As we stood in front of the bakery, the most glaring thing that stuck out was the looming neon sign. It depicted an elven man with a goatee and sunglasses in an open button up shirt holding a loaf of bread with a shocked look on his face and bits of bread crumbs flying from his mouth as he seemingly took a bite.
Liora had already gone inside as she seemed to be having a cheerful conversation with the owner, an elven man who seems to be a spitting image of the sign above, even including the open shirt. That left Selene and I to stand outside and wait for her. We had gone by the guild, and while Selene and I picked up our obsidian tags, Liora had grabbed a quest from the board and practically dragged us here.
"W-What do you think this whole "its basically free money" quest entails?"
Selene asked, turning to me as we both sat on the bench, quietly waiting. I shrugged, making a foot of strings and beginning to do a cat's cradle as I said.
"I'm more worried that Liora is taking a quest that's gonna rip us off."
As if on cue to hearing her name, Liora came outside with a grin on her face, and a large rolled up length of fabric under her arm. A new backpack sat on her back as she speedwalked over to us.
"Alright, we got the gear, let's do this quest, we might even be done before we meet up with the others if we're quick about this."
Liora grabbed both of our hands as Selene and I exchanged a bewildered glance.
We were dragged to another fountain like the one we saw before, this one had nobody jumping in, the portal overhead being only a tiny speck. Liora was fitting the backpack onto me, and stuffing what I discovered wasn't a fabric, but instead a strange thick tarp. The backpack was strange too, it included a belt, leg straps, and even a clasp to hold my shoulders. If anything it seemed more akin to a harness than a backpack. Liora checked over me a few times as Selene made sure everything was snug and set. Liora had said something to her earlier to her that I didn't hear which made me worried about why she was being so thoughtful about these clasps.
"Ok, repeat after me, 8 seconds then pull."
Liora said, placing a small rectangular handle into my palm and wrapping my fingers around it.
"Uh, 8 seconds then pu-"
The words died on my lips as I glanced back to the portal that was taller than the one from before, at least 5000 ft up, and barely a small blip in the sky. I looked down to the harness on my body and a cold sweat broke out on my face. I tried to dive away, but as if she was ready Selene grabbed me.
"Liora wait, wait, hold on, why do I have to be the one to do it!"
I said, squirming and trying to break free, but being unable to in Selene's grip. Liora checked into the portal before she turned back.
"Because the client's normal guy is a dwarven daredevil who loves this stuff, but he's sick today, so I volunteered you. It was a porcelain quest, but he bumped it up because nobody wanted to take the quest on. It's like 5 minutes of work for 800 gold, that's an almost 9600 gold an hour paycheck here."
"Why can't you do it, in case you don't remember, you're the only one of us who can fly!"
I barked as I used my strings to grab a nearby light to prevent Selene from holding me over the portal, but she quickly cut them as she held me over the gate. I know people say never look down, but saying that doesn't make it easier to avoid looking. Below me I saw a massive sprawling landscape, and a small city below. I clung to Selene's arm like a cat being held over a river as I turned to Liora who leaned in, a smug look on her face.
"Plus, this is partially for revenge for the thing in the trailer, you scared me, so I scare you."
I stared at Liora with a look of bewilderment locked on my face.
"Oh you petty biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-"
Before I could finish, Selene dropped me and shook her arm, loosening my grip as I felt the wind rush, and a rising feeling in my chest of falling. My body locked up as I spread my arms and legs out as if somehow tensing my entire body would save me.
I will tear out every stitch in all of her clothes if I survive this!
I thought fiercely, my eyes locked below me as the once small speck of the city was now getting bigger and bigger by the second.
Wait second, how many seconds have passed?
I thought about making sure my hand was on the handle. The city was getting closer and closer as I felt a primal panic in my chest. I didn't care, and yanked the cord. The backpack opened up as above me a massive parachute opened up. There was a heavy jerk as I went from freefall to slowfall. I felt my anger simmering in my chest as I looked up above me. The parachute had a massive depiction of the logo of the bread store on the inside of it.
I pride myself on my stoicism, and yet being around Jax, Aiden, Selene, Liora, and Beatrice seems to have softened my normal responses. It was even to the point where what I thought I was thinking internally I instead shouted out in outrage.
"I'M A FUCKING AD!!"
I was now close enough to the city below that I could make out the original portal I went through, two small figures standing around the fountain as 3 others made their way over. Several people were looking at me where I had yelled out, but in my anger I didn't care.
"Liora, When I get my hands on you, I am gonna tie your heels to the back of your head for a week!!"
I saw one of the figures begin to leave where the main group was as It took around 10 minutes total before I was back on the ground, landing just outside the city walls where Selene seems to have broken away to come meet me where I landed.
I landed in a heap, and rolled for a bit, the parachute landing on top of me as I stared up at it.
Selene began to lift parts of the parachute as she asked in a meek voice.
"T-Thalia…. Are you ok? W-We got the quest reward, so we only need one more quest for the tournament."
I didn't respond, instead I placed a hand on Selene's Shoulder as I stared her down with an intensity that seemed to startle her.
"Selene. If you want your clothes to not fall apart into sections of fabric because I removed every stitch one by one, I recommend you tell me exactly where Liora ran off to."
Selene seemed bewildered by my threat as she jumped back like a cat seeing a cucumber. After a moment she didn't answer as I sighed and reached into my pouch on my side. I sorted through my carved dolls before I found the one I had made resembling Liora. I lowered my strings as I activated my soul skill.
The doll rose up for a moment before it began to mimic a speedwalking like motion before it pretended to sit down on an invisible stool. I grabbed the doll, sticking it back in my pouch as I charged towards the city, and to the restaurant we had planned to eat at.