Prophecy Approved Companion

“What does the anatomy of the Devs look like?” Qube whispered to Definitely Bad Guy as they returned to the plaza. She still wasn’t sure how they were going to avert the half-started civil war, and shouldn’t have been thinking about something so mundane as the physical appearance of the beings that created her entire world, but she had to know.

“Remarkably similar to ours, but with several key differences,” Definitely Bad Guy said. “Some of which seem inefficient or downright dangerous. For example, in one of the models—”

“So, civil war, huh? Ol’ Romeo and Juliet situation?” the Chosen One loudly interrupted the two Mages.

“It was Zincy and Slate, not ol’ Romeo or Juliet,” Qube corrected the Chosen One. She was about to get annoyed at his rudeness when she noticed his flushed cheeks and was struck with a realisation.

The Chosen One was embarrassed.

The man who (in public no less!) would shamelessly ask anyone and everyone their spells, who’d ignore or dismiss some of the most powerful people in the world, and who had absolutely no problem blatantly stealing everything and anything, was embarrassed by Definitely Bad Guy and her discussing the anatomy of Devs.

Definitely Bad Guy, less keenly tuned to the Hero’s mood, blithely continued: “They call themselves humans, although given the variations involved I believe they are as close to what we call human as half-elves are to us.”

“Do you mean that Devs have large ears?” Sencha Bard asked.

“Our ears are normal sized, yours are just small!” Qube fired back without thinking. “No, that’s not what I wanted to discuss!” She pulled herself back on track to the unique problem of how to deal with the Chosen One’s modesty.

“Tell me, my love, do you and the Devs share similar anatomy?” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar asked, chuckling as the Hero squirmed. The Hunter knew exactly how to deal with the Chosen One’s modesty.

“The Devs are the original humans,” the Chosen One said, still flushed. “They based your version of humans off of them. Us. We’re all human.”

“Ah,” Definitely Bad Guy said, his brow clearing. “That explains the modifications. They improved upon their own flawed design.”

“Only humans can be Devs?” Sencha Bard asked, a note of disapproval tingeing his question. “Or is that just a coincidence?”

“No, we only have humans,” the Chosen One said. “There aren’t other races in the Devs’ realm. Okay, we have races, but it means something different. We don’t have races like elves and dwarves. Actually, we have dwarves, but not dwarf-dwarves. Wait, does this world have dwarves?” The Chosen One, on top of still being quite red, was looking more flustered than Qube could ever remember seeing him. If anything, he looked like Qube when she got lost in a morass of half-sentences.

“I’ve never met a dwarf,” Qube said, taking pity on his obvious distress.

“Cool, so they’re in this world,” the Chosen One said, taking a deep breath. “Cool, cool, good to know.”

How had she ever thought this man had grown up in the same village as her? She shuddered to think how he would have coped without her and the others helping him.

“What else have you learned from your book?” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar asked Definitely Bad Guy, her fangs peeking out in a smile as the Chosen One frantically cleared his throat.

Fortunately for the Chosen One’s surprising display of modesty, that was the moment the party arrived in the lover-occupied plaza.

“We should start with Zincy and Slate,” Qube said, eyeing the duo dubiously.

“Oi! Love birds!” the Chosen One shouted in relief, striding towards the two sighing constructs. “Let’s talk about your [snacks]. In fact, tell me all about it. How’d you two crazy kids fall in love? Oh wait, that was cuz of me. New question, how do you feel about everyone thinking you’re dead?”

Zincy and Slate ignored him, continuing to stare at each other.

“Sencha Bard,” Qube said, gently reaching out and restraining Squiggles, who was attempting to eat a flower box, “Sexy Screamy Spider Briar, I feel like you two would be able to understand the two of them best. I would like to know if they can see me, though.”

She’d worked magic on the pair before, saving both their lives, so in theory they should be able to sense her, if not outright see her, but getting the two of them to stop sighing at each other long enough to have a conversation was proving difficult.

“Sharpest and shiniest of maidens, may I have a moment of your time?” Sencha Bard bowed deeply at Zincy.

“Hey big boy, I’m betting you got a soft side under that hard exterior. Care to share?” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar was casually swaying next to Slate.

Neither construct paid attention.

In the distance, Qube could hear a rhythmic thumping sound. She pushed it to the back of her mind, where the rest of the battle music held permanent residence.

“Hello, can you hear me?” she asked, boldly striding up to the pair of lovers. There was a slight shift, so subtle she couldn’t be sure that either of them had actually heard her, but something changed in their body language.

“Maybe I should try and fully [Heal] you both,” she said loudly, working hard to keep the frustration out of her voice.

After all, it wasn’t their fault that something was wrong with them. Wrong with everyone in the town. Before war had broken out, it had seemed like they were capable of carrying on normal conversations. Sure, they were strangely rigid in their thinking, like with the too-quickly-exchanged-to-be-anything-other-than-blank letters Zincy and Slate had demanded the Chosen One courier back and forth even when they were right next to each other, but the moment something unexpected happened they just… broke down.

And that gap between how they acted when they were carrying out the Constructor’s wishes, even if rather more enthusiastically than he’d intended, and this total inability to hold a conversation or acknowledge reality when it didn’t align with what they expected…

It frightened her. Because the more she thought about how they appeared to her, the more convinced she became that this was how the Devs thought about them. The party. Potentially even the whole kingdom.

