#arc27

"Fifth RAGE victim..." I said as I was shaking my head. I was looking down on my pad device, a news story open about the newest streak of violence. "Lord Panchi, please tell me you're on your way towards cleaning this up."

"I am, Lady Lexine. I've already arrested the roosters responsible, and I have an ambush planned for tomorrow to nab the main supplier."

The roosters have been getting more and more brazen lately. They've originally only been disruptive by means of protests. I can live with their picketing. But now, more and more, they've been caught trying to frame members of Sanctuary Security and bringing dangerous drugs into town. We even have rooster influencers spewing their harmful rhetoric.

Not going to lie, I've never trusted the fowls. There's a reason I made Anne talk to them when we first made peace with Lucy and the hens. I don't know what it is about them but they send a chill down my spine every time I see them, and the dangerous actions of the roosters have not shaken my prejudice. I deal with them because that is what Anne has chosen, but if I had it my way... 

No, it's not good for a politician to think like that. I've seen how that thought process could twist good people into beasts. I need to be careful.

"Make sure the roosters that you have caught don't get released while they await trial. They are too dangerous to let go."

"Way ahead of you. We've got them on conspiracy to murder charges, too."

I gave the minutian a surprised look. "Wait what?"

"They were planning an assassination."

"How am I only hearing about this now?" I should be informed of stuff like this immediately! "Who were they planning to strike? Raina?"

"They were planning to kill Woob."

I froze for a second. At first, I didn't recognize the name, and then I was puzzled that the roosters would care about anyone in town who wasn't leadership. Then my mind connected dots. Woob was the minutian nurse that worked in the clinic. Then it clicked. "Wait, you're not saying it's about THAT?"

Panchi nodded. "They think she's betraying the Matriarchs by indulging in 'debaucherous behavior.'"

"Since when did they care about the politics of species other than their own?!?"

"Since Friar Little started preaching rooster supremacy."

"He WHAT?!" That fowl's antics were getting out of wing! "Bring Woob into Sanctuary protection, immediately!"

"Way ahead of ya! She's been relocated to the mansion, she's being escorted to and from work, and the clinic now has guards."

I'm glad he's so on top of things. "Also, I want Lucy in here as soon as possible!"

"I'm sorry, Marquess Lexine." Lucy said penitently. She was kneeling before me on top of my desk.

"I'm not looking for apologies! I'm looking for solutions!" I growled. "They've escalated to active terrorism! There has to be something you could say to them to stop this!"

"I'm sorry, there isn't."

That’s not good enough! "Doesn't your religion have anything on this?"

"There are. The text states that humbleness is a core virtue required to get to The Other Side." She explained. "'The path to the afterlife is bathed in the shadows of giants. Heed to heart that we are small and you will be granted safe passage.' That is what it says"

Oh, this is starting to sound familiar. "And let me guess, they somehow spun that to be about bird supremacy."

"He has taught that it's a cautionary tale, that if we bow to giants, we will always bow to them. It's transparent that's not what the verse says, but it checks out with their world views."

Confirmation bias. I've seen it time and time again. Especially when religion becomes extreme. When things get that tangled up, it's near impossible to take it apart. I held my head. "What do we do now?"

She was silent for a long time after that. She clacked the bottom of her mouth with the point of her beak in contemplation as she glanced down on the desk. After a long time thinking, she made a suggestion that surprised me. "Poison."

"Wh-what?"

"You should poison all the roosters' food. They won't see it coming. Use the strongest neurotoxin you can find, no less would do the trick. Then you probably should banish the hens for good measure."

"H-hold up!" Even though I have my prejudices against her kind, I still thought this was a little much. "Wouldn't an assassination attempt just escalate things? And banish the hens? Aren't you on our side?"

"I don't say this lightly, Lady Lexine. The only way to ensure your people's safety is to kill us all." She was looking me dead in the eyes. Even with the beady eyes of a chicken, I could tell that she 100% meant it. I could feel a lump in my throat, goosebumps all over my body. I've faced monsters, dragons, and gods, but none of them had instilled a sense of dread in me like now.

I mulled over her words. I couldn't say I had a clean record myself, I've had to kill others to protect the things I cared about before. Hell, I even worked for Hekatos for a time, so I was certainly complicit in a few extinction level events. It's stuff like this why I consider my alternate timeline self, the one that lived as a hero and died at a semi-normal age, as the "good" version of me. I have been stained by blood too many times to possibly ever classify myself as good. Survival was more important to me than righteousness.

