With their prize safely bagged and ready to be transported, Cain leads the group back to the city, transforming back into the Wrath Demon form once everyone is safely set down outside the gates. The guards are giving the odd scene a wide berth, not wanting to get in the way of whatever is going on, but the sight of the unconscious fake bandits being unwrapped from the sailcloth bag brings them running.
"What have you brought us? Is that a group of bandits?" The guard asks, before doing a double-take at their outfits, which look more like high society cosplay than an actual impoverished bandit group. Not only are they too clean for bandits, but the high-quality materials, precious metals, and tailored fit all give indications that these are no normal thieves.
"I think they're new at it. Powerful, but they don't even know not to wear their valuables while doing a raid." Cain shrugs.
The guard looks them over carefully, checking them against a set of notes he had made in advance. "The descriptions match the reports from the surviving traders though, so this should be them. I will have the guards take them into custody and the higher-ups can deal with this. But I can give you the writ of completion so that you can turn the quest in to the Hall."
Cain nods his agreement. "I appreciate it. This was my last task in town before we travel on to our next stop, so getting it sorted out means we can relax for the rest of the day."
After thanking the guard, Cain collects his cloth and leads everyone into the city, dismissing the Dragons, which are currently drawing a huge amount of attention from everyone with a view out the gate, as well as those who were waiting in line but moved out of the way when he landed. None of them wanted to anger the dragons after all. Any creature with teeth the size of your torso gets an instinctive level of personal space without having to ask for it, at least to the Beastkin.
In the middle of the day, the Quest Hall lineup is almost nonexistent, letting them reach the counter in only a few minutes, where the same clerk is on duty. They definitely weren't expecting Cain back so fast, much less with a completion note from the guard for an entire bandit group that was recovered alive.
"How did you even do that?" The Quest Hall clerk asks in amazement. This would be a story that could be retold for years, a bare handful of transfers took down a notorious Mythic Awakened bandit group, without killing any of them and without taking any casualties.
"It might not be a particularly fair fight, but I used Mythic Dragons to set fire to the forest, and then froze and paralyzed them when they ran for the safety of the clearing around the road," Cain explains, causing the people in line to give him a skeptical look.
"You think he's joking, but he's really not. I saw the dozen Mythic Dragons fly in. Enormous red and sliver beasts a hundred meters long, with teeth bigger than my leg." One of the men at the back of the line confirms loudly.
"Man, I wish I had awakened a dragon taming class. I would be so much stronger." One of the rogues in line sighs.
He has just reached the first advancement and moved from the classic Rogue to Assassin Class. It isn't a great first advancement class, but it can lead to some very good second advancement classes if you have the right skills. Elmira was an assassin when she started out, though her class progression was Pixie-specific, so not one that this adventurer could follow.
"The dragons would likely just eat you. When was the last time you succeeded in a beast-hunting quest? You're the worst carnivore I know." One of the others in line laughs.
Cain has just collected his reward and stepped away when an urgent Guild Message comes through to him, followed quickly by a half dozen private messages, all saying basically the same thing.
[You need to be here now. Something has gone wrong.] Is what the clone of Vala that is staying in Long Fang Valley sends to Cain.
Cain pulls everyone into [Merger] and uses the [Recall] traveling ability to instantly shift himself to his bedroom in the Manor house, where Vala and Evangeline are staring at a black bubble of a defensive barrier that covers Cain's bed.
Cain inspects the bubble closely, assuming that it is the reason Vala is panicked. He draws a sword and taps on the barrier, eliciting a metallic ringing noise. The bed is inside, but the room the bed is sitting in looks to be some sort of white marble building with multi-toned hardwood floors that form a labyrinth pattern on the floor.
Cain decides to give it a solid hit, using one of Vala's Mythic Attack Skills to no effect. The barrier doesn't weaken or show any signs of damage at all, only a louder ringing sound from his attack lets him know that he even made contact. Since that isn't working, Cain tries simply putting a hand on it, wondering if it only allows certain objects to pass through, but it is smooth and cold, like frozen glass.
"That's strange. It almost looks like a portal, but it has formed a solid barrier over the entire bed. Do we know what caused it?" Cain asks and Vala nods numbly, pointing into the portal opposite the direction that Cain is looking, towards where the wall should be if the other side of the portal was still in his bedroom.
Looking out, there is a more feminine version of his Ancient form, seated at a table nearly identical to the ones in the abandoned ancient city in the mountains.
[Your world is too weak for the young to mature. They will be safe with us.] Sounds in Cain's mind from a half dozen different voices at once, as if responding to his confusion, but then the portal closes and the voices are abruptly cut off.
One final voice comes into Cain's mind as the bedroom returns to its original appearance, but without the very pregnant Misha that should be on the bed.
[The oracles say disaster is coming again, and that world is too weak to survive. Find us when you have regained the power to ascend.] One final gentle feminine voice sounds in Cain's mind.
"A fat lot of good that does me. Give me back my Misha you bunch of Ancient psychopaths!" Cain shouts at the empty room as the enormity of what just happened begins to sink into his mind.
There are still Ancients alive somewhere, and they have taken his kids. If the voice wasn't lying, they were rendered unable to reproduce after the War Between the Gods, so they probably won't hurt them, but somehow that's not a lot of consolation.
Cain tries sending Misha a message but only receives a failure message. [Member Misha Not in Range.]
She still shows in the Guild Roster, so Cain is assuming that she is unharmed so far, but nobody knows how the system will work if a transfer is pulled out of this world entirely. Perhaps her status is only stuck at the last point it could be recorded.
"What happened?" Cain asks, looking at the two Companions who were in the room when everything happened.
"Vala was picking an evening story since Misha had been trying to memorize every species' collections of fables, and I went to grab spare blankets because the weather is cold and wet tonight. Cyrene is still downstairs getting drinks, I don't think she knows what happened yet." Evangeline explains.
That won't last long, She is already on her way back, and Cain can feel her approaching. But it doesn't feel like she is coming up the stairs.
Moments later a small portal opens and a battered and bloody Lamia appears in the air in front of Cain, falling into his arms. Evangeline heals her almost instantly, but Cyrene's wounds seem to be closing very slowly as if there is a hidden debuff preventing rapid healing.
"I'm sorry boss. I saw the portal open in my vision, but there was no way to stop it. I went to the bottom half of the portal, where it opened into the floor below us, but they caught me almost instantly and threw me back out of their world. That place isn't normal, the air feels strange, and my battle visions were constant for the few seconds I was there like they have been at war for all time." The Lamia says softly, struggling to remain conscious.
"What else did you see while you were there?" Cain asks gently.
"Ancients. The room I was sent to had dozens of them around a dinner table. They are so incredibly powerful. They didn't even touch me, this damage is from their auras." The effort of speaking is too much and she has to stop and spit up a mouthful of blood, so Cain silences her and lays her down on the bed.
It should be safe enough, Cain suspects the only reason that spot was targeted was that it was Misha's bed, and that was where they detected her. Even with a Mythic Demon steps away, there was no time and no way to rescue her. Even with her visions of the future, Cyrene almost got herself killed in an instant trying.
