“Brittany! NO! Stay with me!”
The final awful moments of the battle replayed endlessly in Elonia’s mind as she gazed down upon her dying friend, spasming her last on the blacktop surface as her assigned honor guard did all she could to stop the bleeding.
Their desperate efforts to stabilize her friend gave Elonia perilous hope, even when death seemed all but certain outside. Then things got even worse, if possible, with that coldly smiling monster Contender! Who seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye... so horrifically fast he could move. A chilling sight to behold.
Only for the air to crack and boom with thunder that disoriented even the irregulars half the AFV monitors showed as cursing and snarling and glaring with such mob-ruled hate even as they fired their blasters or braced themselves to fire at any fool who dared try to escape their hundred strong mob.
And then, cutting through even their AFV with such eerie resonance and echoing feedback was her brother’s voice. Her brother! Calling out the most unorthodox spells that of course shouldn’t work at all. Spells that were the farthest thing from being properly tuned into the furious currents of any of the elements, but rather whispering words somehow directly tied to the essence of objects themselves via drastically inefficient uses of techniques requiring not one but multiple potency pools. Extremely exotic dualities normally never encountered, save as a spiritualist’s eccentricities in the tomes she somehow recalled studying in such fine detail… even if the details of how and when were now a complete blur.
Yet for all their drawbacks, she sure as hell couldn’t deny the spell’s efficacy when the broken rubble and blacktop that the irregulars were using for cover abruptly erupted in massive copses of blazing oaks and whipping fiery vines like an octopus’s limbs, if those limbs had been covered in thorns and fire. Then her stomach twisted, realizing what must have served as her brother’s inspiration, the abomination looking so much like the violently thrashing top-half of the warped ascension pods that orc Shamans had once attempted to turn into sentient monsters.
In those desperate moments, Elonia had actually dared to think they might have a chance when dozens of plasma blaster wielding irregulars abruptly found themselves being strangled or catapulted right into the air by blazing limbs of oak and thorny vines, burning and shredding them by the dozens. Even if most of the mercenaries still managed to escape that trap, the AFV was now the lat thing on their minds.
But that did nothing for the true threat that Elonia and her companions faced, the dozen minigun-wielding power-armored assholes who looked ready to blast a whole in the now shuddering AFV thanks to concentrated fire before their guns all lifted upwards to lock onto… oh no… her brother!
Yet before her heart could even skip a beat with dread, the earth shook as a massive maw that looked shockingly like the choppy feed of the actual World Eater her brother was rumored to have somehow tamed? Actually emerged from below the street, as if blacktop and brick had become foggy mist.
A titanic, terrifying, tri-fold maw that claimed the entire band of Red Scorption elites, save for two, with a single deadly SNAP! Before sinking back into the blacktop with only a few faint ripples in its wake.
Elonia gazed at the sight with slack-jawed disbelief, but only for a single second, before Nevy, the woman assigned to care for her, jolted Elonia back into the moment. “Elonia, we have to get out NOW!”
And before Elonia could say a word, she saw one of the half dozen sentinels gently scoop up a still critically wounded Brittany even as Nevy gathered Elonia up with limbs like steel before somehow managing to scootch her through an emergency hatch that she was sure would be too small yet somehow the power armored half-dozen had slipped through, and before Elonia could blink, she was assaulted by roars and screams and the stink of scorched blacktop, burnt hair, and cooking meat. An awful sickly sweet stench she recalled all too well from the orc fire-pit (that never happened!) before she crumpled over as Nevy and the others moved so fast that they were a blur and blazing plasma erupted over crackling screams and the crash of exploding power armor and then her cheek was stinging and her right ear was fucking GONE when a blaster fire shot from the remaining irregulars seared off a good portion of her golden curls.
