[center][h1]That Time I Almost Died, Got Saved by a God Blinded by Rage and Pain and Taken to Another Goddess’ Home to be Taken Care of By Her Champions Only to End Up Being a Dress-Up Doll: Volume 2[/h1][/center]

Happened just before [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5321296]this post[/url]

[center][b]VI[/b][/center]
“Psst… Lore, wake up. It’s morning.” The quiet words were accompanied by a gentle shove, and followed by shaking. Courage pushed and prodded the sleeping Lorelei while her sisters all remained a step behind her. Lorelei stirred, slowly, but didn’t open her eyes. Instead, she grabbed one of Courage’s hands and yawned, a soft purr coming from somewhere deep inside her chest.

“Mmnyo…” She whined.

Courage glanced back to the five pairs of red eyes that stared at her expectantly, but offered no advice or assistance, of course. The brash champion simply shrugged before grabbing the sleeping girl and easily lifting her from the bed. “Uh, good enough, ya. I said; wake up, Pipsqueak.” Courage casually remarked, as she shook Lorelei once more.

“Aah!” Lorelei yelped, tensing up and eyes shooting wide open. Her little heart beat so fast that it could almost be heard. She calmed down as soon as she recognized the shadowy outline of Courage’s face. “W-What wrong?”

“There’s something you’ve got to see. Come with us.” Courage replied, gesturing with a quick tilt of her head to where the other champions of Homura waited for the two. Courage placed Lorelei back on her bed, slightly embarrassed and also excited. “Trust me, you’re going to like it.” She said, with red cheeks and a large smile.

Lorelei couldn’t help but to smile back. She rubbed the remaining sleep out of her eyes and stretched, then stood up and held Courage’s hand. “L-let’s go, Cour. Good morning, e-everyone.”

Pale morning light poured through every doorway leading outside the keep, and after passing the curtain of beads, and walking the short distance to the nearest doorway, the champions and Lorelei stepped outside. They stood upon a large ledge, overlooking the northern fields of Keltra, and levitating before them was a sleek boat crafted from dark wood and coated with frost. Many swirling snowflakes fell from the bottom of its hull, leaving a white glittering trail behind it. 

“Chailiss gave us this gift when he visited last night.” Courage explained, pulling Lorelei along, as Curiosity and Wanderer dragged the weightless vessel towards them, the sight of such a big object being moved so easily truly indicated the otherworldly nature of the boat. There were seats enough for all of them to sit comfortably, and a large steering apparatus attached to the back.

“Waow! H-How… Wait! Is it…” Lorelei gasped, “It has to be, right?!” She turned to look up at Courage with sparkly eyes, “An airship! A working one! It flies!” She cheered, jumping up against the railing and trying to reach for the dark wooden hull.

Courage chuckled before tossing Lorelei up and over the railing, with the small girl yelping and landing on her feet on the boat and immediately running all over the deck, checking every last nook and cranny and then popping up over the boat’s railings to look at Courage with puffed out cheeks. “Where’s the engine? I can’t find it.”

“This vessel utilizes sorcery. The engine would be the will of the divine, and their power acts as its source of energy. We are fueled by the Eternal Fire, which sustains us. It is similar in nature, but… different as well.” Kindness explained, as each of her sisters jumped aboard.

“We can’t take it beyond the wall, but do you want to go for a ride?” Courage stood beside the shaft of the rudder to control the boat, almost jumping with joy, as her eager hands grasped the simple steering apparatus.

“Yeah!!”

“Wait, isn’t it my turn? You already got to fly us around!” Curiosity was quick to also take hold of the rudder, and the two champions began a slow struggle against each other to wrest control of the boat. “Besides, Kindness said your flying is a safety hazard because you crashed into the keep and wall fifteen times!” Curiosity continued, as Wanderer nodded in silent agreement with her.

“I did not say that.” Kindness protested, her impotent glare directed towards the inquisitive champion, who just shrugged. “That’s what you whispered to Fear after crash number ten, so you still said it.” Curiosity countered, and Wanderer nodded once more.

“I-I-hmm…” Kindness stumbled upon her words, and Courage stared at her, the look of betrayal in her eyes.

“Kindness, come on. We’re sisters! You’re just jealous because you’re slow and everyone was getting bored when you flew, ya?”

Fear stood up, and positioned herself between Courage and Kindness. “Kindness only crashed twice which is a lot less than you. Besides, it’s Curiosity’s turn, then Wanderer’s. We all -”

Fear found herself, along with Kindness and Courage, falling upon the floor of the boat as Curiosity successfully pushed her brash sisters away, and shifted the steering controls into motion, causing the vessel to surge forward. The world all around them had suddenly become a blur, all except for the boat itself and its occupants, until a loud bang and tremor announced their crash into the red wall of Keltra, and the boat had stopped. Pride and Lorelei were still seated, held in place by Wanderer who took care to make sure all onboard were properly seated before a premature take-off. Courage, Kindness, and Fear were a heap of flailing limbs and exasperated noises as they sought to upright themselves.

