《D Days》


 1-1: Consription

    Jonathan Edders brushed his brown hair out of his face and then held both hands over his moist brown eyes trying to hold back the tears. Realizing it was futile he leaned back in his chair and let out a long and mournful sigh as the tears flowed freely. John was not a tall man, but he was stocky and gave off a vibe of being sturdy. Crying like this really made him question why everyone saw him as the rough and tumble type. He rubbed his freshly shaven face and closed his eyes to stem the tears.


    In the last year he had lost everything. At the start of the year a necromantic plague believed to have been conjured by a rogue follower of the high lich who escaped after the Dead War had swept through the surrounding lands not only claiming more than half of his livestock but taking his beloved Dahlia and both of his infant twin sons as well. Dahlia had not been strong enough to fight the magical infection after giving birth so recently and she had unknowingly passed the disease onto their newborn twins through her milk. Now it was just him and his eldest child Rosalyn. He has tried his best to provide for her and support her during the tragedy they had experienced this past year and they were even close to making a financial recovery. Sadly, it had all came crashing down when the local tax officer came by and confiscated all of his remaining animals and handed him an official writ of conscription.


    ¡°Damn those fool senators!¡± John said under his breath as he clutched at the worn messenger satchel he had worn every day during and since the Dead War. He remembered when he was a courier on the front lines, and how the satchel had saved his life by taking an arrow. John stared at the satchel and started fingering the darned hole where the arrow had pierced the leather and brief flashes of the horrors that he had seen during those dreadful days passed across his vision. What could he do? He had no answers, few options, and even less time.


    John shook his head, knowing that he couldn¡¯t think like that. This was just a border skirmish with the Magocracy, those bastards. They were just trying to claim land while the Kingdom was recovering from the Dead War. Pushing even those thoughts from his head he refocused his mind. He had to take care of his five year old daughter first and ensure her safe keeping while he fought in another fool war. He roamed across the house gathering up all the meager valuables and saved coin that he owned. Hopefully this would be enough for that old bat to take care of Rosalyn for the year he was conscripted. He grabbed his wife¡¯s locket and opened it to see a small painted likeness of them both in their Temple best. Pocketing the memento he shoved the rest of his late wife¡¯s jewelry into a small burlap sack. He felt like a robber, stealing all the things that had once made this house a home.Taking one more brief walk through his home and letting the memories wash over him, he came to the sad realization that neither Rosalyn or he would probably ever come back here.


    ¡°Rose! Where are you child?¡± John bellowed down the hall towards his daughter¡¯s room. ¡°Yes Papa! I got everything like you asked.¡± Rosalyn said as she exited her room carrying way more than her little arms could conceivably carry. She had dresses, chalks, dolls, and various other items jutting from every angle of her person. It was so comical that John let out a bark of involuntary laughter. He really had needed that laugh, and he would miss his little girl more than he could put to words. Suddenly welling with emotion he made a snap decision, taking off his trusty satchel. ¡°Here child let me help you, I have just the thing to help you carry what you need. However, we have to hurry. Your great aunt is waiting and she isn¡¯t a very patient woman.¡± Placing the satchel over his daughter¡¯s head and adjusting the straps he gave her a lopsided grin. ¡°It looks good on you. Now take care of that bag, I will want it back when I return.¡± John ruffled his daughter''s hair as she fidgeted with the bag, exploring the pockets within pockets that made the insides.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    After a few minutes of packing away Rosalyn¡¯s various odds and ends John stood back up to his full height. He smiled at his daughter as she struggled with the satchel, obviously much too small to carry it at her age. ¡°Do not worry child, you will grow into it. Now, I have one more thing for you.¡± Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the small locket and placed it over her neck. ¡°If you wear this then Mama will be able to always watch over and protect you. If you open it you can see both your mother and I. Let that be proof that we both love you and if you keep this locket safe I promise that you will never walk alone.¡±


    Grabbing his daughter''s tiny hand, they both exited the modest house they had called a home.


    <hr>


    "Pay attention!" Sister Cham yelled as she rapped her ruler on her desk. "Today we are going to be talking about the history of the Kingdom of Light, where we are currently residing." Scanning the room from her podium the diminutive nun eyed the kids lined up at tables in front of her looking for any sign of weakness. "Hans! Tell me about the Dead War!"


    Hans looking like a spooked deer stood up out of his stool and began to recite "Uhh... One of the Mage Lords of Ken was cursed during an experiment. He died! Except he kept moving and he went crazy! Uhh... he got a bunch of people and they made a lot of dead people get back up and attack everyone. Except a great army of heroes came together and they defeated the bad guys and now we don''t have to worry about the high lich or his army anymore!"


    Sister Cham nodded her head and briskyly replied "Adequate Hans, you may sit. Let us go a little more in depth than that for the next topic though. Can anyone tell me about the government of the Kingdom?"


    Several hands shot up and the nun pointed at a tall red haired girl ¡°Tabitha. Please go ahead.¡±


    Nodding, Tabitha started ¡°The Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, our Queen upholds the laws voted upon by the senate in the field of battle by commanding the army and appoints judges to pass judgement against those who break those laws. The senate is made of elected officials from each province. The power of each senator is based on the number of people in the census that is performed every election cycle.¡±


    Smiling at Tabitha, the nun motioned for her to sit. ¡°Good use of vocabulary in your explanation. Now, can anyone tell me about the Dragon Purge from 100 years ago?¡±

 1-2: Orphaned

    Rosalyn didn¡¯t really like her great aunt Florence. She was mean and old and she constantly told Rosalyn how much of a burden that she was and how she was useless and stupid. She had also sold all of the toys and dolls that she had packed in the satchel her father had given her, calling it payment for her residence. All she had left was a few dresses, her boots, and her two most prized possessions, her father¡¯s satchel and her mother¡¯s locket. Rosalyn supposed that she should be grateful she was fed regularly, got to sleep inside out of the bad weather, and that she didn¡¯t beat Rosalyn, especially since great aunt Florence constantly reminded her of how good she had it. Overall, she wasn¡¯t horribly mistreated and she knew it, but it had been a sad and lonely year for the little girl and she desperately wanted to see her Papa again for her sixth birthday. It was the only gift she wanted.


    So, depressed and beaten down after months of lonely days in the company of the meanest lady she had ever met she had received her first bit of good news. A passing soldier who Rosalyn had fetched a pail of well water for had told her that they were starting to send the conscripts home as fighting in the north died down. She was so happy she had hugged the bemused soldier. Ever since then she has stood attentive at the small fence ringing her great aunt¡¯s cottage, waiting patiently for any sign of her wayward Papa. Great aunt Florence¡¯s cottage was located a few miles away from the town but was right on the path of the main road, so she watched knowing that her Papa would have to pass by on his way to report the end of his service to the local tax office. Thus began her ritual of standing there diligently from dawn to dusk waiting patiently for the return of her Papa. Occasionally she would see a returning soldier and offer them water from the well in return for information on her Papa. None of them ever had met him, but she was still happy to provide something to drink. After all, it was still several miles to town and it wasn¡¯t their fault they hadn¡¯t fought in the same area as her Papa. Helping the soldiers out is what her Papa would have done.


    And so Rosalyn passed the time on watch in between these short interrogations by fantasizing about her Papa¡¯s return. The first thing she would do is return his satchel. While she had grown attached to having it, as having that many places to store odds and ends was incredibly helpful, she felt the satchel¡¯s true place was over her Papa¡¯s shoulder. She knew that he was on his way. Rosalyn could feel deep down. So with a big smile of expectation on her face she stood there in all manner of weather playing what she would say to her Papa over and over in her head. The first thing she would do is tell him how much she missed him and beg him never to leave again.


    At the start of the third week of her vigil a well dressed man wearing a wide brimmed hat walked up to the fence gate and marched right into the yard. Rosalyn was mildly disturbed by the rudeness on display, but was even more disturbed when she realized it was the the local tax officer who had visited her Papa a year ago and caused him to go away. She shrunk back in fear as he politely tipped his hat to the little girl and walked up to the front door and knocked. Rosalyn watched the newcomer with trepidation and saw when her great aunt opened the door, a suspicious look on her wrinkly, cantankerous face ¡°No solicitors. Piss off!¡± Florence hissed at the visitor. The tax officer didn¡¯t seem to let great aunt Florence¡¯s bad attitude bother him as he put on his spectacles and looked at a clipboard in his left hand. Clearing his throat he said, ¡°Ms. Florence Crane? I have some sad news for you. Your nephew, Jonathan Edders, has passed away serving his country. My condolences.¡± He handed the surprised old woman a folded piece of paper, bowed at the waist and then straightened back up in one quick motion, and then spun on his heels and exited the property just as fast as he had appeared, tipping his hat again to Rosalyn on his way out. He started whistling as he headed back toward town.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Rosalyn was stunned. There had to be a mistake! She was supposed to give Papa back his satchel and tell him how much she missed him and that she loved him. Tears started to well up in her eyes, but her sadness was interrupted by a loud ¡°Tch.¡± from her now only living relative. Great aunt Florence scowled as she read the paper. ¡°You worthless piece of crap! Can¡¯t even leave a decent death benefit. Oh well, it is enough to get started somewhere else. This place is getting a bit troublesome to stay around.¡± Looking up she narrowed her eyes at her grand niece. ¡°Bah, now what am I going to do with you brat? I already have sacrificed way too much to keep you this last year, and I don¡¯t think I will be doing that anymore. What can we do about this problem? Hmm? Oh don¡¯t look so confused child. I know you are stupid, but when I say problem I mean you.¡±


    Great aunt Florence began to pace across the lawn as she watched Rosalyn finally succumb to the tears that had been previously interrupted. Stopping and smiling she proclaimed ¡°Looks like you are a proper orphan now, and I know just where to take an orphan. Come and gather your things we are going to the Temple.¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°Alright class, now that we are done with sums for the day let us move on to geography and history.¡± the Sister Cham declared, swinging her ruler and pointing at a map of the continent. Her ruler was pointing to a section of map north of the Kingdom ¡°George! Where am I pointing on this map?¡±


    George stood and replied with the easy confidence of someone who paid attention in class ¡°That is the Magocracy of Ken, teacher.¡±


    ¡°Good! Now can anyone tell me about their government? Yes, you Alfred. Answer.¡±


    ¡°Well teacher¡­¡± Alfred nervously started, afraid to draw the nun¡¯s ire by getting the question wrong, ¡°The Magocracy is led by a council made up of the most power magic users in the guilds. The positions in their government are almost all by appointment with no elections or choice from the common people. However, anyone can rise to the council by right of public combat and when a council member is replaced all of the positions they were in charge of have to be re-appointed with new people. They are not allowed to keep any of the previous employees for some reason.¡±


    ¡°Adequate, you may sit.¡± Looking at the map with a sour look on her face the nun then turned back to her class and started speaking ¡°The Magocracy is a very volatile place children. There is great opportunity to be had in its borders, but who they will and will not do business is a fickle thing dependent on how the reigning council feels about any given neighbor at any time. Currently, they are not on good terms with the Kingdom or the Western Tribes so travel and trade is very limited to people from these locations. You would do well to look into the political climate of any place you intend to travel to before you make the trip. Now if you will open your textbook to page 73 we can start our lesson.¡±

 1-3: Abandonment

    Rosalyn wasn¡¯t sure what was going to happen now. First she had lost Mama and her baby brothers and now Papa wasn¡¯t coming home. She stared up at the wrinkled old woman who was her last living relative in the world. A person that was about to abandon her to the life of an orphan in the care of the Temple. Rosalyn clutched her satchel tightly and fought back the tears. She didn¡¯t want to cry in front of great aunt Florence again, every time the old lady just laughed at her misfortune and told her to quiet down before she was given a real reason to cry. She had very mixed feelings about what was happening.


    On the one hand her last remaining bit of family was abandoning her and on the other she was a little afraid of what would come of her if she stayed with great aunt Florence.


    As if sensing her thoughts Florence looked at Rosalyn and cackled. ¡°Hehehehehe. You know what brat? You are incredibly lucky. The Temple takes very good care of its orphans and gives them all a basic education. Personally, I think that is too good a fate for a bunch of leeches like you, but unfortunately slavery is illegal in the Kingdom. I suppose I could just slit your throat and be done with you, but the risks are too great for that. Be very thankful indeed.¡± Florence said with a malicious grin. ¡°Ahh, if only I still lived in the Elf lands. Then I could make some real coin off of you. Unfortunately, I do not have the same contacts here in Kingdom lands. PIty for me, lucky for you.¡±


    Rosalyn may have been conflicted before, but now she was downright terrified of staying with Florence. This woman was not her family. This woman was a danger to her well being. Something deep down told her that if she stayed with Florence it would end in her death or worse. Thankfully, before she could dwell on the implications of what would be worse than death they arrived at the temple. Almost instantly Florence¡¯s demeanor shifted. Her proud straight back hunched over and her long strides became almost shuffling as she leaned heavily on her cane.


    Rosalyn was very surprised by the sudden shift in Florence, but before she could say anything a tall woman wearing the habit of a SIster of the Divine walked up and greeted them, ¡°Hello Pilgrims, how may this humble servant of the Divine help you today?¡± The nun smiled warmly as she waited for an answer.


    Florence coughed and wheezed theatrically in front of the Sister, startling her young tagalong. Rosalyn was briefly hopeful that the old woman would keel over so she could escape, but Florence stopped the act when the nun rushed over to her and laid a glowing hand on her chest. ¡°Thank you dearie, but I am afraid that it is my time. I have lived a long and full life. My one regret is this little one, Rosalyn. My dearest treasure and the light of my life, I have to make sure that she is taken care of before I go. I would like to leave her in the the care of a Temple before I lay down for my final rest.¡± Rosalyn did a double take at Florence¡¯s words and made a sour face. Fortunately for Florence¡¯s act the Sister was preoccupied with soothing Florence¡¯s ¡°sickness¡± and did not see her.


    The nun¡¯s face turned very grave and she nodded, ¡°We normally do not do such things, but I can tell that you are in a bad way and I am sure the Mother will be sympathetic. Please follow me and we can discuss guardianship of the child. The child can wait outside the Mother¡¯s office while we discuss the matter.¡±


    Grabbing the ¡°sick¡± old woman under the arm, she helped her up the Temple steps and into the building. Taking a right and carefully leading Florence down the red plush carpets of the hall they stopped in front of a large dark door made of some exotic hardwood. There were depictions of Sisters battling with dragons and undead carved into the frame and around the edges of the door. Making to follow inside with the older pair, the nun put a hand on her shoulder and motioned to a small bench on the other side of the hall. ¡°Please child. Sit there and wait. We will call you in shortly.¡±


    So Rosalyn sat and waited in silence. She could make out the faint sounds of students reciting some lesson in the distance and she wondered what school was like. She was supposed to start her education around the same time her Papa had been conscripted, but his departure had prevented him from enrolling her in a class and Florence didn¡¯t bother enrolling her in one because it would have inconvenienced her to do so.


    After an hour of waiting the large ornate door leading to the Mother¡¯s office opened and Florence exited. She smiled wickedly at Rosalyn, but the voice that came out was theatrically pitiful ¡°OH my dear. I am so sorry to leave you here, but it is for the best! I am much too ill to take proper care of a growing child such as you. Farewell!¡± Winking one last time at the very confused child, Florence hobbled out of the Temple and Rosalyn¡¯s life.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    The nun that led them into the Temple stepped out next, ¡°What a wonderful lady she was. Tis a shame that she is so ill. It will be a tragedy when her time is up. Hopefully the coin I gave her will help her afford some medicine to ease her suffering.¡± She then fixed her gaze onto Rosalyn and motioned for her to stand, ¡°Come child. We have to find a place to temporarily bed you. Unfortunately, our facilities here are currently full and we are not allowed to take on new wards. However, it won¡¯t be a long wait. Our next caravan is scheduled for only six weeks from now and you can be on your way to your new home!¡±


    ¡°Ahh! SIster Mez. I will take the girl. I have finished my final lesson and was about to pack up for the journey to Koln.¡± A small, but firm voice echoed from down the hall. A halfling dressed in the traditional habit of a SIster stepped out of the room the lesson that Rosalyn was eavesdropping on came from.


    ¡°Well, I see no problem with that Cham, if the Mother agrees of course! If you come quickly we can even have you sign her paperwork. I imagine it will save you quite a lot of headache to not have to fill out the normal transfer paperwork for the girl.¡± The SIster named Mez replied as she stepped back into the Mother¡¯s office.


    <hr>


    ¡°Alright class, settle down. I said settle down!¡± Sister Cham bellowed. She stood proudly at her podium. ¡°This may be the last class we have together, but that doesn¡¯t mean we are going to take it easy today!¡±


    Surveying the students that she had been responsible for the last year the nun felt a tinge of pride in her chest. They were such smart kids, and she would miss them. Maybe some of them would be transferred her way in the near future? Pushing aside thoughts of her new assignment she started the lesson. Today they were doing more geography.


    Near the end of the lesson Sister Cham decided that she should test them one last time, ¡°Let¡¯s have a bit of a verbal test before we call it for the day. Jenefer! How did Wizard¡¯s Folly come to be?¡±


    Standing at attention the stocky young gnome stood up on her chair and replied in a squeaky voice ¡°Ma¡¯am, the Magocracy tried to use a massive ritual offensive spell on the high lich and the forces he had entrenched in the area. While it did wipe out a large part of the enemy forces it did something to the ambient mana in the land, causing a kind of magical radiation that turned the whole area into a giant monster pit. Only adventurers or the most desperate people live there now due to the incredibly dangerous flora and fauna. In fact there is only one large city in the entire area, Folly¡¯s Spite, and it is located on the coast.¡±


    ¡°Good answer! Now George. What is the main danger that Wizard¡¯s Folly poses to the rest of the continent?¡±


    George, one of the older kids in the class shook his head and shrugged ¡°It brings down the property value of its neighbors?¡± Giggles sprang from several of the older kids who got the joke, but Sister Cham was not amused. She flicked a bit of Divine power from her finger and struck George on the forehead.


    ¡°No child, that is not the answer. A simple ''I do not know, ma¡¯am'' would have sufficed. The reason that Wizard¡¯s Folly is so dangerous to the rest of the continent is that it is spreading.¡±


    After a few more questions Sister Cham looked out the window and checked the position of the sun. Shaking her head, Sister Cham dismissed her class for the final time. Taking a few minutes to look around the classroom that she had worked in for the last full year she smiled and grabbed her transfer paperwork. As she was getting close to the Mother''s office to get her orders of transfer signed she saw an old woman with an evil grin exit the office. Stopping and frowning, Sister Cham took an instant dislike to the old lady. Her gut just screamed that she wasn¡¯t trustworthy. To the side on a bench sat the most intensely unhappy girl she had ever seen. She was clutching a worn messenger satchel and looked to be on the verge of tears. A new arrival? The nun made an instant decision. She wouldn¡¯t let this girl sleep on the floor for six weeks waiting for a Temple sponsored caravan to bring her to another orphanage.


    That was when Sister Mez stepped out of the Mother¡¯s office, ¡°What a wonderful lady she was. Tis a shame that she is so ill. It will be a tragedy when her time is up. Hopefully the coin I gave her will help her afford some medicine to ease her suffering.¡± Sister Cham shook her head, Sister Mez was such a sweetheart, but was an incredibly poor judge of character. ¡°Come child. We have to find a place to temporarily bed you. Unfortunately, our facilities here are currently full and we are not allowed to take on new wards. However, it won¡¯t be a long wait. Our next caravan is scheduled for only six weeks from now and you can be on your way to your new home!¡± Sister Cham perked up at this, this was the perfect chance to butt in.


    ¡°Ahh! SIster Mez. I will take the girl. I have finished my final lesson and was about to pack up for the journey to Koln.¡±

 1-4: Hope and Disappointment

    Chamuhua Goldblossom, or Cham as she was known to her loved ones and friends, stood on a crate and surveyed her small Temple, as a big goofy grin spread across her halfling features. It needed much in the way of repair and expansion if it was going to meet her expectations and It wasn¡¯t in the most prestigious of locations, being on the outskirts of Koln, a small mountain village where people raised goats as their main source of income. However, Cham minded none of this and only saw the peace and quiet she had been looking for ever since the Dead War had ended six years ago. While she had enjoyed teaching the classes at the bigger Temple for the last year, she was even more excited to be in charge here as the smaller size would allow her to be more involved in her ward¡¯s lives. Besides, she was going to enjoy the quiet of this remote location as running an orphanage out in the sticks like this was as close as a SIster ever got to retirement with the Oath being what it was. She sighed contentedly thinking of all the hard work that was ahead of her. Hard work that didn¡¯t involve fighting the undead, which she was very much looking forward to. She even had her first ward to mind, looking at the little girl sleeping on a pallet in the sun. She was a small thing to be sure. Cham felt her heart ache as she watched her clutch the messenger satchel that she refused to take off. Apparently, it belonged to her father before he died in some pointless border skirmish with the Magocracy.


    Thanking the Divine once more that her position and fame awarded her some perks when her superiors were deciding what to do with her as if it had been anyone they probably would have been denied. She silently watched the laborers that had she had hired on their journey patch the roof and start raising the walls for a dormitory to house the children that were on their way. Staring vacantly at the frame of the new building she contemplated how the last decade had been really hard on the population. There were no shortage of orphans in any part of the land, especially since the Kingdom liked to conscript anyone who they thought would be useful in their almost constant border skirmishes. It was a wonder that any farming got done at all.


    Still, she was happy to have a peacetime purpose and vowed that the orphans in her care would get the best of everything that she could provide. Starting with this one right here. Jumping off her vantage point and walking over to the girl, she gently shook her awake. ¡°Child, wake up. I would be a poor guardian if I let you sleep the day away. I know that the circumstances of you coming into my care were a little on the abnormal side, normally you would have stayed in that orphanage until you were properly processed, but luckily you were dropped off right as I was leaving which allowed me to take guardianship of you with minimal paperwork. Which is ideal, as paperwork is the pits! I also know that neither of us got much of a chance to speak on the journey here due to the rapid pace at which we moved. So come, let us make introductions.¡±


    Cham kneeled onto the blanket and gave her warmest smile ¡°I am Chamuhua Goldblossom, Sister in the service of the Divine, taker of the Oath, Mother of this Temple, and your guardian until you reach the age of majority. You may call me Mother Cham. Now, who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?¡±


    The small little girl smiled nervously while clutched her satchel in one hand and a small metal locket in the other and said ¡°My name is Rosalyn¡­ Rosalyn Edders. Uhh¡­ Mother Cham. Uhh¡­ Ma¡¯am.¡±


    ¡°Excellent! Now, can you tell me what kind of schooling you have received? I must know where you stand if we are to get you a proper education! I do hope that we will get along.¡±


    <hr>


    Janie was hopeful. She had been scared after her mother abandoned her. She had declared that Janie was bad for business and had unceremoniously dropped her five year old daughter on the side of the road with nothing but the clothes on her back. Whether it was a kindness or a cruelty, she had told Janie her father¡¯s name and his location in the Elvish capital of Menemir. Janie had thought she would never finish the seemingly never ending walk, but she had surprised herself and done something any rational adult would have said was impossible. She had traveled from a small border village in the Kingdom to the heart of the Elvish Federation chasing her birth father. It had taken her nearly a year of travel to get here, but she had made it.Stolen story; please report.


    Of course, she had done things she wasn¡¯t proud of to get here, but it would all be worth it when she met her father. She had stolen a lot and abused the kindness of strangers on more than one occasion. She felt especially bad when she had stolen the money from that nice man that gave her that delicious meat pie. Hopefully he would forgive her one day.


    She was stalling and she knew it. All Janie had to do is walk into the tavern and ask for her father. He was supposedly a regular, hopefully he would be there tonight. Grabbing her nerve and choking it until it did what she wanted it to do, Janie pushed the swinging doors open and marched in.


    Everyone in the bar immediately took one look at the malnourished orphan that brazenly walked into one of the swankiest alehouses in the Elvish capital. Shrinking under all of the attention, Janie hunched over and walked up to the bar. The bartender, dressed smartly in a dark jacket with a pristine white apron, looked at her and frowned. ¡°We do not give handouts to urchins.¡±


    Janie gave the bartender what she hoped was a confident smile and replied ¡°No sir, I am here looking for my father. His name is Adrian Amakeer. Do you think you could point me in his direction?¡±


    Eyeing Janie suspiciously he pointed to another set of swinging bar doors leading into a private side room. Raucous laughter could be heard and smoke was wafting through into the main common area. Strangling her nerve again she pushed open another set of doors and came face to face with a very, very fat elf. In fact, he was the first truly fat elf she had met since she coming to the Federation. He had more than a few female elves in various states of modestly clinging to him. Janie recognized a prostitute when she saw one, after all her mother had been one.


    Stepping into the room the fat elf looked at her and said ¡°You aren¡¯t exactly my taste, a little too young. Also, you seem to be a half breed. What do you want, thing?¡±


    Fidgeting slightly Janie replies, ¡°Uhh¡­ I am¡­ Uhh¡­ looking for my father¡­ his name is Adrian Amakeer¡­¡± The fat elf stared at Janie for a long moment before snorting and taking a long drag on a hookah. ¡°That would be me child, but I do not recognize you as my offspring. Begone.¡±


    ¡°But¡­ you are my father¡­?¡± Janie cried. Adrian Amakeer sneered and hissed ¡°I said begone! As far as I am concerned, you got everything you needed from me when I provided my superior elven blood! Cara, get rid of the girl before I have her fed to my hounds. Oh, and take her out of the back door. I don¡¯t want word of me having a half breed child spreading anymore than it has already.¡±


    A tall blonde elf wearing large round spectacles stepped out of the shadows and walked toward Janie. Grabbing her by the arm she led the panicking little girl out a side door meant for servers to slip in and out quietly.


    ¡°Do not fear child, I will not hurt you. However, you cannot stay here as Milord was quite serious about feeding you to his hounds.¡± Janie¡¯s eyes grew wide at that. The elf known as Cara continued ¡°You are quite lucky girl. Milord must have been in a good mood to not have you killed. I am thankful for that, I do detest killing children and selling you into slavery just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. You do have Elven blood in you after all. Now, what to do with you? Ahh, I have it. There is a Temple caravan stopped in the city currently and they have live cargo for the Temple. Orphans, just like you, that are being transferred from the orphanages in the larger cities to smaller rural ones. I think I can get you on.¡±


    Janie was confused and disappointed, ¡°What is going to happen to me?¡± The bespectacled elf looked down and shrugged ¡°Not my problem. I am really only doing this much on a whim, as by Elvish law you aren¡¯t even a real person. Now hush before I change my mind about the whole slavery thing.¡±

 1-5: New Arrivals

    It had been a month since Rosalyn had had come to live with the small nun at the Temple in this faraway mountain village on the southern border of the Kingdom. Her days had been very busy as she assisted her new guardian with various tasks, but she had been amazed at how fast the formerly ramshackle grounds had come together. The laborers had managed to not only remodel and expand the main Temple building, but they had created a dormitory exiting off of the right of the Temple and a mess building near the property¡¯s well. Their last project before they left with the soon to be arriving caravan was a simple one room classroom for Mother Cham to use in her school lessons. Rosalyn found herself growing more and more excited as her new home got closer to completion.


    That thought had surprised her when it first popped into her head. This was her new home. Sure, she was still getting used to the chores and lessons, but Rosalyn found that she was happier here than she ever had been with Florence. Also, Mother Cham seemed to genuinely care for her well being, which was more than she could have hoped for when the woman took charge of her. She had been teaching her many things, including how to read and write, do basic sums, and even defend herself from ruffians and strangers with her bare hands. Mother Cham was surprisingly strong for her size and very smart. Rosalyn just knew that if she was diligent that she would learn a lot in her care.


    Today though it was very hard to focus on her tasks. This was the day the first caravan was scheduled to come and deliver supplies and the first batch of the children that were being transferred from the overflowing inner city orphanages. Apparently, this one even started its trip in the Elven Federation. She wondered if she would meet any elves? Rosalyn was incredibly excited at the prospect. Mother Cham¡¯s lessons about the other nations in the world had stirred something deep inside her heart. Curiosity and a desire to see the world! She desperately wanted to know what was over the horizon. Staring off into the distance Rosalyn let the peas she was shucking fall out of her hand into the basket. That is when she saw the wagon trail. Excitedly jumping to her feet she adjusted her satchel and ran to get Mother Cham.


    A few minutes later they were both waiting as the procession of wagons stopped. Rosalyn stood beside Mother Cham as she nervously watched the laborers that had worked on her new home for the last month unload various crates and large jars from the first wagon. Clutching her Mama¡¯s locket she scanned the other wagons looking for the other children that were going to join their family. The first to exit the wagon was an older boy with bright red, almost orange hair. He looked like he was twelve or so, and was leading a smaller boy with similar hair by the hand as they left the exit ramp. The next arrival was a dark haired girl on the cusp of puberty carrying a bald toddler who was fast asleep in her arms. However interested Rosalyn was in these new arrivals her focus instantly snapped to the last girl to exit the wagon. She was a few inches taller than Rosalyn was and had a mop of tangled hair so blonde that it was almost white in the direct sun, but what really caught her attention was the girl¡¯s ears. Her pointed ears. Rosalyn started to vibrate with excitement as she broke away from Mother Cham and ran up to the elven girl.


    The young blonde elf shrank back in alarm as Rosalyn entered her personal bubble, raising both arms to shield her face. Rosalyn, not noticing how uncomfortable she was making the other girl starting shooting off questions at a rapid fire pace that would make a trained auctioneer jealous.


    ¡°I¡¯m Rosalyn. What is your name?¡±


    ¡°How old are you?¡±


    ¡°Are you an elf?¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Can you speak with trees?¡±


    ¡°What do your elf eyes see?¡±


    The new arrival stood there with her arms covering her face and watched Rosalyn through the crack in between her bony arms. The questions were coming so fast that not only could she not get a word in edgewise to answer, they were starting to blend together as the excitable young girl started to bounce up and down like a hyperactive puppy.


    Thankfully, Mother Cham chose that moment to walk up and rap Rosalyn on the head with a ruler she always seemed to have on her person. ¡°Settle down child! Let her speak! Now dear, what is your name?¡± The pointy eared new arrival looked at Rosalyn for a long moment before lowering her arms and replying ¡°My name is Janie, Ma¡¯am. I don¡¯t have a surname. Also, no I am not an elf. They made that very clear. My mother was human.¡±


    Mother Cham raised an eyebrow ¡°Ahh, a half-elf. Very rare to see one. You are only the third one I have ever met, and I am a little more well traveled than most people. Still child, you are welcome and safe here.¡±


    <hr>


    It had been a week since the new children arrived and the laborers left, and while she got along fine with most of the kids there was one that was actively avoiding her. Janie. It was more than a little vexing.


    ¡°Maybe I came on a little strong?¡± Rosalyn mused out loud. Resolving to fix the problem she walked around the property until she found Janie sitting in the low hanging branch of a maple tree on the edge of the Temple property. Looking up Rosalyn shouted ¡°Can we talk?¡±


    Looking suspiciously down at the girl who had all but ran over her when they first met Janie slowly nodded and started to climb down to face her fear. ¡°Okay? How can I help you?¡±


    Rosalyn gripped her Mama¡¯s locket as she thought about what to say, ¡°I think we got off on the wrong foot. I saw your ears and I got really excited, because you are the neatest person I have ever met and I really want us to be friends.¡±


    Cocking her head to the side with a confused look Janie replied ¡°Why do you think I am neat?¡± Rosalyn blushed and responded ¡°Well¡­ you are an elf, or at least part elf. Mother Cham has been telling me about all of the places she has been to and my dream is to travel the world to see those places and meet as many people as I can, and when I saw your ears I thought meeting you would be a good start¡­ and I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable.¡±


    Rosalyn bowed deeply which caused Janie to throw both of her hands up in protest. ¡°You don¡¯t have to bow to me! I am not worth it anyway.¡±


    ¡°Whaaaat? Noooo! You are totally awesome. You are so tall, even though I am older than you and you have such pretty hair! Not to mention your awesome ears!¡± Rosalyn loudly declared with both hands on her hips.


    She was understandably surprised when Janie started sobbing.


    Janie didn¡¯t know what to say. It was the first time in her life that anyone had ever said anything nice about her. She had called her pretty and even complimented her ears. So, she did what her heart told her to do. She cried. She didn¡¯t know if they were happy tears or sad tears, but she did know that she was surely crying a lot of them, and it made her cry even harder as Rosalyn tried to console her.


    After about an hour of this back and forth Janie had finally stopped bawling and they were both quietly sitting under the branches of the oak. Rosalyn was stroking Janie¡¯s hair as she laid her head on Rosalyn¡¯s satchel. They spent the next couple of hours talking about all the things that children talk about. Their favorite color, what food they liked to eat, what games they knew how to play, and many other topics as they probed each other and learned all they could.


    After a while their conversation died down and Janie stood up to head back to the dormitory to do her afternoon chores. Janie took a few halting steps before turning around and looking at Rosalyn. ¡°You¡­ dream of seeing the world one day right? Would¡­ would you mind it I came with you?