For the briefest of moments, I even considered how I could get the job done. I even knew ways to do it quietly so the others would never have to know. Just erase this problem, before the problem reaches…

Anne came to mind. That hopeful idiot, lover of diversity. The lady who welcomed demons into her kingdom, a move that almost brought down her alliance. As much as I wanted to protect her, I knew she would want me to protect her ideals more. I knew that even if Anne had the same fear as I did, she would still welcome chickens. She would still let them have their land and allow them to be independent. That's what she would want. If I ever betrayed her, I could never forgive myself.

"I won't do that, Lucy." I affirmed. "We will nail Friar Little, believe me, but it will be after we collect the evidence and throw him into prison. We’re going to do it right. Your people deserve that much."

However, in response to my words, she simply sighed. "I wish I could believe you. I want a better future for my people, but-" her face bore the weight of a thousand loads as she spoke, a metric ton bearing down on those small shoulders, "when all things are said and done, I know you will remember this day, and wish you had heeded my advice. I know you and even Anne will be singing a different tune by then. It's a fate carved into the stars." She shook her head. "No, we won't be shown mercy, and honestly, we don't deserve it."

The air was thick with tension. I collected myself and gave the response I should give. "Listen, I don't know the full context of what's going on here-"

"No you don't."

"But let me help you. Let US help you! I don't know what weighs on your heart, but whatever it is it doesn't mean your kind doesn't deserve to exist." I reached out and took her wing. "Please, Just work with us. We'll make it through this together."

Lucy however, couldn't even look me in the eye. It was easy to see that she wasn’t convinced. Despite that, she spoke. "I will convince more of the free roaming hens to join Sanctuary Security. It won't deescalate things, but it'll help you with reigning in the roosters. I've also been intentionally encouraging the hens towards going further and further away from the coop. More in town would make things safer overall. That's all I could do for now."

"Thank you, Lucy."

She shook her head. "Don't thank me. Not until Sanctuary is safe. Now, if it’s okay, I will take my leave."

"I understand. Tha- uh, I'm pleased you could come see me Coop Leader. Good bye."

"Farewell." And with that, she promptly left the room.

I was left alone to my thoughts, my heart feeling differently from when she first entered the room. In all my time existing, I have never seen a leader advocate for the murder and expulsion of her own people. Well, okay, I have seen that, but this time around, it felt like she was only suggesting it to protect us.

While there was still an unease in my heart, I finally decided how I felt about Coop Leader Lucy. She was someone who cared about the safety of the people of Sanctuary. That makes her an ally in my book. Together, we'll find a way to wrangle Friar Little and prevent whatever fate the hen fears. I believe we can! Even if she doesn’t.

-----

It was another day on Mutter.

I had basically become the palace's social media manager. People would actually come to me for advice and for help on getting things to go viral. All those years of being an influencer have paid off!

Because all the major Sanctuary leaders started to regularly use their personal Mutter accounts after I started running it, most of the kingdom had adopted in kind. This allowed me to be on the pulse of conversation in Sanctuary.

Some talk had been going around about Panchi adopting a lackee daughter. Many of them are supportive, while some were trying to spin it into somehow being a bad thing. They'd argue that "lackees are subservient by nature, so raising it when you're not a lackee is immoral." I couldn't help noticed that it's not lackees making these arguments. In fact most of them were from the roosters. Why do the roosters have it out for this town?

There's a lot of fawning over how cute Belovi is from the few photos that managed to make it online. Some even drew art. Some of the adult martial artist fanart of her is pretty badass, though it was weird to see this of a child I actually knew. Oh yeah, and the revelation that Panchi and Coozin would be raising the kid together had resparked that tired old "are they actually a romantic couple" debate, which was so fucking disrespectful.

An upcoming Hendrix concert had some people excited, especially among the hens. Some were already charting their 15 block pilgrimage to the concert hall. Some Sanctuary Security were even willing to escort them there knowing how big a journey that is for most hens. Of course, Friar Little has been protesting the concert for the last week or so.

