[TWS] Chapter 273 - The Last of Us (Patreon)

“Althea, what are you doing?” The queen took a few steps towards her friend with a confused frown on her cold face. “You can’t move this abruptly.”

But, the mysterious woman didn’t pay any attention to her actions or her words, remaining kneeling in front of Asterios. The girls behind him exchanged curious glances and a small smirk started forming on Grea’s lips. Before the mischievous demon lady got a chance to throw in any of her snarky comments, Selene sealed her mouth with her slender hand. She felt like it was important to leave the unusual situation to Asterios.

Queen Civienne crouched next to the woman and tried to slip an arm under her armpit. “You need to get up before your condition worsen—”

“Stop!” Althea pushed the queen softly; her voice firm yet devoid of any ire towards her friend. “I apologize in her stead, supreme one. Please, find it in yourself to overlook our discourtesy.”

The Elf Queen backed away, looking between her friend and Asterios in turns. He could only smile wryly back at her, not knowing what exactly was going on. Well, he had some ideas and guesses.

“There’s no need for you to kneel. Please, stand up,” he addressed the woman in green.

She rose from the ground with a graceful but slightly unstable motion. The queen visibly held herself back from moving to support her, not wanting to anger her important friend any more. Even after standing up, the woman kept her head low in complete silence, holding her hands together over her waist.

“Can you look up and remove your hood?” Asterios asked calmly.

“Yes, I am capable of lifting my chin and pulling back my hood,” she replied methodically.

He sighed heavily as the girls smiled gently between themselves. “Alright, for us to even think about continuing this conversation, I’ll have you throw any expectations and assumptions out of the window right now. Treat us as equals at the very least.”

After a few seconds of deep consideration, the woman hesitantly raised her head and met Ast’s gaze slightly from below. The dark shadow cast by her deep hood partially hid her features, though the fact that part of her dark emerald hair obstructed her left eye was more than obvious with just the right one gleaming back at Asterios. She took a moment longer to search his eyes and face for some kind of an answer.

“This is not a trap. I swear it on whatever you want.” He tried to reassure her however he could.

“Can… Can you swear on your Heart?” she asked with a lot of uncertainty in her musical voice.

“I swear on not just one but both of my Hearts that I do not mean you any harm unless you first try harming any of my mates.” Asterios pressed a hand to his chest, figuring out what kind of heart she actually meant.

A delicate, ticklish rumble rolled through his torso and he looked himself over in surprise. It seemed like the word he had given was a bit heavier than he had expected. But, he wasn’t the only surprised one. The woman’s enchanting eye widened considerably too before she took a deep breath, stood a bit more confidently, and then wobbled on her legs.

The queen, assuming that it should be fine now, instantly jumped to lean her friend onto her shoulder.

Althea slowly fixed her posture and finally uncovered her head, letting her cloak reveal more of her robes too. As the previous slips and pieces had shown, those were a mix of bright green and white cloth flowing freely around her slender legs.

Her smooth stomach was left bare while two thin, wide straps of material crossed over her chest to partially hide her enticing breasts, showing a great deal of cleavage and skin at the top of those plump hills.

A sizable silver necklace with mesmerizing emerald gems embedded in it ran around her neck, resting on her collarbone and shoulders. Two white, semi-transparent veils were attached to the biggest, central crystal and flowed towards her upper arms, continuing behind her back.

She had waist-long dark green hair, slightly combed to the left. The way it fell onto her youthful, incredibly beautiful face, made it obscure a considerable part of it, including her left eye. The emerald strands wound up under her ears, heading to the back, and leaving her sharp but not as long as elven ears poking out of the emerald waves. A silver accessory close to a circlet or a tiara decorated her forehead, adding even more mystical vibes to the woman’s appearance.

The cloak she had been using to cover herself actually retreated from her shoulders and turned into something akin to a cape with a hood. It seemed to be attached to the firm necklace somewhere at the back, now accentuating her robes and sensual figure even more. Asterios and the girls had to agree that it was both a practical and fashionable piece of equipment.

“If you really have two Hearts and hold malicious intentions towards any of us, you definitely could have used just one of them in your oath,” Althea spoke more comfortably for the first time, matching Ast’s gaze with a bit less fear.

“It’s my first time ever doing it.” Asterios shrugged. “What happens when I break the promise?”

