"What then of parallel realities? or even alternative ones? This an excellent question, we don't fully understand how the All-Father keeps his dominion over these parallel worlds and realities, but he does! recent studies which sadly were convicted by the powers above show us that All-Father and All-Mother have a special breed of Godlings meant solely for the upkeep of such cosmic forces..."
A primer on Realities lost volume.
"This is art," Idun said in a hushed whisper, as his entire manufacturing plant stopped to behold his latest creation, He was called to the capital once again to bless the grounds of their newest cathedral for Ra'Tyrius, right beside the temple of the Goddess of Time, a detail that did not escape the old dwarf's eye, the young Arch-Mage's son had dropped by a while ago, sharp mind that lad has, shame he couldn't recruit him to Ra'Tyrius.
After the quick blessing, he and the acolytes of the capital got to work, Lucrezia had come up with a new design for form-fitting protective gear, a concept many spellswords were more than familiar with, the many skin and form-fitting shield spells being staples of their preferred method of fighting.
"Art yes, but it bodes ill dear friend" Princess Emilya spoke, her voice filled with worry "You have felt it as well I am sure, the Duchess fears for her life" The woman paced around, Idun could see that his old friend was under turmoil.
"If it were anyone else Idun, anyone else in this bloody dirt ball I would've dismissed it as rampant paranoia" Emilya's hand was trembling "Those war machines she sold to the Imperium, the shift from Ra'Tyrius's sphere..."
Idun placed the suit on his workshop's table and walked towards her, placing his hands on her arm "I understand my friend, but we must believe in her, she delivered us when none would, time and time again she forged a path through Impossible odds" he squeezed his hand "So take heart, we are not alone anymore, together with the Wulfgrem, with our allies we need not suffer in solitude"
Emilya smiled "I know, I've spoken with the others, with Mother and Father as well, should anything happen to her we will move, gods strike me down for it even if I have to commit the gravest of sins..." Idun knew the flame of passion beneath Emilya ran deep, she kept a tight leash on it but...
Not to mention Lucrezia's other powerful allies, what would they do should calamity befall her? What would the gods do? questions he dared not to air at this moment as Emilya calmed down little by little.
"War is coming, bloody and lethal, no fancy spellwork to save the children of Vermillion this time" Emilya's voice was a hushed whisper, but her eyes burned with fatalistic determination.
"More inventions from our secret friend have arrived, the new ZENOS units will be...significantly upgraded come the next circle" Idun spoke his voice low and deep "We are on the cusp of automatic weaponry as well"
Emilya snickered "I saw the blueprints for the flagship she wants to build, those cannons would tear any coastal city to shreds in a matter of minutes" she sighed "When the infantry gets their automatic rifles it will be a bloodbath, for a short while at the very least"
Idun grunted "We already have seen the intelligence Saa'ryu gathered, the Gods have not been sleeping on their post and magical advances to equalize the field are happening as we speak, but yes, for a short while we will have total dominance over the field of battle, which we will be fighting on the other hand, that's still a mystery" he sat down near Emilya as both shared a quiet moment.
"Sometimes I like standing on the rooftop of the castle, it reminds me of the cold we endured for so long" Emilya got up and dusted herself "And where we got, all thanks to that crazy woman"
She left short afterward, and Idun pondered the meaning of her words for a long while.
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The tenth Legion's Legate stood upon the salty town of Inkfall, the Orc Woman was tall, deep green, and fond of way better climates than this briny shithole. Her troops were massed behind the massive gates that led to their new "ship"
A very fancy-looking elven woman cleared her throat "Legate Durian, it's time" Durian turned around and signaled to the men, a loud warcry coming from them as she picked up an old-looking horn and gave it to the elf.
"Your Vermilians should know what this means" The woman nodded with a wicked smile "But of course Legate, I was there after all" and she placed the horn upon her lips, a mighty sound came out of it drowning the warcries from below as the waters near them shook in unnatural ways.
