The Oscillation: B5 — 16. A Nightmare Lifted (Patreon)

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1. Melissa (Our First Look At Our New Tentacle Mythikin!)

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Melissa sat cross-legged on Selvaria’s gigantic head, Galatea zipping left and right around her, seeing to the swarming undead that tried to stop the colossal monster’s trail of destruction.

The island of fog and death was now filled with the thuds of the Leviathan’s giant legs and arms as she pulled herself over the ancient trees and creatures—many of whom didn’t seem to be terrified in the least.

A horde of bony fiends mindlessly charged to their deaths, crushed by the sea monster’s girth.

Huh, were they really killed when they’re already dead?  Melissa couldn’t help thinking, then giggled a little bit; it had been a while since she’d had the space for such silly thoughts.

It was oddly uncanny, passively watching a baby seal—turned baby Leviathan—blast the undead that managed to climb up Selvaria’s body, sending them tumbling to the ground as Galatea chirped her conquest.

She could see stronger, ghostly monsters gathering around the scar the woman had made to the volcano, seemingly knowing they’d eventually use it to reach the smoky destination, yet Selvaria’s first agenda was to identify the loot left by the skeletal titans Melissa had slain.

Her teeth locked together upon seeing the crushed piles of dissolving bones the size of a four-story building—she’d killed them—and they had dropped treasure like some video game.

What kind of world is this…  Everything was so torturous before, but this…  How can I have fun in a place like this?

Unlatching her tentacles from Selvaria’s plates after the Leviathan created another scarred path between the six giant boneyards, she propelled herself off to land on the damaged forest area.

Selvaria shrunk down a hundred meters to her left, making Melissa blink in confusion at how small she’d become; the older, mature woman looked like a teenager as she jogged over, plowing through the undead that broke through the ground as if they weren’t even there.

“Hey…  What did we get—anything cool?”

“Gyuu!”

Glancing around as weaker undead soldiers spawned, Melissa sent her six wolves out from the back of her sweater back to clear out the rabble—they really felt like rabble—weak and brittle.

“I don’t think they’ve fully dissolved yet…  Is that how it works; they dissolve into treasure?”  she questioned, absently watching her giant black wolves grow to only a fraction of their previous size when she was in her Scylla State.

I should probably name them at some point…

“Huh.”  Selvaria put a hand on her hip as she slowed, lifting a foot to pluck off a skeletal hand that refused to let go of her leg.  “Eww.  Creepy undead.  Oh, good puppies.  Have you named them yet?”

Laughing at how at ease they were in a graveyard of skeletal monsters, Melissa shook her head.  “I was just thinking about that.  We can do it later, but… they’re really helpful.”

They turned to watch the overgrown wolves plow into and crush the skeletons like dogs gnawing on cheap bones, yet the specters gathering at the edge of the forest tightened her gut.

“Uh… what do we do about those guys?”

“Meh.  Galatea can blast them with her elemental breath.  Good Exp for her.”

“Gyu, gyu, gyuuu!”

The little Leviathan gave a funny salute to her master—something she couldn’t do as a seal with her short fins—and flew off to chase the ghosts away, spewing electrified frost at them.

“Hmm?”

They returned their focus to the bone pile with her wolves and Galatea handling the small fries when a hissing scream pierced the night—hundreds of cries—from the giant bones that cracked, releasing dark energy.

Melissa shivered, remembering the cursed feeling of weakness that came over her when wrapping her tentacles around them, but after several seconds, all that remained of the devastated area were broken trees, upturned earth, and a single treasure chest.

“No gold or gems?”  Selvaria huffed, walking forward with her.  “Cahira’s gonna be big sad.  Welp, what’s the loot?”

The teenage Leviathan kicked the chest, making Melissa jump as it popped like a balloon, releasing black smoke to reveal a green sleeveless, roll-neck sweater and tight black pants.

Selvaria threw her hands in the air for her to high-five.  “Wooh.  Fashion.”

