Commander Doreos was incredibly glad that he did not take the carriage.
Not that he usually did, but just this morning he had thought that taking the carriage just once wouldn't hurt his image. In the end he had decided against it and right now he felt pretty validated.
Just moments ago, someone had impacted the side of said carriage with tremendous force, destroying the entire wooden structure. And by the looks of the trees in the direction the person came from, that force had been greater just moments before.
As his men got over their surprise, they immediately began to encircle the woman that was pulling herself free from between the wooden boards, destroying them completely while doing so.
Like clockwork, his people finished their encirclement, leaving a gap in their formation pointing the way the woman had come. The constant group tactics drills had really paid off, seeing as his people did not even need his orders to immediately go into formation.
Doreos observed the woman that had finally pulled herself free from the pile of debris and had to suppress an involuntary shudder. The beast of a woman was at least 3 meters tall and built like the statue of a goddess of war. Her straight black hair was only shoulder length, but still tangled with all manner of vegetation and wood chips. From his position, Doreos could only see her incredibly wide back, but even that partial view was enough as he observed the tapestry of scars covering the woman's body.
The woman swept her gaze across his men for a moment, before turning her attention back towards the direction she had arrived from. His men, likely offended after having been ignored so easily, began to yell at the woman.
Doreos was sure that he saw an eye open on the woman's neck for just a moment, before it immediately vanished.
A strange feeling began to climb up his back, the longer he observed the woman. Something wasn't right. Not just the fact that he was seeing eyes where there shouldn't be any, but also the way the woman seemed entirely unconcerned after being surrounded by an entire mercenary band with their weapons pointed at her.
Just as Doreos was about to shout orders at his people, a gray shimmering form burst from between the treeline. He had less than a moment to come to terms with the interruption, before the massive metal wyvern lashed out with its steel tail, striking at the strange woman.
Instead of being bisected vertically, the woman just raised her hand, bringing the wyvern to a dead stop.
The moment the winged beast crumpled to the ground, the realization that a wyvern was in the midst of their formation set in.
Before his men could devolve into panic, Doreos began to yell orders.
“TWO STEPS BACK! SHIELDS READY! MAGES PREPARE BARRIERS!”
Doreos mind began to churn, going over possible ways this engagement could go, but none of them looked good. The wyvern was radiating a truly fearsome aura, so thick that the sheen of metal mana was visible on its tail. Doreos himself was at the peak of tier two, but even he could not discern the depths of the beast's aura. It had to be at least tier 3, maybe even 4. Such an engagement would cause heavy casualties.
To his astonishment, the wyvern got to its feet and lowered itself before the strange woman.
Immediately alarm bells went off inside his head.
The woman mumbled something to herself in an oddly musical language, that sounded like an extremely convoluted version of elvish, before her throat began to bulge strangely.
Doreos had taken the few moments of silence to force his way to the front of the defensive line. Not the best place to be when facing such a creature, but any good commander should lead from the front.
Which was the only reason he saw the woman's jaw contort in a grotesque manner as she forced out four words, seemingly directed at the wyvern.
Evidently, the woman was using some sort of powerful language. The effect the words had on the world around her, were immediately noticeable. With every word, the air around the woman visibly rippled and the ground vibrated. Additionally, Doreos understood the woman's meaning, even if he had never before heard the language. She was talking to the wyvern, like a child might to a family pet.
After the last word, the side effects made themselves known, as a piercing headache bloomed inside Doreos’ skull. A quick look around showed that his men were even worse off, some of them kneeling on the ground, clutching their heads while trickles of blood ran down their faces. Only the mages seemed unaffected.
Then, to everyone's surprise, the wyvern let out a keening whine, before shooting into the open sky with one mighty beat of its wings.
The giant woman looked into the sky, following the wyvern with her eyes for a moment. Doreos decided that now would be the best moment to prevent conflict.
He turned to the left and addressed one of his lieutenants.
“Stand down. Well take a diplomatic approach. Sect protocols, Master variation.”
The lieutenant, a massive man with a bald head and a full black beard, nodded before immediately taking over command.
Doreos took a deep, but discrete breath, before resolutely stepping out of formation and approaching the woman.
Once he was only two meters away from her, he came to a stop and assumed a rigid posture. Following sect protocols, he raised his head and looked at the woman's face, but did not address her. His position as the one out of formation and his straight posture signaled that he desired conversation, but acknowledged that he was beneath her. Not only in height, but also in status.
As the order of ‘sect protocols’ was passed around, his people immediately quieted down.
Doreos continued to observe the woman in front of him. Despite the respectful distance, he had to crane his neck just to look at her head.
After a few moments, the woman's gaze lowered itself to the ground. She swept her gaze across his people, before it came to rest on him.
