Biohuman

Lee Seng let out a sigh of relief. The tendrils had sunk back into his body. He closed his eyes and slumped forward on the ground. He kept himself up with his hands as he took a moment to let the odd feeling pass.

'I got another shard… What does this mean?' Lee Seng asked himself. 'I got a shard when I killed the Broodmother shard inside of myself… and now that we've killed this Deimon, I got another one. Could they be linked somehow?' Footsteps wandered over to Lee Seng.

"Are you okay?" Liz asked Lee Seng. Lee Seng slowly nodded. He was trying to let the squirming inside his body fade away, but the squirming didn't want to.

"I'm fine… The tendrils… They're still moving." Lee Seng replied. "Just… give me a sec…" Lee Seng let out a couple more breaths and felt the tendrils quiet. He slowly stood up and turned to look at Keng and the others. They had gathered around Keng and were reading the note.

"So that guy was Lord Cain?" Keng asked, looking up at Lee Seng. A couple members looked up, intrigued by the man they had just seen. Lee Seng nodded. "He was the one who asked us to do this?"

"Yeah." Lee Seng nodded, again.

"All for this?" Ritsuka pointed at the paper. "It doesn't tell us where it is."

"Let me see it." Lee Seng stepped forward and reached out for it, but Keng lifted it up in the air. He looked at Lee Seng, signaling he hadn't finished talking yet. The entire group was looking at them at this point, curious as to why Keng wasn't giving Lee Seng the paper.

"What did you do earlier? You pulled something dark out of that Deimon. What was it?" Keng asked.

"Yeah, what was that all about?" Evan asked.

"Does that… happen all the time?" Liz asked. Lee Seng's eyes darted left and right. He bit his lip and shrugged.

"That's the first time it's happened to me." Lee Seng answered. "I don't know why that happened… Honestly, I got a Broodmother shard from the Deimon."

"Broodmother shard? Wait, I think we've skipped over an important part. What exactly is a Broodmother shard?" Manny asked.

"The day I went hunting with Ritsuka was the day that I got a Broodmother shard." Lee Seng sighed. "I turned into a cocoon and then broke out of it at night. Well… I killed the Broodmother… Well, I guess I absorbed her more like it…"

"You killed her?" Ritsuka asked.

"Yeah."

The group turned and looked at each other. Calis listened as he was the only one who hadn't experienced this.

"That woman…" Olivia whispered.

"She came out and protected him… She even gave us information, right?" Evan whispered, nodding along.

"Yeah, she did." Keng nodded.

"Does she remind you of someone you know?" Manny asked Lee Seng.

"Why?" Lee Seng asked to readjust himself. "Does she remind you of someone?" f𝘳𝚎𝐞we𝐛𝑛𝐨𝘃e𝘭.co𝘮

"Yeah… Someone we both know…" Manny nodded.

"My mom?"

Manny nodded. Lee Seng sighed and waved at Keng to give him the paper. Keng stepped forward and handed the paper to Lee Seng.

"Y-you aren't shocked by that? The uncanny resemblance she has to your mom?"

"Yeah, well I'm starting to have doubts about who my true parents are…" Lee Seng muttered.

"What?" Ritsuka asked. "What did you say?"

"I'm reading the note." Lee Seng lied. Keng slowly took another step back and watched Lee Seng.

'I could've sworn he said something about his parents.' Keng thought.

Go back to where your body was.

Deep inside the broken city, it lies – waiting for you with the people who stole it.

"Why did he give us a bad clue? I thought he was supposed to give us a good clue. Y'know, 'the cup is here.'" Ritsuka complained. Lee Seng sighed and flipped the paper. The crest of Lord Cain was on the paper. Lee Seng sighed and nodded.

"I know where it is." Lee Seng stuffed the paper in his pocket. He turned and scanned their surroundings. "You couldn't give me a portal to it?" Lee Seng's map opened on its own and zoomed out. A red dot appeared southwest to their position. It was over a hundred miles away. Lee Seng groaned and shouted, "AT LEAST GIVE ME SOMETHING HERE! WE HAVE TO WALK SO DAMN FAR! AH! I SHOULD'VE KNOWN YOU WOULD PULL THIS SHIT ON ME! AHHHH!" Lee Seng roared into the sky, grabbing his hair, and tugging on it.

