Elissa took a deep breath as she retook control of her body from Elana.  The foul stench of the hydra’s blood and spit were the first things she noticed as she returned to the outside world, and it took more than a little effort to keep herself from offloading her breakfast.  The fact that it was after lunch and that her mind, if not her body, was feeling the strain of battling both a hydra and a pack of wraiths already didn’t help.  Nor did it the abruptness of her regaining control.

Elana seemed wistful, in an apologetic sort of way, and hurriedly handed the body over to her just after the fight with the hydra had concluded.  She’d left the main part of their shared consciousness, for lack of a better term, and gone off to sit and either mope or meditate in a part further to the back.  Elissa wasn’t sure if Elana was upset with herself, at Zethira, or at something else entirely, but it didn’t seem like it was a good time to confront her.  More than anything, Elissa’s instincts told her, Elana needed time.

“Zethi?” Elissa half-asked, half-stated.  “Are you okay?”

“Elsie, is that you?”

“It is.”

Zethi rushed over and gave her a long hug, wrapping her arms tightly around Elissa.  Elissa, for her part, could hardly move her arms except to gently caress Zethi’s thighs, something she eagerly did.

“I would love to keep hugging you, Elsie,” Zethi said.  “But I fear this is neither the time nor the place.  I don’t know what else is here, and quite frankly, I don’t know which smells worse.  The hydra’s smoldering flesh, or us, given we’re both covered in grime and neither of us has had a proper hot bath in over a week.”

Elissa sighed.  “You’re right.  I’m looking forward to a meal that’s more than just foraged meat and the occasional pouch of berries.  Give me some bread, some cheese, and some watermelon.”

Zethi laughed.  “I forgot just how obsessed you are with watermelon.  But I do agree.  A nice steak sounds much better than bird and squirrel meat.  Do you remember the way?”

“For the most part.  I tried to keep track while you and Elana were talking on the way here.”

“How is she?”

“Seems upset.  I think more with herself than anything else.  Do you want me to call for her?”

“No.  If you’re confident you can lead us out of here, I would rather she have the time to herself to cool off, rather than either of us saying things we might come to regret.”

Elissa pointed toward the tunnel, and the two began their way back to the surface.  Most of the paths branched off away from the exit, so it wasn’t too hard to navigate the tunnels that coalesced back toward the surface, all of which seemed to involve going straight ahead, even as they spiraled around the island for what seemed like quite a while.  The two did, of course, take a few moments every now and again to stop and kiss, at Elissa’s insistence.  Though Zethira never made more than a tepid, almost playful objection.  

As they reached the exit of the tunnel, they rushed out into the relatively cleaner, though much stickier air, and decided to rest just inside the cave entrance for a few minutes before departing.  It had been about three hours, or so Zethira had calculated, based on how the spotlight was now considerably further to the east than it was when they’d arrived.  That meant about three hours until dusk, more than enough time to sit down and take a few minutes of rest, though hunger would stop them from taking much more than that.

“You really do care about her, in your own way, don’t you, Zethi?”

“Her?  You mean Elana?”

“You said yourself that she was a part of you, and you were a part of her.  I don’t really understand all the metaphysical nonsense involved, nor do I care all that much.  However, despite my misgivings with Elana and this world, I am trying to accept her— and you— for what the two of you are.

“But.”  Zethi took a long pause.  “I promised long ago that I would protect you from anything and everything that threatens you.  Even if that something is the goddess who created the world or her twin sister.”

“Thank you, Zethi.  Also I haven’t had a chance to tell you that I love you yet today.  So, yes, a daily reminder that I love you is in order.”

Zethi smiled.  “I love you too, Elsie.  But I’d also love not to fight any more wraiths today.  Shall we get going?”

Elissa nodded as she stood up, and the two started their ascent back to the surface.  As soon as they stepped outside the tunnel, the aura of distorted mana again warped her gravitational magic, preventing further flight. And so they had to take the long, circuitous staircase that led back to the jungle surface hundreds of feet above.

Back through the sticky, damp air they went, air that felt like breathing through a rag with one’s head held underwater.  A humidity that should have been impossible in the natural world, and indeed, only could happen because of magic.  She wondered why Elana and Raesha created such environments so long ago, and briefly considered asking, but Elana still seemed lost in thought.

“Elana, may I have a moment?” she asked some minutes later while Zethi was carving another skylight in the jungle.

“Is something the matter?”  Elana didn’t look up, as much as was possible in a space forged of their shared mind, but her tone seemed more curious than angry or annoyed.

“You aren’t upset with Zethira, are you?”

