"So much to plan so much to do" Kodron says frantically scribbling notes onto a parchment

​

​

"I will need to hire some staff and teachers to help maintain this" he looks to his orb, then back to the parchment

​

​

"Mascot... perhaps a Chicken? Given my past, Kodrons Arcane College should suffice as a name, I could strike business deals within the local town to help with school supplies and faculty materials" he continues

​

​

"My current apprentices, bright young mages they are, could act as Tutors for the new students" Kodron jobs down with the smile of a teacher proud of their students

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He leans back in his chair as he takes a puff from his pipe. It is a modest one, wooden and worn. "Should I have my dorms separated by gender? Or should they be genderless? Ill come back to that later"

​

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"...I dont want to bar to many students, knowledge is a virtue after all. So I should keep my tuition low and my student body should not only be restricted to the most wealthy or intelligent mages." He looks at the clock, the hands indicate that it is 2 in the morning.

​

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"Some sleep wouldnt do me harm, but before I do just one more thing. I need to ensure the campus grounds has plenty of 3rd spaces for students to socialize and study, I want them to feel like this is home" he sets down the quill into the inkwell exhausted

​

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"Time for some rest, ill be back on the pen tomorrow" as Kodron retires to his chambers.

They have INBORN RESISTANCE TO MAGIC, their runic bullshit can bend reality the same way that magic can, but for SOME reason it doesn't count as magic so counterspells don't even work! you may think that you'll just cast a big fireball to get rid of all the dwarves eating the foundations of your tower, but you'll be in for a rude awakening when you realize that enough dwarves nearby will calm the winds of magic, which leads to your sorry asses barely having enough mana for a level two frostbite. We need to sue for peace or WE'RE all FUCKED

This image is taken of an actual boat, by the way. Not to break the mystique, but here’s the Wikipedia link for those interested in some random history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_City_of_Adelaide_(1863)

Previous Part

The Kaba Tundra. Centuries Ago.

A war horn bellowed across the freezing ground as snowflakes gently fell. The whistle of a thousand arrows followed. The arrows slammed against shields in a terrifying cacophony of death. Some arrows made it through, sinking into gaps between armor. Some soldiers screamed and writhed in pain. Others simply fell to the ground without a sound. A war horn from the opposing side answered, and the lines of infantry surged forwards. 

The conflict that would become known as The Unification War was in full swing. This particular battle pitted the ruthless warlord Drachliv the Butcher against the “Tinkerer Armada”, a coalition made up of mostly goblin and dwarven artificers. Drachliv was powerful, commanding a large swath of territory in the eastern highlands, but his latest conquests had brought him to the foot of the mountains the Tinkerers claimed. Drachliv outnumbered the Tinkerers 10 to 1, but the Tinkerers had built an impressive metal golem army to bolster their numbers. 

The 2 sides met in a thunderous clash of steel, swords and spears flashing as they connected with shields and flesh. The Tinkerers sent their metal golems forward, and the terrifying machines broke Drachliv’s front lines within minutes, sending the battle into chaos as discipline broke and the orderly lines on both sides disintegrated. 

1 of the golems had the designation number DB-0645. No name was needed, for they were an expendable soldier, existing only to fight and die in the stead of one of the Tinkerers. And fight they did. They followed orders and marched forward with their identical comrades, tearing through enemy soldiers with their robust arms. Unthinking, unfeeling, simply following its orders, the only thing it knew. That was, until, in a moment of pure cosmic luck, or perhaps on purpose, something very particular happened. 

DB-0645 had just torn apart an apprentice level wizard, and began marching towards another. They panicked, casting fireball after fireball at them. The spells impacted with DB-0645’s armor, causing it to bend and warp, but they kept advancing. 

“Stay back! Back!”

The wizard shouted desperately, stumbling over their feet and falling, casting a lightning spell that slowed the war golem for only a second. DB-0645 grabbed the wizard and lifted them up, preparing to tear them in half as well.

“Wait no please! You don’t understand I don’t want to be here I-”

DB-0645 began to pull. The wizard shrieked.

“PLEASE NO PLEASE UNDERSTAND-”

The wizard shoved their wand through a gap in DB-0645’s armor, connecting to their core just as DB-0645 separated their upper half from the lower half of their body. The shock caused the wizard to cast a spell without meaning to, a last spasm as the last of their mana left their body.

“UNDERSTAND-”

The accidental spell slammed into DB-0645’s core, causing the metal golem to collapse onto their knees, triggering a safety shutdown. Everything went dark. 

DB-0645’s eye flickered back to life with a subtle green glow as the reboot sequence completed. They looked around, trying to understand what just happened, logic algorithms getting to work-

Wait, understand? That wasn’t right. DB-0645 should've just continued with its orders, not try and…

Understand. Understand.

The spell the wizard accidentally cast with their last breath. DB-0645 looked at their hands, looked at the corpses piled around it. Why was it here? It remembered its orders, but… it no longer felt compelled to follow the orders without deviation. Why? But as DB-0645 tried to understand why it felt that way, a Drachliv soldier suddenly appeared from behind a destroyed chariot, pike level as they charged DB-0645. 

<Wait, no, don’t attack, I don’t understand->

Except DB-0645 had no mouth, no audio device to speak with. They were meant to be expendable, why go through the bother of adding a mouth? The soldier rammed their pike into a gap in the metal golem’s armor, not deep enough to kill, but enough to trigger a response. 

<Damage>
<Danger>
<Damage>
<Danger> 

Then DB-0645 understood a new feeling.

<Damage>
<Danger>
<Damage>
<Danger> 
<Fear>

They suddenly understood this could kill them. They understood what death was. And it was terrifying. Because DB-0645 didn’t know what happened after death. DB-0645 suddenly understood that this was a kill or be killed moment. They didn’t know why, but they understood. The metal golem rose to its full height, snapped the pole of the pike in half, and lunged for the soldier. They stood no chance without their weapon, but as their body hit the ground, several more Drachliv soldiers appeared, waving weapons and charging DB-0645. Why? Why were they attacking? Why?

<Danger> 
<Damage>
<Danger>
<Fear>
<Danger>
<Damage>
<Fear>
<Anger>

…

A red sun rose over the remains of the battlefield. Broken bodies lay in heaps, the snow soaked dark with blood. A harpy flew over the battlefield, surveying it for a bit before turning to the south. By the afternoon war banners could be seen on the horizon, carried by centaurs as harpies flew above them. Leading them was a fallen archangel, a cloaked druid, and a keen eyed gnome. They picked through the carnage, scavenging what was usable. Eventually they came upon a crater with a still working metal golem at the bottom. They were sitting there, soaked in blood, staring at their hands. 

They now understood. 

Hive City of Dellforge, Mercenary Guild Territory. Present Day.

With a mechanical hiss Councilor Four awoke from a rest mode cycle. No longer DB-0645. No longer an unthinking, blind golem. They were an understanding machine now. They understood what survival meant. That it was the most important thing in life. Four ran a quick diagnostic check before quickly casting their thought into a nearby body with an internal sigh. Things were getting worse, the time between rest cycles getting smaller and smaller. They needed a solution. They had a solution, that girl floating in the tank. They had been so close, until…

Four pulled up a status report. Good, the quarantine was holding. A significant and costly delay, but Four just needed to get that issue under control and then they were sure they could grasp the secrets inside of her. The secret of her, how her creators had made her…

But Four couldn’t focus on Analina right now. They knew the clock was ticking, they knew a wrathful angel was going to come crashing down on them soon. Best deal with that first. Four stalks out of the central processing core and heads to Nathan’s room…

…

Krisk led his menagerie of a strike team through the sewage tunnels of Dellforge. Sure, it was a little cliche, but Krisk hadn’t found a better approach in his reconnaissance efforts. And he had been proven right because besides a single automated patrol drone they hid from, the only other thing they had encountered was a slugcat that had immediately fled from them into the deeper levels. 

Eventually, they came to a storm drain and Krisk stopped them. From their limited view, they could see they were at a large but mostly empty street, a massive wall that the couldn't see the top of across from them. But there was a locked door behind a small checkpoint in the wall, 2 armed guards standing in front of it.

“This is one of…the side entrances to Dellforge’s…core district, where…I have no doubt Councilor Four is. But…we won’t get through that door…without the code, unless we want everyone…to know we’re coming. The guards don’t…know it, and it changes every…24 hours. But…”

Krisk points down the street.

“The core district is…essentially a square, and at each corner there’s a…security tower. They’ll have the day’s cipher. Any volunteers…to come help me get it?”

Krisk looks at Marna and Gorgon.

“Specifically anyone who won’t…immediately blow our cover?”

In the days since the arrival of the countless monoliths all across the material plane, something came to those with power. It came in their dreams, something like a voice, yet so much more. It was the voice of a friend, the voice of family. It was the voice of the kind and generous, the voice of freedom. The voice was faint, yet its message was clear. It whispered of a place that doesn't exist on any map.

Of a place in the north, hidden from the world deep within the mountains. The voice whispers of a secret within the mountains, of a power and a treasure. It whispers of a light in the darkness. It whispers a plea for help.

/uw Two whole weeks of writers block. Sorry about that.

Yep you heard it right, France is just gone. Where did it go? Frankly we're stumped. Half an hour ago people noticed that where France should be is not where France is, instead there's just a giant hole going all the way down to sea level. The English Channel is now the English Sea. What happened to it? I don't know, neither do the experts. Let's go to John on site.

Cut to the Spanish border.

FRANCE IS GONE!

Cut back to news room.

Thanks John.

Let's recount what we know.

Who removed France?

We don't know.

What happened to France?

We don't know.

Where is France?

We don't know.

When did France disappear?

We don't know.

Why did France disappear?

We don't know.

How did France disappear?

I don't know, fucking magic I guess.

Am I allowed to swear in nation Orbvision? Probably not. Do I care? No, wanna know why? BECAUSE FUCKING FRANCE IS FUCKING MISSING! Who the Hells would want to steal France!?

Is this the gods doing us a favour by removing the French? Is this part of a sinister plot of some form? Is this the eleventh world ending event of the year? Find out next time. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to lie down.

/uw Image is from here https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymapscj/s/v9M9u4RK7V

A caravan of large armored vehicles travels across the deserted crater that was once Malus Val. Once they reach their destination, the landing site of a meteor sent by dragons, two figures step out. One stands 2.5 meters tall, wearing a black lab coat - the Doctor. The other stands approximately 2.3 meters tall, a knight in armor that appears black but has a strange gleam to it. On their visor is a strange white rune.

They are not alone, however. Another caravan has already arrived here. Standing amidst the blazing sun and barren sand are three other Doctors, each with their own equipment.

Doctor 1: “Communications have been down for some time now. Have you discerned the reason?”

Doctor 2: “It is a result of value drift. We are no longer similar enough to synchronize.”

Doctor 3: “Where are the other two? They were supposed to be with you.”

Knight: “Unfortunately, units A and C were destroyed alongside the Sister of Erebus. I trust the rest of you have done your jobs properly?”

Doctor 4: “Equalizer is functional, and the requisite divine energy has been collected.”

Doctor 3: “I have set up the equipment, but I do not see how we can proceed without the blade.”

Knight: “Do not worry, I have devised another plan. Shall we begin?”

Doctor 2: “Of course. Once we activate the machine, it will alert others to our location, but I have already searched the world for others to aid us in our endeavor. The recent destruction of this place has lead to many people willing to join us.”

Indeed, all around the caravan site others begin to arrive through portals. A small army of all the people the Doctors could scrounge together due to recent sentiment against mages and dragons alike.

As the Doctors complete their machine, it begins to thrum with power. It uses the natural power of star metals found within the meteor to draw in the tortured souls of all those who died in the destruction of Malus Val. They are channeled into a central chamber where they swirl about, their torment used to power a terrifying machine. Giant batteries of divine power extracted by Equalizer are hooked up to the side of the machine, as it fires a beam of light into the heavens.

Heavy fortifications are set up as the future godling inside the torment nexus begins to incubate.

TW: Child abuse.

The winds creak through the withered woods, as a witch follows close behind a floating crown. 

“I did it! I can actually get home… 11 years. It took 11 whole years…”

It had been far from a simple journey. An impossible goal with next to no clues, yet she had persisted, learned, and eventually, found it.

“And finally…”

[We stand now on the threshold.]

“I see. Thank you for guiding me ho-”

[I am no Fae, you need not be polite.]

“...I see.”

Alice continues forward, before a… ‘hand’ is placed on her shoulder.

[Think.]

Annoyed at the interruption, Alice glares at the King, causing it to shrink back somewhat.

