ALL NOVEL Chapter 344 - Time to come home and meet the family!
Lillian took a deep breath and savored her first whiff of fresh spring air laden with the heady bouquet of autumn comprised of wildflowers, birch, pine, rich loamy soil, and the scents of magic both rich and wondrous as well as corrupt and foul.
She swallowed the unexpected lump in her throat as she prepared to step from between the pines here in the inner garden of the palace where she had first awakened as the familiar of a wild headstrong boy determined to blaze past his own trauma by forging himself into a titan who no one could ever fuck with or torment ever again. A youth who just so happened to be her father. Just as she was laden with the memories and past life experiences of the adorable rabbit now on her shoulder who was technically… her mother?
Her cheeks flushed, as she turned her ears and eyes to the smirking bunny on her shoulder. “This is so weird.”
Bunbun snorted, ears flicking away a few pine needles brushing against them in the autumn breeze. “You’re telling me! There I was, thinking that I was basically giving my life to this perfect mannequin leveling up in sweet, sweet power like some wild glorious dream, only to find out that I was effectively making my super awesome perfect and glorious daughter.”
Lillian blinked back tears as she grinned, gently stroking her bunny between the ears, in the way she knew she liked best. “And for me, it was just a change of perspective… because I was you, or me… and then I’m with Conceptio and power-leveling just like you said, like a wild glorious dream.”
Her familiar… mother? Dipped her ears in a nod. “Precisely,” she said, reflexively scratching an itch in her side with her back foot until her daughter took over. “Ooh, that’s better. Thank you, dear.” She gave Lillian a thoughtful look, her voice turning solemn. “It’s all coming down, right here and now, and I can sense you-know-who flipping cards of fate even as we speak. Are you sure you want to do this?”
Lillian flushed, gazing down at her own too-tight fitting uniform and the tricorn hat on her head that her ears somehow held in place perfectly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of sweet autumn air. “It would have been so awesome to adventure with you and Dad.” She gently kissed the soft white fur of Bunbuns’ head. “But we both know what’s at stake.”
Bunbun nodded. “We do. So, what’s say we go say high to the girl sneaking a quick smoke break on her favorite patio?”
Lillian swallowed and dipped her head, surprised that her heart was absolutely thundering in her chest as her cheeks flushed with nervousness she totally did not expect, feeling more anxious approaching the strikingly beautiful former movie starlet now dressed in exotic silks radiating protective warding magics and the tiniest circlet across her brow, taking a thoughtful drag from her cigarette before blowing a stream of blue smoke from glossy pink lips.
Lillian’s monstrous perception and awesome ears made it clear that, shockingly, there was absolutely no one else around. Just Elonia Silver gazing down at several cards spayed out on a small floating platform before her, smirking ruefully at her own tobacco stick, before lifting her gaze to meet Lillian’s own.
Lillian shivered for just a heartbeat. Those sky-blue eyes. The perfect mirror of Eric’s. Her father’s. Or at least, what they looked like before.
The princess of what Eric hoped would one day be the most powerful faction in the world gave a rueful smile, showing off pearly white teeth. “I keep trying to quit these. But life keeps throwing fucking curve-balls like you wouldn’t believe.”
Lillian smiled, nodding her head, deliberately choosing to sit down cross-legged in the grass a good dozen feet away, as harmless and meek as any friendly girl striking up a conversation.
“Considering everything we’ve all been through, I don’t think anyone’s going to blame you for wanting the occasional ciggy.”
Elonia chuckled throatily. “Oh how I wish that were true! And I’m the supposed head of this entire faction, can you believe it?” She gave a wry shake of her head. “You’d think a princess would be cut a little slack. But oh no, we’re now the role-model for the entire faction, if not the whole fucking world, and we’re all going to pretend my earlier rehab and meltdown never happened.”
Lillian exchanged a look with her bunny. “Should I tell her?”
Her bunny smirked. “She’ll figure it out.”
Elonia furrowed her delicate brows, her half-smile making it clear she was in on half the joke… but not the whole thing. But then her eyes widened. “Wait, shit. I do recognize you!” Then she froze, delicate eyebrows furrowing. “OR do I? You looked like a girl I once knew but…” She blanched, lurching back.
Lilly’s ears drooped when she sensed the deadly wave of arcane potency now subtly infusing everything.
“Okay, seriously, who are you?”
Lillian exchanged a look with Bunbun. “You want to go first?”
Bunbun nodded, waving a tiny paw that somehow had a prehensile thumb. “Hi, Evy! Long time no see, right?”
The cigarette fell from Elonia’s fingers. “No fucking way.”
“Super way,” the bunny insisted. “And you know Dr. Piers was pretty lenient on the tobacco thing. Priorities, she said. Love yourself, accept the good days and the bad, and take it one day at a time.”
“Well of course she was. She smoked herself,” Elonia snorted. “As if we couldn’t all smell it whenever she walked in on our therapy sessions.” Her gaze hardened. “And there’s no fucking way you could be Lilly Hendrix, my absolutely fave streamer and rehab buddy.”
The bunny snorted. “Truly. No way at all I could be the former ‘leet Exile’s Pather who went from streaming goddess to burnout to going to rehab with the cutest girl ever to hit the big screen. And sure as fuck, my soul wouldn’t be the one your brother brought back from the dead and your palace wouldn’t be on the former house I bought for my mom and brother with my streaming money because even if I fucked up college, my views only shot up when the world enjoyed the goofy little fuckup’s brilliantly managed downward spiral. Even the rehab comeback. And I was actually going to go back to college and put a nice pink ribbon on the recovery arc of everyone’s favorite adorable streamer, but then, well, the world got fucked and here we are now.”
