Forbidden Forest

 

Dicinna’s trip across the tundra was fraught with monster encounters, lesser goblin bandits and one lesser Drake that had to be taught its place in the food chain. It had taken her time to arrive at the Lesay mountains, this place could be considered an oasis in the tundra; the mountains were verdant and full of life. Dicinna knew that there was a fire dragon in the neighboring territory called the forbidden forest and that it was in conflict with the dwarves that were now occupying the wyrm’s previous territory.

The Adventurers’ Guild of Cynlenor still had a job on its billboard for its defeat and magical core. The guild master had dissuaded multiple Mithril rank parties from taking it, the dragon seemed to get stronger each time a party was defeated.

The arid landscape gave way to more rocky formations, Dicinna tightened her cloak around her as the cold crept into her body. She was not used to it, what she wouldn’t give to be on the tropical islands in Vanaheim right now.

Roar!!! Frzzzzt.

Dicinna looked into the sky as she saw two beasts battling, a white dragon and a purple wyvern with… she saw someone on the wyvern’s back. Far on the horizon there were signs of battle, it made Dicinna cast a stealth spell on her called Pass Without Trace. A veil of shadows and silence surrounded the dark elf masking her from detection.

Running, Dicinna bounded toward the battle; The Wyvern fell and the white Dragon swallowed the rider and flew to where she could see the magic flashes. Dark Elves were running toward the forbidden forest pursuing a group of… dwarves?

*This is going to get ugly.* Dicinna thought.

Relations between the Dark Elf Kingdoms and Nirnyahr were fragile, and if those brain dead idiot adventurers killed them it might turn to war! Dicinna was about to engage them when she saw against who they were fighting. She was as beautiful as she appeared in the memory crystal, in fact it hadn't done her justice at all.

Lady Dragonfang wore a heavy armor colored black and silver and moved as if it didn’t impair her movements at all. Dicinna watched as she flowed at great speed toward a mage and simply shot him in the face with a golden beam of light. The mage was teleported through a contingency ring, the magic items really in vogue amongst adventurers lately; but only those from big clans or rich enough to buy them had access to it.

The Dwarf allies and the human looking warrior and mage dispatched the rest of the dark elf adventurers and began to question the lone survivor. Dicinna stayed well out of the way, not wanting to be inadvertently detected and catalogued as an enemy. The dwarven maidens shouted war cries as they celebrated their victory and sent the dark elf from Thafnoris on his way with a message. They all congratulated the sun-elf who smiled at them, which puts a smile on Dicinna’s face.

She liked what she saw about the she-elf so far; beautiful and deadly, decisive but prudent. What worried her though is the company she kept, Dicinna sensed something demonic in Lady Dragonfang’s servants and the two dragons with her. That wasn't all, what about all those dwarven women with her?

*Lady Dragonfang hired a band of dwarves? How? Those aren’t cheap.* Dicinna pondered.

Suddenly a wall of fire surrounded the party and the forest, Dicinna’s eyes bulged from their sockets as she jumped back. Through the fire she saw the group being trapped and through her senses she felt that something was wrong with the mana-field around the forest. She wasn’t that knowledgeable about magic so she couldn’t put her finger on what was different.

Dicinna felt an overwhelming magical aura coming from behind the group trapped behind the wall of fire and wasn’t surprised to find the Fire Dragoness Siodhanth appear in her humanoid form. The dark elf tried to open a portal to bypass the firewall but discovered that she couldn’t. Frowning, Dicinna tried again and forced more power into using her ability, there was a spark but nothing else.

“Now I know what happened when the mana-field changed! That shitty Dragon blocked any means of escape!” Dicinna was afraid, afraid that after finding her future lover she’s going to lose her just like that.

 

---

 

Elissa didn’t know what to think, this dragoness’ power was off the chart but she still felt that she was way weaker than her aunt Gadhiss, in fact the golden dragoness could eat five of this Siodhanth for breakfast easily. Nevertheless, she was a terrific opponent for Elissa who was badly matched against her as her main affinity was ice.

The dragoness gazed at her, lifted her chin and said, “Now, I’ve sealed you in with me. Don’t think that you can escape either, I have made certain that no one can interrupt us.”

“Mistress, run! We will hold her!”

Elissa raised her hand to silence Fenirael, her eyes never leaving the sight of the red Dragoness for an instant. She sized her up and noticed after deliberation that she might take her, but victory will be costly; even more so if Siodhanth change into her natural form. The redhead placed her left hand on her sword's hilt and said, "Are you this dragoness Siodhanth I heard so much about?"

"Hmm, you are rather different from what I imagined. Any other elf would be quaking in fear as they gazed upon my magnificent self." Siodhanth said as she crossed her arms and looked down her nose at everyone around Elissa.

Elissa chuckled as she listened to the arrogant dragoness. "Well, no thanks, I've met Gadhiss, the Dragon Matriarch, she's more memorable than you."

Siodhanth flinched at the name the she-elf dropped. Gadhiss, the champion of dragonkind and the ruler of Midgard. Suddenly Siodhanth was less sure of herself, but as she saw that the she-elf smirked at her reaction the dragoness' hands tightened into fists and her aura surged. Her hair flew around her as the wind picked up around her and she looked at Elissa with hatred.

Elissa felt the anger rise in the Dragoness, the leaves of the trees ruffled as the wind blew violently around her party.

As for the sisterhood, they were paralyzed by the draconic aura unleashed by Siodhanth and they lay still as the biggest predator they knew of confronted Lady Dragonfang.

"You should let us go, Siodhanth there's nothing that you can gain from fighting us." Elissa said confidently.

Fenirael and Reinatiel placed themselves at her sides, looking warily at the dragoness, their own aura around them. Siodhanth felt that they were clearly demonic in nature, and they were not lower Demons either. Then the She-elf let out her own magical aura, it was golden, blue and white.

The Dragoness frowned at that and put herself on guard and said, "You smell of divine and old powers, who are you and what is your deity's name?"

Elissa flipped her hair and said haughtily, "My name is Elissa Dragonfang, of house Dragonfang, first of her name, the Storm mage, monster bane and dwarf friend. I worship the Goddess of Magic, Dark Hekate."

The dragoness scaly eyebrow rose. This deity's name didn't ring any bells to Siodhanth though the name of the Matriarch of Dragons scared her; but she would not let this opportunity to taste Goddess touched meat and power escape her. She felt the powerful wave of Mana coming from the she-elf, Siodhanth licked her lips hungrily.

*My power will reach new heights, once I devour her!!* The Dragoness thought.

"Interesting, I shall remember it when I will be digesting you." Siodhanth opened her hand and a massive red Sword appeared in it, she smiled when she saw the Dwarves’ reaction as they recognized her magic sword.

Magmel was a weapon she stole from the Dwarf hero, Sirvin the red five hundred years ago, an Earth blessed of renown. One of those powerful Dwarves who had strength and toughness.

"Then I will have to add Dragon Slayer to my titles," The redhead said with derision. "and I suppose that your head will decorate my new palace, mounted in my throne room." Elissa added with trepidation as she unsheathed her sword that suddenly morphed into a two handed one.

Elissa was a bit surprised by that and glanced briefly at Gram, she had the impression the sword spirit just winked at her. Gram was now two meters long and looked like that sword wielded by the sexy hero from those Devil Cry videogames. The redhead twirled it through the air and unleashed her Inshek battle aura, boosting her strength, stamina, and magical power; she also tried to touch the nodes available in the forest.

However, she was denied access to them; Siodhanth cackled at the attempt. "You are in my territory elf! Everything is under my control here, and you know what? You'll find it difficult to even create a spark of lightning or use wind magic! I studied you while you fought my minions!!"

Elissa didn't like that at all. *The mana-field around the forest, it has been tampered with.*

With her enhanced mage sight, she noticed the spells and movement of mana in the eddies of the local mana-field; touching with Reinatiel they formed a circle.

"She used a Mythal, mistress. She locked the use of the conjuration school to make us unable to teleport away from the forest and sealed the elemental affinities of wind and lightning." Reinatiel informed Elissa in a panicked tone.

“That’s… really bad. However, she didn’t study us well enough.” Elissa said as she put the cross guard level with her eyes.

Gram’s blade glowed blue and white in a maelstrom of color and a cold magical aura surrounded her, imbuing her heavy armor. For the first time since Elissa arrived on this planet she let go of herself, embraced her ice magic and focused what she had come to call her absolute cold field around her, further enhancing her physical capabilities such as speed, strength and durability; that, plus the large boost that the Inshek martial art gave her, tripled her power.

Globes of water coalesced around Elissa and as Siodhanth looked at her she became uncertain, she wanted to panic for once. The Dragoness thought she had sealed the she-elf’s magics and that she would be easy pickings.

“I-I sealed your affinities! What…” Stuttered the Dragoness.

Elissa’s tone was cold as she said, “I said it earlier, I am The Storm Mage.”

Siodhanth made the connection, the she-elf was attuned to four elements! This was a great miscalculation on her part. Yet again, this Elf was making her feel fear and lose confidence in herself. Siodhanth was suddenly covered in fire and looked at Elissa with hatred.

Roar!! Siodhanth attacked as she charged Elissa and swung her sword. Elissa lunged toward her, her speed supported by her battle aura and the two beings clashed, the impact was so powerful that it produced steam and a shockwave that threw the members of the sisterhood ten meters away from the blast. Reinatiel cushioned the Dwarven maidens’ fall with a feather fall spell to stop them from landing in the firewall.

Elissa used the spell Chill metal, making the metal of Siodhanth’s sword cold to cause pain and damage. The Dragoness didn’t seem to notice; the redhead attempted to punch the humanoid dragoness but was batted away as her tail hit her on the breastplate. Elissa righted herself by planting her sword in the ground to break her fall.

By using the two orbs of water she had created earlier, Elissa used her water and ice magic to turn them into freezing spheres and launched one at the dragoness who looked at that, breathed in and used her breath weapon. Elissa cast a spell shield attuned to the element of water; a wall of magical force manifested before Elissa who weathered the breath weapon. At the same time she dedicated a bit of her mental processing into controlling the other Freezing sphere and hit Siodhanth from the back.

“Aaargh.” Elissa heard her as she was struck by the attack and froze the dragon momentarily, however her flame erupted around her yet again and the ice melted.

“Fight me, come at me, coward.” The Dragoness furiously stomped, creating holes in the ground.

Elissa looked at the entitled Dragon throwing a tantrum.

“You want me to come? You just had to ask, firebitch.” Elissa said as she zigzagged toward the dragoness who threw fireballs at her, burning the vegetation and gouging out the ground while creating explosions. With each of her steps, the strength she uses to propel herself added to her speed; while moving she condensed frost at the feet of the dragoness and used her cryokinesis to create a version of the column of ice spell. A column of ice rose from the ground, catching Siodhanth in the stomach, lifting and projecting her one-hundred meters into the air; Elissa used all her strength to jump to meet the dragoness half-way and slugged her in the face as she covered her gauntlet in ice.

