Night of One Hundred Horrors - Visions of Heck Part 1

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            Perhaps you might imagine that you’ve finally met your end, or worse, that you’ve damned yourself by action or inaction. Thus is the fate of those who dabble in things beyond mortal comprehension. Perchance you realize that your next destination is the fiery pits below. After all, a virtuous sort would not meet their end in the way you supposedly have.

            Fear not, the darkest pits are for the most sinful of souls. You could not compare. For one such as you, a lesser punishment awaits. It is no purgatory or limbo, but it beats being damned. At least, that’s what you’ll tell yourself.

            Now I’m sure you’re aware, there are many views of what the great beyond has in store for you. In this particular case, there are only seven possibilities to worry about. One for each sin. I’m sure you know how it goes, but let’s break it down for you just in case.

            The first layer is Lust, no limbos or anything like that. We go straight to the most basic of misdeeds. You might wonder what horrors await, but I assure you, this place is not the fiery pits, the horrors are much less.

            When you arrive in Lust, you’ll find it looks just like home, your childhood home, your grandmother’s home, maybe a babysitter’s home. Somewhere deep in your memories, and just as nostalgic. Don’t you remember how big everything felt when you were younger? Imagine that times a hundred. It’s like your home, but it never ends, there’s no outside, and the doors and halls warp and twist like a dream.

            As long as you’re there, you’ll feel young, but not quite youthful. As if your teenage self were stranded in your memories of elementary school. But don’t worry, you won’t be alone. The caretaker of Lust is kindly and sweet. In fact, she’s just like your own mother, or whoever your preferred maternal figure is. Well, maybe not exactly like them, just a little off in their features, their voice, or their manner of speech. So, while you might see your mother, you can tell it’s just something wearing her skin, but still doing its best to act the part.

            I know what you’re thinking, what does this have to do with Lust? Well, it’s simple, my dear. Where does Lust start? In those lovely days of early puberty, when you’re first realizing what it means to feel pleasure. Now imagine being stuck at that point in your life, both aware and unaware of all those feelings, forever.

            Thus, is life in this layer of Lust, that of a frustrated and confused teenager, trapped even earlier in your childhood, under the watchful eye of something wearing your mother’s face. You’ll want nothing more than to relieve yourself. To take some time to figure it all out. Too bad Momma is always going to be looking over your shoulder, always in your business, always appearing right when you need alone time. And pity those poor fools who can’t hold it in when she arrives. Embarrassment is the least of their worries. I hope you’re into humiliation, because that’s all you’ll experience in the first layer.

            If you don’t like it, there’s always the second layer, Gluttony. A bit more privacy down there, no more imposter moms looking over your shoulder. Gluttony is more like an infinite food court, or maybe endless food stalls at a carnival, or even a small town with a smattering of restaurants.

            The thing about Gluttony is that you might think you’re not allowed to eat, but you can eat anytime you want. It’s just that finding something you want to eat might be hard. It may be a realm of seemingly endless options for food, but it’s always those places you just can’t stand. Perhaps it’s that one chicken place where the food tastes like cardboard, or a greasy pizzeria that made you sick, or that one foreign place where everything is just too exotic for your delicate palate. Some poor suckers end up in a recreation of their least favorite small town that has but one restaurant that they hated with all their soul.

            The food is all free, you can eat as much as you want, but not as little as you want. You might hate every place you see, but eventually your hunger will win, and you’ll sit down to eat, and then the fun begins. You’ll eat and eat and eat, the food will be so much better than usual when you’re so hungry. Those first few bites will make you wonder why you hated these places in the first place. Then you’ll keep eating and eating and when you finally realize you might want to stop, you’ll be kindly fed some more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more…

            When you finally come to, sick to your stomach wouldn’t even be a strong enough word to describe how you’ll feel. You’ll never want to eat again, not that you could eat with how fat you’ll feel. You’ll spend a good amount of time regretting every indulgence in your life. It’ll be easy at first, you’ll have so much fat to burn that you won’t need to eat for years. Eventually, though, you’ll digest it all and finally remember what it’s like to be hungry. Alas, from then on, every time you try to find food, you’ll be denied. All those pervasive stores in this endless realm will suddenly close right before you get there. Every scrap of food you look for will be just out of reach, or you’ll find a way to lose it.

