So needy. Astrid kicked a nearby boulder on her way over to the castle, shattering it into fragnted shrapnel.
The thought of having to maybe kill Lord Darian didn’t sit well with her. From what she could see, he was a good man. Conflicted with violence and war, but a good man nonetheless.
But there was a bigger issue at hand. Defeating him, or taking this ‘Aura’ from him was one thing, actually doing it, was another. Astrid had watched him in battle. She shivered. It wasn’t a fight she could win. No way in hell.
So that ant that she had to walk the diplomatic route. Yes! How difficult would it be to extract vital information regarding a Lord’s secret technique that he had used to dominate countless battlefields before?
Yeah… Astrid didn’t fancy her chances.
Astrid threw a rock with her mind this ti, crashing it against the ironwood tree. Thwack.
Well whatever. No-one can refuse my overwhelming noble presence! Let’s just ask. The worst he can say is no… right?
“No.” Lord Darian shook his head. He was standing at the large table with arms crossed. Unlike what Astrid believed, the lord of the castle didn’t look angry at her request. Rather, it was helplessness.
“What do you an no?” Astrid pouted.
Lord Darian shook his head. He picked up a pitcher, and poured the rosy liquid into two cups, then offered Astrid one of them. He picked the other up, and drank it in one go.
Picking up her cup, she sniffed it. Sweet like honey, with a scent of plucked flowers. It slt delicious. Astrid brought it to her lips, then sipped. It tasted delicious. She quickly finished the cup, then tapped the rim, asking for more.
Lord Darian poured until her cup was full.
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” He said. “You have helped us greatly. Hugely. I can’t even begin to repay you for what you’ve done.”
“Huh?” Astrid tilted her head. “For bringing war on both sides?”
Astrid was referring to both the Ixtalians and the Sovereign. Although the gateway was closed, who knows what danger she had put them under? Who was to say that the gateway would open once more, and they would send in a proper army this ti for revenge.
“Well I admit, your actions placed us on unsteady grounds,” Lord Darian continued. “More accurately, they were the cogs to the war machine.”
“Right…” Astrid shrunk her shoulders.
“Right. You were right. And I was wrong.” Lord Darian poured himself another drink and slamd it down the hatch. “I can’t avoid war. No matter how far I travel. No matter where I go. It will always find in this god forsaken world. That is what you reminded of, Astrid. And now I have a powerful ally.”
“The Ixtalians…”
“The Ixtalians,” Lord Darian repeated. “With their help, their technology, we can reclaim our land. Reclaim our world. One step at a ti.” He paused. The room turned silent. Then he said, “You are from another world aren’t you?”
Astrid stood still then burst out laughing. “? Don’t be ridiculous.” She continued laughing, holding her stomach. But Darian wasn’t laughing.
“You asked why I ran from war?” Lord Darian released a weak smile. “If you were from this world, you would know what is happening to it. The world is being devoured. It won’t be long until nothing is left.”
“By what?”
“By the void.”
Astrid frowned. Was it the sa void that belonged to the Voidmare dungeon? Or was it a different entity?
“The void?” Astrid asked.
“It started two years ago,” Lord Darian said. “Small, strange monsters erged from the forests, mountains, the ocean, and the desert. All around the world, they appeared. At first, we thought nothing of it. How could we? They were few in numbers. They were weak. With new species of monsters always being found, we all thought it was just another monster erging from evolution.”
Lord Darian sighed. He lifted the jug to the brim of his glass and tipped, but only a few drops left the container. Grumbling, he walked to the side of the room, grabbed a new bottle, then resud the process. Taking a sip, he continued, “Then their numbers grew to the point we could do longer ignore it. The monsters destroyed settlents, devoured villages, and annihilated towns. Then it appeared–”
Astrid leaned forward. She could tell that the void monsters didn’t stop at a few villages. No, the emotion blazing within Darian’s eyes told her everything she needed to know. The devastation they brought was far greater than she could comprehend.
So that’s why he travelled so far. It was to escape the voidlings. To provide his people a new ho.
Astrid listened.
“A gateway from another world,” He said. “It ripped open a hole in space, like a god had tore it asunder with his mighty hands. From it, an army the likes I have never seen before stread out into the world. It was never ending. Purple monster after monster, each with thorned tentacles. Blades covered every inch of their bodies, as if they were born to be natural weapons. Although I was very far away from where it spawned, the sight will haunt for life eterna.”
