A Goddess' Duty
Do you remember Ciel, the goddess from the my story "The Sky is (totally not) the Limit"? Well here's the girl making a sexy return to help her world!
This is a commission for mysteryman01 (FurAffinity).
Ciel belongs to mysteryman01.
Warning: This story contains macro and hourglass curves.
A Goddess' Duty, by DragonMasterX.
Crystal Falls was renowned because of its namesake crystalline waters, its gigantic lake and the peculiarity of its tendency to never freeze over even during winter. Some spoke of the place having been blessed by the gods; others attributed its properties to a curse. As a result of these rumors, it was rare to see people around the falls, allowing its local fauna and flora to thrive undisturbed.
It was a chilly morning. Winter in the kingdom of Layor was cold even on bright, sunny mornings. The weather however made little impact on the daily lives of the mountainside's fauna. Songs by the birds at the treetops composed pleasant symphonies for anyone with an ear for them. The sound of water crashing down into the clearing was the perfect background to spell calm and peace.
In the midst of that relaxation, the goddess Ciel was taking a moment of her eternal life to respite. It hadn't been very long since her ascension; the dragoness was still getting adjusted to her new body. With her thick legs submerged all the way up to her thighs, she strode towards the waterfall with her tail lazily dragging behind her. Ciel had a very muscular, curvy and large body, so a 30ft. deep clearing wasn't more than a really big pond to her. She closed her eyes when she neared her snout to the falls, sighing in relief when the shower of gallon upon gallon of icy cold, crystal water splashed her face and the rest of her head. As her long golden locks of straight hair became wet, she used her ripped arms- whose biceps swelled into spheres of power with even the smallest of gestures- to drag it over her back, freeing her wide shoulders and voluminous chest of her now humid, supple mane. Her sky-blue and creamy-white scales became glossy with the splashing water, giving her curvaceous form a smoother look.
Ciel was the proud owner of a body fit for her title, thick, powerful yet womanly. Ripped wasn't doing her any justice, Ciel was gorgeously stacked, not just muscular. Her bulk was mostly kept to her limbs, packing great amounts of hard muscle cord endowing her with raw strength. In spite of that, her legs were long and shapely like a fitness model's and her arms, while enormous, ended in clawed hands with delicate fingers only somebody who operates with gentle care could have. Ciel's back was impressive, lining defined muscle from her huge shoulders to the small and spread to her laterals. Her wings and tail were gigantic, with the former spanning one again of her, each. The latter was even longer than she was tall, and despite its muscular thickness it moved with certain fluidity that could, perhaps, be observed as elegant. But where the beauty truly shone was on her curves. Ciel's hips flared out like a child bearer's, complimented by round thighs and a voluptuous bubble butt in the shape of a fat peach. With a narrow curvy waist that shamelessly exposed her toned midriff, an otherworldly eight pack on her abdominal wall, the fruits of the cake were two voluptuously gigantic melons jutting out of her chest like firm milk-balloons that shook with even the slightest of movements. Ciel's large mounds jiggled violently every time she moved, the tremendous twins smacking against each other and furthering the wild movement. She couldn't help it, so she didn't pay them much mind. In truth, her breasts were Ciel's favorite part of herself. Their size told the story, but the fact they contained so much milk that she could lactate filled her with tenderness; they, alongside the rest of her body and powers, had been a gift.
Ciel's wings stretched as she bent over to scrub her legs, looking at the reflection of half her face being hidden beneath that massive boob wall, her blue eyes staring at something else altogether. The image was of her older self, the smallest adult dragon she had ever met. Ciel had no parents, and the feral communities of dragons stated that those with power were the ones who had the right to remain. As a result of her physical appearance and lack of strength, she had been doomed to solace, but she had managed to take care of herself. It was during the summer that she became entangled with a series of events that led Ciel to use her brain to save one of her own, wounded beyond mending. Ciel had done everything in her power to heal Nizara- the victim had called herself- having thought she had finally found a friend who depended on her. Ciel recalled the misery and hopelessness that had befallen her when Nizara began to explain that she was not long for this world, and that she needed Ciel to do something for her before she went.
Scooping water up from the lake, Ciel brought the open claw to her face and briefly saw her reflection distort as the water quickly dripped off. She was grateful to Nizara for her new beauty and power; there was little Ciel couldn't do. She still remembered that day as if it had been yesterday; the swelling of power, the rush of sensations as her body changed. Ciel was a giant, no doubt about it, but she wasn't even at a hundredth of her maximum size, not even a thousandth. That day, she had tested it out, watching as everything under her became engulfed by her, no longer a worthless little runt. Nizara had endowed her with power beyond her wildest imaginations, tasking her to be the world's guardian. Even as she grew more potent and larger, Ciel was able to tell that all the damage done by her expanding form was rapidly healed on command by her very own will. She was in charge of keeping the planet safe, so no matter how mindless her power binge became, she never forgot to carry out her promise; Nizara had imparted two things to Ciel on that day, Power and Responsibility, two sides of the same coin.
"But still..." Ciel murmured to nobody in particular, "I miss you, Nizara." The melancholy of the situation was enough to keep a big wound open in Ciel's heart. After a life of loneliness, the first friend she thought could relate to her had to pass away; giving Ciel a very precious gift, yet at the cost of Nizara's life nonetheless. "Am I doing my job right?" she asked the reflection in the water, hoping Nizara would appear to answer the question. In the little time Ciel had to experiment with her powers, she had found out that she could repair and replenish, healing gardens of flowers which had been razed to the ground, restoring soil ravaged by wars and reinvigorating the magic energies drained from power spots around the world. Ciel had become aware to these things, and every time she learned about a new ability, another problem called out for those abilities. It was a demanding job, doing everything she could to protect nature and its inhabitants, yet not ruining the balance of things by doing too much. Sometimes, the blonde humanoid dragoness felt like the world was pending from an edge overlooking a void, and connected by a very thin thread only she could see.
"You're doing a great job at sulking, yeah."
Ciel's retrospective had made room for tears that never came out. The brisk tone of a male's voice alerted the giantess, who began looking around to find the source of the sound.
"Don't bother." The voice added unprovoked as vapor began to raise around Ciel's mighty legs, "Who would be so uncouth as to invade a lady's privacy, even if that lady is a naked 50ft. tall dragon that placed herself in the center of a bloomin' lake?"
