Delanna had spent the afternoon in a comatose state inflicted by Tom. Absorbing so much corruption had pushed her powers well beyond even Sariah’s current level, but it pushed her into a deep madness. Tom had asked Cully about cleansing the energy, but the Pure Spirit was unable to.

“Corruption is not a thing that can simply be dispelled. That energy was created and clings to Essences like tar. Blood elves contain an enormous source of that corruption on their Realm to this day. Long ago, when we first gained magic, we had thought to just cleanse the corruption that we could now see in the Magical Sight. Centuries passed, and millions of Spirits were sent to The Afterlife. That realm was created for Sariah by the Dragons, did you know that?” She stopped and looked down at Tom.

“No. Keep telling story.” Tom had been nonstop holding Delanna into the state she was in. Kavon had made several energy stones, tied them to a blanket and covered Tom with the blanket. Every time Delanna’s mind lashed out, Tom would have to use the full power of one of the stones to fight back. It was taxing, but the Mind Flayer cared deeply about Delanna and would not fail.

Cully started again. “Sariah went to the Blood Elf realm to request a favor. She gathered the court and had the Necromancers enter a ritual circle that she’d made. We all assumed that the circle was for us. None of us questioned her, we still wouldn’t. She told us to lock hands at the edge and place our feet half in the circle and half out. Once we did she placed her hand my back, Srit placed his hand on Morrigan’s back and they lit a beam of energy between themselves. Power like we’d never felt was coursing through us and caused the circle to expand. Before long the circle encompassed the entire Blood Elf realm. It’s not a large realm like this one.”

Tom recoiled for a moment and two of the stones winked out. “Are you okay?” That was the first time Cully had seen two of the stones die out at once. Delanna’s mind was adapting to Tom’s efforts.

“No. Keep calm with story.” Tom strained the words as Kavon walked in with more stones. Lily had taken a shining to Kavon since the “Lily murder dolls” were made and stayed with him nearly every moment since Delanna’s sleep state. “Smoke girl. You not help?” Tom asked Lily.

“No, we were both swimming in the corruption. She kicked me out because, she threw up mocking air quotes and spoke in a deeper register than Delanna, “using your power in this mental state would be very dangerous for everyone”. Then she took away all the corruption except for what I’m made of. I’m sorry.”

Tom said nothing but turned back and focused on his task.

“Sariah finally told us that the corruption that we had cleaned from the sprits had begun to corrupt us. You see, she was not with us every day and the corruption grew slowly, we couldn’t see it like she did. She had created the circle to pull all the corruption into a single point. Since she was not having to separate the corruption from us, only the environment, she could do it quickly. “I need you all to focus on this stone.” She told us. “Imagine pushing your energy into here, I will do the rest.” We did as our Lady told us, as we always have. Hours later the circle closed and only encompassed her. From our side it looked like two energies trying to occupy the exact same space. Shockingly to us, it looked like the corruption was winning. Instead of sitting back, we Necromancers decided to act. We placed our hand on the protective barrier Sariah’s was fighting behind and tried to push energy into it. Our energy rebounded and knocked us all flat on our backs. Morrigan came up with an idea. She was the purest of us all, our Prime. With no hesitation she cut her own throat. Being Necromancers, we were able to see her spirit enter the barrier and join the fight. Several others did the same thing. I was the least pure of them because of the deaths I wrought on our enemies, so I was not allowed to join the fight. When the battle finally came to an end and the barrier broke open Sariah was seated with a lap full of crystals. She had joined them into a ball. “

Cully’s eyes shone with reverence at the memory. “I’d never seen anything so sad and beautiful. Sariah had taken all that corruption and locked it inside of a prison made of Pure Spirits. That day created the oaths that Necromancers have followed ever since. We continue to serve the universe in death, forever giving up our spirit to either contain the corruption, joining ourselves with the power in that crystalline ball, or we move to The Afterlife and serve as leaders there. Leading often involves decisions that do your Essence damage, so there are always six of us that are capable, and kind of corrupted. Bonding with Delanna has actually cleansed me completely, I will not be able to lead again. Sariah was going to create another place, a realm for the corruption to live in, but before she could, the Ancients had tricked the Humans into fighting her. They locked her away to a place that only she could reach. When I died in one of the battles, I was chosen to be one of the three leaders in The Afterlife. Lilith was sent as the guardian. Dragons are uniquely suited to defense.”