However, the biggest hot topic was still the whole trial fiasco. After a month, the fervor had mostly died down, but discussions and debates were still raging. Most of the former berry blitzkrieg members were still reeling from the fact that their king was now somehow a dragon. The spellwriting community was still trying to figure out how a lot of Raina's spells function. Meanwhile, most were just geeking out about their favorite moments of the fight, bragging about how many times they've watched it and how they could name every spell Adelaide used by memory. There have been a number of recreations with video effects. Honestly, I had to respect the talent on display.

Feeling like I've done enough scrolling today, I moved on to looking at the personal accounts of the leadership. Their public image needs to be tailored, at least that's what I'm constantly telling them. I respect their whole "friendly neighborhood ruler" routine, but your online image is permanent, and I have to keep them from embarrassing themselves.

Panchi doesn't have a private account, however he does post bulletins on the official Sanctuary Security Mutter. He's been issuing warnings about the new drug in circulation called RAGE that turns people into feral beasts that attack indiscriminately. Recreational drugs are legal in Sanctuary, but ones that harm other people like that are very much illegal, at least the distribution of it.

Coozin just posts whatever she makes including meals she serves to the higher ups. Food is part of the prestige of being a Princess, so I think this is an excellent way to bring some clout. Also, despite the fact they've decided to keep their daughter out of the public eye, Belovi has snuck her way into the background of a number of those photos. Coozin's the major source of the leaks. Well, that and photos from a bunch of other accounts from the palace. That kid sure does get around.

O'Bea's online presence has been getting bigger and bigger as of late. She's basically made different personas between multiple accounts and had basically manufactured a soap opera between herself. Honestly, I don’t even comprehend what that bear is doing anymore.

Raina has been posting photos of her and Anne together. Even though it's another 8 months before the wedding on New Year's Day, we want to keep the excitement going and the ship fuel flowing. This is a marriage between royals after all! She's also been giving spellwriting tips.

Anne has been posting photos of herself and a number of townsfolk. While her down-to-earth approach to leadership is unconventional, I'm honestly envious of how much love she gets from her people. I guess it pays to be a good ruler.

Finally, I checked on the ancient three. They don't get as much attention as Anne, Raina, and Panchi but the trio have something the rest don't have: drama.

Seriously, Sotakeh, Foxman, and Lexine. Their interactions are just dripping with sexual tension that even a former staunch supporter of monogamy like me finds myself yelling "just have a threesome already!" The sad thing is, I don't think even they realize it yet, otherwise they'd tone it down in public. Usually I'd put a break on all this as it is a bad look, but as a bunch of ancient old fogeys, they socially get away with a lot more than the young do.

Ignoring the argument they got into this morning, it looks like Foxman is giving financing tips while Lexine was photographing her perfectly delinted suit. Meanwhile Sotakah was planting flowers in the garden.Huh, gardening. I thought. I had spent the entire morning on social media. Maybe it'd be good for me to touch grass? I decided after lunch, I'd go spend time with my grandmother. It's probably what I needed.

"Level with me here. Are they still shipping us?"

"Unfortunately, so."

I barely saw Sotakeh for lunch. She grabbed a microwaved vegetarian sausage on a slice of bread before running off to garden some more, so I decided to just head over there. Of course, Lord Panchi accompanied me for my safety.

Panchi let out a guttural groan. "Allos are so annoying!"

"Maybe if you were open about the whole queerplatonic thing?"

But he only gave me a side-eye. "I could literally post the definition of queerplatonic on Mutter and it won't even get through their skulls. They just can't imagine a committed relationship with the make-out sessions. It's disgusting."

"Is it really that difficult to comprehend? I picked it up pretty quickly."

Lord Panchi only sighed. "You're different Bonnie. You're more open to new ideas because you've been through the ringer, but most people can't see very far past their noses."

It's weird to hear anyone essentially call me open-minded considering my history. Though I've been finding talking to him easier and easier the more times he escorts me.

"By the way," the Lord changed the subject, "how are you doing on your thing?"

"I tried looking at buff guys, scrawny guys, wide guys, short guys, I even started looking at women and I just didn't feel anything. Honestly, I think my emotions are broken or something."

"You're not broken. Even if you don't feel anything anymore, that just means you're like me, and you don't think that means I'm broken, do you?"

I shook my head vigorously at the insinuation. "That's not what I meant. I mean I used to be into this stuff and then it just, kinda stopped."

