A Fateful Encounter
The mortals possessed many flaws, Regna knew, but one of the things that they often did very well indeed was hospitality. Regna had spent a good day and a bit flying almost nonstop in order to get to the town of Spire's Gate, which was the town that was closest to the way up to Cloudspire City. Though a part of her had known she could have made the journey in one go, the angel had opted to stay and rest a while in Spire's Gate and see what the town was like for herself up close.
The town was no Cloudspire City but it was well to do with businesses, temples and a thriving economy. There were even one or two shopping districts and more than enough thriving taverns. The best part was the attitude of the inhabitants. The people even didn't treat Regna as though she were a stranger or acted as though she were a living deity, simply because she was an angel and she appreciated that a lot. She had been very grateful to the young cleric called Araya who looked after one of the temples, who Regna got talking to at one of the taverns, and had given her a bed for the night.
Regna was surprised the next morning with one thing she had never gotten: breakfast in bed. Araya had made something relatively simple – kippered herring with cheese and bread – but Regna didn't mind. She hadn't tasted human food in a while.
Araya was a little ashamed of the state of the food as she brought it over. "I am sorry. I do not have many funds for fancy foods. The upkeep of the temple is done on tithing and everything left over goes to my maintenance."
"I do not mind," Regna reassured as she sat up in the austere bed, smiling brightly.
The young cleric sat on the simple chair in front of the desk next to the bed, and began tucking into her food. "I also was unsure if you … can eat or even want to eat," Araya continued nervously. "With you being an angel and made of mana …"
"We can eat, but we don't necessarily need to in order to survive," Regna informed as she finished her mouthful of cheese and bread. "To us, it is like … having a really nice and rare treat. It doesn't happen often but when it does, we don't complain."
Araya nodded in understanding and continued to eat. Regna took a moment to take the young mortal in. She was young, the angel guessed – maybe early twenties but Regna could not say for certain. The angel also surmised that the young cleric was beautiful by mortal standards, given her long dark locks and bright blue eyes. Given that mortals had the propensity to succumb to dark desires when it came to lust, Regna was surprised Araya lived at the temple on her own. Surely the girl would have someone protecting her from someone who had done a dark deal with Xyro?
"Do you live here alone?" Regna inquired, wincing a little at how blunt she sounded.
"Yes, but I do have a lot of people who help me maintain the temple," Araya answered with a smile. "The altar children help me with rituals and I have handymen to help me with keeping the building in good condition."
"And you never … had issues with other mortals?" Regna could not resist asking before she began nibbling at her herring.
A dark look entered the cleric's eyes for a moment but soon disappeared. "I have had issues with people refusing to tithe, people stating that what I preach is false because results don't show themselves immediately, people who think I can heal their Corrupted loved ones and then get angry when I can't. I have had people who made … inappropriate advances or comments to me, but nothing that I cannot handle."
The angel's eyes widened. "You don't have someone you can call on for help?"
"Angels Redeem people, not protect them from minor inconveniences," Araya replied with a short, mirthless laugh as she started nibbling her own herring.
"Well, I don't think like that. I think mortals are worth protecting, whether it is to Redeem them or not," Regna stated confidently.
"Then why are you going to Valor's Reach?" Araya asked curiously. "Doesn't your flight need you?"
The angel smiled brightly once more; she inadvertently made the room feel lighter, which made the young cleric smile as well.
"They need a Regna who is at her best. I am not there at the moment, but I will be. Valor's Reach is the key to that goal," Regna responded with determination. "I am going to fight in the doubles battles and prove to myself that I am capable enough to fight any adversary, any Sin."
"Do you have a partner?" Araya frowned.
The angel deflated a little. "Not yet. I was hoping to perhaps find one at Cloudspire City."
The cleric grinned. "So you travel this far, defy your flight – all for a competition that you don't have a partner for yet. I have to say that is rather brave."
Regna smiled but did flush a little at her impulse. "My flight were always surprised that I was not also made of red mana, given that I do have the tendency to act before thinking sometimes."
Araya considered her answer for a moment.
