Dragonfang Tower
Dawn’s Floor
17th of Malachite
September 10th, 2018 (Earth Time)
Morning

This was the day Dawn had been waiting for. Her emotions were all over the place, she was scared, happy, and a bit overwhelmed by what she was about to do. Dawn’s legs felt like jelly. As she was attended to by her Dwarven maids, she looked at herself in the mirror in her vanity room. The maids had drawn a bath for her, as Dawn wished to not be seen by either of her lovers who were already up and in the royal bath from what she could see with her scrying spell.

As one of her maids dabbed magical cream on her skin, Dawn asked herself if she deserved to live in so much luxury. She didn't think she would be able to come back to a normal lifestyle now that she had tasted power and privilege. She laughed as she saw the young Dwarven maid polish her nails, it was a surreal experience. Her eyes fell on her wedding dress, it looked magical; a dipped sweetheart dress that was the usual snow white dye and changed color from cyan, to ocean blue and finally royal purple. 

The dress was embroidered with silver and Mithril threads in the pattern of flowers only found on Svartalfheim, crystal lunar flowers that absorbed light and glowed a soft white. Then there was the veil made of the most luxurious Arachne silk completing the dress. There was even a story there about how Elissa obtained the services of an entire arachne colony.

A dress that had cost fifty thousand gold; if Dawn ever doubted being loved she should just look at the wedding bill to reassure herself. The next hour passed with the royal hairstylist magically growing Dawn’s brown hair to the middle of her back and styling it in a curly half-up with moon and star shaped ornaments to form some kind of silver crown.

The hairstylist looked on at her handiwork and nodded in satisfaction. "You look ravishing, your highness."

She was a tall dark elven woman with pink hair and purple eyes, a beauty who was originally working for the royal clan of Thafnoris. She was highly recommended by Alais Sharan and Dawn understood why; she had never looked so beautiful before. The only thing strange with her was the red Sari like dress she was wearing that had swirling geometric patterns.

"Thank you, Nisherra. What is next on the list?" Dawn smiled at the quirky elf.

Nisherra's list appeared in her hand with a puff of smoke and as she looked at it she said, "We have two more hours before the parade, so you must eat something to hold on until the festivities. Basically all you need is to relax and wait..."

"Then that's what we will do." Dawn nodded. 

For the next two hours, Dawn’s wedding dress was slowly put on, the maid applying life magic school spells on it to avoid it getting stained or crumpled. It was awe inspiring to see how much work went into making Dawn’s wedding dress presentable, even with magic helping lighten the load on the maids and specialized workers. Her outfitting was complete when Dawn exited her floor under the escort of twenty of Nodicea's blessed royal guards.

She wore an elaborate cathedral veil surrounding her, forming a magical formation that was enchanted to shield her from harm, it glowed pink and purple with runes and geometric constructs obscuring its function but still let Dawn be highly visible. Each of the staff put a knee on the ground as Dawn descended the tower through the first ten floors for the benefit of the court and public. The entire tower was more decorated than usual, the royal gardeners having gone well beyond Elissa’s vision in the festival of flowers and life covering the mithril ground and walls. Dawn was seeing what happened when you let an army of landscapers and gardeners loose in your home.

The throng of people stood there, admiring or not knowing what to think about Dawn who was a human; they still thought that Elissa was a sun elf. If only they knew how race or species didn't matter to Elissa at all… the budding factions in court would stop being concerned by their agendas.

Arriving finally at the first floor, the procession walked up to the Aethernet crystal at the center of the piazza. No one stopped them, death would come to anyone daring to. The Captain of the guards, one Aleesia Sharan, held her hand before her and used her mana as a conduit to manipulate the Aethernet crystal that wrapped the group in a bubble of space and teleported them suddenly to Queen’s Rise.

They appeared in the grand station, the palatial building owned by the Transportation guild, a new venture sponsored by the crown and in charge of the portals and teleportation formations to affiliate cities and worlds allied with Aryther. The grand station had been emptied beforehand and there was only the procession inside for security reasons.

The portals for each allied city were closed for the day and a literal army had been charged to guard them as this day was ripe for an attack; Dawn realized that Elissa had also made their wedding into an advertising operation to show the wealth and power of their nation. As she was brought outside of the building, Dawn could finally see Queen’s Rise and its festive atmosphere. 

The place didn't look like it was underground at all, the morning sun's light hit all of the white buildings with blue tiled roofs; greenery was everywhere, completely different from the city under construction this place had been some weeks ago. There were aqueducts conducting water from the underground river separating the city in halves to different districts and underground levels where the farms were located.

"Dwarves work fast…" Dawn said as her gaze fell on the beautiful city, filled with parks and gardens.

"They are the fastest builders for a reason, your highness." Captain Aleesia praised.

The elven woman snapped her fingers and a vehicle was teleported at the gates of the grand station. To Dawn it looked like the Sail barge used in Cosmic Wars by Zabba the slug. This was Dwarven made though, from what she could see, it had three decks with the upper one being covered by two large blue sails with the banners of Aryther royal family. Dawn narrowed her eyes at the magical turrets placed on each side of the barge.

"Her majesty takes your safety really seriously, your highness."

"It's sweet of her." Dawn said as she mentally checked her personal pocket dimension and the weapon contained inside, Carnwennan, the dagger of king Arthur, which allowed its user to be shrouded in shadows and concealed her from the sight of others; one of the other attributes of this weapon was that it was Anti-Thaumaturgic and could cut through most magic spells. Carnwennan also had the ability to home in on its opponent. When thrown, it could hit a target even if it was out of view.

Dawn had never used it, but Elissa was happy for her to have a legendary artifact that she could use for her protection or as an ace in the hole. Aleesia guided Dawn to the floating barge whose ramp was extended. The first ten royal guards climbed and checked the vehicles physically and magically. The bride-to-be was then led under escort to the upper deck and magical and kinetic barriers came alive as they shone into existence and became transparent. 

The pilot retracted the sails of the barge and the vehicle lurched into motion while Dawn was finally noticing the music playing and all the people looking at her on the street leading toward Hekate's grand temple. She was put on display and awkwardly waved at the populace who cheered as they saw her in her beautiful dress. It was heartening to see how diverse the population of Queen’s Rise was, Dryads, Dwarves, Elves and Alison were highly visible; Dawn could also see the occasional Lutrinian or Raccoon people looking at her with curiosity or was it pity? The Raccoon still thought Elissa was a destroyer who needed to be appeased.

There were dancers before the barge, magical beasts and children throwing flower petals as they advanced slowly toward the temple.

*Okay, someone watched too many animated movies. They did the same for Aladdin, a shame Disney studio tanked after that movie.* Dawn told herself as the procession continued unencumbered until she reached the temple's arch that was sizable and could easily be compared to the one from France. The barge stopped and Dawn was made to disembark.

When she touched down there were more cheers and flower petals thrown out, she was rejoined by her mother who wore the colors of House Kisaragi, a recent addition to the noble families in the realm. Maria wore a purple and pink kimono that had been modified by elven seamstresses to be highly mobile yet elegant, she wore black boots with silver bonsai patterned on them instead of getas and elven jewelry compatible with her outfit.

She looked like a mage-warrior, the reason she wasn't wearing a gown was because Dawn was essentially being married into a militant house. Dawn walked toward her mother with quick little steps and hugged her. "Mom, I see you accepted your role."

Maria beamed at her daughter and then looked at the bridal gown she wore. She was going to put that exact moment in one of those memory crystals they used for remembering celebrations and events. She felt out of place as she was put in the position of accompanying the bride. "It's strange how women are prioritized over men in this world…" Maria felt that she was taking the place of her husband, then again he would have tried to stop Dawn. 

"Everyone is technically equal, but on Svartalfheim most societies are Matriarchal." The bride-to-be explained to her mother.

Showing Maria her prettiest smile, Dawn nodded. "Thanks for doing this mom, it means everything to me that you are willing to do this for me."

"Dicinna isn't so bad, but Elissa needs watching and you are the only one who can rein her in."

They continued talking, while under heavy guards, Dawn and Maria passed the arch of the temple. They felt a feeling of warmth and extreme safety as they walked on holy ground, Maria and Dawn could see the faith magic that was coursing through the columns and walls surrounding the temple. The temple was modeled after the main one on Phantasia and its architecture was definitely Greek in inspiration; as a matter of fact, it was bigger than the Parthenon in Greece. 

The protections and wards protecting it were so powerful and advanced that they conjured a feeling of invincibility when you observed the temple with your psychic senses or mage sight. This was a new main temple to the cult of Hekate and it felt grand.

Maria offered her hand to Dawn who took it; her mother looked at her and asked, "Are you ready?"

"I am, mom." Dawn smiled at her beatifically. 

The brunette was then pulled toward the gigantic gates of the temple by her mother who hoped that Dawn wouldn't come to regret her decision.

 

---

 

Hekate's Grand Temple

Dicinna couldn't stop looking at Elissa. The blonde simply looked magical, at least more than usual; Elissa was usually gorgeous, but right now she looked magnificent, otherworldly and powerful. The jewelry adorning her head looked like white gold trees with leaves of sapphires sprouting from her head, matching accessories adorned her neck and arms. In her hair she wore the bonded sapphire in an elven hairstyle showing that she was married to Dicinna.

Her dress was simply beautiful and gave her an ethereal aura, it was a mix of blue colors of different gradient; Dicinna’s eyes roamed over Elissa's princess sweetheart neckline that dipped into an opening that showed some of her naked skin, the mithril and sapphire ornaments, and the white northern direwolf fur of her ice blue cape trailing behind her. The dress had a thigh slit showing off Elissa’s toned leg and her silver short heels. The dress was only holding on Elissa’s body thanks to an enchanted brooch reminding the elf of a winter wind flower made of mithril, white gold and sapphire gem.

Elissa’s arms were naked and all her utility and elemental tattoos were visible, she was sure to generate another wave of fashion in her Queendom. Dicinna wore something simpler, a mix of black drake leather armor and traditional elven dress in white and almost diaphanous and she was wearing the ancestral jewelry considered family heirlooms. A golden circlet with purple magic crystals embedded in it, a similar torc covering her neck and most of her shoulders engraved with runes and enchanted to protect its wearer. Earrings charmed to look eye-catching and distracting. The golden bracelets she wore were engraved with runes and personal wards which could encase her in a powerful shield that reflected magical attacks. It was all part of a set that women in the Zerloth family main branch wore for important functions. 

When Dicinna’s gaze focused back on Elissa, the blonde was smiling at her, looking at her hungrily. There was a promise in Elissa’s eyes that made Dicinna’s lower belly flutter with desire. Today was the day that they were going to give themselves to each other, that they will finally complete their bond. On the blue marble dais, the two of them were facing the crystal altar filled with water, a column of golden light speared from it to the ceiling. Smackdab behind the altar was the diamond statue of Dark Hekate looming over them. Incredible divine energy emanated from it, it shone with a golden inner glow.

It looked almost alive. Dicinna’s attention was captured by the large number of magical beings present, ranging from dryads, elves, humans and… dragons. The polymorphed Wyrms, Gadhiss and her daughter, Spectra, were sitting on comfortable benches filled with cushions. A lot of people were looking at them, some knowing that they were dragons, others completely oblivious of who they were. Elissa’s friends and allies were all in the first row with their family members, they were all in their best dresses and ceremonial armors.

Then their presence was forgotten by Dicinna when the temple’s doors opened and Dicinna saw the second most beautiful person in the world. Her eyes focused on the shimmering blue-purple dress swishing as she moved, a long veil trailed behind her, held by elven and dwarven children. It was Dawn. The dark elf then looked at Elissa whose mouth was gaping, through the link between them, Dicinna felt joy, surprise, elation and lust. Dicinna barely noticed the woman at Dawn’s side, that was how hyper focused she was on the asian girl.

It was Dawn’s mother who wore a martial yet formal outfit Dicinna had never seen before. Suddenly music rose in the air, the magical orchestra playing an elven song about the joining of the sun and moon. The orchestra was placed on the rightmost side of the temple's interior, the members were composed of multiple races, Dwarves, Elves, Apis and surprisingly humans. Dawn held onto her mother’s hand and was being led to the altar, then a newly anointed Priestess of Hekate, a young and lithe brown haired Forest elf in a diaphanous robe and silver white gold jewelry appeared under the diamond statues of Dark Hekate.

The public stirred and watched with attention the following scene. Dawn finally arrived and went up the stairs leading to the altar, her mother then placed herself on the right side near the altar as she was from the immediate family of the bride. On the left, Kiomdra Zerloth and Achilles Mikos were present, his head still bandaged as Elissa had almost cracked his skull when she hit him there. Some people were surprised to see him there, because he had tried to kidnap their Queen.

Because of him, more and more rumors and questions on the provenance of Storm Queen Elissa have surged. Some said she was on the run and decided to carve a Queendom to defend herself against the Imperial family that bore her, others were saying that she was sent on Svartalfheim to bring this world under the control of the Empire she came from.

A chime rang, attracting the attention of everyone, the priestess spread her arms wide and began to speak. Her dress shifted a bit, putting or leaving her cleavage in plain view. Fortunately, her torc hid most of it. “Greetings everyone, we welcome you to The Grand Temple to our Lady of Magic, Dark Hekate. We take ourselves out of the usual routines of daily living to witness a unique moment in the lives of Storm Queen Elissa Shaera Snow Phantasia Dragonfang and Queen Consort Dicinna Zerloth and Lady Mage Dawn Kisaragi.”

Dicinna, Dawn and Elisse turned to the priestess and attentively looked at her, while she pointed her hand at all the people assembled, royals, officers in the Queendom’s armies, nobles, ambassadors, friends and allies of the Storm Queen. “To all their guests, they are happy to share this moment with you. They may have not known most of you for long but you have seen them do great things. You watched them build this city, learn about the races assembled in Aryther, or you worked with them. Because you are the ones who have supported them, it is only fitting that you are the ones to share this once-in-a-lifetime moment with them.”

Her Majesty Elissa and her brides turned to each of their parents, they were pleased to have them at their side… close to them for the ceremony. The Storm Queen started first, she walked toward her still wounded uncle and caught his hands in hers. “Thank you, uncle Achilles, for providing me this opportunity to at least have one of the people who raised me here. You are the best uncle anyone could ask for.”

He was in his black armor, that he had polished to look presentable, his hair was tied in a Viking inspired braid with a well groomed beard. He looked simply dashing. “At least something I did better than my Brother and sister in law… Congratulations Elissa.”

“Thank you.” Elissa hugged him and kissed his cheek with emotion, Achilles laughed in good humor.

It was Dicinna’s turn to walk to her mother, who looked a bit worried at what she would say, the two dark elves looked at each other, Dicinna bowing her head first. “Mother Kiomdra, we may have had our... disagreements in the past but I know that they were born out of love,” A rare public smile flowered on Dicinna's face. “so I appreciate all the love and support you have given me over the years.”

“I am sorry, Daughter. I regret having been so hard on you, you made your own fortune in this world and you found your own way.” Kiomdra said as she watched Elissa let go of her uncle. The elven matriarch crossed the distance between her and Dicinna and she hugged her daughter too. “I am proud of who you have become, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me.” She whispered into Dicinna’s ear.

Dicinna’s face slowly lost its wooden expression and she slowly devolved into tears. “I… I love you mother.”

“I had doubts… but now, I know you don’t hate me, thank you.” Kiomdra’s voice cracked a bit at this revelation.

Dawn wasn’t any better and said with her face full of joy, “Thank you mom, you won’t regret ever letting me wed them, I promise.”

Maria’s brown eyes focused on Dawn as she took her in. She had grown to be a beautiful, kind, honest and virtuous young woman. Dawn’s mother caught her hand, holding it tight. “I trust you Dawn, I may not like the situation but your sanity and well-being come first. If those two ever hurt you… I will find a way to hurt them back.”

Dawn didn’t know if she should feel touched or scared that her mother could say things like that. But by putting herself in her shoes, she somewhat understood, not totally, after all she wasn’t a mother yet. But she empathized, this wedding was rather sudden. “Mom…”

Maria simply pulled her daughter in her embrace and kissed her daughter’s cheek. Dawn had grown ten centimeters in height from the last time she had been on Earth; she realized that her daughter was growing up well and already making life changing decisions.

The Priestess smiled at each of the brides and Storm Queen, she clapped her hands to attract their attention; the parents and girls to be wed turned to her. “Are you ready? It is time to start.”

The girls nodded in sync, then looked at each other and exchanged smiles before returning to their previous positions before the altar. The Priestess placed herself behind the altar and then joined her hands in prayer. “Now let us pray to the glory of our patron goddess, let us ask Dark Hekate for her grace.”

The music in the temple stopped gradually, then the Priestess cast a spell to let her voice be heard in the cavernous room.

 

 “Glory to you, O Hekate

    Goddess who guards our opportunities

    Queen of magic and circumstance

    Keyholder, beloved mother of witches

    Hekate, guide me through blessed doors

    Shut those that might lead to my destruction

    Hekate, she who holds the keys to the realms of time

    Hekate, the goddess of wisdom and fate

    Who hears the whisper of prophecy

    Goddess of mysteries

    Take my hand, O goddess

    Put all your knowledge into my palm

    And let your magic flow through me”

 

As more and more people in the temple spoke in prayer, the lights in the temple began to slowly become brighter, the fountains at the side of the altar began to bubble as the water jet rose higher, of course without splashing anyone. Sigils and runes etched in the altar that were previously invisible simply came alive in golden-white yellow light  until a column emitted from its center and speared the ceiling that was itself covered in a fresco depicting the deeds of the Storm Queen and of her Goddess creating her birth place.

From the pews, the guests could actually feel a presence weighing on them, it felt as if someone was judging them. Some began to believe that Hekate was present, they looked at diamond statues either with fear or awe. Some even felt external mana begin to flow through them, bolstering their own mana core and becoming slightly more clear headed.

The priestess began to speak again to come to the point of the ceremony. “Her Majesty and her brides join their lives in the union of marriage. The three of them look to a shared future that includes safeguarding the Queendom, cherishing and taking care of their subjects, and raising a happy and healthy family to perpetuate the royal line. That future also includes a richly lived life together. The years will come and go and I hope they won’t take each other for granted, they will become the best parents they can be, grow older and wiser together.”

Elissa looked at Dicinna and Dawn and just couldn't wait to finally tie the knot, this has been a longtime coming. She gave each of them a proud smile. Seeing this, the Priestess decided to speed things up, preaching wasn't her strong suit, though she knew her new patron goddess existed, her tenets and rules to follow were rather vague and seemed to be guidelines more than laws. Adapting them to this situation wasn't simple either.

“We come now to the words our ruler and her bride want to share with each other the most today… the words that pledge them to each other and that take them across the threshold from being engaged to being married. To us mortals, a marriage, as most of us understand it, is a voluntary and full commitment. To the Gods, it’s a covenant of trust, soul sharing and it is entered into the desire and hope that it will last for life.”

It was the main event, Dicinna and Elissa looked at Dawn and reassured her as they could see how nervous she had become suddenly. The Statue behind the Priestess glowed a yellow gold color and miraculously its eyes blinked, and focused on the three young women before the Altar. 

The Priestess wasn’t surprised at all as she had at multiple times entered in communion with her new Goddess. “Before you declare your vows to one another, the Goddess Hekate wants to hear you confirm that it is indeed your intention to be married today.”

The public in the pews outside the temple who were shown this scene all went into a frenzy as they saw a godly manifestation for the first time in their existence. The same thing seemed to happen in the temple with a number of guests. The Priestess and Elissa delighted in the reaction of everyone, she wasn’t surprised that Hekate would take possession of the statue in the temple. It had been sculpted from marble and transmuted to diamond by herself thanks to her Philosopher stone.

The Priestess turned to Elissa, as she did so, her magical accessories clinked and Elissa noticed that the priestess was using a form of possession when she looked into her eyes. Dark eyes filled with stars looked back at her. “Your Majesty, Elissa Shaera Snow Phantasia Dragonfang, do you come here freely and without reservation to give yourself to Dicinna Zerloth Phantasia Dragonfang and Dawn Kisaragi in marriage? If so, answer ‘I do.’”

Elissa used her sound manipulation ability to say a loud, “I do.” it rang throughout the temple, and outside of it, making everyone flinch.

Dicinna rolled her eyes, Dawn looked reproachfully at Elissa as she held onto her ears. The Storm Queen just smiled as if nothing was her fault. The Priestess mumbled something about show-off Royalty and their antics before turning to Dicinna, the diamond statue's head shifted to her. 

The priestess spoke, “Queen Consort Dicinna Zerloth Phantasia Dragonfang, do you come here freely and without reservation to give yourself to Elissa Shaera Snow Phantasia Dragonfang and Dawn Kisaragi in marriage? If so, answer ‘I do.’”