Ciel's cheeks gained color as she bashfully attempted to cover what was the vastness of her feminine attributes, with little next to no visible effect thanks to her overwhelmingly large curves. This was an inordinate situation; mortals couldn't see her, it was the order of things. Ciel had convinced herself that the ability to cloak her presence and appearance from the naked eye was active, which enabled her privacy and impunity wherever she went, but apparently someone had seen her! And he seemed to be very rude about it. "Who is it?" she hurled at the air, blinking as she finally started noticing the thick screen of white curtaining her surroundings, making it hard to see. She briefly wondered what that steam was; it was winter, plus there was no way for the water to evaporate so fast, so it couldn't be normal. Could that interloper be the one responsible?
"Ahh, finally some good 'ol curiosity. But no need to be coy about it, dear. I've seen all there is to see, and frankly, I'm not impressed. Are you finished with your bath, yet? There is much for us to discuss."
The nerve! Ciel was beginning to lose her patience. Not only was the interloper rude, but he was being very cryptic about his speech. She double checked her magic energies, confirming that her cloak was active. She wasn't dealing with a mortal. And the fog surrounding her made it very hard to see who it really was. Ciel coughed when her throat and nostrils became irritated when she inadvertently inhaled some of the vapors around her. "This... this isn't steam. It's... smoke?" she coughed again, fanning herself with her paws before deciding to employ her giant wings to blow the smokescreen away from her. When Ciel stopped muffling her face and covering her eyes to see, it dawned on her that Crystal Falls had vanished before her. "Where...?"
With the smoke gone, Ciel could easily tell there wasn't anything that came remotely close to familiar surrounding her anymore. The water and even the floor were gone. She had no idea how she was standing up; she wasn't floating yet she couldn't feel solid ground beneath her soles. A swirl of iridescent lights amassed several alien colors in the distance of the empty space, building that psychedelic atmosphere that seemed right out of a dream. Maybe she was dreaming; perhaps she had worried herself to an unconscious state. "The Rift in Time, Ciel," the suddenness of that voice failed to impress her as much as the fact the presenter knew her name. "Goodness gracious; don't you know anything?"
"You've been having a bit of fun at my expense," Ciel furrowed her brow a little, annoyed at her interlocutor by now. "Are you going to show yourself?"
"Ahh, the lass has some personality! I like that," he was laughing. "Bashful deities are so trite, agreed? Allow me to take a form your eyes might perceive." With that, the swirling mass of colors appeared to puff more of that nasty white smoke from earlier, a whirlwind of tobacco-scented foulness that conglomerated in front of the massive goddess before finally taking shape. When the smoke disappeared, the figure left was that of a tall faceless humanoid wearing a black Armani suit, topped with an equally dark billycock and resting both of his immaculately white hands on top of an ebony-tipped cane. A gentleman of class stood before Ciel, a lit cigarette sticking out from that ominously empty face and the source of all that awful smoke no doubt.
"Again, who are you?" Ciel spoke with interest and irritation, but tried to keep her cool. That resulted impossible when suddenly she realized she was dressed in a pink bathrobe that somehow managed to contain her whole body- exposing only a healthy amount of cleavage- and fastened around her waist. Had she been dressed by this tiny yet heavy smoker during her blind period? The humanoid in front of Ciel seemed to chuckle at the reaction.
"I'm known as the One with Time. And your nudity is not welcome here, I hope you understand." The creature bowed while discarding his spent cigarette, which promptly disappeared into the colorful void. Ciel replied with a flat stare.
"Is it because you like wasting other people's time with parlor tricks?"
"Rawr, lass. Rawr." The One with Time purred while feigning a claw to the air. He materialized another cigarette that he wasted no time in lighting. After a few aggravating seconds of silence, he puffed a ring of smoke out of his non-existent mouth, the figure twisting into a little smirking face, to which a flustered Ciel snapped.
"Tell me what's going on. Why am I here? How could you see through my cloak? If you're any threat to..."
"Oh, are we done making fun out of each other yet?" the black suited interrupted her, "I believe I said we had much to discuss, so now that the pleasantries are over with..."
Ciel snorted some smoke through her nostrils, finding the most irritable thing in this being to be his lack of facial expressions. It was hard to tell whether she was being mocked or not. "I don't have time for games. I'm a busy person."
"Quite. Brooding under a waterfall must be physically and mentally extenuating." The One with Time turned to the side and slung his cane over the shoulder, leaving his cigarette in his face while he tipped his hat, "Lass, you're here because you have a problem, as if it wasn't any clearer."
"I have a lot on my plate right now," the goddess remarked, "You'll have to be more specific."
"Of course," he nodded without turning back, "I've been observing your universe, Ciel. This isn't a problem affecting your world per se, even though it is mainly originating from it."
"Hold on, my universe? What universe?" Ciel blinked, still unaware of cosmic fact such as the fact the solar system she had seen before not being alone in the galaxy, let alone the rest of existence.
"Oh my, pardon me. You're freshly minted." With a wave of his hand, the One with Time caused the swirling mass of colors in the Rift to unweave and expose a several clusters of bright lights contained within an oval. Every oval had a different kind of shimmer, all of them beautiful. "Universes, you live in one of these... That one." The being's cane commanded Ciel to look at the light-blue oval the One with Time had referred to as a universe. "Lots of shiny things there, many many suns in each shiny thing, and planets like yours go around those suns."
"I think I understand," a blushing Ciel responded, feeling overwhelmed by the information, but just as embarrassed by the simplistic way the clearly powerful man had put it for her.
"Good! You may have a cookie, lass." The One with Time snapped his fingers, materializing a plate the size of a home in front of Ciel's bust with more cookies than a man could eat in his life. "Tututut, come now, don't be shy and take one. Learning is made efficient by a full stomach!"
Ciel stayed quiet. This guy clearly knew more than she did. The part of her that became aware to the facts of nature as she discovered them told her nothing coming out of the mouth of the apparition had been a lie so far. The cookies were probably safe to eat too. Finally, she took a handful of snacks in her hand and approached the proportionately tiny being, "Why are you showing me all this?"
"Because I need you to understand why Nizara gave you your powers." Ciel almost gagged on the chocolate chip cookies she had been munching while absent-mindedly lost in the gorgeous view of reality before her. The One with Time knew about Nizara.
"You knew Nizara?"
"Come now, isn't that obvious by now?" the sarcastic gentleman turned his head to the side, making it look as if he was gazing at her with his eyeless stare. "Nizara used to work for me, just like you are right now. Don't make that face, lass, I'm a force of nature, and so are you. The fact I'm above you is just a title, I don't even reach your waistline as it is, ha ha." The little accented laugh actually made Ciel lower her guard; she hadn't liked his initial comment about Nizara and herself being his workers. Something told Ciel that the One with Time had chosen his form and size to reflect her uncertainty and lack of knowledge about the way of these universes she had just begun to learn about. In her mind, learning about her new responsibilities was as important as training all of her new abilities to avoid their misuse.
