The pressure from the new, extremely powerful presence continued for some time before our bodies became accustomed to being in its vicinity like with the other masters. This time had been a lot different than with Strataros and Luminitrious because this time, the aura had come towards us extremely quickly. The last two times, we had gotten closer to it slowly and only had one small final push when getting close to them. The other times it was like sliding inside of a block of jelly with a harder block of jelly in the center that was all slowly melting. This time, we were forced right in to the center before it could melt.

That aside, the pressure was still decreasing quite slowly as I could only assume that Pototangaros was coming this way. As the anticipation built, I could see a faint blue glow coming from around the corner of where the group was sitting. The glow continued glowing brighter until finally, Pototangaros emerged from the hallway. Much to our surprise, she was absolutely gigantic. At least forty feet tall. Quickly following behind her was a large creature swimming inside of the large spherical aquarium in the middle of the building.

The serpent following behind her was at least sixty feet long and was extremely thick to boot. It had a good bit of blood pouring from several wounds, but they seemed to be quickly healing, reducing the amount of red trailing behind it. Not that it mattered as all the blood that had been trailing behind it was quickly disappearing, leaving the water just as clear of a blue as before.

Pototangaros simply floated there for a bit, just staring at what I could only imagine she equated to a new pet. She kept muttering things to it that I could hear from this far away. After some time, she turned, seemingly to head down the hall to our left, but when she did so, she noticed the group sitting there, staring at her.

She practically leapt backwards, startled by the presence of the group. “Dear me, I wasn’t aware I had any guests. Usually Sharice lets me know these things. Although... I suppose I did come in the side entrance, so she wouldn’t have known and this is my fault then...” she muttered to herself, drawing even more confused looks from the group. “Oh my! I’m sorry. I am rambling quite a bit and that’s probably not what you came here to hear...”

The group continued to stare, but now at something far different. Pototangaros was dressed pretty loosely in what was essentially a fancy looking blue bikini top and blue skirt parted to the right. However, right underneath that left part was the subject of the attention. Underneath her skirt, mostly obscured was a glowing blue leg. It shifted and pulsed slightly almost like it was alive all on its own. I couldn’t tell how it was attached since the top of her skirt and bottoms fully obscured the top of her legs.

I could tell Jester had finally recovered and her eyes began darting around to everyone else before focusing back on the leg. I knew she was going to say something, so I quickly sat up and shouted, “Jester! Don’t you dare bring up her leg or I swear to Sengario I will tear up all your clothes!”

Jester winced at this, covering her ears and collapsing over on the bench. “Jeez... Fine...” she managed to choke out. Never before had I actually tried to use shouting to incapacitate someone in control of my body, but apparently it was surprisingly effective.

Pototangaros looked at the group in confusion before looking down at her body, seemingly only now becoming aware of her size. “Oh, mother! I forgot!” She closed her eyes and we watched in awe as her body began to glow blue and then slowly shrink. Blue energy radiated off of her and collected in to two blue orbs on her ears that I could only assume were her mystic earrings. She eventually returned to a “normal” size at around seven feet tall. Now that she was smaller it was easier to make out distinct features.

She had a pretty physically fit build, but I guessed that she could probably change he appearance quite drastically as she wanted. Her skin radiated a faint blue aura much like the other masters. Her hair was tied back in a messy bun that then strangely led in to a ponytail. Her hair was a vibrant ocean blue and glowed just like the rest of her body. Her eyes were the same ocean blue color with a faint sky-blue glow.

My eyes then returned to her leg. If I was in control of my body, I could confirm my suspicions as to the material of it, but for now, I could only guess.

“So, I assume that the four of you didn’t just come here to look at me correct?” she asked, staring at the group with serious confusion.

They all finally seemed to snap out of their own trance and Lilith spoke up. “Yes. We are representatives from Camp VII here to talk to you about a very important matter.”

Pototangaros placed her hand on her cheek and cocked her head sideways. “Well, go on.” She seemed to have regained her composure after the earlier bit of awkwardness.

“Well... Essentially, as it stands, Zeraph will be escaping from his prison within Ser sometime in the near future and we’ve been sent to gather help from each of the masters of magic and their associated camps. We have already talked with Camps IV and III and with Lady Luminitrious and Lord Strataros.”

Pototangaros nodded. “Figures that neither of them would say anything to the rest of us. Guess they ‘respected your quest’ or whatever. I guess I won’t tell the others either.”

“So... does that mean you’ll help us?” Lilith asked, leaning towards her.

She chuckled. “Well yeah. I can’t really go and let mother and all her beautiful work go to shit, can I? I mean, I live here too.”

“Thank you very much, Lady Pototangaros,” Liltih said, bowing her head.

“No need, my child. It is simply my duty. If you wish for me to talk to my descendants as well, I can surely do that”

Lilith raised her head back up. “There will be no need for that. We have already acquired their help.”

Pototangaros clasped her hands together. “Splendid. Now, if that’s all-”

Julian stood up, cutting her off. “Actually, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d love it if you could give us a tour around your fine palace.”

