“Sloppy, but workable,” Aila finally got to see her attacker. It was a woman wearing assassins garb complete with thin armor and two blades that rested in her hands. Only when she looked at them did she notice that they were there, with the casual way the woman acted as if they were an extension of herself.
“You have two short daggers, magic and no ranged attack. You magical types always relying on spells to hit anything at distance,” The assassin hissed.
“We will be fixing that,” The woman moved her blades shooting out, Aila tried to block. The woman danced through her blades, leaving three slashes on Aila.
The slashes were flashes of light, while they weren’t permeant wounds, Aila let out a gasp of pain.
They damn well feel like they’re real!
“Pain is the true teacher. You have daggers, you will need to be much more accurate to block other daggers. Focus on dodging, not blocking for now!”
Aila didn’t know how much time she spent trading attacks with her second teacher. Kazumi the panther-kin assassin.
She hadn’t needed to sleep or eat, but she felt the pain and all other sensations, it allowed her to fight continuously, surpassing her limits as she pushed past the limits she had placed upon herself. “You’re passable,” Kazumi said with a wry smile. Aila flushed at
hearing such praise from Kazumi.
“May your blades be true and your blood remain in your body,” Kazumi smiled and faded away.
Aila felt a rush of power, the trials had broken down who she was, the oath had revealed her true desires while her teachers had tempered her and now the power of Dena, the power of a Guardian filled her.
She returned to the room with the Dena leaders and the em- blem that melded into her own emblem.
Now she understood why Damien seemed so different when he had stepped off of the platform. They weren’t the same person as when they had stepped up onto it.
She bowed to the Tribunal and stepped down from the plat- form.
Months or years had passed in mere seconds.
“Are there any others?” the human lady asked once again.
No one said anything. This time, Tommie actually backed up. “Two more Guardians walk Dena—it is a good day.” The hob-
goblin banged her staff against the floor.
The others smiled in agreement.
“Hopefully there will be more to come. I hope you’re well rest- ed,” Claire said.
“Of course. It is about time that the Guardians rose once more. Even now I can sense the power of chaos feeding off Dena and its people,” the gnome said with a grim look.
“Till the next Tribunal.” The human lady looked at them and disappeared. A faint purple smoke drifted to the floor from where she had been standing.
Others started to disappear as well.
Before he left, Randarok, the elemental leader, looked to Claire and Anthony. “I may not be one of this world anymore, but I have need of Guardians in mine. I can’t work miracles, but I’m pretty good with bodies and magic.”
“And the barbecue is lacking,” the beast kin butted in, grinning before he disappeared with the others.
Anthony and Claire smiled.
Clouds appeared outside of Randarok’s body, the clouds con- densing forming a metal rectangle, he held out his hand and it floated over to Claire.
“Find me if you need my aid.” With that, he disappeared.
Claire looked at the shard of stone. There were flashes of power within it. It was no simple piece of rock.
“I will summon the judges gathered in the city and send word to those across the isles. We will travel to the east by the sea, across the top of Ilsal and to Radal. War is now upon us. We must act swiftly to mitigate the losses and see if we can’t stop it before too much damage has been done,” Claire said.
Anthony looked at Damien, Tommie, and Aila. “Will you aid us?”
“You give me the order and I’ll go where you need me. You are the leader of the Guardians now.” Damien stepped forward.
“Same goes for me.” Aila was still tired but there was a strength beyond that as she looked at Anthony.
“I’ll follow you if you’ll have me,” Tommie said in a small voice. “Every party needs a gnome. Everyone knows that you’re the
best for thinking things through,” Anthony said.
“And you’re the worst for messing those plans up,” Claire quipped.
“I’m just plan testing—you know, adding in a few random what-ifs.”
“The judges will be here by tonight. We will depart tomorrow afternoon.”
Chapter: On the Graves of the Faithful
Yakish walked through the halls of the Church of Light. Wherever he went, the faithful would bow down as their messenger and leader, the High Ascendant onto Light, the Lord Ascendant Torkai passed.
So meek and gullible. With the change of one person’s appearance, they are no better than sheep. As long as the lie is maintained, they will no longer question it.
Two saints of Light, the guardians and highest power within the Church of Light, moved to open the door to the meeting room. They entered and checked the room as the other two with Yakish turned and faced the hall. The guards looked at people who came close.
People avoided the hall, turning back or going around. “Stand guard outside,” Yakish said.
The two saints bowed and left the room, closing the door be- hind them. A spell fell over the room, suppressing any noise getting in or out and blocking off the doors and windows.
Yakish shook, growing larger and taller. The others in the room were all surrounded by light as they returned to their true form as Drafeng commanders.
“Wearing that human skin is tiring.” Nura twisted and turned her body around, extending her neck. She didn’t open her mouth to talk, using the chaotic power of her body to do so.