    Scoffing, Rosalyn stood up and grabbed Janie¡¯s hands. ¡°Of course not silly! We are friends now aren¡¯t we?¡±

 1-6: Ten Years Older

    Cham looked at the small black box wrapped in silver metal bands sitting on her desk and frowned. A runner had delivered the thing during the middle of the night with a huge air of secrecy. Of course, she knew what it was and she knew why they had sent it to her Temple. It was just her turn to watch over the damned thing, and she guessed that her superiors waiting a full decade to throw this onto her plate was a blessing that she should be thankful for. Cham didn''t have to like it being here though.


    She supposed that believing she was done with all the fallout of the Dead War was a little too wishful for real life. Cham was one of the most powerful practioners of the Temple combat art after all, so it would stand to reason that she would get a turn watching the cursed thing. Still, she had hoped with her role during the Dead War this dubious honor would have passed her over. Wondering why they had not just destroyed the foul thing, Cham nervously tapped her finger on the surface of her desk as she studied the cube.


    Cham''s left eybrow started twitching as she stared at the source of her irritation. She knew that hurling unsavory words at her absent superiors would be overreacting on her part. Taking a deep breath and looking up at the ceiling of her office to get the dark cube out of her sight and closed her eyes to try and stem the tide of foul language on the tip of her tongue. She failed.


    Outside several wide-eyed children stopped their morning chores and listened in awe at the colorful terminology echoing from Mother Cham''s office.


    <hr>


    ¡°This is it! This is my moment!¡± Rosalyn declared quietly to herself as she waited in line to take the government mandated magical aptitude test. She brushed her brown hair out of her eyes and wished she had braided it this morning. Opting to tie it back instead, Rosalyn started hopping back and forth in place as the nervous energy of the wait overwhelmed her. It was time for her to make her debut in the world and take the Royal Academy by storm. Individuals sponsored by the Kingdom recieved all of the best training and equipment and it would be the perfect start to her dreams of seeing the world. After all, everyone had to connections. She had fantasized constantly about this moment since they announced that they were sending out testing officials with the census group the prior year. It was almost like it was what Janie and her had spent their whole childhood preparing for. It was fate. It was destiny! It was her ticket to adventure and having all of her dreams come true!


    As the line moved forward once more, she realized that she was next. Rosalyn could no longer contain her excitement and started a quick shadow boxing routine that Mother Cham had taught her to calm her nerves. She had studied and trained endlessly for this day, learning everything Mother Cham would teach her about the world and mastering the nun¡¯s martial art to strengthen not only her body but also her focus. She was confident that she was going to have a leg up on everyone else present. Watching the last person in front of her walk off Rosalyn turned and gave Janie, who was further back in line, two thumbs up. Janie smiled weakly back and gave a small wave. Adjusting her satchel, she stepped forward.


    ¡°Next! Name and age?¡± Rosalyn stood straight and replied ¡°Rosalyn Edders and sixteen! Sir!¡± The man scribbled something on a ledger in front of him and gave her a bored look, ¡°Please place your hand on the crystal.¡± Rosalyn was giddy. This was it! She placed her hand on the crystal expectantly and¡­ nothing?


    ¡°Next!¡± Rosalyn¡¯s entire world fell out from under her.


    <hr>


    Rosalyn clutched her locket as she stared wistfully into the horizon, thinking very hard about her prospects in life and how boring they looked. The previous day¡¯s nationally sponsored test had been a disaster. The short of it was that she was about as magical as¡­ as¡­ something that wasn¡¯t magical at all. It was disappointing to say the least.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    So it was official. Rosalyn Edders was no good. She couldn¡¯t do magic. She didn¡¯t have a body suited to being a powerful warrior, being only a little over five feet tall and best described as petite. Sure she was in good shape and had mastered the nun¡¯s combat arts and could beat any average man up and down the street, but that wasn¡¯t very useful against larger opponents or magical creatures since she did not have the power of the Divine to infuse into her attack or defense. She wasn¡¯t ugly or beautiful, strong or weak, a genius or a dunce. She was normal, and that hurt more than anything else in the world right now.


    As a war orphan in the care of a church in a small mountain village so unimportant it didn¡¯t show up on some maps her best chance at making something important of herself was that test. It was the thing that she had pinned her whole life¡¯s ambitions on¡­ and now¡­


    She was going to waste away here, simply treading water with her life. She wanted more. She had ambitions! She wanted a place to call her own, a place where her word would be law, where her loved ones would be safe and protected. She also wanted to see the world. To visit the elven and dwarven cities, and meet all the other races of the world. She wanted to see a dragon! Of course that would never happen, everyone knew the legendary beasts were hunted to extinction by the Kingdom a hundred years ago. Rosalyn wiped a tear from her face as she stared into the blue sky and wished for some excitement in her life.


    ¡°ROSALYN EDDERS! What have you done now?¡± Mother Cham yelled. She flinched at the sound of Mother Cham¡¯s voice and and very quickly decided that it was not the kind of excitement she was hoping for. She watched the nun in charge of the orphanage where she grew up stalk forward with anger in her eyes while that feeling that distinct sense of dread and panic from hearing her full name said by an authority figure slowly crept into her heart. Rosalyn tried her very best to make herself as small as possible to avoid the tiny, fierce nun¡¯s wrath. She failed. Mother Cham looked up at her ward and adjusted her grey summer habit. Mother Cham was incredibly scary despite being a halfling, and not even a particularly tall one. She was the woman who had taught Rosalyn how to fight after all. Yes, Mother Cham was terrifying in her own way, even with her large green eyes, small button nose, and cute child like face. There wa sjust something intimidating about her, like there was a large bear standing right behind her waiting to attack at her command.


    ¡°WELL CHILD?¡± Mother Cham boomed. Pushing down her panic, as it was common knowledge all nuns could smell fear and it drove them into a feeding frenzy Rosalyn bravely replied, ¡°I am afraid I do not know what you mean Ma¡¯am.¡±


    ¡°Why pray tell, did I get a visit from the local constabulary relating to you and an altercation between the mayor¡¯s middle child? Hmmm? Surely, they are mistaken?¡±


    Rosalyn grimaced as she remembered the altercation from the night before. She had spent the rest of the day wandering the village and surrounding hills after failure to become a Kingdom sponsored mage. On her way back to the dormitory to get into bed she found herself in front of of the village tavern contemplating seeing if the local barkeep would let her drown her sorrows despite being about six months shy of legal drinking age. That is when a very drunk local playboy had made very inappropriate advances and tried to grab her butt. When she politely declined he decided that it was his cue to get a little more grabby. Rosalyn objected. Forcefully. She may or may not have broken his arm.


    There was no getting out of it unfortunately, so she might as well tell the truth. Besides, Mother Cham had not raised her to lie. Rosalyn looked at her guardian and sighed ¡°Full disclosure, Ma¡¯am. I did. He tried to force himself on me. I might have overreacted a tad. I was kind of having a bad day at the time.¡±


    Mother Cham sighed, shaking her head with a faraway look in her eyes. Snapping back to focus on Rosalyn she shook her finger in admonishment ¡°Next time Rose, tell me when you assault someone so that I can be prepared for the petty wrath of petty people. I will take care of them. Can you please bring in the younger children for lunch?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am.¡±


    ¡°Good. Also after lunch we need to talk. You will be turning seventeen before too long and we need to have a discussion about your future.¡± She seemed to hesitate for a moment as if there was something else she wanted to mention but shook her head and walked away.


    Rosalyn felt like she had been punched in the gut. She knew what that discussion was going to be about.

 1-7: Parting of the Ways

    As the eldest in the care of the church Rosalyn had a lot of responsibility. She set the table and laid out the food that she had prepared. Today¡¯s lunch was tomato sandwiches slathered in freshly made mayo and sprinkled with a bit of salt and pepper. She was always surprised at the things Mother Cham could afford for the kids to eat, but she had heard several of the villagers whisper that she was supposedly famous so maybe that explained it? Shaking the random thoughts out of her head Rosalyn rang the large brass lunch bell and watched the children filter in one by one. After a moment she started to count the children to make sure there were no stragglers.


    ¡°10¡­ 12¡­ Hobert¡­ where is Janie?¡± Rosalyn asked a lanky young teen boy who was running around the small grassy area outside of the church gathering up the smaller children who didn¡¯t want to stop their outside play to come and eat. He halted and slowly scratched the bald head he had had ever since he had arrived as a toddler ¡°Hmm¡­ I saw her by the big tree about an hour ago. She was crying, but didn¡¯t want to talk so I left her be.¡± Nodding Rosalyn looked at Hobert and made a hand gesture at the children, ¡°You got this?¡± Hobert nodded as he grabbed two of the smallest children under his arms and trundled into the mess area. As always Rosalyn was amazed at how brotherly Hobert was, she would have to tell him so sometime. It would probably make him blush, which would be hilarious because his head would turn red and he would look like a tomato. Apparently, she had food on the brain. Her mind was wandering too much today.


    ¡°ANYWAY! Now to go find Janie!¡± she declared to the sky raising both arms above her head in a gesture of defiance to the very clouds above.


    After a brief jog to the so called ¡°big tree¡± in the center of town Rosalyn saw her target. She was in the upper branches of the ancient oak, quietly sobbing. The sight of it distressed her. What had happened? Rage seethed in Rosalyn¡¯s heart at the sight. While Rosalyn loved all of the residents of the church like family, Janey was her soul-sister. They had come to the orphanage around the same time a decade ago and after a brief bit of awkward shyness they had grown close culminating in the sacred act of them declaring they were each a sister from another mister.


    Rosalyn looked at her sister and studied her. Janie supposedly had a really hard life before she found her way to the church orphanage as part of that merchant convoy. It wasn¡¯t something she liked to talk about, but Rosalyn had gotten the impression that Janey had been by herself for a long time and had done things she wasn¡¯t proud of after she was abandoned by her mother. Despite her sad past she really was everything that Rosalyn had wanted to be growing up, tall, thin, blonde, and beautiful. Rosalyn really was envious of her height most of all. Her not having to use a step ladder to reach the second pantry shelf was something that had been a particularly sore subject for Rosalyn after they had hit puberty. She had the tall half-elf beat in the chest area, but that didn¡¯t help her reach the high shelves now did it?


    She supposed that is what is to be expected from having an elven parent. Despite being a half-elf Janie was and always would be her clumsy little sister in her heart of hearts. No matter how jealous of her long legs she got.


    Climbing up the tree she sat down next to a bleary eyed Janie and watched her silent heaving sobs. ¡°Who made you cry? Was it the mayor¡¯s son? DID HE GRAB YOUR BUTT? I should have broken both of his arms¡­¡± Rosalyn said, scanning the town from her perch looking for the offending lothario.


    Janie gave a confused look and laughed ¡°No¡­ Rose¡­ it is¡­ something else.¡± She looked at Rosalyn and said ¡°I have an A rank talent in magic and they are making me join the military academy for the next semester. I don¡¯t want to go, but I was conscripted by Kingdom right.¡±


    Rosalyn almost fell off the branch she was sitting on. Flashes of her Papa¡¯s back he left for war after being press ganged into the Kingdom infantry flashed through her mind. She clutched her satchel and thought about what was being said, Janie was¡­ leaving? But! BUT! They were going to be together forever! Also, Rank A? Life sure isn¡¯t fair, to not only deny her dreams but to take the person she loved most in the world to a place she couldn¡¯t follow¡­


    ¡°When are they taking you?¡± Rosalyn quietly asked. She felt like the happy parts of her entire childhood had been targeted and were being excised by the universe, bit by bit.


    ¡°I am leaving tomorrow with the testing delegation. They are apparently very excited about my prospects, but¡­ Rose¡­ I¡­ don¡¯t¡­ want¡­ to¡­ go¡­¡± the last of her statement broken up by heaving sobs.


    Rosalyn thought hard. What could she do to make this right? It was her duty as the older sister. Could they run? No. If she had an A rank talent they would send their best chasers after her as an oathbreaker and when they found her she wouldn¡¯t be just a conscript anymore, she would be a deserter and thus forfeit of her rights and become property of the Kingdom. She would go from temporary conscript to permanent slave. Either way they would get service from her. There was only one thing to do. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    She looked Janey in the eyes and took both of her hands, ¡°I don¡¯t see a way out of this, so you should go and learn everything they want to teach you. You will get so strong they sing your name in bard songs and be so powerful no one will be able to separate us again. I will also get stronger somehow and I will find a way to join you. I promise we will meet again and we will go and see the world together! This isn''t goodbye. This isn''t forever!¡± Rosalyn declared hugging Janey close to her.


    Janey snuggled into Rosalyn''s neck and said, ¡°It¡¯s a promise.¡± Rosalyn laughed and reached into her satchel and pulled out the handkerchief she kept in there. ¡°Dry your nose, you look like a wreck and I don¡¯t want you to scare the other kids.¡±


    Despite Mother Cham¡¯s earlier statement that they would talk after lunch she merely waved her two oldest off to the mess hall with the statement that it could wait one more day when she realized that Janie had told Rosalyn the news. Rosalyn was very happy to put that conversation off as long as possible as she was afraid that it would be the nail in the coffin of her world.


    <hr>


    Janie and Rosalyn hugged each other one more time as the porters loaded the wagons for their journey to the capital. ¡°I will write when I get settled into my dorm room. We will stay in contact and we will meet again one day.¡± Janie resolutely said, obviously more for her own benefit that Rosalyn''s. ¡°Remember Rose, it is a promise between sisters.¡± Rosalyn nodded as she broke away from the hug, tears in her eyes.


    Just then a hawkish man in a blue robe with a sergeant¡¯s insignia on shoulder walked up and gently grabbed Janie''s arm. ¡°It is time Ms. Janie. The time for goodbyes have to be over if we are to make any progress on the road today.¡± Janie looked at him blankly until she came to some decision in her heart and her face switched over to a determined look. Rosalyn gave a small wave as they turned and walked away.


    Just like that she was gone. She repeated to herself over and over that they would meet again, but something deep down in the dark parts of her heart quietly told her this was going to be their final goodbye. She couldn¡¯t hold her sister back after all. Not boringly normal Rosalyn Edders. No good to anyone. Janie had talent that would let her see the world and Rosalyn had to use the step ladder to reach the second shelf.


    Rosalyn silently stared at the procession until they had disappeared over the horizon and were long out of sight. After the third hour of silently watching, Mother Cham walked up Rosalyn and grabbed her hand leading her back to the church, ¡°Come child, we have a discussion that is overdue.¡±


    After a quiet walk they were both in the small tidy office that Mother Cham kept to the side of the main vestibule of the church. Rosalyn couldn''t help but squirm like she was in trouble in the chair that she had been lectured in so many times over the last decade. She stared at the floor waiting for the question that she knew was coming.


    ¡°Rosalyn.¡± Rosalyn looked up at Mother Cham. ¡°What are you going to do when you turn 17? You know that our tenants say that you can no longer stay when you become an adult. Room has to be made for the next child in need.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ do not know Ma¡¯am. Are you sure I cannot stay, at least for a little bit?¡± Rosalyn pleaded with tears in her eyes. This was the conversation that she had been dreading. She was losing the last thing she had left. She had lost her dream, her sister, and now she was going to lose her home.


    ¡°The tenants are clear child. The only adults that are allowed to maintain full time residence in the church are takers of the Oath. You could take the Oath? I might be able to get you posted here as my assistant. I do have some pull with the upper management. You could even go on to do great things in the Sisterhood with your mastery of our combat art.¡± Mother Cham suggested.


    Rosalyn thought about that. The Oath was a sacred thing and not something one walked into lightly. It was a very strict and binding lifestyle and not something you could ever leave. It required swearing an oath said to be unbreakable, a decade of sequestration in the grand monastery to master the powers bestowed to the Sisters by the Divine, and at the end you were assigned a posting that you kept until you either died or were summoned back to the monastery. In a lot of ways the Sisters were a more strict organization than the Kingdom¡¯s military.


    Rosalyn shook her head, ¡°No Ma¡¯am. While I do respect the Sisters, you most of all, I feel that life isn¡¯t for me. I¡­ have things I want to do and being tied down like that runs counter to my heart.¡±


    Mother Cham nodded her head and said, ¡°I understand child. We are going to have to find you some honest work though. I will not have one of my kids be a layabout or a pauper on the street! Do not worry, I can put out a few feelers for you in the surrounding areas. You are a smart child with a good work ethic, it will be alright in the end. The Divine will watch over you.¡±


    Mother Cham clapped her hands and said, ¡°Well then, that was a hard discussion, especially after the Kingdom conscripted little Janie, but life moves ever onward. You would do well to internalize that. Now let¡¯s go gather the children for dinner? It was Hobert''s turn to cook and he was making a wonderful stew!


    That was when the room exploded.

 1-8: Devastation and Loss

    Rosalyn awoke to a world of noise and pain. She sat up slowly and distantly noticed that the church was on fire. She shook her head trying to clear the fuzz in her brain, but the fact that her everything hurt was putting a kibosh on her efforts to pay more attention to her surroundings. Rosalyn did manage to note that at some point she had been dragged out of the building and laid on a sheet that had once been drying in the afternoon sun. Staring stupidly at the floral pattern of the sheet, her focus slammed into place as she heard the screams of children and the sounds of metal clashing. She swiveled her head around to fully take in the carnage for the first time. She saw Mother Cham who was missing an arm, fighting with the power of the Divine against a dozen skeleton and zombie attackers. She started to stand up to run to help Mother Cham when she saw Hobert running toward her carrying burnt and crying children. She turned and waved him over, but was shocked when Hobert fell face forward with an arrow sticking out of his neck. He didn¡¯t move. The children in his arms wailed. Death had come to their world. She fell into despair.


    Except¡­ she knew the children needed her. She had to get them to safety. Only then would she allow herself to grieve. She took a step toward the crying children with a reassuring smile on her face when they exploded in a blue fireball. A mad cackle sounded in the distance and Rosalyn was blown off of her feet as her world shrunk down to nothing but more pain. When Rosalyn came to her sense once more she was unsure how much time had passed, but she was aware of an arm forcibly lifting her to her knees. It was Mother Cham. She looked awful, her left arm was missing at the elbow and her teeth were visible through a cut in her cheek. One of her eyes was swollen shut and she was absolutely covered in blood. Bright red hair stuck out of the ruined habit at odd angles. Rosalyn¡¯s heart ached. Why was this happening?


    ¡°Child, I need you to do something for me.¡± Mother Cham handed Rosalyn a small black box wrapped in silver bands. She was unsure about what Mother Cham was about to ask, but anything to help. ¡°I need you to take this box and flee. It cannot fall into the hands of the lich.¡± Rosalyn was shocked. A lich? Those existed? Also, flee? What about her family? Her home? ¡°I cannot do that Ma¡¯am! I cannot abandon you and the rest of our family!¡± Mother Cham hugged Rosalyn, ¡°My foolish daughter. You have to flee, you are the only one left. Now go, I will hold them off as long as I am able to. You have to live Rose. You have a promise to keep and dreams to chase.¡± She placed a gentle kiss on Rosalyn¡¯s cheek before letting out a grimace.


    Mother Cham stood up shakily and turned. Rosalyn hadn¡¯t noticed before, but there was a lot of undead bearing down on them. She saw the battered forms of several of the other kids mixed in the crowd. Rosalyn choked back a sob as she saw their tiny bodies, twisted and broken but still moving with dead, hungry eyes. Mother Cham let out an undulating war cry and leapt toward the advancing horde, dodging and weaving in the combat art of the Sisters of the Divine, dealing devastating blow after devastating blow to the zombies and skeletons despite her wounds and small frame. Arrows pinged off of her divine aura and just for a moment¡­ Rosalyn thought she would win. Then she froze for a long moment and a sword erupted from her back and with that sight Rosalyn was freed from her trance and turned to ran into the mountains. She heard one more feral battle cry from the tiny nun and an explosion. Tears streaming down her face and shame burning heart she dared not look back. So she ran with the hordes of undead surely in pursuit, clutching a mysterious box.


    <hr>


    Cham was lost in sadness and rage. Her kids were all dead. She was supposed to protect them and she failed. What is worse is that she about to follow them and the box would fall into the hands of the lich that killed all of her kids. So she did the only thing she could do. She fought. She punched, kicked, and headbutted her way across the battlefield looking for any survivors, looking for a way to keep the box from hands that would misuse its secret. The undead were everywhere, and what was worse is that she could clearly recognize faces from the village in the crowd. Unsure of any other course of action she just fought on. She could use her escape talisman, but that would require her to be still while she channeled power into the item and the undead were not going to let her do that. Besides, even if she did manage to pull it she was pretty sure that her injuries would mean she would be incapacitated and probably unconscious if she used all of her Divine power to activate the talisman. It all looked so hopeless.


    Then she saw Rosalyn stir. Her eldest kid was still alive! Maybe all hope wasn¡¯t lost afterall. Cham fought her way to the prone form, ripping and tearing zombies with her one remaining arm. She decapitated the baker¡¯s wife with a blade of light, then extended the energy into a whip that took out the local smith and his apprentice. Finally reaching Rosalyn, she set up a wall of Divine power that would hold the horde at bay for a few minutes at least. She tiredly lifted Rosalyn up to her knees and looked for a sign the girl was lucid. They didn¡¯t have much time so even though she had a thousand things she wanted to tell the girl, when her kid looked into her eyes with recognition she said ¡°Child, I need you to do something for me.¡± Cham handed Rosalyn the awful cursed thing, and regret filled her heart at doing something so vile to one of her kids.¡°I need you to take this box and flee. It cannot fall into the hands of the lich.¡± Rosalyn looked lost to Cham, but she knew how strong she was. ¡°I cannot do that Ma¡¯am! I cannot abandon you and the rest of our family!¡± Cham was suddenly overcome with emotion and hugged Rosalyn, ¡°My foolish daughter. You have to flee, you are the only one left. Now go, I will hold them off as long as I am able to. You have to live Rose. You have a promise to keep and dreams to chase.¡± She placed a kiss on Rosalyn¡¯s cheek before letting out a grimace, she was bleeding pretty badly under her habit. She used a bit of her divine power to stem the bleeding.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Cham stood up shakily and turned to face the army she could feel amassing at her barrier. It was a Divine miracle they hadn¡¯t already broken through. Cham silently thanked the heavens for the chance to save at least one of her kids as she sadly glimpsed the forms of several of her other kids mixed in the crowd. Sudden fury gripped Cham¡¯s heart as she let out a holy battle cry, dropping the shield and leaping toward the advancing horde to buy Rosalyn time. So it was that this time she fought not with despair, but with hope in the future of her biggest dreamer. She utilized the combat art of the Sisters of the Divine to devastating effect as she destroyed dozens of undead with large sweeping uses of her power. She crushed a group of skeletons flat with an overhead swing. She sliced an advancing group of of former villagers in half with a roundhouse kick. With fury in her heart she turned to face a group of smaller undead and she froze. They were the twisted forms of her kids. She faltered and just for a moment lost her concentration. That was all it took as a nearby skeleton got under her guard and ran a sword through her side. Gasping in pain Cham punched the skeleton¡¯s spine in two and ripped the blade from her abdomen. She stared at her kids one last time as they shambled forward and then she looked at the sky, stained red with the light of the fire. She screamed and let out all of her power at once. The world exploded into white as everything around Cham was blown away.


    Several minutes later Cham lay on the ground. She was alive, but absolutely everything about her was injured and she couldn¡¯t move if her life depended on it. Which sadly, it more than likely did. She was bleeding from at least a dozen gashes and cuts, had been run through by a sword, was missing an arm, and possibly an eye. In short, it wasn¡¯t fun to be her at the moment, but she could tell that none of her wounds were going to end her life in the next few minutes. That was the great thing about fighting with Divine power, it healed you as you fought and allowed the warriors who used to to go far beyond the limits of any normal warrior. Unfortunately, it was a finite resource and her rage induced explosion used up everything she had left. She currently didn¡¯t have enough left to heal her wounds enough to keep on fighting. However...


    ¡°Ehehehehehehe!¡± A mad cackle erupted above Cham¡¯s head. She couldn¡¯t see the owner of the voice, but she had her suspicions that it was the lich. ¡°I am impressed! I expected at least this much from the legendary Justicar of Light. Scourge of the unholy and Hero of the Battle of the Deadfield. Bravo!¡± Cham could hear a slow mocking clap from outside of her field of vision. Cham only hoped whoever was speaking liked to monologue.


    ¡°You know, it wasn¡¯t easy to find it. It took me more than fifteen years to track it down and it was really only due to dumb luck that one of our spies saw the courier¡¯s bag when he stopped in an inn. After that it was trivial to track his movements, and imagine my surprise when it turns out that you had our prize! It was almost like a divine message from our Master.¡± Cham noted that indeed, this guy was a monologuer and started to draw in all the power she could gather. ¡°While you stagnated here, thinking that our Master¡¯s forces were defeated, we only grew stronger.¡± That is when the lich came into Cham¡¯s view. He was dressed in a fine silk robe that covered everything from his feet to his neck and held a gnarled black staff in the crook of his arm. She took a good look at his face her blood ran cold as she recognized him despite the stretched and unnatural features of his face. It was Geroth the Unclean, a necromancer from the crusade that she had personally fought and killed in the final push. Surprise must have shown on Cham¡¯s face because the lich said ¡°Surprised? Please, this level of preparation is a given for a disciple of the Master.¡± HIs twisted features upturned into a mockery of a smile, showing black teeth sharpened to points. ¡°Now where is it?¡±


    Cham laughed. ¡°I don¡¯t have it fool. You came all this way for nothing! You walk away empty handed!¡± The unsettling smile grew even larger, ¡°Oh, I know you gave it to the girl. I can feel its presence this close. I just wanted to give you your moment of defiance before I kill you and animate your corpse into the service of the one true Master. I wanted to see the look of utter despair on your features. I want you to know who it was that beat you and took away that which was precious to you.¡±


    ¡°So oh vaunted Justicar of Light, what do you have to say to that?¡± Cham smiled broadly as she activated her escape charm, ¡°I say¡­ goodbye!¡± and then Cham was gone, leaving a very angry lich behind.


    Cham hit the circle burnt into the hardwood floor that she had prepared many years previously in the small fishing cabin in the mountains that she sometimes took her kids to ice fish during the winter. Feeling glad that she had not dismissed the idea of setting an escape circle here she blinked the stars out of her eyes. Reaching over she grunted once, looking around blearily with her one working eye and activated the emergency healing ward built into the circle. Unable to keep up with the physical strain any longer she passed into dark oblivion.


    ¡°Rose¡­ be safe.¡±

 1-9: Escape

    Rosalyn had a problem. A problem that was steadily getting worse as the seconds ticked by. She was told to live and protect the mysterious black box that Mother Cham handed her, but she didn¡¯t think she would be able to follow that order. With no firm destination in mind, Rosalyn had ran blindly into the foothills of the mountain range while the undead were steadily gaining ground on her.


    Like all the other children in the area Rosalyn had grown up on this mountain playing in the valleys and shallow caves that were common on this side of the peaks, and none of the hiding places she could think of could offer sanctuary from the pursuing undead. She could keep running into the mountains themselves, but she was battered and bruised from two seperate explosions and the terrain was rugged and treacherous. It was a miracle that she wasn¡¯t more hurt, but she knew the undead were tireless and they would easily run her down if she didn¡¯t find somewhere to hide and rest. Unfortunately, she still didn¡¯t have a destination in mind. Except¡­ there was the deep cave. Yes, that was probably her only chance at life. She might be able to lose them in the deep cave.


    The deep cave, as the local villagers called it, is an example of a naturally occurring phenomenon known as a ¡°monster pit.¡± Pits are naturally occurring areas with so much ambient mana that it attracts creatures and can even mutate the surrounding flora and fauna creating monsters that are unique to that pit. Also, according to some adventurers in especially dangerous pits the monsters can literally spawn out of thin air, created by the mana lingering in the pit¡¯s halls. Most of the time these creatures become hyper aggressive, but thankfully are generally content to stay in the area that spawned them as they become addicted to the mana in the air of a pit. Adventurers covet the locations of monster pits as materials and meat from the plants and animals inside a pit are usually worth huge sums of money for the magical and alchemical applications of their body parts. Even eating flesh from a pit beast can increase the power of one consuming the flesh, but they are incredibly dangerous to harvest.


    That is why the cave entrance had been sealed. The fact that none of the several groups of adventurers that had passed through the village ever returned caused the local constable to seal the cave entrance to prevent children from going inside. This meant that this particular pit was not very well mapped, and no one knew what caused the build up of mana that mutated the creatures living in it. Of course, the children found a way inside regardless and regularly explored the large circular entryway. It was kind of an open secret which the adults largely ignored as the actual danger was past a sheer drop that would probably kill anyone who fell, but that didn¡¯t stop the children from feeling extraordinarily brave for conquering the entrance.


    Squeezing through a gap in the wood barricade and rushing past the warning signs, Rosalyn stood over the drop and instantly had second thoughts. Maybe the horde would pass her by? No, that was foolish thinking. She had to get as far away as possible. ¡°Oh, this is a terrible idea¡­¡± she mumbled¡­ then Rosalyn heard it. The sound of pursuit. She heard the unnatural slap, slap, slap and hissing of some abomination that was chasing her. Her mind raced at the possibilities of what could be making such a noise and she decided it was best to not find out. They were coming for the box and it was now her duty to protect it from the lich and his minions. She instinctively knew that she was being hunted and her only chance at survival was to put as many obstacles in between her and her pursuers as she could.


    She frantically searched the edge of the cliff for a safe way down, but none became evident. Suddenly scratches and hissing erupted from the other side of the wooden wall covering the entrance to the pit. She saw claws snake into the cracks in the construction and rip out large chunks of wood. She didn¡¯t have long, so without thinking about the consequences too deeply she adjusted her satchel and made a rather rash decision. For Mother Cham and all the other slain members of her family, she would keep the lich¡¯s prize as far away as she could from his evil grasp and if she was fated to fail and die then she was going to make them work for their prize as much was in her power.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    She jumped.


    <hr>


    Serena was bored. Of course, she was always bored, that was basically the point of imprisoning an immortal being such as her self. To torture your captive with boredom and prevent them from doing the things they loved to do. Letting out a sigh Serena rolled her bulk and rested on her back. She stared at the translucent barrier that had kept her locked up for¡­ she wasn¡¯t sure. A century? Time tends to get a bit fuzzy when you are at the bottom of a dark hole for such a long time.


    Focusing her will on the tiny holes in the mesh of the spell holding her, she extended her power throughout the cave system to see what was happening in paradise today. Some days she really regretted being functionally immortal, but there was nothing to be done about that. She knew that she couldn¡¯t die here. Even if it took a thousand years for the spells to wear down enough for her to leverage her own power enough to break them. She was the last and she had a duty to live on.


    Creating her favorite avatar, a small blue wisp, Serena slowly floated past the nest of her only companions. She greeted the current Matriarch of the Snare Setter kobold tribe and asked about the state of affairs. Despite her reverence for Serena they chatted amiably, as the Matriarch knew that Serena didn''t really care about any kind of formality. They worshipped her as a sort of god, but she didn¡¯t really get involved in the minutiae of their everyday affairs. They were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves despite each individual kobold¡¯s low combat potential, as many groups of very unlucky adventurers had found out. Kobolds really just wanted to be left alone mostly, but woe unto the group of very edible people who intruded on that. Looking around she saw a couple of hatchlings wrestling in one side of the large common area. When they noticed that she was watching they starting doing flips and cartwheels to try and impress her. She told them how smart and talented they were and after a few moments of watching the continuing antics of the young kobolds she bid farewell and started moving her awareness towards the entrance.


    Maybe she would get to watch some of the village kids play at the entrance? That was her most favorite thing. Something about watching them fight pretend monsters and save imaginary damsels really made her biological clock tick in a strange way that the kobold hatchlings didn¡¯t. If she ever got out, maybe she would adopt a few orphans? It might be a nice distraction while she finished her other project. After so many years she really didn¡¯t hold a grudge against the humans that trapped her here anymore. They were more than likely all dead after so much time, so what was the point? Regardless, she needed to check the wards that kept the nastier animals and plants from making the entrance dangerous.


    Musing on the short life spans of humans, Serena was shocked to see one of the village kids¡­ Rosaline she thought¡­ at the edge of the cliff. It had been several years since she had been in her cave. Serena wondered why she was here now. She looked like she had crawled out of a warzone, and there was a terrible scratching noise coming form the blockade that the adults had put over the cave entrance. Before she could wink her avatar out and get into a good position to watch what was going on though the girl took a panicked look behind her and jumped off the cliff edge.


    Panicking herself, Serena moved her avatar to intercept the girl with only one thought in her mind.


    ¡°Humans are crazy.¡±

 1-10: Momentary Safety

    To her panicking mind the fall felt like it took an eternity, but in reality it took less than ten seconds. It was during those ten seconds that several surprising things happened. First,she was engulfed in a soft blue light. Second, the light seemed to drastically slow her fall. Lastly, she was surprised to find out that there was an underground river in the deep hole, one that she had landed in. An underground river that was very, very fast flowing.


    She fought the current, but was swept further and further away from the entrance. Quickly tiring out she was surprised one more time when a dimly glowing blue ring landed over her head and a feminine voice from nowhere and everywhere calmly said ¡°Grab on, it is going to get really bumpy here shortly.¡± In the back of her mind she acknowledged how strange the appearance of the ring and voice were but grabbed on anyway because the majority of her brain was suddenly preoccupied with why the voice had said it was going to get bumpy. Swallowing hard she glumly noted that the river flowed into a large circular hole. She was going to go over a waterfall. ¡°Today is not my day.¡± muttered Rosalyn as she clung desperately to the mysterious blue ring.