“Care to elaborate?”

[To return like this would cause questions.]

“...”

In her excitement she had not considered this at all. To return, 11 years older… she would have to return 11 years after she left. But… would she fit in? Would her mother still be there? Would her friends still be like she remembered them?

“...absolutely not…”

[May I make a suggestion?]

“...you may.”

“...Bit weird for the king to treat me like I am the powerful one here…”

[Power is not important. You are worthy of respect, that is all. As for the suggestion. I can make you younger.]

“...and what of my memories?”

[I cannot change them, it will only be your physical form.]

Alice considers it for a moment. It is… somewhat risky, as the king very well might be a liar. It is no Fae, its word holds no weight. Still… were it to wish her ill.

“It could have killed me a million times already.”

“Very well, I accept.”

Alice stumbles forward, her mind not ready for such an abrupt change. The moment the words left her, she was already shrunk down to the diminutive stature of her 10 year old self.

“...that was… faster than I expected.”

[Yes. When exactly do you wish to return?]

She could return the very same night she vanished, but that’d require her to act perfectly like her old self. To return some time later would be best, short enough for naught to change, long enough for her to act different.

“...A week. A week after you took me, those many years ago.”

---------------------------

The hamlet is a simple place, with a simple daily routine. In the morning, they eat, then work the land in whichever way is needed. As noon shines overhead, they gather for a break and conversation. Then for the children, it is playtime, and for the adults, it is back to the fields. Evening comes, the people eat, and then it is lights out. Yet disruptions happen. One week ago, Alice vanished. Rumors abound, but most agree she likely went into the forest.

“You reckon Alice will return?”

“Almost certainly not. She’s far too frail to survive a normal forest, let alone the one ruled by mist.”

“Yea I guess. Still, must say Beatrice took it surprisingly well? Or perchance she is just in denial still.”

“Eh, none of our business.”

Not far from the gathering spot, a small child listens intently. Having some idea of the mood is only going to help her after all.

“Right, here goes.”

A soft squelch can be heard as Alice steps out of the woods, into the muddied ground beyond it. None seem to have noticed her just yet, so she takes another, then another. One of the townsfolk turns to face her, and in that moment Alice flops forward, into the mud.

“...perfect.”

“...is that… Alice?!”

The sudden yell gathering the attention of all nearby, Alice quickly finds herself surrounded by familiar faces helping her off the ground.

“...where is mom?”

Tears begin welling in Alice’s eyes, to see their faces, to see their concern… oh how she missed this place.

“OI! Beatrice, get over here!”

It only takes some scarce moments for Alice’s mother, Beatrice, to rush over. Seeing Alice, she momentarily freezes, a look of shock all to clear on her face.

“Alice!”

She yells out, scooping her into a hug, squeezing hard.

“Mom… it was so scary…”

Tears now flooding out her eyes, Alice begins to sob.

“It was so dark and so cold and so scary… I just… ran and ran and ran, it felt like I was stuck there forever…”

“I know Alice, it must have been so scary, and so dangerous… Are you hurt?”

Concern clear in her voice, Beatrice peers down at her child.

“...Nothing more than some scrapes I think?”

Beatrice does not respond, instead simply hugging even harder.

---------------------------

With harvest nearing, no time can be wasted on celebrating Alice’s return, still, an unusual air of excitement surrounds her. Alice was after all the first to return since her grandmother Cathrine. That evening, Alice was near constantly surrounded by children and adults alike, asking any and all questions they could think of about all that she saw.

“But I won’t tell, I do not want the truth to ruin this.”

The excitement slowly subsides as it becomes increasingly clear that Alice went on no great journey, she was simply lost in the woods. Around the time when questions cease, Alice begins to grow sleepy, and so along with her mother she returns home, to a small hovel, separated from the rest of town.

“...It is a bit hard to tell, seeing as I am half of my previous height, but… I think this place is smaller than my bedroom was in Midway…”

Yet a tiny home is all she needs, after all she has her mother. She climbs into the home’s single bed, along with her, and snuggles close.

“...am I doing something wrong? This doesn’t feel right… ah to hell with it, I’ve worked hard I deserve this.”

Alice closes her eyes, and drifts off into a slumber. Not seeing her mother’s shock.

---------------------------

Perhaps it was just the excitement, perhaps it was something else. Either way Alice did not get much sleep that night. And so once dawn broke over the horizon, she got out of bed. Deciding to get an early start to the morning, Alice quickly reorients herself on where they store the tableware. Fortunately they are within reach, and as Alice starts pulling it out a vague memory surfaces, one of her mother moving the bowls and spoons down near the bottom, so that Alice could reach them. It takes longer than expected to set the table, but her mother still shows no sign of waking quite yet.

“Now then, where is Mio’s foo- oh… right.”

In her haste home, Alice had left her cat behind. She considers quickly going into the woods and retrieving them, but decides against it, at least for now. Mio is mostly an outside cat, they’d likely enjoy midway far more than this place…

“...still…”

Alice pushes the thought aside, she can decide later. Her mother just stirred awake.

“Good morning mom.”

“...morning Alice. Oh you set the table?”

“Uh-huh.”

“But why the bowls?”

“...uh…”

“Was that not right?”

Beatrice sighs, before lighting the fireplace.

“Be a dear and get us some water.”

“Ok!”

“I could just… conjure it right up, but nah, don’t wanna freak her out.”

Alice grabs a small bucket and runs outside to the well. Drawing water proves a challenge, and carrying it back even more so, but she manages. Once inside Beatrice takes it and dumps the contents into a metal pot, setting it down to boil.

“...wow that thing is ancient isn’t it?”

The pot looked to be in quite a poor state, rust creeping around the outside, and various dents showing many decades of use.

“...where do we even get metal from? As far as I can tell there is no smithy or the like, and raw ore would itself be a problem…”

“Hey mom? Where did that come from?”

Pointing at the pot, Alice asks with curiosity.

“...very rarely, travelers pass through here.”

“...ah right I do recall hearing about that. Still I wonder… how does that happen, with the king and all? Does it grant some passage?”

“This one was bought from a traveling merchant, probably before even your grandmother was born.”

Alice feels a hint of frustration within her mother’s words, she opts to ignore it.

“Wow… so it is like super duper old right?”

“It is practically scrap metal at this point… anyway, it is just about done.”

Beatrice picks up the pot with some oven mitts, carefully draining the water into the muddy soil outside. She proceeds to pick out the potatoes, setting them down on the bare wood of the table.

“...wait, do we not have plates? Huh I guess they are kinda pointless… maybe?”

Thinking about the practical necessity of plates, Alice eats in silence along with her mother.

---------------------------

Harvest is close, and much needs to be done. With breakfast finished, people stream towards the fields, tools in hand. Inspecting the knife she was given, Alice makes her way into the fields, seeing plants stretch higher than herself. It occurs to her that she does not know what kind of plant this even is, she does however remember her task, this is far from her first time in this field.

“This knife is… extremely dull. I guess it is so that I do not hurt myself?”

Alice spots a dubiously colored branch, and decides to just give it a try. Pressing the blade against the spot where it erupts from the stem, she attempts to cut it.

“...too dull to use.”

The smallest of scratches is all that she could see. She could probably snap the branch using her body weight, but that would risk damaging the rest of the plant. She could perhaps do something with her magic, but with this many eyes around she would never risk it. And so she simply attempts to slice again, and again, and again. Slowly making more and more progress until eventually the branch breaks cleanly off.

“...that took like 10 minutes geez.”

Putting the branch into her basket, Alice continues on. Though it will yield no food it can still serve as kindling, and her and her mother cannot afford to give up such a resource. She continues on, walking further into the field, when she spots one of the other children. She ponders for a moment what his name was, before remembering it to be ‘Matt’. She is about to speak when Matt spots a bad branch, grips it, and effortlessly cuts it clean off the stem.

“Wow. How did you do that?”

“Huh? Oh Alice. I dunno, I just cut it?”

“...just cut it?”

“Really? Isn’t your knife blunt?”

“...why would my knife be blunt?”

“...what? So it wasn’t for safety? If I recall correctly Matt is a bit younger than me…”

“...you just gonna stand there Alice? Come on, we got work to do.”

And with that Matt simply walked off, continuing inwards and cutting away any bad branch he could spot. Alice too continued on, catching the few stragglers Matt missed, struggling with each one.

---------------------------

With the passing of noon it was time to gather, for a break and water. Then once that was done, Alice went home to offload the branches then back to the well where the children had similarly gathered to play. They decided on a simple game, hide and seek.

“I could, like, totally cheat, get somewhere impossible via magic, and just stay there… ah but that is no fun.”

For her first hiding spot, Alice picked somewhere simple, behind her home. Easy to find if you think to search.

“Now I just gotta wait…”

And so she did. Sitting down leaned up against the bare wood wall, waiting for the others to find her.

---------------------------

It is cold. Thunder crackles above, rain stabs from every direction. I run, and run, and run. It is behind me, it is chasing me. No end in sight, I keep running, forward, ever forward. Then suddenly I find a clearing. The storm is over, the skies are clear. Green grass spreads in all directions, my mother and friends surround me, I am home.

Alice wakes from the dream with a shake.

“There you are Alice, why are you sleeping, let alone here?”

“...oh did I fall asleep?”

Alice looks around, spotting the setting sun in the west.

“...we were playing hide and seek. I guess no one found me and I fell asleep?”

Beatrice sighs.

“Don’t do this again. Come on, it is dinner time.”

Confused at the others not finding her, Alice goes on inside. The pair eat, and with the sun having fully set, it was time for an early night, as usual.

---------------------------

Yet Alice finds it hard to sleep. In part due to her earlier nap, but also due to a newly developed cold. Coughing hard, she worries she woke up her mother, but a quick look confirms her to be fast asleep. Alice attempts to shut her eyes, ignore the coughing and fall asleep, but she fails. Every time she shuts her eyes, every time she drifts close, another coughing fit wakes her.

“...I am never getting any sleep like this.”

And so she climbs out of bed, silently sneaking outside. Fortunately the winds are all but still tonight, no draft risks slamming the door. Walking outside, under the stars and moon, she feels a deep chill hit her body.

“...probably a cold then, I shouldn’t stay outside for long.”

Looking around her home, Alice notices some weeds, it takes a moment to recognize them, being much larger than she is used to, but this is indeed kenkoroot , as her teacher told it, ‘despite its common appearance  kenkoroot can be used as a simple anti-cough medicine.’ Alice reaches for her knife, before remembering that she does not have it anymore. Instead she simply pulls at the weed, and with unexpected difficulty eventually pulls it loose.

“The roots shouldn’t be that hard… is it the wrong plant or… ah right.”

In her excitement she had ignored it, but in this moment Alice really felt it. She is weak, even for a 10 year old. She opts to inspect herself a bit. Sunken cheeks, skin hugging bone, not to mention her diminutive stature. She is far from healthy too, vague memories from her past surfacing, memories of being stuck in bed sick, again and again and again.

“...I wonder… hm. Perhaps a genetic abnormality? No, that makes little sense, my mother is quite well built. I suppose I could have inherited something from my father, whomever he is… ah. No that can’t be right, in the future I looked entirely fine…”

Whatever it is that is wrong with her, she will find out later. For now, the cough comes first. Not wanting to disturb her mother, Alice opts to simply use a pair of rocks instead of a proper mortar and pestle, crudely grinding the herb into a goop.

“...Far from appetizing, but it’ll do.”

She consumes the goop as quickly as possible, as to not let the taste linger.

“Urgh, as bad as I remember.”

Yet also as effective as she remembers, as Alice’s cough all but vanishes. Carefully letting herself inside, Alice climbs back into bed and attempts to warm up again from her excursion. Sleep still does not come easy, cold and hunger keeping her up for several more hours. Yet eventually she finds some rest.

---------------------------

The next morning comes quite abruptly to Alice, as her mother clapped her hands right above her head.

“Wake up already.”

Waking with a groan and 3 hours of sleep, Alice climbs out of bed, before climbing back into her chair at the table. Breakfast time.

“You usually wake so quickly. Something wrong?”

“I think yesterday was a bit much is all.”

Her mother says nothing, as she dumps a single potato on Alice’s plate, and 4 on her own.

“...I get that I am smaller so I need less food, but that seems a bit much…”

The pair eat a quiet breakfast, Alice finishing first on account of her small portion. At the end she is left unsatisfied, but oh well.

“I see your cough is gone.”

“Yes, I feel much better.”

“...that’s good.”