Slapping her palms with a short giggle, Melissa used a tentacle to scoop them up and held them up to examine.  “These will have special properties, too?”

“Mhm.  Let’s see, System, be nice and tell us what these do…  Oh.  Cool.”

“What?”

The Leviathan smiled and held it out for her.  “Not as good as Nia since she was the end-of-quest reward, I think, but these can act as a wardrobe changer of sorts.”

“I… don’t follow.  Nia?”

She held up the top and bottom, asking the System to impart its seemingly boundless wisdom on her, and her eyes widened at the information granted.

“It can absorb a piece of clothing and take one attribute from it?”

Selvaria pointed at the bottoms.  “It has a ten-item limit and only takes one attribute from the item, but that’s ten items sacrificed to create your own personal outfit.  Cool, huh?  It can transform on the spot, too.  Hmm.  We just need something with the attribute to morph into your body when transformed…”

“Heh…  Is this normal for you?”  Melissa asked, holding the sweater to her white top for it to suddenly be drawn off her body and into the item.  “Eh?!”

She stood in momentary shock while looking down at her ghost bra and writhing tattoos moving across her skin.  “It just… ate my storage sweater!”

“Hehe.  Rookie mistake,” Selvaria chuckled, pointing at the item.  “Did it absorb the right affix?”

Checking real fast, she sighed in relief.  “It has the pocket dimension thing… wait, can it… it can,” she mumbled as it transformed into the baggy white sweater.  “So… ten items, including bottoms and underwear?”

“Let’s test it out,” Selvaria hummed, pointing at the jeans.  “What do those do?”

Hesitantly bringing the two together with her two remaining untattooed tentacles, she jumped again as it was absorbed, making the Leviathan giggle.

“It applies a curse to anyone that touches me I view negatively… sapping their strength and has increased durability and defenses.”

“Curse.”  Selvaria instantly nodded as if it was the only option.  “Definitely the curse.  Needed.  Totally needed.”

Excitement bubbled up in her breast as she slipped her tentacles through the item to pull it over her head, feeding the appendages into the storage; it automatically absorbed her bra, bottoms, and underwear when touched to reappear in shimmering black light.

“No way…  This is amazing,” she whispered, staring down at her now green top and black pants.  “Ghost features that allow my tentacles, ears, and tail to go through from anywhere, internal storage, a weakening curse, waterproof, and the ability to change colors?”

Selvaria counted off on her fingers.  “Five of ten, huh?  Do the attributes stay if you feed it more clothes?”

Melissa asked the question, and a big grin spread across her lips.  “Uh-huh!  It can only store ten items—and it destroys them—but I can add new clothing to it.”

She gave a thumbs up.  “Nice.  Looking cute, too.  Want to check out the others?  I’m still holding out hope for an android or super-suit—I’ll have my super-suit—it’s the main reason I came!”  Selvaria determined, throwing a fist in the air.

“Haha.  Okay.  Uh… does it matter I killed them, so it will be what I want?”

Selvaria shrugged, leading the way to the next area—a decent distance away—as Melissa’s wolves returned from their defensive slaughter to take up a diamond formation around them; Galatea continued to use her breath attack against the ghosts, and the stronger ones seemed to be strong enough to have a mini aerial battle with the flying Leviathan.

“I don’t know how Cahira’s ability works—it’s weird—but it seems to have things appropriate to what we want in one way or another.  I think it’s getting stronger.”

She looked back at her with a wry smirk.  “She’s pretty bad in a normal fight, but she makes up for it in other areas… if only she weren’t such a pervert.  Right?”

“Heh.  I’ll take your word for it…  Is it really okay just to walk through this place so carefree?  What if it’s cursed—if we get cursed… look what happened to me because I wasn’t careful,” she fretted, gesturing at her two tentacles.  “Uh…”

Selvaria snickered at her fearful tone, flipping around to gesture at herself.  “Oh, no!  Look how small I’ve become—maybe you’re right—am I cursed?”