She could look down on the constructs as simple, broken things, because she lived in a world infinitely more complex than they did. It wasn’t hard to see the parallel with how the Devs had treated the party.

How they’d treated her.

She knew, now, that unless something unexpected and extraordinary happened, nothing in Construct Crossroad would change. Without the need for food or sleep, these two would stay here day and night, sighing at each other, and the rest of the townsfolk would go about their lives, promising blood but instead stuck in the same old routines.

She had to find the Constructor. She had to make him “fix” the constructs, give them a chance to be something more than what they were. She wouldn’t give up on them. She wouldn’t leave them to their fates. She would help guide them into being the best they could be.

The thumping in the distance matched the throbbing of her rapidly-developing headache.

“Chosen One, we need to find the Constructor,” she said, determination filling her. Yes. They had to make the Constructor see reason. With the whole will of the party against him, he'd have to find some way to fix this mess he’d made, and then everyone would be free to live their lives in whatever way they saw fit.

And if the others weren’t able to sway him, then she would talk to him herself.

Even if she had to [Heal] him to do it.

---

The Constructor, in defiance of all common sense, had returned to his home. Qube couldn’t think too hard about why he wasn’t out in the town, trying to help his children, without starting to ask herself too many questions about the Devs’ lack of direct involvement in her world, so instead she’d just settled for cheerful, bright encouragement, desperately trying to drown out the thumping in her skull.

“Well, how strange that he chose to be holed here! Teehee!” she said happily.

“She’s scary when she’s mad,” the Chosen One whispered to Sencha Bard.

“All women are terrifying when enraged,” Sencha Bard replied wisely.

The Chosen One rolled his eyes at the Bard, but focused on following Qube as she perkily stomped into the Constructor’s abode.

Despite the fact that civil war was threatening between his creations, the Constructor was bent over a table full of bubbling liquids, scribbling notes on a pad of paper. The inactive construct in the corner hadn’t been touched, and even the squished eyeballs that the Chosen One had left behind were still resting on the floor.

The party crowded into the laboratory, Qube staying back to remain standing in the doorway. She remembered how it had slammed shut behind them the last time they’d been there and didn’t want to run the risk of being trapped inside. Squiggles hugged her legs, hungrily eyeing all the loose equipment.

“Hero! You must choose a side!” the Constructor said, his hair floating around him like a cloud. “I can’t stand to harm any of my children!” For all his passionate words he couldn’t even be bothered to look up from his studies.

What Qube would have said about a parent who stood by while a total stranger picked which of his children survived was not to be discovered. For, at that very moment, as her thumping headache reached a crescendo, Squiggles, the beloved mascot of the team, released her grip on Qube’s legs, bolted out of the doorway, and slorped down the street.

“Squiggles!” she cried, immediately abandoning the party and chasing after the sharktopus. Without a single thought about how the others would deal with the Constructor without her guidance, she ran, holding up her robes as Squiggles raced ahead. “Squiggles! Stop! Wait for me! You can’t run off here; this is a strange place!”

But Squiggles didn’t even flinch. She wriggled as she ran and suddenly tripled her speed, a flash of golden glitter enveloping her as she disappeared from view.

“Squiggles!” Qube cried, but her pet was gone.

“Hey! What happened?” From behind her she heard a familiar voice. Still running, she glanced over her shoulder and saw that the Chosen One had abandoned his negotiations, instantly following his companion. His metal-booted feet clanged as he ran, and Qube found herself instinctively slowing down to allow him to catch up to her. Behind the Hero the rest of the party struggled to keep pace with him.

“I don’t know!” Qube said, gulping down air. They arrived at a crossroads and she glanced between the three roads. There was no sign of the missing mascot. “She suddenly ran off! There weren’t any children wanting chasies or anything! Maybe something in the Constructor’s house scared her?”

“Nah, if that was the case she would have attacked it,” the Chosen One pointed out, annoyingly unpuffed from the running. “She’s more likely to try and eat something that spooks her than flee it.”

Uncomforted by this wisdom, Qube picked a random street and started down it. She fancied she still saw a faint trace of glitter in the air. The thumping of her head seemed to fill her entire body now, and she felt like she was being shaken by it.

“Hey, does anyone else hear that?” the Chosen One asked. “It’s like an earthquake.”

“It sounds like a giant is attempting to enter Construct Crossroads,” Sencha Bard said worriedly.

“I very much doubt it could get in. After all, it would have to solve the riddle, and giants are not known for their intellectual acumen,” Definitely Bad Guy said.

“Or it could just destroy the walls,” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar pointed out. “After all, we were able to climb them.”

The streets had twisted around so much that Qube arrived in the plaza with startling suddenness. Zincy and Slate had finally stopped staring at each other, and turned to look at the gate that was now hanging wide open.

And there, at the entrance to Construct Crossroads, was Squiggles, frolicing in joy as she danced with…

“Scissors!” Qube cried in joy as she spotted the former Light Temple Boss dancing in the sunlight, surrounded by an array of various beasts, all moving to the thumping beat of the cutely-nicknamed Boss’s legs slamming into the ground.

The giant scorpion they’d lost so long ago had finally arrived in Construct Crossroads.

And he’d brought friends!