"The everdream moose is one of the 5 divinities of the Dynasty of Wu. It reigns over a region alongside The Doomwing, the Xuanwu, the divine warrior from Hengduan Shan and the great azure dragon of the capital" - The divinities of the world vol 1.
The wind was howling this far north, cutting into her skin as she walked to the tent that was her office in the middle of the camp. The heraldry of the Gunnulf proudly sewn all over the exterior of the tent alongside being present on the two standards that stood proud and tall on either side of the entrance. The wind was toying with her like it always did, continuously trying to sweep away her precious wolf cloak, the first ever successful hunt she did with Ares when they were young. It was thankfully strapped to her leather shoulderpads that would keep the cloak where it belongs, a constant reminder of Ares and the better days of the family.
A family that for decades was an empty husk of its former self, a family on the brink of falling apart and fading into the annals of time as a mere footnote. But a footnote was not what Ares and Hui-Ying's sister Nuo deserved, and so over the decades she tried her best to keep the family together, trying to find a way to preserve the legacy of the family and their two dead members, but more importantly, to provide a secure and safe future for everyone of the Gunnulf Kingdom.
"With Erik and Estrid… that hope is rekindled." Astrid mused to herself as she entered the tent of the grand marshal, a position she has held ever since the nation was created by Aros so many years ago.
"How far we've come…" she whispered to herself as she made her way to the focal point of the tent, the large circular area that connected to 3 different areas on the sides and the back that were shaped like half-cylinders, the workplace of the staff of the grand marshal on marches like this. As she made her way to the center, she placed the top of her fingers on an old dark wooden desk and slowly made her way around the desk sliding her fingers across the wood of the desk.
"Just a few more centuries mom and dad. I'll come see you then, after the future of the Gunnulf Kingdom's is secured" she said and smiled ruefully as she remembered the day when her parents gifted her this very desk. "A desk for my talentful girl!" her father said elated as he hugged and kissed her cheek. "We all know how much you love writing, so your father worked on this desk in the early mornings before his job. So do what you love, Astrid, we will support you." Her mother followed up as she felt a hand lightly touch and caress her back.
"I am sorry mom and dad..sorry that I ran away" she whispered as a tear splashed on the ground. "Sorry that I did not become a writer and joined the academy of war instead." She continued as she sat down on her cushioned chair and looked over her desk completely filled with documents that she would need to read. With a heavy sigh, she got herself back together and went to fulfill her duties as Grand marshal.
"Seems the list of the young talents of this kingdom is here" she grabbed the documents and looked at the first document briefly. "Seems to be an almost equal split of noble prodigies and those of common birth." she mused as she quickly flipped through each document, noting just the parentage, name and talent rated by the royal examiners.
"Well, the great hunt is the true test of these kids anyway, no matter how much talent the royal examiners saw, the great hunt will put them to the test and reveal their real potential" She mused as she wrote down several names of the young commner children that caught her eye.
"This year… it should be the Inghard, Helvig, Unfrid, Austr and Varangr families who are automatically seated on the great feast of the younger generation.." Each family was a high ranking noble that controlled one of the large cities in the Gunnulf kingdom. "A way to keep balance between the more powerful and rich families… I still can't fathom why we don't just get rid of them."
"We don't get rid of them because they have dug themselves in like a parasite over the centuries that they have ruled their lands. They're as much of a symbol of this nation as we are, and removing them will cause a vacuum of power we can't fill alongside a potential uprising from the folk that they lead." Ase answered as she stepped into the tent, shocking Astrid to a certain extent as she had not expected anyone to be up this early, nor evade her senses.
"And to the same extent, we're parasites as well. We leech from the masses and enrich and empower ourselves. The major difference is that we're far more powerful than the nobles of this kingdom and while the nobles are loved in the nearby region of their castle, we're loved throughout our nation, or so I would like to believe" Astrid watched carefully as Ase casually walked further into the tent, and grabbing a seat she decided to sit next to Astrid.
"Well leaching is a bit of a harsh word, while the people of this nation provide the nobles and royals with riches and power, we in term offer the people guidance, security and prosperity through our connections made in the academy of war. As you know all too well Astrid, this is a ruthless world and the majority of people die on their path to power, and not many survive to the 5th step of their path, we're just lucky to have made it to the 5th step of our path" Ase explained further as she took a look at the desk with documents.
