Mercer Island
Pocket dimension
Sanctum

Belle “Starshine” Williams wasn’t a happy camper, she had thought that Achilles had come to his senses and invited her for a drink or something more interesting. But when she saw a familiar brunette at Achilles’ side and his bleach blonde, blue eyed ‘fiancée’ Belle knew she’d been hoping for too much.

They were in a waiting room of sorts with different platforms separated by some dark abyssal deep and  linked by magical bridges and stairs that glowed in the darkness. An exotic librarian with prongs on her head was reading a big book on her desk with refreshments at her disposal.

It bothered her that Achilles and the others ignored the weird being. Achilles stepped forward and greeted her.

“Hey Belle, thanks for accepting to accompany us.” The tall handsome put a hand on Belle's shoulder.

She rolled her left shoulder to make him let go and schooled her face to not show how she had liked the physical contact. Ishtar snorted at her and crossed her arms sullenly. Brianna just smiled at this interplay as those women had it bad for her fiance.

“Eli needs to come home.” Belle mumbled to Achilles, the girl has been trying to set them up together since she and her grandmother discovered that the blue skinned beauty and Achilles were teammates.

And Belle further added, “Grandmother would be sad if Elissa didn’t come taste her cookies and drink all her lemonade anymore.”

It all came down to food with Elissa, when Belle came back from missions, Elissa was always there munching on snacks and talking with her grandmother about her day. It was as if Belle had gained a new sister.

“Yes, we Phantasian’s are a hungry brunch.” Achilles quipped.

Brianna slapped Achilles on his armored arm, eyes full of reprimands. The long haired man chuckled at her, Ishtar and Belle scowled at him.

But it was Ishtar who remonstrated with him, "Be serious, Achilles! I'm here from the goodness of my heart to help you get your precious niece back! But can't you act professionally, just for once? I thought your niece was kidnapped, aren't you worried?"

Achilles looked stricken, he didn't think she had such grievances against him. His smile withered, his body slumped and he looked down at his feet. Belle thought he looked like a kicked puppy for an instant and wanted to hug him but she stopped that train of thought.

The man sighed heavily then he looked at Ishtar and Belle guiltily. “Hum, about that. Elissa wasn't kidnapped.”

Belle looked at him humbly. “Huh?”

“You better explain.” Ishtar’s leather like armored swimsuit crinkled as she crossed her arms, blazing gaze trained on Achilles.

Ishtar’s tone suggested that if he didn't she would hurt him, Achilles almost smiled nervously but he wasn’t an idiot and began to sing like a canary. “Elissa came back here to the sanctum, stole supplies, books and weapons and ran away with her friends from Tesla academy before beating up her mom.”

Ishtar and Belle looked at each other, now seeing that there really was a lot unsaid about the situation.

Belle whistled loudly. “This is beyond teenage rebellion. Are you sure we are talking about the same Elissa? That girl is a sweetheart and would never hurt a fly.”

“Belle, her mom is half demonic. Elissa is more dangerous than you would believe, she stays tame with you and your grandmother because she loves you two.” Achilles argued.

Belle couldn't believe it, Teagan was a good judge of character and had accepted Elissa into their house. *What happened to the poor girl?*

Ishtar frowned. “Surely, she can't be that bad, Achilles…” She placed her hands on her hips, thinking about how the situation must be more dire than Achilles must be letting on, Belle thought the same.

Achilles sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and finally spoke with frustration lacing his voice. “Ishtar, she is stronger and meaner than you would believe. I think that her experience in the world Malicia sent her to for the summer changed her.”

“And we are going to look for her?” Ishtar had an expression disbelief etched on her face.

“Yes.” Achilles nodded.

Achilles was afraid, Elissa was a Snow and for her to be able to at least fight Malicia meant that she had become so much stronger than she was the last time. “Follow me, we have to go to the portal room.”

They got on one of the magic elevators and found themselves catapulted through the mana tunnel that brought them to the second level of the Sanctum. After passing different rooms with different labels and the golem helpers rearranging the sanctum, they arrived at the portal room.

“This place is interesting, nothing dangerous can pass those portals?”

“Nothing, only those with authorization can see them and pass them. It just so happens that I am such an individual.”

The group finally stopped before a swirling blue portal with a sign floating above it with Svartalfheim’ written on it. Achilles smiled and was about to enter it when Ishtar, Belle and Brianna caught him simultaneously and pulled him back.

“Are you an idiot!?” Brianna shouted in Achilles’ ear.

The long haired man cringed and looked confused by the women around him. They all glared at him.

“W-what?” He looked at each of them in turn not comprehending why they were mad.

While broodingly watching the portal, Ishtar expressed what all of them were thinking, “We need to check if there’s any danger before entering that thing.”

“You impulsive man…” Brianna slapped the back of Achilles’ helmeted head.

“Is there a way to check what's on the other side?” Belle asked, seeing nothing around the portal that could do the job. It was a rather inefficient system if it didn’t.

Everyone turned their head to Achilles who was blushing embarrassingly as he said, “Huh, now that you say it there is a way.”

Achilles waved his hand; using the basic diagnostic spell he knew for this kind of situation. The spell scanned the other end of the portal and the Sanctum translated the information into an image that everyone could interpret on a holographic window before the group.

Snow, wind and ice everywhere they could see on the scrying window showing the other side of the portal. The spell even gave them the conditions and temperature; Arctic winter temperature is -34°C, extreme solar radiation and… *Is that an ice drake?*

A scaled flying creature was facing the portal with its icy blue eyes. The women stayed silent, suddenly afraid to speak. As for Achilles, he wasn’t afraid at all, those kinds of creatures were a staple on Phantasia, he smiled at the women and said, “I think we need supplies…”

 

---

 

Svartalfheim
Dragon Fang Tower
Queen’s Floor
19:02 PM

The chain pooled in a spiral around Elissa, moving, writhing with a ‘clink, clink, clink’ that didn’t bother her. Elissa stood unmoving as she fought internally for control with the godly artefact that had numbed her feelings and sharpened the edges of her personality.

*You won’t win.*

But the chains were relentless, nipping at something she became aware of relatively recently; her divinity. It wasn’t with it that she should fight, Elissa realized, but with her own willpower. Enkidu was about to win when suddenly it began to tremble and Elissa’s divinity suddenly retracted into her core, leaving in its place only willpower fuelled by cosmic energy.

The young Queen pulled on the chains connected to her arm and violently ripped them out of her limb and slammed it on the ground. “KNOW YOUR PLACE, YOU TRASH!!”

Enkidu slowly shortened, the spiral like figure it formed on the ground slowly dissipated. Elissa took this as a sign that she had won and raised her chin while she glared at the artefact. “Look at you now, not so tough anymore.”

She was panting and sweating as if she had been in the longest fight of her life; which in a sense she had been. To Elissa it was like she had been going for 4 rounds against Heracles.

[Your Imperial Majesty, do you wish for me to store that artefact?] The skyship’s intelligence sounded worried, there were motes of light already surrounding Enkidu. ZHAER already knew Elissa’s decision when he saw the display of anger she made just now.

“Please ZHAER, keep them away from me for now, ok?” There was a plea in Elissa’s voice as she went to sit on her white fur sofa in the gigantic living room.

[At once.]

Elissa laid in silence for ten second before she jumped onto her feet again and remembered something crucial. Looking around her, Elissa looked for a certain brown haired girl and a certain dark elf. The atmosphere cooled perceptively and Elissa asked with a panic laced voice, “ZHAER! Where are my wife and girlfriend?!”

[In the brig, your Imperial Majesty.] Answered the intelligence after some time.

This was the first time ZHAER had felt so hesitant to Elissa, she had the silent realization that the intelligence had begun to understand her hand or was monitoring her mood and body biochemistry. He was on eggshells with her because of her behavior.

“Get them out of here!” Elissa commanded, stomping on the ground and cracking it.

[I cannot do that.] ZHAER said in an apologetic tone.

The young Queen’s eyes widened, her fists closed up tightly. “What…?”

ZHAER sighed. [The spell on the brig's force-field has been activated. As a security measure it can't be suddenly deactivated, it will dissipate in a week's time.]

“Who ordered that!?” Elissa’s voice promised long and painful suffering to the person-

[You might want to look into a mirror, your Imperial Majesty.]

Elissa’s anger cooled all of a sudden, trying to remember when she ordered the women she loved to be put in the brig. In fact, why was she in her apartment instead of the Majestic Temple?

“I-I don't remember.” Elissa realized, and she concluded that using that stupid divine artefact caused this, she was never using it again!

ZHAER proceeded to show her a recording of what had happened. Elissa stood transfixed and horrified at what she was seeing happen, the pleadings and pleas of her girls broke her heart.

“I need to go there! Now.”

Without a word Elissa was transported onto the Weatherlight in a flash of light. She was teleported to the entrance of the ship’s brig, she ran, almost stumbling before the cells where she had put Dawn and Dicinna. The two young women hit the red force-field.

“Elissa get us out of here, please!” Dawn punched the force-field.

Each time she did so, a magic circle with rune in the middle appeared on the forcefield separating them from freedom.

A draconic growl emitted from Elissa, then she calmed down after restraining herself from breaking the brig. “I’m sorry I can’t.”

Dicinna frowned and stepped forward, “Yes you-”

Then she noticed that Elissa was no longer standing in that golem like fashion, with her eyes dull and cold. Her emerald like eyes were alive with life and worries. Dicinna understood that earlier, Elissa wasn’t herself. “You are back to normal, what happened?”

Elissa’s shoulders slumped and she began to explain what had happened in the Majestic temple while those two were fighting, how she was restrained by her goddess and how she got free. “I took control of an artefact that in turn took control of me, it’s Hekate’s and… it’s… I am so sorry. I will stay here with you.”

The young woman conjured a stool that she planted before the girls’ cell. Elissa sat, and she began to take off her armor slowly. 

Dawn was happy that she decided to share the pain, but at the same time, realized that it was a bad idea as Elissa had responsibilities that she couldn’t put to the side for their sake.

“You know you can’t, Eli.” Dawn leaned against the wall of her cell, looking at Elissa as she was now in her bra.

As she put her breastplate on the floor, Elissa was about to take off her graves. She stopped as she lifted her head and looked at Dawn’s heart shaped face, stared into her eyes shocked that her girlfriend didn’t want her to stay. “Why?”

Dawn snorted, not believing that Elissa had forgotten about a little someone. “You have to take care of Cassandra!” The asian girl raised her hands in frustration.

Elissa’s eyes widened and she guiltily looked down. The platinum blonde couldn’t believe she forgot about her sister. *That chain did a number on me…*

“Prepare our wedding too.” Dawn added.

Elissa flinched.

Dicinna smiled at Elissa and decided to tease her more as a form of vengeance. “Entertain your guests that are going to enter into an alliance with Aryther.”

Elissa stumbled back, realizing that this Queendom business was hard work. She sat on the stool and then looked tiredly at her two women. “Fine, ok! But I will come often to see you. At least I can give you access to better food. Right, ZHAER?”

[Parameters of their imprisonment have been altered, your Imperial Majesty.]

“Good, I won’t have to destroy the brig.” Elissa stored her armor and left the brig immodestly clothed in search of her little sister.

 

---

 

Year 1
3rd day of the 3rd month of the Aryther Queendom Calendar
September the 4th, 2018
Dragon Fall
Dragon Fang Tower
08:00 AM

 

It was strange, being able to discern the time again. The Dwarven calendar wasn’t as precise as the Phantasian model that took into account celestial and aether movements to the microsecond. ZHAER and Sanctum had been adamant about using the Phantasian model for accuracy’s sake. After a hearty breakfast and some time with Cassandra, Dawn and Dicinna; Elissa was now walking to court in Dragon Fang Tower.

Followed by her handmaidens, Cassandra and a still sleepy Tabitha, the little procession arrived before the hidden door giving access to the throne room. There was a hidden aethernet crystal that linked her apartment floor to the rest of the tower’s floors. Before opening the door, Elissa checked herself.

She wore a pure white dress with long sleeves that hugged her upper body and pooled at her feet, hiding her soft white boots. A silver belt at her waist showed a belt buckle in the form of a silver dragon opening its wings wide. There was the mithril circle set with sapphires and white diamonds as her crown that Sanctum had given her yesterday in her raid. Her choker necklace with her golden elf glamour on.

*Perfect.* Elissa nodded to herself, she squared her shoulders and decided to enter the throne room.

As the doors opened, Elissa noticed that there were already people in the throne room. Dwarves, dark elves and… was that Gadhiss?! In her humanoid form, the golden dragoness was waiting with a younger dragon with rainbow hair and scales and wearing a beige chiffon robe.

Gadhiss must've felt her presence as she turned her head toward her. With a disapproving gaze she looked at Elissa who was not wearing armor. Elissa looked at herself, then looked at her godmother and began to squirm under her gaze.

“Is something the matter, mistress?” Reinatiel asked with a hand on her mistress’ arm.

“N-nothing.” Elissa tried to play it off with an awkward smile, but when Reinatiel looked into the throne room she stood paralyzed and as she saw the Golden Dragoness.

With eyes as wide as saucers, Reinatiel stepped back, stood straight up and began to mumble, “Hum, mistress my sister and I will stay here, you can go in peace. I wish you a good day.”

