The party was an event. It was the first time that the humans from Earth would meet with the Alliance in a formal setting that did not revolve around negotiations of surrendering. It was a chance for the people in the MAZE to show they were willing to consider the mistakes of the past just that. Mistakes. And still wished to continue with their inter-MAZE relations.
There were a lot of people coming in and out of the venue. A handful of support staff that was working to make sure the event would function properly. But in the end, the larger group of people were the guests. All happy to join the "festivities."
Insomniac was one of the first ones to arrive. And before he entered the venue, he said he wanted to give a brief statement to the reporters that waited just outside. His statement ended up being a bit more of a speech than anything else. But the gist was that he was thankful for the alliance having saved him and felt the guild had strayed from its path. And the last thing he said, even though it was a bit cliche, was the thing that resonated the most with those watching.
"At some point, we, explorers, forgot what it means to be this powerful, what it means to have these skills at our fingertips. We forgot the very reason why Cyrus created the guild. It was not to chase after fame or wealth. Our calling was something much more noble. Despite being called explorers, what we are supposed to be are guardians. Protectors of those who do not wish to explore the MAZE. We are supposed to be the ones who break the barriers, stopping our progress. The hunters who will stop for nothing to defeat any devil threaten our families. We are the army that will forever be protecting the lives of those who live in the MAZE. We are explorers and that title meant something. At least in the past. I believe that our duty now is to recover that meaning."
Hera had to admit that even she felt this was a very good speech. Especially since Insomniac was calling upon the accomplishments of all three human Heroes as a way to make people remember what was supposed to be their morals. The way he spoke also made the Empress realize that while she was aware of daemons, she never really saw a devil. And there was an actual reason for that.
While daemons were Spirits that became too influenced by humans, Devils were monsters that were either on the brinks of gaining sentience or had already gotten it. Monsters that became able to roam around the MAZE just like any person who lived in this place could. She was lucky enough to never had seen one of them. Even more, she had never heard anything about those creatures in recent memory.
No one likes the idea of dealing with a devil. As they were, in some aspects, even more dangerous than wendigos. But while that was true, the number of people who had claimed to be able to see one of them was extremely small. The last confirmed sighting of one of those creatures was during the devil hunts as Undine fought against them and killed a group of those creatures.
Still, she felt Insomniac's approach was a good call to action. Maybe it wouldn't result in anything, but maybe his words would resonate with a few people. And on some level, that was all Hera could hope for.
After Insomniac, a few other explorers arrived. Most of them who had been saved by Hera herself at some point during the war. She was a bit surprised about the number of people who she helped even when not considering everyone who was trapped in the lab. Almost all of them had kind words to say about the Empress. From simple phrases of gratitude to others with a deeper impact.
There were also a few people who she didn't expect to be joining the event. For instance Freya, Erik, Zestra, Sylvie, Nethe, Hornet, and Lysandra. The team that along with Hera was the first to discover what the humans were doing with the Soldiers of Strength. The Empress hadn't seen them ever since they were able to break people out of that facility.
The Ophidianite was really happy about seeing them, since she had no confirmation if they were alive after the war or not. There was a moment when she did ask around and Typhera said she was going to look into it, but there was never any actual reply.
And in all honesty, the Empress might have forgotten about that request a while ago. Still, it didn't change the fact that they were extremely important for the outcome of the war, and the Ophidianite couldn't thank them enough for everything they did. They also had some kind words to say about Hera, including how much she sacrificed to make sure that everybody was safe. They even made it clear that it was really hard to leave her behind in that dungeon. It didn't matter that it was something out of her control.
After that, more members of the alliance started to arrive. Including Nereus, the Triton Sovereign. Not long after, Rutigan and the dwarves from Boothudurn also made their appearance. And another 10 minutes later was Typhera's turn to enter the venue.
Hera was watching all that from a building on the opposite side of the street, where she had a full view of the entrance. She was there together with Bonnie, Alex, Helena, Milo, and Eridan, who would be entering together with the Empress. Or at least, they would be part of her group.
Another thing that Typhera asked the Empress to do was for her to summon her court once she arrived at the venue. Let everybody interact with them and know what it was like to deal with this particular aspirant hero. She didn't need to share everything about her legacy, but showing their presence would help display her powers.
There were already a handful of articles and other rumors circulating about what the Ophidianite Hero could do. Some were absolutely wild and inaccurate, while others were more or less approaching a correct assumption. Although the rumors were only stating that she was capable of producing powerful golems. They never reached the point of saying that Hera was able to, essentially, give life to weapons. The aspect of floating weapons was being chalked off as something unrelated to the legacy, at least for now. People were assuming that was just a well-practiced type of telekinetic control. Maybe with the addition of one or two powerful skills.
One of the rumors was stating that because of her Legacy which allowed her to create sentient golems, she could share the load with other beings. Letting them control the floating weapons and giving her some extra brain power to deal with everything else. It wasn't entirely inaccurate to say that, but it was also a gross misunderstanding of how the Court of Blades worked. And that's exactly what Typhera, and the council suggested. Let people understand Hera's abilities in the wrong way so she could still protect herself in case something were to happen.