She froze, so stunned that she didn’t even think about her warding belt because her class and diligent practice and mastery of strategic class typhoons, storms, and nurturing rains did NOT make her a trained combatant. Yet before the now sneering mercenary glaring at her with gimlet eyes and a killer’s smile could take another shot, he was obliterated by a crimson lightning bolt that did NOT taste of pure arcane magics but rather twisted applications of Spirit and Soul arts, and suddenly her shoulder felt the weight of a rabbit, of all things.
An undead rabbit gazing so deeply into her eyes and so fiercely did its soul blaze that Elonia was forced to accept that it was much higher level than her, and could probably kill her effortlessly, but all it did was pat her with a single ear, wink, then unleash additional crackling bolts of crimson current from between its once more stiffened ears and Elonia just blanked out in a dazed stupor as a crimson ward that she should have cast sprung up around her and Brittany.
Brittany!
“Brittany I’m here, please don’t die!” She sobbed, crawling over to hover hopelessly over her dying friend.
“It will be okay, buttercup. Don’t you worry!” assured the undead TALKING bunny happily shooting lightning from its ears, now perched on Elonia’s head and she didn’t say a word, didn’t dare say a word, only hoping, praying, that the blinding flash of Fire and Ice flashing through the air would prove to be their salvation.
She shuddered then, her mind overwhelmed not only with terror and loss and shock and exhaustion but the pristine glittering BEAUTY of the freezing majesty that the skies had momentarily become.
Infused not just with a burst of chilly air, but the pristine ESSENCE that somehow summarized Cold and Ice and frigid perfection, utterly Dominating ones environment. FEEDING on warmth and the absolute inverse of heat and her mind shuddered with sudden revelations, appreciating in that moment a profound epiphany so grand that for a second, there was nothing else beyond that insight.
Her mind was captivated by the images of a pristine ice-crystal and a beautifully smiling woman who looked so much like her, a woman she just knew was her mother, even as an unexpected interface message shuddered through her soul.
Congratulations! You have had a Profound Revelation!
Your studies of the Elements of Water and Cold and exposure to Higher Order Concepts has allowed for a breakthrough!
You have gained Rank 1 of the Essence of Cold!
Though mortal magics are but a shadowy mirror of Transcendant Attacks, your understanding of the element of Cold has grown by leaps and bounds!
Cold Element Mastery has gained 5 Ranks!
Free Skill Perk gained! You may now infuse any cold based Elemental attack with the ESSENCE of cold! NOTE! Cold Essence based spells WILL use temporary Soul Reserves (regained with 20-Vitality hours sleep!) Your arcane proficiency and expertise reduces this cost significantly!
You have gained 3 levels! (Attribute Point Placement deferred!)
Yet the wonder she felt as the revelations shivered through her soul turned to dismay when she gazed down into wide brown eyes. The eyes of a girl jolted awake in the extremis of agony, aware of every agonizing moment as she choked on the blood and fluids she was drowning in, and Elonia’s heart was breaking as she sobbed and reached out to Brittany.
Only for Nevy’s STUPID hand to gently block her.
“I’m sorry, Elonia. This is a hot zone. We have to MOVE!”
“NO! We have to save Brittany. She’s dying!”
Nevy’s gentle gaze, the gaze of a warrior, and a mother, locked with her own. “I’m sorry, Elonia. Caliban fears insurgents triggering fresh explosives could arrive at any moment. We have to move. And the hospital’s just been hit.”
Elonia’s eyes widened with horrified dismay.
Why? Why would any monster strike the hospital? It was vicious sadism, pure and simple.
Nevy nodded her head. “Monstrous, and now we must—”
“NO! I won’t leave her!”
The world rumbled with what Elonia was sure was a distant explosion. She choked back a cry when Nevy’s gentle feature’s hardened, just knowing she was getting ready to move her, when suddenly he was before them.