            After having spent years wishing you’d never eat again, you’ll finally get your wish. You’ll spend years denied food until you waste away into a shriveled-up, starving little mass. Until one day you make it to a restaurant just in time, and finally you’ll get to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat…

            And you’ll begin the punishment all over again.

            If you’re really lucky, you’ll be one of those precious few who have their own special indulgences to torment them. The alcoholics are fun, they don’t even remember they’ve died. The drug addicts do remember, but they’re too busy chasing a high they’ll never get again. You could call other things an indulgence, like sleep or recreation, but most of those end up in sloth, so we’ll get to them later…

To be Continued…

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What kind of fate can you expect when even the fiery pits don't want you?

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.

Facetious Fantasies - Miscommunication In The Halls of Corruption

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            In the Halls of Corruption, deep within the Court of Envy, hordes of demons work tirelessly to twist and corrupt all would-be heroes and adventurers who come to challenge their great and mighty Demon Lord. Of course, even the darkest depths of evil have their share of screw-ups and morons.

            “Pite, isn’t that the girl we brainwashed and released last week?” A portly imp asked his thin-as-a-stick companion.

            “Not at all, Rudge, it’s a clone I created,” Pite chuckled to himself. The clone was the spitting image of the happy-go-lucky brunette they had been assigned a month ago. The adventurer had gotten separated from her companions, captured by the guard corps, and assigned to these two as their latest corruption project. Pite still remembered the glint of hope in the girl’s eye as she insisted her friends would save her with that goofy grin on her face. Now the clone had that same look in her eye, but was wrapped not in the greens and browns of a traveler, but the ebony black, horned armor of the demon’s army. “That little fool is probably all dazed and confused, wondering what happened to her, and when I release this beauty onto the world, she’ll be questioning if she’s even the real one. The clone, meanwhile, will constantly throw who is real and who isn’t into question, tearing her poor little mind to shreds!”

            “S-since when was that the plan?” Rudge asked.

            “It was always the plan…Well, I came up with it several days ago, didn’t I tell you?” Pite asked.

            “No, I was cleaning up your sloppy work in brainwashing her these last few days,” Rudge revealed. “I altered her personality to be more malicious and bewitching, horrifying her friends until she inevitably betrays them.”

            “Uh, I just messed up her memories and gave her a few fake ones of being experimented on,” Pite admitted, “I wanted her to question if she was the clone or not, I wasn’t going for a whole personality rewrite.”

            “You could have told me that,” Rudge snapped.

            “I thought you knew!” Pite yelled back.

            “Great, now she’s back out in the world and her mind’s all jumbled,” Rudge sighed. “We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t have a psychotic break and ends up in an asylum. What a waste of effort.”

            “Well, at least we have the clone,” Pite exclaimed.

            “Yep, yep, yep,” the clone chirped.

            “Why is she so cheery? Shouldn’t she be a little more…evil?” Rudge asked.

            “Uh,” Pite whistled.

            “You made the clone too perfect you moron!” Rudge throttled the other imp. “Now we have a cheery clone and an evil original with memory issues. If the boss finds out we screwed up another project, we’re dead meat.”

            “We can still make this work. We can pretend the clone is the original, she’s close enough. They might buy it,” Pite assured.

            “Who are we trying to fool, the adventurers or the boss?” Rudge inquired.

            “Yes,” Pite replied flatly.

            “Is there anything I can do?” The clone asked while leaning forward and pointing at herself. She certainly had the whole “cheery childhood friend” bit perfected.

            “Just go to the human world and cause trouble, do evil things, torment your original, be useful!” Rudge ordered.

            “Yeah, I’m going to go loiter and steal candy and put gum in her hair and help old ladies cross the street,” the clone riled herself up before racing off like a cartoon.

            “Maybe you shouldn’t have given that last order,” Pite looked to the side.

            “Oh, shut up,” Rudge slapped him. The two imps crossed their fingers and hoped their project would accomplish something. And she did, she became BFFs with her original and helped her go to therapy to recover her memories. Afterwards, they grew into fine adventurers who eventually defeated the two imp’s immediate boss, so their mistakes were never discovered. Unfortunately, they were also out of a job as their division of the Halls of Corruption was closed until they could find a new leader…whoops.

>>>~~~~<<<

Communication is key in producing quality work. Lack of communication is the fastest way to produce a cascade of mistakes.

Author's Note: I may have taken more than a little direct inspiration from other sources on this one, but darn it the idea was too fun to pass up.

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.

