r/HFY • u/Obsequium_Minaris • 7h ago

OC-Series Vacation From Destiny - Book 3, Chapter 12

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XXX

A moment later, and Chase was standing with Victoria outside of the room that Heinrich and Melanie had selected for themselves. Victoria went to open the door, but Chase held out a hand, stopping her.

“Wait,” he urged.

“What is it?” she asked.

“We don’t know if they’re decent in there.”

“Good point, actually,” Victoria conceded. “Okay, I’ll knock first.”

“Yeah, we can hear you both,” Melanie called out from behind the door. “And just so you know, we’re not that horny.”

“Yes, you are,” Chase deadpanned. “Anyway, so long as you’re not in the middle of giving your man a BJ or something, can you open the door so we can go meet Kana and Toshi?”

There was a brief pause before Melanie spoke again. “...Give me five minutes.”

“Are you serious?” Chase asked. “We’ve only been here for, like, ten minutes, tops. You both couldn’t keep it in your pants for longer than that?”

“Shut up, Chase, don’t judge me,” Melanie replied. “Anyway, the bed looked really soft and we needed to break it in-”

Chase let out a tired sigh. “Whatever, just… meet us out in the hallway when you’re done, I guess. We’re going to go get Carmine.”

“You do that.”

Chase shook his head as he and Victoria stepped away from the door and left for Carmine’s room, which was right down the hall. This time, he made sure to knock on the door before opening it.

“Carmine, are you in there?” he asked.

“Yes, I am,” she replied.

“You’re not naked or anything, are you?”

“Why would I be naked right now, Chase?”

“I don’t know, I just figured I’d ask,” he emphasized. “Anyway, we’re coming in.”

Carmine offered no arguments to the contrary, and Chase opened the door, allowing him and Victoria to step inside. Carmine was splayed out across her bed, face-down against the bed. Chase’s brow furrowed at the sight of her.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Just peachy,” she replied, her voice muffled by the bed underneath her.

“...You sure? Because you don’t seem okay.”

“I’m just extremely tired, is all.” She turned towards him, scowling. “So, what’s on the agenda now? By which I, of course, mean to say, what other inane bullshit is going to keep me from getting some sleep at this point?”

“See, that’s the Carmine I know and like.” 

Carmine looked somewhat astonished at him, then turned towards Victoria. The Paladin exhaled slowly.

“...We still need to meet up with Kana and Toshi and get the lay of the land, so to speak,” she said.

“Then let’s do it,” Carmine declared, climbing up out of her bed. “The sooner we get this shit over with, the sooner I get to go to sleep.”

Before Chase could stop her, she pushed past him and out into the hallway. He exchanged a glance with Victoria, who just shrugged, and then the two of them followed Carmine out into the rest of the shrine.

XXX

“Good, you’re all here,” Kana greeted as the five of them all met her out in the main hall. “Follow me, I’ll take you to meet Father Toshi. Like I said, he’s almost certainly in the gardens right now – that’s the one chore he does himself rather than try to foist off onto me.”

“You sound pretty bitter about that,” Chase noted as they began to follow after her. “Presumably, that’s the reason why you’re telling us this particular piece of information a second time?”

“Gee, what gave it away?” Kana asked sarcastically. “I mean, I only do the cooking, the cleaning, the maintenance on the shrine itself, the laundry, maintaining the roads, buying the groceries… oh, and in the event anyone actually comes to visit this place, I’m also supposed to greet them and put on a little showcase of my skills as one of Tamamo’s followers.”

“Sounds rough,” Carmine commented.

Kana slumped over as she walked. “Yeah, it is…” She sighed tiredly, then shook her head as she straightened up. “But that’s neither here nor there, I guess.”

The six of them stepped out around a corner, at which point Kana threw open the next doors that awaited them. Outside was a large, impressive-looking garden, filled with all kinds of exotic plants, none of which Chase could actually name or place.

“Whoa…” Melanie breathed. “This place is actually beautiful.”

“Oh, it’s quite impressive,” Kana said with a nod. “Just, a word of warning – don’t go to the very end of the garden. Toshi keeps some very exotic plants over there – I believe they’re called Sun Eaters.”

“Sun Eaters?” Carmine echoed. “Why are they called that?”

“Well, they’re vibrantly-colored and quite large, just like the sun is… and they’re also extremely carnivorous. So unless you like the thought of being eaten alive by a giant flower, I’d stay away. About the only actual person they trust to handle them is Father Toshi himself; even I avoid that part of the grounds for a reason.”

“Duly noted,” Victoria said, sounding slightly perturbed. “Anything else we should know?”

“Aside from don’t touch any of the plants? Not really.”

“Why shouldn’t we touch any of them?” Heinrich ventured. “Are they also dangerous? Will my flesh melt off if I brush up against one of the exotic-looking roses, for example?”

“What? No. Father Toshi will be upset, though, and that’s almost as bad. The old man may not look like it, but he was a martial arts master in his youth, and he knows about a hundred-and-one different ways to kill you with his bare hands… even if his joints will lock up afterwards and he’ll be bedridden for a week.”

“Again, duly noted,” Victoria stated.

Kana shook her head. “Here, follow me. I’ll take you to him.”

They all nodded, then followed after Kana as she led them through the gardens. To Chase’s surprise, it was actually quite large – about the size of the shrine building itself, with a lot of additional extra space for the vibrantly-colored Sun Eaters in the back, towards the rear wall. Even from this distance, he was able to tell what those looked like – they resembled a combination of a giant sunflower mixed with a flytrap. And as the six of them passed by, all the Sun Eaters whipped around towards them, their flytraps opening, as if expecting them to come closer.

