Chapter 32: Chapter 31: Death

[City of Aleta]

While Darganth and Dexter were having their magical shootout, Allaire was busy making life a living hell for the city guard. After she had killed the third rank that arrived the fastest, the rest stayed in cover for a few minutes. Only after three more minutes did the first decide to get out of cover.

Not making his colleagues mistake, he chose metal aura in the hopes that its high defensive capabilities would allow him to withstand at least one arrow. Clicking her tongue in annoyance upon seeing this, Allaire got up and shot an arrow at one of the third ranks still in cover. She had clearly noticed that the man currently making his way towards the mansion at snail pace, at least for a third rank, would be more than capable of shrugging of her arrows.

While she didn't doubt that she could wear him out with repeated hits, till then the others would have forced her to retreat long ago. Thus aiming for another one of them, she watched the arrow disappear right in front of the earth wall he used as cover. Hearing screams of shock from those nearby, she knew that her arrow had worked.

The arrow she used was actually a magic weapon Darganth had made for her, using space magic to teleport three meters further forwards just before hitting a solid object, but arriving turned around to strike the target from behind. While she had only one, having asked him to create it more as an experiment than anything else, she noted of it effectiveness. Having reduced the potential pressure the guards can put on her by a bit, she focused on the man nearing the mansion.

Firing the first arrow down at him, she focused less on hitting him and more on obstructing his path. Aiming specifically for his legs, he jumped back as they were less protected. Visibly weighing his options, he took the risk of emptying his mana faster and manifested armor along them before continuing his dash.

By now he had crossed nearly half of the two hundred meters from his original position to the mansion. Just as Allaire wanted to shoot another arrow towards him, a bowman of the guards took aim at her. Ducking away from the arrow, she was forced to allow the man to reach the mansion. A hundred meters were nothing for a third rank aura user, even if he used a slow element. With Allaire being forced to take cover, the man switched to the air element, reaching the door in barely over a second.

Being incapable of still intercepting him despite being augmented with the light element, Allaire settled for the second best and shot at the archer. Despite this small success, she knew that with one having made it, the other third ranks would soon also make their way towards the building. While the second order one she had spotted was still over a kilometer away, once he arrived she would have to retreat.

 

Darganth was meanwhile continuously taunting his opponent. Ever since he was hit by the stone projectile, Dexter grew increasingly aggressive with his attacks. Though with this increase also came an increase in wounds on his body. Each salvo he fired failed to even scratch Darganth, while the returning ones would leave wounds and burns all over his body.

By now he had grown desperate, no longer concerning himself with victory and instead trying to find a way to flee. Just as he thought his situation to be hopeless, the door behind Darganth broke into splinters with the third rank of the city guard that managed to get through Allaires arrows arriving.

The body of mages was far less developed than that of aura users, gaining an increase in their affinities and mental capabilities instead of a boost to their physical body. Despite this mages were capable of following the speed of aura users, mainly due to this increase in mental capabilities. This allowed them to view the world far slower than a normal person, even if they couldn't move their body this fast. But why would they need to, almost all mages that reach the point where this makes a visible difference can cast without moving their body.

Seeing the swords being thrust straight at Darganth's back, he inwardly smiled in delight. Just as he already wanted to celebrate his victory, he noticed mana gathering in front of the guard. Getting a bad premonition already, he tried to surprise Darganth by attacking him at the same time.

Seeing this attempt Darganth smiled. This freaked his opponent out even more. Then the spell he had conjured up behind himself took form, opening a portal with its end being just a meter from the stairs. Seeing the portal that opened just below him, Dexter tried to move his body, forgetting in his panic his sped up thoughts.

The guard meanwhile barely had a moment to react. While aura users also gain a slowed perception of time it wasn't enough. And while compared to the maximum mages can archive it is weak, it is constant as aura users don't have to invest brainpower into forming spells. The only changes come from the differences in the elements. This more fixed state also allows their body and mind to always be in sync, though at the price that when moving at their top speeds they have more of a problem to react.

Due to this the guard crashed into the stairs with full force, shattering through them without stopping. Unluckily for Dexter this also made the entire structure carve in, making him fall into the rooms below.

