5.10 – Cultists


    After a fruitful morning of alchemy lessons, interrupted briefly by Rosalie, Zoey set out to the training facility to see if she could track down Maddy. Cellphones were unfortunately not an invention in this world, so coordination could sometimes be tricky.


    Before finding her mage tutor, though, Zoey was interrupted by someone else.


    “There you are,” Delta said, appearing to Zoey’s side in a sh of orange hair, then looping an arm around hers and tugging. “Come on, we’ve gotta go.”


    Zoey stumbled a step as her trajectory was forcibly diverted, and soon, she was being dragged away at a brisk pace.


    “Wait, what?” Zoey asked, orienting herself to her change in circumstances. “Delta? What’s going on?”


    “Found an in with the cultists. We’re gonna go check it out.”


    “The <em>cultists</em>?”


    “That was the n, wasn’t it?”


    “I—I guess? But already?”


    “S<em>omebody</em><em>’s </em>been productive with their morning, notying pipe with five different girls.” Delta leaned close to Zoey and sniffed. “You need a shower, by the way.”


    “Two girls,” Zoey defended. “One of them with a portal, so it doesn’t count.”


    “Portal?” Deltaughed. “Well, good for Blondie. But doesn’t count? I don’t know about that, Zoey.”


    “Well. Doesn’t count for the smellment. It’s not that bad, is it? I cleaned up.”


    “You smell like sex.”


    “Really?”


    “You always do. Maybe stop having so much of it?” Deltaughed. “But no, it’s not that bad. I’m teasing. Mostly.”


    “Okay, back it up.” The orange-haired foxgirl had already dragged Zoey out of the training facility and under the open sky; they were setting a quick pace, in a rush. “Where are you taking me? And what about the cultists?”


    “I’d grab Blondie, too, but we don’t have time. Couldn’t find her. And I’m not so sure she’s fit for this mission, anyway.”


    “Mission?”


    “With luck, we’re being inducted into the doomsday cult. I feel like that isn’t a scene she’d handle well.”


    “What? Inducted? Be serious for a second.”


    “When am I not?”


    Zoey gave her an exasperated look, and Delta only rolled her eyes in response.


    “They have refreshments, stop whining. It’ll be fun.”


    Zoey shook her head. She still wasn’t sure what Delta was going on about—whether she could take her ims at face value. “I was nning on finding Maddy for more lessons. This is more important?”


    “Uh, yeah. You can do that whenever. We need to figure out more about our cum vampire. And the world ending. Definitely seems higher on our priority list.”


    Zoey winced at the words ‘the world ending’, then looked around, but obviously no one was eavesdropping. “Maybe a <em>little </em>discretion would be smart?”


    “Not my specialty.”


    “Yeah. I guess it isn’t.”


    “What’s that supposed to mean?”


    “Real exnation, please?”


    Delta groaned. “Okay, fine. I was out in town and saw one of those weirdos. Decided to check out what he was saying. After some chatting, he invited me to one of their events.”


    “That easy?”


    “What can I say? I’m a people person.”


    “Uh-huh. They have ‘events’?”


    “Course they do. How do you think recruitment works? Just happens?”


    “Still,” Zoey said, finding this whole situation bizarre. “It’s not illegal or something? Those kinds of meet-ups? With cultists?”


    “We just <em>call</em> them cultists. Don’t think they actually are. And even if they were, illegal? Here? In the Fractures? Even up top things are a little loose when ites to ‘religious organizations’—“ she air-quoted the words, “so down in the Fractures, nobody gives a shit. Not enough policing force, so you really have to cause trouble to draw attention. But that’s not really these guys’s deal, anyway, I think. They’re not troublemakers. Necessarily.”


    “And what <em>is </em>their deal?”


    “Dunno, but sounds pretty damn relevant to ours,” Delta said. “Like we already knew, they’re talking about decaying shards. That it’ll spread to the Fractures, then Haven. End of the world, all that business. Don’t know how they came to that conclusion, but there might be a seed of truth. I’m thinking we’ll need to talk to someone higher up than the street peddlers, though, to find out. Hence, socialization.”


    “An event,” Zoey repeated. “What is it, anyway?”


    “A soirée, I suppose?”


    “Really?”


    “Well, soirées are in the evening, and this is for the afternoon. But yeah. Pretty much. Refreshments and some talking. A presentation, maybe? Robert—that was the guy I was talking with—kept hinting there was some kind of big reveal at the end. ‘Proof’ of it all.”


    “Proof?”


    Delta shrugged. “Maybe it’s all bullshit, maybe it isn’t. But I would’ve called your story bullshit too, so I guess I’m more open minded these days. And whytch to the concept of ‘decaying shards’? Seems too coincidental to not matter.”


    “It’s worth checking out,” Zoey agreed. She wrinkled her nose. “But it’s inconvenient timing.” She’d been looking forward to lessons with Maddy—though it hadn’t been guaranteed in the first ce. She didn’t even know if Maddy was in the training facility.


    “Sorry the doomsday cult isn’t scheduling around your avability,” Delta said dryly. “Besides, there’ll be plenty of time to stuff petite blue-haired mages silly atter dates. You can miss one creampie session, you insatiable woman.”


    “We haven’t even done anything,” Zoey protested. “And what’s with the colorfulnguage?”


    “You haven’t? What’s taking so long?”


    The twinkling in Delta’s eye gave away that she was trying to get a rise out of Zoey, and Zoey just shook her head. “You’re in rare form today.”


    “Thanks.” The foxgirl bounced along energetically, still dragging Zoey with her arm wrapped around Zoey’s. “Honestly, I’m kind of excited at what we’ll find. Never expected to get pulled into a ‘save the world’ quest. But I can get behind it. Sounds fun.”


