When he got to the top of the stairs, he scanned the room. It was small, with barely enough space to walk around. He saw Daciana standing beside an ornate carved stone chair. The chair was turned away from him so he couldn't see the person that was sitting in it.

“Kneel before the Queen and make yourself known,” Daciana ordered him.

He walked around to the front of the chair and kneeled down before the woman sitting on the throne. She was breath-taking in her beauty. He was drawn to her peculiar appearance. The right side of her scalp had long jet-black tresses, while the left was white as snow. Mirroring her hair, the right half of her face was milky-white skin, while the left half was solid black. It was as if half of her was carved from ivory and half from obsidian stone. Even with this, or perhaps because of it, she had a beauty that transcended even the fine, delicate beauty of the elves.

Her beauty was accentuated by gold jewelry. Rings, bracelets and necklaces adorned with precious jewels sparkled just like her glowing eyes. The scarlet robe she wore draped over her body, yet could not hide her curved figure.

Like Daciana she had the same markings on her face and body, as well as the same eerily glowing eyes. The only difference between them was that her eyes were hued orange. Her markings were also different. While Daciana had one long triangle pointing down from below each eye to her jawline and a circle around her neck, the Queen had the split coloring of her skin and hair instead.

She remained silent while he was watching her. Realizing how rude he was being, he tore his gaze from her and looked at the ground embarrassed by himself. She smiled at him, amused by his reaction. Chuckling she told him, “you can bring your eyes back up. I don't mind being appreciated by a handsome young man.”

Even though he knew she only said this to embarrass him further, he couldn't help the blush that stole over his face. “Daciana told me all about you.” She leaned forward and tented her fingers, “congratulations Wraith, you've proven yourself quite capable. I wouldn't have thought a mere mortal would prove worthy. But I wonder, can you handle the responsibilities and power that a Child of Loki bestows on you?”

Quest Complete!

The Strength of Beasts

Having found the location of the tournament, the rumor was found to be true. The Queen was looking for a champion to serve her and her race. Though once renowned for their strength, they have been forgotten by all. For proving your worth the Queen will reward you based on your next actions.

For a quest of this difficulty, there should have been several level-ups. If there's no experience given, then the other rewards must be amazing. What should my next actions be to get the best reward? After pondering the precarious state he was in, he decided to ask her some questions instead and to heap praise on her. One wrong word could turn a great reward into nothingness.

“Your majesty, please forgive my ignorance. Though I can't help but tremble in the presence of your magnificent power I have very little knowledge of your people.” As he said this he hoped he hadn't offended the Queen.

“I did not expect you to know of us. Take a seat while I tell you a little of our history.”

“But where-” he broke off as he saw stone rise up like liquid and form two chairs. Daciana sat in the chair beside the Queen, and he sat in the one in front of them.

“First tell me what you already know of us.”

He knew that Royal Road had some elements of Nordic myth like Freya, and given the popularity of Loki, he knew a fair bit about him. However, he knew that the entire history wouldn't be taken. Much might even be changed completely. As a result he decided to stick with some of the more core values.

“Loki was a god of darkness and of destruction. He fathered several children, all of whom were treated cruelly by the other gods.” He thought about how given they were related to him they would see him in a positive light, and so decided to paint him as a better person. “His fellow gods chained him for eternity, and did the same thing to his children.”

“Correct. For a human you are wise in knowing the true history of our father,” she said, seeming impressed and pleased with his breadth of knowledge. “They exiled our father for consorting with monsters, and denounced his children as being evil beasts. They banished Hel, imprisoned Fenrir and cast Jormungandr into the sea. Yet the only crimes they committed was that of being born,” she spat out hatefully.

“How terrible,” he exclaimed. He had a hard time understanding that kind of hate and fear. He wasn't naive, he knew that those kinds of things still happened. The only difference between the present and society a couple decades ago was that such cases were more wide-spread and frequent. Now with the migration and blending of so many cultures it wasn't so bad.