"I think some spontaneity is necessary sometimes," she stated. "No matter the colour of mana. After all, most of life is made of moments that have not entirely been planned out. Would be boring indeed if everything was planned."
"I do not think blue would agree," Regna replied with a smile.
"True, but even blue mana taps into it now and again, in a way," Araya pointed out.
Regna conceded the point. She regarded her new friend for a moment. "Are you going to watch the competition?"
"I have tickets for the whole show," Araya confirmed with a grin. "I have found someone to watch the temple for me while I stay in the city." The cleric chuckled. "I hope you find yourself a partner quickly, because I am interested to see how an angel fights for myself."
Regna grinned.
It was at this precise moment that the pair started to hear quite the commotion outside. Araya and Regna frowned and they rushed to the small window in Regna's room to see panicked town residents fleeing up and down the street and running into buildings. The pair exchanged a look before they rushed to see what all the fuss and obvious fear was about.
But because the temple's walls were not very thick, they could hear snippets from the people screaming.
"-WHY IS HE BACK?!"
"-he hasn't been here in months!"
"-I really hate these stupid wurms!"
When Araya and Regna stepped outside, they could hear the sound of all too familiar roaring in the near distance – right outside the town walls. Regna's jaws clenched and her eyes burned with determination; she knew that roar anywhere.
It was the bellow that belonged to the oldest wurm on Kylem: Grothama.
Grothama and his wurms were notorious for attacking anything and anyone they believed were encroaching on their territory. The sometimes meant that they took their irritation out on any unfortunate mortal settlement that had the misfortune to be built on the land that the overgrown earthworm with that odd glowing sigil on its stomach and its brethren decided it was part of their territory. Regna and her flight had to deal with Grothama before, especially since the ugly eyeless creature was a recurring problem for everyone.
As Grothama was part of the maintaining of balance in the plan of Kylem's Creator, the giant wurm could not be killed but he could be put out of commission for a good few months if he got enough of a punch.
"Great, of all the creatures to stir up trouble right now!" Regna grumbled as she hurried to fetch her shield and scimitar from her room.
"I will come with you," Araya stated.
"No, you stay here and protect your fellow citizens," Regna disagreed easily. "I am an angel, I can take a good hit from Grothama. The best you can do is to make sure everyone gets inside and heal those who may have gotten wounded."
Araya nodded, but looked a little disappointed at not getting a good look at how an angel fights up close. Regna almost didn't notice as she spread her wings and took to the sky, heading in the direction she heard the wurm screech while keeping an eye on fleeing mortals and trying to figure out if Grothama had brought some of his friends with him.
Judging by the fact the town guard were all heading in the same direction and there were not giant holes popping up all over the place, Regna guessed that Grothama had decided to pop in on his own this time. This was good news, because it meant that she could focus on one enemy and protecting only one group of foolish mortals who thought they could take on the giant wurm.
Grothama was very easy to spot; a fifteen-foot, twenty-foot creature was very difficult to miss. He was startlingly close to the town walls, headbutting and knocking back the town guards who were already engaging him in combat. Grothama knocked them back easily, chomping down their carts with mounted crossbows on them and lunging into the group of humans without any fear whatsoever, giant maw bared.
Before the wurm could even think about swallowing a human, it hissed in surprise, anger and pain as a bright ball of silver light smacked it right in the face. Grothama spluttered and turned around to try and sense the one who had dared to attack him. The issue was, the wurm could not use its innate connection to the earth to discover who it was, which meant only one thing.
The attack came from the air.
Grothama snarled. He really did hate angels! They had a habit of ruining his hunts and taking what was his on his territory, especially when it came to hunting.
The elder wurm immediately turned his attention onto try and to bat the annoying gnat in the sky, ignoring the annoying tick bites that were the humans' pathetic little arrows. Regna, who had hoped that her attack would be enough to gather the creature's attention, expertly dodged Grothama's clumsy attacks while hitting him with enough light whips and orbs of divine energy to give him an idea of where she was and to continue to chase her, away from the town as much as possible.
