Planet Svartalfheim

Upper Moon continent

Nevae Forest

Day 1, Afternoon

“Ouch!” Cried Elissa as the portal spat her out on the purple bed of grass.

Elissa groaned, stood up and wiped her bottom. She cursed her mother as the portal closed. Feni and Rei appeared by her side and the young woman noticed that the two wore different clothes for the first time since she met them. Feni wore a black armor reminiscent of the one Heracles had, her weapon of choice was a great sword; Rei was in a simple white mage robe but still wore breeches underneath, she had her mithril staff topped with a white Mana crystal secured by a set of snakes coiling around it.

Elissa’s black cloak was bothering her, but she didn’t dare take it off, it seemed that there was a climate control and a camouflage enchantment on it.

She was raging inside and couldn’t believe that… wait she could actually believe it, Malicia had stranded her on another planet.

“Mistress, we should find somewhere to camp.” Fenirael stated.

Listening to the noises of the primal forest she landed in, Elissa let herself drown in nature and soaked in the new language of the animals and beasts she was hearing. The land spoke to Elissa, through the purple grass and moss, the dense trees, and the flowing river she could hear several kilometers away. She could hear skittering rodents and screeching birds all around her and farther away loping four-footed creatures. Elissa looked at the sky and was amazed, there were three moons and a really big gas giant in the blue sky.

Elissa felt that the gravity on Svartalfheim was different, five percent heavier than on Earth; the breeze that blew between the trees showed her that the atmosphere was richer in oxygen and mana. Elissa could feel multiple mana nodes and ley lines crisscrossing the forest.

<Kill.>

<Two-legs. Kill.>

<Food.>

Elissa was finally attuned to the animalistic languages of the critters in the forest and what she was hearing didn’t reassure her one bit. She deployed her cold aura with a thought and let it flow around her.

“Mistress?” Reinatiel asked worried.

“Prepare for combat and to run.” The redhead ordered.

Shling. Elissa unsheathed Gram.

The blade sang a beautiful melody as it cut the wind and the chittering ceased, Gram glowed in a haze of cold energy. Howling broke the silence and Elissa picked up the sound of multiple somethings coming toward them. Reinatiel already had a ball of black fire in her hand while her older sister had readied her great sword and was waiting.

The gigantic forms of three black wolves appeared through the trees as they stopped to watch them, some licked their teeth, others growled at them.

“Hel, girls back to back!” Elissa shouted.

Reinatiel threw the ball of hell fire at the wolves who scattered, the biggest wolf that Elissa presumed to be the alpha charged at her; She sent an overcharged freeze ray spell at him and stopped him cold in his tracks, freezing his entire body. Fenirael bisected a second wolf while her sister broke the neck of the third one with an overpowered telekinetic cantrip spell.

“Let’s run North, mistress!” Fenirael said.

Elissa nodded and she ran as she heard even more wolves howling and chasing after them. Reinatiel cast a spell of agility that boosted their movement and reaction speed. They could go faster but it was foolhardy as this forest was dense, full of natural obstacles and it seemed that the wolves weren’t the only dangerous animals after them. On their flank, long-necked lizard-like creatures followed them, they were red and mildly looked like velociraptors with feathers on their back and tiny arms.

<Prey. Food.>

<Catch!>

Elissa heard them say. This world was decidedly too hostile. The young woman built a spell in her mind and created six balls of golden lightning that flew toward each of the lizards. They struck them full-on as they exploded on their scaly skin. The bushes and trees weren’t spared by the spell and caught fire. Four Lizards stopped moving but two were still alive and crawling away; they ceased the pursuit.

The young woman and her party still didn’t stop running. As they advanced through the dense underbrush, Reinatiel blasted it with a tongue of black fire and created a clear path. To prevent a bushfire like Elissa did with her lightning attack the demoness mage snuffed out her fire with her mind. They heard the sound of powerful running water and as they cleared the trees they saw a river cutting off their way.

Fenirael wasn’t happy and looked at her Mistress for a solution, there were still giant black wolves on their tails. Elissa gazed at the other shore of the river, she could distinctly see some sort of constructions. If she had her Raven familiars with her she would have used them to scout the other shore, Elissa sighed and decided to use another solution; she focused on the river’s water and willed mana into the water molecules, two bubbles filled with water rose into the air.

The young woman has been following Nerine’s teaching in her strongest element, ‘water; water is the element of change, water is patient. Water just waits, wears down the cliff tops, the mountains. There is nothing better for attacking hard and strong things. Water always wins.’

