"I stand for order, and your rulership of this Universe is anything but that, I will not sit and watch as you throw my people into your endless war machine!"
Transcript from the battle of All-Father and his Traitor son Augurios the Mad, Fallen God of Absolute Order.
King Graan stared at the third empty pizza plate William had brought in serious contemplation, he then summoned a small chime and ringed twice, a few minutes later a huge orc, easily 8 feet tall showed up, he was dressed in what William could only describe as if someone tried to make a chef's regular clothes into a fashion statement, the hat having feathers and skulls was a bit too on the nose but William wasn't one to judge when it came to fashion, if you like it, then it's good enough.
"Only a Terran would be so ugh Forgiving of this atrocity against all that is Fashion, Miralis herself must weep every time King Graan comes up with a new piece of clothing and uses her name to bless the damn thing" There was venom in Lucrezia's voice, William didn't know she cared so much about fashion, as she had never demanded him to wear those fancy dresses he saw in the closet, he was about to ask about it when she cut him off.
"I feel your emotions from here well enough Terran, yes I do have strong feelings when it comes to fashion, as any proper high noble shall, I'm not the daughter of some farmstead Marquis in the east, Alas we are in a situation where fashion serves us nothing but wasting precious time, I'll admit its a huge...compromise but it is like you said, we make do"
William nodded, how very mature of her he thought, Lucrezia in-game was always a spoiled woman child, always trying to get the protagonist with petty tricks and snide comments, getting worse should the play decide to go for the third prince as their romantic interest. Were those memories leaking towards her he? If that was true he wouldn't have any way of knowing, either way trying to have a sit down with her led to confrontation more than once.
The Orc and King Graan were talking in hushed whispers, while Queen Artemis was sipping from her glass with a huge grin on her face, Emilya, on the other hand, was talking with the bard, who was still a little bit emotional, William had the guitar on the table, as he was planning on gifting it to the King when the bard composed himself and picked the instrument up, in minutes of testing the notes the elf managed to string a new song, Emilya for the first time smiling at the sight.
"Ahem. Lucrezia right? now that we are right proper sloshed and done with those boring formalities I must say this new dish is just, I can't even find the words Human, this is perfection given form, Even the big feller over here agrees and lemme tell you, he's hard to please" the Orc grunted while nodding his head and spoke "Graan is right, It's like you took Taal but made something that's more in essence, Miss this alone is worth a greater blessing when the time comes for you" he grunted again and took another slice.
"At least pretend to be a King father, She's high nobility from your biggest ally for All-Father's sake!" Emilya couldn't hold it anymore and cried out, red in the face with outrage, Queen Artemis took another sip and laughed out loud, clearly enjoying the antics of her daughter, she turned to her mother and spoke "You as well! Where's the right glass for Spirits? and this table is too gaudy! what is this the Imperium? Next, you gonna tell me there's a statue of you two made out of solid diamond in a garden somewhere"
King Graan shook his head "You been away for far too long Daughter of mine, statues are so last year, No we got magical projectors! those Imperium mages truly are inspired" William perked up, he knew Lucrezia's parents had gotten their hands on those projectors and installed them across the city, but he didn't know if they were in place right now, something to check out once he was back home.
"Are those the ones who let you transmit image and sound Your Highness?" William asked a bit shyly, the Queen intercepted her husband and spoke "Yes my dear, they are great for Public Announcements, and even allow us to show the citizens of the country some of our own balls and festivities" She did a little teasing laugh, and Emilya immediately went red up the ears.
"I don't like this William"
"Mother please tell me you didn't do what I think you have done" Emilya ran her hands through her hair in despair only for the Queen to chuckle harder.
"Oh but we did, Saal’Xhir week was the best in the last 100 years, I even got a Greater Blessing from her" the poor Elven princess looked like someone had shot her puppy right in front of her, she turned to William and said "Can we go now? before they drag us into something insane, please?" William saw King Graan send away both the Chef and Bard, he was now staring at him with undivided attention.
"Tell me Lucrezia, is it true that the Spear of Retribution has sent her flock to your lands?" William felt shivers, and he was pretty sure Lucrezia felt it too, he knew from the game lore that the King had some sort of Ki effect that made it easier for him to intimidate people, and he was now on the pointy end of it.