"Legionnaires! Today we will honor the forefathers of the 10th legion! today we sail against the old enemy who dares to return from their watery exile! under trickery and greed from those bastards from the dynasty!" Durian bellowed out, letting her rage sweep into her voice.
The gates opened and the troops cried in awe at the warship they were given, glittering under the sunlight as crystal and steel were masterfully crafted, huge cannons looking extremely dangerous to anyone they decided to aim at.
And it could fly as well.
The moving to the inside of the new warship was fast and orderly, the legionnaires were a machine and Durian kept that machine well-oiled and ready to strike, 35 minutes took them to commandeer the ship and set sail, the elven woman from Vermilion shaking beside the Legate in joy "If only Lady Lucrezia was here to see this" she muttered under her breath.
"The first told us many a tale about your lady" Durian spoke as she finished barking orders and stood around the command room of the warship, crystal pannels showing the seas all around them and even beyond thanks to weird bugs like Magi-Tech devices that flew around at dizzying speeds to gather information.
"Ah yes, they fought together with her on both occasions where the enemy dared to bear steel against us" The elf smiled her teeth looking like a wolf's mouth "She's the one who designed this warship you know? based on the one used in the Battle of the Fields of Seresval" she pointed to the many crystal panels "a beautiful construct meant for total devastation of the ancient enemy"
Durian made a grunt of agreement "I still find it hard to believe, after all this time they would come back, and the Dynasty would aid them, they were also raided back in the heyday of the Sea Elven Empire! do those dwarves forget how to hold a grudge?" it was a rhetorical question of course, she and the woman next to her knew greed made for a wonderful remedy, especially when said greed earned you mountains of gold.
"The waters will betray us" Durian spoke after a while "This deep into open waters everything is under their command, or the ones that rule here will send the royals of the deep warnings"
Durian was well aware of the ancient records, most of her family line fought with the tenth against the sea elves after all, even if only recently her line had got the post of Legate, but for once she wasn't worried.
Her blessing told her everything would be all right after all.
And that was the overall mood of the warship, many with war-related blessings, and even those without could sense how powerful this weapon truly was, to her it felt like a hum at the back of her head, the way the engine whirled, how the crystal and steel creaked as she heard the cannons twist and change positions. her grandfather used to call ships the musicians of the navy, for every part made its tune and it didn't take much to hear it.
A low buzzing sound came from the main crystal pannel "Sparrow 01 found the Dynasty ships Legate!" her helmsman spoke as she tapped into the table in the middle of the room, a flash of arcane sigils and mana showed the blockade around a small island, 5 Dynasty ships around it swarming with mercenaries and dwarven troops.
"Something is beneath the waves" the woman spoke "Deploy the underwater drones" One of the Legionnaires controlling the Magi-Tech devices nodded and serpent-like crystalline beings flashed in the table's projection.
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"Made in the image of ancient sea drakes, these are perfect hunter-killers for underwater warfare" the elven woman spoke to Durian who nodded in approval "How many do we have?"
"4 Legate!" the Legionnaire replied and she nodded.
A high-pitched ping came from the underwater drone, as it began casting the image of an enormous monster just below the Dynasty ships, tentacles all around its fleshy core as rows and rows of teeth and whatever else made Durian curse.
"Elder Kraken" she spat on the ground "Sea Elven Royalty is here, deploy the last two and have them attack it" She turned to the elven woman "It's time we go to the air" The elf nodded with a grin, and up they went.
As the warship took to the air it began flying over to the blockade, from the drones images she could see the poor sods panicking as mage formations began massing in their decks, in the middle of the most impressive one was a lone pale figure whose piercing gaze was right at the furthest Magi-Tech drone.
"They sent the first princess, this must be a significant deal for them" the Elven woman spoke "Legate, have your best stormtroopers ready at the dropships and ready the main cannon, that Kraken will not let us land while his charge is up above the waves"
Commands and orders flew as they neared the ships, then spell fire and even regular arrows came flying from below, no doubt being empowered by the mages as they desperately tried to dent the warship in any shape or form.
