Chapter 20: Chapter 18: Error 404 Destination Not Found

When Lilith’s vision cleared, she found herself on a hill on some heavily wooded area. Kali set her down, and, a moment later, everyone else appeared beside them.

“This…is not one of the other demiplanes.” Kali said slowly, looking around them. “We must be somewhere in Haven.”

“What do you mean it’s not one of the other demiplanes?!” Raphael yelled. “I thought that was where we were going!”

Kali frowned. “It was, something must have gone wrong.”

“Well, get us back, then!” Raphael demanded.

“Can’t.” Kali said flatly. “I don’t know teleportation magic advanced enough to let us do that. All the teleportation magic I know requires that you know where you are in addition to where your destination is, and I’m afraid I have no idea where we are. I’ll have to try and figure that out using some other magic, but it’s going to take potentially up to a few weeks.”

“Can you just…call someone magically?” Judy asked.

“Theoretically yes, realistically no.” Kali replied. “Haven’s big. Like, it makes Earth look like it’s a demiplane big. If we’re close enough to civilization, I’ll be able to easily, but the chances of that are slim to none. I know some magic that doesn’t care about distance that’ll let me get a one-way message, but the issue with that is that Haven also has a lot of background magic that’ll mess that message up.”

“So…now what?” Vithi asked. “How are we gonna protect ourselves? I admit I’m not too familiar with Haven, I spent too much time trapped in my lamp for that, but it’s super dangerous, right?”

“Extremely.” Kali said. “Normally this would be a death sentence, but I think we’ll be able to make it through thanks to Lilith and Carmen.”

“Me?” Lilith replied. “I can’t…really fight.”

“You don’t necessarily have to.” Kali said. “At this point you’re tough enough that you should be able to use raw power to defeat anything that comes your way. Plus, thanks to your abilities, as soon as you’ve killed something you have access to all its power. You should be fine.”

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Carmen nodded. “Judy, Raphael, Kali, I’d like to make a contract with you. Nothing too binding, just something that says that I am in charge of you. No magical coercion to do what I say or anything, just something to let Ruler’s Right and Seeker of Knowledge do their work.”

“Sensible.” Kali agreed. “Let’s do that now, then.”

Carmen walked over, placing a hand on Kali’s forehead. “The two of you, do you agree to the terms I just laid out?” She said, her words dripping with some sort of magic.

“Yup!” Kali said.

“I…no, I don’t!” Raphael squealed, finally working herself free from Carmen’s arms. “Why should I have to be under you?!”

Carmen gave her an unamused look. “Do you want to die or not? Those Skills I mentioned let me access your abilities and provide telepathic communication between all of us at all times. Seeing as how we’re relying on me for protection, and the fact that constant contact is important, I think this greatly increases our survival odds.”

Raphael looked back at Carmen, a conflicted expression on her face. “Fine.” She said after a few moments of hesitation. “I suppose I do.”

Carmen nodded. “Good.” She walked over to Judy, placing a hand on her forehead as well. “How about you, Judy?”

“Of course.”

“Then it’s done.” Lilith felt a sort of electric snap, and then she got a bunch of windows detailing her acquisitions. Most of them weren’t really impressive, which struck her as a little odd, seeing as how Kali was apparently one of the best in the field of espionage.

There was, however, one ability she got that did look useful.

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