Alter: Lineage

Chapters

Royal Summons
The Frozen North
To Vorodin
The Biting Cold
To Arms, To Hunt!
Dark and Snarling

Royal Summons

"Richter," I heard my Aunt Twilight sigh in an annoyed manner, my azure eyes darting back over to her with an eyebrow cocked.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You're doing it again," the dark-skinned Alicorn said, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at me.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I shrugged, drumming my fingers on the woollen legs of my brown trousers as I sat cross-legged just in front of the smaller princess.

"You're ignoring me and my instructions," Twilight said.

"Inconceivable," I said with a chuckle, looking her up and down. "I've been hanging onto every word of this marvellous lecture."

"Alright then, smart-ass," she said, standing up onto her feet and dusting her dyed purple pants off. "Repeat to me what I just told you if you weren't off daydreaming about women as usual."

"Very well," I nodded, clearing my throat. "'Magic, by it's very nature, is constructed in the mind and enacted by the body. One can possess a natural pool of magic large enough to drown the heavens themselves, but it shall be as useless as a three-legged mule unless the wielder has the cognition to properly visualise and focus their casting into something tangible, lest they risk releasing naught but a splurge of energy, or, in the more embarrassing moments, naught at all.'"

I got to my feet and dusted myself off just as curtly, looking around the area we were in. Twilight had taken me to a secluded area of the forest a few miles out from the capital city of Equestria. It was a peaceful area, full of summer greens, chirping birds, and flowing rivers that brought a beautiful ambience to the ears of all those around it.

Behind me was a small campfire, crackling and emitting a warmth that bordered on uncomfortable in the summer heat, but one that Twilight had deemed necessary to 'assist with accurate visualisation in the mind's eye of the concept of fire'. She waffled a lot, but she was rarely ever wrong. She'd been my magic tutor ever since I was young, and despite my Alicorn heritage, it was something I struggled with like you wouldn't believe. Now, while I was far from magic-less, having gotten down some advanced spells regarding elemental manipulation here and there, I was nothing compared to the magical prodigies that came from both sides of my bloodline.

"Okay, so maybe you were listening," she said, crossing her arms over her chest and rolling her eyes. "But do you remember who I was quoting?"

"Uh..." I said, mind drawing a blank at that specific point. "No... that was when I stopped paying attention."

"Of course it was," Twilight said, shaking her head. "Always quote your sources, Richter. It's almost as important as the facts you're quoting from them."

"I'll keep that in mind," I said, stretching my arms and back before yawning loudly. "So, are we done with the theory now? Can we get onto some actual spell-casting?"

"You this eager to skip through the basics?" she asked, placing her hands on her wide hips and tilting her head. "You the same way when it comes to foreplay? Only focused on your own enjoyment?"

"Mhm, slip out of that robe and I'll be more than eager to show you," I smirked, bouncing my eyebrows suggestively.

"Ah, no. Not a chance," Twilight said with a quick shake of her head only to falter moments later as her eyes fell down to the ground. "At least... not until we've finished training."

"Is that a promise?" I asked.

"It's a chance at a reward," she said, waving me away with her hand. "But one you won't get unless you impress me. Now, ready yourself for casting. We're going to go through a few basic fire spells before seeing if you can handle bigger casts."

"As you wish," I nodded, taking a deep breath and exhaling through my nose, closing my eyes as I did so and walking myself through the steps Twilight had told me when I'd started training with her years ago.

In order to access your magical pool, you must first visualise it. Look deep within yourself and see the glowing, flowing depths of your own strength. Imagine pushing your hand into it, taking hold of the power inside you. Once you can feel that power in your hand, use your cognition to turn it into something else. You are not holding raw power, you are holding a lightning bolt. You are holding a rope that you can use to rip rocks out of the ground and throw them at people. You are holding an orb that will call the water around you to your hand. Now once you've used your cognition to create this object... unleash it!

My eyes shot open, launching my hand forwards with a grunt and firing off a brief stream of crackling fire. The air simmered and the heat was palpable for those short seconds before I killed off the spell. I darted my eyes over to Twilight, relaxing my posture slightly as I smiled at her. She nodded in response, giving a sarcastic round of applause for my 'performance'.

"Congratulations, Richter, you're excelling at every magically-gifted child's first proper cast," she said sarcastically.

"Hey, start small," I shrugged.

"And stay small, judging from your progress," she jabbed.

"That hurts my feelings, Twilight," I said with a faux-crying tone.

"I'll hurt your bloody feelings in a minute if you don't quit yapping and go back to casting," she said, crossing her arms once more. "Up the ante. Both hands, mixed streams, four seconds. Go."

I did as ordered, conjuring up the 'tools' I needed to cast from within my core before throwing both hands out and stumbling back slightly as a result. I killed the stream off after wobbling around, Twilight rolling her eyes in a disappointed manner before giving me another fake clap.

"You knew that was gonna happen, didn't you?" I asked.

"Yup. I noticed from the second you started that your feet weren't squared," she said, pointing at the leather boots I was wearing where both feet where next to each other instead of the 'casting stance' she'd taught me. The casting stance was basically just a fighting stance, putting your good leg forward so you had the ability to shift your weight around and compensate for force in a lot of directions. I always forgot to do it when casting for a simple reason:

I'm a moron.

"Go again," Twilight said, watching me correct my stance and make a second attempt.

I did as instructed, using the stance to brace myself against the push-back and keeping the mixed stream up for the required four seconds.

"Right, nice and good," she said, walking over to me and poking me on the shoulder. "Do you see now why I make you go through the basics every single time we train?"

"Yeah, can't fault you for that one," I nodded, shaking my hands off as the sweat began to build up from the heat. "Can't wait to throw a fire tornado or something and end up setting myself on fire and nobody else."

"Only you," she chuckled, looking over the scenery around us and settling her gaze on a flat outcropping of rocks, bleached from years of exposure to the sun and the elements. "Right, I want you to cut out a cube of rock from there and cut it into four pieces."

"Alright, sounds easy enough," I nodded, refocusing myself once again and holding a hand out, conjuring the image of a single cube of neatly-cut rock in my mind's eye.

I balled my fist and attempted to throw it upwards, as if I were ripping the cube out from the rock itself, only for my arm to his a 'tether point' where the energy I was using was insufficient to overpower the natural strength of the rock itself.

"Try again, but visualise using more of your magic," she said with a guiding tone. "Hear the rock crumbling, convince yourself that you can see the rock being torn away from it's place rich in front of you."

I followed her advice, putting my mind's eye to work once again, truly convincing myself that the rock before me was breaking apart and revealing the cube. I tore my hand upwards once again, slamming into the tether point as the rock's structure stayed strong. I strained for a brief moment, teeth gritting and a strange feeling of emptiness appearing in my chest, before the tether point was broken and the rock shattered as the cube was torn from inside it.

I released the cast, allowing the smooth cube of rock to drop to the floor, only to suddenly be overwhelmed with a sense of exhaustion. I hunched over, panting as if I'd just ran fifteen miles in full armour. I looked up at Twilight, seeing her walk over to me before producing a small vial of golden liquid with a snap of her fingers.

"Here," she said in a kind tone. "Drink up. It'll make you feel better."

I did as instructed, taking the vial and uncorking it. The aroma of the mixture was quite pleasant, possessing a clean, lemony odour to it that I hoped was telling of the taste. I downed the small vial with a short gulp, the lemon taste crackling on my tongue in an extremely acidic nature, before it flowed into my gullet. I perked up almost immediately, that sense of exhaustion that had overwhelmed disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"What was that?" I asked, handing the vial back to her as I stood up straight.

"Energy restorative," she answered. "I keep a few of them on hand whenever we train so that you don't try to lift a tree and die."

"What if I want to though?" I questioned.

"Then too fucking bad," she said, petting me on the cheek with a soft smile on her lips. "Right, seeing as how you've pretty much broken yourself in half over cutting a cube out of a rock, I'm gonna draw a few new conclusions as to where you stand magic-wise."

"This should be fun," I said, placing my hands on my hips and sighing.

"So long as it's something you conjure and not something that has a large amount of weight, you seem to be doing exceptionally well with it. Fire and other things like lightning, wind, and things like that should be no problem. But as for manipulating rocks and water, or intensive telekinesis, moving objects, or anything in that category... you haven't got a chance," she explained. "This was something we'd hoped would improve as you aged, as one's magical energy reserve tends to increase year after year as they get older before peaking at eighteen... but that's where you're at. You're fully grown, a mature specimen, no more inches to gain. With where you've maxed out at this point, you're on par magic-reserve-wise with a human. A rather talented human... but a human all the same."

"So, basically, I'm shit?" I asked.

"If I were to put it in less than ten words, yes, exactly that," she nodded. "But fear not. Once we've managed to get you to master the basics of conjuration and manipulation, we can start getting you educated on other magical skills like healing injuries or transmogrification."

I blinked blankly at her for a long moment, and the purple-haired Alicorn returned the same gesture as the silence stretched on for a long moment.

"That's going to avoid a lot of studying, isn't it?" I asked.

"Of for fuck's sake, Richter, if you never apply yourself to anything, you'll never succeed at anything," Twilight snapped, crossing her arms and glaring at me in an irritated manner. "And I'm not gonna be the shoulder you want to cry on when you get your nuts kicked out your eyeballs by somebody who studied magic more than you did and you wanna feel sorry for yourself."

"Pff, that doesn't sound like me at all," I scoffed, waving the accusation away immediately.

"Mhm-hm, yeah, okay," Twilight nodded. "I really don't get you sometimes."

"Why's that, sweetie?" I asked.

"Because when it comes to specific subjects, whether it was hunting, tracking, or monster slaying, it was impossible to drag your nose out of a bestiary or a 'Hunter's Tales' book because of how interested you were in them," she began. "But when it comes down to you learning advanced mathematics to do things like balance your finances, like a king should know how to do, you acted like a Vampire that'd been presented with a clove of garlic."

"That's actually a myth. The Vampires we have in this world have no inherent weakness to garlic. Nor do they to running water, forbidding them entry, crosses, sunlight, or stakes through the heart" I said, counting off each one on a finger as I spoke. "The only major weakness a Vampire has is cutting off the head, as it removes the brain. Which works, for some reason, despite none of their other organs doing anything."

"Gods Above, is that what I sound like when I correct people?" Twilight asked in a horrified tone.

"I have a deeper voice than you, so mine's inherently less annoying and ear-grating," I nodded. "But basically, yes. You sound like a cunt."

"Ugh. I think I might need to go back and slap my younger self for sounding like that," she said with a sickened shiver.

"Yes. Younger self," I said in a monotone voice.

"Right, one more quip like that out of you and I'm never training you again," she growled. "Now... what were we talking about again?"

