There failed to be any sort of warning from the shapeshifting twins the day of their murder attempt, contrary to what they had said, as such Marduk was suddenly beset upon in his sleep by the women and rushed awake and out the door of his cell in the cold stone halls of the underground dungeon. As they walked he was handed his sword and told they would support him in their attack telling him little more than-
“He may be in a weakened state but that does not mean he is completely useless, he still has access to the dark magics he accrued… you must watch out for when he speaks the words Umbra-Ingle and Brontide the first is a spell that calls upon dark flames that eat through everything and the other an arcing light of thunder that can turn even stone to ashe.” Oébfinn said in a hushed tone as they rushed out of the dank stairwell through a large oak door into a marbled hall in the palace.
The halls were decorated with all sorts of bright colours and framed paintings of far off lands and different people, though a handful of portraits depicted the Count in a far more humane light than that of which Marduk had seen in him.
As well the halls were line with red silky carpets that seemed to stretch on forever. He noticed there were no guards and was about to ask the pair where they were when-
KKTTTOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!
An enormous explosion sounded out rocking the building like the might of a god filled with anger.
“What the hell was that?!?!” Líadan was quick to shout as the group looked around in confusion to only to be knocked to the ground when another explosion sounded closer to them-
BTTOOOOOOMMMM!!
Deafening noise filled the air as dust and rubble filled Marduk's view, he barely managed to catch sight of falling stone works through the thick layer of dust that coated the hall. With as fast a reaction he could manage he threw his arms out smacking the falling debris aside hearing it crash as it smashed into the wall on their right.
Squinting he noticed sparking blue and flash of deep purple ahead of them right before another clash of sound erupted throughout the building and the cries of men dying reached them.
Without realising it when he’d looked down he’d covered the shapeshifters with his form protecting them from whatever was happening.
“What happening?” He asked, feeling his heart beat like a drum.
They could only stare in frightened terror, eyes wide and faces far from any clear emotion.
‘They’re shell shocked… crap’ He thought to himself as he strained his eyes hoping he could make out what was happening ahead of them as dust started to settle properly.
What he saw surprised him, though he realised most anything would have surprised him. It was the grey skinned man from the other day, he hovered some inches off the ground as his robes bellowed around him. The air was tense with ephemeral power, the sheer pressure he output by existing was forming cracks and dents in the ground where he moved, his dark hair wildly whipped around as what the Saurian could only call magic writhed and arced like lightning around the Warlock.
Not far behind the shadow of the floating man was his Krijn slave wielding a dagger that shimmered like blue moonlight.
Ahead of the man though leaking purple liquid onto the marble floors was the huddled form of a man pressed into the wall.
For a moment the Saurian thought to call out to the Warlock, but he stopped himself when the figure in the wall popped themselves out from the crater in it and flexed their hand intoning words that shook him to his core even as far from the conflict as he stood, being nearly fifty metres from what was happening and with layers of collapsed building between them.
“Magna Lassitude”
“Ahck!” It felt as though someone had dropped an eighteen wheeler on his head as he slammed into the ground flattening the twins in the process.
Blood flew from his mouth and the world shifted, becoming a dark hue in the corners of his eyes slowly enveloping everything until it was all black.
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Adalgard blinked in surprise, still shocked at the sheer might the warlock had exuded in the world; she'd never heard of a magician or otherwise who could draw on so much power.
“He has to be descended from a god…” She voiced her thoughts looking at the carnage wrought by the man's power.
He had expressed disgust and anger upon hearing that the Count was likely involved in the Orcneas incident that had caused the children she had arrived with to be orphaned; he had vowed to wipe the Count from the face of Gaea and cleanse his Dark from the mortal plain. She hadn’t understood what he had meant, but now she had an idea as to what it would look like at least, the entire front of the palace was decimated and all the guards dead and trapped under the weight of collapsed marble.
“I believe you are right.” Sophus replied from her side.
The pair along with four other merchant guild owners in the city were marching thirty or so guards on the palace grounds headed by the Warlock Augustus. The Warlock had taken to heading their usurpation of Count Fel when the details of Sophus’ investigation came to light during the conversation with the man.
“Where exactly was it you found him again, Julia?” Ilya, a Human man who led Milos Trading Company, asked from just behind the pair.