Elissa could scarcely believe what her familiar was telling her, her expression showed betrayal and shock and she asked, “Reinatiel are you giving up on me?”

*There’s a dragon matriarch in the room.* Reinatiel screamed in their link. “I’m not suicidal.” The demoness said simply.

“Sister, why would you do-” Fenirael frowned at her sister who pointed her right index finger toward the room. After a moment the tall demoness froze, looked at Elissa and began to say, “I see, good luck mistress.”

Reinatiel pushed Elissa into the throne room with a smile, Aeruirn followed her, weirded out by what was happening with her two mentors who waved at them and slowly closed the door. Elissa walked stiffly up to her silver throne and sat. No one kneeled because Elissa liked it like this.

“Her Majesty Elissa Shaera Snow Phantasia Dragonfang is now available for court.”

The first to come before Elissa were obviously Gadhiss and the other dragoness she brought with her, no one tried to stop them from messing up the receiving order as they could clearly feel the explosive mana those two generated.

Elissa rose from her throne, walking down the dais. The blue carpet with silver trim cushioning her steps. The three women looked at each other, then Elissa slightly bowed her head, Gadhiss put her hands on each of the young Queen’s shoulders.

<You have done good for yourself, little hatchling.> Gadhiss smiled predatorily, slapping her hands against Elissa’s shoulders.

Elissa would have felt pain before that, but now it was what it was intended to be, a pat. The rainbow dragoness looked hatefully at Elissa who raised an eyebrow at the dragoness, snorted at her and began to ignore her.

Elissa bowed slightly to her godmother again, choosing that slight deference to not abase herself before the court and the other people present. At the same time she clued them in that those two people speaking to her were important. <I thank you for your compliment, Aunt.>

There was still anger radiating from the other dragoness, it became bothersome to Elissa and she decided to ask her godmother about the rainbow dragon at her side. <Who is that?>

Gadhiss bopped the young dragoness behind the head causing her to lower her gaze at her hands that she began to wrung in anger. Gadhiss looked back at Elissa who wanted to laugh at the unfortunate rainbow scaled dragoness. <Your youngest godsister, Spectra.>

Elissa stepped back to take Spectra in. <Huh, I don’t know her. I thought Rythyn was the youngest?>

Gadhiss shook her head and made Spectra step forward with a hit of her wing? <No, Spectra is the rainbow dragoness. She likes to stay... isolated.>

The embarrassment laced in Gadhiss’ tone was evident to Elissa and she tried to read between the lines. The rainbow dragoness was now blushing too and finally the “isolated” part in Gadhiss sentence rang in Elissa’s brain. <She’s a shut-in?>

A dragon Shut-in! It was unthinkable that a dragon of such an age would become an hermit. Elissa asked herself what could have caused such a thing.

<Yes…> Gadhiss turned to Spectra with a speculative eye.

The rainbow dragoness stepped back, but still held her mother’s gaze.

<Why did you bring her here?> Elissa asked.

She had more important things to do than to take care of her godmother’s problem. The young Queen had noticed a tendency in her dragon matriarch, she liked to delegate the things she didn’t like to take care of. Elissa was sure that if her godmother was here nothing good would come out of her presence.

<She’s kicking me out of her lair!> Spectra said out loud for everyone to hear.

<Oh.> Elissa facepalmed.

 

---

 

After that distraction, Elissa directed Gadhiss and Spectra into guest suites to wait out the end of court. Elissa then focused on receiving the first traders who came to negotiate entrance to Queen’s Rise. It was boring to her at first, until they spoke about weapons and armor coming from Asgard, Elissa hadn't been interested.

She didn’t care about Alfheim wines or their healing options, but she was hungry for magical texts and technical manuals. The super effective potions that Elissa had come up with was what the traders wanted and they wouldn’t take no for an answer, almost. It seemed that word of Elissa’s level in alchemy and as a healer got out from Cynlenor. Once a trade treaty was forged and sealed by magic, Elissa invited everyone for a light snack.

During the recess, Kiomdra Zerloth came to her daughter in law with the guildmasters from Cynlenor, Corcomo, Arno and Calimawen. Elissa began with her mother in law first, showing her on a map of Aryther where her land would be. It bordered the Eastern side of the lake and was the size of Wisconsin on Earth or 169,640 square kilometers. No need to say that Kiomdra was happy and exuberantly hugged Elissa who bore with the effusion of affection.

It was the guildmasters’ turn, and they proved that they were all sharks; they also squabled to obtain the best placement in Queen’s Rise plaza. Elissa had to use logic with Corcomo who led the assassin’s guild.

“Wouldn’t you prefer to have your guild somewhere inconspicuous, Master Corcomo? I mean having the assassin guild in plain sight is bad business, you know?”

“But this is how we do it in Cynlenor!” The mustached and greying dark elf shouted, spilling a bit of the Dwarven wine he had poured for himself.

“I want you to have a hidden guild house and maybe a business to screen those who want to ‘hire’ you.” Elissa continued to speak, wishing to settle the argument as fast as possible. “And things are going to be different, Master Corcomo. Crimes are going to be investigated and my investigators are incorruptible.”

“I see, you may be right. Maybe we need a new format for the guild, things hadn’t been so shaken since the previous global beast tide.”

Elissa then proceeded to break the argument between the adventurer and mercenary guild by offering to place both on the first level of Queen’s Rise but on separate shores as the city was divided by a big river. There was finality in Elissa’s words when she announced this. Arno and Calimawen didn’t wish to cross the new ruler and gave in.

Court finished with the dwarves having come to ask when the first round of healing for the crippled was to begin. Elissa didn’t even bother addressing them and Aeruirn did it for her.

With a pretty smile Aeruirn gave verbatim the words that Elissa wished to convey as they had rehearsed the subject that might have come to court. “The first healing chamber is ready to receive the first hundred citizens who need regenerating. Her Majesty will begin with the worst cases first, did everyone from the secondary caravan arrive from Nirnyahr?”

An old dwarf stepped forward slightly bowed, he had a voluminous red and white beard and kind eyes. No weapons were visible on him, he wore boiled brown and forest green leather armor. “Yes, M’Lady. But we have some who arrived from the Iron Fang settlement, a dozen families at most.”

Aeruirn turned to Elissa who nodded as she rose from her throne. The dark elven woman’s silver dress swished as she turned her attention to the male dwarves.

“Her Majesty will accept them after a… thorough screening.” Her voice was pleasant, someone might have confused the tone she employed as a non-threat.

However, the dwarves understood, spies and people of nefarious professions are going to either be turned away or killed. The use of Truth potion has been declared legal for servants of the kingdom. Court was finally over and Elissa thanked Aeruirn for her help with dealing with most of the non-essential cases brought forward.

“It wasn’t a bother, I really liked this court session.” Aeruirn bobbed her head in agreement. As she followed her mistress.

Elissa stopped, turned to the beautiful elf and said in an exasperated tone, “You and I, we have a different definition of fun, Ruirn.”

The dark elf gave her a toothy grin as she remembered Elissa’s behavior. “You kind of looked bored, mistress.”

“Because I was! I would prefer to go train with Danny and the others, you know.”

Danny and the Midgardians Elissa brought with her were now training in Aryther under the supervision of the Lutrinian Matriarchs and Brunhilda. Elissa would have preferred to go there instead of having boring discussions about trade, politics and peace. Though she had stayed awake when General Ilyrana Grejeon, her supreme commander of the armies presented plans for the defense of the realm, she had even taken into account skyship warfare.

This was a paradigm shift for the General who was used to massive armies, and medieval siege battles. Elissa had realized that she needed help and a lot of it. She couldn’t let her people keep fighting as if they were in some fantasy movie. She wanted an army, a navy for the sky and sea. Elissa needed industry at least comparable to earth and she knew how to get it.

“ZHAER, teleport me to the Weatherlight.” Elissa commanded as she waved goodbye to Aeruirn.

Elissa was instantly transported in a shower of light to the transporter room of her ship. Her dress was rather restrictive and she wished to be rid of it, but it could wait until later. She walked down the teleporting device’s pedestal, the door of the room slid open as she moved with purpose toward the bridge. Elissa decided that she would spend time with her girlfriends after the call she was going to make.

She cursed that dumb divine artefact in the form of a chain, it was its fault that she couldn’t enjoy being with her women. Elissa finally arrived on the main bridge.

[Welcome to the Weatherlight, your Imperial Majesty.]

Imperial Majesty this, Imperial Majesty that… Elissa had had enough of all these titles. Couldn't he just stop for one minute? “Can it ZHAER. And call me Captain when we are on deck.”

[I will acquiesce to your wishes… Captain] Elissa heard him say, he sounded really reluctant in doing so.

Elissa went to sit on her command chair; before her, her console came to life with light and even a keyboard that was not here previously. She understood that ZHAER was making adjustments to the Weatherlight according to her preferences.

“Moving on, ZHAER do you still have access to the internet on Midgard?” Elissa smiled eagerly at the representation of the ship’s intelligence.

[We are still connected, yes.]

“Perfect, I want you to call this number on my phone.” Elissa thought about it, and knowing that the AI had access to her memories she wasn’t surprised to see a magical hologram before her.

It took three rings for the call to connect and the face of the call’s recipient was revealed. It was a man with slicked black hair, a thin classical villain mustache and an impish expression. Nikola Tesla himself didn’t know how to take this call from the young woman who had caused so much trouble just yesterday.

“Elissa.” Tesla's expression became serious, a change from the always joking man she knew.

“Uncle Nik.” she answered with uncertainty.

His face became progressively darker as they looked at each other, it was Nikola who broke first and said in rising fury, “Do you have any idea of how much trouble you are in right now?”

“I have an idea…” Elissa had never seen that expression on Tesla’s face before.

He was angry, and he had a right to be, she took her friends from his school and their parents must be worried sick for them. *Let’s not even speak about Cassandra…*

“You kidnapped your friends!” He accused her with a finger pointed at her.

Elissa reacted like all angry teens, defensively by crossing her arms and scowling at Tesla. “No, I didn't! They came willingly!”

“You kidnapped your little sister too.” Tesla pointed out too.

Elissa just snorted at that. “I am saving Cassandra's life, uncle Nik.”

Phantasian physiology was quirky, their cells functioned like a super battery, hyper metabolizing specific wavelengths of cosmic radiation as fuel to enable living functions and superhuman abilities. Staying on Earth was dangerous for Cassandra as she needed development, after all, she was at least half ancient human.

“Don't mouth off to me, young lady!” Tesla reprimanded, he almost showed her his teeth.

He looked rather put out with her, Elissa didn’t expect that kind of reception but in retrospect, she should have. She hurt her adoptive mother and broke trusts. But what about her? She felt betrayed too.

“Uncle Nik, if I told you I had reason to do what I did… would you believe me?” Elissa began to say.

However, Tesla was too stubborn to see the olive branch that Elissa was extending to him. He still treated her like a child, of course he did. To him, Elissa was just a teenager with a bad attitude having done something bad at the moment. He had no idea that she was calling him as the ruler of Aryther.

Nikola sneered at her and rolled his eyes. “Go on, tell me why you would have beaten up your old mother and put a curse on her?”

He got her there, there were no excuses for basically putting a curse on Malicia that would torture her until she got rid of it. Elissa understood that there was nothing she could say to Tesla. “Maybe I should have called aunt Lyla instead…”

The young woman was about to cut the call by pushing a button on the console before her, but Tesla realized this and sputtered as he waved at her to wait,  “Wait, wait don’t hang up!”

Elissa stopped moving, looked at her uncle and snidely said to him, “Oh are you sure? Aren’t you mad at me?”

Tesla was noticing how alike the daughter was to her mother, but in a more immature way. “Elissa, come back home.”

With eloquence he begged, yes he begged her. Elissa didn’t know what to think about that, this wasn’t the kind of Nikola she wanted to negotiate with. “Your mother isn’t well; she’s very worried and she keeps crying at night, please come back.” He added.

Deep down, Elissa wanted to. Earth was safe, there she would be a normal teenager without responsibilities and under the thumb of Malicia who would make all the hard decisions for her. But no she couldn’t, she was the leader of her people now, the Lutrinians, the elves, dwarves and the people on Phantasia were counting on her.

And Daphne, her mother wouldn’t be able to hold on that long.

With a solemn expression, Elissa leaned forward in her seat and said, “I cannot, uncle Nik. I’m not ready to face my mother just yet, we have unresolved issues we must address before that. But, uncle… I need you and aunt Lyla.”

This was the first time Nikola saw Elissa like that, he had been sure that she would come back home for a moment, he had seen how much she wanted to on her face, but suddenly she retracted.

Nikola frowned, “My help?”

The atmosphere became tense until someone broke it.

“I heard someone say my name!” A window appeared at Tesla’s side with Lyla in it.

Elissa flinched, not having expected Lyla Tesla at all, she wore her aviator goggles and was in her steampunk costume smiling like a loon.

Lyla waved at Elissa. “Oh, hi Eli.”

“Aunt Lyla.” The young Queen nodded and smiled back at Lyla, the woman had a really disarming personality.

Tesla's wife focused on Elissa and rapid fire sentences were thrown at the young woman. “How have you been? Nice dress! I heard about the stunt you pulled, it was nice.”