"Well, maybe it wasn't really the guys you were into it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe you were into an idea, or something they could provide you." Panchi explained. "Not being able to feel that way doesn't mean you can't have other needs. I'm no therapist, but I think you should try to remember why you wanted a husband so badly."

He was very likely right. However, the idea of looking back was so scary to me. I don't want to go back there, to when I was Princess Bon Bon Sunshine. That's a part of myself I was hoping to leave behind in the ditch I left her in.

That said, I still needed to show my gratitude. "Thank you for the advice, sir. You've always been kind to me."

"Call me ma'am." Lord Panchi said.

"Excuse me?"

"You can call me ma'am, and you can use she/her pronouns for me."

"Are you sure?" Anne explained to me how Panchi's pronouns worked. Only his close friends use feminine pronouns.

"I'm sure of it. We're sisters of the grey scale after all." She said with a grin. She lifted up her fist. Catching her drift, I gave her a fist bump, or at least as much as I could give her considering.

We were making our way through the garden which had grown big enough to be a small forest around the mansion. Finally, Sotakeh came into view.

"You'll be safe with her, so you won't need me right now. I'll head back." Lord Panchi explained.

"Again, thank you, ma'am!"

She gave me a thumbs up and then left back the way she came. I was alone with the elderly woman. She was down on her knees, digging a hole with a spade. I wasn't sure if she had detected me yet.

Grandma Sotakeh sighed. "I know you're there, I can hear your narration from here."

I panicked. "I'm sorry to intrude!"

"Relax, I'm not going to bite your head off. However, that might."

Suddenly, I felt something grab onto my arm. I looked down to see that my appendage had been grabbed by a giant venus flytrap. I immediately started to hyperventilate as I tried to pull my arm free. Then the elderly woman casually pointed her finger behind her and then a harsh wind cut through the air like a blade. It separated the plant by the stem, killing it instantly. The same spell also cut my legs in half, sending me spiraling to the ground. I was immediately hit with searing pain.

Sotakeh, hearing the narration, suddenly whipped around to look at me. She saw my now detached limb now wildly wiggling around on the ground. She started to cackle manically as she pointed at the jiggling leg. "It's like a worm with the head cut off!"

"Please don't laugh and help! This really does hurt!"

"Yeah, but you can cancel the pain, can't you?" She walked up and picked up the quivering appendages. While holding back a chuckle, she placed the missing parts in their right places and they quickly reattached. Then she extended a hand. "Don't be a big rubbery baby."

I took her hand and she helped me up. "I don't see you with any missing limbs, so you're one to talk."

"Oh please, I've lost more limbs than I have limbs. But I always pick myself up and grow them back." She proudly pounded a fist to her chest.

"And that's considering you have pain killing spells."

Sotakeh grunted as she figuratively had no leg to stand on with that argument. Instead, she barked at me: "Aren't you here to touch some grass?"

"Wait, how did you know that?"

"It's in the title, moron!"

"Is it?" I couldn't see that high up.

"Oh great, we might need to get you glasses, too. Fuck. Let's just get to planting." She pulled me along to the hole she was digging.

Today was the day! Anne and I are going on our first date in a while! I mean, first date that doesn't involve kicking dragon butt. Yes, I consider the brawl a date.

Though it was a tad bittersweet, as we'd be exploring my old hometown. Despite it being on the Monster Homeworld, Marduk controls the territory I used to live in, so it should be safe for me to pop over for a visit.

That said, better to be safe than sorry, so I was going in disguise. Anne was slack jawed when saw me."What do you think?" I was disguised as a faun, with deer legs, horns sticking out of my forehead, and a pink tube top that Anne was definitely trying not to stare at. Look all you want, doll. <3

I was wearing a prosthetic arm today. I hate using this thing, but walking around with an exposed missing arm might give my identity away.

Anne, donning her modified gift fox costume could only nervously mutter. "You're very cute..." She was blushing profusely. Obviously the main goal of this disguise is to hide, but its secondary function was a complete success!

I offered my robot hand and she timidly delivered me a noodle which I firmly held. With my robot hand, I pulled from my inventory a rabbit hole device. I haven't used one of these in years and hope I land my shot. I opened a tunnel through time and space up through the facade hole, aiming for the location of my old home on the Monster Homeworld. Soon, a hole appeared above us and gravity shifted to pull us in. As we fell, the make of the cave transitioned from paved streets and humble houses, to brick roads and abundant forests. Next thing we knew, our descent slowed until we landed neatly on the other side, the rabbit hole closing above us.

