Astrid Ravenyx

Integrating the first set of Chosen had been a tedious process, and for that reason the Privy Council had "elected" Lady Ravenyx to handle the new stock while they prepared for the festival. Queen Silvia in her usual sadistic manner had decided to hold it around the arena execution in "celebration" of the Crown Prince's upcoming marriage. The Queen had also recommended that the soon-to-be Princess choose another champion from among the summoned Chosen. Astrid didn't mind the girl's company, but the vacant look in Arinta's bloodshot eyes bothered Astrid more than her ever placid look of neutrality hinted at. The castle had been thankfully built around the Southern Kingdom's summoning circle which meant Astrid would only have to suffer the mourning Princess's company for a short walk down to the circle. 'If the Reshi weren't so damned honest I'd say she just lost her lover.' Astrid mused on that thought as she was trailed silently by Arinta and her Handmaidens: Who were each as depressingly morose as their Lady.

Thankfully Eva, and Charlotte were waiting for her at the final door between them and the summoning circle. Eva had been reluctant towards her idea of giving the two of them Semi-immortality, and to be fair the price of the longevity was steep. Eva had finally accepted the offer when young Charlotte had been injured during a Northern raid: She'd just reached the cusp of her adulthood, and Eva had been hysterically fearful when Astrid saw her. Thankfully during the present day one wouldn't be able to find a single blemish on any of the three Dhampyres: One of the many blessings the Exile had left them with. She hated thinking about him, and thankfully once Eva opened the door a wave of power washed over her that brought her mind back to the present day. Being the first to collect herself from the initial shock of sensing the Chosen Astrid offered her future Princess a tasteful bow.

"I hope the Lady's choices are adequate enough to compensate for the loss of her Champion." For the first time in the three days since Hex's sentencing Arinta's eyes focused for a brief moment, and she spoke in a hollow voice while their eyes met. "He is not dead yet Councilor, and until he is I have no need for a new Champion. What I do now is solely because the Queen wishes it, and I swore to honor my brother's wishes. We will wait here you can go examine them, and pick the one you think could better Hex should they fight." With her piece said Arinta turned away from the door, and walked towards the most distant wall where she sat. The handmaidens made a human wall around Arinta, and Astrid had to raise her hand to keep an irate Charlotte from speaking before three of them left the girl to her prayers. 'She'll make a good Queen if she lives long enough.'

Arturio Plixis

There were only three things a true Nothern Raider feared in this world the gods turning their backs on them, an empty money pouch, and the infamous Black Box wing of the Royal Penitentiary. Arturio currently found himself with an empty money pouch as a consequence of being held in the Demon Queen's prison: Two for three so far, and his new cell mate's strange tattoos forced Arturio back into his childhood habit of praying for the Goddess's mercy every night. The aforementioned tattoos were spread throughout the man's entire upper body and most of his arms. Most were depictions of various battles between the man and hordes of monstrous beings. The strangest of the man's tattoos though was the large dragon's head that covered most of his back.

There was a benefit to having the strange man for a cell mate three beautiful women from a far away land called Reshinir. Arturio could only imagine how news of the new Southern alliance would affect the North, but his clan were mostly high in the mountains safe from the squabbles of clan Grath. The North's problem would still be there tomorrow when he was forced into the arena, and he'd be as powerless then as he was now: So instead of worrying about the North Arturio completely focused on the taller woman standing behind the girl currently speaking frantically to the other man in what he assumed was her native tongue. Her dark hair was in short braids that rested just below her ears, and her full lips were currently pursed in frustration while her arms crossed beneath her full bosom. It was there Arturio had often found himself daydreaming of various scenarios where his head lay comfortably where her arms were crossed.

The visit finished in the same manner as the last three nights; the girl would talk until she broke down into tears and the other women were forced to gather her in their arms to lead her out of the prison. Arturio passed a hand through a tuft of his dark hair while he puzzled over how the man never gave the girl any sort of reaction throughout the entire ordeal. Since tonight was their final night before the arena fights he decided to ask the stranger two questions, and the worse that could happen would be he was killed before a crowd of bloodthirsty Southerners could taunt him until he died to some unspeakable beast. "Hoi friend, if it's no trouble to you, might I know your name?" Apparently his question to the man wasn't the only thing outside of their usual routine; the girl had left him a small bundle containing what Arturio could only assume were a various array of rings. The man looked up from his treasure trove once Arturio had finished speaking, and was staring at him with eyes full of swirling colors that seemed to slow as the man gathered his thoughts. "Hex." Despite only saying a single word Arturio felt the strong tone of voice matched the man's features, and he spoke Astorian with a strange deftness: It reminded Arturio of the noble born clans for some reason. With the man answering his questions Arturio decided to strike the iron while it was still hot. "And, ahem, why do you let that poor girl come here and weep for you every night without any reaction? Surely you care for her as much as she does you."