“I must admit I was a little taken aback by how brusquely she spoke to me.  In my thousands of years before being sealed, not once have I been addressed with so little deference as your girlfriend treated me.  But no, to answer your question, I am not upset with her.

“If anything, I am upset with myself.  As Zethira said, I got careless and overconfident, more interested in pondering the past than focusing on the battle at hand.  And as a result, I put myself, you, and the entire world in jeopardy.  She has every right to be upset with me.”

Elissa smiled.  “Zethi’s like that with everyone.  It’s one of the many things I love about her.”

“You love that she insults goddesses?”

“I love that she treats everyone equally regardless of who or what they are.  I don’t know how much you remember of the time I first met her, but even back then, she was demanding, always pushing me to do more, to be more than I was before.  She didn’t care that I was a sheltered princess, just like she doesn’t care that I share my body with a goddess now.  That’s just who she is.

“It was because of her that we got as far as we did.  She reforged me from a spoiled princess into a fighter capable of going toe to toe with her, whether on the battlefield or in the bedroom.”

Elana rolled her eyes.  “Was that part really necessary?”

“We are a couple, and we aren’t going to stop having relations just because you’re sharing a body with me.  I thought we discussed this earlier.”

“I see what you mean.  About that ‘reforging’ you mentioned earlier, that is.”

“Thank you.  But no, Zethira is just very straightforward.  And very protective of me.”

“I’ve noticed that last part plenty since I’ve awoken.”

“You coming along, Elsie?” Zethi asked, snapping Elissa out of the internal conversation she had been having.

The trip through the jungle wasn’t as bad as the journey to its interior.  Partially because there were a lot of possible paths that led toward the outside world, partially because of the excitement of finally heading back to civilization after over a week-long expedition, and mostly because there were no wraiths accosting them.  The spiders and scorpions had likewise given way, as though their fallen brethren had somehow informed that she and Zethi were no easy meal.

An hour or so passed of slow travels before the dense foliage finally gave way and streams of light began flowing in from the outside world.  The blue skies of daytime were a welcome sight high overhead, as was the warm yet somehow far drier ocean air that refreshed mind and body alike.  The endless expanse of black below and behind gave way to green and brown and yellow and red ahead.  And the silence of the jungle interior, only broken by the teeming of the occasional bug crawling about, had succumbed before a massive waterfall filling a nearby pond from a smaller island yet higher in the sky.

“It’s beautiful, Zethi.  I never in all my life thought I’d get to see a sight like this.  It’s even better that I get to share it all with someone I love.”

Zethi wrapped her arm around Elissa, rubbing at her side and slowly sliding her claws down toward her waist and butt, giving the latter a gentle squeeze.  Elissa only smiled and looked up as she leaned into the embrace.

“It is, Elsie.  Perhaps once all this is done, we can come back and spend an afternoon together.”

“Like a picnic outing?”

“If that’s what those are called, then yes.  A place where the two of us can be alone and spend some time just the two of us.  Well, I guess the three of us.”

“She’s not mad at you, by the way.  Just wanted to let you know.”

“Thanks, Elsie.  Does she have any idea where the next shard is?”

“I don’t sense any nearby,” Elana said.  “Though, I would imagine a lot of them will start falling into the hands of capable fighters and other powerful monsters, just like this one was.  We should rest for the time being, and be prepared for battle.”

“She doesn’t for now,” Elissa said.  “For now we rest and train.  Do you know of any towns in Ezoriar?”

“The Kingdom of Breault is in north-central Ezoriar, and is the only of the five Great Kingdoms on the continent.  I would expect a number of players in this upcoming war of the shards to start massing there, looking for one another.  Other than that, I’m sure we’ll find some small town or another where we can get some food and a nice warm bath.  Got a few gold coins left.”

Elissa looked up at the sky as the first purples along the eastern horizon signaled the beginning of the upcoming twilight.  “Well, we should get going soon.  As much fun as fighting alongside you is, love, I don’t really want to deal with wraiths until dawn.  I’ve had quite enough of them for one day.”

Zethi released her embrace and took Elissa’s near hand as the two made their way to the precipice.  The island was hovering near the shoreline of the mainland, but seemed to be hovering in place now, no longer drifting further eastward.  Some of the other islands were continuing their slow journey toward yet-unknown destinations, and still others seemed content to remain fixed over seemingly random spots in the middle of the central ocean.

“Well then,” Zethi said.  “Shall we?”

The two lovers leapt off the island and dove toward the surface at blinding speeds.  They accelerated faster and faster, and once they’d descended below the influence of the island’s mana, they took flight under their own power.  Off toward the east, toward Ezoriar, and toward an unseen destination, hand in hand, ready for what lay ahead in the War of the Shards.