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

--- Lily ---

Lily continued to throw herself against the cube, metaphorically, as she tried to puzzle out how to open it. And it WAS a puzzle, Lily was more and more certain of that. The spatial folds between layers of the box had specific pathways you needed to send your perception down to reveal other hidden things. If you just ’zoomed in’ through the box it all seemed mostly flat or uninteresting, but apparently it was possible to twist space in such a way that you could only perceive the changes when ’looking’ at them from a certain direction.

It hurt Lily’s brain just to work through and she had NO idea how the heck Thyme would’ve come up with something like this that could be used by someone at Rank 2. And it HAD to be Thyme. Lily refused to believe that anyone else could’ve made something like this. It just didn’t seem possible. Lily wasn’t even sure she could make her way through it. You had to concentrate rather precisely and if your mind wandered for even a second and reset your perception of the box, then it also reset your progress.

You couldn’t just focus on the spot you were before, if you did it simply vanished. Once again, Lily had no idea how that worked. The fact that her perception of other things effected the box’s... construction? Lily wasn’t even sure at this point but the more she looked the more she found and the less confident she felt in finding a way for Kat to get out.

Lily did manage to figure a few things out though. Sadly none of it was good news. If Kat DID somehow manage to break the box, she’d probably need medical help as the rest of the layers crushed down on her without the first one holding the rest back. Lily wasn’t even through the first layer when she heard the door click. She’d failed plenty of times, and only made it to the second layer once. So...

The instant she heard the door click open she transformed, letting her concentration shatter as she shifted into Memphis form and the door opened. Scar was the one who walked in, yawning as she did so. ”I’m first up and Appoline told me you were in need of help... what’s even going on?”

Scar looked down at Lily and then up at Kat who was sitting on the box and waving back at her. ”Alright... I think I see the problem. What did you even expect to be able to do here yourself?” asked Scar.

”Lily has space affinity... but the box is a lot more complicated then it looks,” answered Kat. She couldn’t really hear Scar properly, but Lily could, and Kat could listen in through Lily. In that same vein... she could also tell that her words didn’t get through. Kat cursed under her breath. Lily, noticing this, spelt ’Space Affinity’ with her shadows.

”I already know you’re a person,” Scar offered.

Lily transformed. ”Ok, how did you know?”

”I wasn’t completely out of it while the lot of you were chatting before. I wasn’t quite awake enough to stay that way, but I heard you talking to Appoline and Vanilla earlier,” Scar explained.

”Ah, well... alright then. I’m glad it wasn’t a whole ’I didn’t before but you just told me’ thing,” Lily said with a grin.

”If you thought it might be that... why transform?” asked Scar.

”Well I DO need help and honestly at this point I care a lot more about trying to get Kat out of the box here then trying to keep that a secret. Plus, I feel like you won’t say anything to anyone... except maybe Steel who already knows so it’s whatever,” Lily explained.

Scar nodded and started to circle around the floating invisible box in the air. She reached out with a finger and tapped it a few times. It didn’t react at all, acting just like a glass box or perhaps a steel wall. ”Alright... hmm...” Scar hummed as she turned her gaze from the box to the runes covering the area.

”Ok I’ve got good news and bad news, and they’re basically the same news,” announced Scar.

”What’s the news?” asked Lily.

”The runes here are all deactivated. They’re burnt out. The box here isn’t an active effect... or at least it’s not sustained by the runes around the plus,” explained Scar.

Lily nodded slowly but... ”I still have no idea what that really means,”

”It means that there aren’t any hidden traps. No timers. No chance that the box suddenly tries to kill your... partner? Girlfriend? Wife?” offered Scar. Lily shrugged while nodding. ”Any of the above fair enough. Anyway, yeah nothing more is going to happen... but it also means that we can’t just mess with the runes to try and break it open. If this was an active effect ending it safely would be a pain sure, but possible. The fact it’s not? We’re going to have to work out some other way...”

”I see... is it likely you can make something?” asked Lily.

Scar shrugged, ”Ending it isn’t the problem. Ending it safely is...”

Kat poked Lily mentally for a few seconds. Lily determinedly ignored it... before Kat started threatening to strip. Why she felt that would work Lily didn’t know... but she was right it worked. *Fine.* ”Kat is very durable and can regenerate quite quickly so... safe for her is a lot looser than safe for everyone else,” grumbled Lily.

”You seem... distressed,” Scar offered. ”What’s wrong with what you said?”

”Well it still hurts, and I don’t want to imagine my girlfriend getting sent through a shredder and appearing out the other side even if she can survive it. Oh, though she can also turn into water and that might be safer...” offered Lily.

”That... ok that could be a LOT safter...” Scar pondered. ”Depending on how that interacts with a few wards I can already think of I might be able to get her out sooner rather than later. See, I can think of a few ways to summon water, even specific bits of water... not sure it would work but it CAN I’m sure,”

”What are the major concerns?” asked Lily. ”With that method specifically.”

”Well... the main concern is how this box is treated space wise. I can’t sense it like you can... but if I carve out the ward around it on the floor, and designate the space it’s targeting as ’above’ it SHOULD work... but it might take more mana than I have... maybe not more than you though?” Scar pondered.

”I’ve not recovered all of my mana yet. I’m sitting around half ish,” offered Lily.

”Right well that’s potentially two issues. The other thing is that Kat’s consciousness acting on the water might render it an invalid target. I’ve never tried to use something like this on an elemental... or a person,” explained Scar. ”It’s entirely possible that they way they work is by removing water in one location and then using that to fuel the appearance of water in another instead of true space manipulation,” explained Scar.

”And this isn’t risky?” hissed Lily.

”Kat could be able to tell the difference,” insisted Scar. ”I think.”

*Kat? Would that feel different?*

[I think so? Water boiling away and water leaving my control range feel different if I’m focusing on them so I see no reason it wouldn’t. The real worry would be getting ’left behind’ and not teleported along with the water. Which I don’t THINK should happen. Like, I’ve allowed myself to just flow as water without control before and I go along with that.]

*Teleportation is a bit different to going down a slide.*

[But is it really?]

*Honestly... I don’t even know anymore.*

”Alright... so any other options?” asked Lily.

Scar shrugged, ”I mean... I could make the equivalent of a space drill and try to shatter the box allowing Kat to get out? Though the pieces of the box will probably explode and slice through anything nearby, and then Kat would have to get through them. She might survive but I wouldn’t like my chances even a few rooms over if we went with that idea.”

”Ah...” intoned Lily.

” ’Ah’ indeed. While I don’t disagree that the water method is potentially risky for Kat, anything else I can think of is about as risky for her and FAR more risky for us. That sort of backlash likely won’t be contained to the room. I wouldn’t be surprised if it cut through multiple walls and perhaps the wards we put up to stop the poison...” Scar paused. ”Oh fuck.”

”What?” asked Lily.

”Look, I’d love to get your girlfriend out but I just realised I NEED to check those wards. Let me know if anything crazy happens but I need to make sure we aren’t all about to be poisoned again,” Scar said before running out of the door.

*Is it ok to be just a little bit absolutely livid at that?*

[Well that seems a bit extreme but I understand why you’d be angry.]