“Delanna uses the corruption as power. I fear it’s a great risk to her spirit. She must find a balance. Unfortunately, I cannot cleanse her because of how tightly wound her corruption is to her spirit. I do not have the skill to seperate her from it and it's too late to teach her how to control it. Essentially, it could kill us both.” Cully sighed in resignation.

“So…Why not make the place Bitch Lady talked about? Send excess corruption to bad place like you send shiny blue Essence to good place?” Tom’s question caught Cully off guard.

“It’s...not that easy.” The spirit paused, “One moment.” She opened a portal to The Afterlife and called into it. “Lilith, please come here.” Moments later the Dragon Lord came through the portal in the form of an amazingly beautiful woman.

“How may I serve?” She bowed.

“Could Dragons create an alternate version of The Afterlife with no assistance from Sariah or Delanna?” She asked.

“It is true that we’ve created many domains, our natural ability to realm walk as she does allowed expansion of our influence. It is possible with enough effort, but it would be inferior without their assistance.”

“I need to know if it’s possible. Tell me about what you know of your origon and purpose, please.” She sat and readied herself to write notes.

“Mother believed that we were born already connected to our Lady. She always said that our purpose was to guard the Lady, that’s why our magical energies are so powerful. Creation and defense are where we excel. I agree with her on most things about our past, but I believe something unintentional happened on our birth. I think that we were meant to be born as a part of the Lady but were separated.”

“More detail please.?” Cully scratched notes furiously.

“We are beings made of energy. When energy has no purpose it’s completely feral and potentially dangerous. You can see examples of this when you first wield magic and harm yourself. Until you can refine that energy and use it with clear purpose, it’s just as likely to attack you as it is your target. Somehow, during our creation we were tamed and refined just like the new realms and life we create. Everywhere we travel, we serve as guardians to the people. Where did that purpose come from? Our scales are tougher than all but Fae metals, why? Dragons have been compelled to give their long lives for the life of their charges, why? Everything about what we are indicates that we were supposed to be guardians, but why would we be overly powerful if not to protect against greater powers set on destruction? Ancients have never penetrated the Dragon Realm. Even when at our weakest, we have defended against every invader to our domain, and those we’ve created. Every Dragon feels as though they are searching for something from their birth to their death. I was the only exception to this, can you guess when i felt like my search was over?”

“When you protected our Lady." Cully was sold. Lilith was always fierce, but her final battles in service to Sariah had shown a stronger side of her.

“Yes.” Lilith glowed brighter and smiled.

“Have other Dragons not felt this? If you’re right, the entire Dragon race would be united in purpose.” Cully had never heard any of this history since Dragons were known to say very little in their long lives.

“None. I begged her to go to my realm, and she tried. Those nasty Ancients got her before she ever made it there. We got those bastards back though.”

“The Ancients? How?” Lily had come in at some point with Kavon, both sat enthralled at the history lesson.

“Alvarak, our strongest, had created a way to nullify the Ancients power to some degree. Secretly he traveled the realms and placed the spells. Elyanaas’Vir created a spell that, when triggered, would drag Alvarak’s spells to the greatest source of Ancient power. We recovered shards of Lady Death from her fallen kin to power the spells. Yasmiria, our best creator, had bound each spell to a shard and had Alvarak place defenses on the shard to prevent tampering. It was rather brilliant. So long as the wish to destroy Ancients or their servants was present, and the corruption of spirit was minimal, the stone could be wielded as a stationary weapon.”

“How did you make the Ancient weapons and energies ineffective Lilith? Sariah had quietly come into the room and was standing behind Kavon, Lily stood on top of her hand copying the stern pose she was making.

“Lady” She bowed deeply. “I am not completely sure; spell work was not my strength. I was an architect of new lands. Alvarak died when the spells were activated, he had to link himself directly to them and essentially became a prisoner trapped inside. Elyanaas’Vir died trying to defend the Mind Flayer Realm from surviving Ancients. She could be summoned from The Afterlife. Yasmiria may be able to help you as well. You would have to travel to the Dragon Realm and see her though.”

“Thank you, I will do that as soon as I can. Tom, how is my daughter?” she sat down behind Tom, placing her legs to his sides. Her hands covered the sides of his head and she touched her forehead to the back of his neck.

