Kalens pov
"I still don't understand, is a this really nessecary"
said Damien laying on the couch in my office as I signed away on some documents
"what do you mean?"
answered Felix to my right.
Damien who had his gaze facing the ceiling suddenly turned in our direction and spoke
"all the security, all the counter measures, its seems...arrogant"
"you mean for Don Blossoms bathing ceremony"
"exactly, what's with all the..... you know"
he said waving his hands with flair.
"she's just bathing"
Felix, finally understanding what he was getting at simply smilled before saying
"you've never seen her before haven't you"
"nope, not once, is she really all that"
"oh no, she's more, much more"
'i hope you remember you have a girlfriend'
I said not removing my gaze from the work in front of me
"dude, who do you think I am, besides just because I'm in a relationship doesn't mean I can't compliment other women"
'I can't wait till Shainne hears this'
"I'm kidding i'm kidding, besides my honey is the only one for me"
he said before removing a locket around his neck and kissing it, as expected the locket had a picture of his admittedly very beautiful girlfriend in it.
"anyway, is she really all that"
interjected Damien
"they don't call them the 7 great beauties for nothing"
'to think a simply publication by some random newbie journalist in a dead end country 11 years ago would stir up the world this much'
my words were true, 11 years ago a 17 year old who's name I couldn't care to recollect published an article bold enough to title itself "the worlds 10 most beautiful women" a piece which featured queens princesses and concubines to various rulers. That was when the problems started, several so called experts suddenly appeared claiming the list to faulty and adding their own interjections another popular news outlet relased an article claiming the author of the piece was biased beacuse the women he selected all had one thing in common, flat chests, a rival to said news outlet countered, claiming the young man's observation was undoubtedly the right own as beauty was wholly dependent on face and nothing else while others claimed the sum of a woman's attractiveness was dependent on every facet of their being, while it first started as a harmless joke between reporters with nothing better to do the problem soon exploded when one of the women featured in the article was married off as the 3rd wife of an emperor in her region, the Emperors other wives and concubines began mercilessly bullying her an act which was all too common in monarchies but still garnered much attention due to who was being bullied, this caused massive amounts of pity and sympathy to flow the girls way and insult to be passed at the ones responsible for her predicament. Eventually one of those insults hit the wrong person, the emperor furious at those that dared to disparage him and ordered them all killed, and as a massive purge was about to occur who should be the one to save the poor journalists and peasants than the Emperors other two wives and concubines, claiming he had no right to punish them when he did nothing as they were insulted, a magnifying lens was placed on the plight of the royal harem for the world to see, and in front of millions on an execution block several extremely beautiful women began to cry, an act that once again complicated the beauty rankings as at this point, several characteristics had begun to considered namely age, status, body type, general appearance predicament for gents who fancied themselves knights in shinning armor and the final most complicated of them all, personality. The last one bringing excess grief as several women of all statuses rushed to places like orphanages and help centers to boost their rankings, an organisation dedicated to grading these women suddenly sprung into life with its own agents travelling the continent interviewing all manner of women (and men dressed as women) in order to finally answer the question, which ended up with a list exceeding 300, a list with even a few commoners in it, this spawned another burst of outrage as several nobles and princesses were disgusted that they didn't make the cut while other felt similarly being placed on the same list and sometimes below people of lesser status calling the organisation responsible out for unfair practice but what spawned the most attention was from a woman placed near the top, a certain countess who had taken over her deceased husband's lands and was managing it quite well making it flourish, only that woman was known for being both popular and unpopular amongst high society, popular for the rewards that came with being her husband and unpopular for the number of harsh rejections she had delivered upon would be consorts, this had lead to her being viewed as a hateful and unattractive woman(even though it wasn't true), many who knew of her complained about her positioning and reply they got just made everything worse. According to reports the Organisation For Accessing True Beauty or (TOATB) replied with
"an independent woman has its own charm"
naturally many protested especially the noble ladies who claim to have debased themselves by performing acts beneath them only to get a lower rank but TOATB was set firm on their ranking, until they were sufficiently threatened so they made to revamp the entire list. That was when she started her carrier, a certain female Don with fiery red hair that matched her personality, not many knew where she came from but all knew of her strength as she quickly became the first Don of her city and was quickly acknowledged as the strongest woman on the continent, when a passing agent stopped at her city and decided to catch a glance at this pinnacle of power, witnesses say he rang all the back to base saying one thing
"I found her"
TOATB quickly published a new list with her at the very top, another set of outrage followed, as with most things regarding evaluation people preferred to not involve Don's, some even dared to claim she had threatened TOATB to give her that position, the woman in question simply responded with fire, it was until several months later that an executive suggested they publish pictures of these women, then and only then did the outrage die out, a woman with fiery red hair a bombastic figure a sly smirk on the most perfect features in the world, the world finally accepted it, no one else could compete they cried out and all those who couldn't shouldn't be on this list, and with that almost all the 300 other ladies were ejected from their spots making way for only her and a few others, although in total they were less than 5, 4 years later that number has become 7 and Tridents 2nd Don is one of them. Publicly acclaimed as one of the most beautiful women alive.