Not that they were expecting this to work forever, but the longer they were able to stall people from knowing the specifics about her legacy, the better. Not just because of the possibility that people who were still radicalized by the guild existed, but out of fear for the curse of the aspirant hero. The council was still very much worried about their decision to give her that kind of title and they wanted to lessen the possibility of things going wrong as much as possible.
Hera was distracted with her thoughts once there was a knock on the door. One of the harpies that was acting as her assistant for the event stepped in.
"Hera? You have a visitor."
Hera let out a long sigh, "If it's another one of the photographers that Typhera sent, can you just tell them I'm not taking any more pictures? I don't care if your queen said I had to. I'm done with that."
"It's not one of them, but they are saying that they really need to speak with you."
"I don't care," Hera sighed. "I'm not talking with anyone else. Tell them if they want to hear my thoughts about anything, they're going to have to wait for the event like everybody else. Okay? If they insist, have them try to set up a meeting at a later date."
Hera sighed. This was getting really annoying. She understood that there was a lot of media coverage, and this was a unique situation. Everybody was interested in the emerging hero, especially since she revealed that she used to be human, but she couldn't take it anymore. They didn't leave her alone for a single second.
But after she spoke, a familiar voice came from behind the harpy.
"I guess she's too good for me now. When can I expect to be scheduled for a meeting?"
"Wait!" Hera and most of the group rushed to the entrance of this room, where they were getting ready for the event. On the other side of the door, just behind the harpy, was a woman with short blue hair, blue eyes, wearing a simple open back blue dress all the same color of her hair. She was muscular, but not overly bulky. Her right arm was a golden band connecting to the area where her arm had been removed.
"Blue!" Hera, Bonnie, Alex, and Helena gasped as they saw their friend ready to join the party.
"What are you doing here?" Hera gasped. The last time they spoke, the controller was still weary of going back to the MAZE. Both because she had lost her legacy and with that several attributes points but also due to the guilt of having to participate in the war on the guild side even if she knew they were in the wrong.
"I wasn't going to miss the first official appearance of my friend, who became a hero." Blue replied.
"Hero Aspirant. Even though people say I'm going to be a hero, I'm not officially one," Hera protested.
"Still cool. I wasn't going to miss it."
"And are you really okay coming into the MAZE?" Alex asked.
Blue nodded. "I am. Not going to say it's easy or that I am ready to jump into the MAZE once more but at least here to see my friends, that I can do."
"Do you think you'll ever be ready?" Hera asked. She missed traveling with her friend. They had many adventures together and now that she was about to explore Deakoshara, having Blue by her side would be really good.
"I don't know," Blue admitted. "I thought I would be doing better than I am right now." She was clenching the one fist she still had. "But today, I'm here for you. Whatever you need."
Blue smiled at the Empress. Instead, Hera shook her head and held on to the controller's hand.
"Blue, you really didn't have to. But I'm really happy you're here. Whatever you need, just let me know," she said.
Hera moved closer and gave her friend a big hug. Suddenly, Hera felt something brushing off the left side of her torso. It was soft, really soft, a little bit wet, but it almost felt like Blue was hugging her with two arms.
The Empress let go and saw that from the golden band on Blue's shoulder cover was an arm made out of clouds, moving just as naturally as a regular arm. Or at least that was the first impression. It didn't take long for the Empress to realize that it wasn't as natural and that it was still some stiffness to the movement. But was still an arm.
Blue had a big smile. "That was also one of the reasons I wanted to come here. What's the point of being able to do something awesome if you can't even show your friends?"
"What's that?" Alex asked.
"Wildborn called a friend of his that's an expert on Magic Prosthetics in a way. He's teaching me how to make something like this. I made it out of clouds because of… you know," Blue added, not mentioning the title she got when her legacy got stolen.
"And can you move it like a regular arm?"
"That's the goal, but right now I can't move all that well. It takes a lot of focus to do even smaller movements, but I've been practicing hugging people since I really wanted to do this." Blue patted Hera's shoulder with her cloud hand. "I know I still have other options, but for now, I think I'm going to stick with this one." The controller glanced at her cloud arm once more.
"Well, it's always an effort for you to use your entire brain, so at least the outside fits the inside now, Stumpy," Bonnie said with a blank stare.
Hera whipped her head around to the Astral Witch. Her eyes wide in shock. Unable to formulate a way to tell her to shut up while Blue just smiled.
"Damn girl, I missed you."
Bonnie smiled and said, "I missed you, too."
The two of them hugged while everybody else just kept staring, confused by the situation.
"Now can you please tell everybody what you asked me before they think I'm a horrible person," Bonnie asked, but Blue just shrugged.
"You are a horrible person, though. I don't know why I have to say anything."
"Blue," Bonnie rolled her eyes.
Blue chuckled again. "Please don't be mad at her. I was the one to ask her to this. Well, not to say that specifically, but to act normally. Tease me as much as you want, push my buttons, just be normal, you know? I don't want any of you to be treating me any different. Just like, don't ask me to carry big boxes anymore. That's just not gonna work."
They talked for a few more minutes, asking about Blue's new arm and how was life after the war until the same harpy that warned them about Blue's presence knocked on the door to tell them that it was time for them to leave. They were going to take a car on the opposite side of the building and go around it to have a proper entrance to the venue. It was time for the newest Aspirant Hero to be introduced to everyone.