Mindy laid on the floor, her eyes wide open, her vision dark and unseeing. She hadn’t moved for quite sometime, and the only person to watch over her was the inquisitive Meln, who looked at her from the metal desk with a worried look. The Tala marks around her eyes that Dexarte had traced when they first met glowed faintly, a tinge of blue highlighting them. “Is it working?” Meln asked.
“I don’t know.” Mindy said quietly.
“I’ve never tried before now.” She really hoped this crazy idea would work, she was just getting used to the weird crying ability, learning how to talk to a Goddess of the Earth using face tattoos seemed a bit too extreme. Her vision remained dark, yet she knew the marks were glowing. Her eyes felt heavy, and a familiar soft throb of pain ringed under eyes. She could feel them prick painfully with tears; she got up and angrily rubbed at her face.
“Dammit. It’s like every time I need to use my eyes for something other than seeing-”“The tears try to spill out, huh?” Meln asked sadly. He sighed, his head sitting on his folded hands. He leaned over the back of a chair and stared at her. “Is there any other way to contact this ‘Dexarte’ friend of yours?”
Mindy shook her head.
“I don’t know any other way! The last time she showed up, she just came from nowhere.” She told him.
“Dexarte is the only one I know who can find Bobi Adolow. And Adolow is the only person who knows about what Darius was doing. She may even know who killed him.” Meln nodded solemnly.
“Actually, I just got word from Daraeya, and we know who murdered Darius now.” Dexarte spoke in her mind. Mindy froze, shocked into silence. Dexarte chuckled,
“I am sorry for not answering earlier. I was a bit busy with other things. I understand you are looking for Bobi Adolow, but I’m here to tell you that you aren’t alone in your search anymore.” Meln looked at her strangely, and Mindy cursed in her mind. She couldn’t explain that Dexarte was talking to her now, without Meln thinking she had gone crazy. Dexarte huffed, and appeared before the both of them, spooking Meln so much he fell right out of his chair.
Dexarte smiled mischievously at Meln’s surprised figure on the floor. “Hello.” She said simply, waving a small hand at him. He raised his own nervously. “Anyway, I am Dexarte. I’m here to tell you more about the investigation Mindy.” Dexarte offered Mindy a hand, as she stood up from laying down on the floor.
“Right. Who else is looking for Adolow besides us now?” Mindy asked.
Dexarte walked over to the long metal table where Mindy usually did all of her experiments. She gently moved some of the equipment out of the way, and beckoned for the two of them to look at what she was doing on its surface. Dexarte traced a finger through the dust collecting on the polished metal. “Phoenix and Eris have decided that they have to help you find this Bobi Adolow girl as well, because Daraeya was right. She is connected to Darius Winters, though not in the way she thought originally.”
As her finger ran through the light dust, Mindy and Meln could see it rearranging itself to form a symbol, or rune that neither had seen before. “The murderer of Darius Winters is a rogue God called Tul. He, like me, used to have followers and a temple of his own. And he also had a host body like I have. We don’t know why he killed Darius, but…” She finished tracing the table and before them was an old looking rune that twisted in on itself, and had a very distinctive clover shape to it. “I think I have figured out why.”
“What’s this supposed to be?” Meln asked. “Some kind of emblem?”
“It is Tul’s sigil. All Gods have them, mine is what’s etched around your eyes, Mindy. This sigil was on Darius, I believe it was traced in gore on his neck.” She said.
Mindy looked at Dexarte.
“How did you figure that out?” She couldn’t remember her being anywhere in town when Darius was murdered.
“Daraeya used her status as ‘Roland Moore’ to check for anything unusual before he could be properly clean. She informed me of the sigil, and that is partly why I was trying to track down Phoenix.” She told her. “Tul was after someone, and Darius held a God inside of him that could of potentially led Tul to that person.”
Meln shook his head, confused. “Who do you think he was after?” He asked.
Dexarte sighed. “ I fear Tul is after Phoenix. And the God that lies within him.” She said. “See, Dexhi and Tul have a complicated history. I’d get into it now, but the short of it is that Dexhi...embarrassed Tul in front of the rest of us, and as punishment Tul banished him to the bottom of the ocean.”
“So why is he after this Dexhi person now? He got what he wanted, right?” Meln said.
“Not exactly. Dexhi has escaped his prison obviously, but with his escape something else was gone with him. A very important jewel that was essentially keeping him locked down was stolen by someone else, this jewel used to belong to Daraeya, but Tul used it to seal Dexhi away in the first place. He’s looking for it now, and he must think one of us, namely Dexhi, has it so he’s trying to track us down one by one.” Daraeya explained.
“This is becoming a very giant tangled web…” Mindy muttered.
“Tell me about it, we haven’t even figured out about your powers yet.” Meln added.
Dexarte chuckled. “Which is why you have help now. I haven’t explained my idea about the jewel and Tul, but it is a start for a positive motive, something this investigation has sorely lacked.”
“So...do you know where Bobi Adolow is?” Mindy asked her. Dexarte smiled.
“I do, she’s right outside this very building, on an assignment if I'm to be correct.” She said. Mindy and Meln jumped up. Meln gulped.
“Oh no, if Theo and I read those reports right then she could be in danger...the city isn’t safe for supers right about now.” He said, Meln left the room to go and greet Bobi Adolow who was apparently outside.
“Wait, you said she’s on an assignment-?” She turned to meet Dexarte, but Dexarte had disappeared. Mindy sighed, and decided she would find out when she talked to Bobi Adolow.
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welp here it is, i don't have anything to say right about now.
