“Master Loroven,”

“Yes, Selaena?”

“I’ve been told there is a large group of warriors stationed just a ways from the southwest citadel gates.”

“And this matter is big enough to warrant my time?”

“Apparently so.”

“Well, alright then. Let’s go see what’s happening”

My name is Selaena. I am an apprentice and assistant to Loroven, the head of the merchant’s guild in this hex. Well, in actuality, he might as well be call the governor of the whole hex, but he prefers to identify with the guild, and tends to intervene in only the most major events of the region—such as the occasional dungeon breaks.

Due to the erratic weather, hexes without land cores can only sustain a few kinds of crops, but there is a benefit: dungeons will spawn frequently in these areas, providing opportunities for warriors to harvest precious materials from the dungeons and dungeon inhabitants. Dungeons continuously produce creatures until the dungeon either runs out of energy or is cleared by the mercenaries. If a dungeon gets too full, a dungeon break will occur, where a large portion of creatures will leave the dungeon. Sometimes they will disperse and be picked off by traveling groups, but just as often, they will stick together and try attack a city for the “food” contained within.

Anyway, the reason I come by at this time is that there is a disturbance in front of our citadel! There appears to be a entire army in the clearing before the city. Now usually this would be dealt with by one of the vice heads, but there must be something unusual this time, because they called master Loroven, himself!

To get a better view, Master Loroven teleported us to one of the watchtowers.

“What’s going on?”

He’s making a slight frown. That’s pretty scary, considering he merely sighed when we lost a small city a few years ago.

“Black Scarr.”

“Black Scarr?”

Waaaaait. I think I remember. They are a cult of dragon worshippers. Honestly, I don’t know much about them, but they are absolutely obsessed with anything related to dragons. They buy up all sorts of dragon materials, and seem to be scientists, considering some of the other things they buy. They’ll also pay a lot for dragon fiends—especially live ones

“You mean the dragon crazies?”

“It is not professional to address them as such, but yes, you have the right people in mind.”

“But why is this such a big deal? Surely a few Rank-A’s could deal with them, couldn’t they?”

“No, they’d be no match. Look at that person in the back—the one with a runic bow. What does his aura feel like?”

“Umm… Class eleven? Class twelve? Well, except it feels like there are two of them…”

“Indeed. He does have two auras. After class fourteen, it is possible to stack auras to improve raw magic output. Though it theoretically can be learned at that point, most can’t do it until they hit class twenty-two. Look at the two auras separately, and then add them up.”

“Twenty-three?”

“Close. It’s twenty-four, because the inner aura is slightly harder to sense. Now, how many of people like him do you think there are?”

I’m pale. I seriously feel like I just lost all the blood in my face.

“F-f-fifty?”

“At least, and that is not considering weaker masses or the masters we cannot see through.”

“I didn’t know they were so powerful!”

“I didn’t either. It still wouldn’t be enough to take over our city, though some casualties would be inevitable. The question though, is why they are here, and what it is they have set them self up against.”

“Look, there’s someone up the road a ways! Oh, she’s being ambushed! We should help—”

“Wait.”

“Yes, master”

The poor thing! She just came here all alone and now is about to be robbed! Or actually… I guess that means she must be pretty strong… No one would dare to walk around by themselves in this hex. Who knows what beasts you might find!

Wow, she is pretty strong, and fast! She totally just shredded those guys! But her face… It doesn’t look happy…

“Wait! She has scales, and those aren’t lizard scales… The heck? What is she? I haven’t seen any beastkin like her before”

“Take a good look. Because this is the stuff of legends.”

“Legends? Huh? You mean…?”

“Yes Selaena. That is a living, breathing, dragonkin.”

“Whaaat?!”

“Uh, master, then the Scarr?”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure we know their purpose now.”

“We have to save her! She’s all alone, and just a girl, and who knows what they’re going to do to her!”

“Wait.”

*Sigh* “Yes, Master.”

“Don’t get me wrong, if she is in trouble, we definitely won’t let them take the only dragonkin of the era, but they aren’t the ones I’m afraid of.”

