[TWS] Chapter 272 – The Queen's Important Friend

Asterios observed the queen with more attention. A brief silence fell onto the small, secure meeting chamber as they stared each other in the eyes, the expressions the both of them held never changing. The woman’s gaze was possibly the only thing he could get a read on considering her firm, almost expressionless facade.

He was pretty sure that knowledge about what the eyes of a True Dragon were wasn’t exactly a common thing, even amongst the highest-standing people. So far, he had met only one person who’d recognized it as Eyes of the World, and that was Radir, Grea’s father. He was a research freak just like his daughter so it wasn’t that surprising.

“So, your goal was me right from the start, because of what I am,” Asterios half-stated, half-asked.

Queen Civienne offered a curt nod. “Yes. Your ability is the only thing we haven’t had a chance to try. Save for some unsavory and unethical practices that neither we nor my friend would want to get in touch with even at the cost of our lives. Learning about your existence, I had to try bringing you here at all costs.”

“Then all that’s been happening around Glimmervale for a little while is Your Majesty’s doing, isn’t it?” Tina asked.

“I can’t deny that,” the queen replied calmly.

“Good thing she chose the polite way of befriending him rather than trying to take our big bad Dragon by force.” Grea grinned impishly. “Wood usually doesn’t tend to go well with flames.”

While the girls bantered with the queen, Asterios didn’t stop thinking about everything, especially the mentioned sources. It certainly wasn’t impossible for a monarch’s intelligence network to pick up all the little hints about his true identity from the bits he had shown around the world, like his wings, horns, tail, and other elements of his appearance.

But, that didn’t guarantee that he was a True Dragon with only so much. He could very well be a Lesser Dragon, or even just someone with the ability to shape his body in the resemblance of Dragons as a means of physical and spiritual reinforcement.

Or, matching his known occupation as a Summoner, it could be the quite normal ability to borrow multiple characteristics of his contracted familiars, out of which one could be a Wyvern, another a kind of horned monster, and so on. Sprouting wings and covering oneself in scales wasn’t something special. Even Tina had done that multiple times, including their duel in front of many officials and noble families.

Considering all the possibilities, the fact that the queen not only just knew about him being a True Dragon but even was completely confident in her belief, narrowed the scope of her potential sources quite a lot. There was still a chance that she had some extremely skilled spies and recon agents that had managed to come to a convincing conclusion, but that wasn’t so likely to be as accurate. He had a pretty good guess after analyzing all the queen had said so far.

“All in all, as the overseers of Glimmervale, we are definitely thankful for any input Your Majesty had into our small community,” Asterios rejoined the conversation.  “We would be glad to work together on a more official front, building a beneficial relationship between our people. Therefore, we would like to know a little more about your friend and their troubles, Your Majesty.”

“Meeting with them would be the best option,” Bryn added politely, capturing the queen’s attention. “I understand that Your Majesty might have tried everything related to Healing Magic in this world, but perhaps knowledge from another realm could be of use. And, thanks to my master here, my prowess has risen sharply. Not meaning to boast, I am certain that I stand in line with my realm’s most powerful healers, possibly even atop them. I could give it a try too.”

“Too bad we can’t just bring them to the Spire and let the device have a try at the disease.” Miria scrunched her cute nose. “It didn’t exactly work with Master but he wasn’t actually injured in the end.”

Queen Civienne roamed her cold gaze over the two women and brought it back to Asterios. “It looks like the intel about a Summoner being able to call upon humanoid entities from other realms is completely valid. I won’t decline your generous offer. Many familiars specializing in recovery techniques have tried, but maybe your companion will be different.”

“We will certainly do whatever we can. Would you allow us to meet with your friend today, Your Majesty?” Asterios showed a small smile.

“If you give me an hour.” She nodded. “I need to send a word to them and it has to pass through all the checkpoints and sentries all the way to the lair. It’s not often anyone who isn’t the queen steps into it. Possibly never.”

“That is alright. It’s not a problem to take as much time as necessary. We’ll use that chance to grab something to eat after our journey.” Asterios glanced at his mates and received a range of approving smiles in return.

