Eldonia.
Returning to the room where I had killed and then resurrected Mistiora, the first thing I saw was her standing at the window, looking out at the city. It was a fairly simple scene, but for some reason it seemed to me that I was looking at a completely different person, well, an elf.
If before I had felt apathy and a hint of sadness emanating from Mistiora, now everything was a little different. She was like a baby bird that had just left the nest and was preparing to discover the world, and I must say, it looked and felt quite amusing.
- "Your aura changed quickly, huh?" I smiled and sat down on the couch. "Now the question is, are you happy with it or not?"
Mistiora didn't answer, but just kept doing what she was doing. She seemed to be in a trance, and I guess that was normal for someone like her. Heh.
After a couple of minutes, Mistiora took a deep breath, which gave the impression that she was doing it for the first or last time, then gracefully turned around and sat down opposite me, in the same place where she had been sitting before. True, now there was a hole in the back of her couch from Gaé Bolg, but oh well.
- "What happens next, sir Romani?" Mistiora began softly, studying me with her eyes.
- "Oh? What are you talking about?" I asked, pretending not to understand her.
- "I'm sure I died. I remember the pain from the blood-red spears and the absolute darkness after I... asked you for a favor," she said, playing along. "And when my senses returned and I opened my eyes, I noticed... changes in my body."
Mistiora paused and looked me in the eyes.
- "The curse... It's gone... And the magic I couldn't control for hundreds of years is back in my power..."
- "And?" I asked, creating a cup of coffee and taking a sip. "Are you happy about that?"
- "I... I don't know..." she replied after a few seconds, looking confused. "It's... complicated..."
- "Hmm... I guess you need some time to come to a final decision, huh?" I muttered thoughtfully. "Well, okay. Have you thought about what I said?"
- "What did you say, sir?"
- "Yeah. I'll be going back to Nidavellir anyway, as soon as Olga gives me the signal." And here's the question: will you come with me or not?" I shrugged, and Mistiora gave me a shocked look. "Not right now, of course, due to certain circumstances, but still."
- "Why are you asking me this?" she asked, coming out of her stupor. "I'm just..."
- "A concubine? A piece of meat to satisfy men's desires? Not anymore, although partly, yes," I continued for her. "Right now, following your own logic, you belong to me. And I'm giving you the choice of whether you follow me or not."
I took a sip of coffee and leaned back on the sofa.
- "If you agree, you will see your homeland again and your sister, to whom you can tell what she asked me to tell her before her temporary demise. If you refuse? Well, I'll grant you one small request, and then we'll part ways. Or I'll give you some strength, quite considerable by local standards, and then you can do whatever you want. I respect other people's choices."
- "That's..." she began uncertainly. "Do I have time to think about it?"
- "You have time, but only until Olga contacts me again," I shrugged and looked out the window, where I could see the city in panic and a rather large army in the distance.
Hmm... Apparently, this is the reason for the panic I saw among the city's inhabitants when I first arrived here.
In theory, I could have ignored it, but I was too lazy to look for a new temporary hangout, so an idea formed in my head.
Since divinity had already become a part of me, I might as well play god in this world. From the information I had received, Eldonia was almost the weakest country on the continent, and if "someone" decided to strengthen it a little, what would happen?
I wondered.
It seemed that among the clothes scattered around the bed in that tower, there was something that resembled a crown.
And if my assumptions were correct, then that sweaty man was the king or someone like him. And if that was the case, then he fit my plans perfectly.
- "All right, I won't get in the way. Here," I got up from the couch and threw her the pendant in the shape of my magic circle on a chain, the same one Olga had received.
Mistiora caught it and looked at me in confusion. "Since you belong to me for now, no one can touch you unless you want them to. The intruders won't dare do anything with this."
- "Are you going somewhere, sir?" she asked.
- "Not for long, don't worry," I rolled my eyes and, finding the king with my third magic, teleported to him.
Arriving at the place, which appeared to be his private office, the first thing I noticed was that he was huddled in a corner, clutching his head and muttering about...
