Life is full of surprises, but no one expects a random summoning in the middle of hallucinations. But, as life is as surprising as ever, it happened.
The trio stared at the summoned entity.
It seemed huge, menacing, and eerie.
Its eyes were crimson, and there was no way they could identify its facial features – not even a glimpse of it. As it cooed softly, the creature began to playfully slap at the piles of boxes around it, seemingly lost in its own little world. Despite its (very) odd behavior, there was an undeniable sense of danger emanating from the mysterious creature.
A hiccup and the trio shivered.
Another hiccup, and the trio step back.
One more hiccup and a fire blast burnt nearby boxes.
"AHHHHH MY FLOWERS!!!" Lydia fretted, her eyebrows almost jumping from her face from too much eye-widening.
"Hahahahah!" the entity giggled and clapped its hands, and soon the fire turned blue.
A twist and Addai extinguished the fire with his shadowy spell Lydia, and Mine had no idea how it worked. Well, a magician never reveals their secret, right?
The entity stood up while cooing and giggling. Its shadow appeared enormous. A menace.
Mine made a light orb to illuminate the being before it stepped forward.
"Ahuuu!" the being cooed again, but it was…
"A BABY?!" Lydia fretted, now feeling her hands itching to take the little, adorable being in her arms.
She wasn't the only one who wanted to take the baby, but the brave warrior with his cardboard shield had his balance thrashed when the baby widely smiled at him. Oh… that poor warrior had another battle to tackle… even the shield trembled!
A formidable match, indeed.
But what left any warrior most affected was the little purple outfit that covered the entire baby, from feet to hands, and had a little hat with purple bear ears. The cute, red cheeks didn't help much either, and even worse was the toothless smile that didn't seem to get tired.
But the warrior had to remember that despite being cute, it was far from being a human or anything like that, because if it had a summoning circle... it was certainly a demon.
"H-hey~ little one~ who are you?" Mine asked, and the baby looked at him.
Then, the baby looked at Addai again, widening its toothless smile.
"Ah! Ah!" it extended its arms.
"NO! EXTEND YOUR ARMS AT ME!" Lydia whined, and Mine slapped her forehead.
"Check it up," Mine nudged Addai, whose cardboard shield was miserably on the floor. "I'll watch your back," he reassured, and Addai nodded.
Oh… when Addai took only one step forward… the baby started giggling happily. It extended their arms even higher for him to take it - while Lydia silently sobbed because the baby preferred Addai to her.
Addai took one more step.
The baby giggled loudly.
Addai kneeled and reached for the baby's hand.
The baby grabbed Addai's finger with its whole hand and smiled.
Oh, my poor heart. Addai whined in his mind.
Addai had never held a baby before. So, he held it as he always did with Umbra.
Lydia saw that as a heresy, as something unforgivable at how she frowned her brows and nose while Mine held his laughter. Still, the baby seemed to have fun with that and babbled in "babylish" (well, "babylish" is a good baby language name – you know, simlish… babyblish… yeah, bad pun).
Not knowing where to hold first, Addai took the baby closer to his chest and kind of held it right. The baby looked at him with bright and lovely eyes and rested its face on Addai's chest, nuzzling on him a bit as it cooed.
Oh no, that one was a super effective move.
>>Double damage<<
Still nuzzling, the baby grabbed Addai's shirt with a spare hand, making itself much more comfortable.
>>>Triple damage<<<
Focus. Focus. Focus. They needed to focus.
"O-ok, now... what is he, she, or it?" Mine approached the summoning circle on the wall, ignoring the passed-out Lydia on the floor.
"Read only the inner details," Addai informed as the baby cooed. "You are giving us a hard time. Did you know that?" he chuckled at the baby, who smiled. "You sure know that," he laughed as the baby hid its face on Addai's chest.
"Hm… it shows that the entity is a male demon named… Tieran? I have never heard this name before," Mine scratched his head.