"Me being fundamentally an absolute waste of potential, time, and effort by allowing my own inherent laziness to squander my potential despite I, myself, being aware of the aforementioned squandering yet only caring enough to be motivated to change it when faced with a failure or defeat in some manner only to realise that it's far too late to change who I am and have become so set in my ways that I shall never be able to escape this cycle of a lack of motivation leading to failure that I can only blame myself for, resulting in an eternal sense of self-loathing that is as destructive and as painful as it is well-deserved due to my own shortcomings as a person?"

Twilight blinked quietly, staring at me in a horrified manner as her mouth hung open, eyes darting between different parts of my face to pick up on any kind of crack in the expression to see if I was joking, but only finding herself even more terrified due to the fact I was one hundred percent serious.

"I... that's... you..." she stammered, mind whirling with the depth and depressiveness of such a self-deprecating statement. "Fuck, man, lighten up, will you?"

"I don't wanna study," I said, rolling my shoulders and inhaling briefly, shaking away the acidic taste left in my mouth the energy restorative. "I know it's stupid and I know I have no real reason to not want to, especially seeing as how I've proven I can before, but I'm sticking with being a lazy prick and that's that."

"Alright, shit, fine," she shrugged. "Fire, lightning, and failure it is for you then."

"Perfect," I grinned.

"Right, so, if that's all we're going to be nattering about so far, then I feel it's best to end your final magical potential review and return home with the results," Twilight said, eyes and hand lighting up as she conjured a purple portal in the air in front of us, a mighty crackle of magical energy drowning out the sounds of the forest around us. "After you?"

"Hang on," I said, kicking dirt onto the fire behind me to make sure it didn't spread out and set the whole damn forest alight. "Right, time to go home."

I stepped through the portal, Twilight following behind me, and got that skin-crawling feeling of my body being deprived of all of its senses for a brief moment before reemerging in a much cooler area. I shivered involuntarily, looking back at the portal with disgust as Twilight stepped through it, killing it off with a wave of her hand before looking around the room and spotting a familiar face.

"Philomena?" Twilight asked, spotting the red and yellow phoenix perched atop a large bookshelf in the library we'd stepped into.

"Ah, just the folk I was about to start looking for," the phoenix responded, gliding down from the top of the shelf and transforming into the human form she often took. "I'd popped down here to see if you and Twilight were studying. Low and behold, you appear just as I feared I'd have to gather a search party."

As a bit of context, Philomena is Celestia's Familiar. She's an animal that was presented to an Alicorn at birth that it then bonded to the child, mind and soul, to assist in the animal's guard duties. The process bonds the two together, granting the animal the gift of sapience, speech, and eternal life to forever watch over their ward, as well as creating a connection between the two of them that allows them to sense the other's emotions and communicate telepathically, so that they can speak when far apart from one another.

It was a long running tradition for the Alicorn, and everyone except Twilight had one. Besides Philomena, there was Imani, a black panther that was Luna's protector, Emiko, a golden kitsune that had been given as a gift to Cadance at her birth, and my own Familiar; Grael, a grey and black Direwolf. There were a few differences between the Familiar of our family, and it mostly came into play with both Philomena and Emiko.

See, phoenixes and kitsune are magical creatures by nature, and thus can use magic all they wish. Direwolves and panthers, however, are not. So while Philomena and Emiko were capable to teleporting, transforming, and using all other kinds of magical abilities, Imani and Grael couldn't. They had to rely on their natural abilities to doe their jobs effectively, and as such, trained twice as hard.

If it came down to all of them in a physical fight, I think Grael would win, mostly because he was a member of a race of apex predators that were faster, stronger, and much bigger than regular wolves. He'd win on physicality, speed, stamina, bite strength, and durability. Sure, Imani was much more agile, but I'm pretty sure Grael could take her head off with a swipe of his claws if he wanted to.

"What d'you need?" I asked the woman as she walked over to us.

In her human form, Philomena stood the same height as Celestia; seven feet barefoot, but was nowhere near as... buxom as my grandmother. Her most common appearance was having her red and yellow hair tied in a crowned plait around long, curled locks of hair flowing down her back. She found herself most comfortable in a yellow-trimmed red chiton and a pair of leather sandals, her clothing and hairstyle being that of the land she hailed from so many millennia ago.

"You've been summoned by dear old Grandma for a nice royal quest," she said, coming to a stop as she leaned against one of the desks in the library. "Didn't mention much, only that it was of 'extreme importance'. You know how she gets."

"Am I gonna need to pack?" I asked.

"I'd imagine so. The messenger that arrived requesting help was wearing garb of a land that was not very close to here," Philomena explained.

"Is it somewhere warm?" I asked, quite liking the summer temperature we were at.

"Judging from the packed fur coats in their bags, northern rune tattoos covering their bodies, and the armour... I'd say they're from rather far north," Philomena explained. "From the land of ice and snow."

"Fucking wonderful," I sighed in an annoyed manner. "Best go break out the snow shoes, then."

The Frozen North

I was entered the throne room with the usual announcement from the guards, getting all eyes in the room on me. The present occupants were a mix of familiar and not-so faces. Celestia was the most notable, of course, being a seven foot tall woman with long, flowing hair, bright eyes, and garbed in a white and gold regal summer dress. Her crown gleamed atop her head as her soft, compassionate eyes made their way over to me, a gentle smile on her face. The next regular was Grael, asleep on the floor next to Celestia's throne where the eternal monarch had reached over the arm of her chair and had been petting the wolven behemoth.

The other two, however, were quite an enigma. Philomena had been right with her deductions, as they were certainly from up north. Very far up north, too. They were both women, one in her late fifties by the looks of it with greying blonde hair, and the other being a younger blonde, somewhere between her mid to early thirties. They were garbed in chainmail and cloaks, as custom of the warriors of the north, packs by their sides with large, round shields and a sword each. The presence of such expensive-looking swords told me that these two weren't just a bunch of farmers that had come to seek assistance. This was definitely someone important.

I looked over their rune tattoos as I walked towards them, the eldest blonde certainly having much more of them, several visible on her hands and fingers, also possessing tattoos on her cheeks and forehead. The youngest had less, but they were still visible tracking up her exposed forearms, as well as several objects tattooed on her. A war horn on her neck, an axe on her hand, and what appeared to be a bear just above her right elbow. A rather exotic bunch indeed.

"Richter, my dear, so happy you could join us.," Celestia said, her voice booming through the throne room as it always did. "I have a request to make of you."

"And what would that request be?" I asked Celestia, coming to a stop just before the little group, getting a deep bow from both women to which I responded with a polite nod and a smile.

"Our friends from the north have come to us with a plea for help," Celestia explained. "Their country is currently wrapped up in a civil war, with the rightful ruler facing down a hostile takeover from an outsider. Now, our friends have assured me that they require no direct military intervention on our part, and instead have requested the assistance of your father. I've already spoken with him and he said he'd be more than happy to lend his expertise at commanding armies."

"So... where do I come in?" I asked.

"I merely wished to know if you'd like to tag along with your father to observe how he commands?" Celestia offered. "A learning experience like this is quite a rare one, and as there's always a chance a prince like yourself may have to command an army of his own one of these days, I believe it would do you good to see your father in action to get some firsthand experience of what wartime strategy is really like."

I crossed my arms for a brief moment, the instant desire to say no flaring up like a thousand torches in me as my lack of any and all want to travel for days to some frozen wasteland made itself known. I considered saying no then and there, honestly preferring to just sit on my ass, training, and sleeping until I genuinely didn't have to... but at the same time, Celestia was right: this was a rare opportunity. One that I'm not sure I'd ever get ever again if I passed it up now.

I thought back to my conversation with Twilight. How she'd mentioned my lack of desire to improve myself would only lead to misery and pain later on down the line. She was completely right, as she often was, and I had no counterargument to make. There may come a time in the new future where I had to pick up sword and shield, march out onto the frontlines, and fight alongside Equestrian men and women. There might come a time where the lives of thousands were depending on what call I made in the war room...

So getting to sit in a comfortable chair and learning from my father's decisions, seeing what he did and didn't do throughout a campaign, would only benefit me in my life. I took a deep, slow breath, weighing up my laziness versus my reasons to accept the offer before coming to a decision.

"I think it's for the best," I nodded. "War isn't a game, and making the wrong call in a dire situation can mean the difference between a hard-fought victory and a crushing defeat. I feel like watching my father command an army, seeing what he does, is something that's only gonna help me later on. Get a feel of how to handle different situations, y'know?"

"An excellent point made, Richter," Celestia said an approving smile, then turning to the messengers once more. "Asta, do you mind if Richter attends?"

"If it is what you wish, Your Majesty," the eldest, the one I assumed was named Asta responded. "I trust he shall not get in the way of his father's work?"

"I'll stay on a chair in the back of the room and be very quiet," I said with a smile. "I promise."

"Very well," Asta nodded.

"Are we still capable of departing tomorrow?" Jorunn asked, crossing her arms.

"I can teleport you back if you wish, so you may rest and recover a few days longer," Celestia offered.

"I'm afraid we must decline the offer of rest, Your Majesty," Asta responded. "Time is of the essence, and as soon as Knight-Commander Armour is able to assume command, the better it shall be for our kingdom."

"If you insist," Celestia nodded, sitting up straight and removing her hand from Grael, the Direwolf perking up slightly as he was roused from his slumber. "Richter, make as many preparations as you need to, but be ready to leave at dawn tomorrow. We'll be waiting for you by the barracks."

I bit back an annoyed groan at the need to be awake before dawn. I barely ever fell asleep before eleven o'clock and needed a good twelve or thirteen hours before I woke up fully-rested.

"Of course, grandmother," I said with a nod, looking at the northerners with a gentle smile. "I shall see you two in the morning."

"Until then," Asta nodded, both bowing in a respectful manner before making their way out of the throne room.

There was a moment of silence in the throne room as the doors closed, leaving only the three of us alone in the wide expanse of the ancient area. Celestia broke the silence in a matter of moments with a loud, deflating sigh, sliding down in her throne slightly and looking at me with a tired expression.

"Rough day?" I asked.

"I hate my life," she responded curtly.

"Who doesn't?"

"Before our lovely ladies came in and asked to borrow my master strategist, I've dealt with negotiations over a farmer's revolt in the southern cities, bandit attack reports from the three bordering states, a request to marry me from that king who rules over the place that makes all the wine-"

"-again?" I interrupted in an astonished manner.

"Yup. Seems the big guy thinks that he'll wear me down eventually," Celestia nodded, rubbing her eyes quickly. "On top of that I've had the usual super-fun audiences with foreign dignitaries complaining about the fact not everyone in the realm wants to lick their boots, have had to sit down with an actual madman to negotiate buying his prize horses from him before he turns them into shoelaces-"

"-what?"

"-and it's also only two o'clock in the afternoon," Celestia finished. "I can't retire to my chambers until the working day is done, which it won't be for another five hours."