Maid In Fantasy: Chapter XXX - Caenia's Return Part 6, Latter

Story Hub: [link]

\\~~~\\       VII       //~~~//

            After about ten minutes, everyone regrouped. Serena and Irene emerged from the distance, confirming Adaman’s demise. At the same time, Atlanta, Caenia, and the second princess descended the stairs with the bag of phones and communicators. The group was silent at first, an air of exhaustion, both mental and physical, hung over them. Not to mention their injured, as Orion was still unconscious, and Penelo was barely standing.

            “Fine, if no one will say it, I will. Put our injured to the side and start tending to their wounds,” Caenia spoke up. “That means you, Penelo, stop acting tough,” she turned to the shorter girl, but Penelo didn’t reply.

            “Penelo?” Serena asked before checking her friend more closely. The silver-haired girl’s eyes were glazed over, and her breaths were shallow. “She fainted standing up.”

            “Wonderful,” Caenia shook her head while fighting off her own desire to faint. “Just put her to the side with blondie. You, caramel-hair,” Caenia pointed at Medy.

            “Me?” Medy was taken aback.

            “Yeah, you. Aphros told me you have medical training, get to work, you have two patients,” Caenia declared. Then, the second princess appeared at Caenia’s side, giving a gesture indicating she would assist Medy. “Certainly, Your Highness,” the maid shrugged.

            “I feel like I’m forgetting…oh, snap, the engineer and the reporter guy,” Jace slapped himself.

            “Reporter?” Caenia narrowed her eyes, an expression mirrored by Serena and Atlanta.

            “Yeah, he snuck in and got wrapped up with this. He was supposed to be helping the engineer disarm one of the bombs – Which was what we did before tinhead showed up, you’re welcome – but I haven’t seen them since we split,” Jace explained.

            “Found one,” Irene declared, having snuck off to behind one of the metal structures in the area. The group, sans Atlanta, followed her to find an unconscious Giles, camera still in his hand. He had apparently fainted against the structure’s concrete base.

            “He’s fine,” Serena checked his pulse. “But where is Carus?” She looked around, ‘And how did he faint?’ The maid noted the man’s lack of injuries.

            “Lord only knows. He probably ran off to hide somewhere,” Caenia guessed. “Speaking of hiding,” she turned to Jace, “any clue where Orion left the administrator? I’d rather not have to explain to Aphros about his untimely demise.”

            “We left him hiding in a security station. He should be fine,” Jace blew off her concern.

            “Fine, just lead us there. Oh, and you get to carry the reporter,” Caenia declared, much to Jace’s frustration.

            “Are you perhaps finished with your discussion?” Atlanta asked from afar, finally putting her “royal” persona back on.

            “What now, Your Highness?” Caenia sighed.

            “I’ve made contact with Lady Aphros and informed her we were in the clear,” the first princess held up the administrator’s phone. “Her only reply was, ‘Oops, if only you had told me that sooner. Take cover.”

            “Oh, for Fu—!” Caenia began to swear before a swarm of soldiers in half-tactical gear and half-knightly armor burst into the power station. Leading them was Lady Ze, who crashed through the ceiling like she was starring in her own superhero blockbuster.

            “Yeah, yeah, kick all their…huh?” Anax, the administrator, appeared from behind the soldiers, only to realize that all the action had long since ceased.

            “Caenia, where are the extremists?” Ze approached the maid.

            “Taken care of, Lady Ze,” Caenia answered.

            “Oh,” she sounded a little disappointed, looking around at the workers and the three princesses. “Good work.”

            ‘That’s all she has to say?’ Serena thought.

\\~~~\\              //~~~//

            After all the chaos of the past couple of hours, Serena finally got a chance to rest. Princess Irene had also hit her limit and passed out asleep in Serena’s lap while they waited in a spare office for Ze’s men to secure the building. Caenia was brooding in the corner while Orion and Penelo were set to one side, the former having woken up but still too injured to move much and the latter snoring away. Medy excused herself to an isolated cubicle to ruminate on something while Jace found a corner to nap in. Princess Atlanta seated herself beside Orion, and the two whispered about nothing of interest. The second princess went off with Lady Ze for some reason, while Anax was sent off with some of Ze’s men to give his side of the story. Lastly, Giles was locked in a spare room to be interrogated later. Ze was not happy there was an additional unrelated trespasser on top of everything that happened.

            “I just don’t get it. None of this makes sense,” Serena commented.

