Loradine knocked on my door shortly afterward to discover if I was alright. I explained to him that I'd succeeded in creating the spell and what the spell was capable of, though I altered my story slightly so that he wouldn't discover that Aurora designed the spell specifically for me. I made it sound as though the spell always existed and it was what the elven people were able to do instinctively without the use of a gemstone in their bodies. He was pleased that I wasn't hurting any longer and at my success. Then he advised me that the celebration was ready, and we stepped out of my curtained room.
The sound that greeted me was boisterous. I hadn't heard this level of excitement before from the elves. Every elf in Valanesia was standing in the square with the fountain at its heart, waving their arms in the air and screaming in jubilation.
Loradine led me to the fountain and had me stand on a raised dais that had been erected the previous night. He stood next to me and the rest of the council members surrounded us from below.
The ceremony was a short one. I assumed that waiting for Lanya to complete my new robes was the only reason they had to wait to hold the ceremony.
Loradine asked me a series of questions similar to the questions asked during marriage vows or an inauguration. Will you protect the sanctity of Valanesia? Will you keep the secrets of the elven people? Things like that. They already knew the answers to the questions as we'd discussed all of this in detail during my time here. This was only a formality so that I could make the vow publicly in front of all the city at one time. It was also the coming-of-age ceremony that all elves underwent.
When I'd finished with my vows, Lanya came up to the dais with a box in her hands. Loradine left the dais and a curtain was raised to keep the crowd from seeing me. Lanya opened the box and told me to undress. The final part of the ceremony was for me to switch into the elven robes that she'd made for me. She helped me into the new robes.
They were similar to my current cloths in design, but they felt like I was clothed in air. The silk was so gentle it made me shiver as it slid onto my skin. It was a one-piece with an open back practically identical to the one I had been wearing. It had the same diamond-shaped openings in the front over the center of my chest and my stomach. The main difference was that I could feel the magic flowing through it.
I could tell it was enchanted. Lanya told me that it had the typical anti-theft charm they put on any elven item they gave me. It also had a defensive barrier enchantment on it. The enchantment wrapped around my skin unseen and unfelt, giving me a layer of protection against attack. The barrier was like the enchantment that operated my blades in my gloves. It would stop any magical attack, but only if I willed the attack to be blocked. It wouldn't stop a physical attack, but I didn't really care about that as most of the beings that would be able to connect with a physical attack had no reason to attack me.
There were other differences between this outfit and my beginner clothing. This outfit had weapons holders built into it and it had built-in boots. The boots weren't made of leather, but silk that was enchanted to become thick and hard like leather. Everything on the boot, including the sole was made of hardened silk. As for the weapon's holders, the front and the outer part of each thigh had long, thin pockets where I could stick individual large throwing needles. Outside of those pockets were small rings of silk where I could slide the thin throwing needles I liked. I could hold twelve large needles and ten thin ones on each leg. Down on my calves, there were pockets designed to hold either kunai, or throwing knifes. I could hold four knifes on each calf. Also, at my waist were two pouches, one on each side, and each pouch was filled with a dozen shuriken.
After getting dressed, I pulled the throwing needles I'd been given out of my purse and loaded up their respective pockets. The only thing I was missing was kunai.
Lanya seemed to read my thoughts and pulled out a packet containing eight kunai. I slid the kunai into my calf pockets, slid my strung bow and quiver across my shoulders, the strap of the quiver and shaft of the bow resting across my chest between my breasts in an X pattern. It felt a little uncomfortable, but I would get used to it. I needed my bow in a position where I could ready it and draw it quickly in a fight. I attached my purse to my new clothing, centered Lesley's pendant over my chest, tucked underneath my bow, and stood in silence, waiting for Lanya to say something.
“You look like a goddess of vengeance,” she proclaimed. “I've never seen something so beautiful and frightening all at the same time. Your enemies will most likely die of terror long before they die by your prowess.”
She snapped her fingers and stood aside at the same time the curtain fell, showing my fearsome visage to the onlookers. The stunned silence lasted a long time. I saw a few elves inch further back, a couple of warriors casually reach for and rest their hands on their blades, and innocent children look around questioning what was going on with their eyes.
Aden was the first to break the silence when he yelled, “Long live Valkyrie, the fiercest elven warrior in all of Valanesia!”
The cheering broke out once more and Loradine came and gave me a grandfatherly hug. The ceremony was over. All that was left was a feast and then it was time for me to continue on. I stayed for another few hours enjoying the food, wine, and conversation, but I couldn't ignore the call in my mind telling me that I had somewhere else to be now.
I made my rounds, said my farewells to the people I'd grown to care for like family, and together, Bartholomew and I made our way up to the canopy platform where I'd learned Nature and Spirit magic. Bartholomew began to glow and for the first time in months, I saw him in his true form. He was a regal being no matter what form he was in.
“Are you ready?” He lowered his body in invitation for me to climb on.
“Yes.” I wiped a single tear from my eye and climbed up his back.
“Where to now?”
“I think it is time I rejoined the world for a while to see how things are since I left. Let us head toward Melodia. We'll check up on Avenger Headquarters and I'll introduce you to my friend, Merissa Nightshade. After that, I don't know where we'll go.”
Bartholomew took to the sky, my body instinctively moving with his. I hadn’t ridden on his back in months, but my body remembered every muscle movement and exactly how to respond to maintain perfect balance.
Return
My reality had changed so quickly and completely that it was staggering. Everything seemed upside down, especially when compared to that first day I’d entered the SRU. Even my journey of discovery reminded me of climbing a cliff, then freefalling off it.
At the start of my journey, it had taken me weeks of aimless wandering southbound to get even close to Tetherwood Forest. Now, on Bartholomew's back, we were heading northbound toward Melodia in record time. It was a few hours before we reached the edge of Tetherwood and another few before we were above the spot where we'd first met. We'd made half the journey to Melodia in no time at all. We could easily make it back before nightfall if we kept this steady pace.
I spent the procession reminiscing about my adventure and how it had altered my very core. The air raced across my face with each flap of Bartholomew's wings, adding a steady rhythm to my mantra. I stayed in my reverie until Bartholomew came to a sudden halt, hovering in place as he beat his mighty wings. Aurora had popped into existence directly in front of us, almost colliding in her haste. Her face was a mask of horror and panic.
“Please,” she tried to scream, her voice a hoarse whisper from crying. “You have to save them. He's slaughtering my children!”
“What's going on?” I asked, all business. This unusual panic was enough to put me right into combat mode.
“The goblins outside of Melodia. He's killing them all. Please hurry.”
“Get on. We'll talk on the way.”
Bartholomew put as much power and speed into his flight as he could, but it wasn't going to be enough to get
us there in time.
“I don't know if we can make it,” I advised Aurora. “Aren't there any other Avengers we can dispatch to at least stall this guy until we arrive?”
“No.” Aurora was starting to calm down now, but her tears were still falling. “The Avengers are scattered across Evanasia. Headquarters has become nothing more than a recruiting station at this time. The only people close enough to the goblin village are inexperienced recruits who couldn't do anything in this situation.
“After you left on your journey, the other Avengers did too. They all realized that they wouldn't be able to protect Evanasia if they all congregated in one area, so they took off either alone or in small groups, each heading in different directions. As you are already on your way back to Melodia, you are the closest ones.”
I nodded my understanding and summoned Zephyra. It was the first time I'd summoned her for something other than conversation.
“Zephyra! I need you to use the wind to support Bartholomew. Do whatever you can to assist him in his flight. We need to get to the goblin village as soon as possible. Let the wind blow and speed us toward our destination.”
Zephyra floated into the air behind us and held her arms out. The wind instantly began to rage, blowing against our backs and increasing our flying speed, but it wasn't enough. We were about twenty minutes away from our destination when Aurora stopped shaking and a forced composure overtook her.
She took a deep breath, swallowed, and said, “They are gone. He has destroyed them all. Thank you for trying, Valkyrie.” Then she disappeared.
That voice wasn't her own. I couldn't remember Aurora speaking like that. Ever. It was a sound of complete detachment, the type of voice someone might use after being told they had only a few days left to live, and nothing could change it. Utter shock and complete acceptance all rolled into one.
It didn't matter that it was too late. It didn't matter that I couldn't protect them. I urged Bartholomew on. I would see this with my own eyes and I would get all the information I could. Whoever this person was, he was about to get a full taste of what the term Avenger meant.
I could smell the blood before we reached the village. Zephyra and Bartholomew gasped when we came over the ridge surrounding the goblin village. I should have felt shock, but I'd seen this sight before, only with fewer corpses. Was it the same man who'd attacked the goblins months ago? It couldn't be. He knew exactly what would happen to him if he tried. Then again, I had disappeared for months. Maybe he thought I'd stopped playing the game and he had free reign.
I jumped off Bartholomew before he landed, my wings activating to set me silently down on the ground. No one spoke as we observed our surroundings. It felt disrespectful to utter the slightest sound. I moved from goblin to goblin, taking in their faces as I checked for survivors. I knew I wouldn't find any, but still I looked. I came upon the chief whose name I'd never known. He was split in two from neck to crotch.
There was nothing left here. This monster had not only taken every life present, he'd also taken every object present. At most, the items he'd taken could be sold for five gold coins. The goblins didn't have much and what they did have was almost worthless to traders in towns. Why would he even bother with these people? Their pretty stones!
I raced into the cave, being careful not to step on any of the bodies. Bartholomew and Zephyra followed. They appeared anxious to ask what I was doing, but I shook my head in a request for silence and placed my hand on the stone wall.
I took a deep breath to steady my voice and recited Miner's Escape. It was a defensive spell that was designed to remove rubble in the case of a cave-in to free the trapped miners.
“Stubborn stone which blocks my path stand aside and let me pass.”
The wall crumbled to smaller pieces which lifted into the air and set themselves down in piles along the cave floor. I stepped into the room with all the pretty stones the goblins had collected. I expected to see empty chests or an empty cavern, but all the chests were still here. Still untouched. The assailant hadn't known about this place after all.
“I don't get it,” I thought aloud. “I was sure that the person responsible was after this. Why attack an entire village of innocent beings who had nothing if you weren't after their hidden treasure?”
“What is all this?” Zephyra asked.
I explained to them how the goblins had collected these gemstones from this cave.
“The goblins had no need for these gemstones and they didn't know how valuable these were too many of the races of Evanasia as well as to people from my world. They collected them just because they were visually appealing. I expressly told them never to show these to another or discuss their existence because I was afraid this massacre would happen. As far as I knew, I was the only one who knew about this stash of gems, but I had to check and be sure after what we saw outside.”
I kicked the nearest chest over and sapphires poured all over the floor of the hollowed stone room.
“Why?” I screamed in frustration and yelled toward the sky. “If they didn't know about these gems, why would anyone do something so horrible? Aurora! Get your ass back here, now! You had better explain this to me!”
“You shouldn't talk to her like that,” Zephyra reprimanded.
“It's okay,” a broken voice said from inside the room. Aurora appeared among the sapphires. She pushed the chest into an upright position and began placing the sapphires back into it.
“She isn't speaking out of malice toward me,” Aurora told Zephyra. “She is merely brokenhearted, as am I.”
Then she turned toward me and continued picking up gems as she talked. I joined her on the floor, picking up the gems I'd knocked over. Bartholomew and Zephyra followed suit.
“The man who committed this atrocity is a player. He goes by the name of Jared the Goblin Slayer. He entered Evanasia when you began your training among the elves and has been trying to make a name for himself. He'd heard of characters like you, with titles like the White Avenger or the Noble Brothers; who are the other two that started the Avengers with you; and decided that he wanted to get a title to be known by.
“Since then, he's been traveling Evanasia using the teleportation system that connects city to city so that he could check the surrounding areas for what he calls “goblin hordes” and slaughter them all. In the last few months, he's slaughtered almost the entire goblin population. This village was one of only two remaining villages. The last village only has a population of fifty goblins. Luckily, that village is hard to find, but he will find it eventually and there will no longer be any goblins in Evanasia.”
“No, he won't,” I swore to Aurora. “Because you are going to tell me where I can find this final village. I am going to enter the village and place as many protective spells on it as I can. I know you can't interfere directly, but I can. Now, tell me, why haven't the other Avengers done anything about this Jared?”
“Most of them won't,” Aurora admitted. “They all say the same thing. ‘Our duty is to protect the innocent when we witness them being attacked. If we are unable to protect them and they die in front of us, then we avenge them. We cannot go seeking vengeance on every innocent that is harmed.’
“Of course, I understand the logic behind their thinking. They are well within the limits of the contract they signed when they became Avengers, so I cannot remove their status as Avengers, but it still seems wrong to me. There have been a few Avengers, like Richard and William, the Noble Brothers, who have taken to searching for this Jared the Goblin Slayer, but even those who find him aren't able to do anything to him. He mostly stays in cities where he can't be attacked except when he's searching for a goblin village. When he knows an Avenger is looking for him, he goes into hiding.”
I picked up the last of the sapphires and we added them to the chest. I placed my hand on Aurora's shoulder and made sure our eyes were locked.
“
Where is Jared the Goblin Slayer now? Unlike the others, I take my vow to protect this world and avenge the innocent seriously. I will not let such an atrocity stand.”
“He's in a bar in Melodia called Musical Mayhem, bragging about his latest accomplishment. He won't leave Melodia for a while. Before you go, can you do something about all this?” Aurora made a general sweeping motion to indicate the corpses in the area.
“And please take these gemstones with you. I don't want someone else who stumbles across this place to retrieve them like some grave robber. The goblin chief once offered to give you all of these stones. Please take them and use them as a memorial to the goblins who lived here.”
“I understand. I will take care of things here and handle Jared. Now please tell me where the last goblin village is.”
After telling us how to get to the last goblin settlement Aurora vanished. I closed the lids on all the chests and put them in my purse. Then we stepped outside to commence the funeral service. Bartholomew, Zephyra, and I gathered up all the corpses and piled them into a clearing in the center of the now vacant village. I cast a fire spell called Incineration and everything disappeared into a pile of ashes.
I sang the chant the elves had taught me, their funeral service to the departed. My voice was harsh by the end. Although I fought to keep the melody pure and give the goblins a proper send-off, I couldn’t keep the emotion from leaking out as the song came to a close. Once the funeral was over, we prepared for battle.
I asked Bartholomew to get as close to the village as he could, but to stay out of sight until Zephyra called him. It would be easier to find Jared the Goblin Slayer if there wasn't a panic over a dragon. Zephyra would stay hidden in the wind, but by my side. We couldn't let her be seen by random people since spirits and Spirit magic were not common knowledge. When I located Jared, she would signal Bartholomew so that he would meet us at Jared's location. That was as far as my plan went at this time. I would have to make the rest of it up on the way.
Virtual Me- Valkyrie Page 18