Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)
Discord: https://discord.gg/K7f8qGpvuk
pat.treon:/Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
"Wow..." Yang mutters in amazement as he looks out over the landscape.
From the dirt road they were on, the cart was cresting a hill that was previously hiding their destination.
A small village of stone buildings with a large fortress off in the distance at least a mile away. Even from this distance, it dwarfs the village, a closer rival would be Loki's grand castle. But Twilight Manor was built for Loki's vanity, Adrestria's fortress was clearly military.
Sat atop the rolling grassy hills it dominates the horizon, not a challenger in sight.
On the guard posts along the 60ft tall grey stone walls, there were people who looked like ants to Yang's level seven eyes.
"Not that different from the outposts in the North where you folks come from," Jasmine points out, giving him a curious glance as she drives the cart.
"I just... It always amazes me," he lies surprisingly well much to the joy of Thalie and Welf.
"Yeah, Lord Ares really made Rakia beautiful with his touch. I wish I could just hit level three to see him one more time..." She releases a tired sigh, "but these old bones probably aren't gonna make it. I'll leave that to you babies," she gives them a hearty laugh as she looks out at the fortress.
"Mhm, he really changed things around here," Welf mutters under his breath. Wishing he could see the days of Rakia centuries ago, before Ares perverted their culture and made them warmongerers.
Thalie nudges him in the side, the look in her eyes giving him a simple reminder to play nice. Insulting Ares would instantly blow their cover.
As they're approaching the town they come upon a guard post. With a show of Gret's papers in the leading cart they manage to enter the town with no issue.
The difference is noticed immediately. Most of the people in this town were either guards or soldiers of some kind. Human men and women in full plate black and red armor, Ares symbol of a man behind his shield holding a spear molded on their breastplate for the world to see... This was an Outpost for a reason, one of at least 17 in fact.
"We won't be stopping here so you kids best run along while we get some supplies, this battalion is on deployment to this area so we can't hang around long," Jasmine says as the convoy stops in front of what looks like an armory.
Taking the hint the Trifecta hop off as does the old woman, looking around they see everyone already moving out to the general stores or whatever other business they needed to visit for supplies.
"You guys come through here a lot huh," Yang says as he notices everyone wordlessly knowing where they had to go.
"Yeah...these little hunting trips happen every other year or so, that's what our little guild is known for. It's mostly family though," she says.
"I'm gonna go see if our friend is in town yet, give me a minute," Thalie says to them before stalking off toward a group of soldiers.
"Oh, here to meet a friend, that's nice," Jasmine says.
"Mhm, haven't seen her in years so want to catch up," Welf lies easily.
"Well, we'll be stopping in the next town for a few days. You're always welcome to stay with us if you want a ride back to the capital."
"I think we've mooched enough honestly," Yang jokes.
"Nonsense, any child of Rakia is welcomed with us. Especially children of Lord Ares," she says.
"We'll keep that in mind, who knows. Maybe we'll bump into each other again," Yang gives her a warm smile.
"That'll have to be in the capital, I've got no reason to leave for at least five years honestly. Those Elves down at Wishe were slacking this year, got two full crates of ears...a nice payday from Lord Ares," she gives him a joyful smile before turning to the cart they'd been riding on, gesturing to one of the crates he'd been leaning against as he slept the trip away then gives it a gentle pat.
"Uh-ah...huh..." Yang couldn't form words as he tried to process what was going. This old woman, this person who'd been nothing but sweet to him...took a family trip to...hunt, Elves.
Welf, being more aware of the atrocities of this country did a much better job at hiding his surprise and quickly took Yang by the shoulder and pulled him back.
"Thank you for everything miss, but I think Yellow found our friend so we should get going," he says. His hand gripping Yang tightly, the man was quickly becoming as hot as Welf's forge.
"Alright dear, you kids just come find me if you need a ride, have fun on your trip," she gives them a polite wave as Welf drags Yang away from the cart and toward Thalie.
"Don't make a scene," Welf whispers as he feels Yang's arm beginning to heat more and more up in his grasp.
"Mhm, mhm," was all Yang could hum out as he tried to take calming deep breaths.
With the midday sun beating down on them both men make their way over to Thalie, she was not standing in a shady alleyway.
