Opechea Falls, Colorado
November 11th, 2018
Six years before the Battle of Asqualia…
Eldritch horrors, slimy bureaucrats, monsters, and raising a family were all things Trisha Rashalda could handle without much difficulty. But for her, even with all the endeavors of a hundred years of being a paragon of the Valkyries, there is something about this day that leaves her uneasy. A crawling electric jolt down her spine tells her danger is coming. She takes a moment to adjust the seatbelt in the passenger seat of her vehicle, brushes back the braids of her long brown hair, and uses the small mirror in the sun visor. Even with as little as she slept, there are no hollows under her green eyes–just a few faint scars from close calls.
She closes the visor and glances outside as if nothing’s wrong. Pine and barren trees, already under the spell of an incoming winter, are naught but fleeting images. Wind and rain streaked the glass of the car, and she felt cramped in the mid-size Chevy SUV. It was a work car, rarely used by the rest of the family, but her husband Eddard drove it well enough. She glances over at him, and he’s tense too. Salt and pepper hair, light crinkles on his face, tanned skin, and a dark and well-trimmed beard adorn his face, his knuckles practically creak. It’s November eleventh, and it should be snowing. Not raining, not here in Colorado.
“Think the kids will be alright with takeout tonight?” Eddard asks her after a couple of minutes of silence, punctuated only by the sound of raindrops on a windshield and the gentle squeak of wiper blades clearing the view on occasion. He’s dressed like usual, in a plaid shirt and jeans, but she could see his ID badge just above his undershirt, and the gleam of the magical garments he wore at his job in experimental materials. A discreet position he handled well, given his transition from being oblivious to magic until he’d met Trisha thirteen years ago, he’d studied well. “What’re you thinking Trish? Pizza? Maybe Korean?”
“There’s no decent Korean for a hundred miles, Eddard. Keep dreaming.” She lets out a soft laugh, but not in a mocking tone. She’s gotten good at hiding her feelings for work matters. He sighs and follows the contour of the road and mountains slowly passing by on one side, a slight incline on the side adjacent to them. A guard rail intermittently protects against the steeper inclines. “I was thinking Vietnamese. Ning is always asking me if I’ll drop by her store, but I’m always too busy for it.”
“You mean busy at your ‘other’ job, right?” Eddard is always too hesitant to ask about it. She flinches lightly at the mere mention of it, rather than calling it out what it is. A calling to a higher undertaking. A protector of all Kin across the world, unbridled by the governance of the day-to-day countries of the world, but given general counsel to the Mage conclave that runs their world–if only semi-effectively. “Trish, I know we haven’t talked about it much. And by that, the conversation’s been left off after I…” he exhales softly.
“After what, Eddard? You left for a year.” She’s come to terms with it, even if she knows that her husband has been swayed by a temptation. She should be one to talk. She made a mistake, too. A rarity for her. “Things still stand where they stood ten years ago. We haven’t told the kids. It’s what we agreed to, after all.”
“Maybe I was wrong to suggest we wait. Fates, ten years is an entire lifetime for them. They’re going to find out eventually. And the longer we wait, the more they’re going to resent us for it.” He sighs and strokes his beard gently with one hand. “Trish, I was wrong.”
“We’ve both been wrong, Eddard. About a lot of things.” She can’t even look him in the eye when she thinks of what she did after he left and at the time, it had appeared he hadn't ever intended to come back. “You think it’s time?”
“It is. Drenar is eleven. Evan, ten and change. They need to know. I’ll be the one to take the blame for not telling them.” he laughs nervously. “Hey kids, you know how adults have ‘the talk’ with you about sex education? Well, we have another talk. Yeah, the talk where you tell you that you two are half brothers, and uh…oh yeah, you’re half-dragon, and in a few years you’ll take your true forms, and uh…mom’s also this heroic legend of the mage world. Thought I’d throw that in there, too.”
“You’re just gonna dump all that in an afternoon?” She feigns annoyance at this. “Eddard, such a lack of tact.”
“You are a legend, Trish. You’re a hundred times greater than anything I could ever hope to be, and you know that. You’ve fought monsters and madmen your entire life, without asking for a thing in return.”
“It’s what we do, Eddard.” She lets out a calm breath and thinks about all the monsters that have fallen to the Valkyries over the years. The peace they fought tooth and nail for at every turn, so that others could have peaceful dreams and a life filled with promises of better things ahead. “I wouldn’t call myself heroic. But a legend? That was my grandmother. I’ll live a thousand years, and I don’t think I’ll ever match up to her greatness in the same way. My way, maybe.” She lets out a soft sigh. “Maybe leave that part to me? Finding out they’re half-dragon, both of them? It’s a shock to anyone’s psyche by itself. The rest of it? They’ll think we’re crazy.”
