Fantastic Journeys Through The Stars 6 Geas

Zoe was always an enigma to Arthur. The first time he met her, he was barely three years old. Still a toddler, he was too young to remember what happened back then. He just knew Zoe had stayed with them for a long time after that, virtually becoming part of their family.

She had raised Arthur in place of his busy world-faring parents. It could be said she was more his guardian as his actual guardians were. With the long years they had spent together, Arthur had definitely noticed her quirks. He knew she was weird… But not this weird.

Zoe was a lot of things to Arthur. His keeper, first best friend, the weird aunt in the family everybody seemed to look up to. She was his puppy love when he learnt what crushes were. Then she became his clingy, overprotective elder sister when he hit adolescence. Yet, Arthur now realized that he didn't know her at all.

Her hair wasn't black, her eyes weren't either. She didn't age a single bit in all those years, not because of her uncurable illness, but because she was immortal. He definitely didn't know she could turn her hands into a tentacle made out of guava jam. That cats, and humans for that matter, could eat that jam for health benefits.

That's how the cat's tail got fixed.

"Arthur… I have something I ne-" After turning her hand back to normal, Zoe apologetically looked at Arthur. As if she wanted to elucidate something, something important. But Arthur promptly cut her off.

"Before that, Zoe. Uh." Arthur blushed as he s.h.i.+fted his eyes elsewhere.

Zoe was still very stark-naked. "Could you, umm, wear some clothes first? It's hard to talk with you like… that."

"Oh." Zoe looked down her body. Yup! She turned slightly red for just a second. Then closed her eyes and squinted really hard. Suddenly, something that resembled tanned hide pushed their way out of her skin. It continued until she was covered in a form-fitting leather garment. "Ugh, I hate doing this. It takes a lot of cells to turn my skin into processed bio-materials."

"Wait, skin? So, you're still…?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, bare." Zoe replied, her smile a teasing grin.

Arthur was not convinced. However, he wasn't naïve enough to blush because of technicalities, much to Zoe's disappointment. He changed the subject.

"So, about what you said previously…" Arthur pointed at Liu Feng.

"Right! People like him always have ulterior motives when doing things. Saving your life? Hmph!" Zoe scoffed. "He probably noticed that you were the key to keeping himself alive. There's no way he didn't notice that I never once attacked you."

Arthur was definitely convinced that Liu Feng had an agenda. After all, he did shadow him, literally.

Yet, he still believed that in the end, the monk didn't have the intention to harm him.

"Let's hear him out first, okay? The only one he actually hurt here was the cat, and that was to save me." said Arthur. He looked at the cat which had fallen asleep, apologizing quietly for not avenging its pikachu-tail. The feline, however, was snoozing quietly on top of smooth moon rock.

Liu Feng vigorously nodded. Judging by his reaction, he could still hear what was being said outside. Zoe's doing no doubt.

The eldritch maiden bit her lips. Her face painted a skeptical look. But she didn't refuse Arthur's request this time. A touch to the slime bubble that was trapping the monk, and part of it was immediately absorbed into her body. The prison now only covered up to Liu Feng's shoulder, giving him a chance to speak.

"Lies! Mr. Arthur-"

"Just Arthur is fine." Arthur tried to calm the agitated monk down. He didn't like such an overly formal form of addressing either, so he a.s.sessed this was a good place to hit two birds with one stone.

"Uhh, well then, Arthur." The monk was stumped by the interruption. A few seconds later, he continued. But more calmly, with conviction to his voice. "Do not make the mistake of trusting her. She, no, it-"

"She." Arthur corrected. Zoe smiled.

The monk sighed, guessing that it would probably be a bad idea to p.i.s.s off his only ticket out of this mess. He didn't insist, "She, is a scourgekin, the enemy of all sapient life. A mimic that can only steal. And, most importantly, there is a crucial fault in its words."

"And… what would that be?" Arthur quirked an eyebrow. Half of what the monk said sounded like gibberish.

'Stop calling her a scourgekin. She only looks like an Eldritch horror. Kind of.'

