Chapter 2 : Early Evening
"You two stay right here. I'm going to go get Mica and Tessa." said Anton as he stepped around the dark elves "When I get back we'll all make our way to the dungeon to repair the ward."
"What, no! We'll come with you!" cried Fiona "We need to stick together!"
"What if there's enemies! You'll need us to help you fight!" exclaimed Kianna.
"Listen! I don't like splitting up either. But it'll be easier for me to fight if I don't have you two standing right next to me." said Anton "We're blind right now. We have no idea what we're dealing with, and I don't want to risk either of you getting caught in the crossfire if I have to go all out. And besides, chances are, I'm the only target right now, so you two should be safe here under your shields. And that means I can let you stay here and guard this area."
Anton looked from one dark elf to the other as he spoke.
"If I need to fall back, then I'll need a safe place to fall back to. And that's where you'll come in." he said softly "Now, if I'm not back in 20 minutes then make your way to my room and enter the portal I have set up there. Earlivi knows who you are so he won't kill you. Tell him what's happened and send him after me. Okay? Do you guys understand the plan?"
"No! You can't leave us!" whimpered Kianna.
"Listen! I'll be right back." said Anton as he took hold of her shoulders "But I have to go now, Tessa and Mica could be in danger! There's no more time to argue."
"He's right. We're wasting time!" said Fiona as she pointed her ears straight back and began to look around behind them "Just go, Boss. We'll hold the fort here."
Anton nodded and gave Kianna a reassuring look before turning away from them and darting off towards the back of the house.
The two dark elves wore solemn expressions as they formed their reinforced shield around themselves and set in to wait.
Mica found nothing unusual as she walked into the kitchen and looked around for any sign of Tessa. Finding the room empty and seeing that the backdoor was still closed, she turned to leave back out the way she came in but stopped short as she found herself staring at a broadly smiling unfamiliar face.
Mica blinked and took a step back as she quickly registered that the face she was looking at was actually a smiling opera mask. Colored white with solid black eyes and mouth, the mask's uncanny appearance immediately left one with a sense of unease.
"Well, well... What do we have here?" said the stranger who was holding a completely at ease looking Molly in its arms and lightly stroking the little dog's head "Looks to me like it's a living superiority complex, that's trying to beat us to our target... Can't have that now, can we..."
Taking a step forward, the stranger tilted its head back and forth in a creepy, almost robotic-like manner.
"Can't have that at all..." it said in an eerily melodic yet menacing voice.
"Don't kill her, Pin! Remember! Only the target is-!" said a voice that was quickly cut off as the stranger tapped at a communicator in its ear with the tip of a spaded tail.
"Don't you just hate backseat drivers?" asked the stranger as it took another step forward "Always so unhelpful..."
Caught off guard, and with her instincts telling her to be wary, Mica said nothing as she took another step back and raised her tail up over her head.
"Oooo, that's a nifty looking blade you got there..." drawled the stranger as it watched Mica's barbs flex themselves out wide "Very sharp looking... Scary..."
"Put the dog down." ordered Mica as she poised her tail to strike "Now."
Staying completely still for a moment, the stranger tilted its head to an unnatural angle before speaking again.
"...Or, what?" it said in obvious challenge.
Wholly unnerved by the strange being, Mica immediately struck at its face without hesitation and blinked in surprise when her spade actually became embedded into its mask.
"Congratulations... You missed..." said the being from just behind the now cracked mask that hung in the air at the end of Mica's tail "Also, that was very rude of you..."
Whipping her tail back behind herself, and tossing the mask off to the side in the process, Mica's chest tightened a bit as she finally got a look at her foe. Though she had no idea who this person was, the kiochi was immediately certain that she was looking at another female cubi. And as such, she couldn't help but to get immediately annoyed at this creatures arrogant attitude.
Standing half a head shorter than Mica herself, the strange cubi was clearly not another shinoccubi, but was so similar to, and yet still different from one, that the kiochi couldn't help but to feel a sense of uncanniness about her.
She had a typical cubi shape, with a thin, curvaceous frame, large inhuman eyes, pointed ears, horns, bat-like wings and a long, sinuous tail with a spade at the end. Any similarities with a shinoccubi ended here however.
This cubi's spade was not sharpened but was fleshy and soft. Her skin was a pale orange in color, with darker, bluish stripes crisscrossing down the length of her tail. Her horns were much larger than Mica's, and unlike her own, were covered in a thin layer of flesh. They started out the same orange color as the rest of her body, but quickly darkened along their lengths until they became a vivid, crimson red at their tips.
Like a kiochi, thin lines of color ran down from her horns to her eyes where they broadened into an eyeliner-like mask. Unlike a kiochi though, this coloration was bright and multi-hued, being almost iridescent looking. These lines or stripes didn't stop there either, but continued down over the edges of the strange cubi's cheeks before running down her neck and pooling into a heart-shaped marking that started at the base of her throat and trailed down in between her shapely breasts. Additional freckle-like markings adorned each of her cheeks, right below her eyes, and this gave her face an even broader splash of seemingly unnatural coloration.
Her hair was a bright turquoise in color, and cascaded back over her shoulders in looping curls. And her wings, rather than resting in place behind her back, were instead folded downwards and wrapped tightly around her thighs and legs. And this gave the impression that she was wearing leather chaps.
Her broad smiling face, bright coloration and flamboyant hair all worked together to give this creature a distinctive clown-like feeling to her nature, albeit a rather unnerving clown at best.
Although she, herself had never actually met one before, and knew that it was hard to tell when you were really looking at one, as they were well known for constantly changing their colors and appearances... At this point though, Mica was fairly certain that she was facing a parodi, or a female junoccubus.
As a race, the junoccubi, or motli's and parodi's as they called themselves, were in many ways on the complete opposite side of the mental spectrum from the shinoccubi. Where shinoccubi were serious minded creatures who were ordered and strict in their behavior, junoccubi were instead chaotic, free spirited and fun loving beings.
This division in their demeanors was due to the specific roles that the two races were each bred to play, as where shinoccubi were bred for following commands and killing targets with speed and precision, junoccubi were actually created to stop them.
The clown-like appearance, whimsical nature and playful attitudes were all a ruse to hide just how capable, bloodthirsty and exceptionally dangerous a junoccubus really was. And this was no accident, as by design the junoccubi were specifically bred for a set of very important purposes. They existed to amuse, care for and ultimately protect, children.
Once bonded with a child, regardless of what species that child may be, a junoccubus, or more often than not a pair of them, would become feverishly attentive to that child's needs and happiness. And would provide them with a readily available caretaker, playmate, entertainer, advisor and especially, a guardian.
Essentially, these creatures were a blend of a baby sitter, an imaginary friend, a jester and a fiercely loyal guard dog who would, without hesitation, fly to the defense of their charges.
And with a plethora of magical abilities at their disposal, these unpredictable cubi would not only fearlessly take a stand against any would be threats that may appear, they are also, despite their disarming appearances, fully capable of winning any fight that may take place.
Even against their seemingly better equipped cousins.
"Sorry to disappoint you, sugarlips..." said the parodi as she continued to absently rub Molly's head while now sneering at Mica "But I'm afraid that this just isn't your day..."
Her instincts kicking in as she felt the threat in the parodi's voice, Mica pulled her daggers from their sheathes and fell into a readied stance with her blades pointed at the smiling woman.
"Who are you!?" she demanded as she positioned her tail to strike again.
