Aella opened her eyes and yawned. She was in her room, waking up right after dawn as the maids in her room were changing shifts. As she sat up, she looked beside her and saw Zephyr curled into a ball on the pillow, sucking on her finger like a baby.
Usually, Arad would’ve been by her side, but he wasn’t around in the past days; he was taking Cerilla and the others to the summit of the World Tree. That was a good thing, since her hip still hurt a bit from their night a few days ago, and even her stomach still churned a bit.
She stood, and the new maids walking in approached her, "Your Majesty, the water is ready."
Aella yawned and rubbed her eyes, "Call Majesty again and I’ll tie to the pole in the hall." She patted the maid on the back, "Aella is enough."
"As you wish, your... Lady Aella."
Aella headed with the maids to the small room linked to her, which was a small shower room. She washed her face and looked in the mirror. She would usually take a shower, eat breakfast, and then head down to help Isdis, but today was different.
Aella had more important things to deal with than herself. One of her maids, a forr wizard, had so horrible news to share. She had a protective spell cast on her ho village north, and that barrier had shattered earlier, which is what woke Aella up.
That barrier was strong enough to hold most monsters for a while, but it shattered in an instant. The maid panicked enough that she almost ran out to fly back ho.
Aella looked back, "How is she?"
Another maid replied, "Cald down a bit, but she is still worried. She isn’t a powerful wizard, but a talented and excellent one. Lady rlin confird her skill."
"So we’re facing sothing powerful. What did Arad say?"
The maid looked aside, "His Majesty said that we need to deal with it, but right now, he is busy trying to find information about the flying fortress from Kin and Gin. He can go, but that would slow his plans."
Aella nodded, "So it is up to . She is my maid after all."
Zephyr flew in and landed beside the bowl of water. She yawned and splashed so water on her face, "You’ve got here. Arad has other important things to take care of; we’ll catch that monster."
The maid looked at them, "A Spirit Queen and her Herald, the poor monster won’t live long."
The maid was right, but even she didn’t fully understand the kind of monster Zephyr was; no one did, except Aella. The fact that this tiny, clumsy, goofy, and harmless-looking fairy was as powerful and violent as she is was appalling.
Aella could see Zephyr’s soul because the two of them are linked, and Zephyr’s soul was nothing short of terrifying. A roaring tornado born from a howling storm, instead of being born from hot and cold air clashing, her soul was born from divine wind and cursed wind splashing, and then eldritch magic took root as well.
Zephyrus Anemoi Enlil of i, she has the blood of the Spirit Goddess i in her veins, and her father was Focalor, the Evil Djinn of destructive wind, and on top of all of that, her mother was an abomination.
But until now, she has rarely ever used those powers, only using her Wind Magic as a Wind Spirit Queen. The only ti Aella knew of when Zephyr used so of her bloodline powers was when she destroyed a layer of hell.
"Let’s move, Lexi is waiting." Aella walked out, quickly changed her clothes, and rushed out of her room. It took her less than five minutes to wake up and get ready, but to poor Lexi, that felt like ages.
"Let’s go." Aella saw Lexi sitting on a chair in the hallway with five other maids, trying to talk to her.
Lexi lifted her face and looked at Aella with red eyes and a pale face, "What? Now?"
Zephyr flew out of Aella’s hair and grabbed Lexi by her maid outfit, "Do you think this would take weeks or months like it used to? We’re flying right there now." She lifted her up with ease and encased her in a cocoon of pure wind magic.
Before Lexi could figure out what happened, she was carried away with Aella and Zephyr as they flew out of the window, blasting their way through the blue sky, going north. It has been less than half an hour since Lexi’s barrier shattered, and a Spirit Queen was already on the move, flying to the scene.
Lexi blinked, and in the next second, she found herself in the air, flying at blinding speed. She looked up and saw Aella flying with her, both of them engulfed in a bright gust of green wind. As she was a wizard, she could tell at a glance that this wasn’t normal flying magic.
Aella was using wind to carry herself up and through the sky. In the sa way, people can fly with fire using jets; Wind magic can do sothing similar.
"A response to an attack like this usually takes weeks, if not months. Whoever, or whatever, attacked your village probably isn’t expecting a response in the sa hour, so we might be able to catch them." Aella looked at the maid, "So, stop crying and get yourself together. You’re a capable wizard, so get ready to cast so spells and fight."
Lexi wiped her tears and waved her hand, summoning a staff. In a second, her maid’s outfit was exchanged for a long, flowing wizard robe. "I’m fine, but the barrier was powerful enough that it should’ve been able to keep an adult dragon at bay for at least a day. I’ve spent two years reinforcing it." She looked forward, "I’m slowly getting information about how the barrier fell; it seems to have been crushed by three different types of magic."
She ford a magic circle in front of her, "Necrotic magic with a hint of draconic magic in it, probably a dracolich. Witchcraft, so we have a witch involved, and a devil’s curse."
Zephyr looked at her, "Seems like a classic case of needed sacrifices. It is either the witch or the dracolich in command; they needed a bunch of souls to create another dracolich, so they employed a devil."
Aella gasped, "So, everyone might be dead already?"
"I doubt it, it will take ti to perform the ritual, and they only need the sacrifices at the end. I bet they are keeping everyone locked up until they need them." Zephyr frowned, "The problem is that we need to catch them before they run away."
"Run from what?" Lexi gasped, and Zephyr looked at her with a passive face.
"From . The witch might be young, but the other two have to be old. The older they are, the more likely they are to know . If they do, they’ll run away." Zephyr was sitting on Aella’s head with a casual look on her face. "I don’t an to brag, but many are terrified of more than they are of the gods."
"We’re getting far north, and it’s starting to get cold." Aella was flying high up in the sky, so the cold hit them faster than it would if they walked on land.
"If I’m correct, my village is close to the middle, between us and the frozen north, where the Emperor’s brother should be living." Lexi said, and Aella nodded, "I know. But we’re still on Arad’s land, we should deal with this on our own."
Zephyr scratched her chin, "Hmmm, a dracolich, there aren’t many of them in the world, and this one just happened to start trouble close to Gojo’s land. This might not be an attack against Arad’s empire, but against Gojo’s kingdom."
Aella frowned, "Do so ancient magic, hide right outside the border, and then attack."
Zephyr flicked her fingers so hard that she caused a tiny spark, "Don’t worry, I’ve got soone sitting aside and ready to help us." She smiled, and Aella sighed. "Don’t you insult Nar too much? She is the Fire Spirit Queen."
Zephyr laughed, "I’ve known Nar far longer than you’d expect. She likes being treated like that, by at least, and Arad. But we might need her help, so I’ve sent her a call. All we need is to ignite a fire, and she’ll appear."
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