As he continued his onslaught and found that he was not hitting anything, Grothama got more and more agitated. As a result, the wurm's attack started to become less and less coordinated, which meant that Regna struggled to try and gauge the movements of her foe. The rest of the flight had more experience than she did with the wurm, Regna knew that, which could be part of the flaw in her decision to try and restrain Grothama with her light whips.
The issue was, the whips curled around the wurm's neck but he still had control of his movements, so he began moving his head rather rapidly, unfortunately taking Regna along for the ride.
The angel screamed as she was lassoed through the air and then flung through the air before landing with a rather nasty CRUNCH onto the ground.
Regna groaned with pain as she picked herself up, clutching her side. "Yep, that is going to be a bruise," she muttered to herself. "Bloody Grothama!"
"RRROOOOOOOAAAAARRRRR!"
It was at precisely this moment that the angel remembered that she had landed on the ground, which meant that now Grothama could sense exactly where she was. Indeed, the elder wurm was snaking through the ground at breakneck speed, right towards her. Regna's eyes widened and she opened her wings to take flight again, only for her to groan with more pain.
Great. One of her wings had suffered damage. That was going to take some time to heal and she didn't have enough time before the monster would be up in her face.
Knowing she had no other choice, Regna then readied her scimitar and prepared to face her foe once more, even without her handicap. But just as Grothama was getting closer to being even in striking distance, several things happened all at the same time. The sun was blotted out by a shadow, there was the sound of a draconic screeching, a feeling of unbelievable darkness seeped around Regna and then Grothama got hit above by scorching orange and yellow fire and then a giant purple-indigo ball of pure shadow.
Regna stood frozen, utterly taken by surprise what was happening. She watched Grothama wail in pain and try to shake the attacks off but they just kept coming. Eventually the giant wurm decided that the amount of pain it was forced to endure during this hunt simply was not worth it, and dived into the ground, hissing and grumbling as it did so.
Regna could hear the sound of her own heartbeat in the ominous silence that descended around her. The angel tried to gain control of her breathing as she cautiously sheathed her scimitar.
"Well, this was something you don't see every day. An angel bested by Grothama."
Regna froze and suddenly remembered the feeling of darkness that had surrounded her. She turned around carefully and there, watching her with amused blood red eyes, in a humanoid shape and dressed in black armour, was a demon. Strapped to his back was a battle scythe. A demon she had never seen before, but she knew it was not doubt the brother of one of the known troublemakers.
"What …" Regna breathed out. "You … you helped me …?"
"Well I wasn't going to let you have all the fun," the demon smirked, swishing his battle scythe. "I would never live it down if my brothers heard one of us got a chance to upstage an angel in a battle against Grothama. I already get teased enough as it is."
Regna's brain stopped functioning for a moment, blinking in surprise. "You're a demon."
"Well spotted," the demon drawled, sounding bored.
"And you helped … an angel," Regna thought she had just witnessed some kind of divine miracle.
"Seeing an angel getting swatted like a fly and then squashed is just pathetic," the demon answered easily with a smirk. "I would rather have the honours than some giant unintelligent earthworm."
Regna glowered at him and her jaw set. "I am not easy prey!" she stated with indignation.
Before the demon could answer, a new voice entered the fray. "Indeed! And you are clearly a warrior; otherwise Khorvath would not have insisted on helping you!"
Wing beats could be heard descending down next to the pair. Gales were flung into both the face of the angel and the demon, much to the annoyance of both of them. Regna shielded her eyes a little to see if she could glimpse who had spoken. Her answer came in the form of a young human woman, dressed entirely from head to toe in armour on the back of a colossal red dragon who also wore a helmet on its head. The woman's armour was entirely composed of reds and golds, matching the colour red of her dragon and the type of gold plating on its helmet.
It took a moment for Regna to assess them before her eyes widened and a sunny smile spread on her face. "Oh by the Creator, it can't be!" she gushed. "You are Sylvia Brightspear, aren't you? You are the one who managed to win the Five Trials when you were only nineteen years old!"