A strange feeling overcame Doreos as he held eye contact with the woman. It felt like the first speech he held after assuming command. Nervously speaking in front of a large crowd, every one of them taller and wider than him. It felt like thousands of people were looking at him. He could not break eye contact as the woman's eyes seemed to shift constantly. One moment he was looking into the compound eyes of a fly and the next into the slitted pupil of a snake.
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Doreos could feel his knees begin to weaken, when the woman finally blinked. Now freed from the strange hypnotic effect, he shook his head slightly, before once again initiating eye contact. Sect protocols demanded a very rigid sort of respect and not looking into one's eyes could be taken as offense.
Somehow, the woman's body had changed without his notice. She still towered over him and most people in general, but she looked more human now. Observing proper protocol was difficult, as the woman was almost completely naked, except for the tattered remains of pants that desperately clung to her hips.
Her now no longer shifting eyes locked back onto Doreos and he could finally begin to feel out the woman. Her eyes were a deep orange color, similar to those who practiced some form of fire cultivation, only magnitudes more vibrant. Her pupils were something different altogether. It felt like looking into an endless night sky, devoid of any stars. Doreos heart began to speed up. He had met a man at the peak of tier 4 once, a sect elder of the gentle river sect. But even the man's blue eyes aren't as intense as those of the woman.
The staredown continued for an uncomfortably long time, until the woman finally spoke.
“You know, I do not speak any local human languages. I hope you speak orcish or draconic, otherwise this is going to be really awkward.”
Doreos almost sagged in relief as the woman finally spoke, only barely keeping himself rigid as to not cause offense.
“Yes i do speak orc, sadly i do not speak any draconic. May I know your name, as to properly address you?”
“Lucifer Morningstar” She said, before holding out her right hand.
Doreos was about to sink to a knee, when the woman's arm shot out and grabbed his right hand.
“I detest formality, a handshake will be enough. What's your name?”
“Commander Doreos of the Circle of Ascension. At your service my lady.”
At the woman's grimace, Doreos cringed. People like her that did not adhere to normal etiquette were always difficult to deal with. The people from the sects were easy to deal with once you understood their weird concept of ‘face’. The nobles of the courts were even easier, you only needed to understand proper etiquette. The orcs were straightforward people and were sure to tell you off before taking offense. Even the elves were easy, once you understood that they saw every other person beneath them.
“Well, it's nice to meet you. Sorry for the carriage, I lost myself a bit. I don't actually know how to repay you for that, I have no money on me.”
“Do not worry my lady, it was rarely used and will be no great loss. If we need one we will simply buy a new one once we reach the orc capital.”
Doreos bit his tongue. It was always a gamble to refuse payment from an accident when speaking to one so powerful. Luckily the woman did not dwell on it.
“That's fortunate. I am currently living in the orc capital.”
The woman's gaze traveled across his people, lazily inspecting them. They were no longer pointing their weapons at her, but stayed at attention, ready to engage at a moment's notice. Her eyes narrowed as she saw something, but he did not dare to follow her gaze, keeping his eyes locked on her face.
The woman approached and took Doreos by the shoulder, turning him towards his men. She pointed towards one of his lieutenants and spoke again.
“Once you are in the capital, ask for me and bring her along, then I'll repay you for the damages I caused. I'll be going now.”
Doreos was just about to question the woman's motives, when she disappeared.
One moment she was right next to him, and the next she was gone, a light gust of wind the only sign of her departure.
For a few moments nothing moved, until everyone was sure that the woman was truly gone. Then his lieutenants sprinted to his side and began to rapid fire questions at him.
“Okay people, calm down! We make camp right here. Once everything is settled and we have guards set up we will discuss what happened.”
The well trained mercenary company immediately broke off into groups, following their assigned roles. Like a well oiled machine, they broke down their travel packs and began to make camp.
Doreos sighed. This would be more complicated than he had thought at first.
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Lucifer broke through the treeline at ridiculous speeds, coming to a dead stop atop one of the gates to the orc capital. After the fight with the wyvern [Flash Step] got easier to use. With liberal applications Lucifer shot through the city, jumping from tent to tent, her passing barely disturbing a leaf.
Feeling a bit cheeky, Lucifer came to a stop on the head of a passing orc, before launching off, absorbing any kinetic energy, leaving the orc none the wiser. Three more applications of the technique and Lucifer came to a stop in front of Aindaeths tent, a plume of fire exploding from her feet as she transformed the leftover kinetic energy into heat. Subconsciously she absorbed the leftover heat into her core, before lifting the flap and entering the dragon's tent.
“Okay everyone! I need some privacy, you can attend to the lazy lizard later!”