“She is strong. Too strong. Look.” Tom opened the connection like he had before, allowing Sariah willful entry into his mind.

Now towering above Sariah in his full Mind Flayer glory, Tom pointed to an enormous mass of corrupted essence in the distance. A bubble of energy surrounded the violent mass, an orb flitting all over the wall repairing cracks. Every so often, the orb would be destroyed by a part of the mass that broke through. A new orb would form instantly and proceed to repair cracks and flaws in the shield.

“You’ve turned Kavon’s energy into an automated repair tools to compliment the nature of his Maker Magic. Brilliant. The shield, this looks like you’ve encased her at great risk to yourself. Hold her for me for a short time please. I must fetch something to fix this.” She popped out of his mind after re-invigorating his energy stores.

Standing next to Tom was a Gnome shaped figure made of swirling colors. “You know, all you have to do is put the rings back on and I’ll be able to inhabit them again. You’d be back to your full Mind Flayer self.”

“Yeah.” Tom replied. “You just LOOK like a filthy Gnome, but I’ve come to realize that you’re not one. You’re a species of one. I know what being lonely is like. Stay as long as you'd like.”

“Thank you” the Gnome looking being stated. The two from swirled together and worked to strengthen the barrier holding Delanna’s corrupted energy.

Sariah was pleased that she could still tether herself to the Blood Elf realm. Though the connection was frail, she was able to acquire the crystalline ball that was fused with pure spirits and return.

She placed the ball on Delanna’s chest and wrapped the unconscious woman's arms around it. Once it was secure she sat behind Tom as she did before and requested to join the link. Joining Tom’s mind, she took the strain of the battle onto herself, allowing Tom and his cursed essence to re-take their mental projections. Please focus on maintaining the mental link while I remove the corruption. This much corruption will have its own mind, it will attempt to lash out at the mental link to shut down our efforts as soon as you drop the barrier.

Both forms bowed, swirled and mixed, then began to perform their task. Sariah approached the barrier, placing her naked hand on it and dispelled the energy back to Tom. The mass of corruption, formerly contained and compressed into the bubble, exploded in size seeming to stretch it's limbs. As if recognizing Sariah, the mass recoiled and took a defensive posture.

Sariah reached her power into the center of the corruption where she felt Delanna’s mind, injured, but still whole.

She pulled hard and the form began to break from the corruption's bonds. After what felt like an eternity, Sariah had severed the hooks that were holding her to the center of the mass. Random surges in the corruption became more and more frequent as Delanna was pulled closer to Sariah. Once she was completely seperated the mass took on a much more violent stance, but didn't attack.

“Stand tall daughter, we will contain this together. I know you hurt, but you must pay attention and learn.” Delanna’s form was still fuzzy and weak but stood and nodded.

“You see, there is great power in corruption, we are all responsible for its creation. You wield it well, but in your infancy, it can overpower you quickly.” Sariah placed her arms directly to the front, palms together and fingers extended. A swath of the corruption recoiled, forming a clear path through the bottom center portion of it.

“Corruption will not obey you if you do not understand it. Think about Lilith, she is pure corruption but serves you. All energy in a strong enough concentration will form its own sentience and purpose if not guided and shaped. Even the energy inside of my realm is currently feral. Once released it will have to be tamed, that’s where a Mage comes into play.” They walked inside of the pathway she had created until they stood directly in the center of the mass.

“This corruption is rebelling against your control. When you fought the Duke, your purpose was clear and lined up with the true nature of it. Essentially, when you consumed the corruption you made a pact of destruction and violence. You were able to feel satiated when your goals were reached, but the pact remained.” Sariah reached out and laid her hands on the mass lovingly.

“As you can see, I do not fear the corruption, no do I wish to destroy it.” She placed Delanna’s hand next to hers. “I simply wish to conserve it for a moment when it could be used in full. It is a young mind, like a baby. The more energy that joins it, the more mature it will become. Until then you must care for it and learn to speak to it.” The mass calmed down and no longer lashed at the pair.

