—Year 397 before the Ascension of the Celestial Monarch—
Fate was deceptive; it could give you something to take something else away. One should never trust luck more than one trusts a spurned lover; after all, love is strong, but hate is even stronger.
Tolrik sighed as he watched Benia advance through the darkness of the caves with a somewhat thoughtful expression on her face, while beside him was his sister Ulrika, who looked at him with a smile on her face before punching him on the shoulder.
"What's wrong? You seem a bit discouraged," his sister murmured with a smile as she scanned the surroundings with a somewhat sharp gaze.
"Nothing, just that I feel Benia is a little different," he murmured with an almost imperceptible voice.
"What? Who is different?" suddenly growled a figure with black hair who suddenly appeared behind him without him realizing.
Dazed, he could barely react when he almost tripped and fell forward, while feeling his mouth full of dirt and his face was a palm's distance from Benia's.
"What the hell?" growled an annoyed, but strangely nervous Benia, who looked askance at a distracted Tolrik.
Coughing slightly, he shook his head while murmuring: "Nothing, I just thought you've changed recently; you don't go out with us as much anymore."
Frowning while looking away, a bit uncomfortable, she replied defensively: "It's not my fault. We're not partying, this is a damn mission," Benia growled echoing the situation.
The trio was currently dressed in metallic armor. Benia wore a tight and compact scarlet armor, with a triangular helmet tied to her waist, which had a breathing system and enhanced vision, except for the back of the neck, which was where her long hair reaching her waist escaped. On the other hand, his sister Ulrika didn't wear a helmet; she was a tall woman, measuring two meters twenty in height, with skin white like marble and eyes sky-blue like water. Her aquamarine-toned hair, which was tied in a long bun, fell almost to her heels. Her armor, a single piece of golden color, was covered in violet plates that moved with her body as if it were natural.
"You should stop being nervous, Tolrik. As a Guard you must be prepared to always be alert, you can't be a child forever," Ulrika corrected him like a mother, which made Tolrik's expression darken slightly from embarrassment as he said in an embarrassed whisper:
"I'm sorry," to Benia's mockery.
"Why has the Master been weird lately?" Tolrik growled trying to change the subject. "She doesn't go out as much as before, it's strange; now Sister Jagger takes care of the missions."
"I don't know, she's just busy with other things. Besides, now we are professional Guards, we shouldn't depend so much on the Master," Ulrika said with a thoughtful expression, also seemingly worried about the master's growing isolation.
But then she became alert: "Shut up, we're here. It's time to act."
Quickly the group fell silent, including Tolrik, who forced his exosuit to limit his vital signs; after all, he was a Guard and this was an important mission.
The Guards, as their name suggested, were agents who were in charge of being guardians of the eastern continent, protecting it from external threats in secret. Normally they didn't get involved in internal conflicts unless it was extremely necessary, but there were times when it had to be done.
Tolrik was a tall young man of attractive appearance; he had bright blue hair like Ulrika and shared part of her beautiful and fine features, except that he had red eyes and was a little taller.
His exosuit was quite tight to his body, which facilitated mobility, but also highlighted Tolrik's toned body, which attracted the gaze of a curious Benia.
Smiling at the childishness of the duo, Ulrika ignored them as she murmured: "Chakra, Water Dao."
Suddenly the air in front of her began to distort forming a mirror in front of the trio that presented them with the image of their target to defeat.
"The Lycaons have infiltrated Ulheim. Their presence has been hidden for a while thanks to the underground tunnels. We must find all the cave entrances and seal them to limit their presence; if they continue reproducing at the rate they are going, they could take the entire Ulheim region by surprise."
The group ascended and watched how the water mirror refracted a panoramic image of several hundred meters: steep corridors and paths of rock and stone where the movement of shadowy and fierce figures could be observed.
The scenario they had in front of them was quite different from a mortal base, a difference from the Fey or other mortal races.
They saw gigantic monstrosities, more beasts than men, transporting huge blocks of rock and stone, while smaller Lycaons dug tunnels and trenches.
Lycaons without bestial characteristics inspected the work carving symbols on the blocks, building pyramids and walls around them, while at the same time collecting corpses and waste from both Feys and beasts to gut them and extract their blood and flesh, which would later be used for scrolls and ink.
Tolrik and Benia's duo was stunned at the spectacle they were seeing. They also saw huge two-headed wolves the size of buildings serving as beasts of burden, while other smaller beasts served as hunting dogs patrolling the area.
"There are hundreds," Tolrik growled with certain fear, fear that made even Ulrika look at him with irritation, and much more Benia, who looked at him with certain disappointment.
"And there will be thousands if we don't stop them. This is a large-scale infiltration. The northern continent, in the most underground and forested areas, is already conquered by the corrupted offspring of the monster race. It's a matter of time before they conquered it, and if they adapt to the Death Mountain Range, it could be the end of the ancestral Fey dominion over these lands."
An expression of conviction suddenly appeared on Tolrik's face as he looked decisively into the distance. This was his mission and goal: as Guards they had to protect this continent. For the people they cared about, for what they loved, and for their land, they had to triumph or die trying.
...
He rose from his nest like many times before and began to devour his ration without hesitation.
A coppery taste filled his mouth; the blood jade pills melted in his mouth, strengthening and nourishing his flesh and body, which continued to grow at a constant rate.
He crawled on all fours toward the outside of his nest; not everyone possessed one, they had to fight to earn it, and he had impaled the flayed skin of its previous owner at the nest entrance as a warning.
"Meow," a meow came from inside his nest as a figure covered in white fur and a face with feline as well as mortal features emerged. She wasn't the only one, multiple females were in his nest; it wasn't strange in the litter that some of them possessed more than one female, although normally the Lycaon females themselves didn't choose a fixed partner.
Frowning with his elongated snout, he sniffed the air; he could detect the female's excitement. She wasn't a Lycaon, he didn't know her race or lineage, but he didn't care.
Ducanor had long lost interest in the knowledge of his previous life, although from time to time it flickered in his mind.
"You're still hurt," purred the female's voice as she licked a long scar in the chest area while looking at him suggestively.
"I'm not hurt," he growled as he pushed the female's face away from him; her expression of concern turned into sadness as she pressed her almost naked body against him again.
"Come on, I want to... take care of you," she purred.
Ducanor rolled his eyes while feeling inexplicably irritated; most females were quite surly, apart from simply seeking to mate for food or to have more offspring, but this one always stayed stuck to him like a flea sucking his blood with her strength.
And suck she did...
"Shut up, female, I don't need care," seeing her sad look, he growled and threw her some blood pills. "Rest and meditate, I'll be back soon, I must see Father."
The white cat's expression didn't improve despite giving her pills, which woke up several of the other nearby females who looked at her with envy, but she simply pouted as she settled in the nest looking in his direction with concern.
She would wait for him.
Of course she would wait for him.
He didn't know how much time Ducanor had spent here... but it could be considered that he had already spent a lifetime here in the darkness.