She smiled. “Of course! Let's go!”

The group looked at each other and leapt off the bench. It was going to be exciting to get to see the rest of such a beautiful palace.

Pototangaros began floating down the corridor to the left of the place where the group had been sitting. They looked back and saw that the tube of the aquarium stretched backward in to the other parts of the palace. It did the same in the direction they were heading.

Without any provocation, Pototangaros began giving them information about what they were seeing. “On your right, we have my absolute pride and joy, other than this palace of course. This here is the Grand Aquos Aquarium! It is the largest and most diverse aquarium in this entire world. It is the home to thousands of different creatures and extends across several levels. Below us, there are two floors of large tanks filled to the brim with different underwater species.”

I had to admire this idea. Judging from the earlier spectacle, Pototangaros had been the one to catch all of these creatures herself. If that were true, that meant that she was an extremely skilled hunter. Granted, she would have a serious advantage, oceans being the place of her greatest power. However, I did have some concerns and questions about the structure itself. Thankfully, Julian thought the same and voiced some of them for me.

“How exactly do you keep all of these creatures from escaping this place? I can assume the glass isn’t as plain as it appears to be given the creatures you may theoretically be holding inside of this this.”

She smiled and tapped on the glass. Emanating from her finger came a massive sprawl of glowing blue swirls and runes all connecting several circles with water essence sigils inside of them. “This here is a massive enchantment I’ve created that reinforces the glass with a special ultra-fine, virtually invisible essence coating on both sides. The water inside this tank is quite clear, but because of these two barriers, it takes on a bluer color which I personally think looks much nicer.”

Julian nodded at the notion, studying the enchantment quite thoroughly before she finally removed her finger and the design disappeared. We continued to walk along as more and more creatures cycled through the tank, revealing all kinds of things we hadn’t seen before. Once again, I was extremely disappointed at my lack of access to aura sight. It meant I couldn’t analyze and observe the auras of all these new creatures.

Then, I saw something that I could tell everyone in the group recognized. Floating up from the center of the aquarium was a very familiar large leviathan. The Current Reaper made its way up and through the other creatures before meeting eyes with Pototangaros and the rest of the group. I gripped my chair hard, trying my best not to think about what had happened with the reaper and afterwards. It made my blood boil so much. I wanted to somehow force myself back in control and jump in the tank to fight the stupid thing one on one.

“Now, children, I have a question for you. Or well, you specifically,” Pototangaros said, pointing right at Jester.

“What do you want from me?”

“I want you to know what’s wrong with your hair.”

Jester scowled at her. “I beg your pardon!”

Pototangaros rolled her eyes. “My guards informed me that there were two earth apprentices, a fire apprentice, and wind apprentice in your group. Judging from the others, you would be the wind apprentice. However, your hair is pink and glows just like that of a high-level apprentice. Do you understand the problem here?”

Jester was about to speak, but was quickly cut off. “Of course you don’t. You haven’t been here very long and couldn’t understand quite yet, but all apprentices of a certain type have a very limited pool of available hair colors. Pink is not denoted to any of them, let alone wind. Disciples of magic, masters and apprentices alike are not able to dye their hair, so please explain to me how your hair could possibly be pink.”

For the first time, Jester seemed to be completely speechless. “I... It’s complicated, I suppose. Weird mind stuff...”

“Helpful. Regardless, you don’t have to tell me if you do not wish to.”

Jester scowled. “Well, since we’re on the topic of body parts, I’d love to ask about your leg.”

Viktor and Lilith just looked at her, mouths open in disbelief. I imagine my expression was quite similar, but with annoyance mixed in. She had no self-control whatsoever.

Pototangaros looked at the aquarium, averting our gaze. “I suppose that’s a pretty fair question. Long story, short, I lost the old one in some very unfortunate circumstances and had it replaced for me by Gigrias.”

Jester laughed. “I already know that much. We know what happened with Malistryfe and the other masters as well as Zeraph’s hand in it all. My question to you is how could someone possibly corrupt the mind of such a powerful being?”

Pototangaros sighed. “The Eye of the Cursed. All of the mystic eyes originated from somewhere. The Eye of the Observer from Luminitrious, The Eye of the Powerful from Exfernerous, and the Eye of the Cursed from Malistryfe. Malistryfe has always been the darkest of us. It is in his nature. Zeraph used that against him, corrupting his eyes and creating the first ever cursed eyes. Malistryfe has been giving away pieces of those eyes to his children forever, hoping that someday he’ll be rid of their curse...”

We sat there in silence. How could we respond to such a thing. There was simply no way to.

“Lady Pototangaros... We-”

She turned back to us, her eyes dark. “I think that it’s time for you children to leave. I’m feeling a bit tired.”

Jester felt like she was about to protest when Lilith shot her a death glance and began walking towards the exit. The rest of the group followed. Jester took one look back at Pototangaros before rounding the corner. I couldn’t see all the well, but I was pretty sure I could see her crying.