"Very few are chosen by the Spirits to wield their powers in martial conflict, but our history and that of our new world cousins is obvious in the individuals who enjoyed such a boom of both magical and martial prowess, the four seasons can bestow many a wondrous power, the most famous example being the Vermilion Duchy of Wufgrem, early in their pathfinder days they established a covenant with the then Rulers of the lands that are now called Wulfgrem, the Winter Spirits, together with the shamanistic orders that communed with them, but the Imperium also had dealings with the Natives of our world, in this volume we will explore our shared history with them"
Seasons and Spirits, a guide for upper nobility: 4th volume.
In the underground city that powered Lucrezia's industry, Hraxx watched as terrifying machines of war walked in formation below her balcony, in the bays the flagship that would sail into the stars to kill a Goddess, and all around her the populace of Wulfgrem, it's allies and mercenaries hired by the Duchess to bolster her War Effort gathered for the first stage of their plans.
An old Dwarf approached her by the sides, his hands glowing with runes as Hraxx smiled "It's been a while Idun, I see the woman has you working around the clock eh? the Krakens are speaking of a coalition due to her weapons in the skies, your handiwork too I am guessing?" Hraxx gave Idun a firm handshake as the Dwarf smiled at her and spoke, his voice humming with power "Not mine alone, most of the work was done by her if you can believe it, same for most of these new vehicles and those terrifying suits of armor you just saw" Idun pointed to the squadrons loading up into one of the new flying vehicles, taller and bulkier than the ZENOS units, but twice as fast nearly at the Knightmare level of speed, meant as shock troopers she had told him.
"They were worried after we got the news the Sea Elves were on the move again, too many Krakens died to those bastards in the last war, and even the most warlike or hermit of them decided to band together now, thankfully we kicked their little princess back to the accursed depths, hopefully, to never return..."Hraxx paced about, this talk of Sea Elves scared her, she was told stories and met up with the very few who had fought the undersea wars people didn't speak about, it made her nervous.
"Worry not my friend, I have a feeling we won't be dealing with them for a long while, on the other hand," Idun pointed towards the army gathered below them "This I do not know, Lady Lucrezia has important dealings in the capital still and the Queen is hounding her for any slip-up, even if she has the support of the Prince I worry..., for her and our home" Idun rubbed his beard "I assume you also had the visions?" he asked.
Hraxx nearly choked on her spit "Yes, Gods below are they widespread?" Idun shook his head "Oh good, Yes I had them, Wulfgrem and its Capital burning in a particular type of flame, it's people armed with that" she pointed to the new armor "going down the highways to obliterate the entire country and beyond, led by a small girl who looks like..." Hraxx couldn't finish the sentence as she recalled the image.
"Richard, the Mind Magics we have consulted speculated that's Lucrezia's daughter" Idun smiled at the thought "And the flames as you pointed it out, Spiritborne flames only Summer Spirits can conjure, we have yet to relay the information to Lucrezia and Richard but most of our inner circle has seen it already, Knight-Commander Erwin was especially spooked by it, as he saw himself leading a charge against the Palace" Idun paused as Hraxx sighed "Something similar in your version I am assuming?" he asked.
"Indeed, I led some honor guard to this young woman, we stormed the Academy...and Royal Knights cut me down" Hraxx felt her gills tremble at the memory "I do not like this Idun, not one bit, and my own Diviners and Soothsayers are adamant it's going to happen" Hraxx started pacing around again, hands trembling with fear "we must talk with Lucrezia, delay the voyage until she can raise this would be daughter right!" she nearly shouted at the old dwarf, who walked up and held her hand, Hraxx sighed at her outburst and muttered a silent apology, Idun bowed his head letting her know he didn't mind it.
"Then we talk with her, I will summon the Knight-Commander and the others" Idun spoke with conviction as the duo walked away into the tunnel that led to the castle, ready to make a significant announcement.
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"Please set down your pens, quills, and such" spoke the Ancient professor who smiled at Lucrezia, the class vacated the premises with respectful silence and as soon as they broke into the corridor began whispering, a quiz was not what Lucrezia was expecting at first but the memories of the game came in handy for this, she was pretty sure she aced the entire thing.
