“Averyl.”
That was the guard. Nijana had caught their attention. She stopped and looked up at the tall elven man, her mind racing to get back into character. Right, she was Averyl Autumnfall, a runaway princess from Faeheim. She lived in Lumière City. She was not Nijana Celestina, princess of thieves from another Faeheim only she knew about.
“Yes?” Nijana said, mimicking a prim and proper way of speaking.
“Sorry, I was not expecting you back so soon,” the guard said. “It is only now that our forces are returning from the clash with the people killers. If I may ask, what became of your party?”
Nijana gazed at the wilderness she had left, buying herself time to make a bullshit excuse.
“Ah, hmm. Where did they go off to?” she said, feigning ignorance. “I shall have to come back and look for them. A harvesting node may have distracted them.” Nijana walked to the gate. “If you will excuse me, gentlemen.”
She passed through the opening, under the stone wall, and entered the grandiose elven city of Lumière. Nijana could smell the gold in the air as she ogled the countless elves moving about their day, especially the ones seen leaving the castle on the hill. Everyone who looked at her believed she was Averyl returning from whatever it was she had been doing.
An elbow nudged Nijana from the side. She looked to her right, but saw no one. Looking to the left yielded the same sight. She stood alone in the city streets. Who could have nudged her like that?
“Why did you say that?” The voice of Synaria whispered to her. “Could you have not just smiled and nodded to the guards?”
Right, Synaria was still in Stealth. She’d been walking with Nijana the whole time. Nijana continued onward, ambling to the city’s marketplace, keeping her voice low to not alert anyone. Averyl talking to herself would just seem weird, she imagined.
“The real Averyl is still out there and probably on her way back,” Nijana whispered to her invisible partner. “The two of us can’t be seen at the same time.”
“So . . .?”
“The guards think I’ll be heading out again to find her companions. Once the real Averyl returns, they’ll just assume it was her coming back after regrouping with them.”
“I see.”
Nijana stopped in the city’s marketplace, hundreds of elves to her left and right, visiting the various stores. She did not know where to go in the maze of shops and loud merchants bellowing their early morning deals.
“Show me to the broker, will you?” Nijana whispered. “We need to make this exchange, and fast.”
“Take a left at the next intersection, then look for a three-story building with a sculpture of Asteria holding a fistful of stars.”
She followed Synaria’s directions, pushed past the elves, made the left, and found the building with a golden statue of a naked goddess holding the stars of the sky. It was the trade broker. There was a party of familiar faces walking ahead of the trade broker’s entrance.
And familiar classes.
“Are you looking at what I am looking at?” Synaria asked. “Is that?”
Nijana nodded, hoping Synaria seen her shocked face and dropped jaw. She couldn’t take her eyes off the handsome human wearing a black trench coat with Asteria’s Sword sheathed to his back. She looked away before he looked right in Nijana’s direction.
Guy and his companions had arrived in Lumière City.
“Okay, Synaria, we really need to be quick!”
Chapter Twenty-Two
At last, the Sirocco arrived at Lumière City and anchored itself at the city’s airship docks. Its elven population wasted little time to get a head start on their day. Merchants opened their shops and offered people bargains. Families dined on their morning breakfast outdoors, sitting on the lawns of their brick and wooden homes to the songs of birds chirping. In the distance sat the city’s castle on a hill. Beyond that were the city’s walls and the stunning view of the Antoinette Mountains Guy had seen on their flight to the city.
Lumière City looked a lot better up close than in the air. Guy and his party left the airship docks and followed Tempeste as she escorted them into the city, walking under the various flags of the Kingdom of Lumière as the winds rustled them. It did not surprise Guy to see that the corruption altered the lifestyle of the land-dweller elves. Blacksmiths had levels, so did innkeepers, merchants, even school children. Very few elves carried coin sacks. They pulled gold or silver franc coins from their inventory when making purchases. Guy made a mental note that he’d need to earn elven francs. Fae denars were worthless on Alfheimr. Thankfully, the PKers they killed dropped a handful of coins.