“You are crazy, honey. But hey, if anyone has enough disarming charm to keep them from freaking out, it’s you.” Eddard steers gently along the road, the occasional wet snowflake disappearing as slush in the rainfall. Trisha smiles lightly at that.
“Drenar’s going to take it hard. Especially when he finds out Julia doesn’t know, either. Kiera’s been hesitant to bring it up, especially after Takoshi was killed during the fall of Afghanistan. Too much to pile on at once. Maybe, let’s save that one for a bit.” She kept looking out the window–even in human form, she had superior eyesight and could see far further into the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum than the normal human eye could. Looking for threats unseen. “They’ll need time to adjust. Maybe during their Christmas break?”
“Might be the best time. It’s going to be a complete reset of their lives. Drenar might take it better than Evan.” Eddard glances at Trisha, still looking around through the windshield. “Trish, I know that look. There’s nothing out there.”
“There’s someone always looking to off me, Eddard. Whether it’s today, tomorrow, next year, or ten years. Fates know, I’ve royally pissed off every mage criminal gang on the planet. I’m worried about what the Talons are hiding.” Trisha sighs contentedly at this. “Still, I can’t help but feel I put us at risk with such a particularly dangerous day job.”
"I'm not oblivious. What you do is important. Sucks that I can't tell anyone, but then again, I get the world's most courageous woman all to myself," he laughs.
"Careful, Eddard. Gale, Malena, and Kiera will get jealous," she teases.
“So, what’s got you tensed up? I know you mentioned getting bad vibes lately, but all we have to do is drop this data drive off. That’s it. I decrypted part of it but there are just references to some operation name. They call it ‘Gaia’s cradle’. I know there’s a lot of mages who claim gods exist, but, so don’t regular people.”
“When did you find this?” she queries.
Her husband shrugs. “About an hour before we left. The decryption on this one is a bitch. Someone knew what they were doing. I’ve been using every dirty trick I know to crack the whole thing open without triggering a fail-safe wipe.”
“You made copies?”
“Like I wouldn’t?” he asks casually. “I tried. The data auto-wiped. This thing is black-boxed pretty thoroughly.”
Meanwhile, that sense of looming dread builds–her danger sense keeps going off. Trisha knew danger was present before she could even put a word to who or what–she’d always had a borderline precognitive sense for peril beyond the rest of her kin. It showed with how few scars she carried on her body, even after almost a hundred years in the endeavor. “Trish. I know you say that you’ve always gone to great lengths to separate what you do from stuff that goes on at home. But I worry. I can’t help but worry about you a little bit. I’d be a terrible husband if I didn’t.”
“I’ve handled everything the world’s thrown at me thus far.”
“But there’s plenty of places other than Earth, Trish. Not that we can get to them much anymore.” he glances over to her. “I still remember you telling me for the first time, about other worlds. Have you ever visited one?”
Trisha glances over to Eddard and nods softly. “A few times. The standard operating protocol is to seal them up and render the portals inoperable given the incident during the Schism War, four thousand years ago. But the Valkyries and the Conclave still find them on occasion. The presence of folded planes, makes tracking all of them difficult, if outright impossible. Oh, but what a sight it was to step foot on that plane to see the Aegeans and those mountains that stretched to the heavens against a pristine green sky. I’ll never forget it. But we take a risk every time we leave one open. The Outsiders can get back here, and I daresay with the dragons so divided…so limited, I don’t think we could stop them this time around.” She glances down and imagines her form, folded gleaming cerulean feathers, steel and azure scales, and a grace unlike any other creature of the world. “We’re so few now, Eddard. Drenar and Evan are inheriting a future that might not have us in it for too much longer.”
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“Don’t say that, Trish. You’ve never had a lack of confidence. You’ve always found a way, and it’s who you are, not what you are, that matters most in this world above all else.” She thinks back to the day he’d walked in on her, in her true form, and stammered for words for about a good five seconds before asking her if she fell from Heaven, and the thought still made her smile. “C’mon. You didn’t put boot to backside without a modicum of calm and steadfastness.”