Siodhanth groaned, caught Elissa’s arm and headbutted her. The two fell toward the ground and the dragoness made her wings appear to slow her fall while Elissa had to cushion hers with a feather fall. Once her back was on the ground, Elissa rolled as the Dragoness landed where she was just one second ago; the redhead didn’t lose any time and thrust her hand at her and a blue white ray at absolute zero temperature sprang from her hand at the speed of thought, striking the dragoness’ sword hand.

Siodhanth hissed in pain and let go of her two handed sword, Elissa capitalized on this and launched herself at her trying to behead her but seeing the danger the dragoness lowered her head and Elissa cut her left wing instead. Siodhanth tried the same maneuver as earlier with her tail, however Elissa caught it and used it to lift the dragoness and slam her face first on the ground, she then cut her tail with Gram by using its monomolecular edge by imbuing her mana into the blade.

<Feni, go look for the circle she used to create the Mythal, it must be somewhere!> Elissa said through her familiar’s bonds.

<Yes Mistress!> Fenirael ran into the forest using her psychic senses to do as ordered.

While keeping the dragoness in her sight Elissa told her handmaiden, <Rei, protect the dwarves, and tell Brunhilda and Astagrith to protect themselves! Monsters could be attacking us at any moment, Siodhanth controls everything here.>

Reinatiel cast a shield of faith around the dwarven maidens; this spell creates a shimmering, magical field around people that averts and deflects attacks. The demoness tried to speak to Brunhilda who was still frozen by the draconic fear, so the demoness dispelled the debuff and began to explain things to her. The Dwarf Princess wanted to go help Elissa but as she heard the Dragoness roaring in pain and throw herself bodily at Elissa to claw her and the high-speed fight and shockwaves from each of their strikes displacing the air, she realized that she would be more of a hindrance.

Little by little, as the two combattants moved further and further into the forest, the forest and mossy ground either caught fire or got frozen through, by the beings of opposite elements. Brunhilda took charge at this moment while Elissa fought for her life.

“Narse! Create Earthen fortification!”

“Alright!” The Earth Bender said.

As Narsenelyn crouched, her hands touched the earth and the ground trembled; creating a one story tall tower made of stone with watchtower, arrow slits and stairs leading to the top. Brunhilda watched her friend quickly work on her crude tower and patted her on the shoulder, then the princess turned toward the crafter of the team.

“Sizalda!” Brunhilda yelled, making the brunette jump. “We need yer special grenades!!”

Sizalda narrowed her eyes and began to check into her spatial rings; after a moment three boxes full of metal spheres neatly arranged appeared at her feet. Brunhilda nodded at her, and the crafter used a spell to make the boxes float and entered the tower.

“Nabi, Sin protect everyone, look out for monsters!” The princess ordered.

The two twins looked at each other, then at Brunhilda and voiced the worry of everyone, “What about M’Lady Dragonfang? We can’t let her fight alone!”

Brunhilda turned her head toward Sindanelyn and told her, “It pains me tae say it but we kinna help, she has a plan, but first we must survive!”

The princess tightened her hold on her warhammer, not liking letting Elissa fight alone. Sindanelyn and Nabideth began to prepare their gear and responded to Brunhilda with an “Aye!!” The dwarf twins said in unison.

Looking out into the forest, Brunhilda looked for the huntress who was trying to see the fight between Elissa and the dragoness. The noises of their terrific battle could be heard from there; the princess was already proud of the fact that Elissa had already maimed the red dragon and kept her from flying. Running to the huntress through the desolate burned and frozen patch of forest, Brunhilda looked at the fight that was going on.

Elissa’s armor was barely protecting her from Siodhanth and claw marks could be seen all over the black and silver heavy plates. As for the dragoness she was covered in blood, they fought each other so savagely that Brunhilda could scarcely believe this was happening. Elissa’s sword was taken from her and landed in rock, piercing it.

“Ah! I’m going to ge-” The dragoness was about to say but Elissa drop kicked her in the torso and made her go fly thirty meters away. Weapons made of ice appeared around her and she launched them where the red dragon had landed.

Siodhanth writhed herself in fire and rolled on the ground and then breathed a cone of fire at Elissa who barely avoided it by jumping to the side. Elissa responded with the Cone of Cold spell, a blast of cold air erupted from her hand. She didn’t have enough time to regulate the temperature but she was sure that the attack was below zero.

However it seemed that it wasn’t enough and she just created more steam in the air as the attack reached the fire wreathed Siodhanth who stood up and roared at her. Elissa called her sword to her right hand and her Adamantite shield to her left and lunged at the dragoness who made Magmel appear in her hands.

The two blades imbued in elemental forces clashed, creating a thermal shock that propelled Elissa and the dragoness back.

Brunhilda was starting to get worried, her friend Astagith put her hand on her shoulder in comfort. “Asta, do what ye do best. We need tae be prepared while Elissa is still fightin’ her, tha monsters are comin’ tae us.”

“Aye, Princess.” The red haired dwarf said as she disappeared, her spear in hand.

As predicted, monsters began to appear around the fortifications. Giant Centipedes, Rock Rams, Wind wolves, Ogres; they all attacked en mass. Reinatiel defended the Dwarf maidens with her black fire while Sindanelyn and Sizalda threw explosive grenades at them, Brunhilda used her wind and earth magic imbued Warhammer to kill as many of them as she could. Astagith and Nabideth killed any of the monsters trying to climb on the walls of the fortification by poking them with their pointy weapons.

Meanwhile Fenirael was running deeper into the forest, killing monsters as she went. She bisected and beheaded an ogre two heads taller than her as she approached the center of the forest. The demoness could feel the effects of the fight between her mistress and the dragon as the shockwaves spread through the forest. It was only a question of time before Elissa used her absolute zero field or that the dragon used her true form, so she sped up and tried to find the place where the Mythal was practiced. For this kind of high-magic there must always be some kind of anchor fed by a node or nexus for them to work.

She was already deep in the forest when through her psychic senses she noticed that the nodes had been linked as glowing lines of energy in the sky connected them. Fenirael followed them and it was ten minutes later that she found some kind of black monolythe twenty meters tall spearing into the sky with a giant magical circle around it, it was guarded by at least five Ogres and twenty Direwolves. The demoness summoned her familiar, the white magical bird they captured on the emerald island.

The male bird appeared in a flash of magical light and Fenirael ordered it to destroy the monolythe that seemed to be the focus for the High-Magic Mythal blocking her Mistress’ magics.

“Go, Lazar!” The white bird took off and rose into the sky while charging his magical attack.

Not wanting to confront the monsters as it would take her too much time, Fenirael watched as her familiar’s laser beam suddenly cut through the monolythe and it falling loudly on the Ogres. The change in the atmosphere was instantaneous, the mana nodes in the sky and earth unlinked and the high-magic ritual collapsed creating a reaction and the focus exploded killing the monsters guarding it.

“Yes!” Fenirael shouted.

Lazar came back and landed on her shoulder, she patted him and said, “Good job. Now let us go save Mistress Elissa.”

The magical bird screeched lightly and flew following his partner.

Meanwhile, Reinatiel felt that her sister had done her job and felt that the Mythal wasn't active anymore, but before she could contact Elissa, a female dark elf appeared in the air through a red portal and landed on the ground in a crouching position with a sword and dagger in each hand. She was tall, with short silver hair with a long braid on the side, her skintight armor looked as if it was painted on, showing off a perfectly proportioned body; as Reinatiel looked at her the cold blue eyes of the elf focused on the Ogres that were still alive.

Woosh. The demoness lost sight of the female elf as she disappeared and finally found her with her sword deep in the eye of one of the Ogres, she jumped again and another of the giant humanoid monsters not too far away found itself headless, Reinatiel had noticed how the elf used her portal to behead it.

*She’s dangerous!* Reinatiel thought as she prepared a spell to attack the Elf who disappeared yet again.

Reinatiel frowned as she felt something weird going on behind her back and saw that one of the Dwarven women had fallen from mana exhaustion and a giant centipede was about to stab her in the heart with its stinger, but the elf appeared yet again behind it in mid-air and used her red portals to emit a blast of energy that destroyed the monster and the stone railing it was perched on.

Brunhilda saw the dark elf appear near her as she felled one last Direwolf, she stayed on guard as the she-elf walked toward her with her sword covered in Ogre’s blood.

“Are you the one in charge?” the she-elf asked as she looked disdainfully at Brunhilda.

The elf whipped her sword and the blood soiled the purple and brown ground. Brunhilda scowled at the she-elf. “Aye, it be me. What do ya want?”

“My name is Dicinna Zerloth and I’ve come to help, where is Lady Dragonfang?”

“What proof do we have of dat?” Brunhilda adopted a stance with her warhammer, her armor glistening with the blood of all the monsters she killed.

In typical dark elf fashion, Dicinna tilted her head and answered with, “I could have killed you all, without any of you knowing that I was there. Now speak, I want to know where the sun-elf is!”

It obviously was the wrong thing to say as it made Brunhilda confrontational. “Elissa is me friend, ah ain’t tellin’ ye anythin.’” She said as she walked to the elf and looked in her eyes.

“That is unfortunate, I will have to look for her myself then.” The she-elf said as if she was sad about Brunhilda’s reaction and she disappeared through a red portal opening in the forest.

“Princess Brunhilda! Who was that?!” Reinatiel asked as she jumped down from the tower.

“Some Dark Elf Assassin or somethin’, she said she came tae help but ah dinna trust her!” The Dwarven princess said.

“I see, princess.” Reinatiel said as she bowed her head to Brunhilda who still had a grim expression on her face. The demoness continued to inform her. “The Mythal has been broken by my sister, we should be able to go help my mistress now!”

“Ah!” Brunhilda said as she slapped Reinatiel on the ass, Reinatiel glared darkly at her for that. “Let’s go then! I want to finish that Dragon off.”

“Girls! We finished with tha monsters here! Let’s go help Lady Dragonfang!” Brunhilda shouted.

“Me sister kinna help, she’s exhausted!” Nabideth hollered, worried for Sindanelyn.

Brunhilda turned to Elissa’s handmaiden and said, “Give tha tired a pick me up would ye, Reinatiel?”

“I will your highness.” Reinatiel answered primly as she bowed slightly.

The crystal on Reinatiel’s staff glowed white and she cast an overpowered transmutation spell called Bear’s Endurance that temporarily boosted a being’s stamina and ability to withstand hardship. A white glow surrounded everyone and suddenly they all felt revitalized.

“C’mon ye slow moles! Sizalda bring out tha killin’ artifacts. Nabideth! Protect everyone!”