"Where's Luna right now, anyway?" I asked, noting the lack of the younger sibling.

"Off doing other things that probably aren't helping," Celestia moped. "Do you mind if I make myself more comfortable?"

"Uh... no?" I questioned.

She responded by popping open the clasps on her dress around her neck and stomach, exhaling loudly in relief afterwards as the tension of the dress' tight folds were released.

"You have no idea how hard it is to wear these things with my figure for as long as I do," she said, shifting slightly to get more comfortable before kicking off her shoes. "The winter ones are even worse because those ones have 'warmth padding' that's basically just a corset in them."

"Ever just thought about running around naked?" I suggested. "It'd make me happier."

"And a lot of other people, I'm sure," she said with a cute smile. "I promise that when I eventually go insane from my eternal workload and lose my will to live, on the day I take my own life, I'll do just that. A whole day in court completely in the nude."

"I would say I'd look forward to that, but I don't really want you to die," I shrugged. "So maybe we can just schedule a 'nude Celestia day' just for me, eh?"

"Well, if your father says you perform amicably in your duties for this little venture, I might consider it," Celestia said, winking playfully.

"Then I'll make sure to be on my best behaviour," I said, bowing my head and turning to leave. "I'll see you around, Celestia."

"Be safe," she said with a nod and a smile.

I headed out of the throne room and decided the best bet was to check in with my father and get a basic idea of what exactly the situation was. I figured, with how early in the afternoon it was, he'd probably still be working. It was a nightmare to find him on busier days, so I hoped he'd be somewhere close by and not too packed to talk properly.

After asking around, I found out he was filling in for the quartermaster, something that meant he'd most likely be alone and unoccupied, for the most part, which would give me a chance to talk to him. I made my way to the quartermaster's office, knocking loudly on the door and waiting for a response.

"Enter!" my father called out.

I did as told, walking into the room and noting the large pile of books and scrolls decorating the desk, floor around it, and even a few of the windowsills were decorated with the old parchment. I also spotted the colourful visage of my mother sat in an armchair in the corner of the room, legs crossed over each other and eyes buried in a large tome.

"Hi, sweetie," she called to me without looking up.

"Afternoon, mother," I said, looking at my father who was sweeping a hand through his messy blue hair. "You doing okay, father?"

"I would be if not for the fact that our quartermaster was apparently a moron," he said, cross-referencing two scrolls with an irritated expression before turning to Cadance. "I told you he'd marked down the same shipment twice."

"And I never disagreed. After him getting lazy for three month's of supply delivery and just repeating the same stock numbers despite half of the second shipment being missing, I'm more than capable of believing this idiot can't keep track of the sun," Cadance shrugged.

"Why did we hire him again?" Shining asked. "Who conducted the initiation?"

"Not sure... let me check..." Cadance said, thumbing pages through the book she was reading until she got over halfway through it, dragging a well-maintained nail down the page before coming to a stop and rolling her eyes irritably. "George Jorgrun."

"His fucking father," Shining said with a growl of disbelief. "Nepotism at it's finest."

"So I'm guessing that daddy dearest got his moron son a job he wasn't cut out for and now the rest of the damn castle is paying for it," Cadance sighed, flicking a strand of her fringe out of her face before looking up at me. "Sorry we're giving you the cold shoulder, sweetie, it's just that we're in a bit of a state right now."

"What's the problem?" I asked, leaning against the wall beside the door.

"Our genius quartermaster has been writing down whatever the hell he feels like in our stock ledgers for well over three years now, making everyone who doesn't spend their time neck-deep in the storehouses, so everybody that isn't him has been under the impression that his numbers are accurate."

"And they aren't?" I asked.

"Oh my, that's an understatement," Shining said with a morbid chuckle. "The man has put down in these ledgers that the castle has plenty of halberds locked away in the depths of the storehouses ready to be used for replacements should the guard need them... and it turns out that when Celestia gave the go-ahead to switch over the entire guard's weaponry to allow their current arms to be repaired due to poor maintenance... do you want to know how many replacement weapons we found?"

"None?" I asked.

"Normally, I'd say that was correct. But we found a massive amount of replacements. Replacements spears in the area the halberds were meant to be stored in," Shining growled.

"What does that tell you, sweetie?" Cadance asked me.

"That either the quartermaster is a lying jackass who attempted to cover his ass by moving spears around and hoping nobody would notice?" I asked.

"Close. Care to explain, Shining?" Cadance offered her husband.

"When we brought him in to ask him why he'd been filling in the paperwork wrong, he insisted he hadn't been. When we took him to the storehouses for him to 'show us where they were'... he walked right up to the spears, pointed at them, and looked at us as if we were morons," Shining said, looking at me dead in the face as he finished his sentence.

"You're kidding me?" I asked in disbelief.

"Oh, how I wish I was not," he responded. "And not only that, he had been filling the numbers in wrong, which we proved to him later. So now your mother and I have been sat here for the past eight hours reading through every single thing he's ever signed off on, running back and forth to the storehouses, and making sure it's all correct."

"I'm guessing none of it is?"

"You certainly are good at this game, aren't you?" Cadance chuckled with a warm smile. "And all this when your father's meant to be preparing to lead a war campaign soon."

"Yeah, that's why I'm here," I said, looking back at my father. "I'm tagging along for that."

"What?" Cadance asked in a displeased tone.

"You are?" Shining questioned with a smile on his face. "Really?"

"According to who?" Cadance growled.

"Celestia offered me the chance to go so that I could gain some 'war room' experience," I shrugged. "Sit around and watch dad do his thing and maybe pick up a trick or two along the way."

"That's great!" my father grinned.

"No it isn't," Cadance said, closing the book and glaring at both of us. "I don't know why you're so excited, but the idea of throwing my baby boy into an active war zone isn't something that warms my cockles, Shining."

"Oh come on, Cadance, the boy's better trained than most of the soldiers we have leading battle charges nowadays," Shining said, coming to my defence. "Not only that, but he's as capable a mage as the best humans we've got, is an expert at terrain navigation, and is pretty much one of the best trackers we have for both humans and monsters. He can handle sitting in a room and watching me lean over a table and yell at people."

"Is it really all commanding is?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Lot of pointing, too," he shrugged. "Very tiring physically."

"I see," I smirked.

"Can we not joke about this?" Cadance asked, crossing her arms in a discontented fashion. "I'm not okay with throwing my boy into the fire."

"Yet you're fine with me going?" Shining asked. "Thanks, honey."

"You're a trained soldier with over twenty years worth of combat experience," Cadance glared.

"And yet the first time I stepped out onto the battlefield, I was a sixteen year old moron who barely knew which end of a pike was the sharp one," Shining pointed out. "Richter, at his age, has had over thirteen years of training with every weapon type you can run into on the battlefield, magic casting, and survival training. He's already infinitely better trained, disciplined, and equipped than at his age than I was until I was thirty five."

Cadance pursed her lips, eyes glancing back and forth between myself and my father, and then lowering to the floor. Her chest rose and fell for a brief moment, clearly taking calming breaths as she thought about the situation again. I cast my eyes over to my father, noting him doing the same before giving me a wink and a smile, a gesture that made me feel more confident.

"Do you want to be the woman that furthers his success?" Shining asked. "Or the one that stands in the way of it?"

Silence reigned for a long moment, the two of us pretty much holding our breath in anticipation, before Cadance let out a flustered sigh, throwing herself back in the chair and growling loudly.

"Okay, fine!" she snapped. "He can go. But he better come back the same cute, adorable, perfect little angel he left as, or so help me, I'll castrate you."

"She's never this worried about me leaving for war," he said to me with a chuckle. "I lost a leg once and she still didn't put up this much of a fuss."

"You lost a leg?" I asked with a confused gaze, very aware of the fact he had both of them.

"Well, more like... it fell off," he shrugged. "Big, magic energy attack, lots of magic swords flying about. One of them scored a good hit through my knee and took most of it off. I carried the thing around with me for a few hours until we got back to camp and had the mage stick it back on."

"You are not making me feel any better about sending him off to war, Shining," Cadance glowered.

"Alright, fine. But if your leg falls off, make sure to find a mage," Shining said. "That's all you need to know."

"Actually, one thing I'd like to know is why you're being dragged up there?" I asked.

"It's because of the current group they've got in command of the kingdom right now," Shining said. "Besides the General, they are all very young. The Queen of the kingdom, Juniper, is fourteen years old. Her court mage, a woman named Elise, is twenty one years old. Neither of those two have lived through or even seen periods of combat in their lives. They're as green as it gets, and have no idea how to command an army, through no fault of their own."

"And why can't the general do it?" I asked.

"Because, despite being very good at ordering sieges, the man has never run a campaign in his life," Shining explained. "By his own admission, he doesn't want his trial by fire for leading an army through such a long and gruelling war where his kingdom is at risk if he fails. So, they've come to me."

"Yeah, can't really go wrong there," I nodded. "It's a weird experience reading about your own father as a legendary general in your studies. The War of The Dunes, The Battle for Loch Kenrin, The Defence of The Shining Towers... I've read about all of them and they do not sound like easy wars to win."

"They certainly were not," Shining nodded. "But for almost all of those wars, we never on our home turf and never had access to an entire army, usually just a few battalions and a position we were meant to hold down. Here I've got the entire country's resources at my beck and call against a smaller rebellion. Shouldn't take us too long."

"So I would hope," Cadance grumbled.

"What's the terrain like?" I asked.

"Oh, you have no idea how long I've been waiting to discuss this kind of stuff with you," Shining said with a giddy grin. "The cold weather's gonna slow down any army, but that can work to your benefit as much as it can hurt. It can tire the enemy out while you stay hunkered down and prepare for them, it can let you sneak armies through snowstorms, and can even let you use things like avalanches to your advantage to block off enemy paths or even wipe out large chunks of their forces."

"Right," I nodded.

"It'd be a problem for a foreign army, but both sides are native to the cold, so they'll equip the army to prep for it," he shrugged, drumming his fingers on the desk as he spoke. "The place is also known for its mountain ranges, very high, very narrow. Know what that's good for?"

"Ambushes?" I asked.

"Good, that and bottle-necking," Shining added on. "Can have an army the size of an entire continent, and it means absolutely nothing if you funnel them into single file with a wall of soldiers waiting for them."

"Anything else noteworthy?" I asked him.

"Place is kind of lacking in forests and tree cover, meaning ambushes from the treeline aren't gonna be an option," he answered. "I've had a brief look over the maps of the area, trying to find some good locations and figure out a plan for each of them, but I'm scheduled for a briefing on arrival that should give me a much better idea of where we stand."

"Good to know," I said with a firm nod. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I've got some snow shoes to pack."

