Peonie and Celeria´s Aftermath

The first thing Celeria noticed when she regained consciousness was that she was, in fact, miraculously still alive. Considering the size of the explosion, that was no small feat. Her ears were still ringing and her body felt as if it had been trampled by a horse.

A sharp pain in her left ear shook her out of her lethargy. Celeria's eyes shot open to discover that a still-naked Peonie was resting atop her and nibbling at her ear. She seemed to be asleep and, judging by her murmurs and moans, dreaming of something interesting.

The elf briskly pushed her aside, sat up, and surveyed her surroundings. They were still in the circular chamber. Miraculously, the animals had survived unharmed and were leaving the place via the collapsed wall in a semi-ordered manner. 

Nothing but black soot covered the ground where the cauldron once was, likely because it had disintegrated.

Wait, does that mean that Min had… died? She was at ground zero of the explosion. Poor girl, she didn´t even leave a stain on the carpet. 

"Hey, Cel?" Peonie asked while rubbing her eyes and sitting up. "Did we do it?..."

"I think so, b-but I´m afraid Min might have…"

"Oh, you are awake." Tarienne walked into the room and crouched in front of the girls, deciding to pinch their cheeks. "You know? For a couple of vagrants, you look cute sleeping together."

"We aren't vagrants," Celeria blurted out, slapping the lich´s skeletal hand away from her face. Wait, why did she justify herself to her? She had more pressing matters. "What happened?" What have you done?"

"What have I done? You were the ones who ruined my ritual in the most irresponsible way possible. Now I have to wait seventy more years before the Moons align and I can try again. But, that´s okay, since I´m still immortal and all."

"B-but, how are we alive?! That explosion-"

"I cast a protective shield around the explosion. I wasn't strong enough to completely contain it, but it did dampen it enough so that not even the chickens had to be harmed. You are welcome."

"Lies! If you contained the explosion, what happened to Min? Why did she have to die?"

"She is alive too. I teleported her to a wizard tower to see if they can do something about the ancient curse she has on."

"The what?" Peonie asked.

"You expect us to believe that?!"

"No, really, she wrote a note for you and everything. Here." Tarienne passed the adventurers a piece of paper. The two grabbed it and tried to decipher it.

"I can´t read this at all."

"… Yeah, what are these scribbles?"

"Look, these symbols here repeat themselves. This seems like writing, at least, but not in any language I ever saw. You think this is how they write on her homeland?"

"Maybe? Or is it a map? Look, there are a couple of X by the end there. Think they mark a spot?"

"And they are right next to a couple of lakes by the look of it. X... O... X... O...."

"I don´t know. When you look it from afar, it doesn´t seem like a map at all. Maybe it´s just a note."

"Do you think Min wrote this?"

"Probably? At least it´s more likely than the lich writing this nonsense to mess with us. It doesn´t look like archaic elvish."

"But, if that´s true, why have you helped her? She ruined your nefarious plan!" Peonie accused Tarienne.

"Because I´m not evil, and my plan wasn´t nefarious at all? Seriously, if you wanted to kill me, you could have waited for me to finish my ritual and returned home with my head under your arms, but noooooooo."

"Ok, so the ritual is ruined and the animals are back. We can at least claim the quest reward when we go back." Celeria said.

"So, err… are we free to go?" Peonie asked.

"Oh no, I´m still very miffed about your intervention. You did ruin my plans and weakened my powers. I can´t even summon my skeletons anymore! You´ll be my new minions for the time being. At least until I get my bearings back."

"I knew it, you are evil! And what if we refuse?"

"Then you´ll face my wrath and we´ll continue our fight. Where were we? Oh yes, I believe you owe me a pair of lungs, hmm?"

Peonie stumbled to her feet. Her legs were wobbly after the explosion, and she could barely find the strength to lift her shield above her hairless groin. She eyed her elven companion. Celeria also attempted to stand a fighting pose, but she didn´t even have her bow handy.

They were in no condition to fight, much less win. Peonie had to give in to the lich´s cruel demands, but maybe her friend didn´t have to suffer for it.

"Please, if you are going to make me your slave for ruining your nefarious plot, let Celeria go. She is just an adventurer caught on the wrong end of the quest. She doesn´t deserve to suffer for it."

"No!" Celeria said. "It's because of me that we even came here in the first place. I should be the one enslaved, not you Peonie."

"Calm down, I already told you, I'm not an evil lich. No one will be my slave. After this is over, I don´t ever want to see either of you two ever again ."

"Then what is that minion talk?"

"It´s been eons since I walked the land. I don´t know where anything is, or who rules what, or anything! I need a guide. You two will get me to the nearest proper city and help me set up shop. Once I´m back on my feet, we´ll part ways."

