It's late in the evening, and both Harry and Jay decided to set off on a small journey throughout the expansive kingdom of Y'vette in hopes of finding Lisa and her mother. Upon entering the town, Harry led Jay to the location of Coyote's Den, where her mother was said to have been captured. After a while of walking, they eventually arrived at their location.
The town's street was moderately filled with passerby, and along the road were wooden structures with white walls, each separated by thin, dark alleyways. After crossing the street, they stood in front of a large building. Jay looked up to observe it, and above the tall wooden doors hung a big sign with the title, "Coyote's Den," which was deeply carved into it.
They eventually approached the doors and opened them, and as they took their first steps, they were soon greeted by a young, attractive woman who wore the attire of a waitress.
"Welcome to Coyote's Den, one of the best in Y'vette! With our flavorsome, high-quality food and drinks, we make sure all of our customers leave satisfied!"
She said, then directing her hand to an empty table in the near distance. "Please, have a seat over there and we will come to your service very shortly!"
They both walked to the empty table and sat down, and Jay and Harry looked around, thoroughly observing the place and everyone inside. The building's interior walls were displayed with many bright candles, and a few chandeliers had hung off the wooden support beams of the high walls, which lit up the entire room in a bright orange light.
Directly across from the entrance was a tall suited man behind a counter handling drinks as he stood by barrels and shelves full of glass bottles of alcohol. On one corner of the building's spacious interior was a dressed woman standing behind a desk as she talked to a customer with a smile attached to her face.
The middle of the room was rowed with dozens of round tables, and almost all of them were full with people, some of which were in armour and had their weapons leaning on their tables, others were also also dressed in medieval clothing, and a few others had worn modern clothing like Jay. All of the customers looked ecstatic as they all talked and laughed, and some held their beers and clashed them in the air.
"This place seems nice." Jay thought.
As they finished looking around in astonishment, an attractive waitress walked up to their table. The woman had black hair and golden eyes with a large bust that instantly caught Harry's attention. Jay kept his stern expression as Harry's eyes slightly widened in excitement.
"Hello, welcome to Coyote's Den! What would you like to eat?" She asked, smiling as she handed them menus.
Harry closely observed the menu after opening it, soon putting it down on the table and looking back at the waitress. "Roast pork and beer for me and the young one, pretty lady!" Harry exclaimed with a grin.
"Coming right up!" The woman said after she giggled and walked away with the menus.
Upon observing her as she had walked away, Harry was in a trance as his eyes were fixed on her.
"Harry." Jay said, frightening him.
"Y-yes, what is it?" He responded as he looked back at Jay.
"Can you tell me more about Lisa's mother?"
He then began to sigh, then speaking with a quieter tone of voice.
"Lisa probably told you this already, since she's such a storyteller, but my wife was a real hard worker. She always made sure to accomplish her goals every day, even if it was seemingly impossible for her. Even I, as a man, looked up to her, as she was my main source of energy. Now, I come home collapsing by the doorway every day after work."
"Lisa really looked up to her, and just like her mother, she is very energetic. Lisa wanted to be a lot more like her, so she began learning how to make elixirs during her early childhood. She loved her mother so much she even went out of her way to make her a pendant, which I must say looks fantastic. It was a very mesmerizing sight, seeing Violet burst in tears from looking at it."
"One time, the family had been under a lot of debt, and since we weren't making enough money, we were forced out of our homes. We moved away from the kingdom, then built a cabin by the edge of the woods. And no, I wasn't the one who built it — She was. All I did was help with carrying supplies. She was really good at construction, surprisingly. If it wasn't for her, we would've been living on the streets, perhaps."
As Harry ended his speech, the waitress came back, holding two large plates of food, then placing it on the table. Shortly after, she came back again, bringing two wooden jugs of beer.
"Enjoy!" She said as both of them thanked her.
"Why weren't you there with Lisa and her mother that one day?" Jay asked, raising one eyebrow.
"I was, I was just too late. I didn't know what the hell happened until after I looked back, and all I saw was Lisa on the ground unconscious. I should've been more cautious, I regret it. And now I regret leaving Lisa out in the woods. I'm a terrible father, and because of me, I probably lost my entire family." Harry said, looking down sorrowfully as Jay's heart sank with him.
"Don't blame yourself, it's not everyday you'd expect something like that to happen. And as for Lisa, you're not the one who should be regretting it; I should. If they're no longer alive, I'm sure there's another world out there where they can both be in a good place." Jay insisted, proceeding to eat.
"Thanks, kid." Harry responded, beginning to eat as well.
After they eventually finished, Harry got out of his seat and placed a couple of coins on the table. He then began walking to the other side of the building as Jay followed him.
"I'll rent a place for us to stay. When tomorrow comes, we meet up by the entrance outside. I'll show you around town a little bit." Harry said as Jay nodded.
Afterwards, they walked up to a lady who stood behind a desk. Harry rested his arms on top of it as the woman began to speak.
"Pleasure to meet you. Would you two like a place to stay for the day?" She asked, smiling.
"Good to meet you too. I'd like two rooms, please. One for me, and one for him." Harry said as his hand searched for coins in his pocket.
"That'll be 1 silver for 3 nights!" The woman said.
"The rooms are located upstairs to your left." She added after Harry handed her the money and started to walk away.
"Have a nice day!"
