Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

I let other people do their jobs, and a few weeks later, was busy having a grand old time.

I cheered along with the rest of the crowd, one hand slipped into Iona’s while the other one pumped in the air.

Iona, if anything, was even louder and more enthusiastic than I was at the events, a harvest festival morphed through the years to a fantastic event.

Night - Nyx in public, when he wasn’t acting as the leader of the Sentinels - was much more restrained, simply smiling happily at the events while slowly clapping. Nina had started the event looking around wide-eyed in amazement, before fully getting into things, jumping and screaming.

The Colosseum’s floor morphed, turning into a woodland paradise. Trees grew, a little stream snaked through the arena, various medium sized rocks popped up, the whole works.

“Vampires and humans, mortals and Immortals all, citizens and guests, I am delighted to see you all before me!”

This was a Big Event, and it was the Emperor himself giving a speech. It was a brilliantly done thing, engaging, simple, accessible, and short. Bless the Emperor, may he reign a thousand years, blah blah blah. More like 128 years, the max an Emperor could rule.

A cursory glance at history indicated that very few made it that long.

“ …we have our last event, our most ancient tradition! Today, we gather to witness a spectacle like no other, a contest that embodies the changing seasons themselves! Spring’s Escape!”

The Emperor sat back down, some political hand shaking, nodding, and general schmoozing happening in the VIP box.

We were content down in the stands with the rest of the crowd. Iona was the only one who even vaguely stood out a bit. Bless my Deception Ring.

I jumped up and down, cheering wildly the whole time, as a gate opened, and a brown rabbit lopped out of the gate. It was coated in flowers weeping sap, and in theory the Colosseum spent an entire year acquiring a rabbit with exactly the right skills and classes to make a good sacrifice.

In practice, I suspected that they glued it all to the rabbit if they couldn’t find one in time. I was too far away to tell with [The World Around Me] one way or another. It was all in good fun either way.

[Rabbit - 65]

High level for a simple rabbit that only lived a few years. It might have its second class, but it could still be in the child stage, hard to tell.

“Welcome Spring! Will our cunning avatar escape the jaws of the beast? Will Spring evade Winter, heralding the season by escaping her icy clutches? Now! Let us welcome the Winter! Give it up for - ASTER!”

The Emperor’s speech had been replaced by the usual announcer. There was no way the vampire would give a blow by blow of the events.

A second gate opened, and a wolf nimbly bound into the arena. Just like the rabbit with spring, the wolf embodied winter, snow swirling around her fur, icicles for teeth, and snowflakes in her eyes. The part of the river she was near started to freeze over, and frost coated the grass around her paws.

[Wolf - 278]

Yeeeeeah, this wasn’t going to be a contest. Unlike the rabbit, they kept the same wolf year to year, showing her off now and then until her big day.

There was a reason they kept replacing the rabbit, and not the wolf.

“Begin!” The announcer shouted, and started narrating the events.

I tuned him out as I watched the event.

Another gate opened, mounds of lettuce, carrots, turnips, onions, the whole nine yards of a luxurious rabbit feast. Some clever Wind use was clearly blowing the scents into the Colosseum, and I could see the rabbit’s nose twitching.

Naturally, the wolf was between the rabbit and freedom. It started to prowl forward as the rabbit blissfully hopped towards his doom.

“Is there a scent-related skill?” I asked Iona.

“Not directly.” She said. “I think it’s a compounding effect from all the Ice skills, and [Hunting] combined.”

I nodded and leaned forward to get a better look at the show.

“Run! Run left!” I yelled my futile advice at the rabbit, knowing it wasn’t going to do a thing, still enjoying participating in the event in my own way.

“Hide!” Nina shouted.

“Kick her!” Iona’s advice was particularly straightforward. Monster massively outclassing you? Just fight it anyway and win! It had worked for her.

“Pounce and bite, rip and tear.” Night - Nyx - decreed, like his simple statement would rearrange the world to his will.