Finally, Ciel bowed her head, hands joining in front of her waist. The movement caused her biceps to mash against both of her breasts, whose reaction was to attempt to overflow the top of her bathrobe, inadvertently resulting in an even deeper, voluptuous cleavage. "Then tell me all you know."
"You certainly have a way to ask," the faceless man said matter-of-factly. He walked off while casually swinging his cane in a hand and took his billycock hat off before a crystal screen popped up in front of them. Almost immediately it began to play images Ciel had no trouble familiarizing with. The two watched a wounded Nizara, a large feral dragoness at that time, attempting to outrun a group of hunters; they had damaged her right wing and left leg as evidenced by the dark-gray spears through her limbs.
"Dragon Slayers... But I don't remember those weapons on her," Ciel immediately noted as she approached the screen. The One with Time remained purposefully silent. Nizara was making a run for a nearby forest in an attempt to shake her pursuers off, galloping at top speed like the horses carrying her hunters. The spears continued to fly in the air, and one impacted against Nizara's back, causing her to lose balance and to collide against a tree before resuming her escapade. Ciel wanted to turn away from the cruel images. "I don't understand this vision. Nizara had the powers I have now, why didn't she just defend herself? How come she didn't heal her when I found her...?"
"Indeed, she managed to lose those Dragon Slayers," the One with Time intercepted, "She couldn't have defended or healed however, it was too late."
"Couldn't? Too late?" repeated a confused Ciel as she dropped to one knee and leaned down to be face-to-body with the One with Time. Ciel remembered the circumstances in which she had met Nizara; the dragoness couldn't move, much less fight. It had been a miracle that Ciel, in her previous form, had been resourceful enough to drive the forest predators away from Nizara in time and without needing to fight. The lack of those spears in Nizara's body was still nagging Ciel. "Is that related to those weapons?"
"Very observant, lass. Watch."
When Ciel turned her attention back to the screen, the events of that faithful day started to play like a rerun. The little and powerless Ciel who couldn't have stood up to a wolf on her own back then had been busy collecting food, when the cries of the forest animals put a scare on her and she was forced into hiding. From her hiding spot the little Ciel saw the wounded Nizara being approached by the predators, her wings busted, her wounds bleeding; she was an easy pick. Ciel noted the absence of the spears; they had magically disappeared. "Magic?" she finally blinked as the image froze and looked down at the gentleman, who put his hat back on.
"Human Dragon Slayers normally wouldn't be a match to you or Nizara, but these lads had been equipped with Mist weapons."
"Mist weapons?" repeated a disgruntled Ciel in an inquisitive manner. The One with Time blew some smoke in the air, which quickly took the form of a spear similar to the ones used by the Dragon Slayers in the vision. "What are these?"
"A very, very powerful, and very dangerous magic. Applied to their conventional weapons, they enable mortals to wound nature itself. They know little about gods, and even less about the world that you take care of and Nizara used to. Yet they use Mist weapons which hurt the world with the same ease as a virus infects an unprotected cell."
"That's how they managed to fatally wound Nizara!" Ciel exclaimed desperately, "They didn't know what they were doing, they..." she paused for a bit. Ciel knew about the order of things; nature was meant to run its course; predation happened and the weak fell to the strong. Sadness took over her heart when she thought it unfair that it had to be Nizara, but as fortuitous as that case seemed, the One with Time was quick to dispel that thought.
"It was no accident," he spoke loud and clear to make sure Ciel understood. "Lass, Mist weapons don't happen out of chance, and goddesses aren't hunted with them by chance either. Nizara was not meant to die, that is not part of the balance."
"But..." Ciel stuttered and fell to her knees, weakened by the revelation. She understood how the food chain worked, she knew why dragons were hunted but never driven to extinction; she understood how balance worked, she worked to preserve that balance now. Nizara wasn't meant to fall that day, was what she learned; she knew how, but now the why had become muddy. "Who ordered this?"
The One with Time lifted his face and rested a both hands on his cane. He solemnly stood there, looking up at the distressed goddess. "Believe it or not, I have no idea."
"How can you not know? Aren't you the One with Time?"
"Yes, not the One with All the blimey Answers. Lass, I've been observing your part of this Universe because the Mist is spreading at an alarming rate. You've done nothing to stop its growth."
"Then tell me HOW to do something about it! I've a responsibility to use the powers Nizara gave me to protect the planet!" Ciel demanded, getting a nod from the male in the Armani suit.
"I appreciate your enthusiasm, but this isn't something your powers have any direct effect on. Not even I can wipe the Mist out. My reason for being is to oversee and to give advice. Yours is to take action."
"But you said my powers aren't enough to stop this Mist. What is it anyway?" Ciel turned her eyes back at the image of the Mist spear above them. How could something with an aura of such malice be allowed to exist? "Where did it come from?"
"That, I can answer." As the dragoness' eyes focused on him, the One with Time got rid of his spent cigarette and fished a new one out of his chest pocket before lighting it up. After taking a little puff, he let the word "Humans" linger in the air.
"Humans make Mist? I don't understand..."
"They generate it. They've been generating it ever since their conception," the One with Time took another pause and shrugged his shoulders, "They didn't even know they were doing it. It's their greed and fear, as well as their lust for power and hate for each other that gave birth to Mist." The smoke covering the area converged and the Mist appear disappeared in favor of the makeshift apparition of a human silhouette exuding vapors above it. "It's invisible to them. They can't even perceive it by normal means. In recent years however, they have learned to harness it. Meanwhile, the planet suffers the Mist's pollution." The silhouette showed the silhouette armed with all kinds of weaponry, even a staff which magically produced those dark-gray colors that caused fissures under the silhouette's flooring.
"And here's the worst part. The more they use Mist magic or weapons..." Ciel's eyes went wide as the silhouette split into two, then those two duplicated and so on, "...the more effective Mist spreading becomes. It's only a matter of time before your world is overrun by the Mist."
"But they killed Nizara!" Ciel interrupted, "Why do they continue to use it?"