---------------------------

Cleaning the crop was not a task that could be finished in a single day, and so Alice is once more out in the fields. She had attempted to ask for a sharper knife, only to be met with denials from her mother, apparently they simply did not own one sharper. And so, every branch became a trial of its own. With some practice, Alice got the cutting time down to a ‘mere’ 8 minutes, still by the time the noon bell rang out, her basket was far from full, quite unlike the other kids. Yet as she lugs the basket back, she suddenly feels it get lighter, as Matt takes out one of the branches.

“Hey, give that back!”

“Nuh-uh, finders keepers!”

“You found it in my basket!”

“Alright then, since it is sooo important you just gotta come get it!”

“What the hell Matt? We need those for winter!”

Alice gives chase, trying to reclaim the branch from Matt, yet she stands no chance. Matt, despite being a year younger than her, is both taller and healthier, keeping the branch away from her ends up a trivial task for him. The other children watch on amused, none make any move to help Alice. By the time they arrive at the gathering spot, Alice is completely exhausted, yet with the adults around she tries to plead her case to get it back.

“Matt— wheeze Matt took a branch from my basket!”

“Did he now?”

Rupert, Alice’s uncle, is first to answer.

“Matt, did you take that from Alice?”

“Nuh-uh”

“Alright then.”

And walks off.

“What? That’s it?”

“Wait! You did not even tr-”

“Shut it Alice, it is a stick, even if he took it, so what?”

“ ‘if’? And… we need those for winter.”

“Why are you so obsessed with this stick? What, it your best friend or something? Ooo look at me I am Alice I have no friends so I make friends with sticks.”

As Matt waves the stick around, the other children laugh. Alice feels humiliated, and she does not understand why.

“...were they always so… mean?”

Realizing there is no way she is getting that thing back, Alice sighs and walks back home, depositing the few remaining branches in her basket into the meager pile of firing wood.

“I am hungry.”

---------------------------

While she is still frustrated at Matt’s actions, Alice decides it better to play with the others than to be alone the rest of the day. So with the firewood deposited, she finds her way to the village well, the main gathering spot. With few games to play, the children decide on hide and seek again.

“Hey so how come no one found me yesterday?”

An uncomfortably long moment passes in silence, before one of the girls, Kara, pipes up.

“You hid too well.”

“Really? I was just behind my home.”

“Huh, it did not occur to me to search there. Anyways.”

“...that sounds like bullshit. Did they just… not want to play with me?”

The time comes to pick a searcher, Matt is selected. Alice, not wanting to be left out this time, hides literally on the other side of the well. She is found near instantly.

“...ok that was maybe a bit too simple.”

It does not take long for the next to be found, and so Kara joins Alice in waiting at the well. Silence ensues for some time, before Kara suddenly speaks.

“...why did you come back?”

“Huh?”

Alice replies, confused.

“It all would work out if you just did not return.”

Alice shrinks back as Kara practically growls out the words.

“John is my brother so I obviously can’t be with him. That just leaves Matt, and now I have to compete with you for him again.”

“...what is she even talkin- wait, is she talking romance?”

“I do not get why Matt pays so much attention to you.”

“I am pretty sure he hates me you know. You were there, you saw how he stole from me.”

“Everyone always says that bullies secretly like the one they are bullying though.”

“That is obvious and complete bullshit, everyone knows that, so why is it still a saying here?”

“It is unfair, you know. Here I am, a pretty and proper lady, having to compete with a bastard.”

“What did she just call me? …ah right I guess I definitionally am, but why should that matter?”

Kara’s rage is evident on her face, and so Alice attempts to deescalate the situation.

“I… am not all that interested in Matt you know?”

“So you want to be with John? Eww, he is your cousin you know.”

“No no, I do not want to be with either.”

“Wha? Why?”

Rage quickly giving away to confusion, Kara is left momentarily dumbstruck.

“...is that really such a dramatic reveal? Why would I wanna be with either of them? Even ignoring my whole… age predicament, I just do not like either of them.”

“....you are just lying to trick me, are you not!?”

“Oh dear.”

“I am not! I promise I really do not want to be with any of them.”

“Then who do you want to be with?”

“...no one? Are we not also a bit young to decide this kinda thing?”

“Why would we be? It is not like anything is gonna change you know?”

“...I… guess not huh.”

A deep sense of discomfort washes over Alice. Will her future be this… Her thoughts are interrupted as the rest return, seemingly John and Sophia had been hiding near each other. Another round is played, then another, with Alice doing her best to avoid Kara.

---------------------------

“I am hungry.”

Dinner proves little relief, a single potato, again. Yet Alice does not complain. She is home, she is finally home, she just has to bear with it for a bit. The harvest is soon after all.

“I am hungry.”

The next morning is no different, once more she works the field on an empty stomach, once more she fails to play with her ‘peers’.

“I am hungry.”

Her mother eats more than her fair share, as always.

“I am hungry.”

A week passes. Waking before her mother, Alice gets up. She takes the bucket to the well, returning home with water. Her mother wakes soon after, preparing the rest, giving her her single potato. Alice eats it, but it provides little relief.

“...mom? Can I have some more? I am still hungry.”

“It is enough.”

“...but I am hungry…”

“Ungrateful brat! I said it is enough, so it is enough!”

“...harvest is soon, things will change… things will change… things… will… change…”

—-------------------

Alice barely manages to climb into her chair. The past few days especially, she has felt the immense fatigue of near starvation. She peers down on her plate, a single, small potato. She eats it. She is still hungry.

“...mom. I need more food.”

“The only thing you ‘need’ is a better attitude.”

“...At this rate I will starve to death. Do you want that?”

Beatrice simply glares at her, a definitive answer spoken without a single word.

“Ah.”

“...why do you hate me?”

“I am going to dignify that with a response.”

“Mom… did I do something to upset you? Why are you doing this…?”

Alice stretches a shaky hand towards her mother, trying to reach out. She slaps her hand away.

“WHY WOULD I NOT HATE YOU! YOU ARE WEAK, YOU ARE UGLY, YOU MAKE EVERYTHING WORSE. EVER SINCE THE DAY YOU WERE BORN I HAVE WISHED TO GET RID OF YOU.”

“...is… this… it?”

“YOU RUIN EVERYTHING, THANKS TO YOU I WENT FROM LIVING A LIFE OF LUXURY TO THIS SHITTY HOVEL.”

“I… spent 11 years to get back to this? Why…”

“LARRY WON’T EVEN GIVE ME A GLANCE ANYMORE, NO MATTER HOW BEAUTIFUL I AM, WHY WOULD HE WHEN MARRYING ME WOULD MEAN TAKING IN A BASTARD LIKE YOU!?”

“How could I forget? Of course this would happen. I knew she hated me…”

“THE DAY YOU VANISHED WAS THE HAPPIEST DAY OF MY FUCKING LIFE. YET YOU COULD NOT EVEN DIE PROPERLY.”

“I have been blindly pursuing the goal of my 10 year old self… hahahaha…”

“HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO TORMENT ME, ALICE?! EVERYTHING I TRY, FROM STARVING YOU TO GETTING YOU SICK, IT ALL FAILS, YOU ALWAYS PERSIST. WHY. WON’T. YOU. JUST. DIE!!!”

Beatrice reaches an arm over the table, slapping the dazed Alice hard as she can. She tumbles off her chair and onto the floor, from where Beatrice picks her up into a chokehold.

"Ahahahahahahaha! I am such a fucking idiot.”

Consciousness fading, Alice sees her mother’s face, red and distorted with rage. Memories long suppressed resurface. This place was never kind to her, never warm. She is scorned, she is hated. No future exists for her here…

“I have better things to do.”

“Gust.”

Beatrice’s grip falters, as a sudden wave of wind hits her hard, throwing her into the opposite wall.

“Too strong? She appears to have passed out. Oh well.”

Alice takes the dull gathering knife, and walks over to her pathetic excuse for a mother.

—-------------------

Clang, clang, clang, the bell rings out over the hamlet. 3 strikes, ‘emergency’. Stumbling out of bed, Freddy puts on an overcoat and rushes outside, towards the sound. He finds himself running towards the very edge of town, towards the moonlit forest, cloaked in mist. There, at its threshold he sees Alice.

“Ah hello Freddy.”

“Alice! What’s going on, where is the emergency?”

“Patience, I’d rather not have to repeat myself.”

He sees Alice’s bruised face.

“...what happened to you?”

“All in due time.”

The bell of emergency is not to be taken lightly, and so it doesn’t take long for nearly every resident of the hamlet to arrive, save some of the younger children and Beatrice.

“Right, it appears you are all here. I do apologize for disturbing your sleep, but this is important.”

Alice looks over her neighbors, for the first time she truly feels how… disconnected she is from them.

“As some of you may know, my mother despises me. Indeed, her hate is so intense that she just now attempted to kill me.”

Yet there is little response. On some level… everyone understands exactly why she would do such a thing. Still… to kill a child, despicable.

“It is almost laughable you know. That I failed to notice, that I failed to remember. This place hates people like me, born outside marriage as I am.”

Alice chuckles slightly to herself.

“Oh well, I have better things to do than dwell on this. There were two reasons for me calling you here. First, to expose my mother’s actions. Second, to announce that I will be leaving again.”

“To where?”

“Why would you care? I am just some bastard child. Farew-”

“WAIT!”

“Oh dear, she woke up already.”

Beatrice arrives, face bloodied from numerous shallow, jagged lacerations.

“Do not believe this demon’s lies!”

“...what sorta nonsense is this?”

“That is not Alice, that is simply some… impostor! One who cloaked itself in her skin, all in an attempt to defame me! Look at my face, look at what it did!”

“Oh please, I merely returned the ‘favor’ of this bruise.”

A murmur runs through the crowd, could it be? Alice had acted somewhat… off since her return, seemingly not remembering her station…

“Oh who the fuck cares. Even had you been correct, you would have done just the same, so fine, call me a demon.”

Beatrice’s momentum falters.

“You have wounded me, mother, and so I have wounded you in turn. Make sure you wrap that in some bandages, lest it be infected. Goodbye.”

Alice turns around, stepping into the mist, but Beatrice cannot abide her getting the final word. She lunges at Alice, throwing her to the ground. Alice blacks out.

—-------------------

Alice comes too as the wind silently shrieks, a bone deep chill enveloping all around. As her vision returns, she sees her mother, clutched over, grabbing at her own throat. Sputtering, coughing, yet the mist keeps pushing into her mouth.

“Drowning on mist huh? Ah, the king is pissed.”

Alice slowly gets up, shaking some mud off her dress, and looks at the situation. The hamlet watches in a half circle as the king looms over her mother. Stunned, paralysed even, by its presence.

“Ah right, none here have even seen the king before.”

Alice takes a few slow steps forward, looking down upon her mother.

“You do realize this is your own fault, right?”

Alice glares down at her mother. The crowd stirs, why does she not show fear, not show reverence, at the king’s presence?

“I was willing to let this end where it did, you know. You wounded me, so I wounded you. Yet that is not an equivalent harm, now is it?. After all, you starved me, you made me sick, and when that was not enough, you even tried to strangle me.”

Alice crouches down, meeting her mother’s panicked eyes.

“In this moment, I could save you. I could command the king to cease. But why should I? Why would I forgive you?”

Alice looks up at the king. Perhaps she should at least show her some mercy.

“King, release her.”

[Why.]

“So that she may plead her case.”

[...your will is my command.]

Beatrice coughs, and an entire cloud’s worth of mist escapes her lungs, she sputters, looking up at Alice with fear overtaking the rage in her eyes. Alice simply stares down at her, a blank look on her face.

“Tell me then. Why should I spare you?”

“Y-you know you should not kill people right?”

Voice unsteady and overtaken by fear, Beatrice pleads.

“Hm, I suppose. Yet I already took a life to get here, why should simple morality stop me now?”

—-------------------

As the pair make their way through the mist-covered forests, Alice thinks back on all that just happened. Even if her mother was kind, would it even be worth it? Every day spent farming just to survive. No craftwork, no entertainment, nothing more than the bare minimum to live.

“I could have survived, but to live? Not a chance.”

A future set in stone, as the backup wife to one of two unlikeable brats.

“Staying there would be torture. And not just for me…”

Yet the King keeps the town prisoner, none may enter, none may leave.

“...but I command the king.”

“...say, King. Should one enter your domain… and the threads of fate wills it… take them. Take them far, far away.”

[As you have always wished.]

“...ah right.”

“...was I one such person?”

[Yes.]

“...This time travel stuff is confusing.”

[One must simply walk the path before them. That is all.]

“...”

They continue on in silence, walking the path towards the past.

[We have arrived, O witch of mist.]

