Lament of the Fallen

The commander of the fort stared with a stupefied expression as the trio of red-sashed Lords tore into the forces of the Eternal Dragonflight. The defenders of the fort had been pushed back but the Assembly forces had managed to hold so far. Still, they had lost several layers of the fort to the attackers, so the commander knew the strength of the enemy forces arrayed against them. In fact, if pressed, he would freely admit that the only reason they had not lost the fort so far was because the attention of the enemy forces seemed to have been elsewhere. Yet now those same enemy forces were being torn to shreds.

The first change in the situation that everyone had noticed was a heavy pressure settling on the area. The Lords knew enough to recognize a Domain when they experienced one, though even they had not seen one this oppressive before. Dee also seemed to radiate an incomparable holy feeling appropriate for a Champion of a high ranking deity. The skills and spells of the enemy forces seemed to fizzle out, and even the large dragons seemed unable to utilize their strength fully. That didn’t stop them from trying of course. Several of the powerful Dragonkin mages had joined their powers together to use combined magic, which seemed to work a little better.

That’s when the Dragonkin ran into the second problem. The Assembly forces outside the protective shielding of the fortress had suddenly been covered by an Aegis that deflected the attacks. An Aegis was not something new to the Assembly forces but this Aegis was different from anything they had seen before. The dark field seemed to suck the life of the non-immortal forces of the Dragonflight, and even the immortals were not looking healthy. Well, as much as the commander was able to judge such things. The scaled faces were hard to read, so the sickly looks might just be indigestion.

The strongest of the trio of reds had made a declaration after taking to the battlefield. She had decreed that this siege was now over, and anyone with enough ability was welcome to try and prove her wrong. Otherwise, they should just ‘slink away with their scaly tails between their legs’. A direct quote. Anyone retreating through the gates would not be attacked. The tone had been extremely domineering, but what happened afterwards had justified the tone. Of course the Dragonflight forces allowed their pride to get in the way.

One member of the trio had revealed the wings of an angel and a halo that proved her lineage. Her light based attacks were much more sneaky and underhanded than her race might otherwise suggest. As the weakest of the three, she didn’t face the large and powerful dragons directly. She left that to the other two, while she flitted around sniping the Dragonkin mages and Dragotaur officers that led the rest of their kin to battle. Dragons were large and powerful, but they didn’t make for good officers by nature. That role was left to their smaller servants. With the officers suddenly being thinned out, the already pressured forces were starting to think that maybe pride and more importantly dying to defend said pride wasn’t all that important after all.

The physically smallest member of the trio seemed to have none of the inhibitions of the angel as she seemed to aim at the large and imposing dragons on purpose. She seemed to defy the difference in size on purpose as she headed straight for the enemy and didn’t avoid getting close to her enemies when necessary. She was surrounded by a fiery aura that suddenly seemed to change elements depending on her enemy. When she was fighting a White Dragon, the aura seemed to turn white and chilly, and when she faced a Blue Dragon the aura seemed to spark with lightning.

The attacks of the tiny woman were odd as she seemed to just wave her hands towards her enemies. However, those same enemies soon fell with parts of their bodies suddenly missing. Against the famously magic resistant dragons, offensive ability like that was not something to be taken lightly. Of course, that was because the attacks were not magical, but the commander was too far to see that detail. He had enough skill to understand that some sort of spatial attacks were involved, even if he was unable to see the attacks with his eyes. Those attacks seemed to ignore the thick scales that were more than enough to protect the magnificent beasts against most attacks.

At first, the strongest member of the group of three seemed to hang back, but that changed once the leaders of the Dragonflight’s forces entered the battle. A pair of enormous rank eleven dragons flew towards the trio. The powerful woman with the Domain seemed to vanish. She reappeared immediately right next to one of the two dragons and planted her fist into the flank of the female dragon. The scales shattered under the blow and the dragon was slammed into the ground with an impressive crash that disintegrated the unfortunate wall that had been in the way.

“If this is all you have to offer, then I advise you to leave quietly.” The woman stated disdainfully. Unknown to the commander, Dee was mostly faking the disdain in her voice, though she was genuinely disappointed they had not met more powerful dragons on this world. Still, this place was pretty far from the most heated parts of the war, so that in itself was not surprising.

The other dragon was too proud to take the hint and let loose his fearsome breath weapon at the infuriating woman floating close by. The breath of a dragon was usually the most powerful weapon they could use, so the dragon knew that if it didn’t work, then they would lose. A golden armor of light surrounded the woman as the breath weapon engulfed her, but as the storm of energy subsided she appeared completely unharmed. A gigantic weapon made of glowing blue energy suddenly appeared next to the woman, pointed at the dragon. “Last chance.” The woman said menacingly.

The dragon finally swallowed its pride and let loose a roar that signaled the remaining forces to retreat. The dragon swooped down and picked up his injured mate. Surprisingly, none of the three red-sashed Lords made any move to hinder the retreat. They even signaled for the Assembly forces to do the same. In combat the trio had been rather ruthless, slaying their enemies with abandon, but now they seemed almost merciful. The commander rushed to the three women as they all gathered to oversee the retreat in case any trouble resurfaced.