"What the hell happened to him?" she asks, seeing Yang acting unnatural and forced.
"Apparently the old lady was from one of the Demi-Human hunting guilds," Welf says bitterly.
"Ugh, that's disgusting...I killed a lot of people but at least I didn't discriminate when I did it. Really can't trust anyone from this fucking country..." she immediately responds with a scrunched-up face.
"Let's just hurry up, I've had enough of this place," Yang says in a sad tone.
"Right, well Adrestria is here. I figured she'd be in the fortress but had to make sure," Thalie points to the large stone walls housing a wide castle atop the hill overlooking this town.
"What's the plan?" Yang asks, still not all there mentally.
"Well, we could just kill everyone since the strongest soldier she has is probably level 4 at best, but that won't work. I need to just talk to her," Thalie says with a deep sigh, clearly not all too enthused about this situation.
"That's...not what I expected," Welf admits.
"Oh we'll still be killing everyone, but we need to negotiate something first, Adrestria is just as smart and reasonable as she is ruthless and committed," Thalie points out.
"Uh," Yang gives an uneasy look, "I know they all suck but, I'm still a bit hesitant on the whole 'bloody rampage' thing," he admits. "Maybe I can just freeze them for you?"
Hearing this she only responds with a light chuckle.
Giving him an intense stare she rests a hand on his shoulder and speaks clearly, "you're a pretty good person, that's why I know you'll be able to kill them when you see it."
"See what?"
"How bad people can get..."
---Adrestria's Fortress...
Sitting on a simple wooden chair wearing long red pants and a loose shirt Adrestria scowls at the two children in front of her as she takes a sip of her brandy.
They were currently in the main courtyard of her fortress, a massive battlefield littered with the malnourished corpses of children, the final two were standing in front of her now with a knife on the ground between them.
A set of twins, pale white skin and beautiful blue hair, one boy and the other a girl no older than nine. They'd survive till the end of this initiation trial, but now they had to decide a victor, one had to kill the other.
They didn't have the heart to do it.
They were too weak.
"It's been five minutes. I don't like waiting, hurry up before I deal with both of you," she says casually, rolling her eyes at the sight of their crying faces.
Both children look at each other, then at the knife. And both closed their eyes and stood still. Their bond was too strong, spirits too devoted to each other. They couldn't hurt each other, no matter what.
"Landy Adrestria," a man with full plate brown armor runs into the field, his helmet covered all but his eyes, the standard equipment for her soldiers. carefully stepping around the bodies in the mud but paying them no mind he stops at her side.
Her eyes dart over to him dangerously, not a fan of interruptions while she was molding her soldiers. "This had better be good," she takes another sip of her brandy.
"We have...guests," he says.
She raises a brow at this," if Ares didn't send them then kill them, you know the rules."
"They're strong my lady, the woman killed our squad at the gate when we tried to stop them."
"Sigh, you're all so fucking useless," she rolls her eyes at him. "Terk," she commands.
In an instant, the man's head was caved in. Helmet bent and warped into his skull as he hits the floor.
Terk, the five-foot-tall dwarf man who had been standing behind the goddess this entire time had killed him. He was her captain, a level two. Far from the highest level as they have level threes, but the greatest warrior, completely undefeated.
"Good, now hold them still," she commands. Pointing at the children.
Before they could realize what was going to happen the man wrapped his hands around their mouths keeping them quiet, Adrestria wasn't a fan of noise after all.
With a sigh she gets out of her chair and walks over to him, her boots barely sinking into the mud as her muscled figure saunters over. Withdrawing a dagger from the mans' belt she stabs the boy in his neck.
"You two took too long, you'd have been a waste of resources anyway," she says as some of his blood splashes onto her fingers. A few drops fell into her glass.
Trek drops the dying child in the mud, as his lungs are filling up, drowning in his own blood he tries to scream but only feels his throat on fire. He silently watches this woman walk over to his sister and pierce the back of her skull with the knife, immediately killing her.
As she pulls the knife out the skull cracks, without even giving them a second glance she keeps the knife in her hand and begins walking off toward the front gate.
As the massive wooden gate opens, Adrestria sees The Trifecta standing in the road.