ROAAAR. The Dragon cry made them freeze for an instant, they all looked in the direction from which the roar came; the center of the forest. Storm clouds could be seen gathering in the blue sky, a sure sign that Elissa was finally getting serious. Thunder grumbled as the cumulonimbus rolled high in the sky. Brunhilda smiled at the manipulation of the weather.

“Let’s go! Elissa has finally realized dat she can use her most powerful spells!” Brunhilda said as she began to run in the dense forest avoiding roots and thorny bushes.

“Huh, why is it getting so cold suddenly?” Whined Sindanelyn as she ran side by side with her sister, their weapon clanging against their armor as they moved.

“The Mistress is going to use her absolute zero field.” Reinatiel said as she heard them and explained things to them.

“Zero?” Brunhilda asked.

She wasn’t fluent in science and this absolute zero thing didn’t tell her anything. As for Reinatiel, she shook her head in wonder as she looked at the princess, and realized why Elissa and Brunhilda became friends so fast.

“She will kill everything around her, that is why…” Reinatiel tried to explain as she touched each of the slow dwarven women and cast the protection from energy spell on them, granting them resistance to cold temperatures and magic. With the energy she invested, the spell should last an hour. “Now I hope it will be enough to save you from the ice.”

In the meantime, Elissa wasn’t having a good time, her Helmet had saved her from getting her skull crushed when Siodhanth hit her with the pommel of her sword. It was now cracked and showed half of her face, Elissa had had enough of that presumptuous dragoness and unleashed her superhuman based cold aura to its maximum output and used some of her magic to create an antimagic field around her.

Siodhanth felt a change and as she was about to try to slash at Elissa and she felt a backlash from the Mythal she had cast causing her to drop her sword and to falter with a knee on the ground.

“What the-?”

Elissa stopped moving and looked at the sky noticing that she could finally connect to her wind and lightning magic again. The young woman cackled, an evil laugh worthy of Malicia; billowing winds surrounded her and suddenly Siodhanth understood what had happened. Storm clouds gathered in the sky, thunder rumbled and lightning hit Elissa’s blade as she raised it to the sky. The arcs of electricity coursed through the blade like writhing snakes.

Gazing at the dragoness in elven form, Elissa’s eyes glowed blue as she let her power surge. “You were too cocky.”

“She-elf.” Siodhanth said with venom in her voice as she stood up and wreathed herself in fire yet again but this time it burned hotter. The dragoness ignored her sword that she had dropped and gathered magic in her hand.

“My name is Elissa Dragonfang.” Elissa put herself into the wind cutter technique’s stance, legs apart and sword dug into the ground, building up energy potential.

“FIRE STORM.” The Dragoness chanted.

She threw in all her hatred at being brought low by a simple Ar-tel-quessir, but in her heart of hearts she understood how precarious her situation was. There was only one way to finish this, one of them had to die!

The entire area became drenched in a sea of dragon fire, however, the raging flames did not harm natural vegetation and ground cover, focusing their power solely on what their caster considered to be the spell’s target. There was nothing moving at all as Siodhanth began to laugh after having finally-

WOOSHHH. The temperature fell instantly around her and the flames of her spell were starved of oxygen and petered out. The wind picked up and the smoke and flame receded. Siodhanth’s eyes widened as she saw the area around her had been turned into a winter landscape.

“Is that all? I thought flame from a red dragon such as yourself would have been able to do something.” Elissa taunted.

“Dragonfang…”

“Yes, that’s my name.” The redhead smiled at that.

Then she released the strike she had prepared with her two handed sword. The end result was a slash with much greater power and speed than normally possible for Elissa as she cut through Siodhanth’s right arm as she jumped back at the last second but still got electrocuted and as millions of volts passed through her, the dragoness screamed in agony in an inhuman cry. The storm mage decided to finish her with a spell that her ancestor, Damian had used in one of his memories.

“Diluvial torrent.”

A mass of water disgorged itself from a giant cylinder of water onto Siodhanth who was crushed down by the tens of thousands of kiloliters of water. The spell gave Elissa complete immunity against the physical destructiveness of the water, but she still saved herself with a solid bubble of air. Then the redhead froze the water instantly with her absolute zero field. As the ice was under her control she could even move if it was solid, that was how powerful Elissa’s elemental affinity with ice was.

Getting out of the mini-glacier, Elissa double tapped the encased dragoness with a Call Lightning, multiple arcs of lightning struck the ice and conducted to body held prisoner inside every few seconds, the damage increased at each strike. This continued for another ten minutes. Until the ice broke and left Siodhanth’s calcined body in plain sight.

“Phew.” Elissa sighed, then twirled her two handed sword that gradually regained it’s normal one handed form.

<Good Job.> Elissa heard Gram say in her mind.

“Thanks Gram.”

“Elissa!” The redhead heard Brunhilda’s voice from afar and she looked east as she heard the footfalls of the dwarven women.

Her steps on the icy ground made a crunching sound as everything was frozen, the trees, vegetation and she even noticed that some small animals were now turned into ice statues. But she didn’t pity those creatures most of them would have gladly eaten her if they could, this was how harsh life was on Svartalfheim. Everything wanted to kill you, it was like Australia times ten.

Elissa faltered a bit, her mana core was half full. She had extended herself considerably, this was the first time for her that an opponent had made her use almost every trick in her bag. Reinatiel was the first to come to hug her and kissed her on the lips for a long moment.

“Are you safe? Is anything hurting?” Reinatiel said after she came for air.

Elissa looked dazed and chose to ignore what she just did, Brunhilda and the others surrounded them followed by her pseudodragons that landed on the ground in their giant forms and necked her.

“Where were those two when we were attacked by monsters?” Brunhilda asked frowning at the two familiars.

Elissa answered her with a tired smile, “Killing those weird flying bird monsters in the sky, you didn’t see them?”

“Ah… no.” Brunhilda looked sheepish.

“Mistress I am back!” Fenirael’s voice rang.

Elissa turned and saw the demoness bounding toward them and when she reached them, the redhead high fived her.

“This was an awesomely good timing you had here, Feni!” Elissa hugged her armored familiar.

Lazar, Fenirael’s familiar, landed on his master’s head and looked really at ease there. Elissa touched his head and scratched it, “Who is a good bird, who.”

<Me of course.> Lazar haughtily said as he harrumphed by averting his eyes from hers and opening his for a second before closing them again.

“Yes you are.” Elissa nodded.

Elissa looked behind her and saw the Dwarven women and Reinatiel looking with widened eyes somewhere. It wasn’t the bird that attracted their attention it was…

ROAR!!!! The redhead looked in the direction of where she had left the body of the dragoness.

Siodhanth wasn’t dead, she had turned into her true form and as Elissa looked at her, she noticed that the dragoness had regenerated her missing limbs. Her tail, arm and wing were intact. The red dragon took advantage of their surprise to breath fire on them.

Elissa and Reinatiel linked in their circle formation by holding each other’s hand and conjured a wall of force and a reactive magical shield that absorbed the energy of the breath attack. The redhead heard the dragoness run toward them as she breathed on them.

“Scatter!!!” Elissa ordered.

She made Gungnir come to her and unleashed her battle aura, the dwarves and her familiars escaped into the sky or into the frozen forest, leaving only her with the dragon. But to her surprise she saw the twins being hit from a swipe of the dragon’s tail.

“Sin, Nabi!!” Elissa cried as she attempted to get to her new friends.

A gout of flame created a wall of fire between her and the dwarven women, the dragon roared and looked at Elissa. She could feel Siodhanth’s hatred and wrath in her true dragon form directed at her. The redhead felt the fetid breath of the wyrm on her as she began to speak.

<This is the first time someone brought me to the brink of death in my humanoid form, I wanted to just devour you to take your power and make it mine but… you had to make it personal.> Siodhanth said furious, her tail struck and gouged out the icy ground.

<Then you should have let us go.> Elissa scowled at her as she stepped back and let out her battle aura.

Siodhanth raised a scaly eyebrow at that, surprised. <Oh, you can speak draconic. Interesting. It won’t stop me from killing your companions as you watch.>

<My godparent is Gadhiss the Dragon Matriarch. Of course I can, however… you attacked us because of your own hubris and your misguided reasons. Now you want to kill my friends and familiars?> Elissa’s fist tightened around the shaft of her spear.

Siodhanth was beyond caring who Elissa was, she was seeing red and wanted to make the girl suffer.

“Mistress, we will help you!!” Fenirael and Reinatiel fell from the sky as they had used Rilo and Aghri to escape into the air.

Siodhanth saw this and used a spell. <Banishment!>

Fenirael and Reinatiel disappeared mid-air in a shower of white light, which separated in two and before they could be banished and forced to return to Phantasia, their home planet, the two demoness were transferred into the ring that tethered them to Elissa. This action had the effect of making Elissa furious. A banishment spell was a more powerful version of the dismissal spell. It enabled the caster to force out extraplanar creatures from his home plane.

The redhead vibrated with fury, her fists shaking. <Not only you hurt my friends, but you tried to take my familiars away from me?! That’s it! YOU WILL DIE NOW.>

Elissa shouted as her magical aura exploded and she let herself bathe in the elemental energies trapped in her mana core and let herself become one with them. The Ultima spell Magick Embodiment that she used so many months ago was finally being used as intended.

Elissa became one with the storm and the ice, embodying the fury of an Arctic Tempest; should this be the name she calls this form? Her eyes shone with a white inner glow, her helmet cracked until it couldn't contain her hair that turned black and some part of it white in shape of lightning. The young woman began to levitate, but this form conferred her a natural way to use the wind rider spell.

<Feel my Power!!> Siodhanth shouted opening her jaw as she tried to bite Elissa.

However the young woman stopped the dragoness's action by conjuring multiple wind spheres with hurricane force winds and struck Siodhanth with them. The dragon roared in pain as the spheres tore into her scales but she bore through the pain and used her left wing to bat Elissa away who avoided it by going up and targeting the exposed part of the dragon’s skin without it’s layer of scales with lightning blasts from Gungnir.

Elissa danced through the sky as she avoided fire balls and breath attacks while attacking the Dragoness with lightning and ice Spears that wore away at Siodhanth’s stamina and resistance.

<You annoying little… Die!!> Dragonfire filled the sky, sealing Elissa's movements as she was forced to shield herself from the fire tornadoes.

Elissa wanted to finish this, her Mana reserves were getting low. Suddenly Siodhanth was being attacked by Rilo and Aghri breathing their own attacks at the true Dragon.

<You miserable copy!> Siodhanth opened her wings and beat them so strongly that she produced a gust of air and cracked the ground under her; finally, she was in the sky pursuing Rilo who was still faster.

Elissa helped her familiar by using her as a spell turret and lobing lightning sphere at the dragoness. Aghri flew higher and his goal to puncture Siodhanth's wings with high laser breath but she protected herself with a magical shield.

<No wonder you are alone Siobitch, in dragon terms of beauty you are too lean and not attractive at all, I saw Gadhiss’ daughter and she's bigger than you, you stupid famished salamander.> Elissa taunted.

