"Those blessed by the All-Father shall know great succor, for every God under his wing will bend their knee to them for a chance to please the ruler of all"

Ancient tome from the Church of the All-Father.

 

Hope Morgan Fritz stared from her window towards the horizon, the sun casting a lovely shade of crimson on Aaar Yrthaar. The Capital was always prettiest in the summer after all. And what a summer it was! Her parents had just returned from combat inside the Red Dragon's dungeon together with their Mercenary Company. She longed for a day where she too would be able to buy a band of her own and make a name for herself as her parents did.

"A group to surpass the Crimson Yeagers, and that chance will be mine once I get into the Academy" the young woman hoped for a good blessing. Even if the Academy opened its doors to non-nobles, their lot was anything but easy inside its walls.

Cliques, factions, and snobbish nobles and heirs to great merchant lines were but one hard aspect for those who didn't have blood or prestige to ward against the many evils there. Rude teachers, being denied certain privileges, and having to pay for things that otherwise are free for the rest of the school were all present, and Gods above and below it would be quite the challenge.

One Hope welcomed with open arms! in this crucible, she would be reforged into a stalwart defender for her country and kin. Maybe even find the love of her life! a girl could dream couldn't she? and the Academy had the means to make such wild dreams a reality.

Her sleep wasn't a good one. her parents were up all night ever since they returned from the dungeon. No privacy there if she had to guess but thankfully their mage gave Hope a small medallion that could blunt the sound. Of course, the old fart forgot to mention it was running on some sort of mana crystal she had no means of recharging with her own mana so the bloody thing lasted for less than 4 hours.

"I wonder which blessing I'll get" Hope talked to herself as she got ready for breakfast. Cleaning herself in a flash and fixing her room was nothing for her now so she was the first to make it to the kitchen. Muscle memory took over as she prepared the bread and cheese together with some sort of new drink from the north that reportedly could keep a man up for 3 days.

When she began prepping the bacon strips her parents showed up. Looking disheveled but happy both of them, after all that living off monster meat and stale bread for a month deep below. This was nothing short of a feast for the two of them.

"My look at my little Hope, all prim and proper making breakfast for her parents. To think that bundle of red-haired fury that begged me for candy every morning can now remain focused on the stove is nothing sort of a miracle! but dear you have gotten a little pale, oh my do you have a cold perhaps?" spoke her mom as she took a seat, her father grabbed a cup of hot milk and sat down by her side as he spoke.

"Ifry dear, wait until she's done then we can talk" he took a sip of the milk "Gods I miss Milk, I really do"

"Domhnall! Aren't you worried about your baby daughter?! what if she got sick because we were gone for a month?! Oh, forgive me, Hope. That new bounty the Red Dragon had put up was just too good for us to not go down the dungeon" Ifry smirked as Hope burst out laughing "Alright you two. enough of the theatrics here's the food" and she placed the plates down on the table.

"So how was school? did you get a boyfriend? a girlfriend maybe? c'mon Hope spill" Her mom had eaten the food like a starved anime, Hope made a face as she looked to her dad and he just chuckled to himself.

"Was the food that bad down there?" she asked ignoring her mom for now.

"You don't even wanna know sweetie. Uncle Kravar had us eat sausage made from those big monster mushrooms together with Hell Hound meat, I swear the stale tack and grog we had back in the pirate raids in the north was better than that abomination against all that is holy..." her father trailed off "now don't be rude and answer your mother, you know she's not gonna stop pestering you about it" another chuckle from her father made Hope smile.

Gods she missed this par of fools badly, the house was just too quiet without them.

"Nay dearest mother, your daughter remains unspoiled and nubile, I have even received an invitation from the church of Uumaries for a tour of their new cathedral" Hope spoke with a big shit-eating grin on her face.

"Oh, you little sh- Don't you dare set a foot in those grounds if you like your sorry hide fair! I will not have my only daughter turn into one of those godsdamned prudes annoying-" Hope and her father couldn't hold anymore and both laughed, Hope even slapped her knee.

"Gotcha mommy" she said as Ifry's face went red. After a second the woman laughed together with her family.

Hope basked in these warm feelings her parents brought to the house as they ate and talk. It filled her with complex and wholesome emotions of peace and serenity. And more importantly of deep affection and love towards her parents. It was good, real good she thought.

And she intended to never let these moments go to waste.

---

The walk to school was always boring. In her single-minded focus to get into the Academy, hope had forsaken her classmates. Their names were whispers on the wind, of course, she always remained civil, and whenever she was made to do a group job she pulled her weight. At the end of the last year in school, one of the girls who sat close to her asked Hope why she was trying so hard? why go above and beyond the call and burn her childhood as she had done?

