Queen Hylla…
Looking down upon the sight of Camilla Lykos’ illustrious wings of platinum, proving her royal lineage without a shadow of a doubt, caused Hylla to go still.
She could not find the words to express her outrage, nor could she respond to the other rulers who remained beside her as they pondered the validity of Camilla’s claim. She could not even bring herself to silence Geirolul who stood beside her, as she displayed tears of joy upon seeing Camilla and recognizing her as a daughter of Sophia Lykos.
Hylla could only grip tight the arm rests on her seat so hard that they began to splinter.
There is no possible scenario that could possibly be worse for her than what was present before her eyes at this very moment.
Camilla Lykos, the once second in command of the Nøkkran Assassins. An all female group of warriors selected with the goal of standing in Hylla’s way. A woman with such strength that she could claim to be the second most powerful woman in the world next to Moyako, the very same who once lead the Nøkkran.
In today’s match, she had displayed a mere twenty percent of her strength by splitting a moon in half within the battlefield. A grand showing of power to challenge Hylla’s own if she ever saw one.
To make matters even worse, Hylla had known about Camilla’s existence since the very founding of the Nøkkran. She only did not know her last name, and therefore never knew that she was secretly the child of Sophia Atrytone and Dorian Lykos the Second.
To add onto that, she has taken the spear Ichor Doru from Hilda, the greatest weapon Brunhildt had access to.
Camilla has now become the single greatest threat to her rule.
Without any words at the ready to defend herself in front of Camilla’s claim and the other ruler’s prattling, she rose from her seat and left.
Geirolul did not follow after her and remained behind to look on at Camilla, yet Hylla did not chastise her for it.
She was not sure how to deal with this situation and needed to come up with some kind of plan.
For now, she will continue to observe Camilla in her coming battles and attempt to determine what the limits of her strength are.
Dean…
He was about ready to lose his shit when he saw what Camilla was doing.
Is she insane?! She could end up starting a war over this!
The level of stress that came with being the younger brother of Camilla Lykos was already bad enough that he was keeping her identity secret. Yet now she had announced herself to the entire world and declared war against one of the global superpowers.
Although…, for all of her strength, how could Camilla expect to win against all of Brunhildt without an army?
Maybe it could resolve itself peacefully without his involvement. Even with Camilla’s claim being genuine, she doesn’t have any supporters right now. She would be hard pressed to find anyone who would go out of their way to support her cause.
Maybe things will fizzle out without escalating any further.
At least, he hoped that were the case as he would hate to have to hunt down his own sister. With how tightly knit King Arobynn and Queen Hylla are, that scenario didn’t seem too far fetched.
Putting that thought out of his mind, he was wondering where Selene was.
He hadn’t seen her in a few days as she was supposed to help him file out some reports.
Even if there was less work to do and she had more free time to herself, to not see her at the Brotherhood hall when she wasn’t working a job was a little surprising.
He decided to head back to the hall to see if maybe she had stopped by.
When he arrived he found that it was almost completely barren of people, including Selene.
“What could she be doing…?” he wondered aloud.
His eyes scanned the hall once more until they landed on a little girl and a dark elf in tow.
His eyes narrowed as he realized that it was Thalia and Alta who had shown up.
“The hell are you doing here?” he asked as he called out to Thalia.
Upon hearing his voice, Thalia turned her head to face him and made a surprised face as she walked over to him.
“Do you know where Marcus is?” she asked him.
“No, why?”
“Well, I haven’t seen him in almost two days. I’m hoping he’s okay because he didn’t tell me where he was going,” she said as she turned to look around.
Dean raised his eyebrows as he said, “Funny...I haven’t seen Selene for almost the same time.”
Hearing this, Alta’s mouth turned into a weird smile as he said, “Oh, I have an idea what they are doing…”
“What?” Dean and Thalia asked in unison.
Alta looked down at Thalia, as if debating whether he should answer, and said, “Probably doing some gardening. Ya’know? Tilling some fertile soil? Probably hard at work too.”
Dean and Thalia stared at him for a moment as they tried to understand what he meant before they both replied, “You're disgusting.”
Dean looked down at Thalia, shocked that as young as she was, she would understand the euphemism that Alta had come up with.
Her expression then changed from being disgusted to pondering the idea.
“Actually...I think it’d be nice if he ended up with her. He always seems happier around Selene.”
Horrified, Dean stared at her and asked, “You’re actually entertaining his ridiculous idea?!”
Thalia shrugged her shoulders and said, “I can’t remember the last time Marcus has ever been on a date with someone. It might be good for him.”
Dean groaned in annoyance as he said, “Yeah well, if those two are actually too busy shaking the bed while I have to take care of the paper work all by myself then I’m gonna give her so much shit for it.”
Thalia raised her hand and said, “Mind if I help? I’m bored.”
He chuckled at her offer and said, “By all means, if you think you can help me filter out this paperwork better than Selene, then be my guest.”
Camilla…
After the battle between her and Hilda, they both returned to Boggart’s Diner with Raum already waiting for them.
As they were passing through the streets, more and more people were paying closer attention to her as they realized who she really was.
As much as she felt relieved that the heavy weight of her identity as the lost heir to Brunhildt’s throne had been lifted and revealed to the masses, she was more nervous than ever. Having this many eyes on her at once, as a Nøkkran Assassin, wasn’t that bad, but this felt different.
People used to be wary of her for her strength and reputation as part of the Nøkkran, though her status of royalty was hidden. To have that be open knowledge was somehow more nerve wracking.
