Eranna Songweaver

The girl, Eranna had to debase herself and refer to the human as Lady Arinta, would rarely leave her side after Hex's "arrest". Yusra had attempted to bind her with a rudimentary blood magic spell mere hours after Hex had mysteriously left their company. The old witch had grown overly confident due to Hex's successful binding, but Eranna humbled her easily enough once the spell failed. Where the future Princess was curious about Eranna Yusra seemed to avoid ever making eye contact with her when they stood in the same room. Arinta's retinue of guards and servants were shocked at how quickly Arinta had replaced Yusra with the captured mermaid as the closest in her inner circle: By the time Hex was due to die in the Dragon's Maw they'd readjusted themselves to the first changes this new land had on their Lady.

Eranna played the part of a subservient servant "blessed with her lady's favor" as she'd put it once Yusra's daughter had approached her one night. Whether the human knew or suspected Eranna's true intent became of little consequence on the day they began to travel to the famous arena. She'd opted to wear one of the plain Reshi robes and sandals meant for the lower class servants, but when she'd told the other Handmaidens that it was so their Lady would stand out better amongst them they'd followed her example. As they began to leave the guest estate Eranna was almost overwhelmed by how beautiful Arinta was standing next to the horses waiting to pull her carriage. She wore a flowy scarlet dress that reached just above her ankles, and Eranna noticed the matching nail polish adorning her fingers thanks to her open-toed sandals. As the light sparkling from the carved red gems in Arinta's circlet hit her eyes a thought passed through Eranna's mind. 'She'd would stand out without our help even in the plainest of garbs.'

The sound of approaching horses took her attention, and when she turned Eranna saw a group of eight or so men headed towards them. Once the men had gotten closer the smile that had been on Arinta's face as she'd petted the horses fell away. The Crown Prince had come to personally escort them, and though Arinta played her role of excited wife-to-be well enough Eranna and the other Handmaidens knew that the girl hated the idea of marrying the man. Eranna had spent the night after the two had met privately by comforting a crying Arinta who'd called the man cold. Eranna had assumed she'd been dramatic, but as Frederick's cold blue gaze passed over her she began to rub at the goose flesh on her arms. His combed back dark hair gave him a rather hawkish look, and when he'd smiled at them Eranna felt the urge to get away from the man quickly. Where Prince Quincy was an ever flowing fount of flirtatiousness with a light touch of carelessness, but his brother was his antithesis; a man who rarely showed his emotions, but he'd inherited his father's favor with many of the demon clans behind the true power in the South. When she heard his voice, one rivaling Bygone's monotone way of speaking, Eranna made up her mind to keep Prince Frederick at a distance then.

Dragon's Maw (attendees)

The arena had been scheduled to start the entertainment at noon, but the common people of New Brekin had already filled the arena a full span before the fights would even begin. The people's impatience had forced the bald rotund man overseeing the events, Dallen Barlet, to bring out a few of the malnourished prisoners for entertainment purposes. Once Queen Silvia had finally arrived with her party the fifteenth malnourished vagabond had been torn apart by a three-headed hellhound the size of a lesser dragon. The people booed the poor entertainment with their ire growing to the point where the overseer was forced to take shelter beneath his personal guards' shields. The people's hisses turned to cheers once the Queen signaled for the beginning of the real entertainment.

Overseer Barlet offered the people a jolly smile as a podium raised him above the arena's red sand while the combatants were coerced out in the open. The people began to chant as criminals varying between Northern raiders of all ages, and rebellious Demi-humans were brought out from one end of the arena. At the same moment a group of four haggard looking priests walked in from the arena's opposite end. The priests received an even grander fanfare as they each disrobed before they knelt in the sand, and wrote several strange runes: The people began to chant four names as the priests reached into the folds of their discarded robes. "Mogrun! Rellgroth! Eg'zurith!" Over and over again the people called on the undefeated champions of the while the priests held a strangely shaped dagger in their shaking hands.

The captured combatants for their own part began to spread out in what had to be previously agreed upon alliances: All but two that is. A young Northman standing guard next to a kneeling Demi-human caught Barlet's eye for a moment before the Overseer waved the two off as the probable first ones to die. As the people's chant turned into a deafening roar the priests began to repeatedly plunge their daggers into their chests until they were no more. The people quieted as Queen Silvia stood from her seat and walked to the banister at the end of her uplifted stand.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

A young elf girl was brought next to Queen Silvia gagged, and bound in chains; the girl didn't have time to protest before the Queen had effortlessly slit her throat. Queen Silvia removed the family pendant from around her neck before she dipped it into the forming pool of blood at her feet, and as she held the pendant out for the people to see a single name came from the people along with a new chant. "Dracul! Dracul! Blood for Dracul!" Queen Silvia seemed to become enthralled by the people's excitement, and she joined in their chant before the pendant fell from her hand. An earthquake began once the pendant hit the sand, and the crowd fell into a frenzy of excitement. As the earthquake subsided a pair of hands suddenly ahoy up from beneath the dead priests before they dragged the corpses beneath the red sand: The demons came soon after.

