Arlie had no idea what to do. Aurora had just gone ahead with changing the princess of the kingdom without asking or even considering the consequences for others. The girl seemed happy about it, but it was as if she could not reconcile what was now wrong. Arlie just really didn’t know what to say about it, so she had let it slide. Internally however she was freaking out. Changing a princess was a huge thing, and Arlie had no idea what the consequences of this were going to be. She just hoped her parents did not get mad at her or her friends for this. She was getting a headache just thinking about the problems that came with a Dragontouched Princess.

She had heard stories about the Dragontouched, people who had been changed by dragons. Most were poor folk that were abducted after a dragon attack, and were lucky enough to be rescued. None were ever the same again, and now she was starting to understand those stories better. She had always been skeptical of the stories, but evidently there was more truth to them than she thought. The Dragontouched apparently had no ability to understand social norms, and apparently it was hard to convince them to wear clothing. Just before her own thoughts drove her into a panic she heard a voice in her head, Aurora’s voice.

“Calm down and don’t worry. She is not full-on Dragontouched like you are worried about. I merely gave her what she wished for. She can still wear clothes, but she will refuse to wear anything that she finds unworthy of her. That though was a quirk of the changes she went through during her guided introspection. I helped her realize her own deeper desires, the ones that she kept buried, and filled her with newfound confidence.”

It took Arlie a moment to process that and another to respond. Mentally she replied, “I’m starting to get curious, but how much of the stories about Dragontouched are true?”

“A good deal actually. Dragontouched as you call them are the lucky or unlucky young women or girls who are taken by nesting dragons to help care for their young. We prefer to take them before the eggs hatch, and we usually use that time to mold them into ideal caretakers and servants. We also get rid of those useless mental traits that are so common in mortals. Then when the eggs are ready to hatch they are taken to bond with the hatchlings. Of course there are those perverts that take a few extra steps in their molding of individuals. And I do know a couple of Dragons that see it as their divine right to change all mortals. If you ever visit the continent of Arna, I suggest you and your friends remove your clothes and try not to draw too much attention. Unless you want to be changed.”

Arlie had never heard of the continent of Arna, but she made a mental note to stay away from that part of the world. She had other questions, but the others were just about finished with lunch. That meant it was about time for them to get on with their journey. Besides they could not stick around here too long. They already knew the local monsters were behaving oddly and that meant they would have to keep more of an eye out for monster attacks. The roads were clearly no longer as safe as they used to be.

So after everyone had packed up the meal, they moved into formation. Arlie stayed near their cart. Emilia had wanted to ride on the cart, but there was no room for that, and so she asked about riding the horse. She quickly found that the smaller horses native to Varixies, while strong enough to pull carts and carry cargo, were not well suited to riding. So instead she joined Arlie near the cart. Aurora followed them from behind, while the twins positioned themselves on the sides keeping an eye on the trees that lined the roads. As for the boys they took points and kept an eye on what was ahead. Arlie also did her part to keep an eye out for enemies and cast several detection spells to ensure no monster got the drop on her.

Their vigilance proved to be a good thing as they were able to spot and kill a few monsters that had strayed too close to the road. Thankfully nothing too troublesome for the group attacked, but the number of monsters on or near the road was definitely unusual. Arlie being near the princess also ended up having to deal with her new proclivities. While she did enjoy the young woman’s advances, she knew that accepting them would lead to nothing but trouble. As it was, she was definitely getting a headache dealing with the young woman. It was only made worse by how amused Aurora was about the whole thing. Speaking of that dragon, it almost felt like she was enjoying making this day more difficult for her. Especially with one of her comments, and that behavior just made her headache all the worse.

Aurora could see that Arlie was feeling rather frustrated with the princess and her change. She was just having a little too much fun teasing the pup to say anything to help. Besides, she wanted to have her fun before her own responsibilities took her elsewhere. She had been quite serious with one of her last comments, but it seemed that young Arlie was not ready for that. Honestly she felt it would have helped a great deal with her clear stress, and would have helped all of them grow a little closer to each other.