Siodhanth’s eyes widened and glowed red from fury. <YOU DARE INSULT MY GORGEOUS FORM??!>

The Dragoness wreathed herself in fire so hot that Elissa felt it from one hundred meters away. The young woman noticed that the dragon was pulling on the Nexus and Mana nodes of the entire forest. Preparing for another firestorm, and Elissa didn’t think she could stop this one at all with this much power put into it.

*Oh, Hel.* Elissa thought.

Quickly she gathered the rest of her mana and began to chant and even used her familiars to triple-cast the spell she was about to unleash on the dragon. Out of the storm clouds three funnel shaped cyclones surrounded Siodhanth, Elissa injected ice elemental energy into the whirlwind spells and smiled as the two elements, wind and ice, mixed.

“Die you jumped up Lizard. Glacial Whirlwinds!” Elissa said calmly and let the three funnels enclose the dragoness.

The Dragoness panicked and felt that the same wind spheres from earlier, only of a more consequent size, were now attacking her, peeling at her scales and she felt cold, so cold that her inner fire was being extinguished. The hurricane force winds tore into her wings, shredding them and making the dragoness crash loudly into the forest, the funnels followed her and began to flash freeze Siodhanth who roared in pain. Elissa stayed aloft in the air for several minutes with an intense look of focus as she controlled the glacial whirlwinds, it helped her even more tremendously as she added pike like ice constructs that damaged the dragoness with high velocity.

Siodhanth stopped roaring as most of her scales were peeled of her body and her head and lower body took on the color of ice and her eyes looked dead. Just in case Elissa blasted her body with a giant lightning Blast from Gungnir. Her Arctic Tempest form dissipated and her hair became red and her eyes human-like.

Her intuition told her to triple tap the dragon again, so she listened to it and charged her spear with her leftover mana, planning to use the speed of her fall to pierce one of the dragon’s eyes. However, this was not to be as at the last moment Siodhanth raised her head and opened her mouth to try to bite Elissa who attempted to avoid the dragon’s maw but wasn't fast enough.

Siodhanth caught Elissa’s right leg and bit deeply cutting it, The young woman screamed and crashed into the ground, the force of the impact breaking a frozen tree. Elissa looked at her leg and then at Siodhanth who was about to breath fire on her. With all her power and mana left Elissa created a reactive magical shield and covered herself with a layer of her cold aura.

The dragoness breathed as she opened her jaws, her inner fire making her throat glow orange and a very large cone of magical draconic flames spewed out of it. The temperature of it rose and Elissa’s shield, that was already running on fumes, shattered with a sound of breaking glass; to protect herself Elissa projected a Freeze beam out of her body that collided with the cone of fire creating steam. Elissa gave everything she had and connected to the ambient cosmic energy, making the cone of fire recede somewhat, but it wasn’t enough; Siodhanth pulled on her Nexus power and the fire overcame the ray of frost and Elissa smelled burnt hair and flesh and screamed as the dragoness burnt her alive.

The pseudodragons in the air attacked the dragoness but were blasted out of the sky thanks to giant fireballs that struck them and they too crashed into the icy forest ground, Rilo broke a wing and Aghri lost consciousness.

Siodhanth looked around to see if anyone else was going to fight her, and as no one came forward she sighed. This has been the toughest fight of her life, but she won. *I won!*

The dragoness looked at the calcined form of the she-elf, she had no hair anymore and her flesh was burned and blood escaped the parts of her body that were skinless. Bits of melted metal had fused with her skin, but she still lived as Siodhanth saw her chest rise and that surprised the dragoness.

*This little elf is so powerful, worthy of being called Dragonfang. And to be my dinner!* The dragoness thought.

<You shall make me even more powerful She-Elf, we are going to be together forever now.> Siodhanth opened her mouth wide and was about to devour her foe when Elissa who was seeing death face to face lost consciousness.

At the same time a layer of ice covered Elissa and it suddenly grew, encasing the half dead young woman and forming a casket of ice. It’s size grew and made the dragoness reel back as the temperature became so low that it almost froze her face.

<NO, I WON’T BE DENIED!!!> Siodhanth screamed and breathed fire on the construct that suddenly shielded itself, protecting its host.

<Melt! DAMN YOU, MELT!!> She said as she pulled on the power of her nexus, again breathing continuously on the casket.

The Casket, that had some intelligence added to it, deemed that the fire dragon attacking it was an enemy and should be neutralized. Two giant ice spears were created, that started spinning before striking at Siodhanth whose body got impaled.

ROOAAAAR!!! She roared in pain and felt that the cold was invading her already damaged body. Siodhanth could feel neither her wings nor her lower body anymore and tried to fight the invading power with her inner fire and her mana. This continued for some minutes but she couldn’t win, each time she gained on the cold another part of her body became numb and as the cold fed on her energy it was like trying to stop an avalanche.

Then she noticed that she was being eaten, absorbed. <NO! NONONONONO!!>

The casket of ice while attacking had scanned its host and discovered that she was on the brink of death and that it couldn’t find all the necessary resources to repair its host body. Its priority changed in regards to the red dragon now, from neutralize to harvest for materials to reinforce the body and power of its host. The casket redoubled its effort and siphoned as much cosmic energy from the atmosphere as it could, creating a pillar of light-blue white light that reached the sky.

<NO! MELT, MELT!!!> Siodhanth tried everything and breathed fire, trying to raise her inner temperature to escape.

The pillar of light became thicker as it advanced and little by little covered the dragoness turning her into a frozen statue.

<I Won’t… I Don’t want to die!!!> Siodhanth cried.

Those were her last words on this plane of existence. The casket of ice was proud of having neutralized the threat and began to harvest materials to begin the work of repairing and strengthening its host body. It noticed that the Nexus and Mana nodes hoarded by the red dragon were finally free from her influence and used itself as a focus to take charge of them and claimed them for its host. It facilitated its work as it began the process of repairing her, a process called the Ruler’s Sleep.

It was an ability that only the current ruler and the current heir to the throne of Phantasia could use that the Goddess of magic who engineered the royal line built into their genes. The regenerative absorption absorbed the healing abilities of the source who was Siodhanth in this case and added her personal power to the casket’s host, the body of the young woman inside was recovering from the damages instantly and growing substantially stronger in the process.

The casket didn’t stop there, and awakened the ice drake blood and the ice phoenix physiology in its host that were present in her genes and made a lot of changes to her bone structure, muscles, spiritual meridians and mana-core. Elissa’s regenerative healing factor was boosted tremendously, helping in her recovery. The intelligence of the casket decided to continue to modify its host, and noticed the intrusive metal that slowed down the healing.

As it couldn’t get rid of it as it was bonded with its host skin, the intelligence decided to get creative and decided to use the draconic essence it had stored and made some changes to the host’s skin by making the top layer of it covered with microscopic draconic scales as tough as the intrusive metal.

The intelligence was proud of its work and patted itself on the back for doing such a good job at strengthening its host and making her more resistant to damage and high temperatures, another part of the intelligence decided to do something about the malnutrition problems of the host who was not where she should be in her body’s development and focused its efforts on syphoning mana and cosmic energy from the sun and the planet to make its host reach adulthood physiologically and in the growth of her abilities and power.

 

---

 

In the Dreamscape Elissa was waking up on a bed of bluegrass, she spit some of it that got in her mouth out and looked around her. She saw the giant tree that shot high into the pink sky, its giant leaves swaying in the wind. Elissa located Damian who was looking at her leaning in his usual spot on the root of the giant tree with his arms crossed and looking angry.

Elissa walked toward him, asking herself what was happening as she tried at the same time to feel her body out of the Dreamscape.

“Girl, you barely avoided death! I was so worried, you made so many… so many mistakes. If the Ruler’s Sleep didn’t appear in time you’d be Dragon poop right now!” Damian said as he walked over to her and hugged her.

“Hey stop being so touchy feely.” Elissa tried to pry him off her.

Damian hugged her to himself even more, rocking her as if she was a baby that he wanted to take care of and protect.

The man had made a decision when he saw Elissa struggle against a mere two thousand year old red dragon and how she had almost died. He didn’t want to see one of his descendants be finished like that and beaten. From what he had seen of her life, it had been harsh, she had been taken care of by an evil demoness that he would kill if he could. “I’m sorry Elissa watching you struggle like this, made me realize how weak you were compared to if you lived on our planet. Don’t worry I am not going to let you get hurt again.”

Elissa felt as if he were gripping her mind with his, and trying to insinuate himself in her. “Unhand me and… what do you mean?” Elissa beat with all her strength on Damian’s breastplate but it didn’t seem that she was doing any damage.

“We are going to become one, of course I will become the dominant personality. Don’t worry, everything will be alright.” Damian whispered in the young woman’s ear.

Elissa opened her eyes wide, and struggled even more. “NO! Let go of me!!”

She even tried to use her powers but in vain, her abilities didn’t work in the Dreamscape; at least not those ones.

“Shh, everything will be alright, let it happen.” Damian caressed her hair and tried to make himself reassuring.

To the contrary, it made Elissa fight even more and she punched him in the stomach and kneed him in the groin interrupting the melding process. This made Damian groan but he bore through the pain and the process of melding consciousnesses started again, he was fusing with her, letting his skills and power imprint into her mind.

With all her willpower, Elissa cried, “LET GO!!”

It was a psionic attack so powerful that it made Damian step back, interrupting the melding process. But not for long as Damian held onto her, not letting go for an instant, she was his chance to interact with the world again, this was the first time that a host of their lineage was so weak. He didn’t lie, Damian wanted to protect the girl that looked so much like his second wife; he did not wishing to see her hurt but he wanted to live again, even through another, this was evil and he knew it but he wanted to be able to kill with his own hands yet again, eat, laugh and sleep!

“Stop fighting me, Elissa; it’s for your own good. I am strong, I will protect you.” Damian tried to justify his actions to continue his evil deed.

Elissa screamed as the man she had thought wanted to help her was almost completing the process. But she wasn’t going to give in or give up, “Fuck you Damian, LET. ME. GO.”

Damian laughed at that, he was about to kiss her to complete the process, he stared at her lips enthralled by them as Elissa looked so much like his second wife and said, “Such harsh words coming from such beautifu-”

A hand gripped his left shoulder and Damian was yanked out of Elissa’s body, the young woman saw that the person who saved her was in a hooded dark blue cloak.

“You again?” A cold yet beautiful feminine voice rang in the dreamscape.

Elissa was petrified by the powerful aura she felt coming from the woman who just saved her. This was worse than being near Malicia wielding her full power, the young woman felt as if her skin was pricked by thousands of tiny needles.

As for Damian he felt pain again after such a longtime and held onto his shoulder saying, “Who are you? Do you know what you interrupted?!”

“Damian, Damian, Damian. You are still the same, an opportunist and an asshole.” The hood of the woman swayed showing that she shook her head.