Elonia’s eyes grew wider Bunbun spoke on, giving an awed shake of her head before flashing Bunbun a truly sympathetic smile.
“I’m sorry.”
Bunbun waved away the concern. “Don’t be! The important thing is that my mom and brother managed to survive those orc bastards. And best of all, my family actually got the happy ending! They’re now living in a magical sanctuary absolutely free of conflict and strife, in a beautiful city where everyone has all the food and water they could want. No entertainment yet, but baby steps, you know? And besides, as a not very athletic gamer girl I could never do this!” She said, before hopping a backflip on a smiling Lillith’s shoulder. “And sure as fuck, this palace is a monstrous improvement over the for family home!”
Elonia, much to Lillian’s surprise, still had a sympathetic look that was unquestionably sincere, even if she chose to smile and laugh at Bunbun’s quip. “Well and good then.” She turned, giving Lillian a speculative look. “And now for the million dollar question…”
Lillian smiled. “Why the bunny’s taking credit for bonding with you in rehab, and not me, who looks somewhat, but not entirely like the girl you once knew, and at the same time frighteningly familiar?”
Elonia stiffened despite the gentle smile she still wore, hands nervously shuffling the cards now in her hand. A tarot deck, if Lillan wasn’t mistaken.
“Pretty much, yes,” the princess admitted.
Lillian took a deep breath, her stomach filled with anxious butterflies as she forced herself to say what she had been mentally rehearsing since first catching sight of the strikingly beautiful girl absolutely glowing with health and looking so much better than she had a couple years ago, which was probably true of almost all Classers who either looked phenomenal, at the peak of health, or dead.
She swallowed. “Um… I don’t know how to say this but…”
Bunbun snorted, smacking her cheek with her ear. “Just say it!”
“Shut um, mom! Don’t make this any harder!” She glared at the rabbit, and of course Elonia was now staring harder than ever.
“Wait. That rabbit is your…”
Lillian, cheeks blazing, forced a nod. “BunBun, or the original Lilly you knew, is my mother.”
Elonia blinked, momentarily speechless. “But you look what, eighteen? How is that even possible…” she glanced down at the cards, chuckling softly to herself. “System shenanigans.”
Lilly, heart roaring in her ears, nodded. “That’s right, Aunt Elonia. System shenanigans all the way.”
Elonia froze, head snapping up to meet Lillian’s gaze. “No. Fucking. Way.”
Lillian forced a smile. “Just look in the mirror. We look so alike it’s scary. Which is weird because mostly grandmother’s features imprint themselves fully, dominant elven traits and all. But since I was forged somewhat differently than normal… it’s more like an even distribution of genes from both my mother and my father.”
Elonia just stared, features perfect and serene even as anxious hands fumbled for a fresh cigarette. She took a slow drag, staring at an increasingly awkward feeling Lillian for long moments, blowing fresh streams of tobacco from her nostrils before finally asking the question.
“And who, exactly, is your father?”
“I think you already know.”
“I want to hear you say it.”
Lillian sighed. “Eric. Your brother. He’s, well, he’s my dad.”
Elonia just stared. “No fucking way.”
“Way.”
“How?”
A long painful pause as Lillian just stared, equal parts overwhelmed and suddenly worried she might be breaking System taboos that no one told her of until now, when she suddenly felt an odd pressure, realizing that some things best be spoken of very carefully indeed.
“Well I certainly didn’t fuck him. Even though I had the hots for him bad, back in rehab,” the rabbit on Lilly’s shoulder admitted.
Elonia just continued to stare.
“Dad… he brought me back from the dead.” Lilly choked back a sob as unexpected emotion welled through her. “After all we had been through together, after our glorious grand finale, I thought that would be it. I’d close my eyes and fall asleep forever. But instead… instead he brought me back, and now I’m really and truly a living girl.”
She swallowed her sniffles, furiously wiping away her tears. “And the blessings I got? Fucking awesome. So why am I sobbing like a silly little git?”
Elonia took another drag and just shook her head.
Bunbun sighed. “You do know there are rules, right? Rules about certain things you can and can’t do? Like say… resurrection?”
Elonia exploded in unexpected laughter. “Oh yes. Fuck yes. Mother explained at great length about the limitations of our arcane arts. All that we can do… and the very few things that we can’t.”
“But Eric…”
Elonia groaned. “I know. Somehow, the rules don’t ever seem to apply to my brother.”
Bunbun nodded. “It’s because he’s channeling so much of Terra’s potency with their shared ascension that he can bend rules that aren’t yet set in stone in this world.”
“Yes, I know the theory. It’s why mother’s so ecstatic. Eric’s blazing trails so unorthodox that they’d be impossible anywhere else, yet Contenders forged here and now will be able to walk his path, and if enough grab Classes echoing his feats, then those aberrations in magic will be grandfathered into the System itself.”
Bunbun exchanged a look with Lillian. “Cool, I didn’t know that.”
“We kind of suspected it though.” Mother and daughter nodded in unison.
“Anyway, you know that true, pristine resurrection isn’t allowed. At all. Right?” Said Bunbun, giving Elonia a hard look.