To Vorodin

An early rise was always a painful one for me. My eyes stung, my body felt numb in all the wrong places, and I found it nearly impossible to pull myself from the confines of my warm, comfortable bed. Still; I had a job to do. I sat up in bed, the sturdy wooden construction offering no creaks or trembles as I threw my cotton sheets aside. My feet touched down on the carpeted flooring, feeling weak and unsupportive as I dragged myself over to the bathroom.

The wooden room was a masterwork of magic and machinery, using a clever mix of crystals and pipes to draw water from the castle's flowing water channels and then using enchanted crystals to instantly heat or cool the water for a nice, warm shower. I stepped under the large showerhead and used a handle to turn on the spray before twisting a dull red crystal several degrees clockwise. It let out a quiet hum, soon lost under the spray of the shower, and emitted a dull light as it warmed the water.

I entered the spray, letting the warm, soothing water take off the grime and sweat from a night's sleep. I grabbed hold of a bar of soap and began lathering myself up, running the bar through my thick, navy blue hair before rinsing it all away. The bar left a pleasant scent, one of a flower I couldn't name by smell alone, but one that was more than welcome to smell. I shook my head, sweeping my fringe out of my eyes as I remembered that I was on a time limit here, and that I couldn't afford to sit about in the shower for hours.

I hurried out and back into my bedroom, towelling myself off as rapidly as I could before hurrying out to my old oak wardrobe. I opened the towering piece of furniture's heavy-set door, peering inside for something that would be best suited for cold, unforgiving weather. I grabbed a pair of thick, leather boots and tossed them onto the floor beside the wardrobe, then a pair of cotton pants with a fur lining, specifically designed to keep my legs insulated during cold weather.

It was a similar idea with the shirt, get something thick on for a good under-layer and then wear a thicker, heavier cloak of some kind. I found my choices with a thick, hempen shirt and a cloak made from what I remembered being rabbits pelts all stitched together. I slung it over my shoulder, aware that we were still in the height of an Equestrian summer here, so it wouldn't do well to melt within a matter of seconds.

I got a pair of woollen socks over my feet before getting my boots on and lacing them, noting the enormous scuff mark on the front of the brown leather boots. The result of a rather close call between a Wyvern and myself from a few months prior. I prodded at it with a finger, feeling the serrated pattern of the beast's tooth in the scuff, before returning to lacing. Once I was dressed and ready, I ran down a checklist of Luna's 'going out' supplies. I went over to one of my drawers and pulled it open, noting a well-worn leather strap and a just-as-worn black steel hunting dagger sitting snug in a leather scabbard.

I took the seven inch dagger from the drawer and held it against the inside of my wrist, then grabbing the strap and belting it to my arm. I jerked my arm around in a few different motions to make sure the fitting was good and that it didn't slide anywhere. Satisfied with the fit, I quickly pulled my sleeve down over the dagger to conceal it entirely, allowing me to carry a decently-sized hidden weapon, should the need arise.

I patted myself on the sides for a few moments as I looked around the room in thought, wondering if there was anything else I needed. I wasn't going on an actual journey to somewhere, so there was no need to pack supplies or rations, and I wouldn't be going to many other climates, so a change of clothes wasn't entirely necessary...

Moments ticked by before I shrugged by shoulders, positive that if I was forgetting anything, my father probably would've remembered it himself because of how much more experienced he was with this kind of thing than I was. With a mutter, I headed out the doorway and through the castle. Despite still being before dawn, there were quite a lot of staff bustling about the place. It was barren of visitors, of course, as well as scribes, squires, and messengers. But the night staff consisting of the Equestrian Royal Guard and servants were as omnipresent as ever.

I smiled and nodded kindly at the scurrying maids or the near-silent guards as I made my way through the castle, hearing the soothing sound of crickets in the trees as my footfalls kept a quiet rhythm in the halls of the castle. The torch sconces that lined the walls illuminated the polished marble floors and walls beautifully, casting an almost ethereal glow over every step of the way. My eyes fell downwards, staring at the ground and losing myself in thought.

I made my way to the courtyard where I was due to meet with my father and the messengers, seeing the ensemble gathered and speaking amongst themselves. My father was the easiest to make out; a large, broad man with the same navy-coloured hair as myself garbed in a thick, black gambeson, a pair of cotton trousers, and similarly-styled leather boots to my own. His hand rested on the pommel of his sword at his belt, gently drumming his fingers on the cold steel of the arming sword's base while he listened to the messengers speak.

I spotted my mother, dressed down rather considerably from what she usually wore whilst out in public. Gone was the usual extravagant dress and instead she wore a loose-fitting white cotton shirt, a pair of what looked like rough-leather leggings, and simple shoes. Her multi-coloured hair was not in its usual hanging position, instead being tied back into a high ponytail. She was leaning against my father's shoulder, him being the slightly taller out of the two of them as they both stood well over six feet tall.

"-and I assure you, Asta, that so long as the roof isn't caving in and the plumbing in the castle still works, it will be without doubt one of the most comfortable places I've lead a campaign from," Shining said to the elder northerner with a wry smile.

"I simply wish to convey that you and your comforts will be given the utmost attention, your son's included, to make sure that you are performing at your best," Asta said with a polite nod.

"And I'll be sure to thank Juniper for that once we arrive," Shining nodded, snaking a hand around Cadance's hip and squeezing her closer to him.

"You'd do well to listen to every word your father says, Richter," came a voice from literally out of nowhere that nearly made me leap out of my skin.

I whirled around, recognising it instantly as my Aunt Luna. The tall, dark-skinned Alicorn stood with her arms crossed, her eyes focused down on Shining as she spoke to me.

"Be prepared for him to lose his more humorous edge once his combat instincts settle in. Shining Armour takes his command very seriously, and doesn't like to waste or mince words while doing so," Luna said, looking down at me finally with a gentle smile on her sleek face. "And it would do you well to stay safe and alive. I can't fathom what I'd do without my favourite nephew."

I smiled at the larger Alicorn, taking note of the rather heavy amount of equipment she was wearing. Her clothing told me that she would be travelling soon; large leather boots, thick cotton trousers, a white shirt underneath a leather vest, and a large, thick cloak thrown over her shoulders with the hood resting at her back. She wore several belts around her wide hips, one for her sword, one for what appeared to be some kind of... potion satchel, and a third simply for generic storing pouches.

I also noticed the moon-stone ring she wore, the rock carved in the shape of a crescent, set in a black-steel frame. I cocked an eyebrow inquisitively, verbally asking her where she was going.

"A visit to the Blades of Illuminia," Luna answered in a soft whisper. "Nothing too serious, just a simple inspection, especially after the swearing in of the new Knight-Commander."

The Blades of Illuminia were a group named after one half of the pair of goddesses that were responsible for the creation of this realm. The first was Illuminia, Goddess of Light, and the second was Mykuria, the Goddess of Darkness. They were the guardians of this realm until their sudden disappearance many millennia ago, leaving no trace of their existence, only a holy doctrine and a new race, the Alicorn, to watch over the world and act as the protectors of the people.

The Blades were the army that had soon formed around the Alicorn, at their beck and call should they ever need military strength. The second half of the coin was the Church of Mykuria, an order dedicated to the healing and protection of all those that came to them for salvation. They represented the piercing light of Illuminia that would vanquish all foes from this world, and the comforting darkness of Myrkuria that would embrace and soothe their followers.

"And what of the Church?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I spoke to them not more than half a year ago, when they themselves had sworn in a new High Priestess," Luna said with a nod. "They wanted me there as a kind of blessing to the new Priestess. She'd received a lot of criticism and vitriol from other Sisters of the Cloth due to her youth. They believed she wasn't ready for the responsibility."

"And was she?"

"More than anybody could have ever expected," Luna nodded, patting me on the shoulder and giving me a smile. "Now, I must be off, young one. I've a long journey ahead of me."

"You're not teleporting there?" I asked as she walked past me.

"Of course not," she said with a firm shake of her head. "I am a protector of this land, and I must be ever-vigilant for threats and trouble brewing throughout it. How am I to know of the state of the world if I refuse to walk it and see what it holds for myself?"

"I suppose that's fair," I nodded, looking up at the early-morning sky. "How long will you be gone for?"

"A month, maybe two, depending on how many distractions I find along the way," she said, shifting her belts as she spoke. "But I'll not be leaving until I've seen you off."

"Thanks, Aunt Luna," I said with an honest smile, making my way down to the courtyard where the others were.

Asta and Jorunn were wearing thicker clothes than what they'd arrived in, having slung large cloaks of what appeared to be bear hide over their shoulders to help trap the heat.

"Richter, there you are!" my father called out, gesturing for me to come over before looking at Luna. "You off somewhere?"

"Need to see to a matter regarding the Blades," Luna nodded, walking over to my father with me at her side.

"Well, I wish you luck," Shining said, getting a hug from the dark-skinned woman before she turned to Cadance.

"And you'll be down a son and a husband for who knows how long, eh?" she asked with a jesting smile. "It seems you may actually have to do some kind of work about the castle, doesn't it?"

"Not if I can help it," Cadance smirked, hugging her Aunt warmly and exhaling softly. "Look after yourself, Luna. Life would be ever so boring without you nagging the hide off of me."

"And I'd get swiftly bored would I not have an ass to ram my boot into," Luna said, kissing her niece on the forehead before stepping back. "Try not to go stir-crazy, will you?"

"No promises," Cadance winked, watching Luna turn back to me, looking down with kind eyes as she did so.

"And you, young man," Luna said, rolling her eyes for a brief moment with a heavy sigh. "Where to even start with your warnings?"

"I'm not that bad," I said, giving her a playful sideways look.

"I beg to differ. You're the reason safety briefings exist," Luna said, ruffling my hair with her soft fingers before turning to Shining. "Look after him, you hear?"

"I've done it rather successfully so far," he shrugged. "I'm sure I'll manage."

"You damn-well better," Cadance said in a growling tone.

"I will," Shining said with a soft smile, running a hand through his hair before turning to Asta and Jorunn. "I trust you're both ready to set off?"

"Preparations are complete, Your Majesty," the elder northern-realmer nodded with a gentle smile. "We shall depart as soon as the word is given."

Shining nodded quickly, turning his attention to the skyline and noting the lack of dawn's first touches in the sky.

"Now's as good a time as any, I believe," he said firmly. "The city is often empty in the earliest hours, so it'll be a much faster process than riding through the crowds. Ready, Richter?"

"As always," I smiled, looking back at my mother with one last smile before turning back to my father. "Onwards?"

"As ever," he nodded, conjuring a portal with a wave of his hand before gesturing for Jorunn and Asta to lead the way.

The Biting Cold

The wind hit just as hard as the low temperatures within seconds of being there. If I'd thought that the Equestrian early morning was cold, then that idea was wiped from my skull almost instantaneously.

"Well..." I muttered, looking around at the storming blizzard we seemed to have landed in. "That woke me up.