(for those who were patient enough to read this I sincerely thank you as all 7 women in this list will play major parts in this story and I simply wanted to get over how and why they're here)
"Indeed it did, remember when a bunch of those recruters showed up at our guild"
Felix said smiling
'I don't know what you're talking about'
I said with feigned ignorance, it seems he didn't buy it since he pressed on with a familiar yet unpleasant tone
"why fair maiden would you do me the honour of knowing you're name"
said Felix before gesturing to me much to Damiens confusion. I simply ignored him and continued focusing on my work
"psstt..., Kalen, it your part"
'I refuse to remember that day'
"oh so you do know what I'm talking about'
'no'
"you're a crappy liar"
he said with a wry smile
"can someone explain what's going on"
said Damien
"a long time ago one of them came to our guild and met Kalen, they thought he was a girl because he had long hair"
he said with a laugh
"you should have seen his face when Kalen told him to "fuck off", his voice was already getting pretty masculine by that point and that was what it took for the guy to realise his mistake"
before he had even finished Damien was already roaring with laughter, I also perceived several of the people on this floor laughing as well, obviously they were spying on us.
"you know his hair used to much longer than this but after that day he had it cut out of shame, he almost went bald if not for Loraine"
just as he finished speaking, Felixs laugh died in his throat. He turned to me in order to gauge my reaction but I paid him no mind, it wasn't because I had gotten over my guilt but because I didn't want to discourage him, my friend had spent the last few weeks helping me move on and organising my affairs, it would be stupid if I broke down at this point because of a name.
'The point is, there are several people willing to risk death in order to see Raine naked, to think there'd come a day when those words would leave my mouth'
Felix taking the bait replied with
"to think there'd come a day when you'd be a Don"
"to think there'd come a day when I'd be banned from drinking"
I turned to my recently acquired older brother and spoke
'all Arcanum users have ridiculous levels of poison resistance, its too the point where even when I manipulate my own biology and drink some of the most toxic concoctions man can make I still barely end up light headed yet you manage to stay drunk 24/7, amd your poison resistance is even greater'
"why did you suddenly start praising me"
I ignored his comment before continuing
'you drink too much, in fact I'm willing to bet that you've processed more alcohol than breathable air in your entire life, I drink, I enjoy a dozen pints as much as the next guy, but even I feel fear in the face of your habit'
"but I'm thristy"
he whined. I gestured to the jug of water sitting on my desk before saying
'all yours'
he looked at it dubiously before saying
"I don't like the taste"
for the following minute while my mouth hung wide open Felix cackled like a mad man before flicking a tear out the corner of his eye,
"still do you really have to sign all that just because she wants to bath"
said Felix,
'yes'
I replied stalwartly, the documents I was signing on were in relation to Don Raines monthly trip to the city's Spa resort, although technically not something she couldn't do without if she were to stop visiting the place reporters would take it to mean this was a result of the constants harrasment she experienced as a result of her looks and reputation which would in turn portray her as weak and submissive, no Don could have that, especially a female Don, but she also couldn't let the world know what she looked like without clothes hence all the extra precautions.
