The|MULTIVERSE

EPISODE 49: Fiery Reluctance

Eagalia's Drift, An'Aves' Vale

Oedimaar Realm

Roaming ahead of Ricven and the gang, Julyan passed through Eagalia's wriggly growths and brandished an arm of florid presentation to the shrubby bird palace of spiraling towers that perked beyond the cliff. If only he wore a fancy glove. The stupendous castle sat like a noble nest of mazy spikes that never aged, and with how the elegant pirate flaunted the immaculate hold that showed not a speck of sin on its forested cones and steeples, Julyan was eager to boast the bird-jammed nation that governed the tropic islands. "I present to you Avius Dominicus; Kingdom of the Seven Isles!"

Ricven, tapping twice on his iBean to limit the volume jamming musical goodness all up in his ear, surveyed the undergrowth that flooded around the palace. Something heinous skulked about in the thickets. It festered behind those castle walls, too, the very stronghold that Julyan exhibited so proudly before. Spectacles were always too good to be true anyways. "Place needs some serious tweetment." Bird puns. "The bane is heavy here."

Hanakin gravely agreed. "I can taste it."

"Whoever this demon is, he's not really that much of a threat to us. His energy's just a mini-boss compared to the others," said Fae, ever the passenger on Ricven's goggled head.

"The most swole of demons can be weak in the nuts," Ricven told them. "All they need is a swift steel-toed kick and them perilous pendulums be creamed cullions; extra chunky."

Cardina was grateful for their insight—Ricven's weird quip aside. If they could snuff out the vile poisons affecting such a beautiful kingdom, then her confidence in Ricven and his companions couldn't be shaken. A gorgeous jungle cuddled around an exalted dwelling; a snug, bristling sea of sinuous wood was charming in sight. But Cardina knew the evil to be thick in the air. "The Avius may've been taken, spoiled by thee demon's power. Ryoka's do'n whatever she must t' keep that Daimon at wing's length. If they've gotten her father then she be thee only one livin' sane."

Ricven hummed nicely. "That birdy's a real hawk of a hen, eh?"

"If ye callin' her special, then aye. Luck coddled her butt when she found Daimon gloatin' n' his real skin. From what she told me... Well, yer gonna be findin' out for yer-self once we get inside."

Julyan reached into his person and checked his pocket watch. The time was right, early, but gradually fleeting. He searched for the sun next. It wasn't soon to set, as his watch foretold, though it was getting there; sequentially. "Time-is-a-croaching, my friends." He warned. "If we are to crack the fortress of feathers and save the Avius from becoming a grim memory, then we better devise a plan."

"Oh, we're gonna just blow through them doors and stop the fucker with his dick hanging out."

Fae quietly grew daunted in the face.

"A sound plan—" Cardina's eyes fluttered as she spun to face a calm and collective Ricven. The hell was he thinking?! "That's a BAD plan!"

"It's a wonderful plan."

"Not from your mouth it isn't," Fae addressed. Her appall uniquely evident

"I must agree with the little light and say that your idea is...incredibly precarious." Julyan looked at him oddly. Was this the way he approached crisis? Head-on, full-cocked, and ready to lay down a facial? The Sepian's swagger was a blustering one. Bombast. Courageous. Gutsy. Sot of like a couple of brotherly pirates he served. The auburn-haired warrior woman, Hanakin—while she seemed so cold and undaunted—accepted him wholly, and the fairy was smarty with her tone at him. Nothing new there, for he took Fae to be Ricven's better of conscience, and that told him just how swelling, and free, Ricven was in the head.