After spending so much ti in Cintre, I should have been more accustod to the fortress. Maybe I should have even had so more people to call friends or, at worst, ’acquaintances,’ but Clove and Fern were all I had. Clove was like family at this point, and Fern was my family. Jer was not too bad either, but he felt more like a subordinate than a friend.
The minotaur demihuman followed whenever he saw . He wanted to spar with after what Clove said to him–the details of his conversation with Clove remained a mystery to –and that’s what I did. I sparred with Jer, testing my Chira form while also practicing shifting into other monsters.
Jer stood no chance. He lost every bout within a minute, but that did not seem to bother the young minotaur demihuman. If anything, it was all the more reason for him to follow , ask for pointers, and more. Alas, I was not exactly a war veteran, nor did I know how to help him understand his Bloodline better.
Clove was just better in that regard. The young fae helped Jer, which was nice to see considering that Clove was a little violent when those older than him were weaker.
One way or another, I didn’t consider my ti spent in Cintre as wasted. Sure, I could have pushed further, sneaked into the Eserian or even the Grand Dungeon, but that was not what I wanted. And I only did what I wanted. That was a promise I made to myself a while ago: to stay true to myself and not let my Cursed Power fog my mind.
I did not want Shift to change any more. My personality belonged to no one, and it was to stay like that.
Days passed, but it was no more than six weeks after we arrived in Cintre that sothing changed. The tension in the air was the first to shift, then ca the commotion. Footsteps reverberated throughout the entire fortress, catching our attention.
"What’s going on?" Fern was the first to get out of bed. I followed shortly and scrambled to keep up with her as she reached the door to the hallway.
Clove was already there, his ears perked up. "There are people I’ve never seen before. Many."
The extent of ’many’ was not quite clear, yet it was definitely the correct term. We rushed out of the inn, only to see rows upon rows of people. No less than a hundred n and won stepped through the fortress gate, entering Cintre. Clad in armor made of a tal I’d never seen before, the soldiers marched through Cintre only to stop before Gareus Gaia’s mansion. The Official of Cintre stepped out, wearing similar yet more impressive armor than the soldiers, his presence was more imposing than before.
The emblem of House Gaia was etched on every piece of armor, aning the soldiers belonged to Gaia’s military force. That would also explain why most of the demi-humans had brown, lizard-like traits and other beast-like features that hinted at an elental attunent to the earth elent, of course.
"There are more outside," Clove said. "That’s only a portion of their army. Probably the captains."
I thought as much. It only made sense that House Gaia had more than a hundred fighters. But how many were there exactly? Curious, I transford into a Terro Sparrow to rise high within seconds.
What unfolded below was shocking to say the least. Cintre was surrounded by thousands of people. Not everyone wore the sa armor as Gareus and his forces, but House Gaia was clearly the strongest force present. But there were more. A large force of riders, mounted on monsters that only vaguely reminded of horses. They appeared to be a mixture of horses, lizards, and so other kind of creature that covered the lizard body with long hair.
The mounts did not seem particularly fast, but they moved around with an agility that didn’t befit their broad physical structure. As curious as they were, I was more interested in the n and won moving further away from the main forces. Fire sprouted from their ankles, wrists, and necks. They weren’t demihumans but belonged to a race I’d never seen before. And among them were crimson-skinned elves and dwarves with much darker shades than I thought they’d have.
After staying in the sky for a few seconds, I descended back to the ground. When I did, several soldiers looked at , hands on their sheaths. They were ready to strike whatever wild monster dared to step into the fortress, but Gareus Gaia stopped them. I transford back into my Chira form and greeted the surprised soldiers with a simple nod.
Then I turned back to my mate and friend.
"Looks like they’re finally on the move." I told the others what I’d seen from above. Clove just nodded, while Fern muttered, "It was about ti. They’re slow."
We hadn’t been much faster. Honestly, the ti we had spent in the Eserian, leaving the forest and informing the Forea Alliance about the dungeon entrance, had been slower. In a way, we had wasted a lot of ti in the Eserian. Not that it hadn’t been necessary for to grow, but we could have been a lot faster by putting our lives in danger. And that was the crux. We didn’t want to endanger our lives.
Fern and Clove had needed that ti as well. While they did say it was all about making sure I was going to make it out of the forest alive, I knew that both Fern and Clove had their own inner demons to deal with.
At the ntion of the demon, the Trickster Demon stirred. Our bond hadn’t changed all that much in the last few weeks. He was still my Familiar, but we had learned how to communicate with each other. Sowhat. Sohow.
He could hear what I thought, and I could... well, I could roughly guess what he wanted from . Usually, it was the sa thing anyway–the Trickster Demon wanted to fight. To kill. As for what I was supposed to kill, my Familiar didn’t care.
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