“For the job, yes. It’s the kids I worry about more, Eddard. But maybe I’m overthinking it. I’m sure Drenar will probably be ecstatic about Julia being half-dragon as well. Hmm. gold, silver, azure…what pretty grandchildren we’d have someday,” Trisha laughs, and Eddard groans.
“Yeah, about that. Was that a joke? About dragon families raising kids together as nestmates? Lifelong bonds and all that jazz? I thought you were taking me for a ride the first time you told me that, Trish. Not that Julia isn’t a wonderful little mischievous tomboy who’s sharp as a tack. But those two combined…man, I’m gonna need my own set of wings to keep track of them.” He shakes his head and chuckles. “It’s so true, isn’t it?” Trisha blushes and he starts to laugh louder. “Oh honey, it’s adorable, truly.”
“Old traditions die hard,” she counters flatly, and unconvincingly and tries to fight smirking. Her phone is going off now, and the ID is blocked–interestingly enough for a phone that was supposed to be the most secure line on the planet, and way above civilian grade. This has bad news written all over it. She answers it without hesitation. “Good afternoon, who may I ask–”
“They’re on you in ninety seconds. They’re coming.” Those words are enough to put her on alert, and she taps her armband, priming her Valkyrie armor for activation–the armor she’d specifically designed to form fit her, even in her dragon form, a complex and difficult enchantment on already incredible armor, and she hits the speakerphone.
“A bit presumptuous, don’t you think? You have the wrong number.” He probably doesn’t.
“Trisha Rashalda, Sixth Champion of the Valkyries? No, I haven’t gotten that wrong. A drone is hovering at two hundred meters plus attitude matching your vehicle speed with thermal optics, tracking your movement. They have been tracking you since you left the town center. Eddard’s obscurement enchantments have been annulled, someone cracked them.”
“And who are you, exactly?”
“I’m the reason he’s not already dead.” The conviction in this man’s words shakes her to her core in a way that monsters and even more monstrous mages couldn’t. “They’re sending a forty-plus hunter-killer team in five vehicles, plus backup. Four dragons are on an intercept course.” She is already playing out a battle plan. Forty-to-one odds is nothing she hadn’t handled before.
“They should have sent more,” she answers back, her eyes narrowed. “You’re not Talons. Or if you are, then you know the futility of this action, and are trying to sabotage an active mission.”
“They’re not after you.” A cold seeping feeling crawls up her spine, and she glances at Eddard, who is focusing on the road but she can see him clenching his jaw. He's already reaching for the compartment for his sidearm. “You have something that someone truly dangerous wants to erase. Your husband is holding the key to bringing down a mighty foe of this world. Sixty seconds, by the way. They assume he is alone, and has been living in town, unmarried. The protections afforded to the Valkyries are still intact, as best I know.”
“I’ve dealt with many foes. I’ll deal with this one, just like any other,” Trisha answers in a cold fury. “Do they know we have kids?”
“No. I have scrubbed every scant piece of data that would have indicated otherwise. I would not tolerate nor sanction the murder of children and non-combatants.” She can hear the disgust in his voice at the very mention of it. “Today, I need to ensure that the Champion of the Valkyries does not die.”
“Who wants this information so badly? The Talons?”
“No. Someone else. Someone more dangerous. Not even that red-feathered diva can compare.” That narrows down the field a bit, a Siberian Hellkite? But he indicated that the threat was someone else. A cold chill goes down her spine. A nightmare has come fully realized.
“Was it Misha?” A name of a corrupt Conclave senator. She's been investigating with Valkyries only. The slow march of the Conclave towards increasing authoritarian control has not been lost on her, and he's one of the architects of that movement.
“Involved, but not leading it.”
“Belmont.”
“Closer. I know he's involved. Fifty seconds.” She’s got one name left, and she shouldn’t say it aloud. But now the screws are turning.
“Fellwoven.” She practically curses the name.
“I can’t prove her involvement. But nothing happens in the mage world without her awareness.”
“And what assurances do I have that this is not a ruse?” Trisha scans the surroundings, wooded foothills to her right, sheer cliff to their left, and impassable for Eddard. Not a lot of room for maneuvering the vehicle other than the road, and she knew there were no turn-offs or secondary roads for several miles. She could not and would not risk civilians getting caught in the crossfire. She sees lights in the rear-view mirror–multiple large-scale vehicles closing recklessly fast, given the weather.
“Because I need you alive. The world needs you to survive this for what is coming, Trisha. For what it’s worth, this will be the last time we speak. I cannot break my cover like this again. Fight to survive. Fight for a better world.”
