"Hey, Donatello. It's been awhile since we last spoke." The stone Buddha's grey face laughed.
Erick clucked his tongue. Of course he would laugh. There had never been a time in all the years he'd known Donatello where he did not laugh.
"You come less and less every year. Have you found your life's calling?"
"I am a Wizard Prince---a Crown Prince no less. My life's calling had been predetermined ever since the Emperor assigned me that Crown Prince title.
"That title is just an honorific. Your true life's calling is that which grows your wisdom and elevates your soul as you make your way upward through life's paths."
Erick stared drily at the Buddha's stone eyes. The stone Buddha rarely ever changed his tune. It was always the same old boring song and dance about the soul's journey to enlightenment.
Elsa laughed her tinkling laughter. "Stay here and keep Donatello company. I will return with the items that you seek."
Erick nodded and turned back to the grinning stone statue. "What do you do when you're not looking through that stone statue, Donatello?"
"I fly about, looking at the world through other's eyes."
"Were you inside that raven I saw at the edge of the bamboo forest?"
"Of course. I keep a watch over this place to ensure it remains a peaceful serene microcosm that is untainted by the chaos that you are steeped in."
Erick was about to respond when Elsa Wiggins reappeared beside him.
"I have what you asked for."
In her hand were two small wooden boxes.
"In that case, I shall take my leave so you can conduct business," Donatello chuckled.
Erick glanced back at Donatello just in time to see his visage transform back into stiff inanimate stone. He didn't even get a chance to say goodbye.
Eh. He had more important things to take care of at this moment.
With greedy fingers, Erick took the first box and opened the lid.
There, nestled in between the soft fragrant rose petals were two bangle bracelets made of pure white metal.
"You know how the bangles work, so I won't go into detail there." Elsa Wiggins smiled.
Erick nodded and reached out to touch the cool metal of the pieces. He could feel the power exuding and swirling lazily above its physical manifestation.
Smiling with anticipation, he closed the lid and tucked the box into a side pocket. Then he reached out for the other box.
"Ah. Wait just a moment." Elsa held up a hand. "This one is a bit tricky. I will have to show you how it works."
She opened the box revealing a solid chunk of brushed silver.
Erick leaned in to take a closer look. It was a pendant that had been exquisitely carved into the face of a demon with horns and wicked looking fangs.
He chuckled. "Since when do demons take on such horrific countenances? I have never met one that wasn't breathtakingly beautiful, male or female."
Elsa Wiggins reached in and lifted the pendant from its place amidst the soft rose petals.
"People create monsters out of things which they do not understand. In doing so, they turn ordinary things and beings into the most horrific visions."
She reached out her hand to Erick. "Give me your palm."
Without hesitation, he placed his hand in hers, palm up.
She gently placed the pendant into his hand. "Take a look at the demon's eyes."
He stared at its eyes which were twin blue sapphires.
"When the demon is safely inside its pendant realm, it takes on that nice sapphire blue."
"What happens when it's not blue?"
"The eyes will turn into brilliant cut white diamonds if the demon is not inside its realm."
He looked at the oval-shaped pendant. It was the size of a bird's egg but far heavier. Its burnished metal surface was not perfect. There were pits and scars on the demon's face and its horns were nicked and badly scratched.
"Did you pick this piece of metal from some junk yard?" Erick turned it in his hand, marveling at the amount of surface damage that it carried.
Elsa Wiggins shook her head. "Demons tend to decorate their environment as they deem fit. This one is not happy in the realm that you have created for it, so it manifests its displeasure in such a way as to clearly indicate its emotional state."
"I would release it, but we can't handle the destruction it would wreak."
"Ah but you can." She raised a finger. "You can let a small portion of it out so that it can let off steam. Then you can call it back when it has run out of energy."
He looked at the lump of metal in his hands. Demons tended to be an unpredictable lot.
As a necromancer who had worked with the contact and control of demons all his life, Erick knew that each time he ventured out to make contact, it was a roll of the dice.
Some demons were gentle. Others would just as soon bite his head off.
Of course, there were always protections he placed each time he did so, but it was always the case that wearing protective gloves to reach into a pit full of vipers would keep a person from dying of a bite wound.
It never stopped the pain, however blunted, of the force of jaws clamping onto muscles and bones.
This one was a royal pain in the arse.
It was a pitifully low-level water demon that did not have enough power to extract pure water from the air. Instead, it drew water from sources nearby that was already in liquid form.
In the case of Jade, the only major source of water that was in plentiful supply and not trapped underground and inside wells happened to be Tourmaline Bog.
That was how Erick had met it for the first time.
In order to contain its wanton destruction of Tourmaline Bog, he had captured it into a random shard of iron that had once been the tip of a plowshare.
It was not his fault that it was the only thing on hand at the moment he was trying to contain the demon.
Sadly, it had lain around for years, forgotten in a junk drawer until one day Erick had found it again and brought it to Elsa Wiggins to be constrained into a more appropriate container.
