Arlie reached up to knock on the door. After the incident, she’d helped do some cleanup with the guards before linking back up with the others to visit her aunt. The guards had put together a unit to hunt down the bck terrors that had run off and locate any remaining monsters. She’d also heard that additional requests were being put to the guild. However Arlie couldn’t help but wonder about the whole incident. It didn’t feel right, not to mention such things had never happened before.

  Three loud thumps echoed after her fist hit the door, but she heard no response. Lily stepped forward, “Um, maybe she is out?”

  Arlie sighed, “Knowing her? She might be in her workshop. Horon? Could you keep an eye on Thron?”

  “Sure thing.”

  Arlie reached into her pocket and produced a key, then pressed it into the lock. In the same motion she was reaching out with her magic, the wards were keyed to the family blood, so she just used that to her advantage and unlocked them as well. In seconds the door to Ria’s home swung open. The group filed on in, with Thron and Horon dropping into some chairs. Arlie wasn’t worried about the cart, since they’d dropped it off with the guard. They maintained a stable and stowage yard and offered a service where they would care for the horses of travelers and protect their stuff. For a small fee of course, but as a Contrey she got a discount for the service. It was one of the perks her family line enjoyed, but that was only natural. They’d been in the service of the royal family for generations. Not that Arlie had met any of the royals, the Contrey line was native to Varixyies, their family home and the Vil of Voros was actually far older than the royal capital and all its buildings. Not to mention Voros had special characteristics that made it very desirable to a powerful mage family like hers.

  Rose leaned in close, while Lily was looking around, “So which way to the workshop?”

  The building was id out much like the family home in Voros, so she went over to the back door and pushed it open. “It’s out this way, we’ll have to go past the bathhouse, and stay on the path.”

  Heading into the yard they were greeted by a lovely array of flowers, and herbs. Their yout and selection however, were different from what Arlie grew back in Voros. Another thing to note was the bathhouse was about half the size of the one she had and there were other differences if you looked. The workshop was a rge stone structure on the rear fence without a single window. There wasn’t a structure like that back in Voros since her workshop was in the basement. The official entrance was via a celr door next to the bathhouse, which also provided access to the maintenance room for said bathhouse. The Arc Contrey home however didn’t even have a basement. Being closer to the river meant underground structures were more prone to flooding, so they’d chosen to build the workshop above ground.

  Not to mention the Arc home was just a compound, the Voros home was the main house, so there was more there. The Voros home was also rger with more nd. So reaching the workshop wasn’t too much of a walk. Arlie walked up to the door with the twins close behind her. Rose commented, “You know I didn’t know this was here and we’ve been here before.”

  “Well we never had a reason to come to the workshop when we were here st. Ria was actually ready to greet us,” said Arlie, then fidgeted a little. “Well I was... and um, there is something you might want to be ready for.”

  “What?”

  “Auntie Ria.... has a well....”

  “Well what?”

  Arlie muttered something in a low voice.

  Rose frowned, “I didn’t catch that,” she gnced at her sister, “Did you?”

  Lily shook her head. Another figure stood up from the flowers she’d been looking at, “She said that her aunt tends to tear her clothes in unfortunate ways.”

  The twins giggled, “What really?”

  Arlie flushed red and looked away.”

  Rose pressed against Arlie and forced her to look at her, “No wonder you had the boys wait!”

  Lily frowned, “Um, what is your aunt even making to do that?” her frown deepened, “Right, what does your aunt do anyway?”

  “Aunt Ria works with magical artifacts and potion making, but where I make healing potions she makes... more specialized potions.”

  “More specialized?”

  “Well she sells the kind of potions that will turn boys into girls, that sort of thing.”

  The twins shared looks, “Never heard of them.”

  Arlie chuckled, “Well they aren’t the kind of thing we would ever need in Voros. Part of why I don’t make them. Although they do sell for a lot more than a healing potion.”

  Rather than dawdle outside the door for much longer, Arlie knocked a couple of times before pushing it open. Where sure enough, she found Auntie Ria in the midst of working. She was dressed in an aging set of well-worn mage robes that had seen better days. Covered in stains from years of potion making, it was hard to say what color they had originally been. Not only were they stained but the hem was fraying and the robes had been torn open in several pces, one rge tear around her colr split far enough down her torso to leave half her chest on dispy.

  It was a pretty chest though, Ria was a good twenty centimeters shorter than Arlie and not as well endowed, but her boobs were still decently sized with a lovely teardrop shape and puffy pink areos. Her face was quite cute with an obvious family resembnce, she had the same small nose and heart-shaped face. Her eyes were a tad rger, and a bit softer though and colored a lighter shade of blue. Dark bck hair framed her face and cascaded down her back, kept in pce by a pair of pink ribbons that made her seem even younger than she already looked. If you put her in a cute frilly outfit and wrapped her chest properly she might pass for ten. Like Arlie, Ria didn’t tan or blemish from the sun so her skin was still creamy and perfectly smooth. Its pale tones contrasted sharply with her dark hair.

  Arlie sighed, “I knew it, how do you keep tearing your work robes like that?”

