Six Years Later...

Anne let out a gigantic sigh, her tone singing with annoyance. "I probably should have had Yvonne make me some more clothes before I left... Oh well, I'll just ask her to do it later." A nervous crew member approached the First Princess, an old man dressed from head to toe in furs, in comparison to the woman before him, whose outfit basically consisted of sabatons, silk jeans, an exposed abdomen that showcased both well-defined abs, as well as 'battle scars', a long-sleeved t-shirt and gloves, all of which were black in colour.

The woman turned towards the old man with a grimace, clearly not interested in any conversation, though that didn't stop the shaken old fellow from speaking. She couldn't tell which race he belonged to due to the fur hood he wore and his small, crook-back stature. "T-thank you, my f-fair lady... for saving us..."

Groups of former slaves gathered behind Anne's annoyed glare, with each person's eyes filled with equivalent fear, as well as gratitude. Anne scoffed at them as she turned around before speaking in an unapologetic tone. "You've nothing to be thankful for. Your freedom was my convenience and nothing else. Not pity and most definitely not born out of some deluded need to free you from your deserved chains."

She waved them off, exhaling a heated breath, the steam breaking through the chill winds of the sea. The old man, whomever and whatever he was, quickly lost hope and will after hearing her speech, making his way back to the lower deck as the rest followed suit, scurrying away from their terrifying, former slavemaster. None fought her on this, for they knew it was the truth, as the princess wished to flee an autocratic kraterocracy without causing too much of a fuss. So how did she achieve this?

Thorough planning, paying off several rich merchants and setting up a slave rebellion in the province of an enemy lord, a man directly opposed to the Inerti crown. It was like killing two birds with one stone; euthanising the life of the rebel lord as well as his family and leading the rebel forces on a suicidal path just so she could be 'plausibly exiled' from her own home. Stories would spread, rumour would do its thing and nobody would ask too many questions.

It was the best case scenario in Anne's mind. This way, her mother wouldn't have to deal with the political backlash of giving her daughter the right to travel the world, which is something many young nobles dearly desire. Naturally, those important to the Princess knew the truth of it, down to the last detail. Everyone else could possibly hear the tale of an Inerti princess who sacrificed her royal status to free the slaves of her own people.

"Boo hoo~, what a tragedy." Anne mused to herself, knowing full well that anyone with more than half a working brain would be able to discern the truth, especially due to her treatment of the slaves in question. Had they not been crucial for her journey to Zlato, she would have already killed them all, thrown the old overboard and devoured the corpses of the young for sustenance.

Not that she needed any, but you know what they say; want not, waste not.

The plan was nearly a failure though, as Anne had to spend an extra two days at home, consoling her little sister before she was allowed to leave. Anne winced at the memory, a slight pain, but a deep guilt, penetrating her otherwise cold heart. "Maybe I should have brought her with me in spite of mothers wishes... even if Yvonne is learning quickly, she still can't stay in Anea Sedea for very long and the chance of her being there while I am is slim."

It was a tough thing to learn, to think of yourself as both dead and alive without accepting either fact as absolute truth. Even when she had taken the time to explain how this wasn't a decision that would follow Yvonne forever, Anne's sister still couldn't quite remain as unaffected by the realm of the dead as she was. Yvonne's connection to life was far too strong, far too 'normal', for her to transcend the realms without issue.

Her goal of learning to do this just so she can keep in touch with Anne wasn't doing her any favours either. However, that's not to say that there hasn't been any progress, as while Yvonne started by being kicked out instantly, she can manage to be within Anea Sedea for slightly less than half an hour these days. In truth, this apparent weakness was the true reason as to why Anne couldn't bring Yvonne along with her on the journey. That is not to say that the Second Princess is weak, not at all in fact, but being a powerful mage is not enough to satisfy the requirements of Inerti Royalty.

Now that Anne is gone, her teachers will, although to a lesser degree, focus their torturous work on Yvonne. Anne bit her lip and grit her teeth in anger, knowing that her sister would suffer while she wasn't there for her, not there to return the favour and comfort that Yvonne provided her. She'd have to find a way to freely travel between the world as soon as possible.