"To get into the Academy, and to make my dream real" was Hope's answer. She knew the bounds she didn't make wouldn't last anyway. But the Academy? those bounds would be for life! true friendship would be forged in its halls as she rose through the ranks.

Of course, her parents didn't know this side of her, to them Hope was queen bee and had more friends than she could count or name, it was easy lying about that part to them. It hurt her but it was easy. Dad and Mom barely had the time to check if her information was true given their duties as commanders of their mercenary company. She did suspect they didn't believe her a hundred percent since she had never brought someone home. Once she even slept in a hotel to pretend it was a sleepover at her "friend's Marven"

Thanks to years of running odd jobs to the various merchants around her house and becoming the fastest letter delivery girl in the city. Hope had saved enough cash and influence to regularly use both the private magical tomes of the local bookshop and the training yard of the city's guard garrison. In those places, she was trained by men and women from all walks of life and races in the ways of both sword and magic. According to the Captain of the guard, it was only right she would do it so. Since her mom was a national hero and spell blade while her father was one of the best archers of the entire kingdom. 

The fights they won for Vermilion in the war against the elves from Granarius gave them many a coin and bard songs. It was her father's hope a noble title would also be offered but there was naught to spare according to his contact within the palace unless his entire company would become lowly Knights for some two-bit noble in the east. Alas, their reputation together with Hope's own was more than enough for her to have a solid foundation in matters arcane and warfare both.

"Ya shouldn't worry yer pretty head over them blue blood Hopey. Soft finger babes all of them who can barely land a magic missile while keeping a shield up" the dwarf in charge of the bookstore told her as she left. Her 18th birthday was fast approaching and she wanted to commemorate doing something she rarely did.

Buying clothes.

So when she entered the fancy clothing shop in her district. A place she had run errands forever since the elven lady who worked there always needed something or another done in the spot the woman looked at Hope with confusion and spoke "Hope dear, I'm afraid I don't have anything for you today, we just restocked on silk from Xie and the rest of the goods were all delivered on time if you can believe it! Something must've happened to those sky dwarves"

Hope steeled herself and spoke "Lady Haleth, I need your best dress for my birthday" she felt silly for feeling anxious, the woman was an immortal merchant for All-Father's sake! but Silly she felt anyway.

Lady Haleth on the other hand didn't even blink, with a smile perfect after a thousand years in the craft she extended her hand to the young woman and said "It would be my pleasure, Lady Fritz"

The ancient elven woman led Hope around the section reserved for VIPs and began casting several spells so fast her mind got overwhelmed trying to decipher them all. 

"Always trying to learn new magic eh my girl? You humans and your thirst for knowledge is such a fascinating thing to behold..." Haleth spoke, her voice tinged with nostalgia "Alas Ellisar and Luthandriel wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I started to bore a customer with my old tales" Hope smiled as Haleth talked about her sons, who were great merchants of their own right. Even when compared to their father Halaema who once was in charge of a merchant guild in the Imperium before deciding to come over with the first king of Vermilion and his family.

News spread fast as the merchant quarter who knew Hope for years caught wind of the young woman's spending adventures in Haleth's store and soon they sent their own people over it. What was for Hope a quick 30 minutes to an hour for Haleth to work her magic ended up becoming the entire afternoon for her as they pampered her with tailor-made items of fashion.

There was this vibrant energy in the air, even after Hope emptied nearly all of her savings to pay for the goods, as Haleth's store became a mini bazaar of goods just for Hope and Hope alone she felt happy to her core. The goldsmith who produced her a beautiful choker made out of silver and sapphire. That one had slashed her finances harder than a Knight Captian's Ki enchanted blade but gods it was worth it every penny.

As the sun began to fade, Hope was gifted a beautiful gift basket by the local baker and went off home with her goods. 

All was right in the world for the young woman when she approached the house, Hope opened the door to find her father reading the papers in the living room as the cold from the Magical wards kicked in.

"These new cold wards weren't cheap, but All-Father's balls they were worth it. Hey Hope! heard you broke character today and actually spent your pile of gold huh? you know your mom was almost hiring a necromancer to check if there was dragon blood in her line" he laughed and slapped his knee "Cause godsdamned that pile of gold you had in the chest was bigger than some of the bounties we took from despots you know?" he smiled as he smelled the goods in the bag "C'mon let's set up the table, your mom went out and should be back in a few minutes.

Hope did so as she chatted with her father about her day. He laughed and spoke whenever he had a chance and they barely noticed as Hope's mom walked into the kitchen with a bundle of cloth in her arms.

Another gift? Hope didn't dare ask as her mom kissed her dad and hugged her, they all sat at the table and began eating while Hope gave her mom the resumed version of her day. With her father constantly making jokes throughout it. 