"Tieran is a good name, right? Better than addressing you as 'it'," Addai smiled at the baby, who cooed and mimicked a smooch. "Oh... this one was effective," oh, poor Addai's heart (again).
"I don't understand…" Mine helped Lydia to stand again. "Summoned entities come when they have a mission, but Tieran is too young to bear a mission of his own."
"Hold up," Lydia recovered her sanity.
She slapped one of the boxes, and a mana screen appeared. Again, a magician never reveals their secrets, right? Even if they like cardboard boxes that much – as Lydia did.
Waving her hand, she reached a specific mana screen and took it, displaying it better on a wall. It scanned Tieran's summoning circle and soon beeped. Another screen formed in front of the wall: a mission chart.
Still, it didn't make sense, especially to the petitioner: Blanche Hilston.
"What is Blanche's name doing here?" Mine pondered, looking at Tieran, who played with Addai.
"Oh no," Lydia voiced, "we need to hurry and fulfill his mission. His time here is limited," she pointed to a big, hung chronometer on the side of the summoning circle.
"Since when is this thing there?!" Mine gasped.
While Mine and Lydia were using their "Sherlocke Holmes skin", plotting difficult plots and stories, probabilities and possibilities, entities, and so on, Addai looked at the happy baby playing with his necklace and tried to talk to him as he did to Umbra.
Yeah, it might work.
"Tieran," Addai called the baby, who stopped munching the necklace's gem. "Can you show us why you're here?" he softly said, cuddling the baby's thin, dark hair.
"Ahu!" Tieran nodded and extended his arms to the floor.
Chubby, reddish hands reached the floor, and Tieran made a glowing circle beneath him appear. He looked at Addai, who kneeled and smiled, caressing his hair. Of course, he cooed and was very proud of that praise, so he made the circle bigger… and bigger… and bigger!
It covered the whole room's floor. It glowed in crimson and yellow, especially near the center and borders. It was full of details and scriptures Addai had never seen before.
Tieran's eyes glowed, and so did an exquisite mark on his tummy that showed even if he was wearing that adorable purple jumper. Two small, curved horns appeared on his forehead, and a fluffy tail on his butt, which found its way through a specific opening on the jumper butt area.
He, once again, looked at Addai, who smiled again and caressed his cheek with his index finger. The baby, once again, cooed.
Sherlocke Mine and Lydia were super confused, still plotting many plots which Addai decided to ignore or else he would become another pointless Sherlocke.
"Uh," Tieran pointed to a spot on the circle.
"Do you want me to touch it?" Addai asked.
"Uh uh!" Tieran nodded.
A faint patchouli scent swirled around Tieran and Addai, then, a chilly wind with snowflakes shaped crystals also joined the odd synesthesia. A wave with of his tail, the baby grabbed a string out of the mist and placed it on his wrist, tying it to him.
The baby clapped his hands and giggled, and Addai couldn't help but tickle him and take Tieran from the floor.
When Tieran stepped out of the circle - actually, he was taken away from it - on the spot where he had been sitting, a bright light began to form in the air. The light grew larger and brighter until it coalesced into a shimmering portal, hovering just a few feet away from Addai.
"Hey, you two," Addai called, Tieran smiling in his arms. "It's our ride."
Both Lydia and Mine looked at the portal (door). It looked very fishy, but Tieran was so happy looking at it that their once tense shoulders and fighting stance ceased, and they "stored" their Sherlocke Holmes skin.
The doorknob was made of silver, and the door was made of sturdy wood. It was a simple, average door - like the one you quickly think about 'door' and it's the one image that always forms.
The door was right there, but no one dared to touch the doorknob.
"Hey, Great Mine," Addai called, and Mine looked at him, holding back his murderous intents. "Open the door."
"You should do it instead, Mr. Lee-Hobb," Mine grinned, holding the urge to kick Addai's leg.
