Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

174. The Heroic Questline

[Days to Ragnarok]

[4 days]

Cal sat outside of the Boss room on a chair. He had been waiting all night, but it was obvious from the sounds from the other side of the door that Vera's Party had challenged Shayley as "War" time and time again. They were at it all night and early into the morning. Every time they were defeated, they were rudely awoken when they respawned in the Cathedral and hit the floor.

He sipped his tea and wondered if he should give them a break for breakfast. Then the fighting from the other side of the door ceased. Shayley appeared next to him as if she was stepping out of a veil of glitter.

"They finally got me." She grinned. Then she held out her left hand the ring Cal had placed on it shattered and she returned to her regular strength. "My ring." She wiggled her finger so that Cal would put her engagement ring back on.

Cal took her hand and kissed the space where a light band had formed on her left ring finger. Then he slipped to ring of Gaia back over it where it belonged. A ruse so that Vera and her party wouldn't cower before their queen.

"That Vera, she really is something else." Shayley flexed her hand and then she snapped her finger which changed her clothes using a ruse-like flair to activate her HUD inventory. Which could automatically change her outfits as long as they were in her inventory. They changed from the skimpy leathers to a dress that was more queen-like with a huntress flair that made it easy to move and fight in. "It was like she could see my every move. I couldn't even break their spirit because of her." She rubbed her wrist and her traditional tattoos crawled back into place over her skin.

She had many mixed feelings about her huntress marks now that she could choose to wear them as easily as she could choose to wear a pair of clothes. But for now, Cal had advised her to 'not show all her cards just yet' and wear them for a time. Which was just fine since she found that she felt naked without them. Especially under Cal's intense gaze. Seriously, the way his eyes always looked like they were drinking in the sight of her with or without clothes was both immediately satisfying and made her feel unusually self-conscious about everything.

"Yep. Well, let's go tell them the good news at least." Cal said and took her hand. The feel of her warm hand soothed him. Every moment with her was a dream come true. The longer he spent with her the more secrets he realized that he had and that he was keeping from her. but it also increased his desire to tell her everything. He had been unable to think about much else since he saw her through the lens of a video game and again when they met for real. And as she squeezed his hand, the love she reciprocated really hit home.

He loved her, he loved this place, and he would do all in his power to make sure he could have many more moments with her and their new family.

They opened the door and walked in to see the hero party resting on the ground from exhaustion. As soon as Cal walked in the dank battle-damaged torch-lit room shifted. It shimmered as the ground turned to marble with magic to match the Cathedral on the other side.

Vera was covered in blood and bandages, but she smiled from the now broken dais when Cal entered. She held up the dragon skull headdress. "We did it!" The rest of her party smiled regardless of how beat up they were.

"Look at those fangs." Cal said. "They look sharper, don't they?"

"You weren't on the other side of them. I made sure to grind them to a point." Shayley smiled proudly showing off her fangs. The action made Cal's heart beat a little faster when he caught himself not only admiring her lips, but also, he felt she was awaking some part of him after biting him so many times. She walked over to Vera and accepted the headdress with a pep in her step. "You lot sure did a number to my favorite party hat." She looked at it.