There were almost a dozen of her men littered across the floor with holes piercing through their bodies, armor and all.
Only Thalie's spear had any blood on it, as did her pants. Welf held Mosoka but was completely clean, and Yang held the nameless greatsword, spotless.
"Ah...I see," she rolls her eyes at their theatrics before turning to Terk. "Go gather the commanders in the trial grounds," she commands. The man immediately turns and begins walking away wordlessly.
As she strolls up to the Trifecta she steps over the corpses with ease, he eyes analyzing the people before her.
She could see the fire in Thalie's eyes, the disgust in Welf's, and the hesitation in Yang's. A warrior, a righteous man, a merciful man.
"Citra, didn't expect to see you here again. Come crawling back home?" Adrestria asks, her gaze never leaving Thalie's eyes as she takes a sip of her drink.
"My name is Thalie now."
"Awe, how cute, she renamed it... doesn't change what I made you, Citra," Adrestria bites back. Turning her attention to Welf she quirks a brow at the man, "and I'm guessing you're the Crozzo. Hmm," she looks at Mosoka in his hands. "Nice sword, but as far as a man goes...well, Hephaestus only has one good eye so can't really fault her for thinking you're anything good," she shrugs at him and turns to Yang.
"And that makes you Yang Shen, people are calling you 'The Demon of Orario' now," she says dramatically before schooling her features once more. "Bunch of garbage about you being inhuman, not feeling fire or pain, the offspring of a man and fire demon. Seeing you here it's...disappointing, but rumors usually are," she turns and begins walking back inside.
As Welf and Yang share a confused glance with each other Thalie wordlessly follows Adrestria through the gates.
As they follow behind the woman, she walks into the courtyard once more, the adventurers behind her stop.
Everywhere else in this area was dry, but this courtyard was muddy. Redish brown mud, from the corpses and fighting that happened here almost every day.
They looked around in horror at the field of dead children, no older than maybe 11 at best.
Yang lost his lunch, Welf took a step back in shock. Thalie froze and looked around, she hadn't seen anything like this since she left this horrid place. Focusing her mind once more she fell into step behind the goddess. Now having a visual reminder of what she was trying to stop.
"Not what I expected from Freya's man," Adrestria turns back and sees Yang emptying his stomach, "maybe I am the last true war god, the others really have gone soft," she says in disgust while walking inside.
Waiting inside the fortress and away from the midday sun, both women share an awkward silence as Welf and Yang catch up.
Yang looks much paler as does Welf, suddenly looking tired as they zombied along behind the women.
"It really is disappointing, the fact that the incompetent fool Ares is the closest thing to a true war god other than myself. He's busy playing king and failing crusades while I'm trying to make a true champion, I suppose if you live long enough everyone disappoints you eventually," Adrestria says as they arrive at a large wooden door with a golden X across it.
Pushing open the door they all enter into a library of some kind. Shelves on each wall with red books stocking them. Each spine had no title, only number, years, each book spanned a particular decade.
"You brought us here," Thalie says bitterly.
"It's the only place comfortable enough for guests," Adrestria gestures to the luxury couches in the middle of the room set up around a coffee table.
Following her gesture Thalie takes a seat, Welf and Yang reluctantly do the same as Adrestria peruses the shelves.
" I assume you know why I'm here... " Thalie says.
"Mhm...Kill everyone, scorched earth that kind of thing I'd imagine... That's how I built you after all," she gives Thalie a sinister smile before turning to run her fingers along the spines of the books.
"And now it's come back to bite you in the ass."
"Please, your mortal, if an ant bites you what's the point in hunting it down. I'll outlive you by eternity remember."
"So your plan is what, let us wipe out all your people then just outlive us and come back to the lower world and start all over?"
"Exactly. I'm glad Hephaestus hasn't made you completely dull, I can't very well stop a level seven and two leave fives. But I'll always come back and start over," Adrestria shrugs and she pulls out a book from the shelf.
Tossing the book over to the adventurer the goddess takes a seat opposite her.
"The records..." Thalie says.
"Everyone who got my falna for that decade... Your decade, just more failures to the pile," Adrestria takes a sip of her drink.
"More blood on your hands... More children tossed to the fire, more lives ruined..."
