“If you are going to propose you need a proper betrothal gift.” Bodya said with a sly smile as Tista literally burned red in embarrassment. “Otherwise there’s no need to bring anything.
“You are just visiting the family of a friend. No one expects you to dish out powerful ingredients like they are candies nor to bring food since my relatives are all lesser Leviathans.
“They are not used to human dishes and to make enough for everyone you’d cause another famine.”
“Right.” She nodded. “Let’s go meet your relatives, then.”
Tista shapeshifted into her Hekate form and opened a Warp Steps as quickly as she could before she lost her cool and chickened out.
“You know where my family lives? Then you did prepare, after all.” Bodya said.
“No, I’m just so scared out of my mind that I opened a Steps in a random direction.” Tista replied, her voice almost breaking in terror and embarrassment.
She dispelled the dimensional door after realizing it just led to the furthest point she could see. Her flames died down and her scales turned to a deep, dull red.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of. Everything is going to be fine, I promise.” Bodya hugged Tista before she burst into tears.
All the magic on Mogar and the bloodline abilities of her Demon form were useless against stress. She was just a girl terrified at the idea of meeting her boyfriend’s family.
“She’s making a big deal out of nothing.” Lith scoffed, but under a Hush zone to not make his sister feel worse about it. “Who cares if some strangers like her or not?”
“It is a big deal!” Kamila and Solus snarled at him.
“Don’t you remember how scared I was when you brought me to Lutia the first time?” Kamila’s meeting with Lith’s family had gone well, but she had cried her share the days before.
“Have you forgotten how terrible it was when you introduced me to our family?” Everyone had assumed that Solus was the reason behind Kamila breaking up with Lith and had treated her like a homewrecker.
It had been one of the worst days of her life and she had ended up crying a lot before the misunderstanding had been cleared.
“Dya!” Elysia had no idea what was going on but feeling how upset the two women she cared the most about were, she scolded Lith to the best of her abilities.
As for Valeron the second, he pretended to be asleep to not be dragged into that mess.
“Fine, I apologize. I’m a jerk.” Lith raised his hands in surrender.
The three most important women of his life were coalized against him and that wasn’t the hill he wanted to die on.
After Tista composed herself and her scales went back to their usual shiny red, Bodya opened a series of Warp Steps leading southeast, away from the coast.
“Since my species hasn’t inherited the gills of our forefather, Nidhoggs tend to build their homes deep underground and away from water. Just like wingless Lesser Dragons avoid heights.” He said in between dimensional doors.
“Our ability to swim through the earth makes it relatively easy for us to find a natural network of caves that we then expand and rearrange with magic. It’s also great for looking for crystals and enchanted metal mines.
“If we find a deep vein, even if there’s no preexisting cave, it’s worth making one from scratch.”
“Sounds like a very convenient ability.” Lith suddenly found the idea of meeting Bodya’s family exciting as well.
Nalrond could swim through the ground as well but there was only one of him and his form was relatively small. Unless Lith had a concrete lead about the presence of natural resources, the Rezar wouldn’t waste days digging randomly.
On the other hand, there were many Nidhoggs and Lith remembered how quickly Bodya could move underground. Between their size and speed, it would take them hours to cover the area that a Rezar would need days to explore.
The fact that Jiera was a no-man’s land whereas most of the geysers on Garlen were already taken, further sweetened the deal.
“Very.” Bodya furrowed his brow. “My species is considered among the best prospectors of the Awakened community. We enjoy high status and often exchange our services with Origin Flames since there are few species on Jiera capable of using them.
“A piece of advice, make that Dragon greed disappear from your face and make sure it doesn’t pop back out during our visit. All Leviathans, lesser or not, need Origin Flames and dislike Dragons in equal measure.”
“Why?” Tista swallowed a lump of saliva, feeling very involved in the matter.
“Because of the rivalry between our forefathers.” He shrugged. “Also, Lesser Leviathans are even more vocal about that due to their inferiority complex.”
“Their?” Solus echoed.
“I got over it. I learned the hard way that letting pride dictate your life is the recipe to make everything pointlessly hard for yourself.” Bodya replied. “We’re here.”
They had arrived at a grassland in the middle of nowhere. Judging from the several bald spots and the presence of deep craters, a huge battle had taken place there recently.
That, or a monster tide had shortly left.
“Already?” Tista felt her throat parched and beads of fire leaked out of her scales.
Bodya used Invigoration to recover the mana he had consumed and then he placed a hand on the ground. Solus noticed with mana sense the presence of an active array with which the Nidhogg was interacting.
Bodya wasn’t weaving runes, just sending small bursts of elemental energy with different duration, intensity, and rhythm.
‘It’s like a secret knock.’ As soon as he was done, the grasslands opened in front of their feet, forming a circular opening about ten meters (33′) across.
Big enough to allow an adult Nidhogg to slide in while also carrying guests on his back. The corridor was also very steep and there was no light source.
‘It’s a well-disguised trap.’ Lith’s paranoia sense tingled as soon as he saw the corridor. ‘Everything is so smooth that there’s no foothold and the space is too tight for a non-serpent Emperor Beast to move comfortably.’
‘Yeah. That and the fact that the corridor is the right size to be flooded by the acidic spit of a single Nidhogg doesn’t help.’ Solus added. ‘The various earth sealing arrays in place make it impossible to alter the terrain but they don’t interfere with a Nidhogg bloodline ability.
‘Getting inside without an invitation is suicidal at best.’
“Jump on.” Bodya shapeshifted into his lesser Divine Beast form and let them sit on the space right behind his head.
He shapeshifted the scales covering his body so to form hand and foot holds before diving down. While Tista rehearsed her introduction with a mumbling voice, Lith used his seven eyes to look left and right as they moved.
“Not to be that guy, but this is the poorest Awakened Household I’ve ever visited.” Aside from the barren rock, there was nothing in the corridor surrounding them.
No pieces of art, no magical wonders, no decorative spells that only the Life Vision of an Awakened could appreciate.