Dicinna nodded. “I do.” She turned to Elissa and smiled, everyone could see the depth of her emotion for the Storm Queen.

It was finally Dawn’s turn. “Lady Dawn Kisaragi, do you come here freely and without reservation to give yourself to Elissa Shaera Snow Phantasia Dragonfang and Dicinna Zerloth Phantasia Dragonfang in marriage? If so, answer ‘I do.’”

The asian girl looked nervously at the Priestess, “I-I do.” Then when she saw her two brides' expressions grinned beautifully at them as each of them put their arms around hers in reassurance.

Hekate's statue smiled as her eyes upon the three weighed their commitment. To the surprise of everyone the statue moved out of its pedestal to reach behind the Priestess, becoming even more alive until it gained substance and the likeness of a living person. But the nine feet tall woman was clearly not mortal, she was obviously tall, statuesque even; with dark hair eyes like pools of shadow. She carried herself with the casual confidence of someone who knows they’re the most dangerous thing in the temple, an impression reinforced by the fact that her outfit seemed to consist entirely of black leather and blades.

To everyone paying attention, there was a family resemblance, the Goddess’ face was clearly similar to the Storm Queen’s. Some guests smarter than others immediately understood what was what and guessed the relationship between the patron goddess of Aryther and it’s ruler. It didn’t bode well for the elves present, the dwarves stayed stoic at this revelation, the other races present chose to keep their head in the sand or outright deny what they were seeing happening.

“Your Majesty, Elissa Shaera Snow Phantasia Dragonfang, Queen Consort Dicinna Zerloth Phantasia Dragonfang, Lady Dawn Kisaragi, having heard that it is your intention to be married to each other, I now ask you to declare your marriage vows.” The Priestess decided to steer the event to it’s conclusion, the Divine possession was taking its toll on her mana reserve, even if they were bolstered by her new Deity they were not infinite. “Please face each other and hold hands.”

The three young women moved and formed a circle, Elissa was at the center. The Storm Queen looked at the both of them, joy etched upon her visage. “I, Elissa Shaera Snow Phantasia Dragonfang, take both of you, Dicinna Zerloth Phantasia Dragonfang and Dawn Kisaragi to be my wives. I will share my life with yours, and build our dreams together, support you through times of trouble, and rejoice with you in times of happiness. I promise to give you respect, love and loyalty. This commitment is made in love, kept in faith, lived in hope, and made new every day of our lives.”

It started when Elissa was making her vows, a bubble of transparent white golden energy surrounded them. None of the girls reacted when Hekate began to project her divine magic around their person. Their magical core, a metaphysical organ became visible, flaming with different colored light, golden white for Elissa, Grey for Dicinna and Purple for Dawn. Lines of mana suddenly speared out of the cores and connected to each of the girls, forming a three layered triangle. Dark Hekate’s spread her arms, beams of light shot out of her hands and struck the bubble.

Dicinna felt as if her soul bond with Elissa was being reinforced, but her mana core was being drained at the same time. Dawn almost went on her knees, but was kept on her feet by sheer will; she wasn’t about to make a spectacle of herself. The girls initially wanted to panic when the bubble of divine magic had appeared, but Elissa controlled each of them and mouthed to them to trust Hekate.

“Brides, it’s your turn.” The Priestess said.

Each of them repeated the vow, they had worked on it together; this wedding wasn’t a mundane one, but counted as a ritual as well. A magical ritual in which the hands and hearts are tied together to symbolize the binding of two or multiple lives. On the altar, three blue boxes decorated with a roaring silver dragon set with blue sapphire for eyes appeared on the glowing marble altar, they floated up to each young woman, stopping before them and the boxes opened.

Inside, a triangular white gold hair brooch, in the triangle, an engraved three-eyed silver dragon set with different colored gems gleamed under the intense light show inside the temple.

“Your wedding braids are the outward and visible sign of the inward and invisible bond which already unites your three hearts in love.” The Priestess intoned clearly.

The Forest elf then focused on Elissa who used a wordless telekinetic cantrip without taking her hands off the girl’s. “Your Majesty, place the hair brooches on your brides’ hair…”

She chose to start with Dicinna who had a long braid on the side of her face with a virgin hair brooch. The triangular accessories flew slowly to the brooch and melded with it. “I give you this brooch. Wear it with love and joy. As it is proof that my dedication to you has no end, my love is also forever.”

Dicinna’s gaze lit up when she felt the hair brooch clasp.

“Brides, place the hair brooch in her Majesty’s hair.” The Priestess said.

The Dark elf consort and Dawn used a similar cantrip to apply their brooches on each of the two braids Elissa had at the side of her head. In unison they clearly enunciated, “I give you this hair brooch. Wear it with love and joy. As it is proof that my dedication to you has no end, my love is also forever.”

“May the wedding hair brooch you exchanged today remind you always that you are surrounded by enduring love.” The Priestess held her hands before her, they lit up in white light enveloping them, then she clapped her hands and the light from her hands spread and just like a signal was given Hekate’s Statue stopped feeding divine mana to the ritual.

The bubble of divine magic became opaque, those who had extremely acute spiritual senses felt as the mana of the Queen and her brides slowly fused, until it became one. To High Queen Vanhyld, who was an Earth sorceress, she felt as if the three young women were amalgamating into a single entity; she briefly saw a tall and white-gold haired voluptuous young woman in leather armor. But just as it appeared it stopped being clear and the image warped by the formidable amount of energy surging. To the guest it was as if they were seeing someone being reborn, the bubble then began to have cracks spreading on its surface, until sounds similar to ice cracking as it melted on a river in spring was thus heard.

A shockwave spread into the temple when the bubble simply broke, the three appeared in full view of the guest and the Priestess.

<It is done.> Hekate’s voice rang in the temple.

Elissa, Dawn and Dicinna were covered by a golden film of mana and the mana thread linking them slowly became invisible. The girls let go of each other’s hands and noticed how different they felt. Elissa closed and opened her fists, Dicinna looked around as she noticed things that she couldn’t before and Dawn felt strong, stronger than she had any right to be. She giggled at this. 

The Priestess smiled and said loudly, “I offer these good wishes to you on this special day, your Majesty, your Highnesses.”

With a solemn tone the Priestess performed a Blessing spell. “May your life together be blessed with prosperity and good health. May you always share open and honest communication between each other.  May you respect each other’s individual talents and gifts and give full support to each other’s professional and personal pursuits. May you cherish the home and family you will create together.  May all the years to come be filled with moments to celebrate and renew your love. May your love be a life-long source of excitement, contentment, affection, respect, and devotion for one another.”

With a clasp of thunder and the Elder Goddess smiling at the newlyweds, the blessing settled on the young women.

“And so now by the power vested in me by Dark Hekate, it is my honor and delight to declare you wife and wives. You may seal this declaration with a kiss.”

Elissa was the first to move as she pulled Dawn first in a searing kiss for one minute; then it was Dicinna’s turn with Elissa. Dawn then interrupted them and kissed the dark elf with passion. When they stopped, the Forest elf intoned: “I am pleased to present the newlyweds!”

The inside of the temple broke into applause, from outside the temple, Elissa could hear the thunderous approval of her subjects.

 

---

 

Dragonfang tower
Banquet hall
2 hours later

Elissa was beyond happy. Marrying Dawn and Dicinna had been a long term goal she had set for herself, beyond that she had realized most of the things she wanted to do that day. Right now they were at the wedding banquet seated at the table of honor. Dicinna was on her right, while Dawn on her left; they were still reeling from the ritual that had inextricably linked their life force.

Taking a large chunk of Giant Viper meat by planting her cutlery knife in it, Elissa ate it as she mulled over what happened at her wedding. The ritual went kind of funky, it had linked Dawn and Dicinna to her; now she felt what they felt, could see what they saw, their mana was also connected as if they were the same person. Their minds linked into a group ego where they could exchange thoughts, emotions and memories, it was a heady feeling to feel the girls constantly with her.

Elissa looked around the banquet hall, over 4,300 square feet of immaculately-decorated space. The ballroom featured an expansive dance floor, a rotating crystal chandelier, crystal ambient lighting, and a grand foyer for impressive entrances. The Storm Queen gazed at the catering crew consisting of graceful dark elves and Apis (the race of bee girls found in Aryther’s surroundings). Everyone Elissa was friends or an ally with was present, everyone from the Lutrinians Matriarchs to the Zerloth clan were present, even the Snow Elves who had brought back Achilles and his harem.

That change of relationship in her uncle's love life still floored the Storm Queen, Achilles was in a relationship with three other women. Elissa’s eyes fell on the right side of the table, Achilles, Belle, Ishtar and Brianna were looking around, seemingly overwhelmed by the diversity of magical beings mingling with each other.

They were all achingly beautiful in their own way and looked individually strong, they wore unique dress armors commissioned for them from Elissa’s Dwarven fashion designers. Belle, Elissa’s favorite -almost- aunt was in a golden dragon mail dress; she looked self-conscious about how she attracted attention with the sparkling apparel. Ishtar was into a clingy red and silver short dress with the same dragon mail look and Brianna had gone traditional with an airy black dress with golden jewelry set with multiple emeralds.

This was obviously a way to bribe them to make them give up on their goal to bring Elissa back. The Storm Queen averted her eyes from them as Ishtar glared at her when she noticed they were being observed; Elissa simply smiled at that, the woman still thought she was a threat. *How typical, people who have lived in democracies often cannot cope with an Oligarchic system. She’s lucky uncle Achilles really loves her, still I don’t know how they worked out their arrangement.*

“It weirds me out as well.” Elissa heard Dawn say.

The Storm Queen turned her head to her wife who had changed her wedding dress and was now into a more relaxed white and royal blue one that will allow her more mobility. The brunette put her fork in her plate having finished eating the viper meat and the exotic fruits set aside for her. Dawn took a swig of Dragon wine, the most expensive beverage from the nine realms; it was delicious and had the effect of permanently boosting the mana of the consumer by a factor of ten.

Elissa chuckled as she parsed through her feelings and the strangeness of not having any more privacy with their linked minds. “I don’t want to be a hypocrite, but seeing my uncle with multiple women is strange, yes.”

Dicinna looked at the two of them with an uncertain expression. “It is strange to me as well, a man shared by three women, it’s not done.”

The dark elf consort was still in her traditional battle wedding dress, seated rather close to Elissa who put a hand on hers and said matter of factly, “That’s because you have lived in a Matriarchal society all your life.”

Elissa’s dark elf couldn’t think of a society that was Patriarchal in nature as a good one, however to Elissa there were pros and cons to everything. In Dark elf society, a man has no control of his destiny, and if one has a family "liberal" enough to have him educated, he would be constantly rebuked for going against the society at the slightest misconduct. Women on Svartalfheim ultimately had all the power, but it wasn’t strictly true in the case of the dwarves. 

Dicinna followed Elissa's mental arguing and spoke aloud to say, “You are certainly right, but it’s disturbing to some of my people.”

The platinum blonde planted her knife in the meat displayed before her again. “In the Phantasian Empire what matters is power, not your gender. You’d often see men married with a lot of women, or women with two husbands and vice versa. Remind me to give you one of my socio-cultural treatises, Dicinna.”

The dark elf flinched and said with sarcasm and a deadpan look, “You are such a caring person, my love, you're giving me more homework…” 

Elissa felt a sting on the back of her hand and saw that Dawn had pinched her in defense of Dicinna. The Storm Queen was a bully when training and studying was concerned, Dicinna has become her favorite target as of late due to her weak grounding in the magical disciplines.

“Elissa, that’s not nice.” Dawn said disapprovingly. 

The Storm Queen narrowed her eyes dangerously. “You will get your share as well, Dawn.”

Dawn looked down and wrung her hands as she whispered, “I should have just not butted in…”

Too bad that everyone had sharp ears at the table, Elissa was the first to say with satisfaction oozing from her voice, “Indeed.”

The Storm Queen's eyes fell back on Ishtar and the other girls of Achilles little group, the woman still continued to glare at her while holding on Achilles who was still wounded by their light spar. The woman could hold a grudge, so Elissa decided to make it up to her and her uncle. There was something that needed to be addressed because those women were in a relationship with an ancient human, there would be some genetic compatibility problems eventually.

Elissa swiftly began to plan how to get back at the woman and do her a favor at the same time. Dawn interrupted her as she had a bad time following Elissa’s speed of thoughts, she was still not used to the sharing of their mind brought by the ritual. 

“Elissa… what are you scheming?” The brunette asked. 

Elissa simply smiled at her, it wasn't one of her nice smiles. Dawn recognized this expression as the one when someone will suffer or beg for mercy when Elissa was done with them. 

The Storm Queen chuckled as she swallowed the slice of meat on her knife and swallowed. After she finished consuming the food she spoke aloud, “Just thinking about doing something nice for uncle Achilles.”

Dicinna quickly understood what was going to happen as she saw Elissa’s intention in her mind. “You are a devil.”

Elissa cackled mentally and quipped smugly, “I was raised by one.”

Dicinna raised her eyes to the ceiling and said with fake pain in her voice, “It explains everything.”

 

---

 

Daphne Snow School
September 11th, 2018

 

Speaking of the devil in question, Malicia was in her study; exhausted by her long hunting night, she looked at the Draugr blood on her hand. The only proof that what she’s been doing wasn’t a delusion. Each night she had been taken by Garm, the blood-stained guardian of Hel’s gate. She had found this being abhorrent but she didn’t have to like him, her task was to bring the denizens of Hel back in this realm and to hunt those beings trying to breach the Norse afterlife.

Malicia let her black fire clean up her hand from the Draugr’s blood on it, the only way to get rid of the cursed ichor. Raising from her bed, the demoness hurt her eyes as the sunlight passed through her curtains. With a wave of her hand they closed abruptly, darkening the bedroom. She hissed in relief as her eyes adjusted automatically to the dimness in the room. Malicia’s feet led her to the nearest full mirror near her closet, as she gazed at her reflection, she noted the change to her physical body; the red eyes instead of golden ones, the chalk like color of her skin and how she could barely contain her claws from elongating and her gaining a second set of horns.

Malicia’s constitution wasn’t in balance anymore, she was becoming more demon than fae as she got exposed to the fell energies of Hel. “Now… now, I understand the cruelty of fate better than anyone.”

“What am I but a slave to this torment?” She had been loaned to the Death Goddess like a cheap book by Dark Hekate. Just like a cheap wench in a bordello… but it seemed that she was being tested as well. Malicia needed to find her daughters for her torment to cease. 

The demoness put on her clothes, a black corset covering a dark green dress with heels and her focus bracelet on her right arm. As she looked at herself in the mirror, the sorceress fought to reapply her human glamour, a difficult endeavor when a part of her wanted nothing but to tear, kill and take back what is hers, her progeny. *Mine!*

Slowly her horns, claws and tail faded from view, leaving only Malicia’s human traits for all to see. She nodded at her reflection, satisfied with the result. With a snap of her fingers, Malicia teleported to the sanctum. She appeared in the library adjacent to her personal study, a change that she abhorred since Malicia no longer held administrative rights over the sanctum as Elissa had seized them. With the kind of authority that Elissa had left her she at best was logged as a normal user. A slight against her that Elissa had without a doubt orchestrated in anger.

The atmosphere around Malicia turned cold as her anger was barely held in check as she walked toward the heart of the Sanctum. Malicia was let in and the central memory crystal loomed over her; the silver walls closed in on her and a screen came alive before her.

{Greetings, user.} The melodic voice welcomed Malicia.

*It stung,* Malicia thought. *not to be welcomed with my usual title.* But Malicia decided right here to not let it affect her, she had better things to do than trying to wrestle control for the Sanctum from Elissa; the girl had at least let her stay a user, she still had access to the grimoires she had become dependent on.

The Dae flipped her hair back as she asked imperiously, “Sanctum, report, how is her Imperial Highness doing?”

{I am sorry, user. I cannot do that.}

Malicia’s eyes flashed as she was refused yet again; she had hoped that her status as the Imperial Princess’ guardian would let her have access to Elissa’s day to day schedule or some other information that she could exploit to take her back.

Her face met her right and with a frustrated growl, the Dae asked, “Then what can you do?”

A chime rang in the air, startling Malicia. {Her Highness, Elissa, has sent you a missive.}

“Give it to me.” Malicia commanded.

With a pop, a letter appeared in the air over the pedestal carrying the memory crystal of Sanctum and the sorceress grabbed it with her telekinesis.  As she inspected the letter, she looked at the seal, a three dimensional silver dragon carrying the magic signature of her adoptive daughter. With a clawed finger, Malicia opened the letter by its right side and let the lone sheet of paper inside out. 

Malicia began to read.

 

Dear Mom,

Hope this letter finds you in the best of your health. I owe you a huge apology for my actions and behavior. I want you to know that it was never my intention to hurt you like this. I had no right to act the way I did and I realize it all now. I love you mom and you will always be my bedrock. 

After cooling off for a week and thinking about what you did, I understood why you did it. I have a tendency to hyperfocus when a goal is given to me and you wanted me to have a good childhood, something that was refused to you. And Cassie misses you and has been a right terror, so I have no choice but to buckle up and mend fences.

To make amends, I would like to schedule a meeting for an appointment according to your convenience. I hope to hear from you really soon, please don’t take too long.

With Love,

Sincerely,

Elissa

 

Malicia’s cold demeanour shifted instantly. Tears streamed from her eyes, the ink on the letter blotted a bit as the Dae’s cried. “Well, well. What an awkward situation I found myself in.”

Elissa’s temper had cooled off and now she was opening overtures toward peaceful talks and it seemed that she wanted to do so in a position of power. This may have been her plan all along; Malicia had taught the girl politics and subterfuge, she couldn’t deceive her. Nevertheless, it was heartwarming that the girl at least knew that she was wrong. But Malicia also thought that the girl had given in too fast, that she may have ulterior motivation.

The Dae conjured a sheet of paper, with greenish flaming, a message burned itself upon it.

 

Dear Elissa, 

I’m glad to accept your meeting request. I wish to see you and Cassandra in three days, at six pm after school in Daphne Snow School. I welcome the opportunity to meet with you and resolve our differences… that one week without you girls has not been easy for me, Elissa. 

We shall meet at the time as suggested.

With love, your mother,

Malicia.

 

The sorceress made a satisfied nod as she reviewed the short letter, conjured an envelope and placed the sheet of paper inside after folding it. She closed it and sealed it with her magical signature with a simple charm to make it so that only Elissa and Cassandra could open it.

"Here, Sanctum." Malicia said as she threw the letter at the pedestal.

The letter then disappeared with a pop from view, transported to Svartalfheim directly to Elissa. Depending on this meeting with her daughters, Malicia had traps to prepare in case there's a fallout between them. The Dae teleported out with an insane cackle that disturbed the library inside the sanctum.

---

 

Royal Arena

September 12th, 2018

Donovan looked on at the center of the Arena, he thought about how his life had taken a weird turn. He met Elissa, got to date the best girl ever and trained in the most exclusive academy to become a superhero. Donovan found that his own morality and personal belief were somewhat clashing with the things taught at the Tesla Academy. Things promised to change with the Assembly having taken control of most of the Old Superhuman League contract, but he didn’t get the time to see how their handling of the school program was going to affect him and his friends.

However, life has a way of sending you curveballs when you least expect it. Elissa got back from her summer training, more beautiful and stronger than before and somehow voluntold them that she’s taking them with her as her inner circle. She gifted them power boost, magical education, land and nobility titles. 

The young Viscount watched as two newly minted knights clashed in the new lesser dragon jousting sport. The clash of metal on metal rang in the air, the elf knight fighting against the Dwarven one fell from the wingless lesser dragon he rode on. As she hit the sand ground of the Arena, the elf stood back up while her dwarven foe stopped his steed and unmounted it. With a swift movement the dwarf took his battle axe from his back sheath and charged the elf.

The elf avoided being mauled by using a reinforcement spell that made her easily sidestep the axe slash, giving her enough time to unsheath her bastard sword. The blade suddenly caught fire, orange flame imbuing it and then the two knights started to fight in earnest. To Donovan, the fight was exciting in a superhuman way… though he was comparing what he would have done in the dwarf's position. 

He turned his head to the royal booth where Elissa, Dawn and Dicinna were watching while being fed some snacks by the attentive and loyal Dwarven maids. The girls looked happy and completely oblivious of what was happening around them.

"Don, should I feel jealous that you look at Elissa and her wives more than me?" The sweet tone of Dani Spark belied the dangerous question that his girlfriend just asked.

Mechanically and with a bit of panic, the tall boy defended himself. "That’s not it Dan…"

Dani was a beautiful girl with golden blonde hair and electric blue eyes, she was a looker and a really nice girl when you get past the queen bee persona she has going on. She wore a skin-tight blue dress that flattered her curves and Mithril enchanted accessories set with sparkling sapphires. Donovan wore a matching decorative cuirasse with black wyvern leather pants and boots. He looked badass.

