Ruel Za'Darmondiel.
***
"I dare you to try, beast!"
Snarling, I reached for my hips and looked to my lessors to do the same, only to feel a growing pressure wrapping around my waist before I was violently pulled toward the wall. Cursing loudly, I gathered the rich arcana around my body to brace but felt no impact, having been thrown into the caverns by the many tendrils of this… thing.
I only saw unfamiliar territory as I tumbled through the air and cushioned my fall with a brace of arcana until I landed gently on the shores of a great river. The great river that fed Zimysta Falls- now silent and still.
I looked up to see that beast of a woman floating before her squid squealer. Pharryl, the traitor, only stared at me in disbelief before it flew off in a burst of gelid wind. Nhildia and Qiryyn were no different, I was sure, refusing to challenge the beasts within in the hopes of running away from our Queen, the Demon Spider.
The very thought subsumed me within a roiling storm of red. razored webs focused around the large woman, falling to land with a boom that echoed in tune with her audacious steps toward me.
"Come on!" She stopped short of the shore to crouch low, raising her hands like claws. "Let's see what you got."
Relying on my instincts and training, I allowed the crimson webs roiling in my mind to release their fury, unsheathing my weapons and engaging without delay.
Threading arcana into a web, I shot it down my scimitar to cast a line at the far wall and reeled myself toward this beast while my mind worked to form a wall of arcana behind her, tilting her neck closer to the crossing points of my scimitars at the last moment.
While my blades struck true, so did her claws, reaching over her shoulder to slice into my arm with a burning cold that I only noticed upon landing. It had nearly been severed, hanging on by a thread soaked thick with my ichor, but I did not let it deter me. My arcana went to work at once, pulling my severed hand back onto my wrist, where an arcane needle was ready and waiting to stitch it back together.
By the time I faced her, my hand was once again flexing around its scimitar, pointing at the bestial human on the far side of the river.
"Impressive witchcraft!" Geri snickered, lifting her chin to show the hardly perceptible wounds sealing over on its own
Sneering, I readied myself properly, casting my arcane veil, bolstering my flesh, and infusing my weapons with the rich arcana spread around us. Only then did I engage, erupting in a slashing dance that sent bladed projections of arcana at the quickly reacting human, countering with ethereal claws of frosted vines wreathed around her arms.
My dance continued until she found a break in the rhythm. A switch up on my part, meant to alter the attacking angle, was countered by a rising double slash before she reversed her spin and punched the ground. Her great strength released a rolling wave of ice and stone, chased by those foul vines of frost, freezing everything in their path as they sought my soul.
A geyser of arcana lifted me above the frozen lake, where a blade's edge of focus saw me levitate above the now-frozen river. Sheathing my weapons, I quickly withdrew my hand crossbow, pouring arcana through it as I put it into action, poisoning, accelerating, and rotating the quarrels to their limits to spread the ingrained web spells within as far as possible.
Seeming to be caught by surprise at the arcane webs sprawling in the air above her, dripping green with the foulest toxins, the beast raised her arms to block and was surprised more to find herself shot and sliced into by the webs grounding her while they continued twisting, constricting her form as the poison acted against her spirit. I did not wait, webbing my hand crossbow to dangle nearby before quickly drawing my scimitars into a double vertical cross. Twin crescent streaks of arcana projected from my blades and scattered into countless blue fragments as my blades wound around to clang against each other.
Geri's form, trapped within that green and crimson web, shone a bright blue before her form turned into a cloud of snow and billowed to the side at great speed, reforming moments later with a hand crossbow made from those icy roots firing at me rapidly.
The cowardice.
I raised my weapons to shoulder height, letting my arcana flow along with this crimson rage. "Do not underestimate me, human!" I thrust at her, sending one of those shattered blue blades to fell this fleeing beast. "I know you've heard the legends of elves - of Drow being the strongest this Mortal Plane has to offer!"
I thrust out projections again, and again and again, imbuing my spells with all things acid, lightning, fire, and more against this beast while using the potent arcana around us to push and pull myself away from her javelins and boulders of ice and snow. Several of my marks missed and so did hers, yet only I guided the strays back to their target. Still, some were deflected. Those that hit had their magical attributes negated or weakened by her mana veil, but the bolts penetrated all the same, creating a blue-white form that only grew more red as the battle pressed on. Yet, for my sake, I knew she could not keep fleeing.