I was barely able to see more than ten feet in front of me, eyes stinging from the frozen flakes that slammed into them. The wind's bitter chill found every gap in my clothing it could get through, biting into my skin and chilling me to the core. I tried to look around and get my bearings, but found the practice impossible.

The lack of the sun and the thickness of the snow made divining where I was and what I was standing next to impossible; buildings and roads being nothing more than black blurs buried underneath a mountain of white and a never-ending barrage of snowflakes. I felt a hand on my shoulder, my father's judging from the side of it, as he guided me towards something. I could make out the blurred outlines of people, made just-visible by the glowing aura of the powerful, seemingly-magical torchlight cascading through the snow.

I kept my head down and trusted my father, eyelashes coated in snow and making it nearly impossible to see already. The wind was almost as deafening as it was blinding, hearing it slashing against the tips of my ears in a near-agonising fashion before I made out the sound of a large, wooden door opening. Soon I was inside, we were inside, and the storming snow and biting cold were locked out by the slamming of the large double doors.

I wiped my eyes, getting the rapidly-melting snow out of them, before looking around. The atmosphere of the building we'd entered was very homey. It made comfort wash over me immediately as I looked at the rustic wooden walls, old and worn, but carrying a sense of protection and warmth. The marble floor was coated with thick rugs, stitched together from the pelts of Goddesses' knew how many animals. I spotted the hides of bears, wolves, even several deer and dog by the looks of it.

The aura of home was strengthened by the gentle crackling torches that lined the walls, exuding warmth and illumination throughout the enclosed entrance. I backed up slightly, wanting to turn around and speak to my father, only to bump into Jorunn's larger form, back squeezing against her large breasts.

"Oh," I said, whirling around and looking up at the blonde woman with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Jorunn. Was off in my own world for a second there."

"You're forgiven," she shrugged, moving over to Asta and speaking to her in a hushed tone.

I turned again, spotting my father brushing the snow off himself before it soaked into his cloak, his eyes catching mine and looking at me with a warm smile.

"That was refreshing, wasn't it?" he asked in a joking tone.

"Like a boot to the teeth," I nodded, walking over to him and looking down at the puddles of snow melting around the entrance to the door. "Where are we, exactly?"

"Vorodin Castle," Shining answered, looking around the the wooden walls. "I haven't been here in ages. Think I was about your age, if I'm honest."

"So you've never met the current Queen before?" I asked.

"No, met her mother a few times. One of her cousins, as well," Shining said, sniffling loudly as the cold made his nose run. "It'll be nice to get to know another member of the family line. Try to keep yourself contained, please?"

"Dad, she's fourteen," I said with a tone of disgust in my mouth. "That's about five years younger than I what I usually consider my minimum age."

"Good to hear," he said, the sudden sound of plate armour rattling and footsteps catching our attention.

We all turned around, eyes falling on an older gentleman approaching with a warm smile on his face. He was a large man, just slightly shorter than my father, with wide-set shoulders and a strong jaw. He had a short, well-maintained brown beard and thick, styled hair of the same colour. Both forms of hair were flecked with the grey of age, showing a man in his fourth decade of life. He wore rather old-looking plate armour, well-maintained, for sure, but definitely having been through more than a fair share of scraps. There was fur padding visible through the joint gaps in the armour and a large, bear-fur cloak thrown over his shoulders; designed to be practical for battle as well as warm in the frigid climates.

"Knight-Commander Armour," he announced as he walked over to my father, shaking his hand with a firm grip and a warm smile. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"And you," Shining smiled. "I've heard great stories."

"Though none as great as yours, I'm afraid," he said with a sigh. "If they were, I imagine we wouldn't have to trouble you with this petty little squabble."

"I'm sure you'd have handled it fine yourself, General," Shining said with a chuckle, gesturing from myself to the larger man. "Richter, this is General Edgar Jensson, the man in charge of defending Helmsheer."

"And doing a poor job of it, if I must be honest," Edgar smirked, offering his hand for me to shake. "Richter! A good name. It's a pleasure to meet you, young man!"

"You too, Edgar," I said, shaking his hand with a firm and powerful gesture.

"Strong hand, just like your father," he said, releasing my grip and turning to Asta and Jorunn. "Valkyries, I thank you for your help in this matter. If you'd like, you may have the remained of the week to rest and recover from your travels? We are more than grateful for your efforts in protecting our homeland."

Asta and Jorunn clapped their hands to their chest in a saluting gesture, bowing their heads quickly, before turning back to us.

"It has been an honour, Knight-Commander," Asta said in a formal tone.

"I'll say the same myself," Shining nodded, watching the two of them take their leave with grace.

"The Valkyries?" I asked in a confused tone, knowing that the reverence with which Shining and Edgar addressed them meant that I was out of the loop. "Who are they?"

"The Valkyries are Helmsheer's elite magic warriors," Shining explained as he turned back to me. "They're the toughest, strongest, and best-trained unit I've ever come across in my life."

"So... the super-women can't handle the attacking army?" I asked.

There was a moment of silence between Edgar and Shining, both of them looking back and forth between each other; a look of apprehension on Edgar's face as he looked at me with his mouth slightly open.

"Richter wasn't raised military," Shining said rather quickly, breaking the silence. "He's got a good head on his shoulders, but not a soldier's head."

"I see," Edgar nodded, falling silent once more.

And I just made myself look like a moron.

"As powerful as they are, the Valkyries are still only human," Shining answered. "You can easily say that they're worth a one hundred men, but one hundred and ten are most likely going to get the better of one of them. So if you have the thirty of them standing to face an army of more than three thousand men, chances are that they'll fall."

"Right," I nodded, trying to keep my face as neutral as possible despite the burning embarrassment of what I'd just come out with.

"I'll do the best I can with them, but we're going to need more than just them to help us win this," Shining finished, turning back to Edgar. "Speaking of more than them; is Queen Juniper ready to meet with us?"

"Yes, she and Elise were in a discussion a few moments ago, but they should be more than ready to see you now," he said, gesturing down the hallway. "If you'll follow me?"

My father and I kept pace with Edgar, my eyes wandering around the hallways we went through, noting a large emphasis on what appeared to be family crests marking the walls, hanging from banners, and even being painted on the wooden doors we walked through. The tight, homey corridors soon expanded out into much larger, more castle-like walkways as we came to the throne room; a large, very storied-looking room made of a mix of ancient wood, old, well-worn stone, and furs lining the wall to keep it warm enough to stay in for long periods of time.

I kept my eyes to the front of the room, spotting the simple wooden throne marked with a shield crest that sat against the wall. On the throne was a barely-pubescent blonde girl with her hair tied back in a thick, singular braid, a simple, fur-edged blue dress, and a crown atop her head that looked almost a little too big for her. Standing next to her was a larger, older woman, but barely more than a teenager herself.

She was garbed in a mix of silver and white, elegant patterns stitched into her well-covering dress, a cloak made from the pelt of a white wolf slung over her slender shoulders. Her skin was pale and smooth, ice-like blue eyes standing out greatly against her snow-white hair, also tied into a single braid that was draped over her shoulder, with the rest of her hair being hidden under a pointed hood that rested neatly on her forehead.

"Knight-Commander Armour-" came the exclamation from the young queen, her voice cracking slightly in the middle of her sentence that lead to a rather embarrassing sound.

She cleared her throat quietly, a shuffle of awkwardness being heard in the gear of the soldiers standing guard as she continued her address.

"Knight-Commander Armour, I offer you the warmest welcomes to our great lands and hope that you enjoy your time in our abode," she said, a cute little smile on her face as she finished speaking.

"Not gonna be easy with a war on, eh?" I joked, wanting to remove some of the formality as I often did.

"Oh... yes, well I suppose not..." Juniper said with a squeak, eyes widening and a heavy blush flowing onto her cheeks.

Yeah, stay the course, Richter. Just keep humiliating and belittling the poor girl who can barely fit into her crown, you fucking asshole.

"Queen Juniper, it's an honour to meet you," Shining said, his loud and strong voice filling the entire room with presence and determination. "My deepest regret stems from the fact this meeting should come from such vile circumstances such as a war between your own people, but I promise you that I will do everything in my power to secure victory for the throne and bring peace back to this land."

Juniper's eyes widened in amazement, this clearly being the first time she was on the receiving end of a speech from a ruler and a soldier as experienced and as well-spoken as my father was.

And my first sentence to her was making fun of her greeting.

I hate myself so much.

"Thank you, Knight-Commander!" she exclaimed happily. "I trust that you'll be more than capable of handling this for us!"

"Definitely a more inspiring specimen than the boy," the woman in white said with a roll of her eyes.

"Elise, please. I'm sure Richter meant no-" Edgar began before I cut him off.

"No, let her have that one," I said with a heavy sigh. "I came off as a complete asshole with that and owe Elise an apology."

I turned to face Elise and, with hand on chest, gave a heartfelt apology.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," I admitted. "I only meant what I said to bring in some kind of levity to the situation. I'm terrible at formal address, have no skill or elegance when it comes to delivering awe-inspiring speeches, and fail utterly at proper court proceedings. I just wanted to break the ice with a joke, and I'm deeply sorry if I offended you in any way with it."

"Hm," Elise said with a roll of her eyes, checking the condition of her nails as she continued to speak. "At least he seems a self-aware moron."

"Elise!" Juniper snapped. "He's already apologised for it. There's no need to act like such an..."

"Ice queen?" Elise asked with a wink and a smirk.

I audibly sniggered at that, getting an initially cold glare from Elise before it warmed up slightly and a faint smirk touched the corners of her plump lips.

Unf.

"Getting back on topic..." Juniper said, clearing her throat once again and trying to sound as formal as possible. "Knight-Commander Armour, while I wish with all my heart to roll out the welcome mat and throw a feast in your honour, I must stress that time is truly of the essence here. My armies are struggling against our enemies, who seem to being bolstered by foreign powers. Edgar came to me saying that he has information that may help us turn the tide, but I asked him to refrain from sharing it until your arrival. Edgar?"

The older general stepped forward, taking a piece of parchment out of a pouch on his belt and showing it to my father.

"We've captured several couriers from the enemy forces disguised as civilians, and many of them have been carrying what we assume to be orders," Edgar said as my father unfolded the parchment and read it.

"Coded," he said with a sigh, allowing me a look at the parchment which appeared to be absolute gibberish, with all manner of upper-case and lower-case letters thrown in places they didn't belong, letters with symbols scrawled above them next to the same letter without symbols, and just an overall lack of any proper grammatical or linguistic nuance to it. "Any luck tracking down the cipher?"

"Ahead of the curve, it seems," Edgar smirked.

"This isn't my first time dealing with coded messages. Probably not going to be my last, either," Shining said, handing the parchment back and folding his arms.

"As for our search for the cipher, we've received a report from one of our undercover operatives that a mansion in the residential district of the city is being used as a base of operations for a sect of the enemy forces to send and receive messages from moles and spies in the capital city to discover and send our plans back to their high command," Edgar explained.