Portals were an obvious choice, but unlike the gateway to the realm of the dead, which came to Anne in an almost 'natural' way, arcane gateways to other places or planes were not as simple as they seemed. It wasn't quite just thinking about making a circle of mana in one place and imagining it connecting to another from memory. One also had to create the magical 'tunnel' through reality that connected the two spaces, without losing focus, and that was just regular portal magic which couldn't actually be used by the mage themselves unless someone on the other side helped them control the magic.

Outright teleportation then, was the next best choice. However, teleportation was dangerous, as while a failed portal will just suck you up through the closest portal hole and spit you back from whence you came, actual teleportation makes the user travel at light speed through what most call the 'astral plane', a realm of pure, violent magic that covers the entire world. The Inerti usually call it 'the shield', as they believe that this plane exists to contain and conserve the mana of the world, meaning that without it, all magic will disperse and disappear, effectively causing an end-of-the-world scenario to unfold.

This realm is dangerous on its own, as the mana present takes upon a myriad forms, none of which are supposed to be seen by mortal eyes, which is why all those using teleportation magic have to close their eyes for the entire duration, lest they risk madness, while keeping up an effective shield to protect themselves from the violent storms of energy raking the realm apart on a constant basis. Its these shields that take up most of the mana required for teleportation and the worst part about it is that you can never have too much or too little. Maybe your spell takes you on a long journey and you need a lot of mana, maybe you appear on the other side nigh instantly which means you barely need any mana. It was all up to chance and the level of risk willingly undertaken by the caster.

Even lower than that is the simple, tried and true, [Blink] spell. Named for much the same requirements of the user to close their eyes during the teleportation, blink is a low-level spell that moves the caster from one place to the others within a limited range/radius. Its a simple enough process, with all it taking is dousing oneself in ones own mana and then imagining themselves appearing at another location. Simple, but difficult to master and nigh unusable in combat, unless one is either prepared or trained to do so. Despite this, it carries much the same dangers as regular teleportation, with horror stories of mages finding themselves fused to walls after failed blinks. Thankfully, due to the magical nature of the events and provided that help comes quickly, people can still be 'blinked out', of the stones before reality catches up to their mistakes, which results in the exact show of gore that one might imagine.

"Which means I'll have to find an open space to practice." Anne thought to herself with an annoyed expression, with her deathly mansion coming to mind, as it did have a training yard. Even still, Anne had no desire to suddenly become part-training dummy due to an accident, so that one wouldn't work out. This meant that she would have to forge a new part of Anea Sedea to suit her purposes, an act only possible due to her own status as a demi-goddess and future herald of Atlyon, but still requiring a great deal of souls. Fortunately, the very soul ash that she was forced to swallow in order to form her connection to Anea Sedea could act as a makeshift prison for the aforementioned souls, with the souls of those she kills being infused into that ash.

Collecting souls would not make her any more powerful, as using souls in that manner was the most basic form of heresy against her grandfather, but that didn't mean she couldn't make use of what she killed. Still, she was warned not to overdo it, as taking more than her due will inevitably garner her some unwanted attention.

Several screams broke through her concentration as Anne turned her head around to find a mother holding her baby while yelling at the ships captain, a harrowed old man who was near tears. A quick look was all she needed to know the reasons for their horror, as the baby was far too pale, with a final check confirming that its soul had already passed on.

"Please! My baby! We need to get to port quickly, please!"

"We're going as fast as we can, miss! Please, go to the lower decks and light a fire in one of the metal barrels but be careful!"

"Thank you, sir! I won't forget this mercy!"

The woman hurriedly ran down to the lower levels of the ship, her dead child in hand, as the glacial winds continued to rake the ship. The captain held the steering wheel firmly in his hand, waiting until the woman was out of sight before allowing his knees to break beneath him, tears strolling down the man's face as he knew full well that he was giving her a false hope. This likely wasn't the first time he'd ever seen a slave die of hypothermia, much less a child.