...and I couldn't even see the town from here. We were surrounded by giant trees with a high canopy. I checked my phone to discover that we were 2.5 miles away from our destination. Honestly, closer than I would have expected. A brick road lay before us, pointing us in the correct direction.

"Should we fly the rest of the way?" Anne asked.

"I wouldn't mind walking. I mean, if you're fine with it…" I used to walk down this road whenever my mother and I traveled to the nearest town. It would be nostalgic for me.

"In that case," she said, answering my narration, "let's take the rest of the way slow." 

I smiled as we had a pleasant stroll through the woods.

Slowly, the trees thinned out, holes left where the roots had been pulled up. The canopy that once blanketed us from above now gave way to the harsh sun. The quaint little brick road eventually became a paved road with a sidewalk.

"Welcome to Sable Grove, the forest town of Jet County!" At least that WAS its nickname.

"It's not much of a 'forest town' anymore." Anne gawked as ash surveyed what was ahead of her.

What was a village nestled within the trees was now a large city that spread out far and wide, full of urban centers and factories. Those chimney shacks used to spew smog every single day, but they've gone cold over the years. The factories that dot the landscape are all abandoned, the people out and about aren't nearly enough for the level of development on display. "The local mana ore mine tapped out, and so did the capitalists. The only people still around are the ones that have nowhere else to go." And even some of them are leaving.

"Doesn't Marduk control these forests?" She said as she gawked wide eyed at the perfect example of degentrification. "Why did he let all this happen?"

"Marduk is not an environmentalist." I explained. "He's way too big to focus on small issues, so he let the rot spread into his lands without realizing."

I've heard rumors about the area of space Marduk controls. If those are true, they make Sable Grove look like paradise. Tales of lawlessness and overreaching capitalism that rival even the Monster Kingdom. Turns out, when you stand high up, the struggles of ants seem trivial.

"People with the power to change things, but don't... I can't believe Marduk..." Anne was clenching the end of her noodle arm as she gritted her teeth. While I agree with her, this might be a tad too political for a date. She sighed in response to my narration. "You're right. I'll sort my feelings about all this later. Let's focus on us today!" She smiled.

We continued our stroll into town. Being up close did not improve the look of the place. It's been too soon to look completely rundown, but the neglect was slowly making its mark on the buildings. I pointed out local businesses I could remember to Anne.

"That was a sporting goods store, they mostly sold hunting equipment. Over there was a supermarket." I had to talk about all these places in past tense.

"How do any of the locals get matter vials?"

"Oh, they likely mail them in." I don't think they've killed the post office yet, so they should be able to get something for the conjurators. Then my eyes locked on that.

"What's that?" Anne peered where I was transfixed.

Over in that direction was a sufficiently barren alleyway, the place where I would duck into to practice my magic one fateful day. The day I would run into an orc running a meat stand.

"Oh no, you don't mean..."

I have encountered the very place where I had lost my arm all those years ago, and that very reunion would send a shiver down my spine. A bead of sweat rolled down my forehead.

Anne squeezed my hand tighter. "We don't have to do this right now..."

"No." I shook my head. "I need to face this."

With Anne by my side, we stepped in the forgotten alleyway. The walls were covered in grafitti, warnings of a curse, of an orc that vanished down this way. I guess my dad eating him wound up creating an urban legend.

My heart was pounding out of my chest, it felt heavy, like Marduk's entire weight was localized in my breast. I maintained my breathing, as it came into view. A small little stand, rundown, covered in dust and graffiti. The tags on the stall were all of names.

"I'm surprised people came down here if they thought it was cursed." Anne postulated. "Maybe it was some sort of test of courage? I wonder if there's anything left back here." As she went behind the counter and out of earshot. Maybe she could still hear my narration from over there? I don't know. Honestly, I needed this moment to my thoughts.

I felt the stained wood of the counter under my hands. It was cold, it hadn't known warmth in a long time. The dust rubbed off, leaving dark marks on the tips of my fingers. Isn't the last time this place left an impression on me. I remembered his words, the ones he said on the day my life changed forever.

"Now you have no future kid. You might as well be my next meal."