"Can't win a war against it, and you can't win a war without it," Shining smirked. "So, are you planning on seizing the mansion?"

"That's what I was planning on asking you," Edgar said, folding the parchment once again and returning it to his belt. "Do you think we should send a squadron to attack the mansion?"

Shining was silent for a long moment, looking between spots on the floor as his mind worked through the possibilities.

"Not enough intelligence to make an informed decision," Shining said, looking up to Juniper. "I need intel on the location, layout, civilian numbers, front doors, back doors, and a whole load of other things before I can decide. Juniper, do you have a war room set up that I can use to do some strategising?"

"O-Of course!" the young queen nodded quickly, turning to Edgar. "General, can you escort Knight-Commander Armour to the room in the west wing we use to discuss plans? Then have bring him whatever he requests?"

"Of course, Your Majesty," Edgar nodded, gesturing for Shining to follow him.

"Richter, do you wanna tag along for the strategy meeting?" Shining asked.

"If you'll allow it-" Elise interrupted, stalking down from the throne and eyeing me up, standing slightly taller than I did myself. "I've a few tasks Richter can perform for Juniper and myself."

"If you've got ways for him to make himself useful, then do so," Shining nodded, smirking at me with a playful wink. "Have fun, kid."

I looked away from my father just as Elise came to a halt behind me, making me turn around to see her as she crossed her arms under her rather-ample bust, jutting her breasts out intentionally to get my attention on them.

"You carry the scent of many a roll in the unmentionable, young man," she said with a cocked eyebrow and a smug smirk. "So while your father's busy with his own work... would you mind slaying something for me?"

I quite liked where this was going...

To Arms, To Hunt!

The alabaster court mage sat across the table from me, her thick thighs resting over one another as she leaned back in the armchair. She'd taken us to what I assumed was her study, a small, tidy place full of bookshelves overflowing with novels, tomes, and all other manner of literacy that no doubt went into her duties. The sound, smell, and sight of a warm, well-stoked fire with a bear-skin rug sat just before conjured rather homely and intimate fantasies in the back of my perverted little mind.

Elise sat with a mug of mulled wine in her hand, swilling it around gently as her fingers gripped the top of the tankard, eyeing me up with a questioning glaze as a small smile touched her icy, painted lips.

"I must admit, Richter, you seem to hold yourself better in the company of one such as myself than others your age do," she chuckled, sipping the red liquid from the mug. "No sweating, no stammering, and no awkward crossing of the legs to hide your excitement?"

"I think you'll find I'm much more familiar with this 'part of the job' than most boys my age," I said with a shrug, leaning forward in the chair I sat in and cocking an eyebrow. "Your proposal was enticing, so what's the offer?"

She fell silent for a moment, sipping another, larger mouthful of the berry-flavoured wine before getting to her feet. I watched her as she walked, the swinging gait of her wide hips and very-bountiful backside being an extremely entrancing thing to behold. She wrapped her nimble fingers around the spine of an old, worn tome laying atop an ancient wooden desk before turning back to me. With a throwing gesture given first to prepare me, she then tossed the book over to me and leaned against the desk the book had rested on.

"I mentioned earlier you have the scent of monsters about you, Richter," she said, looking me over once more with a much less flirtatious glint in her eye. "And I also mentioned you seem a man that's fought many of them time and again. How far does that reach extend?"

"Over several schools of training, several species, and several continents," I answered, looking down at the book and noticing the title; 'Matters of Maulings of the Magically Malignant'.

"Are you familiar with that book?" she asked me.

"Very much so," I nodded, flicking through the pages to one of my favourite chapters that described the effectiveness of a Fiend fang as a survival tool. "Could probably list off and cite every beast in this damn thing. But which is the one bothering you?"

"I've no idea," Elise said with a heavy sigh, walking back over to her armchair and sitting down with a slump. "You'd never imagine me to be a rather useful court mage with that response, would you?"

"I'd never imagine one as young as you being a court mage to begin with," I said with a shrug. "I can hardly imagine being in-charge of all magical matters for an entire country. I'm barely three years younger than you and often forget to button my pants after leaving the toilet."

She smirked in kind, enjoying the humour, before growing serious once again.

"Yes, all matters magical... it's a shame that this blasted war has forced me to abandon several of my usual duties in favour of divining scout locations and healing those wounded in battle," she said with an annoyed curl at her lips, sipping from her steaming wine with an angered expression. "I'm up to my eyeballs in political nonsense near-fifteen hours a day and as such can barely even sleep myself, nevermind investigate magical beasts roaming about the town."

"And I'm imagining that's why you've come to me?" I asked.

"Is it really 'imagining' if it's as obvious as daytime, Richter?" she asked in a teasing, playful tone, tilting her head sideways as she asked. "But yes, your truly limitless imagination has lead you to the correct conclusion. I'd like you to investigate the beast attacks we've been seeing in the city as of late."

"And what would be my reward?" I asked, looking down at the book once more.

"Reward?" Elise asked in a faux-surprised tone. "Surely, good sir, the eternal gratefulness of the city and the praise of one so regal and beautiful as myself is reward enough for your actions?"

"Mhm, and if I had a crown for every time I'd accepted a polite 'thank you' as a reward for risking life and limb in battle with a great beast..." I said, my fingers rustling briefly to exaggerate my pause. "I'd have exactly zero crowns. Work begets wealth, Elise. A woman as regal and beautiful as yourself should know that."

"Hm," she said, toying with the tip of her pale chin with the tip of a pale finger. "The treasury's funds are already spoken for thanks to the war, I can't sign out arms and armour due to it all being vital to equipping the army, and I need to keep all of my magical stock here and accounted for in case I require it at a time when importing is no longer an option..."

As she spoke, she moved over to my chair, laying her knee next to mine and leaning her buxom, pale form over the top of me, eventually pressing her heaving breasts into my torso with a seductive pout on her lips as she continued to speak.

"So what, pray tell, could a woman as beautiful, voluptuous, and..." she whispered, taking hold of my hand and placing it against her well-defined, enormous rear. "open-minded as myself offer my gentleman monster hunter?"

"Well, I'm sure that one of such bountiful beauty and eternal kindness is too busy to offer the kind of reward I could settle for," I shrugged, tugging her dress up over her back and grabbing a handful of bare, snow-white ass flesh with my warm, strong hands. "She's too busy for such vulgar behaviour. I can't have her sacrificing her country's needs for the several days she'd need to recuperate from being so exhausted and... sore."

I heard a faint purr of excitement come from the beautiful mage, a hot tongue sliding over her lips as she stared down at me, eyes alight with sexuality and desire.

"The court mage is often busy... but I've heard from a very reputable source that if her valiant hero was to slay the foul beast, she'd have just enough time for some... personal audiences," she giggled, gently placing her warm lips against my own and moaning softly. "How about it, hero? Would you mind freeing up my schedule?"

"With the greatest pleasure," I said with a slow nod, enjoying the last few moments I got to massage her backside before she gently moved my hand away and lowered her dress again.

The tension lit up the air, breathing hot and heavy as Elise moved back over to her chair, sitting down with a blush on her cheeks as heavy and hard as the length in my hunting trousers was.

"Well, now that we've agreed to our terms, we must get down to business," I said, sitting up straight in the chair and suppressing my arousal. "Do you have any information, evidence, witnesses? Something to give me a general idea of what I'm looking for?"

"I'm afraid all we've got are the bodies, Richter," Elise said, readjusting her dress to fit properly once more before sipping from her wine. "And I must admit, it's not a pretty sight. Nor one riddled with evidence."

"Am I dealing with pieces more than bodies?" I questioned.

"It'd be fair to say," she said with a short nod.

"It's still enough to work with. Can usually tell what the teeth are like, how big it is, how it hunts, how it fights, and a shitload of other things from pieces," I shrugged.

"I trust that you do," she said with a nod, looking back up at the frosted window above her desk and sighing at the weather. "I'm afraid I must apologise, Richter. The coroner's office isn't kept on the castle grounds. It's deeper into the city itself and... well, I'm sure you're well-acquainted with our lovely weather."

"I'd consider snow and I good friends," I said with a chuckle. "And besides; the thoughts of snuggling up against a certain beautiful court mage will be all I need to keep me warm and in high spirits."

"Then you best hurry back," Elise said with a playful smirk. "Or that certain beautiful court mage may get lonely."

"So, where about's is the love little corpse shack?" I asked, getting to my feet with a weighted sigh.

"Try your best to stick to the path that winds down the hill from the castle and out of the gate, then try to hug the fence to your left that goes down that road. If you can manage to make out a large church through the snow, you're at the place you need to go right at. It's a small, stone building right next to that church," Elise explained. "And please don't die. I've got so much riding on you, it's not even funny."

Smirking quietly to myself about the sexual joke I could make, I began to make my way to the door, only for a lack of weight on my right shoulder making me come to a stop.

"At the risk of completely ruining all the good will and professionalism I've just built up here," I said, pivoting slowly. "Can I borrow a sword? I didn't bring one with me before I left."

Elise blinked blankly, rolling her eyes as she got to her feet and headed over to a wooden chest stacked next to a bookshelf. She flung the lid open and dug around inside it for a good few seconds, eventually producing a leather-scabbard-covered arming sword. She used her magic to toss the thing over to me, a firm slap of flesh hitting leather as I caught it in my palm. I slid the thing out of the scabbard and looked over the state of the blade. It was old, that was for sure, and a bit duller than I'd have liked it to be, but it would have to do for a non-situational protection weapon.

"Thanks, Elise," I said with a nod, using the straps attached to the scabbard to sling it over my shoulder, fixing it in place and testing my ability to draw it.

"Please don't break it," she said with a sigh as she sat down at her desk and began going through papers. "It's the only one I've got."

"You have my word," I said, politely nodding my head before turning back to the door. "Oh, and can you make sure to inform my father of where I've gone?"

"Of course, Richter," she said with a curt nod as her full attention turned to the papers. "Good luck. Stay safe."

"Same to you," I mirrored, exiting the doorway and heading through the castle.

"You left me behind!" came the furious roar over the wind.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," I responded over our mental link, knowing full well that being cutesy with him would only piss him off more.

"We were supposed to leave together, Richter," Grael snarled in a beyond-furious tone. "What would possess you to ever even consider leaving without me?"

"You looked so peaceful in your little bed. I couldn't bring myself to wake you," I chuckled.

"Richter, for the love of the lives lost throughout time, I am supposed to be your Familiar. I get that you would rather not have someone babysit you, but Goddesses Above, Richter, you're staying in the middle of an active war zone without me," Grael explained.

He was calming down, not through a lack of anger, but mostly because he knew yelling would only tire himself out. If he was going to convince me, he needed to reason with me. He knew that as well as I did.