    Normally Rosalyn was a very conscientious young lady, Mother Cham had not raised her to have a potty mouth after all, nevertheless she only had one thing to say as she approached the edge, ¡°Fuuuuuuuuuu----!!!!!!¡± echoed across the deep hole as she flew off the top of a waterfall. About halfway to the ground, the soft blue glow enveloped her body once more protecting her from being dashed upon the ground below. She landed with a soft thunk in the middle of the gathered water.


    A few minutes and a short swim later, Rosalyn was sitting on the shore of a small lagoon. She opened her satchel and emptied the contents to let them dry. Thankfully, most of what she carried were various useful tools for her everyday life, and the water would do them no lasting damage. Separating out the items that were ruined, she fished the small metal box out of her satchel and held it in both of her hands as she tried to reason out what it was. Squeezing the item in a death grip, she was honestly unsure on how she had managed to keep a hold of it in the chaos from her flight from the lich¡¯s forces.


    She set the box onto the cave floor for now, she would come back to it in a moment. stripping down to her small cloths, she wrung out the fabric of her dress to help it dry out. Rosalyn unhappily noted all of the holes in her favorite sun dress as she put it back on. She would have to darn the holes when she got a chance, she did keep a needle and thread in her satchel for just such a thing after all. Looking down at the former contents of her bag again, her gaze immediatly stopped on the mysterious box.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    She eyed the box dubiously. Rosalyn couldn¡¯t fathom why it was so damn important. It didn¡¯t look like much to her and certainly didn¡¯t look very valuable. Maybe it was made of some exotic materials? It seemed to be constructed of a dark looking metal with two curious white bands of some other metal crisscrossing its otherwise flawless black surface. The box was also surprisingly warm to the touch. Turning it over in her hands, Rosalyn noted that it wasn¡¯t very big, and it didn¡¯t seem to even weigh all that much. So what was so important about it?


    Why had everyone died for it? Mother Cham¡­ Hobert¡­ all the other kids¡­ they were all gone. She was alone again. Rosalyn felt the hot tears stream down her face as she desperately wished today had not happened. Her earlier despair at having to leave the orphanage seemed so small compared to what she was feeling now.


    She would gladly leave the orphanage if it meant they would all come back to life. Finally free from the mad dash away from the ruins of her home and not in immediate danger Rosalyn couldn¡¯t hold it in any more. She sobbed and cried as she closed her eyes and curled into a ball. Racking sobs tore through the quiet tunnels as a sad, lonely girl mourned her loss and fought at the guilt of survival as her entire world became seemingly infinite sadness and regret.


    <hr>


    Serena watched the young woman curl into a fetal ball and start wailing in grief. She didn¡¯t really know what was going on, but her heart instantly broke at the inconsolable sadness on display in front of her. Resolving to help this poor child, Serena decided that what she needed right then was information. Covering the girl in a blue barrier to prevent her from being accosted by wandering wildlife, she guided her awareness back to the entrance to see what was chasing her new guest.


    When she got to the entrance she was disgusted to see that her pursuers were undead flesh constructs. There were two of the things in the entrance of the cave. One had the body of a horse with a man¡¯s torso stitched onto the neck in some kind of perverse mockery of a centaur. He was carrying a large shield in one hand and his other seemed to have been replaced with a large axe head. His partner was a large cat with huge mangy hairless spots, a giant scorpion tail grafted onto its rear. However, the most disconcerting feature of this was the two human faces sewn onto either side of the large cat head.


    Serena studied them for a few minutes to see if they were going to enter the cave, but smiled when she realised that they couldn¡¯t get past her wards. Nodding to herself, she guided her awareness back to the Kobold warren. She judged that those two constructs wouldn¡¯t be able to breach her wards, but she didn¡¯t think they were alone. It takes a powerful necromancer to make such abominations after all, and she would be willing to bet another hundred years in her prison that he would be right behind his foul creations. Deciding that telling the Matriarch they were about to have company in the caves would be for the best as it would ensure that they would make good use of the time the wards will buy them. Serena let out a small chuckle. Watching the Kobolds deal with intruders was always a sight to behold.

 1-11: Mysterious Introduction

    When Rosalyn woke up some time later she was surprised to not be in her bed, and was confused about where she had fallen asleep. She hoped that Mother Cham wouldn¡¯t lecture her about it as her thoughts drifted to the question of whether there was still some warm food back in the mess, Rosalyn groggily wiped her eyes and muttered ¡°Maybe I can guilt Janie into cooking me some food?¡±


    That was when the memory of the previous day came crashing to the front part of her conscious mind. At that moment Rosalyn came very close to sinking back into the despair she had wallowed in until exhaustion had claimed her. However, two observations stopped that. First, she was very hungry. She hadn¡¯t had anything to eat since lunch the day before and that seemed like a lifetime ago now. Second, there was a glowing blue dome over her. Curious, she stood up and touched it. The dome vanished with a loud pop and the mysterious voice from earlier spoke up ¡°Ahh you are awake then child? I am glad you are fine. It has been many years since I have heard such deep sadness. Whatever has happened to cause you such pain, you have my condolences.¡±


    Rosalyn jumped in momentary panic at the sudden sound, but managed to calm herself with a deep breath and ask ¡°Who¡­ are you?¡± A deep rumbling chuckle echoed from the that same nowhere and everywhere space. ¡°Ahh, that would spoil the surprise! However, I mean you no harm. Besides, at this point you could use all the help you could get, as there appears to be a lich and a veritable army of dead chasing you. Still, I suppose it wouldn¡¯t do for us not to know each other¡¯s names. You may call me Serena.¡±


    Rosalyn focused on the direction she had come from, but couldn¡¯t hear any sounds of pursuit over the roar of the waterfall. ¡°Uhh, my name is Rosalyn. How far down did I get swept? Also, why are you helping me?¡±


    The voice was silent for a long moment, and for a second Rosalyn had thought she was alone again, ¡°While I may not have the straightest moral compass, I am not so twisted to watch a child die. I promise you that I am not helping with an ulterior motive in mind. Besides, you are one of the village kids that played in the cave entrance! I have watched you all grow up as you snuck into this cave system and play your adventure games. It has been one of the rare joys in my existence this past decade and why I expend energy to keep the entryway free from monsters.¡±


    That got Rosalyn¡¯s attention and made her look around suspiciously. There was something that had watched them play? She wasn¡¯t a hundred percent sure of what to make of that revelation, but it was strangely comforting to know she wasn¡¯t alone. At least, figuratively that is.


    ¡°Well child, come on then. You must be hungry. I can point out some edible mushrooms and moss and then I can lead you further in. We do not need to dally too long, while your river shortcut has given you a sizable lead, the horde is tireless. We might be able to hide you further in, but I fear the lich is going to be very thorough of their search of the caves as he seems to really want to catch you if the curses he is throwing are any indication. Thankfully, I am not the only thing in these caves, and the other residents are cunning little things. They will slow down the undead for invading their territory and that will buy you time to get somewhere safer.¡± A small blue orb materialized in the air above Rosalyn, and the voice spoke up again, this time coming from the orb ¡°I can lead you like this if you do not mind.¡±Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ¡°Is there a back exit?¡± Rosalyn asked with hope. The orb shook side to side, ¡°Erm, no. Not one that you could use anyway. There is one that the kobolds use, but you are too large to fit through it. We might be able to widen it, but I don¡¯t think we are going to have that kind of time. Still, let us struggle until the very end and make them truly work for your death, yes?¡±


    Getting to her feet Rosalyn stared into the blackness of the cave before her. She hesitated for a moment, wondering if the voice had an ulterior motive despite her claims to the contrary.. Thinking about her situation for a long moment, she realized that going forward was her only option and she quickly jogged forward to follow her mysterious guide.


    <hr>


    Tomtom the Scout watched the abominations that were prowling in the entrance to their Mistress¡¯ domain. His job was to warn the others before they were spotted preparing the tunnels for their guests. Fortunately the creatures have spent the better part of the day pawing at the translucent blue barrier that the Mistress erected to protect the human pups from the creatures that lived deeper in the cave.


    Tomtom was starting to think that they would never get through and this whole mess was just a false alarm when a new being stepped through the torn shreds of the wooden wall the humans had erected. At first glance Tomtom thought that the newcomer was a human, but quickly dismissed that. He moved¡­ incorrectly.


    His eyes glowed red as he incoherently shouted at the creatures about ¡°failure¡± and ¡°incompetence¡± as they cowered. Tomtom almost felt a pang of sympathy for invaders as he watched the newcomer raise his staff and bludgeon the strange dog with two female heads sewn on. Emphasis on the almost. Invaders would get no sympathy, no quarter, and no second chances.


    The experienced scout silently watched the temper tantrum with mild disgust. That was no way to treat any part of your tribe. Several minutes after the dog creature stopped twitching the newcomer stood up and flicked his staff causing the gore to slide off like the surface of the item like it was greased.Turning around he made one dismissive gesture and the barrier protecting the cave shattered into motes of blue light.


    Tomtom watched as the chamber filled up with hundreds of skeletons and zombies. He made special note of the special abominations that mingled in the horde, but there were not too many of them. Around seven he guessed. The thing that looked like a human starting pointing down the hole at the three cave entrances near the bottom. Realizing that he was directing the group to split up and search Tomtom let out a toothy grin. Splitting up was always the first mistake they made. He jumped off his hiding place and ran to make his report.


    The kobolds of the Snare Setter Tribe were about to have a lot of fun watching these stupid invaders blunder around in the dark.

 1-12: Fish Stew

    It had been what Rosalyn could only guess was one day of moving at a rapid pace since jumping down into the deep hole and meeting the mysterious Serena, following the underground river that had washed Rosalyn so far down initially. As they ran deeper and deeper into the caves worry was starting to gnaw at the back of her mind as she felt more and more cornered. Swallowing the lump in her throat and feeling it land heavily in her gut, Rosalyn found that she was starting to regret her rather rash decision of making that leap. Still it was too late to back out now and at the very least Serena was very interesting company, even if she was a bit evasive about topics pertaining to herself. Like who or what she was, or why she was in the deep hole.


    ¡°Serena... how much... longer until we get to this safer... place? I am afraid... I cannot keep up this pace... for much longer, and... I need some food, water, and... rest.¡± The blue orb stopped and the voice said, ¡°Hmm, I see. Ahh! We are actually pretty close to a suitable resting spot. You should have spoken up sooner, I could have slowed down. It is rather hard to judge things like pace when you do not have to exert yourself when you move and it has been a very long time since I dealt with a human." A wry chuckle came from the orb and Rosalyn made a mental note at that offhand confirmation that Serena wasn''t human. She figured that she might be an elf or a dwarf but the bubbly voice didn''t match the stories she had read about those races. The books she had read told her that elves tended to be haughty and racist while dwarves were legendarily taciturn. Still, Mother Cham had told Rosalyn that not everyone will fit into the same general mould and to treat everyone she met on her their own merits. With that in mind Rosalyn decided to keep an open mind about Serena, after all she had only helped so far.


    Not noticing or not caring about her slip, Serena did a quick loop in the air as she continued "Do not worry child, we can be at this location is probably half an hour or so, even if we slacked the pace a bit to conserve your strength. Take a moment to catch your breath though, carrying you the rest of the way sounds like a terrible time.¡±


    "Thank you, I do appreciate your help so far.¡± Rosalyn weezed at the voice as she bent over her knees and gulped in large amounts of air.


    After a quick rest and a much more relaxed jog of about twenty minutes Rosalyn was delighted when she came into a large circular room made of worked grey stone. Fine sconces lined the walls and there was soft pale glow coming from the ceiling. There was even a rough fire pit carved into the center of the smooth floor. A surprisingly pristine metal cauldron covered by a lid hung suspended from a rusty chain in the roof. A collapsed tent and some discarded bedrolls littered the ground near the fire pit. Rosalyn made special note of the fine wooden furniture to one side of the room that had been smashed and stacked up for firewood. Rosalyn was taken aback. ¡°Who lives down here Serena?¡±


    The small blue orb made a dipping motion that Rosalyn guessed was a shrug. ¡°No one at this time. As for previous occupants, I am not sure, I think maybe a dwarf. Although the camping things are new. I am pretty sure that equipment is left over from an adventurering party. How exciting!¡± Darting around the room, the small blue ball got very close to each of the items before hovering over the smashed furnishings.


    "Shame about the furniture though. It was priceless. If those adventurers had taken it out of the cave instead of smashing it they could have made a fortune. Also, they probably wouldn''t have been eaten by kobolds. Ah well, such is the circle of life I suppose." Quickly spinning in the air and coming to stop in front of Rosalyn''s face, Serena continued "Child, will you be alright alone for a short while? I want to check in on your pursuers. There is plenty of water for you to drink at the river and there are plenty of edible mushrooms around the banks, although do avoid the purple ones. I am told they are a good way to start a party, but that doesn''t seem constructive at this time. Also, the silver moss is also edible although it is supposedly quite spicy. You should take this time to eat something."


    With those instructions Rosalyn got to work as the orb flew off. Rosalyn started to root through the abandoned gear from the more than likely dead adventurers. She was delighted to find a slightly dented canteen and an intact mess kit and even some matches and candles. Speaking to herself "These will come in handy. I can''t expect everywhere in this place to glow mysteriously." Rosalyn also packed away a length of rope and a small iron crowbar into her satchel. "It isn''t much, but at least I am a little more prepared." Ripping a bit of the old canvas of the collapsed tent and fashioning it into a makeshift basket of sorts, she headed to the bank of the river to get some dinner.


    Working her way down to the shore of the underground river Rosalyn took a moment to marvel at the fast moving water. She hadn''t noticed before but it was giving off a soft blue glow. Rosalyn sighed, "Maybe I can count on everything down here to glow mysteriously." Shrugging she walked down and filled the canteen and began her search for edibles. Rosalyn decided not to sweat the details on the water because that ship had already sailed when she took her impromptu swim earlier.


    After a few minutes she had gathered some of the silver moss that Serena had mentioned and quite a few of the mushrooms on the bank. Rosalyn recognized them as an edible species that grew in the caves that dotted this side of the mountain range, and in fact she had eaten them many times before. They had kind of a nutty flavor and were really great in stews or even just grilled as her and the other kids would often eat them out in the wilderness. Momentarily thinking about the other children made Rosalyn stop for a moment.


    "It probably isn''t healthy, but I can''t deal with all of your deaths right now guys. Yep, definately not healthy. I''m already talking to myself." Rosalyn wiped a tear from her eye and pushed the sadness away. Glancing down into the water Rosalyn noted several large fish milling around the shore. She briefly contemplated trying to catch one, but decided against it as she had no equipment. Still, it was tempting. She could make a basic fish stew with the mushrooms and the moss if she had some fish.


    That was when a low hissing filled her ears as something tackled her from behind. Panicking Rosalyn dropped all of her mushrooms and rolled forward to dislodge what ever had attacked her. Spinning around into a neutral stance Rosalyn was immediately relieved it wasn''t another zombie, but mild panic set in when she realized that it was a monster.


    A short lizard creature with brownish orange scales was eyeing her. He was wearing a too large leather tunic with a small brass trumpet strapped his side and was brandishing a cudgel made for a much larger fighter in both his hands. Rosalyn''s first thought was how cute he was. Then he bared his teeth and hissed and her thoughts shot to Serena mentioning there were kobolds in these caverns and that they ate intruders. That thought made the little guy a lot less cute.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    While she was ruminating on the cuteness of kobolds it sprung forward and swung the cudgel down in an overhead swing. Thankfully the cudgel was not built for such a small creature and was clumsy in its hands allowing Rosalyn plenty of time to dodge to the side. Extending her foot she tripped the kobold and he fell down, landing face first onto its own weapon and stunning itself as its forehead struck the business end of the cudgel.


    Getting back into her neutral stance, Rosalyn waited for the creature to stand back up but it seemed to be stunned. Remembering how fondly Serena spoke about the tribe of kobolds that she shared this cavern with, Rosalyn decided to try diplomacy instead of violence. "Can you understand me? I hope you can because I would hate to have to beat you to death with my hands."


    Rolling over on it''s back the kobold gave her a bleary look and nodded, "Birdie understand. This is where intruder kill Birdie." SIghing dramatically, the kobold stared at the ceiling, "At least Birdie wasn''t eaten alive. Birdie imagines that is the pits."


    Rosalyn almost laughed out loud, but decided to hold in her mirth as she felt it would hurt the little creatures pride. Even though he had attacked her Rosalyn didn''t hold a grudge as this was technically the kobold''s turf. Deciding that having two roaming bands of monsters after her was bad Rosalyn decided to try and make nice with the kobolds.


    Clearing her throat, Rosalyn tried to sound as friendly as possible, "No, I am not going to kill you. Well, unless you keep attacking me that is. Even then I am not sure I could do it. I haven''t actually killed anyhting before other than the occasional chicken. No, I was grabbing some mushrooms and moss to eat while Serena was away. She went to check on the undead''s progress before leading me further into the cave."


    Perking up when Serena was mentioned he shot to his feet and ran over to Rosalyn with a silly smile on his face. "Pretty lady know the great one? Birdie is happy that you aren''t an intruder! Now Birdie isn''t going to be killed for losing the fight."


    Grabbing the hem of Rosalyn''s dress he pulled her toward the water, "Come and let Birdie catch pretty lady a fish. Birdie is amazing at catching fish." Blushing at Birdie''s continued nickname of "Pretty Lady" Rosalyn nodded her head and began to picked up her discarded food while Birdie jumped into the water. He emerged just as she was finishing up carrying a carp almost as large as he was. Deciding that she couldn''t eat all of this alone, Rosalyn invited Birdie back to the stone room and he eagerly accepted.


    After a quick trip back to the stone room campsite she decided to make that fish stew that she was thinking of earlier. Sending Birdie back to the river to wash out the pot and fill it with water she started piling the broken wood up in a roughly square shape and pulled out her fire striker from her side pack. She was suddenly thankful that Mother Cham had raised her to always be prepared as she lit the ancient wood.


    After about 10 minutes of work the fire was burning nicely and she had a nice pile of scrap wood to keep it doing so for a good long while. That was when Birdie returned followed by three other even smaller kobolds who were carrying the pot she had sent Birdie out with. Birdie was in the lead carryinbg several items that Rosalyn noted as edible cave plants such as tuberous roots, liverwort plants, and some strange blue ferns. The three smaller kobolds were struggling with the water filled pot, but through teamwork and the desire for fish stem they managed to perservere.


    She dumped the edible cave plants and mushrooms into the cauldron hung it back over the fire to start cooking while she laid the large carp onto the floor. Looking at the giant fish Rosalyn pulled the folding knife from her satchel and began to clean and gut the fish. After removing as much of the meat as she could she dumped it all into the pot and watched it slowly cook down into a basic stew with four hungry sets of eyes watching the pot greedily. Deciding that watching the stew bubble wasn''t productive enough Rosalyn looked through her satchel for something to eat the meal with.


    She pulled out the canteen and the mess kit she had found earlier and using a splash of water she began to clean the utensils in the mess kit. While she worked she watched the kobolds run around the room like small children, getting into anytthing they could and occasionally doing cartwheels and somersaults to pass the time. After a while the mixture was suitably cooked and Rosalyn started to serve herself.


    Filling the bowl from the mess kit with a large helping she turned around to tell the kobolds to get something to eat with when she noticed they were standing in a line each holding a small clay bowl. Where they had produced the bowls from she didn''t know, but she decided not to ask. They all sat down and enjoyed the meal in companiable silence. Well, as silent as four loudly slurping kobolds could be. It was surprisingly spicy and while it could use some salt and pepper it was a much better meal than her earlier one of raw mushrooms and moss. The company wasn''t that bad either. Kobolds were surprisingly cute and silly. She giggled as they fought over who got seconds first.


    Rosalyn and the kobolds all jumped when Serena unexpectedly spoke from further in the tunnels ¡°When you are done eating we really should get moving again. Unfortunately, I cannot directly attack the hoard as the Lich¡¯s power is preventing my control over the environment from doing anything truly devastating. The kobolds have been collapsing tunnels behind us to try and stymie the undead and have taken out a great many of them with ambushes and traps, but there seem to be too many flooding in the tunnels for their normal tactics to work.¡±


    Rosalyn looked at the door leading further in where her voice came from and said ¡°How much of a lead do you think I have and what is your endgame here? Why are we going deeper in?¡±


    ¡°You are full of questions aren''t you child? That is fine, it is how we learn after all. Well, at this time it would take them about three days of marching to get to you. However, I would estimate a delay of two days with the fact that the kobolds are making them pay for every inch with cave ins and traps. Couple that with how thoroughly the lich is searching all the tunnels you get maybe another day. I think I can obfuscate our path enough to buy a little more time than that, but they will find you eventually. As for going in deeper, that is where I am. I do not know what I could do to help in my current state, but the room I am in is very deep in the cave. They might miss it, or at least miss it long enough for another plan to become evident.¡±


    A few moments later the blue ball that Rosalyn had followed to this room appeared out of thin air. "Oh that is better, hard to see without my avatar. Oh my! What are you little things doing here? You didn''t trouble Rosalyn did you? No matter, everyone seems to be intact so I won''t ask for details. Finish up your meal dearies and let us be on our way."


    Rosalyn looked at Birdie who stood up and started barking orders in a language she didn''t understand. The three other kobolds quickly downed their soup and ran out the door, Birdie turned to Rosalyn and smiled showing all of his teeth, "Birdie help pretty lady. You feed Birdie and his crew so we help." Taking a cue from her new friends she downed the rest of her soup as well and stood back up. ¡°Well then we had better get moving.¡±

 1-13: History Lesson

    Rosalyn''s progress to the destination that Serena had promised had slowed down immensely in the last hour and she was suddenly very glad that she had spared the little kobold as he had already stopped her from wandering into four seperate death traps set by the kobold tribe to deter invaders. After Birdie stoped just pointing out the trip wires and showed her the tension trap lined with sharpened butter knives she developed a healthy respect for the craftiness of the Snare Setter kobold tribe and she was more than happy to let Birdie go first.


    Watching the little kobold disable the traps that they came across utterly fascinating to her as it was so far removed from anything she had seen anyone do before. "Birdie? What are you doing to that floor tile?" Birdie looked up from the floor and pulled out a small knife. He smiled at Rosalyn and poked the completely innocuous looking stone.


    It exploded. Not a huge explosion, but it probably would have seriously damaged the foot that stepped on it.


    Serena''s avatar spasmed as it floated nearby at the end of the hallway and her voice echoed out with the barest hint of strain in it, "Dear me! Was that an explosion? What have you little ones been doing? I didn''t know any of these hazards were even here!" Hearing that Rosalyn visably paled as she wondered how many traps she had avoided on pure luck during her inital flight into the cave.


    Rosalyn shook her head and stared at her new kobold friend, "Birdie, you guys are, quite frankly, incredibly terrifying and I cannot fathom why kobolds are considered fodder in all the adventure stories. Although, I do see where you get your reputation for being dishonorable combatants..." Rosalyn looked into Birdies brown eyes and smiled, "Thank you for escorting me, I would probably be dead right now if I hadn''t met you."


    Birdie snorted and shrugged. "Birdie not care what adventurers think about kobolds. BIrdie is large for his tribe and even Birdie knows he is not very strong. We are weak alone. SoKobolds don''t fight fair and we don''t fight alone if we can help it. Birdie can''t eat honor..." his mouth opening in a toothy grin to punctuate his words, "...but he can eat adventurers."


    Coughing and looking sheepish Birdie quickly added, "I wouldn''t eat Pretty Lady though. You are the Great One''s guest and you defeated Birdie in single combat and then spared his life. You even fed Birdie and his crew! No one had been so nice to Birdie before after a fight!" The small creature looked like he was at a loss, "Birdie has decided that he would just stick by Pretty Lady and see what he could do. Pretty Lady never know when small hands could come in handy after all."


    Rosalyn watched Birdie walk off to scout the tunnel ahead for more traps as he started humming a soft tune to himself, boucing his arms to a beat only he could really hear. She looked up at the floating blue orb and asked "You really didn''t know those were there?" The orb dipped and shook from side to side in response, " No child, I didn''t. People underestimate kobolds. They are weak yes, but no one knows how to play a home field advantage like they do, and they have had almost sixty years to entrench themselves in this cave." The orb dipped once more and flew off ahead past Birdie.


    After several slow hours of carefully advancing through the tunnels Serena declared they were almost at their destination, and all they had to do was enter the chambers ahead and open the door. Rosalyn wasn''t sure what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn''t what she saw when they entered the room.


    She found herself in a large dome shaped room covered in tiled marble that had to be a hundred feet at the tallest point. Just standing in the room made her feel smaller. Darting her eyes around the room she noted several distinguishing features. To the right and left there were murals painted on the walls depicting men fighting dragons, and there was a a large stone box in the middle of the room. However the last thing immediately grabbed her entire focus. Looking up and up at a gargantuan metal door emblazoned with roaring dragons that totally dominated one side of the room. She absently noted that Serena had called Birdie over and was giving him instructions. Not wanting to get in the way of whatever they were doing, she turned to the murals.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    There were gorgeous and colorful and could probably have been a national treaure if anyone knew they were even here. She looked them over in awe for several long minutes until her eyes were drawn to a large glowing section of the mural. It was hard to look at and seemed to twist and turn under her vision, but after staring at it for a few long seconds she realized that she wasn''t standing in the chamber anymore. She was on a battlefield, standing next to a ridiculously handsome blonde man wearing a crown. Instinctively she knew she was seeing what the mural depicted, that she was seeing the past.


    Something about him seemed... larger than life. He wore a confident grin that gave off an aura of competency that made her just want to fall in line and let him handle things. This king was part of an army clashing against an army of minions. She looked over the horizen and as far as she could see was nothing but orcs and goblins in disorderly formations, but the thing that struck her the most was the utter lack of sound on the battlefield. She could see the open mouth screams of the advancing creatures, but no sound emerged. Dismissing that detail as something she probably shouldn''t be focused on, Rosalyn watched in facination as the king led his forces against the enemy host.


    Suddenly a bright flash of light engulfed her and she was somewhere new. Rosalyn was standing next to the king again, but this time he was alone and covered in wounds. However, he still had that same confident grin on his face while he was facing... a... a dragon. There was no other word for what she was seeing. It was magnificent! With bright red scales and wingspan of a least forty feet, Rosalyn knew it could be no other creature. Another slightly smaller dragon was in the back with a spear driven through its chest, crimson blood staining the dark black scales. It wasn''t moving and appeared to have been killed sometime recently. The living dragon turned his head to his defeated brethren and a look of utter disdain passed over the red dragon''s features as it reared its head back and belched fire at the king.


    Another flash of light, and now Rosalyn was standing in the middle of a parade. The king was standing on a moving float that held the heads of four dragons. She recognized the black and red dragons from the precious vision, but she also noticed the heads of two smaller dragons as well, both of which were a shimmering bronze color. She was impressed until she turned around and saw the pikes adorning the following floats. Dozens of dragon heads comprised of all the colors of the rainbow were spit up and put on display. Rosalyn tasted bile as her eyes rested upon a small baby dragon, about the size of a dog, that had been hung from one of the nearby poles by its neck.


    Another flash and Rosalyn was standing in a cave made from coal black stone. The king was facing another dragon, this time though he struggling and did not have the confident look she had expected to see. The dragon was twice as large as the red one she saw him face before, and there was an etherial quality to it that made its silver scales shimmer mysteriously. It had a look of unbridled rage as it stared down the king. Rosalyn watched in rapt attention as they silently traded blows, neither gaining a permanent advantage over the other. That would probably change soon though, as the king was bleeding from a dozen places and was visibly slowing down. It was at that moment that Rosalyn noticed the robed people wearing featureless white masks the king was defending. They were gesturing wildly in the air as a white light built around them.


    There was a flash and four dark pillars shot out of the ground around the dragon. It silently roared as a translucent white cube surrounded it and cut it off from view. The king fell to one knee and rested the tip of his sword into the stone of the floor. Leaning into the hilt he closed his eyes. Rosalyn wasn''t sure how, but she knew that he would never open them again.


    One last flash of light and she was back in the chamber. Turning to look at Birdie and Serena''s orb she noticed they were in the same position she last saw them in. No time had passed for them. Turning her head toward the large stone box in the middle of the room, she hesitantly walked over to it. Running her fingers along the edges of it, she realized that it wasn''t a box. It was an ornate marble sarcophagus with roaring dragons carved into it.


    Noticing a silver metal placard engraved with words, she carefully read what it said aloud. "Here lies the King of Light, Geoffrey Woodain, Dragon Slayer. He carved a place for our people with will and strength and defended our lands to his last, paying the ultimate price to ensure our continuted peace and prosperity." Rosalyn was stunned. She was in the tomb of the king that wrested control of this land from the armies of the dragons a hundred years ago and united the small scattered tribes into the kingdom she currently resided in.


    Looking once more at Serena''s orb she watched Birdie scurry off toward the door and start climbing. With a shaky voice Rosalyn asked, "Serena... are you a dragon?"

 1-14: Asymmetrical Warfare

    Tomtom clenched his short bow and watched the shambling forms of zombie kobolds slowly advance through the tunnel. Growling softly under his breath he gave the hand signal to fall back. He didn''t like that the lich was raising the fallen members of his tribe and using them in such a way. The zombies were not an issue for the skirmishers under Tomtom''s command, but the lich had proven to be a shrewd combatant and had started using his weakest undead to probe for traps. It was getting so that they had to take bigger and bigger risks to do anything meaningful to the intruders and that was not a way that would lead to victory in the long term.


    It was incredibly hard to lead a guerilla fight against a force that didn''t care about casualties. However, their efforts were not in vain, with Tomtom estimating that his crew of three alone had destroyed or incapacitated somewhere in the range of fifty or more undead via various traps and ambushes. The string of obscenities that flowed from the lich''s mouth when they had dropped a large cauldron of lamp oil from a hidden alcove above a particularly dense pack of undead and then set them ablaze with a torch would be a story that Tomtom would probably tell to the tribe pups for the rest of his life.


    Unfortunately, the skirmishers had also taken hefty casualties in the fighting. He wasn''t sure at the exact number of their losses, but he could make a reasonable guess and say they were down several dozen fighters and were at about half strength. He saw too many familiar faces in the advancing zombie horde. That was probably why they had gotten the order to buy time for the non-combatants to flee further down to their hidden bolt holes and hiding spots instead of repelling the invaders.


    Fortunately for the tribe, buying time was something the skirmisher crews did well. They made the lich pay for every inch he advanced into their home. They peppered the advancing forces with arrows and bolts to lure them into hidden blade traps or pit falls lined with punji sticks. They dispersed flour into the caves and set the particles on fire to create explosions or used oil to slick the floor and then set fire to the uncoordinated undead that got trapped in the slippery mess. They even got a few ghouls in the last cave in they had caused when they had triggered the mechanisms in the support beams.


    Taking a moment to give his crew time to vacate the kill area, Tomtom pulled the camouflaged pin filling a hole in the wall. He grinned maliciously as a loud thud sounded as several large round boulders were dislodged from the ceiling and started rolling down the slight groove that had been discreetly carved into the floor. He happily hummed to himself as several satisfyingly meaty thuds fill the air while the boulders roll through the undead. It always made Tomtom tingle a little when a trap or ambush went off successfully.


    Nodding approvingly, Tomtom felt that his crew had bought more than enough time for the evacuation and his part in protecting his tribe had been completed. Taking a deep breath Tomtom decided that now it was time to make his escape before the really dangerous undead started to advance. He didn''t know what the vile creatures were after, but whatever it was he hoped that the Great One got what she wanted out of them to make all the loss worthwhile. He wondered what would motivate the Great One to action. Tomtom was vaguely aware that the Great One was a powerful entity, but she mostly just hung around and watched the daily coming and going in the cave with only an occasional comment.


    The rumor mill around what had the Great One in such a flurry of activity was really buzzing. Some of his tribe were even whispering about this being part of a plan for an escape from the prison that binds her. Tomtom didn''t really care one way or the other, but he would really prefer not to get eaten today.


    Sliding back into the shadows Tomtom carefully inched himself along the wall while keeping his eye on the tunnel where he sprung the boulder trap to make sure no stray undead came after him. Satisfied he was clear from that direction Tomtom turned to run down the tunnel toward the escape shaft he had sent his crew to. When he rounded the corner he found himself catch his foot on something squishy and wet. Stumbling and almost losing his balance he was quite distressed to see the severed head of one of the members of his crew.


    Hissing slightly, Tomtom notched an arrow, jumped away and let his attack fly as a a ghoul leapt from the ceiling to decapitate the kobold. The Ghoul let out a low guttural chuckle as it took the arrow center mass in a shot that would have killed any living thing. Dropping his bow to switch to the small hatchet he carried at his side, Tomtom didn''t like his odds of getting out today, but took comfort in the knowledge that his death was at least a minor speed bump that bought precious time for the majority to escape.