"Interesting, you barely studied and still was writing like crazy there Lu, your friends won't be as lucky I imagine, except Kaine of course" Saa'ryu spoke to her side, the maid looked tired Lucrezia noticed as if she hadn't slept in days, catching the worried gaze she spoke "Worry not, I won't be pulling all-nighters like this for a while now, I had to set up a few...working conditions for a job, as you well know" the maid bowed with a smile and Lucrezia nodded, not wanting to discuss her dealings with the Owl, if Saa'ryu felt the need to speak about it, she would do so sooner or later.
Lucrezia could barely get a new step in before Saa'ryu grabbed her by the arm "Urgent message from home" the maid's face morphed into stony conviction as both women nodded and bolted towards Lucrezia's room, not wanting to teleport inside the school grounds as the room was barely a minute away from them, arriving there Lucrezia cleansed herself with magic and fired up her Magi-Tech device, the quality of the image now crystal clear due to improvements of the apparatus and rising faith, she was greeted by Idun, Hraxx and her Knight-Commander, all with grave faces.
"Well, something either went wrong or I am seeing the start of a coup, which is it?" Lucrezia asked and was met with grimaces by everyone on the other side of the screen "Neither? Good, so what happened?" She motioned for them to start, Idun took the lead looking better now that Lucrezia had broken the ice, the Dwaf sighed and began talking, his voice tinged with worry.
"For weeks now many of our close allies are having dreams, prophetic dreams that concern our fair capital and the duchy as a whole" he looked towards Hraxx "Hraxx was the latest to have them, but the gist of it goes like this: A young woman, barely 19 winters young burns down the Capital and the outlying communities, Aided by Summer Spirits of considerable power, and later all Seasonal Spirits, Erwin's dream also showed her moving towards the Kingdom's Capital, our banners following her as she laid siege to the Palace and the Academy"
Idun paused as Lucrezia's face exploded into a surprised expression "Get Richard and Hope here, Arthur if you can find him as well" she gave an order and Saa'ryu didn't even nod, disappearing into smoke as the people watching them got spooked "Kaine had visions a while ago, I died and Richard did the same but he had Hope and the others behind him, and they won" Lucrezia explained.
"Could be related, where we involved in those visions?" Erwin asked and Lucrezia nodded "Our entire war machine fell under their banner, Hope took over the Duchy and the north was more than happy to oblige, with the support of our Winter Spirits allies no less, Kaine had to square off against his mom to avoid that mess as you well heard, damn I was hoping to speak about this while visiting home..." Lucrezia got up and paced about "Who's the woman? me?" she asked.
Hraxx spoke up "Lady Lucrezia, you might wanna sit down for this" Lucrezia raised her eyebrow and gestured she was fine, the Merwoman sighed and continued, the dark rings under her eyes showing a clear lack of good sleep "How do I best put it...It's your daughter Lady Lucrezia, the woman burning down the entire kingdom is your daughter, she has your hair and eyes, but the features of Lord Richard, we reached the Capital in my version of the dream and I lead a personal retinue with the new armor you and Idun are putting together for the War against the Goddess that created the Spirits, but Royal Knights, ending the dream cut me down" she looked tired Lucrezia noticed, the revelation churning inside her head.
Silence, then a flash of thunder as Hope and Richard, followed by Kaine and Arthur manifested themselves into the room, Kaine was the first to get out of the usual dizziness that accompanied fast teleportation like that, followed by Saa'ryu who appeared again in a puff of smoke behind them "Found the 3 plus Master Kaine, figured it would be best he listened to it" she explained and Lucrezia nodded, once again saved by Saa'ryu quick thinking.
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"Well, this makes things easier and awkward, right then from the top Idun" Hraxx spoke and the dwarf nodded, retelling the previous points as Erwin and Hraxx spoke their piece again, adding to it now that everyone important was here for it, Erwin in particular said his elite troops breached the Palace but did not fight Hope or Arthur, nor King Jason and Queen Malphas.
"Me, a father?" Richard said as he nearly collapsed at the news, Lucrezia was quick to grab him "Oh gods above and below, nevermind the fact this implies we will be fighting some gods-forsaken war in another planet or even realm like some clandestine forward army of the All-Father, a daughter? my daughter? doing all of this? Oh gods spare me" he paced about but Lucrezia hugged him tight, calming his nerves.
