Chapter 31
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Shores of Lake Aryther

Day 4, Morning

 

Elissa opened her eyes and did just like she experienced in Damian’s memories and let the excess energy leave her body and the pain she felt lessened as her cosmic energy level stabilized. The young woman realized that she was inside her Yurt, naked on her fluffy bed and there was a naked Reinatiel at her side with her tail around her leg. Elissa rolled her eyes and tried to pry the demoness’ tail from her limb but she woke up, with blearily wiping her eyes and then she gasped and hugged her.

“Mistress, you are awake!” Reinatiel lunged forward and hugged her mistress tighter.

“Huh, yes I am.” Elissa tried to make her stop, she was having problems trying to ignore the naked body of her handmaiden. “I must go gather energy.”

Reinatiel stiffened in Elissa’s arms and she let go and looked at her. There was panic and fear in her gaze. “You have been asleep for three days, mistress. You overdosed on cosmic energy…”

This floored Elissa, she was conscious that she had reached the saturation point Damian was talking about, but did that much time pass?

“What?” Was Elissa’s reaction.

Reinatiel shook her head and said, “You were in a coma, you need to rest and eat; don’t worry I will prepare food right away.” The demoness left the bed and began to put on her white robe that she had left on the chair near the bed.

Elissa could scarcely believe that she was comatose for three days. “Wait, Rei. Three days? That much? I thought that…”

Reinatiel turned to her mistress. “This is unfortunately the truth, mistress. Forgive me, but I will go to the kitchen.” 

She didn’t go far as the kitchen was near and there was no privacy in the Yurt. Elissa found herself attracted to her handmaiden as she looked at her silhouette and the nape of her neck. Shaking her head, the young woman kept any lewd thoughts about a woman that wasn’t Dawn at bay. She then left the bed and looked for her clothes but found none, shrugged and went to relieve her bladder in the toilet.

Once done Elissa went into the Shower and took care of scrubbing herself with neutral scented soap as to not invite the exotic insects to come and bite her. After the grime and muck she had accumulated for three days was cleaned and she felt alive and bright eyed.

Delicious smells came from the kitchen when she finished her ablutions. It smelled like grilled fish and rice with some kind of eggs. Elissa finally found the clothes she was wearing when she arrived on this planet and put them on after checking that they were clean. Elissa shrugged at that, she wouldn’t put it past her mother to have enchanted her clothes with self repair and auto-clean. The smell of food brought her out of the Yurt and onto the grassy field she found Feni and Rei before a table, waiting for her with a pot full of rice and another full of delicious minced fish.

Fenirael gave a resplendent smile to her mistress as she came out of the Yurt. “Ah, mistress I am so happy to see you are well.”

Elissa went over to her second handmaiden and hugged her. “Thank you, Feni and I am sorry to have worried you two.”

The demoness nodded. “It was a trying experience, but we knew you would pull through. Here eat, mistress, you need sustenance as I can hear your stomach constricting.”

Elissa looked embarrassed as her stomach indeed growled. Reinatiel seated her mistress and put a big plate of food before her and the young woman proceeded to devour everything. To Elissa the fish meat tasted like tuna.

“You went fishing while I was asleep?” Elissa asked.

“Yes, mistress.” Fenirael looked at her sister who was smirking at her. “We went to kill some of the fishfolks who dared to infringe upon your territory, you are eating them right now.”

The redhead stopped moving for five seconds, then resumed eating. Those monsters were simply too delicious to pass up. Elissa wanted to feel disgusted about eating sentient beings but she realized that deep down she didn’t care. Having finished her plate, she said in the most polite tone she could; “Can I have more, please?”

When she finished eating, Elissa went to the lakeshore and looked at the landscape; she thought about absorbing more cosmic energy but at the moment she felt supercharged. Her power and strength, she wanted to test them and the only way of doing it was to use them. Instead of using magic she used her cryokinetic abilities and began to form a wall before her. Like this one castle she visited when she was still little and living in France. Having seen what a medieval fortress looked like she began forming a giant construct.

Elissa used a telekinesis spell to dig two meters into the ground and then planted the start of the structure in the foundation she had created. Satisfied with it, the young woman formed an arched entrance.

“What are you doing mistress?” Reinatiel asked.

Elissa was already aware of her handmaiden’s presence, however she didn’t stop what she was doing. The young woman was enchanting the walls and turning them into a permafrost structure. They would not melt and would be as strong as steel with the nexus feeding mana to the enchantment.

“I’m training.” The young woman finally said after finishing the first wall.

The enchantment was a self propagating one, when Elissa connected more walls to it, the defensive enchantment would grow into them as well.

Reinatiel tilted her head as she looked at the walls with fervor. “Are you trying to test the output of your power now that you are under a sun giving abundant cosmic energy?”

Elissa turned to her beautiful handmaiden, gave her an appreciating smile and said, “That is exactly what I am doing. First I will empty myself, then I will meditate and when I am full again I will continue to build walls around the Nexus I claimed until I drop.”

“That is a good idea.” Fenirael knew that her mistress was fanatical enough in her training to do what she said.

Elissa turned back to her ice constructs and absently said, “We need a safe place on this planet. I already created a teleportation circle near the Yurt; when we move out we will be able to come back here if there’s any sign of danger.”

Reinatiel guessed what her mistress was thinking about, “Do you plan to create more teleportation circles in isolated places as we travel?”

They had a long jurney ahead of them, at least five thousand kilometers from their curent position to their destination.

“Yep.” Elissa acknowledged.

Reinatiel was a smart demoness, she was already making adjustments to her mistress’ plan; she would help her find the safest area to place her circles. It took most of the day to complete the north wall, Elissa had to meditate at least twice to be able to finish it. She was already seeing progress with her powers and senses as they became more difficult to control. The growth of her power was substantial. Exhausted, Elissa took a nap in the afternoon to recover from her mental fatigue.

The day after, Elissa woke up pumped and realized that she slept from afternoon until morning. As the sun was rising in the sky Reinatiel, Fenirael and Elissa were standing on top of the wall. The were looking at the beautiful scenery reflected in the lake.

“Girls?”

“Yes, mistress?” The two sisters said in unison.

“I am happy that you are here with me.” Elissa placed her arms around their waists and hugged them to herself, their bodily temperature warming her core; the two demoness leaned into her. There was nothing else to say as they watched as the sky brightened and a light breeze blew over the water.