"I'll be fine, Grael. I'm not on the front lines of the war or anything. I'm playing general with dad for the entire trip," I explained.

"Why can I currently sense blinding cold and agonising wind through our link right now?" Grael asked.

"Oh, that's because I'm stumbling out in a snowstorm trying to find the coroner's office so I can hunt down an unknown beast responsible for killing several innocent people," I answered. "As you do."

"..."

"You still with me, buddy?" I asked after there came no response.

"I'm going to talk to Celestia, and she's going to teleport me there," he said in a cold, resigned tone. "Don't do anything stupid until I arrive."

"You remember who you're talking to, right?" I smirked.

"More than anyone else alive," he growled, his fury leaping up once again before the mental connection was cut.

"Oh..." I said, my laughter fading away to a remorseful sigh. "He's going to fucking kill me."

I continued staggering through the snow, squinting against the pulverising wind and the lethal temperatures before finally making out the church Elise had mentioned.

"Oh, thank fuck," I said with a frozen shiver running through my body.

I doubled my pace in the foot-deep snow, staggering towards the small tone building marked with a rather morbid skull sign. I banged loudly on the wooden door, hearing it echo throughout the coroner's office and waited. I huddled my hands against my body and tried to turtle up as much as possible, desperate to hide my flesh from the chilling wind.

The door soon swung open and I was allowed inside. I was greeted, or faced, with an old man with white hair and a short beard dressed in a brown medical robe. He closed the door behind me and cast a questioning glance at my snow-coated, freezing form.

"I'm here to take a look at the bodies," I pointed out, another bolt of shivers running through me. "Elise sent me to lend a hand."

"It's about time," he said with an irritated growl in his voice. "I've been keeping these things on the table for over a week now."

"That must smell great," I joked, following him through the rooms before being pointed to the actual morgue.

"They're not decomposing," he answered. "Room's too cold for that."

"Goodie, more freezing temperatures," I sighed, entering the room with the coroner behind me and looking over the carnage.

There was a lack of blood on the pieces of the bodies, probably because it had all either frozen and flaked off when first being spilled or because most of it was buried back at the crime scene, if the snow was anything to judge it by. But what the pieces were, however, was ungodly fucked up. I could see split bones and shredded muscle fibre from the distance I was currently at.

"Where were they found?" I asked as I walked over to them.

"In several places... and in several places," he answered.

"Ah, good old mortician humour," I said with a warm sigh, looking over what I deduced was a femur sticking out of a hunk of meat.

The bone itself was snapped, but it looked less like a clean break and more like a tree trunk that had been split in half. The bone had broken partly, but it was torn away from the rest of it, and that lead to some pretty nasty results. Something like that suggested power in both the body and the jaw. Ruled out lesser things like Hellhounds, Ravagers, and simple wild dogs.

I turned my attention to the bite marks themselves, noticing clear puncture wounds throughout the entire length of the upper part of the femur, suggesting that it wasn't a regular beast with regular jaw structure. Instead of two canines made for digging in and tearing flesh, these teeth seemed almost torturous. There were a hell of a lot of grooves on the inside of the bones, which made me think that the insides of this thing's teeth were serrated as well as enormous, judging from the size of the puncture marks themselves.

Serrated teeth... ruled out most, if not all, Draconids, Insectoids, and Ethereals. I took a step back from the leg, looking over what looked like wrist bones, ribs, and a spinal cord crushed in the centre with a hell of a lot of force.

"What're you thinking?" the coroner asked me.

"Well, aside from the fact these poor bastards were torn to pieces, there's a good bit of evidence to suggest something Demonic," I said with a hefty sigh, never liking it when those evil bastards got involved.

"Demons?" he asked. "What makes you say that?"

"If there's one thing I've noticed about demons, it's that their appearances can almost always be described as 'sadistic', even down to an evolutionary level," I said. "They're spiky, pointy, sharp, and very destructive. The creature that did this was huge and powerful, but the teeth marks are what swayed me. Too big to be any earth-born creature where their features are evolved to aid in life. All this thing's teeth are enormous, serrated, and 'designed' to be as painful as possible."

"Sounds like a great way to die," the coroner joked.

"Demon's harvest energy creatures release when in enormous amounts of pain. Everything they make is designed to cause agony, it makes them stronger, it feeds them," I said with informed confidence. "These guys died in agony, and gave whatever the hell killed them a good meal."

"So... you can't identify the demon?" the coroner asked me.

"Sorry to say, but 'big, serrated teeth, strength, and size' aren't exactly unique to one species of demon," I said, crossing my arms over my chest and exhaling. "There's about eight different types of beast demon this thing could be, nevermind the sapient ones."

"We hoping for a Succubus, eh?" he said with another morbid jest.

"Hopefully," I nodded. "They're much easier to stab in the skull when you're having sex with them."

"Heh, good one, kid," he said, slapping me on the back with a grin.

The look I shot him a moment later told him that I wasn't making that up, nor speaking from a place of inexperience.

"Damn," he said with a curt nod. "So... what're you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna head back to Elise and see if she's got some kind of device that'll let me track demonic energy," I answered. "The fuckers spray it about everywhere they go, so if she's got something that can sniff them out, all I need to do is find part of the trail, and it'll lead me right to the source."

"And then?"

"And then I kill it," I shrugged.

"That easy?" he asked.

"That easy," I said with a firm nod, turning to the coroner and shaking his hand. "Thanks for letting me have a look."

"No worries, kid," he said with a firm grim and a firm nod. "And good luck with your slaying."

Ha.

Dark and Snarling

"A demon?" Elise asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"That's what my analysis told me," I nodded, leaning against the door frame as the court mage stared at me, eyes brimming with scepticism.

"And what analysis did you perform?" she asked. "Resonance? Energy residue? Any actual magical means other than just assuming?"

"No. I don't have the ability nor the talent to do any of those things, Elise," I responded. "But what I do have the talent for is identifying specific traits in corpses that give me a general idea of what I'm hunting for. The savagery, the gnaw marks on the bones, and everything else about our vicious beast tells me it's something of demonic origin."

"Is it sapient?" she queried, shifting her sitting position.

"Not a chance. Way too brutal, not sadistic enough," I answered, shooting the idea down immediately. "We're dealing with a demonic beast here. No more, no less. It's not an invasion, it's not some kind of mole. It's one, rogue demon that's tearing these people apart."

"And how can you be so sure of that?"

"Because if it were either of those things, we'd be dealing with a lot worse than mauled corpses," I said firmly. "I've dealt with these stray incidents before. Most likely, a bunch if idiot mages got drunk on fine wine at a college, decided to set up a summoning circle, and dragged the thing through that way. It probably has no Houndmaster keeping it in charge, and that's why it's just randomly mauling things."

Elise crossed her arms over her chest again, pursing her lips as she thought it over. She stood with naught more than a sigh, moving over to a large chest of drawers that she began to loudly rifle through.

"You can promise me this isn't a prelude to something bigger?" she asked.

"You don't send rogue hounds as a pre-invasion strategy," I said, shaking my head. "That's the way to get everyone's guard up, not down. Only a commander who happens to be an absolute moron would do that. And if our demonic invasion is lead by a moron... we've nothing to worry about."

"Then take this-" she said, walking over to me with a tool I didn't recognise. "-and fix our problem."

I took the object in hand. It was a gnarled, old wooden wand with what appeared to be a ruby set into it. It looked like the wood had been sung around the gem instead of it simply being fixed in place, an Elven magic used to make wood grow around things due to their dislike of damaging trees, dead or alive.

"Proximity detector?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Energy tracker," she corrected. "It'll flash when it picks up the energy type it's attuned to, that being demon, and it'll glow brightly whenever you're following that trail."

"Perfect," I said, whirling it around in my hand briefly before tucking tying it against my belt with a spare strap of leather. "Thanks, Elise."

"Don't lose it," she said, flicking me on the shoulder. "It was a present to the kingdom from an old Elven queen a very long time ago."

"And you're trusting it to a stranger?" I asked.

"I'm trusting it to a professional," she said, holding a finger up before me. "I hope."

"Right. I'll be back soon, hopefully with something to show for all this trouble," I nodded, heading back towards the door.

"You got any idea where you're searching?" she asked. "Or is the plan to just wander around in the freezing cold until you find the trail or die?"

"The latter," I shrugged, turning back around to face her.

She didn't look very happy about that one.

"One of the bodies was recovered from the southern market's alleyways," she said. "Follow the path down from the castle, down past a large tavern lit up with silver lanterns, and then keep going straight down that road until it opens up into a square area. Check the alleys around there for any trace of the energy. Try not to die."

"I'll do my best," I said with a wink, heading back out the door and through the castle.

I wanted to formulate a plan, but didn't have enough information to go off. I couldn't prepare a battle strategy, couldn't think of a luring trick, and certainly couldn't conjure up a trap without any idea of exactly what kind of hell beast I was dealing with here. What if it could fly? What if it had some kind of elemental ability? What if it had already died of starvation? I hoped it'd be the latter, as it'd be the easiest hunt I'd done and the easiest pussy I'd ever gotten as a result, but that still meant finding the bastard thing first.

The wind seemed to have picked up since I last ventured out, pulling the cloth wrap tighter around my face as I trudged through the snow. My legs were burning and my chest was heaving after a mere ten minutes of fighting against the elements. Every time I blinked, I could feel the ice on my eyelashes crack from the contact, and I could feel the ice having formed at the part of the cloth covering that was wrapped over my mouth, the icy temperatures freezing the water moisture gathering on the fabric.

But I soon came upon the square, and soon spotted a brief flash of red on the snow from my hip. I looked down, seeing the pulsing light once again before taking it off my belt. I held it aloft like a torch, an idea that didn't get me anywhere as all it did was illuminate the hellish snow flurry inches around it and cast a rather unsettling light over the place.

Why could demonic equipment never be a nice, bright colour like gold or violet? It always had to be such an oppressive red colouring, and it was really bringing the mood down. I stomped through the snow again, feeling the sub-zero temperatures of the city begin to creep through my clothing after so long out in the cold. I couldn't keep this up for very long, it would be suicide to stay out here for such a long amount of time.

The tracker flashed again, this time brighter and more frequently than before. I stumbled around for a bit, trying to find where exactly it was pointing me to and keeping an eye on the frequency of the flashes. Soon enough, it caught the scent, so to speak. I took a deep breath, this activity really taking it out of me, before stomping on through the snow. I came to an alley that was somewhat sheltered from the wind and the snow.

I leaned against the wall, panting heavily as the oppressive wind was blocked by the ancient stone buildings around me. I took a look around the alley, the faint red flashes briefly illuminating the gore that still lined the walls. They'd bothered picking up the pieces, but hadn't got around to cleaning the blood from the walls where the attack had happened. I squinted, holding the tracker against the wall and using it's light to make out claw indentations on the wall... and something else.