I looked at him with mock-horror. He gave me a toothy grin.

“What? Am I not permitted to root for the predator, for the inevitable victor? Is there some rule that states I must cheer for the prey?”

I stuck my tongue out at him.

“We want you to cheer for a short winter, so we don’t freeze!”

Night laughed.

“In a crowd of this size, with all cheering for the helpless underdog, mustn’t some of us take the mantle up for the wolf? For winter? Should the poor creature down there enjoy not a single ounce of support, not one shout in her favor?”

“Go Aster!” Nina shouted, instantly converted by Night’s argument. She flinched at Iona flicking her ear, but straightened up and kept cheering for the wolf. It was all in good fun.

Iona and I traded amused, proud looks.

In such a relatively short period of time, Nina was no longer terrified of Iona’s disapproval. No longer changing like a willow in the wind whenever she thought Iona might dislike something.

The event was predictable. The rabbit froze when it saw the wolf, and when Winter started to approach Spring, he bolted.

In some years, the wolf played with the rabbit, making it a hunt, making it a game, slowly exhausting the hare. Skills were shown by the wild animals.

Occasionally a rabbit would be wily, and we’d all celebrate the herald of a short, mild winter, of spring coming quickly after a light snow.

This year was bloody icicle fangs and a drawn-out rabbit scream, as Aster feasted before a disappointed crowd of thousands.

Night showed his fangs in a smile, something rare in Remus but much more common now.

“There is, of course, the additional satisfaction in emerging victorious.”

I threw the end of my snacks at him. I didn’t even see him move, but they completely missed him.

“Lunch?” I asked him, the crowd filing out.

He shook his head.

“Alas, I have a prior engagement that I must attend to. Arachne mentioned that she would like to have a chat with you, when convenient.”

I frowned at Night’s statement.

That was… unusual.

If Susan wanted to chat with me, it was personal, a social call. Arranging a time and a place for dinner, or entertainment. A pleasant outing together.

If Arachne wanted to talk, it was Sentinel business. Night was on vacation, and breaks were vigorously enforced. Arachne didn’t operate by having Night pass on messages, she worked with a whole network of couriers to deliver mail and summons.

The juxtaposition implied both that it was formal, and informal at the same time, and I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

I could feel Iona’s stare boring into the back of my head.

“Okay! I’ll swing by when I can. I’m assuming her lair’s the right place, and not your home?”

Night gave a curt nod.

“Indeed. If there is nothing else…?”

“Go for it.” I told Iona. She whispered a word in Nina’s ear.

“Yarr!” She jumped onto the bench and menaced Night. “Your money or your life!”

Given that we were in the middle of a crowded arena, nobody gave us a second look. Night raised an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged.

“Trying to level up her [Mugger] class to a reset point is harder than it looks.” I explained.

“Ah, it makes perfect sense.” He said, pulling out a single arcanite coin from his pouch. “Alas, I have chosen to part with some of my hard earned coin, rather than take your life.” He pressed the coin in Nina’s hand, who’s eyes flickered with a notification and sparkled.

“Yes! I hit it! Nine levels in one go! 128! Hey, wait! Your money or your life, not mine!”

Night and I started laughing as Nina looked confused. Iona just facepalmed.

I was glad it worked. It was tricky to figure out experience, and how the System worked at times. The sheer level difference and weight Night had neatly balanced out with how little risk there was to the move. At a point, something was so scripted, so safe, that it almost entirely negated any advantages there was to a move.

Fortunately, a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of experience from mugging Night was more than enough to propel Nina the last few levels she needed to hit 128. She could finally reset her classes, and start down the long road to 256, where we were hoping she’d merge the two, gain a nice number of stat points, then start her ‘real’ second class, sitting on a strong foundation.

We didn’t let her actually mug anyone, and there was only so much strong-arming she could do at my clinic or Auri’s bakery. The Dragon Triad was well and truly out of my hair these days, and I was starting to become known to the locals. I was no longer the fancy uptowner, but starting to become a member of the community.

