Planet Alfheim
Capital city Illerius
3rd day of the fallen leaves
Central training grounds Terrain : Forest

Tsarra Olaneiros, daughter of Rynlar Olaneiros, ambassador for the Illerius crown and one the richest and more enterprising merchants of the realm, at one hundred and fifty-five years old, was blooming into a beautiful elven woman. However, as of late the young and promising maiden had changed her occupation from Light Mage to Ranger of the Moonbow order, a class of warriors using magic, bow and blades, reputed to be the wardens of the forest and the intelligence arm of the Illerius Kingdom.

She had chosen this change of career to support her friend Elissa and the future team she was planning to create on Midgard. Tsarra was inspired in taking a martial path by watching a work of fiction showing an elven ranger who was terribly effective against his foe. The elf maiden was putting a lot of extra work in these last months.

At the moment, she was in a training exercise that her trainer had been putting her through, right now he was testing Tsarra to see if all the stealth lessons he gave her had stuck. Tsarra stayed silent as the men under the tree she hid in passed, oblivious to her presence.

“Where is she?” The first soldier in golden armor asked as he looked around him.

The male elf addressed his colleagues, they were looking for the female prisoner who had escaped them and had shown them that she was more than competent to have eluded them for the past two days. Tsarra smiled at that as she looked under her, she slowly unsheathed her dagger, it would be bad if she was detected before she could kill those two.

She began to silently cast a cloaking and muffling spell, jumped onto one of the golden armored men and slit his throat. Tsarra wondered why they didn’t protect their necks, it was making her job too easy.

The man had the time to turn as he said, “Not here obviously, where do- Nevrius?” He looked at where his colleague was and found his prone form, Tsarra, having gotten the time to get into position behind him, stabbed him in the neck, successfully destroying his vocal cords and cutting an important artery.

Grrgll. The elven man was on his knees holding on his effusingly bleeding neck, trying to breath.

“Mission complete.” A deep voice suddenly interrupted the simulation.

Tsarra slumped onto the ground as the environment around her changed and the bodies at her side disappeared into motes of light, only leaving the trees, grass, bushes and animals skittering away from her.

“Perfect, it only took you one try, Lady Olaneiros.” A tall elf in green leather armor slowly walked out of the shade of the trees Tsarra faced.

He was her instructor and the man who had gifted her with the knowledge crystal that sped up her learning curves to become a ranger. A sun elf, Soren Swiftwind, Lord Commander of the Moonbow Order. He looked rather smug, as if he had expected her to produce such a result.

Tsarra wanted to smile but instead stood up, sheathed her dagger and put herself at attention. “It wasn’t easy, Master. I had to first escape, then avoid detection and take out the enemy agents one by one.”

The man nodded slowly and put his hands on his hips staring in appreciation at Tsarra who became a tad nervous. But her superior put her at ease instantly by saying, “I am impressed, a lot of trainees can’t seize the meaning of this graduation mission and fight their way out.”

Tsarra sighed heavily and said with an embarrassed tone, “Brute force isn’t my favorite thing… I have a friend who would have gone for it and I imagined her in my situation and did the opposite.”

Soren raised an eyebrow. “Your friend seems… special.”

He wouldn’t have let such a person in a delicate operation, this kind of individual was better for the army. Rangers were a sharp scalpel trained for scouting, sabotage and sometimes assassination. They were also part of the intelligence arm of the Illerius Kingdom.

“She would have razed the camps I was imprisoned in.” Her tone was flat as she revealed this tidbit.

Soren was surprised that Tsarra knew someone that powerful. “I… see.”

He coughed to hide his surprise and walked up to the elf maiden and placed a hand on one of her shoulders, his face showing a proud smile. “I am happy to declare that you passed and are now part of the Order’s reserve.”

With careful reserve, Tsarra grinned in happiness. She wanted to laugh and dance but instead she simply said with a nod, “I am honored, Master.”

Soren’s expression became more serious. “Call me Lord Commander, the debt I owed your father is now fulfilled.”

Tsarra slightly bowed. “As you wish, Lord Commander.”

He threw a box to Tsarra who caught and opened it; inside was a dark green badge in the form of a buckler with a stylized Oak tree in silver metal.

“Your badge of office, it gives you some judicial powers and privileges such as free board, food and drinks in all the inns and hostels of the realm.” Soren then took a book from his storage space and gave it to Tsarra.

The elf maiden took the book, there was no title on the cover. 

The Lord Commander began to explain what it was. “The rules and laws of the land, as well as the duty of the Rangers of the Moonbow Order. Study them well, Ensign.”

“Thank you.” Tsarra placed the book in her spatial ring, and pinned the badge onto the collar of her leather armor, then put herself at attention.

The Lord Commander saluted her and with a commanding voice said, “Dismissed.”

Tsarra placed a fist on her heart and slowly faded from view.

“Talented elf.” The Lord Commander nodded with a satisfied smile etched on his face.

 

---

 

Olaneiros Estate
Afternoon

 

Rynlar Olaneiros was a calm and patient man, he had a talented daughter and beautiful estate, a good reputation as a successful merchant and ambassador; the only thing that he missed was his wife, Sorial, who had to leave because of politics, she had made him promise to protect their daughter and make her happy.

Finding a good match for her had become rather difficult, no one was worthy of her hand in Rynlar’s eyes. Not even the fifth prince of the Illusius Kingdom, who was now sitting before him, offering to take his daughter as a seventh wife.

The prince had blue black hair, pale golden skin, a long face, strong nose and tasteful facial features. He wore a white tunic with golden filigree and trims in a tree-like pattern. Thinly muscled like a martial artist, he inspired an air of competence and arrogance. To Rynlar, he was more like a snake who had decided to make his life more difficult. 

Rynlar leaned forward, “We are honored… of the engagement offer, your highness. But I cannot accept such a match.” His tone halting and hesitant.

The merchant had no intention in slighting the fifth Prince but he had to be aware that his situation was not stellar at all, no one respected him either for his act of collecting women; something anathema in their society. The women were destined to not find their destined mate because of Prince Lucidius’ selfishness. Rynlar would die before he let anyone do such to his little girl.

The prince stared at the merchant with cold blue eyes, his expression neutral and asked, “Are you sure of this choice?”

Rynlar got up, and nervously turned his back to the prince and looked outside the window behind him, he put his hand behind his back. “I promised my wife that I would take care of my daughter and make her happy.” He turned back to the prince and said bluntly, “I will be frank, your highness, you have a terrible reputation as a womanizer and your utter lack of responsibility and behavior toward your current wives would make anyone in the kingdom leery of handing you their daughter.”

The merchant waited for the prince to erupt in condemnation and rage, but this was not what happened, he saw a glint of anger in the elf’s eyes as he began to clap. “Finally someone with a spine that can tell me to my face what they feel about me!”

Rolling his eyes, Rynlar couldn’t believe the prince was not giving up and returned to his seat; the prince continued to speak as his eyes fell on the merchant.

“You are truly the father of the beautiful Tsarra.  When I saw her when she started training as a ranger and saw how powerful and talented she was, I decided that she would be mine, but she has been politely refusing all of my attention. I guess that my initial approach had been too forceful and abrupt. Nevertheless, I decided to approach you in good faith so that we could smooth out our diff-”

Raising his hands, Rynlar said with exasperation. “We are not interested, your highness. Thank you, for coming this far to our distant residence.”

Lucidius knew a dismissal when he heard one, his father was used to handing them out to him when he did something that tarnished the name of the crown.

“I am afraid that I have to… insist.” Lucidius leaned down in his chair.

Rynlar was afraid of such a scenario and was about to reach for the security wards of his mansion and began to answer. “You cannot force me-”

The prince smiled and snapped his fingers loudly, and the windows behind Rynlar exploded as three elves in black armor passed through them, pulled diverse weapons and pointed them at Rynlar who stopped moving and showed a surprised expression.

“Are you still going to be difficult?” Prince Lucidius asked smugly.

Wanting to punch his face in, the merchant hissed between his teeth, “You may break me or kill me, but I will never let you have Tsarra.”

The hatred in the sun elf’s green eyes was almost palpable, it wasn’t the first time that Rynlar had been threatened; however, someone from the crown was threatening his daughter, he couldn’t do anything. Not even retaliating, he wasn’t even given the time to focus to touch the wards and evict the prince and his cronies.

Sigh. “Normally they break at this little show of force.”

Rynlar reached for something on his desk but received a pommel strike on his temple for trying to resist. He slumped unconscious on his desk, the prince stood up and checked to see if the man was still alive by taking his pulse.

“Still alive, great. Take him to the palace; I will leave a note to my beloved.”

The three elves adorned in black armor took Rynlar and left through the door of his study; Lucidius took an unmarked letter from the inner pocket of his tunic and put it on the desk in full view. Of course, it would signal its presence. Lucidius smiled and then left almost skipping, confident that he would be able to succeed in his plan with the talented Tsarra.

 

---

 

30 minutes later…

 

Tsarra was lamenting the fact that she still couldn’t leave Alfheim, the service of immigration refused to let her leave; she had hoped that with her Order badge she could bypass whatever reason the officials had to keep her on the planet. The sun elf looked lost as she walked away from the public transport platform that brought her to her residence.

The familiar gardens and neighboring tree houses of her childhood welcomed her. As she looked around her she saw people looking at her house and pointing fingers. 

“I saw those black armored people climb the house and break the window I tell you!” It was a green haired sun elf wearing a forest green robe who explained that to the male elf at her side.

“Are you sure?” The elf who wore white tunic and pants asked with a skeptical expression.