“And what do I call you?” she asked as she downed an alchemical agent–she was going to need the speed boost to get out of this alive.
“Call me a Kingmaker. I’ve already been playing this game for a long time, Trisha, longer than you can possibly imagine.”
“How do I know that you mean well by this? You must have a motive.” She knew this information wouldn’t come for free.
“Because I need the children of Gaia to survive, if I want to save this planet.”
For the first time in her life, Trisha is rattled to her core. This is impossible. “All the children perished. Few even believe they were real.”
“Incorrect. One survived the purges during the War of the Magi. And they’re closer to home than you realize.”
This man is dangerous beyond belief. He knows who the last known descendants of Gaia is? Only a handful of people even believed that Gaia had sired offspring–and even fewer knew the truth. “How many others know?”
“Just me. I ensured she survived, six years ago, but not without consequences. Her power will grow exponentially, and she will need good influences to keep that channeling for the good of all. Now you know the stakes of why you must survive. Events must be put in motion in just the right way.”
Almost as if by reaction, a ringing chime ran out from the ancient relic she kept on her person at almost all times, sitting in the compact sling. A low hum, building in intensity. It did not carry its intent by words, but by something else–a resonance of the soul.
I need an avatar to survive, Trisha. Our world is dying. She must survive. The man on the other end gets her attention.
“Thirty seconds. Godspeed, my Champion.” The line clicked and Trisha knew two things. The first, was that he spoke of the ancient dragon tongue, a language of conviction and power.
The second is that they are about to be in the fight of their lives. She presses the one-button alert for Sierra team, but there’s no response–it’s being jammed now. This is no time to lock up, she needs to focus on the plan. “Eddard, I will fight them to my last breath–”
“Don’t.” His one-word answer and grim look were all he needed to say. “Don’t say it like this is the end. That these killers finally got their one lucky shot at you.” He pulls out a firearm from under the seat where he’d kept it hidden in a holster—a simple Glock, but chambered in mana-coated rounds that would shred most magical barriers. “I’ll kill every single one of them before they dare lay a hand on you. On our kids.” He chambers a round by bracing the slide against the steering wheel, his motions calm and deliberate. “They’re after me? Fine. Let’s give them someone to chase.”
“Eddard, they will torture you. They will break your body and mind before they let you die,” she rebuffs firmly, even as armor plating emerges from the wristband and contours around her body in rapidly assembling Valkyrian armor she’d both partially designed and constructed herself. “They don’t know we have kids. You know what you have to do if they–”
“Then you need to ensure the data survives.” He pulls out the small container containing an SD card that was hard protected against almost any and every magical attack, and puts it firmly in her hand, mana tracing against his palm and into the device. “Get this to the Valkyries. If what that man said is true, the Conclave has just taken off its mask to land the killing blow.” he lets go and there’s a ringing sound. “Whatever is on this thing, it needs to survive, even if we don’t.”
She wraps a protective energy shield around him, enhancing his reactive barrier with her latent powers, and plasma arcs lightly from her arm in anticipation of the coming battle. The vehicles are closing, and she sees the men armed in the ebony ceramic and metal armor and well equipped. Well armed, too.
Mercs, unmarked, and deliberately so. And they were rapidly closing and readying weapons. She had already hit the emergency alert for the Valkyries, but a five-minute response time was far too long. This would be over in less than two minutes. “Eddard, I’ll buy you time. Sierra team will lock on your location. Keep driving, don't look back. I'm about to do something decidedly dangerous."
She throws the door open with a kinetic blast, and the door is blown off its hinges and clatters wildly across the road, and the heavy vehicles behind them swerve to avoid it. Claws emerge from her hands and her body becomes lithe and powerful, the armor morphing with her in tandem as she climbs out the door and grips the frame with superhuman strength. Dragon strength. "Eddard, my spell barrier won't be enough to stop more than a few rounds of ammo. Don't make yourself an easy target."
She narrows her eyes against the cold, stinging rainfall and wraps her tail tightly against the seat. Her entire body is tensed–she has to time this right as her wings emerge, with cerulean feathers practically shining in the dim afternoon sky, obscured by rain clouds. The soldiers open up side doors and aim autobows, a treacherous shot at these speeds, and with the winding road. The first round strikes just by her arm, but she crouches there unflinchingm as the truck accelerates.
These men have made an assuredly fatal mistake as she springs forward, clearing herself of the vehicle.
They will know utter terror in their last moments, as they witness what the Champion will do to protect her family.
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