When the sky was bright enough the trio went to have breakfast and Elissa devoured more fishfolk meat with mayo and homemade bread. She began to do the same routine than yesterday with the only difference that her power grew stronger yet again. She could now create ten meters of compact ice constructs before taking a break. The control over her abilities seemed to get better the more Elissa used them. Her routine was disturbed when she heard large splashes and terrifying roars coming from the water.

From far away, Elissa could see what she would guess to be a… Kraken? Fighting a gigantic turtle. The titanic fight held the young woman spellbound as she looked on with rapt attention from the lakeshore. Krakens were highly destructive and evil creatures. With their strong tentacles and massive strength, they could pull an entire ship down into the ocean. They often completely wiped tropical islands of all life, and deep beneath the ocean, they had cavernous lairs where they bred human slaves to feed and tend them.

They were akin to squids except larger in size, with a body almost forty meters long. Their body is similar, with a ring of tentacles surrounding a mouth connected to a conical central body. Two of its ten tentacles were longer than the rest and had deadly barbs. The kraken had very large eyes, and fins protruding from the upper part of its elongated central body.

*What is a Kraken doing here?* Elissa asked herself.

Maybe it was because of its adversary, a Dragon Turtle; Dragon turtles were distantly related to dragons and have dragon blood. They appeared as huge turtle-like creatures with a long tail and neck with large, taloned flippers. Their heads had a golden crest down the center. They are considered to be among the most dangerous aquatic creatures in existence and were even worshiped by some. Those creatures were aggressive and solitary, they would attack any ships and other dragon turtles that entered their territory. Like true dragons, dragon turtles were obsessed with gold and treasure. They often attacked ships in order to loot the treasure. 

Elissa was thankful for all this knowledge she learned since she was a toddler as she was already thinking of the treasures this Dragon Turtle might have, but first she would let those two fight it out and take out the winner. But she proceeded to make preparations first; Elissa called out for Reinatiel who caught Elissa’s hand that she held out to her and the young woman began to link herself to her handmaiden, forming a circle.

This was an act of trust that Reinatiel was really happy about. Elissa began to beseech her patron deity to confer her the storm domain that grants blessed spellcasters like her greater power when using their storm spells. Then Elissa connected to the different air and water nodes around the area; meanwhile, the fight almost reached its conclusion as the Dragon Turtle was being strangled by the Kraken. Blood, there was a lot of it in the water; the turtle was still struggling until it roared a last time.

“Support me, Rei!” Elissa said.

“Understood!” The demoness acknowledged.

Elissa ran into the water, using her control over ice to create a path she could step on as fast as she ran.  The young woman quickly passed the flowers resembling giant water lilies and the numerous reeds harboring a lot of critters that reacted as Elissa sped by. She unsheathed Gram which glowed with power and continued her run, these two creatures were so big that Elissa could see them from ashore and their fight brought them to her.

*That beastie is enormous.* Elissa thought.

Elissa cast a wind spell that catapulted her into the air toward the head of the Kraken and she plunged sword first to take one of its eyes. It must have seen her as she was batted away by a huge tentacles, but Elissa cushioned her fall by casting a featherfall spell, a spell that caused creatures or objects to fall slowly, like a feather. To not fall into the water and ruin her outfit, the young woman conjured a platform of ice and made it levitate.

She clicked her tongue, and realized that maybe attacking a forty meter creature with a sword like Gram which is the size of a toothpick in relation to the monster wasn’t the best idea. And now that she thought about it, those creatures were resistant to physical attacks because of their regeneration.

“Fine, you want to play, squiddy.” Elissa said mockingly as the beast ignored her completely, thinking her inconsequential. Big mistake. With one last large splash the Dragon Turtle lost the epic struggle and ceased to move. Elissa focused on channeling the mana from the nodes and chanted.

“Heavenly Lightning Storm.”

The sky darkened as storm clouds gathered high above this part of the lake. A bolt of lightning flashed down to strike the evil beast, electrocuting it with divine lightning. Thanks to the Storm domain that she had buffed herself with, Elissa who didn’t normally stand a chance against this creature was suddenly deemed a threat. The leviathan writhed and it’s tentacles flailed everywhere as electricity danced over it's gigantic form.

Elissa wasn’t done with it and bombarded it with more strikes, the squid like monster was covered in burns and chunks of its flesh were being blasted off. To finish it off, the young woman took her sword in hand and decided to use one of Damian’s signature spells by letting the lightning shape into a sphere, focus it in a single point and contract it to the max and then she pushed it into her sword and charged a large portion of her own mana into the blade. 

Shaping the electric aura to form a large one hundred foot sword, Elissa fed Gram’s monomolecular enchantment to cut the beast. The enfeebled Kraken tried to stop her by trying to bat her away with its tentacles but when they met the blade they were cut apart until it sank into its brain. And for the killing blow, Elissa slaughtered it with a final heavenly lightning strike.

The kraken ceased to move totally, its skin burned and flesh torn all over its body.

“Tonight, I’m having Calamari.” Elissa quipped with a smile as she landed on the dead body of her foe.

 

***

Day 10

 

Elissa surfaced from the blue water, she wore her white bikini and had her hair in a tight ponytail; she finally arrived to the depth of the lake where she found a gigantic underwater cavern, the young woman was thankful to Nerine for having taught her the Water Breathing spell. It had taken her days to finally find the Dragon Turtle’s lair as she had underestimated how deep this lake was, one kilometer away from the shore the depth of the lake changed from fifty meters to a marine pit of over two kilometers deep.

The gigantic cavern Elissa found herself in was under the biggest island, with a colony of fishfolk on it -she planned to have another culling soon- the inside of the cave was lit by numerous water mana crystal deposits and by what the young woman thought to be shining dragonblood trees with glowing elementals that flew around them. The air was rich in water and earth mana, though the smell almost KOed Elissa, it smelled like shit and urine; it was clear that this was really where the Dragon Turtle had lived.

Another nexus was present here, a middle grade one; it was comparable to the one her mother owned and built Daphne Snow on. Elissa smiled, this place was ripe for the taking! However, she would take ownership later. Now it was time to explore this place and see if there was anything precious to take with her. So far the trees were a treasure by themselves as they cleansed the water. Elissa had enough of the smell and decided to summon something that would clean everywhere.

Elissa casted conjure water elemental, the last spell Nerine taught her before she was stranded here; this spell brought a native from the Elemental Plane of Water to assist the caster. A rather simple thing, but there was really stringent rule when dealing with an elemental. The caster had to negotiate the services of the spirit. Mages and Sorcerers that were too lazy often forced their will on the elemental they summoned and were surprised when it attacked them once it was freed. Nerine was in the negotiation school of conjuring, so was for Elissa for that matter.