“Sure, once you’re powerful enough you can force it to do as you will. Forcing magic to do something it's not intended to do make it far less potent. You wouldn't expect a hammer to cut like a sword, do not expect corruption to be anything more than destructive and violent. You’re not strong enough yet, anyway. Promise it that you will still reign down death and destruction on your enemies if it agrees to be dormant until that moment. You must mean it. If you do not uphold your promise, it will turn on you and do what it does best, destroy.” The mass slowly condensed into the shape of a child with no discernable features. The child’s hands were still touching Sariah and Delanna’s.

Mentally, Delanna relayed the promise, meaning it to her core. She still had an Emperor to punish.

Cutting its eyes, the form gave off the impression of promised death if mistreated again. Delanna peered into its “face” and nodded.

Sariah removed her hand and stood back. She learns faster than I do. Happily, the boy and Delanna both smiled malevolently. A portion of the boy separated into a separate cloud shaped mass.

“This portion does not accept your terms, it has determined that you are an enemy. We will make you a place to send corruption like this. Until then, lift your gauntlet hand and restrain it. Do not convey destruction, you cannot destroy it. “If it chooses to fight, I will contain it for you this time.” Sariah sent that message over to the mass as well.

Only a moment passed before the mass reshaped into an orb, floated to Delanna’s hand and rested. “Good, now carry it with you when we return to our bodies. There is a device that will contain the energy for you, place it in the device.

Tom closed the pathway that connected his mind to Delanna’s. All three of them woke and Delanna sat up. On her chest, the crystal ball shifted and created a small opening. Delanna gave the corruption to it and watched it close. Once sealed she fell back into sleep.

“Cully, please return this to your people. I heard your conversation about a new realm for corruption. I love the idea, please have the Dragons prepare it, I will finish the spells when it's completed. Thank you, old friend. I promise, we will spend time catching up one day.” Sariah softly handed the Pure Spirt ball to Cully. “Just activate the spell that opens up the Blood Elf Realm to begin your travel.”

“You always were such a needy bitch.” Cully playfully said. “I will, of course, do as you command.” She bowed and opened the path.

Tom was snoring peacefully, he’d fallen asleep where he sat. Kavon, your creation served me wonderfully. Thank you. I have a project for you also. Please take this shard, she handed him the small shard that Corvin had sent her as a gift. “See what you can manage to do with it. I wish to see your power grow.”

“Yes ma’am. Master Arand has requested that when finished here, you meet him in the courtyard. Fair warning, there are a lot of Fae, Beastkin, Giants, shapeshifters and even a few hybrids there. They all wish to see you.” He pointed in the direction of the courtyard.

Sariah had Sub show her around and eventually head to the courtyard. This city was amazing. It appeared to be made completely out of naturally occurring structures. Some homes were made of boulders that looked as though a giant hand had molded them and then set them down. Towering trees with bases that had to spread roots for hundreds of miles they were so big had hollow spots with beds and possessions placed in them. Not a single living person was in sight, they all waited in the court yard.

“Sub, have you seen Srit? He ran off as soon as we got here.” Nearing the courtyard and hearing the immense noise of a crowd had her worried. Srit was a crowd pleaser, but, he usually took things way too far.

“No ma’am. Last I saw, Tommy and Srit were headed to meet our hosts.” Sub stepped forward and opened the doorway leading to the main hall.

Several twists and turns later they ran into Erection. Being a shy golem, he chose to wait for their arrival before facing the masses. “Hello, Blue Lady. We go to meet people now?” somehow Erections cheeks seemed red. He handed Srit’s backpack to her. “Little red monkey leaves this.”

“You can go assist Kavon. He stayed back to experiment with a shard. I won’t make you face this many people.” She patted the poor guy on the shoulder.

“Thank you! I go!” Erection bounded out down the hallway causing micro-tremors as he ran away.

From where they stood, Sariah could hear Srit’s voice echo across the courtyard.

“Assassins from the trees let lose a murderous volley! Demon fire melted men and arrows, showing their folly!” Loud cheers erupted and quieted quickly.

“Wave after wave, the Humans assault wouldn’t stop. Bored with the losers I let loose a one-tenth-power horizontal *pause* IMPY CHOP!” Another storm of cheers came from the crowd. Sariah decided to have a little fun with this.

“Some twenty fierce fighters did my chop lay low! I raised back my huge arm for the final Impy Chop show.” Not a peep was made from the riveted crowd.