A Contender radiating such fearsome power, such wild killing intent, that the entire company lurched around with fear in their eyes…
Only it was just her brother. Eyes wild and green as his crimson hair crackled with potency, Sylvan ears, what they both should have, and it was so clearly Eric that she didn’t know how anyone could be fooled, but apparently the world was fooled, and her heart swelled with joy and relief when he solemnly approached the dying Brittany, no one daring to say a word as he approached, save for Caliban himself.
“Lord Ernest. Your timing is impeccable, as always.”
The wild-eyed Contender that Elonia was now utterly certain could kill them all, the twin brother she loved and adored with all her heart, flashed Caliban a cheeky grin. “I’m just glad that Wormy was able to come through.” He then peered down intently at Brittany who was struggling so violently to breathe! Why? Why wasn’t anyone saving her?
“Do I have your permission?”
Brittany’s eyes bulged. Why the hell was Eric asking such a meaningless question? Her friend was dying! She couldn’t speak!
“Er—” before Elonia could make her plea, it was Caliban who’s hand covered her mouth, coolly shaking his power-armored head. Which chilled her. Because it showed just how fast he truly was… and that he also knew, or at least suspected, Eric’s secret. And how stupid could she be to have almost said his actual name? But her friend was…
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Her eyes widened as she collapsed in tears as her eyes took in the sight before her.
The blazing crimson rune upon her lover’s brow.
The blood that flowed like a liquid thing out of her friend’s bulging mouth… as if Eric had just scooped her lungs free of blood. Blood that swirled in her brother’s rune-covered palm before he gently placed it before Brittany’s now spurting neck wound… only it was spurting no longer.
The blood was all flowing inside her.
Inside her, back where it belonged.
And with a shuddering cry, Brittany was trembling and shaking and sobbing in Eric’s gentle arms and then Elonia was hugging them both so fiercely.
“Thank you Er… Thank you Ernest, Thank you for saving her. Thank you!”
“No problem,” her brother said with such a goofy smile when Elonia hugged her lover close, no longer giving a fuck for propriety or raised eyebrows or what the hell anyone expected of two sovereign allies and supposedly no more than that.
‘Oh god, Elonia. I thought I was dead. I fucking thought I was dead! And I was drifting off but then I jolted back when it hurt so bad and I knew it was the end but then my lungs were clearing and now I’m breathing, and I owe it all to…”
“Ernest Edgelord Slaughter, at your service,” Elonia’s brother said with a smile. “And please be careful. I commanded the blood to stay sealed and behave, but it’s at least an hour of sleep or perfect stillness before System Reset snaps everything back where it belongs. Or your own regeneration, but that was scary close. Let’s not do that again, okay?”
Brittany gazed at Ernest’s goofy grin. “Fuck, you’re so handsome. I swear, you’re just GLOWING with this delicious wonderful presence like you’re the star of the movie and we’re all NPCs and I totally think I’m in love with you and you saved my life and you feel like an angel in my heart that I want holding me tight and keeping me warm always.” Her cheeks flushed. “And here I am, going on like some drunken fool of a girl running her mouth because she came so close to dying that she just can’t shut up!”
Ernest winked. “It’s cool. It happens to the best of us.” He then turned to his rabbit. “How are we, BunBun?”
“Excellent, fearless leader!” BunBun assured, snapping a salute with both ears and paw.
“OOH, your bunny familiar is so adorable!” Brittany said with a squeal. She then turned to Elonia, her goofy smile matching Ernest’s own. “I love you so much and I’d never cheat on you but I know we both dig boys and he’s so, so gorgeous and he saved my life and he’s a hero and we won’t be cheating if we share him! So we should totally share him as our royal con—”
Elonia’s eyes flashed with heat, a gentle finger touching her suddenly whimpering lover’s lips.
“Don’t even say it. Okay?”
Brittany blinked. “But…”
BunBun the rabbit solemnly shook her head. “Sorry, beautiful. He’s already spoken for.”
Brittany opened her mouth again and it was Nevy who saved the day, their guardian giving the flustered girl the gentlest of smiles. “Come, Your Grace. Let’s get you and our friends somewhere safe where you can recover from your catastrophic ordeal.”