"So how are the talents of this year looking?" Ase inquired as she took a few documents from the bottom end and slowly started to look through each of them.
"I was just making a list of the ones we should move either into our army or personal guard, but there are quite a few promising ones. Did Thyra and Gunhilf move out already?" she replied as she questionable looked at Ase
"Yes, they should soon be done culling the zones we will assign to the people on your list" was the answer she got as Ase slowly closed her eyes and let her lord's mana leak out, focusing on the connection between herself, Gunhilf and Thyra. "They're already on their way back, around 30 more minutes or so." She said calmly as her lord's mana settled back down inside her and she took a look at Astrid.
"What are we to do with Estrid then? I am sure you've noticed it as well, but her and Erik have grown more distant over the last year and she is getting extremely close with the sons of Inghard and Birger" she took a look at Ase and let silence fall between them, allowing the words and implications to tell the rest.
"... I don't think Erik wants to become the king of the Gunhilf kingdom." Ase answered in a flat tone and gazed up to the ceiling of the tent. "As you know, Lords are very sensitive to the emotions and mental state of other lords, and Erik and Estrid have yet to learn how they keep from sending those emotions and mental states out to other lords, so they're an open book to me." Ase followed up as she went to go through the documents
"Then what does Erik want?" Astrid inquired as she raised her eyebrows at the statement made by Ase, not many people would ever pass on this great of a price, an entire kingdom.
"I don't know, and I think he doesn't either. Besides, he is far too young to really know what he wants, but I do know that the kingdom is not what he wants. I've talked to him a few times about it during our training sessions, but he always felt reluctant and annoyed at the thought of ruling our kingdom." Ase answered in a downtrodden voice as she placed down the documents and faced Astrid with a sad smile.
"Then what of our kingdom? The one we built together with Aros, Nou, Thyra, Gunhilf, Adina and Hui-ying? Are we truly passing it onto Estrid? She is not of our blood nor a relative to Aros! And why are you so casual about it!" she snarled at Ase, her famous temper flaring up inside the tent, suffocating the air inside as flames started to cover portions of her body.
"Astrid, I haven't yet told this to the rest, but I think there will be no Gunhilf kingdom to pass on. You know what is going on in the Moon Elf kingdom of Selene, they're on their last legs and the emperor of Wu told me that the royal family has already sent all of their sons and daughters away to different nations. Some of the younger ones are being sent to several close nations like the nation of Alfedorei and the republic of Oradorei, the nations in the free lands and some are going to the empire of Wu. The heir presumptive to the kingdom of Selene is being sent to the empire of Wu as well."
"The current Moon Queen, her husband and all members of the royal family aged over 200 are making plans to make a final stand at their capital to deal as big of a blow to the Sloop empire as they can, but the emperor of Wu has given them no chance at all, for the Sloop Empire is moving a lot of their powerhouses to the Kingdom of Selene and even their emperor is planning to engage in battle as well. And recently, I received this letter from the emperor of Wu" Ase said as she retrieved a letter from her leather belt bag and handed it over for Astrid to read.
"This is not going to be good is it?" Astrid asked with trepidation evident in her voice as she grabbed the letter and fearfully opened it to read its contents.
"The emperor of Wu has sent letters like this every 3 months to me. They've always contained information regarding Mr. Altamari and the Kingdom of Selene, but this time he also included information about the Cerviel holy land. The news is not just "not good", it is absolutely horrifying" Ase answered as she let Astrid read the entire content of the letter.
"The Cerviel holy land has agreed to allow passage to the Sloop Empire's army in trade for guaranteed sovereignty for the next 500 years. The war around the Hupomeno kingdom has come to a peace fire and both armies have retreated. This information was received from a trustworthy source" Astrid read the most important line of the entire letter out loud as fear and trepidation settled on her face. "We already knew that the war between the hupomeno kingdom and the cerviel holy land has ceased, but…. that they will even allow passage of that warmongering empire, do they not release they will be surrounded on both sides by the empire?" Astrid questioned as the sheer ridiculousness of that agreement was almost laughable in its future implications for the Cerviel holy land…
"What even is the pope and his family thinking alongside the arch-cardinals? But nevertheless.. we can't fight the empire, especially if they manage to torture the royal family and get their unique path out of them; Not even Hui-Ying's path comes even close to the tier of that one. " She continued as she took a look at Ase, who seemed to be wholly unperturbed by the contents of the letter.