"Weren't you listening, lass? The more they use their Mist weapons and magic, the stronger those become. If they are able to hunt a goddess with especially strong Mist weapons, what do you think they can do to each other?" The One with Time nicked his cigarette, waiting until the ashes were blown off by the invisible breezes of the Rift. "I'll get to the point, Ciel. We don't know how they're harnessing Mist, but I get the feeling there's someone- or something- helping them do it; and the biggest source of these weapons..." The One with Time made the silhouettes disappear and the crystal screen reappear. The image of a fortressed kingdom caught Ciel's attention.
"That is... Layor."
"Indeed. The same kingdom whose Dragon Slayers hunted Nizara. It is no coincidence I'm sure."
Ciel felt like crying. That Mist was responsible for Nizara's death, and worse, it was polluting the world, destroying it bit by bit. Now Ciel understood why the planet felt damaged; she was connected with it, she could feel its strains and its pain. The Mist had to be taken care of but what could she do? If she attacked the humans, they would only take her out with their Mist weapons like they had with Nizara. Even if she succeeded, their negative emotions would only serve to create more Mist than she could handle, and then the planet would be done for anyway.
She was a goddess, yet she couldn't stop them from generating the evil Mist. "Unless...?"
"Any ideas, lass?" the One with Time's question snapped her back to attention.
"Mist is generated by evil thoughts such as greed and fear, right?" the gentleman nodded, "Alright. Then all I have to do is convince the humans to think positively!"
"Pardon my French, lass, but what the shite?"
"It's simple! You can't force the Mist off the humans by attacking or destroying them. Fear would only make the Mist unstoppable. It's like a sponge, absorbing as much water as it can from its surroundings."
"So remove the moisture surrounding the sponge, and it'll eventually dry up. That's actually brilliant," the One with Time sounded surprised, "I might just have to rethink my stance about blondes." Ciel seemed offended, so she shifted her bulk around and sat on the surprised being. "Ahh! This is so NOT ladylike, lass!"
"Ladylike, huh? You just gave me an idea of how to tackle this," Ciel casually smiled while scratching her chin, not minding the fact her ample rump was keeping the One with Time immobilized. The thought that occurred to her was using her powers to disguise as one of the humans, as showing up as a dragon would probably not be a good idea.
After a bit of difficult crawling, the One with Time popped out half-way off Ciel's left butt cheek, his billycock hat collapsed on top of his head. Unable to pull himself out completely, he just produced a new cigarette and lit it. "Are you seriously going to pop up and tell them to sing and dance? That kingdom's a totalitarian regime. You'd have more luck trying to find a four leaf clover inside a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow."
"There's no point in me going anywhere but to the source. The humans are smart, they've learned a lot of things," Ciel insisted with determination, "If they learn about the planet and take better care of it..."
The One with Time scoffed, "Humans don't give a dime about the world, lass. With their magic, they've all the commodities they've ever wanted, and still they want more roundabout lazy ways to make life even more convenient. They're doomed as a race."
"Maybe," Ciel partially conceded due to her anger concerning Nizara's demise, "But Nizara believed in me to protect the world, and I can't do it without the side of the humans that can wipe the Mist out, so I'll have to believe in them."
"Lass, you're just being wishy-washy right now. You can't change their nature."
"I don't want them to change their nature," Ciel added as the outline of her body began to glow a golden yellow. She smiled. "I just want them to believe they can be better."
The One with Time felt a sudden relief as Ciel's attractive-looking yet insurmountably heavy behind seemed to vanish alongside with her massive form. In only a few seconds, the gigantic sky-blue dragoness had been replaced with a much smaller, actually slightly shorter version than the 6 foot tall gentleman. He stood up and looked at the small human girl before her. Ciel had taken the shape of a significantly less voluptuous and not at all muscular female human with long blonde hair and sky-blue eyes. "So that's where you took my ladylike comment," the One with Time observed. "You might want to try some clothes on though, lass."
Ciel blinked and looked down at her naked self with a bit of a bashful blush and this time made a good job of covering up with her arms, even if her curves were pretty prominent for a woman of her stature. "I'm not used to clothes."
"Leave that to me," while holding his cigarette between his fingers, the One with Time pointed at Ciel with his classy cane before speaking: "I've decided I want to watch your plan unfold." And with that, magic lights shot right off the tip of his cane, enveloping the disguised goddess. Ciel's hair was tied up into a single tail over her shoulder with a decorative yet small red ribbon. A lite-blue and white dress materialized over her form, and she could feel the containment human underwear gave her as they tugged around her large chest and wide hips. "Little tight? You'll get used to those," the deity appeared to chuckle at Ciel's flushing cheeks.
"Y-you're enjoying this, aren't you?!"
"I didn't plan this meeting for amusement, but in truth, I didn't know what it would end in, you've given me a little respite. Still... the Mist is a powerful opponent, Ciel. For all we know about it, its most frightening property is that we can't defend against it," the One with Time sighed as Ciel was outfitted with pumps, a simple necklace with a single jewel resting on top of her concealed bust, and a golden ring at the end of her right sleeve. "As I am an observer, I can't interfere in your world, or any other. Feel free to call me for advice. Oh and don't mind the heels under your feet either," he mentioned after noticing Ciel almost tripping over numerous times, "You'll get used to them too... Ahh, beautiful. I must say you look great in a dress, dear."
"How can I reach you?" the disguised dragoness asked with a little whimper as she almost fell when approaching him. The pumps were making it exceedingly difficult to walk!
"Really, lass? You're a bloomin' goddess. You want to speak to me, you just think about this place. Now run along! ...and be careful, lass. Don't make Nizara's death go to waste."
Ciel felt slightly reassured at the powerful being's last phrase. She started to wonder what Nizara's relationship had been with the One with Time exactly. "Don't worry, I might be new, but I know when to retreat if things go bad. I'd been doing that all of my life until recently, y'know." Ciel gave the One with Time a friendly smile as a pillar of light emerged from the void and stood tall in front of her, like the archway to a white hall. "I got a job to do, and I'll see it through!"
Ciel disappeared after walking into the archway, which promptly faded out of the Rift in Time. The man in the suit discarded his cigarette butt and lit up yet another one. "That's the girl you picked for the job, Nizara. She's got an unusual way of looking at things but... I think she'll do fine." After puffing some smoke in the air, he held his ruined billycock up and seemed to laugh a little, "Ahh, blimey, this was my favorite hat too."
Meanwhile, in the kingdom of Layor's castle, King Graom sat at his throne in audience with his most trustworthy knights, organized in three different groups of proportionate forces. The first group was the King's guard, bodyguards in charge of safeguarding the palace and King Graom. The second third was composed by King Graom's younger son Arton's knights, the ones in charge of peacekeeping in the kingdom. Among these strong men were the Dragon Slayers, led by King Graom's firstborn Kruon, a sadistic man with a bloodthirsty spirit, seeking tough foes to subdue in the name of the crown.