  “Not my fault the tailor makes them so flimsy,” replied Ria as she put down a jar of Fairy’s Nectar. “I see you came with the twins, how was the trip?”

  “Fine mostly, we picked up a lost demon but I’m more worried about the bck monsters we saw at the gate. Also don’t think I didn’t notice you trying to change the subject.”

  Ria giggled, “Sure, well to answer the question, the guard sent me one of their Mystic Ballistae, it’s over there behind the curtain. I finished working on it about a handspan ago, and I've been working on my other big request since.”

  Arlie was familiar with Mystic Ballistae, they weren’t to be confused with Enchanted Ballistae. Both were magic weapons, but the tter used enchantments to accelerate enchanted projectiles to incredible speeds. Mystic Ballistae were more advanced and cheaper to operate, they eschewed projectiles entirely and instead fired a focused pulse or beam of pure elemental energy. They were also incredibly powerful, her ears could attest to that seeing as she saw them in use quite recently. The guard had used them against the rge monsters streaming towards the gate, including a few spinebacks. Each one was mounted on the watchtowers and packed such a punch that they cracked the sky and felled whatever beast they were pointed at. Few were the beasts that could take a hit and live. Naturally such weapons were used in war as well, and they were often found on the many warships of the Kamison navy.

  Out here in Varixyies they were used more often than not for protecting towns and vilges from monsters and wild beasts. Dragons made their nests here in Varixyies and while they rarely attacked a town it wasn’t unheard of. These weapons could never fell a dragon in a single hit, but if you had enough of them you could make a Dragon think twice. In addition they were also useful for repelling the weaker cousins of the Dragons, the Wyverns, Drakes and Wryms.

  “Oh? Can I see it!” replied Arlie feeling a little excited, there was nothing like a big magical weapon to get a girl excited and she didn’t get to work with them often. Voros had a few but they were much smaller and weaker than the ones at Arcs. Not only that, but she wasn’t allowed to touch the ones at Voros. Ria came by twice a year to do the required maintenance.

  Ria gave her a look, “No, you ain’t ready. Now those monsters you mentioned, tell me about them.”

  Arlie sighed and the twins joined her in discussing the subject. While Ixil wandered back off into the garden.

  “Hellspawn, evil chafing against its chains shall invade the domains of mortals.”

  Arlie blinked, “What did you just say?”

  “Hmm? Oh, it's a quote from an old prophecy. What about it?”

  “Um, do you know Aurora?”

  Ria blinked, “Did that old dragon show up in Voros?”

  Arlie nodded, “So you do know her?”

  “Sure do, that old dragon appointed herself as the family guardian. When your mom died, she showed up to take you in. I had to fight her to keep you in Voros. I had to quote the family traditions though.”

  Silence fell upon the room, after a moment Lily spoke up, “You fought her!? How!?”

  Ria sighed, “With words rather than spells, I’m as powerless as you three compared to that old dragon.” Another breath left her. “Now what did Aurora want?”

  Arlie sighed, “She told me a bit about being the Bykura Kinsara, our special connection with time and pulled a prophecy out of me. One reted to the one you just quoted, it goes Darkness spreads across the nd consuming all that is good. Monsters stir in their dens driven by the fires of war. Hearts waver as a false god rises seeking to overthrow the dominion of all that is right and evil chafes at its chains. Champions shall rise, and heroes will be summoned but they will ultimately fail lest the Last First Lord return to challenge the false one.”

  “Well with hellspawn attacking, and Aurora making you give that prophecy. I can only imagine ill things are to come.” replied Ria, clearly concerned.

  “Right, what is a hellspawn anyway?”

  “Remember your lessons on the Abyss? Well there is another pne out there that exists to contain evil, while the Abyss seals away the greater evils, Hell exists for the lesser ones. The irredeemable souls of corrupted mortals and vile monsters. Hellspawn are the goblins of the pne, numerous and vile they corrupt all. They are foot soldiers of their vile masters and if we are seeing them here, something must be breaking the barrier.”

  She thought about the baby ripped from its mother’s womb by those things, “Why would such things want a baby?”

  “A gift for their masters no doubt. The child will be fine more or less, but I can’t say what fate they have in store for it.”

  Arlie sighed, “I’ve never heard of a hell pne though but if it's like the abyss I can’t imagine anything good in store for the child.”

  “It wouldn’t, now sit we’ve got much to catch up on. And I don’t think you came just for a friendly visit.”

  “Sadly not, I wanted advice. Aurora told me I should take the Trials of the Five Temples. Said something about it granting the power to summon a god.”

  “Well I don’t know about summoning gods, but the strongest mages in our line all took the trial. I pnned for you to take it as well, just not so soon. It isn’t a bad idea though, the Red Temple should be safe enough, and unlike the trials after it, you can always try again ter. If it doesn’t work out, we can just focus on your training and you can go again when I pnned.”

  The group spent the rest of the day talking, there was a lot to discuss. In the end Arlie found herself having to pn for a trip to the Red Temple. She figured she’d go shopping with her Aunt Ria and visit the adventurers guild.