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New Volume 3 Chapter(s) Weekly. Volumes 1 and 2 now complete!

Early Monarchber of 2065, a week after the Cosmic Boon, Ahvra was returning home from her first day back to school after the break for New Years. She was a 12-year-old middle-schooler, but due to her size, everyone assumed she was in elementary school at the highest. Ahvra had never really gotten along with any of her classmates for various reasons. Whether it was her size, her interests, her personality, or the way she talked, a connection was never made. So today, like every day, she walked home alone.

Up until a week ago, the country Ahvra lived in had been a military state in the Drazah empire. After the Cosmic Boon, there had been mass panic and confusion, and she wasn’t allowed to leave the house for two days. Then, everything calmed down. Her fathers had tried to explain it to her, but not much had stuck. This was not because of her lack of attention. She loved to learn, but only when something interested her.

The political situation of her country far from piqued her intrigue. The only big difference she could see now from before was that there were no longer armed guards walking the streets. Even then, none of them had ever bothered her. This was the only thing she could actually see that had changed from the incident in direct regards to her own life.

Ahvra wasn’t far from home now, but as she walked by a park on her way, she heard a few kids yell, “Stranger Danger!” as they ran past her. She looked over to the park to see if she could find the cause of the commotion. There was a woman she hadn’t seen before in a lab coat with a flamelike pattern at the ends of the sleeves and near the bottom. She was holding a measuring tape and spat out, “Drat, they got away from me.” The woman then climbed on top of the jungle gym and began scouting the area around her.

Ahvra knew from her fathers’ teachings that she should walk away and hurry home, but she was just too curious. “What are you doing, lady?” Ahvra asked the woman. She twirled around and stared at Ahvra for a moment then jumped down from the jungle gym.

After taking various measurements using the tape while Ahvra just stood there, she proclaimed, “Your size is perfect! You look young and impressionable as well. Hmm, perhaps too young.”

“I’m 12, miss,” Ahvra retorted.

“It’s not good to lie to your elders!” The woman jeered. She pulled a device that looked like a calculator out of one of her pockets, then a light shone out the end and scanned Ahvra. “Well I’ll be, you actually are 12. That is slightly less morally reprehensible. I’ll take it! Tell me not-as-young-as-I-thought girl, you’re on your way home from school, yes? But alone? No Friends? Meeting someone? Are your parents expecting you? How do you feel about heights? Any interest in tearing through the fabric of reality?”

“Yes, Yes, No, No, My dads both work late, They’re okay I guess, Maybe? I’m not sure,” Ahvra answered all of them calmly in turn.

“How strange, when I assault… asked those other children the same questions they ran off,” the woman rambled. “Also, dads you say, how progressive. In the world the Mistress was destined to make, that would become the norm. Well, she never specifically stated as such, but I am certain that is the path she would choose. You’re an unusual one, though, and somehow you match all my ideals. The Mistress must be blessing me from beyond the grave. Don't worry, Mistress, I will set you free soon! Come, small child, you will now be an instrument in my nefarious-yet-noble plots!”

The woman grabbed Ahvra by the hand and began leading her down the street. “What are you doing?” Ahvra asked, calm as ever.

“Don’t you understand? I’m kidnapping you, obviously!” the woman seemed almost offended that Ahvra had to ask.

“Oh, I see,” Ahvra said without showing any sign of fear. With her free hand, she reached behind to her backpack and fumbled around for something. Eventually, she found it, and pulled the tab. There was then a loud blaring screech on repeat that sounded like a wailing banshee. Ahvra covered her ears after her other hand was freed. The woman raced around to Ahvra’s back, grabbed the personal alarm, ripped it off, and began stamping on it with her feet.

Once it was broken into tiny shards, she pulled out a tube of some paste from her jacket pocket and squeezed it out over the shards. It started out as black, but then turned into a perfectly edged rectangular white brick. The woman picked up the brick, put it in her pocket, grabbed Ahvra’s hand again, and said, “Please, no more surprise noises. I will fix the annoying device for you later.”