The summons had been sent out for the entire guard to have a hearing. King Graom's right-hand man, Tactician Mukori was reading from his magic floating rolling paper the statistics for the takeover weeks before. "Mist weaponry production continues unhindered, your majesty, as predicted by you," the old hunched-over tactician finished while looking back at his sovereign. King Graom gestured to continue with his hand. "At this rate, we will have the assault regiments fully equipped with high-grade equipment to assault the neighboring kingdom of Alur in less than a month. Will we count with Prince Kruon and his Dragon Slayers to lead our forces to victory?"
"Yes!" a red haired man stepped forwards with a confident air about him. Kruon had been knighted a couple of years earlier, and his brutal fighting style coupled with technique fit for a military man were well recognized by his peers and instructors since early in his life. Now, with his own squad under his command, Kruon's quest for eternal glory was only closer thanks to this opportunity to serve his country. "My Dragon Slayers have been restlessly training with their Mist weapons, perfecting their techniques. We shall not be beaten!" his fist pumping up in the air was followed by his squad imitating him, all of them men of the same ideology as the arrogant redhead, "We shall conquer!" Almost invariably after the declaration, claps and more cheers were heard within the room. The King appeared to be pleased.
"That is what I want to hear. Everyone should follow the example of our Dragon Slayer squad!" Mukori exclaimed generally, "Train your bodies and mind, for the influence of Layor will soon spread to the rest of the continent!"
"Everyone," King Graom stood up, prompting a sudden silence that no sound escaped from. "The kingdom's counting on you to conquer its enemies." Looking over the Dragon Slayers and his son Kruon, he waved an arm their way, "And to protect it from them." He looked down at the blonde short-haired knight with a face of doubt, his younger son Arton, waving his other arm to his knights. A roar of excitement broke the silence like a cannonball blast, with everyone vociferating and swearing their fealty to Layor and its sovereign.
"Long live King Graom!"
It wasn't long before Mukori dismissed the guard, but before Kruon and Arton could leave, the king asked for them. Even Mukori was dismissed at that point. When the royal family was left alone, the king left his throne and walked down the steps towards his youngest.
"Son, I see doubt in your face."
Arton looked at his father in the eye, "Father, I do not believe an invasion is what Alur needs in order to cease hostilities. We have not tried negotiations, I could..."
"Negotiations?!" Kruon brashly interrupted, "Those bastards in Alur are getting what's coming to them. No way I'm letting them go after their insult!"
"Brother, you hunted their dragons, and then refused to answer to their authorities. You KNEW Alur worships dragons, they do not..."
"To hell with what they do or don't, Arton. We're a Dragon Slaying nation, we put the beasts down before they do us down. That's how it works. If their religion doesn't like it... well, it's going to be our religion soon enough," Kruon smirked, making Arton grimace. If there was anything the blonde knight found creepier than the cruel stare of his arrogant older brother, he had not seen it yet. Arton, in an attempt to ignore his passionate sibling, turned to their quiet father.
"Arton, we've talked about this before." King Graom shook his head at the pleading eyes of his youngest, "Alur is the home of a very powerful guild mage guild. Adding them to our cause would make us an even stronger nation. We want to take them for our own before Alur uses them to strike us."
"You don't know they're going to strike us, father! We're not at war with them!"
"And we shan't," King Graom lowered his head solemnly, his eyes disappearing under his brow. "There will be no chance at reprisal."
"What dad's saying is that we'll hit them so hard they won't know WHAT hit them," Kruon added matter-of-factly with his cruel grin. "It'll be like spearing a sleeping dragon from afar. All it takes is a strong arm and a good Mist weapon! Speaking of which, are we going hunting again, little brother?"
Arton averted his gaze, "I said I don't enjoy it anymore. You don't do hunting to satisfy a basic need, you do it for sport."
"But father always finds us the best spots! Like the one two weeks ago. Remember the face on that one that ran away? Haha, priceless! It didn't get its fat ass up until my first spear pierced its wing, and THEN it tried to run away, so pathetic!" Kruon laughed madly, getting a proud smile from his father, although a disturbed glare from his younger brother.
"That's why WE don't go hunting together anymore," Arton spoke in disgust, turning away from his family, "Your methods are too barbaric, brother. Father... My knights will protect our homeland, but please do not ask them to shed blood unnecessarily. We have our pride." With that, Arton left the throne room without even heeding his older brother's calls.
"Tch. Hate how he gets holier-than-thou at every chance," Kruon grunted, arms folded. "What's his deal anyway? Never complained about hunting dragons before; he find a little bone in his steak or something?"
King Graom shook his head and turned his back on Kruon, "I must pray soon, my son. Please take care of everything. We want our forces ready even sooner than Mukori previews, do you understand?"
Kruon's surprise was quickly replaced by an ecstatic grin, "Of course. Invading those heathens can't happen too soon." His father turned his head briefly.
"I'm counting on you to help generate more Mist for our smiths."
"Don't worry, dad," the redhead licked his lips with another grin Arton would've surely reproached, "I enjoy it too much to not be good at it."
After Kruon left through the same door Arton had, King Graom walked up the steps of his throne and sat down. He slid open a small panel in his right armrest and closed his eyes before he was whisked away by teleportation magic.
Layor was a gigantic place. It was mainly divided in two distinct layers where society could be told apart superficially. On the upper layer, floating houses and other structures were kept aloft by special magic containers, with crystal roads materializing before those that needed them, making it look like an airway of nobles walking where they wanted as if they were stepping on the air. Anything and everything was available to them, if they could afford it. On the other layer, housing was very precarious, with only the basic needs met in order to survive. While life wasn't as convenient, the citizens of the ground layer could get by and do their jobs, even if security and education weren't the same.
Ciel had arrived to test her luck at the worst area of Layor; to her, a fit challenge. "Okay, no goddess powers or shenanigans, like knocking houses over with my tail or smashing them flat with my chest. This is going to be actually harder than I thought," she joked in her mind to make light of the situation. There was no reason she couldn't keep her chin up even through difficult times. Almost immediately, a scream alerted the young goddess who turned her attention to a nearby alleyway. She ran past one of the broken-down water fountains in a plaza and, instead of jumping into the scene, decided to hide behind a wall overlooking what seemed to be a mugging in place.
"My family don't have enough to eat, lady! Gimme dem apples!" a man was holding a helpless old woman with a basket of fruit she was holding in her arms.
