Celameth lay on the strange flooring, the inspiration for which had come from Klarric’s original world. After feeling the blessing of Aggard once more, the intense emotions which had come out after Klarric had reached for and touched the Divine One had been too much and they had collapsed.

The girl Alis, maybe due to her reduced ability to sense the glory of Aggard, had awoken first. But the two of them were talking. It seemed an important conversation so Celameth had laid there, waiting for a time to indicate she was awake.

Still, Celameth would gather up what he said. Maybe learning some truths would help when Celameth would devote their body to Aggard and Klarric, and undo the blessing which had kept them alive for so long. In doing so Celameth would become a female until the end of her days. Hopefully Klarric would bless her body with multiple children, children which would help rebirth Aggard’s people and for them to reclaim their spiritual homeland.

So far Klarric had not told the girl, Alis, anything that she had not already known. Still, she listened so that she would gain as much knowledge and understanding before embarking upon her own journey with Klarric. So that their time together would be fruitful and blessed. She felt him looking at her. She did her best to remain still, yet it took all her the skills she had from an unnaturally long life to remain as if she was still unconscious.

‘Maybe we need to part for a while,’ Klarric said.

The girl Alis let out a scream of terror.

Celameth knew what she wanted from Klarric: it was not his love.

‘Klarric,’ Celameth said, unable to remain quiet any more. She hoped the feelings the two shared for each other were true and deep. Yet whatever she needed from him was not feelings, just his precious seed. A business transaction, one so often used in various buildings around this city.

Beyond that, she also needed him strong, so to lead the crusade to reclaim Aggard’s spiritual homeland. For that, having trusted and loved companions was essential. It was for that reason she spoke up.

She spoke his name once more and sat up. By this time Hallvard was sitting up too, his immense and solid bulk still comfortable after so many decades of companionship and groundwork on the Isles.

‘You spoke to Aggard again, did you not?’ She asked, already knowing the answer. He simply nodded. ‘Six years ago she spoke to me. She had found a successor for me. Not another Watcher, for us six Watchers are the last pure blood elves. It was a holy knight to lead our people back to Aggard’s spiritual homeland.

‘We need more than a knight to lead us back. We need more than just an army. We need people. It is toward that, that Aggard has spent the past centuries building. A people to follow her back to her land. We of the Anthal race shall be the amongst those building a new land for Aggard. We will be the first rulers of the new land. In time it is planned that we shall return to Aggard’s embrace when the time is right.

‘Yet we know it will not be done within a single generation. It will take numerous generations. Toward that end we need new children to be born. Aggard has already gathered up all the willing, pure, and untainted Anthal whom surived the fall of the Isles. Just the six of us. Yet with Klarric there is another who would be able to provide what is needed to create a new generation.’

Alis looked at Celameth, not fully understanding. Yet Klarric understood and was torn between moving away from her, or remaining close and supporting both Alis and Celameth.

‘All I need from Klarric is his seed to impregnate me, to birth the first generation of Anthal in over six hundred years.’

‘So you want him to become your King?’

‘No, he is The Fallen Paladin. The one who we hope will rise to great heights, resanctifying, and bringing Aggard back to her homeland.’

‘Is that why you are so lonely?’ Klarric asked someone who was not present. From the faint stirrings, it was possible to detect that Aggard had responded to his question. Oh, to have conversations with her would be divine for Celameth. Yet all this time they had lived with only vague impressions, short and difficult to interpret utterings of Aggard, and the sayings passed down from the last Seer.

It was up to Celameth as the First Watcher, to watch for the signs when Aggard would be ready to reclaim her land.

‘Would it not be best for you to claim a people for your own, rather than a land?’ Klarric asked.

Klarric’s tanned face paled to the colour Celameth’s own pale skin.

‘So blessings come from the divine, yet corrupted divine give birth to corrupted blessings. And like blessings spread over time, corrupted blessings spread. And they are like oil and water and cannot mix. So the remains of your blessings have been pushed back from almost the entire land which once was yours. If said blessings fail, then what happened to your land will take place on the Surviving Lands.’

Celameth was not sure what Klarrric meant by about oil and water, but everything else he had said was what she had spent centuries learning. It was Celameth herself who had positioned Hallvard to be made Bishop of the Isles of Dunkeltal. Though they had admitted to him later, he had realised by then the importance of the job he held. So rather than despise them for it, he was glad that Celameth had forced him to take the job.

What Celameth had not told him was of her plans. As the Isles of Dunkeltal were going to be the future homeland of Aggard’s faith, he would become archbishop and would have even greater power to bring about the rebirth of Aggard’s spiritual home.

But all of Celameth’s future plans, not only to save the rest of the Surviving Lands, but also bringing Aggard back to her home, relied upon that Fallen Paladin. A young boy, torn between his loves.