Anne turned her head away, closing off her heart without missing a beat. These were not her people and she was not responsible for them. If it was her, she would have told the woman the truth, imagining the plausible leap overboard as a result with a derisive snort. A few of the crewmen heard her, causing them to give Anne disapproving looks, with one guy even intending to start a fight, only to be stopped by an older gentleman, who merely shook his head at the impulsive youth.

To them, it seemed like Anne wasn't even considering their existence, but in truth and to those less blind, she was clearly itching for a fight or more specifically, for a good kill. Her limbs were twitching, and behind the cover of having both hands on her cheeks in a bored manner, she hid her gnawing bloodlust. The captain was a strong man, radiating with a just and devoted soul, a human raised in a coastal city of the consortium. A human born on sarcophan land, a curiously intelligent piglet that learned how to sacrifice the chosen few so that it could free the rest of its ilk. The complete submission to the Inerti made for a powerful etching on the man's soul and just looking at it made Anne feel a deep-seated satisfaction, a dark pleasure.

He serves his purpose well, travelling the straits between Avarest and Lyber, making friendships with the noble minos of Ginnug, all the while allowing for the Inerti to exchange weak slaves for strong adventurers with valuable souls. After all, why shouldn't they let a few 'heroic' captains free a bunch of useless slaves for the chance of gaining a dozen of high-value targets in exchange. It was a gamble and a sacrifice that the nobles of Anne's people were more than willing to make. Plus, the influx of fleeing slaves would serve as a constant reminder of the power wielded by the Inerti to the entirety of Aestra.

Meanwhile, a duo of crewmen manning the upper deck whispered to each other in greatly hushed tones.

"Look, all I'm saying is that its strange how the minos didn't come out to greet us this time... we are lucky to have stocked up on supplies before we left."

"Yes, we have our captain to thank for our lives, like always."

"You're missing the point, fool! I'm saying that the fucking monster-on-deck probably k-"

A resounding slap was caught by Anne's ears, causing them to twitch as her expression twisted with glee on an unseen side of her face. "You're the fool! Keep your thoughts to yourself or I'll gut you here an' now!"

Containing her chuckle as best she could, Anne smirked slightly as she closed her eyes in thought while knowing that the paranoid crewman was completely right in his assumption.

The entire ship seemed to stop as everyone on board turned their heads towards the otherwise unmoving Inerti passenger, with the young woman's gloved hand raised in the air, signalling the captain. "Captain, slow the ship down. I'm going to scout a head for a bit."

With that said, she leaped off the deck and onto the water, running across it as the seas froze beneath her boots. The captain cursed under his breath, knowing that disobeying the order would spell his, as well as his crews, assured doom.

A few minutes later, a ship full of unaware minotaur's, hidden away behind a small outcropping of fjord in order to restock and resupply before continuing its journey, would be sunk to the bottom of the sea, its cargo plundered, its hull torn to shreds, its planks drenched with a red far too rich for anyone's taste.

The Inerti returned to the ship with a satisfied expression, explaining nothing of what was done, though many knew from the grim air around her alone of what had likely transpired. The lack of the presence of their usual allies, the minos merchants, only served to prove their darkened suspicions.

For Anne however, that was a most worthwhile outing, for it provided her with a decent sum of plundered coin and other valuables that she could pawn off for even more coin. Sarcopha, such as it is, does not use the common copper, silver and gold that is normally found in use by everyone else, but a form of sleek, almost metallic concrete, with the only difference between lower and higher values of currency being the numericals etched into the legal tender itself. Naturally, this was a highly abusable form of currency, as the material with which it is made is highly available to pretty much all of the Inerti, with only the species natural pride preventing people from debasing it in any shape and form.

Creating fake currency to bolster ones own wealth is a very risky process, not because you'll be jailed for some crime, but because people will stop respecting you and respect is everything to the cold-hearted lions. Without respect, one can forget about doing business in general. Plus, everyone in a social caste usually earns the same amount of wealth per week, so figuring out someone's general balance isn't far fetched, even if you don't know the person yourself, which means that if people think you have too much money and happen to also not have the physical proof required to rationalize your wealth, there are far worse things in store for you than simple jail.