“Very well. It’s my duty to welcome the diplomatic delegation with the proper hospitality so I would like to invite your group to a dinner in the palace. If you accept, the royal guards will guide you to the dining hall,” the queen offered.

“It would be rude of us to decline.” He bowed respectfully. “Please, call for us whenever you are ready, Your Majesty.”

The girls showed some proper courtesy too and they all left the meeting room right after the queen. She brought them back to the throne chamber and instructed the left row of guards to show them to the dining hall. It looked like the queen’s protectors hadn’t moved an inch from their positions at the edges of the carpet since the eventful audience.

Queen Civienne left through a different hallway while Asterios and the girls walked out the same way they had been brought in. Four sentries escorted them into the winding, curly passage in front of the gate, two in the front and two in the back. Asterios realized that no one had approached them about their weapons and gear at any time and he guessed that perhaps it was thanks to their official position as Welrond’s envoys. Neither side would like to risk sparking a war between the nations by raising their weapons at important figures. Excluding any justified situations like the one back in the throne room.

That, or the elves were just that confident in stopping anything they had in store.

After just a few longer strides, they reached the first intersection, and a familiar face flashed on the edge of everyone’s vision with an anxious, troubled expression. The second Ast’s eyes met the woman’s downcast gaze, Miria was already on the move with a terrifying growl.

The panthergirl moved faster than the guards could perceive it, her fur quickly crawling up her arms and legs. In a blink, she had the woman’s throat in a death grip and slammed the poor elf into the nearby wall with a loud thud and enough force to shake the hallway slightly, cracking the polished wood.

“You traitorous bitch!” Miria snarled as her lips twitched furiously, showcasing her sharp canines. “This is how you repay Master for cleaning up the mess your kind created near our home?!”

“Looks like the word of an elf doesn’t mean much in this realm,” Selene said with an icy tone, slowly joining Miria’s side with her white eyes glimmering fiercely and ten tails twitching threateningly behind her back.

Asterios looked at Fievedem’s figure pinned to the wall high enough for the elf woman’s feet to dangle in the air. She didn’t resist, nor did she try to loosen Miria’s grip on her throat, which clearly crushed her windpipe to its very limits. She just hung there limply, her face twisting from pain and lack of oxygen, but a resigned expression peeked through that unsightly visage.

He wondered for a moment why the guards weren’t doing anything in front of such an aggressive act and noticed that only their eyes were moving in panic. The fox lady had literally put them in stasis with her spiritual energy, tightly wrapping them up in a barely noticeable coat of cerulean mana. It wasn’t that they hadn’t acted, they just couldn’t.

Before things escalated too far, Asterios stepped closer to the three women, the other girls following after him silently. Miria often pinned herself as the least smart and clever out of their entire group, but she clearly downplayed her wits and intelligence. She was bright enough to come to the same conclusion as Asterios and most likely the rest of his mates, reacting so quickly and strongly towards Fievedem due to her deep love for her master, possibly even the deepest out of all of them.

Ast’s hand rested on Miria’s shoulders and he gave it an affectionate squeeze. The panthergirl’s growls toned down a bit, turning from deafening reverberations just to a threatening murmur. She loosened her grip on Fievedem’s throat, and when Asterios squeezed her shoulder once more, she fully let go of the woman, who fell to her knees, wheezing desperately.

Before she even regained the ability to speak, Fievedem held up a hand towards the frozen guards in what clearly was the universal sign of ‘stay back’. Asterios offered her help and she shakily accepted his forearm with a wry smile. Deep, red marks coiled around her throat, revealing just how much strength Miria had put into her hold.

“Don’t… attack…” Fievedem managed between her breaths, sounding parched. “They are… justified…”

Bryn’s golden mana swirled through the air and surrounded the woman’s neck. Within a few seconds, all the evidence of their earlier scuffle disappeared and Fievedem took a deep breath, sighing in relief. With some trouble, she met Ast’s calm eyes.

“Didn’t you swear a magical oath not to reveal anything about me?” he asked with a firm tone.