“Yeah, it’s…” The woman was about to say when she noticed Tsarra behind them.

Tsarra frowned as she noticed the broken windows on the second floor of her tree house. “Excuse me, gentle elves.”

The green robed woman swiftly walked up to the ranger. “Lady Olaneiros, it’s you!”

Tsarra felt that something was wrong as she saw the panic showing on the woman’s face. The white clothed man followed her and the woman said, “You should go home, I think something untoward may have happened to your Patriarch.”

Pushing her in the entrance of her own garden, Tsarra didn’t know how to react to the nervous sun elf and dragged her feet. “What-”

“Quickly, My Lady!” The woman pressed.

As she entered the premise of her house, Tsarra connected to the wards and felt through them that there was no one here. Tsarra walked up to the tree-entrance that opened it’s reinforced liana curtain by dividing that mimicked an oaken door. The wards, recognizing a resident, fed information to the sun elf maiden. She felt that her house felt dark and empty, compared to the homey feeling that it once gave, something she hadn’t felt since her mother left reluctantly with her relatives.

Everything was in place, and the lights were on inside the house each time she arrived in a new room. Tsarra looked for her father but he wasn’t on the ground floor, she took the stairs and hoped to see him in the living room with all the moving paintings of her paternal ancestors. He wasn’t at his usual place on the sofa reading a book. Tsarra frowned and walked to the second floor, heavy footsteps resonating as she went up the stairs.

“Father! Are you here?”

No one answered her, she directly went to her father’s study and when she opened the door Tsarra saw the broken windows and the mess on the lacquered wooden paneling on the floor. She moved toward the desk and saw that the chair was out of place. Tsarra walked around and saw different boot prints on the papers that had fallen on the ground.

Crouching she used her fledgling tracking ability to guess that there were three people who arrived through the windows by noticing the different sizes of the prints. She sniffed the air and smelled blood and stood up to see a drop of blood on the desk. Tsarra’s worry and mood soured, turning to anger. Finally noticing the unmarked white envelope.

Tsarra traced a glowing elven rune for detection of curses or poisons; the envelope glowed silver, showing that it was safe. The elf maiden picked it up and used the letter opener on the desk to get at the letter inside. She took her time to see that the paper used for it was of the highest quality and that the smell emanating from it was familiar and her mood sank.

 

Dearest Tsarra,

I never knew how joyous life could be until I saw your face.

My heart leaps like a hummingbird in flight every time I see you.

This is something I have never felt before, and it is you that inspires it.

When I think about you and our rich conversations, I feel a warmness inside.

I cannot hide my smiles, even when we are apart.

This connection is special, amazing, and I dare say, destiny.

Many have asked what happened to create this new and better me.

I tell them, without hesitation, it is you.

Sometimes I feel like my heart will burst with all the longing and excitement I feel when I think of you.

Looking forward to our next date, beautiful.

May each be better than the last if that is even possible.

Sincerely,

You-Know-Who

P.S : I got your Patriarch, you are formally invited to my residence to discuss the terms for his return.

 

Tsarra felt rage, she should have been more brutal when she met that waste of space. Now? Now she was going to kill him without mercy. No. She would do worse. She would rip and tear everything this elf held dear, until everything was done.

The elf maiden had never thought that meeting the fifth prince would lead to this, she had been warned about his proclivities of trying to have his own harem and his wish of attaining the throne. She had met him when she had combat training and took out one of his men, a so-called veteran dual wielding swordsman.

Since then Lucidius had been hounding Tsarra for a month, accosting her after she finished training or in her self study time. Lord Commander Soren’s presence had somewhat mitigated it and protected her. The man had six wives already, all from prestigious and connected families. Tsarra wasn’t interested and every girl in the city knew the score.

Tsarra had weapons and training, but what could she do against the royal guards loyal to Lucidius? The kind of operation she would need to retrieve her father demanded a lot of bodies and intelligence. She toyed with the idea of asking Lord Commander Soren for help, but she shook her head and…

Now she understood something, why she couldn't leave Alfheim! *The snake!*

Tsarra crumpled the offending letter in her hands, she wanted to burn it with her elemental fire but resisted the impulse. After all, this letter was evidence. The redhead turned heel, walked up to the door, exited the study and turned left, not stopping until she reached an armored metal door where she took off her glove and slapped her hand against the metal.

Soft light circled her hand and for ten seconds it seemed to scan it, the glow faded and she removed her hand. The door opened with a ‘clack’ and the redhead passed through. The darkness in the room slowly dissipated as mana crystal lights came on, showing racks of weapons and mannequins covered in different types of armor.

Light, medium, heavy armor made of different materials such as cloth, leather and exotic metals. It was the armory of the Olaneiros family, special products coming from every world Rynlar had business with. Tsarra didn’t bother with any of those displayed and went directly into the vault, doing the same kind of check to open the door at the end of the armory.

Once it opened, the white walls lit with a glimmering light, and mounted on piece holders were different types of weapons, at the center of the vault was a blue and silver armor.

“I never thought that I would have to use you.”

The armor before her was a light armor, reminding her of what the elite moonbow rangers wore, but with more enchantments and tasteful design. Tsarra took off her training armor, showing the green tunic she had underneath it. She then began to don the armor that her mother had left in the care of her father, putting on the cuirass, pauldrons, rerebraces and vambraces, the tassets, greaves and boots.

“Now for the weapons, ah! Here’s the family bow.” It was another one of Tsarra’s treasures left by her mother.

Taking the bow in hand, the redhead inspected it, it was a dull grey color and made of wood of a world tree; it was as solid as metal and each part was crafted with details. The bow was enchanted to shoot an arrow of mana that could ignore armor and magical defenses, however, using it too often emptied the user’s mana core.

“I need two swords and a dagger.” Tsarra looked on the side and saw two swords with silver pommels in the effigie of a wolf, there was a sword belt available for them with sheaths. Tsarra unsheathed one and was surprised to discover Oricalchum blades, she smiled evilly and placed the sword belt with the two weapons at her waist.

She then took a random dagger that she placed on the belt with its sheath. Tsarra took advantage of the time to stock up on utility items, the enormity of what she was about to do dawned on her and she realized that she may not be welcome on Alfheim if she survived. After filling up her spatial ring, Tsarra went to take another spatial storage unit in the form of a necklace and took everything in her bedroom and her father’s; as well as all the money in the vault. 

The redheaded elf just looted everything in her home, as she was about to leave the ward signalled her that multiple people were waiting for her at the door. She unsheathed one of her swords and went down the stairs. Once she was at the door, Tsarra used the security to enable the intent wards to discover if the people at her door were hostile. The wards stayed silent, so she slowly walked to the door and opened it.

The door gave way and a group of three dwarves armed to the teeth, two sun elves and a woman in white robes with multicolored hair. Tsarra scowled at them until she looked more closely at the tall sun elf woman with platinum blonde hair, those emerald green eyes and face reminded her of…

“Elissa?!” Tsarra exclaimed, mouth gaping.

The elf smiled at the redhead. “Heya Tsarra! I see that you are armed for Trolls.”

 

---

 

3 hours earlier…
Planet Alfheim
Portal station 3
Afternoon 

Brunhilda was the first to exit the spatial tear and quickly got out of the way for the twins to arrive behind her. The three dwarven women placed themselves into a guarding position around the portal. Weapons in hand, then Spectra the dragoness arrived and put herself out of the way and waited for the Storm Queen and Princess Cassandra to arrive.

“Aaaaah!” Brunhilda heard the scream coming from the portal.

Cassandra arrived and stumbled, Spectra caught her in time to stop her from falling down. “Oopsie.” The young girl looked embarrassed. Syndanelyn and Nabideth giggled at the young child.

Elissa calmly walked out of the white and blue maelstrom and looked around the white marbled room. Activating her enhanced mage sight, she looked at the plethora of security and intelligence wards in the room.

“Spectra, have you ever been to Alfheim before?” Elissa addressed the dragoness.

All eyes focused on the dragoness who spluttered and finally found her voice, “Yes, though it’s been thirty years.”

Elissa snorted at that. “Please lead the way, nothing would have changed. You know how elves got a funky sense of time.”

Princess Brunhilda finally knew that Elissa wasn’t originally a sun elf, but a human sub species as she told her about her original planet. Long lived and magically attuned humanity with formidable powers. It wasn’t something that she could tell to her mother who had put her in place to give information to the dwarven kingdom.

However, Brunhilda knew how Elissa rewarded treachery and was not about to spill her personal secrets to her mother. Nabideth opened the portal room’s door and saw the immigration agent waiting for them. “M’Lady, there are people waiting for us outside.”

Sighing heavily, Elissa addressed her party. “Let’s sort out our presence here and then we will go look for Tsarra.”

“I hope it’s not going to take too much time…” Cassandra mumbled loudly enough for everyone to hear her.

They opened the door that showed a female elf in blue robes, brown hair and purple eyes; in her hands was some kind of tablet with a stylus. Around the woman was something akin to an airport with people leaving similar rooms Elissa’s party exited. Brunhilda looked at the roof that was just one big crystal skylight, magical holograms showing ads were present; the dwarf princess didn’t like that.

“Welcome to Alfheim travelers!” The blue robed elf said to Elissa who walked up before her.

The home agent slightly bowed, straightened herself and swept her free arm to the rest of the station. Smiling, she began to say, “You are in the Portal Station of Illusius, the capital city of the Illerius kingdom. What brings you to our world? Holiday? Business?”

“Business.” Elissa announced.