    <hr>


    Cham wasn''t sure exactly how long she had been unconscious, but she was pretty sure she wished that she was still out. Every muscle, joint, and bone in her body screamed in protest when she tried to get to her feet. Grunting and losing her balance, Cham was surprised when she wasn''t able to catch herself on the edge of the nearby table. Looking down at her left arm she remembered why.


    "Right. Gonna have to get something done about that." Sitting up once more, she looked around the small cottage as the cobwebs slowly left her thoughts. Letting out a shout of panic as precious events clicked into place in her mind, Cham jumped up to her feet and ran to a small chest in the corner of the one room building.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Fumbling with the latch, and opening the chest she retrieved a small silver hand mirror covered in ornate designs of flowers and held it in front of her face. She looked awful. Her entire face was covered in ugly purple bruises and the bone structure around one of her eyes looked like it had been altered when she took a blow there. "It is a blessing that I didn''t lose that eye." Turning her face to the side Cham marveled at the angry red scar that knit her right cheek closed. She vaguely remembered there was a hole there before she passed out.


    Shrugging at her new scars, Cham ran a current of divine energy through the mirror and waited for her desired result. After what seemed like an eternity a bored looking sister appeared in the image of the mirror. "This line is for emergencies only..." Cham had to bite back a sarcastic "No shit." remark, but thankfully it didn''t take the operator long to notice the state of Cham''s features. The sister''s face went from bored, to confused, and then finally settling on concerned in a matter of seconds.


    "I need to speak with the abbess. The package has been compromised and could be in enemy hands." Cham noted that her operator''s panic ratcheted up to eleven as the sister vigorously nodded her and disappeared from the mirror. Another eternity later an elderly looking woman with elvish features appeared in the mirror. Cham immediately recognized this woman as her superior, Abbess Sarah Longchild. "You look like death warmed over. Tell me what happened."


    Taking a deep breath Cham relayed the whole story from the beginning. Tears streamed unbidden from the corners of her eyes as she recounted the deaths of the children under her care and how she sent her last living kid into the mountains with the package before coming face to face with a remnant of the Dead War come back to haunt them all and how he had tracked the package through a spy network that had gotten lucky.


    The Abbess listened to the entire tale without saying a single word. Closing her eyes she began to massage her temples as Cham finished her recap. The silence hung there for a long pregnant moment before the Abbess asked her question "What are you going to do?"


    "Go after my kid of course. She won''t die easy and if I hurry then I might be able to save her." Nodding her assent, the Abbes looked to her left and began gesturing wildly to someone that Cham couldn''t see. A hand reached from outside of the frame and handed the Abbess small clip board. She frowned over it before shaking her head. "You are alone in this. It will be a week before I can muster help, all of our active combatants are out helping the kingdom forces suppress a cult uprising." Letting out a sigh the Abbess shook her head. "Now I see why they attacked, they created a huge blind spot. They will probably never get another chance this big to retrieve the package."


    Grunting, the Abbess'' eyes fixated back on Cham. "What do you need? I have already sent word for reinforcements, but as I said they are a week out at minimum. However, I will send you anything else I can." Pondering the question for a moment, Cham hung the mirror on a nail in the wall. "I will need a full combat kit, some extra healing potions would be nice too. If you can spare them I would like a few quartz potions as I am going to be using a lot of Divine power being alone." Looking down she wiggled the stump at the mirror. "Also can you do anything about this?"


    The Abbess'' eyebrows climbed to her scalp as she noticed that Cham was missing her arm, that detail previously escaping her attention with the dire news and thoughts on how to combat this situation occupying her ind. Nodding her head she snapped her finger to another unseen aide and began giving rapid fire instructions. "Give us an hour. Call if anything changes. I pray for your success, for if you fail we all may be doomed."


    Cham nodded once and the call ended. Looking around the cabin Cham decided to spend the time until her equipment arrived cleaning herself up. She was still caked in blood and offal and her robes where ruined. Walking outside she awkwardly drew water from the well and cleaned herself before changing into a sturdy set of outdoor clothes that she kept in the cabin for wilderness trips with her kids. She also took this time to open a jar of pickled okra that Janie had made for their last fishing trip a few months ago. Sitting down on the small porch she silently ate, doing her best not to think about all the dead. She failed miserably.


    Almost as if the church were waiting for her to finish eating, after polishing off the last pickle there was a loud pop and a bright flash of light from inside of the small cottage. Hopping to her feet Cham walked inside. Waiting for her was the equipment she had asked for. There was a pair of spike cesti made of blessed silver, a small flat of potions of various colors, a small backpack she knew to be filled with other mundane tools such as bandages and rations. What wasn''t standard though was the large silver gauntlet. Curious Cham picked it up and was surprised at how warm the metal was. Underneath the armor she noticed a note, laying down the guantlet she picked up the letter and read it. It consisted of two short sentences.


    "Put your stump inside. Bite down on something first."


    Eyeing the gauntlet once more, Cham undid her leather belt and bit down. Reaching down and skeptically affixing the obviously too large gauntlet to the stump of her arm, she was surprised when it shrank down. Then it clamped down onto the stump of her arm and fire shot through into her brain. Biting down on her belt she tried her best to endure.


    As the fire grew hotter and hotter Cham could no longer keep it in and let out a primal scream of pain. She felt burning hot blood drip out of her nose as her whole body started to spasm in a seizure. Falling to her knees as her eye sight faded to black, Cham clung to a steadfast refusal to slip into unconsciousness. An eternity later the pain receded, gone as quickly as it had initially hit her.


    Rolling onto her back she wiped the blood from her face with the back of her hand, only to be surprised when she came into contact with the metal of the gauntlet. Staring dumbly at her new hand, Cham let out a chuckle and made a fist. Slamming it into the floor she pushed herself to her feet and gathered her equipment.


    She had a kid to save.

 1-15: Relics

    Geroth stood at the mouth of the collapsed tunnel fuming, he had lost his last stitched abomination and two ghouls in this cave in. Reaching to the ceiling and letting out a plume of dark energy from his fingers in frustration he yelled ¡°CURSE YOU! YOU¡­ VERMIN!¡± If he was still capable of such biological responses his face would surely be beet red from anger. Staring at his remaining eight ghouls he angrily gestured them back behind the gaggle of zombies near the rear. "I should have sent the rotters up first anyway. Master would be so disappointed in me for wasting good ghouls that way.¡± Looking toward the final path open to his forces he eyed it suspiciously. He still had a dozen skeletons and thirty or so zombies and he was raising the little vermin as they died so he wasn¡¯t concerned about having enough forces to kill the child.


    In fact, Geroth could probably have killed her by himself. She wasn¡¯t a warrior and did not wield the power of the Divine, so he had little to personally fear. However, he needed the extra bodies to test for traps and dig out the collapsed tunnels, so he did not want to spend his resources needlessly. He could tell that the kobolds were in retreat and it was a matter of time before they


    After all this was the third tunnel today the little nuisances had collapsed on his forces and it was making his advance on his target much too slow. Getting angry all over again, Geroth closed his eyes and counted to ten to center his mind. "We are so close. I can feel the power as we get closer. As long as the Justicar''s little girl holds on to it she will not escape my wrath!" Geroth let out a mad cackle that reverberated through the tunnels that spooked all of the ghouls under his command. "I will have my revenge on my greatest foe and please my master by retrieving the most precious relic of our Lord! Today is a blessed day!"


    Motioning at the mob behind him, a group of six zombies shambled forward into the remaining path. Clutching his staff in anticipation as he concentrated on the faint pull of the relic his master had left behind when he was defeated. His reverie was interrupted when several boulders rolled out of the tunnel and bounced into the wall, taking out another ghoul who wasn¡¯t smart enough to jump out of the way.


    Furious once more, Geroth motioned to one of the ghouls and sent him into the tunnel. Using a ghoul would be a waste if they spring another trap, but a group of kobolds would be no match for his servant if it came to straight combat. The ghoul eyed the entrance with some suspicion, but smartly clambered up the wall and discreetly crawled across the ceiling. Nodding in satisfaction at the compliance of his thrall, Geroth¡¯s thoughts turned back to his prize.


    ¡°Soon.¡±


    <hr>


    Rosalyn stared at the floating blue orb waiting for an answer, but instead of replying she turned and flew toward Birdie. "The switches are here... and here. Please depress them and come inside." Birdie acknowledged the instructions with a short grunt and scurried sideways to the first indicated spot. Rosalyn let out a cry of frustration as the blue orb disappeared through the doors.


    Stomping her foot and shaking an angry finger at the retreating proto-wisp, Rosalyn¡¯s mood soured even more when she heard Birdie laughing at her from his perch above. Leveling her gaze upon him she gave a scowl that would have made any nun proud at the offending kobold. A brief look of panic crossed his face as their eyes met. ¡°Don¡¯t be angry with Birdie! Birdie is opening the door right now, and you can just see for yourself!¡± Letting out a pleased sound he pressed an unseen switch buried in the intricate designs of the door before hopping down. ¡°Birdie is excited! Our tribe has passed down many stories about the Great One, and only our tribe¡¯s shaman has ever actually entered this room.¡± Letting out a fierce grin he stared forward with hungry eyes.


    Staring at her companion she couldn¡¯t help but grin too. Circumstances aside, this exact thing had been her dream since she was a little girl. She was in a dangerous cave following a mysterious voice while running from a horde of undead and somehow she had made friends with a kobold. The only thing that could make this a better adventure was if Janie were with her to have it with her. A brief moment of sadness washed over her, but she squashed it. Mother Cham had told her to chase her dreams and that was what she would do. She would live, reunite with Janie, and together they would see the world.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Slapping both hands on her cheeks she stared ahead as ornate doors swung open to reveal a tunnel made of a familiar dark stone. Looking down at Birdie she saw that he was staring at her. Shrugging at her companion she walked forward past the enormous doors and into the tunnel. Upon stepping into the tunnel she found herself bathed in an ethereal white light that was illuminating the passageway ahead. Rosalyn marveled at how it made the obsidian colored stone subtly sparkle, but despite her best efforts she couldn¡¯t see what was producing the light due to an abrupt curve in the tunnel.


    Slowing inching forward with Birdie clinging to her dress like a small child, they both stopped at the bend in the tunnel. There floating gently a few feet off the ground was Serena''s wisp. Waving dumbly at the blue orb, Rosalyn gave weak smile. The wisp disappeared and a deep rumbling chuckle sounded from further in startling both Rosalyn and Birdie, who hid his snout further in her dress. After a few tense moments they continued down the tunnel and entered a massive chamber. Staring around her, she could hardly believe such a space existed. The entire village could have comfortably fit in here, including the temple grounds and goat farms on the edge of town. She was mesmerized as the ceiling twinkled like the clearest night sky she had ever seen.


    Drawing her eyes downward that was when Rosalyn finally identified the source of the light that was playing off the black stone. In the dead center of the chamber were four alabaster stone pillars covered in intricate carvings. Each one was easily as tall as the big tree in the village square and was as wide as two of Rosalyn standing side by side. Stretched between the four pillars was a massive foggy glowing white cube. Letting out a nervous laugh, Rosalyn turned to Birdie and said ¡°Everything down here glows mysteriously doesn¡¯t it?¡± Birdie, who was obviously terrified, just looked back at her and shook his head in disapproval. Another deep chuckle sounded from inside the cube, startling them both again. Birdie let out a high pitched squeaking sound while prostrating himself onto the ground.


    Swallowing a massive lump in her throat, Rosalyn watched the fog curiously and felt the lump grow a little larger as something massive stirred behind the walls of the cube. Figuring that she had come this far, Rosalyn carefully inched toward the construct to investigate its contents as she can''t quite tell what it is moving inside. Staring dumbly for more than a few moments, a giant blue eye opens in front of her face. Wind-milling her arms as she fell backwards in surprise she feels that lump turn into a boulder as a claw the size of a horse taps the cube wall.


    Rosalyn watched in morbid fascination as the foggy walls slowly became transparent. Her heart skipped a beat as what she assumed was Serena appeared. She was indeed a dragon. The same humongous dragon from the vision she had had in the crypt was lounging on the ground in front of her. In fact, if anything the dragon was larger than she was in the flashback. Rosalyn¡¯s breath caught in her throat as she took in the full form of the creature in front of her, but it wasn¡¯t out of fear of the unknown like last time. This was a Dragon with a capital D and she was quite honestly the most beautiful thing Rosalyn had ever seen in her short life. She was covered in silver scales that shimmered with a faint blue inner light and calling her huge would be an understatement, Rosalyn guessing she would easily reach at least sixty feet tall when not lying down and she had to be a hundred feet long! Also, she had massive feathered wings! While she couldn¡¯t really tell with her them furled, she could only guess that her wingspan was at least that as well.


    Rosalyn wasn¡¯t sure when she had started crying, but the tears wouldn¡¯t stop flowing as she realized that she, boring Rosalyn Edders the orphan girl who nobody wanted had met a dragon. She smiled the widest smile that she had ever had in her entire life as her heart soared at this discovery, as she realized that the world had more magic in it than she had originally thought and rekindled something in her that she didn¡¯t know had gone out.


    Serena, giving a toothy grin of her own raised a claw and gave Rosalyn and Birdie an energetic wave, ¡°Welcome children to my prison. Also, yes. I am a dragon. A veritable relic of a bygone age!¡± With that declaration Serena let out a booming laugh. Feeling lighter than she had in days, Rosalyn laughed with her.

 1-16: Omens

    Lucia lounged leisurely in a tree a few hundred feet from the cave entrance, she absently fingered the hem of her dark velvet dress as the red lights of her vision peered intently out of the holes in her doll-like mask. She was bored out of her mind and the small amount of patience with this nonsense she had started with was quickly coming to an end. It had been a week since Geroth had begged her to let him lead the charge to reclaim their holy relic, and knowing he had history with the halfling she had agreed.


    It seems that might have been a mistake on her part. First Geroth let his gloating get in the way of finishing off a major threat, and now she could feel the slow drain on their forces as ghouls and abominations were destroyed. Most unforgivable of all, Geroth had left her here to be wracked with boredom. Her sour mood was readily apparent despite the pristine calm of her mask. Staring up at the moon Lucia wondered how much longer this nonsense would continue. She had promised to stay out of Geroth¡¯s hunt for the girl and their prize, but there had to be a line drawn somewhere.


    She absently noted another faraway explosion and mentally ticked off another ghoul from her awareness. Sighing, she shook her head and watched the entrance once more. Other than the occasional rumble or explosion she had not had anything exciting happen. Running her long sharp nails through the tresses of her raven hair, she laid her hands on the limb she was perched on and began to drum her fingers along the bark in frustration. Sighing dejectedly she spoke aloud, her voice a husky whisper. "I am bored. It is at times like this that I miss being able to sleep."


    While she was contemplating walking in the woods and maybe finding some wildlife to play with when Lucia noticed movement from the south slope of the mountain. Becoming unnaturally still she watched with her unblinking eyes. After an hour of intense scrutiny she could finally make out the shape. Perking up, she noticed that it was the halfling that Geroth had failed to finish off. She watched the small shape, unimpressed. She did not look like a holy warrior that destroyed an entire legion of ghouls with her fists alone. In fact, she looked rather normal all things considered. Although, to be fair Lucia knew better than most how looks could be deceiving when it came to a Sister, especially one verse in the combat art.


    This one was athletic looking for a halfling to be sure, not having the characteristic plumpness that she had come to expect from such creatures, but she still looked so normal. She took a quick inventory of the sturdy clothes, the pack, and other various items and equipment. It was all so boring.


    Then she saw it and felt her chest tighten in anticipation. Lucia shivered.


    "What is that on your arm?" Lucia whispered in her breathy voice. As the halfling got closer and closer Lucia got more and more excited. Was that what she thought it was? Was that the Arm? She was certain now, that it was. After all, it was part of the reason that she had been excommunicated and cast out from the sisterhood over ten years ago. Watching the halfling bearing her prize boldly march into the cave entrance surrounded in an aura of holy power, Lucia did something that was rare for her.


    She smiled. Her mask spread apart in a toothy rictus grin that exposed the monster underneath, something she normally found displeasing to expose. However, right now she didn''t care. Lucia was giddy with an excitement that she had not felt in years. She leaped from the tree and before she hit the ground she had transformed into a black cloud that swiftly and unnaturally drifted toward the cave entrance.


    It was bad luck for the Halfling that she had caught Lucia¡¯s attention. She would devour the flesh from her bones and claim her prize. Such a prize would empower her and make her unto a god. She would finally be able to get the attention of their Lord. Still, she knew that this would have to be done carefully, lest the halfling destroy her. She wouldn¡¯t foolishly underestimate her like Geroth had. She would pick her moment and strike her down.


    Lucia was no longer bored because the hunt was on.


    <hr>


    It had been three days since the plucky young girl had fearlessly walked into her prison leading a kobold like a wayward child and laughed in wonder at her. Serena watched Rosalyn as she slept near the base of her prison. Serena absently noticed that the young kobold was preparing the hallway leading to the chamber for their guests by resetting the traps he had led Rosalyn through before.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    She counted the times that her guest¡¯s chest rose and fell, marveling at having such splendid company after so many years. More than that though, she genuinely liked the girl. It was a rare individual to walk up to something ten times taller than you and start asking it questions. Serena was sure that if she were human and not trapped in this prison she would have been privileged to adopt Rosalyn. Her stories about Janie and her fellow Temple orphans were delightful and it broke her heart when she saw the sadness flit across the young girl¡¯s face when the realization of their death crossed her mind.


    So to take her mind off of the sadness, Serena happily answered those questions for her guest. She asked about so many things that Serena had a hard time remembering all of the topics that spilled out of her mouth. Rosalyn asked about many and varied things but most of all she wanted to know about Serena herself. Not dragon related things, but personal things.


    She wanted to know Serena as an individual. That had touched her heart in a way that she hadn¡¯t expected. She had been treated as a living god for so long by the kobolds and before that as a great evil that had to be defeated that it was refreshing to talk about her childhood and her long dead family, her long dead people, their long forgotten hopes and dreams. She got to tell the stories of their lives, not the myths and legends of dragons, but the everyday struggles of individuals living their lives and raising families.


    Not for the first time being around Rosalyn sparked a maternal instinct in her that she had been feeling more and more lately. She knew that as the reigning Dragon Queen and the last of her kind she had a duty to have children, but over the last few days that feeling of duty had transformed into more than that. It was something new to her. She actually wanted to finish her egg, to not be alone anymore.


    Serena had resisted having a clutch of eggs a century ago despite an overabundance of suitors at the time. Everyone wanted to be the mate of the Dragon Queen, but she had rejected them all. She was too busy, too this, too that. Always an excuse back then. Now, she couldn¡¯t have a clutch and regret filled her heart.


    Still, there was one option open to her. Serena slashed the air gently in front of her with her claw as to not wake Rosalyn and slowly pulled out the thing she had spent the better part of sixty years pouring her mana into. It was a single silver egg resting gently on a silk pillow. She could no longer lay a clutch, there being no other dragons to mate with, but she could still have children.


    Dragonkind would live on, even if all of the future members of it would technically be clones of Serena. Sighing, Serena slowly set the egg down onto the floor. She had finished the egg long ago, but had not imbued it with that spark of life that would allow it to hatch. She would not have her daughter grow up in this hellhole of a prison. She stared at it wistfully while running a claw gently across the silvery swirls that adorned the outside of the shell, and didn¡¯t notice that she was being watched.


    ¡°It is beautiful.¡±


    Serena jumped, but relaxed when she saw Rosalyn¡¯s dark eyes staring at her from the wool blanket that Birdie had scrounged from who knows where. ¡°Ahh, this is my daughter, or at least it will be. Right now it is more or less a giant silver ball of mana. There is no life inside.¡±


    ¡°Serena? Why are you in there?¡± Serena hesitated at that question. It was a complicated one, and one that Rosalyn had skirted for the last few days. She contemplated lying or just not answering the question, but Serena realized that there was no one left but her. No pride to wound but her own and she had long ago abandoned that down in this dark lonely hole.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t pay enough attention.¡± Craning her head toward the prone form of the girl she closed her eyes at the memory. ¡°I thought that only dragons mattered and that if I took care of them the rest would sort itself out. Some dragons, not all mind you but enough of them, looked down of the other races of the world. They enslaved and extorted them. Ultimately, my stance led to a spiral of tragedy that caused an uprising that led to the extinction of my entire species. As for why specifically I am in this box? I was too strong. They couldn¡¯t kill me like the rest, so they locked me away.¡±


    Rosalyn had sat up during the short explanation that Serena had given, and she could tell the girl wanted to ask for more details. Still she refrained and Serena was grateful. Even after all of these years thinking about her failures burned hotter than any fire a dragon could breathe. Hesitating a bit Rosalyn looked up at her and said ¡°I haven¡¯t known you that long, and I can¡¯t speak for what you did in the past, but¡­¡± Letting out a deep breath she continued ¡°I do know that you didn¡¯t have to catch me. You didn¡¯t have to lead me deeper into the cave. You didn¡¯t have to answer my questions.¡±


    Nodding her head she looked Serena in one of her large silver eyes. ¡°I think you are a good person, and I am going to get you out of there. I promise.¡±


    Her heart filling with hope, Serena bowed her head in thanks. ¡°Thank you, child.¡±

 1-17: Build Up

    Cham had spent the last four days climbing down the mountain and fruitlessly searching for any sign that her kid had managed to evade the horde that had surely pursued her. As she walked further and further down the mountain, back tracking her way toward the village her heart grew heavier and heavier as it looked like Rosalyn never made it this far into the hills. On the evening of the fourth day however, she got her first bit of hope. She could feel Rosalyn¡¯s life-force. It was distant and deep underground, but it was steady and calm. Where ever she was hiding was currently safe.


    Throwing both arms into the air Cham let out a whoop that startled several birds out of a tree. ¡°Bless you child! I knew you could get away!¡± Falling to one knee as a tension she wasn¡¯t previously aware of left her, Cham felt hot tears trickle down her face.


    Most of the Sisters blessed with Divine power could sense life and death to some degree, most often within a few feet, but Cham was especially good at it. She could operate her sense like few in the Sisterhood before her, and if she really concentrated she could distantly feel an aura she was familiar with for miles.


    It was a gift that had saved her life during the war on more than one occasion, as it allowed her to feel both approaching undead and the life auras of people that she was intimately familiar with. The downside of the ability was that it wasn¡¯t a passive awareness, she had to really concentrate to feel anything and it could be easily stymied if the target knew to shield themselves from it. Thankfully, most people were not aware that Sisters had such a capability, and of the ones that did know about it most assumed that it was limited by a short range.


    Standing up and wiping her hands across her eyes, she realized once again that she had forgotten that her arm was now made of some strange metal. Over the course of the last several days the gauntlet had changed its appearance, smoothing out and becoming less bulky. At this point it was more or less the size and shape that her actual arm had been. The material was also unnaturally soft and was warm to the touch. If someone closed their eyes and touched it she guessed that most people probably wouldn¡¯t be able to tell it apart from a flesh and blood arm. Ignoring the mystery of the arm for now, she bent over and grabbed a stick from the ground.


    Scratching a mark into the dirt pointing toward where her awareness told her that Rosalyn was she walked fifty paces to the side of her mark and made another. She then repeated the process once more, and when she was done did some quick math in her head. Thinking carefully about local terrain features Cham could not help but let out a wide grin. She knew where Rosalyn had taken shelter at. ¡°Rose you clever girl!¡± Turning slightly away from her awareness she locked her gaze on where she knew the entrance to the deep cave was.


    Cham joyously ran, filling her legs with holy power and eating up the distance to where her kid was. After an hour of running at speeds that would have winded even the most accomplished of athletes, Cham was in sight of the cave entrance. Stopping for a moment she took the time to pull the cesti that the Abbess had provided and put one into each of her hands. Looking down at her new arm, she shivered. Sometimes she got a feeling from it that made her nervous. Shaking her head to chase away unnecessary thoughts, she filled her arms with power and erected a shield around herself.


    Edging forward in a combat ready stance, Cham entered the cave. Closing her eyes she strengthened her shield as she reached out once more to feel for undead. She could sense many broken husks buried under the dirt and stone of several cave-ins, but there did not seem to be anything that was a threat in the nearby vicinity.


    She could also see the lich on the edge of her vision, a dark scar on her awareness that was getting much too close to where Rosalyn was hiding. Knowing that she had to hurry, but not rush she swept her senses quickly around her nearby area one last time before moving on.


    Cham froze as a chill ran down her spine. Her extended awareness had brushed up against¡­ something. Spinning around to face whatever had caused the sensation she was greeted by empty air. Eyeing the space suspiciously Cham started into the deep cave, using the trail of broken undead as bread crumbs.


    Cham disappeared into one of the cave entrances, oblivious to the red eyes peering at her from a dark cloud on the ceiling.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    <hr>


    Birdie was worried about his new friend. He would do his best to protect her, but while he was gathering his equipment and chemicals he had gotten word that the skirmishers were not able to repel the invading forces and a retreat further into the tunnels had been called. Birdie was glad that his tribe would be out of the line of fire, but he wished that Rosalyn wasn¡¯t so tall so that he could lead her to safety in the kobold escape tunnels.


    Birdie frowned at using the name in his head. It just didn¡¯t sound right to him. After much nagging Rosalyn had finally convinced him to stop calling her Pretty Lady. Birdie didn¡¯t understand why she wouldn¡¯t take the compliment, but it was her call so in the end Birdie would deal with it.


    The desire to hide warred with the desire to help protect Rosalyn, but in the end the loyalty bought by a bit of kindness and some delicious fish stew weighed more than his survival instinct. Deep down he knew that they were both going to die, but if he could delay them for even a second it would be a fair price in his mind. Still, he was one of the best trap makers in the tribe and he would make them pay for every step they took. He knew that the skirmishers had inflicted massive casualties onto the invaders and there weren''t that many left. They might be able to get out of this, no matter how pessimistic his gut was being.


    Birdie watched his new friend intently while he worked at the jars he was carefully filling with alchemical solutions. She was demonstrating her combat moves to the Great One and making plans of her own. His gaze slid off of his friend and onto the Great One, lounging in her prison of light. He had heard tales growing up about how the kobold tribe had spent many years trying to break or weaken the cage that the Great One was trapped in. Something about the magic specifically resisted anything with any amount of dragon blood. Birdie had always known that the great one was a dragon, she did regularly visit their den to chat with the chief and play with the pups after all, but to see it in person awed Birdie on a primal level.


    This was what his tribe was descended from. They had the blood of dragons. It caused him to puff his chest out a little in pride.


    Not for the first time Bridie wished he could breathe fire like the dragons of old. Letting out a jealous sigh he eyed his work and quickly his look of jealousy turned into a satisfied grin. Letting out a chuckle he hefted the small clay pot and made sure the oil soaked rag that was stuffed into the jelly-like substance was firmly in place. ¡°Alchemist Fire might not be as awesome as being able to breathe fire, but Birdie thinks it will do for today.¡±


    <hr>


    Rosalyn had spent the better part of the last day explaining the combat art to Serena. She was surprised that it wasn¡¯t something that existed a hundred years ago. She had always assumed that the Temple had always been around, but according to Serena that wasn¡¯t the case. Rosalyn wondered what Mother Cham would say about that?


    Serena for her part was incredibly interested in this new knowledge. ¡°So you say these Sisters fill their body with holy magic and use it to push their bodies past normal limits? Interesting! Hmm, does it have to be holy magic?¡± Rosalyn thought about that for a moment, mulling over the idea. ¡°I can¡¯t see why it had to be specifically holy energy. The advanced combat forms are all about directing energy in such a way that you are basically using it as a weapon and shield to attack and defend. I am not really sure how easy it would be to use other forces, but if they could be molded in a similar manner¡­ why do you ask? I can¡¯t use magic, I don¡¯t have enough innate mana.¡± Rosalyn¡¯s face soured as she remembered the test from a week ago. ¡°Has it only been a week¡­?¡±


    Lifting her head with a smug sense about her, Serena chuckled. ¡°I have an idea and if it works I will be able to help you when the attack comes. Please take a fighting stance and start going through your forms.¡± Watching Serena close her eyes and start mumbling softly to herself, Rosalyn did as she was asked, starting one of her normal shadow boxing sets, fighting an illusory Janie in her mind¡¯s eye. Halfway through the second round something strange happened.


    One of the blue proto-wisps appeared above her head, and then another, and then another. Rosalyn stopped and stared at the dragon. ¡°What?¡± Opening one eye Serena waved a claw in a keep going motion. Shrugging, Rosalyn continued the bout against her unseen foe. During the action of the fourth round the orbs all slammed into her at once, throwing her off her feet. Rosalyn panicked at the sudden attack and turned a wild eye onto Serena.


    ¡°Do not worry child! I am not attacking. I had to get a sense of your flow and you were right, there isn¡¯t much mana there so I had to be a bit forceful in my¡­ attachment.¡± Rosalyn looked down at her hands and saw the blue waves of power flowing over her arms like liquid sapphires. She gasped and looked back up at Serena.


    ¡°You want me to channel your mana instead of holy power!¡± Jumping on her hind legs, Serena let out a loud crack of laughter. ¡°Exactly! Attached as it is to your own mana you should be able to move it like, or at least near enough like, to the holy power that these Sisters use in their combat. Not to mention I can use you as an anchor and actually put some force into any attacks I make with that mana. With a little practice we can probably attack in ways that would make these Sisters jealous! We will fight¡­ together!¡±

 1-18: Academia

    Janie had spent the journey to the Royal Military Academy in the capital in a daze, staring longingly back the way they had come during the day and crying herself to sleep at night. She wanted to go home more than anything else in the world, but she knew that she couldn¡¯t. It had been explained to her several times by the exasperated census tester that as a ward of the Temple who had reached the age of sixteen the Kingdom was well in its right to conscript her for a service of no greater than seven years. The repeated explanations on how she was basically a slave for what she assumed would be the full seven years did not make Janie feel better.


    Around midday on the sixth day since leaving her home she was ushered away from the caravan that had, in her mind anyway, kidnapped her and into an ornate coach to finish the last leg of her journey to the Royal Military Academy, or RMA as the other members of the caravan called it. Staring out at the rolling farmland that surrounded the capital Janie found that she was finally letting herself enjoy the scenery. Just as she began to quietly enjoy the idyllic vista that was outside her window she caught her first glimpse of the RMA, and her jaw dropped at the sight.


    Janie had always thought of herself as much worldlier than a lot of the other kids that she had grown up with, having travelled to find her father as she did, but that did little to prepare her from gaping at the soaring golden towers of the RMA. She counted six towers in all, with an octagonal building in the center. Janie boggled at how such large buildings could even exist, with each of the towers having at least twenty floors that she could make out from her approach. Even the center building was far bigger than Janie was comfortable with. She just knew that she would spend of the upcoming days getting lost in such large buildings, especially without Rose to help compensate for her own incredibly poor sense of direction. Colorful banners flew from high positions of each tower, while a large Kingdom flag flew proudly from the roof of the center structure. Calling the campus the most impressive thing that she had ever seen did not do it justice in her own mind.


    Still reeling from how small the campus made her feel Janie did not notice when the carriage stopped and the exit door opened. ¡°Ahem, miss. We have arrived¡± Jumping with fright Janie looked out and saw the coachman holding the door open. He had a wry grin on his face and was making a ¡°well come on¡± gesture with his free hand. Blushing furiously, Janie grabbed the small handmade bag Mother Cham had given her that held all of her meager belongings and took her first step onto the campus that would be her home.


    Waiting for Janie was a woman with dusky skin and white hair pulled up in a severe bun. She was dressed in a loose fitting robe adorned with stars that seemed to shift and move to Janie¡¯s eyes. Janie couldn¡¯t help but stare in wonder. There was something magical about this woman. Janie noted that she had pointed ears almost as an afterthought.


    ¡°Greetings child, I am Headmistress Tor. You will refer to me and all faculty by our full titles at all times while you are a student. Come. We have much to do and a strict timetable to do it in.¡± Spinning on one heel, Headmistress Tor marched towards the center building without a single glance behind to see if she was being followed. Seeing that she was rapidly being left behind Janie jogged to catch up.


    ¡°You caught up? Good. No one likes a dawdler. Now, you are in the fast-track program, so you will be very busy over the next two years. First, we are going to test you for the educational basics. That will happen tomorrow.¡± Producing a clipboard from somewhere that Janie couldn¡¯t see, Headmistress Tor slowed ever so slightly as she read over it before speeding back up to her previous pace. ¡°I see that you have a Temple education. Good. They have very high standards. I am sure that there will be little we have to fill in the blanks for. Our second step is to test your competencies with mana so that we can place you in the care of an appropriate mentor.¡±


    Looking at her clipboard once more the Headmistress abruptly stops in front of a large pair of double doors. Janie out of breath from the brisk power-walk across the campus looks at her expectantly and a little afraid. ¡°Before we go any further,¡± Her tone surprisingly gentle, ¡°Let us talk about your conscription. You are on the hook for the full seven years, the maximum currently allowed under Kingdom law. It is rare for them to use up the entire deployment of a citizen in one go like that. They have high hopes for you, and if you play your cards right you can probably snag a position as an officer during your conscription. If you stay with the army, which I am sure is their end goal with the way they are handling this, I imagine you will be offered even more opportunities for advancement.¡± Glancing down at her clipboard once more she begins leafing through the pages before freezing and looking at Janie with wide eyes. ¡°Your caretaker was Justicar Cham.¡± Janie could tell it wasn¡¯t a question, but she nodded anyway.