"… but why minions, thought? Can´t you just hire us as guides?"

"And lower myself to your level? Please. I´m a royal enchantress."

"From a country that doesn´t exist anymore."

"Regardless. You can´t expect me to sully my hands with menial tasks like a plebe."

"But I´m a noble too!" Peonie said. "And I don´t have any issues with-"

"Pfft, a human noble. How quaint.  What´s next, a gorilla craftsman?"

Peonie gasped, glaring at Tarienne. When the lich failed to apologize, she shifted her eyes towards Celeria. Her blonde companion just shrugged.

"In any case, we won´t be your mi-"

"Wait, Celeria. Do you think we can beat this woman as we are now?" Peonie grabbed her friend and pulled her close to whisper at her ear.

"No, but at least we´ll die on our feet rather than toiling away as her slaves!"

"I don´t think she was lying when she said she only needed guides. This woman might not have been a lich after all, and we did ruin her ritual to, err, kill herself. I think we owe her an apology."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Come on, we have to walk back to town anyhow. Who cares if we have an insufferable partner on the way back?  Or would you rather fight her again?"

Celeria pouted and crossed her arms. "Fine. The sooner we go back, the sooner we can get paid and forget this ever happened."

"Ok, Miss Tarienne. We accept, but only if you apologize about your gorilla insult."

"What? Do you apologize to your dogs too when…" Celeria shook her head at Tarienne, silently forbidding her from finishing her sentence. "Well, I guess times change. Do pigs fly now?"

"No, but some horses do."

"Huh. Fine, I´m sorry human. I promise I won´t discriminate against your species anymore. Now, let´s shake on our deal, my minions!" Tarienne lifted her skeletal hand, inviting Peonie to shake it. 

The two adventurers scowled at the bony hand. "Oops, sorry!"

Tarienne hid her skeletal hands inside her robes and then pulled them out. This time, they were filled with flesh and skin. They looked like regular pale hands.

Peonie and Tarienne clasped their hand together, purple fire emanating from both hands as they shook.

"Ahh!" Peonie whimpered, all the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.

"What?! Did she burn you?"

"N-no! It´s just that the fleshy parts are just an illusion! Eww, this is just like shaking hands with a skeleton!"

"Well, you did interrupt my revival ritual, so excuse me for having to use illusions. Anyway, the deal is struck and is a magical pact, neither of us can´t back out."

"Great, look at what you got us into." Celeria reprimanded her friend.

"W-well, the deal goes both ways, so at least our new "master" here can´t be racist anymore." 

Tarienne clicked her tongue. Whatever sentence she wanted to say vanished from her lips. "Huh, I guess you are right. That´s annoying. Anyway, let´s not waste more time. Go minions, show me the way!"

The trio of women stepped out of the broken walls. The sun shone brightly on their skin, the wind danced around their naked curves. 

Celeria and Peonie looked at each other, the blush on each of their cheeks growing in intensity as they had the same realization. The elf pressed her arms around her crotch and buttocks while Peonie crossed her hands around her firm breasts.

"W-wait. We can´t go back to town like this! We are naked!"

"Doesn´t our generous master have some clothes we can borrow?"

"Sorry, but most my possessions withered to dust millennia ago. I literally have nothing to give you but a quill, two spoons, and half a dusty parchment."

"B-but you are wearing a dress!"

"That dress is an illusion," Celeria pointed out. "A weak one at that. Our "master" is also naked."

"What, but… then she can cast an illusory spell on us, right? Give us illusory dresses?"

"Sorry, it takes a lot of concentration to keep my flesh and my dress from flickering out of existence. Giving you minions illusory clothing is beyond my current abilities. Also, even if I could, I´m still bothered about you two ruining my ritual, so I would not do it." 

"B-b-but then we have to go back to the dungeon, maybe we can bargain with the fairies for "

"Enough! We wasted enough time! Come on, my minions. I want to take the scenic route back to town! We´ll take as many detours as we can. I want to visit all the villages and marvel at all the views! It´s been too long since I´ve been outside."

Peonie´s and Min´s feet started marching on their own, the magic of their pact could not be ignored. 

"How bad can it be," Celeria mocked Peonie´s voice, shooting her glare. Her companions just returned a shy smile. 

"Well, better than being killed at least?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention. I made a magical pact with your friend promising her that I won´t harm you, so you never were in any danger at all. I couldn't fight you even I wanted to. Good thing we come to an agreement over the minion thing before we came to blows."

"At least we completed the quest?" Peonie said, trying to ignore the arrows her companion´s eyes were shooting at her.

"I kind of wish we didn´t." The elf gulped. "It´s going to be a long road back..."