*And I agree with you, Teacher.* Elissa thought in her heart.

Elissa shaped the bubbles of water and manipulated their viscosity to create an eyepiece and an objective lens and superposed them ten centimeters apart. The young woman could now see farther and what she saw through her makeshift telescope spell frightened her. The crude buildings seemed to be made of mud and wood, the inhabitants were giant humanoid creatures of about 9 feet tall on long, ungainly legs. Their deceptively thin bodies had seemingly thick rubbery hides colored in shades of mossy green or putrid grey and possessed long hanging arms that ended in massive claws.

“Trolls.” Elissa said between her teeth.

“If there’s a tribe of trolls on the other shore we cannot go there, mistress. I am not confident enough to take them all on.” Fenirael said.

Reinatiel added, “We should follow the river and find a place where we can cross.”

Elissa was certain that she could kill the entire tribe, but time wasn’t on their side. She could still hear the wolves coming after them. The trio followed the river and found a spot where it narrowed; Elissa created an ice bridge construct solid enough for all of them to cross. What didn’t surprise them was when twenty or so Trolls encircled them. They had an assortment of crude weapons with them, spears, axes, and cudgels.

<Females. Catch!> Elissa heard the horde’s captain order.

<We. Breed. Females!>

<Eat! Soup!>

Their shouts disgusted Elissa and elicited in her a hatred that she wasn’t used to feeling. Elissa’s frost aura was on already as she let her control slip.

“Mistress!” Fenirael shouted as she placed herself before Elissa as if to shield her.

Elissa casted the battle line spell, and traced a shimmering red line around them in an arc; it was the same spell she used in the placement exam for Tesla Academy. The trolls who crossed it squirmed and fled in fear. It gave the young woman sufficient time to draw her sword, raise it to the sky and conjure lightning that hit Gram’s blade who amplified the spell with her goddess-given ability. Elissa violently planted the point of her sword in the ground and a wave of lightning and thunderous force swept out from it.

It first pushed the Trolls and the chunks of earth and rocks ten feet away from her party thanks to the spell's effect, and the wave of lightning emitted a thunderous boom audible out to three hundred feet. Elissa watched as the battlefield became silent but some stragglers weren’t dead yet and attempted to flee. Bubbles of water rose from the river and froze, Elissa sculpted them into the forms of daggers, axes, hammers and blades. She imbued the ice constructs with lightning and shot them after her fleeing foes. Their brutish howls of pain as the lightning shocked them was music to Elissa’s ears; she killed them, she didn’t get all of them though.

Reinatiel cast powerful multiple black fire magic missiles to take out those Elissa missed while her older sister killed those that were just unconscious or wounded and couldn’t move.

Elissa heard the wolves crossing the bridge, they were almost midway but with a thought, the bridge turned into water and the beasts whined as they fell into the river, the powerful water current caught and drowned them.

There was only silence around them, drowned by the noise of the flowing river, the three women were on their guard. Elissa proceeded to loot the corpses after a moment, she thankfully had latex gloves in her spatial toe ring. Fenirael was done with her thankless task, while Elissa chose to take their tusks for her alchemy by cutting them with her enchanted silver scalpels. She also filled at least fifty vials with trolls blood as well as some random empty jar that she found in her alchemical kit.

Elissa decided to not let loose ends bite her in the rear later, and looked at the corpses at her feet. She smiled, *Those ugly things wanted to capture us and violate us. Fine, I will kill you all.*

Elissa used her water magic and assembled the leftover blood from the bodies of her fallen foes and chanted. A ward of energy formed at her feet and she prayed for Hekate’s help, the goddess readily gave it and a red bloody colored aura enveloped the trolls corpses and as they disappeared as if devoured by the void as an immense shockwave spread throughout the whole region. Unknowingly, Elissa exterminated all the troll tribes in this area of the Moon Continent. She had hoped to just kills the tribe affiliated to those who attacked her; however, the trolls all over the area were related to each other. It took barely any mana to make this disaster level curse, Hekate was a generous deity but a terrible enemy.

*So this is what my goddess meant when she said she blessed us, Gram.*

<Yes.> The sword spirit acknowledged in contentment. She was so happy to have contributed to the battle and smote her wielder’s foes.

Once she was done Elissa decided that it was time to move on; they moved away following the river that reminded Elissa of a giant snake, with all the curves and bends she was seeing. As the sun was higher in the sky, they finally arrived at a lake where the powerful river disgorged. The water was blue and clear, there were islands far into the horizon but Elissa couldn’t see the end of this lake.