"N-no, this is all I could afford for my grandchildren! I can't give them to you, they have no parents, they..." the old lady tried to resist, but the mugger was clearly not interested in her story. He took a step forwards and Ciel began to panic.
"Wait, how do I stop him? I can't just grow and stomp him, and I'm still too clumsy with this body to do anything...!" the human Ciel's frustration began to grow as she took note of how people appeared to be passing by quickly and deliberately ignoring the mugging; they were scared, they wanted nothing to do with it.
"Hope the guard comes here soon. Before it's too late..." The murmurs coming from the bystanders and those that kept walking weren't helping with Ciel's confidence. She looked around desperately, maybe with a weapon she could...?
But before she could finish that thought, a yelp of pain filled the streets. A knife was on the ground, and several of the apples had rolled off the dropped basket.
"Gah! My arm! You broke my goddamn arm!" the sound of the mugger's voice snapped Ciel back to attention as she noticed an armored fellow standing in front of the mugger, the hero holding the mugger by his wrist.
"How weak," the redhead chuckled before slinging the mugger into a wall as if he had weighed little more than a pebble. "Don't have a job? Stop being a lazy prick and go enlist. It'll put food on your family table and will give me one less reason to punch you in the face."
Ciel gulped. "Maybe he's a little extreme but... he saved that woman at least."
"Th-thank you, oh thank you so much, your majesty!" the old lady was on her knees, the display of violence had upset her. With trembling hands she attempted to gather nearly all of her apples and offered the last she had picked up to prince Kruon, "I don't have much, so please accept this as a token of... ahh!"
"Filth!" Kruon shouted, smacking the apple right off the old woman's open hand. It shattered on the wall next to the mugger with a juicy squelch, making Ciel widen her eyes. "You offer a filthy fruit to your savior? Tch, should've left him to stab you. Useless peasants! At least the other guy could fight. Waste of time, boys." The cruel young man turned around and walked towards the crowd of gathered people, stomping a couple of apples the old woman hadn't reached into the muddy ground. "We're headed for the fields, got some testing to do on the forest dragons... Hello there."
Ciel's eyes went wide when all of a sudden she had Kruon in her face. The brute had pushed his way through the crowd, even knocking some of the people who admired him into the ground when they got in his way. He was talking about hunting dragons no doubt; was he one of the Dragon Slayers? Why was he focused on her? Was he onto her...?
"You're hot," Kruon smirked as he pressed an arm against the wall and swaggered, "What're you doing around this filth of Ground Layor? You look like you should be on Air Layor. How about you and I..." the closer he got to her, the more Ciel wished she could allow herself to torch him for his insolence and horrible personality. He had taken the nobility of rescuing a powerless person and then humiliated her act of kindness. Thankfully, one of the red headed knight's recruits saved her from having to answer.
"Prince Kruon, we got word that the forest dragons are making their move due west. We will be able to catch up to them if we leave now!" The eager recruit got a nod from a grinning Kruon, whose face mellowed into confusion when he realized the sexy blonde he had been speaking to had vanished from sight.
"How terrible..." Ciel thought from the top of a dilapidated house overlooking the alleyway. "No wonder this is the source of Mist. All these people scared and dominated by these bullies." She shivered a bit, feeling the oppressive atmosphere weakening her. "As much as I'd like to take my time to help everyone here, I have to hurry; if I stay here too long, my powers might get drained. That teleportation took a whole lot out of me." As she considered her options, Ciel decided to actually climb down from the house and went in the opposite direction to the squad of the red knight. "Kruon... that's someone I'm going to avoid from now on," she told herself.
The exploration of Ground Layor put Ciel's hope to the test. From the looks of things alone, despair and fear were probably concentrated among the citizens. Lack of medical supplies and essential things like water were a luxury in certain houses, people weren't as hopeful as she might have wanted them to. But that didn't stop her. Ciel did her best with what she had on hand. To those that were thirsty, she did her best to fill bucketful after bucketful of spring water she summoned when no one was looking to help the needy families. On the pretense of being a wandering Good Samaritan, the disguised goddess spoke about the virtue of helping each other in times of crisis. That more hands working together, even from different families, could help them get what they needed.
It was a very hard job, much harder than Ciel had imagined. Civic unrest was caused by the overwhelming taxes that Ground Layor simply couldn't meet. As a result, they lacked what Air Layor took for granted. Envy and hatred were in nearly every man and woman's dialog when Ciel tried to convince them to help each other. "Seems like their king doesn't take care of them well... At least they have the guard around, so it's not like barbarians can attack Ground Layor," Ciel took note of how thin the guard was spread. They probably had to cover both Ground and Air Layor, so it was likely most of their forces were located above since Air Layor looked to be a larger place. "But I can't give up, I made a promise to Nizara...!" her train of thought stopped when she heard a loud crashing sound followed by a sharp cry. She ran in that direction only to find a collapsed shop on fire.
"Dad! Daddy!" A kid was being restrained by one of the villagers, begging him to stand down. "Let me go, daddy's still inside!"
"What's happened here?!" Ciel asked without thinking as she approached the scared mob which was being pushed back by a couple of knights of the guard.
"That bad man!" the kid cried, "He took daddy's coins from today's work and then knocked over one of the candles and then took off! I tried to stop him but he pushed me out and then ran away!" he rapidly cried, "Daddy's still inside, he got knocked out! Please help him!"
"The shop's burning, kid! Your dad's gone!" the knight in front of the little boy shouted, "Now get back or you'll get burnt to a crisp with the shop! We can't do anything until the water projectors get here."
Ciel tried to focus on any vital signs within the building and found a weak heart-beat behind one of the counters. As if she was a bat using echolocation, the silhouette of a collapsed, still alive body could be made thanks to her powers. "He's still alive and hiding from the flames! This is my big break... if I can prove that Knight wrong and bring that man back...!" Ciel decided to make a run for it. They had to see a fellow human trying to rescue another; that was how she was going to save a life and help the people of Ground Layor. "Two birds with one stone, if I can make it!"
"Wait, stop her!" another knight yelled when Ciel scurried away and through the gathered crowd of villagers amidst the confusion; everyone saw a clumsy yet fast lady in a dress rushing inside, pushing through the pair of damaged double doors. While she wasn't very good at human girl footwear yet, one of the advantages to her new form was that Ciel could easily make her way through thanks to her less thick build.
"What are you doing?!" a short haired blond man showed up behind the yelling man, "You left that civilian into that burning building!" The knight turned around and gulped nervously.