"Summer Spirits burning down one of the biggest Winter Spirit strongholds is not something that can happen, first they don't war against each other, so either the dream itself is warping the visions, or they are planted, we can rule out the second option, Lucrezia I need ten minutes" Kaine spoke as the entire room focused on him, people nodded and grunted, if there was anyone who could figure out what was happening it would be him.
"I will speak with the Ancient, see if she can summon the Elven in charge of Spirit communications, be right back" Saa'ryu spoke and went away, Arthur hugged Richard and spoke "Be strong friend, ill omen or not we will figure this out and ensure your daughter to do not end up in bad waters, nor you while we are it, we all saw Kaine's vision after all"the people in the room sighed in relief, if there was one thing Arthur was good at it was rallying up spirits and morale.
"It wouldn't take much you know, for us to turn into that" Hope spoke staring into a window, the sun hanging low, skies orange and purple as she continued "I speak for myself on this but...I am also sure you all would do the same, or even worse" there was heavy silence after she was done, Lucrezia stared at the young woman as the room's atmosphere turned dark again.
"Indeed, All-Father knows we would burn it all to the ground to avenge her" Kaine spoke and everyone turned towards him "Good news, bad news, but it best we wait for Lady Saa'ryu..." he turned to the door as the woman came, following behind her an elven man whose eyes were wide with terror "Lady Lucrezia!, your maid...oh I see" his gaze went towards everyone in the room "I see"
"Suppose we ought to take seats, this will take a while" He spoke and the people nodded, the people on the other side of the video also did the same.
"Right then, let's start with the bad news," the man said as everyone focused on him "Spiritborne dreams are usually set in stone, which means something will happen" he started explaining "But as you know Spirits do not war on each other which means this fire is either a fancy twist on the dream by the people who are having it or a regular fire started by mortals, you can summon the Spirits right now and they will stand by this fact" he moved his hands as he spoke, a very lively fellow Lucrezia thought to herself.
"Now, as Ser Kaine will surely explain, the River of Time is anything but set in stone, but if the Spirits are behind these dreams, and I believe they are, then something is up, while they have no formal connection with Goddess Gwennarius, they are deeply attuned to their lands and its people, especially you lady Lucrezia, given the task you will undertake for them in the future, which means..." he paused "I understand this may sound out of line Lady Lucrezia but you must raise your daughter right" he raised his hands and explained "I can explain, just give me a minute"
"This is the good news part of this, in essence, these dreams are less of augurs of woe and more of a stern warning from the Spirits, which brings us to the fact you will likely have to delay the hunt for their Creator for quite a few years, assuming the progress I was told keeps its pace" the man sat down and Lucrezia nodded, Kaine coughed and said "He's right on that part at the very least, even Gwennarius is surprised that your pace hasn't slowed down, but will the Spirits tolerate this delay?" he left the question hanging.
"Well they are the ones who are sending the bloody dreams in the first place" Knight-Commander Erwin spoke "Summon a mage, we must talk with the druids" Lucrezia heard a grunt of acknowledgment from his end and said, "Well I suppose we can slow down on production for weapons and transportation at the very least, funnel that manpower towards our space habitats and Magi-Tech terraforming, Idun I'll leave that to you and Hraxx, as for my daughter..." there was a pause there as the words felt alien to her ears, such a curious thing "I'll endeavor to raise the girl right, with Richard and my friends as pillars for this coming trial, lest I raise a destroyer of Kingdoms" she smiled as the people around the room laughed.
This is certainly a change of plans, the sooner we strike at that evil Goddess the better chances we have to come out unscathed, did she plan for this I wonder? or it's just fate and destiny? poor Richard is still stunned by the news, heh he does look cute I must admit...
