Ranryu

Wynn looked at him with a pained expression. "I'm sorry. It was the only option to keep you from dying again." He didn't want to go back to his world. Why did you force him? Idiot. You need to listen better. Blood continued to drip from her side.

"No." Wynn snarled. "You won't die, I swear it on Eria's soul." The duel runner slowed to a stop. Around them was a beautiful forest, with a golden beach shining in the distance. Small animals and birds fled as the runner plowed through the undergrowth. "The Dawn Garden." Wynn breathed a sigh of relief. Looking around, she spotted a tree bearing golden pears. Her Shadow grabbed one. "Eat this. It will help."

"Great." Wynn summoned her duel runner. Groaning, she set Lerac on it as gently as she could. Then she dragged herself behind him. "Engage autopilot. Destination, anywhere but here." The runner took off.

Wynn cursed herself for not noticing how bad his injury was. A quick Shadow kept the blood from coming out, but she couldn't repair the damage on the inside. "Lerac, I know you're hurt, but please answer me if you can. You said your mother works at a health clinic. Where is it? Or somewhere safe?" They exited the palace, Wynn's Shadows keeping any possible threats at bay. But she was losing energy faster than she should've due to her injury. Already, centuries worth of memories were gone.

Wynn's anger bubbled. She cut the bonds off, then exploded the Shadow sphere in a burst of rage. The others in the room were thrown to the floor or pushed against walls. "We are going to leave now. If anyone tries to stop us, I will kill them." Blood dripped from the Shadows binding her wounds, but she would not allow something so mortal to be the end of her. She pulled her glaive from where it had been hanging on her back. "You are a dreadful civilization. I hope you are conquered soon." With that, she slung Lerac over her shoulder and walked away, blood dripping behind her. Two hours. Hopefully that'll be enough time.

Wynn would've facepalmed if she possessed the spare energy. "You're kidding me. You arrested your own son?" She sent out a tendril to grab Lerac and remove his gag, then surrounded both of them with a Shadow sphere. "Please tell me you have a plan. It feels wrong to kill any of them, but I don't feel like going to jail."

Luckily, metal doesn't shatter that easily. Wynn's injury did not like the impact, however. "Yeesh, it's not like I'm out to kill your king or anything." Wynn said through gasps, putting up a Shadow wall in between them. "Let me get Lerac and I'll be on my way." She staggered to her feet, encasing her body in Shadow as a support. Good. You didn't kill anyone. Now keep it that way. "Lerac! Can you hear me? We should probably go now!"

"Work with me? I'd settle for you leaving me alone." The Shadow restraining him shook him, then dropped him. Wynn focused her energy, and the plants touching her withered and died. A few more Shadows resealed the wound. I should really learn how to heal. Wynn's footsteps were unsteady, but she was confidant she would be fine. She followed the roof to the approximate area above where Lerac was, then broke the ceiling.

She grunted but didn't let her pain show. Tendrils of Shadow wrapped Parel from head to toe, slicing off the hair that was in his hand. "I'm seriously rethinking my decision not to kill you. I'm not leaving until Lerac does. There are two ways this could play out. You leave me alone and I'll leave as soon as he gets done, or I tear down the castle, grab Lerac, and kill the majority of the people inside. Here, I'll be nice. You can choose."

She grabbed the haft and tossed the thing off the building. "Didn't you just tell me to leave? I told myself I wouldn't kill any of you. Do you want to make me a liar?"

"Welcome scmelcome. As much as I want to leave you to your wonderful wars and petty squabblings, I have to wait for Lerac. And that is mine." A Shadow grabbed his spear and ripped it in half vertically. Wynn's face scrunched up as she felt something inside her wound shift to a spot where it didn't belong. Ugh. Stupid body, not being invulnerable. What's Lerac going to say when he see's this? Wynn smacked Parel in the face, then used Shadows to launch herself to the roof.

The spear made a metallic scraping sound as it went through. Wynn gave him a flat look and pushed the spear out of his hands, forcing it all the way through her body. "Really? I tell you I'm immortal, and your first thought is to impale me? My first impression was right. Your intelligence levels are similar to those of a Marshmallon. And because you don't know what that is, now I have to explain that I'm insulting you." She took a band of Shadow and wrapped it around herself. Hopefully that would stop the bleeding. Hopefully he hadn't damaged any vital organs or anything. The injury definitely wouldn't kill her, but it would be highly inconvenient if she passed out or something like that.

Wynn snorted in amusement. ”I’m one of the Aos Si, a race of immortals. And no, a romance between me and him wouldn’t work. He would age, and I… will not. Besides, that kind of thing always goes disastrously for me.” The best way to get what you want is to never reveal your desires.

“He lost it when I didn’t respect him, I think. So far, the only reasonable person I’ve met from this dimension is Lerac himself. I have to say, the plant magic is cool, though. How does it work?”

“Enemy nations, you say? How big is this world? Ah, the feudal system. A sign of an underdeveloped civilization. And Lerac’s father— is he a good man? He attempted to strangle me earlier.”

"Schemes are small potatoes now. If we don't stop Malum, literally everyone dies." She smiled and let Shadow drip down the side of her face. "But most of you mortals probably won't care. Too busy holding petty grudges. And what is this crisis I've been hearing about?"

"A selfish trouble maker that died selflessly for another. And now he's going to help save the universe. That totally lines up."

"He died. Heroically. Foolishly. I don't know what he would've done if he didn't have immortal and highly skilled mortal friends who made a deal with Death for him. If only his own people were as helpful..."

"Well, insulting a guard like yourself doesn't seem fair. A waste of words, given to someone who doesn't appreciate them." She nodded. "But maybe he's changed. Danger and Death tend to do that to people."

Wynn smiled slyly. Stealth is boring. I want to have a little fun. "So, you're a guard. That must be fun. What did Lerac do to make everyone hate him so much?"

"Oof." Wynn winced. "Politics suck. I guess I'll leave you to it, then." She went off to go find and bother Parel.

Luckily, Wynn wasn't that easy to suffocate. With a small burst of energy, her Shadow cleaved the vines straight through and deposited her a few feet away. "Sheesh, anger much? The plant magic is very cool and all, but I do not appreciate having to waste my energy fighting vines. If you wanted help with whatever crisis you're going through, you could've just asked like a sane person." Calm yourself. You only murder people who deserve it, not magic plant dudes with anger issues. Besides, he's Lerac's dad. Do not kill him even the tiniest bit. "You wanna go somewhere else?" Wynn asked Lerac. "Now I understand why you were reluctant to come. Your world sucks worse than the Slime Pits of the 35th Barrier."

Wynn yawned. "I have a low patience for mortals." She surrounded herself with a corona of writhing Shadows. "He didn't tell me anything. He got possessed by Malum and forcibly taken off-world. You seem like a terrible father, so you probably didn't even wonder where he was. Our goal in coming here was to inform you that Lerac is alive again, but you clearly don't care. So now we're gonna crash here for a day or so, see if you have any cool stuff that could aide us against Malum, and give most of you a serious attitude adjustment. Do you know how many people would kill to have a son like Lerac?" She turned to Lerac. "What did you do to get such a reputation anyway?"

"My name is Wynn, Bringer of Storms. Nice introduction of your son, by the way. It's not like he died and now his life depends on us killing a god or anything. It's not like he's been halfway across the multiverse and back trying to save it. And if you think he's trouble, you'll hate me." Wynn smirked.