"Y-your majesty," the knight quickly bowed to prince Arton before pointing back at the burning building, "That woman's crazy, she headed in even after we told everyone to stay back and..." but then he was brashly interrupted by the child's cry.
"My daddy's still inside, she went in to help him!"
"There's a civilian inside, why haven't you gone inside to help them?!" Arton was losing his patience; he shoved the knight aside and stepped forwards.
"B-but your majesty, they're merely peasants, we can't afford to risk our lives in the face of..."
"I see my brother's been captivating you. We'll talk later. Make sure you hold this group down, I'm going in!"
"W-wait, your majesty! Don't go inside!" but it was too late. The prince rushed in the same way as Ciel had.
For himself, Arton knew he would have to have a talk with his knights about protecting all of Layor equally. He had heard about the emergency only a little while ago, and the water projectors, magic carriers powered by water elemental crystals that could dispense liquids at high speed and pressure, were being carried to the scene. Unfortunately, the system had its hub on Air Layor, so if there was any chance of saving the two civilians they would not make it in time.
The flames were tall. Perfumes and oil were burning brightly and making thick smoke, explaining to Arton the little window of time between the start of the fire and its raging development. The shop had the appearance of already having been in a bad state of disrepair, so it was no wonder it had collapsed. It was dangerous to advance, but he had to press on.
Thick dark smoke was making it difficult to see, and soon his eyes and nostrils began to sting with the irritation caused by the fiery emanations. Arton hurried to use his cape as a makeshift muffler and was considering to call either or both the civilians out when he realized he had charged in without even asking for a name. As he made his way through the dangerous tall flames, Arton realized the smoke was somehow dispersing before him; had the water projectors made it after all? He looked back and his eyes became paralyzed in confusion as he noticed the thick smokescreen behind him and then turned back to see that, against all common sense, the smokescreen was lifting the deeper he went in. "A sorcery...?" he muttered, "But that can't be...!"
Arton's doubts were cleared in a second when he made a turn and looked down to see a brightly encapsulated couple, domed under an outline of yellow light, as if protected by a magic bubble. There was a long-haired blonde woman knelt by a collapsed middle-aged man clenching a small statuette of a woman carved from wood. The blonde woman gasped as she noticed Arton, the light bubble giving them away pretty easily. Arton took a couple of seconds to reincorporate; the girl couldn't have been more than 18, maybe 20 years old. She hadn't just charged in to save someone; this girl was using magic to heal the man- as evidenced by the closing gash in his right pant-leg- and was also using some sort of protective spell to keep the smoke off them.
"Quick, get in!" Ciel's voice snapped Arton back to reality, and without doubting himself again he jumped in, feeling the cozy warmth inside the bubble that made quite a contrast to the infernal temperatures outside of it. "I thought the guard had given up on him!"
"Not me. How is he? Can he be carried away yet?" Arton hastened his inquiry, assuming Ciel's first aid was a result of some sort of medic training. The blonde woman nodded at the knight, who then took her by her arm. "You have to turn these spells off, now."
Ciel was flabbergasted, "What? But we can make it out safely if I just..."
"Do what I say! I'll explain later! Here," the knight quickly reached back to rip his cape's fabric off, separating them into pieces that could serve as mufflers. "Use this," he gave one to Ciel and put one around the mouth of the unconscious shop-keeper. "I'll carry him out, you'll lead!" he said, quickly putting the incapacitated man on his back. "There's no time, let's go!"
Ciel felt at a loss for words, but he was right; there was no time to argue. There had to be a reason for his odd behavior, and she was still getting accustomed to the rules in Layor. In all honesty, she didn't want to be spotted performing with her actual powers, but she didn't think of them a bad thing. The bubble disappeared with a single mental command and she began to press on forwards ahead of the handsome knight. She looked back briefly to make sure she was being followed and secretly thanked the knight for the muffler; her last few spells had drained her magic thanks to the presence of the Mist and as a result the smoke was starting to have effects in her human physiology. "We'll make it out of here!" she heard Arton said, his words heavy with resolve, "Don't worry, just sort the flames and head to the exit! I'm right behind you!" his reassuring words were having an impact on Ciel. Never before in her life had she met a male that exuded such confidence and reliability. Granted, her only few examples constituted her earlier meeting with the One with Time, and that hadn't painted men as a whole in a very positive light, but unlike the powerful deity, this mere mortal's passion couldn't be described with words. For some reason, she felt her heart beating faster whilst looking back at the blue-eyed man in armor, and it wasn't the danger.
They sorted through the flaming obstacles, helping each other where they could. Ciel could admire Arton's strength where he could use it, mainly his legs. The armor was protecting him, but she knew under it was a physique well worked on, she didn't need her powers to know that.
With a powerful kick, the double doors were demolished and two blackened figures emerged out from the shop. The crowd saw prince Arton carrying the victim and the odd blonde-woman walking out, both covered in soot. "Daddy!" the distressed child finally broke free and rushed through, "Is he alive? Is he going to be okay? Please tell me, mister!" Ciel and Arton, both panting after the escape, exchanged looks and smiled to each other.
"Oi, kid! That's the prince you're talking to! Show some more goddamn respect!" one of the knights yelled, but got a good stare down from Arton. He stayed quiet. The water projectors were arriving, and the firefighters finally got to work. There wasn't a lot to salvage.
"He's going to be okay," Ciel knelt down to reassure to the kid, whose tears were gathering at his eyes. He wasn't sad, he was just happy his father had come out of it.
"Mommy..." the kid sobbed. Ciel blinked and looked at Arton with a confused gaze that he returned until the man was put down and they realized the child was pointing at the statuette the shopkeeper still held tightly in his grip, even whilst knocked out. "He kept her safe... he kept mommy safe!" the kid broke down into tears of joy, sobbing against his soot-covered parent's shirt. Ciel stood up beside Arton and felt a little lighter.
"We did it..." she muttered with an honest smile of pride when the crowd erupted into chaotic cheers and applause. Ciel tried to make herself scarce shortly afterwards; she didn't want to draw as much attention to herself as she wanted to the fact of her deed. Before she could get away however, she felt a tight grip on her arm that stopped her in her tracks. She turned around and looked up to an icy-cold glare. Arton was set on her eyes. He nodded in the direction of a nearby alleyway and, after ordering all of his men to clean up and help the firefighters, led Ciel away into the alley where he cornered her. "Tell me," he suddenly said, "Are you a witch?"
"What are you talking about?" Ciel was starting to become flustered, "I don't..." but she was brashly interrupted.