Elonia flashed a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Yet there’s a certain headmaster of my future academy that would beg to differ. As would her husband and youngest child.”
“True,” Bunbun conceded. “But only in that territory alone, right? And once they empower themselves with the delves in that region… they might survive the trip to, say, Ashland, and ascend in Eric’s delves there for decades or centuries, sure. But they dare set foot in no territory that hasn’t known Eric’s blessing. In fact, you could say that no other territory even exists for them, save for the ones that Eric successfully stabilized and infused with his blessings.”
Elonia dipped her head, conceding the point. “True.”
“Because they aren’t truly alive. They’re revenants.”
“True,” Elonia said. “But, Bunbun…”
“Yes.” Bunbun nodded at the unspoken question. “I’m also a revenant. And I’m my master’s familiar as well, so I can pretty much go where I want.” Her eyes then filled with pride as she rubbed her daughter’s cheek. “But Lillian’s well and truly alive. As alive as any human can be. The thing is though, that since resurrection isn’t allowed, we had to do it the other way.”
Elonia furrowed her brow. “What other way?”
This earned a look. “The same way that girls have been getting freaky with their beaus since humanity became a thing?”
Elonia blinked “Wait, you mean…”
“That’s right,” Bunbun said. “When Eric brought me back from the dead, truly and completely, he didn’t bring ‘me’ back, because that’s forbidden. Instead, he forged into being our daughter, sharing bloodlines from us equally, and with a perfect copy of my memories, though hers are diverging, starting now.”
Bunbun shrugged her ears. “As far as the System is concerned, he and I had a child and she grew up REALLY fast with my memories as a template. And since causality, mother nature, and the System seem to be fine with her… that’s what we’re all going with.”
Lillian nodded. “And since I’m having this conversation at the same time as my mom and I recall from my memories of being spiritually tied to a bad-ass necromancer king that souls do not inhabit more than one body at a time, I know that I truly am a separate soul from Bunbun. Or, I guess, my mom,” She said, swallowing the odd lump in her throat as she nuzzled her mother rabbit against her chest.
She then turned to face Elonia who was still giving her the oddest look. “So… yeah.” She waved her free hand. “Hi Aunty! It’s great to meet you. You look just as striking in real life as you do in the movies.”
Much to her surprise, Elonia solemnly stood up, cards and cigarette left on the floating table, and wrapped a surprised Lillian in a big hug.
Lillian thought it was very sweet and she totally did not burst into happy tears.
“How’s my brother?” Elonia asked after sharing a long hug that wasn’t nearly long enough, before offering Lilly snacks and chilled lemonade pulled out of nowhere before chatting about the most inane things under the sun, such as life in the castle, and fashion, and imports that Blue Corp was now permitted to ship in from galactic hubs, including Aurelia’s dozen Sylvan worlds.
Lillian swallowed, more than a bit taken aback that the Sylvan head was personally pouring her drinks from an ice cold pitcher as Lilly and her aunt helped themselves to a stacked silver tray of crumpets, pastries, and sandwiches, and Lilly told herself she felt no shame at all as she stuffed her face.
“You’re eating like a pig,” Bunbun noted.
“Shut up, mom,” Lillian sniped back. “I don’t see you slowing down.”
“That’s because I’m dead, dear. So it’s not like I’ll be putting on any weight or anything.”
“Yeah, well my physical stats are all triple digits now, thanks to you and dad, and a girl needs fuel, you know?”
Elonia froze, her gaze now a weight a wincing Lilly definitely felt.
“Triple digits?”
“Um… maybe?”
Elonia sighed, shaking her head. “Of course they are.”
“Anyway, Eric’s fine!” Bunbun assured. “In fact, he’s racing here as fast as he can in the hopes of preventing absolute disaster!” the rabbit said brightly, words that immediately froze Elonia, all playful pretense forgotten.
“Explain.” Elonia’s voice suddenly wasn’t that of a shy, uncertain girl still finding her place in the world, but a woman exerting the natural authority of a queen, and expecting to be answered.
Bunbun wilted.
Lillian, whose stats were far higher than her mother’s, bowed her head in respect even as she stroked her mother’s trembling head. “Forgive me, my queen. But certain things must not be said allowed. Lest the very words cause reverberations that certain parties could sense… and act upon.”
Elonia froze, eyes alight with understanding and fey intensity. She said nothing, merely turning to glare in the direction that Lillian’s interface most definitely picked up on a full dozen VERY hostile reds… and hundreds of thousands of distinctly muted greens that were almost translucently pale.
Lillian smirked. “I can neither confirm nor deny that statement,” she said allowed, which of course confirmed absolutely everything.
Elonia took a deep, shuddering breath. “Is that why you popped into existence within the oak portal?”
Lillian frowned. “Oak? I thought they were pine.”
“They are when you come here. Not when you leave.”
“Huh. Neat. Anyway, yes.” She flashed a teasing smile. “I came to rescue a princess and all her toys. But certain questions must not be asked, lest we make too much noise.”
Lillian blinked and cringed.
Bunbun smirked. “That’s your elven blood talking. Sure as fuck that’s not from my side of the family, super-cringe girl.”
“Shut up, mom.”
But Elonia was taking her words very seriously.
“Then across the glade we leap. To the shadows we keep, and not a single whispering branch or blade of grass will tell tall tales, once we pass.”
