Minx took a deep breath and followed her brother into the dome to see some of her closest friends. To say she was nervous was an understatement. She needed to fold back her wings to fit through the door. She could already see these things were going to be a huge adjustment.
Caser could sense her coming and met her just inside the doorway with concern in his eyes.
Minx heard Sil enter and close the door behind himself as she surveyed the faces in front of her that had a mixture of concern, amazement and shock on their faces. She put on a cheerful face.
"Surprise!" as she gave everyone a small wave.
Sil placed his hand at the small of her back to help her calm her nerves.
Addressing everyone, "as you all know, the sword I'm using was my mother's. When I took it to Alex to have a scabbard made, he said it was dangerous because of all the buttons on it. I found one in training where the end flew off to attack a target. Today, I found one which took my blood, analyzed it and then filled the sword with it."
"Sorry, but no one is going to be borrowing this weapon because it played a message for me when it did this. It evolved me into what I am now, a Fae. It also stated those who are not of her blood would be killed so…"
Minx looked to the girls, "apparently my plant ability is a species thing which means I turned you into a fae when I taught you three. I think for now it's best if I just train you three until I figure out what this even means."
The girls had a mixture of horrified, proud, and sort of pleased expressions.
"Are we going to get wings?" Dawn asked.
"That is something I cannot know yet. I need to find my mother's lab. That is part of what this mission was about. We'll get to that in a few minutes. I just wanted to discuss this new form, so everyone knows what happened out there. One thing I do know is I cannot touch "beast" anything. I had to have Sil remove my beast clothing because it caused intense pain."
"Isn't your sword a beast weapon?" Dufus asked.
"Not according to Alex. He's never seen this material nor this workmanship before."
The room was suddenly quiet as everyone realized just how little they knew about the Botan's background. Based on her personality, no one ever really cared but now they realized things could get interesting.
"Let's get to work on creating an access to the area below."
Sil copied Midas's ability and Dawn held the scanner. The team all took up defensive positions while Minx hovered at the tree line to observe the distance. The volume of earth being moved at the rate it was moving caused the ground to rumble.
Minx was concerned about subterranean beasts… sort of. She figured they would be able to handle them as a team but didn't want her husband and brother to be attacked while working.
At the same time, she didn't want beasts to feel the tremors and come across the desert as well. Monitoring both was integral to the safety of this operation.
Max, do you mind keeping an eye on the area they are digging into? They could attract the wrong attention.
Black smoke was seen and Max appeared. He headed straight to the opening the two men were creating.
Minx was scanning the horizon for any sign of movement.
"Hey, Butterfly!"
Minx heard from below. She looked down to see her beautiful husband below her. She knew others thought it strange to call a man beautiful, but she didn't care. He was to her.
"Yes, My Love?"
"Did you bring any of those energy bars?"
She nodded, "in my bag that Caser is carrying."
Sil practically skipped away to go find Caser. Minx got a bit concerned and decided to descend and find out what kind of plan her husband had.
She could see they created a small hill that had a shape like an outcropping. It had a hollow portion at the bottom so they could descend but it wasn't visible from above.
Special instruments would be able to identify there was something there, though. The terrain seemed obvious someone had built something.
Minx noticed Sil not far away raising bits of earth to create a more textured landscape with an energy bar hanging out of his mouth. She noticed Midas had one as well. She had to chuckle.
That was fast.
At the same time, she understood they were doing strenuous work at her request. She would make it up to them at dinner, for sure. Minx noticed sweat on Midas's brow as he appeared to be nearing completion.
He sank to his knees, "done."
Max reported there was movement then a roar echoed from below. The entrance Midas and Sil created was only big enough for a large human to go through, but Minx took that as an invitation.
Minx heard the subterranean roar and smiled. She turned to the team, "does anyone care to accompany me on an excursion?"
Minx looked to her apprentices, "best to sit this one out and stay up here. Allow the trees to guide you to keep you safe."
Minx turned toward the gaping entrance her brother just created. She put on her stage-2 armor since she was forced to wear stage one as clothing for the time being. Over her shoulder, "someone should wear my choker since I am no longer able to… Follow me if you choose."
Sil hastily ripped through his bag, pulled out the choker and tossed it to Rene. He raced to catch up to his wife who was walking slowing down. Max was guiding her and Caser quickly joined at her side as well. He had to make himself small to squeeze in because he was a bit late getting there. This meant his armor was left above. Everyone else followed.