"It's no use to pretend. That was sorcery back there," Arton fixed his steely gaze on Ciel's sky-blue eyes, "There's no one capable of manipulating magic without a catalyst, you were doing it just with your hands. That was sorcery."
"It saved the man's life, didn't it?" Ciel retorted with a glare. Had all people, even the good ones, been absorbed by some sort of anti-charm that prevented them from being grateful to others? It wasn't long before she noticed Arton's stare soften and saw him nod.
"No question about it. I just wanted to confirm it," he closed his eyes and scratched behind his head in deep-thought, "You're clearly not from around these parts."
"What? I can explain the horrible dress," Ciel put her hands up defensively, to which the knight chuckled. At least he had a sense of humor, not that she wanted to explain where she had acquired her clothes.
"Listen ah... I didn't catch your name."
"Well, it's rude to ask a girl her name before mentioning yours, "Majesty"." Arton blinked at the girl's forwardness, but she had a point.
"I am Arton of Layor," the blue-eyed man said. Ciel introduced herself and got a less elusive smile from Arton, who followed up with a compliment: "Ciel's a very pretty name. Alright then, let me be straight with you, lady Ciel. I'm supposed to arrest you," her eyes froze in place, "Hold on. I'm not going to do it. Witchcraft is strictly prohibited in Layor without a permit that I'm sure you don't have." Ciel shook her head, "I really should take you in for that, and you did make a fool out of my knight guard... but as a result, you saved a life. That's more than anyone else in this place can surmount to."
"So you're letting me go?" Ciel cocked her head to the side. Arton focused on her young-girl facets that filled with him tenderness and after the tension had disappeared he finally started to notice her looks. Even covered in soot, Ciel was a gorgeous specimen of a woman, with notable curvature and a beautiful frame. Arton was at a loss for words for a moment, to which Ciel couldn't help but giggle at. "Hello?"
"Ah, yes, ahem..." Arton quickly averted his gaze and scratched his itching cheek to distract himself from the embarrassing moment. "You're welcome to Layor, lady Ciel. But I'm going to have to ask you to be not use your sorcery in front of anyone who could attempt to take you in," he said matter-of-factly, being as general as he could to get his true message across. Ciel understood and nodded with a smile. They exchanged looks and finally laughed. "Ahem..." he cleared his throat again, "On behalf of Layor's knight guard," Arton put a closed fist to his chest and bowed, "I thank you for your cooperation."
"Sure thing!" Ciel happily giggled, then coughed a little. She was weakening, she had to leave. "Now, I think I really have to go. I might pull those stunts but truth is I don't like to bring attention to myself!" With that, Ciel bowed respectfully and turned to leave. "I'll see you some other time, Arton!"
The knight turned to see Ciel walk away. "It's going to be hard to keep my attention off you now," he chuckled to himself, scratching his head, "Now when's the last time a girl addressed me without "your majesty" first? Hope this isn't a trend."
A big gust of wind blew into the streets all of a sudden. The strong breeze was warmth, almost caressing. Arton looked up out of surprise. He couldn't see her, but a gigantic dragon was looking down at Arton's kingdom, and Arton.
Ciel could feel her energies recovering now that she was outside of Layor. She hadn't made as much progress as she had hoped to make, but the other hand it had been her first day only. There were going to be plenty more opportunities to help in the future. "At least I know I'm not the only one trying to do good in that place," the goddess thought, centering her view down in Arton as he joined his knights to clean the streets and salvage what could be salvaged. "I really want to do more for these people. The Mist's still too strong however. I should rest up so I can be fully charged!" With her mind set on her resolve, Ciel flew off. She figured she would make a lair nearby, where she could rest away from the ill effects of the Mist and recover. Ciel wondered how long it would take her to heal Layor and its people, how long it would take to take the enemy of the world out. At one point, these people would need to become conscious of the danger they posed to each other.
Her work had only just begun...
Green torches in four different animalistic patterns decorated the gloomy halls of praying. King Graom knelt down in front of an altar to conduct his daily orations. The god he was praying to had no name, so the king had dubbed him with the name "Edorias" (god of the fog in Layor's ancient tongue).
"Mighty Edorias, hear me! My faith is strong, my will is implacable!" King Graom prayed, "Answer my plea, and show yourself! The guardian is dead, I've done as instructed! Grant me the power you've promised me, mighty Edorias, that Layor may rule all!" There was silence that promptly broke when a surge of energy coursed through King Graom's body, making light shoot out of his eyes as if a lightning bolt had struck him. The old man yelped in pain as he was knocked back from the surge, a cloud of dark-grey fog starting to form where the altar was.
Formless, the cloud hovered ominously above the altar of Edorias, making the panting monarch kneel and bow. "Oh great Edorias, I thank you for showing yourself to me! The guardian is dead; our Mist weapons were effective in ridding us of her presence. Now please hold your end of our contract!"
"YOU FOOL!" a disembodied warped voice, like a collection of men and women speaking at once, rang out in the isolated chamber. "The guardian is not dead!"
"Impossible! I had my firstborn, my best Dragon Slayer, hunt her!"
"And hunt he did her! But he failed to stop her rite of transference!" the voice of Edorias thundered, making the sullen expression on the king's face darken, "Now her power is in another, and that other is fighting our influence with her own!"
"No, no!" King Graom yelled, "You promised me power if I dealt with that guardian, there is no way we could have known...!"
"You pathetic old fool! We promised you power in exchange for ridding us of the guardian, and all you did was destroy the body of the previous one! You are useless, old man!"
"B-but, mighty Edorias...!"
"Silence!" the warped voices roared before bolts of lightning began to spread from the shapeless cloud and began to strike the king. "You will be punished for this insubordination, mortal! You do not know your place! We can feel the presence of the new guardian, she is nearby! She was in your petty kingdom today, we sensed her power!"
"Gaaah..." the king panted after spending all his breath screaming in pain after those whips of electricity struck him with what seemed to be a million volts, "P-please forgive me, mighty Edorias... Allow me to rectify this, give me another chance!"
"A fool like you does not deserve another chance!" the voices cracked, sending another whip of lightning at the king that stopped mere inches away from his face, "But you shall have it. Keep your men alert, king of Layor, for we will be informing you of the Guardian's location as soon as she reveals herself... And then you will strike her down, this time for good!"
"Y-yes! Yes, anything you say, mighty Edorias...!"
"We are too near to allow failure to slow us down. For us to spread and claim the land, the guardian must not be allowed to exist. The guardian must die!"
To Be Continued...