Walking closer to the wreckage that once were stairs, Darganth looked down into the cellar. Seeing Dexter as well as the guard heavily wounded, he jumps down without care. While Dexter tries to crawl away from him, the guard is seemingly knocked out.

“Don't come closer, I warn you. If I die the king will hunt you down, I will forget that anything happened if you go.” Dexter said, trying to save his life.

“Oh, you seem to know the king, that's good. Then you probably wouldn't mind answering me a little question, or?” Darganth asked with a threatening smile.

“What do you want to know?” Dexter asked hopefully.

“I am sure you know that yourself.” Darganth said, letting his dragon mana flow freely. This caused a illusionary manifestation of his true body to form behind him, seemingly warping space itself to allow it full size to fit into the small cellar.

Seeing this form manifesting, Dexter started shuddering in fear. Crawling backwards, he tried to get away from Darganth. But before he made it even a single meter, a small wall of rock formed behind him.

“I don't know anything, I truly don't. I only learned of what had happened through my mentor.” Dexter practically cried.

“Something happened? What?” Darganth asked.

“They got one, I heard that it was a Solar dragon that came too close to the city.”

Hearing this Darganth's dragons fear became fully unleashed. Nearly choking from the weight the air itself seemed to hold, Dexter started to whimper. Staring at him in pure rage, Darganth send a wave of flames towards the unconscious guard, incinerating him nearly instantly.

“I truly don't know anything else, I swear. Only the court magicians know, they were tasked with some ritual.” Dexter cried.

“Then you hold no more worth.” Darganth said coldly.

Before Dexter could even comprehend the meaning of those words, he started to age with visible speed. After not even two second he was nothing more than an old man, dead after three.

Standing there, Darganth took a few deep breaths to calm himself. Opening his eyes again after a few seconds, he looked around the cellar. He was currently in a nearly a hundred meter long corridor, cells with metal bars to each side. Looking back for a second and finding Allaire making her way towards him, he waited for her.

 

During the time between the first guard crashing through the door and her making her way towards him she had kept the rest at bay. Firing arrow after arrow at each of the archers who thought they could hit her, she kept a close eye on the third ranks. She saw them slowly getting braver, dashing to cover closer to the mansion with increasing frequency.

With second ranks falling like flies, the third ranks knew they had to act soon. But while one of them made it across, the ease with which Allaire killed even third order aura soldiers unnerved them. While there was a stark difference to them, they knew that it required skill far above them. No matter how high the difference in mana quality was, to make the most out of it one needed to control the aura to a fine degree.

Instead of the aura usage of a third rank, Allaire's precision in her aura control was similar to that of a millennia old master. This came from the knowledge Darganth gave her, allowing her to skip honing her skills for years.

Before they could get the courage to follow their colleagues example, an overbearing pressure descended on them. Some of the weaker willed early and intermediate second rank guards faint instantly, while even the third ranks became clearly uncomfortable. Being further away, Darganths dragons fear had less effect on them than it had on Dexter. Of course a part of this is also due to Dexter's mind already being shaken.

The only one seemingly unaffected by the dragons fear was Allaire. Instead of feeling an overbearing pressure pressing down on her and making her instincts scream at her to hide, she felt a warm embrace encasing her.

While its effect on her was merely psychological, the dragons fear opened a chasm between her and the third order guards. This became obvious when the first of them tried to rush behind a different cover. A distance that was crossed by him with ease now seemed much further. His reaction time was slowed, he felt a constant fear and he couldn't even will himself to run at his full speed. While he wasn't much slower, this little bit was enough for Allaire to get him.

Seeing their colleague being impaled by an arrow, the remaining three third orders grew even more fearful. Letting go of any semblance of rational thought, they started shaking and cowering in fear. This hit to their psyche made them even more affected by dragons fear, widening Allaires advantage. Though as they stayed in their cover this advantage became unnecessary.

When the dragons fear receded a few moments later, she continued observing them for a bit. Seeing them having no intention of coming out of cover, she jumped down from the tower. Walking inside, she was briefly stunned by the destruction in the room though she soon shook it of and jumped into the basement.