            “Don’t get all sappy with me,” Caenia rolled her eyes, “I’ve heard enough spiels about ‘the pointlessness of violence’ and crap like that.”

            “No, not that,” Serena shook her head. “This whole extremist plot makes no sense. What was their real goal? It couldn’t just be energy or money. They already could sneak in and do whatever they wanted without anyone knowing, so why the theatrics? Besides, this whole thing started over a threatening letter targeting the princesses, but they just used them as hostages.”

            “Don’t think about it too hard. It’ll give you a headache,” Caenia dismissed her concerns.

            “I’m not ignoring this, especially since hindsight makes it clear these guys were grossly incompetent,” Serena pointed out. “I listened to Jace’s debrief with Ze. Most of those bombs were in weird places, some idiot on their side was giving out all the locations, and their best fighter was a complete berserker. Not the kind of person you want in this kind of operation. What I’m saying is, what’s really going on?”

            “It’s not worth looking into too hard,” Caenia shook her head. “Tell me, Serena, do you really want to know the answers to the questions you’ve been asking?”

            “Fine, I’ll drop it,” Serena conceded. ‘I still don’t like it, but something tells me Caenia is speaking from experience.’ Their conversation ended as Lady Ze returned alongside the second princess and Anax.

            “I still can’t believe it, Carus betrayed us?” Anax was despondent. “Are you sure? It can’t be…H-he’s a good man. He’d do anything for us.”

            “I’m sorry, Anax, but Her Highness is certain in what she witnessed,” Ze affirmed. “I intend to get that reporter’s testimony now to corroborate her statement.” Anax slunk off to contemplate the betrayal while Ze approached Caenia.

            ‘Just great, more good news,’ Serena sighed.

            “Lady Ze,” Caenia greeted the armored woman.

            “Caenia, good news, my men have confirmed all the extremists you’ve defeated are accounted for, and we’re collecting them as I speak,” Ze announced.

            “Off to the correctional facility with them then?” Caenia snarked.

            “Well, actually, the hospital first, you guys did a number on them,” Ze admitted. “Although, we haven’t found this ‘idiot with a radio’ Jace mentioned, nor our rogue engineer.”

            ‘Lovely, more problems for the future,’ Serena thought.

            “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must speak with our other uninvited guest,” Ze explained. “Depending on his intentions, I might be able to convince the palace to let him off with a slap on the wrist.”

            “And otherwise?” Caenia raised her eyebrow.

            “Well, I told Lady Aphros to send me his records, and depending on his prior actions—” her phone buzzed. “Oh, that’s her now,” Ze retrieved her phone from a special carrying case in her armor’s hip. It was the same kind of specialized phone Anax used. “Oh dear.”

            ‘He’s doomed,’ Serena surmised.

\\~~~\\              //~~~//

            “Wakey, wakey,” Carus woke up to the Idiot’s voice, much to his chagrin. The engineer glanced up to see the Idiot hadn’t discarded his cloak, but he had pulled the hood down to reveal a white mask with curved black eyes and a similar smile. It would have been creepy if it wasn’t for the crooked black face mask pulled over it or the haphazardly tied straps dangling off the back, implying the Idiot got the mask stuck around his head.

            “Everything hurts,” Carus cringed. “Where are we? What are you doing to me?”

            “Is that any way to thank the guy who saved your life? Also, Adaman landed on you,” the Idiot explained. “As for your first question, we’re free and clear.” Carus finally regained his senses and realized they were in the back of a motionless hovercraft. He glanced out the window and saw only grey concrete, implying they were underground.

            “This your getaway vehicle, I assume?” Carus asked.

            “Well, actually, it’s the vehicle we came here in, stashed in the old city. We hoofed it most of the way,” the Idiot explained. “Jasper kind of hoped the palace would supply a getaway vehicle as part of the ransom.”

            “Lovely, so why are we just sitting here and not flying far away?” Carus asked.

            “Well, I’m sure the heat is turned way up out there, so we’re laying low. Saw Lady Ze smashing into the facility on my way out. So even if Adaman was still alive when we escaped, he’s definitely dead now,” the Idiot revealed. “Also, the Sniper had the keys.”

            “Then hotwire this thing, you nimrod,” Carus exclaimed and quickly regretted as his injuries flared.

            “Hotwire? I haven’t even refueled one of these things before. Heck, I never got my license,” the Idiot admitted.

