B4 – Chapter 7: Problems at home

Tristan woke up when the doors slammed open. He had ensured that his emerald amulet, normally on the belt that stored them, was around his neck before heading to sleep, replacing its slot with his Anorox Family Crest. Quickly spinning his crucible, he used the stored Alter Form spell to take on his Demonkin physique – the tingling sensation running along his body something he had grown accustomed to thanks to the consistent re-casting by either Felicity, or the use of the artificed item.

Felicity was sleeping on the pillow next to him in a squirrel-sized shape, her form still fully invisible to non-Elves, and she roused as Tristan sat up. He observed as a few guards from the night shift came in and began divesting themselves of their gear, a few shooting him glances before going to their usual routine of removing armor, switching out underclothes – to which Tristan made sure to avert his gaze – and then left the chamber to presumably eat or do some errands before their turn in the bunk room.

Felicity poked his head and spoke at her normal volume in the Standard Tongue – unable to be heard except by Tristan. “Time to get up, sleepy!”

Tristan nodded and kicked his legs out of the bed, “Mind doing a fly-over of Lockwood and seeing if you find the best route to that other-Realm portal area?”

“Sure! But we are supposed to stay in the town, right? That’s what the Demon lady said.” She giggled, “Not that I would care about breaking rules.”

“We need to visit the Fey Realm and acquire the herbs for a ton of panacea elixirs. I doubt they have the raw ingredients here in the scale we need.” He stood up and opened the footlocker, leaving the key in the lock, as he began gearing up and took a set of the clean linen underclothes, shoving his usual, much softer strandvine clothes into his storage dimension. “I’ll leave a note that I needed to leave and do a supply run to make and bring back the elixirs.”

Felicity gave him a nudge, “Okay. I’ll go fly off and check.” She went to the door, opened it, and flew out through the top of the doorway – deftly dodging a guard who was entering, seemingly getting off his shift late. The Demonkin looked Tristan up and down, and gave him a quizzical look.

“Can I help you?” Tristan asked in Demon’s Tongue, putting on a brusque front of a hardened mercenary.

“Fancy armor,” the man grumbled back. “Who’d ya steal it from?”

Tristan scowled, “It’s mine,” not needing to put on an act of disdain.

The Demonkin guard frowned in return, “Fucking mercenaries,” he mumbled as he turned to another footlocker and began doing what his peers had done already.

Tristan finished belting on his sword and slid past the man. Heading through the complex, he made it outside and went right to the House Guards at the front entrance of the inner keep. “Excuse me,” he said as the much larger Demon looked down at him. “Please inform Lord Dalphatroux that the mercenary Marius Lestrange will be departing for a short time to acquire the panacea elixirs.”

The Demon looked down at Tristan like he was a lesser being. An ant compared to a giant, hardly worth his time. But, the House Guard gave a curt nod, turned to his companion, and said, “I’ll inform her.” He turned and entered the heavily fortified entrance.

Tristan gave a brief bow and left the main keep, Felicity landing on his head once he had made it over the drawbridge and into the city proper. She whispered in his ear, “I’ve got the path mapped out! The city is not quite as organized as the capital – thank The Matriarch.” She made a disgusted sound, “Bleh! I hate how orderly stuff is here.”

Tristan scratched her head and followed her directions, arriving at a marketplace with a few designated stone platforms that were quite obviously artificed; Demon’s Tongue inscribed into them. He read the words aloud, softly speaking in Standard Tongue for Felicity’s sake. “A Realmstone. Attuned to the Elemental Realm of Fire.”

Felicity made her paw-claw biscuits on his head, “Neat idea! Having permanent artificed items that anyone can use with essence!”

There was a stall in the center of the raised platforms, surrounded by merchant stalls where people from other Realms peddled wares to Demonkin and Demons who were perusing the goods. That stall in the center had a sign on the front that read, “Five silver for transport to another Realm, ten for a round trip.” Tristan approached the bored-looking Demon woman sitting at the stall – a head taller than him, but slimmer than the Demon Lord he had spoken to the night before. As he walked up, she spoke to him, “Where do you want to go?”