"Yes, Velkarius has chosen me to clear the pus" William choose his words carefully, if he was right, and he was pretty sure he was, they would get the meaning of that phrase.
They both looked at her, and nodded, Emilya looked confused for a second and then locked eyes with William, her face begging for an explanation, he gestured that one would come, later.
"Then I suppose this matter is settled then, Now from the way our dear Daughter looks at you I can assume you won't turn her in for the bounty, and these gifts were brought here for more than common courtesy" the queen spoke with mirth in her voice, she summoned a fan made of...Diamonds, which earned another eye roll from Emilya. the King on the other hand was laughing.
"It is as you say Your Highness Artemis, Emilya here is assisting me on retaking the duchy and I would appreciate greatly if you could let her continue to do so" William held his breath, if this failed he would have to resort to violence, and he knew that if it came to that, things would need to move Very fast.
The King looked to the Queen, with a nod they turned to William and said "We would allow it IF she is properly defended you see, Magenta Squad shall be her security detail" Emilya raised her head to speak but William held his hand. she grunted and spat on the ground but didn't complain, from the shadows of the throne room a figure jumped, a tall elven woman of high elf ancestry, her dark green hair and eyes giving her identity right away.
"Fuck" William couldn't agree more, Commander of the Magenta Squad, Veronica Windreaver walked to her king and kneeled "My liege we are ready to serve the princess and Lady Lucrezia and their endeavors" more figures popped up, Avvaar the Unseen and his huge war bow made from the bones of a sea dragon the Queen killed, Goro the Unchained, an Orc Paladin faithful to the Silent Soldier and his Enormous wrought iron Warhammer, Zulihee Siegebreaker, Both the demolitions expert and sorceress of the Squad, A rare Pale Elf from the caves below Kehheim, her pitch-black eyes and dark blue skin hidden behind a veil and armor.
They all kneeled and then moved to stay behind Emilya, with a nervous laugh William asked for the thing he came for.
"I uh I have one more favor to ask if Your Highness would be so kind yo indulge me" He was sweating bullets when the Queen spoke
"Oh, but of course Lucrezia, Hells what you did today is worth all the favors in the world, please ask" the King nodded, it looked genuine but he felt it was for the best to not get greedy, who knew what they could do or if their humor would flip.
"I need Friede's Fingers" Silence descended in the room, seconds feeling like hours, then the Queen snapped her fingers and a metallic box appeared "Here you go dear, Graan here would recommend you get the mind control variant but we know how your people get angry when it comes to the mental arts, this batch I cultivated myself so you can be sure they will work wonders, tell me do you have a good enough druid to work with them? I can attach one of mine if you need" she pointed to Veronica who spoke in a puzzled tone "Cain might be available my liege if we can drag him out of the daar highlands"
William paled. holy shit, not Cain, that dwarf was a goddamn menace! he quickly shakes his head and said "There won't be a need Your Highness, I already have a party of war druids and an arch druid's help to deploy the spore, thank you for the kind offer" the elven king beamed a smile to him, King Graan then spoke "Then I'm happy to say it was a pleasure to meet you, Duchess of Wulfgrem, please drop by whenever you want, we would be more than happy to accommodate you" he walked up to William and extended his hand, William gave the King a firm handshake and he felt that Ki pressure liftoff, taking the feeling of being on edge off him.
The Queen got up and bowed, disappearing in a cloud of smoke, William gave the pizza recipe 'to the King and bid goodbye, Emilya followed her flanked by Magenta squad, when they arrived at the corridor Emilya's portal had dropped them off, Lucrezia turned to the Elven Commander and spoke "It would be best if you and your men could change forms for a while, there are many veterans from the last war in my lands" The woman nodded and turned to their Sorceress who after chanting a spell transformed the squad into random people, even their weapons became regular ones.
Emilya held William's hand and said "Thank you" as she opened the portal.
It was time to go home.
Friedrich Karl had just finished blessing another civilian who had his hands burned by the town guard when a crow delivered a small pebble to him, Ahh it appears the lady of the castle had returned from whatever place she had gone, He had to give it to the young woman, usually when he's deployed it means total sanitization of the area, that his Goddess had taken pity on the woman and gave her a chance to redeem her family name was something rare indeed!
