BXBX NOVEL Chapter 412 411: Departing Tragon
Kolia and Leone had found a few more things to inspect; traces of the silver creature's scales, portions of the rubble still afflicted with the odd mana, and some swift sketches and notes of patterns that they had come across during their two hours of searching.
On the more practical side, we had filled a few wagons up with chests laden with raw materials that were all worth large amounts of coin, as well as ingots of gold and silver to fill the Empress' coffers when we return.
A few enchanted items were also scattered around the palace, but they were small, inferior enchantments to what we were capable of producing en masse, so they were given to the soldiers who found them.
This Crusade - our portion of it, anyways - was over, and it wasn't concluded in the best of ways, nor were our gains as large as we would have wanted.
The Kingdoms of Slyak and Romagi were in our grasps, but the loss of the more temperate, fertile Tragon was felt much deeper than if we had lost one of the other Kingdoms.
The hope had been to turn Tragon into the Empire's breadbasket, where we could mass produce grains to fill our peoples bellies, but now that was an unreachable dream.
I had doubts about us occupying Tragon anytime soon, but for now we had more pressing matters to worry about.
"So... a minimum of two of those creatures, and variants on top of that. They looked similar enough, very clearly built upon the same foundation, so to speak. Their bodies are primarily canine in structure - four limbs, elongated skulls, tails..."
Leone drummed her fingers atop her knee as she fell silent, looking over towards Kolia who picked up where she left off.
"Additionally, they have a similar hierarchy to wolves as well - based on the little we've seen. That golden one was far more threatening then the silver one, and it was the one to give the orders. Without that golden creature, we... maybe we kill the silver one, maybe we close the Gate, but it's all unsure. Was the silver creature at its peak? Was it trying as hard as it could have been? There are so many unknowns regarding these creatures..."
"You and Leone would have managed to close the Gate, Kolia; the mana forming it was being pushed into instability. Now, whether that would have affected the silver creature is a different matter. I believe it would have; it was growing far too worried seeing its Gate disappear. To me, that suggests that there is something else controlling the Gates, otherwise it wouldn't have minded the Gate being closed."
We all nodded at Mom's words, and Kolia instantly begin to pursue that train of thought.
"If that is correct, then perhaps a third creature remains inside the Labyrinthian and creates the Gates? Or at the very least manages them? The silver one was more of a physical fighter with access to magic, much like you, Marquess. Potent mana, but it prefers fighting and killing with its own physical strength...
The golden one is... a shield. A barrier. It had a bulkier body structure, was capable of absorbing mana, and it negated mana inside of the room. When acting in tandem with the silver one, it would offer protection while its kindred attacked and pulled away, relying on its speed to kill... That seems plausible, does it not?"
"And we would still need to focus on the golden creature despite it having little of an offensive presence; we would need to prevent it from casting that spell that sapped the mana from our Cores, or else we would be easy pickings... These are some highly evolved creatures, aren't they? They act with intelligence and purpose, unlike monsters... Add on to it all that multicolored mana they posses, and well..."
Nirinia frowned as she spoke her piece, highlighting the more pressing side of the discussion: how would we go about fighting them?
"That golden creature is resilient, but we would need to find a way to bind it down, or at the very least prevent it from moving to support the silver creature. All while we defend ourselves from the onslaught of claws and magic from the silver one? Hah... This is insane."
We all nodded once more as we heard Adelina sigh, understanding just how complex and difficult it would be to fight just those two.
"When we return, let's pray that the Empress has some wisdom to bestow upon us regarding this... Perhaps she's seen something like this before? Maybe she heard of it? I refuse to believe that this creature is new to the world, that it hasn't been around before. How could something as powerful as that just... show up? Surely it evolved from something?"
Mom sighed this time, leaning back into the carriage's seats and looking out the window, over the rolling grassy fields that made up Tragon.
The carriage was filled with the discussion of how to present the creatures to the Empress, so that she would get the clearest picture possible.
There was so much about them that we didn't know about, so many blanks that left too many questions and theories available to us, and each time we encountered another unknown it just felt like another weight was added to our necks.
Who could tell what these creatures could do to the Empire if left unchecked, or if they would even come to the Empire at all.
What would they want to do?
Our journey back to the Kingdom of Slyak was stressful, and I could only continue to stoke the desire to get stronger as we rumbled over the plains.
I needed to reach a level I once believed far out of reach to me, so that I could protect what I had as best I could.
So that when another situation like before happens, when someone threatens to take away one of the women that I love, I can prevent it from happening and keep them safe.
Keep them by my side, forever.
That was what I needed to do, but the start of that all would be to bring her back to my side, so that I could feel whole again.
So that we all could feel whole again.
Only then do I believe we all - all four of us - could make the strides forwards to be capable of meeting this new world that was preparing to dawn upon us.
A new world fraught with peril and dangers, but a world full of opportunity to further our strength.
A world in which we would all stand side by side, together forever.