NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 212. Negotiations
"I see our new friends have already left. They sure recover fast," Leo said as he approached his sister and dropped Stealth Shroud.
Lily yelped, spinning around to face him. "God dammit, Leo." She glared, grasping at her chest. "I almost shat myself. Do you really need to sneak around when we are the only ones here?"
He shrugged, leaning against the Void Gate. "Sorry. At this point, walking around with stealth active is like breathing for me. Besides, it's a good habit to have."
Lily huffed. "Not when you're among friends. If somebody dies from a heart attack in the future, I'm blaming you."
"Funny," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "So what happened during the meeting? Nyx said you would explain everything."
"I will, just not here." She motioned to the portal. "Come on, let's go back to Earth, then we can talk."
Leo nodded and followed the woman into the gate. Just like before, the portal sucked him in with a single touch, transporting him to the mysterious transition space.
Planetary transit in progress. Due to the user's strength, teleportation might take a bit longer. Please remain calm and refrain from using any Essence techniques. Planet of arrival: Earth. Estimated Void corruption: 96%.
I completely forgot about this. He grimaced as his gaze fell on the end of the notification. Yeah... that seems about right. Thank you, Dark Zone and Second Cataclysm. Earth really is on life support. Great...
He looked around the vast empty space, searching for any changes from the last time, but found none. Everything was exactly the same, and even with Lily also taking the portal, they didn't share the same transition space.
I wonder if the transportation method changes depending on the gate. Gotta check that one day.
Soon, the next notification came, and Leo braced himself as the System threw him back on Earth. This time, he acted quicker and righted himself in mid-air while his claws rushed towards the ground to stop his movement.
Much better. He smiled and stood up, dusting off his pants and cloak. Just then, a muffled giggle reached his ears, and the smile fell off his face.
"Not funny." He huffed, producing another round of snickers from his sister. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. It's not my fault I'm too strong for the portal."
"I don't care!" Lily grinned. "After the mess you've created on Terlasfor, nothing will stop me from enjoying every bit of your suffering."
Leo scowled. "It worked out, didn't it?"
"I guess it did," she said, still smiling. "However, it doesn't change the fact that you put us all in an uncomfortable position. Holden pretty much had to threaten their commander to summon the elders. We're lucky they even agreed to talk to us."
"I won't apologize if that's what you are looking for. They attacked first. I only wanted to talk."
Finally, Lily sighed as she sat down at the edge of the Void Gate's platform. "I know... We would be having a completely different conversation if that wasn't the case. Tony and Frank would probably be here too."
Leo nodded and plopped down next to her, though this arrangement was far from comfortable. "All right, spill it. What's going on with those forest centaurs? Do we have an alliance?"
"Not exactly," she answered, looking up at the night sky. "Much to our surprise, the elders were happy to talk with us, but they didn't agree on an alliance right away. As it is their planet we practically invaded, they had conditions, a few of them at that."
He frowned. "Are they at least reasonable?"
"Kinda? The first one is that we won't come anywhere close to their main village. That's easy as we don't even know where it is, and there is nothing to gain from stepping on their toes."
"I found it," Leo said, forcing his sister to look at him. "It's massive, maybe half the size of Wolford. There must be thousands of them there. If it somehow managed to remain untouched by the Void, I can guess why they don't want us coming anywhere close to it."
"Huh, thirty percent indeed... Lucky bastards, having their own planet protect them," Lily muttered.
Leo blinked. "What? What do you mean by that?"
She sighed again. "Apparently, the entire race of Terrontaur is deeply connected to nature and thus the consciousness of their planet. It was like that even before the Outbreak... Don't ask me how it's possible. We asked, and they refused to say more."
And just like that, everything started to make sense in his head. He would still like to know how a planet managed to fight off the Void, but that could wait. Nyx was right; those Terrontaurs were aware of Essence way before the Outbreak—all thanks to a planet with some sort of sentience...
He relayed all that and what he learned during scouting to his sister, making her frown. "So you're saying the entire forest is free of the Void?"
Leo nodded. "Yep. Beyond it, Voidlings walk free. It's not even half as bad as on Earth, but I doubt they already went through the second Cataclysm, so there is that."
"And now their second condition makes sense," she mumbled before noticing his questioning look. "We asked them if we could make a new base on Terlasfor. They agreed as long as we do it outside of their forest. I think we're gonna need to renegotiate this, especially if they want us to agree on the third condition."
"Sounds serious," he tried to joke.
"It is," Lily answered, her voice remaining severe. "There is another Void Gate in that forest, a dimensional one. It opened a few days ago, and ever since then, it had been throwing waves upon waves of Voidlings at the Terrontaurs. Their mastery of nature might be impressive, but they can't go on forever. According to the elders, that single gate would have overwhelmed them instantly if not for their numbers."
"Nightmares?"
She shook her head. "Thankfully, no. All normal Voidlings. Just a lot of them."
"Got ya... And they want us to deal with it? Nothing else?"
"That's the third and last condition."
Leo snorted. "Gotta say, they have balls to ask for all of that after I kicked their asses."
"Tony thought the same. That's why we didn't agree right away."
"Good. As it is, the deal isn't fair," he commented. "But if you can fix the second condition and maybe get something else from them, I say go for it. I can always deal with their gate problem myself. I'm kind of curious what's on the other side."
"Another Cerevod?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like a waste. What if you don't use it again?"
"Give me a moment. I have an idea."
With that said, he fished out the TEK transmitter and opened a chat with Naz'Tor. After a few exchanged messages, he grinned and hid the device again.
"So it's as I thought," he muttered and turned to look at his sister. "If I don't activate my Cerevod, the Enchanted Matrixes will fade away after a few days and then I can use them on different gate. They will be slightly weaker but still enough to work for a few weeks."
"We have a plan then!" Lily exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "We just gotta figure out what to ask from them in return. Well, that and how to convince them to drop the second condition."
Leo waved her off. "Holden will figure something out. Among all of us, he knows best what the group needs."
"True that. As much as it pains me to say it, unlike me, Tony knows what he is doing. He never hesitated during negotiations. Frank and I barely had to say anything. It was kinda embarrassing."
"Don't think about it too much. Holden has much more experience in leadership than you. Give yourself time." He also stood up and lightly patted her shoulder. "Come on. Let's get going. I bet the rest is waiting for us."
Lily just smiled and nodded.
"Everyone's ready?" Leo asked as he stopped next to Frank. The red sun was slowly climbing higher, signaling the start of another day.
The Fallen Human glanced at the large group of survivors behind them and shrugged. "As ready as they can be. Now, we all just need a few levels."
He nodded. "Easy thing to fix once we arrive at London's outskirts. We can also clear that one nest I found on the way. It shouldn't take too long."
Frank grinned. "I like the sound of that, mate! By the way, where is the kitty? I haven't seen her ever since we returned from Terlasfor."
"She went ahead to scout the road. I don't want any surprises this time. We were lucky nothing happened yesterday when Lily led the civilians."
"Aye, true that," the Fallen grimaced. "Good thinking, you two. A trap is the last thi—"
"There you are, you ugly bastards!" Lily interrupted as she came to a stop beside them. "Can we go now? I checked, and everybody is ready. Stop wasting time."
Leo rolled his eyes while Frank chuckled. "Aye, aye, lassie," the other man said and turned to face the group of survivors. "Pick up your bags, maggots! We're moving out. Remember, no stops unless I say so or we are halfway to London. Listen to our orders, and everything will be fine. Do I make myself clear?!"
"Yes, sir!" They all shouted.
"Excellent. Leo, lead the way."
Gladly.