“I, uh… I didn’t want to say anything, but… you don’t seem that concerned you’ve, uh…”

“Aged backward?”  Selvaria grinned, showing her fanged teeth with a beaming smile yet retaining her monotone voice that Melissa was sure had to be a curse with how animated the woman seemed to be.  “Aren’t I cute?”

“Umm.  Y-Yeah, I suppose you are?”

“Hehe.  You’re such a worrywart, Melissa!”

Her cheeks darkened at the comment as she gestured at her wolves, chowing down on skeletal horses and riders, hosting small cuts in their fur from the stronger undead they took down in the unceasing assault.

“Umm, yeah?  We’re on a literal island of death!  Those giants would have probably totally destroyed me if I didn’t surprise them, too.  You’re like… never worried!”

Melissa breathed a short puff of air through her nose as Selvaria slowed to reach up and pat her head, forcing her ears to fold back.  “It’s okay to be scared sometimes, Mel.  You’ll get strong like big sis soon enough, and then you won’t be scared of anything.  Follow us, and I’ll make you a tough girl that no one will mess with, just like me!”

“If you say so…  What about your size?”

“Hmm?  Oh, hehe, I just need to dip myself in some water on our way to the volcano.  No biggy.”

Not quite getting what water had to do with her small size, but, recognizing she seemed to be just as invincible as she was before by her fearless march and comments about how cute her wolves were, Melissa let her concern settle down again.

Her hounds were taking damage, yet just like her, they had incredible regeneration from her endless battle against the giant eagles and sea monsters; it was worrying—especially after Selvaria’s comments on poison, which was a valid point—but the Leviathan truly seemed unstoppable.

Walking with her to the second chest in the middle of the devastation, Selvaria cheered upon seeing three large rubies lying around it.

“Food for Zippy!  I’m gonna steal him from Cahira someday,” the woman whispered with a joking wink.  “Turtles love food, so I’m gonna be his favorite.”

“Zippy?”

“You’ll meet him soon—big turtle island—kind of our home base until my sea temple is done.”

Melissa wasn’t even going to try to understand what she was talking about and just nodded.  Her heart began to thump again as she kicked the chest, yet, this time, it was sent sailing several meters away to tumble across the ground.

“Oops.”

“What happened?” she asked as one of her wolves ran after it to pick it up in his jaws and return with it.

Selvaria patted his head.  “Good boy—or are you a girl?”

“Half and half—three boys, three girls,” Melissa responded.  “This one’s a boy.”

The wolf made a low, joyful note and wagged his tail as Selvaria scratched behind his ear before running off to chow down on more self-delivered chew toys.

“That’s a good number.  Hmm… looks like we gotta break the lock,” she mumbled, bending down to present it.

“How—okay then…  It didn’t work?”

Selvaria tugged down, yet nothing happened.

“Hmm.  I’m too light, probably…  You try.  Ooh, what if it’s locked because you are the key?”

“Like it’s meant for me?”

Selvaria nodded.  “Mhm.  Give it a shot.”

Tapping her tentacle against the top, a wry smile lifted her cheeks as the lock fell away and it popped open.  “So weird…”

The Leviathan reached in to produce black gym shorts and a white scoop-neck t-shirt with a thin black line around the collar and sleeves.  Melissa took the offered items before the woman next produced a pair of small hoop earrings and a hair clip.

“Ooh.  Probably Epic-Grade stuff, huh?  Pretty good?”

Melissa couldn’t help a chuckle as she drew out two more tentacles to receive the jewelry.  “An epic t-shirt and gym shorts?  I think this shirt is a belly shirt, too…  Eh—sleepwear?”

Selvaria pumped her fist into the air.  “Sleepwear!  Cool.  What buffs?”

“What kind of buffs are these?  The shirt has a forcefield that blocks out light… it provides minor healing to light wounds while sleeping, and soothes an afflicted mind… like if I have a headache or anything that’s preventing me from falling asleep.”

“Oh.  Jealous.  I want something that stops headaches; definitely go with that one.  What about the shorts?”

