Runt of the Litter - Tales from Alirast

Exardescere paused.

The Valkyrie across from him paused.

The notification blinked gently in his mind. Such a small, unassuming notification.

Fear filled his gut for the first time in more than ten thousand years.

The Eternal General is awake.
Make merry and celebrate, for salvation has arrived.

The Valkyrie landed on the ground, her grip softening on the spear that dripped with his blood. But any notion of attacking her had fled him. "It's not possible. How? How are any of them still alive? It's been thousands of years."

"What does this mean, Exardescere? Why won't the notification go away? Why are so many of my traits concerning my empire warning me?" The Valkyrie looked up at him, and for just a moment, the two felt like equals.

"The Eternal General has no equal in this realm. Not dragons, nor leviathans can harm it. The last time the Eternals walked the realm was spoken of in a book that is more than twenty thousand years old. When the very land itself was different." The dragon shook its mighty head, immediately sending out hundreds of telepathic messages to its followers to immediately fall back to base.

"Fifty years it is, Valkyrie. Assuming we survive." Claws dug deep into dirt and stone as he spread his wings wide and pounced off the ground, taking flight and leaving the battlefield behind.

-=====-

"Lord Quetzalcoatl!" The drakken ran into the cathedral and skidded to a knee.

"What are our orders?!"

The leader of the Storm clan stared up at the stained glass, staring at the persistent notification mocking him. "What do we know?"

"Little, my lord. The history books we have at our disposal mention Grand Exardescere speaking about an old Eternal Council. Back when we were allied. But that is all."

"So why would the system show us all this? What creature warrants such a warning? The only time something like this happens is when a [Primordial] wakes." Quetzalcoatl shook his drakken head. "Prepare the citadel to move. We need to converge over Kadessa and prepare. Seek out the Queen."

-=====-

Dawn blinked a few times as she stared down at Trillia. "Kain. You said you handled them. You promised me that the situation would never again get so bad." Power surged from her core, aiming at the creatures in the room with Trillia.

A hand on her shoulder gave her pause in wiping out the entire complex. "I told you that they would never again darken the door of that era. I did not lie to you, but I admit, I didn't expect the young orc to be able to wake them up."

Dawn turned her head to the god standing next to her manifested form. "If you lie to me again, while we sit here at the edge of the Universe. I will wipe out Alirast and the other two prisons that hold your son. All-Father's ire be damned. Do I make myself clear?"

In a rare occurrence of obedience, Kain fell to a knee and lowered his head. "Forgive me, Lady Dawn. While it's true I didn't think she could, I knew it was a possibility that the Eternals could be roused from their sleep if a Hero of the Darktone clan encountered them."

Dawn looked back towards Alirast. "You didn't expect her to have the hero's spark? Then why have you wasted so much power and so many resources on her?"

Kain didn't immediately snap back with an answer. It meant that for once, the clever god was thinking very carefully about his words with her. "She's Amara's daughter. I fucked up. When that traitor attacked Alliyah and I...my rage got the better of me. For just a moment, I was transported back to Gaia near the start of my existence, holding Celestia in my arms as she begged me to end her life. I promised my pact-bound that I would grant them eternal peace in the hereafter."

"If they die within the next fifty years?"

His silence was deafening. An axle would be breaking a divine geas to a mortal. She doubted the severe penalties for breaking those geas would outright kill him, but it would certainly weaken him.

"Damnit all, foolish boy! How do we fix this?"

"I don't know. The Eternals won't see my followers as enemies, but the dragon clans... they might not be so safe. My worry is that without understanding, Alliyah and Kadessa will side against them."

-=====-

Trillia ran over to the wall, staring at the mechanism that was slowly pushing the blade through the giant in the center of the room. "How do I stop this? Do you know? Can you speak?"

Its eyes were open and following her. But whether or not it could speak was something entirely different. Lotan had a lot of trouble speaking to her at first.

Without someone else around, she didn't dare open her mind to the creature. She couldn't imagine what its mind was like after so many years of torture.

<Orc:> "You speak a broken dialect. Do you understand my words?"

Trillia's eyes lit up as she spun to look up at the creature. "Yes! I speak Orc, I am an Orc! How do I stop this? Are you ok?"

Confusion filled its eyes as it stared down at her. "I've been like this for thousands of years. Slow down, take a deep breath."

Now it was her turn to be confused. The creature didn't seem to be in pain at all. Agony didn't lace its words. It spoke to her as if this was no big deal to it.

Perhaps after thousands of years, it wasn't. "I...I don't know what to do."

"Why are you here?"

"To wake you up! There is a dragon threatening to kill a lot of people I care about. I am pact-bound to a young god named Arlyss Darktone. He is the son of the [2nd Axle]. We were coming here to try to wake you."

Its eyes felt as if they held an infinite amount of wisdom in them. They calculated every little detail of what she was saying, but it otherwise wasn't reacting.

"You are mistaken. You are not here for me. You are here for the General."