Cassandra tugged on the left long sleeve of her sister’s outfit. “Sister you promised to buy me those scones your friend can make.”

Elissa turned her head to Cassandra who stared at her with pleading eyes of course, Brunhilda saw what it was: an attempt to manipulate Elissa. Attempt that succeeded.

“Yes, Cass I will make her prepare ten boxes for you.” Elissa patted her sister’s head.

The young girl smiled beatifically at her, it melted the heart of most people gathered, the home agent was one of those.

“Would you follow me to the nearest registration office, please?” The home agent politely asked.

Brunhilda nodded and was the first to follow, Elissa took Cassandra’s hand, and the rest of her party tailed the dwarf princess. Zipping around the throng of people, merchants and tourists, everyone arrived at a shielded counter where another female elf was registering someone, handing out temporary visas. When she was done with the people before Elissa’s party, she received them with a fake smile on her face.

“Welcome to Alfheim, I am Deneb and I will register your visas. Let’s start with the obvious sun elves.”

Brunhilda scowled at the obvious racial supremacist. The agent placed two grey tablet screens on the counter and said, “Please place your hands on those tablet screens, they will scan your physiology. At the same time please state your names and ages.”

Brunhilda looked worriedly at Cassandra and Elissa, knowing that those two often didn’t have the same common sense as everyone else. She had noticed when the Storm Queen had brought back her sibling, privately she devolved into a child or spoiled the little lass. The two girls looked at each other, smiled and placed their hands on the screens at the same time.

“Shaera Snow. Age 160 cycles.”

“Megara Snow. 90 cycles.”

The screens shone with lights that seemed to scan the girls’ hands, on the main screen of the Ordi-tek the emigration agent was following the scan that filled up with information to build the temporary passports. The names and age filled up, though there was a glitch when the race placeholders on the screen filled up for a moment and finally wrote: High-Elf.

The elven woman looked at the two siblings before her and became scared. Brunhilda didn’t understand why the woman acted this way, Spectra smelled the fear and snorted at the elf.

“Hum, is the procedure complete?” Elissa asked.

“I’m hungry.” Cassandra said in a whining tone.

The emigration agent concluded the operation swiftly by doing manipulation on the Ordi-tek screen. Not wanting to anger those two dangerous beings. “Yes, yes! It’s done, please the dwarves next!”

Elissa took her hand back, and took something from her spatial ring; she took a packet of… cookies and handed it to the young girl. Brunhilda shook her head, Elissa was too giving with her sister. Her father was the same with her youngest sister and turning her into a useless member of society. While he failed with her, King Etrin succeeded in making her sister useless.

Brunhilda snorted at that, and walked up to the counter and looked at the agent. “Finally, in me Kingdom it woul’ be done awhile ago.” The warrior princess scowled at the emigration agent.

“Eh, yah. We kinna spit on tha efficiency of our countrydwarves, they’re faster!” Nabideth acquiesced to her Princess’ complaint.

“Let’s do it!” Sindanelyn jumped up and followed her sister.

The agent presented three screens, and the dwarven women automatically placed their hands on them, calling out their fake names and age.

“Hilda Doomslayer. 32 cycles.”

“Nabi Gemcaller. 31 cycles.”

“Nelyn Gemcaller. 31 cycles.”

The emigration agent’s shoulders showed her relief when she saw that those dwarves were normal ones on her screen. However, she couldn’t permit herself to become dismissive of them like those she had serviced previously. After all, they were the escorts of two dangerous High-Elves. *I hope HQ caught that, they need to be monitored.*

Brunhilda guessed what the elf was thinking, she couldn’t wait to see her reaction when it would be Spectra’s turn. The dragoness walked up to the counter silently, the agent didn’t even bother to replace the screens.

“Spectra Gadhissdotter. 310 Cycles.” The dragoness said matter of factly. 

Elissa facepalmed, Cassandra giggled and Brunhilda snorted at the dragoness who didn’t want to bother in giving a false name.

*Dragons and their Holaf damned pride…* Brunhilda almost spat on the ground.

The emigration agent began to tremble. Taking her hand back, the dragoness smiled at Elissa and the rest of the group as if she won something. Not understanding that they wanted to pass under the radar here.

“Now would you hurry up?” Spectra scowled.

*A true dragon, what is a true dragon doing here on Alfheim?* The female agent asked herself.

To the elven woman there was no way that HQ didn’t know about the results of her recent scans, she bit down on her fear and began to prepare the visas. Taking her time, after consolidating each of the passports with the hidden warning for the guards to observe and not antagonize them, the woman handed out the seven passports.

“Thanks for waiting, I wish you an excellent... stay in Illusius.” It was all she could do to not let the throbble in her voice show.

 

---

 

Cassandra put a hand into the packet of cookies and took out the last one and popped it in her mouth. The simple stone road connecting the portal station to the commercial district of Illusius was surrounded by shaded stands where merchants stood and cried out for attention to their products and wares; Elissa began asking the merchants questions about where they could find the Olaneiros estate. At the same time, her party and herself were buying things like weapons, precious clothes, the Ordi-tek available to the public and magical supplies.

It continued for an hour until Cassandra found someone who knew Rynlar Olaneiros personally and was a business partner of his. “The Olaneiros live in the outskirts of the city, near the shadow wood in the north.” An elven weaponsmith informed Elissa.

He looked old with a long white beard, but no wrinkles on his face; his torso was naked, showing a well defined build. On his lower body he had on brown leather pants and boots from some kind of lizard monster.

Elissa slightly bowed her head. “Thank you, Master Lionne.”

The man thinly smiled. “Your welcome my Lady, can I interest you in those special one-handed axes? They come from one of the best smithies on Asgard, they resist magic and are able to pierce most magical shields or arrays.” He gently uncovered an axe reminding Cassandra of a Tomahawk, the head was black, absorbing light, it was decorated with silver feathers, the handle was wrapped in exotic leather.

The redhead saw Elissa’s eyes shine with interest.

“How much?” The platinum blonde asked.

Lionne showed a predatory smile, feeling that he finally reeled in a client, he had been trying to sell those overpriced axes for a while. He had a good feeling about this gentle Lady. She was clearly a warrior, her muscle definition showed that. “Each cost 10 000 gold, they are made of an Alloy called Uru.”

Lionne waited for the flinch at the price that some of the people who had been interested in the same weapon had done. There were none, just a beautiful quirk of her lips from the platinum haired Lady. “Can I hold one?”

The weaponsmith’s instinct didn’t fail him, this was a young woman of means. “Of course, my Lady.”

The old elf took the weapon in his two hands and solemnly handed it to Elissa.

Elissa proceeded to take the Tomahawk by its handle, the merchant was surprised that she could even lift it. His surprise turned into shock when she proceeded to make it twirl as if it was a cheer baton. For about thirty seconds, the strength with which Cassandra’s sister wielded the axe produced enough wind to make the weaponsmith and the surrounding passerbys step back from her.

She finally stopped, smiled and looked at Lionne, “I will take two, do you prefer platinum or gold coins?”

Lionne didn’t expect her to be this rich though. He asked himself from which family she was descended to be able to have that much liquidity on her person; but after the display of martial prowess she showed, the weaponsmith wasn’t worried that she could be stolen from. Uru was terribly weighty and she had wielded that axe as if it was a stick.

“Two platinum coins are the equivalent of ten thousand gold each.” Lionne showed two fingers.

“I am satisfied by the quality of this product, Master Lionne.” Elissa took two platinum coins from her spatial ring between her finger and placed them on the stand for the merchant to see.

It took one minute for Lionne to put two axes into a laquered box and hand it to Elissa. Cassandra smiled at her sister who was really happy, she kept adding weapons to her arsenal; the young girl didn’t want to see how cluttered her spatial ring was.

“Thank you for your patronage my Lady, please come back again.” Lionne bowed, sure that this elf wasn’t a common one and certainly with a powerful family backing her.

Elissa looked at him for an instant and then added, “We will see.”

She turned her back to the stand and walked past other merchants who had seen her hand the equivalent of one year of salary for a city administrator. They were of course ignored.

“Show off.” Cassandra heard Brunhilda mumble.

Syndanelyn and Nabideth giggled at their Princess’ antics. Meanwhile, Cassandra and Spectra followed the group. However something else attracted Elissa’s eyes in the armorer’s shop they just passed. It was a stone building with a magical hologram sign called “Old man’s shop” showing an elf with tasteful heavy armor.

“I will be right back, wait for me.” Elissa said before entering the store.

Cassandra was about to follow her when Spectra caught her by the scruff of her neck and reeled her in.

“Hey!” Cassandra cried with despondent eyes at Spectra.

The dragoness sullenly gazed at the tiny redhead. “The Queen told you to stay here.”

Snort. “Since when do you obey big sis, Spectra?” Cassandra put her tiny fists on her hips and looked at the rainbow dragoness who ignored her ire with disdain.

“Since she can kick a true dragoness’ ass.” Nabideth commented with a smile.

“Yeah, dat.” Her twin sister laughed.

Spectra bristled at their laugh, she didn’t like being mocked. She sneered at the dwarves. “I will have my revenge later.”

Brunhilda shook her head. “Right with the way Elissa is going she’s going to be able to take on your mom in some years.”

The dragoness was suddenly before the dwarf Princess looking down at her with anger in her vivid eyes. “Preposterous! Dwarf, my mother is too powerful to be defeated by a whelp! She can shatter mountains with a fist, destroy countries!”

