In those few moments, there was nothing, yet there was everything.
The booming, deafening noise that bore no texture, and brilliant, blinding light that was naught but a void of colour.
But only for those moments before it all swiftly retreated, leaving echoes and reflections behind amongst the crystalline cave they stood within.
There was already some light before, honourable flames and dark auras helping where ancient torches couldn’t, but now it was more visible than ever; the six mortal Champions and their companions strewn about the cave, and the phantasms they fought now ceasing to be, with that which gave them power sealed away shredding them asunder into the the winds of magic that wafted through this place.
The Hold was sealed, and the Predators were defeated. The Champions had succeeded in their mission, and now…
They were all simply left in dead silence.
The light had faded, that which already was before the reckoning of the Predators having been weakened by the battle, so those that remained were left to look amongst each other, not a word leaving their maws for some time between a moment and an eternity.
However, it was eventually broken by the faint sound of pitiful whimpering.
Pom was the first to react, eyes immediately darting down to one of the four small pups near her, and she cried out, “N-nae, Ruff!”
With the silence broken and their attention now brought onto the wounds that covered them all, Tianhuo was swift to regain her lead. “Oleander!” She called out towards the dark Unicorn from her position right before the Hold, having been the one to seal it with the Prophet’s Key. “Summon back our supplies!”
Oleander sharply reacted to the first statement, looking all the way across the cavern at the Longma amidst the ancient temple-exterior-like wall where the Hold was placed, and she herself had to gasp out a pained breath, having just been crushed underneath a massive phantasmal tail. At the second statement from the Champions’ leader, she shook herself and flared her magic, letting it flow through her horn so that the appropriate pocket dimension was reached into and the large and well-organized bag of medical supplies and high-nutrition foodstuffs was retrieved. Holding it aloft in her magic, the Unicorn tossed it forward a great distance as the half-Dragon darted forward on a flap of her flaming wings and caught it.
With her senses returned and attention back off of her, Oleander couldn’t help but let herself relax into the cool, rocky ground. She felt the hot bruises on her underbelly almost sizzle at being compressed so, and the arcane lacerations across her coat spark with the waves of magic that wafted invisibly through the cavern, though she didn’t care for any of them.
She was exhausted, and besides, she had her own companion to help with her wounds.
“Grnnh!” She grunted out as she felt a familiar dark claw rest upon her withers and the pair of thin scars that tore down her side there. “Nnaaaghh…” She groaned, feeling the darkness leaking into her pores and surging them with life, making them regrow the flesh and fur that was slashed away, all while letting the darkness that sat within the wounds itself to get sucked into the even darker arm that reached out from the tome that rested open upon its spine on the cave floor.
The Demon that dwelled with the Unicornomicon did not speak; a rare treat for Oleander, really, and one she especially appreciated at that moment with the exhaustion weighing her down so heavily. She could still hear the sounds of her fellow Champions, Tianhuo and Pom tending to the others’ wounds first and their own last, but they left her to her own thoughts for the time being.
As for those thoughts though… She may have found them more terrifying than they beasts they had just vanquished.
After all, those beasts were the reason she had fought so hard for so long, with thirteen years of her life—that was only just more than twice that long—lived under a pact that was only now satisfied. Beyond the fighting, her life was made of simple spite, with no given reason to care for the trivialities others may have found so attractive, and the threat that always loomed over her kept pushing her forward at all costs.
Now, she had nothing. No cursed pact to seal a Demon by her side, no reason to keep pushing for more knowledge and power, no threat she could always use as a reason to push back a suggestion of having fun… and no drive to do anything now, as her purpose had been fulfilled.
The loudening clops of hooves alerted Oleander that someone was approaching, and the tamed crackles of flame told her who exactly it was.
“You did well, Oleander, and the entirety of Foenum cannot thank you enough for your help,” Tianhuo spoke to the Unicorn, who wasn’t able to lift her head after the pain of her healed wounds.
“Hmph. And me?” Fhtng—or rather, Fred—replied in his cursed voice in place of her own silence.
