While Vuthe had travelled around a little ever since she returned, she had never really bothered much with exploring her home city. A small part of her knew it was because she was afraid to run into anyone she knew, even if they couldn’t have found her if she didn’t want them to.

The city itself did not change much, although of course some changes were there. It was a little more active, not exactly bustling with people but in general just more… active. It was hard to describe.

Shops had changed, of course, some buildings were taken down or renovated, but overall, it was still very much how she remembered it, even if she didn’t really remember much, just slightly off.

The “magic” district, if you could even call it that, was near the middle of the city, although in a more separate section. If you didn’t know any better you wouldn’t really have seen the difference, but to magic senses it was more than obvious that there was a small line of magical defences keeping the normals out.

Not that there were guards or anything, it all relied on spell work interacting with the masks demi’s wore, a type of magical disguise everyone was apparently required to wear. Not that it bothered Vuthe or Scythe much, they never had gotten any, or if they did displaced them, they didn’t need it to stay undercover, nor did they really care much. Simple suggestion spells such as these couldn’t even fool Scythe, despite her absolute lack of training.

Of course, them not having any masks, part of their function was to highlight other mask users so they are only hidden from normal sight, not other demi-humans, did pull some attention to them, but a quick application of aura made it clear to everyone that they were not just simple humans.

Hell, Scythe didn’t even actively need to do anything, as her lack in aura training, as far as she had gotten, couldn’t hide her non-human origin.

While Vuthe had never been able to feel exactly what influence Shadow Dragons had on others, being entirely immune to the passive effect, it was clear that Scythe’s no-nonesense and reckless nature was very much obvious to anyone who looked at her.

“So, any particular place you had in mind?”, Scythe asked, looking around, not exactly bored but not thrilled either. Vuthe could almost feel the dragoness similar feelings towards being in the city to her own.

“Not really, I haven’t been here yet. Scarlet, you know a place?”, Vuthe asked, being a little more attentive towards her surroundings.

Scarlet nodded, “I’m not too familiar, but I’ve been here before. There is a smaller place, not directly a restaurant, but not a fast food joint either, it’s quite the cosy little place.”

She started walking ahead with the other two following her.

When they arrived Vuthe had to agree on Scarlet’s description, it was a weird kind of place, but not in a bad way, although Scarlet’s descriptor of “small” seemed entirely unfitting. Yes, it was more casual than a restaurant, but it was by no means small, or maybe she just wasn’t used to modern eateries anymore, who knew.

They found themselves a place to sit near the windows, Vuthe only needing to use a little burst of aura to make it clear to others to leave them well and truly alone, although, to her surprise, some seemed more irritated by that than what she had intended. Either they had never felt an aura burst before, which was entirely possible, or they could feel it stronger than she anticipated and were irritated by the intensity, which was also entirely possible.

She didn’t think much longer about it as she looked out of the window, then to Scythe who had taken the seat next to her, directly across from her Sister.

The menu was simple enough, with a large enough selection to ensure variety, but nothing from fancy restaurant places with weird names you had to know beforehand, and seemed to focus around burgers and steak, much to her surprise and delight. Dragons were Thaumavores, but they could eat anything and had a definite preference towards meat, which Scythe showed quickly by immediately locking on the selection of meat available.

Vuthe followed her twin, or clone, or whatever, she really needed to decide on what to call her soon, and paroused the meat selection, quickly deciding to try three different meals. Despite the appatising descriptions she didn’t get her hopes up too much, after all chances that it was mana infused were slim to none, so a large part of the flavour for any dragon would be missing.

“So, how are you guys holding up?”, Scarlet asked, after a kind of awkward silence.

Despite having spoken a lot after their return, most of it had been about politics and stuff, and only rarely focused on more personal matters, and even then those conversations were short.

In most cases, if they didn’t talk about politics, they talked about their experiences in the other world, from good to bad, with both of them having more bad ones than good ones.

“Good enough, I guess. Still settling in. Truth be told the entire episode still feels like a fucking dream, no constant combat, no running away from nukes all the time or watching the planet burn. Fuck, I can’t even remember the last time we went more than three days without something around us collapsing and threatening to bury us…”, Scythe said with a sigh. “It feels… too good to be true. Even if everyone else is gone, it’s… peaceful, I guess. Kinda makes me itchy, like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

Vuthe nodded in agreement, “I think part of that is us always staying in New Thelvadore. Maybe a roadtrip would help, getting away from everything. But as nice as that idea is, I can’t do that, not with my role as Queen.”