Cassandra was aware that Pompeii was the result of Gadhiss’ anger toward that country in ancient times, so she believed Spectra’s assertions. However, that was child’s play compared to what she learned from the Sanctum now that she knew that Elissa wasn’t her sister by blood. She was scared by the implications about what would make something like the Phantasian Empire fall.

Cassandra poked the rainbow dragoness on the arm. “Huh, Spectra. Elissa’s real mom, Daphne. She can do that too!”

Phantasia’s empresses were always the strongest individuals of the Snow Phantasia family; their power level steadily growing each generation. Until Elissa was born.

“What?” The dragoness was shocked by what the young girl just said; having just popped the bubble of pride the rainbow dragoness had surrounded herself with, Cassandra continued to speak.

“The Snow Phantasia bloodline is full of people able to destroy worlds. Why do you think the elves lost their homeworld and live scattered on different ones since five thousand years ago? My people did that to them.” Cassandra said as she turned toward the entrance of the armorer’s store, hearing familiar footsteps.

She didn’t concern herself with the reaction her words caused, the dragoness and dwarves were pretty shocked.

Brunhilda, wanting clarifications, attempted to address the young redhead. “Huh, wait… do you mean?”

But it wasn’t to be.

“Hey, I am back!” Elissa said as she came back with a happy smirk etched on her face.

Cassandra ran into the embrace of her sister who caught her. “Eli, what did you buy?”

With a winning smile, her sister showed her two fingers and said, “Two armors, made of true dragon scales.”

Spectra growled, making the passersby stop moving for a moment. “What?! Who dares?”

Rainbow light surrounded her, but before she could get her dragon fear ability out Elissa speared her with her gaze and said, “Relax Spectra. No Dragon was killed for their scales, it seems the Dragon responsible for Alfheim sells his sheddings for gold and diamonds. It cost a pretty penny though…”

Spectra stomped behind the dwarves who snickered at her overreaction. Elissa took out a snack in the form of a biscuit, ate half of it and gave the other to Cassandra. Brunhilda knew the spendthrift habit, it happened in the Iron Fang settlement and she single handedly boosted the economy with the way she bought everything that was mildly interesting.

They didn’t have time for that, they needed to look for her friend Tsarra.

“How much did you spend this time?” Brunhilda asked with a mid scowl on her face, fearing the answer.

Elissa cocked her head, finishing to chew, she then answered, “Each armor cost me 100 000 gold, so twenty platinum coins.”

The dwarf twins fainted, Cassandra looked at her sister with horror and the dragoness was mildly interested. The passerby looked at Elissa as if she were crazy, having heard her.

Brunhilda’s fury rose at this declaration. “That’s it! No more shopping, let’s go find your friend or else you are going to bankrupt yourself!”

“I was done anyway.” Elissa shrugged.

The dwarf princess walked up to the insensitive Storm Queen, caught her arm and pulled her out of the commercial district to the nearest transport for the northern part of Illusius.

 

---

 

Shadow woods town was a cozy place to live, there were less elves there and nature magic was abundant. The autumn coloured trees and the golden lawns around them gave an impression that this place was more for the artistic and scholarly inclined sun elves. The transporter stopped at the entrance of the Shadow woods, letting Elissa and her party out.

The platinum blonde had been surprised to see a train cart that looked like it was out of San Francisco, but with no rails and that levitated one meter off the ground. She was interested in having the same system in Aryther between the Duchy and Barony. *It would totally look as good too.* Elissa told herself.

As they disembarked, they saw people out of their houses who looked concerned about something. They began to look at them as they walked up to the Olaneiros residence. It was easy to follow directions as the pole with the sign showed the name of each tree house. Elissa shook her head, deciding to not concern herself with the petty sun elves.

They finally arrived at the Olaneiros residence, the gate was open on a well kept garden surrounding the wide trunk of a tree house.

“I want the same one sister!” Cassandra clapped her hands excitedly.

Elissa and the others stared at the little girl, shaking their heads. “Maybe another time, Cassandra.”

She was the first walking up to the door of the tree house, her hearing footsteps inside the house coming toward them. Elissa waited for the door to open and was surprised to find an armored Tsarra looking at her. The other elf didn’t seem to recognize her at first until she examined her face for a little bit.

“Elissa?!” Tsarra exclaimed, mouth gaping.

Elissa smiled at the redhead, looking at her up and down. “Heya Tsarra! I see that you are armed for Trolls.”

 

---

 

Inside the Olaneiros residence, Tsarra received Elissa who was glamoured as a sun elf with her sister and companions who seemingly came to look for her because she hadn’t come back in time to Midgard. The ranger looked at her friend who was sipping on tea and eating her pastries. It was a strange situation for Tsarra as not even five minutes earlier she thought she was going to die, but now? Now, she had hope of coming through all this alive with her father safe.

Elissa put her tea cup on its saucer, looked up at Tsarra and said, “Now can you tell me why you are all armored and armed!”

The redhead leaned against the wall, crossed her arms and an angry expression slowly appeared on her face. “My father was kidnapped, the perpetrator left me a letter telling me to come discuss the terms of his release.”

“Smells like a trap.” Elissa frowned, her golden aura crackling around her.

Tsarra snorted, straightened and walked up a window, the sun was clearly declining on the horizon. The redhead turned to Elissa and said, “It is one, the elf who is doing this is the fifth prince of the Illerius Kingdom.”

Elissa froze, everyone around Tsarra gaped at her.

Crossing her legs and looking at her friend with a neutral face, Elissa said, “Ah, so it’s going to be difficult.”

The tension rose up in the room, everyone realized that saving Tsarra’s father would be difficult. Elissa became thoughtful as she was devising a quick strategy and thinking about how Dicinna would have done it. Infiltrating, finding, killing, and escaping the palace would be key to this operation. Tsarra and Brunhilda recognized the glint of scheming in Elissa’s gaze, Tsarra became apprehensive, as for the dwarf princess? Brunhilda was excited.

“Elissa, are we goin’ tae see action then?” She asked from her seat, the dwarf was cleaning her hammer with delicate attention.

Elissa gave Brunhilda an evil smile. “Yes, we are going to take Tsarra’s dad back, kidnap this prince, reveal and air all his secrets and then, then we will kill him, right Tsarra?”

Cassandra stopped eating her elf cake, her lips covered in frosting; she recognized that smile, her sister used it when she was about to do something terribly evil. Just like Malicia showed them how.

Tsarra primly shrugged and answered, “I won’t be satisfied with just this, I want him to suffer.”

Elissa looked at Cassandra who stared back at her, then she grinned. “It could be arranged…” The Storm Queen turned her head to Tsarra who noticed the exchange.

Cassandra became giddy, she was about to really have her first taste of combat and her sister was going to let her loose! The little imp beat her feet happily.

Nabideth stared at Tsarra with concern, the dwarf found this sun elf dangerous. “M’Lady, are all your friends like her?”

Elissa shook her head, Tsarra had changed. The shy and blushing elven maiden she knew had been replaced by a no nonsense warrior who controlled her emotions. “No, Tsarra is just being intense right now. Hey Tsa, don’t worry we will save your dad and make that guy who kidnapped him pay.”

Tsarra gave her friend a thin smile. “I trust you Elissa, however your usual modus operandi won’t cut it. Say, did you plan to go just smash the palace and take back my father?”

The room became silent as everyone looked between Elissa and Tsarra.

Elissa averted her eyes. “Hum…”

Tsarra shook her head. “I see, just like I thought. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but that just won’t do. We are going to plan this in depth.”

Elissa crossed her arms and adopted a sullen expression that made the dwarves look agape at what just happened before them.

“Is dis elf takin’ command from Elissa?” Brunhilda was so shocked that the special towel she used to clean her hammer fell on the floor.

Syndanelyn looked at her sister. “First time ah see M’Lady unable to talk back.”

“Dat elf is dangerous! Ah knew it!” Nabideth commented, beside Dicinna no one dared to argue with the Storm Queen on Svartalfheim.

Cassandra giggled at the situation. Elissa graciously decided to step down from the planning. Having friends able to read you like a book was good but sometimes it could be embarrassing too.

“Fine Tsarra. You are in command, I will just be the muscle.”

“Great. Everyone, could you describe your abilities and skills, please?”

Brunhilda liked this elf's style, she had a different way of leading compared to Elissa who was all about following her to glory while she thought of a way to use overwhelming power to reach her goals. Tsarra’s way promised to use real strategy.

Cassandra raised her hand, wanting to start first; however, Elissa took a tissue from her spatial ring and wiped her mouth before she could think. The little Dae glowered at her sister who just kissed her temple. Then the little girl finally spoke with enthusiasm as she stood up from the sofa. “I am a sorceress!”

Tsarra wanted to roll her eyes, but she abstained. “Yes I know that, Cassandra.” The redheaded elf nodded.

Jumping up and down, Cassandra continued to speak. “But now I am a journeyman level one. I know curses, elemental magic, dark magic and I am really strong!” Cassandra used her fingers to count the skills she could bring to the table.

Elissa’s eyes bugged out of her eyes, it seemed that she hadn’t been warned that her sister was at such an advanced level.

Tsarra showed a genuine smile this time, her gaze becoming even more predatory. “Oh! That’s good. Congratulations by the way, when did you graduate?”

Cassandra’s cheek reddened and she began to wring her hands nervously. “Just before big sis took us to her new country.”

“Good, what do you think we should do about my… situation?” Tsarra asked, she wouldn’t underestimate the young girl because of her age. After all, she knew who raised this little girl, the same ruthless woman who made Elissa such a powerful mage.