Tesla looked horrified, he couldn't believe his wife would treat the girl normally. “Lyla, you shouldn’t encourage her!”

The woman rolled her eyes and held her hand before her as if saying 'talk to my hand' and said, “Hush, Nikobear. Elissa wouldn’t do what she did without good reason.”

Elissa was elated inside, finally someone was on her side! She eagerly made it known. “That’s precisely what I was saying to uncle Nik.”

Lyla frowned, not an expression she is used to showing. “Nikobear, you should let me speak with her.”

Nikola looked alarmed and was about to argue when Elissa decided to throw him a bone. “Hum, I need your help, uncle. It would be better if you stayed on the call.”

Suddenly the usual Nikola Tesla appeared, the smug look he gave Lyla made Elissa want to slap him. “See, she needs me.”

“Yes, yes, Nikobear.” Lyla ignored him pointedly looking directly at Elissa and asking the most pertinent question of the day, “Why do you need us, Eli?”

This was the moment of truth, to truly know if the people she had considered family for the last four years would see her for herself and not some jumped up alien like the ones who invaded their world previously. Earth had been traumatized by the Vadwaur having invaded them in the eighties, since then humanity had become largely xenophobic.

"I-I want to speak to you about my lineage a-and from where I come from..." Elissa stuttered, somehow she was afraid of them rejecting her, they had been part of the resistance that ousted the aliens from their solar system.

Elissa remembered how Lyla told her stories about the bad alien when she babysat Cassandra and Elissa was there to listen. She hadn’t found it flattering at all. She wasn’t a being from Earth and Elissa expected now to be hated for her origins. Elissa felt lucky that her girlfriend and her friends accepted her as she was.

But yet again, fate burst her bubble and her faith was renewed in happenstance.

“If it’s about you being a princess from another planet, we are already aware.” Nikola said almost conversationally, then he impudently smiled at her.

Elissa sat there, gaping at Nikola who laughed at her, unknown to the young woman he began to take screenshots of her expression.

Lyla, Hekate bless her soul, reprimanded her man. “Nikobear! Tact, use tact!”

“Oops, sorry.” Clearly, Elissa could see that he wasn’t as he continued to smile shamelessly.

“Hum, yes. Malicia told us about everything she could.” Lyla continued to speak for Nikola who kept silent.

Elissa didn’t know how to feel, that people knew more about herself than she did. “But, she just told you? Just like that?”

Lyla paid attention to Elissa’s tone, knowing instinctively that this wasn’t the nice little girl she had loved to take care of while her husband made barbecue. The crown of silver with the jewels embedded in it was a dead giveaway.

The Tesla woman decided to become a bit more serious. “Yes, it was to begin the basis of a force able to retake your planet, Elissa. Malicia has been gathering magic users for this endeavor.”

Elissa realized how much more prosperous the pocket realm had looked when she infiltrated it, there were a lot more people. The way every supernatural had been in the open even at Tesla academy; she felt the hand of Malicia in such events. She appreciated how devious this plan was and more elaborated than her own, however, she still blocked on the fact that her adoptive mother has been telling everyone who she really was and that she didn’t do it for her.

*Another betrayal.* It was like this that she took it.

“But that’s what I’m doing! How could she?! This is…” The atmosphere on the bridge began to mist as her temper flared and her frustrations grew; at the same time, ZHAER tried to cope with the sudden change in temperature.

When was Malicia going to tell her about her destiny? Even her family friends knew about her and it was at this moment that Elissa began to understand.

“She didn’t intend to tell me! At least not right now...” Elissa’s fist slammed on the armrest of her chair, fortunately it held and absorbed the impact.

Lyla’s voice became softer as she attempted to soothe the superpowered teenage girl. “You shouldn’t hate her for this. I think Malicia was building up the momentum to tell you.”

“I need to speak with her.” Elissa said.

When Lyla recognized the sweet and cold tone Elissa used, the same she had heard when Malicia threw one of her tantrums, she decided that it was time to defuse the situation, she looked at her husband who was being a coward and decided to not say anything and had averted his eyes.

Lyla sighed heavily and began to speak, “You shouldn’t, you sound… angry, Elissa.”

Elissa glared hotly at Lyla. “You would be too, aunt Lyla! I am sure.”

“You are right, I would.” Lyla acquiesced.

The tinker didn’t want to take sides in this familial dispute, it sounded counter productive. Instead she decided to listen to both arguments and help daughter and mother to slowly calm down and then they would be placed in the same room again; Lyla was fearing that doing so now would create a terrifying situation.

Elissa couldn’t believe it, she had thought that Lyla would tell her to just come home. “Oh?”

There was a ‘but’ that Elissa heard in her argument.

“But there were circumstances to her decisions, I am sure.” Lyla said like Elissa feared.

Elissa couldn’t get mad at Lyla, and she was right. “Yes, and I know the excuses she would use and I have the context in which she made her decisions.”

*You are not ready, I wanted to give you a childhood, I love you that’s why. Those would be her reason.* After seeing what happened to Malicia, Elissa understood that she feared losing her daughters and guarded them viciously.

Lyla permitted herself to smile. “Then what’s the matter?”

In a little voice, as if she was a little kid again, Elissa said, “It’s hard to swallow, you know? Malicia… mom, I love her, but she has been manipulating me.”

Nikola chuckled, finally feeling that it was safe for him to speak. “Yes, parents are like that when something threatens their kids.”

“I will speak with mom later, I agree that I may have... overreacted.”

“You did.” Lyla and Nikola said in unison.

Elissa blushed under the gaze of the two adults. “Right.”

“Anyway I have something to ask of you, I've been busy on my new planet.”

“Your planet?” Tesla looked at her with disbelief.

“Well, ok… not totally mine, yet.” Elissa’s embarrassment at already thinking of Svartalfheim as hers was her hoarding draconian instinct that made her do so. But at some point she intended to make it reality.

“But I conquered a sizable part of it and tomorrow I plan to expand my domain and my own pocket dimension by taking a primary nexus.”

Lyla raised her hands, “Elissa, stop! What do you mean?”

With a depreciating laugh Elissa prepared herself to tell them about her adventures. “Well it all happened like this....”

The young lady proceeded to explain everything that had happened to her, being pushed into the portal with only her demon familiars, committing genocide on a locale species, conquering what was a safe spot to camp, killing a Lake Kraken, discovering a treasure rivaling the GDP of both China and America for ten years, rescuing her first citizens who were sentient humanoid otters, slaughtering an army, founding a Queendom like Queen Dorina, becoming a dragon slayer and getting married.

Nikola fainted and Lyla went out of her way to order an android maid to take care of him before taking several minutes to calm down herself. They knew Elissa was capable of causing trouble, and had seen first hand what kind of things she could get into but accidentally founding your own country? Killing untold numbers of people?

“Your mother will hear from me! She shouldn’t have left you without supervision!” Lyla was furious.

“But… this was training, aunty Lyla.” Elissa suddenly became a little girl, frightened by Lyla’s outburst.

Lyla’s wrath rose even more when she realized why Elissa was confused. Malicia was used to doing such things to her! So much so that the young woman didn’t even think that it was weird that her mother just threw her onto a planet infested with monsters, that she had to kill to survive.

Elissa got scared, Lyla was someone so affable and likeable who never shouted at her, even when she messed up, it was terrifying. *The saying about still waters running deep was completely true.*

Elissa didn’t understand why Lyla was mad, so she shrugged her shoulders and waited for her to calm down; as she leaned into her command chair she opened a magical hologram window connected to the brig surveillance feed and what she saw shocked her. Dicinna and Dawn were making out.

She sat transfixed at the scene for numerous minutes until Lyla’s voice interrupted her in her fugue. “So, Elissa, you want us to help you develop your country while you take over? This planet has what level of industry? If you have technologies able to bridge solar systems, why would you need us?”

Blushing a little bit and suddenly feeling unconsciously the sensation through Dicinna’s and her soul bond, Elissa stuttered a little and took time to gather her thoughts. ZHAER helpfully cut the feed. “Huh? Hum, l-let’s just say that it was a stroke of luck that my planet had a war with the elves before, in fact it’s because of us that their homeworlds were destroyed and they had to choose new ones. And one of the elves took the skyship I am using and stored it for millenia.”

Lyla didn’t believe in such fortuitous coincidence. She scowled in thought at such a thing happening, it was obviously foul play. “This kind of luck… are you sure?”

Elissa waved her hand, unconcerned. “Yes, this is old tech compared to what my planet has now. No offense ZHAER.”

Lyla needed Elissa to realize that such things didn’t happen by happenstance but something happened and derailed her thought process.

[It’s fine Captain, I am updating everything with the help of Sanctum.] The suave voice of ZHAER rang in the bridge.

Elissa nodded in relief not seeing the wide eyes of Lyla who leaned forward to the screen. “Good! Aunt Lyla anyway-”

“Who was that?” Lyla asked with urgency.

The tinker had felt something with her technopathy, it felt like the developing new synthetic human that her husband had created in their 2 years retreat in the time realm Malicia had thrust them into, but more concrete and less infantile.

Elissa tilted her head at her aunt’s behavior. “The intelligence of the ship, what you would call an AI. My people developed them millenia ago.”

The conversation went on another tangent as Elissa and ZHAER began to explain everything they could about mind stones and their power to grant sentience to artificial beings.

The picture in the window finally zoomed out, and Elissa saw Lyla in all her glory as she walked before her desk and sat on it. The tinker looked right in her eyes. “So you are contacting us not as a niece, but as a head of state, well I guess you have the money for it now… but there’s this pesky problem of you being really far.”

ZHAER helpfully showed an estimate of the treasury, Elissa had uncluttered her spatial toe ring and placed everything in the two floors that made up the vault and placed everything under the strictest lock and key she knew, though Sanctum had informed her that a more stringent method existed. As Elissa sat, she looked at Lyla who was similarly going to try to shaft her for their help. They didn’t have a charity on earth and Tesla Industry was still a business.

With a shark-like smile Elissa commanded, “ZHAER send the schematics of the modern planar drive to my aunt.”

The intelligence sent the file to her aunt. A tablet at Lyla’s side pinged her, and the tinker began to slowly go through it, her eyes slowly shining with interest.

“Aunty don't worry I have a lot of things to exchange for the help you would bring us and… is this link secure?” Elissa said almost conspiratorially with a bright smile on her face.

“I resent that!” Nikola appeared with his index finger raised in protest, he had finally recovered from his shock.

Elissa rolled her eyes. “Sure, uncle.”

“It’s safe Elissa, you can share the information you wish.” Lyla shot a slight smile at her husband who was still as funny as ever.

Elissa elegantly crossed her legs, put her hands on the armrests of her command chair and said with gravitas, “I’ve discovered how to safely trigger superhuman physiology artificially and I know how to make a normal being a super, is this sufficient information to garner help?”

The couple was left agape, looking at Elissa who smiled as she enjoyed shocking them, Nikola fainted again.

 

---

 

4th day of the 3rd month
September the 5th, 2018
Dragon Fang Tower
Storm Queen’s floor

Cassandra had forgotten how good it felt to sleep with her sister, however, it had become rather annoying when her demon familiars and two dragonesses came to hijack her gigantic bed. Spectra and her had hit it off like a house on fire though. The young dragoness loved to read and her favorite thing to do was resolving arithmancy problems at a quite high level.

The young redhead had to be momentarily taken care of by the handmaidens while their godmother Gadhiss tried to negotiate Spectra’s admission in Aryther with Elissa who didn’t look convinced at all. It seemed that her sister had kicked a hornet's nest and that other dragons would come after her because the previous one she killed had family.

“I will help sis! I am a sorceress!” The young girl had declared.

Elissa at that moment felt moved and scared when she realized that she needed more time to consolidate her kingdom and become strong enough that other dragons wouldn’t be a problem to take on. The young Queen reluctantly accepted Spectra who Gadhiss decided couldn’t have a new lair till Elissa expanded her Kingdom to give her good space.

<A floating island could do the job too.> Gadhiss had commented innocently enough as she had looked into the sky.

Cassandra and Elissa did the same and far away they saw one of those lazily pass into the sky over  Dragonfang tower. It was at this moment that Elissa decided to not put off growing her sphere of influence anymore and left, leaving Gadhiss to take care of Cassandra.

The apprentice sorceress was now watching videos on her phone while speaking with Sizalda who asked herself why Elissa’s sister was looking at stupid felines do silly things on her viewing device. Everything was going well until Cassandra felt the realm tremble, the wind picking up as it came from the balcony, the leylines shifting and suddenly the Nexus feeding power elsewhere to some outside force trying to connect with it.

“Elissa is bold.” Cassandra said in awe as she let her phone go on the furred sofa and walked toward the balcony giving a view on the sky ship’s dock.

Silzalda’s analysis goggles were on her nose and she was looking into the sky. “There’s a disturbance…”

A true whirlwind of energy was in the sky, for people able to use mage sight it was as if a gigantic tornado was siphoning energy that the mithril tower was funneling into it. Cassandra had access to the sentient wards and could see them responding to the administrator from a far away place. *How is Elissa doing such a major working? Node Magic? But I thought mommy didn't teach her that?*

"Yes, Miss Sizalda. Big sis is trying to connect all the nexi under her control and link them together to enhance her pocket realm and create…? Is she trying to create outside layers to it?" Cassandra was intrigued by the idea as she had followed the torrent of wild mana being fed into the working Elissa was practicing.

