"Mortals were given Volition, Free will, and Determination. Fate and Destiny are theirs to carve it out, or let themselves be taken by it!"
All-Father's speech at the creation of the first mortals.
His name was Ackar, once a humble hunter living at the edge of civilization in the north, dealing with the bizarre and unnatural. Druids and Wildmen were his sole "regular" contacts in these fringes he came to love as his home.
Then the evil came, out of the big city and spiraled out of control until the wee lass put an end to that, Ackar saw her machines and troops marshaling to fight against the southern invaders, once ages ago his old man marched to fight against the elves. His mother soon joined leaving him alone and all he could think to himself was how sad it was, life was simple in his forest and hunting grounds.
One of the druids later told him all about it, he didn't believe the lass would right the wrongs her folk had done to the countryside, but lo and behold she did with such speed and ferocity it was quite scary to him, and he had seen some scary individuals and beasts before! it didn't take long for a squad of grim-faced Knights to march toward his particular neck of the woods, the woman leading them was polite and once he got the crew inside his cabin they got to talking.
"Apologies for the humble abode My Lady, I am not one for the fancy life as you are well aware" Ackar spoke as he gave hot tea to the men and women inside his home, out of the cold winds and snow they had far more lively and welcoming faces, and so the piece of land and woods he called home became a sort of checkpoint for the troops and Knights who had to patrol the fringes. Often he was called to aid as scout or guide for selected individuals who were training to be actual army scouts for the Duchess, the wee lass not above using the humbler folk skills and techniques to give any edge to her forces.
Often they hunted dreadful beasts from the wastes, and more than once he had to track criminals and ill-intentioned folk with squads of particularly grim knights, those less wholesome assignments were good for coin and keeping his meager magical might sharp but not something he was keen on doing all the time, the killing of folk was a hazardous task that weighed heavy on his soul.
It was curious, hearing these people talk about the lass, There were barely 20 winters to her name, and still, she commanded respect even from the highest of druids and military personnel, was kind to the common folk, and was so keen on the progress that she threw her lot with a minor god for it and now was the very tip of the technological spear that was taking the Kingdom by storm, Ackar was "gifted" an entire set of scout gear by his handler the other week. His Patron Goddess of the Frigid Hunt, a small deity of the region he lived outright spoke to him via dreams saying the lass handcrafted it.
"What does the Duchess want with me?" He asked no one.
It turned out, she wanted quite a few things.
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Saa'ryu watched as a grim-looking orc woman deployed the new magi-tech device Lucrezia had come up with, the beast in the form of essentially a box with four legs was the latest prototype of the Direwulf line of weaponized semi-autonomous magi-tech, the name was a bit silly the maid thought to herself but her Lady was often like that with those, not much could be done to stop the woman now.
"At least she named the flying ones Wasps instead of whatever fancy name she had planned, thank the Gods for Richard and his keen sense of good merchandising" She smiled as the mobile platform unleashed hell around the Orc, be it with long-range focused spellfire, semi-automatic magi-tech weaponry or even pouncing and stomping the fake enemies to death, the Direwulf was the bruiser to complement its operator.
"...The Ice Lady could speed things up and deploy the Fully Automatics already, if she's capable of this" Saa'ryu heard the woman below grunt "The mages will catch up faster if she doesn't..."
On the other end of the arena, she watched Dragonling, one of the many scions of Kallista who lived in the city as his scales grew a shade of silver and he disappeared with a puff of feathers, this one spooked Saa'ryu as Lucrezia had started a rather blasphemous project with the woman who was now Lady of the Wastes, a combination of Magic and Faith but turned towards the individual instead of the divine, with support of the Crow Goddess no less!
It irked her, but then again that woman and her less sane friend Friede were known to do reckless stuff like this, still, this was a form of power no one could counter yet, not until she deployed to a live battlefield, this Dragonling was using the Wasps as well. Buzzing with static and the sound of live magi-tech ammo slamming into the fake targets as he teleported around without nary a trace of the usual leftovers (she had cast all her anti-teleport and divination spells meant to hone where the teleporter would land and nothing happened!)
The young hunter calmed her nerves for this absurd wet work team her lady and would-be lord were putting together that shone the best in these recent trials, not a born leader or charismatic individual but with a keen mind and even sharper senses. Watching him guide the others was an impressive sight and she knew he earned the respect of the would-be Vanguard Initiative via tried and true hard work.