The woman chuckled. "I am honoured that an angel has heard of me. Yes, I am Sylvia Brightspear; why they call me that is still beyond me. Everyone knows I prefer my swords."
Regna then turned with equal jubilation to the dragon, who had its head cocked at her curiously. "Then this is Khorvath Brightflame! You were doubles champions for three years running until your title got stolen by two uncouth and unjust vampires."
The demon snorted at this, causing both Regna and Khorvath to glower at him.
Sylvia sighed but laughed shortly. "Yes indeed. We hope to reclaim that title this year. Hopefully, our new strategy can give those vampires a taste of their own medicine."
"Awesome!" Regna beamed. "My name is Regna. Nice to meet you."
"Likewise," Sylvia grinned.
"You're competing again?" the demon grinned. "Good. I refuse to countenance facing some weak milksops in the arena."
"You are competing?" Sylvia did not even try to hide her surprise, neither did Khorvath and Regna.
"Of course," the demon answered haughtily. He smirked. "What is the matter? Does the prospect of fighting a Corrupter scare you?" he taunted.
Khorvath growled at that but Sylvia scoffed. "Not in the slightest! I look forward to seeing you and your partner in the arena," she paused for a moment and her eyes narrowed slyly. "You do have a partner already, don't you?"
The demon froze and his lip curled into a sneer. "Not yet," he growled. "But I will."
Regna paled. "You are competing in the doubles as well?" she could hardly believe her ears.
"Are you?" the demon shot back easily.
"I want to," Regna admitted readily and then turned bright red. "But I have no partner yet either."
"As if my day could not get stranger! First a demon who isn't interested in Corrupting a weak mortal in front of him and now, a Redeemer who also wants to enter the arena," Sylvia chuckled to herself. Khorvath chortled as well. "Well this is definitely worth telling my children one day!"
Regna's blush deepened. "I am not a Redeemer yet. I am on a personal mission to better myself in preparation for that."
The demon snorted when hearing that. "Good luck with that! You will need it, considering members of your flight are not particularly good at monitoring my brother Xyro at all."
Regna scowled at him. "At least I know my reasons are better than yours!" she countered easily.
"Is that so, little dove?" the demon smirked. "And how do you know?"
"Because all you demons care about is your own selfish and trivial ends," Regna responded easily.
The smirk was gone from the demon's countenance.
"Trivial?" the demon looked at least slightly indignant at this, Sylvia and Khorvath noted with amusement. "My own ends are not trivial!"
The angel smirked slightly.
"They are in the grand scheme of things," Regna replied nonchalantly.
"At least I don't let others don't do the thinking for me like you angels always do," the demon countered, scowling.
Before Regna could make a comeback, Sylvia broke into giggles, Khorvath hissing as well. "Oh by the Creator, you two are a pair! Now if only you two would stop arguing, you would realise that both of you are still in need of a partner, and you have an option in front of you."
"With him?!" Regna exclaimed.
My sisters will never forgive me for this! she thought at that moment.
"With her?!" the demon added at the exact same time.
"Why not?" the doubles champion shrugged. "The pair of you can't exactly afford to be picky and I am pretty certain that no one – and I mean no one – will ever see the two of you coming. Except for Khorvath and me, but we promise to keep your secret."
She winked at this.
Both Regna and the demon were speechless for a good minute, looking like blubbing fish as they struggled to find something to say – a reason not to actually do what Sylvia suggested. The issue is, neither could actually find a good reason to disagree. Neither did have much time to find another partner and get training.
"I suppose you are a decent fighter," the demon told Regna begrudgingly. "And it will help having someone to watch my back, especially from the air."
"And you scare people," Regna felt obligated to say something in reply. "Intimidation is a very useful weapon."
"And I pack a punch!" the demon huffed indignantly. "I saved your feathery behind, little dove, remember?"
"Khorvath did too," Regna could not help but point out.
"That is not the point, angel!"
Sylvia cocked her head slightly at the demon. "What is your name, by the way?"
The demon gave one more cold look to Regna before deigning to give the human an answer. "My name is Krav."