“Not them?”

“Do you not find it strange? A lone dragonkin, walking from a human hex all alone, yet she is still alive, and not even a slave. Whay hasn’t she been captured yet? You’ve heard the tales of that guy, Gerald I think it was? Anyhow, let’s watch for now.”

Hmm. I guess that’s true. She has made it this far, and they seem to think she’s awfully strong… I’ll watch for now, but I won’t let them take her away!

“What are they saying, Master? I can’t hear from here.”

“Scum. Absolutely scum. It look’s like she escaped from a lab of theirs and stole a sword. Now they are trying to get her to turn herself in.”

“Can we go save her now?”

“Selaena, have patience. Something isn’t right. I can tell.”

“Tribulatio et Angustia en De—THE HELL? What in the three worlds are those psychotic idiots trying to do?”

“Can we?...”

“Hell no! She’s not the one we need to be worried about!”

“KELTEN CITY OFFICIALS, ALL MAGES ABOVE CLASS TEN, MAN THE BARRIERS. I REPEAT, ALL MAGES ABOVE CLASS TEN MUST REPORT TO THE BARRIERS WITH A FOCUS TO THE SOUTHWEST. ALL PHYSICAL WARRIORS EVACUATE CIVILIANS TO THE SHELTERS.

“DO NOT ATTACK. MAN THE BARRIERS.”

“Loroven! What’s going on?”

“Oh, good, you three are here. We don’t have much time, so I’ll say this quick. Prepare for collateral from divine-class warfare.”

“Divine?!”

“Yes! Now get the hell moving and organize your men!”

“Yes sir!” “On my way!” “At your command!”

“M-m-master?”

*Sigh* “Selaena, help with the barrier, but enjoy the show. This will go down in the history books, if we live to tell the tale.”

“Why? What is happening?”

“To put it lightly—those guys are about to piss off a half-deity.”

“Half… Deity?”

“Correct. However, this is not a normal half-er. I only hope that he’ll realize that our city had no part in it.”

“What a scary girl! She looked so weak and sad, and I just wanted to save her!”

“It’s not the girl. It’s the swo—"

“ANGRY!”

Just what is that voice? It’s terrifying! It sounds worse than death itself—like a dying demon possessing a thousand dragon souls! And there is a whole bunch of black smoke pouring out of the girl’s sword!

“IN RESPECT FOR THE CELESTIAL COUNSEL OF THE GODS, OR MORESO FOR YOUR HALF-ANCESTOR HELTRINA, I HAVE LAIN LOW FOR MANY YEARS, BUT I HAVE A BOTTOM LINE. THOSE WHO DISRESPECT MY NAME AND WISH ILL OF MY REPRESENTATIVE SHALL BE SLAIN!”

“Ugh!”

I can barely hold on. I want to throw up so badly! The waves, the magical energy is so intense, it feels like I’m at the bottom of the ocean! And it’s black, everywhere is black. I can’t even see Master Loroven! Is this what a deity is like? No, a half-deity! I’m trying to help keep up the barrier, but I can hardly move my muscles, I’m so terrified!

“BOW, YOU FOOLISH MORTALS, AND TASTE THE PAIN OF A THOUSAND DEATHS!”

Oh, my ears, my ears! I hear shrieks coming from the Scarr warriors. These are A, or even S-Rank warriors, and they are wailing like a person who just saw their family die in front of them!

“YES, SCREAM LOUDER, SCREAM LOUDER! FILL MY SOUL WITH A CHORUS OF DESPAIR! AHAHAHA! HA Ha.”

W-what is this being? I feel like my soul is about to die! And the screams just won’t end! It’s a demon! A spawn straight from hell!

“YOUR SOULS TASTE LIKE SHIT, BUT I’LL DO YOU THE HONOR OF REMOVING THEM FROM THE CYCLE OF REINCARNATION! HEHE, HAHAHAHA!”

How am I still standing? I don’t know, but I think it might be over. The blackness is receding, and the magic energy is dying down.