Lillian blinked, suddenly dizzy, only to find herself in a cove of rustling chestnut trees with a perfect bird’s eye view of countless thousands of fully armed and armored elven soldiers glittering prettily in their resplendent mail armor, glittering under the afternoon sun. Lilly was awed and amused to find that somehow Aurelia had managed to finesse consent for not dozens but hundreds of thousands of snow white steeds to be permitted as well. Not that Greed cared, probably excited as fuck at the thought of claiming as much of Aurelia’s resources as he could with his about-to-be strung trap.
But it was the thought that counted.
“Holy fuck, an entire army of light cavalry. So Attila the Hun style. Europe had thousands of heavily armored knights at one point, but lightly armored horseback archers with sabers and such totally ruled the Russian and Mongolian steppes, once upon a time.”
Elonia sighed. “I know. And it’s a huge fucking problem, because to survive and take on the Orange-tier territories, we’re going to be needing all of them training up and kitting out in the strongest possible arms and armor we can manage, and thank god the horses can also level because they’re going to be carrying a shit-ton of weight, and better be able to hit 100 MPH if we’re going to be piercing Orange tier hides.”
Bunbun flashed a wicked smile. “Eric’s absolute slaughter of all those orcs with his army of revenants charging into them at bullet-train speeds was so fucking awesome.”
“It was,” Elonia agreed. “Why do you think I’m so eager to replicate that here, with my own future soldiers?”
Lillian’s smirk and the rejoinder on the tip of her tongue faded to horrified dismay when she saw the timer she had been trying to ignore while desperately trying to gain Elonia’s trust until this moment.
“Shit!”
Her alarm wasn’t missed by her aunt. “Lilly?”
Lillian sighed, turning to give Elonia a bittersweet smile. “I’m sorry, aunty. There’s nothing I’d love to do more than spend a day or a week or a month getting to know you and earning your trust and I hope your friendship. But if we don’t get down there before those assholes summon the final group of soldiers…”
All traces of Elonia’s good-natured demeanor hardened into the mantel of a ruler who’s authority was law. “I agree. It’s time for you to explain what you can, Lilly.”
Lillian clenched her jaw, then offered a nod. “Okay. Here’s the deal. Contracts that were thought to be ironclad no longer are.” She gave Elonia a moment to process this. Her aunt’s eyes widened in incredulity.
“Wait, you’re not saying what I think you’re saying?”
Lillian cursed. “Shit. We have no time, Your Grace. We have to get down there… I have to talk to your mother now!” She met her aunt’s gaze. “Please, you have to trust me!” Then trusting that she wouldn’t be blasted, shot, or otherwise ended, she raced for her objective, a cursing Elonia just a step behind.
“Fuck!” Elonia hissed, but didn’t bother slowing Lillian down as she raced for the dozen goblins, the orchestrator of so much misery, and the Winter Queen all gathered in one convenient area, more than a few turning to gaze Lillian’s way.
The hot-eyed goblins glaring with ill-concealed hate of course glared their contempt they thought Lilly was too stupid to pick up on, but fortunately, it was a muted hate, clearly having no idea of what had happened in Greystone.
Lillian assumed communication was somehow completely cut off, which made sense since her Sylvan Interface Maps and the Contender messaging system that she had somehow inherited from her dad wasn’t allowing her to send messages to Eric or Aurelia. If there was a silver lining, it was that no goblins were screaming in Greed’s ear that something was seriously wrong.
There was only a smug looking Greed, smoking a too long cigar in a suit that almost made him look more like a buffoonish fop that a true malicious threat, which Lilly and Bunbun both understood to be nothing more than a guise, a prop, to hide the true malevolence within. If there was ever a wolf in a buffoonish blowhard’s clothing, it was, without a doubt, Greed, who might soon have four hundred souls torn free of their bodies, even if he looked guilty of nothing more than being a crooked car salesman.
Perception check successful!
“How did a hybrid Classer with evolved ears get the fuck past your perimeter?” Greed was clearly subvocalizing to someone.
“Ooh. I think someone’s been a naughty boy, chatting with his hidden aces to keep any wildcards from messing up his plans. I’ll bet there’s more than one would-be dreamer eager to join the Sylvan alliance hidden in some goblin sniper’s ES Storage device. Don’t you think, daughter?” Bunbun smirked from Lilly’s shoulder.
Lilly swallowed, giving the bunny on her shoulder the tiniest of pets as she forced herself to slow down and walk the achingly long distance across the field. “I don’t think they can store bodies. Too much spiritual resonance. They’re probably buried in a shallow grave, somewhere between Queensland and Freetown.”
Bunbun’s ears perked up, giving Lillian a genuinely awed look. “No shit. That’s the first time we’ve really differed in anything! Look at you! All grown up with 48 levels of juicy insights and absolutely insane stats. Ooh I’m so proud of you!”
Lillian couldn’t quite hide her burning cheeks with the way a certain actress possessing the regal presence of a true queen of stage and screen was staring at her.
The famous and strikingly beautiful Aurelia Silver, a woman who turned out to be both an empress and the true power behind a dozen inherited thrones, was peering at her with an utterly unreadable gaze that nonetheless chilled Lilly right to the bone as she forced herself to continue her endless stride to what were now over a full score of coldly observing faces, both goblin and elf, as if she was doing a deadman’s walk through the windblown grass to the principle right before getting summarily kicked out of school to the glares of the entire school board.