He was also the one who raised the most questions, as an isolated hunter of the woods he wasn't aware of the nitty-gritty details and after being vetted Saa'ryu disclosed the details with all of them, but Ackar was the one worried and curious the most.
"She's smart our Lady Duchess" he stroked his chin "As any child of Wulfgren knows the spirits are a fickle lot and even on their best days can be quite unpredictable, Gods know what could happen to us should she fail her mission" he pointed out as Saa'ryu frowned.
"You believe she could fail? even with all you have seen?" she asked the young man, wondering why he would think that.
"Tis important to foster a healthy degree of weariness of the unknown when living in isolation like me Lady Saa'ryu, think about it. A Divine who somehow dodged or remained hidden from All-Father's gaze? even after he sicced his Son after Her? something isn't right there and by the looks of the weaponry our Lady is building. She agrees with me on this in spirit if not mind" he said as he nodded towards his bow.
"That Gravelus there, you see how his Magic mimicks Miracles yeah? I think Lady Saa'ryu that the mere fact we haven't all been smitten to high heavens by those scary demigods the All-Father keeps according to ancient legend is reason enough to believe Lady Lucrezia is worried about this endeavor and will stack her deck as best as she can, and now with her would-be daughter on the line, I can't say I blame her"
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Saa'ryu left the young man with his two other agents, a little perturbed by his keen insights even when having little exposition as he had, deciding to clear her head she took the scenic route and ended up watching the workers toiling away at the spacefaring ships, her eyes picking up details that made her shiver. These were not simply exploratory vessels for little combat between planets and stars in cold darkness.
This fleet was a testament to pure hatred warped into crystal and steel, Saa'ryu's eyes focused on the light aftereffects that lingered around the workers and engineers. Spirits from all Seasons came in droves now to bless the personnel and their weapons. Of particular note was a squad of warriors decked in the new suits of terrifying armor Lucrezia and Idun had birthed, Led by an elven woman from the deep south of the kingdom managed to establish ties with the Autumn Spirits and all of their Magi-Tech warped into decay and rot.
Worse was the face of absolute delight her Lady had made when she saw them. She had changed ever since that fated day in the Fields with Queen Malphas, but every once in a while the Lucrezia who delighted herself in the guts and blood of the enemy would rise, ready to rend the mortal coil into two. This was not helped by the fact Spring Spirits based in the Imperium brought her a forged armored gauntlet made out of a strange bronze alloy, when wielded and channeled mana it extended into wicked-looking daggers, or nails as the Spirits said it.
"Forged for you Lady Lucrezia, let the Betrayer taste its bite" the envoy spoke with fevour. Lucrezia named it the Talons of Retribution. That was not a mere weapon Saa'ryu thought to herself when she saw the thing in action, it tore into reinforced steel like a hot knife into a butter stick! and Lucrezia was barely putting in effort in the attack. She may have avoided one particular dire end with the attack on the Arch-Mage, but this...
"Just how many will we kill, how much will we destroy for this crusade?" The maid spoke out loud, but no one replied.
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The woman in question, leader of said crusade was currently elbow-deep in flour as she prepared dough for pizza, Richard had the bright idea of throwing a party for the upcoming fighters who he had trained in the group section of this event and she couldn't say no, it wasn't like she was too busy and if she was being honest with herself, she did miss working with food...
"This is a curious sight, here we have a Duchess, second only to the King and Queen and the Arch-Duke making bread like a peasant baker" spoke Castra-Cam who was skilfully cooking huge fish Richard had gotten from some fisher he knew (the man knew too many skilled people) the undead Catkin looked pleased as she worked with precision and speed no mortal could achieve "Tell your beloved this is a perfect specimen, the man knows his fishers" she spoke with respect, Lucrezia was aware of this side of Castra from her memories with the game but to see it live was another thing.
"He has quite the network already, I'd wager had he not you know..." Lucrezia smirked "They would've already married him off to a minor noble to further the power of his merchant house" Lucrezia heard Castra snort in amusement and say "Look at you, turning the merchant boy into a warrior king, like those novels of old I used to read ha!" said novels being hundreds of years old Lucrezia thought to herself.