- "What should I do...? Maybe I should run away? Yes, definitely... I have to run... But where? How? They'll catch me and kill me for sure..." he whispered to himself. "And all because of that damn elf... If I hadn't met her, none of this would have happened... She's to blame for everything... Yes, that's right, it's all her fault... If I knew where she was, I would..."
I didn't listen any further and rolled my eyes again.
Hmm... And I have to work with this loser? Of course, there is some truth in his words, but he really does look pathetic.
I shook my head and kicked him, causing him to cry out in pain and turn around.
- "Who are you?! How did you get in here..."
- "Shut up and listen," I interrupted him and, solely for the sake of persuasion, created a chain that immediately rushed forward and broke through the wall next to his head. Seeing this, the man shook with fear and, judging by the smell, even pissed himself a little. "Now you're going to put on your best clothes, and then you're going to address the residents from that funny little balcony."
- "I'm going to address them?" he asked in a trembling voice.
- "You will say that God has spoken to you and promised to protect the city from the invaders, but in return he wants Eldonia to become strong. Do you understand?"
- "G-god?!" The king jumped up and stared at me with his eyes so wide open that I thought they were about to pop out of their sockets. "Y-you're g-god?!"
- "Do you understand?" I repeated and called for another chain.
- "Y-yes! I understand everything! I'll do it right away..."
- "Go."
- "Y-Yes, sir!" he shouted at the top of his lungs and flew out of the office like a bullet, while I rubbed my temples.
- "Hmm... What laziness and boredom can do to people..." I sighed and teleported myself directly above the city center.
Well, let's get started.
-0-
Mistiora looked at the pendant her new master had given her and didn't know what to do or even think.
Long centuries had passed since she, under the influence of a curse, had been passed from one man to another like an object or a trophy. All of them desired her, from simple bandits to generals and kings. They all wanted to possess her, and their eyes were always filled with desire and lust that she had to satisfy...
...but her current master was different.
He had lifted the curse that Mistiora had long accepted as her fate and which she thought would never leave her. But that wasn't what made Mistiora think about this man, it was that he was the first one who asked her what she wanted...
He saw her as a person, not an object or a trophy, even though he knew about her and her life. He gave her a choice and said he would respect it, whatever it was, and that gave her no peace. And her master did not lie, Mistiora knew that, for she had learned to recognize lies during her years as an object of male desire.
And something so simple for ordinary people made Mistiora's heart skip a beat. She felt a warmth in her chest that she had never felt before, and she didn't want that feeling to go away.
It was a strange desire for a mistress who had been used by countless men, but Mistiora knew what she knew. The feeling was too strong, like a drug that was impossible to give up once you tried it.
And now Mistiora had to make a choice: did she want to, or rather, could she look her sister in the eye...
While these thoughts raced through her mind like a storm, Mistiora looked out the window of the room, where she could see a huge army led by a general from another country.
He had come here for her, she knew that, but for some inexplicable reason, Mistiora felt no fear, only faith in her master...
...and not without reason.
Suddenly, the magic that had returned to her began to sing in her body, and the pendant lit up and began to float. The next second, Mistiora noticed a bright golden light pouring down from the heavens, and, giving in to her curiosity, she looked up.
There, as it seemed to her, in the clouds themselves, a colossal magical circle with a six-pointed star inside shone with pure gold. And in its very center stood her master, as if he were... God himself...
Mistiora couldn't, no, didn't want to take her eyes off this man, as if his figure hypnotically compelled her to admire him. And there was indeed something to admire.
The magic circle flashed with light, and in the next moment, hundreds, no, thousands, tens of thousands of golden spikes with black patterns began to appear from it. But these were not spikes, as Mistiora had thought, but... chains.
Tens of thousands of golden chains emerged from the magic circle and, writhing like deadly snakes, rushed downward, and then...
A huge army of tens of thousands of warriors was destroyed in a matter of seconds, and their disemboweled and torn bodies, like a magic circle drawn with blood, formed a perfect circle around the walls of the capital of Eldonia. And this simultaneously mesmerizing and terrifying composition of flesh and blood seemed to serve as a reminder of who should not be angered on this mortal earth...
-0-
A/N: How's the chapter? Give us your opinion. You may well be able to influence future chapters.
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