D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

— Kat —

Kat felt the ground drop out from underneath her as she opened her eyes in response. Soon Kat impacted the bottom of the slide she appeared to be on. It was made of wood with plenty of varnish to keep everyone moving. Lily was hugged tightly against her chest and Kat was trying to work out what to do in response. Her mind was moving swiftly, everything was in slow motion. She had time…

Time enough to notice when she next impacted the slide that it didn’t hurt. In fact, it didn’t feel like much of anything. Despite the shiny wooden appearance Kat noticed she’d sunk into the wood slightly and been bounced back up. Looking at the others, she found they were in similar condition. Every time they hit the wood they’d bounce back up.

Nixilei was completely ready. She’d swiftly fixed herself and was now feet first going down the slide and appeared to be making her way over to Green, at least for the moment. Kat wasn’t sure if that would remain true once she realised this was a setup of Thyme’s. Kress was awake but hadn’t yet fixed his posture. He’d slammed head first into the wood and was Kat’s best evidence regarding the lack of pain everyone was feeling. Kress seemed more interested in not being thrown around rather than avoiding pain.

Gareth just so happened to be falling correct. He was lucky like that, but it also meant that he was taking in their surroundings in the same way as Kat but he didn’t seem worry. Kat eased up a bit on the demonic energy and suddenly she could properly hear Thyme’s announcement. “The airship is going down. We’ll be crash landing on an island. Parachutes will be provided and I have faith you’ll all survive,”

Kat could easily pick out the lie in the first part of the sentence. The airship wasn’t moving at all… or at least, it wasn’t falling out of the sky. This whole setup was clearly just to set the scene for the final round though Kat could admire the slight undertone of panic Thyme managed to inject into their voice.

Soon the team managed to make it to flat-ish ground. There was a slight tilt off to the right side, with Thyme standing next to a rather obvious portal made to look like the sky outside. It was mostly blue with a few vague splotches of white. “Jump! Your bracelets will catch you!” shouted Thyme. “If you need a companion, one will be provided for you! Now get moving!”

Kat felt like there were still plenty of questions to ask but soon the room really started to shake and Kat got moving. Nixilei threw aside her sleeping gown to reveal her armour underneath and then got moving soon after. Green was already dressed… Kress and Gareth were not however.

Kat wanted to figure out what was about to happen with them but the ‘airship’ shook once again and Kat found herself stumbling through the portal. Flaring her wings Kat readied herself to land… only to realise she was already on the ground. Looking down she was on a small patch of dirt surrounded by swamp and the smell. It was pretty intense. Lily swiftly moved to burry herself in Kat’s boobs in hopes to get away from it.

*God that’s bad.* Kat thought as she looked around. Her hopes of easy to find orbs were pretty quickly dashed when she realised she was in a mushroom biome. A GLOWING mushroom biome. Any orbs that might stick out in the dark of night were lost in the see of multi coloured mushrooms the size of trees. Some were long and spindly, some were shorter and wider. Quite a few had extra bits of… whatever mushroom was made up of dangling down like jellyfish. Sometimes it was made of vines.

The swamp wasn’t idle either. Fireflies hung around above the water while glowing plants and animals that barely shone through the water attracted the eye. Some match the glow of the orbs rather well and only the fact Kat’s eyes were capable of piercing deep enough to see the fish they were attached to prevented her from feeling compelled to check them all.

*Ok this is super rude. Also what time is it? I thought we were meant to be sent off ‘tomorrow morning’?*

[I’m gonna guess it’s just after midnight. So… technically it IS tomorrow morning from a certain point of view.]

*Yeah I guess so. I didn’t expect Thyme to just throw us into everything… though that’s probably why we needed to have the bracelets on. Do you think… Gareth and Kress had their armour and stuff in their bracelets? I don’t remember seeing them leave it the foot of the bed or anything like that but they could’ve left it in their other storage devices.*

[I feel like… the answer is probably yes? We had to lock up those devices as well so it’d be weird if they left there armour in them right? I’m pretty sure I saw Gareth putting his armour away in his bracelet. Not sure about Kress.]

*Hopefully. I didn’t even consider that this might’ve been an issue. Lucky I don’t really need to worry about it… though I wonder if anyone else got caught out?*

[No idea. You’d think the dwarves would be most likely because they have so much armour… but at the same time… it’s valuable enough they might have considered that angle?]

*Possibly… now… where the heck do we go?* Kat tried to spot any sort of easily identifiable landmarks but the mushrooms nearby were just large enough to prevent that from their current angle. The area around them all seemed to be just a bit higher. Fly up perhaps?

[Sure I don’t see why not.] Kat started to flap her wings to get up higher but as soon as she cleared the nearby mushrooms she heard a loud keening sound. Whipping her head around she saw a monster divebombing her. It was a bird that sort of looked like a mushroom, with blue hair that covered its face and looked like a bowl cut while leaving its beak exposed, a long spindly neck with its body being more of the same. A slight texturing of blue patterning that spread unevenly amongst its feathers making it seem like… mushroom camo?

Kat spat a burst of demonic fire at the bird which swiftly enveloped the bird as it was too close to avoid dodging. The thing screeched as it flailed, its momentum still enough to have it crash into Kat, but a simple flap of her wings was enough to avoid it as the bird crashed into the water, spraying colourful bits of algae or something across the dirt.

Kat was about to use her chance to look around now when a few familiar sounds rang out. Several more of the damned birds were headed straight towards her. Kat let out a growl as she glared back at them. *It’s worth just kill them right?*

[Definitely. Especially because that one in the back has an orb on them. I think. It’s sort of hard to tell but I think its right eye has been replaced with one.]

*Good enough for me.* Thought Kat just before she started getting caught up in her one-side ariel brawl. The birds were no match for her strength wise and demonic fire caused them to freeze over quickly. Kat just had to be a bit careful no to damage the orb she was looking for but that wasn’t too hard.

This was mostly accomplished by grabbing that one by the neck and then using the rest of its body to bash away the other monster that got close. Luckily, other than beating a bird with another bird, this also let her know that despite the restrictions she was meant to be under, her weight limit when flying hadn’t been effected… too much. The bird was still a bird after all. Despite its large size it didn’t weigh too much so Kat couldn’t be certain. Still, it was a positive sign.

Kat extracted the orb from the birds skull easily after that and turned to look around properly. Any hope she could take in the full island was dashed when she noticed to her left and right were two large walls of colourful… not quite fog. One was a pale blue while the other was a blazing yellow. *Summer and Winter sections. So we’re either in ‘Spring’ or ‘Autumn’ sections I guess. That little bit in the middle where the colours mix is obviously the centre… and I can’t really see much else.*

Kat wanted to fly up higher and really look down from a nice vantage point but the sky was packed with monsters. A few new ones even seem to be angling towards her already causing her to scowl. *Dammit. I don’t mind kill them all but someone’s going to notice the mass migration if we do. Too risky to signal our location right now so I guess it’s walking along the ground for us.*

Lily let out a mental hiss, not particularly wanting to go back closer to the source of the awful smells… but she technically didn’t complain.