Dungeon Raider System

After a nice meal and a few hours of good rest, the previously weary hunters became, well, less weary and more depressed by the death of their friend, especially after Water warlock explained to them why it was impossible for him to bring someone from the dead.

"I don't understand, how can you make someone immortal yet you are incapable of bringing someone back."

"It's not that I lack power, as you know I am powerful," Just as it was expected from him, he started by justifying his inability, but what followed made it easy to understand even to Luna whose mind was closed and she resorted to badgering the eldritch being. "as you must certainly know, power is nothing without power, but knowledge is always useful even without power. Just as I have understanding of many things, such as the beginning of life since I created it, I lack in other areas. Maybe if I had the time, a couple millennia would probably do..."

"That is not good." Luna shook her head.

"I know, which is what I've been telling you all this time." Water Warlock huffed, yet still indulged Luna.

"Hang on, you created life? Like, all life?" Medusa asked, though her lack of enthusiasm for such a huge claim was disconcerting to Water warlock.

"I thought you knew about this, about life being born in a pool of water. It is well documented in your media."

"It is... it's just... I think Uriel mentioned you were the one who destroyed the world..." Medusa awkwardly scratched her cheek. She had thought bad about him for the longest time, though that was due to her first encounter with him was inside the mystical real where she attended the ceremony Water warlock performed on Uriel. The timing wasn't right, of course, yet Uriel explained to her at a later time that some events and rituals take place in the mystical realm at all points in time, which meant that even now it was still happening. It couldn't be described as time travel, it was more similar to entities breaching into a place where time did not exist.

"I did, the first time at least. We were under attack by our own offspring and there wasn't much of a choice. Many of us were lost back then and I'm afraid very few of my kind remain," Water warlock heaved a sigh. "but this also serves as an example. Just destroying the world was easy enough for me, it was just releasing some water from the skies and it was done. But creating something is far more difficult, it takes time, patience and a bit of luck too. The moment I sparked life into this planet it was also the moment I lost control over it. Life grew in all splendid manners, things I could have never dreamed. And to think it's happening again all because of me..." Water warlock shared his disorderly thoughts with the bunch and they appreciated it nearly as much as one could have guessed by the plain expressions on their face.

"You are one complicated fellow." Nika gulped down another beer, which she got for free from Uriel's trait. Or more accurately, she took it and the price was discounted from Uriel's reserve. She would have liked to grab a few more beers for the trip even though she knew Uriel would notice a single missing trite from his treasury, but for some reason she couldn't fathom everyone was acting nice to her and they didn't so much as scoff when she drank. Medusa even handed her another beer, which was the complete opposite to the usual nagging.

She tried to take her mind out of it, but everybody being nice to a person before a dangerous mission was among the biggest flags you could rise, only surpassed by asking for marriage or being asked for marriage. According to lore, it was akin to painting a target on her back and she didn't like the feeling of being the next in line to bite the bullet for the team.

Nevertheless she steeled her resolve when looking at Luna while thinking how little it would mean succeeding in the mission and even living to tell the tale, if that came at the cost of losing Luna. At that moment she decided that if it came to it she would happily trade her own life for Luna's.

"Alright guys, enough rest. It's time we get moving," Nika dusted her hands and stood up and both Luna and Medusa followed, but Water warlock blocked their way and Nika spoke before he could. "If you're not coming with, then you better move aside, handsome."

Being called handsome by a human female was an insignificant absurdity in the insurmountable existence that Water warlock was, though it had just the effect Nika desired as he quickly opened the path for them to leave.

"I'm not here to stop you, but before you go I would like to have a word with you." Water warlock looked awkward. A hulking figure of his size acting like that was strange, scary even. The only thing Nika could think that would cause him to act like that was that he needed to give him bad news and she wasn't entirely wrong about that.

He brought Nika to the corner signaling that what they needed to discuss was private. It should go without saying that Water warlock knew hunters possessed senses sharp enough to listen to what people said in the other side of a room which is why he waved his hand in an upward motion setting a thin barrier that absorbed vibrations on a molecular level meaning neither Medusa nor Luna could hear what they were talking.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you here." Water warlock spoke only after making sure no one else listened.

"I know... it's the weirdest thing. I was just about to ask you about it."

"It's just what I feared, it seems he doesn't want you coming here anymore and he banned you from his domain."

"I didn't even know he could do that."

"He probably didn't know either, but once you get a grasp of your real body, the one that transcends the limits of the flesh anything is possible I'm afraid."

"You didn't call me here just to tell me that, did you?" Nika tried to flirt, though it was difficult to even look at Water warlock to his face due to the difference in size. His current stature rounded three meters and while Nika wasn't particularly short like Luna, she also wasn't tall enough.

"Of course not, there's something else..." Water warlock lowered his gaze and the conversation lasted for about two minutes before he took down the makeshift mute zone he conjured.

"And here I thought you wanted to give me a gift or something." She pouted like a disappointed girlfriend the moment the barrier was taken down which Water warlock found amusing. It served the purpose of diverting her friends curiosity, but she didn't miss the opportunity to shamelessly ask for something.

"There is nothing in this place that I own, not even the dagger which brought me here in the first place."

"I figured, but it was worth the shot."

"I'll tell you what, come back to me after your mission and I'll take you on a proper date." Water warlock's words caused all but the intended purpose, as instead of being reassured or motivated, Nika became pale as two words escaped her mouth.

"Well, shit." She cursed under her breath and turned on her heels to leave the museum.

Medusa watched the whole thing and could barely hold her laughter. The picturesque couple made sense as they both spent a lot of time inside Uriel's trait, but at the same time they looked so different Medusa couldn't help but chuckle, until a darker line of thought crossed her mind.

"If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then I don't think it would be safe for Nika to copulate with him," Luna said out loud the words no one wanted to hear, but she didn't stop there. "it's a health risk at the very least and it's also probably physically impossible without something ripping or tearing."

"Luna, for the love of... just shut your mouth!" Nika snarled blushing heavily as Water warlock slowly turned his back on the group before closing the doors to Uriel's museum and though no one noticed, he too was blushing up.

"And to think she's able to rattle someone like me. I thought I would have no issues discussing physiology, but she's too crass even for me." He heaved a sigh while leaning on the door.

Back in complete darkness, the three huntresses resumed their mission, only now Nika hesitated whether or not they even had a chance from the start. It wasn't that they were about the danger it posed, but the impossibility of the task. From what Water warlock told her, it wasn't that Uriel couldn't call him to help in the fight against the titan of shadows, but rather he didn't want to. And when he was like that, there was nothing anyone could do to make him change his mind.