Sylvia's countenance lightened an instant. "Krav and Regna! Now that does have a good ring to it, don't you think?" she gushed.
Neither the angel nor the demon answered in the negative. Khorvath simply did an eyeroll. Sylvia then frowned ponderingly for another minute before lighting up again. "How about Khorvath and I take you to Cloudspire and show you the ropes?"
"No thanks," Krav sneered. "I do not need your help."
Regna also looked uncertain.
Sylvia raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? So you know about where you sign up your name, your sleeping place, the training grounds; that sort of thing? Do you know the smarmy political business that goes on during this time?" The human gave both the angel and demon a pointed look. "I take it the pair of you have never been to Cloudspire City?"
"No," Regna deflated.
"No," Krav growled.
"Well then, that's settled!" Sylvia grinned. "Khorvath and I would be very honoured to be your tour guides, Krav and Regna, and also your first fans. In my case anyway. It would be very refreshing to do the fangirling for once!"
"You won't be saying that with my battle scythe swinging at your dragon," Krav could not help but comment, causing Khorvath to give him a challenging look.
"Krav!" Regna hissed at him snappily.
Sylvia chuckled. "I have a feeling this is going to be one of the best doubles competitions in a long while! Oh I am so stoked!"
Krav rolled his eyes while Regna giggled. Khorvath hissed something that caused his partner to laugh further. "Yes, you are quite right, Khor. We do need to get going if we want to still have some fun in Cloudspire while the sun is still up. OK, Mr. Grumpy Demon, considering you can't fly, you will ride with me on Khorvath's back."
"Yippee," the demon commented sarcastically.
Sylvia ignored him. "Regna, can you fly again or do we need to give you a lift as well?"
Regna spread her wings again, waiting for the jolt of pain. But it seemed that her wings had taken time to heal themselves throughout the most interesting conversation she has had in a long while. The angel lit up. "I am good to fly!" she announced.
"Good, then let's not dilly-dally before Khor gets too impatient," Sylvia grinned as she and Krav mounted onto the dragon warrior's back.
Khorvath roared happily as he took to the sky, Regna close behind. As the angel followed the dragon who was part of one of her favourite combat duos, Regna had a thought that she never once considered that she would be thinking.
What if this is my chance to Redeem someone who people think can't be Redeemed? the angel debated internally. What if this is my chance to Redeem … a demon?
This made Regna smile to herself in anticipation. Sylvia was right about one thing – this was going to be interesting indeed.
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Krav simultaneously wanted to congratulate himself as well as throw himself off the giant red flying lizard's back in utter humiliation. He had actually agreed to partner up in the up and coming battles with an angel! The demon grimaced and shuddered internally at himself. He knew that Xyro especially was going to have a field day if he ever found out!
It wasn't as though Reyna … no, Regna was a bad fighter. Krav hated to admit it, but even on her own, she was outwitting Grothama and getting more than some decent hits in. Most angels waited for back up from their flight before taking the wurm on, but not Regna. Krav had thought that odd, but the moment he heard that Regna was also heading for the competition, it made a lot more sense.
Krav had been looking forward to the prospect of facing her in combat; not once did he consider he could partner with her!
But then again, the strange human was right about one thing: it was a pairing no one expected, thus it would be a pairing that would attract attention and would be remembered. Krav smirked to himself at this thought.
Plus, even if something did happen to Regna, Krav was certain he would still garner enough reputation to get himself another partner within a week, perhaps within a day. Then there was the possibility of doing something that not even his brothers had managed to do: to Corrupt a Redeemer!
Krav could have laughed to himself at that thought, but he really didn't fancy Sylvie asking what was so funny. He did not want to talk to her any more than was necessary.
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I love Sylvia Brightspear and Khorvath Brightflame even though I have not made them as commanders yet and I could totally envision Regna being fans of their work, so I just had to include them. Plus, I thought this small fight would be thematic to what Grothama's card does so there was that as well.
As usual, none of these characters are mine. I am just having fun with the property of Wizards, and thus Hasbro.
I hope to see you in the next chapter,
Kingmaker'sUmbreon