They eventually reached an open field where a weird machine was waiting. It looked like a helicopter, but it had an open frame. There were no instruments, only two seats, and a joystick used to control it. The woman sat Ahvra down in one of the seats then reached into the bag dangling off the back of it. She pulled out a helmet and put it on Ahvra’s head. It fit well, so clearly she was expecting to bring back someone small, though it was still a little big. Next, she fastened Ahvra’s seat belt and made sure it was secure. Ahvra found it strange that someone who was kidnapping her was taking such precautions in making sure she was safe.

Soon after, they took off and began flying in the direction of the mountain range to the south. “So, what do they call you, small child?” the woman asked.

“You mean my name?” Ahvra wasn’t entirely sure she understood. “If so, it’s Ahvra Metissa Zalksin”

“Oh, a triple name, how rare,” the woman enthusiastically expressed. “But it won’t do, it’s too long. You need a codename! Yes, the Mistress taught me that you should always give codenames to the people that matter to you. I know this because she never once called me by my real name, and I was one of the most important people to her. Instead, she called me Science Depot. Clearly, she knew she could come to me with anything she needed in my field.” Ahvra was unsure whether that was actually a codename or just the assignment the woman had been given.

“Ah, but what name to give you,” the woman’s ramblings continued. “Codenames are usually based on aspects of the person, but I don’t know much about you. Let’s see… you’re small… and… ah, I’ve got it! Loli Hostage! From now on I will address you as Loli Hostage!”

“Loli?” Ahvra asked, having never heard the word before.

“It’s short for Lolita,” the woman explained. “In some cultures it means ‘small girl’, so it’s perfect for you. Now you may be wondering, woah isn’t that name still too long?! Doesn’t matter! When it comes to codenames, it’s the feeling behind them that matters, so you say them with pride!”

“So what should I call you then?” Ahvra inquired.

“Well that is a conundrum indeed, Loli Hostage,” the woman admitted. “As of now, I am undeserving of the name Mistress graced me with. However, through my efforts, I will restore her. Therefore, you can address me as Magnificent!”

“I’ll call you Magni then,” Ahvra stated.

“Oh, how cold you are, Loli Hostage,” Magni whined. “Not even humoring me once by calling me the full thing. No matter, now that names are settled, we can get down to business. I must assume you have many questions. Where are you taking me? What are you going to do to me? Why me? Calm down with all those questions, Loli Hostage, I can only answer one thing at a time!”

“I am taking you to my secret mountain laboratory of course! Nowhere else would suit my level of genius. The Mistress made it just for me. It wasn’t the main laboratory of course, but she would send me there after we spent a lot of time together working on a project. Clearly, she understood my need for space, so I could refocus my efforts and be of more use to her. The main lab was destroyed during a raid recently, so that is where we’ll be working from now on.”

Clearly she sent you there when you were being too annoying, Ahvra thought to herself.

“As for what we’ll be doing, what else? We will be pursuing the most noble of causes: bringing the Mistress back to life! I’m not sure how we’ll achieve this yet, but I have many exceptional ideas in mind. You are going to be my new assistant. Things with my last assistant ended abruptly, and he is now dead to me. He didn’t have the same level of motivation as me, saying that now he was ‘finally free’ and didn’t want to bring the Mistress back. Can you believe that?!”

“I have already removed his old codename from my mind since it is worthless. He will henceforth be known as Trash Ash… hmmm or Ash in the Trash? I can’t decide which is better. Thinking more on it would be a waste of thought power that could be used to bring back the Mistress.”

“Now, why I have kidnapped you specifically to indoctrinate? It is because you are tiny, Loli Hostage. Your small stature and little hands will allow you to perform operations on certain equipment I am too mature to do, and also a bit of light housework since that would be a waste of my time. You also possess a certain level of apathy that I greatly admire, Loli Hostage. Respect.”

“So who is this Mistress we are going to try and resurrect,” Ahvra wondered.

“Are you daft, Loli Hostage?!” Magni exclaimed. “There is only one woman whom my musings to you could possibly describe. The great Eleen Drazah, of course! She was so close to fulfilling her destiny only to be struck from Rathe in a putrid manner. How dare Cosmos have the gaul to desecrate such an aspiration to all. So we shall take the fight straight to Cosmos and right this unholy wrong.”

“Isn’t she a bad person?” Ahvra asked, immediately regretting it.