“It will not be for much longer. With the fight between the beast kin and the humans about to begin, we will draw in the elves and the other races,” Inras said.
“Enjoying the power of the Lord Ascendant?” Szante asked. “It is indeed interesting. How is the real Torkai?”
“Consumed by madness now that he knows the truth of the Church of Light,” Szante said. Drafeng expressions didn’t change
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but based on their chaotic power, one could read and study their emotions. They were creatures so in tune with their own power that it was their limbs, their voice, and their way of expression. Over time, they had focused less on what they could do with their bodies and more on what they could do with their power, changing and optimizing their very bodies for combat and needed tasks. Such as wearing the skins of the humans and the other races to infiltrate their networks and their higher echelons to move them in their de- sired directions.
“Once they learn the truth that they have been working toward the destruction of the Church of Light, the destruction of the peo- ple of Dena, they are always shocked,” Inras said in a bored voice.
“Four hundred years have made you tired, Inras?” Yakish asked. “Not tired—uninterested. It was fun with the first few, but still they do not have the ability or care to look into us. Belief is a pow- erful thing that can be used easily as a weapon. It is interesting how they may lie to themselves about them doing good for Dena. Torkai ordered hundreds of deaths and committed crimes against the oth- er races and against his own. When he found out there is no truth to the Church of Light, then he calls us murderers and devils. We are waging a war against his people, but he is supposed to be their protector and savior. But he himself had them killed and attacked
them. The irony.”
“People like to be the hero. We make them believe it.” Nura’s arms moved slowly. Everyone felt her dark humor and joy at the hu- mans and the other races moving to their whim.
Yakish couldn’t help but feel a flash of joy. It had been a few Lord Ascendants since he had taken over their role, cycling be- tween the different Drafeng commanders.
> “Shall we begin with the meeting at hand?” Szante asked.
The commanders moved to the table, turning their long necks to face Szante.
“We have discovered a group of dwarves is moving between a gnomish settlement and a dwarven mountain containing a dwar- ven princess. There are people within the dwarven royalty who are being pushed out with the connection to the gnomes who are bringing along a steam-powered engine that will increase the dwarves’ economy. In turn, the gnomes are growing in power and accepting more people every day into their settlement. If we can at- tack the princess, from the gnome side, using the dwarven royalty we have in place, we can ignite a war there. It wouldn’t be hard to draw them into the other conflict with the beast kin and the hu- mans, offering one side or the other the support of the humans in destroying the other to exact vengeance.”
“Good. Proceed with the plan. On the side of the elves?” Yak- ish asked.
Heads turned toward Inras.
“The elves seem to be doing something. It looks like something stirred them up a couple of weeks ago. It was along the path of the enigma that we have been tracking from Laisa to Skalafell. We don’t know what they are doing but I have drawn in some forces from the north. Once the fighting begins, I can use these groups to move in- to the Deepwood, pillaging and robbing the elves, ignite their fury and start drawing more of them toward our organization. It has al- ways been harder to gain elven assistants.” Inras looked over to Nu- ra.
“That enigma is an issue that needs to be cleaned up,” Nura said.
Yakish’s emotions became chaotic, thinking about the enigma. “Nura, what have you found out about the enigma?”
Nura was the center of attention. She felt surprised and unsure, which made them focus more. She was uncaring and callous; deal- ing with the beast kin for so long, she had taken on a brute force ap-
proach: anything that couldn’t be solved at first would be destroyed and never be dealt with again.
“Signs point to a Guardian or a group of Guardians.” The moving chaotic power stilled.
“They were wiped out by us hundreds of years ago, though,” In- ras said.
“Well, it looks like someone might have found a Guardian her- itage or been brought up by the pantheon of Dena. We still don’t know how Guardians came to be, their inner workings and such. We knew it was possible that they might come back,” Nura said.
“Based on the reports from Laisa, it looks as if it was a Guardian there. They must have gone through the elven Deepwood and then come out in Selenus, heading to Skalafell,” Yakish said. “The commander assigned to the village was turned into a beast kin apparently and disappeared. There are now goblins controlling the town.”
“Goblins?” Szante spoke up, his voice trembling. He was the oldest and senior commander among them. It might seem as though he dealt with the weakest group—Nura overlooked the beast kin, Yakish the humans, Inras the elves, and he dealt with the other races, Epan, and Ilsal. The other races had a smaller popula- tion, but there was a lot more going on. It showed how resilient they were, with only getting involved in the conflicts of the beast kin occasionally.
“They are simple creatures,” Nura said dismissively.
“Goblins might look simple, but their hob leadership is leg- endary. Generals Ect, Hior, Phos, Chah, and Phaou are the leaders of the five united armies. There has always been tensions with the other races. Each of them looked to outdo one another and prove that they were stronger. Do you remember the battle of Drador? We were able to convince the human leader that the humans need- ed to prove themselves. Instead of sending out the combined fight-
ing force, he sent out the humans to show off their power and they were slaughtered. It created division in the army and the general needed to be replaced as he was cursed as a failure of humanity and Dena. The army sustained critical losses as the other commanders thought the other races were looking to take power and position from them. We had a chance to do that within the different armies that were run with other races.