"When she dragged you in the tunnel! That tunnel was definitely too narrow for a human to fit through. If it wasn't for m-"

"I covered Arthur and his cat with my cells. They would have been fine. You were the one who followed after them, uninvited, while hurting the poor cat." This time it was Zoe who cut him off.

She extended a tentacle of slime from her index finger and gently covered the sleeping cat within it. After that, she shrunk the tentacle. Much to Arthur's amazement, she made the now thread like tentacle pa.s.s through a small crack in the rock. On the other side of the rock, the tentacle expanded again. She then dropped the cat off on top of another smooth moonrock. The cat was safe and sound, still snoozing comfortably.

"See?" Zoe looked at Arthur with a smile on her face. The series of events proving her words to the T.

Arthur nodded.

"I, that's…" Liu Feng was staring wide-eyed at what happened, apparently at a loss. He then said the obvious with gloom on his face, "There is no way I would have known that."

"You wouldn't, would you?" Zoe smirked. She pointed at Arthur's shadow and said, "Then, what's this?"

Arthur also looked down. Liu Feng did suddenly come out of his shadow in the bas.e.m.e.nt after all. It was definitely suspicious.

Zoe tapped Arthur's shadows lightly with her finger tendril, and a black card popped out.

"These things act as a waypoint for your teleportation, as well as a tracker." Zoe smile turned into an accusatory grin.

"When we first met on the train, I had warned Arthur of the dark presence I felt. It was unquestionably because of you. That is when I had to tag him, for his own safety! So that if he fell into any danger, I could react with haste. Such as now, for example." Liu Feng answered calmly. Zoe looked guilty for a moment, but her interrogation wasn't finished.

"Then, why does the cat have one too?" Saying that, she tapped the cat's shadow next. And pop came out a black card, identical to the one before. "They also act like surveillance devices, right? What, did you think I wouldn't notice? You were after his secrets, not his safety!"

Feng wasn't perturbed though. He denied the accusation, saying, "It is better to have as many backups plans as possible. Do not accuse me of something you are doing yourself, scourgekin."

He glared at Zoe. And Zoe glared back.

Liu Feng continued his defense, "In the first place, I didn't come to the moon because of a scourgekin extermination. Nor did I have any business with Arthur. You must've felt it too. A fragment has formed near here."

Much to Liu Feng's surprise, Zoe looked confused. She wasn't faking it, having no idea what a fragment was.

"Fragment?" Arthur asked.

"A natural treasure, a source of energy to aid in our practice. It holds concepts of reality itself, and sometimes, even G.o.dhood." Liu Feng replied. "This one is quite large in scale. It should be able to support groups of thousands. Many organizations have sent people to moontowns in this area of Luna, including our sect. I am originally here for that. Our encounter here was but a coincidence." He then looked at Zoe, and emphasized, "Coincidence."

"Ah, you mean a source? The ones that look like colored gla.s.s rocks?" Something clicked in Zoe's head, as she finally recognized what Feng was talking about. "Yeah… there is one near here… the weird one."

Arthur was stumped. Both of them had compelling arguments.

He, on one hand, would definitely take Zoe's side. Zoe herself, however, seemed to be concealing something. Something rather important.

On the other hand, if they let Liu Feng go just like that he would most definitely return with reinforcements. He gave the impression of abhorring 'scourgekins' with extreme prejudice. There's no telling what sort of trouble he could bring in the future.

Though that did not mean Arthur wanted to kill him. Arthur was just an ordinary civilian, with an ordinary civilian mindset. Serious thoughts about murder and viciousness weren't even up for consideration for someone with his upbringing.

Zoe of course, could see that clearly as day. She glared at the trapped monk, wondering her choices. Finally, she let out a reluctant sigh, "If you want to live this place alive, you'll have to agree to a geas."

"A geas?" Arthur and Liu Feng asked simultaneously.

"A pact, a contract. Whatever you call them nowadays." Zoe said, exasperated.
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"Ah, you mean an oath? Definitely, I can promise to keep what happened here a secret." Feng seemed to be okay with it. His tense shoulders dropped a bit, and a tired sigh unintentionally leaked from his mouth.