Hope was putting the dishes away when her mother called her over to the living room. She felt nervous but went anyway, as she stepped into it she found both her father and mother standing up, Her father with a cape containing the symbol of their Mercenary Company; A might Chimera standing up. Her mother had a blade made out of mithril and high-grade steel. The scabbard looked aged and used.

"Is that Father's...?" she asked her mother.

"Yes my dear, now that you are close to being 18 it's only right for our daughter and heir to have a good sword by her side. Even if you are blessed by non-war gods you can never go wrong with swords skills" she smiled "We had our blacksmith to personally give this old girl a good treatment and now it's yours" she handed the blade to her daughter who took a stance and practiced a few swings. Her mom whistling after she was done.

"Well well, I sure hope you don't get relegated to Blessings that make you take a desk job, dear because you have the perfect sword arm for a frontline warrior, guess training with those bores at the city guard paid off eh?" She said while smirking.

"Hey!" Hope felt the need to defend the guardsmen, while yes they didn't see action like her parents the men and women she worked with were all upstanding in their service for the Capital.

"Just joking dear, now sheathe the sword before you lop you old man's head off, you are good but not that good to swing a full-length longsword in tight quarters" her father spoke while moving for the bathroom, Hope sheathed the weapon and went upstairs to her room. The night skies filled with ravens and crows for some reason. She opened her window and stared at the birds hearing their cries.

"An Ill Omen that, the Spear's henchmen are on the prowl tonight, of all nights at that" her father said from her door and kept walking. Hope nodded having read about Velkarius and her Priests who acted as blades in the dark to hunt down those who wronged their fellow men. Unlike Friede and her scorched earth method. Hope still got chills from hearing how the Goddess had razed the entirety of Talos in days.

Wondering if she would ever play a part in the Divine Game Hope went to bed, tomorrow was the day she would know if she got into the Academy or not.

She prayed to the All-Father she would.

---

Hope was standing on a beach of crystal blue waters, yet the sand she was on was dyed red and smelled of rusted iron. There was a calling begging her to step her feet in the water and after what felt like ages she finally gave in.

the sand she was on disappeared like a mage had cast it to another dimension. The sea she was on turned crimson with patches of that crystal blue remaining here and there. Slowly Hope walked among those patches turning them crimson.

She felt a wave of incredible anger rising inside of her. It crashed against her mind and soul again and again. Threatening to consume her whole but a strange light filled her soul, its myriad colors warding her off against this supernatural rage. After ages walking along the shallows, Hope found a set of strange stones leading downwards into the water and something inside of her compelled her forward.

And forward she went. Floating now in an endless sea of pitch-black water that assaulted her soul and mind with anger tenfold compared to before, yet the light still warded her from being consumed and she swam endlessly. There she found shades of her past that spoke to her in anger and fury, times where merchants would skirt paying and she was too shy or good nature to speak up. Or the time when she turned a blind eye to a beggar. This multitude of regrets culminated as she floated through her own school.

Years of regrets Hope had carefully bottled it up now in the open and speaking as loud as they could. The want for friends, rivals, and lovers. The constant arguing with teachers and staff who couldn't give an ounce of care to their job. And the constant inner school social circles who broke trust like an ogre breaks twigs on his path, of note, was the one time Hope found a crying girl in the bathroom and couldn't do naught but watch in silence as the poor girl talked to herself crying about having her boyfriend stolen by her best friends.

That one had stung the hardest. Hope felt the need to avenge the girl right there and there, become the shining Knight her parents often mocked when their friends came over after a bottle or two. To be a true hero of yore akin to the first King. And yet like a coward she ran away and spoke nothing to the ones who could actually do something. Months later she found out the girl had moved to another city.

The waters trembled as the school became her house, as she went inside all she could see her parents smiling at her and then they were gone as well.

"No regrets there huh?" Hope spoke to herself as she felt a pull stronger than before, begging her to go down again. she focused on the light that was still there warding her from the unnatural anger, and nodded. 

Hope found herself in a clearing, a ring of strange star-shaped trees with blue fire coming off their leaves and snow on her bare feet. In front of her stood two shades, one was tall while the other was of her size. She walked to the right side of the smaller shade and saw a small tombstone, there was no name on it and one of the burning leaves was placed on top of it.

The taller shade snapped her neck and stared Hope down. A rising scream began booming in the young woman's ears as she fell to the ground while the light ward covered her entire body. When the pain from the sound became too much hope screamed but no sound came from her mouth.

She woke up in cold sweat as a huge red crow stared at her. Within his eyes was a cunning that was more than animal. it cawed loudly as flocks of ravens and crows went away, Hope picked her sword and stood guard as her mother came running with her staff.

"A Herald, Morugariu's tits Hope what did you do to garner the attention of Velkarius girl?!" Her mother grabbed hope by the hand and squeeze it in worry, Hope raised her hand and asked for five minutes. 

