Last Stand of the World
Volume 1
Pitfall
Chapter Eight: Inheritance?
The pain in his chest reached a new high when Asaa fell to the ground sobbing, her hands covering her face as if her very world had just ended. Suspecting the pain had something to do with Azer, he went and checked his body.
He reached out and placed a palm on the silken scales, pouring in a thin thread of mana, and breathed a sigh of relief, “hey, Asaa. He’s still alive.”
She lifted her head and looked at him, the pain in his chest lessening, “he is?” He nodded.
“Are you going to treat him again?” She sniffled, and whipped a hand across her face, then seemed to realize what she’d been doing, “um, then if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go prepare some things.”
He nodded, then turned back to Azer. He carefully poured his power into him. He realized that he needs to be more careful this time.
He could hear dull thuds and some bangs from the other room.
The pain in his chest dulled a little, but it was still present; what was causing it, he wondered? He looked at this silver bracelet on his wrist, something told him that that old snake had done something strange to him, and things weren't as simple as they appeared on the surface.
He’d made him promise to protect her; twice, in fact, he sighed and rubbed his wrist, and ruins appeared for a moment, then vanished. Wait, Asaa, had put in a weapon, hadn’t she?
He wondered if he could too? He thought about it as he did with his storage ring and was surprised to find that things were rapidly being placed within it; he wasn't doing it.
Then he thought of something. The glowing light. The connection that seemed to form. The fancy clothes, he glared at the unconscious snake.
No, he didn't.
No, he couldn't.
Damn it all to hell, could this day get any worse? He immediately cut off his train of thought. He wasn't going to entertain the thought; he could be wrong.
He’d been wrong about a girl liking him before, and she slapped him. His brother had laughed like crazy. Maybe he was just supposed to protect her.
He rubbed his chest, which suddenly ached worse. His thoughts were a confusing mess, so he decided to put it out of his mind, bringing his focus back to the snake under his hand. Davern didn't see the girl behind him, nor the slightly disappointed look in her eye.
***
He’d almost figured it out but had chosen to ignore it; for some reason, she went back to her room and finished packing. Her mother had given her the ancestral legacy before she’d been sent down here. Combining legacy, the seal, and the treasury, she was, for all intents and purposes, the new queen of her people. She slumped against her divan bed; and pulled the two gems from their places within the bond, holding them in front of her.
With her mother’s preparations, she wouldn’t want for anything. She sighed, swirling the balls, but her people, she thought, bringing up her tail and biting the tip. What should I do? Azer probably knows something, looking at the softly glowing orb that housed his mana, that he’d left her. She’d found it as soon as he’d completed the bonds, and he’d given her her mother’s weapons; what did he want to pass on, she wondered?
She put the Orb to her mind and absorbed some of the thoughts. If you’re hearing this, then I am most likely gone. Or, if not, that boy has by some miracle managed to save me. You’ll still need to hear some of these words.
Your Lamia ancestral memories about the Nuller need to be awakened. But be careful, the things that the Mothers hide from your race… Well, dear one, sometimes they hide things with good reason; try not to go digging too deep before you are ready. Find somewhere safe and only look for surface information for now. I have left you a lot of information in this orb, but you can’t access it all at once. I hope that you and the boy are doing well. Be safe, dear, remember the Nullers are not what they appear to be on the surface. Seek out the library and the Librarian. He is the only one who can help you restore the balance to the world’s mana. Also, there is something special about Davern’s mana; I suspect there is something about his brothers as well; find the Librarian as soon as possible.
Also, dear one, remember, don’t tail slap your husband too much; he seems like a good sort; he stopped and kept his word in his time of need, to the two of us after all.
She looked through her things until she found her beast-keeping bag. Azer would have to ride within it, with as many power stones as she could find. Davern was doing his best to heal him despite Azer’s efforts to the contrary. When Asaa’d calmed down, she’d noticed she had sent too much emotion through the link, and it seemed to have overwhelmed him. Asaa sighed; he didn’t know what was going on; she felt horrible about the situation. She’d have to work at getting him to accept the fact and clue him in to the fact that they were now mates and bonded mates at that; perhaps she shouldn’t have chosen this path. Still, she had a kingdom to protect, and they were now destitute and had to seek asylum in a hostile country, on the cusp of a world-destroying plague.
Things weren’t looking good for her, and she felt a bit overwhelmed. She held the seal to her Core for a moment and did as Azer instructed, letting the bearest of her linages power flow into the stone, searching for surface information on the Nullers.
Asaa felt a twinge of pain, and an overbearing power that wanted to consume her began to swirl around her delicate tendril; she held on for a moment and was glad that she had listened to Azer’s advice.
As soon as she retrieved the information she needed, Asaa, broke the connection and pulled the stone away from her body; putting it within its case, she leaned against the divan bed, panting. That could have been so bad. What if there hadn’t been anyone to guide her, to warn her? She’d been here for nine months, and she would have gone dormant soon. The protocols would have taken effect; she would have followed the rules, she looked at the box across from her, not sure what that meant precisely, but it couldn’t be anything good.
Once she calmed down, she got up and began packing again, as soon as she finished packing up her room she changed into her armor, and carefully put away her wedding attire. She looked through the doorway at him, his would get ruined if they fought, but maybe a mending spell would be able to repair the damage, she bit her lip, she didn’t think that she would be able to convince him to change into something else at this point.
She flicked her tail up into her hands and felt the place his thumbs had rubbed, well even if he denies it later he still did it. She even had proof, and an elder had affiliated even if her mother was gone and now that she held the swords that made her Queen and her consort was a human her people had been displaced, her mother was either dead or captured for some other purposes. She hugged her tail closer, she missed her Mother.
She was supposed to give her away on the day of her wedding, there were supposed to be feasts and celebrations, the whole city would have been a wonderland. However, from the situation of Azer, she had a feeling all her people were in a bad way she shifted through the treasures looking for the artifact, that only the mother’s line could use.
There wasn’t going to be a quick and easy way out of the desert, and she couldn’t see Davern patiently waiting and dragging an endless train of wounded. She clasped the artifact within her hand then hung it around her neck. All Lamia could revert to snakes, either by force or willingly if the Mother willed it. And to save their lives she would will it. The rest can be sorted out after they get out of the desert so she would forcefully revert them into snakes, and then cast a hibernation spell on them until she could help them and transport them inside the beast bag, it was the best solution she could come up with, and she didn’t know how many of them were even still alive at this point, given Azer’s condition. She didn’t think that many had made it.
Giving a last look around the room, which had been her home for the last several months, and went back out to find that Davern had already started loading the boxes that had fallen with him into the storage bond.
“Are you ready?”He asked.
She nodded, “Also, there’s a map. I want to locate it before we leave. You said that the thing is smart. It would have modified the tunnels, so you could share what you know, and I’ll fill in what should be there and we’ll work off that?”
“Sounds good.”
Asaa felt bad for making him wait. She could feel his anxiety and need to hurry coming from the link.
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