“So, Fated. In Earth terms, Fated are Irdean's version of summoned heroes. Or villains, as the case may be.” Malis gathered her thoughts for a bit. “On Irdean, we have the Path system, where those who follow a combat Path grow stronger than those who don’t. Not everyone has the drive or desire to follow a combat Path, and many who do don’t advance far, as they don’t put in the work. There are non-combat Paths, all for artisans, and the majority of people follow those.
“I’ll let Xavos explain the Path system to you both later, along with your new pets. It’s not important to our discussion. Now, as I said, those on combat Paths are stronger than those who aren’t. And then, there are the Fated. If a person on a Path is twice as strong as a normal person, then a Fated is twice as strong as the person on the Path, given the same training and progression. That’s not exact, but you should understand what I mean.
“Fated are extremely rare, as they can only be summoned when the blood moon rises. That only happens every few thousand years, and it is always a sign of great upheaval on Irdean. Every time a blood moon has risen, a great war has followed shortly after. And Fated are always involved. That is why they are summoned, to act as proxies for the gods. Fated gather armies and do battle, and the winning side ascends.” Malis closed her eyes, frowning slightly, then muttered under her breath. “I did not expect that…”
The goddess opened her eyes. “This time, there will be a war, but you two will not be involved. I have something more important for you to do, but as you probably expected, you’ll need to be much more powerful. To that end, Rothin will be training the two of you, along with the village girls. That will start the day after tomorrow, to give you time to rest and select your Paths.”
Lilith had been listening intently, making a mental note of what Malis said. “I won’t question you on the task, since it won’t do us any good yet, but I am curious – why us? Is the summoning random, or did you choose us specifically?”
Malis laughed softly. “You were chosen specifically, to be reunited with your mother. She is alive and well on Irdean, you see. When you’re ready to hear about her, and the story behind your birth, then I will tell you. It will sound impossible, but it is true, and I will make an oath on my power as a goddess to that effect when the time comes.”
Liana chewed her bottom lip, biting hard enough to draw blood. She was tempted to push for the information, but after looking at Lilith, who shook her head, held the question. The dark elf had grown up believing her mother was dead, as it was told to her by that fucking Edgar Frye. To find out she was alive and on this world was a shock, but she realized her sister was right. They needed to be ready before asking, and there was too much going on to add something else on top of it.
Liana did have a question, though. “Why aren’t we freaking out about all of this? Did you fuck with our heads?”
“I did not, but when a Fated is summoned, the magic of the summoning calms the mind of the ones who are summoned. Otherwise, their minds could irrevocably shatter, making them useless. It will wear off over time, usually a few months, but you should be adjusted enough to suffer no mental trauma by then.”
Liana nodded, going silent, so Lilith chimed in with a question of her own. “I’m sure you know that I plan to be a priestess, and you’ve already said that you’re my only option as a deity, which I have no problem with. But I do want to know, before I decide for sure, are there any types of magic you won’t allow, or can’t allow?”
“That is an interesting question, and the answer is no, there isn’t any magic I won’t allow.” Malis held up a finger before the older twin could speak. “There are qualifiers to that. As my priestess, since I am the goddess of Evil, some types of magic I cannot grant you. For example, I cannot grant spells that fall under the Light sphere, because I hold no power over it. But most spells have an opposite version, so keep that in mind.”
Lilith frowned. “Does that include healing magic?”
The goddess shook her head. “Healing magic is available for all deities to grant their followers. It was deemed unfair, by divine law, to restrict it.”
Liana held up her hand. “Um, do you have paladins? Or their opposite, whatever that is?”
The goddess grinned. “Well, I don’t call them that, of course, but yes. My followers on that Path are called antipaladins, and have the same spell restrictions as my clergy. They don’t get as many spells, but they’re also much stronger fighters.” The younger dark elf grinned, Malis' answer settling the dilemma she had been thinking through.
Malis sighed and stood up, walking around the desk to stand by the twins, putting a hand on the shoulder of each girl. “For reasons of my own, I wish I could stay longer, but there are matters I must attend to. I will leave you with one last piece of information as a parting gift, though.”
Malis looked at the twins, smiling coldly. “You still have a chance to kill Edgar Frye, who is not your biological father. He is here, on Irdean. Train hard, serve me well, and I will give you the chance to kill him.”
The goddess laughed at the look of surprise on the faces of the dark elf twins, then vanished. A moment later, Liana’s voice echoed down the hallway. “Fuck yeah!”
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An hour later, the twins were settling into their new home, or at least their home for the foreseeable future. They had serious training to do, plus they needed to orient themselves to their new world.