Donovan could sincerely say that it was her who seduced him, it had started with innocent texting, then touching, until Donovan cornered her after school and kissed while they were going back to their dorm. Since then the two of them had been together.

It had been awkward at first as Caroline, one of her best friends, had a crush on him. But after training, studying and sharing the dorms together, she had stopped. Donovan was a loyal and virtuous guy who had never thought about cheating on Dani. He had seen boys his age in his previous high-school do that shit and it never ended well. Dani was fun to be with, sure she was competitive and hyper focused on being the best, but getting his paws on that body of hers was heavenly. That was how she controlled him, Donovan realized, the girl was like a succubus. 

The love of Donovan's life raised an especially well cared for eyebrow and asked, "Really?"

"I was thinking about how Elissa and the girls seem to be in their own world." Donovan put a hand on Dani's that was on her armrest at his side.

Dani turned her attention to the royal booth, the girls sat on blue and white colored thrones and with her enhanced sight she could see Elissa smiling and joking while Dicinna touched the platinum blonde's breast. Dawn was being fed some grapes.

Dani laughed, a bit embarrassed by their behavior. "Huh, yeah they don't seem to care about the fight."

His gaze back to the Arena's center  Donovan focused on the movement of the Dwarven knight who used the blunt side of his axe to disarm the elf who dodged a solid fist from hitting her by the skin of her teeth. "Well, did you notice how slow they are? Is it our passive abilities doing this?" Donovan said as he followed the knights movements and felt the flow of their mana guessing where each hit would land.

Dani sat forward and looked like she was concentrating, thirty seconds later she smiled as she saw what her boyfriend was getting at. "Yes, we are always fighting between us and the ones who had undergone the awakening procedure so it’s normal that we didn't realize it yet I guess. We are becoming even more badass each day."

The young man took Dani’s hand and kissed it. It was really cute how his girl was obsessed with becoming strong. "So it's no wonder Elissa and the others don't care about the fight, it's kind of boring. I still like it though, I can see a fighting style I wasn't familiar with."

It didn’t stop him from considering using a blunt weapon as his go to; Donovan was the team’s tank. It was also the type of training he was receiving from the royal weaponsmith, an axe and a shield were fast becoming his best weapons.

Dani laughed as she looked at the elven knight  take her sword back from the sand by rolling on it and dodging a swipe of the dwarf’s axe. The elf used her magic sword then launched a stream of fire at the dwarf who quickly used some kind of earth shield that protected him. The earth shield then shattered and as if a grenade exploded, but the shrapnel was directed toward the elf who had no choice but to protect herself with a magic shield. However the dwarf knight didn’t leave it at that and broke the shield as his axe gained a red sheen of magic that slashed the blade of the elf’s sword.

The fight finished at this exact moment, the elven woman took off her helmet and Donovan could see that she was crying because of her broken sword that she gathered tearfully in her sheath.

Dani shook her head, not impressed with the show. "Elves love their swords." She spat disgustedly.

Donovan said nothing, he knew that some elves guarded family heirlooms jealousy. Often it had been given by past royalty or for commendable acts that their ancestor had given them. But with magic, and all the smith present in Dragonfall and Queen’s Rise, fixing or reforging a sword should be easy. "That they do, bow and magic as well."

The young man’s gaze idly went to the royal booth where his friend was, he saw something unexpected happen and some kind of envelope popped into existence and slapped Elissa in the face. Dani saw it too and commented, "Huh, look, Elissa received some kind of message."

As the Storm Queen opened and read the content of the envelope, Donovan saw a lot of magic roll out from the booth and the people in the Arena became more subdued as a cold wave seized them.

“Is it me or has it become a bit chillier?” Dani commented as she put Donovan’s arms around her shoulders, seeking warmth.

 

---

 

Royal Booth

Elissa was happy, the happiest. Last night was the best of her life. She had finally given herself to Dawn and Dicinna, and they did the same in return. But in the middle of her passionate night and the feeling of completeness as they consummated their relationship, something strange had happened to the three of them. It had been a scary yet heady feeling to become one with her wives, but ironically it was rather different from what she had anticipated. 

Dicinna wasn't perturbed by the change at all, while Dawn was in the same state as Elissa, happy but weirded out. Elissa remembered what happened last night with clear details.

 

# # #

(Flashback) 

September 11th, 2018
Midnight
The Storm Queen’s bedroom

 

Elissa passed through the red portal and fell on her back on the bed beneath her. Dawn appeared at Elissa’s side and ripped her wife’s dress from her. With a panther-like gait, Dicinna passed through the portal and closed it with a thought. The blonde was suddenly afraid as she watched her two wives slowly take off their dresses, piece by piece; tanned and pale snowy skin gradually uncovered for Elissa. 

It was without doubt the sexiest thing she had seen in her life. Dicinna and Dawn were captivating, the difference between them dazzling Elissa. The tan skinned elf has a wedge shaped body that was laid bare to the Storm Queen, whose eyes turned to the shorter pale skinned beauty that was Dawn. Her body was more voluptuous than Dicinna’s, but it wasn’t just their beauty that attracted the blonde; it was their personalities and behaviour.

At super speed, Elissa tried to reverse their position but to her surprise Dawn and Dicinna saw her move and pinned her to the bed while climbing on it. With feline-like motion the two girls moved on all four. Dicinna was the first to hover over Elissa's face, licking her lips and kissing her wife. Elissa felt hands roaming all over body, and she realized that the girls were teaming up to make love to her. The Storm Queen felt the girls peel her undergarments off her expertly and gasped when she felt Dawn part her legs by caressing her inner thighs and lapping at her nether region.

Dicinna pinned Elissa’s arms over her head, surprising the blonde as she was being pleasured; she found it hard to think as Dawn was Australian kissing her. All strength left Elissa as she drowned in pleasure and let the girls work. As hours passed, Elissa took and gave pleasure to her wives; every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every last bit of the girls' bodies sang in unison, bringing happiness to them. It was after consummating their relationships and holding her wives tightly against her on her bed that Elissa understood that making love was more than simply a pleasurable act between two or multiple people. It encompassed all that a couple was supposed to share: trust and commitment, hopes and dreams, a promise to make it through whatever the future might bring. 

She was so happy that she started to become afraid; The greater the love; the greater the tragedy when it is over. Elissa tightened her hold on Dicinna and Dawn, then kissed each one of their forehead. So focused Elissa had become that she didn’t notice her aura spreading over the two young women in her arms. The girls’ auras responded in kind and a peculiar event happened in the Queen’s bedchamber when Elissa, Dicinna and Dawn’s body covered in a golden sheen and melded together.

Their body amalgamated into a seven feet tall woman. The new being raised her hands in the hair and looked up. She focused on the wards in the room and the lighting inside automatically came on. Sitting up, she continued to look at herself, inside she panicked as she felt that she wasn’t alone in her mind. Dawn and Dicinna were with her and awake.

<What in Nodicea’s name is going on?> Dicinna’s voice rang in the body’s head.

<Eli?> Dawn asked multiple questions in their shared mind such as : What the fuck? Where are you?

<I don’t know.> Elissa didn’t know what was happening to them but she strived to keep calm for her two wives.

Elissa made this new body stand up, realizing that she was in control of it, but strangely she couldn’t pull on her mana nor her super powers. Before she could panic, her second wife soothed her nerves. <Huh, I think it’s me who control it now, Eli.> Dawn revealed.

<And I all our abilities if the sensations I feel is exact.> Dicinna added.

Elissa moved the body toward her walk-in closet at the right side of her bed; it’s door opened to reveal shelves and aisles full of clothes, armor and weapons on the walls. At the end of the room, a compartment which resembles a vanity room could be found. A full length mirror consisting of a wall was present. Elissa, still naked, approached and couldn’t believe what she was seeing, her reflection showed a completely different person.

The woman in the mirror had a shapely and voluptuous figure, light tanned skin, white golden hair with brunette locks framing her face. Her eyes’ color shifted between green, to purple and golden brown. She touched her skin, it was smooth and unblemished. The woman’s hand trailed on her torso, reaching for her breasts, they were firm and… consequent.

<This is us?> Dawn asked, mesmerized by the body reflected in the mirror.

Elissa made faces in the mirror and then took on a pose, the body followed her exact movement.

<I am not sure.> Dicinna said as she looked at Elissa’s antics, she was a bit amused by what her wife was doing.

<She looks like what we would if we had fused. See, she has Elissa’s boobs, Dicinna’s eyes and my cute nose.> Dawn said after a summary inspection.

Dicinna hummed in assent. <Now that I look closer…>

The Storm Queen's mind went into overdrive as she thought about what might have caused this. Her meeting with Hekate in the Majestic Cavern with Dawn and Dicinna came to mind as she started to understand what was happening. 

Elissa cut short the conversation as she finally calmed down and told them what she realized. <I think it’s what has happened, girls. We have fused.>

For ten long seconds there was silence as in their state, Elissa could share thoughts and memories with them. They saw what Elissa meant, it was a strange experience to share a body like this. 

<The ritual for our wedding?> Dawn understood that it wasn't a normal ritual at all. They have become intrinsically linked to each other in a way that she didn't know if she was still herself.

<That explains everything.> Fear bubbled up in Dicinna, she was scared with how easily the deity had meddled with them and changed them forever. That her experiences and trials were nothing but a rehearsed and carefully planned tale.

Elissa’s mental voice broke Dicinna from her musings. <You remember when Mother Hekate said we were an item? That she had divided our original soul in three parts?>

She leaned against the mirror, gazing at her reflection as she waited for her two wives to come to the same conclusion as her. Meanwhile, with her free hand Elissa made a fist; as she tightened it she realized how strong her body was. It shocked Elissa when a crack appeared in the mirror’s reflective surface before the enchanted wall repaired itself because of a mini shockwave.

<Huh? Elissa that can’t be right...> Dawn began to say in shock. In her heart she found that what Elissa alluded to was terrifying and that Dark Hekate wasn’t to trifle with. The level of power and mastery of soul magic this ritual asked was simply beyond whatever she has experienced before.

<You don’t mean...> Dicinna remembered.

Elissa finished inspecting their new body in the mirror and said, <I think she found a work around and that she meddled in our life more than we thought.>

<Gods.> Elissa replied simply as if it explained everything.

The Storm Queen then focused on wanting to separate with the girls. She expected that this amalgam body was receptive to their mental state and just like she expected…. The three of them fell on the ground in a heap as they separated in a blinding light and a localized clap of thunder. Elissa who cushioned the fall of her wives couldn’t help but groan. “H-hel.”

 

# # #

 

Elissa decided to not worry about what happened last night. The fact that the three of them could fuse to form a super powerful being was moot if they could not control it. Her eyes fell again on the Arena and the current fight was boring. She knew from a glance who would be the winner from the qualities of the mana and weapons each of the competitors had that the dwarf would win.

When the dwarf inevitably won, Elissa noticed how the female dark elf was sad about how her heirloom sword was broken. She snapped her fingers and a redheaded dwarven maid came to her side immediately.

“Your Majesty?” The young female dwarf bowed slightly before looking up at Elissa; her black uniform was perfect and her apron bore the royal crest.

She was the youngest dwarf in Elissa’s retinue and her favorite. “Greta, could you go offer to fix that Elf’s sword for me? Use our best smith to reforge it for her; oh and invite her to luncheon with General Grejeon.”

Greta smiled, bowed her head and said, “I will, your Majesty.” Then the dwarf maid left as quickly as she appeared.

Dawn then spoke to Elissa after witnessing the exchange. “Another recruit, Eli?”

Her eyes fell on the middle of the arena where Greta appeared in a flash of light, she was a sorceress at the level of adept, her services had been offered by High Queen Vanhyld and since then Elissa had never regretted it. 

“She has potential and now no one can say that I am not generous.” Elissa answered as she looked at Greta speak to the elves who suddenly bowed in the royal booth’s direction.

Dawn took a grape from the platter at her side, munched on it, then after swallowing began to say, “Even if her fight was kind of boring?”

To Elissa the fight had been certainly boring, however the elf had shown promise because she didn’t get one shot by the dwarfs onslaught. But it was clear that the elf could get better, and it wasn’t for her that she was doing this. Elissa put her most professional face on and looked at Dawn. “I am doing that for you Dawn, you need your own retainers. Dicinna can cheat with her clan and get knights this way but you have practically no one to protect you politically.”

Dawn frowned, she wasn’t ready for any of the political arena or to wield the power of Queen consort by making her own faction. The space mage shook her head. “But I have you.”

Elissa smiled at her, caught her hand in hers and caressed Dawn’s palm. “Yes you have me,” The Storm Queen said soothingly. “but you need your own power base as well, Dark Elf Politics are cutthroat.”

The two looked into each other's eyes, they were about to kiss when a letter popped out and smacked into Elissa’s face. Glaring at the white envelope, Elissa looked at it while Dawn laughed at her. Dicinna turned her eyes from the new dragon jousting fight and looked at what was happening. 

The Storm Queen’s voice grew cold as she said, “A missive from my mother.” Her eyes were focusing onto the seals that she recognized as bearing the mana signature of her adopted mother.

“Oh?” Dicinna looked as Elissa opened the envelope with an ice construct letter opener and began to read the short page inside.

The atmosphere froze suddenly, ice spreading into the floor of the booth; Dicinna and Dawn seemed to not notice how cold it was getting before the maids began fleeing in a stampede.

The sheet of paper in Elissa’s hands froze as her feelings started to get into disarray.  “What in Hekate's name..? I never...”

The Storm Queen stood up, her fist slamming on the balcony’s ramp of her booth. “Who sent a letter under my identity?”

No one should be able to fake her magical signature or use the royal seal… Only her wives and the princess of the… “Cassandra!!!”

Storm clouds gathered into the underground cities, putting a damper on the festivities.

 

---

 

Cassandra hummed a song while she hid in her apartments in the Boreal Palace in Aryther. There was an overabundance of red and gold in the room, from the curtains to the furniture, Cassandra loved her room as is. The maids had served her new sweets and she was looking at a video on her phone, it was the news about a female mage named Karen Jones having taken down an organization of blood magic wielding cultists in California on Earth. Karen Jones from the Multifarious Solution Mercenary office in Los Angeles.

The little sorceress took a cookie from the plate in front of her and watched as the quintuplets in charge of the mercenary company posed for the media and were praised as heroes. After Elissa had left for training, those five had become her heroes in the american magical community. It had all started with a slew of kidnapping and of course it was the fault of the Fae, it was always them because of their breeding programs.

She hated the fact that she had the blood of those people in her veins as well. But not all Fae were the same, and they were divided into courts for a reason. Her security wards flashed in her mind a clear sign that someone was trying to forcefully open the door to her bedroom. Two knocks on her door that almost destroyed it rang in the air.

"Cassandra! Where are you?! We must talk!!" The little sorceress heard the voice of her big sisters and she sounded pissed.

Cassandra had thought that she had more time, the Arena didn't keep her sister busy long enough… she should just have gone to Tesla city and hid with her aunt Lyla. "Hekate, no! She's already here…"

The pearly white door froze over and a fist slammed through it, showing the white armored arm of Elissa. Cassandra instantly cast two spells silently and hid in a corner near her fireplace. Elissa who was in her white armor strode into the room, looking left and right for Cassandra. 

Elissa looked everywhere until her gaze settled where Cassie was hiding, for five seconds she stated the spot before saying, "Your invisibility and notice-me-not spells are rather sloppy, stop it."

*Sweet Hekate, I should have went with a Someone-Else's-Problem Field* Cassandra was shocked that her sister could see her, she had thought that her spell was perfect.

Holding her hand before and a frost bolt appearing in her hand, Elissa icily said, "You have five seconds before I subdue you, little sister."

Looking at the intensity of the mana gathering in her sister's hand, Cassandra broke the spells hiding her, her little black dress fluttering as she moved. "Eli, wait."

For a long moment the two sisters looked at each other, the room filled with opposing energy at the same time. After deactivating the spell in her hand, Elissa asked a simple question. "Why did you do it?"

Cassandra crossed her arms and looked defiantly at Elissa. "Because you are being unfair."

"Unfair?" Elissa said as her hands turned to fists at the accusation.

The young girl walked up to her sister and even though she was shorter than her, said with confidence, "Mom loves us, of course she's going to do stuff she thinks is for our own good, she's our mom. And you are being a hypocrite, after all just like mom, you took me away for my own good."

That shut Elissa up. She tried to find a retort or argue that no she wasn't like their mother, but any words died on her tongue because she knew she'd sound like the biggest hypocrite in the Queendom. The Storm Queen averted her eyes, ashamed to be made aware of her faults.

Cassandra noticed this and grinned devilishly and gave Elissa a smug look. "You know I'm right. You and mom are the same, it's so uncanny. Even though you don't have a lick of demon blood, you act like one."

And that was one of the things Cassandra hated concerning her sister, every day of her life, Malicia had been comparing her to Elissa. The Phantasian Princess always excelled in everything she did; learning combat, alchemy, magic, history… the only thing Cassandra had for her was sorcery and being a Dae with titanic strength.

In normal circumstances this would have made Cassandra hate Elissa, but her sister loved her unconditionally; in fact her mother had explained that it was because she was born that Elissa had been pushing herself to become as powerful as she could to protect her. What she felt for her sister was love and worship, but Elissa could be so stubborn when she had an idea in her head. The only way to make her stop was to beat it out of her, like Malicia would.

Elissa quickly recovered from her shame. “That still didn’t give you the right to write this letter in my name!”

The little redhead emitted a mocking giggle. “I am keeping you honest big sis, you would wait till the last moment to go see mom on Earth, preferably when she needs assistance.”

It was demon behavior 101, wait for one of your enemies or someone you need something from to be in a weak position to take advantage of them. Elissa’s face colored, she wasn’t actually proud of this, but she was raised like that after all.

Cassandra shook her head as she guessed right. Her sister was more demoness than her. “That’s what I thought, you demon.”

The air around them froze, a clear sign that Cassandra had done goofed. Elissa's body began to shine with power as she answered her sister with a, “I’m going to kick your ass.”

The floor frosted over as Elissa’s fury burned.

It made Cassandra smile, her sister was so easy to rile up. She has always been smarter than Elissa in those scenarios. “Oh, now that you can’t win with words, you resort to violence. But you know what, I think you need a lesson, all those people kissing your ass, gave you an inflated sense of worth it seems.”

Elissa threw her thumb back in a sign to go outside. She didn't want to damage her sister's bedroom more than necessary.  “Courtyard, now.”

With a curtsy, Cassandra slightly bowed to her sister and said, “Sure, sis.” The little Dae said in a mocking tone.

The two teleported at the same time, Elissa with the lightning door spell and Cassandra with a general teleport spell from her family grimoire. They appeared in the large Courtyard of the outside Boreal Palace, smackdab in the center in fact. 

"I am going to fight you, little sis. If you lose, you'll send a message confessing what you did to mom."

"Oh, and what if I win?~" Cassandra flipped her hair, then crossed her arms.

Elissa raised an eyebrow and laughed. "You? Ah! I am going to teach you a lesson."

The little sorceress frowned, spread her arms and her entire form wreathed into red and gold fire. "Elissa, just for that I will show you why I am a journeyman sorceress right now. And you know what, if I win, we will go back to earth to see mom."

Elissa looked rather uncertain right now, but she shrugged after a moment. "Fine, prepare to lose."

Two rays of opposing magic escaped the girls' hands at the same time, ice versus fire and as they collided they created a thermal shock and a cloud of mist that spread in the Courtyard. Elissa then teleported with the spell Lightning Door behind Cassandra and punched her, but it was an illusion that disappeared when she struck.

Tentacles of darkness surged from Elissa’s shadow and attempted to restrain her, but the Storm Queen agilely jumped back and cast a lightning bolt at the mass of shadow that disappeared when smited by electrical energy. Spears of fire suddenly appeared out of the mist to strike her in the back, her feet and breast. The hits all landed, but Elissa was quick enough to cover herself in a sheet of ice thick enough to resist the fire.

“Enough!” Elissa shouted as she dispersed the mist with a wind spell, it was as if Moses had parted the red sea, and here was Cassandra visible and holding a grimoire in her hands, it was shining with runes forming a halo from the opened pages. The devilish grin Cassandra sported on her face didn’t reassure Elissa one bit.

A Halo of fire surrounded the little Dae in a perfect circle for a second and she cast the spell she had been casting since the start and shouted, “GEHENNA!!”

Elissa’s eyes widened as fire hot enough to melt metal covered the entirety of the courtyard.

“Oh shit-” The sea of flames washed over her like a tidal wave.

Cassandra watched with glee as her sister was struggling to resist her area of effect spell. The stone ground was turned into molten rock, the Palace protected itself by covering the surrounding buildings in a sheet of anti-magic shield. The magical flames shuddered under the extreme cold that was protecting Elissa.