"No, a geas. It's not a lousy oath you can break when you're strong enough. You can't break a geas, in this life, or the next." Zoe said, a red glint in her eyes. "Look, boy. I am giving you a way out. And only because of Arthur. You either take it and live, or refuse and die."

'Scary! Haven't seen her like this since that one time I put chewing gum in her hair.' Arthur was reminded of that h.e.l.lish nightmare. For three days he could not sit down, his bottom too spanked, his heart too injured.

Arthur Shuddered.

"I- Okay... I will comply." Liu Feng finally grasped exactly what Zoe was talking about. He still nodded, fully convinced the scourgekin would not be taking any more steps back. Arthur also released a sigh in relief, relieved that no bloodshed was necessary.

Zoe turned one of her fingers into a ruby talon. Like an Eagle's claw made out of glittering magic crystal. Granules of tiny light particles gathered near the tip if the talon, and she carefully guided them in midair. A small red magic circle appeared, rotating slowly from on its axes. Then, she opened her palms wide. There was a fluctuation of red light, and the magic circle expanded to cover the whole cavern. It was instantly at least a few hundred meters in diameter.

"Impressive." Arthur said.

"It's basic stuff." Zoe replied with a smile.

"Wai-, Wh" Liu Feng's eyes went wide in shock. Apparently, whatever it was that Liu Feng thought before, he thought wrong. "You are using strategic grade magic to make a contract spell!"

"Yes." Zoe said. "Don't resist~"

"Have you never heard of the phrase, 'Don't use a cannon to kill a mosquito'?" A tired undertone coloured his voice, as his shoulders drooped even further. This time, not from relief. This was it, no final acts of resistance. He had given up.

"You overestimate yourself." Zoe laughed, as she tapped Feng's forehead with her glowing talon. The light concentrated on the tip, and drew a small wound. The giant magic circle shrank into his temple, and after a few seconds, it disappeared. Liu Feng was quite throughout the whole procedure. It seems like it was painless.

"It's done. It won't kill you, or do anything really. Other than making it impossible for you to physically, magically, and spiritually share what happened here today. Unless I let you, of course. So, cheer up."

Liu Feng could only shake his head. He stared at the ceiling, his tired eyes for some reason changing to one of deep though. Arthur heard him whisper, "So I'm not even strong enough to be a mosquito? Me, the Master of the Seal?"

'Poor guy. He lost both his robe and his self-confidence today.' Arthur looked at Zoe. She did that to people, intentionally and unintentionally. Shaking off those past feelings, Arthur clapped his hands.

"I have no idea how I am breathing down here. And at this point I am too afraid to ask. What I do know is, I definitely don't want to stay here any longer. Can you take us out? Without covering us in sli-… your cells?" Arthur asked Zoe. He didn't forget to gently pick up the sleeping cat, of course. The cat was deep in it's sleep, not even noticed the human touch.

Wait, no it just tried to scratch Arthur's hand. It was still asleep though. A nightmare perhaps?

'The poor thing did go through a lot today.' Arthur supposed.

Zoe smiled. "No."

Arthur sighed again.

With that being said, Zoe morphed her whole body completely into a slimy chaos once again. The slime glowed blue, as its green body turned into a hazy mist.

Zoe soon engulfed all three of the pa.s.sengers, and quickly made her way up the tunnel into the bas.e.m.e.nt.

Feng was still quite dismayed, and visibly low-spirited at this sudden hurdle. So, after exchanging contact information with Arthur (he insisted), and receiving a few more threats from Zoe, he took his leave.

"Now then," Arthur spoke, closing the front door, "Zoe..."

"Arthur, I-"

"I'm not blaming you." Arthur strongly clarified. "And I'm not mad that you kept some secrets from me. If I was some kind of alien lifeform, I would've done the same."

He took a deep breath, trying his best to maintain a serious countenance. "Tell what a scourgekin is. Tell me about the pendant. And about my parents. About you. Tell me everything."

Zoe looked at Arthur right in the eye, and after a few long seconds, slowly nodded.