Tempeste brought them to a stone, brick road in the center of the city, just past the trade broker and a finely sculptured nude statue of Asteria holding the stars. It even had nipples.
“This way,” Tempeste said, and pointed at the road ahead. “Our king awaits.”
It looked like the central road led straight up the hill and would take them to the castle on it. Somewhere in the crowd of elves near the broker, Guy heard a woman gasp. It sounded like someone had startled her.
Probably my presence, Guy figured. I’m a human star-dweller and a Paladin. People are already staring at me. Rachael and Ulysses, too. Guy turned in the direction he heard the woman, but saw nothing but elves moving past the businesses in the market area. She must have run off to tell her friends. Great, now I have a fan club.
Tempeste led them to the castle. It gave Guy a better look at the rest of the city built on the hill, like the numerous two-story houses, weapon, and armor shops, and traveling tradesmen on their way to leave the city. The tradesmen walked with horses towing a wooden cart full of rare loot collected in the lands beyond.
The castle’s main gate was under the constant watch of elven soldiers dressed in gold-plated armor, halberds in hand. He examined one of them.
Lumière Royal Guard (Berserker) | LVL: 26 | Rank: A
Atop the castle’s walls were Rangers and Gunners on patrol, armed with exquisitely crafted bows or musket rifles respectively, of similar level and rank to the guards. And above them were three airships circling the skies on a constant watch for New Svartálfar forces.
“Hold on,” one of the golden armored guards said as they approached.
Tempeste stepped toward the guards. “These are the star-dwellers the king wishes to speak with.”
“I understand, Lady L’Aignelet,” the guard said and pointed at Guy’s entourage. “They are not star-dwellers.”
Guy narrowed his eyes at what he had pointed at.
It was Henrietta, Kam, Zuran, and Xanthe, the land-dwellers of his team. “Damn,” Guy said and faced the guard. “I guess you want them to wait outside?”
The guard nodded. “Yes, star-dweller. You see, people killer—”
“Player killer,” Guy corrected him.
“. . . activity is on the rise,” the guard continued. “They recruit new members daily, and we have not confirmed if these land-dwellers are among them or not. The shadow angel especially.”
Xanthe crossed her arms and rolled her green eyes. “Oh, for fuck’s sake . . .”
“I can assure you,” Guy said to the guard. “My friends are legit.”
“I have my orders, star-dweller. Straight from the king himself.”
“Guy,” Xanthe said, her left hand gently pulling on Guy’s shoulder. “Worry not. We shall wait outside.” She spun to gaze at the city behind. It looked a lot different now that they were on the top of the hill. “I have a feeling we may spend a night or three here. Let us search for a place to stay while you do what you have to do.”
“All right, find a place for us,” Guy said. “Hopefully, we won’t be too long.”
“I saw a library on the way up,” Xanthe said. “Worse comes to, we shall occupy ourselves with books—”
“Books?!” That was Henrietta. Of course, the word “books” would get Henrietta salivating at the lips. “Wait, I did not see this library!”
“Come with me,” Xanthe said to her. “I shall take you to it.”
Xanthe formed a party with Henrietta, Kam, and Zuran, then strode down the hill’s road into the city. Henrietta was bouncy the whole time. It was weird seeing the armored Berserker woman with a massive axe strapped to her back skip all the way down the path, excited over the discovery of a library.
Guy nodded to Rachael and Ulysses, the star-dwellers of his party and the focus of the king of Lumière. “Well, let’s go, you two.”
The Planet of the Elves – Quest Updated
Objective: Travel to the elven homeworld and investigate the second Averyl.
Arrive at Alfheimr and search for clues. [Completed!]
Accept Tempeste’s offer and travel to Lumière City. [Completed!]
Find a way past the PKers. [Completed!]
Learn more about the differences between Averyl and Nijana.