Sizalda stared at the tiny little girl with askance. “Ye're strangely knowledgeable fer a little milk drinker.”

Cassandra turned to the dwarven lady and tilted her head not understanding what she had said. “Huu? I like milk in my cereals.”

Sizalda exploded into laughter and mussed the young girl’s hair. “I think something is lost in translation here.”

The little girl was about to answer the dwarf when an Aetherquake spread all over the planet in a big wave noticeable in the sky.  She felt the pocket dimension in Dragonfall connect with a much more powerful one. The wild mana in the air became heavier and Cassandra recognized Elissa’s magic signature everywhere her arcane senses could spread.

“She did it!” Cassandra raised a tiny fist in the air.

 

---

 

Dirwell mountain range
Newly Freed Grove
11:00 AM

Elissa looked up into the sky and smiled contentedly, around her a dozen corpses of lesser goblin shamans oozed purple blood, it had become something symbolic of conquering this powerful nexus after laying waste to a goblin city. The city around the grove no longer existed, Hekate’s storm domain was swirling in the sky and raining down lightning bolts everywhere.

Golden eddies of mana rolled in the sky as the dark clouds spewed more golden lightning, the fight to take the city still replaying in the minds of everyone who had accompanied Elissa.

It had begun with a weapon test of the Weatherlight cannon batteries, that alone laid waste to half the lesser goblin city. Ocima had pressed the button herself to open fire, the lesser goblins were a scourge everywhere for the dark elves. They were always raiding the underdark and kidnapping people for their knowledge of magic, metallurgy or farming or just to enslave them.

General Grejeon and two teams of scouts and mage knights had followed Elissa in the assault of the grove. The goblin shamans had given a solid resistance until Elissa disrupted their casting, however the chief shaman had time to summon a greater demon.

It had been the size of a troll with giant horns on its head with scaly red skin, it was built like a behemoth. There was a sort of bone armor covering it, in its hand had been an infernal axe radiating hell fire. Two mage knights had died, and Elissa had all of a sudden been possessed by Hekate and her storm domain had opened. 

Golden aura around her, with Gram in her left hand and her adamantine shield in her right, Elissa had battled the demon for over a minute before sending it ten meters into the air where a rain of divine lightning had struck it and kept it in the sky until it had turned into cinders. The lesser goblin shamans seeing their last gambit fail, had tried to flee but had been swiftly dealt with by Ilyrana Grejeon’s remaining knights.

“Sister, we would have needed an army to clear this goblin city. I am glad that we have you on our side.” Ocima, who wore red armor similar to Dicinna’s, walked up to Elisssa and looked around herself.

As for Elissa she just smiled but deep down inside being possessed by her goddess wasn't sitting well with her. Another thing she would need to discuss with her godly ancestor. Elissa looked toward the center of the grove where the well of power was located. Those lesser goblins had taken one of the major nexus of the planet and there had been nothing the dark elves or dwarves could have done.

*Goddess knows what they were doing with it.* Elissa twirled Gram in her hand and dismissed her shield into her personal storage space.

She stuck her sword in the ground in the middle of the grove, destroying the crude ritual altar made of stone with figurines around a representation of the demon her goddess just defeated. Divine power pulsed through Elissa as Hekate fed her the equivalent of what she considered a teaspoon.

Gram glowed blue and Elissa channelled a node magic formula that she had memorized earlier while thinking of how to link her nexi. A funnel of energy coming from the ground formed around Elissa and reached for the sky connecting to the air aligned nodes and spreading, the same could be said for the earth ones. Elissa was basically doing the same thing she did for Aryther but the expansion would cause the surrounding minor nexi to be claimed at the same time in the region until it connected to Dragonfall and the Lake region.

For the Dark Elves and the handmaidens present it was as if they were in the eye of a storm of power. Ocima was seeing her sister in law in a new light, the brutality of her attack plan and the ease of the magic that would have surely taken two circles of mages to build a strategic Mythal to attack the goblin city.

And now they were witness to something they had only heard about in legends. Elissa raised her hand to the sky and four bands of light appeared each flying to one of the four cardinal directions drawing lines of force. The wild mana created turbulence in the air until reality distorted and quickly reasserted itself, creating an Aetherquake that spread all over the planet in waves disturbing the laws of magic and physics as mortals knew them.

Then suddenly everything subsided, little by little the wild mana settled and the realm of Aryther had been expanded and locked secondary and tertiary realms. Elissa had used the same parameters she used in the wards covering her pocket realm turned plane. The defenses had been crafted by Hekate herself and most inimical species have been ousted or annihilated by the Aetherquake.

Elissa dropped to her knees for a time, exhausted after having channelled divine and wild mana, the pocket plane recognized this fact and quickly began to connect with her and slowly fed her body more mana.

“Your Majesty are you well?” General Grejeon came to the side of her Queen, the handmaidens placed themselves at her side.

The mage knights and scouts began to do the same, some began to spread around to see if any lesser goblins had survived. Ocima looked on as Reinatiel helped Elissa stand up, Fenirael had her giant sword out ready for anything.

“Is it done, sister?” Ocima sheathed her rapier as she watched her sister in law gradually regaining her strength.

“I know it is. Most of the continent is under my control right now.” Elissa felt her mana core slowly being filled, the wards from Aryther extended this far already.

She was halfway recovered sometime later when the mage knights were given permission to look for loot, General Grejeon returned to the Weatherlight with Ocima who was ordered to recharge the power stone of the ship in the nearest air node. Elissa let the storm domain settle a bit, but as she did so she felt several disturbances coming from the sky.

They were in the secondary realm she had created and it was less defended than the primary one that wouldn't let anything disturb it as it was perfectly controlled. There was a hole being punched through the aether, and the thing falling down left a trail of energy, so Elissa could guess the trajectory. Her wings deployed and Elissa flew toward it.

[Your Imperial Majesty, may I inquire as to where you happen to be going?] ZHAER’s voice was laced with worry.

Elissa was after all recovering from razing a city and fighting a greater demon warrior, he saw that her mana core was recovering but she had been almost depleted of mana. Claiming a territory after just fighting had been foolhardy in the AI’s opinion.

“That thing coming from the aether disturbance, I don’t like it.” Elissa scowled at the object falling into her territory.

The young Queen was suddenly followed by the Weatherlight that kept up with her, they finally stopped when the object crash landed in a plain of high purple grass, creating a crater. Elissa stopped, hovering over the crash site, something akin to a pod, made of some unknown material with hieroglyphic script running through out the surface, was in the middle of the crater.

[Analysis…] ZHAER said swiftly.

The pod shook and began to dent from the inside, something was clearly trying to escape. An alarm rang in the ship as ZHAER realized what was in the pod, his scan concluding that a creature he didn’t expect to see was present.

It was Sanctum who broke the news to Elissa, as she got worried for her new host. {Your Imperial Majesty desist, my scans indicate that this pod you are chasing is radiating Chthonic mana.}

“What are those?” Elissa sheathed Gram at her hips and took Gungnir as it teleported in her hand.

The newborn realm continued to convert wild mana and feed it to Elissa’s core, the storm domain that had settled opened all of a sudden. Hekate knew exactly what was happening and boosted the recovery of her champion.

[Creatures from the Underworld, please retreat, Sanctum is right. You are not recovered enough to be able to fight a being of such power yet.]

“I cannot in good conscience let it roam in my territory.”

Elissa felt a build up of dark power in the pod that was suddenly released and a clawed ebony hand finally pierced the walls of the pod. ZHAER got all his weapons online and was ready to fire on the order of his Captain.

“Ocima, General Grejeon. I want you to recall the mage knights and scouts from the grove and the goblin city. Man all the weapons and fire at that thing.”

“Your Majesty, maybe you should retreat.” Ilyrana Grejeon advised.

She was on the bridge and looking at the magical holographic window on her console as the mana radiation from the pod climbed to levels that were dangerous.

Thunder rumbled and Elissa had the impression that retreat was unacceptable to her patron deity who pushed more divine energy into her.

Elisa began to recover faster, as a result she loaded more mana into Gungnir, more than she ever had. It began to shimmer with golden lightning. “I would, but it doesn’t seem that my patron Goddess wants me to. I must fight that thing, but you can help.”

The creature got an arm out of the pod and began to shred the scriptures, breaking the enchantments keeping it inside, and another arm got out. With a keening scream it began to tear at the hole in the pod. With a mighty pull, the pod was rent in two and a ten meter giant with slimy ebony skin and a head looking like the one from a squid with tentacles on its face stood over the remainder of its cage.

“FREEEEE!!!!!” It screamed as it raised its hands toward the sky.

However, it flinched when it saw the blue winged woman hovering over it. At first it took her for an angel, but the divine energy she exuded marked her as some kind of deity or demi-deity.

“I will not be taken back!” It chortled while clawing the air and stomping its feet.

Thanks to the all-speak blessing, Elissa and the others could understand what it said. She didn’t like it, if it had been imprisoned there was surely a good reason for it.

“General, Ocima. Fire on that thing.” Elissa commanded by pointing her godly spear at the Chthonic entity.

The creature was so busy screaming in rage at Elissa that it didn’t notice the build up of energy coming from the main cannon of the Weatherlight. A torrent of white light struck it, creating a trench in the ground elongating the crater.

“He could take that much damage?” Elissa saw that even though the creature was struck with the main mana cannon that it had resisted the impact.

[Chthonic entities are highly resistant to conventional magical warfare.] The Weatherlight was retreating, ZHAER already understood what his captain was about to do.

“And it’s now that you are telling me about it? Thanks for nothing, ZHAER.” Elissa said as she looked at the creature that was buried in the ground get out.

The young Queen put herself into position, aimed her spear and threw with all her Inshek boosted strength. As for the ebony giant, it dug itself out of the ground only to see a spear of golden light strike it, and then everything went white. It was like a nuclear explosion went off, the released energy interacted with the atmosphere and created a shockwave which expanded spherically from the center of the crater it created.

Elissa created a shield to protect her eyes and body from the shockwaves and light, the shock pushing her back from her previous position. She was surprised by the power she had been able to exert, but concluded that it wasn’t solely her. Hekate had helped her, strengthened her somehow.

As the light and the plasma of the lightning charged destruction spell dissipated, only the charred form of the ebony giant remained in a one hundred meters deep crater that spread for one kilometer. Elissa beat her wings and began to slowly descend; she landed seconds later.

She slowly approached the idle form of the creature and she poked it with the spear’s blade, when nothing happened she shrugged, it surprised her when she was about to leave that one of the giant’s tentacles wrapped around her greave and she felt herself being lifted.

“YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME GODLING!!!!” the giant screamed hoarsely, as it slammed Elissa to the ground repeatedly.

Slam! Slam! Slam!

It kept at it for one minute while screaming.

The mage knights and general Grejeon teleported in and attacked the creature, forcing it to let go of their ruler. Reinatiel teleported near Elissa and began providing first aid while her sister teleported over the creature fighting back against their troops to slam her two handed sword in its neck.

Roaring in pain, the tentacled monstrosity grabbed the demoness and threw her far from him. The mage knights threw everything they could at it and got either thrown out or dismembered. Elissa woke up after losing consciousness and was trying to get back up. Reinatiel was about to tell her to not move, Elissa had a dislocated leg and a concussion.

“YOU CANNOT DEFEAT THE MIGHTY LOGOS!!!” It screamed while punching the three mage knights that placed themselves in a defensive position, a magic shield between the monster and Elissa.

“Reinatiel reset my leg in place, quick!” Elissa hissed in pain, she wanted to sit but could barely handle that.

She felt stupid to have even approached the creature without double tapping it. Her natural regeneration was barely kicking in time to deal with her wounds and current ailments.

Reinatiel tried to protest. “But-”

“Do it.” But Elissa was having none of it, she needed to show this creature its place.

The demoness obeyed and quickly reset Elissa’s leg, the young Queen using her biomancy on herself. And with 'clack' her leg snapped in place and Elissa quickly used her healing energy to speed up her regeneration. The knights were barely holding on and general Grejeon threw spells at the creature that was almost not affected. As she stood, Elissa saw how much her knights had given to protect her and a cold fury blazed through her veins.

That Logos thing didn't know what hit it when suddenly icy manacles manifested on its wrists and ankles. Suddenly it had lost any freedom of movement and something powerful struck it. Elissa began to beat up the creature with her aura boosted strength, forgoing other magic but her ice manipulation and cryokinetic abilities.

She began to stomp on the creature's head with wild abandon, black blood oozing from it. Logos struggled to destroy its restraints, Elissa screamed at it using her death song. The creature felt even more sluggish in its movements. To Logos it was as if a death goddess was passing on judgment, it was little by little greatly weakened by the death voice the godling was using and she had as much strength as his general.

Constructs of ice in the form of diverse blades, drills and circular saws appeared, their durability as solid as mithril as Elissa maintained them at a temperature of absolute zero. Then Elissa went to work and began to dessicate the giant ebony creature that was keening and roaring in pain as the young Queen proceeded to butcher it.

