Chapter 150

Ezma

Fear

The last time Ezma had felt fear was now close to a decade ago, when she had been exiled from her home country. Cast aside as a disgraced princess to Piran. She had been called out for being a terrible seer. In retrospect, she was. In fact, she should have never been a seer at all to begin with.

The only reason she even had any oracular abilities at all, was due to her deep connection to Jhamet a blue skinned oracular male dragon. At the time she thought their union was one of fate. Two people looked down upon by their respective peers, for factors outside of their control. Jhamet was a powerful male dragon with seer capabilities, the equivalent of a unicorn with a squirl tail. Something that was both unheard of and hard to quantify.

As for Ezma she was the only female descendant, hailing from of a long line of Matriarchal oracles. The fact that she didn’t possess the ability to see into the future at all meant many in castle and surrounding kingdoms saw Piran’s long reign of supremacy coming to an end.

That was until Ezma managed to pair bond with Jhamet. This union was at first seen as a blessing, until later when Ezma found out she had drawn the short end of the stick. That she was effectively a slave to the wise dragon. This subservient role did mean she could gain the Seer class, one that could eventually evolve into the Oracle class held by her mother, and Grandmother before her. But that was not her life. That was never meant to be her life.

She realized that now, thanks to a chance encounter with an odd man claiming to be Lykan’s father. Or at least that had been her original reason for seeking out the man in the first place. The man possessed powers and abilities that were far beyond what could or even should have been possible. With but a wave of his hand he broke the pair bonding. This caused an immediate swelling of her power, as her true calling in life, that of being a Primordial Elementalist. Someone who was to be master of the elemental forces of the world.

The severance allowed her to gain a temporary increase in her powers, one that proved immediately beneficial, as she used them to slay Jhamet. Not for the years of torment and abuse he subjected her to. Instead, she merely defended herself when Jhamet found their bond had been severed.

That was her first taste of true power, not the temporary boost she received from the severance of their forced connection. No, the true power came when the gods saw fit to bestow upon her a blessing increasing all her Attributes. That was the moment so many different aspects of Lykan’s seemingly amazing life suddenly made sense. He had always hunted dragons, and the gods always rewarded him handsomely for that.

With her new knowledge of the world, she too began killing dragons indiscriminately. She didn’t even care why the gods saw fit to reward her for this task that truthfully, she would do for free. In fact, the last few years she had been doing just that, killing the monsters out of habit more than anything.

When she like the others received the summons to investigate the High Wood Elves’ dwelling. At first, she thought the task would be nearly impossible. Everyone knew how reclusive the High Wood Elves were, so suddenly being able to find their hidden lair after hundreds of years of fruitless searching should have been impossible. That was until she arrived on the scene and saw the carnage.

As soon as she arrived. Her message from the gods changed.

Divine Request: Hold the Perimeter Until Reinforcements Arrive. Hold the Perimeter Until Reinforcements Arrive: Details: You are the first hero to heed the call of the Gods. An ancient foe has awoken, prepare yourself for the moment they appear. When they appear, do not falter, and slay them with extreme prejudice.

The message was one she could gladly accept. One that spoke of war, and of still being of service to the gods. The message also made her wonder, for what foe was so powerful that even the gods would recognize them as their equals.

Having grown up on the myths and legends of the gods, she was well versed in the stories from ages past. The ones where the gods first warred with each other, for they knew no better. Then the Titans appeared, causing the gods to cast aside their old prejudices, to stand united against the new enemy. An enemy that if the legends were to be believed, almost destroyed the world. Only from the combined efforts of all the gods working together did they manage to fight back the Titans and send them deep underground.

Somehow this message, mostly a mere footnote in most stories about the gods stood out to her. This passage was one that was easy to overlook, for once the titans were sent underground is when the gods truly began to ascend to the heavens. With their loyal followers, many of the old gods left their mortal shells and achieved true immortality from the heavens, where they reside and look over the planet they love even to this day.

Therefore the gods have been said to favor certain families over times. Either their own lineages can be traced back to lines of the gods or tracked back to some of the closest followers. It was often believed that the gods, were unable to bear children. Thus, it was believed that most who seem to hold the ear of the Gods, are those from the most trusted of advisors.

Ezma and her family of course had no such grand lineage dating back to the times of the gods. Instead, all her family had were their own merits and their own work ethic that made them stand above their peers. Using the gift of foresight, Ezma’s mother, their current queen of Piran, and many of her predecessors used their knowledge of foresight to outmaneuver enemies. What good was a superior trained force, when they were met with foes that held a strategic advantage that negated their benefits. Added to this gift of foresight, was the fact that they all had dragons who could be called on for assistance. In the end, it was little wonder why few dared to send their might against the forces of Prian.