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The man gave a rather puzzling response to this question, he laughed until he started coughing as if Arturio had just told the most entertaining joke: He was almost offended until the man finally spoke up wiping a small tear from his eye. "She wasn't crying for my sake, and these visits of her's have all been to tell me one thing." The man's voice began to lower forcing Arturio to lean closer as the feeling of being pulled into a conspiracy began to crawl up his back. "She's been begging me not to kill the Queen until she's been married to the Prince."

Urie Vassal

The mystery of how the Chosen exactly come into being still bothered Urie, but the memories of his past life weren't all that clear to him so his connection to that life wasn't as strong as one of the others it seemed. They'd found out the consequences of holding onto their past memories during the system's assimilation: She was currently laying in the Queen's garden comatose. "An example of what disregarding my instruction gets you that's all." Perhaps it was the system deadening his empathy for human suffering, or maybe he hadn't been that good of a person in his previous life; whatever the cause Urie found himself completely unmoved when he saw the girl laying in her glass coffin.

He mused over how strangely alive she seemed while he examined himself in the mirror provided to his room. His skin was charcoal dark while grey eyes hid beneath thick brows the only slight imperfection was the overly large nose set in the middle of his face. A patch of braided hair was set atop his otherwise cleanly shaven head, and as Urie turned his head he spotted movement from behind in the mirror. As he turned to see an empty room a woman's voice called out to him from behind. "It's too soon for you to look on my form Chosen of Oros simply know that I am your chosen guardian here for your benefit." He felt a hand he hadn't noticed at all alight from his shoulder, and as the presence he felt left a notification from the system appeared. A true smile formed on his face as he read,

[ Level up! Please select a >Skill< ]

{ >Oros's Domain< or >War god's avatar< }

Hex Starchild

[ Information granted by the 12 Path Eyes: Due to the Player's recent actions their Cosmic Alignment has shifted towards { Chaotic Good } to continue down this path the Player will need to form a following in a significant faction. ]

[ Extra notifications: The quest >Omega's Heralds< has updated speaking with Eranna will grant further information. The sub-quest >Finding Xerilla< has updated into the Emergency Quest >Saving Xerilla< this quest is time limited and the Player will fail the quest should the time limit be reached Lady Xerilla will perish. ]

I'd been reading the first notification for most of my time waiting in the prison, but the second came that morning: I couldn't understand how I was supposed to save someone when I hadn't been able to even find her. My only option was to find Eranna in the faint hope that Bygone had found any helpful information, and barring that maybe he'd know a way into the First Realm. Being so engrossed with my worries left little attention for the world around me, despite the fact that I was being led to the arena by a retinue of Royal Guardsmen. I'd found out thanks to many of my fellow prisoners complaining aloud that the people often referred to them as the Reds.

Another notification brought me back into the now though it was due to a sudden rush of anger. [ Rings of Kaotl have dampened the Player's power output, and status range. ] The perpetrator, Damien, hadn't apologized for taking advantage of my distracted mind but he did explain himself which did calm me after I'd thought about it. 'You aren't the only reborn at the arena, and they share eyes with the gods; you don't have time for the kind of distraction angel legions will bring.' Pixie made a point of her own though I wasn't sure how it helped, but it did. 'You'd handle a few angels, and with my help you could take on a few hundred thousands worth.' For just a moment I could see the small faerie in front of my eyes proudly pushing out her chest in an attempt to seem more threatening, and of course she cursed me as I laughed before she faded from my sight with a halfhearted frown.

The boy who'd been in my cell had stopped asking questions after I'd told him what Arinta had been saying, today though he was following me around like a loyal pup: Even though a few of the Reds had threatened to beat him. When they'd left me to pick from items left by the gracious future Queen he was quickly sifting through the items until he was standing in front of me with arms full of armor pieces, and weapons. I learned his name and age while the system examined the items I grabbed from his pile of materials. Arturio was seventeen summers old, though his face looked to be at most fourteen, and a damn fine looter it seemed. The system notified me of four useful items littered amongst the otherwise cursed items: The Naeci Spider's silk hauberk, a shield made from an iron dragon's scales, a lightning enchanted sword, and a small closed satchel with note inscribed with Infernal writing. 'Next time you leave me with a blood witch I'll feed you your balls. You left the clothes so Bygone wanted you to have them again. They grew like you did strangely enough.'

[ Dragon Slayer armor set regained. ]

When I opened the satchel and read the welcome notification after reading Eranna's note I told Arturio to take the hauberk, and shield: The sword seemed useful so I took it, and on a whim I used Melevar's call as we were led towards a gate. It was just my luck that the gift was timed, but the catch was I couldn't see the timer at all so I'd have to wait and see what the gift did.