There was a moment in which Scarlet studied them, Scythe looking at the ceiling and Vuthe still looking through the menu for something to drink.

“Why is that? Like, I understand that you feel like you’re responsible for them, but you almost act like they revolt if they go without you for more than a day. Is it really that bad?”, she asked eventually.

Vuthe looked up, meeting her sister’s gaze for a moment, before she replied. “Yes and no. The issue is not my people, they would be fine, but it’s that I am the Dragon Queen of Thelvadore. I have already told you that intent is important for magic, that goes deeper than just casting a spell. I have a role to fulfil, a titled one even, which makes it worse in some ways. I am responsible, it is my duty to protect them, and that includes physical, magical, and political angles. Have you ever wondered why nobody seemed to question me when I tell them who I am? Why it is that everyone just takes it at face value?”

Her sister thought about it for a moment, then shook her head.

“It is because of this role. I’m not merely telling them I am a Queen, I am, in fact, a Queen. But I’m not only a Queen. I wasn’t born into this role, I wasn’t chosen to do it, I created it. I forged the title Dragon Queen of Thelvadore with every action I took, every moment I spent trying. I am, both in name and in person, the Dragon Queen of Thelvadore, and that has importance. I can’t just hand in my crown and walk away from it, it’s an integral part of my identity, to the point that it defines who I am and what I am. Yes, I am a reincarnator, yes I once was a human, and yes I am now a dragon, but all that pales in comparison to the roles that I have taken up during my three millennia of life.”

Scarlet had watched her closely while she spoke, not questioning her, but working through the implications.

“Hold up”, Scythe interrupted, finally leaning forward on the table and looking at Vuthe with her head propped up on one hand, “You said roles, plural. If being this Queen or whatever defines who and what you are, what else is there?”

Vuthe grimaced, cursing herself for a moment for her faux pass. “I have a few titles, and with them come different roles. I won’t list them all here, it’s too easy to overhear and some I do not wish to talk about, but the two most important, I think, are my role as Queen and my role as an assassin, although for different reasons. The first one should be self-evident, I have authority and I have resources, I represent Thelvadore as a people and a country. The second one is more subtle, more subdued. I could never have gotten my role as Queen without my role and training as an assassin. It was the building blocks of my ascension, the very reason I was able to do things the way I did them, which is what lends it importance. I am trained by the best Satien had to offer, to use any and all weapons present on that world. I went toe to toe with some of the best fighters in my time, and won the overwhelming majority of those fights. Even the fight against you was won by that training.”, she said, looking expectantly at Scythe.

“Your adaptability, your slow and calculated moves. You didn’t fight like a warrior, much less a dragon, you fought like a rogue, an assassin, ambush and hit and run tactics, learn the movements of your enemies, their strengths and weaknesses, and capitalise on them.”, Scythe quickly understood what she meant, she had noticed that too in their bout.

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Vuthe nodded, “Indeed. It gives me a certain impression that I leave on people. They won’t notice it, like I said it’s subtle. But it gives my threats more credence, as my role fills that intent. I am absolutely able to kill you, should you oppose me, and most of the time I can do that without even giving you the choice to act. It’s part of the reason why I don’t often have to show what I, or my people, can do, my intent sorts that out for me.”

After a moments pause Scarlet frowned, leaning back and crossing her arms, “But what about those that don’t take those threats seriously, or simply ignore them? If what you said is true then you should have a much easier time with the council, no?”

Vuthe sighed deeply, shaking her head. “No, not really. Yes, I leave an impression on people, and yes they will take me seriously far easier, but that doesn’t mean people couldn’t ignore them or not believe me. Take the priest, for example. Anyone so dedicated to worship will have high resistance to stuff like that, I’m a blasphemer in his eyes, so why should he believe me? Anyways, this intent isn’t exclusive to me either, everyone has it. The question is simply how strongly you work towards your goal and how honestly you portray your role. I’m pretty sure that your role, while less intense, offers some benefit to you too, no? You are the leader of a magical security service, and if I understand it correctly, a world authority on magical defences. That will leave you with quite some intent to work with.”, she shifted the conversation to Scarlet, partly because she didn’t want to say much more about her own roles, and partly because she was curious about her sister.