    The next several minutes were an unintelligible blur of squee-ing noises and inane questions about Mother Cham that shattered her initial impression of the Headmistress into a thousand tiny pieces. Janie did her best to answer the questions, and did manage to catch a few rapid-fire references to Mother Cham fighting in a war, but really she was just confused by this whole situation. Raising her hands in front of herself in a warding gesture, Janie asked ¡°Why are you so interested in Mother Cham? To me she is just Mother Cham, and that while she did teach all of us the basics of defending ourselves she never seemed like a famous warrior.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    The Headmistress laughed and replied ¡°In my experience, most famous warriors tend to be pretty low key, and Justicar Cham is no exception. The Justicar fell off the face of the planet after the Dead War even though she was one of the biggest heroes to those fighting on the front lines.¡± Looking around the quad area and seeing no one the Headmistress motioned Janie over to a bench where they took a seat. ¡°I suppose since I brought it up I should tell you the story. I am pretty sure that in an academic sense you know what the Dead War was, but I was actually there during the last push. I was part of the Justicar¡¯s unit at that time. Needless to say, she saved my life several times and I never got to thank her for that. She is well I hope?¡± Janie and the Headmistress spoke for a few more minutes, with Janie politely answering her questions and the Headmistress musing on reaching out to her old battle buddy to maybe schedule some tea.


    Looking up to the sky, the Headmistress let out a long sigh before standing and gone was the woman who was interested in Mother Cham. Motioning for Janie to follow her they marched into the building and into a long hall down a side corridor. Janie was already lost and was very grateful for the guide. After a few seconds at their brisk pace the arrived at a supply room. Rapping on the door the Headmistress lead Janie inside and thrust a lightly made wooden crate into her hand. Bewildered at first, Janie began to understand as she was loaded down with all the sundries one would need to live alone in a dorm. Before she could ask questions they were out of the supply room and into a clothing supply room. Before she could say anything the Headmistress had taken her bag and box and she found herself being measured by an elderly woman for her new uniforms. She was quickly ushered through a trial fitting of the uniform, which consisted of a white blouse with a dark blue ascot embroidered with the coat of arms of the Kingdom, a black ankle length skirt, and some brown flats. Nodding her head the seamstress pulled three garment bags off of a shelf behind her and laid them on top of the bundle currently being held by the Headmistress. She grunted and then promptly handed the mess back to Janie before leading her to yet another storage room, this one manned by an elderly man. Flipping to the last page on her clipboard she pulled it free and hands it over to the man. He stares at it for a moment and then produces three textbooks that promptly go onto Janie¡¯s burden.


    Their next, and thankfully final, stop turned out to be the dorm Janie would be staying in. It was located in one of the towers flanking the main building. The Headmistress took her to a room on the second floor and opened it with a small silver key. Motioning inside, she took the burden from Janie and laid it all on the bed. ¡°We are a tad late, but not too bad considering the detour. Come to my office an hour after dawn for your aptitude tests. You can find it in the main building, if you get lost just ask one of the guards. Do you have any questions or comments before I leave you to retire for the evening?¡±


    Janie, still stunned by the whirlwind of activity that had been thrust upon her, numbly nodded her head before speaking, ¡°Yes ma¡¯am. Do you escort everyone around like you did me?¡± The Headmistress smiled ruefully at Janie before shaking her head in the negative. ¡°No, normally a teacher would sponsor a new student, however I just happened to be the only one free today. My original plan was to give the tour, get you your supplies and then hand you over to your actual sponsor. It was a coincidence, but a happy one, that I learned that Justicar Cham was doing well and as a small gesture to pay her back I have decided to sponsor you personally.¡±


    Giving a creepy smile that made Janie very uncomfortable, she continued ¡°To repay my debt from the war I will make you a shining example of this institute and forge you into someone that the Justicar will be proud to have raised.¡± Janie let out an involuntary gulp at the look in her new mentor''s eyes.


    ¡°You had better be prepared. Your education starts tomorrow my dear.¡± With that last threat the Headmistress spun on her heels one last time and marched out of the room. Janie who had been holding her breath let out a shriek when the Headmistress popped her head back into the room and pointed at the desk in the corner. ¡°If you want to child, you can write home anytime you want. I will make sure your letters arrive.¡± With that she was gone again, leaving Janie to inspect her new living space.


    Janie worked for the next couple of hours, exploring her new room and arranging the new equipment for her school life. Settling down on her bed, Janie started to shuffle through her small canvas bag, a gift from Mother Cham that she treasured dearly, and pulled out another of her personal treasures. It was a misshapen stuffed animal that Rose had insisted was supposed to be a dragon. It was the first such toy that she had sewn after learning how to from an elderly widow in the nearby village. Even if she had been dubious about its accuracy at the time, she still had slept with it every night since it was gifted to her. Looking at it longingly, Janie made a decision. She would make the best of this situation and would not lose track of her loved ones. Sitting down at the small, but well-built desk she began to write a letter to her family detailing her first day at RMA.

 1-19: Distractions

    Serena was worried for the young woman sitting in front of her. Yes, she was worried about the upcoming battle and its outcome, but that wasn¡¯t what was occupying her mind currently. The two of them had not known each other very long, but Serena found that the girl awoke a maternal instinct in her that she had long ago thought she would never possess, and that instinct was screaming at her about Rosalyn. It was telling her the girl was about to crack from stress, and one thing a dragon never ignored was its instincts.


    Deciding that the best way to keep her mind off the impending threat of death was a distraction, Serena decided that she would do the only thing she could do to distract her. She would speak. However, she decided that she would pass on more than just some random tale. She knew that if she didn¡¯t speak about this now she might never get another chance. ¡°Do you know why dragons were hunted?¡± Jumping slightly from the suddenly broken silence and her frayed nerves, Rosalyn turned to the large dragoness and shook her head. ¡°Um, our history books tell us that we defeated dragons in a holy war to save our kingdom from slavery.¡±


    Serena smiled inwardly as she knew that she had distracted the girl from her worries, at least for a time. ¡°You told me before about the mural and how the young King Woodain faced off against an army. Well, that is how it started.¡± Serena took a moment to adjust her bulk and get more comfortable before continuing, ¡°Dragons are basically just normal people at the end of the day. We may be bigger and stronger than normal folk, but we all have things that motivate us. Also, some of us were assholes.¡±


    Rosalyn¡¯s mouth dropped at the first bit of profanity that she had heard Serena use and the dragon chuckled. ¡°Oi, don¡¯t look at me like that. It is true! Some people are just assholes no matter the species. The two assholes I am speaking of were known as Rendicarth the Black and Thoireo of the Red. They were two of my highest profile suitors you know. They didn¡¯t take the rejection well.¡± Chuckling softly, Serena stared at the middle distance before her stare hardened and she continued. ¡°I am, well ¡®was¡¯ is more accurate, the queen of all of dragons. They called me The Queen of Eternal Silver during my reign, a reign that saw the death of my entire species all because two childish assholes wanted to be kings.¡±


    ¡°However, you don¡¯t need to hear about all that. You know enough about their attempts to subjugate the ¡®lesser races¡¯ from your history books I imagine. That part was true, they really did attack the human tribes and try to enslave them, although several dragons actually fought alongside the human armies, myself included. After a short and bloody campaign we defeated the two rogues. However, the killing didn¡¯t stop there unfortunately. For you see, humans found out something when they examined the bones of Rendicarth and Thoireo. We are pure primal magic, a power that is unrivaled in all of nature. The humans figured out how to take our blood, scales, and bones and harness that power. Magical research leapt ahead hundreds of years for the human wizards in less than five. At the time I was happy for humanity, but I didn¡¯t foresee their desire for ¡®more¡¯ looming on the horizon. So, thinking the crisis was over I came into this very cave to meditate and accumulate more mana to increase my power.¡± Stopping for a moment to catch her breath she looked at Rosalyn, ¡°Ahh sorry, this is the hard part. I haven¡¯t talked about before. It is kind of painful to speak of.¡± Standing up and laying her hand on the force field between them Rosalyn looked up with sympathy, ¡°You don¡¯t have to talk about it if you don¡¯t want to.¡±


    Serena shook her head and decided that she would see the story through to the end, for she knew that if she stopped her heart would never let her start again. Speaking with a bitter tone to her voice that she wasn¡¯t able to disguise Serena started up again, ¡°The armies that we had helped in the previous battle turned on us. They killed thousands for the prospect of magic, all while I blissfully sat underground and did nothing. By the time I found out what had happened they had marched on our largest settlement and attacked. No one was spared, and they only killed my people faster and faster as they accumulated more power from their remains.¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    With a perplexed look on her face Rosalyn raised her hand to stop the story, ¡°Why didn¡¯t your people fly away?¡± Looking at the small human she shook her head back and forth in response, ¡°Only the noble families had wings. That amounted to maybe thirty or so dragons with most of my subjects being flightless. Many of them were powerful in their own right, but dragons varied in size and power. The smallest families were the size of housecats, with me somewhere on the upper end. I am a very large dragon as you surely notice. Sometimes, I hold out hope that some of the smaller dragons were able to escape, but I know deep in my heart I am the last. I can feel it. There is no one else.¡±


    ¡°To quickly finish a sad story, several of my retainers found me and told me of what was happening. I rushed out to save my people, but was too late. The king and his mages found us and we fought back. My retainers were slain and I was pushed back into this cave. The king was not able to kill me, or even really wound me and the fight between us lasted for days. Unfortunately, the king was betrayed by his own mages, they used the bones of my fallen retainers to craft these pillars and the king¡¯s life force as a power source to seal me into this prison. I have been here ever since.¡±


    ¡°I think I went mad for a little while, but you can only be crazy due to loneliness for so long before you kind of snap out of it. I guess you just get used to being alone. Having the tribe show up helped some too, but my greatest joy was watching you kids play adventurer in the mouth of the cave. I¡¯ve watched dozens of you all grow up, and it saddens me that only you remain. I want you to know that I won¡¯t fail you like I did my people.¡±


    Rosalyn, still facing Serena with her hand on the barrier separating them looked like she wanted to say something. However, just as she opened her mouth to speak they heard a loud crashing noise come from the outside of the cavern followed by Birdie shouting ¡°DEAD! DEAD! DEAD!¡± and the drumming noise of him banging two objects together.


    ¡°Well, looks like it is time. Let¡¯s show them what you got?¡±


    <hr>


    Birdie had been watching the entry way into the Great One¡¯s chamber for the better part of a day when the first zombies started coming into the passage. Frustratingly, they were walking directly into the traps in ones and twos. He had not been able to get any more than that with any of them awesome surprises that he had set out. However, Birdie did notice that not all of the undead were walking forward. The ghouls in particular, were hanging out in the back seemingly waiting for something while the bulk of the zombies and skeletons stood to one side in orderly rows. Occasionally, one of the lesser undead would walk forward in a zig zag motion, obviously probing for traps.


    Deciding that his best option was to be a distraction and bait them into rushing forward, Birdie reached into his pack to retrieve the tools he would use to sow chaos. That was when he saw it. The lich was there, standing smugly and ordering some kobold zombies into the line of other waiting dead. The sight made him sick and a little afraid, but Birdie knew he needed to lead them into as many traps as he could to thin their numbers and then get back to warn Rosalyn and the Great One. Taking and lighting an alchemical molotov into each hand Birdie leapt out and threw them right into the middle of the ghouls before turning around and running toward the great door in the tomb.


    ¡°You little maggot! PESTS! ALL OF YOU! KILL IT!¡± the lich screeched from behind. Knowing that he was being chased he ran as fast as he could, running over every trap that his own weight wouldn''t trip and leaping over those it would. He was rewarded several times with meaty thunks, loud booms, and several interesting squelching noises. However, Birdie didn¡¯t turn around to look at what was following him, instead he reached out and grabbed an old shield he had leaned against the entry to the tomb. Pulling a small ball-peen hammer from his pouch while he fled for his little kobold life he started banging a warning to the inner sanctum.


    ¡°DEAD! DEAD! DEAD!¡±


    The climax had started and Birdie hoped that it wouldn''t hurt too bad when they were killed, but he knew it would and he would probably be alive when the ghouls started eating him. Birdie decided to run faster.

 1-20: Confrontation

    Rosalyn was pretty sure that this was the most nervous and scared that she had ever been in her entire life. Sure, the attack on her home a few days ago had been objectively worse, but it happened all so fast that she did not have time to anticipate. That was what was eating her up now, the anticipation of the upcoming violence. So she sat there and waited, tensed and ready to defend herself while she listened to the explosions and crashes of whatever her little kobold companion was doing to delay and thin out their numbers.


    Serena¡¯s story had helped a lot and had taken her mind off the near future for a short while, but sadly she had retreated back into her prison to concentrate while she directed the power she had lent Rosalyn for the fight. She had mentioned something about the holes in the mesh of her cage not being big enough for her to excersise as much fine control over the power as she would have liked. The worst part of it was without her actively pressing on the walls of the shimmering cage with her power it had turned hazy and opaque again, meaning that she couldn¡¯t even see the dragon and take comfort from her presence. So, she waited in silence with the hum of power coursing through her muscles, a borrowed power that knew instinctively was so much bigger than she was and that if Serena wasn¡¯t there to actually control and direct it that she would probably have exploded from the sheer pressure of it. Of course, Rosalyn also knew that if Serena wasn¡¯t there she wouldn¡¯t have this power at all and her odds of survival would be even more depressingly low.


    The strain of being clenched like she was and the power coursing through her was starting to take its toll and was starting to make Rosalyn¡¯s teeth hurt. She was contemplating switching to a more relaxed stance when Birdie hastily rounded and turned to face the out of sight entrance way and started to swing something on the end of a rope. Curious, Rosalyn watched the item for a few moments before she realized that the something the little guy was getting ready to wing towards the door was a jar with a lit rag coming out of the top. She watched in mesmerized silence as the fire spun round and round and was mildly surprised when he let the rope go and tossed the jar toward the door where she could not see. Then she heard the anguished howls and the fear that had been momentarily forgotten as she watched the spinning pot returned in full force.


    She watched as Birdie yelped and dodged a large rock that missed his tiny head by the grace of a higher power. Scrambling to his feet he ran into the room and past Rosalyn, where she heard him get his slightly oversized cudgel from the pile of bric-¨¤-brac he had been preparing for the battle from during their stay in the chamber. Then he was there, standing by her side, shaking like a small dog with his tiny arms holding a weapon that was much too big for him. Something in her heart broke at that, and she suddenly wanted him to run away. This small creature that had decided they were friends even thought they had known for such a short time was standing here by her side to fight a lich and his army of dead. Rosalyn didn¡¯t know if her heart could take him dying in her defense, but she knew that he wouldn¡¯t go as long as she was in trouble.


    That was when a single man dressed in a purple robe walked forward. He was nonchalantly strolling forward while using a gnarled black staff as a walking stick. Rosalyn was momentarily confused by the sight, and then she saw his face. It was a human face to be sure, but there was something off about it. His features were stretched somehow, like someone had taken his face off and then put it back on too tightly, and his eyes were pitch-black. She took a good look at this face and her blood ran cold as she realized what she was looking at. The lich had come for her and the small mysterious item that Mother Cham had entrusted to her safe keeping.


    ¡°Give me the artifact without any more of this nonsense and I won¡¯t torture you before I kill you.¡± Rosalyn flinched at the voice, as it had a quality similar to his face. It was a human voice, but there was something wrong about it. ¡°Well? I don¡¯t have all day insect. I have individuals waiting for me and I have taken much too long cornering you.¡±


    Rosalyn wanted to say something back to him, something heroic and brave. However, her voice had deserted her and the only thing in its place was pure terror. This was the creature that had killed her entire family. Instead, the only defiance she could muster was a simple shake of her head. ¡°So be it then. Incapacitate her and bring her to me. Do not kill her, I have frustrations to vent.¡± With those words the lich turned and walked towards the side of the room with the same exact unhurried pace that he walked into the room with. That was when the ghouls struck.


    <hr>


    Cham had been running at a full tilt through the tunnels for almost a day by her reckoning. She had set a blistering pace that would have long ago destroyed any non-Divine infused person, but she still feared that she would be too late. Thankfully, the path through was relatively straight-forward to follow. Someone had obviously stymied the undead horde and collapsed a fair amount of the tunnels onto their heads, and there were places where the undead had clearly had to dig through rubble to advance. In the back of her mind there was a small curious voice that wondered who had fought with the lich and his forces and if they still lived, but she knew that it was a small concern best left for after she had saved her kid.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    This incredibly obvious path coupled with the fact that she could feel both the presence of Rosalyn and the lich assured her that she was going the right way. She could feel that Rosalyn was alive and that she was close. Turning up her senses once more to better pinpoint her destination, Cham was hit once again with alarm bells coming from behind her. Resisting the urge to stop and get into a fighting stance, Cham glanced behind her as she ran onward and once again saw nothing. Suspicious, but unable to do anything about it under her current time constraints, Cham decided instead to burn a little more Divine power and increase her speed further and the feeling was left behind.


    After a few more minutes of running Cham came across a rapidly flowing river and found her first actual trace of Rosalyn¡¯s presence. With her sight activated she could tell that her kid had lain here about a week or so ago for a long time before moving on and following the river. With phantom images of Rosalyn ahead of her, Cham ran as fast as she could. She ran past the site of a scuffle with an unknown creature and into a curious stone room where Rosalyn had shared stew with other unknown people. The same curious part of her brain wondered what her kid had been up to down here, but again she ignored it and ran on.


    That was when she heard the first explosion. At least Cham thought it was an explosion. It was far off, but she had heard many of the whumping noises during her time on the front lines. Adjusting her course to head toward the noises, she saw her first signs of battle as she came into a tunnel littered with zombie parts and scattered bones. Cham didn¡¯t know what exactly had gone on here, but she was happy. It looked like Rosalyn had found some help, as unlikely as that sounded down here. Burning even more power she ran down the tunnel, dodging fallen rocks, craters, and even a sprung trap where a legless ghoul was angrily flailing while impaled on a long wooden spike that had pinned it to the ground.


    That was when she came into a clearly man-made room of white stone. Amazing murals adorned the walls and there was a curious tomb in the center, but still she ignored these details and ran on, passing through the most ornate door she had ever seen and coming into a tunnel of black stone. When she turned the corner Cham finally saw something that stopped her dead in her tracks.


    Rosalyn was fighting four ghouls singlehandedly in a ring of at least a dozen destroyed zombies, and was winning. A fifth ghoul was chasing a small creature around but was being pelted with rocks and smashed in the knees with a comically oversized cudgel when it got too close, but she couldn¡¯t really focus on that exchange. Rosalyn was mesmerizing to watch.


    She flowed perfectly from one form to the other, utilizing the combat arts that Cham herself had taught her while a deep azure energy whipped from around her angrily. It was like watching two combatants at once, with the energy acting like it had a will of its own. Cham¡¯s chest clenched as Rosalyn over extended herself on her right side and left herself open to attack. Three of the ghouls, sensing an opening jumped on her at once. A warning started to form on her lips, but it was silenced when the energy whipped around behind Rosalyn and decapitated the first ghoul before splitting into two long needles and pierced the brains of the other attacking ghouls. While this was taking place, Rosalyn herself pivoted and delivered a devastating roundhouse kick that literally broke the final ghoul''s head clean off of its spine. Snapping her mouth shut, Cham was speechless, this was nothing that she had taught Rosalyn during their training. Even if she had given the basic lessons on Divine power control to all of her kids who wanted to learn, this blue energy was something else.


    However, before she could run through that thought anymore Cham saw him. The lich, Geroth, was standing to the side of the chamber looking as bewildered and surprised as Cham had felt. Rage bubbled up in her heart and a primal scream echoed from deep within her small frame. She charged straight at him with one word on her lips.


    ¡°GEROTH!¡±


    <hr>


    Lucia was quite perturbed at her prey. Her troublesome senses had made it impossible to sneak up on her during the trip into the cave, and at one point the halfling had sped up to a quite frankly ludicrous degree and she had even lost sight of her. Thankfully, she had her scent and there was nowhere the tasty little morsel could hide.


    Chasing the little creature had afforded her time to survey the losses that Geroth had taken during his entry into the cave. Lucia sighed at his incompetence, but knew that if they could get the Master¡¯s artifact back then it would all be worth it. Still, she would have to think of a suitable punishment for his negligence and overconfidence. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll rip out his soul and put it in the boo box?¡± she quietly mused.


    Crossing into a large and hideously white space, she crossed into an oppositely black tunnel to see her prey watching a fight down below. Lucia winced as five more ghouls were destroyed by a young girl wreathed in blue energy. She could clearly feel the artifact at this distance, and noted that it was probably in the leather satchel the girl had tightly bound to her back. Still, even if she did owe the Master a lot retrieving the artifact had become a secondary objective for her. Deciding to let Geroth handle that, she readied her pounce.


    That was when the little morsel screamed and ran toward her subordinate in a rage. ¡°Perfect¡­¡± she hummed to herself as she shot down and slammed into her target¡¯s back before the little ball of holy energy could reach the very flat-footed lich.


    ¡°You have something I want morsel! GIMME!¡± Lucia screeched as she reached down to slice open the surprised halfling¡¯s throat.

 1-21: Liberation

    Rosalyn¡¯s heart sang when she saw Mother Cham run into the room alive and well, even if she was screaming incomprehensibly while she was doing it. She was kitted out for a fight with her armor of glowing energy and gleaming silver cesti in both hands, a fact that did not escape Rosalyn and filled her with even more joy. Mother Cham had somehow gotten her arm back! However, before any greetings could be shared between the two a strange doll-like woman in a porcelain mask and a fine velvet dress dropped from the ceiling and started clawing viciously at Mother Cham¡¯s back and spine. The only thing that save her was the aura that she had projected around herself as she angrily charged at the lich on the other side of the room. After taking one more ineffective swipe, the newcomer pushed off of Mother Cham¡¯s small form with both legs and pirouetted through the air gracefully, landing with a soft sound and without a single bit of fabric from her outrageously ornate dress out of place between Mother Cham and the lich. Mother Cham landed briefly on her back before rolling forward coming to her feet in a low combat stance that faced both of her prospective opponents.


    ¡°Quit toying with your food! Kill the girl and retrieve what you came for, you fool!¡± the strange woman screeched ¡°I will take care of this nuisance. We can talk about your punishment for making me wait so long after we finish here.¡± The lich balked as a momentary look of panic flashed over his face before it returned to the blank, almost lifeless look of a person trying very hard not to think of a very bad thing that was going to happen to them in the near future. ¡°Yes, mistress. Right away, mistress.¡± The lich bowed low to the new opponent as she charged at Mother Cham and forced her back into the hallway, their fight obscured by the bend in the hall.


    The lich, whose whole demeanor changed, watched the flashes of light and sound that occasionally erupted from the hall for a few moments before he turned his gaze toward Rosalyn and she couldn¡¯t help but shiver. She instinctively knew that she was outclassed and that this was going to be a much different and more difficult battle than the one she had with the ghouls. All she had to do was hold out long enough for Mother Cham to defeat her opponent and jump in, which she was sure she could do as long as she had Serena¡¯s support. As if to punctuate that thought the subtle aura of blue energy began to hum and thrash across the surface of her skin. A truly hideous grin spread across the face of the lich and Rosalyn shivered again ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of magic you are using little duck, but it won¡¯t save you from me. Playtime is over!¡± The lich raised one desiccated finger and a beam of pure darkness shot straight toward Rosalyn¡¯s chest.


    Taken entirely flat footed by this new attack Rosalyn was only able to stare ahead like a surprised deer and was not going to get out of the way in time to prevent a hit. Thankfully, Serena had obviously recognized what the lich was about to do and willed the blue energy encompassing the body of her young companion to congeal into the form of a massive circular shield that met the beam head on. The lich, laughing all the while switched from his finger to his entire palm increasing the energy flowing from him and the shield exploded into motes of blue light tinged with dark purple. ¡°I see! You are getting outside help aren¡¯t you? It makes sense, I don¡¯t sense any real power coming from you. If I had known that shooting a null beam at your heart would have given me the answer I would have done it before I lost those ghouls. Still, very unsportsmanlike of you to use outside help. Here, let me help you make things right!¡±


    Extending both arms above his head, a bubble of translucent grey energy shot from in between his hands and quickly expanded to fill the chamber. Rosalyn stumbled and nearly fell into one of the pillars as the hum of the borrowed power left her body. Suddenly, every part of her body weighed a thousand pounds and she almost passed out where she stood. However, Rosalyn was able to barely hold onto her consciousness. Leaning against one of the pillars for support she was barely able to stand at the sudden loss of energy, and was about to ask Serena if she was okay when a pained growl erupted from behind her inside the opaque surface of the prison.


    ¡°Ahh, I see. Your helper is in there. I had wondered what that was, but I guess I can still figure that out after you die.¡± The lich raised his finger once more and making a finger-gun gesture he took aim at Rosalyn. Willing her unresponsive legs to move Rosalyn was sure she was about to die for real this time. That was when a loud screeching cry pierced the air ¡°REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!¡± as Birdie leapt from the lich¡¯s side and knocked his arm wide with his cudgel. This caused the dark beam to go wide and cut across the surface of the pillar a hair¡¯s breadth from Rosalyn¡¯s head. The beam sliced deep into the stone as cracks spider-webbed across the width of the pillar. Rosalyn stared at the pillar for a moment as an idea began to form in her mind before turning back to face the lich.


    Birdie was holding onto the lich¡¯s arm for dear life as the undead creature violently shook the little guy to try and dislodge him. After a moment the lich composed himself and sighed. Looking down the thoroughly wild-eyed little kobold he raised the arm that Birdie was clinging to and rearing back he used his other arm to punch the kobold in the face. A loud crack sounded as Birdie flew across the room and landed on the ground in an unmoving heap. Rosalyn¡¯s chest seized when she saw this and an involuntary scream of ¡°No!¡± escaped her lips. Finding her strength once more, Rosalyn stood and faced the grinning lich in a loose ready stance. Putting up both hands, she smiled confidently back at the lich ¡°Well, I have to win now. You hurt my kobold.¡±


    Chuckling softly the lich raised his hand once more and aimed the dark magic at Rosalyn. ¡°Well, it has been a hoot, and I wish we could play more but I have to appease the mistress.¡± Expecting the attack this time, Rosalyn stepped to the side and around behind the white pillar as the lich followed her movements with the beam with an almost bored look on his face. The attack continued to chip away at her cover as the lich slowly walked around the edge of the room to get a better vantage on Rosalyn. ¡°If you come out and let me shoot you in the face this will hurt us both less.¡± Rosalyn scrunched her nose and stepped to the side of the pillar facing the energy wall to avoid the beam of death that had bored through the thick pillar and almost clipped her arm. Deciding that distracting the lich with conversation couldn¡¯t make her situation any worse, she yelled out ¡°I think I shall pass on that, thank you very much. Still, I am impressed that you can destroy these pillars. I have it on good authority that they are close to unbreakable and immune to arcane power.¡±


    Sniffing, the lich continued his slow chase around the side of the pillar, still slowing slicing away bits in his unhurried quest to murder Rosalyn. Watching the pillar for signs her plan was working, she smiled broadly when it swayed under the constant barrage of the lich¡¯s attacks. ¡°Despite what those imbeciles started calling me during the war, I am Geroth the Mage Breaker, girl. No one in this world knows more about destroying magical lattices and constructs that I do. Not even the Master can match me in the field of Anti-magic, a fact that whoever is hiding behind this energy barrier learned when I sealed their influence off from this room.¡± Seeing her chance while the lich was talking, Rosalyn jumped up and pushed against the wobbling pillar. She was rewarded as the cool material popped and cracked, but she couldn¡¯t quite get enough strength behind her push to finish the job. ¡°Ahh, I see. You want to crush me with that pillar. Pathetic. Sadly though, your time is up, as I tire of this little game.¡± Raising his other hand he pressed all of his fingers to his thumb and a piercing beam of energy shot forth, much faster than the slow cutting beam that he had been using before. It cut through the remaining center mass of the pillar at a frightening speed, and even though Rosalyn had been on the lookout for one of the lich¡¯s attacks and had made to jump out of the way, she wasn¡¯t prepared for one of this speed.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Fire shot through Rosalyn¡¯s senses as the beam pierced her lung and she tumbled to the ground in a heap, idly, almost detachedly, noticing that the contents of her satchel had spilled along the floor when she fell. She wanted to say something witty to the lich, call out to Serena, or maybe even see if Birdie was okay, but she couldn''t seem to catch her breath. She tried with everything she had to bring in a deep breath, but it wouldn¡¯t come. Instead a rattling noise emanated from her chest and she started to violently cough up blood. ¡°Tch, you are a quick one aren¡¯t you. If you had not moved I am certain I would have gotten your heart. Oh well, a little suffering builds character. It will be interesting to see if you bleed out first or drown in your own blood.¡±


    Still struggling to breathe Rosalyn watched as the unbreakable magic pillar snapped in half and smiled in triumph even as the edges of her vision darkened a little more. Her family would be avenged, Serena would see to it.


    <hr>


    Serena was blind to what was going on outside her prison. Whatever the lich had done was disrupting the small amount of power that she was able to squeeze through the gaps in her prison and her link with Rosalyn had been severed. She wasn¡¯t even able to exert any pressure on the cage to let in sight or sound. She was trapped. ¡°If only I could exert more power¡­¡±


    That was when she felt the shift in the prison walls, and Serena knew just what to do. She pushed.


    <hr>


    Cham was unsure what this creature she was fighting was, but she knew that she had to hurry and kill it. ¡°You are in the way thing. My kid is the other room and I am here to save her.¡± Charging forward and connecting with two swift punches with the cesti she was holding in her flesh and blood hand. She had unfortunately dropped the other one during the initial scuffle. Also quite unfortunately, the creature became incorporeal right before her blows landed, even though she had imbued them with all the power she could in an effort to end the fight quickly. It then lashed out with several whip like tendrils that cut through her aura and left burning wounds behind where they struck.


    Cham, hissing at the pain, stepped in and spun low to trip her opponent with a sweeping attack that also slid through her opponent like it wasn¡¯t there. The creature started laughing before a silky smooth voice, wholly different from the screeching tone that she had directed at the lich emanated from the mask, ¡°You can¡¯t beat me you know. I am immune to the power you wield and you can¡¯t touch me with your normal hands. I am inclined to let you live though, if you give me what I want.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have the phylactery, creature.¡± Throwing its head back and laughing again, Cham was disturbed when the doll-like mask of her opponent split open and a truly monstrous amount of teeth became visible. ¡°That is a secondary objective for me. I want your arm. You don¡¯t even know what it is do you? What power it can lead to. Give it to me and I will call off Geroth. You can both leave alive!¡±


    Frowning down at her new appendage, Cham narrowed her eyes and made a fist. ¡°Fine! Take it!¡± Leaping forward like a jumping animal she ran all of her remaining power into her new fist and drove it into the creature¡¯s face. It sighed in annoyance, but then let out a surprised yelp as the blow actually connected, shattering the mask and causing black ichor to spew from a hole in one side of the creature¡¯s head. The teeth that were visible before now showed through the sides of the wound as an unearthly screech emanated from somewhere deep in its chest as it fell to its knees clutching at the ruins of the mask.


    Seizing the opportunity, Cham ran back into the main chamber to stop the lich from hurting her kid, just in time to see Geroth shoot her in the right breast. The beam pierced her, and she fell stunned to the floor, obviously unable to catch her breath and started to cough up blood. Panicking at the state of her kid, she momentarily despaired at her own ineptitude at healing. She was one of the strongest fighters in the Sisterhood, but she couldn''t heal her way out of a wet paper sack. This is why she usually carried potions with her when she went on combat missions. Slapping her hand to her forehead in a classic facepalm, she mummured to herself ¡°Where are those damn potions?¡± Fumbling at her belt, Cham dug into the pouch she had stored the potions she had brought with her and froze as she pulled out a shattered bottle. ¡°No, no. no!¡± Cham shouted as she threw the broken bottle to the ground and charged at the lich for the second time that day. ¡°I¡¯ll destroy you!¡±


    The lich, turning with his staff in an attack stance was ready to meet her charge head on. That is, he was until the large white mass of energy in the center room exploded and pushed them both flat on their backs. Jumping quickly to her feet despite the ringing in her ears, Cham was surprised to see a tall, and very naked, silver haired woman standing over Rosalyn. She was holding her hand and tears flowed freely down her face. Leaning in, she kissed the dying girl¡¯s head and turned to face the lich, her eyes emitting a deep blue fire and a clearly defined urge to commit murder.


    <hr>


    Serena pushed at the confines of her cage, and for the first time in a century she felt the walls give. Joy and happiness warred with worry in her heart. The tiny little human girl who had charmed her in such a short time and declared that she would set her free had done it. She had not only kept her promise, but she had done it in the middle of a fight for her own survival. Serena was beside herself with worry over her. After all, what happened outside to destroy the supports of her prison?