Melissa tossed the shirt against her sweater, absorbing it with the soothing effect.  “Temperature control to remain comfortable in any weather, danger sense, and shocks anything that tries to touch me?  These combinations are a bit weird.”

Selvaria scratched her neck.  “Humm… hard choice on this one.  Temperature control is so nice, but danger sense?  Tough.”

“Umm.  I think I’m fine without danger sense since I kind of already have something like that?”

“Cool.  Temperature control.  You’re making me jealous!  Earrings?”

“Haha.  Sorry.  Uh, earrings…”  Her eyebrows lifted while holding the loops up; this was almost like shopping and finding awesome clothes but with superpowered perks.  “It can camouflage me, heh, stops snoring and drooling, and makes anything uncomfortable feeling vanish when trying to rest.”

“Oof.  Not snoring and drooling is big,” Selvaria growled, arms crossing under her small bust.  “Hard choices again.”

“Wait…”  Melissa tucked under her lips as a thought came to her, and she asked the System.  “It can!”

Selvaria’s head tilted.  “It can do what?”

She instantly held the gym shorts and earrings to her chest to be absorbed and appear on her cat ears, making them wiggle; her outfit shimmered before showing her sleepwear, and all of her tattoos faded to be replaced by her white skin.

“Oh my gosh!  Yes!  Look!  It camouflages my tattoos!”  she squealed before concern crossed her eyes, and she looked up at Selvaria.  “Uh… was I too hasty?”

Selvaria swiftly shook her head, giving her another thumbs up.  “Super cute.  It turns your eyes an amber color, too.  Camo’s pretty cool.  Try the hairpin, too; it can help keep your bangs out of the way.”

“Uh-huh!  Umm… it blocks out sound, lets me breathe underwater, and makes my clothes really durable, so they don’t rip.”

“Definitely the latter,” Selvaria sighed, glancing down at her plates; they acted as a bathing suit.  “I kind of gave up on clothes when I go into battle because I always destroyed them; we need to find an item that pulls your clothes into your body for your last affix, but the durable one is awesome.  No heroine losing parts of her clothes for fan service.  Approve.”

“Hehe.  You have a funny way of looking at things, Selvaria,” Melissa mused, holding the clip to her breast and adding the ninth affix to her outfit.  “To the next chest?”

“Onward!  March, soldiers.”

They went from chest to chest, yet in the third and fourth, all they found was a heavy club with electric powers and a hammer that could shrink down into a charm bracelet and had a Slow Spell attached to it to not let nearby enemies escape.

There were a few fashion choices like lilac-hued sunglasses, studded earrings to replace the hoops, and at the fifth chest, she got a new, dark cream boat-neckline sweater—Cahira’s ability loved giving her sweaters—that wasn’t exactly what they were looking for, but it worked.

“What do you think?”  she asked, presenting her new outfit combination for inspection.  “The new sweater transforms my outfit into a single larger piece of clothing that fits on my Scylla State.”

Selvaria hummed while giving her two thumbs up this time.  “Super cute.  We need to get you a sports bra then—definitely a sports bra.”

“Haha.  Thanks, Selvaria.”

“Mhm.  Gotta look out for my lil’ sis and keep the creeps off ya.  Haaa…”

Adding a forced smile while putting her hands in her pockets, Melissa glanced toward the last area.  “We got almost everything I wanted, but no super-suit?”

“Nope.  I’m hoping, but maybe I’ll need to wait until the final reward.  Actually, yeah, I’d rather have it be one of the big prizes—hear me, System?!”  she shouted to the heavens.  “I want a super-suit.  Help me out, Moon-Moon!”

“Is… that a nickname for Rachel?”  Melissa asked, having heard a bit about Mythic’s Lunar Hare leader now.

Making their way to the last chest, Selvaria sighed and shook her head.  “A demigod rabbit that I play chess with sometimes and talk about Rachel.  He’s scared of Yseress.”

“Her… inner demon?”

“Devil.  Big important, apparently,” Selvaria educated.  “She’s super finicky about it.”