The strength of her country, and being recognized as the next heir apparent, afforded her a certain confidence that she whole heartedly abused. Looking back on her previous actions, it was clear why she had been cut from the fold. She was weak, not only was she herself not a seer, but she failed to recognize the fact that she didn’t add value to the country.

She had also been given a task, one that she failed whole heartedly at. There was a promising young officer in the Sidherthan military that she was to woo over to the Piran side. The only problem, she got distracted by classes, and by other people, that she failed to make any firm bonds with the reclusive officer.

Then when he was touted as a hero for the kingdom but was severely injured during the task. She thought her obligation and task handed down by her mother was negated. That was the final mistake she made as princess, for no sooner had she completely abandoned her task, then Lykan Vov’Vita, because of course he would earn the title of Veteran of Valor, an award only provided by the Gods themselves. Even while injured he proceeded to show knowledge of how to perform the third and most powerful of Old-World Laws, for the King of Sidhertha no less.

When Ezma’s mother, Queen Zelkie found out about this she was livid, and rightly so. To her, that third law should have been cast upon her. Instead, it went to a neighboring rival. That night she and Jhamet were cast out. She could only return when she brought back Lykan to the fold.

That was her last task, only now that she was forced to wait, did she realize she still had not even tried to achieve that goal. Instead, just as before, she did what she wanted. Honestly, she didn’t know why she thought of the disabled officer now, of all times. She should be focusing on the mission the gods had given her. Of preparing for the emergence of an ancient enemy.

She half expected anything from a monster the size of a small volcano, to a worm that could devour an airship whole. What she was not expecting however was a roughly human sized black creature crawling from the depths of the rubble.

For a second she wondered if the figure was just a burnt survivor, trying to clear the wreckage.

Ping. Ping. Ping.

Fortunately, the distress beacon that the gods had given her to find the location of the high wood elves suddenly became active once more. This time it pinged the exact location of the monster.

Shrugging to herself, Ezma began calling forth the different elements to her beck and call. She tilted up the land, making it so the monster slid back. Then she summoned forth water, to loosen the dirt. Then fire to instantly solidify the dirt around the monster.

“ARRRHH!”

This of course only caused the monster to get angry. With that Ezma let a smile crest her lips, as she began digging deep into her bag of tricks. She began summoning forth primordial elemental forces. These were more powerful, as they were infused with the power of the arcane. At least that was what she thought.

What she didn’t know, was that her class let her mix two opposing forces of the world. She managed to burn ambient qi in the world with her powers. This gave her spells an extra kick that was often lethal for dragons and other qi-based creatures.

This was why her attacks, once she decided to take this battle seriously, became even more violent.

BOOM!

The ground shook and rumbled, as blast after concussive blast ignited from her strikes. She produced flames that burned the innate qi of the black monster. A monster known only from legends long ago as a Titan, a nigh unstoppable force. One that even the gods had trouble with killing.

If Ezma had been aware of the true nature of the, being she now faced, she would have been pleased with her progress so far. But as things currently stood, she was not pleased with her performance. Everything she tried didn’t even seem to leave a scratch on the fearsome monster.

Worse, she knew that if she got down on the ground, she would be crushed by the monster almost instantly. That was why, she let out an involuntary sigh of relief when she saw a figure coming from the west. The being seemed to be following a very similar path to the one she took to get here, though this person was traveling at far greater speeds than she could ever hope to achieve.

“Jump.” A voice said. In the crisp night air, the voice seemed to carry. Also, the word was so commanding that Ezma herself felt herself all but lurching forward at the command.

With that one word, a figure dropped from the back of the newcomer. Ezma watched with shock as what appeared to be a little girl jumped from the new figure’s back. Then proceeded to plummet to the ground below.

So distracted by the sudden appearance and jumping of the small person that looked to be a little girl, Ezma missed the moment the second person charged forward.

“Wai…” Ezma began to say, as she saw the blur heading straight towards the monster.

She had wanted to warn the seemingly familiar figure that the monster was too tough. That it was able to shrug off most attacks like they were nothing. Still the figure didn’t seem to mind.

KABOOOM!

The unstoppable force of the flying man met the immovable object that was a being of untold power. A monster long since lost to the pages of history, a Titan.

Dust flew up into the air.

Wham! Blam! Thud!

Strikes and sparks of light flashed from within the dust cloud that arose around the two. Ezma could not see what had happened, nor what was happening. The only thing she knew, was the creature who had shrugged off every attack she had thrown at it like it was nothing, was now engaged in direct melee combat with the newcomer.

Was this a god who decided to appear and lend their assistance? Ezma thought to herself, as she only saw the aftereffects of the battle.

Rustle, rustle.

The sound of an object moving quickly through the woods carried easily on the night winds. The figure ran, until they were at the edge of the crater. Then looking on at the billowing cloud of dust, they said one word that caused Ezma’s blood to run cold.

“Lykan!?”