NOVPUBThe tension in the caventinued rising like the sun until…
"Haha!" Maura burst out laughing. It was a powerful laugh that made the fire's flames dance and flicker. She soon calmed down and wiped a tear from therner of her eye. It was the first time she had laughed in ages.
"You…" She looked at Zach. "What makes you think that I would ever need your help?" She asked out of almost pure curiosity. She wanted to know Zach's train of thought.
Zach shrugged and glanced at his familiars.
"I'm sure there's something I can help you with right now…But as I said, I will owe you one. In the future, should you ever need a favor or my help with anything, I will do everything in my power to help, almost no questions asked."
Maura's eyes narrowed slightly. Zach was speaking as if it was a certainty that he would bme someone whose help she would benefit from greatly in the future. He wasnfident in himself. Looking at him and his familiars, though, sheuldn't blame him.
Instead, she thought about the prophecy that had brought everyone into the Labyrinth.
'Maybe there is something to the other interpretation, after all,' Maura thought to herself.
Zach felt hisnfidence slowly dwindle as Maura just looked at him without saying anything else. Maybe he had made a wrong assessment. Just because he knew the value of another's favor, it didn't mean Maura would.
But eventually, Maura spoke.
"Alright," She said. "I'll accept this deal. I'll tell you a little about what you want to know. In exchange, you owe me one." Maura smiled, her eyes glowing like those of a predator. Zach nodded.
She held out her hand. Zach grabbed it and started shaking it, but before heuld finish, Maura pulled him down onto her lap.
Zach supported himself with one hand on the chair next to her shoulder and the other next to her waist. His face was so close to hers they were almost touching.
"Cashing in that favor already?" Zach asked, doing his best to stay calm. It was difficult. Being this close to Maura, heuld feel her body heat and her breath tickling his ear. He was also dangerously close to two of the only soft spots on her body. A glance downward and he might see something.
"Just showing you what you're missing," Maura said with a chuckle as she wrapped an arm around the small of his back and pushed his body onto hers.
Unfortunately, it would take more than mere physicalntact tonvince him or make him succumb to the base desires of man.
"Ahem," He cleared his throat and pushed away from Maura. She didn't let him go at first, and Zach felt just how strong she was. If she didn't want to let him go, he wouldn't be able to break free.
Luckily, she was just teasing him and released him after a moment, but not without being surprised at the strength he had displayed in that short moment.
If she hadn't let him go, the chair beneath them would have broken under his grip, putting them both in an embarrassing position. Well, Maura figured she wouldn't mind that position if Zach showed such initiative, but she doubted Zach would be down tontinue.
She chuckled again as Zach straightened his messy clothes with a blushing face.
Zach was used to physicalntact with extremely beautiful women. He was not used to extremely beautiful women initiating physicalntact to such a degree with purposes other than training in mind.
Zach ignored the gazes from those around them and let his eyes wander around the cave while his heart rate slowed to a normal pace before looking at Maura again.
Maurauld tell what he wanted. She sighed. It was fun teasing him, but she had to uphold her end of the deal.
"In reality, there's not much to say. Everything that's happened the last few months, including everyone entering the Labyrinth of Jira, has happened for one reason.
"There was a prophecy of a great disaster emerging from the Labyrinth. I think the Evandiels also figured it out pretty quickly. But a great disaster emerging from the Labyrinth that would prompt the Children to suddenly emerge from the cracks can only mean one thing." She paused for a moment as if to let Zach figure it out on his own.
A great disaster that would make the Evandiels and the big three tribes of the Sesha move without caring too much about actually fighting each other. It was also something that would make the Children of the Hydra move.
Arding to the Sesha folktales, the Children came into being after the God of Nature, Isuls, defeated the Hydra. But after the eunter with the Child at the Nilma tribe, they had heard several different versions.
In some, Isuls slew the Hydra, and the Children were the Hydra's heads separating from its body and gaining sentience and human shape.
In others, Isuls seduced the Hydra and together, they created the Children. Isuls used the Hydra's weakness after birth to defeat it.
It was only natural to assume that by defeating the Hydra, the stories meant that Isuls had killed it.
But what if Isuls hadn't slain the Hydra but instead just put it away or something.
What if defeating the Hydra meant just that. Isuls had beaten the rampaging Hydra so badly that the overgrown snake had to enter a state of dormancy to rest and rver.
What if the best place, a place rich in food and energy, was the Labyrinth of Jira?
Zach's eyes widened in realization as he looked at Maura. She smiled as she saw his expression. She knew heuld figure it out. A little substance behind the meat always made it more delicious.
"...There's no way…!" Zach said in disbelief.
Maura shrugged.
"Ituld always be something native to the Labyrinth that's found a way out or another walking disaster, and the Children are just taking advantage of it to make ameback." Although that's what she said, it was clear Maura didn't believe it herself. 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝘤𝘰𝑚
The Hydra was emerging.