Her loud voice broke the weird atmosphere in the tent as dozens of old shamans swiveled to look at her. One by one they shuffled out of the tent after getting fully clothed.
“Come on Lucifer! You can't just interrupt like that!” came the bassy rumble of Aindaeths voice.
“Something weird is happening to me!”
Instantly Aindaeth’s eyes narrowed and her voice lost its playful tone.
“Alright spill.”
“Ugh i wish i hadn't taught you slang.”
An impatient grumble brought Lucifer back on track.
“Okay so I was out in the plains just exploring when I came across this wyvern.”
Lucifer regaled Aindaeth with the tale of her incredible fight with the wyvern, the dragon growing more and more impatient.
“Get to the point please.”
“Okay so, I started to sink into myself, similar to meditation. And instead of fighting like I usually would, I shifted my body and met the wyvern on an even playing field. It happened without my conscious input. I'm pretty sure I could have broken the trance if I had needed to, but it felt like I shouldn't. Then in one moment, similar to the times I created my own sword forms, I created a new style. I only used one of the moves, but somehow in a single moment an entire swordsmanship style solidified itself in my mind, along with, what I can only guess is a cultivation method, though that feels incomplete.”
Aindaeth was still for a moment, before relief flooded the bond between them.
“Thank the dragon mother, I thought it was something actually important.”
“What do you mean?! I think losing sight of myself is pretty important!”
“Okay I am sorry, that wasn't what I meant to say. It's just that you are experiencing a problem I know about.”
Lucifer sagged in relief, falling over backwards into a pile of blankets.
“It's something my people used to deal with all the time. Dragons do not stop growing until they advance to tier 9, so even a Dragon that sleeps for a few hundred thousand years will eventually reach the peak. But sometimes, mostly with dragons that were cultivating intentionally, they get stuck at the peak of a tier. It mostly happens at the peak of tier 4 and 7. They would sometimes spend thousands of years without advancing, until their innate growth forced them to tier up.”
Lucifer listened with rapt attention. Aindaeth did not talk about her people much, so this was the first time she heard any interesting information of how the dragons had lived.
“The forceful breakthrough that happened during a dragon's growth will never be as effective as one achieved through comprehension and cultivation. But sadly not everyone had the luck that i had. The mortal races have it worse, because once they stagnate at such a bottleneck, they mostly die as their lifespan runs out. The important part is; even when stuck at such a bottleneck, you never stop learning. Both consciously and unconsciously, you continue to interact with the world, gaining small bits of knowledge and experience. Once someone who was stuck for a long time does break through, the accumulated knowledge solidifies.”
“Ohh…. if you go at it from that angle, I was stuck for quite a while then.”
“Yes. I wasn't sure if it would happen to you, as frankly your circumstances are completely ridiculous. Now that you broke through, you have new ways to interact with the world. The connection you have to the natural laws and concepts is deeper. You must have already noticed that your sense for mana has grown more detailed right?”
Seeing Lucifer nod, Aindaeth continued.
“It will likely only get worse with subsequent breakthroughs. You have so much experience to fall back on. Even if the techniques you accidentally create are not something you would use, they aren't a bad thing.”
“Why would they be bad? I was mostly worried about the trance i fell into, or not being in control of myself. If that happened at an inopportune time, that would be annoying, but I'd live.”
“Most mortal races have to constantly struggle against their lifespans. The elves have some advantages, but even a few thousand years don't mean anything in the end. They have to focus on their path with all their effort, otherwise they will be too old to take the next steps. Any pursuit of secondary techniques or paths is a distraction. They can't afford to learn concepts or techniques that don't benefit them. They may have a broader foundation to fall back on, but at the end of the day they are still in an eternal race against time.”
During a short lull in the conversation, Lucifer briefly remembered the time she had spent among the mortals of her old world. These people did not even have the luxury of pursuing a path. They had just lived their 80 years with an intensity that was still alien to her. The deep black sea in her mind rippled for a moment before stilling again.
“But we do not have these problems. Both of us could stop right now and never have to worry about our future advancement. We could spend the next few millennia just learning as much as we can, until there is nothing left. Then we would ascend a tier and repeat. Nothing is stopping us. Broadening your foundation is not going to impact your advancement in any negative way. It will likely only have positive effects.”
The surface of the deep black sea rippled once more, a low droning sound echoing through Lucifer's mindscape. The flame burning above the lake struggled to stay lit.
Lucifer grimaced. This feeling again. Absolute stillness wanted to claim her. Just like her time spent in space. Just like the millennia spent on her frozen throne. The call to inaction was enticing, but it went against everything she wanted from life. Maybe the stillness would eventually take her, but until then she would live her best life.
An ethereal sound, akin to the breaking of glass, echoed through the tent as Lucifer firmed her heart.