Saving lives did tend to quickly change people’s minds, no matter how distrustful and suspicious they’d started out. Still wasn’t leaving furniture there though.

I hopped onto a higher bench and slung an arm over Night’s shoulders, summoned a book, and threw up a quick sound barrier.

“Nyx here happens to be from my time, and is literally the vampire progenitor. The original. Created by the gods, consummate survivor, literally older than dirt, and one of my best friends. He trained me, and if you’re very, very lucky, he might give you some lessons one day.”

Night smiled. Nina goggled.

“Do not get your hopes up, young kitsune. It is my understanding that you shall be following the most noble path of a [Knight-Errant], instead of the dirtier work of the sort that I teach.”

Nina cupped her hands together and bowed low, her ears touching the floor.

“It is an honor to meet such a venerable elder.” Nina talked to the floor the entire time.

“No, it is my honor to meet such a promising youngster. Who knows what you will discover? Who knows what ideas you will come up with? I implore you, never be afraid to question. Never be afraid to adventure out, to chase rumors. To take a stand when you believe it to be fit. You will struggle. You will fail. Life will disappoint you; people will fail you. Throughout all that, remember. It is not the events. It is how you react to them.”

Nina nodded, still bowed to the floor, and Iona nudged her with a foot. She straightened back up.

“Thank you.” Her earnest reply almost brought a tear to my eye.

It certainly brought two to Iona’s.

We continued with our lunch plans in spite of Night’s absence, celebrating Nina’s achievement. Auri had closed up her bakery, and Fenrir was shrunk down to a reasonable size. I’d had a quiet word with the waiter, slipping him a pouch full of coins so Nina didn’t know exactly how much we were spending on her celebration. It was the little things.

“You’re ready to reset!” I celebrated with the rest of the Eventide Eclipse. “Also makes it the perfect time for you to get your biomancy changes. Have you figured out the changes you want?”

Nina looked deeply uncomfortable and looked at Iona. The Valkyrie stared at me.

“Yes. We’re doing malnutrition, strength, tail length, speed, and fur to start with. Keeping the changes small enough to stay within the same species, which eliminates a lot of fun things. A couple of little things that we’re going to keep private for now.”

I wanted to protest, to explain that I’d gotten a degree in biomancy from the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft, and that I had one of the best knowledge bases in the world for biomancy changes… but if Iona was telling me that they wanted to keep it private, they’d keep it private. Sanguino had a dozen or so [Biomancers] living in the city, all who were experienced and competent.

Fine. I’ll change the topic.

“Last I heard, you weren’t sure what element you were aiming for.” I said as the party started to wind down. “Have the two of you figured it out?” I asked.

“Brrrpt!” Auri predictably, and somewhat unhelpfully, suggested Fire. Fenrir flicked his tail, sending Auri shooting off the table and into the wall.

“I do want to play with fox fire a bit if I can ever work it out.” Nina admitted. “But I don’t see myself taking Fire along with Mirage long term. It just doesn’t work.”

“BRRRPT!” Auri shouted as she landed back on the table, her face scrunching up in concentration.

After a moment of nothing happening, we moved on, ignoring the constipated looking phoenix on the table.

Life was fucking weird.

Iona and Nina traded looks, and Iona tilted her head at Nina.

“I’ve narrowed it down to four elements.” She said. “Sound’s the first one. A classic pairing with Mirage, I’d be leaning in hard on the deception and subterfuge angle. Not only is it strong in a fight, it’s got amazing utility outside of one.”

“The biggest issues I’ve seen with it,” Iona smoothly interjected. “Is that Ican’t teach it. It’s far, far outside of what I know, and to my knowledge, there are no surviving Valkyries versed in the arts. It also doesn’t hit particularly hard, which is something Nina’s been looking for.”

“Okay, what’s next?” I asked.

