Part 1: Cinderfell
Part 2: Deal With a Vorpal
Part 3: Calmsquare Cantina
Part 4: The Wailing Chamber
Dapper rotated his head entirely around and contorted his neck to face Alicia, who was riding along on his shoulder. “I know exactly where we need to go! Rebmauk! It’s not far from here, and the citizens are known far and wide for their great wisdom!”
Alicia could hear Oracle shouting up at them. “Dapper, are you sure that’s wise?”
“Sure I’m sure! I’ve been there at least once, I’m sure they’ll adore Alicia! Assuming they don’t notice she’s human, naturally.”
Alicia frowned, and avoided looking down to ignite her dizziness again. “What are the odds they won’t notice I’m a human?”
Grector grumbled from below. “Not good.”
Dapper scolded Grector. “I say, such negativity! I would say it’s at LEAST a fifty fifty chance.”
Alicia sighed. “Total?”
“No, per Vorpal. Talk to more than three, and it’s almost guaranteed they will notice. But you have the pacifist scarf, so it should be fine.”
Alicia shook her head. Vorpals didn’t seem that concerned with safety in general, but that was to be expected from a race that can’t remember longer than a week and can resurrect themselves. It also occurred to her that if she wanted to play it safe, she wouldn’t have come back to the Inverse at all. “Yeah, I’m sure it will be fine.”
Dapper smiled wildly. “That’s the spirit!”
After stumbling slightly, Dapper decided to place Alicia down so he would be less top heavy. They strolled along without a care, and Alicia took the opportunity to take notes on her surroundings. The more she looked at things in the Inverse, the more alien and foreign it felt. Simple things like the grass seemed different, as the blades seemed both longer as well as sharper, though it still felt like walking through normal foliage. They passed a small lake with a waterfall, the water looking an intense blue as it glowed in the permanent night of the Inverse. She thought she was seeing it wrong for a moment, until she realized the water of the lake itself extended above the shore line, rounding like a single giant bubble towards the center.
Alicia tried to depict the strange lake in a picture, but she scolded herself for not learning more about illustration. The best she could manage was a rough sketch with a written description, but the lake was now out of sight and she had many other interesting things to take notes on.
She noticed Dapper stretching over to look at her notebook, and she resisted the urge to ask him how he could see it without eyes, since she would likely get as useless of answer as the previous time she asked. “What are you drawing, Alicia? Some kind of… buried orb? With a curved pillar attached?”
“It’s supposed to be the lake we passed.”
“AH! The Lake of Phobia, similar but not to be confused with the larger Ocean of Phobia. The water itself doesn’t make you or anything wet, instead acting solid when around solid material. That’s why it extends upward like a giant liquid bubble. Here, lend me your notebook…”
Alicia handed Dapper the notebook and her pencil, and he scribbled swiftly for several seconds. He handed it back, and to Alicia’s surprise it was an incredibly well done sketch of what she had seen, with vivid shading and exaggerated lines that created a compromise between what she had originally drawn and what reality looked like. Because that was what Dapper had done; he had completed her own sketch.
“Dapper, that’s… amazing! I didn’t know you knew how to draw!”
“Do I? Hmm, guess I can’t argue with results… I saw what you were going for, and just rolled with it.”
Alicia flipped over to an empty page, and looked around. “Here, can you draw something else? Let’s see… how about those hills over there?”
Dapper stared over in the vague direction, locking on to his target. The hills were somewhat far away, and had a very unique shape. The sides of them were practically cliffs with how vertical they were, and the tops were perfectly round. They were still entirely covered with an even coat of grass, despite the difficulty with which Alicia imagined cutting the sides of such an awkwardly shaped hill would entail. Dapper made quick work of his art, handing the notebook back again for approval. “Will that suffice?”
Alicia looked at the picture, and saw two giant eyes on one of the hills. She looked back at the hill. “Dapper, the hill doesn’t have-”
Alicia screamed as the eyes opened on the hill, looking at her directly. She started to run for cover as the hill stood up on two monstrous legs looking like twisted masses of black swamp wood, and started walking towards them with thunderous steps. She thought it had been farther away than it actually had been, the actual size of the hill now being revealed as roughly twenty feet.
It walked by, giving Alicia a strange look as she cowered behind a nearby tree. Dapper tipped his hat. “Mornin’, Stan.”
The hill spoke with a low, but very clear voice. “Morning, Dapper. Your friend is a strange one.”
