A group of three people stood around a stone that was lying on the ground. One was a man wearing black armor with an unnaturally large greatsword on his back. Beside him stood a woman in an overly large witch's hat and brown dusty robes. She had books attacked to her belt. Each book was held in a pouch. They numbered three in total. Beside her stood a masculine woman with short, cropped red hair. She had two short swords attached to her back. Her armor was a light silver and seemed to be light. It was worn over crimson-red clothes that seemed comfy.
The three of them stood around a black opal stone lying on the ground.
The first one to speak was the man in black armor. "How the hell do we crush this stone?"
"Alfonse I have no idea. Can you swing your sword at it?" The woman in red spoke with a perplexed expression.
Alfonse, the man in black armor, responded. "Lyricia (Lyr-is-E-uh), we already tried that. It didn't work. This damned thing must be indestructible."
The woman with a witch hat spoke next. "It's not indestructible. There has to be some trick to it, perhaps some kind of puzzle?" She looked thoughtful.
Both Alfonse and Lyricia responded "Mia, it's not some goddamned puzzle. It's just a fucking stone."
After roughly ten minutes and multiple transmissions later, a black oval appeared near them. Inna stepped out from it. She was wearing short black shorts, a black tank top, and black fingerless gloves."You absolute fools, you have to crush it with your hand. It won't break otherwise."
Mia was the one to respond. "We tried, but we just could not break the damn thing."
Inna thought for a moment. 'I made it to match the strength of the headmaster. They must be weaker.' Inna spoke as she strode forward. "It's my bad then. I thought you all would be as strong as the headmaster. I'll make them weaker, provided there's a next time."
The three of them looked at her with confusion as she picked the stone up and crushed it with two fingers. It turned to dust that disappeared into the air.
Inna stood there, looking at them through her dark sunglasses. "Alright then, where are we going?"
The three of them looked at her incredulously. Mia cleared her throat. "We're heading north. We'll be at the investigation area in probably half a day's march."
Inna sighed. "Fine, but I'm not walking."
Lyricia and Alfonse nearly popped a vein. This woman had appeared and was already the most annoying thing they had ever met. Alfonse was the first to speak. "What the hell do you mean you're not walking?"
Lyricia spoke next. "We are not carrying you, and there's no carriage, so you're either walking or you're not coming."
Inna didn't say anything. She started floating, and soon, a throne of black ebony wood tinted with swirling purple accents appeared beneath her. She sat down and began looking through a series of maps. "You don't need to carry me. This throne will do it just fine. Oh, I am Inna."
The woman in the witch hat chuckled. "I'm Mia."
Alfonse looked away. He knew this was going to be one very annoying mission. "Just call me Alfonse."
The fiery girl spoke next. "I'm Lyricia, most people call me Lyr (Leer) because my name can be a mouthful."
Inna merely nodded in response. "Don't worry about any beasts attacking or threatening us. It won't happen."
Mia, being the ever-curious adventurer had to know what she meant. "What do you mean?" Her voice portrayed a sense of wondrous curiosity.
Inna spoke matter of factly. "Magical beasts are highly attuned to strength, and me being as strong as I am, they wouldn't dare approach. Weaker ones who haven't yet gained a sense of semi-awareness won't present similar habits, however."
Mia was truly lost now. 'Sense of semi-awareness' Did this woman here truly believe beasts were sentient? The idea itself fundamentally went against most forms of what is considered common knowledge.
Without a response, Inna continued her nonchalant attitude. Truthfully, Inna didn't care about the mission all that much. She was just doing it as a favor for the headmaster. In reality, Inna was slightly curious to know what manner of being had caused the disappearance of a village. According to the information the Headmaster had sent her, it wasn't a very large town.
The village, called Yarrow, was small. It was just another uninteresting, boring farm village. Roughly three weeks ago, the entire village up and disappeared. It wasn't just the people in it either, it was the entire village, almost like it was never there in the first place.
After reading the information, Inna had a few theories as to what had caused it. It could potentially be a minor spatial rupture in Veril's world-building, but that was highly unlikely. It was likely that some race (demons most probably) had whisked the village away.
.....
Inna was reading and looking through the multiverse map. Currently, she floated behind the group of three and had not said a single word since they began their march.
Currently, she was within one of Veril's worlds. He currently oversaw two other worlds, which labeled him a minor god. Usually, One to five gods oversaw a section of the multiverse. The more worlds under one's oversight, the higher your ranking, in terms of gods at least. The different species of higher beings had different classifications. Eldritch beings were all (mostly) immortal. Chthulu, Lilith, The Demi-gorgon and more. Becoming an eldritch being was a matter of one: being born that way, or two: ascending there via some form of magic ritual. Inna's situation was a mixture of both, and she was widely considered the strongest eldritch being currently roaming the multiverse.
Persephone is a very high-ranking angel. Angels are just beings that gods have assigned or created for a specific role. Usually, they are given titles that denote rankings. A couple of eons ago the angels and gods had entered into a war for independence, and the angels won. Nowadays, the gods oversee the various worlds and the angels oversee human emotions. Putting angels in direct competition with demons, who can influence human emotion.
In terms of angels, Lucifer is a strange one. He works alongside his creator "god" and is sent souls to punish and cleanse before reincarnation. Inna finds him fascinating, yet extremely foolish. He opted for subservience over true personal freedom, and that is something that Inna would never understand.
.....
Inna's throne suddenly stopped. She glanced up to see a large vaguely human creature. It had snakes for hair and long fingernails that sharpened into claws. 'A gargoyle, so it's vampires then?' She thought to herself. Her three "party" members cursed to themselves.
"A gorgon? What's it doing here?" Lyricia was the first to speak.
Alfonse was the only one to answer. "I don't know, but I'm going to kill it."
Inna hopped down from her throne. "It's not a gorgon. It's a gargoyle."
The three of them instantly went pale. Vampires were no joke, and if a gargoyle was around, vampires were sure to follow.