“I made a mistake,” she replied, lowering her head.

Grea scoffed on the side. It was obvious that she was holding herself back from launching a chain of expletives at the elf scholar. Asterios really appreciated it.

“I didn’t say a word, just as I promised. I still can’t,” Fievedem continued.

“Why should we trust anything you say?” Silvia crossed her arms over her chestplate.

“I will explain everything, just please, let us move into a more secure area,” the woman pleaded.

Asterios understood from her distressed gaze that what she was going to say wasn’t something she should be sharing with them, possibly even being linked to the queen’s confidential, secret information network. He nodded at her faintly and turned to Selene. The shimmering fox lady let out a quiet sigh and the four guards staggered.

They immediately reached for their weapons and aimed them at the party but Fievedem hastily raised her hands at them.

“No, stop! They have all the right! This is a private matter where I gravely wronged them! My life is in their hands as per our traditions!” She glared at each of the men.

The guards visibly hesitated before sheathing their weapons. Just a mention of their traditions turned them almost indifferent to the caused commotion. Ast’s party could still get berated for damaging the palace walls but it didn’t feel like anyone would care for Fievedem anymore. It was both astonishing and terrifying at the same time.

She regathered herself, as much as she could in a quick time, and took the lead from the guards. They followed their past ally through a few curling, uneven corridors before stopping in front of an arched door made of intertwined roots. That seemed like a recurring theme inside the palace.

Fievedem stepped inside and everyone followed, save for the guards. They stood on the sides of the entrance on the outside as she requested them to remain there. It was a small living chamber with a bed, a desk, some cupboards, a wardrobe, and a few pieces of other furniture. Everything was carved out of bright wood. Or perhaps woven was the better expression. Every part of it looked natural, almost as if it had grown into its shape.

“Umbra,” Asterios called and his shadow flickered ominously.

Fievedem flinched as it suddenly shot to the sides and swallowed the entire room in pure darkness. She shuddered heavily with wide eyes at the sight of the soul-sucking emptiness, turning around frantically. Still, their figures remained perfectly illuminated in that deep darkness, creating quite an eerie vibe.

“What did you do?” she asked nervously.

“If your people have ways to get past your sacred oaths, I can’t be certain that they aren’t able to bypass silencing wards either,” Asterios answered. “Nothing will reach us here so speak freely. You technically aren’t in Kraedorion anymore.”

“And if you get any funny ideas, no one will ever know what happened to your body and soul.” Umbra’s ancient, booming voice threatened from all around. “I’m watching your mind, mortal.”

She swallowed thickly and nodded. “I made a mistake.”

“We already heard that one.” Grea sneered. “Explain yourself properly before I show you what other uses these hands have besides turning men into melted puddles of moans and gibberish. And trust me, I’m not behind on female anatomy either. I know where it hurts the most.”

Asterios raised a brow at his demon mate and she flashed him a tiny smile on her tensed lips. He allowed himself a quiet chuckle and shook his head. Grea’s way of showing concern for him was as colorful as everything else she did. And the more serious or nervous she was, the craftier and lewder her insults got. He really loved his ex-professor’s personality so much.

“I should have expected this outcome, but I didn’t think about it back then after the fight, and wronged you greatly, even if it wasn’t my intention.” Fievedem dropped her gaze to the nonexistent floor. “I reported to the queen with a concise and professional description of the unfortunate events. I dutifully omitted all the parts related to your identity, specific powers, or everything else that could give away your secret.”

“How did she learn about it, then? Was it from you or not?” Selene questioned the elf woman.

“It was…” Fievedem sighed and Miria’s growls echoed again. “Our queen is unimaginably sharp. She appears as extremely cold and indifferent, but she is… obsessed with the well-being of our people. She won’t stop at anything to assure that we are safe. She easily figured out that, while I wasn’t lying to her, I wasn’t telling her everything. Even though I never mentioned the oath, she picked up on the hints that I took verbal secrecy just from the words I used to avoid talking about it.”

“I think I can see where this is going,” Imadil joined in for the first time since his brief chat with the queen at the throne chamber.