"Well, the path of the Selene royal family is estimated to be of the tier 0 paths in this world and it is completely related to archery, so even Hui-Ying's tier 2 path doesn't come close. So I hope it is only the royal family and their descendants that can use it, because if any elven soldier can use it, they might have an unbeatable army once the elven women currently in the occupied regions give birth." Ase responded as she went back to the documents on the table.
"We have four options available to us. But regardless of the options we have to take the years that the Kingdom of Selene is resisting to prepare ourselves for this war." Ase continued as she kept flipping through the documents of the talents slowly and noting down several names.
"Then what are the options?" Astrid questioned as she stood up and grabbed a few maps from the cabinet behind her, having an inkling of what the first two options would be.
"The first one is to create an alliance of several nations in this region of the world to combat and fight back the Sloop Empire. The second option would be to converse with the Arctic owl closeby to intervene with this war. Not even the Sloop Empire will dare to attack us with the Arctic owl willing to fight for us." Ase said as she noted down several more names on the list and put all the documents down.
"Both very unlikely, but I guess the other two options are even more unlikely?" Astrid continued to question as she moved the documents of the talents and placed down the maps of the Gunnulf kingdom and the surrounding nations on the desk.
"Yes…. the third option would be to become a vassal nation of the Empire of Wu, giving up our sovereignty and hoping that will be enough to stop the Sloop Empire from advancing to us. .. and the final and most impossible option would be for me to advance to the 6th step and become a god." Ase said sarcastically with a knowing and sad smile on her face.
"Do not remind me about that awful day!" Astrid said as fire started to burn on top of her armor and cloak, flaring out in all directions around her. "IF and then I mean IF we could've killed the great dragon lord of the free lands, we would've done so already! That bastard killed Aros on the mountain of Sannindi!" she continued shouting, alerting the guards outside who quickly looked inside to see if Astrid and Ase were alright.
"I know and I want to kill that fucking lizard as much as you, but that thing is said to be the second strongest being in the entire world, and the only one who can really kill it would be Aguna. The only way that our path to the 6th step could be blocked even worse is if instead it was Aguna that killed Aros" Ase said as she signaled to the guards that everything was alright inside the tent and hugged Astrid.
"Then what are we to do? Going for a potential alliance is by far the best choice we got at saving our kingdom, to save the legacy of Aros and Nuo.." Astrid whispered as she hugged Ase with all her might and let her tears fall.
"There is one more option…. but it would shake the entire world to its core if we were to take that option." Ase whispered back as she caressed Astrid's hair and whispered the option into her ear.
"..... But that would sign this world to its doom" Astrid reluctantly answered with trepidation in her voice.
"It is the only realistic option we have if the alliance fails." Astrid whispered back and let go of Astrid and looked into her eyes; "We need to call Adina, Thyra, Gunhilf and Hui-Ying and discuss it with them. For she is our only option to hold off the Sloop Empire, though it might turn the world against us."
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She watched with glee as her mother and father organized the setup of their huts just a few hundred meters away from the shore, their eyes trained on the human settlements just a few kilometers away from their current position. "Get your asses moving everyone! I want these huts setup before dusk arrives!" her mother shouted across the camp as she herself occupied a spot in the very center.
As she started to watch her tribe set up their camp, she eventually turned her attention to the forest behind their camp, or more accurately the acute sense of blood all over a section of the forest, something every single member of their tribe had picked up on and caused no small amount of tension inside her mother and father, for they likely had sensed on the ships what caused the slaughter that created so much blood.
She continued to watch until it started to heavily snow on just their campsite, but strangely enough not a single petal of snow fell on the forest…"Why is it snowing on just our campsite?" she asked as a sense of dread filled her, causing her senses to work overtime and her body was being filled with power to fight or run…
"Because I desire it to be so." an authoritative voice answered as before her she suddenly saw something appear out of nowhere. It had the distinct form of a human, but its skin was snowy white in contrast to her ashen gray. Behind it she could see a pair of large snow white wings, each easily more than 2 meters in length, its upper legs were covered in beautiful snow white feathers and as she gazed up, she saw a handsome face that locked her into place in fear, for behind the yellow sclera and black iris she could feel power that eclipsed, no utterly dwarfed, that of her mother and father.
"... MOM! DAD!" she cried out in fear as the entire tribe looked at her and the strange intruder.