    Still pushing with her considerable might, Serena let out a joyous noise when she felt the energy holding her in this place give a satisfying ¡®pop¡¯ and then she was out. The lich and the little halfling were on their backs. Then she saw Rosalyn, lying still on the ground in a pool of blood. She was watching Serena with a bloody smile on her face. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, as if she was having difficulty breathing. Letting out a muffled sob, Serena instantly compressed the mana of her body and took on her human guise and gently kneeled next to her, grabbing one of the dying girl¡¯s hands in her own.


    ¡°No, no, no. Child, I was going to show you the world! I was going to¡­¡± Serena whispered, tears streaming down the cheeks of a form she had not assumed in a century.


    ¡°Pr...omi...sed¡­¡± Rosalyn choked out and Serena¡¯s heart broke a little more as the girl slipped a little further into the dark. Bending over Serena placed a gentle kiss on her head before turning to face the lich, who was just starting to get up. Serena stood up and walked calmly to her target.


    Nodding to the halfling she said, ¡°You are Cham, correct? Rosalyn told me of you. Can you heal her?¡± Shaking her head, Cham looked at her in despair, ¡°Not well enough to fix that. At best I can ease any suffering, maybe give her a few more minutes.¡±


    ¡°Attend the girl then, do what you can. I will deal with this filth. Do not be alarmed if you see a dragon.¡± The halfling gave Serena a strange look before she nodded and ran over to Rosalyn, her palms glowing with clearly radiant energy.


    ¡°Now about you.¡±


    Letting go of the compression, she grew to fill the space of the room and she let loose the full power of her rage, breathing a cone of force constructed of mana so pure that the lich just floated away as if he were made of dust that had been carried away from the wind. Sitting on her haunches to catch her breath, Serena was watching the little halfling do her best to ease the pain of the dying girl. At some point the little kobold that had latched onto her had gotten up and limped over to her as well, and he was currently letting out a pitiable whine of sorrow and digging through his pile of refuse looking for things that might help save her life.


    Serena knew the truth though, they were too late. She didn¡¯t have anything that could save her, the only thing she had was¡­


    Interrupting that thought a black shadow shot past her head and tackled Cham from behind, knocking her away from the rapidly fading girl. A black mass of tentacles and teeth wearing a fine dress hunched over and grabbed something from the ground and then just as quick as it came was gone again. Narrowing her eyes, Serena compressed her mana again and walked over to be with Rosalyn in her final moments. She had closed her eyes, but was still breathing, even if it was even shallower than it had been when she had first broken free. A faint smile was on her face, but the effect it had on her features was ruined by the blood seeping from the corners of her mouth and her nostrils.


    Kneeling down and grabbing the hand that Cham did not have on the dying girl''s chest they traded glances as they waited for her to die. ¡°You know, you raised a fine daughter.¡± Grunting in response, Cham squeezed the hand in hers a little harder. ¡°I really mean it. If she had been my¡­¡± Trailing off a new train of thought popped in her head.


    ¡°I can save her.¡±

 2-1: Scrambled

    Rozalin stared blankly out over the river thinking how nice the view was. Even if there were some slightly worrisome shadows on the bank of the river she didn''t feel perturbed by their being there at all. It was almost like she didn''t have a care in the world. "Enjoyin tha ride sugah?" a strange accented voice musically said from behind her seat.


    Looking behind at the speaker Rozalin could only feel a sense of dull surprise at the speaker''s presence and gave a more than slightly stupid nod in the affirmative. Rozalin closed her eyes and shook her head, "Something is wrong, my head feels weird."


    "Ah believe dyin ell do that to ya sugah." Looking up once more at the speaker, Rozalin was unable to quite comprehend the meaning behind her words, so instead she decided to buy some time and spent a few minutes taking in the mystery woman''s appearance. She was tall and lanky, almost boyish in appearance. Rozalin wasn''t able to put an age to her features, but she didn''t appear too terribly old, despite her short iron grey hair. She was also dressed in the strangest set of clothes that Rozalin had ever seen. They were sort of like the clothes the officials wore during village meetings, but were pitch black and had long tails coming out of the coat. Her shirt was pristinely white and covered in elegant ruffles and shining black buttons. Atop her head was a squat felt hat with a short bill. It was askew at a jaunty angle that made Rozalin like the woman despite not knowing anything about her.


    "You in thar sugah? Mah name is Eva bee-tee-dubs. Ah am your ferry-woman today." she said before snapping her fingers in Rozalin''s face several times. Suddenly, everything cleared and Rozalin parsed what Eva had said, "Wait a second. I died?"


    Letting out a musical laugh and wiping away an invisible tear Eva smiled and gave a so-so gesture "You did and you didn''t. You got some very determined chickies tryin tah stave off tha trip over." Rozalin gave the ferrywoman a strange look in response, "I see? No, actually I don''t. What is happening?"


    Eva rocked her head back and forth but said nothing before standing back up and mysterious procuding a pole in her hands that she proceeded to use to push them down the center of the river at a sedate pace. "Like I said sugah, you died. This is the passage to the other world, but you are kind of stuck in-between and could go either way."


    Rozalin nodded in understanding. She didn''t really remember dying, but considering dying sounded pretty traumatic it was probably understandable. "The question is sugah: What do you want to do? What happens here is actually up to me, but Ah feel like Ah owe ya one after you brought down that nasty lich critter. They throw off the cosmic balance ya see? So, Ah thought Ah could make a little deal with ya, if you wanna. Ah can give you a git outta dead free card in exchange for a little bit ah side work."


    "Just this once though! Don''t got expecting you can weasal your way outta dyin every time!" Eva slapped her leg and guffawed before looking at Rosalyn expectantly.


    "Ahh, yes. I don''t think I want to be dead. At least not yet. I am only seventeen and I have a whole world to see. Also, I met a dragon. Do you know how amazing that is?" Clamping her hands over her mouth, Rozalin''s eyes bulged as her mouth kept running through her fingers spewing every little reason she had for not wanting to die today, albiet muffled by the presence of her fingers.


    "Ah see then sugah. Bargain struck. Ah''ll be in touch. Buh-bye now!" Eva cheerily waved at Rozalin as her whole world went black once more.


    <hr>


    Her consciousness returned slowly. Rosalyn was confused and found that she didn''t know where she was. She also felt wrong, like she had been balled up and shoved into a wash basket. She felt... less... like there was something missing that she couldn''t quite place her finger on.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The last thing she remembered was... fighting¡­ watching the lich''s face lose its smug look as he faded away¡­ and the satisfaction of winning... followed by a resigned sadness. She remembered seeing that Mother Cham was still alive and that Serena had gotten out of her prison and then¡­ she¡­ died? No, Rosalyn knew that couldn''t be right. Could it? However, there it was plain as the habit on a nun.


    A flash of Mother Cham standing on her elevated podium teaching numbers to her and a room of other children zipped through her mind. However, she knew that thought was a distraction. A distraction that she was desperately trying to hold onto as she ignored the memory seared at the front of her mind. She died.


    There was a hot lance of pain.


    Then she was drowning in her own blood.


    Finally a cold darkness consumed her senses.


    That was the last thing she remembered before waking up... here. The cold that she remembered would be something that would probably give her nightmares for the rest of her life. However, now she felt¡­ safe? Warm? ¡°Did I die? Is this Heaven? I don¡¯t suppose this is too bad a way to spend the afterlife.¡± she internally mused, existing there in this space and basking in the warmth. Time passed slowly as she faded in and out and she was content for a time to just exist and comb through her fractured memories.


    Except¡­


    Now fully awake and alert Rosalyn an indeterminable time later she had decided that she was very displeased with the situation and was very quickly becoming incredibly bored. Bored! There were a lot of holes in her head, and everything was still hazy, but she did know that she hating being bored. She wanted to be free, to run and jump and MOVE!


    A flash of memory. She was doing martial arts forms under the guidance of Mother Cham and sparring with a familiar looking girl with pointed ears. They were both smiling at each other and looked happy. Back to the warm dark. ¡°Let me out!¡± she tried to yell, but her voice didn¡¯t seem to be working. ¡°Oh no! What if this isn¡¯t heaven? What if this is hell? Nonononono.¡± Panicking, Rosalyn did what seemed obvious. She lashed out¡­ and felt something. She could feel! That is a good start. If she tried really hard she could move! Except now she was tired again. ¡°Maybe a quick nap¡­¡± was her last thought as she faded out once more.


    More time passed, how long Rosalyn couldn¡¯t say but after her refreshing sleep she was really starting to get angry. Why wouldn¡¯t her body work the way she wanted it to? She was pretty sure that she was stronger than this! Wasn¡¯t she? There seemed to be something half remembered on the edge of her mind, just out of reach. ¡°What is going on?¡± She tried to scream, flailing at the walls of what she was quickly starting to consider a prison. Rosalyn was starting to hate the afterlife.


    ¡°Ohoho! Look at you shake.¡±


    Rosalyn froze. Where did that come from? Instincts that she didn¡¯t know she had screamed at her to freeze. Can you die when you are already dead? Rosalyn didn¡¯t want to find out.


    ¡°Oh my! You are in there! I am glad, I had feared that you were lost to us.¡± the voice boomed. Rosalyn flinched at the loudness of the laugh and whoever owned the voice seemed to notice. ¡°Do not worry little one, I am here to watch over you, you aren''t alone."


    A loud *Snort* filled the room and Rosalyn flinched again. The voice let out another hearty laugh.


    ¡°With the way you are shaking it won¡¯t be long before we meet again. I have so much to tell you.¡± the voice lovingly whispered, ¡°Now do not overtax yourself. Sleep if you need too. The world will still be here tomorrow.¡± and with that the voice was gone and replaced with a gentle humming and an increased warmth.


    The humming really put Rosalyn at ease for some reason as it tickled something in the back of her mind. A slightly nostalgic sense of deja-vu ran through her heart as the half-remembered tune lulled her to sleep. Now feeling much safer knowing that she wasn¡¯t trapped alone in some cricle of hell, she decided to do just that. She apparently had a someone watching over her. Flashes of of a man and a woman appeared in her mind. The man was wearing a satchel and the woman was fingering a silver locket. ¡°Oh¡­ does that mean I am not dead?¡± she thought as she tiredly turned over in her head what that incredibly loud and reassuring voice had told her.


    ¡°I can still see the world. I''ll have to tell Janie about dying.¡± She was surprised by that thought. Where did it come from? Who was Janie? The answer was just out of her reach, but she didn''t have the energy to reach for it at this time.


    "Oh well, thoughts for later. The world would be there tomorrow." She slept.

 2-2: Transference

    Cham stared at the silver-haired woman who had turned into a giant lizard before utterly destroying Geroth by breathing on him really hard. She had boldly declared that they could save Rosalyn and produced a gleaming silver egg from some incomprehensible hole in space. If she wasn''t so numb from the events of the last few minutes, she might have gasped at the gorgeous silver egg and the intricate swirl patterns that adorned its surface. Unfortunately, she had other things on her mind. Unsure what exactly they were doing as she desperately fed holy power into the rapidly cooling body of one of her two remaining kids Cham continued to stare, afraid that questions would distract this strange creature and kill Rosalyn.


    ¡°Okay, I am going to let go of my compression momentarily. Do not be alarmed when I do so. I must say, I am impressed that you are not afraid of me. I remember halflings as being rather timid when it came to large things that could eat them in a single bite. My name is Serena by the by. It is wonderful to meet you.¡± Cham stared flatly at Serena before looking down at Rosalyn¡¯s body. ¡°What are we doing?¡±


    ¡°Probably something we shouldn¡¯t. Still want to try?¡±


    Turning her eyes away from the dragoness as she once again grew into a large and fearsome beast and to the unmoving body of her kid, she replied ¡°Yes.¡±


    <hr>


    It had been three days of non-stop work from the two of them, and Cham was using every scrap of holy power in her body to keep Rosalyn¡¯s soul tenuously tethered to the mortal coil while Serena was doing¡­ something. Cham couldn¡¯t exactly tell what she was doing to be honest. Occasionally she would glimpse fine blue spider-webs of energy sparkle between the egg and Rosalyn, but the dragoness gave no indication what exactly she was trying to acomplish.


    Little conversation had gone on between the two of them, but through their shared struggle Cham had slowly came to respect Serena. She obviously was trying her best to complete whatever it was she was doing, but there had been no explanation yet despite the question before they had started.


    In fact, the room would have probably been completely silent except for the small kobold that kept flittering back and forth. The small thing was pacing back and forth while wringing his hands in worry. Occasionally he would disappear and then reappear a short while later and press a small metal cup to Cham¡¯s mouth that was filled with water or occasionally a milky white broth that tasted of fish and horseradish. Cham was grateful and she silently showed her appreciation with a smile and a nod, causing him to nod back and then go back to his frantic pacing.


    Their work however, continued.


    <hr>


    At some point during the sixth day Cham had passed out, unable to continue producing energy. Around the start of the fifth day she had started burning her own vitality to keep up with the demands, but she had eventually ran out of that as well and lost her hold on consciousness.


    Waking up in a slight panic, Cham bolted up and found that she was no longer in the cave. She was in a simple, but comfortable bed, and someone had given her a bath and put her in a hugely oversized silk nightie. Cham jumped out of bed going from a slight to a total panic, but immediately fell on her face as her legs gave out when she put weight on them. Cham let out a groan and lay on the ground twitching in both pain and slight embarrassment. Rolling onto her back Cham croaked out, ¡°Serena? Are you there?¡±


    She was relieved when an audible ¡°Ah!¡± sounded from the other side of the bedroom door, and Serena walked into the room in her silver-haired human guise. The kobold from the cavern was standing behind her hiding behind her dress like a shy child. ¡°I am glad you are awake, I feared the worst when you passed out. It has been a week since you fell unconscious, and before you distress too much¡­ We did it. She is alive.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Relief and confusion warred in Cham¡¯s heart and she decided that she needed to vocalize both. ¡°Where is she¡­ and¡­ what exactly did we do? You kind of skirted the topic when I brought it up the first time.¡± Serena listened and nodded her head at the question, and instead of giving a verbal answer she bent over and gingerly picked up Cham¡¯s form and carried her out of the room.


    They appeared to be in a moderately sized cottage. She could see the sunshine stream through several tall windows and she counted at least four other rooms as Serena silently walked down the hall and through a door that led outside. Momentarily blinded by the sunlight, Cham was surprised by their location. They were on a cliff overlooking a vast evergreen forest to one side. She took in the fenced in yard with an appraising eye. There was a small shed in one corner, with a large oak tree with a rope swing hanging from the branches. Several young kobolds were swinging merrily from the rope and making happy hooting noises. A few more kobolds, including one with wings, were working together to draw a bucket from an old stone well in the middle of the property. Looking behind her at the cottage she confirmed her earlier suspicion of it being a cozy single story dwelling, although her eyes were drawn to a stone tower on one corner of the cottage that appeared to be at least three stories in height.


    It was the tower that Serena carried her into, bypassing stairs that led up higher she passed sacks of grain and what Cham thought were potatoes and descended a staircase in the back of the storehouse. Cham tried counting the stairs as they walked down a roughhewn doubled-back flight of stairs, but she decided to stop after she got lightheaded from the mental exertion. Closing her eyes, she let out a long ragged sigh. When she opened them again they had stopped and Serena was staring down at her with worry in her eyes.


    ¡°Are you okay Cham?¡± Looking up at Serena, Cham grunted and replied ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. Using all my holy power wouldn¡¯t normally put me down like this. Divine knows I did it many times during the war¡­ However, I went far past that and drew on my own self the last two days. I fear I might have done some permanent damage. Still, I don¡¯t think I am in any life threatening danger. Thank you for your concern.¡± Watching relief flood across the beautiful face, Cham chuckled.


    ¡°I figured a dragon would be a bit scarier.¡± Letting out a musical laugh, Serena rocked her head from side to side with a coy smile on her face. ¡°We are here. There she is.¡± Looking at where Serena was indicating, Cham¡¯s breath caught in her throat. Filling the room was a literal dragon¡¯s horde of treasure. Gold and silver coins were strewn haphazardly across the floor and everything from marble statues to impressive suits of armor lined the walls. There was even what looked like a produce crate full of glittering gems off to one side. However, the centerpiece of the whole room was sitting on the same purple pillow it was when Cham first saw it. The gorgeous glittering silver egg was even more breathtaking that the last time she had laid eyes on it, for now the lines and swirl patterns danced with a silver and blue light that caused a faint strobe effect in the room. The effect on the precious metals and gems was truly mesmerizing. At odds with the over the top wealth on display was a simple wooden rocking chair and a small table sitting to the side of the egg. On the small table was a stack of books and a small lyre.


    ¡°She is there in the egg?¡± Cham looked back up to Serena, who met her gaze. ¡°Yes. She will be reborn as a dragon, as my daughter, although she should still be Rosalyn. There might be some holes to start with, but everything should come back to her in time.¡± As if hearing their conversation, the egg gently rocked back and forth and Cham felt hot tears at the corners of her eyes. ¡°It was a close thing, I thought we lost her when you fainted at the end. However, her spirit hung around long enough to finish transferring her mana and the ¡®spark¡¯ of her life into the egg.¡±


    Looking down at the egg as it stopped rocking and shaking, Cham whispered as tears streamed down her face, ¡°So she won¡¯t be human anymore? She will be a dragon? I¡¯m not sure how I feel about that, it is a lot to digest¡­ but honestly¡­ I am just happy she isn¡¯t gone. We lost so much, so quickly.¡± Choking back a sob she continued, ¡°I pushed it all to the side because she was still alive. I don¡¯t think I would have survived if I had to watch another of my children die. Thank you. Thank you.¡± Rubbing her snot covered face into the soft silk-like fabric of Serena¡¯s silver sun dress she sobbed silently while Serena held her in the gently glittering light. Eventually, the fatigue and stress overcame Cham and she fell into a deep sleep.


    She dreamed of merrily riding through the air on the back of a large silver dragon with all of her dead kids snuggled under her arms.

 2-3: Downtime

    It had been three days of relative peace since Cham had woken up in her new surroundings, and despite the dull ache of loss in her heart she had found her spirits rising every day. The company was excellent and Rosalyn was safe for the time being. After a long conversation that had lasted much into the night after Cham had first woken, Serena had offered to take any letters or reports that she needed delivered and left with a sealed missive to the Abbess explaining what had happened with the lich and how they had been unable to stop the second attacker from snatching the phylactery from the carnage after the end of the battle. Cham was as descriptive as was able to be about her assailant, describing her odd manner of dress as well as the other¡­ less pleasant aspects of her appearance under the facade.


    Something in the back of her mind made her hesitate to bring up the creature¡¯s interest and seeming weakness in the mysterious arm that she had received from the Abbess, but after glancing down at the now indistinguishable from flesh metal of the gauntlet and running the fingers of her other hand across the barely perceptible seam between it and the remainder of her arm she decided to be as transparent as possible in the matters involving the loss of the phylactery to the forces of the cult. She did however, edit out the parts that involved Serena and Rosalyn¡¯s new circumstances.


    A brief conversation with the dragoness about why there were no other dragons had made that decision for her. Cham did not like leaving out details in her report, but the thought of some mage slicing up Rosalyn for magical reagents sickened her. She had also imposed on her host to take a letter to one of the postmaster stations for Janie, who was probably entirely in the dark about the deaths of the others. The dull ache in her chest flared up at the thought of all the children she had failed once again, and suddenly she felt like she had to be anywhere but in this room. Cham reached for the small cane that one of the kobolds had produced out of seemingly nowhere when she had fallen trying to get to the bathroom earlier that day and levered herself out of the bed.


    Cham smiled to herself as she thought of the surprisingly jovial company of the kobold tribe who had been attending to her for the last few days. In a lot of ways they did not match what she had heard of about their kind, but then neither did the image that the dozens of crushed and destroyed undead they fought in a terrifyingly effective guerilla battle. Cham was incredibly grateful that she had come into the cave after the little creatures had already made their retreat further into the caves.


    Hobbling to the front door of the her room, Cham headed out the front door of the cottage and around the back of the building to balefully eye the stairs down to where Rosalyn currently resided in the mysterious silver egg. Cham was panting and leaning much more heavily on the cane that she had initially had to, and she glumly decided that she wasn¡¯t strong enough to climb the stairs down to visit the egg chamber. She figured that she could probably get some of the kobolds to help, but there was a significant language barrier between them as only a handful of them actually spoke common.


    Her head slumping in defeat, but still not wanting to go back to her room on such a beautiful day, Cham instead diverted her unsteady wobble to the small shed where the younger kobolds were playing around where the rope swing was located. Something about children at play had always calmed the dark spots in Cham¡¯s heart, and was a large part of the reason she had stepped away from her role as Justicar after the war, despite being the youngest Sister to ever receive the title. She had seen too much and even to this day the nightmares would keep her up some nights.


    Finding a rough wooden bench under the shade of the shed wall, she sat and contentedly watched the silly creatures roll and tumble across the verdant grass of the yard as they chittered to each other and reenacted some battle between a hero and a group of bad guys. Cham idly wondered what kind of heroes kobolds would pretend to be when one of the little creatures, a female with an orange and green coloration, flapped her arms like a pair of wings and then pretended to blow something out of her mouth while all the other kobolds dramatically fell over in overly dramatic death poses. Cham laughed out loud as she immediately got the answer to her unspoken question.


    The sudden noise of her laughter caught the oblivious younglings off guard and they scattered in a panic, which only made Cham laugh all the harder for some reason. She smiled broadly as one of the younglings, the female who was pretending to be a dragon, cautiously eyed her from behind the thick trunk of the nearby tree. Her eyes lighting up in recognition she ran over and started chittering unintelligibly at Cham. Cham watched her with interest while she gestured wildly at herself, Cham, the tree, and seemingly everything in range before shaking her head and speaking softly, ¡°I am afraid that I do not understand you little one. However, I do appear to have bit of an open schedule for the foreseeable future. Maybe we could change that? You can address me as Mother Cham.¡±


    Seeing the puzzled look on her face Cham pointed at herself and repeated, ¡°Mother Cham.¡± The young kobold¡¯s eyes lit up with understanding and she replied ¡°Other Cha!¡± Spinning around a full 180 so fast that she almost lost her balance, the young kobold raised both hands above her hand and starting running around in circles while chanting ¡°Other Cha! Other Cha! Other Cha!¡±


    After a few revolutions the other younglings fell in behind her and they too took up the chant as their circle migrated to revolve around Cham and the bench she was sitting on. Letting out a sigh Cham smiled as she said, ¡°Well, at least they are enthusiastic.¡±


    "Enthustic! Other Cha!"


    <hr>


    Serena had really enjoyed the flight to deliver the letters for Cham. Despite her new found freedom she had not really had a chance to stretch her wings out and really soar through the sky. Flying was the thing that she had missed the most during her captivity, and she gleefully spun through the air doing loop-de-loops and dive bombing targets that only she could see as she invisibly soared through the sky.


    Sure, she was a little worried about leaving everyone alone, but knew that she was being overly protective. Not only were the kobolds watching for intruders, but Serena herself had placed a powerful barrier around the cottage which protected them from prying eyes. Unless you knew they were there, you would probably never find it. She would only be gone for two days and could be back very quickly in the event of a crisis, so she had little actual grounded fear for the safety of everyone. Besides, she was eager to get back to the nearby human city and look around some more as she had things that she wanted to buy if she could.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    The humans that she remembered where much more nomadic and were just only starting to build cities and establish kingdoms. They had certainly accomplished a lot in the last century, and she was suitably impressed. Even if the progress was built on the corpses of thousands of dragons, she still recognized the work it must have taken to tame the land like they did. Serena had not seen a single large flying predatory animal on the trip at all. She remembered rocs in particular being a very large threat for the humans a century ago.


    After she had gathered the kobolds from the cavern and secured her egg and Cham in a safe location she had flown southwest to the site of her former home. She found a blighted and tainted place unfit for life, and it hurt her somewhere deep. She had known everyone was dead, as her position of authority gave her some ''sense'' of her subjects, but now she had seen the total devastation with her own eyes the last embers of a hope she hadn¡¯t dared express had died. Both her subjects and the land they called home were dead. Even a century later the destruction was absolute and heartbreaking.


    So she had gathered her charges and they had ventured north to where Serena could feel the most ambient mana. High concentrations would be beneficial for Rosalyn both during and after her time inside of the egg and it would just be more comfortable for them to live in such an area. Serena was a bit worried when she had ventured into the nearby human city and found out that this area was also considered ''blighted'' in a way as well and that it was known as Wizard¡¯s Folly. Her worries eased a little when she found out that the large amount of ambient mana was what they considered the blight. Apparently some foolish mage did something stupid and changed this land in a fundamental way and it now pooled mana and many strange phenomena occured.


    Now plants and animals would mutate into monsters randomly which, along with the fallout from the war a decade previous, pretty much had forced most of the civilian population to retreat from the region. Now the vast majority of the residents were active adventurers who would venture out into the mana tainted caves and forests looking for rare plants and monster parts to export to the rest of the continent. Their operations were centered on the only remaining major city in the area, Folly¡¯s Spite.


    Folly¡¯s Spite was a fortress city of impressive size situated on the coast, built to withstand the regular attacks from the aggressive flora and fauna. Spite, as it was colloquially known by the residents, was also the location of the Adventuring Guild Headquarters, and most of the people who took up residence in the city were either active adventurers or in some form of vocation that supported adventuring. Serena was impressed at the selection of goods and equipment in the local bazaar and had been able to purchase everything they had needed to convert the crumbling stone towner they had found on that lonely cliff into their new home. She had also been pleasantly surprised to find that the people were also both friendly and honest during her visit and she was looking forward to another.


    Spotting the city walls from her vantage point in the sky, Serena landed in a clearing that she had marked on her previous trip and condensed the mana of her form to her preferred human shape as to not spook the locals. Sure, she had not seen anyone that would be a major threat to her on her previous trip to get building materials for their new home, but it probably wasn¡¯t a good idea to announce that yes, there was a dragon in the area. That sounded like asking for trouble to Serena. Pulling a both an easy to discard sundress and a large purse from her extra-dimensional pocket, she quickly got dressed and slung her bag over her shoulder. It had been a pain during her last visit to discreetly pull things out of her pocket and she had thought to bring a bag along this time to help disguise whenever she pulled out money or stored something away. Stepping onto the road she started walking towards the city gates.


    Thankfully, she did not have to walk far before a friendly adventuring group pulled up beside her and offered her a ride on their wagon. They were even kind enough to give directions to the postmaster and she was able to deliver the letters in short order. Her promised task done much sooner than anticipated, Serena smiled at the prospect of getting some shopping in before the local bazaar closed for the night curfew.


    Nodding her head in satisfaction Serena walked towards the bazaar area as she adjusted the heavy canvas purse on her shoulder, never noticing the pair of hungry eyes that watched her go.


    Serena was giddy as she had never seen so many mana potions in one place. A century ago they were obscenely rare, to the point where Serena, a literal queen, had only ever owned three. Serena¡¯s eyes sparkled as she carefully looked at the blue liquid through the glass vial it was in, she had to stop her mouth from watering as she could smell the mana distilled down into the potion. With access to these she could cut down the time it took to shape another egg in half!


    Watching her compare the various vials from the other side of his table and elderly gentleman piped up as she laid an entire flat of the most potent potions the vendor had to sell on ¡°You have a good eye my dear! Those potions were brewed this morning by my wife, and I can guarantee at least 10% more potency compared to the swill that the Alchemist Association sells. Since you are buying so many I can give you a discount as well! Most people only buy one or two since mana potions are usually deemed a luxury, you must have a lot of mages in your party!¡± The elderly man chuckled wryly as he counted the vials and made several tick marks in a small ledger book.


    Serena gave an unsure smile as she nodded at the older gentleman, ¡°O...of course. My party. Yes.¡± Looking up so suddenly, the old man grinned at her, ¡°Hey, I have a proposition for you! I have three flats just like this, except no one will buy them because the potions are too potent! Basically, they came out more than a little alcoholic! Hohoho! My wife was quite sour that no one was¡­ ahem¡­ ¡®mage enough¡¯ to handle her so called ¡®super¡¯ mana potions. Maybe you can find a use for them? All three flats of twenty potions for half of what you paid for this one. Deal?¡±


    If Serena wasn¡¯t a queen with decades of experience schooling her features in court situations she would have whooped in joy at the prospect of ¡®alcoholic¡¯ mana. Instead, she somberly nodded and then quickly paid the merchant¡¯s asking price before her excitement leaked through her mask. Exiting the potion merchant''s tent, Serena saw that the bazaar was closing for curfew. So she turned toward the the inn that had been suggested to her by the kind adventurer''s who had given her a ride earlier. On her way to find lodging for the night, Serena couldn''t help but skip a little. Today had been a good day!

 2-4: Pieces

    After the whirlwind of activity of the first day, meeting the Headmistress and subsequently being claimed as her personal pupil, Janie had thought that things might actually calm down. Unfortunately for her nerves the following days had become even more wild to say the least.


    Her second day had started with Headmistress Tor instructing her to refer to her simply as Mistress Tor or Mistress when they are in their Master and student roles since that was the proper title for their new Master/student relationship and that any normal teachers that she interacted with would be referred to as "Instructor." That explanation over she added a quick threat about how deviations from proper titles would be punished.


    After that they had taken a series of tests to see where Janie was in areas like literacy, maths, and basic Kingdom history. She was also tested on things like how to read a map, cooking, and basic combat. When she had inquired on why the second set of tests was needed she was gently reminded that this was a military academy and she had been conscripted to be a soldier, and that these were all things that were expected of a functioning soldier.


    Incredibly disheartened by the reminder of her fate, as she dearly did not want to fight anyone, Mistress Tor administered the test that she had truly been looking forward to. They were testing her mana affinities.


    ¡°Oh ho child, now this is interesting. You are a Pure adept.¡± Mistress Tor said while looking into a deep clear square of crystal that she had Janie pour mana into. There were some false starts since she didn¡¯t actually know how to channel mana, but Mistress Tor was an excellent teacher and Janie an attentive student.


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Janie asked before quickly adding a quickly squeaked ¡®Mistress Tor¡¯ at a raised eyebrow from her new mentor. Turning away from the crystal and marching over to a nearby bookcase, she replied without looking at Janie, ¡°It means child that you are a Pure Mana adept. While not particularly powerful in the most obvious ways, they are rare and highly flexible. They can do a lot of things passably well, and have access to some of the rarest of spells.¡±


    Digging in a small box she withdrew a piece of glowing chalk and began drawing on the air. Mystified by the spectacle she almost missed the explanation that Mistress Tor was rattling on about. ¡°Pure Mana is the basis of all elemental mana in the world. It is the glue so to speak. There are four prime elements, Fire, Water, Earth, and Air which can combine into various secondary elements if the mage has sufficient affinity to use more than one element. For example, a mage that can use both Fire and Air Mana could then combine those two into Explosion. A normal adept is unable to use an opposing element under normal circumstances. A Pure adept is able to use all of the elements, albeit at a much lower power level than an actual adept for that element. They also have much more power when they shape raw unaligned mana, a feat that normal adepts have much difficulty doing. and unlike other elementally aligned adepts can use it without injecting their own element into it which means that it is almost impossible to counter a Pure element spell. The downside to that though is that pure unaligned mana can only hold very basic shapes which do limit its usefulness in battle somewhat. Still...¡±


    Spinning around with a malicious smile on her face and a mad glint in her eyes that terrified Janie, ¡°I am going to teach you everything.¡±


    The next two months had been the hardest of her life including and up to trekking across a continent to find her birth father in an entirely different country, but she had buckled down and soaked up what Mistress Tor was willing to teach her with Rosalyn''s plea to get stronger so that they might never again be separated still ringing in her heart.


    The only thing that had kept her sane where the letters she had written every day during her stay at academic hell, today she was telling Rosalyn how she had mastered the basic Fire element spell, Fireburst, and had almost been successful with combining in into a Steam element attack with a Water element spell to do something only a Pure adept could do, combine opposing elements. Unfortunately, the spell blew up in her face and caused some nasty burns, but thankfully Mistress Tor was a very adept Water Element healer and had managed to save Janie''s eyebrows.


    Putting down her pen while she best thought to make the painful experience sound less horrific as to not worry Rosalyn, Janie wistfully stared out her dorm window at the setting sun and wondered what she was doing back home right then. "It would be about dinner time. I do hope the little ones are behaving for Mother Cham."You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Jumping slightly at a knock at the door, Janie stood up and opened the door to see a clearly distress Tor standing there. "Mistress! How may I help you this afternoon? I was just about to finish up another letter to send home..." Trailing off as her teacher slowly shook her head. Not even closing the door behind her, she stepped and immediately hit Janie with the worst possible news.


    "Child, I have some news, bad news. Please sit, and let me tell you what the courier found. As I discussed with you before, I was holding onto your letters since you were writing so many and sending them in a bundle. The first batch I had sent with a survey team to evaluate the nearby monster hole in the mountains, the one you told me that you and the other village kids played in when you were younger? Anyway... the nearby village had been ransacked and from what we could tell there were no survivors. The temple on the outskirts also seems to have been the site of a great battle and was destroyed by a powerful fireball attack. This seems to have happened shortly after you left."


    Tears started flowing as the news hit her full force and she choked out a question she did not want an answer to, "Did anyone get ot of the temple?"


    "We found no survivors."


    Janie''s wails could be heard all across the campus as she cried into the fine silk tunic that her teacher wore.