He rubbed his chin while Cynthia had an apologetic smile on her lips, directed at Asterios. “Under different circumstances, it could have been us in Fievedem’s place. We made the same mistake. We should rectify it before leaving this room.”

Asterios turned back to Fievedem and she noticed the faint curiosity in his and everyone else’s eyes.

“There is a way to bypass the oath me and my subordinates took. We can’t speak, write, draw, or mention anything on our own, but it’s a different topic for memory reading,” she started explaining. “I could not refuse the order to let the queen use her magic artifact to examine my mind or I would be branded for treason against our race. She is authorized to request the screening of every single citizen of our nation and everyone is taught that early after birth or becoming part of our community. Due to how rarely it ever happens, people tend to forget about it.”

Asterios sighed while rubbing his forehead. What she’d said was logical and he could very well understand it. One of the queen’s trusted agents had been acting dodgy so she must have been worried that Fievedem was compromised, perhaps even connected to the organization that had been working on the circles.

“I will not apologize,” Miria hissed from between her clenched teeth.

“I don’t expect an apology.” Fievedem shook her head. “As I said, I wronged you, and as per traditions, you have all the right to punish me however you see fit. Death isn’t an exception.”

“We aren’t going to take your life,” Asterios said. “There’s no point after the queen has already learned everything from you. I’m not that petty.”

A small smile tugged the corners of her lips up and she bowed her head low.

“What did you mean about rectifying the mistake?” He turned to the father and daughter duo.

“Verbal secrecy isn’t the only type of an oath our kind can take,” Imadil replied. “There’s a much more complex one, rarely used, which also locks the person’s memories from being accessed. Something like a seal preventing unauthorized entry. It takes a moment to forge, and you end up with a barely noticeable tingle in your mind for as long as it’s there, like a bump on your head, but works properly for what it’s worth.”

“Of course, it’s not impossible to break it, but there is a high risk of the sworn person’s death if it’s being brute-forced with magic. Everything is lost at the last point since we can’t really read a dead person’s mind.” Cynthia showed a slight grimace on her youthful face. “Unless you dabble in some forbidden practices related to necromancy and such. But, at that point, it doesn’t matter what kind of safety you put on a person holding the secrets.”

“The Coven of Elders that the queen mentioned is sworn under that exact oath, using the most powerful version of it. They are ready to die to keep their knowledge within their heads, perhaps choosing to commit suicide before letting someone try to break the seals,” her father continued.

“Wouldn’t it be better to use a seal that attacks the attacker rather than the one being attacked?” Miria tilted her head, again disproving her claims of being the stupid one.

“Obviously. But that’s much more complex magic. Twice if not thrice harder to pull off. You need an incredible sealing master with deep, almost ancient knowledge. The oaths that we are talking about are something innate for our race, connected to our spiritual energy. It responds to our vocal prayer and changes on its own,” Imadil answered.

Miria turned her gaze to Asterios and he was pretty sure he knew what she was thinking about. The seal on his own memories. It did protect his memories from everyone, including himself, and they had seen what it could do to those who had attempted to pillage Ast’s mind. And that gave Asterios an idea.

“Do you think he could do it?” He glanced at Grea.

She pursed her lips, quickly catching onto his thoughts too. “The fuck if I know? After he studied it so much, maybe?”

“Well, there’s only one way to know.” Asterios shrugged. “Umbra?”

Radir’s figure suddenly popped into existence between them.

“AH! What in the darkest and deepest abyssal asshole is going on here?!” Grea’s father shouted in alarm, throwing his gaze everywhere around.

A solid smack in the back of his head calmed him down, coming from his dear daughter, of course. “Zip it, old man. We have a question for you.”

He noticed everyone and grinned while massaging his skull. “Sure. Anything for my beloved daughter’s handsome boyfriend.”

Another hit connected with his body, this time a fist straight into the stomach, causing him to reel forward. Grea snorted while shaking her head.

“Can you replicate the seal? Without having it block the target’s own memories? Or something similar?” she asked.