Cassandra became thoughtful. “We should infiltrate and make everyone have a nap? Like this we wouldn’t have to kill anyone uninvolved?”

It seemed that she had more restraint than her big sister.

“Aww, but I want to fight Cassie!” Elissa whined.

The young girl smiled at her sister and showed her tongue and was caught to be seated on her older sibling’s knee.

Tsarra rolled her eyes this time at those two’s antics. “That’s a good idea, Cassandra. I shall think about it, who is next?”

Syndanelyn raised her hands and began to speak. After that, the planning session continued late in the night, the girls began to hammer out a plan that permitted alteration on the fly.

 

---

 

The next day
Alura Palace
Center of Illusius

 

The Autumn Palace or more commonly called by its ancient name, Alura, was the principal royal residence of the Illerius bloodline. It had existed for the last two thousand years and was located in the center of the capital Illusius.

The palace was famous for the ceremonial hall of gold, the jewel-like royal opera, and the royal apartments; for the more intimate royal residence, the spirit tree and the essence tree located within the park, the small rustic hamlet created for the Queen by the current ruler; and the vast gardens with fountains, canals and geometric flower beds and groves.

Cassandra held onto her big sister’s hand, looking around her at the strange decorations those weird elves like. Her verdant gaze fell on the paintings and golden decorations practically littering everywhere. The young girl couldn’t believe that so much could be crammed into a palace, too bad that Dawn wasn’t here to confirm if there were any spatial enchantments in effect.

Dawn Kisaragi and Cassandra’s relationship was one of grudging acceptance. Fortunately for Cassandra her first adventure was without Elissa’s wife and girlfriend. As everyone followed the group, the little girl stealthily traced demonic runes with her mana imbued index finger.

As they passed from corridors to gaudy historical rooms, Cassandra focused on the spell she was building in her mental landscape; tying the runes she had drawn into a network to create a big area of effect. The spell matrix was almost complete, once Cassandra closed the mana line she would be able to enter this palace’s higher levels.

It was easy to see why the sun elves and their civilization turned out to be a prideful one; they preserved a percentage of their history, certainly some tidbits and details must have been distorted as years passed but it was all there. The guide leading the group of tourists stopped before a fresco showing the arrival of elven survivors on Alfheim.

“And this Fresco is called Promised Land, it easily depicts how the elven people finally found hope of resettling and hiding from the destroyers, enemies of our people.”

Cassandra looked at Elissa whose shoulder shook, the older girl clearly wanted to laugh out loud. Indeed, there were two destroyers in the tourist group; Phantasians who would kill them with their eyes closed. Nevertheless, this war was in the past. The Snow Empire had defended it’s lands and broken the High elven commonwealth.

*Still, they continue to meddle or bump into our people.* Cassandra thought absently as she drew another rune focused on the fresco.

Elissa leaned and whispered, “Cassie, is it ready?”

The little redhead shook her head. “Almost.”

The little Dae felt that her sister was getting nervous, or would she be more accurate in saying, excited? Elissa was the kind of battle enthusiast that even her mother lamented about. “Great, we are almost done with the tour.”

The guide continued to describe the expression and meaning in the fresco, the elven ships, the landscape and the famous historical figure who first walked on Alfheim’s soil. Cassandra was about to draw the last rune, the point of origin that would complete her first grand sorcery spell when Elissa continued to be bossy, “When it’s done cast Sleep and then Blackout.”

Cassandra stopped and glared at her big sister. “I know that already!” She whispered.

Tsarra who was behind them pinched Elissa’s ass.

“Eep!” Elissa jumped up as she felt the pinch through her pants.

She turned to glare at Tsarra who had an unyielding expression on her face. Elissa felt that she was being childish and averted her eyes, because they had more important things to do.

“Let her work.” Tsarra said as the little girl continued to wave her fingers.

Hmph. “I will get you back for this…”

Tsarra rolled her eyes. Finally, the guide concluded the tour and it was finally time for everyone to start the operation. As everyone was being led to the palace’s exit, Cassandra cast the spell, “Sleep!”

Elissa and Brunhilda burst into action and knocked out the guards at the palace’s door in mage armor who hadn’t lost consciousness.

Cassandra began to cast her second spell, taking care to exclude her group from its effects. “Blackout!”

A cloud of darkness slowly spread from Cassandra’s magic aura and filled the lobby and beyond. Erasing all light and muting all sounds, everyone looked around them, not noticing this.

Tsarra took off her cloak, she was in her armor; she then proceeded to unsheath one of her swords. “Come on! Let’s get to the royal trees!”

They ran leaving the knocked out tourists and guards behind them. Tsarra took Brunhilda and Syndanelyn with her to the dungeons, Cassandra was followed by Elissa, Nabideth and Spectra to the fifth prince’s apartments. Elissa kept spamming magical restraints on the guards and maids who weren’t asleep.

Cassandra avoided damaging anything in her rush, Elissa not bothering to do so. The little redhead giggled as the expression bull in a china shop described the behavior of her big sister. The Storm Queen busted doors open, stunned people inside and repeated the action. It happened until they reached an obstacle, some sort of force shield separating the bridge between the building and the main royal tree.

BANG. BANG. BANG. Elissa beat against the shield.

“This is inconvenient.”

“Let me take care of that.” Cassandra held onto her sister’s sleeve, her big eyes full of confidence.

Elissa trusted her little sister, so backed off and let the little imp do what she did best. Cassandra stared at the force shield with her mage sight and analyzed the structure of the wards sustaining it. Her hand covered with a sickening black haze and poked a spot on the wall near the bridge’s entrance. The glowing blue force shield fizzled out for a moment but reestablished itself.

“I see.” The young girl said as her other hand covered in black magic.

She struck another of the ward lines feeding the field and then another, with the sound of breaking glass it shattered.

“Awesome!” Cassandra said as she was about to pass the entrance.

But all of a sudden she felt herself being pulled back, she looked at the person doing so and noticed Elissa holding her by the scruff of her neck.

“I will take point. I can absorb damage and you can’t.” Elissa said as she passed her little sister.

“Fine.” Cassandra rolled her eyes and followed her.

Nabideth and Spectra looked at each other, then shrugged; the reason why Elissa took point revealed itself almost instantaneously. A beam of magic came out from the ward formation in the shape of a triangle and shot at Elissa who just conjured a magic shield and tanked it. As she walked up shrugging off the magical platform’s attack, Elissa began to sweat slightly as the intensity of the attack began to be felt.

Each of Cassandra’s hands were now bathed in black magic, she clapped them and slammed them onto the ground. A dark wave spread all over the enclosed bridge and its walls and roof breaking every defensive formation.

Elissa turned to her sister, Cassandra looked at her with a funny expression and the Storm Queen harrumphed and continued to advance. The young girl giggled and followed. It wasn’t long before they reached the end of the bridge, Spectra sniffed the air and felt people at the gates. 

Spectra called out and informed Elissa of what’s behind those gates; the Storm Queen looked at her little sister. “Cassie, take them out. You are so eager to be useful.”

“Eli don’t be like that, I know I can take them.”

“Good, do it.”

Cassandra’s hands glowed and she instantly traced runes in the air that then sank into the ground and conjured shadows. She closed her eyes and as her shadow elongated Cassandra directed it with her will and let it converge toward the gates and sink in the interstice under them. The young girl closed her eyes for an instant.

As she reopened them, they were completely golden-green with black sclera surrounding them. “I see thirty people behind the gates.”

Elissa grunted. “Remote Viewing, huh?”

Cassandra broke her concentration and turned to Elissa with a reproachful gaze. “Hey, it’s the basics of the basics!”

Elissa waved her hand as if to dismiss what she was saying. “Yes, yes, you can now blow them up.”

The young girl scowled at her sister. “Big sis, you should stop trying to needlessly kill people.” As she did that, the shadow rose behind the gate; black and white fire lit behind the guards and the little Dae focused on letting them experience the pain of being burned alive without being harmed by it.

Spectra and Nabideth heard the screams of pain rise from the gate, and at the same time the two sisters began arguing. It was surreal.

“I am the big sister.” Elissa finally said as she walked up to the gates.

“Act like it.” Spectra said aloud.

Elissa stopped for an instant, then shook her head and walked up toward the gates. Cassandra looked at Spectra with trepidation.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Cassandra warned.

To Cassandra, Spectra was fun to hang around with. She had her own library attached to her in a pocket dimension that always followed her, she knew how to cook and didn’t take herself too seriously in private. However, her attitude changed when she was around those she considered beneath her, such as the dwarves and Elissa’s friends.

The dragoness chuckled as they followed Elissa. “Technically we are family, her head is getting too big. She must realize that there are bigger monsters in the forest.”

Elissa began to beat upon the gates that rattled under the Storm Queen’s blow, Nabideth gave a war cry, her sword glowing white as it hit the gates in a wide arc. It cut the gates in two, showing a big laceration on their surfaces; Elissa kicked them with her foot and the lower parts of the doors fell in from the other side.

The Storm Queen high fived Nabideth who laughed at the action and they entered the tree palace.

Cassandra shook her head and understood what the dragoness was trying to say. “I can’t say that I don’t agree with you… I realized that she’s different from how she was before.”

Spectra picked Cassandra up in a princess carry and followed Elissa and the dwarf. “She is blooded. It changes your perspective, little one.” The dragoness said as she moved, sounds of combat could now be heard from the other side.

The fight noises receded and Spectra entered through the broken gates, following the cries of pain and the scent of fresh blood. They stumbled upon Elissa and Nabideth speaking to a tied up elf in black armor. The dwarf warrior slapped him, then Elissa mumbled something in his ear.

