The first sign of trouble was the sound of raised voices, a little too faint for me to make out individual words but loud enough to penetrate the sturdy stone walls of my house. At first, I didn’t think it would be of concern to me, people argued at times and often those arguments resulted in raised voices. Or in bloodshed, but it seemed that New Dawn managed to avoid that, at least for now. Eventually, that would change but I hoped it wouldn’t happen too soon, the Change had forced society to be rebuilt and a small, idealistic part of me wished for a peaceful society, without any pain or trouble. It would never happen, realistically I doubted it could ever happen, sapience brought with it ego and with ego came conflict, it was unavoidable.
Alas, in this case, the trouble wasn’t as benign as some argument over dishes, work or passion and far too soon, I could hear that the voices became clearer, clear enough to let me recognise Joshua’s voice in the noise. That realisation was enough to bring me to my feet and towards the front of my house so I could look out of the window.
There, coming from the village and along the small path along the river, was a group of locals, clearly coming towards my house. I could recognise Joshua and Hauke in their group but from the looks of it, the group wasn’t homogenous, it looked as if the two of them were arguing with the four others, especially the fairly impressive leader.
It was a massive centaur, the equine part level with the heads of those around him, while the humanoid torso towered above them, making me wonder just where that guy slept, he couldn’t fit into any of the buildings I had seen thus far. His existence also added to the explanation why the locals hadn’t been bothered with my clearly non-human appearance, between the winged Joshua, a pair of elves I had seen from a distance, somebody who had, back when Road to Purgatory started, decided to indulge their wish to become a cat-person and now the centaur, they had been exposed to multiple obvious non-humans, most of whom had a far more alien appearance than I. Compared to the centaur the size of a house, a slightly different skin tone, some glittery hair and pointy ears were negligible.
But it wasn’t just the size that made the figure so imposing, he was also carrying a massive spear and a shield in his hands. Additionally, he was clad in armour, mostly leather from what I could tell but reinforced with metal. The biggest indication of the coming trouble and the headaches it would bring with it came from the symbol of Sunna he had somehow made on his shield, the golden wheel of fire glinting proudly in the dying light of the day.
The group behind him only added to the impression of coming trouble, they were all armed and armoured, something one would normally consider unnecessary in their hometown, but maybe they had just returned from some excursion and hadn’t had time to change and store their gear. I doubted it but I wouldn’t be the one to launch the first attack, that would make me the bad guy. Instead, I quickly considered my options and decided to trust the protection given by guest-rights but make sure that even if they decided to violate those rights, I wouldn’t be inconvenienced.
A quick move through my house made sure I had all the supplies I had traded for and the items I hadn’t given away yet, storing everything in my magical bags, before moving towards the front of the house. By now, the voices were close enough to let me hear their argument, it sounded as if the centaur wasn’t happy about my presence in their village while Hauke and Joshua were defending me, pushing back against the angry centaur.
Channelling some magic into the structure around me, I reinforced the door, turning it into just another piece of the wall, while removing the glass from one of the windows. This way, the glass couldn’t be shattered and the shards used against me, my Ice Magic had made me well aware of the dangers posed by shards, even if they were fairly small. They could seriously injure somebody and their sharp edges meant they could cause serious harm by accidentally striking weak spots. I had no desire to find out if my endurance was high enough to withstand a shard of glass hitting my eyes, as I was fairly certain the answer would be no.
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“Joshua, what brings you by?” I asked, breaking the concealment granted to me by my cloak and catching the attention of the entire group, just as they were moving on the last bit of path towards my house. There were still some five metres between us but they were close enough for me, especially as their arguing distracted them further. Like this, I was able to catch them off guard just a little and take the initiative, allowing me to set the tone and turn a confrontation into a conversation. At least that was what I hoped.
“Jade, I hope the evening finds you well,” Joshua responded, while the centaur was a bit out of sorts. He likely had imagined a plan for the confrontation and that plan had gone off the rails already. “Meet Lorgar, yes, that’s what he wants to be called,” Joshua continued, introducing the Centaur, only to be interrupted by the rude equine.
“What are you cursed monster doing here?” the centaur bellowed, his voice loud enough to make Hauke flinch while I felt a frown form.
“Right now or in general?” I asked, carefully keeping my voice as bland and unimpressed as possible. At the same time, I used a concealed Observe to get a better idea of what I was dealing with and couldn’t help but feel my eyes widen when I learned that their entire group was above level seventy, while Lorgar had an impressive level seventy-nine. Not quite my equal but the five of them were easily the strongest people I had seen thus far who weren’t in my party.
“Why are you defiling our town with your presence?” he yelled, making me shake my head just a little while poking my ear with my little finger as if trying to get rid of the ringing. Not that he had been able to actually damage my hearing but he certainly was getting on my nerves with his attitude and loud voice. Maybe due to the mocking gesture, maybe because his anger was getting the better of him, his shield started to shine with a golden glow that made my skin prickle, just like sunlight did.
Just as I was about to blast him for the attack on my person, a massive presence settled over the area, so powerful that it didn’t even need to try to overwhelm me, its mere existence did. However, the presence was clearly not aimed towards me, if anything it was shielding me, making the prickling sensation cease immediately.
Following the draw of that presence, my eyes found Joshua, only that he didn’t look like he normally did. His wings, normally adorned with tan feathers similar in colour to the hair on his head, were on fire but the flames obviously didn’t hurt him and from those flames, I could feel the presence. Similarly, his eyes were alight with golden flames as he stared at the five who had come to confront me, especially at Lorgar.
Those five, in turn, didn’t fare quite so well. Four of them were on the ground, either kneeling or lying flat, while Lorgar was the only one remaining on his hooves, even if he looked as if he was carrying a millstone on his back.
“Enough,” an alien voice coming from Joshua’s mouth commanded. It sounded mostly female and I was instantly reminded of Lady Hecate’s voice. Both voices had an overwhelming resonance to them, but where Lady Hecate was speaking with three distinct voices and tones, this voice sounded almost like a chorus, countless slightly different voices speaking in perfect harmony.
“A promise was made in my name and you will keep that promise,” the voice declared, with the obvious ‘or else’ remaining unspoken. But, given the way Lorgar sank to his knees under the weight of Frigga’s presence, I had no doubt that the command would be heeded. Though, at the same time, I was fairly certain that this wasn’t the end of it, not by a long shot. Frigga’s declaration meant I wouldn’t be harmed while I was in town, it said nothing about shielding me after I left.
Moments later, the presence faded and Joshua’s body was freed, causing him to stumble but Hauke was kind enough to catch him, leaving all eight of us discombobulated and uncertain of what would happen next. Well, not quite uncertain, there was one thing we all knew wouldn’t be done, namely, the conflict was over. Or else.