Only if this didn’t go well, utter humiliation would be the least of her concerns.
In particular, she felt herself wilting under the disapproving glare of the woman that her vaguely recalled glimpses of her father’s dreams painted as being one Lady Valorn, wearing a uniform that wasn’t just similar but utterly identical to Lillian’s own, that Lilly only now realized was itself quite different in its form-fitting style to the armaments being worn by the four older elves wearing clearly enchanted armor with hardly any insignias at all, simply radiating auras of command.
“Who does that child think she is?” Hissed Lady Valorn, the one female commander who a hot-cheeked Lillian realized had been dressed in sleek form-fitting leathers not for any particular battle-role, but because she had had her eyes on a certain prince. And though Lilly could admit that the cascade of carefully tended curls, high cheekbones, and lightly made-up features would set most of the boys in Freetown with raging hard-ons trying to tame that aloof-looking elven commander, she really didn’t think a girl who clearly had a thing for tight glossy leather was exactly Eric’s type.
And she was wearing almost the exact same thing.
Even an actual tricorn cap, of all things. Even if the modest warding enchantments didn’t bother her ears and would keep her head safe from all but the most serious blow.
Lillian swallowed, caught between the awful lingering weight she felt as she was visually picked apart by so many cold stares and the urge to hurry, even run, which would utterly ruin any chance she had of presenting an aura of presence, strength, or possibly convincing the Winter Queen of anything. Like not saying ‘off with her head!’ when this entire scenario finished playing out.
So she forced herself to place one foot in front of the other, pretending she couldn’t hear the quiet disparaging comments of the elven commanders wondering at her effrontery and the sneering goblin shamans conversing in their own tongue about capturing her and torturing her later for daring to interrupt their grand ritual.
Bunbun whistled. “Fuck, honey, you got stones bigger than your father’s. Not that I’d know or anything, it’s just… wow! This is as bad as racing along that cable over all that bubbling soul-steel!”
Lilly couldn’t help but agree, even if she took quiet hard satisfaction in the looks of confusion this earned from the goblins, having no idea just how royally Lillian had fucked them over.
Not yet, anyway.
And after far too long a journey that she suddenly wished could be twice as long, she was before Lady Aurelia Silver, the Winter Queen herself, naturally falling into as graceful and respectful a curtsy as 107 in Finesse would allow.
Sufficient it seemed to earn at least a few curious stares that turned to wide-eyed looks of disbelief.
“That child radiates power!”
“She’s clearly a Contender.”
“Why have I heard no mention of rabbit-kin on Earth until now?”
Lillian ignored all the whispers, both curious and, a short distance off among the goblins, quite cruel indeed, and it said something that all parties hadn’t immediately gone back to the horrid ritual. At least not yet.
But of course, Lillian understood why.
Just one look at Aurelia’s curious gaze, radiating the power of a true Silver, a woman who, if allowed to exert her power, could easily sway the entire world under her rule in what Lilly suspected would be well under a year, made it clear why.
“And just who the fuck are you, child? You’re interrupting important business!” Said none other than Greed, electing himself the first to speak, immediately taking on a pugnacious, confrontational tone.
Lillian froze, suddenly terrified, more frightened than she had ever been before in her life, as Unified perception and her own extremely strong, 5-fold enhanced Runic Spell Mastery gift began to tease out the exquisitely complex wards guarding the aura of someone who was the farthest thing from a simple White-tier Classer, even as the nominal Blood-tear Syndicate head.
It wasn’t that she feared him. Rather that she feared the ability of his power to tie hastily spoken declarations into soul-binding contracts. She could only wonder how many poor suckers he’d consigned to oblivion with his power.
“You sure are one twisted fuck, aren’t you?” Lillian blinked at the words, cheeks flushing as her mother just sniped with the first thing that came into her cute little head, earning a bemused snort from the Deep Bronze, curses from the shamans, and intense gossip from the remnants of the Sylvan Command, their troops decimated to under five hundred before the incredibly fortuitous influx of troops now absolutely filling Queensland with soldiers locked in perfect status… before Greed’s trap could finally be sprung.
Greed snorted. “My, you are a feisty little rabbit, aren’t you? I’ll bet you’ll be absolutely delicious in my—” Greed froze, slack-jawed, eyes bulging as he suddenly put two and two together.
And a simple as that, what Lilly had hoped to dance around for as long as it took suddenly became a race against time.
FUCK! She should have hidden her mother!
“No. There’s no way you could be here. It’s impossible! Impossible!”
Lillian felt her perception of time stretch and slow, sounds growing tinny and low as Battle-time snapped into focus.
And it was only then that she noted the full dozen powerfully built sentinels who were clearly Bronze-tier as well standing a short distance away from Greed and his contingent, their distinct armor unmistakable.
"No fucking way!” Bunbun hissed. “Blue corp is here? Working with the goblins? Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?”
And here, remarkably enough, it was Aurelia who replied with a breezy laugh. “Hardly that, little one. Greed merely hired Caliban’s faction to serve as bodyguards to assure that he and his shamans could enter and leave Queensland completely unmolested until our wager had reached its inevitable conclusion.”
Greed’s glare went from outraged to smug so fast that it was chilling. He smirked and took a puff of his cigar. “That’s right, rabbit. After sacrificing so much of ourselves completing our side of the bargain, 400,000 troops brought through just as agreed, I’m counting on the ever honorable Caliban’s toy soldiers to see me and my men safely off Queensland the second payment is complete.”