“Glacial sphere!” The situation reversed when the ice magic froze the entire courtyard in retaliation. 

Frowning, Cassandra closed off her grimoire and made it disappear with a snap of her fingers. “Aegis!” She incanted a verbal spell that she won’t be able to use a second time in this fight as it was a pretty cheaty impregnable defense and would protect her from physical harm and the esoteric elemental backlash.

After ice covered the dome of energy shielding her, Cassandra teleported into the air and looked down, spreading her spiritual senses over the courtyard. Seeing Elissa deploying energy wings from her back and jumping toward her at high speed frightened the little girl. Cassandra teleported away, readying another salvo of spell, but she also resolved that she couldn’t run forever.

Realizing that, she stopped and produced an enchanted athame from her spatial ring, then she waited for Elissa to catch up to her. The Storm Queen didn’t stop and tackled her sister who smiled at her. Elissa decided to finish this and punched Cassandra with enough force to take her out of the sky and slam her down on the ground. Looking at her handiwork, Elissa finally realized the sharp pain on her left cheek, she raised her hand and wiped it on her face and looked at it.

Blood, a copious amount of blood was bleeding out of her cheek. Elissa looked down to the ground where Cassandra had landed, she didn’t even look worse for wear, she was wielding a ritual dagger covered in blood; Elissa’s blood to be more accurate.

All of a sudden, Elissa felt herself growing weak, she almost fell out of the sky. Something was cursing her, her mana core output was reduced to fifty percent; Elissa realized that her sister just used blood magic on her. As time passed, more larger debuffs were bearing down on her. Elissa had no choice but to land and stop attacking so brutishly, Cassandra was negating her power with cunning and quick thinking. Before, she couldn’t even fight her for more than one minute. Now, her little sister was showing how really devious and evil she was.

*She has grown stronger and more cunning, I can't deal with her like I would before. She's at least as strong as me without a nexus or node to serve as a mana battery.* Elissa realized this, Gram's tattoo on her hand shone brightly before using its power to negate the curses plaguing Elissa and targeting the focus of the curse in the enemy's hands, her blood.

The bloody ritual dagger in Cassandra's hands broke down, Elissa’s cheek began to heal thanks to her regeneration. The realm replenished her mana core, topping it up as if she had never casted a spell; Cassandra could see the wild mana in the air being converted to sustain Elissa.

The little girl stomped her foot in dejection. "Damn it, Eli! This is cheating!"

The winged blonde slowly descended on the ground, facing the Dae. She raised her chin haughtily at the accusation. "You aren't trying hard enough if you complain."

Cassandra didn't like how her sister answered, usually she would be more modest than this. This planet has changed her and not for the best. With an icy tone, Cassandra said, "Are you aware that I could have killed you instead of weakening you?"

The Storm Queen was acutely aware of this, and it was pissing her off. "Do you want me to attack you with the intent to kill you then?" Elissa taunted while she noticed that they now had an audience, mainly Dawn and Dicinna with some of the maids.

Cassandra's lips quirked into a taunting smile. "It would be better than this impression of a fumbling giant you have been giving me while fighting me for the past two minutes."

The younger girl knew how to rile up her sister, another thing she shared with Elissa who could mock someone with style, it was a necessary skill when you lived with Malicia.

Elissa glared at her. "Impertinent little…"

Once again, Elissa reacted differently than Cassandra's expectations, if her diagnostic spells didn't come back negative, she would think her sister possessed. "You fight like a brute, you may have conquered that tiny place with force, but I am a Phantasian Sorceress, Elissa. We fight dirty, our family has been killing things dozens of times stronger than us. And this? This isn't how you were taught, where has my smart and graceful sister gone?"

A thoughtful expression appeared on Elissa’s face. She couldn't deny that she has changed since coming to Svartalfheim and after her fight with the red Dragoness Siodhanth. She fought like a dragon and not a human, as a proof, Gadhiss approved even more of her when she showed her the ropes on the training field in her humanoid form.

"I see, you want me to take the gloves off, to take this seriously?" Elissa began walking toward her sister.

At the same time she thought that maybe her sister was right, that she had changed too much. By calming herself she was now seeing where she went wrong with her sister. She chose to take a more tactical approach to this fight with her sister.

Cassandra noticed the expression on her sister's face and grinned victorious. "You finally get it. Come at me, sis. I will fight you at your strongest, then I will teach you your place. I am doing this for you as well, unlike Tabitha I won't go easy on you."

"Those are fighting words." Elissa said as a sheet of ice covered the entirety of the damaged courtyard.

Stopping before her sister, Elissa smiled. The little sorceress sensed danger coming and dived on the left just in time to see a pillar of ice rise from her last position. The pillar crumbled into tiny sharp icy shards and they began to float in the air, circling around Cassandra who deployed around herself a thermal field so hot that it simply melted the shards. But the Storm Queen wasn’t done yet as the evaporated shards turned into droplets of water that hovered two meters over the young sorceress, they gathered into a single ball of water the size of a basketball.

Cassandra raised her head just as the water ball fell on her at blistering speed. Just in time she releases a fireball wordlessly and teleports behind Elissa, in her hand she wields a construct in the form of a sword made of black fire. The Storm Queen stepped back and conjured her own weapon construct made of ice.

The two elemental blades met, creating waves of heat and mist. Elissa punched Cassandra in the face but the little girl headbutted her sister's fist almost shattering it. They exchanged blows at the same time as they danced with their blades.

On Cassandra's face a sadistic rictus slowly appeared. "That’s it! That’s what I wanted, sis!"

The black fire blade nicked and burned Elissa’s face with its cursed flames. "Hey, mind the face!" Elissa shouted at Cassandra.

“No!” the Dae shouted back. And in retaliation Elissa sliced a lock of Cassandra's hair, the sorceress glared at her sister.  

“Hey don't touch the hair!!” Cassandra stopped moving after stepping back from her sister.

The Storm Queen looked rather smug. "Payback is a bitch, huh, short stack?!"

Cassandra blasted her sister with black fire, but Elissa simply dodged gracefully with a ballerina like pirouette. She smiled because she finally succeeded in riling up her sister who didn't like any remarks made about her size, it was one of her buttons that Elissa shamelessly exploited in this situation.

The fight stopped, Cassandra walked up to her sister and stabbed her with a finger that slightly dented the Storm Queen’s armor. "I am not little anymore! You'll see, I will be taller than you!"

Elissa’s ice blade turned to water and fell on the frozen ground; she raised an eyebrow at the little girl and patted her cheek patronizingly. "Eh, don't count on it, mom is shorter than me now, so your genes will obviously make you the same.."

"Grrr, take that!" Cassandra threw a straight punch with all her strength. 

Elissa caught her sister's fist in her hand, the sonic boom resulting from this action rattled the windows of the surrounding buildings and a crater formed under the girls. The Storm Queen looked impressed. "Not bad, sis."

Elissa, after enduring her sister's strength, realized that her being just a sorceress wouldn't cut it, it may be time to teach her the warrior arts. Cassandra was young enough to be taught Inshek, the best Phantasian Martial Art.

Cassandra harrumphed and took her hand back, then with a look around her, the sorceress said, “Huh, let’s call it a draw, okay?”

The Storm Queen looked at the tired form of her sister, she had given her all against her, and in the end the fight had cooled her anger toward the little Dae. And it was time to call the dwarves to fix the courtyard.

“Fine, but you owe me.” Elissa crossed her arms under her breastplate, glowering at her sister who pumped up her fist in victory.

Then the little redhead gave Elissa a wicked smile. “Okay. But we are still going back to Earth.”

Rolling her eyes, Elissa proceeded to flick her sister's forehead. “And I am going to send a letter back to mom explaining the situation.”

Holding on her forehead painfully the little Dae whined with tearful eyes, “You are evil.”

Elissa threw her a disbelieving look. “So are you!”

“No, you.”

The two started to bicker for a solid minute before leaving the courtyard where the royal guards, maids and courtiers who were the bravest -or stupidest- looked at the show of desolation and the proof that their new Princess was as dangerous as the Storm Queen, her sister.

 

---

 

Grand Temple
The following night

 

Achilles was completely drunk as he was helped by his niece, Elissa, before the altar inside the Grand Temple. The Priestess officiating was a dark elf this time. *Strange.* The day had started so beautifully, Elissa had played the tyrant Ersha role to perfection, something that Achilles was used to. *Arena fights, sycophants looking for favors from the Queen, said Queen putting them ruthlessly down with her tongue to make them scurry like the parasites they are.* 

Until she almost killed everyone in the Arena with her ice magic by freezing most of the arena, thankfully there were no casualties. Though now Ishtar looked at his niece as if she was a vicious Hydra about to strike at any moment; completely different from her previous attitude of ‘Meh, I can take her’ that she had been projecting since their group had arrived in Queen’s Rise.

“What's Madriarsh Kweldi doing here?” Achilles recognized the beautiful elf who had become his friend.

She looked at Achilles from head to toes, the man wore a black and white silken outfit with golden trim at the hem and lapels, the buttons were made of emerald. The snow elf turned to Elissa and asked, “Your Majesty, can I ask you what's happening here?”

Elissa was in a long silver gown pooling at her feet and showing off her neckline. The snow elf found the Queen strikingly beautiful, her expression belying the mischief that the matriarch could feel oozing from her.

The Storm Queen’s eyes lit up when they fell on Aila. She walked toward her. “Oh, Friend Aila, I am doing something good for my Uncle.”

The woman wore a grass colored gown with silver leaves themed jewelry, looked at the Royal family and at Achilles. The man had always insisted on staying in armor, it was strange for her to see him clothed so differently. “Why is Friend Achilles clothed in such finery?”

Achilles noticed the evil glint in Elissa’s eyes, it reminded him of when Malicia was about to fuck someone over. Achilles stepped backwards and turned on his heel, but he tripped only to be caught by Elissa’s dark elven consort who watched him like a hawk. 

Elissa turned to Achilles with a big yet scary smile. “Ah, you’ll see, my friend.”

With a dash of her sound manipulation power, Elissa commanded, “Guards! Bring me my future aunts!”

Three women in white gowns were ushered into the temple by a group of ten guards; those were the personal knights of the Storm Queen, the Silver Wardens. Their armor looked lighter but they shone with enchantments, they all wore helmets and when in service always kept their identity from being known. They were Elissa’s elite troops that she had chosen because of their powerful abilities as chosens. It was the only reason they could manhandle the recently reawakened Belle, Brianna and Ishtar.

Brianna was pushed roughly toward the royal family. “What are you-”

Belle was the first to see Achilles amongst the group facing the altar. “Achilles! Help!” She lost all hope to be saved when she saw him sway on his feet and be held by Dicinna who looked amused by the situation. The dark elf found it ironic that she got saved from a forced wedding and that a month later she would help her wife scheme another for her uncle with his three destined ones.

“Unhand me!” Ishtar struggled, almost ripping the long gloves on her powerful arms.

Belle shouted, “Elissa, this isn’t how ya treat guests!” When she noticed the blonde Queen looking at her with an admiring gaze.

The three of them were all in different ornate wedding gowns, that had been prepared by the royal maids while they were sleeping off their reawakening. Achilles looked speechlessly at the three women in his life, they were beautiful, at least one hundred more times than usual. Belle’s blue skin was visible as her gown looked painted on her body and matched with the color of her hair, a white silver. Ishtar was in a short white dress of intricate chainmail made of mithril, it put on display her toned body and strong body, her brown hair that had been short were now reaching her bottom, a mithril circlet adorned her forehead; she simply looked ravishing and martial.

But the most flamboyant of Achilles’ women was definitely Brianna. The sandy blonde wore a backless bridal dress with ancient Greek inspiration. The way it shimmered under the magical lights clearly showed that the fabric was magical. 

This made Achilles sober up gradually, he stood straighter and turned to his niece. “Elisha whatsha aryou ubto?” Unfortunately, he still spoke in a slurred manner.

Elissa grinned at Achilles and slowly walked toward him, steadying him with her arm. “Ah, uncle. Nothing much… . I just had a dream.”

Achilles smiled at that, swaying a bit. “Oh? Wasit gud?”

His behavior made his three women despair. He was clearly not in any state to fight Elissa or try to change her course of action. 

Elissa nodded and looked at him in the eyes, her tone was haughty. “Oh yes, it was. You were in this dream, married to all three of those beauties, with kids running around in my palace. You even had a noble title and were named as a defender of the realm.”

Achilles let go of Elissa and tried to back away from her, but she held onto him firmly. The man was too drunk and the Storm Queen too strong to be able to do anything. Still his teammates pushed him on. 

“Achilles! Do something!” Belle screeched as she tried to pry her arms away from Elissa’s strongest knights who seemed to struggle to keep her in place.

Elissa sighed and used her Siren Song ability, lacing her voice with mild hypnotic suggestions. “Aunty Belle, please behave.”

For one second the blue skinned woman relaxed bonelessly, she would be falling on her knees if the knight didn't hold her arms; then suddenly she stood straighter, and glared at Elissa. “Elissa, what are you up to? This isn’t you, please stop.”

Frowning, Elissa became intrigued that Belle could resist her ability. *Is it because she's too strong willed?*

Elissa gave Belle a grin that without a doubt was an attempt to reassure the older woman but failed to do so. Achilles recognized this expression, this was the same look Malicia showed to others when she tried to change the subject or deceive someone. The evil glint in her eyes couldn't be hidden. “Don’t worry, Belle. I’m going to do right by you, Teagan will love what I am about to do. You'll thank me later.”

Growling, Belle almost escaped from the knights holding her back. “I don’t believe you! You put us into those weird crystal tanks earlier and now I can’t even control my own powers properly.”

Elissa didn't bat an eye at the blue skinned beauty's fury as she replied smoothly, “Eh, it is of course because I have reawakened you with my biomancy, now your powers and passive abilities are on par with my people. You can even give Achilles a run for his money now.”

Achilles flinched violently and looked in horror at his adoptive niece. “I can't believe shyou did that!! Elisha, this ish forbidden for a reason!”

Even through the drunken haze he was in, Achilles knew that this was bad. Healers who actually use a potent form of biological manipulation were forced into unbreakable oaths for a reason. Creating life and using genetic modifications were a taboo on Phantasia after the plague that destroyed the now nameless kingdom in the lost continent and perverted the bodies of the population. The Empress of that time, Aleka the Great, had to sink the Kleio continent when the ravenous flesh eating monster who had been people of the Empire had overrun it and threatened to spread further to the other continents.

Since then Healers and researchers with the power of biological manipulation have been under the tight control of the crown.

Elissa waved away his reprimand as she rolled her eyes. “Says who? Uncle, I am the ultimate authority in these lands. My goddess is with me and didn’t strike me down when I began uplifting my people. This is what I’m doing to help free Phantasia.” Her voice was strong and confident, she stood straight and without fear of judgment. 

Achilles looked at Elissa, no. The Storm Queen before him, she wasn't that young girl with the sweet smile and infectious laugh that he knew anymore. That girl has grown up, but not necessarily in a good way. “I understandsh, this ish why Malishia wanted to control shyou, you were alwaysh going to turn like thish without guidance.”

Tilting her head, Elissa refuted, “Oh, I have Guidance, Uncle, the divine kind.”

She let go of Achilles and placed herself before him. Achilles realized how tall she was, as big as her mother, Empress Daphne was. Everyone listened to Elissa when she began to speak.

“Tell me uncle, do you really think we can retake our homeworld with just training me and some well wishes? No, this is all about power, planning and my willingness to see my goals through, what I plan to do to this demon army when I go back on our planet will be talked about for eons, I shall crush them with my armies, I will mow them down like grass, and all those nobles who collaborated with them shall be put to death.”

They say madness and greatness can share the same face, Achilles finally understood this saying. Elissa was vengeful, stubborn and devoid of any sense of mercy; Achilles feared what she would do once she got back home.

“Elisha, what about due p-procesh?” The drunken man asked on swaying feet.

Achilles knew the brand of Justice of the Snow Phantasia Imperial House and it made him suspect that oceans of blood will flow in the near future.

Elissa's sword, Gram, appeared in her hands, she held it lovingly. “Forgiveness is between them and my Goddess, Dark Hekate. It's my job to arrange the meeting and Gram thirsts for their blood, Uncle.”

The knights didn't say anything, Elissa’s wives, Dicinna and Dawn chuckled at Elissa’s mangled quote. Achilles women couldn't understand how Elissa could speak about killing so casually; and as for the bearded ancient human, Achilles began to think about what he had gone through when the capital of the planet, Cloud Blossom was conquered and the multiple nobles who switched allegiance to the Demon Fist Army.

Anger suddenly filled Achilles' hazed mind, he could understand Elissa. Those noble who sold themselves deserved death, they wanted to keep their privileges instead of fighting for them. Empress Ersha wouldn't have stood for it, Daphne would forgive them, but Achilles thought that the blood Elissa would inevitably spill to cleanse the ranks of the nobility back home was necessary. 

So it wasn't surprising that he raised a finger and said, “I can get behind that.”

This left everyone who expected another fight to break between Achilles and Elissa speechless. Achilles' teammates even more so. 

Elissa was stunned but her lips arced into a beautiful smile. “Really?”

Achilles nodded and said, “They shold ush out! Deshtroyed my home and family.”

Elissa’s expression for once wasn't full of ironic mirth, she became joyous, so much so that she went and hugged her uncle tightly. “Aww, then don’t worry Uncle Achilles, you’ll help put them all down, but now is not the time to discuss this, it’s time to proceed to the ceremony.”

Elissa snapped her fingers and Achilles' women were brought before the altar, the Storm Queen then climbed the stairs and placed herself at her uncle's side, keeping him in place. Achilles was still clueless about what was going to happen, but the girls who were not drunk but weakened by the reawakening understood that they were going to be joined in matrimony.

Ishtar wanted that to happen but on her terms, not by being forced into it; Brianna didn't like how everything happened so fast, sure she wanted to be Brianna Mikos and she had her own plan for their wedding with Ishtar and Belle but who knew they would be waylaid by Achilles' niece like this. Belle sent a glare at Elissa that would make her combust if she had any pyrokinetic powers, but she won't be a hypocrite, deep down she was thrilled by what was going to happen. It's been months since she met Achilles and she had fallen in love with him, and it is just recently that she entered into an atypical relationship with the man and two other women. 

To her marrying Achilles and the girls was akin to a speed wedding in Vegas. She hoped they would cancel the thing and have a redo on their terms, Belle was sure that Elissa wouldn't let them run away, the girl was as stubborn as her. Normally she found that trait cute, but right now it was biting them in the ass. 

“Priestess, rite number ten please.” Elissa commanded as she looked at the clearly nervous dark elf.

“As you wish your Majesty.” The Priestess bowed and then opened her prayer book.

“Perfect.” Elissa gave everyone a shining smile.

It took ten minutes for the wedding rite to proceed. The tenth rite was a wedding ceremony that members of Dark Hekate’s cult could perform without the consent of either parties, but could easily be broken after a period of half a year if the couple using this version of the binding rites didn’t get along at all. Elissa in her own way was covering her ass for any retaliation from the three women and her uncle. When the ceremony was concluded Elissa left the four newlyweds in a floor of the Dragonfang Tower that she gifted them with aphrodisiac flowers which permeated the air in their bedroom and having forcefully jump started and boosted the fertility of each of the women.

It was with an evil smile that Elissa left the newlyweds and returned to her own shared apartment with her wives that she entertained long and hard till morning.

 

---

September 14th, 2018
Dragonfang tower
Docking platform

It was time for the departure for planet Earth. The preparation for the trip took the previous two days and Elissa had to put her foot down with General Grejeon who desired to send a platoon of twenty soldiers and the Silver Wardens with her. It was a tough battle, but concessions were made before the general and the Storm Queen came to blows.

Elissa settled to take with her the entirety of the Sisterhood, her guildmates and her familiars to raise her combat potential. After that it was just a matter of appointing someone to hold the Queendom’s reins while she was absent. After a lot of deliberation, Duchess Kiomdra Zerloth was chosen as she was the most trustworthy as Elissa’s mother-in-law.

The white stone and mithril forming the platform of the royal skyship was covered in crates and other boxes that were being loaded into the ship by teams of dwarves and elves. Mostly luxury items and emergency rations as well as materials and weapons. Elissa was on the main deck near the stairs leading to the forward cabin with her friends, waiting for everything to be loaded onboard in the cargo hold.

"Are ye sure dis is a good idea, Elissa?" Brunhilda asked, worriedly because of the stories she's been told by Cassandra and the other girls from earth about Malicia, Elissa’s mother.

The other armored female dwarf, Nabideth, turned to Elissa who informed them about their objective for their mission on Midgard. She looked worriedly at Brunhilda who caught her eyes, the dwarf women knew automatically that this mission wouldn’t be peaceful at all.