When was the last time he pondered? Ah! about 200 years ago when an Imperium noble struck a deal with Velkarius to avoid dying at the hands of Friede's frenzied mob, High Priestess Milena even built the first church for Velkarius in Imperium land after it. Karl envied those who lived long he had to be honest with himself, to serve a higher calling forever was nothing short of eternal fulfillment.
Karl shivered as he got out of the abandoned pub he was shacking upon, the south district of Glacialis had been hit the hardest by these despots, but his Lady had blessed a selected few individuals with food magic, it took an ungodly amount of paperwork to get past the ban but it was well worth the effort, Many thought her Umbral priests and priestesses were reapers of blue blood but most of their work was humanitarian in nature, especially in Vermilion where she had such a strong following together with Friede.
"To think I would be deployed to my own City, what did that old boar do?" Karl was honestly sad and pessimistic, to think the duke would fall this low, he remembered his parents talking about them early in life, how good they were, and how the Wulfgrem even as High Nobility understood their commoners and Knights, a true union between all walks of life, it was told even the criminal underworld respected them, such was the respect the name Wulfgrem carried in their lands.
The sole ray of hope was the fact their Daughter had went above and beyond the call to fix their mistakes, the crows told him of her initial plan of getting the Arch Duke help, and of its spectacular failure, he saw the moment that ward blew the boat and harbor sky high, as he walked towards his hometown, the little birds telling him much along the way, that is until Velkarius herself showed up and told him to assist the young woman in any way he could.
A knock on the door made Karl snap his head towards it, a small child came holding a baby in his arms.
"Please, my sister she isn't sleeping and eating well, mister priest me mum couldn't come but please help us!" Karl nodded and cast a series of healing magic and miracles on both kids, as their forms grew hale he summoned a magical coat and placed it on the small boy.
"She should be better now, tell your mum to feed her milk three times a day ok? now go, the coat will disappear after an hour" the boy nodded and ran off, Karl sighed, and moved to the second floor of the pub, opening the windows of the room he was in he saw the many ravens circle the castle, their formation telling him one thing.
Lady Lucrezia was back.
"It's been a month now hasn't it Terran?" Lucrezia woke William up, they had decided to meet the Velkarius priest yesterday.
"You think we should throw a party? I'm one month old in this world after all"
"Don't jest about such things Terran, Birthdays are special here and you know that..." She stayed quiet for a while and then spoke again "What month was it? your birthday I mean"
"February 12. The month of Storms for you I believe"
"You can have your party next year then"
William Chuckled, it had been a wild month alright, and he preferred that way, the fast things moved, the less he had to think about the long term implications of his current situation, which he was doing his best to push it deep down, something he figured Lucrezia had already noticed.
"Terran, now that we have the fungi strain and I can't believe I'm saying this, support of the godsdamned Magenta Squad, will you launch the attack?"
"Not yet Lucrezia, we still need to talk with Kallista remember? and after that..."
"Usurp rulership from my parents by performing the Oath for the Winter Spirits, damn it all I was hoping you would give up on that thing"
William wanted to ask why Lucrezia had such a negative impression of the winter dragoness. they were in her room now, William had finished writing his latest adventure on the diary, he was writing almost every day now, it helped him decompress and relax, that and the hot water baths.
"Really Lu? you have a meeting with the Mad King himself and you don't bring me? For shame I say, I'm your best friend you know!" the maid laughed while doing William's hair, she was doing braids of ancient Wulfgrem style, Back when they were a house of the Imperium in their northern shores.
"The princess was, well let's just say she was not happy with the ordeal" he chuckled.
"I can imagine, imagine being the sole heir to a Kingdom made by two lunatics? Did you know King Graan tried to steal the spheres of no less than five Gods of War? the sheer madness on that elf" Saa'ryu looked like she was imagining Graan fighting against all five, huh William thought, he didn't know the maid was a fan of those two, then again she wasn't from Vermilion, much of the bad rep Granarius got came from its citizens, as they never got into a war against the Shogunate.