For a battle that was fought against dozens of dragons and tens of thousands of Dragonkin and Dragotaurs, the fight had been extremely short and decisive. Partly because most of the enemies were still alive. The commander made a small bow in deference. The woman in the lead had proven her seniority in the clearest possible fashion. “Are you certain we should allow them to leave so easily?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“Certain? No. But rather confident. If I had not promised them safe passage, I’d say you were free to chase after them. But I did promise. Also, I wouldn’t help you if they turned back on your silly chase. See, it serves our purpose if they spread the news of what happened here. They will also be less likely to commit more forces here now that we didn’t soak the stones of the fort with the blood of their warriors. If we had, the counterattack would become a matter of honor and revenge.” Dee replied. Of course she also had other reasons, like not actually having anything against the dragons.

“May I ask what that purpose is?” The commander asked, still with a deferential tone. He was not a servant or a subordinate so it was his right to ask, but as the senior Lord, it was also perfectly within Dee’s rights not to answer.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, she declined to answer, remaining quiet. “Do you think that showing was enough?” Moirai asked instead, ignoring the commander as well.

“No, I doubt it. We tried to use similar techniques that we used before, but unfortunately these robes also hide much of our features. I doubt we made a distinct enough impression that the word will spread. It would be so much easier if I had shown my full appearance earlier, but that’s in the past.” Dee replied. They needed the dragons to realize the three of them were no longer on Io, but the robes of the Lords were a bit too good at hiding their identity on a large front like this where such details didn’t necessarily travel far. They also couldn’t make things too obvious by using the mountain, as that would make the trap clear for everyone to see.

“So we’ll need to do this again.” Araqiel stated with a sigh.

“At least a couple more times. It would make things easier if we could run into some of the more powerful dragons. If I fought a rank twelve elder, the news would travel quickly." Dee mused.

The commander cleared his throat. “Uh, I couldn’t help but overhear. If you want a rank twelve elder dragon, I can tell you where to find one. “

“Well then. This should make things easier.” Moirai said with a pleased smile.

----------

Despite their enthusiasm, the three could not leave immediately. They had to stick around for a few days to make sure the dragons didn’t just renew their attack as soon as they were gone. It was good that they stayed because the dragons did return. They also retreated fairly quickly once it became clear that the situation had not changed. In the meantime, the Assembly forces reclaimed the lost layers of the fortress and reactivated much the defensive measures. If the Dragonflight returned after Dee and the others left, the layers that had been reclaimed would soon be lost again as the defenses could not be completely renewed in such a short time, but at least it would take some time.

While they were waiting, Moirai found Dee watching over the gate, alone for a change. “Can I ask you a question?” She posed a little hesitantly.

“You just did. Also, since when do you ask permission for such things? I might not answer, but you can always ask.” Dee countered a little surprised.

“Don’t be a wisetail.” Moirai countered. Dee assumed that was just the Meilin way of saying wiseass but decided not to ask. “This subject might be a bit…delicate. You mentioned your mother before. I get the feeling she means quite a bit to you, though I’m not sure in what sense exactly. The main reason we’re meeting with Rahmiel is to find out where she is imprisoned. You’re close to your goal, but you seem somewhat…blasé about the whole thing. I thought you’d try to hurry the meeting or something. Or that you’d be preparing to rush to the place where your mother is after you get the information. In other words, I expected more enthusiasm.”

A smile of understanding bloomed on Dee’s face. No wonder Moirai was a little hesitant. They had not talked about Selvaria very often, partially because there wasn’t that much to say. And like Moirai had mentioned, the subject was a little delicate to her. Part of that was because she wasn’t entirely sure how she should feel about her adopted mother. So far part of why she cared so much was because she was ‘supposed to’ care. She did care obviously as finding Selvaria was one of her driving goals. The time she spent with her adoptive mother had been some of the happiest she’d had. She’d also give Selvaria a punch for sending her away so suddenly, and right into the hands of Zabaniya. It had also been a long time. She’d spent more time with Moirai by now. In the end, she decided that she’d know once they met and that worrying before then was pointless. For now, her feelings were a little vague and hard to articulate.

That wasn’t why she was so blasé about the current situation though. No matter how the meeting would go, she was still eagerly expecting that meeting. “That’s because the whole thing will almost certainly be a huge trap.”

“A trap?” Moirai asked, thrown off by the sudden mention of something she had not been expecting at all.

“Yes. We know the angels were trying to find me, and we also know that by now the Solarians will have informed them that I’m no longer on Pantheon. They will try to find me, but realistically that’s not going to happen. Not unless I make a huge blunder somehow. Despite my recent changes, I’m still pretty good at hiding when I want to be. So what can they do? Well, they can lay a trap at the one place they know I’ll show up eventually. And that’s assuming Rahmiel is not in cahoots with the hostile angels. I would not put it past even the Archangel of Mercy to try and lead me along just to pull me into a trap. Even if she was honest when we met, her mind might have changed or she might be fooled by the others. We might end up walking into a trap and unsealing something completely different. What could be better for the other angels than me opening the secret prison of some ancient arcane horror and them swooping in after either me or the creature ended up dead.” Dee’s view was rather obvious in hindsight.