Noise could be heard from the courtyard as fireworks lit up the skies above the Fields, people came and went into the massive castle kitchen as food was prepped at high speed for the festivities, or so Lucrezia assumed as a single party often spilled into others, minor or big. People would stare at her in disbelief every once in a while, the sigh of a noble of her stature working not something they could wrap their heads around.
Of course, there were rumors, as she was plenty active in doing labor before but with such a huge institution and so many people, many didn't believe it! but she couldn't stop now, she had work to do.
Once the kitchen was empty bar Castra, Lucrezia heard her friend sigh tiredly as she spoke "I have news from the big man downstairs Lucrezia" Lucrezia snapped her head towards Castra, eyes laser-focused on the woman as she walked towards her.
"It makes me glad you are properly worried about it, Heaven knows how many people fail to heed His words" Castra smiled as she sat down next to Lucrezia's workstation "It's not about your daughter, but it is related to your increased militarization and hunt for the Rogue Goddess, He is...worried about the new weapons you are creating and the after-effects that will come thanks to the arms race that will come out of them" Castra tapped the table "I assume you know what this means?" she asked.
Lucrezia nodded, if she needed confirmation this was it "The sea elves will come for us again, armed with magic and miracles on par with my creations, especially the ones I've made for the Expedition" Lucrezia sighed "It's going to be a bloodbath"
Castra nodded " He's extending full support of our martial forces towards you, while we can't brave the stars and cosmos due to an increase in rogue necromancers we can put these Elven dogs to the grave, with no chance of coming back" a nasty smile flashed in her dead face as she mentioned that "He also tasked be with teaching your daughter on our ways, should she incline of course" Castraa threw that in and Lucrezia was taken back.
"She? A Scythe? Goodness Gracious of course Castra!" she hugged the Catkin who smiled at the reaction and said "Ok no need for the hugging Lucrezia" Lucrezia snapped out of the embrace with a cheeky smile and replied "But I wonder, what if she doesn't follow the martial path? we were blessed by Eulogia after all..."
Castra nodded "The future is the realm of Kaine and His Goddess, we must not intrude upon it. If she becomes a philosopher or musician it doesn't matter, we must be there for her" She cupped Lucrezia's hands, warm and rough and with strength that bespoke the young woman's strong convictions, they shared a nod and went to work, the party was about to start in earnest.
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In a realm of shadow and thunder, divorced from the mortal coil and the Sphere of Power that kept such beings in check were hunched figures clad in torn robes, the shimmer around them betrayed their Divinity but it was a muted thing, as if they were being siphoned. Growing weaker every second.
"The All-Father can still reach us! what a sorry display of power is this?!" one of the figures screamed and the sound of waves crashing upon rocks was heard across the plane, the figure shook with rage before another figure placed a hand on its shoulder "Peace, none can escape the Light of the All-Father but he will not meddle in our affairs this time" it spoke with a snake-like hiss, other figures spat or snarked in response
"He has a blasted Blessed walking around above! with enough power to level entire cities! nevermind the fact that blasted Alien granted her a weapon capable of harming us! Are you insane, or do you lack the wits to keep up with the news of our spies?!?" another figure spoke with anger as the sound of monsters from the forbidden cenotes roared with it, the room grew cold and silent afterward.
Another voice, this one accompanied by the wail of thousands of schools of fish whispered raggedly "She is but one mortal, it is the other. The Enemy of Crystal and Steel we must take utmost caution, my farsighted children have caught glimpses of the future she will wreak with fire and rage upon those we protect and serve, behold their sight brothers and sisters, for the true enemy will be the end of us all"
A small bubble made itself manifest in the middle of the room as the ragged figures leaned closer, inside it they saw great machines tearing into their children, beams of pure light falling from the skies and burning the seas, and metal ships floating above the waters, on the shores they saw mortals clad in armor that moved with speed hitherto seen before, goring and tearing into their Children of the Waters.
The Final image was of a great rod of metal being launched from the capital ship that floated in the air, the figures felt a shiver of horror strike them as the explosion burned the ocean floor and waters to such a degree, that no amount of water could kill its cursed flames. "I will be removing my children and followers from this accursed war you lot seek to wage, I will not, must not die to such horrible weapons!"
Silence fell again as the figure disappeared, the others shook their heads in shame and dismissal, half-baked visions of the future would not stop their war. With the strongest mages and warriors, no weapon from the landed world would be enough against their tide!