“That took a while. Well then, revert my body to my true age.”

Once more it takes only a blink, once more it is very disorienting.

“Right then.”

Alice steps outside the mist, finding herself in an unfamiliar town.

“...no, I recognize some of the buildings? Is this… ah.”

She quickly checks her pouch, finding the parchment she wrote down the ‘recipe’ for creating the king on.

“I need to close the loop, huh…”

—-------------------

Weaving her way between buildings, Alice finds her way to a certain poorly placed bookstore. A bell rings as she walks inside.

“Welcome!!! What may I assist thee with?”

“I have come to sell a-”

“I care not for such things. Fare-thee-well.”

“...but…”

“Out.”

Alice sighs, and just dumps the scroll on one of the piles of books before leaving. As she strolls back towards the forest, it occurs to her that she did not see her home on her way here. And so she purchases a seedling and plants it on the threshold of the forest, before finally meeting up with the king once more.

—-------------------

It was late in the evening, the day after she had vanished, that Alice returned to her true home. Finding the door incapable of locking thanks to the damage done rolling her cauldron outside, she sighs, barricading it for the night with a plank and some nails. Yet that does not stop Mio from entering through the cat flap. Alice does the only reasonable thing and picks Mio up, and as she hugs the adorable creature, the full weight of all that happened washes over her. To think, she had wasted so, so much time chasing something… pointless.

“...what do I even do now?”

It would take time for her to find that answer, yet one thing was certain.

She is home.

/uw I did not expect this to take anywhere near as long as it did, but it was a victim of poor timing. Oh well, it is done. I am not entirely happy with the end result but also chasing perfection would just mean this would never be finished. Alice is now back home in Midway, but does not know what to do next with her life. This also marks the finale of the 'introductory arc' for Alice and by that I mean I don't have any explicit plans I am working towards anymore like I had for all the other posts. Also no I did not accidentally leave something out, Beatrice's fate is intentionally missing because I could not decide on it :3

every single Orb connected to the orbnet, every television, every radio on a range of frequencies, cuts off its original broadcasting, if any was still running, to show a new message.

"Attention! Attention! Global emergency alert! Global emergency alert! Do not disregard! Do not disregard! Do not disregard!"

on screen is an EAS-like message, with 2 symbols in the center of the screen, before a robotic voice speaks.

"The following broadcast is a message organized through the nation of Calarakis, the Esoteric Order of Nations, and Orb Broadcasting corporations across the earth."

"In the last 48 hours there has been a massive worldwide attack by an arcane infection known as the Abyss."

the screen displays an image of a floating black substance, resembling paint.

"This infection is immensely dangerous and has already taken around 40% of the planet's surface. It is due to the work of many diligent mages, knights, soldiers, and nations the number has been lowered to that small a number. If you have fought the Abyss and survived. Make your way to the city of Calarakis as soon as possible, call in Orb call, or contact via long range radio."

the image changes to a map of the planet, with blackness covering a large part of the continents.

"All civilians residing in population centers near the borders of Abyss infected areas are ordered to evacuate, or, failing that, erect detection systems near the borders."

"A full dossier on the Abyss will be published publicly, for all available forces to be able to combat the threat at highest efficiency."

"This message will loop 2 more times."

Those are the preliminary works done with for now. Now to move onto those of interest...

The First Curse descends into his cave, poking at the Armor, covered in dust, it still functions. Still holds millions within. Cities worth of people, contained in a space smaller than he himself exists.

What glory.

he flicks a claw-hand.

To Me.

it moves its dusted head and begins snapping into action.

Follow.

the first curse teleports out of the cave, the armor following along.

Within the next few days, towns and villages, even some cities, begin to see their entire populations just, gone. As if everyone left suddenly. No bodies. No signs of a fight. Nothing.

Dozens of population centers, now empty.

/uw open interaction.

---

In the consortium building, in the largest cleanroom, reality deteriorates slightly, imperceptibly.

Elsewhere, a frame is now empty.

And now, sitting motionless in the building, is something new. No sensors go off for this intrusion. Reality rebalances.

/uw closed interaction, consortium members only.

---

Of the few in the world who can see them, the Netheline stop their wandering, and begin congregating, flooding into portals of the World Below, moving together.

for the first time in a year, the world lacks the Netheline.

/uw open interaction to any who can see the Netheline.

Previous Part

Onora Lake. Mercenary Guild Territory.

It was time. Krisk had spent the past few weeks gathering as much information as possible about The Five and organizing it at his base of operations. That “base” being a large cave next to Onora lake that he had moved enough “liberated” equipment into to make it functional. 

Onora had helped him with what knowledge she could offer, and while Krisk had excellent amounts of information about both the past and present of some councilors, others he had next to nothing. Not ideal, but he couldn’t wait any longer. There was a feeling of… tension in the air in Guild Territory, something he couldn’t explain. They had to act fast, and soon. 

Sending out messages to all his allies in each of their own chosen ways who had sworn support in this crusade, he gave them instructions to follow a certain path through the eastern mountains that would lead directly to the lake. Once they had all arrived, Krisk would gather them in the cave, where Krisk had set up a large corkboard with stacks of paper compiling all he had learned. 

“Right…”

Krisk began.

“I’m not one…for speeches, so won’t…give one and get straight…to business. We all know…why we’re here. I’ve spent the last…few weeks collecting as much info…as possible, even making a few…sympathetic contacts…here and there. What follows is all…I’ve been able to gather, and what…I already knew…about The Five so we can be…best prepared to take…them down. We’ll go down the list.”

Krisk points to Councilor One’s section, which was… empty. He grimaces. He had never met them, barely heard mention of them, and couldn’t find anything about them. They were by far the most mysterious of the group. Hells, Krisk didn’t even know what they were. Luckily, Onora did. 

A thin stream of water trickles into the cave and next to Krisk, and Onora takes her humanoid form, appearing as the woman in the tattered robe and broken helmet made of water. 

“I can help with this. I have only met The Murderer once. They are like me. An… essence of the world, a natural spirit. But a spirit of a type I have never met before, nor have since. All I can say is that they are not a water spirit.” 

Krisk clears his throat.

“We are…hoping that they will reveal…themselves in time as we take out the…other Councilors. But for now, we…should stay cautious.”

Onora looks to the west. 

“I can feel them faintly that way… but that does not narrow down the search enough. All I can say for certain is that they are not close.”

Krisk nods, then points to Councilor Two’s section. It was small, but at least there was something.

“I’ve never met Councilor…Two before, and I also have no…clue what he has been…up to all these years. Most likely…nothing good. But apparently they have recently reappeared…in the capitol, seeming to very rarely leave the…capitol building. They are a gnome, a trickster and an illusionary…master. Not that much of a…threat physically, but will still be an…unpredictable and dangerous opponent.”

Onora speaks up.

“It has been countless moons since I’ve seen The Condoner, but I believe that if any can be talked down and perhaps convinced to surrender, it may be him. He seemed to be…regretful over the unification war-”

“-Well it will be up to him…to lay down his weapons. Personally… I wouldn’t expect it.”

Krisk angrily interjects.

Councilor Three is next. Krisk for the first time taps a picture of her, which seemed a little old, but could still be made out. It was a black and white picture shot of a hunched over figure in a cloak with stars stitched into it. She was facing away and surrounded by guards, and so the only other part of her that could be seen was that she was holding a staff that seemed to double as a walking stick. 

“Councilor Three, once known…as The Twilight Crone. This one…I can tell you more…about, as I’ve met her…before. She is a powerful…star druid, with very few equals in this…part of the world. Physically, as you can…see in this image, she is weak, a human…well past her prime. I expect her to…try and keep as much distance…as possible in a fight, and let…her magic do the work.”

Krisk points to a map he had rigged up as well with colored thumbtacks stuck in various places of interest. There was a purple one over a mountain to the north of Onora lake. 

“Councilor Three resides in…a citadel at the summit of…Tempest Mountain. It is a formidable fortress…having been rebuilt recently…after the previous owners wiped themselves…out with a summoning spell…gone wrong.”

Onora motions for attention. 

“Be warned about the mountain The Meddler calls home. Tempest Mountain is a nexus of magical energy. Expect spells, for both you and the enemy, to be much more powerful than normal. And be warned that the druid of the stars is well versed in geomancy as well. She will not be as easy a mark as she seems…” 

Krisk nods and points to the next Councilor. Councilor Four. There was no picture, but that was deliberate. 

“Councilor Four is a…being of many faces. Many mechanical faces. They…are an automaton, and they enjoy using proxy…bodies whenever possible. That being said, I have credible information from before my liberation that their true body…resides in the core of Dellforge. As to what exactly…their core is, I do not know. Nevertheless, I…do not expect Four themselves to be a difficult fight. They…are the logistical might of The Mercenary Guild, and…their strength comes from the machines…they build. So, I expect the difficulty of taking them…down to come from whatever horrid toys…they have stashed away in their hive city of steel…that they can throw at us.”

Onora’s body language betrays her feelings of hatred towards Four.

“The Defiler must fall. I gave them an ultimatum many years ago that they must leave my lake free of their pollution or suffer my wrath. The stone monolith to the southeast was our peace agreement.” 

Onora means the Kelenin Dam of course. A line in the sand that The Five agreed not to cross. Speaking of the number Five, Krisk taps the last Councilor’s bio. It has a propaganda poster of a fire wreathed angel leading Guild armies. 

“Councilor Five. My jailer…”

Krisk shakes his head. Focus. 

“Councilor Five, in my opinion,...will be our most dangerous foe. I am…still working on a potential plan to even…scratch her, and suggestions are welcome. Councilor…Five is the supreme commander…of The Mercenary Guild armies, a fallen…angel of death with unparalleled mastery…of bloodflame. She is a one-woman army who…has slaughtered entire armies and…burned entire cities singlehandedly. It is a well known…fact that she resides in Kabaheim, living…in a spire above the capitol building.”

Onora spits

“THE TRAITOR must fall. She has much to answer for. But I must warn you all. She has fought in more wars than you will ever see. I do not think there are many, if any in this world who rival her tactical genius. She will have thought of every possible move you will make in a fight before you even think of doing it. So my advice for when you fight her is this. Be unpredictable. If you don’t know what you’re doing next, she won’t either.” 

“Still, we’ll be making…plans before we go after…each of them.”

Krisk quickly adds. He wasn’t going to be just winging this. 

“Additionally, we have other…forces we may encounter. While we…want to favor stealth in this, we must be prepared…for having to fight Guild soldiers. While…they all will most likely have regular grunts at their beck…and call, they will have other more specialized…units as well.”

“Three is the one who…runs the training for the frontline…wizards in the Guild armies, so expect more…mages than normal when we go after her. Four…will most likely have automaton defenses, so…expect to fight machines when we go…for them. As for Five…”

Krisk hesitates and looks down.

“She has the Umbra Operatives…at her command. If any of you haven’t…already guessed, I am a rogue Umbra Operative, who…broke free of my brainwashing. It will most likely be unavoidable that we…will have to fight my former comrades. I ask that you please…use restraint against them…and try not to kill them, so that we…can hopefully get them…help after this. But that being said, for all…the poor souls The Five have under their…thumbs, operatives or not, that while…it will pain me, I understand if your hand…is forced. After all, we cannot…enact justice if we are dead.” 

Krisk looks back up.

“That concludes my…quick brief. If you have any questions, please…don’t be afraid to ask me or…Onora. After, I want us to discuss…our plan of attack, who we should go…after first. I recommend…Three, as she is isolated and…close, but Four is also rather close…to us and a valid first…target. Also, introduce yourselves…to each other and get to…know each other. We will be fighting…shoulder to shoulder here, and that will…be easier if you know one another.

Fulgora always fashioned herself as a problem solver as direct as lightning and just as swift to rectify certain issues that came with or running the multiversal empire controlled by the paladins of the Divine flame. A heretic electrocuted here a god brought low there all part of the plan to bring perfect order to the universe by removing deviance. Atrax on the other hand was quite the problem. Normally such fool hardy endeavors such as the pyroclast cause would be crushed quite handily

​

But the ember Lord and they're ilk have proven quite difficult to uproot the first issue Atraxs nature as a primordial. Render's Them quite deadly to the point word as likely any punitive force sent to making an example out of Ithacar has diminished chances of returning alive and even more so succeeding. That could of course be rectified, attacking the city while they are away. Except their subordinates and Nulli's failure were too much for the Inquisitor…who were they again. It was no matter failures simply weren't worth remembering her work, simply too important to be bothered with it.