“They didn’t just kill and pillage. They were a plague. Wherever they travelled, the land–” Lord Darian paused. “The land died. Green grass and lush forests turned to sand. Animals turned blighted. Water couldn’t be drunk. Food couldn’t be consud. They stripped the natural materials. Star Iron, Cold Copper. Whatever it was, they devoured it. Because of that, the natural order of the world was destroyed.”
He took a breath and looked at Astrid. Flashes of turbulent mories flit within his eyes before continuing, “Tell . What happens to a world when all of its natural resources are devoured?”
The answer was obvious. It was what had happened to her own world. Monsters appeared, took everything they had, then the world fought back with natural disasters…
Astrid’s eyes widened. Did this have sothing to do with Ruitera? What were the odds of it happening not just to her own planet, but Lord Darian’s as well?
Was she brought here for another reason?
Seeing the answer on her expression, Lord Darian displayed a sad smile and said, “The world fights back. Deserts claim the land. The waters display their natural destruction. Winds show us just how mighty they can be. The earth–”
The earth shook. Astrid braced her legs. Hovering the next second, she looked at the everchanging expression of Lord Darian.
“And earthquakes?” Astrid asked.
Before the ti when Ruitera was swallowed with water, that was one of the main reasons why her world had transford to what it was now. When an earthquake arrived, so did the waves of the ocean. It would threaten to swallow the world whole.
Astrid trembled slightly. There wasn’t much she feared, but world ending natural disasters could be counted as one of them. Hairy spiders the other…
But Lord Darian shook his head. In a blur, he left the throne room. Astrid chased him. Stopped just outside of the castle walls, he gazed into the sky. Astrid followed. At first, there was only a strange blot in the sky. Far away.
Astrid flew up into the air and squinted her eyes. In the far distance, the dot appeared above a cluster of three islands. One was far larger than the rest, but it was difficult to gauge the sheer size of it because of the distance they were from it. They were the islands she had spotted before.
Glancing down to the Lord, Astrid shouted, “What are those islands in the distance?”
“The ruler of the Anchorage Isles. He’s a good man with a loving wife. His people adore him.” Lord Darian’s praising words were cold.
Astrid found out why in the next second.
The little purple dot in the distance exploded. The air distorted. And then, like a divine monster had raked open a tear in the fabric of space, it transford into an enormous purple scar that turned darker the further it travelled.
From it, thousands of dots left and descended upon the island.
“Should we do sothing?” Astrid shouted, but Lord Darian didn’t move.
“There is nothing I can do. We need to get ready. The void won’t spare us, no matter how far we travel to escape.”
“There must be sothing?” Astrid fidgeted with her fingers. She floated down, stopping in front of the Lord. It was ti to ask him the question. “Your aura. Why can’t you teach ?”
Lord Darian shook his head. “It’s not sothing I can teach. Not usually.”
Astrid perked up at his words.
“It’s my people's bloodline. I have it. My father has it. My generals have it. It is called an internal engine. From it, I transform mana into pure energy. Like an engine.”
“And I need this engine?” Astrid asked to which Lord Darian nodded in response.
Continuing, Astrid asked, “Can I see it?”
It might be an intrusive question, but Astrid had to see it. The Eye-Queen made it very clear that she was capable of learning how to use it. Or how to create an internal engine, or whatever. That crazed woman wouldn’t say sothing for no reason. Especially saying it with that almighty bloodlust…
Astrid’s heart beat faster at the recollection.
“Why–”
“Because I want strength,” Astrid said honestly. “The strength to protect my friends and my family. The strength to travel to where I want to go. Wherever that may be. For that reason, I risk offending you. Please?”
Lord Darian gazed at her in silence, then turned his attention to the massive tear raked into the sky. He smiled. “That’s a good reason, Astrid. Go ahead. You must have so ability to do that yourself? Otherwise I’m afraid I can’t show you, even if I wanted to.”
Astrid nodded. “I do, just hold still. And Lord Darian?”
“Hm?”
“Thank you.”
Astrid used Psych Domain and sunk her mind into the Lord’s mind. It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for. And right where the mana container was, Astrid’s eyes widened in shock at the incredible sight…
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