The elemental appeared near her, first as a blob of water, then it took on a sculpture-like humanoid female form made of water; more precisely a water sylph. Elissa greeted it speaking in Aquan, a flowing language full of subtleties and meaning.

Slightly bowing in respect she said, <Greetings, water plane dweller. My name is Elissa and I want to secure your services for mana.>

<How much will you be able to provide?> The elemental asked.

Elissa opened her arms wide. <You see this place? This is mine, I will give you access to the ambient mana. As much as you can absorb, if you help me clean the cavern.>

This was a herculean task, comparable to slave labor; however Elissa knew elementals didn’t care about what humans considered a chore. Elementals and spirits didn’t measure time the same way.

The elemental’s inner light darkened. <It does smell here,> It brightened again when it looked at Elissa again. <and your proposition is more than fair. I accept.>

A contract was sealed when Elissa acknowledged the contract between them and the elemental began her work. The level of water rose suddenly and Elissa conjured a thick sheet of ice that she used to levitate and go deeper into the cavern. As she flew, she noticed the dessicated husk of rotting wooden ships. Something shined in one of the wrecks. Elissa lowered her levitating ice sheet to the wet rocky ground but still didn’t put a foot on it.

She looked into the open cargo hold, used her mage sight to see if there was something out of the ordinary and what she found made her eyes gleam.

*Adamantine! There’s ten pallets of Adamantine in this ship!*

Adamantine was a jet-black alloy of adamant and other metals. Usually black in colour, adamantine had a green sheen when viewed by candlelight or a purple-white sheen when viewed by magical sight. Exactly what the young woman was seeing now. Elissa thought that it couldn’t be everything, maybe there were more treasures in the other wrecks! She cast detect metal and minerals to search the entire cavern for every metal and alloy that she knew about. There were responses from the wrecks, in her mind’s eye she saw that there was Orichalcum, Adamantine, Mithril, Platinum, Electrum, Gold, silver and steel. There was also some miscellaneous ones like Tin and Silver but this haul was good.

There was enough riches here to start her own little kingdom, and this thought made her happy. If her mother could have her own little realm why couldn’t she do the same? In fact, she liked it here, training and adventuring were the things she wanted to do in life.

Elissa was already thinking up a plan to take this entire lake and its surroundings. After a fruitful search, Elissa placed all the metal ingots and minerals into her spatial toe ring that had the capacity of a palace so she wasn’t worried about cluttering it. She found other treasures like magical artefacts, caskets of wine and magically protected treasure chests full of gold and magical tomes.

“This is incredible.” Elissa was now wealthy in her own right.

Water reached her feet and Elissa saw that the water elemental was doing her job and cleaning the cave of turtle feces by dissolving them like acid. Fortunately, she didn’t do the same with Elissa’s treasure. The young woman inventoried every wreck and natural resource inside the cavern, there were strange animal-like crabs, slugs and starfish. When Elissa got back she hoped to get some mermaids willing to settle in the lake, but that was another idea she put aside until she secured a stronghold on this planet.

Elissa stayed here for half a day, and now she was preparing to claim the nexus in the cavern that she decided to call “The Majestic Cave”; the young woman just had to build a permafrost construct at the center of the cave where the multiple ley lines cross each other. Elissa, thanks to all the training and cosmic energy absorption she did every morning on this planet, was becoming stronger than ever; so creating a ten meter statue of the Goddess of Magic, Hekate wasn’t difficult. Remembering her appearance from when she forged Gram, Elissa sculpted the statue with care and attention.

Taking Gram in hand, Elissa consecrated the statue and this place to her goddess; Suddenly the face of the statue came alive, and Elissa saw Hekate look at her. And the young woman found her work for claiming the cavern even easier.

An underwater Temple dedicated to me? Well played, κόρη. I accept, this is a boon that I now owe you. What do you desire in return?

Elissa could scarcely believe that Hekate was speaking in her mind, but realized that she didn’t have time to be amazed.

“Knowledge, my Goddess. I wish to know how to create pocket dimensions.” Elissa said.

Acceptable, κόρη. Your wish will be granted.

“Thank you, my Goddess.”

Strong light caressed Elissa’s face, as if her Goddess was touching her or more precisely made a gesture of affection toward her. She felt loved and accepted. Then Elissa felt the knowledge she asked for being added into her mind, but she also felt something else being added. A conjuration and alteration spell? Dimension Door. A spell that unerringly teleported the caster and possibly other objects or creatures to a nearby location. Elissa was seeing a lot of martial applications for this spell.

You’ll be needing that little bonus knowledge, good day κόρη.

“Huh, Ok. Thank you my Goddess.” The redhead was suspicious when something was added in bonus of what she asked for. But Goddesses were capricious and she wouldn't look a gift horse, or goddess in this case, in the mouth.

Elissa heard a twinkling laugh and was surprised by the similarities between Hekate and her mother. She shrugged her shoulders at that and returned to the current situation; now she knew how to teleport and create pocket dimensions! She won’t have to beg Malicia for the ritual to create one, she will just make a circle with Reinatiel and do it slowly. Elissa wished that she had more casters with her, so it could be done in just a day.

The elemental she had summoned was suddenly near her, Elissa hadn’t felt it come this close to her. The water was ankle deep in the cavern now, Elissa appreciated the sudden freshness of the air. However, she took note to create airflow and climate control in the cave. One of her priorities was to not allow this cave to be flooded. This was her place now, she could live here! But this was a temple to her goddess, she decided to decorate the place with statues of her and prayers on the walls, later.

<I am done, Priestess.> The elemental spoke in Aquan.

<Priestess? I am not…> Elissa tried to deny that she was a priestess or anything fancy.

The elemental glowed brighter in her sylph form. <I saw you consecrate this dwelling, -iel -o i aini  (daughter of the goddess)>

<I guess you are right.> Elissa thought that it was useless to argue with an elemental so she gave up.

<Of course, I am.> The elemental said bossily.

The water elemental began to glow brighter as her form changed and looked as tall as Hekate’s statue. Her sylph form that looked made of water became more human-like. Elissa decided to give her a push and pushed some of her mana into the Elemental’s core. With the gift of one fourth of her mana, the water elemental became even more human-like. And suddenly her transformation stopped.

She was simply gorgeous, and looked like Elissa now. But she had blue hair and blue eyes, to Elissa it was like looking at her mirror image. If she believed what she was seeing, Elissa had assisted in the creation of a greater spirit of water.

<This wasn’t in the contract.> The water elemental looked impassively at Elissa.