“I see…”  The more she heard about Mythic, the crazier it sounded.  “And Nia is her… sentient clothing?”

“Mhm.  She can take on a body now, too; she’s cute and likes to dress up like me.  Oh, we should all get together and have a fashion show.  Well…”  Selvaria glanced toward her wolves and Galatea, still blasting undead, but they’d become a lot more scarce as time went on.  “Maybe we should wait for the fashion show until my mom goes shopping with me.  You should join.”

Melissa shrugged.  “I don’t think I have anything else really planned… besides looking for clues about my little sister.”

Selvaria slowed to put a hand on her shoulder.  “We’ll find her.  I got contacts with government big shots; we’ll get my people working on it.”

From what she’d gathered, most of those ‘contacts’ came from Rachel more than anything else, but it meant a lot that she seemed to care so much for helping her; Selvaria had literally changed her life, and so easily, too.

Sure, it came from Cahira’s ability to find treasure, and Melissa assumed the definition of ‘treasure’ played a role in what they got, which was why clothing was so prevalent from the things they were killing, yet Selvaria’s guidance and example was an anchor for her.

“Thank you.”

Silence ensued as they turned into their own thoughts, and Melissa absently watched her wolves tear into the small groups of undead that exited the soil or devastated forest; Galatea was growing tired, so she returned to Selvaria to hold the back-to-normal baby seal, falling asleep in her arms.

No starlight fed through the obscured heavens, and their path ended when they came to a black river; the swirling mist cast an eerie silence over the settling island again after Selvaria’s roar had parted it, struck by their titanic mayhem more than an hour ago.

“Now that… that looks cursed,” Melissa mumbled as her six wolves stood nearby, heads scanning for danger.

“Yyyup…  Let’s see.”

“Selvaria!”

She stepped forward to stick a foot in the black goo without an ounce of fear.  “Uh… salty.  I can drink it, and uh, yeah, it’s cursed, but whatever, I can shrug it off with my resistances.  Want to ride on my back?”

Melissa huffed while glaring at the fearless Leviathan.  “I’m more concerned about you than me!  You keep doing dangerous stuff.”

“Meh.  I’m tough.  If it’s not scary looking, I don’t really care.”

Not grasping the last bit—how scary would something need to be to frighten the fearless Leviathan—so she chalked it up to another incomprehensible statement.

Tightening her lips, Melissa tentatively dipped her tentacle in the water, shivering as a shock ran up her frame; it was difficult, but she retracted her trembling appendage to choke, “Gah… i-it paralyzes you?”

“Hmm.  Looks like you need to work on your defenses, Mel.  Here, let me go in and bring you and Galatea over; I don’t remember how big it is…  It can’t be too big… unless it grew—it probably grew,” she nodded, matter-of-factly.

“Are you sure?  What if there’s a monster in there?”

“Probably is… I’ll just eat it,” she smiled, chomping her sharp fangs.  “Oh!  Do you want to try out your clothes to see if it works?”

“Right… right… the only issue is…”

“Ah.  Yeah… you can’t really move well when you transform.  We need to fix that.”

Melissa shrugged.  “It’s a part of my myth—Scylla can’t move—or that’s what I know about her myth.”

“Everything can be fixed with experience points,” Selvaria cheered.  “Praise the almighty System!  We just need to get you more points.  Okay.  Stand back.”

Taking Galatea and accepting one of her wolves’ backs as he offered her a ride, they darted away, weaving between small packs of weak undead; she heard a diminished splash followed by an eruption of water before snapping trees and upturned earth with Selvaria’s low chuckles.

“Gnawing on steel isn’t good for your teeth, lil’ guys… oof, see, I told you.”

The wind blowing Melissa’s locks back eased as her wolves slowed, turning to see a colossal shadow in the dissipating mist; the Leviathan’s girth and sweeping hands created a sharp whirlwind that pushed the fog away as she waved.

“Mel… I know you went this—there you are.”