Damian’s eyes recognized this derisive tone and this cold voice, he had heard them before. “This voice… Daphne?”

The man tried to flee, knowing that he was badly overmatched, and used his power on the dreamscape to fade into the gestalt of consciousness formed from the minds of all the Snow family members.

It was useless as Daphne said, “The one and only, now die.” Daphne disappeared from view and suddenly held Damian by the neck. The man struggled and tried to punch her in the face but she stopped it with a hand.

As she was holding onto this evil ghost, Daphne voiced what was at the same time a prayer and a demand. “Hekate, I ask for your assistance.”

Golden light flooded into the sky of the Dreamscape and a pillar of multicolored light struck the ground behind Elissa who stepped back from it and shielded her eyes. As the pillar’s light dissipated the familiar form of Hekate appeared. She was still this black haired, tall, gorgeous and dangerous woman that you shouldn’t try to cross. Hekate wore some kind of Black and Silver armor similar to Elissa’s, the goddess looked at her granddaughter and smiled at her. But the smile slipped from her face as she noticed how harried she looked and that she was shaking like a leaf.

Then her eyes found Daphne who shouldn’t be here, as she should still be fighting for her very life, and Damian who was struggling in her grip.

“What happened.” Her voice was clear, cold and dangerous.

Daphne spoke first, “This freak tried to mind rape and take over Elissa.”

Hekate’s body froze, then the dreamscape pink’s sky became clouded in dark storm clouds, thunder rumbled and lightning could be seen crackling in them. Elissa felt Hekate’s heavy divine presence that caused her to kneel under its weight. Daphne was still standing, but that was not the case for Damian who felt his goddess’ fury.

“I knew I should have dealt with you sooner,” Hekate began to say, her tone was as frigid as winter. “but I wanted you to pass on your skills to Elissa.” The goddess looked at Elissa who knelt with her head bowed.

Damian tried to assuage the goddess’ ire. “Mother, please…”

Hekate’s head whipped in Damian’s direction, her gaze was so full of loathing and fury that lightning cracked around her body. “DON’T CALL ME THAT.”

She wouldn’t let that… that thing call her mother, after all he had done. First he had tried to destroy the Snow’s legacy by killing his other family members beside his wives, he even tried to take over Daphne and now he tried the same thing with her daughter?

Damian closed his mouth and lowered his eyes, not able to look into her eyes. Her body began to shine gold as she was preparing to unleash her power in the Dreamscape.

“For too long have I sheltered you, it was a mistake. A mistake that I will correct.” Hekate walked to the kneeling man who looked at her with fear in his eyes, she waved her hand and the man’s body began to glow, and he felt as if he was losing consistency and mass.

“Mot… Goddess!” Damian screamed but corrected himself.

“You shall no longer exist as you were in the gestalt, you personality shall be erased; only your skills and memories of your experiences shall exist. I will give them to Elissa as reparation for what you have done.”

Damian pleaded and cried, “No please don’t…” and Damian Snow ceased to exist, at least his personality. What made him… him.

Elissa found herself surrounded by a golden nimbus of light and found herself levitating, information flooding her being. It was the sum of Damian’s life, power and memories not dyed with the taint of his personality and being. It was as if Hekate had uploaded files into her hard drive, the memories wouldn’t be influencing her like before. Incidentally, those skills that she inherited taught her how to navigate the dreamscape and use her genetic memories ability.

Once Elissa finished the process of digesting Damian’s experiences and skills she landed on the bluegrass, swaying. Hekate caught and hugged her.

“I am sorry. I should have known that this would happen.” Hekate said as she hugged her champion and granddaughter tightly.

This was weird for Elissa, this was the second time her goddess permitted herself to be this familiar with her. “I…”

Hekate let go of her but again took Elissa’s face in her cupped hands. “Just, stay here, I will take care of your body in the material world.” Hekate said as she patted Elissa’s cheek. The goddess turned to Daphne who looked awkwardly at Elissa. “Come here Daphne, tell her who you are. She has been told nothing, please, tell her. No more secrecy.”

“Yes, Mother.” Daphne’s voice was full of something that Elissa couldn’t discern.

“Good.” Hekate said, then as she looked at her champion she winked at her and disappeared in a pillar of light.

Daphne walked to Elissa, afraid of her reaction.

“Hi?” Elissa said.

“I am…” Daphne began to say.

“You are Daphne Snow?” Elissa guessed.

Daphne looked in surprise at the young woman, a woman. She had last seen her when she was but an infant. The young woman before her looked like she had been well treated but sheltered, having only just seen what the world was really like.

“Yes.” Finally said the hooded woman.

Elissa nodded, and she smiled at Daphne whose heart began to beat faster. She wanted to hug and kiss her, tell her how she had missed her for so long.

“My mother named her school after you.” This broke Daphne’s heart into so many pieces that it hurt her physically.

She stepped back from the young woman, took her bearings and said, “Elissa, did Malicia take good care of you?”

No choice but to try to glean information first. Elissa was aware that the woman was acting weirdly, but she didn’t take it badly, after all this Daphne woman just saved her from being taken over by some freak ghost of her most evil ancestor.

Elissa gave Daphne a radiant smile, “Yes, I surmised that you knew her, she told me a lot of things about what you did in your childhood.”

“Ah.” Daphne closed her eyes as anger welled up inside her; she felt cheated of her place by someone she considered her best friend and lover.

*How dare she? I am Elissa’s mother! Not her!* She thought as jealousy clouded her mind.

The beautiful voice of her girl took her out of her revenge filled thoughts.

“What was Mother Hekate saying about secrecy? I don’t understand.” Daphne was reminded that Elissa knew nothing of her fate, that Malicia kept her in the dark about her origins.

Daphne looked at the armor Elissa wore, it was a Phantasian looking one, clearly of an older design. Elissa carried herself like a warrior, someone who had killed. The hooded woman wanted Elissa to become a healer, a diplomat, someone different from her who only knew blood and war. But the fates conspired against her wishes.

“There is a great many things that you are not aware of, Elissa.” Daphne said as she put her hand around her hood. Elissa caught the movement and really wanted to look at what this woman looked like.

“Well, I agree that there are tons of things mom doesn’t tell me,” Elissa began to say, looking expectantly at Daphne. The young woman continued to speak as if to fill the silence with words. This was the first time that she met someone here who seemed so informed and wanting to tell her about what was really going on. “but you see my mom, she’s training me really hard for something I don’t know about... and its scaring me. Do you know what it is about?”

Elissa asked, desperation in her voice and expression; Daphne saw how much the young woman bit her lip in anticipation of what she was about to say. But first she took off her hood and and her cloak opened to show Daphne in her entirety.

The woman had long platinum hair with a lot of celtic knot braids in her hairstyle, her eyes were emerald green. Her face looked like Hekate’s and this weirded Elissa out, she had the same unearthly beauty. She carried herself with the confidence of someone who knew that they could outfight anyone, an impression that was further enhanced by the gleaming white and silver armor under her cloak.

“Elissa, I am Daphne, your mother.” The beautiful woman said as tears appeared in her eyes.

This announcement blew Elissa’s mind, then she looked at Daphne and then she began to see a lot of similarities between herself and her. Then she thought about why Hekate looked like Daphne and… No she refused to let her mind go there.

“No you aren’t… Malicia is my mom.” Elissa said in denial.

She stepped back from Daphne who walked toward her, caught her arm and made her look her in the eyes.

“I didn’t think she wouldn’t tell you.” Daphne shook her head and her platinum forelocks swayed gracefully.

Daphne put Elissa’s hand on her cheek and smiled at her, a motherly smile that melted her heart. “You are Elissa Shaera Snow Phantasia, daughter of Daphne Lliara Snow Phantasia and Boramis Vretiel Eizel.”

“That can’t be right…” Elissa said, her mother was Malicia, her Dad was Heracles and her little sister was Cassandra! She couldn’t…

Then everything wrong in her life added up, the lies by omissions, Malicia never answering when Elissa spoke about her ancestors and Phantasia and saying “your family” and not “our”, the way Heracles seemed so detached at first in her first years of life and only mellowed out when she was eight or so. Achilles being sent out of the house as he wanted to tell her something, he wanted to tell her the truth and Malicia chased him out of their house. Why she didn’t have horns or a tail, why she wasn't a sorceress like Cassandra.

Daphne continued to speak. “You are one hundred percent Ancient Human, Malicia can’t be your mother. You are my flesh and blood, the second love of my life.”

“We have the same powers, we look similar.” Daphne walked to Elissa who continued to step back from her, afraid of the implications of what she was saying.

“I… please stop, this is…” Elissa begged, her world and everything she thought she knew was being shattered by the weight of what the truth really was.

Daphne hugged her daughter. “I know it is so much to take in. When I get my hands on Malicia I will make her know my displeasure.”

In Daphne’s mind it involved a lot of cattle prods and other torture tools. The older woman hugged her daughter tighter, caressing her hair and kissing her on the forehead. Just like she wanted when she saw her.

“Daphne.” Elissa said, as she wanted to disentangle herself from the smothering woman.

Daphne stiffened, then stepped back to look at Elissa and said, “No, call me mom.”

“I can’t.” Elissa said, she couldn’t. In her mind Malicia held this name, she didn’t know Daphne but she really wanted to.

Daphne could read the young woman like a book as she was more experienced than her in Ancient Human physical language and their enhanced synesthesia. Elissa wanted to, but she didn’t allow herself to.

Then the proverbial feces met the fan and Daphne felt that the Demons were attacking her Ice Casket anew. She had expended a lot of power to kill the current battalion that tried to kill her everyday when she felt Elissa dying from three thousand Parsecs away and wanted to judge what had happened to her by entering the dreamscape and saved her from Damian.

However, another battalion seemed to have been dispatched to weaken her. The dead were going to feed her regeneration and the renewal of her mana.

“You will, when I get another moment of peace from my situation, we will speak further. But I must leave.” Daphne said sadly as she smothered Elissa in another hug and kissed her brow.

Elissa held Daphne even more tightly, “What?! No you can’t leave!! You just dumped all this on me! You can’t leave yet!!!” She said in panic.

Daphne sobbed as she said, “I am sorry I wish I could, but my Ice Casket is being attacked by the Demon Army’s minions and I must defend myself or I will die. We will see each other again, Elissa.”

She didn’t want to leave, she wanted to speak with her daughter! Have more time with her, get to know her!

“Please!” Elissa cried, holding tightly onto Daphne who reciprocated.

“I love you so much, you grew up to be so strong and you became so beautiful.” Daphne said as she glued her cheek to Elissa’s and sniffed her hair. “Write letters to me in the Dreamscape, I will find them! I must leave…” Daphne said as her voice got weaker and she disappeared from Elissa’s arms.

Elissa sobbed and fell onto her knees, she cried so much that her tears clouded her vision and she couldn’t notice that her hair color changed from vermillion red to platinum blonde.

