Chapter 108: Raising the Stakes

Author’s Note: The first portion of this starts about 20 minutes before the forest reset with the avalanche. At the page break, it will be back to the current time. Thanks! - AJK

*****

Chapter 108: The Angry Primordial Eidolon

Gaia walked into Esper’s Inn wearing a hooded sweatshirt and modified her facial features to sneak past the patrons at the inn. Because Tyler was participating in the tournament, many were watching the live feed with everything muted. The Land of Summoned Monsters was curious about who started this forest and why. They wanted to know more about this mysterious forest and what was really causing such mysterious events. The biggest question lingering on their minds was what Eidolons would do such a thing?

Esper didn’t recognize her when she approached him demanding to know what room Tyler was in. He denied he was there, which she quietly scoffed and told him he was a fool. He finally recognized her hushed voice and felt like a moron.

"Lady Gaia, I am so very sorry for the inconvenience. Tyler is not here but one of his future wives is asleep in room 72. He told me not to let anyone bother her." Esper whispered while scanning the room to ensure no one was listening.

Despite speaking quietly, her stare made Esper anxious.

"If she’s there and he’s not, certainly there’s a portal."

He signaled for her to follow him while calling another employee to take his place at the desk. They walked to the room and he slowly unlocked the door. Amanda was still sleeping and a bright portal illuminated the room. Gaia smirked and quickly merged with the ground until she arrived at the portal, where she popped up and walked through the portal.

Amanda stayed peacefully sleeping as Esper quietly closed the door.

’Please forgive me Tyler...’ Esper thought as he walked back down the stairs to the entrance.

Kass and Nyx were still keeping watch when one of them thought they heard something.

"What was that?" Nyx said, turning quickly to look inside the rest of their temporary home.

Gaia had already merged with the terrain, hiding and waiting.

"Probably nothing Nyx. I’m worried about this timer! Sophie and Tyler aren’t back and what do we do with Amanda?!" She said anxiously.

"Relax, it’ll be fine. Tyler always comes through!" Nyx said cheerfully, hiding her nerves by keeping a calm demeanor.

’Where the heck are you two...’

*******

Tyler quickly linked with Ash and grabbed Sophie and Kass. Ritsu came out in her cloned form and picked up Nyx, who had just grabbed Amanda and ran through the portal Tyler closed. They watched the giant avalanche tear through the forest, crashing through trees. Tyler and his clone floated through the sky until it was finally calm enough to land. Thankfully, the forest didn’t move but they were now standing in a winter wonderland.

3 sets of fireworks went off.

#1 Armitage 1 - 6130

#2 Armitage 2 - 5300

#3 Ability 2 - 5000

#4 Armitage 3 - 4850

#5 Drakenmore 1 - 4830

#7 Ability 1 - 4720

11 teams Remaining.

"3 teams lost in the avalanche and great job you two! You got us back up to seventh place," Amanda sighed.

"Get in the cave!" Tyler screamed and he and the girls rushed into their hideout.

"Why have you been avoiding me Tyler?" A woman standing in the cave with an angry expression asked.

"That’s Gaia isn’t it? Shit! Why is she here, why is she so mad?" Tyler asked nervously.

"Probably because you never ended up visiting her like you said you would," Leviathan said casually.

"You’re on your own with this one. She’s not going to listen to me, never has, never will," Ash lightly laughed.

"I’m sorry Gaia—"

"I’m not here for an apology. I want to know why you avoided me and didn’t even bother coming to say hello." Gaia said, staring Tyler directly in the eyes.

She was the essence of beauty. Much like Ash, her skin was flawless and could easily pass for a human. Gaia could make herself appear in any form via any planet. She had dark green eyes to match her dark green hair, which ran wildly around her shoulders hovering halfway down her back. She stood tall but her feet appeared linked to the cave. Flowers and plants wrapped around her body, serving as clothing.

"Because I’m in this stupid tournament and I’m still pissed off about the way they went about it...I’m getting married in less than 3 weeks and became a Vampiric Prince. I have 7 familiars I’m responsible for. It’s nothing personal, I just simply didn’t want to meet you until I was ready to form a contract with you."

"How did you not wake me up?!" Amanda interjected.

"I knew I heard something!" Kass said, shaking her head.

Gaia quickly disappeared into the ground and appeared standing sideways out of the wall in a much shorter form.

"Well Tyler, are you going to keep making me wait?" She asked while rolling her eyes.

"Can I handle another contract without dropping dead?" He asked with a slight frown.

"Yes, but it’s going to hurt like hell." Ash said calmly.

"Why will it hurt?!" Tyler exclaimed.

The girls explained he was talking to his family. She was impressed how they were able to pick up on it so quickly. It took most people years to understand someone was having a telepathic conversation, but Tyler’s future wives could tell almost immediately without any form of telepathic user. She was also intrigued by the word family.

’Does he really few us that way? I know that’s what Mom and Dad said, but hearing it from his lovers...’

The snow continued to blow harshly against the cave.

"Why didn’t the forest move? It was just an avalanche. We’re still stuck far away from anyone, we need to move soon." Nyx said to the girls.

"Well, when Tyler’s ready, we can get going wherever. It’s not like you can’t just teleport inside the forest," Sophie shrugged.

"We lose our positioning and how are we going to bring everything? We have sleeping bags, pillows, potions, and food capsules. It’s not like we can just up and move quickly." Kass sighed.

"Just get it over with," Leviathan said with his deep, distinguished voice.

’System, make a contract with Gaia similar to Ash and allow her to come and go between the two realms whenever she’d like. Please add the clauses you made to the Leviathan contract where she must come and protect the women, my party and myself whenever we’re in danger.’

Gaia smirked as two golden pieces of parchment appeared. She scanned over it quickly and didn’t waste any time and signed. To her surprise, Tyler already had his portion completed. Kass cut his finger for him while she was reading her contract.

[Congratulations! You have signed a contract with the Mythological Eidolon: Gaia.]

Tyler felt an immense amount of pressure in his body and buckled to his knees, screaming in pain.

"Tyler!" The girls screamed while rushing toward him.

It was the same as always, Kass stood idly by, hating herself for not being able to help while Amanda used her buffs on Nyx and Sophie and the three of them used Qi infused healing magic on him.

[Ping! You have successfully reached rank SSS.]