She searched his expression with a tiny frown, perhaps looking for any signs of a lie. “That would… hurt. A lot. The stronger the person, the higher chances of it being lethal. Powerful Dragons never swear on their Hearts as you can not predict what the future will bring.”

“Interesting.” He nodded, rubbing his chin. “It kind of favors the underdogs. But it also means that the weaker ones can be a bit more crafty with these oaths.”

“Even the weakest of Dragons don’t take them lightly. No one wants to take the risk.” She gently shook her head. “Which makes me wonder how come you sound like you are just learning about this.”

“Because I am?” Asterios raised a brow at her. “I’m not sure who exactly you take me for but you are most likely hugely mistaken. I assume you didn’t act like that because of my two Hearts since you seemed doubtful about my oath.”

“I did not pry into your source. I would not dare. It’s the fastest way to lose one’s life.” She showed the first sign of a barely noticeable smile. “Judging by the intensity of your aura, you are a True Dragon, aren’t you? What does a True Dragon need from the old, insignificant me?”

“I am, though it’s complicated.” He smiled back, gesturing with his head at the queen. “I was brought here to see if I can figure anything about the malady of the queen's friend.”

“Friend?” Althea turned to the Elf Queen. “Did you knowingly bring him here? Have I not taught you enough about how foolish it is to come in contact with Dragons, not to mention True Dragons?”

Queen Civienne nodded firmly. “Yes, I did. He might be the only one able to help you, Althea. There is no need to worry. I know his character well and he passed my test.”

“Test?” Asterios furrowed his brows, not remembering any trial or challenge from the queen.

“In the throne room,” she replied, looking at him and the girls. “I apologize for deceiving all of you. The guards were deaf until we left.”

“What?” Tina glared at her. “That was intentional?”

“The most efficient way to learn a person’s true colors is to see how they react under the influence of strong emotions when their rationality is at its lowest,” the queen explained.

“And you decided to use Master’s secret to provoke him.” Miria growled at her, very unhappy about the entire situation.

Althea’s eyes shot wide again as her vertical pupils narrowed to thin slits and her head swiveled towards the silver-haired woman.

“Little Lavender!” She raised her voice for the first time, assuming a bit of a panicked, stern tone. “What did you do!?”

The tiniest trace of a blush blossomed on Civienne’s cheeks as she placed both hands on Althea’s shoulders. “Everything is alright. I trust the words and praises from that foolish human child, and the intel provided by one of our most loyal subjects. I’ve seen where his heart lies through many memories. He seems to be hiding his identity so I revealed that I know of it in a seemingly public setting. He did not take action, Althea. And even if he did, I prepared all the enchantments you taught me for the day we encounter another Dragon.”

“Oh, ancestors, hold me!” Althea mimicked fainting, though everyone could tell that she did in fact feel a little weak in the knees. “You reckless girl! Do you know how much danger you have been in?! You do not, for the love of all that’s in nature, incite a True Dragon! Ever! If your mother was here, she would have bent you over that table right now and spanked your impulsive butt until you couldn’t walk straight without medicinal diapers for a week! Heavens!”

By now, the queen’s cheeks were achieving a slightly more apparent shade of red as she did her best to keep her icy facade up. But, the totally crimson tips of her long, elf ears completely betrayed all her efforts. It looked like the relationship between the two women was a bit more complex than the queen had been letting on.

The girls tried to withhold their giggles while Asterios just smiled awkwardly at the slightly shorter lady scolding the ruler of all elves like a mother figure. Such an unexpected scene only lacked Althea grabbing Civienne’s ear to twist it in the form of a punishment for the disobedient child.

But, even though the Dragon woman had become quite lively, Asterios could tell that she was still struggling so he cleared his throat to bring the two out of their argument.

“I think we should move into the bower if neither of you minds. It’s certainly tiring to just stand out here in the open, even if this place is incredibly stunning,” he said, raising a brow at them.

“He is right, Althea.” The queen immediately picked up on his intentions. “You have to calm your mind and body. This isn’t good for you.”

Althea glared at her for a moment longer and let out a delicate sigh. “Let us sit, then. And you are not allowed to call me by my name until I judge that you understand how grave your mistake could have been.”

Civienne bowed respectfully without talking back. “Yes, Teacher.”