“Are you alright?” Pride asked, her question directed at nobody in particular until she peered towards Lorelei, and dedicated her attention to the most fragile among their group. Lorelei meanwhile found herself hugging onto Pride for dear life, her hair disheveled and expression wild with narrowed eyes and a panting grin.

“T-That was… Awesome! So cool! It didn’t break, let’s do it again!” Lorelei cheered, trying and struggling to peel herself away from Pride, her muscles locked into place by the scare.

“That’s crash number one! I’m counting now!” Courage exclaimed as she climbed back to her feet, and pointed aggressively at Curiosity who wore a smug grin. With a more gentle tug, the boat pulled away from the wall, and began drifting backwards, until it turned and began flying sideways.

“How does this thing work?” Curiosity asked from the stern, looking at the rudder like it was some confusing contraption beyond her understanding. Kindness and Fear took seats next to Wanderer, Pride, and Lorelei, while Courage marched back to her bemused sister.

“Curry, you can do it!! I only saw these things crashed into buildings and streets back home, so they’ve always been d-difficult to pilot.” Lorelei said with a small hmph at the end, now much more relaxed but still practically glued to Pride.

“I’m not sure why you’re encouraging her.” Pride whispered, familiar with how incompetent all of her sisters seemed to be as pilots. The small champion was honestly surprised the three colossi were all still intact after she had experienced being in a vessel with Courage at the helm.

“If she figures out how to pilot this airship well, I can get her to teach us! It’ll be fun, Pride. I’ve wanted to pilot these things since I was like t-three!” Lorelei whispered back.

“Three?” Pride asked, as Courage and Curiosity began to bicker, the two of them both had their hands on the rudder again, but the former seemed more intent on teaching the latter how to pilot rather than wresting control from her.

“Yeah! Or was it four? Two?” Lorelei shrugged and looked back at Courage and Curiosity, “Umm, why not m-modify it? To make the levers and steering smoother? I just need something s-spongy, and to go out and scavenge for s-something to use as glue.”

“The only thing that needs modifying is my sisters. I mean, it’s easy, yet both Kindness and Fear seem to make it look hard. Courage knows how to fly, but she acts like she doesn’t. Hmm… allow me to amend that, she chooses not to fly properly.” Pride explained with a sigh, as she brought a small hand to her head and attempted to ignore her frustration. The boat then began to rise in the air, higher and higher, until they arose above the wall.

“Wait, we’re not supposed to leave the fields.” Fear said, as peered over the railing and began looking down below at the barren landscape within the keep. Her other sisters looked beyond the wall,  and their eyes widened at the sight. A vast section of the western forest had been demolished by the touch of doom, the warm presence of the red flora was obliterated beyond ever being restored, and a terrible blight upon the land had replaced it. Even from afar, the putrid stench assailed them, and the boat became still as Curiosity let go of the rudder to cover her nose.

“How… how did this… happen?” Courage asked, but none of her sisters answered, Fear and Wanderer struggling to cope with the air of rot all around them.

Lorelei hopped off her seat, a hand barely covering her nose as she walked over to the front of the boat to look at the scenery. In the distance, she could see the swarms of flies and the familiar shapes of corpses–Though this time they were animal corpses.

“Flies–Death. W-We gotta go, or we’ll be next.” The girl said, quite obviously trying to put on a tough act despite the fact that she was shaking in her boots.

“Mother said to remain within the walls.” Pride added, attempting to assure those that were distraught by the sight of Doom’s wake. Her voice was small, but filled with enough strength to stir Curiosity who reversed the controls, and directed the boat back down to where they had been before.

“What was that?!?” Courage shouted, still seeking an answer. “How’re we supposed to go, when that’s just outside? Why didn’t Homura mention that?” The brash champion continued, pacing back and forth, until she realized that there were more occupants on the boat then there was just a moment ago.

[b]“I said not to leave the confines of the wall.”[/b] Homura said, standing on the prow of the boat, and all of her champions turned to face her.

“What happened? Tell us!”

The red goddess stared at Courage with an enigmatic expression, her lack of emotion contrasting sharply with the panic and apprehension of the other passengers. Kindness and Fear stood up, and stood beside their sister, while Wanderer held onto Pride and Lorelei.

[b]“My brother, Iqelis. You do not need to concern yourself with him. You all have been assigned your tasks. Do not distract yourselves. Time is of the essence now, all of you must make haste and help those that still suffer. I will be departing soon as well.”[/b] Homura stated before she leapt away, and a lingering tension simmered afterwards. None of the champions could say anything; their maker had left as quickly as she came, and now they sat in silence.