Lucrezia snapped out of her thoughts as Kaine coughed again to gather attention "I have some good news, the big lady told me there are no huge disturbances that far out in the River of Time, the bad news is something does happen around the same timeframe, but she's unsure of what is as the readings are getting horrible, usually this is due to interference by outside parties which also means hunting of Outsiders for me and you lot" he nodded to himself as the group agreed to another would be a hard confrontation with beings beyond mortal ken "But she agrees with Lucrezia on this, we must help her, and also help each other as we will all have children in the future"
Kaine finished with a clap of thunder and he was gone "Dramatic for him" Arthur spoke with a smile "Guess even Kaine with his focus on Magic was taken aback by the news of fatherhood" he smiled at the thought again, a big smile full of kindness for his childhood friend "That's good, I've always been of opinion Kaine needed a kid, it will do him good"
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Maids, butlers, military personnel, and other advisors moved through Lucrezia's castle like a river, guided by various means magical or otherwise they flowed smoothly and precisely as Lucrezia's long exile was over, for a short time at least.
The Lady Duchess had returned home, and the people of her Duchy rejoiced with merry and prayer, the capital and much of the outlying towns and villages had gone through a drastic change in their visuals and way of living as the heart of the Magi-Tech industry and church paved (literally in some of the more far away settlements) the new age of city planning, living and other state matters Lucrezia had fought hard to implement.
A Magical land with technology meshed into its very core. Steel and Fire, Mana and Miracle woven into one, beautiful! Lucrezia thought to herself as she stared down her domain from the highest point in her castle, now looking like someone had haphazardly transmuted into a cyberpunk stronghold, for all the planning she and her people had done in the streets of the city and duchy, the castle had been put on a far more utilitarian oversight.
"They made a throne for me, it even has an Orc Warlord sigil on it" Richard spoke from behind, hugging her and nesting his head on her shoulder "It's a shame we have to go back to the academy so soon isn't it? then again your Knight-Commander and his Wife are too keen on putting me through some sort of hazing ritual, the White Dragoness herself also wants to test my mettle, at least Hraxx and Idun are alright, the poor woman told me she had barely slept ever since the dreams began you know?" there was a content sigh escaping his lips when Lucrezia replied.
"Emyra also wanted to fight you, as did the Magenta Squad but they are off doing Diplomatic Work for their kingdom now that the Sea Elves are showing signs of activity, hey at least you have a few days to enjoy the cold" she smiled seeing the misty breath coming to her side "Gods I missed the cold," she said to herself "C'mon, we got work to do" with that both went inside, ready for a lot of talking and paper signing.
It took the couple plus their aides hours, but they got half of the work done within the day and were able to sit down in a more private setting with Lucrezia's military commanders, Erwin and Idun had been busy and the Palace Guard now boasted training and equipment worth their weight in gold, with plans to outfit the entire civilian guard to its max, given Wulfgrem's port and their dealings with the Sea Elves.
"They will attack us, without a doubt," Erwin told Lucrezia and Richard "Hraxx has already told me there's too much Leviathan and Kraken activity near her borders" Their talks went on for a while before the main topic came up.
"I've spoken with the Spirits, we will be delaying the timetable for the Expedition to find their creator until my daughter is no longer an issue," Lucrezia said not believing her words "It's paramount to all of us to raise the kid right, and so I've come up with drafts for a grand plan, now if you all would open the folders..."
In simple and complex terms Lucrezia went over her rather complicated plan to make sure that her would-be daughter didn't become some sort of apocalyptic threat, of course ensuring she was an actual decent parent to the child was the number one priority, and the same for Richard who vowed to learn how to be the best father there ever was! numerous plans within plans and contingencies were put into place and after all was said and done, Lucrezia felt a tad safer.
Another plan, this one made with the Owl and Saa'ryu was far more sinister but paranoia spoke to Lucrezia and she listened, the shadowy cabal put together a wet-work unit that directly answered to Lucrezia and Richard, Codename Vanguard, it would act as a shadowy special unit armed with the bleeding edge of Magi-Tech and the coming Artificial Intelligence project Lucrezia would start after the silly competition in the Academy was over.
Her daughter would not have to rely on a conventional army if push came to shove and the world was after her, Lucrezia's Vanguard would be the last line of defense for her child, Richard approved of it in a heartbeat and even asked for more training from both the Owl and Saa'ryu, who agreed to it. Afterward, she focused on refining the many wheels and gears of her domain as fast as she was able, to ensure all her plans would prevail.
"It will work out, I am sure of it," she said out loud to no one in particular, hoping the growing unease in her heart went away.
It didn't.