ES – Ernest, I’m SO SO sorry! I wasn’t expecting that. But THANK YOU SO MUCH for saving Brittany’s life. All our lives… again? Fuck, just how powerful and awesome are you?
ER – Lol. It’s cool. You’re friend’s suffering mild cognitive impairment that should recover after a good night’s rest, since she’s a Classer. As to your other question… the answer is absurdly powerful and extremely awesome!
Her brother then turned to the man who controlled this entire territory, and how odd it was to see the subtle shifts in stance and posture. The respect, almost deference, that the Blue Prince showed the youth who was, to most people’s eyes, just another adventurer when Eric, or Ernest, subtly turned down the intensity of his aura, his potency, even without any killing intent. Not that Elonia blamed him for letting it flare out. He had just endured what she guessed was a death match against an absolute monster.
“How are we?”
Caliban gave a quiet chuckle. “As well as can be expected, all things considered, Ernest.”
Her brother nodded. “They’re not wiped out quite yet. I can sense about thirty reds blinking throughout the city, though most are scattering.”
Caliban’s eyes widened as much as Elonia felt her own.
“Ernest, this is important. Can you truly sense them?”
Elonia didn’t need the intensity of her friend’s gaze to know that her brother’s gift was beyond remarkable, yet he took it in stride as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Of course. When they declared vendetta against you and my sister, I did the same to them. Now I have a System Quest. I have one year to wipe them off the face of the planet, and to help me do it, so long as my Perception beats their stealth checks, I can kind of spot them all… at least when I’m the same part of the world that they are.”
If anything, Caliban’s gaze grew even more nonplussed, before he abruptly shook it off. “That’s… quite impressive, though I warn you, Masters at stealth enjoy fantastic bonuses against enemy Perception.”
For some reason this made Ernest smile.
“But for such a grand boon… what happens if you fail to purge them after a year’s out?”
Ernest shrugged. “No idea. It’s never been a problem before.”
Caliban froze at those words. “Wait… Ernest… are you saying you’ve successfully purged enemy factions before?”
“Well, not in this timeline. But if, hypothetically, we had all lived in a very similar one just a short while ago… then yes. There’s a certain orc faction among the many orc factions that I wiped completely off the face of Earth. As for the other purge oaths… they seemed to have reverted when the timeline… I mean the hypothetical timeline shifted.”
Elonia’s thoughts were racing. If her brother was doing more than speaking out of his ass… he was aware of what had happened before, truly happened before, with a crystalline clarity of a time that to her were little more than foggy dream, save when Eric plucked memories to the surface once more. Yet at the same time, she knew damn well that this reality WAS their reality, and a damn fine one now, with two glorious cities where before there had been… best not to think about it!
She shivered, shaking away her own thoughts, hearing the tale end of Caliban’s request.
“If you truly wouldn’t mind leading us to these threats… you’d have Blue’s gratitude, Ernest. Though I regret the need to compel any youth to aid in a purge…” Caliban angrily clenched his jaw. “Hundreds, Eric. We lost hundreds of innocent lives today, with key elements of infrastructure and support taken out and an entire block destroyed, simply so they could disable our AFV.”
Ernest’s eyes flashed with an intensity that both awed and chilled Elonia.
“Then consider them as good as dead.”
And before Caliban could say anything further, her brother darted away so fast it was like he had disappeared.
Caliban opened his mouth, then shook his head with a sigh. “I didn’t mean you had to be the one to purge them, Eric,” He said softly under his breath, before flushing when he caught an awed Elonia gazing his way.
And she couldn’t help the flush in her own cheeks, heart racing at the thought of the most handsome poised Elf who looked so much like a young Leonard Nemoy actually looking flustered. In need of an understanding hug. And maybe so much more.
“It’s okay, I know,” she softly said.