Although foolish sounding the logic couldn't be dismissed as such the other Dons couldn't help but comply as this was something that affected the dignity of Trident as a whole, plus we get paid.
We continued in silence for a bit before I spoke
'you promised to train me'
"and I will"
said Damien
"but not yet"
'why?'
I asked with a genuinely puzzled expression on my face as for once I couldn't make heads or tails of his decision
"two reasons, one this training won't be to allow you to grow stronger but to access your true strength and, two I'm waiting until after the summit"
'you mean the summit of Don's'
"yeah, that one"
'why though'
"because I want you to see them, the retired Don's"
'is there something special about them'
"yep, something that can make sure that even if you're stronger than the majority of them, you can never win against them"
'hmm, ok, I'll trust your judgement'
"good boy"
I finish signing off on all my documents before standing up to stretch
"going somewhere"
asks Felix
'yes actually, I'm going to check out my new secrete realm, I'm actually quite excited at the thought of having an actual place I can train in for once'
"oh ok"
I had only taken a step, a single step before I felt it. I whipped my head eastward before instantly casting telepotation emerging just above the city. I swiftly casted fly before speaking
'Darkness Arcanum release'
the world dimmed around me for a bit before light re-emerged although it's presence was notable subdued. Waves of pure black spread out from under me covering the city in a blanket of unnatural night. My ki and Arcanum melded together perfectly and mana filled my channels and spread out from my pores a suffocating pressure instantly spread out from me that if not from the barrier of darkness would have killed the majority of the cities inhabitants with fright, instead they simply found their hearts heavy, as if they were in front of a predator instead of a natural disaster, all this took less that an attosecond(1×10⁻¹⁸ of a second).
A barrier was primed, my Arcanum was released and I was in my best condition yet I still felt lacking in order to face it. My eyes had finally stopped clouding over from the fear I was feeling as calm returned to my heart and mind, all this allowed me to finally make out what was in front of me, who was in front of me.
Impeccable, the only words fit to describe him, a man who looked to be in his mid to late 30s with tousled white hair and brilliant blue eyes he could be best described as stunning, but that wasn't the most distinctive part of him, he was dressed immaculately in a crystal blue suit with golden buttons an attire that only served highlight him as a vision of gentlemanly. With his blue jewel topped staff I found myself doubting that such a sinister air could be originating from him, when that thought crossed my mind my battle instincts trained over a life screamed
'this man needs just one move to kill me'
shocked out of my reveire I shifted into a battle ready stance with all my senses trained on my opponent, he might be stronger but I couldn't back down, not even with death apparent, I struggle to believe that there was anything in this world who could survive an encounter with this man and that only reinforced my decision, someone had to stop him and if they couldn't, they had to slow him down. I braced for an attack that never came, instead all I saw was the mans face morph several times in the course of several seconds, first shock then remorse then came bitterness anger loneliness and pain before settling on a mix of joy and frustration, like he had gone through an lifetime of memories and finally decided to accept that this was the best ending. I sought to take advantage of his distraction, tensing my arm all the power I could muster instantly gathered in it, an attack that could undoubtedly leave the continent a little more than scratched remnants of earth loosely clung together as most of it had sunk into the sea, but I looked at him face once more and for some reason i had a sudden bout of familiarity, and I stopped, leaving my fist clenched with all my power condensed but I couldn't get my arm to move forward, before I knew it my mouth moved and words whose origin I did not know gathered around my lips
"its been a while uncle"
I turned around in shock, before I could speak someone else had appeared and said the words I was about to say, floating a few feet behind me was the most annoying blonde to ever breath, both I and the strange me said his name at the exact same time
'"Langris'"
I was shocked, with his tone I was hit with a stunning realisation, there was someone in this world who hated this bastard more than me.