Ilya was a dark haired man with blue eyes dressed in grey clothes with iron armour over that holding a sword and shield.
“I didn’t, he searched me out when he heard we were taking care of the Lizardfolk.” The Centaur replied.
“We will have to Thank Sol for sending him then.” Ilya commented, eyeing the rubble of the building as another explosion rang out and an entire wing of it collapsed.
Someone cleared their throat before saying “Sir when will we move in to arrest the staff of Count Fel?”
Turning to see who had spoken, Adal found the captain of her friend's guard who was standing at attention wearing a pensive expression, clearly doubting the state of their halted attack.
“Shortly Alastor, we do not know how much longer this fight will go on for.” Sophus answered, a frown formed on his brow as he watched on for another moment. “I lie- EVERY ONE MOVE INTO THE PALACE AND SECURE ALL WHO REMAIN!” He shouted before leading the charge.
Not long after the band of merchant guards began their parade through what remained of the Crimson Palace the battle raging further in died down coming to a complete stop. Near silence consumed the mostly marble structure, little more than the soft metal clatter of armour and footfalls of many men remained, no words were spoken beyond awe in the face of the destruction.
“Sir, we still haven’t found the entrance to the dungeon or sign of the Lizardfolk.” Alastor reported to Sophus after half an hour of searching.
“Hmm… has anyone found any servants or slaves yet?”
“Only one sir, a personal guard of the Count’s who was in the throne room, he was quick to tell that the Count regularly dismisses his staff for one week at the end of every month as such the rest are away.” The answer caused the Head of the Julia to furrow his brow in annoyance.
“Tch that's too convenient, we’ll just have to round them up later and make them give testimony…” Sighing the Centaur rubbed the bridge of his nose.
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“While you figure this headache out I’m going to find Marduk.” Adalgard dismissed herself from the gathering and headed into the ruins.
She heard metal clatter behind her as someone jogged to catch up and match her pace, looking to her side she wasn’t surprised to see one of Sophus’ guards walking with her. She didn’t bother sharing her thoughts about what they saw as they walked over, passed and through the charred black and stricken scarred remains of the building.
Unsure whether the men investigating had seen to check the collapsed portions of the palace yet she took to them first scrounging through the rubble occasionally shifting that of which she thought was hiding something. This turned over nothing more than the now wrecked floors and carpets which were in tatters, but it gave her an idea for what to avoid moving as several times she attempted to move certain chunks they would cause other piles nearby to slip and crash, almost taking her out in the process.
It was at times like she wished she had inherited the ability to expand her size from her Spriggan father for all the benefits that would provide, but there was little she could do about that. At least it could be said she inherited the height she might have obtained from the ability seeing as her father was shorter than a Krijn and her mother not much different being of the Wynden clan notorious for their pixie heritage, though Adal had failed to inherit her mothers wings either merely the wooden body of her father and the face of her mother.
In any case, like most half breeds she was worse for the pairing taking on almost none of the desired traits one might hope for in such a union.
She had always wondered how the conniving Spriggan nature that her father wore managed to enrapture the pure innocent fae soul of her mother, but that was a matter for another time.
As she entered the southern wing of the Palace of which only half was destroyed there was a clear point in the hallway where she found remains of the fight between the Count and the Warlock, craters in walls, cracked ground and blood pooling in said dents in the architecture.
Heading along the hall to the collapsed part she noticed a cut of deep green scales under the rubble-
“Shit!” The half-Spriggan cursed running over to the pile, moving as fast and carefully as she could without toppling the other chunks of building precariously leaning on one another.
Wordlessly the guard who had been with her joined in as he had the other times and the pair quickly revealed the hunched over form of the giant bipedal crocodile and his battered body. Blood covered an arm and had clearly spewed from his mouth at some point, but she could tell he was still breathing.
She knew the Saurians could be impossibly strong but surviving being crushed by marble beams and chunks was something else, it almost got a chuckle out of her at the sheer stupidity of his strength. But whatever humour she found was snuffed the moment she saw what was huddled in the man's arms-
“Changelings” She growled angrily venom seething from her tone, eyes becoming sharp slits as she glared at them.
“Should I kill them, Lady Adalgard?” Mathias the guard asked, wearing his own sneer as he looked at the translucent women.