Lilith had many more questions she wanted to ask, such as why they were so calm about being on Irdean. For now, she was chalking it up to magic. Summoning someone and having them suffer a mental breakdown seemed like it would be contrary to what their summoner would want. If it was her, she would definitely build some sort of safeguard into the system to prevent that.
Liana was also acting a bit strange, at least in Lilith’s opinion. She seemed more focused than she had been on Earth, where she’d been very impulsive. The events in the village came to mind, for example. Maybe it was an anomaly, but Lilith had fully expected Liana to castrate that slaver before she killed him. Something was on Liana’s mind, and it needed to be addressed before it became a detriment to one of them.
Lilith waited until they were soaking in the tub before she brought the matter up. “Lia – what’s bothering you? You’ve been acting strangely.”
Her sister sighed heavily. “I almost died during that fight, Lil. It made me realize that I can’t treat this like a game. What happens if I die? Do they have rez spells here?” Liana sank down in the water a bit. “If I die and can’t be raised, who is going to watch your back?”
That made more sense to Lilith. Her sister was worried about her; she’d always taken it upon herself to do all the fighting, not wanting Lilith to be hurt. “I understand. But we’ve got to face the reality that we both have to fight here, and we’re both probably going to be wounded.” Lilith ruffled her sister’s hair. “We’ll just have to make sure we’re better than anyone we fight. I’ll cover the healing, since I’m going priestess for sure. Have you decided what you’ll do?”
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“I’m going to go tank. What did she call them? Blackguards?” Liana nodded. “Heavy armor and a big fucking sword, with magic? Definitely my choice.”
Lilith smiled happily. “So we’re sticking with the same pattern, then. Good.” The older twin stretched, enjoying the feel of the hot water. “What do you think we should do with Analie and Cara? I’m not sure they have the right mindset to do us any good.”
That made Liana sit up, a thoughtful look on her face. “I’m pretty sure they don’t. We’ve either got to kick them to the curb, or else change their mindset.”
Lilith raised an eyebrow; that was surprisingly thoughtful coming from Liana. “How do you propose we change their mindset?”
“That’s easy. Murder everyone in their village and pin it on slavers getting revenge for the ones we killed. Either they’ll go dark, or they’ll break.” Liana shrugged. “We’ll need to make sure we save Cara’s sister and let her stay here in the fortress. It’ll build her loyalty towards us and bring Analie on board with her.”
Lilith stared at Liana, mouth open in shock as the younger girl laid out her plan. It took her a few seconds to recover, then she analyzed the plan before nodding. “That should work admirably, Lia. It’s an excellent plan. Now, we just have to acquire resources to execute it. Maybe Xavos will loan us some guards, so we can make sure the sister escapes.”
Liana nodded, then closed her eyes and relaxed, giving Lilith time to think again. She had always been the one to make plans, then discuss them with Liana before they agreed on a course of action, but maybe she should start having her sister come up with a plan on her own, then they could compare. Liana had always been devious, but she’d never been one to plan on her own. Lilith was definitely going to try and encourage her sister more – they would need all the tactical thinking they could get.
After soaking for a while, the dark elves washed thoroughly - they hadn’t bathed since they’d arrived, and even if they’d grown used to their own smell, both girls much preferred to be clean. They also made sure to add searching for a spell to stay clean to their to-do list. It seemed logical that there would be one. Nobles would probably like to have access to a way to stay clean when not in a place with bathing facilities.
They ate the lunch that had been brought up by servants, and after they finished, the servants quickly cleaned up, then left the suite. The twins were tired, and after sitting around making small talk, turned in early. There were two bedrooms in the suite, and each twin took one.
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The next morning, Lilith woke to find Liana in her bed. It wasn’t a shock, as her sister always had trouble sleeping alone in a new place. She shook her head and got out of bed, putting on the clothes she’d worn after bathing. There was no point in putting on fresh ones, since she’d only worn that set for a couple of hours before undressing for bed.
To the dark elf’s surprise, after summoning the servants to bring breakfast, she learned their new world had coffee. She had them bring a full pot, as both of the sisters drank coffee – Liana joked about it stunting their growth, especially their breast size. The smell of the coffee apparently woke the younger twin, who stumbled out of Lilith’s room, still nude, her eyes barely open with her hands outstretched and making grabbing motions.
Lilith just watched her sister drink her first cup of coffee, amused. She sipped her own, and didn’t bother speaking until Liana finished her first cup and poured the second.