“Of course you are,” Bunbun snorted, before wilting under Lillian’s glare.
Greed however, was no fool. Diamond hard eyes glared into Lillian’s own. “So who the fuck are you, why are you here, and why is that particular rabbit on your shoulder?”
Lillian took a shuddering breath, before turning to Aurelia. She immediately flowed into a curtsy once more. “Lady Aurelia, may I speak with you privately for a moment?”
“Utterly unacceptable!” Greed snapped. “There will be no interruptions or delays until this deal is done.” His outraged countenance then morphed into a simpering smile. “As dear Empress Aurelia herself insisted!”
Lillian froze, thoughts racing as she sensed the dozen shared smirks between the goblins… and why did every elf save an increasingly suspicious-looking Aurelia not SEE the malevolence in their gaze? Not sense that something is up?”
Lillian expected Aurelia, who clearly had questions, to insist on her speaking. But for some strange reason she remained silent, leaving the ball firmly in Lilly’s court! Her thoughts raced.
Shit! She could sense the shifting mood just by the tightening expressions of the other elves, knowing without Aurelia shifting a tiny iota of her perfect porcelain mask that she’d dismiss Lillian in just seconds if she couldn’t think of a reasonable…
“I’m part of the negotiation! I’m to take full command of the troops!” Lillian breathlessly said, earning a handful of outraged looks and angry rapid-fire conversation from the elven commanders.
“What’s the meaning of this outrage? This insufferable trollop is daring to make a power play here and now?” hissed none other than Lady Valorn.
Yet Lord Drevyn, whom Lilly recognized clearly from Eric’s memories, seemed to be a voice of reason. “Quiet, all of you. Things are rarely that simple. For that child to appear here and now, it has to mean that we missed something. Something vital.”
“Yes, that child is eager for power, to supplant us all!” Hissed a third commander who’s name Eric had never caught.
“Really, Ellien? Take a good look. Recognize anything familiar?”
All the other commanders instantly stilled with Drevyn’s words.
“She looks like… but wait, that’s impossible! Aurelia’s bloodline always breeds true. Her phenotype’s never hybridized within the female line. Not for ten generations!”
“And with beastkin blood, no less,” hissed Lady Valorn with a sneer.
Her cheeks blazed at the insult her ears couldn’t help but pick up, yet much to Lillian’s relief and dismay, Aurelia continued to pin her with those impossibly brilliant blue eyes. An ocean of enchantment and arcane lore, of forbidden knowledge, sybaritic delights, and dark sacrifices that had allowed a once penniless elfin waif to walk a path of peril and power that would one day see her an empress.
It was all Lillian could do not to drown in those eyes.
Mental Resistance check: Success!
Lillian snapped a crisp salute, ignoring her pounding heart. No longer flinching from her grandmother’s gaze.
“You wanted Eric to lead your troops, didn’t you? On a campaign of conquest and glory the likes of which this world has never seen?”
She ignored the increasingly suspicious murmurings among both elves and goblins, finally forced to accept that it was time to play her final trump card.
“Well my father might not be interested… but I am.”
Whispers became outraged shouts.
“Outrageous!”
“Impossible! That this tart would dare even suggest such a thing?”
Yet Aurelia, much to Lillian’s surprise, said nothing at all, just peering at an increasingly flustered Lillian with coldly measuring eyes, forcing her to wonder if she had just played the complete fool.
Greed’s earlier pugnaciousness had transformed to a measuring gaze of his own, puffing his cigar as he gazed not at Lillian but at her grandmother.
“You know the rules, Aurelia. If Eric’s twenty years older than he was purported to be… that would explain a great many things. And a penalty will have to be paid. Quite a steep one, in fact.”
Greed then turned to the figure an increasingly dazed Lillian only now made out.
“Isn’t that right, Caliban?”
The ever enigmatic and painfully handsome elf who looked so Vulcanesque that it gave the former trekkie nerd a painful lurch in her chest when Caliban measured her with those eyes she could fall right into… before turning his gaze to Aurelia as well.
“I will let Lady Silver speak for herself,” Caliban said, though his tone made it clear that the stakes had just climbed significantly.
Much to Lillian’s surprise… relief? Aurelia Silver chuckled warmly.
“I will happily attest that Eric, much like his twin, has yet to reach his twentieth birthday, as I should know, having personally given birth to both of them within a span of hours. And his age of experience is even younger, considering the entire year he was trapped in a pod desperately doing all it could to tear free his Essence. Which is an absolute violation of the Accords on all worlds, as you should know quite well, Greed. And I do believe it was a goblin pod… and a proper accounting of that incident never has been made, has it?”
“That’s because each and every one of our quality pods instilled for the humanitarian benefit of all of Earth’s citizens were summarily destroyed, thanks to your son!” A suddenly incensed Greed shouted. “And it was orc shamanic arts that were responsible for the mutation of that pod. It had absolutely nothing to do with any faction of the Bloodtear Syndicate, as you know damn well, Aurelia!”
Aurelia flashed a smug smile. “Really, you still insist on blaming my son for your incompetence? Such pettiness is beneath you, Greed.”
Greed’s glare froze on his features. “True,” he said at last. “Now, if it’s all the same to you, could we finish this? Inhuman Vitality or no, we’ve been out here for days, and I could really use a shit.”
