Chapter 172 : A Few Minutes Earlier

An Hour Earlier --

 

“Why are you so LOUD!?!” Agni groaned as she turned over in her bed. The sound of Shula and the others within her small room did very little to help. She failed to understand how they were awake, given the fact that they had just returned from their camping trip. With only a few hours of sleep, ths succubus found herself to be incredibly irritable.

 

Her pleas for rest and quiet went largely ignored, not by everyone else but her familiar Shula.

 

*Her voice definitely grew louder. Ugh.*

 

After several more minutes of attempting to cover her ears with a pillow, Agni reluctantly got up and got dressed. Unwilling to be a party to the jovial nature of her own sleeping quarters, she made her way outside and began walking. She had no particular destination in mind, just anywhere but “here”.

 

30 minutes Earlier--

 

The faint beeping of the accessory / magical device on her wrist alerted her to the fact that she’d now successfully completed twelve tasks. The alert which accompanied this read, “Speak to Zura to learn more.” .  Having no real destination or goal for the day, Agni decided to visit the Silken Petal.

 

Along the way she thought about various things. It had almost been exactly three months since arriving in Adventia. She could barely remember her previous life, except for extremely emotional memories. These came and went like flashes, oftentimes more like a flash than a whole memory. For some reason her head hurt more than usual. She had a sneaking suspicion that Shula was to blame, but no real concrete evidence.

 

“Oh well.” Agni said, shrugging off her thoughts and continuing along her way to Sprim Row. Along the way she decided to buy some food from a nearby street stall - only to find that her supply of Gols was at 0.

 

“Ugh. I forgot, we spent most of the money preparing for the camping trip.” She lamented , waving the vendor apologetically as she continued along her way.

 

“I’ll have to maybe take up a quest or two from the chapel. I’ve never done it before, but it shouldn’t be that bad.” Agni remarked , mostly to herself as she kept walking. A dull pain was gnawing at her stomach, she could feel the back of her stomach as it growled in protest due to lack of food.

 

“Maybe Zura will have something for me to eat.” She said as she dipped her hands into her pockets and quickened her pace. Agni possessed enough self awareness to know that being hungry also made her grumpy. She felt the need to eat soon -- and all the better. The sun was bright and the air somewhat brisk, not cold but enough to make Agni reconsider her current style of dress. She was wearing a loose fitting t-shirt which barely covered her midriff and a pair of snug fitting jean-shorts. On her feet she donned a pair of flip flops -- prioritizing comfort when at all possible was her nature after all. For a brief moment, Agni considered switching to her armor which would be somewhat warmer. She quickly dismissed the thought and continued about her business.

 

“I love the fall, but the weather change here is going to make me sick.” She whispered to herself. And then she thought about it.

 

“I wouldn’t get sick. That must be.. A thought from a past life.” She mused, almost absent mindedly. Agni was quickly beginning to think that the day would be a lackadaisical one. She could feel a pull towards lethargy, largely because she  had only gotten a few hours of sleep. That , coupled with the lazy energy surrounding her, made her settle into the mood of an “off day”. With that decided, Agni tilted her head backwards and placed her hands behind her neck so that she could better enjoy the sun as she walked.

 

Ten Minutes Earlier --

 

Minutes later she found herself in the central area of Grenvale, where many of the more important shops where adventurers could be seen. She lamented the fact that she was now broke.

 

*Maybe I can beg Katrin for some money. Hee  hee.* She thought inwardly with a big smile as she passed by several stores she actually wanted to visit. The square was practically packed with people, all busy with some manner of business or activity. Most seemed to be shopping, but a great deal of them moved with a purpose. Agni watched as several people rushed by with banners , flags, ornaments and all other manner of objects.

 

“I wonder if there’s some kind of festival going on?” She wondered aloud. She made her way through the crowd, deciding to pick up the pace towards Sprim Row when something caught her eye. At first it was a tuft of blue hair which drew her attention. Sky-blue with frosted tips, the young woman that the hair belonged to also had two small bumps beneath her cloaked head.

 

“Horns? Hmm. It’s not often I see someone with a pair of horns. Maybe I should go say hello.” Agni said, half expecting Shula to answer. She’d grown so used to her companion being near that she forgot about leaving the imp back at Mystic Tower. As Agni’s gaze lingered over the woman, it slowly drifted towards her two companions.

 

Agni’s eyes narrowed and she felt her pulse quicken as she took a step forward, her eyes locked on the tallish man standing next to the blue-haired woman. He looked vaguely familiar, and not in a good way. She stepped closer, weaving effortlessly between the crowd of people between them.

 

*Black braided hair. Dark skinned complexion.* Agni felt her pulse quicken further as a minute bit of malice spilled out from her. Several of the people nearby glanced in her general direction, unable to spot the source of their unease. She quickly moved away from them and towards her target for a better look. Second later her doubt turned to certainty as a husky man with a shiny head could be seen next to the other two adventurers.

 

Before Agni could think or form a logical thought, her hands clenched and her body moved. The familiar feeling of indifference to her actions began to creep over her like a lover’s warm embrace. Her lips curled  and suddenly thoughts of venting her minor aggravations flared to life as she leapt forward and swung her halberd with all of her might.

 

Present --

 

“Tsk. Get out of my way!” Agni shouted as she clicked her teeth. Standing before her was the dark-skinned man whom she’d slain once before. His twin daggers at the ready, the man performed a cross slashing action which cleaved her fireball into four equal portions before dispersing it harmlessly.

 

“Calm down.” The braided man said, his hood falling backwards and revealing his face. Thoughts of driving the man’s own blade through his heart filled her mind and a creepy smile began to spread across her face.

 

“Why should I? You and your buddies attack people out of the blue, for no reason and now you want peace? You should have thought about that before.” Agni growled, her lust powers visibility emanating from her body as a portion of the pinkish energy coalesced to feed the next fireball she created. The pink energy swirled around the sphere of flames before being sucked into it, causing it to turn a tint of the same color.

 

Agni lifted her hand and hurled the pinkish orb of flame, a totally unnecessary movement given that she could control the spell with her mind. The spell careened towards the dagger wielding adventure who stood between her and their blue-haired companion.

 

“Shit.” The bald man’s voice echoed forth as he dashed towards their destination, now free of the people surrounding him.

 

“Both of you! Dodge it!” He said, readying his own blade to intercept the magical attack. The man known as Glint sidestepped almost instantly, but his blue haired-companion was a step too late. The flames singed through her cloak, a portion of the pinkish flames leaping out to catch her on the face. She turned, attempting to shield her eyes but it was no use -- she took the spark of flames face first.

 

The husky man skidded to a stop as he lifted his blade, bracing it with both hands as he prepared to trap Agni’s magical power in his own blade. Upon impact the weapon flared with bluish flames which began to absorb the fireball -- but not before he was inflicted with splash damage. The flames seemed to have a mind of their own as they leapt over the barrier of protection provided by his sword and were drawn to his face and forearms. He grimaced as a spark of pain flowed through his body and closed his eyes for fear of being blinded by the fire.

 

Yet all he felt was a haze, his mind grew frazzled and upon opening his eyes everything seemed---different. A haze of pink coated his eyesight. The bald man opened and closed his eyes several times, attempting to clear his vision but it was no use. He was aware that he had been damaged somewhat by the attack before his blade managed to absorb it all, yet he felt none of the pain. In fact, he felt great.