They were interrupted when a waitress walked over, one that startled Vuthe immensely. “Well, I’ll be…”, she mumbled, before making a quick privacy screen just as the waitress arrived.

“Hello, welcome to Wyvern’s Bite. What can I get you?”, she asked with a friendly tone and a genuine smile, although that mostly stemmed from her recognition of Scarlet.

With a quick glance around Vuthe spoke, “Hey. Before I order, might I ask you a quick question? Are you a demoness?”

Scarlet looked at her warningly and the woman looked at her, eyes blinking in surprise, her mouth locked in the smile but losing all meaning behind it. “Ma’am, what are you talking about?”

“Vuthe…”, Scarlet said with a warning tone in her voice, but Vuthe waved it off.

“No need to worry, I cast a privacy screen. No need to answer either, just idle curiosity. I’ve seen many beings in my lifetime, but demons are quite rare, and to see them on earth is quite surprising considering the low mana availability”, Vuthe explained calmly, giving her sister a quick side glance.

“I…”, the waitress was now thoroughly confused, glancing over to Scarlet as if in search for explanation, even though Vuthe could read from her that she didn’t actually know Scarlet, and it was more of a TV Celebrity adoration, Scarlet was the only one she even vaguely knew.

“Forgive her. She isn’t from around here and doesn’t know the fact that you don’t simply ask anothers race”, Scarlet said, giving Vuthe a pointed look, “Much less those who shouldn’t even have their race visible.”

Vuthe just shrugged, “You know those things don’t work for me. And how was I supposed to know? Do you know how many people I’d have to kill if that was an offence?”

“You’re a dragon! You don’t need to fear some superstitious idiot backstabbing you because of what you are!”, Scarlet snapped, while the waitress looked more and more confused and started to go well into shocked.

“Guys, guys, can we please fucking order?”, Scythe asked with a growl that made the waitress and even Scarlet jump, “I’m fucking hungry and don’t care two bits about your bullshit little dispute.”

There was a moment of charged silence before Scarlet nodded, “Yes.”

“Great, I take the steak, the spareribs, one of these double patty burgers, and a large portion of pork. Oh and uh… You have any rum here? Whatever rum you think is best. Big glass!”, Scythe said, glee in her eyes and already practically salivating.

The waitress, still a little shell shocked, took a moment, then noted it all down.

“I’d like the Lunch menu with a mixed Salad, Schnitzel and mashed potatoes, as well as a diet coke”, Scarlet spoke more softly and with more formality in her voice.

“And I’d love to try the spareribs, the Meat platter, as well as the Daily menu. If possible I’d love to switch the potatoes there with french fries. For drinks, I think I’ll try the red wine”, Vuthe finished her order and the waitress noted it all down.

After a moment she looked up, forced a smile, then walked away.

“Vuthe!”, Scarlet hissed, clearly getting back to the previous conversation, “You need to be more careful with what you ask! That can put you in a really bad situation if you’re not careful!”

Vuthe just waved her off. “Relax. I might be unused to your society's rules, but I’m not a total idiot. Like I said, I put a privacy screen around us, you don’t need to be a genius to see that some races get it worse than others.”

“Even though humans are the worst of all of them”, Scythe snarled quietly.

“Regardless. I can’t help but be curious, if demons are around then things might already be worse than I expected.”, Vuthe said with a shrug.

“Seriously, is it always work for you?”, Scythe cut in, eyeing Vuthe.

“Well, you would know, wouldn’t you? Don’t tell me you aren’t a workaholic”, Vuthe said, slightly amused.

“Actually”, Scarlet cut in this time, looking at Scythe, “While I generally know what you went through, you or your friends haven’t talked much about your time there. Why’s that?”

There was no judgement in her voice, she seemed to more or less have calmed down, but her curiosity was obvious.

Scythe sighed deeply and looked away. “Cuz there is not much to talk about. We woke up, fought, ate, went to sleep. The most we did outside of that was a quickie here or there or maybe go out an evening drinking in whatever shithole was deep down enough to still be in one piece.”

Vuthe had learned a lot about Amnellium from Archangel, their society, structure, military strength, general way of life. She had also explained that Amnellium Prime, their homeplanet, was a giant city planet similar to one from a certain Sci Fi flick with sword swinging monks.

Most people didn’t know how many floors there were, and from what she understood most of them were uninhabited, with only the top floors being in constant use, but she had never asked too much.