She jumped on its back, the creature began to buck, but it didn’t stop Elissa from keeping it in place with further restraints that she planted into the ground, it consisted of four point-restraints made with solid ice grounded in the bedrock. Logos squirmed its tentacled mustache moving wildly trying to dislodge Elissa who hugged its neck and began to pull its head off.

Trying to free itself in earnest, Logos cracked the ice of its restraints but they held on as Elissa regenerated the weaknesses. The creature began to feel a tearing sensation at its neck, and realized that the godling was attempting to take its head!

As for Elissa her blades attacked where she thought the creatures tendons could be located and began to slice and tear with methodology born from desperation. Logos could barely move anymore and it wasn't just the result of Elissa's death cry, she was wrecking its body. It was the last thought it had to have antagonized the Godling.

With a mighty draconic roar Elissa tore Logos' head from its body with spine and vertebral tissues. Elissa let the head of Logos fall onto the ground, and began to stomp it, the effusion of blood coming from its body began to stain her body, almost drenching it totally. She continued until it was flatter than cookie paste.

When she was done she roared in victory, the sky flashed golden as lightning descended upon the underworlder’s body in rapid succession until it turned to cinder. Elissa’s body crumpled onto the ground all of a sudden.

“I just need a moment.” Elissa lay there, panting.

Reinatiel came into her field of view with a worried mien, Elissa smiled at her with relief. “I’m here mistress, I got you.”

Fenirael’s face appeared and she too was worried. “That was reckless, mistress!”

“My people were dying. By the way Reinatiel, please put everyone still alive and wounded in stasis.”

The demoness nodded and left. It was General Grejeon’s turn to appear in the young Queen’s field of view, she looked grateful and somewhat wary of Elissa.

“General… thanks for the save.” Elissa made a goofy smile.

Grudgingly the older woman smiled. “That is my duty…”

“I like you, now help me stand, please?” Elissa held her hand out to the elven general.

 

---

 

Ilyrana Grejeon had trained for one hundred-eighty years to become an excellent mage knight and rose through the ranks for three hundred years, to her people it was considered a meteoric rise. She became general and had been faithfully serving the Sharan royal clan of Thafnoris, until it was conquered by Elissa Dragonfang almost too easily.

She didn’t regret the decision of the now Duchess Alais, their people now had access to the surface. Work was already beginning in the Sharan Duchy that was ready to become a port city. Alais had advised Ilyrana to take care of their new ruler and that if she had to, to die for her…

The general took Elissa’s hand and helped her up, the sun elf thanked her and then started looking around. The devastation caused by her fight seemed to sadden her a lot, however she shrugged and began to use a cleaning spell on her body. The black blood was resistant to her attempts and Elissa had no choice but to wait for a solution from her handmaiden.

Ilyrana wanted to laugh but she contained herself, standing guard at the side of her ruler with the other demoness warrior who suddenly began to say, “It’s better to pray for a cleansing and bless the land to erase the taint from this underworld creature.”

“Huh?” The Queen was the same as Ilyrana, clueless about what the demoness was talking about.

Seeing that those two had no way of understanding what she meant, Fenirael began to explain. “Well, you see mistress, that type of being always leaves a mark where they were defeated.”

The young Queen scowled, her verdant gaze slightly glowing. “What is it with today? You all forget to tell me important stuff like this! You know, it’s going to be wench to clean my armor.”

Ilyrana was about to advise her Queen when she felt something strange coming from the sky. She looked up, her armor clanking as she moved and squinted her eyes as blinding light suddenly appeared; Ilyrana shielded her eyes with her gauntleted hand and saw a winged humanoid form slowly descend from the sky.

“When it rains, it pours.” Ilyrana heard Queen Elissa whisper as she called her spear back into her hand.

“Mistress please don’t attack preemptively yet.” The warrior demoness almost whined as she explained their rules of engagement to the already recuperating Queen.

She herself began to glow with a slight aura around herself as she grinned at the descending light in the sky.

“What do you mean? Look it’s one of those sissy angels, she even has her sword out.” The Queen turned her head to the warrior, still grinning.

“It’s true sister, she shouldn’t have come with her sword out!” Reinatiel was finally at everyone’s side, having finally put all the dead, wounded and even lightly wounded scouts and mage knights into the stasis sphere.

It sounded like there was some bad blood between angels and those two demons and Queen Dragonfang dismissed the worth of the being of pure light energy descending upon them. The angel didn’t land, hovering over them disdain in her blazing blue eyes; her hair was the shade of the Midgardian sun, she had a lean face and heart shaped lips, she also had the same body type as Elissa but less fully rounded breasts from the size of the breastplate armor she wore.

Her armor was some kind of black leotard with golden trim, and she wore silver pieces of armor that at least protected her, but on earth what she was wearing would be best described as a chainmail bikini.  Her sword was basically a blade of light that she channeled from an ornate pommel.

“Where is the fell beast? I see its blood on you.” The angel addressed them haughtily, not even bothering to introduce herself.

Queen Dragonfang snorted dismissively, Ilyrana found the winged-being rude for her lack of respect. Did she expect them to bow to her because she was a bit shiny?

“That’s right he isn’t here, angel. Maybe you should look at its charred remains there.” The Queen said confrontationally as she pointed a finger to different spots behind them.

Widening her eyes the angel looked toward the charred and diseased black spots behind the group. “You… slew it?”

“Is there a problem with that?” Ilyrana spoke, not comprehending the reaction of the female angel.

With a look of disbelief, the sun haired angel dismissed the notion that this wisp of a girl with those mere numbers could have taken down the legendary Logos. “Impossible, it took one platoon of mid-level seraphim to capture it! This is Logos, the butcher of Hanavaen!”

Elissa sneered at the hovering angel. “Seriously? It didn't sound so legendary when I gutted it; certainly with a lot of effort we killed it, but it couldn’t have been that tough. I pinned it down, and practiced vivisection on it before I tore its head off.”

The Angel's hand tightened on the pommel of her sword and exclaimed, “You lie! Where is it, if you don’t…”

Ilyrana felt the atmosphere getting colder when she saw Queen Dragonfang’s face become dark. If there’s one thing the general knew, it was that Queen Elissa Shaera Snow Phantasia Dragonfang was the most honorable elf she had the pleasure of meeting and serving.

“Ok, is it a fight that you want?” Reinatiel’s voice finally registered to the Angel’s senses as the demon priestess of Hekate revealed herself.

Said angel flinched when she felt the demoness appear, Ilyrana agreed with the being; the principal handmaidens of the Queen were too powerful and the nature of their being had shocked her. But what was the most shocking? They radiated holy power, something she would have thought impossible.

“Demon and an abyssal to boot.” Immeasurable anger could be felt from the angel, but Ilyrana didn’t feel impressed by her power, how couldn’t she feel that she was overmatched by her Queen? What was she doing antagonizing someone who bested a creature she confessed was too powerful for herself and her people?

The angel pointed her sword at the Queen. “You, Elf. You consort with demons!”

Ilyrana guessed right, this angel was suicidal. The same evil smile the Queen had when she asked Duchess Alais to kneel was splattered on her face. It promised violence, and pain and she would enjoy inflicting them.

Queen Dragonfang cracked her neck. It popped loudly enough for Ilyrana to hear. “Does that mean we can finally fight? I always wanted to fight against one of you just to see if you were all the sissies my matriarch said that you were.”

The Queen made a sign to Ilyrana and the others to step back, they all reluctantly obeyed. They knew she was exhausted and wounded but she looked less so by the minute.

“Then I will give you what you truly desire! A messy death!” The angel didn’t land.

“Come then, useless bird.” The Queen made a ‘come hither’ sign with her hand, her smile mocking.

“I will make you regret those words.” The aura around the angel blazed, her blade blazed with white fire and she leaped toward Queen Dragonfang who still hadn't moved.

When the two clashed, only shockwaves could be felt and Ilyana, the mage knights, the scouts and the handmaiden shielded their eyes from the light and dust. When the light dissipated, Queen Dragonfang held the hand of the angel holding the sword. She tried to struggle but the Queen made her lose the sword that planted itself in the ground. Ilyrana found it funny and allowed herself a thin smile while the handmaiden began to laugh.

“Is that all?” The Queen said as she looked the angel in the eyes. The angel was about to say something when the Queen delivered a front kick at the angel’s solar plexus who flew like a sack of potatoes and crashed onto the ground.

Her armor had shattered on impact, Ilyrana asked herself how her liege had done it. She never wanted to have to fight her, at Thafnoris she could have been in the same position as that angel.

The Queen didn’t so much move as flow toward her foe; her form basically blurring. As she stopped by the angel coughing glowing white blood, she said, “Pathetic.”

She let the angel stand, waiting for her to continue.

“I won’t be defeated by a demon worshi-” As she stood up with difficulty, Ilyrana found it interesting to see the angel’s determination.

If she wasn’t suicidal, inattentive and totally crazy Ilyrana could have appreciated her. Queen Dragonfang interrupted the angel by saying something, just a word but Ilyrana couldn’t hear it as it was beyond the range of her hearing or the Queen protected her group from the effects of her sound manipulation ability.

The angel stopped moving, she stood there like a statue, not attacking anymore.

“Do you understand your mistake now?” Queen Dragonfang wench-slapped the angel sending her careening further in the crater’s wall.

Ilyrana had never seen such a stinging blow delivered to someone in battle, it looked rather humiliating to her. The angel’s eyes were defiant, her cheek swollen and a lot of blood oozed from her mouth.

The young Queen didn’t seem to like the way this angel looked at her. “It seems not.”

Storing Gungnir in her storage device, Queen Elissa made Gram appear from somewhere in her hand. Ilyrana was interested in knowing how her liege had obtained such a weapon, it was a beautiful and powerful tool. The Queen was about to strike down her hated enemy when thunder rumbled and light shone down onto the Queen’s face for a moment.

For a time nothing moved, the angel was breathing heavily and everyone stood back from the divine like scene. The Queen lowered her face and looked directly at the winged woman, “Huh, it seems that my patron Goddess doesn’t want me to end you.”

And then she shot her with one of her beams of ice, turning her into a big block of solid ice. Queen Elissa turned to Ilayria’s group and made a sign to join her.

“What’s going to happen now?” Ilyrana never had such adventures before, destroying a goblin city, taking a nexus and destroying invaders...

Reinatiel laughed at Ilyrana and patted her on the left pauldron. “We never know with mistress. Ok, go with her, keep her out of trouble; I’m going to cleanse this place of the underworlder’s taint.”

Ilyrana nodded to the demon priestess and walked to her liege, followed by the remaining troops she had. She looked back and watched as Reinatiel released her aura and suddenly the entire place was filled with golden light.

 

---

 

Majestic Temple
16:00 PM

She was lugging the sorry excuse of an angel that she had encased in ice with her cryokinesis. The fight had been lackluster, and a waste of her time, the angel unable to gauge the strength of her foes. Her armor was pristine, it had taken time to get all the black blood out of it, but thanks to Reinatiel it completely disappeared.

Elissa put the block of ice containing the angel before Hekate’s statue and with just a bit of exertion of her will the ice melted and the angel was on the ground, unconscious. She wasn’t dead per say, just seemingly so. A faint heart beat could be heard, and with her enhanced senses; Elissa could. Using her cryokinesis, Elissa manifested an altar that slowly grew under the angel’s body.

The demigoddess slowly knelt and began praying and slowly the statue of the beautiful but dangerous elder goddess came to life.

“You did it, daughter! You found a new messenger for me.” Hekate smiled enthusiastically.

Elissa stared down at the weak angel, then at her ancient progenitor. “Are you sure that she is what you want, mother Hekate? I mean she is weak.”

Elissa remembered how easy it had been to deal with the winged woman, the strength of her blow and the pressure of her aura. It had all been so… underwhelming. The soft blue and white lights of the temple’s interior water crystals lit her face where a pensive expression was etched.

Hekate chuckled, the girl was so obviously biased. “It’s normal, child. The god who created her didn’t give her much holy energy to make her truly dangerous. Some angels can be difficult to deal with...”

The goddess walked to the altar and began to do something to the angel, golden light bathing the useless being. The angel's bright wings, blonde hair and sun kissed skin gradually turning black. Elissa understood that Hekate was taking away the power the other deity had gifted this angel, basically turning her into a fallen.

But Elissa became blind to such an act, she didn’t care about angels. “Angels are sissies.” She said yet again, like Malicia taught her. They were not worthy of their powers, they often became too zealous and arrogant and created more problems than they resolved.

Hekate continued the process of pulling out the weak divine power saturating this angel; but she found the time to reprimand her champion. “Don’t be a bigot, Elissa. I see that Malicia gave you bad habits.”

Elissa wisely didn’t retorte. Hekate bringing the subject of Malicia up made Elissa think about her adoptive mother. She was getting worried about what Tesla had told her about what was happening to her. She was loath to interrupt her goddess but she just had to know. “Hum, mother Hekate. About mom, is she okay?”

Hekate’s eyes didn’t leave the angel’s body even once, the process was almost complete; the angel was turning pale and soon she would have another tool to further her will.

Nethertheless, she was amenable to discussing her arch priestess with her granddaughter. “Lord Tesla told you what’s happening, she’s worrying. However, Elissa, don’t pity her; she has been getting impudent lately, she needs some time to get herself situated.”