She peaked out of the door and seen that Srit’s back was to her. He was standing with his right arm cocked behind him, coiled and ready to unleased a "Impy Chop". Every being in the crowd was silent, anticipation building for the story to continue.

She pushed open the door, bag in hand and snuck up behind the unsuspecting Imp.

“Power incarnate, men looked upon my visage and froze, others ran away screaming whilst soiling their clothes!” The crowd busted into laughter.

“Godly Impness contained at the end of my hand. This last Impy chop powerful enough to kill every man!” *Cheers*

“I started my swing, time stood still.” He lowered his voice, displaying a slow-motion Imp Chop. “I… “*WHACK*

A four-foot-long dick slapped Srit across the courtyard, standing in his place Sariah picked up on his sentence without pause. “…was suddenly slapped silly with a four-foot-long dong. Caught in the middle of telling the legend all wrong.” Laughter and cheers were exploding from everyone.

“Tommy the savior was a hero that day! A brute made to kill me, Tommy stood in his way!” Tommy was red faced, sitting between two Fae men that had to be Corvin and Arand.

“Death came for me quickly, an axe in mid fall, surely today was my final day...my fall.” *Silence*

“Like wind the Hero flew with sword at the ready. All noised ceased save for his strong heart beating steady.”

"Tommy thrusted straight up with force so great, he unburdened the man’s neck of his heads heavy weight. Tommy was being lifted and surfed across a wildly screaming crowd.

“He stood a God amongst men, violence unbridled. Sariah, The Destroyer was saved by a child.”

“And so, goes the legend of Tommy the God Blade! Let it echo through time, may it never fade!”

Somehow the crowd lit with louder cheers as Sariah took a bow.

"Lady Sariah. We welcome you to the city of the Free People. Thank you for coming. I am The Raven, known here as Corvin. "This", he pointed to the other man, "is The Wolf, known here as Arand." We extend every hospitality and protection of our fair city to you as honored guest."

"Thank you, Lord Raven and Lord Wolf. I accept your hospitality and protection. What may I do for your people to show my thanks for sheltering both my daughter and her refugees?

Arand stood at this with an amused grin. “You mistake our intentions, Lady Sariah. We have requested your presence so that we may swear fealty to you and provide you aid in the coming battle. Something terrible is coming for us all. We wish for you to unite our people and lead us.”

“I have no intentions to rule anyone. I simply want to be made whole once again and live. Regretfully, it appears I must go to war again. I cannot accept fealty of followers based on their leaders, only individual oaths mean anything." Expecting this to shock the pair she returned their amused grin.

Every man woman and child went to one knee professing their aid in whatever manner their culture swore in. Sariah could feel thousands of promises lock into place. Holy shit! She did her best not to let the shock register on her face.

“Well,” With a knowing smile Corvin spoke, “One of your problems appears to be solved. We can grant another of your wishes to a lesser degree. He held his hand towards the eastern door. “Bring out the big one.”

The doors burst open and two Giants came out with a cart in tow. They stopped the cart directly in front of Sariah, kneeled and then lifted the metal top from the cart.

Sariah’s heart was racing, she’d never admit it, but she loved getting presents. She reached inside the cart and withdrew a silver hammer that stood nearly as large as she was. The hammer’s head was secured to the shaft with a crystal that pierced the entire width. Sharp bladed sections jutted out across the breadth of the sides. The rear of the head had a dangerously sharp set of claws that could puncture the hardest of armor. All down the shaft of the weapon spell work was engraved to perform thousands of different things. At the base of the shaft a spiked ball was attached. 8 spikes rounded the sides and one larger spike, at least ten inches long, tipped the ball in line with the shaft.

Sariah handled the hammer with shocking ease, her enhanced strength made obvious to the crowd. She performed a complex series of twists, leaps and swings that caused the air in the courtyard to displace. Everyone was silent, awe struck seeing a weapon that had to be carted out by TWO giants wielded so effortlessly. She finally stopped and stroked the head of the hammer, infusing the crystals in the shaft with energy.

“Free People.” A tear fell from her cheek. “You have no idea how much this means to me. It took me 400 years to craft this weapon. I thought to never see it again. I will never forget this moment.”

Everyone erupted into cheers, save for the two men she figured provided the gift. She already admired the Fae men. Wise rulers never allowed a personal success to be credited to themselves. Every success they achieved was not theirs, but their peoples. Both men locked eyes with her, grinned and slightly bowed their heads.