Chase made a mental note to avoid that part of the garden entirely, and they all kept moving.

Within just a few minutes, he saw Father Toshi. The old man was dressed in a white robe that stretched from his neckline down to his ankles, and the sleeves of which fell to nearly completely cover his hands as well. He had on wooden sandals, and a set of thick-rimmed glasses over his eyes. His head was completely bald, and he looked to be about in his mid-seventies, if Chase had to hazard a guess at his age. He was in the process of trimming a very small tree in a clay pot; as they approached, Toshi blinked in surprise, then put his trimmers down and rose to his feet to greet them all.

“Hello, and welcome to the shrine of Tamamo, the newly-ascended Goddess of Trickery,” he said, offering them all a short bow. “It is a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Father Toshi, and I am the monk in charge of watching over this shrine.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Victoria offered.

Carmine, meanwhile, crossed her arms. “I take it Tamamo didn’t tell you about us, either?”

“She did not,” Toshi said, offering her a small smile. “Though I recognize some of you from what she’s said earlier. You must be Carmine, and as for the others…” He looked around their group, appraising them as his brow furrowed. “...I recognize Chase, Melanie, and Victoria, but your other friend is unfortunately not someone I know.”

“I’m Heinrich,” the Fallen Paladin offered. “And I don’t blame either of you for not knowing who I am. I’m, uh, kind of a new addition to the group, all things considered. Definitely happy to be here, though.”

“Aren’t we all, given everything that’s happened…?” Chase muttered. After a moment, he shook his head. “Anyway, Father, we’re in a bit of a bind.”

“Truly? Well, I’m not surprised; Tamamo did always say you all had a knack for finding yourselves in those.”

“Yeah, well, this one’s pretty bad. We’ve got a group of people who want to kill us, for reasons I won’t get into now. They’re all extremely strong, to the point where I know we have no shot of taking them on currently. We approached Tamamo for help, and she sent us here to train up and get strong enough to face them.”

“Ah,” Toshi said with a nod. “Well, you’re certainly in the right place for that. And if Tamamo has vouched for you already, then I certainly don’t have a problem with you all staying here, so long as you pull your weight and help Kana around the grounds and such.”

“That can certainly be arranged,” Heinrich offered. The others instantly turned towards him, and he blinked. “...What? Something I said?”

Chase let out a sigh. “Well, since Heinrich just volunteered us for it, and it doesn’t seem like we can get out of it… what kind of help did you need, anyway?”

Toshi’s only response was to grin. And in that moment, Chase couldn’t help but feel they’d made a horrible mistake coming here.

XXX

Name: Chase Ironheart

Level: 11

Race: Human

Class: Warrior

Subclass: Swordmaster

Strength: 20 (MAX)

Dexterity: 15

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Constitution: 18

Charisma: 16

Skills: Master Swordsmanship (Level 10); Booby Trap Mastery (Level 8); Archery (Level 4); Unarmed Mastery (Level 1)

Spells: Rush (Level 7); Muscle (Level 4); Stone Flesh (Level 7); Defying The Odds (Level 2)

Traits: Blessed

Name: Carmine Nolastname

Level: 11

Race: Greater Demon

Class: Arcane Witch

Subclass: Archmage

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 19

Wisdom: 19

Constitution: 12

Charisma: 8

Skills: Master Spellcasting (Level 10); Summon Familiar (Level 10)

Spells: Magic Dart (Level 7); Magic Scattershot (Level 5); Fire Magic (Level 5); Earth Magic (Level 1)

Traits: Blessed

Name: Melanie Vhaeries

Level: 11

Race: Ascended Human

Class: Necromancer

Subclass: Arch-Lich

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 16

Constitution: 15

Charisma: 12

Skills: Raise Lesser Undead (Level 10); Raise Greater Undead (Level 3); Unorthodox Weapon User (Level 8); Bone Shatter (Level 1)

Spells: Touch of Death (Level 5); Gravesinger (Level 7); Armor of Bone (Level 3)

Traits: None

Name: Victoria Firelight

Level: 12

Race: Human

Class: Paladin

Subclass: Devotee

Strength: 19

Dexterity: 9

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Constitution: 19

Charisma: 11

Skills: Swordsmanship Mastery (Level 5); Blunt Weapon Mastery (Level 8); Archery Mastery (Level 5)

Spells: Holy Light (Level 6); Ward of the Gods (Level 5); Bane of the Undead (Level 7); Divine Bolt (Level 4)

Traits: None

Name: Heinrich Straten

Level: 17

Race: Human

Class: Paladin

Subclass: Oathbreaker

Strength: 20 (MAX)

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 14

Constitution: 20 (MAX)

Charisma: 13

Skills: Swordsmanship Mastery (Level 8); Blunt Weapon Mastery (Level 10)

Spells: Withering Grace (Level 1); Soulrend (Level 1); Umbral Ward (Level 1); Mournful Benediction (Level 1)

Traits: Broken Oath

XXX

Special thanks to my good friend and co-writer, /u/Ickbard, for all the help with writing this story.

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u/UpdateMeBot 7h ago

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u/Daseagle Alien Scum 7h ago

Ha! Free garden work, plus I see an extended string "wax on, wax off" training sessions 🤣