"Alrighty Lu, we are done here" she took William to the giant mirror and said "Gods your hair is just" the maid made a kissing sound "Now tell me what the plan for today? the druids will be busy with the fungi so we can finally take a-" a huge crow came inside the room, William left the window open for them and they usually begged for honey bread by lunchtime, the huge bird had a red band on his beak.
"Long-strider Karl has arrived," William said without thinking, Immediately Saa'ryu pulled her combat knives and stood in front of him, he placed a hand on her shoulder and the woman calmed down, the bird dropped the band and flew away, Saa'ryu took a look outside the window and said "Please don't tell me whatever truce you broke with Velkarius is over, If she sent one of the Umbral Priests here our plans might not work Lu"
William held the band, it felt warm and rough he turned to the maid and held her hand saying "You don't need to worry Saa, it's all under control, a red band means that I should seek him, as the Goddess has told him to aid us" the maid narrowed her eyes but said nothing, William continued "We should do this today, quick get some clothes and the masks, we must hit the city again" the maid hummed in agreement.
"...Sure but if he tries anything funny" the maid made a classic thumb across the neck motion, to which William chuckles and says "Its ok, I'm sure he won't go against his Goddess wishes, now let's go" Saa'ryu grabbed their gear and they ran towards the wall, it was best not to draw attention by getting to the city via the gate Saa'ryu had told him, once again they took to the rooftops, the patrols in the city had only gotten worse, now that there was a rumor going on that Erwin and his Knights would attack, a rumor William didn't know who started but it was good to break the usurper's morale.
It was nighttime when they arrived at a ran down pub, one that William knew very well.
"The base of operations in-game. and deep down lies the ritual ground my parents used before moving to the private wing, of course, the creepy priest picked this place as his staging grounds, bleh as if the memories from the game weren't grim enough" William felt Lucrezia kick the monolith in anger, then it dawned on him.
She was afraid of the man!
"Why are you so afraid of Karl if you know about him from the game Lucrezia? true he might not be as supportive given that was another timeline but still, he got the order from the Velkarius, I honestly he going to turn on us or anything, or are you afraid of him finding out about me?"
There was a deep sigh in William's mind, Lucrezia spoke as if she was tired
"You must understand that I was raised on stories of Velkarius people doing horrible things to nobles William, you have the boogieman, I got a squad of umbral priests tearing down the walls of the castle and setting me on fire because I stole a cookie from the kitchen, Yes I'll admit since there's no way to hide it, I'm afraid of the man even if his Goddess told him to work with us ok? I don't wanna hear a word, nor a joke about it ok?"
"You got it Lucrezia" William imagined him raising his arms, to which he heard a hmph from the young woman, in his defense he wasn't going to mock her, for the longest time he was afraid of dogs for christ sake! far as he knew it, everyone had a fear in them some way or another.
They entered the pub, it was clean inside, well kept but deserted, Willam looked for the stairs leading to the basement, he called over Saa'ryu who was checking the kitchen for signs of the priest, both of them took to the stairs.
"I have a bad feeling about this Lu, I know he has to operate under" she opened a door only to find a group of people laying in straw beds in the ground, all of them with marks of recent miracle healing, some groaned when William walked in, others pointed fingers and tried to scream but the priest raised his hand, the man looked thin, the grey eyes betraying elven blood, his hair was dark and his skin was tanned from being in the sun for far too long, Long-strider Karl looked like a younger version of his game counterpart, his eyes full of hope and joy.
"Goddess Velkarius has blessed me today! Finally, our chosen has come!" the man bowed "Freiderich Karl, humble Umbral Priest of Velkarius at your service Lady Lucrezia" he walked to them and William saw how different the man truly was from his memories, in-game Karl had been beaten down by two years of seeing the worst atrocities being sent to his hometown and the people he knew, including parents and sister, this Karl still had hope.
"Velkarius herself sent me a vision a to me after I arrived, she told me to wait for you here, I've also gotten confirmation that it was our Goddess who blessed the individuals who are using food magic" he extended his hand and William took it, giving the man a firm handshake, he motioned over to a dest at the end of the basement, William noticed that the place was spotless, not a speck of dust or blood anywhere, heh Karl was still a cleanness freak.