“Seems you had fun.” She said to Darganth with a smile, though this died down once she saw his expression.

“We will have to change our plans, no more investigation after this. Apparently the king already managed to capture a dragon.” He said with bitterness in his voice.

Widening her eyes in surprise, she nodded in agreement to this change. Only then she looked around and noticed that they stood in what seemed to be a prison.

Walking along the corridor for a few meters, she soon heard something. Motioning for Darganth to follow her, the two of them walked further. The cells around them were filled with all manner of beings, some living and some dead. Seeing their misery, Allaire decided to free at least the humanoids, the beasts not having developed enough intelligence to differentiate between different people.

Soon they arrived at the cell where the sounds came from. Inside sat a women, bound to the wall at her neck and arms. Her legs were chained together and each of her metal shackles had intrinsic markings engraved upon it. Seeing the two standing in front of her cell, the women looked at them in disgust.

“Its rare these days that Dexter lets others experiment on me, what an honor.” She said statistically.

“We aren't Dexter's men, whoever that is.” Allaire replied.

“That's the shriveled up corps I aged about three centuries.” Hearing this Allaire nodded in understanding while the women looked at Darganth with interest.

“You killed him, how? And please tell me that it was painful.” She asked him.

“Didn't you listen, I aged him. Advanced application of time magic, aging spells. Doesn't alter the perception of time, just the age of someone or something. Not the worst way to die, though far from pleasant.”

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Hearing this the women started to laugh. Seeing Allaire wanting to free her from the corner of his eye, Darganth stopped her. To her look of confusion he simply pointed at the shackles and explained, “They will kill her once we free her.”

“Yes he is right. But I don't care for that, I only want all of this to end. Though I would ask you to bring my body back to my family, if that is no trouble.” She said to them.

“Sadly it is trouble. We still have something to do, so we don't really have time. If there is anything else that requires less time we would do it.” Allaire told her.

“You already killed that bastard, I don't really have anything else I want. While I would love to see my family again, it is impossible to free me without killing me.”

“Not impossible, just not possible with the limited time we have. The guards are already starting to recover, soon we will be swarmed. Though I have an alternative miss-?” Daranth started.

“Melidre.”

“Miss Melidre. I could make it possible for you to see you family again, even gain power so that something like this never again happens.”

“How?” She asked him, hope in her eyes for the first time during their conversation.

“From what I can see is that you have quite a high affinity for the death element, probably the reason why you are chained here. That gives you an already high potential as an undead and I would add even more to that.”

“So trading captivity for slavery?” She asked skeptical.

“No, I would make you an independent undead. Only the goddess of death could lord over you, not even the most powerful necromancer could force you into its service. What I offer you is the seed to become a lord of death. While you would still have to develop it, once you do your power hardly has its equals.”

Looking at Darganth for a bit in thought, Melidre soon nodded. Focusing, Daranth started speaking in draconic.

“Jaesa morgho, rȳbagon ñuha brōzagon. Nyke gaomagon se paktot ao teptan nyke se mazverdagon zirȳla aōha azantys, ivestragī zirȳla sagon aōha arlie āeksio morgho. Ziry kessa sīmonagon hen tolmiot ilagon naejot aōha paktot.”

(Direct translation: Goddess of death, hear my call. I use the right you gave me and make her your soldier, let her be your new lord of death. She shall rise from far down to your side)

(Loose translation: Goddess of death, hear my call. With the right you bestowed on me I send a soul into you service, let her be you new lord of death. She shall grow from the weakest of you soldiers to even above your apostles and stand by your side as you enforcer.)

(AN: Decided to use Valyrian from GOT as draconic, though it to be fitting. I will probably rarely use it as there are far too few words that the translator I use recognizes so its a pain to write. The second translation is what I originally wanted to write, the first to what I had to change it for the translator to work.)

 

[Realm of death]

Sitting on a mesmerizing throne made from a shining black metal and decorated with dozens of fine details sat a figure hidden completely by gray smoke. The only features visible on her are her glowing white eyes and black flowing hair. Without any forewarning the figure suddenly sprung up, startling everyone else present.