Elissa nodded, then smiled at the elemental. <I know, but you did excellent work.>

<I am pledged to you, daughter of Hekate. My true name is River Leaping Off The Mountain And Dancing In The Light and I shall now accompany you.>

“Huh?” Elissa couldn’t believe what she was hearing. <Wait, why did you do that?!>

The spirit smiled, turned into water and entered Elissa’s body, between her breasts a circle of light appeared and the young woman felt a searing pain. A blue circle with a fancy picture of waves was tattooed there. “Damn, I’m getting more into that biker fashion…” The young woman lamented.

<You still here?> Elissa asked.

River made her presence known. <I will always be with you, till death do us part.>

<Argh, why are you so bossy?> Elissa had the distinct impression the spirit was smiling but it might be her imagination. She shook her head and decided to let it go, after all having a spirit was a really high boost in power. Her true name was too long, so she will just call her River.

Elissa got to work and created a teleportation circle at the entrance of the cave, River helped her by engraving it deep into the bedrock. She was happy that her new companion was already pulling her weight; Elissa took earth and water crystal from the numerous deposit in the cave and crushed them into powder with her strength. The young woman had become even stronger since she arrived on this planet, she felt that she could lift thirty metric tons now and she hoped that she would be at a sufficient level when she got back to Earth.

After crushing the crystals, Elissa sprinkled the powder into the engraved teleportation circle. She clapped her hands, gathered her mana in them and then she began to transmute the crystal powder into the circle that shimmered a green and blue light. Elissa was proficient enough in alteration and transmutation to be able to make this teleportation circle eternal. Once done, she went to gather more crystals and put them in her spatial toe ring. 

*I will do the same with the circle in the Fort.* She decided.

Elissa was now richer in resources, knowledge and treasures. Coming into the Majestic Temple was the best thing that happened to her, she focused her mana into the circle and used it as a key to link it to the other one on the surface.

She teleported and appeared in her fort, well the start of one, she was already done with the North and East walls.

“Mistress! You’re back!” Elissa was tackled to the ground by an eager Fenirael.

Elissa eased up and hugged her handmaiden. “Sorry, I’m later than I planned, I found so much stuff.”

Fenirael got off her mistress and helped her to stand and then Elissa began recounting her tale, how she found treasures in the Dragon Turtle lair that was now her place, the elemental spirit River that joined her. The demoness looked at the tattoo between Elissa’s breasts with apprehension.

“She’s always there?” The demoness touched the magical tattoo.

Elissa moaned as Fenirael touched her breastbone, the demoness reddened and took her hand away, the young woman giggled at that.

“Yeah it seems so, she takes a bit of my mana though to sustain herself.” Elissa said.

They walked toward the Yurt and as she looked around her, Elissa noticed that the purple grass all around her was somewhat mowed; she realized that it must have been Reinatiel’s handiwork as there were traces of mana with her signature all over it. Elissa nodded, she appreciated her handmaiden’s prescience; when she got to the Yurt, delicious fumes were coming out of it.

“Is your sister cooking?” Elissa asked as she walked faster and stepped in the Yurt.

Fenirael took her mistress’ hand in hers and followed. “Yes, we were cooking for your return.”

“Is it still Kraken meat? Or Dragon Turtle soup?” The young woman said in a whining tone, she unconsciously linked her fingers with Fenirael.

Mischievously Fenirael said, “We have a lot of it, mistress and I am afraid there’s gonna be still a lot after you leave this planet.”

Elissa stopped walking and looked at her handmaiden. “But I've had enough of calamari…”

The demoness patted her mistress’ head in comfort.

“Food is ready!” Reinatiel interrupted them.

It was yet again Kraken meat and turtle soup, but at least there was vanilla ice cream for dessert; lunch was a fast affair as the trio spoke about what Elissa had found in the Majestic Temple. Reinatiel and Fenirael thought about visiting Hekate’s newest temple to offer prayer to the icon crafted by their young mistress. Elissa took a sunbath nap while Fenirael was training with her great sword and Reinatiel was near the Yurt cataloguing the treasures her mistress had found.

She was using the spell Identify with her staff, and found that most of the magic items Elissa had liberated were Dwarfish in origin and really ancient. There were some mundane magical items to clean things, magical items to make your hair more beautiful or to fly; more important ones like excavators or for detecting precious gems and minerals, or weapons with special enchantments on them. Reinatiel found an enchanted adamantite shield that she showed her mistress who tested it and found it perfectly adapted to her combat style.

After one hour of meditating under the sun, she weapon linked with the shield; it had an enchantment making it virtually indestructible, it seemed capable of deflecting even a tremendously powerful and destructive thermal attack. Hence, due to its tremendous durability, it could also be used as an offensive weapon; It was hard enough to repel magical missiles as she tested with Reinatiel who used her full power, there wasn’t even a scratch on it.

Reinatiel found a dagger with nice fire property, its edge was made from a fang of a gold dragon it seemed. It was serrated and curved. The dagger's hilt and pommel were made to look like a dragon and were decorated with a ruby, which was put into the mouth of the ornamental dragon. Reinatiel told Elissa that this dagger held the mundane power of hurting people stabbed by it with heat. After inspecting it, Elissa discovered that there was an additional power allowing the user to rapidly cast guidance on herself.

Elissa consulted the magic tomes her mother gifted her to learn that Guidance, also known as divine fortune, was a cantrip, or a channeled divinity prayer cast by all Priestess of Hekate or any other deity. When the prayer version of divine fortune was cast, the priestess using it became, for a moment, more resistant to ill effects while simultaneously gaining additional combat proficiency. After the effects had worn off, divine fortune could not be recast, nor could any other channeled divinity prayer be cast until the priestess rested for at least a few minutes, in order to regain the concentration needed for the casting.

Elissa decided to add this weapon to her arsenal and weapon linked with it, Elissa wasn’t scared of fire but her arsenal only consisted of lightning, wind, water and ice magic.

“Do you have any Earth attuned weapons in the loot?” Elissa asked Reinatiel.

“I am sorry mistress, none solid enough to endure your strength.” The demoness said apologetically.

The young woman didn’t take it to heart and was already scheming about what to do tomorrow. She planned to go to the island twenty-five kilometers from the shore and kill the colony of fishfolk there. Elissa went to finish the western walls of her base and when she finished she had enough juice to continue building a connection to begin the southern wall.

The day ended with Elissa meditating some more to gain more power, her handmaidens trained themselves with her and when night fell, they went to sleep together in the Yurt.

