“Who are you, and what are you doing here? I do not recognize you from anywhere on the island, and you are not a Demon,” The Manticore questioned me, and I nodded to him.

“My name is Zack, and I am the new non-Demon Lord of the island, and I am friends with Mex,” I said to the strange combination of a red lion, bird, and scorpion.

The Manticore was flapping its wings above me, but when I mentioned Mex, the lion’s face turned sour.

“You still never said why you were here. Mex should know that this place is off-limits! I get that he helped me, but I don’t want anything else from that woman stealer!” The Manticore shouted at me, and I swore I saw a tear in his eye.

Oh great, so this is why Mex never wanted to come, but who was this woman that he stole? Candace?

“Who did he steal from you? I can’t really see Mex being the type to do something like that,” I questioned the creature.

This seemed to be the thing that was making the two of them dislike each other so much. So, I should probably get to the root of this problem before telling the beast I was here to take his daughter.

“The love of my life! She was so sweet, and her fur looked so soft with its gentle blue color. Her face was that of a mermaid and the grace of a dragon!” The Manticore told me in a lovey-dovey tone that was completely different than the one he had just used.

[Oh great, this fool probably never even talked to her! I can see why Mex might have talked shit about him; wait, is he crying now?]

“Alright, so it is Candace then? The sphinx girl?” I asked, and the now sad-looking Manticore and he nodded, so I continued to say, “Well, that was ages ago, and they are getting married at some point.”

The Manticore stopped flapping and then fell out of the air.

[Uh-oh!]

I looked over the edge, but the Manticore was just below it, flapping again. Oh great, now we have a drama queen!

“You okay?” I asked, but the Manticore was crying.

This was awkward as fuck, and I wasn’t really sure if I should just wait till he was finished or leave him to cry on his own.

*All Elementals: Leave him!*

[I agree, and you are usually good at helping people who need it, but you are not trained to deal with this level of sorry sucker.]

I started to turn from the ledge, but then I heard the beast calling to me again. I turned back with a groan, rolling my eyes as I did; I could already hear the while in his voice.

“Wait! Where are you going! That is my daughter in there, and I am protecting her from her witch of a mother! She is all I have left!” The Manticore cried out desperately, and I groaned out loud.

“Listen, umm, what is your name?” I asked.

“Calabro!” The crying lion wailed.

“Sure, Calabro, I am here to take care of your daughter and look after her. You need to go find a hobby or something,” I told him and started to turn again.

“Huh? What? Wait! Her mother!” Calabro wailed.

“I will deal with her! Now, are you done?! I have other things that I want to do after I help your daughter,” I told him, trying to keep my temper with this sniveling creature.

“What am I supposed to do now?! Be alone till I die?! I will be alone forever!” The Manticore cried.

*Blaza: Tell him to go see Mex, and I will shorten his time on this dirtball!*

“You are going to have to find something to do. Maybe go try to be helpful to someone, or something like that, okay? I will see your daughter that you have had to keep cooped up in a dark place, and I am going to give her a better life. If you can do that, then get to it, and I will leave, but if not, do as I say,” I said with my voice getting low.

“Fine, I will go!” Calabro declared, turning and then flying off to the southeast.

I didn’t like to be such a jerk to the guy, and I was sure that he would get into a fight with Mex. Calabro would get a surprise, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the women there didn’t tune him in to make the ruckus that he was sure to make.

I turned back to the dark cave finally and started to walk forward. I let go of my aspect, switched to my Earth Force Pact, and then slipped into the ground.

I became one with the rock and began gliding through the rock and angling down to the cavern that I could sense below. I could have walked down, but the path was spiraling and would waste time.

There was no way to get up here other than flying, so this place was safe from most demons, so there was no maze-like area. Still, I had many things I wanted to see and do before leaving, so I didn’t want to waste my entire day dealing with this.

I popped out of the stone cavern roof and fell about fifty feet down to a sandy rock area, but my stone body absorbed it.

There was a pool of walled-in front of me and glowing moss almost everywhere. The entire place was lit with a low and dull yellow-green light that gave the place a mystical look.

“Hello? Who are you, and how did you get past my father?” A female voice asked from the water that I could only assume to be Tiga’s, but I couldn’t see her.

“My name is Zack, and Mex asked me to come and take care of you so you can leave this place and have a normal life,” I said with no preamble.

“Oh, are you sure?” Tiga asked in a cute voice, and I heard the water splash.