Every being in the enormous hall turned towards the figure. Unfazed by the gaze of hundred of beings, the figure extended her right arm forwards. Slowly the smoke covering it separated, compressing into a sphere the size of a marble floating above her hand. Once her arm was visible till just below her elbow, she made a quick flicking motion. Following this the small marble shot out from the hall faster than anyone present could react.

And as if everything had been an illusion, the smoke slowly started spreading again, covering the feminine hand again. Without saying a word the figure sat down again, before motioning for those present to continue their work.

 

[Back in Aleta]

After finishing those words, a gray mist started to surround Melidre with barely a second delay. Once it fully covered her, hovering barely a centimeter above her skin, Darganth destroyed her shackles. Watching her body suddenly going limb, he stepped back.

“What exactly is a lord of death?” Allaire asked him after a few seconds.

“What the name implies. Elemental gods can name lords for their element, its a more powerful version of an apostle. They each are special, but lords of death specifically have the capabilities to combine the traits of different undead. While they start out looking like they did before their death, they can assimilate these traits and slowly become their own kind of undead. One that is far more powerful than all others, each future one of them loyal to only the goddess of death and the lord that was the first of their kind.

Or at least that can happen, up until now there has never been a true lord of death. Kahena only ever gave two the seed to become a lord of death and both failed. She never really cared whether she would gain powerful subordinates, she was the most powerful elemental goddess and the primordial aren't something she thought she could ever reach. That meant that there also never was an incentive for her.”

Humming in understanding, the two waited for the transformation to finish. After a few moments the mist started to slowly recede, seemingly being absorbed by Melidre.

While this is happening, the city guards started making their way inside. Hesitantly jumping down the hole in the floor, they make their way forwards with caution. The sight of Darganth and Allaire standing there and not caring for them unnerved them, especially with the pressure they experienced still fresh in their mind.

Glancing at the nearing guards from the corner of his eyes, Darganth motioned for Allaire to move into the cell with him. Once inside he closed it off by widening the metal beams, creating a wall to the rest of the cellar.

“That little mana remaining?” Allaire asked him, seeing his visible exhaustion.

“Yes, my little outburst nearly emptied my mana pool. I currently don't want to start an extended fight that I don't have to take.”

Waiting ins silence for nearly a minute until Melidre opened her eyes again, Allaire helped her up. Looking at the wall where the exit once was, she turned to Darganth in confusion.

“How can we get out?”

Pointing towards the ceiling with a smile, Darganth ignored her look of disbelieve and returned to his true form. While he had to limit his size somewhat with the cell being merely two meters high, he was still large enough to carry both.

Understanding his intentions, Allaire climbed onto his back before extending her hand to help Melidre. Taking it hesitantly, she sat down behind her and held on with shaking hand. Just as she was about to ask how they would get through the ground, Darganth let loose a roar at the ceiling that caused it to buckle and explode upwards.

Growing visibly more exhausted from his use of a dragons breath, he jumped up without the use of aura and unfurled his wings. While using a gravity breath like he did was less mana intensive than replicating it with magic, it still cost him his remaining mana. Even then he chose this method only due to gravities unique situation, as while it is an advanced application of space it was also closely connected to the time element. Thus it profited from both of his strongest affinities and was one of his strongest and most used weapons.

Seeing the guards around him look at him in shock, he took flight before they could reorganize themselves. Quickly gaining height while flying towards the city wall, he only relaxed once they had over a kilometer distance to it. While this was still in the range in which third ranks could hit their target, he doubted that they could reach back to the wall fast enough.

 

Slowly descending while nearing Jennia's position, he found her sleeping just a short bit away from where they had separated. Landing near her, she slowly lifted her head before smiling brightly once saw him.

“Took your sweet time. Though it seems you did use it effectively.” She said, looking towards Melidre.

“Its not like that, she wont even travel with us.” He said before turning to Melidre, “You will have to take you own path, but you should already know that, right.”

“Yes. And I am thankful for this chance, maybe we will see each other again. Till then I wish you luck.” With those words she turned and slowly made her way deeper into the forest.

“Do you think she will succeed?” Allaire asked after a few moments.

“Likely, this words doesn't have any other elemental lords that would try and hunt her.”

 

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