“It is no wonder that you would think that, Loli Hostage,” Magni said calmly to Ahvra’s surprise. “You are small and unrefined. You live by what you are told, and those mawhgers controlling the media are pushing their slander nonstop. They have not experienced her excellence first hand, so their tiny brains can not comprehend her splendor.”

“You seem to really like her, huh?” Ahvra mentioned.

“Yes, she is everything to me. When I was lost, when no one else wanted me, she appreciated my talents and gave me purpose. I would do anything for her,” Magni said somberly. Ahvra expected that tears would come any moment if she continued.

The rest of the short flight was in silence until Ahvra’s eyes lit up when she saw the building on top of the mountain. She had never seen anything like it, and wondered how they could have built such a structure all the way up here. Somehow, being kidnapped was already turning out to be one of the best experiences of her life. They landed on the helipad and Magni helped her out of the flying machine.

Once inside, Magni gave Ahvra a short tour around. It was the most interesting place she had ever been in her life. When they finally got to the main room, Magni handed her a broom and pointed to a pile of ash in the corner. It seemed that everything she had said about her assistant was meant to be taken completely literally. “If you do a good job, I’ll make sure the rest of the day is fun,” Magni swore. Heeding her words, Ahvra got to it. She found that it didn’t seem to bother her that she was sweeping up someone’s remains.

The rest of the day was fun just as Magni had promised. She showed Ahvra various inventions she’d been working on, letting her play with a few of them. They ran an experiment together, which Ahvra found exhilarating. It was sad when Ahvra noticed the time. Her dads would be home soon, but then another thought crossed her mind. “If I’m not home soon my dads will worry, but you’re not going to let me go home are you? I’m your hostage after all.”

“Don’t be absurd, Loli Hostage, that’s ridiculous,” Magni sneered. “If you were to stay here then I would be in charge of you. I’d have to take care of you and be responsible. I’ve had enough of that with my incompetent former teams. No, I will take you home now, back to the roof we go!”

Ahvra didn’t get a word in on the flight home, it was just more of Magni’s ramblings. The actual duration of the flight wasn’t too long, only about 20 minutes, but both ways had felt like hours for different reasons. When they got closer, Magni asked for directions to Ahvra’s home so she could land closer than before. After assisting her out of the flying machine once more, Magni commanded, “Be here tomorrow at the same time. I will kidnap you once again.”

After Magni flew off, Ahvra took the short walk back home. One of her dads was waiting for her, understandably worried. “You’re home later than usual, munchkin. Were you out with a friend?” he asked

“No, a strange woman kidnapped me,” Ahvra muttered while staring at the floor.

“I see, how scandalous,” her dad commented. “Was she nice?”

“Yeah,” Ahvra replied a little confused, lifting her head.

“Did you have fun?” He asked.

“Yeah!” Ahvra said with a grin.

◆◆◆

For the next two years, Magni would come to kidnap Ahvra every day. This excluded the first day of each week since that was ‘family day’ where Ahvra would spend time with her dads. Together, they worked on many experiments, and Magni taught her endless aspects of science. Ahvra found herself enjoying the biology side of things the most, especially dissecting. When they cut open their first animal together, it was as if she had been enlightened. She wanted nothing more than to look inside every living thing and see how it worked.

Ahvra had also done quite a bit of cleaning since Magni was psychologically incapable. If Ahvra tried to get her to do anything even related to the matter on her own, she would break down and throw a tantrum like a child. There were definitely times when Ahvra felt like the adult in the relationship. However, she had come to like cleaning, it was almost cathartic to her now. Magni had even gotten her a smaller broom to make it easier for her.

Through many trials and tribulations Ahvra and Magni worked to discover the secret of bringing the dead back to life. They had tried resurrection, reincarnation, and many others, even occasionally dabbling in the supernatural side of things such as spirit possession. Surprisingly, zombiism had the most success, but it did not produce the results they were aiming for. Magni still kept the data in case Eleen Drazah would want to put it to use some day after they brought her back.

These were all side projects, however, hypotheses to fill the gap as they worked towards their ultimate goal: time travel. To Ahvra’s amazement, Magni had in fact invented some semblance of a working time machine. It couldn’t do much at present, but work was slowly progressing into making it fully functional. An example of the limited range was that they could split an apple in half, place it into the time machine even with the parts completely unconnected, and it would restore the apple to its original state.