More than anything else though, Anne gained valuable experiences from raiding the minos ship. Fully plated minotaur warriors were worthy opponents, being slow and heavy hitters. Sadly, for one such as Anne, dodging their blows was child's play and though she had no real skill at using her new sword, everything dies once its blood loss catches up to body mass. Her skills didn't magically improve from this one fight, but it did give her a taste for minotaur flesh, as her lion-like teeth tore through the thick beef of her opponents. Her bovine opponents stood strong in the face of their predatory enemy, but not all of the minos were soldiers, as the merchants and other innocents they were protecting rapidly fled the second Anne tore apart her first neck.

With blood coating her entire body and instincts awakening, her opponents did not last much longer, as she threw her sword aside and tore into them by fang and clawed gauntlet. Anne wasted nothing of her kill, storing the bodies of the unconsumed within her manor, while their souls continued to scream, choked by the blackened, grey ash within her own flesh.

A familiar onset of screams echoed from below deck as Anne's body twitched, sensing a particular soul rushing upwards, kicking the door open and promptly leaping overboard with a banshee-like screech, but not before she sliced her own neck open with a stiletto. Some of the younger sailors instantly grew physically ill and a few choice people vomited outright, but the captain and the older crewmembers merely offered a knowing prayer to the despairing mother. "May the seas grant you peace..." They turned their heads away from where she'd jumped, with one of the crewmen promptly locking and barricading the gate to the lower deck in what was an attempt to minimize casualties.

Anne made sure not to make any form of expression, though she was snorting on the inside, not really wishing to agitate her already anxious benefactors any further. She briefly considered taking the soul of the mother, but as she didn't do the same for her child, Anne decided not to. Any potential muck up to the operation was simply a possible loss of efficiency, which disgusted her as an Inerti.

If there wasn't a worthwhile reason to do something, then simply do not do it. That, was the motto of the First Princess, especially applied now that they were close to the harbour. Zlato, from what she had heard, was an ancient city built and maintained by adventurers, existing under the rule of a dragonkin prince, a rebellious youth that had been exiled from his land somewhere further in on the continent of Avarest.

This was merely a folktale though, as the leader of the city is all but confirmed to be an immortal being of some kind but with no direct proof of him having anything to do with dragons or dragonkin in general. As far as Anne knew, both of the aforementioned were not species as much as they were a form of monster, hidden away within the strange, antediluvian tunnels of Avarest. Strange tales speak of ancient cities, built by dragonkin slaves lorded over by their dragon ancestors, carved deep into the glacial mountains and filled with all manner of treasure, gems and gold. With that kind of incredible backstory for the city, it was no wonder that it became a gathering point for all sorts of glory hounds, heroes and opportunists.

To be fair to the aforementioned, this was part of the reason why Anne had decided to go there as well, with one of her main goals being to apply as an adventurer within the Adventurers Guild, which is unsurprisingly based in Zlato.

Within moments, the magnificent city came right into view as the ship seemed to pass some form of gigantic, magical barrier attuned to flame. The temperature twisted suddenly, becoming rather enjoyable for the crew, but not so much for the Inerti present onboard. Anne winced as what was basically supernatural heat struck against her bare skin, causing irritation to arise nearly everywhere on her body. Thinking quickly, she shoved her shirt into her pants and took out a black hoodie from her backpack, a royally silken bag that reminded her of her school days, sewn with love by Yvonne in accordance to her elder sisters specifications, before putting it on.

"Now she puts on a hood..."

"She looks real uncomfortable in it, too. Ya think the Inerti hate warmth?"

"Wouldn't surprise me, matey. Their hearts are colder than ice."

"Yeh, that's makin' a ton o' sense fer me."

The casual chatter made Anne let out another sigh as she draped her backpack over her shoulder in a lazy manner and adopted an uncharacteristically mild grin, appearing almost cute to the crewmembers who feared her up to this point. "Finally..." Anne whispered to herself as she prepared to leap from the ship and onto the harbour, causing the people around her to quirk an eyebrow at her.

The last few seconds of their journey were spent with almost confused trepidation, as the lioness placed one foot up on the hull right before leaping a straight twenty or so meters to the docks of the adventurers city, all the while yelling her cold, youthful heart out. "FREEEEEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"