It was a little apocalyptic-looking, seeing the gigantic Leviathan reaching down to place her fingers nearby.  “Whenever you're ready—the stupid river really did grow—talk about a cheating island.  It almost washed our prize away.”

Who’s cheating?  Melissa internally laughed as her wolves jumped onto the monster’s hand.

The Leviathan shifted in the shin-deep river, her tail dragging along the bottom of the river to send a wave of the tar-like liquid back the way they’d come.

Selvaria set them on the other side before the giant monster plopped down in the middle of the cursed river to clump up earth and create a bridge with holes for the river to run under.

“There we go… just like at the beach—add a little frost—and we have a bridge to slide across, so I don’t need to keep being the ferry.  Oh, add a railing so we don’t go tumbling in, and we have an ice skating ring!”

You’re ridiculous!

Waiting as the Leviathan put the finishing touches on it, Melissa’s eyes widened as the woman shrunk and jumped out—she’d filled out—Selvaria was a grown woman again.

Stretching left and right, she huffed.  “Mmgm… there we go!  Nice and full—I got a treat, too—stupid slime thing thought it could try and eat me—me—the nerve.  So, I ate it back.”

“Hehe.  I bet.  The last chest?”

“Mhm!  Let’s see what we get.”

Making their way to the final area, Melissa wondered if this ease was always present in this group’s adventures.  Mara and Nemesis seemed to be able to manhandle the undead from what she could see, as well, but according to Selvaria, they kind of out-leveled this area; their first Legend’s Quest was insanely difficult, plus they kind of knew what to expect now.

It didn’t take long to reach the chest since the river had almost expanded to the area, and kicking it open like the rest, Selvaria was disappointed to find another set of clothing.

Melissa happily added to her growing collection, trading out her color-changing affix for black and white striped, thigh-high stockings that gave her the expanded ability to store more clothes in her pocket space.

She didn’t care too much for the item abilities of the other items but was happy to put a teal sweetheart-necked sweater and scoop-neck black tanktop into her wardrobe.

Wearing the new outfit as they returned to the bridge Selvaria crafted, Melissa cycled through a few of her options.  “This has been… amazing, Selvaria.”

“Huu-haaa.  I’m happy for you,” Selvaria returned with a sad smile.  “They’re all really cute, and you now look like a totally normal, adorable cat girl—hehe, with fluffy pets,” she said, stroking the side of one of the big, black wolves.

Melissa’s chest burned a bit as she examined herself; her tail slid right through her outfit with the ghost-like affix from the bra Cahira had given her.  “I feel like a normal eighteen-year-old girl again…  It almost feels like a dream.”

Selvaria shifted over to hug her for a moment before giggling and pointing up at Galatea, sleeping with her belly up on one of her wolf’s backs.  “Happy days ahead with me as your big sister.  Hehe, my baby works so hard.”

A ghost floated out of the fog, only for Selvaria to breathe in and shoot an electrified beam from her mouth, vaporizing the creature without a second glance.  “Gah… so annoying.  Ready to go to the volcano?”

“Sure… one second,” Melissa mumbled, glancing at one of the wolves who she singled out as the leader; deciding it would be best to invest her points in some kind of elemental-based attack if they were dealing with the ethereal so she wouldn’t have to rely so heavily on Galatea and Selvaria.

She clapped her hands in excitement as flames lit in the beast’s mouth.  “Yes!  It worked.  He can now breathe fire.”

“Nice,” Selvaria held up a thumb; it was quickly becoming a trademark image in Melissa’s mind.  “I don’t have fire, so that covers another base for us.  Now, onward to the volcano!”

Their path became far easier as they mounted her hounds—Selvaria keeping her sleeping pet stable—her wolves had to go a bit slower than Melissa expected due to the Leviathan’s weight, yet still kept a decent pace, and eventually, they made it to the scarred black ground, following it as a guide, to reach the veiled volcano.

