"We''re going on a trip, with my favorite chocolate chip! Running throughhh the land! Little-"

"Mom... What are you doing?"

"Commemorating the occasion!" Bekka beamed. "I never get to spend time with you anymore, you got all big and now you''re too grown up for your old mom."

Thrudd couldn''t exactly say anything under the relentless assault of her mother''s nuzzling.

The entire ride atop the back of Bagheera had been like this. She had been less focused on riding, and more focused on trying to dissuade her mother from pulling out baby pictures mid- adventure.

It was a full-time job that felt far more difficult than it needed to be.

"Don''t hog her, Bekka, pass her back here!" Tatiana complained.

Thrudd quickly became flustered. "I-I am an adult goddess! Not a cigarette!"

""Yea, yea.""

Bekka lifted Thrudd over her shoulders and passed her back to Tatiana with startling ease.

While upside down, the thunder goddess saw four more of her mothers looking like they were waiting for an opportunity to grab her as well.

Acceptance finally came as her body went limp and she accepted her fate.

Suddenly, the pounding of Bagheera''s hooves slowed to a much softer pitter-patter. Beside them, Gandora did the same.

Everyone dismounted from the creatures and peered down at the cliff overlook. A small town sat underneath a rocky slope- just on the edge of the winding river.

The blizzard had lessened to a degree where it was now possible for them to see everything in a picturesque light.

The buildings here were a bit odd and made from materials that resembled solidified water and icy stone. It gave everything here a ''squishy'' feel.

They heard rowdy laughter in a foreign language deeper into the town. Their eyes settled on their first group of locals.

They were humanoid with skin that wasn''t quite pale, but more ashen. As if their actual skin tones were covered with a thin layer of snow.

All of them had brand-like birthmarks around their eyes and / or mouths. Their ears also seemed to have slight points like an elven species.

Their bodies were fairly devoid of hair, and those who did have it seemed to possess an unnaturally thick texture too difficult for a regular pair of earth clippers to cut through.

Perhaps due to the region, some had more aquatic-based features than others, such as bulbous black eyes, and / or the beginnings of webbing between their fingers.

"Alright... How are we going to go about this?" Lisa asked the group.

To everyone''s surprise, Seras was the one to raise her hand excitedly. "Let me give this a try! I''ve been dying for a chance to talk to aliens."

-

The Spiny Dream, as always, was bustling. Loud, ravenous cheers and jokes too crude to actually be called so. And then there was the violence. There always seemed to be a display of violence going on.

Maybe that was why things didn''t feel like they had changed much since the Melding.

People made themselves frayed beyond their limits in an effort to stay sane.

Their minds were turning against them. Memories that were theirs, and yet not, threatened to tear them asunder like tissue paper in a strong wind.

She reached inside of the mug and pulled out a quill dripping with liquid.

She placed it in his mouth and allowed him to chew on the ends.

His pained expression softened. Becoming almost listless.

He relaxed almost immediately. His mind was carried off into his own blissful dream.

Sevasina leaned down beside him. Her own eyes were already misty.

She knew this wasn''t right. These weren''t solutions.

You cannot heal people in this way.

But what else was she even supposed to do, when she had no idea how they''d all gotten so broken in the first place?

And it wasn''t as if she didn''t have her own things that she wanted. Things that she was missing from her life.

But she couldn''t even begin to allow herself to think about herself for so much as a second because if she did...

"You big idiot... Now you''re making us both cry." She struck her companion over the head with a tear laden fist.

He released a dull groan in response.

Sevasina ran her fingers over his hair in the same way a mother might do for her child.

If she was honest, she envied him right now.

Dull and empty without a single thought behind his eyes to haunt him...

Maybe she shouldn''t let him hog the fun.

She reached inside of the cup and pulled out a quill of her own. Read latest chapters at empire

Placing it between her lips, she almost had it between her teeth before she noticed the sound of something dripping.

Out of pure curiosity, she looked over to investigate while rolling the alcohol alternative between her lips.

The blood from her companion''s open mouth was starting to pool onto the floor. In hindsight, maybe she didn''t have to hit him that many times.

She started to wipe it up with the towel she kept tucked into her pants when it moved.

The puddle wiggled like some sort of gelatin and a small, mini figure of a red woman showed up in the wilderness.

The figure had hair, some kind of bony protrusions coming from it''s head, and a deceptively cute appearance.

"You don''t need to numb yourself, you know?" The figure said. "There may be a way ahead for you to get everything that you want. Your friend too."

Sevasina blinked several times as her mind struggled to process everything.

But eventually, it simply gave up and failed.

Her body fell backwards, and the spine between her lips fell out of her mouth and rolled beyond her grasp; completely punched.

"Huh... I really thought that would go better."