A beat passed, the Longma no doubt looking over at the open tome, its amaranth pages glowing humourously, before she said, “You have proven your worth beyond being a Demon, Fred.”
“Ah, a glowing review, I see,” He tutted back playfully, and Oleander could hear the roll of his not-even-physical eyes.
Another beat, then Tianhuo addressed the Unicorn, “…Oleander.”
Blinking a few times so that her vision could return to her focus, she saw the jade hooves of the hybrid before her, making her look up towards the face of the creature that owned them. “What,” She uttered out, not able to afford even enough energy to make it a question.
The Longma kept her gaze upon the other Ungulate for a time, then spoke measuredly, “What will you do now?”
Oleander blinked a few more times in bewilderment, needing to process the question as coming from notoriously pragmatic creature before her, but then her gaze fell as she comprehended it. “...Good question...” She muttered out half-heartedly, knowing just how little the answer mattered to herself, “Probably go back to the Order and take them over or something.”
“I know it matters to you more than that,” Tianhuo responded without a pause, making Oleander grumble into the ground and Fred snort.
Neither needed to comment as to why that was so, but the Longma did follow up, “This is why I asked, Oleander. You see no reason to remain in this world, as your logic-driven reason does not understand the subjective reason the rest of us live for.”
The Unicorn pulled in a sharp breath through her nose and glared up at the other Ungulate, but her will quickly faltered as she recalled how Tianhuo had explained how she already knew her servitude to her Empress had no ultimate goal, yet didn’t need one like Oleander had believed.
“I believe finding a place to live beyond that empty glade and the callous Order would be a good start,” Tianhuo stated, pulling the other creature’s attention back up to her face, “No doubt we all could host you and our people would welcome you, though I am aware most of our homes will not be to your tastes. Paprika’s highlands are hardly a home, and Huoshan would leave you delirious from the heat; Arizona’s prairie are of, as you described them, ‘bloody illiterate morons’—” A snort came from Oleander, and Fred laughed for a moment, “—And Pom’s meadow is full of those that may fear you more than the Predators. So...” She trailed off, letting the only remaining place unspoken, and a deep sigh came from the Unicorn.
“I don’t think I can make a living amongst snooty Reindeer that charge a thousand salt for a bloody hat.”
The Longma sighed lightly; “You know Velvet is somewhat an outlier, and that price the upper end of Cashmere’s stock.”
“And you can make out with Cash; she still oughta have that crush on you,” Fred added helpfully from the side.
“Oh, shut up,” Oleander shot back in exasperation, glaring over at the Unicornomicon for a moment, then back over at the Longma.
“Regardless of it all,” Tianhuo added carefully at the Unicorn’s look, “I do still recommend you first return to Order and speak with them. While you are unlikely to persuade them, you can still achieve closure on your past.”
Rolling her eyes and sighing, Oleander could only return, “And how do you think that will happen? We’d only get into an argument, and I’d probably end up killing a bunch of them.”
“Not like that’s a bad thing,” Fred commented, a hint of undying fury seeping into his voice and the glow of his eyes, “Good riddance for their ancestors sealing me in a damned cave for so long.”
“Nor were they of any objective use,” The Unicorn added pointedly towards the other Ungulate, “So I hardly imagine I could feel any regret for ending them.”
Tianhuo’s expression was more pensive, and she exhaled before responding, “I can understand that much, but sparing them is not what I ask of you.”
“Good.” “Good.”
Oleander and Fred’s voices came out in concert, and they both laughed amongst themselves a bit as they realized the implication that amongst all their differences and their changes on their quest, that was still something they could agree on.
The Longma noticed it as well, and sighed. “...Though perhaps I should,” She added tentatively, but then closed her eyes for a moment, took a breath, then opened them back up to look at the others. “The years apart have no doubt eroded your memories, Oleander,” She addressed the Unicorn in question, “And you must speak with them once and truly understand why you shouldn’t be living there, not just accepting the belief you imparted onto yourself all those years ago. I cannot possibly know the true reasoning behind their exile of you or the reason you were so invested in darkness, but you can, if you try to find it back there.”