“Not yet, we need to find out what they know and they could be related to the disappearances that have been reported the last couple years.” Calming herself she chose the path of reason, praying to Selene for the strength not to strike them down as they were.
“Understood, Ma’am.” The guard replied moving to remove the changelings from their position and cuff them with rope he carried on his hip.
He made short work of binding the women in a manner that they wouldn’t soon escape, laying their unconscious forms face down on the cold floor a metre or so from himself and Adal as they prepared to either pull the Saurian out from the wreckage or wake him.
Thankfully the gods had seen to answer Adalgard’s prayer of strength, just not in the way she imagined.
“I’m quite sorry about the state of things, I got carried away dealing with that scum, the least I can offer is a hand with moving the Saurian.” Augustus’ voice sounded from behind her nearly causing her to jump in fright.
When she turned to answer him she was shocked at his visage. His left eye was missing and his arm of the same side was scorched into blackened state, his clothes as well were mostly shredded so that now he wore the robes around his waist showing off his unimpressive physique. The only pristine part of his appearance was his tome on his hip looking as though it had come fresh from some curator's vault.
Trailing just behind that man was his Krijn slave waiting for her orders.
“We would appreciate that thank you.” The half-Spriggan replied after a brief pause realising she was staring at the dark hole where an eye used to be.
“I apologise for my poor state of dress and make at this time as well, in exchange for power my patron demands something of me.” His apology was followed by an otherwise warm smile as he ordered his slave to help him clear the way to use a minor levitation spell to disperse the rubble and pull Marduk free.
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When Marduk’s eyes opened he felt an odd warmth covering him like a blanket, it was odd in that he felt nothing covering in that way and that it was almost like an outside force akin to being warmed by a fire when everything else was iced over.
His eyes landed on the looming figure who tended him wearing a warm smile and comforting expression, or something in his mind told him the figure's expression was like that. In reality it was hard to tell with them appearing to be an upright bipedal Dinosaur with a Falcon like head, he was hard pressed with words to describe what he was looking at but he didn’t have long to think as they noticed his moving eyes and spoke.
“Greetings sweet one, I have mended your wounds and tended your blessing strengthening it.” They spoke in an inviting gentle tone that ran contrary to their appearance.
Shifting the falcon headed individual raised an arm reaching for something he couldn’t see, the arm was covered in feathers and had a wing growing off of it. When their hand came back into view they spoke again-
“I was Overjoyed by the presence of your mother finally divorcing herself of the waking world and joining the waning world. Her parting was tumultuous, but as is the way of those we love most.” In their hand was a wood bound book with parchment between, flicking through the pages they tapped on one about three quarters of the way into the book.
“Lament is not an emotion one should wear, wounds of the mind are a waste of the life you are gifted, dismiss these pains and pursue the world unwary of its blessings full of vigour.” They continued speaking, enrapturing the Saurian.
He was barely capable of forming thoughts past what he was witnessing and hearing spoken.
Then the anthropomorphic dinosaur-bird stopped and seemed to frown.
“You are my child but I forget myself, Sweet son of Nefretari, I am the Love of the Night, Light of the Dark and Mistress of the Nocturnal- Zäna.” And with a single sentence Marduk felt his mind implode.
He stared at the Goddess, not just any Goddess, but the one his mother served and the one he was supposedly blessed by.
“Your surprise is apparent. It is not often we interact with our descendants, but your blessing, the one of which Nefretari asked of me for her eggs, has brought you to my home in your time of need.” Zäna said, reaching a winged arm out and cupping his face with a scale covered clawed hand.
“My blessing upon you diverted those more unruly of the Great Basin from causing pain to you and your siblings, as well it seems to have allowed you to understand the other people of the land.” Something of a smile shined brightly in the eyes of the goddess. “Your mother asked me when she joined my flock to bless you again, so I have. She is of great love for her spawn and would see you prosper in this journey you have taken on.”
…
“I- what… What is the new blessing?” He managed to ask the goddess after a short silence between them.
Letting go of his face, Zäna said her final words to the Ahkula man.
“Is it not more fun to explore new possibilities than be told where to find your answers?” When the last word left her throat Marduk's vision went black for the second time in recent memory and he felt like he was falling.
The rush of air and sound of wind whistling by as he was sent back.