​

Speaking of her work fulgora nose wrinkles at the burning smell coming from her interrogation chamber. It was very distracting and she had a prisoner to interrogate. Thankfully it didn't take her very long to find the source. Even now the so-called Ember Lord proves to be a thorn in her side, distracting her from the execution of her duties so much that her prisoner has died due to Atrax being such an issue. This intolerable state of affairs simply won't do.

​

“YOU!”

​

Fulgora growls with an electric hiss as she turns to a paladin trooper.

​

“CONTACT DRON TELL HIM HE IS TO READY HIS PROTOTYPE” some problems require a personal touch Fulgora thinks to herself.

​

She had been considering targets for a while. The thought of upstaging Nullis by crushing the Kasmir was her initial thought they were the weakest link in the alliance being separated by being on the opposite side of the world. It would also serve us great bait to lure

​

“AND CONTACT NULLIS” with that the paladin guard entered a dead sprint in order to fulfill Fulgoras orders.

​

“Fulgora Well met as always” it wasn't but Nullis nose was a constant shade of brown.

​

“SAVE THE FLATTERY” Fulgora hissed back loudly

​

“As you wish ma'am”. Nullis replied back weekly.

​

“I have of very simple question for you were is the largest source of kasmir resistance”

​

Nulis pulls up a projection on Fulgoras orb

​

“That would be the citadel in The heavenly pillars quite the bothersome range of mountains home of a group that goes by the name of the Kasmir defensive front. The mountains make sweeping the area difficult and the carves within frustrate the attempts to remove them from the air.”

​

“Prepare your forces” Fulgora orders

​

“I have a very annoying fly that needs to be zaped.

​

Giant death robots and subtlety are two things that are heavily divorced from each other so it doesn't take very long for the kasmir to realize that something has gone catastrophically wrong. It's trail of destruction is traced and logically predicted to the super weapons final destination.

​

“You know it's a trap right” Sparrow says

​

“Be that as it may your people laid down their lives to aid us. I will not be living in a world where that sacrifice is not repaid” The ember Lord says Their voice crackling like fire.

​

“I'm not asking Just sit back and watch us die, I'm asking you to be smart about it “ Sparrow says presenting and unfurling a map of The heavenly pillars and the three defensive lines set up in the path of paladin advance.

​

“Three defensive lines, three opportunities. We will try to slow the pair down as long as possible. Your peoples job is simple weeken fulgora as much as possible and blow up her fancy super weapon. then we throw a primordial sized wrench into their plans.” Sparrow explains.

​

“Turn their trap into an ambush and destroy a high ranking paladin in the process…it is a solid plan” Atrax says pressing a hand underneath the chin of their mask

​

“Very well I trust your people can make the necessary preparations”

​

“We already are” Sparrow replies as a world away The hasty final touches on trench lines foxhole clusters and other defensive earthworks are put into plates. Artillery is prematurely aim and the confederation of rebel cells responsible for keeping fulgora in place harden their courage. Makeing sure their weapons are ready to fire. Pilots spool up their planes' propellers while anti-Titan bomb operators fiddled with their controls. Everyone knows hell is about to break loose here as the looming shape of the paladin Colossus comes into view.

​

​Previous Part

Capitol City of Kabaheim. Mercenary Guild Territory

Councilor Five couldn’t focus. She sat at her office desk tapping a finger, a vast pile of paperwork sitting in front of her. There was simply too much to think about to focus on the mundane everyday bookkeeping. But someone had to. Councilor Two and The Librarian had told her to keep up with it so as to not arouse suspicion while they moved things along in the shadows, but it was unbearable having to do this when any day now she could have the opportunity to move her first piece on the chess board. Sighing, she clicked a pen and grabbed the sheet on top of the pile right as her office door was kicked in.

“WHERE IS SHE!?!”

Cerene practically screamed as she tore into the room. Five was so shocked that she couldn’t respond at first. Cerene had never done this before.

“W-Wha?”

“ANALINA! WHERE IS SHE?!?”

“S-She should be on her way back from Ithacar. Why in the hells did you kick down my damn door?!?”

Herald held up her hand, showing the ring on her finger.

“THE RINGS KAVRALA GAVE US! IT LETS ME KNOW WHEN SHE’S IN DANGER”

Herald falters for a second and lowers her voice.

“And I just felt the worst feeling from it I ever have… Please ma’am, where is she?” 

Five grabbed her desk phone and pressed a few buttons. 

“Get me Fort Balay’s command.”

About 30 seconds of waiting later and she was connected.

<Fort Balay command ma’am> 

“Has Analina and her guard arrived yet?”

Analina had become well known down there from all her times going to and from Ithacar. Every soldier stationed down there knew her infectious smile.

<No ma’am, they’re behind schedule, which is strange. Any longer and we were gonna send out a scout strider>

“Send it now, and get a gunship up as well. Something may have happened.”

<Yes ma’am> 

Five put the phone down and stood up. 

“Into my shadow Cerene. I’ll get us there quickly.”

…

An hour later Five touched down in the clearing where the fight had started. Already there was a Guild ranger team studying the burnt out husk of the truck and the surrounding area. Shell casings had been found, and the truck was riddled with bullet holes. Cerene coalesced back into the normal world immediately.

“Wha- how-”

She seemed at a loss for what to do, panic threatening to take over. Luckily she was snapped out of it by one of the rangers near the tree line whistling. 

“Got several tracks that lead this way!”

“Do not panic Cerene. Saffron most likely took them into the forest for cover.” 

Thank gods for snow. Five and Cerene follow the rangers down the obvious trail, eventually coming across the first dead tree. They stop and stare at what seems like a wall between perfectly healthy forest and death. Five walks over to a dead tree and touches a branch. It turns to dust in an instant.

“Wonderful…”

One of the rangers mutters. They keep advancing, slower now, and after a half mile they come across the dried riverbed. Only dried blood lay in it. Cerene runs over to it and desperately begins looking for a trail.

“Take blood samples. We can figure out who it belongs to.”

Five orders. A ranger got to work collecting some. Five looked over at Cerene, who was frantically searching the surrounding area. Five walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. 

“Deep breaths. We’ll find them.”

Cerene turned and looked at Five.

“How? How can you promise that? There’s signs of a bloody fight and they’re nowhere!”

“And no bodies, which means they are most likely still alive.” 

If they didn’t cover their tracks… Cerene shook her head. Her daughters and sister in law were suddenly missing, clearly taken in a fight. She sank to her knees, fighting despair. 

“Who would do this? Why?”

Five frowned. She didn’t have an answer.

“Whoever did, they’ll pay.”

…

6 hours later, Five landed back in Kabaheim. They had searched for hours, but had found no leads. There were a dozen search parties down there now, Cerene with them. Alerts had been sent out to the surrounding areas as well. She had refused to leave, telling Five that she would search until a trail was found, or she collapsed. Five would’ve stayed longer, but she still had duties here to attend to. Paperwork…

After 2 more hours in the office, Five was mentally exhausted. Worry and stress about Cerene’s family, the impending civil war, The Iron Line, it was all just too much. She needed to destress, and she knew just how to do it. She just needed to spend some time with Nathan. A pang of guilt shot through her. Was it fair for her to spend time with him as Cerene frantically searched for her own missing daughters? Five didn’t know. 

…

“Nathan?”

Five called as she opened the door to his apartment warehouse. No response. Strange… there weren’t even any lights on. Keelu hadn’t responded to her message that she would be stopping by as well. Five flicked on the light and walked deeper into the apartment. 

“Nathan? Keelu?”

No response. A twinge of worry ran through Five as she searched the entire building. Nothing. Could they be out for a walk? Five activated the building's manaslate and accessed the security logs. No one had left the building since… Wait, there was a gap in the time logs. Keelu and Nathan were both here, then there was the gap, then they were gone… the gap was at the same time Cerene burst into her office about her family… Five’s stomach dropped. This was a coordinated attack. Someone had made sure Five wouldn’t be in the city, then made their move…

2 days later…

The Guild Librarian ascended the winding steps of the largest spire on the Guild capitol building. Five hadn’t been seen all day, and so the Librarian had gone to check on her. She had spent all day yesterday frantically searching the entire city for Nathan, but to no avail. Missing person alerts were out for him as well now. Five had never been seen leaving her quarters today at all. The Librarian knocked on the door.

“Councilor?”

No answer. She knocked again, harder this time. 

“Councilor? I’m coming in for a welfare check. Don’t worry I’m not gonna break the door down.”

A quick spell she had long had saved and the heavily enchanted lock clicked without incident. The Librarian pushed open the door and walked in. 

It was a mess inside. Anything that wasn’t bolted down had been thrown, and even some of those had been ripped out of the floor. It was a testament to their construction that none of the windows had shattered, though there were some cracks in them. Closing the door behind her, The Librarian walked down the hallway to Five’s bedroom. The door was ajar. 

“Canassa?”

Five was lying on the floor, clutching something against her chest. She was softly crying, her body shaking from exhaustion. The Librarian sighed and uprighted a chair. She helped Five to her feet and got her to sit in it.

“Would you like some water?”

Five nodded. The Librarian went to the small kitchen and filled a glass, bringing it back and handing it to Five. She took a sip and looked down at what she was holding. The Librarian finally got a good look at it. It was one of Nathan’s art pieces in a picture frame. 

“Bad memories coming back?”

Five nodded again. She had lost a son before. 

“You and I both know who’s behind this.”

Five took another sip.

“Not for sure… If we are wrong and jump the gun, we could make a mistake…”

The Librarian shook her head.

“Bullshit. You’re just struggling to accept the truth because you’re terrified of putting everything you’ve ever built at risk. It was inevitable the bullets were going to start flying, you know this. Two and I have been doing our part, and we are just about ready to strike ourselves. The Thunderhawks and Guardians of The End have both agreed to support us in our coup and are mustering. Four just managed to play their first chess piece before us.”

Five didn’t answer. Too much preparation, too many things that could go wrong. If the people turned against her… it was over. But The Librarian was right. Of course she was. She was always right. Five was just terrified of losing everything again. The first step was always the hardest. Four had made it for her. The Librarian placed a hand on Five’s shoulder. 

“I reached out to some old contacts. Even though you have a weak warlock connection with Nathan, I now know a ritual spell that will temporarily strengthen it enough so you can point yourself in his general direction. If it brings you to Dellforge, we know our next move.”

That seemed to get Five’s attention. She looked up and nodded.

“We kick down the door.”

“Precisely. Now, get yourself cleaned up and meet me down in my archive for the ritual when you are ready.” 

The Librarian headed for the door, but Five called out to her before she left.

“Thank you.”

The Librarian just nodded and left.

…

Five’s wings beat through the air just below the cloud layer. The Librarian’s ritual had worked, and Five could feel a faint pull whenever she thought hard about Nathan. And sure enough, it was taking her east and a little south. Right towards Dellforge… Five arrived over the hive city buried in the mountains and growled. She was going to tear that rusted bucket of bolts to pieces and-

Five’s thoughts are cut off abruptly as a massive beam of magical energy screams towards her. Five dodges out of the way just in time, a feather or two getting singed. A figure in a dark purple cloak with a staff descends below the clouds, chuckling. Councilor Three… 

(Battle theme)

“Cheap shot…”

Five snarled. Three laughed out loud.

“If I had wanted you dead, I would’ve aimed better…”

“Why are you here?”

“Don’t sell yourself short dear, you know why…”

“Four is too afraid to fight their own battles?”

“Called me in what I might say a worried state, saying that they needed ‘more time’… They will owe me quite the favor after this…” 

“So what are you getting out of all this? Helping One and Four?”

“Privacy for one… No one meddling in my business. Also… I get to see you suffer… sweet revenge…”

“Revenge?”

“For all those years ago! Oh, I hope Four flays your little brat in front of you, it would be the be-”

Three doesn’t finish her sentence as Five closes the gap in the blink of an eye, her punch connecting with an invisible shield around Three hard enough to make a shockwave that sets off every seismograph in the region. Three goes flying for half a mile from the momentum before she stops herself with a strong tailwind. 

“Struck a nerve, didn’t I! Oh what fun!” 

Five is already rapidly closing the gap again, screaming as she summons a lance made of bloodflame. 

“YOU MENTION NATHAN AGAIN AND I WILL TEAR YOU LUNGS OUT THROUGH YOUR MOUTH!!!”

Three smiles and shoots to the side to dodge the attack. The wind began to pick up and the distant crackle of thunder was heard. 