'No future.' Yeah, that basically had been the last 7 years of my life. He taught me a powerful lesson that day, that hope didn't weigh as much as fear. I've been only surviving, just trying to get to the next day. No sense trying to improve my situation, the very attempt at it is when life slaps you down into the dirt. That's how I've been living, hiding from the hand of fate's harsh grip.

"Hey um, I've been trying not to eavesdrop but um," Anne said pensively, "do you need a hug?"

At least, that's how I was living, until I found my sanctuary. "It's okay, just, working through some unresolved feelings."

"Well, I'm always here to support you if you need it okay?" Anne smiled.

Maybe this current life will all go away someday. Maybe the hand of fate is hovering over me, waiting to wrap its ice cold digits around me once more. However, now that I've tasted the sweet nectar of hope, I'm not so quick to give it up. "Thank you, Anne."

She beamed at my gratitude, before swiftly pointing behind her. "By the way, I think I found a hidden safe? Doesn't look like it has been opened in a long time."

"What?" At that, I made my way behind the counter and towards the back where Anne was standing. Built into the wall was a handle and combination code. "It's a magical wall safe! Good eye!"

"It's kinda hard not to see that protruding from there."

"True, but usually these have perception blockers. You just happen to be powerful enough to see through it."

I knelt down and felt the surface. The bit of wall around the handle and combination lock felt different from the rest of the wall. It felt like metal. I cast an unlock spell on the combination and it just whirled around to the correct digits on its own.

"I'm surprised he went through the trouble of hiding it, but didn't put magic defenses on the lock." Anne observed.

"He probably thought there wasn't anyone powerful enough to even see it."

The door swung up and we were struck by a blast of cold air. It was a locked fridge? I could feel magic, probably enhanced to keep things from spoiling. As the air cleared up, we could finally see the contents, and our jaws DROPPED!

"Raina... is that..."

"It's my arm!"

There it was, in pristine condition as if it had been cut off yesterday. I saw it melt away in that orc's hand, I assumed he destroyed it, but apparently he was sending it to his hidden fridge?

Thinking back, maybe the orc wanted me to think it was destroyed.

I reached in and picked it up. Too much time has passed to reattach it now. First of all, I lost this thing when I was 13, it was way too small for me now. Not to mention, enough time had gone by that I was a completely different person from back then. You’d have an easier time recreating the arm from scratch using the DNA then trying to make this old one match.

However, the fact it has returned to me now of all times was a sign. If it could persevere, then maybe I can too.

I placed the arm in my inventory. Anne was a little conflicted about this revelation, but she smiled that I seemed to be content with this outcome. I closed the safe and it spun closed. I stood up and took Anne's arm and I led her out the alley. I peered over my shoulder once, but outside that, I didn't look back. It's time to step forward.

"Rachel star is twinkling. I wonder if Debra star finally confessed?"

"Well, that Debra star is a brave one! Probably swept her right off her feet!"

We spent the day touring the town. We saw a movie, ate dinner at a restaurant from my childhood, and it all ended up here, in my old home. We were laying on the roof shipping the stars like I used to do with mom.

The bakery was rundown, practically debilitated after sitting alone for so long. It was covered in graffiti and dust. You'd think seeing the place in this state would throw me into a fit of depression like encountering the alleyway did, but surprisingly, I was okay.

Between Raina getting arrested and Panchi adopting a kid, the last few weeks have been nuts. It's been a while since I could just patrol the streets. Not literally. The sidewalks were so packed that I turned into a ghost and was hovering a few feet off the ground. I was phasing through anyone in my way. I'm sure it gave a few people a fright, but it was better than bumping into royalty and irrationally fearing for your head.

"Morning, Princess!" Shouted one individual. I recognized her as one of the prisoners I was locked up with during the early days.

"Princess! Hi!" And that was one of the anthros that came with Foxman. Of course I waved to everyone who greeted me.

Most of the original citizens from before the Marduk deal tended to treat me like an old friend. They knew my whole deal from experience. However, many of the newcomers would either seem to treat me with fear or reverence. I guess they were used to living under actual Kings and Queens who would kill for any disrespect.

However, another trend I've been seeing were people looking at me with malice in their eyes. Just a short glance, a short flash of their true feelings before they glanced away. I hoped they were simply people who disagreed with my policies but had to come to Sanctuary because they didn't have anywhere else to go. Not sure who could disagree with a policy everyone was currently benefiting from including themselves but whatever. I'd prefer that to be the case than plotting terrorists or something. Not that they could do anything to me, but if they did anything to anyone else that would be worse. We've been able to defuse any scheming thanks to the lackees, but how long until something slips through.