"No, it's not, Mom is an evil vindictive bitch when she wants, believe me I wouldn’t go back if I could but I have no choice." Elissa’s gaze focused on Cassandra, her sister who looked smugly back at her after shooting down her reassurances.

Brunhilda frowned. "Ye mean just like ye?"

Most of the girls tittered at that, Donovan stayed silent and simply observed them, noticing how nervous Elissa the strongest amongst them reacted.

"Hey!" Elissa punched the dwarf princess on the right pauldron of her armor, causing her to laugh and punch her back in the left thigh of her supple white and silver leather armor.

Dani coughed and said, "The apple didn't fall too far from the tree huh."

Everyone seemed to not take everything seriously, or were in denial, so Cassandra chose to burst their current good mood. The little redhead placed herself at Tabitha's side and snapped her fingers to make everyone pay attention to her. "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but… no, mother is one hundred times stronger than Elissa, more cruel and merciless. Elissa can still be reasoned with, but my mother is stubborn. Elissa and her are different like that."

The laughter died out and everyone kept silent at Cassandra's revelation. The Midgardian in the party remembered how Elissa’s mom acted and how subdued her two daughters acted around her. Tsarra the sun elf, knew how terrifying her old headmistress was and couldn't help but agree; as for the dwarves, they simply started to panic. Erika the resident precog said nothing, even when Caroline and Dani looked at her, the young girl simply shrugged and began checking the items strapped to her utility belt.

"It's goin' tah be worse than tha battle against dat red Dragoness, ain't it?" The red haired Astagith lament as a bad feeling struck her.

"We're all going tah croak." Syndanelin shook her head, then started pawing at her recently upgraded Phantasian repeatable magitek crossbow.

"Lady Malicia might not start anything, unless she's going to trap us in her pocket dimension." Tsarra offered.

It was a typical Fae thing to do and needed no violence from  their host. Elissa crossed her arms and added to Tsarra's argument, "No, I chose a neutral location for our meeting with my mother to avoid this exact scenario."

This brought Elissa to remember about the professional visit her mother practiced with other mage families and how she cowed them into service or blackmailed them into giving her something she wanted. Money didn't matter to Malicia but knowledge was important; the Storm Queen was reminded that Malicia always opened up with blunt honesty about what she wanted and subtly cornered you into giving it to her for some trinkets or random knowledge. 

"Your precautions won't be enough, Elissa, mother got the strongest mages on Earth in her school's staff and they are all in her debt. For some reason she really wants you back on Earth. Somehow she's going to have us at her mercy." Cassandra argued after she thought about the most recent letter that they received after explaining how the little Dae forced Elissa into coming back.

Malicia had both congratulated Cassandra on her quick thinking and reprimanded her about giving her false hope that Elissa truly wanted to repent. Elissa didn't know what she had to repent about and it had pissed her big sister off; Malicia was good at aggravating people from afar.

Elissa turned and leaned against the rail stopping her from falling and looked into the horizon.  The purple sky was covered by the drab cloudy weather, not a good sign in her opinion. With a thought the sky cleared as she took control of the climate via the pocket realm's wards. When the clouds dispersed, Elissa turned to Cassandra.

"Yes, I'm aware of this fact, sis. But I don't think she will take more than ten of them, heavy hitter, with her. Still you are right, I should expect dad to be here. Knowing him, he will support mom to the hilt and fighting him will be difficult. But I don’t expect a fight with her, it would be counterproductive to what she hopes to achieve and don't worry about mom, I will give her what she wants in the end."

Everyone looked at Elissa as if she was crazy, for all those who have known her and saw her act on Svartalfheim, her not anticipating a fight had always led to her getting into a fight or war with consequences that are still being felt to this day. Her creating a country was one of those. 

Everyone around Elissa started arguing with her, the most vocal was Tsarra Olaneiros who said coldly to her friend, "We have seven dwarves, three elves, one cat girl and six newly reawakened humans… and you want us to take mages with decades or centuries of experience and expect no fight to break out? Are you for real?"

Too stubborn to listen, Elissa tried to change the subject and said, "Where is Spectra?" She expected for the Dragoness to be there to support them.

Tsarra glared at her, but made a sign  by pointing two fingers at her eyes then to Elissa that she wasn’t letting her forget that they needed to have this conversation. 

Elissa wasn’t enthused by it until her sister answered her question. "Aunty Gadhiss kicked her out of Midgard, remember? She can't go back there without her mother kicking her scaly ass."

Closing her eyes, Elissa pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Ah, Hel. I wish we could have had draconic backup for this."

In fact she had counted on it, having a dragon with them would have halved the difficulty of the negotiations. The power multiplier that Dragons offered couldn’t be ignored when Elissa had fought two of them and knew what they could do.

“This is even worse than I thought; you don’t have any solid plan if things go south and they will.” Tsarra reprimanded her friend.

Elissa shook her head and raised her hand in placation. "It's not going to be that bad, just some posturing, negotiations and finding common grounds."

The sun elf stared at Elissa for a long moment and decided to change track and said, "Let's play it politically, she won’t think of us trying that angle."

*Let’s take control of this meeting through protocol and each parties’ titles.* Tsarra thought, *That's how I would do it if I had to meet my maternal family.* The sun elf took on a determined expression and told herself that she would mitigate any falling out.

Elissa clapped her hands and smiled at Tsarra. "Let’s do this then, Malicia might be amenable to not playing games with us if we bring something to the table like backing the school on Mercer Island. Though she might ask for some... restitution for my raiding of the Sanctum."

At her name being used, Elissa’s sentient library and vault intervened. {Your Imperial Highness, The Sanctum has always been destined for your use.}

Elissa perked up at this, pushing a relieving sigh, but she frowned as she asked, "But does Mother know that Sanctum?"

{The creator should have informed her.} Sanctum’s answer was instantaneous.

Elissa tilted her head as she wondered who the creator could be, from the signs and mana she had felt since young she guessed that it was, "Mother Hekate?"

{Pardon my language, your Imperial Highness, but do you recognize anyone else?}

Elissa laughed at the intelligence’s sass, she didn't recognize any other deities beyond Dark Hekate and Hel, She who watches over the dead who arrive and dwell in the underworld, a place called Niflheim.

"You got me there, Sanctum." Elissa laughed at that.

The mood was brought up by this and Elissa then took out her sword and her cleaning kit. "Just in case everyone, sharpen your weapons, stay fresh and stay vigilant."

Seeing the blue glowing sword Dawn who had become a tad worried by what her wife just said, tried to think positively.“Elissa, honey, we are not going to fight with your mom.” 

“Even though she might try something underhanded…?” Elissa sent a feeling of disbelief to Dawn in their sort of hivemind.

Dicinna put a hand on the asian girl’s arm, she was covered from head to toe in black leather and purplish metal armor. She looked like a dark elf mage assassin.

"I would trust Elissa’s opinion over yours Dawn, the way she and our new little sister act show me that our mother in law might be too much for us." The Dark Elf Queen Consort was apprehensive about the situation they found themselves in. Her guts were telling her that they were at a crossroad and that they were not ready for the test they might be undergoing.

It was thirty minutes later when everyone was collectively sharpening or cleaning their weapons and discussing inane things that Elissa’s loadmaster in charge of her budding skydock on the tower appeared to inform her that everything was ready.

He was a strong looking dwarf, shorter than Brunhilda, a sign that he came from the dwarven capital and had nutritional problems that led to his short stature; Elissa guessed that he came from a poor environment such as the slums of Nirnyarh. 

"Your Majesty, the loading is complete." The man bowed low, not daring looking at the Storm Queen in the eyes while she was sharpening her sword.

"Good work master Songhammer." Elissa said absently.

The dwarf was so surprised that she knew his name that he looked up at her when she smiled at him.

He nodded and proudly puffed his chest. "Thank you, your Majesty."

Picking up everything to stash them in their respective space storage device, everyone decided to go to their posts; Ocima, Elissa and Dicinna walked to the bridge while the rest of the sisterhood scattered either to engineering and the crew quarter. After a short flight check, Ocima started the Weatherlight’s updated engine, and the newest adamantite laced mithril mast that deployed the mana sails. The ship was freed by the docking clamp on the skyship’s platform and raised in the air slowly.

As it raised in the sky, the ship accelerated at cruising speed, deploying it’s environmental shield to keep the crew safe, a planar window opened and the skyship dived into it. The blue-green lights of the extra-dimensional space washed over the ship while Elissa thought that she would never get tired of traveling this way. 

She was disturbed from her vigil at the captain command chair by Tsarra who poked her shoulder and said, “We must talk.”

Elissa sighed and nodded, the two of them walking toward the stateroom at the back of the ship for a long planning session.

 

---

 

En route to Earth/Midgard

Ocima didn’t like what was happening, she had the nagging feeling that they were all walking to their doom. She knew it in her bones, that destiny would show her right that they were making a mistake. She had pleaded with her sister earlier, but her arguments fell onto deaf pointy ears. As she sat at her pilot station, she looked as the stars passed by the ship, even the awe inspiring show that had captivated her since she had been assigned as the pilot of her royal sister’s ship couldn’t reassure her.

ZHAER, the ship’s intelligence kept unnaturally silent where he would keep pestering her with data stolen from Midgard's internet to study their society. He wasn't impressed and made it known that the only way the planet didn't get blown up was through the effort of the Amazons and the immortal scientist, Nikola Tesla.

Ocima was used to entering into debate with him, even with her superficial knowledge. It was with a worried tone that the dark elf asked, “ZHAER, you are being awfully silent.”

[I am compiling information on Lady Malicia Mikos.] A series of articles and files with pictures appeared in magical holographic windows showing a beautiful black-haired horned woman. Malicia’s pictures made Ocima feel self conscious about her appearance.

“Oh, what can you tell me right now?” Ocima took a stray white lock of her hair out of her face and placed it behind her right ear. She had decided to keep her hair long to differentiate herself from Dicinna and her bonded preferred them this way as well.

Ocima began to read everything they had on her, black magic, never seen before curses that attack family lines, mastery of gravity magic were the magical abilities that were observed by those from whom ZHAER stole those files from. The Dark Elf had no idea who the Corvinus Council or the Scarlet Society were, maybe some organization on Midgard, but the reports written about Elissa’s mother seemed to have been written by cowards who waxed poetic about how terrible she was in them.

Malicia Mikos seemed fond of destroying chapters of their organizations or extorting them of riches, magical tomes and artifacts. They hated her to the core and seemed to have more plans to take her down than sense.

[The Lady is not to be trifled with. Through careful gathered data and simulation, it is expected that the mission her Imperial Highness has set for herself has a 68% chance of failure.] The intelligence came to a conclusion that chilled Ocima to her core.

She could scarcely believe that the easy going and smart Elissa and the mischievous but dutiful Cassandra came from that woman. "That's… bad. What are you going to do about it? Because I am sure that you have a solution."

[Of course, your Highness.] ZHAER began to tell her his plan, when he finished Ocima finally had a bit of hope and congratulated the intelligence for his quick thinking. It was simple and daring, and the kind of plan that someone who wasn’t human or a demon wouldn’t think about. 

Ocima offered her own insight into the plan as she knew that someone should always have contingencies. "You just might be our wild card, ZHAER."

[I strive for efficiency.] The intelligence answered smugly.

Ocima had to stay on the ship while her sisters would have their inevitable confrontation with the sorceress that terrorized Midgard. She rose up from her seat and left to give her twin another warning and the files on Malicia, it might change the way she approaches the half-demoness.

 

---

 

Earth
September 15th, 2018
Northern American continent
Washington State
Tiger Mountain State Forest
07:54 PM

Tiger Mountain is a mountain in the U.S. state of Washington. It is at the center of the Issaquah Alps, a small range in the Eastside region of King County, Washington southeast of Seattle. The mountain has six peaks in the center of the Issaquah Alps, the entire Issaquah Plateau in the northwest corner was designated as a conservation area. The mountain is part of a designated protected area, the Tiger Mountain State Forest, and has several recreational areas used for hiking, mountain biking, and paragliding. 

Well that was how it was known in the mundane world; for those more attuned with the supernatural, it was home to at least one pack of werecreature, Faes and Monsters who are imprisoned in a pocket dimension around the third peak. A colony of Harpy lived there and often absconded with male paragliders and hikers to mate with them, fortunately, they didn’t kill them and released them after copious orgies for a week or a month. They have magic that helped obscure them thanks to the Faes with whom they had a centuries old pact.

A group of twelve people teleported to the entrance of Tiger Mountain state park before the red tiled brick building acting as a reception area slash office; one of the cloaked figures raised a hand and a white ball of light appeared then emitted a wave whose function was to occlude their presence from the mundane employees present next to the parking lot they appeared in. Another hooded figure of short stature, at least 1.20m, her silhouette clearly female, clapped her hands together, pinkish light spread under her feet to form a magical circle that engraved itself in the asphalt of the parking lot.

“Waypoint in place.” A young female voice rang in the air, informing the others that she put an emergency escape point in the parking lot. Just in case the next meeting went south.

Another hooded figure walked to the short one and took her hood off, then a horned and raven haired beauty with green eyes appeared. She was so beautiful that she seemed to glow and attract the eyes. “Thank you, Miss Bridgeburn.”

The goblina nodded and returned to watching the building that didn’t seem like a simple receiving area; she could detect sanctuary wards protecting the building. Meanwhile, a tall and muscular man in a hooded cloak mimicked her and did a headcount. “Everyone is accounted for.”

“So I see, Heracles. Very well, let’s proceed apace.” Malicia walked ahead of the group toward the trail leading into the mountain, followed by Heracles and ten other of her school staff. 

Malicia was happy that her girls were finally coming back. Things were coming up for her, yet again and it added a pep to her walks. The abundant nature of the forest surrounding the mountain was invigorating her. Her inner darkness receded and let the Fae side of her personality in command. As she walked down the trail leading up to the mountain, Malicia lifted her head and watched the starry sky and frowned as she detected a source of magic in the sky and saw a tear in space form.

The sorceress made a predatory grin as she saw an antique Phantasian skyship pass through the spatial tear. “Right on time.”

“I’d thought I would never see one of those again.” Heracles said out loud.

Elissa’s skyship was a model that was commissioned when the Elven Empire had tried to annex Phantasia, the ship had been state of the line before further upgrade from the Dwemer people, those half mer and demon people have cooked up new ship paradigms after the war. The modern skyships now looked like spaceships from Earth made of special alloy instead of a Iron wood boat, but on the planet it wasn’t strange to find old models running about completely retrofitted to modern standards with long range mana drive, shields, communication and weapons.

“As did I, darling.” Malicia’s eyes didn’t leave the skyship until it engaged its cloaking field; then the sorceress turned her attention to Heracles who began guessing how one of their empire’s old ships could be there in this quadrant of the galaxy.

“Still, from the way the engine exhaust shines, this skyship has a modern manadrive… Do you think the elves have stolen it and she found it wherever that Svartalfheim planet was? It looks like a Lakrus model, fielded at the end of the war to bombard the elven core world, Toril. The ship is clearly still made of Ironwood, the mana-sail also looks like the old model, those are a mana hog, there’s a reason this design was discontinued and…”

Malicia raised her hand and cut off her husband, she smiled at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “You know, Heracles… I was never into mechanics like you are.”

Heracles sighed. “Shutting up now.”

“I trained you well.” Malicia patted his cheek, turned heel and walked forward.

Heracles' gaze lingered on his wife, he was clear that something wrong was happening. Malicia could be a bitch, but downright mean with her family? It only happens when she's frustrated and angry at something. She also didn't allow him to touch her these last two weeks… The others who witnessed the couple’s interaction didn’t like how their employer acted recently.

Histreldia Bridgeburn, the master alchemist knew what was going on since Malicia informed her of her spiritual balance problems, but didn’t know how to fix the problem. It was strange that the sorceress didn’t tell her husband about it. They all walked in silence in the forest, its denizens avoiding them because of the malevolent aura Malicia was emitting, Fae and Werecreature scurried away, their instincts telling them to not mess with any of the members of the group.

Elissa was waiting for them in a clearing surrounded by thick trees that gave way to the main trail to climb the mountain. Her friends and guildmates were all in a formation behind her. They all wore some kind of enchanted silver armor with patterns in the form of dragons holding a snow crystal in their claws. Most were armed with swords and bucklers, or atypical weapons such as an axe or giant sword that could also be used as a shield. 

There were some elves and dwarfs present, the races Elissa seemed to surround herself with, from what Malicia understood from Cassandra’s letter to her.

For a while nothing was said at all, everyone eyed each other until Malicia cackled at the display of force from the kids and their allies before her. “Ah, how cute. Did you see that Heracles? They are posturing!”

Heracles was surprised as he sized up everyone present who weren’t Elissa and Cassandra, the strongest of them was the catgirl who exuded an impressive battle aura. “Some are actually as strong as foot soldiers and a captain from the army back home.”

The standoff was broken by a red missile that blurred toward Heracles at high speed, he didn’t move as he knew exactly who was coming. 

“Daddy!!” Cassandra shouted as she crashed into the arms of her father. “Oof, little Tyke, you’ve become stronger.”

Heracles had felt the shock for once, it seemed that a cosmic energy rich environment did wonders for his daughter. How he wished that he had gone with her, he had felt himself getting weaker the more he stayed on Earth. 

While Cassandra smooched her father’s cheek and hugged him with all her considerable strength, Elissa approached her mother at a slow pace, she was flanked by Dicinna and Dawn. She stopped two meters from the sorceress and in a perfect Phantasian greeting, crossed her arms before her chest for one second and said neutrally, “Mother.”

Malicia didn’t hesitate to walk to her adopted daughter and caress her cheek with tenderness. Elissa shivered somewhat as she felt her mother looking at her with a powerful intensity. “Elissa, my sweet. You are finally back.”

The sorceress’ hand was cold, instead of her usual warmness; Elissa frowned at this. “I’ve come to straighten... things up between us, mother.”

She averted her eyes when Malicia’s gaze sharpened. *Hel, I battled Dragons, destroyed armies and now I can’t look my mom in the eyes? What’s wrong with me?*

Malicia’s eyes blazed with a golden glow, a sure sign that she was angry. “If it wasn’t for Cassandra we wouldn’t be speaking before something happened.”

Elissa braved the harsh gaze of her mother. “I decided to listen to her because she made several good points about what you did for us, the sacrifices you made and that my anger is only half justified.”

From head to toe, the Storm Queen looked at her mother, finding her decked in her gear of war, dragonhide black body-suit; she also has her most powerful focuser bracelet on her left arm, and an enchanted cloak to render her invisible. 

*This isn’t how I would dress to meet my prodigal daughter.* Elissa thought, but she didn’t think about how hypocritical she was being when she was herself armed to the teeth and had the equivalent of a small army at her back.

Malicia grinned predatorily. “Oh? Half? Really Elissa.”

Elissa glared back balefully at Malicia, her blue leather armor creaking as she moved in her mom’s face as she said, “You could have done better. Cassandra should have been your priority, we should have grown up in a world as rich as Svartalfheim.”

Not scared at all, Malicia made a sad expression. “Oh, honey, I don’t believe that.”

Automatically, Elissa entered into a guilt trip; some habits die hard it seemed. Her mother knew how to push her buttons and take advantage of her. Malicia gave her a mirthful smile that made Elissa step back as she walked up to her and put a hand on her left pauldron, then on her cheek again. “Where has my blindly devoted little baby gone? You were such a handful when you were younger, why? You kept following me and mimicking everything I did, because, quote, I am the coolest mom ever, unquote. That you wanted to be just like me. Then congratulations, Elissa, you succeeded. You remind me of myself at your age.”

Behind her, Elissa heard snickers from her friends and from Dicinna who was at her side. She looked at Elissa with worry, she was baffled by how meek she was behaving.

Elissa glared at her mother. “I won’t ask forgiveness for what I did. I won’t beg or-”

Malicia laughed, interrupting her prodigal daughter. “I didn’t expect you to, Elissa. I will let you hold onto your pride like a shield.” The sorceress let go of the Storm Queen’s cheek and gave her back to her and walked five meters away and conjured a big table made of rock with two wooden chairs. She then sat and looked at her daughter, making a sign to sit down. 

Elissa obeyed meekly as Malicia spoke again. “By the way, it was well played. It was somewhat ironic that you got revenge on me with that nasty sealing curse I had used on you. That hurt a lot.” Malicia looked away from Elissa, seeing that Cassandra and her father approached them with the staff behind them.

Hearing this confession from her mother was like validation to Elissa, she stood straight in her chair and said proudly, “It was spur of the moment, if I couldn’t win against you, I had no choice than to think obliquely on how to take you out.”