“Trust me, I’m acutely aware of that.”
The hill bid farewell as it stomped away, and Alicia tried to compose herself. There was nothing she had ever seen that was as disquieting as a piece of the scenery suddenly coming to life like that. “That… was terrifying.”
Dapper acted shocked, as if he couldn’t see what could possibly be frightening about a hill with eyes. “What, Stan? You’re scared of STAN? Ole’ Stanley is a real swell fellow! Why, I can’t even recall how many times we’ve played a rousing game of chess… he’s a great conversationalist, too. He’s got a very discerning eye when it comes to art and the finer things in life. Really… you should look past the surface, Alicia!”
“I don’t doubt all that, he just scared me. I thought it- er, he- was just a hill.”
“...oh. Yes, I could see why that might startle you, in retrospect. Sorry. I forget you don’t know most Vorpals.”
Alicia was more tense now, but reminded herself she was with Dapper. There might not be a safer place in the Inverse than beside a friendly Vorpal that could fight. She saw another being they were approaching, a young girl with long black hair covering her face and touching the ground. She stood almost motionless in the middle of the path. Alicia was nervous at first sight of the girl, but decided to withhold judgment until she learned more about it. After all, Dapper had been right. Looks could be deceiving in the Inverse.
Dapper did not react so kindly, immediately sprinting forward while expanding the size of one of his fists. “Not today, Witchly! You can’t fool me!”
The girl pulled back her hair and screeched, revealing a mouth full of jagged teeth. Her eyes were a glowing red, and she stretched her fingers out into long, slender blades as she swiped at Dapper. He ducked and wove between the strikes, but was unable to avoid all of them, taking several slices before dropping to the ground on one knee, and being slapped roughly to the side. Oracle looked nervous. “Alicia… stay back. Maybe I can-”
Grector stepped forward. “I don’t have the patience for this…”
The finger blades collided with Grector, and he didn’t even move as they glanced off of him. The girl’s face contorted in surprise, followed by fear, as Grector pulled back a single arm.
With a single punch, the evil looking girl was sent flying far off into the distance. It pierced a cloud as it flew, leaving a large perfectly circular gap against the starry sky. A sonic boom resonated as wind rushed around them from the tremendous force behind the punch. Alicia just stared in both shock and awe.
Grector groaned in annoyance. “That may have been a bit… excessive.”
Alicia cautiously walked up to Grector. “That was… incredible, Grector.”
Grector groaned in slight embarrassment this time. “I find that almost offensive coming from a human.”
“But why? You stepped forward to protect me and Oracle, even… oh no, Dapper! Is he alright?”
Dapper sauntered back over, his cuts already healing. “Did someone say something about me? I swear I heard my name.”
“Oh. Never mind. Did you see that, Dapper? Grector just completely destroyed that violent Vorpal!”
Dapper just laughed, stretching an arm around Grector in a friendly gesture. “Grector is a real powerhouse when he wants to be! You really don’t want to get on his bad side.”
Alicia had never had any doubts about that, but she hadn’t expected such overwhelming strength. The raw power behind his punch would give the strongest casters that she knew of a run for their money. “I believe it. But Grector, I thought you didn’t really like me? Or Oracle and Dapper, for that matter.”
Oracle addressed Alicia directly, as if she was ignoring Grector. “You’ll have to forgive Grector, here. He’s a very… conflict oriented Vorpal. He doesn’t socialize much, nor does he want to.”
Grector didn’t seem pleased with the description, but he also didn’t dispute it. “I don’t like any of you. I just hated that Vorpal more.”
Alicia walked up to Grector, who looked down on her with a certain contempt. She smiled at him. “Well, I don’t entirely hate you either, Grector.”
A groan that came very close to sounding please rumbled from Grector, as he pat Alicia on the head. “I suppose you aren’t a complete waste of existence.”
Alicia laughed slightly, while Dapper completely broke down into hysterics. “By jove… Grector, you slay me! I just can’t get enough of your quips!”
The group continued, but now it felt like Grector stayed a bit closer to everyone than he had been walking before. Alicia took out her notebook, and added to an entry she had for Grector.
Not very social. But has a soft spot for his friends.
Dapper noticed Alicia writing something. “Alicia, are you documenting again? Did you need some additional illustrations?”
“No thanks. I think I already have everything I need.”
Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying the story, you might also enjoy my novel! It’s set in the same fictional universe, but follows different characters.
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