---

Hekate arrived in the Dreamscape minutes after Daphne left, she could hear Elissa’s desperate sobs filling the spiritual land with her sadness, sorrow and despair, all negative emotions that colored the space around her with blackness.

But with the truth revealed, gone was that horrible red hair that she had when she last saw her, her platinum blonde natural color was finally revealed, it put a smile on Hekate’s face. The goddess of magic walked silently to the crying young lady, and hugged her from behind.

She said nothing, just let the young woman, her granddaughter and her latest descendent cry out her feelings and frustrations. They stayed like that for an hour, but Hekate thought that they had the time as Elissa’s body was still in the Ice Casket back in the material world and it would take a minor god’s power to break it, she was as well protected as she could be.

“Mother Hekate, why? Why is this happening to me?” Elissa said after finally calming down.

The space around her was still stippled with darkness. Hekate brushed her hair with her hand, she remembered also doing this for Daphne when she had to tell her that she would become the Heir to the Phantasian Imperial Throne and had to give up on her dream of just being an adventurer.

“What did Daphne tell you?” The goddess asked, her abyssal like eyes focused on Elissa who didn’t avert her gaze at all and found them weirdly comforting.

Elissa couldn’t deny it any longer, she could only think about what the significance of Daphne being able to stand here in a metaphysical space containing all the minds of her ancestors and it seemed her most direct parent alive.

“She’s my... mother.” And now Elissa knew it to be the truth, the true state of affairs.

Hekate saw the space around Elissa colouring little by little becoming more grey than black. A quirk of this spiritual and mental realm that she crafted to house the minds of her descendants.

“Anything else?” Hekate said, raising an eyebrow. Surprised that Daphne hadn't told her about her… position.

“S-she didn’t have the time… her Ice something was being attacked and she had to go back.” Elissa’s eyes teared up yet again.

Hekate kissed her on the cheek and hugged her, “It was enough, she started you well on the road to the truth, let me light your lantern further.”

“Come stand up, we will need a more comfortable setting to speak.” The goddess helped Elissa stand up, her armor changing into a blue and silver silk robe decorated with flowers and flaming torches crossed together on her chest.

Elissa didn’t even feel it when the landscape changed from the trees and the plains of bluegrass to the pink like sky and clouds. Hekate sat on a throne made of cloud and invited Elissa to sit at her feet. The young woman hesitantly sat, not used to her Goddess being so… familiar; she had helped her many times and lent Elissa her power to vanquish foes and monsters. But right now she offered peace and the truth, a truth that had taunted her since she was thirteen years old.

Hekate conjured a tray full of food and made it levitate to Elissa, on it there were sweet rolls, chocolate cakes, baklava cookies, and a mug of mead. Elissa looked weirdly at her Goddess, who didn’t look bothered at offering alcohol to a minor; Elissa shrugged and took one of the sweet rolls and bit into it. She moaned in pleasure, it was so delicious that the colors around her became normal before becoming gray again as her general mood darkened again.

“Have a sip.” Hekate said as she made the mug of mead levitate before Elissa’s face.

The young woman didn’t hesitate and grabbed it, it was chilled just like she liked every drink. Elissa put the mug to her lips and tasted the most sinful, semi-sweet and thick honeyed mead of her life, and there seemed to be an after taste of something unidentifiable to her. Energy welled up inside her, something that reinforced her mana core and spiritual meridians.

After drinking the entire mug, Elissa looked at the smiling goddess and asked, “What was that?”

“Something from a Goddess Friend, it’s called Mead Dew. It gives a significant boost to the mana of whoever drinks it.” Hekate nodded, leaning forward on her throne. She looked amused by Elissa’s reactions.

“But… how can something physical…” Elissa’s mind couldn’t compute the mechanics of how physical items or substances could be in a spiritual realm.

Hekate chuckled at her dismay and Elissa stayed silent. *Yeah, right she’s a goddess and can do whatever she wants.* The young woman thought.

“Are you ready to hear what I am about to say?”

Elissa stiffened, lowered her eyes and thought about all the lies she had been fed, but she knew that there were also good things and that Malicia loved her, Cassandra was the best little sister ever and Heracles was her dad whatever the truth was. Then her uncle Achilles, he taught her how to fight and hold a sword. But Daphne’s smile and tears and the love she had felt radiating from her compelled Elissa to say, “I am not, but I don’t have a choice, right? Knowing that I am living a lie, would be akin to destroying myself.”

“This is true.” Hekate closed her eyes, then opened them showing a serious expression.

“Please tell me, Mother Hekate. I want to know what’s going on!” Elissa put her hand on the goddess’ thigh and held on.

“You are aware that Phantasia is your homeworld?” Hekate tilted her head as she asked this.

Elissa nodded. “Yes.”

*Well at least, Malicia didn’t fail at this. When I see her next I’m going to punish her for having dragged this issue out this long when the girl needs to be prepared.* Hekate thought and thunder rumbled making Elissa jump and look around her.

The goddess smiled at her champion, and continued, “You were born there, as the heir to the throne of Phantasia, the Empire that conquered all the lands on the planet.”

“Hel.” Elissa swore.

“She’s a friend.” Hekate informed her champion with a smile.

Elissa looked at her with big eyes. “What?”

Hekate shook her head and waved off Elissa’s surprise. “Nevermind. Where was I? Ah, yes. You see, some kind of demon god helped a demon called Dökkur Dath’tas gain power on Phantasia. Before your mother, Empress Daphne could do anything, he had begun to conquer small villages and by the time she sent her armies hundreds of thousands of fallen demons joined his own and the army of Phantasia was overwhelmed.”

Elissa took all of this in, but what was stuck in her head was Daphne’s station as an Empress, a ruler. “Empress…”

“Yes she’s the Empress. And you, her daughter, are an Imperial Princess.” Hekate leaned further and patted Elissa’s hair. She liked how silky it felt.

Elissa closed her eyes to let that sink in.

"So that dark lord puppet guy… is he that strong?" Elissa couldn’t fathom how strong that dark lord guy was, and she began to understand that the army should have been faster in routing him. She asked herself if there were problems in the Empire ruled by Daphne.

"A puppet?" Hekate laughed at that. "Yes, you are right. He is just a puppet used to invade the world I created for the demon god.” The goddess muttered and she answered to Elissa’s question. “No he is not strong, Daphne could take him. But he is the strongest demon on Phantasia, Malicia and her father King Xilman coming a close second and third."

That floored Elissa, Malicia? A Royal? It could certainly explain all those lessons on etiquette, negotiations and diplomacy.

“Mom is…” Elissa stopped herself from talking, she still thought of Malicia as her mom. She still loved her to bits even if all the lies put a damper on her feelings. The young woman sighed and continued, “I mean Malicia is some kind of princess too?”

Hekate looked attentively at Elissa ready to stop if the revelations were too much for her. The Dark goddess thought that Elissa could still take on more information and not break after she gazed at her.

“A Queen actually.” The goddess corrected Elissa’s assumption.

The young woman gasped with her eyes as big as saucers and said, “Then Cassie is a princess.”

“Just like you.” Hekate added, the young woman was having problems realizing her position.

“Just, just like… me.” Elissa finally said.

“Κόρη (Daughter)…”

“It’s a lot to take in… I had theories, I thought we were just a family that escaped the destruction of our world or something like that and that mom… I mean Malicia was training Cassie and me just in case the one who destroyed our world came back.” Elissa spoke about her speculations, she hadn’t noticed that it was her version of things that she stuck with. But now, she found herself being royalty in exile, *Well Mo-Malicia and little Cassie… wait what are Da-Heracles and uncle Achilles?*

Hekate chuckled at that, the girl had a surprisingly good imagination, though she was a bit on the Drachma with her theory. “That is a surprisingly entertaining theory. You must have thought that Malicia’s reluctance to tell you about Phantasia was because she was bitter about it.”

Elissa nodded. “Yes, that’s what I thought.”

The young woman had thought that Malicia was traumatized by something that happened on Phantasia making her not want to talk about it, but still try to prepare her daughters for any eventuality.

That was why Elissa had been working and studying hard, becoming the youngest journeywoman Alchemist at fourteen years old, being more than a good fighter but someone who would end fights and be the one to walk away alive no matter how dirty she had to fight. Elissa didn’t have a good talent for magic like Cassandra who was a genius at it, but she had been pushing through sheer will in her studies and became a good enough mage to Malicia’s standards.

“Hmm, has anyone told you that you should be a writer?” Hekate said, laughter in her tone.

This had been an entertaining conversation for the goddess so far, having discovered that Elissa had a fertile imagination. Elissa was hiding her pain well and trying to distract herself from the truth, she couldn’t hide this from her divine senses.

“No, and I prefer adventuring, fighting or learning Alchemy.” Elissa said defiantly but there was a nagging feeling that she wouldn’t be granted her wish.

Hekate closed her eyes and sighed, it pained her to have to break the dreams of another one of her descendants. Opening her eyes again, she looked at Elissa and patted her cheek, “You remind me of Daphne, she wanted to go adventuring and see the world, except that she had talents as a diviner and a singer.”

Elissa’s eyes widened. “Daphne wanted to be a bard?”

Hekate’s laughter exploded, the realm was engulfed in twinkling light. It didn’t stop before the goddess took control of herself again.

“Yes, she would have become some kind of adventuring bard I bet!” Hekate smiled at the realisation and slapped her thigh at the hilarity of it.

More soberly, Elissa added. “But she didn’t and became Empress instead.”

Hekate looked at her meaningfully. “No she didn’t…”

“...I won’t become an adventurer either, is that what you are trying to tell me?” Elissa stood up and looked at her Goddess as she finally realized what she was trying to tell her, the young woman began to shake, she felt ill and her heart started beating really fast. Mouth dry, Elissa sat back on her spot of cloud, closing her eyes and hugging herself.

Hekate stood up and then crouched at her side, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You are the heir to the throne of Phantasia, chosen by myself even.”

Elissa looked at Hekate without seeing her, “I…”

The goddess didn’t like the look of total despair on her descendent’s face, she chose to do what she did best and said with steel added to her voice, “You may accept this fate or defy it, but you cannot deny it.”

Elissa’s mood changed instantly and she looked at the goddess with a scowl. “Deny? I am not one to run from my troubles!”

The young woman stood up, helped by her goddess who had helped her overcome the panic attack she just had.

Hekate’s bell like laughter rang into the Dreamscape. “That’s what I wanted to hear! You are so precious, Elissa.”

The goddess hugged the young woman; while being smothered for the nth time, Elissa said, “I am a princess now I guess, but not a coward.”

“Indeed… you see Elissa there’s a Prophecy.” Hekate began knowing how Elissa was already going to take this news.

She wasn’t disappointed, as Elissa’s eyes widened and she tried to push the goddess away, “Oh no!”