“Lady Sariah.” Corvin stood. “We have more gifts for you and your party, but I fear that they are more suited to a smaller venue. Once we’re done, we can allow the people to see our full bounty if you wish.” Everyone in the crowd raised their elbows to their sides and placed their fists together knuckle to knuckle in a unified acceptance. This action displayed to their leaders that they not only accepted but felt no insult. Kings of their Court. These men were born to this.

“Thank you again Free People. I will retire with Lord Raven and Lord Crow.” The crowd once again gave the signal of acceptance and began to clear while Sariah and her party moved to meet their hosts.

Corvin and Arand met them at the entrance to the main hall. “Your remaining gift is in the vault. We heard about your susceptibility to arrows.” Both laughed. “We figured that a fix was needed. I know that your natural armor is much stronger than anything we’ve ever seen, but until you have it we’ll keep you alive with some un-natural armor.”

Reaching the vault, Arand and Corvin both sliced open their palms and placed them on the door. Their blood flowed through an intricate spell weave and then flashed as the doors opened.

Bonded? They bonded on their own? Or is this a vault from before my exile? This is so much faster than I thought if they managed to bond with no help. Sariah would be pleased to see bonded forming naturally, but with the energy being so feral and scarce it was dangerous. Feral energy could cause a good many people to be consumed by their bond. Feral magics were stronger than refined magics and far more prone to backfire. Even in her prime there were mages that destroyed themselves when not spending enough time honing their craft.

Resting on a table in the vault was an amazing looking set of armor. This armor was anything but normal. She wanted to rush in and play around with it but waited impatiently for it to be handed to her.

Arand spoke up as he walked around the armor. “The metals are made from a combination of Fae metals, the platinum color is a bit more visible than we’d have liked, but it’s one of the downsides we couldn’t work out. Corvin provided the base material from the Winter Courts vaults and I shaped it. Deep in the ground they have diamonds, this metal is formed below those. Dragon Fire Forges are the only places that can smelt it, but it takes years to make it malleable and it’s impossible to be worked with any detail. We tested the durability of it against our strongest warriors with their best weapons. We had to forge them new weapons. The tradeoff for its hardness is that it’s insanely heavy.” He gestured for her to check out the armor in more detail.

Sariah walked forward and tested the weight. A summary inspection told her that she’d be able to use the armor, but it would need to be fitted better. Scaled armor like this was often vulnerable to arrows but was easier to maintain and better against blunt force. Every time you hit a scale, four of five other scales assisted in absorbing the blow. Movement was also much better in scaled armor than full plate.

Corvin strode forward. “You will notice that there are daggers made of that very same metal. Arand is a true artist with metal work. I am known across the Realm for my metal work, but he is the hidden master behind the forge. The blades you have here are perfectly balanced and as sharp as razors. In total there are twelve blades. To extract a blade, you will have to attune yourself to the spells.”

Sariah finally looked at the spell work in the armor. Woven everywhere, on every piece of scale, were amazingly beautiful and complex spells. She didn’t yet know what the spells would do, but they were masterful and powerful. Corvin was right, had she put this on and tried to use a spell, she’d have most likely suffered from a great deal of recoil. Oddly enough, there was only a very small amount of energy keeping the spells together.

“May I put it on?” She asked, seeming like a child with a new toy.

“Absolutely.” Arand said. “Just don’t put any energy into it yet. I will help you attune to it. There are safeguards I’ve put in place. Corvin left a rather nasty spell in there as well.”

Sariah hefted the armor over her head dropped it on her shoulders. “It will need a bit of modification in size if I’m to use this properly. The shoulders are tight and it’s a bit loose around the waist. I can fix the looseness with straps. How hard will it be, if it’s possible, to resize the shoulders?”

Arand and Corvin let knowing grins show. “When the attunement is done, it will be as easy as breathing.”

She grinned at the pair and finished putting the pants, boots and gloves on. There was no helmet for the set, she didn’t like helmets much anyway. “Why are you the “hidden master”?”

Arand hadn’t expected the question and stammered a bit. Once recovered he shared a glance with Corvin, they both shrugged and looked at her again. “That hammer has served as an anchor between here and both Fae realms for a very long time. The shard that we sent to you allowed us to power The Way between them. The Emperor seeing new Fae would raise questions. He’s a twat.”