    “Fun.”


    “With so much fucking involved? Yeah, totally.”


    <em>“Delta.</em>”


    Sheughed. “Though even a normal quest would’ve been fun,” she said. “All the massive girlcock is just a plus.” Her orange tail flicked, and she perked up, as if she’d been reminded of something. “Hey, when are we going on our second date?”


    Had the phrase ‘massive girlcock’ really just prompted Delta to ask that? Caught somewhat off guard, Zoey just replied with, “Our second date?”


    “Blondie got the girlfriend treatment, didn’t she? When do I?”


    The question came out of left field, so Zoey floundered for a second. “Uh. Whenever you want?”


    “After this?”


    “Sure?”


    “Cool,” Delta said. “Group stuff is fun, but I want some time with you alone.”


    “I’d love that,” Zoey replied instantly, even if she was somewhat disoriented by the turn in conversation. She <em>would </em>like to spend more time with Delta. The chaos and busyness of everything just usually precluded casual hang outs.


    Though this might not be so casual. Delta had specifically referred to it as the girlfriend treatment. Was that what Delta was aiming for? Girlfriends?


    Zoey certainly wanted that—but she hadn’t known where Delta stood. She was both far easier and far harder to read than Rosalie.


    “I’ve got something nned, but I’ll tell you what after we invade the cult,” Delta said.


    Right. Cult invasion. The topic had briefly been wiped from Zoey’s mind, important or not.


    “This isn’t dangerous, is it?”


    Delta gave her a funny look. “To two third-advancement wayfarers? We’ll be fine.”


    “I’m not a real third-advancement. My only personalbat rune is second tier, and I’m unbelievably untrained.”


    “You’re not <em>that </em>bad.” She paused. “Anymore. Before, you were. But I’d call you solidly second-advancement now. Your showing at Mel’s shard proved that.”


    “Well, regardless.”


    “<em>Regardless</em>,” Delta repeated, “we’re wayfarers. And yeah, I’m sure some of them will be too—we’re in the Fractures after all—but I’d be damn surprised if there’s any above fourth at the most, so we can get out of dodge if we need to.” Delta considered. “Then again, maybe they will have a heavy hitter there. Who knows what’s going on with those people? So yeah, maybe a little dangerous. That’s life, though. Especially in our career.”


    “Shouldn’t we tell Rosalie?”


    “Couldn’t find her. Left her a message, though, just in case.”


    “You did?”


    “I have <em>some </em>foresight, thank you. Make a career in wayfaring, remember? Wouldn’t make it far if I didn’t have somemon sense.”


    “That’s true.”


    “Really doubt this’ll be taking a turn for the dangerous, though.” A mischievous grin crept onto Delta’s lips. “You know, unless we get a little too ambitious.”


    Zoey looked warily at Delta.


    “Doubt we’ll find out much by ying things safe,” Delta said. “If there’s something credible going on with these people, we’ll need to do a little digging.” Materializing from thin air, a pane of ss rimmed by ornate designs appeared in Delta’s hand. “Bet this’lle into <em>real </em>handy, if we decide to do some snooping.”


    Zoey stared at the object with raised eyebrows. The Mirror of Deep Echoes. The artifact they’d earned in the second shard that allowed someone to swap bodies with whoever they pointed it at.


    “You can’t be serious.”


    “Seems useful for espionage, don’t you think? Not that we’re guaranteed to do any of that. But it’s a damn useful tool in our toolkit.”


    “What, exactly, do you have nned?”


    “Right now? Nothing. I’m just saying, if we head to this and only chat, let them give their spiel, I doubt we’ll figure out much. But with some quick thinking and leveraging of our assets? Well, maybe we’ll find out more than they intend to give out to lowly potential recruits.”


    “Sounds dangerous,” Zoey repeated. Delta seemed to be glossing over that point.


    “<em>Wayfaring</em> is dangerous,” Delta said. “I figure saving the world is ten times so. Besides, you didn’t seem so concerned about ‘danger’ when you had an otherworldly vampire set on you. That was definitely the riskier event.”


    “Mel needed help.”


    “Or is it that you just wanted a fifteenth girl sucking your cock on the daily?”


    “Fifteenth? And, really, stop being so crude.”


    “Why?” Delta smirked. “Having trouble with the imagery? If you get hard, you might have a blonde girl all over you? Be awkward while walking down the street, wouldn’t it?”


    “You’re doing it on purpose,” Zoey used, finally understanding.


    “Everything I do is on purpose.”


    “Okay, <em>that</em><em>’s </em>a lie.”


    Delta snorted. “We’re almost there,” she said. “Here, take this.” An item popped into her hand, drawn from her inventory. Zoey took it, brow furrowed.


    It was a mask of the sort she’d find at a masquerade. Colorful feathers adorned the edges, sying out in a show of color. “These are yours?” Zoey asked.


    “Nope, given to me,” Delta said. “Our badge in, I suppose. Not that I think security’s super strict. Not too loose either, though.”


    “Huh,” Zoey said.


    Delta put hers on, so Zoey followed suit. The crowded streets of Treyhull had thinned as the foxgirl wound them through the city. Ahead, a man with a simr bright-feather masquerade mask was given entry through double-doors by two burly-looking security guards. It was a more organized event than she’d expected—though she hadn’t expected so-called ‘doomsday cultists’ to be organized in <em>any</em> matter.


    “Honestly,” Zoey said. “This <em>will </em>be kind of interesting.”


    “Course it will. Cults always are.”


    “Speaking from experience?”


    “Nah. Bute on, it’smon sense. It’s a cult.”


    Zoeyughed. “Fair enough.”