“I’m kind of curious too, actually. Archangel had mentioned the planet to be one big city, but she never went into too much detail.”

Scythe just growled at the mention of Archangel, muttering something about that “damned fucking woman” under her breath.

“Yeah, it is. Just one giant ass fucking ball of carbonconcrete and plastosteel, thousands of levels deep. Rumour has it at the very bottom they still have ancient power plants sitting powering the entire thing, but that’s just more propaganda bullshit. How the fuck would they even maintain those if they would need to go into levels long since so abandoned they spawned their own society of lowlifes, criminals, and mutants. No, deep down is nothing but radioactive wasteland, much like the surface is now. They found some way to transmit energy wirelessly and beamed it in from their two moons. Both military installations, of course, so nobody knows. Not even most soldiers stationed there know. Nah, deep down is just the absolute worst society has to offer. You got three people in charge, mostly, in the small areas where people can actually survive. Even cyberware can only survive so long in radiation that thick. But despite being all drug addicts and criminals with a list of crimes so long you’d need an AI to put it all into words, the folks down there are good folks. It’s a hard life, yes, most don’t make it past twenty, but it’s at least a free life. No corpos to rob you blind or enslave you, no government cracking down on your house because you were in the same street as some other guy who pissed off the wrong people, and no curfews and military raids every damn day. And last but not least, the shit you got down there was so antique most modern systems couldn’t hack the damn shit and turn you into fucking drones. Well, still infested as shit and practically not working, but I take someone using my brain to cryptomine over getting brain wiped any day of the week.”

With each sentence Scarlet looked more and more concerned, but she didn’t interrupt Scythe.

“When we first broke out of that fucking lab all we could do was escape down. At first we only wanted to get a couple levels down, there are a fuckton of empty levels between the lowroads and the surface, and we only wanted to relax there, rest a bit, before we carried on, but those fucktards chased us all the way down, like really far fucking down. Eventually we lost them, but at that point we were already in the middle of King’s territory. He’s some old military fuck, loaded with cyberware and a real hardass. But we had what they wanted, a way to kick Amnellium in the fucking balls, and they couldn’t just take it form us. We maybe aren’t trained dragons, but we’re loaded with the newest shit Amnellium had to offer.”

She paused for a moment, hesitating. Vuthe was just about to tell her that she didn’t have to tell them everything, she continued.

“We spent some time there, relaxed and got our feet under us. Mind you, even we didn’t get anything for free, even if King gave us pref treatment, but those were the days. Worst thing to watch out for was that your shots weren’t diluted with some weird chemicals and that nobody stabbed you in your sleep and ran off with your shit. No wars to worry about, no corpos ruining everyone’s life. Just chillin’. We went up with high spirits, ready to fuck their shit up. How fucking wrong we were…”, her face took on a darker look, all emotion leaving her eyes as she stared at the table. Vuthe knew this look, the look of someone who had lost it all, of someone who had given up and decided nothing mattered anymore. The look of a killer on a mission.

“When we came back, we had wreaked havoc on Amnellium. Broke into two dozen military bases, stole more shit than anyone ever did combined, with tech and weaponry so advanced most of the Amnellium troops didn’t have them. We were ready to equip an army, our own little kingdom against the world.” Scythe’s voice cracked and she needed a moment to compose herself. “When we arrived there was nothing left. All we found were a few bodies and absolute destruction. They had taken everything of value and set everything else on fire. We had lost everything… Everyone…”

There was silence for a long moment, before she chuckled darkly, obviously trying to hide her emotions, “We shouldn’t have been surprised, really. Amnellium made it clear more than once that what’s theirs is theirs. And we quite firmly belonged onto the ‘Government property’ shitlist. I have no idea who they had sent down there, my bet would be Apocalypse Squad, but I’m not even sure if that would be needed. They had no soldiers down there, no police, no armed forces. Sure, everyone got a gun, but everyone on Amnellium has a gun. Soldiers have way too much high tech shit to be threatened by those filthy peashooters. When we got back up we swore vengeance. It was the real beginning of the war.”

Once more there was silence, Scythe looking absently at the table, still lost in her own memories, while Scarlet and Vuthe were digesting the information.

After a little while food was delivered, by the same waitress, and they thanked her absently, before starting to dig in. It was tasty enough, but Vuthe doubted neither of them paid too close attention.