Hex Starlight

Despite having my eyes closed while waiting on a system notification Arturio had decided to keep me updated on the status of the arena. He'd told me of how three red rifts formed above the blood soaked sands ahead of us; a myriad of demons ranging from smaller bird sized imps, to hellions around the size of young children came from the portals. No threat to the two of us though as they were cut down with ease by the other groups. Moments passed with the noise of killing filling the quiet between us before system sent me an odd message while Arturio urged me to stand up in a nervous voice.

[ Warning! Powerful killing intent detected triggering the Chaos Engine, but to protect the Player only set percentages of the Engine will be accessible: The first accessible percentage will be 5%. The killing intent has also activated the gifts >Abyssal Princetdom<, and >Singular Path Eye< ]

I'd stood while reading the notification behind closed eyes, but that hadn't been good enough for Arturio who'd taken to shouting at me. "Sir Hex! The Champions are coming!" I indulged the boy and opened an eye to see what had him so frightened already. A large beast was emerging from the far portal Arturio was pointing towards with his hand axe. It came head first, though what it called a head had no flesh on it, two of its four spiraling horns pointed upwards while the other two curved outwards. It had a dark mane that reached it's overly large shoulders and it's chest, which supported two pairs of arms, looked like a drunken god had forcibly fused two torsos together. Its hands and 'feet' sported three fingers similarly fashioned with onyx tipped talons, and when the blue skinned beast finally stood at its full height the system displayed a name above their head.

[ Mogrun Dracul >Ravager< ( Calculating rank) ]

Once completely free of the portal Mogrun bellowed loudly while releasing enough status to throw the smaller imps away from him before the beast lights inside his eye sockets focused on where we stood. Two more demons emerged from the other portals though neither was as gargantuan as Mogrun. One was a pale skinned woman wearing a dark plunge bodysuit with eyes like pits of flames marking heritage alongside a pair of tattered leather wings protruding from her lower back. Beneath her wings were two spindly limbs covered in a dark carapace, and her horns grew in the shape of a great crown. The last demon was anthropoid in the fact that it had four limbs, stood like a human, and wasn't the size of Mogrun: The similarities ended there however.

From the moment it stepped from the portal I felt a sudden rise in the temperature, but Arturio had actually flinched in response to the intense heat emanating from the final demon. Two small horns adorned the jawless skull it called a head bathed in an inferno while a fount of molten rock poured from beneath it, and it's skin was akin to dark cracked stone. The demon stood with the slightest hunch, but it's arms and legs were as thick as Arturio and mine put together. The insanely bloodthirsty cheers from the crowd were toned down by a golden translucent dome that formed from beneath the fat bastard's raised podium.

The woman chose her victims first by charging towards the Elves with four Hellions following behind her brandishing their onyx blades. I didn't have time to see what the Northmen would do to combat the fire Demon with Mogrun picking up the pace he took towards us. He was too fast for something of his size, and I'd barely ordered Arturio to raise his shield before Mogrun charged into the both of us. I was flung into the air by the charge, and between the moments it took for my back to reach the dome I saw Arturio's body tumble through the sand. A blinding pain forced my eyes shut once I'd touched the golden dome, and I screamed until my consciousness was almost gone. I heard my body hit the ground more than I felt it, a heavy thud among the screams of dying humans and elves, and it would've been so easy to just let go: I could die countless times, and I could free myself at any time really. 'And you'd get to talk with Daelia again too, but I think Pixie would be upset with all the work she's going through to keep that kid alive.'

Damien's reminder brought me back to reality I never knew for certain how long it would take me to return to life, and I'd grown fond of the boy's constant need to regale me with stories of the great frozen North: I wouldn't let him die a sacrifice to demons. The muscles along my back still spasmed with pain as I forced myself to stand, but when I opened both my eyes the world around me looked too strange. The way small imps picked through the remains of the dead as if searching for a scrap of the soul already consumed by the Champion they followed bothered me, and even the way the two Champions killed seemed like a strange bastardized version of how godlings killed one another: Mortals held organs and blood in place of god cores and ichor.

When my gaze turned towards Arturio though the world went strangely quiet. The boy was one knee holding the shield above his head while a sky blue aura covered the parts of his body the shield couldn't, and Mogrun was beating down on the shield with two hands while the other two clawed at the aura. Where the other's eyes may have seen a simple protection charm at work my eyes saw four scarred, and bleeding faerie wings protecting a boy being empowered by Pixie. She'd been hurt because I'd been overly confident, and wanted to impress the boy in a way: A new voice cut through the silence of my mind then.

'Master. What would you have your servants bring you this day? Perhaps wrath again? I can feel it even between realms. Wrath it shall be.'

[ Gift >Melevar's Call< activated. ]