“The seal?” He raised a brow at her. “I can imitate it. As hard as it is to admit, I’m nowhere near the level of the person who put it there. But, I should be able to achieve something close.”

“Are you able to make it so that the affected person can decide if the counterattack is lethal or not?” Asterios threw in his own question.

“It shouldn’t be that much of a problem. But, mana will be the main issue. It will require an enormous amount of spiritual energy. Unfortunately, I’m not you.” Radir sighed.

“I will assist. Asterios can channel it through me,” Grea offered.

“Then all we lack are the formations.” He scratched his chin.

“Open your mind,” Umbra spoke again with the same, ancient tone.

Radir shuddered, but a moment later, dark purple lines materialized all around, locking them in a cube. He turned to Asterios with his mouth hanging open.

“Can I borrow him more often?” His eyes glowed stronger from excitement.

“I’ll think about it.” Asterios chuckled lightly and turned to the trio of elves. “Would you mind using our oaths?”

Imadil and Cynthia exchanged glances before nodding. “We trust you.”

He raised a brow at Fievedem.

“My life is in your hands. I’m obliged to accept.” She lowered her head respectfully.

“Alright. Let’s get to it, then. I was in the middle of something big.” Radir snickered to himself, rubbing his hands together.

“Whose tits were you fucking this time?” Grea snorted.

He ignored her jab at him and closed his eyes, opening the third one. She winked at Asterios and did the same. Her father knelt down to touch the patterns while she extended her arms straight to the sides. Asterios came closer and reached for both of his draconic energies, changing his appearance accordingly. Taking a hold of them, he pushed the powerful helix into Grea’s circuits through her back.

She gasped sharply and a lustful groan escaped her throat, causing her entire frame to shiver. Her teeth stabbed into her bottom lip as her knees banged together with an audible thump.

“Mhhhhhmmmm… Harder daddy…” Grea moaned openly as the patterns started glowing intensely.

Asterios smiled wryly while shaking his head. But, he decided to humor his beloved mate a little. Moving his palm lower, he trailed it down and rotated it just as his hand arrived at Grea’s tender behind. His fingers dipped between her cheeks and her knees almost buckled underneath her.

“Ahhhhhhhhnnnnnn~! Yessssssssss~! Fill me up until I buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurst~!” she screamed in ecstasy.

Wisps of spiritual energy flowed toward the three elves and coiled around their heads. Everyone watched with pure curiosity as misty sigils entered the trio’s foreheads one by one and the participants of the ritual frowned deeply while experiencing whatever sensation accompanied Radir’s magic.

After about five minutes of the energy entering the three heads and Grea moaning to the heavens without control, the arrays dimmed and returned to their flat purple shade. Grea trembled and almost fell forward but Asterios caught her in a hug, which evoked another sultry whine from the salacious lady. Radir sighed heavily and stood up with a faint wobble.

“Now, that’s what I call mana…” He giggled like a drunk girl. “Anyway, this should have worked. All memories related to you are locked and protected. It should apply to the following ones too. And I don’t think this interferes with the elven oaths. I was careful not to fuck with that since this works on a similar premise but more consciously. Unexplained, innate abilities tend to be wonky.”

“I can feel that slight mental bump in my mind so it does appear to have succeeded.” Imadil nodded. “I’m really curious how it would fare under pressure. But, I’m not going to intentionally expose it to potential breach so we might never know.”

The elf man stared at Asterios and Radir with slight awe in his eyes. Ast’s demon friend might have possibly achieved what he had deemed extremely difficult within a few breaths.

“Thank you, Radir. I appreciate your help. I’ll try to remind Umbra to give you a warning next time.” Asterios nodded at Grea’s father, hoisting the limp daughter over his shoulder.

Grea moaned at the slightest hint of motion, extremely sensitive after experiencing a dozen spiritual orgasms in a row. Radir grinned at them, showed Asterios a thumbs up, and flicked out of existence as fast as he had flicked in.

“Are we done discussing sensitive topics now?” Asterios turned to the elves.

“If you don’t have any further questions for me, I would say so,” Fievedem answered with a hesitant smile.