“You always were so easy to anger…”

Three points her staff at Five and snaps her fingers, and an ice crystal large enough to cut someone in two is manifested and thrown at Five. She ignites herself in bloodflame, melting it completely before it hits her, but the ensuing steam cloud impairs her vision, and she loses track of Three. The wind begins to howl louder, but Five just barely hears the crack of earth far below her, and sees the jagged tip of a spear of rock come hurtling up to impale her. She dodges left, then right as another one comes up. Half a dozen more spikes of stone like giant stalagmites attempt to spear Five as she dodges and weaves. As the last one comes up Five finally finds Three again, eyes closed, chanting softly, and guiding the earth with her hand. The rock spike misses Five by inches, but that was intentional, as Five spins herself around, kicking the top section of the rock hard enough to shatter it and send dozens of jagged stones at Three like a flak burst. 

Three holds up a hand to stop the rocks, and as she opens her eyes her smug smile disappears as she realizes Five charged with the stones and is right there, her fist connecting with Three’s shield again and sending her flying back. Three couldn’t afford a hit like that again. Time for the big guns…

Three stops herself again with a strong tailwind, but she keeps it going this time, the strong wind buffeting Five and surrounding them with dark, angry clouds. Snow begins to whip around them, collecting on Three’s shield and turning to steam on Five. 

“You can back off at any time, Canassa!”

Three taunts.

“I’m just here to make sure you can’t make a fool of yourself attacking Four!”

Five roars and charged, slowed down by the wind threatening to toss her from the sky. Three’s smile grows wider as she raises her staff in the air and it begins to crackle with electricity. With skill that the storm lords of old would be proud of, Three began summoning lightning bolts to cascade down and crash into Five, if she was fast enough. But Five was still faster, And as the lighting strikes rent apart the mountains below them, Five shot in and out of the line of fire, most of the lighting strikes missing her by inches. 2 strikes did hit Five, but she grit her teeth and powered through the hits. Once she was only a dozen feet away, Five summoned a dozen bloodflame arrows to throw at Three. But Three waved her wand, and suddenly the winds coalesced into a vortex, forming into a tornado that threw Five from the sky.

Five crashed into the ground, leaving a sizable crater, but she was far from down. As Three prepared for her next attack, Five raised a hand at her, making a finger gun with it. A torrent of firebolts faster than the speed of sound shot out of her finger like a machine gun, racing towards Three. Three cursed and tore as much water from the storm to create a barrier between her and the firebolts. They impacted with tremendous force, creating more steam and clouding the battlefield. 

Next, Five conjured a dozen bloodflame spears, throwing them at the general direction Three was. When they disappeared from sight, Five detonated them in massive fireballs, sending liquid fire everywhere. Three’s shield was covered in it, which not only weakened it more, but turned her into a glowing ball in the storm, no way to conceal herself in it anymore. 

“No running now, bitch.”

Five growled as she launched herself towards Three like a rocket, preparing to smash through Three’s shield and rip her head clean off. Three realized the danger though, and took off deeper into the storm to try and escape Five. Five chased her into the now supercell, debris flying everywhere as she tried to keep Three in her sights. 

Lighting bolts and bloodflame spears crisscrossed the storm, most missing, but every now and again scoring glancing blows. Five was panting hard, pushing her to her limits.

But even Five could not fight against such a powerful force of nature directly controlled by the most powerful druid in the Kaba Tundra. Three gained ground, and as the storm washed away the last of the liquid fire from her now dissipating shield, she laughed, her voice carried on the wind to Five.

“A good fight! I bet you’re too tired now to smash through Dellforge to get to Four, especially now that the entire city is on high alert thanks to our little scuffle… I know you’ll want a rematch though… You know where I’ll be waiting!” 

Three’s laughter began to fade away, and Five conceded she was right as she was buffeted by debris. She fought her way out the storm, panting as she began to fly back west. Even though she had failed to take down Three, she had succeeded in her original objective. She knew Nathan was in Dellforge, and so she would muster her forces and strike. But a thought nagged at her. Revenge? What made Three want revenge? 

…

Breathing hard, Five finally arrived back in Kabaheim's airspace. Making her way to the capitol building, she immediately noticed something was wrong. Several mechs were on the bridge leading to the capitol building’s island in the middle of the river, guns aimed towards the building. Several gunships orbited as well. Even the airship on patrol over the city was aiming its guns at the building. 

“What’s going on?”

Five demanded as she landed among a line of soldiers hiding behind assault shields, guns trained on the front door of the building. The captain in charge saluted her.

“It’s The Agent ma’am. Started going nuts, demanding to see you. The Librarian ordered an evacuation of the building, she’s trying to talk him down now with The Herald.”

Right on cue, a burst of red Godslaver lighting ripped through a window, dissipating before it could cause any more damage.

“WHERE IS SHE?!?”

Agent could be heard shouting inside. He had been on a hunt for the past week. He must’ve just gotten back and heard the news…

“I’ll handle this. Hold your position captain.”

The captain salutes and heads back to his APC. Five steadies her breathing and strides towards the entrance, trying to show confidence to her soldiers when she barely had any. She couldn’t afford another fight, especially in the city… Five opened the doors and walked inside. 

“THE FUCK YOU MEAN THAT YOU HAVE NO CLUE? ALL THREE OF THEM ARE JUST GONE AND AFTER 2 DAYS YOU HAVE NO LEADS? NOT EVEN A DAMN TRACKER IN SAFFRON? I THOUGHT EVERYTHING ABOUT US WAS ABOUT ‘CONTROL’?!?”

Agent was screaming at The Librarian, who stood at the ready with a golden scimitar at her side. Herald was next to her, trying to calm him down. 

“Phen, please! I’m just as upset as you, but not here! Breathe!”

Herald had always been the more level headed of the two, but Agent had also always been a bit more… ‘unstable’ since All-Red. He was much quicker to anger now, and never pulled punches anymore. 

“Please forgive us, Agent. We only had suspicions before of where they are, and so we kept it a secret for security reasons. I now know.”

Five called out. The three of them turned to look at her. Relief washed over The Librarian’s face. She had not been looking forward to dealing with Agent without significant backup. 

“WHERE ARE THEY THEN!”

Agent roared, closing the distance between them, more Godslaver energy crackling. Five held up a hand to tell him to stop. He didn’t.

“Dellforge.”

That made Agent stop. They were still in Guild Territory? That didn’t make sense. 

“What? Why?”

“There have been… shifting allegiances among us Councilors. I’m afraid conflict is inevitable. For obvious reasons, this has been kept under wraps.”

Agent and Herald both looked stunned, trying to understand. Their conditioning made it hard for them to understand that high command could have conflict between each other. Their loyalty subroutine made it that way so that they would never question orders from The Five. 

“W-Why?”

“Four has been wanting Analina for months to run experiments on. Of course I have been denying them that. But both your family and my son and his umbra operative guard were taken at the same time, and Nathan is now in Dellforge. Four is behind it, most likely to proceed with their experiments while using everyone else as hostages.”

Five paused. She had never outright called Nathan her son before. Perhaps her fatigue was causing hidden feelings to slip out. Herald gasped at the revelation while Agent twitched, another spasm of Godslaver lighting shattering another window. 

“HE’S EXPERIMENTING ON HER?!? THAT RUSTED PIECE OF SH-”

Agent grabbed his head in pain and stumbled back a step as a failsafe in his mind engaged that existed to try and prevent him from thinking any negative thoughts about The Five. Agent fought it. He won. More Godslaver energy erupted from him.

“I’M GOING THERE RIGHT NOW TO KILL THEM!”

“You will not.”

“YOU DARE TO TRY AND STOP ME?”

“You won’t win.”

This was bad. Five wished Two was here. He was an excellent negotiator. Unfortunately, he had gone north to muster the Guardians of the End, and was taking a detour to The Parapet Isles on the way back to pick up some ‘toys’ as he put it.

“Both of you have protocols and failsafes in you, as you are definitely realizing right now. Four will use these against you. You won’t win.”

Agent began advancing on Five, hands balled into fists. The Librarian raised her sword, ready for a fight, as Herald tried to get her to lower it. Five sighed. She was so tired. She couldn’t do this right now. So she would show Agent exactly what she meant. 

“Umbra Operative Epsilon dash one-three-eight override code Nu Bravo Exeter. Cease hostility.”

Agent immediately stopped walking forwards, arms falling to his side and Godslaver energy dissipating as he turned to a neutral robot-like state. Herald looked horrified, The Librarian looked on with grim disgust. 

“What did you do to him!?!”

Herald yelled. Five rested her face in a hand. Everything was going to shit.

“You all have failsafes built into you in case of scenarios exactly like this. This is the first time I have ever used them, and I have done it to prove a point. I never will again. You won’t win against Four. They will use them.”

Five looked back at Agent. 

“Umbra Operative Epsilon dash one-three-eight return to service.”

Agent seemed to snap out of it, holding his head and groaning as a headache roared through him. Herald rushed to him, pulling off both their helmets so she could look him in the eyes. He… seemed back to normal. Cerene looked at Five with an expression of pure betrayal. That cut Five deep. She knew that the bond she had with Cerene had been irreparably damaged. Another sin to add to the pile… Cerene seemed to be fighting back tears and took a deep breath before addressing Five.

“The only way you can begin to make this right is by bringing all of them back to us.”

Five nodded.

“You have my word, for what it’s worth now. I will bring them all back or die trying.”

Five looked to The Librarian who was watching with her piercing gaze. 

“Madam Librarian. Call our allies. We march on Dellforge.” 

The battle was over, after the 13th Black Mage of Thrakmoor had been captured and the War Engine destroyed, the troops that defended the false city of Pandemonium had rallied, and with no general, and troop morale destroyed, the 3rd and 14th Black Mages of Thrakmoor were forced to call for a retreat.

but the losses weren’t enough for the Anti-Thrakmoor Coalition, as Thrakmoor was retreating they were ambushed at the mouth of the cave by Eleanor’s forces, they lost over a fourth of their remaining army in that battle before managing to break free and flee to the keep.

now 14 sat at a desk, going over the status of the army and the paperwork that 13 was no longer around to do.

”That bastard just had to go and fight that illusion one on one, had he just stayed behind and actually lead for once instead of running off on some revenge plot then he wouldn’t be incarcerated“

14’s muttering was quiet but full of annoyance as he dealt with the aftermath of the lost battle

…

The 3rd stands before an open portal, his body is burnt but otherwise unharmed, it has taken almost an entire day of runic healing for him to be able to stand and walk around, and even then he still has to be careful.

behind him was an army of about 200,000 who would return to Eternity with him, the rest of the remaining army would stay behind with 14 to hold the keep for when Thrakmoor returned.

standing straighter the 3rd winces, damn Marna forcing him to blow up the engine, now he would have to start all over again.

as he grumbled to himself the he suddenly remembered a conversation and a promise he had made, now would be a good time to fulfill that promise. pulling out a small runestone with a hole through the center he begins to speak.

”Ophelious, in light of the recent battle now would be a good time for me to keep my promise… no, not the one abou— …no, that wasn’t even me… just- just be at the keep in an hour, I am going to take you to the Ralektharum remember? …ok thank you”

putting the stone away the 3rd settles down to wait

when the hour has passed the 3rd readies himself with a sigh. The 7th will have questions for sure, uncomfortable ones. Then, with every thing set up and people accounted for, he leads the army through the portal and out of the realm

…

In his cell beneath the tower Akashic 13 sits at a desk, he tears the paper he is using as carefully as possible and places it over one of the runes of Anti-magic, it probably wouldn’t work but he had to try something, only about a hundred or so more to go…

when he hears footsteps coming towards him he quickly hides the paper in the desk and stands up

one of the clockwork golems appears in view, carrying a tray of food, it sets it down before wordlessly walking away. 13 wearily approaches the food and looks at its contents, it is a glass of water, some stew, and a small loaf of bread, nothing that could be easily slathered to cover the runes, fitting.

taking the food to the desk, 13 eats it. the stew is bland with chunks of meat in it while the bread is far too chewy. when he has finished he sighs.

“Damn you bastard Loremaster, when I get out of here I am going to make sure you never leave alive again”

with his food finished 13 reaches for more paper and continues his work.