    It was the second hour that they had sat like that, Tor just stroking the hair of her pupil as she cried, when there was a knock at the door. Staring sharply at the intruder, she was surprised to see the green uniform of one of the neutral couriers that ran mail across the borders of nations. "Letter to a... Janie, from one Cham, dated three weeks ago."


    Rosalyn awoke with a fresh sense of determination and hope. Something told her that a fair bit of time had passed since she had first awoken, but she still felt like she was missing parts of herself... like she was less that she should be. Still, the voice had done a lot to quell the moment of sheer panic she had momentarily fallen into and had done a lot since then to keep her from falling back into that despair. She was really looking forward to escaping where ever she was and getting some answers. Also, she really wanted to meet whoever it was that sang that beautiful song to her.


    Still, the holes in her recollection were troublesome. Why was she having a hard time remembering things? Everything in her head was¡­ hazy and just plain not right, almost like she was a vase that was broken and put back together incorrectly. ¡°Okay, then, maybe I can piece events together with some context clues? ¡­ What DO I remember?¡± She thought and thought.


    Rosalyn remembered the fire of the pain followed by the numb sensation that followed. She didn¡¯t think she would ever forget that, almost dying was cetainly unpleasant to be sure... suddenly Rosalyn had a confusuing sensation that she had been on a boat, but at the same time could not place the strange feeling. It certainly couldn''t be right. Chalking the stray thought up to trauma she focused on before. What was the oldest thing she could remember? ¡°Let¡¯s start there and work forward!¡± She remembered¡­


    A flash of memory. She was standing at her father¡¯s side, her tiny hand in his giant one. He seemed larger than life and invincible, however she knew that was false as she had learned first-hand that death touched everyone. They were watching the local priest speak over three wooden boxes, two of which that were much smaller than the one in the center. They stood there for a very long time until it had started raining. Rosalyn remembered the pain when her father had squeezed her hand too hard, but she wanted to be a good girl so she didn¡¯t say anything as they stood there while they both cried in the rain.


    She remembered waiting every day for her father¡¯s return from war, dutifully standing at the end of the gravel path leading to her great aunt¡¯s drafty cottage. She remembered the disdain she was treated with by Florence, and she remembered the fear whenever the old woman eyed her appraisingly, as if she were looking at merchandise and not a person.


    She remembered flashes of a church¡­ no an orphanage. There was a sister with a kind face, but she couldn¡¯t remember her name. She remembered standing in a hall stewing in her own uncertainty and fear and meeting¡­ Mother Cham. Years of memory passed by her eyes all at once. She remembered the fear as the tiny woman claimed her, the hope as she patiently taught the academically challenged young girl how to read, and the love as she saw her take in dozens of kids from all over the world and give them a home. Kids like Andrew, Hobert, Eruca, and... Janie. She had forgotten Janie? How could that be? Memories of exploring the mountain trails and summer adventures in the dusk of the nearby pastures passed by her face. She remembered lying awake after curfew and telling ghost stories. She remembered the bitterness and jealousy at finding out that Janie was able to use magic and the disappointment at her own lack of aptitude. She remembered the regret and sadness bubbling up in her heart as she watched a carriage carry her to some unknown future where they couldn''t be together.


    Feeling overwhelmed and invigorated by the return of what felt like a dearly missing part of her Rosalyn let out a massive push on her prison.


    *Crack*


    After what she was sure was years of pushing Rosalyn finally felt something she hadn''t felt before. The wall had given and cracked under the pressure she had been exerting. Feeling incredibly uplifted by this change in her situation Rosalyn relaxed her body and quietly succumbed to the silence of sleep.

 2-5: Imprint

    Once again Rosalyn struggled until fatigue overtook her senses for what seemed like the thousandth time. Her life had continued on like this for what seemed like an eternity, but she wasn¡¯t entirely sure how long it had actually been. The biggest problem with being in a small black space she came to realize was you can¡¯t tell time.


    Thankfully, she did not appear to be truly alone, no matter how dark and lonely this space was, as there were the voices to keep her company. She didn¡¯t know who they were, but she would have surely gone mad a long time ago without them. As best she could tell there were three distinct voices that would speak to her. The first was a small voice that seemed to be inside the black space with her that would tell her when and where to push until she grew tired, and then it would tell her to sleep. Occasionally other voices that sang to her would come from outside of the walls and whisper encouragement and love, invigorating her and making her try all the harder to get out. She would listen to the inner voice and attack the walls of wherever she was and fight to be free because that is who she remembered that she was, and when she was tired one of the outer voices sang her to sleep. Sometimes it was a half remembered lullaby from her childhood and other times it was a haunting melody in a language that vibrated in her head strangely. Both were pleasant in their own ways and both proved one simple truth.


    She was loved. Something deep inside her heart soared at that, like her heart had forgotten that and it was uplifted to be reminded of it. And so the cycle continued. She would push until she couldn¡¯t anymore and then she would sleep listening to the gentle singing, until something changed. She saw something that she had started to doubt had ever actually existed¡­ light. It was faint and flickering, but¡­


    ¡°I have to get to the voices! I have to thank them for singing to me. I have to tell them that I love them!¡± she thought to herself. Struggling with all of her might, Rosalyn looked down and found herself hanging halfway out of¡­ something¡­ was that an egg? Deciding to figure it out when she had a moment to catch her breath she kicked her legs one more time and popped free from the¡­ egg. She got a good look at the swirling silver surface as she fell down and something about it tugged at her brain. Unfortunately, before she could place where she had seen it before Rosalyn¡¯s head hit the ground with a soft thud jarring whatever answer she might have brought forth about it. Bouncing one more time on something pleasantly soft she found herself sitting on her butt on cold stone facing a giant silver egg with a hole in the top. She gaped at the size, as it clearly had to be at least ten or more feet tall as she dumbly tried to think of why it looked so familiar. Blinking owlishly at her surroundings she was astonished at the saucers of silver and gold surrounding her. She almost thought they were small dinner plates, but they had faces on them. Putting that on the pile of ¡®problem for future me'' Rosalyn looked to her left and right some more and tried to stand up. It did not go as she planned and Rosalyn landed on her butt once again.


    ¡°I¡¯m here!¡± She tried to yell, but what came out could best be described as *GRONK* a noise that she found more than a little surprising and worrying. It really didn¡¯t sound like a normal noise she should be making. Before she had a chance to really digest the strange noise everything in the room darkened a bit as a large shadow loomed from behind her. Rosalyn, turning her head around to investigate this new development, saw a large blurry shape standing over her. Unable to tell what exactly was over her, something craned down to approach her face.


    Then she saw the teeth and the little voice in from inside that had told her where to hit the walls of the shell starting ringing danger alarm bells in her brain. Fighting back panic and getting ready to flee, the teeth parted and she got REALLY worried.


    ¡°Hello, dearest.¡± The teeth said giving a giant reptilian smile. ¡°That was very fast! I am so proud of you. Most whelps take several months longer to hatch.¡± That comment made Rosalyn blink in confusion. Whelp? She was human¡­ wasn¡¯t she? She was still a bit confused and her eyes weren¡¯t focusing like they should. However, she did feel off. Like the scale of everything was very wrong and she was smaller than normal. Looking down at one of the small dinner plates on littering the ground it clicked in her mind what it actually was. It was a coin. Looking back up at the teeth she forced her eyes to focus on more than the middle distance and a face came sharply into view. Looking into its eyes an electric shock ran through Rosalyn¡¯s brain as the tiny voice whispered a single word ¡°Mother.¡± That didn¡¯t sound exactly right to Rosalyn¡¯s brain, but she found herself unable to think of any other word in relation to the being in front of her.


    As her Mother inspected her, Rosalyn in turn studied it back. She, and Rosalyn just knew that it was indeed a she, was huge¡­ and she was so beautiful. Mother had scales that were the clearest silver. They sparkled in the flickering light, as every color she could think of danced on her scales. One minute there was green, then red, then blue. It was mesmerizing. Rosalyn almost missed what Mother was saying.


    ¡°I was a little worried about side effects from placing your mana inside of the egg, but it looks like there is nothing physically wrong with you. All the bits seem to be where they should be. Tell me little one, what do you remember?¡±


    Rosalyn flashed back to the pain when the lance of power pierced her chest and Mother let out a sigh that vibrated the air around Rosalyn¡¯s head. ¡°I do regret that. I destroyed the lich after he wounded you, but in the end we were unable to save you as you were and left with no choice. I couldn¡¯t protect you. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Thinking through what Mother was saying, the gears in Rosalyn¡¯s head started turning and several dots starting connecting to one another. ¡°Serena? Mother? I¡¯m a whelp?¡± she tried to ask, but once again all that came out was a confused GRONK noise. ¡°Yes, dearest. You are now a very fine whelp, very adorable if I must say so. I do have good genes! A baby dragon, my baby to be precise!¡± Mother¡­ no¡­ Serena had a proud look on her face as she craned her head off to the side to speak with someone Rosalyn couldn¡¯t quit make out, but quickly turned her attention back to her before more than a moment.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    She sat there in a daze while the dragon fawned over her and oohed and aahed. She wasn¡¯t human? She was a dragon? A dragon made out of a human¡¯s mana? Taking a deep breath and looking down to inspect herself she was surprised to see three fingered claws covered in snow white scales instead of the hands and feet that she remembered. Turning her head around to her backside she saw and a short stubby tail covered in the same pure white scales... and wings! She had wings! Standing up clumsily to a surprised gasp from Moth¡­ Serena, Rosalyn flapped them experimentally but was unable to achieve lift. ¡°Darn. Flying sounded like fun.¡± She tried to say once again only for a disappointed GRONK to escape from her throat. Serena¡­her¡­ mother¡­ let out a soft chuckle watching her attempt at flight. Sitting down once again in disappointment, Rosalyn thought about what Mothe¡­ Serena¡­ Going a bit cross-eyed at her brain¡¯s betrayal, Rosalyn raised her head up and screamed ¡°Screw it! If my brain wants to call her Mama then I will call her Mama! I might as well embrace this nonsense!¡± Of course, the only sound that came out was another angry GRONK.


    ¡°Your thoughts are so all over the place. It is endearing.¡± Flinching at the statement, Rosalyn looked at her and thought, ¡°Mama? Can you hear me?¡±


    Mama, as she had decided to call her as her brain seemed incapable of calling her Serena, let out a squee hearing her think that. ¡±Oh! You called me Mama! Yes dearest, I can hear you. You should be able to vocalize eventually, but until then I can still hear you. You seem to have imprinted on me properly as well. I know that might be a little weird for someone in your position, but trust me it is perfectly natural.¡±


    ¡°I probably shouldn¡¯t have, but I grabbed the mana in your body¡­ the one that was dying that is¡­ and I transferred it into the egg and used it as the ¡®spark¡¯ of life to kick start the gestation process. Neither Cham or I are sure if we did the right thing, but we both came to the conclusion that having you alive to hate us for doing this to you is better than you being dead.¡±


    ¡°Hearing you think, everything seems like it mostly worked. I must say that I am glad, and we only have one more thing to do before I take you to see Cham.¡± Hearing the familiar name, Rosalyn perked up and stared at her new mother. Whispering so softly to herself that Rosalyn was almost unsure that she was speaking she said, ¡°I name thee¡­ ¡­ ¡­in the tongue of dragons.¡± Rosalyn, who felt like her entire brain was once again going cross-eyed, was able only to hear a strange scratching noise when Mama spoke the name as the same electric jolt from earlier ran through her mind. Looking down at her, Mama let out a soft chuckle at the look of confusion on her face, ¡°Do not worry, that is not for you to know right now. A dragon¡¯s name, their true name, has power. Your old name is plenty fine for us to keep using for now. I will tell you more when you are older and can defend yourself.¡±


    Unsure about what was happening to herself, but not really seeing anything she could do about the situation she nodded her head in confirmation and suddenly felt very tired. Almost as if she had ran a hundred miles in the span of the few minutes since she had¡­ hatched? Sitting down groggily, she let out a sleepy GRONK as one of her Mama¡¯s massive claws came down to stroke her gently. Closing her eyes in unexpected joy, she started to uncontrollably purr and the sound only deepened as the appendage stroking her changed after a brief pause to a slim, soft hand. Opening one eye sleepily, she looked up and saw a silver haired woman leaning over her singing softly as she gently scooped Rosalyn into her lap.


    ¡°Mama? I have a question.¡± Rosalyn thought as she valiantly fought sleep. The silver haired woman smirked and said ¡°Of course, dear.¡±


    ¡°Can we stay like this for a while? This is nice.¡±


    <hr>


    Abbess Sarah Longchild felt like she had aged ten years in the last two months. Her field operatives had been dealing with ever bolder cultist activity and they had received no additional word from Sister Chamuhua past her initial report on the attack and potential loss of the phylactery. Shuddering at the thought of what the cultists would unleash if it had truly fallen into their hands she took a sip of her rapidly cooling tea. Staring bitterly out the window she again lamented the loss of the simple life she had enjoyed before rising to her current position during the Dead War more than a decade ago.


    ¡°Where are you Cham?¡±


    As if an answer sent by the Divine herself, a knock came at the Abbess¡¯ office door, and a young blonde man dressed in a cleric¡¯s habit walked inside carrying a sealed letter. ¡°Ahh, Carl. It isn¡¯t like you to barge into my office like that. What news do you bring me?¡±


    ¡°It is a letter from the Justicar, ma¡¯am. I thought you would want to read it immediately.¡± Standing up out of her chair at the news Abbess Longchild rushed to the other side of the room and all but snatched the letter from her waiting secretary¡¯s hands.


    Scanning over it quickly, her features grew darker and darker as she read the accounting of what had happened deep under the earth in that Divine-forsaken cave. While she did take great pleasure to hear that the lich that had ransacked Cham¡¯s home had met his end, even if the exact details were left a bit vague in the letter, it was incredibly distressing to hear about this new creature that had attacked and gotten away with the prize.


    Sighing tiredly, the Abbess sat back down behind her desk and re-read the note once more, this time analyzing it for details she had missed the first time. As she did her face contorted into a frown that morphed into a full blown scowl.


    ¡°Carl, what is this gauntlet that Cham keeps mentioning?¡±

 2-6 Feeding Time

    Rosalyn woke up sleepily as she tried to focus her eyes on her surroundings. She blearily looked around her and noticed not only that she was alone, but that she was no longer in the cave she had ¡­ hatched... in. Taking a moment to process once more that she had recently hatched from an egg, Rosalyn found herself unsure of how she actually felt about the whole situation now that she had a moment to herself. In some respects she felt as she always had and in others, specifically deep down inside of herself, she felt much different¡­ more of something that her human brain couldn¡¯t quite place yet, like there was another her under the surface that wanted to go out and do things that a civilized person would never think to do.


    Sighing at the strange circumstances that she had found herself in, she did know one thing for sure, she was incredibly comfy. Her tiny body was currently bundled in a soft wool blanket and was now lying in on a small child¡¯s bed with slightly raised walls. Taking a moment to snuggle back down into the comfy warmth of her blanket it hit her that she was in a crib, she guessed because she was technically a baby again. Feeling slightly insulted, but guessing that it made sense, Rosalyn scanned what she could only guess was her nursery. It was brightly furnished with wooden walls covered in cheery paintings of happy clouds raining... were those gold coins painted on the wall? Sunlight was also streaming merrily through a large bay window right onto her bed. The warmth from the sun was especially inviting to that small voice in the back of her head and before she knew what she was doing she had shifted her pile of blankets over to get the full effect of the sunbeams and laid back down.


    Basking in the warmth of the sun she almost fell back to sleep when her stomach let out a fierce growl. With a slight grumble she stood up and thought to herself ¡°Oh man. I am starving, I better call and tell someone.¡± Reluctantly standing up and letting the blanket slide off of her she walked to the edge of the crib and made to call for whoever was listening. Once again the unexpected GRONK that came out of her mouth confused her for a moment.


    ¡°Oh right, I can¡¯t talk.¡± Listening for movement, all she could hear was the noise of a mechanical fan in the distance. Deciding that her moment in the sun had been spoiled, she hopped out of the crib with a small condescending smile on her face. ¡°Ha! No prison made by mortals can hold me! ¡­ Okay then, let¡¯s take a look around I guess.¡± she thought feeling slightly foolish.


    Standing up on her back legs Rosalyn took stock of herself again. Assuming the bed and room she was in were human sized, she guessed herself to be around the size of a large cat. Maybe 15 inches or so in length? Speaking of cats, her body really reminded her of one in how flexible it was. Of course cats don¡¯t have a horn or scales. Or wings. Or stubby lizard tails.


    ¡°Let¡¯s move around a bit.¡±


    After 15 minutes of awkwardly pacing back and forth around her crib on both two and four legs Rosalyn was starting to get the hang of basic locomotion things. Looking down at her front...feet? Paws? Did dragons have paws? ¡°I think I will just go with hands for my own sanity.¡± She had previously noticed that her hands were made of three claws, two larger ¡®fingers¡¯ and a shorter and stubbier ¡®thumb¡¯ on the side.


    Standing up on her legs, Rosalyn started testing the limit of her manual dexterity by picking up some colored chalks that someone had been drawing on a large pad of paper with on the floor. Finding that she seemed to have the same, if not more actual dexterity in her hands than she remembered having pleased her, and she felt the voice in the back of her head purr in satisfaction and pride at the display as she around a piece of chalk in a skilled circular motion. Leafing through the papers on the floor she saw several child¡¯s drawings of a silver haired woman and a much shorter red-haired figure holding a stick of some kind. There were even a few of her mixed into the pile. Fumbling the chalk when her attention wandered to the papers on the floor, she let out an unhappy sounding gronk before staring at her hand in fascination once more. ¡°Well at least I have an opposable thumb. That should making a fist possible, although I am not sure how I''m going to throw a punch with these stubby little arms.¡±


    Her eyes sparkling with the sudden desire for action, Rosalyn tried to do a series of moves that she had done many times in practice. She snapped out several short, but quick jabs before she spun into what was supposed to be a roundhouse. Overestimating both her center of gravity and the length of her legs, she lost her balance and fell forward into a graceless spin and landed with a dull thump. Letting out a very surprised GRONK she cursed as the momentum carried her across the floor on her stubby and, as she was just finding out, very sensitive little tail. ¡°Holy crap. Ow. My butt.¡±


    A bit chagrined at her failure, she gingerly climbed to her feet avoiding touching her tender tail region. Wanting to a moment to try and comfort her new appendage but unsure how to actually reach her tail with her small arms, her stomach let out another loud growl.


    ¡°AND I¡¯M STILL STARVING! MAMA! SOMEONE FEED ME!¡± She screamed internally.


    GROOOOOOONK...


    That was the moment that Serena had chosen to walk through the door. She had a bright smile on her face and a large purse hanging from one hand. ¡°Mama! Oh thank goodness! Feed me!¡± Rosalyn furiously gronked at Serena while jumping up and down excitedly. ¡°Oh goodness dearest, of course! I was coming to fetch you and a bottle and then we can go visit Cham while you eat. I will also teach you how to feed yourself if I am away on business or otherwise occupied.¡±


    Rosalyn excitedly watched Serena, still in the guise of the silver haired woman hum as she dug in a small wooden box at the side of a rocking chair in the corner of the room. She pulled out a large glass bottle with a rubber nipple on the end similar to what she had seen the farmers in the village use to feed newborn goats with and set it to the side. ¡°Oh? Dragons drink milk?¡± Rosalyn thought out loud. ¡°No dearest. We subside off of mana. At least you and I do. Different dragons eat different things. Of course, since there aren¡¯t any other dragons as far as I can tell, I guess you could say that all dragons eat mana!¡± Continuing to hum a jaunty tune she loaded the bottle and a few stoppered vials into her bag before turning back to Rosalyn.


    ¡°You are lucky dearest, when I was a whelp my mother was a normal ice drake and I had to process the mana from living things. It is very hard to extract enough mana from dead flesh let me tell you what! My mother thought I was a runt for my entire infancy. She was so surprised when I disappeared and came back twice as large as she was! Of course, that was a long time ago and progress ever marches onward!¡± She cheerily declared with a sparkle in her eye as she put the purse over one shoulder and scooped the tiny whelp up in one hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go see Cham. Your other mother has really been impatiently waiting to see that you were all right. Watching you sleep earlier didn¡¯t really assuage her fears that you did not come through whole, despite my assurances. Not that I blame her mind you, she considers you her daughter and I have developed a great respect for her after what she did to keep you safe.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Rosalyn soaked in her surroundings as they walked through the large cottage that was now her home, and make no mistake this place was a home despite the relative new construction of the place. Kobolds ran around doing various tasks with happy looks on their faces, some noticing that she was in Serena¡¯s arms stopped to enthusiastically wave at her. She couldn¡¯t help but smile at them and wave back with her tiny little arms. The trip was short and pleasant and soon they were standing on a wide wooden porch that had a covering that was still partially under construction, but something was still bothering her. ¡°Ahh, Mama. Where is Birdie? I remember he was struck by the lich and hit the wall¡­¡±


    Serena stopped and looked thoughtful for a moment and Rosalyn held her breath expecting bad news, ¡°Ahh do not fret child. I actually do not know exactly where he is off the top of my head, but he is alive. He is a trapsmith and alchemist for the tribe and he has duties to attend. I will never understand how you managed to befriend quite literally the most dangerous member of this tribe with some soup. I think he has been gathering plants and other such items from the forest, maybe he is there again today?¡± Serena said as she scanned the yard area before showing an ¡®aha¡¯ look on her face, ¡° I will pass along word for him to come see you at his earliest convenience.¡±


    Striding along once more they approached a freestanding gazeebo with a rectangular roof had been erected between a small shed and a large tree with a rope swing gently blowing in the wind. At one end, leaning on a cane, was Mother Cham. It was odd to see her out of her habit, but Rosalyn had seen her fiery red hair many times over the years, although there was a new skunk stripe of iron grey down the center of her head that she had not noticed during the battle in the cave chamber along with the horrendous scars from the lich¡¯s initial attack on their home. Despite the odd circumstances they had found themselves in Mother Cham was doing something that was very familiar to Rosalyn. She was teaching numbers. She was teaching numbers to a large group of young kobolds to be precise, and the spectacle of it made Rosalyn bark out a chuffing gronk of a laugh that very quickly turning into heaving sobs as the emotion she had been ignoring since she had fled at Mother Cham¡¯s behest broke loose. She wriggled free of Serena¡¯s arms and jumped to the floor letting out an incredibly pitiable noise as she ran.


    Cham was only startled for a second before tears appeared in her own eyes as she caught the little dragon as Rosalyn leapt into her arms. They both hugged each other while they both sobbed and cried until Rosalyn¡¯s stomach let out another audible growl. ¡°Haha. Rose, I take it you are a bit peckish? Here, let me give you back to Serena. She has your bottle. You eat while I finish this lesson, if I let them slack at all then they are impossible for the next week!¡± Cham reached out and handed the squirming whelp back to Serena, who then sat down in a rocking chair in the corner of the gazebo. She gently set Rosalyn down on the ground while she dug through her very large purse.


    Serena pulled out the bottle from before, now full of a light blue liquid. ¡°We are going to start off with this weak potion and then work you up to the stronger stuff. While you should have been exactly like me, you are a little different¡­ Well, I just want to make sure that this won¡¯t hurt you is all. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t give you the REALLY good potions I bought because they are more than a little alcoholic!¡±


    ¡°Maybe in a couple of decades!¡± Serena winked at her daughter.


    ¡°Well come on then!¡± she declared, holding out her arms while making an inviting gesture with her hands. Rosalyn jumped into them and snuggled close before Serena positioned her just so and put the bottle to her mouth. ¡°So dearest,do you feel it flowing into you?¡± Rosalyn did, it was warm and cold at the same time, like she was tasting the very essence of the world. ¡°This feeling, it is mana, the building block of everything magical in the universe. It sustains us and makes us strong. Mana is everywhere and in everything. It floats freely in the air and resides in everything from the lowest rock to the most regal beast, and if you can recognize it you can extract it and eat it. Remember this feeling and you will never go hungry.¡± Serena said, going into full lecture mode. Rosalyn nodded her head in understanding. Now that she had a baseline, she could sort of feel it floating in the air. A similar flavor just out of reach, almost like it is on the peripheral of her senses and if she turned her head fast enough she could catch it.


    ¡°Of course, be warned that extracting the mana from a living thing is not only difficult, but fatal. It is not something you should do to anything you want to live. Of course, the easiest way to extract mana from a living thing is to eat it, but I tend to not do that. People tend to get upset if you eat their livestock and they get REALLY upset if you start eating people. Torch and pitchfor upset if you catch my meaning. Mana potions are much cleaner and I specifically chose this location for it¡¯s high ambient mana. Again you are going to have a bit easier of a time than I did since a hundred years ago mana potions were the stuff of legends and cost a king¡¯s ransom. Oh what advances the blood of dragons have bought...¡± Serena continued while rocking Rosalyn.


    ¡°Oh, this isn¡¯t fair. Critical hit to my baby self! My eyes are starting to droop. I wanted to hear more about eating. I haven¡¯t even been awake that long!¡± Rosalyn groused internally.


    ¡°You can extract mana it from anything in nature, but you have to be very careful not to harm the ecosystem of where you call home. It is very easy to kill forests and sallow fields if you take too much too quickly. Pro-tip from an old dragon for you, causing fields to go sallow will also make people want to kill you.¡±


    ¡°Mana is our greatest resource, but it also is ultimately why people hunted us to extinction. I realize that genocide and extinction is a very heavy meal time topic from your Mama, but even the least magical dragons were giant balls of mana who were slaughtered and dissected for the advancement of magical studies. For you and me, it is even more pronounced. Everything about you is magical and there isn¡¯t a mage on this continent who wouldn¡¯t sell their soul to get their hands on you.¡± Serena chuckled ¡°You are right though, this is a little too heavy for your first meal let¡¯s talk a bit about eating some more.¡±


    ¡°Oh right she can hear my thoughts.¡± Serena then spent the next few minutes walking through how to pull mana into herself so that Rosalyn could feed herself if there was no one around. The work was hard and she found that she did not pull in mana exactly the same way as her mama. Serena pulled in mana through her mouth while it seemed that Rosalyn used the strange blue horn on her head to absorb mana. Still, the process was the same and after a while she had gotten the hang of it but found herself very worn out from the effort of learning something new.


    Noticing the drooping eyelids on Rosalyn¡¯s face, Serena smiled and said ¡°Why don¡¯t we do this instead¡­¡± and with that she starting singing a haunting lullaby as Rosalyn sleepily drank the last of her mana potion meal. The excitement of seeing Mother Cham again coupled with learning to pull mana in from the environment coupled with the gentle rocking motions of the chair meant that Rosalyn never stood a chance and was out in minutes.


    ¡°Man, being a baby is hard work,¡± was her last thought before darkness took her once more.


    <hr>


    Cham walked over to Serena, she barely needed the walking stick these days but it was surprisingly handy for keeping unruly kobolds in line during class,.and watched the sleeping form of the baby dragon that was now Rosalyn. ¡°What happens now?¡±


    Looking down with a serene expression she said, ¡°We teach her how to defend herself, because if she is ever found out the mages will come.¡± Cham grunted and crossed her arms


    ¡°Now about that supposed cultist that has been tailing you over in Spite when you go to buy those ridiculously alcoholic potions¡­¡±

 2-7 Soar

    The next two weeks quickly slipped into an easy routine for Rosalyn.


    First, she would wake up in her bed and lounge in the warmth of the sun gathering ambient mana from the air as a sort of breakfast until her natural need to move and be active overtook her catlike desire for a warm spot in the sun, followed by a quick bit of exercise to get further used to her new body, usually in the form of some quick martial arts practice.


    Rosalyn was quickly finding out that she was going to have to relearn everything she had already knew, but Cham had already promised to help her with that so for now she was merely content at using the familiar forms and movements as exercise. Her morning workout complete, she would then stand in front of a yardstick that Cham had tacked onto the wall as soon as they realised how fast Rosalyn was growing and using a bit of chalk in her mouth would very roughly measure how much taller she was that morning. She was currently more than twice as large as she had been when she was born and was still growing fast. Cham had expressed some worry over it, but Serena had assured her that dragons just grew as fast as food would allow.


    Her morning routine complete she would then wander outside of her room to look around and see what the other residents of the household were up to that morning or explore the house and confines of the grounds. She had also taken to playing with younger kobolds in the breaks between their school lessons as a way to continue to stretch her legs, often under the discreetly watchful eyes of Cham and Serena plus a dozen or more suitably fretful adult kobolds. She found that the voice in the back of her head, her dragon instincts according to Serena, really liked to be pushed high in the swing. An act that one kobold in particular, a young female named Poh, really enjoyed helping with.


    Poh was apparently the first of the kobold kids to approach Cham when she woke up and had been the only one of the younger kobolds to have the discipline to attend every single one of the halfling¡¯s school lessons. She would chatter merrily at Rosalyn in the weird kobold tongue sprinkled occasionally with a few words in common and use a crude block and tackle attached to the back of the swing to really get Rosalyn frightfully high in the air. Birdie would even occasionally show up in between his trips into the forest with his crew and with their help use the block and tackle that had been set up on the swing to send both her and Poh in the swing way high up together, although he never really said much more than hello. Rosalyn got the impression that he didn¡¯t know how to treat her now that she was technically an existence that he understood at a genetic level was superior to him, or that was at least what Dragon-Rosalyn in the back of her head told her.


    After they were done playing for the day Poh would often drag Rosalyn into one of the afternoon lessons and force her to sit in her lap, despite the fact that the kobold was already a bit smaller than Rosalyn. Still, she would carefully pick whichever spot had the most sunlight and Rosalyn would doze in her lap while the kobold kids learned new things.


    This would continue until around mid-afternoon when the lesson ended and either Serena or Cham would sit down in a rocking chair and feed her one of the potions that Serena had procured from the nearby city. Serena would talk and ask questions about her day and Cham, who she still couldn''t directl converse with, would just sing. It was a surprisingly happy routine, and one that Rosalyn would have gladly continued for a lot longer. Unfortunately, life and time always does what life and time do. It marches onward.


    <hr>


    ¡°Well, I have lingered here for long enough.¡± Cham said, ¡°I have recovered and Rose is safe. I have to report in to the nearest temple before they send a search party after me. I imagine the Abbess is quite worried after the letter I sent her. I also want to at least inform someone so that an investigation of the potential cultist activity that Serena spotted in the nearby city can start.¡±


    ¡°I told you that I wasn¡¯t sure that they were cultists, they just smelled similar to that lich thing. There are probably a lot of reasons someone could get that death smell around themselves.¡± Serena said from her rocking chair. Rosalyn, now around the size of a medium-ish dog, was sitting comfortably in her lap listening intently while she drank greedily from the goat bottle.


    ¡°Regardless, I have things that need doing and if there is even the SLIGHTEST chance these are cultists then not only does the temple in Spite need to know, but WE need to know. They know that you are out there somewhere Serena, and they covet magical power.¡± Serena rolled her eyes at the small woman¡¯s explanation which caused Cham to stomp over to where she was sitting.


    Rosalyn instantly recognized the look in Cham¡¯s eyes and started to chuckle as she did something that stunned the ancient dragoness. She flicked her in the forehead. ¡°You. Are. Magical. Power.¡± she continued, punctuating each word with another flick. ¡°I swear, you are just as flippant and reckless as this child,¡± Cham pointed at a still laughing Rosalyn, who was making a soft chuffing noise as she finished off the bottle, ¡°Also, I have another child to check in on. War is on the horizon, I can feel it, and she was drafted by the Kingdom. I want to see Janie and give her some more details in private. She has a right to know, we are family after all.¡±


    A pensive look appeared on Serena¡¯s face as she digested the last bit of Cham¡¯s tirade, but she nodded her head after but a moment, ¡°I am not worried for myself, there is little that can be done to actually kill me at this stage of my life¡­ it is for my little duckling here and any future daughters I bear that I must say I am worried about anyone else knowing. I wish to maintain a low profile.. However, both of you seem to trust her so I will extend that same amount of trust. Oh! Give her the address of the bank! They accept mail so she can send letters and they will hold them in trust until we can collect them. I opened an account in all three of our names for such mutual use. It even has money in it in case you need something while in the town!¡± Serena beamed while examining the now empty bottle.


    ¡°... How much money? What did you do?¡±


    ¡°Well, I mean¡­ It was only a medium sized gold nugget¡­¡±


    Facepalming at what Serena had done, Cham gave an exasperated sigh before looking sadly at Serena, ¡°You really have no common sense do you? What part of pulling a ¡°medium-sized¡± hunk of gold out of your bag screams low profile? It¡¯s bad enough you buy flats of obscenely alcoholic mana potions that no normal person can even drink without falling on their ass, but you can¡¯t just whip out huge sums of money like that! That is how you get a Thieves¡¯ Guild watching you! Do you want thieves? That is how you get thieves!¡± Throwing up her hands in exasperation she marched out of the gazebo and to the house. Rosalyn leapt out of Serena¡¯s lap and made to follow while Serena sheepishly did the same.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Yelling behind herself as she walked across the lawn, Cham said ¡°I will be back in around two months, three at the latest and will contact you if it looks like it will take more than that¡­¡± Stopping suddenly, her red hair gently swaying in the breeze she sighed and turned around to look at both of them her face and voice suddenly soft, ¡°Please be careful while I am gone.¡±


    A week later, Cham had already left to make her initial report and then book passage to see Janie and the Abbess, who apparently was near the RMA at this time of the year with several other high ranking members of their branch of the church to teach a class about combatting undead and other unnatural creatures, and the mood of the estate had noticeably gotten more melancholy without her presence, the kobold kids especially were much more subdued without her around and did little more than lay around in a funk.