This only worked up to a certain time limit, however, currently at 27 minutes. Any longer and a sliced apple cut before that time would not go back to normal. It didn’t seem like much, but considering they had started with a window of 16 seconds, it was quite the breakthrough. They were still quite far off from the years they needed, and the expansive range of affecting the whole world. Ideally, they could just bring Eleen back to life but that would require her whole body to be obtainable. Since it had mostly become ash that scattered to the wind, there was no choice but to turn back the time of Rathe itself.

Magni was running a few more tests while Ahvra did her daily chores. She was researching with mice, having begun live experimentations a few days ago. They had started by simply cutting their tails and using the time machine to reattach them. Then, they progressed to putting them down with lethal injections, however, the results were quite erratic. Put simply, some were brought back to life and some weren’t. The time limit for each of them seemed to vary at random.

Starting with a five minute threshold, 90% of the mice would revive, at 10 minutes, 60%. For 15 minutes it was down to only 20%, at 20 minutes it was barely a handful of them. At their current 27 minute limit for non-fauna, only one mouse had survived. She had been deemed a prime specimen, named ‘Alpha Squeak’, and was currently having her entire body analyzed in a machine.

Magni let out a large sigh. Ahvra understood that meant the current experiment must have failed. “Welp, its body is back to normal, but it’s not alive,” Magni groaned. Now after killing the mice, they would dismember them before putting them in the time machine. Every time they were put in the machine, their bodies would go back to normal, but as for reviving, there seemed to be a direct correlation with how mangled the body was and their time limit. For a fully dismembered mouse, their time limit seemed to only be two to three minutes.

“Guess I’ll do some tinkering,” Magni said aloud. The time machine in its current state was a large metal tube with various wires and buttons adorning the outside. Its length was about five feet, and it had a diameter similar to a tire. This meant that Magni could climb inside for adjustments. She crawled most of the way in, so just the lower half of her legs were dangling out of it. “Ah, I forgot my screwdriver. Loli Hostage, could you grab it for me?”

Ahvra stopped her sweeping and walked over to the wall rack where the tools were hung. She could just barely reach the size of screwdriver that Magni needed by getting on her tiptoes. Then, she went over to the time machine and held it up to the opening. “I can’t reach it, you’ll have to put in some effort. Loli Hostage.” Ahvra strained herself as much as possible, doing her best to stretch herself as far as she could to get the end of the screwdriver to the tips of Magni’s fingers, which she could barely see.

Then it happened, Ahvra tripped. While falling, the tip of the broomhandle that she was holding in her other hand hit the ignition switch on the time machine, which was normally out of her reach. There was the familiar charging sound, and before Magni could scream, she was gone. A trickle of ash rained down on Ahvra as she looked up, about to apologize to Magni. Just upon realizing what she had done, her eyes flashed yellow.

◆◆◆

“So that proves it then, it was pointless to begin with.” Three years had passed since Magni’s death, but Ahvra had never been able to let it go. This was not out of grief. She knew Magni’s plan was a dangerous one with the potential for serious repercussions, but she could not deny that she had enjoyed their time together. However, her intrigue was a result of what happened after. Ahvra had changed in a lot of ways. Her hair, blood, and eyes had changed color, and through her tests, she had discovered that she had some form of abnormal ability.

Most notably, was that she discovered that all living beings had ‘time’ flowing around them. She also became aware that she could control it to an extent. This eventually led to her discovering the concept of ‘time degradation’. When something died, their time did not immediately expire. Instead, in the same manner as the body, it would degrade. All creatures' time seemed to degrade randomly, but there were certain aspects that affected it: species, age, body condition, strength of will, and so on.

Even if something was dead, as long as there was still even a tiny flicker of time left in them, Ahvra could reverse the flow, and bring them back to life. In essence, everything would eventually die, but they weren’t completely dead until their time was fully drained, assuming Ahvra or someone with a time machine was around. Ahvra leaned back in her chair, sighing as she double checked the data. “This explains why the mice resurrected at random. Even if Magni made a time machine that could go back centuries, she never would have been able to bring back Eleen Drazah.”