And much to Lillian’s horror, Greed had somehow spat out the perfect mixture of self-effacement and humor to earn the tiniest of nods.
“Indeed we should, Greed.” Yet with those words she paused, turning to Lillian, once more freezing her under Winter’s gaze.
“Give me your hand, child.”
Lillian paled to see what looked a fuck-ton like a gomjabber needle on her grandmother’s finger.
“Look, I already know that fear poisons the mind. Could we please skip this scene? I already got the Titan Shout locked down cold, I fucking swear it,” Lillian fervently pled, though her words earned only the tiniest of smiles.
“Of course, child. If you choose not to submit… you need merely turn away, and never return.
Lillian froze at those words, her eyes locking with her grandmother’s as she slowly lowered her trembling hand to get pricked.
“Remember, no fear, Lilly-bean!” Her mother whispered in her ear.
Lilly rolled her eyes. “No shit.” Yet even as she said the word, her heart pounded in her chest as she broke out into a cold sweat, feeling the prick of the needle against her neck as she flinched and shivered, suddenly lost in a howling storm.
A storm of darkness and blinding-white snow. Surrounding her on all sides. Consuming her. Overwhelming her.
“How is it that my son’s blood flows through your veins?”
Lillian froze, suddenly understanding the nature of this faerie magic. A single silent question to be given and answered, that none would ever hear.
And Lillian knew exactly what she must do.
"IT’S A TRAP! Don’t finish the ceremony! All four hundred thousand soldiers were routed through Greystone’s Soul Refinery! The second you finish, Greed will laugh his ass off and yank free ALL their souls! He was originally intending them to be used in Starship Soul-steel. And even if he’s in for a fucking rude awakening, since I totaled that place, his shamans can still tear all their souls free and hurtle them into the void!”
Lillian inhaled in the dream, desperate to explain more, before collapsing to the ground, realizing to her horror that the faerie enchantment had ended, reaching the end of what was somehow permitted in this time and place.
And Lillian had done nothing to verify her claim at all.
She quailed, realizing she had no chance, if thought an impostor by the queen of Faerie herself.
And the look of horror upon Aurelia’s features said it all.
Lillian’s heart pounded as the far too clever Greed’s eyebrows raised. As if shaman magics were able to let him pierce even Aurelia’s wintery secrets. Or at least, he definitely sensed that something was up. And with so many souls already on the board, perhaps he would choose to collect a bit early.
Lillian’s eyes widened with dismay. Suddenly understanding the real reason why Bronze Tier Blue Corp troops were here. Probably only allowed defensively with both parties agreeing. And they had. But once a mocking Greed tore free 400,000 souls… Lillian expected the remaining elves to throw themselves on Greed and his laughing shamans before being cut down by Blue Corp blaster fire, Greed laughing like a madman and claiming the board while tarring and feathering Aurelia as the oath-breaker.
It all made her blood boil.
“Give me command.”
Her words rang through the clearing. Unapologetic. Arrogant. Solidifying Commander Valorn’s dislike into absolute contempt.
“The nerve of that girl!”
Lillian turned to Aurelia once more. “Let me take command in my father’s stead. I will make you proud. I swear it!”
Shockingly, or perhaps not so shockingly, Greed’s cynical lips curled up in a smile. “Ah, family reunionsare so sweet. Well, considering the improved relations between the Sylvan Alliance and the Bloodtear syndicate, I will actually… allow it.” His gaze hardened. “So long as it’s understood that she will be under the same strictures as her soldiers.”
The elven consortium froze. Even Aurelia hesitated, squeezing Lillian’s shoulder painfully tight.
“I accept,” Lillian declared, no matter the sudden clamp she could feel upon her soul. “So long as it’s understood that I am their commander in all things.”
The goblins shared a look before breaking out in uproarious laughter.
Greed’s smile was that of a used-car salesman who had a heart of gold afterall, even if his twinkling eyes were the devil himself. “Of course, dear. I’m sure your father will be very very proud of everything you might accomplish.”
Lillian flashed the most innocent smile she could. “Yes he will. With his help, I will one day see the stars.”
Greed’s smile only grew with those words. “You have no idea how right you are about that child.”
Lillian gave absolutely nothing away when she turned around to gaze at Aurelia once more. She flowed into a knightly bow. “With your blessing, my Empress.”
Aurelia, much to Lillian’s excitement and just a little bit of fear, slowly nodded. “Very well, Lillian Silver, it will be so. But in order to lead, you must swear to serve. Do you, Lillian Silver, blood of my blood, get of my get, swear to serve Elonia Silver, Terran Contender and destined future queen of Terra, to the best of your ability as her loyal general and guardian, to give her honest counsel, and put her life before your own until the day my daughter chooses to free you of this oath?”
Lillian gazed into her grandmother’s eyes for long moments, before doing what her father could never bear, nodding her head as the mantel of duty came crashing down upon her shoulders, and her soul.
“I do.”
Aurelia’s face lit up with a joy and gratitude that instantly melted all reservations away, as much as it pained Lilly to know that her father had never earned that smile, for all that he had always had her love.
You have been offered the Royal Commander class by the Queen of Winter’s court and your biological grandmother! - Royal Commander is an Elite Profession!
Synergism detected! 2000 years of influencing Earth’s tale, elevating innocent children to wield faerie’s mantel, (of which you are technically one, being less than two days old!) and ascending over a dozen paladins in a single day, a LEGENDARY feat, has evolved your class to MASTER TIER!