"Please have a seat, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you Lady Lucrezia, but first lemme congratulate you!"
William raised his eyebrow "Why?" he asked surprised
Karl smiled and pulled a face veil, its dark purple color making William's eyes bulge
"No way! But I'm not even blessed yet! How is this possible?!" That piece of cloth there meant that he was basically being anointed as a member of the clergy of Velkarius, he knew it was possible but it was rare, doubly so for a noble to be part of its ranks, not as a priestess but as a sort of special operator that could act beyond the confines of Velkarius sphere of power.
"The goddess gave you a mission did she not? Its only right we support you, shamefully most of the Umbral Priests have been deployed to Steinheim, so you won't be able to count on our main forces, which from what I heard won't be an issue no more since you managed to get not only the senior Knights and their Commander on your side" he laughed as William picked up the face veil and put it on, in-game it worked as a special piece of headgear that would the protagonist enhanced reaction time and greater perception, suddenly the world shifted, William was seeing grains of dust in the desk, he could zoom into Karl's eyes and see its fine details, after playing around for a while he removed the veil.
"It's going to take a while to get used to but trust me Lady Lucrezia, that right there saved the lives of many good men and women" the man nodded to himself.
"And the bad news?" William asked, guessing the answer already
"Come with me and I'll show you Lady Lucrezia" the priest got up and moved a few feet towards a bookshelf, pressing a hidden button on it, suddenly a door opened near it and another set of stairs welcomed the trio, Saa'ryu raised her eyebrows and moved first "That doesn't look good Lu, are you sure?" she left the question hanging, William nodded his head and they descended the stairs, eery blue fire illuminating their way from braziers in the roof.
"Spooky" William said, to which Karl laughed, they arrived at the end of the stairs, and a familiar sight welcomed William.
"The ritual grounds, it was Kapha'tur who found it right?
"Yes, it was him"
"I don't remember those pillars William, they look odd"
Lucrezia was right, the Pillars around the ritual site weren't there in the game but something was nagging him, he walked towards them, their smooth almost glasslike feel reminded him of something, he could feel Lucrezia's speaking in the background, trying to guess what he was trying to remember, William then noticed at the near bottom of the Pillar there was a small incursion, he took the veil and put it on, he then zoomed into the incursion, that was when it clicked.
Uumaries!
"Shit"
Shit indeed William thought, he knew there were rumors in-game that Uumaries had a way to hide certain things from other Gods, a power she had stolen from nameless Fallen ages ago, usually a noble would change the faith of their lands to Uumaries in exchange for such things, but here in Wulfgrem she was worshipped far before the duke and his wife fell to whoever or whatever is controlling them and Kapha'tur. High Priestess Chloe had been there ever since Lucrezia was a small girl.
"Which means someone, maybe Kapha'tur himself was blessed by Uumaries and built these, All-Father save us if we have to fight against her" Lucrezia was getting scared, the faith of Uumaries was the third biggest in Vermillion after all.
"If we can and it shouldn't take much since Karl is already healing the sick and Velkarius is giving people food, we turn the duchy towards her faith. the people will rally around it enough that we will be able to fight on even grounds-"
"That's mighty close to civil war William, and if you unleash your Terran weapons on my countrymen I will never forgive you"
"We can talk about it later then"
Karl stood in the middle of the ritual and spoke "Whoever set this up used these Pillars to hide a medium scale dimensional tear, are you familiar with the terminology Lady Lucrezia?" he asked when William moved to respond Karl spoke cutting him off "Any being from the Spiritual Realms or Hells needs to tear into the physical realm to access it, there are easier and cleaner summoning rituals but if you want something done fast you go for a tear...These Pillars on the other hand hmm"
The church of Velkarius didn't know! Holy shit William thought of course they didn't know, the events that lead to the discovery of Uumaries pillars would only happen in a side quest two years from now!
"Speak a word, and we will effectively start a holy war that's been brewing for nearly a century William" Lucrezia spoke with steel in her voice, he knew the stakes as well, but that war would start anyway or another, and so the boy spoke.