I remembered the demon war, the one we were supposed to fight. Sotakeh assured me the demons that were coming to Sanctuary weren't the ones we were inevitably going to fight, but the uncertainty was honestly kinda worse. I have no idea what's coming next.

"I got a look at the Princess' underwear when she hovered by just now!"

"Lucky!"

And I was immediately distracted by a bunch of horny kids. I simply sighed, flew closer to the ground and continued my patrol.

I turned down a residential area. These were private properties owned by higher middle class families, a mixture of anthros, monsters, and humans. While homes were provided for anyone that needed them, those homes were owned by the state and had to be returned to us when they moved out. Not to mention, they could only be modest, big enough to fit your needs and nothing else.. Because of that, many save up for a home they can officially call their own. Owning a place in this neighborhood was a dream to many. Not sure why. All the houses looked exactly the same from one another, lined perfectly in a row.

At least there was way less foot traffic down this road. The only people around were the ones that lived here, walking wherever they needed to be. Considering it was morning, some were even jogging. Of course I got the mixture of people waving at me and people bowing to me. I'm going to guess some were originals who saved up to move here, and some were newcomers who brought the wealth they already had.

After floating around for a while, I stumbled into a park. People were walking their pets, some of them were species I didn't even recognize. There was a playground in the distance where children of many kinds were playing together. It warmed my heart to see. Those kids will grow up to be so open minded!

"My Bunibel attacks you for 15% damage!"

"Ha! My hidden warrior jumps out in attack!"

"Demon Lord Ewe? No! You can't possibly have the loyalty points for her!"

"Fool! I've been building them up the whole game! And now she strikes you for 35%!"

"AAAGGGGH I LOST!"

"Hahahahaha, hand over your Pandora card as you agreed!"

However, my attention was stolen by a bunch of kids on a picnic bench playing some sort of card game. They couldn't have been more than 10-12, or at least the equivalent for their various species. I hovered over to them.

"Um, Princess Anne O'Maley?"

"Ha! That card was only recently issued! You wouldn't have that one yet!"

"I mean, she's literally coming over here!"

Literally every kid suddenly glanced at my direction and shot up from their seats. "Princess!"

"Don't mind me!" I said with an awkward smile and a wave.

Despite my request, they all got out of their seats and ran up to me.

"Wow, it's really her!"

"She can really turn into a ghost!"

"You were awesome in the courtroom brawl!"

"You and Raina were like the kickass battle couple!"

I was suddenly overwhelmed with comments as they talked about all sorts of stuff: compliments, questions, it was all over the place.

Eventually they settled down long enough for me to ask what they were playing. "We're playing Angels and Demons!"

"Yeah! It's really fun!"

Ah, I heard of that trading card game. Bonnie reached out to me saying that they wanted to make a card of me. I gave my consent, but she mostly did the work for it. After the brawl, now they've reached out to Raina. How long until Panchi gets a card?

"I'm definitely somewhat familiar with it, but I've never engaged with the game mechanics and what not. Would you teach me?"

Their eyes all shimmered at the request. "Heck yes! We'll teach you!"

"Darek! Don't curse in front of the Princess!"

"...you just said 'ass' earlier."

Eventually they settled down. They told their play mat to go into "tutorial mode" and suddenly I realized that these cards were magical in nature. The decks start shuffling on their own.

They began to explain the rules. Basically, the playing field was a battlefield where they could place warriors. Each player is a powerful mage with a magic that starts the game at 0%. The goal of the game is to get past the other team's warriors so you can attack the other player directly. This can either be done by being tricky, wiping out the current warriors on the field and surprise attacking the other player, or wiping out all the other player's warriors in their deck so they have nothing to protect themselves with. The first to reach 100% loses

Each player starts with five cards and can draw one card each turn. They can also return a card to their deck each turn, either from their hand or from their side of the field. Each warrior on the field can only attack once per turn.

There were five kinds of cards. 

First up were angels. They can be played on any turn and they are always loyal to you, however they are a temporary cost of your magic as long as they are on the field. You don't get your magic back until the turn after that warrior is discarded or put back in the deck, so this could leave you vulnerable. 