Do you wish to take this class?
WARNING This class will REPLACE Speaker for the Fallen!
Lillian shivered with the warning. But all she had to do was catch sight of Greed’s malevolent smirk as she felt the spiritual weight of nearly 400,000 souls who would soon be counting on her, a child with the memories of a teenage girl ravaged by abominations before being saved by her childhood crush… who brought her back with the blood of contenders and heroes in her veins. All she had to do was see the glimmer of terrible fragility and fierce power in a grandmother’s gaze, knowing that she could make so many broken things whole again, make so many things RIGHT by accepting the mantel, such that it was nothing for her to make that choice.
Even knowing that the System had known already what her choice would be made it no less valid. Too much was at stake for her not to accept that some parties knew her better than she knew herself… and despite that, she would still strive for greatness and to save as many innocent lives as she possibly could. It was, in fact, that very self-sacrificing sentiment that had paradoxically lead to her creation and birth.
She bowed her head, accepting the mantel as a spiritual and literal tiara of silver was placed over her ears and upon on her brow.
Before she screamed to the heavens as her mind blazed with knowledge and insights that she, who had evolved in such a stupendous way so quickly, could scarce conceive, as the wisdom and knowledge of a dozen tutors, countless ivy-league courses, entire lifetimes worth of academia, lore, and dozens upon dozens of battles that the Winter Queen herself had both won and lost, but never without extracting every iota of bloody wisdom she could from fields of death and sorrow.
Wisdom that was now Lilly’s own as she crumpled to the ground and screamed, eyes leaking tears of blood.
CONGRATULATIONS! Your soul has been SUCCESSFULLY FUSED with the wisdom and lore of the Winter Queen herself! A feat which neither your aunt nor father will ever be able to endure, YOU HAVE!
See, Lillian Hendrix Silver, Final chosen scion of the Winter Queen? There ARE mad benefits to savoring those sweet, sweet, silvery strands enhancing your synaptic links and preventing a catastrophic neuronal cascade, even now!
PROFESSIONS HAVE BEEN SYNERGIZED!
You are the chosen CHAMPION of the SYSTEM!
You are the Winter Queen’s SCION!
The blood of Royal Elves and Ancient necromancers BOTH flow through your veins!
You are a twice-born soul!
You have met all requirements for a LEGENDARY-TIER PROFESSION!
New Class Title: ETERNAL COMMANDER!
No matter how perilous the battle, YOU WILL NEVER GIVE UP! YOU WILL NEVER SURRENDER!
All troops who fight with HEART and VALOR under your banner need not fear death until the FINAL BELL IS RUNG!
All troops who perish on campaign will return as self-aware revenants upon first light the following day, READY TO CONTINUE MARCHING UNDER YOUR BANNER!
So long as your cause is righteous, so long as you NEVER SURRENDER!
Your troops will fight by your side until your empire is so vast that THE SUN NEVER SETS ON THE WORLD YOU WOULD CONQUER IN THE WINTER QUEEN’S NAME!
NOTE! As a Champion of the System, you are automatically a VIP user with all the privileges therein! You have chosen to MUTE all Global announcements regarding both you ascension and accomplishments!
Lillian shuddered as she felt a world’s weight settle on her shoulders, struggling simply to bear the burden as the entire field stared in either awe, dismay, or absolute disdain.
She took full advantage of those pristine moments, taking a shuddering breath and exhaling as overwhelming dizziness that made her want to keel over abruptly snapped into crystalline focus.
“Really, Aurelia? Investing that much of yourself in some bastard half-blood child?” Greed snorted. “Well, no one can say tat you don’t commit fully to the games you play. I’ll say that much…”
Lillian paid no mind to the mockery in Greed’s voice, or how quick Lady Valorn was to snort in odd agreement with Greed, before sharing soft whispers with her fellow Commanders. Though Lilly did make full use of her ears to see if any other elven noble would gravitate to her camp.
She chuckled ruefully on the inside, admiring one step removed the Machiavellian social insights that were suddenly hers, analyzing, considering, and ultimately discarding half a dozen ways to deal with what would obviously be a thorn in her side in completing her mission, which she was now fiercely determined to embrace at all cost.
Both because it was the righteous thing to do, and perhaps most of all, for the SWEET SWEET LEVELS AND POWER it promised.
“Don’t ever change, girl,” she said to herself, even as she finally lifted her eyes in one sharp motion, catching a quick snapshot look at Greed’s smug, self-satisfied smile and the demonic glint in his eyes. A malice shared with his dozen plus shamans, and Lillian’s Unified Perception, what was now an extreme magical affinity, and her newly blossomed Tactical Sense made it damn clear that Greed’s lapdogs were no more basic Classers any more than he was.
All of them were Bronze. At least Rank 10, with she was guessing was approximately 1200 stats points to make her life hell. And if they were Arcane Specialized like she was… she got chills, just thinking about it.
She knew monstrous humanoids typically had 5 Meridians to clear, but she’d be conservative and bet that Greed hadn’t bothered smuggling anyone but his best tools and cronies so would ping them at roughly 700 points to get to level 100 and multipled by 7 for Bronze tier levels, that would equal 49 points per level… call it 50. So 1200, or 100 in all their physical stats and 700 in arcane.
She would bet her life on it.
And the way they were all so coldly smiling at her made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t overestimating their power the tiniest bit.
But perhaps they would underestimate hers.