"These Pillars are made by selected High Priestess and Priests from Uumaries, she has a hidden sphere of power that allows hiding anything that happens inside them once they are active, Your people have likely found many more whenever a noble gets hunted yes? That is how she's establishing influence among Vermilion Nobility"
Karl got serious, he took a deep breath and spoke in a hushed whisper "My Lady these are, grave accusations you are raising, are you sure of it? William gave the man the veil and said "Chanel Velkarius blessing across this incursion" the priest did it so and for a moment there was only silence and the sound of a small miracle being cast in his fingers.
The man stopped. his head snapped fast enough for the bone to audible crack, he locked eyes with William and the boy heard Lucrezia gasp.
"Intervention!" The act of a God taking over one of its faithful, William felt the swear on his forehead, he could feel the panic rising inside of him, both him and Lucrezia ready to lose their collective shit, Saa'ryu rushed over and stood in front of him, daggers at the ready, the priest raised his hands to calm the maid down, he then touched the pillars, going around the ritual place in a sedate pace, almost as if he was trying to grab something, after a solid minute he grabbed the air and spoke.
"Heh, the little human was right, it appears old cousin Uumaries is playing dirty" a very feminine voice came out from the priest's mouth, one that William knew it from the game, Velkarius had deemed this worthy enough for a personal visit.
"There is no need to kneel Human" the Goddess Laughed, William knew this inside joke well, from a time Velkarius still walked the world as a mortal, he didn't laugh with her, very few knew it and if he did it could get them busted. Lucrezia sighed with relief but she was still radiating fear like crazy, to think the mother of all boogieman would talk to you in person was wrecking her nerves something fierce.
"I can't stay for much longer Human but I'll tell you this, the information you gave us alone is worthy of a Greater Blessing when you come of age, and full support of my people, I already know others are eyeing you but if you are willing, how about giving me a priority? I did stall Friede from coming here, after all, reckon you owe me that much hmm?" The goddess was full of mirth, it was almost palpable, her wide grim almost visible in Karl's face.
"I accept your terms Goddess Velkarius" He spoke with conviction, William knew that he would be blessed by her anyway, fighting against Lucrezia's parents would earn it, The fact it got bumped to a Greater Blessing was enough to let her be the first, which also implied Lucrezia would be one of the rare few who can get blessings from multiple gods, something the game didn't have.
"Guess you are more special than we thought Lucrezia"
She didn't respond, still, in well, pants-shitting fear, William decided to not bother the poor woman and gave the Goddess a proper bow, reserved only for when the divine came to the physical plane, Velkarius clicked her tongue and spat on the ground, murmuring something about nobles and nonsense, William moved fast, standing behind Karl, when the Goddess relinquished control over his body he held the priest in his arms, the man giving a long sigh of relief.
"Third time she does that and still knocks me out like nothing else, please if you could take me upstairs to my chair," he asked sheepishly William called his maid and both dragged the man upstairs, it was a small blessing that he was relatively light and that William could boost his strength with Magnetism, as they got to the basement and placed the priest in the chair, he spoke "We have seen these Pillars for years now, nobody knew who was making them and how they managed to avoid even Friedes fine-tuned detection divination, its a good thing we have a name now.
"For the holy war to come" William finished, Karl looked to the people he was taking care of and nodded "Yes, but this is in the far future Lady Lucrezia, do not forget we still have to deal with this current situation" he gestured to the people and William grunted in agreement " I can provide both medical and combat support Lady Lucrezia, by order of Velkarius I will fight by your side!" he spoke firmly "To save our town and our land"
Far to the north of Wulfgrem land, lies a mountain range that is forbidden to anyone be it men, elf, orc, or dwarf many dragonkin flocked to its skies, hunting, mating, and fighting amongst each other, they also tended the land, in which various types of them lived, from every race in the world, it was very much a closed-off country inside of the duchy's land, Only the Duke and the Duchess, with blessings from the Winter Spirits, could by law enter it.
Alas, the law was often skirted by men and women of all over the world for something that lies deep inside the mountain range, these brave if foolish individuals would track for miles without end to reach it, braving angry magical and common beasts and patrols set by the duke to stop would be madmen to reach the entrance to the range. with the current happenings of the city, the dragonkin were the ones doing such guard duty, their villages already upgraded to fend off the evils they could smell coming from the big city.