            “Great, I’m going to die in a gutter with this moron, my life has gone nowhere. Less than nowhere!” Carus lamented and then cringed in pain. It hurt to yell.

            “Don’t worry, man, you’re not going to die,” the Idiot assured. “You’re just going to be crippled for life…oh, I guess that might be worse in some ways, huh? Well, at least you have your…health.”

            “So, what are we going to do? Are we just going to sit here and rot?” Carus demanded an answer.

            “I could always call the boss,” the Idiot offered.

            “But you said Jasper was—” Carus began.

            “Jasper wasn’t my boss. My brother and his boss just lent me to him,” the Idiot explained. “Something about ‘even you can’t screw this up’ or whatever. Besides, they’re going to want this.” He revealed a massive container filled with multiversal grid energy, the inside illuminated with seven distinct colors. “Mission accomplished, I’d say.”

            “Just call your boss,” Carus croaked as he chose to faint from the pain. Being unconscious was preferable to speaking with this man.

\\~~~\\              //~~~//

            Giles was not having a good day. Getting caught up in that crisis was one thing. Getting knocked out by that crooked engineer was another, and passing out right when the action was getting good was…okay, that was also pretty bad. But being interrogated by Lady Ze, of all people, was a whole new level of screw-up, even by his standards.

            Thankfully, she let him off lightly as his crimes were relatively minor in the grand scheme of today’s events. It helped that he managed to disarm one of the bombs, and apparently, one of the princesses vouched for him. The only caveat was that he needed to surrender the memory card from his camera, as well as any others he had on his person, to be “scrubbed” of photos of the incident. Normally, Giles would argue freedom of the press and that he was being censored. However, he felt that argument wouldn’t hold up in court since he had been trespassing.

            ‘Maybe I won’t mention this whole ordeal to Theo, I don’t feel like getting in a debate with him tonight. I wonder if he even stuck around or just gave up on me?’ Giles thought as he was dropped off in front of his apartment complex by one of Lady Ze’s men. ‘I’ll just call the boys at the Velvet Chamber tomorrow, apologize to Theo, and tell them the report didn’t go as planned.’ After a quick elevator ride, Giles arrived at his spacious apartment and ducked inside. ‘No, things went better than expected,’ the reporter grinned as he dug into the lining of his underpants to retrieve a spare memory card. The truth was, he had switched cards near the end of the incident, not long before he blacked out the second time. A detail he conveniently forgot to mention to Ze. ‘They never check here, now to load this up and…’ His heart stopped. “It’s gone!”

\\~~~\\       VIII       //~~~//

            Serena was grateful that all the ceremony was dropped from their exit. It helped that Orpheo had already circled around the facility. The valet was the first to notice something amiss, leading him to call Lady Aphros and pick up the other workers who had been captured and later freed by Penelo. The princesses’ quiet exit from this disastrous tour would be chalked up to “the media being invasive,” which wasn’t untrue, but Serena wouldn’t even qualify it as a half-truth.

            Returning to the palace was, in some ways, refreshing after such a hectic and danger-filled day. In other ways, it just reminded Serena that this was her life now, and the danger and mania would not be abating anytime soon. Speaking of mania, Lady Aphros was the first to pull her aside (Lady Aré still conspicuously avoiding the maid).

            “Serena, after I heard about what happened to Orion, I was afraid you might be hurt too,” Aphros greeted Serena with far more energy than the raven-haired girl was willing to deal with.

            “I’m more than fine, Lady Aphros. You should go check on him if you’re worried,” Serena tried to get the blonde off her back.

            “Well, I would, but Atlanta is monopolizing him right now, and I wouldn’t want to get between them,” Aphros looked aside and blushed with a ridiculous grin on her face. Serena couldn’t help but wonder if the noble was deliberately misinterpreting the princess’s intentions.

            ‘Great, no getting rid of her that easily,’ Serena sighed. ‘I know Caenia said not to push the subject, but Aphros might let slip some details if I ask.’

            “Lady Aphros, I’m concerned about the circumstances of the attack,” Serena broached the subject. “The attackers were so disorganized, yet that crazy robot man knew Caenia was going to be there and targeted her exclusively. They clearly ran into this operation half-cocked, but they were so well informed it borders on clairvoyance. What’s going on here?”

            “Don’t worry about it, Serena,” Aphros assured her. “These incidents don’t always make perfect sense. Only they really knew the full story.”

            ‘And she brushed me off,’ Serena rolled her eyes. “Lady Aphros, I don’t find that comforting.”