***

Day 11

 

Fenirael was the first woke up as usual and woke up her sister who was entwined in Elissa embrace, their plan to get her to accept them as lover was steadily going well. The two worked in tandem to melt little by little their mistress’ resistance. They planned to work on Dawn next to make her accept them; smiling at that, the demoness went to the kitchen and began to prepare the food.

Waiting for her sister to wake up, Fenirael was surprised to find Elissa and Reinatiel kissing. “Hi, Mistress.”

Wiping her eyes, Elissa said, “Huh, what time of the day is it?” 

Fenirael was dumbfounded by the fact that Elissa wasn’t kicking Reinatiel out of bed. When she did this, it always happened. The demoness noticed her sister looking at her with a smug and superior smile causing Fenirael to scowl at her sister.

After that, the day started as usual with Elissa going to the bathroom and readying for sortie, Fenirael was already in her black Phantasian armor with her great sword in hand. Reinatiel wore an outfit similar to Malicia’s catsuit but in white and she had a black hooded cloak with a climate control enchantment. Elissa looked at her and then averted her eyes not wanting to lewd her handmaiden.

The trio walked to the lakeshore as Elissa planned to build a ship with her ice, but first the young woman built a sixty meter dock extending alongshore to which the ship will be moored. Elissa then transmuted the ice into stone and jumped on the structure to see if it held. It did.

Elissa conjured a block of ice and levitated it into the air; from the recesses of her memories, Elissa patterned the ice ship after the Queen Anne’s Revenge. It was an early-18th-century ship, most famously used as a flagship by the pirate Blackbeard; however Elissa made it smaller, only twenty meters in length. She weaved the sails out of mana. The ship was white and the sails blue, she enchanted it so that it wouldn't melt in the water and it took a sizeable amount of power to make the enchantment eternal.

Elissa put the ship in the water and waited to see if it would sink, but five minutes later the Princess Elissa’s Hope was afloat. Fenirael and Reinatiel had insisted on calling the ship that; Elissa found it weird, but bowed to their insistence. The mana sails glowed as they propulsed the ship toward the ‘Majestic Island’ as Elissa began to call it.

The trip took thirty minutes after which the ship anchored off the coast so that Elissa could spy on the island with her water telescope spell. There were woods and plains, it wasn’t really big maybe one hundred kilometers in length and sixty kilometers wide. Structures could be seen on the northernmost part of the island, fishfolks could be seen working and there were other creatures Elissa could see working with them, but not willingly it seemed. 

To have more information, Elissa began to scry the island within a large globe of water. The scenes she was seeing didn’t endear the fishfolks to Elissa at all. The enslaved beast-like creatures reminded the young woman of otters, but walking on two feet.

“Slavery?” Was Elissa reaction, her cold aura ominously spreading all over the ship.

Reinatiel straightened her cloak around her, the chill not going well with her. “It seems we must eradicate their filth more thoroughly, mistress.”

“Are we going to turn them into soup?” Fenirael asked as she finished sharpening her great sword.

Elissa shook her head as her cold gaze settled on the island. “No, I am going to kill them all and let those otter people eat them.”

Elissa’s attack came in the form of a weather spell backed by the ley lines and the air and water nodes all over the lake. The thunderstorm took two hours to form and cover the entire island, once that was done the trio took a jolly-boat and went toward the island. Elissa’s cryokinesis made the trip on the ice boat really brief as it moved with the speed of a zodiac boat. They arrived on the shores of the island and Elissa covered her head with the hood of her cloak and unsheathed Gram.

“I will begin to bombard the village, you two go into the slave pens and protect the otters.”

“Understood.” The two demoness activated their presence deflection ability and went directly toward the village.

Taking another route, Elissa used the camouflage enchantment of her cloak and went toward where the nursery for the Fishfolk young was, she had discovered it while scrying earlier. Walking in the woods she passed different sentries that she killed silently while they were amusing themselves with some kind of recreational drug that they were drinking in the skulls of an unidentified animal. Elissa came upon a gathering of the fishfolk where a number of them kneeled before the likeness of a… 

*Is that a Kraken?* Elissa asked herself.

The crude obsidian statue that the fishfolks were worshiping was indeed depicting a kraken, now Elissa began to make a lot of connections she didn’t before. Those things were the ones taking care of the beast as no elf or humans were there to do the job. 

*So the otter people were slaves and also livestock.* Elissa found herself thinking. She also remembered the skulls from which the fishfolk drank and scowled, she had an idea of which species they came from now.

The Kraken was no more, but she asked herself why these monsters were still worshiping it? After all the location of his demise wasn’t too far from the island. Elissa didn’t care anymore since she wanted them all dead regardless. The sky rumbled and four bolts of lightning fell from the black clouds overhead and struck the gathering of monsters. The young woman didn’t stop here and engaged those that escaped the heaven’s fury.

Elissa engaged a cowering fishfolk warrior who tried to defend himself but she cut his spear in two and cleaved his fishlike head off. When others attacked her, she harnessed thunder causing a burst of sonic energy to burst from her sword blowing away two of the creatures less than ten meters from her. Two daggers of ice went to lodge themselves in the monsters’ backs. One almost got Elissa by shooting a dorsal fin at her, but she diverted it with her sword.

With a freeze ray at maximum output, Elissa froze the fishfolk and with a swing of Gram, the ice statue shattered into ice shards. Suddenly there were more and more of them appearing and launching their fins at her forcing her to cast a kinetic shield that absorbed all the projectiles.

<KILL THE ELF!!> Elissa heard one of them say.

<The she-elf has killed the priest!!! Kill her!!!> 

<For the Deep Lord!!!> The fishfolks surrounding Elissa chanted.

They converged all toward Elissa who smiled at their futile struggle and raised her sword to the sky and channeled her original spell, Lightning’s Fury. Gram protected her wielder as a five meters sphere of lightning descended from the sky. The sphere struck the ground and exploded and the energy rippled outward from Elissa’s position. Every Fishfolk was knocked aside and fried by lightning. Their bodies and scales turned golden brown as they were cooked by the temperature.

When Elissa walked amongst the wounded and dying and finished them off, she was herself wounded by a fishfolk who sprang from the ground feinting being dead and speared her sword arm. She killed him with a kick that turned part of his body into mist as Elissa didn’t hold back her strength.

“Shit.” She held her arm and worked with her healing ability to treat it. 

The young woman sheathed Gram and decided to use her magic all the way now, no more playing around! That ambusher showed her that she still could be taken by surprise. Her right arm was half disabled, but she let her healing energy course through it and as she walked to the nursery Elissa blasted any monsters she saw with thunder and lightning; she spared the otters who crouched in balls on the ground and passed them.

