"So, if I'm correct, this should be the, uh, Dwarves' Village?" Ika was astute as ever. The other three were trailing behind, the silence of the wind deafening their meager conversations. "Hm. Mako, do you... see anyone?" Mako stepped up to bat, to look into the village. In front of them was the entrance, holding a sign that was hard to read due to the battering it must have took, but her best guess was "Welcome to The Hobble's Retreat!", or "Cobble's Retreat", something like that. In front of them was a path winding further into the village, but there was no noise. Nobody guarding the gate, not even the faintest of whispers. Nothing. The quartet eventually all stepped in, walking the path to the town square. The square was a bit indented into the earth, with an ice statue in the middle. The upper half was shattered, shards and remnants all across the ground, but the bottom half appeared to be someone holding a book, and the legs of a horse. "Must be the statue of one of the knights." Edgie stepped forward. "This is Life themselves, yes." "Life?" Ika was always the curious one. "Like, the concept...?" Edgie sighed. "The four knights that created and blessed our world? The third one, Life, was the one to give us sapience and free will. It eludes me, as to why the Dwarves would worship it." Toby stepped forward. "Maybe because it's a miner town?" Ika shook her head. "I think this one is pretty important." Toby chuckled. "No, a town of people who mine. The dwarves, they're responsible for all kinds of exports of gems and metals." "Hm... makes sense." Still nothing. Mako piqued up. "We should probably look for people??" Everyone agreed. The four of them split up, trying to find anyone. All of the houses were empty - they were all usually pretty small, rectangular in nature, so it wasn't hard to search, but it *was* hard to find a soul in any of them. Ika opened the last door on her leg of the village. Instead of nothing, though, she heard a soft crying coming from a corner. She pushed past the boxes on the floor and tried to meet the figure. They responded negatively, in a deep voice. "N-no! Go away! You got everyone else, just spare me!" Ika tried her best to be delicate. "Hey, hey, it's alright, I'm not here to hurt you, never would. Are you okay?" The figure stood up, revealing itself to be a stout, fat man, with a beard nearly reaching the floor, and a nearly bald head - signs of the Dwarves. Must be a survivor. "Forgive me. It's been an aeon since I've talked to a real person." "I, uh, get it. My name's Ika, what's yours?" She stuck out her hand. The dwarf went to meet it, shaking it a little. "The name's Yolk. Nice to meet you." "The same here... Do you know why everyone's gone?" "What *don't* I know about that, missy? It's the king, he's the one that's been... eating everyone." "Eating? Like, you mean-" "Yeah. He's been so hungry lately. He ate all our food, all our resources... then all our people." "Hm, a hungry king eating his own people. Strange. I appreciate your help, Yolk. Stay here, I'll let you know if I need anything." "Wait!" Yolk stretched out a hand to Ika. "Before you go, you should have this." He opened a chest in the corner of the house, digging through it, until he found an axe, presenting it to Ika like you might present a weapon to a warrior. "If you plan to take on The King, you'll need this. He's in the Town Hall... please be careful." Ika accepted the weapon with grace, waving goodbye to Yolk. "I promise I'll save your people, if not for their sake, then for yours." The quartet returned to the middle of town. None of them reported seeing anyone, except for Ika. "I saw just one Dwarf, they go by Yolk. They gave me this axe. Don't know if we have any use for it." Mako snagged it from Ika's hands, clearly not knowing the responsibilities of holding a weapon. It was quite large for any of them, but when Mako held it with both her hands, she felt pretty confident. "I think I can handle this just fine!" She looked it over... something of a dark metal axe, but one side was instead replaced with wood of the local spruce trees, reinforced with chains, more so meant for battering than elimination. The handle felt great to grip, having rope over leather. "Did Yolk say anything else, Ika?" "Just that our target- I mean, the King, is in the town hall." The team rushed over to the hall. Compared to the other buildings, it was more circular (more of a squircle, really), with white pillars holding up the building. They approached the front door, now noticing the whole thing was made out of limestone. Suddenly, Ika recoiled in some kind of shock, like she was mentally hit with something. She shook her head with an opened brrr, before putting on a more determined expression. "Wow, okay. I got this." Ika was still the director of the hit movie, A Gay Team of Four People Who May or May Not Murder a King Today. "Okay, checks - Mako, you got your axe?" "Yes, sweetie!" She had it perched over he shoulder like a bat. "Edgie, you good on your magic?" "Prepared." They were flicking through various elemental attacks in their hands. "Toby, cannon?" "Oh, sorry!" Toby pumped his fist, then focusing on his arm to transform it into its combat mode. "Ready." "Alright, we go on my mark." Ika held up a hand with 3 fingers. Then 2. One. They bust through the door, Ika drawing her sword and pointing it outwards. "King of Dwarves, prepare yourself! You may be still hungry, but your reign of terror ends here!