Hekate was still seething about how dangerous Elissa’s previous situation had been, Malicia could have handled it better. They were losing time, Daphne would be able to hold on for just two years before she would get done in by the endless waves of the demon fist army. Closing the portal to the abyss on Phantasia was a priority and the next quest she would give her champion would help her in that.

The next step of her journey would soon bring her to the realm of the Aesirs; nonetheless she wasn’t ready yet. *Giving her the chains wasn’t enough, she will be looked at with suspicion once she goes there, because of her Jotun ancestry.*

Hekate had added the ice giant’s inherent immunity to cold to the Snow bloodline thousands of years ago on a whim, but now it was coming to bite them in the ass. She briefly looked at Elissa whose aura showed how depressed she had become at the thought of her fool adoptive mother’s health.

“When can I see her again?” Elissa slowly stood up with hope in her eyes.

Hekate shook her head. “Focus on your impending wedding, Elissa.” The goddess advised, she knew that the trinity had to be completed as soon as possible for their powers to finally be what it was supposed to be. It couldn’t be delayed anymore.

Still, Hekate gave Elissa what she wanted, “Malicia will come to you when she’s ready.”

*Sooner than you’ll realize, Elissa and not in the way you expect.* Hekate said to herself.

Elissa’s full lips arced into a radiant smile. “Thank you. I love her, but I agree that she can be a tad too smothering.”

Her earnest love and hope evoked guilt in the goddess for her subtle manipulation and scheme she was going to wrap her descendant in. But she knew that things would be better between Malicia and Elissa in the long run; family couldn’t be broken that easily.

Hekate was finally done with taking away the angel’s power, she waved at her and she simply disappeared from the altar in a shower of light. Looking up at Elissa who smiled at the angel’s dismissal Hekate began to say, “Let’s change the subject, I have a reward for having brought me such a perfect specimen.”

Elissa’s face scrunched up, she didn’t feel like accepting anything. “I don’t think I deserve it, I kinda stole your artefact. I really don’t like it by the way it attempted to control me.”

And that was the main reason. Elissa knew divine artefacts could be quirky. She had been enamored with Gungnir and Gram, but she had never had a brush with the likes of Enkidu before. The weapon felt bitter and cold, spoiling the experience of wielding it.

Hekate guessed at the young woman's real reasons, “You need to bind Enkidu to yourself and make it obey. But you are also wrong, Elissa you deserve a reward.”

Hekate put her giant hands on Elissa’s shoulder, her thumb on her neck and a necklace was suddenly around it. The golden elf glamour disappeared letting her true self show. In place of the enchanted choker-necklace Malicia had given her was a round necklace amulet made of shiny almost white etherium engraved in nordic knots with a  green stone in the middle.

The power coming from it almost burned her skin as it was instantly bonding with her, this was an artefact on par with Gram and Elissa couldn’t even decipher the enchantment on it. No, it was more likely that it was made of multiple layers of enchantment powered by the stone at its center.

“W-what is this?” Elissa looked entranced at the piece of jewelry around her neck, touching it with her armored fingers.

“The Amulet of Semblance.” Hekate put a knee on the ground to lower herself to eye level with her champion.

“What does it do?” The chain around the amulet clinked, it was cool to the touch.

Hekate began to explain the effects of the amulet while putting certain protections on Elissa who wasn’t aware of what the goddess was doing. “It gives you the power of transforming and reshaping yourself down to your genetic and cellular structure. With this, you can now impersonate any humanoid race whose genetic material you have loaded it with. Dwarf, Elf, Human, Aesir, Valkyrie, Demon or… Angel.”

Elissa scowled, adopting a defiant pose as she put her hands on her hips. “I don’t want to look like one of those sissies, but I guess I can finally become the demoness I always wanted to be! How can I use it?” She said trembling with excitement.

Hekate chuckled, patting Elissa’s head. “It is bonded to you now, will it to change your form.”

The young woman began to think, it will not only change her appearance but her DNA somehow, she will genuinely be what she transforms into. There was only one thing stopping the young woman from immediately using the artefact at her neck. “Hum, will I keep my powers and abilities?”

With a nod, Hekate put Elissa’s fears to rest. “Yes, it doesn’t interfere with your bloodlines and innate abilities. You can keep your ancient human traits.”

The platinum blonde looked at this completely rule breaking amulet and vowed to never take it off. “That’s Overpowered…”

“And you can use it on other people.” Hekate with a conspiratorial tone.

Mouth agape, Elissa stared in shock at Hekate who laughed at her expression.

Elissa closed her mouth, suddenly finding the weight around her neck heavy. “Ok, now that’s a bit too much! Are you sure no one will try to kill me for it? It sounds like the perfect infiltration tool.”

Hekate flicked Elissa’s forehead. “Why would you want to advertise that you have such a powerful artefact?”

Holding onto her forehead painfully, the young woman lowered her eyes. “Sorry.” she really felt stupid.

Of course, she wouldn’t advertise that she was in possession of such a powerful thing. People studied for centuries before being able to shapeshift into dragons or other races. *Wars were started for much less.*

Hekate let go of Elissa and returned to her pedestal. Turning to her champion she decided to instruct her. “The amulet, it’s bonded to you. However, if you ever die it will just return to me. Now use it to become an elf.”

Elissa kept silent, and willed herself to become a golden elf. A green light emitted from the amulet's jewel and it wrapped around Elissa, who felt her body being invaded by an extremely potent magic that changed her. Thanks to her biomancy she could see how her DNA was altered, her bones and organs adapted to the template this strange enchantment pushed on her. For a nondescript length of time the change happened, making Elissa what she requested of the artefact.

Finally, the cocoon of light she was encased in released her and Elissa took off her armor as Hekate conjured a floor length mirror out of still water reflecting her body.

Elissa touched her breasts, passed a hand on her solid abs. “This is really me? But I see no change from the glamour enchantment I wore previously.”

Hekate laughed, she didn't know what Elissa expected. “Of course there’s no change. Both of the enchantments show what you would look like as a sun elf. And you are wrong, something changed, the sensitivity of your senses should have doubled in this form, it’s just that your control training is carrying over as a sun elf.”

“I see, huh my balance changed too.” She had a prodigious sense of balance before, but in this form she felt that she could do a handstand on a razor’s edge.

Elissa looked up at Hekate’s statue, but she was already gone. The statue was back to normal. She shrugged and decided to change clothes and go see her friends.

 

---

 

Aryther
The Citadel
Training grounds
30 minutes later...

Elissa walked through the Citadel. Earth bender dwarves had already started working on the spire of power that would function as her palace. They were putting down the foundations and building the sewers that would also serve as a water treatment plant. This was possible thanks to enchantments she had obtained from Sanctum and Elissa had given the dwarves the enchantments and ward matrices to succeed.

The young Queen intended to help them raise the crystal spire that would help regulate the wild magic in and defenses of the pocket plane she now owned. On the schematics she had given to the architect it was modelled after the first Palace of the Snow Duchy before they became an imperial family. Elissa couldn’t wait for the work to be done on it so she could install herself there.

The temple was also under construction, Elissa wanted to make Hekate’s cult the official religion of her Queendom; but still acknowledged Nodicea, the Dark Elven deity and Holaf, the Dwarven one. Medium temples would be built and dedicated to those deities in Queen’s Rise.

In her head, Elissa could already see the majestic walls, the waterways, the crystal spire and palace around it and the royal library. It was like out of a movie and she hoped to bring her vision to life. Elissa finally arrived at the training grounds. Around the football sized fields, barracks and an armory had been built.

Elissa chose to observe the field from the shaded stands for people to observe the elven knights and guards training. She finally spotted her friends being taught how to wield swords or run circuits around the field; Tabitha was absent though, and Elissa wanted her friend to give her an account of her apprenticeship with her teacher in the temporally accelerated realm.

A fight broke out all of a sudden or was it sparring? Elissa watched as Danny was fighting Donovan hand to hand. The muscular black boy took every punch and kick, the lithe blonde girl dished out. Donovan was a kinetic and energy absorber, everything made him stronger, faster and more resilient. Elissa understood that the boy accepted being his girlfriend’s punching bag.

*Love makes people crazy.* Elissa chuckled as she saw Danny’s electricity boosted punch being caught in the black boy’s hand.

Carolyn and Emilia were flying in the sky fighting, telekinetic constructs and waves of force crashing against each other’s shields. Jamie was sitting cross legged on a flat rock, meditating; the mage knight commander supervising her magical training, it had been yesterday morning that everyone got their mana core unsealed if Elissa remembered correctly.

Jamie was a wind mage, it suited her and she took to her training like a duck to water. Incidentally making her and Erika the most advanced students in their magical education. Elissa nodded as she was satisfied with her friends' enthusiasm and left the stands to mingle among them.

Everyone began to stop what they were doing as Elissa strode toward her friends. Carolyn and Emilia landed at Jamie's side, disturbing her meditation; as she opened her eyes the petite black girl saw that Elissa was finally free to see them. Danny ran toward her friend at lightning speed, ran circles around her and jumped on her back.

Fortunately, Elissa was wearing a leather training armor comparable to the first outfit she had arrived on Svartalfheim in: arachne silk shirt, drake leather pants, high boots and corset with Gram strapped at her hip.

“Hey, Danny girl.” Elissa put a hand on Danny’s who held onto her shoulders.

Danny kissed Elissa’s cheek and slapped her bottom. “Elissa, giddy up! To Jamie!” The blonde pointed at their friends who laughed at them.

Elissa shook her head with a smile plastered on her face, she used her martial art’s flowing step and in one instant they were before their friends.

Danny gasped, her electric blue eyes wide. “Elissa teach me how to move like that!”

Elissa shrugged. “Sure, you finally got mana so you can do it too.”

In a shower of golden and red light Cassandra appeared at Elissa’s side and scowled as she saw Danny still perched on her sister. Danny noticed and slowly got off; she knew how scary that little redhead could be. And as usual Elissa’s little sister glomp-tackled her and kissed her on the cheek.

“I felt you connect the realm! This was so awesome!” Cassandra patted her sister on the head and hugged her.

Elissa didn’t move, knowing that trying to resist the little girl was futile and let her show her affection. “It was difficult, it almost made me faint.”

It had been the most difficult thing Elissa had done to date, it was like building a rope bridge over an abyss to the other side thousands of kilometers away. The complex calculations and exercise of mana control almost made Elissa fail. If she had, she would be down for the count because of the mana backlash. 

Cassandra laughed at her big sister, slapping her arm slightly. “Of course it was silly, why do you think you need a circle for that kind of grand working?”

The two sisters began to speak eagerly about magic, nodes and rituals. Erika, Jamie and Emilia rolled their eyes at the two sisters, not understanding anything as they were talking about things that went way over their heads.

“Look at them talking shop, I can't believe the maturity of this little girl.” Carolyn told everyone as she smiled at the young redhead.

Having heard her, Cassandra got off Elissa and placed herself before Carolyn, crossed her arms sullenly and stomped the ground which cracked with a shower of shards and dirt. “I am not little! I am nine years old now!”

Elissa flinched. “I missed your birthday…” She said under her breath.

“Hey, let’s organize a feast to celebrate your birthday?” The young Queen offered.

It wouldn’t take overly long to do something in the mead hall with all the Lutrinian and elves.

“Huh, but I already had a party…” Cassandra protested.

“Only with mom and dad, I am sure.” Elissa rolled her eyes, these were the private parties her mom liked and gave speeches at.

Elissa sent the instructions to ZHAER who decided to be as efficient as possible and commissioned the kitchens in Dragon Fall Tower. 

With that done, Elissa proceeded to have a spar with Danny. No power, abilities or magic. Just their bodies, Elissa’s base stats were higher than Danny’s so it took one leap and some grappling for Elissa to win. Danny decided to stop trying to use brute force and to use strategy against Elissa instead.

But before she could enact her plan, a shadow covered the sky and the field. Elissa looked up, her eyes widened and with super speed brought Danny out of the way of the landing rainbow dragoness and placed herself at her friends’ side. The dragoness roared, Elissa cast a protective shield that protected her and everyone from the spittle being sent their way.

As the dragoness created a backdraft by displacing air by folding her wings, Elissa glared at Gadhiss’ youngest and said, <What do you want Spectra?>

Everyone had stopped moving and looked on as the sun’s rays made the dragoness’ scales glimmer. It was like looking at a prism, some were almost blinded by this phenomenon.

Spectra’s big eyes laser focused on Elissa. <Fight me! I will prove to mother once and for all that I am strong!>

“Seriously, now?” Elissa wondered if the Norns had something against her, problems seemed to come to her.

*I just wanted some time with my friends and sister!* She whined internally.

<How is a fight going to prove that?> Elissa asked the question that everyone wanted to know the answer to.

Elissa rolled her eyes. *Why do dragons always want to fight me?* 

Cassandra placed a hand in her sister’s. Hearing another flap of wings, everyone watched as Gadhiss swooped down in her humanoid form. She landed lightly and folded her wings behind her, gold and black hair billowing in the breeze. Her golden and black scale mail armor was as shiny as Spectra’s scales.