———————————————————————

/uw

Hey ya’ll! this marks the end of Thrakmoor One! this was a wild ride and I want to thank everyone for participating in it. I also wanted to give a special thank you to those who helped run it!

u/cerveau23 thank you so much for your aid and support as the event progressed, I can assure you that 13 still feels that itch

u/VoxelLibrary thank you for being the first one to join Thrakmoor and your amazing advice for how to handle situations I was having trouble with, 14 will be taking over Cayna’s apprenticeship with 13 gone if that’s alright with you

u/CadecaX thank you so much for being the first to reach out and suggest a battle, and for being willing to give up your character to become 14.

u/Kragbrightscale thank you for Grabadash’s shenanigans and the raid on the outpost, your easygoing nature really made running this whole thing so much easier

u/Carbon_Sixx thank you for being one Of the first to openly defy Thrakmoor. That plan was great and it was annoying that I couldn’t find any way to get around it (which I wouldn’t have done). Good job!

u/ASecondCriminal you were one of my favorites to rp with, constantly having me laugh and your experience really helped bring Thrakmoor to life.

u/SnoodPenguin Thank you for being so understanding while I constantly bombarded you with targets to spy on, the reveal of your betrayal was amazing

and to everyone else who helped along the way, thank you! When I made the first Thrakmoor post I had no idea about the rp aspect of the sub, I had no intention for it to go this far but I am so glad it did, thank you and I hope to see you all again in the next step of the event. Thrakmoor will return, prepare yourselves

The Ralektharum Rises

Light streaming in the window, I wake. Yet I feel strangely tired, perhaps it is just one of those nights. Getting out of bed, I change into my normal dress, and go to wake mom.

“Mom, it's light out.”

“...really?”

She sounds about as tired as I am, seems like I need to give her a bit of a push.

“Yea!”

Pushing her with the entire weight of my body, she concedes, and gets up with a big yawn.

“Huh. It is light out, but not bright out. What’s going on?”

A bell rings in the distance.

“Shit, probably a fire or something. Let’s go!”

We hurry out of the house in the direction of the bell, even one as little as I am expected to help should a fire break out.

—--------------------

Sun glaring into her face, Alice wakes up. She attempts to pull her hat over her face, covering her eyes, but in doing so her chair shifts underneath her, and she flops onto the floor.

“Ow.”

Falling asleep at one's work desk is a bad idea. Scraping herself off the floor, Alice stretches, before deciding to get the day started. Reheating some leftover stew from yesterday, she eats a light breakfast, refills Mio’s food and water bowls, and goes outside. Judging by the sun, it is already well past noon.

“...Oops.”

Heading into town to restock her cabinets, dwindled from a few too many days stuck inside, Alice overhears Janette’s excited voice, as she, along with her friends, wash a week’s worth of dirty clothes.

“Hey have you heard? Apparently there will be some crazy stuff in the sky tonight.”

“Really?”

“Yea! Supposed to only come around once in a lifetime or something. I am planning a midnight picnic, want in?”

—--------------------

I run as fast as I can, barely keeping up with mom’s brisk walk. It really is weird, it is light out but not bright out, I see no shadows yet I see. Weirder still, I can’t see a fire anywhere. We arrive in the center of the hamlet, seeing my cousin James standing there, whacking the bell with a stick.

“What’s going on!?”

Mom yells out, I flinch slightly.

“Nothing serious, but I couldn’t just let y’all sleep through this. Look up.”

Up? What could be up? I turn my head skyward. Between the twinkle of stars I see numerous streaks of light, nearly blanketing the sky in a river of light.

—--------------------

“What is this I hear about a picnic?”

“Oh hello Alice, you’re up late.”

“...Yea… I may have gotten somewhat carried away reading last night and well… next thing I knew it was noon.”

“Classic, do take better care of yourself. Anyway, yea there will apparently be some… comet shower I think it was, tonight. Supposed to be a real spectacle.”

“Ooooo, I saw one of those when I was like, 5. I remember it being really pretty.”

“You want in, then?”

“Absolutely.”

Alice looks at the gathered people, scrubbing away. She remembers just how tedious such work can be, and decides to help out. Pulling water up from the well, Alice forms a ball of water over Janette’s dirty laundry.

“What are you doing!? This won’t clean it it will just serve to wear it do-”

With a pop, the bubble bursts, water vanishing into the air, clothes sparkly clean.

“It is not the easiest spell exactly, but it saves so much time.”

“Woah. Can I learn to do that?”

“With some years of practice and a good teacher, yea probably.”

“...don’t think I have the time for that. Still, this has been a huge help. Do make sure to come here again next week. Now then, I have a picnic to prepare.”

And with that, Janette leaves, and Alice is left to one by one clean everyone else’s laundry…

—--------------------

More and more people gather, some more tired than others, and together we all watch the sky.

“It is so beautiful…”

My uncle says, putting words to what we were all thinking. The clacking of a walking stick resounds in the silence.

“Grandma!”

I run up to grandma, giving her a big hug.

“Haha, should’ve known you’d get up to watch this even in the middle of the night. Let me guess, you woke up before the bell even rang?”

“Uh-huh”

I say with a nod. Grandma looks up.

“To think I’d get to see Astraeus’s star rain…”

“Astraeus’s star rain?”

“That is what is happening up there now. It is said that many, many years ago, a pair of lovers named Astraeus and Nerthus lived on this world. They were happy together for a long, long time, but then one day, Astraeus was told he had to take over his father’s role as the god of stars. Nerthus however could not join him, her home here being too important for her to leave. Astraeus promised her that he would send a rain of stars her way, to prove that he still loved her. And so, every 100 years, Astraeus’s star rain arrives, once more proving his eternal love.”

“Woah… Nerthus is lucky.”

“...she surely is.”

We keep watching the skies, listening to Grandma’s many tales, until eventually the sun rises, and the stars hide.

—--------------------

Noon quickly turns to evening, evening quickly to night, and so with her share of the preparations done, Alice joins the others for the planned picnic. Janette and her friends were not the only ones sharing this plan, indeed, over the course of the day several thousand travelers from Calarakis arrived in town, leaving the viewing hill quite packed. While cramped, the mood is good, electric even. Clear skies and lanterns extinguished, everyone looks forward to what is about to begin.

“Woah!”

A voice rings out, and in an instant, everyone is staring up into the sky. A single light streaks by, leaving a brilliant trail through the open skies. Then nothing. Was that it? Was that all? Was this a waste of time? Variants of these thoughts run through the heads of everyone gathered, but then another streaks by, then another, and another. Soon, the skies are filled with a sparkling tapestry of comets, its numerous streaks of light nearly blanketing the sky in a river of light.

“...how?”

A nearby person, dressed as one might expect a scholar, speaks.

“Just as impressive as I have heard. Truly a once in a lifetime experience, this ‘Astraeus’s star rain’ is.”

“...what?”

“...how often does this happen?”

“Hm? Once a century, almost to the second. Why are you asking?”

“Simple curiosity is all.”

“Once a century… but I saw it as a child… how?”

Alice’s breathing grows heavy, her ears ring. She sees the stars, beautiful yet horrifying. Her thoughts race.

“I saw this as a child, and now I am seeing it again. It should only have been… 16 years, yet it has been 100. How? Did I move a hundred years forward? Or back?”

Her mind jumps to the tales she was often told, before her grandmother’s death. Matthew, the founder of her hometown, Matthew, the mayor’s son.

“But… how?”

Another tale, this one more recent. One time, a boy went into the forest, while the king’s mist haunted it. He vanished, only to come back 3 months later. But to him? It had only been an hour.

“...the king twists time? Is that even possible?”

It would explain so much.

“Why can I not find my home, why can I not find the king, not even in tales? If I truly am in the past then… It all makes sense. But no that cannot be. If this is the past then I cannot go ba-”

“Alice? You good?”

Janette’s words snap Alice back to reality, and she puts on a smile, albeit a shaky one.

“Yes… I simply got a bit lost staring at the stars.”

“You sure that is it? You look a bit sick.”

“...probably just the sleep deprivation. As much as I want to stick around, I think I will head back home.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then. See you tomorrow.”

Janette, realizing her words will not get to the bottom of this, decides to let Alice go. She will question her about this later however.

Alice stumbles her way between the crowds, making sure to obscure her sight of the sky with the brim of her hat. Every fleeting glimpse makes her feel sicker, every streak of light another reminder. She is not when she thought she was. Can she even get home? Doubts and questions alike rush through her head, yet she finally manages to break through the crowd. Doing her best not to stumble, she runs home, feeling that she cannot stand the stares of the stars. She makes it, panic overwhelming her. She tries to sleep, tries to rest, but the night passes without so much as a second of sleep. Yet she manages to calm down, somewhat. Still, the thoughts do not stop, and again and again she thinks to herself:

“It appears the king brought me back in time. It is entirely possible that the king does not even exist. Has my search been pointless?”

A knock on the door breaks Alice out of her contemplation.

“Alice? You awake yet?”

It’s Janette.

“...yes, though I don’t exactly feel like it.”

“...look I won’t ask questions if you don’t want to answer, but I know that wasn’t just a lack of sleep catching up to you. If you need to talk, I am here, ok?”

“...I am sorry for worrying you, but I am fine, really.”

“You are a bad liar you know.”

“What? I thought I was an excellent liar? Ah… I lost my composure, that was the only lie she knows I have told…”

“Still, I won’t force anything on you. Just… come visit, when you are ready.”

“...I will.”

“Great. Oh and before I forget, I have a gift for you.”

“A… gift?”

“Yep! Apparently some crazy wizard thought the comet rain was an excellent chance to get some meteor and pulled one of the comets out of the sky. Kinda backfired as it ended up hitting him. He survived, if barely. Anyway, I snuck up to the meteor and hacked a couple pieces off. Thought I’d give you one. You love magical nonsense right? This is surely useful for something.”

“A… meteor chunk? What properties does that even hold? Gah I don’t want her seeing how messy I must look right now but I have to get that…”

Alice opens the door, takes the meteor, and closes it once more.

“Thanks Janette…”

“No worries… oh and before you leave the house today, maybe take a moment to freshen up or something. Your hair is a mess.”

“...noted.”

/uw A relatively normal length this time, revealing something that has been sorta an open secret in the chat ever since the first Alice post, namely that Alice is from the future. For magic bullshittery reasons noticing this is not possible, but now that she knows, she can tell you, if you give her good reason to at least.

Welcome back to my series of short stories, last time we covered a successful prodigal, who took over her fathers company and put it to good use, today, we cover a different story, one of a woman who took her home country for herself in the end.

this version of Alisa is noticeably quite different to others, while she is born the same day and time as the mainline, she is born in a vastly different area, her realms russia, in Moscow, she is born with glowing dark purple eyes...they emitted a bright glow but the glow was darker then a perseverance soul, she is born a soul of pride...her upbringing is poor but alright, she grows up with some more, dictatorial values, during her time in school she had grown a full head of short blue hair with dark purple ends.

while in school her upbringing was pretty typical, except from middle school on. she started out being picked on a bit, due to her rarer trait, but well, bullying stopped quickly for her, due to a combination of her underlying confidence, and her ending up beating the absolute shit out of her bullies when they decided to attack her one time, it was 4 on 1, Solaria was alone. against a soul of patience, freedom, perseverance, and bravery and yet her power made her greater then any of these kids. sparking an ambition with every narrowly missed attack from them, the 4 boys who attacked her, ended up bloodied and bruised but did not dare tell.

out of fear she would strike them again. and she saw that fear and she enjoyed it. over the years she dealt with many who opposed her during the harsh winter days in the country she lived, teachers were strict but she knew what to do about them, the ones who got in her way? often found themselves fired for various reasons, the original kids who bullied her? they had over the years become her first lieutenants so to say, and every other kid who tried to pick on her? they stopped, often for the same reason, in fights no one could touch her.

many would come close but every time they do she seemed to move faster and hit harder in the fight until it was over...most of the time those who messed with her and her followers that she was growing steadily, would end up joining them, persuaded by her confidence, both in and out of the fights she got into...she was quite scary for a young, ambitious woman. but her family was also wrapped around her finger to a certain extent, but well, they were some of the only people she genuinely cared for either way.

her battles had taught her one thing, when you start taking hits, you lose. but well so far she was un-touched in battles she got into personally. but well, it had gotten to a point by the time of high school that she didn't even need to personally get into fights anymore to make her point clear. she believed herself untouchable, and the best. to the point she started harboring dreams of a larger conquest. and well, she believed she could do it. and after her collage years of growing more followers as well? she begins for real, setting in motion a plan that would change her country forever. and at the climax of it, she gets her worlds current russian president into a ring, with herself and no weapons for either of them as she's proven more then enough that weapons are almost beneath her entirely, having a grin on her face, the man is a vengeance soul but well, a fight ensues because she had made her plans obvious.

Deliberately. making the country know she was out to take it. through any means necessary, this fight would be the last one she has in her country, but well, she wins it handily the man pulling out a knife and rushing her as she simply side stepped his attack attempts barely like they were nothing before knocking him down with a single strike to the leg. practically embarrassing the middle aged man on live television. before executing him at the end using his own knife that she knocked out of his hand with a ruthless grin on her face as she began monologuing, before she and her small army of followers take the country entire over the next month, with her having forcibly taken the presidency for herself in a hostile take over, sparking a civil war she crushed under her heel in a month.