She surmised that this must be an inner freshwater sea. Fenirael put a hand on Elissa’s shoulder and then made a sign to stay silent with her finger on her lips as she pointed to the left. There was a pause when Elissa couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It forced them to go hide in a copse of purple trees away from prying eyes.

There was another tribe on the lake’s shore, but the beings inhabiting the wood and mud huts defied logic and what Elissa knew of nature. She could only think of them as Fishfolk, they had human arms and legs, but the bodies of fish. Some of them had different coloring, grey, red, green and blue.

“Mistress, what do we do?” Reinatiel whispered as she dimmed the glow of her staff’s crystal. Her beautiful face was marred by the worried expression she sported.

Elissa scowled as she looked at the beings that were minding their own business. “Every creature or being we met so far tried to kill us, you cannot understand them, but I can.”

The young woman unsheathed her sword but didn’t let it glow so as to not attract the attention of the village, Elissa used her blade as her spellcasting focus as Malicia would use her staff or focus bracelet for precision casting. She wrote the spell code in her mind, something she had thought of since Nerine taught her how to synergize her elemental affinities. Fortunately, there were a water and an air mana node nearby so she wouldn’t have to supply her own mana to the ritual, a complex ceremony that creates magical effects, that she called her lightning calling obelisk.

Now that she connected to the nodes and prepared the ritual, Elissa walked to the shore with her blade lowered to the ground, Fenirael, and Reinatiel following her. The young woman was confident that she could take the entire tribe if they turned hostile. Elissa connected her mana with Reinatiel’s, just in case they had to do something fast and decisive.

Forming a circle was one of the earliest things a spellcaster was taught if they had a good teacher. A circle was a technique that allowed an arcanist to increase the number of spells they could cast, granting them the ability to link their minds to cast more spells and add their manapools together. A number of allied mages would lend their powers to a single mage, making them a much more powerful mage. This technique was an arcane practice that was shared by the witches of the Wastes, on Phantasia. For Example, Malicia had formed a circle of three with her daughters and showed them how to perform rituals since they were adepts in the arcane arts.

The village’s sentries noticed them and sounded the alarm, drum beats resonated in the air.

<Elf! Elfs are coming! Call the Chief!>

<Make the women and children hide in the water!>

Elissa could see a lot of little fish in the water bordering the village, she shook her head. *As if that would protect you from me.* The young woman thought.

It wasn’t like Elissa would go out of her way to kill them all, it depended on whether the Fishfolk were hostile or received them amicably. Thirty seconds later the tribe of fishfolk assembled at the gate of their little village surrounded by a crude two meters high wall made out of large chunks of blue coral. To Elissa, it was pretty, too bad that the fishfolks killed it.

<Halt!> A blue fishfolk ordered and pointing his stone spear at Elissa’s party.

<We come in peace.> Elissa said in their language.

That stunned them and the blue fishfolk guards and warriors that were assembled lowered their spears, a bigger grey fishman appeared from behind them and said, <No, Elf aren’t worth the trust.>

Elissa had completely forgotten that she now looked like an elf, it seems her mother gave her a bad hand with the glamour she imposed on her.

<I don’t want to fight you, but I will defend myself if I must. My retribution will be swift and brutal if you-> Elissa didn’t even have the time to finish speaking when the chief fired spines from his dorsal fin that the young woman batted away with her sword.

<You’ve made your choice, fish.> Elissa gave them a predatory smile, and as she let her cold aura flare with power, she invoked the prepared attack ritual and fed water and air mana from the nodes into it. There was a rumble as ten tall pointed ice monoliths surged from the ground and water around the village.

Around the village, the air supercharged with static and a smell of ozone. Jagged streaks of a bright golden color could be seen at the obelisks’ peaks. All of the fishfolks attacked Elissa and her handmaidens, throwing spears and their dorsal spines; Reinatiel’s dome shield stopped the projectiles from harming them.

“Mime quer- sí (My turn now).” Elissa said in Elvish.

Lightning coursed through the closest obelisk and three bolts of lightning that arced toward the fish warriors and their chief, then leap from them, striking many of the fishfolks in a one hundred-sixty foot radius. The attack ritual didn’t stop there as frigid globes of cold energy streaked from the peaks of each obelisk striking any fishfolk in the water or on the shore, they detected the type of mana those creatures possessed and relentlessly attacked them.

The smell of burnt flesh and lightning was prevalent in the village, cries of pain and anguish could be heard, in the water, the frozen floating bodies of fishfolks could be seen. This trend continued for another ten minutes while Elissa cut down the surviving warriors with Gram. It was a really dreadful task but she did it, she had given them a way out but they didn’t take it. Maybe she could have avoided the village, but something told her that their sentries or scouts would have found and hunted her party.