And they were on the right track, as far as the White Dragon was concerned.
Tempeste resumed her escort, guiding Guy, Rachael, and Ulysses into the castle. The sparkling halls and polished glass tiles reflected the visage of a trench coated swordsman walking with a star-elf, star-fae with her wings relaxed, and a young blonde Spellsword maiden leading them. The castle’s interior was typical of most land-dweller civilizations. Elves took their worship of Asteria more seriously than others, though. Every doorway had statues of Asteria on its left and right, and in the case of the throne room, a three-story tall figure of Asteria idled behind the gem-studded throne chair. On that gem-covered throne sat a timeworn elven man dressed in a red robe decorated with medals of honor. His beard and hair, tied to a masculine ponytail, had long lost its color. The scars of past wars marked up the king’s face. Given the long lives elves had, Guy assumed the battles the king fought in broke out in the ages when the star-dweller civilization didn’t exist in the Asteria galaxy.
“King François L’Aignelet III,” Tempeste said, and placed her clenched fist to her chest, shut her eyes, and lowered her head in a bow to the king. “Please give me the honor of introducing you to the star-dwellers the Sirocco has brought here.” Tempeste extended her hand to Guy’s party. “This is their leader, Guy Sutherland, Paladin of the stars. And these are his traveling companions, the star-fairy Rachael Leighton and fellow light elf born and raised among the stars, Ulysses Archambeau.”
Guy waved his hand. “Sup.”
Rachael did the same. “Hey, how’s it goin’?”
“Yo,” Ulysses said with a slight head nod.
Tempeste sighed. “You are before a king! Bow!”
“It is fine, my daughter,” François said. “The star-dwellers have different customs.”
“Of course,” Tempeste said.
“Hold up,” Guy cut in. King L’Aignelet? Daughter? Does that mean? “Tempeste, you’re a princess as well?”
“Indeed, I am,” Tempeste said. “I know it may seem odd for someone like me to be on the front lines, but we currently live in uncertain times and need every able-bodied fighter defending Lumière. Princesses included.”
“So, Paladin,” François said to Guy. “You speak for your comrades?”
“Well, I’m the party leader,” Guy said.
“And I’m the captain of the Seraphim,” Ulysses spoke up, his voice louder than Guy’s. He was trying to upstage him.
Rachael laughed at the two. “I’m your only healer,” she said. “So, you might want to include my opinions too or, well, you know.”
Tempeste and François shot the star-dweller trio odd looks. Guy had to change the subject before the three bickered about who was the leader.
“Why don’t you explain what’s going on and why you need our help?”
“Where shall I begin?” François said, then shut his eyes and collected his thoughts. He opened his eyes and spoke. “Well, as you may have learned from my daughter, Tempeste, our kingdom has been at war with the dark elves of New Svartálfar for several millennia.”
“The dark elves are not native to our world,” Tempeste added.
“They came here from another,” François continued. “And have been fighting with us ever since, trying and failing to bring the light elves to extinction.”
“Why?” Guy asked. “After so many centuries of failing, you’d think they’d give up and keep to themselves.”
“We do not know,” François said. “The war has raged on for so long we do not even know who launched the first strike.”
“So it’s kind of like star-dweller history then,” Rachael said, crossing her arms, her blue eyes facing up at the king. “Your history books just start in the middle of a story but mention nothing about how it started.”
François nodded to Rachael. “More or less.”
I wonder if the dark elves’ arrival had something to do with the strange history of us star-dwellers. Better question, why the fuck am I only now hearing of this? Nobody on the fleet talked about the dark elves, their war, or where they originated from.
François went on. “The dark elves kept to themselves in the northern regions and remained there since our war grew to a stalemate. That was until the corruption arrived and changed our world and warfare.”
“Let me guess,” Ulysses said. “The dark elves got afflicted and then started leveling up?”