*Thump* My legs just gave out. It’s over. It’s finally over. All of a sudden, it was like someone just flipped a switch. The blackness disappeared, and the sun was shining overhead again.

Oh, warm. My soul feels so warm… Oh, its—

“Master?”

“You were infected with dark energy. Thankfully, we weren’t actually a target, though. Alright, can you stand up?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so. Good, now go grab the girl.”

“A-are you sure?”

“It’s not the girl, remember? It’s in the sword. Look, she’s even worse off than you were! Go take her to one of the VIP rooms. As long as we treat her well, we’ll all be ok.”

“Yes sir! I-I’m on my way!”

“KELTEN CITY, THE THREAT HAS PASSED. REDUCE THE BARRIER TO STANDARD LEVELS. ALL CITIZENS AND MERCENARIES, REPORT TO THE HALL OF LIGHT FOR DETOXIFICATION. ALL LIGHT MAGES AND THOSE WITH MANA TRANSFER ABILITIES: ASSEMBLE TO HELP WITH THE PROCEDURES. THAT IS ALL.”

*** *** ***

“Gus. Gus? Gus. Gus! Are you there? GUS!!!”

Oh, someone is touching my shoulder… but I don’t care.

“Gus! I’m sorry! You are actually really nice, and got me here safely, and protected me from the mean people, and Gus! I’m sorry! Please be ok! Please talk to me! Gus!”

“Girl, what happened? We need to go before anything else happens!”

“Gus! Come back! Come back! Waa!”

Someone is picking me up. Someone picked me up. But Gus! He’s gone! I can’t see the black glow, and I don’t sense him in the sword, and, and, where did he go? He didn’t die did he? Oh, no, he died for me didn’t he? No, he can’t be dead! Gus!

“Calm down, it’s going to be alright.”

We ended up in a room, and she’s sitting on the bed and holding me there. How do I know? I don’t know how, but what’s important is Gus! Where’d he go? What happened to him? What’s happening to me? Oh, she’s stroking my hair. I like it.

“Mina! Gus is gone!”

I bury my head in “Mina’s” chest.

“He’s gone!”

“I’m not Mina, silly, I’m Selaena.”

“Mina, Gus!”

Well, I suppose it would be ok to be Mina for a little while. “Relax, little one. It’s going to be ok. Things will get better, I promise.”

“But Gus.. Gus is. Gus…”

“Gus,…” *zzz*

“Poor thing. I wonder what you had to go through to get here. You are a dragonkin, a person of legend! But yet, I’m left with only the sight of a poor pitiable child. Brighter days are ahead, I’ll make sure of that! So for now, rest well. I’ll come back to see you tomorrow, and we’ll find Gus together. I’m sure.”

…

“Selaena.”

“Oh, yes Master?”

“Do you see what she is holding?”

“Oh, I should take that sword away before she hurts herself!”

“No, don’t. I’m not sure If you even be able to, anyhow. Remember what I told you about the sword?”

“The sword… Oh, wait, you don’t mean that half-deity came from the sword, do you? And this Gus?”

“If I’m not mistaken his name begins as Tribulatio et Angustia…”

“So you are saying that the Gus this little girl is referring to is…?

“Yes, the same entity you saw annihilate an entire army, leaving behind only bone splinters where there were bodies of master magicians.

“Let me tell you another little thing—this entity has a bit of a history with the dragon race, so it makes sense, though I do admit it is quite the pairing. She thinks he’s dead, and that’s ok for her to believe for now, but I can assure you—he’s not. He is a very proud and selfish entity who would never give up his existence for another. That is to say, we will be treating the child very well. It’s not like we wouldn’t have anyhow, but I have a feeling that she could either turn into our greatest ally, or the next demon lord. I hope to make sure it is the former. She is still a child, though, and she’ll need the kind of care and attention of a regular child, but we must never be overbearing or slight her in any way. Well, that’s all I wanted to say. You look quite fond of her. Would you like to take charge of her care for now?”

“Can I?”

“Haha, If I can’t trust my own apprentice, may my life overflow with shame. I believe you are right for the task at this time. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Master!”