<Hatchlings, I see that you are all training. Sorry for the disturbance, but Spectra was being lazy again. She needs exercise.> There was no apologies in her tone, just a smug and amused one that made Elissa and Cassandra cringe.

Gadhiss could be about as subtle as a flame strike spell.

*I see another problem aunt Gadhiss has foisted upon me… Dragons are bullies! But what’s worse is that aunt Gadhiss thinks of me as if I was one of her brood and organizes things like this. I know that in a certain way she’s doing it to protect me.* Then Elissa froze realizing something. *I see, this is the same situation between me and Malicia. The mother figures in my life seem to like making decisions for me.*

"Eli, I know you can beat her!" Cassandra slapped her sister’s rear.

The young Queen saw all the gazes pointed at her, mainly her friends and mage knights who were suddenly interested by what such a fight could show them.

“Cassandra, don’t encourage your sister into such foolishness. I know she beat a dragon already, two if you count the demon dragon… but such a fight could be devastating for this place.” Erika said aloud as she stepped forward.

<The mortal has a point, maybe you should relocate this fight onto one of those islands I saw from afar.> Gadhiss helpfully pointed.

Danny glared at the gold dragoness, but found herself lowering her eyes after remembering that doing so to a dragon was seen as a challenge and she didn’t want to get punted into orbit by Gadhiss. When she looked up again she saw the dragoness giving her a toothy grin, mocking her. It infuriated the blond girl.

Elissa put herself between Danny and her godmother, not wanting to take chances that another fight could break out. It would be disastrous for her superhuman friend. <I accept, we will do this on the closest deserted island, Sharan port is a no go though. I will put protection around it.>

<Fine.> Intervened Spectra who propelled herself into the sky.

Elissa scowled at the disrespect and aloud commanded, “ZHAER, call Ocima and get yourself here we have a dragon's ass to kick.”

Gadhiss was full of glee, her tail wagged left and right in anticipation. It was ten minutes later when the Weatherlight arrived, hovered above the Citadel and teleported everyone aboard even the mage knights and soldiers as they requested to be present for this confrontation. They stayed on the main deck, marveling at the view of being in the sky and watching the landscape quickly pass under them.

One hundred kilometers later, they arrived at a little rocky island with a grass plain in the middle. It was the perfect location for Elissa and Spectra was already there, waiting.

“No Gram or Spear. Only magic, then?” Elissa looked in her personal space and wavered between taking a focused bracelet, a wand or a staff.

In the end she chooses the bracelet, unconsciously mimicking Malicia’s style. It was silver and made of mithril with a finely cut ocean blue gem in the middle, the nordic knots etched in the metal making it a fine piece of practical jewelry. It was a gift from those traders who wanted to have a place in Queen’s Rise, they told her it came from one the most famous master smiths from Asgard.

Elissa hadn’t cared at the time, but now that she had this around her wrist she felt her mana sing and understood why her mother used it.

“Amplification runes are etched somewhere but I see nothing. What’s their secret?” Elissa had another trunk full of these and decided that she would distribute them to her friends and vassals.

She handed one to Cassandra, it fitted her arm automatically, Elissa was surprised by the number of enchantments on the focus. Even Phantasia didn't have such things, it made her determined to know their secrets. The Weatherlight stopped ten kilometers away from the island and its scrying systems were focused on the purple grass plain. The crew and passengers looked on as Elissa manifested her blue wings and left the main deck to have her confrontation with yet another dragon.

In barely twenty seconds, Elissa reached the location for her face off, layered all the types of shields she knew of -kinetic, energy, mana, exotic particles, force- and hovered over the ground facing a scowling dragoness. 

<Magic, I see no weapons. Are you underestimating me?> The dragoness’ ire rose, knowing Elissa was a good swordswoman and didn’t see her usual sword in her hand.

Elissa cracked her knuckles and smiled. <Not at all, you are not a physical fighter so I decided to beat you in your own field.>

<Presumptuous!> This was when their duel started. Spectra’s body shone, blinding everyone. 

Fortunately, Elissa’s shield went opaque as the bright light dimmed for her and she leaped toward the shiny dragoness feet first to smash her head. However, she missed as Spectra’s serpentine head moved. The dragoness suddenly moved and whipped Elissa with her tail, sending her flying into the sky.

Spectra didn’t let up, and started charging her breath weapon, as Elissa bled her momentum to straighten herself she barely had time to see what the dragoness was doing. Spectra  fired a beam of colored light from her mouth, Elissa’s eyes widened and she hastily raised four magical force-fields in the air before her. The beam was powerful enough to take out a regular army and disintegrate them, but it was slowed and held back by the force-field, the first didn’t hold the attack, the second did a better job but disappeared five second later and two others held on until the energy, heat and light was dispersed.

Spectra was ecstatic, she had first blood! The hatchling couldn’t hold a candle to her- Elissa suddenly appeared on top of her and held onto her dorsal spikes. 

<You survived that?!> It was not that the dragoness wanted her dead, but she had hoped to at least wound or maim Elissa.

Spectra began to feel really cold all of a sudden. A maelstrom of wind formed around them and the temperature lowered little by little. Spectra understood what Elissa was trying to do and rolled on her back to dislodge the impudent hatchling who was trying to turn her into a popsicle. Elissa jumped, and kicked the dragoness on the side of her head with aura charged feet able to destroy castle walls.

Spectra roared in pain, blood splattering on the ground. She tried to catch Elissa with her clawed hand; the young Queen disappeared in a shower of sparks and reappeared under the dragoness’ belly and punched her hard enough to lift her into the air. The temperature continued to fall, though it was still manageable for Spectra who decided to gain some distance and flew higher in the sky.

Elissa squinted at the dragoness, decided to end this and let her mana and elemental affinities imbue her body entering her magic embodiment state that was somehow boosted by the presence of her elementals’ contracts. Everything froze around Elissa as she brought winter early, for once she didn’t let the storm domain open but used her own power instead of her patron goddess’.

The storm clouds forming were entirely natural and took time to form compared to the ones from Hekate’s domain but they did the job. The sun’s rays were obfuscated by the dark cloud, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed; a slight drizzle of rain began to fall. Spectra looked at Elissa with apprehension as the hatchling inadvertently cut half the source of her ability. Her laser breath depended on the sun’s rays.

Three balls of multicolored light appeared at the dragoness’ side and she fired them at Elissa, they turned into laser beams. Elissa jumped out of the way, but to her horror the light beams arced and followed her, she deployed her wings and flew, creating solid ice constructs to come in the way of that damned spell.

The beams avoided them and continued to pursue her; Spectra controlled those from afar as she watched Elissa move. However, she panicked when Elissa flew at high speed zigzagging toward her.

“Winter Sphere.” Elissa chanted aloud. 

And at least five spheres the size of a meteorological balloon rocketed toward the dragoness, three missed, but two caught her on her torso and and left wing. Too swiftly she was encased in a ice block that began to leech her mana and the dragoness fell onto the ground. The ice didn’t shatter.

As Elissa didn’t want to kill her, she didn’t turn Spectra into an ice statue but she continued to leech the dragon’s magic and kept her in a cryogenic sleep. This was the amalgamation of her healing, ice and neutral magic synergizing.

Not too trusting, Elissa kept the weather stormy for another five minutes to be sure that the dragoness didn’t escape her ice prison. The storm clouds dissipated as Elissa saw Gadhiss descend from the sky and land, the snow crunching under-foot as she walked toward the block of ice her daughter was imprisoned in. The Dragon Matriarch began to examine the magic and flicked it with a finger, the impact was powerful enough to shatter it.

Elissa wasn’t surprised, Gadhiss was stronger than Malicia after all. As the ice fell down, Spectra’s unconscious body automatically reverted to her humanoid form and Gadhiss caught her in her arms.

<You won, Elissa. But, she was the weakest of my brood. Nersis, would have killed you without you being aware of it. You better grow stronger than this, you still fight like a hatchling.> Was the assessment of the dragon matriarch.

She felt that there was a lot of improvement Elissa could work on.

Elissa sighed. <Why do I feel that even if I won, I lost?>

<That’s a mother’s skill, hatchling.> Gadhiss gave her a toothy grin, then she flew into the sky with her daughter in her arms.

 

---

 

Aboard the Weatherlight…

Everyone watched with fascination as Elissa defeated the rainbow dragoness and encased her in ice. Tabitha frowned, her claws out and sticking to the prow of the skyship; Elissa was strong, but to her who had been fighting and training against an Inshek master… it was as if her friend was static. She barely used Inshek in her fight, in the temporally accelerated realm her master had had her fight against lesser dragons for months by throwing her into a forest without tools.

She had suffered, she had bled and cried; she had become stronger as she had become the biggest predator in the realm she had been thrown into.

Tabitha needed to know why Elissa didn’t use the techniques she herself had taught her, this couldn’t go on. She jumped from the skyship, using her aura to create a platform in the air and used it to gain forward momentum and sped toward the center of the island.

Tabitha ran through the sky, using her air platforms to perform 3 Dimensional maneuvers; the catgirl flashed to the plains and landed at Elissa’s side. It took her thirty seconds, certainly worse than Elissa who had directly flown there.

“Hi.” Tabitha gave her friend a smile full of teeth.

Elissa frowned as she saw her friend turned familiar. “Tabs?”

She nodded, took a combat stance and her claws slowly grew with red aura covering them. “Now it’s my turn, here comes a new challenger!”

“Huh?”

The cat girl wasn’t there anymore and Elissa felt air displacing behind her and lowered herself, avoiding a hand full of aura claws that tore the space her torso had been in. Elissa unleashed a back kick at super speed but Tabitha escaped with a back-flip by twisting in the air and landing on her feet.

“What’s gotten into you?” Elissa asked as she took her long ponytail in her hand and saw that it was damaged at its ends.

She glared at the catgirl for that.

Tabitha lifted her chin, opened her arms wide and said, “Fight me, Elissa.”

A red haze of mana burned around her as she released her battle aura that reached the sky. Elissa had never expected her friend to be this strong, she reminded her of what Xara could do. Though her friend’s intentions escaped her, Tabitha wasn’t a confrontational person normally.

“Why?” The young Queen asked as she released her own battle aura that flowed more violently than Tabitha’s.

The cat girl saw how Elissa’s control of her aura was lackluster. “I just want to open your eyes to your situation.”

The cat girl could already see how Elissa would attack as she took a really basic inshek stance geared more toward defense than attack. Inshek was an offensive martial art, attack and defense was one and the same.

Elissa growled. “Fine, I will kick your ass too.”

The catgirl laughed. “You wish.”

Tabitha flowed to her, Elissa didn’t even see a blur. The catgirl broke her guard and then Elissa was lifted in the sky as she hit her with a front kick. Jumping into the air, the catgirl used her 3 dimensional maneuvers to launch herself into the sky, passed Elissa and then used another air platform to kick Elissa with her feet. The operation continued for another minute as Tabitha played ping pong with Elissa in the sky until she let the platinum blonde crash in the plain of purple grass creating a crater.

Tabitha stood in the air, aloft thanks to her air platform; she held her arm before her and soundlessly cast a fire blast spell, a cone of white flames flew toward Elissa and hit her hastily raised shield. The catgirl smiled her aura flaring in blue flame around herself and she launched herself at Elissa and fell like a blue meteor toward the ground, performing an axe kick that completely shattered Elissa’s shield.

The noise of broken glass rang and announced the defeat of the young Queen as the catgirl continued to strike her with a reverse wheel kick that first took her on the face with the high kick and shattered her ribs with the middle kick and made her fall on the ground with the successive low kick.

Elissa still tried to struggle and take Tabitha in grappling on the ground, but the catgirl was too swift and agile and simply sauntered away, zipped around and punched and used her elbows. Drawing blood. Until an elbow strike on her skull made Elissa lose consciousness and fall on the ground in a heap.

“Hey, are you playing dead?” Tabitha asked as she touched Elissa with her naked feet. “Eh, what the fuck, I won.”

Tabitha sat at her friend’s side and waited for the others to arrive; it was five minutes later that Elissa woke up and looked around frantically while panting. She was already regenerating from her wounds.

“Hey, Eli.” Tabitha shook her friend for her to pay attention.

Elissa sat upright. “Tabs, what the…” She cringed as her ribs were still not knitted back together and laid back again.

Tabitha looked at her seriously. “So now do you understand?”

“Understand what?” Elissa seemed lost, pain everywhere clouded her train of thought.

“That you are still weak, you became strong ok? But well, you use brute force and no finesse to beat your opponents. You have Inshek but barely use it. I mastered it, it took me two years and I didn’t need any fancy spells to take you down. You could have done the same with the dragons.” Tabitha’s harsh tone made Elissa think about all those points she enunciated.

Tabitha had been fast, powerful and didn’t let her breathe for one second and took her down as if she was nothing. The platinum blonde didn’t know what to think, she had been getting a big head about this planet being too easy and now reality decided to show her what murphy’s law was about.

“Are you kidding? How did you get so strong?” Elissa still couldn’t believe her friend had dismantled her like a novice.

A smug grin appeared on Tabitha’s face. “I tell you, Master Tempest, that guy is a monster; he surely could have taken that golden dragoness from earlier. So, are you going to take this seriously? I mean your training.”

“I… will you help me?” Elissa asked, there was a plea in this sentence.

