"They aren't ready, they will never be ready for it!"
Goddess of time Gwenarius's final words as she stormed off in front of All-Father. To this day no mortal has been blessed by her.
Kaine found himself on a strange beach, to his left his sister laid in one of those lean-back beach chairs that were all the rage with the nobles a few years back. The woman was casually sipping some sort of beverage from a coconut? Kaine found the whole thing bizarre like he was in a fever dream. He got up and dusted himself while basking in the warm sun...
"This can't be right, I was face down in the snow minutes ago!" He went weak in the knees for a second as the memory of the battle slammed into his mind. A veritable sledgehammer spell right into his knees. So much death and blood Kaine tried to hold it in but the bile rose as he threw up water. The boy was shaking as the realization of the ordeal he had just gone through finally hit him in its entirety.
Galius was dead, his whole godsdamned crew of shady characters executed like rabid dogs by Lucrezia! And his dumb arse of a sister had chopped the woman's arm off!
"Ardarite, They got us locked in Ardarite chains Kaine" Margareth spoke from her chair.
Kaine rolled back, the young man had all but forgotten his sister was there with him, he immediately cast a triple weave aegis spell and took a defensive stance. If this was the enemy or someone pretending to be his sister he wouldn't go down without a fight!
...Even if he was a shite fighter...
"Last summer you walked on me and Turius Kaine, now drop that spell it's me you oaf" Margareth sighed as Kaine's face flushed red, of course, she would go for that particular memory! It wasn't his fault godsdamn it. He was testing a pathfinder spell. Kaine turned to his sister and spoke.
"This is a construct, isn't it? Dungeon-type?" he asked as he felt the mana radiate from the fake sun and seawater. His sister nodded and finished sipping and said "High Level at that, Core of Imperium make as those dunces love these resort modes...Come with me I gotta show you something" She got up and nodded towards a bungalow that was by the beachside.
Kaine and Margareth walked in silence, he was afraid of asking how she was feeling. After all her beloved had just been put down like a common criminal right in front of her! Even if she wasn't awake, thus Kaine went with another line of questioning.
"How long? I assume that spell dad reached you works down here as well?" He was talking about the Exact Time spell, which gave the user an unnatural insight into the flow of time of a specific region. At first, his dad had made the spell to solve special puzzles in the Red Dragon's dungeon in the Capital but it ended up being a bit overkill and the old drake was crossed for weeks.
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"4 Days" she opened the door to the bungalow and they watched as a spectral orb collected mana from the air around them and conjured huge pigs.
"Defective dungeon cores... Gods know how many dad and mom have in their basement, this one is being used to produce high-quality meat from pigs" Margareth said "What an ingenious way to dodge the Food Magic laws, shame it ended up not working eh" she turned to her brother and spoke, "Lucrezia hasn't come down here yet, only her Head Maid who has been cleaning and leaving goods for us..."
Kaine watched as his sister looked conflicted. A rare look on her face as she was headstrong as all hells, how she hadn't tried to smash the core and run up to Lucrezia to slice her other arm was something he was dying to ask. Still, Kaine decided to follow his gut and stay quiet because he didn't want his sister blowing upon him. Gods knew the day was bad enough.
"Not gonna ask?" She spoke in a low tone.
"Nope" Kaine fired back.
Margareth sighed and said "I've been talking with the core, Once a day it summons a dire boar for me to fight...Don't look at me like that I was bored out of my mind down here ok! Anyway, the Head Maid lady left a letter for you" Margareth pulled the envelope and gave it to Kaine, he noticed the thing was already opened and shoot an eyebrow towards his sister who shrugged and said "Checking for traps, not that Lucrezia would be so dumb as to send one to us since she knows about the safeguards mom and dad left on us"
Kaine picked the letter and asked, "Have you tried contacting them already?"
Margareth looked even more conflicted and said "No...No I haven't. We can talk about this later just read the stupid letter"
Now Kaine was even more suspicious about this whole ordeal. But his gut told him to do as he was told and the young man knew that trusting his gut was always the best option in these types of situations.
Kaine opened the letter and read the contents, his eyes growing wider by the line. He took a deep breath once he was done and threw the thing on top of a desk, looking around Kaine found a chair and took a seat, running his hands through his face and hairline. He began shaking and was ready to have a breakdown when his sister slammed her foot down in the bungalow's wood. Taking his mind out the edge.
"You think this is real sis? Lucrezia knows which God gave me the blessing?" he asked without looking at Margareth.
The young woman sighed and said "She knew about the countermeasures. Had access to more Ardarite than half the world combined. Took over an entire duchy with never-before-seen weaponry... Something ain't right here brother." Margareth paced around the room.
Kaine took a deep breath and said "I'll go, I'll speak with her and try to get us out of this...Dungeon beach thing...What an odd choice" Kaine quickly lost himself in trying to analyze the weave of magic and its matrixes. It was his coping mechanism when he was highly stressed out. Margareth hugged her brother and said "Be careful out there Kaine, please"
Kaine stopped looking around and with a sigh picked the letter again, walking outside to the sands he burned it with his mana. A simple fire spell that any mage worth their salt could do it. He watched as the illusion spell the core was casting broke when cold stone walls formed from the outermost left side of the place. 10 men armed to the teeth and with Ardarite armor came marching into the beach, their boots a steady rhythm that echoed across this likely huge dungeon cell.
That was when Kaine saw Lucrezia staring right at him. There was something odd the way she looked at him, it was like she knew him top from bottom. All his secrets laid bare for her to peruse and pick apart, but beneath this, he felt a sense of old friendship.
"Master Kaine!" She spoke with a warm tone "Please follow me, we have so much to talk about!"
And so Kaine followed the madwoman. In time he would come to cherish these few days he spent with her as Lucrezia proved to be something far beyond even his wildest of imagination.