With the appearance of Royal Road the situation only improved. After all, there was no point, or way, to judge someone based on their skin or birth. In Royal Road people could meet and communicate with ease. Since there was no language barrier, and because appearance can be changed freely it isn't possible to judge someone based on external characteristics.

“That wasn't all they did. As they saw the three grow older and become more powerful, they decided to kill them out of fear for their own lives,” she said in disgust, “they slew each and every one of them. They would have killed our father too, were he not one of the Primary Gods. Though he was imprisoned and tortured, Loki could have escaped with the small power he had remaining. However, he chose not to.”

“Why not?” Wraith asked in confusion. “Surely there was no reason to remain locked up.”

“Our father loved his children,” she said wistfully. “He chose to use his power to return life to his children. He summoned the blood of Fenrir, Hel and Jormungandr from where they were slain, mixed it with his own blood and cast it down to this world. Wherever a drop fell on the earth one of our race was born. With the gods unable to affect this world directly, we could finally live free.”

“So you're descended from gods?” he asked incredulously, amazed that he had discovered such powerful creatures. I can't believe my luck. He was giddy with excitement at discovering a new race.

“We were born from Loki, yet we aren't gods ourselves. This mortal world has stripped our divine heritage from us. We may be powerful, but we aren't almighty beings. Those were the most important parts of our story, now I have a challenge for you. If you can remain standing for a respectable amount of time, I will accept you as one of our own.”

It was a deceptively simple request, one that Wraith was wary about, yet he had no other choice but to accept. He stood up and said, “It seems easy enough to do.”

She smiled at that, giving him chills that ran up his back. In an instant the world seemed to shake. His body seemed to weigh several times its original weight. He felt as if the sky itself was pushing down on him. Besides the physical pressure she put on him, her aura did the same thing to his mind.

He could feel her power with every pore of his skin and every fiber of his being. When he sensed Daciana's power, he felt it as a dense, deep pool. The Queen's power on the other hand was world's beyond anything he had ever felt. He felt it as a solid mass with a life of its own. Although he was the one standing above her, he saw her as a giant towering over him. Her orange eyes seemed to be aflame, her gaze feeling as if she were peering into his soul.

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The pressure grew stronger, making his joints creak with stress. He kept his mouth shut, clenching his teeth to avoid groaning. He felt as though his body was imploding, collapsing on itself. Soon he heard a cracking sound. The bones in his legs and feet were fracturing. Within moments the small bones in his feet were crushed and his shins had shattered. The ends of the unbroken bones pushed down on the shards of broken bone and tore into his flesh.

He literally shrank two inches at this as his bones ground itself to powder. Though his entire body was on fire, and pain threatened to consume him, he stood unmoving with sheer strength of will. Try as he might he couldn't help the tears of pain that leaked from his eyes. Soon the tears turned pink, then red as the vessels in his eye popped, tears of blood streaking down his face.

Though he strained to stay conscious, he couldn't stop the blood from pooling in his legs. Unable to fight the pressure from above, they drained from his upper body into his legs. While his legs were engorged, swollen with too much blood, the rest of him was sorely in need of it. He started losing sensation in his arms, and his brain started to slowly shut down, starved by the lack of oxygen. While he fought to stay up, he couldn't help but feel dizzy and disoriented.

Just when he thought he was about to fall over, the pressure finally lifted. The sudden absence made him pitch forward and collapse on the floor. While the blood was redirected to the starved regions of his body, he gasped desperately for air. When he looked at his Hp bar, he saw that it was only at seven percent, and was slowly going down.

His whole body was wracked with pain, his limbs were torn and mangled but he found the strength to turn his head and ask, “did I pass?” At this the Queen laughed wholeheartedly. He didn't think that it was the mocking sort of laughter that would suggest he failed, then again I might not be thinking clearly at this point.

Just as his Hp reach one he found himself surrounded by a red light. It was painful, but strangely enough it felt somewhat nice. Did that awaken my inner masochist? He saw that it was the Queen that was sending the red light, not trying to hurt him further, but was instead healing him through a strange magic. Within a few seconds his Hp bar was full and all his injuries were healed, leaving no trace behind.