He walked closer to her, evoking an amorous whine with each step as Grea’s body bounced over his shoulder. “I understand that you didn’t have a choice. Let’s leave this behind us for now and get something to eat. The servants must be looking for us everywhere. I hope you can show us around after we get a moment of free time.”

She bowed politely with a more natural smile. “We made a promise and I will be happy to deliver it. I’ll await your familiar’s message. It doesn’t seem like he has any issues moving around the sacred sanctum.”

Asterios chuckled. There were almost no places Umbra couldn’t penetrate. It looked like the elven palace didn’t belong to that rare category.

In a flash, the darkness receded back into the corners of the room and uncovered everything. Fievedem roamed her gaze around so as to confirm that they really were back in what Asterios assumed was her personal chamber. He’d noticed a few things connected to Summoning Magic poking out of a crack or two.

She led them out and instructed the four guards to hastily take them to the dining hall. After arriving in a long chamber with a single, grown table spanning over the entire room, Asterios invited her to join them and everyone shared a meal together. The elves prepared many local delicacies to show their hospitality and the girls tried as many dishes as they could while listening to their elf friends talking about each plate.

About half an hour later, another royal guard came to inform them that the queen was ready and they wrapped up the incredible feast. He informed them that only Ast’s party was allowed to come so they had to bid a temporary farewell to the trio of elves, unfortunately. Fievedem, Cynthia, and Imadil must have not had a high enough clearance to visit the home of the queen’s friend. Or, she just didn’t want anyone more than necessary around them out of worry.

The guard guided them through the same winding, uneven corridors but they noticed that they were taking many more that descended deeper and deeper. After about ten minutes, they were brought in front of a massive, ornamental gate in the shape of a circle. It looked more like a well-protected vault with all the runes, enchantments, sigils, and patterns over its and entire chamber’s surface. It was still made of wood but Asterios had no doubt that it could withstand almost anything.

The queen nodded at them, dismissed the guard, and flicked her wrist. They noticed that she’d managed to somehow cut her finger with her nail. Before her blood dripped down onto the polished, wooden floor, she made a wide swing and an arc of scarlet liquid landed on the gate.

She healed her cut in an instant with a flash of green magic as the entire chamber came to life, glowing with a rainbow of colors emanated by all the runes and sigils. The whole place rumbled and shook as some kind of mechanism unlocked one by one. After the last tremor, the gate retreated into its frame in a spiraling motion originating from the center, resembling retracting tree roots.

Civienne gestured at them to follow and they entered an empty hallway as big as the gate itself. Contrary to all the other passages, it was straight and smooth, almost unnaturally. Wood white as marble made up all the surfaces, definitely extremely tough too. They reached another gate on the other end of the corridor, guarded by two fully-armored guards whose not even a fraction of skin showed up from behind the breathtaking amount of enchanted armor. Those two were like nothing they had seen before, even by the queen’s side.

She repeated the blood gesture and they pressed on. On the other side of the second gate, they found a cylindrical chamber with a total of nine exits. As they stared at the unusual room in awe, the queen arrived in the middle and hit a grown, wooden dais with her palm.

Immediately, the walls holding the gates jerked and started spinning counter-clockwise, gaining speed. It was actually one single wall and all the massive doors spun alongside it, soon becoming a complete blur. Civienne waited for about ten seconds and smacked the dais once more.

The gates gradually slowed down and the rotating wall clicked back into its locked position. No one could tell any difference between this and the previous state of the chamber. But, the queen left the raised panel and headed straight for one of the nine entrances with oozing confidence.

Asterios heard a thud behind him and found Miria sitting on the floor, clearly not by choice. She giggled at him with a faint blush while trying to steady her swaying head. He chuckled at his adorable mate who might have followed the spinning wall for a bit too long and crouched down to help the sweet panthergirl up, assisting her to the next gate, which the queen had already opened for them.