Anyway speaking of her responsibilities. She had something she would need to do in a few weeks. First she wanted to get the girls to an acceptable level with their magic before she left, and she felt if she pushed things on both ends she could get that done in time. However she expected the process to take long enough that she would not be able to enjoy the flight to her next task. There was plenty she had to get done before a certain Dark Lord turned his attention towards this continent. As it was, he was causing plenty of trouble out in Nykova. Nykova was a continent to the east, and from here there were two ways for mortals to reach it. The first was to take a ship and cross the oceans. This was the preferred method, but if a group lacked the funds to board a ship bound for Nykova and were desperate there was a second route. 

That other route was to spend several months trekking across the Frozen Wastelands to the north. A rather harsh journey that truly tested the mettle of any group that dared make the journey. The wastelands were naturally covered in snow and ice as far as the eye could see. Only the toughest of plants took root there and those that did almost invariably had ice affinity. The environment was harsh and would kill many, but to make things tougher the local monsters were a few orders more powerful than the monsters found in calmer climes. Ice Drakes, an ice aligned degenerate of the dragon race, was very common in the wastelands. There were other races found there as well. Ice Trolls, Vermahi, and Iursa, and a few other creatures were common in the wastelands. Iursa was a very common species of monstrous bear that was quite difficult to beat. Its tough hide was a natural armor that could shrug off blades and its thick fat helped greatly against the force of a mace. Not to mention it had a lot of vitality and it had low level regeneration abilities. Combined with its absurd physical strength, they were among the toughest of the local monsters. Only the Ice Drakes could keep their numbers in check as they also breed at a rather high rate. Thinking of Iursa she almost drooled as they were actually very tasty, well at least for dragons they were.

Speaking of the wastelands, she was not sure why, but the army Xaros had forged was pushing into the wastelands and waging war on the Frost Elves who controlled the southern stretches of the wastelands, the Northern part of Nykova and had some settlements in Northern Dragonsreach. Their Southern border was protected by a series of forts between them and the Dragon Clans called the Barrier Forts. Suddenly one of her farsight spells on the Nykova side of the Frost Elf border activated.

In a distant valley, a fortress built to guard a vital pass through the mountains was under attack. Aurora watched as an army marched forward to take the fortress. The Frost Elves had assembled their forces to protect the pass. A number of tamed Ice Drakes and their riders flew over the top of the fortress in formation. In front several rows of walls and fortifications were placed between the main fortress and the enemy. Each line manned by the elites of the Frost Elf army. Thousands of mages, and Archers stood alongside lines of swordsman and spearman.

Opposing them Aurora saw that Xaros had been naughty and violated several laws regarding young worlds. Tens of thousands of troops outfitted with Skylord armor opposed them. It was clearly older stuff, but she knew the Skylord laws. They expressly forbid lords from employing such tech on a world this young. At least he clearly had not shared with them any Skylord weapons, but she suspected that had more to do with the fact that they would not know what to do with them than anything else. The Skylords prohibited sharing many things with worlds that could not reach the void on their own.

It did not matter which path they took, be that the path of science as the Skylords originally did or the Path of Magic as the Dragons did. Although in the case of the Dragons they were created with that knowledge, and as for the Skylords. They were the progenitors of magic in all the worlds except their own. They were the first race to crack the secrets of magic and they were the discoverers of both Ancestral Magic and Primal Magic two of the three primordial magics. Ancestral Magic being the very first kind of magic to ever be used. Primal magic while easier to use oddly came later as it required more power to use. Dragon Breath is an example of Primal magic as many such magics are innate, while others are the force of pure will on the worlds. Most Primal magic lies forgotten because while powerful, unless they are an innate racial magic they tend to be rather inefficient. 

At least it did not seem that he had given them any truly dangerous magics, but it did seem he had taught a few examples of Ancient Magic. At the rear of Xaro’s army of armored knights, mages were working an ancient ritual spell. The Sword of Terrus, one of the first ritual magics employed by an ancient empire known as the Terran Empire. A rather dangerous spell honestly, but not one of the worst. The Terrans as a race were effectively immune to radiation, and magical corruption. A fact that they often used in their spells, and this ritual was no different, making use of corrupted mana it called down glowing rocks upon the target. Each rock called is heavily contaminated with corrupted mana and gives off deadly radiation. She was honestly distrubed to see the mages using such a spell here, and it explained a great deal of what she and her charge had been seeing.

She did not need to see more, and turned her attention back to the here and now. It seemed Arlie’s headache had led to something interesting. She sighed, as she decided how to fix this.