Malicia’s golden gaze slid back on Elissa, pinning her like she was a butterfly on a foam block. “Better than the bullish approach you tried when you engaged me last time, is that how you won all your fights lately?”

Elissa deflated and understood that this was another maneuvering from her mother to beat her down verbally. “...”

Cassandra, who hadn’t missed an instant of this conversation and just arrived at the table with her father, made a wicked smile. “Wow, sis, Mom got your number.” Then she giggled, eliciting a death glare from Elissa who made the little imp hide behind her dad.

Heracles looked at her with disappointment, while Malicia’s lips turned into a thin line. “Oh, you did. I guess I will have to re-educate you again, daughter.”

Elissa embarrassingly lowered her head, then chilled as she heard the word re-education. Dicinna and Dawn put a hand on each of the girl’s shoulders in comfort. Malicia frowned at that, she used her mage sight to look at each girl, in particular at the one she didn’t know, Dicinna. She saw the golden spiritual tether linking their mana core. “Something has changed, you are not the same, Elissa. What are those tethers linking you to that elf and your girlfriend?”

Dawn scowled at the sorceress, she was disillusioned by Malicia since the training from hell she has undergone under her. Certainly, Dawn has learned a lot of things, but the sorceress’ methods were questionable at best; the fact that she brainwashed her daughters to think them normal was a point of contention between them.

“Um... some stuff happened and we kinda got married, This is Dicinna and you already know Dawn.”

Malicia’s eyes fell on each of the girls and flashed dangerously. “I must say, I am really quite distressed at not having received an invitation.”

The three girls froze after hearing that, as Malicia watched them, they seemed to communicate telepathically, the sorceress found this rather rude of them. She coughed loudly and knocked on the stone table before them. Elissa flushed as she realized that she got caught.

The pretty dark elf in black and gold armor advanced and slightly bowed to Malicia. “Nice to meet you, mother-in-law.” She stood back straight, her gaze never leaving Malicia’s. “You aren’t what I expected.” She said with a conservative smile. Elissa and Dawn watched the interaction with some jealousy, but the dark elf reassured them on her intentions.

Malicia’s perfect eyebrow raised as she eyed the elf. “Oh, what did you expect? Ah, excuse me, what should I call you?”

The sorceress assessed Dicinna. The girl smiled, she moved like a cat and she could see in her eyes that she had killed people before.

The white haired elf grinned. “Just Dicinna is fine for you, mother-in-law. From the files gathered on you, and your daughter's opinion of you, I expected them to be related to a Demon Lord or some such, but you are far too appealing to be like one of those. You haven't killed us yet.”

Malicia smiled, she liked this girl. An excellent addition to Elissa’s circle of friends. “Oh, you flatterer. Are you buttering me up for something?” The sorceress leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs, hands on the table gathered together.

Looking more closely at her equipment, Malicia guessed that the blue crystals decorating her armor were somewhat special. They brimmed with life-force and… *Is this girl an essence manipulator?!* Malicia wanted to flinch away from the girl, but she couldn’t show weakness.

“You caught me.” Dicinna grinned.

Malicia calmed down, and looked at Elissa who she thought was lucky to have gathered someone like Dicinna and married her; then she looked at the disappointment, Dawn, the girl could barely look at her in the eyes. *Hmm, when did she get this strong?* 

Malicia shrugged, dismissing the asian girl who married her baby. She would have chosen a better match for Elissa. If she had met this Dicinna girl earlier, she would have tried to set her up with Elissa instead of Dawn. “I like you, Dicinna. You are a better choice for my daughter than the doormat at her right.”

Everyone froze at that statement, the only one who vocally reprimanded Malicia was her youngest. Cassandra, with her big green eyes, looked in shock at Malicia and said, “Mom! That’s mean...”

All traces of meekness left Elissa, she stood straight, her gaze and voice were as cold as the air about her that frosted over, forming snowflakes. “Mother.”

Malicia smiled, put her right hand before her mouth, her fingers half-open letting the girls see that she had an unrepentant grin on. “Oh sorry, I forgot that I didn’t put my mouth filter on for this occasion.” Malicia said with a fake penitent tone, a tone that taunted Dawn, just like planned.

With a fist slamming into the stone table and cracking it, Dawn who was trembling in anger but had the strength to keep her tone even said, “I won’t be insulted by you anymore, Malicia.”

The sorceress answered with a smirk. “You forgot to add my title there, dear.”

The tension in the air was thick, and the troops arranged behind Elissa and her wives were getting antsy. The dwarves were pawing at their weapons, Tsarra, the sun elf sighed and uncorked the silver cylinder containing her enchanted arrows at her belt. She knew that a fight was inevitable, this was Elissa’s family after all. They always used violence to resolve things.

Dawn lifted her chin and looked down on Malicia. “I quit, I don’t recognize you as my master.”

Malicia tilted her head, a smile plastered on her face that didn't reach her eyes that had grown cold. “Oh dear, I am afraid that the contract that you signed for your apprenticeship doesn’t allow you to.”

Dawn’s hatred burned at Malicia mentioning this, if the asian girl could slap her younger self, she would, for trusting that woman. Dawn’s fist clenched, popping noise from her knuckles clearly audible. Cassandra, who watched the entire show, didn’t like how her mother was handling things. *Everything was supposed to get better, mom and Eli were supposed to kiss and make-up after a fight.*

But reality was different from the fantasies that the little girl had come up with; Elissa, her wives and Malicia were like lionesses at each other’s throats. Leaving the side of her father who tried to catch her, Cassandra blurred to her mother and held onto her arm. “Mom, you are being awful. We came in good faith!”

Malicia made a painful expression and Cassandra noticed that she took her mother by surprise and that she was holding onto her too tightly. ‘Sorry.”

The sorceress turned to her daughter and lifted her from the ground with a telekinetic cantrip. With a eep sound coming from her, the little girl was made to sit on Malicia’s knees. She was held onto like a teddy bear, the sorceress kissed her daughter who finally gave in and leaned into her embrace.

“I as well came into good faith, Cassandra. But so far what I see is a foolish girl who ran away from home, and, surrounded by her paramours, is throwing a tantrum.” Malicia said placatingly to her youngest daughter.

Malicia looked at Elissa and shook her head with a disappointed expression.

Snorting, Elissa couldn’t help but answer, “Mother, really? Trying to guilt trip me? I’m not nine anymore.”

Looking at Dawn and Dicinna, then at Elissa; Malicia made her displeasure known. “But I say it like I see it, my sweet Elissa. And can’t I tease you and your... brides without you trying to pick a fight? I know you want to defend them, but it’s my role to make them go through the ringer, now; the fact that you married them behind my back doesn't endear them to me at all.”

That was a reaction that three girls had expected from Malicia, so Elissa grudgingly decided to inform her mother about their situation. Even though they have been received so coldly and been attacked verbally, they wished for reconciliation. “There’s circumstances mom, and we need to talk about them.”

“I am all ears, figuratively of course. I shall hearken to your excuses.” Malicia said as she eyed Dicinna's pointy ears; that she found them really pretty wasn’t said, though.

Elissa lifted her hand, palm up; a white crystal in the form of a Lutrinian appeared and she put it in the middle of the table. “You can look at my memories first, you’ll understand.”

Malicia frowned at the white crystal; she had heard about such magical devices being used on Alfheim and Asgard by the citizenry to immortalize important memories or events for judicial purposes or to family events. The sorceress created two chairs at her sides, one for Heracles and another for Cassandra. She floated her youngest daughter from her knees to the chair. Heracles gratefully took the offered chair. With a bit of wariness, Malicia took off her glove and palmed the crystal, she knew how they worked and infused her mana inside and her consciousness was pulled inside.

***

A hazy shroud of golden mana surrounded her. “Ah finally~”

Elissa and Dicinna quickly went on their knees, the two of them pulled Dawn down to bow to the deity.

"The set is finally complete, the assassin, the mage blade and the rogue are finally assembled.” Enigmatically said, the elder goddess.

The three young women looked at each other, uncomprehending; It made Hekate giggle at their expression, mortals were so much fun to tease. Elissa was aware enough that she understood that her sadistic tendencies were inherited from the elder goddess. Elissa reddened at this realization, Hekate seemed to guess at her thoughts and had this impish smile on her face that seemed directed at her heiress.

Elissa spoke first, her two lovers too awestruck to be of use, “Mother Hekate, we are here to introduce my soulmates, Dicinna Zerloth and Dawn Kisaragi. I hoped to avoid any friction in our group by letting you explain to Dawn why I fell in love with both of them.”

The joyous expression of Hekate wilted when her eyes gained a dull shine. Her smile became thin as she watched over the three young women. “Yes, I wouldn't want any of you to separate. In fact, if Dawn were to leave today, one of you two will die in the next Underdark war with the demonic entity in the lower dark.”

Elissa paled, Dicinna stood up and Dawn cried out, “What?”

The space mage girl looked between Dicinna and Elissa, fear seizing her heart. She couldn’t have just got back with her girlfriend to lose her, and what about Dicinna they have strangely become close to one another, sure she didn’t like the fact how she wormed her way into Elissa’s heart but she didn’t want her death and it all hinged on a decision of hers?

“I have engineered your conception, girls. Before, you were one, and now you are three.” The goddess continued to say and this suddenly became too much for Dawn.

Dawn interrupted Hekate and shouted, “Wow, ok stop. What are you getting at, your holiness?”

Dicinna quickly glanced at Elissa who understood the underlying warning she was being given. With a hand on the asian girl's arm Elissa said, “Dawn, calm down.”

Dark Hekate may look likeable and friendly but she was nothing but; she was vengeful and vicious, capricious and selfish, cruel and crafty. But she was also lovable, charismatic, and attentioned with people she favored. Dawn closed her eyes and kneeled back, breathing in and out to calm herself. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, that she was some pawn in a godly game.

Hekate looked on amusedly as her champions rolled with three and was satisfied to know that they knew their place and that they needn’t argue with her. “I needed a champion, but I guess you need to know the entire story.  We are going to need snacks and some seats.”

A low table was summoned before them with golden decoration of dragons, ram and birds with cakes and tea before them. A bench with a cloud cushion appeared behind them, Elissa instantly sat, followed by her two lovers.

“Here, now that we are all at ease, let me tell you about Phantasia and it's wonders.” And Hekate began to weave a tale of creation, bargains with mortals and earthly gods and about the dangers to come...

***

Malicia’s glazed eyes refocused as she was pulled out of the memory and to the real world. To Elissa and her women, it had been barely four minutes, but to Malicia it was hours as she listened to the Elder Goddess explain how she meddled in the creation of Elissa, Dawn and Dicinna. That their meeting was preordained and inevitable. That if the girls hadn’t tied the knot, they would be completely insane or dead at this point.

Looking up at the three girls before her, Malicia couldn’t help but to express an noncommittal answer that was heavy with emotion. “I see.”

Malicia began to think about everything she knew about Elissa, how she developed and succeeded at magic, she was a natural prodigy at magic, she could learn a spell by just looking at it thanks to her prodigious control with her mage sight; she excelled at Alchemy and anything related to magic, Healing was second nature to her thanks to her paternal side… Elissa was good at fighting as well. Malicia then looked deeply into Elissa’s eyes and saw Daphne’s face. Daphne was a genius as well, just like Elissa but she excelled more in combat than her daughter, then there was Ersha and the previous Empress before her, all prodigious at magic or combat.

The sorceress was seeing a pattern here. Elissa who couldn’t bear the silence said, “Hekate told us that she planned this but…”

Malicia interrupted Elissa. “The goddess acts in mysterious ways, Elissa. Now I understand Elissa, this wasn’t your fault, everything you did is because our Goddess put you on this road and you just followed it.”

Malicia engaged her mage sight and looked at Elissa. She could see that her little girl had grown, that her power was palpable and visible, a bit too much but she couldn’t afford to be blinded by her daughter's stormlike mana, what she wanted to look at was Elissa’s essence. “Give me your hand, Elissa.”

“Why?” The Storm Queen looked warily at her mother.

Malicia rolled her eyes at her wariness and said less forcefully, “Just do it, please.”

The platinum haired girl sighed and held her hand over the table, Malicia snatched it delicately and then she scanned her eldest girl. From the haze of blue mana that she knew Elissa had at her core, she saw something that she didn’t expect. A seed of divinity, a power that granted an immense amount of raw power beyond the mundane. It was there but it didn’t mature yet, it showed that Elissa had divinity in her ancestry, the one possessing one of those will eventually transform into a deity either under the influence of another god or by mortals channeling their faith into them, channels, but Malicia understood that Elissa was more of a vessel for Hekate. 

Like every empress of Phantasia before her.

Malicia was seeing the length the elder Goddess was willing to go, the Snow family vaunted superiority was born out of a millennia spanning eugenic program, each generation becoming stronger than the next. *No wonder the Faes lost the war 160 years ago, the Goddess cheated.*

A repressed deep seated anger that Malicia had since her younger days as a political hostage of the Phantasian throne reared its head. Malicia resolved that Hekate was using them like pawns to control events and save her world and remaining faithful followers. It explained so much if you took the Snow family's history in consideration. They’ve been beaten before, ten thousand years ago, but as history has shown they always came back as the victor when they retaliated. Conquer their family land? If you didn’t kill them all when you confronted them, twenty years later they come back stronger and capable to take on armies and take their lands back and add your own to theirs; two thousand years later, they decide to expand their border and muscle in other countries of the continent and unrelentlessly take them over and after a period of fifty years to consolidate their hold on it, they continued to expand until they took their native continent over and renamed it Snow Song. 

Millenia later, they conquered the entire planet, spreading Hekate’s faith and turned Phantasia’s society into a militant one. Malicia then realized that they had been dancing to the Goddess’ tune before they were even born; at this realization, something snapped inside Malicia. *We are toys for her, tools and pawns that she moves on a board of a game with rules we are ignorant about. But no more! She won’t have any of my babies, we have free will, we get to choose!*

Malicia let go of Elissa’s hand after having thoroughly checked her daughter’s soul. She finally understood that things were afoot around her and that she couldn’t be too angry at Elissa. Hekate seems to want to make the girl dependent on her for advice and direction; it pissed off the sorceress that the Goddess was trying to subvert her family bond with her eldest girl.

“Mom?” Elissa searched into Malicia’s eyes, but her thoughtful expression occluded any other sign that the Storm Queen could use to divine what the sorceress was going to do next.

“What are you going to do now that you are here Elissa? Do you intend to go back to school? You still have things to learn to become an Archmage at least.”

When the blonde was about to answer, Cassandra took it as a sign to answer their mother, “Eli said that I should stay with you mom and that she will commute from her new planet to here.” Cassandra had a big smile on her face as she explained Elissa’s idea. She liked Aryther, and also loved the fact that her sister had fulfilled her promise to conquer a place and make her a princess who can have ice cream whenever she wants.

But she didn’t expect the coldness seeping into Malicia’s voice when she asked Elissa, “Is that true?”

Elissa chuckled nervously as she noticed her mother’s sclera turn black, a sure sign that she was pissed off. “You seem… displeased, mother.”

Dicinna knew the sign when a demon was powering up because of his or her inner fury, and Malicia was showing the sign of losing control of herself. She quickly informed Elissa and Dawn, the asian girl stepped back from the table she had smashed, readying her Arthurian artifact.

Malicia rose up, her ungloved hand showing her claws as she raked the surface of the stone table, causing deep gouges to appear. “You are too young to rule a country, Elissa. Daphne was only given the throne twenty years ago and she was in her first century.” The sorceress’ voice gained a certain echo to it, Elissa had never seen this side of her mother before.

Cassandra, who had no idea about what was happening, spoke. “Wow, Eli, your birth mom is so old.”

Elissa looked at Cassandra with wide eyes that screamed at her to shut up and that this wasn’t the time for her sass. Heracles realized that something was wrong, he had intended for this little get-together to be between the women of his life, and intended to speak to Elissa after Malicia spoke to her, but now he was finally seeing that his wife wasn’t in control of herself like before.

Malicia turned her head toward her youngest. Gold on black eyes focused onto the young sorceress who froze with fear, she stopped breathing as she was held captive by the terrifying proof of her mother’s anger.

The Dae sorceress’ voice was sweet yet cold as she addressed Cassandra. “Cassandra, are you insinuating that I am an old lady as well?”

Cassandra stopped looking at her mother and made a sign of zipping her lips. “Shutting up now.”

Elissa scowled at Malicia being so mean to her younger sister, while Malicia turned back toward her. The Storm Queen could feel a lot of anger being directed her way all of a sudden. “Let’s get back on topic.” The sorceress said by flipping her hair.

Elissa breathed in and out, trying to not get angry with her mother, but she made this really hard. “This is… I choose to compromise with what we all want. I want to still be there with you and keep my country, I even intend to show it to you-”

Malicia who had been listening since the start to her daughter’s explanation glared at her, crossed her arms and said loudly, “I don’t care about your little queendom games, Elissa. I decided that you’ll be staying whether you want it or not.”

It was like an epiphany, she didn’t have to care about her runaway daughter's feelings, she just had to show her the errors of her ways. Malicia didn’t have to discard her meticulously crafted plan to train the wayward girl, she would just put her through even more rigorous training and stop coddling her. 

Elissa looked shocked as she said, “What?” This was the first time her opinion has been utterly dismissed by her mother. Usually she weighed the pros and cons of things and tried to negotiate with her about her options.

“You are being an idiot, so I will protect you from yourself, young lady.” Malicia said as she spread her black feathery wings wide.

Cassandra immediately teleported behind Elissa, Heracles stood up and shouted, “Malicia, that’s enough! Elissa’s terms are good enough.”

His Phantasian black armor was visible as his cloak parted. Malicia’s head whipped in his direction, she scowled at him. Raising her chin disdainfully, she said, “Oh, another rebellion. I knew you’d eventually betray me, Heracles.”

Heracles remembered that flat tone was a sign of things going completely wrong, and that blood would be flowing right now. “Mal? What’s happening to you?” The superhuman looked lost, his wife was completely different from one week ago and now she threatened violence upon them.

A flash of blue mana appeared before Elissa, and someone with a hooded cloak was suddenly there. Taking off the hood, Elissa immediately recognized those blue hair and the petite yet curvy body.

“Get back everyone! She’s going over the bend! Her demon side took over.” The familiar person spread out her mana, defenses quickly flashing between her and Malacia.

“Teacher?! What are you doing here?!” Elissa asked loudly, Dicinna and Dawn forced her to back off as ordered.

The blue haired Princess Nerine, storm sorceress of the Mer Kingdoms, looked behind her for an instant and smiled at her student. Elissa smiled back, she had always liked the sorceress who had taught her her best spells. The Storm sorceress' smile went slack when she felt an impending spell coming toward, she batted away a gout of flame to the side that charcoaled the stone table between them.

Nerine glared at malicia who began hovering two meters from the ground, her hands raised palms up and black and gold fire in them. “Nerine back off.”

It was Malicia’s turn to feel something being thrown at her, she used right wing to bat it away at a tree, she was surprised to see that it was a vial that broke on it and the tree began to turn to stone. There was only one person with that kind of skills who could do that, she turned toward the diminutive cloaked figure. “Histreldia, you too?”

Histreldia’s cloak opened to reveal a pink skinned goblina with purple hair. She looked at Malicia with pity. “It’s for your own good, Malicia. We didn’t come with you just to show off or threaten, but to stop you if you lost control like just now.”

Laughing throatily, Malicia’s fire suddenly stopped from burning and she landed before Histreldia, looming over her. “Losing control? Me? I have never felt better in my life, I was always trying to balance myself but now I feel like I was denying myself so… much… power. Enough power to take back my beloved, power to keep my eldest in line.” The sorceress looked thoughtful for a moment and said loudly enough for everyone to listen, “Now that I think about it, this world… it should be my plaything as well.”

Someone behind Elissa laughed at that, she turned and saw that it was Cassandra; then the kid realized that no one was laughing with her and she realized that her mother was being serious. “Oh Goddess…”

“Hel…” The Storm Queen closed her eyes in frustration, her mom had given into her inner demon, the timing couldn’t have been worse.

Dawn shook her head and raised her hands in the hair as she shouted, “Elissa, your mother is going Palpaline on us!”

*Yes, yes. I’m going to work on it, Dawn.* Elissa sent mentally to her wife who didn’t stop panicking at all even with her reassurance. The blonde could understand, she wasn’t certain that she could do anything, but it was worth trying.

Elissa walked up to Nerine’s side. “Mother, you need to calm down.” Cassandra bravely followed her, but held onto her hand, she trembled a bit.

Malicia laughed. “I am calm.”

“Mom, you are scaring me.” Cassandra whined.

For an instant, Malicia looked at her daughter, she raised her hand and the little redhead disappeared in a shower of green mana. Elissa’s eyes widened, understanding that her mother had just transported Cassandra somewhere else. Elissa understood that it was her mother’s answer, she transported her sister to somewhere safe to not have to fight her; because obviously she wanted to fight all of them now.

