A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

"W— What could she do?" Eira pouted sadly in response to Erik's question. "In the end, she was all alone. She only had me, and the occasional guardian she took a liking to, like Merlin. She had no real way to affect the outside."

Since Eira seemed unable to grasp what he was getting at, Erik instead addressed Elora through their link. "I'm sure Eira thinks her Mistress would never stoop to such a level, but what do you think the actual reason is that Audumla didn't use some more… direct control over the guardians?"

Elora chewed her hair in thought before she answered. "Well… first of all, direct enslavement or brainwashing is locked behind very specific affinities, like Emily's darkness, or my Seidr magic. It's very likely Audumla simply doesn't have the ability, no matter her power or skill in various other departments."

"Second of all," she continued. "There are sigils, but any sigils she directly crafted onto people would either lose their effect, or kill the target, as soon as they stepped outside her dimension and into the aetherium vacuum of unawakened Earth.

Naturally there are also some wide area of effect brainwashing sigils with lasting effect, but that would be difficult to pull off with the limited aetherium she had to work with, as they all require exorbitant amounts of energy."

Erik nodded in understanding, but before he could respond, Elora said something else. "So I understand why she didn't have more direct control over the guardians. What I don't understand, however, is why she hasn't simply left her dimension, now that Earth is awakening."

"Good question…" Erik mumbled inwardly. "Unfortunately, there's no point in asking Eira, since she already said she doesn't know why Audumla even needed her dimension. Any other possible reasons she might stay in her dimension you can think of, Elora?"

Elora remained quiet for moment while she kept chewing her metaphysical crimson hair in thought. "She might be recovering from heavy wounds…" she finally suggested. "Near the end of your dream, Audumla was hit by some sort of energy blast, wasn't she? It's possible the dimension is helping her recover."

"For eight thousand years?" Erik wondered skeptically.

To which Elora simply shrugged. "It's not impossible. Her wounds might be as much physical as metaphysical. The higher the rank, the more brutal fighting and wounds become. Some wounds never recover."

"Still, another possibility is that she's hiding," she suggested instead. "Aside from hiding your physical presence, separate dimensions are also immensely useful for concealing your metaphysical presence. We have no idea how powerful Audumla is exactly, but the more power she has, the more she would shine like a beacon to anyone trying to find her…"

"Right, she and the giant were attacked by those three figures in gold…" Erik nodded in response as he recalled his dream. Then, he sighed. "Well, that's not ominous at all then. This whole thing is sounding more and more like something we should stay far away from."

Suddenly, the third participant in their mental conversation, who had just been quietly listening so far, spoke up. "I'll follow you wherever you go, Master," Emma said with love and conviction. "Your ideals are mine. Your desires are mine. And your goals are mine."

"But…" she continued softly. "You told me about that dream where golden figures came to hunt down the minotaur, the giant, and their army full of shapeshifters and vampires. You also told me that supernaturals don't exist outside of Earth, so… what if this danger to supernaturals that they keep talking about, is that… the supernaturals will be hunted down by something or someone."

"Even if you could accept the fact that not helping this Audumla's plans might doom the supernaturals to be hunted to extinction, would you really want to spend the rest of your life on the run?" she finally finished with a poignant question. "I'll gladly run with you, Master. But is that what you want?"

Her speech caused both Elora and Erik to fall silent. After a moment, Elora sighed. "You're wiser than I give you credit for, Emma."

"Hehehehe," Emma chuckled in response while smiling brightly.

Erik was still eerily quiet however, but suddenly turned his attention to Elora with guilt and sorrow clear in his tone. "Elora… if what she says is true, then…"

"Shut up, you idiot," Elora rolled her eyes at him. "Don't even say it. It's you and I against the world, remember? No matter the odds."

"And me!" Emma interjected brightly.

"Yes, and her, and probably the other three behind us as well," Elora chuckled. "Besides, so what if the whole universe is against us? It'll just give us ample opportunity and reason to conquer all that stand before us. You know that's what I want, anyway. Plus, play our cards right, and we'll have a whole army of Runebounds at our beck and call!"

Seeing their conviction warmed Erik's heart and forced a warm smile on his face. "Fine, have it your way then," he chuckled as love overflowed through his link towards his two wives. "But we still need to actually find out the truth about everything."

Having gained some new perspective and reaffirmation from Elora and Emma, Erik now turned his attention back to Eira.

As always, their mental conversation was extremely fast, so to Eira, she had still only just finished her story.

"Thank you for telling me all that, Eira," he smiled at her. "Don't worry, though. Together, we'll find your mistress soon enough."

At this point, he wasn't even really lying anymore. He was going after Edda anyway, so the two goals likely intersected somewhere. And if Emma's suspicion was correct, then perhaps it was best to at least hear Audumla out, anyway.

Hopefully, Audumla's current silence, and the fact she apparently couldn't leave her dimension, would mitigate some of the danger that was involved in dealing with an entity far more powerful than them.

"I know we will!" Eira answered enthusiastically, losing all the sadness from before. "The bad guys won't know what hit them!" she exclaimed while shadowboxing a little.

Then, she quickly turned to face the doors again. "So ready for that tour now?!" she happily suggested.

"Almost," Erik chuckled at her enthusiasm. "There are still a few things I'd like to know some more about."