They both then walked up a nearby staircase and splitted up after entering the red carpeted hallway as they searched for rooms with signs on them that said "Unoccupied". After finding one, Jay flipped the door's sign after observing it and went through the door. Looking into the room, he noticed a few lit wax candles which hung high on the room's walls, emitting a nice fragrance.
Upon entering the room, now noticing that he was a bit tired, he went straight for the bed, thinking to himself after having laid down. Then, he remembered the man in the suit that he had spoken to before.
"...That man… Why was he there? And why did he steal Lisa from us?" He said to himself. Thinking deeper, he soon realized something.
"Was he really the one behind all of this..? Had he been the one who summoned the monster...? Why would he do all of this?"
"I swear…" He said, tightening his fists.
"When I find where you are… I'll make sure Lisa sees your dead body drop to the ground."
***
The next morning then arrived. As he walked outside the Coyote's Den, he heard Harry's voice to the right of him.
"Morning, Jay." Harry said.
He turned around and saw him leaning against a wall.
"Ready to walk around town?" He asked, and Jay nodded.
"Alright, let's go." Harry insisted, beginning to walk.
"Is there anything you know about Y'vette?"
"Nothing other than the name." Jay replied, shrugging.
"It's a huge kingdom, one of the biggest in the cracked world we call Residuum. For its size and prosperity, it's one of the most well known kingdoms in the world. It's also the capital of Benamore, which is a mighty empire.
Y'vette's queen and empress of Benamore is a goddess named Irene. Gods and goddesses are extremely powerful, and because of it are the most revered amongst angels and humans." Harry stated.
"The empress that lives here is a ... goddess? I'm beginning to wonder how strong Irene is, exactly..." Jay thought.
After a while of walking, they arrived at a plaza surrounded by commercial buildings. In the circular open space, which was crowded with people, was a large fountain bordered by a circular wooden bench. They soon approached it and sat down as they continued their conversation.
"Is there anything else you know about Irene?" Jay asked.
"Not really. It's not like the empress casually comes into contact with the citizens here. Royalty has no time for commoners." Harry said as he rested his arms against the bench.
"I guess that makes sense..." Jay said, looking around the environment and observing the crowd as they walked by.
"Also, are phantoms just humans, or is there more to it?"
"Phantoms are all spiritual beings that can also be called humans, as there's visually no difference between a phantom and an actual human. The only difference between the two is what they're made of. Phantoms, however, aren't all just humans; They could more rarely be of other races that closely resemble them, like elves and dark-elves, animal-human hybrids and more."
"I see…" Jay responded, rubbing his head.
"So how strong would you say gods are?"
"They are, at the very least, capable of destroying the entire world. There are strong ones, and there are weak ones. The strongest one is a supreme deity by the name of Demiurge, who created all dimensions and technically the entire multiverse." Harry said, pointing upwards.
"Is it his voice that I first heard?" Jay questioned.
"Probably. During reincarnation, he's the one who reconstructs you." Harry responded.
"So you were reincarnated too?" Jay asked, looking astonished.
"Everyone in this world was. After dying in the Inner world, they're sent to the Outer world, which is the after-life. The older you are when you die, the more attached you are to your memories, therefore young spirits might not remember theirs as much.
Once you forget, it'll be very hard to reclaim those memories entirely. I'm a man in my thirties, so I remember a bit, but not too much from my previous life. The much older people remember theirs like it was yesterday!" Harry said, laughing.
"Since we're spirits, then, can we still age?" Jay asked.
"Our mental age does. And once it does, so does the spiritual representation of your soul. And no, you don't die of old age. Once you hit past one-hundred, your aging spiritual body remains unchanged, so you can live forever looking old! ...Which is pretty awful." Harry stated, rubbing the top of his head.
"However, when our spirits become stronger and our minds more experienced to this new world, we will be able to completely change how we look! That's pretty nice, wouldn't you say?"
"I guess." Jay responded.
And after a while of relaxing and walking around in the plaza, they both decided to head back into the inn.
"Alright, let's continue our searches." He said as they both entered the building.
They then sat down after getting directed to an empty table. After being handed the menu, they called their order, and were momentarily given their food. Jay and Harry thoroughly looked around as they chewed on their meals. and after having finished eating and failing to find who they were looking for, they both once again headed to the lady by the desk, where they then went upstairs into their rooms.
Afterwards, the next day arrived, and Jay and Harry repeated everything that they did yesterday; They walked around, went back to the inn, ate and slept, and continued this for three more days, until they both were once again sitting at another table in the inn during the evening.
"Jay…" Harry said, slightly frustrated.
"I don't think we're ever going to find who we're looking for."
"Just give it some more time. We've only been here for about 5 days, we'll find them." Jay insisted.
"Sorry, but it's been 5 days far too long, and I'm just about ready to head out of the door. You can go look for them alone, Jay. I'm heading back home." Harry said, waving goodbye with his back faced towards Jay.
"What are you doing? We're doing this for your family's sake! Are you saying you'd just abandon them?" Jay said with a raised voice as he sprung off of his seat.
"No, I would never do that. I just don't think this is helping us..." Harry said, turning back and walking away.
Harry, frustrated, began walking towards the inn's exit, hoping never to return again. But, as soon as he opened the door, a group of three men passed by him, and Harry's eyes widened as far as they could as he saw a tattoo of the cult's symbol on one of the men's necks.
"That symbol...! Its the same exact one my daughter had warned me of!" Harry thought.
It's them!" He muttered.
"They're the ones who took her…!"