The village was silent now, Reinatiel conjured her black flame and created a giant ball of fire that she threw in the midst of the mud buildings. It began to consume everything, the bodies, the walls, the hutts, and nothing was left and in another ten minutes, only scorched and blackened earth could be seen.

“It is done, mistress.” Reinatiel said to Elissa.

She was satisfied with what she did to not leave any trace of those vile water creatures. She smiled and her red eyes glowed with glee.

“So, I see.” Elissa said realizing that there has been barely half-day and she already destroyed two tribes of creatures on this planet. “Let’s find somewhere to camp, girls.”

“Yes, mistress.” The handmaidens said in unison.

The obelisks crumbled as Elissa stopped feeding them mana from the available nodes. She could hear the structures crack on the ground or fall in the water, when she looked behind her, there were big chunks of ice floating in the water. Ten kilometers later, Elissa found a grassy field giving way to a white sandy beach that she found perfect.

The cosmic energy and mana were thick there, the breeze was fresh and lake water made the air smell good. Elissa decided that this would be a good place to take in cosmic energy but first, she had to speak with Rei and Feni. The tall demoness took off her armor and began to wipe the body fluids and blood off it, her under armor consisted of a skin-suit made of leather; Reinatiel helped her by casting a cleaning spell on her and her gear.

The white-clothed Demoness turned her head and said, “Mistress, now that we are relatively safe I need to tell you that your mother has given us instructions for when you arrive on the planet. You have a destination to go to, in the far north to take the portal that will open in 2 months and ten days; oh, and train while traveling.”

“Yes, it does sound like mom…” Elissa said as anger filled her.

She couldn’t believe her mother would do this to her. Reinatiel took a rolled piece of leather parchment from her robe and presented it to Elissa. The redhead opened it and was surprised to discover that this was a magical map, it showed her position, like the hologram map from her CLO she could zoom in or out and what she saw scared her. This world was big! And this lake was gigantic, it was the size of Texas.

“No wonder I couldn’t see the opposite shore.” Elissa said awed.

Elissa decided to place her yurt here, because yes as she browsed through the spatial ring her mother gave her, the Yurt she had made was there, as well as food, water, a stock of medical supplies, magic tomes that she will study later and a lot of random artifacts. The young woman saw that having this ring on her finger wasn’t safe and hindered her sword hand, then proceeded to empty the silver spatial ring into her self made orichalcum spatial toe ring she was sure had sturdier enchantment and was inconspicuous.

Once that was done, Elissa took the Yurt, placing it in the middle of the grassy field and was surprised by how much it had changed. The crown and cover were purple in color and matching the vegetation. The protection enchantment spelled into the platform deployed and three layers of shields surrounded the mobile dwelling. Reinatiel entered the portal leading inside the Yurt and cried in surprise, Elissa and Fenirael followed her and entered the dwelling to see what surprised her handmaiden.

Yastan had promised to make the Yurt as luxurious as possible, there was a really big blue bed inside for at last four people, a kitchen and two doors without a doubt leading to a bathroom and toilet.

“Those Dwarves make beautiful work, mistress.” Fenirael praised.

“I agree, Feni.” The interior was rustic and gave a cozy feel to everything, most of the amenities and magitek appliances worked with mana.

Elissa opened the fridge and saw that it was stocked with food and drink and other goodies. Now she felt less lost on this dangerous planet; however she wouldn’t relax yet, she was going to create another layer of protection for the time she will stay near the shore of this big lake. Like her Lightning obelisk ritual, they certainly were showy but she felt safe with them.

“Now that we have a base of operation, we can take it easy; Rei you are going to come with me, we will craft a secondary security ward around the Yurt. Feni, could you guard us please?”

“As you wish, mistress.” Fenirael bowed slightly.

“Thank you, cutie.” Elissa patted her handmaiden on the cheek, it made her redden just a bit.

For the next hours until sunset Elissa and Reinatiel crafted multiple layers of defense that they tethered on throw away mediums like sticks or rock that they planted in circles around the Yurt; a defense perimeter of sorts against dark magic, spiritual entities, anti-scrying, vermins and creatures like trolls or goblins who would be snuffed by her ice obelisks. There were convenient air and water nodes and a primary nexus that was untapped. A spot like this would be fought over on Earth and be the reason for a war between magical clans.