“Ooze!” Nina looked way too excited about that one, practically bouncing up. “I’ve heard so many neat things about it! I can give my illusions flesh and weight, making them as real as can be. I can conjure up nasty materials. It’s got flexibility and weight to it, two of the things I’m looking for. I can protect people, I can hurt people, I can do anything with it!”

“But not everything.” Iona said. The two of them had clearly spent many long nights discussing the topic. My cold bed had attested to that! “An Ooze class that can conjure up a reasonable facsimile of flesh and blood will struggle to also make caustic oozes, or flammable tar. If you pick up a class that does have all that, you’ll lack the physical warrior aspects, and Mirage lacks armor reinforcement skills.”

“It sounds like a solid element. Maybe you could merge at 128 instead of 256, experiment with the element, and pick a direction at your last class up.” I suggested.

If I had anything to say about it, it wouldn’t be Nina’s last class up. Culturally, most people expected it, and it was called that.

Nina looked at Iona, who didn’t look pleased at the idea. Her face mimicked the Valkyrie’s.

“Storm’s next.” She said.

I raised an eyebrow as high as I could at that.

“It’s a look at the fundamentals.” She explained. “Mirage is going to be one of my elements. From that, I’ve got Light and Water. I should have a good amount of flexibility. I know I don’t want to be hit.”

The kitsune absent-mindedly rubbed a spot on her ribs where Iona had gotten a particularly good wallop on the girl this morning when her guard was terribly wrong. I’d immediately healed it, but the blow still stung mentally.

“Illusions are great for not being hit.” Nina continued on. “Water’s got flexibility. From there, I want to be fast and strong. Wind is the element for being fast. Fire’s the element for being strong. Both of them together?” She asked.

“Storm.” I concluded. Fenrir gave a happy snort, and Nina petted his head.

“Plus, Fenrir’s here. Should help me with a class… right?”

I smiled. That had been one of my lessons.

“That’s right!” I proudly told her. “It might be more focused towards cold and snow than most other Storm classes, if you get a visible elemental use in one of your skills.”

“Which is extremely unlikely.” Iona added in. “Downside of Storm, you’re not going to get anything particularly cool or neat. Just a set of passive buffs, maybe a few active skills that don’t have an elemental manifestation.”

Nina clenched her jaw.

“I can live with that.”

Stronger girl than I was. I’d be miserable if one of my classes didn’t have freaking amazing magic to see.

“Lastly, of course-” Iona grinned at Nina’s outraged growl.

“Hey! Mine!” She protested, looking and acting her age for once. A big win, in my book. She shouldn’t have to be an adult yet.

“Celestial!” She proudly told us. “It’s the element the two of you have. Iona knows all the tricks of a Celestial warrior, it’ll be easy!”

Iona and I locked eyes, and I gave the smallest little shake of my pupils. Iona gave the tiniest look of acknowledgement, wordlessly communicating with me.

It sounded more like Nina was saying it to be nice, because it was what she should say, rather than any true passion for it. Unlike how she’d gushed over Ooze, she had like nothing nice to say about Celestial. No real drive, no strong reasoning.

I wasn’t offended. It wasn’t for everyone. There were some elements that I went ‘meh’ on, that held minimal attraction. I’d only be offended if she did go Celestial, and ended up being unhappy with her choices.

“I think Sound and Celestial are your weakest options.” I said. “You’d be going down a radically different path with Sound, and you don’t sound excited about Celestial.”

“I am!” She protested. Iona shot me a look that said she clearly didn’t believe her.

“Brrrpt!” Auri finally un-constipated herself and got three glowing will-o-wisps floating around her, conjuring up the fabled fox fire that was a uniquely kitsune ability.

The lords and ladies of flames, the keeper of the inferno, the master of fires, phoenixes, clearly could nab it as well. Given that Auri could generally instantly summon any fire she wanted - divine included - it clearly took some effort to use fox fire.

The will-o-wisps flickered, filling the room with an eerie blue light. The shadows lengthened, and the images in the room warped as ethereal singing started.