    Rosalyn too had found herself missing Cham as well, but the feeling had done little to alter her daily routine. Still, she was in for a shake-up of her own as one morning as she walked outside Serena was standing there waiting for her in her full dragon glory.


    Staring up at the shining silver scales and spread feathered wings made Rosalyn feel acutely aware of how small she actually was when compared to her mother despite the fact that she had grown to be almost three and a half feet tall now. Dragon-Rosalyn started panicking and running around in circles in the back of her skull screaming facts about how some mothers ate their young, and despite her best efforts it did start to get to her a little bit. Thankfully, Serena spoke before she could truly break and run.


    ¡°You are growing nicely, although again you are a little on the small side for the amount of mana you have ingested, but you have grown and retained enough for me to start teaching you things.¡± Craning her long neck down to be on Rosalyn¡¯s level she looked to the right and then the left before dramatically whispering, ¡°Do you want to learn how to fly?¡±


    <hr>


    A few minutes later they were standing on the cliff face and Serena had entered into full blown lecture mode as she looked down at the attentive form of her daughter. ¡°Today we are going to start the first lesson in a class I like to call ¡®How to Dragon: a Beginner¡¯s Primer¡¯... what do you think? I have lots of lessons planned!¡± In response Rosalyn stared blankly at her mother.


    ¡°Oof, tough crowd, and that look¡­ I can tell that Cham raised you until now. Well, regardless¡­ today we are going to teach you to fly!¡± In response an excited look blossomed on Rosalyn¡¯s face that made Serena giddy with joy. Suddenly her younger self¡¯s desire to avoid having children seemed like foolishness. Whelps were so adorable!


    Spreading her wings outward, Serena continued her explanation, ¡°Not all dragons were fortunate enough to be born with wings. Generally speaking, only the nobility had them among the larger dragons. There were some smaller breeds that had wings and could fly short distances, but only the greatest among our kind could soar high among the clouds.¡±


    In response to Serena¡¯s excited words the tiny whelp started furiously beating her wings trying to achieve lift, but sadly nothing happened. A puzzled look appeared on her face and Serena heard her unspoken question. ¡°No, it isn¡¯t because I have feathers on my wings. I have feathers on my wings because I like feathers. I do not know if you noticed duckling, but we are not very aerodynamic creatures. We fly with magic, not physics.¡±


    Another unspoken question as Rosalyn tilted her head, ¡°Physics are... not really relevant to this lesson. Ask Cham when she returns, she likes to teach stuff like that.¡± Ignoring the cross look on Rosalyn¡¯s face she continued, ¡°Different winged dragons use slightly different specifics on how they flew, but that isn¡¯t really relevant to how you and I fly so I am going to skip it for now. I fly by using my mana in two-fold ways. First, I extend the reach of my wings with mana, basically forming a larger set of invisible wings and I also push up on my body from underneath to create artificial lift to help me get off the ground and also stay in the air. However, since this is your first lesson and you do not seem to be extraordinarily good at manipulating mana outside of your own body we are going to just try and augment your wings today.¡±


    Reaching down Serena looped a cord made of her own mana to Rosalyn¡¯s torso and attached it to the tip of her tail. Again Rosalyn¡¯s head tilted and she gave a questioning look, ¡°No, it isn¡¯t a leash¡­ Well, okay it is a leash, but it is just to catch you if you fall. Cham would literally find a way to murder me if you died while she wasn¡¯t here.¡±


    Coughing into her claws, Serena started back into the explanation, ¡°Look inside yourself and feel the mana. I know that you have gotten pretty good at moving it around inside of your own body, but today¡¯s practice is about extending it to be outside your body in a controlled manner. I want you to move it to your wings and picture it coating them, extending them, making them lighter and stronger. Try and match the shape of your own wings¡­ just bigger! I will let you know when you have it.¡±


    A look of intense concentration crossed the little dragons face as she started shaping the mana from inside of her center and pushed it out of her wings. The invisible force was clear to her eyes and she watched the misshapen forms take shape on top of Rosalyn¡¯s small bat-like wings. Nodding in satisfaction for her first attempt, she gave the young whelp a critique and some pointers and then forcefully dispelled the mana surrounding them with a wave of her own wings, much to Rosalyn¡¯s chagrin, so that she would have to try again from the start. ¡°Don¡¯t give me that look, this is important practice. You need to be able to shape mana child. You do seem to have a gift for the internal stuff and you can direct mana fine as long as you don¡¯t have to maintain it, but maintaining forms is arguably the most important skill you have to master and there is a long divide on what you can do now and what I can do. There is no rush, but we do need to make sure that you can do it quickly, correctly, and most importantly safely.¡±


    Another cross look from the whelp, and Serena rolled her eyes at her daughter in return, ¡°You do remember I can hear you right?¡± In response the smaller dragon stuck her tongue out.


    <hr>


    Rosalyn was thoroughly frustrated. It had been almost six hours of non-stop failure and she was starting to get hungry which was causing Dragon-Rosalyn to get excessively grumpy in the back of her head. It didn¡¯t help that she seemed to be incapable of actually shaping the mana in a competent fashion once it left her body.


    ¡°Again! This time focus more on making them uniform. You are making the one on the left much too large.¡± Crossing her tiny arms Rosalyn concentrated as hard as she could on the image she had in her brain, an invisible pair modeled after what Serena had on her back. The process was surprisingly like working with mud or clay¡­ if you were using sticks from forty paces back to shape it that is¡­ but she was getting a better handle on what she was doing.


    Overall, the exercise was so wholly foreign to what she had learned about the movement of energy during the, at the time, purely theoretical lessons that Cham had given her when she was younger. Still, it those lessons had allowed her to surprise Serena and better circulate and absorb the mana that she was being fed into her heart thus speeding up her own growth significantly.


    Panting heavily from the extended exertion, Rosalyn finished shaping the mana and extended her wings tiredly for inspection to her mother. ¡°I see you like the feathers too. Good job! You pass the first lesson. Jump off and listen to your instincts. They will tell you how to fly. I will be above you, so do not worry about falling.¡±


    Rosalyn looked at her wings, noting that she could see the faint outline of the shaped mana and then peered over the edge of the cliff for a safe spot to land, but none became evident. Suddenly worried that she had not done a good enough job at shaping her wings, she hesitated as an odd sense of D¨¦j¨¤ vu washed over her.


    She didn¡¯t know how long she would be able to maintain the wings, so without thinking about the consequences too deeply she lifted her wings and made another rash decision. For Mother Cham and Serena who had blessed her with this second chance she flapped her wings once, twice, and three times and re-affirmed the decision that she was going to work as hard as was in her own power at this being a dragon thing and made up her mind.


    She jumped.

 2-8 Back to School

    Cham quietly sat in the passenger seat of the wagon as it trundled along the main highway while staring at her hands. Despite her intense concentration she was unable to notice any obvious difference in them now. In fact, if she hadn¡¯t vividly remembered having her arm torn off by that ghoul and the pain when she forcibly staunched the bleeding followed by the intense pain when the mysterious gauntlet replaced her missing limb then she might have started to wonder if it was all a bad dream. Still, Cham knew better than to deny reality.


    Sighing as she lifted her sleeve she traced the small indention in her skin that was all that was left of the seam between her and the mysterious arm. Now that Rosalyn was safe and she knew that she was in good hands with Serena the topic of the arm was something that had added to her night terrors. She hadn¡¯t put much thought in it when Cham had thought that it was from the Abbess, but the short reply of ¡°What Gauntlet?¡± had really put her teeth on edge. She had done her best to not show her worry to either Rosalyn or Serena the last few weeks, but Cham had dealt with enough rogue magic crap during the war that she was incredibly worried about the item that had attached itself to her.


    Flashes of the mysterious masked creature she had traded blows with flashed in her mind as she thought about it and the knot in her stomach wound a little tighter. Still, Cham decided to put the issue out of her mind for now, at least until she could speak with the Abbess, as worrying would not help the situation at all. Besides, she had to put on a smile for Janie.


    Taking a minute to dig through her bag she retrieved the white cloth wimple that she had worn as part of her now long destroyed habit and pulled it over her head. It felt like a lifetime since she had worn it even if it hadn¡¯t really been that long. Smiling awkwardly to no one in particular she looked down at her hands once more before sighing and leaning outside of the wagon and staring ahead at their path. ¡°Hopefully, Torey isn¡¯t being too rough on you Janie. She never did know how to slow down¡­¡± Cham mumbled as she saw the spires of the RMA rising in the distance.


    A few minutes after arriving Cham presented herself to the front desk. ¡°I am here to speak with the visiting Abbess. Is she available?¡± A matronly human woman with a tight grey bun looked down on her with a smile, ¡°Ah, a habit then? Are you here to help with the class they are teaching this semester?¡± Shaking her head in the negative she waited patiently for directions, but was disappointed instead. ¡°I am sorry, classes ended an hour ago and the Abbess retired to her room in the city. She will not be back until the morrow.¡±


    Scowling at nothing in particular, Cham decided that one more day wouldn''t hurt and that her report could wait. ¡°How about my daughter? She is enrolled here¡­¡±


    Janie was going to die, and it was all because of this demon woman who had decided that it would be fun to torture a poor orphan girl. The day after getting the letter from Mother Cham detailing the attack on her home Headmistress Tor had frantically started drilling every bit of magic she could into her prot¨¦g¨¦. She had learnt much and slept little and her body was about to break down. Even still, Mistress Tor had decided that today they would practice blocking various forms of energy.


    Concentrating as hard as she could on the various attacks flying at her, Janie caught a fireball on her shield but wasn''t fast enough to reconfigure her mana to block the incoming sphere of wind and was flung on her back. The students who were assisting her ''training'' looked around uncomfortably at one another as Janie lay on the ground, bleeding from a split lip and panting heavily from the almost 5 hours of blocking their projectiles. "Mistress Tor, please... I can''t go on anymore..."


    "Hmm, well I suppose it was an adequate display." Tor said disinterestedly as she helped her student to her feet. The older students looked even more uncomfortable and slightly envious at the sheer talent and raw power that had just been described as adequate. Janie pretended that she didn''t see them though, the stares of wonder and jealousy and she had pretended that she did not hear the other students talk about her behind her back. "Come child, we have some practical..."


    ¡°TOREY WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY DAUGHTER?¡± a booming voice yelled across the practice field and Janie saw something new on her teacher¡¯s face, abject panic. A myriad of emotions ran through Janie¡¯s head at seeing that expression. First, she was happy that her tormentor would be getting a little payback but that quickly gave way to her own panic at the thought of something that could scare the incredibly strong creature in front of her followed by happiness as she saw who the voice came from.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    ¡°Mother Cham!¡± Janie leapt from the grasp of her teacher and bounded across the field and tackle hugged the smaller woman. Cham caught the much taller girl and brought her down and they embraced for a moment before Janie stood back up with tears in her eyes. In a small voice, almost too quiet for even Janie herself to hear she said, ¡°You called me your daughter¡­¡±


    Looking up at her with a confused face she snorted before leaping up and thumping Janie on the forehead ¡°Of course you are! Did some of Torey¡¯s stupid wear off on you? Speaking of¡­¡± Before Janie could even register that she had been thumped or get another word in Cham took off at a dead sprint, faster than any normal person and leapt into the air at Tor. Panicked at the sudden attack Tor let out a stammered ¡°Com¡­ commander! W¡­wait!¡± before she turned to run away from the small comet of halfling fury. Unfortunately, she wasn¡¯t quick enough as Cham dope slapped her in the back of her skull.


    Janie was suddenly incredibly aware of the gawking students who were watching this spectacle and groaned. She was sure that tomorrow the looks and whispers would be even worse. As if reading her mind, Tor stood up and yelled at the upperclassmen that had spent all afternoon tormenting her and just like that they were gone.


    Janie¡¯s brain did another twist when Tor deferentially bowed to Cham with a smile on her face, showcasing two things she had never really seen on her teacher¡¯s face, deference or a smile. Minus the night she had comforted her after the news of the attack, Janie had seen nothing but cool indifference or vague displeasure on Tor¡¯s beautiful features. Something about it really bothered Janie, like something had fundamentally changed the natural laws of her world and it left her feeling like gravity no longer worked.


    They spent the next hour chatting as Janie demonstrated her mastery over the combining of various types of mana. Janie felt a huge swell of pride as Cham¡¯s eyes widened in shock at her ability. After her demonstration they retired to the Headmistress¡¯ office where Janie quickly passed out asleep with a half-eaten cinnamon bun in her mouth on the over-stuffed leather couch next to the bookshelf in the corner.


    <hr>


    It was sometime later and Tor had served her old commander some wine after her pupil had fallen asleep. She was incredibly happy to see her old friend, even if she hadn''t stopped glaring at her since she had arrived. Awkwardly swishing the red wine back and forth in her glass, Tor had a sudden flashback to the two of them sitting in a burned out log cabin in the woods drinking some sort of rotgut they had found in a smashed cupboard after a particularly hairy engagement.


    Chuckling softly to herself, she started uncontrollably giggling when the glare that Cham had turned up to eleven and morphed into a full blown scowl. ¡°Peace Chamuhua. I was not torturing the girl for fun. You know me better than that, or at least I hope you do.¡± Hesitating for a moment, Tor stared into her glass, ¡°I am actually very fond of her. You have raised a wonderful young woman, although she is a bit shy. I hope that my lessons give her a solid basis to build some self-confidence when¡­¡± Tor scrunched her face as she tasted something incredibly sour.


    ¡°They are going to deploy her soon. The bastards aren¡¯t even waiting for her to finish a second semester before they throw her into the meat grinder on the western border.¡± Cham, her face an emotionless mask set her cup down and grabbed the edge of the small table they were sitting at. She looked on at the sleeping form of Janie, now using the cinnamon bun as a pillow snore softly on the couch.


    Sudden rage contorted her features as she crushed the edges of the table in her monstrously strong hands, both of which glowed with a clear white light as she squeezed. ¡°When?¡±


    ¡°Six weeks. It is why I have been pushing her so hard¡­ She doesn¡¯t know. I wanted her to learn without the thought of war weighing her down.¡± Meeting her gaze Cham gave one of her trademark grunts before picking up the wine glass and slamming back the contents. ¡°For a nun you really can hold your liquor. I always found that to be incredibly sexy.¡± Tor winked at her.


    Giving an incredibly unimpressed look in response, Cham shook her head before admonishing her ¡°Stop that. I wouldn¡¯t sleep with you during the war and I won¡¯t start now. Besides, my daughter is literally right there.¡± Filling their empty glasses back up and sticking her tongue out in response, Tor said ¡°A decade later and you are even less fun than when we were fighting a war.¡±


    ¡°Yeah that¡¯ll happen when you see a bunch of children you are responsible for die.¡± Cham slammed back another glass of wine. Feeling like she had made a mistake, Tor placed her hand on Cham¡¯s and very softly said, ¡°I will teach her everything I can. She is smart, hardworking, and quite frankly has a much skewed outlook on what a student¡¯s normal workload is here at the RMA. I have run her through a year and a half of training in an incredibly short time and she rose to the occasion and passed with flying colors. Your daughter is a mage in her own right on par with the top one percent of our mage students and a woman I am proud to call my apprentice. She will have all the skills she needs.¡±


    Nodding her head absently, Cham just stared at Janie as she snuggled up to the cinnamon bun and slept blissfully unaware of the world.

 2-9 Poh Leads the Way

    Rosalyn gave a happy gronk as she landed on the cliff beside their home. She stretched her wings and dispelled the soft ethereal silver almost invisible membrane of mana that she had formed to supplement her inadequate wing span. That done she sighed tiredly and lay down on a soft wool blanket that one of the kobolds had laid out for her while she was in the air. Even though flying was quickly turning into her favorite activity, she still didn¡¯t have the strength to do it for long periods of time.


    She was also discovering that extending the mana to her wings was only the first most baby of steps to being able to fly. After she jumped off the cliff the first day and gently glided down into the pine forest below she was very quickly met by Serena who had applauded her with great gusto and called an end to the day¡¯s lessons. On the second day she learned that in addition to extending her wingspan she also needed to provide lift as well.


    Her mother launched into an explanation of something called aerodynamics that made Rosalyn¡¯s head spin, but cutting past all the superfluous information she learned that she had to simultaneously hold the wings while both pushing up from underneath and holding an angled wind shield in front of her to make her cut more easily through the sky.


    Serena also mentioned that there were other techniques that were useful for flying, but it would depend greatly on her own personal ability and preferences if they would be useful. As an example she described how she preferred to just make her body light enough for her wings to support without the additional lift from underneath. She even went into further detail about how it was great for maneuvering in the air but was more physically demanding on her actual body as opposed to riding a ¡®mana current¡¯ which hoisted most of a dragon¡¯s bulk while in the air.


    Serena had also regaled her with stories about the places she had seen in her youth and describing the faraway vistas and mysterious locations caused the part of Rosalyn¡¯s soul that wanted to wander the world jump in joy at the prospects now available to her. Unfortunately to get to these places she had so much to learn first. Rolling over onto her stomach, Rosalyn looked her now much longer arms and then bent her head backwards to look at her no longer stubby tail. Reaching up she caressed the length of the blue horn on her forehead and felt the gentle thrum of the mana residing inside of it as she did.


    Standing up once again, she looked down and with a critical eye tried to guesstimate how large she had actually gotten in the three weeks, with her best estimate being somewhere around the size of a donkey or a small horse, already far larger than she was when Cham had left. It was probably because Serena had upped her portions to twice as much as before and not only that she was bringing more and denser mana potions every time she went to the nearby city. The last one that Rosalyn had consumed was so viscous that it had a very porridge like consistency and she had to eat it with a spoon.


    The memory of sharing their first actual meal together as she fumbled with the spoon in her clawed hands as her muscle memory betrayed her was something that Rosalyn would probably treasure for the rest of her life. The day became even more special right after that when they found out that Rosalyn could vocalize as well. It was a little embarrassing that they found out due to her throwing a string of strong words out of her mouth after having the lessons on compressing mana so that she could eventually compress herself to a human form ended up with the mana detonating in her face, but she really wasn¡¯t expecting to actually vocalize anything.


    Her human form was also coming along great as well. She could maintain a human form that was more or less what she remembered seeing in the mirror every morning in the bathroom mirror, and she was even still the same height much to a chagrin. Of course, there were some subtle and not so subtle differences as well. First, he skin was unblemished in anyway and was much paler than before. She wasn¡¯t quite albino, but definitely did not look like she got much sun. Her hair was also much longer than she had normally kept it and was the same color as Serena¡¯s when she was in her human guise. The most striking thing though was the blue diamond that appeared on her forehead roughly where her horn would be.


    It had also been surprising that her voice was more or less the same as it was when she was human, minus being a little deeper due to her chest being larger. Serena started babbling about mana and the soul and imprints, but as usual Rosalyn just stared into the middle distance and nodded occasionally until she tired herself out. Even though she had tried to explain that she didn¡¯t really care about the ¡®why¡¯ as much as the ¡®how¡¯ part of being a dragon, Serena seemed to enjoy explaining things despite an earlier claim to the contrary. Not wanting to her mother¡¯s feelings she instead decided to at least appear to indulge when such tangents happened.


    Still, it had been refreshing to speak with others besides Serena for the first time since she had hatched into this new life. Birdie, the kobold that she had met in the cave complex while fleeing from the lich, was especially happy to be able to speak with her again and filled her in on some of the details of what had happened after she had passed out in the cave and¡­ well¡­ died. He was a lot more frank about the whole situation than either Serena or Cham had been.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The most distressing thing that she learned though was that the kobolds called her by the title of ¡®Princess¡¯ which made her groan even thinking about. While it did make sense to her on some level, Serena was technically a queen after all, she cringed at thinking of anybody referring to the sad war orphan Rosalyn Edders as a princess. Blowing a raspberry at the thought she cringed again, it was hard enough to get one kobold to stop calling her ¡®pretty lady.¡¯ How would she get an entire tribe of them to not call her by what they view as her proper title? Apparently, most kobolds were sticklers for such things. In fact, the kobolds treated her like she was made of glass and would break at any time. Rosalyn had tried to explore some of the surrounding woods but every time she asked the kobold in question would have a heart attack and start to babble in panic while vehemently shaking their head no. Serena was a little better about letting her do things, but she very clearly also had reservations about letting Rosalyn leave the estate and had told her she wasn¡¯t ready yet.


    There was one exception to all that though, and Rosalyn smiled internally as she thought about Poh. Cham had described the tiny kobold as one of the most intelligent and attentive pupils that she had ever had and Rosalyn had to agree. Poh was frightfully smart and even in the absence of her teacher had continued to teach herself how to speak common by fearlessly practicing with Serena, a feat that impressed the dragoness. Most of the kobolds that interacted with her treated her less like a fallible person and more like a living goddess and she expressed to Rosalyn that she found the exchanges with the kobold kid to be very refreshing compared to the usual deference and groveling she got from the adults. To her, she said, children really are the best.


    As if sensing that Rosalyn was thinking about her, the tiny kobold stuck her head out of a disguised hole in the ground and waved. Blinking back in surprise at the sudden appearance of the littlest kobold, Rosalyn unintentionally rhymed ¡°Heya Poh, what do ya know?¡± Pulling herself out of the hole, she ran quickly over to where Rosalyn had sat back down on the blanket and started tugging at her tail. ¡°Sister, sister! Come! Come!¡± Rolling her eyes at Poh, she stood up and nodded her head in an affirmative motion, ¡°One sec Poh, let me change real quick.¡± Concentrating on the mana in her body she shifted her form and slowly compressed herself. Rosalyn distantly thought about how much slower she was at this than Serena, but comforted herself with the happy knowledge she could do it at all. Really all it took was a clear mental image that she was intimately familiar with and the time for the man to reform and contain her form.


    Other than that it was just her being careful not to go to fast or let it get out of control, lest it explode on her. It was an odd feeling being stretched and compressed like she was made of clay, and not one she thought she could ever fully explain to someone who had never been through it. Interestingly, after the difficultly that she had shaping and maintaining all the parts required to fly she was shocked to find out that maintaining her human form was actually easier than her wings. When Rosalyn had asked about that Serena looked at her daughter in a perturbed manner and said, ¡°I went over that when I was talking about how the soul imprinted on a person¡¯s mana. Weren¡¯t you listening?¡± Rosalyn very quickly tried to change the subject.


    Shuddering at the memory of having to do mana-shaping exercises for four hours after that exchange she looked down at her father¡¯s old satchel after finishing the transformation and pulled out her silver locket and a sun dress that she had gotten from Serena and altered to fit her own frame. Chuckling at the memory of the child-like wonder Serena had shown on her face when Rosalyn altered the dress was another amusing memory that she would cherish. Grunting at Poh, who had covered her eyes with her hands while Rosalyn dressed, she grabbed her hand and made a ¡®lead the way¡¯ with the other.


    Poh treated her very differently than the rest of the kobolds and referred to her as ¡®sister.¡¯ When Rosalyn had first learned that Poh was calling her that in the kobold tongue she has asked Birdie why she was being referred to in such a way. He rolled his eyes in response and replied, ¡°Poh has no mother and the Cham said to call her ¡®Mother.¡¯ Since she is now the Cham¡¯s daughter too so that makes you sisters.¡± Some of the others had apparently wanted to stop it, but Birdie spoke up and said that we should wait to hear the word from the princess first. In the end Rosalyn had expressed that she didn¡¯t really care, being used similar things from growing up in a Temple orphanage and the other kobolds let the matter drop. She had tried to leverage the small win into not being called ¡®Princess¡¯ by the older kobolds but that was going to be a long and arduous battle.


    Turning back to the present, Rosalyn held Poh¡¯s hand as she led her down a meandering and zig zag path through the nearby woods to a clearing that she knew the kobolds had been scouting for potential places to build more wells. Rosalyn briefly wondered what horrible traps Poh was leading her around as they stopped and then walked five paces out of the way of their initial path only to abruptly turn and get back on the small trail once again. Her mind briefly flashed to a devilishly grinning Birdie as he triggered a cleverly hidden explosive and she decided that it would be better not knowing. ¡°Ignorance is truly bliss sometimes.¡± She mused out loud, garnering a confused expression from the tiny kobold holding her hand. Rosalyn guessed that she didn¡¯t understand all the words.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it Poh.¡± Nodding her head she led Rosalyn further into the woods. Right as they cleared the tree-line and entered the clearing Rosalyn looked behind her shoulder and saw smoke come from the direction of the house. Frowning at this she jumped as a loud bang followed by the panicked chittering of many distressed kobolds entered her ears. Rosalyn turned, fully ready to let go of her compression and fly to the aid of the kobolds when Poh tugged on her hand hard.


    ¡°No! No! Is okay! Distract! Explore! We go!¡±

 2-10 Business Trip

    Serena flew high in the air on her way back towards home and found herself in an incredibly dark mood as she thought about the last few days of exploration through the graves of those long dead. Even the joy of flight during such a wonderfully clear daytime sky did little to ease the feelings tumbling around in her gut. Now that Rosalyn was able to feed herself with little difficulty and she had learned the basics of flight and mana manipulation Serena had decided it was time to look around for other dragonkin while her new daughter practiced her skills in the relative safety of their home.


    Serena was of two minds about the possibility of finding other dragons. Her heart told her that none of her subjects survived, as she had possessed a connection of fealty to them she would be able to feel and that she was alone. Her brain told her that not every dragon had pledged themselves to her throne and that surely some had survived as no matter how efficient an army was at killing them some should have slipped through the cracks. Either way she needed to scour all of the places she knew dragons had congregated. Either she would find clues to possible survivors or she would confirm that her species was all but extinct. Also, she could snap up the hoards of the dead dragons and add them to her own, which was a nice bonus. She was a dragon after all and she did love shiny things.


    Her initial forays into the area now dubbed the dragon wastes before her egg had hatched were a portent of the feelings of sadness and disappointment that she had felt this trip as well. She had visited several smaller settlements and a few locations she knew had held the hoards of many of the larger dragons looking for any sign that some had survived. Unfortunately all she had come across were the long sacked village ruins belonging to those she had let down, although she did find a few interesting things. First she had uncovered two mostly intact hoards which she promptly stored and that one of the old hoard sites, the basement of a tower that formerly belonged to a draconic sorcerer who¡¯s name escaped Serena at this time, was what the human adventurer association called a monster hole.


    Serena had not been expecting the phenomena to happen in any of the places she was going to visit, but it did make sense in way. The hole she had been trapped in was also classified as such due to the large amount of mana in the air and as a result she had spent almost a full two days investigating the basement of the collapsed tower looking for some clues to what caused such a reaction.


    The part of Serena that loved to learn new things about mana and its practical applications was giddy at this new toy to play with. After all, the monster hole phenomenon only started occurring a decade or so after her imprisonment so it was something new to look into. It had been a deciding factor on why she had settled in the woods of Wizard¡¯s Folly, the world¡¯s largest example of the very thing she wanted to look into. It was just a glorious bonus that it also provided ample mana for her and any children she brought into the world to subside on without resorting to hurting the environment or hunting livestock. Also, the total lack of nearby villagers was great as well.


    Sadly, she was not able to pinpoint origination point in the tower basement, but she did have to fight several groups of incredibly large rats with glowing mushrooms growing out of their backs as she went further in as well as a monstrously large cave lion with two barbed tentacles growing out of either side of its face. Serena had taken samples of the rats and the mushrooms as well as from the big cat to discuss with her alchemist friend and her husband during her trip home. Afterwards, feeling a bit peckish from her exertions she made a light snack of the feline and found it had surprisingly spicy mana flowing through its body that was similar to certain types of squid she had eaten during her adolescence. All in all she really enjoyed the meal and decided that she would have to come back and get some for Rosalyn. As she munched on a the remains of the back haunch she remembered why she what she was doing and instead resolved to come back instead because it might have some clues relating to the cause of the weird mana fluctuations of that seemed to happen in all monster holes, not because there was a monster here with tasty mana.


    Deciding that she had did not want to disrupt the ecosystem too much, she packed up her samples and decided to head home. Despite her somewhat foul mood it was a beautiful day as Serena came back into view of Folly¡¯s Spite, and she was glad to be so close to her home. Angling down to land in her usual spot, she almost decided to skip her planned trip into town to get home that much sooner, but decided to go and get the chores done so that it would be off of her mind. Besides, she really was craving one of the local baker¡¯s cinnamon buns. ¡°That icing is really too delicious¡­¡± she muttered to herself as she opened her own personal pocket dimension and retrieved one of the simple silver sun-dresses that she had come to favor. Rosalyn chastised her for not wearing underwear, something the elder dragoness didn¡¯t really see the point of as the dress shielded her modesty well enough. Taking the large purse she used to disguise her opening her storage dimension and slinging it over her shoulder she started to jog to the city gates.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Cinnamon buns, here I come! Yum!¡±


    It was an hour or so later and Serena had a candied fruit muffin in one hand and a large sticky cinnamon roll in the other as she walked toward Mr. and Mrs. Cradok¡¯s shop over by the bazaar, idly munching on both items with alternating bites as she minced down the cobblestone streets. ¡°Ahh! Ms. Silver! Wait!¡± Stopping and looking over her shoulder Serena saw a man that she recognized as an out of uniform local guard that she had spoken with a few times over the last month or so on her way in the gate. ¡°Gerald, right? How is your daughter?¡±


    Coming to a halt in front of her he gave a lopsided smile and offered a crisp salute as he replied, ¡°She is doing wonderful ma¡¯am. I was told that if you hadn¡¯t shown up when you did with that potion she would have lost her leg. Thank you again!¡± Waving away the thanks as if they were a minor thing she said, ¡°It was the neighborly thing to do. Now, did you need something? I am afraid I need to get home to my own daughter and I still have business to attend to today.¡±


    Gerald smirked knowingly as he looked down at the pastries in both of Serena¡¯s hands and she reflexively hid them behind her back. Bursting out in laughter Gerald shook his head, ¡°No, well I wanted to say thanks again, but I also just wanted to make sure you found the tailor you were looking for. Some of the boys mentioned a silver haired woman coming through the east gate and I could only think of one person it could be. I was gonna offer to escort you over there, while Seamus is the best tailor in town he is on the edge of what would be considered the shady part of town and people have been mugged over there before. I figured having a known guard in your company would deter that.¡±


    Freezing as she realized what he was saying, Serena closed her eyes and felt the air. It was subtle, as all the humans really muddled the flow of mana, but it was there. Rosalyn was in town. A thousand thoughts raced through her head as she processed this, but Serena decided to squash them as she took a deep breath. Rosalyn was technically a grown woman, even if she was still a toddler dragon at best. She would be fine. Still, she had better check on her lest something terrible happen. ¡°Can you confirm the directions from here? I did get a little lost, although I must decline your offer of an escort.¡±


    A few minutes later and Serena found herself a street over from the tailor and she could clearly feel the familiarity of her own mana tinged with Rosalyn¡¯s in the air. Heading that way at a much slower walk, she took one last bite of her cinnamon bun before licking her fingers clean. ¡°Can¡¯t look authoritative with pastries in your hand¡­¡± Serena wasn¡¯t really mad, after all Rosalyn was technically almost seventeen years old mentally and she had expected her to want to come to the city at some point. She was a little surprised that she managed to convince the kobolds to let her go while her both Cham and herself were away though. ¡°I definitely am going to have a talk with the Matriarch when I get back.¡±


    That was when she felt the shift in Rosalyn¡¯s mana, and it wasn¡¯t a subtle one. Serena felt rage permeate the air in a way that she hadn¡¯t for a hundred years and she dropped her remaining muffin and bolted towards a nearby alley. In the middle of several down, and in some cases, bleeding thugs stood Rosalyn, imperiously holding one of the unlucky men aloft by his neck. Serena idly noted that the man was a very unhealthy shade of purple, but quickly turned her attention back to her daughter.


    Her dress, one of the ones that she received from Serena and hemmed, was covered in mud and torn in a few places but it wasn¡¯t the state of her clothes that worried her. Sticking out of her head was the azure form of her horn and her hands were very quickly turning from fingers into claws. Her eyes as well had taken on the slit pupils of her dragon-self, eyes that held murder in their depths. Wondering why she was angry, Serena quickly scanned the scene and instantly knew.


    "MINE." Rosalyn hissed into the face of the man she held aloft.


    Dragons had many instincts, but the two these men had triggered were up there on the violent reprisal scale: Protect the family and protect the hoard. These idiots had hurt Poh, who was lying unmoving with a dazed look to the side and one of them had ripped Rosalyn¡¯s locket from her neck. Letting out a sigh of exasperation, she knew that if she did not stop this right now it would escalate into something Rosalyn would regret. Not wanting to manipulate her daughter like this, but seeing no other option, she tapped into another draconic instinct. The Mother-daughter imprinting.


    ¡°Stop this right now.¡±