But from what Elissa could guess, this forest and lake were untouched resources; maybe because of all the Troll tribes and an abundant number of beasts that infested the area. They were hers, for now, that is why she claimed the Nexus and the land answered her call. Just in case Elissa planted a teleport circle in the bedrock, it would be a nice spot to return to. Teleportation circle was a conjuration spell that created a circle that teleported any creature inside to a designated spot. Drawing the circle took the majority of the evening. She keyed it to her and her familiars to not let any other kind of creature or people activate it; Elissa looked with relish at her temporary base.

The young woman said, “I am done! Where’s the food, Rei?”

Reinatiel was waiting for her seated on a rock. “Waiting for you in our shelter, mistress!”

“Good!” Elissa laughed.

After eating a filling dinner consisting of beef stew, fruit juice and elvish cream scones as a dessert, Elissa prepared herself to go commune with nature and absorb the cosmic energy that seemed to be more abundant on this planet. Elissa was going to be stronger now, the Ranking of power on Earth won’t ever matter to her anymore. Omega rank? Her father and mother didn’t care one bit about them and killed them like pigs in a slaughterhouse.

The young woman took off her clothes and put on her sport outfit with her gray hoodie; she didn’t go too far and stayed within the perimeter of the secondary wards with her defenses in place. She conjured a sheet of permafrost ice and sat on it. She wasn’t focused yet but let the beauty of this harsh and dangerous world take her in. The night sky was dark and the moons shone upon her and as she closed her eyes she felt the background cosmic energy battering this planet.

Elissa stepped outside of herself and opened up to another point of view. She saw herself, the Yurt, the lakeshore, the sky, and the moons. The white energy was all around her, flowing unhindered by physical or abstract obstacles. This energy acted like neutrons and permeated everything. Elissa took it in herself and saw the particles of white energy being absorbed by her body, she let it flow through her and the usual pleasurable and serene feeling invaded her.

The young woman felt the energy make her body stronger and as this euphoria took her she didn’t feel the time pass, it was inconsequential to her. After a long time, Elissa felt a weird discomfort but she still persisted in her endeavor, ignoring everything around her.

The pleasure changed to pain and her body was suddenly wracked with it. Elissa put her arms around herself and promptly passed out.

 

---

 

“I, Damian Snow swear to have my vengeance.” I shouted as I fled the palace of my sworn enemy, the King of the Drell kingdom.

After taking Aslik’s skyship I went to find those who put him up to his betrayal. But they knew I was coming, they had prepared for everything, proof of their duplicity. Very well, I shall take this kingdom and turn it on its head. Drell wasn’t the only one to concoct this scheme, Dawn Bridge and Sarr were in on it; those two kingdoms will pay.

I put the ship on autopilot and began to take off my armor that was sticky with blood, I had killed more people today than in my entire life. I had hesitated at first and wanted to just go back, find my family and vanish into the night; but each time I remember Aslik pushing his dagger in my wife’s pregnant belly. It was unforgivable. My steps resonated on the steel panels of the ship’s loading bay and I let each piece of my armor fall off, I didn’t care about it anymore. It was a gift from my father and it was enchanted to protect me from the kinetic force, however, I wish that my Anhylde had one of those.

If I ever remarry I will gift my spouse a powerful defensive artifact, knowing my position though father and mother will expect me to. Blood and bloody ashes, I need to get stronger and kill my enemies first.

Walking toward the cockpit, I am pondering places to go recover and throw off where the snow family is going to hide. “Any places in the central continent is a big no, maybe the Wastes or the Shimmering Isles?”

The Sweltering Wastes is the hottest desert in the world, and the third largest desert overall after the northern Tundra of Gyvv. The Shimmering Isles are a collection of seafaring kingdoms with more than seventeen thousand islands, it was the last place someone would try to find me. Arriving in the cockpit, I sat in the pilot’s chair and deactivated the autopilot and steered the skyship toward the south-east and activated the stealth enchantment on the Dashboard.

I leaned back in the chair and let my regeneration abilities take over, I let inner peace fill me, as short-lived as it will be, and meditated. Absorbing the cosmic energy was at this point second nature to me but I guarded myself about taking too much and gave a bit of the excess back through the pore of my skin. Staying like this for hours I felt the point I would have been saturated and stopped, as I opened my eyes I felt refreshed.

“I need more magic.” Was my realization, I was a Storm Mage but this wasn’t enough to take on the central Kingdoms, I will also need an army.

Plans and scheme were bowling in my mind, Drell, Dawn Bridge and Sarr… Wait for me, I am coming for you.