Oleander ‘hmph’ed at the idea, but assented to it with a shrug, as she knew she had somewhat idolized those moments of her past as a clear picture for what rules she should follow at all costs and which to buck off a cliff.
Silence returning between the three creatures, they were free to notice the four sets of approaching hoof-steps (and six of paw-steps) and the accompanying voices between their owners. Turning their gazes to those in question, they noticed the bandages across their forms and the rips and chips on their accessories, but also the conversation that they beheld being light in spite of it all.
“...so Cupid just asked, ‘Vhat’s with all zee frosting, Veexin? I deedn’t know you vere a baker,’ and Vixxy just leaned back and,” Velvet leaned her head back and sighed dramatically, going on through her conversation with the three other Champions near her, “She said, ‘I don’t need to bake a pie, Cupeed; zis frosting vill be going on yours.’” The Reindeer grinned while others responded in their varying tones; Arizona with a befuddled head-tilt, Pom with a shocked and hearty blush, and Paprika and Linen, Velvet’s Winter Sprite, with high-pitched giggles.
“Wait, you ain’t say nothin’ a pie ‘fore that...” The Cow replied, sounding genuinely baffled at the supposed non-sequitur.
Velvet grinned even harder and laughed, raising one of her hooves to tousle with the younger Ungulate’s mane, making Arizona puff her cheeks out in a pout. “Oh, deer Ari,” The Reindeer replied mockingly, leaning down to speak into her ear, “You vill understand vhen you are older.”
The Cow groused and swatted the hoof off her head, tersely muttering back, “Ma ‘n pa have been sayin’ that fer a bunch of stuff already! Ah don’t need ya addin’ to the herd!”
Laughter passed between the three other Ungulates near her, with Pom a bit more stifled as she kept her bandaged dogs reined in, but they all calmed down as they arrived before the two remaining Champions.
“Hm,” Velvet grunted as she observed the faint marks still lingering on Oleander’s body, “I vould ask for zhat healing as vell, but I already know it vould be worse...”
“You have no idea...” Oleander scoffed back, pointedly looking away from the citizen of Reine.
Letting a beat pass, Tianhuo then asked of the others, “I take it you will all go back to your homes when we get out of this place?”
“Yeah,” Arizona replied somewhat enthusiastically, but it faded into exhaustion while she continued, “Been away from ma ‘n pa fer a long time, and Ah don’t really like walkin’ ‘round caves like this.”
“Of courze, of courze,” Velvet returned, standing up as high as usual, “I simply muzt return to Reine and get zhis flith off of me, and be praized as I should be.”
Sarcasm and amusement rolled through the other Ungulates for a short while, but then with the silence returning and the next implied turn belonging to Paprika, she just let out a short few chirps and purrs. Velvet’s eyes nearly rolled up all the way into her head in a silent groan, though Fred let out a chuckle and a garbled... noise out of his pages, to which Oleander promptly smack him with a hoof in the front cover. “Ow, okay fine, I’ll stop!”
Snorting, the Unicorn let the group’s attention then go over to Pom, who smiles nervously at it and stutters her answer, “I-I jus’ wanna live with my doggies in peace, ‘s all...”
“And for you, mizz wings-of-fire?” Velvet asked of the Longma in her most neutral tone.
“I will indeed go back to Huoshan; my presence as the Captain of the Royal Army is needed,” Tianhuo returned, sounding as dutiful as always, yet now with a bit of wistfulness in her voice.
The Ungulates had their usual reactions of bemused respect, but Oleander was soon to cut them off with a heavy sigh. “And I shall be headed back to the Glade to beat up High Priestess Lovecraft. Then...” She sighed, even heavier than before, and with a look from both Tianhuo and Fred, she continued, “I’ll probably move to Reine for a time. Don’t have anywhere else to live, after all...”
As expected, Velvet grinned and replied haughtily, “Oh? I don’t suppose zhat it’s because of moi?”
“Please,” The Unicorn sneered, “You’ll sooner find Cashmere macking on me in a back alley.”
“I like that visual!”
Smack!
“OW!”