Elissa finally found the place, there was a longhouse like hut that bordered the shore; in the water numerous red eggs floated while being herded by the female fishfolks. The young woman cast Call Lightning targeting the entire nursery and the eggs in the water, mercilessly bolts of lightning flashed down from the clouds to that targeted area repeatedly, snaking on the longhouse and into the water killing each and everyone of the monsters for another ten minutes.

Just to be sure that none survived a white beam of light shot from the Elissa's outstretched hand and, the entire area was frozen to absolute zero. This action caused the nearby fishfolk to come at Elissa with rage in their eyes, a rain of dorsal fins peppered her shield;  Elissa responded in kind with a Stygian Ice Storm spell that summoned harsh, cold and bitter ice to crush all those fishfolks within range. 

A telepathic communication from her handmaiden changed the direction of the fight.

<Mistress, we have secured the otter people in the slave pens, you can go wild now. A magic shield is covering this part of the village!>

And wild she went as Elissa made lightning rain on the village relentlessly, the lightning seeking to reap the life of every one of those water monsters. Even those that were still alive tried to lunge at Elissa to kill her, forgoing taking shelter to attack the intruder in their burning village. The young woman had enough mana left to conjure another Lightning’s Fury, but she stayed her hand prefering to finish them off with call lightning and for one hour Elissa passed the time destroying the village with her storm until nothing was left but the dead fishfolk and the ruin of huts.

Elissa went to where the slave pens could be found, the fire spread in the village but having control of the storm the young woman made it rain.

She arrived and saw her two handmaiden with hundreds of otters like people. They were all almost nude, the females were wearing tunics made of vegetal fibers. 

“Mistress, everyone is here.”

Elissa focused on looking at the otter people and let them speak between themselves until she understood them. The young woman took off her hood and freed her hair, she smiled at her handmaiden and said.

“Good job, Feni and Rei.” Elissa praised the two demonesses.

<Who is she?>

<Is she another master?>

<Shhh, she killed the fishfolks! I saw her, she might do the same with us.>

The language was finally unlocked to her, and Elissa began to understand what they were saying, those were creatures that had lost hope and didn’t know what freedom was.

<My name is Elissa and I freed you from the Fishfolks,> The young woman said.

<You can speak Lutrinian? How?> The dismayed expression on the Lutrinian’s face was really cute. Elissa had to stop herself from hugging them.

*So this language was called Lutrinian. It must also be the name of their race.* Elissa thought.

<This is my power. I can do a lot of things.> She said simply.

An old Lutrinian advanced toward her and said, <Liberator, what can we do now? We thank you for your help, but we have no land, no village, we are a lost people.> 

<Don’t worry, I have an idea. But first you are going to help me with something.> Elissa said, smiling.

<What can we do, Liberator?> The old otter said.

Putting her fist on her hips, Elissa said, <I want you to help me gather the body of every dead fishfolk and we are going to eat them.>

Horrified the old otter shouted. <WHAT?>

<I like how they taste.> Elissa added while licking her lips.

<But…>

<I promise, they are delicious. Now, do it.>  She added a bit of steel to her voice.

It took the rest of the day for the Lutrinian to finish gathering the corpses. Some of them were cooked thoroughly or rare. Elissa showed the example to the assembly Lutrinian and began to eat some of the well done fishfolks. 

One by one the otters followed her example, and it was as if each of them had a revelation as they tasted them. Suddenly, they were all eating without stopping. When everyone was done, Elissa began to speak.

<You were enslaved by food. Shame on you!> Elissa accused.

They all looked down, Elissa couldn't stand it they were all like kicked puppies.

<Now that you are free, you'll create your own village and grow strong. And when you can, hunt those fishfolks and make them food. That is all they are.>

<You are right, Liberator!> The old otter said, kneeling on the ground as he looked at Elissa with reverence.

Gram was sheathed, and Elissa began to play with her golden dagger in the form of a dragon. She thought about what the old Lutrinian said and without thinking she offered, <I have a place that may need your help, are you interested in starting a village in my Fortress?>

The eyes of the old Lutrinian began to shine as his tail thumped on the ground three times. <We would be protected by you? You would become our Chief?>

<Hum… I guess?> Elissa said by tilting her head, she sheathed her dagger and looked as the storm clouds dissipated.

The sun’s rays pierced the clouds and hit the island, Elissa looked like a sun elf and the glamour that Malicia saddled her with copied the property of the race she looked like. Essentially she was a sun elf right now, at least physically, her hair shines red as if they were a fire that burned.

<Let me ask my people if they want to follow you!> Bowing his head slightly the old otter to Elissa, then skittered to his people.

“Mistress when are we leaving? This place saddens me…” Fenirael said as she came closer to Elissa.

“Shush Feni, don’t you see that she is trying to do a good deed?” Reinatiel shook her head.

The old otter came back after long deliberation and Elissa was filling her nails while being seated on a cut tree trunk with her dragon dagger.  Behind the old otter there were three female ones who wore that green tunic made with natural fibers. In fact the three female otters were the ones the group chose to represent them, as they were a matriarchal society.

It goes without saying that the Lutrinians accepted Elissa’s protection and swore fealty to her. Elissa accepted to take responsibility for them and she pledged to give them a good life. After taking some toasty fish meat, Elissa led everyone to the Hope. The logistics weren't simple but every Lutrinian was loaded onto Elissa’s ship and they left to the south where Elissa’s fortress was. Some of the male otters chose to swim alongside the ship and fish at the same time, Elissa and the demonesses laughed at their antics.

The return trip took longer as the Hope was loaded with passengers, this was definitely training for Elissa. She made the decision to create heavy ice constructs and train her mental strength later. Elissa docked the ship at the pier and the Lutrinians disembarked, they were stunned by the stone construct. Elissa made a sign to follow her and they quickly did so until they arrived at the walls of the fortress.

<This is my territory, in fact this entire lake is going to be my possession soon. I will give you permission to create your village inside the walls.> Elissa said grandly.

The young woman walked to the ice gate, as she put her hand on the gate, it shined in a white light and after the enchantment recognized her mana signature the gate opened silently. Elissa’s handmaidens were the first to enter then all the Lutrinians followed Elissa inside. The young woman kept the gate open, no monsters would be able to pass through anyway.

Elissa got to work right away and built three longhouses near the North wall with her ice and transmuted them into stone, before sunset the female Lutrinians went to gather grass outside the fortress to make beds and have a modicum of comfort. Elissa’s next action was to build outhouses where the otter people would relieve themselves. She taught them everything about sanitation, before that.