Ahvra slumped out of her chair and walked over to the mini-fridge in the room. She pulled out an energy drink but ultimately decided to put it back. Instead, she was going to go take a depression nap. She wasn’t sad at the results she obtained, but felt lost now that the research was complete. After Magni died, Ahvra had dropped out of school and spent all of her time in the laboratory. She had taken online courses and managed to get her degree that way, however. She didn’t have to worry about money since Magni had left a lot behind, buried under her mattress since she was considered a criminal after all.

Before Ahvra could go into the long spiral of contemplating what to do with her life, the lab’s alarm went off. There was an intruder. This was not uncommon. Even when Magni was alive, many people tried to trespass and Magni had disposed of them all. Since Ahvra was in charge now, rather than killing them outright, she opted to experiment on them instead. Ahvra looked at the monitor, someone was looking at the main entrance from the mountain path. “They’re wearing a mask. That’s not too rare though.”

The person was very short compared to the other people who broke in, and had a somewhat feminine physique, so Ahvra assumed it was a girl. She was wearing a demon mask similar to ones found in folklore, but the eye holes in the mask were blocked with black tape. “So this is it, huh?” the girl spoke to the door. “If I’m lucky I’ll find some answers inside.” Ahvra was able to hear her through one of the various hidden microphones placed around the lab.

The girl suddenly vanished, then a new sensor was triggered, it was in the kitchen on the other side of the lab. “Ugh, not where I wanted!” the girl moaned. “Okay, let’s try again.” The girl vanished once more, this time appearing in the tub inside the bathroom. “Well it’s closer at least,” the girl tried to be positive. “Oh, there are people in cages?! Even if I don’t find what I’m looking for, I’ll at least get a big payday out of it.”

How can she know that from the bathroom? Ahvra wondered.

The girl vanished again, this time from every monitor. This left only one possible location for her to be in. Ahvra spun around in her chair, now facing the mask wearing girl. “I wasn’t expecting to find a girl my age running this place. Hmm, well maybe I’m slightly older,” the girl stated.

“A girl your age?” Ahvra’s eyes began rippling, and then she had her answer. “You’re 13 huh, I should have guessed that based on your size. I’m definitely older, though, since I’m 17.”

“How did you know that?!” the girl yelled. “And I don’t believe you, there’s no way you’re that old. No matter, that’s not why I’m here. I heard there was a Fiend here, but you don’t have red eyes. Explain.”

“I don’t even know what a Fiend is,” Ahvra denied.

“So you won’t talk willingly, huh?” the girl insinuated. “Guess we’ll have to resort to brute force then!” A wooden yo-yo slipped out of the girl’s sleeve and flew right at Ahvra. It donked her hard on the head and then dropped to the floor.

“What the zjik did you do that for?!” Ahvra cried out as she rubbed her head. This girl was certifiable; attacking with no warning or reason.

“No way, that’s never failed to knock someone out before.” The girl was dumbfounded but didn’t relent. She flung the yo-yo at Ahvra once again, but this time, Ahvra reacted. She swished her hand in front of her and activated her power. The wind generated by her motion became a mighty gust. It blasted the yo-yo back, sending it flying behind the girl’s head. Suddenly, Ahvra’s perspective changed and the far wall was now a lot closer. The yo-yo, still in flight, whizzed just an inch past her head from behind.

“Drat, I missed,” the girl clicked her tongue. “You have to admit that would have been really cool if I landed the hit. But I see now, you’re like me. Now I really need answers!” Before she finished speaking, the girl’s yo-yo was wrapped around Ahvra’s legs. She was pulled down to the ground, and drug over to the girl. The girl crawled on top of her, pinning her down.

Ahvra knew she had to fight back now or she likely wouldn’t come out of this unscathed. She put one of her hands on the girl's chest. What the? I can’t turn her into a baby?! Ahvra panicked. I almost can, but her body is fighting me. I’m not strong enough! What now?! Maybe that. It explodes everything, but what choice do I have? Ahvra aimed for the girl’s blood. It took a lot of struggling, but the girl eventually loosened her grip, collapsing on Ahvra and--

◆◆◆

Ahvra had stopped telling her story abruptly, and all of the Fiends stared at her from inside the helicopter. She had fallen asleep. “I guess she couldn’t stay awake any longer. It’s a shame, I would have liked to know what happened next. I guess we can ask her later,” Xard mentioned.