Elissa didn’t like being helpless, now Tabitha was stronger than her. This was a sign that things were sure to be difficult in the future. The young Queen resolved that she was going to study Inshek more intensively by using her genetic memories and practice with Tabitha who, now that she was stronger, could take her.

“That’s my job now, I will show you the way.” Tabitha placed a hand on her friend’s cheek.

Elissa made a self-deprecating laugh, trying to move as her ribs were killing her. “How fun, our roles are now inversed.”

“Life is a bitch like that.” Tabitha said as she patted Elissa’s cheek.

Elissa thought about what Tabitha just said, it basically boiled down to become strong or die. Being played with by her familiar catgirl broke her confidence, she accepted that she was weak, for now. Like Einstein said, ‘Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.’ So she accepted her condition, but tomorrow was another day where she can train and become stronger.

“Eli!” Cassandra teleported and threw herself at her sister who grunted in pain as she touched her. 

Elissa held onto her sister who began to cast the lone healing spell she knew on her. Elissa couldn’t focus enough to use her own healing abilities. “I am ok, Cassie but I am a little bit tender right now.”

Tabitha snorted as she looked at how soft and coddled her friend was. “Eh, that’s nothing compared to what happened to me, Elissa.”

Cassandra glared at the catgirl. “Tabi why are you so mean?” She whined.

Cassandra and Tabitha were friends, simply because the little girl was a good cuddler. From those two’s interactions, Elissa felt that she would have to take charge of cuddling and ear scratching duty.

Tabitha shrugged, her voice even. “Just showing Elissa she isn’t the top dog and that she should get stronger to stop getting hurt.”

Cassandra blinked three times, then nodded. “Oh, just like mom would. Ok.” And she returned to caring for her big sister.

Tabitha stared unblinkingly at the two sisters; one moment the little one was glowering at her for hurting her sister, and in another she was agreeing with the way she dealt with Elissa.

“You two girls… had a really strange upbringing.”

The mage knights and guards teleported with a first aid kit, followed by Danny and the others. Everyone became wary of Tabitha as she was the new top kitty in the food chain, for now. Elissa was loaded into the Weatherlight and hauled off to Dragon Fall Tower for the healing bed.

After these training sessions and duels, more attention was shown to the Storm Queen Elissa Dragonfang and her friends who were full of potential it seemed. The next day, Elissa was up and about and she began to ignore most affairs of state and dropped them in Reinatiel’s and Aeruirn’s laps to begin the preparations of her wedding to Dawn and an intense bout of training.

 

---

 

Elissa still took her promises seriously, the first round of crippled and ill dwarves were ushered into the treatment centers in the second level of Queen’s Rise. The regenerative tanks were used around the clock as it took care of everyone who was considered a critical case. The low priority and benignly wounded or disabled only needed potions and a touch from Elissa.

On the training front, brutality, that was what what happened between Elissa and Tabitha could be called. Those two were reviewing the basics of their martial art for Elissa who had been immersing herself deeper in her ancestors’ memories and sparring with the catgirl to make the lessons, experience and skills stick. Elissa always returned to the brig on the Weatherlight with a clawed face or body; Tabitha’s aura claws were a real hazard for clothes and they resorted in fighting in sport bras and sport shorts.

The wedding preparations went full swing when Elissa asked Kiomdra to help her, Matriarch Zerloth didn’t refuse even though she was busy culling the population of magic beasts in the territory alloted to her.

Meanwhile, Elissa was finally ready to start the reawakening process; she was happy to have developed the method. Put the subject under and in a mana and nature energy conductive solution, combine the mana core with the spiritual body, wait and voila. You have an awakened comparable to an ancient human.

However, writing what should be enhanced in the spell code of the vats that would house the subjects hadn’t been easy, but Elissa pulled through by cheating with ZHAER and Sanctum reviewing her spellwork. The cosmic energy generator and the wild mana collector were not difficult to come up with as it was a technology already developed by Phantasia eons ago.

It was the fourth day and Dicinna and Dawn were almost out of the brig, Elissa related everything that was happening to them. They also participated in the wedding preparations, ZHAER had already taken into account that Dawn would want her wedding dress to fit her tastes. Dawn refused to tell Elissa what it looked like and wanted to surprise her.

Eighth day of the 3rd month, the day finally came for all her friends to enter the awakening tanks as she called them.

“Are you sure that it’s safe, Eli?” Danny looked with apprehension at the white room with the crystal like tubes mounted on pedestals.

Elissa rolled her eyes. “Erika, please tell Danny that she’s going to be ok.”

Danny, like the others present, wore a white tight top and matching shorts, those clothes were spelled to be mana conductive.

“She’s right, you know?” The other blonde girl told her.

Erika was trembling with anticipation, this was what she wanted! A power boost and a way to be part of something, a cause. Helping Elissa get her planet back was just the beginning, she knew it.

Clapping to gather their attention, Elissa began to address everyone. “Ok, everyone. I want you to hop into the tubes, when it’s going to fill with the conductive solution, don’t panic! You aren’t going to drown, you’ll be able to breath, though your lunges are going to empty themselves of air. Fortunately I made the crystal tube able to resist a full blow from my punch, so you won’t be able to crack them.”

Elissa continued to speak about safety, never realizing that she was scaring her friends instead. Everyone tentatively entered the crystal tubes, they panicked when they closed and viscous blue liquid began to fill them from the bottom.

“Don’t worry, everything will be okay.” Elissa said as the solution reached up to their heads.

Jamie began to panic and hit the inside of the tube, the others kept trying to hold their breath but couldn’t hold more than five minutes. When they stopped, Elissa watched as they swallowed the solution and she began the complex activation spell of the awakening chambers, a magical circle on the ground shimmered with a blue glow. Cabalistic, Greek and Norse runes flowed in the circle, never stopping their movements clockwise.

Elissa felt when the wild mana was being collected from the atmosphere to Dragon Fang Tower, the cosmic energy generator powered up and introduced those two energies at the same time into the crystal tube. The young Queen closed her verdant eyes, not wanting to see what was going to happen; she hadn’t lied to them. This would give them powers, however, it would be terribly painful.

She watched as they began to convulse while different colored glows covered their bodies and the reawakening process truly started. She stayed unmoving as the procedure was almost at its peak, the tubes were totally engulfed in white light as the changes to their physical and spiritual bodies happened as the two interlinked and bonded.

The power coming from each of her friends rose and it made Elissa give a predatory smile, it split her face, showing how happy she was, as she realized that the reawakening was a success.

The energy feeding the reawakening chambers slowly tapered as the tower stopped feeding mana and cosmic energy at the same time. Elissa called for the healers in training who recently arrived from Cynlenor and waited for the tubes to empty themselves to get her friends back. It was fast, and the apprentices loaded them all on stretchers to take care of them.

Elissa walked to the nearest aetheric crystal, teleported to her personal floors and sat on the fur sofa in an unladylike manner. Her two pseudodragon familiars came to sit on her, affectionately rub their heads against hers and promptly fell asleep. The platinum blonde didn’t bother moving, she didn’t want to wake them up.

Until she thought about the good times she had had with her friends on earth, then the face of another sun elf came to the forefront of her thoughts.

“Sanctum, is Tsarra Olaneiros at Daphne snow?” Elissa asked absently as she scratched on Rilo’s scale with her diamond hard nails.

The little black dragon purred in delight.

{Negative, she’s listed as absent due to a family emergency.} Sanctum said.

Elissa sat upright, the dragon familiars falling down from her thighs. “What? Is there something wrong happening on Alfheim?”

{Not enough data to offer an answer.}

Elissa’s fist tightened. “Okay, I know what I need to do, ZHAER! We are leaving!”

However, fate seemed to want to thwart her as the Weatherlight’s intelligence gave her the bad news, [I am afraid I cannot do that, your imperial Majesty.]

Standing up, Elissa stomped her foot on the marble. “Why!?”

The two pseudodragons stepped back, not wanting to get pancaked by their irate mistress.

[I am upgrading the planar drive aboard the Weatherlight, it will take another three days for it to be fully functional.]

“Hel, fine I’m going to go there via a portal. There’s a lot of those in Cynlenor. Call Mother Kiomdra and warn her that I am coming.”

[As you wish.] ZHAER cut the connection to start working on the task he has been given and the upgrades he was doing to his vessel.

Elisa called Aeruirn and told her to prepare an attire for her as she was potentially going to either rescue or kidnap a friend. The dark elven handmaiden went ahead and put together a group to accompany her young Queen. Reinatiel was too busy and oriented her toward the dwarves; Brunhilda, the twins Syndanelyn and Nabideth, Cassandra and herself.

Elissa had her focus bracelet and most of her jewelry; Aeruirn chose one of the outfits the merchants gifted her for giving them permission to set up shop in Queen’s Rise. It was a black and white draped tunic blouse with silver leaf filigree patterns and black leggings all in arachne silk. Aeruirn came to her help when it was time to put on the jewelry that matched with it, a fancy armlet, black fingerless gloves a silver bracer with dragons in flight, a supple mithril belt set with a sapphire and jeweled mithril high heels.

“There’s something missing.” Aeruirn said thoughtfully as she began to play with her mistress’ hair.

“Ruirn, I’m going to save my friend. I am not participating in some gala.” Elissa said impatiently, she wanted to go there already.

Aeruirn began to weave an enchantment in Elissa’s hair that made it extra lustrous and shiny and released it from the ponytail that constrained it. “Mistress, I’m saving you from trouble. It’s Alfheim you are going to. Those other sun elves are…”

“Judgey?” Elissa continued.

Aeruirn became somewhat jealous as she watched the beautiful sun elf, Elissa was beyond stunning. “Exactly, display your wealth and your power. Though not too much, or you’ll be swamped with fops trying to court you.”

“Okay…” Elissa let her battle aura shine through. “Will they approach me now?” She gave her best bitchy face.

Aeruirn was used to these kinds of antics from Elissa now, so she didn’t step back. “I don’t think so, just admire you from afar.”

Elissa nodded and looked at herself in the mirror in her bedchamber. “Good. Look, but don’t touch should be the policy for unwanted attention.”

Aeruirn put a silver circlet on Elissa’s head, her crown. Made of mithril and set with diamonds and sapphires. “I have taken the liberty of inviting the Rainbow Dragoness to your party, mistress.” The handmaiden said almost conversationally.

Elissa stopped moving and looked at Aeruirn’s reflection in the mirror. “Why?”

Aeruirn looked really embarrassed. “Matriarch Gadhiss left instructions about getting her daughter to see the world before leaving for Midgard.”

Just like she thought, Gadhiss was throwing her problems into her lap and expected it to resolve itself. Dragons were bullies and egocentric.

“Fine! But let’s at least milk her presence.”

Elissa turned heel and was met outside her bedchamber by most of her dwarven friends, a grumpy dragoness and her little sister who she decided to use the amulet of semblance on and changed her to a little sun elf by touching her.

“Here, like this no one is going to say anything about your presence.” Elissa said as she took her hand off her sister’s shoulder.

“I feel weird.” Cassandra said as she tested her limbs, touched her now pointy ears and turned on herself making her red silk dress flutter.

“Let’s go, we don’t have all day.” Elissa said as she walked up to her private Aether crystal at the other end of the corridor leading to her bedchamber.

They teleported to the main Aethernet crystal on the ground floor of Dragon Fang Tower and Elissa waved her hand. The magical holograms showing the functions of the wards and systems in the tower. Through the giant yellow crystal they could now teleport to places such as Cynlenor, Thafnoris and Nirnyarh. Those places having entered into magical treaties with individuals and powers there, they were now linked to the tower’s plaza, where the teleport station was located.

“I plotted our travel for Cynlenor, the teleport station is waiting for us. Does everyone have everything? Weapons, medical kit?”

“Are ye going tae start a war or somethin’?” Brunhilda laughed but suddenly became thoughtful.

Elissa had been having too many adventures and trouble was always following her everywhere… the dwarf should have just kept her mouth shut; everyone was looking at her reproachfully.

“Ye never know with M’Lady.” Sindanelyn poked the dwarven princess.

Cassandra levitated and began to follow the group, Elissa grabbed her arm and pulled her as they all walked up out of the tower. The traders, and citizens flowed from the teleport station to the underground city and to the tower where most administrative tasks could be done. Elissa had to give a floor of her tower for civilian purposes and the royal hospital was located on floor three.

She greeted everyone with a nod, but didn’t stop to chat like they so obviously got used to. Tsarra might be in a precarious position and time was of the essence. They finally arrived at the station on the plaza, manned by Zerloth mages who bowed as she showed up.

A mage in brown robes, with blond hair and an easy smile presented himself before Elissa. “Your Majesty, outbound for Cynlenor.”

“Yes, my escort and I need to swiftly go to the under city.” Elissa didn’t say why, this was none of the man’s business.

“Please, enter the room.” He pointed toward one of the rooms in the building, on the door was a sign with the name ‘Cynlenor’ written on it.

Elissa walked up confidently into the room, followed by her friends who placed themselves around her and Cassandra in a defensive position.

“Have a safe trip.” The elf nodded and waved at them, then closed the door.

The young Queen looked on as and as magic teleported them Elissa thought, *Be safe Tsarra, I’m coming for you.*