“Calm down, Κόρη.” The goddess said soothingly, but Elissa struggled and tried to wrestle her goddess but was easily controlled by her. To Hekate it was like a baby that didn’t want to be held was struggling in her grip.

Elissa shook her head. “No! Prophecies are bad juju!”

Those things were always self-fulfilling and ended up being really different from what everyone wanted to happen; more often the one person central to a prophecy either had to die or sacrifice something big to realize them.

“I know where you are coming from but…” Hekate knew she would react badly but not this much.

“No!” Elissa screamed, she wanted out.

Hekate shook her descendent and Elissa saw stars. “Elissa listen to me!”

“Did you finally calm down?” Hekate didn’t like how the young girl still looked harried and trapped.

“Yes…” Elissa said reluctantly, but still looked for an out of this situation.

But Hekate had an ace and decided to appeal to Elissa’s sense of justice and good heart. “Like I said, there’s a prophecy announcing your return, you are the only hope for billions of Phantasians.”

Elissa stiffened, the goddess still held onto her and felt the young woman’s shoulders sag.

“That’s unfair.” Elissa growled.

Elissa had always liked to read about Phantasia in the books from the Sanctum, she learned about the history of its people, their powers, their cultures and the technology. She also loved to read about the priesthood that helped heal everyone free of charge in the hospitals of the empire. Still, Phantasian culture reminded her of enterprising Vikings who evolved from their raiding days and became an agricultural and maritime power and then developed technology to conquer the skies with their skyships and magitek engineering.

She liked the people she read about, and then it became even more important to her when Hekate saddled her with the knowledge of her duty. She was the Heir, an Imperial Princess.

“I know. But it still exists, and for it to begin,” Hekate gave her a dashing smile. “you must first free Daphne from where she’s being contained. Give her a definitive advantage.”

Hekate had a plan for that, but Elissa wasn’t powerful enough yet to use what she had in mind to accomplish this feat. Elissa reacted to that, she liked Daphne! Daphne was her mother, Malicia was her mother too but she wanted to explore that relationship with the woman she had met a moment ago.

Hekate let go of Elissa and went to sit on her cloud throne, sighed and said commandingly, “When you’re ready and have unsealed your Sorcery, it will be time for you to step up and free our world.”

That attracted Elissa’s attention. “Sorcery? I can do sorcery? I am not a mage?!”

A sorceress, a wielder of arcane magic bound only by their own willpower. Arcane magic was a form of magic involving the direct manipulation of energy. What Malicia and Cassandra had been using all along.

Unlike most other arcane spellcasters, particularly the mages they were often compared with, sorcerers had innate magical abilities and were noted for their lack of study in obtaining such power. While a mage focused on isolating their foes and diminishing their ability to fight, a sorcerer preferred to unleash his or her full power, without restraint, blasting their enemies into oblivion.

Elissa wanted it, if there was one thing she desired the most beside Dawn right now and an explanation from Malicia for having lied to her it was that.

Hekate made a sexy snort. “Of course not, you are descended from a long line of sorcerers, from my own daughter, Madga Stormborn.”

Elissa closed her eyes at this; the goddess had been carpet bombing her with revelation after revelation today, Elissa chose to sit on her spot of cloud again, she liked it, it was comfy. She wanted comfy and for the truth to stop hurting her.

After taking a five minutes break, Elissa decided to tackle the truth yet again. “Ok, so you just told me that you are my grandma?”

Hekate scowled at that, “I… don’t like being called that. Call me Mother Hekate please.”

The sky got darker instantly, enough for Elissa to notice and be afraid of having made a blunder, she said quickly, “Certainly. I will… I will let it sink in that I am some sort of demigod.”

The sky cleared, and Hekate smiled. “You are definitely one.” Something made the goddess look away from Elissa and attracted her attention. “Hmm… it seems that our time has run short, Elissa.”

This wasn’t what she wanted to hear, Elissa stood up and quickly asked, “Wait, when can I do sorcery?!”

“Not yet, but soon. Farewell, Elissa.” Hekate thought about how much Elissa reacted like Magda when she wanted something.

“Mother Heka-”

Elissa’s consciousness returned to her body and Hekate sat alone in her throne in the Dreamscape, waiting for the show to begin, her young descendent had been so much fun to tease. Now, she wanted to see how she would react to the changes to her body and her psyche. She conjured some more ambrosia and nectar on a platter, crossed her legs and watched.

---

Dicinna Zerloth had watched the end of the fight from afar as the cold had become unbearable at the epicenter of it. Lady Dragonfang had almost died, but she had won in the end by the skin of her teeth.

Now the ice construct she was in, was avidly sucking energy out of the local mana-field. The dark elf even felt when the claiming of the Land happened after Siodhanth had died.

*This is serious magic and beyond a Mythal.* Dicinna might not be as good as her sister at magic but she could recognize power when she saw it.

This part of the forbidden forest had been turned into a wasteland with only frozen trees, bushes, icy soil and miscellaneous debris spread all over the area with only an ice casket? in the center of it.

*Yes the construct looked more like a casket.* Dicinna shielded her eyes from the sun as she looked at the construct.

Dicinna had been worried when Siodhanth had played dead and maimed Elissa, she had almost gone to help the sun-elf but then Lady Dragonfang covered herself in ice and won the fight through a battle of attrition that even the powerful red dragon couldn’t win. The dark elf asked herself where the Lady found the magic to be able to continue fighting?

*Well everyone is entitled to their secrets. And what really counts is that she won!* Dicinna’s mind was afire, but she didn’t show it on her face and simply watched as the pillar of light generated by the ice casket kept syphoning magic and some sort of energy that she couldn’t identify.

The dark elf adventurer then looked at the declining sunlight, it was close to sundown now.

“Is she healing in that thing?” Dicinna spoke out loud.

From afar she heard the rustling of the surviving vegetation that wasn’t either engulfed in snow or completely frozen. The noise of metal on metal and steady footsteps.

“It seems the Dwarves survived. Let’s not borrow trouble.” Dicinna activated her ring of stealth and the enchantment on her cloak made her invisible.

As for Brunhilda, she and her party walked toward the light pillar, they knew that Elissa had won as her mana-signature could be felt all over the forbidden forest. Sindanelyn and Nabideth were being carried on a healing sled that was crafted by Sizalda while Astagith was killing any leftover monsters who dared to try to attack them.

It had been a harrowing situation when they had all been batted out of the way, kilometers from the fight area by Elissa when she turned into that powerful elemental form. They had all survived by a timely feather fall spell from the sun-elf from afar.

*Still Nabi and Sin aren’t out of tha tunnel yet.* Brunhilda thought as she turned to look at the twins.

“Dinna worry, they will be fine, M’Lady Dragonfang will heal them.” Astagith said as she noticed where the dwarven princess was looking.

Sindanelyn and Nabideth where covered in bandages soaked in potions that kept them alive while there was a green stasis bubble around them.

“Ah know, we are lucky they are still alive, and though most of their bones have turned into powder, at least we had time tae put them in stasis with Sizalda’s handy time crystal. Where did she find dat?” Brunhilda looked at the green stone between the twins on the sled; it was finely cut in an octagonal shape, it glowed with power as it fed on the other mana crystals near it to maintain the enchantment on the two wounded.

“She said it’s a family heirloom, she had taken it in anger when her engagement was broken off.” Astagith informed her.

She found the angry pettiness of the mousy dwarf brunette funny, her clan was depending on this item for a lot of things it seemed. Astagith hoped it wouldn’t come back to bite Sizalda in the rump.

“Thank Holaf dat she did!” Brunhilda raised her hands to the sky as she gave a quick prayer.

The huntress chuckled at the princess’ antics. “Ya tell me Hilda…” Becoming more serious, Astagith said, “though how do ye think this fight went? It was… beyond me comprehension, they were so fast and so strong! M’Lady Dragonfang… is she really an elf?”

Seeing Elissa move faster than the speed of sound and her punches creating shockwaves; spells clashing with that of a dragoness that had been deemed too dangerous to approach or deal with. And that elemental form that she showed before ejecting all of them from the area where she fought… Astagith had seen Elven magic before when she did business in Cynlenor and the dark elves there were flashy and barely experienced in throwing magic around. What Lady Dragonfang had been doing was serious war magic, each of her spells reminded Astagith of magic cannons going off.

“Maybe? Ah dinna know but she sounds more and more like a Demigod each time I see her do something.” Brunhilda remembered Elissa’s practical joke with the liquid ice; something that shook the dwarven princess’ knowledge of what is possible with magic.

“Ah wouldn’t be surprised. We better find her now, hope she ain’t too badly mangled.” Brunhilda said as she entered the wasteland where the light came from. It was hard to miss as it kept greedily syphoning mana.

Sizalda observed the pillar with her special glasses, the diagnostic enchantments on it telling her what she needed to know. The dwarf brunette pointed a finger toward the Ice Casket. “Ah think we found her, her mana signature is coming from that ice construct.”

Astagith nodded and said, “Let’s…”

But she was stopped by Sizalda who caught her by the collar of her tunic; the huntress looked askance at her crafter friend.

Sizalda shook her head, took a bottle of water from her spatial ring and threw it into the wasteland area. The water in the bottle froze, but the glass didn’t break when it fell. “Dinna, ya woul’ turn into an ice-cube.”

“Holaf forfend.” Astagith made the anvil sign on her chest as she thanked her god and her friend.

“What do we do?” Brunhilda asked.

Narsenelyn spoke for the first time since they had been punted out of the fight by Elissa. “We wait for Elissa tae get out of dis thing, ah think she was hurt badly and dat thing must have saved her life or it’s a way for her tae heal?”

The earth bender put her pickaxe on her shoulder and looked at the ground around her and decided to make another fortification to house them while they waited for their Guildmaster.

“Who knows?” Astagith shrugged.

So while they still had daylight the Sisterhood began to make camp and wait for Lady Dragonfang to wake up. Brunhilda stayed in the watchtower till the sun sank below the horizon, but with their fortified camp being near the blue and white pillar of light, it was like they were still in plain day. Sizalda began to take recordings and measurements of the event with her magic tools.

Dicinna was currently on the other side of the light pillar from the dwarven camp, in her own camp, eating Direwolf meat. Most of the creatures under Siodhanth’s control had evacuated this part of the forest as the magical waves emitted by the Ice Casket and light pillar frightened them. With reason, the power of whatever it was that Lady Dragonfang did, was enough to power Cynlenor for a decade.

Dicinna noticed that the temperature was climbing little by little and a thin smile appeared on her face as she stood up. This was a sign that her future mate was surely about to come out of the ice construct she was held in. Taking off her hood but keeping her cloak tightly against her body Dicinna walked toward the light pillar, taking her time as she noticed that the temperature wasn’t uniform the more she advanced.