“So even if we do find the location, we’re not going there straight away?” Moirai asked seeing where this was headed.

Dee nodded in confirmation. “Besides, I’m not sure if I’m able to remove the seal Empyrean placed just yet. It would be kind of pointless to storm the place and then find out I can’t even open the seal. Technically I should be above him in the hierarchy of Paradisia thanks to being the Champion of Lumen, but I’m not going to bet my luck on ‘technically’. He made the seal, so he might have also succeeded in changing that rule just a bit.”

“Are you not worried they will move the entrance while we dither?” Moirai pointed out a glaring flaw in their plans.

“To an extent, yes. Still, from what Rahmiel said, the entrance is not easy to move without Selvaria’s approval. I would assume that the seal has made that even harder. If they try to move it, they likely can’t move it far. The entrance should not be difficult to find once Rahmiel finds the general location. The real problem comes if she’s either lying or being fed false information. We need some confirmation first before we go dashing into the jaws of an awaiting trap.” Dee said with a sigh. Despite her calm front, she was rather vexed at the continuous delays. She was so close, yet so far.

“Fair enough. That explains your lack of enthusiasm.” Moirai agreed with a nod. She had been a little worried before this, but if Dee had a good reason, then Moirai had no problem with it.

Dee posed another question. “There is something else we should consider. Should we be keeping Araqiel around? I don’t really doubt her honesty, she’s not that good of a liar, but if Rahmiel is either lying or being fooled, then anything we do might end up being passed on to our enemies as Araqiel makes her reports. Usually we’d be gone before anyone chasing us will be able to catch up, but there might be some things we don’t want our enemies to find out about. Like our exact strength for instance.”

“Isn’t she supposed to help us coordinate with the angels that might turn out to be less hostile towards us?” Moirai pointed out. Dee noted that Moirai had said hostile towards ‘us’ and not hostile towards Dee, and appreciated the sentiment.

“She is. However, she could do that without constantly following us. Assuming we go through with becoming Lords of the Assembly, in name at least, we would gain much more mobility within the areas the Assembly controls. Instead of constantly following us, she could stay on some world waiting for contact when the time comes. We don’t actually need to drag her around everywhere. She might also end up dying one of these days, which would also be a problem.” Dee explained her thoughts.

“I don’t know. You’re not wrong, but I’m growing rather fond of the pigeon. She’s not too bad for an angel.” Moirai countered.

“Fair enough. For the record, I don’t feel a particular need to get rid of her either. I’m just pointing out something that we might want to consider. Having another immortal around as an ally isn’t exactly a bad thing either.” Dee gave a small shrug. She had no strong feelings on the subject, but it was something that had occurred to her.

“Well, we don’t need to decide that right away.” Moirai agreed. “Now. How long are we going to babysit this place? We should be moving on already.”

---------

“Well. We did ask for a battlefield with a rank twelve dragon.” Moirai pointed out as they looked upon the battlefield. They had been teleported as soon as they had passed through the gate just like last time, though this time the situation was very different.

“We did. I’m not sure I wanted four of them though.” Dee replied with a grimace.

Among the hundred dragons flying around the floating bastion, four very conspicuous forms were present. The four dragons were almost as large as the bastion they were in. The importance of this location was obvious as the Assembly had also positioned three of their own rank twelve immortals at the fortress. The three combined with the power of the flying bastion were able to keep the four dragons at bay, and the flying fortress also rendered most of the land forces of the Dragonflight almost useless. Dragonkin mages could also fly, but most of the large creatures were unable to truly participate. The bottom of the flying fortress also bristled with weapons capable of targeting the forces on the ground. With the outbound gate being located within the flying structure, the Dragonflight forces were forced into trying to breach the defenses.

“How did we end up from an almost sleepy sector with at most rank eleven combatants to this? Combined seven rank twelve immortals and a battle that would be more appropriate for the main front.” Araqiel wondered. They had only traveled through four worlds to reach this place.

“Well, the number of gates was low, but the distance we traveled was quite long. Changing subjects. Can you handle that Dee?” Moirai pointed at the four gigantic dragons.

Dee scratched her nose a bit in thought. “Alone? Not unless I get completely serious. I could probably take one or two of them by myself without revealing all my cards. The dragons are powerful but they are pretty far from the might of the Celestial Emperor. I think three of them are closer to the Anshar representative. One of them might be a danger though.” She paid special attention to an old Gold Dragon that almost lazily floated around. The large beast had noticed Dee on the walls and clearly knew the situation was about to change.

“Well, first we’ll have to explain why we are here.” Araqiel stated and pointed at the three approaching Lords, two greens and a white. They also happened to be the senior Lords present at the fortress and clearly seemed a little agitated at the sudden appearance of Dee in particular.

“Well, let’s get this over with.” Dee sighed.