Curiosity began directing the boat back to the keep, however she missed her intended destination and the boat collided with the massive wall. “Almost did it…” She whispered, as Courage and Pride angrily muttered to themselves. Courage took hold of the rudder, and the ship descended to the ledge they had first lifted off from.

“Listen, pipsqueak, most of us have to go now, so I’m going to give you a choice. Do you want to come with us? We’re heading north to help the people there, because that’s what heroes do. That said, Pride is staying behind because she has to watch over Keltra, and I think she would like some company.”

At first, Lorelei perked up. She shook a bit in her seat as she seemed to wrestle with her thoughts until eventually she reached back to grab her tail and sighed. “I-I’ll stay with Pride. No one should be alone when things get dangerous.” She explained and nodded mostly to herself, gently caressing her shivering tail.

Courage leaned forward with a slight grin, and playfully ruffled the hair between Lorelei’s ears, eliciting a few chuckles out of the girl. “We’ll bring you back something when we return, ya… and next time you can come with us. It’s not going to be as fun without you, just so you know.”

Lorelei looked up at Courage, mirth gone from her expression as quickly as it had appeared. She nodded and looked away, clasping her hands and placing them neatly on her lap. “O-Okay… Are you going now?”

“We wanted to show you Skydancer before we left. Take you round the keep a few times, ya. We were told to get going as soon as we can though.” Courage answered, as the other champions would either avert their gaze, or look at Pride and Lorelei with guilt in their eyes.

“It’ll only be a couple of days; you’ll need to return to the Eternal Fire before too long. Just give us our hugs for good luck, and complete your tasks as quickly as you can. Okay?” Pride said, rising to stand on her seat before lending a helping hand to Lorelei.

Lorelei took Pride’s hand and stood up beside her. “We’ll wait for you, just be careful. Don’t be too much of a hero…” She said quietly and opened her arms towards her bigger sisters.

Courage lifted Lorelei off her feet, before she leapt up high in the air and swung her around, with the girl squealing happily. They slowly descended, like a leaf falling from the branch, until they alighted among the others. With a chuckle, Courage passed Lorelei to Kindness before approaching an apprehensive Pride. “No, no, no, NO!” The small champion protested before being lifted in the air as well.

Kindness wrapped her arms around Lorelei, and whispered softly to the girl. “I will look after them. Hmm… thank you for being alive.” She let go before Fear stepped forth and embraced both in a wide hug.

“Good luck, good luck, good luck…” She repeated, over and over again, her eyes closed and a tight smile. Then the two let go, and Curiosity came close for a hug.

“We’re going to have lots more stories to tell you when we come back! Then we can have lots more fun! You’ll always be the first human with furry ears and a tail that I spoke with, and that makes your hugs give double good luck, I think.” Curiosity said, nuzzling Lorelei’s twitchy ears with her cheeks, and giggling afterwards. “I don’t want to ever let go!”

Wanderer whacked Curiosity on the head, and the inquisitive champion let go with an abashed look as her reticent sister embraced Lorelei. “We will always be together.” Wanderer said in her quiet voice.

Pride received similar exchanges before Courage and Fear picked up the two little girls and leapt from the boat to the ledge below. The air rushing past them briefly, a cold whisper that was a prelude to the touch of stone beneath their feet. Courage and Fear stood in front of the two being left behind, wearing smiles of joy and sorrow, then they jumped once more and were back in the boat. There was a scuffle heard, the sound of Courage and Curiosity bickering once more, while Kindness, Fear, and Wanderer leaned over the railing and waved. Slowly, but surely, the vessel was rising higher and higher.

“Bye!” Courage and Curiosity both shouted from the stern, before the boat had risen high enough, and suddenly soared north with swift speed towards the lands beyond the red wall.

Lorelei watched dejectedly as her sisters left, her tail and ears uncharacteristically limp. “... Bye bye.” She said after a long while, then turned to Pride.

“So… What do you do for f-fun here?”

“Let’s wait till Mother leaves before we speak of forbidden things like fun. I had some ideas though…” Pride answered, showing a small mischievous smile.

[hider=Summary]-The Champions of Homura wake up Lorelei, and excitedly take her to see the gift Chailiss gave them.
-They go on a brief flight, where they only crash once, before they see the damage dealt by Iqelis to the forest near the fortress.
-Homura temporarily appears and scolds them before reminding them of a task she had assigned them.
-With another crash, the champions and Lorelei return to the keep where they bid each farewell. Pride and Lorelei remain in Keltra, while the others set forth north on the ship which they have named Skydancer.[/hider]

[hider=Spirit]Courage, Kindness, Fear, Curiosity, Wanderer, and Pride gain 2 Spirit. (+1 Minimum, +1 Medium Length)[/hider]

[hider=Vigour]Homura spends 0 Vigor[/hider]