            “Just…Let us worry about that, Serena,” Aphros uncharacteristically stuttered. It was brief, but Serena could see some emotion briefly flash across the noble’s face. Frustration? Concern? Realization? Serena couldn’t tell, but as she stared at the blonde more closely, the maid noticed something about her that she had never witnessed before.

            “Lady Aphros, is everything okay?” Serena’s eyes widened in horror.

            “It’s nothing for you to concern yourself with, Serena,” Aphros’s voice became lower, her expression more unreadable.

            “Lady Aphros?” Serena felt something she hadn’t in a while. That same aura she noticed when she first met people like Aphros and Aré. Except this one felt more tumultuous, more conflicted, almost toxic. It felt as though the air was being sucked out of the room.

            “Go back to your room, now!” Aphros’s voice became authoritative, in the same way Ze or Aré’s typically were, but this one was tinged with a swirl of negativity. Serena didn’t even consider disobeying, she had to leave and quickly.

            “Yes, Lady Aphros,” Serena bolted. The room was left quiet, with Aphros simmering by herself. ‘I guess Orion getting hurt bothered her more than she let on initially,’ Serena theorized.

            “Damn it,” Aphros punched the wall. ‘Couldn’t even hold my composure for a single conversation. And she’s getting perceptive, she really is her father’s daughter. I’m…happy for that at least…’

\\~~~\\       IX       //~~~// 

            The Idiot’s call to his boss did not go how Carus hoped. They were told, in the Idiot’s own words, “You’re on your own, pal.” They were given a meeting point but were spared not a single iota of aid. The Idiot brushed it off as an “occupational hazard,” Carus redoubled his growing frustration with the Idiot to cope.

            Their journey was long and arduous, especially since Carus couldn’t move his legs anymore. Having a half-ton pair of robot legs fall on you tends to leave long-term damage. Thus, the Idiot was forced to carry Carus on his back through the old city and parts of the sewers. A maze conjoined to another maze. One where their first hour of travel was for naught because Carus made the mistake of trusting the Idiot to navigate at first.

            Regardless, at the end of however long it took (they’d been underground for so long Carus had lost track of time), they arrived at the supposed meeting place. It was a rundown high school, likely unused and untouched since before New Celene was even built, and it was located right next to several sewer runoff pipes, giving the location a lovely ambiance and a not-so-lovely smell. After loitering inside the entrance for a good twenty minutes, Carus finally spoke up, long since past the end of his rope.

            “This is the meeting place?” Carus exclaimed. “Where is everyone?”

            “Dunno, but if I know those guys, probably right behind us,” the Idiot gestured. That’s when Carus realized they were not alone. The engineer wasn’t sure when they had become surrounded, but they were now.

            “Hey, Bro, how’d your mission go?” The Idiot asked.

            “Silence, Brother. We already had a discussion about ‘need-to-know’ information, remember?” A robed figure from the shadows stepped forward. “But, see for yourself,” he gestured to a pair of robed figures hiding further in the shadows.

            “I knew we could count on you guys,” the Idiot gave them finger guns.

            “What are you talking about?” Carus was taken aback.

            “Nothing you need to worry about,” a woman’s voice answered. Well, Carus thought it sounded like a woman, but it was off. Like it was going through a filter.

            ‘No, not a filter, it’s more like an emulation? But not like a machine emulating a woman’s voice. No, it sounded too organic,’ Carus realized. The more he stared at the person he presumed had spoken, the more he realized the way they were standing and how their body chittered in place was anything but human. ‘What have I gotten myself into?’

            “Getting cold feet already?” Another woman spoke. Her voice radiated a twisted amusement. The same kind one gets from watching a bug struggle over a rock only to tumble into a spider’s web.

            “Knock it off, you two. We should give our guest a warmer welcome,” the Idiot’s brother scolded them. “He gave up quite a bit to ensure our diversion went off without a hitch.”

            ‘Diversion?’ Carus’s confusion and horror grew. ‘If threatening princesses was the diversion, I shudder to imagine what their real target was. I thought I was going to be able to disappear into the ether, but if I’m tied to something this bad, I might spend the rest of my life hunted like an animal.’

            “I see that this day has had a great physical and mental toll upon you,” the brother noted. “Would you like us to fix that?”

            “You’d get me surgery? Cybernetics?” Carus asked. “Is that why that machine man was like he was?”