Intent on showing her what combat against drow was truly like, I spread my will across this vast cavern to grasp onto the arcana within, concentrating more on the flowing waters to disturb and uplift them with a single motion.
A toss of my hands sent it all into chaos. Waters long since undisturbed shot to the ceiling as if lifted by a great geyser. Yet it had a purpose. The countless droplets of the scattered deluge shifted and soared down and around toward Geri, who reacted in an all too predictable way.
A predacious grin split my face as the arcana I'd gathered sank into spiraling droplets, transmuting them from spinning globules of clear water to shimmering points of sharp steel. My fingers shook giddily as my will spread among them, demanding the closest droplet to this beast called Geri to herald all those to follow.
The arcane steel rain fell heartily, looming over her head like a cloud of mind spores no matter where she attempted to flee, yet she counterattacked amidst the onslaught all the same, releasing massive boulders of icy vines and frosted javelins at a frustrating pace.
While they hindered my attempts at self-witchcraft, they did not render me unable. Geri, on the other hand, emerged from the attack lacerated from head to toe and soaked in blood, although I was aware that was superficial. Our exchange earlier told me I would need to maintain my momentum if I was to kill her. Her predatory eyes, on the other hand, told me she was impressed, and that I had struck a nerve.
She glared at me with those blue bestial eyes as she haunched forward, resting her weight onto her hands like the beast she was, even going as far as to snarl as those icy roots overcame her visage, weaving over her head to elongate her mouth into something more befitting of her spirit. Her deep blue fangs dripped something as feral as the grunts coming from her enlarging frame, spreading icy roots and vines of the same hue as the shaggy moss spreading over her from head to clawed toe.
Reeling back, the furry beast-woman stood twice my height to howl out a shockwave of blisteringly cold arcana of an unfamiliar nature before her visage shifted and disappeared, leaving the shimmering visage of her afterimage before the ground beneath her shattered, and her image disappeared.
All I could sense before I pulled more arcana into my eyes, ears, nose, and skin was an approaching vortex of ice and snow. Then I saw this… thing, pouncing on all fours with glowing blue claws readying for my neck.
Undeterred, I bolstered myself to my limits, readied arcana into my scimitars, and bounded, equally shattering the stone beneath me to match the beast's speed and surpass her strike twofold.
Pushing forward into her range, I scribbled my scimitars across her stomach before stomping into a dive. My momentum lifted me from the ground and I spun, deftly weaving through the glowing white edge of her claws while my arcana, reversed in its polarity, radiated from my blades as they lashed behind me, slicing through this beast's blizzard. I landed in a roll, intent on distancing myself beneath the cover of her sundered blizzard. Yet, something touched me before I could get out of reach.
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It was a wave of that strange arcana; I was sure. It came from the wake of her attack, cast toward my back. Yet, a sinking cold spread through my hands before me. I quickly shook the infectious arcana away as I bounded what I thought to be a fair distance away, only to find myself encompassed in a darkness I'd never experienced before.
It was silent. Eerily so, for it was not entirely quiet. Strange… squawks, huffs, and steps echoed from the same snow compressed beneath my feet, rising as high as my knees. I could see the browns of strange, giant mushroom-things with branches of greenery rather than bioluminescent caps; they stretched into the far distance, yet seemed to go only so far.
My guard rose to an all-time high as those things in the background moved to the forefront, promoting themselves to concerning grunts, snarls, and growls I struggled to locate. The cold was creeping on me, yet my instincts told me not to warm myself or attempt to keep moving. So instead, I sought a different angle.
Withdrawing my arcana between my palms, I compressed and condensed it, drastically increasing its density before slowly expanding it around me, forming a concentrated domain - a barrier to push away this eldritch night, but only so much. Only the area within a meter returned to the grays of the cavern I recognized, so I pushed harder, increasing my domain to 3 meters, then 5. Then 10, and 20, and on at an exponential rate that made me believe I'd succeeded, only to look down to see not the grays of the cavern I recognized, but a field of strange mushrooms.
They were tiny things. Green and slim on their trunks, with faces of bright colors and soft petals lining their rims. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, in countless shapes and colors. There was one unlike the others, though. Large. Blue; covered in that strange… moss.