- Okay what the hell?" The entire building was empty, even the interior walls. The only thing that remained was a child - a dwarven child, of course, much smaller than any of them, but still with a beard - the sole hermaphroditic trait of them. "I'm locked on, Ika!", yelled Toby, but Ika lowered his cannon with a hand. "Just... just no..." Mako walked up to the child. "Hey, buddy, you alright?" The child said nothing - didn't even *move*, for that matter. Well, it did - it started sliding backwards unnaturally. "Mako, stay back! I think we've found the locus.", Edgie called out. Mako slowly backed away from where the child was, and stood with the rest of the group, re-readying their weapons. From the darkness across from them, they saw a spark of orange light. It grew larger, and larger, revealing a face - no, a *maw*, that was coming ever the closer, with a crown on its head. Finally, it reached the main hall, barely fitting into it. It was a floating *Mawfish*, a concept nobody needed explaining: the giant gaping mouth says it all. "Mako, you and I are attacking from the back, Edgie, Toby, keep their attention on you guys while we look for an opening!" Drawing their weapons, Ika and Mako made a dash for the back of the beast, while Toby and Edgie were using low-level attacks to force it to circle the arena, a difficult task for it considering its size. They went around on either side before ending up at the tail. "Hm... It's a little tall... Here! Try hopping on the bannisters!" The two hopped up onto a window, before grabbing a curtain, using it like a vine as they swung across the room, eventually getting just [[High]] enough to jump onto the fish's back - Ika stuck the landing, but Mako had to dig her axe into the creature. Strangely, it didn't bleed, but that was no matter. Edgie and Toby cried out from the floor. "We're almost out of time, Ika! Any more bright ideas?" "Just hold on a little, I got this!" Ika ran over to the head of the fish, hesitating for a second, before plunging her sword into the brain of the demon. It cried out in a warbled groan, before starting to fall from the floor. "Mako, other wall, now!" The two jumped for the wall, using their weapons to stab into it, the force slowing them down, but they did need to make pretty large gashes in the marble. They popped off, running to the face of the fish. The strategist had questions. "Is it down? Are we done?" "Not quite,", explained Edgie. "This must be the locus of the Outburst. If we can get inside their head, we can end this for good. Otherwise, it might recover." "And how do we get inside?", questioned Mako. Edgie touched a hand to the forehead of the fish, muttering something incomprehensible, before a door appeared right on top. "Through here." They walked inside. Instead of the expected surreal mindscape, or something like that, it was just a small patch of snow in the middle of nowhere. The same child from before was sitting in the middle, sad and dejected. Mako, again, wanted to talk up to them, but this time, it was Ika who took the lead. She sat down next to them and offered them a cookie from her backpack. "You hungry?" The child shook its head, and didn't say anything. "I won't tell your parents. Honest." The child perked up in a tiny voice. "I ate them already... I'm too full... I wanna stop eating." "You wanna stop eating?" "Yeah. My tummy is always so hungry..." "Have you... been eating your fruits and veggies?" "Nuh-uh! They're gross!" "Then that's why. Maybe you just need something healthy." Ika dug into her sack again. "Let's see... Do you know what a parsnip is?" The child shook their head no. "It's like a super tasty mix of a potato and a carrot. I think you'll like it." The child took it into their hands. They were hesitant, but they eventually sunk their teeth into it. "This is tasty!" They started laughing to themselves. Everyone's vision grew brighter and brighter... Brighter, yet brighter... ... The quartet awoke groggily on the bricks outside the town center. "Mako, my head hurts again..." "That's double for me too, sweetie..." "I believe that is all of us. When an Outburst is properly taken care of, it causes minor delirium. It wears off in a couple of seconds." They heard a crashing of doors and a commotion. A bunch of dwarves busted out of the town hall, all talking amongst themselves, their long beards appearing to phase into one another. "Well, that solves that mystery," noted Mako. "But, where's the little one?" A young dwarf and what they presumed was their father walked out of the hall, noticing the adventurers and approaching them. The young child spoke first. "Yummy!" They ran up to Ika and hugged her leg. "Kid, please. Knock it off..." "Sowwy..." Toby addressed the father. "I presume you're the dad of this rascal?" He spoke in a gruff manner, but one that was polite. "That would be correct, young man. Did you four have anything to do with my child?" "Yes, but not in any malicious way." Edgie explained the whole ordeal to him. "Your child underwent an Outburst, most likely out of not being fed properly. They felt so much hunger that is consumed him, turning him into the Mawfish." "That's it? I thought he was put under a spell or something." Edgie rolled their eyes, probably wondering what the man *really* thought of magic. "It could be because of underfeeding, but anything can trigger it. Has there been any change in your child's routine?" The stout man put a hand on his beard and scratched it, pushing it down. "As a matter of fact, yes. I got a strange letter saying I needed to give my child some pills, or there would be consequences for the whole village." Ika perked up at the concept. "You accepted that?" "What other choice did I have? I appreciate my little young'in, but... I have a responsibility to my people too." "Who was the letter from?" "Didn't say. Just 'The Lady'." Toby recognized the pseudonym. "That's the person who runs Synth City!" Ika tilted her head. "She is? How, uh, do you know that?" Toby presented his claw like he was trying to sell it. Ika just withdrew and sat down near the ice statue. The dwarvish man continued. "Well, I appreciate you all helping us! Is there anything I can do for you?" Toby shook his head. "I was just bored, honestly." Edgie was quick and to the point. "Mana potions." He turned to Mako. "And you, miss?" Mako thought for a bit. "You see the green head over there? Do you know anything about her? She's lost her memory before I met her and is trying to reconstruct it back together." Mako and the Dwarf walked up to Ika. "Hm, I don't think I've seen exactly her... But I did hear rumors of a green headed fellow in The Neon Desert a few times. Nothing really came of it, but it seems like a start." Ika repeated it a couple of times. "The Neon Desert... The Neon Desert... I feel like I have heard that before... What do you think, Mako?" "Hm... We can go if you want, but I have a feeling you also want to be home for a little bit, sweetie." "You're right, yeah..." After wrapping things up, everyone started their trek back home. Would Ika truly find out her past, or would it stay hidden forever? Ufufu~ I suppose the [[Answers]] are for me to decide, hm? You have a new [[Correspondence]].