The Dragon lady nodded to herself and walked towards the bower, climbing back onto one of the benches attached to the hexagonal structure. The queen followed after her, taking up a spot next to the mysterious woman. Asterios and the girls squeezed around them, filling up the entire thing. To avoid making it uncomfortable, they put Asterios on Bryn’s lap and he didn’t protest.

“Let us start anew.” Althea showed a pretty smile at them. “My name is Althea and I’m a Lesser Dragon of the emerald bloodline. Those aren’t as meaningful as the True Dragon ones but we still associate ourselves with clans grouped by the color of our scales.”

“I’m Asterios Hestizo and I’m a True Dragon as you have already guessed. My blood ancestry has ties to the crimson bloodline, but I am also connected to the onyx clan through some kind of a spiritual accident that led to me possessing two Dragon Hearts. But, I’ve lived most of my life as a human and only recently learned about my lineages so my knowledge is extremely limited,” Asterios replied.

Althea shook her head in awe. “That’s completely unheard of. Your clans don’t even tolerate intermingling for the most part. I can’t imagine the uproar if they learned that you are a descendant of not one but two bloodlines. I assume you can access both, which makes you an even bigger threat.”

“I bet.” He chuckled lightly. “Especially since I seem to come down from the leaders of those factions. I’m quite certain that my biological father is a True Dragon named Red and the one I got my other ancestry from is called Black.”

“Oh, great ancestors…” Althea shivered lightly. “No wonder I felt so much pressure if what you are saying is true…”

“They must be really strong.” Silvia hummed to herself in wonder.

“I don’t think you understand.” The Dragon woman met her gaze. “These two can be considered the progenitors. They are the true fathers of Crimson and Onyx bloodlines which are amongst the rare lineages retaining their original leadership. At least considering the Great Division as the starting point of each clan. There isn’t that much known to us before it.”

“The Great Division?” Asterios looked at her curiously.

“An ancient myth. True Dragons were supposedly one giant community in the old age, all living together. Their scales glimmered like a rainbow as all the bloodlines coursed through their veins. But, at some point, Dragons covered in just a single color have been born after enough mingling between more and more diluted lineages. They are what we call the primordial ancestors. They are supposedly the ones who started fighting for supremacy and led the True Dragons to split into tightly-knit clans,” Althea replied. “But, that’s a very long tale. Perhaps for another time. I would like to get to know everyone else first.”

Asterios nodded at Miria and the panthergirl beamed a sunny smile at the Dragon lady.

“I’m Miria, a pantherkin! This is Selene, a foxkin; Tina and Silvia, humans; Grea, a demon; and Bryn, a valkyrja. We are all Master’s mates and love him so much! We are super happy to meet a Dragon that isn’t trying to instantly kill all of us!” The panthergirl giggled gleefully.

Althea moved her gaze to Asterios. “You really don’t seem like someone brought up by either of the clans. There’s no way they would ever consider taking lesser beings as their mates.”

He furrowed his brows at her and she quickly raised her hands from the table to direct her palms at him.

“I apologize. I didn’t mean it as an insult to you or any of them. I was just stating a fact. And as for me, I don’t consider anyone a lesser being. It would be hypocritical considering that I am one myself,” she calmly explained herself.

“Is that why I sometimes feel… superior… when looking at Lesser Dragons?” Asterios asked.

She nodded. “Definitely. Just like I feel inferior looking at you. It’s deeply ingrained in our blood. True Dragons never considered Lesser Dragons as their equals and treated us like servants, slaves. We couldn’t oppose their power and had no choice but to submit. No matter which individual shows up in front of us, kneeling and surrendering ourselves to their will is pretty much part of our survival instinct.”

“I hate it.” He sighed heavily and the girls next to him rested their hands on his shoulders and thighs.

“I’m… pleased to hear that.” Althea’s smile grew a bit more natural.

“Sooooooo… Who exactly are you and why are you locked… wherever this is?” Grea asked, dragging her words a little to probe if those topics weren’t too far. “I assume hiding or being held prisoner.”

“Are you aware of the times when True and Lesser Dragons roamed the lands of this realm?” The emerald-haired beauty turned to her.

“Yes, we do.” Tina nodded, leaning a bit more forward. “There are many legends about them, especially from the Age of Draconic Conquests. We learn about it in schools.”

“And I can almost ascertain that those tales are all true.” Althea’s face assumed a somewhat melancholic, reminiscing expression. “Even though most of the Dragons that had initially come to this realm were far, far descendants of the progenitors, nowhere as powerful, they still dominated this world for a long time. At least until the lesser races figured out how to empower themselves with magical equipment, which was born nowhere else but here.”