There was a puncture mark on the wall, about an inch wide and seven inches deep. I brushed my fingers at the brick, seeing it crumble away around the edge of the hole as well as inside it, but the condition of the wall elsewhere was in pristine shape. I furrowed my brow, holding the light even closer and noticing the blood caking the wall... as well as something else. I squinted, trying to get my eyes to focus on the secondary stain under the blood. It was dark, nearly impossible to make out, so I did the same thing I'd done with the hole in the wall.

I rubbed at it with my fingers, feeling, seeing, and hearing the stone crumble away underneath the abrasive rubbing. My eyes widened in shock, realising exactly what I was dealing with here. I slowly pieced it all together; the goring, the shape of the teeth, the powerful jaws, and now this new piece of evidence... the acid...

"It's a fucking Chimera," I sighed with a heavy growl in my voice. "But..."

I fell silent for another moment, thinking over my conclusion and realising something. Chimera weren't demonic creatures naturall... but this one was radiating demonic energy, the tracker told him that much. A fake chimera? A demon-made Chimera? He could simply throw the idea out of it being a Chimera, but the acid was what swayed him. It was something that came from the stinger tongue the snake head had in it's mouth.

They used it to pierce the heart of their pray and dissolve them from the inside out. A Chimera's acid has no effect on its own body, so it acted as flavouring and nothing more to the meal, but... the hole was too small to be a proper barb. They were easily the size of a spear and produced way more acid than that. There wasn't any way that a Chimera was packing a barb that small unless...

"It has to be a juvenile," I murmured.

It'd explain why nobody had seen it. Chimera's were fucking enormous creatures, some of them being the size of a cottage in their senior years. You'd notice that running around. But a juvenile? Even a baby one? They don't get much bigger than six feet tall as infants, can't hunt efficiently without their mother, and have a barb that's about the size of a grown man's index finger.

That raised another question: Chimera had lion teeth, not demon teeth. Why were the teeth marks on the corpse serrated? Lion teeth were often as smooth as they came, designed to sink in and tear meat away. They weren't sadistic killing machines made for torture and agonising.

So... what was I dealing with here? A demon Chimera? A demon emulating a Chimera? Or simply a new species of demon I'd never studied before? I removed my hand from the wall, rubbing them together to restore some warmth while holding the tracker... only to have my heart sink as the tracker suddenly went ballistic on me. It started flashing so fast that it pretty much never ceased glowing, producing a boiling red light that illuminate the entire alleyway.

I tore my sword from its scabbard, standing in a prepared stance as I whirled around, seeing glowing red eyes set against black sclera staring at me from the other end of the alley. I bolted backwards, knowing that the alley was wide enough for this thing to fit through, but not wide enough for me to fight against it. I almost cleared the alleyway, was so close to getting out into the open square once again, only for a thunderous flap of its wings to carry it across the alley in less than three seconds.

The lion head bit down around me, picking me up with one of the incisors piercing my arm. My roar of agony was drowned out by the thunderous wings and the screaming wind. I dropped the tracker and my sword, watching the light spin away from me as the Chimera lifted me Goddesses-knew how far into the air. I couldn't tell which way was up or down, I had no clue if we were a mile in the sky or two feet of the ground.

And I found out that answer when the jaw's suddenly released me, the Chimera employing their favourite hunting strategy: dropping their pray to their doom. That meant it was hungry and wasn't in the mood to play around with me. My mind told me to stick my hand out and brace myself, but reason told me that was the perfect way to splinter my arm and bleed out in a matter of minutes if the Chimera didn't finish me. Instead, I tucked my arms against my head and remained as flat as possible while falling.

The fall lasted no more than two seconds, possibly even closer to a second and a half, but that easily meant a fall of over ten meters. I slammed into the several foot deep snow, something that definitely acted as a cushion, but wasn't a force negator. I slammed into the stone beneath it, hearing something crack loudly and having the wind smashed out of my lungs instantly. I couldn't even cough out a curse and couldn't breathe in for a solid few seconds.

I heard the terror flapping above me descending, ready to start snacking on me as it was positive I'd died. I felt a boiling pain rise up in my leg, my thigh to be specific, and that told me it was without doubt broken. With the main supports of standing gone, my sword nowhere to be seen, and my range of vision being less than two feet in front of me, it was safe to say I didn't feel like I had this in the bag.

I threw my hand out in front of me, blasting a stream of fire eight or so feet in the air to act as some kind of startling technique and to give me some kind of light source to work with. It didn't do much of anything, casting a light onto the snow around me, giving away my exact position, and telling the Chimera that I was still alive, meaning that it still had a fight on it's hands.

Off to a great start, so far.

I dragged myself along the ground, the cold snow crunching beneath my as my weight pushed down on it. The initial shock of the impact had ceased and now the pain was starting to eb into me, almost definitely having some level of cracked-or-broken ribs, my neck felt sore beyond all belief, and I still found it hard to breathe. I heard the Chimera land, felt the vibration through the floor followed by it's loud roar, drowned out mostly by the tearing wind. That explained why nobody had heard or seen the fucker before it ate them. I threw another blast of fire at it, singeing the thing's mane and, as you'd expect, making it more angry by doing so.

I heard it's wings flap loudly in the darkness, snow drifts blasting all over the place as it did so. It sounded like it was preparing to pick me up and drop me once again, probably from a higher height to make sure the job was finished this time. Either that, or it was just gonna eat me, plain and simple. I then heard the goat's head bleat in the darkness, a strangely comical moment that I really shouldn't have found funny at that moment.

I could feel the ground vibrating with frequency: it was sprinting towards me. I crawled as fast as I could, trying to move sideways to get out of the sprint path, but I knew it wasn't gonna work. It was probably just gonna bite a hole in me like the one in my arm and I'd die in it's mouth. Fucking brilliant.

I rolled sideways as one last-ditch effort, hoping to feel it thunder past me, only to have my luck work in a way that I would never have expected in a million years. I heard a loud howl, a familiar howl, followed by a roar of agony from the Chimera's lion head, a bleat of pain from the goat, and an angry hiss from the snake head that had yet remained un-introduced to me. I squinted through the snow, trying to make out exactly what was happening, before I heard the Chimera tumble to the ground and slam into a building. It cracked the brick and rumbled loudly, whatever had attacked it causing it to lose it's balance and fall over.

I looked around desperately for either my sword or the demon tracker, wanting either light or a method of defence against the beast once it rose again. I looked around, catching the faintest glow of the red crystal in the far distance. I tried to hurl myself to my feet, only to feel the agony of my punctured arm, now properly bleeding through my coat, and my broken thigh be unable to assist or support my attempts to get back to my feet.

I tumbled back down, head over heels as I landed flat on my back, coughing what I was positive had to be blood down my chin from a possibly rupture organ.

"Doing great, Richter," I groaned to myself, rolling back onto my stomach and crawling on my belly for the tracker.

I heard the Chimera screeching in the darkness, clearly recovering from whatever attack had toppled it, as it tried to sniff me out. Had I been uninjured, I'd have been safer due to the snow and wind making my scent difficult to follow, blowing it in too many directions. But I was bleeding, and bleeding heavily. Blood was easier for them to track, especially when I was leaving a trail of it the further I went.

This fucking Chimera still had the advantage, and my saviour in the darkness hadn't saved me yet. But lord, were they trying. I was suddenly ripped from the ground, at first I thought by the Chimera, but the familiar scent, the pounding of paws in the snow, and the speed of the sprinting told me I was in good hands.

Or... jaws.

"Grael!" I exclaimed, my heart swelling with relief as my Familiar had come to my aid.

"You're an absolute moron," he snarled over our connection. "I should have let that thing eat you just to let you learn a lesson."

"I'm very grateful you didn't," I said as he threw me with a heave of his jaws at the glowing red object.

"Grab it!" he ordered, giving me no time after I'd closed my hand around the object before he grabbed the scruff of my neck again and hoisted my up onto his back, allowing me to ride him like a horse.

"I thought you hated it when I did this?" I asked, wrapping what part of my legs still worked around his chest.

"I hate the idea of burying you more," he snarled, lowering his stance as his head flicked from left to right. "Do you know where your sword landed?"

"Not a clue," I coughed, sputtering up more of whatever else I was leaking.

I noticed Grael's ears twitching just as his nose wrinkled, snarling angrily as he turned back to look at me.

"You're dying," he commented.

"Really?" I responded sarcastically. "I hadn't noticed."

He took off at a sprint, blitzing back up the way I'd entered the square and towards the castle.

"What's your plan?" I asked.

"Getting you to a healer, first," he answered. "And if that winged bastard follows us, having the guard chase it off or take it-"

I couldn't hear the last of his sentence as I was once again snatched by the Chimera, a tooth piercing my side and coming dangerously close to rupturing a lung as I hoisted into the air.

"Richter!" Grael roared up at me, leaping as high as he could reach and sinking his fangs into the throat of the Chimera's lion head.

It screamed in anger and agony from all of it's heads, barely able to keep flying as the added weight of both myself and the seven-foot-long wolf became more load weight than it could bear. It started to lose altitude, having to flap harder and harder to keep aloft all the while trying to shake Grael's vice-lock jaw from it's neck. Not a chance on earth was that happening. You'd have an easier time getting the brown out of wood than Grael's jaws off something.

I gritted my teeth angrily, using the glowing tracker to see exactly what I was looking at. I was still in its jaws, its eyes scanning everything in front of it with a panicked gaze. It was scared, that much was obvious. It had bitten off more than it could chew and was now just trying to escape.

And now it was time to bring the fucker down.

I hiked back the tracker I was carrying, taking a good look at that big, squishy, weak eye before slamming the blunt end of the tracker right into it. It ruptured the eyeball instantly, spraying blood and gore everywhere as well as causing the lion head to scream. It threw its head to the side, trying to throw me away, but my hand released the tracker just in time to grab hold of a clump of its mane. I clung on for dear life as it thrashed about in the air, angered and agonised by the pain in its throat and eye.

I swung up my damaged arm and slammed it down on the crystal, trying desperately to crack through the thing's eye socket and damage its brain. If I could just scrape off enough of the frontal lobe, it would lobotomise it, and it'd go plummeting to the ground again. We weren't that high, I could see the floor less than ten meters beneath us and it wasn't getting any higher. It struggled to keep level, unable to judge distances with the single eye... which lead it to crashing straight into the church tower near the castle.

It had to have broken its shoulder, slamming straight through the stone tower, showering both itself, Grael, and me with a painful hail of rocks and mortar, one catching me in the cheek and splitting the skin wide open. The fall was short and the impact was painful, sending the three of us crashing and rolling through the snow as I ended up getting slammed into an iron gate, Grael went cartwheeling wherever he ended up, and the Chimera seemed break it's neck on impact. Consciousness faded from me rather quickly, slipping into the blackness and feeling a sense of relief as the pain finally stopped.