"So how do I let it out to blow off steam?"
"You change one of the sapphire eyes to a yellow topaz."
"A simple enough bit of transmutation. Is that it?"
"Yes, but only transmute one eye. It will be allowed to roam about with only half its power. Once that portion of its power runs out, it will be so weak that it cannot do anything. It must return to the amulet you hold in your hand to re-energize."
"How do I recapture it?"
"There is no need to do anything. Once it senses that the other half of its soul is near, the demon will try to reunite with the amulet. It takes no time at all for it to reinsert itself."
"How will I know that it has returned?"
"It is a rather noisy demon. It makes itself known, far and wide."
"And then I just transmute the yellow topaz eye back to a blue sapphire?"
"Yes. That is how you lock it back in place."
"Seems simple enough," he muttered.
"Hardly." Elsa Wiggins' sightless almond eyes glittered with amusement.
"He will fight tooth and claw to prevent you from nailing him in place with the sapphire eye. You will have to fight him to lock the sapphire in place."
"What's his beef with sapphire?"
"There is none. He can't tell what color it is. It's just a random color stone I chose when I created the amulet so you can quickly determine whether he is partially locked within or completely so."
"The topaz and diamond colors are random too?"
"Yes."
"I understand. Thank you Elsa. As always, you outdo yourself each time."
"Your requests are always a challenge, but I understand the difficulties you must bear." She looked into the distance. "The bracelets…"
"Never you mind about the bracelets." Erick grinned patting the pocket that they had been tucked into. "I shall make good use of them."
He tucked the demon amulet into another pocket and quickly took his leave from Elsa Wiggin's home.
Once outside her home, Erick looked up at the position of the sun and shook his head. He had spent far more time at Elsa Wiggin's home than he expected.
He only had thirty minutes left to get to the train station.
Half way through the bamboo forest, Erick began a swift dash. He was quickly running out of time. If he could make it out of the pumpkin portal in ten minutes, that would give him the final fifteen minutes to run through the train depot and catch the Princess Train just as the doors closed.
There was the shimmering portal archway.
Erick leaped up into the air and landed on his feet.
Oomph!
He was back on the other side of Jade. The portal behind him transformed back into just another mundane circular red door embedded within a large fat orange pumpkin.
A flash of something metal gleamed in front of Erick. He bent his body back into a half somersault and saw the blade whistle through where his head had been.
"AAARRGH!!!"
Some animal yelled into his ear, nearly deafening him.
He threw a volley of energy bolts hitting the closest attackers in the chest, buying him a little bit of desperately needed breathing room.
They all reeked of bad breath and body odor.
"AAARRGH!!!"
Another animal roared and charged at him.
He jumped to prevent his ankles from being permanently detached from his body by another flash of metal low to the ground.
Flea-bitten tarnations! He did not have time for this!!!
As his body vaulted upwards above the rabble's heads, he threw out a bubble shield just barely in time to avoid a volley of spears being thrown at him.
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP
The spears hit his fortified bubble shield and fell to the ground harmlessly.
Where the hell were his men??? He had left them waiting outside Elsa Wiggins' pumpkin shop.
But even as he asked that question, Erick looked out through the bubble shield and saw their many bodies, lifeless on the ground. They had been ambushed not mere minutes before Erick emerged from Elsa's door.
As Erick landed from the initial vault, some distance away, he could now see his attackers clearly.
Black-furred Primate Warriors.
There were at least two platoons of them, all converging in on him.
The gorillas were controlled by two Overlords wearing those black bodysuits that they were so famous for.
He could see the last of his men succumbing to the onslaught of the Primate Warriors.
There were just too many of them.
In desperation, Erick pulled out the amulet he had just retrieved from Elsa Wiggins.
"Bianshenkaisuo!"
He focused on one of the eyes of the amulet. For a single second, it did nothing.
"AAARRGH!!!"
The roar of a horde of Primate Warriors hit him like a ton of bricks. The space between Erick and the gorillas closed to almost nothing.
He looked up and saw their murderous eyes descending down upon him.
Holy shit!
The amulet grew warm in his hands. He brought the amulet up and shoved it at the oncoming gorillas.
Erick never saw what happened. He was too busy mumbling a new incantation.
"Mashangjokai"
A new portal opened up behind him. It was time to enact the Thirty-sixth Military Strategy of the Holy Book of the War Gods.
RUN!!!
Normally, Erick hated to port away from a fight like some coward wizard, but this was not normal.
He was badly outnumbered and he was super late for a very important date. The only thing he could do was port away as quickly as he could and hope he didn't land on something that would kill him.
Something released from his amulet, even as his body slipped through the impromptu portal he had just created.
One moment he was on solid ground. The next moment, he was falling down into a dark interior.
THUMP!!!
Erick landed and rolled in the direction of his fall. His calculations were not off, thank the stars.
He had landed on top of the Princess Train!
It was still here waiting for him.
No.
SHE was still here waiting for him.