Seated in their usual place in the Diner, Camilla patted the leather seat on her side of the booth to let Hilda sit next to her.
“Come on then,” she said and Hilda reluctantly sat next to her.
“I have to reward you for your impressive showing during our fight. I never would have thought that you would survive one of my attacks even at that level. You are truly an impressive warrior, even for your level of strength. You would have fit in well in the Nøkkra.”
She put her hand on Hilda’s head and patted it gingerly.
Hilda had gone silent and dumbstruck at hearing praise from her that she could do nothing but look up at Camilla in admiration.
Her cheeks then flushed red with embarrassment as she turned away and said, “Th-thank you. I’m very honored.”
Camilla laughed at her adorable behavior and said, “Order whatever you want. I will cover it all. We must celebrate this victory!”
Raum nodded and said, “Yes indeed. You’ve taken a big step with this action. Now no one will be able to ignore your existence as the heir. There will certainly be political friction in Brunhildt as a result of this. When people hear that the blood of Diana Atrytone survived, then you may soon gain supporters very quickly.”
Camilla waved her hand through the air and said, “One step at a time. I’m not concerned about raising an army right now. That can come later. My main concern is-”
She went quiet as, in the corner of her eye, Moyako approached their table.
She looked down at Raum and said, “Move aside.”
Raum bowed his head respectfully, moved for her to sit, and said, “Of course.”
When she had seated herself, she stared directly at Camilla and said, “So you’ve finally done it have you? You’ve reclaimed Ichor Doru, announced yourself to the world, and declared war on Queen Hylla.”
“’False’ Queen Hylla,” she corrected her.
“Whatever. Also, it seems that you have found yourself a loyal supporter in her daughter I take it? Interesting. I was right, you really don’t need me for this after all,” she said as she leaned back in her seat.
Camilla narrowed her eyes and said, “As strong as I am, even I won’t be able to take on the combined might of all of Brunhildt’s Valkyries alone.”
“That is why you have Raum, and now Hilda as well. Surely more will come to your aid eventually.”
Camilla expression soured as she replied, “Yet you have no intention of helping us yourself?”
Moyako simply replied, “No. I do not.”
Unable to hold in her frustration, she slammed her fist against the table, startling everyone in the restaurant, and shouted, “Why the hell not?!”
Moyako simply stared back at her blankly and replied, “As I’ve said before, your kingdom is not my concern, or my priority.”
“Where are your priorities then? What business do you have that is so important to you that you would outright refuse the duty that was given to you by Sophia Lykos? Do you have no sense of loyalty or honor?” Camilla spat back at her.
Moyako showed barely any reaction to her words and said nothing.
Raum however chose this moment to speak for her.
“She has business with a man named Marcus Wright,” he said, to which Moyako quickly turned her head to glare at him.
Hilda looked at them with confusion, to which Camilla shared as she asked, “The man who killed Malthael? If reports about him are correct, he only just recently arrived in this world. Why is he so important?”
Gritting her teeth in anger at Raum’s words, Moyako replied, “Its none of your business.”
Raum looked back at Moyako and much to Camilla’s shock, gave her a look that seemed to challenge her stance.
“You are being far too stubborn. I must insist that you give Camilla the answers she deserves,” he told her.
“You have the audacity to ask anything from me…,” she complained before looking back at Camilla as she continued, “Fine then, what do you want to know?”
“Who is Marcus to you that you would be so insistent on refusing aid to me? If not for his feat of strength defeating Malthael’s half dead body, then he would be considered a nobody who just happened to come here from another world. What does that man mean to you?”
“He is someone very important to my family. My goal is to bring him back to our world,” she said and Camilla finally understood.
“Wait...so for all those years you spent searching for information and researching, it was to find this man? This Marcus Wright is who you seemed so desperate to find, and you want to leave with him to go back to your world?”
“Yes. That is my priority,” she answered.
“Well then, why not just wait until after I’ve achieved my goal? You could go back whenever you want, can’t you?”
“No! I can’t! You have all the time in the world to go save Brunhildt, I only have a few years at best to bring him back. If not for the fact I was sent back in time two hundred years, my entire family in our world would be dead by now. I don’t have time to entertain you or your desire to reclaim your throne.”
“You still need to uphold your end of the deal we made. If I defeat you in the arena, you will give me your aid,” Camilla replied, her tone getting more aggressive.
“You should have sealed it with a binding oath like I did with Marcus. If I defeat him, he has no choice but to come back with me to our world. My word to you is not binding, and therefore I am not obligated to help you even if I were to lose,” she said as she rose from her seat and walked away.
Fuming in anger, Camilla got up from her seat and chased after her.
When she caught up to her, she said to her, “Coward! I would not thought that you, my godmother, would stoop so low as to give me your word and then say to my face that your word is worthless. Yet you’re doing all of this because of one man? You say he means a lot to your family, but you never told me what he means to you that you would wait two hundred years for him to show up. How is he worth more to you than me and my family?”
Moyako paused, and for a moment, Camilla thought the flames burning at the ends of her hair got brighter.
She then turned around and walked towards her as she said, “You want my word? My binding oath? Why do you even need my help? You showed to the entire world that you are just as strong as I am, what use am I to you?”
Camilla met her eyes and said, “You are still family to me. I would feel stronger if I knew that you were there to help me.”
Moyako’s expression softened, if only for a moment, before she turned her head to look away from her.
“You don’t really need my help, you just want me by your side when all is said and done?”
“I do.”
Moyako sighed as she said, “Then as I said before, defeat me in battle, and I will grant you my aid. I swear it upon the Styx that I will keep my word.”