“So, something I’ve been wondering, and maybe you have as well. Why did we turn into dark elves when we got here, instead of remaining human?” Liana looked at her sister, eyes narrowed as she thought about the question. “Did Malis change us, I don’t remember having the choice to pick a new race. Just the bright light and circle, then waking up.”
“That’s a good question. Maybe Malis did it?”
Lilith thought about that. “Maybe, but why? Or maybe it’s because she summoned us, so the summoning magic changed us to the same race as her.”
“Okay, I can buy that, if it’s fucking with our heads, why not our bodies?” Liana finished her coffee and placed the cup on the tray. “And what do you think about our mom being here? And why is it such a big fucking secret who she is?”
“As much as I am interested in knowing who she is, Malis is right – we’re not ready. We’ve got enough to deal with already, and there’s too many questions about why she left us and why she’s here.” Lilith shook her head. “I’m sure there is a reason, and it might even be a good reason. We’ll worry about it when we get there.”
Liana stood up. “Okay. I’m going to get dressed, then we can go talk to Xavos. We’ll go alone at first and discuss our plan before we bring the others in.”
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A servant led the twins to Xavos' office and knocked, opening the door at the priest's summon. The twins entered the office and the servant closed the door behind them, leaving them alone with the older man.
Xavos greeted the twins, motioning for them to be seated. “What can I do for you, honored Fated?”
Lilith looked at her sister. “It’s your plan, Lia, you do the honors.”
“Fine, fine. We’ve been discussing the two villagers, and we’re not sure they have the right… mindset to work with us. That’s a problem for us, and we decided we have two options.” Liana looked at the priest, who nodded that he understood. “So we can either send them packing, or we can change their mindset.”
“We need people to work with us, which I’m sure you understand, Xavos.” Lilith leaned forward. “ So Liana came up with a plan to forcefully change their outlook, as well as to build loyalty towards us.”
The younger dark elf nodded. “We want to use some of the guards here to pose as slavers seeking revenge for the ones we killed, to eradicate their village. We’ll need two or three survivors, one in particular – Cara’s younger sister.”
“They’ll ‘escape’ the attack and probably come here, as there is nowhere else they can go. Analie and Cara will naturally want revenge, which should twist them the way we want.”
“And we’ll take in the refugees, give them protection and work, which will make them grateful towards us.”
Xavos listened to the twins describe their plan, then chuckled. “That is a good plan, yes. You’re certain they won’t do as you ask without it?”
Lilith closed her eyes for a moment, calculating the odds. “I would say it’s a ten percent chance they won’t balk at the things we will likely require them to do.” Liana nodded in agreement.
“My impressions of their nature match yours, not from speaking with them, but because they’re from a village of pacifists.” Xavos sat back in his chair. “I will arrange what you need. To be safe, we’ll allow all the catkin children to escape – there shouldn’t be many.” The twins nodded – there had been only a couple other than Cara and her sister.
“I’ll have the guards kill the other villagers and make it appear to be a retaliation, as you ask. Do you have a specific timeline?”
“Give us a week of hard training before proceeding. That should wear them down mentally from fatigue and make it more likely for the grief to warp their outlook.” Lilith leaned back, crossing her right leg over her left. “For the men who do the deed, if there’s no objection, they can keep any coin they find. Any items of precious metal or jewelry need to be melted down or destroyed, to remove the evidence.”
“I will make a note of it, and instruct the commander accordingly, Lilith.” Xavos smiled slightly. “Now that we have that done, what else can I do for you?”
“Now we should get the others and let you explain Paths with us, if you have time. We have a lot of work to do.”
Xavos stood up. “Certainly. I will send a servant to bring them to the library and we can meet them there.” The priest muttered a spell, then walked from behind the desk to the door. “I’ve sent a message. Please follow me and I will show you to the library.”
The dark elves stood and followed Xavos, who led them to a set of double doors on the third floor. He opened the doors and walked inside, the twins close behind. The library was large and filled with bookshelves. A large table was placed in the middle of an open space, with three chairs on either side.
Lilith walked over to the nearest bookshelf and studied the books. Most of the titles were in a language she didn’t understand, frustrating the dark elf. She moved to the table and sat down next to Liana, who hadn’t bothered scanning the books.
The three of them waited silently, and ten minutes passed before a female servant escorted Cara and Analie into the room. Xavos waved at the servant to dismiss her, and she bowed before backing out of the room, pulling the doors closed. The villagers joined the twins at the table, seating themselves without a word.
Xavos walked to the head of the table. “Excellent. Now that you’re all here, let me teach you about the Path system of our world.”
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