Tristan glanced at the different platforms, “Looks like you have fixed destinations. Any chance you can get me to The Mortal Realm?”

She nodded, “We have one. Takes you right to Bhant.”

That caught Tristan off guard. “Where in Bhant?” he asked.

“Ah, been there before? But I haven’t ushered you through the portal before.”

Tristan frowned, “I’ve heard of it,” he quickly lied. “I heard they are not very open to people like us.”

“They are a Human superiority kingdom,” she replied with a chuckle, “But their ties to the Demon Realm are strong. From all the way back during their founding, I think.” She waved her hand dismissively, “Either way – the upper crust of nobility knows of this tie, and thus under the Blackspire mount – the big castle at the center their king resides at and where the high court is held – there’s a chamber for us to visit.”

Tristan contemplated his choices. I could go there…but no. I can get to the Fey Realm from any other Realm. I should choose something that gives less chance for me to be noticed as out of the ordinary. “Thanks for the information,” he said with a smile. “I think I’ll stick to the Elemental Realm of Fire.”

“Will do,” the woman replied. “Round trip or just wanting to go there?”

“Do they have a similar system set up for me to get back here?”

“Oh, yes,” she replied. “Takes you to their inter-Realm market, which I think has a portal to the Citadel of Essence as well. They have someone who does something similar to me.” She put on a pouty face, “But you want to support a proper Demon industry, don’t you?”

Tristan smiled and pulled out a gold coin from his front-facing coin pouch that held a small amount of the currency. “What does a gold get me?”

“The premium deal,” she replied with a sultry smile.

Felicity sighed, “Why do sales women like this always act slutty in their sales pitches? Just put out a price list!”

Tristan suppressed a chuckle, “What’s the premium deal?” he asked, still conversing in Demon’s Tongue.

“You get a premium experience.” The woman put her hand under the stall, fished around for a moment, and when her hand came back into view, she was holding a thin, metal plate that looked like stamped bronze. “Think of it like a week-long pass. We have a Season-long one as well, but that’s more expensive.”

“Just the week-long is fine.” Tristan set the gold coin on the counter, and the woman handed him the bronze plate. She then stood up and waved him over to the platform with the label for the Elemental Realm of Fire. He knew he could activate it himself if needed, but did not want to use their artificed item and break what seemed like decorum.

She closed her eyes briefly then leaned down and tapped the stone with her hand. Space in front of Tristan ripped open and he saw an opaque portal. “Here you go! On the other side, look for a Demonkin in a similar stall – part of the industry. They’ll get you back here.”

Tristan nodded and gave her the most polite smile he could before he stepped through the portal. He felt the slight buzz along his skin and then as he took another step, the heat assailed him. It was a warmth not unlike when he was standing underneath the hot sun when they were learning how to ride back in their countryside estate in Bhant. A pleasant memory flitting across his mind before Felicity interrupted it.

“It’s so hot!” she exclaimed as she was panting loudly.

Tristan spun his crucible and let it vent out of him, producing a slight, cool aura that had an immediate effect on his companion, “Better?” he whispered in Standard Tongue.

“Mhmm,” she replied. “Ahh…love my living cooler.” She poked his temple with her finger.

He took in the environment around him. Dark, crimson skies were completely clear of clouds, but he could see veins of fire that crisscrossed in air above – a web of coruscating flames that flashed and sparked from constant combustion. All around him he saw Drakonid with red and gold scales of varying hues, and scattered amongst them were goblins with their long ears. Seeing them brought a scowl to Tristan’s face, as he recalled the Incursion from this Realm into the Fey Realm.