“Correct,” François said. “In addition, the dark elves mastered several crafting professions, giving them the ability to construct their own airship fleets that rival ours.”
Tempeste added. “They struck us on the land and air with devastating results and have been slowly inching their way into our kingdom. Making matters worse, father, they are now being assisted by the fae. An airship with fairies attacked the Sirocco recently, killing much of my crew.”
“I was informed of that yesterday,” François said and gave his grey beard a stroke. “But, hearing it from you, daughter, only proves that it is true. An army from another world has entered ours and befriended our enemy.”
“The Autumnfall Empire,” Guy said. “It has to be them.”
“How did they get here?” François asked Guy. “I cannot imagine Asteria bringing them here. And you star-dwellers, you are not known for delivering entire armies to land-dweller worlds.”
“Well, there were the crusades against the shadow angels,” Rachael said with a cringing look, and Guy couldn’t blame her. Star-dwellers had blood on their hands and had the power to deliver armies. But bringing massive land-dweller troops to other worlds wasn’t standard star-dweller practice, at least not the star-dwellers the galaxy knew of.
As for that other star-dweller faction . . .
“The sentinels brought the fae here,” Guy said. “The empire and the sentinels are here to harvest soul crystals. And from what I’ve seen, the corruption has changed Alfheimr more so than Faeheim.”
“They probably know they’re more soul crystals to collect here,” Rachael said to Guy.
“And of a higher level, too,” Ulysses added. “Sounds like you folks are about to lose the war. Your kingdom’s up against New Svartálfar and the Autumnfall Empire with sentinel support.”
François mumbled. “And the people killers—”
“Player killers!” Guy cut in, as usual, drawing an angry glare from the king. “Or . . . PKers. Yo, I swear, I’m gonna have you all calling them that!”
Rachael nudged Guy with her elbow. “Let the man continue!” She giggled.
“As I was saying . . .” François resumed with his eyes narrowing at Guy. “The . . . PKers, do not ally themselves with New Svartálfar. However, their raids are a hindrance to our people and force us to divide our military. One group defends our borders while the other dispatches PKer raids.”
“Now, this is what I don’t get,” Rachael said. “It seems you have a good grasp on the rules the corruption assigned everything. You leveled up, got subclasses, good gear, crafters. With all the power your military has, couldn’t you put together a large leveling group to make you
r fighters stronger than the dark elves and PKers?”
“Yeah,” Guy said in agreement. “If your forces can gain, like, 10 or 20 levels more than your enemies, you should be able to crush them easily.”
“Unfortunately, monsters and dungeons within our kingdom peek around level 20,” François replied. “Targets five levels or more below your level yields too little experience points to be worth wild.”
“I see,” Guy snorted. “You need higher-level content to continue leveling. Or join the ranks of the PKers and search for high-level opponents.”
“From what we gathered,” Tempeste said. “Higher-level monsters and dungeons exist, but only in the north.”
“And New Svartálfar controls the northern region . . .” Guy concluded.
“They have an advantage. They can level beyond us,” Tempeste said. “Some scouts already spotted level 30 dark elves. For our forces to gain any more levels, we would have to keep defeating, the PKers, who are very elusive, secure many victories over the dark elves, or access their leveling areas.”
And that’s where we come in . . . “And you want us to help make that happen?”
“We will not last much longer,” François said. “At this rate, the dark elves and their fae allies will defeat us within the next month. If we fall, then so do the light elf kingdoms to the south. We are the last line of defense of all light elves.”
“Why aren’t the PKers helping?” Rachael asked. “Sounds like they’ll die once you fall.”
“They will,” François answered. “But misfits will be misfits. They do not understand how dire the situation is.”
“Or they cut a deal with New Svartálfar that you don’t know about,” Guy said.
“Guy.” Rachael tugged on his arm, drawing him closer to her. She gestured for Ulysses to join them. The three had a vital topic to discuss. “We should help them.”
Mirror Princess: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 2) Page 18