            “No, he was a special case. We have something much better for you,” the brother exposed his smile from beneath his hood. Carus did not feel at ease, and his concerns grew as his eyes trailed back towards the inhuman thing that spoke with a woman’s voice behind his new benefactor. “I can sense your apprehension. Why don’t you speak to our boss? He’ll put your mind at ease.” The brother gestured to one of the pair of robed figures hiding further in the shadows.

            “Greetings, you must be Carus,” the figure stepped forward. He was a fairly tall man who spoke with a honey-like voice.

            “Wait, you?” Carus recognized the man. “But I thought…”

            “Ah, I see my reputation still precedes me, then we may skip the introductions,” the man stated. “Let me welcome you, dear Carus, to my little clan, the Dark Side of Venus. Our goal, nay our desire, is to see the Second Princess placed upon the throne of New Celene by any means necessary.”

            “I…I…” Carus was at a loss for words as the full implications of his betrayals caught up to him. He was wrapped up deeper in this than he had ever thought was possible. “I’m glad to be of service,” he played along.

            “Excellent, now, Idiot,” the boss turned to the other man, “Do you have it?”

            “Right here,” the Idiot deposited the canister of multiverse energy in front of him.

            “And the other thing you’re hiding?” The boss asked.

            “What other thing?” The Idiot looked away and whistled.

            “Give me that!” The boss wrestled with the Idiot for a moment before pulling out something Carus couldn’t see from the Idiot’s pocket. “I don’t know why you grabbed this, but it might prove more useful than one would expect.”

            “Aw shucks, I try my best,” the Idiot blushed.

            “Shut up, you Idiot,” the boss snapped. “Now then, let’s make haste. We have much to do and very little time to do it.”

            “Wait, wasn’t this already a big operation? Aren’t we supposed to lay low first?” Carus inquired.

            “Oh no, we have much bigger targets to go after,” the boss clarified. “Like I said, we wish to put the second princess on the throne, and we want that as soon as possible.”

May This Fantasy Continue A Little Longer…

>>>~~~~<<<

Nothing beats the satisfaction of a job well done after a hard day's work. The fact you've achieved something is in itself a reward, but the actual compensation, both monetary and social, doesn't hurt either.

Author's Note: And done. Perhaps the longest section of the story so far by word count. It's either this or the opening story arc, but I think this is much longer. I had my fun writing this tale, but it ended up far bigger than expected, so I intend to scale back for the next several chapters before I tackle anything this big again.

I ended up feeling the same way about this arc as I do Engineered Insanity. A fun idea that just ended up too big and too confined. I know that I had scenes take place in different parts of the Multiversal Power Station^tm, but it still felt a little confined at times. I feel like I've learned a lot from this arc, especially considering how long it took. The first chapter (well the first half of it), went up in November of last year, making this arc take half a year in real time (just ask Atlanta), when the previous volume took only three. But, I also shifted from a story every week to one every two weeks so that slowed me down. If you want to get more technical, I started writing this volume in summer of last year and I wrote the outline back in *Checks Notes* 2022! Then again, I rewrote the outline at some point and I don't remember exactly when I did that. So despite everything, I'm just happy I got this done.

As for the bad news, I'm heading into uncharted territory right now. I had the next arc planned, but I decided to push it back for pacing reasons, so at the time of writing, I'm not 100% sure what the next volume will contain. Which is a first for me in years. Normally, I'd have the next arc outlined by now, but with the shift in my plans and just being busy in general have made it hard just to get the chapters out in a timely fashion.

Honestly, real life has just been busy these past several months, sometimes it feels like I get home from work just to dive into a whole different kind of work. I used to get at least a little writing done every day, but that's become harder to do (the tragedy of adult life I guess).

But enough venting, bottom line, the bad news is, there might not be a main Maid in Fantasy chapter for a while. I've got a lot of story outlining and world building to do in the background. I want a solid idea of where everything is headed, how certain things works and who is who before I hit a brick wall in the future. I also just want to get back to writing shorter stand alone stories and more Maid in Fantasy shorts. Plus I've been umming and erring over a concept for another ongoing series, but I know better than to make any promises about that (I've been trying to start a second series for like two years at least).

Good news is, there's still the epilogue for Volume 4 coming up, which will be out far sooner than Volume 5, but it still might be a couple months out.

Normally I'd say some more comments about the story itself, but I fear I may say too much. I'm sure many of you can see where I might be going...


Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.