Heracles approached Malicia and took her left forearm in his right hand and said with a pleading gaze, “Honey, please come back to your senses.”

Looking down at him, her arm phased through his hand, and with a sniff she said with a cold tone, “Heracles… I remember, you threatened me.”

“Oh shit.” He was lifted into the sky by a geiser of force like a catapult firing artillery, another one caught him one hundred meter into the air and with a thunderous crack threw him southwest from the clearing at speed greater than sound.

Lowering her head, Malicia grinned. “Who is next?”

“What have you done with dad?!” Elissa shouted as she readied her magic, blanketing the entire clearing that was engulfed in a wave of cold.

Malicia seemed unconcerned as she rolled her eyes. “I hit him at mach seven with a force spell, he should be in Wyoming right about now.”

A water lance struck Malicia who raised an elemental shield just in time. The water pooled at her feet and formed a magical circle that attempted to cage the sorceress and absorb the mana around her to neutralize her. With a harrumph, Malicia broke it by willing a transmutation of the water into vapor, rendering the spell useless. “Excellent spell, but not enough to threaten me, now begone, Nerine.” Malicia waved her hand and with tremendous magical might sent the other sorceress away, to the pacific ocean.

Elissa understood that she meant business at this point, some of her friends might die because of her. She looked at Dawn who understood and gave a signal to her fellow guildmates with her magic. They all unsheathed or took their weapons in their hands. Others simply prepared knick knacks that would shield them from harmful magic.

“Like I suspected, this turned into a fight.” A voice said from behind Malicia.

An archer girl in leather armor with a beautiful blue bow and mana arrow already nocked had snuck behind the sorceress; it intrigued her that this would happen. She then realized that from a sun elf, the girl was a high-elf now.  Malicia recognized her, the green eyes and the red hair made it obvious. “You are that Tsarra girl.”

The elven girl nodded, if she had a dress she would curtsy. “I am honored that you remember me, Headmistress.”

“I remember all of my daughters' friends.” Malicia boasted.

Nothing was said for five seconds before Tsarra broke the silence. “I see what you did there, Headmistress, you systematically removed everyone who might pose a threat to you.”

The sorceress smiled. “What a smart girl, I did well in allowing you to be friends with my idiot daughter.”

Elissa didn’t like what she was insinuating, that she didn’t have a choice in friends. That she couldn’t be trusted to make her own choice. She had the power to back it up, even if it wasn’t as strong as Malicia would like.

Tsarra defended Elissa, “She’s not an idiot, she’s unfocused…”

Elissa had come for her when she was about to launch a suicide mission on royalty on her home planet. She braved an army for Tsarra and her dad, and gave them a new home. She could be quick on the draw, but no one could insult her friend to her face. Tsarra loaded more of her mana in her arrow and glared at Malicia. 

She raised her bow and fired at the sorceress who snorted at her attack and froze the arrow in the air with a gesture of her hand. With her magic she brought the mana arrow to her hand and held it, she made a fist and crushed it.

As she looked at Tsarra, she said, “Don’t coddle Elissa.”

Tsarra stepped back from the powerful sorceress and disappeared with an invisibility spell. Malicia couldn’t hear the elf or smell her at all; proof that she was a high level stealth operator, she found it interesting.

Elissa strode up to her mother with a confident swagger, she looked seriously at the sorceress while her friends evacuated the clearing. Tsarra was ready to cover her, Dicinna and Dawn to extract and support her.

“So, are we doing this?” Elissa asked as she unleashed her inshek battle aura, keeping it really near her skin to conserve mana. Dawn looked for a node near them to which Elissa could hook up to to fuel herself.

Brunhilda and Danni still received orders to intervene when everything might look lost and to spread out around in the forest. Everything they said was transmitted to Malicia who could hear them through her senses linked to the forest. “I see, daughter, that you intend to swarm me. Do you need all your little friends to fight for you?”

Elissa understood the threat when her mother implied it, if they joined, some of them would die. She sighed and nodded. “You want a duel? You’ll have it.”

Mentally she told Dawn and Dicinna to change the commands she has given. Malicia smiled sweetly at Elissa, happy that she understood her swiftly. “I need to hammer into you how weak you are, right now. It seems that you’ve forgotten that fact.”

“You’ll find that I am not the same as last time, mother.” Elissa refuted as she cracked her knuckles.

An eerie laugh left Malicia’s throat as she walked toward her daughter with claws out. “I remember you saying that to me, you were fourteen, I had to show you how to use your ice without freezing everything around you.”

The girl’s eyes shone with blue light and frozen mist spread from her body. “Stop trying to humiliate me!”

With an Ebolythe sword summoned to her hand and pointed at Elissa, Malicia said, “You do that yourself, young lady. Now, shall we begin?”

Elissa’s only answer was to summon her fighting gauntlets that sealed themselves onto her forearms and covered themselves in mana attuned with wind. Elissa lunged at her mother and before she reached her sent a punch that was loaded with air pressure, Malicia teleported out of the way to the right onto the boulder at the center of the clearing. Elissa followed Malicia’s mana in the aether and with a kick moved to where Malicia was about to appear, about to punch her again.

Malicia contorted herself and used a force spell to send Elissa back to the ground, slamming her with enough strength to crack the ground. The girl grunted and shouted, “Lightning door.”

Golden lightning suffused Elissa’s body and she disappeared in a crack of thunder. Malicia spread her sense, then looked up and she found Elissa falling directly toward her with momentum, golden lightning cracking on her right gauntlet; she smiled and it was when she was about to get smited by the lightning with a fist in her face that Malicia disappeared in green lights spreading everywhere.

Elissa slammed into the ground, as if a nuke had gone off, the lightning spread like a dome in the clearing, slagging earth and stone with an explosion of plasma. The light that blinded Malicia from seeing Elissa in the middle of the clearing slowly disappeared, she saw as her daughter stood up from her crouching position.

“You are stronger than last time, somehow, but you didn’t change that much, Elissa.” Malicia scoffed, disappointed by the swift fight.

Elissa didn’t bother answering her, she opened her clawed gauntleted right hand, a ball of blue light appearing out of it and hovering from her palm. Water from the air around them coalesced together forming gigantic pillar-like constructs. The three of them then froze instantly, then Elissa launched them at Malicia. Malicia smirked and evaded the first by sidestepping it, the second who came a microsecond after the first forced her to dive forward to avoid being crashed into by the ice pilon. The third that was immediately coming up onto her forced Malicia to swing her ebolythe sword and slice the third ice pilone and use a force spell to shatter it.

“Such simplicity, two months on a planet crawling with monsters and you become a barbarian flinging icy rocks at me.”

Elissa smiled, then everything changed when her complexion became grey, as if she was made out of clouds, her eyes turned golden and her lips blue. Frozen mist dense enough to occlude everything suddenly spread from Elissa, covering the entirety of the clearing. Malicia sighed as she walked with her spiritual senses open and spread to detect where Elissa was hiding herself; unfortunately the entire powder-like mist had the same mana signature as her daughter.

Feeling wind coming toward her from behind, Malicia ducked and she saw Elissa’s gauntleted hand try to pierce her with her claws, then she sped up and disappeared. Then another telltale of the wind made Malicia decide to sidestep, to avoid being impaled, though some of her hair were caught and sliced off.

“I tire of this hide and seek game, Elissa!!” Malicia shouted as she felt someone coming up behind her, she turned, smiling and was sword ready to strike. But when she turned it was only to see an ice pilone coming toward her. She didn’t have the time to avoid it, but she still teleported. The ice construct still struck her.

Malicia appeared at the center of the clearing, and Malicia had no choice but to use a field healing spell. Her face that was almost caved in healed, her black leather body-suit repaired, she resummoned her sword to her hand. Eyes, nose and mouth bleeding black blood, Malicia turned toward the left where the mist simply dispersed as if Moses was separating the red sea; only to see Elissa walking toward her.

“Well played, my daughter.” Malicia said full of anger and pride that her daughter had won first blood in this fight.

The Storm Queen who was still clad in her magic embodiment form grinned at Malicia. “I’m not done yet.”

Malicia cleaned the blood on her by burning it with vigorous black fire. Her missing hair grew back and she looked like she was at one hundred percent again. “Oh, and what do you have in store for me? I am not defeated, just a bit bruised.”

Smiling, Elissa answered, “This entire fight was a distraction, mother.”

Her eyes widening, Malicia looked pained. “Again?” This was the second time Elissa was using that tactic to get at her, she was wary of what she had planned for her.

The mist completely disappeared only to reveal a huge and complex magical circle the size of the clearing with geometric pattern and words in elvish and Phantasian language making up the construct. In each direction, north, east, west and south, an Obelisk crackling with lightning mana could be found. Malicia looked at the magic circle and her blood grew cold. Then anger suffused her being.

“You are trying to contain me, me?!” The girl had planned this, and constructed a planar binding spell to ground Malicia to this location and stop her from teleporting as well.

Storm clouds coalesced in the sky, covering the entire peaks in the Tiger Mountain. Malicia tried to move but the circle powered up at the same time and rooted her in place. Elissa had studied demonology since she was able to safely read the tomes in the Sanctum under supervision. She knew exactly what she was doing, that she was exploiting the weakness of her corrupted mother was just a coincidence. 

The girl would have never thought that she’d have to use it against her parental figure. “You are out of balance, and your demon side has taken you over, so I should treat you like those scum who took my planet from me. I need a guinea-pig for my Holy smiting.”

“I see that I taught you well.” Malicia regretted that she hadn’t taken the girl seriously since the start, what she had planned for her was sure to hurt her.

“I learned from the best.” Elissa said with a roundabout compliment.

Malicia’s anger slightly abated. “How flattering.”

“LIGHTNING FURY!!!”

Elissa pushed her mana in the obelisks and spears of lightning reached for the cloud that was used as an amplifier and golden and blue lightning gathered from the Cumulonimbus overhead and lightning fell down on Malicia. 

CRAKOOOOOM. The Sorceress disappeared in the golden and blue lightning strike. The explosion and shock created a mini seismic event, the air burned and smelled of ozone after the lightning strike, a deep  empty crater was there where Malicia was supposed to be. Elissa frowned, and understood that this hadn’t been enough to take her mother down. The earth and stone glowed orange thanks to the heat that had been produced by the strike. Everything glowed as if embers were shining into the crater, there was a bit of water flowing, it seemed that Elissa had hit a ground water channel.

Suddenly the magic circle’s blue light began to fade, as it was being torn apart by stronger magic. Green fire spread in the sky, and Malicia began to reform in the air, her head was first then the rest of her body followed. She was a skeleton first, then muscles and flesh formed over it. Skin covered the entire body and then hair and her body suit followed.

This was the first time Elissa had seen this power from her mother. The Storm Queen looked completely shocked. Malicia opened her eyes and golden eyes black sclera looked back at Elissa.

“Haha.” Malicia began to laugh, an eerie echo accompanied each sound she made. “Hahahaha.”

Elissa cut the mana that was funneled into her magic embodiment form, returning to normal. She was now working on fumes, she had given everything already. It seemed that it wasn’t enough. She clenched her fists, then she felt something, mana was suddenly being funneled inside her. It felt like Dicinna and Dawn, her magic core was getting full again.

Malicia noticed that Elissa was moving somewhat better. Through her spiritual senses she saw a massive amount of mana being funneled into her from one of the two tether linked to her mana core attached to one of her wives. *I’m not just fighting Elissa, but the three of them.* 

The sorceress was getting excited, she wanted to experiment, see how much she could push her daughter and her hangers on. “You wanted to play in the big leagues. Time to see if you sink or swim.”

Malicia’s body swelled and morphed into a creature that was familiar to her. The sorceress shapeshifted into a black Dragon, with horns, which protruded from the sides of her head and wrapped around, projecting forward. A large frill adorned the upper part of her neck. The Dragon was five  meters in height and twenty-six  meters in lengths, her wingspans was of at least twenty four meters.

<This is the first time that you pushed me so much, daughter. I shall reward you with despair!> Malicia spoke in draconic.

“Hel. Why is it always Dragons?” Elissa said as she took out Gram from its dimensional sheath.

The blade glowed blue, and absorbed Elissa’s mana, amplifying it to new levels. She summoned her adamantite shield as well, the golden shield shone with green luster. Clang. Elissa beat her sword on her shield, taunting the shapeshifted sorceress who grinned with all her teeth that looked all rather razor sharp.

<I call upon all the forces of nature! Fight with me now!> Malicia’s mana insinuated itself everywhere, in the grass, the ground, the trees, the rocks and the water.

But she didn’t attack Elissa, she attacked her friends; screams of surprise and pain could be heard around Elissa who began to panic. “Why are you doing this, mother? Wasn’t this supposed to be just between us?!”

Malicia cackled, <You are weak, daughter. You care for your friends.>

<The fact that you possess a sense of morality, and I do not, gives me an evolutionary advantage.> Malicia explained with delight.

“No, Dani!” Elissa heard Erika shout. Multiple cracks of thunder and lightning striking trees on Elissa’s right.

“Shut up!” Elissa shouted and she launched a powerful Freeze Ray spell at Malicia, the dragoness batted it away with a wing.

<Is this anger I sense from you? How delicious.> With a serpentine tongue, the sorceress turned dragoness licked her muzzle.

Malicia reared her head as if she was breathing in and then used her breath weapon and spewed a torrent of acid toward Elissa. The acid was so corrosive that it ate into the ground, dissolving it, fortunately, Elissa wasn’t here anymore. Two hundred meters away, she appeared with Dawn at her side, the space mage had teleported Elissa to her just in time.

Elissa almost fell because of her equilibrium being messed up by the forced teleport.

“Woopsie.” Dawn held onto her wife.

<Elissa, where are you, girl? Did you run? You can’t escape!> Malicia shouted for everyone to hear, the mana carrying her thoughts.

“Dawn, thanks for the save.” Elissa kissed her wife, the space mage accepting the smooch with a winning smile.

Then her facial expression became serious. “So, you tried fighting your mom alone and got your ass kicked, now can we kick her ass collectively?”

“We need a plan.”

 

---

 

As they were hiding in a cave with the background music of Malicia destroying the state forest in her fury, the plan of the guild came together rather easily, when everyone could communicate thanks to their guild rings and brooches. The plan was to use Donovan as the tank to contain the force magic, Malicia was so fond of it. The dwarves would use artillery spells to contain Malicia, Tsarra would hary her with her sniping skills and protect everyone about to become the dragon’s focus. Modifications of the plan had to be made when Cassandra contacted everyone on the ring's communication network.

“Sis, you must help me! Mom transported me to some empty scary dimension!” Cassandra’s voice was panicked and she seemed to be crying.

Elissa lamented the fact that there was no way from getting visual with the rings, something that she will correct if they all survive. “Calm down, I will help you, Cassie.”

Dawn took Elissa’s right forearm in her hand, making Elissa look at her. “No, I will help her, you focus on the fight.”

“You’re sure, Dawn?” Elissa asked, she had her doubts, but Dawn specialized in space magic and breaching whatever sub-dimension Malicia imprisoned her little sister into, she had the most chance to succeed.

“I can do it, this is my schtick.” Dawn nodded confidently.

“Thanks Dawn!” Cassandra chirped in relief.

The space mage laughed evilly. “You’ll owe me one, Cassie.”

“Nothing is free.” Everyone could hear the pout in her tone.

“Glad you understand it.” Dawn answered back.

Elissa, Tsarra, Dicinna, Dani and Brunhilda who were the nominal leaders in the guild adjusted their plans. Dawn will be accompanied by Dani’s team to locate the sub-realm and deliver Cassandra. The dwarves’ mission didn’t change, Ocima was given the role to support everyone with the Weatherlight’s weapons.

Sizalda and Nabideth were charged to construct quick torsion weapons such as throwaway catapults able to deliver a magical payload. Elissa walked out of the cave and deployed her wings to take to the air. Unleashing her battle aura, she made it really obvious where she was to attract Malicia’s attention. Gram ready, she found multiple nodes in the air and began siphoning them for mana, at least she would not draw too much on her connections with Dicinna and Dawn.

<Here you are, have you finally decided that it was useless to hide?> Malicia appeared before Elissa in a splash of green mana, hovering with her wings beating to keep her aloft. Her mouth was open letting her razor sharp teeth in plainview, the black dragon smelled like rotting vegetation and foul water.

Elissa gulped. But gathered her resolve as she couldn’t give in to the scare tactic of her mother. “I shall ask you to back down, mother.” Gram was pointed at her, coursing with golden lighting.

Malicia cackled. <A threat? How cute.>

“Remember, you brought this upon yourself.” Elissa said conversationally, then she raised her hand above her head and shouted, “Fire!!”

Malicia didn’t feel it when spikes made of rocks struck her flank, but her scale shielded her from the impact. But the assault didn’t stop and the catapult used kept peppering her with pointy projectiles. <What are those annoyances?!>

Elissa laughed when the dwarves changed ammunition with ooze that splattered on her mother’s dragon form. 

<Tricks!!> Malicia roared.

Joining the fray with wind blades that cut into the scales forcing Malicia to regenerate herself.

“You wanted a fight, you got one, stop complaining!!” Elissa launched a freezing sphere spell chantlessly, but Malicia batted it away with a fiery black wing.

<Impertinent girl! Taste real power!!> Thousands of balls of darkness and black fire appeared around Elisssa and like slingshots shot toward her in the air.

Elissa avoided as much as she could and shielded herself when she couldn’t, but the spell was obviously a guided one, it boggles the mind how Malicia could control so many elemental balls. She answered with her own elemental evocation spells.

 

---

 

Meanwhile, Dawn was preparing the ritual that will let her access all the sub-dimensions in the region. Elissa had given her a lock of hair from Cassandra that she kept in her spatial ring for just such an occasion, just in case she needed to find the girl or if she got kidnapped. They were at the base of a hill. Dawn had traced a magical circle and placed three diamonds around her in a triangular shape and poured her power into them until they glowed with dark purple light and just like magic another realm mapped itself before her eyes.

Dawn could finally see the pocket dimension and sub-realms hiding all the regions; she dismissed those where she could feel that a lot of people could be found inside and focused on the residual mana found in the lock of hair from Cassandra to pinpoint her location. There were four pocket realms in the region all connected to each other by portals, but there was one not as big as the other and it felt cold and dark to her, a feeling Dawn felt when she was near Elissa’s demonic handmaidens but far more sinister. 

"I think I've found her." Dawn voiced to her escort.

"Where?" Dani asked as she looked at the asian girl in body hugging armor, slightly jealous of Dawn’s figure. She understood why Elissa was attracted to her, under all those baggy clothes she was wearing the body of a swimwear model was hidden.

Dawn turned into another direction and pointed her finger. "Ten kilometers north-east from our current location."

It was a wooded area, with rock formations at its center, if Dawn didn't know better she would say that Malicia had visited the place before meeting them and created this dimension to hold them.

Caroline, who had her magic spear out, looked in the direction Dawn was pointing at. "Can you teleport us?"

"She can't." Erika the mousy brunette looked pale, she was trembling as she looked at her friends.

Dani came to her and passed an arm over her shoulder. "Erika?"

She looked at Dani and informed her, "We die, if we try to teleport in there, and Elissa destroys the planet in her grief."

Dawn stayed silent, she knew of what Elissa was capable of and it was possible that she would give herself to her power and go over her own limits. "Okay, let's not do that." She said with a nervous laugh.

It felt flat as no one was amused. Dani crossed her arms and eyed the asian girl. "Can't you lockpick the dimension she's in?"

Crossing her arms and putting a hand on her chin, Dawn began to think… "Technically it's possible. But what we need is to set up a summoning ritual powerful enough to overpower whatever defenses my mother-in-law setup."

Already in her head, Dawn was seeing how she needed to summon her sister-in-law; bypassing whatever security Malicia had placed there was going to be hard, she needed to use remote viewing as well, what an interesting coincidence; Malicia was giving her trouble over this exact technique and now she was going to use it to free her new little sister from the dark dimension she was stashed in.

The diamonds stopped shining, and Dawn made her decision. "I need either Dicinna or Elissa with me."

"Eli is busy being a distraction." Caroline piped up.

Dawn sighed, Dicinna had a lot of mana but she was a complete novice at magic; Elissa would have been more of a help. "Dicinna it is."

With a flash of red light, Dicinna appeared through a portal having monitored the mental deliberation of her second wife. "I am already here, Dawn." Without even breaking stride, the dark elf strode up to the space mage, hugged her and lightly smooched her lips.

Dawn gave her wife a smile that put to shame the brightest star. "Just in time, my love."

Dicinna took one of her crystarium daggers, ready just in case. Dawn held her hand to the dark elf. “Link with me, we need to find Cassie and bring her here.”