"Don't get preachy with me. You were the one cornering the other trainees in the halls and beating them to death. You took all my lessons like a sponge, you loved it... I can see that look in your eye, you still revel in it."
"SHUT UP!" Thalie slams her fist down on the table, splintering the piece of furniture.
Adrestria only leans back in her seat and smiles "I'm glad Hephaestus couldn't take that out of you. She poisoned you as best she could with dreams and thoughts of love, dreams, family...peace, but you were always a killer. That's your true purpose. That's why I bred and built you..."
"She tried..." Thalie takes a deep breath to calm herself. "She tried to make me a better person. But that's wouldn't help me come back here and kill all of your fucking people!"
"When I heard about how soft you were getting, joining a team and acting like a little happy family I assumed you were a lost cause, you are... But at least you have some fire left..."
Thalie freezes for a moment as it all comes together, "You were spying on me...That, that's why you accepted her deal... You thought I was soft?"
"You are soft, just another failure. Honestly I wish I could go back to when you were a baby, atleast then I'd be able to throw you in the ocean and forget about this mess. Now I've got an overgrown abortion sitting in my fortress trying to lecture me on right and wrong. That's one way to remind me of my greatest failure, you could have flown higher than anyone else little eagle, but you fell from grace. Maybe in a few thousand more bodies I'll find a second eagle," Adrestria scoffs then downs the rest of her drink.
"You've killed enough children, don't you think so?"
"Hmm... I still don't have a champion... So no, all mortals are equally worthless until I have my champion, look around you," she gestures at all the books on the walls. "Every page filled with only names, do you think I'll stop now, you're only mortals. You're worthless. I wont stop after you kill everyone here and I won't stop after you come back and do it again, we'll be playing this game until your head rolls."
"Then I'll be your champion, that's all you want right... Let me do the trial, I've never been given the chance," Thalie growls back.
"Mhm, you'll die for this? Become the symbol of me, the goddess you hate. It's cute that you want to play hero," Adrestria teases.
"Not hero, I just want you gone," Thalie narrows her eyes at the woman.
Casting a bored glance at Welf and Yang Adrestria rolls her eyes at them and puts her drink down.
"You two can fuck off and go after the children or whatever it is you bleeding hearts want, stay out of the rear courtyard with the stage," she says dismissively.
They both look to Thalie, unsure if they should obey or not.
"Do as she says, just focus on saving who you can, and wipe out everyone else," she says without looking away from Adrestria.
As both men leave the very intense and awkward situation in the room they breath a sigh of relief.
Back in the room both women are still staring at each other until Adrestria breaks the silence.
"You know this whole thing started as a bet... You mortals make good chips on the table."
"I'm aware, fighting skill VS devotion right. You and Athena had a gamble and you thought fighting skill is all it takes to make a champion."
"It is all it takes," she snaps back. "I'm guessing Freya told you since she's in bed with your friend there, only war gods know after all."
"He dumped her actually, but yeah she told me. Playing with people like they're toys...you gods really are the worst."
"When you've lived for eternity it's hard to find meaning in life,most gods just sleep until heaven needs them to avoid the boredom. Well, that was before this little playground of a lower world was made," she says.
"That doesn't make it OK."
"I'm a god... I don't play by your rules."
"But you play by Ares's."
"Cutting all the non-humans from my familia was annoying but necessary. Fortunately I got to keep Terk... But helping in the next crusade Ares is having gets me ten thousand children over the next decade, I couldn't refuse that deal. One of them could be the next you, and hopefully, that one won't be a disappointment."
"That explains why you settled the familia in one place..."
"Mhm, now as much as I'm sure you love my company... Let's get the trial on the way. The faster you die the faster I can start recruiting the next set of soldiers," Adrestria says as she rises to her feet.
"Don't be so sure I'll die."
"Please girl, you know being level 5 may help you in Orario but that won't save you here...."
END CHAPTER---
Surprise, the kind old lady was a Nazi the whole time. You can probably guess where my inspiration for my version of Rakia came from. I wasn't kidding when I saw they were Nazi Germany in WWII and Crozzo swords were the gas chambers :/
I'm tired and sleepy...was a long day sorry this is up a few hours late. My update time is changed to around my lunchtime now because my sleep schedule is normal-ish again.