Trillia opened her mouth to interrupt, then paused. Even more confusion flooded her mind. "Are you not the Eternal General?"

"I am the Eternal Protector. There are stairs leading down directly behind me. If you descend them, you will see another machine like the one you spoke to in the control room. Just place your hand on it and feed it mana."

As she started to do as she was told, she paused. Looking up at the creature. Could she trust him? Did she have time to ponder? There was still a day at least before Exardescere's bet would be off.

"The Eternals were created by Lord Darktone and his son, the entity that is known as Alirast. We are weapons that are meant to fight not only the [Primordials] but also the eldritch swarms. You speaking about the eldritch is why I activated the sequence to wake us from our slumber. It will happen whether you follow my instructions or not, but if you go and place your hand on that machine, it will speed up. Just say yes to what it asks."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Wondering if this was yet another creature that could just pluck her thoughts out of her head. Taking a deep breath, she walked past him and found the stairs leading down.

As she stepped onto the floor, she once more found herself staring in horror.

There had to be a hundred creatures down here. Each and every one was a giant of some kind, frozen forever in crystal. She slowly stepped forward and looked up at each of them. They seemed content and at peace.

Looking around, she found that the bottom few inches of each crystal sat in a basin of blood, no doubt being fed from the machine upstairs.

It was odd.

Other than being giants, they were all manner of beasts and creatures. Some looked similar to minotaurs, some looked like trolls.

The one she was staring at now looked like Trillia could have descended from her.

She stood tall and proud with her head up and a smirk on her lips. Rich red skin and bright blue eyes seemed ready to take on the world. Two majestic horns made of crystal sat jutting out from her forehead.

The blood in the basin was slowly dwindling.

Trillia walked over to the panel she had seen when she first descended, putting her hand on it as instructed.

~Do you wish to skip the rehabilitation period? [Yes] [No]~

Reaching forward with her other hand, she pressed yes.

~Skipping rehabilitation period...
Do you wish to bring the Eternal Armory back online? [Yes] [No]~

Her finger hesitated.

No. Lord Arlyss wanted her to be here. Lord Arlyss had faith in these creatures.

She had faith in him.

A few more prompts came up, and she just pressed yes on everything.

A notification popped up in front of her, it didn't look like any she had seen before.

It was a small box that had a crystal border, vines that ended in brightly colored flowers dotted the edges of the thing, making it seem innocent and unassuming.

The Eternal General is awake.
Make merry and celebrate, for salvation has arrived.

She tried to dismiss it.

It persisted.

She blinked and swung a hand at it, like an annoying fly.

It persisted.

When a hand touched her shoulder, she shrieked.

Stumbling back towards the wall with her weapons drawn. The [Shield of Faith] hadn't gotten in the way of the hand. Leaf hadn't warned her.

Standing before her was a young human woman. Her hair looked like raven feathers, warm violet eyes peered out at Trillia. She was wearing a simple red dress and seemed as if a stiff breeze would harm her.

Despite Trillia's initial reaction, a deep churning in her gut told her to protect this woman at all costs. Told her to fight for her. To die for her.

"What are you doing to my mind?" Trillia tried to resist the voices, squeezing her hand around her rapier's hilt until it hurt.

"Stand down, Hope!"

The girl turned to the new voice. "But she is odd. Her blade can break the rules of Eternity. Should she not be forced to kneel?"

Trillia's heart quickened in her chest. How did they break the rules? As her mind raced through things, she remembered Leaf speaking to her mentally. "It's my pact-bound. It is an artifact bound to me, that's why."

A creature slithered out of a door that seemed to lead from under where the blood-letting room was. Its lower half was that of a giant serpent that ended in a four-armed humanoid torso. Fins at the sides of its head gave it a regal bearing, and dark obsidian scales made it more intimidating than it needed to be. "You needn't explain yourself. Hope is quick to judge; she must be to keep us safe. Hope, this young lady is the reason we are awake. She serves the son of our creator."

The girl seemed surprised at that, as she turned from looking towards the serpent-man back to Trillia. "Oh! I'm so sorry." She curtsied to Trillia before turning and walking towards the lines of creatures in crystals. The moment her hand came in contact with the crystal, it vanished. Each of the giants dropped in a heap and took a deep breath.

"Rise and shine, Council. We are once more called to duty."

Trillia was still gripping her rapier as if it were her only lifeline to normalcy. "Can... can we stop the machine that is torturing your friend?"

"The blood-letting machine has already stopped. Geo will be fine in a few minutes. May I have your name? I am known as Ashkru Nullscale, many know me as the Eternal General."

It seemed....nice? Her brain was pulling her in a hundred different directions, and she had no idea which part to listen to. "Uhh...I am Trillia Demonsbane Fairtrade... I am an avatar of Lord Arlyss Darktone."

The creature bowed to her and extended a hand. When she took it to shake it, it pulled slightly and placed a kiss on the top of her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Lady Fairtrade."