After a moment, fear became etched on the guard's face. “I-I will t-talk, please don’t hurt me!” The elf shouted, struggling against his bonds.

Elissa cackled evily, her face very close to the elf’s. “Great, now tell us where is the feckin’ fifth prince?”

 

---

 

Fifth Prince’s apartment
Panic Room

 

Lucidius had thought that making Tsarra Olaneiros his seventh bride would be easy. However, he did not expect that her retaliation would be this swift or this brutal; an attack on the palace? Finding a fledgling high elf sorceress and dwarven mercenaries? Then there was this high elf mystic accompanied by a true dragon.

*What have I unleashed?* The prince thought.

But he wasn’t going to give in! He had certainly made a mistake in antagonizing someone that well connected but attacking the seat of power of the royal family? It was foolish of Lady Olaneiros. The army and the king wouldn’t let such a crime go unpunished!

*Unless… she doesn’t hope for this situation to get better. A cornered rat always lashes out.* The prince realized.

The walls of the panic room shook, making the prince look at them with trepidation. The ‘Boom, boom, boom’ of each impact made his heartbeat erratic. Lucidius felt the wards straining to contain the power of each hit. Each of his three loyal guards placed themselves between him and the door leading out of the panic room.

“Your highness, please take the teleportation circle!” The guard who was the nearest to Lucidius ordered. 

The prince looked at his loyal men, he had no wish to abandon them, then there was the rest of his family to be considered. He wished to be king but with his brides at his side! How could things have turned out this way?

Lucidius looked at each of them. “Can’t any of you come? What about my wives?!”

The men looked at each other, then the wall shook again after a bigger impact hit it. Cracks and tears slowly appeared on the white surface. One of the guards used earth magic to smooth them and reinforce it.

“They are safe in the Summer Palace, quick! Flee!” They told the prince.

“Y-your sacrifice won’t go unrewarded.”

Lucidius turned heel and ran to the end of the room where a green glowing circle with elven runes turned itself on as he entered it. “Summer Palace!” He shouted the location he desired to be teleported to.

However, the gods weren’t with him. The circle shone for a moment but as if something decided that he should stay here, the circle ejected him and a noise of broken glass was thus heard as it sputtered and disappeared.

“W-what?” Lucidius held onto his head in panic as he saw his best way of egress slip away from him.

The elves looked back and saw the prince still here and the teleportation circle compromised. ”Goddess, they tempered with the wards! They want us here.”

“Impossible!” They began to lose hope.

Then the wall vanished, turning to powder, and it was replaced by darkness as cold as the void. The three guards placed themselves between it and their prince, unsheathing their weapons and letting their mana run through them making them glow. As they stared into the void, sweat and fear exuded from them.

All of a sudden a black tentacle speared from the darkness and caught the closest of the royal guards and pulled him from his position into the void. Lucidius screamed and the two guards left let loose Fireballs into it. The screams of their colleague echoed, making them panic until they heard his armor creaked and his bones break. His screams suddenly stopped.

The guards continued to attack with fire and light magic, but the darkness slowly advanced on them.

“Prince, run!”

Lucidius didn’t disobey and tightened a fist before him, on his fingers were rings with different colored gems set into them. He was a wielder of noble magic, a gem mage able to imbue different mana and enchantments into jewels and crystals. The fifth prince had a gem he had saved for this type of situation, a blessing of the Moonbow goddess that would protect him from evil, curses and black magic.

He focused his mana in the diamond ring on his index finger and the gem broke, the spell contained inside suffused his body covering him in white light. Lucidius ran when his two guards were pulled into the darkness. He could see in it. What he saw was the most beautiful elf maiden he had ever seen killing his royal guards by making them explode in their armor, blood raining upon him, she saw him and she gave him a radiant smile.

But Lucidius knew he would die if he didn’t run, so he ran and exited his apartments. However, the blessing was weakening the more he advanced into the darkness-filled field invading the royal tree. He could see fallen guards and maids everywhere, he didn’t take time to see if they were alive.

The prince was already scheming his vengeance, he would ruin Tsarra Olaneiros and her allies, he would… *First I must get out of here.*

Five minutes later, he wasn’t far from the bridge linking the royal tree to the palace, Lucidius felt like he was being followed. He finally noticed that the darkness slowly eroded the blessing and was almost impeding his vision. He heard a young girl giggle as he was about to pass the gates.

A tentacle suddenly wrapped around his left ankle and pulled him into the corridor. “No!”

“Yes!” The same voice that had been giggling earlier rang.

Lucidius manifested a beam of light aligned mana that severed the tentacle by giving everything he had, he turned tail and fled toward the gate, but what appeared wasn’t the bridge. He fell feet first into a dragon maw that closed on him, he screamed when its snake like tongue wrapped itself around his body and then he lost consciousness, the darkness finally claiming him.

 

---

 

Royal Dungeon

 

Tsarra received the news about the capture of the Prince through her Sisterhood guild ring. They had taken out the dungeon guards, but she got wounded in the process, receiving a nick on her cheek because she had been too confident. Hatred having dulled her senses, she cooled down and let Brunhilda take out the Warden. They were now in the grey walled underground of the palace, a complete contrast to the beauty and gaudiness on the surface.

Tsarra looked for the keys for the special cells reserved for the royal family’s guests. She didn’t have enough time to check, so she took them all and placed them in a wooden box. She exited the Warden’s office and met Brunhilda and Syndanelyn in the drab waiting area.

“M’Lady Olaneiros, did ye find tha key?”

“I have found a lot of keys.” Tsarra rattled the wooden box.

Brunhilda cocked her head, and then nodded. “Ah see. Let’s bring tha Warden just in case. Syn, gag him and tie him and then bring him with us.”

“Aye, Princess.” Syndanelyn took a flat disc from her tool belt and threw it at the armored warden who suddenly found himself embraced by solid steel cables with a gag in his mouth.

*dwarf gadgets are strange.* Tsarra thought as she saw what happened.

With the warden being pulled by his feet, they entered the elevator that would lead them to the cell quarters.

Brunhilda was the first to speak as they studied the numbered panel. “Tha elevator should lead tae where yer Da is.”

Syndanelyn looked at the number four with a focused expression. “Try for dat button, it’s gold plated. Knowing yer… people it must be where he is.”

“There’s nothing I can say against that…” Tsarra bowed her head, she was aware of the failings of her own race.

Thanks to the transparent metal of the elevator cage, it was easy to see the decrepit conditions of the dungeon. Tsarra doubted that the first three floors had ever been cleaned.

Ding. 

The elevator chimed when they reached their target floor. The conditions of this level were quite a bit better, the grey walls became white and each of the cells had a force-field blocking escape or entrance. The cells were practically little apartments in which each of the inmates were busying themselves. Tsarra’s expression had frozen when she saw the differences between each floor of the dungeon.

“Yer taxes at work, M’Lady Olaneiros.” Brunhilda laughed.

Even in Nirnyahr there wasn’t such a disparity between inmates, Brunhilda judged that this must be where the noble prisoners were located. As they advanced the girls looked at each of the cells, some of the sun elves were disturbed by the spectacle of an armored female dwarf pulling on their hogtied Warden.

“Daughter?” Someone called as the trio passed two adjacent cells.

Tsarra turned her head to the right and saw Rynlar Olaneiros, her father in a sparsely furnished cell with a bed, toilet, bathroom and bookshelves. Rynlar beat on the force-field, attracting everyone’s attention.

“Father! You are here!” Tsarra shouted in joy, placing her hands where her father’s were.

The man looked happy to see his daughter, then he remembered where he was. “What are you doing here?”

Rynlar hoped, truly hoped that his daughter didn’t sell herself for his freedom, he would kill that damned Lucidius if that’s what happened. Fortunately, his worries were put to rest, but new ones were born when his daughter answered with, “Breaking you out, father.”

His eyes popped out of his sockets. “No you can’t… you should leave me…”

Yes, it was better if his daughter was safe; he wouldn’t be able to face Sorial if anything happened to his little Tsarra.

Tsarra scowled at that. “No way, father. I didn’t attack the palace to leave empty handed!”

“Ah found the key, M’Lady!” Syndalenyn shouted as she brandished a golden key with a triangular crystal at its end.

Tsarra’s eyes focused on the golden key and she urged, “Quick, get him out of there.”

The redhead didn’t know how much time they had before the army retook the palace. Time was of the essence right now.

Rynlar shook his head and stepped back. “No Tsarra, you’ll be branded a traitor or worse!”

Syndanelyn put the key into a triangular orifice on the wall separating Tsarra’s father cell from the next. The force-field dissipated. The redheaded sun elf entered, took her father’s arm and pulled him outside the cell. “I don’t care! This Kingdom failed you! It failed me! I would burn it to the ground before I let them take you away from me, do you hear?”

Rynlar saw how serious his daughter was and the determination in her eyes. His shoulders sagged and he finally nodded. “I-I understand, daughter.”

Rynlar was reminded of his bonded’s temper, he saw his wife’s temper and manners each time Tsarra acted up. She was such a firebrand, just like Sorial, he thinly smiled at his daughter who smiled back.

“Great, come here.” Tsarra said as she pulled him against her and embraced him for a moment.

Rynlar almost cried then and there, but he did not, he had to be strong for his Tsarra.

“Syn, place dat sack of shite in the cell of Lord Olaneiros.” A typical dwarven accent interrupted the moment, Rynlat looked down and saw a blond dwarven lady in black armor with a mithril hammer looking at him as if she was trying to remember where she had seen him before.