They walked into another spacious hallway, a perfect copy of the first one, save for one detail. After about twenty meters from the gate, the walls, the ceiling, and the floor disappeared. To be more precise, they became… mirrors. Their shoes tinked pleasantly on the tough yet perfectly clear, reflective surface. If not for the queen leading them, they wouldn’t be able to distinguish any directions besides the way they had come from.

Which disappeared a moment later as they supposedly took a turn they weren’t even aware of.

Miria and Tina got dizzy a bit as they were lost in that endless space of just their reflections and everyone huddled together. It felt like they would be gone forever in that horrifying maze the moment one of them fell behind a single step. Asterios strained his draconic sight to keep his eyes locked on the queen’s spiritual signature. His Eyes of the World were as lost inside the mirror corridor as everyone else’s and it made him very anxious.

After what felt like an eternity, the queen stopped, glanced around, and cut her finger again. Instead of splashing her blood somewhere, she made a few calculated steps to the side, then to the front, then again to the side, and pressed her hand forward. It came into contact with a reflective surface that didn’t show their reflections and she drew some kind of a sigil on it.

A moment later, the mirror shimmered and rippled, revealing another gate just like the other ones. It opened slowly and they stepped into a simple, spacious corridor just like the first one. But, there was a difference too. It was lined with even more of those elite guards, from start to finish, on both sides. Asterios counted a total of sixty of them.

They didn’t move an inch even as the queen walked between them and she didn’t pay them any attention either. The girls tried their best not to stare too much at the silent guardians of whatever was hidden behind all those safety measures. Suddenly, they were being eaten inside out by their curiosity about the queen’s… friend.

“This is the last one,” Queen Civienne broke the long silence lasting since their reunion after dinner.

She unlocked it with her blood, and a thunderous wave rolled through the hallway, making everyone jump, except for her. Asterios and the girls noticed that the guards had turned away from the opening entrance. The level of secrecy was completely off the charts.

But, the moment they stepped past the final gate, their breaths were taken away.

“Woaaaaaahhh…” Miria spun around with an awe-struck expression. “This is all… underground?”

They’d expected to find some kind of a living chamber, but what greeted them was an entire landscape. Healthy, green grass covered the ground, riddled with a thick forest of lush trees. A bright, blue sky spanned above their heads, not a single cloud in sight. The sun shone from a central position, warmly illuminating everything. A single path led forward through the woods and they scrambled to follow the queen.

They walked the wide, dirt road while listening to calming sounds of nature. Soon, they arrived in front of a small clearing. In the middle of the beautiful, slightly raised glade, stood a charming, hexagonal bower shaped like it too had been grown out of the ground rather than carved. Inside the bower, sat a figure dressed in bright green robes and a cloak draped over their shoulders. Parts of their dark emerald hair fell out of the raised hood as they rested their elbows on a round table, holding their hand up while watching an adorable bird perched on their finger.

The sight was just so serene, calming, and pure that no one wanted to disrupt the picture-perfect scene. But, the queen arrived in front of the bower with the same, collected pace. Asterios and the girls kept some distance from her, still hesitant. The hooded figure noticed her approaching and turned their head toward the woman. Surprisingly, the bird hopped onto their shoulder as they lowered their hands to the table.

The mysterious person glanced at the queen, flashing a little more of their face and clothes under the cloak, revealing the secretive individual to be a woman. Then, her gaze moved to Asterios and he met her enchanting, deep emerald eye, the other one still hidden by the hood.

She stood up abruptly, startling the bird, and even the queen a little. Hastily stepping out of the bower, the cloaked woman strode past her royal friend with nimble, respectful grace, and a little urgency in her glamorous movement. Stopping before Asterios, she fell to one knee at once, pressing her fist into the lush grass right next to it, and lowering her head.

“Althea?” the queen called to her with a hint of hesitation and perhaps something akin to innate respect in her now slightly less cold tone.

“This lowly being pays respects to the supreme one,” the woman pronounced with a rich, exquisite, melodic tone; not a single waver in her gentle voice.

Asterios looked down at her with a collected, neutral expression.

Even ignoring the woman’s distinct, vertical pupil he had seen a moment earlier, he knew.

She was a Dragon.