Heading to the edge of the marketplace, he found an inn and entered; finding the space cooler as he descended several steps into a subterranean main room. Primarily occupied by non-Drakonid, the barkeep gave him a nod as they continued to pull ale from casks. Tristan headed to the stairs, where a Drakonid who was a splitting image of the barkeep, but younger, perked up slightly from his slouching posture near the railing. “Hi! Welcome to-”

Tristan interrupted him and pushed a gold coin into his hand, “Just a room. However long this will get me.”

The teenage Drakonid nodded and opened a panel behind him that was embedded in the wall, grabbed a key, and handed it to him. “Our finest room, for a full week! Far end of the hall.”

Tristan nodded and descended the stairs, feeling the slight temperature decrease of going deeper. He went straight back and unlocked the door, shutting it behind him and re-locking it before handing Felicity the key. “Okay, give me an hour and we’ll head to the Fey Realm.”

She grinned, “Can I go and do some shenanigans?”

Tristan shrugged, “You could, but you’ll be hot.”

She got off his head and frowned, “That…good point…” She smiled, “I can think of something else we can do for an hour.”

“I need to spin my crucible,” Tristan replied. “We haven’t tried before.”

Felicity’s form shifted to that of her Elfanoid appearance that she usually took when sleeping with him. “Then think of it like training. Can you endure the delight I’m going to put you through while keeping your focus?”

“I’m up for the challenge,” Tristan replied as he began taking off his armor.

After a bit more than an hour due to lost concentration, Tristan had re-equipped his gear and Felicity re-shifted to her fairy dragon form, clambering atop his head and falling asleep, exhausted from their activity. He pushed the last of the essence required into the Fey Realm Ring, and transported back.

He arrived in the dirt circle and saw that the Fey Realm had changed a bit since he was last there. The marketplace and crafting area had expanded, there were new tree-houses, and he could see Spriggan interacting with other Fey Realm residents. Almost immediately, a fairy dragon flew up to him. “Hey! Welcome back, Lord Tristan!”

Tristan recognized him, and spoke in Standard Tongue. “Hey there, Reggie. Mind getting all the panacea elixirs we have on hand into a box?”

“Sure! Can do!” He wagged his tail with delight, like a puppy excited to play with their favorite toy, but he sounded curious. “What happened to her?” he asked, pointing with a paw-claw at Felicity.

“She’s just a bit tired,” Tristan replied. “Came from the Elemental Realm of Fire. She doesn’t do well in the heat.”

“Bleh!” Reggie replied, making a slight spitting noise. “I hate hot places!” He then switched topics, “Oh, mind if I get another few fairy dragons on the task? I think that sheep-lady wanted to talk to you.”

“Dorothy,” Tristan said. “You should know the name of the Courtiers.”

“Right right,” Reggie replied. “She wanted to talk about something to do with all these new people.”

“I saw the new tree houses,” Tristan replied as he began making his way over to the workshop area where the imbuement station was set up. “I’m guessing it has to do with that?”

“Probably!” Reggie replied as he flew into the canopy above the crafting stations.

Tristan went over to the various herb bushes and began harvesting the components for the panacea elixirs, ensuring that he spun his crucible the whole time and performed the spell gesture for Perfect Harvest. Pinching the plants between his thumb, middle, and pinky fingers, curling his index and ring into the palm, and incanting the spell phrase. “Give me the bounty you hold.” Having secured a massive harvest, he took the ingredients back to the work bench and began the process of making the potions that he would then use the imbuement spell upon.

A bunch of fairy dragons began bringing him more ingredients, with one commenting, “The plants have grown in some other places across the Fey Realm! It’s so neat! A lot of them smell really nice.”

Good thing I put the stuff from other Realms into planters, Tristan thought as the idea of having foreign plants spreading throughout the Fey Realm did not fill him with much confidence or sense of security.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

After a few minutes, Dorothy, the Sheepkin Demihuman and representative on the Fey Court for non-native citizens, approached him. “Lord Tristan,” she said. “You look different. I will admit, the disguise is unnerving.”