I lunged back at once, feeling the heat of embarrassment, the weight of shame, simmering rage, nauseous disgust, and a dozen other things welling within me as this half-beast ascended from her illusory field like a geyser dislodging a clawed fist of a boulder. A fist that broke everything; my body, sent flying; along with my holy symbol - my brooch of the Spider, hunted by this beast leaping after me to rip it from my body and destroy with a deathly grip of her strange arcana.
Before I could act- before we even began to fall, she wrapped her massive arms around my frame and squeezed, screaming louder than my cracking bones as her gaping maw opened wide to… blow.
Blow and whisper. "Spring Breeze."
Water.
I only felt water, running off my body as if I stood beneath the Falls. I thought I had been frozen and was just now melting to find I'd been transported to that same snowy field of giant brown mushrooms, now illuminated by the silver-blue sphere glowing gently above.
"What-"
My words cut short as I looked up to see Geri and realized my mind was clear. The melting ice had washed the crimson webs from my mind. For the first time in my life, my mind was purely mine. Unbiased. Unburdened. Unwatched by those who sought to control my fate. And so I stood to face the one before me. Or rather, the ones standing behind Geri in this field of... flowers; Nhildia, Qiryyn, and Pharryl, finding their eyes no longer holding traces of red but yellows and greens instead.
"I have sinned," I explained to both them and Geri. "In my mind, I admitted the Matrons erred in bringing El-" I sighed. "In bringing Amun here - a simple act that lost me her favor before I ever even found it. My mind was… the webs… I was so… furious. But now." I sighed, turning to the hulking woman. "My mind is clear. My fate is proudly my own, though I may be… Dublolth.
"Traitor." I met her eyes.
"Nice to finally meet you, Ruel Za'Darmondiel, Nhildia, Qiryyn, Pharryl." Geri smiled, seating herself atop a rock that seemingly appeared from nowhere. I followed after she gestured for me to join her, followed by the others. For once, I paid Pharryl no mind as he sat on my level. Neither did Geri pay that any mind as she continued. "I am Geri, Huntress and Matriarch of the Winter Wolf Conclave. That was a hell of a fight."
"Winter wolf?" I couldn't help but ask. Yet all I got in response was the sound of cracking ice.
I turned toward the source at once, finding clumps of frosted vines and icy… flowers growing and shifting into vague shapes until they eventually decayed to reveal six females of varying species. Creatures I oversaw as slaves. A dwarf and a deep gnome, the former being the beast Pharyl was petting before our fight, laughed in his face when he realized her true nature. The others were creatures I would have hated just moments ago - humans and a Strifling, who reached into the snow to hand out wine and cuts of meat I begrudgingly accepted.
"Lemeia, is my name. I'm the Manager of the Winter Wolf Racing League." She said, dipping her midnight blue horns in greeting. Quite marvelously, she boasted the same features as she did as a beast, with deep, blue-black skin and horns paired with blue sclera and black irises. Yet, the fine, flashy robes of a bard covered her frame, born from seemingly from the ice itself.
The same was true for the others, who introduced themselves in turn. The other bard, a tan-skinned human named Katheryn, called herself the Spring Witch Comet Service's Administrator. The third bard- the deep gnome Pharyl had been stroking, called herself Lula, Sponsor of Blue Peak, yet had the same green eyes as Katheryn, my drow, and perhaps me. On the contrary, the short canine without the tail was a halfling dressed in the scant leathers of a barbarian. Norsh, Queen of Castle Wintercrest, she called herself. What was more curious were the two clerics; a dwarf, and a human, wearing the same skull of gears and screws seen around the neck of Iris.
Rhonda, the human's name was. A… 'Mechanical Engineer' and the Blue Steel Motor Company's Foreman. On the other blade, the dwarf was named Penny, a cleric of the World Weaver, with a symbol of a sphere broken in half, its remnants leaving a cone of boulders trailing beneath it.
"What did you do to us?" I finally managed to ask. "Did you… make us… like you?"