Nina clapped her hands with delight, and Iona aborted a bonk.

“I want to do that!” She squealed.

“Storm!” I fake-coughed.

“Something to keep in mind. Whatever you choose, we have the time to take a trip to one of the elemental sites. It could help.”

“Huh?” I asked.

Iona shot me a puzzled look, then widened her eyes.

“Oh! I’ve told you about them, just not with those words. There are some places in the world that are just weird. The Reverse Glacier that showed my opposite reflection for example? That’s one of the Mirror sites. Maybe a Mirage site. Same with the flame pillars, it’s a Fire site.”

That made quite a few things click for me.

“The Titan’s Geyser. That’s… Water?” I asked, naming a tourist attraction in Exterreri.

Iona shrugged.

“Maybe Steam? Not terribly important for us. What’s nice is with Dawn’s job, we could visit the Star’s Gate in the Golden Courts, the Shifting Swamp of Draakveld, the Valley of Mist in Rolland, the Caves of Singing Glass in Aerie, or maybe dip you into Xyris, the Living Storm.”

I looked at Iona, utterly horrified by that last idea.

“But-” I protested, shutting up at Nina’s interested look.

“Doesn’t matter much if my skills get all scrambled up, yeah? They’re all resetting, should be easy enough grabbin’ new skills.” She said.

I massaged the bridge of my nose.

That was a horrifically bad idea, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to stop it. All I could try to do was mitigate the damage.

Having Nina go into Xyris would indeed improve her Storm class offerings. The longer she stayed there, the higher quality she’d get. At the same time, her skills would be constantly hot-swapped. The storm randomly scrambled the skills of everyone inside it. The bulk of the creatures inside the living hurricane were fishes and birds, who randomly took skills offered, and they weren’t particularly strong.

Didn’t stop some idiots trying their luck every year. The legend of Seraphina, the Oceanic Tempest was a semi-popular one. The story went that she’d gotten sucked in while fishing, and emerged with a [Vortex of Oceanic Tempest, Unleashed by the Kraken’s Will] at nearly 4000. With that single skill, she pulled off all manner of ludicrous feats.

Of course, when it was only low level idiots and fish in the storm, the odds of getting anything good were horrific. Much more likely to end up with [Fly] twice, [Splashing] once, and three different [Peck] variants. Both on the class skills, and the general skills.

A discussion for another day. When resetting everything, I suppose there was nothing to lose… besides, you know, getting smacked by an uprooted tree and flat out killed. The storm was alive, and had something of a temper.

The discussion was on. The pros and cons of each element, each of us having a different favorite, a different pull.

To my great surprise, Auri was voting Celestial. Almost all her best friend’s eyes were starry, and she wanted Nina’s eyes to be starry as well, nevermind that Nina was aiming for rainbow Mirage eyes again.

I was advocating Ooze in the end. Passion and love had always won the day for me, and I thought Nina should follow hers. Fenrir and Iona both thought Storm was a real winner.

Frankly, the moment Iona let it slip that she thought Storm was the best, it was all over. It was more of a challenge to get Nina to consider the other elements.

“Do I just… do it now?” Nina asked.

“Yes.” Iona said. “Aim for [Page] classes, or anything similar that terminates in the [Valkyrie] class. Ask your guide for assistance.”

“Make one last illusion before you go!” I reminded her. “It’ll be a while before you can make one again!”

A half dozen Nina’s suddenly filled the room, giving us all a hug. An embarrassed Nina quickly laid down, before the lights showing a class-up started to dance around her.

I snuggled into Iona.

“Sooo… you going to feed me that mango you’ve got stashed away, or what?” I asked with a cheeky grin.

Iona bent over to kiss me, before pulling out said fruit.

Goddesses, I love that woman.

“Arachne. You wanted to chat?” I asked the leader of the Sentinels, at the center of her city-spanning web, deep in her underwater lair. The woman had style.

She smiled at me.

“Sentinel Dawn. I have a mission for you.”

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