The main cannon was ready, Durian prayed for her Goddess's favor as she gave the order and a pale white beam of pure mana went flying off the barrel, its noise akin to a shrill bird call, panicked Dynasty men and women running and even jumping ship as the light came crashing down upon them.
With a grunt of power, the Princess held a shield over the flagship, it managed to deflect most of the power but the other 4 ships were in flames, blue flames that refused to go out even as the crew started pouring water on it.
Durian barked for another shot, and the main cannon this time was joined by the auxiliary batteries, shells of deadly precision hammered into the already sinking ships as the tentacles of the Elder Kraken flayed above water, the glint of crystal below giving the Dynasty people a hint of the battle below.
"Capture the leaders for interrogation, no mercy for the rest" Durian gave her orders as two dropships flew from the belly of the warship, straight into the island her best me made landfall to slaughter the survivors who were either swimming towards the small island, or were already there.
Beam after beam and Durian could see the Sea Elf Princess was struggling to keep her shield up, the last attack making her fall to her knees as a heavy armor dwarf came running, he spoke to her ear as she made a snarl, running towards the bow of the ship and jumping into the waves, from the Underwater drone's view the command center saw the Kraken's tentacle grab the woman and then they were gone, the sigil of teleportation burning itself beneath the waters.
The royals of the Deep were on the move, war was coming.
When she saw her troops landing she gave the order, no mercy except for whoever was in command, her men did short work of the Dynasty troops and mercenaries who were either too tired from having to swim or spooked out of their minds due to the intense barrage of light and fire from the warship.
The waters ran red with their blood as the teams converged into a small building made out of sandstone and metal, likely shaped via magic as a desperate dwarf, dressed in fancy silk and gauche jewelry tried his hardest to activate a teleportation spell.
One of the Legionnaire's archers switched to a blunt arrow and with a faint cast of magic, raised a bow made out of crystal, red in color, with another chant the arrow flew true and knocked the man out cold.
A severe-looking Centurion looked around as desperate dwarves fled from the house "No mercy" his voice was low and coarse as his men went on to do their grisly work, soon silence blanketed the entire island, the Dynasty ships sinking at various speeds as the men boarded their transport with the leader of the operation.
It was a short ride back to the flying warship, the men went on their way as the Centurion dragged the now awake dwarf towards his Legate, sitting him down in an interrogation room.
"Let's get this over with, shall we?" Durian said as she walked into the room, the elven woman from Vermillion following her in silence, the dwarf looked up and his face went pale as the realization hit him.
"Mercy! Gods please Mercy! I was forced to be part of this I swear on the stones of my ancestors!" he screamed as Durian closed her eyes and sighed, a dramatic one just her luck, she raised her hand and the dwarf man stopped screaming, for a while at is.
"We both know that's a Lie friend" Durian sat down across from him, tapping her finger on the table "Now usually I would just ship you to the mainland, the standard death sentence for breaking the embargo on the Sea Menace, but today's a special day" she turned to the Elven Woman "Time to work your magic"
She gave both a wolfish grin and sunk her nails into his shoulder, her eyes rolling back into her head as Durian felt cold sweat upon her back, Gods this was creepy and spooky, Mind Mages who also were good necromancers? evil evil stuff she thought to herself but the Gods knew they got results, usual Defenses against Mind Magic could be easily sidestepped with Necromancy, and unless our dwarf here was a Lich, or unsanctioned Necromancer, he was already done for.
"Yield them to me, your secrets, your fears, everything" she spoke and the Imperium Legate felt she needed to pick up sticks and move the hell out, it was only thanks to her Iron discipline and no small amounts of divine energy from her Blessing that she remained in the room.
Five minutes went by, and the dwarf went from pale to yellow to ashen grey, as his husk disintegrated into ash, the Elven woman smiled "Ah, a tasty meal that one, sins a plenty"
Durian smiled at the very evil woman in front of her "Well then, time for a debriefing with the powers that be, let's go" and off they went as Durian tried her best not to think about what sort of demented horror that elf truly was, once again her military training came in to help.