“Spellslingers,” Asterios chimed in and she smiled wider, skipping with her mesmerizing eyes to his right forearm.

“Equipped with tools capable of wounding and killing True Dragons, your ancestors almost completely wiped out all Dragons, who were too arrogant to admit defeat. Most bloodlines existing here were extinguished while only a few swallowed their pride and found a way to leave the realm together,” Althea continued her story. “They took most of the enslaved Lesser Dragons with them, leaving only a small group of us behind. Those were either hunted down or went into hiding. I’m one of the few survivors that remained in this realm up to this day. To avoid my cruel fate, I swore an oath on my Heart towards the Elf Queen, becoming the guardian and caretaker of the sacred Tree of Life, promising to share my wisdom and protection with their kind for years to come.”

“The Tree of Life was real?” Grea’s eyes opened to the brim.

“The Tree of Life is real.” The Dragon lady smiled at her kindly.

Althea snapped her fingers and the roof of the bower began slithering away, soon retreating down the wooden posts supporting it, taking those too until everything merged with the half-walls surrounding the benches. The clear sky was fully revealed above their heads. She directed her face towards it and everyone followed the motion.

With another snap… the sun disappeared.

Alongside the blinding sun, the pretty blue sky was gone too, replaced by a slightly dark, even surface of a pure white dome carved out of beautiful marble. Glowing crystals of all the existing colors were embedded in it, creating vertical rows that ran from the top to the very bottom of the cupola. At the very center, something poked out of a wide, circular hole, and everyone soon realized that those were massive, thick roots of an unimaginably big tree that filled the gap like a swollen finger in a too-tight ring. They extended to the sides and reached almost halfway down the round walls, previously hidden behind the illusion of the sun and sky.

“I can’t believe it…” Tina whispered in awe. “I thought it was just a legend…”

Althea chuckled quietly as they sat there in semi-darkness. “The elves put a lot of effort to remove all the traces of the Tree of Life from this realm’s history, making it look like it’s long gone. As you can imagine, it was always a massive target that lured nefarious figures in, especially True Dragons.”

“Yeah. If there’s even a grain of truth in the tales of its boons then that’s not even up to discussion.” Grea released a breath full of admiration too.

“There is. And it made the life of everyone living around it almost insufferable, even considering those boons.” Another reminiscing smile found its way onto the Dragon woman’s lips. “That’s why they finally decided that things had to change. Inciting a bunch of haughty True Dragons, the elves made them light up almost the entire tree on fire. It burned to the very ground in front of everyone’s eyes. But, what happened underneath the earth, no one but the elves knew.”

“They must have cut it down at its core and somehow prevented it from regrowing.” Bryn’s face lit up in realization. “That’s what this chamber and all those crystals are for. They drain the tree just barely enough for it to stay alive but not regenerate.”

“You are partially correct.” Althea nodded at her gently. “It is also my hiding lair. I helped with its construction and with the entire operation. I’m closely attuned to nature, you see. I was there when the Tree fell, and even before. I did not think at that time that it would serve such a purpose, but the immense spiritual presence of the Tree is perfect to mask everything else.”

“Amazing!” Miria almost vibrated in her seat.

“Yes, it is.” Asterios caressed her fluffy ears while admiring the roots and the dome. “But, it’s also an incredible secret. Both about you and the Tree of Life. It’s not something you share with complete strangers who could have come to exploit you.”

Althea turned to him with a kind expression. “Albeit rash and hard-headed at times, I trust Little Lavender's judgment.”

“Teache—”

“You will not reclaim your name until I say so either.” She leveled a stern glare at the faintly blushing queen until the other woman relented and Althea could return her gaze to him. “She brought you here in good faith, even if greatly underestimating the scale of things related to your true identity, and I believe in this little troublemaker’s assessment.”

“I’m not a kid anymore… I’m hundreds of years old…” Civienne whispered under her breath, which didn’t escape Ast’s and the girls’ heightened senses.

“Besides, they can just demand us to take their oaths.” Grea sneered, crossing her arms under her chest.

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Althea replied.

“How so?” Asterios asked.

She looked at him. “They won’t work on you.”

He frowned. “Why?”

A mysterious smile tugged at her lips. “Because I am the one who created them.”