The second blonde dwarf woman huffed and puffed as she pulled the Warden into his cell, exited it and activated the force-field.

“I am no Lord…” Rynlar began to say as he remembered where he had seen this young dwarven Lady. His eyes widened. “Princess Brunhilda?! What are you doing here?”

Princess Brunhilda Brightforge, second in line for the throne of Nirnyahr and a warrior serving in the dwarven kingdom of Svartalfheim. He would have never dreamed of seeing someone from so far away come to his rescue.

Brunhilda snapped her fingers in recollection. “I knew that I’d seen you before. Ambassador Olaneiros.”

“Is… Nirnyahr involved in this operation?” Rynlar asked with trepidation, the last thing he wanted was for his breakout to start a war or an embargo on the dwarves.

Brunhilda chuckled. “No, but the Queendom of Aryther is. The Storm Queen is a personal friend of your Daughter, you’ll be given asylum in her lands.”

His daughter knew royalty? Since when? And Aryther? It meant ‘big lake’ in the dark elven dialect. Was this Storm Queen a dark elf ruling some dark corner of Svartalfheim? Questions after questions seemed to be raised each time he analyzed what the Princess was telling him. He looked at Tsarra who smiled at him, then nodded. 

He shrugged and thought that he would get his answers sooner or later. “Let us depart swiftly then.”

 

---

 

Royal Vault
5 minutes later

 

Elissa became giddy when she saw the treasure before her. The vault was big enough to house an airport. Everything was catalogued and organized inside, the sun elves were not a messy bunch. Bags of gold and platinum coins were located in the monetary aisle, the materials one was filled with ore ingots of varying mana conductivity. Mithril and Oricalchum were abundant, though there was a number of gold and silver ore rivaling Fort Knox.

Crates filled with gems, crystals and other stones were in another aisle. Nabideth kept pulling the unconscious prince as Elissa perused the treasures and loaded her spatial ring as much as she could. The looting proceeded apace as Elissa loaded her rings with vehicles, non-historical art pieces and furniture; she then expanded in the theft of knowledge by raiding the sealed tomes of magic she could get her hands on.

As she went deeper into the vault she ended up before a pedestal with a cushion presenting a golden seed the size of a soccer ball, surrounded by five others that were the size of tiny fists.

“What are those?” Elissa asked, she wanted to touch them and analyze them.

The seeds shone with golden luster as Elissa approached the pedestal, tempting her to reach for them. Elissa extended her hand toward them, then, recognizing a compulsion when she was subject to one and took her limb back.

“Maybe something we shouldn’t tamper with?” The platinum blonde told herself, her hand against her clothes.

As she was about to step back a familiar voice interrupted her. {That is a world tree seed.}

Elissa froze as she felt the presence of the intelligence. “Sanctum? Is it really?”

Her eyes went back to the different seeds. Was it her or were the seeds shining even more, begging to be taken by her?

{You should appropriate it, your imperial Majesty.} Sanctum tempted her.

Elissa was hesitant. “What for?”

It was the first time one of the mana-based intelligences from her planet encouraged her in stealing something, weren’t they supposed to discourage that type of behavior? The seeds called to her, almost in a plea. They wanted to be helped to grow and thrive, to protect? The mental compulsion was suggestive and not exactly accurate.

{It will enhance the mana field of your new colony and boost its fertility.} Sanctum explained.

Svartalfheim was a world laced with mana already, Elissa asked herself what would happen if it would be enhanced even more? Sanctum answered her query almost immediately showing her picture of what Phantasia was like with it’s own tree. Physics losing its sway and making it possible for floating islands to exist and the birth of more mages and sorcerers, as well as superhuman enhanced individuals comparable to ancient humans without artificial means.

Elissa chuckled. “Oh, it’s that good. Fine, I will take everything.”

She loaded the pedestal and the seeds into her ring and she was already seeing some of the things possible on her home planet being possible on Svartalfheim.

“Elissa, the army has gathered around the palace!” Her sister cried out as she threw herself at her.

Clicking her tongue, Elissa loaded her sister on her back and shouted, “Hel! Let’s find the others, they must be done already!”

The vault was emptied of all the treasure it stored, and Elissa felt that she did enough damage to slow any war campaign Alfheim might try against Aryther after her invasion of the capital city palace. Elissa exited the vault at super speed, her friends behind her. She waited for them.

Spectra joined them at the end of the corridor leading to the royal vault still gargling and spitting from having the fake prince charming in her mouth. He had apparently shat himself when he was in her mouth. *Eww.*

As they walked toward the lobby on the ground floor of the royal tree, the girls heard a group walk toward them and Elissa wasn’t surprised to see that Tsarra and the others were back with a male elf. Her Father, Rynlar.

Tsarra’s father was surprised to see Elissa and Cassandra and recognized them as what they seemed to be, high elves. He eyed each of them in turn and felt the power each of them exuded from their magical aura, then he stared at his daughter; lost in thought. Tsarra took an Ordi-tek tablet from one of her pouches of holding at her belt and consulted it.

Thirty seconds later, the redhead informed her party. “They sealed the extraplanar portals all over the city, Elissa.”

Everyone swore, that wasn’t good news; apparently the army now knew that they weren’t natives from Alfheim. Cassandra took advantage of this to climb on Elissa’s shoulders while everyone looked for a solution to escape.

An idea struck and the Storm Queen addressed Rynlar. “Hmm, Lord Olaneiros, are there any skyships here? I saw them in the sky earlier when we arrived.”

*Again with this Lord title?* Rynlar frowned and quickly answered, “The royal docks are located further north of the palace, there should be one.”

The fifth prince made his presence known to the group, struggling against his bonds. Nabideth tightened her hold on him.

"Unhand me, you slatternly shrew!" Lucidius screamed as Nabideth pulled him over the ground.

Everyone stopped moving, gaze focused on Lucidius. The dwarven women were not happy at all, a warrior with long pale blonde hair in particular. “Did dis bogus prince call me a dirty whore?” Nabideth asked, she then proceeded to slap him with her armored hand, making him spit some teeth.

“Urgh.” Blood oozed from Lucidius’ mouth, pooling on his white tunic.

“Next time I’ll make ye eat a knuckle sandwich!” Nabideth shouted as she shook him.

Lucidius stuttered as he looked in her furious eyes. “Y-you wouldn’t…”

Elissa separated Nabideth and Lucidius, the dwarf woman was about to strike him with her fist again. Then she noticed the shiny rings he sported on his fingers. With her enhanced mage sight, Elissa looked at the gems set in the rings, they were filled with elemental mana and enchantments.

It was intriguing.

Elissa crouched to put herself eye to eye with Lucidius, her gaze focused on his hands. “Nice rings, fake prince. You look like a pimp.” Elissa said in perfect high elven as she swiped all the rings on Lucidius’ hand.

It startled the prince and his fears were now verified. He didn’t know how this elf maiden entered the kingdom but there was no possible way that her entrance wasn’t noticed; Lucidius harbored hope that he could be saved from this group of criminals and salvage everything. In his heart of hearts, he knew that he was the cause for the palace to have been attacked when he took Rynlar Olaneiros and threatened his daughter.

He truly hoped that his father would be able to do something! The high elf maiden’s eyes left his hand to focus on his face and she began to speak, “So, Luci. Can I call you Luci?”

*How dare she speak to me so familiarly?! I am the fifth Prince!* 

He scowled at her, defiant. “No.”

She just smiled and ignored his negative answer. She patted his cheek two times. “Luci, do you have a personal airship stashed somewhere?”

Lucidius froze, averted his gaze when the cold emerald green eyes were on him. “I-I don’t.”

Elissa punched him, breaking his nose; Lucidius groaned in pain, bright red blood effusing from the break. Elissa put her hand on him and healed the break, and stopped the bleeding. “I repeat, do you have a personal airship. Stains like you always feel self important; you must have one in your possession.”

“N-no, I don’t.” He said between his teeth, at least the ones he had left.

With rage cold enough to freeze Hel itself, her hatred for the elf who had tried to take her friend from her was strong enough to let her give in to her wish of wanting to break this lofty kingdom and turn it into a smoking crater. But she didn’t, she settled to make this sad excuse of an elf suffer as much as she could. Elissa broke his jaw with a stronger slap, and this time healed him, then she asked again. Each time he answered wrong, she broke bones and healed him. It continued for another five minutes.

Lucidius caved. “P-please, I-I will tell you everything.”

There was no expression on Elissa’s face, she was like a cold statue exposed in a particularly wintery climate. “Speak.”

Lucidius licked his lips and looked fearfully at the high elf. “I hav-ve a warship, i-it’s in the r-royal docks. Take it, l-leave me alone!”

Elissa seized him by the collar and stood up, holding the prince in the air. “No, why would I let a precious hostage go? You are coming with us Luci. Try to escape and I will cut off your malehood.”

She let him fall. Lucidius grunted in pain; everyone laughing at him; Tsarra looked at him with a cold glare, as for her father he looked worried at their rough treatment of his Kingdom’s prince, but in his heart he relished in the torture he was subject to by this Storm Queen.

Elissa turned to the pale blonde dwarf and commanded, “Nabideth, you are in charge of our guest’s welfare.”

“Yes, my Queen.” The dwarf maiden slightly bowed her head and loaded Lucidius on her shoulder.

Cassandra climbed back on her sister and the others were now ready for Elissa’s usual shenanigans. Charge like a barbarian and make a way to reach their goal. The Storm Queen looked at each of her people and particularly at the redheaded elf, “Tsarra, Lord Rynlar let’s go.”