Linking hands together, Dicinna looked into Dawn’s brown eyes. “Cassie is important. She knows how to fight our mother-in-law.”

“Let’s do this.” Dawn nodded as she reused the magical circle she had drawn previously. With the addition of Dicinna's mana, the diamond and the lines forming the magical construct glowed red.

“We will guard you.” Dani, Erika and Caroline said at the same time as they fanned around the magic circle.

 

---

 

Elissa evaded a dark green beam of condensed mana that was sure to do something to her, it looked corrosive.  She mitigated the effect with water and ice magic to neutralize the beam’s properties by transmuting the air around it into harmless gases.

*Dawn, are you done?* Elissa sent through their mental link.

*No, hold on! I’m almost done.* Was the answer. The space mage sounded busy and her mind elsewhere.

Getting used to the endless stream of attacks, Elissa kept batting away the evocation attacks with her wings or cutting them with her sword imbued with lightning. With a barrel roll, the Storm Queen placed herself over Malicia’s position and fired two Lightning Sphere at each of her wings and disappeared with a Lightning Door to avoid being stabbed by the tail spike the sorceress sent her way.

The two lightning strikes had no effect, as expected; Elissa had long since guessed that Malicia had mastered a form of anti-magic that she was not sharing with either of her daughters. Elissa had been ignoring that branch of magic since she failed when she tried to use it while flying; she now knew that it was possible to combine the two as Malicia was doing it right before her eyes.

Malicia grinned. <I didn’t know that we were here for an aerial ballet, daughter. Still it surprises me that you are this nimble in the air.>

Black lightning shot from the tips of her wings, Elissa barely had time to use a magical shield to defend from them. She conjured multiple layers as the powerful black magic passed through them; it was as they were about to pass the final layer that she used Gram to erase them by absorbing some of the mana from the spells and deflecting them. One tenth of the forest disappeared just like that and formed a crater under her.

“Enough!” She screamed at the top of her lungs. “Mark of Air!” Elissa chanted the spell that has an effect to boost air related spells.

“Aysa’s Plasma Cage.” The destructive force of lightning manifested itself in her hands. Forging these two powers together created a force unseen before. The lightning constructed a cage encasing the Dragon, and for a long moment, Elissa heard the roars of pain of the sorceress turned dragon as the cage was heating her innards at extreme temperatures. 

But Elissa knew that this wasn’t enough. “Wind Spheres!” Two spheres of six meters in diameter sprang into existence centered before Elissa with the force of two hurricanes and she launched them at the Dragon.

They crashed into the scaled figure, the winds devastating everything in their path, trees, shrubbery, they even raised earth. Elissa was getting tired, she landed on the ground, her wings retracting and disappearing in motes of blue halos of energy from her back. When the dust cleared, Elissa whined as she saw the unharmed form of her mother’s dragon form exit out of the crater.

She walked toward Elissa, her serpentine head facing hers and she said with a derisive tone, <Are you done delaying the inevitable?>

Elissa laughed, her mother was a monster. She pulled more mana from the nodes and let it fill her mana core; she put everything in the multiple layers of magical and kinetic shields. Elissa raised her hand and spoke into her ring, “Bring the rain.”

Malicia tilted her dragon head. <The what?>

White light overhead attracted the sorceress’ attention, and as the cannons of the Weatherlight charged, Malicia made a dumb expression that Elissa will cherish forever.

ZAAAAAP!! A torrent of magical artillery struck the dragon’s form; Elissa felt her shield buckle under the assault, multiple layers were simply gone. In her heart of hearts, she was already devising more powerful shield spells to weather such a powerful bombardment if she was ever subject to it again. The white light dissipated, and Elissa looked around her to only see a show of desolation around her, there was no forest, only the ruins of the forest. 

Deep in a secondary crater, a greenish glow could be observed; Elissa’s heart stopped as she looked as the energy-covered dragon exited the pit by clawing her way out of it. When Malicia gazed upon the stupid expression that her daughter made, she laughed at the young woman.

“You survived that?” Elissa asked shocked; she knew her mother was strong; but that was pushing it! *This is bullshit!!* She raged in her thoughts.

Malicia’s dragon’s tail swished right and left; her claws digging into the stony ground. <Elissa, Elissa, Elissa. I have battled armies and monsters so strong that you cannot imagine, and I went toe to toe with Daphne Raizel Snow Phantasia, the strongest magical warrior that the Snow bloodline has ever produced and you hope to defeat me with... party tricks?>

Elissa glared at the Dragon, clenched her fist till her knuckle went white and answered, “At least I tried.”

Nothing was said for a moment, until Malicia’s eyes glowed intermittently gold and green; she was fighting with something Elissa guessed. Her eyes settled with gold again, a clear sign that her demon side had won. <I remember that I promised that if you died, that I would resurrect you before you left for Svartalfheim.>

Elissa flinched and looked on as Malicia’s mana flared and surrounded her, then before her a pinprick of darkness and spatial energy coalesced, rending space and dimensions. Just as it appeared a wave of black magic engulfed Elissa’s position; eating through the stone on the ground, reaching a ground water pocket. Malicia had felt no feedback from the attack, she tracked Elissa’s mana to see that she was behind her. Like a Cobra, the sorceress turned and looked at Elissa who looked surprised as well, she was covered in purple light reminding her of when Dawn used her own teleportation.

<Since when can you teleport?> Malicia demanded to know.

“Huh, that’s new.” The blonde girl looked at her hands; then she found something else that she could do.

She pointed her hand to her right, and a red portal opened for her, she saw over Malicia’s head. “This has possibilities.”

<What happened to you, Elissa?> Malicia’s eyes turned green for a moment as she asked this.

Elissa shrugged. “Beats me, but it seems that I can harness my wives’ magic and abilities.”

<Hekate’s meddling...> Malicia’s eyes went gold again.

Laughing, Elissa answered, “I’d prefer to call it her blessing.”

<I tire of this fight.> Malicia spread her wings, she breathed in; multicolored light gathered in a single point as she prepared some kind of breath weapon to blast Elissa with.

“Yes. Let's put an end to this. You tried to kill me, mother. I hope you don’t think that I am not able to respond in kind?” Something inside Elissa unlocked a knowledge that was kept from her, but due to her dire situation she was given access; it was one of Damian Snow’s most destructive skills.

Gram lost its blue luster to become golden yellow like the sun, glowing red lines formed glyphes on the blade. The sword was changing to accommodate the abundance of mana being poured into it. The nodes of mana in the air were almost depleted as Elissa put everything into the divine weapon. A shockwave spread from Elissa as she put herself in a long tail stance with her sword, the point of her sword slanting downward and behind, a shroud of golden, purple and red mana enveloping her while golden lightning coursed through her body and sword.

Malicia’s breath weapon formed a multicolored sphere the size of a soccer ball, a wave of destruction suddenly spread toward Elissa. Gram’s blade elongated with energy, the sword amplifying Elissa’s mana and converting it into offensive power. Elissa swung her sword and the mana in the blade was directly converted into light, accelerating it to the speed of one of her lightning strikes, the kinetic energy converged toward Malicia’s breath attack and the two forces collided with tremendous strength.

Pouring everything she had, Elissa was surprised to see Malicia’s breath weapon being cleaved and the giant beam of light spread for kilometers, creating a deep gouge and simply erasing one of the mountain’s peaks. When Elissa couldn’t sustain it anymore, the mana dissipated, the forest was on fire with a deep trench as a proof of the damage left by Gram.

Elissa couldn’t see Malicia, but there were bits of scales and tail to show that she had been there. The young woman knew that she wasn’t dead, but wounded. This was the first time she had definitive results like those in a fight with her mother. A red portal opened at her side and Elissa smiled, on the other side, Dicinna, Dawn, Cassandra and team Dani arrived at her side.

“So did you win, love?” Dawn asked as she looked at the devastation Elissa and Malicia’s fight had wrought.

Dani gulped as she saw the extent of the damages and how utterly tired Elissa was being, the girl had a cut on her lips and burn marks on the right side of her face. Elissa could barely stand and used Gram as a cane.

The Storm Queen shook her head. “No… I am exhausted. I think w-we need to escape.”

Dicinna could see how much it hurt Elissa to confess that she was in over her head, her wife was prideful and utterly confident most of the time, but it seemed that this fight has shaken her more than possible. It was with a sigh that the dark elf strode up to Elissa’s side and helped her stand upright by passing one of the girl’s arms around her shoulders. Dawn mimicked her, and Cassie looked worried, she had never seen her sister like this.

“I already gave the others the order to board the skyship.” Dicinna said in her wife’s ear.

“Excellent.” Elissa whispered back, kissing Dicinna’s cheek.

<And where do you think you’re going?> A voice said from behind them.

Everyone froze, Elissa and the others slowly turned to see Malicia in Dae form, she had lost a horn, and her left arm hung uselessly and from it blood splattered on the ground. Elissa laughed nervously as she saw Malicia regenerate, the damage slowly fading. “Hel, I knew this wouldn’t kill you.”

“You almost did, if it was Daphne who had fired this at me, I would be dead.” Malicia clenched and opened her fist with her left hand and tested it’s usage. Her crown of horns was back to its gold luster.

Elissa shrugged. “I’m going to get there, eventually.”

Malicia nodded, she agreed that Elissa’s growth has certainly been astounding; then again at her age, Daphne was stronger. “Your time on Svartalfheim wasn’t totally useless, but… what?!”

Something slammed in the ground at Malicia’s side, the dust cleared to show that it was Heracles in his dark armor and with his club wreathing with red energy. “Hello love, I’m back.”

“Heracles.” Malicia growled.

Someone that she didn’t think she would see before long, but it seems that it was wishful thinking from her part that she had time to do what needed to be done.

Cassie exclaimed, “Daddy! You took your time!!”

Heracles walked between Malicia and the girls, looking dangerously at the woman he loves who had given herself to her demon, literally. In those cases, a beat up was the only way to get her to stop. “Sorry little Tyke, but she threw me rather far. Elissa take your people and get out of here, I’ll take care of her, Gadhiss is coming.”

*What he means is ‘don’t worry about me.’* Elissa interpreted from what he was saying. 

Gadhiss stopped the kind of fight that reshaped landscapes with a vengeance; she was currently stronger than Malicia and could force her to come back to her senses. “Well okay, see you later, dad, I love you... and don’t die.” Elissa waved off at him.

Elissa sent a signal and they all teleported away from the destruction and the fight between the couple. The Storm Queen still had a bad feeling. Malicia who looked at them getting away fumed in anger as she looked at the redheaded man. “You won’t stop me, husband.”

“But I can delay you.” He answered smoothly as he lunged at her.

 

---

 

Weatherlight bridge
1 minute later

 

[Your Imperial Highness, I would recommend for us to leave now.] ZHAER said in a hurry, his hologram flickering.

Elissa was dropped in her command chair by Dicinna and Dawn. She collapsed in the chair as ZHAER started streaming healing magic to sooth her aches and pains. 

“You don’t have to tell me, let’s get off of this rock, full power to the manadrive!” Elissa commanded.

The engines thrummed with power, enough for everyone to feel it from the bridge. Dicinna was the one to order her twin to, “Ocima, get us out.”

Pushing the big golden button on the dashboard at the side of the one controlling the mana sail, Ocima informed everyone about her action. “Planar window open, now entering the Yggdrasil network.”

Everyone let out a sigh of relief as they saw the ship enter through the green window and speed through the aether. Elissa placed Gram in its dimensional sheath and looked at the wormhole that they were navigating inside, it showered everyone in a splash of lights that relaxed Elissa. “Okay, safe.”

Dawn wiped her head toward Elissa and slapped her arm. “Elissa you just jinxed us!” The space mage shouted, then went to the navigation console and turned it on to see what was on the radar.

Elissa frowned, everyone was glaring at her, she didn’t understand why they were mad at her right now. “Eh, but-”

An alarm blared and everything went red on the bridge. [Object detected in transit, and it is pursuing us.] ZHAER informed everyone on the ship.

Erika, the precog, walked up the wall near the door to the bridge, unfolded an emergency seat from said wall and began to strap herself in and shouted, “Elissa, your mom is bullshit!!” as she saw in her mind what was about to happen. Dani and the others followed suit.

Elissa laughed, she shouldn’t be surprised that her mother could travel unaided in an aether stream. “Language! My little sister is here.”

Everyone looked at her like she was crazy, they had heard Cassandra swear like a sailor when she wasn’t present. Cassandra simply smiled at her sister, who still believed that she was such a cute and pure little girl. Dicinna put a hand on Elissa’s shoulder and asked, “Can you still fight?”

Elissa wasn’t at one hundred percent, the healing that ZHAER was providing was working but she was sure that she couldn’t shoot big spells like she had been earlier. “If I have to.” She answered with doubts.

Dawn didn’t want this to be the end, she was married to the most awesome girls ever and… then she looked up at Dicinna and Elissa, exited the navigation console’s seat and walked up to them and offered, “Why don’t we… combine?”

Elissa and Dicinna looked at her as if she was crazy, they could do it at will now but using their powers in this state was challenging. “Dawny, it’s untested.”

Leaning forward, Dawn took Elissa’s head between her hands and said harshly, “This is better than dying, she tried to kill you for real, Eli.”

Dani, who looked at the three discussing something she had no context for, asked, “What are you talking about girls.”

Elissa took on a thoughtful expression, she then turned her seat toward the exit to the bridge and looked at Dani and her team. “Sorry, I didn’t want you to find out like this.”

The blonde gave her arms to Dicinna and Dawn and by simply willing to be one, their body glowed with golden mana and they simply… melded together. Becoming a tall willowy woman wearing a mix of their armors, white golden hair with brunette locks framing her face that looked like an amalgam of the three girls’.

Cassandra, who was in one of the seats near the command chair, was the first to comment and broke forever Elissa’s illusion that she was a pure little girl. “Fuck me.”

“How the hell did that happen?” Dani demanded.

The young woman flushed in embarrassment as everyone looked at her, she was definitely a new person. “Since our wedding.” She revealed, her voice sounded like the wind chimes making everyone look at her even more. 

“We need a name for this form.” The woman said as she raised from the command chair, a mix of Dicinna and Dawn's daggers sheathed on her belt. 

Elissa was in command of the body as usual, she looked if she still could summon Gram, it appeared readily in her hand. She smiled, her mana core was full and also deeper; signaling that she was going to have control issues with her magic. Dawn told Elissa to not worry in her mind that she had it under control. 

<I will use our abilities wisely,  I've seen how Elissa uses her ice and it seems that some of our knowledge and skills are accessible to each other.> Dicinna realized this was a game changing option to them, the three of them felt powerful, yet inexperienced.

Fighting like this without experience was going to be harder still.

[You Imperial highness… your mother caught up.] ZHAER warned, then everyone felt the shock when something landed on the ship. They all turned to see Malicia in dragon form and quickly change back to assume her Dae body. She waited on the main deck of the Weatherlight.

“Let’s go fight.” The unnamed woman said as she twirled Gram in her hand and was about to leave when the precog grabbed her hand and stopped her.

“Trinity.” Erika said out loud.

“What?” Elissa asked, not knowing what the precog was saying.

“Your name is Trinity.” Erika said as she saw a tall black haired woman call the fused form of her friends like that in her vision.

“Why? Oh, that’s because we are three and we fused.” Elissa, who was in control of the body, smiled.

Dawn and Dicinna acquiesced that it was fitting, but the space mage found it kind of corny and a bit like ripping off a character from The Matrix, but who cares? *All we need now are some awesome shades…*

“It’s a swanky name.” Trinity said out loud. She looked down at Erika. “Thank you, Erika.” Then she left the bridge.

She went down the spiral stairs and quickly ended up on the main bridge; she walked up to Malicia who smiled, recognized Elissa’s gait when she saw the hooded and armored figure walk up to her. She had Gram in her right hand and a crystarium dagger in her free one. The cloak Trinity was wearing opened to show her purple and blue armor; she wore her magic like a mantle as her battle aura exploded.

Malicia’s smile disappeared as the woman stopped before her. “Who are you?”

“You know who I am.” Trinity said as the two of them began to circle each other, gauging the other’s reaction.

Malicia saw Gram in the woman’s hand, but she still denied what she was seeing. “No, I don’t. I came here for my wayward daughter, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll back off.”

Trinity stopped walking and used her dagger to take off her hood slowly. “Oh, Mother. You don’t recognize me, how sad.”

“You are not-” Malicia recognized some of her daughter’s traits on this face, it was mixed with the others of the girl she had called her wives.

Trinity laughed deprecatingly. “See, it’s me.”

Malicia’s eyes went from gold to green, her demon and fae side fluctuating and wrestling for dominion. “What happened to you, Elissa. I… I can help-”

“You can’t, this is the natural consequence of what Hekate had done to me when I married my beloveds. And in this form, the name’s Trinity.”

“I shall fix this after I beat you.” Malicia’s demon side won again, her ebolythe swords appearing in her hands.

“You can't fix what isn't broken… and I don’t think it’s going to be as easy to beat me as you think. We are three minds in one body.” Trinity’s mana thrummed through the blades in each of her hands.

“Then I shall show no mercy.” Malicia slowly walked up to Trinity.

“As if you ever have before.” Trinity sneered.

They lunged at each other, Malicia trying to chop off Trinity’s right hand but was thwarted by the Crystarium dagger deflecting the slicing motion; Trinity jumped forward and attempted to knee the sorceress in the abdomen; she hit nothing as Malicia simply disappeared. Immediately spreading her spiritual senses, she felt danger and rolled back in a crouch only to see Malicia standing where she had been with her sword stabbed in the ironwood of the main deck.

Shards of ice formed around Trinity and quickly enough gathered to create constructs in the form of weapons. Elissa and Dawn knew that they couldn’t fire anything big in this environment. It would be pure suicide. Malicia mimicked her and formed constructs of black fire to shield and defend her. The two lunged at each other again, and this time, Trinity was faster, she was on Malicia in an instant, surprising her. Trinity headbutted Malicia, all the constructs clashing with each other; Malicia received a straight jab that broke her jaw but she chose this moment to stab Trinity in the left thigh.

They let go of their weapons and grabbed each other, their face-off devolving into a catfight; Trinity then seized the initiative and straddled Malicia and began beating her to death. She punched her six times before being made to fly with a telekinetic push, Trinity slammed into the bridge’s forward window. Malicia took advantage of this moment to conjure a spear of dark flame that she threw at Trinity who didn’t avoid it as there were people behind her in the bridge and received the spear in the abdomen.

“Fuck.” She spat blood, golden blood.

Trinity used her battle aura to push out the fiery spear, Dicinna used their healing ability to treat the wound. Malicia swaggered toward Trinity, “This was cathartic.”

“I would have never believed anyone if they told them that I’d end up in a brawl with my own mom.” Trinity quipped.

“I guess you can cross this off your list.”

Before Malicia could strike Elissa with her sword, the thrumming of the Manadrive buzzed dangerously higher. Malicia felt the build up of aetheric energy before it deployed, like a torrent it swept the main bridge, Elissa swiftly stabbed her sword into the deck. Malicia was swept away and about to fall down the ship when Trinity caught her with a cord made of mana.

The problem was that the manadrive kept thrumming and building even more energy. Malicia’s eyes went green as she looked at Trinity, she was afraid and had temporarily gained control.

“Mom! Hold on!”

Malicia tried to get back on the ship but the aether winds outside the ship were too powerful. “I-I can’t.”

“Hold on, damn you!” Elissa commanded as she tried to bring her mother inside the ship’s atmospheric bubble.

“I was about to kill you…” Malicia said with emotion; there was no guarantee that with Elissa's fused state she could revive her if she killed her. After all she wasn’t going to  resurrect one person, but three.

“Doesn’t matter! If you fall you might not find your way back!” And that’s what scared Trinity, all her mother needed was a good whack on the head to get back to normal, and she didn’t want her dead at all.

“Mayhap, it’s for the best.” Malicia said as her hold weakened on the mana rope.

Trinity growled. “You’ve given in to your inner demon. Big deal! Now, claw your way to the main deck.”

“I’m sorry.” Before Malicia let go, Trinity threw something at her, it was a ring, a guild ring. Malicia caught it and placed it at her finger as she was swept into the aether.

[Don’t trust Hekate blindly.] Were Malicia’s parting words in the communication ring network.

The ship thrummed anew and it suddenly sped up, Trinity held on as much as she could until the atmosphere shield reasserted itself and protected her from the winds. The ship was going so fast that Trinity lost her grip on her sword and was slammed into the base of the bridge and everything went black.

 

---

 

???
???

 

Trinity woke up to the smell of smoke, and she felt something sticking out of her and saw a piece of Ironwood piercing her right thigh. She looked up and the sky was green and snow fell from heavy clouds, a tundra spread from the horizon.

"Where the fuck am I?"