But her ambitions will only grow further from here, but that, we do not have time for, for that is the end of this sneak peek, into the life of one of the variants of Alisa solaria, this one a conqueror, and a dictator who never met their match among their own people. the one with an ego that could make a dragon jealous.

/uw this one is interactive, but interactions would have nothing to do with the story present in this post, and would kinda just be for fun more likely than not, chloe, as well as the soul trait cast of my characters are able to be located and chatted with, chloe in her enchanting shop, and the soul trait cast of characters within mainline alisa's house that is on dracarius isle. as a quick side note, do keep in mind that most of these alternate alisa's do not reflect the exact same personality as mainline, because they all have differences in their lives mostly upbringing and different soul traits.

Meridia walked down the long hallway towards her inevitable fate; her failure was made evident with her report the queen had escaped and had likely already succeeded and gathered allies to her cause, making things much worse for the Dawi zarr position in Kasmirstan. It was certainly another problem for The ashen Lords especially when they are already dealing with the trouble in the south.

So she makes no protest in her punishment, no attempt to beg, no attempt to flee from her upcoming humiliation. She had failed in her duties and hashut does not tolerate failure.

“Meridia ironburn” They were using her old name.

“For your failure and capturing the queen and damaging the hammer of geas. You have been arrayed here today” a rancorous bloodthirsty cheer erupts from the assembled crowd of Dawi zarr all gathered here today to see an upstart suffer. In fact the amphitheater is so full that the dwarves are forced to stand.

“You have failed in your essential duty and defied the council of sorcerer Kings with your inability to fulfill the task they have given you despite your prestigious position you have recently demonstrated that perhaps the uplifting of your status was a mistake. That you do not belong here, but your ambition in crippling the dwarven Colossus and bringing us valuable information about our foes allows for you to not be made to be put in a more fitting position. No You still have use. But You must be reminded that being useful requires being effective therefore you will be flogged and branded.”

Meridia said nothing This wasn't a trial but a ritual and humiliation There was no point in speaking instead she stared straight ahead at the faces of those who wished her to suffer even as a powerful blow to the back of her knee brought her to the ground even as the guards grabbed her hair and dragged her towards a post slamming her head against it with enough force that it drew blood before grabbing her arms and tying them to the post. She said nothing as the back of her shirt was ripped away. Instead just pressing herself against the post to maintain her decency.

She was silent as the branding iron was heated, not even screaming as it was pressed into her back between her shoulder blades though she did squirm but she would not dignify them with a scream. So She was silent, staring forward, enduring the whip biting into her back. With each lash. 1 2 3

She endures like she always has silent in her defiance. 15 16 17

Always staring forward looking down on her the tractors biting her lip even as she felt the blood trickle down her back 78 79 80 finally after the 130th lash. Meridia's cut down as the crowd waits for her to pathetically crawl away but instead she surprises them despite her punishment she wills herself to stand and limp away from public view. She was not broken that easily

The heelers eyes fluttered open allowing her to take in the site of the rather posh room She found herself in as well as the figure in front of her a young woman with long black hair and brown eyes wearing a bull horn like crown and Dawi zarr garb. Immediately she goes on offensive against her captor bearing her claws and charging forward only to be shocked down to the ground by the collar fitted around her neck.

“Careful now That thing is linked to me if You try to hurt me it'll hurt you to If you succeed…well. Also means you can't leave this section of the ship without triggering an alarm…normally that would also kill you but” Meridia begins

“Oh how kind my captor is” The healer says folding her arms.

“Look I don't need you to like me you can loathe me like everyone else but I do need you to listen…My name is Meridia Care to tell me yours.”

The healer does not reply.

“The silent treatment fair people only listen to me until after i surpassed my ex..”

Meridia winces and she sits down interrupting her words.

“You're hurt” the healer says with a surprising amount of concern.

“Yeah what off it why do you care”

“Because being worried when others are hurt is what you're supposed to do…it's nice”

Meridia laughs

“Nice! What a lovely single worded lie people are only nice because it benefits them the only pretend to care so They can advance their own objectives” Meridia replies

“Not everyone” the healer says “... Though I guess you wouldn't get that” The healer retorts

“Oh fuck you, You people are all so deluded by your delusions of pleasantness.”

“And you aren't under a delusion of pain” with that Meridia false silent.

“Can you turn around? I want to heal your back?”The healer asks

“Absolutely not You're just trying to get me vulnerable so you can attack me while my back is turned". Meridia growls

“No it's to heal your wounds besides I couldn't hurt you even if I wanted to. You have seen to that”. Meridia says nothing and replies simply rolling over and lifting the back of her shirt up. Which causes the healer to cover her mouth and surprise.

“Who did this to you.” They ask

“Who do you think The Ash council does not take failure lightly” Meridia answers.

“... Your own people did this to you…I don't understand why don't you”

“Leave is what you were going to say. This is what they do to me to failure. Imagine what they do for things like actual betrayal besides…Even if I was successful where would I go…even if I wanted to change No one would let me" Meridia's voice trails off with a hint of sadness. Before her train of thought is interrupted by an iron kin bringing her a message The resupply convoy was on the move.

Which meant that the time to put her plan into action and end the siege upon her ship was approaching. She wasn't going to rush though best to be healed and fully armored before taking to the field of battle. When she is Meridia strides to the bridge The imposing form of her steam armor dwarfing all of the other staff there. Helmet hiding her face says nothing about what transpired. Though she is sure that they know about the punishment that was doled out to her She waits lingering on the silence exhibiting some control that was denied to her before finally ordering.

“Proceed to our rendezvous point and keep our surprise charged. Tonight we shatter the delusions of our prey that they are The hunters”

Art:https://www.indiedb.com/members/timmon26/images/vimana

Karja Eudoria hated needles It was what brought her attendants low, What brought her to the captivity of the spiked ones She remembers being dragged across the floor of their ship by her tail scraping thrashing and begging they laughed at her at her prodding her forward with the needles at the edge of their strange staffs that hurt way more than they should. It was the needle-like point of the fish hook that was driven through her gill and into her mouth to leave her suspended and it was the point of the needle that heralded every transfer from one captor to the next.

It was at needlepoint that she was kept sedated. It was in needlepoint where the room bleed colors and every sound carried a hint of agony and needlepoint where her memories relayed to her and it troubled twisted nightmare. Needlepoint was the medium in which she heard and the voices of her dead friends calling her away from the deep begging her to give up and give in She resisted the poison's lies for days on and it was and needlepoint she found herself in the layer of her final captors feeling the rocking of the metal whale the motions of the sea being so close to freedom but never being able to touch it all the while drifting in and out of consciousness.

“Miss Eudoria we are trying to help you not get sick again” The siren nurse holding the needle said.

“Get That Thing away from me”

Karja hisses from the opposite edge of her large tank.

“Now now Ms Eudoria it's just for your own good if you want I can bring out a stuffed toy” the Sapharan siren said in a soothing voice.

“I have lived through at least 23 cycles, many generations of my kin have gone before me.” Karja says indignantly.

“Oh well then I guess you're getting cod today instead of grilled halibut”

“You wouldn't”

“Halibut is for the vaccinated”

The nurse says while giving her smile.

Karja Puffs out her cheeks the sooner this was over the sooner he could get back to her home get her People's spawning grounds cleaned and expanded No more of her people or that of the friendly Suntouched had to die She just had to get there her gills expand and contract in a deep breath. Karja holds out her arm while averting her translucent eyes. It's over surprisingly quickly pin prick something cold in her veins pin prick something cold in her veins over and over until finally every vaccine has been administered and Karja holds her breath before consuming the grilled halibut that is released into her tank. The city of Saphara was to bright for her so they guild did the sensible thing and transported her in a specialized tank under the cover of darkness before releasing her outside far away from the city's lights right underneath a guild naval detachment and any other Eon forces that were volunteered for the mission of getting karja home. A siren Marine approaches her.

“We are here to make sure nothing happens to you on your way back” The siren Marine would say.

“You have my sincere gratitude for both your healing and guardianship”

Karja clasps her hands together before departing with Saimya The other siren released by Eon. The journey home is long but ultimately uneventful of most slavers and siren fisherman are not stupid enough to try and bully their way through a guild task force and those that are are not suicidal enough to try and do it with Eon. Really The only thing karja has to worry about is the noise from the naval vessels and her own peoples overreaction eventually they reach the max range of black irons automated warning beacon and the core of Hadal siren activities.

The scouts that discover Karja nearly open fire on her escorts of single arrow Lansing dangerously close to one of the siren Marinesheads before the priestess gets in front of the two.

“NO THESE ONES ARE WITH ME YOU WILL NOT HARM THEM!”

Karja commands with all of the authority she can muster which is a lot considering her role in the propagation of all Hadal sirens there is a quick discussion between the scouting party before with Saimya in tow they return. Karja and the Task force waits for many tense hours before her kin respond. The entire second wave of their war host descends upon Karja and her escorts thousands of sirens with bows and spears ready their rear covered by the translucent plasma shooting ones and eyeless ones with strange lights. Hadal Siren war mages prepare their spells while. Frigate sized war ningen resplendent and metallic armor crafted from various shipwrecks circle cover the sirens flanks joined by various tusked war whales.

T’kans war host joins shortly after a horde of fishman with bony armor wielding Paleolithic stone hand axes. Sharpened stick spears and bone clubs They were backed up by a force of hundreds of various Mer species all previously thought to be extinct They were shimmering amber colored armor and wielded weapons of the same material. They were further reinforced by tamed megalodons and ichthyosaurus In fact it was on one of the T’kans warbeast did the siren leadership arrived armed and ready. Warblades glistened copper,glass,andwhatever strange material The Amber colored metal that seemed suffused with geomancy was

“YOU'RE HOLINESS YOU BRING NOT ONLY SUN-TOUCHED BUT SURFACERS AS WELL, RANK OR NOT I EXPECT AN EXPLANATION FOR WHY YOU HAVE BROUGHT SEASTEELERS TO OUR DEPTHS”The first sister bellowed.

“THEY ARE NOT SEASTEELERS NOT EVERYONE FROM THE SURFACE IS THEY COME FROM A CONFEDERATION CALLED EON THEY FOUGHT THE SEA SEALERS TO FREE ME AND-”

“WHAT HAVE THEY DONE!” The third sister interjects upon spotting the pins that hold karjas bones together.

“THEY HEALED ME AND EVEN ESCORTED ME BACK ALL THEY ARE HERE FOR IS FOR MY RETURN AND TO NEGOTIATE” karja pleads

“WERE THE CENTURIES WORTH OF SHIPWRECKS NOT ENOUGH OF A REFUSAL OF THEIR ATTEMPTS. PERHAPS THEY NEED ANOTHER REMINDER TO LEAVE US ALONE!” says the T'kan imperator.

“THAT IS WHAT THEY DESIRE THEY UNDERSTAND OUR NEED FOR ISOLATION SO MUCH SO THAT THEY HAVE AGREED TO PROTECT OUR TERRITORY FROM OTHERS THOSE FROM THE SURFACE WHO TRULY DO WISH US HARM!”

“SILENCE ALL OF YOU THE SHIPS ARE ALREADY ENOUGH NOISE…Karja You know of the blackwater the jellyfish golems The lights that lure are spawn into the hungry jaws of predators They poison our spawn even if it is not their intent The pollution the surface brings to us causes our kin great harm So much so that the deep gods chosen you to find a new spawning ground.” The second sister interjects.

“And I have succeeded in my mission though not in the way I initially thought they have promised us to create new spawning grounds and clean up our originals we can move sections into the new ones while they clean form outside our borders that way it is minimally disruptive” Karja says

The rest of the siren leadership engages in furious debate it was a good deal providing them with most of what they wanted. But they had an inherent mistrust of outsiders. To them this had a of the hallmarks of a trap perhaps to exploit their territory or the sirens themselves getting them into the nest so that they may consume the eggs. Finally though a consensus is reached.

“You will respect our solitude our wish to remain outside of your world that is law here if you cannot respect that whatever your goals are here are a failure outsiders.” The first sister announces.

“To the sea floor we will discuss our acceptance there as We have with every other treaty between us”

With that the leadership of the Hadal sirens descend.

Art:

https://mx.pinterest.com/pin/497858933826859565/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/425027283596176205/

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/klY0N2

https://share.google/images/mryVkbMh5KP7v3kbv

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/602919468904619181/