Next up were spell cards where the player can attack directly. This also eats up magic until the next turn, but it could be what gets a specific warrior off the field. The players can only cast one spell per turn.

Then there were the demon cards. These were fickle as they weren't automatically loyal to you. You had to gain loyalty points over the course of the game. If you play a card when you haven't accumulated enough, they could disobey your orders or even go into your opponent's deck. However, if you gain enough points to earn their fealty, they are very powerful and dangerous.

There are a number of ways to gain loyalty points, but the most common was spending loyalty cards, at least one per turn. This was the most dangerous way to do it as your opponent can see you setting up for a demon.

And the final kind of card is both the most rare and the most common: the immortal cards. There are a very few varieties of these cards in existence. Even with my inclusion, there's only a handful. Immortal cards both cast magic to play and require loyalty cards. They are the hardest cards to play, but they are all incredibly powerful... well, all except one, but we'll get into that later.

"Hey, before you absorb my Pandora card, would you give me a chance to win it back?" Pleaded the kid who lost.

"You know what? I'm feeling sportsmanlike today." He glanced at me when he said that. He clearly just didn't want to look like a jerk in front of me. "Okay, I'll give you a chance." 

"Mage Darek and Mage Carmel wish to do battle." The mat said. I guess it gave an ambiance to have an announcer.

"You're not getting your Pandora card back!" Darek stated.

"We'll just see about that." I saw that Carmel had slipped in a card they had hidden in their backpack. A wild card, I guess.

They had a pretty incredible game. Darek had devastated Carmel halfway through with a time spell that made lower rarity non-immortal cards grow old and die on both sides of the field. Despite that, they carried on.

It was the final round. Both decks were practically empty, it was down to two warriors on each side, one was laid faced down in hiding, the other was-

"Captain Udon, I saved the best for last!" Shouted Darek mischievously. "I don't even know what kind of bluff you're pulling, laying that face down. We both know Captain Udon is one of the best demon cards there is! You might as well surrender."

Carmel simply smirked. "You're mistaken, I've already won."

He huffed. "Confident, huh? Well, let's see if you can back it up. Captain Udon! Destroy that card in hiding!"

A laser pistol appeared above the card and fired at the face down card.

"The attack did 0 damage." Said the mechanical announcer.

"What? How is that possible unless..." His eyes go wide with realization. "...you have an immortal card?"

"I've been saving it for just this occasion!" They flipped over the card

Darek looked on in horror. "No! That's-"

"The Void Swordswoman." Carmel crossed their arms, the air of a chess master making the perfect play. "Now, destroy Captain Udon!"

A pure white sword appeared above the card and struck the other card. It disappeared into the discard pile.

"Captain Udon has been wiped from existence. Mage Darek no longer has any warriors. Mage Carmel is the victor!"

All the kids cheered in excitement at the climatic finish. The loser was kind of stunned. He looked like he wanted to flip a table over, but he glanced at me before tempering his rage. He silently hands over the Pandora card. "Here. You earned this."

Carmel happily took the card back. Darek was just about to leave when they stopped him. "Hey, good game!"

He was a little surprised, probably was expecting his opponent to rub it in like he would have. However, then he smiled and offered his hand to shake. The two shook and they seemed to have become deeper friends that day.

Soon after, he leaves and the victor is happily fawning over their card. "I shouldn't have betted on you my sweet." They said, kissing it.

"Are the Pandora cards that valuable?"

"Nah, they mostly suck. At least a single one does."

"Huh?"

They explained that the Pandora cards were immortal cards, but unlike the others they were absurdly common and weak on their own. Not to mention, considering what they did in the game, they weren't worth the price. 

However, Pandora cards were unique in that they could be magically combined to become stronger. Collect enough and you could have one tough card on your hands. They said theirs was 32 cards fused into one, so it was x32 stronger than a normal card.

Also, legend says that if you combine enough Pandora cards, it'll become a brand new, incredibly powerful card. This card is worth its weight in kons, and its very existence will change the game forever. However, this has never been accomplished before, so it could only exist in the realm of myth.

"Hey, can you hold up that card for me so I could see, please?" I asked.

Carmel held it up. I've heard of Dorothy Pandora from history books. She was notorious as a watcher, one that took a passive role in history. I saw the card and... was she really just a birthday present with eyes?

Multiverse A was weird. I wished I lived there!

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