The young woman finished the day on a high note by creating a refrigerated food storage building where she placed the corpses of the fishfolks before entering her Yurt. Without knowing, Elissa influenced the Lutrinians with new concepts that will push them to create a city inside and outside her walls with shelters similar to her Yurt. Some of the female Lutrinians had followed her into her abode and looked at everything with mesmerized eyes.

When Elissa got back from her bath, she was asked a lot of questions.

<Chief, what do you call this hut?>

<Chief, how can we make similar shelters?>

<Will we be able to live like you, Chief?>

Elissa was overwhelmed, she was now seeing how big of a responsibility she had saddled herself with. But she didn’t abandon them and told them that she will teach them how to make similar shelters to hers and that they were her people now and she would take care of them. A plan formed in the young woman’s mind, but she will have to sail to the middle of the lake and it might take her a day to do so. Taking her magical map, Elissa noted the position of every mana node and nexus around the Aryther -that’s the name of the Lake, it meant Big Lake in elvish- and thought about linking every one of them and create the biggest pocket dimension and take over the entire region.

It would essentially turn everywhere into her place of power and she would secure safety for her people from the predatory fishfolks. The young woman sat at the table near her bed and studied the map with all her attention, she even ignored when Reinatiel put herself behind her and hugged her from behind.

“Mistress? A gold coin for your thoughts.” Reinatiel joked.

Elissa smirked and put one hand on one of the demoness’ arm. “You estimate my thoughts to be that expensive?”

“I do.” Reinatiel whispered in her left pointy ear.

Elissa caressed her arm. “You are so amusing.”

“I try.” The demoness giggled.

More seriously, Elissa began to say, “I was thinking about taking this entire lake under my dominion and turn it into my place of power.”

“That… is a big responsibility, mistress.” Reinatiel said hesitatingly, she didn’t think this was a good idea, Elissa had a destiny to fulfill and she couldn’t just reign over a land empty of people.

“I know, but I will portal here every weekend when I get back.” Elissa decided.

The demoness kept silent after that and left Elissa to her planning; the rest of the night was passed in meditation and absorbing more cosmic energy to replenish her powers. After completely healing her sword arm, Elissa decided to train with the shield more. If she had used it earlier she wouldn’t have been wounded.

The next day, everything was different; the Lutrinians went to fish, some followed Elissa and saw her work on the southern wall of the fortress that she decided to expand. Scrying the fortifications, Elissa noticed that she was making a big rectangle; it was at the end of the morning that she completed the walls and different entry points, she felt fulfilled for an instant.

Elissa completed her next important task that was making the teleportation circle eternal by transmuting the soil into stone and engrave the circle formation with elementally attuned mana crystals like back in the Majestic temple. The rest of the day was spent with teaching her people how to make Yurts. She gifted them axes and tools made from stone and wood. She would teach them how to create metal later.

The day was complete when the female otters and demonesses helped to make a feast.

***

Day 13, Morning
Lake Aryther
500 km from the Fortress

 

Elissa and her handmaidens were sailing on the Princess Elissa’s Hope, there were ten Lutrinians with them. The Pirates of the Caribbean OST was playing on Elissa’s smartphone, she had her headphones on her head; though they weren't simple to put on with her elf ears. It was a peaceful trip, the hold was packed with enough food and water for two days. Before leaving Elissa had given instructions to the three otter matriarchs; cut trees and stock lumber, with that they would at least be able to build some wood cabins.

The Hope was traveling toward the center of the lake, on her unfurled magical map they were almost there. There was land ahead, a little island where at least seven ley lines crossed each other making it a major nexus. Elissa couldn’t understand why the dark elves and the dwarves hadn’t taken them over yet. The small verdant island looked like an emerald shining from far away, Elissa scryed it and from the sky there were trees and grassland; fortunately, there wasn’t anything but animals on it, some kind of rabbit like creature with horns and pretty white birds that glowed even in the light of day.

“Ahoy, Land!” Elissa shouted and giggled after saying that.

Fenirael rolled her eyes and told her mistress, “Mistress, you should take that blue bandanna off your head.”

Elissa shook her head, she was having fun. “No, I am in the mood to play pirate.”

Reinatiel entered the conversation and whined. “But you even gave some to the Lutrinians…”

“They are my crew and they are super cute, so of course I would give them bandannas.” Elissa pouted, this was the kind of adventure she had always wanted to have.

The Hope anchored off the south coast of the little island and using two jolly-boats, Elissa and her crew reached a white sand beach. Elissa took her thigh high boots off and put her naked feet on the sand, it was important to do this for the ritual she intended to perform to be one with the land. Her body will become the focus, the nexus will not be easy to tame like the first two she obtained but with beseeching Hekate’s help she might do it.

“This is a pretty place, a town could be built.” Elissa said.

Fenirael killed that idea in the egg. “The island isn’t big enough, but maybe a community of fishermen could easily survive on it.”

“I see.”

While they walked toward the place on the island where the Nexus was, Reinatiel caught ones of the horned rabbit Elissa had seen with her scrying spell.

“Mistress I caught dinner.”

<letgo.letgo.letgo.> Elissa heard the animal say.

“Break its neck, its chattering is bothering me.” The young woman said, scowling at the little animal.

CRACK. Reinatiel killed the animal and they continued walking to a big hill where the glowing birds could be found. Elissa stayed wary of them, she could feel mana coming out of their bodies. Suddenly one of the birds attacked them by shooting a laser beam out of its beak. Reinatiel cast a magic shield and the beam was stopped.

Fenirael was about to go butcher them when Elissa stopped her with a hand on her armored arm.

<You, let us pass or I will destroy your nest.> She threatened as she talked to the birds.

Birds all had a common language, it was the easiest to understand as their body language and screeches were simple.

<Leave.> The glowing bird alpha said, Elissa saw that its posture became threatening.

The young woman looked at the bird and told it, <I won’t kill you, but I will make you mine instead.>

The battle was on, Elissa conjured blunted ice daggers, equipped her Adamantine shield and unsheathed Gram; the glowing bird shot another laser beam that she promptly caught with her shield that absorbed the energy. Elissa shot an ice dagger at the bird that flew in the sky evading the projectile, but he couldn’t avoid the next three. The young woman caught him in the head and the glowing bird fell from the sky, Elissa went to catch him.

“Congratulations, mistress!” Fenirael clapped.

The noise of her clapping her gauntleted hands resonated around the hill, Elissa smiled and said, “Feni, come here. Form a familiar contract with this bird.”

