Nashandra, over a month ago…
Today was a difficult day for Jonas as he was struggling to figure out how to imbue a weapon with a different element without using magic stored within a crystal. Only her great King Dagon had such power, to change the very nature of spiritual energy to become a new form of magic, yet Jonas was attempting to replicated that.
If he could manage something as incredible as that, then he could fully unlock the secrets behind the creation of the five unholy armaments.
Nashandra assisted him in any way that she could, albeit while hiding her identity as Natalie, yet even she did not know how King Dagon had achieved their creation.
It troubled her to see him so frustrated from running into such a significant roadblock, but at the same time, she seemed happy to see him working so fervently at something he was passionate about.
She had decided to continue supporting him through all of this until he achieved his ambition, and even beyond that.
They were both in the middle of testing a new method of manifesting artificially created elements for soul forging when he asked her to grab a tool for him from the table behind him.
“Of course. Which one do you need?” she asked as she walked over to the table.
The silence dragged on as she waited for him to name it to her until she turned around and realized that he had disappeared.
Her heart sunk in her chest as she hadn’t even sensed that he had vanished, but what was more disturbing was that all of the sounds of the city had halted. She could no longer hear the sounds of carts being pulled by their horses in the streets, or the talk of women as they went about their day and spreading gossip.
“What is happening…?” she asked as the light of day began to quickly fade and the streets began to fill with a thick fog that seeped into Jonas’s forge.
She then left the forge to see what was causing this to happen yet was overtaken as the fog enveloped everything in sight.
When she turned around to go back into the forge, she found that it had vanished within the fog. Even as she had tried to walk over to it and feel for the entrance, she realized that it had disappeared as well.
Soon, the entire city and perhaps the world in its entirety began to disappear as she stood alone within the deep fog.
No matter what direction she ran to, no matter where she looked, she could see nothing, feel nothing, sense nothing in any direction.
Then, as if things could not seem any more bleak, the light that illuminated the fog around her began to fade until she was completely surrounded in darkness.
It had been quite some time since she had felt afraid of anything, yet seeing the world around her vanish into fog and fade into darkness, without a trace of what was causing it, was enough to frighten her.
What kind of god had the strength to do such a thing? Could she even hope to find it and kill it before it erased her existence along with everything else?
As she thought about what to do next, a crackle of thunder echoed through the nothingness and a bolt of red lightning appeared within the fog.
The suddenness of the lightning startled her so much that she had to hold back her voice so as not to show fear.
“Show yourself!” she shouted as she summoned her magic to take down the being responsible for this. She manifested the Death Root and bone armor around her body as she swung her sword at her side in challenge.
A second bolt of lightning crackled through the fog followed by a boom of thunder. Then a third, and finally a fourth before a figure appeared before her within the fog.
Nashandra wasted no time as she lunged forward and thrust her sword towards his chest.
The very instant before her blade could reach its target, the hand of the unknown figure clasped its hand around the blade and held it firm. In the very same moment, the fog all around her vanished and was replaced by a world entirely filled with scarlet lightning and flames.
Frightened by the complete annihilation of her world, Nashandra’s words came from a trembling mouth as she asked, “W-What did you...do to m-my world?”
The being who held her sword within its hands stared at her silently. Its body was made of obsidian for its bones and plates of armor to contain its body, tendrils of blood to form its muscles, and red lightning to form its nervous system.
However, the being’s eyes were what haunted her the most.
It was as if staring into the overwhelming majesty of the universe, with all its stars and galaxies dyed red with lightning, and having it stare back at you.
It hurt her mind to look into them for too long as her head began to throb with the task of attempting to comprehend this being’s existence.
When it spoke, it was as if listening to a cacophony of storms raging all at once, with the thunder booming to form each word.
“Do you not realize that this is a dream my servant?” it asked.
A dream…?
That can’t be! Everything is too real! Too vivid! How can this be nothing more than a dream?
Even if this is a dream…
“I am servant to no one but my great King Dagon. Now answer me, who or what are you?” she asked.
“I am the God of Wrath, and you are to be my servant,” it answered.
She pulled her sword away from his chest, to which the god let go
“The only god I give my servitude to is the God King Dagon! I refuse your claim of my servitude! Now release me from this dream!” she shouted at him.
“Is servitude to your lord Dagon all you desire?” the God of Wrath asked her.
The question gave her pause as she had not expected as much given the rudeness of her refusal. She had expected the God of Wrath to be angry with her disobedience to it, yet it asked this?
“What is it to you if that is what I want?”
The God of Wrath then reached out its right hand with the palm facing upwards, as if to give her and offer, and said, “As my servant, I will allow you to serve your beloved lord again. A day when he returns will surely arrive in the coming years.”
A gasp left her at the possibility that her lord would appear once again, and that she would be able to serve him once more.
She had once thought it might happen during the Mordrinite War when Raime appeared as well, with Malthael following suit after him, yet he did not.
However now, the God of Wrath appears before her in her dreams to tell her that King Dagon may yet return?
Seeing her hesitation, the God of Wrath spoke to her once again, “I see that serving your lord once again is not your only desire. You have a deep longing for that man Jonas, do you not? A desire for love even.”