The nightmare that had been Melissa’s life had lifted as she smiled at her new ‘big sister’ riding beside her.  Everyone she’d known had either shunned, abandoned, or used her since her change—as a Nymph and Sylla.  Yet a complete stranger had been the one to save and guide her to a state where, at this moment, she could look at herself and not be utterly revolted.

Thank you, Selvaria…

Zig-zagging to their destination at an accelerated speed, they stopped just outside of a cavern—unearthed from Selvaria’s blast—but it hadn’t been the opening that gave them pause.

Melissa’s lips parted as she pointed at the frozen men, but she couldn’t get the words out; luckily, Selvaria wasn’t so speechless and confused.

“Uh… trouble, Jack?”

“Aye!  ‘elp!”

With a clear destination being the cavern, Bonnet stood with ten of his crew; Jack tied to a branch and lifted on the shoulders of two big men.  A feather-hatted skeleton was leading their way, glancing between their parties in apparent confusion.

Bonnet stepped forward, tightening his loose tie and adding an unconvincing smile as the gagged and hog-tied man squirmed to speak past the cloth wrapped around his mouth.

“Ahem, Ladies…”

“ ‘elp—mutiny—mutiny, I tell ya!”

“Shut up!”  one of the men growled from behind the captured pirate, likely jabbing him with a knife, making him yelp.

Selvaria hopped down from her wolf, allowing him to stretch out his strained muscles as the woman released a long sigh, rolling around her own neck and cracking her knuckles.  “Why don’t we have ourselves a good ol’ chat?  What’d he do?”

“Ehh?!”  Jack cried, nudging his head toward the skeletal chief with telling eyes that said:  Can ya not see mi plight, loves?!  Turncoats, the lot o’ them!

“No!”  Bonnet hissed as the chief held up a black staff with carved symbols on it.

Tendrils of black smoke lifted from the earth to wrap around all of them; it was made of some kind of ethereal magic that her tentacles had difficulty ripping, yet, naturally, Selvaria shrugged them off like it was nothing.

Selvaria puffed out another long stream of air.  “Big mistake.”

Jack’s rolled his eyes and lifted his eyebrows in an ‘I told you so’ manner as the fog overhead parted only so slightly to show the crimson moon; Bonnet and his men turned into zombified versions of their former selves.

“Of course,” Melissa sighed, slumping against the back of her growling alpha wolf, her other five breaking free of the shadowy vines to cut the zombies off.  “Let me guess.  Cursed treasure… everything’s cursed on this stupid island.”

The Leviathan flexed her fingers as the men began to run toward the hole, yet Galatea and her fluff dogs closed them off; the seal shot a ray of frost in their path, forcing them to come to a stop as Selvaria walked through the dark magic the chief sent at her without care, slamming her fist into his skull, sending it soaring into oblivion beyond the fog.

“Shall we try this again, or should I start chewing on some bones?”

Bonnet backed into another one of his men as Jack waited with a dry expression that said:  You’re royally screwed, mate.

“Selvaria, correct?  This has been a huge misundersta—”

“Uh-huh.  Jack?”

“Cut him free!  Dammit!”  Bonnet turned and lowly hissed, likely not expecting their sharp hearing to catch it.

Bonds cut, Ward hopped up and snatched his hat from one of the zombie pirates—seemingly stolen—before rubbing his wrists and giving them a golden-toothed girn as if they were long-lost cousins.

“If it isn’t the beastie crew; ya be a sight fer sore eyes!”

“Jack…”  Bonnet snarled through a strained smile.

“Aye!  Aye, Bonnet!  We be gettin’ ta ya in a moment, but it be such a fine night.  Hehe.  Fog, the undead, and backstabbin’ mates—I thought we were on closer relations, man.”

Selvaria sighed at the performance as he taunted the undead pirate, frowning as the headless chief ran into the mist to retrieve his head.  “What do you think, Melissa?”

Resting against her wolf’s shoulders, Melissa hummed, two draconic heads exiting the back of her shirt to hover over the ironically terrified undead men, snapping their jaws.  “I think this is becoming ridiculous.  Well, I suppose we should hear the story…”

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