, but it was one of the few they had all been to not so long ago. The memory was still fresh and there was no danger of anyone missing it and ending up somewhere else.

Part IV:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Murdering shadow - Part II

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

She tore her eyes open. Nothing. The corridor was as quiet and peaceful as before. And somehow felt cold. Belli shook herself. She must have imagined the roar in her head. Or had she? Belli decided not to rely on it. She didn't notice anything alarming, but that didn't have to mean anything. And she preferred to trust her feeling, even if she still wasn't sure if that whispered roar really had been real. But it was better to be safe than sorry. They should get out of here urgently. She walked briskly through the corridor. She would have liked to run, but something inside her told her that running wasn't a good idea this time. She already had the feeling that she was walking far too fast. Too fast for what? For what she was chasing? What wanted to get her? The need to run grew stronger and stronger. Something suddenly seemed to be lurking behind her neck. It was crouching behind her in the darkness, just waiting for her to slow down. Belli caught herself looking back over her shoulder. Nothing. Or was there? The corridor seemed to have become darker. Could that be? No, not really. And even if it was, Sialia wouldn't sneak up on her in such a clichéd way, would she? Belli swallowed. Perhaps she was just imagining the increasing darkness. Or it existed and fuelled her imagination. Clouds, perhaps? Then she remembered that it was snowing. Belli couldn't avoid slowly switching to jogging. She realised that nothing could be behind her, but she felt increasingly pursued. Or did something? Wasn't there something moving in the corner of her eye? She turned round again. Nothing. The wet snowflakes slapped against the windows. The corridor suddenly felt unnaturally cold. That could be because it wasn't heated. Or the fact that long corridors and hallways were always cold. It seemed to be in their nature to make a cold and draughty impression. And they had a tendency to be dark and frightening. Something moved in front of her. Belli instinctively jumped back, losing her footing on the slippery ground. It probably saved her life. Right in front of her, just a few centimetres away, a flash of green light shot past. She could feel the almost electric buzz in the air and thought she could feel the pain that the flash could cause. It seemed to be made of it. The green light smashed into the wall with a crash. There was a deafening bang as stone and curse collided. The sound waves caused by the deafening noise upset the fluid in her cochlea and vestibular system and Belli barely realised how she was toppling against the wall. A droning beeping sound spread through her head, similar to tinnitus. Her vision was blurred, perhaps she just couldn't process the images, and she barely felt the wall behind her and the cold floor beneath her. Everything seemed to be spinning and she almost tipped to one side. It took Belli tremendous strength to stay upright and turn her attention from the beeping to the wall in front of her. But it was only when it slowly subsided that she was able to see the image in front of her properly again. The wall was disturbed. Huge cracks covered it from floor to ceiling and several metres wide. Some even continued upwards and downwards. The entire corridor gave the impression that it could collapse at any moment. As if it had to register the violent impact before it collapsed. Belli was too dazed to realise how dangerous her surroundings were. She could only stare at the wall in shock. If she hadn't turned round while running and seen the flash out of the corner of her eye, if she hadn't fallen down, what had now happened to the wall would have happened to her head. She didn't even want to imagine it. She was still dizzy, but she forced her muscles to move. She had to get out of here. Not from the corridor, which was still threatening to collapse and whose danger she still hadn't realised, but from Chamomile. Someone was hunting her.

Part III:

[13-beutelteufel]

Paradise (tlod)- Murdering shadow - Part I

Paradise - The Lady of Darkness (tlod) is a connected story. The correct order is in the masterlist in my pinned post

Belli felt terribly uncomfortable. So far they had stumbled from one horror to another and she had never had much time to think about it all. That had its advantages, because it allowed her to put off the horrors of the last few days and all the negative emotions that would definitely come, but she wasn't sure if it was worth it. And now that she was forced to think, what else could she have done, she realised the full extent of the mess. And, above all, that Moonshine was right. The assassinations had mainly focussed on her. The fact that she had been abducted to Starline was certainly pure coincidence, but after that the attacks and uncanny sightings had only increased. Phantom had tried to kill her. Who knew that he had really only gone mad because of Meira? And the attacker in the ravine. She had pushed Hermes first, but who was to say that she hadn't just wanted to take him out? And it was quite possible that it was the same attacker as the one who had attacked Amadeus and the Starline Warrior. And that had definitely been Sialia. And then her sighting here, on Chamomile. It was very likely that it had been Sialia as well. Since Moonshine had gathered all this together, Belli had been sitting on the bed in her room, worried. It bore a sad resemblance to her childhood room in the Milky Way. Was she still so attached to this galaxy? Had she still not been able to accept Paradise as her home? Damn it, they had to find Orania, banish Sialia, smack Bargoss on the head and then start all over again. But that was so much. And on top of that, the gods threw every stone in their way that they found on their own path. And every one that lay in the bushes fifty metres further on. And the whole thing couldn't be worked through systematically either. Bargoss was already bullying them, even though he was only in third place, and Sialia suddenly seemed to be after them with vigour. It was just too much for Belli. Distraught, she sat on the edge of the bed, as far away from the door as possible. It was exhausting to keep an eye on both the door and the two windows, but she didn't dare let even one possible entrance to her room out of her sight. The fear that Sialia, who was sneaking around somewhere, might try to attack her again was now too great. If this happened, Belli's only chance would be to escape by teleportation. She had already mapped out a few places that she knew well enough to land there safely. In theory, any other place was fine in such a case, but she wanted to land somewhere where she wouldn't be stuck until she could teleport back. A place where it was easy to hide and maybe not freeze to death from the early winter cold, for example. She almost put her plan into action when the door opened, but to her relief it was only Rainbow poking his head in. "Knock, knock. I hope I'm not interrupting anything." "Interrupting what?" Belli grunted rhetorically. "I don't know what women do. Anyway, Moonshine has summoned us all. We're getting out of here, it's getting too hot for her alone." Belli nodded briefly and got off the bed. Rainbow had long since trotted back down the corridor when she pulled the door shut behind her. The soft click of the lock echoed through the now empty corridor. Belli closed her eyes. Everything would be fine. They would get out of here. She wondered why they hadn't left much earlier. Because Moonshine hadn't believed her. That was quite possible. It didn't sound implausible either, considering that they weren't exactly in the best of health. The exertions of the last few days had to take their toll at some point and all their nerves were frayed anyway. In Moonshine's place, Belli probably wouldn't have believed herself either. But something must have persuaded the goddess to leave Chamomile after all. Or she had decided to believe Belli after all. She had to open her eyes Belli was startled. The realisation came suddenly and thundered through her head like a roar. A shouted order, not quietly whispered advice or a fact that she didn't want to admit to herself.

Part II: