by Eric Vall
By the time I arrived back at the tent, Heijing was sleeping softly, and I soundlessly stepped through the tent flap. The fire had mostly gone out except for a few stray smoldering embers, and they bathed the room in a red glow. I lifted the light blankets that my three minions slept under and nestled the Qianlong in beside them. Heijing sighed quietly as Carmedy turned and wrapped her arms around the tiny Qianlong in her sleep.
I watched them sleep for a long while, I knew that I needed to return to Haruhi and Morrigan soon, but I just didn’t want to leave yet. We’d be apart for a long time, and though it wasn’t forever, I needed to see their faces for a bit longer. I lifted the blanket they all slept under and nestled in between them. I reached out and stroked Annalise’s sleeping face, and she snuggled into me. I surrounded myself in their warmth, closed my eyes, and pulled my essence away.
I traveled through time and space back to my avatar on the ship with Morrigan and Haruhi. I felt comforted and happy; I’d seen Isolda, the woman I had loved, lost, and been cast out of the heavens for. I took her words to heart, she was gone from this world, but my five minions were not. They were very much alive and happy to receive the love and adoration that I poured upon them. I would give them all the things that I hadn’t been able to give Isolda. I would build them an empire and make them queens.
My essence passed over the ocean and finally located the ship. I pushed toward it and felt my spirit settle back into the flesh and bone of my original avatar. It was seated in the corner of our cabin, and both Morrigan and Haruhi sat at the table from before. The two women spoke in low voices as they poured over three books and the giant map from a day earlier. Their eyes were alive and sharp as they spoke animatedly to each other, and it made me happy to see them this way.
Morrigan was the only one of my minions who was apprehensive about Haruhi joining our party, and it made me happy to see them interacting this way. I cleared my throat, and both of their faces lit up with happiness. Haruhi was the first to rise and rush over to me. The librarian threw her arms around my neck and showered my face with tender kisses. Laughter bubbled up my throat as the feline let go, and Morrigan floated over. The elf did the same but not as dramatically, and when she pulled away, her pale cheeks were tinted pink.
“What have you two been doing while I’ve been gone?” I chuckled as I looked at each of them in the face.
“I was showing Morrigan a spellbook that I brought along,” Haruhi grinned as she grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the table. “No one really uses it in the library since it’s in the restricted section, but I thought that Morrigan should have it since she’s really good at this type of thing!”
It warmed my heart to know that Haruhi had thought of her sister and brought along a book that the elven woman could use. Morrigan’s dark eyes were bright and shiny as she lifted the book from the table with delicate hands and showed me the handwritten pages. I took the volume from her hands and flipped through the pages. There seemed to be a lot of arcane things in here, and I was glad that Haruhi had brought it along.
I could only teach Morrigan so much since I was a god, and there were certain powers that she did not possess, but with Haruhi’s help, the elven woman would be able to learn much more than I’d ever imagined. I placed the book down on the table, then turned toward the porthole. I looked out over the vast expanse of ocean and spoke to my women behind me.
“When will we reach Galencia?” I asked over my shoulder.
“Tomorrow morning,” Morrigan answered as she came to stand at my shoulder. “The captain said that the winds have been good, and we will get there faster than expected.”
“That is good,” I nodded and then turned to look directly into Haruhi’s hazel eyes. “But you are worried, are you not?”
Haruhi looked nervously at me as she tittered with laughter and scratched at an ear.
“Y-yes, of course, I am,” the sage answered. “What if we get caught? Galencia is where the Holy Order is based out of and they…”
I could tell from her thoughts that she was going back to the night that she was attacked in the library. It was a traumatic night for the librarian, and I knew it weighed heavily on her. I understood that it was a scary experience for her, but there was one thing she forgot at this moment.
“I will protect you,” I stated nonchalantly as I moved away from the porthole and sat down at the table. “I protected you that night, I destroyed those who attacked you, and I will do it all over again if it happens. No man or beast will ever touch you without having to answer to me.”
Haruhi nodded and looked a bit relieved. I would do what I promised. I would never let any harm come to any of my women. I would protect them with my life if I had to. I doubted that the Holy Order would even notice our presence in the city, and even if they did, I would destroy them with a single swipe of my hand. Their powers and weapons were no match for mine on any playing field.
After I found the last two sacred items, I would take on the Holy Order, then the Heavens. The Order held one of Isolda’s descendants to lure me out just as the four gods had told me back in Tintagal. I would destroy them and their cause then steal the young woman away from their clutches in memory of my lost love. I would avenge Isolda by defending her descendant, I couldn’t protect or save the woman I once loved, but I would do it for this woman who shared the same blood as Isolda.
I was almost ready, my battles were laid out before me in a straight line, and I was eager to take down my enemies. The Holy Order had caged me in my dungeon after the heavens had cast me out, and they would feel my wrath upon them very soon. I would destroy them and crumble their stronghold to dust before their very eyes. No one could stand in my way or stop me, I was the most powerful god on earth and in the heavens. No other could compare to me, and soon, all that the light touched would be under my power, and no one could stop me.
Everything I wanted was at the tip of my fingers, and soon, I would have it all under my possession.
Chapter Eleven
Haruhi began crafting our disguises long before we docked, and I sat in a chair at the table as I watched her slather light foundation over Morrigan’s markings. The mage sat completely still and watched the sage work out of the corner of her eye. They spoke softly to each other, and I listened in for a moment.
“You are from a pure bloodline, aren’t you?” Haruhi asked as she brushed the foundation onto the elf’s cheeks. “I read that the purest bloodlines have the whitest hair.”
“I am, I come from the High Elves,” Morrigan stated in her emotionless voice as her dark eyes watched the movement of Haruhi’s hand. “My bloodline has been around for many hundreds of years.”
“That’s so interesting,” the sage smiled as she stepped back to admire her work. “I don’t know much about elves and their society. There isn’t much written about them, in fact, there was only one book in the library about them.”
“Yes, you are correct,” The white-haired woman uttered as Haruhi held up a mirror and showed Morrigan her reflection. “Elves are very private, we have never allowed humans into our society, not even once. Those who breed with humans are tainted and considered lower than us.”
“But what about Master?” Haruhi asked as she tilted her head curiously.
“Master is a god, which overrules all notion of pedigree and breeding,” Morrigan interrupted with a firm shake of her head. “If we are being technical here, Master is the prime breeding partner for all kinds.”
“Wow, really? The catkins don’t have anything like that in our society. I mean, there are upper and lower classes, but it’s mostly to do with money and status, not pedigree.” Haruhi informed us as she dug through her bag and pulled out two wigs then offered them both to the elf.
One of the wigs was a long red one, similar to the color of Rana’s hair and the second was a deep chocolate brown, cut short and slightly curly. Morrigan’s dark eyes moved over the two choices then pointed to the dark brown one.
Haruhi n
odded with a small smile and began working on tying up the elf’s long, colorless hair into a tight bun at the base of her neck. Then the librarian pinned back any of the elf’s stray hairs. The sage bent back to her bag and pulled out a brown fabric cap and placed it over Morrigan’s pinned back hair then slipped the wig on over it.
Haruhi gingerly brushed the wig and pinned back the sides, then took a step back to admire her work. The sage nodded to herself as she appreciated her work then rummaged through her bag again and pulled out what looked like a thick black pencil. Haruhi bent forward on eye-level with Morrigan and began to draw zagged lines down from the elf’s eyes.
“What are you doing? What is the point of this?” The elf asked in a curious voice. “You covered my mage markings, why are you drawing more on?”
“Galencia is a place of warriors,” I stated, and both of their heads turned to look at me. “The markings on their faces often signify how many people they have killed.”
“And what of the Holy Band?” Morrigan asked as Haruhi gripped her by the chin and turned her back. “Are they in charge of these warriors?”
“Yes and no,” I told both of them, and from the way that the sage nodded, I assumed she already knew all of this. “The Holy Band has a codependent relationship with the warriors of Galencia. The Band is something like a ruling class, and the warriors, often known as Vakgor, are their enforcers. The Vakgor have been around for a long time, some believe that they are descendants of the first humans that wandered the earth. Big brutes with bulging muscles and tiny brains.”
“I’ve read about them,” Haruhi nodded as she continued placing long, jagged lines across the mage’s face. “They’re just big and dumb, the women are relatively normal but most of the men are exactly as Master said.”
“Do the women kill too?” Morrigan asked as she gestured to the black lines on her face.
“Yes, actually, the women are much smarter than the men and are often the leaders of Vakgor. They’re ruthless and bloodthirsty, they are the ones we will need to watch out for while in the city.” I nodded as Haruhi stepped away for the last time.
The sage dug through her bag once more and pulled out two outfits, she handed one to Morrigan and set the other on the table for herself. The elf held up the outfit and barely batted an eye at the scantily clad black dress, merely raised an eyebrow, then stood.
Haruhi moved to the mirror at the other side of the room and began pulling her dark hair up just as she had with Morrigan’s. She pinned back her stray hairs and pulled on the cap. The feline meddled with the red wig longer than she had with the elf’s and when she had it just right, she nodded. The librarian then went to work placing black lines across her own face but didn’t place as many as she did with Morrigan. I looked curiously at her, and her eyes connected with mine through the mirror.
“Morrigan is older and much taller than me.” The librarian stated as she brought the pencil down after only drawing four lines.
“What does that mean?” Morrigan asked from behind the privacy screen at the other side of the room. Then the elf laughed lightly as she spoke again. “Are you insinuating that I am old?”
“No! Never!” Haruhi cried as she vehemently shook her head. “The older Vakgor women train the younger ones, which makes more sense if we are together, and I have fewer markings than you do.”
“Does that mean that I am your master in this situation?” Morrigan smirked as she leaned out from behind the screen and glanced at the sage.
“Both of us have only one Master,” Haruhi chuckled back as her cheeks flushed pink, and she looked shyly over to me. “But you’d be more of my mentor in this situation, like a big sister or something.”
“Ah, then it doesn’t really change the dynamic of our relationship,” the elf nodded as she stepped out from behind the screen, and I took in her new outfit. “I already consider myself your sister and mentor.”
Haruhi blushed an even deeper shade of red and turned away as she grabbed her outfit from the table. The librarian headed for the privacy curtain and slipped behind it. Morrigan stepped in front of me then turned to look at herself in the mirror. The dress that the sage gave her showed a lot of her pale flesh, and it was alien to me to see Morrigan without her signature mage markings.
The black dress was long and brushed against the wooden floorboards. Long slits on either side of the skirt cut up all the way to Morrigan’s pale, shapely thighs. The sleeves came all the way down to her wrists, but parts of them had been cut out and hung loosely around her thin biceps. Her large breasts were held high, and a triangle shape had been cut out just below them to expose her pale flesh and ribcage.
Fea and Macha cawed loudly from the rafters in approval as she turned in a circle to give me a full view of the back which showed off her pale shoulder blades and a good bit of her back. She looked beautiful and alluring, the perfect copy of a Vakgor woman we’d see out in the streets. Morrigan’s presence was already powerful and striking, but in this outfit, she looked even more so.
Haruhi stepped out from behind the privacy screen shyly with her head down, and her hands held in front of her. Her dress was also midnight black and contrasted beautifully with the red wig. The shape of the outfit was similar to Morrigan’s, but the librarian was much bigger breasted compared to her elven sister, and her cleavage looked close to bursting from the seams. Each time Haruhi breathed, the fleshy tops of her breasts rose and fell heavily. The sage was much more voluptuous compared to her elven sister, and I took in every inch of her tempting body.
“What about Master?” Morrigan asked as she looked over Haruhi’s appearance and nodded in approval. “He is the most recognizable of our party.”
“I-I hadn’t planned for that, these were the only Vakgor-like outfits that I could find…” The sage admitted sadly, but I stood and shook my head.
“There will be no need for that.” I grinned, and both women turned to me with confused expressions.
“What do you mean?” Haruhi asked in a high-pitched voice as she grew more concerned. “They’ll know who you are as soon as we step off the ship!”
“That is not what I meant, my dear,” I smiled even wider as I held out my hands beside me. “I created a second avatar with little to no effort, what makes you think that I simply can’t make changes to the one I’m currently in?”
“Y-you can do that?” the sage asked excitedly as she came closer, and her natural smell overtook me in a wave.
Haruhi always smelled of eucalyptus and mint with a hint of the old books she always carried around. It was a very comforting smell, and I realized shortly after meeting her that I longed for it desperately. Each of my minions had a specific scent that I could pick out from anywhere, and during times of trouble, they comforted me exponentially.
“Yes, of course, he can,” Morrigan smiled as she looked over to me affectionately. “He changed his avatar the very first time we met him to our liking.”
Sometimes I forgot that Haruhi hadn’t been with us since the beginning, and she didn’t know about the travels and adventures we’d already been on. I wished that she had been, but she was with us now, and that was all that mattered.
“Yes, with all the powers I wield in these hands, it is one of the smaller things that I can do.” I chuckled as Haruhi shuffled closer, her hazel eyes wide and sparkling with intrigue.
“Show me!” the sage cried then covered her mouth with her paws self-consciously, then continued in a much calmer tone. “Master, can you please show me?”
I threw back my head as I laughed heartily. I loved Haruhi’s interest in the things unknown to her, and I would gladly show her all the things she wanted. I took one step away from my minion’s and closed my eyes as I breathed in deeply.
I imagined the Vakgor men that I’d seen before and felt my body and armor shift and change around me. I grew taller, and my hair brushed against the ceiling as I towered over my women. I felt my arms, legs, and midsection bloom and bulge in massive muscles that
seemed unnatural. I felt scars, and past wounds ripple across my flesh as they rose to the surface. My holy armor flexed then shrank to mimic the Vakgor armor that I’d observed from the heavens.
A heavy breastplate covered my chest, leaving my muscled sides and arms exposed. Ripped, weathered leather hung from my waist and exposed my meaty legs. Leather boots came halfway up my calves and were wrapped in beaten metal shin guards. The gauntlets that came up to my elbows were the same metal as the rest of my armor and underneath was blood-red leather shaped into dragon scales.
I opened my eyes as Haruhi gasped in wonder and hurried closer. I glanced at myself in the far mirror and took in my strange, new appearance. My face had stayed the same but expanded to a beast of a man’s with many white scars running over it. This new body was huge and hulking in the tiny quarters of our room, and I towered over both of my women. Compared to this body, the sage looked like a little doll, even Morrigan’s tall frame was nothing in comparison.
I looked exactly like the Vakgors, but it wasn’t something I was comfortable with. I was already a handsome, muscular man, but this body seemed obscene. Though the effect was achieved, and no one in Galencia would recognize us, it was still strange to see the different versions of myself and my minions. We looked every bit the part of the warriors of Galencia, and now it was time for us to enter the city.
Haruhi poured over the maps, memorizing the paths we would have to take as the boat docked in Galencia’s shipyard. Loud voices came from above, but my women remained calm. This was the sage’s first trip to an outside city with us, and the feline didn’t look the least bit nervous. She hurriedly packed up her things with Morrigan’s help, and we prepared to disembark the ship.
I climbed up the stairs from the belly of the ship with my women behind me, and the view of Galencia spread out before me. It wasn’t as I remember from the heavens, but the people bustling around the streets looked exactly the same. The buildings that were once squat, one-stories now towered over the city so high that they nearly brushed the white clouds.