Gritting her teeth in anger, she shouted, “Jonas is dead! What could you hope to offer-”
“I can offer you everything that you desire in life. I can grant you servitude to your lord, the opportunity to be reunited with the man you loved, to bear a child with that man and raise a family together. I can even offer you an escape from immortality with a soul that can pass on to the next life,” the god said to her, all of which made her hesitate.
“If you pledge your body and soul to me, offer your loyalty and piety to me, and I will grant all of this to you. I will break the shackles that Kayron has over you and deliver to you a new fate,” it said as it waited for her response.
“I…”I don’t…,” she could not bring herself to respond to this god’s offer. It seemed far too good to be true, and yet a part of her wanted to say yes.
She had heard of the revered God of Wrath, whose existence is spoken with such respect and worshiped by the mighty kingdom of Forrosa.
Through his power, their kingdom has advanced beyond anything that anyone would have thought possible with the standards of technology of our age. Their kingdom prospered and have continued to fend off those that would seek to destroy them.
Even before Amaskia fell, her lord had spoken highly of the Forrosans and the god they worshiped, seeing them as the pinnacle of advancement. He had once even said to her that their kingdom could one day advance beyond Amaskia itself and become the world superpower, leading the world in its ascension to something greater.
Seeing her hesitation, the God of Wrath lowered his hand and said, “I will expect your answer at the end of your battle today. If you wish for servitude to me to break free from your shackles and to be granted all that you desire, call out with all your might and I will heed to your will. I will grant you the strength that you need to take hold of what you desire.”
With those last few words echoing in her mind, Nashandra awoke from her dream, sweating and breathing heavily as she lay in her bed staring up at the ceiling.
She quickly sat up and wondered how that could have been a dream. It was far too vivid to be a dream as she could still smell the scent of Jonas’s forge and his sweat from being hard at work in her mind. The sensation of swinging her sword at the God of Wrath also felt real to her.
Was it really her fate to be the servant of the God of Wrath…?
As she left the inn she was staying in to attend the first battle of the day, the thought of Jonas and the possibility of serving her lord once again was distracting her. She couldn’t bring herself to focus on anything else.
It was all she truly wanted for herself, and even though it sounded too good to be true, she could not ignore the fact that such a highly respected and revered god has called out to her to give her a second chance. It would be impossible for her to ignore such an offer.
She contemplated all of this even while she was sitting patiently in the waiting room for her name to be called for the first match.
When her name was called, a part of her wanted to stay in the waiting room and forfeit the fight entirely so as to avoid her fate with the God of Wrath.
The other part of her that wanted to break free and take hold of her fate, to serve King Dagon and to see Jonas again, was far more alluring.
Yet even as she was debating the option, her body seemed to move without thinking and she came to a realization.
She was still Kayron’s slave and would never be able to escape from him unless she fought for her freedom. He would force her to confront her fate regardless of what she wanted.
In spite of this, she was glad to have the choice made for her. It brought her some amount of joy that Kayron was unaware that he would be losing one of his greatest pawns by forcing her hand.
A relieved smile played on her lips as she walked down the hallway to the arena floor and was met by Moyako Kaneko’s visage as she waited patiently to meet her in battle.
Once she had gotten close enough to be in earshot, Nashandra bowed to her politely as she said, “It is a pleasure to meet you in battle in such a manner. Thank you for being so patient with me.”
Moyako raised her eyebrows in mild confusion at her pleasant demeanor and kind words, but smiled back at her anyways.
“The pleasure is all mine, but I’ll ask that you save the pleasantries until after the battle is over. Let us clash blades,” she said as she unsheathed her sword and readied herself for battle.
Nashandra nodded in agreement as she readied herself in response to her challenge, “Very well. Let us fight with everything we have.”
Azazel…
The demon prince stood at King Razel’s side, surrounded by the Forrosan people who had traveled far to see their kingdom’s champion fight. Yet they were all still surprised to see their king sit among them as opposed to sitting with the other world rulers.
Perhaps it was his way of upholding the statement he made to King Arobynn, but he seemed to enjoy the company of his own people than the stiff company of the other rulers.
Even more surprising, due to the fact that both children of the Orc King were eliminated from the competition, one from a direct loss and the other from being attacked in the waiting room, the Orc King stood side by side with King Razel and shared drinks with the man with a jolly attitude.
King Razel was unbothered by the Orc King’s presence but the Forrosan people were still wary of him, yet they respected his attendance.
The identity of Lyrra’s attacker was still unknown to the Orc King as he had been enraged to hear of it happening but could do nothing about it, yet now he was laughing heartily alongside the Forrosan people.
He had to wonder if the Orc King was simply hiding his emotions or simply waiting for further information.
Either way, that was not too important to Azazel as he watched for the first battle of the third bracket to begin.
The woman Moyako appeared on the floor of the arena yet her opponent had still not shown up yet, causing many to wonder if she would be another no-show.
It would be immensely disappointing if that were the case as this fight is one of the most anticipated of the third bracket.
Just as it seemed that the audience would become restless by her absence, she began walking through the hallway and appeared before the masses, greeting Moyako politely before the fight could begin.
Before their fight could begin however, Azazel’s eyes widened and a gasp left him as he stared at Nashandra in astonishment.
“It-it can’t be…,” he said under his breath.
Hearing his words of surprise, King Razel turned his head to look at him but said nothing, opting to listen to his next words.
“The God of Wrath has chosen his second king at last!”