All to defend their brood mother, Winter Dragoness Kallista, the terror of the pale and sole dragon to live outside of their island bar her brother Red Dragon Saark, who lived in the capital working on his infinite dungeon.
"No mortals for months, even after I told my kids to let them in without a fuss" a huge claw swiped at a nearby rock shattering it like wet paper, the silvery-white scales on it shined like gems "Really how does a girl has some action when those lovely little mortals are hiding inside their homes fearing for their life..." a huge white dragon moved across an enormous cave, her size bigger than even the mightiest of Imperium warships, she walked towards the entrance of the cave, the sun hidden behind clouds, it was yet another dreary day in this ice-covered land Kallista thought with a sigh, she missed home in these days, the island was tropical, the sun always there to warm her scales after a day of rigorous training.
"Hehe Training" she chuckled, yes Kallista missed it, even after the council exiled her for "bringing shame to dragonkind and All-Mother" and "Shameful Behaviour" those prudes were a pain in the scale but All-Mother's tits they had a nice hot island for them!
"Saark baby brother you gotta teach me your ways, this waiting is killing me!" she slashed another part of the wall and huffed, smoke billowing from her nostrils, Kallista walked back inside the cave, arriving at a room where a flame burned in crimson and white, the crimson part almost faded at this point, Kallista sighed again
"Foolish Mortals, to forsake a pact with me and those boorish spirits is to invite danger to your home, what is going on with the duke I wonder, the man seemed like an upstanding individual, far better than his father even! and his wife was so pretty when they came here to take the oath, what a shame..."
The dragoness noticed a shift in the air, her brood was circling above towns along the border of her territory, she could see her dragonkin move in haste, grabbing weapons and armor ready for a fight, then she saw where the flying ones were headed, the main entrance to the mountain range?
"Better check out myself" Kallista took flight, her body shinning in the small rays of daylight, a war cry came from the whole range, her brood's morale rising to the skies as the majestic white dragoness flew, she wasn't a fan of fighting herself, asking to be discharged from service after her 100 years mandatory period, All-Mother granted her wish and she far Kallista has been enjoying life, but she didn't believe whoever coming could actually make her fight for real, very few in this world could put the hurt in a dragon such as her.
She landed in the checkpoint built at the entrance of her lands, a tall dragonkin of elven origins kneeled before her, Kallista remembered his father, what a man he was when they met so far away ago, shaking her heads from impure thoughts, turning herself into her biped form, tall with long silver hair and scales along the neck arms and legs. a second layer of scales covering her body as both clothing and armor.
The dragonkin spoke "Fair mother, we have received word that a war-party marches towards us, a hundred men strong with dire horses and druids, I've alerted our kin and they are in preparation of a full assault"
Kallista nodded and looked over the horizon, seeing the familiar armor in the people riding towards her made her grim, Finally, the Duke came to set things right! that was when she noticed that the one leading the charge was a young woman, around her an iron halo and across her back a thin spear with a hole on the end of it instead of a blade, to her side a ban in dark clothing riding a steed made from shadow and death to the other a Knight Commander.
Kallista jumped and for a few seconds flew towards then, the young woman raised her hand and the riders stopped, drawing their weapons, she told them to lower the weapons and the Knights Complied, as Kallista landed she smelled the air, and noticed that the one leading smelled familiar, Aha! she thought,
"You must be the child of the current duke! Welcome Child of the Wulfgrem, Welcome to my mountain!" Kallista was overjoyed from meeting the only daughter of the duke, surely she had good news right? Kallista was ready for a steady stream of mortals to flock her already.
That was when she noticed the grim looks everyone had on their faces, it didn't take much to put two and two together for the dragoness to figure it out that something bad had happened, Lucrezia removed her riding helmet and walked up to the Dragoness, she kneeled in the soft snow and said: " O great Dragoness Kallista, Keeper of the Oath and defender of the far north, I've come as Sole Heir of the Wulfgrem Duchy to beg you, please allow me to take the oath!"
The final puzzle piece in Kallista's head clicked. with an animalistic smile, the Dragoness took the young woman from the snow and said
"It would be my honor Child of the Wulfgrem, Please come with me"