"Comms room is down that way" The Soulsucker led Durian to a room that looked as fancy as the command room, with a few taps into a silvery orb a panel of light flared up, then two.
On one of them, The Empress, on the other, Lady Lucrezia Wulfgrem.
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Lucrezia was sitting in a very fancy tea shop that only high nobility was allowed to frequent, she felt an ick in her skin as her better half would no doubt scoff at all this glamour and fanciness, and then she noticed a very tiny sliver of her inner warrior begging to escalate anything here into a conflict. She needed to keep better track of her meditation efforts, this was getting ridiculous!
"Lady Lucrezia?" Asked the severe-looking Tiger-kin man who sat across her, a cup of honeyed tea in his hands as he cast a concerned gaze to her "I've seen those looks before, I would advise you to not start a fight here, those security guards you no doubt sensed are not to be trifled with, even for someone as powerful as you" the man knocked on the wooden table as to emphasize his point.
"Apologizes Mister K, it was not my intention" She smiled as the King's spy smiled back "These last few days have been...a little stressful as I am sure you are aware" Lucrezia downed another cup of coffee as the Spy smile left his face.
"Indeed, Raids by mercenaries all over the Imperium's shores, our people inside have been already approached for a more...visible alliance with our cousins, your new warship doing much to rebuild old bridges long burned" he made a gesture with his hands "An entire battalion of Orc Warrior monks left their country as of yesterday, ready to take the fight to their ancient enemy"
Lucrezia sighed "But the king has other plans I am guessing?"
"Indeed" the spy replied back, summoning a fancy-looking crystal tablet "As you can see here he does not wish to empower the cousins, risking another Imperial invasion would be a foolish thing to do, and most of my colleagues agree for once, but with your fancy weaponry we can have a controlled and measured response to this, and both parties know you can easily shut down this fancy new technology, which makes the good King sleep easy at night"
And she did, together with Ra'Tyrius's Wife Lucrezia was able to command the inner workings of every Magi-Tech item if she so desired, of course, if she tried to do every single item at once her brain would be fried to a crisp, so contingencies were put into place and the Goddess would also aid in this potential apocalyptic scenario after all her Priests were already toiling to develop AIs.
Ra'Tyrius was spooked when he got the information from her, and elated because that would mean a huge Sphere Expansion for him, and thus the start of a Cold War against Stenheim's dwarf gods, if only to give them some grief over how Idun was treated.
"It's good to know our King trusts me that much, if only his dear wife would stop plotting my downfall" Lucrezia spoke and K laughed "Ha! if only you knew Lady Lucrezia, it is quite the debate within our ranks, since the fair Queen decided to build her own spy network, and that sparked such drama within our ranks! the old timers are all buzzing since they haven't worked this hard for a good while, the Grannarius Royals were no fun in the whole spycraft aspect of the war you see"
Lucrezia nodded, sometimes the Mad King would literally announce where his troops would strike just because he could!
"I am fully aware of how those two fight" Lucrezia laughed "So to finish this, War against the Elves is happening within 30 years or less, and our Royals will do their part of the ancient agreement, same for the houses and the Arch-Duke" the spy nodded.
"May we finally expunge their taint from the material realm this time, thank you for the little chat Lady Lucrezia, and good luck!"
The spy teleported out of the fancy place, some of the nobles began casting judging glances at her but she only shrugged, not wanting to antagonize the guards of the joint, getting up and leaving in a more conventional way she was greeted by the calming winds of winter, a smile on her face as this loose thread was tied neatly, for a while at the very least
"Onwards towards the Interclass Competitions, Towards the end" she whispered to herself, that old ghost that haunted her better half with its fatalistic mindset casting its long cloak over her.
But it would be a good end, she would make sure of that, not just for her friends, but for her people, lands, and most important, Herself.