He lifted himself up and collapsed back into the chair. “So how did I do,” he asked her again, this time not having shooting pain throughout his body.

The Queen smiled at him, laughter still in her eyes. “No need to worry, you performed considerably better than I expected. Congratulations, you're the first person that managed to truly impress me.”

She fell silent after praising him, her brow furrowed in thought. To Wraith it seemed as if she was struggling to make a decision. When she appeared to have made up her mind she spoke once more, “I was initially planning to teach you some of the special skills of our race, but not any more.”

Shocked and dismayed at this sudden turn of events he had to ask her, “but your majesty you said that I impressed you, what did I do wrong?”

“Don't be too hasty in jumping to conclusions. It is precisely because you impressed me that I'm doing this. I think that you will grow to do great things for my people, but to do so, you would need a greater power than what I was originally going to offer you. Tell me Wraith, what would you do if I said that I wanted you to join us by blood?”

Aghast at the suggestion, Daciana exclaimed, “Your Highness! You can't possibly mean to-”

“Daciana!” the Queen cut her off harshly. “It's my choice to make, not yours,” she warned her.

Though she seemed to want to say more, she kept quiet.

“So Wraith, what do you think?”

From what he could gather, she was talking about a sort of magical ritual to bring him into their society. Before he made a decision, he needed to know more about it. Though it would be a great gift, he would probably have to pay a hefty price for it.

“Before I answer, could you tell me what this entails?

“Very well, I suppose you have a right to know. The blood of Hel runs strongly in my veins.” She pointed to the darkened part of her face and said, “this marks me as a Matron of the Underworld. That gives me certain unique abilities. One such ability is the Circle of Rebirth. It's a skill that I can only use once in my lifetime, but once I use it you will be reborn as one of us.”

Daciana chose this moment to interject, unable to keep silent any longer. “It certainly is powerful, but the use of the skill carries the possibility of failure, and once you do become one of us, you will forever be an outsider to all other races.”

Though the Queen was annoyed by Daciana's outburst, she simply sighed and said, “what she says is true. Think carefully on it and make your decision.”

Hidden race 'Child of Loki' has been unlocked, do you want to become a Child of Loki?

When you switch to a different race that race’s special abilities can be used, but the penalty for dying is 2 times the normal rate of experience, and skill.

There are restrictions on equipment that a Child of Loki can equip and use.

The Child of Loki race’s physical abilities are greater than a warrior’s and have great vitality, battle ability and can wield elemental powers. As long as you are a Child of Loki you can earn a place in the clan's hierarchy.

You are restricted from earning a title or land from any other race, and will be looked upon with hostility and suspicion, but relationship with many monster species will improve.

Warning: There is only a thirty percent chance of the ritual succeeding. Failure of the ritual will result in all stats, levels and skills to drop to one.

This was certainly more than Wraith was expecting. While hidden and secret classes were rare in the game, hidden races were very few in number, only twenty in total. Most races had to be selected upon account creation. This was probably the first time anyone found a race they could convert into after character creation, and which wouldn't be open to the general public.

Choosing this race, while it seemed to confer special abilities, would come with some fairly large handicaps. There was also the high chance of the ritual failing, which would leave him even weaker than he was when he first started the game.

Well, I didn't come this far to back out now. Might as well roll the dice and see what happens. “I'll do it.”

“Good,” the Queen said, pleased with his decision. She then got up and went over to the cave wall and put her hand on it. Though there was initially nothing there, glowing sigils started to form beneath her hand. Soon a magical portal was created. “Follow me, we cannot perform the ritual here.”

“Where exactly are we going?” Wraith asked her.

She turned to him and answered, “to our realm, Jorenheim. The place you will soon call home.”

At that she walked through the gateway. Since he already agreed to the conversion, he had no choice but to follow her. He walked through the gate, and left the continent of Versailles.

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