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Sebyl Sheena has never had her hands full like this.
She gingerly guided an old lady down the steps to the Veritatem Dungeons - a location that was once host to enemies of the Kingdom, now a shelter for everyone in Emerald City after the recent threat of an invasion. Eventually they reached the bottom of the stairwell, and the lady waved her hand at a young man whom Sebyl guessed was her son.
The lady smiled at Sebyl. "Thank you, my queen."
"You're welcome. Make sure she has something to rest on for later, okay? Let the Oblations know if you need anything else," Sebyl said to the teenager by the old lady's side.
"I will, my queen."
Sebyl slid off, watching the rest of Emerald City's residents bunker down with the help of the castle maids and Oblations. She spotted Ansherine the Apsara making her way through the crowd and resting her back against the wall.
"Rough night," she told Sebyl. The Slime nodded in agreement. "Has Jeiel gotten in touch with you yet, hime?"
"No. The last thing I heard from him was the order he gave Ersha." Ansherine rubbed at her arm, clearly worried over her head. "I hope he hasn't done something reckless again."
Sebyl patted Ansherine on the head. "It won't be like the last time. If he does so much as break that promise he made with us I'm stuffing his mouth with slime until he goes green in the face."
Ansherine giggled, cracking the tension she wore on the surface. With a hug from Sebyl she went back to helping the other wives accommodate the Emerald City residents.
All while Sebyl stared at the dungeon ceiling, feeling a nervous chill throughout her slimy exterior.
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<"I received word from the outposts of Munchkinland, Gillikin Country, Winkie State and Quadling Nation. The jet-black Mamono from before has not appeared anywhere in Oz since we last fought it.>
"Thank you, Eden."
Jeiel ran through the halls of the Emerald City Library, flanked closely by the Oblation Eden. He still couldn't shake the worry on what befell Lin, Blances and Blink - but given the situation, he couldn't focus his energies entirely on finding them. He needed answers on the looming threat that took him and Emerald City by surprise.
And since the attacker from earlier hasn't showed herself since her last flounce of strength within Emerald City, Jeiel had enough breathing time to escape the frontlines and see something for himself.
Reaching the end of the hall, there was a section of books lined up against the wall - away from the main library that was cloistered on the far left turn of the building.
Jeiel grabbed a book and pulled it down. It made a clink, activating a mechanism that caused the tile Jeiel was standing on to descend like an elevator. Summoning an orb of green light on his palm Jeiel spied another room below the floor - one that was quite spacious than the library halls, lined with books aplenty that stacked on top of each others like towers of knowledge.
This was a hideaway. A hideaway for someone who didn't want the eyes of the heavens always watching her every move.
And much to Jeiel's annoyance, this hideaway was empty since the person who used to own it was now being bound for her reckless behavior.
Jeiel ended up in the center of a floor-drawn pentacle, books stacked around the circle but none placed within it. With the orb of light in hand Jeiel tipped to one knee and struck the orb to the heart of the pentacle.
"Eden?"
The Oblation shuffled forward - having still followed Jeiel to this point. Jeiel glanced to the direction of the girl as the pentacle started to fill in with green light. "Don't let the others know what this place is."
<As you wish, my liege.>
In the middle of the green light a foot appeared. Then a pair of legs. Then the waist, chest and smug face of a girl several inches shorter than Jeiel. The initials O and Z were on two braids hanging by the side of her head. [This girl.]
"Whiz." Jeiel lowered his head in a semi-bow. "You look well."
The auric hologram of the Whiz of Oz, placing her hands on her hips, sniggered complacently. <Funny. I had a gut feeling that you were going to call me, son-in-law.> She brushed a braid back and turned her nose up like a snobbish princess. <As expected of my genius mahou-sense. I always know it when my people need me and my magical expertise. I bet you lot can't even live with yourselves without your little Whiz.>
"I don't have time for your funnies, Whiz." Jeiel paced in front of the hologram. "Mayind and Pathos are not with you?"
< The moment I sensed your entry into my workshop I snuck out of their human observation space.> Whiz rolled her eyes with a sigh. <I will never understand why they have a schedule for observing humans in the Mamono Realm. Haven't they had enough of Gilgamesh condemning them in their human-shaped prison? Their brains must be rotting on the inside.>
"WHIZ."
<Alright, I'll crab at you more when we see each other in person again.> Whiz stepped up to Jeiel, her form at the very edge of the lit pentacle. <What do you want, son-in-law?>
Instead of a drawn-out explanation that the lady would gripe at, Jeiel spoke one word - stemming from the vision that he had saw beneath the hole in the sky.
"TERRASIDE."
Whiz's eyebrows furrowed.
<...what?>
Jeiel looked on to Whiz. He was dead serious at this point. "There's something happening in Oz right now. And the word I feel is responsible for this - is TERRASIDE."
<...>
Whiz crouched at the edge of the pentacle, and without other snarky responses in her sleeve, she said, <TELL ME MORE. NOW.>