And with delightful force of presence, he was suddenly before her, gazing so intently into her eyes.
It totally wasn’t her fault that she accidentally kissed him.
In a moment of supreme awkwardness they looked at each other before Caliban cleared his throat, stepping back with a fluid bow. “This one apologizes for so abruptly startling you, Your Grace.”
“Me too,” Elonia said, cheeks blazing.
“I feel I must… emphasize, above all else, that certain truths must never be spoken of aloud.”
“Like how absolutely hot you are?” teased Brittany with a grin.
Elonia and Caliban both ignored her.
Brittany pouted.
“I understand,” Elonia said in a soft, husky voice, never having wanted any man more than she wanted Caliban right at that moment, yet somehow finding the strength to bow in turn, breaking eye contact, and to face an oddly sympathetic-looking Nevi, while speaking aloud.
“So what’s our next step?”
“Our next step is we get you home.” Caliban declared with a reassuring smile as Elonia spun around in a fresh jolt of terror… ready to scream… but it wasn’t another ambush. It was the sound of their AFV righting itself with a crash and the help of several power-armored guardians as a lean elf wearing grease-stained coveralls gave Caliban a sloppy salute. “She’s as good as new, sir.”
“Excellent.” Caliban waved to the hatch. “Shall we?”
Elonia’s heart skipped a beat, a wave of anxiety and exhaustion leaving her feeling dizzy and sick, realizing that she hadn’t even processed her title gains or terror or how close she had come to death or the three levels worth of potency that she really REALLY wanted to lock in a double bonus that was effectively triple with her multiple Arcane Reserve boons but didn’t know if Eric would think she was an overspecialized fool or a fool to surrender what amounted to a triple-strength boon. So she held off on tapping into that side of her potential.
Yet before she could even choke out a whimper because she really, REALLY didn’t want to explore the elements of her newfound claustrophobia with tight constraining death traps, even if intellectually she knew that those tons of polycarbonate tungsten & steel were the only reason why she was still alive… a soft bundle of fur had hopped on her shoulder.
“It’s okay, princess. I got your back!”
“Ooh, look, it’s the cute rabbit!” Brittany squeeled.
“At your service! Name’s Bunz… or BunBun… or SuperBunz.”
Elonia’s anxiety instantly melted before the soothing warmth of rabbit ears against her cheek. And she totally wasn’t rubbing BunBun’s purring belly… and should undead familiar rabbits purr? Did she care? For comfort while allowing a tutting Nevy to lead her back into the HORRID DEATHTRAP (incredibly safe transport vehicle) and on to the next leg of what should be her absolutely epic and glorious happily ever after. Where hopefully no one would try to ambush or kill her. Again.
“Don’t worry, you got this!” BunBun assured when Elonia found herself strapped and seated once more with a bubbly Brittany being put under gentle sedation and out within seconds. And a part of her wanted to laugh at the concerned looks she was getting from absolutely all the power-armored specialists gazing at her with such care through their clear face-plates. But before Elonia could say a word to assure them that she was the farthest thing from a frazzled Brittany basket case, she thought it wouldn’t hurt to rest her eyes for just a quick second and…
***
“The girls are safely asleep, Your Grace.”
“Good. Make sure absolutely nothing disturbs them for at least an hour’s time, and that we give them no deliberate reminders of what I suspect was the most perilous hour of their lives.”
“Even if the head of the Sylvan Alliance was gazing at you like she wanted to claim you, right then and there?” Nevy teased. “Play your cards right, my prince, and Boston and New Arcadia could both be under Blue Federation’s gentle care. Then our power will truly be unrivaled on this planet.”
This earned a snort. “And my first wife would absolutely kill me. As I do have a basic sense of self-preservation, we will also assume that any invitations for dalliance put forth by our Sovereign guests were the product of extreme stress and narrowly avoided peril, and nothing more than that.”
Nevy sighed but nodded. “Of course, Your Grace.”