"Yo, if I die, I'll haunt you two," Lydia pinched their noses and Tieran giggled. "Cutie Tieran, bless Auntie Lydia… she'll open the door…" she whined, and Tieran reached for her face.
"Mwah!" Tieran 'smooched' her forehead, and poor Lydia almost fainted.
Such a cute baby he was!
Still, she had a sober moment for a while and thought that she should tell his parents that their son was way too friendly with strangers. Note noted. She had business to do.
Turning the doorknob, she opened the door and…
… nothing?
"Aha! Thank you, baby Tieran! You blessed- YAAAHHHH!!!"
Lydia was sucked into the room past the door!!
Addai and Mine barely had time to run, and both were sucked into the room as well as the giggling Tieran.
Man… that travel felt as if they did some drugs or something like that.
Their surroundings had weird shapes and a vast void. Still, there was a path for them to walk, and baby Tieran clapped his hands as they walked, even wriggling his fluffy tail around. Addai put him on his shoulders, so he could see the path better, and the baby loved that idea very much.
"Here, Lydia," Mine handed her a talisman, which she placed on her shirt. "Here, Addai," he also handed him a talisman, placing it on his chest.
"Worried about me?" Addai teased.
"Of course! Your stupid small brain surely forgot we're in the middle of a miasma room!! What if you got contaminated?!" he fumed.
"Hm…" Addai looked around and yeah, it seemed true enough. "Thank you, Great Mine," he chuckled and Mine gave him a sound slap on the forehead.
"Ababa," Tieran touched Addai's forehead.
"It's nothing," he reassured, and the baby smiled.
The room was dark and somehow misty, so their vision was quite impaired. A cold wind passed on Addai's right side, and he dodged it as instinct, but what he didn't expect was to witness a sharp something shines amidst the dark place they were walking.
He looked at Mine and Lydia, and two sharp somethings were on their aim. Addai tensed and so did Tieran.
"Lydia, Mine, go behind me, NOW," he urged and took Tieran in his arms again, holding him properly.
"What-"
Before Mine could speak, Tieran jumped from Addai's arms and bit whatever was in that shiny thing. Immediately, his mouth turned dirty from something crimson-colored, and a loud whimper filled their ears as Tieran growled at the many shiny spots surrounding them. His once toothless mouth turned into fangsy one, as two hardened structures formed on his gums.
"You three should go," Addai looked at their surroundings. "I'll stay and deal with these things. Each of them is a different devil entity," he informed and took Tieran, giving him for Lydia to hold.
"Ababa…" Tieran extended his arms, but Addai only caressed his cheek in return.
"Can you really deal with them alone? It's way too much," Mine worried, already finding the next door. "I can stay-"
"No," he cut, and the devils' core approached, growling sounds filling their ears. "You should go and do whatever Tieran guides you two to."
And leave him behind? Like cliché moments from the movies and books?
Hell no.
Mine was as stubborn as Addai, and poor Lydia was starting to stress even more than usual - while Tieran growled at the approaching threats.
A bomb-shaped item fell beside Addai, who looked at it puzzled. A rude and quick yank left him with no words but a loud cough at how fierce it was. Mine grabbed him by his shirt and quickly entered the door - dragging Lydia with another hand.
The door closed.
Where were they now? Lydia could barely see something in that other dark room (seriously, what's with those many dark rooms lately??). Mine was confused, and Addai, just like Tieran, stared at something right in front of them.
A woman was lying on the floor, her white-as-snow silky hair covering her pale face. On her right side, a woman was wide awake and staring at the group.
Addai tensed, and so did that woman, who started growling until...
"Bebi!" Tieran widely smiled.
The woman gasped, and her eyes immediately stopped glowing. Her face was different, and so were her features, but she really resembled a human.
"Your Highness Tieran!" the woman called, and Tieran cooed. "And... you."
Addai frowned, and the woman tensed, hiding the other woman in her arms. "It's been a long time, Mrs. Belial."
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