The demoness walked to her mistress and asked, “Why?”

Elissa felt that she should do it, she didn’t know why but it was a feeling, in fact she must bring a female of the species with her.

“I want to reserve my last two familiar slots for something special, let’s catch a female bird and Rei can form a familiar contract with it.” The young woman explained.

“Me?”

“Yes you, you need a magical support.” Elissa insisted.

“Understood.” Reinatiel said, she didn’t sound enthusiastic about it.

They caught a female thirty minutes later when they moved into the valley hidden in the center of the hills and Reinatiel formed a contract with it. It was a glowing red bird and it was young it seemed, clearly the same species as Fenirael’s new familiar that she called Lazar; Reinatiel  simple called her bird Flame because the beam she shot from her beak was clearly fire attributed.

In the center of the valley, Elissa found the site where the Ley lines intersected. She unsheathed Gram yet again and went to the center of the valley and cut her hand with the blade of her sword. Elissa let the blood cover the shimmering blue and white blade and planted it in the ground forcefully. As she poured her mana inside she connected with the major Nexus and prayed Hekate to help her in her endeavor.

The Nexus fought her and Elissa felt that she wasn’t strong enough to take it, it pushed at her and threatened to kill her; but it didn’t deter the young woman as she connected to the elemental nodes around the island and beyond, Elissa felt her Goddess give her a little push and suddenly everything was beyond easy.

Elissa felt that Nexus was her bitch now and as its power flowed into her and threatened to fry her spiritual meridians she weaved the pocket dimension spell, Gram helped in the operation by smoothing out the runes and coding of the spell. It could no longer be called a pocket dimension spell, as Elissa extended her will and the dimension covered the entire island, then expanded to the lake and its depth and it finally reached the lakeshores and land around the lake in all cardinal directions.

The Lutrinians crouched in a ball position as they were scared by the magic and forces that Elissa was wielding at the moment. They had nothing but respect for their new chief but seeing her doing this pushed it up a notch.

Elissa began to weave protection wards into the pocket realm, one of her favorites was an anti-scrying reflection spell that make the caster of the scrying spell see the depths of their own soul... most people tend to go crazy because of what they would discover about themselves. Then it was a series of climate control and anti-cataclysm spells putting the arcane energies, local ley lines and telluric currents under her control. The weather control was kept natural, Elissa also pushed the fishfolks, goblins and trolls out of her territory.

The young woman created different entry points into the realm, two main ones in the north and the south; a dozen little access points letting only twenty people in at a time. Elissa thought there was a need to control how many people entered her realm, she would need to hand out similar Silver cards or give permission to residents like her mother does to protect them from the defensive wards.

Thanks to the tremendous power that she wielded at this moment, Elissa deployed one of the highest level spells she had memorized; it was called Mirage Arcane, it made the caster able to control an illusion that included audible, visual, tactile, and olfactory elements, so it can turn clear ground into difficult terrain or otherwise impede movement through an area. Any piece of the illusory terrain -such as a rock or stick- that is removed from the spell’s area disappears immediately. The young woman chose to do so for the entire lake, as the illusion made some of the lake’s surroundings look like a swamp or the normal state of the lake.

The only problem with that spells was that creatures or beings with truesight could see through the illusion to the terrain’s true form; however, all other elements of the illusion remain, so while the creature is aware of the illusion’s presence, the creature can still physically interact with the illusion.

This light show and massive pulse of mana didn’t go unnoticed, magical beings on the surface like the Forbidden Forest’s dragon, the King of the Dwarves and his mage guild felt that someone on the planet was tapping into a major Nexus somewhere. The Dark Elves’ Matriarchs felt the power from the depth of their underground kingdoms.

Plans were already being drawn up to investigate who was now wielding so much power on the dangerous and lethal surface of Svartalfheim.

Elissa didn’t know how much time passed, she felt like it was a year or two that she spent weaving spells and taming this Major Nexus. But she was now getting stronger thanks to the node magic she mastered.

Node magic taps the natural pools and streams of power that collect and run below the earth and in the atmosphere. This power is not visible to the unpracticed eye, but those with the appropriate sensitivity know that collection points called mana nodes are awash with power that can increase the effects of spells and produce other magical effects. Mana nodes are rare and cherished points and their discoverers jealously guard the knowledge of them. However, many mana nodes that possess no natural outlet remain undiscovered, and others are simply unappreciated by the people or creatures that live in or near them.

Elissa pulled Gram from the ground and sheathed her, she didn’t need her sword to stay connected with the pocket realm anymore, she was constantly in contact with it; everywhere she could now wield the same power she used to create the realm. This was a massive amount of mana and a big responsibility to bear.

Falling from exhaustion, sword in hand, Elissa lost consciousness due to the strain of wielding this much magic for the first time in her life. Fenirael and Reinatiel thought this would happen and transported her back toward the ship. The Lutrinians accompanied them with a subdued mood; however, Elissa woke up when they reached the jolly-boats.

“I think I can walk, thank you.” Elissa stood and her handmaidens let go of her. She was the master of this realm and could see everywhere around her, now she knew why her mother told her ‘I am the law’ back then when she placed the sapient familiar bracelet on Tabitha. The young woman felt power course through her body like an unstoppable wave, and she felt that she could do anything.

*Don’t let the power go to your head, Elissa. You are better than this.* She told herself.

But to exercise her new found power she willed herself, her handmaidens and her crew of Lutrinian onto the ship and in an instant they were there; space bending to her will inside her realm. The Lutrinians looked around them with panicky eyes, the demonesses looked surprised but were used to teleportation. Elissa smiled and thought about the possibilities; her main nexus was linked to all the others in the region, at least ten of them. This power wasn’t something she could achieve on Earth, there she would have to fight local witches or mage families for the control of nodes or nexus; but here on Svartalfheim everything was primal and untouched.

“I really want to know why the elves didn’t take over the planet yet.” This couldn’t be possible after all, or maybe Elissa landed in an uncharted region of Svartalfheim. It could explain everything, after all the animals and magical beasts were truly hostile. Elissa had her doubts that some of the flora was inimical too, she had found that most flowers and fruits were poisonous but we're also great alchemical ingredients.

Fenirael agreed, it was strange. “Me too mistress, you taking this much power for yourself should have alerted some of them that something is afoot.”

“Yes, we felt the power coming from you, there is no way others didn’t feel it as well.” Reinatiel added worriedly.

The redhead scowled at that. Now that she had her own land she would fight to the death to keep it.

“Let them come.” Elissa said, channeling her inner Malicia.

 

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