"Mom I gotta use the bathroom" she said as she ran away. After getting her business done she went downstairs to find her parents with that old look of alarmed worry they had whenever they were on a contract.

"...Have you contacted Karl? Hells what is going on Domhnall? Hope has a clear record for All-Father's sake" she overheard her mom speaking in whispers.

"He's not picking up Ifry... Hey Sweetheart, can you tell me why your mom woke me up in the weekend demanding me to contact the second most scary person I know?" Her father asked her with a tired smile.

"Who's the first" her mother asked stunned for a second.

"You of course Ifry my love" she saw her mom's hand flash blue and her father yelp in pain "Ouch! C'mon the joke wasn't that bad"

She stared at him fury in her eyes, but deflated after looking at Hope "Sorry for that, your father often deflects stress with humor" she took a good gulp of water "Now tell us Hope, have you done anything, anything worthy of having the attention of Velkarius and her people?" her eyes flashed green and blue, Hope felt calm as if this was a normal question and spoke plainly.

"No mother, I may have cursed a few of the merchants who undercut me but I haven't done anything" she then snapped out of the spell and gulped, it was always scary when her mother checked her for lies like that. 

Hope then decided to share her strange dream with her parents, after thinking for a good 20 minutes about it they were the only people that she could trust, and at this junction that was what she needed the most.

As she described her dream, her mother's face grew darker with worry. In the end, she was clearly shaken by it.

"Ifry, we must call your parents"

"No"

Hope had never seen her mom this angry, she knew her grandparents were a sore spot not worth bringing up ever unless she wanted to hear her mom rant for an hour. That father would bring them up was something Hope filed away into the important category.

Her father went quiet for a while then spoke "A friend of Karl's spoke with me, she's clear Ifry and the Herald was just wandering around, we can relax now" her mother's shoulder slumped as she dropped her staff.

"Fuck me Domhnall, what a goddamn scare this was" she spoke "Sorry Hope" 

"It's ok mom" Hope said "What about the dream?"

"Forget about it, it was just a bad dream ok? no need for you to worry your pretty head over it, now let's eat something" she and her father went off to the kitchen as Hope remained in the living room. It was clear the dream and her grandparents were connected somehow but she had no means to contact them, her mother hadn't even said what their names were!

She wanted to ask more but refrained to do so, walking to the kitchen she once again overhead her parents.

"...Who's this friend of Karls? I didn't know you had other contacts in there?" Her mother asked

"A contingency, he told another Priest of Velkarius to pick my message spell signature in case he was away on a quest for his Goddess, the Priest in question ran a check and found nothing" Father explained in a calm voice.

"In the clear then, godsdamned it all and this is an important day for her as well" Her mom sighed "Well if she plans on getting into that Noble hellhole that is the Academy I guess tangling with Gods and Goddesses will be commonplace"

Hope walked in and they changed subjects, after eating breakfast she took a bath and dressed for school. The end of the school year ceremony was happening but she had no inkling of going, simply picking up her test results.

It didn't feel fair that non-nobles or rich merchant heirs had to do a test to get into the Academy but Hope wasn't powerful enough to change ancient dumb tradition, Maybe after getting her Company and winning a few wars for the kingdom. Now all she could do was study as hard as she was able and wait for the results.

There were very few people on the small board for the test results, all had grim-looking faces, hope walked among them and stared at the board.

Hope Morgan Fritz: 100/100

She sucked up air and held her cheer in instead, she gave the board and in her mind the school a nod and went to the Principal's Office to pick her papers. Arriving there she found a dwarf tending to paperwork who looked up when she opened the door.

"The prodigy arrives, As per the rules your papers are all done Miss Morgan, just sign your name here and here. Your parents will have to come tomorrow to sign the rest of the papers" he pushed the paper towards her and Hope signed everything "Very good and agile, a prodigy indeed. If the nobles kick you out from their little slice of paradise in the mortal coil come join the Church of the All-Father Miss Morgan, we always need people who can do paperwork fast" the dwarf gave a nasty laugh as hope bowed and left the room.

"I'll never understand why the ruler of the universe is so in love with bureaucracy of all things" Hope spoke out loud, every priest and priestess of the All-Father she met had this grim sort of humor when it came to paperwork, defied her understanding.

Alas, even spooky dreams and even spookier encounters with divinity wouldn't take the wind out of her sails. Hope vowed to research the meaning of her dreams later even if her mom wouldn't talk with her about it or about her grandparents. And godsdamned it she was in! after years of sacrifice, blood sweat, and tears she made it into the Academy! now her future looked as bright as the light that warded her in the dream!

Hope walked towards her home with cheery and happy thoughts as a single raven flew by her, the wind picking up and throwing her long hair around. A solitary cry came from the bird as it made its way north.

Towards a conflict Hope would later learn much about.