“I can fill in some of the gaps,” Phon elaborated. “I woke up inside one of her cages with my mask off. However, she didn’t know I could use my hands to teleport. So I went back to her and then we had a… completely civil discussion. We talked all night, then I left the next morning. After that, we never saw each other again and didn’t keep in touch.”

Ahvra stayed asleep for the rest of the helicopter ride. She was curled up in Drim’s lap, clutching to his clothes. He couldn’t move, not wanting to disturb her, basically treating her like a pet who had fallen asleep there. The rest of them idly chatted for the flight. Kada shuffled her way to the front at one point to show the baby pictures she had taken to Mallea.

When they were getting close, Phon chopped the back of Ahvra’s head and said, “Wake up mini-pest, we’re here.” Ahvra sat up, her eyes droopy. She eventually noticed she had drool all over her mouth, and had even drooled a bit into Drim’s chest. She apologized profusely, or at least as sincerely as she could in her emotionless state. When they were hovering over the compound, Mallea pressed a button that allowed the helicopter to pass through the barrier and landed in the new hangar that had been built since their departure.

Pox was waiting for them on the ground, holding two carrots and waving them as if he was an air-traffic controller. Once they all clambered out of the helicopter and unloaded Ahvra’s things, Ahvra finally noticed Pox and she seemed more energetic than she had been all day.

“What is that creature?!” She exclaimed. “It’s so different from any other monster or animal I’ve ever seen. All of the flows inside of it are bizarre, it’s unnatural. Can I dissect it? I want to dissect it so badly. Please?!” She grabbed onto Drim’s clothes as she begged.

Drim turned his head to Pox and yelled, “You should probably run!” Pox started bolting towards the door to escape. Ahvra pulled out a scalpel from her lab coat and threw it at him, but missed. Pox grabbed it for what they assumed to be a snack later, then left the building. Ahvra seemed depressed, and went back to looking dead tired.

A minute later, Nathym came out from the main workshop and greeted them. Without so much as a hello, Ahvra spoke. “Come Assistant, we have a lot of work to do.” She then started walking off towards the workshop.

“Ehh, but you look exhausted,” Nathym argued. “Wouldn’t you rather I showed you where your room is instead? We can get to work once you’re rested.”

“I’d rather you show me around this secret lab I’ve heard about,” Ahvra protested. “Who could possibly sleep when there’s so much unknown to discover? No no, it won’t do. Butler Maid, please bring me every energy drink available in the town. So I’m clear, I mean every single one. Brand and flavor don’t matter.”

“Okay, well could we at least reconsider my name,” Nathym insisted. “This is my lab afterall, and technically, you’re my assistant.”

“Oh, is that not to your liking?” Ahvra inquired with little interest. “How about Tech Support? Oh, or Toolbelt?!”

Nathym sighed. “You know what, Assistant’s fine.”

Fiends For Hire Internal Dialogue 2

Drim: I see you’ve finally woken up. You spazzed out at Ahvra’s lab and then passed out. That really hurt you know. Thought I was having a heart attack.

Eleen: Sorry, but for some reason when I saw that picture I became really angry. Not sure why. I can’t quite put my finger on who that woman was.

Drim: She was Nirco Acker

Eleen: Nope, not ringing any bells.

Drim: One of your top scientists. By the sound of it she was completely devoted to you.

Eleen: Hmm, I’m getting some vague remembrances. Mostly of being annoyed and wanting space, though. Nothing that would make me angry like that.

Drim: She made the poison I used to kill you.

Eleen: That’s it! Cosdamn! That useless no good piece of-

Eleen: ...

Eleen: You know what, I’m going to wait until you’re asleep before I continue this rant, Drim. There are some things you’re better off not hearing.

 

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Thanks for reading this chapter. Feel free to leave a comment or review. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have an idea for a Fiend, let me know in the comments or a DM and I may use them in a future volume!

More information about the series such as the Wiki and Social Medias can be found on the Fiends For Hire LinkTree!