"AOSOTH RUN!" her mother cried out as she suddenly felt a gust throw her back, right into the familiar arms of her father, as her mother launched an attack on the unknown intruder.
She could feel it, her mothers power roaring to life and her magic exploding outwards in ashen gray, a feeling of death and decay present as her mother launched devastating attacks onto the intruder.
"Such a waste of energy" the figure answered as it calmly stood there, blocking each of her attacks with the surrounding snows as it lazily watched her movements with its unnatural eyes, not caring at all about the immense amount of magic her mother put into each attack.
"You should know the futility of attacking me.. or do you care so little about your own life compared to your daughters?" the figure answered as she could feel its focus upon her.
"This is my territory!" It shouted as it once more fixed its gaze on her mother, and in a single non-visible attack, cut her arm straight off.
"MOM!" she shouted as tears started to flow and her body began to shake in fear, she never thought it possible that her powerful, beautiful and loving mother could be hurt that easily by something or someone.
"I allow the people of the Gunnulf kingdom to hunt here in trade for their offerings. You do not belong to the people of the gunnulf kingdom and so I ask you to state your purpose in coming here!" it demanded as it enclosed the entire camp in a snow tornado of several kilometer high.
"We came here for our future!" her mother answered as she stood in a pool of blood from her severed arm, an arm that should've been gone for all eternity, but she could clearly see pieces of her mothers arm regenerating.
"Did that vile whore order you to come to this piece of land? Did it help you come here?" it asked as its rage spiked and she could feel the magic in the area becoming violent, the trees heaving to stay connected to the ground as his magic turned the surrounding air violent and eratic, it was clear that whatever he was, it had the power to kill them all.
"The whore has nothing to do with us! We escaped from her grasp to these lands for a future free of her rule! Please forgive us for trespassing on your territory oh mighty god!" Her mother said as she bowed down to it, placing herself far beneath eye level of the god.
"Bow down Aosoth'' her father whispered as he placed her down and followed her mothers gesture, one mimicked by the rest of the tribe as well. "Forgive us oh mighty god" she whispered as she bowed down as well, her eyes staying locked on her mother.
"I do not believe you." it calmly stated as she could feel the magic spiking even further, her eyes instantly locking onto the solid 5 meter large spikes in the air as she broke her bow, spikes filled with a fraction of the god's power, but enough to easily kill them all, even her mother that she believed was one of the strongest non-deities of this world.
"May the next life work better for you" it continued as it moved to launch its attack.. or so she believed until she felt a different colossal magic power enveloping the area, drowning out all other magic power, even the one of the god before them and silencing the several kilometer high tornado that enveloped their camp.
"AGUNA! WHY ARE YOU INTERFERING!" it shouted in rage as it was slowly pressed into the ground, unable to withstand the pressure as the magic power focused onto it. "FINE! I will leave them alive and allow them to hunt in my territory, but I will want something in return from you when we meet at our next meeting!"
"Consider yourself lucky, I do not know why Aguna has taken an interest in you, but I am fond of my life and I do not want to be erased by a sliver of its magic power. That is far too pitiful of a death for someone like me!" it shouted as she watched it transform into a majestic white bird of prey, a bird of prey she couldn't recognize.
"Who is Aguna?" her mother asked with trepidation evident in her voice, even to her.
"One of the strongest beings in this entire world, very few could even hope to match it and I am far away from being one of those few. Though there is someone stronger than it, but that one has been sleeping for so very long, I dont even know if it is still alive." it answered as it flew away, disappearing from their sight in a single second.
".. We survived…" her mother said slowly as she collapsed onto the ground, her mother's shaking legs unable to keep her up now that the battle vigor was over and relief from being able to live started to settle in.
"Everyone! Take a moment to gather yourself and then we need to continue to set up our huts!" Her mother shouted as she looked around the camp and noticed that everyone had collapsed onto the ground as the battle vigor released them as well.
"How did it become that strong?..." she asked herself as she too collapsed onto the ground, her entire body shaking with fear at the display of magic power she just witnessed, magic power so powerful in scope that even the magic power of her mother was a mere speck in comparison.
"That was a god Aosoth" her father said as he grabbed her into his embrace. "It has taken the final step from mortal to godhood, or from the 5th step to the 6th step as we would put it in our terms" he continued answering as he slowly started to stroke her head.