"Not quite." The large woman giggled. "Winter is only half of my power. The other half is Spring. Not just the power of nature, warmth, and fertility, but youth, air, water, and light. In a sense, Spring Breeze makes something infantile; in this case, your minds. It removed all that shit inside your spirits - the crimson webs; the brainwashing and biases. It's almost as if you'd been born anew. You are free."
"Why?" I asked next. "You could have simply killed me. The way you spoke made it clear you cared not for the consequences."
"Don't get me wrong, you're still dying on the ground of that cavern. I'm only giving you the choice to step through Death's door and be reborn like the rest of us. As for why?" She huffed, shrugging as if it were a simple matter. "This is what your brother wanted. He didn't want to be the only one to become an integral part of this glorious thing we're doing. And he didn't want us to free just you, nor just Raki or Eban; Two-Heart or Selph, he wants to free every drow who wants to cast aside the Spider but either can't or won't."
"So then I am to serve beneath you? Not my brother? Not Amun? That's what you had planned for us- for me?"
"It's a bit of both." She so charmingly explained. "This is the power you're most suited for. In the coming years, though, Amun will be acting on his own. We'll go to new realms together, of course, but we'll operate in different countries or even continents most of time. We're as close as one gets to walking next to him, other than the Imperators of his Legions. When he wars, however, it'll be a different story. Basically, you'll live and explore with me but will report to him for his... militant ends. As for your brother, well… you're not an astral monk. You have spent years in the caverns and tunnels with the slaves and riding lizards, though. You have some traits required of a ranger, and you've been training to be a paladin."
"And those are things you can use?"
"I don't use people, Ruel." She said flatly, yet with hints of disgust. "You being a ranger qualifies you to join my conclave. Your being a paladin qualifies you to command my Blue Force. I want to recruit you."
Rather than explain, she tapped at a table that appeared from the snow, causing the flat surface to pull apart and reveal a glistening window that blinked to life. In it, I saw a fleet of the same… Squid Squealers, and many vessels just like it. Some were what I assumed to be those eggs once they were hatched. A conical creature with large eyes and many tendrils floating behind it. Before it were rows upon rows of things that matched the description of birds. Or at least bats. And yet, there were more. Canines longer than violet worms. Small, furry things with thick legs, a haunched posture, and tall ears. Massive, meandering lizards. Frogs the size of wagons. Scorpions the size of warehouses.
Spiders the size of Houses.
I began to question what I was seeing when the image blinked, showcasing these things in action. I watched in awe; the canines running through the forest, then pulling in their limbs to reform them into wheels to continue on the road of a bright realm. Yet that was simply the beginning. These… Umas could travel through the air, ice, and solid stone, all while keeping the rider in a cave-like structure. And they could be quite powerful, indeed.
"You… created these?" I finally managed to ask.
"Amun's vassal, Edward Pascal, invented horseless carriages for the realms and the Umas for the Legions. He then passed the art on to us. We improved upon it and made these." She tapped at the screen before gesturing to her companions. "As you saw, we use them for recon. We're Ranging Warlocks, after all, but we also run a business as both Druidic Witches and Artificers, mixed with other things."
"I see." I slowly nodded. "So then, I assume you intend for me to… mix my skills with the learnings of an artificer to command this fleet? Your use of the word 'Force' and my supposed role pursuing Amun's militant ends makes me believe its purpose is war."
"That it is." She nodded firmly.
"And what of them? I motioned behind me. "I am responsible for them still."
"Whether they join is ultimately up to them, but they'll still be your subordinates if they do. Being in command of my military unit, you'll be the ones to report to Amun when he needs something done, as I said earlier."
"And you will take me away from this place like Etan? You will remove me from the fate they would inflict on me for losing the Spider's favor- on us?"
"After we change this place." Geri nodded. "You have my word."
"I care not about the Falls or how it is changed." I rolled my eyes. "I only care about one person."
"As I said." She tapped at the window, now showing Blude speaking with my twin, dressed in an exotically elegant black and white tunic with gold, or perhaps bronze accents just like the women surrounding her. "You don't have to worry about Raki. This is what we came here to do."
"But at what cost?" I asked and had to confirm just seconds later. "Just one drooly bite? Then, I bite them? And no matter if we live or die, we… change. Into celestials?"
"Mhmm." The dragoness nodded, pausing her fangs around my exposed hand. "But we don't do so to just anyone. Only those who are worthy."