The deep voice of the creature she had initially seen boomed down the stairs. "Ash, we need to contact her patron. Get the layout of the realm and what we're facing." As he stomped down the staircase, he had to duck and crouch down into the room.

"We will, Geo. For now, let's get everyone awake. See how much of the fortress is damaged. My guess from this miasma of death mana is that a lot of the maintenance crew has passed on. We may need to rouse the digging golems to uncover us, I cannot sense the sky."

More voices began to mumble and talk. Trillia dared to turn her eyes from the two in front of her to the many other giants waking up. None of the languages they were using made any sense. Her traits were pulsing in her mind, as if they were catching up on things they should know, but didn't.

A hand a few feet from her face waved gently. Trillia turned her eyes back to Ashkru. "Let's head up to the main room, shall we? The Council needs some time to wake up, since we bypassed the rehabilitation process."

"S..sorry."

"Not at all. It saves us a few months of the system catching us up. It hurts us a little, but pain is an old friend. Do you have any questions?"

Trillia nodded as Ash motioned for her to head up the stairs. "Why won't this notification go away?"

"Oh!"

The Eternal Council is awake, may the enemies of Alirast tremble.
The Hope of Vanishing is awake, may the knowledge of oblivion be ours.
The Eternal Protector is free, may he shoulder the burdens of Eternity.

The notification filled in the rest of the lines and vanished. "I forgot I had to confirm things. It's been a while."

Trillia followed behind the serpent, finally sheathing her blade. He didn't seem to have any weapons at all, none of them did. No weapons, no armor, only a loose cloth that kept their modesty intact.

"I can't reach my patron, I'm sorry."

"It's fine. It would seem as if Alirast has placed us in conjunction in order to preserve us. That may take some time for us to sort out."

Would Exardescere wait? Actually...if she had gotten the notification, did everyone? Had he kept his word?

"S...sorry. But I have some friends who were being threatened by a dragon."

"Oh? Hmmm. Sonya!" As he shouted the name, she watched as a wave of mana flooded from him.

The tall red-skinned giant from before appeared next to him, kneeling. "I believe we're trapped in a conjunction at present. While I absorb the core, could you follow this young lady and toddle through the Aether to the surface? I can't sense the sky, which means we must be underground. Go and see about this dragon and make sure it understands the importance of peace."

The woman nodded and stood, holding out a hand to Trillia. <Infernal:> "Hello! Little sister, I shall trust your navigation skills!"

That same harsh language. Trillia looked over at Ashkru, then toward Sonya. "I...don't know that language. Uhhh...I can't use concepts without connecting our minds."

"Oh, a tiny orc? I thought you were an infernal child." She leaned down and gently poked Trillia's cheek. "What an odd pigment. Are you sure you're not an infernal?"

"I...might be? I have an evolution I am working towards...it's nearly there."

"I see. I shall teach you the language of our people, little sister. Come, let us deal with the dragon." The woman gave her a warm smile and extended a hand out to her.

Part of Trillia wanted to snap at her, that she wasn't a child. But given the size of everyone around her, she certainly felt like one. She reached up and took the woman's hand.

-=====-

The Aether had changed a lot, Sonya thought to herself as she and the little infernal skipped through it and to the surface.

It was far more full of mana and echoes than it had been since the last time she was awake. As they walked through the forest, she felt the presence of a dozen or more behemoths. That was odd.

"Are you typical of your people?"

"Uhh...no? Maybe?" The little infernal seemed half-scared and half-confused.

"You needn't fear us, little sister. Our enemies are the eldritch and the [Primordials]. We only strike out at others if they have fallen to the temptation of worship of those creatures."

She was answered with a little nod. A thin golden strand was being pulsed and plucked by the little infernal to be. No doubt trying to contact her deity.

Sonya raised a hand, gently pushing Trillia behind her. She summoned her blade in her other hand. Flames licking the crimson metal. A winged woman descended from the skies with a spear in hand. "Hail and well met. You have murderous intent about you; it would be best if you didn't cross weapons with me."

"Queen Alliyah! Is everyone ok?"

"Yes, Trillia. Everyone is ok. Exardescere has gone back to his lair."

The little infernal to be seemed to relax a great deal. Sonya offered the winged woman a smile. "Is it ok if I leave Lady Fairtrade in your care? She seems to view you as an ally, and I would like to go and help my comrades."

"I'd like to ask you some questions."

"That's nice. Ask Hope or Geo, they are the ones who answer questions. Is she safe with you, or not?" She offered another big smile, trying not to lose her patience. Nobles were always so long-winded and stuffy. The woman gave her an odd look but nodded.

"Good....good. We have your scent, Lady Fairtrade. Once we have dug out the Fortress of Eternity, I have no doubt that we will seek you and your patron out for questions."

"Uhhh...ok?"

She reached down and gently patted the little red thing on the head before turning to head back to the cave they had escaped from.