An hour later she was halfway there, quite a few times she had almost slipped on some frozen spots but she was getting near. Movement on the right made her stop moving, and Dicinna saw two floundering pseudodragons walking toward the light pillar. Weirdly they didn’t seem to be impaired by the temperature at all. The white one supported the black one who seemed to have a broken wing.

Dicinna came to them and said, “Do you need help?”

Rilo and Aghri stopped walking toward their mistress’ cocoon when they saw the dark elf female, they hissed at her, and Dicinna stepped back. “I don’t want to hurt you.” The dark elf raised her hands in surrender.

<Who are you?> The draconic language surprised Dicinna. If her instincts were right, it was the black pseudodragon who spoke to her.

Dicinna began to introduce herself not wanting to give the two uncommon pseudodragons time to decide to attack her. They acted like familiars, and the fact that they came toward Lady Dragonfang’s Ice Casket indicated that they were surely hers. “Dicinna Zerloth, I helped save the Dwarf women earlier. I didn’t see you at the time. Are you Lady Dragonfang’s familiars.” The dark elf asked.

Aghri nodded his serpentine head. <We are.> He said while standing on his hind legs and spreading his wings to make himself bigger. They couldn’t change into their giant forms as the energy supplied by Elissa was closed to them somehow, but their familiar bonds brought them to the location of their mistress that they felt was still alive and healing.

Aghri sniffed the air, <You don’t smell deceitful, so I will allow you to carry my mate in your arms while we walk to the Mistress’ healing cocoon.> The white pseudodragon said imperiously.

Rilo’s wing was making her mewl in pain and it was bad for Aghri who didn’t like to see his mate suffer.

“I accept.” Dicinna said, she crouched next to Rilo with her arms wide open. As she was picking up the black female pseudodragon she heard Aghri say, <We have been mistreated by your kind before, and they have attacked the mistress again and again. Don’t make us have to eat you like we did the stupid black elves.>

The white pseudodragon, despite his size, intimidated her, something told her that they were dangerous in their own right.

“...Understood?” Dicinna said, she never would have thought that she would be intimidated by a dragon the size of her Elder sister’s Midgard born feline before.

The light pillar began to shrink in size, and Dicinna noticed that the temperature was now manageable; enough that she let her cloak fall open and let her armor show, the implanted crystarium gems in her vambraces, back and greaves began to glow a deep blue the more she approached.

*Somehow, Lady Dragonfang was being fed life force as well as mana; what was it that the white familiar told her this Ice Casket was? A healing cocoon?* The fact that her crystarium armor was active meant that it was true that it helped heal their mistress.

It was thirty minutes later when the pillar shrank and left only the glowing Ice Casket that Dicinna could see the form of Lady Dragonfang inside. Rilo made her sign to let go of her, the dark elf did as she asked and put the black pseudodragon on the ground, the two of them walked to their mistress and sniffed the ice construct and touched it with their forelegs. The glow from the casket dissipated and it began to crack.

Aghri felt a familiar feeling invade him, their familiar bond was finally back to normal and mana flowed from Elissa to him. He didn’t lose any time and transformed into his battleform. Dicinna’s eyes widened, this was the first time she had seen something like this happen; Familiars getting big like this?

“Impossible!”

However the impossible did happen, now she was happy to have not alienated the two familiars. The black one stayed as she was though. The casket cracked even more and the lid opened letting Lady Elissa Dragonfang appear in her naked glory. Aghri turned his head toward Dicinna and said, <Help us take care of her, will you?>

“With pleasure.” Dicinna unclasped her cloak, laid it on the ground and then approached her destined mate with trepidation; her heart beating strongly in her ribcage the dark elf put a hand on Elissa’s shoulder and then the same sensation of seeing her intended one for life appeared yet again, but this time it was overwhelming and Dicinna felt herself linked to the sun-elf. She was sure now, those were the symptom of the ‘choosing’. This was what happened when an elf met their destined one.

Dicinna lifted the sun-elf in her arms in a princess carry; the dark elf put her charge on the cloak, she worried that she didn’t have any clothes for her and said so to the two pseudragons familiars who dismissed her worries with, <She prefers the cold, leave her like this. The two handmaidens will take care of it.>

“Understood.” Dicinna said, then she began to examine Elissa from head to toe.

She no longer had red hair, and she now looked taller; but maybe Lady Dragonfang was used to dyeing her hair, this was not new after all. Cosmetic magic was really popular and the best friend of a female magic user.

Dicinna took a magical lantern from her spatial bracelet and put it on the ground and it illuminated the area around them. The dark elf took the sheet from her sleeping roll and covered Elissa with it, it gave her… excuses to be touching this perfect specimen of beauty and again the link between them flared, reassuring her that she made the right choice in pursuing her. This was her mate, she would never let go of her.

*But I don’t want to look like a stalker to her.* Dicinna thought.

<Oh they are coming.> Aghri said as he put himself at his mistress’ side while Rilo went to the other.

Dicinna turned her head and saw that the dwarves had finally noticed that Lady Dragonfang was now free of the Ice Casket and that the Light pillar had disappeared. It was while she was looking away that the gems on the ring on Elissa’s right hand index finger glowed white and pink.

Two balls of light were emitted from it and circled around Elissa then in a flash of light two demoness appeared who looked around them; The tallest one, Fenirael wore black armor and the shorter one Reinatiel had a skin-tight white outfit, their long hair was free and billowing in the wind. First they saw Elissa surrounded by her other two familiar and then saw the dark elf in skin-tight dark blue armor turning toward them. Reinatiel made her staff appear in her hand, Fenirael did the same with her shield and mace.

“Step back!” Fenirael shouted as she put her shield forward ready to bash in the dark elf’s face.

Dicinna lifted her hands in surrender, “I don’t want to fight.”

“Step back from the mistress!” Reinatiel said as she summoned two balls of black fire to hover at her side.

After being banished like that, they were not taking any chances with their mistress’ life. Multiple footfalls could be heard coming toward them and Reinatiel saw that it was Princess Brunhilda.

“Aye, ah told ye it was them!” Brunhilda’s laugh was contagious, and all the conscious dwarves began to laugh in good humor.

Astagith still needed to put a damper on the good news. “Huh, well Hilda. It seems we still have an extra; isn’t this the elf that saved us earlier?” The huntress leaned on her Wyvern bone spear.

Brunhilda’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Dicinna. “It’s her, but I don’t trust her.”

The dark elf just rolled her eyes at Brunhilda, but she kept her hands in the air.

“Why not? I mean she saved me from being stabbed by a giant bug!” Sizalda said as she walked toward the dark elf and gave her a sign to lower her arms.

Dicinna lowered her arms and looked around her, noticing that it had become lively so suddenly and she didn’t like it. There was a reason she was a lone adventurer after all, she liked her peace. All the others she had tried to party with had been invasive and boisterous and she preferred to do things at her own pace; looking at those dwarf women she understood that they were similar to the people in the party she tried to join in Vanaheim.

The two demonesses were lost and completely out of the loop, it wasn’t surprising when one of them snapped.

“What the hell happened?!” Fenirael asked brusquely as she beat on her shield with her mace to make everyone pay attention to her.

Astagith began to speak and said, “M’Lady Dragonfang killed the Dragon.”

Sizalda opened her arms wide and continued, “Then there was dis giant pillar of light dat could be seen from afar!”

“Elissa was in some sort of Ice Casket it seems.” Brunhilda finished the explanation.

Narsenelyn kept silent not wanting to bother explaining anything but kept her eyes on the dark elf who nodded when Brunhilda finished speaking.

“Oh, the Ruler’s Sleep. Then it means that the mistress is ok! Sister it’s all good!” Reinatiel sighed with relief.

“Tha Ruler’s Sleep?” Sizalda’s eyes gleamed with interest.

“It’s one of the special abilities of the mistress’ bloodline.” Fenirael informed everyone.

As handmaidens they were aware of a lot of abilities and knowledge pertaining to their mistress. The simple fact that the ruler’s sleep activated had now sped up their time table to tell Elissa about her origins.

“Well, t’was mighty impressive from afar.” Narsenelyn said wryly, then spat on the icy ground.

“So, miss…” Reinatiel turned to Dicinna.

“Dicinna Zerloth, of Clan Zerloth, Mithril adventurer from the Cynlenor guild.” The dark elf introduced herself, she then put her fist on her hips, she looked impressive in her armor and the glowing dark blue crystals part of it projected an eerie atmosphere.

The Dwarf women and more precisely Brunhilda lowered her guard slightly when she heard which city state this one came from, but not much. Dark elves were a deceitful bunch.

Reinatiel nodded and held her staff before her and planted it into the ground, it stayed upright without her having to hold onto it. Her gaze never left the dark elf adventurer. “Now that we know who you are, can you tell us what you are doing here?”

“I came to meet with Lady Dragonfang.” Dicinna instantly said.

The perpetual neutral face of this dark elf threw Reinatiel off, she didn’t know how to treat her. “Oh?”

Dicinna crossed her arms under her breastplate, closed her eyes and then looked at Reinatiel as if she was pulling a tooth. “You see, there’s something called the choosing in dark elf culture.”

Brunhilda’s jaw reached the floor, Sizalda’s did the same. Astagith began to laugh so hard that she fell to her knees and held her stomach. Narsenelyn shook her head and decided not to get herself mixed into that building up drama.

“What is she talking about?” Reinatiel asked.

“She’s sayin’ dat M’Lady Dragonfang is her soulmate.” Astagith informed them.

The Huntress was waiting for the epic blow-up of the two familiars who were so enamored with their mistress that even the dense Narsenelyn noticed. She didn’t have to wait for long.

“For the love of Hekate! Another one?” Fenirael said, letting go of her mace which then fell on the ground. The armored demoness looked dismayed.

Reinatiel quipped. “Sister, it seems the competition is going to get fiercer.” However a fierce blaze of magical aura could be seen around the demonic mage.

“I don’t care, I want her to leave, now!” Fenirael stomped on the ground, looking furiously at Dicinna who lifted her chin as the demoness scowled at her.

“I won’t, and you can’t make me.” Dicinna said defiantly; she had personally vowed that she would never let Elissa Dragonfang go and she intended to keep her word.

“We will see about that.” Reinatiel’s staff flew into her hand and the white crystal shone in the dark.

It was Fenirael who charged Dicinna first as Reinatiel buffed her with Shield of Faith and Wind Steps, but the dark elf adventurer opened a portal and the demoness entered it and another portal opened ten meters in the sky. Dicinna cocked her fist and was about to punch the demoness when Fenirael blocked the strike by placing her shield before her.

Reinatiel attacked the dark elf with a magic missile made from pure mana that Dicinna side-stepped to avoid. Fenirael landed on the ground with the shield cushioning her fall. The Three of them began to fight in earnest while the Dwarf women sat at Elissa’s side watching the show, Sizalda broke out a jar full of cookies taking it from her storage space and shared them with her friends.

All this noise began to wake Elissa whose eyes began to flutter before she slowly opened them.