Rynlar followed, not sure about what was going to happen.

 

---

 

Outside the palace

 

General Arryn Breakwater of the Illusius army and Lord Commander Soren Swiftwind of the Moonbow order were at the North gates of the Alura Palace, the place they judged the terrorists would try to escape away through. The attack on the palace had rattled everyone in the service; it wasn’t expected at all.

The group of six that had arrived the previous day and was composed of at least three highly magical beings had been followed and traced to the Olaneiros estate. Soren was rather put out to know that his disciple was involved, though he was sure that there were mitigating circumstances.

Investigators from the Moonbow Order found the residence deserted and emptied, Rynlar Olaneiros was also found to be imprisoned illegally by the fifth prince through fabricated charges. Soren understood why everything happened this way, he knew that Lucidius was sniffing around Lady Olaneiros and he had designs on her hand. He would never have thought that things would go this far.

*The Lady must have been disillusioned by the actions of one of the royal family. * He thought to himself.

He wished that Tsarra had come to him for help.

The darkness enveloping the palace receded, the rangers and soldiers prepared themselves to charge ate at it, and capture the terrorists. But the doors of the palace opened wide, a richly clothed high elf appeared unsheathing a sword glowing blue with mana that changed form from a bastard sword to a giant two-handed one.

Soren had a bad feeling, he noticed that the high elf maiden was about to swing, he took Arryn in his arms and threw himself on the ground when a thunderous wave blew the troops away. The elf jumped in the air and the blade of her sword crackled with lightning. When she slammed it into the ground blade first an electromagnetic wave spread everywhere before her.

Soren and Arryn lost consciousness as the group behind the high elf followed her. As darkness embraced him, The Lord Commander remembered how Tsarra had told him about her friend able to wipe out armies and how she would choose to completely decimate enemies instead of fleeing.

 

---

 

Royal docks

 

The Royal Docks of Illerius, commonly referred to as the docks, were similar to what an international airport would be on Midgard but only reserved for the nobles, royal family and the armies. It served as a secondary hub for domestic and international flights for the other provinces in Alfheim and as the homebase for the sky navy of Alfheim. Flights operate to destinations on Asgard, Svartalfheim, Vanaheim, and other minor worlds considered affiliated with the nine realms.

The party continued to run across the stony tarmac where diverse types of skyships could be found, some were considered to be land transports and others were too small for their party. Some were unable to use a planar drive, and the fifth prince’s warship sounded more and more like their only solution.

Elissa continued to run, more at a jog, everyone going slower as they looked for the long white and gold ship that Lucidius had described.

“Well that was easy. I took them by surprise, huh.” Elissa ran with Cassandra on her back, at the same speed as Rynlar and the dwarves or else she would already be gone.

She was thinking about how to enhance her dwarven friends for them to be able to keep up with her when Tsarra interrupted her thoughts.

“Elissa… since when did you become your own army?” Tsarra asked, she had thought that she had caught up with her friend in martial prowess; however, it seemed that she was even farther than before. Tsarra didn’t know how to evaluate her friend anymore.

Chuckling, Elissa still scanned around herself as she spoke, “Eh, Tsa, I had a lot of training this summer.”

Rynlar’s face showed how stressed he was, the naked fear on his face still didn’t disappear since they left the Alura Palace. “I thought we were goners when I saw that many troops massed before the north gates!”

“M’Lord, dis was nothin’, simply tha usual with tha Storm Queen! We fought dragons or had battles dat changed tha political climate of Svartalfheim forever!” Brunhilda informed him.

The dwarves have been desensitized when it came to the Storm Queen’s life and actions; they always expected the unexpected.

“Less talking! More looking!” Elissa huffed.

Cassandra was getting bored and began to levitate from her sister’s back, this action made Spectra want to pitch in. The rainbow dragoness stopped walking and transformed into her true form all of a sudden. Everyone watched the dragon the same size as a semi-truck with awe, in the case of Rynlar and Tsarra it was with trepidation.

<Go! I will have a look from the sky, we are tarrying too much.> Spectra sent to their minds.

<Hekate bless you, Spectra.> Elissa shouted to Spectra as she waved her hands at her.

The rainbow dragoness launched herself into the sky with her powerful wings and her form became blurry as she entered a form of stealth, bending the light around her. Elissa was jealous of that ability and would later ask the dragoness for the spell.

It wasn’t long before Spectra found the Warship and sent a beam of light to mark it’s position. <Follow the light! The skyship is there!>

Without hesitating the party did, dragging Lucidius with them, it was strange that no one was present in the docks as they passed. If there was an attack on the Palace, Elissa reasoned that they would lock it down with troops. As they arrived before the tall column of light, it dissipated and let the group gaze upon the machine of mithril and magic that would permit them to fly into the beyond.

It looked completely gaudy, three times the size of the Weatherlight, white with gold trim; the Magic cannons protruding from the sides and stern of the Warship. The mana sails all around the ship while numerous felt even more low tech compared to the relic the Weatherlight was.

“It’s not pretty, intimidating but not pretty at all.” Elissa shuddered at the proof of Lucidius’ vanity and self-importance.

They walked to the tower linked to the hovering skyship, of course, it was not defended by troops but by magic. A magical shield surrounded it, Elissa had had enough and simply broke it with Gram’s ability by disrupting the wards powering it. They went up to the tower and ended up in the control room to release the docking clamps and the fuel lines feeding into the skyship.

It was such an inefficient design that Elissa didn’t trust it. Where was the power stone? The crystal intelligence maintaining the ship? Elissa felt a burst of pride that her people, the Phantasians, were technologically more advanced than the elves of Alfheim even now; it was no wonder they had lost the war against them.

As her hands glided over the Ordi-tek screen, unlocking the functions of the skyship. Elissa explained on the sisterhood channel what she was doing. “Door to the ramp open, board the skyship.”

Cassandra followed Tsarra and Rynlar to board the ship. As she watched them leave on the viewing screen Elissa activated the radar like device analog on the Ordi-tek and saw the warships outside the city converge toward the palace.

She scowled as she spoke aloud. “First we must bind the prince’s magic, I don’t want him to take control of the ship and kill us while in travel.”

Elissa began to weave the restraining curse, Nabideth brought Lucidius toward her as he tried to struggle free from her grip. It was with sadistic pleasure that she applied the curse onto his mana core, where it would be even more painful when he would try to circulate mana in his body.

The unearthly scream he spouted, made the dwarves squirm as Elissa placed her unholy magic upon the prince. This was their first time seeing such dark magic.

“Excellent.” Elissa nodded as she finished cursing Lucidius who had lost consciousness and shook as his body fought the dark magic.

Nabideth, Syndanelyn and Brunhilda took the prince and walked to the ramp, Elissa continued to monitor the radar and decided that it would be prudent to skedaddle quickly as seven warships were about to arrive soon.

“Rendez-vous on the bridge.” Elissa spoke into her guild ring.

She walked to the entrance of the ship, going up the ramp at super speed. Elissa found the deck, then the bridge that seemed eerily similar to a throne room with consoles around the commanding throne. As she sat on the throne Elissa took control of the warship, Syndanelyn was already taking it into the sky.

“Ladies and gentle elf, I think the authorities are getting wise of our scheme.” The Storm Queen addressed her party.

The warships in the air were steadily advancing toward Lucidius’ ship. Syndanelyn kept gaining elevation.

“M’Lady they’re targetin’ weapons on dis vessel.” Syndanelyn shouted as she rose the ship even more.

They were barely high enough to open a planar portal to escape, but it was steadily growing.

Tsarra who was at the communication console announced, “They are hailing us.”

“Sound only.” Elissa said, not wanting to show themselves or make it easy for Alfheim’s authorities to identify them.

The voice that rang through the speaker system was cold and harsh. “You will surrender, you’ll be boarded and I order you to free his highness Lucidius!”

Elissa snorted. “I don’t think so.”

“Who are you? Identify yourself! How dare you attack the Illerius family?!” The voice sounded frustrated, they weren’t going to be able to catch up to Elissa as she formed a minor storm cloud wrapping itself around the ship, it crackled with lightning.

Elissa cackled evily. “My name is Shaera Snow. I am the right hand of vengeance. And the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass, and let you crash.”

“Disrespectful whelp-” The man attempted to insult her but he was interrupted when multiple enormous bolts of lightning struck each warship after them at the same time with different levels of success.

Four of them were struck on their engines and sank instantly putting them on a collision course with the docks, while two of them still remained afloat but their mana sails had gaping holes in them, rendering them unable to move.

Elissa laughed at their state. As the communication broke with the last ship standing, the Storm Queen fired another lightning spell she had prepped and struck the enemy ship with so much force that it broke in two.

“M’Lady other warships are comin’ toward us, tha planar drive is chargin’ too slowly, what do we do?” Syndanelyn stated, she wasn’t afraid, she knew that Elissa would find a way to succeed; as usual.

Elissa crossed her legs, put on her security belt and looked at the roof. <Spectra the planar drive is taking too much time to charge, can you give us a lift?>

The only answer she received was when the skyship lurched and Spectra’s war form straddled it. Elissa could feel magic build up through her psychic senses and then just before them a blue green portal opened, a familiar tear in reality that made everyone aboard smile. Syndanelyn advanced toward the planar window and the ship entered it.

“That was a good adventure. Tsarra, Rynlar when we get back to Aryther we need to speak privately.”

The two sun elves looked at each other, smiled and nodded at Elissa. The portal closed behind them and they were finally en route toward home.