“Not with the goblins. The goblins, when they take over leader- ship positions, they treat everyone as if they are a part of their fam- ily. What they need to do is learn what the strength of everyone is. They are true leaders. Once they know the strength of people, they use that strength to guide them forward. It does not matter their race or their background. It was why we had to use the Church of Light and the beast kin to take power from the goblins. We de- stroyed the goblins’ efforts through political maneuvering. They are not savvy at politics as they want the best for everyone, even if it isn’t the best for themselves. We need to remove them from power immediately,” Szante said.
“With time, my memories have become faded,” Yakish said as he thought back. “Laisa has been quiet. There have not been com- plaints from the military in the large part that are stationed there. They have asked for new orders but they held off, moving it up the chain of command. There is a newly promoted Major Rae who has pushed for changes within his command. General Hugo Fysher has denied any movement from the military as he is preparing to fight the beast kin. He has taken a wait-and-see approach to Laisa at this time. I believe we can use this as an opportunity to gain Major Rae as a saint. He is formidable on the battlefield and brutal toward the other races. If we give him power and position as well as the tools to do as he wishes, he will be a powerful force of chaos to unleash upon Dena.”
“I will move up my attacks on the elves, probing attacks and draw the elven sleepers that we have to form up and destroy Laisa,” Inras said.
“No. If we have Major Rae come over as a saint and then go against General Hugo Fysher, that will complicate things within the ranks. Attacking their own city and destroying it will also make people disturbed, trusting their military less than they do. If we use the elves within Deepwood to increase the friction with the beast kin and the humans, then we can draw them into the war more,” Yakish said.
Inras signaled his agreement with a movement of his chaotic power.
“Szante, you are the oldest and most knowledgeable of us. If you and Nura work together to search out this person who might be a Guardian, hunt them down to remove that threat from our path, that should help our aims. They have not appeared for hun- dreds of years. Now, when we are so close to connecting back to the rest of our race, the Guardians can start to pull the people together and stabilize Dena,” Yakish said.
Nura and Szante moved to agree with his words.
“They were good fighters and we know that many of them died after the war, being wiped out in ways most foul, though there are a number who died but were not recovered,” Szante said. “I always thought that there might come a time that we would need to elim- inate them. What of the forces of Ilsal and Epan?”
“They are a small population. Although we have only been able to carry out very few plots in their lands, we have an abundance of information on what is happening there. Their population is small and although they have a strong navy, they do not have a strong military force. Once we control the continent and pull our people across, then we can focus on defeating Ilsal and Epan. Either they stay on their islands and we consume the power from Dena, starv-
ing them and they die, or they will come and attack us and we will defeat them on land,” Yakish said.
“Giving them time to grow is dangerous,” Szante warned.
“If we leave them alone and there is no fighting going on there, then people will rush there to escape. We can work our people into their ranks that way. If they deny people coming over, then they will turn into an enemy of those trying to escape. We could even use propaganda to make it look like of course they are safe; they’re the ones attacking with the doors. We have wiped out most records in the beast kin and the human histories about the last war. With everyone fighting one another, are they going to trust their ene- mies or the people standing on the sidelines?” Nura’s sardonic tone gained their agreement.
“The humans have been ready for a fig
ht for years. They’re pleased to continue it. The armies are moving and I will be sending saints and people from the Church of Light to create issues within to confuse and create issues within the military. We have famines and curses we can spread across the nation. There are threats of up- risings in the east and south along the elven border that we are in- stigating. With this war, we should draw in the entire country. The situation in the beast kin lands is only slightly more stable. With the actions of the chaos cults, we have created more schisms inter- nally.”
“They are difficult pawns, but they are just pawns in the end,” Inras said.
The others made flippant agreements, looking down on the people of Dena with disdain.
“Such issues would never come with Drafeng,” Yakish said proudly.
“For survival and continuation,” the others said. “We all have our duties to carry out,” Yakish said.
“Ahh, human skins. At least the beast kin skins are larger, to contain more,” Inras complained.
Light covered them as they transformed back into the leaders of the Church of Light. Yakish suspended the spell across the room and headed out. His four saints followed him like the good blind servants that they were.
Chapter: Resurgence
Anthony felt the power in his body. After drawing in more mana from Dena, his power had gone through a change.
He raised his left hand and sent power to Dave.
A golden light appeared in front of Anthony as Dave materi- alized. He was no longer in his complete dragon form but a hu- manoid dragon form. His golden eyes opened and his mouth pulled back into a grin, revealing his rows of razor-sharp teeth.
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