“Really?! How exciting. Can you travel other realms?” She was practically bouncing.

“Sadly, we never tried. We are powerful Fae so our connection to our realm is strong. We would have to get powerful members from other realms to try, and maybe die, to know. We never wanted to risk our people’s lives on the attempt, no risk the secret getting out.” Corvin replied.

“I see.” Please proceed, she waved her hand over the armor.

Corvin pulled one of his blades and handed it to Sariah. “We designed the spells to attune with a blood signature. Since you will outlive us all, our ancestors will be able to maintain it for you. To guard from someone else taking the suit, we’ve set traps in that are only disarmed when the owner is wearing it. I apologize, but we three must all shared a bit of blood and smear the mixture here.” He pointed at an intersection of spells weave. Is this acceptable?”

Do they know what they’re asking? She wondered.

Arand laughed and poked Corvin. “I told you she’d think that we didn’t know. Pay up.” Both Fae laughed as money passed hands.

Corvin clued her in on the bet. “Before you arrived we had the opportunity to speak to Kavon about the fitment, process and what would serve you best for spells. When we told him about the blood requirement, he informed us about the potency of your blood. We’re aware that sharing blood with you is dangerous to us. Our people already know the risks and backed us on the creation of this armor. Kavon said it was “our funeral”, but Fae are resilient, so we think we can manage.”

“Can the blood requirement be removed? I’d prefer not to kill the leaders of my first allies.”

“Well, not really.” Arand said, picking up an ornate sword from the rack next to him. “You see, I forged this armor with my magic.” He held out his hand and Corvin quickly slit the man’s finger open. Arand touched the sword with his bloody finger and spell weave quickly spread across the metal. Within moments he’d re-formed the sword into the perfect image of Srit, then Delanna, then Kavon and finally into Sariah wearing the scale armor and finally back into the shape of a sword. “We don’t have Dragon Fire Forges here to form the armor without my magic. Anything I make can only be used by the person whose blood is attuned to it.” He handed her the sword, pointing at a training dummy across the room. She approached the dummy and swung at its neck. When the sword made contact, it shattered like glass.

“Remarkable. Your craft is stunning. How did you learn so much in such a short time?” She asked.

“Fae are long lived and traditional creatures. Magic may have faded greatly since your exile, but that never prevented our people from practicing spells. I am 800 years old, I’ve had a long time to learn. Admittedly, theory and practice aren’t the same thing.” He laughed and raised his hand, palm facing himself, to show the scars he’d gotten due to magical backfire.

“Corvin, much of this work is not his. Why do yours also require blood?” She wasn’t questioning because she didn’t trust the Fae, but because she was curious.

“Ah. When we bonded, we sealed our bond in blood instead of words. Our people have warred since time began. By sharing our blood, we’ve joined our houses. All of the children born from us will forever be of the Summer AND Winter Courts.” He seemed proud, as he should be, of this action.

“You aspire to have many children?” She asked both.

“I have over fifty wives ready to make children. Corvin has…thirty?” Corvin nodded affirmation to Arand. “Joining our houses requires that we produce as many children as we can. Creating a new race of Fae that share both of our bloodlines is no small task. We have wives of every race that you see here in the city.” Both Fae smiled.

“That’s amazing. You speak of bloodlines with great import. There is another part of sharing my blood that you don’t know. If you share even a little bit of my blood, it will resonate for thousands of years amongst your descendants. Your children will not only be Winter and Summer Fae, they will be my children. Since my exile, a clear majority of my bloodline have been hunted and killed. Should we lose, they will not allow a single being sharing my blood to live again. It can also easily overpower and destroy you. I cannot reduce or refine the energy that would hit you upon contact.” Sariah waited for the Fae to consider her words and make an informed decision.

“I agree to this risk. Arand?” He looked towards his brother.

“Of course, I agree. If I passed on an opportunity to strengthen our lineage, Fes would kill me.” Corvin laughed, “I’d bet good money that the Orc could do it too.” Sariah had returned to the rack.

“Very well. This cannot happen here, or until I build containment spells. When creating a new bloodline feral energy will be pulled in like a bug to light. It will take time. I have many more questions for you both before we begin. To start, I wish to know of your magic Corvin.” Sariah waked out of the vault and headed towards the market for food, both men in tow and answering questions quickly.