"Then why can't you or mom become a god?" she asked in return as she gazed up and looked into her fathers eyes.
"Because we're blocked by the whore, she is our obstacle to becoming a 6th step" he answered as he gazed back and before she could ask the question he continued. "We will explain what the block is from 5th step to 6th step once you take your first step on the path. Your mother gave you the first piece during our voyage, but you need a second piece of flesh to start your journey of power. Me and your mother will find a 5th step animal to kill in this land and give a portion of its flesh to you, and then you can start your journey."
"But why do I need two pieces to start my journey?" she asked as she was brought back to the day she ate a small piece of flesh from a god "I thought that eating the flesh of a god was enough."
"No Aosoth… the piece of flesh that you ate was from the Whore, but that is not enough to awaken a person of our lineage, we need two pieces or one piece from a vastly more powerful god than the Whore, something powerful like the second colossal magic power we felt today. If you were a normal human flesh of the whore would've been more than enough, but we've always needed two pieces, or in your case, you might even need three pieces if the second piece is not strong enough. That is why your mother and I are going to look for a 5th step animal." he answered as he kissed her cheek.
"Then what did the first piece do?" she asked as she kissed her father back on his cheek.
"The first piece awakens and strengthens our potential and the second awakens our dormant magic power. If the first piece is from a strong enough being, our potential is heightened and will make it easier for us to traverse through our path. However, if it is too weak, our potential will remain just as it is, and you will likely never progress to the 5th step unless you're extremely lucky like me and your mother." her father answered as he lowered his voice.
"That is why our tribe members will likely never progress past the 4th step, because their first piece of magic powered flesh was not strong enough. The only reason they even made it to the 4th step is because your mother and I have been helping them get here, if we didn't, they would've never gotten past the 2nd step." he whispered into her ear, and she got the hint that she should never repeat this information within earshot of the other tribe members.
"If your mother and I manage to kill a 5th step magic animal or human or find another piece of flesh from a god, you will become stronger than even your mother and I, potentially becoming a god yourself. If the flesh belongs to something as strong as the second colossal magic power we felt today, that single piece of flesh will be enough to overwrite your potential and awaken your magic power by itself. And your mother and I are doing everything in our power to find that second piece of magic powered flesh, at least a 5th step being." he whispered once again into her ear and she thought back to the display of power she just witnessed.
"I will not disappoint you father!" she whispered as she got excited at the mere idea of controlling that much power.
"I know you won't Aosoth, your mother might have never told you this, but you are our future in this land." her father answered as he kissed her once more on the cheek and hugged her tightly.
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"Are you sure my intervention was the correct choice?" he asked as he lowered his head back to the surface level of the sea, his eyes moving towards a figure cloaked in a distinctly old and black cloak.
"Yes….. Aguna" it answered and Aguna shuddered at its cold voice, reminding him of days long ago when he first met this being, a day when he knew nothing of this world.
The figure slowly looked up into the sky and he followed the direction of its gaze, to the world of human gods above the clouds.
".. A god will die soon" was all it stated before its gaze turned to the lands of the Gunnulf kingdom, one he followed. "Those Ashen gray half demons have portions of my power, I wonder if they're descendants from one of the children I fathered in my early years. But it seems they also share a lineage with The Whore of this era, quite interesting."
"Where will the dead human god land?" he asked as he kept his gaze focused on the Gunnulf kingdom.
"It is not a human god, but an elven god. It will land in the region we're looking at now, but it is quite strange…." it answered as he turned his attention back to the figure next to its head.
"What is strange?" he asked as he knew the figure next to him was far more ancient, knowledgeable and powerful than he could ever imagine.
"There is a human in that region of the world that does not belong here…" it answered as he focused once more on the Gunnulf Kingdom and let his magic power wash over the entire kingdom while ensuring no one would sense him. "I can't find him.." he answered back to his old friend.
".. You can't, but you know why. I doubt anyone can sense it but me and Time… if Time is still alive and not reborn yet. Perhaps the first celestial hunter and your partner, the second celestial hunter, would know as well but for different reasons." it answered as it turned its head to Aguna.
"I'll be back to this planet when that god dies.… I hope I will collect you soon, Aguna." it answered as it vanished without a trace.
"I hope so as well… Death." he answered as he lowered his head beneath the sea once again and swam far away from the sea close to the city of Heracleion.