Mercury fluttered out of Lee Seng's pocket and moved in front of him. A large portal made of mercury appeared. Lee Seng screamed and ripped the note out of his pocket. There was a new sentence scrawled on the back with Lord Cain's symbol. 𝘧𝔯e𝗲𝙬ℯ𝙗𝓷o𝘷e𝗹.𝐜𝑜𝒎

I knew you'd complain and curse at me, so I took the liberty to wait for your gracious curse.

Lee Seng threw the paper down and stomped on it. He shouted in fury and cursed. Manny and the others watched, surprised at Lee Seng's behavior.

"Does he… swear that much?" Liz whispered to Manny.

"Honestly… I haven't heard him swear like that in years." Manny answered.

"H-hey, Lee… D-did you figure something out? W-what's with the…" Keng gulped and pointed at the portal. "With that?" Lee Seng let out one more roar and then closed his mouth. He turned and looked at the group. Everyone but Ritsuka, Calis and Keng looked away.

"Get in the portal." Lee Seng motioned. He turned and stood by it, quietly complaining about Lord Cain's tricks. The group quietly shuffled in a line and stepped into the portal one by one. When it was just Keng left, Lee Seng turned to follow.

The rush of bubbles moved around Lee Seng. The odd feeling of cold death embraced him for a moment before letting him go. The sun beat down on Lee Seng as he stepped out of the portal. The portal closed behind him, leaving him and his group in a familiar place only Lee Seng knew.

Colors surrounded them. The sun was high in the sky with some clouds. It was hot and the group was taking in the sights.

"Where are we?" Keng asked. Lee Seng trudged past Keng and drew everyone's attention. He turned and faced most of the group and then looked behind him.

"Are we… not in Limbo anymore?" Calis asked.

"We're on Earth." Lee Seng sighed.

"Wait! Earth?!?" Evan asked loudly. People quickly began to shush him for fear of being caught. Lee Seng flicked his map and nodded.

"Yup, definitely on Earth." Lee Seng swiped his map away. It drew to the corner of his vision like a mini map in a game. "Listen up. I'm only going to say this once." The group quieted down. Lee Seng turned and pointed at the city behind him. "We have to go in there. The Cup was brought into Limbo for some reason, and it showed up here. Why? I dunno, but the clue is telling me it's in there."

"Are you sure? That clue was cryptic and not helpful." Olivia spoke up. Lee Seng nodded.

"This is where I got my body back. I'm sure it's in here."

"And if it isn't?" Manny asked.

"Stop being a debbie downer!" Liz slapped Manny. Manny screeched in pain as he turned and rubbed his arm.

"Why'd you do that for? You could've just been nice about it!"

"Nice?" Liz slapped Manny, again. "This is me being nice to you!" Liz barraged Manny with slaps and the group watched, unfazed. Lee Seng clapped his hands together and drew the group's attention back onto him.

"I don't know what became of the people that were in here, but we should be careful. If I remember correctly, this is Deimon territory."

Team Zephyr grew quiet and gave each other all similar looks. Keng began to say something when Calis stepped up and stuck his hand up. Lee Seng motioned at him, and Calis cleared his throat.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to go in there, then?" Calis asked. "If you got the clue right, wouldn't that mean there's Deimons waiting for us in there?"

"We handled a Summoner, so we can handle whatever's in there."

"W-we were just lucky it didn't have anymore strong summons. If the Deimon did then—" Olivia piped up.

"Our job right now isn't about what-if's." Manny interjected. He turned to look at Olivia and the others. "Our job is to secure the Cup. We dealt with the Deimon because we had to get to this point. We should be prepared for any Deimons that might show up. Regardless, our job now is to find the cup and to get it and bring it to the Merfolk before it's too late, alright?"

"Yes." The group answered. Manny turned to Lee Seng.

"Since you know this place better than any of us, you'll take the lead. Lead us to where the Cup is."

"I'll do my best. I'm pretty sure there's craters from last time I was here… but is there anything we should look out for or listen out for with the Cup, Merfolk Leader Calis?" Lee Seng asked.

"The cup sings when you're near it. Liquid pours from the cup so… If we're on dry land, wherever it's flooded is probably where that cup is." Calis answered.