*Emperor Pallus*

“Emperor, the ward is faltering but we’ve lost over 200 men to the defenses, another 300 are in the ward’s power room seemingly as hostages! Something just reached out and took them when we passed the doors! Why can’t we just take the weapons we found and fight The Destroyer with them? They beat her before.” The commanding soldier asked.

“No soldier, we defeated her with the Ancient’s assistance. We and the weapons they created were not enough. Even with our combined might, the Ancients were killed or imprisoned. She is not to be underestimated. I don’t care if it takes 1000 deaths to finish breaking that ward, get it done.” Pallus could find no trace of Gray and the door to the ward’s power source was sealed shut. He’d found several of the weapons described by Gray and had soldiers attacking the ward with them for more than a day.

Soldiers had come back from the mage tower reporting that it was abandoned. Nobody had seen the Mages flee the city, but they knew this place better than anyone. Scouts had been sent out in every direction to find them. Raylek left a note for Pallus, unsealed. He accused Gray of being an Ancient, pointed out flaws in the history of the old war and said that The Destroyer was a savior, not an enemy. Leaving the note unsealed means that any number of the soldiers could have, and without a doubt did, read the letter.

Pallus had the exits of the city barred and ordered that any dissention be put down with ferocity. His citizens were dying in spades. The Three held more sway over the people than the Emperor ever could, Pallus realized this now.

As if on que, a scout ran into the throne room. “Emperor.” He bowed, breathing hard.

“Speak”

Standing to his feet, the scout read from his notes. “We’ve spotted the Mages headed into the Deep Wood, around twenty-five. There is a large contingent of soldiers with them, around eighty. Gray seems to be commanding their force. The Three are with them as well. Even if we send cavalry right now, they will not catch up before the group enters the woods.”

“FUCK!” Pallus jumped out of his throne. “Captain! Send 250 men, leave no survivors! Scout, show them the way!”

“Emperor, the Deep Wood is not a place that men are supposed to go. Entering those woods will provoke the Fae and their ilk to war. If we just let the traitors go in there, they will be killed for us. No more of our men need die today.” Captain Rose pleaded to the Emperor.

Pallus’ face was a deep blood red, near black bags under his eyes made him look half dead. “If you do not rally the men, I’ll have you and your entire family butchered. Move now or die.” Reluctantly, the Royal Guard placed hands on hilts and approached Rose.

“I will do as you say. I will only bring the most loyal men.” Loyal to me. Rose thought as he bowed and began to exit the room.

*Cully*

“Lilith, it is beautiful. Please thank your kin for creating this for our Lady.” Cully stood in admiration at the newly created realm. This place was going to be linked directly to Delanna as a place for the corruption to live. Hundreds of thousands of Pure Spirits volunteered to serve as the guardians of this place. Lilith’s dragons were able to create and weave wonderful spells that separated corrupted essences into single beings, help prevent entry from others and allowed the corruption to interact very slowly with the Pure Spirits. Hopefully, this interaction would slowly cleanse the Corruption and allow it to move into The Afterlife. Cycling back to The Afterlife would be mandatory for the Pure Spirits so that they could recover. Essentially, this was an amplified version of the Blood Elf’s prison. Once Delanna was connected to this place, they’d be able to power all the spells and try it out.

“You’re very welcome. Dragons are always a sucker to build and defend. People think we’re gold hoarders and destroyers.” She giggled. “Maybe if we are defending a place made of gold that we created, otherwise that’s just stupid.”

“I must return to the Lady. Once the connection to this place is tied to her, please release the Dragons from their duties.” She opened a Way to the Human Realm.

Lilith snorted loudly. “Yeah right. YOU try to tell them to leave this brand-new creation in which they will be allowed to serve Lady Death. No thanks. When you bring her here, do not be in their way.” She laughed again.

“It’s sad that we couldn’t find out what to do about those damned arrows though.” Cully found that the Dragon she’d been looking for had simply vanished. Nobody knew where or when she’d left.

“Oh! Please let Lady Sariah know that binding this realm to her daughter and powering the spells will require immense energy. Until we meet again.” She kicked Cully through the portal and laughed heartily.